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Post by philman on Mar 29, 2023 7:05:25 GMT
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Mar 29, 2023 7:09:09 GMT
Kat could probably use etheric tech and Court space-compression to make a portal from her residence to Paz's house in Spain thus eliminating the long-distance aspect of a long-distance relationship, if she wanted. If Paz wanted.
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Post by madjack on Mar 29, 2023 7:12:28 GMT
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Post by jda on Mar 29, 2023 7:25:39 GMT
Kat could probably use etheric tech and Court space-compression to make a portal from her residence to Paz's house in Spain thus eliminating the long-distance aspect of a long-distance relationship, if she wanted. If Paz wanted. ATTENTION: Please stop giving ideas to the Ascending Demigod with Impulse Control Issues about how to push into a corner the humans around her. Thanks. Yikes, that gave me vibes off My Super Ex Girlfriend. For those lucky enough to NOT having seen it:
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Post by magiekarp on Mar 29, 2023 7:28:16 GMT
Kat could probably use etheric tech and Court space-compression to make a portal from her residence to Paz's house in Spain thus eliminating the long-distance aspect of a long-distance relationship, if she wanted. If Paz wanted. If only she wanted.
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Post by arf on Mar 29, 2023 7:59:50 GMT
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Post by basser on Mar 29, 2023 8:32:28 GMT
Having zero interest in relationship drama I'ma slide on in here and ask whether we expect the Court to be chill with someone who knows all about their magic space puddle and robot ascension and etcetera just heading out to vibe in Spain?
Even if they're doing the whole "no one will ever believe you" bit (which fair enough) they did actively recruit Paz for some reason that's presumably still in play. And they've been collecting magic kids for decades at this point so it's probably not to siphon their energy. But then again of the alumni we've met the majority of them seem to wind up back at the Court, with the sole exception so far being a literal Valkyrie. So whatever they're doing with these kids it's not quite important enough to steal a servant of Odin, but does justify tracking Tony down and dragging him out of some liminal hellcave for his spreadsheet powers.
(Also tangent but did the Court find Tony by monitoring Zimmy while she did her astral projection clobberin? That'd be messed up.)
On the other hand if they're only collecting these kids cause the Spreadsheet God spat out a list, and that list didn't say you gotta keep em, just have these kids in the same place during such-and-such time frames, then I guess it wouldn't matter if folks wanted to leave after.
If that's the case then I'ma assume Omega is a microstate prediction device and the macrostate the Court is going for is their goofy little dream of a world without ether, only they chose the set of microstates that involve robot ascension via hyperdimensional teenage goddess and either haven't figured out that the "metaphorical ocean" they're planning to cross is an actual literal metaphor used to explain feelings to robots, or they've caught on but figure it's all whatever if it gets the job done. Note too that Kat has now illustrated the ability to interface human brains with computers so that's great.
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laaaa
Full Member
Posts: 247
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Post by laaaa on Mar 29, 2023 8:50:15 GMT
Having zero interest in relationship drama I'ma slide on in here and ask whether we expect the Court to be chill with someone who knows all about their magic space puddle and robot ascension and etcetera just heading out to vibe in Spain? The Court is literally abandoning everyone to move to a different planet and permanantly cut all contact with everyone on Earth. Why on earth (pun not intended) should they care about ANYTHING that happens in the world they left behind? How would it affect them?
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Post by basser on Mar 29, 2023 8:51:57 GMT
Having zero interest in relationship drama I'ma slide on in here and ask whether we expect the Court to be chill with someone who knows all about their magic space puddle and robot ascension and etcetera just heading out to vibe in Spain? The Court is literally abandoning everyone to move to a different planet and permanantly cut all contact with everyone on Earth. Why on earth (pun not intended) should they care about ANYTHING that happens in the world they left behind? How would it affect them? Magic people might follow em and bring their gross ether cooties.
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Post by blahzor on Mar 29, 2023 9:13:32 GMT
Gonna be egg on Paz'd face when Kat runs and wins the Mayoral election
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heranje
Full Member
Oh super wow!
Posts: 176
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Post by heranje on Mar 29, 2023 10:13:28 GMT
Paz decides she didn't sign up to be in a relationship with a robodeity, and Kat is going to a place where she cannot follow. Fair enough.
My main concern is how this will affect Kat. I could easily see this pushing her further down the troubling path she's on, with Annie (who is famously not very good at noticing and centering other people's feelings and mental states) being essentially her only remaining anchor.
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Post by pyradonis on Mar 29, 2023 11:10:58 GMT
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Post by Ophel on Mar 29, 2023 11:57:10 GMT
Paz decides she didn't sign up to be in a relationship with a robodeity, and Kat is going to a place where she cannot follow. Fair enough. My main concern is how this will affect Kat. I could easily see this pushing her further down the troubling path she's on, with Annie (who is famously not very good at noticing and centering other people's feelings and mental states) being essentially her only remaining anchor. You never know. Annie's grown at least, and knowing what she knows from Zimmy, she would try to dissuade Kat going down such dark path. Like the Norns mentioned here www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2350
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Post by todd on Mar 29, 2023 13:04:01 GMT
The Court is literally abandoning everyone to move to a different planet and permanantly cut all contact with everyone on Earth. Why on earth (pun not intended) should they care about ANYTHING that happens in the world they left behind? How would it affect them? I think we're likely to expect the worst from the Court thanks to its track record. It's engaged in a lot of deceitful and dishonorable behavior (all the way back to murdering Jeanne), and even though it was doing those things for pragmatic reasons, it's still given us good reasons to distrust them. We don't even know whether the story it gave on the beach is true, or if it's a cover-up designed to conceal an act even more monstrous than what it did to Jeanne and which the Court doesn't want those people in its lower ranks who've still got some sense of right and wrong to be appalled by - and even if the Court is telling the truth, its history has made it easy for us to distrust it.
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Post by aline on Mar 29, 2023 13:32:56 GMT
Having zero interest in relationship drama I'ma slide on in here and ask whether we expect the Court to be chill with someone who knows all about their magic space puddle and robot ascension and etcetera just heading out to vibe in Spain? Paz has been vibing in Spain every summer since year 1. As for the magic space bubble and the people who leave with it, they claim they will all be magically forgotten the moment they leave: www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=2665So unlikely anyone would know to follow.
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Post by maxptc on Mar 29, 2023 13:36:40 GMT
I think we're likely to expect the worst from the Court thanks to its track record. It's engaged in a lot of deceitful and dishonorable behavior (all the way back to murdering Jeanne), and even though it was doing those things for pragmatic reasons, it's still given us good reasons to distrust them. We don't even know whether the story it gave on the beach is true, or if it's a cover-up designed to conceal an act even more monstrous than what it did to Jeanne and which the Court doesn't want those people in its lower ranks who've still got some sense of right and wrong to be appalled by - and even if the Court is telling the truth, its history has made it easy for us to distrust it. True, but people act like the Court is way more directly malicious then it is. Insidious sure, sneaky and with dark plans that hurt others unintentionally or as a means to an end as well, sure. Aggressively pragmatic I'd say. But the Court seems to let people/students do pretty much whatever they want as often as possible with minimal interference. Makes sense, as they do whatever they want without interference. Unless they for see an action as harmful to their plans, they don't seem to care. And even if Paz leaving is potentially harmful to their plans, the Court is also crazy egotistical and wouldn't recognize that unless Omega predicted it.
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Post by agasa on Mar 29, 2023 14:12:06 GMT
Having zero interest in relationship drama I'ma slide on in here and ask whether we expect the Court to be chill with someone who knows all about their magic space puddle and robot ascension and etcetera just heading out to vibe in Spain? The Court is literally abandoning everyone to move to a different planet and permanantly cut all contact with everyone on Earth. Why on earth (pun not intended) should they care about ANYTHING that happens in the world they left behind? How would it affect them? Putting it in these terms, the Star Ocean migration thing reminds me of those cults who organize mass suicides thinking their soul will migrate to another planet or an alien spaceship or something. Like, Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, Aum Shinrikyo. It makes the whole thing even more scary, if possible.
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Post by storyteller on Mar 29, 2023 14:39:07 GMT
I think we're likely to expect the worst from the Court thanks to its track record. It's engaged in a lot of deceitful and dishonorable behavior (all the way back to murdering Jeanne), and even though it was doing those things for pragmatic reasons, it's still given us good reasons to distrust them. We don't even know whether the story it gave on the beach is true, or if it's a cover-up designed to conceal an act even more monstrous than what it did to Jeanne and which the Court doesn't want those people in its lower ranks who've still got some sense of right and wrong to be appalled by - and even if the Court is telling the truth, its history has made it easy for us to distrust it. True, but people act like the Court is way more directly malicious then it is. Insidious sure, sneaky and with dark plans that hurt others unintentionally or as a means to an end as well, sure. Aggressively pragmatic I'd say. But the Court seems to let people/students do pretty much whatever they want as often as possible with minimal interference. Makes sense, as they do whatever they want without interference. Unless they for see an action as harmful to their plans, they don't seem to care. And even if Paz leaving is potentially harmful to their plans, the Court is also crazy egotistical and wouldn't recognize that unless Omega predicted it. I think part of that is just the question of why they were bringing in outsiders like Paz who has Ether stuff who would never be and never was someone they'd bring with. Especially when they aren't research subjects like probably Chester House. There's no way that they weren't aware of the timeline of when people were leaving given that Anthony was worried Annie would be kicked from the program (him being blind to the fact that the Court would never let her come anyways is a different matter) Especially as it gives socially acceptable connections that would possibly stop those they would approve coming with. It's... It's this area of the group being competent enough that this point of obviously hampering their own goals becomes suspicious. Especially given the mundane, banality of some if their actions like abandoning Chester. Their research was done - so they no longer cared. The Court's higher ups aren't Jokers trying to maximize suffering. But they noticeably don't care as soon as someone has a whiff of Ether besides PR. Why cause more work for themselves?
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Post by ctso74 on Mar 29, 2023 14:42:24 GMT
Well, she's not wrong. What's the old train of thought? Joining in a relationship, you promise to help each other grow. Through it, you grow together and apart in cyclical waves. But sometimes, you grow so far apart, that they only way to keep that original promise, is to go your separate ways.
It sucks when one party has reached that point, and the other hasn't, but it happens. Paz keeps Kat more grounded than without her, but what is Paz getting back? Can Kat really help Paz grow into who she wants to be?
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Post by gpvos on Mar 29, 2023 15:17:17 GMT
[The Court] either haven't figured out that the "metaphorical ocean" they're planning to cross is an actual literal metaphor used to explain feelings to robots, or they've caught on but figure it's all whatever if it gets the job done. Thanks, that's an interesting connection I hadn't made yet between these two metaphoric oceans.
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Post by justhalf on Mar 29, 2023 15:38:50 GMT
Some of the comments here seem to be talking about Paz' etheric power. Which comic was this shown? And what was her use of ether?
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Post by sosleepy on Mar 29, 2023 16:09:56 GMT
Some of the comments here seem to be talking about Paz' etheric power. Which comic was this shown? And what was her use of ether? Paz can talk to animals. You can see that in "Traveller" extra comic.
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Post by Gemminie on Mar 29, 2023 16:19:15 GMT
For some reason, Annie's first thought when Paz said she was leaving was that Paz meant she was going with the Court to their new planet. I'm not sure why she'd assume that.
But Paz quickly clarifies that she means she's going back to her family in Spain, that there isn't a future for her in whatever we call the compressed dimension that will soon no longer contain the Court. And she's kind of right; she won't. There won't be an education to be had; she hasn't graduated with a diploma yet to our knowledge, and we don't know that the Court has arranged for the students to transfer schools. She'll need a provable education to get any kind of decent job or to get into a university. There are presumably a lot of adults being left behind, but we don't know whether they're going to try to keep things together here, or whether they'll start making arrangements to go their separate ways. We don't know whether the Court has even arranged for continuation of a working infrastructure, so continued electricity, gas, plumbing, food supplies, etc. are iffy. Then there's the fact that the Court was sending Paz's family money to allow her to attend school there, and that money will be gone, so she needs to find another way to help her family. (Or maybe it was a one-time payment; I'm not sure, but it really helped the family.)
And then, of course, Loup is around somewhere; he's dangerous and powerful and has unknown goals. It's doubtful that Kat could keep Paz safe from him if he decided to go on a murdering spree. We readers know that he's involved in a relationship and isn't causing much trouble right now, but most of the characters don't know this. Paz hasn't said anything about Loup, but he could also be an element of her decision.
Annie rightly asks her what about her relationship with Kat, and Paz is silent, meaning that Paz intends to end it. Annie realizes this after a moment and knows that Kat will be devastated – and she'll have to be the one to pick up the pieces. Paz says that she would already have left, if it weren't for Kat, who was the only reason she was still here, but today she's made up her mind.
Poor Kat. This may well be what makes her go too far. (Or, alternatively, she just went too far today, and caused Kat to decide to break up with her.)
(As an aside, it just occurred to me that there are a lot of Ether-powered individuals being left behind, and some fraction of them may not look too kindly on the Court's using them and throwing them away ...)
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Post by sosleepy on Mar 29, 2023 16:31:27 GMT
[The Court] either haven't figured out that the "metaphorical ocean" they're planning to cross is an actual literal metaphor used to explain feelings to robots, or they've caught on but figure it's all whatever if it gets the job done. Thanks, that's an interesting connection I hadn't made yet between these two metaphoric oceans. Damn, that's why i love this comic. You can always find some new interesting stuff or connect things in ways you never even thought of before. Almost every page is a source for new mad guesses and theories.
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Post by sosleepy on Mar 29, 2023 17:01:02 GMT
For some reason, Annie's first thought when Paz said she was leaving was that Paz meant she was going with the Court to their new planet. I'm not sure why she'd assume that. But Paz quickly clarifies that she means she's going back to her family in Spain, that there isn't a future for her in whatever we call the compressed dimension that will soon no longer contain the Court. And she's kind of right; she won't. There won't be an education to be had; she hasn't graduated with a diploma yet to our knowledge, and we don't know that the Court has arranged for the students to transfer schools. She'll need a provable education to get any kind of decent job or to get into a university. There are presumably a lot of adults being left behind, but we don't know whether they're going to try to keep things together here, or whether they'll start making arrangements to go their separate ways. We don't know whether the Court has even arranged for continuation of a working infrastructure, so continued electricity, gas, plumbing, food supplies, etc. are iffy. Then there's the fact that the Court was sending Paz's family money to allow her to attend school there, and that money will be gone, so she needs to find another way to help her family. (Or maybe it was a one-time payment; I'm not sure, but it really helped the family.) And then, of course, Loup is around somewhere; he's dangerous and powerful and has unknown goals. It's doubtful that Kat could keep Paz safe from him if he decided to go on a murdering spree. We readers know that he's involved in a relationship and isn't causing much trouble right now, but most of the characters don't know this. Paz hasn't said anything about Loup, but he could also be an element of her decision. Annie rightly asks her what about her relationship with Kat, and Paz is silent, meaning that Paz intends to end it. Annie realizes this after a moment and knows that Kat will be devastated – and she'll have to be the one to pick up the pieces. Paz says that she would already have left, if it weren't for Kat, who was the only reason she was still here, but today she's made up her mind. Poor Kat. This may well be what makes her go too far. (As an aside, it just occurred to me that there are a lot of Ether-powered individuals being left behind, and some fraction of them may not look too kindly on the Court's using them and throwing them away ...) I'm not even sure that the Court will be able to exist after this space ocean trip. The Court extends into compressed dimension which bounds are the star ocean and after this ocean is shut down what will happen to all that space? This compressed dimension might just collapse destroying everything inside. But if it doesn't and after the chosen few leave for their new world i guess a lot of people will decide to stay. A lot of scientists who didn't get their space trip ticket might want to continue their researches which were deemed unnecessary by the Court for example. A lot of staff might be left behind as well as robots with their new bodies who needs to live somewhere. Especially robots since i don't see the way how will they explain their nature to the outside world. So yeah i don't think the Court is going anywhere even if the top-brass leaves. Plus Llanwellyn might decide to stay with his daughter and i doubt he'd want to just throw all his work away. Actually not only Ether-powered individuals but the Court employees might be pretty mad about being left behind as well. I can see the possibility of Court being torn into two fractions by this. It's not necessary for them to act against each other but that might be the case. And yeah. I feel very bad for Kat. Paz might break her heart although i'm sure she doesn't want to hurt her.
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Post by rabbit on Mar 29, 2023 17:10:04 GMT
One, in that story, Paz suffers a traumatic event when that puppy with whom she had formed a bond swam off into the ocean. And it was family who consoled her when that happened. So going back to Spain makes sense as a means of healing from breaking with Kat. Too many of us know first hand that trauma - whether physical, mental or emotional - leaves scars.
The other reason is that, although Paz says "I'm leaving," it is really Kat who is swimming away.
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Post by drmemory on Mar 29, 2023 17:22:49 GMT
I wonder if Kat COULD set up a portal to Paz' home. The reason I ask is, she seems to be doing a lot with the court's space manipulation technology, but we don't know if that has range restrictions, or if it can work across the compressed dimension/realspace boundary. It seemed like, when Tony traveled, he used actual airplanes and the like, not portals.
For that matter, we don't know if it will still work after the Court leaves. It could be dependent on something they take with them! Or they might block the technology so nobody can follow them...
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Post by pyradonis on Mar 29, 2023 18:59:51 GMT
I wonder if Kat COULD set up a portal to Paz' home. The reason I ask is, she seems to be doing a lot with the court's space manipulation technology, but we don't know if that has range restrictions, or if it can work across the compressed dimension/realspace boundary. It seemed like, when Tony traveled, he used actual airplanes and the like, not portals. Indeed, I also just read through some of the old answers (from when Tom still answered questions on the forum), and he said several times that there are some trains going directly into and out of the Court, and that people also enter and leave it by plane or car. However, individual characters seems to have the power of teleportation (Parley, Brinnie). So I conclude teleportation is available only to individuals who possess that power naturally, but not to the average Court inhabitant.
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Mar 29, 2023 19:11:25 GMT
I wonder if Kat COULD set up a portal to Paz' home. The reason I ask is, she seems to be doing a lot with the court's space manipulation technology, but we don't know if that has range restrictions, or if it can work across the compressed dimension/realspace boundary. It seemed like, when Tony traveled, he used actual airplanes and the like, not portals. Kat should be able to. If she can create this space for her computer then given time and motivation she should be able to make two, then link them to form a corridor. I think she should be able to shrink or zero out the inconvenient space in between the entrances but if not she could build a dedicated rail line and assemble a bullet train or something. Now, to make the space in Spain she may need to be physically present or build a machine that could do it by proxy, or alternatively make the portal here in a form that Paz could take with her. But of course this is just academic. Paz isn't going to want it and I think Kat will respect that. For that matter, we don't know if it will still work after the Court leaves. It could be dependent on something they take with them! Or they might block the technology so nobody can follow them... That is a valid question. I'm not sure what would happen to Kat's computer area(s) when the Court leaves. There is some reason to suspect that they'll collapse the space and all the stuff inside will be dumped back on Earth proper, making a big jumbled mess, or destructively compressing it before dumping it, or possibly even erasing it. If stuff's relocated, and I think that's probably most likely, Kat's space may also be relocated but otherwise unaffected or it may chain-reaction collapse also, dumping Kat's stuff along with the Court's junk. It depends on how much Kat knows and how far she thought this through when she made it. Her computer area may be anchored to normal Earth already in which case I think it would be fine unless somehow this tech depends on something etheric the Court will disable or destroy after they're gone. I don't think the Court has to collapse the space since the space-warping tech shouldn't be a threat to them, at least not without someone doing something coordinated on the other side because of the distance and relative motion involved that just isn't when making a portal from one point to another on the same planet. If they could warp space to the new really-real world they would just make a gate instead of having to use the sea... but on the other hand they might do it on general principles as a way of setting the world back to normal after they're gone. If they do that, I'd expect them to airlift the rest of the people out beforehand.
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laaaa
Full Member
Posts: 247
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Post by laaaa on Mar 29, 2023 20:09:26 GMT
The Court is literally abandoning everyone to move to a different planet and permanantly cut all contact with everyone on Earth. Why on earth (pun not intended) should they care about ANYTHING that happens in the world they left behind? How would it affect them? Magic people might follow em and bring their gross ether cooties. Well, sure, but it's not like Paz is more likely to be successful in this endeavor if she's based in Spain. If anything, assuming there isn't a rival Court-like institution in Spain that is able to provide equipment and intelligence, Paz is less likely to be able to secretly follow the Courtians from Spain than from the remains of the abandoned Court. In fact, if the Courtians are worried some icky Etherian might follow them, they should nuke the Court as they leave. That should tie everything up.
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