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Post by arkadi on Jan 8, 2024 8:06:20 GMT
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Post by stclair on Jan 8, 2024 8:28:11 GMT
next:
Antimony starts to praise Kat, only to realize Kat is crying.
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Post by blahzor on Jan 8, 2024 10:17:23 GMT
How tempted was Kat to keep walking in with him just to see what would happen
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Post by silicondream on Jan 8, 2024 13:17:47 GMT
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Post by hp on Jan 8, 2024 13:18:26 GMT
How tempted was Kat to keep walking in with him just to see what would happen she will probably send a probe with the next soul lmao |
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Post by Gemminie on Jan 8, 2024 14:11:00 GMT
As in the previous page, we see Annie, Kat, and Sam standing before the Arbiter's gateway into the Ether, gazing down the corridor into "the light" (as in "go toward the light"). Kat looks up at Sam, who gazes toward his fate without apparent concern. Kat and Sam go a little way forward while Annie apparently stays behind. Then Kat and Sam exchange some words that we're not privy to. And then Sam goes forward by himself. As Tom's note says, "Time to go." So in the future Kat will have to figure out how to manifest a gateway into the Ether (or at least a one-way portal to the "hereafter" part of the Ether) without assistance from the Arbiter or any psychopomp powers. I suppose Annie could help, but would that count as her choosing to become a guide? Can Kat do this on her own? She used to have a lot of difficulty accepting that any of this Ether stuff was actually real – she figured it was just something scientifically explainable that nobody had figured out yet. The concept of "believing something into existence" really doesn't sit right with her. And yet ... verifiable time travel happened via the help of ethereal beings, so she must have made some progress in that area. Annie might help Kat in a different way. |
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Post by ctso74 on Jan 8, 2024 15:38:35 GMT
There are no answers further in, as your identity is basically atomized and spread out. But the temptation to take a few steps more, to learn just a little something, must be unbearable.
I wonder if the effect on Kat will be subtle?
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Post by guntherkrieg on Jan 8, 2024 15:53:58 GMT
How tempted was Kat to keep walking in with him just to see what would happen she will probably send a probe with the next soul lmao She's definitely going to try and understand and engineer the afterlife now. |
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Post by Gemini Jim on Jan 8, 2024 18:02:16 GMT
I'm assuming that it was something touching, although the first thing that popped into my head was: "Was I a good NPC?" "No. I'm told you were the best." After all, Tom's comment was "Time To Go." = I would love to see Kat try to abuse some afterlife loophole, especially after dealing with Clippy's bureaucratic nonsense. However, since souls are supposed to forget as they "head for the light," or are reabsorbed by the Ether or whatever, it would be pointless to give any instructions, or even "if you meet a '40s kid named Mortimer, tell him we miss him." |
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Post by arf on Jan 8, 2024 21:29:49 GMT
Sam: (delivers lame pun)
Kat: OK, you can see yourself out.
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Post by hp on Jan 8, 2024 21:51:10 GMT
next: Antimony starts to praise Kat, only to realize Kat is crying. wow it would be a cool parallel to the RotD chapter |
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Post by Igniz on Jan 8, 2024 21:54:16 GMT
next: Antimony starts to praise Kat, only to realize Kat is craving for more souls. |
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Post by silicondream on Jan 9, 2024 11:12:34 GMT
However, since souls are supposed to forget as they "head for the light," or are reabsorbed by the Ether or whatever, it would be pointless to give any instructions, or even "if you meet a '40s kid named Mortimer, tell him we miss him." It wouldn't be pointless if you want to influence the ether that way. E.g., "when you die, you must travel to the Angel's great laboratory in the sky, which is way more tricked-out than the earthly one and has an infinite power supply and a 100-quettaFLOP mainframe. You can only gain entrance by intoning the mystic phrase <REDACTED>." Sam's soul still vanishes, but maybe his dying thoughts are enough to create Kat's spiffy new password-protected etheric lab. Which of course is why she created the New People in the first place, as disposable memetic couriers. She's evil like that. |
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Post by Per on Jan 9, 2024 12:06:32 GMT
The holy phrase is "It was worth it", and it will be, for Kat.
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Post by netherdan on Jan 9, 2024 21:02:07 GMT
I would love to see Kat try to abuse some afterlife loophole, especially after dealing with Clippy's bureaucratic nonsense. However, since souls are supposed to forget as they "head for the light," or are reabsorbed by the Ether or whatever, it would be pointless to give any instructions, or even "if you meet a '40s kid named Mortimer, tell him we miss him." She could tell them some believable bullcrap feat she never did just to see if she gets new powers based on just the belief of whoever goes in. But I believe doing so would make her public enemy #1 of the afterlife guides and etheric lawyers |
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Post by blahzor on Jan 10, 2024 6:00:02 GMT
she will probably send a probe with the next soul lmao She's definitely going to try and understand and engineer the afterlife now. The ether gets stronger than what it started. She basically invented cold fusion. It use to just be 1 to 1 until Kat looked into it |
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Hatredman
Full Member
Scarper, Montgomery!
Posts: 151
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Post by Hatredman on Jan 11, 2024 17:32:43 GMT
She could tell them some believable bullcrap feat she never did just to see if she gets new powers based on just the belief of whoever goes in. But I believe doing so would make her public enemy #1 of the afterlife guides and etheric lawyers I'm quite sure her contract forbids that. |
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Hatredman
Full Member
Scarper, Montgomery!
Posts: 151
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Post by Hatredman on Jan 11, 2024 17:34:13 GMT
The ether gets stronger than what it started. She basically invented cold fusion. It use to just be 1 to 1 until Kat looked into it You stare into the aether, and the aether stares back to you. |
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Post by silicondream on Jan 12, 2024 1:20:03 GMT
She could tell them some believable bullcrap feat she never did just to see if she gets new powers based on just the belief of whoever goes in. But I believe doing so would make her public enemy #1 of the afterlife guides and etheric lawyers I'm quite sure her contract forbids that. Really? I suspect that very few etheric contracts include a "don't lie to mortals" clause. Half the Ether is built on false beliefs and fanciful stories, after all. Who would even be capable of defining truth in that realm, and why would they want to? Remember what Jones said about the stars? There are many powerful etherics who say they created them, and each of them appears to be correct...within their sphere of influence. But Jones was around 4 billion years ago and saw that the stars were already there...at least, within her sphere of influence. If story creates fact, who's lying or telling the truth? |
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Post by blahzor on Jan 13, 2024 4:03:49 GMT
You could tell someone exactly how the ether works and it will be so complex and simple they wouldn't believe you anyway
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Hatredman
Full Member
Scarper, Montgomery!
Posts: 151
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Post by Hatredman on Jan 13, 2024 16:32:43 GMT
I'm quite sure her contract forbids that. Really? I suspect that very few etheric contracts include a "don't lie to mortals" clause. Hummm, not the "lie to others" part. But the "misuse your knowledge of the ether to augment your power" part. The NP were created using, amongst other things, The Arrow. Any gains the Angel would acquire using the Arrow (even indirectly) would be strictly forbidden in her contract, I suppose. And Salslamel did warn that they'd be watching misuses of the Arrow. |
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Post by silicondream on Jan 14, 2024 9:13:18 GMT
Really? I suspect that very few etheric contracts include a "don't lie to mortals" clause. Hummm, not the "lie to others" part. But the "misuse your knowledge of the ether to augment your power" part. The NP were created using, amongst other things, The Arrow. Any gains the Angel would acquire using the Arrow (even indirectly) would be strictly forbidden in her contract, I suppose. And Salslamel did warn that they'd be watching misuses of the Arrow. I think Saslamel was pretty specific about what "misuse" entails. No negating contracts, no violating existing contracts by relocating the wrong type or number of minds, no trapping souls so they can't be guided…practical stuff like that. He never said anything about having to be selfless. If Kat inspires myths and legends among the New People, and then they die and the ether acquires new powers and creatures and resources, which Kat leverages to do more amazing stuff that inspires more myths and legends, then what's the problem? That's exactly the cycle that the etheric bureaucracy exists to facilitate. Is it illegal for Kat to profit personally from this cycle? I don't think so. Exploiting the ether for human benefit has been the raison d'être of the Court for centuries, and of alchemists and magicians before them. Meanwhile, etheric predators like the Forest monsters and the demons who deceived Tony kill, consume, and exploit other etheric beings, animals, and humans for their benefit. The psychopomps squabble over souls for whatever selfish or partisan reasons they may have. That's just the way of things, and we've never seen Saslamel interfere with any of it. As long as the ether continues to circulate and grow in strength and complexity, it's not his problem. Nor does he seem to care about the motivations of the parties involved. Diego used the arrow to enslave unknowing innocents for the Court, while Kat used it to liberate a willing Arthur from captivity and shutdown, but Saslamel didn't draw a distinction between their respective crimes. Annie has total control over Renard's words and actions, which she can exploit in any way she likes, and Saslamel's fine with that. I think they'd only have a problem with Kat's behavior if she started trapping souls, or draining tons of ether into a big tank and just storing it indefinitely, or making herself physically immortal so she'd never get Guided, or something like that. Using the ether is fine, that's what makes it stronger. |
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