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Post by imaginaryfriend on Aug 23, 2024 7:11:51 GMT
The tendrils apparently only exist " out here" in the distortion, but not in the ether. That's interesting. I wonder if it's that the Court made their bodies and this happened on its own as a result of the process or if the Court did something specific to link them into supporting the Star Ocean. |
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aggadahGothic
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Post by aggadahGothic on Aug 23, 2024 7:18:19 GMT
Perhaps the students from the forest are akin to spice navigators, charting a path through ethereal space for the Court.
This does seem like a plot point which should have been alluded to earlier in the story.
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Aug 23, 2024 7:51:47 GMT
Well, the fairies do look a little tendril-ish in the ether (as we see with <Snuffle> here and on following pages). It may be that this is a manifestation of that, though that by itself doesn't explain why the students who were once animals of Gillite also seem to have tendrils. [edit] Ah, I think I get it. It's not just them, it's also the devices. Because they separated their minds and bodies to do the stuff the Court wanted them to when the distortion manifested the devices they were using to do whatever the Court had them doing turned into these tendrils. They may or may not be doing something related to the Star Ocean. I was asking the wrong question. Even after all these years of reading the comic I'm still straining to figure out what's going on. Stuff like this sometimes reminds me of being a little kid and showing something I drew to someone (my mother, a teacher, or whoever) and them praising me but having no clue what I drew. I wonder if that's how Mr. Siddell feels sometimes.  [/edit] |
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Post by guntherkrieg on Aug 23, 2024 9:29:53 GMT
Well, the fairies do look a little tendril-ish in the ether (as we see with <Snuffle> here and on following pages). It may be that this is a manifestation of that, though that by itself doesn't explain why the students who were once animals of Gillite also seem to have tendrils. [edit] Ah, I think I get it. It's not just them, it's also the devices. Because they separated their minds and bodies to do the stuff the Court wanted them to when the distortion manifested the devices they were using to do whatever the Court had them doing turned into these tendrils. They may or may not be doing something related to the Star Ocean. I was asking the wrong question. Even after all these years of reading the comic I'm still straining to figure out what's going on. Stuff like this sometimes reminds me of being a little kid and showing something I drew to someone (my mother, a teacher, or whoever) and them praising me but having no clue what I drew. I wonder if that's how Mr. Siddell feels sometimes. [/edit] I forgot that the teacher had Pixar-level dump truck. |
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Post by guntherkrieg on Aug 23, 2024 9:31:32 GMT
Perhaps the students from the forest are akin to spice navigators, charting a path through ethereal space for the Court. This does seem like a plot point which should have been alluded to earlier in the story. The fairies expand consciousness. The fairies are vital to space travel. |
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Post by pyradonis on Aug 23, 2024 11:11:54 GMT
Well, that was a kinda underwhelming visit to the Ether.
I hope Annie barely saying anything is because whatever was just discussed in the Ether will both surprise Omega and us.
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morrahadesigns
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Post by morrahadesigns on Aug 23, 2024 13:18:27 GMT
For a group that wants to separate themselves from the ether they sure are heavily dependant upon it to get where they're going. Coyote's power, the former fairies' labor, etc.
Regards comments to Shell regarding jealousy ring ever more true.
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hoob
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Tony appreciator
Posts: 58
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Post by hoob on Aug 23, 2024 14:07:59 GMT
Perhaps the students from the forest are akin to spice navigators, charting a path through ethereal space for the Court. This does seem like a plot point which should have been alluded to earlier in the story. It was very subtle but it has been alluded to |
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Post by Gemini Jim on Aug 23, 2024 15:07:10 GMT
I wonder if the tendrils were invisible before, and the Distortion made them real?
And how much are the former fairies aware of them? Do they just think this is normal for humans?
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Aug 23, 2024 15:38:14 GMT
I wonder if the tendrils were invisible before, and the Distortion made them real? I think the tendrils are pretty much the computers the Foley kids were using. They're tendrils instead of some other sort of plant/seed/whatever because of the way the kids were using them, splitting their consciousnesses, leaving their bodies behind to work while frolicking in the ether. I am curious to see what they're connected to, but it's most likely just to the rest of the distorted environment. And how much are the former fairies aware of them? Do they just think this is normal for humans? I suspect that the tendrils are still functioning as devices and the kids are still working. They're probably aware what happened, said "huh" and just kept doing what they were doing. Bugsy may have gone off to see if she can figure out what's going on... or maybe she's asleep somewhere. Another question: Are Red and Ayilu here and what will be Red's reaction if/when Antimony tries to recruit here? |
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Post by Igniz on Aug 23, 2024 15:57:45 GMT
For a group that wants to separate themselves from the ether they sure are heavily dependant upon it to get where they're going. Coyote's power, the former fairies' labor, etc. Regards comments to Shell regarding jealousy ring ever more true. Typical political/corporate hypocrisy.  |
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Post by Gemminie on Aug 23, 2024 16:14:33 GMT
Kat is concerned with what the tendrils are, and Annie says she'll go into the Ether to talk to them. From Kat's point of view, we see what we don't get to see that often: what it looks like to other people when Annie switches her perceptions to the Ether. She stands still and closes her eyes, and we don't see anything. Meanwhile, Kat looks around and takes in the situation. When Annie comes back, she reports that the tendrils (first time someone's called them that) don't exist in the Ether, but the students seem happy enough.
Kat's brain goes into action. She confirms that the Foley students did a lot of work for the Court, and Annie replies that it was astrophysics work. Kat wonders if this work might have something to do with the star ocean.
OK. If the tendrils aren't visible in the Ether, that means they're something strictly physical. Kat's computer equipment got turned into plants. What if the Foley students are hooked to computers with cables, using their brains to directly process data somehow?
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aggadahGothic
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Post by aggadahGothic on Aug 23, 2024 17:24:04 GMT
Perhaps the students from the forest are akin to spice navigators, charting a path through ethereal space for the Court. This does seem like a plot point which should have been alluded to earlier in the story. It was very subtle but it has been alluded to Do these formulae pertain specifically to astrophysics? I noted them recently and assumed they merely describe motion in general. |
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Post by blahzor on Aug 23, 2024 17:59:24 GMT
Well, that was a kinda underwhelming visit to the Ether. I hope Annie barely saying anything is because whatever was just discussed in the Ether will both surprise Omega and us. they actually only talked bout the Buffy episode Hush |
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Post by pyradonis on Aug 24, 2024 7:30:12 GMT
Another question: Are Red and Ayilu here and what will be Red's reaction if/when Antimony tries to recruit here?
Do these formulae pertain specifically to astrophysics? I noted them recently and assumed they merely describe motion in general. Those I recognize are all used in orbital mechanics. Also the drawing behind Bugsy's head in panel 2 illustrates Kepler's Second Law of Planetary Motion. |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Aug 24, 2024 8:59:56 GMT
Another question: Are Red and Ayilu here and what will be Red's reaction if/when Antimony tries to recruit here? They might come here because of the distortion to check on people and maybe talk to Bugsy. I dunno if they can bwip but presumably they're on good terms with other people and remember this place well. Enough time has passed that they may have been here and gone, though. If they were here I'd think they'd have shown themselves by now (unless they appear next update or something). Do these formulae pertain specifically to astrophysics? I noted them recently and assumed they merely describe motion in general. Those I recognize are all used in orbital mechanics. Also the drawing behind Bugsy's head in panel 2 illustrates Kepler's Second Law of Planetary Motion. Funny story: The ethics courses in my undergrad major were a joke so I took the variants through the philosophy department. One paper that I wrote that particularly annoyed a professor was an examination of Zeno's paradox as a problem in modeling. My thesis was that the correctness of a model was dependent entirely on the application and a desired outcome and additionally that people had historically been reading things into the construction of the problem that weren't there. I'm horrible at maths but I got an online source where I could just fill in blanks (I forget which one I used) and plotted the orbits of Achilles behind the tortoise with either simultaneous movement or turn-based, and how Achilles can catch the tortoise if he doesn't start in the same lane and we redefine the definition of catch a little. If I remember right I got a C- and a lecture on how I'd completely missed the point and ignored most of the historical answers of the problem... which I turned into a half-hour argument with copious blackboard usage. |
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Cori
New Member
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Post by Cori on Aug 24, 2024 9:03:18 GMT
I hope that we finally get some answers about what the forest folk are doing for the Court, and why the Court wants them in the first place.
EDIT: to compound the evidence of the Court not caring about the Foley students getting a true education, when Bugsy was given her name, her "social worker" seemed unenthusiastic about her school performance ("your assessment results don't really leave you a lot of options."), so their decision to make her a teacher just shows that they think very little of Foley's instructors. The Court only cares about teaching the students one thing, and it seems to be rote-learning, so as long as the teachers can recite formulas and the students can memorize them that's all that appears to matter. |
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morrahadesigns
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Post by morrahadesigns on Aug 24, 2024 16:59:45 GMT
For a group that wants to separate themselves from the ether they sure are heavily dependant upon it to get where they're going. Coyote's power, the former fairies' labor, etc. Regards comments to Shell regarding jealousy ring ever more true. Typical political/corporate hypocrisy. Small business for life!!!! |
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Post by csj on Aug 24, 2024 18:27:00 GMT
'It's not slavery if my slaves are happy'
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Post by blahzor on Aug 24, 2024 21:01:17 GMT
thinking about the microsat 5 chapter is Tony's encoded message was to try and get around Meg knowing and via her The Court
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Post by drmemory on Aug 25, 2024 5:49:08 GMT
I still think it's plausible that the tendrils are an interface that has the fairies (and other forest critters?) hooked into a computer.
But.
The court made their bodies, right? We might be seeing a representation of a control mechanism.
While Omega thinks the court has done a lot of good for people, and I can't really argue the point without knowing what she knows, I will say that we've seen that they don't just do things altruistically. They have to be getting more out of the fairies and animals than just math. Especially the animals - I doubt very much if the fish guy does astrophysics! If nothing else, it seems likely they'd have a control mechanism in place, to keep them on task. Or an energy siphon mechanism, of course, which would actually make a lot of sense.
Another point - why would fairies be good at data and math? We actually saw that Annie's friend, the rabbit, was doing number crunching. This makes me suspect that the skills come with the bodies. If you assume that the court gives them bodies with skills needed by the court, and that they have a way to keep them on task if not out and out control them, then things make a lot more sense IMHO. It also might explain why the court doesn't care if they spend their time frolicking in the ether - their court-supplied bodies and brains are doing the work, and the tendrils may be siphoning ether as well.
A side note - I'm sure the court instantly knew about Shadow 2 not being a real Foley student, as he doesn't have a body they made. This is especially true if he isn't tendriled into their network. I imagine they let it happen both to avoid annoying Jones and because it really wasn't doing any harm. We've seen that they know a lot more about what is going on than the kids assume...
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aggadahGothic
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Post by aggadahGothic on Aug 25, 2024 6:02:39 GMT
Another point - why would fairies be good at data and math? We actually saw that Annie's friend, the rabbit, was doing number crunching. This makes me suspect that the skills come with the bodies. evidences that neither fairies nor animals are particularly familiar with mathematics. However, I recall Tom, perhaps in a retrospective, once mentioning that although the creatures of the forest may not be adept at maths in the way that humans are, they have their own unique strengths in this regard by virtue of the unique manner in which they see the world. *This* may be what the Court is exploiting. |
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Cori
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Post by Cori on Aug 25, 2024 8:23:01 GMT
Another point - why would fairies be good at data and math? We actually saw that Annie's friend, the rabbit, was doing number crunching. This makes me suspect that the skills come with the bodies. evidences that neither fairies nor animals are particularly familiar with mathematics. However, I recall Tom, perhaps in a retrospective, once mentioning that although the creatures of the forest may not be adept at maths in the way that humans are, they have their own unique strengths in this regard by virtue of the unique manner in which they see the world. *This* may be what the Court is exploiting. |
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Post by exquisitecorpus on Aug 25, 2024 10:09:50 GMT
It would be wild (and hilarious) if this supposedly ether-free new predictive model based off of Omega just turned out to be a supercomputer comprised of Court fairies or something. (I know they're more likely involved with the Star Ocean/space compression/navigational tech of the Court. Just gotta get my quota of Wild Mass Guessing out there.) |
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Post by pyradonis on Aug 26, 2024 10:03:49 GMT
This page evidences that neither fairies nor animals are particularly familiar with mathematics. However, I recall Tom, perhaps in a retrospective, once mentioning that although the creatures of the forest may not be adept at maths in the way that humans are, they have their own unique strengths in this regard by virtue of the unique manner in which they see the world. *This* may be what the Court is exploiting. Which, so far, is still a thing living beings generally outperform computers at. I always imagined a huge part of the Foley's work was training neural networks. |
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Post by blahzor on Aug 26, 2024 12:13:49 GMT
This page evidences that neither fairies nor animals are particularly familiar with mathematics. However, I recall Tom, perhaps in a retrospective, once mentioning that although the creatures of the forest may not be adept at maths in the way that humans are, they have their own unique strengths in this regard by virtue of the unique manner in which they see the world. *This* may be what the Court is exploiting. now give them a pattern of numbers |
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