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Post by hal9000 on Apr 13, 2010 1:43:42 GMT
I recently asked a question on the gunnerkrigg formspring, about whether or not the Court possesses weapons of mass destruction:   The answer here is definitely affirmative, though it leaves the exact nature of the weapons unclear. Therefore, I am creating this thread to discuss the possible ramifications of this within the story, and to encourage speculation on the exact nature of the weapons in question. Things I'm wondering about: Are these weapons solely meant to act as a deterrent against the Forest folk/Coyote? Are there other nations/entities against whom these weapons might be used? What sort of weapon could serve as an appropriate counter/deterrent to a godlike entity like Coyote? Here are a few useful real-life references on the topic: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Weapons_of_mass_destructionnuclearweaponarchive.org/And here's an interesting piece of alternate-history cold war fiction that speculates on what might have happened if you'd mixed the Cthulhu mythos with cold war-era international intrigue: www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm |
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four
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Post by four on Apr 13, 2010 1:49:42 GMT
It is clearly Zimmy's science project. (I'm just kidding; I know that Tom said it was harmless, if an abomination.)
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Post by cazador on Apr 13, 2010 2:31:09 GMT
clearly, it's either the power-plant (as a weather-control device), or inside the power plant.
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Post by jimbobbowilly on Apr 13, 2010 3:31:05 GMT
You damn kids get off the grass!
[deterrent lightning zap]
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ding
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Post by ding on Apr 13, 2010 3:37:43 GMT
There's also the bomber imagery that's been popping up, and other war references. Can we assume that the Court has some kind of history with anti-aircraft guns? Had been assuming that's where it got its name. And if so, why would the industrialized court in particular be a target of said aircraft? Was the Court producing munitions or other military technology?
Not convinced Coyote or Mr. Y are the greatest threat to the Court...
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sz
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Post by sz on Apr 13, 2010 3:44:33 GMT
Not convinced Coyote or Mr. Y are the greatest threat to the Court... Something tells me that a god that can split the earth by scratching at it with his sky-sized claws would count as a threat as dangerous as, if not more than, a conventional weapon of mass destruction. And that's not taking his jackass personality into account.  If the Court has any weapon of mass destruction, I imagine it'll be esoteric in nature. Probably, it'll be the product of various experiments they've done with etheric mechanics. Hard to see the Court creating a WMD for military purposes... |
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Post by Casey on Apr 13, 2010 3:57:19 GMT
I took his answer to be referring to Zimmy herself as the force capable of mass destruction.
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Post by Mezzaphor on Apr 13, 2010 5:40:15 GMT
Yeah, I doubt Tom meant a WMD in the conventional sense, otherwise he would have just said Yes, without any qualifiers.
So, maybe there's someone else from Chester or Foley house (besides Zimmy) with dangerous powers. Maybe the Power Station's weather-control function could be weaponized as a lightning generator.
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Post by TBeholder on Apr 13, 2010 8:26:37 GMT
I recently asked a question on the gunnerkrigg formspring, about whether or not the Court possesses weapons of mass destruction: The answer here is definitely affirmative, though it leaves the exact nature of the weapons unclear. Therefore, I am creating this thread to discuss the possible ramifications of this within the story, and to encourage speculation on the exact nature of the weapons in question. You got what you asked for. Maybe the Power Station's weather-control function could be weaponized as a lightning generator. IMHO, it's the Kzinti Lesson. I mean, if you got something capable of cutting a rail in two like a sausage with a casual sweep, you'd better not to point it at yourself or your co-workers. If one have means to transfer 1 kJ in 10 ms or less anywhere - in almost any form - it's enough to insta-kill a human in weak or no protection. The same, 10 MJ - can reliably destroy a light armored vehicle. And so on. And on. Judging by the Court's offhanded use of things like laser cows and the energy lost in fireworks at that station, they got formidable power throughput and more than enough of measures to manipulate it, so... |
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Post by todd on Apr 13, 2010 11:05:26 GMT
There's also the bomber imagery that's been popping up, and other war references. Can we assume that the Court has some kind of history with anti-aircraft guns? Had been assuming that's where it got its name. And if so, why would the industrialized court in particular be a target of said aircraft? Was the Court producing munitions or other military technology? We know that the Court's Founders were apparently refugees from a war; maybe they were the losing side and not just conventional "frightened villagers fleeing from their burning homes and fields". (Certainly they seemed too sophisticated to be mere frightened villagers.) In Chapter Fifteen, the horse robot was reciting lines from Book Six of Milton's "Paradise Lost", describing the war in Heaven brought about by Satan's revolt. Could that be a hint about the Court's background? Were Sir Young and his colleagues carrying out their own rebellion, and fled into Gillitie Wood to escape being captured by the winning side and punished for high treason? (Of course, "Satan" is probably too strong a term to use for Sir Young and the other Founders, even after what they did to Jeanne.) Though, since Tom's mentioned in another thread that the Court has secret agreements with MI5, presumably Gunnerkrigg can't be living in fear of the British government coming after them now to finish dealing with the rebellion (particularly since Sir Young and his company must all be long since dead). |
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Post by the bandit on Apr 13, 2010 17:08:33 GMT
It's the etheric equivalent of a nuclear bomb that deals damage solely to the etherium, not too much unlike an EMP.
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Post by legion on Apr 13, 2010 17:48:30 GMT
It's the etheric equivalent of a nuclear bomb that deals damage solely to the etherium, not too much unlike an EMP. Wouldn't that be lethal to like, a quarter or even a half of the students and personnal as well :/? |
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Post by the bandit on Apr 13, 2010 21:42:59 GMT
Only if it went off in the middle of the Court. Or, arguably, it would just strip them of their powers.
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Post by hal9000 on Apr 13, 2010 23:34:06 GMT
Only if it went off in the middle of the Court. Or, arguably, it would just strip them of their powers. Well if it really is something quite similar to a nuclear weapon that can only affect the etheric plane, then considering 'souls' in the comic are in the etheric realm it would seem likely to me that it would cause damage to/destroy the soul. I don't think we've seen anyone in the comic stripped entirely of their soul over the period of a few milli/microseconds, but I suspect the results would not be pleasant. Maybe it would be similar to the effects of the idealized/"hollywood version" neutron bomb? Every living thing within the lethal radius just instantly drops dead, and every living thing within a somewhat larger radius takes massive damage, leaving only the robots and computers to inherit the court. |
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Post by Mr Pitchfork on Apr 14, 2010 7:02:42 GMT
Tom doesn't differentiate between biological and artificial computers in the comic. He says that animals and robots are equally capable of forming souls. Perhaps this means that the soul isn't the driving life-force of animals, because not all computers have souls but all are capable of developing them.
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Post by Mezzaphor on Apr 14, 2010 11:43:39 GMT
Tom has said that there is no psychopomp for robots, which implies that they don't have souls in the same sense that humans and animals do.
But the etheric equivalent of a nuke strikes me as a plain old WMD, not a WMD "in a way".
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Post by violet on Apr 14, 2010 18:44:08 GMT
Tom has said that there is no psychopomp for robots, which implies that they don't have souls in the same sense that humans and animals do. Or that a psychopomp hasn't gotten around to being created or assigned yet. The politics of psychopompery seem rather intricate. |
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Post by warrl on Apr 14, 2010 18:46:55 GMT
Tom has said that there is no psychopomp for robots Did he specifically say that? The only thing we know in-comic (unless I've forgotten something, which is not exactly impossible) is that the psychopomps don't do Tic-Tocs. |
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Post by Mezzaphor on Apr 14, 2010 22:35:14 GMT
Tom has said that there is no psychopomp for robots Did he specifically say that? The only thing we know in-comic (unless I've forgotten something, which is not exactly impossible) is that the psychopomps don't do Tic-Tocs. which implies that they don't have souls in the same sense that humans and animals do. Or that a psychopomp hasn't gotten around to being created or assigned yet. The politics of psychopompery seem rather intricate. Yeah, that's definitely something to consider. (I wonder, with the rules that the Guides adhere to--is there some higher authority enforcing these rules, or is it just the Guides themselves agreeing to the rules to prevent chaos?) Honestly though, I hope the robots do have souls, and I wish there were a Guide for them. |
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Post by legion on Apr 14, 2010 23:02:31 GMT
Mezzaphor > nothing to do with this thread, but is your present avatar from Cave Story/Dōkutsu Monogatari?
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Post by Mezzaphor on Apr 15, 2010 3:31:56 GMT
Yes. It's a character portrait from the PC version, but I switched her hair color to match the updated pic from the WiiWare version.
And, to tie this back in with the original topic: Maybe the Court has a bunch of Red Flowers stashed away somewhere, as a last-ditch defense in the event of a really bad emergency.
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Post by TBeholder on Apr 15, 2010 10:47:12 GMT
And if so, why would the industrialized court in particular be a target of said aircraft? Was the Court producing munitions or other military technology? In that air war? Probably some poor sod just saw something not-quite-rural, flew there to bomb it a little and suddenly Hilarity Ensued. In Chapter Fifteen, the horse robot was reciting lines from Book Six of Milton's "Paradise Lost", describing the war in Heaven brought about by Satan's revolt. Could that be a hint about the Court's background? Hardly, but " Those old war horses never shut up", on the other hand... It's the etheric equivalent of a nuclear bomb that deals damage solely to the etherium, not too much unlike an EMP. ...and they bombed a ghost city with a ghost of the Hiroshima bomb... no, wait, it's not World of Darkness setting. Honestly though, I hope the robots do have souls, and I wish there were a Guide for them. To see how it looks? Well, maybe Ketrak is a clue.  Or this one. |
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