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Stature

Story Friday July 8, 2016

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5 hours ago, InfiniteRemnant said:

anybody else going to point out that "Blaike" looks like a medivalized palette swap of Volty? that CANT be coincidence...

But how would that work?

Blaike Raven was mortal.  So even if Voltaire was Adrian's brother, they would both be half immortal "elves".  And every indication is that Cheshire Fried Colonel was a true immortal.

Unless...

We have established that Voltaire is a lying liar who lies.  Right?  Would it be possible for an elf to impersonate an immortal sufficiently well to deceive other magically aware beings?

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in a  way, this storyline really makes me feel sorry for Pandora. She presumably didn't reset because she was concerned about having wasted this particular life, and as a result, she is leaving a legacy that her next life will probably be profoundly ashamed of. She's a clear example of why immortals reset- her basic personality is still there- she was always something of a troll, but somethiing of a lightherated one, making people do embarrassing things rather than dangerous things- but over time, the increased power has corrupted her into thinking that the consequences to others don't matter. Frankly, this makes me think the best thing for her is to go through a proper immortal death, so that her next life will not lose the knowledge of important things ( like, for example, not skipping resets) while regaining her sanity.

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5 hours ago, sstabeler said:

in a  way, this storyline really makes me feel sorry for Pandora. She presumably didn't reset because she was concerned about having wasted this particular life, and as a result, she is leaving a legacy that her next life will probably be profoundly ashamed of. She's a clear example of why immortals reset- her basic personality is still there- she was always something of a troll, but somethiing of a lightherated one, making people do embarrassing things rather than dangerous things- but over time, the increased power has corrupted her into thinking that the consequences to others don't matter. Frankly, this makes me think the best thing for her is to go through a proper immortal death, so that her next life will not lose the knowledge of important things ( like, for example, not skipping resets) while regaining her sanity.

Funny, I was thinking this life of hers is an example of the flaws in the whole reset system.  Pandora starts this life wasting it with stupid childish pranks, and by the time she's matured enough to realize she wants more out of life, that she wants to make the world a better place in some way, it's three-quarters over!  When she resets, she'll lose all that wisdom of experience, and most likely go back to stupid childish pranks.  And the worst part is, she's now old and wise enough to *realize* this, and to see it happening over and over again, never actually growing as a person because all her growth is discarded.

Even Jerry seems like he wouldn't have bothered helping Diane if Old Jerry hadn't made an official vow that he was still bound by.  We think of Jerry as the kindly, helpful Immortal he was in the cave, but now he's the jerk who wanted to encourage inappropriate sexist remarks.

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the problem is, she hasn't matured. If you bottomline what she does, she is playing with mortals. Not resetting just means that she no longer worries about the consequences of her actions- combined with the fact that it is difficult for events to be truly unpredictable for her since she is so old. When events are predictable to her, they are no fun. If she reset, yes, she would be back to playing childish pranks on mortals. That would probably be an improvement since she is currently essentially playing dangerous pranks on mortals.

 

As for Jerry- he's why I think resets are closer to reincarnation than a memory wipe. I think it's more that he resents that he has to help Diane due to the vow. It's the compulsion he resents, not helping Diane as such. he's not immature as much as resents an obligation being forced on him by- to him- somebody else, especially when it wasn't even because of something Old Jerry had done.(the vow was because of Helena and Demetrius using Nanase and  Susan to kill the abomination rather than getting help. Incidentally, regardless of the family talent of Susan for vampire hunting, I agree with Old Jerry they were assholes. At a minimum, Susan was forced to kill somebody, and probably never got counselling for that. She was probably 15 at the time.(and yes, I know Abominations give up their humanity. However, the abomination was in human form at the time, and I doubt Susan knew the difference at the time. Even if she did, you can intellectually know something isn't human, but if it looks human, your mind will instinctively think it is human.) yes, it's good that Susan gained access to her magic, but the psychological effects must have been devastating. The could easily have empowered Nanase and Susan while making them promise to fight abominations in the future. For that matter, given Abominations are an exception to the rule of Immortal noninterference, they could probably have simply killed it themselves. Instead, they chose a method more in character for Pandora. If I had to guess, they were overdue for a reset themselves- and appear to have needed to be forced to, since they improperly reset- and were beginning to go insane like Pandora has.)

 

In short, several centuries of experience hasn't actually made Pandora any more mature.

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On 7/9/2016 at 3:09 AM, InfiniteRemnant said:

anybody else going to point out that "Blaike" looks like a medivalized palette swap of Volty? that CANT be coincidence...

He also looks like a shorter, darker haired version of the bartender from the Detective Block NP. I'm pretty sure it's just that style of facial hair.

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On 9 July 2016 at 5:48 PM, Tom Sewell said:

A giant magical lion bear: Impressive. But... it would have been even better with the pogo stick and the accordion.

As long as we're speculating on Mommy Pandora and widdle Adrian, could it be possible that Adrian had a sibling? Back in Death Sentence, Grace had a question...

oh. 

 

 

OH.

 

I uh... must have missed that day's comic because apparently I didn't know how Adrian potentially fits into the mess of family issues surrounding Susan.

 

Well. At least I knew before the current 'likely to involve resolving the familial arcs for a time' chapter is up!

 

also, sidenote: anyone else getting I Dream Of Jeanie vibes from Pandora? Girl got seragiglio clothes on, or at least got the Jasmine style tied up hair you see in Korean knockoff action figures of Jasmine anyhow.

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People are implying they think this is a previous life pandora? I'm pretty sure it's the same one, and that the reason she hasn't reset is because of her son. If I'm wrong this has to be even further in the past...

Regardless, she has been answering 299 to her age for a few centuries now (at least 3?), and she is presumably about 150 in this one, so it is at the very least 450 years ago? Raven once implied he was British, although I don't know how canon that was.  So this is at the latest a 16th century English man, which would put him bang on the war of the roses. Could be earlier. Don't see how it can be later.

He has a nice rucksack!

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On 7/9/2016 at 0:48 PM, Tom Sewell said:

As long as we're speculating on Mommy Pandora and widdle Adrian, could it be possible that Adrian had a sibling? Back in Death Sentence, Grace had a question...

Already been speculated from Uryuom eggs and Noriko's involvement, to my last one that speculates that Pandora birthed Susan and Diane herself making the girls Adrian's half sisters. The only issue being the lack of evidence of their elvish nature that Jerry should have been able to detect when he met Susan. Don't know if it's possible to suppress the Immortal essence in an elf to make them more human, given Pandora's age and power it might be possible, Jerry apparently couldn't detect Sarah's innate talent, I don't think it was because of his being in the process of resetting or else he would have said so living past the reset date does seem to have some benefit. Then again, maybe Jerry and those who would know (Edward) do already know, and have been keeping it secret until such a time it becomes an issue, sure Susan has already awakened, but if there was something else that would make her elven nature show. Like in Highlander, people have the potential to be born with the immortal trait, but if memory serves, that trait could only be activated by an untimely death, but if person lived until they died old age then they never become immortal.

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6 hours ago, RainbowWizard said:

I uh... must have missed that day's comic because apparently I didn't know how Adrian potentially fits into the mess of family issues surrounding Susan.

He likely doesn't, this is a sideplot. Every sister arc has had one.

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A magic lion bear? What is this, ATLA?

Also, Blaike has some nice clothes, so I'm assuming he was rich. I learned from the previous comic thread that only rich people had decent clothes several centuries ago.

On 8.7.2016 at 8:40 PM, ijuin said:

On the "how old Immortals tend to look" thing, I think that it's mostly a matter of "You are as old as you feel". An Immortal may choose to look elderly in order to convey wisdom and gravitas--Jerry had that "everybody's favorite uncle" air about him right before his reset, while Pandora uses a child form to convey playfulness and lack of concern for consequences.

I agree. Helena and Demetrius most likely felt old so they looked old, or then they chose to look old so they would look more convincing to Susan and Nanase. After all, everyone knows that old people are wise and trustworthy.

:demonicduck:

On 8.7.2016 at 9:25 PM, FailedSanity said:

Only six panels in, and already I'm invested in this ship! (Helps that Raven is one of my favorite characters)

I'm calling it now that the reason Pandora didn't reset at 200 like she probaby should have is because she had a son to take care of, and Raven's father was dead or otherwise incapacitated or incapable. 

Or then she simply didn't want to lose her memories of Blaike like I suggested before. Either that, or she wanted to become more powerful than any other immortal in order to protect her son from every possible danger.

On 8.7.2016 at 1:17 AM, Avistew said:

I hope Adrian's father is going to fall in love with her too and not something darker, but with this comic things don't usually get very dark, they mostly get very cute, so I'm not too worried.

I hope by "something darker" you mean that Blaike could have married Pandora just so she could get him everything he could ever want instead of implying that he forced her into anything, because frankly, I don't see that even being possible. Pandora is intelligent and extremely powerful and immortals are allowed to defend themselves against mortals, so I don't see how Blaike could possibly have forced her into anything or abused her in any way. Also, if he had, I don't think she would have kept his last name. Nope, I bet there's only cuteness ahead (until Blaike's death, that is).

8 hours ago, JustBecauseICantDraw said:

People are implying they think this is a previous life pandora? I'm pretty sure it's the same one, and that the reason she hasn't reset is because of her son. If I'm wrong this has to be even further in the past...

Uh... I don't recall anyone implying that they think this is Pandora in her previous life. If anything, we've been making theories about why she chose to not reset and yes, I think Adrian is one of the best guesses. Perhaps something happened to him in his youth and Pandora decided to look after him better with all the extra power she would gain over the centuries.

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1 hour ago, SeriousJupiter said:

I hope by "something darker" you mean that Blaike could have married Pandora just so she could get him everything he could ever want instead of implying that he forced her into anything, because frankly, I don't see that even being possible. Pandora is intelligent and extremely powerful and immortals are allowed to defend themselves against mortals, so I don't see how Blaike could possibly have forced her into anything or abused her in any way. Also, if he had, I don't think she would have kept his last name. Nope, I bet there's only cuteness ahead (until Blaike's death, that is).

I think the implication was the other way 'round. That she was the one who pressured or tricked or forced him. I don't think either is at all likely.

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The only Issues I could see that might have caused a separation between Blaike and Pandora, aside from Blaike's death of course, would have been either other Immortals caught wind of the relationship and forbade it (could explain why elves are very rare, interacting with humans in such a way might be outside of the "only guide and empower" rule), or as is Pandora's nature, she got bored of the relationship. I don't think boredom is very likely though since she has shown that family is important to her.

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18 hours ago, Matoyak said:
19 hours ago, SeriousJupiter said:

I hope by "something darker" you mean that Blaike could have married Pandora just so she could get him everything he could ever want instead of implying that he forced her into anything, because frankly, I don't see that even being possible. Pandora is intelligent and extremely powerful and immortals are allowed to defend themselves against mortals, so I don't see how Blaike could possibly have forced her into anything or abused her in any way. Also, if he had, I don't think she would have kept his last name. Nope, I bet there's only cuteness ahead (until Blaike's death, that is).

I think the implication was the other way 'round. That she was the one who pressured or tricked or forced him. I don't think either is at all likely.

It's certainly more likely that Pandora will trick mortal than the mortal forcing Pandora into anything. Note that forcing him would likely be against the rules, but tricking likely not. It's just ... he seem to be relatively immune to her trickery.

12 hours ago, Scotty said:

interacting with humans in such a way might be outside of the "only guide and empower" rule

If it would be against THIS rule, then it would be more serious and they would likely interfere BEFORE Raven would be born.

On 07/10/2016 at 11:42 AM, sstabeler said:

In short, several centuries of experience hasn't actually made Pandora any more mature.

She MIGHT be regressing now, actually.

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On 7/10/2016 at 0:37 PM, RainbowWizard said:

oh. 

 

 

OH.

 

I uh... must have missed that day's comic because apparently I didn't know how Adrian potentially fits into the mess of family issues surrounding Susan.

 

Well. At least I knew before the current 'likely to involve resolving the familial arcs for a time' chapter is up!

 

also, sidenote: anyone else getting I Dream Of Jeanie vibes from Pandora? Girl got seragiglio clothes on, or at least got the Jasmine style tied up hair you see in Korean knockoff action figures of Jasmine anyhow.

Yeah, but it may be more like I Dream of a Jeanie Bottle. There's already been a crossover from EGS to C.D. Rudd's webcomic (#101 and #102, in case you want to check it out.)

Actually, the Ancients/Immortals in EGS sort of fit folklore about the jinn. They're supposed to be invisible most of the time and often are the source of those invisible voices some of us hear from time to time.

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Also, they are both known for toying with mortals for fun...

But yes, Djinn sounds appropriate--greater than humans yet less than deities.

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I suspect Blaike, not Adrian, is the initial catalyst for her refusal to reset. We know that she is limiting herself to indulge his experience of adventure. I suspect that this will have tragic consequences, which convince her to question both a focused experience of life, and the rules of the immortals. Adrian is the object of her affections, but not the subject which provoked them - this would partly explain why she doesn't discuss her plans with him.

On Jerry, If you meet someone who isn't frustrated by an edict or directive they can neither understand nor reject, imposed by an authority they do not know, then you've found someone who is remarkably immature, both a danger to themselves and to others. I think you can argue that he wouldn't have aided Diane, simply because he wouldn't have been on hand, because he would not know. We can't really say whether he would or would not assist her had he come upon the situation by chance, without the prior vow - that would be speculation as to his base personality, which we have only observed under the influence of the aforementioned vow.

 


 

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2 hours ago, banneret said:

I suspect Blaike, not Adrian, is the initial catalyst for her refusal to reset. We know that she is limiting herself to indulge his experience of adventure. I suspect that this will have tragic consequences, which convince her to question both a focused experience of life, and the rules of the immortals. Adrian is the object of her affections, but not the subject which provoked them - this would partly explain why she doesn't discuss her plans with him.

The biggest hole in that theory is that Blaike will be about 70-80 years old when Pandora hits 200. Assuming he's still alive. That might cause her to *delay* reset a few years - and I never got the impression that 200 was a hard deadline - but not to avoid it outright.

And Adrian will be nearly 50, so while she might delay to take care of her son, she won't delay to take care of her little baby boy. Unless half-immortals mature much more slowly than humans.

My guess would be some immediate and long-term threat to Adrian. Not just ordinary life, or even something inherent in being a half-immortal (such as his extraordinarily-long lifespan, which could attract unpleasant attention if he stays in one place for too long). Something extra that is specifically threatening him.

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6 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Yeah, but it may be more like I Dream of a Jeanie Bottle. There's already been a crossover from EGS to C.D. Rudd's webcomic (#101 and #102, in case you want to check it out.)

But there was none in other direction yet - in fact, while EGS features in multiple crossovers, none was acknowledged in EGS canon.

6 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Actually, the Ancients/Immortals in EGS sort of fit folklore about the jinn. They're supposed to be invisible most of the time and often are the source of those invisible voices some of us hear from time to time.

They fit quite well to MULTIPLE folklore, I don't think there is anything special about jinn. Immortals in EGS likely played the roles of Greek gods, English fairies and Arabic jinns, as well as many other.

4 hours ago, ijuin said:

greater than humans yet less than deities

... if you think so ... we have nothing pointing existence of anything bigger than immortals in EGS, except magic itself of course.

50 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

My guess would be some immediate and long-term threat to Adrian.

I still consider most likely that she simply didn't wanted to lose the first-hand memories of him and/or Blaike. But on the other extreme end ... note that we can't be sure if she CAN reset properly without Adrian dying.

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2 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

The biggest hole in that theory is that Blaike will be about 70-80 years old when Pandora hits 200. Assuming he's still alive. That might cause her to *delay* reset a few years - and I never got the impression that 200 was a hard deadline - but not to avoid it outright.

And Adrian will be nearly 50, so while she might delay to take care of her son, she won't delay to take care of her little baby boy. Unless half-immortals mature much more slowly than humans.

My guess would be some immediate and long-term threat to Adrian. Not just ordinary life, or even something inherent in being a half-immortal (such as his extraordinarily-long lifespan, which could attract unpleasant attention if he stays in one place for too long). Something extra that is specifically threatening him.

I don't see that as a hole at all, we often make far reaching decisions long before they're actually relevant. This is particularly true when it comes to aging and mortality. Waiting until she is two hundred to make the call doesn't make sense in either case, as your timeline illustrates. It seems far more likely that her decision will be a consequence of tragedy, rather than a response to a threat. At fifty, or even as early as thirty, I suspect Adrian will be able to take care of himself.

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