Comic for Wednesday, Feb 15, 2023

[Darth Fluffy 302]

Comic for Wednesday, Feb 15, 2023

Diane appears to be home, dressed in what look like jammies. First panel, pensive, second panel, she's curious about 'Sir' Raven, which is indeed odd, since in the referenced comic, Adrian points out that Noah has no authority to knight anyone. Three panels of calling, I expected she was calling Adrian, but no, she's calling Susan. Then two more panels for that reveal, "You have an uncle", and Susan responding with a confused "What?" I share her confusion. Diane did not learn anything new about Susan's relationship to Adrian. Is she calling Noah Susan's uncle? Hmm, I suppose she is.

[Don Edwards 548]

Just because Raven hasn't been knighted by anyone with the authority to actually do so (at least, not under his current identity), doesn't mean Noah won't consider him a knight.

And yes, Noah is Susan's new uncle. He is, after all, her great^n-aunt's adoptive sister brother.

Edit: fixed typing-while-half-asleep error

[mlooney 3,417]

7 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

And yes, Noah is Susan's new uncle. He is, after all, her great^n-aunt's adoptive sister.

Brother.  Noah shows no sign of being fem, other than his general androgynous look.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

The number of 'greats' between Diane, Noah & Susan depends on the number of generations between Raven & Susan.  A number I doubt Dan will fix canonicaly.

 

[mlooney 3,417]

Yeah, fixing that number would set how old Raven is, which, by adding 156 would tell us how old Pandora is, and that's one of the great unanswered questions of EGS.

[ChronosCat 155]

Not necessarily; people can be fertile for several decades (even most of their lives for those who are biologically male). While a generation might average out to 20-30 years, if many people in a family have kids early there will be more generations in a given period of time, and if many have them late there will be fewer. As such, the further back in time we go the bigger the range of possibilities.

The number of generations would still give us a range of possible years of birth for Raven, but considering we already have strong evidence he was born in the Middle Ages, I wonder if that range would really narrow things down all that much?

[mlooney 3,417]

22 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

The number of generations would still give us a range of possible years of birth for Raven, but considering we already have strong evidence he was born in the Middle Ages, I wonder if that range would really narrow things down all that much?

It would help.  A generation is normally 20 years, so 10 generations would put him in the 1800's, 20 in the 1600's  and 30 in the 1500's etc.  Given that Pandora "remembered" the last magic change from her previous self, that would give us a context on when the last change happened.

[ijuin 572]

That may be lowballing it—20 years is a typical age for a couple’s firstborn child (in a society where the majority of people do not take post-secondary education, i.e. any time before the 20th century), but without widespread contraception, they may have their lastborn child at close to age 40. For example, there was an age spread of eighteen years between my mother’s oldest sibling and her youngest.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

There is also a 'generational awareness' that isn't just biological, the thing you see in emails, "The kids graduating this year have never ...". 20 years seems about right for that.

Biologically, I think there is a cultural influence that adjusts it somewhat. But for much of our history, the impetus to have children was more necessity than choice; help with the farm and such. The wealthy could afford to delay, but would also be driven by needing an heir. It's only since the industrial era that having kids became an optional chore.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

Immortals have to reset, they get bored and go crazy. Adrian does not appear to have this limitation. Lacking their level of magic ability and having normal human struggles keeps him sane? Perhaps it's relationships? That seems to have helped Pandora to extend her lifespan.

An implication is that if magic became easier to access, people would gt bored and societal behavior would decline (like it needs help). If they were also able to extend their lives, they should run into the same problem.

Does each universe in EGS have a separate 'Will of Magic'? If not, then why wouldn't magic be roughly the same in each?

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

In some universes, the Will of Magic respects Punic War cosplay

 

[ijuin 572]

1 hour ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Immortals have to reset, they get bored and go crazy. Adrian does not appear to have this limitation. Lacking their level of magic ability and having normal human struggles keeps him sane? Perhaps it's relationships? That seems to have helped Pandora to extend her lifespan.

According to Jerry, as an Immortal ages, they become progressively better at forecasting events—for example, Pandora had predicted the length of her two-week pre-Halloween nap to within a few seconds. I think that it is this “nothing is new and surprising any more” aspect that drives them to do more and more wild things in search of thrills, and as Jerry said, this can end up with them doing something so reckless that people end up being killed.