Book 2 – Text Updates 056

[bladestorm]

There are many examples of Rulers willing to risk themselves in the field. Jillian should be back at Faq, but instead she is leading the pillaging missions against GK, which would make it really easy for someone to end that entire side, again. Parson even mentioned making that a priority next turn, whether it is himself or his replacement. Slately (or possibly his double) is enjoying the rush of combat in Jetstone's airspace. Stanley has stated that he is wanting to get back into action again, but can't because he is the Overlord and can't risk his Side. Despite that, he still charged headlong into combat against Transylvito's ambush. King County died in solo combat. Once we get some more history to Erfworld, there will probably be many other Rulers who have courted danger and gone into combat or traveled abroad in enemy territory. Aside from Stanely, none of them have a Tool. If Stanely falls and any of the other rulers get ahold of that power, they will probably be out on the battlefield, rocking out. Jillian definitely would. Slately was just given accessories and went wild with them, so just imagine how much more courage he'd muster with a Tool. Even Ansom waded into single combat vs thousands of uncroaked while wielding the pliers, and he wasn't even attuned to them. There's plenty of precedence set for whoever is attuned to the pliers to be near the front lines, if not for the ready source of new raw materials to decrypt, then because this is seemingly accepted behavior in Erfworld. IN a case such as Artemis, it is a punishment to be denied entering the battlefield (which also partially explains why Stanley dislikes it so much -- it's like he is being punished for something he didn't do).

Charlie is the only example we have of a stay at home Ruler/Overlord that doesn't bear some grief about not being in the field leading their Side into battle, and we have very little knowledge of his/her actual personality.

[Nnelg]

Infact, just the cost of maintaining foolamancy piercing scouts will be fairly expensive.

Not if the foolamancy piercing scouts in question happen to be decrypted archons.

opportunity cost of not using them for other things

That, and the fact that decryption isn't exactly available for any side to use.

we've never seen (to my recollection) a caster ordered to create a scroll, or learn more about their own or another branch of magic.

We've never seen it, but there's no known reason why the ruler of a desperate side wouldn't do it. Or that many casters would object to such an order (even if they keep quiet about their misgivings). Besides, it's just as possible that we simply haven't been shown such mundane orders in-comic.


Still though, I like your Free Time = More Loyalty theories.

[Oberon]

we've never seen (to my recollection) a caster ordered to create a scroll, or learn more about their own or another branch of magic.

We've never seen it, but there's no known reason why the ruler of a desperate side wouldn't do it. Or that many casters would object to such an order (even if they keep quiet about their misgivings). Besides, it's just as possible that we simply haven't been shown such mundane orders in-comic.

Still though, I like your Free Time = More Loyalty theories.

Well, thanks. That means a lot, given that we're often on the opposite side of debates here.

I still think that the comic has pretty well established that units aren't arbitrarily stripped of their possessions by their rulers simply because those rulers think that some other unit would be a better owner. Saline certainly didn't order Stanley to hand his 'hammer over to the current CWL or some higher level warlord, Stanley hasn't seen if anyone else could attune to the 'pliers, etc. I don't recall a single example of any ruler ordering some unit to hand their magic item over to another unit. Jetstone tried all princes to see if they could attune. That makes sense. And if some Jetstone prince could attune, I don't doubt that Slately would have had Ansom hand them over. But we still never saw that happen, and it suggests that the 'pliers were held as a sort of 'side' item that went to whomever could get some good use out of them. Or perhaps the use of the 'pliers was an heir prerogative.

Why did the GK armory hold so many magic items for Parson to equip, rather than having those items distributed to the units in the field? Does anyone doubt that Sylvia wouldn't be better off with a staff of magic resistance? Or some other warlord better off with whatever those claws do? Or the cloak? Or anything else? They don't do the side much good just sitting in the armory... It's a bit baffling. But still, personal property seems to be respected by rulers and other superiors who could conceivably order the owners to hand the items off to better suited users.

[Salem]

I still think that the comic has pretty well established that units aren't arbitrarily stripped of their possessions by their rulers simply because those rulers think that some other unit would be a better owner. Saline certainly didn't order Stanley to hand his 'hammer over to the current CWL or some higher level warlord, Stanley hasn't seen if anyone else could attune to the 'pliers, etc. I don't recall a single example of any ruler ordering some unit to hand their magic item over to another unit. Jetstone tried all princes to see if they could attune. That makes sense. And if some Jetstone prince could attune, I don't doubt that Slately would have had Ansom hand them over. But we still never saw that happen, and it suggests that the 'pliers were held as a sort of 'side' item that went to whomever could get some good use out of them. Or perhaps the use of the 'pliers was an heir prerogative.

Why did the GK armory hold so many magic items for Parson to equip, rather than having those items distributed to the units in the field? Does anyone doubt that Sylvia wouldn't be better off with a staff of magic resistance? Or some other warlord better off with whatever those claws do? Or the cloak? Or anything else? They don't do the side much good just sitting in the armory... It's a bit baffling. But still, personal property seems to be respected by rulers and other superiors who could conceivably order the owners to hand the items off to better suited users.

I think some of these are somewhat explained *if* we were to assume certain rules. The idea makes me think of playin RotTK. Where taking an item from a general reduces loyalty. You wouldn't want to hand all your items out incase you needed them at some point and you wouldn't take them willy nilly else loyalty would suffer. If it was enough of a penalty it'd make sense.

Also on the Arken Tools, I personally think that Stanley is a bad example. "I could take an attuned tool and piss off the attuned party to give it to someone who might not attune." And anyone not attuned with the slightest duty would be okay giving them to someone who could attune. Since the power swings they give are insane.

Though I think with the pliers Jetstone made a mistake because of the royalty mandate, while they grant decrypted I think any caster might get a different super effect. Hammer - Warlord, Pliers - Caster, Dish - Ruler, whatever else. (The tools could be REALLY specific or they could change slightly depending on who attunes, like the hammer taming megalogwiffons. Either way at LEAST put an un attuned tool in the hands of everyone with any kind of loyalty. =/

[Salem]

I've been meaning to add this in ever since they dropped hint on the power of the ruby slippers. Arken Pliers + Ruby Slippers = perfect murder for the entire world. The arkenpliers become completely safe in a capital site while all dead units anywhere that you can find and are the proper size are carried instantly to the pliers wielder by the ruby shoes carrier. Especially efficient once the empire has filled every tile in their domain or at least the ones that lead to rome with piles of scouts to make things safe for the shoe wearer. So the arken pliers are all you need but the shoes make it so much cooler.