Inner Peace (Through Superior Firepower) – Episode 042

[Lamech]

There may be no mechanics in place that indicate a wound hindering combat performance. It may be possible to have a unit fighting just as well fully intact as if it were missing both legs and one arm. Combat score stays the same. Archer got nailed with an arrow that took him to the ground, and still managed to launch an attack in a high arch that impaled Artemis.

If there were such penalties for missing limbs and the like then that would give croakamancy an area where it could do something else. Some sort of anti-injury spell. Your arm has lost the ability to move? Croakamancy lets it move anyway. ... Actually, you know what would make sense? If those peashooters are combo croakamancy/flower power. Wanda is able to apply her croakamancy to give motion to the plants.

[Housellama]

Swiped this from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symptoms_of_victimization
Victimization symptoms were proposed by Frank Ochberg as a distinct subcategory of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is not formally recognized in diagnostic systems such as DSM or ICD, and includes the following:
...
How many of these has Jillian exhibited so far? Or Wanda for that matter?

I like this list. It's interesting to see how well Rob is characterizing these two during the torture.

The thing is that she's not even being tortured for information. Wanda could have already obtained the location of FAQ from the uncroaked. There's nothing of substance Jillian can tell Wanda that Wanda couldn't have obtained in two minutes flat in another way. This is all about Wanda's sheer crazy.

But yeah, Wanda's getting way overboard on this.

Start small, work up. That's the way to do it. Every victory breaks the victim's will a little more. Look at the reaction Jillian had to "Yes Mistress". Coercion works on a slippery slope principle. "She's only asking for something little, and it will make a lot of badness go away. What's the harm?" Obedience becomes a habit. Reduction of discomfort becomes a drug. For resistance to really work, obedience needs to be a conscious strategy, not a reaction to what's being done.

One of the disturbing thing is the parallels between Wanda's actions and real life. Every technique she's used thus far, hunger/thirst, lowered temperatures, loud noise, uncomfortable environment and sense dep are straight out of the textbook. Metaphorically speaking. So far, Wanda has targeted the body, creating sense-related discomfort. She has't moved onto the mental and social attacks yet. Things like desecration of items of personal importance (although it could be argued that she started with that), ego and identity reduction, attacks on sexuality (not necessarily actual sexual assault). Her carrot and stick is also a perfect example of operant conditioning. Disobedience hurts, obedience rewards. Rob did his research on this one.

I won't bother responding to Kreistor.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Users browsing this forum: 0beron, Beeskee, Kaed, Oberon and 3 guests

*boggles*

Yep, need more *berons.

Oh hey, this looks like it was an interesting update. To be honest I kinda dropped reading Jill's story after the eighth or so. It's horribly unfair of me to have done that, and looking at the reactions to this and the previous update I think I'm missing out. Even if the plot would be slow, I'd be interested in the psychological dynamics of the characters. So thank you forumites (Housellama especially) for pointing that out.

[bladestorm]

Users browsing this forum: 0beron, Beeskee, Kaed, Oberon and 3 guests

*boggles*

Yep, need more *berons.

Oh hey, this looks like it was an interesting update. To be honest I kinda dropped reading Jill's story after the eighth or so. It's horribly unfair of me to have done that, and looking at the reactions to this and the previous update I think I'm missing out. Even if the plot would be slow, I'd be interested in the psychological dynamics of the characters. So thank you forumites (Housellama especially) for pointing that out.

You get the benefit of reading several in a row, without the wait of an entire week in between. It may move faster than expected in that setup.

I remember when I first found this comic. In the story, it was right after Bogroll put together the last pieces of the Sword of Ruthlessness. Those pages went by quickly, even the slower stuff like the klogs and the Ruthlessness page.

[Azukar]

Speculation of the week!

Spoiler: show

I think a bunch of casters from FAQ lead a raid to rescue Jillian with the tacit approval of Banhammer. With Hubble's Lookamancy to find her, Marie's Predictamancy to put together a plan, and a combo of Jack Snipe's Foolamancy and Rusty's Shockamancy, I think they will bust in, grab Jillian, and abduct Wanda. They discover Wanda's in a sort-of two-way hookup with Olive. They sever the connection, which sends Olive into madness.

I don't think so. Linkups need a Thinkamancer, after all.

[wrecan]

I don't think so. Linkups need a Thinkamancer, after all.

Good point.

[youngstormlord]

I like the reference on playing pattycake!