Grrl Power #452 – Aw, they packed a lunch
Today’s page features a Patreon “executive supporter” cameo from Tom H. C. in the form of a Council historian (and also bloodbag.) He’s not in the Who’s Who cause no one says his name, but that’s remedied on the next page.
I’m not 100% sure how assault actually works. Obviously there’s such a thing as consensual assault, or else some aspects of BDSM would be considerably more problematic. I think it probably comes down almost entirely to one party pressing charges against another, but I also imagine there are cases where the state can prosecute someone if there’s patterns of abuse and/or if someone seems to be intimidated into not pressing charges, or is deemed incapable of understanding what assault is, like a young child. In any case Sydney is currently about as informed on the topic as I am, and that’s beside the point of this page. Tom and the vamplings obviously have an arrangement here. Sydney also doesn’t know whether or not Archon has any jurisdiction here. Obviously if a werebear starts rampaging the streets and shrugging off bullets, they’d be on it, and Arianna would be spinning it as “Bear Man” or whatever, but something like this which doesn’t directly affect a member of the public, she has no idea about jurisdiction, but you can bet the Council probably has some form of internal security.
I nearly went off on a tangent in panel two with Crimson’s response to the robot question, but it crowded the panel and wasn’t satisfactory. The jist of it was that there are in fact a few robots here and there, but technically they’re considered aliens, because they’re non-terrestrial intelligence. Here on Earth we still haven’t cracked the whole A.I. thing (unless Google isn’t telling us something) not to mention the ambulatory hardware platform, at least one that looks even remotely human, and/or has more than 15 minutes of battery power. Of course A.A.I.s (Alien A.I.s) still need to be incredibly careful while on Earth because of the “paradigm shifting the technology level of the planet if they get run over by a truck and wind up on the wrong operating table and someone realizes that their patient has a quantum memory synchronizer where their left lung should be” thing.
It occurs to that as far as an AI goes, one might be satisfied touring a planet virtually, either seeing through the another aliens Google Glass or GoPro equivalent or by infiltrating traffic and cell phone cameras, since they’d be viewing the world through their eyeball cameras if they went themselves. I suppose it would depend on the nature of the AI though. Data was hardware dependent. His positronic brain evolved and formed new neural connections as he lived and learned. It’s arguable he couldn’t be downloaded into, for instance, the Enterprises main computer if his body was destroyed. (Honestly though I’m a little surprised that didn’t happen in one episode, internal consistency be damned – and yes I know he basically took over the Enterprise once via some holodeck link into the computer, but in that he was co-opting the ship’s processing power, not transferring his consciousness.)
Mass Effect 2’s Legion would be perfectly fine downloading into another hardware platform. They flat out said his intelligence as well as all the other Geths’ was cloud based, or at least distributed among them all. They’d probably be fine with virtual tourism. Even if they wanted their own autonomous platform to move about in, they could just send down one unit and a million of them could log in to poke about on Earth. (Depending on network capacity I guess) Obviously there’d need to be some sort of coordinating oversight regarding the motor controls or else the thing would move like “Twitch plays Zelda.”
Edit: Fixed a grammar error, and added the mini comic, since people have pointed out that the girls are engaged in Battery and not Assault.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon as soon as I get up. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like :)
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So I have a question here.
Namely: Why?
Why would a government allow this twilight council, and secrecy, and above that – why would it (according to commentary) not only condone but also be complicit in covering it up?
It’s not that it’s bad to do so, but… why? It seems entirely unnecessary.
Because it’s a whole lot easier to help the wide array of magically and technologically superior races with their benign goal than forcing them out into the open and having to explain things like “magic and aliens are real”?
Well, you don’t have to “force” them to do anything.
Just yeah, say aliens and magic are real (rather than retard your own scinence and magic advances for no good reason). Start teaching proper theoretical thaumaturgy university courses. Create procedures to detect, investigate and prosecute malign mind-control and blood-drinking assault, etc.
I mean – they do it now for superheroes, why not magicians, vampires and aliens?
What do they even have to gain from covering it up?
The safety of those involved. Remember Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster? It didn’t turn out too great for them when people found out about them. Or look at Salem. In general, the human race tends to destroy what they don’t understand if it is thought to be even potentially dangerous. Not everybody thinks as logically as Syndey.
Which in itself is a scary thought…
Well, that’s a decent reason for the twilight council, but not for the government.
Reason enough for any citizen or group of citizens to keep their affairs private is inherently reason enough for the government to comply.
Governments tend to want their people happy, or at least complacent, if not outright subservient. Shaking up the status quo needlessly flies completely in the face of that. So helping the twilight council stay out of sight generally serves their short and long term interests, not to mention being able to call in a favor or two from some powerful entity or entities, to help deal with a problem that you don’t want your fingreprints on often comes in very, very handy.
The twilight council meets to prevent the panic and chaos that would threaten them. The government participates because the panic and chaos also threatens the peace and public safety.
Also by assisting them in hiding they not only get to hear what they are planning, but to make suggestions as to what actions THEY think are appropriate.
Would the government really want their population to know that, whether benign or not, there’s a group of beings that individually have the equivalent of weapons of mass destruction inherent in their being?
That would cause mass chaos. There would be groups that welcome them as saviors/gods/angels, another that would want to destroy them at any cost because they’re terrorists/demons/aliens, and other groups that fall somewhere in that spectrum. Just look at historically how people treat individuals from another culture. Then add in that said culture could possibly kill you with a look for a hand gesture.
Fun times indeed.
The Twilight Council is, in effect, a government in its own right older and more established than pretty much anything else on Earth from what I can tell. They may not have as much temporal power as some human governments but you can presume that they have enough temporal power that moving to eliminate them would be a Pyrrhic effort.
Because ‘people’ are not as mature or caring or noble as you are suggesting. They also are not responsible enough with out CURRENT level of technology to merit letting them have anything else. Once humans have evolved to a point when they can be trusted with ANYTHING, I might feel more comfortable with them getting further ahead. But not for now. Let them grow at the normal pace like everything else.
Agent K of MIB fame said it best. “A PERSON is intelligent, rational, and can understand. PEOPLE are stupid, panicky things that would trample their own mothers to death just to save their own skins.”
That in a nutshell.
Also once they are “exposed” to the public, government will be asked a bunch of potentially embarrassing questions they DO NOT want to answer.
And conversely enough (or would that be “perversely enough?”) once you’re on the witness stand in court they expect YOU to tell the truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth. If the government thinks people don’t deserves the truth, why should people trust the government with the truth either?
;)
You can’t handle the Truth!
Jack sums it up nicely
Because ‘people’ are not as mature or caring or noble as you are suggesting. They also are not responsible enough with out CURRENT level of technology to merit letting them have anything else. Once humans have evolved to a point when they can be trusted with ANYTHING, I might feel more comfortable with them getting further ahead. But not for now. Let them grow at the normal pace like everything else.
Prove it. I bet I can come up with a reasonable, logical, and intelligent explanation for just about anything you can cite as an example of this contention…assuming that you can think of any examples, because I sure as hell can’t.
Sure, there’s a lot of things that LOOK immature, vicious, base, and stupid, but nine times out of ten? If you look at it, and try to put yourself into the shoes of the person acting thus…yeah, at that point it starts to become pretty hard to see any other way that person could have acted. There are only a precious, precious few individuals who are born with the vision, the charisma, and the good luck to be able to open up a new path of potential responses to a given situation, and most of the time, there is no way to know who those individuals are until well after they have passed on. So…prove it. I say that most humans are mature, caring, and generally responsible individuals whose actions can usually be understood as fairly logical if you can put yourself into their shoes. Well…assuming that neither alcohol nor drugs were involved in the decision-making process, anyway. If you get drunk or high, and then make a decision, all bets are off.
And yes, there is a reason why humans get drunk or high, and then make decisions. It’s even a somewhat intelligible one.
Again, humans (singular) may be mature, but humans (plural) are anything but
The only way to ‘prove it’ is by getting potentially political, and we don’t want this nice corner of the cesspool Interwebs to get that dirty
“Sure, there’s a lot of things that LOOK immature, vicious, base, and stupid, but nine times out of ten? If you look at it, and try to put yourself into the shoes of the person acting thus…yeah, at that point it starts to become pretty hard to see any other way that person could have acted. ”
Uh, that’s the problem.
Americans as a group (again, NOT individuals, as a group) can barely handle HUMANS of different races/ cultures without a lot of systemic abuses and frequent, often lethal “misunderstandings” based on fear and mistrust (see: George Zimmerman shooting Trayvon Martin, anti-Muslim bigotry in the wake of 9/11, violent attacks on Sikhs when they’re mistaken for Muslim for the same reason, the ENTIRE Baltimore PD being rife with racist corruption that has been RECORDED by a DOJ investigation, and that has resulted in black people in Baltimore being systemically targeted often just for the “crime” of existing in public while being black, etc)…
…soooo you think they’d readily handle, with NO gradual prep ahead of time, the idea of a subculture of literal bloodsuckers and were-animals who could hypothetically do actual supernatural violence to them?
AHAHAHA. No. As an American, let me tell you that is adorably but disconcertingly naive; people in GROUPS cannot just have something like that sprung on them with no warning, they can and will read in fear and, resultingly, hatred and mistrust and inevitably, in a few cases, violence…towards what appear to be innocent, law-abiding citizens. Again, our culture is rife with people who already do this to people from ordinary, harmless, human cultures that they’re unwilling to take the time to understand so the idea they wouldn’t with vampires and werewolves and demons and aliens is laughable.
My understanding in context is that once the public adjusts to real-life superheroes being confirmed as real, and more readily understood/common in their media life, ARCHON plans to GRADUALLY introduce the public to these other supernatural and paranormal folks, bit by bit…but no, springing them on them all at once?
Nope nope full of nope. Bad idea.
I’m kind of hoping their goal is not 100% benign. The comic desperately needs a villain to get active or at least someone who’s not playing nicely with everyone else. So I’m a little disappointed Dave’s confirmed the attack on Tom is not really an attack, just more people playing nicely.The awkward uncertainty of what to do whith what looked like assault but may not have been would have been a great end of page cliffhanger.
even if their GOAL is 100% benign, with any group as diverse as this WILL have politics, and resentments over compromises and failed plans.
I agree. I just want to see it in the comic. And if some people’s goals are considerably less than 100% benign, so much the better.
Also, while the council may be benign, there are going to be individuals and groups who do not agree with the council and will attempt to do their own things.
Why does the group of misfits have to be/produce the villain? We have a perfectly good ‘philanthropist businessman’ villain already. We don’t need to shake a stick at the monsters and aliens and tell them to go be two-dimensional and not to break the mold.
I agree. Dave is being very clever here. It is what people are like on the inside that makes the monster. Their outward appearance is simply what the ignorant judge them by.
Just think on the number of times you have seen neighbours, of some horrendous murderer, abductor, rapist or cannibal, saying something like “he seemed like a nice person, who kept to himself”.
Then watch a program following the daily life of someone with a facial deformity. Be it birthmark, scar burn or whatever. And see how often people recoil from them, and even react as if they were some vile beast.
I recall
Dave ListerCraig Charles doing a program, where popular celebrities agreed to swap places with facially disfigured individuals. So they got made up to have comparable appearances (with absolutely superb make-up*).One pretty girl celebrity was very apprehensive about the prospect. Whereas Craig was fairly confident that he could handle it. On the basis that he was used to casual racism, being directed his way, periodically. So, whilst he intellectually acknowledged that it would be worse, he assumed it would just be a matter of degree, and he could use his normal mechanisms to cope.
He was wrong. It was far worse than he had anticipated. And really brought it home, to the viewers. Especially as, if I recall it correctly, he found it so traumatic, that he could not complete the exchange period!**
It is actually reasonable to have a base-line that most people (even the exotic ones) want to live a peaceful and comfortable life. Certainly the ones which, as a society, do not feel that way, would have been long ago wiped out by humanity (given that humanity are still here, so it did not go the other way).
With an organisation, like the Council, keeping the peace, it would allow the civilised sorts to flourish. Whist discouraging, or even killing, those who gave into their violent sides. And the most friendly, peaceful and civilised would fare well in an organisation promoting those values.
Finally those who are not so amiable would put on a good pretense. Here, in this chamber, they will come across as friendly and likeable. Just like in the real world, you cannot judge them based on either their appearances or their day-to-day behaviour.
Well, unless that includes murdering people right in front of you!
* It was so good that when Craig attended a Red Dwarf Q&A session, in disguise, as a member of the audience, the rest of the cast did not recognise him. Despite posing enough questions, and in a fairly abrasive manner, to draw attention to himself.
** Possibly I am mixing that up with the other celebrity, but think I have it the right way round.
“Why does the group of misfits have to be/produce the villain?”
They don’t, but someone has to be the villain and so when someone mentioned the council was benign I simply commented I hope they were not.
“We have a perfectly good ‘philanthropist businessman’ villain already.”
Cool, let’s see him doing villainous stuff against our heroes. If not him, then one of the baddies on that splash page ages ago doing it. Or the Council. Or someone in government or the military.
I can’t comment on the monsters 2D or 3D nature, we’ve barely met any of them so we’ve only seen the personas they want the world to see. But that’s true of most characters until events force them to reveal what lies beneath the mask, good or bad. I’m interested to see what happens when we reach that point.
It’s obvious, really.
By accepting the Council’s existance and playing nice, ‘the government’ can keep an eye on whatever they get up to, hold them accountable for their actions and even have some sort of say in how they conduct themselves.
The simple alternative is that the Council remains a complete enigma, possibly regards ‘the gopvernment’ as a potential threat and otherwise does whatever it dang well pleases.
….. And there are quite enough crazies of noth religious and non-religious bents out there that keeping the entire thing secret simply makes sense. Wanna imagine a necromancer who can (for example) “recycle” ISIS suicide bombers? I sure don’t.
To bring them back he would need a copy of the Necronomicon.
If the bodies were too damaged to reanimate and he didn’t want to waste the leftovers he could consult the companion cookbook the Necro-nomnom-con.
The guy in the current comic looks like he might spend a lot of time at various sci-fi and fantasy conventions. If he died and they wanted bring him back they would have to use the Necro-comic-con.
Single Mom: “It’s hard to raise a family”
Necromancer: “Not if they’re buried close enough together”
Hah hah.
“Single Mom and Her Strange Friend” new on AMC, Sunday nights after Walking Dead.
No you use The Necrobombicom to bring back you jihadies.
The Omnomnomicon: The Necromancers Guide to Preparing Leftovers
“It’s a cookbook!”
Written by Hannibal Lector.
No, he just added a chapter to it.
It has been making the rounds for millennia.
*nom nom nom*
Mmm, that book was surprisingly easy to digest.
*burp*
Uh oh. It feels like it might be coming back up!
It might have been a Miss Steak. I’ll see myself out.
The council harldy seems that powerful.
The government clearly has it’s own magicians (even not counting Dabbler) and vampires and werewolfs don’t have much on superheroes… or just military-grade automatic weapons, I’d venture. So if they want a war, they’re going to lose. That’s why they’re hiding, not ruling humanity.
And they already subject themselves to governmental control, I’d assume – they are subjected to the laws of the land (in as much as the local police can investigate and persecute it), they would pay their taxes, etc.
So unless they threaten every government to keep their secret, and are actually powerful enough to do so, then it’s a silly arrangement.
Sometimes the question isn’t “Could they force them?”, but “Would it be worth the cost to force them?”. Even if one or more human governments were powerful enough, the attrition from such a war would be high.
Again, “force them” to what?
You just don’t help them keep their secret, make whatever you want of your own knowledge of them public and use it for whatever you want. If they don’t like that – tough luck.
Because by keeping existence of supernatural secret, government essentially hampers its research into magic, makes police work harder (because they don’t know to look for mind-control and werewolf attacks), probably has to put kibosh on a lot of astromony research, and otherwise spend tonnes of effort essentially on shooting themselves in the foot, while breeding an essentially indepedent quasy-governmental structure on its own territory.
So why would they do that?
This is a council. That means these people are representatives, not the entire group. There’s representatives for aliens. If the government DID try to fuck them over like you suggest they SHOULD be doing, I’m sure that peaceful coexistence thing could quickly turn into alien invasion which Earth is in no way prepared for. Or a demonic invasion. Or an alien demonic invasion and suddenly it’s DOOM but we have no Doomie.
Point is it’s a sign of goodwill and cooperation to keep the secret and safety than to alarm the small-minded rabble of the world. Which includes essentially everyone, no matter what people think of themselves. Mob mentality is a very, very powerful thing. People will get paranoid, people will get violent, people will demand segregation, people will demand extermination, people will start demanding armbands for any supernatural being and designated areas for them to exist in. Homicide and suicide will go up, doomsday cults will spring up again, some form of modern crusade once the religious folk find out there’s demons peacefully lounging around.
Only way to keep their own citizens from turning on each other at this point is to use the military. And few militaries want to go against their own people, But cops sure won’t be able to handle worldwide unrest and riot and rebellion out of fear. Fear is the most powerful motivator to fight, even if the target isn’t clear. You can ‘think’ people will be intelligent enough to quietly oppose the supernaturals revealed by the government while the government exploits them, but you’d be dead wrong. You could think it’d only be a handful of nutjobs, but again you’d be wrong. We’ve lived our lives being told by almost every fantasy and sci-fi writer who ever lived that all these creatures prey on humans and are our enemies. The idea that all the horrible things you told your kids aren’t real actually are would put a gun in your hand to keep said children safe from some perceived threat.
Pfft.
By that logic we should ld keep science secret. Scientific advances threaten civic peace because in 1800s some moron luflddites started riots over labour automatization? Lets make acience secret!
Thats dumb.
As dumb as denying magic exists or that vampires exist.
Advances that could be made in those fields if they were studied en masse are hugely worth any riots, especially if a there is a proper preparatory PR campaign.
So, yeah, if they’re porerful enough tonl threaten govts (aliens probably are)), but unlikely vampires or magicians), that would make sense, everything else – no, its handwaving.
As to aliens – why would they be bothered? Itd be cool if human governments got some sort of embassies abd trade agreements and syndicate some alien TV channels or what not, but why would they care that public at large knows that aliens exist?
But some aspects of science have or are kept classified and for good reason.
You may have heard of something from the middle of the last century called “The Manhattan Project”?
Likewise you can’t just go down to the corner store and get a sample of Anthrax or Uranium.
Magic is like that but worse. It can easily be smuggled through customs or onto an aircraft because it’s hidden undetectably inside someone’s head.
What’s a high school shooting compared to some group of disillusioned student sorcerers performing the Rite of AshkEnte and summoning the embodiment of Death into the middle of their school?
Now picture Daesh fielding Djinn in their battles.
Picture 9-11 looking more like Cloverfield.
Picture a naked man speaking a handful of words and transforming the entire mass of his body into energy, vapourising everything around him as he dies. The ultimate suicide bomber.
These are all fairly crude applications of magic. More sophisticated or less desperate practitioners can do far worse with much less.
You are right. Those are done by post, instead.
1. Because forming groups of people who share common interests isn’t illegal. In fact it’s super common. Eg. The rotary club, park slope good co-op, local comic book store game night
2. As mentioned earlier it’s easier to deal with them if they’re organized and you can speak to the leaders instead of trying to deal with everyone on an individual basis.
3. Inertia, they’ve been around for hundreds if not thousands of years why change things up
4. They’re major campaign donors. Or whatever other forms of bribery/blackmail suits, but campaign donations is probably sufficient by itself.
5. Or similarly they provide benefits to the people dealing with them not the politicians
6. They’re actually not that powerful and are seen as insignificant
7. Mind control or people in positions of authority are secretly members of the council
8. The government IS trying to shut them down and that’s one of the topics of this meeting (although it seems too friendly for that)
9. Only the people dealing directly with them know about them and it keep the council secret from higher ups (listed for completeness sakeep, but if that was the case why bring Halo?)
10. The government actually controls the council through proxies/bribes/threats what have you
Probably more reasons but I’m done at 10
1. Yes. But if it requires government to spend money, time and effort on keeping said club secret, there has to be a reason to do this.
2. Actually it’s not. It’s easier to deal with them if they’re disjointed private citizens, not clandestine organisations of secretive cabals who police their own, and with whom neither police nor courts are equipped to deal.
3-5,7. I can buy that, yeah.
6,8. Then govt wouldn’t help them cover their secret, would it?
“Of course they want to keep secret who wants torch-wielding mobs chasing them, but why would the government care?”
What you don’t realise is the mob that went after Frankenstein’s monster burned down the barn he hid in, which burned the hayfield, some of the nearby woods, and part of the village. When people panic, and there’s chaos you have collateral damage which costs the government.
Sure, but is it worth hampering your whole industries, police, justice system and who knows what else?
Real world says yes.
Why do you think Archon exists?
“Hampering”? By having some of these ‘special’ individuals actually working for and with the police, justice system and who knows what else, you are hardly”‘hampering your whole industry”
Of course you are.
If magic were public knowledge, it be studied.in universities, it’d be used in civilian industry, it’d be acknowledged and accomodated into science.
Instead it’s covered up and probably a handful of specialists get to even know it exists
Do you not remember the last time ‘magic’ became public knowledge? Let me just say two words: Salem Mass
A famous one, sure. Estimates of total numbers executed, in Europe and America, range between 50,000 and 60,000! Although we only have named data, for a number of them.
As for # 9 and why tell Halo? I thought it was obvious that with her truesight orb, see would find out about at least some of these people, so they’re doing a preemptive let her know
#9 Sydney has powerful true sight and would find out sooner or later, and most likely at a very inopertune time.
Say at a major press conference.
Roll looney tunes footage.
Que rampaging mobs.
The reason why Sydney is there (apart from the already answered “her Tru-Sight ball could reveal them at an in-opportune moment”), is because Maxi is hoping that some entity on The Council may know something about Sydney’s new balls, and Sydney’s balls don’t go anywhere without her (you want to fondle and examine her balls? you have to put up with the rest of her as well :P)
You are looking at it the wrong way round, as though the Council is a recent thing (that would be Archon and the fact that Supers are real): the Council allows the Government to exist
I don’t think that they’re quite at Illuminati-level. Or even that the Council would want to be, if they could. Running the world kind of sucks.
That’s why they rent it out to various governments :P
It seems probable that it’s similar to the matter of why they pay the supers at Archon so much: would you rather have them in your realm, or your potential enemies?
This may be a long-standing relationship. This Council has existed for centuries, and formed during a time when human governments had a lot less power than they do now. Governments may have allied with them to make sure lines of communication existed between them and the supernatural. Powers of any sort that do not communicate with each other are very likely to come to blows, in time. Inertia carries this relationship forward – even if the Council is no longer strictly necessary, it is still useful. Why would a modern government go to all the trouble to completely reeducate its populace, rebuild its economy, and cause massive social unrest, when it can simply accept the relationship that already exists?
Allow? Did they have to file the government form H67Dn43b, request to form a secret society?
H67Dn43a is the form for forming a society which is not secret. The Founding Fathers filed it with the Brits, but it was denied. Hilarity ensued.
Game it/Model it and you’ll see why these things are kept secret.
Given the stories that myth has about vampires, weres, etc, how do you think that society would deal with the knowledge? One of the better case scenarios is that there would be vigilantes going round killling anyone they think is not human (regardless of proof) (see what’s happening in the Philippines after the latest election). In both cases it’s a safe assumption that innocent people would be killed. The Twilight Council would probably react violently (after all they don’t want to suffer from a genocide). Cults would form. Respect for Government, Law and [official] Justice would break down.
That’s one of the better ones.
The Government may be condemned as joining the ranks of evil and there would probably be a widespread insurrection following that. That could lead to civil war or worse.
One thing I’ve learnt. When people perceive that their situation is extreme, they tend to extreme solutions.
Firstly the condoning. This council has existed for thousands of years, keeping the peace between monsters and humanity. It would be a major act of insanity not to cooperate with them!
The USA is the junior partner in this relationship. Seriously. You judge such matters by length of experience and how long stability has been maintained by a governing organisation. The Council has an impressive track record that is vastly older than the USA has even existed!
All assuming that the facts presented are valid ones, and that Archon/ the US government have managed to verify them, to their satisfaction.
Secondly, the secrecy. I do not think that is what is happening. Go back to the press conference and you will see Arianna talking about legendary monsters having been present, in our society, as being real. Attributable to humans with super-powers, appearing as monsters. This is laying the ground-work for revealing the existence of such today.
Further, being able to show that the Council has been protecting humanity, for thousands of years, will work very well towards helping to prevent a public backlash and lynch mobs. However such revelations need to be handled very carefully. Rush it, or pitch it badly, and it can have disastrous consequences. Not just for victimisation of the exotics, but also for humanity, if it turns into a war of survival!
The precautions taken, in attending this meeting, show that secrecy is being maintained, at the moment. But I think the long-term goal will be to transition to open co-operation with the Council. And formally treating them like the United Nations. Which, given they represent most of the intelligent races on Earth, they are very much on a par with.
The UN represents the bulk of the numbers on the planet. Whereas the Twilight Council represents the diversity. And not just on Earth, but beyond as well. Incorporating those alien races which have an interest in the Earth too.
You also presume the government – whatever government you happen to be talking about – has the ability to ‘do something’ about such a shadow council. You are, after all, talking about individuals in an association, any significant number of whom would most likely be able to walk into a governmental place of power and, blatantly or subtly, destroy it. Excluding Sydney, just the four ladies on the last three pages (Dabbler, Decollete, Crimson, and Scarlet) would be able to wipe out the White House, turn Congress into a massive public orgy that’d get them all recalled, and if the vampires have classic powers, mesmerise the entire Supreme Court.
A government’s problem isn’t a matter of allowing the Shadow Council to exist, it’s first finding out about them, then getting the Council to acknowledge that you exist and are worth dealing with. Sure, after existing for almost 230 years and becoming a major mover-and-shaker in ‘mundane world’ politics the US is probably a good bet, but if you’re facing a group that’s been for the last 3,000 years self-policing the people who can in a few hours wipe out your entire continuity-of-government, if you’re a smart politician-statesman you nod thoughtfully and let them get on with the business of keeping you safe.
If, on the other hand, you want to throw your weight around, I can pretty much guarantee the Shadow Council contact will be talking to your replacement saying “We have no idea what happened to him/them. And it’d be wise for you to agree with that statement.”
*nods*
Not to mention that the government(s) might not even know about this organization. Even if they do, what’ll they do? The council is older than any human government still existing, full of impossibly powerful beings. Yes, humanity has numbers and steel. That only gets you so far, especially when some of these species can propagate in the most fun way, and cause enough chaos and paranoia that they’d hardly have to do anything other than smuggle the right fluids in to food-processing plants.
And that’s only if it comes to open warfare. This is a room full of the reasons humankind is afraid of the dark. It wouldn’t be likely to escalate that far.
Not to mention: how do you know that that big hairy soldier assigned to carry ‘the football’ is just some 7 foot girl who forgot to shave, that decade
This is my question, too. It’s already confirmed that superheroes are real, so it’s no stretch to validate the existence of vampires, werewolves, and aliens.
There’d be parades in America to celebrate them. The intersectional feminists would argue who has more or less “privilege.” There’d be invites to talk shows, and holidays would be built around the culture.
So, yeah, in America there’d be lots to celebrate and argue over. It’d be a happy distraction from everything else going on in the world. No reason for the conspiracy at all.
The fact there is a conspiracy at all is extremely troubling. That implies that if anyone discovered the council, they may be executed (either physically or socially) to protect this secret. That’s actually both disgusting and terrifying.
Thankfully Archon has access to memory magic, so actually executing someone to keep a secret is unnecessary.
What conspiracy? They are here to play poker.
Strip poker, when Maxi leaves
Gray, how exactly do you suppose the Christian Fundamentalists and the Ku Klux Klan would react to the revelation that there are literal vampires and werewolves in the world? Are these organizations that you believe would take a ‘live and let live’ stance?
Depending on the state, it’s likely battery, not assault. Differentiating, the shortest and therefor crudest version is that assault is the threat of violence, and battery the actual violence itself.
Dave has now added a mini-comic, below the main one, to address this point. Due to the various comments made to this effect.
Aah, love them casual Sunstone references XD
Best part of today’s strip.
Not the first one: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1679 though how she reads it without blushing is beyond me.
You… haven’t read them yourself, have you? It’s not all about BDSM and sexy times, there is a lot of ‘normal’ story (will have to find own copy of that issue and check)
*Sunstone flying overhead*
*staring at it*
*blink blink*
OK, now I need to ask how vampire fangs work in the Grrl-verse. Are they hollow and act as hypodermics to suck up the blood, or do they just open up a hole and the vamps have to lap up the gushing blood?
(The second option can get messy)
There is a fang going directly into the jugular, in panel 5. If it were the latter, of your options, there would be blood splatter all over the place. Especially by the time the final panel is reached. Ergo I am going with the former.
He’s not delivery, he’s Digiorno.
Guessing that is fancy restaurant-speak for “free-range”? o_O
Actually, it’s supermarket for frozen pizza.
Frozen pizza which is (allegedly) as good as what you get from Domino’s or other pizza delivery services. I wouldn’t know, because Red Baron or Tombstone are cheaper than DiGiorno.
With the respective disadvantages that the first only guarantees dropping the pizza, but if the parachute drifts, off-course, that is the customer’s problem. And the latter that if it kills you well.. “it did what it said on the box”.
For the benefit of non-American readers who didn’t know, Red Baron and Tombstone are two other brands of frozen pizza, obviously. Red Baron costs about $3.50, Tombstone is marginally more expensive at about $4.27, and DiGiorno’s is about $5.47. Of the three, I’ve never had DiGiorno’s, and prefer Tombstone pizza.
I will admit, having a name like “Tombstone” did allow them to use a clever advertising gimmick:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKspf06XuaQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8simZ9mut4Q
“What do you want on your tombstone?”
BORN: 5,000 years ago.
DIED: Not yet.
Well, once you’re dead, it’s a little late to answer that question, don’t you think? (Unless you wrote it into your will or something.)
“sunstone” *grin*
the best advantages of being well read, is that you get to spot gems like this particular reference.
On a number of campuses today, you can be brought up on sexual assault charges by *third parties* without the alleged victim being involved in the process. Only in a world with glamours and mind control would this make even the slightest sense, but this is this world, and we’re all madder than hatters.
(Ask a cop how much they like answering domestic disturbance calls sometime, if you want to get really depressed. Now imagine trying to deal with a mind-controlling vampire with glamour powers when his thralled victims are throwing their addled, mortal bodies in your way. Yeah…)
So long as the case can be proven, that is a good thing. Society needs to protect the vulnerable. Sexual assault, and rape, is all too prevalent in the higher education culture.* Such rapists can re-offend five or six times, whilst attending such institutions.
So it is highly appropriate to act, where there is the evidence to support such actions. It is not just that one individual who needs protecting. Especially if the victim was in a state where they were incapable of rendering consent, such as being drugged, very drunk or unconscious.
* I have been keeping an eye on the news coverage of the stories in the US. I do not know if this has parallels in other countries. Clearly it will not be unique (sexual assault and rape occurring in all parts of society), however I suspect that the culture of the US higher learning systems tends to promote such, to a higher degree, than elsewhere.
This is only based on general observations, quite a lot of it being influenced by what I see on film and TV. However the news reports do seem to match that (broadly speaking**). However, as always, I am happy to be corrected, if I am in error.
** Aliens, zombies, slasher murderers and hauntings, in such institutions, seem to be much rarer, in reality, for instance.
Point that Mitch was making, I believe, is that it’s far too common that an innocent gets accused of rape without evidence or EXTREMELY circumstantial evidence, or even hearsay, and off they go with the cops. At some point we need to refine the process or tighten our belts on the situation. Too many innocent people rotting in jail for petty reasons or someone else’s mistakes. You can say that it’s a small price to pay for potentially a couple people per actual sexual assault criminal caught this way, until it’s you getting the finger pointed at you, you know?
Would any of us gracefully accept it, knowing that the system is heavily skewed in the favor of the accuser in rape cases? Unless hard proof shows they were lying, they have to ADMIT they were lying for you to get out of prison. Which happens very rarely if you’ve been following the news.
So you are suggesting that an accusation of rape should not be investigated, and that the accused should not be questioned?
Some back-of-the-envelope calculations here:
Convicted sex offenders in 2012: 70,930 male + 4,394 female = 75,324
False convictions over 23 years: 2,000
2,000 / 23 years = 87 per year.
You feel that 87 wrongful convictions, out of 75,324, is “heavily skewed in the favor of the accuser in rape cases”?
Note there are two issues:
A) A high instance of sexual assault and rape against students in the USA.
B) Problems world-wide in finding a fair balance between rights of the victim versus that of the accused in sexual assault and rape cases.
B) does not cause A). This should not be raised as an excuse when discussing A)! B) does need to be resolved, but should be done on its own merits.
If you hear people in authority making such excuses, be extremely wary of their judgement. We have seen the results of institutions covering up sexual crimes. Be it bishops covering up for priests or police failing to investigate celebrities or politicians.
I am pleased we finally had a conviction of a defrocked bishop, recently. I hope that America is proactive and seeks to secure an early conviction, of any dean who may have been behaving similarly. The quicker the culture, of ignoring or condoning, such abuse is turned around, the better. I will feel disappointed if such has to wait a decade or two before we see action being taken (if following the patterns of the other examples).
Because that would mean that the current intakes of students would continue to suffer such attacks. Once the faculty knows that their freedom is at risk, then they will be properly motivated to protect their students first and the institutions reputation second.
Incidentally I have friends who are American students. I speak up to protect my friends. Plus, as most rape victims are female, I also speak up as a feminist. Regardless of national boundaries.
“It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer”
–William Blackstone
The law must always assume innocence, and always err in favor of innocence in the face of doubtful or insufficient evidence. No exceptions. Getting away from that principle is inherently dangerous.
87 / 75,324 = 0.00116
0.16% failure rate
99.84% success rate
99 guilty persons imprisoned versus less than one innocent convicted. An order of magnitude better than William Blackstone demanded, in that quote.
Blackstone was a lightweight. Ben Franklin suggested 100:1, and the Bible gives us 1,000:1.
The ratio is not important. What matters is the basic principle: It’s better to free the guilty than convict the innocent. Eighty-seven false convictions per year is exactly 87 too many.
Well Ben Franklin is the one that counts, being one of the guys who framed the system. And his ratio is being kept.
Your sentiment is fine. Your conclusion, however, is absurd.
Humanity lacks omniscience, so to guarantee achieving a 0% failure rate requires that you free all rapists. And murderers, and everyone else, ever convicted of a crime.
You’re right, we’ll never be able to bat 100 on this. The general idea is to weigh the system in favor of the accused to get as few false convictions as poissible–even if that means some guilty people will walk. Precisely because we’re not omniscient.
In the case of something as serious as rape, you damn well better have something better than hearsay and barely circumstantial evidence before you plan on bringing charges. Even if not convicted, just the accusation could ruin somebody’s life–and justice will not be served if that person is innocent.
Agreed. As such it is necessary to gather evidence with utmost diligence. Especially when the supporting evidence is weak.
Just because a victim has (or thinks they have) no evidence to offer, does not mean that a rape or assault has not taken place. This also results in many victims hesitating to come forward, for the fear that they will not be believed.
Sadly this is counter-productive, as the delay is loosing a lot of critically important evidence. But a traumatised victim is not in an emotional place where logical thinking wins over fear. So this is a very common problem, facing investigation of such incidents.
Not to mention that the victim may not have even been consciously aware of the attack, at the time. Being asleep, drunk or drugged. Especially with the existence of date-rape drugs, to both aid in the rape, and inhibit any memories of the incident. All of which show vital need to respond to the accusations of second-parties.
Prompt, rigorous, investigation is also in the defendants best interests, if they are innocent, as it will allow any supporting evidence they can offer to be examined. CCTV footage, for instance, can be used to establish their innocence, or verify an alibi. But many establishments do not keep footage indefinitely.
Thinking that a police investigation exists with the sole purpose of securing a conviction is flawed. In a properly operating criminal justice system,* its purpose is to establish the truth surrounding an allegation, as best as is possible.
If there is sufficient evidence after properly investigating the circumstances, then the case can proceed through the rest of the system. If there is not, then a conviction should not be pursued.
Note that this does not necessarily mean that the accused is innocent. Nor does it mean that the accuser was telling the truth. The victim may be in need of support. A provably false accusation may need to be punished. The accused may need support too, in returning to normal life.
These judgements are handled within the criminal justice system every day. Prejudging them however, and attempting to prevent justice to follow its course, is the worst course of action. It is only serving to justify, and protect, an ingrained system of casual abuse and rape.
Allow students to party and have fun. But ensure that everything possible is done to prevent that turning into rape. And punish it, if it does.
* If it is not operating correctly, in places, or evenhandedly, then that needs to be corrected. It is however a completely different issue to the one under discussion here.
“heavily weighted in favor of the accuser” my ass. Sorry, I know that’s harsh wording, but you have hit on a sore subject for me; allow me to elaborate?
Am I saying there is never a case of a false accusation, ever ever ever? No. In a criminal system based on reports made by human beings this will inevitably happen at some point. However
a.) that happens with FAR more than just rape, please do not pretend like this is something that would only be common with sexual assault, that is a TERRIBLE stereotype that makes it far harder for victims to bring themselves to report it let alone be taken seriously and false reports of crimes ranging from theft to murder happen all the damn time.
b.) actual false rape accusations tend to fall apart pretty quickly (since it is, after all, based on hearsay/lies) and are RARE from what we can tell…in fact, statistically men UNDER report (based on what we know of say, psychiatric data) their sexual assaults due to cultural attitudes on masculinity re: victimization/perceived weakness and the like, while women and men alike UNDER report because of a number of factors ranging from knowing there’s a lack of physical evidence or other witnesses and being scared to go through a trial for nothing, to not wanting to relive the trauma in court, to being freaked out (due to trauma) or confused or unaware of what happened (happens in cases where consent is culturally interpreted as “blurry” but would be legally disallowed, such drug or alcohol involvement), to being scared to report due to fear of their attacker retaliating (common in date rape, cases where they knew their attacker, or cases where the perp is very privileged which is common in college cases), and DING DING DING the fear that one’s OWN reputation will be ruined because nobody wants to believe a privileged white boy (they’re usually white in these latter cases; racism allows minority assailants a lot less leeway) from “good family” or whatnot would commit such an act and “surely you were wearing something too skimpy/gave him the wrong impression/drank too much/it’s basically your fault/you’re lying/you’re trying to ruin him”…or in some cases of particular complexity, she (usually in this type of case it would be a she, because women are pressured to be “peacemakers”) may feel pressure, socially or otherwise, to “not ruin his life”, or, worse yet, she didn’t consent and isn’t happy about it but otherwise has “feelings” for him despite what he did and so forces herself to live with it. This was a long and dense paragraph for which I apologize but do you see how complicated goddamn sexual assault cases are??
And this is just the reasons for under-reporting; sadly, out of the reports that were actually made, one study showed the vast majority appeared to be valid and out of the FALSE reports that were uncovered, it showed a vast majority of THOSE were actually made…when something else horrible was going on, such as domestic abuse or child abuse of other kinds, in order to get police attention and get the abuser away/be able to file an injunction! In a lot of THOSE cases, the rape charges got dropped long before it went to trial (hardly “weighted in the accuser’s favor”!) and yet, other charges were filed in its place, showing that even in cases where a false rape accusations happen, a good chunk of them are actually just a warning flag for the presence of other crimes, and made out of desperation in reaction to other violence or abuse, not out of some vague malicious desire to hurt someone. Which is what most people THINK “false rape accusations” are, malicious.
Moreover, c.) you are overlooking a LOT of factors in how rape and sexual assault get prosecuted in the US, let alone covered in the media.
Do you have ANY IDEA how hard it is to get a rape conviction in this country against a clean-cut looking “promising” white college athlete (which, we’re referring to university/college campus sexual assaults here, that’s the most likely scenario)? REALLY FREAKING HARD. Unless you have:
* other witnesses AND
*physical evidence, AND
*a “perfect victim” – ie not a girl known for “partying” or wearing skimpy clothes or sleeping with other men or the like?
…chances are actually much higher that no conviction will result from a “he said/she said” campus assault case. Unless you have a “perfect perp”, someone who is not privileged race/class, acts like an asshole in court, pretty much confesses, etc., such words-only convictions are comparatively rare, and all the more so in absence of the “perfect victim”. I’m not saying it can never have happened (I mean, sure, it’s possible), but trust me, the reverse is MUCH more common because even the stupidest defense attorney knows enough to try and play on jury sympathies regarding “ruining a young man’s life”…and guess what? More often than not, that attempt WORKS.
Part of the scandal in the news these days is that even in cases where there is a clear-cut conviction, the judge or jury goes SOFT on the “boys” in question, rather than “hard” (including a Florida judge who is under fire recently for changing a sentence for a “promising young athlete” so that he wouldn’t serve jail time, so that he wouldn’t be kicked out of atheltics!).
Hell, sometimes the media itself does: Anybody remember the Stubenville rape case? We literally had multiple witnesses and VIDEO and the perps even mentioned they regretted taking the VIDEO because it screwed them over, but never once mentioned feeling sorry for the actual, blatantly unconscious victim that they dragged around, laughing like assholes as they did. It was a clear-cut case of a bunch of privileged little assholes taking advantage of an unconscious victim, ON VIDEO, solid evidence, resulted in a conviction…and yet look at media coverage on the verdict. Quite a bit of it ignored the victim completely, zeroing in on what a shame those “boys’ lives were ruined” – never mind the victim, it’s the perps, who we KNEW did it, who were on VIDEO having done it, who didn’t really show true remorse for their crime, it’s THEM that we’re expected to feel sorry for!
This is a PERVASIVE attitude in our culture, that it’s a “shame a young man’s life is ruined by a single mistake” etc, etc., ad nauseum, to the extent, again, that in a blatant case where the perps really did clearly do it, and were assholes about it to boot, they still got more media sympathy than their victim.
Your commentary leads me to believe you have no idea that this is the case in our culture, and are completely blind to it, which just goes to show how pervasive it really is – it’s exactly why people are so ready to disbelieve a rape victim in the first place, because it’s hypothetically possible that “she could be lying” and why, he’s such an (that we know of) upstanding young man with a “Promising Future”, “what a shame to ruin that”! Hell, they pull that, as we saw with Stubenville and a number of other recent cases, even in cases where it’s clear the victim/accuser was NOT lying!
OH OH and aaaaalll of that’s even assuming it even gets REPORTED to police, because one of the major issues with campus assault that has been uncovered in recent years is a horrifying tendency to try and handle it “in house” through Campus Security or the Dean etc., which results in most of it getting swept under the rug because the school doesn’t want a bad reputation. In some cases, the victim herself has been basically punished for reporting it – I recall one young woman discussing how she had been pressured into recanting or “interpreting the incident differently” (are you SURE it was rape, maybe you really consented?? do you really want to ruin this Promising Young Man’s Life so close to graduation?? etc. ugh), disallowed from reporting it to the police, and when she had panic attacks as a result of NOT being allowed to get a restraining order against her accuser, who was allowed to walk around the same campus she was on every day and to randomly run into her (a man with “a promising future, so close to graduation” they told her)? They had her COMMITTED against her will, which forced her to drop classes, which they also would not excuse her from, because you see, her being traumatized was clearly her own fault or something.
Again: Excuse the language but, really, yes, “weighted in favor of the accuser” my ASS. If anything, if the accused and/or perp happens to be a white male, well-off and/or an athlete that the school would really prefer not to lose, it’s the REVERSE.
Yes, I’m sure SOMEBODY somewhere has been falsely convicted of a rape they didn’t commit, at some point, in modern US history. But you know who that somebody probably is? Not a wealthy or upper middle class white male college athlete.
Most likely to be falsely accused of ANY crime would be black males, and most likely to be convicted and harshly-sentence of ANY crime, would be poor black males who aren’t “important” to a large organization. The problem recently is with privileged athletes, often white, getting away with repeated assaults because the society they work in actually actively protects them from the consequences far more readily than what you’re willing to admit. And false accusations are rare, rarer still when nothing else hinky is going on, but convictions based on such are even rarer, PRECISELY because people believe exactly as you do, that it’s the accused and not the accuser who is at a disadvantage and more “believable” and sympathetic.
People, put simply, don’t WANT to believe that very many men are capable of the act of rape or sexual assault, and even when it’s demonstrably true that they did in fact commit it, are more far likely to try and make excuses than to demonize them, ESPECIALLY in college campus rape cases.
Sore subject, sorry. But I want you look into this a lot more deeply than you have been, because the sheer INERTIA on this topic because nobody WANTS to believe that a good number of men have been basically conditioned to not care and/or realize that they have committed sexual assault in our culture is frankly horrifying and it’s reaching silent crisis levels. Approximately 1 in 3 women – 1 in 3! – can expect to be sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime and a large number will at best MAYBE talk to their therapist about it, but never file charges, because of any number of complicated factors I mentioned above. False accusations are far rarer than anybody realizes, because, to be frank, they actually provide a high social risk to the accuser!
It is NOT, I repeat, NOT “weighted heavily in favor of the accuser”. It is the opposite. And I don’t like seeing damaging lies like that – intentional or not! – being spread. You’ll have to forgive me, please, for being a little testy in my frustration at seeing it happen again (and again, and again, and AGAIN…) given that over and over we see evidence of its opposite, and yet the perception, the lie, persists nonetheless.
Remember the Duke lacrosse incident?
Some “promising” athletes got screwed by a false report, an overzealous prosecutor, and a media judgement of guilty before a complete investigation was done.
Yes, I remember it. I also remember something you do not:
On April 11, 2007, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper dropped all charges and declared the three lacrosse players innocent. The prosecutor, Nifong, was labeled a “rogue prosecutor” by Cooper, and withdrew from the case in January 2007 after the North Carolina State Bar filed ethics charges against him. In June 2007, Nifong was disbarred for “dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation”, making him the first prosecutor in North Carolina disbarred for trial conduct.
The Durham Police Department also came under fire for violating their own policies by allowing Nifong to act as the de facto head of the investigation; using a suspect-only photo identification procedure with Mangum; pursuing the case despite vast discrepancies in notes taken by Investigator Benjamin Himan and Sgt. Mark Gottlieb; and distributing a poster presuming the suspects’ guilt shortly after the allegations (thus influencing the jury).
So the “promising” athletes were temporarily screwed by a false report.
Or permanently, depending on how long their neighbors memories are. Everyone remembers an accusation, but only some people remember or agree with an innocent verdict. Where can they go to get their reputations restored?
When the French revolution took place, it became commonplace for crowds to attend the executions, by guillotine, of the aristocracy, as a means of entertainment. The custom, amongst the nobles, was to show dignity in the face of death.
What changed the barbarity though, was not that stoicism. It was when a noblewoman allowed her humanity to show through. She was crying, begging not to be killed, trying to pull away, screaming and dying, in a most undignified way. The crowds did not cheer, like they normally did. They had seen a victim, who was like them.
This led to the executions ending.
Please read the words of one of the victims.
It is an extended message, from her heart, rather than a short soundbite. However please keep going, for as long as you can manage.
next scene: the two vamp girls and the guy all do a ‘gotcha!’ to Sydney
In case it hasn’t been mentioned:
The legal definition of assault is threatening to do bodily harm to someone in a way you are capable of carrying out.
the legal definition of battery is the act of actually carrying through with that threat (thus why it’s often listed as “Assault and Battery” in the charges)
Legal authorities can break out a fight or a “battery” as needed, as needed. However legal charges won’t be pressed unless the person they attacked wishes to. Of course if said person takes a swing at the cop, then it’s a whole other ball of wax…
There’s also assault as a tort- which is kinda like the civil equivalent of a crime. It results in money payouts, not jail time. The legal requirements for assault as a tort are basically the same, but torts have a lower burden of proof than crimes.
Sorry, but you make it sound like this kind of assault.
https://storage.googleapis.com/tcg-content/crimewire/2014/05/Food-Fight.jpg
Those aren’t tortes, they are pies!
I’ll be here all week!
That’s highly dependent on the jurisdiction you’re in. Around here assault and battery are virtually synonymous, with the difference being that touching someone can be assault (even a pat on the shoulder, it’s that stupid) while battery is an actual attack.
The public do tend to blur the distinction. The legal system however does not, despite lax reporting which might not make the distinction.
Not all countries use both terms. Those which do though treat each as separate crimes, according to the respective definitions, in that jurisdiction.
What encourages the public perception though is that criminals are often convicted of both offences. So the assumption is made that the one offence caused both. However each is assessed separately, under its own merits, and you will find other trials returning just one, or the other, result on its own. But that does not contribute to disassociating the two terms.
Sure. And spitting on someone is assault by bodily fluid. Because until a battery of tests are run on you, I have no idea what kind of diseases your saliva may be carrying that I have now been exposed to. (Even worse when you’re bleeding inside your mouth, so your spit is bloody.)
For that reason, spitting on a law enforcement officer, even if it just bounces off their clothes, will get a charge of assault added to whatever they’re arresting you for.
does this mean that because spitting on someone carries the threat of a nasty disease, if you actually do have a disease it counts as battery?
I’m honestly curious
I have a confession to make: I don’t know!
Sometimes it may seem like there aren’t a lot of things that I don’t know, but this is one of them.
If there is anyone who does know, I’m curious too! :)
Being spat on is icky. Being poked, by a finger, is unpleasant.
People must have a means of legally defending themselves against such actions. This predated our knowledge of spittle potentially carrying disease. If the law did not provide such, then victims would have to protect themselves, from such, by whatever other means would be available. Which would usually involve retaliating, either in kind, or in some physical fashion.
On the playground you will hear “he started it first”. Adults should be secure in the knowledge that they do not need to punch back. The other person is assaulting you and can be punished for such.
If you KNOW you are carrying the disease, it’s definitely a crime, I know that much; I forget the charge, but there was someone, I believe in California a few years back, who was knowingly carrying HIV and yet having unprotected sex without warning their partners. They were definitely charged with something, though I don’t recall if it it was a form of assault/battery or simply criminal negligence of some sort.
I do know however that it counts as assault and battery to put foriegn things in a person’s food, drink or medications without their knowledge, and yes this includes “harmless” substances such as laxatives or eye drops – such acts count as poisoning, and poisoning is assault and battery!
There’s good reason for this mind; you never know what a person could be allergic too, or what medications or other things they might be taking that could interact with it, or for instance in the case of someone being given a laxative, they might be already having…issues in their digestive system that could lead to dangerous medical issues such as dehydration and damage to their systems.
tldr NEVER slip someone “laxative brownies” or put things in their drinks to make them need the crapper. It’s not a cute prank, it’s not funny, it could be LETHAL, and if you are caught, you could net yourself jailtime. Also if you have a disease that could be spread through contact with a sexual partner, do tell them before having sex. It’s just a good idea, man.
Oh! And excellent fact to know as well: under US law at least, cutting of someone’s hair without their permission is also battery. Because you are taking a sharp object to their body with intent to damage it. The fact that hair does not have nerve endings is irrelevant, it’s the fact it’s attached to them that is the concern.
If you have a disease communicable by spitting on someone, and you know you have it, absolutely.
If you don’t know…I dunno.
Yeah, I think you’d have to prove intent in order to upgrade it to Battery. And in this case, proving intent may be rather difficult, because you’d also have to be able to prove that he knew he had it (which means subpoenaing medical records to see if it’s been diagnosed). After all, it is entirely possible to be an asymptomatic carrier, and if you’re the kind of person who avoids regular medical checkups, you may honestly be totally unaware you have it.
There are instances where The State can file charges regardless of the intent of the victim. Domestic Abuse is a prime example as “Battered Spouse Syndrome” exists, where the spouse will be afraid of pressing charges for numerous reasons, or worse, actually come to the defense, often violently, of the very spouse who’s doing the beating.
This is the primary reason police officers DREAD answering a domestic abuse call, not because they’re worried about what the perpetrator might do, but because of what the VICTIM might do.
Nicely said. Your definition serves as a good rule of thumb, at least in any part of the US I’ve been. The key element of Assault seems to be threat of harm, either verbal or somatic; if the action could reasonably result in harm, that tends to push it over the line into Battery (although other posters have rightly noted there’s quite a bit of variability).
If you have the presence of mind at the moment of choice, never EVER attack either Law Enforcement or Military personnel without counting the cost first – it will be high and you may not get a chance to reconsider (the which saddens me – we should be better able to trust our public servants, and they us).
As I understand it here whether or not the state presses charges is up to the prosecutor but they take into account the advice of the police and the police take into account the requests of the victim.
The Vamp girls won’t drain the Glasses Dude, they just want a snack. Besides, I think he kinda likes the attention.
I see the ladies brought a snack with them. He thought he was being brought for his knowledge of historical context, but he had a second purpose as well, unknown to him at the time. When the ladies turn on him, he is thinking, “Oh, no. Not this again.”
Or maybe he was thinking,”♥Oh, boy! This again!! ♥”
I hate it when my snacks start to lecture.
Lol.
It’s why Brainy Smurf should be the first to die.
Brainy Smurf should be the LAST to die. now THAT’S torture.
(maniacal laugh)
Self Torture
In regard to the currently nameless blood bag: I hate guys like that so if I had fangs I’d have put the bite on him too.
Scarlett would agree with you, if she didn’t have her fangs full :D
Gentleman in question is probably a donor or a thrall.
Probably his bloody fetish to.
I know lots of guys who would love to be shut up this way.
One thing that bugs me about this page: In the first panel, Sydney says
“You guys get together once a year to plot humanities demise?”
You confused the plural of ‘humanity’ for the possessive. The correct form is “Humanity’s demise.”
Just letting you know.
They are both wrong. They actually meet to plot the demise of a really annoying shape shifter “Hugh Manatee”.
“All your water celery will be mine!”
Hey, who wants to see a collection of baby pictures and vacation photo? Everyone? Great. And then I can do my one-manatee act…
*beat*
What’s with the murderous looks? I’ll have the slides ready in just a second, you don’t need need to be so impatient.
What bugs me is the consecutive speech bubbles starting with “Actually”.
Actually, people do talk like that, and that’s probably why the girls fang’ed him :P
Confirmed! I actually talk like that all the time! ;)
>_> I’ve been informed it’s a verbal tic of mine. I try to rein it in when I’m aware of it but it does slip out, particularly when I’m speaking as opposed to writing, and thus am less likely to notice I’ve done it.
Am I the only person who imagined the voice of ‘Tom’ to be the same guy who did ‘Mandark’ in the Dexter’s Laboratory series? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Deezen
I…hadn’t before but I am now, so you’re not wrong to imagine it!
There is an awesome Mass Effect fan fic which deals with some people who do this sort of ‘virtual tourism’ and ally with the Geth. It’s quite well written, well thought out, and intriguing. Unfortunately, the author stopped writing it right at a HUGE climax point.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9271192/1/Transcendent-Humanity
Actually, in a number of states (including a number you wouldn’t expect, like Massachusetts) BDSM is or was illegal for exactly those reasons. Basically, law said that A) you cannot consent to abuse (yes, I know the existence of boxing, for example, directly contradicts this, but laws don’t always make sense) and B) the cops/state can, and MUST prosecute any abuse they observe/have knowledge of, victims consent (to either the “abuse” or the prosecution be damned). This led to all BDSM clubs being underground, constantly moving to new locations for a along time. It also led to a sort of cottage industry in its neighbor rhode island (who do not have those laws) in BDSM and private-ish sex clubs.
whoops. missed the first page of comments, this was already mostly covered :(
No probs. And you added an interesting bit of detail.
Interesting. I suppose this falls in the same category as those outdated laws like the anti-Sodomy law in Texas…which was, notably, overturned precisely because it was stupid to prohibit a consensual sex act between adults in the privacy of their own home.
as far as the Bloodbag vs. Assault charges thing goes, you might check out Faith Hunter’s “Yellowrock” series. in her universes take on modern Vampires, Donors have signed legal contracts stating how and when and how often they can be fed from, and violations are handled by Bounty Hunters like the main character.
Hey Dave, in panel 1, I think you meant to say “plotting HUMANITY’S demise” not “plotting HUMANITIES demise”.
Also, this probably shows my uncouthness, but although I recognize the Governator and Bender, I don’t know who the 3rd robot is. Would you, could you, please tell me?
Also also, I love Sydney’s face in panel 6.
Also also also, I love the whole comic and I want you to keep up the good work.
Yeah, it does kinda look like the Council is planning is planning to kill off social studies programs in schools around the world. “MWAAHAHAHAHA!! Soon all of Humanities will perish!!”
*Gasp!*
Can you get me Penfold’s autograph?!
Oh, and that last robot is a Sentinel from The Matrix.
Dear Ignoble,
I’m afraid that Penfold can’t give his autograph right now, since he’s caught in a deathtrap. Again. Also, he doesn’t have anything with his signature on it; I just checked.
Thanks for the info on the Sentinel. It’s no wonder I’ve never seen it before, since I’ve never seen the Matrix sequels, since they don’t exist.
Great fan of yours. I especially liked how Terry Scott and David Jason portrayed yourself and Penfold.
By the way, I don’t suppose you could drop this off could you?
*pops a birthday card into an addressed envelope, with a first class stamp on it*
All hail he who need never fear the Ticklehipos.
Just be careful not to let them shoot up your trouser leg! And could someone please explain to me how in the world those things could possibly be rare, like the alien guy says. I mean, they’re practically tribbles!
Klingons.
*wags tail nostalgically*
Looks like an Agent from The Matrix.
It is a robot from the Matrix, yea.
Although the ones referred to as ‘agents’ were the human form ones, such as Agent Smith. But, that was in the virtual world. So, in the physical world, their equivalents would be the squid robots. Hence the term is reasonable, despite that quibble.
Yeah, as people pointed out…this is BATTERY, not ASSAULT.
To over-summarize…Assault is pointing a gun at someone. Battery is pulling the trigger. It’s somehting they make a big deal of in Legal class.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault
Generally, you don’t have battery without assault, but you can have assault without battery. For instance…if you point a fake pistol at someone, it can still count as assault. That said, the one exception is a surprise attack. (Which this was.)
[quote]
At common law, simple battery is a misdemeanor. The prosecutor must prove all three elements beyond a reasonable doubt:
an unlawful application of force
to the person of another
resulting in either bodily injury or an offensive touching.
The common-law elements serve as a basic template, but individual jurisdictions may alter them, and they may vary slightly from state to state.
Under modern statutory schemes, battery is often divided into grades that determine the severity of punishment. For example:
Simple battery may include any form of non-consensual harmful or insulting contact, regardless of the injury caused. Criminal battery requires intent to inflict an injury on another.
Sexual battery may be defined as non-consensual touching of the intimate parts of another. At least in Florida, “Sexual battery means oral, anal, or vaginal penetration by, or union with, the sexual organ of another or the anal or vaginal penetration of another by any other object”: See section 794.011.[4]
Family-violence battery may be limited in its scope between persons within a certain degree of relationship: statutes for this offense have been enacted in response to increasing awareness of the problem of domestic violence.
Aggravated battery generally is seen as a serious offense of felony grade, involving the loss of the victim’s limb or some other type of permanent disfigurement. As successor to the common-law crime of mayhem, this is sometimes subsumed in the definition of aggravated assault. In Florida, Aggravated Battery is the intentional commission of great bodily harm.[5] Conversely, if there is no intent in Florida, then it is felony battery which is a third degree felony as opposed to a second degree felony in which aggravated battery is.
[/quote]
So…it’s Battery unless he gave consent. (Also, Sunstone references? I missed ’em!)
Good to know. Sydney clearly doesn’t (as I didn’t) but no one’s there to correct her, so it’s probably fine to leave it like that.
Be glad the council didn’t ask Sydney to go and get some Coors beer,which is located in Texas.
Sydney:Hauling Coors beer east of Texas is bootlegging!
It was mentioned in some movie from the 1970s and maybe that law is no longer valid?!?
The movie you’re thinking of is Smokey and the Bandit (1977). Also, it wasn’t “east of Texas”, it was “east of the Mississippi River”.
Coors had not been licensed to be sold in the east at that time. Anyone carrying more than what would be considered “for personal consumption” (about 24 beers) would be in violation of the registration and licensing law. So, in the vernacular of the time, carrying Coors beer east of the Mississippi River would be prosecuted as bootlegging.
Things are different now, of course. Coors became licensed in 1981, just four years after the movie, so hauling Coors east of the Mississippi is no longer bootlegging.
It was also never ‘beer’
I can’t argue with that. I don’t like beer in general.
They are in New York.
You can get anything in New York.
Including a walking entrée
You could get one at Milliway’s, but they usually bring it on a cart so you can ask what parts of them you’d like to eat.
For robotic and digital life forms, planets suck. Well Earth would. Think about it, water everywhere and lots of corrosive free oxygen. It’s an oxicidation nightmare, and for what gain? Most of the rare metals would be easier to obtain by setting up stop in asteroid fields espcially like the one Sol has. The reason humans don’t do it is because they don’t live long enough and need that annoying oxygen.
Lots of free easy direct solar converted power. The option to create huge storage processing and structures out of asteroid husks. What do I care that it makes a few months or a year to slow boat my way around using ion drives (I didn’t sign a no-nukes in space treaty). And best of all, very few organics will come bother you about annoying things like “world domination” or “extinction of organic life”.
If a digital intelligence wanted to visit Earth, dropping a quantum entanglement comm node and jacking into one of the main Interent backbone lines would work well. After all hacking in would be simple with quantum computing. Although having some small mobile drone platforms to go where cameras aren’t would be interesting for purely data gathering reason.
You’re assuming robotic lifeforms would be made of metal. Metal is actually not a very good material because it weighs so much and is too flexible at thickness low enough to have a manageable weight.
Carbon fiber and other space-age materials would be much better… which do not rust. And for the electronics, the electronics would ideally be immersed in heat transference material that would also protect them from corrosion. Data runs between components would be best handled by fiber optics. Once we crack quantum entanglement as a communication medium that will replace all forms of data communication.
This just in on the list of things that I intend to begin worrying about…
https://qz.com/766198/the-future-of-soft-robotics-a-3d-printed-farting-gummy-octopus/
It’s the farting that worries me, mostly.
I am mostly worried about your hooves squishing them. They are only designed to be around us soft pawed individuals.
Dear god, sunstone. *Sigh* why did you have to remind me of the sunstone comics…
Because he could.
love the Python reference :)
I’m guessing the councils purpose was very different 3000 years ago.. It was the Copper/stone age after all.
Maybe not. Let us suppose that they had figured out that all of the indigenous ‘monster races’ were all offshoots of humans,* then many would have an affinity with, or for, humans. Plus other races, such as the vampires, may not even be able to survive without them. I could well see vampires being founding members of the Twilight Council! They want to protect their feeding stock.
Plus if humans are especially prone to developing super powers, then succubi would want to breed with them, in particular. To increase the chance of their offspring gaining super powers.** So they would want to protect their breeding stock.
Enlightened alien races might simply support policies which avoided the genocide of any race. Given that many will have been in existence before humanity even evolved, they could well have also been founder members of the council. Protecting whatever potential they saw in humanity.
Finally human civilisations started agriculture about 8,000 BC. Which means that by the time the Council was formed, they would have already been large populations of humans. Armed with pointy bronze weapons, burning torches, siege weapons, and being well-versed in warfare.
Even then (for the indigenous races) the policies of keeping secret, and avoiding open conflict, with humanity (or the alien races) would have been well advised!
* Which is what Arianna’s comment, at the press conference, about the legendary monsters actually being super-humans supports.
** That may be why Dabbler is listed as having ‘mutant powers’, if she got them handed down to her, from this process.
In Drew Hayes’ Fred the vampire series the USA was founded with the help of supernaturals to have a nation where they would not automatically be hunted. There are various secret treaties with the various supernatural groups and a secret government Agency to deal with supes who break the law.
*Hands over salt and pepper*
So, after following the link to the bustier in the last comic, my ads on this page have changed into Lacy Hint and Soma.
I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, per se. But I will probably be doing some cookie hunting-down-and-killing in order to avoid embarrassing questions.
I dunno, I kind of like being directed to websites with scantily clad and beautiful young women.
Dirty, dirty donkey. :D
You might want to start phrasing yourself a bit differently. Personally, I have no problem with what you say or how you say it, but some people might think that your just trying to make an @$$ of yourself.
;)
Arrrgh!
*you’re
Oh man, I have one for the European Patent office, plus a game and a comic.
How could anyone have deduced my interests? :-O
Ah, so he is the council historian. At first, I thought he was the council representative for the pedant faction.
Holy fucking crap! SYDNEY! FUCKING DO SOMETHING!! THEY’RE GOING TO KILL HIM!! D-:
But she’s under orders not to cause a diplomatic incident…
I’d cause SUCH a diplomatic incident if it meant saving a life.
Don’t worry, if that happens, he will just rise from the dead. I thought you were pro-immortality?
I’m pro-immortality, but does this guarantee that he’ll rise again as an immortal? Or does he just die? Because I’ve heard different lore.
Heck, I was under the impression that the whole bit about feasting on the blood of virgins was just a euphemism for sex. Nope! They’re literally feeding on the blood of a virgin, right out in front of the whole council without any shame. Hell, I was expecting that if they fed on blood at all it’d be pig blood, or have a donor put it in bags like the Red Cross. But this?
Yeah, I might reconsider being a vampire if it literally makes me a predatory cannibal, and expecially not if jt directly kill people.
(Yes, I’d rather die than be a murderer.)
How do you know he is a virgin? o_O
So, you are a vegan then?
Well, if talking the most likely result, they do seem to be unconcerned that there is a cop in the room. So they are probably just taking donor blood, from the source. With no lasting harm.
Given their antipathy, towards his infodump, they probably would not want to turn him. Which, as you say, would probably be more complicate than just feeding on him. Sometimes it requires feeding three times, in succession (Bram Stoker’s Dracula) others require the victim to also drink the vampires blood.
Innocent Blood though takes the angle I used initially. Any vampire bite will turn the victim. So, in that film, if they want to feed they must kill the victim in a way that will prevent them from rising. Blowing the head off, with a shotgun, or severing the spinal cord, for example.
That is a good film by the way, given that it starts off with an extended scene of pretty female vampire, in the nude. Oh, and it does a few other clever things too, like showing how such a vampire can still have ethics, even when coping with a “must kill, in order to live” disadvantage.
There is one scene which is a bit disappointingly handled (nothing kinky, but it would be spoilerish to detail it). But it is easily offset by a lot of other funny scenes, an otherwise good script, acting and a pretty protragonist.
Interesting looking movie (enjoyed how her eyes literally glowed different colours), and it even has Don Rickles in it!
Yeah!? well… I’m gonna go build my own spooky council!, with blackjack and hookers! In fact, forget the council!
You’re going to build a spooky using a black jack and hookers?
Card + prostitutes = ghost
Mmm?
*tilts head, to a better thinking angle*
Mmmmm?
Well, if you cheat at blackjack, and the hooker is part of the stake…and you’re in the Wild West…
Yep, that could happen.
Or if you’re in Basin City, playing against the girls from Old Town…
In spooky black jack, you have to pay extra for the prostitute to hit you.
In Russian spooky blackjack, one in six prostitutes shoots you!
Is it me or does that headband make Sydney look…old????
Sydney might want to adjust it, to sit a bit lower down, when she looks in a mirror. Currently it does look (a bit) like she has a receding hair line (in the first and final panels). Which would give a subconscious association with age. But, even saying that, I still like the overall effect, in the final panel.
Further much of the above is probably just due to us being so used to seeing Sydney with her former look.
Assault and battery should not be confused with a salt (water) battery.
None of those things should be confused with a urine battery.
I must say that I absolutely love the surprise turn, and Sydney’s entire reaction to it. The bulging eyes tickling my funny bone nicely!
However I can honestly say that the introduction of the anime twisted lip style, which we have seen recently, and again in panel 6, is not growing on me. It does not harm the overall effect here mind. Rather it does help to convey the pensive feeling Sydney is feeling. So it works despite my reservations.
Analysing my own feelings on that, I think it is just a relative of the uncanny valley. The feature is reminiscent of the similar human expression, but is none-the-less a stylised version of it. Contrast that with the bulging eyes, which are just a standard caricature of a normal human response to surprise. Simply super-sizing what we see, in real-life.
Which would explain why the next panel feels fine to me, despite being even less realistic. Because it becomes much more like a chibi, thus breaking out of the uncanny valley. As a result, it allows me to view that panel without my uncomfortable feeling of something being odd.
Overall though, as I started with, I love the result. But felt it may be useful feedback, for DaveB, if others feel the same. Although I can see that I might be alone on this, due to being a stick-in-the-mud, wanting to keep things how I am used to seeing them.
It is worth mentioning that I can be slow in accepting new things. South Park, for instance, rubbed me up the wrong way, initially. So it took two or three episodes, for me to start properly appreciating it.
But, ending with something else that I love, those silhouettes, in the thought bubble, are a great way of showing Sydney’s imagination at work. Very nicely done!
Have to remember, things like the lips and the bulgy eyes with the pinprick pupils are a visual indicator to what people are feeling but can’t physically express in real life (except under severe trauma)
Anyone else ever wonder how vampires bite the neck so easy and the holes go straight in? Have you ever tried putting a jumbo jawbreaker in your mouth? It’s hard to open that wide, and a neck is significantly wider. By angle, and placement of the canines, with the general inward curve it seems like it would be even harder to pull off…unless vampires either
a) have massive overbite or
b) can unhinge their lower jaws
I could be overthinking it, but try biting into the side opposite the handle on a standard gallon bottle of water/milk. It’s hard to hit with much more than the front teeth for me.
You are exactly right. That whole ‘turning into a bat’ thing is just Hollywood messing things up as usual because they didn’t bother to do their homework. In actuality, Vampires are often mistaken for being able to turn into snakes because of how they can unhinge their jaws when applying the bite.
I have a different, working, theory. I live near to Transylvania and we have a critter here which the locals refer to as a велка (Velka). I assume it is a regional name (or I misheard) as I have never been able to source anything regarding it online (by name, description or via the genus list). It is described as being a weasel-like creature. And I have seen a stuffed one, in a bar, and it certainly looks like that (a school friend kept both weasels and ferrets, so I am familiar enough with them).
The weird part being that it is apparently a blood-sucker! I take such claims with a pinch of salt. However friends kept chickens and have confirmed what the locals say, that the bodies are not eaten. Rather, if a велка gets in, rather they do appear to have had the blood sucked out.
On top of which the bigger ones are meant to be bigger than foxes. The one in the bar is bigger than the ferrets I recall from my youth, but is described as a small one. But they are also far more dangerous, given that they are both very strong and clever. Fox-proof hen houses are easily broken into by them. This I have seen first-hand. Wooden slats just torn open!
Like foxes they kill everything.
If you have things like that prowling round your camp-fire, at night, or preying on your livestock, it is not much of a leap from that to vampires.
Hmm. I seem to recall there is a type of Weasel species which will kill anything it can like a little sociopath, but only eats as much as it feels like, just kind of…leaving the rest This could explain why it’s mistaken for a bloodsucker, if it’s killing with bites to the throat and then not bothering to eat it!
And yes, I find nature terrifying sometimes too :D
Terrified? No.
Going to install a cat-flap? Never!
Apropos of nothing…
I just finished catching up on the comic (I was… 2 years behind or so), and found myself wondering, well, what would happen either generally or in specific with a couple of characters floating around my head (one an NPC in a game I briefly ran, one that occurred as a result of an interesting power set that seems to have attached itself to a teenage runaway who supported herself with burglary)
The general case:
A juvenile (or at least very young) offender who has only committed non-violent crimes has a superpower that would be very useful to ARC, and/or that would make them very difficult to incarcerate. And they seem, well, reformable (that is, they became criminals because they were desperate, or because they were bored or something, but a decent salary and/or a job that gives them the excitement they seek will be enough to get them to behave themselves). Would ARC attempt some sort of “reform” program, or just incarcerate them or whatever?
The specific cases:
Firebug: a teenage pyromaniac with fire powers. She committed fairly significant property damage, but was super, super, super careful to make sure no actual humans were hurt by the fires she set (among other things, any fire she starts, she can stop at any time). She just really, really, really likes fire.
Ghost: She has a specialized variant of phasing-type powers (that I don’t *think* I’ve ever seen before). She ran away from home (for good reason) as a relatively young teen, and supported herself by burgling houses (partially using her powers). Also never hurt anyone, or at least no one that didn’t attack her first.
Thoughts?…
Mr Amorphous, Achilles and Heatwave are all reformed vigilantes. Who have been recruited, and retrained to behave as responsible police personnel.
Firebug would need comprehensive psychological testing, to determine if she is simply an arsonist or actually, as you described her, a pyromaniac. The latter is a clinical condition, and would be entirely inappropriate for a serving policewoman to be appointed with such a condition.*
The good news though is that such can be treated, and the younger the sufferer, the more hopeful the prognosis. So she could well be rehabilitated. Further, as her crimes were conducted as a juvenile, her records would be locked,** so should not impede her career as a policewoman. Although her terms of service might require periodic re-assessment, depending on the psychologist’s advice. Or if she shows any signs of a relapse.
Ghost is presented as a classic disadvantaged youth, who Archon would be keen to rehabilitate. Psychological profiling might be used, but only to determine which branch would be best for her (unless operational needs overrode this). Powers wise several branches would be interested in her services.
If she only reluctantly turned to burglary, then she would be well suited to Arc-SWAT. Whereas if she actually enjoyed the lifestyle, even if it was forced on her by necessity, then she may be better off in either Arc-Light or Arc-Dark.
* By contrast a convicted arsonist is currently serving as an education spokesman to the House of Lords.
Maybe burning down buildings gives him a special insight into the adolescent mind? Or maybe the guy who appointed him is nuts?
** Here I am talking how it works in the UK. The US has different ways of handling things, and on a state-by-state basis. But often they overlap, in broad terms, so the point may be valid, depending on what state(s) were involved.
Those 3 were vigilantes, but did they ever commit full-on, no-questions-asked *crimes*? Eg theft, murder, or whatnot, not just, eg, legally questionable/borderline citizen’s arrests. Reforming a vigilante is a little different in the public eye from reforming the kid who burned down 3 warehouses, or burgled half the rich people in town.
I can see Firebug… very happily working for the Forest Service, once someone has the idea. I mean, can you imagine doing a controlled burn that actually is 100% *controlled*, down to “make sure the fire doesn’t get closer than 100 feet from that structure right there, or those power lines over there, and make sure it stops by 10:00”? Or having someone who can go *into* a forest fire, to lead out trapped fire fighters or the like, or who can make fire-breaks without having to worry about the fire overtaking her? Basically, with a little guidance, she could probably replace something like 100 guys currently having to do a *very* dangerous job every time there’s a forest fire that gets out of control.
While I think she could easily get to a point where she no longer *starts* fires she’s not supposed to… imagine how awesome fire would be to someone inclined to pyromania if you knew it *could not burn you* (and, ya know, you wouldn’t be harmed by smoke inhalation and whatever). I picture her… always retaining her fascination with fire, to a degree that would probably be less than useful for regular ARC service, though she might be called in to pinch-hit, so to speak, on particularly troublesome situations where her talents would be handy.
Ghost… I picture as kind of angry and sullen, but she’s only half-formed in my mind right now. Skinny, possibly a redhead, and had a *really* crappy childhood. I don’t know how she’d turn out once she was no longer living hand-to-mouth. I’m mostly trying to work out the mechanics of her powers.
Because of how exactly her powers work, she’d be safer going into combat naked than she would be in bulletproof clothing. Basically, she’s selectively intangible–she can, in essence, decide whether or not to physically interact with anything, either individually or categorically. If she does physically interact with her clothing, then anything that hits her clothing will still feel like it’s hitting her, at least until the clothing tears. So, with bulletproof clothing, getting hit with a bullet feels like getting slugged with a baseball bat. With gauze, getting hit with a bullet probably feels more like getting poked slightly hard with someone’s finger. With nothing on, it’d pass right through her (as long as she’s prepared). But ARC would probably frown on someone routinely going into battle naked (either ARC-SWAT or ARC-Dark), so I’m trying to figure out how she could be as clothed as possible without her clothing being a danger to her.
Also, there’s *no* way she’d wear one of those neck band things. For the very obvious reason that it basically makes her neck *hugely* vulnerable, as long as she’s tangible to it, and if she’s *not* tangible to it, she’d lose it immediately. Nothing to hold it up.
And, I think in the US, it’s not necessarily *automatic*, but it’s relatively easy to get a juvenile record sealed.
I’d like to help you here. Find me on skype or steam.
Just don’t get our Tribble in trouble!
Was waiting for Spock to give that farmer such a pinch!
One B. I’m neither anywhere near as fertile, nor anywhere near as fuzzy. But I also won’t devour all of your quadrotriticale.
:-)
I don’t have the former, and have no idea how to find you on the latter (where I am tamtrible).
Out of interest, I have both. But, for the latter, I will never add anyone else to my friends list. Given that I have never found an option to block them having total knowledge of everything I am doing. Seeing what I am currently playing, and being able to access my history and check total time played in each game. And more.
Steam is wonderful. But it is a privacy nightmare.
I’m ChemFlunky on Yahoo. You can send me a message there.
If they were acting as good citizens, acting under self-defence provisions, under law, they would not be classed as vigilantes. To be described as such, they must have been guilty of committing crimes. They, as adults, were permitted to join Archon, despite such a criminal record. Therefore minors, acting with mitigating circumstances (diminished responsibility, due to mental illness or theft, due to self-preservation out of desperation being fair examples) would also be eligible.
Of course the exact circumstances, and details of their situations would need to be examined, in context. Plus Archon would have to consider multiple factors:
• The benefits to be gained by having an extra super on the payroll.
• The rehabilitation of someone with powers.*
• The PR risk, to Archon’s reputation, if their crimes were too objectionable.
• The actual risk of reoffending (and the perceived risk, if different).
• Public confidence in the character of Archon officers, and trust in their integrity.**
* The impact a super has on society is greater than normal individuals, under similar circumstances. Turning a potential ‘great evil’ into an actual ‘great good’ is of benefit to society.
** Whilst this overlaps with the PR point, the former deals with the single individual, and their history. The last deals with the impact which could affect not just their role, but all the other officers too.
I’d imagine even if they didn’t actually join ARC proper (SWAT, dark, or light), both Firebug and Ghost would be … people that Archon as a whole would want to reform *somehow*.
Firebug probably wouldn’t have the right temperament for any of the actual Archon divisions, but I can see them helping her get her act together, then finding ways for her to *productively and usefully* set things on fire.
I’m not sure if Ghost would actually be useful in a “field” capacity, or not. I don’t know if she’d actually be useful in combat (or anything similar), she’s no stronger than anyone else (though she could theoretically do things like, say, grab someone’s internal organs without touching the rest of them), she’d mostly be useful as, well, a distraction, or for information gathering or the like. Though I could see her having some particular utility in search-and-rescue in a collapsed building or the like, as long as she was willing to go in naked.
I mean, what use would *you* have for selective intangibility (that doesn’t extend to objects around you) if you were fighting supervillains, rescuing people, and whatever else it is that ARC is supposed to be doing?
All interesting stuff. I, needless to say, would be happy for Ghost to search naked. But doubt it would be pleasant or easy for her, if she did, and I would advise her not to do that.
Fortunately it would not be necessary. Think back to the beginning of the comic, with Sydney playing Omnigal. In that the issue of power-stunts comes up. For example learning how to turn a force field opaque, to block light or lasers.
Sydney is clearly arguing from her first-hand experience with her force-field. Strongly implying that powers (even including her non-inherent ones) can be modified or circumstantially adapted. Whilst retro-gaming is a thing, that DM was clearly bowing to the real-world expertise of Halo. Ergo it is most probably using a realistically-based system.
So I would help Ghost to explore ways of developing her power, beyond the limitations she currently has. For instance, seeing if there is a way for her to extend her intangibility to others.
Maxima’s forcefield can extend to the objects she is lifting, to provide them structural integrity. This is why the ambulance did not buckle, when under the compact force of her hand lifting it, fast. As such she would be an excellent consultant or teacher, who may be able to fast-track the process.
Being able to touch internal organs is one of the most deadly (and icky) ways of killing people. Plus being able to evade attacks, by phasing out, before they hit, or dodging, out of sight, through solid objects, or the ground, is incredibly powerful. Not to mention the stealth and covert options it adds.
But Ghost would have huge options, beyond just combat. That organ touching capability would allow her to be a world-class surgeon (with access to appropriate scanners, to direct her operations), for instance. Or, if she does not want to devote the many years of training needed, for such specialisation, Ghost could opt to have combat medical training.
Even if having to rely on touch, being able to perform heart massage, without having to cut the patient open, is just one invaluable technique. As an Arc-SWAT member she could be a top-tier operative in combat, reconnaissance, special forces operations and as a medic.
Likewise as for any search-and-rescue role she may wish to undertake. Be it independently or as a member of Arc.
As for me?
Tin-openers require thumbs to operate.
One thing with Firebug’s powers: she can control the fire she starts including stopping it any time, but what if it spreads before she stops it and starts a secondary fire? Can she stop all fires or just the one she specifically created?
Have had an idea for a special spell in D&D games (which ever setting you want, but only really player AD&D2E): Phoenix Fire, basically, you take an ember (or as many as you want) from a fire and, after it has cooled enough to handle, enchant it so that at a later time you can ‘reignite’ it and the initial fire is treated as magical and can only be doused via Dispel Magic (if you realise that it is magical in nature), it burns as hot and as long as the fire the ember originally came from, during that time it can, naturally, set fire to other things, with the subsequent fires being treated as ‘normal’ fires. Part of the enchantment allows you to track the ember allowing you basic awareness of it’s location and surroundings (hide it in a wagon of hay, ‘follow’ the wagon as it enters the castle and then, when it’s in an ideal location surrounded by lots of flammable materials, *FWOOSH*)
The initial fire can’t be doused until it expires (the duration of the original fire), but the subsequent fire can, if you have enough water handy
She may be able to dampen *any* fire, if it’s small enough, but it’s much easier to dampen a fire she started. Even if it spreads. I mean, she couldn’t, eg, douse a huge forest fire that started from a campfire she started, but a building or something? That she could do.
And, obviously, that’s something she gets better at with practice. Which may be another reason she burned down warehouses. She wanted more scale to practice on.
Okay, so she can stop even natural fires, if they haven’t gotten too big
If it doesn’t at least “descend” from a fire she started, she has trouble damping down anything much bigger than, say, a good campfire. (or at least that’s how I’m picturing her powers, I don’t remember the actual mechanics I gave her as an RP character). Or, at least, she needs to carefully take command of it, whereas a fire she started she already “owns”, even if it spreads.
Or something like that.
Ghost extend your powers you must.
Your control flows through your fire. Add your fire to the other. Make that fire your own, in order to extinguish it.
Yeah, with practice, she could do things like that. But, you’re addressing the wrong super-delinquent.
Five minutes into my walkies today, my subconsciousness decided to start taunting me with that fact, yea.
:-(
Having searched the comments for the word ‘Geth’, and having found only one result about Mass Effect fan fiction, I shall (with no small amount of glee) take this oppertunity to talk about them. A ‘cloud’ of Geth programs, no matter how large, suffers no problem with conflicting directives and motivations, as they only have a single consciousness. As a cloud gets larger, it doesn’t develop more consciousnesses, it simply gets smarter, as more programs work towards the same goal. It’s a little like the XKCD strip Rocks in the Sand; each program is only about as smart as a calculator, but you get enough of the, working together (or placing rocks, to reference the XKCD strip mentioned above) and they managed to figure out sentience. That being said, the Geth would probably NOT be be happy with a single mobile terminal (robot body) as that would be a terribly inefficient method of surveying a world. They’d probably just invade our data network.
It was also mentioned on the first page. However your comment has enough distinctiveness that it remains worthy, in its own right.
You were wise to do the word search, to save reading through all the comments. Sadly such needs to be repeated for each page. Although, once you are aware of that, it is a simple process to do.
Incidentally this is something I mention because it took me a long time to notice that the comments spawned additional pages, and only the most recent was visible. As such, when I first started commenting, I got mystified, and irritated, that some of my comments vanished!
Whilst it was quite easy for me to figure it out, in due course, that was because I was a prolific commentator. So the pattern became easy to spot. However I could see that an infrequent commentator might be easily put off commentating at all, if they got no clue about such.
Anyone else weirded out by how the comments constantly refer to “the government” like one overarching entity for humanity? As an American, I know that the depiction of US foreign policy in regards to the “atypical” community is in broad strokes similar to how the US acts in the world (the US leads, and everyone else follows because we have a metric s***ton more nukes/soldiers/supers of greater force than anyone else on the planet, and we are more than happy to demonstrate this on small middle eastern countries), but the US government (or specifically, ARCHON) representing all of humanity would rub some people wrong. Now, I get that there was a scene with Obama, and who I assume are the heads of Mexico and Canada, with two other countries in on the call, but ARCHON can’t represent all of humanity with just 5 governments giving them their approval (only one of which is on the UN security council as far as we know). Russia, and China would flip their s*** at having a US organization that employs PMDs (Persons of Mass Destruction), not to mention the rest of the world. Unlike the other members of the council that have small enough populations that they can maintain enough control to enforce promises, the ARCHON people can’t guarantee promises made because they just don’t have the authority (the US already has a hard enough time guaranteeing our own promises because of bipartisan squabbling, like how the Trans Pacific Partnership was a big deal of the Obama presidency but both candidates are promising to scrap it).
TL;DR : I foresee great issues with this council, mostly because the other factions are probably global, and will encounter problems they want ARCHON to solve because it is a human created issue, but ARCHON can’t do anything without breaking international borders. (BTW, what are the rules on supers crossing borders, is that illegal, like sneaking weapons grade uranium, a chemical weapon, or a nuke around?)
Also, am I the only one who wants to see Maxima and Sydney travelling to other countries to deal with superhuman terrorists (also, wouldn’t it make sense for the comm ball to be a universal translator)?
The press conference did mention that negotiations were being conducted, for treaties to ban using supers in wars. Such would only be in early stages however. But it does show that other world governments are aware of the issues. Importantly though the USA were the fist government to go public.
If my supposition, that Archon are working to also go public (in due course), about the Twilight Council, then I imagine that they are conducting talks with the UN, on how to formalise diplomatic relations with the Council. Ultimately each nation would have diplomatic relations with them both individually, with a direct embassy, and collectively, as part of the United Nations (and through other bodies, such as the EU).
It is right however, that as the USA is the only government to formally acknowledge the existence of supers (and admit that legendary monsters were likely attributable to the same), they are the only organisation that the Council can presently conduct formal diplomacy with. Which, at this stage, would incorporate determining when (or if) public recognition would be safe to announce.
It is a standard matter of international protocol. First a country must announce that they recognise the validity of another party, before they can make treaties or other diplomatic ties or agreements. Whilst the USA have not actually done that, they have made the first, significant steps.
Secret recognition is a tool which has been used in the past however. In particular during war-time, when one party cannot afford to be exposed to attack for such recognition. Or as a precursor to an attempt to change a regime. Typically this will actually still involve formal recognition, and signature of documents, to that effect. They are simply not made public. Secret mutual defence treaties can even be agreed, in the same manner.
By example, regarding formal recognition, there is an artificial structure, somewhere off the coast of England, which has attempted to proclaim itself an independent nation (decades ago). And even produce their own stamps (which give an important revenue stream, from collectors).
Whilst they have several strikes against ever gaining such recognition (the major international treaty on the subject specifically forbids artificial structures from being counted as land, for purposes of determining sovereignty*) they do have a point in their favour.
A failed attempt was made to claim the structure, by force. And some personnel were captured by the residents. Because the British government had to negotiate their release, this technically counts towards recognising the state. It not being possible (under the above principle) to conduct formal negotiations without such.
Of course this does not amount to formal recognition. But it did give the claim a slightly higher weight, than it previously had. Archon even conducting negotiations here has subtle legal implications, under international protocols.
* Which is something that China is presently ignoring, in building artificial islands in the South China Sea. Although their main purpose is clearly military in nature. However if China manages to get the relevant treaties re-negotiated (which is very unlikely as it would not be in the best interests of most of the other signatories), then it would open the gateway for oil rigs and the like to become micro-states.
The comm ball might translate for Sydney but be less likely to translate the other way. Would be interesting to see, and make arc-light (and maybe arc-dark) so jealous that they didn’t get her power suite in their outfit.
They are referring to “The Government” being the US Government, because they are in the US and, as such, currently under their jurisdiction, not as in Futurama with The Head of Richard Nixon being the President of All Earthicans
While they are in the USA, there is only really one Government to be taken into account. We know that the Council is talking to the USA government; we do not know that they aren’t also talking to the Russians, Chinese, British, et cetera. For a body that’s been running for centuries at least, I’d expect them to have been in close if covert contact with all the Great Powers and most of the minor ones at any given time.
Do we even have definite evidence that this is the World Council tonight, as opposed to the USA branch? If this is just the sub-group focused on the USA’s jurisdiction, then it’s no wonder they focus on the USA’s government.
So, vampires feed on trolls. Huh, I did not know that.
Well I think we can let the vamps have them. No big loss.
Well, trolls are known for their extensive regeneration, and their rapid spawning
And rapid URL switching.
So – who thinks the Government is in the middle of a phased program:
Step 1: Let people know about supers.
Step 2: Let people know about super police/whatever.
Step 3: Aliens?
Step 4: Alliances/treaties with aliens.
Step – who knows – Werewolves/were-anything, Vampires etc.
Not dropping everything on the population at once. Possibly with years/generations between steps…
That’s how I’d do it.
Well that’s not strictly true, I’d probably just drop it all at once just to enjoy the mayhem
To enjoy the mayhem? Hmmm . . .
Did you recently try to infect a blood bank with something that would turn people into were rabbits, Flatman?
noooooo, not me at all….
Of course not.
He wasn’t there.
No one saw him do it.
The surveillance cameras weren’t working.
The sheep is a liar.
He didn’t do it, nobody saw him do it, there’s no way they can prove anything.
Step 10 – PROFIT!
I think you made a typo there. We have seen that Arianna making profit arrangements even prior to 2.
Step 1.01 – PROFIT!
In panel five, where we see the ladies go to work on the pedant in plaid, what is that red pattern in the background? I mean, is that there for dramatic effect, to show us how ferocious was the attack, or is that actually supposed to be a spray of blood? If the latter, we might get yet another scene of Sydney tossing her cookies out of this.
We can see the point of penetration, and no blood is squirting out there. Plus the final panel does not have a drop of blood anywhere, despite having a good angle to see such. So it must just be for dramatic effect.
This though may still have traumatic mental, or emotional, consequences for Sydney.
*psychically hugs Sydney, to comfort her*