Grrl Power #573 – Fair play
Sciona’s wings are significant appendages. You can see why she wanted them back. When she says “apply enough force” she’s talking about a considerable amount, not something most supernatural creatures could casually generate. In a world of Supers and shaped charges, this does not provide adequate security, but the The Council has been relying mostly on obscurity rather than updating the vault’s systems to deal with things like C4. Also the death field is laughably easy to overcome anyway. Unless it’s reflecting all over the interior of the Artifact Chamber willy nilly.
There were a couple lines I had considered for Deus’s retort there on panel 8. Mostly I wanted to point out that she was now fully female. I mean, it’s obvious she’s female now, and everyone uses female pronouns with her, but her orc body was male. Something along the lines of “Now that she has to sit down to pee again, she’s switched to full on bitch mode.” or something about PMS and stuff like that, but I decided against it. Deus is a bad guy, or at least plays at being one, but he’s not that kind of bad guy. (Yes he essentially told Cthillia he’d help her kill 99 people, but ignore that for now.) He may be a womanizer and have a round robin of lovers, but he was being a dick to Sciona earlier, and just now she was a dick to him, they’re even.
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Good thing Deus showed up. She just straight up abandoned everyone she brought with her.
Yeah he’s going to get a few recruits off the good will of rescuing them.
Yea, looks like. Although their heist has been carefully planned out in advance. So the plan may have been for them to finish the looting, whilst Sciona teleported back to reopen the blood portal.
If you think about it she needed a large bloody pentagram. Which probably has intricate details and/or a ceremony to create. No need to add that to the time required to cast the spell necessary to open the blood portal. Not when she has one ready prepared, back at their departure point.
Supporting this is the fact that Cthillia didn’t seem at all phased. OK she does have Deus as a back-up, but she did not hesitate to slag Sciona off when she irritated her. So if Cthillia had just been abandoned I would have expected to see a more vitriolic reaction to that.
Whereas she actually seems to be quite happy above. “I have what I need” without a “except for a way out”.
No, she ‘abandoned’ them because Deus showed up
Since she has her easy way out i don’t think Deus showing up changed the fact she would have left them behind. And she definitely not the kind to wait around for Wyrmil to regenerate before leaving.
She has left the chamber. But not necessarily the complex. We saw that the vault has a number of different chambers. Sciona and Cthillia may have (undepicted) taken out other doors before venturing into this one.
Not that I am seeking to give her the benefit of the doubt. It is just that she did seem keen to get her hands on all the artifacts in the vault. Yet appears to be leaving with just the one (or two if she snagged the one above too).
Alternatively she was just narked at the thought of someone else muscling n, despite not actually being interested in any of the other items. If she has indeed abandoned the complex, and has not made any provision for her followers to escape, then she will get a very bad reputation with the minion and henchmen guilds.
Bearing in mind that she has presumably been brought back from the brink of death, by some loyal minion sewing her head onto the orc body, this would seem surprising. That kind of loyalty is not likely towards someone with such a bad reputation. Assuming that Sciona has always behaved this way, anyhow.
I could see Deus using that kind of comment as a tease or jab while Sciona was there but it seems out of character or beneath him to do it behind her back.
It is best not to disrespect people behind their backs.
Especially people with super-strong razor sharp wings.
How is “I suppose I deserved that” a jab at Sconia?
Or are you talking about him re-recruiting Chintilla?
He was talking about the kind of jab that Dave mentions in the text post.
Well, to be honest, if I had wings and lost them I’d probably want them back too. Along with the rest of my body while at it.
And revenge on whoever ripped them off!
And the ability to teleport without a blood ritual, I’d want that back too.
Huh, I didn’t realize Cthillia was a she, neat.
Reptilian physiology does not provide for the production of nutrients by the female for their progeny. Or in other words, no boobs.
No need to let realism get in the way of fanservice in the superherogenre.
some birds nourish their young by secretions from the nose (pigeons, at least). Snot drinking may sound gross, but hey, mammals’ young drink from modified sweat glands. Reptiles may evolve something too.
Some dinosaurs may have had breasts. It is vanishingly rare for soft body parts to be fossilised, so this is not something that we can rule out.
Just look at history. At first we drew our comparisons with reptiles, like crocodiles (who were around at the time of the dinosaurs, so that is not unreasonable). Thus making assumptions like “dinosaurs had scales (not fur or feathers)”, “dinosaurs bones were not hollow”, “dinosaurs were cold-blooded” and “dinosaurs did not have boobies”.
All but one of those have exceptions shown in more than one peer-reviewed paper.
We should mount an expedition to the Hollow Earth and find out once and for all!
depending on how good their research was, we should be able to find out soon (TM)
Sarah Palin is a lizard? o_O
Man, what a ridiculous premise? Someone infiltrating the White House, under the command of a foreign power, hell bent on provoking a nuclear attack on the United States. Totally breaks the sense of disbelief. Nothing like that could happen in the real world!
Makes the dinosaur-riding Nazis seem credible by comparison. After all the only thing they would have needed to do was find a route down.
Yeah but like ro jaws said, its a superhero comic, when has realism ever stopped em before? But yeah I can get that, I guess its just the general lack of any real identifiers for possible sexual dimorphism, and in english male pronouns are the default, so you can see where that assumption comes from. And now that I heard that they are a she, my mind is just like “oh yeah, I can totally see that now.”
There are always other excuses to have them, such as for sexual display, or as a sign of strength or dominance; bipedal animals often have their sexual display on the upper torso, or neck, as opposed to backsides or head like quadrupeds.
Of course those tend to also be the males in birds that have those; hence why I find the idea of coming across bipedal “lizard folk” whose males are smaller, more colorful, with breast (like) structures/displays on the upper torso. While the females are larger and more drab. Causing some *explore what you define as sexually attractive/orientation* when humans they meet (on both ends).
She’s also wrapped up enough that you’d hardly see them (though it wouldn’t quite cover superhero sized ones).
I love that all of this, arguably, Deux isn’t even committing a crime. You can’t “steal” from nonexistant creatures, and even if you did, since some of them are viewed as monsters… I’m guessing he has an equally legal way of allowing Cthilla to charge the sword; that way it can be kept and used publicly. For example, Deux “helps” terminally ill people with assisted suicide (where it is legal) while paying their families $$$. (Hopefully the sword isn’t stealing souls or something.)
Yup. Deus strikes me as being someone who likes to keep things the right side of the law, where he can. In the sake of his pocket country that involved bumping off leaders until he found one who was happy to wear the crown. In a country where that man controls the courts, whatever he says is legal.
Deus probably has pardons sitting in several off-shore security deposit boxes, just in case the guy later changes his mind.
I think part of the reason Deus likes to stay law-abiding is in showing off. Sort of “look what I can accomplish even without breaking the law”.
I’m fairly sure it’s more along the lines of “Haha, look what I got. You can’t even prove how I got it was a crime.”
don’t need to, they KNOW that at least one human was killed inside that room (Cooter) and that the final inventory doesn’t match up with the supposed-to-be-there inventory, and if Deus is bragging about it where either Archon, or the Twilight Council can hear about it (or get evidence that he USED one of the items somewhere else) then it’s real simple: Accomplice After the Fact to Murder 1… minimum, Collusion/co-committing Murder (whatever that would be called in lawyer-speak) at best, at worst, Sciona leaves a false trail pointing to him alone doing it, now that she got what she wanted, AND to get even with him for butting in…
IS there enough of Cooter left to ID him as human?
You can see something that looks like a human face spread across a bit of the wall, in one scene.
Probably like seeing faces in clouds, but it may have been intentional. Either way it shows that there are lots of bits. If nothing else there was enough blood visible that some should be fit for DNA analysis. The result will probably come back as:
The one problem with this premise is explaining where the body was found to human authorities in a public court of law.
That is not hard. A US naval submarine can go there, take photos, blood samples and testify that they did that.
Any aspects not relevant to the trial can be redacted in the interests of national security. So they have no need to supply the relevant map coordinates. Although they may need to transport a defense team, and their experts, to conduct an examination.
Under restrictions for anything deemed to be classified. So no peeking under the hood of any classified turrets.
Whether or not he’s committing a crime depends entirely upon what governments you acknowledge. While he certainly is breaking no law of any surface-world, ‘public’ nation, the Twilight Council itself is a government, and he’s totally breaking THEIR law. And we’ve already seen they are STRICT enforcers of their laws. Deus must be pretty confident he can avoid detection.
As for Cooter? Well, clearly their ‘relationship’ with Archon must include some acceptance that the Council violates the rights of humans on a regular basis – it’s how some of them stay alive.
The first paragraph is fine.
The second is partially so. In that there are doubtless provisions to ensure that the Veil remains a secret. So I am sure that they will allow for those who learn too much to have their memories altered, for example.
We have seen that Dabbler has a spell with those kinds of effects, and she only borrows existing things and ‘tweaks’ them. So experts probably have more refined versions than we saw her using.
Possibly treaties may allow for killing humans, to keep the secret. But I doubt that any politician would want to go down in history for condoning that.
As for killing humans for food, that we know to not only be against the Twilight Council’s laws, they have law enforcement officers who’s job it is to hunt down and kill transgressors. If you recall a point was made about Ingsol, Crimson and Scarlet using ethical blood sources (such as the super who could replenish his own blood, along with any other liquid). Which is standard Council policy for vampires (and other races with similar needs).
Equally Ingsol was at pains to warn Sydney that the Council does include monsters who do not respect the laws. But that is what Archon and the Semper Vigilantis have allied to counter. So that Archon can handle matters that affect the human side and the SV’s can deal with the supernaturals. Cooperating where they overlap.
I hate to say it, but I think I’d enjoy working with Deus. He seems outcome oriented rather than prestige oriented, and he’s not married to his timelines.
“Feel like picking up a shift?”
Yea, I think it would be good.
Yeah I could see myself with his company. Seems like a half way chill boss.
And he does his duty for his country. Both of them.
OK he is also using Harem as a double agent. But so far he has not used that intelligence against them. So it is possible that he is just using the information to maintain his competitive edge.
This is not wishful thinking by the way. He did indicate that he is ‘counting on Harem being a triple agent’. Which means that he believes Archon know of his activities and is confident that he will be OK despite that. Which makes him conducting outright treachery an outside prospect.
You say having a double agent as though it’s a bad thing
I doubt the FBI would be chill about a corporation suborning one of their operatives…
And yet, the FBI has no problems doing the same to corporations and other countries…
Many things are subjective. To the criminal, a cop is someone who deprives them of the liberty to do whatever they want. Likewise for companies against legally appointed government agencies. The moral distinction however is that the authorities are operating with the consensus of the general public on what is the right thing to do. When we are talking about criminal investigative bodies, like the FBI.
Likewise should they need to investigate criminal actions emanating from other countries, be that with or without hostile government collusion. Where the respective nations do not have international treaties, setting out a common moral standard (for instance if only one supports copyright laws), then that agency has no moral or legal right to enforce their standards on others (in their country).
However they can act against actions which affect their own. So an FBI agent caught trying to operate n a hostile regime would (quite rightly) be arrested for conducting illegal activity. Whereas if there are treaties allowing for international cooperation then they can expect to have the support of the local law enforcement.
But that latter is still a required component, as the FBI has no legal authority in another country, so would need local law enforcement to make arrests, for example. Intelligence gathering though is another matter.
Covert intelligence gathering would fall into the grey area of international diplomacy, and the specifics of local laws. So it is reasonable to be sceptical about such activities. Even that should be conducted with the knowledge and support of local law enforcement. Unless they are implicated in the criminal activity.
In the latter case the most that is possible is covert surveillance and a diplomatic protest to the government in question. But as that would require offering evidence, which would show (potentially illegal) agent activity in a sovereign nation, that rarely (publicly) happens. Rather they would need to intercept any illegal activity after it crossed international borders.
That… was kinda the point: why is having a double agent only acceptable if certain people or organisations have them?
The second point being: it’s okay for the FBI (or similar) to have double agents, but it’s against the ‘rules’ for others to have a double agent of their own?
Well as to that it depends on who is being a double agent and why. If they are betraying their country to further the interests of a private organisation, then their behaviour is considered illegal and treacherous. Likewise if they do so on behalf of a foreign country.
Whether the latter translates into getting a medal or guest of honour position in front of a firing squad depends on whether they get caught or not. In that case “one man’s traitor is another man’s hero”.
Treachery is rarely with universal approval, even by the side which benefits. Look at the whistleblowers for modern high-profile examples. Even in their own country, some people want to see them executed or locked away forever, for betraying national secrets. Whilst others praise them as heroes.
Either way though the courts view their activities as criminal. The trouble being that our societies do not have adequate mechanisms for whistleblowers to report wrongdoings by the powers that be. Go to the police and it is likely to be covered up (there are perfectly legal mechanisms to do this, which are routinely used). Whereas go to the media and you are giving information which could be used by the nation’s enemies.
Whilst whistleblowing organisations are trying to fill that gap, they are not officially sanctioned and ultimately just act as a middle man in the ‘give it to the media’ route. Albeit one that can try to filter out the ‘in the public interest’ aspects from the ‘national security’ issues. However they can get it wrong, and, in such cases, are at risk of repercussions due to not having the legal authority to perform the role.
Well yeah, obviously the circumstances and situation is important, but still want to know why it’s okay for some people to have and use them, but not others
Because that is the way that society works.
If a particular society benefits from something (in this case having a double agent providing them information) then it is considered (by them) to be right. Whereas if something harms them (so having one of their own agents turn against them) then it is wrong (in their subjective opinion).
Pretty much all morals are dependent on the values of the society that develops them. Bonobo chimps are one of humanity’s closest living relatives. Yet they have sex with just about every member of their society. Including parents with children (theirs or others) and other relationships which would be considered incest/ pedophilia in human society.
It is not such a big deal for them though because they are not fertile all the time. Without the risk of getting pregnant, except when in season, they have not developed the instincts to find that abhorrent.* Plus their society has uses sex to resolve arguments and personalty clashes (taking ;kiss and make up’ to an extreme).
And, just as they do not consider incest or pedophilia to be wrong, they would not be bothered about one of their troop supplying information about themselves to an outsider.
However if that took the form of warning any prey animals that the bonobos were trying to catch them, then I think the troop would not be happy with the offender. Any action that they take (such as driving him out) would be them expressing that they considered him to have been wrong to do that.
However they would be happy with the member who successfully spied out prey. He would get plenty of sex.
* Although I suspect that any studies which map their behaviour when in season will find that they behave in a more responsible fashion then. Otherwise they would have long since died off due to inbreeding. Unless they have some other mechanism, to avoid that, which I am unaware of.
Incidentally Whilst I do know that chimps hunt (and noisily at that) and that bonobos are much more peaceful, I have no idea about how that translates into the hunting behaviours of bonobo’s. My speculation above is purely to illustrate my points, so should not be taken as being definitive in that regard.
Likewise I imagine they do have some age limit, under which they too would consider sex unacceptable. Otherwise the risks of lasting physical injury would be very detrimental to the individual and the society.
However documentaries I have seen did not dwell on such unsavoury topics beyond mentioning the general nature of such relationships. So I too am only able to speak in general terms, on that aspect.
Yeah, society, at least ‘hyu-mon’ society (and that depends on the location), is a bunch of hypocrites, best summed up by “It’s okay if I do it, but not if you do it” also “NIMBY” (Not In My Back Yard)
What about a nonuple agent? Now that’s convoluted
It is almost unheard of for someone to go beyond being a triple agent, given that, by that point, nobody trusts them. They will be so closely watched that if they try to betray their current side (again) they will be found out and killed on the spot.
Ther in lies the challenge to betray without getting caught eve at the first betrayal
In which case the person does not cease to be an agent, hence does not progress to becoming a triple agent. Although they do remain a double agent.
The only way for them to become a triple agent, without being caught, is to confess “I have been feeding our information to the enemy, but am now willing to betray them and work for you again, if you can provide me with false information for me to pass to them as if it were genuine.”
Although an agent could simulate that, by individual actions, it is unlikely to either work or fit in with national planning, (outside of very confined circumstances that a single agent might be able to influence).
But then you essentially have a spy who just randomly deciding ‘today I will work for X, but lets help Y tomorrow’. Which is actually fair enough in the super genre, I will grant. But not particularly plausible if comparing it to history.
If you have a bag of holding and an antimagic scoop you could ploop that whole field into the bag, to be retrieved when DOOM is required.
Ahh, the good old ‘super dooper death plooper’ technique.
I’ve always been a fan of the whole “I have a ballista, the hollow tip of the very fragile arrowhead contains a portable hole. The base of the head contain an open bag of holding.”
Wow, what a waste of a pair of extremely valuable and useful magical items!
Especially with the customisation cost required to build a teeny miniature bag of holding, that would fit on an arrow. That sounds like it would be far better fitted onto a ring (assuming that it could be opened up wide enough to actually retrieve items from it).
Whereas the portable hole could actually be used as part of a reusable weapons system. Admittedly one requiring more preparation time. But the components could all be mundane items, rather than expensive magics.
For instance fill the bottom of it with something that can expand rapidly, when triggered. What would depend on the setting, but it would be possible to find two chemicals which would expand when combined. Which can be exposed to one another by a pull-cord mechanism, prior to firing. That would need to pass through the payload, using a pipe, to the top of the hole, of course.
Meanwhile the rest of the hole could be filled with whatever substance might be harmful to the expected enemy. Although a strong acid would do the trick as a default. Just making sure that the pipe and flexible container (that the expanding stuff is held in) are not vulnerable to the payload.
As for deployment we could use your arrow.
Yours does have the advantage of simplicity to use mind. And would be the less likely to suffer a technical failure. But I would be able to use mine after any fight where I retained command of the battlefield.
So could have the fun of poking an arrow into enemies multiple times, and seeing acid oozing out of their orifices. Or I could close my eyes at that bit. The opponent is not likely to be particularly dangerous, by that stage.
Ballista’s were huge crossbows, the size of the typical arrow was a tree, minimum size: a sapling
So is Cthillia planning on reshaping herself for better cosmetic appearance/attractiveness to others/to put more emphasis on the ‘girl’ part of being a monstergirl?
She has already given it her best shot. Albeit that she appears to have missed the mark with a number of commentators, including myself. Although it may work with some folks. She will not be able to make any further alterations though, having both depleted the Epimorph and given it to Cthillia.
Whilst there is the possibility that she may get it back, at some time in the future, for now she had better make the most of her restored and ‘improved’ form.
However that is recieved I imagine she will get more success than when she had male orc parts and a Frankenstein head.
They, uh, were asking about what Cthillia plans on doing with it, not Sciona.
Doh!
*retreats into dog kennel, in Ignominy*
i think it’s more along the lines of “oh good, now i can go out in public without having to wear this stupid Mummy-Wrap and Burka!” level of change. from what little we’ve seen of her, i just have a feeling that she’s not a really extroverted personality, so she’s “ok” with her self image as a person… but, when it comes to police line-ups and or just walking down the street and getting screams from babies kind of “attention” i’m sure she’d rather pass… so if the Epimorph can get rid of that stigma, i’m sure she’ll go for it.
Except, fairly sure she is covered by the Veil, and, until proven otherwise, will continue to believe that the Epimorph simply restores ones body to it’s original state (with a few minor adjustments), which means, Lia would remain looking like a deathgaze lizard, maybe shorten the length of the spikes, or she may want it for someone else, little Timmeh down the street
Which, other than the ’99 lives’ part, is something I hope occurs. And not -just- for more cleavage, there’s not particularly a shortage. It will be nice for Cthillia to have a form she is comfortable being seen in, because even vills have feelings.
I just realized this is, (probably) not theft for deus to take these. To explain in the form of a conversation with maxima:
M: We know you stole the councils artifacts from their vault during the break in. We have it on video.
D: See, the problem with that statement is stole is the wrong word. First you would have to admit the council exists. But even ignoring that point, that vault was in international waters and so no country has legal authority there. Further the council is not a legal entity and does not have ownership of the artifacts.
M: …
D: The term you wanted was high risks undersea archeology. One of my companies is a legal care taker of artifacts and so after my completely legal archeological diving expedition, I am the legal owner of these items and trying to return them to the council would be theft of my private collection. And while I know you would never out the council to take them back do you think I have the same morals? I have all my expedition paperwork on hand, the survey ship drover explorer was stationed over the vault and I have all the paperwork in order to keep everything I found in that area. Which I can prove VIA gps that these artifacts were acquired in that grid square.
D: Now about that advertising deal?
Legally, it might be difficult to prove. It’s still theift in principle though.
*Shrug* That’s where we trot out the old “Downloading movies/games is theft” argument and how much principle is actually worth when one or more parties in the discussion don’t give a damn.
“In principle” is a subjective argument these days.
Meh, proof is for daywalkers. He needs to worry less about what Archon’s going to do to him, and more about what the Council’s going to do to him. They enforce their laws through Wholescale Slaughter, and they have magicians and reality hackers on their side.
Deus is, I think, relying on the fact that they simply don’t KNOW what he did – any missing artifacts will be marked up to Sciona and her crew.
+1
Heh. All very true.
However it does fall under the jurisdiction of the Twilight Council, and they are the eldest jurisdiction on the planet, dating back three thousand years, as they do. Plus they are recognised across the galaxy rather than in just one country on a single continent in a backwater planet.
Plus anyone who disagrees with that principle will have an army of gorgons (undetectable ones at that, thanks to the Veil) turn up, who will quite happily poke stakes up the bottoms of the argumentative. Oh and anyone who is able to pierce the Veil and see them for what they are? They get stoned.
Except the Twilight Council IS a recognized entity, and it is their vault and their artifacts that are contained within. Taking anything out of there without permission of the Twilight Council is stealing.
Not sure how international waters play into this, but I bet there are existing laws for such a thing. Otherwise you could just land on an oil rig and loot the place without consequences.
It is only a covertly recognised entity, so in a public (human) court, they would not be recognised. In fact because they wish to remain hidden they cannot be mentioned at all. So warior4356 has those aspects right.
Now should the Council decide that saving the world was more important than keeping their secrets, and also felt that (for reasons unknown) the only route to doing that was to contest the action in a human court, then they could do so.
Firstly it would require revealing both their existence and then providing proof that their legal system predates that of the court in question. For the Twilight Council that would be 3,000 years. Whereas, if the court was in the USA, they only have a few hundred years. Then would come proving how widely recognised their authority is.
Fortunately, for the Council, they have a very widespread recognition. Unfortunately that does not incude any human courts. But the clincher would rest on the point you made, regarding them being recognised by governments.
The covert nature of that recognition would be a highly contested one. Which I do not think anybody could reliably predict the outcome (although a lawyer who specialised in constitutional law would have the most informed opinion).
However if there are any physical treaties which were (covertly) signed to recognise the Twilight Council that would very much strengthen their case. Especially ones which stipulated jurisdictional rights. For Archon to be co-operating with them, in a law-enforcement capacity, I would expect this to be the case.
Assuming that the courts agree that to the legal status of the Twilight Council, there is (amongst other things) the need to show that Deus would be culpable. Fortunately for him it appears that ‘ignorance of the law’ is now an acceptable defense!
But do note the details in the link. Secret laws are no laws at all. However if it can be proven that Deus was fully aware of the Twilight Council, and its legal status, then their laws and jurisdiction can be established (thus opening the possibility of extraditing him for trial by them). The use of triple agent(s), to testify to that, could be vital (in such a hypothetical trial).
Yup. There are long established maritime laws dealing with this. Which is totally independent of the Twilight Council’s jurisdiction. International treaties stipulate very precisely what can and cannot be considered sovereign territory. Oil rigs do not count (the laws were specifically phrased to exclude them, by stipulating that artificial structures did not qualify). Likewise the vault would thereby be considered to be in international waters.
Deus would be on trial for piracy.
Weirdly the legal status of the guardian may play a pivotal role. If it is considered to be a ‘crew member’ he is conducting piracy. Whereas if it is not (robots have no established precedent in this matter) then he may be able to claim he was conducting salvage.
But there are legal procedures required to conduct salvage legally. Given these circumstances I doubt that Deus is complying with those. If he is, then the Coat Guard, or some other authority probably needs to have been informed.* Which, as it is international waters, he may have complied with by informing his own nation’s authorities!
Whether this would fall under salvage laws though I cannot say, as we would need to also look at laws for unattended (but not lost or abandoned) objects, such as transatlantic communications cables. I am unfamiliar with those. Logically though the vault should not be eligible for salvage. Whether laws might cover that though depends on what international treaties have to say on that matter.
Presumably they would need to be modern ones, unless the principle was established with lobster pots, in antiquity?
* If you come across a vessel that has been abandoned then this would not apply. However trying to defend his actions as being comparable to salvaging a drifting ship would take some doing.
The issue with your “not theft” concept is that it only stops the council from dragging Deus in front of a muggle court.
It would do absolutely nothing to prevent them trying to turn him into strawberry jam (or some other type of red smear) and taking their stuff back.
The concept of theft long precedes the concept of “courts” and justice and the old solution probably still work.
If the government(s) want to prosecute him for something, they can always fall back on the old ‘tax evasion’ tactic. The reason being that Deus obtained something of monetary value, and the rules state that it has to be declared as ‘income’.
Which tax court? Establishing jurisdiction over this matter would be crucial.
However, in seriousness, he’d be beyond the reach of the law in this matter, he’s a freaking billionaire who owns his own country and who has super powered bodyguards. Even the council has to fear tangling with that level of power.
Moreover, if he was attacked by the council, they’d better be for damned sure they can get him the first time, because, as a citizen, he’s entitled to the protection of the US government if he’s being illegally attacked by foreign interests. And when money is involved, Uncle is VERY intense. And has a very long memory. Look at the continued demands for reparations for property seized during various revolutions over the last hundred years or so.
You are both right. The jurisdiction in this instance though not being for this vault but as regards what tax is applicable on the items. And that depends on whether he claims them personally or for his company or for his nation.
Nation: The risk is that his puppet dictator (or the government in general) might grow some balls and assert their claim over the items. In the dictator’s case (knowing Deus’s capabilities) presumably only doing so after acquiring super bodyguards (or if he finds out how to make use of the items of course).
Company: This depends on where the company is registered, for tax purposes. Whichever country it is gets to levy taxes. So if he assigns it to Machina Industries, and that is a US company (which it almost certainly would have to be for the US government to make it their principle supplier of super equipment), then he would need to pay US taxes.
Fail to pay them and O.B. Juan‘s comment comes into play.
Whereas if he uses a subsidiary in his pocket country, then the risks of them being impounded, for state use, come into play. As detailed above. Note that whilst Deus may be economically secure in his command of the country, the presence of items of vast power (which could be used by anyone with the right knowledge) changes the dynamics.
Plus, even worse, these artefacts talk to people, in the backs of their mind. Seriously increasing the risk that one or more will be able to influence government members to claim the items.
Personal: Deus appears to be a US resident citizen. Which means that his personal wealth is taxable there. Just like Al Capone. Regardless of where in the world the items might be stored.
Machima industries likely has branches in multiple countries paying taxes to different ones, so comes the question of which one he’s going to pay the taxes for.
Yup. But he has to pick one. And he is then subject to their laws and taxes. Plus, if he keeps them in a foreign country, they are not available for use in his own (or in the USA, when he is there). On top of which he may also be subject to importation taxes, whenever they cross international borders.
Of course, with Opal in his employ he might be tempted to skip customs inspections and taxes.
Which is compounding the list of crimes that he could be charged with.
Of course, Deus could claim them as corporate property, not personal. And as a slew of corporations have already moved their HQs out of the ole USA for tax purposes while maintaining offices ‘here’ his could have as well. Perhaps to a country he effectively owns, and would never ever initiate any type of inquiry.
Not seeing the argument of the Twilight Council having precedence as an ‘older established authority’ working well. England was (and still is) an older established authority to the USA, but that doesn’t give their legal system any automatic deference. Any reciprocity is due to carefully hammered out agreements.
That is because their territories do not overlap. Now consider the indigenous American homelands. Where do any disputes between them and the USA get resolved? In the white folks courts. Although every society has dispute resolution mechanisms (such as a gathering of the elders), formal courts are a specific social development which the colonists brought with them from Europe.*
So despite native Americans having been there the longer, the elder (only) legal system is the one which takes precedence. However the Twilight Council is a world-wide organisation which has been in existence for 3000 years. So will have had access to courts developed over 700 years, in the Middle East, to serve as a model for their own system.
Although the galactic races probably had such for millions of years. Either way though they would not have been able to maintain a world-wide civilisation comprising of many different races, without legal systems to minimise disputes.
Plus several of the factions include humans in their ranks. And we know that the US government (likely amongst others) have had dealings with the Twilight Council. As the primitive, weaker, organisation, they would have had to defer to the rules the stronger organisation demanded.
Just look at its inception. Would the USA have been successfully founded if George Washington had conducted his vampire hunting indiscriminately? Fighting a war on two fronts, with the British on one side, and the Supernaturals on another, America would have failed in its bid to become independent.
So it is very likely that treaties of non-interference or peaceful coexistence will have been ratified between the USA and the Twilight Council. With the supernaturals dictating the major aspects, which clearly would have included keeping the agreement secret from the general public, for obvious reasons. Likewise dispute resolution would have to occur in Twilight Council courts. Not just from a historical precedent point of view, but also to maintain the secret of the Veil.
* Who had not invented them mind. They were first codified in Babylon, in about 1760 BC.
You realise that the ‘indigenous’ Americans are actually from Asia? They walked over about 50 thousand years ago (or some really long time ago, when it was last possible to walk from Asia to Alaska)
Yes.
And before being in Asia they were in Europe or Africa. And long before that, they may have come from Mars.
Lincoln was the vampire hunter, not Washington, Washington is simply a traitor
Would it count as stockpiling Weapons of Mass Destruction perhaps? I doubt it’s legal to just have all these items sitting around somewhere, much like how our government regulates missiles, rockets, and high explosives.
If any of the items match the definitions for any laws or treaties covering such, then yes. For instance I know that insurance contracts, designed to terminate any insurance, in the event of a nuclear event, are purposely broadly defined. You can check it in your household policy.
But you will find it ends with something like “.. or any other radiological explosion” to include things like dirty bombs. However it is broad enough that even a nuclear weapon of an unknown type (as in unidentifiable or using principles that are unknown to the world at large) would count.
I am sure that nuclear non-proliferation treaties, and older chemical and biological agreements, will also have similarly broad definitions incorporated within them, for the same sort of reasons.
So an item which could create a plague of zombies (for instance potentially including the Epimporph) would likely fall foul of treaties covering biological weapons. Which have been ratified by most nations in the world, so would be illegal in most jurisdictions. And have very severe penalties for possessing it.
And would the Twilight Council not also be liable under that claim? Seeing how they were the ones doing the initial stockpiling…
No. Because only nations which signed up to the treaties in question are bound by them. Assuming that either the Twilight Council, or any of its component factions, have been recognised (even secretly) as having sovereignty, then they would be exempt.
Note that this would not be unusual, as sovereignty has been granted under unusual circumstances, at various points in history. For instance if a monarch is in exile, in a friendly country, and is about to have a baby, it has been known for the host country to officially recognise their current residence as being a part of their sovereign territory.
Thus both recognising their sovereignty, despite being in exile (and regardless of the wishes of those who caused that) and also ensuring that any constitutional requirement that la monarch may only take the throne if they were born in their home nation’ has been met.
Note that if Deus is an American citizen then he is bound by such laws. Being the ‘man behind the throne’ of another nation would not grant him an exemption.
He probably will have set himself up with diplomatic immunity mind. But even that may not give him protection against charges of holding a weapon of mass destruction. If he claims to have done that, in an official capacity, for his pocket nation, then that may well be grounds for war, or whatever other repercussions that may be covered by such treaties.
It is unlikely that his pocket nation is not a signatory, as (given his close association) the US would probably not have granted him the sensitive military contracts he has, if he was in cahoots with a rogue nation.
Facing the prospect of UN Sanctions, trials by the International Criminal Court, and/or a potential UN sanctioned invasion, his erstwhile country may decide that revoking his diplomatic immunity, and denouncing his actions as being those of a rogue individual, will be their safest course.
Revoking diplomatic immunity does periodically occur. But it is only done by the diplomat’s country, not the aggrieved nation. So if they stood behind him, and the UN did not move against them (or they did but the country ignored their threats) then Deus could avoid trial.
However he would be declared ‘persona non-grata’ and expelled from whatever country he happened to be in (presumably the US). Without any of the WMD that he had with him.
I feel like the 99 folks will be kn a war area Dues would likentontake over for some reason
There are perks to being the defacto ruler of a country. Or being a favoured employee of the same.
Deus is rich. He cas contacts to goverments. There are countries that have the death penalty.
That also should keep the use of the Epimorph under the radar of everyone including Archon and the Twilight Council.
She’s a tooth fairy. After her race was wiped out by the vampires she became The tooth fairy.
“Yes he essentially told Cthillia he’d help HER kill 99 people, but ignore that for now”
So the bandaged dragon person is a female? I was always hearing their voice in my head as male.
Don’t listen to the voices in your head! Especially if they are telling you to kill 99 people!
Again, not necessarily 99 people. Like I said earlier some artifacts have tricksy requirements.
If they’re lucky 99 lives will suffice. In which case Deus could just loan it out to a butcher for a while… =p
too easy for that level of power, i’m pretty sure that it will have to be a sentient being, ie a “Person”…
i think the hardest part for Cthillia is NOT the “omg i’m gonna have to KILL this person!” aspect, but that she can’t use her death-beam-glare on them!… to recharge the Epimorph, then the Epimorph is what needs to be performing the death-blow!… and I’ll bet that she has very little hand to hand combat experience, seeing as how during her “normal” mode of attack, she just needs to LOOK at someone for her to kill them!
So did the Worm Guy survive his little face plant in the death field, and if so di he get what he came for?
No idea, yet, check back on Thursday, we don’t know what happened to Gunnie either, and anyone else Sci-fright brought with her
What they (the vampires at least) wanted was hinted at being behind another door, so perhaps they are save from the spreading death field as long as they stick to the entrance hall and that room.
And Sciona may have joined them.
Wyrmil may or may not be getting better. Readers did indicate that it looked like he was improving. If so he will either need to borrow a pot plant, or use one of Deus’s henchmen like a flesh tunnel, or go scurrying off after Sciona.
Or he can punch his chosen artefact out of its force field and hope that both nobody nicks it and that he recovers quicker than the death field can envelop him.
Or, if he observed Sciona’s latest demonstration, and he has enough super-strength, he could kick the pillar down and snag his toy, as it falls. What he chooses to do after that then depends on just how pissed off he is at his boss and whether swapping employment seems more appealing.
Well you can assume death penalty exists in that pocket country Deus has back there. All you need is 99 convicts.
I said it back then and I say it now. Deus is the most good and best baddie I’ve seen ever. He obviously read the “how to be an evil overlord” article on TVTropes.
Who do you think wrote it in the first place? :D
I get the impression that Deus is being patterned after David Xanatos. Ergo; who-ever Deus has in mind for Cthillia to terminate… probably wouldn’t be missed by anybody else.
Can Cthillia choose or somehow accidentally get her appearance changed to look like Sydney, like she was trying to go for an Evil Maxima clone and wound up Evil Sydney
I would rate ‘choose’ as being the most likely option, given how attractive she is. Plus it gives good covert options, such as infiltrating Archon. Although copying Maxima or Anvil would be far too distinctive for general purpose use. Likewise most super heroines would stand out in a crowd.
Whereas looking like Sydney she could pass as a normal person, and would be able to gain anonymity with reasonably simple precautions. Changing hair colour (or using a wig) and not wearing glasses would stop observers from immediately making a connection. Likewise wearing makeup could help (given that Sydney’s tom-boy personality precludes her doing that).
Throw in their very different mannerisms and even someone who noticed the similarity with Sydney would just take them as being coincidental lookalikes, as opposed to being identical.
Deus is cool as usual, Sciona has kronic backstabing disorder (that will end well for her) and is a sore loser and despite talent shows a remarcable lack of imagination. Nice.
Nooo! We have slipped into second place in the top webcomics list. We are failing in our voting!
*hangs head gloomily, ears drooping*
Mind you the rival comic is a good one, which deserves its place in my bookmarks. So no shame.
Don’t look at me, voted twice
Last year we heard of a shadowy group of millions of possibly not made up people who were accused of really liking to vote on things. Maybe we can somehow get them to vote for the comic.
Sadly that would require convincing Russian hackers/mafia to assist. Without political clout to encourage them, they would probably demand payment. And I am not a billionaire.
Although if we could promote the existence of the comic to the world at large, I am sure it would acquire millions of fans, to vote legitimately.
Although, at that point, it would be rather moot as the comic would be self sustaining indefinitely. We saw Girl Genius bow out of encouraging such voting (in their case notably for the Hugo and Nebula awards), in order to allow newcomers a chance to shine. Even though they still do pretty well in other polls, just from residual voting, by individuals.
Our comic still has some way to go though, before we can be confident that it is financially secure. We know that Dave works for less now than he used to with his day job, before he took on the comic full-time. So the more readers we can acquire, the more potential patrons there will be to help ensure the comic remains viable in future.
Is that a Lament Configuration I see in panel 5?
Most commentators do indeed believe it to be a gateway to Hell.
Not “Hell” (ignore sequels), but the realm of Leviathan. Its like Hell, but with a special clientele.
For some reason, Sciona makes me think she’s some sort of fallen Valkyrie, maybe with a touch of vampirism.
i wonder if the sickle is somehow important… did saciona chose it randomly, or deliberately, now its effectively irretrievable?
Good point. I had figured that she may have snagged it, before she left. But examining where it ended up in panel 4 the field does appear to already cover it.
Perhaps you are right and that is one that Sciona feared could be used against her, so took that opportunity to deny it to Deus. Or she may have just struck at the nearest one. Statistically that is more likely, as (assuming random placement) it would be unusual for her two most favoured items to be right next to one another.
Or she may have thought that the item would fall clear of the pedestal, when it broke. That certainly would normally be the more likely outcome of its stand collapsing (hence me thinking that she would gain the item that way).
In which case it could have been one that she particularly wanted, but successfully concealed her irritation that it landed in an irretrievable spot. Well irretrievable by her anyhow. Deus’s technique might work, but the rubble could make that tricky and they no longer have the luxury of time.
If you look at the general design, it does look well made for bifurcating heads.
might have been what they used last time :P
honestly, while Deus is an asshole, and a megalomaniac, he doesn’t appear to be a narcissist nor a sociopath, so to be perfectly honest, I’m a lot more comfortable with him providing Cthillia with a list of folks to kill than I am with Cthillia just going on a killing spree.
Way I see it, Deus is in this for the long haul, maybe he’ll go full neo-Calligual in the future, but those are pretty long odds, he seems to have figured out that if you’re going to do crazy super villainy and general dickery, you should, whenever possible, figure out how to take what you need in either through legitimate means, or failing that, take them from folks whose removal will make you look better to everyone directly involved (and preferably everyone out to however many degrees of separation you can manage). How he took over that country was a pretty text book example. Sure he might not look great to everyone outside of that nation, but he doesn’t need to care about them provided none of them will get pissed enough to launch a coalition army at his place or start divesting his corporations of assets.
Is wormy gonna be okay?
If he is not, I am sure he will get a humane burial. Or get fed to the fishies. Either way a fitting end for a worm.
But, just to let you off the hook…
I don;t know.
heh heh
hook, worm, get it :D
Dave, you got a discord for us?
Would definitely appreciate Sciona getting back pain from her alteration.
But since I don’t know what she is I’m not sure if it would appropriate. Would a being that can hover and live on a planet with 13 G’s be bothered by an extra couple pounds of meat leveraged against her spine?
Probably not on Earth. She better not plan on flying on her homeworld though.
Is Vale ever going to get to do anything other than stand around and look hot?
…not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you…
Less is more.
Anime style posturing, where they show off their powers or skills, in an attempt to intimidate, only reveal the individual’s capabilities. Meaning the opponent can then assess their capability and figure out a way to counter that ability.
Whereas humans (and likely other people) fear the unknown. Precisely because they have no way of telling what threat they face.
I like the line, “Is it cool to make a dick move after you’ve lost yours?” Heh.
What kind of gel does she use to keep her hair up that way?
Anti-Grav Gel. It is… quite expensive. You can buy it on Kepler-186f, at any major chemists.
I mean, Deus would probably find 99 people who nobody’s going to miss, so overall, he’d probably be the cleanest option for getting those souls without drawing attention anyway.
For the record (I am not a lawyer):
If you happen to stumble upon a vault or other container that other people are breaking into and taking stuff out of, taking stuff out of it yourself *is stealing* even if you don’t know who the vault belongs to, and also if you know who it belongs to and they are dead (or fictional, in case you encounter a time capsule marked “attn: Captain James Kirk” or similar).
And now you know!
Unless you have a ‘letter of marque’ from a sovereign government, and are operating in international waters. Deus may well have one, given that he is the defacto ruler of a nation.
That said it is still considered stealing by other nations. But it is a get-out-of-jail-free card as regards your own nation.
Incidentally one of my ancestors was a privateer, hence why I am familiar with this. The letter of marque is what makes the difference between being a pirate and a privateer. If caught, the former earnt you an automatic hanging (in that era), whilst the latter would require you to be treated as a prisoner of war, due to acting under the authority of your nation.
Whats up with cast page, its been empty for weeks?
Months. There was a WordPress update which was incompatible with it. Dave has looked at it and has come to the conclusion that it will require rebuilding from scratch. This will take some time, as the comic takes up most of his day.
I just think it’s hilarious how Deus just asks Cthillia about shifts like it’s just your boss asking you to work an hour later!
Yes, Deus essentially told Cthillia he’d help her kill 99 people, but considering that Sciona just screwed them all over, maybe he’s offering to help kill Sciona and 98 similar people.
The look on Deus’ face when he asks for Cthillia’s help makes me think, “Hey, wanna track down those obnoxious people who just left and set them on fire?”
Yep, it’s entirely within Deus’ power to get 99 people to kill. The only question for him is if he gets enough out of it. I’m sure he loves Anders Breivik’s logic of valuing one person “with real convictions” over a hundred thousand “normies”. Or at least he’d have a lot of trouble explaining what’s wrong with it.
I think it’s interesting that Scionia straight up forgot to grab the portal scythe there before vanishing in a huff.