Grrl Power #646 – Soultech support
“Hey guys, I have an idea. Instead of building escape pods that can only hold a few people at a time, what about a container that could hold dozens?”
“Sounds great. What’s the catch?”
“Well, it wouldn’t hold our bodies you understand. Just our spirits. Essence. Whatever you want to call it.”
“Uh huh. And how would we, ah, achieve this state of existence?”
“Oh, we’d have to die as our souls were torn from the meat.”
“And… would we just be unconscious until we could be housed in new, uh, meat? Or..”
“Oh no, we would exist in a state of mind shattering horror for the duration.”
“Sounds good! Let’s do it!”
Alien civilizations are weird.
It helps to imagine that the time between panels 2 and 3 on this page is longer than Sciona just getting knocked over, then looking back at the mushroom cloud. The dust storm that would have kicked up would have taken more than a few seconds to pass. I didn’t really think about it while I was laying the page out, but as I’m posting it, this page could have used a few extra panels to make all that stuff a bit clearer.
Oh, and I forgot the blood splatter on Sciona again. I guess she used a cleaning cantrip. :/
This page colored by Keith.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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Probably the only one who feels sorry for Sci, and not ‘booing’ at the screen that she didn’t get vaporized
Nah, I feel sorry for her too. Even though she’s a bad egg personally.
I doubt many folks would be having that reaction, at this stage. An individual getting poetic justice for her murderous ways would be good mind. But the situation changes with her becoming the last of her species.
I love her face in panels three and four.
Yeah, that’s really good work.
She is the sole survivor, of her species, a fate I would not wish on anyone!
Mind you better one than none, whilst she has a way to potentially restore these souls to life. If there is the means to replicate their real bodies, then she would no longer be the last of her kind.
Only on this planet. It’s a empire, so even if they haven’t terraformed anything, they’ll have a population on their subject planets, plus any ex-pats, plus anyone in transit or on space-stations, plus…
Well, it goes on for a while. Truly killing a transplanetary population should be extremely hard.
She’s the only one she or we are aware of, which is by no means complete information. There could be hundreds of thousands of them scattered around the planet, not to mention any that may have been off-planet or off-plane at the time of the catastrophe.
A casually murderous murderess who’s the last survivor of a species is no less a casually murderous murderess. It could easily make her worse, by giving her an aggressive persecution complex against every other sapient in the universe.
I’ll reserve judgement on whether or not she becomes a sympathetic character until her actions reveal if there’s been a change of character.
+1
Please, this may be the sole cry, butt: “Don’t let Sci join her people!” :(
No I agree with you honestly. As a villain I like her being still alive. She is multidimensional as a character with her motivations and emerging backstory, unlike Vehemence.
I dont want her to die either. Unless the death is a badass one that is done to save her people.
Am i the only one who thinks Sciona looks hot in three and four?
Nope, various folks have said the same.
I am completely heterosexual and I agree. She is hot in most if those panels :)
I love the way her face is drawn, shows there’s possibility for vulnerability/tenderness there.
Yea, that is very well done. Likewise on the page where she first witnessed the destroyed city. Being able to evoke sympathy, for someone as despicable as Sciona, is a remarkable feat.
Because when you find the energizer oversoul, you just keep going and going.
Given she’s a blood mage I’d expect her to simply absorb blood directly through the skin. That’s part of the nature of vampires in the novel One Foot In The Grave, as the protagonist notices that despite the gore all over his clothing Dracula’s skin was perfectly clean and white then squicked himself out imagining the pores on a vampire like tiny mouths eager for blood (as infected vampire blood will actually move towards sources of uninfected blood to assimilate it if possible).
That actually gave me a cool new head canon as to how vampires “feed”. Instead of it being absorbed through the stomach lining or (ugh) straw fangs, a vamp instead slots their lip with a fang,[possible from the act of the fangs growing] and the blood is absorbed through the gash
Entirely possible that Sciona may be about to perform a final act of self sacrifice. Her race, the only people she considers worth caring about, have been reduced to souls in a soul battery. The battery was supposed to launch (whatever that means) but failed to do so. Her lamenting the lack of blood implies that blood is necessary to initiate the launch. So she uses her one available source of blood, herself, to supply the necessary blood magic power the battery needs. Sciona is lost, but she saves her people through her self sacrifice.
If that is launching them to some destination, which will automatically reconstitute them into living beings, then possibly so. Rather out of character, from what we have seen so far. But plausible if we take it that she considers all non-Alari to be animals, with no rights and no need to care for them.
Pretty much like a lot of humans, as regards anything not human.
No, it is perfectly within character for Sci
Please feel free to cite any sacrifice she has made for someone else? Or any favour even?
Note the ‘for someone else’. This should not be mistaken for her sacrificing others for herself. Namely Cooter and Wyrmil.
Bearing in mind that we can only speak about the incidents which we have observed. I have already conceded that her behaviour towards her own kind might be very different. However, other than the scene we are discussing, we can only speculate on that, as we have never seen (or heard about) her interactions with her own kind. Other than Sciona contacting them, as preparation for her return.
I agree that it would be in character for her. The only thing that seems to have had any real registering on Sciona, except for Deus’s skill in the sack of course, has been the loss of her people, of whom she is sone sort of ruler to some degree (a duchess).
She doesnt like Earth. Possibly because of the near beheading and bad times there… more likely possibly because she is in invading jerk. But still…. she loves her people. And I see no reason why she wouldnt sacrifice everything for her people since she has spent a long time on Earth doing anything to get back to them in the first place.
Sorry, I fail to see how that shows a willingness to sacrifice herself to save them. For it to be in character there has to have been some past evidence of that. Neither yourself nor Guesticus have shown any prior behaviour which would translate sadness into self-sacrifice.
So I stand by my comment that it would be “Rather out of character, from what we have seen so far. But plausible if we take it that she considers all non-Alari to be animals, with no rights and no need to care for them.”
That way she could be a loving, caring, person, willing to sacrifice herself for loved ones or strangers.* Yet have no concerns for the well-being of any people other than her own race (Dabbler indicated that the Alari have been conquering others, so it is not just Earth’s inhabitants that they disdain).
* None of which we have seen yet. We saw her being shocked at the devastation. And it has just been established that she is saddened by their loss. However there is scope for her to possess the remainder even though we have not observed them yet.
Never said anything about self-sacrifice, was meaning that she would do anything (including letting SmugD soil her body, under threat of Valyeur) for herself or her people
Whilst everyone else (except maybe Pander and a very few others) has simply been seeing Sci as pure evil, have always viewed her as having a set goal, that simply did not require the continued wellbeing of anyone from Earth
You make it seem like only the Alari has ever conquered others
Yes you did. You said my statement was incorrect.
As my statement was about “Sciona may be about to perform a final act of self sacrifice.” being out of character, you were disputing that.
Regarding sex with Deus, see my comment below. I ignore your rape allegations, as usual. Because nonsense.
Okay. They built at least one city. Or, given Sciona’s comments about enslaving humans, probably their slaves built that city. Other than that Dabbler did indicate that the Alari were known for invading others. And Sciona said they would do the same with Earth.
If they liked flower arranging, there is not much evidence of that.
And the fact of the matter, unless someone was able to edit your post, you didn’t mention self-sacrifice either!!!!
No, you made it seem that it is okay to wipe out the Alari race (species?) because they conquer others, so, that means it’s just as fine to wipe out the entire Human race as well?
Just read the thread. It only had two posts in it, when you decided that I was wrong. The opening one claimed that Sciona may be about to sacrifice herself to save her species. I replied that was possible, but rather out of character. There was no need for me to repeat what had just been said.
Further please note that I reiterated that it was plausible. So to anyone actually reading my reply, I actually agreed with it! Albeit with reservations. For additional information, I don’t think it is likely the story will go this way, but it might.
So no wonder you objected, as you clearly have completely the wrong end of the stick! In numerous threads I have indicated that the Alari should be preserved, despite their invading habits. And in this one I agreed that Sciona may even kill herself to do that!
Something which you have been asking does not happen. So if you re-read it, and understand the intent, I would expect you to prefer Sciona not to have to die, in order that her race can live.
Personally I would rather that she not do that, but instead find some other way, as it feels out of character to me. However I can see how it might work, if she only cared about Alari and not others. In which case Dave’s portrayal of her has been spot on throughout.
Nonsense. I reiterate, please re-read what I wrote. It all solely pertains to whether Sciona would kill herself. Nothing else.
So far we have plenty of evidence of Sciona murdering, but nothing to show that she would die to save others. Hence I was exploring the only possibility, which I could find, where that would make sense.
Which required me to establish that the she and the Alari had an animosity to other races. Hence why I mentioned their invading habits, and that Sciona championed the same.
Having done this I could then conclude that she could have loving behaviour towards her own kind, yet not have this conflict with the canon which shows repeated murderous behaviour. Because all that we have seen was directed towards non-Alari.
So please stop trying to project what you think I am saying and read what I am actually saying.
I don’t think Sciona would die to save her people as the FIRST option, but I think she’d be willing to die to save them if there was no other way to save them. She looked pretty bereft of the desire to live after she first saw that her people were supposedly dead, and didnt even seem to make much effort to do anything when the explosion happened. Or even after the explosion happened and she was hit with the shockwave, until she saw the soul battery.
Sciona seems pretty pragmatic about what she’d do – she sort of reminds me of Tony Stark, at least in the way she strategizes. She’s unusually willing to treat her partners as pawns. She employs whatever is necessary to get her goal done. And she has a major ego.
As for what I think her thought process is on sacrificing herself vs not sacrificing herself, it reminds me of this back and forth between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers:
Steve Rogers: I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I’ve seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.
Tony Stark: I think I would just cut the wire.
Sciona’s the type who would also first just see about cutting the wire.
And if you recall, when there was no other choice, Stark was willing to sacrifice himself in the end of the movie to stop the destruction of NY. Only because he couldnt see any better way to do it.
I agree that Sciona’s character is evolving in this scene. Which nonetheless has not been exhibited previously (other than in her being shocked at seeing the city devastated, which is a precursor to this scene, in any event).
One thing we should also remember is that Sciona is currently in shock. So whilst we may be projecting grief onto her, because that is what good people would experience, she may simply be emotionally numb. Plus failing to react to an unseen (if heard) danger is something that people in shock have been known to do.
Dave is very clever, in how he incorporates sympathetic traits, even in his villains. That way he can keep us guessing as to where their motivations might drive them.
So whilst I’m keeping an open mind about Sciona being as noble as Tony Stark, I’m not forgetting that he is a hero and she is a villain.
If someone is willing to inflict a painful death on an animal, I would not trust them either caring for my pets or babysitting. No matter if their society considers pets to have no rights, and therefore allowing that they could be loving to children yet sadistic to animals. It reveals a core unpleasantness in them.
I presently live in such a society, so have no illusions. There is regular animal fighting here, where dogs and pigs are set to kill one another, for entertainment. Under EU law it is illegal, but it is ingrained in the society, so continues underground. Local law enforcement not only turn a blind eye, rather I understand some are regular participants!
The nice people here though do not cause unnecessary suffering, regardless of what others may do. Whereas you can pick out the sadists quite easily, by observing their behaviour, through this means.
Even if the Alari do consider humans and other aliens to be their enemies, and to have no rights, she has still revealed her true nature. No matter how much she may love her own kind.
Sorry, was cracking up when you said Tony Stark is noble :) He’s good for his people when it matters but I’d hardly call him noble :).
Also, Tony Stark isnt exactly the most heroic of heroes even. He’s one of my favorites, but he’s only marginally a hero. Remember Civil War (the comic, where he was outright a bad guy, not the movie, where he was actually the one in the right).
And when he sent Hulk into outer space because he’s a Futurist who couldnt figure any other way to deal with the Hulk’s rage, She-Hulk compared him to Dr. Doom in all the similarities, and she was right :) Then he injected her with something to make her unable to turn back into She-Hulk.
So….. to her own people she probably IS noble. It’s just to us humans that she isn’t, mainly because of wanting to enslave us all and other pesky things like that. Although the reasoning why might have something to do with her history with the Council for all we know. Seems a bit odd for someone to travel so far to conquer another planet when there are much closer ones.
Doing anything to others …
The only things I can identify which could qualify would firstly be sleeping with Deus. A big thing for many humans. But clearly a non-issue for Sciona. For it to be a sacrifice it would have to be something she cared about. As Deus anticipated it was a convenient deal for her, as she wanted sex. Albeit that she found him irritating in his smugness.
All things considered that was not a sacrifice, just a business deal. With fringe benefits.
Secondly there was accepting the side-effects of the blood cocktail she injected. Of which we have seen no symptoms or problems. The only changes observable have been sadness.
So perhaps this maudlin behaviour is no more than a passing side effect of her blood magic? The next could be a desire for creamy cup-cakes. :-)
Sci did not want sex, she literally told SmugD that she would not sully her newly regained body by sleeping with him, then he forced her via threats from Valeur to sleep with him
And again, never mentioned rape
You have literally just described rape. Again. So yes you have, you are simply avoiding the word. However that does not stop me calling you out on it.
And that is not what happened. We have discussed this to death. I’m not going over it again.
It should have ended when the author confirmed that Sciona was not under duress and was free to leave.
To keep saying otherwise is to call the author a liar. So please stop doing that!
No, not calling DaveB a liar, just saying that what he intended is not what resulted
You know damn well that Sci was forced to sleep with SmugD, and SmugD knew damn well that he didn’t have what she was looking for, mayhaps not from when she broke in, butt he would have spent that time Valeur was distracting Sci to check his inventory (and to make sure some items were not listed, just to be safe)
We are not talking about whether she was forced to stay or not, and you damn well know it
So yes, will keep bringing it up
Well I have better things to do than pander to your delusions. They have never stood up under scrutiny, and I’m not wasting my time repeating the points every time you feel like repeating the slander.
That’s because you are arguing false, as the resident lawyer will tell you, in the same way a forced confession will get thrown out of court (if allowed to be submitted in the first place), a forced agreement is just as invalid
You seem to have conveniently forgotten that our resident lawyer disagreed with you too. So it is rather disingenuous to claim her support in this matter!
Whilst I know you are too entrenched in your own fantasy, to change your mind, I will reiterate the key points, for the sake of any new readers, who have not had to endure the tedium of this debate before.
1. Vale is a bodyguard.
2. Sciona attempted to murder Wyrmil right in front of Vale.
[Disputing this again will not improve your credibility.]
3. Vale knows this was not something Wyrmil wanted, due to his response.
[Impartial readers would not need this pointing out. But I know you do.]
4. Sciona has made repeated threats against Deus.
5. Vale has had to repeatedly show that she is willing and able to protect Deus.
6. Vale gave Sciona the option to leave, but advised her that it would be profitable for her to return to listen to Deus’s proposition.
7. Vale warned Sciona that the proposal would be of an objectionable nature. So Sciona knew this even before choosing to return.
8. Deus made his proposal.
9. Sciona declined. Most importantly though she also threatened Deus, by pointing out his mortality. Not only that but it was stressed (“mortal ” being the only part of her reply in bold).
[You are insane to think that a bodyguard, who has witnessed her prior behaviour will ignore this.]
10. Vale warned Sciona. Note this was NOT expressed as ‘you must have sex with Deus or I will kill you’. Vale very specifically warned Sciona about threatening Deus with the word she chose.
11. Deus resumed negotiations.
[Note that the comic has already established that Sciona has the option to leave. See point 6 above. That has not changed. Vale has NOT said ‘you must stay or I will kill you.’ That is your own inference, which is not borne out by what actually happened.]
[As if this was not enough, because you have carried on repeating this nonsense so much that the author had to step in and confirm that Sciona was free to leave and under no duress!]
12. Sciona seriously considers the proposal.
[Note we are actually getting the character’s opinion here, in print. It does not read: “Fearfully giving in to rape threat”, it says “Seriously considering it”. This is to do with her reconsidering her prior rejection, due to the arguments Deus has made. Nothing else.]
13. Deus concludes his pitch.
14. Sciona accepts the proposal.
[Note that Sciona has never been shy about saying anything. If she was not happy about something she would say it. If she felt that she was being forced, she would have said something like “OK, but only under duress.” She did NOT say that though. ]
15. Vale remains, but it is made clear that this is a necessity, to stop Sciona trying to kill Deus. Whilst the need is obvious, it is actually pointed out in dialogue.
[Again there is no threat made, other than in your imagination. The ONLY warning was about Sciona using “Mortal” to intimidate Deus.]
16. They have sex. Sciona has a good time.
17. Deus provides the complete catalogue of items.
18. The one Sciona is after is not amongst them.
19. Deus provides her with details on where to find it.
[Offscreen, but as Sciona goes straight to Wyrmcoot, it is blindingly obvious that Deus honoured his deal]
20. They part on amicable terms.
[You are being extremely anti-social in keep on bringing this up, months after the event. This despite the fact that it has been repeatedly shown that Vale only warned Sciona about threatening Deus.]
[Especially as you continue to ignore that the author confirmed it was not duress and that Sciona knew she was free to leave. And are now claiming that is not what was shown in the comic. Which is simply untrue!]
TL/DR:
Vale did NOT say “Have sex with Deus or I will kill you”. She was NOT using subtext to imply that. THE AUTHOR HAS CONFIRMED THAT. What was said is what was meant throughout. So please stop claiming that your imagined subtext is what drove the dynamics of the scene. It did not!
It was not me that made a deal about what happened, was simply stating two pieces of fact to backup the claim about Sci willing to sacrifice herself for her goals
Fact: Sci asked SmugD why would she soil her newly restored body by allowing a mortal like him to have sex with her (she didn’t threatened him, merely pointed out that he is just a mortal)
Fact: Valeur did threaten Sci by pointing that she is only slightly harder to kill (Sci never said anything about killing SmugD)
Have never once disputed that Sci isn’t a nasty piece of work, also don’t dispute Valeur wasn’t simply doing her job
Definitely was not rape, for reasons I’ve actually written practically essays on in past pages :) She agreed to it. Being persuasive (and there were no threats to kill her if she refused to have sex – the threat was in case she tries to kill DEUS, by her empathizing that he’s a mere mortal, so Vale reminded her that she is mortal too – just longer lived and slightly harder to kill than a human).
In other words, here’s how it went.
Deus: “You’ll probably like having sex with me since I’m amazing in bed.”
Sciona: “You’re just a mortal. Remember that, because I’m heavily implying that you are beneath me because I can kill you if I want to.”
Vale: “Um… no you can’t, because if you try to kill him, I’ll kill you first. Because you’re not all that different than Deus, invulnerability-wise.”
Sciona: “Oh yeah.”
Deus: “Plus you havent had sex in a long time and i’m figuring you miss the feeling, right? Might as well have sex with me because, like I said, I’m awesome in the sack. Trust me. Plus I’ll help you find that thing you want, so it’s a win-win for you. If you don’t want to, you can go. And come back with the money to buy the list instead.”
Sciona: “Fiiiiiiiine. I was sort of leaning that way after you reminded me how long it’s been since I got laid anyway. And now I’m curious. Plus I want that thing that you have that i forgot to take before.”
While I Looooooove Cooter, its reasonable for Sciona to see him as expendable. She doesnt care that his family was killed by monsters. He is a monster hunter, she is what he would categorize as a monster. Its reasonable, from her perspective, for her to sacrifice him in a heartbeat. As for wyrmil, we really dont have much about him to think she cares about him either, beyond a means to an end, and more importantly, wyrmil is not an alari, and how she doublecrossed wyrmil does not impact how she would feel about her own people, whom she actually seems to care about.
It may also be that, after she revives her race, Sciona’s only motivation here would be to call on the debt they owe her for their lives & become the new Emperor of her race…That would be within the motivations of a villain, certainly.
Nah. I’m going with “Absorb souls” or “Use souls as power source for scheme/revenge”. There is the chance of resurrection so she has cannon fodder but, overall, I don’t see self-sacrifice for a noble goal as a likely outcome.
The former would certainly be totally in keeping with all her observed behaviour. Barring the fact that we are seeing above that she is very sad at the loss of her people. Likewise is distraught at the devastation to her homeworld.
However I do agree that noble self-sacrifice is not likely. What we have seen of her personality is arrogance and self-importance. plus manipulation and exploitation of allies.
That said though the resources at her disposal are narrowing fast. Her minions are in the base that just blew up. Likewise the artefact. Her allies are elsewhere on Earth. And the Alpha team’s intent is to stabilise and/or close the wormhole.
Once that is done she is on a planet without the means to power her magic. So leaving very few options for a blood mage.
However there should be lots of technology in the city nearby. It is badly damaged but not razed to the round. And we have seen her making much use of technology. Albeit always combined with her blood magic. However she clearly would need to have a decent understanding of each, in order to do the much more complex task of combining two disparate things like that.
So she may be able to figure out an alternative.
Sciona strikes me as the type of person who would say ‘I would gladly sacrifice a million worthless human lives just for the chance of saving a single Alari life. I think she values the lives of her species greatly.
Yes, just because she views hyu-mon lives as nothing, does not mean she views her own kind the same way
That speculation is perfectly acceptable. I was willing to engage in it myself, from the outset. With reservations, which do not need to be repeated.
Perhaps she’s going to sacrifice all the souls in the battery to her dark god for ultimate power.
She seems to have been too heavily hit by their downfall, on this and previous pages, and sad that they have been reduced to being in nothing but a soul battery, for that to feel right.
However she is an alien and it is not wise to assume that they will have consistently matching thought processes and emotions to humans. Interpreting her expressions is done by projecting my own, which could give an entirely incorrect conclusion, even with identical images. Plus it is entirely consistent with her behaviour to date, if we assume that she will behave the same with Alari as she does with other people.
Well, I guess Sciona might be glad she at least got to have some good sex before she embarked on this journey of her ruined world. I have a feeling she isn’t going to around after this, at least in physical form. Also assuming this doesn’t attract the attention of the mecha-cthulhu, and end up with her and her battery being blown to atoms.
going to have to say for someone wandering away in a dispirited haze sciona has made good time, also maybe the people she has been in contact with have been those in the soul battery.
Ooh, interesting take, on the latter. Although you would expect them to have replied ‘no, things are not OK, we are all dead and living in a soul battery’.
However that is making the assumption that the battery stores the entire consciousness intact and aware of its surroundings and situation. Which would be incredibly traumatic. So it is entirely possible that the process simulates a nice, safe environment, as much unchanged from their normal lives as possible.
So if Sciona used a spell that initiated mental contact with people on her home world, it would have exactly the result you suggest.
As regards the ‘making good time whilst wandering’, she was indeed walking away from the portal and every bit counts. However the more significant separation was caused by the portal itself being unstable and ending up (effectively) moving away from its starting location, in the opposite direction.
Given that Dabbler is much faster than a running human, and could not keep up, and even picking her up and increasing to Super Hiro’s considerably faster flight speed (him then being the slowest in the group), they still had to ‘go faster, go faster’, to try and narrow the gap. So a considerable distance will have been covered before the boom.
And quite a lot of terrain from Earth had been randomly deposited, around the area. So the force of the shockwave we see above, could have been reduced considerably, as it rolled over bits of mountain, before reaching her location.
… what if the soul battery is a gestalt of the alari and their slaves?
You mean like Kath from “Wapsi Square” was a gestalt of 6 babies?
I do not think they would demean themselves by allowing slave souls in their battery.
It is very likely though that they will accept being placed in slave’s bodies, if there are no Alari ones remaining. Thus it would be much like the Goa’uld (from the Stargate documentaries) type of gestalt, with their slave’s bodies.
Its unlikely that she made good time. More likely the explosion happened a distance away because the heroes and the pursuing worldkiller were the ones making good time in the other direction.:)
I’d be willing to bet that Mechathulu’s race is capable of impersonating the Alari over her intergalactic equivalent of a radio, and that is who Sciona had been talking with recently. They certainly seem to have left behind some sophisticated tripwires – expecting someone/thing to emerge on the planet they already ruined…
Ohh, interesting angle.
Conveniently, the blood splatter provides its own blood to power the cleaning cantrip. In fact, there isn’t really a cantrip, you just use up the blood spatter to power nothing at all.
:-D
Indeed.
If I was an evil blood mage bent on world domination, any souls I freed from a soul battery using my blood magic would be enthralled to me permanently. It’s just how you roll when you are evil: No good deed is done for free.
She is already a duchess of her people and seemed pretty assured that they would do what she wanted with attacking Earth and/or the supers. Not sure she would even NEED to mystically enthrall them :)
Remember, most of the people of Latveria love Dr Doom and see him as their protector and leader, and most of the underlings of Apokolyps worship and love Darkseid as a god, without any magic or brainwashing needed for most of them :).
I missed where that got established?
In SmugD’s book
Ooh, I had not made out that. To me the writing to the right of her name looked to be written in some kind of alien script (presumably how her name appears in Alari). The next line down I just took to be more of the same. However, now that you have pointed it out, I can see what you mean. I can’t recall having noticed that before.
It is just small enough and not sharp enough, that it blurs to my vision. Hence why I was not picking it out as being English. My cheap off-the-shelf glasses are not quite precise enough. So I have to squint slightly to bring it into focus.
Possibly it may just be a social title. However it seems more plausible that it indicates she held significant political power. Which shifts my take that she had previously been talking as a private individual, when boasting about how the Alari would invade Earth and enslave humanity.
Hence Pander’s comment makes sense. Although that is not to discount Oberon‘s comment, as that has a sound basis too. The differences come down to how we read Sciona’s character. Which is very much up to individual interpretation.
I think saving them, but also enslaving them, does fit well. Sciona has clearly established that slavery is an inherent part of Alari society. So it is entirely plausible that she would take advantage of the situation to ensure that she could retain absolute power.
Which I support with the fact that she has absolutely no people-management skills at all. Betraying Wyrmil, in front of other minions, shows that clearly. This has nothing to do with treating Alari differently to non-Alari. If she was a good manager of her workforce she would realise how demoralising this would be.
Likewise in humiliating a vampire by draining his blood. Sciona’s casual disregard for the feelings of her allies shows she simply does not understand how others think. Which means she will never have been any good. Just having a title does not make someone a good or competent leader.
Dr Doom and Deus are beloved by their respective populations because they know what people want so can make their lives better, by anticipating that and acting accordingly. Sciona lacks that ability. So could not lead successfully, other than through fear, or because of very strong social factors supporting her rule, despite her incompetence.
So knowing that she never had the respect necessary to make her a good leader, I can well see that Sciona may choose to enforce her will through binding them to her magically.
Sure, but as long as you’re doing blood magic, and as long as they will owe you their lives-outside-of-a-soul-battery, why chance the vagaries of a feudal system? Sooner or later some vassal is always trying to improve their situation at your expense, it’s a flaw inherent to the system. Spellbound slavery is a vastly superior method of government, if you’re an evil blood mage.
You need to read 3 body problem
Like it said something even remotely new or original… 三体 earned its place due to massive upvoting by trolls – nothing less, and – sadly – nothing more. It’s a fine book for what it is, but not even close in quality to the mantle it carries.
…But then again, we are living in the world where bloody Harry Potter is somehow considered quality, so what do I know?..
The Hugo award is a prestigious title indeed. But I can see how manipulating it the way you indicate is plausible.
Not that I have any investment in the matter, as I have neither read it, nor could I afford to buy it.
Although, in a while I will be in a position where I have access to public libraries again (well ones with books I can read anyhow). So it is interesting to note the discussion, for future reference.
Not to use the appeal to authority lightly – especially since I wouldn’t be able to provide sources with ease or at all – but the author of the book in question stated a few times that his nomination is precisely the result of such manipulation – much to his chagrin, for now he will never be able to accept the recognition without a foul shadow of doubt poisoning it.
Maybe his book would have been able stand strong on its own, maybe not – we will never know now, sadly.
As for originality – as an example, each time I see something related to originality of the, The Expanse I can’t help but reminisce on Stars are my destination and how it’s basically the same thing – up to the end of the Abaddon’s Gate maybe. Which seamlessly flows into a remembrance of the, The Count of Monte Cristo for obvious reasons.
So – a grain of salt, et cetera, et cetera…
Well she did just get hit with a massive blast of abrasive material (sand), like a sand-bath, could’ve scrubbed the blood spatter off ;3
Daaaww.
So…”splatter” is the act of a liquid splattering on a surface. “Spatter” is what you see when its already on said surface. Just a word choice reference moment.
“Splatter” can be used either as a noun or a verb. You are describing its use as a verb. Dave used it, correctly, as a noun.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/splatter
“there are only 12 sciona models”
That, was a completely shit and pointless remake, only surpassed in shititude by “Caprica”
…Ahem…
Lashing out the action, returning the reaction
Weak are ripped and torn away
Hypnotizing power, crushing all that cower
Battery is here to stay
Smashing through the boundaries
lunacy has found me
cannot stop the Battery
Pounding out aggression
turns into obsession
cannot kill the Battery
Cannot kill the family
Battery is found in me
Battery
Crushing all deceivers, mashing non-believers
never ending potency
Hungry violence seeker, feeding off the weaker
Breeding on insanity
Smashing through the boundaries
lunacy has found me
cannot stop the Battery
Pounding out aggression
turns into obsession
cannot kill the Battery
Cannot kill the family
Battery is found in me
Battery
Circle of Destruction, Hammer comes crushing
Powerhouse of energy
Whipping up a fury, Dominating flurry
We create the Battery
Smashing through the boundaries
lunacy has found me
cannot stop the Battery
Pounding out aggression
turns into obsession
cannot kill the Battery
Cannot kill the family
Battery is found in me
Battery
It seems like a waste to use a cleaning cantrip when she needs blood for her magic, and as she said, hers is the only blood around. Of course, a new cut would be fresher if all she had splattered on her was her own blood. Did she manage to cut anyone from Arc-SWAT? If not…wow, that’s pathetic.
She charged Maxima initially. Then had to try and pry Achilles off (who can’t bleed in any event). Then, being outnumbered, switched to using her spells to slam most of them through the ceiling. Following that up with a copied super powered-eye blast. After which the tide of battle turned against her. Although she was attempting to cut them with her wings towards the end.
None of which are things which ended up with their blood on her. Her base might have hero blood dripping from its ceiling mind. But she does not have access to that here.
Given that the soul battery seems to contain some sort of physical substance or metaphysical equivalent thereof it would seem possible to run the batteries contents through a filter of some sorts I suppose where I in that situation I might filter out the entirety of the planets negative emotions and regrets oriented towards there Destroyers and find a way to give it a physical manifestation thus ironically providing therapy and Vengeance in the same door around.
Although it also raises the question if there is a tangible manipulatable soul is there a way to objectively measure good or evil and of doing so could one purify the remains of the planetary population into a true saintly Elite slash demonic murder Squad
Did her Leg and Wing grow back?
She seems to be standing on both legs in this picture and we’ve seen evidence that the wings are more than just energy with her using one to limp along with in other panels.
The leg may have grown back, as it was well on the way, when we last saw it. Her wings have not received any damage.
Alternatively Sciona is just using her wings to ‘hover’ enough to keep herself level. We have not seen her flapping her wings, so it is possible that she is doing that even in the position we see her in above. It is not the first time, as she was just like this once earlier, before she used the wing as a crutch.
Actually, her wings were damaged in the same attack that lost her her leg
We kinda have seen her ‘flap her wings’, after Maxi attempted to fry her at the bridge (fairly sure we saw her wings, the non-burnt wings she dipped in the river, at least half-bent as in flight, if not there then somewhere)
Oh yea!
Darn, another failed spot check! My bad.
On the plus side we can see that the wingtip has completely regenerated. It was the bottom right one, as linked. Or at least one of the right paw wings. All of which we can see above are fine.
No worries about missing (or forgetting) that, happens to me all the time :)
On page 2882, it doesn’t look so much regenerating as scarring over. Based on her being a half a head stuck on an Orcs body it doesn’t seem like regenerating lost limbs is a strong suit for her. The clear alternative would have been to regenerate body parts for herself, even if it’s an ‘Evil Dead’ version of regeneration to make a working body for herself.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2882
No, that’s not scarring over, on page 2859 (linked by The Puppy) her leg was basically clean cut at the knee (right below the hem of her suit), page 2882 shows it growing down beyond the hem, almost to ankle length
Guesticus is correct. Plus in the Mars warehouse Sciona makes a quip about ‘Troll blood does you good’, in the context of her wounds regenerating. So it is very likely that the cocktail of power which she injected, when she heard the Alpha team arriving, included that. If not she may have even had Pixel’s blood, with her even more powerful regeneration.
But it seems to match troll-type regeneration well.
So you are correct that standard Alari cannot regenerate. However Sciona can and does, whilst she is buffed by her blood magic.
Maybe her power or the powers she gained burned off the blood splatter.
Hm… I think I’ve heard this plan for escaping disaster before:
https://youtu.be/SekvpIsaOgY?t=46
It, uh, didn’t turn out well for those people, either.
Sir Mr Curry has one of the best villain voices :D
He really does. It helps that Skullmaster got away with an amazing level of graphic violence in his dialogue for the time period.