3375 The Bottom Line
on August 14, 2020
Chapter: Ranna's Fulcrum
Characters: Ben of the Fields, Ch'Thier Goddess of Health and Purity, Lady Marion of Heatherdale, Ranna Goddess of Chaos and Cruelty
Location: Elegrost Fields
So my son, Alex, built me a LEGO Cap’n Fang. It’s… .brilliant.
As a goddess of chaos, I think being a trickster would suit Ranna very well.
The fun thing about tricksters is that they aren’t always bad. In many of the North American Indigenous people’s traditions Coyote (and variants) was the trickster and troublemaker, but he was often trying to teach an important lesson (well, in reality the story was made up using Coyote as the instigator as a way of providing a lesson for the audience, but you get the idea). Loki in the Norse tradition on the other hand AFAIK was more of a straight up troublemaker.
Yeah, but in Loki’s defense he was hanging out with an equally fun crowd. It really says something about the Norse gods that they not only pimped Loki out to a giant’s horse, but kept the kid around as an eight legged steed for Odin to ride.
Some tricksters are straight up arseholes, like that one from the Nart story’s, Shirdon I believe is his name
Loki was fire personified, and his destructive deeds were a reminder that the cheery little fire in the lamp, in the hearth, will burn down everything, and constantly needs to be fed lest he goes away.
Much like Ranna, in that regard. Belief and skalds over time made him into the more evil one.
Wait, wasn’t Loki the son of an Ice Giant?
Only in marvel comics and movies.
The Norse legends never specified what Loki"s heritage was, as he was fully grown when he met the Æsir and became a blood-brother to Odin. He was often described as being a spirit of fire in a world of frost, who befriended and aided Odin and his companions in exchange for joining them.
Wasn’t he the blood-brother to Ginger-Thor? Or was that also comics/movies?
Logi.
Good point about the fire! In most cases that was the point behind the stories, to try and teach an important lesson, or to hammer home something people are too stupid to remember on their own.
"Pork can make you sick if you don’t cook it properly."
"What? I was eating my almost raw pork."
"Ugh! Fine, god says you can’t eat pork, because he said so!"
"Aw!"
And sometimes it was just a superstitious explanation for something that happened. Like those ‘just so’ stories we were told as kids.
Loki’s origins are specified (depending on sources) to the son of a Jotunn called Fárbauti and an unspecified (race-wise) woman called Laufey (or Nál, depending on source). He has two brothers, Helbindi (a Jotunn) and Býleistr/Byleist (who is like their mother, unspecified race-wise).
Which is why he is sometimes called ‘Laufeysson’
> Loki in the Norse tradition on the other hand AFAIK was more of a straight up troublemaker.
Often trickster-like as well, though.
Loki’s biggest transgression, the one for which he was punished by torture, was that he told the truth to people who didn’t want to hear it.
t!
Yups, people rarely like hearing the truth, specially if it contradicts their beliefs and what they have been telling others
Oo, yeah, people often don’t like hearing the truth. As NotRichard says, especially if it contradicts something that they have decided is ‘the truth’. There are so many examples of that in the world.
"Look, I have proof, evidence…"
"FAKE NEWS! CONSPIRACY! BLASPHEMY! WITCHCRAFT! LALALALALA!!! I CAN’T HEAR YOU!"
Wasn't Loki punished because he killed Baldr?
He was, and terribly – a snake's poison was dripping on it's eyes constantly, while he was chained. His wife was using a helmet to stop the venom from dripping on him, but when it's filled needs to be emptied, and during so the venom burns Loki's eyes like acid. One of the versions i read stated, that originally didn't meant to kill Baldr though, just hurt him, so his invulnerability wouldn't go in his head. (Also, the one who shot the mistletoe arrow was Hod.)
Loki was a troublemaker, but mostly out of boredom. As Nordic gods had different virtues, his jokes often was like an avalanche – something small, which lead first other lies, then grow bigger and bigger, until it grow so large, that it grabbed the Allfather's attention as well. Then he needed to find a solution to it, which often had it's own consequences.
you open a door and a bucket of spaghetti falls on your head. "you just got pranked bro!" Ranna says as she jumps out the window. it’s annoying but you certainly prefer spaghetti hair over whips and red hot pokers up the ass.
I don’t think it’ll be that easy. Even if Ranna is repentant, and even if they try to undo everything that’s been done, people will still remember. All the armies gathered will remember what happened. All the suffering and death and destruction, and while some might be able to forgive, a large portion would be crying out for vengeance and in many cases justice.
And honestly, I can’t blame them.
Remember: Ranna isn’t the only one at fault in all this, Her followers also have to shoulder some of it
It is one thing, what is going to happen with Ranna. The real question here, what will happen with her followers. Now I’m not talking about the ones converted by spells. As part of her atonement, she could just cancel the spell. The real problem will be the ones, who willingly followed her and enjoyed the hell they were building. They will remain evil and sadistic, even if they stop follow Ranna.
Vengeance against the goddesses themselves seems like a danger ONLY if the spellcasters decide to fire their spell trap (which they have a strong incentive not to do without cause, since they seemed well aware that it will drain their world of magic for a long time. Which, we know from the glimpses of the future DOES happen, but I doubt the mages or Ch’Thier’s priestesses would take that step lightly.
Justice among the followers, on the other hand, would have to be a carefully calibrated thing, unless the survivors are willing to not call it "justice" at all and settle for revenge.
Terry Pratchett as always has something relevant to say:
“I want it stopped. And I want it stopped the hard way.”
“You want me to kill all the inquisitors? Right!”
“No. That’s the easy way. I want as few deaths as possible. Those who
enjoyed it, perhaps. But only those."
And Brutha had the luxury of *not* tackling the dilemma of literal mind-slaves…
I think the thing here, and I hope Rich agrees, is that these two do not need to repair the world, just their relationship with each other. Learn to be like Set and Ra, who in legend were enemies but secretly working together.
I have high hopes, that the future we saw in glimpses is a result of Order and Chaos actually working together, helping folk see order and chaos in everything, and calling it Science.
Loving Ranna’s crosseyed look in the final panel 😀
"URP! Wasn’t expecting *this*!"
And there’s still the "super spell" in the wings, and THEY haven’t been privy to all of this new info!
"They" being the mages? They have been; we’ve seen reaction shots of mages and priestesses watching Marion’s story through the portal. It’s possible that Eddy and Lewie are still building the super spell, but most of the spellcasters, just like the battlefield soldiers, seemed focused on the Muse.
Rich has also provided the occasional shot of Trevor & Leland frantically trying to record this data-dump for preservation in the Library. So they’re certainly hearing everything via remote-portal.
When did Trevor & Leland go back to the Library?
They didn’t; they’re in the Temple with the mages, watching through the portal. Leorin means that Trevor and Leland plan to add this new knowledge to the Library, not that they’re in the Library right now.
My mistake, thought she meant they *were* in the Library recording the information via remote-control, seeing how the last we saw them implied that they were actually on the battlefield when Marion appeared
But can Ranna overcome all that anger just like that? It is always the problem with trying to end a long animosity, both sides have to be willing to put down the weapons and call it quits.
She did look pretty shamefaced, so she just might be able to, or at least we can hope.
On the plus side, it’s just the two of them, they can both agree and do their best to enforce it on their followers (although as we know, there are problems there). Where you have many people on both sides there is always some a-hole that just won’t let it go (possibly because they don’t have any desire to let it go, they LIKE the violence and killing) who will do everything they can to restart it.
In the previous flashback, it was Ranna who was more willing to accept what Marion told them and to calm down quicker than Ch’Thier
I believe that he also showed us a world far in the future where the Age of Gods is well past and people stopped relying on titles like all Orcs are evil.
The guide talking about the remains of the mountain as a place where a number of "supposedly evil races lived".
Yeah, entire races aren’t evil – individual people are evil. Cultures can have unpleasant sides to be sure, which blurs that a bit, but over time cultures evolve (positively and negatively) so that changes, and also sometimes it’s a matter of perspective.
So I’m almost certain this isn’t the case… But imagine if Marion is just rolling some epic level bluffs and is solving it the bards way, by telling a story.
Honestly I’d prefer this all be true because it’s amazing, but I could totally see Marion saying after they left "Oh yeah no, made the whole thing up."
…and "Marion of Heatherdale" turns out to be an inherited role, like the Dread Pirate Roberts. This one is actually young for an elf, but the previous Marion was a masterful bluffer, and taught her pupil well. 🙂
I think that if she would be bluffing, it wouldn’t make them smaller ; she must be describing the power of followers on their god correctly, which makes very likely the rest is also true.
My question is, what happens to the other gods Ranna decided to just straight-up devour? Can she disgorge them, or are they permanently gone? Hard to "aw, shucks" your way out of that.
Awwww <3
…now if only there weren’t all those atrocities they have commited. Especially Ranna.
… I think Ch’Tier didn’t took the correct lesson. But whatever, important is what lesson will Ranna take.
I’m reminded of the Avatar episode "The Great Divide"
Wow, this all started on April 20th 2015 when the serpent awoke. Even outside the YAFGC world, it’s been a long time in the making. Curious, how much of this story happened around a table rolling dice? I imagine at minimum, several characters were created that way.
You mean how much of this story is just a retelling from a table-top game? And how many of the characters are PCs from said game?
If those are your questions, technically none. The Ranna/Ch’Thier specific scenario is one I massively adapted from a campaign I ran years ago. And a few of the characters are adapted from PCs from that and other campaigns. (PCs: Vanessa, Saidrah, Shawn/The Fox, Roberta, Stonefoot – and NPCs: Charla & Hogga, and the goddesses from the Ranna/Ch’Thier campaign. They were greatly changed from the original characters some are now unrecognizable.)
I always thought it started (latest) here:
https://www.yafgc.net/comic/2390-wrong-number/
Or even earlier… like in the Night Queen arc…
https://www.yafgc.net/comic/1915-lolth-gets-concerned/
Which makes me wonder… Rich just how long have you been planning this entire thing with Ranna?
Circa 1995 or thereabouts?
Rich, you Ranna-long time with this idea!
[I’m going to blame that pun on Caelin! He’s a bard! Bards are always making bad jokes! Never mind that it was my idea. No, wait, I didn’t want to say that! Where’s the delete ke…
Ch’Thier Uses Hug. It is super effective.
Ranna is Grappled.
Gah. You had to make me dig out the rules for that, didn’t you? And this is First Edition as well, so it’s going to be messy!
Wait…are there going to be changes to how their afterlives work after all this?
Quite possible, since Marion seems to be implying that the idea of afterlives as places of reward and punishment — rather than simply, places — is apparently a fairly recent development. If the Sisters both swear off using the souls of their followers as captive power sources, that might provide yet another possible explanation for the soon-to-come downgrade to the power of the gods, or even of magic in general.
It would also be a way to address the moral balance of recent history. If Raana’s atrocities led to the release of eons worth of souls from servitude — especially in Ranna’s hell, but also in Ch’Thier’s heaven and the realms of other gods as well, if the souls would rather be charting their own courses elsewhere — then it won’t feel so much like a generation of mortals were fed to the meatgrinders to provide a lesson in sisterhood to two wayward godlings.
Great… now let’s talk about all the horrible stuff you both did, and all the suffering you inflicted…
& they patch things up!
I believe I just sighted a goddess glomp!
Even if the sisters manage to patch their differences up here…aside from the damage that’s already been done, we know many followers will be upset and disappointed with the potential loss of their Sky Cake (as Patton Oswalt once put it).
Who knows how they might react?
Jone’s hangers-on–especially that one crazy kobold–had similar reactions when it seemed their favourite wasn’t smiting those who deserved it.
Yeah, Kur will be a problem that still needs eradicating
At least Jone cleaned up her cult mess (by making a bigger bloody mess mind you)
This may be my individual favorite page in the whole comic.
Say, you’re not going to end it now are you? Like Howard Taylor did with Schlock Mercenary?
Howard Taylor ended Schlock Mercenary??? (does victory dance)
No, I’m not ending YAFGC, I’m transitioning to a new era.
The principal story arc of Schlock (The sergeant) has finished. Howard is taking a well earned holiday (20 years of daily comics is pretty impressive) but said he planned to return with more stories in that universe.
Nyeh nyeh nyeh well earned holiday nyeh nyeh.
*eye roll* Whatever.
I don’t know a thing about that comic, but I take it you don’t like it?
I’ve also never read it. But Howard Taylor I met a few times at conventions and even when he and I were both Guests of Honour at one, I still only got a smug dismissal. He seems to think really highly of himself. And he’s always just been that much more successful than I. His comic started just a little bit earlier, he went full-time but I stepped back a bit from mine…
So, his comic is more popular, lasted longer, more consistent and earned awards and all sorts of props and public acknowledgement.
But I’ve found him a bit… lacking in talent. Short on actually funny humour, and really really smug.
Well, if it makes you feel better, you do have fans that only read your comic and not his. I should know – I’m one of these 🙂
In my case even didn’t know of Howard Taylor or Schlock Mercenary until I read these comments. 😛
Have tried reading Schlock a few times, never really got into it
Interesting how ‘Schlock’ doesn’t have the little red squiggly-line under it, indicating a spelling error…
That’s because ‘Schlock’ is a real word. It’s a yiddish word that -like most yiddishisms- doesn’t really translate easily. They’ve got wonderfully humourous meanings. ‘Schlock’ means cheap and trashy, inferior of quality.
I hear it used mostly in reference to the film industry (which incidentally has a lot of yiddish speakers!) and specifically the lowest-end B-movie horror films.
Thank you, most of the Yiddish I’ve been ‘exposed’ to has been via Klinger in M*A*S*H, and that was a *long* time ago
I admit, there were times that I liked reading Schlock Mercenary…
… and then I found out about Howard Taylor. Whoof. I must admit I feel no sympathy for the comic any more, and stopped reading. I guess that puts it in the same class as Dilbert?Scott Adams.
Oh? What’s he done?
You basically covered it. The arrogance you mentioned from when you met him, and some typical LDS homophobic comments. I recall him being pretty libertarian as well, and making borderline derogatory comments about socialism. And he supports Trump.
There’s footage online somewhere of me playing in the "Author’s D&D game" at CON-Fusion in Detroit a few years ago. I’m playing a Drow priestess and Howard is co-DM. He just oozes self satisfied smugness.
Found the Author D&D video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSPfp8HOdVU )
I watched a few minutes of it (the author intros) and you, came across as a likeable, loveable doof who loves the entire game and culture.
Howard Tayler… I dun like him.
Wait, does that mean neither Falahn nor her lovers went to afterlives?
My impression is that the afterlife already existed, and was the next stage in a dead mortal’s journey. But what Ranna and Ch’Thier innovated, and then other gods imitated, was the practice of carving out an afterlife realm for each deity, and gathering all their followers’ souls there in perpetuity. Essentially, they made the afterlife a final destination rather than a road.
In the long run, I can’t imagine that’s a healthy state for anyone’s soul…
Exactly, mucat. It was a generic place for the souls to go before, but then the gods started making themed afterlives. So Ch’Thier’s heaven, The Great Orcish Battlefield of Gruuumsh, Ranna’s Hell, Abynn’s Hell (There’s a lot of Hells)….etc.
Ah, I see. Thank you both for the explanation!
This kind of jibes with my hope that an afterlife is a sort of "your game is over, you can review your life and its impact" existence where you can then play again (reincarnate) or move on to a different game (higher plane) or simply log off entirely (nirvana/"nothingness").
Note that for the record, I consider myself an agnostic: fully embracing my ignorance of what the afterlife is, if there is a god or gods, and so on.
I adore the characterzation here. In Panel 3 Order insists upon her comfort blanket of the deity playbook, including rewards and punishments. In Panel 4 Chaos points out something Order never considered. And then in Panel 7 Order is of course the first one who wants to fix everything.
t!
Okay … I was wondering along this arc how this all will be wrapped up in the end.
And then … a deus ex machina.
Hm ….
Yup. I aim to disappoint.
Chekhovs gun could have made it more organic. 😉
But then you wouldn’t have accused me of bad story telling.
And you care so much about that. 😀
But I love you no matter what. :*
It’s not that I don’t care, it’s that I won’t be influenced. Sure when someone reading my comic says "Oh, that’s terrible!" it stings. But I do this mostly for my own pleasure and I’ll do it my way. I’ve spent over 30 years in an industry where everyone from my supervisors to the directors, producers and creators would tell me what to draw, what to write, what to change. And they’re paying for it, that’s cool. That’s what we do.
But YAFGC is mine and I’ll draw and write and change or not change what I want. It’s my little art sanctuary, validated by having it online and read by others. Nobody’s paying me to do it so nobody has a vote. And for the most part, I think it’s pretty good.
I’m also amused when people try to predict the ending or where my story is going because 80% of the time they’re dead wrong. And it’s not like I’m changing it to /make/ them wrong. If someone called it, they called it. But I’m less predictable than a lot of people seem to think, apparently. And this ‘Deus ex machina’ comment of yours…. wrong. 🙂
I don’t usually post predictions unless they’re part of something else I wanted to discuss…but of course, I make lots of ’em in my own head, and an 80%/20% wrong/right ratio seems on target.
One recent one I was wrong about was that, around strip 3367, I was certain the kids were going to lose their mother at a young age due to some "accident" that the other gods engineered or permitted out of spite. I figured this, rather than teenaged arrogance, would be the reason they never properly absorbed her teachings.
I’m glad my prediction was wrong and Falahn got to live out a long mortal life, even though that does mean she experienced the pain of seeing her kids go astray and her society splinter. I hope she had lots of times of happiness also, to…well, to balance the pain.
(Couldn’t resist, even though I know this is *not* Balance in Falahn’s sense!)
Okay, let me explain, why this caught me offguard.
This was a HUGE storyarc. BIG changes in the setting. Looong stories about all the heroes trying their best to fight Ranna and often just failing.
And then, in the middle of the climax, in the middle of "final battle", steps up some side figure, some "NSC" and starts telling a looong story about the origins of Ch’Thier and Ranna and this flips everything over.
I got this. She did it in the past several times. Waiting till these dumbheads are standing in front of each other and then talking some sense in both of them.
But this is not even hinted at in the whole arc. The protagonists are doing everything they can, but in the end the whole situation is really saved by a background figure.
So, in terms of storytelling, this is what I would call a deus ex machina. A way out of a difficult situation, that was never mentioned in the story before, executed by a figure who is not a protagonist in the story, but has way bigger powers over the problem than all of the other heroes combined.
And this after a story, that reaches back into the 1800s and more of this whole comic.
I mean, it´s a nice change to not end it all in the slaughter of the villain. But it came so … sudden.
I love your comic, your characters, their development, the evolution of the setting.
I think, in something so big and great, everybody will find one or two things, that doesn´t find their approval and you are the one who can ALWAYS say "Your loss".
Because this whole thing is yours and yours alone.
Keep going. I´ll follow. Often I´ll get excited, and sometimes I´ll be "meh …", but as long there comes more yafgc, my life will be a bit happier. 😉
Quite fitting when dealing with gods. You could argue about missing machinery, but I understood it as "coming out from behind the scenes" to call a halt and sort things out in classical sense.
And don’t we all wish sometimes there was a Lady Marion of Heatherdale to sort things out?
The glomp heard around the world.
The little figure that Ranna made and pulled Ch’Thier out. I keep hoping they have an important role. I don’t know what but I am pretty sure Rich has Plans (TM). That’s something I have often seen in these, that you shouldn’t forget anything.
I agree; loose ends in this strip usually end up tied to something important at some later date.
Me, three.
Sashael’s comments above are missing the obvious.
t!
Queue back stab or neck snap in 5… 4… 3… 2…
It suddenly occurs to me that there is a very hurt but still-alive drow goddess of power as yet unaccounted for …
And an equally hurt and alive beholder god.
Bravo, Alex! That is terrific! 😀
Your son has an eye for good composition. Accuracy by minimalism takes style.
The mismatched eyes are an awesome touch!
And the single tooth, lol.
What, the hug was a surprise, after giving her a hand up earlier?
Here is what I would like to see; Chthy say; "I don’t care, I am NOT hurting my sister anymore, I’m done with this…. and Fuck the cosmic balance!"
oh yeha, I would LOVE to see that! (hope I didn’t spoil anything)
Interesting.
This corrected version of history has been told to the both of them over, and over, but they seem to reject some or all of it and forget it entirely within a few centuries… because the vast majority of their followers don’t live that long, and the beliefs of their followers are pushed onto them even to the point of overwriting their own minds.
What’s different this time?
Rather than a minor skirmish over a town or a province, this is a grand battle for the entire continent, and virtually ALL their followers and believers are present, hearing this story out of the mouth of the Eternal Bardess herself. THEY all believe Lady Marion, and so this belief is able to take deeper seed in the minds of the twin goddesses?
Including, but not limited to, the mental image of these two as near-mortals with human appearance who walked and lived among their faithful… including through regular-sized doorways.
How to KEEP this accurate perception of the Twins in the minds of mere humble mortals long enough that a few centuries from now, their minds haven’t been overwritten yet again?
Let’s hope the little cat-man and his more-than-friend publish that book they’re writing about this in every city, town, village, and camp, and in every language possible (well, realistically, everyone all seems to speak a common tongue in this world, so maybe that last one is redundant).
Carve it into some sturdier mediums than paper, even. We need this version of history to LAST.
The innocent gifts of the child are more precious than any amount of money 🙂