Ansom was bound to capture Parson personally.

[Aquillion]

Looking back at this (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/erf0143.html) strip, I just realized something.

Parson asks if Ansom was bound to capture him. That, obviously, was important.

A lot of people were asking why Ansom went personally to receive Parson's surrender in such a dangerous location. I think the answer is that he didn't have any choice; he was magically bound to go capture Parson personally at the first opportunity. This would explain part of why he found the terms so outrageous.

It makes some sense for Charlie to add such a term. He wanted to be absolutely sure he got Parson, and making Ansom go do it himself is no skin off of his back.

[SteveMB]

It makes some sense for Charlie to add such a term. He wanted to be absolutely sure he got Parson, and making Ansom go do it himself is no skin off of his back.

And if it caused Ansom to personally walk into a trap (which Charlie clearly knew was about to happen, based on the wink-wink-nudge-nudge eyebook messages between Charlie and Parson), potentially so much the better. Charlie may have figured that Parson could pull off something that would seriously hurt the RCC, which could lead to considerable shifts in the balance of power and resulting instability. For Charlie, this situation is described in two words: "KA" and "CHING".

Unfortunately for him, he found out too late just how much Parson could hurt the RCC, and that his expeditionary force of Archons would be in the kill zone with the rest....

[Golem]

Unfortunately for him, he found out too late just how much Parson could hurt the RCC, and that his expeditionary force of Archons would be in the kill zone with the rest....

Yeah, I have to agree with this. Charlie's a chess-master style leader, who favors beneficial possible outcomes--but this could, very realistically, be something entirely outside his realm of experience. From the recent conversation, it seems this sort of thing not just isn't done, but isn't supposed to be possible--being a chessmaster does very little good when someone tosses a live grenade amongst your pieces.

Parson's just performed a never-before-commited level of sheer shock, violence, and devastation. He's literally shaken the balance of power in Erfworld, to a degree I'm willing to wager Charlie wasn't counting on... Charlie obviously expected Parson to throw more resistance up, then 'come quietly', so to speak, after he'd whittled the Coalition down and had to deal with just the Archons. Which, from Charlie's perspective, makes SENSE--he gets tools, Parson joins a more prominent force, Parson learns how to be 'effective' in Erf in line with Charlie's profit-oriented perspective.

But Parson didn't care about 'profit'. He cared about the one terrible, horrible thing the 'perfect warlord' should... victory by any means necessary. I look forward to finding out if Charlie set Ansom up for this fall, or not, and how it impacts Charlie's future relationship with Parson.

I do wager he regrets crossing the Hamster, though. =p