Wonder if Elan's mother is manically psychotic...

[krossbow]

Looking at this analytically.


Elan gained his flair for drama from his father, and his alignment from his mother.
Nale gained his alignment from his father and his planning from his mother.


But lets look at this alittle further. Elan, while a cloud cucoolander, is fairly calm, and doesn't go crazy in bad situations; Nale, on the other hand will go absolutely ape*%&$ over tiny things. Tarquin so far seems to be a fairly mentally balanced fellow, and seems quite calm and collected.


From this logic, it seems that Nale would have inherited his disposition from his mother; And given how Nale acts, its highly possible that their mother, while of a good alignment, is highly, highly unstable.





Problems with this hypothesis/equation?

[mucat]

Tarquin and Elan are both clean-shaven, while Nale wears a beard. Hence, it follows that Elan's mother has a beard...

[krossbow]

Tarquin and Elan are both clean-shaven, while Nale wears a beard. Hence, it follows that Elan's mother has a beard...

she's actually a dwarf with a glandular issue.

[Darkspear]

But lets look at this alittle further. Elan, while a cloud cucoolander, is fairly calm, and doesn't go crazy in bad situations; Nale, on the other hand will go absolutely ape*%&$ over tiny things. Tarquin so far seems to be a fairly mentally balanced fellow, and seems quite calm and collected.

...

Problems with this hypothesis/equation?

Tarquin has gone through nine wives, at least one of whom has died in mysterious circumstances (my guess is that more have*). Even if he had nothing to do with his wife/wives dying (which is unlikely), his frequent marriages suggest he has problems controlling the lower passions.

*He is most likely evil, so marrying a woman he lusts after and then killing her when the lust fades is not terribly far afield.

[krossbow]

Tarquin has gone through nine wives, at least one of whom has died in mysterious circumstances (my guess is that more have*). Even if he had nothing to do with his wife/wives dying (which is unlikely), his frequent marriages suggest he has problems controlling the lower passions.

*He is most likely evil, so marrying a woman he lusts after and then killing her when the lust fades is not terribly far afield.


Doesn't neccecarily mean he has to do it in a passionate way though; He simply gets bored of them, and then disposes of them in a preplanned manner if they aren't the type to handle a "you get nothing" divorce lying down. Conversely, passionately disposing of them would probably entail a excessive tantrum ala nale and random excessive violence.

[Eloi]

Looking at this analytically.


Elan gained his flair for drama from his father, and his alignment from his mother.
Nale gained his alignment from his father and his planning from his mother.


But lets look at this alittle further. Elan, while a cloud cucoolander, is fairly calm, and doesn't go crazy in bad situations; Nale, on the other hand will go absolutely ape*%&$ over tiny things. Tarquin so far seems to be a fairly mentally balanced fellow, and seems quite calm and collected.


From this logic, it seems that Nale would have inherited his disposition from his mother; And given how Nale acts, its highly possible that their mother, while of a good alignment, is highly, highly unstable.





Problems with this hypothesis/equation?

Lamrack not being right and genetics not working like that?

[Leecros]

Problems with this hypothesis/equation?

we haven't really seen Tarquin really have to handle any real situation yet that would normally cause Nale to go... "absolutely ape*%&$" yet.


that brings up a good question though...what kind of Ape are you speaking of?

[My2Cents]

Tarquin has gone through nine wives, at least one of whom has died in mysterious circumstances (my guess is that more have*). Even if he had nothing to do with his wife/wives dying (which is unlikely), his frequent marriages suggest he has problems controlling the lower passions.

*He is most likely evil, so marrying a woman he lusts after and then killing her when the lust fades is not terribly far afield.

He divorced his first wife, rather than having her die under mysterious circumstances. And the result was Nale.
Perhaps changing wives every few years is a calculated effort to not have any children to challenge him.

[Eloi]

He divorced his first wife, rather than having her die under mysterious circumstances. And the result was Nale.
Perhaps changing wives every few years is a calculated effort to not have any children to challenge him.

Or maybe he knows that villains usually have a lot of wives and some susceptible to mysterious circumstances, and thus is trying to achieve that trope.

[Aron Times]

Or maybe his wives keep getting assassinated by his enemies. Or the wives themselves try to assassinate him and take his place.

[krossbow]

actually, now that i think about it, its actually highly reasonable for Tarquin's wives to dissapear left and right without him actually having anything to do with it.


The continent they're on is a bloodthirsty one where Leaders have their kingdoms overthrown constantly. As a high ranking official of such kingdoms, its highly likely his wives will constantly be caught in attempts made on him, whether that be the individuals wanting to blackmail him, or his wives simply being low level individuals who'll get wiped out in attacks that tarquin would survive.

This of course would have to be shown in comic, as the laws of narrative would imply tarquin's complicity in their dissapearances, but if you rely on logic instead of narration, he's got a fairly decent defense.

[Starscream]

Tarquin and Elan are both clean-shaven, while Nale wears a beard. Hence, it follows that Elan's mother has a beard...

Hmmm. Elan is a guy, and his father is a guy.

Therefore it follows that either Elan's mother is a guy (which makes his birth unlikely) or Nale is actually a girl (which makes his relationship with Sabine really hot).

[Eloi]

Hmmm. Elan is a guy, and his father is a guy.

Therefore it follows that either Elan's mother is a guy (which makes his birth unlikely) or Nale is actually a girl (which makes his relationship with Sabine really hot).

:smalleek: Either one of those is really odd, but I think its more likely Nale is actually a girl.

[hobbitkniver]

Tarquin and Elan are both clean-shaven, while Nale wears a beard. Hence, it follows that Elan's mother has a beard...

He didn't inherit his goatee, it came with his cliche.

[KoboldRevenge]

if one of the waitresses makes a mistake she plots overly complcated pranks against them.:smallsmile:

[AxeD]

Tarquin and Elan are both clean-shaven, while Nale wears a beard. Hence, it follows that Elan's mother has a beard...
Nice one :smallbiggrin: This comment wins the thread.


Or maybe he knows that villains usually have a lot of wives and some susceptible to mysterious circumstances, and thus is trying to achieve that trope.
Or he has a high charisma and is the OotS version of Tiger Woods?

[Eloi]

Nice one :smallbiggrin: This comment wins the thread.


Or he has a high charisma and is the OotS version of Tiger Woods?

Yes, now that is a likely too.

[Leecros]

Or he has a high charisma and is the OotS version of Tiger Woods?

Nah, if he was the OotS version of Tiger Woods then he'd have the media stalking him 24/7 and thinking that every woman he so much as glances at is a woman he's had "relations" with.

[Nave Senrag]

Lamrack not being right and genetics not working like that?
No, you fail the guy's name is Lamarck.
Also we are not dealing with genetics. We are dealing with a fictional universe where anything that is not detailed to be impossible in one of the various D&D Core Books is assumed to be possible. Therefore, Elan and Nale can inherit whatever the gods of fate decide they should inherit.

[Eloi]

No, you fail the guy's name is Lamarck.
Also we are not dealing with genetics. We are dealing with a fictional universe where anything that is not detailed to be impossible in one of the various D&D Core Books is assumed to be possible. Therefore, Elan and Nale can inherit whatever the gods of fate decide they should inherit.

<sarcasm> Because a topic about parents passing traits onto their children completely isn't about genetics. </sarcasm>

[thundrfang]

From this logic, it seems that Nale would have inherited his disposition from his mother; And given how Nale acts, its highly possible that their mother, while of a good alignment, is highly, highly unstable.







Some more evidence of this may be that she is Chaotic Good.

[Nilan8888]

The continent they're on is a bloodthirsty one where Leaders have their kingdoms overthrown constantly. As a high ranking official of such kingdoms, its highly likely his wives will constantly be caught in attempts made on him, whether that be the individuals wanting to blackmail him, or his wives simply being low level individuals who'll get wiped out in attacks that tarquin would survive.

This of course would have to be shown in comic, as the laws of narrative would imply tarquin's complicity in their dissapearances, but if you rely on logic instead of narration, he's got a fairly decent defense.

Not if it's happened on EIGHT SEPERATE occasions, though.

Once or twice in that span I could see, but they get his wife every time? And never Malak or himself?

It would make sense to me if this actually had happened at once point, but with a number that high, Tarquin is more than likely somehow responsible for at least a few of these things. I think if it wasn't the generic getting tired of his wives, the poster who said that he decided to have no children and so would ge rid of his wives before that happened might be the next logical conclusion that I've heard.

[mpollack]

Her rivalry with Gary's Olde Towne Tavern is legendary. (Thank you Wikipedia.)

If the 9th wife died in some attack by one of Tarquin's enemies, that wouldn't be "mysterious circumstances." Tarquin would just say that.

[krossbow]

Her rivalry with Gary's Olde Towne Tavern is legendary. (Thank you Wikipedia.)

If the 9th wife died in some attack by one of Tarquin's enemies, that wouldn't be "mysterious circumstances." Tarquin would just say that.

That doesn't mean the previous one's couldn't have been other things such as assasination or murder though; we're assuming that because his last wife dissapeared, ALL of his wives disappeared. It could be a conga line of different reasons for each wife.


Not if it's happened on EIGHT SEPERATE occasions, though.

Once or twice in that span I could see, but they get his wife every time? And never Malak or himself?

Assume for a second your trying to kill superman; trying to blow him up will only piss him off, but everyone around him will probably be smeared. In the same way, a high level character in D&D can shrug off artillery fire.

[Leecros]

Therefore it follows that either Elan's mother is a guy (which makes his birth unlikely) or Nale is actually a girl (which makes his relationship with Sabine really hot).

hmm, that means that Nale would also get his mother's erm..."eyes"


obviously this cements your point because we all know Elan don't have those eyes (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0027.html)...

[Thant]

Maybe it is just a recessive trait and it skipped a few generations before manifesting in Nale.

[Nave Senrag]

<sarcasm> Because a topic about parents passing traits onto their children completely isn't about genetics. </sarcasm>

No it isn't Doctor Sarcasm,this is Quantum Genetics. This is children getting traits from their parents that make perfect logical sense but are still completely impossible.

[licoot]

Nale does get that from his mother, think about what happens when a control freak doesn't get things the way they like them

[Eloi]

No it isn't Doctor Sarcasm,this is Quantum Genetics. This is children getting traits from their parents that make perfect logical sense but are still completely impossible.

I may have to use Quantum Sarcasm then.

<sarcasm>Yeah, there's only one universe and uncertainty principle doesn't exist. </sarcasm>

[Prowl]

I may have to use Quantum Sarcasm then.

It's both sarcastic and not sarcastic at the same time!

[krossbow]

You be careful with that science devilry! Its only a matter of time before someone divides by zero, and then we're doomed! DOOMED I TELL YOU!

[lesser_minion]

You be careful with that science devilry! Its only a matter of time before someone divides by zero, and then we're doomed! DOOMED I TELL YOU!

Not really. It's not like exception-handling is that new...

Anyway, didn't Nale get his tendency towards ridiculously-complex schemes from his mother?


Also, it's perfectly reasonable to develop certain traits through upbringing.

It's not like every heritable trait must be entirely founded in genetics.

[Kranden]

Tarquin and Elan are both clean-shaven, while Nale wears a beard. Hence, it follows that Elan's mother has a beard...

Most likely but that may be a little too adult for this comic!

[archon_huskie]

You be careful with that science devilry! Its only a matter of time before someone divides by zero, and then we're doomed! DOOMED I TELL YOU!

Any number divided by zero is equal to infinity.

[lesser_minion]

Any number divided by zero is equal to infinity. infinite.

Infinity is not a number, and it's kind of hard to declare something as being 'equal' to it without further qualification.