Theory: Transylvito found out about FAQ and destroyed it

[sswhaley]

I think that it's possible that Stanley and FAQ were allies. If Stanley was rushing not to attack FAQ, but to defend it, it makes sense why he would have Jack and Wanda with him. It also may explain why Stanley attacked Transylvito.

Problems with this theory

1. Transylvito forces we see seem to have no idea where FAQ is.

It's possible that the currently fielded forces do not know where FAQ is, or if they do they are not letting on to the coalition that they do.

2. Why didn't Transylvito take over FAQ after Stanley clearly withdrew forces from the area?

We don't know how large the Transylvito network is. However, it's safe to assume that they have a fairly large empire. Allowing 10 warlords to engage in an alliance that is not completely essential to Transylvito's survival indicates that they still have a leadership core even if all 10 were to be croaked. If Transylvito destroyed FAQ and wanted it to look like Stanley did it they would not rebuild it. (It's possible they wanted to cover it up once Jillian fell in with Ansom)

3. Doesn't explain how Banhammer and Stanley became friends, or why Stanley became the Heir to the throne of Gobwin Knob.

I'm sure these are all connected somehow.

[Yenkaz]

Don King seemed to have a hard time believing in the very existence of FAQ right under Transylvitos' noses once briefed by Vinny.

[DevilDan]

The name of the kingdom if Faq, not FAQ.

It's a neat bit of speculation, since an alliance between the bellicose Stanley (and if Saline chose him as his heir, it would be because he valued Stanley's strengths and looked past his many faults) and the philosophical Banhammer could only be explained by the greater conspiracy that some believe lies behind the story thus far.

[kreszantas]

There been stabs at this type of theory before, however with the information given, Jillian was totally suprised at Jack being with Stanley. That fact in itself creates holes in this like swiss cheese. Sizemore indicates when you abandon or destroy a city the opposite side can claim its ruins, still winning a victory.

When Jillian describes a caster to Ansom in the tent, she is describing Wanda not Jack. Ansom "assumed" Jillian was speaking of the foolamancer (Jack) which he knew Stanley had one. So that is another plot line failure to this theory.

I have suggested that Banhammer knew of Saline, however that would go against the "bubble" kingdom idoism and I have even since dismissed it myself due to more information coming out after I made that suggestion. Cesar Bogota's sheer disbelieve in the discussions with Jillian 'chickie' when the new alliance formed up. So if the Chief Warlord dont know about destroying a City than I put that as a solid no didnt happen (not completely canon) but enough evidence causes me to again dismiss this idea until more info is provided.

[sswhaley]

I guess I don't understand how Stanley could have found out about Faq and why he would have destroyed it. He claimed his object was to collect the arkentools (I think).

[Godskook]

I guess I don't understand how Stanley could have found out about Faq

There are numerous ways for Stanley to have found out about Faq. Some don't even require that Stanley attacked it. I'll be brief and only mention two:

1.Wanda and Jack are both from Faq, and either could've easily and simply told Stanley about it after its destruction.

2.The Eyemancer is an unprecedented tool, and like any new tool I get, Stanley could've spent a couple days familiarizing himself with the powers of the table, and stumbled on Faq's ruins.

and why he would have destroyed it.

We don't know that he did, and the only person in-comic to think so openly states it in the form of an assumption(Jillian). Only time can tell for sure.

He claimed his object was to collect the arkentools (I think).

That is Stanley's goal, but he has never spoken of Faq in any form other than a ruin(even then, he is rather quiet). Thus, he has never revealed to us any reason that would make us think he attacked Faq.

[Haven]

1.Wanda and Jack are both from Faq, and either could've easily and simply told Stanley about it after its destruction.

My assumption was that it was the other way around: Stanley attacked Faq, and convinced Wanda to turn on it (she's something of an opportunist, and I figured she turned because she realized Stanley was both the winner, and easily manipulable). Not sure how Jack ended up on Stanley's side--sometimes it seems like he might have a weak personality and be coercable or strongarmable or something. I dunno.

[Godskook]

My assumption was that it was the other way around: Stanley attacked Faq, and convinced Wanda to turn on it (she's something of an opportunist, and I figured she turned because she realized Stanley was both the winner, and easily manipulable). Not sure how Jack ended up on Stanley's side--sometimes it seems like he might have a weak personality and be coercable or strongarmable or something. I dunno.

A valid possibility, yet my goal was to list a few of the possibilities that didn't have Stanley attacking Faq, which is the direction the OP seems to want to find.

[Bawon von Howse]

...well, though there are many ways in which it's possible that Stanley wasn't responsible for the fall of Faq, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

Looking at what we know;

Jillian mentions an overflight of dwagons panel 1, Stanley has dwagons

Faq had several casters that now work for Stanley, Wanda & Jack, ? Maggie/Misty ?

Stanley knows the location of Faq, an otherwise hidden kingdom that even it's closest neighbours don't know about.

...so in my opinion, this evidence shows that Stanley has definately been to Faq...and the simplest explanation is that he was responsible for it's demise.

Though without too far a stretch of the imagination, it is conceivable that Faq was being attacked by wild dwagons...Stanley arriving just in time to tame them and save the casters, but not in time to save the kingdom...

[Godskook]

Though without too far a stretch of the imagination, it is conceivable that Faq was being attacked by wild dwagons...Stanley arriving just in time to tame them and save the casters, but not in time to save the kingdom...

My favorite theory is that the flight of Dwagons that Jillian sees is a red herring. Someone else attacked Faq, and revealing the person or person(s) responsible will play a plot twist in the resolution of this story or serve as a plot point for a future storyline in the series.

[Corwin Weber]

...well, though there are many ways in which it's possible that Stanley wasn't responsible for the fall of Faq, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

Looking at what we know;

Jillian mentions an overflight of dwagons panel 1, Stanley has dwagons

Faq had several casters that now work for Stanley, Wanda & Jack, ? Maggie/Misty ?

Stanley knows the location of Faq, an otherwise hidden kingdom that even it's closest neighbours don't know about.

...so in my opinion, this evidence shows that Stanley has definately been to Faq...and the simplest explanation is that he was responsible for it's demise.

Though without too far a stretch of the imagination, it is conceivable that Faq was being attacked by wild dwagons...Stanley arriving just in time to tame them and save the casters, but not in time to save the kingdom...

Occam's Razor works perfectly well in the real world, but what we're dealing with here is a scenario where contrived situations seem to be the norm and this seems to be deliberate on the part of the authors.

Throwing Occam's out the window makes for a better story.

[Whispri]

Misty the Lookamancer, maysherestinpeace, seems the obvious culprit on the Faq spotting front. Stanley even had a reason to be out there what with his war with Translyvito.

However I rather like the thought that the prophecy that led to Jillians birth was actually self fulfilling. The idea being that Banhammer attempted to prevent the fall of Faq and in so doing led Stanley straight to his Kingdom, and perhaps even gave him casus belli.

[Godskook]

Misty the Lookamancer, maysherestinpeace, seems the obvious culprit on the Faq spotting front. Stanley even had a reason to be out there what with his war with Translyvito.

Interesting thought. That gives alternative reasoning for Wanda's treatment for Misty.

[MalikT]

I have a different opinion about the fall of faq. It includes a lot of assumption on my part. I will say only this : It was Charlie. If you want a whole(long) theory, ask?

[Godskook]

I have a different opinion about the fall of faq. It includes a lot of assumption on my part. I will say only this : It was Charlie. If you want a whole(long) theory, ask?

I'm curious.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

The only things we know for certain are (unless we have an unreliable narrator)
1.) Jack and Wanda are from Faq
2.) Faq spotted a huge overflight of dwagons on its final turn.
3.) Jack and Wanda work for Stanley and are unquestionably loyal to him for undisclosed reasons.
4.) Captured casters have low loyalty.
5.) Vinny, the Overlord and chief warlords of Transylvito are unaware of Faqs existance

Numbers 3 and 4 conflict. It is possible that the dwagons didn't destroy Faq and some other power did. It is also possible that those dwagons destroyed Faq, but were not under Stanley's control. This would mean that Jack and Wanda were not captured by Stanley and therefore could have a very plausible reason to be loyal to Stanley.

The only other option I can think of is that we have an unreliable narrator and Jillian is mistaken about the demise of Faq. It is possible that the message she got was a forgery sent by an unknown power (Charlie?) who may have had a hand in Faqs destruction. It could also be possible that there were no dwagons and someone tried to frame Stanley through some sort of foolamancy.

[MalikT]

I'm curious.

Charlie wants to conquer the (Erf)world but he is to cunning to do it by brute force. He works as a mercenary, weakening both sides.
He wants the arkenhammer so he devised a cunning plan. As a master of thinkamancy he has a unmatched intel so he knows about GK secret ally: faq. He attacks faq as a diversion, drawing Stanley and the dwagons out of GK. Then he influences the gobwins to attack GK and to kill king Saline( as a master of thinkamancy he could easily planted a suggestion or even a mind-control spell on the gobwin leader). He assumes that when GK falls Stanley and the dwagons will become barbarian. Charlie never found out that king Saline made Stanley heir designate.
Stanley arrives to late to save faq but he manages to pull out few casters. Stanley knows that Charlie attacked faq and he suspects he is behind the attack on GK. Because Stanley does not know where Charlies capital( or even his territory) is, he attacks anyone who ever did business with Charlie, doing some collateral damage(jetstone units). Jetsone was waiting for the cause to declare a holy war against Stanley.
Although Charlies plan did not work as expected he got the next best thing: two sides that own arkentools are fighting each other. Not knowing that Stanley suspect anything, Charlie offers his merc services to Stanley, which Stanley refuses, so Charlie turns to other side( for a price).

[selgnij]

I'm going to spoiler this, just in case.

Spoiler

Show

It is possible that the message she got was a forgery sent by an unknown power (Charlie?) who may have had a hand in Faqs destruction.

Ooh I like that one, and it even makes some sense. I'm not going to try to make out a whole theory, but I will point out that Charlie doesn't strike me as the type to appretiate competition, and we know he has some intel gathering capability. (It was his intell that pegged the direction Stanley was headed.) If he learned of Faq and that it was taking some of his buisness, he could have decided to take out the competition.

I'll leave how Stanley comes into that to anyone else who enjoys drawn out theories.

[dr pepper]

Charlie wants to conquer the (Erf)world but he is to cunning to do it by brute force. He works as a mercenary, weakening both sides.
He wants the arkenhammer so he devised a cunning plan. As a master of thinkamancy he has a unmatched intel so he knows about GK secret ally: faq. He attacks faq as a diversion, drawing Stanley and the dwagons out of GK. Then he influences the gobwins to attack GK and to kill king Saline( as a master of thinkamancy he could easily planted a suggestion or even a mind-control spell on the gobwin leader). He assumes that when GK falls Stanley and the dwagons will become barbarian. Charlie never found out that king Saline made Stanley heir designate.
Stanley arrives to late to save faq but he manages to pull out few casters. Stanley knows that Charlie attacked faq and he suspects he is behind the attack on GK. Because Stanley does not know where Charlies capital( or even his territory) is, he attacks anyone who ever did business with Charlie, doing some collateral damage(jetstone units). Jetsone was waiting for the cause to declare a holy war against Stanley.
Although Charlies plan did not work as expected he got the next best thing: two sides that own arkentools are fighting each other. Not knowing that Stanley suspect anything, Charlie offers his merc services to Stanley, which Stanley refuses, so Charlie turns to other side( for a price).

So why didn't Crown Princess Jillian know about the alliance?

[Sieggy]

I'm going to spoiler this, just in case.

Spoiler

Show

Ooh I like that one, and it even makes some sense. I'm not going to try to make out a whole theory, but I will point out that Charlie doesn't strike me as the type to appretiate competition, and we know he has some intel gathering capability. (It was his intell that pegged the direction Stanley was headed.) If he learned of Faq and that it was taking some of his buisness, he could have decided to take out the competition.

I'll leave how Stanley comes into that to anyone else who enjoys drawn out theories.

No, it was Jillian who knew where Stanley was going and alerted Ansom (getting some sugar for her efforts).

[SteveMB]

No, it was Jillian who knew where Stanley was going and alerted Ansom (getting some sugar for her efforts).

Yeah, except that the whole "restart Faq and become a queen" versus "just croak the Worm" thing might have soured the sugar.

[selgnij]

True, Jillian could say with reasonable certainty that Stanley was bugging to Faq. I was referring to the line in this comic however.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/erf0111.html

Vinny says Charlie's intel has him headed west, so we know Charlie has some intel gathering abilities. (What those are is anyones guess.)

[MalikT]

So why didn't Crown Princess Jillian know about the alliance?

Probably only king Saline and Banhammer knew about alliance. Jillian didn't even care about politics.
Plus, Banhammer strikes me as a conservative type, so he didn't want a women to interfere in politics( Jillian said he wanted a son).

[Corwin Weber]

Probably only king Saline and Banhammer knew about alliance. Jillian didn't even care about politics.
Plus, Banhammer strikes me as a conservative type, so he didn't want a women to interfere in politics( Jillian said he wanted a son).

Can't happen. Regardless of what Banhammer may want, Jilian would have to know about the alliance. If nothing else, she'd have to know not to attack allied units.

[Gez]

Jilian did not suspect Stanley immediately. It's the conclusion she came to after a while, while merc'ing around for various people who were at war with Stanley.

Let's suppose they were indeed allies. Jilian's mind: "Mmh, Faq attacked, mention made of a large overflight of dragons, Stanley uses dragons, nobody knew were we lived except Stanley, and I saw a Faq unit in Stanley's service... Only explanation is that Stanley betrayed us: he broke the alliance, attacked and destroyed Faq, and captured Wanda! The treacherous worm! I hates him, yes I do!"

[MalikT]

Can't happen. Regardless of what Banhammer may want, Jilian would have to know about the alliance. If nothing else, she'd have to know not to attack allied units.

Maybe not an official alliance, more like personal deal between Saline and Banhammer. Something like: I provide you with something, in turn you protect me.