Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire, Mk. XXVII: God Has Nothing to do With This

[Lillith]

I guess trains are a lot bumpier in other countries then. The intercities here are pretty awesome is in that they're really quiet and just rock back and forth a bit in bends.

[Jahkaivah]

[Domochevsky]

Didn't we all... *nostalgia*

...wait, i still do. (Why is this image called mindblow?)

[T-O-E]

Other people did that?


It must be an independent rite of passage or something. Like the 'what if my blue isn't your blue but you call it blue because you've been taught to think it's blue" thing.

[Glass Mouse]

Seriously? I always thought I was the only one who did that...

Oh, man, those were good times, when a simple fantasy could keep one occupied for hours on end. I kinda miss that.

[Humbug]

Heh, I still do it from time to time.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

I still do that too. Other times it's a little ninja leaping about, and the floor is lava

[Welf]

Other people do that too? This is relay the (prolonged) weekend of "realizing I'm not so special after all".

[Lillith]

I used to imagine it was Disney´s Pocahontas doing that.

[Gez]

I guess trains are a lot bumpier in other countries then. The intercities here are pretty awesome is in that they're really quiet and just rock back and forth a bit in bends.

Yeah, the train in my country are stable enough that an artist of Mookie's caliber would not risk being hampered in any way by the soft motion of the coaches.

[Glass Mouse]

Yeah, the train in my country are stable enough that an artist of Mookie's caliber would not risk being hampered in any way by the soft motion of the coaches.

But he draws kinda small, doesn't he? Like, 8 panels on A4 paper (with half of every panel filled with text). When you draw that small, even tiny shakes can suddenly screw up an entire drawing.

[Gez]

The way I see it, it could only improve his art.

[Welf]

But he draws kinda small, doesn't he? Like, 8 panels on A4 paper (with half of every panel filled with text). When you draw that small, even tiny shakes can suddenly screw up an entire drawing.

He does? Isn't it one of the tricks of trade for average artists to draw very big, so that the little mistakes disappear with resizing? At least that's what Scott Adams does.

[Glass Mouse]

He does? Isn't it one of the tricks of trade for average artists to draw very big, so that the little mistakes disappear with resizing? At least that's what Scott Adams does.

Sure, it's a good idea. It gives smoother lines, fewer obvious mistakes, etc. A4 is just easier (I draw my comic on A4, simply because it's easier to bring on a train ride or in the bag than an A3 is).
As for Mookie... This is most definitely A4.

[Shadows]

I'm not convinced that, in DD, heaven is a reward and hell is a punishment, I think they're just part of the elemecca's element sorting, as a storage for good or evil souls before they can be recycled. The hellish power struggle ensures that enough evil is available to replace the evil of people who die in the real world. I'm not sure how heaven works, since I can't imagine there being this level of backstabbing there. There may also be as-yet-unseen lawful and chaos afterlives.

[Gez]

Yeah, I guess in such a system, Hell is hellish not intrinsically because it's a plane of evil, but more because it's the place where all the bad guys are stored.

It's like a metaphysical version of the British Empire's penal colonies. In fact, DD Hell does kinda look like the Outback. The difference being that Australia has kangaroos instead of some mutagen that makes people grow horns and tails.

[rocketpony]

The idea of Heaven and Hell as a filing system, and not a carrot and stick, makes even more sense since there's apparently no god in the Deeganverse (except when folks need a cuss)

Where are the flip-side infernomancers? People who sold their soul to Heaven to gain mad angelic powers, and now they have to help the suffering and so forth.

Why has Heaven been so distant? According to the morality of DD, aren't they, by virtue of being good, obliged to work in-Callan to counteract evil, even if by doing so they make it worse?

[Oracle_Hunter]

Why has Heaven been so distant? According to the morality of DD, aren't they, by virtue of being good, obliged to work in-Callan to counteract evil, even if by doing so they make it worse?

Yes, this is why we have Lord Dominius - Heaven's Agent. I mean, he's totally friends with an Angel.

In the alternative: most of Dominion is simply outside of God's jurisdiction. C'mon, think about all the times that Lord Dominius has stated "God has nothing to do with this." He's just noting that certain areas and events are not within the purview of God's portfolio

[M84]

Heyall,

I wonder if we can take Bulgak's fate to be proof that in DD, where you die determines your afterlife. If that was the case, I can't imagine why anyone who knows they are about to die would stick around in Maltak. You can go on and on about cycles and balance, but I sure wouldn't want my soul to be turned into spiritual fertilizer.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Heyall,

I wonder if we can take Bulgak's fate to be proof that in DD, where you die determines your afterlife. If that was the case, I can't imagine why anyone who knows they are about to die would stick around in Maltak. You can go on and on about cycles and balance, but I sure wouldn't want my soul to be turned into spiritual fertilizer.

No.

Bulgak sold his soul to Hell under the pact of Infernomancy, so that's where his soul is going. Normally, orcs are bound to Maltak and its Nakta/Akta cycle while Callanians go to Hell. It's not clear whether Orcs are special in not having a true afterlife, or if each Race goes its separate way.

To be honest, the Canon cosmology of Dominion isn't even as clear as what I've written so far - we have no idea why orcs are part of the Nakta/Akta cycle or even if all orcs are part of said cycle. It could be that some orcs go to Heaven or Hell and that the Nakta/Akta is for orcs who are neither sufficiently Good or Evil to go one place or another.

Actually, it's not even clear who goes to Hell - what makes someone "wicked" aside from the disfavor of Dominius? If were were using the Nine Alignments System of D&D, then most of the Chosen should have gone to Hell - even if you want to "change the world," willingly sacrificing Innocents for your cause on such a grand scale (i.e. everyone else in the world) makes you Evil. IRL, most churches that have a Hell provide a series of rules that tell you how to keep out of it; only "predestination" sects believe that each person has some inherient trait that says whether they go to Heaven or Hell. Of course, Dominion sounds very much like a "predestination" morality system - what with the Caste system and everything

[Lillith]

Sure, it's a good idea. It gives smoother lines, fewer obvious mistakes, etc. A4 is just easier (I draw my comic on A4, simply because it's easier to bring on a train ride or in the bag than an A3 is).
As for Mookie... This is most definitely A4.

Now you´ve left me wondering why a 30+ year old guy would have a rug that only my grandaunt owns. Then again, maybe it's not his apartment and everybody has their own taste. Was just wondering cause my grandaunt had one -just- like that with the colors and the pattern. (She was 101 years old hence I'm laughing)

[T-O-E]

The idea of Heaven and Hell as a filing system, and not a carrot and stick, makes even more sense since there's apparently no god in the Deeganverse (except when folks need a cuss)

I don't think it's ever stated. Mookie's hesitance to show how things work is actually ok in this respect. Mystery and all that.

[Oracle_Hunter]

I don't think it's ever stated. Mookie's hesitance to show how things work is actually ok in this respect. Mystery and all that.

It's one thing to have a mysterious afterlife in a fantasy setting; it's another to have one where people regularly interact with entities from those afterlifes and wander about the planes all willy-nilly.

Heck, despite having an honest-to-God priestess on the main cast for years, Mookie never bothered to flesh out the basics of their doctrine - even while hinting that there are tons of religions and having an entire Arc that took place in Hell.

He's just doing lazy worldbuilding again. This is the same reason that Jayden could renounce her faith and lose her powers (through mind control!) and then randomly get them back a couple Arcs later - Mookie only introduces world-elements when they're necessary for his current Arc and pays only the scantest attention to them when they come up again.

[Khosan]

I did not imagine a little man dodging obstacles on long trips.

I DID, however, imagine the little configurations of answers I dotted out on scantron test things were spaceships. Occasionally, I'd be really tempted to fill in a wrong answer because it'd make a really awesome looking one.

[Shadows]

I wonder if Dominic will go to heaven or hell. On the one hand is the champion of balance, but that might just mean the champion of balance between law and chaos, not good and evil.

[Oracle_Hunter]

I wonder if Dominic will go to heaven or hell. On the one hand is the champion of balance, but that might just mean the champion of balance between law and chaos, not good and evil.

I'm sure he'll go to both sometime. Got to get out and stretch the legs, right?

Oh wait... were you implying that Lord Dominius could *gasp* die? Oh nonononono that's not happening. He is immortal and will eventually ascend to be the Lord of Balance when he is bored with his mewling Relationship Sue and the pathetic cries of the racist jocks.

[Komiyan]

I wonder if Dominic will go to heaven or hell. On the one hand is the champion of balance, but that might just mean the champion of balance between law and chaos, not good and evil.

He's a Gary Stu, he'll beat up death singlehandedly, or something will happen that he had planned allll aloooooong and he'll go to ultimate good guy heaven and God will be all 'Dominic you are such a cool dude'.

Hello! Normally I try not to bitch too loudly about this comic under my webcomic makin' name out of professional courtesy, since I know just how much of your life making a webcomic eats up. But frankly this last arc broke me. Dominic Deegan is an amazingly encompassing summation of why people hate fantasy comics, and it reflects badly on the lot of us.

[T-O-E]

Actually, the Dominion does have a god. And his name is Dominic. This is why "god has nothing to do with this" is a common phrase while being used relatively sparingly. Because Dommie is a meddler and everything revolves around him.

It's also why Klo Tark got to become an angel.

[Glass Mouse]

He's a Gary Stu, he'll beat up death singlehandedly, or something will happen that he had planned allll aloooooong and he'll go to ultimate good guy heaven and God will be all 'Dominic you are such a cool dude'.

Hello! Normally I try not to bitch too loudly about this comic under my webcomic makin' name out of professional courtesy, since I know just how much of your life making a webcomic eats up. But frankly this last arc broke me. Dominic Deegan is an amazingly encompassing summation of why people hate fantasy comics, and it reflects badly on the lot of us.

Haha. Welcome to the snark side, Komi. Nobody would blame anyone for snarking about DD - that's what makes the comic fun, after all

@Shadows: Good question, and an examplification of the comic's morality problem. Being a champion of balance is clearly good(tm); or, at the very least, only good people can have the title. That's weird.

[T-O-E]

It's ok as long as you don't get too whiny about people complaining about your own comic. Or if you get too hypocritical. I don't think many people would disagree with that.
Well, except for the guys who care a bit too much about their favourite whatever. But they suck so who cares.

Anyway, welcome.