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2012-10-30, 03:57 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
Ways in which Dominic Deegan could be better, #1,802:
SpoilerStart with the premise of mindbreak. If a sufficiently powerful seer becomes too stressed and overwhelmed for an extended period of time, they suffer mindbreak, which I think we can effectively call a magical Chernobyl, or at least on par with a major earthquake. It's a disaster, and one far-reaching in its destruction. Fine. Let us declare that this is an actual concern, because Mookie isn't writing this, so it won't be immediately forgotten.
Obviously, it is in the best interest of those in power (and those around them) to prevent mindbreak at all costs, since it's bad, bad news. If a king, for example, has a royal seer (and why wouldn't he? In a universe where such people exist, NOT having one would be a major political and strategic weakness), it is in that king's best interest to make very sure that said seer doesn't experience the stress and trauma that eventually leads to mindbreak. We have to assume that mindbreak isn't extremely common, or else it would be happening left and right, but it has to be a nontrivial concern. Every seer knows that mindbreak is real, and while it might only happen to 1% of the seers out there (or even 0.1%), it's still a problem. So, the king wants to make sure that his powerful seers don't get too stressed out or too overwhelmed.
Unfortunately, these are seers. Royal seers. Their jobs aren't to just scry adorable children saying the darnedest things for His Highness's amusement. Their jobs are to foresee disasters. Wars, earthquakes and other natural disasters, villainy from eldritch horrors and unscrupulous sorcerers, epidemic diseases magical and natural, and so on. If a king asks his seer what the likely outcome of invading a nearby country would be, the seer isn't going to just see a history textbook saying "in this year, Country A invaded Country B, expanding their territory but making a political enemy in the process." The seer is going to see bloody battles and destruction, loss of innocent lives, and the unrest that follows, as well as the glorious and politically important parts. That's . . . not easy to deal with on a regular basis. Furthermore, seers often have visions of upcoming important (usually dangerous or at least threatening) events . . . think about the start of every DD arc ever. Even when not instructed to investigate things, seers who care about anything at all are subject to this sort of thing.
These things are stressful. Being a royal seer would be a very stressful job. Your job would be to see horrible things (bidden and unbidden), and then to deal with the political and bureaucratic situation necessary to do something about them. (Remember, Mookie isn't writing this, so royal seers aren't Dominic, and they won't automatically have an answer for everything just because.) If the seer isn't basically also the king (which they aren't in this situation), there's going to be at least a low-level Cassandra complex going on, in which you'd feel like nobody is taking your warnings seriously, and that both makes you look bad and puts your country in danger. You'd also be painfully aware of all the intrigue going on around you . . . all the assassination plots (character and bodily), all the smear campaigns, all the backroom deals, and so on. Being part of that game (you didn't get to be a royal seer for nothing, of course), you wouldn't be able to just expose it all without getting thrown under several buses, but you're aware that nobody really trusts you, because you probably have something on them. You might see their assassins coming, but they're still coming.
The point is, it's a stressful job. Endlessly stressful. There'd be constant background stress, and there'd be spikes of traumatic visions both bidden and unbidden. (Not every vision is going to be a major problem, of course, but enough of them are.) And you know that mindbreak is a real thing. And so does the king.
The king, not being a total idiot (Mookie's not writing), is going to want to insulate you, the royal seer, from any more stress than necessary. But of course, you're a seer. It's very hard to hide things from you. It's extremely hard to lie to you. Any steps taken to make you easier to hide things from are steps that make you less able to do your job and see, for example, the assassins plotting against the king. And if you report that a dragon is about to awaken and rampage through one of your kingdom's smaller cities, and the king assures you that he's sending troops to deal with that even though most of the army is tied up in the war with your neighbor, you're going to know if that doesn't happen. It might be intentional (you DO, presumably, care about the people of your country), it might be unintentional, but there's a good chance that you'll simply know that the king is telling you what you want to hear and not actually fixing problems. On some level, the king knows this too, but he might not always have a choice . . . but that makes it increasingly hard to shield you from mindbreak, which is basically game over, man. Game over!
This, ladies and gentlemen, is called tension. It takes a premise, extrapolates it out for a few logical steps, and causes it to give rise to a fertile breeding ground for conflict. Stories told against this backdrop have many ways of proceeding, and they always have ways of causing conflict and struggle. You might have enemy operatives engaging in the dangerous business of trying to intentionally induce mindbreak in the royal seers of their enemies. You might have a callous and greedy courtier who seeks to use the seer's stress levels as leverage to get what he wants. Whatever! But the point is, you'd have SOMETHING.
And that's a way that some premises laid forth in Dominic Deegan could be used in a better story.In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was Suck: A Guide to Truenamers
My compiled Iron Chef stuff!
~ Gay all day, queer all year ~
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2012-10-30, 04:05 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2011
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- California
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Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
I think we should ponified Mookie and his equally dumb buddyTim Buckley (though he's redeemable for his Choose Your Own Adventure, gaming strips, and My Little Pony Parody), ala Cutie Mark Crusaders.
P.S- I think "Starpower" project will have grim fate since Mookie lacked the idea of military tactics, shown in zombie arc (codex of tactics showed that ranged at the back, melee up front) and orc (According to Codex of tactics, let your enemy charge up hill). I think we should start codex of tactics for many writers to learn about military tactics.Badly drawn helmet avatar drawn by me.
Rest in Peace:SpoilerMiko Miyazaki, Thanh, Durkon- Order of the Stick
Krunch- Looking For Group
Bill- Left 4 Dead
Soap Mactavish- Modern Warfare 3
Sandman- Modern Warfare 3
Ghost and Roach- Modern Warfare 2
Gabe- Dead Space 2
Dom- Gears of War 3
Carmine Brothers- Gears of War series
Uriel Septim VII- Elderscrolls Oblivion
Commander Shepherd- Mass Effect 3
Ned Stark- Song of Ice and Fire
Apple Jack's parents
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2012-10-30, 04:21 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
I thought of something a lot simpler, that might even work with the "plot" as it is:
Mindbreak causes a magical explosion. Dangerous, but also a focused magical blast that might be useful to open certain magic doors...
DJ needed a seer to find the door, but more importantly, he needed a seer to be broken right next to it.
DJ's first choice was Celesto, because he figured a half broken seer will take less effort to break. But Dominic just offered himself, so why not prepare him as a backup key?
This also explains why Celesto was kept in the dungeon and not used. Breaking Celesto slowly WAS the way to use him.
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2012-10-30, 08:19 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2011
Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
I think DJ would be a far more interesting villain if he enacted his plans by mindbreaking seers to turn them into living nukes to demolish things and destroy dissenters.
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2012-10-30, 08:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2007
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2012-10-30, 08:25 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
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- right behind you
Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
Did mookie ever describe HOW a seer going crazy would be bad for anyone but him and his friends? I mean, I could understand an archmage losing control of their magic causing devastation across the land, but his magic is to see things. Aside from purely personal self destruction at losing control of his gift and seeing so much his head explodes, I just dont understand what danger to the world a mind break seer is.
"Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum"
Translation: "Sometimes I get this urge to conquer large parts of Europe."
"If you don't get those cameras out of my face, I'm gonna go 8.6 on the Richter scale with gastric emissions that'll clear this room."
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2012-10-30, 08:32 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
Halloween filler is up and will be my new avatar in like 10 minutes.
EDIT: Note that the Brian mask has eyeballs.
I think DJ would be a far more interesting villain if he just shot lasers at everybody all the time for no reason.Last edited by Johnny Blade; 2012-10-30 at 08:34 PM.
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2012-10-30, 08:43 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2008
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- Xin-Shalast
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Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
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2012-10-30, 08:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
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2012-10-30, 09:43 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2007
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- Australia
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2012-10-30, 10:10 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2011
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- Therinos
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Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
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2012-10-31, 02:56 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2009
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Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was Suck: A Guide to Truenamers
My compiled Iron Chef stuff!
~ Gay all day, queer all year ~
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2012-10-31, 05:01 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
Minus the art, it's actually a decent filler idea.
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2012-10-31, 05:10 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
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2012-10-31, 05:28 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2009
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Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
I would presume mind break just means the seer snaps and becomes a psychopath. With that, they also stop inhibiting their own seer ability, which they have previously always done to some extent by filtering out all the options which are not least bad outcomes. Instead they spend their time using their newfound perverted nihilism and omiscience to realize the worst possible outcomes for the world, in all possible requests, including for themselves. Maybe.
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2012-10-31, 08:48 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
Nope, it's third eye laser beams.
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2012-10-31, 09:46 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2011
Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
Decent filler. Has to do with the both the plot and Halloween.
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2012-10-31, 10:00 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2010
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- Virginia, USA
Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
You're both wrong! Mindbreak is when everyone gets visions, instead of just seers. It is interesting to note that the effect of constantly receiving visions is "irrevocable insanity".
On the other hand, when Dom checked his own future, he did not appear to enter mindbreak, so much as turned into some sort of furnace, I guess.
Basically seers are incredibly dangerous, and the setting never really reconciles this with their cavalier treatment. Sometimes they just throw seers down flights of stairs.Who makes fabulous avatars? MEMNARCH makes fabulous avatars!
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2012-10-31, 12:53 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
It's a kingdom of wizards.
Cryptic warnings, laserbeam duels that incinerate half a town, cities wiping themselves off the map as all their inhabitants go berserk because one guy couldn't get his candy, castles appearing in the sky, some things you just accept.
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2012-10-31, 04:52 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
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2012-10-31, 09:27 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2012
Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
I got a stupid question (Catching up on my webcomics from the past few days)...but when the hell did Dominic ever known that Brian and Rilian were the same person? How is this supposed to help anything when information being presented was never....oh to hell with it, he's gonna just asspull exposition and backstory out of his ass anyway.
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2012-10-31, 09:32 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
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Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
Argh! Now I can't unsee it D:
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2012-10-31, 09:42 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
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Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
Steam ID: The Great Squark
3ds Friend Code: 4571-1588-1000
Currently Playing: Warhammer 40000, Hades, Stellaris, Warframe
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2012-11-01, 12:24 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
Sneaky
Future
- Certainly supports my theory that the entire "Brian" moment here was only because of Halloween, and did not have any other purpose or meaning.
"You're Brian?! But of course you are, let's just go on with the plot"
Issue resolved in one panel, that's a new record, isn't it?
- Will there ever be an actual plan on HOW to get back the necklace (not to mention how to keep it safe)?
So far, the plans of "I'll get captured" and "I'll just wait for the right time" don't seem to be working.
- And of course, just yesterday (not including the filler), Dominic was in a bad shape.
Nothing like "I'm actually someone else you met a year ago", and "you're dying" to calm people down.Last edited by random11; 2012-11-01 at 12:44 AM.
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2012-11-01, 12:47 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
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- Australia
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Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
But they will. Dominic is going to win through the ultimate application of waiting around for the villains to defeat themselves.
Other thoughts:
- This is sounding even more ridiculously like the plot of Mass Effect 3.
- I hope the last panel isn't alluding to Star Power being set in the same universe as Dominic Deegan. Seriously Mookie, don't do that. Edit: Or do, so everyone knows they can mock it from Day 1.
Last edited by Trazoi; 2012-11-01 at 12:48 AM.
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2012-11-01, 12:57 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
"It's because we're dying."
Oh gee, if Rillian had never pointed that I wouldnt have guessed. There's plenty of ways to make Dominic look like he's about to cack it, he could look emaciated, or almost falling apart from blight, or bleeding from every orifice, anything except looking "exhuasted".
Ugh, is it worth getting all riled up from all this telling? It's pretty much all Mookie can do nowadays.
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2012-11-01, 01:20 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2007
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- Australia
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Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
I'm finding that part hilarious, because it's obvious Mookie is trying to make us go all "Oh no Dominic is dying! " but is instead only making me concerned for Rilian. I can't feel sympathy for Dominic because he's only in this prediciment because he didn't do a damn thing to prevent it.
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2012-11-01, 01:30 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
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Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
I don't think, with the system as we know it, an intelligent government/monarch would limit themselves to only one royal seer. Like you said, the royal seer would be under a lot of stress. The best way to alleviate that stress would be to just not put them under that stress in the first place, instead putting it on someone else. Multiple seers allows you to split up the workload and the stress between them, but presents some risk in the form of having not just one seer who could 'go nova' at any given moment. There are two ways I could see this manifesting: putting all the seers in one place or keeping them scattered about.
Keeping the seers together means you have an easier time keeping them happy, keeping them 'sharp' (allowing them to teach one another) and keeping them working together towards the same goals. On the other hand, if any of them Mindbreak, you're going to lose a lot of them in the process and 'working together towards the same goals' doesn't always mean your goals; basing most of your political decisions on what they say gives them a lot of political power and, unless they like you a lot, they could just take over.
Keeping the seers spread out, on the other hand, keeps you in control of everything and cuts down on losses of seers. However, you'll have a harder time keeping them all happy (since you can't ship exotic luxury goods to every corner of the kingdom for them, only money), a harder time protecting them and a harder time making sure there's no corruption.
Personally, I'd lean towards the latter. Keeps me in power at the cost of maybe a few innocents if one of them goes berserk. Would need to have check ups on seers pretty regularly just to double check on them and how they're doing.Hall of Honor:
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2012-11-01, 01:55 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2011
Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
If Seers were such a risk to mindbreak that you have to keep sending them exotic gifts so they don't become psychic timebombs, the more logical result is that Seers are culled once discovered.
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2012-11-01, 02:23 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
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Re: Dominic Deegan, Mk. XLVII: A Flat World From Recycled Scrap
Hall of Honor: