Erfworld 152 - tBfGK - 139

[Jon Pander]

I wondered which kind of Vinnie Vinnie was. That reminded me of a Doogie Howser episode where Vinny is doing jury duty.

He's Vinnie Delpino all right.

Every characiture of a group, show, or story which involves Italians (or pseudo-Italians) must have at least one character named Vinny. It's the law.

I read that on the internet so it must be true.

[Jon Pander]

Well, Vinnie has always been my favourite character in the (ex) coalition!
And I also think it's one of the most brilliant tactical mind we've seen (always in the ex-coalition).
A great strip.

I mainly like him because he's one of the only people in the RCC who wasn't totally full of himself, and thought things out.

[Jon Pander]

Erfworld #148 (page 135) showed a full magma chamber. That means that there was still sufficient pressure to feed it, but insufficient pressure to to overcome the blockage.

No need to explain how the volcano erupted. I'll explain in a foolproof way that needs no further explanation.


A wizard did it.

There. I can do TVTropes too, so nyaah.

[Jon Pander]

Am I the only one interpreting the current strip's events as the reveleation of the secret crush for Ansom Vinnie had been hiding all this timem unable to express his true feelings out of respect for the leader of the coalition?

He -did- sing showtunes.....

[Jon Pander]

OTOH, it was hot enough when it was set off to ignite the Archons by radiation heating alone.

Why the heck do you think they ignited from 'radiation heating' rather than .... say.... lava spurting up into the air and crisping them in the air, and then the panel showed the aftermath of them falling, flaming, to towards the ground.

[Jon Pander]

I still don't get why Jillian suddenly flipped out, though.

Barbarian.

I repeat..

Thog anger easy. Thog like hit things. Whackety whack hack slash crush.

[Jon Pander]

There can be magma without pressure. Yellowstone park sits on a thin layer of mantle, which puts magma nearer the surface than is normal for the continent, and the result is magma plumes nearer the surface, heating the steam that drives the geysers, hot springs, etc. (And might erupt into the largest volcano the planet has ever seen since it formed, like it has several times before.) Magma can sit in place for millenia. Mt. St. H could have been foreseen to have an eruption because the days before saw parts of the mountain rising, almost visibly, from the pressure below. IN fact, it's doing it again now. In the burst out part a new peak is rising, suggesting Mt. St. H is not done with us yet.

Hey you watched that Discovery Channel show also huh.

Actually the 'volcano' of Yellowstone is moving, in a way. It's so big that the tectonic plates move while the heat source underneath, building pressure, stays stationary. Every time the supervolcano erupt, it's a few hundred miles further east. The crust is moving.

Of course this has nothing at all to do with Erf. Erf might not have plate tectonics at all.

For all we know, volcanos on Erf erupt because of lava pixies getting cranky.

[Jon Pander]

There can be magma without pressure.

Btw, gotta also correct you on something though it has no effect on the Erfworld storyline.

Magma under Yellowstone -is- creating pressure. The land has raised several feet over the last few years even from that pressure. Eventually it'll erupt like it has several times in the past

Discovery channel. Gotta love it.

[Jon Pander]

Because Supernatural comes from our world, where magic is inherently supernatural.

Untrue.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke

"Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology." - Larry Niven.

"Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those who do not understand it." - Mark Stanley

[Jon Pander]

Don't care. I wanted to see Caesar dead the first time he said "chickie" and my opinion hasn't changed.

Same here.

[Jon Pander]

It could be bloodless blood drinking.

I feel like making a joke about factless facts, but I happen to agree with you.

[Jon Pander]

But people do have heads, guts, noses and butts in our world, It would make little sense to threat someone with "I will rip your Guseophilion and sitck it in your Felkon".

You are such a potty mouth.

[Jon Pander]

Hey, good catch.
More here too. So okay, Felkin...err blood...does exist in Erf. I suppose it's just not as prominent as some people expect from a wargame comic.

Could just be that Dragon's blood is different. Or dragons don't bleed :)

[Lunaya]

Jon brings to mind a problem that I've been having since I joined these forums. Just how do you respond to 15 different quotes in one post? I always have to cut and paste.

[Jon Pander]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][COLOR="Indigo"]*sighs*

Neither link has blood. Neither Chef nor I said that people can't get wounded. It's quite obvious that there is flesh, bones and perhaps even organs underneath, as is made clear with the wounded dwagons but there is no blood. Not a single drop anywhere.

Could be that dwagon's don't bleed.

If Jillian was a dwagon, Cesar wouldn't have been able to make that sort of threat :)

[Jon Pander]

Jon brings to mind a problem that I've been having since I joined these forums. Just how do you respond to 15 different quotes in one post? I always have to cut and paste.

If I knew how to quote multiple posts in one post, I wouldn't have done this

[WNxHasoroth]

You could just select someones post and paste it into your reply box, then wrap some quote tags around the thing, instead of, you know, spamming an entire bloody page.

[teratorn]

I guess I just don't like her that much.

I really didn't like her that much. But now that she lost Ansom and is being harassed by Caeser I feel more sympathetic towards her. Jillian has personal motives to go after Parson, and she's reckless enough not to compromise.

If I knew how to quote multiple posts in one post, I wouldn't have done this

In the old days we could simply tag all of them. With the new forum that's no longer possible.

Now I open one, cut, go back, open the other, cut, go back paste, etc. Your way also works, as long as the mods don't think of it as trying to inflate your post counts.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Apart from the nice update, I just wanted to comment on the regularity of them- now that we're coming to a close, the question is when will the next chapter start?

Maybe it all ends- really ends, and is announced so- after about two more strips. But that was not my impression. Do we have an estimate of the pause between Battle for Gobwin Knob and Chapter 2: Transylvito strikes back (or whatever?).

Proud founding member of SINDY. Sometimes, you want probability to go in a back alley and serve plot like a cheap

[Aeddan]

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke

"Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology." - Larry Niven.

"Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those who do not understand it." - Mark Stanley

"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from SCIENCE!" - Agatha Heterodyne, Girl Genius.

[Lombard]

And yet Stanley laid the smackdown on Cesar and all of his bats in one hit.
What does that say about how powerful Stanley (with the hammer) is, compared to Cesar?

That didn't really happen, it was the illusion created by the foolamancer.

[Welf]

That didn't really happen, it was the illusion created by the foolamancer.

Actually, that was real battle. Only the part with Jillian pwning Stanley and his dwagons was foolamancy. So Stanley is at least as powerful as Ceasar.

By the way: Stanley rides a big, red dwagon and is heading to a volcano. Maybe he gets some fire-resistance bonus from his mount, and can enter the still glowing crater and get the arkentool.

[HandofShadows]

And yet Stanley laid the smackdown on Cesar and all of his bats in one hit. What does that say about how powerful Stanley (with the hammer) is, compared to Cesar?

Stanley is useing an (Thunderouse voice ON)Artifact of the Titans(Thunderouse voice OFF). That makes him likely the stongest single unit on the field other than someone else also with and Arkentool. Caeser just was not stong enough to stop Stanley. But Caeser is still alive after that attack which shows he is very tough.

Except that Don King seems to respect Vinny's opinion quite a bit. That must have some major pull. Plus Vinny's a noble - he just doesn't lay it out like Ansom did.

No doubt Vinny has some pull and is a noble. But a lot of his "pull" is not rank though. It's good honest advice. He is trusted/respected by the Don (and was by Ansom as well). But that's not rank/authority. Ceaser is Vinny's boss and will make the final decision.

[Midnight Roamer]

You could just select someones post and paste it into your reply box, then wrap some quote tags around the thing, instead of, you know, spamming an entire bloody page.

To be fair, those single large posts with multiple quotes make me want to skip them, especially if they are quoting large other posts with text walls, so I try to avoid posting them.

[Killer Angel]

No doubt Vinny has some pull and is a noble. But a lot of his "pull" is not rank though. It's good honest advice. He is trusted/respected by the Don (and was by Ansom as well). But that's not rank/authority. Ceaser is Vinny's boss and will make the final decision.

I agree; probably it was a combination of a lot of elements.
Vinnie has an high rank, given the fact that he was the commander of Transylvito's troops in the Coalition. He's a noble and was a good friend of Ansom, so there were also a political reason behind his choice.
But the high rank is confirmed by the fact that Vinnie's strong (remember the fight with the dragons? yes, they were wounded, but V. has done very well) and, most af all, he's very good in strategy and tactics.

From a straight power point, he certainly cannot match Caesar.

[fendrin]

Barbarian.

I repeat..

Thog anger easy. Thog like hit things. Whackety whack hack slash crush.

Wrong kind of Barbarian.
Unlike OotS, Erfworld is not based off of D&D. The wider (or should I say actual?) definition applies.

Jon brings to mind a problem that I've been having since I joined these forums. Just how do you respond to 15 different quotes in one post? I always have to cut and paste.

Yup, cut and paste. I use Firefox's tabbed browsing. I open each "quote" page into a new tab. I write my responses, then copy and paste them all together.

No doubt Vinny has some pull and is a noble. But a lot of his "pull" is not rank though. It's good honest advice. He is trusted/respected by the Don (and was by Ansom as well). But that's not rank/authority. Ceaser is Vinny's boss and will make the final decision.

I'm thinking that Vinny was some sort of ambassador to Jetstone.

Other than that, all I can figure is that he's just one of Transylvito's many warlords, and just happened to be the one sent as a token contribution to the coalition. But then why is Vinny's word good enough to spend a bunch of money and send 10 warlords to fight Stanley?

[HandofShadows]

Wrong kind of Other than that, all I can figure is that he's just one of Transylvito's many warlords, and just happened to be the one sent as a token contribution to the coalition. But then why is Vinny's word good enough to spend a bunch of money and send 10 warlords to fight Stanley?

Well, Caeaser wasn't really THERE to fight Stanley. He wanted to find about about Faq annd Jillian's story that there was a hidden Capital site nearby. So the forces was not sent out on Vinny's word.
But as I said Vinny's power is not so much direct authority but about giving good solid honest advice. He is trusted by the Don for that. Caeser on the other hand is a higher ranking, more powerful warlord, but clearly not so smart. An heir maybe? You would need someone with a LOT of authority to set up a new city in Faq. Whatever rank he is, it's clearly above Vinny's rank.

[sabremeister]

Because Supernatural comes from our world, where magic is inherently supernatural.

Untrue.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke

"Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology." - Larry Niven.

"Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those who do not understand it." - Mark Stanley

Incorrect.

None of those quotes means that magic is technology. They are all perspective-based quotes.

#1 means that if, for example, someone invented a device that could literally create a live pigeon from nothing, it would appear to be magic (until the designs were published, anyway, at which point it would cease to appear to be magic).

#2 explains how JK Rowling's wizards have things like radios and trains. The magic they use is highly advanced enough to appear to work exactly like technology non-wizards are familiar with.

#3 is simply another way of explaining why the Aztecs treated the Conquistadors like gods - to them the Spaniards' flintlock muskets, horses, and steel breastplates would have seemed impossible, and the users of them must be powerful magicians. Just as Cortez would sink to his knees in fear and worship if a modern-day commando team appeared in their helicopter and kevlar armour and proceeded to machine-gun down all his men.

mag⋅ic
   /ˈmædʒɪk/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [maj-ik] Show IPA
–noun
1. the art of producing illusions as entertainment by the use of sleight of hand, deceptive devices, etc.; legerdemain; conjuring: to pull a rabbit out of a hat by magic.
2. the art of producing a desired effect or result through the use of incantation or various other techniques that presumably assure human control of supernatural agencies or the forces of nature. Compare contagious magic, imitative magic, sympathetic magic.
3. the use of this art: Magic, it was believed, could drive illness from the body.
4. the effects produced: the magic of recovery.
5. power or influence exerted through this art: a wizard of great magic.
6. any extraordinary or mystical influence, charm, power, etc.: the magic in a great name; the magic of music; the magic of spring.
7. (initial capital letter) the U.S. code name for information from decrypting machine-enciphered Japanese wireless messages before and during World War II.
–adjective
8. employed in magic: magic spells; magic dances; magic rites.
9. mysteriously enchanting; magical: magic beauty.
10. of, pertaining to, or due to magic.
11. producing the effects of magic; magical: a magic touch.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME magik(e) witchcraft < LL magica, L magicē < Gk magik, n. use of fem. of magikós. See magus, -ic

Synonyms:
2. enchantment. Magic, necromancy, sorcery, witchcraft imply producing results through mysterious influences or unexplained powers. Magic may have glamorous and attractive connotations; the other terms suggest the harmful and sinister. Magic is an art employing some occult force of nature: A hundred years ago television would have seemed to be magic. Necromancy is an art of prediction based on alleged communication with the dead (it is called “the black art,” because Greek nekrós, dead, was confused with Latin *****, black): Necromancy led to violating graves. Sorcery, originally divination by casting lots, came to mean supernatural knowledge gained through the aid of evil spirits, and often used for evil ends: spells and charms used in sorcery. Witchcraft esp. suggests a malign kind of magic, often used against innocent victims: Those accused of witchcraft were executed.

From http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/magic

And about Caesar's threat to drink Jillian's blood - maybe "drink blood" is the Transylvito warlord unit's Special Attack that drains HP.

[Midnight Roamer]

Incorrect.

None of those quotes means that magic is technology. They are all perspective-based quotes.

#1 means that if, for example, someone invented a device that could literally create a live pigeon from nothing, it would appear to be magic (until the designs were published, anyway, at which point it would cease to appear to be magic).

#2 explains how JK Rowling's wizards have things like radios and trains. The magic they use is highly advanced enough to appear to work exactly like technology non-wizards are familiar with.

#3 is simply another way of explaining why the Aztecs treated the Conquistadors like gods - to them the Spaniards' flintlock muskets, horses, and steel breastplates would have seemed impossible, and the users of them must be powerful magicians. Just as Cortez would sink to his knees in fear and worship if a modern-day commando team appeared in their helicopter and kevlar armour and proceeded to machine-gun down all his men.


From http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/magic

And about Caesar's threat to drink Jillian's blood - maybe "drink blood" is the Transylvito warlord unit's Special Attack that drains HP.

I'm not sure what you're stating as 'incorrect' here. The above quotes were used as a counter to the argument that magic is supernatural. The quotes were featured as a statement that in some cases, technology and magic may be confused, and we certainly don't associate technology with the supernatural. I didn't read any statement anywhere that indicates anyone was trying to say magic and technology were the exact same thing.
The definitions that you posted with your reply prove that not all magic is defined in supernatural terms, so I'm wondering what you're really saying. Are you saying that magic is supernatural or not? If you're disagreeing with something else, perhaps that should preface your statements rather than simply opening with the word 'incorrect'.

[fendrin]

Well, Caeaser wasn't really THERE to fight Stanley. He wanted to find about about Faq annd Jillian's story that there was a hidden Capital site nearby. So the forces was not sent out on Vinny's word.
But as I said Vinny's power is not so much direct authority but about giving good solid honest advice. He is trusted by the Don for that. Caeser on the other hand is a higher ranking, more powerful warlord, but clearly not so smart. An heir maybe? You would need someone with a LOT of authority to set up a new city in Faq. Whatever rank he is, it's clearly above Vinny's rank.

Ah, but the decision the Don made to send those warlords apparently preceded Caesar's decision to check out Faq.

Interesting note: Caesar refers to Vinny as 'Count' in panel 7. We have yet to hear Caesar be referred to as being nobility. I'm wondering if maybe he's not. We already know that nobility is not as important to Vinny as it is to Ansom, it may be that TV as a whole puts more import on effectiveness than on nobility.

Of course, maybe he's just using the title to remind Vinny who's in charge.

Either way, Caesar is definitely more powerful and in charge. I think he might be older too.