I wonder if Red knows about Marla Mason (specifically the new Death, whose schtick is walking in through a door that didn’t exist a moment ago)… Probably not, I don’ t think there are audio versions of the Marlaverse books.
Just the Rakhnans. Caliban was concerned about them getting killed by the eruption. They might be immune to fire and heat, but that immunity does nothing against a pyroclastic flow.
it only looks to be a couple thousand, that’s enough for a small town :p and most of the population stays underground so there’s probably all sorts of tunnels and such we don’t see
This page is BEAUTIFUL. I canāt stop looking at it.
The fact that Caliban genuinely cares for her people weirdly surprising but also *very* wholesome. Also Caliban is looking hot???? Anyways Im SO glad that the new chapter has come out and canāt wait for more pages!
By the way, the chapters come out at a different time for me now? I think daylight savings time changed something for me, it mightāve for yāall too.
WE’RE BACK!!!!!!!!!!!
Gods I’ve missed this.
So very happy that Aurora is back in this dark time.
I miss ao3 so much.
– Signed The Vessel Of A Glowing God
(aka The Princess)
Caliban floats among cinders, Rakhn down below
Eruption leaves the sky smothered in smoke and ash
Looks at sparks in their hands, deep in concentration
Emerging Tahraim advises for them to slow
Burning question: How many were lost in the clash?
Relieved their hair falls, the lucky answer is ā…None.ā
A mountain of his word, though spared by a hairās width
To the east, where the zealotās bright beam carved a gash
If not, shelter and Ignans inside would be done.
No harm is cause for celebration. Says the smith
God, āAfter all, we won.ā
Loosely based this one around a curtal sonnet’s structure though my meter is definitely off. Nonetheless, I’m happy to be celebrating the start to a new chapter and looking forward to what comes next!
Iām imagining Caliban with a scratchy voice today, partly because sheās covered in swirls of flame, and partly because I also have had a scratchy voice for a few days.
They cut a deal with Rakhan?? No wonder the heist succeeded. Looks like they used the whole thing plus the Paladin attack to revive and then test their Champion. Is Kendal’s capture just collateral damage, or are they hoping to use it to get their Champion to develop his powers more.
Love that Caliban was upset about the potential risks to his people.
Do you mean Dainix when you say Champion? I think yes, given context, but we already have a character (the Paladin Tam) with that title, so I just wanted to make sure.
Also, yay, we’ve now found out that Caliban is at least a mediocre god; a good god since he cares for his people, but he loses points for being so reckless with their lives in the first place.
The deal with Rakhn thing is explained when Kendal is talking to him after their fight. Rakhn made a deal with his people after he blew the first time to give them notice of when he did it next.
Not necessarily: Tahraim could just be referring to Rahkn’s promise to warn the Ignans in time for them to take shelter. But Caliban is pointing out that Rahkn’s warning wouldn’t have been enough to save the ignans from the paladins, and that’s what they’re actually freaking out about.
I don’t think Tahraim’s referencing any specific deal they made with Rakhn, just his general promise to not suddenly turn on the Volcanic Ignans who live in his realm and take shelter in his mountain-self.
Love to see are to social manipulators having a little chit chat.
I feel like Tahraim is about to get yelled at by Caliban for being so heartless, not just since the Ignans are Calibans people but technically his own as well.
On a further note it seems like the Paladins are doing everything they can to piss off as many gods as they can, and even if they have a primordial on their side, I feel like thereās only so many gods one can piss off before you start getting smote no matter your protection.
They’re even outnumbered on the Primordial front, with the Void Dragon and LIFE mad at them!
I have no idea how many gods are mad at them, but we know that Vash, Tahraim, Caliban, The Northern Wyrm and Rakhn are personally invested in beating them up, and all of Vash’s allies will surely hate them if and when they find out that they kidnapped Kendal. In addition, Kendal will probably inform any local gods of what they did to him, meaning they will probably be invested in freeing him if only so he can fight the Collector.
Plus Falst has the fireseed, which means any local volcanos will be chasing after him.
I love how Caliban is able to see their people as sparks, also it’s really interesting how focused they are on keeping every individual Ignan around it’s definitely the most protective we’ve seen them so far.
Wonder what Tahraim means by that. So far he’s mainly been a neutral figure encouraging personal growth. He recently has been taking an interest in Dainix, but he hasn’t really been taking a particular “side” in anything. That makes it surprising that something could happen that he considers a personal “win.”
Yay Auroraās back!!!! Also I need name ideas! Iām trying to work with some variety of wizard minus hubris and with an extra dose ofā¦ sorrow, I guess? Very serious. also there are like 20 of them. So far names I am definately using are Anorack, Lunae, Irys, and potential names are Saphire, Pine, Crystal, and I think there were more potential names but I canāt remember them right now. Reccomendations are definately welcome! Currently this isnāt really anywhere other than in my head, but it is (hopefully) going to be some sort of fan fic style thing that is really hard to explain.
Where does the name Anorack come from? The rest I can see are visibly nature themed.
With that in mind, Calendula (a flower) and Onyx (a type of crystal) are some names I can think of.
So many things in this page make me happy. Caliban’s clear and obvious concern for their people. Very different attitude than we’ve seen from them thus far. Even Tahraim looks concerned when he asks how many they lost. These two are *developing* and that’s always exciting. I am also delighted by Caliban’s cape, and Tahraim using his hammer as a witch’s broomstick.
You know, i feel like a lot of people are thinking that Tahraim is sincerely saying āwe should celebrateā but it feels, to me, more like pointing out to Caliban that by the logic of, everyone is alive (presumably a form of logic that Caliban has used for their recent venture) they won and should celebrate. But Caliban is evidently not doing that and I think Tahraim means her to reflect on this disparity between the stated win condition and how Caliban actually feels. Whats more fun is that i think Caliban will know what Tahraim is trying, due to how long they’ve known each other, but this knowledge could produce a variety of responses from: admission that they messed up, leaving, trying to opt out of admitting their wrong while also not claiming it a victory, or something I haven’t thought of. Canāt wait for the next page!
Caliban doing a headcount of their people by tallying those glowing grains is a neat detail, and I’m curious to see what they and Tahraim do next. Caliban clearly cares about their domain, the Ignans, and may be impatient with their plans due to pressing concerns about their people. And Tahraim perhaps has some sympathy for that, but it seems he thought Caliban’s plan with the fireseed (push Dainix to gain a power boost? with other possible effects?) was attempted too soon… which doesn’t surprise me, to be honest.
I think that appropriate music for this scene would be the version of Ganondorfās Theme in Twilight Princess with the piano and the tragic vocals, the piano fits the Paladins and the vocals fit the Ignans and the whole mood of that bit of music is suitably unnerving and worrisome.
The Paladins havenāt *colonized* anyone as far as we know, and I doubt that such a reveal will happen, but as weāre seeing more of them in their pursuit in this arc, their behavior and worldview seems more and more reflective of *colonialism*āand now in their fervor and willful disregard, theyāre making enemies of an entire diasporic nation and their god (this is not negated by said godās own questionabie actions). With that, not to mention the Kendalnapping, the invasive mind magic, the willful ignorance of printing presses, the crazies that are the Rectens and Tam, and the deforestation, the Paladins are presenting a side of themselves that comes from a source as old and as evil as the first kings in the Fertile Crescent, and unless these people (including certain non-Paladins, AT LEAST Erin in that because ācategorically cannot be trustedā is a very dangerous thing to say about THAT MANY people) can calm down and commit to communication, everything is going to fall apart, with the characters and the whole /world/ worse off for it! I donāt know WHAT the Paladin stuff in this chapter will entail, but itās gonna be INSANE. This is an EPIC story, thank you, Red!
And yes, after rereading the comic front to back, I am even more ready to die on the hill that Aurora has a robust printing industry somewhere out there and that itās literate /enough/ for the Paladins to easily start a public library if they cared toā¦unless Asera got in the way (I will also die on the hill that Asera are *actual* colonizers). Falst has been living in the wilderness since before he was ten, presumably, and his literacy isnāt treated as a surprise by anyone (he might even be able to read ANCIENT). Some 200 years ago, Aseran mages explained the Chimeric plague using textbooks theyād carried all the way from Asera to Vash. The main tool used by so many of the worldās mages to cast is using Runic spells, and if Tess is any indication, mages who tend towards other forms of casting can also spellcarve well if they need to. Zuurith of all places has a bookstore, a normal bookstore, presumably not one that charges exorbitant prices given its size and the part of the city itās in. Erin owns reams of paper paraphernalia and a journal in a way thatās very familiar to modern peopleās relationship with paperāheck, he packs YA novels! This all implies a paper-abundant society where printing isnāt even a novel technology, across much of Aurora, which means the Paladins argument against making a public library is bunk! Archive all you want, if the point is to preserve knowledge you should also care about disseminating it! Maybe this is part of why Theia the Junior Archivist up and leftā¦(that said, Iām not certain Alinua can read. Or Dainix. Who in Aurora is and is not literate? If you know, please share!)
….Thinking on this, I’m reminded that gods in this setting are tied to their domains, in a very literal and real sense. City Gods can’t travel, Storm Gods are literally part of their storm, and so on.
Caliban can go wherever any Ignans are, so it checks out that they could follow Dainix around.
Tahraim though… would presumably be nominally tied to his forge as the Smith God. That said, he’s either also tied to the stuff he makes (so he can just have a manifested body carry his stuff around) or he found a different exploitable loophole, like having his connection run through his portal device or something. He definitely seems like the kind of guy who is doing this because he found and used a loophole to set it up.
headcanon: Tahraim’s portal thingy opening sounds like a discord notification
Huh. There IS a portal thingy. What bet it’s a magical item doorknob he made, that is responsible?
I wonder if Red knows about Marla Mason (specifically the new Death, whose schtick is walking in through a door that didn’t exist a moment ago)… Probably not, I don’ t think there are audio versions of the Marlaverse books.
We can call it heavily implied and therefore consider it canon
I went back and read the page where he opens his portal thingy and now I cant read that page without hearing a discord notification
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: this is what winning looks and feels like!
Image source: celebrating
Tumblr text is a GIF
Bluesky text: Good morning
Bluesky text: Good Morning!
Tumblr text: Alright, who’s not dead? Sound off. (It’s a gif of Commander Rourke from Disney’s “Atlantis” movie)
Yay, we’re back!
Are these embers just the ignan population of Rakhn, or the whole world?
Nice to see either way how much Caliban cares!
Just the Rakhnans. Caliban was concerned about them getting killed by the eruption. They might be immune to fire and heat, but that immunity does nothing against a pyroclastic flow.
It just seems like a lot of people for just Rakhn.
it only looks to be a couple thousand, that’s enough for a small town :p and most of the population stays underground so there’s probably all sorts of tunnels and such we don’t see
How dare the paladins almost kill Calibanās people
Just now noticing, in panel 5, Calibanās cloak thing kind of has a mourning vibe to it. Probably has to do with how itās draped across their front
Placeholder for when Iām awake enough to form real thoughts
This page is BEAUTIFUL. I canāt stop looking at it.
The fact that Caliban genuinely cares for her people weirdly surprising but also *very* wholesome. Also Caliban is looking hot???? Anyways Im SO glad that the new chapter has come out and canāt wait for more pages!
By the way, the chapters come out at a different time for me now? I think daylight savings time changed something for me, it mightāve for yāall too.
Good morning all, how are we feeling today?
Definitely a question for Wednesday morning.
Caliban flies now?
Caliban flies now!
This is the problem with being a long term planner and manipulator, a lot of things are truly out of your hands no matter what you do.
WE’RE BACK!!!!!!!!!!!
Gods I’ve missed this.
So very happy that Aurora is back in this dark time.
I miss ao3 so much.
– Signed The Vessel Of A Glowing God
(aka The Princess)
I miss AO3 to. Also, Aurora will sustain me in AO3’s place untill it’s back up.
Fun Fact!
I forgot my sign off and had to look at one of my other comments.
Ah, the characters voiced by Red and Blue in my head are having a chat again!
And a reminder that these guys are distinctly not on our side.
Theyāre not In Our Corner, but theyāre also not Enemies. EntitĆ©s who have separate goals that might sometimes align with our goals
It’s my favourite heckling muppets!!! And these panels are so pretty too i can’t stop looking at them!
“So it looks like Rakhn really didn’t kill anyone”
“Darn it, I was hoping he’d kill Kendal and end the comic!”
Dohohohohohohohoho
Caliban floats among cinders, Rakhn down below
Eruption leaves the sky smothered in smoke and ash
Looks at sparks in their hands, deep in concentration
Emerging Tahraim advises for them to slow
Burning question: How many were lost in the clash?
Relieved their hair falls, the lucky answer is ā…None.ā
A mountain of his word, though spared by a hairās width
To the east, where the zealotās bright beam carved a gash
If not, shelter and Ignans inside would be done.
No harm is cause for celebration. Says the smith
God, āAfter all, we won.ā
Loosely based this one around a curtal sonnet’s structure though my meter is definitely off. Nonetheless, I’m happy to be celebrating the start to a new chapter and looking forward to what comes next!
Iām imagining Caliban with a scratchy voice today, partly because sheās covered in swirls of flame, and partly because I also have had a scratchy voice for a few days.
Wait, sheās constantly covered in swirls of flame, but this time it feels like more fire than usual. Probably the volcano lighting.
Maybe itās because theyāre using their magic? Or godly power or whatever to check up on their ignans.
W000t! We’re back!!
They cut a deal with Rakhan?? No wonder the heist succeeded. Looks like they used the whole thing plus the Paladin attack to revive and then test their Champion. Is Kendal’s capture just collateral damage, or are they hoping to use it to get their Champion to develop his powers more.
Love that Caliban was upset about the potential risks to his people.
*their people
Caliban uses he/she/they so you were fine either way
Do you mean Dainix when you say Champion? I think yes, given context, but we already have a character (the Paladin Tam) with that title, so I just wanted to make sure.
Also, yay, we’ve now found out that Caliban is at least a mediocre god; a good god since he cares for his people, but he loses points for being so reckless with their lives in the first place.
The deal with Rakhn thing is explained when Kendal is talking to him after their fight. Rakhn made a deal with his people after he blew the first time to give them notice of when he did it next.
Not necessarily: Tahraim could just be referring to Rahkn’s promise to warn the Ignans in time for them to take shelter. But Caliban is pointing out that Rahkn’s warning wouldn’t have been enough to save the ignans from the paladins, and that’s what they’re actually freaking out about.
I don’t think Tahraim’s referencing any specific deal they made with Rakhn, just his general promise to not suddenly turn on the Volcanic Ignans who live in his realm and take shelter in his mountain-self.
Yayyy!!!! Weāre back!!
Love to see are to social manipulators having a little chit chat.
I feel like Tahraim is about to get yelled at by Caliban for being so heartless, not just since the Ignans are Calibans people but technically his own as well.
On a further note it seems like the Paladins are doing everything they can to piss off as many gods as they can, and even if they have a primordial on their side, I feel like thereās only so many gods one can piss off before you start getting smote no matter your protection.
The last paragraph (is it the right word?) is real good, just saying.
Thank you!
:)-
They’re even outnumbered on the Primordial front, with the Void Dragon and LIFE mad at them!
I have no idea how many gods are mad at them, but we know that Vash, Tahraim, Caliban, The Northern Wyrm and Rakhn are personally invested in beating them up, and all of Vash’s allies will surely hate them if and when they find out that they kidnapped Kendal. In addition, Kendal will probably inform any local gods of what they did to him, meaning they will probably be invested in freeing him if only so he can fight the Collector.
Plus Falst has the fireseed, which means any local volcanos will be chasing after him.
Fiiiiiiinallyyyyyyy Iām so happy that itās started again. Yay, the ignans didnāt die!
I sense possible deicide on Caliban’s mind
I sense the possibility of Tahraim’s fanclub shrinking a bit over the next page or two…
Tahraim in perfect ‘are ya winning, son’ meme form
love how Tarahim is sitting on his hammer, he’s just chilling
I love how Tahraim is sitting on his hammer like itās a witches broom lol
Welcome back Red. Also great vid on the tripods.
Is that a fire rune Caliban is holding? Did she activate the seed mayhaps?
Who can say š
I think Caliban is checking in on all the Ignans on Rakhn, I imagine each dot is a person. Doesn’t look like the Fire rune to me.
Hooray for another page! Hooray! Three cheers!
I don’t imagine Caliban’s next line will be happy.
Itās back! My two favorite gods are back! Hooray!!
I do love how it looks like Tahraim can use his hammer to pull a flying broomstick.
Hallelujah weāre back! I love Calibanās big flowy cape, especially on panel 5.
I love how Caliban is able to see their people as sparks, also it’s really interesting how focused they are on keeping every individual Ignan around it’s definitely the most protective we’ve seen them so far.
That last panel is SO WELL DRAWN!
WE’RE BACK!
Wonder what Tahraim means by that. So far he’s mainly been a neutral figure encouraging personal growth. He recently has been taking an interest in Dainix, but he hasn’t really been taking a particular “side” in anything. That makes it surprising that something could happen that he considers a personal “win.”
Yay Auroraās back!!!! Also I need name ideas! Iām trying to work with some variety of wizard minus hubris and with an extra dose ofā¦ sorrow, I guess? Very serious. also there are like 20 of them. So far names I am definately using are Anorack, Lunae, Irys, and potential names are Saphire, Pine, Crystal, and I think there were more potential names but I canāt remember them right now. Reccomendations are definately welcome! Currently this isnāt really anywhere other than in my head, but it is (hopefully) going to be some sort of fan fic style thing that is really hard to explain.
Where does the name Anorack come from? The rest I can see are visibly nature themed.
With that in mind, Calendula (a flower) and Onyx (a type of crystal) are some names I can think of.
I hadn’t done the themeing on purpose, actually. And the name Anorack was inspired by a wizard in a book I had read. Thanks for the reccomendations!
So many things in this page make me happy. Caliban’s clear and obvious concern for their people. Very different attitude than we’ve seen from them thus far. Even Tahraim looks concerned when he asks how many they lost. These two are *developing* and that’s always exciting. I am also delighted by Caliban’s cape, and Tahraim using his hammer as a witch’s broomstick.
However I do NOT like the way they are still viewing Dainix (and by extension the rest of the Floof Squad) as their personal weapon.
That last panel though. Caliban is NOT in the mood to be told to calm down š
You know, i feel like a lot of people are thinking that Tahraim is sincerely saying āwe should celebrateā but it feels, to me, more like pointing out to Caliban that by the logic of, everyone is alive (presumably a form of logic that Caliban has used for their recent venture) they won and should celebrate. But Caliban is evidently not doing that and I think Tahraim means her to reflect on this disparity between the stated win condition and how Caliban actually feels. Whats more fun is that i think Caliban will know what Tahraim is trying, due to how long they’ve known each other, but this knowledge could produce a variety of responses from: admission that they messed up, leaving, trying to opt out of admitting their wrong while also not claiming it a victory, or something I haven’t thought of. Canāt wait for the next page!
^^
Panel 1 is now my desktop background at work š
Oh that’s epic. I might do something similar XD
Comic is back! Hooray!
Caliban doing a headcount of their people by tallying those glowing grains is a neat detail, and I’m curious to see what they and Tahraim do next. Caliban clearly cares about their domain, the Ignans, and may be impatient with their plans due to pressing concerns about their people. And Tahraim perhaps has some sympathy for that, but it seems he thought Caliban’s plan with the fireseed (push Dainix to gain a power boost? with other possible effects?) was attempted too soon… which doesn’t surprise me, to be honest.
Oh I have missed this, the last few weeks of my life have been a nightmare and I am so glad to have Aurora back. See y’all tomorrow!
I think that appropriate music for this scene would be the version of Ganondorfās Theme in Twilight Princess with the piano and the tragic vocals, the piano fits the Paladins and the vocals fit the Ignans and the whole mood of that bit of music is suitably unnerving and worrisome.
The Paladins havenāt *colonized* anyone as far as we know, and I doubt that such a reveal will happen, but as weāre seeing more of them in their pursuit in this arc, their behavior and worldview seems more and more reflective of *colonialism*āand now in their fervor and willful disregard, theyāre making enemies of an entire diasporic nation and their god (this is not negated by said godās own questionabie actions). With that, not to mention the Kendalnapping, the invasive mind magic, the willful ignorance of printing presses, the crazies that are the Rectens and Tam, and the deforestation, the Paladins are presenting a side of themselves that comes from a source as old and as evil as the first kings in the Fertile Crescent, and unless these people (including certain non-Paladins, AT LEAST Erin in that because ācategorically cannot be trustedā is a very dangerous thing to say about THAT MANY people) can calm down and commit to communication, everything is going to fall apart, with the characters and the whole /world/ worse off for it! I donāt know WHAT the Paladin stuff in this chapter will entail, but itās gonna be INSANE. This is an EPIC story, thank you, Red!
And yes, after rereading the comic front to back, I am even more ready to die on the hill that Aurora has a robust printing industry somewhere out there and that itās literate /enough/ for the Paladins to easily start a public library if they cared toā¦unless Asera got in the way (I will also die on the hill that Asera are *actual* colonizers). Falst has been living in the wilderness since before he was ten, presumably, and his literacy isnāt treated as a surprise by anyone (he might even be able to read ANCIENT). Some 200 years ago, Aseran mages explained the Chimeric plague using textbooks theyād carried all the way from Asera to Vash. The main tool used by so many of the worldās mages to cast is using Runic spells, and if Tess is any indication, mages who tend towards other forms of casting can also spellcarve well if they need to. Zuurith of all places has a bookstore, a normal bookstore, presumably not one that charges exorbitant prices given its size and the part of the city itās in. Erin owns reams of paper paraphernalia and a journal in a way thatās very familiar to modern peopleās relationship with paperāheck, he packs YA novels! This all implies a paper-abundant society where printing isnāt even a novel technology, across much of Aurora, which means the Paladins argument against making a public library is bunk! Archive all you want, if the point is to preserve knowledge you should also care about disseminating it! Maybe this is part of why Theia the Junior Archivist up and leftā¦(that said, Iām not certain Alinua can read. Or Dainix. Who in Aurora is and is not literate? If you know, please share!)
….Thinking on this, I’m reminded that gods in this setting are tied to their domains, in a very literal and real sense. City Gods can’t travel, Storm Gods are literally part of their storm, and so on.
Caliban can go wherever any Ignans are, so it checks out that they could follow Dainix around.
Tahraim though… would presumably be nominally tied to his forge as the Smith God. That said, he’s either also tied to the stuff he makes (so he can just have a manifested body carry his stuff around) or he found a different exploitable loophole, like having his connection run through his portal device or something. He definitely seems like the kind of guy who is doing this because he found and used a loophole to set it up.