1.12.13
on April 23, 2021
at 3:00 am
you know those guys who are like “society would function perfectly if everyone just did what I thought was right”? yea
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
you know those guys who are like “society would function perfectly if everyone just did what I thought was right”? yea
Hey Kendal got an Erin Panel ™ too!
it’s a lot more depressing though…
It’s really funny to remember that Kendal, Mr “What’s sleep” is actually incredibly knowledgeable about anything not related to mundane mortal affairs. An in depth analysis of the geopolitics of the entire continent and the nature of the economical interlinking of the city states? Yeah sure, give me some paper. How to remember when to drink water? Uh… hmm. I’ll need to think on this. *Runs off to grab Allinua*
it’s like those collage professors who hyperfocused so heavily on their field they missed the memo on a lot of basic stuff, it just isn’t his fault this time
Erin, EXPLAIN
Me when I hear a friend’s revenge plans
Can I pose a morbid thought? What happens in the prison if there’s an unprecedentedly colossal rainfall? Would it flood? Would the prisoners drown in their cells?
Sorry, I think I’m in a low mood right now. These are the thoughts that come to me.
You aren’t the only one thinking about that
https://comicaurora.tumblr.com/post/649242774936371201/11213-aurora
(Also I hope things get better)
Nah you’re fine. I for one enjoyed trying to drown a floating whale toy.
That’s just practical forward planning. Never build a giant bucket without considering what would happen if it was filled.
Also, in my experience just about everyone has odd thoughts that just show up like that. Never think that you are “off” or “weird” just because you’re the only one saying them out loud. Pretending that the inside of your head isn’t real is probably unhealthy.
I mean….the big enemy we started talking about at the beginning of this chapter is a sentient thunderstorm that feeds on fear. Worrying about the rain coming to kill you isn’t wrong here.
Unless the local god is an even more massive asshole than Kendal suggests, there’s no way there’s not a huge amount of drainage for the prison because it’s part of the economy, it would be beyond stupid to lose an apparently significant portion of your export equity because you made a prison that’s also a death-trap.
The bad thing about gods of law and order is that they tend to squelch individual expression. The good thing about gods of law and order is that they tend to be good at pre-planning large civic projection. Whatever problems those prisoners have, I doubt that death by unexpectedly large rainfall is one of them.
That’s projects, not projection. Sorry.
Best wishes your way, two years late, and one word for the question: Scuppers.
To be honest I’m not sure Falst told them what happened with Tess either, did he?
Vash every time he is on the same continent as Zuurith: “fight me IRL bitch!!!”
Considering the fact that their cities are literally on the same continent… yeah
And total cultural opposites
Why are our heroes in Zuurith? Do they need supplies for the journey ahead?
Yeah, Falst is right, bringing the weirdo squad to a city this obsessed with “order” seems like a sketchy decision, even if Erin is swimming in privilege.
Edit: There’d better be a good reason for a decision this likely to blow up in everyone’s face
They are here because the plot demands it.
Okay we were right, they are absolutely going to get arrested and it’s going to be bad.
Also gotta love Falst’s reaction to all this:
Erin: It’ll be fine, we all fit in right?
Falst: WE ARE LITERALLY THE FARTHEST THING FROM FITTING IN, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!
Erin: Well, i’m normal… and i have authority here. You guys will be fine.
Alinua: Do we seriously need to remind you about the the giant dragon inside you who wants to eat the sun?
Also does anyone have any bets on who get’s arrested first or who is the reason they all get arrested?
Obviously Falst is the most likely to be arrested–there’s a decent chance for Kendal, too, since he’s clearly got . . . issues with Zurrith, but it would be a great twist if Erin were the first to be thrown in prison.
Alinua could be likely as well; due to spending her entire life in either a small village or in isolation, she wouldn’t be familiar with such a massive law code as Zuurith’s. And I doubt Zuurith doesn’t abide by “ignorance of the law is no excuse”…
Alinua’s also considered godless, right? Zuurith’s prejudiced against them too.
I put 10 denarii on Kendal last page.
I bet bragging rights it’ll happen in this order:
Alinua: either commits a faux pas she was completely unaware of as a deeply isolated first time traveler to Zurrith, or does something illegal out of a sense of justice, or both.
Kendal: wary and careful right now, so he’s not going to be arrested first, but he’s also not likely to sit back and do nothing if anything happens to anyone in the group unless held back and strictly observed, and even then he’s stubborn.
Erin: Really, really tries to bail out his new friends, but that just lands him in hot water and possibly a close call with the Void Dragon.
Falst: The only one here with both experience avoiding arrest, and common sense. His loyalty to his extremely new group is tested and he passes the test.
Zuurith sound like such a fun guy /s.
I hope Erin has a damn good reason to b ring them here.
Same
welp next Monday is a start off for an explanation
5 platinum pieces (without knowing how much that actually is) go to Kendal being the one arrested because he is Vash avatar and fuck now Zuurith is not having any free thought friendly deity in his perfect dictators… utopia.
Who will be the first one to end up in prison, place your bets.
I’m betting on Alinua. Erin is in his element (ha), Falst probably knows how to keep his head down, and i’m guessing that Kendal will try to keep a wide breadth from everything
I think it’ll be Kendal. He hates the system and has a sword (he probably won’t attack anyone with it, but it might get used against him as a “look he has a weapon so he’s dangerous” thing)
I’m thinking Erin. He’s the most convinced that he WON’T get into any trouble, therefore it will be the most hilariously ironic if he gets arrested first.
He’s been going on about being the elemental magus more than usual (and that’s saying something) so he must be nervous whatever the case
Also my money on Kendal being arrasted first. Concdring that fact that Vash and Zuurith did not get along I doubt that Zuurith will have patience for Vash’s incarnation.
Everyone’s trying to guess who’ll be thrown in prison first–I’ve heard a lot of Kendal, and some Alinua and Falst, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up being Erin. That’d be such a brilliant Red twist, and definitely be a punch in the ego that could spark more character development for him! Logically, yeah, Kendal or Falst or Alinua seem far more likely, but consider: Erin.
He’d probably get the slammer for causing some sort of diplomatic incident is my guess. And if that ends up being the case… his father might not be too happy with him when he (finally) gets home…
“Young man, are you telling me that you first got rid of the Storm, which lead to the destruction of an entire town’s infrastructure, got possessed by an eldritch dragon, befriended someone who for all you know might be a ticking chimera bomb, got your bag of holding stolen, threw lava around a forest, then went to Zuurith, where you caused a diplomatic no-no and got arrested, and we’re still in the first arc?”
“Dad, I can explain–“
I was thinking more along the lines of “Galen (Erin’s father) is the ambassador emissary for Asera, and Erin causing a diplomatic incident would make both Galen and Asera look bad”…
…But shit, you’re right, Erin’s toting around a laundry list of mistakes that no one back home would be pleased about.
Frankly, out of this ever-growing group of freaks and misfits, he’s the sleeper weirdo.
Also, honestly, I think everyone in the party has an about equal chance of pissing Zuurith off somehow.
…What if they all end up in prison? That would be a recipe for a riot…
I actually really hope that happens. Prison breaks are always fun to watch/read. They can pick up a party member along the way, too.
Although, I think even one of the protagonists could cause a riot all on their own. Specifically Kendal.
Now I’m thinking of Chitsang from The Last Airbender.
Prison yard: *completely peaceful*
Chitsang: *grabs a random dude and hoists him up in the air* “Hey! RIOT!”
The entire prison yard: *immediately erupts into a brawl*
Hakoda: *pushes prisoner*
Prisoner: What was that for? That hurt my feelings?
Hakoda: Aren’t you mad??
Prisoner: Yeah I’ve been learning to manage my anger
TL;DR: Sword guy: so this city is garbage and so is its jerk of a god and they HATE chaos like us…
Mage: my privilege will keep you soooo safe.
“With me on your side, you’re untouchable.”
The hubris of Pompous Nitwit strikes again…
You are safe… *Wink wink*
I’m sure he really believes, or at least is valiantly convincing himself, that his privilege is a foolproof shield. At any rate, with him is probably the genuinely safest spot in town relatively speaking.
Well, if you’re on good terms with Zuurith that’s the safest. But for random outsiders, probably yes.
I smell an allegory.
Zuurith, after realizing Vash’s Avatar is in his city, and more importantly, without Vash: Shit, I gotta get him locked up while I can before he can destroy my system
This actually highlights a real difference between Erin and the rest of the party. Erin is currently the only one who comes from a place of real privilege, and the things he treats as matter-of-fact are things that usually aren’t offered to people who aren’t Erin. Falst and Alinua are both outcasts and Kendal is an entirely new being who doesn’t think he really has a place here. Erin is someone I doubt has ever been in a position where people treated him without respect. If he does end up in the prison, I think it’ll be a much needed wake-up call for him. Not because I think he’s a bad person, but he does lean towards Innocently Insensitive in this scene imo.
Of course Kendal doesn’t have a place here, this city belongs to his god’s nemesis. Also Erin really isn’t giving everyone else’s worries space.
I actually kind of hope it isn’t Erin who rolls the starting incident die simply because up to here it kinda feels like Erin always manages to screw up. For supposedly being one of the most powerful and smartest mages in the continent, Kendal and Alinua’s journey would have been easier in most ways if an anvil had fallen on Erin’s head. I kinda want to get to see for a bit what Erin “in his element” looks like before we sweep the carpet from under his feet and have him come crashing down.
I give it a 55% chance that Falst will be arrested first for the Jim Crow reason of “did ya luk at muh gurl the wrong way?” Well, not so much that specifically, but more any minor crime he does will be amplified tenfold by racism against Ferin
I also give a solid 15% to any other party member of being arrested
Wait, all my comments are back now? What happened?
Please ignore the comments of mine under this one thanks
Lawful Evil, got it.
These days, it’s probably more like those edgy deconstructive-wannabe takes on Lawful Good.
People on Discord – both the OSP server and the Aurora Fan Server – consider Zuurith Lawful Neutral.
So, given this thread as a whole: Zuurith is Lawful Lawful.
more like lawful awful lmao gottem
this was supposed to reply to another comment, why did it post separately?
wait, it’s not working
wait, why did that one work? is there a way to remove these?
Nope. Sorry. :/
Unfortunately, there’s a glitch on the home page where you can’t post replies to other people’s comments. Even more unfortunately, the home page is indistinguishable from the most recent page. However, if you go back one then click forward again, that’s the most recent page, not the home page, so you can post comments
You can also click the highlighted numbers in the description to reach the most recent page.
is tess lightning woman? asking for a friend.
yes, though we don’t have confirmation yet on whether Tess is her official name
“Harmony without free will isn’t harmony at all.” – Optimus Primal
To those predicting Kendal getting arrested due to his connection to Vash, don’t forget what Ilia said in chapter 7. The gods want Kendal to win against the Collector, including Zuurith; he can’t do that if he’s in prison. I don’t think Zuurith will help him, neither do I think he will hinder him.
It’s a good think Alinua didn’t get close to Zuurith during her exile days, if she were to be rounded up, put in prison and inadvertently set of a chimera bomb it would have be carnage.
Hmm, does Erin have another reason for coming to Zuurith besides a quick route to Helm? I’m going to make a wild guess and say he wants to use something in Zuurith, maybe a wind communication lacrima to inform his family that he’s safe and off on a long voyage.
That would be very responsible of him, however every city worth it’s salt should have some kind of communication system and he’d better not be dragging the obvious cat-boy, former chimerical plague carrier, superman, and his can’t-get-caught-by-the-mad-scientists-or-loose-my-grip-on-things-or-I’ll-cause-a-zombie-apocalypse self into the city of unethical behavior management for something he could’ve done anywhere else.
Unrelated, but:
“Harmony without free will isn’t harmony at all.”
The Radiance: *backs away awkwardly*
I’ve seen some comments saying that Erin could be thrown in prison (and that is a really cool idea) it wouldn’t be practical since he can just use stone magic to get out.
(sorry if I came of as rude or anything, I just wanted to point something out)
No, it doesn’t come across as rude! I just hadn’t thought of that.
Although, surely if they imprison so many people, the’ve had to imprison a stone mage before. Perhaps they made a specialized cell or something?
Yep, in the magic page of Extra Lore it mentions soulcrystals, a crystal that accumulate soul energy, as a way to construct anti-mage prisons.
I didn’t know that! Thanks for telling me
well whoever gets thrown in the prison is gonna have the resident group of protagonists around to do a prison break
Yes, Erin, why ARE we here?
There is soul crystal which is used in the construction of mage prisons it’s one of the few substances that is immune to stone magic
I also wonder how the construct the prison. Like do they hollow it out from the top down? From the outside in? From the base up? Or do they just expand on mines after the ore runs dry? Also, how do they keep the entire mountain from collapsing on top of itself, my guess Domes, lots and lots of Beautiful Domes.
What is your favorite food? I super enjoy chicken curry with rice and hot sauce.
I have a strange obsession with Prosciutto. *Shrugs* IDK why. Maybe it was that one trip to Italy.
It’s not strange. Prosciutto is great!
Anything chocolate peanut butter.
Well, you know what they say. You can’t have civilization without mass incarceration!
Something tells me Red is projecting the issues she has with the her own real world country
I mean… if she is, she’s right, the US is fucked.
Makes sense, I find making stories to be the best way to get out your problems with the real world and try to solve them (in the story, of course)
Ooooh, Alinua’s hair is Pretty. The lighting is really pretty.
What are (in your opinion) the most interesting family traditions you have? For a night a year I stay up late to stick my nose on the first bloom of our 10 year old orchid cactus (the flower closes as the sun comes up)
My money is on Allinua, she lived in wildernes for most of her life ,so she is going to break a law without knowing it , and it will be stupid law to boot.
“he’s about to be very nudged.”
1-12-10
I wonder who “he” is, and why the floof squad is talking a bout the prison so much?
I’m going to ingore everything and keep thinking that society would function perfectly if everyone just did what I thought was right.
Zuurith: I see no way how this could possibly go wrong
Hello there, prison industrial complex. Fancy seeing you here in the middle of this fantasy webcomic.
am i the only one who thinks throwing criminals in prison is reasonable? They just have to not commit any crimes, is that so hard?
in my mind zuurith is right, law is necessary for civilisation and has to be enforced.
Geez Kendal, why don’t you and Vash tell us how you really feel.
Alt text: yeah erin we totally skipped over the trip you gotta fill us in