1.13.34
on August 30, 2021
at 3:00 am
the true machinations of The Dragon involve improperly reshelving everything and leaving ring stains on all their good oak tables
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
the true machinations of The Dragon involve improperly reshelving everything and leaving ring stains on all their good oak tables
Adorable 😀
Oh look how Erins face is covered in shadow in the last panel ^^
Covered in shadow, but looking at the background he’s on the side of the white dragon now!
His flattery works!
Just listen to what she says.
Get it? Got it? Good.
Art analysis: There’s a very good continuity detail in the last panel. The VD’s eyes are yellow like they are when he possesses Erin, similarly The White dragon has Blue eyes like Micheals. Red is very good at pulling of the way she draws noses (despite not usually drawing them for OSP illustrations) usually the way she draws noses is used to depict animalistic noses like cats and dogs but she pulls it off as it looks like neither, tho it could just be because we got used to the artsyle.
the last panel makes me think of things. erin is on the side of the light dragon. does this mean he will encounter information that will make him believe a light dragon exists? or is he on that side to juxtapose himself against the void dragon? him going in here is to gain knowledge to fight voidy so this victory is a win against his battle against him.
Another thing I forgot (correct me if I’m wrong): this is the first page where we see some of the junior archivist’s lower half
raise your eyebrows is you ship them
ngl i’d believe him and i KNOW he’s possessed by the void dragon
Learned my lesson the hard way when I brought food in front of my laptop and slipped. Had to delay my dinner by one hour for cleanup.
and then he stole a book
Mission accomplished. Now to find information to get rid of that evil Dragon making it’s home in my body.
Can’t wait for everything to go horribly wrong over the next few pages!
To be fair if a member of one of the most respected academic institutions says they want to prove you were right all along, you’d want to welcome their credence. I just hope this doesn’t turn into a trap and the super Paladin we saw a while back shows up. To be clear I’m not saying it could be a trap now, but if Erin is recognized to be harboring the Void Dragon they could turn it into one.
Hey, has anyone ever raised the possibility that, like the theoretical seventh element (consumption, related to the Void Dragon), soul energy might be kind of an eighth element created by the Light Dragon? It would make sense: the prologue may be the moment in wich L.D. creates soul energy in order to protect living beings from V.D., as he complains about in 1.7.21. We also know that when mages attempted to create living beings they failed, probably because of the lack of the seventh element; maybe it has something to do with soul energy too? Maybe the Paladins have already studied it and Erin can figure out more now that he’s going through their archives; we may also see something of it once they get to the soul-shaping monks.
Sorry if someone has already taked about this theory; I haven’t had time to read everyone’s comments anymore 😛
Three more pages and this will be the longest chapter of Aurora…
I wonder when the new one will begin ?
Replying to my own comment: I have no ideia where the ? emoji came from, please ignore it
Oh, the dragon is SO gonna burn the place to the ground, ‘s gonna be great.
Lizardwithhat, that’s called shading
Man if that isn’t relatable
It’s like that moment when you’ve roamed the archives for so long, and you can FINALLY get your hands on the one manuscript you’ve been chasing for so long, such satisfaction
Playing into the pride and belief of a group like this, and you’ll get access. It always works.
Minor thing, apparently using gloves is actually terrible for books. I watch a youtube channel called Objectivity, about cool artifacts of the Royal Society, and they always take gloves off to handle old paper. Basically, wearing gloves will frequently cause you to accidentally tear pages, so the protection from skin oil just isn’t worth the damage that the gloves will likely cause.
Uuuuuuuugfhhhhhhhhh, Void Dragon’s gonna take over and trash the whole plaaaaaaaace…
Bowtie Biffer:
We saw a couple pages back that some of the records were written on what looked like some kind of textile; perhaps the gloves are for handling those?
Noticing that the Void Dragon is an established character and antagonist, but I wonder if Erin would end up entering conflict with the White Dragon, as he is their enemy’s vessel. Maybe it’s that paladin guy with the wings or something. (Or there’s some hella important lore I’m forgetting about. Idk)
Alt text: politeness will get you everywhere baby
Our boy slipped up, I think he referred to the dark dragon as the void dragon here and the archivist probably, definitely noticed.
I hope this doesn’t just resolve with the void dragon exposing itself to burn the library.
I wonder what the odds are of the Void Dragon trying to take control of Erin long enough to wreck some critical records.
That would probably play its hand too early.
it’s research time!!!!
for Erin’s sake i hope VD doesn’t cause any problems today, but on the other hand i really want to see what will happen if the paladins find out about this.
Boy those books are going to be destryoed.
Yes, Erin is in! Knowledge is his! Now please change scene because I have seriously bad feelings that V.D. may try something if we linger here, not helped by how the Dark Dragon part of the mural is more prominent in the last panel.
Seriously though, I’m wondering where Alinua and Falst are, did they stay at the embassy? Prison visit Kendal? (Though I wonder if such a thing exists in Zuurith) Talking about how much their biological families suck?
Playing on proving one or more of the dragon’s existance was a good move; something tells me that despite their noble intentions and practices, the Paladins wouldn’t say no to outside validation of their beliefs.
“And if I catch you licking your fingers to turn the pages, I swear by all Gods and Primordials that that apocalyptic Void Dragon of yours will be downright merciful compared to what I’ll do to you.”
hi. I know this is a random placeto ask this, but what’s the theme used in the Dunwich Horror intro card from Red’s Lovecraft video?
I don’t think that the void dragon will destroy the library. Since his primary use for Erin is using him to release him it wouldn’t make sense for him to reveal that he is possessing Erin to his enemies.
TheUnknownGame:
I’ll give Red the benefit of the doubt and go with your assumption. I’m hoping to see those fancy angled tables that keep the spines from fully opening, that one of the big things for preserving old books. I once broke one of my dads old paperbacks in half by opening it too far, although properly bound volumes can open farther than paperbacks before they stress the spines. That book broke in half at about 90 degrees, and most reading tables I’ve seen for old books are more like 135-150 ish.
wooo talking to people reasonably and learning they are reasonable people XD
I love that Erin finally got what he wanted… by apologizing and being polite (also it’s hilarious if completely reasonable how bossy the archivist is)
So is it just me, or is Erin in the first panel looking at us readers to try to get us to stop snickering before we blow his cover?
@Does my name go here?
My problem with that idea is that we saw the twins doing it. And it was basically confirmed( I can’t remember if it was in the comic or on tumblr) that the prologue was the twins giving living beings free will. I don’t know where the light dragon is supposed to fit in there.
It seems more likely to me that Erin’s original exposition about the Light Dragon being created by people’s worship is accurate.
Do the dragon’s looks happier now? I swear they look happier.
@ Shrimp heaven now
When the White Dragon’s (presumably) talked to Michael the words were written similarly to the Void Dragon or Life’s words. None of the gods we’ve seen use them.
@Peteman
Or dog-earing
We’re in
Wait what if Tess is Erin’s ex?
I swear that smile on Erin’s face means “Heh, she didn’t say ‘Don’t bring in the Void Dragon’!” =P
How easy is the Archivist going to make this for Erin? Will her superiors approve? Will she show him everything he requests? Will he stumble upon the Void Dragon’s forbidden Crokninomicon?
Tune in This Week to Find Out!
TL;DR: This reminds me of those days when I ate lunch in the library…
The rules… *Shudder*
Today’s Alt Text:
politeness will get you everywhere baby
To Shrimp heaven now:
This is probably going to be a bit out there and inaccurate in the long run, but with the way the dragons are positioned in the mural, it almost looks as if each had some influence on their respective twin. Whether this was more along the lines of ‘voice in the head’ or DnD-style patronage isn’t clear at this point, but even the events of the prologue seem to suggest it–there is almost a sense of “commissioning” there, as if the twins are aware of the Void Dragon’s situation and are trying to find a way to allow him at least some access to the world outside of his prison (without causing the apocalypse, of course)–perhaps as a method of “taming” him? Whether or not the development of a soul/identity/free will was an unintended side effect or meddling on the Light Dragon’s part could also be put up for debate, as could whether or not the Twins are acting on their own initiative or not…
Of course, there are a couple other possible interpretations of that mural, which is where things–as I said–can get a little weird. You could consider the positioning of the figures a chain of creation, for example–that the twins created the various peoples of this world, after being themselves created by the Dragons… Or, in a different light, perhaps the twins ARE the dragons–not their entire selves, mind you, but perhaps a fragment splintered off from the parent entity, with a variable level of connection between the two (think sliding scale between self-governing,voice in the head, full possession, and that “majority of the consciousness is elsewhere, but this bit’s going to manifest and be active here in an avatar” thing gods tend to do in various media). This theory is more based on the events of the prologue than the mural, admittedly, but there are some aspects that carry over–the color palettes of the twins, for one–and it’s not like we haven’t seen this sort of thing before, what with the various gods and Life.
And quite possibly Kendal, if various theories about him are true, and that would make for some VERY interesting parallels further down the line…Perhaps a bit obvious, depending on which fan theories regarding this comic are confirmed and which are denied, but nonetheless interesting. Then again, I’ve always enjoyed seeing how characters react to a major revelation, personal or otherwise… (And it’s admittedly pretty fun to write those scenarios, too.)
Me, realizing I’ve reached the most recent update: >:( why u read too fast, me?
That comment about improperly reshelving items makes my librarian-trained soul hurt.
I love this ^-^
It’s Monday. Where next page?
*smacks final panel* this baby can fit so much symbolism
Based on these last couple pages describing how the archive works you can tell Red was doing some wish fullfilment. “Don’t let languages die kids, your gonna make antropoligests very sad.”
@Bowtie Biffer Ehhh, sorta. You’re correct that in general clean dry hands are better for old paper than gloved fingers because fine touch sensation is critical to avoiding damage (and gloves are often a rough surface more likely to flake edges off). But sometimes there’s a specific reason to keep hands off a piece — dangerous molds, arsenic-based inks, or pieces with metal or ivory components that can react to skin oil in the long term. That’s why you need an experienced archivist to tell you when to wear gloves and when not to.
Last time I had to do archival research stuff it was for an assignment for class. There was only one day available before the assignment was due, I had the NASTIEST cold, I was out of masks and I lost my wallet on the bus on the way there so I couldn’t even buy one. Incredibly harrowing experience, it’s a small miracle I managed to avoid sneezing all over the archival materials but I am eternally grateful to the library employees for trusting me.
What’s worse for archival preservation, having a runny nose or being possessed by a void dragon?