1.22.27
on September 1, 2023
at 3:00 am
whacking people with their most traumatic memories loses effectiveness as a psychic attack if those traumatic memories gave that person superpowers
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
whacking people with their most traumatic memories loses effectiveness as a psychic attack if those traumatic memories gave that person superpowers
Aurora Question #87: Do you think there are other kinds of demons that use different elements? Which is the most interesting?
Hmmm…
I’d imagine a Life Demon would just be the Hulk, more or less (Immortal Hulk body horror style, not regular Hulk). Alternatively: Alinua.
Lightning would be a lot like Dainix, big bright body that instakills you when touching it.
I’d be very interested in how water, wind and stone would work tho.
To answer the question, I think lightning demons are the most likely, and water, wind, stone the least likely to exist. I can’t quite see them spontaneously generating lots of these elements out of their bodies.
Even lightning doesn’t seem that likely, as fire is the element with transmutative properties making it very qualified for that kind of transformation, unlike the other five (not counting void and eight).
Is the Sea God from Berserk a water demon?
I think that is quite unlikely since only fire has the secondary property of transmutation, which would render it quite hard for another element to transform an entire human body into a demon and back. Also, the existence of other demons would probably render Dainix’s character less unique, and I don’t know whether Red would do that. But if we admitted the existence of other demons anyway, I would say that a life demon would be incredibly cool, but also incredibly tragic. Imagine mutating everything you’re even near to while unconscious and then waking up in a world where all of your surroundings, maybe everyone you have ever known, are mutated beyond recognition and only you remain, alone with the memories of the people you used to care about, knowing they will never come back to you. (This is just one option of what would happen, but my brain always tries to annoyingly pick the most depressing one.)
You’re probably right about how life demons would work; that was the chimaeric plague’s whole deal.
Wouldn’t a life demon just be the chimeric plague?
Besides the part where you get to wake up again, that’s the premise of the chimeric plague isn’t it?
Yes it is. I just found it particularly scary how you get to keep living life basically alone.
A void demon is just a hungry hungry hippo
I don’t think other demons can TRANSFORM, but it’s not strictly impossible for some weird homunculus~elemental intermediary to have very comparable Weird Elemental Stuff going on 24/7.
Physical Life and Lightning are both very good at slipping into other forms of matter, so they’d probably form (life) or possess (lightning) more durable, multifaceted outer bodies.
Stone is self-explanatory, almost indistinguishable from a massive rock until it gets fed up and shambles away from (or over) you.
but water and wind… would probably be very interesting. Water being so mercurial might give its demon(s) a worrying level of mimicry, even beyond the nigh invisibility in water that’s par for the course in the deep sea. And wind… we already know that mundane wind can remember echoes from long ago, so what happens if every single one of those echoes overlaps into a single entity? Or if communication becomes so advanced people’s distinct consciousnesses melt under the power of pure understanding? Lotsa interesting possibilities.
I think Red is the best person to tell her story her way. But to take a stab at what could be done look at the monsters found in the Maelstrom- Earth mouths that opened under your feet, or rise up to swallow flying creatures, water has Evils out of Depths vibes easily and flavor with natural or mythic twists, which can be applied to elements thematically or individually, water being in motion always and plastic, electricity being piecing and magnetic etc. Folklore is rich with fun bits to sprinkle around. But I am a head in the clouds guy not good for specifics.
Reading the reply about the chimeric plague makes me wonder if each element is going to have a unique quirk or two that is pseudosymetric (daemon, chimeric plague, blob monster, whatever).
This leads to two more speculative lines of speculation:
1) We are going to find more of these things in or closely related to the protagonist’ party (Erin, Tess, Alunia, and Dannix being tied to elements in peculiar ways) and this is going to hold some sort of significance as we build to dealing with the Void Dragon and Primordials
2) Considering the Chimeric Plague had something to do with one of the Primordials not doing a very good job of being dead, is there something going on with more than just Life?
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: the classic d&d tactic of “if I rage hard enough I don’t need to CARE about your psychic attacks”
Image source: shlunk
No bad memories. Only fire!
Ah yes,. The classic solution to all problems relating to opposition.
More fire.
Let’s just hope the oxygen lasts long enough.
Anonymous Aurora Question #9: Which memories do you think the glort would show the other characters? Every kind of theorizing I’d officially allowed.
Kendal: Given his personality, I think less traumatic things that have happened to him but things that have happened to his friends that he’s observed. If the Glort can pick up on Vash’s memories as well as his own, Vash’s destruction too.
Alinua: Her pain at the hands of V.D.’s attacks, Jolon’s chimeras, and Kendal’s injuries. She hasn’t had a happy life for a good decade, but nothing overly traumatic (that she remembers and/or that we know of) until a few weeks ago.
Erin: How his father treated Tess and his worst moments as a “fragile little kid”. If some theories about how he became the Elemental magus are true, the soulshaper monks process could have been painful too.
Tess: I’m certain she has bad and painful memories owing to an early life of slavery and a later life of getting into fights across the world. However, given her attitude, I’m not sure how effective the glort’s vision would be in incapacitating her.
With regards to Alinua, I’d argue that the slime’s lowest hanging fruit would be her finding out she had the Chimeric Plague and running away from home without telling anyone. Once the full implications of what she had done and the knowledge of how long she likely had left to live hit her, she would’ve been absolutely devastated.
(Not to discredit your suggestions; I meant to add to them. I shouldn’t have said “I’d argue”…)
Oh yes, definitely. Realising your, supposed, gruesome and unavoidable fate and making the heart-wrenching choice to leave your home and family for their sake, aged 10 no less; Alinua’s trauma from that cannot be understated. She’s composed about it now after mulling it over for a decade, but if the glort catches her unprepared, it would not be pretty.
I’m totally onboard with Tess being resilient to this “attack” because of her attitude and how her particularly gnarly past may be the reason she has it. I have met people like this IRL and I think they would be resilient as well.
Ngl I only just noticed you were doing these, but in a (very late) answer to Question #0, I’m fine with it and I think everyone else is
shlunk!
Life: Hey! Multiple eyes and arms are my shtick! You start having multiple ears and I’ll sue!
Just what is this monster?! It can either grow or maintain eyes inside itself, soulfire doesn’t seem to harm it any more than regular fire, and it consciously knows how to employ the eye attack. Ancient experiment gone wrong, that may even have been that object on the dais? Collector chimera experiment if she was the one who took the object in the room? Simply a creature that’s known in the world that has been deliberately not alluded to? I want Erin to reach them if only to hear his exposition/theorising.
Trying to make Dainix live out his worst nightmares? Jokes on you; in his crucible/demon form, he already is. The monster isn’t doing itself any favours in powering up Dainix like this, but it’s also going to make his and Falst’s escape more complicated. Neither does the monster seem in the mood to retreat into the caves against this threat.
Prediction for next week: A shot of Falst spellcarving his very best under the circumstances, but notices some rocks falling above and roots appearing in the ceiling. He quickly puts two and two together and realises that’s their escape route, not the door.
Also, I just noticed a potential new flashback in panel 4. In the center right you can see one figure of someone waving with a sad smile and another figure with their hand on the first with a frown. I hypothesise that this is when he went into self exile and these two are waving goodbye; they might even be Dainix’s parents.
Mr demon man be burnin.
Dainix-he is indeed a macho man (cue music!)
In wrath he tears, faces an eye again
But trauma attacks seem to be in vain
*Dainix’s Resolve is tested…*
Dainix becomes FOCUSED
as a fan of Worm, I’d like to object to the tagline
All those times doodling eyes in the margins of your exercise books really paid off here, didn’t they, Red?
i feel strangely called out
that is TOO MANY EYES, put those back please
Absolutely yes.
How many eyes does this thing have?? or can it just Create More? *shivers*
Also noticing the increasing number of cracks. Hopefully the gang gets there in time before Sludge Thing unlocks more of Dainix’s superpowered not!evil side.
panel four. that’s gorgeous. I love it. The sharp shadows, the lack of color, everything.
Hey, more eyes!
Re: Alt text: Speaking from experience, hm?
oh no
That was fast. It’s hard to tell if this is Dainix resisting the stun effect, or if it’s him losing more control -but either way, it’s a matter of time before he loses control of himself. Also that is TOO MANY EYES, put it back pls
I like how in panel 5, the soulfire streaming out of Dainix’s eye makes him look like he’s crying flame.
That’s two pages in a row with no dialogue. Is that even legal?
If THIS page had a song, I think it would be frantic and desperate. Dainix is barely holding on here, getting whacked by psychological and physical pain.
incredibly poggers how he’s resisting all damage except psychic attacks
The fact that the alt text is `the classic d&d tactic of “if I rage hard enough I don’t need to CARE about your psychic attacks”` when barbarian rage in d&d 5e can provide resistance to all attacks EXCEPT psychic ones makes it funnier, actually
Fire: Oh, yeah. I have LOTS of memories!!!
Speaking of scary glowy things to do with eyes, it now has six pairs of eyes and change! Seeing the eyes have a defined pupil and white made this look so much more alive in a physical sense.
> whacking people with their most traumatic memories loses effectiveness as a psychic attack if those traumatic memories gave that person superpowers
We call this the “Worm” effect, although that doesn’t stop you from getting new traumatic memories!
I’ve always thought the whole “confront the hero with their tragic past” story should be a far more risky trope than it is. If it triggers a traumatic shutdown, that’s great, exactly according to plan. If it triggers them to lash out blindly and the person using this strategy can easily avoid such things, also good, and possibly also according to plan.
But…some people (and I suspect this is more common among the kind of people who go out beating up bad guys and doing other such heroic things) have a tendency to lash out at the source of that pain, in which case it’s probably the *last* thing you want to do.
For example: if you were to confront Batman about the death of his parents, that’s probably just going to make him extra motivated, because that trauma is exactly what fuels his rather aggressive response against criminality as a whole. Which for the Joker might be a plus, because the Joker would see being killed by Batman as a win, and pushing hard enough on that pain might be a contributing factor to actually breaking that rule. But for the more gangster side of that rogues gallery, definitely not a good plan.
Even worse of a plan in a setting where trauma fueled powerups are a thing, as demonstrated here.
‘Shaaa’ sound effect immediately just made me think, “POCKET SAND! SHA-SHAAA!” xD
It’s like every time I see a character (of the main gang, at least) on the page, I think “ooooh they are my FAVOURITE character!” But I was told you can have only one favourite, so this is me working through that enforced idea, to acceptance that yes, I can have many favourite characters at once.
So THERE.
DAINIX YOU THE BEST <3
TL;DR: KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!
Ironicly, in D&D 5e, Pyschic damage is one of the few damage types the Bear Totem barbarian (which specializes in resistance while raging) does not get bonus resistance to.
I am reminded of The Summoning Dark/Guarding Dark sequences in Terry Pratchett’s THUD. “It was gaining ground! It was wearing down the creature, even kept it alive! But every time it tried to make use of its anger, the bars came down and it was thrown back.”