For mobile readers.
Alt-text: offers you a helpful tooltip but offsets it by being incredibly annoying about it- ah beans I just reinvented clippy
Image source: caliban
. “I see Vash took the brain when he left,” Caliban mutters, grabbing Kendal’s wrist with a gray hand before he can stab demonheart-Dainix. Kendal and Falst both start in surprise.
. Falst lunges towards Dainix, grabbing the rock and spinning away from them. “Let him go–!”
. “Ease off, kitty,” Caliban says as Kendal’s starfire flickers out. “You’re gonna want to hear me out. I mean, assuming you want Dainix to be alive instead of dead.” They glance down as Kendal grabs their wrist with his other hand. “Rude,” they mutter as Kendal tears through their wrist, freeing his arm.
. “Caliban, what are you doing here?” Kendal asks, watching them warily with his sword out.
. “Uh, stopping you from blasting my Crucible with the concentrated power of a dead star, obviously. Just because it’s hot doesn’t mean it’s Fire,” Caliban says, watching their hand as it takes form again. “Still, that tells me you’re pretty desperate to save him,” looking back up with a grin. “So I thought I’d tell you how.”
*gasps* There’s a books tab now!! I’m so excited!! The book comes out a couple days before my birthday, so I’m really hoping I’ll get it
Also, would any of u guys mind if (in a seperate comment) I asked for like advice and stuff about this book I’m writing? I need some help with my magic system lol
Physical books? Does that mean Red is printing this into comic books, or she’s planning to, or it’s already completed? Please give me more information or direct me to your source. Also, I second your squeals of excitement.
Note the change in the bar at the top of the page. There’s a new headline that reads BOOKS. You’ll find the information there. But the short of it is, Red got a publishing deal and the first volume will be out in a few months.
“I see Vash took the brain when he left,”
Says Caliban, grabbing his hand.
With a mocking tongue and divine power,
They intrude upon the band.
“Caliban, what are you doing here?” says Kendal
While Falst holds Dainix fearfully.
“Uh, stopping you from blasting my Crucible with the concentrated
Power of a dead star, obviously.”
With a face of dark sand they smile, eyes wide
Like glowing pits in their brow.
“Still, that tells me you’re pretty desperate to save him.
So I thought I’d tell you how.”
Kitty! Caliban called him kitty! That is not in the least bit adorable.
I love how Kendal knows them all, instantly. There’s not an instant’s worth of “who are you?” “I? I am the great and terrible–” Nope! Straight to “What are you doing here, Caliban?”
A while ago I shortened Caliban’s name to just “Cali” when talking about them. Unfortunately, this has caused my brain to occasionally give them a valley girl accent when talking, and their dialogue on this page is not helping.
Ooh! I love the detail of Caliban’s skin being darker because they made this incarnation out of the black sand beach; just imagine what Rakhn looks like, going off this and the chapter cover. I also like how Cali is holding up one finger in panel 4 in a little “hold on a minute” gesture, though it seems Kendal didn’t notice.
It’s great that Caliban is doing this for them, dropping tidbits of lore, and skipping any needlessly cryptic parts Tahraim may have wanted to add to this potentially time sensitive mission. However, them calling Dainix “MY Crucible” has me at odds. I hope it’s just them emphasising that Dainix is under their protection in godly-speak, especially since the Zuurith arc had them trying to restore Dainix’s agency, but I see how it could be read the other way.
I can certainly see Falst reading it the other way; that combined with grabbing hold of Kendal and calling him “kitty” are not going to enamour him to Caliban. I’m torn as to whether Cali will take his attitude personally, or their trickster god aspect taking over and ribbing him about his crush on Dainix.
Prediction for next week: Caliban explains how to save Dainix, starting the volcano heist arc. Aside from the Falst reaction I mentioned above, I could also see Kendal being hesitant because the other half of the party are still unaccounted for.
Falst: kitty
Kendal: Vash’nt (reminder of his failings)
Dainix: I’ll go with demon
Alinua: ???
Erin: sicktats mc.hubris (or however it’s spelled. Also hates it for the implication that he’s hubristic amongst other reasons)
Tess: if she had a slave name or something? That.
Void dragon: Walter
Kendal: “Blondie” hates being talked down to, even if he is a child
Alinua: “Chimera maker” Primordial Life seems to get really bent out of shape when perceived that way as well, a point of common ground
for the both of them.
Falst: “Animal” or “Monster” He may be beastial but he is person too!
Erin: “Void’s er, Patsy” damn it, he NOBODY’S fool!
Dainix: “Murderer” (especially if it applies to Ignans) or “Kin Killer” source of deep shame.
Tess: Nothing (nobody can really understand what’s like to be Chosen Lighting unless they were so blessed!)
Just woke up and trying to chase the Collector? Stab the rock that used to be the tunnel she exited from.
Have to fight a giant stone Sentinel? Climb up onto it and stab the rock that it’s comprised of.
And now this. Kendal has a known history of trying to solve problems by stabbing rocks, and he has yet to be wholly successful in any of those endeavours.
So starfire is distinct from fire. Makes sense, fusing plasma is probably distinct from exothermic oxidation reactions. I wonder if it classifies as lightning due to being a plasma, or if there’s a titan of starfire out there somewhere?
Based on Red’s tumblr this setting seems to be magic all the way down, rather than having a thin layer scraper over our IRL physics.
There’s likely neither plasma to be fused, nor oxygen to have exothermic reactions (people need air to breathe, but that’s a quality of air).
Starfire doesn’t look or act like lightning and can safely be assumed to be distinct.
We do know that Vash’s says that Kendal’s cells have been changed, but I wonder how deep the physics goes since the humans were formed from supposedly built from the five elementals or at least with parts of all of them.
I suspect starfire predates them. It’s been implied that starmetal was the Void Dragon’s preferred “food” (and don’t forget Void/Consumption-tainted Dainax trying to eat the sword), and I get the feeling old VD was older than the Primordials (he was certainly more powerful, considering they had to gang up on him and ultimately all died in the process of sealing him away, despite their numbers advantage).
There was also Walter commenting on Kendal during the Tynan fight, noting that there was something in Kendal it “hadn’t tasted in a very long time”, so I think this makes sense.
“I see Vash took the brain when he left” oh man, what an entrance. I love how snarky Caliban is, from their expressions to their dialogue on this entire page. It’s also a neat detail that they look kind of gray here, presumably because of the sand they used for this incarnation.
I am certain their solution will have no complications or trickery, whatsoever. Mhm. Caliban, a god known to appear in disguise and NOT tell Dainix that he’s “[their] Crucible” or what that means, would never withhold critical information or put our heroes in a tight spot. I’m so sure.
Caliban has moved up on the favorite characters list. Their design is cool, they’re a trickster, they get some sassy dialogue, they’re helping our protagonists, etc. Very cool. I don’t know how much Falst likes him so far, but he’ll go along with what he says in order to save Dainix. Kendal knows Caliban, so he’ll most likely trust him.
Also, Falst immediately diving for Dainix when he saw trouble. Yes.
Kinda curious. Caliban calls Danix his “crucible”. Crucibles are used to melt metals in, for a variety of purposes – separating different types of metals (which melt at different temperatures), the making of alloys, casting the metals into shape… I wonder what purpose Caliban has in mind for Danix? (And if it is literal or metaphorical?)
But the crucible, the demon (daemon? I forgot the spelling) seems to have been around for a VERY long time if it was allowed to develop into a legend of infamy
I love Caliban and I’m so glad they’re back! Also I love how we immediately got a sort of idea of what each of Caliban’s views or overall interactions with each of these three is gonna look like. They called Falst kitty so my current bet is that it’s going to be Caliban just endlessly insulting/teasing him. Caliban just called Dainix “my crucible” so that’s going to be a potentially very fun story arc. I’m curious about Vash and Caliban’s overall relationship as Kendal seems to be reacting somewhat warily and even if he’s not immediately hostile and he could just be extra cautious at the moment I think it’s more so that while Caliban is something of an ally, he’s an ally that you can’t quite know the next move of and is more loyal to her ignans than anything. My guess is that Kendal is going to be wary if somewhat trusting before that dynamic gets complicated by Caliban’s dynamics with everyone else.
I like how as time goes on the gods seem to know more about Kendal, the first few gods he met saw him as mysterious or confusing but Argist the god of the port city saw him as almost a distant relation or an old friends kid and now we have this, that first panel was funny but it showed how much Caliban knows about what Kendal is and they’re snarky attitude toward the concept is very refreshing compared to Zuurith who saw him as a threat. it’s just really interesting to see each gods different perspective on things and Kendal himself being an immediate reason for them to show that perspective.
To be fair, it was a good idea. Now that I think of it, the characters have been relying on a lot of divine intervention lately—maybe it’s time for a level up soon?
Since Caliban is trying to prevent Kendall from unintentionally killing Dainix with a fairly limited time, some rudeness/being annoying feels excusable.
Also, Calliban is probably overestimating how obvious it would be that Kendall’s plan is bad (for reference, see this comic about experts overestimating a non-expert’s familiarity with the expert’s topic of esxpertise: https://xkcd.com/2501/ )
Well, y’all were right. I actually wasn’t, but this is cool.
How does Kendal know Caliban, or is he relying on Vash’s memories? I don’t remember Kendal meeting Cali inside the mountain, of if they did, Caliban was disguised. Haven’t checked back yet, though.
that’s such a deus ex machina entrance it’s almost not funny 😂
just. *just* almost, though! I do love Caliban, & I do love both the sass & casual displays of power here. what a god.
Caliban’s mentality to Floofyboi:*Vash packing his bags before being collected by the collector*:I’ve got everything, wait I forgot something, Ah yes my brain, alright bye bye
Caliban is great, I love ’em!
And also; called it!
They need fire and starfire ain’t it.
I called that being a god manifesting behind them but wasn’t sure about your point until reading the comments.
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: offers you a helpful tooltip but offsets it by being incredibly annoying about it- ah beans I just reinvented clippy
Image source: caliban
tumblr: bet you thought you’d seen the last of ME
We will never hear the last of Caliban, at least as long as there are tools, weapons and armour need creating.
You’re thinking of Tahraim. Caliban is the god of Ignans, of which Dainix belongs to.
Tahraim is the God of the forge. Caliban is the God of the Ignans, of which Dainix belongs to.
If they’re explaining something, it’s Caliban.
If they’re NOT explaining anything, it’s Tahraim.
This
I truly have no idea why but ‘ah beans’ has me dying laughing😂🤣
. “I see Vash took the brain when he left,” Caliban mutters, grabbing Kendal’s wrist with a gray hand before he can stab demonheart-Dainix. Kendal and Falst both start in surprise.
. Falst lunges towards Dainix, grabbing the rock and spinning away from them. “Let him go–!”
. “Ease off, kitty,” Caliban says as Kendal’s starfire flickers out. “You’re gonna want to hear me out. I mean, assuming you want Dainix to be alive instead of dead.” They glance down as Kendal grabs their wrist with his other hand. “Rude,” they mutter as Kendal tears through their wrist, freeing his arm.
. “Caliban, what are you doing here?” Kendal asks, watching them warily with his sword out.
. “Uh, stopping you from blasting my Crucible with the concentrated power of a dead star, obviously. Just because it’s hot doesn’t mean it’s Fire,” Caliban says, watching their hand as it takes form again. “Still, that tells me you’re pretty desperate to save him,” looking back up with a grin. “So I thought I’d tell you how.”
*gasps* There’s a books tab now!! I’m so excited!! The book comes out a couple days before my birthday, so I’m really hoping I’ll get it
Also, would any of u guys mind if (in a seperate comment) I asked for like advice and stuff about this book I’m writing? I need some help with my magic system lol
bluesky: divine intervention
Thanks for the save Caliban! Their skin looks real different here I wonder what’s up with that
Discord thinks it’s because this incarnation is made from a different material!
Was confirmed on tumblr! Kinda, actually it’s apparently one of the reasons.
Ooh, I think you’re right! It looks like they’re forming from the sand on the beach.
Maybe theres another type of Ignan living here.
If we’re going by the wiki, it might be the fact that there is a volcanic sub group of ignans that have grey skin
Caliban is unimpressed
But says they’ll help on the quest
Also AURORA BOOKS! PHYSICALLY!!! (*Squeels of excitement*)
Physical books? Does that mean Red is printing this into comic books, or she’s planning to, or it’s already completed? Please give me more information or direct me to your source. Also, I second your squeals of excitement.
Note the change in the bar at the top of the page. There’s a new headline that reads BOOKS. You’ll find the information there. But the short of it is, Red got a publishing deal and the first volume will be out in a few months.
Thank You!
There’s a new tab for books at the top of the site. Red’s been talking on tumblr for a bit about book plans, and preorders are available now!
WAIT WHAT THERE ARE GONNA BE AURORA BOOKS
“I see Vash took the brain when he left,”
Says Caliban, grabbing his hand.
With a mocking tongue and divine power,
They intrude upon the band.
“Caliban, what are you doing here?” says Kendal
While Falst holds Dainix fearfully.
“Uh, stopping you from blasting my Crucible with the concentrated
Power of a dead star, obviously.”
With a face of dark sand they smile, eyes wide
Like glowing pits in their brow.
“Still, that tells me you’re pretty desperate to save him.
So I thought I’d tell you how.”
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS DAY
YOUR crucible? Dainix belongs to himself
thank fuck for caliban
Kitty! Caliban called him kitty! That is not in the least bit adorable.
I love how Kendal knows them all, instantly. There’s not an instant’s worth of “who are you?” “I? I am the great and terrible–” Nope! Straight to “What are you doing here, Caliban?”
So starfire is the fire of a supernova. Neat.
Falst’s gonna get them back for that as soon as he makes sure dainix is ok. Not even a god can get away unscathed after invoking his ferin fury.
Well, he said ‘dead’, not ‘dying’, so I was thinking more white dwarf or neutron star. Which would also match the color, come to think of it.
A supernova is more the death throws of a star rather than a state of a star.
And here we have the hook for the Volcano Heist. Let’s go.
Loving Caliban being unamused by getting hand crushed.
Sorry for asking, but what is the volcano heist?
They need to steal the fire from the gods and there’s this handy dandy volcano god right here!
Only the latest speculation of “Fire and Stone”‘s story line based Red’s cover and love of TV/movie tropes. But I could be wrong (and often am).
Caliban: That’s not how you power my boy-tool! Seriously, I loan bim to you for five minutes and you depower him and almost break him!
Oh, Caliban <3
A while ago I shortened Caliban’s name to just “Cali” when talking about them. Unfortunately, this has caused my brain to occasionally give them a valley girl accent when talking, and their dialogue on this page is not helping.
Ooh! I love the detail of Caliban’s skin being darker because they made this incarnation out of the black sand beach; just imagine what Rakhn looks like, going off this and the chapter cover. I also like how Cali is holding up one finger in panel 4 in a little “hold on a minute” gesture, though it seems Kendal didn’t notice.
It’s great that Caliban is doing this for them, dropping tidbits of lore, and skipping any needlessly cryptic parts Tahraim may have wanted to add to this potentially time sensitive mission. However, them calling Dainix “MY Crucible” has me at odds. I hope it’s just them emphasising that Dainix is under their protection in godly-speak, especially since the Zuurith arc had them trying to restore Dainix’s agency, but I see how it could be read the other way.
I can certainly see Falst reading it the other way; that combined with grabbing hold of Kendal and calling him “kitty” are not going to enamour him to Caliban. I’m torn as to whether Cali will take his attitude personally, or their trickster god aspect taking over and ribbing him about his crush on Dainix.
Prediction for next week: Caliban explains how to save Dainix, starting the volcano heist arc. Aside from the Falst reaction I mentioned above, I could also see Kendal being hesitant because the other half of the party are still unaccounted for.
I use Sophia Ricciardi as Dani, from Rolling With Difficulty campaign 1, for Caliban’s voice
I’m assuming since their closer to a volcano and seemingly on an island connected to fire, Caliban’s form looks more elemental than usual
Aurora Question #35: What nicknames would each member of the floof gang hate the most?
Falst: kitty
Kendal: Vash’nt (reminder of his failings)
Dainix: I’ll go with demon
Alinua: ???
Erin: sicktats mc.hubris (or however it’s spelled. Also hates it for the implication that he’s hubristic amongst other reasons)
Tess: if she had a slave name or something? That.
Void dragon: Walter
Kendal: “Blondie” hates being talked down to, even if he is a child
Alinua: “Chimera maker” Primordial Life seems to get really bent out of shape when perceived that way as well, a point of common ground
for the both of them.
Falst: “Animal” or “Monster” He may be beastial but he is person too!
Erin: “Void’s er, Patsy” damn it, he NOBODY’S fool!
Dainix: “Murderer” (especially if it applies to Ignans) or “Kin Killer” source of deep shame.
Tess: Nothing (nobody can really understand what’s like to be Chosen Lighting unless they were so blessed!)
before erin’s name was revealed most people were calling him icarus, and red confirmed that he would hate that lol
You cannot tell me that a character calling Falst “kitty” is going to do good things to this community…
📚✨Books!✨📚
“I see Vash took the brain when he left” No, if anything Vash would already have stabbed the rock…
Yeah, that’s what I was going to post, but you did it first. Well said!
OMG I love the snarky Caliban. And, let’s be honest: KITTY!!
Just woke up and trying to chase the Collector? Stab the rock that used to be the tunnel she exited from.
Have to fight a giant stone Sentinel? Climb up onto it and stab the rock that it’s comprised of.
And now this. Kendal has a known history of trying to solve problems by stabbing rocks, and he has yet to be wholly successful in any of those endeavours.
So starfire is distinct from fire. Makes sense, fusing plasma is probably distinct from exothermic oxidation reactions. I wonder if it classifies as lightning due to being a plasma, or if there’s a titan of starfire out there somewhere?
Based on Red’s tumblr this setting seems to be magic all the way down, rather than having a thin layer scraper over our IRL physics.
There’s likely neither plasma to be fused, nor oxygen to have exothermic reactions (people need air to breathe, but that’s a quality of air).
Starfire doesn’t look or act like lightning and can safely be assumed to be distinct.
We do know that Vash’s says that Kendal’s cells have been changed, but I wonder how deep the physics goes since the humans were formed from supposedly built from the five elementals or at least with parts of all of them.
I suspect starfire predates them. It’s been implied that starmetal was the Void Dragon’s preferred “food” (and don’t forget Void/Consumption-tainted Dainax trying to eat the sword), and I get the feeling old VD was older than the Primordials (he was certainly more powerful, considering they had to gang up on him and ultimately all died in the process of sealing him away, despite their numbers advantage).
There was also Walter commenting on Kendal during the Tynan fight, noting that there was something in Kendal it “hadn’t tasted in a very long time”, so I think this makes sense.
“The concentrated power of a dead star” Oh, so that’s why starfire is blue: (Magical) Cherenkov Radiation.
(But would that make the sword a stabby fuel rod? The part of me that likes thinking of fissionables as “stellar embers” wants to think so.)
Oh cool, did Caliban’s skin tone change because they incarnated out of black sand?
“I see Vash took the brain when he left” oh man, what an entrance. I love how snarky Caliban is, from their expressions to their dialogue on this entire page. It’s also a neat detail that they look kind of gray here, presumably because of the sand they used for this incarnation.
I am certain their solution will have no complications or trickery, whatsoever. Mhm. Caliban, a god known to appear in disguise and NOT tell Dainix that he’s “[their] Crucible” or what that means, would never withhold critical information or put our heroes in a tight spot. I’m so sure.
Do they have to throw Dainix into Rakhn’s volcano?
CALIBAN IS BACK!!
CALIBAN IS BACK!!
No Caliban, I don’t need help formatting my resume.
Why would you expect Caliban to hel– OH it’s a Clippy joke!
Caliban has moved up on the favorite characters list. Their design is cool, they’re a trickster, they get some sassy dialogue, they’re helping our protagonists, etc. Very cool. I don’t know how much Falst likes him so far, but he’ll go along with what he says in order to save Dainix. Kendal knows Caliban, so he’ll most likely trust him.
Also, Falst immediately diving for Dainix when he saw trouble. Yes.
THE FIRST PANEL MADE ME CACKLE –
Love a good old Deus Ex Machina
*Sees alt-text* “It looks like you’re trying to revive your dead friend, can I help?”
I see you’ve made the equivalent of the “one braincell” joke in this universe.
I like Caliban, he’s fun and sassy :3
Kinda curious. Caliban calls Danix his “crucible”. Crucibles are used to melt metals in, for a variety of purposes – separating different types of metals (which melt at different temperatures), the making of alloys, casting the metals into shape… I wonder what purpose Caliban has in mind for Danix? (And if it is literal or metaphorical?)
i saw someone theorize that dainix is a weapon to fight the collector back in the prison arc
But the crucible, the demon (daemon? I forgot the spelling) seems to have been around for a VERY long time if it was allowed to develop into a legend of infamy
CALIBAN HELP EVERYTHING IS GOING WRONG D:
I love Caliban and I’m so glad they’re back! Also I love how we immediately got a sort of idea of what each of Caliban’s views or overall interactions with each of these three is gonna look like. They called Falst kitty so my current bet is that it’s going to be Caliban just endlessly insulting/teasing him. Caliban just called Dainix “my crucible” so that’s going to be a potentially very fun story arc. I’m curious about Vash and Caliban’s overall relationship as Kendal seems to be reacting somewhat warily and even if he’s not immediately hostile and he could just be extra cautious at the moment I think it’s more so that while Caliban is something of an ally, he’s an ally that you can’t quite know the next move of and is more loyal to her ignans than anything. My guess is that Kendal is going to be wary if somewhat trusting before that dynamic gets complicated by Caliban’s dynamics with everyone else.
I like Caliban, I’m glad we’re seeing more of them.
Caliban! Our boi (gender-neutral)! They’re back!
I like how as time goes on the gods seem to know more about Kendal, the first few gods he met saw him as mysterious or confusing but Argist the god of the port city saw him as almost a distant relation or an old friends kid and now we have this, that first panel was funny but it showed how much Caliban knows about what Kendal is and they’re snarky attitude toward the concept is very refreshing compared to Zuurith who saw him as a threat. it’s just really interesting to see each gods different perspective on things and Kendal himself being an immediate reason for them to show that perspective.
falst: wait what the hell is that random city guard from zuurith doing here??
this aged surprisingly well
To be fair, it was a good idea. Now that I think of it, the characters have been relying on a lot of divine intervention lately—maybe it’s time for a level up soon?
TL;DR: You idiots need saving from yourselves.
Caliban coming in strong with the absolutely the hell not.
It looks like you’re trying to revive the Crucible. Would you like help?
Since Caliban is trying to prevent Kendall from unintentionally killing Dainix with a fairly limited time, some rudeness/being annoying feels excusable.
Also, Calliban is probably overestimating how obvious it would be that Kendall’s plan is bad (for reference, see this comic about experts overestimating a non-expert’s familiarity with the expert’s topic of esxpertise: https://xkcd.com/2501/ )
Oh! Hey Caliban, nice of you show up and tell us we are all wrong…
NOOOO I WANTED BLUE DAINIX WHYYYY
CALIBAN MY BELOVED
Well, this is cool.
I see the character page has a large update! Did that happen earlier and I just missed it?
It wasn’t that way last week
ooooo- starfire isn’t fire-fire!! Cool
Well, y’all were right. I actually wasn’t, but this is cool.
How does Kendal know Caliban, or is he relying on Vash’s memories? I don’t remember Kendal meeting Cali inside the mountain, of if they did, Caliban was disguised. Haven’t checked back yet, though.
that’s such a deus ex machina entrance it’s almost not funny 😂
just. *just* almost, though! I do love Caliban, & I do love both the sass & casual displays of power here. what a god.
also thank you to the comments for the book & character update shoutouts, I would have FULLY missed those 👀
THERES SM NEW STUFF WHAT!!
is caliban grey now because they made themself out of black sand?
He already knows that – 1.5.23
Dang, Red already recycling jokes out here after only *checks notes* 5 years! smh my head
?
Just trying to make joke ^^
Well atleast Caliban is there to help out.
You say that like Vash “Wouldn’t” try reigniting Dainix with his starfire sword
I like them
I called that being a god manifesting behind them
I see Caliban is doing The Twins’ work keeping Dainix away from more glowing effects Red would have to draw.
Caliban’s mentality to Floofyboi:*Vash packing his bags before being collected by the collector*:I’ve got everything, wait I forgot something, Ah yes my brain, alright bye bye
Damn. I just caught up.
god i love these panels
“if youre half the god you used to be” and looking at him, i believe he is.