. “I don’t understand your reluctance,” Caturus says to the Captain. “If she fails, the Wyrm’s shell dies, just as you intended.”
. “If she fails, the Wyrm could grow three times longer, or sprout tentacles from her spine,” the Captain snaps. “Then where would we be?”
. Behind them, Alinua lunges toward the white mermaid, grabbing them by the shoulders, shouting something. Then she backs away as Selach comes closer, trying to process this new realization.
. “By my estimation, no worse off than we are now!” Caturus bursts out. “She already cannot be killed!”
. “She has not been killed YET.”
. “She is a GOD, Valia! Even if you pierce her hide and carve out her heart, she could simply choose to make another!”
. “Does she seem godlike now, Caturus?” Captain Valia cries angrily. “Do you truly believe all this horror is her choice?”
. “I believe that there is more to this than we know,” Caturus says, frustrated. He draws his hand through the water, forming a small serpent with his Water magic. “And if the dissolution of her body was enough to bring her back… I believe she would have done so already.”
. “So you think the Wyrm truly has turned on us,” Captain Valia says, turning away. “All the more reason to drive her away with all the force we can muster.”
. “You’re not listening,” Caturus says, putting a hand to his head. “I’m saying we don’t know–”
. “I’m going to the shrine,” Alinua interrupts, standing behind them. She looks very nervous, clutching her hands together. “If I’m right, I know what happened here. But I really hope I’m wrong.”
The physical Aurora book is now released as of yesterday! Woo!
I absolutely love Alinua freaking out in the background XD
oooh I knew it, Alinua never saw the Collector’s chimeras before but the gang in this story have a talent for telling each other pertinent information like what the bad guy’s minions look like. I love a story with intelligent protagonists
The thing is, that sometimes miscommunication happens, thats how people work. It’s when it makes characters seem stupid and out of character that its a problem.
I wanna say it’s just one of Red’s pet peeves in stories, partially because it’s one of mine too. I tend to be a bit neurotic about making sure everyone has the same information and it annoys me in stories when characters don’t do the same
Given that Alinua lived close enough to Vash to feel it being attacked and think “maybe I can hold together enough to help the neighbors and do some good”, and the Collector had them beseiged with those chimera for a full month, it’s very plausible that it’s more of a “we never saw Alinua see them” than an “Alinua never saw them”.
I love Alinua’s poses and expressions in the background of the first two panels. Characters going through it in the background of more serious moments in the foreground is one of my favourite visuals in comics.
When a hero says “I hope I’m right”, you should be a little cautious.
When a hero says “I hope I’m wrong”, you should be terrified.
I was thinking Alinua’s realisation would be the main focus of this page, but having it be a sorta-funny background event is just as good. Her reaction and implied conversation with the merfolk doesn’t have to be front and centre; the readers can already guess what’s being said with this alone.
As obstinate as she is, I can understand Valia’s attitude. Last page all but confirmed that merfolk lost their arm to the N.W., and I’m betting the other’s injuries were caused by her too; their well-being and the safety of many others is her responsibility, and she’s failing. Her anger and resentment is born of the powerlessness of mortals vs. a mad god.
But still, listen to the diaphanous twink, captain; you need more intel, and Alinua is your best bet to get it.
One thing that’s been bugging me about the Northern Wyrm chimera is that it’s still glowing life-magic green along it’s body; all other chimeras we’ve met don’t, unless they’re being actively mutated.
This implies to me that whatever spell the Collector worked on the Wyrm is still ongoing, and maybe this constant life influx is preventing the Wyrm from taking control and de-incarnating.
Ohhhhhhhhh. That’s clever. Would explain why she’s trapped in there, because she keeps trying to fight it, but it keeps mutating back. And if she left it and stopped holding back the mutation, tons would get so much worse.
Also, those lacrima(?) on the N.W. remind me of the spelleater from the arc where they meet Falst. Maybe the stones are drawing in life magic constantly, like the spelleater eating ambient magic, and that’s why the spell hasn’t just worn off and allowed the goddess to fix her incarnation.
I don’t think there’s enough Life down here to do that regardless, but that’s also not really how great runes work (according to a Tumblr post from red, linked via my username).
“A Great Rune can draw power to it, but power needs to be available in the first place, and it needs to be steadily and reliably available to make the spell work. Trying to power a spell by it without a lacrima would be kind of like trying to power an electronic by hooking it up to a small wind turbine – you’re sort of okay as long as there’s wind, but you aren’t going to be getting consistent power, and if the environment doesn’t cooperate you’re out of luck.”
Since there are no Life mages down here I’d also assume no ambient Life so a great rune probably wouldn’t work even for trying to mutate a tiny fish. I’d assume the Collector made or brought Life lacrimas for this specific purpose, or she has some other scarier means of bringing ambient Life with her that we don’t know about yet.
Wait hold on, i don’t remember, what does Alinua and the whole floof gang in general actually know of the collector? Did she she the collectors chimera’s?
Seriously, anyone, what did Alinua just consume? She made 0 comment on the green glob in her hands before devouring it. Did it taste good? Was it dough or a seaweed wrap. Did it have any filling? My guess is it was bad but she wanted to be polite. Or maybe she discovered a new love for sea food.
The merpeople called it jelly. I doubt that they would have any kind of bread underwater, and frying/cooking things underwater is also very hard (thermal vent cooking?)
I think Ali’s in problem-solving mode lol. Possibly to an unhealthy degree. Also, how do you petrify a rock? If that’s not too personal of a question (yes I know it’s just a silly username but if I can get a fun bit out of this I will try).
I’m a rock and fossil collector and couldn’t think of anything funny to petrify, even though I wanted that word specifically in my username. Maybe PetrifiedSpageti would be better?
The physical version is also smaller than I thought it would be, it’s like standard paperback size but I was imagining a large comic size. Maybe I was imagining that because the computer version is large?
I haven’t read mine yet though, I’m waiting for my birthday (August 3rd) to read it as it’s a birthday present (I asked my friend to get it for me). Super excited though!
Wow, that really does sound heavy. I just weighed my (german) paperback copy of the first PJO book and it weighed slightly less than a pound (434g). I expected Aurora to weigh less, now I am even more excited:D
Alinua the Cloud Elf, Expert on Primordial Life, Emergency Rescue Maven Extraordinaire. Um stand back please…
I got my hard copy of Aurora yesterday. I love the new introduction with the Primordial Elementals! It wets my whistle for more stories of the the in the unwritten future past! When I am done reading my copy I want to give it to my nieces or their offspring to infect them with wonder and story! “They” say we should not increase our carbon footprint now but I still love the touch and smell of books and art.
Books won’t contribute much. They can be made from renewable paper and anyway its the big companies that contribute to carbon footprints rather than individual people. You should do what you can, but never getting books isn’t something that you would ever need to do!
Oh cool, we finally get a name for—WAIT why is Valia’s entire back completely unarmored!? Her upper arms too, that’s super weird. And no, it’s not for sexy reasons. Red (the author) doesn’t do that kind of thing. But it still has me flabbergasted.
Do you have any idea how clunky armor is? The vast majority of armor simply didn’t have sleeves because they restricted movement too much. The big metal cans we all know and love were for knights and cavalry, the ones who had money and didn’t need to move their arms as much because they were on horseback. And it stopped being made when guns made metal armor obsolete
Valia: I was always taught to face my enemies and never turn my back on them … probably because my armour sucks in that department.
Caturus: Then why don’t you invest in some back armour?
Valia: Three reasons. One, the right materials for armour are hard to come by, so if I take more someone else may be deprived of protection. Two, it allows for better airflow and comfort for my back gills. And three, it makes me look sexy. I thought you of all people would understand that last point.
Caturus: What do you mean?
Valia: Well … just, the clothes you wear!
Caturus: What about my clothes?
Valia: What? B-but … they’re see through, and … open … UGH! You know what, never mind.
Ok, you know what I’ve decided to make that a headcanon: Caturus doesnt realise that his outfit is considered ‘attractive’ and just wears it because he likes how the sleeves move when he flaps his arms 😂
Just got my book today and I’m so sad because it came with some minor damage 🙁
Ordered from Books-a-Million, looks like they intended to wrap it nice and tight in one of those cardboard self-sealing envelope things, but they bound it TOO tight and it popped open at some point. Someone did a very shoddy job taping up the open side to where it just opened back up immediately, and was pretty much delivered to my house with the one side still hanging open. The book was slightly dog-eared on the front cover corners, and the exposed spine is scuffed on the corners. Waiting for customer service to give me a call back, and debating if I want to go out in this awful heatwave to see if I want to swap the book at a local store.
The book itself looks amazing! I wish the shippers had treated it with more respect. The damage really is minor, and something that might happen with normal wear and tear (honestly I’m surprised it didn’t arrive more damaged, given the packaging) but I wanted to keep this book pristine and protected, and they already ruined that. Here’s hoping everyone else’s comes in better shape.
High marks though to my local store, the swapped it for a pristine copy no problem. Next time I just buy straight from them.
My copy of Volume 1 came in today! Time to mentally (and maybe later digitally) catalogue every difference and extra compared to the webcomic. Nary an em dash shall escape my sight!
I’m certain I wrote this comment SOMEWHERE else, but Capt. Valia reminds me of the time during the Cold War, when US intelligence figured out that the Soviets did not, in fact, have hundreds of state-of-the-art, brand new submarines in active service… and the admirals who had made that concept up responded by insisting that the nonexistent new Soviet subs were being MADE ACTUALLY INVISIBLE by some secret new technology the Soviets must have.
Rather than admit they originally overstated the threat to inflate their own importance, and that of their pet projects.
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: in my notes I initially referred to Caturus as simply “diaphanous twink”
Image source: hope
From dictionary.com:
diaphanous
1. very sheer and light; almost completely transparent or translucent.
2. delicately hazy.
Thank you.
. “I don’t understand your reluctance,” Caturus says to the Captain. “If she fails, the Wyrm’s shell dies, just as you intended.”
. “If she fails, the Wyrm could grow three times longer, or sprout tentacles from her spine,” the Captain snaps. “Then where would we be?”
. Behind them, Alinua lunges toward the white mermaid, grabbing them by the shoulders, shouting something. Then she backs away as Selach comes closer, trying to process this new realization.
. “By my estimation, no worse off than we are now!” Caturus bursts out. “She already cannot be killed!”
. “She has not been killed YET.”
. “She is a GOD, Valia! Even if you pierce her hide and carve out her heart, she could simply choose to make another!”
. “Does she seem godlike now, Caturus?” Captain Valia cries angrily. “Do you truly believe all this horror is her choice?”
. “I believe that there is more to this than we know,” Caturus says, frustrated. He draws his hand through the water, forming a small serpent with his Water magic. “And if the dissolution of her body was enough to bring her back… I believe she would have done so already.”
. “So you think the Wyrm truly has turned on us,” Captain Valia says, turning away. “All the more reason to drive her away with all the force we can muster.”
. “You’re not listening,” Caturus says, putting a hand to his head. “I’m saying we don’t know–”
. “I’m going to the shrine,” Alinua interrupts, standing behind them. She looks very nervous, clutching her hands together. “If I’m right, I know what happened here. But I really hope I’m wrong.”
The physical Aurora book is now released as of yesterday! Woo!
I absolutely love Alinua freaking out in the background XD
tumblr text: I’ve connected the dots
Bluesky Text: the book is out and that’s very exciting but ALSO the comic is inexorably moving forward
Alinua freaking out in the background of the first panel
Thank you for pointing that out, I totally missed it and am now laughing my ass off XD
Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I missed that. Thank you!
Alinua: If what I think is happening IS happening, it better NOT be!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wUa__-HAcs8&list=PLDb22nlVXGgf8AHcJg2xPwVqrbBTJgvRe&index=5&pp=iAQB
We need a version of Di-Vine detites but for Aurora
Alrighty, quest time! Time to find out whether Alinua can dechimerify a divine incarnation.
Love the Alinua crashout in the background
Good “Less is more” storytelling choice regarding Alinua’s panicked breakdown, Red.
We, in the biz, call this: “Show, don’t tell.”
background epiphany was the thing I didn’t know I needed
Alinua panicks, the captain stands firm
And Caturus’ opinion makes her squirm
oooh I knew it, Alinua never saw the Collector’s chimeras before but the gang in this story have a talent for telling each other pertinent information like what the bad guy’s minions look like. I love a story with intelligent protagonists
Of course, this is Red! She would never make it a miscommunication plot!
The thing is, that sometimes miscommunication happens, thats how people work. It’s when it makes characters seem stupid and out of character that its a problem.
I wanna say it’s just one of Red’s pet peeves in stories, partially because it’s one of mine too. I tend to be a bit neurotic about making sure everyone has the same information and it annoys me in stories when characters don’t do the same
Given that Alinua lived close enough to Vash to feel it being attacked and think “maybe I can hold together enough to help the neighbors and do some good”, and the Collector had them beseiged with those chimera for a full month, it’s very plausible that it’s more of a “we never saw Alinua see them” than an “Alinua never saw them”.
True, though she might’ve just felt the Collector burying Vash, and didn’t know about the siege earlier.
I love Alinua’s poses and expressions in the background of the first two panels. Characters going through it in the background of more serious moments in the foreground is one of my favourite visuals in comics.
Soooo, who else got the amazing awesome physical version? I am absolutely loving Erin’s diary!
Alina freaking out in the background of the top two panels is such good visual storytelling.
I love the Sekrai’s eyes!!
When a hero says “I hope I’m right”, you should be a little cautious.
When a hero says “I hope I’m wrong”, you should be terrified.
I was thinking Alinua’s realisation would be the main focus of this page, but having it be a sorta-funny background event is just as good. Her reaction and implied conversation with the merfolk doesn’t have to be front and centre; the readers can already guess what’s being said with this alone.
As obstinate as she is, I can understand Valia’s attitude. Last page all but confirmed that merfolk lost their arm to the N.W., and I’m betting the other’s injuries were caused by her too; their well-being and the safety of many others is her responsibility, and she’s failing. Her anger and resentment is born of the powerlessness of mortals vs. a mad god.
But still, listen to the diaphanous twink, captain; you need more intel, and Alinua is your best bet to get it.
One thing that’s been bugging me about the Northern Wyrm chimera is that it’s still glowing life-magic green along it’s body; all other chimeras we’ve met don’t, unless they’re being actively mutated.
This implies to me that whatever spell the Collector worked on the Wyrm is still ongoing, and maybe this constant life influx is preventing the Wyrm from taking control and de-incarnating.
Ohhhhhhhhh. That’s clever. Would explain why she’s trapped in there, because she keeps trying to fight it, but it keeps mutating back. And if she left it and stopped holding back the mutation, tons would get so much worse.
Also, those lacrima(?) on the N.W. remind me of the spelleater from the arc where they meet Falst. Maybe the stones are drawing in life magic constantly, like the spelleater eating ambient magic, and that’s why the spell hasn’t just worn off and allowed the goddess to fix her incarnation.
tons->things
Could she not just carve a Life rune in the Wyrm’s body? Would that draw in enough energy to continuously mutate a god?
I don’t think there’s enough Life down here to do that regardless, but that’s also not really how great runes work (according to a Tumblr post from red, linked via my username).
“A Great Rune can draw power to it, but power needs to be available in the first place, and it needs to be steadily and reliably available to make the spell work. Trying to power a spell by it without a lacrima would be kind of like trying to power an electronic by hooking it up to a small wind turbine – you’re sort of okay as long as there’s wind, but you aren’t going to be getting consistent power, and if the environment doesn’t cooperate you’re out of luck.”
Since there are no Life mages down here I’d also assume no ambient Life so a great rune probably wouldn’t work even for trying to mutate a tiny fish. I’d assume the Collector made or brought Life lacrimas for this specific purpose, or she has some other scarier means of bringing ambient Life with her that we don’t know about yet.
I love Alinua’s freak-out in the background, followed shortly with her intent on trying to make it better.
“I don’t understand you reluctancy, if she-” *AAAAAAAH*
“She already cannot be ki-” *THE COLELER, COLECTEL, COTELCER, AAAAAAAAAAAH*
Well then, hope harder lady, you might cause the hand of the author to slip on a banana peel and do a triple black flip on a helicopter
I turn 18 today!!! Thxs for the gift!
Happy birthday!! 😀
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Joyous orbital anniversary!
Happy 18th Birthday!
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday, enjoy Alinua freaking out in the background of the first couple panels!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday
May you have many happy years ahead of you!
“the worm has turned-”
oh no now I’m imagining Shellmet Sekrai with the voice of the Soldier from TF2, and it fits too well
One of these days I’ll remember to make a question, but today is not that day.
In other news, realised I’m Pangender, so that’s neat.
Hooray!
🥳 Good for you!!
I have no clue what my gender is but im sure I’ll figure it out sometime. I might be gender apathetic? I think i heard that that was a thing.
Me too. Hello fellow gender apathetic. I’m to used to being female to switch yto neutral and my gender impacts me 0 so apathetic feels righ.
Exactly!!!
Yay! New discoveries! Congrats!
Congratulations!
Gotta love Alinua crashing out in the background of the first two panels, and Selach’s poses/expressions as well.
Hypothesis: the Wyrm could be another Vash/Kendal situation.
The Captain: Can you just let me stab the once god-like being?
Oh, I can’t WAIT to see Alinua be awesome again!
Wait hold on, i don’t remember, what does Alinua and the whole floof gang in general actually know of the collector? Did she she the collectors chimera’s?
They know pretty much everything we do
TL;DR: You two stop arguing, I think I’m onto something.
Seriously, anyone, what did Alinua just consume? She made 0 comment on the green glob in her hands before devouring it. Did it taste good? Was it dough or a seaweed wrap. Did it have any filling? My guess is it was bad but she wanted to be polite. Or maybe she discovered a new love for sea food.
The merpeople called it jelly. I doubt that they would have any kind of bread underwater, and frying/cooking things underwater is also very hard (thermal vent cooking?)
I think Ali’s in problem-solving mode lol. Possibly to an unhealthy degree. Also, how do you petrify a rock? If that’s not too personal of a question (yes I know it’s just a silly username but if I can get a fun bit out of this I will try).
How do you purple a mage?
Oh that’s easy – make ’em a tiefling
One word: fossils
I’m a rock and fossil collector and couldn’t think of anything funny to petrify, even though I wanted that word specifically in my username. Maybe PetrifiedSpageti would be better?
My rocks most certaintly have feeling, if they were terified they’d be petrified though I would never do such a thing.
I think I finally understand why people find mermaids pretty. But that might just be the way Red draws them. They are very ethereal.
MY PHYSICAL COPY CAME TODAY AND AHHGHHG IT’S SO COOL (also very heavy. Aurora is a very heavy physical book.)
The physical version is also smaller than I thought it would be, it’s like standard paperback size but I was imagining a large comic size. Maybe I was imagining that because the computer version is large?
I haven’t read mine yet though, I’m waiting for my birthday (August 3rd) to read it as it’s a birthday present (I asked my friend to get it for me). Super excited though!
Im having mine as a (very late) birthday present when it comes to the UK in late August!
How heavy is it, if I may ask?
It’s heavier than a novel of that size, but it’s not that heavy. I’m not a great judge of weight, but a few pounds, maybe?
Wow, that really does sound heavy. I just weighed my (german) paperback copy of the first PJO book and it weighed slightly less than a pound (434g). I expected Aurora to weigh less, now I am even more excited:D
Alinua the Cloud Elf, Expert on Primordial Life, Emergency Rescue Maven Extraordinaire. Um stand back please…
I got my hard copy of Aurora yesterday. I love the new introduction with the Primordial Elementals! It wets my whistle for more stories of the the in the unwritten future past! When I am done reading my copy I want to give it to my nieces or their offspring to infect them with wonder and story! “They” say we should not increase our carbon footprint now but I still love the touch and smell of books and art.
*Books* and *art* are probably the least concern when it comes to carbon footprint. I also hate theyocracy (a term coined by Tolkien of all people)
Books won’t contribute much. They can be made from renewable paper and anyway its the big companies that contribute to carbon footprints rather than individual people. You should do what you can, but never getting books isn’t something that you would ever need to do!
Caturus Is both a water and lighting mage, which is interesting
Just a wee little sidequest, won’t be hardly a minute
Thou shalt be sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time
Worm time
Oh cool, we finally get a name for—WAIT why is Valia’s entire back completely unarmored!? Her upper arms too, that’s super weird. And no, it’s not for sexy reasons. Red (the author) doesn’t do that kind of thing. But it still has me flabbergasted.
Maybe its because the gills extend onto their back? So its for ventilation? It wouldn’t explain the arms though…
Do you have any idea how clunky armor is? The vast majority of armor simply didn’t have sleeves because they restricted movement too much. The big metal cans we all know and love were for knights and cavalry, the ones who had money and didn’t need to move their arms as much because they were on horseback. And it stopped being made when guns made metal armor obsolete
Valia: I was always taught to face my enemies and never turn my back on them … probably because my armour sucks in that department.
Caturus: Then why don’t you invest in some back armour?
Valia: Three reasons. One, the right materials for armour are hard to come by, so if I take more someone else may be deprived of protection. Two, it allows for better airflow and comfort for my back gills. And three, it makes me look sexy. I thought you of all people would understand that last point.
Caturus: What do you mean?
Valia: Well … just, the clothes you wear!
Caturus: What about my clothes?
Valia: What? B-but … they’re see through, and … open … UGH! You know what, never mind.
Ok, you know what I’ve decided to make that a headcanon: Caturus doesnt realise that his outfit is considered ‘attractive’ and just wears it because he likes how the sleeves move when he flaps his arms 😂
DIAPHANOUS TWINK
Just got my book today and I’m so sad because it came with some minor damage 🙁
Ordered from Books-a-Million, looks like they intended to wrap it nice and tight in one of those cardboard self-sealing envelope things, but they bound it TOO tight and it popped open at some point. Someone did a very shoddy job taping up the open side to where it just opened back up immediately, and was pretty much delivered to my house with the one side still hanging open. The book was slightly dog-eared on the front cover corners, and the exposed spine is scuffed on the corners. Waiting for customer service to give me a call back, and debating if I want to go out in this awful heatwave to see if I want to swap the book at a local store.
The book itself looks amazing! I wish the shippers had treated it with more respect. The damage really is minor, and something that might happen with normal wear and tear (honestly I’m surprised it didn’t arrive more damaged, given the packaging) but I wanted to keep this book pristine and protected, and they already ruined that. Here’s hoping everyone else’s comes in better shape.
High marks though to my local store, the swapped it for a pristine copy no problem. Next time I just buy straight from them.
That sucks, that it came damaged. I hope you can get it fixed 😀
Im glad that you got a pristine copy!
Caturus floofing up their hair in the middle panel to emphasize their puppy eyes
god bless
The god’s gone isn’t she? This could be another Kendall situation, only this time the body that remained is a mad chimera.
Captain Valia and the terrible horrible no good very bad sef
My copy of Volume 1 came in today! Time to mentally (and maybe later digitally) catalogue every difference and extra compared to the webcomic. Nary an em dash shall escape my sight!
I’m certain I wrote this comment SOMEWHERE else, but Capt. Valia reminds me of the time during the Cold War, when US intelligence figured out that the Soviets did not, in fact, have hundreds of state-of-the-art, brand new submarines in active service… and the admirals who had made that concept up responded by insisting that the nonexistent new Soviet subs were being MADE ACTUALLY INVISIBLE by some secret new technology the Soviets must have.
Rather than admit they originally overstated the threat to inflate their own importance, and that of their pet projects.