. “CAPTAIN!”
. The Captain glances to the side, eyes widening, as a shout comes from an entrance to the shell, five merfolk darting in.
. “We heard shouting!” a pale blue Sekrai with bandages wrapped around his ribs says as they swim up.
. “What happened?” asks a snow-pale mermaid with ice blue hair and eyes, missing their right arm.
. “At ease,” the Captain says calmly to the group as they swim around her.
. “Who’s this?” a brown-skinned Sekrai with dark teal hair, a purple top and pants, and a bandage over her left eye and upper left arm asks.
. “Where are her spots?” a dark blue mermaid with bright blue hair asks, frowning at Alinua.
. “I found her,” Selach interrupts, darting in front of Alinua. “She’s a Life mage.”
. “This far down–?” the brown Sekrai asks.
. “But I thought–” the deep blue mermaid starts.
. “And she can help,” Selach says. She glances back at Alinua. “Right?”
. They float there for a moment, Alinua scanning the group. She notices their wounds, the concealed hopefulness and desperation.
. “Yes,” Alinua says, concerned. “Tell me everything.”
More seafolk! They’re so cool! Though they look a bit worse for wear. The missing arm injury doesnt look very fresh to me, but many of the other injuries do. Is this to do with the Wyrm? Are there other chimeras around causing trouble? Small wonder that they were so tense and unwelcoming, they might be under a lot of stress and worry. I am glad that Alinua’s going to try to help them, especially since we know that the others are more or less OK. She’ll probably be quite worried, though.
It appears that merfolk have 2-spiked ears, whereas Sekrai have 3, meaning that the seafolk we saw earlier were probably Sekrai. Their ears were less extremely pointed, though, and their eyes were somewhere between Sekrai and Merfolk (they had ‘pupils’, but they were blurry and didn’t have an outline. Perhaps those were ‘shallower’ Sekrai, and they have less extremely adapted ears? Maybe Sekrai eyes look like that above water? Fish can look quite different above and below water.
Any thoughts?
The Captain is the only one wearing that armour. I had thought it was a merfolk/sekrai difference, but it seems not. Perhaps armour is expensive, so only the leader has it? Maybe Captain has a more ‘official’ role as a soldier/guard and the others are more like civilian volunteers? Captain is the only one with a weapon, after all.
I love the dark blue mermaid with the bright hair, and the pale one, and the teal Sekrai with the long hair (at the back in the first panel)!! I mean, I love all of them, but those particularly
This chapter is called Siren Call, which I’ve just realised strikes me as a bit odd, since Sirens are an actual thing in this world. And they aren’t aquatic. They’re wind influenced humans born at random around the world, and they have compelling voices and an ability to be understood no matter the language barrier (as Wind is the primordial of communication). Fun fact: Vash’s trade emissary was a siren named Glenn, and he survived the destruction of Vash since he was away at the time!
Anyway, I presume ‘Siren’ is just being used poetically in the title. Or referring to mermaids by a synonym we sometimes use, even though it’s different in Aurora.
“Siren call” can also be used to describe the allure of something, particularly if that something has a quality to it that makes it dangerous to the one who seeks to possess it–think Gollum and the One Ring, or Thorin and the Arkenstone (I have no idea why the first things to come to my mind were from Tolkien, but it is what it is). In this case, I have a feeling it’s going to have to do with Alinua’s connection to Life–she’s been using her powers sparingly, all things considering, but it looks like this chapter is going to change that, and as she gets a better grasp on what she can do, the ease of it, and the scope of the possibilities… Well, there’s going to come a point where she’s going to have to either reinforce her beliefs and morals regarding her magic, or choose to step over them. And once she does, even if it’s for the right reasons, she’s going to have to reckon with the fact that it’ll be just a little easier to hop over that line the next time.
We know someone else who’s embraced that path. Ali’s not going to want to go down it, but there’s a reason they say that power corrupts, and that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. She’ll have to be extra vigilant after this mini-arc, because it will be that much easier for her to slip without realizing.
The merfolk look really wounded. And since they said “captain”, and were replied to with “at ease”, I think they’re the responsible party for going up against the wyrm… And they’ve been through the wringer…
Alinua: My resume includes healing, draining chimeras of excess energy, healing, making plant constructs, healing, growing giant trees for a variety of purposes, and healing.
Selach: You said healing four times.
Alinua: The party I’m traveling in needs a LOT of healing.
So here’s the rest of the captain’s crew and oh boy, it looks like they’ve been through the wringer; bandaged torso, wounded eye, missing arm, and that’s just the physical injuries. Is that snail shell helmet hiding some head scars on the captain? Is Selach’s lack of scars a sign she’s a more junior or non-combative member?
Their injuries haven’t escaped Alinua’s attention either; you can see her looking at the one-armed Merfolk in panel 3. Her turnaround from wanting to leave to wanting to help is sudden, but not unsurprising. She may be confused, uncomfortable, and far from her friends, but Alinua has proven time and again she will always do her best to help people in ways only she can.
Prediction for next week: A more detained exposition on the nature of what’s afflicting the Norther Wyrm, with maybe some lingering hesitation and distrust from the captain. Possible Collector mentions too.
Maybe a scene change of them swimming to where the Wyrm is and they infodump as they go? They could already have a plan to manage the Wyrm problem that, with Ali’s involvement, could be turned into a solution.
I think Selach is a medic as she seemed trained and equipped for search and rescue for shipwreck survivors at least, it would also explain why she was on the lookout for life mages to help with healing, so that would presumably make her a non-combatant.
I love that about her ❤️
Not sure ‘unrequited’ is quite right though, she just doesnt need it to be requited, which is the whole point of kindness a d generosity
I wonder if the patterns they mentioned have any relation to Ignan patterns. As far as I can see the only ones with patterns are the ones without fish tails (I forget the name) and their face patterns are symmetrical, a trait Ignans have. If it is just coincidence though, I wonder why they have the patterns at all. are they related to the volcano Ignans from when they first came here?
Its rarer, though not impossible, for strongly adapted populations to have another element of magic, so that could cause a scarcity of life mages. Additionally, I think there’s less of other elemental energies under the sea, so weaker mages might simply not be able to use that power (I’m not sure about this one).
I really love how all of the seafolk just manifest as a storm of questions, like one of them asks where Alinua’s spots are, probably assuming (understandably) that she is a sekrai. Then the others are really confused at Alinua being a life mage, maybe seafolk this far down don’t get life mages?
I also have a theory about VD and LD, I think that they were the same, and then that dragon sort of splintered? Split apart? Something. And so LD and VD are both acutely aware of who is the “good dragon” and who is the “bad dragon”. So VD is evil because he knows he is evil and thus has to be evil, and LD knows that she is good and thus she knows that whatever she does is good and she can do no wrong, which, ironically leads her to doing wrong things. This “they are the same” theory handily explains why Dainix can transmute them into each other. It also handily explains why the Aseran academics have only identified seven types of elemental corruption which Erin rants about here: https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-14-18/
Its rarer, though not impossible, for strongly adapted populations to have another element of magic, so that could cause a scarcity of life mages. Additionally, I think there’s less of other elemental energies under the sea, so weaker mages might simply not be able to use that power (I’m not sure about this one).
That makes sense, the extra lore pages say that only “unadapted humans” can manipulate more than three elements so it’s possible that one element just monopolized all of the mages. Kinda like how Ignans are almost always fire mages and thus probably don’t have that many mages of other types.
I personally think that the lack of documentation has more to do with the incredible rarity of there being more than three than there being a hard limit. For a normal human, having one soul channels is like rolling a 6 on a dice, having two is like rolling it on two dice, etc except each dice has hundreds of sides, at least. For adapted humans, those odds are even higher when considering elements that they are not adapted ‘towards’. So they could maybe theoretically exist, but might be even rarer than elemental magi. There could be a hard limit, though, if elemental adaptation does something to the soul!
I always took that as “a statistically significant amount of adapted human mages are still able to use *three* entire elements,” one of which probably being the element they’re adapted to. But this page seems to disprove that.
Actually I think you’re right, but the odds of manipulating multiple elements is low (think Erin being the only Elemental Magus in 130 years) so with water probably using up one of those slots, that only leaves two other elements that can be used, which means that the odds of one of those two being Life is really low.
Like, say, the odds of someone being a mage is of 1/5 (probably wrong but let’s go with it)
The odds of having two elements is, by extrapolation 1/25 (I think)
The odds of having three elements is 1/125 (probably lower if you take more things into account but let’s not)
Let’s say that water automatically takes up the first one and then the other two are random
So the odds of having two elements and the second being life is 1/125 (dw about it being the same as the three elements stat, its just a coincidence)
The odds of having three elements and one of them being life is 2/625 (correct my math if it’s wrong)
Soooo in short, these sea folk have probably never seen a “sea folk” life mage (not that Alinua is of the sea).
@Insert Generic Void Here
I personally think that, for an adapted human, any soul channel other than for there adapted element is much rarer.
We know that, for an average human, if the chance of one soul channel is 1/x, the chance of two is 1/x², and the chance of being an elemental magus is 1/x⁶.
So I think that soul channels for adapted populations (unless most of them are mages, like ignans) are potentially like this:
• chance of soul channel for adapted element: 1/x, normal (maybe even a slightly higher chance than for an unadapted? I dont know)
• for any other element: 1/10x. This would make having 3 soul channels 1/10x³, which is a lot bigger than 1/x³
x=100
How rare is an elemental magus?
1/x⁶ = 1/1,000,000,000,000
Thats really unlikely, which is why they’re so rare.
Whereas 1/10x⁴ is also the same number, a trillion. So a more than 3 element adapted‐mage is as rare as an elemental magus.* Now consider that adapted populations live in more extreme environments, both meaning that they have less use for many elements (and may not even notice) and that they interact less with outsiders, and it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if the 4 element mage every century or so (as frequent as the elemental magus) went undetected.
*although it should be mentioned that these calculations dont consider if one of the soul channels is their adapted element, in which case 4 soul channels would be 1/(x × 10x³). x=100, 1/(x × 10x³) = 100,000,000,000 (a hundred million rather than a trillion). But still rare enough for my point to stand.
This is just an idea as to how it may work, its all my speculation, apart from how it works for unadapted humans!
The lore pages say that more than three soul links in an adapted human have ‘never been documented’ (i.e. known by the fancy people in somewhere like Asera), not ‘is impossible’ or even ‘has never happened’. This suggests to me that, theoretically, it may be possible, or at least has never been proved not to be. (Although there could be some kind of block, where adapted souls do have a limit, its just not confirmed) Which is what led me to write that utter chaotic insanity of a comment xD
You’re probably thinking of molluscs (snails, slugs, cephalopods etc), as many of them have spiral shells (crustaceans are crabs, shrimp, lobsters etc)!
Some of the largest spiral-shelled molluscs have been shelled cephalopods, such as the extinct Ammonoids (the group containing the famous ammonites) and the Nautiloids (the sole surviving group of which, the Nautiluses, are the only truly shelled modern cephalopods).
Many of these got very big. A straight-shelled nautiloid (Endoceras) grew to shell-lengths of 6 metres, while the largest known ammonite shell fossil has a diameter nearly as tall as a human. Even Nautiluses, the much smaller surviving group, can be as big as someone’s head!
I would post links to this, but my messages seem to go missing for ages if I do that, so I’ll post them below this message separately. That way this won’t go missing with them!
I can see the marmaid asking for Alinuas help also has a clam necklas, though its difficult to see. I can’t wait to see some very pretty shells drwn by Red.
If you’re talking about Selach (the one who found Alinua), those might be her goggles to help her venture near the surface where its really bright for sea-dwellers!
We’re going to get a side-quest with a whole crew of new characters to explore, I didn’t know I wanted this so bad!
I always enjoyed Alinua’s casual friendliness, like when in Argus she said hello to the house-guard when she came back from her walk and I’m really excited to see how that will play out in a situation like this where she doesn’t know anyone personally but wants to help.
I always felt that her friendliness and willingness to help are some of her most heroic qualities and that she’s probably the most straight-forwardly heroic out-of the main squad because of this so I’m really exited that it’s her who’s having this adventure, she’s kinda my favorite.
She’s friendly, yes, but one of my favorite bits is from when she and Kendal go into Windcrest and collectively realize they have no idea how to socialize normally! It’s hilarious and sad, and it really puts the rest of her character in a certain light. She’s friendly because she CAN be now. She wants to help because for so long she was helpless. This situation is just another example.
Alinua just got voluntold with puppy dog eyes, mermaid edition. Oh dear. But she did say yes, and sincerely so. Despite everything. She’s got a big, strong heart, and I love her a little for it.
The mermaids are so pretty! I especially like the design of the color-tinted white one, like the inside of a seashell.
My favourite conspicuous detail on this page is the thin 4th panel, showing the three separate injuries on three separate people. It’s funny to think about them concidentally lining up in frame, but it’s also a great way to show what Alinua’s focusing on – The group having many injured people that need her help right now. It’s such a great characterisation of Alinua’s empathy, and a great way to convey why she’s changed her mind and become so dead set on helping them so quickly.
shes gonna tame the wild beast that’s been causing everyone problems? no one else can handle it? except for our plucky protagonist with an unstoppable free and adventurous spirit and a heart of gold? omg it’s a horse girl arc
I mean, given that Selach already confirmed that no one else was found in the wreck, and the fact that Kendal at least would have stood out as different (see the time she used her life vision in her sleep in the Gleicann arc) and she saw none of them, I think she’s probably pretty sure they’re okay.
Wait a fuckin’ minute. Panel 4 has a grand total of 3 injuries in it! The Sekrai’s eye, the white mermaid’s arm, and the blue mermaid’s tail is in the foreground with a chunk taken out of it. Red, just what sort of disaster befell these folks?! Is ALL of this a result of the Northern Wyrm’s corruption?
Alunua one woman(elf) rescue squad to the scene, an elf with many moral issues (mostly of empathy) with a heart as big as Texas (which may not as be metaphorical given her connection to Primordial Life). (Alaska may have more area but Texas looms more in history) (apologies form native citizen [not of Aurora]).
Interesting: does Life have a heart? It seems that different ‘organs’ in primordials often correlate to different ‘forms’ of that element. Life doesnt have those different forms, as far as we know, but Stone had a heart so maybe…
Hurrying in the seafolk shout “CAPTAIN!”
Everywhere questions “Who’s this?” “What happened?”
Life mage” states Selach “And she can help.”
Pause then a “Yes” from the transformed elf
To quotation mark or not quotation mark before the L was a debate in my head. Also I love the small detail of the light coming from the sea jellies since they’re deep underwater.
I find it fascinating how distinct these sea folk are morphologically. It reminds me of how different all the different land-based races we’ve seen are depicted. It makes me think that “merfolk” is a catch-all term for very different humanoid races that live beneath the waves. It makes sense: the ocean has many different biomes within itself. Why should all the people be evolved for only one biome when there are so many to live in?
BTW why do Alinua’s eyes look completly green ever since she entered the water. Is thisa permanent design change or something that just happens to fish people?
Life altered her eyes, similarly to the ears and gills, to allow her to see underwater (as deep as they currently are, it would be very dark to the human/elf eye)!
I looked back at Past Alinua and it just hit me how different she already looks with just gills, water-ears, and eyes meant for Advanced Darkness…hnnn…
On a lighter note, I’m now imagining that the people of Argist and the surrounding Seafolk have (predominantly) Scottish accents.
I see a missing arm and a injured eye, injured Arm and bandaged ribs. There are almost as many injured as back in 1-1-2.
And they are asking for help, from a deus ex machina.
Alinua: I’m leaving and there is nothing you can do or say to stop me.
Literally anyone: We need help.
Alinua: I’m helping and there is nothing you can do to stop me. Say more things.
“Hey Alinua you want to put down another chimera?” “Boy, DO I?”
“Well, it’s been a while between chimeras” Alinua, presumably
Alt-text: omg you can’t just ask her where her spouse are
A ragtag crew of misfits ask what the fuss is about
Alinua consents to stay and with the Wyrm help out
Y’know what that means, FISH!
the alt text is “omg you can’t just ask her where her spots are”
zero wolf where are you
. “CAPTAIN!”
. The Captain glances to the side, eyes widening, as a shout comes from an entrance to the shell, five merfolk darting in.
. “We heard shouting!” a pale blue Sekrai with bandages wrapped around his ribs says as they swim up.
. “What happened?” asks a snow-pale mermaid with ice blue hair and eyes, missing their right arm.
. “At ease,” the Captain says calmly to the group as they swim around her.
. “Who’s this?” a brown-skinned Sekrai with dark teal hair, a purple top and pants, and a bandage over her left eye and upper left arm asks.
. “Where are her spots?” a dark blue mermaid with bright blue hair asks, frowning at Alinua.
. “I found her,” Selach interrupts, darting in front of Alinua. “She’s a Life mage.”
. “This far down–?” the brown Sekrai asks.
. “But I thought–” the deep blue mermaid starts.
. “And she can help,” Selach says. She glances back at Alinua. “Right?”
. They float there for a moment, Alinua scanning the group. She notices their wounds, the concealed hopefulness and desperation.
. “Yes,” Alinua says, concerned. “Tell me everything.”
I’m excited to see what Alinua’s mission with the Sekrai will be
Funky
Some people you bribe with food
With Alinua you just show her injured people
YES
first order of business, heal everyone in front of her. Second order of business, clean up the collector’s mess.
Came here to say this, thank you for beating me to it so quickly
More seafolk! They’re so cool! Though they look a bit worse for wear. The missing arm injury doesnt look very fresh to me, but many of the other injuries do. Is this to do with the Wyrm? Are there other chimeras around causing trouble? Small wonder that they were so tense and unwelcoming, they might be under a lot of stress and worry. I am glad that Alinua’s going to try to help them, especially since we know that the others are more or less OK. She’ll probably be quite worried, though.
It appears that merfolk have 2-spiked ears, whereas Sekrai have 3, meaning that the seafolk we saw earlier were probably Sekrai. Their ears were less extremely pointed, though, and their eyes were somewhere between Sekrai and Merfolk (they had ‘pupils’, but they were blurry and didn’t have an outline. Perhaps those were ‘shallower’ Sekrai, and they have less extremely adapted ears? Maybe Sekrai eyes look like that above water? Fish can look quite different above and below water.
Any thoughts?
The Captain is the only one wearing that armour. I had thought it was a merfolk/sekrai difference, but it seems not. Perhaps armour is expensive, so only the leader has it? Maybe Captain has a more ‘official’ role as a soldier/guard and the others are more like civilian volunteers? Captain is the only one with a weapon, after all.
I love the dark blue mermaid with the bright hair, and the pale one, and the teal Sekrai with the long hair (at the back in the first panel)!! I mean, I love all of them, but those particularly
I agree, the dark blue merfolk looks amazing and I already love them.
Minor thing, but the one-armed merfolk also has a spear, so the captain isn’t the only one with a weapon!
I noticed that, after posting my comment! Thanks!
“This far down, the pressure is immense.”
“All the cool life mages help with the Northern Wyrm problem.”
“… All of them you say?”
This chapter is called Siren Call, which I’ve just realised strikes me as a bit odd, since Sirens are an actual thing in this world. And they aren’t aquatic. They’re wind influenced humans born at random around the world, and they have compelling voices and an ability to be understood no matter the language barrier (as Wind is the primordial of communication). Fun fact: Vash’s trade emissary was a siren named Glenn, and he survived the destruction of Vash since he was away at the time!
Anyway, I presume ‘Siren’ is just being used poetically in the title. Or referring to mermaids by a synonym we sometimes use, even though it’s different in Aurora.
“Siren call” can also be used to describe the allure of something, particularly if that something has a quality to it that makes it dangerous to the one who seeks to possess it–think Gollum and the One Ring, or Thorin and the Arkenstone (I have no idea why the first things to come to my mind were from Tolkien, but it is what it is). In this case, I have a feeling it’s going to have to do with Alinua’s connection to Life–she’s been using her powers sparingly, all things considering, but it looks like this chapter is going to change that, and as she gets a better grasp on what she can do, the ease of it, and the scope of the possibilities… Well, there’s going to come a point where she’s going to have to either reinforce her beliefs and morals regarding her magic, or choose to step over them. And once she does, even if it’s for the right reasons, she’s going to have to reckon with the fact that it’ll be just a little easier to hop over that line the next time.
We know someone else who’s embraced that path. Ali’s not going to want to go down it, but there’s a reason they say that power corrupts, and that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. She’ll have to be extra vigilant after this mini-arc, because it will be that much easier for her to slip without realizing.
Oooh!
Well if it ain’t the Underwater Floof Squad
I love the deep blue mermaid, she looks cool.
Same!!
The merfolk look really wounded. And since they said “captain”, and were replied to with “at ease”, I think they’re the responsible party for going up against the wyrm… And they’ve been through the wringer…
Alinua: My resume includes healing, draining chimeras of excess energy, healing, making plant constructs, healing, growing giant trees for a variety of purposes, and healing.
Selach: You said healing four times.
Alinua: The party I’m traveling in needs a LOT of healing.
So here’s the rest of the captain’s crew and oh boy, it looks like they’ve been through the wringer; bandaged torso, wounded eye, missing arm, and that’s just the physical injuries. Is that snail shell helmet hiding some head scars on the captain? Is Selach’s lack of scars a sign she’s a more junior or non-combative member?
Their injuries haven’t escaped Alinua’s attention either; you can see her looking at the one-armed Merfolk in panel 3. Her turnaround from wanting to leave to wanting to help is sudden, but not unsurprising. She may be confused, uncomfortable, and far from her friends, but Alinua has proven time and again she will always do her best to help people in ways only she can.
Prediction for next week: A more detained exposition on the nature of what’s afflicting the Norther Wyrm, with maybe some lingering hesitation and distrust from the captain. Possible Collector mentions too.
Maybe a scene change of them swimming to where the Wyrm is and they infodump as they go? They could already have a plan to manage the Wyrm problem that, with Ali’s involvement, could be turned into a solution.
I think Selach is a medic as she seemed trained and equipped for search and rescue for shipwreck survivors at least, it would also explain why she was on the lookout for life mages to help with healing, so that would presumably make her a non-combatant.
Ah, a return to possibly THE most fundamental trait we have seen demonstrated in Alinua . . . her unrequited empathy.
I love that about her ❤️
Not sure ‘unrequited’ is quite right though, she just doesnt need it to be requited, which is the whole point of kindness a d generosity
Unrelenting, maybe? I agree, it is very appreciated, if not quite matched/requited, by everyone she meets
I wonder if the patterns they mentioned have any relation to Ignan patterns. As far as I can see the only ones with patterns are the ones without fish tails (I forget the name) and their face patterns are symmetrical, a trait Ignans have. If it is just coincidence though, I wonder why they have the patterns at all. are they related to the volcano Ignans from when they first came here?
lol I can’t read “captain” without that one bit in Ruthlessness (from Epic the musical) coming to mind
On a different note, I love how Alinua was just going to be like “hi, bye” and then got sucked into a sidequest
Its rarer, though not impossible, for strongly adapted populations to have another element of magic, so that could cause a scarcity of life mages. Additionally, I think there’s less of other elemental energies under the sea, so weaker mages might simply not be able to use that power (I’m not sure about this one).
Oops replied to the wrong post!
Epic fan spotted👀
Yeah I immediately thought of the fading “captain” in the cyclops saga haha
I really love how all of the seafolk just manifest as a storm of questions, like one of them asks where Alinua’s spots are, probably assuming (understandably) that she is a sekrai. Then the others are really confused at Alinua being a life mage, maybe seafolk this far down don’t get life mages?
I also have a theory about VD and LD, I think that they were the same, and then that dragon sort of splintered? Split apart? Something. And so LD and VD are both acutely aware of who is the “good dragon” and who is the “bad dragon”. So VD is evil because he knows he is evil and thus has to be evil, and LD knows that she is good and thus she knows that whatever she does is good and she can do no wrong, which, ironically leads her to doing wrong things. This “they are the same” theory handily explains why Dainix can transmute them into each other. It also handily explains why the Aseran academics have only identified seven types of elemental corruption which Erin rants about here: https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-14-18/
Its rarer, though not impossible, for strongly adapted populations to have another element of magic, so that could cause a scarcity of life mages. Additionally, I think there’s less of other elemental energies under the sea, so weaker mages might simply not be able to use that power (I’m not sure about this one).
That makes sense, the extra lore pages say that only “unadapted humans” can manipulate more than three elements so it’s possible that one element just monopolized all of the mages. Kinda like how Ignans are almost always fire mages and thus probably don’t have that many mages of other types.
I personally think that the lack of documentation has more to do with the incredible rarity of there being more than three than there being a hard limit. For a normal human, having one soul channels is like rolling a 6 on a dice, having two is like rolling it on two dice, etc except each dice has hundreds of sides, at least. For adapted humans, those odds are even higher when considering elements that they are not adapted ‘towards’. So they could maybe theoretically exist, but might be even rarer than elemental magi. There could be a hard limit, though, if elemental adaptation does something to the soul!
I always took that as “a statistically significant amount of adapted human mages are still able to use *three* entire elements,” one of which probably being the element they’re adapted to. But this page seems to disprove that.
Actually I think you’re right, but the odds of manipulating multiple elements is low (think Erin being the only Elemental Magus in 130 years) so with water probably using up one of those slots, that only leaves two other elements that can be used, which means that the odds of one of those two being Life is really low.
Like, say, the odds of someone being a mage is of 1/5 (probably wrong but let’s go with it)
The odds of having two elements is, by extrapolation 1/25 (I think)
The odds of having three elements is 1/125 (probably lower if you take more things into account but let’s not)
Let’s say that water automatically takes up the first one and then the other two are random
So the odds of having two elements and the second being life is 1/125 (dw about it being the same as the three elements stat, its just a coincidence)
The odds of having three elements and one of them being life is 2/625 (correct my math if it’s wrong)
Soooo in short, these sea folk have probably never seen a “sea folk” life mage (not that Alinua is of the sea).
@Insert Generic Void Here
I personally think that, for an adapted human, any soul channel other than for there adapted element is much rarer.
We know that, for an average human, if the chance of one soul channel is 1/x, the chance of two is 1/x², and the chance of being an elemental magus is 1/x⁶.
So I think that soul channels for adapted populations (unless most of them are mages, like ignans) are potentially like this:
• chance of soul channel for adapted element: 1/x, normal (maybe even a slightly higher chance than for an unadapted? I dont know)
• for any other element: 1/10x. This would make having 3 soul channels 1/10x³, which is a lot bigger than 1/x³
x=100
How rare is an elemental magus?
1/x⁶ = 1/1,000,000,000,000
Thats really unlikely, which is why they’re so rare.
Whereas 1/10x⁴ is also the same number, a trillion. So a more than 3 element adapted‐mage is as rare as an elemental magus.* Now consider that adapted populations live in more extreme environments, both meaning that they have less use for many elements (and may not even notice) and that they interact less with outsiders, and it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if the 4 element mage every century or so (as frequent as the elemental magus) went undetected.
*although it should be mentioned that these calculations dont consider if one of the soul channels is their adapted element, in which case 4 soul channels would be 1/(x × 10x³). x=100, 1/(x × 10x³) = 100,000,000,000 (a hundred million rather than a trillion). But still rare enough for my point to stand.
This is just an idea as to how it may work, its all my speculation, apart from how it works for unadapted humans!
The lore pages say that more than three soul links in an adapted human have ‘never been documented’ (i.e. known by the fancy people in somewhere like Asera), not ‘is impossible’ or even ‘has never happened’. This suggests to me that, theoretically, it may be possible, or at least has never been proved not to be. (Although there could be some kind of block, where adapted souls do have a limit, its just not confirmed) Which is what led me to write that utter chaotic insanity of a comment xD
I’m kind of curious what type of crustacean (probably) the Captain’s helmet is made of. It’s so big!
You’re probably thinking of molluscs (snails, slugs, cephalopods etc), as many of them have spiral shells (crustaceans are crabs, shrimp, lobsters etc)!
Some of the largest spiral-shelled molluscs have been shelled cephalopods, such as the extinct Ammonoids (the group containing the famous ammonites) and the Nautiloids (the sole surviving group of which, the Nautiluses, are the only truly shelled modern cephalopods).
Many of these got very big. A straight-shelled nautiloid (Endoceras) grew to shell-lengths of 6 metres, while the largest known ammonite shell fossil has a diameter nearly as tall as a human. Even Nautiluses, the much smaller surviving group, can be as big as someone’s head!
I would post links to this, but my messages seem to go missing for ages if I do that, so I’ll post them below this message separately. That way this won’t go missing with them!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalopod
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautiloid
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocerida
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonoidea
I can see the marmaid asking for Alinuas help also has a clam necklas, though its difficult to see. I can’t wait to see some very pretty shells drwn by Red.
If you’re talking about Selach (the one who found Alinua), those might be her goggles to help her venture near the surface where its really bright for sea-dwellers!
*spots not spouse
(What in the autocorrect)
alt-text: omg you can’t just ask where her spots are
image source: help
holdup, is the next panel gonna be zoom?!?!? 😀
Might be! Would be fun.
For people on mobile since I haven’t seen it posted here yet, the alt text is: omg you can’t just ask her where her spots are
Image source: help
tumblr text: see you on monday!
Bluesky text: the squad!
Thanks guys! Your services are appreciated by the mobile readers 🙂
And by computer users that forget that alt text exists
Quest accepted!
We’re going to get a side-quest with a whole crew of new characters to explore, I didn’t know I wanted this so bad!
I always enjoyed Alinua’s casual friendliness, like when in Argus she said hello to the house-guard when she came back from her walk and I’m really excited to see how that will play out in a situation like this where she doesn’t know anyone personally but wants to help.
I always felt that her friendliness and willingness to help are some of her most heroic qualities and that she’s probably the most straight-forwardly heroic out-of the main squad because of this so I’m really exited that it’s her who’s having this adventure, she’s kinda my favorite.
She’s friendly, yes, but one of my favorite bits is from when she and Kendal go into Windcrest and collectively realize they have no idea how to socialize normally! It’s hilarious and sad, and it really puts the rest of her character in a certain light. She’s friendly because she CAN be now. She wants to help because for so long she was helpless. This situation is just another example.
Quest!
Alinua just got voluntold with puppy dog eyes, mermaid edition. Oh dear. But she did say yes, and sincerely so. Despite everything. She’s got a big, strong heart, and I love her a little for it.
The mermaids are so pretty! I especially like the design of the color-tinted white one, like the inside of a seashell.
Oh, that’s the perfect description of her colour!
My favourite conspicuous detail on this page is the thin 4th panel, showing the three separate injuries on three separate people. It’s funny to think about them concidentally lining up in frame, but it’s also a great way to show what Alinua’s focusing on – The group having many injured people that need her help right now. It’s such a great characterisation of Alinua’s empathy, and a great way to convey why she’s changed her mind and become so dead set on helping them so quickly.
Help why can only hear “CAPTAIN” in Danny motta’s voice from the epic reactions…
I hear it as the one from Ruthlessness/The Underworld…
shes gonna tame the wild beast that’s been causing everyone problems? no one else can handle it? except for our plucky protagonist with an unstoppable free and adventurous spirit and a heart of gold? omg it’s a horse girl arc
I… don’t suppose you remember what she did to the last chimera she dealt with…
Plus that big snakes a person in agonizing, mind-numbing pain.
Well, the big snake is the sock puppet of a person. Red has compared divine incarnations to sock-puppets several times, which I think it hilarious
I know that.
Ah, ok! 🙂
the big snake is a person trapped in their sock puppet with both being in agonizing unimaginable pain
Alinua: “I’m out, duces.”
Also Alinua: “Oh no! Injured people! I guess I can wait to find out if all my friends are dead.”
Girlie-pop you are killing me. XD
I mean, given that Selach already confirmed that no one else was found in the wreck, and the fact that Kendal at least would have stood out as different (see the time she used her life vision in her sleep in the Gleicann arc) and she saw none of them, I think she’s probably pretty sure they’re okay.
Alinua: Hi, bye.
The merfolk: *are hurt and give her the puppy dog eyes*
Alinua: …
Alinua: okay fine, what’s my sidequest
guys you can’t just ask a life mage where her spots are without taking her out to dinner first!
TL;DR: Sidequest received!
hmmm. 50% of these new folks are missing body parts. That’s a concerning statistic. I sure hope this isn’t a representative sample of their society.
Wait a fuckin’ minute. Panel 4 has a grand total of 3 injuries in it! The Sekrai’s eye, the white mermaid’s arm, and the blue mermaid’s tail is in the foreground with a chunk taken out of it. Red, just what sort of disaster befell these folks?! Is ALL of this a result of the Northern Wyrm’s corruption?
I think that this is unusual for seafolk in general, but a single population could have harsh conditions
Alunua one woman(elf) rescue squad to the scene, an elf with many moral issues (mostly of empathy) with a heart as big as Texas (which may not as be metaphorical given her connection to Primordial Life). (Alaska may have more area but Texas looms more in history) (apologies form native citizen [not of Aurora]).
Interesting: does Life have a heart? It seems that different ‘organs’ in primordials often correlate to different ‘forms’ of that element. Life doesnt have those different forms, as far as we know, but Stone had a heart so maybe…
i mean stone had a few hearts and considering life’s track record of “humanoid but with more body parts” its probable that she has a bunch of them
Prepare for epicness!
Hurrying in the seafolk shout “CAPTAIN!”
Everywhere questions “Who’s this?” “What happened?”
Life mage” states Selach “And she can help.”
Pause then a “Yes” from the transformed elf
To quotation mark or not quotation mark before the L was a debate in my head. Also I love the small detail of the light coming from the sea jellies since they’re deep underwater.
I find it fascinating how distinct these sea folk are morphologically. It reminds me of how different all the different land-based races we’ve seen are depicted. It makes me think that “merfolk” is a catch-all term for very different humanoid races that live beneath the waves. It makes sense: the ocean has many different biomes within itself. Why should all the people be evolved for only one biome when there are so many to live in?
Alinua is the sidequest-doer of the party.
Alinua’s hair is going to be so tangled after this, I feel so bad
But its so pretty now!
BTW why do Alinua’s eyes look completly green ever since she entered the water. Is thisa permanent design change or something that just happens to fish people?
Life altered her eyes, similarly to the ears and gills, to allow her to see underwater (as deep as they currently are, it would be very dark to the human/elf eye)!
I looked back at Past Alinua and it just hit me how different she already looks with just gills, water-ears, and eyes meant for Advanced Darkness…hnnn…
On a lighter note, I’m now imagining that the people of Argist and the surrounding Seafolk have (predominantly) Scottish accents.
CAPTAIN, what’s HAPP’NIN, WHATS TRAPPED IN THAT BAG
I see a missing arm and a injured eye, injured Arm and bandaged ribs. There are almost as many injured as back in 1-1-2.
And they are asking for help, from a deus ex machina.
Alinua: I’m leaving and there is nothing you can do or say to stop me.
Literally anyone: We need help.
Alinua: I’m helping and there is nothing you can do to stop me. Say more things.
I sense a scene change
Question: if dainix can reconstitute his body after transmutation, why can’t he just grow fresh new right eye?