Erfworld - Bk3 Pg120

>Kill Parson
>Shove the corpse back through the portal
>Decrypt Parson

Not gunna lie, kind of hype.

>>44435031
Lilith for MVP.

Love that she's "fated" to live, at least until Marie uses a healing scroll on her.

Does anyone know who Delta is a reference to? She looks familiar from somewhere.

Also apparently Foolamancy does not need to be in the same hex as the caster.

>>44435472
Well we already know from Ossomer that Decrypted can break loyalty from Wanda, so it would be pretty awesome.

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>>44435607
Logo is an obvious reference to the Delta Airlines logo from the 30's to 50's. The poses she makes show up in a google image search for "ww2 nose art".

>>44435031

Jesus Christ, M Night Shyamalan would be proud of these twists.

It's like I'm watching "The Prestige" again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_job

For Jack's Spell Sound Effect.

>>44435824
In a good way, or a bad way?

>>44435746
>>44435868
Cheers!

>>44436013

I dunno, maybe there were Signs that this was going to happen. I'll play Devil 's advocate here and assume that there weren't any. I don't have a Sixth Sense about these kinds of things.

(I like twists.)

I'd like to imagine that Jack has no idea what the outcome of that veil is. He just sees his warlord departing for what may be the last time in a while, and figures this'll fuck with a whole buncha people, even briefly.

>>44436149

I'm at least fairly sure Gobwin Knob has a fair idea of how heavily defended Charlie's magic kingdom portal must be, but yeah I know what you mean.

>>44436243
Only if Lilith makes it back or Wanda stops being a shit.

They know an attack would come from Charlescomm because of Marie.

And Jack kinda knew that he would return soon too. He called GK when refering to Parson's loyality as his "once-and-future side"

>>44435472
I'm thinking Lillith screens Parson, both taking partial damage, Lillith pushes him through the portal where he is now free to turn since the treasury can afford it

>>44436366
I'm hoping she says "RUN, It's all a trap!" while grabbing hold of him.

From her perspective it does look like Charlie was just waiting for Parson to step through the portal so he could be killed.

Also, doubt Parson would have enjoyed being "debriefed" in "the box", considering Lilith's experience.

>>44435031
All of this has been an amazing series of events
>Lilith breaks Charlies superconnection
>Charlie must operate at a fraction of his previous capacity and with only a few units at a time instead of all of them at once
>Charlie sets a death trap for Parson, 100% sure that he will come through after Lilith
>Parson trades himself to Charlescomm to save Gobwin Knob unexpectedly
>Jack disguises Parson on his way back through the portal after thinking outside the box
>Lilith has no idea any of this occurred
>Charlie can't inform his troops fast enough of the change over, can't tell them directly and has to use messengers
>Troops see what they think is the enemy chief warlord armed to bear, entering their city and fire on their own unit. I think this breaks the treaty as well.

My prediction, Lilith is going to screen and die. Gobwin Knob will get a huge chunk of their money back. I don't think Charlie will trade Parson back, but over the course of his time at Charlescomm, Parson will figure out that he can't be disbanded and can change allegiance much like how he changed his own class many chapters back by force of will. Or maybe he'll run Charlies forces in a way that puts Charlie directly at risk

>>44437989
>much like how he changed his own class many chapters back by force of will

Wait, what?

When did this happen? Link

>>44438485
http://archives.erfworld.com/Book+2/103

He promoted himself to a field unit, where before he couldn't leave the city.

>>44438638
That's not really force of will. Promoting noncombatant units to combatant ones is likely a mechanic already. It wasn't force of will, he made a command he had the authority to do and his upkeep went up accordingly.

>>44437989
Yeah the fog of war at work here is pretty amazing.

>He promoted himself to a field unit, where before he couldn't leave the city.
That's just a game mechanic, kind of like how casters and leaders can normally sense how much money is in the treasury but Parson can't.

>>44436366
Does friendly fire actually break the truce though? Or is the intent enough?
Whose livery is it parson seems to be wearing anyway?

How does Lilith get through the Portal intact though? Archons are a Knight Unit, not a Caster so the trip should disband her. However she's already decrypted so if she croaks first she'll turn to dust and not have a body to move through the Portal anyway.

Anyway I'm more interested in how Parsob turning, even temporarily will hurt him. He's currently linked to Charlie as a Warlord and even if he turns back Charlie may have gained some Thinkamancy access to his head.

>>44441751
He's wearing Charlescomm but Jack baffled him so it looks like Gobwin Knob colors.

Also the guns shoot "through" the Portal. So they'll be hitting all the Gobwin Knob units on the other side. Friendly fire doesn't matter (though I assume it doesn't have any penalties aside from possibly croaking your own unit)

So Erfworld is back to being a comic? I stopped reading it years ago, when it went to, like, monthly text dumps.

>>44441767
Archons do have limited caster abilities, it might be enough to qualify them to move through portals. Or he's modified his own portal via carnymancy to allow archons from. This being Charlie it's the sort of gamble he'd have in reserve. Also worth pointing out his portal room is rather heavily defended compared to other sides, so he must have considered the possibility of attack through a portal before.

I don't think Charlie will have time to do too much to Parson via the dish though. He normally has it running on shockamancy but Lilith blew up the power generator. The update from his perspective had him complaining how slow the connection to the dish is. The bigger question is whether Charlie has something to prevent Parson turning back after shit finishes hitting the fan.

>>44436149
Well yeah, Fate's influencing him.
As Charlie said, its favourite piece is in a corner.
Shit's bound to get highly improbable.

>>44441770
Those are maxim machine guns, and there are TWO of them. So they are going to be hosing down everything on the other side of the portal and possibly even shooting bullets into OTHER portals.

This is obviously what the mass healing scroll is for.

>>44436149
The text update implies that Parson gave him a hint to do that.

>>44441911
I think fates pawn, in this event, is Lilith. If she didn't take down that generator, it wouldn't even be an issue because Charlie would direct his troops directly. Instead she fucked him in his blind spot and is about to bring down his house of cards, probably by dying. Jack certainly had his hand in it though

>>44435031
I'd kinda hoped we might actually see Parson working for Charlie (since he's not such a bad guy), but I guess he'll be turning back pretty soon now.

>>44441917

The question foremost on my mind is how Parson and/or Lillith are going to survive this at all (which is implied if Marie's going to use a healomancy scroll) with MGs pointed at them.

And if it is some Decrypted thing (I am far from convinced) how is Wanda going to last long enough to try to Decrypt Parson if they're still under those guns.

>>44442168
Wait, what? He mind raped Jillian in the prequel causing her serious brain damage, and just attempted to do the same to Lillith with some serious Nazi overtones.

>>44442445
He cured her of her addiction as promised, while we still don't have the full facts about the jester-thing (probably something to do with Fate wanting him dead). Betsy was the one who wanted to meddle with her personality against her will.

Besides, I'm not sure how the side that goes around killing people to turn them into obedient super-zombies has the moral high ground here.

>>44437989

>Charlie can't inform his troops fast enough of the change over, can't tell them directly and has to use messengers

He can tell them directly through the use of ruler thinkamancy channel. He chose not to for some reason.

>>44443524
It may be because he's not fully aware of what's going on himself. He just knows he has Parson now. He may have thought Parson would be in the Magic Kingdom longer due to the situation with Sister Marie and didn't need an emergency proclamation. He did threaten to disband Parson rather than let him be captured.

mfw Parson can't be disbanded.

It's a shame, I really like Parson in Charlescomm livery. He actually looks menacing as he should be.

>>44443705
Eh, that hamster t-shirt is part of his character.

>>44443705
Maybe he'll get a similar outfit in Gobwin Knob colors.

>>44443705
Probably influenced by Charlie respecting him more than Stanley does.

Here is my overall prediction. Once Charlie is dead, Parson is going to attune to the Arkendish. I know it's possible for him to attune because the last Perfect Warlord summoned from Earth attuned to the Arkenshoes.

>Lilith takes the damage for Parson
>Parson holds her as she dies
>the baffle spell fades
>Lilith dies thinking the man she sacrificed herself to protect has betrayed her and her side

dubs and it's true

>>44443981
More likely it ends up in even worse hands. Especially with all the scheming of the Great Minds, and the potential for attunements to be altered.

>>44444310
Thank god it's not, then.

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>>44443981
There are four (known) Arken-whatsits: Shoes, Hammer, Pliers and Dish. The shoes attuned to a Stupidworlder, who promptly left. Perhaps they all will be atuned to by someone from Stupidworld eventually? Maybe the Arken-thingys shouldn't be in Erfworld at all, and Fate/Titans are trying to get them out so the game can continue as planned.

It has been stated by the authors that we will see Parson's gaming group again in future strips. Whether that means they come to Erfworld, or Parson returns to Stupidworld is yet to be seen. About the time Jo-Jo gave him the return scroll (one of the biggest unfired Chekov's there has ever been) everyone thought that they'd be cropping up then, but no dice.

>>44444767
I always figured Charlie would bring in Parson's gaming team to work for him as they're the only ones who have a real chance of beating Parson's battle plans.

tfw Misty was never decrypted.

>>44438638
He was summoned as a garrison unit--see his attempt to leave the hex during the picnic between books 1 and 2.

To get around this, once he was Chief Warlord again, he used his authority to promote himself to a field unit (just like he promoted the dwagon-riders to heavies).

>>44445010
Oh yeah, that was thing that could have conceivably happened.

>>44443981
Either Sizemore or Ace will attune to it due to the signamancy in the name of tool users being tool franchises in the real world.

>>44445010
>>44445087
Misty died before they got the pliers. Uncroaked casters don't work. And they didn't have a reason to preserve her body back then.

>>44445010
Nope. Bodies vanish at end of turn, and there were many turns between her dying from link-backlash and Wanda attuning. Pity really.

I'm very interested to see what other triple-links might achieve though. Particularly if more than one participant is Attuned...

>>44445121
Wanda Firebaugh? Plier manufacturers? Really?

I get the whole Stanely-Hammer connection, but that one doesn't really make much sense.

So, nobody noticed the plethora of Sean Beans hanging around the Portal Park in the background of the previous comic?

There's a Boromir, a Ned Stark, and I'm not sure about the third one.

The author loves to sneak stuff in under the guise of Signamancy.

>>44443524


Ruler senses don't seem to be that distinct: you can certainly give orders through them, but actually knowing what the unit is seeing seems to be limited, it's why so many sides don't have the ruler run everything, and you have individual Warlords with a lot of latitude to make decisions.

But I think in this case it's far more heavily implied that Charlie is using the dish to simulate the Heroine buds somehow, keep his addiction pain from getting to him.

>>44445253

Not him, but the erfwiki notes that there is a company called Zhejiang Wanda Tools Co. Ltd, which specializes in making pliers.

>>44443660
That does make sense, after all, can you disband mercenaries?
Gobwin Knob didn't pop Parson, they recruited him. So in a sense he's a mercenary caster. Disbanding him might just mean he needs to work for Rands and rations.

>>44445363

The thing is, mercenaries usually retain their own side. That Not-Subway meal thing in book one noted that Faq and Charlescomm maintained their own units in the battlespace, despite being "Mercenary" units.

Parson, on the other hand, seems distinctly a Gobwin Knob (and probably temporarily Charlescomm) unit. If he's immune to disbanding, it's likely as part of the package with all the other weird stuff as being an ancillary to not being from Erfworld itself.

>>44445276
>There's a Boromir, a Ned Stark, and I'm not sure about the third one.
Alec Trevelyan?

>>44445305
Except that one of Charlie's Attuned powers is to basically link with a unit (see: Vanna, or the text page where the GK Archons are slaughtered).

If he's on-dish, he could have linked downstairs and issued the order himself--but, he's most likely linked to Jojo, watching to make sure that Operation Big Game goes off without a hitch (Jojo is in the previous page along with the doomed Sean Beans).

>>44445566

Well, given the most recent text update, it seems most likely to me, if he's linked with anyone, it's Parson himself. He did issue orders and communication in response to an immediate development over there. And given that Jojo has been one of his agents for a while, he probably doesn't need by the second updates the way Parson, a supremely dangerous and probably disloyal subject would.

And remember, he is on-dish, but the loss of shockamancy functions seems to diminish his connection, it's described as "painfully slow". But when Big Game started, he was bounced out of the "Gardening Channel", and it seems likely that if he's satisfied with how things are turning out, he'd return there.
Change of subject: Anyone have any speculation as to why Charlie hasn't conquered all of Erfworld yet? It seems pretty likely he could, even without the guns, his affinities towards natural allies and his ridonculous amounts of money make it seem likely he could flood every city in the world with natural allies if he so desired.

>>44445276
There was also an Isaac from Binding of Isaac.
>>44445253
Yes
Zhejiang Wanda Tools Co. Ltd
Stanley Hand Tools

>>44445305
>Ruler senses don't seem to be that distinct: you can certainly give orders through them, but actually knowing what the unit is seeing seems to be limited, it's why so many sides don't have the ruler run everything, and you have individual Warlords with a lot of latitude to make decisions.

He could've given over through them and it would be a lot faster and this wouldn't occur. But he choose not to.

>>44445671
>why Charlie hasn't conquered all of Erfworld yet?
That is the rather big question hanging over things at this point.

My theory is that if he does that the "Game" of Erfworld would end. Everyone would die, the board would reset, apocalypse in our time. So he's been working very hard to make sure no-one wins, or even gets a significant advantage over each other. Anytime a side starts thinking laterally, he gets them crushed.

>>44445671
Maybe there are enough prophecies out there that wouldn't allow for it such that Fate starts screwing him over even more.

Perhaps Parson was summoned partly because it was theoretically possible at this point

>>44445746
We don't really know how big Erfworld is. Maybe he still needs more money to build a large enough force to take the world by storm. Building strength slowly wouldn't work: neighbors would team up to take the big bad down a peg. So, Charlie stays small for now for the same reason his city stays hidden.

How do anons feel about the mix of comics and text updates nowadays?

>>44445953
I think that the world and story the guy's trying to tell are a bit much for the artists to keep up with.

Hence the text dumps.

I tolerate them, for they mean the plot advances faster.

>>44445946
Plus there is the diminishing schmuckers problem - Halfaton turned into a shell of a side towards the end.

>>44445946
We can make a decent guess at how big it is from Portal Park in the Magic Kingdom. Every side with a currently active capital has a portal leading there. Take the park, and you're very close to conquering the world.

>>44445946

We might not, but Charlie at least should have a good idea. He's got a lot of info in the Magic Kingdom, and certainly knows how many portals are in Portal Park, which would tell him how many sides there are. From there, it shouldn't be that hard to extrapolate how big Erfworld is, given that Sides seem to need a certain amount of stomping space.

>>44445997
That would mean storming the Magic Kingdom. You'd have to beat every single freelance caster there. Is that even possible, under any circumstances?

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This was always my favorite page. The abject horror, the terror, all in flames.

>>44446032
Charlie has machine guns, rocket launchers, the ability to hack Thinkamancy, and allies/traitors in the magic kingdom itself so it definately seems possible.

He doesn't even need to take the entire place, merely the park and hold it long enough to assassinate every leader and heir through their portals.

>>44445206
>Uncroaked casters don't work.
What? No of course they do, Jack and Ace for instance.

What isn't clear is how long bodies will last. Decroaked purportedly rot away over time.

>>44442916
>He cured her of her addiction as promised

Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were an EVIL GENIE.

>>44445985

Not the guy you're responding to, but that part has never entirely made sense to me.

As far as I can reconstruct

-Cities (among other sources) produce Shmuckers
-Cities seem to produce fewer Shmuckers per city the more cities you have: Possibly related to the distance to your capital or something.

2 sides with 5 cities each will almost certainly produce more shmuckers than if one side completely annexed the other.

-Sides seem to be limited primarily by shmuckers and upkeep rather than popping and production: Banhammer's Faq needs to use mercenary work to pay for the large number of casters it maintains, Slately talks about how the recent reverses against GK has forced them to let go of natural allies and might raze a city for upkeep, Parson's musing into how to reduce upkeep to zero, Transylvito's endless worries about money, etc.

But, if you're solely concerned with "winning" i.e. being the sole side standing, you wouldn't need to care, would you? If you're the last side remaining, what's left to hurt you? You can disband all, or almost all of your forces and just refuse to pop more (or disband units as soon as you pop them if you must pop units in cities), and even if your a hundredth city only produces 1 shmucker a turn, well, what do you need it for exactly?

>>44446089
Decrypted casters work. Uncroaked ones don't.

>>44445997
Maybe.

The Magic Kingdom is a bit weird. It's supposed to be one huge hex in the middle of the ocean, with no other land hexes in sight. Is it in the same "plane" as Erfworld? I suspect Erfworld may not be as uniform as we've been led to believe.

An aside:

If every side was down to one city each (making them capitals by default) and no cities were abandoned, would the Park be big enough for all portals? Or would that scenario not even be feasible?

>>44446089

Decrypted != Uncroaked.

Uncroaked casters can't cast, and are basically just expensive infantry.

>>44446085
I dunno, Hippiemancers alone could stop an assault, right?

>>44446106

You get mention in the earlier books of "Capital sites", and when Parson is having his big strategy session with the GK brass, he mentions whether they should keep the capital at Spacerock, return it to GK itself, or to use the Unaroyal one. It seems that not every city can be a capital; and if you can't create a capital site somehow, you probably have a hard limit to the number of sides possible.

>>44446098
What if Rulers have Upkeep?

>>44445671
>Anyone have any speculation as to why Charlie hasn't conquered all of Erfworld yet?
He's only interested in self-preservation since the world is literally out to kill him thanks to Fate. Going on the offensive because you're certain you can't lose is a surefire way to lose when the narrative is against you.

So I stopped following erfworld a while back when it turned into text updates.

Do I need to read any of those to understand what's happening or can I jump back into the comics?

>>44446089
Decrypted =/= Uncroaked.

Before she got the pliers, Wanda (as a croakamancer) could turn bodies into Uncroaked. Your classic Zombies: nearly mindless and fell apart over time. An Uncroaked Caster can't cast and retains none of thier memories.

Once she got the Pliers, Wanda could create Decrypted. They retain all of their previous abilities, knowledge and personality, have zero upkeep, and don't decay. Decrypted casters like Ace can cast as normal.

>>44446098
You have problems with Barbarian warlords popping up in your territory and steam rolling your cities before you can assemble a large enough force to stop them.

Plus with Halfaton, a huge problem was the large weak perimeter so you could potentially punch through and scatter tons of barb warlords to eat the inside while turtling.

>>44446147

What if they do? If the Capital city can support the Ruler, I don't think it produces fewer shmuckers if the side expands infinitely, just that each new city produces marginally less.


Although, come to think of it, we got that mention of signamancy decay if the side isn't actively led. I wonder if there would be a kind of heat death if there's nothing left to fight.

>>44445985
Yeah, I guess you'd need to have all the money BEFORE world domination, because world domination will bankrupt (you after you get so many cities).

>>44446098
>ou can disband all, or almost all of your forces and just refuse to pop more (or disband units as soon as you pop them if you must pop units in cities), and even if your a hundredth city only produces 1 shmucker a turn, well, what do you need it for exactly?
Yeaaaaaaaah, see, we've seen some bad rulers but I don't think many of them would be willing to kill 99.9% of the world population. And then how would you get to that spot? You'd need to conquer the world first.

>>44446159
Depends when you stopped, you can definitely get the gist of what's going on by reading the comics only for Bk2 and Bk3.

The text updates give more nuance and detail now instead of being a placeholder for comics, although they are still a significant part of it.

>>44446197

>And then how would you get to that spot? You'd need to conquer the world first.

Yes, that is the assumption: Given that at least for all material factors, it seems eminently plausible that Charlie could have done this ages ago, and one is asking why he hasn't. He certainly seems to have the cash, close to 700,000,000 (remember, the gem boost from the mountain exploding, putting GK at around 3 million, had Sizemore thinking they were the richest side on Erfworld)

And I don't know, I certainly think Charlie would be all right with outright genocide.

>>44446139
Oh right I forgot about that.

Maybe Parson will break that? Some linkups can change terrain. Maybe there is a combination that can turn a non-capital site into a capital site?

>>44446234
The literal Plot of Erfworld is against him.

>>44446234

See
>>44445939
>>44446154

>>44446159
I actually like text updates. Not that I like the comic updates any less.

Who's with me?

>>44446261
Maybe one day there'll be a seperate Erfworld Novel about another bunch of sides elsewhere on the map.

>>44446176
Barbarian warlords can pop inside your territory? I thought they just popped in the wilderness, which I understood to be a no-man's land.

>>44446234
>I certainly think Charlie would be all right with outright genocide.
If anything Charlie lost interest in conquering other sides after gaining the 'dish. Which is why his daughter tried to kill and usurp him, leaving him in his current state.

>>44446261
Me - in Bk1 and the first half of Bk2 they tended to be throwaway sketches where it was clear they were placeholders for missing art.

Nowadays, Rob's writing has really improved (including in the stand alone stories like Book 0 and Forecastle). Given erfworld is such a cerebral comic, it makes sense to use text for the planning and characterisation (e.g. the text update of King Slately being drunk really made me understand his character) and using comic updates for the action, key plot, and epic moments.

Otherwise you can get too many panels of talking heads which drags pacing down too much.

>>44446297
There are quite a few novella from the backer stories - Duke Forecastle of Seaworld (Erfworld British Navy), as well as Book 0 which looks at FAQ and Charlie's beginnings

>>44446321
Why is that exactly? Is the Dish a link to Stupidworld somehow?

>>44446362
Maybe the signamancy of cable TV is a hint? The dish slowly changes it's attuned user into a couch potato.

>>44446312
Actually I'm not sure if there actually formally is "territory" as a game mechanic for Erfworld - I think there might just be cities and the max distance a unit at one of those cities can travel.
I don't think cities actually have direct influence on hexes, but your "territory" is hexes closest to your cities.

Battlespace seems to be slightly different and based around if two sides could potentially interact in a Turn then their turn order comes into play.

>>44446362
It's been speculated but not outright proven that Charlie is either a stupidworlder or has access to stupidworld via the disk. Mainly because he has a much higher frequency of stupidworld references and is much more genresavvy than other Overlords. Plus his modern tech of course.

>>44446362
No, but Charlie is already kind of familiar with Stupidworld. He invented the Perfect Warlord spell and used it to summon Judy Gale who was pretty unstoppable until Olive drugged her.

>>44446354
The other backer novella are:
* Lord Crush (diplomat, soviet union themes)
* Digdoug (dirtamancer - carnymancer and keyboard themes)
* Dylan and Thomas (rhymemancer - PAUSED)

>>44446499
There was one themed around Age of Sail Britain, right?

>>44446418
kek

>>44446460
Turns and everything about how time works in erfworld are probably the most confusing thing for me.

He looks like Charlie Brown so I'm inclined to think he is a native.

>>44446225
cool. I think I stopped shortly after Parson hopped into the magic kingdom.

>>44446570
Yeah, Duke Forecastle - featuring Qwakkens and Double Eagles - definitely some of the best writing Rob's done.

>>44446460
>>44446467


Seems more likely that he's a native who has somehow gotten access to Stupidworld (or other worlds) than a Stupidworlder himself: His internal monologue in the most recent text updates use Erfworld terms like Shockamancy connection instead of something like "electric connection"; even Judy used words like "year" and "kill" after a very, very long stay in Erfworld.

>>44446620
Fair warning though, the art quality shifts around a bit with the third artist until Xin came back with a new colourist and a buffer in September this year.

>>44446180
What if cities themselves have a constant upkeep? That would mean that not only does your tenth city no give you more than a negligible income, but it also costs you money just to have.

>>44446362
It gives him access to 'channels', so it could just be that he wanted to loaf out and watch what was on instead of doing anything himself.

Alternatively:
His newfound access to thinkamancy revealed to him some of the fundamental truths of Erfworld that the thinkamancers hide: the game is ultimately unwinnable, and everyone is being subtly manipulated by the game (via 'Fate' and 'natural thinkamancy') to keep it that way. In learning this, he lost the will to fight, which is precisely why the Great Minds are so keen to suppress such knowledge.

>>44446701
10 cities wouldn't be enough for that. Haffaton had over 70 cities. It still had enough schmuckers for a stupidworlder, two casters and a prisoner.

>>44446163
Decryption actually seems far too powerful.

>>44446796
There's other ways to increase city schmucker production as well. Like having a warlord wander around or observing the city's bank.

>>44446828

As opposed to unlimited move and more that the shoes provide? Or the myriad of bullshit Charlie can do now because of the Arkendish? And I'm willing to bet the Arkenhammer has far better abilities than the ones Stanley has figured out.


The arkentools are crazy powerful. What about this is new exactly?

>>44446828
The Arkentools are gamebreakers.

>>44446858
Yes. The Arkenpliers are the only ones that seem to be an absolute game winner on their own. The lack of upkeep on Decrypted should mean they are basically unbeatable.

Arkenshoes are of limited use because they're still just a single Warlord's move. The Arkenhammer summons powerful monsters, but not an unlimited amount of upkeep-free ones.

>>44445746
I've considered this theory as well. We know that he discovered something terrible when he Attuned, and it totally changed his goals.

>>44446841
Haffaton didn't have warlords. I don't think they even had an army apart from uncroaked, some weird plants (I think?) and some elves as natural allies. And the elves were doing poorly at that, so much that they were easily bribed by Charlie to burn down his daughter's city.

>>44446904
I'm pretty sure it's also any units that Warlord is stacked with as well.

>>44446904

The Arkendish has propelled Charlie into a point where it seems like only Fate literally making it impossible prevents him from "winning the game"

And we know far less about the capabilities of the other two Arkentools, the shoes because of their limited exposure, and the hammer because Stanley is an idiot. I would not be surprised at all if either of them had their own "game winning on their own" powers if properly used.

>>44446937
No-one remembers Christian Sidehug :(

>>44446858
The Arkenhammer has a load of different powers
>Summon a random dwagon every turn
>Can instantly turn any dwagon the attuned comes across
>Turns bird units into walnuts and vice versa
>Heavy metal fighting
>Limited flight
>The Van Defraaff, An aoe shockamancy attack that can wipe out an eleven warlord plus enhanced infantry super-stack in one swing.

>>44446904
>The Arkenhammer summons powerful monsters, but not an unlimited amount of upkeep-free ones.
It's also an amazing weapon on it's own right and it seems like it has some other weird abilities like turning nuts into birds.

We also don't know much about the Arkenshoes. Maybe they would let you move out of turn or some other crazy thing.

>>44446957
Before Wanda, there were more units in Haffaton I'm sure. But with Wanda making uncroaked and those diminishing returns, I'm sure Olive just started disbanding guys left and right.

Or maybe they were in a city we didn't see. Dunno.

>>44446904
The Arkenshoes are pretty bullshit too. Unlimited move means they can go anywhere in the world in one turn, initiate combat and cast an unlimited amount of times.

>>44447104
Pretty sure move and juice are separate things.

>>44446904
Vehicles work depending on the move of the units inside it. Theoretically someone attuned to the Arkenshoes could enter a vehicle, grab some units, drive the vehicle to anywhere in the world, drop the units and go back to fetch more units all in the span of a single turn.

The Arkenshoes is the mobility-specialized Arkentool.

>>44447104
>Unlimited move means they can go anywhere in the world in one turn
Yep.
>initiate combat and cast an unlimited amount of times.
Not really, because you are still dependent on the capability of the individual unit. Even the strongest warlord will eventually wear down, even the strongest caster will eventually run out of juice.

File: IPTSF_Text_47.jpg (127KB, 720x495px) Image search: [Google]

127KB, 720x495px

>>44446972
It doesn't summon dragons, but it allows the side to pop Dwagons.

It can also pacify Dwagons.

My guess is that it has different effects depending on the beast it touches. I wonder what would happen if it hit a Pedobear

>>44446972

Oh, I'm not saying it doesn't have a bunch of different powers, but some of the text updates reveal that even Stanley only has a very fuzzy idea of how it works and what it can do, and he's pretty sure he can get it to do more, if he only knew how.

So what we've seen the Arkenhammer do probably isn't the limit of what the Arkenhammer can do.

>>44447448
Same things applies to the Plies as we learned that it can also severe G-strings when linked with a thinkmancer.

>>44447497

I'm not sure that's generally applicable: remember, this is a decrypted Archon, a unit with possible ties to two different Arkentools, it's hardly a normal case. And I don't think Wanda even used the pliers there, just a kind of Thinkomancy projection while in Lillith's headspace driving out Charlie.

Then again, given that all the other tools we've seen seem to have multiple abilities, it wouldn't surprise me that the pliers have more than one.

>>44446467
There are (possibly misleading) hints that Charlie is a StupidWorlder who arrived back in the '70s (Charlie's Angels, the stewardess uniforms, the Vietnam-vintage weapons, seeming to understand older cliches but not many of the newer ones that Parson spouts, etc.).

Given the number of twists involved so far, though, there's not much telling; during the last book, I was expecting Parson to get forcibly sent home by Jojo, only to discover that his mother was Judy Gale and had the Arkenshoes in her closet (both stories had reached those points at the same time).

>>44447448
Do we even know if a tool grants the same abilities to each (attuned) person?

>>44447643
No we don't, because each tool has only ever been attunned to a single person in living memory. If a tool was attuned to by more than one person ever, suddenly all the Destiny stuff Wanda has been spouting looks alot more iffy.

>>44447643

I'm not sure, the book 0 mentions that one of the abilities the shoes grants is infinite move, which seems to imply a certain objectivity to them, but of course, that might be speaker error and it also doesn't preclude other people having other abilities with a shared base.

>>44447771

I'm pretty sure that the rulers of Westeregg and Easteros (?) were attuned to their arkentools before Haffaton and Charlie got them.

And it doens't really impact Wanda's fate and destiny theories, unless you assume that they're immutable. It could be someone's destiny to have, attune, and use an Arkentool, and then, when their purpose is fulfilled, have it go to someone else.

Can someone explain to me how time works in erfworld?

>>44447979
http://archives.erfworld.com/Book%202/8
https://wiki.erfworld.com/Time

>Within a given hex, 1 second is "one-thousand-one", 1 minute is 60 seconds, 1 hour is 60 minutes, and a day is 24 hours.

>A year is a period of time referring to 365 turns (or days in Stupidworld). Erfworld doesn't have seasons or related phenomenon to make years a useful measurement. As a result, this isn't a normal part of an Erfworlder's vocabulary, though they will still instinctively understand the word if a Stupidworlder speaks it. Instead of years, Erfworlders have occasionally been known to use hundredturns as a description of magnitude.

> Time flows independently in every Hex. A Unit traveling through a Hex may find minutes or hours passing but a Lookamancer or other observer in another Hex sees the Unit moving in only seconds or minutes.

>A Unit moving from one hex to another will experience a shift in time when moving between hexes, but only if the unit has been observed. Otherwise, as no paradoxes would be caused, the time of the new hex would adjust to your time

> While length of time is relative, the order of events is absolute. If there are events A, B, and C being observed from two different hexes. Hex one may say: A took 15 minutes, then B took 10, then C took 20. Hex two may say A took 5, then B took 30, then C took 15. In all cases everyone would agree that A happened, then B happened, then C happened.

>>44447979
Everyone experiences one day/turn at a time.

Everyone on Erfworld experiences the same day/turn before anyone gets another one (turnamancy notwithstanding).

During that day, the sun rises and sets. People in different places may percieve events to take longer or shorter periods of time than others. If you change Hex, the sun may change position in the sky. This is similar to our notion of timezones.

Events have an order.

From your perspective perspective, your day only has "time" in it for the events that effect you (directly or indirectly). This leads to the concept of Battlespace. This is similar to our notion of Light-Cones, though at a vastly compressed scale.

>>44448158
>perspective perspective
Personal percspective rather.

Interestingly very little in the set up is inconsistant with Relativity.

>>44448117
>>44448158
I think I get this, but then I get confused when I think about turns.

But thanks!

>>44448117
The whole concept that time is relative but absolute is interesting in the context of recent events. The entire exchange that forced Parson into turning was in part because he felt that he was under pressure to respond to Charlescomm's claim immediately, but why did he feel that pressure? Charlie is in a different hex. Parson could take literal hours to analyze the deal and Charlie could see the response in his seconds, so long as the order of events is preserved.

Fate seems to be the mechanism by which the order of events is preserved. Thus, free will pertains to actions do not have an assigned place in the event order, and Predictamancy is a means to steal a peek at the event order. There's probably a lot more that can be inferred from this if I could remember more of the lore.

>>44448937
Wanda was alongside him in the Magic Kingdom, and she was able to see through Lilith's perspective as well. That's probably enough to collapse events into a single observable state.

The timer on the claim is more likely just part of the contract; you have to deal with it in short order to prevent further violations before the first is dealt with.

>>44449343
>Wanda was alongside him in the Magic Kingdom, and she was able to see through Lilith's perspective as well. That's probably enough to collapse events into a single observable state.
That assumes the act of observation would affect the flow of time. If so, you could probably pull off some sort of convoluted trick involving Lookamancers to synchronize time, perhaps in the context of battlespaces and turn order?

>The timer on the claim is more likely just part of the contract; you have to deal with it in short order to prevent further violations before the first is dealt with.
But time is relative. Why not simply 'stop' time in the other hexes while the claim is being processed? Alternatively, the contract is fulfilled automagically but Charlie still manually files the claim after the breach, so shouldn't a new breach force an auto-acceptance of the previous claim and allow Charlie to file a new one?

Thinking back, there's also the instance where Charlie was simultaneously receiving multiple calls during the battle for Spacerock. How is that possible in the context of asynchronous time? Simply being in the same battlespace isn't enough to do it. Was it rigged by Fate to try and force Charlie into an action he wouldn't have done otherwise? Or maybe it's something tied to the Arkendish, where the standard rules no longer apply?

>>44450251
>Why not simply 'stop' time in the other hexes while the claim is being processed?
Not the anon you were replying to, but perhaps the it is to stop further breaches in the hex the CW is in as well. Plus this prevents the CW from breaching the contract and then just ignoring the claim until it becomes a net win - e.g. if the sender of a side's contract was in a different hex to both an opposing sides CW and either the Capital or the Ruler, then they could just ignore the claim until they kill that Side.

As for the multiple calls thing in the battle for Spacerock I'm half convinced it is difficult to lie in Thinkspace due to the mind connection, and Charlie simply needed an excuse to end the conversation with Jillian (i.e. a pending call with Tramennis).

>>44451287
>Not the anon you were replying to, but perhaps the it is to stop further breaches in the hex the CW is in as well. Plus this prevents the CW from breaching the contract and then just ignoring the claim until it becomes a net win - e.g. if the sender of a side's contract was in a different hex to both an opposing sides CW and either the Capital or the Ruler, then they could just ignore the claim until they kill that Side.
Further breaches in the signatory unit's hex is a possibility, but maybe that's why the other party has to manually file the claim: they will always see the full damages before it is filed. Signatory units in a different hex doesn't matter because while they're ignoring the claim, time can be effectively stopped elsewhere.

>As for the multiple calls thing in the battle for Spacerock I'm half convinced it is difficult to lie in Thinkspace due to the mind connection, and Charlie simply needed an excuse to end the conversation with Jillian (i.e. a pending call with Tramennis).
It's difficult to lie, but isn't the excuse is also a form of lying?

Other instances of simultaneous thinkagrams include when Maggie was interrupted by Stanley during TBfGK, while Parson was talking to Ansom - maybe it wasn't a coincidence? Bunny was also dealing with a lot of calls after the volcano trick, but it's unclear if they were simultaneous or in series. Hell, there are a lot of moments where a thinkagram or hat message interrupted someone as they were planning their next action; what if they came in a few minutes later?

>>44454032
Something to remember, during most of the first book, all hexes were time synced because Gobwin Knob had the magic eye table observing all hexes in realtime.

>>44456080
They had a complete view of unit locations and stack compositions, but it was never stated that time was synchronized.

>>44456080
It was never explicitly stated, but I think the map table only reached to the limits of the battlespace.

Actually I think the opposite was true on the time sync in the first book. Otherwise that scene with Ansom and Vinnie moving 6 or 7 hexes to save Jillian while the fight with the Dwagons is going on makes no sense.

>>44454032
Maybe the interruptions were happening because the Thinkagrams were linked causally - they were usually related I subject matter.

Plus Maggie is still not a master Thinkamancer - perhaps only the master ones can stretch time between Thinkagram answering to the max for planning.

There also might still be an element of luck, with some calls getting marked as pick this up NOW or the other person gets it as expired and their turn continues at fast pace. Otherwise Thinkamancer could potentially have a full turn before each call.

Fate might also intervene as well to prevent the calls becoming like accurate intra turn predictamancy

>>44443524
He's probably high as balls right now; he was shooting heroin when Parson was in the claim and he probably went right back after.

>>44444767
My money's always been on Parson farting around Cincinatti or wherever he lived for a day or two, then remembering the wizard of oz, going to Kansas, finding Judy Gale, who gives him the Shoes, which brings him back to Erfworld: this time without a (breakable) magical effect keeping him there.

>>44444767
I have to say, that's really awesome timing he got there, intentional or not.

>>44462748
>Parson returns with his gaming group to help him manage the wars

I didn't know /tg/ had Erfworld threads. Better than OotS: it updates regularly and the plot moves.

Ever since the guns got introduced, I've had the idea that a triple link between Parson and Sizemore could be used to create nuclear weapons. If we claim that atoms are Stuff, then nuclear physics would be an application of Stuffamancy, and the Manhattan Project would be particularly suited to Dirtamancy, since that deals with natural elements. Parson would be required because the concept would be totally alien to an Erfworlder.

Charlie's weapons seem to be Vietnam era (M16s, RPGs, water cooled machine guns, emplaced AA guns, etc) so he probably knows about nukes.

>>44463689
Parson ended Book 1 with what was basically a single-use superweapon, so it's certainly not off the cards.

I think to create a magic nuke would use a link up between a Dollamancer and a Shockamancer. Shockamancers can already do some pretty massive blasts generally, and a link up would only make them larger. The Dollamancer brings miniaturization, the ability for non-casters to fire it, and maybe an animate ICBM for delivery

>>44464100
I really wish Parson had more options when it came to Casters.

Come to think of it, has any side ever had a caster for each discipline? And could someone remind me how Casters pop?

>>44464145
>could someone remind me how Casters pop?
When you try to pop a warlord, sometimes you get a caster instead. The chance is pretty slim, but it's much higher for newborn sides.

>>44464145
>>44464170
You can also hire barbarian/freelance casters from the Magic Kingdom

>>44464170
>>44464188
How do barbarian Casters pop then?

>>44464145
From the wiki:

>Casters are created in the same way as warlords; when a Side pops a warlord, there is a chance it will get a caster instead. The Side also does not get to choose the type of caster it receives. Some Erf culture appears to hold that the Titans decide when a Side will pop casters, or that the need of the Ruler influences what is popped. There is no way to intentionally pop a caster

>>44464200
Most of the time, they were popped by a side that died. I think it's possible for casters to pop as barbarians the same way wild animals pop, but it's probably absurdly rare.

>>44464220
>A caster popping in the wild is a particularly rare occurrence. Tisha popped in a ruin at the top of a mountain, with rain and lightning pounding the crumbling towers and fallen stone arches all around her.
>For nearly two thousand turns, she calls the rain soaked ruin her home. She reached out to nearby sides by mental contact, never showing herself physically. She sustained her upkeep by contracting out for basic long-distance Thinkamancy services and espionage.
>By experiencing a variety of minds at a distance, the analytical Tisha began to form theories about personality and thought. >Eventually she shared her ideas with the only person she called a friend: the Overlady of Jungstown, who was called Pink Freud. Overlady Pink invited Tisha to come in out of the rain. Tisha accepted, and became a subject of Jungstown.
>For another eleven thousand turns, the two of them developed complicated theories of the mind together. But then the Overlady popped a turbulent new heir, a son named Edifice Wrex. Within forty turns, Jungstown was in ruins, the Overlady and her son were both slain, and Tisha fled to the Magic Kingdom.
>Tisha is now known for applying her concepts to the healing of minds and is much in demand among rulers and casters alike. She is perhaps the most trusted Thinkamancer for handling link-ups, and she herself formed the link which created the scroll to Summon the Perfect Warlord.

One of Bios from one of the books that can be found in the wiki.

>>44464211
Lets see..

>Wanda
Popped as non-royal in Goodminton, family member of the Overlord and heir

>Jack
Popped in Faq, but not as royalty or family member for the sole purpose of keeping Faq off the radar

>Sizemore
Popped in gobwin Knob, may potentially be a noble relative to the dead king Saline, or may be related to Stanley as they're the same "tribe".

>Maggie
She may actually be a hired Barbarian Caster of the Magic Kingdom. She's already a standing member of the thinkamancer conspiracy and may have been hired by Stanley to build the eyebooks and eyetable.

>Misty
Possibly also a barbarian caster, I'd almost say she's from the same tribe as Maggie as they have similar skin tone and hair color, except Maggie didn't seem to give a rats ass about her or her death.

So that's potentially two (now one) barbarian casters on the team.

>>44464100
Yeah, there seems more interest now then when I posted the one featuring Charlies reveal a month or two back.

Anyone else interested in posting the latest if I forget to?

>>44462810
I kind of assume Wanda had access to Parson's entire time-stream, and plucked him out at his most isolated moment.

>>44464514
The similar grey skin tone is down to Maggie, Misty and Jack all being in a long term Caster link - once Jack is decrypted he goes back to his original skin color.

>>44464211
The part about ruler needs influencing caster pop seems to be the best perspective. Sides tend to pop four casters and then no more until one of the casters are dead.

But Banhammer desired intellectual adversaries and peaceful people so more casters popped for him, while Jillian who desires to go war is only popping warlords.

Even trough she clearly expressed a desire for casters and wonder why haven't any popped yet, which she believes that atleast one should already have happened.

>>44465578
> his most isolated moment
> In a room with three other people
Dude was a neckbeard; he probably spent most of his time alone in front of his computer.

>>44466039
Sorry not physically isolated, but when he most wanted to escape from Stupidworld into a gaming world - he gets grabbed right after his rant.

>>44436058
>>44435824
The moment "Big Game" orders were laid out, it was pretty certain that the shooting will occur.

>>44435031
How doesn't that illusion count as an attack and therefore a truce violation?
It takes advantage of information chaos on other side, yes, but it still is a hostile action.

>>44466466
Because as detailed in the previous page, the Baffle spell he cast is a freindly Buff spell: it doesn't harm the target at all, and is relatively easy to see through. It doesn't hide who they are at all, just modifies their signamancy slightly. Basically, it has the (Harmless) tag.

Of course, in this confusing situation it's much more devastating. But thems the breaks when you fight fate.

>>44466576
Because it doesn't cause material harm. It doesn't count as an engagement either, as he isn't blocking the spell, so no attempts to cause material harm are made either.

>>44466222
Oh I'm absolutely sure he didn't just *happen* to get grabbed right there, that was Fate (or perhaps Signamancy) at work.

Also I love the idea behind Signamancy and how things in Erfworld reflect their nature when it comes to their appearance. I've wondered if Signamancy is also relative and the reason why everything looks the way it does to us the readers is because that's how Parson's brain interprets everything. Just helps to drive home the fact that Parson is very much an Outsider in Erfworld, a being from another reality where the rules are quite different and he's been summoned and forced to abide by Erfworld's rules.

So why didn't he just offer Charlie his bracer artifact, since he's getting it along with Parson now anyway? It was even conveniently priced at 500k by Sizemore when it first appeared.

Definitely pretty suspicious that we never saw the parley where the deal was brokered too, given text updates being an option. I'm guessing there were certain strings attached which Charlie is inadvertently breaking now.

>>44466466
If Charlie's mindfucking Lillith doesn't count, I don't see why a little Baffle would.

>>44469061
Well, technically Lilith didn't suffer "material" harm and was a Charlescomm prisoner. That could mean that she doesn't count as a Gobwyn Knob unit.