Hoo boy. Corwin's gonna be even more posed. I'm wondering what the penalty for an Aes killing one of the Vanir is. He's got plenty of cause, and she did break into his realm intent on killing one of its guardians...

One nagging question: what happened to her? Baker stopped her and then there's no mention of her further, as though she just disappeared...

Offsides

[...] in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
-- David Ben Gurion
EPU RCW #π
#include <stdsig.h>

For a while now, I've been hoping that Freyja would get the classic Eyrie 'villain realises they're in the wrong and comes to their senses' story arc. At this point though, I think that, like Touga before her, there's no part of her soul left that wants to be saved.

Another victory for Akio. On two fronts, depending on how the political fallout from this one settles. Not a good day for the heroes at all.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

LAST EDITED ON Jun-16-15 AT 09:20 PM (EDT)
 
>One nagging question: what happened to her? Baker stopped her and then
>there's no mention of her further, as though she just disappeared...

(Baker Goldenlight, Æs of pastry products.)

For the rest of that scene (which is only about another minute, at that point), she just sort of stands there. Her job's done.

They'll have to figure out what to do with her once they've finished finding out what the hell else is going on. In the meantime, Balder's still standing right there.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>>One nagging question: what happened to her? Baker stopped her and then
>>there's no mention of her further, as though she just disappeared...
>
>(Baker Goldenlight, Æs of pastry products.)
>

Typo or auto-corrupt, you make the call!

Well done little story, BTW.

>>One nagging question: what happened to her? Baker stopped her and then
>>there's no mention of her further, as though she just disappeared...
>
>(Baker Goldenlight, Æs of pastry products.)

Baker Goldencrust. ;)

~Silv'

Alas, I suspect pastry to be Freyja's nemesis in the same vein that rationality is her ally.

>>>One nagging question: what happened to her? Baker stopped her and then
>>>there's no mention of her further, as though she just disappeared...
>>
>>(Baker Goldenlight, Æs of pastry products.)
>
>Baker Goldencrust. ;)
>
>~Silv'
>
>Alas, I suspect pastry to be Freyja's nemesis in the
>same vein that rationality is her ally.

Clearly, what she needs is a Calming Pie.

--- Philip

	Philip J. Moyer Contributing Writer, Editor and Artist (and Moderator) -- Eyrie Productions, Unlimited CEO of MTS, High Poobah Of Artwork, and High Priest Of the Church Of Aerianne -- Magnetic Terrapin Studios "Insert Pithy Comment Here" Fandoms -- Fanart -- Fan Meta Discussions

Oh WOW. Old reference! Been a long time since I backread that comic that far. Awesome.

------
Fearless creatures, we all learn to fight the Reaper
Can't defeat Her, so instead I'll have to be Her

Yes, several points to you.

dbrandon
"Horse! Pie!"

>Clearly, what she needs is a Calming Pie.

Mmm pie. When come back, bring pie.

Extra butter, less nutmeg!

Somewhere, somewhen, Brillat-Savarin just faceplanted. ;)

--
Unable to save the day: File is read-only.

>Somewhere, somewhen, Brillat-Savarin just faceplanted. ;)

<strong_sad> I rarely know what you guys're talkin' about.

--G.
I mean, I know who Brillat-Savarin was, but the rest of this subthread is entirely beyond my ken. :)
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>I mean, I know who Brillat-Savarin was, but the rest of
>this subthread is entirely beyond my ken. :)

Well, let's fix that then.

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070117
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070119

I thought they were talking about the Brillat-Savarin quote used in the opening of Iron Chef ("Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are")

Jeanne

	Jeanne Hedge http://www.jhedge.com 1st Courier of the Heavenly Prophets for Tianxia "Never give up, never surrender!"

>>One nagging question: what happened to her? Baker stopped her and then
>>there's no mention of her further, as though she just disappeared...
>
>For the rest of that scene (which is only about another minute, at
>that point), she just sort of stands there. Her job's done.
>
>They'll have to figure out what to do with her once they've finished
>finding out what the hell else is going on. In the meantime, Balder's
>still standing right there.

Certainly, she stopped because Balder showed up. I admit to being a little fuzzy as to why, however. Did he actually use a power to negate her anger, or did she stop because she realized he could whoop her? There's some nuance there I'm not getting.

I'm sure we'll find that she's been communicating (and doubtless a whole lot else) with Akio, however. She has all sorts of buttons to push, naturally, and he's the expert at pushing buttons. She didn't unravel like this on her own.

------
Fearless creatures, we all learn to fight the Reaper
Can't defeat Her, so instead I'll have to be Her

>Certainly, she stopped because Balder showed up. I admit to being a
>little fuzzy as to why, however. Did he actually use a power to negate
>her anger, or did she stop because she realized he could whoop her?
>There's some nuance there I'm not getting.
>
>I'm sure we'll find that she's been communicating (and doubtless a
>whole lot else) with Akio, however. She has all sorts of buttons to
>push, naturally, and he's the expert at pushing buttons. She didn't
>unravel like this on her own.

I'm guessing the first bit is connected to the second here- Freyja might be coming (more) unhinged, but she isn't so far in Akio's pocket that she's going to openly defy one of the Aesir. Not to mention she came in with the sorcerous equivalent of guns blazing- even if she could and would fight Balder, she probably doesn't have the ability to do so at the moment.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

>Certainly, she stopped because Balder showed up. I admit to being a
>little fuzzy as to why, however. Did he actually use a power to negate
>her anger, or did she stop because she realized he could whoop her?
>There's some nuance there I'm not getting.

Well, he's Balder. She kind of can't hurt him. Literally. It's a Norse mythology thing.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>>Certainly, she stopped because Balder showed up. I admit to being a
>>little fuzzy as to why, however. Did he actually use a power to negate
>>her anger, or did she stop because she realized he could whoop her?
>>There's some nuance there I'm not getting.
>
>Well, he's Balder. She kind of can't hurt him. Literally. It's a
>Norse mythology thing.

Well, she could, but where does one find mistletoe at this time of year?

Ebony the Black Dragon
Presuming that Frigga didn't corner the poor plant post Ragnarök and extract the promise she didn't get prior to that whole kerfuffle.

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."

I think Skuld and company patched that when they remade Yggdrasil, but I can't say for certain.

Does Cephiro fall under that oath now that Corwin is the Pillar?

Because if not, Balder would be surrounded by people and things that _could_ hurt him if Freyja used them as weapons.

(On the other hand he's still a Norse God. Killing those doesn't happen easily).

It'd be... darkly amusing to see reactions if he'd wound up with a black eye as a result of Freyja throwing a blunt object at him.

LAST EDITED ON Jun-18-15 AT 02:49 AM (EDT)
 
>Does Cephiro fall under that oath now that Corwin is the Pillar?

*/ FIXME: oh for petesake the baldr-oath
   let's not have ragnarok ii start in my demiplane
   never hear the friggin end of THAT - cvr patch5.3 */

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

So what about Oriphos? As someone who wasn't in Cephiro when Corwin patched the oath in (and the earliest it could have happened would be when the Trinity revolutionized the world), Akio wouldn't be subject to it; and since he created Oriphos, I imagine that loophole would likely have persisted. And given that he is an agent of the Pit, he would have negative interest in keeping Balder alive.

>So what about Oriphos? As someone who wasn't in Cephiro when Corwin
>patched the oath in (and the earliest it could have happened would be
>when the Trinity revolutionized the world), Akio wouldn't be subject
>to it; and since he created Oriphos, I imagine that loophole would
>likely have persisted. And given that he is an agent of the Pit, he
>would have negative interest in keeping Balder alive.

Akio doesn't seem like he would want to destroy the universe, though. That's where he keeps all his toys.

Also I don't think he would consider himself to be an agent of the Pit. He's got his own agenda and he cooperates with them precisely to the extent that their goals align with his. (Now, whether Beria and company consider him to be a useful idiot, that's another question.)

>Akio doesn't seem like he would want to destroy the universe, though.
>That's where he keeps all his toys.
>

Do not agree with you on Any of these point Zwol.

*forehead slap*

Can't BELIEVE I forgot the Baldur-Oath. Kind of a critical deal back in the last time the Trinity...well, -became- the Trinity. It was late, I was tired, etc.

------
Fearless creatures, we all learn to fight the Reaper
Can't defeat Her, so instead I'll have to be Her

>Well, he's Balder. She kind of can't hurt him. Literally. It's a
>Norse mythology thing.

I forgot to mention this way, way back when it came out, but that's why when he stops her sword with his hand, you just get a light "tink" noise, like tapping a glass.

He's so unable to be harmed by her that not only did he not get cut by her sword, but all the force of her swipe was also negated. He didn't bruise, he didn't even have his elbow bend from the force it. Absolutely nothing happened.

Interestingly, that means that whatever force decides what counts as 'harm' to Baldur, it immediately recognized Ana's prayer as 'not harmful' and let it through for him to decided if he wanted to take that teleport being offered to the school and make it there in a split second.

(Obviously, the answer was 'wow, a dark elf? I have to hear this story! Teleport accepted!")

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"

>He's so unable to be harmed by her that not only did he not get cut by
>her sword, but all the force of her swipe was also negated. He didn't
>bruise, he didn't even have his elbow bend from the force it.
>Absolutely nothing happened.

And suddenly I have this image of thousands of physicists looking up, realizing that there's an exception that is outside of literally everything they've ever learned and/or theorized, and screaming as their brains all blue screen at the same time...

[...] in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
-- David Ben Gurion
EPU RCW #π
#include <stdsig.h>

Or from a webcomic panel.

Student: Professor.. why are you crying?
Physics Professor: I... I don't know.

(Can't get the comic site from my current position but it's an early(ish) El Goonish Shive one)

>Or from a webcomic panel.
>
>Student: Professor.. why are you crying?
>Physics Professor: I... I don't know.
>
>(Can't get the comic site from my current position but it's an
>early(ish) El Goonish Shive one)

I know this one. It's the one where Elliot finds out he's a superhero.

Also, it's after Dan has mostly figured out his art style, so it's not that early. Though it's from 8 years ago, holy crap.

The inexorable nature of time gives me the sads sometimes.

>I'm sure we'll find that she's been communicating (and doubtless a
>whole lot else) with Akio, however. She has all sorts of buttons to
>push, naturally, and he's the expert at pushing buttons. She didn't
>unravel like this on her own.
>
No, and its exactly the sort of multi leveled ... umm... ploy that both Akio and his "boss" (whom us old timers tend to see under every bed ever since Twilight came out) both excel at. And this sort of weapon, while requiring skill, doesn't take much of an investment of effort. Just 'pull the pin' and point it in the direction of your enemies and let it do the rest. Even though at this point Ms. grenade... err, Lightwalker is no longer your friend, the probability of her detonation doing more damage to the enemy than yourself is enough to make the effort to do so more than worthwhile.

And here we see yet another of the twists that make UF so fun. First we have Juniper, a child from what reads as a pretty paved over planet, who becomes an Ash Knight and defender of the world Tree, and now Ana, as a Svartelf (sorry, I still think of her mostly as her 'subtype' of 'Drow') as a fellow soldier/servitor/follower of Baldur

>now Ana, as a Svartelf (sorry, I still think of her mostly as her
>'subtype' of 'Drow')

In the Upper Realms, the two terms are largely synonymous, though the latter is considered pejorative by most people who use it and insulting by the svartelves themselves (as when Peri Took used it in a Shire-casually racialist way in Out of the Blue, an attitude she adopted instinctively but then, to her credit, almost immediately dropped). Compare, well, any number of offensive ethnic/national nicknames - dago, wop, that kind of thing.

If a svartelf really wants to stand on ceremony, he or she will insist upon svartálfr, or even the thoroughly archaic dökkálfr ("dark elf").

>as a fellow soldier/servitor/follower of Baldur

The technical term is "cleric". Or "priestess" if you wanna be a little less AD&D about it. :)

I haven't had a window to show it yet? But that's what she was executed for. Remember when Balder and Frey passed through Svartalfheim on the way to investigate what the hell was going on in Ash Knight? Ana was... shall we say insufficiently revolted by the intrusion? There's a lot of thoughtcrime policing in Svartalfheim.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Why do I now see Frey and Corwin getting colossally drunk and in Corwin's case having his first really _terrible_ hangover.

Somehow I don't think Ana's going to be having any more problems with light sensitivity.

Damn, I hate to see Clef die. He's always been one of my favorite characters - but I think he's chosen his successor well. Freyja needs to pay for this, and I think this is probably going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Losing her standing and power as a goddess should be on the table at the very least - but probably not exile, since that would put her directly in the hands of the enemy, and there's nothing worse than giving the bad guys an extremely capable, insane weapon.

For some reason, I always associated Clef with the Dungeon Master from the DnD Cartoon from way long ago.

And seeing what happened to him, I am sad.
But liked the "Obi-wan" like scene.

Thanks!
"When you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains,
however improbable, must be the
truth." - Sherlock Holmes

>For some reason, I always associated Clef with the Dungeon Master from
>the DnD Cartoon from way long ago.

So did I; have to re-read those early Symphony stories again, I must have missed a few references.

--
Unable to save the day: File is read-only.

LAST EDITED ON Jun-18-15 AT 04:30 PM (EDT)
 
Man, bad day all around it seems; maybe for the next few years Corwin will be thinking, "Maybe I should skip celebrating my birthday and just, ya know, get ready for a fight instead?"

Still, I find it distressing that not only did Freyja's buttons get pushed to the point where she wound up killing Clef, but I wonder if anyone's ever pointed out to her that AKIO is part svartelf himself? Or does the fact that he's now an infernal Power somehow overshadow that for her? Cuz if she doesn't know I have to wonder if that's willful ignorance on her part or just blind spot in her on-going case of racially-biased monomania?

>Still, I find it distressing that not only did Freyja's buttons get
>pushed to the point where she wound up killing Clef, but I wonder if
>anyone's ever pointed out to her that AKIO is part svartelf himself?

You know what, there are a number of people who are mildly-to-moderately curious about that...

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>>Still, I find it distressing that not only did Freyja's buttons get
>>pushed to the point where she wound up killing Clef, but I wonder if
>>anyone's ever pointed out to her that AKIO is part svartelf himself?
>
>You know what, there are a number of people who are
>mildly-to-moderately curious about that...

*Raises hand*

I've been wondering at that myself, and I think we spot a little glimpse of what's up in this piece. Specifically, when Baldur stopped her charge, her initial reaction was...where is it...ah: "shock and incomprehension". Very interesting indeed.

I'm personally of the opinion that Freyja's trauma in the past left a much more exploitable hole in her psyche than anyone, her own brother included, would have ever conceived of. Akio, as we are already well aware, is quite adept at exploiting that kind of damage.

And besides which, Akio is a denizen of hell or a reasonable equivalent - which'd probably fit where she figures Svartalfr belong. Anthy, on the other hand, is one wedding ceremony away from being counted among the Aesir (and her daughter is one Trial away from the same).

Anthy is much more threatening to Freyja's world-view than her brother.

>Anthy, on the other hand, is one wedding ceremony away from being
>counted among the Aesir (and her daughter is one Trial away from the
>same).

Ok, I'll concur with that. But if that's the case why doesn't Freyja have a beef with Urd then? More than once in the past its been mentioned that Urd maybe/kinda/sorta has some svartelf in her own background? I mean, I'm aware of the source material regarding her, but she wouldn't be the first character in the Eryie roster that's had their background/origin turned about 90 degrees on the zorth axis for one reason or another. Maybe they resolved it long ago, or maybe Freyja does/doesn't know, or what have you...

As for Annabelle, who knows when or even if she'll follow in Papa-Corwin's footsteps.

(You know it'll happen. C'mon, say it with me now: Papa-Corwin, Papa-Utena :P)

>Ok, I'll concur with that. But if that's the case why doesn't Freyja
>have a beef with Urd then?

I submit to you that, though she may well in fact possess one, even Freyja is not crazy enough to display a beef with Urd.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

It's unequivocal that Urd -does- have Svartelf in her; she's related to Anthy. And I think it's been mentioned somewhere that while she (Freyja) keeps it pretty solidly under wraps, she does not generally get along with Urd.

Truly though, I don't think Freyja is being -allowed- to fully realize what Akio is. Subconsciously, perhaps she does, but I think Akio's got a pretty firm hold on her in some form or another.

>Truly though, I don't think Freyja is being -allowed- to fully realize
>what Akio is. Subconsciously, perhaps she does, but I think Akio's got
>a pretty firm hold on her in some form or another.

<nod> I think that was fairly clearly displayed when she invited him as her guest to The Wedding Take 1.

--
Unable to save the day: File is read-only.

>(You know it'll happen. C'mon, say it with me now: Papa-Corwin,
>Papa-Utena :P)

Too many syllables for a toddler. Pa-In and Pa-Na.

>
>>(You know it'll happen. C'mon, say it with me now: Papa-Corwin,
>>Papa-Utena :P)
>
>Too many syllables for a toddler. Pa-In and Pa-Na.

*bows* Your kung-fu is best