Thread of questions

[Antonymous]

Here is a thread for asking miscellaneous questions about the comic, because I had some:

• How do you pronounce Milliene? Two syllables or three? In case anybody reads IPA: [mɪ.lij'ɛn]? [mɪ'lijn]?
• Where do all the characters keep their tents and spare clothes and other stuff? Is this related to how Solaria pulls knives out of nowhere?
• Tnacult's tail is finny. Can he swim with it?
• What do iaei look like?
• Why does Malbez use 正 as his symbol? Is it the hanzi meaning "straight, right, proper"? And what's up with the symbol on Cress's chest?
• Is Gemma's new arm made of flesh or metal or what?

I wonder if Haz will answer any of them.

Edit: ooh, I didn't notice the new glossary page! It has lots of juicy details! Juicy like rotting god carcasses!

[Hazardswake]

How do you pronounce Milliene? Two syllables or three? In case anybody reads IPA: [mɪ.lij'ɛn]? [mɪ'lijn]?

mill-EEN.

[*Where do all the characters keep their tents and spare clothes and other stuff? Is this related to how Solaria pulls knives out of nowhere?

Well, this one is tricky. Originally, I chalked it up to how RPG characters seem to be able to carry around nigh-limitless amounts of things and use them at will. I planned for each character to have a "bag of holding" to store all of their stuff so there would be a story-based explanation, but then I forgot to show it. Currently, I haven't decided exactly how I'll explain it in-story, but I've been considering having some sort of Storage ETHER, or something. >.<;; Yeah, kinda sloppy of me, really. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear 'em.

Tnacult's tail is finny. Can he swim with it?

Yes, but he's not terribly fast underwater. Perhaps just a little better than humans.

What do iaei look like?

They are elliptical coins made of a shiny blue metal.

Why does Malbez use 正 as his symbol? Is it the hanzi meaning "straight, right, proper"?

No, that was semi-coincidental. I believe I saw the symbol, later tried to reproduce something similar to get a foreign feel, and accidental reproduced it exactly ^^;; In-story, when Malbez first started stealing energy from wizards, he decided he needed a cool symbol for himself, and came up with that after many failed attempts.

And what's up with the symbol on Cress's chest?

That's the demon hunter symbol. However, it's not well known outside of Zera.

Is Gemma's new arm made of flesh or metal or what?

It's flesh, though the outer skin has been replaced with some synthetic coating the doctor developed. Doctor Oredatael has some of Malbez's victims preserved for "spare human-y parts."

Edit: ooh, I didn't notice the new glossary page! It has lots of juicy details! Juicy like rotting god carcasses!

Yep! I still have a long way to go with it, though.

If you or anyone else has any other questions, feel free to ask. I'll be all vague if the answer is a spoiler or anything, though. Heh.

[Antonymous]

mill-EEN.

Ohno, I've been pronouncing it wrong! Sorry, Mil'. [hugs Milliene]

Well, this one is tricky. Originally, I chalked it up to how RPG characters seem to be able to carry around nigh-limitless amounts of things and use them at will. I planned for each character to have a "bag of holding" to store all of their stuff so there would be a story-based explanation, but then I forgot to show it. Currently, I haven't decided exactly how I'll explain it in-story, but I've been considering having some sort of Storage ETHER, or something. >.<;; Yeah, kinda sloppy of me, really. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear 'em.

Well, Exor evidently has storage ETHER. Princess Aileen can presumably afford a Bag of Holding, and Solaria and Cress might have been issued them, and maybe Maple's hidden "purse" is one too. (Although if she needs a concealed Bag of Holding, then I'm even more curious about the nature of her "errands". ) That's plenty of excuses for past hammerspaciness, so I don't think inconsistency is a problem if you start being rigorous about inventory. Fatima's group are presumably the ones who need to worry here, since if they had any Bags of Holding, they probably lost them in Shirande Northern Keep. So the poor things are running into a desert with nothing but their ETHER, their weapons, and the clothes on their backs. And the only civilization around wants to kill them. This can't possibly go wrong.

[Hazardswake]

mill-EEN.

Ohno, I've been pronouncing it wrong! Sorry, Mil'. [hugs Milliene]

Well, I don't know if I feel that there's actually a right or wrong way to pronounce it. And it's confusing seeing as I spell it "Milliene" which has a bunch of extra letters in there.

Well, Exor evidently has storage ETHER. Princess Aileen can presumably afford a Bag of Holding, and Solaria and Cress might have been issued them, and maybe Maple's hidden "purse" is one too. (Although if she needs a concealed Bag of Holding, then I'm even more curious about the nature of her "errands". ) That's plenty of excuses for past hammerspaciness, so I don't think inconsistency is a problem if you start being rigorous about inventory. Fatima's group are presumably the ones who need to worry here, since if they had any Bags of Holding, they probably lost them in Shirande Northern Keep. So the poor things are running into a desert with nothing but their ETHER, their weapons, and the clothes on their backs. And the only civilization around wants to kill them. This can't possibly go wrong.

Haha, we'll see how that goes. I like your suggestions, though, and will probably use something like that with the Bags of Holding.

[Germ]

Was there ever a guy in this comic named Fax?

Who is the queen of Zera?

[Furikku]

It's me. I am the queen of Zera.

[Germ]

That explains an awful lot, actually.

[Hazardswake]

Was there ever a guy in this comic named Fax?

Yes, he's finally appeared. ...Now I need to update that cast page.

Who is the queen of Zera?

Her name was Norah. She's dead.

[Furikku]

How many more shirtless guys are we gonna get to see in this comic?

[Antonymous]

Are some of the characters harder to draw then others? In particular, is Solaria hard to draw? I noticed while making avatars that she's less consistent in appearance than the other main characters. Everyone is deformed sometimes, but it seems to happen more to Solaria and less to Maple and Araceli.

[Hazardswake]

How many more shirtless guys are we gonna get to see in this comic?

This will be on a "as I draw it" basis, so I can't give you a number. But there will be more.

Are some of the characters harder to draw then others? In particular, is Solaria hard to draw? I noticed while making avatars that she's less consistent in appearance than the other main characters. Everyone is deformed sometimes, but it seems to happen more to Solaria and less to Maple and Araceli.

It's mostly Sol's hair. I have trouble drawing it consistently. I'm going to tweak her hair design on her next arc and maybe that'll help.

As for difficulty levels, it varies more from drawing to drawing than from character to character. At points, Cress, Fatima, Alexander, Hiro, Aileen, Malbez, and Gemma have given me trouble, but then I seem to settle more on being able to draw them.

[Antonymous]

Who is the winged Minion of Malbez who appears in #35 and #97 and #102?

What happened to Faust et al. after Malbez abandoned Titan's Spleen? Might they still be tied up in the dungeon, slowly dying of thirst? Or maybe the Shirande soldiers have searched the place and captured them?

[Hazardswake]

Who is the winged Minion of Malbez who appears in #35 and #97 and #102?

He is a member of a small group of organic constructs called Mirus. Dr. Ordateal made them to serve as Malbez's lowest-level minions after he got tired of having to use other humans for menial tasks. They all look identical and share one mind. Each of his towers usually has a few dozen Mirus floating around. They have tongues made of near-pure ETHER that they use to attack and occasionally move stuff around. I have no idea if any of this info will ever be useful to the comic, but I should probably add it to the glossary just because. (And because I need to add a crap-ton of other stuff to the glossary)

What happened to Faust et al. after Malbez abandoned Titan's Spleen? Might they still be tied up in the dungeon, slowly dying of thirst? Or maybe the Shirande soldiers have searched the place and captured them?

That's a funny story, actually. At the end of that storyline, I meant to show them still hanging there, bored, and forgotten. ...But then I forgot to draw that part when the time came... oops. Maybe I'll cut back to them someday.