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Starting February 1st ALL new Exiern pages will post ONLY to Exiern.com and Our Patreon. Please read and support us there!
Swords, Sorcery, And Then Some!
Howdy, New Readers! Thanks for reading Exiern!
Written by Scott T. Hicken with art by Antipus, the comic updates Mondays. Please check out the Archive to enjoy the earlier adventures of Typh and Peonie!
Exiern contains mature themes and is best for readers 18+.
Alicia, you did not hear properly: He is gambling with everyones lives. Inlcuding your very own life.
Yes, even if you have no idea how he could gamble with it.
Fairportfan, cheating is perfectly fair, especially against a stronger foe. ‘If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.’ – John Steinbeck 😀
So there are three voices. Peonie, Alicia, and whatever talks to Alicia (which presumably Peonie does not hear). I didn’t realize that in the first page of this scene.
Well, as most people think of a scabbard, yes, because nobody’s arm is long enough or articulated properly to draw the blade.
However, a friend who was very into the SCA had a claymore and a perfectly functional back scabbard. (Well, for the draw; putting it back was a bit fiddly.)
It was basically a wooden box the length of the blade that was open on one side most of its length. The sides of the box protected the edges of the blade.
A few inches at the end of the box were closed.
At the top were two metal bars pointing upward.
The blade went in with its tip in the closed part of the box and quillons hooked behind the springy bars.
To draw you only had to lift the blade a few inches to clear the tip and the quillons, and then it swung clear on the box’s open side.
@Cerulean Lion: The third voice is the Dragon Collective. It’s all the dragons speaking to Alicia, who is a fledgling dragon.
In addition to presenting its views, the collective can influence its members directly, including temporarily taking control and granting tremendous strength.
Note that squirrels have a similar collective, although they try to keep it hidden. Scholars are undecided which collective is a greater threat to humanity.
Quentin: you do realise back-scabbards are just for ease in carrying swords that are at least half as long as the wielder?
Big ‘discussion’ about that over in “Grrl Power” a couple pages back
Guesticus: You do realise that if you have a back scabbard, you either carry your sword in your hand all the time, or die if you’re anywhere you might need it quickly, right?
Don’t know, I would think a scabbard that the sword does not slide down but snaps into would work. When drawing the weapon you twist and the blade pops out of the open frame that holds it.
I’ve seen functional back scabbards, during my rounds at Ren Fests. Similar concept to Fair’s description (…and no, “Andor” as in “Andor” :D), just a little simpler, with a leather scabbard. Same idea though…you just need to hold it by the tip and crossbar, and protect the sides.
Okay I had to throw this in, but knowing the way that style of dress is fit, no, her bust doesn’t look any smaller, just more natural now. The belted area should sit right below the bust, and there’s enough hint of curvature and the way fabric would smoosh a busty woman in a fitted cote’ like that to show that yes, this is still a very busty woman. One of the biggest differences here is again, the slightly less historical line of the dress that it does not remain fitted down to her natural waist, thereby creating the illusion her waist is much higher than it actually is.
I spend a lot of time around Seamstresses in the Society for Creative Anachronism and frankly a lot of us are pretty busty women so I’m kinda used to it. The biggest visual hint to indicate size is also how much bulge she has above the neckline of the dress.
I always assumed the voice was just the Inner Dragon wanting out.
I could be wrong though. It is a Dragon voice of some kind though. And it does take over at times to protect the young dragon from being killed before he or she can mature into a real dragon. At which time the young dragon stops hiding amongst humans and goes off to do whatever dragons do….INNNN SUUUUUUUMMMMERRRRRRR…
oops…shifted into the wrong song there…sorry guys. 😉
ahem.
Now for the art. Oh yes. Peonie is looking amazingly bad a!s right there. I truly do love this art style and can’t want to see more of her.
Fairportfan: if you are going to be carrying your bastard sword in your hand all the time, you don’t need a scabbard and should get an axe instead
You strap it to your back for ease of carry, if you suspect an area to be hostile then you take it out and have it ready, but Princess P-cups is carrying it correctly: it’s not secured to her back and she can (fairly) easily swing the whole thing around and off and then drop the scabbard (or fling it at her opponent if they are close)
It’s similar to longbows
Guesticus is right, a back scabbard for a large sword (Anything bigger than a bowie-knife really) is NOT meant to have the sword drawn from it in haste. It’s simply a very specialized backpack, meant to carry one sword. However, even such is horribly impractical compared to just holding the sword around the crossguard at a bit below waist height, letting the blade rest on your shoulder. As if it’s very snug against your back, it limits your mobility a lot, and if not, the crossguard risks trying to brain you as you perform movements. Not perhaps a problem with a magical sword with the properties of North Wind, but still… few would develop such a scabbard in the first place. The other advantage of carrying a sword tip up leaning against your shoulder, is that you’re fractions of a second away from a guard position that is usefull against attacks from someone far stronger (traditionally known as ‘The Womans Guard’, how is that for medieval sexism?).
I’m actually kind of annoyed at the change in Peonie’s portrayal. How does “character growth and maturity” require her to start dressing like a demure maiden (and apparently get a breast reduction)? That implies that a woman who actually likes sex and dresses in a way she enjoys is doing something inherently wrong. I would have much rather seen Peonie looking as she used to… while dismissing Alicia’s idiotic threats as casually as she did here (I LOVED seeing her figuring out her father’s plans in the previous story arc. Sexy and smart need not be mutually exclusive… look at Danica McKellar. Or Hedy Lamar).
Also, regarding the giant swords… there were female bodyguards to the Korean aristocracy who dual wielded very long swords. They had a VERY effective method of carrying them. It was called “having another female servant whose sole job was to carry the swords around for the bodyguard.” :p
RE: Archone.
If demure maidens dress like that where you come from, I want to visit.
And regarding chest size, I actually looked back and forth a bit and I don’t have an impression of shrinkage. The dress however, is a bit more realistic than her usual ‘sewn in cups pushes up’ variant, letting her mammaries fill out the front in a more loose way. But if you got the impression of shrinkage and dressing demurely, then I can understand your complaint, as demure is not usually part of Peonies character.
Yes, the art style is great, but essentially we’re only getting one-pane comics now. I’d kind of like to finish reading this story before I have kids who grow up to be old enough to be reading this story.
She’s wearing a gown that only shows the very top of her cleavage and completely covers her legs, in classic “an exposed ankle is an invitation to lust” style. The way her breasts fill out the front… it implies a lack of a bra (which is less “restrictive tool of oppression” and more “harness to support these hefty weights because back pain isn’t funny”), and her hip-to-waist-to-chest ratio, her hourglass, has been greatly reduced.
If you look at her previous outfits… her “usual” silver dress does indeed show a great deal, but there’s the implication that there’s rigid cups under the soft silk (just like a bra, holding them up and showcasing them). Even the leather dress she was last seen wearing was made of sturdy leather, tied in the front for a corseted effect.
This… this dress of hers doesn’t do a good job of showing off her charms OR of supporting the load of her front. Running around in THAT dress is going to give her back pain after a while… unless her breasts have indeed somehow been reduced, which they appear to have been. Though that may be because that dress ALSO fails to tuck in around the waist. That’s the kind of dress a woman attempting to hide a bit of pudge might wear… but not a woman who was already very shapely, even before she began to practice martial arts and regularly exercising.
I agree with most of what you say, and that I did not percieve a breast reduction (still don’t) doesn’t make your arguments less valid. However, I think it’s a bit early to cry ‘oppression’ yet. It might just be there is a reason for the dress that is unknown to us, or simply the artist thinking ‘This is a size boobs I am proficient at drawing without them looking unrealistic, and they’re still LARGE’, or there might be a ceremonial reason for the dress, or she might be planning to do some incognito work (not likely wearing a royal headband) or another good reason I haven’t thought about.
Future will tell.
But you’re right to be worried. A characters character may change over time, but the interesting part of storytelling is showing how and why, when it happens.
Don’t forget, the Princess is currently in the castle, visible to her subjects as a figurehead/royalty/backup leader/symbol. And, while this world may have more female representation in positions of power and strength than historical Earth, it’s *still* a medieval society. Maturing and growing can, in fact, mean becoming a bit more conservative, and often does, especially if Peonie has accepted her role as a stateswoman, and is beginning to grow out of her “rebellious youth” phase. She definitely seems like she’s trying to project a certain image here, and I don’t think “sex kitten” is an appropriate projection when confronting a dragon. There’s nothing here to indicate she’s repressed anything other than the infamous “P-cups”…she’s just not trying to advertise her charms because it’s not appropriate for what she’s trying to accomplish. Let’s not project too much in the way of 21st century values on a medi-fantasy setting or judge too harshly from one appearance.
She’s constantly been in the castle, and constantly visible… and dressed in a sexualized fashion (along with… the majority of the women in the kingdom). The disdain of powerful females in this setting has been repeatedly shown to be a belief mostly held by Typh’s father, and (until recently) by Typh himself.
The webcomic Erfworld talks about “Signamancy,” how the characters literally change their appearances in order to present a particular message to those they interact with. And that’s… not unlike how it’s done in RL. The webcomic “Sabrina Online” has Zig Zag explain to Sabrina how wearing sexy underwear makes you feel more confident and project a more assertive image even though no one can see the underwear beneath your clothing. And again: that’s how it’s done in RL (I speak as someone who was unattractive as an adolescent, then became… well, it feels GOOD to be desired).
A lot of the sexually provocative attire are in fact made to add an allure of POWER. High heeled shoes were originally worn by cavalry soldiers, then by noble MEN who liked having inches of height. A corset shapes, conceals, and supports (men have been known to wear them as well, for body shaping as well as for medical purposes: a “truss”). Jewelry as a display of wealth and privilege, fine fabrics, cosmetics, etc. Think about what is generally considered to be an attractive woman: high heeled shoes, gold and silver jewelry encrusted with precious gems, high quality materials such as satin, silk, and leather cut in ways to emphasize the “hourglass” proportions associated with fertility and reproductive success. Translation: tall, wealthy, powerful, and matriarchal. She might be compared to a feline (be it “sex kitten” or “cougar”), but a feline is an APEX PREDATOR.
Peonie covering up (if it were entirely her choice) would seem like a case of “I’m ashamed of how I used to look and behave, I need to completely repudiate everything I was.” And Peonie shouldn’t be ashamed at all – she might have only recently begun to learn to fight, but she was already intelligent, capable, and cunning (she’s the one who figured out how to convince the guards of a certain prison to take a certain evil mage). Her father’s treatment of her has been shown to be a twisted form of education, helping her to be crafty and cunning so she can be an effective Queen when it’s her turn to don the crown.
Frankly, I prefer the present artist. It is more realistic and flattering. I was definitely getting tired of the style becoming more anime- manga- hentai- . This looks much more representative of the era/people/magic medieval etc, than before. And when you get rid of the teensy mouth and big eyes- yes, one could say she looks more mature. I prefer it, as it is more natural.
And speaking as a busty female- I actually thought Princess’s bustline looked larger. As was said- it is just held in a little differently, which flattens it, and spreads it over more chest area. I mean- you cannot “really” wield a large sword- or even a baseball bat very well- swinging around the huge peaches, and expect to do enough damage. This seems more efficient.
Why does everyone assume that getting the North Wind is what gave Peonie a few levels in badass, completely forgetting that while on the trip to the wild north she asked Neils to teach her how to fight?
Once on the way back, she used his huge sword to skewer the land shark, then basically death-from-aboved Borhs once back in the city, to say nothing of her duel with Olivia. The North Wind just completes the package. Her development from frequently distressed and utterly helpless damsel to borderline Xena type swordswoman has taken place over a story arc or two, at the least.
It’s true what she griped about in court: once she’s back in the castle, all of her accomplishments are stripped from her and she’s reduced to being treated like a useless incompetent child, even by the readers. Disappointing, to say the least.
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Hmmm. Someone’s taken a level or two in badass.
Whoah! That’s an interesting new look for Peonie.
One hopes she’s been taking lessons in how to use that thing she’s got on her back.
Of course, it IS the North Wind, which could in some ways be considered cheating…
Alicia, you did not hear properly: He is gambling with everyones lives. Inlcuding your very own life.
Yes, even if you have no idea how he could gamble with it.
Fairportfan, cheating is perfectly fair, especially against a stronger foe. ‘If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.’ – John Steinbeck 😀
So there are three voices. Peonie, Alicia, and whatever talks to Alicia (which presumably Peonie does not hear). I didn’t realize that in the first page of this scene.
And our little Princess is all growed up. 😀
I like her new look. 🙂
You do know those back scabbards are useless, don’t you?
Well, as most people think of a scabbard, yes, because nobody’s arm is long enough or articulated properly to draw the blade.
However, a friend who was very into the SCA had a claymore and a perfectly functional back scabbard. (Well, for the draw; putting it back was a bit fiddly.)
It was basically a wooden box the length of the blade that was open on one side most of its length. The sides of the box protected the edges of the blade.
A few inches at the end of the box were closed.
At the top were two metal bars pointing upward.
The blade went in with its tip in the closed part of the box and quillons hooked behind the springy bars.
To draw you only had to lift the blade a few inches to clear the tip and the quillons, and then it swung clear on the box’s open side.
Andor: I know that. I was being fuh-see-shi-ous.
{Andor as in The Gang in “A Man of His Word”?}
@Cerulean Lion: The third voice is the Dragon Collective. It’s all the dragons speaking to Alicia, who is a fledgling dragon.
In addition to presenting its views, the collective can influence its members directly, including temporarily taking control and granting tremendous strength.
Note that squirrels have a similar collective, although they try to keep it hidden. Scholars are undecided which collective is a greater threat to humanity.
I am not sure where it happen, but some reason I feel lost, though not sure why, lol.
Times are a changing.
Kathucka: Not sure if it’s the Collective – i suspect it’s the voice of Alicia and Denver’s parents/parent dragon who went insane…
Princess P-Cups has grown up? Or at least matured
Quentin: you do realise back-scabbards are just for ease in carrying swords that are at least half as long as the wielder?
Big ‘discussion’ about that over in “Grrl Power” a couple pages back
Guesticus: You do realise that if you have a back scabbard, you either carry your sword in your hand all the time, or die if you’re anywhere you might need it quickly, right?
Don’t know, I would think a scabbard that the sword does not slide down but snaps into would work. When drawing the weapon you twist and the blade pops out of the open frame that holds it.
Is that really Peonie?
I mean… Those don’t look like P cups…
I’ve seen functional back scabbards, during my rounds at Ren Fests. Similar concept to Fair’s description (…and no, “Andor” as in “Andor” :D), just a little simpler, with a leather scabbard. Same idea though…you just need to hold it by the tip and crossbar, and protect the sides.
Princess P-Cups has got all growed up… This is a good look for her.
Hmm… Is it just me, or does Poenie’s chest seem kinda… smaller? Surprised by that artistic choice.
Okay I had to throw this in, but knowing the way that style of dress is fit, no, her bust doesn’t look any smaller, just more natural now. The belted area should sit right below the bust, and there’s enough hint of curvature and the way fabric would smoosh a busty woman in a fitted cote’ like that to show that yes, this is still a very busty woman. One of the biggest differences here is again, the slightly less historical line of the dress that it does not remain fitted down to her natural waist, thereby creating the illusion her waist is much higher than it actually is.
I spend a lot of time around Seamstresses in the Society for Creative Anachronism and frankly a lot of us are pretty busty women so I’m kinda used to it. The biggest visual hint to indicate size is also how much bulge she has above the neckline of the dress.
She looks like she’s matured.
How long has it been?
Andor@ Fairportfan@ And being a giant, flying, magical, armor-plated, fire-breathing, hyper-intelligent killing machine NOT CHEATING 😮
I always assumed the voice was just the Inner Dragon wanting out.
I could be wrong though. It is a Dragon voice of some kind though. And it does take over at times to protect the young dragon from being killed before he or she can mature into a real dragon. At which time the young dragon stops hiding amongst humans and goes off to do whatever dragons do….INNNN SUUUUUUUMMMMERRRRRRR…
oops…shifted into the wrong song there…sorry guys. 😉
ahem.
Now for the art. Oh yes. Peonie is looking amazingly bad a!s right there. I truly do love this art style and can’t want to see more of her.
😉
Fairportfan: if you are going to be carrying your bastard sword in your hand all the time, you don’t need a scabbard and should get an axe instead
You strap it to your back for ease of carry, if you suspect an area to be hostile then you take it out and have it ready, but Princess P-cups is carrying it correctly: it’s not secured to her back and she can (fairly) easily swing the whole thing around and off and then drop the scabbard (or fling it at her opponent if they are close)
It’s similar to longbows
Peonie looks like in a span of less than six months aged a good fifteen years if not more. She looks more like she is about to hit her 40s.
Guesticus is right, a back scabbard for a large sword (Anything bigger than a bowie-knife really) is NOT meant to have the sword drawn from it in haste. It’s simply a very specialized backpack, meant to carry one sword. However, even such is horribly impractical compared to just holding the sword around the crossguard at a bit below waist height, letting the blade rest on your shoulder. As if it’s very snug against your back, it limits your mobility a lot, and if not, the crossguard risks trying to brain you as you perform movements. Not perhaps a problem with a magical sword with the properties of North Wind, but still… few would develop such a scabbard in the first place. The other advantage of carrying a sword tip up leaning against your shoulder, is that you’re fractions of a second away from a guard position that is usefull against attacks from someone far stronger (traditionally known as ‘The Womans Guard’, how is that for medieval sexism?).
Ooih…! Peonie stepped up! 😀
Sangelia: that may simply be due to the new artist
I’m actually kind of annoyed at the change in Peonie’s portrayal. How does “character growth and maturity” require her to start dressing like a demure maiden (and apparently get a breast reduction)? That implies that a woman who actually likes sex and dresses in a way she enjoys is doing something inherently wrong. I would have much rather seen Peonie looking as she used to… while dismissing Alicia’s idiotic threats as casually as she did here (I LOVED seeing her figuring out her father’s plans in the previous story arc. Sexy and smart need not be mutually exclusive… look at Danica McKellar. Or Hedy Lamar).
Also, regarding the giant swords… there were female bodyguards to the Korean aristocracy who dual wielded very long swords. They had a VERY effective method of carrying them. It was called “having another female servant whose sole job was to carry the swords around for the bodyguard.” :p
RE: Archone.
If demure maidens dress like that where you come from, I want to visit.
And regarding chest size, I actually looked back and forth a bit and I don’t have an impression of shrinkage. The dress however, is a bit more realistic than her usual ‘sewn in cups pushes up’ variant, letting her mammaries fill out the front in a more loose way. But if you got the impression of shrinkage and dressing demurely, then I can understand your complaint, as demure is not usually part of Peonies character.
Yes, the art style is great, but essentially we’re only getting one-pane comics now. I’d kind of like to finish reading this story before I have kids who grow up to be old enough to be reading this story.
RE: Gruhl,
She’s wearing a gown that only shows the very top of her cleavage and completely covers her legs, in classic “an exposed ankle is an invitation to lust” style. The way her breasts fill out the front… it implies a lack of a bra (which is less “restrictive tool of oppression” and more “harness to support these hefty weights because back pain isn’t funny”), and her hip-to-waist-to-chest ratio, her hourglass, has been greatly reduced.
If you look at her previous outfits… her “usual” silver dress does indeed show a great deal, but there’s the implication that there’s rigid cups under the soft silk (just like a bra, holding them up and showcasing them). Even the leather dress she was last seen wearing was made of sturdy leather, tied in the front for a corseted effect.
This… this dress of hers doesn’t do a good job of showing off her charms OR of supporting the load of her front. Running around in THAT dress is going to give her back pain after a while… unless her breasts have indeed somehow been reduced, which they appear to have been. Though that may be because that dress ALSO fails to tuck in around the waist. That’s the kind of dress a woman attempting to hide a bit of pudge might wear… but not a woman who was already very shapely, even before she began to practice martial arts and regularly exercising.
RE: Archone
I agree with most of what you say, and that I did not percieve a breast reduction (still don’t) doesn’t make your arguments less valid. However, I think it’s a bit early to cry ‘oppression’ yet. It might just be there is a reason for the dress that is unknown to us, or simply the artist thinking ‘This is a size boobs I am proficient at drawing without them looking unrealistic, and they’re still LARGE’, or there might be a ceremonial reason for the dress, or she might be planning to do some incognito work (not likely wearing a royal headband) or another good reason I haven’t thought about.
Future will tell.
But you’re right to be worried. A characters character may change over time, but the interesting part of storytelling is showing how and why, when it happens.
RE: Archone
Don’t forget, the Princess is currently in the castle, visible to her subjects as a figurehead/royalty/backup leader/symbol. And, while this world may have more female representation in positions of power and strength than historical Earth, it’s *still* a medieval society. Maturing and growing can, in fact, mean becoming a bit more conservative, and often does, especially if Peonie has accepted her role as a stateswoman, and is beginning to grow out of her “rebellious youth” phase. She definitely seems like she’s trying to project a certain image here, and I don’t think “sex kitten” is an appropriate projection when confronting a dragon. There’s nothing here to indicate she’s repressed anything other than the infamous “P-cups”…she’s just not trying to advertise her charms because it’s not appropriate for what she’s trying to accomplish. Let’s not project too much in the way of 21st century values on a medi-fantasy setting or judge too harshly from one appearance.
RE: Andor,
She’s constantly been in the castle, and constantly visible… and dressed in a sexualized fashion (along with… the majority of the women in the kingdom). The disdain of powerful females in this setting has been repeatedly shown to be a belief mostly held by Typh’s father, and (until recently) by Typh himself.
The webcomic Erfworld talks about “Signamancy,” how the characters literally change their appearances in order to present a particular message to those they interact with. And that’s… not unlike how it’s done in RL. The webcomic “Sabrina Online” has Zig Zag explain to Sabrina how wearing sexy underwear makes you feel more confident and project a more assertive image even though no one can see the underwear beneath your clothing. And again: that’s how it’s done in RL (I speak as someone who was unattractive as an adolescent, then became… well, it feels GOOD to be desired).
A lot of the sexually provocative attire are in fact made to add an allure of POWER. High heeled shoes were originally worn by cavalry soldiers, then by noble MEN who liked having inches of height. A corset shapes, conceals, and supports (men have been known to wear them as well, for body shaping as well as for medical purposes: a “truss”). Jewelry as a display of wealth and privilege, fine fabrics, cosmetics, etc. Think about what is generally considered to be an attractive woman: high heeled shoes, gold and silver jewelry encrusted with precious gems, high quality materials such as satin, silk, and leather cut in ways to emphasize the “hourglass” proportions associated with fertility and reproductive success. Translation: tall, wealthy, powerful, and matriarchal. She might be compared to a feline (be it “sex kitten” or “cougar”), but a feline is an APEX PREDATOR.
Peonie covering up (if it were entirely her choice) would seem like a case of “I’m ashamed of how I used to look and behave, I need to completely repudiate everything I was.” And Peonie shouldn’t be ashamed at all – she might have only recently begun to learn to fight, but she was already intelligent, capable, and cunning (she’s the one who figured out how to convince the guards of a certain prison to take a certain evil mage). Her father’s treatment of her has been shown to be a twisted form of education, helping her to be crafty and cunning so she can be an effective Queen when it’s her turn to don the crown.
That’s her Native Princess costume from the American Thanksgiving pageant.
Exiern could still adopt crowdsourced holidays, especially mine.
http://www.exiern.com/2014/12/04/what-does-exiern-celebrate/
Frankly, I prefer the present artist. It is more realistic and flattering. I was definitely getting tired of the style becoming more anime- manga- hentai- . This looks much more representative of the era/people/magic medieval etc, than before. And when you get rid of the teensy mouth and big eyes- yes, one could say she looks more mature. I prefer it, as it is more natural.
And speaking as a busty female- I actually thought Princess’s bustline looked larger. As was said- it is just held in a little differently, which flattens it, and spreads it over more chest area. I mean- you cannot “really” wield a large sword- or even a baseball bat very well- swinging around the huge peaches, and expect to do enough damage. This seems more efficient.
Why does everyone assume that getting the North Wind is what gave Peonie a few levels in badass, completely forgetting that while on the trip to the wild north she asked Neils to teach her how to fight?
Once on the way back, she used his huge sword to skewer the land shark, then basically death-from-aboved Borhs once back in the city, to say nothing of her duel with Olivia. The North Wind just completes the package. Her development from frequently distressed and utterly helpless damsel to borderline Xena type swordswoman has taken place over a story arc or two, at the least.
It’s true what she griped about in court: once she’s back in the castle, all of her accomplishments are stripped from her and she’s reduced to being treated like a useless incompetent child, even by the readers. Disappointing, to say the least.