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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+.
I think Peonie is already aware of what’s going on with Teresa, at least to some extent. Teresa is such a fool. She always thinks she’s the smartest and most righteous person in the room.
Urtica’s got some smoothing over to do once Teresa has calmed down. Trouble is he’s got to keep on scheming, because everyone else is. Scheming is the default condition of politics, and even more so in the mediaeval-esque settings. First person to let go of the tiger’s tail gets eaten. Teresa just learned that. But let her calm down and have some petty revenge first.
In fact, guys, always let the angry woman calm down and get a bit of petty revenge before trying to smooth things over. Anything you say to an angry woman will always make it worse, even (especially) grovelling apologies. A man’s place is in the wrong.
I get the feeling that that while Theresa won’t go out of her way to mess with Urtica (she has learned its not worth the risk), she won’t exactly go out of she way to help him should ge need it either (and she is aware this may happen), no matter how much she likes Peonie. This is because she now has good reason to believe that Urtica would use Theresa’s affections for his daughter against her (given what we saw recently I believe Urtica capable if it at least) and she cannot afford to risk compromising the Church’s position anymore than she already has. All Theresa can do is try to warn Peonie about the risks of the way her dad does things so that Peonie herself can try to keep things from going to far.
Let me guess, @Random22, that number—22—is your age. What a load of sexist horseshit. Where’d you gain your insight into the minds of women, Mel Gibson movies? Christ, I’m surprised you didn’t suggest sending her shopping.
I wish 22 was my age, that was long since seen in the rearview mirror. Oh, and nice trick wishing up a complaint about sexism and then I assuming I was male. Is that your default, to assume male? Seems like there is a sexist here, but it isn’t me.
Not my default, but when I hear someone tossing around misogynistic generalizations about women, Occam’s razor says the someone is male. Could you be a self-loathing woman (Phylis Schlafly, Ann Coulter, etc.) sure, but even self-loathing women typically believe in their own uniqueness, which makes your comments unlikely to be those of a woman—even a self-loathing woman.
@Darius, I don’t know about that… Urtica didn’t exactly tell his daughter much of anything. Ever. The closest he came to that was when she finally put her foot down and refused to be dismissed like a child, and he allowed her to puzzle things out. But schemers like him aren’t big on sharing secrets.
@Random22, I saw your comment and didn’t think you were young. I will admit to assuming you were male (partially because a woman telling men to accept that their place is in the wrong is even more sexist). I actually read it and assumed an older person; that kind of “women will behave like immature children and men should just accept it” schpiel is something that gets echoed by older generations. When my brother got married our father gave a speech where he thanked his new daughter-in-law for agreeing to tolerate his son’s quirks and told his son to always remember the words “Yes dear, whatever you say.” A lot of wedding guests were quite miffed about it, in fact.
That’s actually what makes this comic so interesting, especially since its evolution under the more recent writers such as Scott. Typhan-Knee is a FTM transgender stuck in the wrong body. Teresa is a MTF transgender who has transitioned thanks to magic. Peonie is cisgendered female, her father and their bodyguards are cisgendered male… all of them are people. Typh shares drinks with the bodyguards as they trade stories and share advice. Teresa has been acting sexy and enjoying her new body, but has continuously shown that she’s also an old and wise spellsinger and teacher. We even see how Typh’s own sexist beliefs are not only not shared by the majority of the people in the civilized kingdoms, but also dismissed by her own people. The only characters to have casually infantalized women are Coriander and Typh’s own father, and their attitudes directly lead to their own ruination.
Jake: no, personally believe the only time P-cups will turn on her father is if he does something monumentally stupid (like set her up on an arranged marriage), but never over power (remember, she doesn’t want the throne)
….and Urtica would really want Peonie to want the throne. His whole schtick about finding a new wife is because he respects Peonie’s disinterest in ruling. But Urtica still wants an heir who can continue to rule the Alliance as a “good” king by Urtica’s definition of it.
If Peonie now decides she’d like to succeed her father (and she’s growing up from being the “perpetual damsel in distress” role), Urtica ought to be thrilled.
Teresa is assuming Urtica will self-destruct, even though he’s been on top of everything up until now. And, more importantly, that he’s not leaving any loose ends or variables by allowing lackeys or allies to be main actors in his plans. Whatever he faces, he faces himself. Reduces chance of rebellion or implosion of over-eager cloak and dagger play.
In fact, he was at the riskiest point when he DID rely on an ally rather than doing everything himself. When he let Teresa take the lead in the accusation of Coriander. And now he eliminated that threat.
His motto is “Keep your enemies far, and your friends farther”.
Also, kingdoms tend to fall to succession issues more often than they do to all-out wars. So her initial assertion isn’t quite accurate either.
@SlugFiller Ever Read A Song Of Ice And Fire by George R. R. Martin? One of the recurring motifs is the danger of extremes. The problem with Uritca’s style of leadership is that it is all sticks no carrots. He repays trust not with loyalty but with backstabbing and this builds up a lot of resentment. Also we have seen occasional mistakes from him (ignoring his daughter leading him to get punched by a crazed barbarian being one example) so we know he is vulnerable to that which he is unaware of. Speaking of which another recurring motif from A Song Of Ice And Fire is that even the best chessmasters can NOT know everything, and the more complex a plan the more vulnerable it is to outside variables. For example, NOBODY, Urtica OR Theresa, could have foreseen Coriander trying to ignore the lost duel and walk off like nothing happened. It is akin to a criminal who was just convicted ignoring the verdict and sucessfully bullshiting a reason why said verdict is null and void, and then rather then being taken back to his cell everyone debates the merits of his case while he makes his escape. It was Typh’s quick thinking there that saved the day there. And while yes, as I am sure it will be pointed out out Theresa SHOULD have mentioned the duel, I am honestly unsure what Uritca would have gone differently had they known about it.
@Ben: Nor do I, but that doesn’t mean Urtica couldn’t have found something useful to do had Teresa told him.
In general I think Teresa is growing up. She’ll be wiser now. I think Urtica regrets at least some of what he did, but can’t bring himself to outright apologize
Huh… I was just about to say the opposite. I think the faces are really cool. I actually really like the choices the artist is going with, for instance, P’s eyebrows. I think the thickness of them is neat. I feel like they make her eyes pop a bit more, but more than that, they remind me of Urtica. IDK for sure how the current artist is going, since only one image was of the King up close enough to kind-of compare, but Urtica’s always had a strong set of eyebrows with previous artists.
It kinda makes them seem… related. In a way that I feel like used to be much less noticeable.
@Cerulean Lion, she’s not growing up – she’s just remembering that she’s not a young woman. Remember what she used to look like when first introduced – and how a number of younger people remembered her as their teacher. She is however suffering from the pain of betrayal – anyone who’s ever found out that a “friend” was anything but, or that someone lied and stole something important to them, knows what that feels like. But in spite of that, she’s offering Peonie some advice – in the hopes that she’ll moderate her father before he ruins everything with his manipulations.
Remember, she’s about to become the head of the Church of Rem. Everyone keeps talking about Urtica and how he’s doing what he thinks is best for his kingdom… but Teresa feels similar loyalties to her religion. She’s about to become the equivalent of the Pope – and I’m talking about the current Pope, the one that’s got so many cardinals and bishops pissed off because he’s cleaning up the corruption in the church. She’s not young, she’s not weak, she’s not foolish. Though she is undoubtedly feeling like a fool because of what Urtica did to her (and because she’s currently got donkey ears).
To me it looks like our favorite princess has grown up a lot lately. She looks to me like she is listening to the spoiled child she used to be complaining because she didn’t get everything she wanted.
And she looks to me like someone who has finally decided to bone up on kingdom issues. There are other ways to read this page and her expressions of course, and I may be wrong.
But my first impression of this page is that she has decided to know and do more, and is then humoring a child who is complaining about not getting her way.
In short, if I am reading everything right, Peonie is done being her father’s pawn for the future of the throne. Pawn by her own choice of course. She realized that some time ago. Now it is possible she has decided to be a queen.
Or it could just be the new artist drawing her differently. 😉
BTW. I LOVE the new artist. This style just touches all of my joybones. 😉
I think Peonie has mixed feelings on the whole issue. On one hand she genuinely loves her freedom and does not desirevthe throne. On the otherbhand she is bevoming more aware of how complex the current political situation is and that she can’t just ignire it either. Basically she has become aware of the responsibilites on her shoulders, and the fact that she can’t just ignore them. What role this will take in the long term is still unclear. Will she end up taking the throne? Or will it be something smaller, like trying to orovide a moderating influence on her father (at least until another one can be found? However if she does take the throne I think she will be all the better ruler for her reluctance as it will be her sense of responsibility, and not any want of power that drives her.
“not as much as I should” reveals nothing. Lots? Little? Nothing specific at all.
“You look good with your hair down” plausibly deniable “I know everything that just happened”
or it could just be innocent ignorance. Who’s to know?
I gotta say I love the new art. I’m not putting down the old art… or I am trying not to. It’s a matter of taste – and when I was a kid, I through the Fluff in the TV commercials I was watching was mayonnaise and I made myself peanut butter and mayo sandwiches and thought, “Hey, this stuff is good!”
I’m looking forward to seeing Tiffany drawn by our new artist. I’m feeling like the wait is a build-up to a big reveal.
Speaking of big reveals, I will also be juvenile ny saying I’m looking forward to our new artist getting to depict Peonie’s one amazing superpower. She hasn’t gotten to use it in a while. I’m sure they’re…. I mean SHE’S needing some air.
@TomeWyrm – The big difference is that Shipeng Lee was a classic anime/manga style artist (or at least influenced), while Antipus seems more traditional western style. The primary difference – the eyes. If you go back to:
You’ll notice that the eyes are larger and a lot more expressive than in western art, while many other features like lips, teeth and nostrils, are far less detailed. Also, color palate and line removal are done differently, giving it a more vibrant look, but less textured.
In short, Shirpang Lee was more “Record of Lodoss War”, and Antipus is more “Prince Valiant”.
Peony I think is very much aware that her father is very manipulative and scheming, and that she is not exactly informed of all of his plans or even most of them. Heck Typh is well aware of her father’s nature. Terry it looks like had forgotten and gotten burned in the process. The real question is, will Peony ever learn how to be as good as her father at the planning, counter planning, and backup planning, of both the future planning and on-the-spot planning varieties.
Yes I do read Girl Geniu. Wulfenbach ALSO did things like help with infrastructure and other positive incentives above and beyond what was requested of him. He also mostly let people have free reign so long as they do not make use of other technology or make war. Uritica on the hand keeps things on a tight leash. See here http://www.exiern.com/2011/06/10/evil-is-so-hard-to-keep-straight/ where he interferes with peoples private lifes in order to keep a strategic advantage.
MORE importantly we have yet to see Urtica use anything substantial in the way of POSITIVE reinforcement. The closest we have seen to this is as a smokescreen for his own scheming, like when he agreed to give typh the “full reward” as part of a ploy to both get to marry her and not have to pay her anything.
I’m certainly reading the same comic but from a different perspective.
We’ve only seen how Urtica handles crises.
Do you read a webcomic called Girl Genius? There’s a scene where Gilgamesh von Wulfenbach, whose father rules an alternate-universe europe with an iron fist, grapples with some of his father’s frustrations.
It boils down to Gil trying to take his father’s place going off on a rant saying “If these people (the lords and vassals under his control) won’t do what’s obviously in their own best interests, they’ll damn well do it because they fear me!” and saying “I wonder if this what my father feels like?”
I grew up loving Prince Valiant. That must be why I love this new art so much. 🙂
As for the “evil schemes,” I would note that they were all aimed at exterior threats to the alliance.
The people inside the alliance currently seem to have a generally good life and are generally happy.
I would say that scheming to keep outside threats at an arms length while providing for the betterment of your own people is what a leader is supposed to do…
King Urtica is right to interfere in his daughter’s life. Not only is she OFTEN finding herself being kidnapped, but she’s screwing around with at least one guard that we know of. Considering that she’s the crown princess, a bastard child could cause all sorts of succession issues. WARS have been fought over less.
Your comic is a great example of Urtica from Peonie’s perspective, which is like Klaus von Wulfenback from Gil’s perspective at the start of Girl Genius.
Gil’s opinion changes when he has to look as situations from more than a casual perspective and Klaus’ actions become more reasonable/less unreasonable.
We haven’t gotten an equivalent view of how Urtica runs the Grand Luminary Alliance.
In the bottom panel. The one who is the clergy. Looks more like a man for face than the delicate face that was in the webcomic the week before.
And Peonie looks at least ten to fifteen years older than the weeks before as well.
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Yeah, i always figured there would eventually be a power struggle between Peonie and her dad.
I think Peonie is already aware of what’s going on with Teresa, at least to some extent. Teresa is such a fool. She always thinks she’s the smartest and most righteous person in the room.
I wonder what the worst thing that could come form this? Teresa and Ulrich never actually had relations right?
I love the art.
Urtica’s got some smoothing over to do once Teresa has calmed down. Trouble is he’s got to keep on scheming, because everyone else is. Scheming is the default condition of politics, and even more so in the mediaeval-esque settings. First person to let go of the tiger’s tail gets eaten. Teresa just learned that. But let her calm down and have some petty revenge first.
In fact, guys, always let the angry woman calm down and get a bit of petty revenge before trying to smooth things over. Anything you say to an angry woman will always make it worse, even (especially) grovelling apologies. A man’s place is in the wrong.
I get the feeling that that while Theresa won’t go out of her way to mess with Urtica (she has learned its not worth the risk), she won’t exactly go out of she way to help him should ge need it either (and she is aware this may happen), no matter how much she likes Peonie. This is because she now has good reason to believe that Urtica would use Theresa’s affections for his daughter against her (given what we saw recently I believe Urtica capable if it at least) and she cannot afford to risk compromising the Church’s position anymore than she already has. All Theresa can do is try to warn Peonie about the risks of the way her dad does things so that Peonie herself can try to keep things from going to far.
Let me guess, @Random22, that number—22—is your age. What a load of sexist horseshit. Where’d you gain your insight into the minds of women, Mel Gibson movies? Christ, I’m surprised you didn’t suggest sending her shopping.
I wish 22 was my age, that was long since seen in the rearview mirror. Oh, and nice trick wishing up a complaint about sexism and then I assuming I was male. Is that your default, to assume male? Seems like there is a sexist here, but it isn’t me.
Not my default, but when I hear someone tossing around misogynistic generalizations about women, Occam’s razor says the someone is male. Could you be a self-loathing woman (Phylis Schlafly, Ann Coulter, etc.) sure, but even self-loathing women typically believe in their own uniqueness, which makes your comments unlikely to be those of a woman—even a self-loathing woman.
I’ll kindly ask for a cease of personal attacks. I will begin to delete relevant comments if ongoing.
@ScottHicken How was my comment?
@Ben Well written!
@ScottHicken Thanks
@Darius, I don’t know about that… Urtica didn’t exactly tell his daughter much of anything. Ever. The closest he came to that was when she finally put her foot down and refused to be dismissed like a child, and he allowed her to puzzle things out. But schemers like him aren’t big on sharing secrets.
@Random22, I saw your comment and didn’t think you were young. I will admit to assuming you were male (partially because a woman telling men to accept that their place is in the wrong is even more sexist). I actually read it and assumed an older person; that kind of “women will behave like immature children and men should just accept it” schpiel is something that gets echoed by older generations. When my brother got married our father gave a speech where he thanked his new daughter-in-law for agreeing to tolerate his son’s quirks and told his son to always remember the words “Yes dear, whatever you say.” A lot of wedding guests were quite miffed about it, in fact.
That’s actually what makes this comic so interesting, especially since its evolution under the more recent writers such as Scott. Typhan-Knee is a FTM transgender stuck in the wrong body. Teresa is a MTF transgender who has transitioned thanks to magic. Peonie is cisgendered female, her father and their bodyguards are cisgendered male… all of them are people. Typh shares drinks with the bodyguards as they trade stories and share advice. Teresa has been acting sexy and enjoying her new body, but has continuously shown that she’s also an old and wise spellsinger and teacher. We even see how Typh’s own sexist beliefs are not only not shared by the majority of the people in the civilized kingdoms, but also dismissed by her own people. The only characters to have casually infantalized women are Coriander and Typh’s own father, and their attitudes directly lead to their own ruination.
Any bets that Princess P-cups will believe Terry was talking about her in regards to ‘bad blood’?
Jake: no, personally believe the only time P-cups will turn on her father is if he does something monumentally stupid (like set her up on an arranged marriage), but never over power (remember, she doesn’t want the throne)
….and Urtica would really want Peonie to want the throne. His whole schtick about finding a new wife is because he respects Peonie’s disinterest in ruling. But Urtica still wants an heir who can continue to rule the Alliance as a “good” king by Urtica’s definition of it.
If Peonie now decides she’d like to succeed her father (and she’s growing up from being the “perpetual damsel in distress” role), Urtica ought to be thrilled.
Teresa continues to cling to her superficial read of events cementing that she would have been a poor choice of ally.
Vorlonagent, are you reading the same series I am? Because it sure doesn’t look like it to me.
Teresa is assuming Urtica will self-destruct, even though he’s been on top of everything up until now. And, more importantly, that he’s not leaving any loose ends or variables by allowing lackeys or allies to be main actors in his plans. Whatever he faces, he faces himself. Reduces chance of rebellion or implosion of over-eager cloak and dagger play.
In fact, he was at the riskiest point when he DID rely on an ally rather than doing everything himself. When he let Teresa take the lead in the accusation of Coriander. And now he eliminated that threat.
His motto is “Keep your enemies far, and your friends farther”.
Also, kingdoms tend to fall to succession issues more often than they do to all-out wars. So her initial assertion isn’t quite accurate either.
@SlugFiller Ever Read A Song Of Ice And Fire by George R. R. Martin? One of the recurring motifs is the danger of extremes. The problem with Uritca’s style of leadership is that it is all sticks no carrots. He repays trust not with loyalty but with backstabbing and this builds up a lot of resentment. Also we have seen occasional mistakes from him (ignoring his daughter leading him to get punched by a crazed barbarian being one example) so we know he is vulnerable to that which he is unaware of. Speaking of which another recurring motif from A Song Of Ice And Fire is that even the best chessmasters can NOT know everything, and the more complex a plan the more vulnerable it is to outside variables. For example, NOBODY, Urtica OR Theresa, could have foreseen Coriander trying to ignore the lost duel and walk off like nothing happened. It is akin to a criminal who was just convicted ignoring the verdict and sucessfully bullshiting a reason why said verdict is null and void, and then rather then being taken back to his cell everyone debates the merits of his case while he makes his escape. It was Typh’s quick thinking there that saved the day there. And while yes, as I am sure it will be pointed out out Theresa SHOULD have mentioned the duel, I am honestly unsure what Uritca would have gone differently had they known about it.
@Ben: Nor do I, but that doesn’t mean Urtica couldn’t have found something useful to do had Teresa told him.
In general I think Teresa is growing up. She’ll be wiser now. I think Urtica regrets at least some of what he did, but can’t bring himself to outright apologize
I don’t know what precisely it is about the new art, but I REALLY don’t like the faces.
@TomeWyrm
Huh… I was just about to say the opposite. I think the faces are really cool. I actually really like the choices the artist is going with, for instance, P’s eyebrows. I think the thickness of them is neat. I feel like they make her eyes pop a bit more, but more than that, they remind me of Urtica. IDK for sure how the current artist is going, since only one image was of the King up close enough to kind-of compare, but Urtica’s always had a strong set of eyebrows with previous artists.
It kinda makes them seem… related. In a way that I feel like used to be much less noticeable.
@Cerulean Lion, she’s not growing up – she’s just remembering that she’s not a young woman. Remember what she used to look like when first introduced – and how a number of younger people remembered her as their teacher. She is however suffering from the pain of betrayal – anyone who’s ever found out that a “friend” was anything but, or that someone lied and stole something important to them, knows what that feels like. But in spite of that, she’s offering Peonie some advice – in the hopes that she’ll moderate her father before he ruins everything with his manipulations.
Remember, she’s about to become the head of the Church of Rem. Everyone keeps talking about Urtica and how he’s doing what he thinks is best for his kingdom… but Teresa feels similar loyalties to her religion. She’s about to become the equivalent of the Pope – and I’m talking about the current Pope, the one that’s got so many cardinals and bishops pissed off because he’s cleaning up the corruption in the church. She’s not young, she’s not weak, she’s not foolish. Though she is undoubtedly feeling like a fool because of what Urtica did to her (and because she’s currently got donkey ears).
To me it looks like our favorite princess has grown up a lot lately. She looks to me like she is listening to the spoiled child she used to be complaining because she didn’t get everything she wanted.
And she looks to me like someone who has finally decided to bone up on kingdom issues. There are other ways to read this page and her expressions of course, and I may be wrong.
But my first impression of this page is that she has decided to know and do more, and is then humoring a child who is complaining about not getting her way.
In short, if I am reading everything right, Peonie is done being her father’s pawn for the future of the throne. Pawn by her own choice of course. She realized that some time ago. Now it is possible she has decided to be a queen.
Or it could just be the new artist drawing her differently. 😉
BTW. I LOVE the new artist. This style just touches all of my joybones. 😉
I think Peonie has mixed feelings on the whole issue. On one hand she genuinely loves her freedom and does not desirevthe throne. On the otherbhand she is bevoming more aware of how complex the current political situation is and that she can’t just ignire it either. Basically she has become aware of the responsibilites on her shoulders, and the fact that she can’t just ignore them. What role this will take in the long term is still unclear. Will she end up taking the throne? Or will it be something smaller, like trying to orovide a moderating influence on her father (at least until another one can be found? However if she does take the throne I think she will be all the better ruler for her reluctance as it will be her sense of responsibility, and not any want of power that drives her.
Basicslly Peonie is developing a “If you want something done right” attitude towards responsibility.
“not as much as I should” reveals nothing. Lots? Little? Nothing specific at all.
“You look good with your hair down” plausibly deniable “I know everything that just happened”
or it could just be innocent ignorance. Who’s to know?
I gotta say I love the new art. I’m not putting down the old art… or I am trying not to. It’s a matter of taste – and when I was a kid, I through the Fluff in the TV commercials I was watching was mayonnaise and I made myself peanut butter and mayo sandwiches and thought, “Hey, this stuff is good!”
I’m looking forward to seeing Tiffany drawn by our new artist. I’m feeling like the wait is a build-up to a big reveal.
Speaking of big reveals, I will also be juvenile ny saying I’m looking forward to our new artist getting to depict Peonie’s one amazing superpower. She hasn’t gotten to use it in a while. I’m sure they’re…. I mean SHE’S needing some air.
@TomeWyrm – The big difference is that Shipeng Lee was a classic anime/manga style artist (or at least influenced), while Antipus seems more traditional western style. The primary difference – the eyes. If you go back to:
http://www.exiern.com/2016/02/16/literally-illogical/
You’ll notice that the eyes are larger and a lot more expressive than in western art, while many other features like lips, teeth and nostrils, are far less detailed. Also, color palate and line removal are done differently, giving it a more vibrant look, but less textured.
In short, Shirpang Lee was more “Record of Lodoss War”, and Antipus is more “Prince Valiant”.
I had a good, long chuckle to myself the other day when I realized that Urtica is the genus name of the nettle family.
Peony I think is very much aware that her father is very manipulative and scheming, and that she is not exactly informed of all of his plans or even most of them. Heck Typh is well aware of her father’s nature. Terry it looks like had forgotten and gotten burned in the process. The real question is, will Peony ever learn how to be as good as her father at the planning, counter planning, and backup planning, of both the future planning and on-the-spot planning varieties.
Yes I do read Girl Geniu. Wulfenbach ALSO did things like help with infrastructure and other positive incentives above and beyond what was requested of him. He also mostly let people have free reign so long as they do not make use of other technology or make war. Uritica on the hand keeps things on a tight leash. See here http://www.exiern.com/2011/06/10/evil-is-so-hard-to-keep-straight/ where he interferes with peoples private lifes in order to keep a strategic advantage.
MORE importantly we have yet to see Urtica use anything substantial in the way of POSITIVE reinforcement. The closest we have seen to this is as a smokescreen for his own scheming, like when he agreed to give typh the “full reward” as part of a ploy to both get to marry her and not have to pay her anything.
Ben,
I’m certainly reading the same comic but from a different perspective.
We’ve only seen how Urtica handles crises.
Do you read a webcomic called Girl Genius? There’s a scene where Gilgamesh von Wulfenbach, whose father rules an alternate-universe europe with an iron fist, grapples with some of his father’s frustrations.
It boils down to Gil trying to take his father’s place going off on a rant saying “If these people (the lords and vassals under his control) won’t do what’s obviously in their own best interests, they’ll damn well do it because they fear me!” and saying “I wonder if this what my father feels like?”
I see Urtica as a politician cut from the same cloth as Otto Von Bismarck.
I grew up loving Prince Valiant. That must be why I love this new art so much. 🙂
As for the “evil schemes,” I would note that they were all aimed at exterior threats to the alliance.
The people inside the alliance currently seem to have a generally good life and are generally happy.
I would say that scheming to keep outside threats at an arms length while providing for the betterment of your own people is what a leader is supposed to do…
And, that’s another great quote worth saving! ^_^
King Urtica is right to interfere in his daughter’s life. Not only is she OFTEN finding herself being kidnapped, but she’s screwing around with at least one guard that we know of. Considering that she’s the crown princess, a bastard child could cause all sorts of succession issues. WARS have been fought over less.
Ben,
Your comic is a great example of Urtica from Peonie’s perspective, which is like Klaus von Wulfenback from Gil’s perspective at the start of Girl Genius.
Gil’s opinion changes when he has to look as situations from more than a casual perspective and Klaus’ actions become more reasonable/less unreasonable.
We haven’t gotten an equivalent view of how Urtica runs the Grand Luminary Alliance.
@Vorlonagent How about we agree to wait and see on this one?
I could see a situation where Peonie and her father were on opposite sides of a political struggle.
He’s scheming to get her to marry and produce and heir.
She’s scheming to remain free and avoid the complication of politics.
Oh, wait, that’s the struggle they’ve ALWAYS been in.
It’s ALL politics.
Not just that, but Urtica already tried to find a new wife to get a new heir and replace Peonie.
@Medron Pryde: Doctor Doom does the same and he’s still a villain.
@SlugFiller: And Teresa is right, guys like Urtica always self destruct. Just see all of history or Game of Thrones.
In the bottom panel. The one who is the clergy. Looks more like a man for face than the delicate face that was in the webcomic the week before.
And Peonie looks at least ten to fifteen years older than the weeks before as well.