PaRARGdox 100
Apologies for the delay, getting some deadline crunch at the day job…
The return…: Zombie Sun, Zombie Jasmeen, Zombie Ornuk… (and zombie rat) we barely knew thee! Apparently “the entity known as Olaf” seems to know more about potential proceedings than they are willing to impart.
100 pages!: Woo!!! (Technically 101 if you include the cover!) For the most part it has been a pretty consistent run to the first 100, mostly twice a week with only one dropped week of updates. Whew!
Patrons: Over on Patreon page 101 is now up… page 102 up sometime soon…
Next update: Monday or Tuesday February 15/16, 2021: Euro-Magellan
Ooh… sparks! 😯 Glowy life energy, I assume? Little visual touch adds to the panels, NJ!
Don’t let the main page catch up!!
My preference is to always have a two to four page buffer on Patreon, this is the first time that has significantly slipped…
Good luck with the workload, Grace!
Sad about Olaf losing his iconic pet rat
Poor Ratty! Having it humanized Olaf a little. Of course, so did having a body…
I wonder, was it just these three or did every Olaf zombie in existence just die?
Just these, that’s my working theory. Olaf needs physical contact to necroheal, likewise touch is required to pass it back.
What a “relief” to know Olaf has enough morals to know when something is “regretable”…
It may not be a moralistic judgement – he may regret the loss of useful bodies, or draining his necromantic ‘battery backup’. Both are a loss of resources, which he may sorely miss later. However, not dying was more important.
Also note that Olaf refers to this as a ‘self-sacrifice’. He considers the loss his own, not that of his ‘zombies’.
Self-sacrifice means you sacrifice yourself, so it’s the other way around.
These three have been acting independently, and even talking out loud to pass information to Olaf. Svetty certainly continued acting independently. All four (and also the rat), developed a lot of sudden appreciation for Olaf, but they aren’t just extensions.
But clearly when Olaf was making a decision, they participated mentally and were subject to the consensus. Joining the choir–and being bound to its decisions–may be that cost Olaf mentioned. They’re independent, but not entirely so.
Olaf’s dialogue also suggests that they considered letting themself die instead.
It’s really hard to make a decision like that objectively when you’re one of the potential victims. Is Olaf, as a very detached being, better at it? Or is Olaf, as a seemingly plural being, worse at that? Unclear, so it certainly may be a selfish decision–but they did at least consider self-sacrifice as an option.
Or they’re flat-out lying, and with Olga right there that’s unlikely.
Other than being creepy and weird, what has Olaf ever done to suggest they lack morals?
Olaf is bad at social interaction, but has made an effort to understand it. They’re apparently quite dangerous, but they’ve never been violent except to the rarg. They appeal to peers for advice, and follow instructions from respected authority figures. Olaf also clearly passed cadet screening.
And when Olga was discomfited by some of the results of Olaf’s powers, they assured her that there is a cost, but the victim’s soul understands the cost and must consent or the reanimation fails. Olaf understood Olga’s concern and demonstrated consideration for consent.
Also, Olga has said that reading Olaf is strange, but she probably would have noticed malevolence (and so would Counselor Foster, for that matter).
Honestly, given that we’ve seen Olaf want to discuss and understand things even when it made other people uncomfortable, the other cadets could probably clear up everything they want to know about Olaf by asking.
Olaf doesn’t volunteer information, but they always answer direct questions and even confirm or deny speculation–and really, is it even Olaf who’s being rude when everybody else keeps whispering about them while they’re right there?
Yep, even the nicest necromancer is still a necromancer. So some creepiness is inevitable
I hope that I’m not prematurely predicting a mass burial when this story reaches its end….
Does being sucked into a black hole with the rest of the planet count as a burial?
In a way this could good for the cadets.
I mean truthfully some of them are probably going to confront similar or worse things than watching their friends die then get reanimated then die again so..
Possible life experience?
Maybe?
I don’t see how? They’re not any more prepared for it than at any other time. Less, probably, since they were in their supposedly safe area and the attack happened suddenly.
I’m thinking more in the area of handling tragedy on the battlefield and not letting it distract them from the bigger picture. We seen what happened when Mr Bass was consumed with grief and anger and try to avenged those close to him at that moment.
“All power demands sacrifice. Thank you for yours.”
“SINNNNNNNNDRIIIIIIII!!!”
Panel 3 Ambrosia: I started to file this new horror under Volume 15 of “Things To Discuss With My Therapist While Curled Up In A Fetal Position On Their Couch”, realized it was already full, so I started Volume 16…
So . . . rereading another chapter, again, and caught something:
http://magellanverse.com/comic/matrix/
I imagine most readers have a pretty good grasp on Olaf’s situation at this point, but I figured that a reminder of what Astral Matrices can do might give people some ideas for what Necromatrices can.