Families/Cемьи 16
Page 16 of voting incentive story Families/Cемьи is now available! And so is a link to all the previous pages.
SPOILERS AHEAD – read the update first before reading what I’ve written below.
Our soviet heroes collide with destiny. I’m guessing many readers will have been expecting this moment… it pretty much syncs us up with the events in the History. Doesn’t make it any less tragic though!
Many thanks to everyone who has voted this last month… Magellan made it as high as #41 at one point during the last week of May, which I reckon is a sterling effort!
Next update: early July… stand by for date… fate.
“Doesn’t make it any less tragic”
No, quite the opposite. It dulls the blow a bit (for me, YMMV) but on the other hand the tragedy has been painfully present right from the start – and especially in the moments that would otherwise have been happy, romantic and optimistic! Most tragic story you’ve ever told me.
Actually, I think this is the most tragic story that I’ve ever… been glad that I was able to read (or hear). Cannot bring myself to say I enjoyed the story, it just seems like the wrong word. Something stronger than appreciate would be appropriate though. Most stories this tragic I quickly regret that I picked up. Not this one, this one I would regret if I were to lose.
What I see as making it even more tragic is that due to inadequate training and low actual experience it seems that they were not even effective against them.
… on the other hand, with Q’arths negating their invulnerability, it’s questionable if better training would help. Seems that this problem could’ve only be solved by magic.
I think you’ve nailed it. They were confident in their invulnerability (overly so, as it turned out) and didn’t have experience to suggest tactics once it was apparent that they were hopelessly outmatched.
Adequate training would’ve taught them not to rely on invulnerability. Fighting real supervillains, not just those parodies the Kremlin whipped up, probably would’ve helped as well.
That’s just another part of the tragedy: Real training and experience probably lets them survive until the IJF gets there.
Truth. Not only did those, now dead, officials create the problem, their machinations and overwhelming desire for propaganda then doomed their heroes and millions of their countrymen.
While I don’t put a lot of faith in that last sentence, “Real training and experience probably lets them survive until the IJF gets there”.. It took at least few hours for what was left of the Russian government to even admit there was an issue, then the IJF had to look at the problem and form a plan, then actually make the hours long trip. This was at 20 hours in, and *only* 400 opponents. And that’s not counting the nuclear missiles.
Yeah, even skilled, two heroes would have been sorely outmatched by a group of enemies capable of harming them and growing in numbers by the hour. Tragic outcome, but essentially a foregone conclusion.
They certainly couldn’t have kept up a strategy of direct engagement for that time. As HKMaly indicated, the problem wasn’t going to be solved without a powerful witch or very knowledgeable mystic. If they stayed on the periphery of the infestation, they could perhaps have saved some lives and used the speed advantage *I’m guessing they should have had* to harass the Q’arth while avoiding being swarmed. That doesn’t seem to have been their style though.
Such a tragic update. You knew this was coming but on some level I keep hoping that they’ll somehow win after getting to know these characters.
Despite everything else that has gone on in Magellan over the years, I have to admit that this has been one of the grimmest stories I’ve told. It does end on a positive note… kind of!
Indeed.
We know that their legacy survives, and goes on to be one hell of a hero in his own right.
I suppose I was just hoping they’d get to fight just a little bit longer before falling. There’s some hope Katya gets to go down fighting though, as we never actually see her killed in the history, unlike Vlad. So we have no idea how much of an actual fight she puts up.
Rage and loss can do some impressive things to one’s fighting prowess, short term.
We’re past early July… but no pressure! 🙂
Yeah, definitely mid-July now. Sadly July is a bad combo for Magellan in general due to day job pressures. 🙁 But I will get back to it soon!
Dunno how everyone else feels, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the updates to PaRARGdox cut back to once a week if it would mean you could update Families once a week also. It would sure be nice to see the end of the story, especially if there’s an upbeat 🙂 (could use that, given the bleak situation in the main storyline)