06/04/2012 [DMFA #1298] Tacoooooooooos

[Ignuus66]

reminds me of Invader zim.. used to watch that show when I was younger (and when I lived in America)

I absolutely adore tacos.


Anyhow about that races thing, I really doubt a cubi who lives his (or her) entire life in SAIA would die from unnatural causes.
Maybe they might die from boredom, but not other unnatural causes.

EDIT: I just noticed that Amber's shirt color changes a lot while her mind is broken
Huh... secret Taco power?

Edit2: Here comes the motivation!

[Plotting]

Edit2: Here comes the motivation!

With the Baseball bat of Motivation! (Exotic weapon, 1d10 damage, +5 modifier to motivation scores when used against an aother person  )

[McKathlin]

EDIT: I just noticed that Amber's shirt color changes a lot while her mind is broken

I think I've seen Amber's shirt change color in the middle of other QFTR strips, too.  It's her Wiku magic at work.  She also uses it to change her comics from looking pretty good to amazing when she shades them.

And yes, tacooos....   

[justacritic]

Enlighten me on the significance of tacos. I do like them but have never experienced their mind shattering abilities...

[joshofspam]

It's actually a fairly good point.

If we take Regina as any form of what younger Demons get into by vast majority, then getting in over their head is one of the biggest killers of demons. If the other long lived races have similar problems, then it would make sense dying young would be fairly common.

I mean, theirs a difference between Kria's well thought out outing and take over of that post lead by that other person, then doing what Regina did and simply killing a bunch of people and trying to get Dan to join her harem as one of her first boyfriends.

[psilorder]

Now i know cubi sort of start out as beings (creatures? whichever) and then slowly slip into cubi-hood as they become adults.

But this with max age, got me wondering about whether there is any race that has a childhood length that corresponds to their max age as human childhood corresponds to human max age (or old age anyways).

also, anyone else who already read it as max age? (or, well, average age for those who died of old age...)

[Plotting]

also, anyone else who already read it as max age? (or, well, average age for those who died of old age...)

I interpreted maximum lifespan as being an average lifespan assuming that nothing caused the being/creature to meet an untimely demise.

My reasons for taking it as an average, as opposed to an absolute maximum age, include:

• It wold have been too simplistic for all members of certain species of creatures or beaning to live for exactly the same length of time
  
• Furrae is the ultimate crap-stack world (meaning it is an unpleasent/violent place to live)
• Dan has stated in the past that the average lifespan for an adventurer is 30 years
• Certain individuals have far exceeded the average lifespan for their species (e.g. Destania)
• Some of the average lifespans have a plus after them (eg. the Cubi are stated as having a 3000+ year maximum lifespan - I take this to mean an average of 3000+ years in ideal circumstances (i.e. not dying before old age kills them!)

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

also, anyone else who already read it as max age? (or, well, average age for those who died of old age...)

I had as well, which was part of the reason why I'm still a bit funny on how old Destania and a few other direct children of clan-leaders have managed to live.


However, on the whole "Furrae is a tough world, and most people of all races die prematurely" I'm probably going to piss a lot of people off by saying this, but we haven't seen a tremendous amount of evidence for that in-comic.


Sure, you've had the cubi-dragon war, and sure, people who take risky jobs like adventurers can quite conceivably die young, but then you have things like this, where a millionaire who lives alone and seems to have only a few passive inventions for security leaves his second story window completely unsecured, where any wandering idiot or psychotic rampager could just come in.

Or here we have a trip to a shopping mall. A shopping mall in a world where powerful demons can knock over entire cities and treat it as a joke seems a bit odd, especially how there isn't a bit of security in sight. There might be death and destruction about, but outside of the protections Fa'lina has put on SAIA, we don't really see characters reacting in a way that would be consistent with a world so violent that the "vast majority" of people never reach their natural lifespan.


Now, before you all dogpile me, I don't really care much. I know DMFA isn't something that's designed to fit as neatly as say, Wheel of Time, with a ton of sociology and everything; and I'm not really expecting it to. I'm more looking forward to Amber balancing out the humorous elements and the dramatic elements at the balance she does. But at least to me, I don't really *see* a world in which violence is as prevalent as Fluffy describes in this comic, certainly not the aftereffects of said violence.

[Tapewolf]

I don't really *see* a world in which violence is as prevalent as Fluffy describes in this comic, certainly not the aftereffects of said violence.

Not to start an argument, but consider Abel's Story.  That strikes me as being far closer to what Fluffy is describing, where Devin and Xander are hunting Creatures and would have killed Abel on sight if Devin didn't remember him from childhood, and where the outpost is flattened by Demons, where Cindy is driven to suicide because she's got Creature blood and so on.

So I think part of the reason we're not seeing it is that the main comic is PG rated, but another thing to keep in mind is that most of the action is set in safe harbours like Zinvth territory or SAIA.  That and race relations seem to have improved dramatically in recent years.

[Mrs_A_ZeTavia]

I definitely believe that this world still has quite a bit of violence in it; just because you don't always see something everyday, doesn't mean that it's not there. I would say since the comic revolves around these characters, we don't see a lot of the violence (not just because this comic is PG), but because there's just not a lot of violence that revolves around these particular characters.

Which is refreshing for me in a sense, because there's plenty of other violence heavy stuff I read or watch on a basis.


I'm pretty sure if there was a story revolving around Dark Pegasus, we'd see a lot more violence.



EDIT: Saw some typos and a couple of missing words, my fault for forgetting to spellcheck.....

[joshofspam]

There's also cloak and dagger actions to consider, altercations between creature races, oopsie accidents like what happened with Cyra.

When you consider how the creature counsil interacts, it might be just as brutal as it was in the past, but it's all well hidden because they couldn't survive another war like the Dragons and Cubi's had.

Beware of first interpretations, they can be deceiving. I doubt what we've seen, is as mellow and peaceful as it seems.

[Gabi]

1. People keep talking about tacos. I need to find vegetarian tacos and actually try them someday.

2. Just because there is a lot of violence, it doesn't mean people can't keep on living. When an ordinarily peaceful place suddenly finds itself under siege, there will be mass hysteria and everyone will run for cover. But when random killings are the norm, everyone will get used to it and move on with their lives, taking whatever precautions are necessary. Think of the Middle East, for example. Those countries have been at war for decades, and people never know whether they'll get home from work or they'll be hit by a bomb or their bus will explode or something, and that does increase their stress levels, but still they live. They go to work/school, get married, have children, celebrate New Year, birthdays, etc., and yes, they do have shopping malls. And even though at least one of them has been attacked by a suicide bomber, people still go shopping.

[Ignuus66]

1. People keep talking about tacos. I need to find vegetarian tacos and actually try them someday.

Funny.. where I live, vegetarian tacos are easily buyable (not in the big restaurants/stores, but the small shops)

[Amber Williams]

1. People keep talking about tacos. I need to find vegetarian tacos and actually try them someday.

!!!!  A citizen without tacos! TO THE TACO-MOBILE!

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/veggie_tacos/
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Veggie-Tacos-241550  (this one has a risk of being bland so be sure to swing by the comment section for some extra flavoring advice)
http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2011/10/fun-vegan-tacos-and-mexican-fiesta.html  (This one actually has a bunch of recipes on it. All veggie friendly!)
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Soft-Vegetable-Tacos  

....I forget if there was anything else worth discussing in this thread.  We're talking about tacos right? Tacos tacos tacos.

[Gabi]

Wow, thanks, Amber! I'll try to make one of those as soon as I can gather the ingredients.

[Attic Rat]

Taco experimentation! I have found that almost any leftover food item that can be folded or rolled into a hot tortilla is better that way.
Note: I did say "almost." There are exceptions to the rule. Choose wisely.

[Ignuus66]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0-esOKooEE

Had to insert it...

Also thanks for the taco recipes Amber

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0-esOKooEE

And in response, I have to post http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3tcQI5EEiA

[psilorder]

However, on the whole "Furrae is a tough world, and most people of all races die prematurely" I'm probably going to piss a lot of people off by saying this, but we haven't seen a tremendous amount of evidence for that in-comic.

Had to go back and check if it really did say most people of all races.
Was going to say "maybe it's just the creatures(? demons etc)" because it seems to me they're in being territory.

(what is the are called btw? and for that matter what is the area like? how close is the mall to Lost Lake? how far from Lost Lake does Jyrras live? or is Lost Lake the "city" and the inn is Lost Lake Inn? anyone know? ...is it on the wiki?)

but yeah, "vast majority of all races"....

[Azlan]

So... what are the lyrics to "Hungry like the Wikulf"?

[Turnsky]

So... what are the lyrics to "Hungry like the Wikulf"?

pick any duran duran track, and have amber singing "tacos" along to it.

[Tapewolf]

(what is the are called btw? and for that matter what is the area like? how close is the mall to Lost Lake? how far from Lost Lake does Jyrras live? or is Lost Lake the "city" and the inn is Lost Lake Inn? anyone know? ...is it on the wiki?)

AFAIK Lost Lake is the immediate area of the inn.  I'm not sure but I think it's either inside or immediately bordering Zinvth territory.  The city is most likely Zinvth, since all these places seem to be within walking or gryphon cab distance of each other.

[psilorder]

(what is the are called btw? and for that matter what is the area like? how close is the mall to Lost Lake? how far from Lost Lake does Jyrras live? or is Lost Lake the "city" and the inn is Lost Lake Inn? anyone know? ...is it on the wiki?)

AFAIK Lost Lake is the immediate area of the inn.  I'm not sure but I think it's either inside or immediately bordering Zinvth territory.  The city is most likely Zinvth, since all these places seem to be within walking or gryphon cab distance of each other.

ok. Thanks.

[Ignuus66]

Being near zinth and (5th wall pg 13) is most likely the reason for racial hatred being only hinted at in the main comic, as somone above me posted, Abel's story seems like a slightly more realistic view.

[Daymond42]

Taco experimentation! I have found that almost any leftover food item that can be folded or rolled into a hot tortilla is better that way.
Note: I did say "almost." There are exceptions to the rule. Choose wisely.

I second this! I did this with a hot dog, and instead of it being like a taquito, it is a doguito! :o

And the flour tortilla is fewer calories than a hotdog bun. Score!

[Drakkenmensch]

Mmmmm, tacos.

The spicy meat, grated cheese, crunchy shell, drenched in salsa hot enough that wandering hobbits will ask if they can toss a ring in it...


Dear lord I want tacos right now!

[Shachza]

This gives me a deliciously wonderful idea!

Step 1:  Buy taco fixin's
Step 2:  Feed Amber tacos to get her to draw me arts.

It's foolproof!




P.S.  BEER IS GOOD!

[Darkbunny]

P.S.  BEER IS GOOD!

AND STUFF!

[Plotting]

Regarding the idea that Abel's Story gives a more realistic representation of the racial tensions and prejudices in Furrae

Abel's Story was set a few hundred years in the past, and it would seem that it was in general a less tolerant time. The kind of racial tensions and prejudices depicted in Abel's Story may not be as widespread in Furrae now as they were in the past.

Of course this could be a very relatively speaking kind of deal, especially with and old grudges that beings/creatures may not want to let go off. There does seem to be a warming of relations between creatures and beings, if for no other reason to gain powerful allies or to keep an eye on and possibly avert a revolution which is feared to be in the works.

[Alondro]

*Charline de Lyon gets very rich and buys her way into the comic... and suddenly all the death and destruction people are wondering about appears!  Naturally, most of it is caused by Charline...*