2013/03/03 [Matilda # 4] Get those out of your mouth!

[Zebra Bug]

And now it really does begin. Is Kissriss Matilda? I love this page, sorta cute. And the cavern is gorgeous. So it seems all the women do the mining, gem gathering...

[Trying to make it the right week: -TW]

[Verkanon]

Explains where she would get the strength to rip a limb off

[Zebra Bug]

Explains where she would get the strength to rip a limb off

What, eating gems? Or living in intense heat?

[Infranscia]

Yup, Kissriss is Matilda.  I was a bit confused too, until I looked at her profile (to try to identify her among the group by her markings) and saw that it's her last name.

On that note, it is kind of neat seeing how similar the females are, and how the markings seem to differ.

... Come to think, wouldn't the heat from the volcano kill most diseases, too?  Or have such diseases adapted to the heat, maybe being magic in nature?  I'm just not sure why the other BV Mythos would be worried about where the gems have been.  Unless she's worried about minerals that they can't digest?

@Zebra: I think he means the intense heat.

[joshofspam]

Explains where she would get the strength to rip a limb off

What, eating gems? Or living in intense heat?

I think their referring to the mining bit.

After all, removing Chrystal's from solid rock like that would most likely build strength. Though never underestimate the use of properly applied force.

[Ted Schiller]

Greetings Mrs. Williams,

If you are boring in the rant, it's because you did such a good job you have nothing to rant about.

With regards,
Ted

[Eboreg]

... Come to think, wouldn't the heat from the volcano kill most diseases, too?  Or have such diseases adapted to the heat, maybe being magic in nature?  I'm just not sure why the other BV Mythos would be worried about where the gems have been.

Come on. You have large, sentient organisms that are magically empowered to be able to bathe in lava and not feel a thing. It is perfectly reasonable to believe that smaller organisms would be able to adapt to even higher temperatures and in fact, it pretty much has to be taken as fact that there are.

The thing I find somewhat hard to explain is what the BV Mythos eat while in the volcano. The problem being that any food that a normal person would eat would be rather quickly charred into ash by the time it got down into the volcano. You know how when you see documentary footage of a guy near an active volcano and he's wearing protective mylar fire gear? Yeah, he's not doing that in case he touches lava. So perhaps those gems are edible. Or maybe the volcano has an entire ecosystem of magical lava-resistant organisms.

On an unrelated note. The first thing I thought when I saw the last panel was, "Wow! Look at all the Matilda clones!" I'm not good at finding differences. 

[Jasae Bushae]

huh, come to think of it with a tribal life of a species living in seclusion, Matilda does seem a bit odd..I wonder when she got the new one XD

[KV1NN4]

On an unrelated note. The first thing I thought when I saw the last panel was, "Wow! Look at all the Matilda clones!" I'm not good at finding differences. 

Well, from what I can tell, Matilda is the only one with a stripe that goes from snout to tail whereas the rest of the girls have a spot on their hood at best.
~K. *: )

[ChaosMageX]

... Come to think, wouldn't the heat from the volcano kill most diseases, too?  Or have such diseases adapted to the heat, maybe being magic in nature?  I'm just not sure why the other BV Mythos would be worried about where the gems have been.

Come on. You have large, sentient organisms that are magically empowered to be able to bathe in lava and not feel a thing. It is perfectly reasonable to believe that smaller organisms would be able to adapt to even higher temperatures and in fact, it pretty much has to be taken as fact that there are.

The thing I find somewhat hard to explain is what the BV Mythos eat while in the volcano. The problem being that any food that a normal person would eat would be rather quickly charred into ash by the time it got down into the volcano. You know how when you see documentary footage of a guy near an active volcano and he's wearing protective mylar fire gear? Yeah, he's not doing that in case he touches lava. So perhaps those gems are edible. Or maybe the volcano has an entire ecosystem of magical lava-resistant organisms.

On an unrelated note. The first thing I thought when I saw the last panel was, "Wow! Look at all the Matilda clones!" I'm not good at finding differences.  

Since in real life there are entire ecosystems that thrive around the very hot and highly toxic environments of deep sea black smokers, then it wouldn't be surprising to find one deep inside a volcano, and it could even be entirely biological in nature.  After all, there have been noted cases of life thriving in environments even harsher than black smokers.  In fact, like those organisms, the BV Mythos might actually have a non-magical way of living off a similar hydrogen sulfide rich cocktail of gases, since both environments are volcanic.  It never ceases to amaze me how adaptable life can be all on its own; add a little magic to the mix and the possibilities exponentially increase.

[Tapewolf]

This is to help set the proper thread title.

[Zebra Bug]

This is to help set the proper thread title.

Oops, messed up the date there... Thanks.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

... Come to think, wouldn't the heat from the volcano kill most diseases, too?  Or have such diseases adapted to the heat, maybe being magic in nature?  I'm just not sure why the other BV Mythos would be worried about where the gems have been.  Unless she's worried about minerals that they can't digest?

There are species of bacteria and microbes living in volcano vents on _our_ world. Most of them probably aren't too healthy to ingest, although they wouldn't be too happy at living at ~40C instead of ~300C +.

Magic just spreads the capabilities that are already there, even further.

Erm. As ChaosMageX just said. (dammit) While I was typing. :-P

[Eboreg]

Seems a lot of people think that the BV Mythos can survive without magic. I happen to disagree. Lava has a temperature from 700 to 1200 degrees Celsius. People point to bacteria surviving high temperatures but I checked and those temperatures don't get higher than 122 degrees Celsius. The fact that these buggers are bathing in lava like it's water and even submerging their eyes is very indicative. Also, don't say that complex organisms can live in extreme temperatures because even if their skin doesn't combust instantaneously, they'd still burn out their lungs. Trust me, there's a lot of magic going into these creatures and anything they eat.

[Zebra Bug]

It is interesting that the lava itself is blue...kinda pretty really. But I do have to agree, there is a lot of magic involved with this whole situation.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Seems a lot of people think that the BV Mythos can survive without magic. I happen to disagree. Lava has a temperature from 700 to 1200 degrees Celsius. People point to bacteria surviving high temperatures but I checked and those temperatures don't get higher than 122 degrees Celsius. The fact that these buggers are bathing in lava like it's water and even submerging their eyes is very indicative. Also, don't say that complex organisms can live in extreme temperatures because even if their skin doesn't combust instantaneously, they'd still burn out their lungs. Trust me, there's a lot of magic going into these creatures and anything they eat.

Erm, no. Not even close.

_Bacteria_, sure. More complex organisms? Not in any form we know of; most complex organisms on earth require water to function, and you'd be surprised just how complex water can get.

So yes - there's a whole _LOT_ of magic involved in the Blue Volcano Mythos subspecies. However, since there's that much involved in them - there may be a similar amount involved in the bugs, bacteria, mould, viruses, etc, that inhabit the same ecological area. And since this all started with "surely it's too hot for bugs?", we're just countering that.


Don't go reading things I'm not saying into my posts, please. Or making sweeping generalisations that appear to be about them, and utterly wrong. Just saying...

[Jasae Bushae]

with all this talk about whether things can survive in lava i kinda have to ask if this volcano even produces lava or even similar conditions ^^;
I mean, the 'lava' itself is a blueish white and it appears to bubble around the moving taurs but not anywhere else (excepting the little waterfall in the background)
Plus a few pages back it was described as a volcano of pure magic...Finally, the scientist fella wanted to get close enough that he would be able to take samples (sure he probably has a spell for heat resistance or sumthin but im ignoring that bit ^^; )

So im putting forth the theory that what were seeing is magic! not magma!

Ill probably be shot down by this on this by next week but...

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

with all this talk about whether things can survive in lava i kinda have to ask if this volcano even produces lava or even similar conditions ^^;
I mean, the 'lava' itself is a blueish white and it appears to bubble around the moving taurs but not anywhere else (excepting the little waterfall in the background)
Plus a few pages back it was described as a volcano of pure magic...Finally, the scientist fella wanted to get close enough that he would be able to take samples (sure he probably has a spell for heat resistance or sumthin but im ignoring that bit ^^; )

So im putting forth the theory that what were seeing is magic! not magma!

Ill probably be shot down by this on this by next week but...

I don't think you need to wait that long. Read the second paragraph in panel 1 again. ;-]

[joshofspam]

with all this talk about whether things can survive in lava i kinda have to ask if this volcano even produces lava or even similar conditions ^^;
I mean, the 'lava' itself is a blueish white and it appears to bubble around the moving taurs but not anywhere else (excepting the little waterfall in the background)
Plus a few pages back it was described as a volcano of pure magic...Finally, the scientist fella wanted to get close enough that he would be able to take samples (sure he probably has a spell for heat resistance or sumthin but im ignoring that bit ^^; )

So im putting forth the theory that what were seeing is magic! not magma!

Ill probably be shot down by this on this by next week but...

Highly concentrated magic, compacted to give it a liquid like form and super heated by magic being compressed like that? It sounds like a possible theory.

Though an even more surprising fact is it's rated only as 14 in regards to esteotheric energy. Depending how the scale works, that's both impressive and surprising.

[Nino]

It could also be less of a warning against bacteria and more a warning about possible environmental chemical or magical contaminants (not biological in nature). We know there's such a thing as magical residue in that world (like what sticks to souls). Or it could just be a superstitious saying.

Also I noticed one of her crystals is pink while none of the other ones in the cave are. Interesting?

Also, I think the 'lava' itself is the only lightsource here, though I could be wrong. It seems to really light up the cave though.

[Zebra Bug]

It could also be less of a warning against bacteria and more a warning about possible environmental chemical or magical contaminants (not biological in nature). We know there's such a thing as magical residue in that world (like what sticks to souls). Or it could just be a superstitious saying.

Also I noticed one of her crystals is pink while none of the other ones in the cave are. Interesting?

Also, I think the 'lava' itself is the only lightsource here, though I could be wrong. It seems to really light up the cave though.

There are some purplish ones on the wall, the pinkish ones may just be rarer or under the magima.

[Prroul]

Or maybe you're just not supposed to sample the goods before bringing it in. I mean, how would YOU like to see someone serve you an apple with a bite already taken out of it?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Or maybe you're just not supposed to sample the goods before bringing it in. I mean, how would YOU like to see someone serve you an apple with a bite already taken out of it?

Depends on if there's a half a worm left in the apple...

[Jasae Bushae]

Though an even more surprising fact is it's rated only as 14 in regards to esteotheric energy. Depending how the scale works, that's both impressive and surprising.

Hmm...Yeah, I wonder what sources could surpass a bloody volcano....(as a sidenote  this could say interesting things about this worlds core)