2013/10/30 - [DMFA #1440] It is expected the actual clan strength...

[Tuyu]

So, does this officially make Zezzuva "biggest clan"?

[Silveratus]

If she isn't then she soon will be.

[seikueon]

It certainly means the Cubi are doing a lot better.  I'd be curious to know if she now outranks leaderless clans.  To get an idea of how many are actually around.

I can't help but think of how horrible it'd actually be to handle that swarm.  If it doubles every time.

[Techcubi]

So much for just 84 members strong, huh?

[joshofspam]

Quite a bold move in planning on her part.

Considering how the dragons shrunk back the number of cubi's and cubi clans, Zezzuva probably gained all those numbers lost be all and then some. I wonder what that means for smaller clans?

Zezzuva just change the power in clans with this bold presentation. Could this change things for every clan?

[LoneHowler]

I wonder if insect cubi now qualify as their own race? My second wondering is if these insect cubi are breedable with standard cubi? If so all the clans could be strengthened significantly

[Ignuus66]

I wonder if insect cubi now qualify as their own race?

I don't really think so, as hybrids generally don't.

[Techcubi]

So, does this mean that there should be more Insectis/Zezzuva Cubi characters than any other type of Cubi? Although, this is only ONE of the cubi clans that's been building in the Shadows. Who knows what we might learn about Quoar and his clan?

[Tapewolf]

So, does this mean that there should be more Insectis/Zezzuva Cubi characters than any other type of Cubi?

I think so, yes.  The estimate was under 30'000 individuals prior to this revelation.

I wonder if insect cubi now qualify as their own race?

I don't really think so, as hybrids generally don't.

IMHO it depends on whether the 'Cubi trait can be passed back to mammals again.  If not, she's kind of forked the race into 'Cubi (B)' (or C depending on whether you count Tri-Wings).  (EDIT: Or Insectis-B...?)  Either way, I have to wonder what the folks who enforce the laws against new life following the Undead fiasco would have to say about this.

[Mermidion]

Argh...so many bugs....
We will need alot of Bugspray to get rid of them.


Don't get me wrong i don't hate bugs or find them icky or something. I just don't feel good having so many of them,having them play such a large role and most of all Having him in a bigger number than the mammalian Cubi (which i consider the reals ones.). I just don't think that any good will come from this in the long run. I bet that the insects will try to take over sooner or later.

[Eboreg]

From the Zezzuva clan leader card: "It is expected the actual clan strength is likely higher than reported."

Yeah, no s***.

[MT Hazard]

Zezzuva: My clan now contains more that forty thousand members. You can see that this brings me great pride and joy.

Everyone else:....

Well that explains her first facial expression* in the last comic.




*During the entire meeting and before hand.

[Yarott]

Since the Insecti themselves are finally getting some better exposure since... um, the whole "Bug Reporter" episode... Say, what about the Mer, since they are kinda related? I also wonder if the Reporter might return, maybe even getting yet another scoop in Lost Lake! Top Hat fashion might be in again!

... of course, she might also be watching the same Soap Opera that Abel and the Zombie Chimera are watching. Probably in the middle of her job, too... like the technicolor cat spy.

[Tapewolf]

Hmm... Jerry's reaction might be interesting, since Zezzuva now has an army about 2 orders of magnitude bigger than Taun's.

[Eboreg]

Hmm... Jerry's reaction might be interesting, since Zezzuva now has an army about 2 orders of magnitude bigger than Taun's.

Bigger and possibly more unified given the Insectis's nature. I think it would be safe to say that everyone else in that room is in over their heads. Not just Danny but everyone.

[Kuzma Volkov]

Sorta wonder if a Mow-cubi (MC'ubi?) hybrid would be the dragons worst nightmare...

[Tapewolf]

Bigger and possibly more unified given the Insectis's nature. I think it would be safe to say that everyone else in that room is in over their heads. Not just Danny but everyone.

Bigger and possibly more unified, but less skilled.  Zezzuva's "secret clan" would necessarily have been coached only by Zezzuva and the mammalian 'cubi in her clan - SAIA and Taun's combat instruction would not be available to them, and that's not something that could easily be changed, I wouldn't have thought.

[ZacAttac21]

Judging by Mink's reaction, I'm guessing this is not necessarily good news?

[ChaosMageX]

Wow, this makes me wonder if Insectis are able to have children at a much younger age than mammals and avians.  I also wonder what the upper limit of the number of children they can have in a single gestation cycle.  Maybe she was able to shore up those numbers so quickly because they give birth egg sac style and in her clan's case each egg would contain twins rather than a single larva.  Or maybe it was just that one ambitious queen alone that procreated all these new members of her clan in just a few gestation cycles in a way similar to other hive/colony insects.  Given what's known about the Insectis species, the latter seems like the most likely explanation, but it still doesn't stop me from wondering about how exactly they breed.

However, if Insectis reproduce more like mammals and avians at similar ages with similar methods, a simple binary calculation shows that with her clan's quirk it'd take at least 15 generations to reach that number, unless each time each one had more than one set of twins.  On the other hand, I don't know how long Zezzuva has been growing this secret branch of her clan, which could have been started all the way back during the first Dragon-Cubi War, giving her ample time to not only selectively breed a Mythos-Cubi capable of interbreeding with Insectis, but also go through more than the 15 generations needed to build that number in a binary style.

[Tuyu]

Judging by Mink's reaction, I'm guessing this is not necessarily good news?

Mink is scared of Zezzuva anyway, so that would not be the best reaction to gauge by.

[Prroul]

To quote a rather famous individual: "Quantity holds a quality all its own."

Consider a race already closely linked and organized. Now add in empathy/telepathy into that mix for free-flow tactical communications. And they are already a 'power in the subterranean realms', which probably means through conquest. Which means you have blooded veterans of combat who are used to working together to achieve a single goal.

Granted, they might need to change their tactics if they wish to effectively fight a Dragon, however as far as training? I don't really think they'll be needing Taun's expertise in the matter. They already have their own blooded veterans able to whip larvae into shape.

Running an army is different from running a bunch of individuals who more or less want to fight together. The mindset is different, the logistics are different, the tactics are different.

Honestly, I'd favor a couple of squads of the insectis-cubi over against any number of Taun's trained people any day of the week.

What is the weakest part of a 'Cubi in a fight? Discipline, they no haz it. 'It seemed like a good idea at the time'. What does army lifestyle bring with it? Discipline. Now they haz it.

My only worry is that Zezzuva may start getting empire-building thoughts within the cubi race (to 'strengthen' it under a single leader). That... would not turn out very well. For anyone.

[joshofspam]

I'd have to give Prroul a bit on this. While the natural traits of cubi inherited by these insectis might put a bit of strain of maintaining that discipline, it probably is already a part of their culture.

I wouldn't even knock Zezzuva ability of her clan to help home school them and teach them a varied bit of skills trained at the academy. One thing that might be a slight problem, is how the Insectis race has little exposure to the other races for the most part. But with how Zezzuva is revealing her little secret here, she might be on the verge of exposing them to a great bit wider of an experience here with the world at large.

Of course this also confirms another thing I've wondered about. Do creature traits get inherited by a cubi child born of a cubi parent and another creature parent other then their looks? The answer seems to be yes by Zezzuva's words, to what degree has yet to be determined.

Considering insectis are a race of sapient bugs, do you think Kiki could overpower Jerry being able to lift several times her own weight?

I don't know if Tuan's have other creature back strenth in their heritage. But would Jerry be above trying to get Zezzuva allow one of her childrens to show their strength to him?

[Tapewolf]

I'd have to give Prroul a bit on this. While the natural traits of cubi inherited by these insectis might put a bit of strain of maintaining that discipline, it probably is already a part of their culture.

Depends how much the traits have merged.  Usually the 'Cubi traits are dominant, which would make them all attention-deficit, but I think we really are into completely unknown territory here so it would go either way.

I wouldn't even knock Zezzuva ability of her clan to help home school them and teach them a varied bit of skills trained at the academy. One thing that might be a slight problem, is how the Insectis race has little exposure to the other races for the most part.

Yeah.  The thing is that SAIA is supposed to be a big advantage in terms of survival.  Clearly these things have done well against regular insectis, but how well they would fare against surface races is completely unknown.

But with how Zezzuva is revealing her little secret here, she might be on the verge of exposing them to a great bit wider of an experience here with the world at large.

That I'm not sure about.  It strikes me that if this went public, it would accelerate the Dragon's project to wipe out the 'Cubi, and given the 'eww' reactions shown by Dan and Mink it may even unite the mammalian creature races against them as well.

The other thing is that stealth and secrecy appear to be the basis of Zezzuva's success.  Insect-'cubi may be able to shapeshift but I'm not sure something with an exoskeleton is really going to be able to fake endoskeletal races terribly well.  They would be able to infiltrate Insectis colonies, but I'm not sure about the surface races.

Considering insectis are a race of sapient bugs, do you think Kiki could overpower Jerry being able to lift several times her own weight?

A good question.  I'm not sure if that property scales up to a humanoid bug.

[killpurakat]

Something to consider: even though Zezzuva undoubtedly now has the biggest clan (possibly a clan that outnumbers all the others combined), Piflak commented (in either her letter or on MissMab's FA page in one of the journals) that her restriction on having more clan members translated to each of her clan members being, on average, much more powerful than the standard cubi from any other clan, even those with leaders.

We also have evidence from Abel's Story that large numbers don't necessarily mean anything, since Clan Siar had a clan strength in the thousands and was wiped out in a single day, save four survivors (see this comic: http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Ab_056.php ).

So, does a large clan mean, in essence, that the individual members are weaker in general because they each get less of the leader's power? Like, there's a capstone to how many members a clan leader can support before it begins to break down and the clan's members must seak other means to keep themselves strong? If so, Zezzuva's clan may have easily hit that limit, meaning that hers is the strongest in numbers but the weakest in strength.

[Tuyu]

It strikes me that if this went public, it would accelerate the Dragon's project to wipe out the 'Cubi, and given the 'eww' reactions shown by Dan and Mink it may even unite the mammalian creature races against them as well.

I'm not convinced those are "eww".  Dan's is more "Oh, hey, I have...erred..."

And Mink's reaction is the same as when Zezzuva first showed up, so unless Mink also has ewws for Zezzuva...

[Mrs_A_ZeTavia]

I would like to say something of value, but sadly my brain has chosen to stop working at the moment......

[Jigsaw Forte]

Something to consider: even though Zezzuva undoubtedly now has the biggest clan (possibly a clan that outnumbers all the others combined), Piflak commented (in either her letter or on MissMab's FA page in one of the journals) that her restriction on having more clan members translated to each of her clan members being, on average, much more powerful than the standard cubi from any other clan, even those with leaders.

We also have evidence from Abel's Story that large numbers don't necessarily mean anything, since Clan Siar had a clan strength in the thousands and was wiped out in a single day, save four survivors (see this comic: http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Ab_056.php ).

So, does a large clan mean, in essence, that the individual members are weaker in general because they each get less of the leader's power? Like, there's a capstone to how many members a clan leader can support before it begins to break down and the clan's members must seak other means to keep themselves strong? If so, Zezzuva's clan may have easily hit that limit, meaning that hers is the strongest in numbers but the weakest in strength.

That's assuming all Tri-wings are created equal -- which they aren't, but in this case I mean "Equal Power". I suspect there is a threshold a Tri-wing has to hit, but not necessarily an upper bound -- which means as long as Zezzuva has a way to increase her power, she can compensate for having to spread it among a larger number. Given that Zezzuva seems to be a different kind of min-maxer than Piflak, the idea she's been playing Cubi Clicker and just generating a ton of added energy in addition to added numbers makes sense.

Of course, since any sort of weird power-fluxing among (known) clan members would've been detected by Fa'lina if she cared to check, I suspect power doesn't work that way.

More likely it's a Generational Decay -- the further away from the (tri-wing) source you are, the less powerful. A Queen Insectis Cubi is a cheap hack around this (One Queen could produce thousands of children who are all only slightly weaker than the Queen herself) compared to a more... conventional cubi who could only produce a dozen children at a time.

Of course, since Dan is both a) one of only two members of Cyra, and b) a grandson of a tri-wing, if either of those answers is correct, we've got one powerful Cubi on our hands.

[Nino]

New war tactic: Zergzuzza rush. Anyone?

So, does a large clan mean, in essence, that the individual members are weaker in general because they each get less of the leader's power? Like, there's a capstone to how many members a clan leader can support before it begins to break down and the clan's members must seak other means to keep themselves strong? If so, Zezzuva's clan may have easily hit that limit, meaning that hers is the strongest in numbers but the weakest in strength.

The answer to the limit thing is a definite 'no' I'd imagine, since an individual has their own strength to rely on too (i.e. not all the cubi powers come from the leader, more like just enhancement). Since cubi from clans without leaders are a thing, obvious individuals in a clan could exist that gain little or no enhancement from the leader. I think it's up to the leader's discretion on how much power to give out to individuals, and my guess is that they could be selective about this as well (Piflak may want to give equally to all her members and a large amount, which explains the limit).

Man, Kiki is so CUTE

[LoneHowler]

I think clan members feed energy back to the clan leader as well. So the more numerous the clan- the more powerful the leader.

[Arcblade]

Woo, I partially figured out Amber's awesome plot twist after Kiki showed up.  Beautifully done, Amber.  : D  Kiki is awesome, by the way.  I love the insect-headwings.  They're adorable.  I think that's all the kinds of wings currently available in the world, too.  We already had the feather wings and the bat wings.  With Zezzuva's machinations adding in the dragonfly-esque wings, I think we've collected them all.  (Minus the Fae-wings, but those are kind've insect-esque and we already know Fae are never going to mix with any other Furrae races)  Or perhaps there are some yet-unseen kinds of wings courtesy the Mythos? 

This actually makes me want to try and combine all three wing-types on a single 'cubi.  Yes, I know the idea is completely ridiculous.  But hmm... maybe several hundred... wait, 'cubi lifespan.  Several thousand years in the future, the insecti-cubi will be more mingled into the rest of the 'cubi race? 

Regardless: This is so cool.  I love this webcomic.  Thanks for being so awesome to us, and for keeping this webcomic going, even when it's difficult, Amber.