2015/07/03 [DMFA #1586] Betrayal

[Tarakona]

Don't worry about the lack of a comedic element, Amber. In my opinion, comics and characters that are all fluff and no fire tend to get boring and less believable. This one comic panel is so full of meaning and emotion, I had to stare at it for awhile. You can feel her anguish. Fa'lina herself tended to appear as either the crazy teacher figure, or the indomitable headmistress. It's nice to see a more vulnerable side of her. The light and shading adds to her despair.

Very well done. I hope I got the subject title right.

-Tara

[Tapewolf]

There's grimdark and there's Fa'lina's backstory.  I am kind of curious how you imprison a Tri-wing, though.  I'd have said it was something like the suppression bracers in PF, but a Tri-wing puts out stupid amounts of energy...

[Nightmask]

There's grimdark and there's Fa'lina's backstory.  I am kind of curious how you imprison a Tri-wing, though.  I'd have said it was something like the suppression bracers in PF, but a Tri-wing puts out stupid amounts of energy...

Well given her entire clan was murdered and the connection of clan leaders to their clan members he probably started by killing some of them to shock and weaken her before finishing off the rest.  Plus as a former close friend she most likely revealed her weaknesses to him without thinking someday he'd betray her and use that information to bind her so she couldn't save her clan (he probably left her alive to live with the agony of her helplessness, an aspect of the Cruel Mercy trope).

[Major Matt Mason]

(gives Fa'Lina a big ol hug) <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

[HaDDea]

So Destania was placed in Fa'lina's care - that explains a great deal about Fa'lina's care for Destania - and Aniz. And Abel, for that matter. It also explains why Dee wants to destroy all the dragons - because the dragons were willing to commit genocide to get to Dee. Hizell, you betraying bastard; brute strength is a pretty low and petty form of power. Makes me wonder if Hizell isn't lower down the ranks than M'chek - just the bouncer at the door, not one of the VIPs inside.

So... the dragons decide to destroy all of Cyra's family, some 'cubi put up a fight, dragons start destroying MORE 'cubi, and the next thing they knew, they had a fight on their hands; Sure, it was a fight they could win, but it was decidedly bloodier than expected.

How did the Dragon-Cubi war END? And how long did it last? It must've ended in the last millennium, as young Aniz was affected by it (going off Aniz and Abel's combined ages). Did the common dragons sue for peace among their leaders?? Did the Fae get involved? Did Siar manage to do something before she and her clan perished? I mean, I've had an idea for some time for a fanfic involving clan Quoar and where they were during the Dragon-Cubi war (and the desolation of a city, incidentally), but how does Amber have it end?

[Rafe]

There's grimdark and there's Fa'lina's backstory.  I am kind of curious how you imprison a Tri-wing, though.  I'd have said it was something like the suppression bracers in PF, but a Tri-wing puts out stupid amounts of energy...

What a powerful, horrifying image of Fa'Lina.  And perhaps the worst part - and maybe even the reason her powers were suppressed - look at the image:

Her puffy little tail... it's gone!

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

How did the Dragon-Cubi war END? And how long did it last? It must've ended in the last millennium, as young Aniz was affected by it (going off Aniz and Abel's combined ages). Did the common dragons sue for peace among their leaders?? Did the Fae get involved? Did Siar manage to do something before she and her clan perished? I mean, I've had an idea for some time for a fanfic involving clan Quoar and where they were during the Dragon-Cubi war (and the desolation of a city, incidentally), but how does Amber have it end?

What makes you think it's over?

[Jasonrevall]

And now I gotta clean up all these Ghibli sized tears T~T

[ArchTeryx]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this sort of tragic drama.  The laughs are fun, but it's moments like this that make it a complete story, and add a great deal of depth to the universe.

Besides which, it's a moving and powerful image.  Very evocative of Peter Gabriel's Wallflower:

They put you in a box so you can't get heard
Let your spirit stay unbroken, may you not be deterred
Hold on...

You have gambled with your own life
And you face the night alone
While the builders of the cages
Sleep with bullets, bars and stone
They do not see your road to freedom
That you build with flesh and bone

Though you may disappear, you're not forgotten here
And I will say to you, I will do what I can do...

----

She really is the Academy's Dumbledore.

[Tapewolf]

How did the Dragon-Cubi war END? And how long did it last? It must've ended in the last millennium, as young Aniz was affected by it (going off Aniz and Abel's combined ages).

I could be misremembering but I was under the impression that the war proper had mostly ended before then, but it had gone into a sort of cold war state where there are still the odd snipings, such as Siar.  I have a feeling it was at its bloodiest about the time SAIA was founded - to be sure, having a dimensionally isolated realm which you're physically unable to enter without permission kind of makes it hard to run an extermination campaign so that probably caused things to fade out somewhat once the Dragons had picked off most of the Clan Leaders.

Cold war, peace or lull, things seem to be turning bad again.

Did the Fae get involved?

It's likely Mab did.  Given that she seems to know Fa'Lina I wouldn't be at all surprised if she was part of the reason SAIA is as protected as it is.

[hartree]

There's an interesting symmetry here. Fa'Lina is given Cyra's child, Destania, to protect her after Cyra destroyed M'chek. She protects her from Hizell at the cost of her family, which Hizell destroys one by one.

Then Pyroduck is taken from Hizell and given to Fa'Lina. Again she protects him and gives him to a Phoenix to take care of. Now Destania is attempting to destroy Pyroduck along with the rest of the dragons (And doesn't care who else she destroys in the process.).

Let us hope it turns out a little better for Fa'Lina this time. I'd hate to have her pay like that again as a price for protecting one individual after someone else started the problem.

(Flashback: http://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_1071.php )

[Delian Williams]

Hartree's flashback just reminded me, that some points in Pyroduck's history remain in the dark...
Did we ever find out the name of Pyroduck's father? I don't remember...

By the way, giving him to a neutral party was a pretty good move for Pyroduck too. What followed
the events of yesterday's comic wasn't just ongoing dragon attacks, it was a war, in which five of
Pyroduck's brothers / sisters were slaughtered by cubi.

About the somberness: It's not like some movies, who give a character barely enough lines of dialogue
for the audience to relate to them and then kill them off in some horrible scheme for cheap ghasps.
Fa'Lina has been around for a while and if you dislike her at this point, you probably don't care and
if you do like her, you don't mind following her back to the bad times. OK... maybe you can be upset,
but I wouldn't miss it.

[ZacAttac21]

Hartree's flashback just reminded me, that some points in Pyroduck's history remain in the dark...
Did we ever find out the name of Pyroduck's father? I don't remember...

Hizell.

[Delian Williams]

Hizell.

Oh, right, #1070 said, Pyroduck's father had hurt Fa'Lina. Also Amber confirmed,
that two of the red dragons featured in DMFA were the same and I don't
think Hizell was the one had borrowed money from.

[Scow2]

It seems that Fa'lina protected Destania better than her own children...

[ArchTeryx]

It seems that Fa'lina protected Destania better than her own children...

And she treated Hizell's child far, far better then her's were treated by him.  Now you see exactly why Dimanika actually dropped the joking and got lethally serious when revenge was on the plate.

Fa'lina, however, decided that enough innocent lives had been destroyed, and planted a seed that, in the long run, may end up as insurance against Hizell.  Who exactly do you think Pyroduck is going to fight for, when Hizell lowers the boom?

Not that Hizell made that choice any harder.

There are advantages to being Lawful Good.

[Cassi-kun]

We also found out at some point that Pyro's mother was slain by Quoar, though that was a QFTR so I've got noo idea where in the archives it'd be.

[ZacAttac21]

We also found out at some point that Pyro's mother was slain by Quoar, though that was a QFTR so I've got noo idea where in the archives it'd be.

I don't remember that.

[Delian Williams]

We also found out at some point that Pyro's mother was slain by Quoar, though that was a QFTR so I've got noo idea where in the archives it'd be.

I don't remember that.

It's not in the archives, but still hosted on xepher. Third question.

Another thing I'm curious about is when Amber came up with the idea that Fa'Lina had taken this
special responsibility for Destania. Every time I saw Fa'Lina's reactions to Destania's excessive
cruelty, I thought she was embracing the darker sides of being a cubi (or being tolerant).
I liked this ambivalence in Fa'Lina's character and hope it doesn't get explained away by her
relationship with Destania. So it would be nice, had Fa'Lina's character first been developed
without that relationship in mind...

[HaDDea]

Another thing I'm curious about is when Amber came up with the idea that Fa'Lina had taken this
special responsibility for Destania. Every time I saw Fa'Lina's reactions to Destania's excessive
cruelty, I thought she was embracing the darker sides of being a cubi (or being tolerant).
I liked this ambivalence in Fa'Lina's character and hope it doesn't get explained away by her
relationship with Destania. So it would be nice, had Fa'Lina's character first been developed
without that relationship in mind...

I don't think it explains away - it's a very good explanation. Fa'lina is a wonderfully complex character, and revealing some of the reasons for her complexity is not going to make her complexity go away. In fact, Fa'lina's suffering is a good way of explaining why though she might usually disdain cruelty and torture, she is not willing to ban its teaching at SAIA and is even on occasion willing to use it herself without retconing her character from earlier.

[Angel]

Huh. So Hizell IS Pyroduck's father after all. Explains a lot of things. Pardon me while I update my "Worst  fictional dads ever" list.

... No other jokes here. Too sad.