2017-06-26 [DMFA #1764] - Mysterious Ways

[Tapewolf]

I like the empathic link idea.

Regarding the conversation itself, 'Wanted Criminal' is an interesting turn of phrase.  'Cubi are forbidden within Hizell's realm, but Abel has in all likelihood never been there.
As far as is known, it's not actually illegal for them to live in Zinvth, even though they are not actually welcome.  So Abel may be an outlaw in Hizell's realm, but that doesn't make him a criminal in Zinvth, and either way it's far outside his jurisdiction.  By the logic of Hizell's lackey, her Lord is himself is likely to be a war criminal in Taun's domain.

The line about leaving him alive is an intriguing one though.  It's been uncertain whether Hizell was driven off before he could finish Abel, or whether he deliberately left him alive as a warning to Destania.  The weak part of the 'driven away' has always been that if he was simply collecting trophies, he'd probably have killed Abel first, it would make him struggle less and generally be more convenient.
This makes it sound a lot more like Abel's survival was deliberate.

[Lying Foo]

Kria's worked hard; she deserves an early lunch.

[Dard]

This page was even better than I thought it would be.

I like that Kria didn't even bother to hear an excuse how Hizell would justify his attack. (I think the same way when journalists shove their microphones in the face of politicians after an election: Why even bother to ask questions? You usually already know what is going to be said!)

I like even more that Kria went for the diplomatically unimportant but otherwise interesting question.
Of course she didn't get an answer there, too.

Too bad for Hizell's goon.
Defenestration commencing in 3.. 2.. 1..

[Tapewolf]

Reading this again, the 'straying-into-your-borders' thing makes me curious as to where Hizell's realm actually is in relation to Zinvth.  Distance doesn't mean a lot to Hizell, since even regular folks like Biggs are able to teleport, so I'd assumed it was halfway across the world.  But it might be considerably closer - especially if Edward is there.

[PhycoKrusk]

I like even more that Kria went for the diplomatically unimportant but otherwise interesting question.

Ah, but my friend, diplomatically, that question is very important. Perhaps even the most important.

Because in the throes of zeal or not, it's very clear even in-universe by this point that Hizell knew exactly where he was going. It's also clear in-universe by this point that Hizell would have been completely capable of finishing off Abel, and chose not to, despite knowing exactly where he was and, more importantly, knowing exactly where he was not supposed to be.

Notice that he is also completely insincere in his apology, not just because we know that he is, but because he sent his envoy with no actual reasons or information about why he did what he did; she is completely expendable and clearly intended as a misdirection.

Kria, being an evil mastermind herself, has reached the obvious conclusion: Hizell illegally entered her territory (notice the term she uses there) using Abel as a pretext, and is additionally using Abel as a (very slipshod and unconvincing) decoy to cover up what he was actually doing there.

[Nightmask]

I like even more that Kria went for the diplomatically unimportant but otherwise interesting question.

Ah, but my friend, diplomatically, that question is very important. Perhaps even the most important.

Because in the throes of zeal or not, it's very clear even in-universe by this point that Hizell knew exactly where he was going. It's also clear in-universe by this point that Hizell would have been completely capable of finishing off Abel, and chose not to, despite knowing exactly where he was and, more importantly, knowing exactly where he was not supposed to be.

Notice that he is also completely insincere in his apology, not just because we know that he is, but because he sent his envoy with no actual reasons or information about why he did what he did; she is completely expendable and clearly intended as a misdirection.

Kria, being an evil mastermind herself, has reached the obvious conclusion: Hizell illegally entered her territory (notice the term she uses there) using Abel as a pretext, and is additionally using Abel as a (very slipshod and unconvincing) decoy to cover up what he was actually doing there.

Wouldn't that just be a horrible thing to discover, someone mutilated you and deliberately left you barely alive just to distract from something else that they did because they knew that people would assume due to your history with them that you were the priority thing rather than a minor concern.

[joshofspam]

Wait. Wait Wait? Empathic? Taur?... It almost sounds like a Chakat. But at the same time, it sounds like the Empathic part might be an element that cubi have. Could Hizell be employing cubi in secret... No. Maybe?

Well I always wondered about what Amber meant by his wife being killed by decapitation around five time and thought his wife might have been a cubi with a clan leader. Now I find myself wondering how deep that connection mentioned here can go and can it be deep enough that multiple beings from this kind of creature race can go so deep that a group can be considered one person?

[PhycoKrusk]

Wouldn't that just be a horrible thing to discover, someone mutilated you and deliberately left you barely alive just to distract from something else that they did because they knew that people would assume due to your history with them that you were the priority thing rather than a minor concern.

I can only assume.

All the same, at the end of the day, all we know is that there is obviously something else Hizell has going that we are not yet privy to, and whatever it is, Abel being dead is not the endgame: At best, his being dead will be just a happy accident.

Is he sending a message to Destania?

Did he do something else while in Zinvth and is trying (badly) to cover it up?

Is he trying to provoke Zinvth into taking some kind of action against him?

That last one might be the most potentially terrifying. It's been pointed out in the past that he might not be able to stand up against Zinvth's combined might, even if he could take on a handful of creatures at once. But that still makes one critical assumption: That Hizell does not now possess some heretofore unseen superweapon.

Personally, I don't find that last scenario to be terribly likely. If I had to pick one as "correct," I'd say the first one, echoing what many others have already said seems likely.

[HaDDea]

Wait. Wait Wait? Empathic? Taur?... It almost sounds like a Chakat. But at the same time, it sounds like the Empathic part might be an element that cubi have. Could Hizell be employing cubi in secret... No. Maybe?

Well I always wondered about what Amber meant by his wife being killed by decapitation around five time and thought his wife might have been a cubi with a clan leader. Now I find myself wondering how deep that connection mentioned here can go and can it be deep enough that multiple beings from this kind of creature race can go so deep that a group can be considered one person?

Seeing as Hizell destroyed his former "friend" Fa'lina's entire clan with no hint of regret, and his instructions to Pyroduck upon introduction, I think the odds of him secretly employing 'cubi is slightly south of none. The Dragons seem to see the 'cubi race as we might look at bacteria - we fear them, though most in truth are harmless or even beneficial. I expect our empathic diplomat here is some kind of Mythos (the glowy eyes are still freaky tho).

However, this does bring up something that, while we may never see it in-comic, is of interest to me: the origins of the 'cubi race. It is a young-ish race, and it came about only seemingly a hundred thousand years ago or so (going by Quoar's age). How did it come to be? Why did it become a thing? where did this empathic resonance with one particular emotion come from? And where did tri-wings come from? I assume there had to be a clan before there were tri-wings, so what is their origin? Were the 'cubi engineered for some reason? Were they the result of a magical experiment gone awry, as the Undead are?

Well, I do not know how exactly Kria plans to deal with this uppity diplomat (Punching, cathartic as it is, as Fa'lina once said, still feels lacking in terms of sending a message). I hope that some of Aliph's planning and savvy has rubbed off on Kria, and she has learned how to -effectively- send a message to Hizell that he's overstepped his bounds (though that may be why she's keeping abreast of Biggs' plans). 

[TruthQuest]

Wouldn't that just be a horrible thing to discover, someone mutilated you and deliberately left you barely alive just to distract from something else that they did because they knew that people would assume due to your history with them that you were the priority thing rather than a minor concern.

I can only assume.

All the same, at the end of the day, all we know is that there is obviously something else Hizell has going that we are not yet privy to, and whatever it is, Abel being dead is not the endgame: At best, his being dead will be just a happy accident.

Is he sending a message to Destania?

Did he do something else while in Zinvth and is trying (badly) to cover it up?

Is he trying to provoke Zinvth into taking some kind of action against him?

That last one might be the most potentially terrifying. It's been pointed out in the past that he might not be able to stand up against Zinvth's combined might, even if he could take on a handful of creatures at once. But that still makes one critical assumption: That Hizell does not now possess some heretofore unseen superweapon.

Personally, I don't find that last scenario to be terribly likely. If I had to pick one as "correct," I'd say the first one, echoing what many others have already said seems likely.

Here's a thought, how about all-of-the-above? Hizell is too old to have just one motive for any one action, and has lived far too long to be an amateur long-gamer.
Personally, I'd wonder just how many of his plans are on the verge of fruition.

[Ganurath]

Wait, Abel was left ali-

Ah. Hizell is baiting out Dan in the hopes of subsequently luring out Destania. That explains why he hit in the presence of Wildy and Jyrras.

[Puyon]

Wait, Abel was left ali-

Ah. Hizell is baiting out Dan in the hopes of subsequently luring out Destania. That explains why he hit in the presence of Wildy and Jyrras.

Does he know that Dan exists though

[Tapewolf]

Does he know that Dan exists though

Difficult to say. Cyra is likely shielding him from Hizell's sight, but the presence of a dead spot in the inn when Dan is there might be enough of a giveaway, depending on how it works.  Either way, if one of Hizell's agents were to visit the inn and find that Cyra symbol on Dan's bed, things will get very bad, very quickly.

[Puyon]

Difficult to say. Cyra is likely shielding him from Hizell's sight, but the presence of a dead spot in the inn when Dan is there might be enough of a giveaway, depending on how it works.  Either way, if one of Hizell's agents were to visit the inn and find that Cyra symbol on Dan's bed, things will get very bad, very quickly.

Hizell or his envoys would not likely tread near the inn though. While he may not know if Dan is there and associated to Cyra, he knows that Mab is there, and that she could destroy him or his allies with basically no effort.

[Dard]

However, this does bring up something that, while we may never see it in-comic, is of interest to me: the origins of the 'cubi race. It is a young-ish race, and it came about only seemingly a hundred thousand years ago or so (going by Quoar's age). How did it come to be? Why did it become a thing? where did this empathic resonance with one particular emotion come from? And where did tri-wings come from? I assume there had to be a clan before there were tri-wings, so what is their origin? Were the 'cubi engineered for some reason? Were they the result of a magical experiment gone awry, as the Undead are?

It was hinted somewhere that the reasons for cubi's existence is quite mundane: A couple of demons and angels got along a little too well.

[The One Guy]

However, this does bring up something that, while we may never see it in-comic, is of interest to me: the origins of the 'cubi race. It is a young-ish race, and it came about only seemingly a hundred thousand years ago or so (going by Quoar's age). How did it come to be? Why did it become a thing? where did this empathic resonance with one particular emotion come from? And where did tri-wings come from? I assume there had to be a clan before there were tri-wings, so what is their origin? Were the 'cubi engineered for some reason? Were they the result of a magical experiment gone awry, as the Undead are?

Well, according to this post, the top two on page 1582 are considered to be the first tri-wings and the founders of the cubi race, but as far as I know that's all the information we have on that.

[Akisohida]

Does he know that Dan exists though

Difficult to say. Cyra is likely shielding him from Hizell's sight, but the presence of a dead spot in the inn when Dan is there might be enough of a giveaway, depending on how it works.  Either way, if one of Hizell's agents were to visit the inn and find that Cyra symbol on Dan's bed, things will get very bad, very quickly.

I think he does know of Dan.

I mean, it may have been a one-off joke but when Mab was 'protecting' Lost Lake, it showed Hizell wanting to destroy it but deciding not too since 'a fae is guarding it'.
Now Hizell is too old to randomly want to destroy an Inn for no reason, so he must want someone who was inside..And since I cannot recall if that happens before or after Abel start to live/work at the inn, I can only assume it's not Abel he wanted.

[The One Guy]

Does he know that Dan exists though

Difficult to say. Cyra is likely shielding him from Hizell's sight, but the presence of a dead spot in the inn when Dan is there might be enough of a giveaway, depending on how it works.  Either way, if one of Hizell's agents were to visit the inn and find that Cyra symbol on Dan's bed, things will get very bad, very quickly.

I think he does know of Dan.

I mean, it may have been a one-off joke but when Mab was 'protecting' Lost Lake, it showed Hizell wanting to destroy it but deciding not too since 'a fae is guarding it'.
Now Hizell is too old to randomly want to destroy an Inn for no reason, so he must want someone who was inside..And since I cannot recall if that happens before or after Abel start to live/work at the inn, I can only assume it's not Abel he wanted.

That would be page 1451.  That's well after Abel moved in and literally the next page, Hizell remarks about Destania having informed him of "a forgotten child of Siar."

[Grey Wolf]

I really want Kria to lay down the law here.

Not only did Hizell trespass and brutally mutilate a citizen of Zinvth, but that citizen was a former student of the city's current patron and the son of her personal friend.

Faux pas indeed.

[HaDDea]

I really want Kria to lay down the law here.

Not only did Hizell trespass and brutally mutilate a citizen of Zinvth, but that citizen was a former student of the city's current patron and the son of her personal friend.

Faux pas indeed.

I'm pretty sure we all want Kria to lay the smack down on Hizell for what he did to Abel... but how can she do so? Hizell is a freakin' dragon, after all, and we don't even know where in the dragon hierarchy he stands. And in the city-state landscape of Furrae, it definitely is a case of "might makes right", sucky though it may be. Perhaps Jyrras can change that... or perhaps he'll just make a new might to make right with.

It was hinted somewhere that the reasons for cubi's existence is quite mundane: A couple of demons and angels got along a little too well.

Really? that's... kinda disappointing. And strange. Can Demons and Angels attain tri-wing status? How does that even work with the genetics thing, as the 'cubi traits sort of an overlay? (Though now I want to see Wildy's next book to basically tell the story of Sepiroth Goku the Stampede, the angel-devil 'cubi XD)

[PhycoKrusk]

I'm pretty sure we all want Kria to lay the smack down on Hizell for what he did to Abel... but how can she do so? Hizell is a freakin' dragon, after all, and we don't even know where in the dragon hierarchy he stands. And in the city-state landscape of Furrae, it definitely is a case of "might makes right", sucky though it may be. Perhaps Jyrras can change that... or perhaps he'll just make a new might to make right with.

Jyrras doesn't strike me as the "might makes right" sort. "Might for right," on the other hand....

Really? that's... kinda disappointing. And strange. Can Demons and Angels attain tri-wing status? How does that even work with the genetics thing, as the 'cubi traits sort of an overlay? (Though now I want to see Wildy's next book to basically tell the story of Sepiroth Goku the Stampede, the angel-devil 'cubi XD)

It was hinted, yes, but it was also clear that the "hint" provided was largely unfounded speculation. The only hard information we have is that Cubi first appeared right around the time that Beings started developing civilization, and it's been suggested that there is a correlation between the two, but that's it.

[FairWage22]

I think a far more important thing to consider is that Destania is known to be unstable/dangerous.

It may not be 'draw out Cyra's child' as 'respectful peace offering' to the child of the person who took out a dragon/city (because that is some seriously terrifying stuff, based on how dragons are?