10/02/2012 [DMFA #1284] Lose yourself in a good book

[MT Hazard]

Allo Arry, Its been a while.

Remains me of Order of the stick when Roy is in the afterlife, without biorhythms you just loose all track of time.

On a DMFA verse note it seem a cubi's ability to dream is dependant on if you have a clan leader or not.

[icarus]

i think having a leader is a major factor in if you regain the ability to dream or not. which could mean that a cubi without a clan leader could go for, say, several hundred years without having a dream and then suddenly begin to have them again.

which implies there's some other factors that must be going on. maybe it has to do with age, maybe it has to do with distance between the individual and a more powerful cubi (abel never drempt when he was at the academy, outside of when destania GAVE him dreams) or it might just be utterly random. one day, you wake up and find you've been dreaming.

though the wording of 'upon his death' implies it happened suddenly all at once. which is odd, since we know abel's clan has been all but extinct since before his conception.

excuse my rambling, i haven't finished my first coffee yet. zzzzz

[Ignuus66]

Woo! this reminds me of when I started reading the wikipedia for 15 hours straight. Fun times!
I would have called the forum topic "workaholics unite!" but meh, this works too.

[VAE]

Aaryanna is awesome as ever.... also, that's an unexpected amount of concentration for a cubi.
But then, that might be why she's working on it so long - the time-use efficiency is rather low, and currently she kinda hit a productive streak and is trying to take it as far as it goes. Yes I am generalising from my own attempts.

Also, wikipedia in this sense is a bit like TvTropes light.

[Viking ZX]

Interesting, there is more to Aaryanna's job then just teaching. Looks like she does research on the side...and gets extremely into it. Character development!

[VAE]

Well, SAIA of course might work differently ,but IRL university professors do have to do a certain amount of research by quota, IIRC.

[joshofspam]

Ah, not needing sleep and not needing to eat...but don't cubi still need potty breaks?

Well for most things, I guess a job environment could gain a lot from a employee that doesn't have the few vices that a mortal absolutely needs to survive.

Fa'lina sure does look out for people in her academy. She's like the kind old aunt you never knew you had.

[Alondro]

Aary has a hypothesis... which she will use to take over the world! 

[VAE]

Ah, not needing sleep and not needing to eat...but don't cubi still need potty breaks?

Well for most things, I guess a job environment could gain a lot from a employee that doesn't have the few vices that a mortal absolutely needs to survive.

Fa'lina sure does look out for people in her academy. She's like the kind old aunt you never knew you had.

Umm... I wouldn't say I waste most time in a day with either sleeping or eating... and the other vices , Cubi sure do have.

Aary has a hypothesis... which she will use to take over the world! 

Isn't that the purpose of most research?

[Infranscia]

On a DMFA verse note it seem a cubi's ability to dream is dependant on if you have a clan leader or not.

i think having a leader is a major factor in if you regain the ability to dream or not. which could mean that a cubi without a clan leader could go for, say, several hundred years without having a dream and then suddenly begin to have them again.

which implies there's some other factors that must be going on. maybe it has to do with age, maybe it has to do with distance between the individual and a more powerful cubi (abel never drempt when he was at the academy, outside of when destania GAVE him dreams) or it might just be utterly random. one day, you wake up and find you've been dreaming.

though the wording of 'upon his death' implies it happened suddenly all at once. which is odd, since we know abel's clan has been all but extinct since before his conception.

I'm pretty sure it's this myself.  Or even if that's not it exactly, this comic is a nice reference to the ol' LiveJournal.

Ah, not needing sleep and not needing to eat...but don't cubi still need potty breaks?

Not if they haven't eaten (or drank) anything.



Hee~  Looks like we get another look at the library, even if just part of it.  Looks like Aary's probably on good terms with Oolong, considering that the bunny-head tentacles seem to be both helping get her books and joining in with the research.

[Ignuus66]

So this means either Abel has gone insane, or is a wierd exception, some cubi is giving him dreams (like say fa'lina, though I wouldn't really expect her to do that.) or there is another sair survivor who attained a powerful (possibly tri-wing) status.  I think it's some random cubi giving him dreams or him going loony being the most possible....  Either this, or he himself became powerful enough to give himself dreams.
Ehh none of the above seem very logical, but meh.

[Ryy Lazurus]

I was using Cubi dreaming as a form as mental illness myself as part of my own fan fic. The dreaming isn't the illness, more of the symptom. Good some good info here! I am starting to like how Amber is slowly giving out this information.

[AxiLarin]

Yay... Aary!  She's looking prettier than ever (poor Merlitz).  Should be interesting times should Dan and Mink cross paths with her.  And Oolong, for that matter.  I'm sure she'd love to meet Dan and gain a new shirt for her collection. Love how her tentacles are really helping out.

[Tapewolf]

And Oolong, for that matter.  I'm sure she'd love to meet Dan and gain a new shirt for her collection. Love how her tentacles are really helping out.

I believe they've already met, actually:  http://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_579.php

And Aary briefly passed Dan and Mink when Dan arrived, but yeah, a longer encounter could be interesting.

[Ignuus66]

considering Dan and Aary's last meeting, I'd estimate about 2-3 days have passed since the last comic. thus Dan has 28-27 more days at Saia. I do wonder how the clown adventured turned out (I'm guessing he piled them all in a corner)

[Viking ZX]

Well, SAIA of course might work differently ,but IRL university professors do have to do a certain amount of research by quota, IIRC.

You're right, that's totally true of life, I'd just never made the mental jump to the SAIA academy. I wonder what kind of stuff they study? Is there a cubi professor locked away in a back room who is basically the Jyras of magic research?

Ahhh! Now new avenues have arisen for my brain to dwell upon until it drifts further into madness! What sort of sports teams does SAIA have? What avenues of research? Amber, you don't need to answer those, we're merely slipping away into speculation over here.

[e_voyager]

while i can empthise such things don't occur to characters that chose to robotize themselves. our internal clocked keep us update on the time weather we want to know it or not. (also thanks i had not realized able story was still updating )

[ChaosMageX]

So this means either Abel has gone insane, or is a wierd exception, some cubi is giving him dreams (like say fa'lina, though I wouldn't really expect her to do that.) or there is another sair survivor who attained a powerful (possibly tri-wing) status.  I think it's some random cubi giving him dreams or him going loony being the most possible....  Either this, or he himself became powerful enough to give himself dreams.
Ehh none of the above seem very logical, but meh.

Ummm...I think you got it backwards.

Huh...interesting...

Upon ascension, all of clan Jitoth lost their ability to dream at the same time despite the previous fragmentation of their group.

And upon his death, several members regained their dreams.  That does work with my current theory...

This likely means that only cubi without tri-wing clan leaders have the ability to dream if they live mundanely enough to still need sleep.

This would explain why Abel is able to dream again, since Siar is dead and therefore her power is no longer preventing him from having dreams.

[Ignuus66]

Ummm...I think you got it backwards.

This would explain why Abel is able to dream again, since Siar is dead and therefore her power is no longer preventing him from having dreams.

Oh... Well that sounds a lot less crazy.

OK new theory: you can't dream in Saia.

[icarus]

This would explain why Abel is able to dream again, since Siar is dead and therefore her power is no longer preventing him from having dreams.

but abel's clan leader was dead before he was born. that was the whole point of his birth - aniz went kind of nuts and was trying to shore up the clan numbers by popping out babies all over the place since they had no leader.

so that abel went for most of his life (almost 400 years) without dreaming, only to suddenly begin to dream at lost lake - something in the balance of power must have shifted.

all we can say for certain is cubi's ability to dream is directly related to their power. if they willfully keep their power mild by sleeping regularly and not excersizing their magics, they can sometimes dream. if their clan suddenly loses their leader, they may be able to dream again.

but, as i just said, abel already had no clan leader. something else happened. the major changes in his life are:
1- leaving the influence of the academy
2- palling around with different beings and creatures than before, most of whom are weaker in power than him.

i don't think making friends with creatures and beings affects the ability to dream, but who knows? IT IS A MYSTERY.

[Naldru]

Only problem with the above is that Siar died before Abel was born.  (Sorry, I hadn't refreshed the page before entering this.)

Also I doubt that Aaryanna had anything to eat or drink during her stay at the library.  That would reduce the need for some other types of interruptions.

[Ignuus66]

OK new theory! Abel didn't have dreams at the academy due to Fa'lina actually powering Saia, thus making everyone there is slightly influenced by clan leader power, which, I assume is enough to stop dreaming.

[icarus]

that is a very possible theory. fa'lina is extremely powerful *within the academy*. she is essentially omnipotent there. it's entirely probable that without a clan leader, but being so close to such a powerful cubi, abel's dreams were "overshadowed" by fa'lina's influence.

either way i'm majorly interested in this. WORLD BUILDING NERD AHOY

[AxiLarin]

And Oolong, for that matter.  I'm sure she'd love to meet Dan and gain a new shirt for her collection. Love how her tentacles are really helping out.

I believe they've already met, actually:  http://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_579.php

Damn... good catch of an obscure reference, Tapewolf.  I honestly had forgotten that snippet from Dan's first visit to SAIA.  Now I'm dying to know what really went down in there.   Maybe Oolong offered a personal reading of "A Maiden's Plea" with her tentacles acting out the part of M'Chana to Dan's Hende.

[Sofox]

Little late, but Mason gave a good comment on Twitter that I felt was worth reposting:

Fa'lina is about to tell Aaryanna to put down the books, go to Ponyville, and write reports back about lessons she learns about friendship.

[latei]

Just wanted to say that Aaryanna looks amazing in this comic. Amber's really improved since the last time we saw Aary.

[BirdmanGA]

As of the latest update it appears Ignuus' theory might be confirmed.

[Alondro]

Aary has a hypothesis... which she will use to take over the world! 

Isn't that the purpose of most research?

As a biology researcher, I can unequivacably say.... YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!