#439 – Strange Brew
And we’re back. Current storyline begins here.
I get a slow but steady trickle of new Twitter followers, always nice to keep an eye on them as they come in. Last week one new name showed up that rang a bell, so I clicked through to his profile. Dr Dean Burnett is a neuroscientist and lecturer at Cardiff University, blogger for The Guardian.co.uk, and semi-regular correspondent on The Pod Delusion podcast – that’s where I knew his name and indeed voice from. So I asked him what gives?
“Hey. I know you. You’re that Welsh bloke on that podcast wot I listen to. What manner of circumstance led to you following ME?”
And he replied:
“uh, you draw my favourite webcomic wot I’ve been reading for years. How random is this link! Might buy a lottery ticket now”
So that was weird. He gives me and the comic a shoutout in the latest Pod Delusion.
So there you go. Exterminatus Now: recommended by 100% of Welsh neuroscientist Guardian bloggers. Thanks Dean!
Huh, I was kinda expecting this.
1′M NOT CONV1NC3D TH4T TH4T 1SN’T TROLL BLOOD. OR TH4T TH4T’S TH3 ONLY BODY 1N TH3R3.
Ha, well now I’m wondering what IS the worst thing he’s ever drank…
Bugjuice mixed with urine
Shamrock Shake.
McDonald’s coffee.
that is so bad it has it’s own level of ugly.
I’m not sure even Lothar could drink THAT. A body in McD’s coffee would be an improvement.
1′M D3F1NT3LY NOT T4K1NG NOT3S FOR TH3 COND3SCE TO US3 1N W4RF4R3.
Try ‘Staffroom Canteen Coffee’ and street that, McDonald’s coffee will seem like sweet nectar!
*and after that, even.
Try midnight coffee at a 24-hour mess hall on an Army base… it’s been sitting in a 5-gallon percolator since 5am
What are you talking about? Stuff’s great. You can drink it, clean engine parts with it, use it to poison your enemies… seriously, a million and one uses.
Welp, now I’ve got to try and find a 24-hour mess hall and do this…
LOL @ Cults dying Kool-Aid/Punch related deaths, cause this reminds me of that and was most likely intentional LAWLZ
He’s drinking lime-green kool-aid. I’m pretty sure the corpse can only improve the flavor :p
Called it.
Cool-Ade is PEOPLE!!!!
…… actually, not that surprising, all things considered.
1′M NOT SUR3 TH4T TH4T 1SN’T TROLL BLOOD. OR TH4T TH4T’S TH3 ONLY BODY 1N TH3R3.
I guess we now know why the limeblood trolls were wiped out…
If the gods didn’t want us to slaughter and drain the trolls of their blood, they wouldn’t have made it so delicious.
YOU’R3 N34RLY QUOT1NG TH3 GR4ND H1GHBLOOD’S D1R3CT1V3. JUST R3PL4C3 “D3L1C1OUS” W1TH ‘H1L4R1OUS’.
honk
Meh, it’s still 8etter than that sugary orange sludge that psycho clown is always drinking…. w8. Is it just me or does that look like sopor slime?
Question for our writers, if I may. Been wondering for awhile, and not too sure where else to ask it.
On the cast page, you’ve got the POB for the cast members, and switching between Eastwood’s and Virus’, I was left wondering about Albion and Formund. My first thought was along the lines of a county, province, what have you, within Meridia. Then I read the first part of the name, The Allied Sovereigns of.
My question boils down to this: should I be thinking more along the lines of, say, England and Scotland in the UK, or more along the lines of independent monarchical countries ostensibly unified into a common body (an EU, but only for the cool nations)?
Grudgesettler, I’m sure they’ll answer here, but for future reference there’s an Ask the Staff section in the forums for these queries. :)
The way I always thought about it:
Countries on Mobius seem be loosely parallel to certain examples of our countries in earth, like Taika heavily resembling Japan, and the “UCCR” to the “USSR”.
Allied Sovereigns of Meridia,
United States of America,
If you ask me, the similarity is too uncanny to ignore.
Well I can set one thing straight. While I’ll let the guys who did the world building answer Grudge’s question, Meridia is more UK than US.
Yesssss!
The UCCR: Soviet Russia if Lenin had been influenced by Adam Smith instead of Marx.
I think of the ASM as a combination of UK, USA and EU. England/Scotland/Wales/N.I. might be the closest parallel in terms of their political and cultural interrelationships. But it’s located on a larger, more geographically diverse landmass than the British Isles, more akin to North America. But then we’ve also themed several of the “Sovereigns” after European countries – one’s quite Frenchy, another’s a bit German. And Albion is a small, rainy island off the coast of the continent, which likes to think of itself as independent.
If you were a person living within say, Mercia, your nationality would be Meridian, you would be a citizen of the ASM, you would be able to cross into Formund without a passport, with the ease of hopping state to state. But you might be more likely to identify culturally as Mercian, and you might speak Mercian as a first language.
Is there a map of your version of mobius somewhere? If not… could you make one?
For payment, do you take “really appreciate it”s? ‘Cause I ran out of “I’ll be your best friends”s a while ago.
Here be dragons.
Thankies Virus! I really appreciate it.
So, there’s big Soviet/Commie country, the UCCR, just above flashy-high tech Japanland, which also comes with China and all the old bits still attached. Ossingo be Ossie country, where there be Barbies and hot weather and the natives are Kangaroos, and that other little floating country, the Commenwealth, happens to be… What, exactly? Commonwealth implies debunked ruler, was it tied to the ASM? The ASM itself is UK/US with the majority of it’s ‘States’ being Europe-like, and it’s above Lamarano, which is Tropical beaches, beautiful rainforests, and the most poisonous snakes in the world. Is that about right, with the lack of knowledge about the Commonwealth?
I’d always assumed it was where the Overlanders are. They’ve been mentioned in the comic, built that space station, and what not. As well, in one of the “Other Guys” comics, they mention that this Mobian rabies/zombie plague is the work of the Commonwealth, and let’s be honest, evil science, and no regard for the ethics of it is pretty much THE hallmark of Overlanders.
Also, has Lamarano ever come up in the comic? I’ve no memory of the place.
Thanks for the map, eh? Wicked stuff.
I think Commonwealth is the name of a nefarious organization rather than an entire country, although that doesn’t rule out a connection between them.
The Commonwealth is a small, secretive nation-state with little contact with the outside world. Despite this, they have a remarkably high level of technological aptitude, arguably eclipsing even Imperial Taika in certain fields. They were the aggressors in the last world war, invading Albion (It’s possible they also invaded Meridian interests in Ossiningo, but to what extent their disapearence was down to Commonwealth aggression or the hostile wilderness, no-one really knows) with the aid of some Lamaranoan city-states and the UCCR (In exchange for supporting the UCCR in a war against Imperial Taika over long-disputed border territory). Following their defeat, they’ve not done a great deal, although they were the first nation into space, and there are rumours they’ve done more than put up research platforms. Incidentally, Commonwealth interests helped build the Exterminatus platform, there are a number of Inquisitors who were Commonwealth citizens who are on active service, and the Commonwealth government maintains cordial relations with the Council of the Inquisition, thawing somewhat since the last big war and a swift change of government.
Incidentally, the Commonwealth does have a reputation, especially in the ASM, of being a dangerous and amoral nation toying with things best left alone. Whilst the Inquisition as a whole does not regard them as any more dangerous than, say, Imperial Taika or the ASM (Who, like all civilised nations, have esoteric research departments), individual Inquisitors have low opinions of the state, especially those from Albion or coastal cities of the ASM mainland.
No, they’re not Overlanders. Because one, no humans. It seems entirely off with the rest of the world. And two, Overlanders is a fantastically fucking stupid name.
As for specifics. Therre are no specifics. It is the Commonwealth. That’s all you need to know.
Where’d his hat go?
He took it off to dunk his face in. I dabbled with drawing it on the rim of the vat (too narrow) or putting it on a nearby piece of factory equipment. In the end, I figure he just put it on the floor.
Huh….wow, Virus. You really do consider everything in a scene, don’t you? Color me impressed.
liquidised soylent green?
I’m I overanalyzing, or do the bird and death motifs on that shrine indicate worship of Mort?
Mort? Mort refers to death, but has nothing to do with birds per se. And if you mean Morth, he was a badger.
To the comment above me!
It can’t be a shrine to mort because he’s the God of Death one of the good gods awanys remember when Morts golems killed that cultist way back in the archives that should answer you’re other questions if you can find since I can’t remember the name of the chapter
Mort has to do with birds in the sense that he’s a skeletal raven.
But yes, Ganurath, don’t read into it. I just threw in various culty, shriney, occulty things. It just so happens that those things and Mort themes overlap a lot on the Venn diagram.
Also worth noting is that Mort seems to be a necessary god of death as opposed to a malevolent god of death, which would in theory mean he wouldn’t accept or condone an unnatural death (or deaths) as worship.
Wow! First time I ever comment in 3 years of reading an I get a response by the Virus! forgot for a moment you guys are on UK time.
PS: (excuse the sound of inner fanboy being released!)
I’m not on UK time, I’ve lived in Canada since 2010. Also, was mostly responding to Ganurath and Poly. (sound of inner fanboy deflating)
Thanks for reading and commenting, though!
WOOHOO! I’m relevant!
Be honest, you’re never relevant.
Ever.
Yet you love me anyways.
Love is a bit strong… Tolerate, more accurately.
YOU’R3 OUR OTH3R FORUM P3T.
“Other”?
1′M 4LSO R3F3RR1NG TO MYS3LF. UNL3SS TH4T W4SN’T 4CTU4LLY 4 TH1NG 4ND 1S JUST 1N MY H34D.
This is all going to be the work of a Shiba Inu pulling levers.
If I hunted daemons for a living, I’d be suspicious of any large quantity of bright green liquid. Or really a vat of anything brightly colored in a situation like this.
But are you as underpowered/sugared as he is? I mean, he is not that rational in his best moments, and I think his current state could be around having ran 20 km for a normal human.
Free drinks, even if colored brightly? HELL YES!
True. If I was part cyborg, I might be less worried about it turning out I’m drinking ectoplasm/daemon juice. Or in this case, bystander punch.
Ok, I smell suspicious-Lothar’s been acting a bit too…Well, silly? I just can’t help but feel like something’s up with that-maybe it’s the lack of energy thing means he doesn’t have to juice to spare on getting his snark on.
Come to think of it, Virus is being unusually competent as well…Uh-oh! I smell Mind-shenanigans!
Now, now, Virus has many moments of competence. Buried in a sea of idiocy, but they’re still there.
1 TH1NK TH3Y S41D TH4T V1RUS 4ND 34STWOOD 4R3 USU4LLY PL4Y1NG 4 G4M3 OF C4TCH W1TH TH3 1D1OT B4LL: ON3 OF TH3M 1S HOLD1NG 1T OR TH3 OTH3R 4T 4NY G1V3N T1M3.
Virus is often the one who is most earnest about moving forward on the case. If you look back, he’s the one most often seen forming a plan of action and issuing orders to the others. He’s also been established as the most knowledgeable on occult lore. Often his stupidity gets in the way, but he at least tries to act professional most of the time. So I don’t think he’s been far out of character at all this story.
Lothar might be having a slightly sillier streak than usual. But that too has precedence. He’s always been depicted as reckless, and his obscene pop-culture “theories” show his whimsical side. He’s also an engineered super soldier, so he probably has less to fear from drinking potential poisons.
Absoluutely. I was wondering why people weren’t getting it. lothar always has a soft side… like for BLASPHEMY…
He’ll deny it to his grave.
My. Good thing that the Lother is a heartless psycopath, otherwise this would have taken a toll on him.
That’s got to be filled with all sorts of lovely lovely diseases if there’s a body in it.
But that’s the flavour!
At least someone understands. I always thought Kool-aid (et al.) needed a bit more… body. Bonus points for getting the reference. Which also involved a dead body in a green miasma.
If that turns up in the comic I’d hope for there to be reinforcements the inquistors can call in, like a giant robot of some kind (Why is it that Loathar is the first to come to mind complete with robot stylized like him!?!)
Okay big question time has no relation to current story?
Alright so their appears to be three demesions here at play. One the Void;where the daemon Gods reside and the souls of their various minions. Second is The Divine, not really sure what its actually called, Home to the Good Gods and the souls of their various minions. And lastly is Earth or Meridian as I believe it’s called home to our lovely team of inquisitors. Now Here’s what I think why The Daemon Lords Want to control earth. It is to gain acess to The Divine for earth is smushed in the middle of these two realms, Once they Contol the middle dimension they can assault The Divine. This would explain why the Good Gods Help the Meridians because it helps prevent an attack on their realm. If this is the case or something similar has happened then what started this great conflict?
I don’t think it’s that complicated. This comic takes off of Warhammer 40k lore, where celestial entities like Gods, Saints, and Daemons are psychic manifestations of worship of specific idols. These things exist when enough people “believe” in them. The more numerous or psychically powerful the worshipers are, the more powerful their idol of worship is. Because most of the “Lawful” people of Mobius worship the Divine 4, they are the most powerful civilized Gods. Likewise, most of the “Chaotic” people believe in 1 or all of the Dark 4 (or some kind of cult idolizing a lesser daemon who serves them).
As for their goals, Daemons, as well as the Dark 4, kill and enslave mobians partly just because they can. If Warhammer 40k lore still applies here (which I’m pretty sure it does) it’s also partly because each god is trying to outdo each other in a game to see who can become the most powerful by killing followers of the Divine 4 (or sometimes just another Dark God or Daemon), consuming souls of sacrificed cultists or heretics, or collecting powerful artifacts. While the Dark gods don’t like their lawful counterparts, the destruction of the Divine 4 will come along with destroying all of their worshippers, so it’s really just a bonus. Likewise, the existence of the Dark Gods is an anathema to the Divine 4, so they also require mortal soldiers to destroy blasphemous cults (Hence the Inquisition). However the Dark Gods don’t consider destroying the Divine 4 to be their ultimate purpose, they consider it more as a means to another end, that being to outdo each of the other 3 dark Gods and win their “game”.
The Patterner God, though, will probably want to hold off the end of the game as long as possible.
I’m basing this on the standard 40k backstory, but it’s entirely possible that the creators have some other backstory in mind.
Gods sustained by belief: You say based on 40K, but I use Discworld as a reference point just as much. Small Gods is the textbook on the phenomenon. But it’s a fairly common idea; TV Tropes calls it Gods Need Prayer Badly.
You’re also reading a lot into the gods’ motivations. Mortals Cannot Know The Minds Of Gods (that’s our excuse for not bothering to ascribe any clear goals on them). But since the gods mirror the psyches of mortals, maybe their conflict just a macrocosm of the inner conflict in every mortal’s mind. Or someshit.
I thought all gods worked that way- belief defines reality and what people are willing to understand, and that is where a god can creep in…
Also, I R Agnostic =P
Okay, this time I’m replying to you, Mezmo: There are only two dimensions. The Void is also home to the Just Gods. Their realms are bubbles of order and light within the surrounding chaos and darkness.
In-comic example: During the Wildfire arc, the angel Giliad described a blockade set up by Tyrus’s forces on the Void side of the dimension rift. That would only be possible if angels and daemons were coming from the same place.
The mortal realm isn’t called Meridia. (The Allied Sovereigns of) Meridia is a nation. The planet… Well, we used to call it Mobius. But we’ve been avoiding that. Since no places, characters, events, theology, or themes overlap with Sonic canon, we might as well drop the planet name too. There’s no hiding our character design roots, but the setting isn’t anywhere close to Sonic. Keeping the planet name just confuses things.
I keep writing crazy lore posts like this at all hours of the nights. If somebody wants to chronicle this shit in a wiki, that might be cool. Or it might be a horrible disaster that we have to go in and fix all the damn time. Never know til we try, though.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to step on any creative toes. Thanks for clearing things up.
Working on it here; I’m gonna need help.
https://sites.google.com/site/exterminatusnowwiki/
Oh GODS, this piece of shit. Literally one of the greatest embarrassments ever.
WHY 1N TH3 M1RTHFUL DUO’S N4M3 WOULD YOU PUT TH3 COMIC SUMM4RY P4G3 1N L4T1N?
It’s just Lorem Ipsum.
Wow, even I want to say TLDR.
Thanks much apriciated
Eastwood seems to have an incredibly rare ability to keep his expression fixed solid for long periods of time.
Seriously, there are two pairs of panel where his expression is identical.
Although wait, the first set is identical except for the fact that his eyebrow is raised slightly. Point still stands though.
Brain is chugging away while face is on standby.
Y3S, H1S MOD3L 1S NOT R3CCOM3ND3D TO RUN 4PPS L1K3 F4C14L 3XPR3SS1ONS 4ND CONSC1OUS THOUGHT 4T TH3 S4M3 T1M3.
I bet the guys not really dead.. He’s just playing possum
Good eye.
Subtle bastard.
He’s dead though. Just applauding Marcus for recognising the species with very little to go on.
Exactly, you subtle bastard.
Only because I’ve read enough, “While I was down south” stories to know that you never touch anything that’s ‘just floating’ there.
From those I found a three step policy when in ANY situation with a possibly dead animal.
If you think it’s dead; it’s not till you shoot it again.
If it was dead already, whatever killed it is nearby.
If whatever killed it is has more teeth than you have bullets: run.
Marcus: posting from a different browser, forgot it was different on my Firefox.
A corollary to add to that third step.
If ‘what’ killed it is a ‘who’, and he’s got fewer teeth than you: RUN FASTER.
Have a look:
https://sites.google.com/site/exterminatusnowwiki/home
Why does this only exist now?
I dunno. It needs help, though.
You see the header? AWWWW yeah.
Yeah, I do. You’re a prat.
Yeah, gonna agree with East on this. Not appreciating the “humour.”
Thanks for asking first, seeing if it was okay. Thanks a bunch.
Virus did kinda ask for it mate. However he didn’t ask for Polymer to try and be funny, fail, and try and stick his name on the comic.
I gave you four all site rights, of course. I made the banner to test an image editor, and now I don’t know how to switch it.
Ok, fixed it.
Not sure you’re on the mark with the Wiki right now. It needs to be freely editable rather than access being given, and more distinctly not written in the style of a singular person, for example, Lothar’s description: “This grouchy fellow is the one to write the strips.Usually only shows up to snark at somebody. Typically me.”
Seems like it all needs a rethink, and to come back in a reasonable fashion which can’t be linked to one person as the centre of something which is community-driven.
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/exterminatus-now-readers
Yeah, not what he was saying.
Polymer: while applaud your efforts in trying to create a Wiki for EN its really lacking in substance and dept. I would consider revising it with the addition of doing reacher on the comic it’s self
I’m trying to get the infernal thing to even WORK, first.
KOOL-ADE GREEN IS PEEEEEEEEOPLLLLLLLEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go damn iPod keyboard
can people just take the time to look at the first page then back here.
you guys have really added so much detail since your early days.
I never even noticed Eastwood has a tie!
Well, this answers my question from the previous page. My new question is what IS the worst thing Lothar has drank?
Also, kudos on the neurosurgeon follow. That’s funny and neat.
OK, here is where I really fucked up, tried to do a cool thing, and realised I had NO FUCKING CLUE what I was doing.
I would like to formally apologise for this massive pile of shit that I created.