Well… you know I can only present one storyline at a time right? To answer your question: We’ll catch up on Ch’Thier’s floating palace when we get back to that story and not while I’m presenting a different one. 😀
So it’s now the third appearance in this story of Runt, I’ve been giving him the benefit of the doubt since he’s obviously under stress with this war thing, but now he’s been a dick 3 out of 3 chances.
David could/should have said straight up it was an airship, but maybe he figured that in his King’s current mood it would only make things worse. Or maybe he wanted to give his Liege a chance to hang himself with that ‘tude of his.
Based on his previous appearances, scruffiness of beard & hair etc, it seems like the King is still in his early 20s. So his {prickly passion; cabbiness} is not unusual in someone of that age.
It’s hard to stop once you get going on an archive binge. Personally I like to open up the old forums and reread the discussions of the time as I go through.
I find strange he didn’t explain it was a flying ship, but Runt still sounds like a jerk.
I can understand he is going through a lot, having lost his home and his fiancee having vanished, but really, he is almost a refugee, depending on the loyalty and kindness of the elves, he should show some respect and deference to Baron Caelin and his vassals…
Hell, he wasn’t even born into royalty, he didn’t even win the tourney, he is king only because of Eddy’s shenanigans (he didn’t even pull the axe from the anvil!); if he becomes too unlikeable while in a weakened position, people could start to ask themselves "why are we even following this guy?"
His official title at Elwood Castle is Baronial Chronicler. A keeper of records and a teller of historic tales. Eve is the historian/librarian of Elwood.
Thank you, knew it was something like that rather than a bard (difference, for me, being that a bard actually travels far afield telling their tales, most of which is mostly true 😛 )
The in-world reckoning of years is difficult to follow or track. Officially it is the year 8-0. And there was an entire micro-age between the beginning of the comic (when Gren pulled Bob out of the water) and now being years 7-0 – 7-9. But it has actually been 13 years years since then. The first strip took place in 6-700, Runt (or rather, Fang) pulled the axe out of the rock in 6-703 and he was 13 years old. This is ten years later.
Entirely my fault. Way back then I was arbitrarily aging the characters. I only started taking [more] careful track of the passage of time much later and much of the earlier strips have had to be retroactively fitted in. It’s fairly accurate, but character ‘ages’ weren’t very well researched. Back then Runt was a kid (loosely based on Arthur "wart"’s appearance in "The Sword in the Stone".(Though the character of Runt existed independant of that comparison before, I rejigged him to more closely resemble young Arthur)
Also, because I draw this comic often ‘on the fly’, I don’t have carefully maintained ‘model sheets’ of all the characters (but what a tome THAT would be!), and so I’ll design them often as I’m drawing them and then try to keep them recognizable by basing them on previous strips. So I’m more careful to make them identifiable than to make them age-correct. If I were going to quit my day-job and settle in to make YAFGC my full-time career, I’d start making proper model sheets and draw them more carefully. But I can’t alas. So YAFGC remains content quick instead of content correct. My apologies.
A shame they will inevitably run into (Probably literally) Captain Fang. That Kobold seems to show up in the most unlikely places. Where he gets his hands on a Spelljammer, no one will quite be able to figure out.
Now, then. I think people are being unreasonably hard on Runt here. Even without the stress of the situation, I think his reaction has been exactly as might be expected. He’s been presented with a prospect that he believes to be impossible: the appearance of a ship at a landlocked fortress. Of course he scoffs. Perfectly reasonable people have been doing the same thing for years on hearing that Captain Von Trapp in "The Sound of Music" was an Austrian naval officer, because Austria today is a landlocked nation.
Clearly, magic has rules the same way science has rules, and the idea of a ship that flies has never occurred to Runt to be in the realm of possibility. Much the same way no one fifty years ago would have considered public wifi to be in the realm of possibility. Very likely, the term "airship" doesn’t exist, either, or Lord Dave might have specified.
Which is why Runt goes along with it and looks out from the tower to see if the ship has in fact materialised on the plains.
It’s just that in my experience, Runt’s reaction is the *norm*, not the exception. The number of people who’d give a known impossibility a chance is vanishingly small, and I strongly suspect that the only reason we’re siding with Lord Dave here is that we know Rich, the narrator of the story, we’ve had a scene where we’ve seen that Lord Dave is in fact acting in good faith. We now identify with the guy, so we’re quick to think badly of anyone who doubts him. That is the only reason we’re reading "I think he’s mocking me" as calling Lord Dave a liar, as opposed to merely scoffing.
Runt knows none of what we know. From his perspective, he could be dealing with another Captain Fang. I think that if any of us were in a real-world situation equivalent to Runt’s, most of us would be shouting at Lord Dave to "please be serious, we’re not in the mood for jokes."
And here’s another thing: do you notice that Runt never threw Lord Dave out of the room after hearing the suggestion? I mean, I’m pretty sure that’s what Arachne would have done, and we celebrate her for it. Instead, Runt turns to Lord Elwood and suggests that Lord Dave is mocking them; and personally, I read that as Runt seeking confirmation from Lord Elwood, the guy at the table who knows Lord Dave best.
> ‘known impossibility’ – in a world of magic, does such a thing exist?
Yes. Like I said, magic clearly has rules the way science has rules. If a character in a fantasy universe deems something to be impossible (or, at least, exceedingly implausible) I think I’d believe him over the speculations of real-world observers.
The bottom line is simply that I don’t think Runt’s behaviour warrants the level of censure being directed at him right now. It’s a bit prickly, sure, but I don’t think it’s strong enough to be described as dickish. At least, not in these last two strips. Strip 3177 maybe.
(And there again, how do we know that 3177’s autocratic outburst, insisting on an apparently foolhardy dawn attack, wasn’t motivated by some private prophetic knowledge? After all, it’s a world of magic….)
I agree to it, magic also has its rules and its limits. Quite likely this ship is the only one that flys in the entire realm, otherwise the possibility would have been more obvious. There is one thing that I find strange though (here I turn towards Rich):
I assume Lord Dave knows Captain Darcy from his adventuring days, but correct me if I am wrong. He knows, that Darcy has a flying ship, so the Captain might have had it already back than. I got the impression Lord Dave is running his tavern for a while by now. So putting it all together, how comes, that noone else seems to know about this ship? Even if it is unique, or especialy because of that, shouldn’t it be more well-known?
I can imagine, that it wasn’t in Elegrost for a good while, so Runt didn’t hear about it, but what about the elves or Eddie? Or did Captain Darcy get it recently, and Lord Dave just heard that he has it?
Or, Dave and Darcy’s adventuring days were elsewhere, maybe the continent Drostardy is on?
Like already said, we had already seen a flying ship before, when an old Hobbit adventurer died and was reunited with his old companions (that ship may or may not have been a real flying ship from his adventuring days, or simply a spectral ship <I>based</I> on the original ship)
Hey T.bard! So, the ‘afterlife ship’ you’re both referring to is the Celestial Raven, and yes, it’s in a sort of heaven-like alternate plane and doesn’t count as being part of the world of YAFGC. The crew of that ship are old characters who have passed on and are going on to new adventures elsewhere.
That being said, most of those characters were captain and crew of the ‘Sky Raven’ when they were alive, which was a ship very much like the ‘Azure Osprey’ which could float in the ocean or fly about in the sky. It itself was a refit of the ‘Sea Raven’ which was Captain Angus’ more standard ocean-going vessel ….though it had pontoons.
The legendary status of these ‘flying ships’ is something that I hope will become clearer over the course of this story but suffice to say it’s possible King Runtherd has heard of these ships without believing he’d ever see one.
"Let me cover you with this blanket."
"What blanket? I don’t see a blanket."
"This blanket."
"THIS IS THE FREAKING SHROUD OF TURIN!!!"
***EDIT****
Anyone looking up strip 1112 “An Ending” will be confused about the whole Sky Raven thing since it’s quite clear in the strip that the new ship is called the “Windrider”. That’s because that’s what the Sea Raven was renamed after it was able to fly. And my brain is stupid.
It’s also one thing to hear of something in your childhood and believe them to be just ‘fancy tales’ (even in a world of magic) and entirely another to have something from those tales actually manifest above your head 😀
Main point of bringing up the "Celestial Raven" was more to show us, the readers, that having a flying ship in the story had a precedent and not just something Rich put in to humble Runt 😛
I hope Runtherd starts apologizing. He seems to have forgotten his roots, when he was a humble peasant boy who pulled a sword from a stone and was declared king (after a vicious civil war because the hobgoblin king pissed off too many people).
Who is the king is really a matter of perspectives. I think what counts most, is who recognised by the people as king. Thing is, apart from a few wizards noone ever agreed to Eddys plan with the axe in the rock, but all the nobility agreed to the turney, so Karak had more right to the crown than Fang. Runt allied the elves and the humans and led a rebellion against Karak, thus won the crown through his actions. At this point it doesn’t matter that it was Eddys trickery that led him to this path. The people recognised him as king, and thats what counts.
What I see in these past few comics what shines through is how part of Lord Dave’s quiet tolerance is because he knows just how far fetched this must seem to Runt until they get on the ship, and also that despite it seeming like a bad prank, Runt shows enough faith to go along and not push too hard for answers.
In other words, kudos to both sides for showing tolerance!
Digitally. I try to close all the foreground shapes and then I just paint can in the blackground. As t’were. It require some tweaking but I need to make YAFGC quick and easy or I’ll give up on it.
And you giving up on YAFGC is one of the last things many here would want you to do, so the easier it is to create and the longer you enjoy doing it, the better 😀
Pick up your copies of YAFGC Volumes 1 - 5 at our online store. Multi-book bundles and sketch editions available.
Speaking of, when are we going to catch up on what has been happening in Ch’Thier’s floating palace? o_O
Well… you know I can only present one storyline at a time right? To answer your question: We’ll catch up on Ch’Thier’s floating palace when we get back to that story and not while I’m presenting a different one. 😀
> you know I can only present one storyline at a time right?
It is a testament to everyone’s admiration for you that they believe you are capable of more.
t!
Gawrsh. 🙂
Uckyup!
Understand that, and it wasn’t a criticism or complaint, was just wondering
That is understood. 🙂 And appreciated.
Ahoy, the good ship Azure Osprey! 😀 That is a beautiful ship, Rich. Bravo!
You two clearly have the coolest friends. Holy Ch’Thier indeed!
It helps to have friends in <ahem> high places. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start running for dear life. 😛 😀
Oy.
Wait, so this is how the whole notion of fox hunts started?
…excuse me. I must compose a suitable apology to the nation of England for my past words.
Release the hounds…. :p
So it’s now the third appearance in this story of Runt, I’ve been giving him the benefit of the doubt since he’s obviously under stress with this war thing, but now he’s been a dick 3 out of 3 chances.
David could/should have said straight up it was an airship, but maybe he figured that in his King’s current mood it would only make things worse. Or maybe he wanted to give his Liege a chance to hang himself with that ‘tude of his.
Based on his previous appearances, scruffiness of beard & hair etc, it seems like the King is still in his early 20s. So his {prickly passion; cabbiness} is not unusual in someone of that age.
t!
YES! I don’t recall his being such an asshat, and I did just finish another archive run (start to finish… once again, you’re amazing, Rich!).
Woah. That’s dedication!
It’s hard to stop once you get going on an archive binge. Personally I like to open up the old forums and reread the discussions of the time as I go through.
I can’t find time to binge watch tv, but if I “accidentally” click on a back link I will read my way up to the present every. Single. Time.
Same here (started doing that last night, again)
And totally did that with "TMI" before forcibly stopping 😛
I suspect it’s the "chance to hang himself" one. I really seems like he deliberately didn’t say anything to explain it just to make fool of him.
I find strange he didn’t explain it was a flying ship, but Runt still sounds like a jerk.
I can understand he is going through a lot, having lost his home and his fiancee having vanished, but really, he is almost a refugee, depending on the loyalty and kindness of the elves, he should show some respect and deference to Baron Caelin and his vassals…
Hell, he wasn’t even born into royalty, he didn’t even win the tourney, he is king only because of Eddy’s shenanigans (he didn’t even pull the axe from the anvil!); if he becomes too unlikeable while in a weakened position, people could start to ask themselves "why are we even following this guy?"
(He meant Baron Elwood. Caelin’s just a bard. Just so’s nobody starts correcting unnecessarily. Like I just did. *blush*)
Caelin’s a bard? Thought he was a librarian slash historian
His official title at Elwood Castle is Baronial Chronicler. A keeper of records and a teller of historic tales. Eve is the historian/librarian of Elwood.
Thank you, knew it was something like that rather than a bard (difference, for me, being that a bard actually travels far afield telling their tales, most of which is mostly true 😛 )
Guessing Runt to be in his 40’s, late 30’s at the youngest
I can definitively report to you that in this story King Runtherd is 23 years old.
Eddy, however, is 377.
Never one to doubt the word of the Author Creator (question sometimes, doubt no), just thought it had been at least 30 years, not just 15
The in-world reckoning of years is difficult to follow or track. Officially it is the year 8-0. And there was an entire micro-age between the beginning of the comic (when Gren pulled Bob out of the water) and now being years 7-0 – 7-9. But it has actually been 13 years years since then. The first strip took place in 6-700, Runt (or rather, Fang) pulled the axe out of the rock in 6-703 and he was 13 years old. This is ten years later.
Guessed wrong again, figured he was only around 8 or 9
Entirely my fault. Way back then I was arbitrarily aging the characters. I only started taking [more] careful track of the passage of time much later and much of the earlier strips have had to be retroactively fitted in. It’s fairly accurate, but character ‘ages’ weren’t very well researched. Back then Runt was a kid (loosely based on Arthur "wart"’s appearance in "The Sword in the Stone".(Though the character of Runt existed independant of that comparison before, I rejigged him to more closely resemble young Arthur)
Also, because I draw this comic often ‘on the fly’, I don’t have carefully maintained ‘model sheets’ of all the characters (but what a tome THAT would be!), and so I’ll design them often as I’m drawing them and then try to keep them recognizable by basing them on previous strips. So I’m more careful to make them identifiable than to make them age-correct. If I were going to quit my day-job and settle in to make YAFGC my full-time career, I’d start making proper model sheets and draw them more carefully. But I can’t alas. So YAFGC remains content quick instead of content correct. My apologies.
Don’t see a need for you to apologize, it’s difficult to tell the age of people sometimes (even in the real world)
Your lack of faith is disturbing…
Why are you moving the hand like that?
Force…of habit
Was he putting on his sunglasses while saying that?
YEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH!
Well, hopefully he won’t be fooled again….
Whoa, I hope Runt found those words tasty as he will be eating them for a long time to come
oh now that is a gorgeous ship o3o
A shame they will inevitably run into (Probably literally) Captain Fang. That Kobold seems to show up in the most unlikely places. Where he gets his hands on a Spelljammer, no one will quite be able to figure out.
that 2D attitude is what gets people killed in dungeons.
His majesty has been stuck indoors for too long.
Haha
actually what makes Aircraft so damn good at killing people too.
Human instinct has us thinking "no aerial predators" historically… so we don’t look up for danger.
you’d think in a fantasy world where there ARE a bunch of large aerial predators, the instinct’d be a bit more likely to exist to look up XD
Only if looking up ever helped someone. I mean, when you are hunted by dragon, you don’t have much chance no matter what you do, do you?
No gas bag, so straight up magic then.
Not quite: the gas bag is not amused
Heh, true enough.
Now, then. I think people are being unreasonably hard on Runt here. Even without the stress of the situation, I think his reaction has been exactly as might be expected. He’s been presented with a prospect that he believes to be impossible: the appearance of a ship at a landlocked fortress. Of course he scoffs. Perfectly reasonable people have been doing the same thing for years on hearing that Captain Von Trapp in "The Sound of Music" was an Austrian naval officer, because Austria today is a landlocked nation.
Clearly, magic has rules the same way science has rules, and the idea of a ship that flies has never occurred to Runt to be in the realm of possibility. Much the same way no one fifty years ago would have considered public wifi to be in the realm of possibility. Very likely, the term "airship" doesn’t exist, either, or Lord Dave might have specified.
> Of course he scoffs
Previous strip, Panel 2, he is calling his Lord – a respected man – a liar, and taking it for granted that this lie exists to personally embarass him.
‘Scoffing’ would be much more rational and less egocentric.
t!
Also Eddie even straight up mentioned it could be something magical and even outright mentioned teleportation as a possibility.
Which is why Runt goes along with it and looks out from the tower to see if the ship has in fact materialised on the plains.
It’s just that in my experience, Runt’s reaction is the *norm*, not the exception. The number of people who’d give a known impossibility a chance is vanishingly small, and I strongly suspect that the only reason we’re siding with Lord Dave here is that we know Rich, the narrator of the story, we’ve had a scene where we’ve seen that Lord Dave is in fact acting in good faith. We now identify with the guy, so we’re quick to think badly of anyone who doubts him. That is the only reason we’re reading "I think he’s mocking me" as calling Lord Dave a liar, as opposed to merely scoffing.
Runt knows none of what we know. From his perspective, he could be dealing with another Captain Fang. I think that if any of us were in a real-world situation equivalent to Runt’s, most of us would be shouting at Lord Dave to "please be serious, we’re not in the mood for jokes."
And here’s another thing: do you notice that Runt never threw Lord Dave out of the room after hearing the suggestion? I mean, I’m pretty sure that’s what Arachne would have done, and we celebrate her for it. Instead, Runt turns to Lord Elwood and suggests that Lord Dave is mocking them; and personally, I read that as Runt seeking confirmation from Lord Elwood, the guy at the table who knows Lord Dave best.
> The number of people who’d give a known impossibility a chance is vanishingly small
‘known impossibility’ – in a world of magic, does such a thing exist?
> That is the only reason we’re reading "I think he’s mocking me" as calling Lord Dave a liar, as opposed to merely scoffing.
No, it’s because I know what the word ‘scoffing’ means, and, I reiterate, his behaviour is stronger than that.
> I’m pretty sure that’s what Arachne would have done, and we
Who is ‘we’?
>celebrate her for it.
Never once in my life.
Like her as a character, despise her hypocrisy.
t!
What t! said (except that bit about Arachne 😛 )
> ‘known impossibility’ – in a world of magic, does such a thing exist?
Yes. Like I said, magic clearly has rules the way science has rules. If a character in a fantasy universe deems something to be impossible (or, at least, exceedingly implausible) I think I’d believe him over the speculations of real-world observers.
The bottom line is simply that I don’t think Runt’s behaviour warrants the level of censure being directed at him right now. It’s a bit prickly, sure, but I don’t think it’s strong enough to be described as dickish. At least, not in these last two strips. Strip 3177 maybe.
(And there again, how do we know that 3177’s autocratic outburst, insisting on an apparently foolhardy dawn attack, wasn’t motivated by some private prophetic knowledge? After all, it’s a world of magic….)
I agree to it, magic also has its rules and its limits. Quite likely this ship is the only one that flys in the entire realm, otherwise the possibility would have been more obvious. There is one thing that I find strange though (here I turn towards Rich):
I assume Lord Dave knows Captain Darcy from his adventuring days, but correct me if I am wrong. He knows, that Darcy has a flying ship, so the Captain might have had it already back than. I got the impression Lord Dave is running his tavern for a while by now. So putting it all together, how comes, that noone else seems to know about this ship? Even if it is unique, or especialy because of that, shouldn’t it be more well-known?
I can imagine, that it wasn’t in Elegrost for a good while, so Runt didn’t hear about it, but what about the elves or Eddie? Or did Captain Darcy get it recently, and Lord Dave just heard that he has it?
Or, Dave and Darcy’s adventuring days were elsewhere, maybe the continent Drostardy is on?
Like already said, we had already seen a flying ship before, when an old Hobbit adventurer died and was reunited with his old companions (that ship may or may not have been a real flying ship from his adventuring days, or simply a spectral ship <I>based</I> on the original ship)
Good point, I wasn’t thinking of that. But I think the other flying ship was an afterlife one.
Hey T.bard! So, the ‘afterlife ship’ you’re both referring to is the Celestial Raven, and yes, it’s in a sort of heaven-like alternate plane and doesn’t count as being part of the world of YAFGC. The crew of that ship are old characters who have passed on and are going on to new adventures elsewhere.
That being said, most of those characters were captain and crew of the ‘Sky Raven’ when they were alive, which was a ship very much like the ‘Azure Osprey’ which could float in the ocean or fly about in the sky. It itself was a refit of the ‘Sea Raven’ which was Captain Angus’ more standard ocean-going vessel ….though it had pontoons.
The legendary status of these ‘flying ships’ is something that I hope will become clearer over the course of this story but suffice to say it’s possible King Runtherd has heard of these ships without believing he’d ever see one.
"Let me cover you with this blanket."
"What blanket? I don’t see a blanket."
"This blanket."
"THIS IS THE FREAKING SHROUD OF TURIN!!!"
***EDIT****
Anyone looking up strip 1112 “An Ending” will be confused about the whole Sky Raven thing since it’s quite clear in the strip that the new ship is called the “Windrider”. That’s because that’s what the Sea Raven was renamed after it was able to fly. And my brain is stupid.
Thank you very much! That does clear up things! And at the same time makes me more curious. 🙂
Thank you for clarifying things
It’s also one thing to hear of something in your childhood and believe them to be just ‘fancy tales’ (even in a world of magic) and entirely another to have something from those tales actually manifest above your head 😀
Main point of bringing up the "Celestial Raven" was more to show us, the readers, that having a flying ship in the story had a precedent and not just something Rich put in to humble Runt 😛
Hmm, sails are full, so how is the ship stationary?
For that matter, how is it AIRBORN??
It’s a kind of magic!
…Magic…
fried chicken!
It’s people powered?
everybody has to eat beans and fart into a tube 😛
a lot of beans…
Or, have the king talk into a tube 😛
Magnets! How do they work?
(or would that be magi-nets? Hmm!)
I will echo what others have said, that is an exceptionally beautiful ship. You have outdone yourself, Master Rich!
Goodness, you’re way too kind. 🙂
Yes, it is very pleasing to the eye. A fine vessel 🙂
Well there Is that old rules expansion "Spelljammer" which is full of magically enchanted flying ships. That can go into space.
It’s beautiful, I SHIP IT!
I hope Runtherd starts apologizing. He seems to have forgotten his roots, when he was a humble peasant boy who pulled a sword from a stone and was declared king (after a vicious civil war because the hobgoblin king pissed off too many people).
You mean the axe from the rock?
Correction: it was King Fang who pulled the axe from the rock
Are you sure Runt remembers that detail, though? It looked to me like Eddy brainwashed him to think Runt was the one who pulled the axe from the rock.
Who is the king is really a matter of perspectives. I think what counts most, is who recognised by the people as king. Thing is, apart from a few wizards noone ever agreed to Eddys plan with the axe in the rock, but all the nobility agreed to the turney, so Karak had more right to the crown than Fang. Runt allied the elves and the humans and led a rebellion against Karak, thus won the crown through his actions. At this point it doesn’t matter that it was Eddys trickery that led him to this path. The people recognised him as king, and thats what counts.
I just hope this Azure is not related to Microshifts Azure & all aboard crash & burn
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/09/04/azure_its_getting_hot_in_here/
What I see in these past few comics what shines through is how part of Lord Dave’s quiet tolerance is because he knows just how far fetched this must seem to Runt until they get on the ship, and also that despite it seeming like a bad prank, Runt shows enough faith to go along and not push too hard for answers.
In other words, kudos to both sides for showing tolerance!
And theeeeeeeere it is.
Do you think that wizard has got his hat magically stuck on his head, or he cast a Resist Unfortunate Breeze spell?
A breeze that blows his hat off won’t be as unfortunate as the one that flaps his robes about his waist when he’s halfway up that ladder.
Lovecraft was halfway through writing that story when it killed him.
t!
haha
…oh yikes xD
I note everyone else (except Runt) climbed the ladder before Eddy got to it…
"Your Majesty, don’t look down!!"
"I can’t look up either!!"
By the way, have you found the podcast you were looking for? If so, please lets us know so we can check it out.
Which podcast would that be?
The podcast you talked about finding on Facebook a couple weeks back.
Let’s get spelljammy!
…man, that is a BIG airship. Like you could store the Mechane in this one’s hold. o.O;
All this needs is an orchestral score to go with the reveal.
Ha, I’ve only just noticed the people on the deck cheering.
Called it. Though admittedly it wasn’t that hard a guess.
Happy Birthday!!!
t!
Happy birthday, Rich!
did you add the blackness digitally or with a pen?
Digitally. I try to close all the foreground shapes and then I just paint can in the blackground. As t’were. It require some tweaking but I need to make YAFGC quick and easy or I’ll give up on it.
And you giving up on YAFGC is one of the last things many here would want you to do, so the easier it is to create and the longer you enjoy doing it, the better 😀
Welcome to spelljammer