Grrl Power #997 – Deadlock
Panel 1: It checks out because now he knows an appreciative succubus.
It’s going to vary from fantasy-verse to fantasy-verse, but putting someone under a geas to “Deliver this to the king” versus “See that the king receives this” may or may not be the same thing. In the Grrl-verse, magically compelling particular behaviors has roughly the same rules as dealing with a grumpy genie. Wishing to “make me one with everything” is far more likely to result in a violent explosion than achieving enlightenment.
There are a few ways around this. One is to make the underpinnings of the spell far more complex. A “spirit of the law” clause, as it were, but as some people pointed out last page, even the most thoroughly worded “Don’t kill me” command doesn’t prevent two succubuses from Strangers on a Train-ing the others’ master.
Another way is to make the subject want to obey. This presents an escalating challenge the more of a dick you are to them, and again, writing a spell to make them find any sort of mistreatment acceptable or even deserved quickly becomes as challenging as airtight obedience spells. It’s easier to just train them from the get-go that they’ve done something to deserve their fate, like telling them that in a previous life they were a witch that caused plagues or a demon footsoldier that ate babies or whatever.
So this is the solution they came up with. Tie the succubus’s life to her master and hope she doesn’t hate you so much that she accepts her own demise as a reasonable price to pay. And as Dabbler pointed out, there are considerable benefits to the bond, mostly for the master, and there’s more stuff that she didn’t get a chance to get into, like hooks in the bond to make it easy for the arch-mage to also make the succubus his familiar, which grants sense-sharing and other bonuses.
So… not to completely spoil any notable story events I have planned for page 1000, I was wondering what you guys think Sydney’s bling might look like once she’s officially graduated to private. I know most privates aren’t going to have a massive ribbon rack (is that what it’s called?) but most boots don’t get to participate in the first official action of a new branch of the military, be a key player in the defeat of Vehemence, fight mannequin bots while defending foreign (The Twilight Council’s legal status is complicated) dignitaries, get stranded in space, rescue refugees, return to Earth, fight alien mercenaries. You know, stuff like that.
Really, I just need an idea of how many ribbons she might have accrued so her uniform doesn’t look like she stole it off a master sergeant or something. There was also a page a long way back where someone brought up the idea of a medals, and I’ve no idea where that discussion is buried. I think non-military people like myself are kind of out of the loop when it comes to medals, because the only time we hear about them (short of having an enlisted family member or friend) is when the really big ones get handed out, so I really couldn’t guess if anything she’s done is worth a bronze cross or an orange star? No, wait, that’s a Lucky Charm.
Tamer: Enhancer 2 – Progress Update:
Just have to finish up the missing sex scene, then it’s off to the proofers.
November’s vote incentive is updated, in case you missed me posting about it on Friday. Here’s a link to a dedicated post about it if you want to comment.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
It seems like this could cause some serious issues for Tamatha. Is Decollette going to have to line up a master for her to “enslave” herself to in order to survive?
Good point. And as she’s more than a bit young, that could cause other problems as well. Not sure how age of consent laws would apply to succubi, and I am sure that legal types would get involved.
Hmm depends, she’s a born Succubus not created as far as we know. So she may have better control on said mama leak. That or she is already bound to a master who created her.. maybe he and his succubus partner wanted a kid and got one?
Sucubus is a race of it’s own now. Dabler is halve blood sucubus.
Tamatha doesn’t have a master yet.
Go check – no collar.
I don’t think it’s been established that the collar is obligatory, as opposed to just being a popular fashion. Based on the history lesson, I would suspect that it isn’t – if you’re trying to infiltrate in the guise of a non-Succubus, then an irremovable mark would be a dead giveaway.
While I think the ‘collar’ might be a figurative thing (it also might not be since Dabbler’s had her choker for a LOT longer than being in ARCHON), Illy’s correct here – based on what DaveB said.
To quote DaveB -exactly-:
“For a succubus living in the modern world, the first collaring happens at [[INSERT LEGAL AGE FOR YOUR MUNICIPALITY]]. If this was a novel set in ye olden times where a human female was considered “of age” after her first period, the collaring would probably happen a bit earlier than 18. Personally I have zero interest in anything approaching underage shenanigans, nor in enabling those that do. At the same time, I think most sensible people recognize that 18 is a fairly arbitrary number. Farmers don’t give their stock 5 years to “emotionally mature” before getting them to breeding once they hit puberty.
Basically for succubi, as they go through puberty, their need for tantric energy increases until they need to start feeding directly (as has been stated in the comic before). This issue with the mana leakage also starts with puberty, but it’s like 1 mana/day at first, and a succubus can absorb that much from the environment if they wander near the back aisle of the library or wherever else people make out. It increases as they mature up until they’re collared. Collaring makes the issue much worse, but also “plugs the hole.””
Therefore, we can state that Tamatha does NOT have a master yet, whether a collar is literal or figurative. If it’s literal, then it’s very obvious that she does not yet have or need a master because we can see that she literally has no collar or choker around her neck. If it’s figurative, then DaveB confirmed that Tamatha has no master yet on the first page of these comments.
Even if just to not get into problems with the internet censors, there will be no underage implications in this story. And I do not think that Dave is the kind of writer who wants to gross out his readers in that particular way. Grll Power is a comedy after all, not a existentialist angst-fest.
The most logical explanation is that a succubus child shares the magical explosive collar with her mother. To become independent she will have to find an owner of her own. Tamatha may be linked to Decolletee in the same way.
And yes, the implications are more than a little bit ugly (and existential angst-fest-y) of using this kind of death curse on a living being to enslave them and then force them to select their owner (who can then use her in any way he or she sees fit as he literally can with a bit of magic execute her at any moment)
Then there’s also the possibility that Tamatha is a lot older than she looks. If a succubus has an excessively long lifespan, she may be several decades old already, even though she’s not physically matured by succubus standards. By human standards, Tamatha may already be “legal age” anywhere in the world where it’s been defined…Although the human justice system may cover succubi when it comes to their actions, it’s going to be tricky to ethically apply human laws for what they are (might prosecute if a succubus commits a crime but have trouble legislating human standards to a wholly alien being).
Since she’s a born-succubus (not created), she may not need to be tied to a mage in order to survive…After all, Tamatha has already described that Decolette has taught her how to (clandestinely) feed from a distance with her own natural “tantric absorbtion” ability.
Heh. That’s going to be a tricky one for the legislators, as and when the relevant laws are amended to include non-Human Peoples with significantly different maturation rates. It’s hard enough getting jurisdictions to agree on ‘how old is old enough’ for any given activity when they only have Humans to account for. In the meantime, I do not recommend relying on the defence of “but she’s older than I am, Your Honour”!
She does not at all act like that and every character thus far has treated her like a teenager.
So I don’t think Dave is going that route.
A lot of the behavior of teenagers is due to hormones. You give the same hormone soup to a recent retiree, and you’re likely to get a certain amount of that same behavior. Admittedly, *some* of it will be tempered by their experience. But a lot of that tempering will be in the form of being more skillful at stuff, rather than improved discretion.
That’s with someone who has experience with that hormone soup. You take someone who didn’t have it at all, but is in their 30s and give them that hormone soup. (Maybe they have Turner Syndrome?) They’re going to be a lot more like that teenager you saw Tamatha being. They’re still going to have some sophistication bonus, but it’ll be seriously hampered by the sheer novelty of what they’re experiencing.
Now add in some alien stuff beyond that. When this mana drain hits, Tamatha is going to need to be trained in how to deal with it. That could mean that she’ll need to go through a rigorous education that could require such focus that she hasn’t gained experience in any of the things you’d expect someone who’s 30-50 years old to have had.
Now add in that she’s a race that’s inherently suited for being an infiltrator/spy/assassin. Oh, suddenly she’s acting exactly how you’d expect someone of her apparent age to behave. I wonder how that happened?
She wasn’t just immature, she was ignorant.
Tamatha didn’t even know gay sex existed before the club scene.
If it looks like a kid, talks like a kid, and has a startling amount of naivety compared to an adult: it’s probably a kid.
Or so close mentally to might as well be one.
Enslave to guy within 3 years of her age. I hear that is legal in USA and is called “Romeo and Julia” something or other.
IIRC Romeo and Juliet laws are more about adding an exception to statutory rape laws so that the state’s justice system doesn’t treat horny teenage sweethearts who couldn’t wait until they were both of legal age to get (consensually) busy like child molesters. In other words, it could also be called “let’s not ruin the life of kids just because they were dumb and horny” laws. The really messed up thing is that not all US states have such a law, and that there are cases where two teens who were both under the age of consent ended up becoming registered child molesters for “molesting” each other because of a puritanical judge…
That said, in most if not all US states it is possible for a 16 years old minor to get married to an adult, if the parents and a judge give their consent. And worse, in some states an adult who had been having sex with a child as young as 11-12yo can get away scott free and with a legal underage sex slave if he can get the parents and a judge to allow him to marry his victim… (Or at least it still was possible a few years ago. I suppose these loopholes could have been plugged since, but…)
I was thinking the same.
I think that the best way to resolve this in a… “friendly to the author” way is to remove the plunge at adulthood.
Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut… I think that she has adopted human parents.
Baeby she is linked to them.
Or
Sucuby are linked at birth to survive.
I’m trying to figure out how all this fits in with what we’ve already learned about Succubi. Seems like all contemporary Succubi would be born rather than created, so apparently that “hole in the soul” thing is hereditary. At what point does the need for a master to plug the whole come into play? Is it part of puberty? And how does a dude become the plug in the hole? Is it the guy who pops her cherry? Can the master be female?
This really does open up a whole can of worms.
I think it’s pretty obvious from Tamatha that it opens up in late puberty.
Plus DaveB confirmed EXACTLY what you’re saying right now on the first page of these comments.
It might be quite likely that there’s some kind of “Master Service” where a succubus can “purchase” a master, so to speak if they so wish.
The succubus lives and the master gets compensated under the agreement that they would not use the link to enslave the succubus.
What really is to stop the master from fully enslaving the succubus?
An angry horde of pitchfork- and mana-wielding succubi from the surrounding community?
I think the free market (even in a non-capitalist society) would actually solve most of the concerns with abusive masters. If a succubus can choose her initial master or change them out via murder, especially with guidance and support from her peers, there’s gotta be a line out the door of mages applying for the position. With some decent boilerplate agreements to ensure a favorable and fair arrangement, there’s a huge advantage to both sides in just playing fair with their partner. And even bigger disincentives to avoid a breach of contract.
And he could sever the contract at any time?
Point being, that “Master Service” thing would never work
The other point is: fear of possible retaliation hasn’t really stopped anyone in the history of forever
A really good (evil) Master would build up some safeties that would leave a nasty hole in a planet upon their death
>The other point is: fear of possible retaliation hasn’t really stopped anyone in the history of forever
That’s… not true?
That’s the main way of deterring behavior used throughout all human history.
If someone knows that something good will happen to them if the follow the rules, and something bad if they don’t, they are statistically more likely to follow the rules.
>A really good (evil) Master would build up some safeties that would leave a nasty hole in a planet upon their death
A magic user that strong would a couple quadrillion times more powerful than Maxima. And thus wouldn’t really need a succubus… and would already rule the world besides.
Fear of possible retaliation actually works quite well in inhibiting those who would not normally do the thing in the first place. That might sound to some like an idiotic thing to say. However, as someone who has been pressured to do things I wouldn’t normally be inclined to do, having fear of retaliation from law enforcement types has definitely been the thing to keep me from deviating too far from my natural behavior on a number of occasions.
Does it stop everyone? Absolutely not. It doesn’t even stop everyone who wouldn’t normally be disinclined to do the thing. It might only stop paranoid bastards like me who just know they’re being set up. Everyone is really a cop, and all it’ll take is agreeing to the wrong thing and it’s all over. So I don’t. But you said nobody, and, well, I’m at least one person. I’d guess there’s at least a few others.
As the old adage says; “Locks are to keep honest people honest.”
The simple solution would be to get Arianna involved in creating the master/succubus contract, and then to chose a willing and good hearted person to be the master. Like. Ma… no… Mr. Amo… no, Heatwave would not like that. Uhm… Lets circle back to that “can a woman” be the master? Can another succubus be the master? Can two succubi be each other’s master?
Sorry, got a little off track there. Both Halo and Maxima would balk at the idea of being a “master” which, frankly, is what kind of qualifies them to be good masters. Both would be responsible and have little to negative interest in taking advantage of their “slave.”
I mentioned something in a thread a few pages ago… I wonder how attitudes would change if the phrasing was shifted to “dependant”. Like a relative with a disability that means they need help getting their groceries…
I strongly suspect that the master would need to be someone who could store mana. Otherwise, it’s two guys surviving a shipwreck by sitting on each other. This has been conclusively determined to not work many times over.
For a succubus living in the modern world, the first collaring happens at [[INSERT LEGAL AGE FOR YOUR MUNICIPALITY]]. If this was a novel set in ye olden times where a human female was considered “of age” after her first period, the collaring would probably happen a bit earlier than 18. Personally I have zero interest in anything approaching underage shenanigans, nor in enabling those that do. At the same time, I think most sensible people recognize that 18 is a fairly arbitrary number. Farmers don’t give their stock 5 years to “emotionally mature” before getting them to breeding once they hit puberty.
Basically for succubi, as they go through puberty, their need for tantric energy increases until they need to start feeding directly (as has been stated in the comic before). This issue with the mana leakage also starts with puberty, but it’s like 1 mana/day at first, and a succubus can absorb that much from the environment if they wander near the back aisle of the library or wherever else people make out. It increases as they mature up until they’re collared. Collaring makes the issue much worse, but also “plugs the hole.” Without trying to make a gross parallel to hymens, it’s not inconceivable a cabal of pre-pre-pre-enlightenment arch-mages could have been thinking along those lines.
It’s theorized that a succubus could actually live without ever being collared for quite some time before the mana leakage became critical, but no one’s ever tried it, mostly because the consensus is that it’d be a cruel fate. Succubi like who they are in their current situation.
What happens if a succubus’ current master gets killed by something other than the succubus (Like, say, if he or she fell into a sun or something due to a spaceship navigation or teleport spell error?) Presumably they need to find another master quickly, and if they’re on a planet where slavery is illegal, this could be tricky, I presume, unless they can force themselves on a master like Jeanie in “I Dream of Jeanie” with some kind of “You opened the magic bottle/put on the magic ring/whatever, so you’re now my master, master!” trick.
Sometimes, Succubi die
^^ This. The jerks putting this in place weren’t concerned about what happens to their stuff if they die.
That said, you can imagine that it’s probably pretty easy for a succubus to find a new master. Well, initially, the master had to release the succubus first, and dying didn’t allow for that. It’s different now, but as for where we are in Dabbler’s recounting, the succubi were pretty motivated to keep their masters safe.
This seems to verify my theory that the critical change was succubi gaining the ability to switch “masters” without the old “master’s” consent. I feel vindicated.
It certainly verifies that the succubus can find a new master after the old is dead. But it doesn’t confirm if they can switch master’s without the old’s consent.
It’s possibly evolutionary or the advancement in magic progressing to a point that another mage can release the succubus after the master’s death. BUT, it’s just as likely that the conditions for unbinding are part of the binding process and when a succubus chooses a master now they just pick someone who will bind with conditions, or pre-consent, for the succubus to switch master’s anytime they wish, even posthumously.
Depending on how permission is given for a succubus to take mana from a master, they might even arrange for pre-consent on that, so they can draw anytime they wish.
I’m guessing that infernals probably have a whole system in place for that, for new masters.
Magical Wills, with no escrow for the transferal on ownership(conservatorship) of succubi. I am going to imagine it follows the same rules as godparents for simplicity.
One would hope so. :)
Otherwise the succubus is going to want a VERY long lived and tough master/mistress.
Which makes me realize… Maxima almost wound up killing Dabbler there as well, had she gone through with fully crushing Tom’s skull.
I suspect any sensible Succubus doesn’t take a Master without making very sure that he has a will (or local equivalent) in place, and that said will transfers her ownership directly and immediately to another trusted individual. I also suspect that this succession safeguard has been abused a few times to send messages, along the lines suggested by the sage Ly Tin Wheedle.
That’s an interesting, and a more modern, approach. To be honest, I was figuring that initially the children succubae would be tethered to their mothers master as that mage would have technically owned them. That is if they could actually breed back then.
If that is the case, I’m glad it changed. Still, it does place the succubae species as more parasitic in nature. That is if the “master” is “plugging the hole” via it’s own mana reserves/regeneration as the succubus leaches off said mana.
This new “evolutionary” step does cause a forced dependency on said “master”, which is what I sort of expected. However it does pose a new set of questions. For instance, could a succubus that had no master use tantric energy to retain their vitality loss via the hole?
Could there be feral succubae out there who’ve essentially become sex-craved vampires who literally drain the life out of their victims to survive due to not having masters? If that did happen, would could they return to a normal life, or have to be put down? Is there a form of succubus adoption agency out there to prevent such occurrences?
Did they, like some of the other demons, make a pact with old beings just to stave of this need to fill that hole only to find that it just made them slaves to a new, and more evil, “master”?
Most likely the hole only forms at a certain age. Either that, or Decolette is currently Tamatha’s ‘master,’ who herself has a master as well. Or both have the same master.
It doesn’t mean sex btw. It’s clearly a legal loophole system of getting around the curse so the succubi don’t die.
Even with the time that has passed, wouldn’t that mean that there are Succubi around that don’t have this constant mana drain? I.e. those that killed their Masters before the mana drain was ‘installed’?
Would their offspring be affected if one parent had the mana drain and the other didn’t?
Only if they’re immortal.
Succubi likely were not able to reproduce until after this particularly nasty form of racial chattel enslavement was forced upon them.
So the proto-succubi that could murder their ‘owners’ had no offspring, and probably were hunted down by enraged mages as well as time.
If you have access to magic, what’s stopping you magicking up an aftermarket reproductive system if one wasn’t factory installed?
Not knowing how the systems work would be a pretty big hurdle to overcome, and in our real world history’s equivalent time frame, people barely had knowledge more than “a few days a month, my woman gets cranky and needs pads” and “maybe if a man puts his genitals in a woman’s genitals, and they both pray really, really hard, they might get a baby months later.” It wasn’t until the early 20th century, maybe the very, very late 19th that someone was able to see sperm and eggs under a microscope and see how conception takes place, and it was certainly mid to late 20th that people learned about hormones, ovulation cycles and so forth.
Ummm…apparently observation of active sperm occurred within days or even hours of the development of the single lens microscope by Anton van Leeuwenhoek in 1674. Robert Hook, who developed a 3 lens microscope in the 1660’s only studied swamp water
Sure, seeing individual sperm and modern chemical analysis is certainly useful for determining the exact micro-scale mechanics, but isn’t required at all to recognize the macro-scale effect. The ancient world had a pretty well-documented understanding of the role of semen and knew how to counteract it; the history of the modern-style condom goes back to at least the 1400s, for both birth control and preventing STDs.
Sheepskins
Details like that did not stop the Wizards from sewing dead bodies together and animate them. Nor did it stop them in giving their creations minds and (if they exist) souls, add demon blood, a functioning reproductive system (or reactivate it) or a mana drain to their creations.
There’s always Clone spells and the like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmQRhO2BNFc
Honestly, given the nature of her role in a special ops team, it’s very doubtful they’d have any medals or ribbons on her uniform at all. Maaaybe her dress uniform, assuming ARC-SWAT has something like Class A’s, but special forces operate very differently from line troops, probably because most of the medals they’d be earning are under circumstances so classified that showing the medals would probably constitute a security violation of some kind.
If you really want to hang something on her, a Bronze Star for her actions which saved the lives of her teammates at her sacrifice (when the wormhole collapsed, leaving her stranded) would be sufficient. Max would’ve likely pushed for something like that, even if only posthumous, which she’d strictly deny is the case even while worrying it might well be.
It’s not *exactly* how the US military does things, which gets kinda complicated, but given that they’re already ‘Atypical’, it would at least pass a sniff test.
Her record, however, would probably be quite impressive by this point. For anyone with sufficient classification to have access to it, at least.
Quite correct. Sydney’s military decorations (the so-called ‘salad bar’) are going to be pretty nondescript, much like Max’s because of the sort of ‘things not in the public eye’ ARC-SWAT would be doing.
Then again, if there’s some sort of long term global threat to human civilization that Sydney manages to eliminate and every country decides to give her ALL THE MEDALS… she’d probably have to talk with Ashley for a suitably reinforced dress uniform to hold them all.
Sydney “What’s the deal with this Worf thingy?”
Max: “You mean the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum with Sash!?!.”
“I guess, they gave it to me for taking out that Squidward kaiju thingy last month. Wasn’t a big deal really, I didn’t even get a skill pip for it!”
My grandfather had a LOT of medals form his time in WWII. Until the day we buried him, I didn’t know why he had them all. They read out his highest citations at the funeral and I just about choked. Silver Star, Bronze Star, 2(!) Distinguished Services Crosses. All from a little place called Monte Cassino in Italy.
He NEVER wore them.
The ribbons? I am not sure. I was seven the last time I saw him in full dress uniform as a 4 star. I cannot find any decent pictures of him that show the salad bar properly. I know what it SHOULD have looked like, but then it wouldn’t have FIT on his chest and he stood 6’7″.
Some people desire medals and glory. Some people don’t. My granddad did his job well and that was all that mattered to him. Max seems cut form the same cloth. Proud of her achievements, but probably haunted by her failures.
Sydney now? Show her a gold medal and she will be spinning for a day or so.
Very impressive. Silver stars are rarely given out, and even rarer for it to not be posthumously.
You don’t earn those sorts of accolades without seeing some shit. There’s a good chance he didn’t want to be reminded of what he’d been through and who he’d lost.
The Battle of Monte Cassino was some serious shit. The Germans managed to stop the Allied advance in Italy for four months despite being outnumbered 2:1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino
In more or less total agreement with both @yuffiek and @ShneekeyTheLost.
As a newly inducted Private, she won’t have much to display, and at the same time (for anonimity reasons) she would probably not be wearing even theater medals, if those are awarded for SpecOps.
Much of her recognition would be for in-house morale building, awarding a medal privately in a ARCHON function, then retrieving it for storage in her files.
Of course, given that most of the characters are highly visible anyway… Who even needs medals?
Ugh. This Unit is the Very Definition of a Showboat Unit. Public scrutiny is both expected and encouraged. I expect them to have a Very Public Award ceremony with more press then personnel at least quarterly till the Superhero Shine wears off. With Video Highlight reels and commenters and Mrs PR Lady shining things till they glow. Expect brand new Medals and Awards to be created just for this unit. MVP for various encounters, With Awards given that are literally labeled Classified Action Meritorious Service Award Gold/Silver/Bronze to Hale….
Not sure I agree with that. There’ll probably be some things that won’t get represented due to being classified, but some of the things Sydney has done have been public enough that she’d probably get some bling for them, such as getting under a shield with a powered-up Vehemence.
The bit is military members do not get medals every time they get into a fire fight. They get them for being part of a campaign. Defense of Kuwait has a ribbon, serving in Vietnam has a ribbon. And you get them for certain bits of witnessed excellence. IE the above and beyond the call of duty.
While I do not know the specifics for earning each medal. I know that my uncle in Vietnam got a bronze star because as a medic he was unarmed. His squad came under fire and were dropping around him. He picked up a gun and charged where the fire was coming from to save his squad.
I have also read how a few people have earned the Medal of Honor. Basically and this is just me noting a common thread. Is doing something to save fellows while injured yourself. Take the bit from Forest Gump. His running into the jungle to pull his fellow soldiers from harm would be a bronze star. But he did get wounded, and then went back in anyway. He put himself at risk multiple times and continued after his own injury. So him getting awarded the MoH was plausible from what I have read on others.
Sydney, would not yet have certification ribbons. IE she has not finished Boot camp, she has not earned a marksman ribbon. She might have a campaign ribbon that the whole Arc group gets for handling the hostile ship that came in. The actions with the Twilight Council were clandestine. So likely no medal. Her work to take down Vehemence without prior training might earn her a ribbon if Max put her in for one. Her work with the refugees would likely also get a medal if Arianna and Max pushed for it.
Well technically she earned her astronaut wings the days after she time traveled. Even If technicaly she was piloting the ultimate ultralight. Heck she may qualify for Star ship wings.
Sydney would likely have the Astronaut badge, but there should logically be another badge for anyone trained in “unassisted” flight, worn by Maxima and any other flying Super. (Which Sydney, using the orbs, wouldn’t technically qualify for) Maybe the “Angel” badge?
Not for every firefight, no, but distinction awards are for serving with distinction in some way… such as performing some act of heroism that turns around the outcome of a firefight that would have been lost with high casualties otherwise.
Sydney saved the life of her commanding officer, and by putting herself inside the shield with Vehemence, she was putting herself in a position where V could have quite easily flattened her if her gamble hadn’t paid off. She then proceeded to turn what was looking to be a curbstomp by V into a victory for ARC-SWAT. That’s probably worth at least a Bronze Star or equivalent.
My dad had a purple heart from WWII, which I found a bit odd since he spent the war servicing airplanes in England, at least as he told it. Well, I suppose the Germans were bombing England quite a bit.
“He kept walking into the propellers!” Hudson & Landry
I think she might qualify for a Purple Heart based on the injuries she sustained on Alar Prime, based on a cursory reading of the Wikipedia article.
Was thinking the same.
ARCSWAT aren’t Delta Force or SEALs or anything like a CIA black ops unit, they’re basically just Space Force: a new public facing military branch.
That said, the salad bar is restricted to the dress uniform
I could see a ribbon display of a few rows of black with the occasional flash of color from the usual ‘Thanks for Coming’ campaign medals everyone is allowed to know about.
Something I only learned today:
You can wear your ancestors ribbons on your right side.
Sydney could have quite the display there if she wanted to.
—
Question for the military-minded: Do you *have* to wear all your ribbons and medals, or are you allowed to leave out the silly-little ones?
You can’t wear investor’s ribbons in the U.S.Army. Only those you have earned yourself. Right side is for medals you received from foreign services. We had a guy in my unit who wore West German paratrooper wings on his right side because he served in their military before becoming a US citizen.
That’s ancestors, not investors. I didn’t catch the Auto-fuckup before I posted.
Could two Succubi bind to each other to “seal” the soul hole, I wonder?
Diminishing returns says no. Theyd still go into the negative if they both have the ‘soul hole’ issue.
I don’t think succubi could bond covalently. In chemistry, a covalent bond forms when two atoms share an unpaired electron, one from each atom, to fill in the gaps in the other atom and itself. e.g. two chlorine atoms each have 6 paired valence electrons, 1 unpaired electron and room for one more. By sharing the unpaired electron with another chlorine, each atom fills up the empty hole, and a pairs its own electron with the one from the other atom.
I don’t think succubi could bond like that as they don’t have the other half to plug up the hole in the other succubus soul. In this analogy, there is no unpaired electron to share to form the bond.
Nice Monty Python reference!
I read those sentences with a French accent ^^
“So, maybe slave is the wrong word. More like…supporter, I guess? If you make your Succubus’ life bad, then death is preferable and you will go down with them. So most are nice”
most likely not. a succubus need the mana from the master, or from somebody, but the master does not need mana from the succubus, except for a quick power up or recharge.
Just to clarify, you want me to use my magic to raze all your attributes?
I understood that reference!
Careful with that spelling…
After graduation, US military gets the National Defense Service ribbon and the Global War on Terror ribbon automatically. So I would go with those for Sydney, since Archon doesn’t seem to have been around long enough to have a lot of others.
Day to day dress doesn’t have awards on it. There will be special qualifications like Paratrooper for soldiers, esws for surface fleet, etc.
Then there’s the office dress. The navy had blues and whites, vaguely suit like. Had, it’s no longer available. But it did have the ribbon rack.
Next is the dress uniform. For the navy that included blues and whites with stupid little cape thing. Women had a few other options there that men didn’t.
Beyond that is the formal dress. That’s getting into the tuxedo dress or Max’s boat coat.
***
If any medal specifies a branch, swap it to say Arc instead of army/navy/etc. You’ll have to make those up at that point, but it’s a guideline.
She’ll have a national defense ribbon starting from enlistment. And the GWOT. Armed forces service medal as a catchall if there’s no “brawl at the restaurant award.” She might get humanitarian service medal for helping the alari, but that’s mostly for Cora who did all the work. Possibly an expeditionary medal of you count Alar Prime as hostile territory.
There are various marksmanship ribbons, things she might get with her new glasses.
I’m wondering: would the injuries she got from Alar Prime qualify her for a Purple Heart? From a cursory reading of the Wikipedia article on the award, they might: she got a fair amount of bruises and scrapes from the battle.
She caught a fragment, Frix treated the injury after she was picked up at fracture station. I’d say it qualifies. Dunno if anyone else is even aware of it. It should have come up in the after action review, though.
I’m not sure. Getting a bullet to the chest stopped by your body armor doesn’t usually count, no matter how big a bruise it leaves. Concussions do count though, at least when caused by enemy weapons.
Any combat veterans want to weigh in? Maybe correct me where I’m wrong?
Sounds about right, other wise every wounded grunt would be getting one
Getting shot (and hopefully surviving) is part of the job of being a grunt. Normally they would have to have been wounded in defense of others and on Alari Prima, she was only defending herself (as one would expect, or at least hope)
I’m pretty sure I’ve read that any sufficiently serious injury sustained on the front lines counts. It doesn’t have to be the result of enemy action.
It’s varied from time to time, but generally, any injury caused by enemy action that requires attention from medical personnel counts for a Purple Heart. A cut on the cheek that requires stitches (or whatever high-tech equivalent Frix uses) would almost always count.
Would an operation as brief and unplanned as the Alar Incident be assigned a Campaign medal? It was my understanding that those were generally used for operations extended in time, place, and/or preparation – a minor war, or a defined theatre of operations in a wider one. Maybe also for any major civil assistance operations of similar scale. If nothing else, so that they’re kept at a manageable level rather than weighing down everyone who’s been in more than a few skirmishes!
Arc* may have medals like the ones given to Carter on Stargate.
Although there is the old joke that the U.S. Army gives out ribbons for Typing, Filing, and other Clerical work, the truth is Ribbons are usually a visual representation of their military achievements and Battles/Actions of note they’ve been in, with some even representing the medals they’ve won.
So her time on the Alari Homeworld may have earned a “Courage In The Face Of The Enemy” or “Distinguished Service” Medal.
I’m also hoping that whatever form the rank insignia’s take in ARC, they look better than Space Force’s.
My 3 years in the Army only got me a Good Conduct medal. Of course I was lucky enough to serve when there wasn’t a lot of actual fighting going on that involved U.S. troops. Not a lot of opportunity to earn any of the big medals during peace time.
You were lucky.
One of my last bosses got the Bronze Star for Valor and he never said anything except ‘I got it for killing a whole bunch of people ‘. Great guy, well adjusted, awesome motivator who got canned because a bunch of idiot kids couldn’t follow basic directions. If any of them go shot at, all most of them would do is piss themselves. (Or scream ‘ITS NOT FAIR!’)
War is fun in video games and books. The reality is far less so.
> War is fun in video games and books. The reality is far less so.
Yup.
I enjoy wargames and martial arts of basically every type, but I’m also very anti-war in reality.
I know war is hell, and all the funny stories from my Grandfather won’t change that.
In real war there are no respawns, second lives, or mulligans. There is only pain, suffering, and death. Even if you return home physically unscathed, there are deep seated psychic wounds that far too often go untreated. I count myself as very lucky to have seen no actual action.
Just thinking about the number of deaths in your average wargame match…
Mageicide? Magi-cide? Or would Magicide be too much like Death by Magic?
Death by magic would likely be “Thaumacide” if a dead magi was “Magicide”
Borrowing an Event (capital letter intended) and a character name from Innverse: Death OF Magic.
The military has a number of ribbons which amount to “Thanks for coming!” Things like the National Defense Service Ribbon (was in when there was a conflict), Army Service Ribbon (made it through basic training), theater ribbons during a conflict (went somewhere). They don’t really mean you did anything noteworthy, just that you were around. Then there’s another group like the Good Conduct Medal (no reprimands, Article 15’s, or court-martials) and the NCO Academy (leadership academy) ribbons. That’s why you see senior NCO’s and officers having a lot of rows of ribbons, because you get those over the course of 20-30 years. The top rows are for things you actually did that were noteworthy.
For the uniforms, you don’t wear ribbons on field or work uniforms. Basically, the only ones you wear them on are the Class A or Dress uniforms.
I’m starting to wonder a lot about the last time we saw Tom. Like, he and Dabbler did not seem like they were on good terms, she told him “Back of the line, Screwball, and thanks for the loot!” and he replied by damning her. Unless they have a really weird way of saying goodbye, I am confused.
Well, Dabbler has been living on some serious sexual energy ever since she was on earth.
“So that’s how you’ve been avoiding Thothogoth”
SHe might just be constantly filling up her batteries with super-powered tantric mana.
The last time they were together, also, they apparently had a bad couple’s argument where she apparently stole some stuff (loot) from him, and she was probably stalling for the whole apology bit, which came in the form of 5 romps in the hay.
Looks like that apology is accepted. Hopefully Tom can be as forgiving to Maxima.
If he is, it’s likely going to be a combination of Maxima being a violence-prone aggressor who would kick his butt anyway if he did even say anything else anyway (violence might be a language that gets across to infernals pretty quickly), and Dabbler asking him to just let it go since apparently he actually seems to genuinely love her (based on things he’s repeatedly said now and how Dabbler is responding to him and referring to him, post-coitus).
But hey maybe there will be a surprise and Maxima would actually apologize for her violent outburst over a factual word being said without her having any clue whatsoever as to the context.
There is another possibility: Tom is so powerfull that he doesn’t think Maxima is a serious enough threat to him so there is no need to even get offended. From what little we know about him he is rather impressive. He have high enough rank to command armies and have shirtless bishie demons doing his bidding. The violence Maxima inflicted on him would kill or cripple any humanlike creature. And maybe most impressive of all, he survived five rounds of what is implied was rather brutal snu snu. Okay, maybe it wasn’t implied but just my dirty imagination, but still, five rounds with a succubus takes someone with superhuman stamina. All this action doesn’t seem to bother him much. He is just calmly flirting with his beloved Dabbler despite having a cracked skull.
Also his magic skills are high enough to impress a veteran mage like Dabbler.
“Tom is so powerfull that he doesn’t think Maxima is a serious enough threat to him so there is no need to even get offended.”
Have I been reading a different webcomic than you for the past month? :) Much as I originally thought that Tom might be a huge threat, I am pretty sure that possibility was eliminated when she bodyslammed him in about one second with no effort whatsoever, followed by almost crushing his skull had Dabbler not stepped in.
“From what little we know about him he is rather impressive.”
Honestly, from what little we know of him, he’s actually been rather pathetic. Then again it’s against Maxima so ‘pathetic’ against Maxima might be extraordinary against others. But Dabbler was able to stalemate Maxima, but Tom was unable to do anything whatsoever to stand up to her (not that he really tried to do anything beyond some posturing in the beginning).
“The violence Maxima inflicted on him would kill or cripple any humanlike creature.”
I… suppose. But that doesnt make him think Maxima is not a serious threat. That’s already pretty much been eliminated as a possibility unless this is a very weird subterfuge. Which I don’t think it is.
“He is just calmly flirting with his beloved Dabbler despite having a cracked skull.”
Never underestimate the mighty healing power of Band-Aid brand bandages.
*pockets some money under the table for the free advertising*
I think Max could wipe the floor with him physically, even at full size, but a Dominus Secundus should have some pretty impressive demonic magic abilities, which Max probably doesn’t have natural resistance to. It would be interesting to see how a gloves-off battle went.
Just saying Tom have never even tried to attack so we don’t know how powerfull he really is. He seems to prefer to use diplomacy of the most pompous kind.
Okay, I admit it, I just want him to be strong enough to give Maxima a lesson in humility.
“Okay, I admit it, I just want him to be strong enough to give Maxima a lesson in humility.”
I would too but it’s pretty unlikely to happen, both because of how easily Maxima was shown to manhandle him with one hand and barely trying, and apparently because Tom’s being a big ol’ softy when it comes to Dabbler. Tom’s a bit of a letdown if we were looking for someone to challenge her. Sciona was a lot more of a challenge despite also being much much weaker.
At least Tom is another funny minor character. Dave writes many of those.
You can easily manhandle anyone if they are not resisting, and we saw Tom has not been resisting anything
Just because he’s a big softy to Dabbles doesn’t mean he can’t scorch the earth down to the bedrock if he wanted to
Just remember the old Incredible Hulk TV series: David Banner would often let himself be pushed around by relatively weak bullies because “you would like him when he’s angry“
You wouldn’t like him :(
Classic line delivered perfectly
Maybe the marshmallow that Tom is about to eat on panel 3is an apology marshmallow.
A “Sorry I almost crushed your skull without knowing the backstory” marshmallow.
+1 that.
Tom even seemed to be in a pickle and Dabbler seemed to use the opportunity to leave him (in said pickle).
It seems that Dabbler is so good that he forgot & forgave everything. Somehow idk. Maybe there is a more solid explanation.
It seems likely there’s more than one demon who looks like that. Besides, she’s a succubus, the pinnacle of bad girl hotness and between the sheets mad skillz. She probably is that good. Also, it’s a made up story. DaveB is merely retconning.
What do we know about Fiends’ heredity? That may well have been Thothogoth Senior, just as Xuriel pulled off the reverse damsel rescue of her high-school sweetheart!
Whatever the reason for the fight, it has something to do with Dabbler stealing some loot from him.
We actually don’t know that.
SHe might have been thanking him for her share of the loot that they aquired together.
That’s… actually a good point. Maybe she’s was dumping him just as he passed the point of no return summoning a portal to the holiday dinner where he was supposed to introduce her to his family.
I don’t think she was dumping him. From what we’re seeing, he was apparently a very good ‘master’ in this relationship and she’s been acknowledging that. It doesnt seem conducive to survival to dump him AND tick him off when he could have just drained her of her mana in response, unless she had another master-in-waiting and thought the trap was going to kill him.
I’m assuming she knew it wouldnt kill him, and she wasnt dumping him because she’s been staying off his radar, which she wouldnt have been needing to do if she had severed their magical master/slave binding and she had gotten a different mater.
Maybe ‘separating’ would have been a better term. Still technically connected, but no contact.
Fair enough.
I made an assumption that when she said ‘thanks for all the loot’ and she was decked out in fashionable bling, that she had stolen it from Tom, because he was yelling at her ‘Damn you Tantalus!’
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-177-intergalactic-baggage/
But maybe they were on a quest together, and Tom tripped some sort of trap that got him dragged into a fiery pit, and Dabbler took the opportunity to head off with all the loot, like a typical Rogue in a DnD tabletop game. :)
You know, them being allies *really* changes the implications of that page.
Yep!
Dabbler ninja’ed the loot from the tank, in gaming vernacular! :)
So, one question: Can Succubi get remastered?
possibly not, but you could always make a mix tape
I saw what you did there!
Better not be with anyone from take 2 or rockstar. Yikes.
DaveB’s response to Guesticules strongly implies that they can—and, even more importantly, basically verifies my theory that succubi at some point gained the ability to switch “masters” without the old “master’s” consent.
Yeah, they can switch, but nothing was said so far about the previous master still being alive, with or without consent
Sydney at this point have a lot of medals if we account the things she have already accomplished.
You Sydney could have the following Air Force equivalent awards:
Training Ribbon
Nat’l Defense Service Medal
Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon (unlikely but still…)
GWOT Service Medal
Those are essentially automatic and received with little fanfare. Sydney could also be nominated for the Achievement Medal for the Vehemence brawl and a Commendation Medal with “C” device for meritorious service in contact with the enemy when one-shotting that space cruiser. These would require a nomination package from Maxima or Gen Falk as an O-6 or higher, and there would be a modest presentation ceremony during the next squad meeting.
While she might receive the award in her utility kit, none of this would be reflected on it. Service and formal dress only. Subject to the rule of cool.
Background: have most of these.
Umm, Sydney wasn’t even there when the Fel fell, she was pissed that by the time she got back from the range with Peggy it was all over bar the cleanup
It was Maxi who one-shot the cruiser
I don’t know that they would get GWOT. It’s customary for the normal branches at this time, but the description is:
“Support of operations to counter terrorism, whether stationed in the United States or overseas.”
And that’s not really what ARCSWAT does. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if they had an equivalent, Superhuman Disaster Prevention or something?
I’m sure someone at the DoD would argue that they’re helping to suppress domestic terrorism, just by their very existence as a deterrent. (Especially if, as seems to be the phrasing, it gets handed out to everyone regardless of their actual role.) There’s also the morale and PR argument: if one branch doesn’t get badged as ‘supporting operations to counter terrorism’, the conspiracy theorists would start to speculate on just which acts of terrorism have their support.
I am not completely liking the way this is going. Essentially changes the canon so far established. What this is saying is that all essentially mana vampires. These holes are the cause. That having been said, it doesn’t seem like they would need the sex part of it. Which kinda defeats the Mythos on Succubus taking life force via hokey pokey. Prior to that they were living breathing beings who lives off life force of individuals, not tied to one person. Dabbler has master now, so she needs him to keep going. Were the other partners she had just “Top Ups”?
It is not as bad, and at the same time it is worse.
Xuriel specifically says that Succubi have a /drain/ that would kill them quickly if that ever remains open, because as magical creatures they need mana to survive. it strongly suggest that they can create their own mana (being magical and all) but they will not be able to keep it unless they are magically bound to an owner. And without mana they will die (again, because magical creature).
With that drain plugged they no longer die and can keep their own mana. She does not say that they need to get mana from their owners to survive (they feed on tantric energy after all), but only that they can get mana from their owners (and more likely be forced to give mana to their owners).
So succubi are not mana vampires, but somehow these mages managed to make something that already appeared to be incredibly wrong even worse.
What Erianaiel said. Also, as we see with Dabbler, succubi can eventually become functionally independent. Yes, there’s a guy or woman they’re tied to, but it’s like an ex you’re on good terms with – with benefits. That wasn’t the original intent the artificers were going for, but it’s evolved.
Dude, they are not ribbons. They are medals. Well, not all of them the kind of medals that are awarded by the president if course but they are all awards. So, how many awards was Halo granted?
Not to brag, I won an expert medal for the M16 And for grenades.
There are ribbons, and there are medals. Every medal has a ribbon counterpart, but not every ribbon has a medal. Which you wear (if any) depends on the uniform being worn.
So, without a master, a succubus dies.
(Thousands of Japanese schoolboys get nosebleeds and don’t know why)
I’d question whether Sydney – or any of the supers in ARC-SWAT – would even start out as a private to begin with, for three reasons:
First, that pay that’s been talked about for the job – we can presume that ARC-SWAT has a different scale than other branches, but it would be a bit off for ARC-SWAT privates to be paid more than senior officers in other branches. They’re getting that pay for having specialised skills, but that comes into…
Second, it’s been established for a long time that roles that require sufficiently valuable and difficult-to-acquire skills are only available at the level of commissioned officers, even if the role does not involve being in charge of other people. Fighter pilots are a good example – few if any modern militaries have active pilots at a rank below the equivalent of 2nd Lieutenant. Instead, pilots and personnel requiring similar levels of education and training to perform their role get commissioned (and may even skip 2nd Lieutenant-equivalent and go straight to the equivalent of 1st). A lieutenant piloting a single-seat fighter, though, is responsible only for themselves. So are high-powered ARC-SWAT operatives lower on the proverbial totem pole than newly graduated fighter jocks? I suspect not.
Speaking of totem poles, the third reason:
There are probably protocols regarding officers of regular services giving orders to ARC-SWAT personnel, but if regular chains of command break down and it comes down to everyone following the superior officer present, does it really make sense for HALO to end up subordinate to some random army Private 2nd Class on a technicality? Probably not. In fact, I’d suspect they’d want ARC-SWAT members to be able to requisition regular military units of at least up to a platoon in a pinch… and that means having a commission. Accordingly, it’d make sense in terms of being in the right spot in the pecking order for ARC-SWAT supers to come out of training with a commission (albeit with the speech newly commissioned officers (should) receive about paying attention to advice from more experienced NCOs).
For these three reasons, even if it takes some minor retcons, I’d expect all of the frontline supers (or super-equivalents badass normals) to have commissions, while support roles have the ranks that would normally come with the skills required for the job. Max being a Lieutenant Colonel would then give ARC-SWAT a rank structure similar to an air force squadron, which feels about right for the number of front-line combatants involved, although she might become due for full colonelcy as ARC-SWAT expands.
It appears one of my sentences in my third paragraph was cut short due to my getting distracted at one point and forgetting to finish it properly. I meant to say “pilots and personnel requiring similar levels of education and training to perform their role get commissioned as soon as they finish training and enter active service.”
(Sydney is in a bit of a weird situation of being in active service even if she’s still technically in training.)
The figure at the bottom of the totem pole is actually the most important one (assuming there’s any ranking observed at all), and “low man on the totem pole” is a phrase coined by someone who didn’t understand totem poles. So maybe Sydney DOES belong down there.
I support this rationale.
My initial thought when I was laying out the comic was that all supers would be commissioned, they way all pilots are. Or were. I think fighter/combat pilots are still officers, but there was a shortage at some point during the last 20 years of operations and cargo pilots can be NCOs now?
Then I thought, should someone like Sydney, Heatwave or Achilles really be put in positions of command? I mean, maybe if you give them a few years to mature in the role, but it really didn’t make sense right out of the gate.
The weird, non-linear progression of military rank really took me a long time for me to get my head around. It still seems to me that the NCO/CO divide is just a holdover from the times of nobility and serfs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranks_and_insignia_of_NATO
Just have ARC-SWAT not use standard American military naming conventions and have an ARC-SWAT privatebe OF-1 equivilent, but they haven’t told Sydney that, because of the previous comments about “what she’d do with the authority”.
It’s good you have more sense about authority & experience than most junior officers. There’s a reason we stick them with a 6+ year NCO after they’re commissioned.
There is still some separation of responsibility between officers and NCOs. I find it easiest to compare corporate manager and supervisor titles. An officer is like a new MBA placed as a manager: his education may be relevant to his position and authority, but he has to oversee people on a task he probably doesn’t understand. He’ll get there eventually, but he’s expected to learn from the guys doing the job. An NCO is a supervisor: the entry-level guy who’s been working his way up. He’s learned the job and can teach and lead others. If he stays around long enough, eventually he has authority well beyond his actual position and is kept around to stick his nose in things that would be harder for the actual managers to do.
There is also more separation by combat responsibility: with the move to small team combat over the last century, you can generally expect tactics be the responsibility of NCOs & strategy to be for officers, but it’s not a hard line. The old line about a lieutenant’s leadership test explains: the new lieutenant is in charge of a platoon and has orders to take a hill from the enemy. How does he do that? He tells his platoon sergeant “Take that hill.”
As for medals, Sydney should probably have: a service ribbon for completing training, National Defense Service Medal for volunteering, and an MSM for her actions to-date (she definitely did more than an ARCOM-level commendation). I don’t think there should be a GWOT, since they’re not a theater-deployable unit. Also, skill badges are expected. At this point it would only be pistol, and the level awarded is unknown. I don’t know why some others have suggested space badges/medals, she definitely isn’t trained enough to qualify.
There is at least one Elite Unit where all applicants start as Privates regardless of their previous in-service rank. I thought it was the Royal Marines, but I think it equally may be the Australian Commando Regiment. Any promotions happen within the Regiment according to merit.
“Then I thought, should someone like Sydney, Heatwave or Achilles really be put in positions of command? I mean, maybe if you give them a few years to mature in the role, but it really didn’t make sense right out of the gate.”
IF they had been given command right away, it would be a lot like the Jedi in Clone Wars, where Ahsoka is given command of entire legions of Clone Troopers when she’s only 13. And does a pretty terrible job because Jedi are generally bad generals to begin with, and Ahsoka needed to mature and stop being so reckless (which led repeatedly to clone troopers dying and ships getting destroyed) before she’d actually become a GOOD leader (with help from people like Captain Rex, who always said ‘Experience outranks everything.’ Which Ahsoka eventually took to heart. Eventually, she had the experience to be a good leader.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjThZtmdyAU
I think you want them to be warrant officers, as I understand it the enlisted ranks have to follow their orders but the commissioned ranks (like Max) outrank them.
“It still seems to me that the NCO/CO divide is just a holdover from the times of nobility and serfs.”
It was, but now it’s just historical. The non-linearity is because the number of souls under command is (sort of) logarithmic: the grunt is one; a corporal will get 5 or 6 grunts to look after, the sergeant has 5 or 6 corporals, the lieutenant gets 5 or 6 sergeants, and so on. Don’t take these numbers as fully accurate, just as an indicator of how the system works. The main difference between NCOs and commissioned officers is promotion and training. NCO’s are more likely to be promoted in the field, then told to go to training, “officers” get it the other way around.
The CO/NCO divide was originally one of nobility/commoners, but once people stopped being able to buy commissions, it shifted to being more about how much education someone has (typically a degree in a relevant field these days, although it is possible to do officer training without a degree). Commissioned officers are supposed to have the education to think about the bigger picture, while with NCOs it’s normally a matter of being trained to do the job and then they develop experience over time.
So the typical lieutenant-sergeant dynamic is that the lieutenant is pretty green, but has the training to understand the overall strategy on an operational level (outside of parts they explicitly haven’t been told for reasons of operational security). The sergeant, on the other hand, has the experience of how to actually get stuff done, and to a degree they’re expected to pass on some of that experience so that the lieutenant has that knowledge when they reach ranks of real responsibility. A lieutenant is often just a relay between the NCOs and higher command, with some ability to show initiative if cut off, but most of the real responsibility is often expected to be passed on to the sergeants. Difference is that the lieutenant is expected to reach ranks of greater responsibility later due to special skills or education.
So, like a few people have said, generally with lieutenants you’ve essentially already got that expectation of needing a few years to really mature into the position. Someone like Sydney or Heatwave should probably be given a speech about not pulling rank on experienced NCOs without a really good reason (complete with the threat, implied or explicit, of a review any time they do) – but on the other hand, if Sydney gets an “ADHD brain powers ACTIVATE” moment, they probably don’t want some uppity corporal going “why should I listen to you, you’re just a private”.
As a compromise, you could hearken back to the old days of sergeant pilots and give them an equivalent of a sergeant rank with the expectation that a commission will come if they show they have the potential, and thereby start them off at sergeant or at least corporal. However unready they might think Sydney is for command, I think they’d want her to have some of the clout of rank should she be in a situation where she’s the only ARC-SWAT member in an area and she needs to requisition some conventional forces or police to help with a situation… or just get them to keep clear and stay out of the way. Particularly when Sydney already knows some pretty classified stuff like the existence of the magical council, and her taking over might prevent an accidental snafu from ignorant regular military. Essentially, whatever rank they give her would be a compromise between not giving her more authority than she can handle, while still giving her the formal authority she might need if she’s the only ARC-SWAT operative present at a crisis point.
*nods* This is really fascinating, and apparently Tom’s and Dabb’s relationship is based on mutual respect after all.
Yes, but she is still a slave in the ugliest form of that concept. She lives only because he allows her. He can order her to do anything if she wants to survive. He hold all the power, can drain her of her magic (which she apparently needs to survive) and if she wants to live she must protect him at all times.
We do not know if Tom can sell her, nor if he can lay claim to Xuriel’s children, but it is clear from the implications of this page that at first this very much was the case. What little we have seen of Demon and Fiend society (through Tom’s words and actions) does not give me great hope that it is no longer so.
Emphasis on “Demon and Fiend society”
Stop fucking foisting modern hyu-mon foibles onto a race that probably predates this planet!
Keep in mind that what Dabbler is describing on this page is the initial application of the bond. We’re still at like 12,000 years ago. I probably should have made that point somewhere along the line.
And I am really looking forward to how you improve the situation in the next page or two.
Because based on what Xuriel says on this page, in the present tense, not in the past tense, that if the master of a succubus dies, she dies as well within hours, or a few days at best (and that only if she is prepared with a lots of magic and potions).
She also makes clear that the owner of a succubus can take her mana through that bond without her consent or ability to prevent it. Tom says that he has not done so except in dire emergencies, which makes clear that he could do so at any moment and simply has chosen not to. Xuriel has neither right nor power to stop him. The physical and magical power in this relation has not noticeably shifted away from that old ‘solution’ that the mages come up with to keep their super murder slaves from revolting.
I am guessing that in the millenia since teh events described in this page, the succubi were emancipated and can no longer be sold as property and used as their owner sees fit. But the fact remains that they need to be bound to an owner remains as does the fact that this owner could theoretically kill her simply by breaking that bond. Because all of that was written in the present tense, as in true for Xuriel and all other currently living succubi.
Maxima killing Tom would also kill Xuriel.
And because all of this is far too dark for this comedy about super heroines, this clearly is not quite the plot twist we will see in a few more days :)
it may be like if she wants to cast magic or do magic things easly as she does she has to be bound. other wise shes running on tantric energy and not able to store it. like a solar panel with out batteries if dont use it you lose it. but if bound you have ability to store it like a battery. possibly thats the most humane way to twist it. and thus slowly turned more into a marraige contract type thing.
That actually sounds like a great twist and extremely interesting, but I don’t think that’s going to be what happened.
Readers can already infer that there has to have been some progress on this since the start, because we saw Dabbler being very hostile to Tom in flashback and, apparently, getting away with it; If Tom could give her orders she HAD to follow, I’d expect him to have at least ordered her to give him his stuff back when she said “so long and thanks for all the loot!” before plunging him into some kind of fiery portal, and probably ordered her to let him out as well. That, and Dabbler seems to have had zero concern for his survival and definitely hasn’t spent the last few months protecting Tom, implying that she does not actually HAVE to protect him at all times. Based on Dabbler’s behavior in the series it makes very little sense for Tom to have a genuinely life-threatening degree of power over her.
(I talk about my guesses for what happened in a reply to Erianaiel, but just wanted to put it out there that this page doesn’t make me immediately think “Dabbler’s still in a horrible, horrible situation,” since it seems to have provoked that response in other readers.)
I think there has to have been some progress on this since the start, because we saw Dabbler being very hostile to Tom in flashback and, apparently, getting away with it; If Tom could give her orders she HAD to follow, I’d expect him to have at least ordered her to give him his stuff back when she said “so long and thanks for all the loot!” before plunging him into some kind of fiery portal, and probably ordered her to let him out as well. That, and Dabbler seems to have had zero concern for his survival and definitely hasn’t spent the last few months protecting Tom, implying that she does not actually HAVE to protect him at all times.
I’d guess what has happened is that as succubi got independent enough to be running around adventuring or owning bars or becoming political officials in the twilight council, all on their own (possibly related to how they gained the ability to reproduce?) they figured out how to use their own magic to switch to a different “master” with some help from the new one. Presumably that’s the “collaring” process Tom mentioned doing on Dabbler back on page 992. I assume that process is inconvenient enough that succubi will generally allow a master to drain them a bit occasionally rather than switching to someone who isn’t doing it, but if a master starts to demand too much (or dies) they’ll have somebody else “collar” them.
So the master does have some unusual ability to threaten them since being drained, or having to switch, is probably very inconvenient, maybe even dangerous depending on the timing. But based on Dabbler’s behavior in the series it makes no sense for it to be a genuinely life-threatening degree of power over her.
Well I feel silly. I replied to this on a page that I had loaded early this morning that didn’t have DaveB’s comments yet, and then once the page reloaded when I submitted this, I saw that his comments basically already addressed this. Oh well.
Dabbler just became an immediate and unacceptable security risk for Archon.
And this whole weeks-wasting aside has become one of those things where it just gets worse the more “but let me explain” we get for it.
This.
What do you mean ‘just became’?
What exactly has changed about Dabbles that wasn’t there a year ago?
IF she is a security risk, she was always a security risk
Yes. But also no, as the next page will get into.
Hey. To answer your Ribbon question. 24 year Navy retiree here. I would say given the years a National Defense Medal, A global war on terrorism service medal, An expeditionary medal,(space is kind of far out there), and a personal award say a service achievement medal. So 4 ribbons total. There is a website you can build a rack with images look up thin ribbon rack builder.
That seems about in line with what others have said.
I suppose medal count comes from branch of service and country served in.
Depending on the circumstances a Private may well have more medals than a Chief Warrant Officer.
For example, when I served, the only medals you usually saw were a CD , the good service award for 12 years undetected crime (offer void if detected) and maybe a UN medal for the grunts and few others who went on those operations, mainly Cyprus or the Golan.
Senior Officers and Warrant Officers sometimes got extra ones like the St John’s medal, a few commemorative ones like the Queen’s Jubilee ones and for Generals a few ‘Orders’ so they looked a little better alongside their US counterparts.
That’s changed lately with medals for Afghanistan, Kosovo and the Gulf Wars being common but I retired before those so for my 20 years all I have is a CD because the Airforce wasn’t sent anywhere to earn any before the Gulf War and I spent that on a course in the US (they gave me a medal for that but I wasn’t allowed to wear a foreign one)
It was completely normal for someone with 35 years service to have only the CD (with bars for every ten years after 12) and you judged how long they’d served by that.
If you happen to get demoted, you still keep the medals you earned prior, which gave rise to the old saying…
“Never trust a Private with a CD…or a Chief without one”
On ribbons/medals: First, at least in the Navy, the stack was referred to as ‘fruit salad’. Maximum of three per line, maximum of 4 rows deep. Or maybe 5, it’s been a while since I’ve been in and I was never around the really high ups. Also, there’s a specific order they have to go (more ‘important’ ribbons first, there are websites you can find that’ll show you the correct order) and if you have a row of less than three, it goes on the top. To add to your fun, all medals have ribbons but not all ribbons have medals. And you can get ribbons multiple times, in which you add little stars on the ribbon. And finally, ribbons are only displayed on ‘non-work’ uniforms. So the typical fatigues you show them in wouldn’t have ribbons, but any ‘office’ uniforms (which yes, is different from ‘work’ uniforms) or dress uniforms would.
As for what a fresh recruit might get: for the most part, nothing. There are no ‘graduation’ ribbons, unless you’re graduating from something very special. There was one ribbon I got from the beginning called National Defense Service Medal, which was re-issued starting after 9/11 and I just looked up and is apparently still being issued, but wouldn’t call that typical. Units/commands/organizations do not get ribbons. There are service medals but that’s more ‘I served in Iraq’ kinda level. I will note for humor that there are ribbons for ‘expert rifle’ and ‘expert pistol’ which I am quite sure Sydney didn’t qualify for.
So for what Sydney might start out with, well I don’t know what sorts of things are considered ribbon/medal worthy so maybe some of the things she did might have gotten her some accommodation type medals (things like ‘you dun good’ pat on the head medals such as the Navy Achievement Medal to more important ‘bronze star’ and up kind of thing) but creating anything new specifically for superhero type stuff would be years in the making. Bureaucratic red tape and all that. So in my opinion, you could probably give her 1-3 ribbons and not be off given what she has done.
So is it wrapping up now? Can we get back to whether or not Tommy Boy is allowed to invade Earth?
If I was a genie and my master wished me to “Make [them] one with everything, they’d get either a hot dog or a pizza.
A hamburger would also be a valid response.
On the issue of “bling,” i am no expert, but in general (a) it’s only worn with dress uniforms these days (new uniform design!), and (b) there are standard metals, opedation-specidic metals,, and occasionally classified metals that are awarded but only worn for audiences that know the secret (the Twilight council support might come under this). So a special “first action” metal for everyone involved in the Vehemence action, a First Contact metal for the space adventures, and classified “ARC SWAT” Commendation Metal for the Twilight Council action. Just thoughts… PS did Sydney esrn a Purple Heart for dying and being resurrected/ reset during the Twilight Council?
So, panel 1 is basically a magical analogy to Asimov altering the First Law to include “or by inaction allow”
Nice touch with Tommy quizzically looking at the marshmallow :D
This moment (enhanced by the tiny band-aid on his cracked horn) is easily my favorite panel of the page.
Probably came from Sydney’s utility belt. And is that John Cleese in the first panel? He seems to have lost his outrageous accent, though.
Tom nuzzling Dabbler has to be one of the cuter moments so far.
“Shall I roast it or eat it as is?”
> putting someone under a geas to “Deliver this to the king” versus “See that the king receives this” may or may not be the same thing.
“Deliver this to the king” sounds like something said to a messenger. “See that the king receives this” sounds like something said to messenger’s escort.
So. Medals.
When I joined, I ended up with a few “given to everybody” ones. There was a, “Welcome to ARCSWAT” level thing they gave a fancy name…Air Force Training Ribbon, looks like. Got another for joining post 911.
Now, I could have also gotten another medal for being an honor graduate of basic training, and I could have gotten one for Marksmanship (Power mastery?). Completely fair to give her a low-ranking medal just for being a Super Asset.
Beyond that, look into the various NATO medals for participation in a joint operation with friendly powers? Trouble is, any of these low-ranking introductory medals should also belong to Maxima and all the others.
Gotta imagine that ARCSWAT is going to be fighting medal bloat hard. Any injury sustained in the line of duty warrants a Purple Heart, saving five people from certain death warrants some sort of Outstanding Achievement Medal… but for superheroes, that’s a Tuesday. Every achievement is outstanding, because you’re a magical superweapon.
Well, others have mentioned relatives having medals and not wearing them. It’s possible everyone in ARCSWAT has a handful of “participation” medals / ribbons that most of them (like Maxima) don’t bother to wear. I mean, are you _required_ to wear all your bling in dress uniform?
Ribbons are optional. If worn, all ribbons and devices will be worn.
Obviously, there isn’t enough room for one to wear 400 ribbons, which is why the Air Force has a possible total of around 86. Being awarded the same medal more than once is demonstrated by adding an insignia, such as an oak leaf cluster. These also condense, like Monopoly houses becoming a hotel.
But yes. If you’re wearing your ribbon rack, you have to wear the whole thing and it needs to be up to date and in the proper order.
People who actually get dirty for a living don’t tend to wear it, much, but if you were getting a medal it’d be likely that you’d wear all your other decorations to that ceremony.
“Being awarded the same medal more than once is demonstrated by adding an insignia, such as an oak leaf cluster.”
The Brits call it a “bar”, which is attached above the actual medal and clasps to the ribbon. The description is “Whatever and Bar”. It is possible to have multiple bars on any given medal, and the type of medal (courage, service, etc) is not important.
It’s possible that they’d adjust the requirements based on the capability of the ARC-SWAT member. An ARC-SWAT member could potentially save five regular soldiers at little risk to themselves because of the massive capability gap between them, and so that would be expected of them rather than being decoration-worthy. If an ARC-SWAT member willingly puts themself at great personal risk for the benefit of their fellows or the overall operation (like Sydney popping her shield over herself and Vehemence, putting herself in a “please don’t kill me” situation), though, that should receive a similar decoration for a regular soldier putting themself at a similar personal risk for the greater good.
One could (again) compare them to aircrew here. A well-placed precision strike might save a lot of footsoldiers, but for the aircrew that delivered it, it’s Tuesday. If they had to fly through “you’d have to be crazy to fly through that!” levels of air defences to deliver that strike, though, that would be medal-worthy as long as the higher-ups decided that the decision to do so was out of bravery rather than foolhardiness. The requirements for a medal are calibrated to what is expected of the potential recipient.
It occurs to me that the generation right before “modern succubus”, assuming they aren’t sterile, would likely have reproduced. I have no idea if the children would have been proto-succubi, but there’s have been something going on.
Weird, my gravatar seems to not be working.
What is Dabbler licking in the second panel,some kind of candy treat!?
Yes. Frex: https://www.amazon.com/Large-Rainbow-Twisty-Pops-Lollipop/dp/B095RM6W8J/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/140-8003528-3785455?pd_rd_w=95jPU&pf_rd_p=c64372fa-c41c-422e-990d-9e034f73989b&pf_rd_r=XEA0FAXBB3MTK5SRHHQ9&pd_rd_r=fb4d9e39-4124-403c-8a73-6721058821e6&pd_rd_wg=tiSdE&pd_rd_i=B095RM6W8J&psc=1
Yes. Google “unicorn twisty pops”
So the Perfect Zen Master goes to the hot dog stand and says “Make me one with everything.”
/rimshot
The Perfect Zen Master then gives the vendor a 20 USD bill and gets their hot dog with everything on it. Yup, just the hot dog. PZM asks “Where is my change?”. Vendor says “Change only comes from within”.
Before we assume to much about the Master/Succubus relationship, let’s wait and see if Dabbler has any more exposition to make. She may have yet to cover some of the important details.
Yes
hmm considering all the time that’s passed, why haven’t the sucubi just used magic to fix the hole it was put there by magic so just remove it with magic, and considering loopholes can 2 sucubi become each others Master, or how about finding some brain dead vegetable to keep alive as your master and sealed in a magic space like dabblers item bag
Using magic to fix a magic hole, wonder why no one has ever thought to try that before…
And Dabbles kinda mentioned how two succubabes going ‘at it’ won’t feed them very long, if at all
Fairly sure the ‘master’ has to be sentient and capable of giving orders of their own
some good points on the last two but magic in this world seems to be treated like a programing language, so you could assume the Hole is a form of DRM and that stuff gets hacked out in like 5 mins after a game releases, they’ve presumably had thousands of years
I would take a guess that plugging that hole was made illegal in the same act that recognised them as self-aware, living beings.
Because they’re a race of robot super-assassin/spys. People (At least some infernals are people) will be scared of them.
We didn’t know until this moment, and the team did not know until this moment, that Dabbler’s very life is bound to an interdimensional conqueror.
Substitute “was just revealed as” if that satisfies the pedantry.
This was supposed to be a reply to the “what do you mean just became?” pendant above.
Am I the only one waiting for the wacky situation where Dabbler has to bond to Maxima for a short duration and won’t stop referring to her as “Mistress”…
Or if she bonds with several people and refers to them as her harem.
“No, of course they don’t stack. Is this your first time playing this game?”
Unless you know something we do not, everyone is on their first playthrough of “life” :)
The Hindus, Jainists, Buddhists and Sikhs might disagree with you. :) What with reincarnation and all that. :)