The Order of the Stick

Yes, let's move on to a less contentious topic.

So who thinks Miko was \*is shot*

edited 23rd May '18 5:12:31 PM by Wryte

I'm assuming we're switching back and forth from the memory. The end of the previous strip didn't feel like a cliffhanger; Greg is just multitasking (and I'm guessing that's what's going to trip him up).

There's an interesting line in this one about having to "forget everything I know about them". Whatever else he may be doing, Durkon has effectively eroded Greg's confidence in the value of any of the information he's gleaned from viewing his memories, at least about the Order.

(Now I wonder if Durkon is just going to share a nice cherished memory of his mother with no ulterior motive except to experience it himself, and then Greg is going to tie himself in I Know You Know I Know knots attempting to figure out what nefarious purpose it was supposed to achieve.)

edited 23rd May '18 5:22:25 PM by johnnye

I was kinda sad we didn't dive right into the memory, I was kind of excited about learning a big, possibly character perception altering secret. Oh well, we'll get there eventually.

I wonder if the memory and real life is playing simaltanioisly. Not because Durkon is stalling or anything, but because Greg is purpusfully not giving it his full attention. "speed of thought and all" but what if Greg isn't thinking about the memory at full speed. Forcing Durkon into a lazy remenising rather than a frantic recollection.

A classic villainous blunder, playing with your food. XD

Well, he doesn't trust the contents of the memory to be anything but misdirection, so it's in his interest to draw it out.

Since I missed the conversation, I want to point out that this is why I'm glad that Finnish doesn't have gendered pronouns Its not possible to have arguments on which is right pronoun to use when there is only single one

edited 24th May '18 9:25:57 PM by SpookyMask

English is in-between. There's other languages that feel the need to gender everything. At least they usually avert "It" Is Dehumanizing (because there isn't an "it").

I heard an interesting theory recently about why English doesn't do gendered nouns, namely that they were frequently invaded by French and German forces, which gender nouns differently. Faced with shifts every few years, they threw up their hands and abandoned the concept entirely.

No idea if it actually is plausible, but it makes for a nice story.

Having studied German and struggled to remember which noun has which gender, I can confirm that's a possibility.

You missed the local Brythonic languages out — they had their own scheme for gendering nouns, too. Between them, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Normans and everybody else with clashing gendered noun concepts... Yeah.

Somewhere between being Ænglisc and becoming English, we collectively decided the concept was flawed.

edited 25th May '18 11:09:19 AM by Euodiachloris

Of course, gendered pronouns aren't the only crazy pronouns around. Apparently several Native American languages have a pronoun specifically for "all of you, but not you." Exclusionary plural.

That sounds like it could come in handy.

And Hebrew has singular, dual, and plural. Languages are weird.

Chinese has an inclusive and exclusive "us".

The worst part is which one is which differs by dialect and region.

So I think we've all been kind of assuming that Greg's plan was just to dominate the council and have the dwarf demigod be too Lawful Stupid to notice/care, but in strip number 1111 he specifically had the Exarch studying the rules for how council procedure goes so they can use them as a shield.

His plan for tampering with the vote is probably more complicated than we've been giving him credit for.

That could just be setting up the bit about "if it's *discovered* the chiefs are all dominated, does that scupper the plan or will Lawful Stupid mean their votes are counted anyway?"

I just noticed something in the latest strip. Greg and Poncho Fangza have veeery subtly Glowing Eyes of Doom in the panel before the domination kicks in, while the others just have the usual red.

The Exarch already said that's what their plan is.

Yes, they plan on dominating the people, but they (probably) don't just plan on the dwarf demi-god being so stupid as to not notice or care.

We've already established that the Dwarf god-king is indeed that Lawful Stupid when he refused to give his vote at the Godsmoot, so I don't really see why Greg's plan would need to be any more complicated.

We've established he's going to ask them on what should be an obvious answer, we have not established that he's stupid enough to not notice they've all been dominated and not thinking for themselves, or that he'd go "still counts" in that situation.

There is a difference between those two, and it would frankly be super negligent of Hel/Greg to assume the latter in a way I don't think they've shown themselves to be.

edited 27th May '18 3:21:37 PM by LSBK

If there's no rule specifically against it I could easily believe he would be stupid enough to just do what they said anyway. I mean, given his backstory or whatever, it doesn't seem like he ever makes any decisions for himself, he just asks other people. Which makes me wonder why they venerated him so much.

Maybe because he asked them first instead of doing something they might not have liked because he felt like it.

I mean, a leader honest enough to give the people a choice in certain matters might gain some popularity right?

It wasn't that he never made decisions himself, it was that when it specifically involved all the clans, he'd ask their approval.

Yeah, that's it.

Giving the people a say and sticking with it probably explains why they hold him in such high regard. Some leaders aren't that honest...even if there are reasons for being so.