Erfworld

^^^ I don't think the Signamancy changed, no. We've been given descriptions of a lot of the characters and the world from before Parson showed up and it's full of puns, references and even just basic physical descriptions.

^^ I didn't necessarily mean that Jed would lead to resource expenditure destroying Erfworld or anything, just that if one of them is bad the having five hundred is almost certainly worse. For example, we were told that cities like to be fought over. That's not really conducive to bringing about Peace On Erf.

I'm not sure why you think Erfworld is adapting itself to him. Could you explain how you reached that conclusion?

edited 20th Jun '16 8:45:32 AM by Arha

Where does the idea come from that it's Parson's perceptions that matter? I got the impression that it's an independent thing, esp. in regards to Charlie, who seems to have made his own choices.

edited 20th Jun '16 8:46:33 AM by DeMarquis

I don't have leisure to dig up the references, but we've had lots of exposition about how Erfworld's Signamancy is filtering the game world through Parson's own mental paradigm, so that he can readily grasp it.

Either it was already always this way or it's all filtered through Parson's knowledge: both cannot exist simultaneously unless the world was preemptively designed just for him.

edited 20th Jun '16 8:48:08 AM by Fighteer

I don't really read it like that. I read it more like Erfworld being based on our world or connected to it in some way and thus it forms itself in relation to our symbols and culture. The world existed before he did and was still full of Gwiffon Peeps and people drugging out and hallucinating what amounts to Pokemon battles.

Is this ending with Bonnie recruting a bunch of wild Archons(or other bunch of allies)?

Parson is a Retconjurer.

edited 20th Jun '16 9:36:08 AM by googlebot

Please dont do that to me. I'm excited enough already.

There's one major point about Parson and Signamancy that hasn't been brought up: One of Stanley's requirements was that he be "familiar" with the world. So the spell grabbed the most Perfect Warlord who would understand all those pop culture references. Maybe without that requirement, the spell would have reached back through time and grabbed Sun Tzu, who would have been very confused as to what the hell was going on. Or, for a more direct example, Judy Gale showed no signs of understanding the references, but she still managed to survive.

Weird. So Erfworld picked Parson as the Perfect Warlord because he was uniquely suited to its inherent Signamancy? That has Law Of Narrative Causality written all over it.

edited 20th Jun '16 11:06:21 AM by Fighteer

Instead of a mere VR interface, this is a Lotus-Eater Machine interface to the game. The other Titans see the same game mechanics with different unit motivations.

Erfworld is a non-sentient AI. It has no self awareness, but it has access to all the knowledge and information of Earth.

Don and company seem to have unraveled most of the plot. Good for them, but will it let them make good decisions?

Oh good back to Transylvito.

So it seems like the bracer is supposed to be tapping into the user's intuition.

It's kind of satisfying seeing Charlie's reputation backfire on him since I'd put decent odds on him actually being legit here. Aaaand Ansom appears to be a prisoner again, but I don't care about that subplot at all.

You know, the more Don comes to his senses and acts rationally, the more worried I get that Fate will do something awful to him just so Caesar becomes ruler.

Also, wtf, Jillian?

Capturing a diplomat and messenger? *sigh* then again, I shouldn't be surprised. I do actually like this subplot, because it gives us a chance to have Albert and Ansom get on famously — just to spite Jillian.

More seriously, Vinny and Ansom touching base would be another positive factor on the "you should ally/be friends with GK!" debate. A recommendation from Vinny that Decrypted are still people, plus an eyewitness to the the Hobgobwin mass betrayal would be just swell for Parson and Co.

edited 24th Jun '16 5:29:24 PM by Earnest

Wow, that discussion about how the bracer gives probabilities answered that question remarkably specifically.

On the Erfworld forums people reckon it taps into all the information that the side has available to make its guess.

Well then. That's a very precise random turn of phrase for the situation.

That, uh, may not have been the wisest choice of words, Jill.

You know, I don't really like Jillian much, but I do have to wonder about why Charlie wants her kept alive so much. It can't just be the deal of a lifetime thing since he probably knows that information was compromised a long time ago so she must have some kind of prophecy about her death or Decryption will bring back that jester in her head.

edited 28th Jun '16 7:02:58 AM by Arha

It has to be something like that. I can't see a reason he'd want to keep such a loose canon around otherwise, especially at such monetary and strategic expense.

If it's because of a Prediction, then it's especially interesting considering how hard he fights against it. It must be something especially beneficial to him, like, he can't be killed while she's alive. Though I do hope we find out what it is if and when they decrypt Marie. Being the predictamancer closest to Jill, she ought to know.

Im sure they'll check with Vinny before doing anything rash.

A running theory is that Charlie when removed Jillian's jester in book 0 he made it so that she while fated to harm him couldn't actually do it, if she ever dies though her fate will jump to someone else.

As long as Jillian lives her jester will never come back, but if she dies the jester will reappear in a new person a come after Charlie again.

If that's the case, then Jillian's death will be a major plot point.

new is up

New chapter out. I like where this is going: Somewhere very bad for Jillian.

Wonder where she's going. Probably not Transylvito, based on Albert's reactions. Gobwin Knob seems like the obvious choice, but who knows why she's go there.

The page in question.

The politics are getting political.