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At the same time, he's clearly not inherently demonic in nature. Between the angel and the sphinx and the demonic entities he's encountered, surely it would have come up sooner. Besides, can demons even perform acts of creation? However he was created, the situation is not nearly so simple as "he's a demonic creature."
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Sep 2, 2014 10:58
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A reflection of a demon bound with the history and self perception of a human could perhaps overcome the issues of his base nature.
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Sep 2, 2014 11:06
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We don't know what the exact deal is with 'his' friends either. Rose's note to herself a while ago would suggest they were never her friends, suggesting Blake may be carved from a real person.
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Sep 2, 2014 12:08
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Tollymain posted:Well that it certainly was Yay, first time a prediction has gone my way. 
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Sep 2, 2014 16:55
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He's probably made by The Barber, possibly as part of The Barbers "reproduction" the way the three bodies Ur has are his form of reproduction, but the "raw" materials were a real person named Blake, who had these people as friends, and Grandma Rose did something to subvert the Barbers normal means of "reproduction". Basically Blake isn't actually to be feared despite his origin, but Rose is going to use that origin, and neglect to mention some more important details, in an attempt to get Blake killed/destroyed/removed from the picture.
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Sep 2, 2014 18:36
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I think the Barber carved theory makes sense. This chapter really solidified that people are paying way more attention to Blake than would make sense if he was 'just' a vestige. Which is awesome.
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Sep 2, 2014 19:15
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This is my favorite gathered pages yet. That plant kid who just stood in his empty house  Also, it's cool to get an official statement that Blake was a ridiculously natural practitioner. I too, can't imagine how Rose, the way she's been acting, would have survived in Blake's place.
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Sep 4, 2014 05:46
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Mr. Wednesday posted:This is my favorite gathered pages yet. That plant kid who just stood in his empty house Yeah I wonder if Wildbow's familiar with Unknown Armies. This chapter gave me a major Unknown Armies vibe.
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Sep 4, 2014 06:04
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This next arc will be fun.
Fellwenner fucked around with this message at 09:35 on Sep 4, 2014 |
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Sep 4, 2014 09:26
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Caught back up with Hero Historia again and I had a passing thought. Mad Words is inspired by Enkidu, am I correct? Also Sabit  People say it's always the quiet ones, I wonder if they know why? Social isolation and bottled-up emotions are not ingredients for a healthy psyche. As a personal example, I hold no grudges against individuals myself, but if I underwent apotheosis there are a lot of institutions that would not survive.
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Sep 4, 2014 18:37
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That's actually why I didn't go with a Gilgamesh retelling for the Sumerian arc; Mad Words and Enkidu are similar, and their roles are similar. I might go with that story it if I revisit the era, though.
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Sep 4, 2014 23:29
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Okay, new chapter (11.1) is up, so it's time for wild and inaccurate guesses about what's coming down the pipeline. The arc title is Malfeasance, which (I did have to look it up) refers to a public official performing an act that violate law, or any act that violates public trust. Since Blake isn't currently in a position of power, I'd guess that he's not the cause of the action. On the other hand, we have a very limited pool of people who could claim to have public trust. Rose sure as hell doesn't, despite being relatively chummy with Jeremy on their way out. Sandra and Duncan are basically the only two I can think of who are in a position of public prominence to violate the laws they are ostensibly protecting (Johannes Now, let's all sit back and enjoy just how wrong I am over the next few weeks. Edit: Bonus wrong prediction. The chapter title refers to a past event, in which it comes to light that one of the Behaims used time magic to assist Rose Senior in the creation of Blake. Grundulum fucked around with this message at 06:08 on Sep 6, 2014 |
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Sep 6, 2014 05:29
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I really want to know how Blake Macguyver's out of this with playing cards, a book, and coins.
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Sep 6, 2014 05:39
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Grundulum posted:On the other hand, we have a very limited pool of people who could claim to have public trust. After the last Collected Pages, Andy and Eva seem like the most obvious answer.
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Sep 6, 2014 05:46
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TheRagamuffin posted:After the last Collected Pages, Andy and Eva seem like the most obvious answer. I thought about that, but nobody really trusts them. It's just that taking out (or trying to) witch hunters seems like a great way to bring a speedy end to yourself. Better to let them focus on the more malign forces while keeping a clean face around them. I call it the Gentleman Johnny Marcone gambit.
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Sep 6, 2014 05:54
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TheRagamuffin posted:After the last Collected Pages, Andy and Eva seem like the most obvious answer. In before rocket launcher. Anyway, this was another opportunity to ask his friends why they're still with Rose that Blake didn't take. I'm pretty convinced he's simply incapable of taking that kind of action by construction at this point. Notice whenever he's angry he gets the urge to simply 'not think about' Rose. He should be furious at her but instead his anger gets conveniently redirected and he continues trying to help her. I wonder if guessing that he's demonic in origin is a mental block of his as well. He had plenty of time to think about his origins, but never seemed to openly think, 'I wonder if Rose Sr., the preeminent user of demons who created me, might have created me using a demon'.
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Sep 6, 2014 06:01
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I like how people in the comments are trying to figure out how Blake managed to get the books/cards/coins onto his side of the mirror when it's pretty explicitly spelled out in the story  Also, another example of Blake being a natural genius at magic bullshit and bullshitting magic.
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Sep 6, 2014 06:15
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Grundulum posted:Okay, new chapter (11.1) is up, so it's time for wild and inaccurate guesses about what's coming down the pipeline. Mags fits this description perfectly.
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Sep 6, 2014 06:25
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Tollymain posted:I like how people in the comments are trying to figure out how Blake managed to get the books/cards/coins onto his side of the mirror when it's pretty explicitly spelled out in the story I sort of feel like Blake's "Maybe I figured this out and Rose didn't because I'm not real and she is the real one." is starting to push this too drat far. I'm getting pretty suspicious that Blake's belief that he's the fake might be in error.
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Sep 6, 2014 07:25
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Pavlov posted:Anyway, this was another opportunity to ask his friends why they're still with Rose that Blake didn't take. I'm pretty convinced he's simply incapable of taking that kind of action by construction at this point. Notice whenever he's angry he gets the urge to simply 'not think about' Rose. He should be furious at her but instead his anger gets conveniently redirected and he continues trying to help her. I wonder if guessing that he's demonic in origin is a mental block of his as well. He had plenty of time to think about his origins, but never seemed to openly think, 'I wonder if Rose Sr., the preeminent user of demons who created me, might have created me using a demon'. Not only that, but as soon as he realized he was dealing with Rose and not Conquest-Rose, she immediately became off limits. I think we've seen that Wildbow is good enough that all these shards are not coincidences. I also think Rose her information about Blake might not be so accurate as she thinks. If she did know exactly what he was, she would also know he is 'programmed' to be loyal to her and she would have used him by now, even if it was just for a suicide mission. NecroMonster posted:I'm getting pretty suspicious that Blake's belief that he's the fake might be in error. Well this chapter all but spells out he was created from a real person. He is probably very real, just not very human. Seeing as he still looks at things from a human point of view he might confuse that as becoming less 'real'.
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Sep 6, 2014 10:06
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So hey. I had a few false starts with my own serial, but I finally got the thing to a place I'm happy with, so I rebooted and I'm updating again! Here's a brief blurb:The Bitter Drop posted:Anzu Menelik has lost his daughter. Read from the start here, if that piques your interest! In other news, I'm reading Pact and honestly, after a slowish start, by 1.3 I was sucked in. The prose isn't quite my cup of tea, but I am really enjoying the plot.
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Sep 6, 2014 11:57
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HiHo ChiRho posted:I really want to know how Blake Macguyver's out of this with playing cards, a book, and coins. The Awakening Ritual.
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Sep 6, 2014 19:40
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I feel like another shoe is going to drop as far as finding out what Blake is. Like maybe the 'real' Blake was Rose's twin brother or something.
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Sep 6, 2014 23:39
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Victorkm posted:The Awakening Ritual. That's what I was thinking as well.
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Sep 7, 2014 01:23
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Victorkm posted:The Awakening Ritual. That was my initial thought, but reading back he doesn't have bowls or some other items "required" from the awakening ritual.
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Sep 7, 2014 03:59
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HiHo ChiRho posted:items "required" from the awakening ritual. i doubt blake needs to reawaken, but if he does, i think he as a magical savant probably doesn't need even a majority of the ritual components if he puts his mind and a bit of time to the task.
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Sep 7, 2014 04:20
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Yeah, the exact details of the awakening ritual are unimportant, what is important is the personal significance to you and the significance to the spirits.
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Sep 7, 2014 06:48
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Pact update. Blake is a slippery motherfucker.
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Sep 9, 2014 07:09
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It is looking increasingly likely that Blake is one of those genius types that Andy mentioned waaaaaay back in act 1. Time to go back and remind myself exactly what Andy said could only be done if you're one of those genius types.
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Sep 9, 2014 07:59
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I am so annoyed that Blake and Rose still aren't communicating. I feel that if they were just explicit with each other all the time there would be less issues. Why can't Rose just come out and say what the hell her problem with what Blake is, is? Just tell him. "This is why you're in the mirror prison and not out helping me." Instead she's just being a secretive, imperious bitch.
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Sep 9, 2014 09:11
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Fellwenner posted:Why can't Rose just come out and say what the hell her problem with what Blake is, is? Just tell him. "This is why you're in the mirror prison and not out helping me." She straight-up said she thinks telling him why she thinks he needs to be bound is just as bad a move as not binding him in the first place. Fake edit: Also "secretive imperious [expletive]" probably describes every semi-ambitious magician in existence 
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Sep 9, 2014 09:22
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Oh, forgot about that. I just want everyone to get along.
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Sep 9, 2014 09:28
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Obviously Rose believes telling Blake about his true nature will give him sufficient power to be a major pain in the rear end and I guess maybe enough to be able to attack her.
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Sep 9, 2014 13:50
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The decision to keep that information from him and imprison him while his friends are in danger, on the other hand, has worked out pretty much perfectly!
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Sep 9, 2014 14:20
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Ok, besides all the awesome stuff Blake did, what I really liked was having the motivation for his friends explained. They were with Rose initially because they were lost, then later because she could provide comfort, and afterwards because of their own faults. Tiff because she has dependency issues, Alexis because she thinks she can 'help' Rose, and Ty probably for the same reason he joined up with Blake: he gets swept up in things and follows his friends. Looking at those motivations, I'm calling it now that Blake tries to convince Alexis to leave by comparing what Rose is doing to what Carl was doing.
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Sep 9, 2014 15:19
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With the introduction of a new character (and a Behaim, no less!), I may actually have guessed right for once. I wish I had the self-control to wait for chapters to build up. Wildbow is quite good at what he does, and these breaks in the action are agonizing. Edit: now with spoilers! I don't remember who said that Blake may be compelled by his nature to support Rose, but Alister's oddly knowledgeable comments support that idea rather deeply. Grundulum fucked around with this message at 05:27 on Sep 11, 2014 |
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Sep 11, 2014 05:19
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Sounds like we're about to have a contest between two of the genius types, then.
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Sep 11, 2014 05:42
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Yu-Gi-Oh fight! Bring it on!
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Sep 11, 2014 09:56
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Is it me or does it look like the really obvious solution to this problem is Blake himself doing nothing, or even just not declaring war and using the subsequent Alister loss of magic for lying to take him down? Unless, of course, when Rose gives the mark he is compelled to attack. Even then, just not declaring war sounds like enough to be a non-minor lie.
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Sep 11, 2014 11:03
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Namarrgon posted:Is it me or does it look like the really obvious solution to this problem is Blake himself doing nothing, or even just not declaring war and using the subsequent Alister loss of magic for lying to take him down? Unless, of course, when Rose gives the mark he is compelled to attack. Even then, just not declaring war sounds like enough to be a non-minor lie. I don't think he will have a choice. What that one poster (
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Sep 11, 2014 19:15
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