Comic for Monday, December 21st
So last time Mium tried that I made snide remarks about “Mium, I don’t think that’s how you fix prototypes”… what do I know, apparently that’s how you do it (… 😛 )
I think Mium is straying from the plan again.
Miko does not like going outside. Miko believes the sun is a great evil sent to scourge humanity. Miko also doesn’t have a high opinion of other humans for that matter, but a combination of “we gotta do what we gotta do” and sheer bribery seems to be working.
There will be a new vote incentive tonight (you can view it here; let’s just call it non-canon so we don’t have worry about if it’s a spoiler! suffice to say it was raining today – including on me when I tried to go running – and that may have had some influence on what I drew). The rest of the weeks comics will go up on Patreon tonight – this is good news for everyone, as that means there won’t be any missed updates for impending holiday!
The redraw of the original pages has hit page 5; just… 180 to go! … did you know that there is apparently ONE-HUNDRED and EIGHTY FIVE PAGES of The Far Side of Utopia? Holy shit, I didn’t know that either until I just looked it up. God damn. Well, it’s been a fun ride and there’s plenty more to go… we are just getting started.
PS: I have not forgetting or shirked out on the Lore and World pages, they are coming (in some early form at least) soon! I just want to make sure I’m not telling fibs in them… there is a lot higher bar for things I make public than my own notes 😉
Loading ...
dectector -> detector
Ahhh! He woke her up when Naomi isn’t even there! Sadness! You are keeping them apart on purpose aren’t you??
It’s a conspiracy! A vile conspiracy!
Maybe it’s a good thing she’s not there when Ila wakes up considering what happened last time 😉
Mium should have waited until Naomi returned from her shower. As it is, things may get…….awkward. ^^
On the “About” page, it mentions how their “knowledge of magic and technology” began “to pool.” I’d like to learn more about that.
Did this dimension rely almost entirely on magic before conventional tech was introduced from another world? Did they not have anything like television before it was imported? If so, how did the introduction of stuff like TV and cell phones influence their culture and views?
Or, perhaps they did have TVs and cell phones, but they operated on principles of magic? Or, instead, did they rely on scrying balls and magic mirrors for similar uses?
Also, do they have laws to restrict cultural contamination, like limiting exposure via trade?
Similarly, I have to wonder if IDS’s World knew very little or nothing about magic before discovering other dimensions. How did the sudden introduction of magic impact them?
If magic tech were suddenly introduced to our world, I’d think there’d be a HUGE demand for it. The applications are probably endless, from entertainment to medicine to even the exploration and exploitation of space. And, most likely, it would be heavily regulated so it doesn’t get abused or “fall into the wrong hands.”
Also: The story has already shown us that there’s a thriving black market. But are there legitimate ways to obtain film, books, music, and legal trade goods from other dimensions? Are some celebrities gaining fame in other worlds now? Do copyright laws and royalties apply across dimensions? Are they enforced?
Just wanted to drop a note here that I will answer these questions, but as it’ll probably be a… ahh… rather long answer in some places, I’m deferring it until tomorrow 😉
In fact, it’s probably simpler to try to get the Lore and World pages live and point to them for parts of this. A few if these answers (like the IDS’s world and how magic became wide spread) are fairly major backstory events! 😛
For the better or the worse, there is answers to all these questions! And the situation is just as complicated as you suspect!
Since the last question is a simpler one… I’ll pick that to answer now! Yes; there is some legal trade, but it’s highly regulated (by the IDS) and very expensive. One major reason for the cost is that a “gateway” doesn’t stay open – it just dumps a set (usually pretty small) spot across.
That last point is relevant because of an earlier plot point that’s still bouncing around ties into it heavily – the Bridgepoint gateways are basically tunnels – you could haul stuff across for 1/1000 the effort with one, but even the IDS can’t make these (though they think they are getting close, they are wary of them – and sure has hell don’t want anyone else to have one).
Copyrights and royalties are probably not well enforced – the IDS isn’t all that large in the scale of “police a world”; they mostly try to keep people from replicated or possessing highly controlled technology (mostly gateway stuff – they tried to keep the lid on autocasters, but that cats out of the bag pretty heavily).
Since music and stuff would be really hard to keep the lid on, it’s probably jumped the barrier pretty easily – you could probably find a lot of books and music available, but it’s not necessarily widespread, and the IDS doesn’t approve people like musicians go on tour in the other dimension (though such an event seems inevitable… 😉 ) they still probably have acquired cult-hit followings just for the novelty of what it is.
… my “this is probably too long to answer right now” answer is already too long! 😛 Still, I will try to answer more of this tomorrow (probably with actually putting the World info page).
The Lore and World Pages have been published (available on the Menu at the top of the page; Setting, World(s), and Lore are all their pages).
This doesn’t answer all your questions, but probably helps with some.
As time goes on I will improve them and clean them up to a better reading experience.
As a general note, these pages are not intended as required reading, but merely more information about the setting for those want it.
Short answers though!
-Did the Malsa/PACT world have technology prior to Contact?
Yes; they had fairly advanced standard economic technology, though less advanced into the computer/digital/information age. They had far less advanced military technology as they’d relied more on magic for that.
-Are there laws to restrict trade to reduce technological/cultural contamination?
Yes, by the IDS. The enforcement of these as grown increasingly dubious as they make more concessions though, particularly to PACT.
-Is there legal regulated trade? Cultural exchange?
Mostly answered above, but yes. Very expensive though. There are certain language barriers; though there are shared languages (a story for a much later time!) they are still hard to understand without familiarity.
Lemme know if between that or the pages if you still got questions (on the off chance you’ve made it through this 😀 )
It’s fun trying to puzzle out what Miko is saying. 🙂
Miun is just looking for Ila’s power switch. and it seems like he found it–much to Peter’s dismay. ^^
Re, Voting Incentive: We still don’t know if an AI can get angry, but we know one that’s crabby most of the time. ^^
Haha. Originally I actually had Miko’s dialogue here shown, but I found it cluttered and found this way more amusing.
I somehow suspect poking an off prototype wouldn’t usually work for most other people… Mium may have cheated a little 😉
As far as the Voting Incentive… I reckon it depends on the AI 😉