I think the art directions for this page would have been something like “Arron talks a lot”. Some pages think they are books, I can’t help it! πŸ˜›

As he notes, CI is a civilian branch. While they are have slightly bigger (magic) sticks than the average police force, they are an investigative in nature (in theory). That said, Situation Containment (ie, “Monster Hunters”) by virtue of their role simple cannot operate with the level of firepower that anyone would be comfortable leaving in civilian hands, thus SC agents are military while CI agents are civilian. If you think that’s confusing, so do plenty of people in world I’m sure. There is a reason that IDS people always claim distinctions between the branches… there is a lot of variation.

Why Arron is still technically an active Major with the ability to activate reserves is fairly simple as well – the military has a vested interest interest in having people on location, but isn’t covered by the treaty that gives the IDS power to operate, thus they leave former military officers that are in the IDS as active officers.

Since the military (of where the IDS is from) doesn’t have a treaty with Malsa (or the other regions) it’s jurisdiction is not defined or limited (or, by certain countries opinion, existent…). So essentially his playing by the technical rulebook of his own chain of command, and pretty much just ignoring Malsa’s say in the matter.

Anyway… The explination of the page was longer than the page. I reckon that’s not a good thing. Oh well… πŸ˜›

I’m flying back tomorrow (today) so Wednesday’s comic will be made from home on my real tablet!… and probably with not much sleep! πŸ˜‰

Lots of cool stuff should be coming by end of week – I’ll start cashing out those IOUs for Vote Incentives, Patreon content, and all that stuff I’ve slacked off on while vacation (hey… least I kept updating all the way through! :D)