Comic for Monday, July 17th, 2023
Jul18
Comic.
We have seen Miko look like this before. Miko does not seem surprised.
This world looks slightly different than last time we saw it (when Tyler and Amy got pulled into it by the Rogue family head, and Mium fished them back out of it). This is mostly down to where they are in it, and some other factors we’ll get to.
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I hate to do this when we are already on a glacial pace, but I’m going to have to skip this week. On the downside, that means no comic this week. On the bright side that means you only have to wait a week for the next comic rather than two.
…I realize that’s not much of a bright side. Anyway, just really busy and behind on somethings, and not sure I could get the page up today, so rather than dragging my feet and delaying other stuff, we’ll just aim for next Monday.
AARRGGHH!!! Need comic. Need comic now. Will have to shut computer off and get some sleep if you are not going to post a comic. Wait ….. that’s a good thing. The doctor told me today that I need to develop a regular sleep pattern …. no more 2am bedtimes.
Seriously, take care of real life issues and problems so we will get more excellent comics in the future..
Well, for taking bright sides where they may, I lost my main computer and my webcomic bookmarks a while ago and had lost track of this comic at that point, and your current pace did help me catch up much faster than I would’ve been able to otherwise (I think I managed in a little over a week).
“Tactical Mage” is that world’s version of “Nuclear Weapon”
AKA “Our Most Destructive Class of Weapon”
Thus the 3 tactical mages are obvious
Kally, Ila, and Eliana
All 3 of them have demonstrated that they could destroy a significant part, if not all, of a major population center. They are each indeed the equivalent of a nuclear weapon.
Tyler is not destructive enough to qualify as a Nuke.
I think that’s the list. Eliana and Kally are confirmed tactical mages. Ila makes a lot of sense in that class given how her main power works.
Tyler is a powerful mage, but we have never seen him use anything longer range than a few dozen meters.
I think that the only reason its not obvious that it is Ila is because she hasn’t used her power to maximum potential. Large scale HVW’s are established as a powerful weapon in the setting, and Ila is basically a walking one. If she fires one of the Skyhammer rods from the sky instead of flicking a piece of gravel, she could do a lot more damage (as long as Mium helped her aim).
Naomi probably knows more about Ila’s potential power. She’s the one primarily responsible for Ila joining the group, and has essentially unrestricted access to information from Mium.
I recall a bit of discussion about Illa having battlezone control similar to a Tactical mage when she shot down the gunship super easily a few chapers ago.
It makes sense: overwhelming Range (with Muim’s help) and Speed, and considerable Power (which we haven’t seen the full extent of, as. you mentioned). Even Kally would struggle to match Illa’s speed and range at this point. We saw the practical limits of Kally’s range when she failed to shoot down skyhammer, and the practical limits of her speed at the same time. Illa is just more impressive on these categories.
With Muim’s help on observation of battle dynamics and projectile calculation, Illa is nearly unbeatable. Even many of the more powerful charachters in the series (the Kor’s world soldier, Kally, Nathan, Sophie, Eliana, etc) would probably struggle to do much other than defend. Without Muim’s help though, Illa will lose a lot of range, be quite vulnerable to suprise attacks, and combined with reduced awareness of battle dynamics, might lose enough battlefield dominance to lose the “tactical mage” title. Not clear at this point, it really depends on her raw, unassisted power output.
As I understand it, “shooting down skyhammer” wasn’t taking the station out of the sky, but the equivalent of trying to hose down a bullet, fired from darkness, using a flamethrower hot enough to melt said bullet, provided you got it on target fast enough, when you also don’t know exactly which moment, much less from which shadow, said bullet is going to be fired. Kally tried, but there was never much chance she’d be able unless she just got lucky. Had she had the target, and the timing, maybe, possibly, but she had neither.
Fortunately, erasing said bullet was within Mium’s capability, even if he did have to overextend himself somewhat to do it.
I think I feel like a semantic quibble. It’s my impression that Tactical Mages, while absolutely fearsome weapons, are usable in a sane military theater. They therefore are not nuclear weapons.
We have heard nothing of Strategic Mages. I suspect these are the ones that are too dangerous to actually use, mages whose power changes the very nature of the entire war zone, rather than just the current battlefield.
Apart from his short range, I feel like Mium might qualify. All the other mages are limited by line of sight. Mium can use any computer camera basically anywhere to see. All the other mages are basically unable to interfere inside the personal space of another Eidos key, but I think Mium may have bypassed this restriction when he had his little dance with Rovak before Naomi tore off Acalia’s arm. Mages aren’t too concerned about bullets, as they’re able to block them with shields, but only Mium can disintegrate them.
And he does all this with such low power levels that nobody outside of Team Peter and possibly Dr. Hadrian Martin can comprehend how.
And thus, why Kor’s World is so concerned about him.
Not to mention that Mium is an SMAI, and when they’re less socialized than he is, SMAIs are known for going off the rails. Uselessness and suicide may be the more common scenarios, but do them enough and you get some mavericks.
As far as short range goes… I don’t think the HVW platform (or whatever the right acronym is) was defeated with that short of a range of an effect. If I am recalling correctly, that showed a dispersal cloud that was high enough Dragon’s breath attack looked like it was plausibly how the thing was defeated.
If you’re right about Mium being a Strategic Mage, no wonder Kor’s World is in such a tizzy about him. So did they originally go to Central to take down Sophie, or was it to take out Query?
It is my impression that the Kor’s World invasion of Central predates Query.
I say this because Peter and Kally are part of that generation that grew up with the war. This makes me believe that Kor’s World invaded prior to Peter having the resources to make Query. Possibly they even invaded prior to Peter’s birth.
The ones who have previously been called tactical mages are Kally and Eliana; we don’t have a clear definition of tactical mage, but it seems to have more to do with WMD (see Sophie talking about the value of buildings) so by that standard Tyler is more likely to qualify, but bear in mind that this is Naomi talking and she’s prone to unusual definitions.
So Naomi says that there are 3 tactical mages, but which three is she referring to. Obviously it isn’t herself, MIUM, Peter, or Miko; but that still leaves Elana, Illa, Kally, and Tyler himself. That is 4 people who could fit in those three slots. Besides Elana, I can see reasons why each of the others could be not included in that number.
First Kally, being the strongest mage in the group, and likely the strongest on the planet besides her brother, might actually be too powerful to still count as /just/ a tactical mage. I believe someone might have referred to her as an extra-tactical mage, though that might have just been in the comments rather than the story itself. Considering the context of the “3 tactical mages” comment, however, it is unlikely that she would disqualify someone from being in that number for being too powerful.
Second, we have Illa. While she technically has the power of a tactical mage, she also is the one person in the group who is theoretically under the radar with her power. Most of the people in the know about her are taking a “pretend she is a normal girl, but give her a wide berth” type of stance. In fact, while Naomi knows that Illa has some power, there is no real way to know if she realizes that the minuature robot mage is beyond just “combat mage” power and is well into the “tactical mage” territory. The other option is that she knows and is intentionally hiding it from Tyler. Naomi is smarter than she lets on, afterall.
Finally, Tyler could be the odd mage left out of the tactical mage territory. He is, afterall, the weakest mage out of the four. While his power is capable of being used on a tactical scale, the fact that normal mages can react to it rather than be immediately overwhelmed is likely an indicator that he is more of a strong AoE combat mage rather than a weak tactical mage. In my opinion, it is likely the case that Tyler is the odd man out. That said, however I wouldn’t be surprised if I was wrong here.
Seems to be Kally, Eliana and Tyler would be the three tactical mages but Tyler would be a “weak” tactical mage.
Whether Naomi would include Mium or Ila as mages is unknown. Mium does not obviously throw around lots of flash bang power but either drains manna or dis-assembles things. Naomi also knows that physical Mium is an avatar of machine Mium so might not think of him as a mage at all.
I don’t know if Naomi has seen Ila go all Terminator nuke’em mode or not. Either way, Ila is referred to as Mium’s little sister so Naomi may not view Ila as a mage.
Tyler is a “registered mage”, but is he a “tactical mage”?
“Eliana, tactical mage of Malsa”, was once introduced with the words “it’s time to remind Arpon that *we* have a tactical class mage”.
Granted, Tyler is naturalized, not native, but still … I get the impression Malsa has just one of their own. Even the Doll of Destruction doesn’t get to be called a tactical mage. It’s rare stuff.
I think Eliana is a tactical mage in part because she can hold constructs together at an incredible range. It’s my impression that Camilla merely owned battlefields she was actually in.
But Camilla’s probably close to that level unless range is a prequisite part of it.
If range is a prequisite part of it, how did Ila get identified as such? It was my impression Malsa wasn’t aware of her involvement in the one thing she did at range that they could have seen. Or did someone track the ballistics back and find her and I missed it?
Ila has been compared to “The Doll of Death”, so Ila MAY be the third Tactical Mage in the list. This shortchanges Naomi, however, who can go toe-to-toe with Kally, and has twice, at least when fatalities or collateral damage are off the table. That said, Naomi, due to the probably sub-consciously self-imposed limits on her power, is strictly a close-combat asset.
My guess is that “Magus” Weber might round out the three. If not, Naomi may be attempting to mask just what Mium is, by putting him in a box with a convenient label that doesn’t say “SMAI” all over it, not aware that Tyler has already been read in on just what Mium is by the Consul. Certainly, his ability to just ERASE in-bound threats would be a major advantage on that scale. I have to wonder how much damage he could do to Fluffy. Probably similar to what Fluffy did to that subverted construct that Eliana had summoned.
From a technical standpoint anyone whose presence will significantly affect the outcome of an engagement would be considered Tactical. In this case there are four tactical Mages in this group. Kally and Elena are the two obvious ones because they can create red construct and have both been referred to as tactical Mages.
Tyler is definitely one even though he can’t create red constructs. His ice ability has the ability to literally reshape the battlefield. He just hasn’t learned to use it that way yet. This is one reason why Naomi was paired with him. He needs close up support. And Peter doesn’t need her for that function currently because he’s paired with Kally
Ila qualifies in the technical sense but we haven’t seen her do anything but fly and shoot everything down. She would be an absolutely insane opponent if she did something other than that with all of those calculations too.
While we haven’t seen it, we HAVE seen the aftermath, or at least the reactions to the aftermath, of her rather one-sided actions against squad-level opponents. I mean, some people just didn’t like living very much, apparently, and somehow that’s going to be her fault.
I suspect that Ila stopped flying under the radar when she went to save Arkady.
– Peter didn’t say she wasn’t dangerous, just that she wasn’t pointed at the Consul. Given his understated manner, this set the Malsan government up for being impressed with Ila.
– We know that Ila didn’t disintegrate the walking tank that went after her after Kardus used the anti-SMAI device on her and Mium saved her. But nobody outside of Team Peter does.
– Even before that point, she was seen to provide a level of lethal that brought to mind another not-quite tactical class mage.
– Thus far, according to anyone living not on Team Peter, Ila has only been defeated by her own picky eating, not by any outside force.
I feel like Tyler might be able to level up to tactical class, but he hasn’t managed to demonstrate the level of impressive that Ila has, at least in the eyes of the Malsan government for which Tyler works and is at least effectively part of.
Of course, it’s my impression she’s an automated EiDos key connected to six six function autocasters. She can propel something (such as herself or a pebble), she can do the green hand. That’s just two. Granted six of either of those managed at SMAI speed is potentially very problematic for those on the receiving end, but it does feel a little simplistic for a tactical class mage.
Naomi says “Anyway, something something gates, I’m pretty it’ll be fine”.
Maybe should be “I’m pretty SURE it’ll be fine-“.
OR…
Just put a period after “I’m pretty” for “I’m pretty. It’ll be fine-“. Well, I think she is pretty. LOL
PS – Who else thinks Miko is cute in that outfit?
I think that’s the careless way she talks. That is, a Naomiism, not a mistake.
Yes, they have a lot of powerful mages. Tyler’s probably 4th in strength, without counting where Peter might fall. Maybe 5th, given Miko.
But while it was not casual for Peter (he held a briefing!), to Tyler it feels short of intermediate steps or a clear objective, either of which would go a long way toward his feeling it is a more structured and less ad hoc operation.
But Tyler doesn’t really know Peter, yet, for all that he’s gotten to watch a lot of what Peter has done since his arrival at the University. Peter’s careful about who he puts into what situations, with special attention to Mika’s well being and his own. Tyler should be flattered to be there.
In fact its noted he tends to be even more careful with putting Miko in danger. The fact that he is requesting her for a field position for this should be sending up all kinds of red flags.
Power is tricky to determine. Tyler might be stronger than Ila and Eliana at short range, it mostly seems like his lack of range is what disqualifies him from being tactical class. There’s also a huge gap in tactical. While Ila can shoot down an airship without much trouble, Kally’s effort to destroy the rogue construct at the border was a completely different level of destructive power than Ila’s effort (the difference of blasting pieces off it to blasting it to pieces).
Naomi herself also might be stronger than Tyler in a narrow slice, since he probably wouldn’t be able to freeze her, even if her actual ability to use magic is far less, and in actual hand to hand fighting I don’t think anyone else there could deal with her.
Peter is even harder to quantify now that we’ve “seen” him “fight”. The amount of air quotes alone makes it clear how problematic he is to quantify. It’s not even clear he is powerful, but he can mostly bypass the traditional steps of fighting someone and just set up them for failure.
Mium is another one that’s hard to quantify, as his power is mostly nullifying other powers, but that’s not really all he can do. How much he can use is power to just unmake stuff isn’t clear. When he possessed Ila he either could use that power more liberally, or just decided to, since he didn’t even need to use a knife to cut off Kardus’ arm (compared to using a knife to cut off Rovak’s arm, it strikes me that Mium has a thing cutting arms off war mages).
I’d class Tyler as a strong mid range fighter, but he can operate on areas outside his direct visual perception. He was in an elevator and was able to freeze goons watching the door solid before the doors opened. He also affected at least a city block with a mid summer ice age. He lacks any close order shielding, short of freezing his innards solid after critical injury he has not built up a defense capability, hense Niome’s partnership. If you think about it though, he hasn’t needed it provided its not a completely surprise attack.
Edit: I started reading the archive from the above link and stumbled on a WORD OF PAST description ofTylers Capability..from The Q&A on h
https://pastutopia.com/comic/qa-for-thursday-june-20th-2019/
“Tyler’s problem is that far more effective on his own than with allies due to his inability to control friendly fire. If Marc hadn’t been with him, it would have been far harder for Acalia and Kardus to beat him, though even in the best of cases, Kardus wouldn’t have been easy for him to defeat, he has very little fear of being shot when operating his power at full blast. He does a lot better against things he can see, and his power does not go from 0-100 fast enough to stop a bullet, but if it’s already ramped up small projectile has almost no chance of hitting him.”
So basically Niome is around until he gets up to speed and her particular situation makes a blue on blue with her unlikely to occur.
Wow, I didn’t realize at first that there are so many reasons why it is a good idea to pair Naomi and Tyler. No wonder that – as far as I remember – Tyler wanted to recruit Naomi and only didn’t try because she was already working with Peter.
Peter feels to me like the sort of person who does everything they can to keep their opponents figuring out that he really has power. If things ever get desperate enough for him to really use it visibly, let alone if they’re ever so desperate he turns on his implant, I feel like we’ll find out that he’s kind of like Mium – the power he puts out may seem weak, but he’ll use said power with such skill and finesse that won’t matter.
To be clear, I’m not saying he’ll be a null mage or be able to disintegrate things. Of course, if MYM’s online and on his side and in communication, he *can* demonstrate those powers, but that’s very different than saying he really *has* those powers. I’d guess those are powers he *doesn’t* actually have, because he never has to practice them. Though maybe Peter’s one of those few people who can master skills they don’t need to practice, because that doesn’t stop him from practicing it anyway.
In the end, one will be left with the question, “Was Peter’s magic actually weak? Or was he just good enough to realize that’s all the magic he needed to use, and he wants to keep his opponents guessing still.”
The two things I do feel confident in saying are that Peter will eventually show us more of his magic and that he will do magic quite differently from other mages.
Peter’s never going to show enough of his magic to get anyone to start wondering if he was secretly super powerful, and that includes us the comic audience. Except, apparently, you.
TGape is rather special.
So, it seems that one’s concept of self has an impact on how you appear in this world.