Comic for Monday, March 1st, 2021
So we’ll be back to Naomi & Kally in time, but I did want to take a detour here to check in with Central, as there’s quite a lot of moving pieces there that are a collision course with the main story (as one may expect). I didn’t even up showing Arron speaking the commission, because largely that was a summary of events we’ve seen in the comic. In a time where I had more time, a summary of the events so far via Arron would actually be an interesting idea to show, but I don’t know if I think it’s worth a few weeks of pages at our current rate.
Undersecretary Minerva Saywood is a character we’ve seen a few times, and someone that works with Arron somewhat, but is not part of the IDS. She’s a relatively important person, but as part of the Executive Bureaucracy theoretically neutral in the power struggles, though they have their own divisions, though despite that she tends to show fairly clear favoritism toward Arron. She is also the person that would largely be involved in the relocation efforts; for those that need a refresher, Central was trying to relocate people from a failing habitat to Malsa, and Malsa (with the influence of Peter) has suddenly offered to take in 40,000 citizens. Arron views this as sort of hostage situation, as it would make using something like the Skyhammer (or any overwhelming military force) vastly less palatable to Central if there were tens of thousands of their own people that’d be caught in the crossfire (and, of course, that is probably something not lost on Malsa, let alone Peter). The details of Malsa’s offer isn’t clear, but the IDS is largely against it (one of the few things Arron and Biana would both agree on… though for different reasons). But the political machinations around this are complicated, as they’d be hard pressed to block it publicly, and there may other pieces now moving on that board (such as the Civil Service… which has strangle become involved in this, getting their foot in the door of interdimensional matters, something they theoretically have little jurisdiction over, as they are stepping up to assist with the relocation… after all, they are the ones trying to mitigate the failing habitat many of the people would come with).
…basically everyone is suspicious of the motivations of everyone else, but as with most of Peter’s Malsa’s plan, the plan largely only involves in parties acting in their own self interest – the Civil Service wants a hook into Interdimensional Affairs, the Executive Bureaucracy wants meet their quotas relieve public pressure (exacerbated by the overdue and suddenly in doubt Bridgepoint project having trouble) which seemed all but lost before this golden ticket showed up, and the IDS cannot easily unify against it because if one side did public come out against it, the other side would throw them under the bus by supporting it and taking the public opinion high ground.
We’ll see more of Arron’s views and opinions in the next page.
Loading ...
First, I will say that I really enjoy this comic. The story is deep and engrossing. But there’s something that’s been bothering me and a single line on this page, for me, brings it to a boil. I want to debate this because I care:
“…and embarrassed Corporate Affairs.”
Some embarrassment? They were, perhaps, a little sweaty under the collar? That’s the only consequence of letting things go very FUBAR on Palindra? This, despite how IDS desperately needs Palindra for Central’s (highly secret) migration plan – which they still plan to pursue?
Correct me if I’m wrong: Wasn’t it elements working on behalf of Corporate Affairs that started this whole mess by ignoring Malsa’s laws and their agreements with Malsa, intimidating local law enforcement and shooting up the place?
Wasn’t it representatives of Corporate Affairs who insulted Malsa’s Consul and delegates at an international conference (in Malsa), who flatly refused to negotiate at all, who threatened them, and more-or-less started a huge international war (Palindra’s version of WWIII?). And wasn’t it on behalf of Corporate Affairs that troops openly (as in, out in the open and caught on camera for the world to see) assassinated Malsa’s Consul (leader)?
Wasn’t it Sophie, working on behalf of Corporate Affairs, who released a living weapon of mass destruction in the form of Atter, a powerful criminal psychopath? And wasn’t it the same person who authorized the use of their ultra-top-secret space-based kinetic energy weapon, launching it at Malsa’s capital that happens to be in the middle of one of their most populated cities? (Granted, the weapon was intercepted at the last microsecond. And, granted, this was Sophie, who was the head of the local “Situation Containment” branch. But can’t Arron prove that Sophie was working for Corporate Affairs?)
And Corporate Affairs is only a little embarrassed by the revelation of these events in front of their ruling council? What happens next? A slap on the wrist and a stern warning? Heaven forbid, one or two of them might get a demotion? Geez. And here I thought warmongering, totalitarian regimes were bad.
It is a matter of scale. Remember the meeting with Director Jakim of HQ, and he was annoyed that they were even meeting about Malsa again? To people that have jurisdiction over hundreds of nations, a war in one isn’t even headline news.
Not to get exceedingly political, but the real world isn’t that different. When someone accidentally bombs a wedding or something it rarely even makes the newspaper… the agency is just a little embarrassed when grilled about it (if that), and this is in the real world.
Headquarters previously suppressed Arron’s request for inquiry not because they didn’t believe him, but because they found it expedient not to care. Now the pot of shit is boiling over and the higher ups are paying attention so, they are being embarrassed by it. I think that is the perfect term for it.
From what we have seen, the defining themes of the central government are stagnation, inaction, and bureaucracy (a somewhat exaggerated form of other governments… and only somewhat). The entire problem is that no one wants to deal with Biana, and because she is fucking up another world… no one really cares. That’s the point. That is why they sent her there. If she got results they wanted, they wouldn’t really care how she did it. The reason she is potentially facing repercussions is because she failed, not because what she did.
Sophie has flat out said she will get away with straight up murder because the IDS needs her in case Kor’s World shows back up. Biana may end up facing repercussions, but only because Arron is making a point of it despite almost everyone just trying to get him to just go with the flow.
I think that is the whole arc of Kyle as well. Kyle is trouble purely because he is rocking the boat and not playing the game. They expect him to just take a seat on the Council and join in the politics (as they see it) with the amount of power and influence he has amassed, but he refuses, at least pretending to be above the factionalism and corruption as part of the Civil Service (jury is still out on if he actually is).
Peter essentially spelled it out during his confrontation with Arron. Unless something (like Kor’s World) unites the IDS, they deadlocked in factional infighting, and it only gets worse as you include more factions.
Unless I miss my guess, the Central Council has probably still not convened here (as that would have bigger ramifications as I understand it). Kyle has been trying to force the Central Council to convene, but they refuse to even meet because they are so invested in their deadlock they don’t want to risk breaking it. Likely this was just some subcommittee finally forced to open Arron’s inquiry and review it, with likely the power to issue a sternly worded letter to IDS HQ telling them to issue a sternly worded letter to Biana.
People don’t act like Biana when they are under control. People like act like Biana when they know that there will likely be no repercussions to their actions. I think Arron knows this as well, and being reminded of it is what is making him consider giving up.
@Ferrus I wish it were otherwise, but: Thank you for explaining what is very likely their point of view. It is stupid, but that is usually how bureaucracy works. That makes this rather believable, unfortunately, especially with how they would act this way if they thought they could get away with it – esp. if they actually have been getting away with it up until now.
But, at this rate, isn’t it inevitable that the nations of Palindra will eventually conclude that they’re better off without the IDS and kick them off their world? I think a change in perspective is in order to show just how foolish the IDS is acting.
Imagine how a parallel situation would play out if similar events happened on Earth (sans the magic). And imagine that the people of IDS/Central were human-looking aliens (from space) with advanced technology. This “IDS” introduced themselves to the people of Earth, declared themselves “interstellar peace keepers” or some such and claimed that they have the authority and moral right to interfere with Earth’s affairs, particularly anything related to the spread of “Stargate” technology or anything involving trade with or travel to other star systems.
Almost immediately, IDS makes backroom deals with most of Earth’s major corporations, forming PACT – an organization that works closely with IDS/Central and which effectively supercedes the individual authority of each nation. In effect, IDS forms an independent world goverment of Earth’s corporations, acting as a puppet state for IDS/Central interests and which can and often does ignore the will of individual nations and their people.
Then, it becomes public knowledge that IDS has been secretly using their stargate technology for black market interstellar trade and bringing in large numbers of personnel – many of whom are clearly trained to fight – as well as equipment and weapons. This, despite the fact that the whole excuse IDS gave for interfering in Earth’s affairs in the first place was to prevent black market interstellar trade and the illegal transport of people.
And then it becomes public that the IDS has been making secret deals with some of the more influential of Earth’s nations, providing secret support to those they favor, even goading certain nations into fighting each other and having them fight an enemy of the IDS on their behalf.
Finally, consider how the people of Earth would react if it becomes public that IDS comes from a ruined world where their people are slowly dying, forcing them to move elsewhere, this being the result of an interplanetary war with some other alien race that nobody – including the IDS – knows much about. And the whole reason the IDS is interested in their world is because it is a nice, habital planet very similar to what their own was like before it was ruined – and that they’re here to colonize Earth, regardless of what the locals think about that.
Oh, and there’s an excellent chance that the aliens who fought the IDS will come to Earth, the IDS effectively bringing their world-ruining war with them. Indeed, Kor’s World has already made a minor incursion, even launched a few war machines and used a weapon of mass destruction on a very small scale (so far). And both the IDS and their bitter enemy, Kor’s World, secretly has cloaked weapon platforms with weapons of mass destruction over Earth – pointed at Earth – and they’ve had them there for a while now.
Granted, a number of these things have not become public knowledge – or at least not widespread – yet. In particular, the last two paragraphs are probably unknown to natives of Palindra aside from a handful. But you know that the IDS can’t keep these things secret forever, especially if they go through with their plan to move a large portion of their population to Palindra. Secrets have a way of getting out.
With this perspective on events, can any reader honestly think of IDS as anything other than blatant liars and hostile invaders who care little to nothing about Palindra’s inhabitants? What makes the IDS think they can get away with this stuff without serious repercussions? The IDS may have superior technology, but they are so outnumbered on Palindra it’s hilarious. And Peter has been leaking some of their key technology (largely what he, himself, invented or reverse-engineered from Kor’s World), so the gap in tech is shortening.
Moreover, I have to wonder how the people of Central would react if they learned even half of this stuff. I’m thinking that either of two things are possible: Central’s inhabitants may decide that they do not want to relocate to Palindra because their feared enemy, Kor’s World, is already there and has already attacked. And – I know I’m being too optimistic – but the people might even be so upset at their government that they cause heads to roll. If nothing else, support for their government and IDS would definitely drop, especially the enrollment rate for IDS.
That’s the exact process we are seeing unfold, isn’t it? That’s the process that started with the Consul kicking the IDS out of her country and exposing how weak their grip is.
The IDS was trying to use suppressing the insubordination via their puppet states and PACT as an example, but it largely backfired.
Keep in mind that the people of Palindra largely cannot prove most of what we know as the readers. The level that the IDS fueling the black market was only really revealed when Peter leaked technology that it seems even the IDS wasn’t fully aware of that could detect the gates.
They did fire the Skyhammer, but they’d planned to blame Kor’s World. Their hand in that was only really shown when Peter survived and leaked the Biana’s call.
Simply put, as incompetent as their grip is, a lot of their problems stem from Peter, which is why Biana seemed to think to that if she simply squished Peter, the problems would go away. After all, it is clear that Palindra is not a united world, so who is going to step up to help Malsa if the IDS fucks them over?
In a timeline where the IDS plans worked…
-Kally is kidnapped and moved out the way.
-Peter was obliterated by the Skyhammer, and the IDS blames Kor’s World for it.
-The Consul is assassinated, and Malsa descends into civil war.
-Atter and some help from the IDS cause the Rogue Families to win.
-The IDS makes a deal with Orin to invade the weakened Malsa.
…who exactly is going to step up to help Malsa?
It is unlikely the Orin would be a perfect puppet for the IDS, but we don’t have enough information on them to know much, and it seems pretty obvious to me they are not generally considered the good guys.
The case the IDS has to avoid is Palindra uniting against them the same way that Central once united against Kor’s World, but the level of devastation the IDS has wrought doesn’t even come close to that. I would bet the IDS is much more circumspect dealing with the larger nations, Malsa is just a small country without strong allies, so they felt pretty comfortable fucking it over.
The big reason their plan haven’t worked is that Peter has fucked them over:
-He used Mium to find and rescue Kally, meaning that any direct attack by the IDS was probably not going to work (as she’s too powerful to fight directly).
-Peter had hacked into Skyhammer before Biana thought to try to kill him with it, and for a shit cherry on top of it, just had Mium block the shot.
-Peter faked the Consul’s death, both saving her from being assassinated and causing the Rogue Families to spring into action too early.
-Peter used Mium to take control of the Gates, locking the IDS from moving forces in or out of Malsa.
Without Peter (and without Mium) the IDS probably would be fine. The IDS operated by a large advantage of technology and information, but Peter has both of those.
The flaw in your above plan is your assumption that the world would unite against the IDS. Consider what it would really take for the world to unite. I think in the comic, we have an example of that. The Kor’s World invasion that literally destroyed the world. Short of that, each nation is instead just trying to scrabble and get ahead. Orin would rather cut a sweet deal with the IDS for new technology and illegal use of the gates than help Malsa. Why would they care about Malsa? They’d rather conquer it themselves and open a second front in their war with Resh.
Perhaps the IDS could even sweeten the deal by using the Skyhammer to obliterate a few Resh strong points for them.
The reason Central united against Kor’s World is they didn’t even try to manipulate the locals with their technology and power. they just tried to destroy them. Facing an existential threat finally factions worked together (and, from the sound of it, too late). From the old lore pages, it sounds like it was a three way three fight until the end… even the world being destroyed didn’t fully unite that world.
But the IDS is losing their grip. Malsa kicking them out was the first sign of that, and the smarter members of it probably realize they need to do something, but the levels of bureaucracy refuse to treat this one small nation on this one world as a major concern, because then they would have done something about it.
Not to get even more political (but cannot really give an example without doing so), but it’s not like the world united against the CIA when they were running around toppling governments, backing coup-de-tes and straight up assassinating people. What as the IDS really done that the CIA in our world hasn’t done? Many across the world might think America is a dick for that, but what are they going to do about it? Unite with China? Like that doesn’t have its own problems…
When it is revealed the CIA was fueling the black market by selling drugs to do other illegal shit, nothing really happened… it was just… embarrassing. I don’t think the parallels are intentionally similar, just that the situations are similar because that’s how more powerful nations with disorganized clusterfuck bureaucracy operate.
Now magnify that by 10x, because the IDS has a monopoly of nukes, satellites, orbital kinetic weapons, literally invaluable trade network, and advanced technology which it can use to bribe factions nearly without limit.
But it HAS over spent its hand. That’s the whole point of what we are seeing. Malsa has autocasters now. The IDS has leaked too much, and quite possibly Peter has the technological edge over them (as Peter had access to the best IDS technology, the best of Palindras technology, and likely some of Kor’s World technology to build Mium).
“Without Peter (and without Mium) the IDS probably would be fine. The IDS operated by a large advantage of technology and information, but Peter has both of those.”
You’re making extremely effective arguments. But I still think it was likely that IDS would eventually overplay their hand on Palindra and lose control of the situation, even without Peter’s meddling or even if they had delt with Peter, Kally and those other things like they had planned.
However, without Peter, the shit starting to hit the proverbial fan would have been delayed by a number of years. And it would’ve hurt far more Palindra bystanders.
The problem with overly complex plans is that they always rely on too many variables. Sometimes all it takes is one unforeseen event or person to throw everything out of whack. And few things are more unpredictable than a person, especially if they are desperate.
Consider, too, that the IDS has clearly demonstrated unprofessional behavior, stupidity and ineptitude that would be shocking if it wasn’t so reflective of real life. Sophie and Biana demonstrated these things in spades, particularly Biana’s plan to use Orin to obtain Mium’s technology, particularly since Orin can’t be put on a leash like she thinks.
The technology itself is absurdly dangerous and unpredictable for several reason. For one, the mere existence of it seems to have attracted the attention of Kor’s World. For another… Let’s just say that Skynet is very scary for a reason. Also, any nation who obtains control of it would take over or at least throw the world into utter chaos.
“…each nation is instead just trying to scrabble and get ahead. Orin would rather cut a sweet deal with the IDS for new technology and illegal use of the gates than help Malsa. Why would they care about Malsa?”
When you put it like that, it does sound very unlikely that nations would come together to push the IDS out. However…
“Facing an existential threat…”
At what point does the threat that IDS/Central poses to them become obvious and substantial enough to get them to cooperate? That’s the real question. Even if it requires an extreme, there has to be a tipping point. One possibility is the IDS callously and frequently using Skyhammer over and over and over again, against many different targets on Palindra. Even if it’s not dropped on someone’s proverbial backyard, that has got to make people very worried. And I can almost see some of the people in IDS being that stupid. I can absolutely see them being that callous.
We keep seeing hints that IDS is becoming more like the thing they hate and fear the most: Kor’s World. Aside from tech level, is there really that much difference separating them? Heck, I’d find it believable that Kor’s World is just a parallel world version of Central with, perhaps, a few centuries head start on technology.
Give Central a couple centuries more and they could be indistinguishable, especially if they incorporate Mium’s tech into human/cyborg bodies for their soldiers. If IDS higher ups had the option to turn volunteers (or prisoners) into programmable Robocops or Borg-like drones, but just as strong as Kor’s World soldiers, would they even hesitate to think of the consequences?
As you say, they have qualities that are remarkably reflective of leaders in the real world. As does Palindra’s inability to react in a unified manner to the threat posed by the IDS (think of any number of threats our world is facing and ignoring right now).
Perhaps repeated use of the Skyhammer would unite Palindra against the IDS, but not to get political again here, but certain countries have used thousands of drone strikes against certain other countries, and no one really unites against them, because it’s not being dropped on them.
Perhaps the news in Orin just reads “HVW have deployed on the southern tip of the content by a joint PACT-IDS peace keeping operation in order curtail the Malsan Family Mages – a designated terrorist organization known to experiment on children… and now in other news, you’ll never guess what Celebrity X’s new flavor of ice cream is-”
A while back someone (I think it was Naomi) pointed out that the Family Mages don’t actually have a very good reputation, which makes sense. They are spooky, esoteric, and powerful, and clearly not exactly beacons of stable sanity themselves. Ashvalt may have been justified, but he did just execute someone with a complete lack of due process, and he’s the “good” one for the most part. I don’t remember if we know why Camilla is called the “Doll of Destruction” but that’s not really a name you give to people that aren’t terrifying to the average person.
The point here is that from the point of view of most of the world, there are not really any “good guys” here, it’s just two factions that probably don’t like either of them fighting. The Consul is apparently popular in Malsa, but given her tactics I doubt she is exceedingly popular elsewhere.
As for Central, I don’t really think they need a few centuries. We don’t know exactly what happened with Miko that made her the way she was, but I don’t think it was an exactly innocent accident the way people talk about it.
And consider Kally? She was clearly essentially a child super soldier by any reasonable definition, raised to be a weapon against Kor’s World.
And for that matter, Peter. Think back to his sister and Kyle arguing. “Because weaponizing your kid is a Kepler tradition”… she is almost certainly talking about Peter as well there given the context of the conversation.
The way I view it is that the story is about some imperfect people trying to make things better, but there’s no unambiguously heroic people here.
The Consul is charismatic, but she is at very least ambitious and nationalistic. Peter is probably trying to save the world, but doesn’t have an excess of morals (arguably he is trying to solve that by having external morals in Naomi). Naomi is a “hero”, but clearly enjoys fighting and clearly has no grand plan. Arron and Tyler are probably the closest examples of “good” people but they both place duty in front of everything, which makes them only as good as what they are dutiful toward.
Despite this, I have hope that the comic will be somewhat more uplifting than realistic. While I love Rovak for his gleeful nihilism, I don’t want characters like him to win, and I think that a combination of Peter, Tyler, Arron, Naomi and Kally (and maybe the Consul) probably cover the imperfections of each other and can pull off a better world somehow without dooming Palindra to the fate of Central (either at the hands of Central or Kor’s World itself).
But they have a long way to go.
The Consul character is.. interesting.
As far as I can tell, she isn’t overly ambitious, although she IS nationalistic. She is clearly both charismatic and highly intelligent, but as far as I know, we don’t even know what her birth name is/was, her early history, or her genealogy – and while that makes her an excellent compromise candidate for the various warring Families, it may also be something she was literally engineered and trained to be – a competent and neutral administrator for Malsa who is doing a job, and one where, if she survives long enough and does her job well, she will retire in time to a decent pension, an opportunity to have a family of her own, and probably a role as an advisor to the Consul who will come after her, without any authority to do more than advise.
It is possible the Consul is a designer child, but unlikely, as she has fairly natural hair and eye colors. She could predate them having off color hair or eyes though.
That said, the origins of the Consul and how she rose to power is yet another side story I would like to see (adding it to the list of probably more than a dozen ones.
Hm. If he retires from IDS, does he maintain his military title? And might this change what he is or is not constrained to doing? I wonder if this is part of some larger plan. (It doesn’t seem to be on the surface, but knowing this comic, that doesn’t necessarily mean much.)
Look Aaron, there is one thing you did that influenced current events: mentoring Peter. Now has that made a positive difference? I think that is for historians to say. Though I wonder which of the two of you will go down in history as more legendary.
Given that Peter does to avoid the spotlight, history privacy favors Arron. I doubt Arron finds that comforting right now.
I’d guess that Peter will be writing history books, and the only reference they’ll make to Peter Kepler will be that Kyle Kepler had two children, Peter and Marigold. To find out that Arron had a nephew, you’ll need to look up his brother’s entry.
Lots of things have to happen here in fairly close succession. I am assuming the repaired Query drone is meant to be a vector for a big chunk of those…
I feel bad for Arron. His meeting with Miko was pretty unpleasant and that seems like it was pretty painful for him (something to do with promises he made to his sister, presumably Miko’s mother), and his meetings with Peter were not much better.
The closest things he had to a second in command is dead (Emmi), his own department largely just assumes Peter can still be trusted making it essentially a sieve of information (and even Kally has joined back up with Peter).
He is trying to get the IDS to do things “the right way” and at every turn he is being stonewalled or delayed, which just sort of proving Peter’s “outside the law” approach right.
He tried to do the right thing in saving the Consul, but essentially just ended up feeding into Peter’s plan.
I think he is actually sort of in the same place as Kally where he does not even know what the “right” side is with the IDS being such a fuck up. Kally decided to just blindly trust Peter, but I don’t think Arron has that option, and with Peter there is only the option of blindly trusting him or being manipulated into doing what he wants, as he refuses to show his cards (beside the card that would manipulate you into doing what he wanted anyway).
Betting pool time: Anyone want to give me odds on Mium showing up to talk to him soonish? Maybe his brother (Peter’s father)? Maybe both? Mium is on this world, Kyle knows Aaron is back on Central, friends and family bias might be a little stretched for it to cover this but it certainly should favor this action. If for no other reason Kyle would probably love to talk to Arron again about recent events.
Side note: Is using the phrase ‘Net Result’ when speaking of Mium’s/ Query’s actions an unforgivable pun? There was another comment I wanted to make but realized the pun and had to stop.
I’ll not give actual odds, because I try to not gamble much, not even with Internet points.
That said, I feel like Kyle meeting with Arron is a lot more likely than Mium meeting with Arron. Mium and Arron have met, and while they didn’t fight, it was clear they both found the other to be an obstacle. Mium feels he’s Miko’s protector, and Arron doesn’t like the fact that Miko doesn’t feel safe around him.
Mium may not want the brothers to talk until after he’s returned to Malsa, but for all we know, Query’s been repaired and Mium has gone home already. Once he *has* returned to Malsa, however, he probably does want Kyle to let Arron know the deal’s been leaked already.
Whether that happens directly or through channels is anybody’s guess… but I’d think things would go more smoothly if it happened directly.. At least, someone in a position of authority in the IDS needs to know the civil service knows about the Malsan deal, and the brothers have the friendliest connection of which we’re aware between those two organizations.
I don’t know if there are any people above Kyle in the civil service, or how many are if there are any, but it seems like it’d at least be a single digit number. I’d expect any of them acting on knowing about the Malsan relocation deal, other than directing Kyle to relate the message about the information leak, would probably result in a conflict escalation. Having the most desperate of families to relocate simply showing up to the nearest gate facility to relocate would not go over well.
I think Aaron’s ability to reflect this way is the strongest evidence that he should not be retiring, even if he perhaps needs to find a different mode in which to work.
p.s. embarrassed.
Amen, Josh.
Let’s try this,
Panel 5, bubble 2, embarrassed. 2nd e becomes an a.
Fixed, thanks.
It’s sort of like a corollary to the first rule of Alcoholics Anonymous: The first step to controlling a problem is to realize that you don’t have control. After all, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. He is in the middle of Charlie Foxtrot (Cluster FUBAR), and doesn’t see any way it can end well. However, he will probably not retire as long as he thinks that he might be able to make it end better.