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Nice change from a lot of other fantasy that takes capitalism as a given.
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Apr 24, 2014 05:03
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Or mercantilism. Or physiocracy. Or bothers to explore economics at all. But to be honest most of our modern economic understanding is a relatively recent development so fantasy using systems outwardly similar to capitalism is understandable, even if their business world lacks the philosophical understandings that underpin generally capitalist economies. Cresce's switch to a moneyless, non-credit socialism seems to address perceived symptoms more than any real problems. Meet the new wealth, same as the old wealth. Except with an extra veneer of shaming and a distinct value-vagueness. And you can shame greed all you like, doesn't mean the Queen isn't going to shut your town down for a lack of productivity value. And since there's no money, there's no measure of indication that the town can produce value independent of any mines or such. And even if there's no money, there's still a distinct aristocracy that's divorced from the concerns and values of the common people. Greed manifests itself in more than just a lust for coin, and Cresce demonstrates this in a lot of ways. Neither Cresce nor Alderode are very nice places to be.
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Apr 24, 2014 05:33
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T.G. Xarbala posted:Neither Cresce nor Alderode are very nice places to be. Is there a country that is, here? It seems to me that Cope has painted a very crapsack world.
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Apr 24, 2014 05:39
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Yeah, I feel like Cresce isn't super well thought out as a concept, because running a centrally planned moneyless economy is basically impossible without the kind of supercomputers that show up in far-future sci-fi novels.
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Apr 24, 2014 05:57
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Or magic perhaps, its nice to look at though. I might bet that if we ever see it, less people starve in Cresce than Alderode.
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Apr 24, 2014 06:07
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Grognan posted:Or magic perhaps, its nice to look at though. I might bet that if we ever see it, less people starve in Cresce than Alderode. Maybe, maybe not. Cresce will certainly tell you that their starving poor are far happier than those heretics in Alderode.
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Apr 24, 2014 17:57
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I was actually pleasantly surprised at the prostitutes' take on how Cresce is run. I honestly expected the country to be a super-idyllic 'everything here is wonderful with a few modest snags, it's that OTHER place which is the clear bad-guy shithole' place, but no, they're showing people with some serious complaints. I loved the line about how you've got labor points because 'you can't really kill greed.'
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Apr 24, 2014 20:59
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Patrick Spens posted:Yeah, I feel like Cresce isn't super well thought out as a concept, because running a centrally planned moneyless economy is basically impossible without the kind of supercomputers that show up in far-future sci-fi novels. It's completely impossible with a medieval bureaucracy and logistics network, but magic does change that dynamic a fair bit.
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Apr 24, 2014 22:40
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Still seems implausible in a world before typewriters, and from everything we've seen, mail is the only long distance communication.
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Apr 25, 2014 14:14
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But labor points are tied to a person via pymary so currency shenanigans are not as viable compared to actual script. I really like the world building in this comic.
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Apr 26, 2014 10:07
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Sette is done with this poo poo. Also finally Stockyard.
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Apr 30, 2014 05:11
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Goddamn I missed Sette and Duane comic relief.
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Apr 30, 2014 05:39
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Holy crap, those teeth aren't just for show  Also, since when does Duane call Sette "Boo"?
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Apr 30, 2014 06:17
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Boo is the spider-pymary-trap thing, Sette blamed her hesitation on Boo having nerves before they entered the brothel.
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Apr 30, 2014 06:36
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I'm quite impressed by Duane's self-control, here. Seemingly completely unperturbed, even with all that blood and fresh meat, right in front of him. (Also, gotta love that panel 3 face.)
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Apr 30, 2014 06:37
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Stockyard seems to have nooses in his hair. The guy seems to stick to a theme, at least.
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Apr 30, 2014 06:41
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it's entirely plausible for the monarchy to want to shut down any aristocratic or bourgeois competitors; the only real historical barrier to this was the practicality of raising taxes, which magic might circumvent. Corvée labour was an actually-existing predecessor to money taxes, and if monarchies could magically collect it, there's no reason they would tolerate inheritance or accumulation by any family save the monarch's own bloodline. Nobody may own heritable property, except for the Queen, who inherits everything by default. With widespread magic, much of labour might be de facto bartered anyway (and therefore don't generate a wage paper trail that can be taxed) or might not move great distances (and therefore escape excise taxes).
ronya fucked around with this message at 11:55 on Apr 30, 2014 |
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Apr 30, 2014 11:52
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Not exactly making friends and influencing people.
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May 2, 2014 17:53
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Stockyard's kind of hot. Too bad he's most likely a monster 
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May 2, 2014 19:12
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Tollymain posted:Stockyard's kind of hot. Too bad he's most likely a monster He's polite and cordial at the first meeting, which of course means he's got a dungeon full of slaves in the basement and a penchant for gleefully chopping up bodies and using the bits as furniture. Or something along those lines. It'd be nice if there was a character like that who actually turned out to be okay
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May 3, 2014 02:08
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We already know the man's a monster. His personal symbol is a noose. He's participating in the transport of slave-pain-powered first silver, providing most likely underage whores to a literal child molester, subverting essentially the entire police force of a city, and perpetrating a really ridiculous haircut. His reaction when one of his employees suffers permanent disfigurement is "put some lotion on it" and he makes a joke about it a few seconds later. The fact that with all of that he looks a cross between Errol Flynn and Lister from Red Dwarf kind of tickles me.
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May 3, 2014 03:27
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idonotlikepeas posted:We already know the man's a monster. His personal symbol is a noose. He's participating in the transport of slave-pain-powered first silver, providing most likely underage whores to a literal child molester, subverting essentially the entire police force of a city, and perpetrating a really ridiculous haircut. His reaction when one of his employees suffers permanent disfigurement is "put some lotion on it" and he makes a joke about it a few seconds later. It also wouldn't surprise me if all the employees at the Deadly Nevergreen are brainwashed/hypnotized to some degree
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May 3, 2014 03:38
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DarklyDreaming posted:It also wouldn't surprise me if all the employees at the Deadly Nevergreen are brainwashed/hypnotized to some degree Except for Knock-Me-Down, who's merely high as balls.
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May 3, 2014 04:00
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DarklyDreaming posted:It also wouldn't surprise me if all the employees at the Deadly Nevergreen are brainwashed/hypnotized to some degree Is there anything in particular that makes you suspect this?
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May 3, 2014 16:23
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Sometimes a brothel/den of thieves is just a brothel/den of thieves.
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May 3, 2014 18:26
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Look, we've got a fairly liberal definition of "not a monster", seeing as one of our protagonists is a zombie who eviscerated and ate part of a dude earlier and the other is some kind of unhuman child thing that just bit off somebody's finger 
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May 3, 2014 22:56
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Stockyard is also the one moving the half-dead first silver carriers, and I doubt he's oblivious as to what he's moving. I think he'll end up being every bit as complex as every other character in this comic.
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May 4, 2014 00:37
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Yeah that's the thing that really elevates him from the background radiation of shittiness into possible full-stop monsterdom Fake edit: Half-dead? Nah, they're full dead, if the concept of life and death applies to them at all at this point.
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May 4, 2014 01:01
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Tollymain posted:Look, we've got a fairly liberal definition of "not a monster", seeing as one of our protagonists is a zombie who eviscerated and ate part of a dude earlier and the other is some kind of unhuman child thing that just bit off somebody's finger Sette has pointy teeth. Would you put your fingers on the mouth of something with pointy teeth? The courtesan is completely at fault there.
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May 4, 2014 02:44
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I know people with pointy teeth! I've never touched them though, I'm terrified of physical contact in general 
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May 4, 2014 03:47
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She didn't actually stick her finger in there, just got it too close. That said, she knew this was Nary Frummagem's daughter, so standing there insulting her repeatedly was not what you'd call a life-enhancing move.
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May 4, 2014 04:40
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I'm pretty sure if most people had teeth that sharp fingers would get bitten off all the time, its only the impracticality of biting someone's finger off that keeps hands unmaimed.
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May 4, 2014 10:23
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Tollymain posted:Fake edit: Half-dead? Nah, they're full dead, if the concept of life and death applies to them at all at this point. they're fine they just need some lotion
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May 4, 2014 21:59
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reignonyourparade posted:I'm pretty sure if most people had teeth that sharp fingers would get bitten off all the time, its only the impracticality of biting someone's finger off that keeps hands unmaimed. Don't try this at home, but it's actually really, really, really easy to bite off a finger  Our teeth and jaws are sufficiently sharp and strong that the capacity to sever a human finger at the joint isn't even a question.
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May 5, 2014 00:22
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Yeah, most people instinctively stop before they do that kind of damage, but there are people whose senses of pain don't work that do that kind of stuff all the time by accident. It's super creepy. I wouldn't be too surprised though if there were doctors that knew how to reattatch that finger in the world of Unsounded, and if not, magic can probably do something about it. Worst case scenario, her finger's gone for good, but she could probably live a normal life since the tip of one finger isn't that important.
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May 5, 2014 01:04
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SlothfulCobra posted:but she could probably live a normal life since the tip of one finger isn't that important. But for a prostitute? That seems rather important! ("Just the tip" joke goes here)
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May 5, 2014 01:24
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According to Ashley on her Q&A tumblr (which replaced formspring once it became unreasonably lovely), neither medicine nor magic knows how to put that thing back on in its present state, so, yeah, she's going to be short a fingertip. Most likely she'll have to get a glamour for her customers. Maybe save up for a prosthesis like the one the Peaceguard guy Duane mutilated was going to get.
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May 5, 2014 02:54
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PleasingFungus posted:Is there anything in particular that makes you suspect this? Everyone seems way too happy to be there and it makes me suspicious. Anyway new page, Sette does not have an accurate reading of the situation DarklyDreaming fucked around with this message at 04:57 on May 5, 2014 |
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May 5, 2014 04:42
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DarklyDreaming posted:Sette does not have an accurate reading of the situation
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May 5, 2014 05:15
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Alright, Sette, here's 17%. 17% of nothing, because we don't take cash...
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May 5, 2014 07:46
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