Annotated 12-1
Original pencils had Bandit poking at something like an aletap, but the instability of the tankard was better symbolism.
My original notion for this page would have picked up the “writer’s prologue” trick that we’d used in Chapters 7, 8, and arguably 9. We cut it partly for redundancy and partly because this scene ended up needing some extra breathing space. But here it is:
PAGE ONE
1. Syr’Nj holds up some raw meat.
CAPTION
Arkerran Year 1204. Notes on the upcoming conflict.
2. Carefully, Syr’Nj feeds a tame griffin from the Gastonian stables.
CAPTION
I normally abhor animal testing. But I’m 99.5% certain the elements I’ve chosen are harmless to the griffin. And the medicine I’m developing could save many lives.
3. Syr’Nj pets the griffin gently as it finishes its meal.
CAPTION
Not that I would have the time for pure research, if it wasn’t applicable to one of our most pressing problems. As much as I still believe in a brighter tomorrow, we have our hands full at the moment just defending today.
4. Close on the pensive Syr’Nj.
CAPTION
Bandit, who has ALWAYS lived for today, has a valuable perspective on our current issues, I admit.
CAPTION
Grudgingly.
Griffins strike me as a tad too hard to replace for use in testing of any sort.
Unless griffin swarms/infestations are a regular occurrence, and who knows?
Something like a tasmanian devil or a Yosemite Sam would have been a fun test subject, on account of their well-documented rage issues.
Or a cage full of tiny hulks, calmly reading books, under the influence of calming decocts.
I would argue that in high fantasy settings griffons are like pigeons. They’re everywhere and seen as a pest unless properly bred/trained.
Half-a-tonne (hollow bones, right?) pigeons with claws like daggers and beaks like battleaxes, yikes.
Most of the time they just crap on your freshly-washed wagon.
Pigeons proliferate in cities because humans tend to keep many of the animals that would eat the pigeons at bay, while also generating a large amount of waste for the pigeons to eat. But griffons themselves are predators (often of things valuable to humans, like horses), and would not take to parasitic urban living nearly so easily.
Unless they’re omnivores and lazy.