Annotated 28-13
Yeah, Harky ain’t buyin’ it. The Tectonican dwarves are not exactly insincere in their beliefs, but they’ve also been coached.
Gondolessa’s decision here does come off as a tiny bit abrupt, but let’s assume he can also read tone of voice. Magda is the only one whose answers don’t sound scripted. Without thinking too hard about it, she’s spilled the beans on her own chieftain’s political machinations. And if she doesn’t take orders from Iver while doing this interview, she probably won’t be taking orders from him as a member of the Champions either, meaning Iver won’t have a ready-made assassin he could use to take control of the Champions or even attack Harky in an unguarded moment.
Plus, look at her make a whole face hologram out of pure fire and even make it recognizable (Hi, Cliff). What are the others doing, lighting up swords and rocks? We got an AP student over here, folks.
The art made two things clear; Magda is the truly gifted one of the group and she is the only one not smiling as if they are putting on a magic show. This was not some shallow act of throwing away her people’s old belief and adopting a new god on the whim, Magda’s actions (or lack there of) carries some weight with her words.
I didn’t read it as coaching exactly (though Iver certainly encouraged things) but rather zealotry versus faith with a mind and heart behind it.
I read it that way, too. Maybe coached, but definitively trying too hard.
I agree with the statement about “faith with heart and mind behind it,” but not sure it is zealotry on the other side. The other three seek the only power of the faith by blindly following the rituals without examining the result. That is why other people see the words they speak as being “coached” or scripted.
Is the redhead laughing at Magda’s fire picture, or at something else?
I think it’s out of delight with their own abilities. They’re having fun. Which is in contrast with Magda’s seriousness.
I took it as laughung at Magda for being a bummer who’s hung up on the Mystics, FWIW. Not unlike Goblawrence, the things that get Harky and Gondolessa interested are the things their own cultures hold in contempt.
It’s no those who want to do the job that always are the right ones to do it. Sometimes it takes one who doesn’t want to do it, but know it has to be done.
Sure, they too can be wrong with their reason, but the dedication at least is there.
Like a firefighter who would like nothing more than to be without a job, but knows they have one and it needs to be done when duty calls.
Kinda like our little waterfighter here, shooting her flames from the heart.
Giving Insecure Heatstones Wannabe the same haircut as Harky is a nice touch.
I feel like that’s meant to look more like Tectonicus’s horns than Harky’s hair. Though to be fair since Harky is the avatar of Tectonicus it’s perfectly probable that one was designed with the other in mind, like how those same horns appear on Penk’s helmet later. Pondering this does make me wonder, though, whether what Tectonicus actually looks like is public knowledge.
Magda also says “… they will die,” about her own people, the Savasi. An interesting choice.
Also, I find My2Cents’ comment on the original page a riot: