Annotated 15-1
So hey, let’s check in with these two goofballs. When they are not crumbling under the weight of their problems, Byron and Syr’Nj are often cast as the responsible “parents” of the group, with Gravedust either the grandpa or uncle and everyone else the kids. This chapter and the last, though, have inverted that dynamic a bit: they’re separated from the others and their worries are relatively few. They’re mostly focused on making sure Byron gets better, and that’s going well so far. We won’t show them getting a full, uninterrupted scene of “just the two of us time” very often; tiptoeing into this grove of horrors is probably the closest they’ll get to a honeymoon.
I’d like to see “you’re all right” or some similar phrase introduced into the language to signify “don’t worry, I’m not offended and neither would any reasonable member of my group be.” We could stand to be more efficient in sorting actual offense from needless worry. I mean, someone like Naror’Nj is going to look for a fight no matter what, but that wouldn’t be because Byron told him his people loved nature.
From the script: “Byron doesn’t chop through these woods as he did at the beginning of Chapter 5, partly out of respect for Syr’Nj’s preferences, and partly because her guidance makes that unnecessary.”
Yeah, silverback spider is not something to be encountered by the faint of heart.
I think we settled on the term “Gorantula” for the large spider-ape.
That is adorably horrifying!
… adorrifying?
What, not a Taranturilla?
http://www.leftoversoup.com/archive.php?num=411
I always thought that male Black Widows looked like a gorilla
I always hoped we’d learn more about the Grove of UR-Animals, but if memory serves it never comes up again. Is there a story behind how the grove came into existence or how it got it’s name?
The word “ur-animals” sort of implies that these are weird “rough drafts” of the creatures known in the rest of Arkerra, maybe earlier species somehow untouched by evolutionary forces, like the idea of a Dinosaur Island or Jurassic Park on our world. That’s about as far as I went with it, though; I just wanted an exotic arena to test Byron’s mettle and to foster the sense that, for all the established parts of our world we were showing, that world also had some areas that were mysterious and under-explored even to Arkerrans.
“Land of the Rough Drafts.” I like that. Appeals to the artist and the Jurassic Park fan in me.
Thanks for the info!
Is that a chamele-ent in the background?
Looks more ceratopsian than chameleonoid.
Yes, that creature was dubbed a “Tree-ceratops”.
So, I’ve been meaning to ask… what’s with the mini-Sarlacc pit? I feel like there’s an animal it’s based on, but I can’t for the life of me figure it out.
My actual notes for the panel:
Trapdoors are flat creatures, virtually all mouth, that scoot quietly along the forest floor and wait for some unfortunate creature to step on them.
Forest wraiths walk around on oversized, daddy longleg-style legs and reach below them with similarly oversized “arms” that have vicious claws, howling their discontent from hollow mouths with hollow eyes.
Gorillaspiders are pretty much what you’d expect: gorilla-sized creatures with a hideous fusion of gorilla and spider traits.
Oh, so it’s the starfish/anemone equivalent of a landshark, with less brains. Got it. Thanks, T!
“We could stand to be more efficient in sorting actual offense from needless worry.”
Reminds me of a scene from “The Virginian” by Owen Wister.
Everyone’s sitting around a table playing cards — laughing, joking, cussing at each other and calling each other names.
Then somebody takes losing a hand a bit too personally and calls the protagonist a nasty name. The words are the same as everyone else has been using, but suddenly there’s a pistol leveled across the table and a stern admonition of “When you call me that: Smile.”
There are no offensive words, only offensive intents. Make sure you understand the intent before deciding to feel insulted and life gets a lot happier.