Annotated 30-3
Bit of an interesting chapter 1 echo here: some field medics doing the same work that Syr’Nj was doing in her first appearance. Such work was frustrating for her, and it, uh, works out even less well for them.
Well, at least they didn’t get eaten by sharks first.
Bit ironic that it’s goblin engineering known for making things blow up, according to the early text, but most of the memorable explosions in this story are the work of human hands, this one under a goblin’s narration.
In his later years, Goblaurence would write a text and teach a course called “Philosophy for Engineers.” Though the scroll would prove popular, enrollment in the course would be limited to smokers only.
You know Goblaurence’s cynicism reminds me of Shanna’s. Did you ever toy with him being her avatar in the same way you thought Xan might be Penk.
…Did I ever say we thought Xan might be Penk? I know the similarities in design might’ve struck some readers as a clue, but I don’t think that was ever an idea of ours.
The answer to “who is Shanna’s avatar” is “she would never play this game herself in a million billion years, not even in the name of embedded journalism.” The short answer to “who is Xan’s avatar” is “probably several.” It’s likely he played enough to make his initial contact with the non-tubed Peacemaker players, but that wasn’t a blank we felt the need to fill in.
For some reason I was certain Xan was Penk’s player, in the sense that it was confirmed somehow.
Now I wonder why the hell I was so certain…
Uh… Why is he the only person that plays the game, got with the group, and has no character? That is eating me now more than the fact that Penk and Xan are so similar for no reason.
He’s just the only one we know about. You’ve got to account somehow for the people who play for a little while but don’t really commit to the game, like me. Xan was, I presume, briefly bonded to one or more characters in sequence but left them behind (to live their own life/lives) once he was done getting close to the players IRL. We could have gotten into who that was but never did. I’ll speculate more when the time comes.
I assumed it was the hairstyle and his understated character that implied a connection between those two.
No. I suppose not. The comments and message boards get hazy after awhile. And yes Shanna would never play a game like this, but at the time I thought she might be a big hypocrite or played the game for “research” purposes and created the sardonic and worldly Goblaurence.
Death solves all problems. No man, no problem.
Sounds a lot like the current political climate.