I have to hand it to you. Not many could miss such puns so easily within their grasp. I’d recommend you knuckle down and see if there was something you missed in the comment above. I suspect it’ll feel like a punch in the face when you realize what it is you overlooked.
I noticed that their Torcs don’t have the little ball on the end for some reason. All of the other tribes we have been aware of until now seem to have it. Although she’s really skinny she does seem to have appropriate strength because popping somebody’s drive back into place isn’t a light duty task.
For some reason, I read Chera’s voice with a British type accent. Probably the ‘My Lord’ and the fact I recently finished Game of Thrones.
And this arc reminds me of Zona pummeling Pontagar with Tula and the twins calmly watching as if it was a perfectly normal way to settle disputes. 😀
Zona has shown restraint time and again. I’d say she’d have to be mad at Mentl on a global-war-turning-point-betrayal kind of situation to hit him that hard.
Regarding Zonn, however, she can lash out as she likes. He’s Erogenian (and she knows his reputation), he can take it.
I can’t help but notice that the phrase “come back here, I’m not done with you” would ONLY work on Zonn, an Erogenian.
I mean after receiving an uppercut that literally tossed him out of a valley, I have to ask what kind of person would go back?
A hit hard enough to loft someone Zonn’s size (7 feet tall, probably at least 350 pounds of muscle) several yards should have broken quite a few bones, maybe even snapped his neck. And it only dislocated his jaw? Wow, Zonn and Zona really are tougher than average humans… even average Erogenians.
Average Erogenians can be explained physiologically fairly easily. There is a gene for a protein called Myostatin, that keeps us humans alive during famines, by allowing the body to disassemble unused muscle tissue. Over the last 6 million years of the current Ice Age, the majority of hominid time has been spent in famine conditions compared to the current glacial interegnum. Since muscle tissue eats lots of calories, even sitting there idling, having less muscle at times of famine, when all the muscle in the world won’t get more food, Myostatin can be a life-saver. However, lacking or having a dysfunctional Myostatin gene can cause us here on Earth to have very substantial muscular similarities to Erogenians. There are a number of examples of this mutation known, some in Olympic athletes. The results when these people live in an industrial society that provides plenty of food are not too bad at all. However, an Erogenia hit with a famine would be in dire straits. May their lands always be fertile. Add this mutation to the red hair/blonde hair/blue eyes mutations, and a population with human bodies very much like Erogenia could be expected.
Zonn and Zona, however, are beyond that. While the greater musculature from a lack of Myostatin *does* also bring enough stresses on bone to promote denser bone growth, the type of resilience we see in Zonn and Zona is of an entirely different order of magnitude. I am counting on the image I saw in the story of Ipola listening to the Sun God when she took control of the Tower of the Moon, because that image looked *a*lot* like Zonn. Just as Heracles was a super strong descendant of someone from elsewhere than Earth, it is far from impossible that Zonn is a similar introduction from elsewhere. Whether the story eventually turns on that, or it’s a sidelight, I have no idea.
How is he going to explain… THIS. Being absent from your child’s life for 25 years and missing out on actual WARS is not something that’s easy to overlook or forgive.
Isn’t there a notion that he got caught up in a remote place without any means to go back home or somesuch?
I mean, Zonn may not be a paladin in shining armour but he’s got at least acceptable ethics or Ipola would never have had usual sex with him. (She’s a Queen, first, foremost and without exceptions even for her own daughter.) She might have married him for politics, and might have taken him to bed to get a descendant, but their relationship was far deeper than this and I don’t think Ipola would have taken the chance to get betrayed by someone whose morals she didn’t trust.
“Being absent from your child’s life for 25 years and missing out on actual WARS is not something that’s easy to overlook or forgive.”
You didn’t read what happened to Zonn? It was in some of the apochrypha that JED published on his site (now in process of replacement after a blowup of some sort). Zonn lead a raid deep into Urtt territory, and found his band surrounded everywhere but an exit to the East. He led his raiders East from there, successfully breaking free of Urtt pursuit by keeping going East. He then wandered a bit trying to find a way home. However, at some point he found an old structure in scouting for paths, in which he was given a vision by the Sun God. He was to found, with his raiders, the Sun Tribe, of Erogenia, and wait for his own offspring to rediscover them in that spot. Apparently he has been following orders. His essential answer to Zona’s questions about not getting back in touch are that he was instructed to wait, and he did.
BTW, the Sun God was also shown in the portion of the site’s apochrypha describing Ipola’s occupation of the Tower of the Moon, after it had been vacant for 3,000 years. In that story the image of the Sun God, as he spoke to Ipola, was astoundingly close to the images we have seen of Zonn. I am assuming that the Sun God of Teria is like the parent of Heracles, who we met in their effort to leave Earth, except not so much of a cad as “Zeus”. That would be why Zonn and his daughter have the strength they have, compared even to Erogenians.
I love how Chera is enjoying this. And of course, how he is proud of getting hit so hard by his daughter. Reminds me of when I lose a game to my pretty-darling princesses.
BTW, JED, does “The Light at the End of the Tunnel” refer not just to the recent plot developments but to the plot itself? Are we nearing the end of the story?
Well, this delights me, to see that you all are having fun. I am sorry I have not generally replied as I sometimes do, but things have been extremely busy for me for the last year. An old flame became a new relationship that became so successful she is now my Silver-Bonded, and we will be marrying in about a year. I am very happy. 🙂
Also, in about a week to ten days, look for a major announcement about the future of the “Challenges Of Zona” and “BarbarianPrincess.com” in general. Things are going to be changing, and it’s going to be all for the good.
That also has been taking up a lot of my time, and I am super excited about it. Watch this space!
Your questions and comments are very rewarding and if I sometimes go very quiet, it’s mainly because I don’t want to give anything away to those who haven’t already figured out what the next twist or event is going to be. You are all too sharp, and sometimes I like to have my little surprise.
One question I can answer definitively is that no, we are not nearing the end of the story. Not even close. We are, however, assembling the final elements that will be crucial to that denoument.
And when that one’s finished? I’ll just start another one. 🙂
Happy news! Congratulations to the both of you! May you share love, strength, peace and joy for the rest of your lives (and possibly beyond that)!
(Oh, and have good rock music at your wedding party. And the Ode to Joy at the end of the ceremony. It worked for me.)
Also and somewhat less importantly, I’m a bit surprised that the story isn’t even close to an end since we seem to near the gatherings on either side for what might be the final battle. (Unless, of course, the final battle is lost by the good guys and merely opens into a third act – the second one starting with the preparations of war and Mentl’s going back to San Bernardino – of Zona and company leading the resistance against His Utterly Hideous Majesty Kor Lachnis.)
You got me curious about the site’s future as well, but I’ve learned to wait for good things even before I came here.
I don’t think JED intends to end this is one big climatic battle anytime soon. The last war with the Urrts lasted years. There’s no reason to think this won’t be a similarly lengthy affair either in-story or out-of story. Despite the best efforts of the Erogenians, I expect that Shuach’s forces will invade Kivalia. Shuach is smart enough to realize that’s where he needs to make his primary thrust. The Kivalians are unprepared, militarily, psychologically, and most importantly, spiritually. I doubt Shuach will be seeking merely plunder like the Urrts did. He’ll be seeking converts, and he can gain them among the Kivalians, not the Erogenians who know him so well and have rejected him thoroughly. The Kivalians worship Thrasu, but he doesn’t seem particularly active. An active god, even an evil one, is going to win converts if people are given a chance to convert and actively penalized if they don’t.
38 thoughts on “Light At The End Of The Tunnel – Page 1026”
TheSkulker
Right! Let your (balled up) fingers do the talking ….
Simon Magid
I can’t quite put my finger on why, but for some reason I am getting the impression that Zona isn’t happy.
Storel
What was your first clue? 😉
SeanR
I have to hand it to you. Not many could miss such puns so easily within their grasp. I’d recommend you knuckle down and see if there was something you missed in the comment above. I suspect it’ll feel like a punch in the face when you realize what it is you overlooked.
Lora
“Yes, I am very proud of her.” Ha, spoken like an Erogenian. 😛
I hope they can set things straight without too much damage to Zonn. They kinda need him alive and functioning.
MidnightDStroyer
Oh, I think Zonn will live. He may not like it & maybe not in one piece, but he’ll live.
Just_IDD
I noticed that their Torcs don’t have the little ball on the end for some reason. All of the other tribes we have been aware of until now seem to have it. Although she’s really skinny she does seem to have appropriate strength because popping somebody’s drive back into place isn’t a light duty task.
Lebbrin
Actually they come in different ends. I’m not sure if there’s a significance, but the Grandad here… https://barbarianprincess.com/comic/spiderbite-song/page-863/ has loops at the end. And Pontagar has something different here. https://barbarianprincess.com/comic/conflict-resolution-erogenian-style/page-294/ And a page before the twins also have loops like Grandad’s. I wonder if it’s a tribe thing?
Just_IDD
Jaw … not drive.
EmmaC
LOL
I love this arc… Zona, Zonn, Chera… I loooooooooooooooooooooooooooove it *pass around popcorn and left over candies*
jd.
I really shoudln’t… I still have to watch what I eat… All right, just this once. Thanks, sis!
Lebbrin
For some reason, I read Chera’s voice with a British type accent. Probably the ‘My Lord’ and the fact I recently finished Game of Thrones.
And this arc reminds me of Zona pummeling Pontagar with Tula and the twins calmly watching as if it was a perfectly normal way to settle disputes. 😀
SteinarB
They’re Erogenian. It probably _is_ a perfectly normal way to settle disputes. 🙂
The MacNut
Poor Zonn. I think Chera’s going to be popping more bones back in place by the time this is over.
Wonder if Zona would ever hit Mentl like that if she were that mad at him? Mentl would be an idiot not to wonder…
jd.
Zona has shown restraint time and again. I’d say she’d have to be mad at Mentl on a global-war-turning-point-betrayal kind of situation to hit him that hard.
Regarding Zonn, however, she can lash out as she likes. He’s Erogenian (and she knows his reputation), he can take it.
Raoullefere
She’s handling it well, I think.
Of course, Zona has no means to turn Zonn into a toad and then throw him into a snake pit, so perhaps it’s simply a matter of limitations.
calisto01
I can’t help but notice that the phrase “come back here, I’m not done with you” would ONLY work on Zonn, an Erogenian.
I mean after receiving an uppercut that literally tossed him out of a valley, I have to ask what kind of person would go back?
Prairie Son
A masochist. Or someone too stupid to live.
Both kind of apply to a traditionalist Erogenian like Zonn
Wolf
Found! (I had to adjust my link https://barbarianprincess.com/comic/much-rejoicing/interview-2/
The interview with Zona in the Otherwhen.
Storel
A hit hard enough to loft someone Zonn’s size (7 feet tall, probably at least 350 pounds of muscle) several yards should have broken quite a few bones, maybe even snapped his neck. And it only dislocated his jaw? Wow, Zonn and Zona really are tougher than average humans… even average Erogenians.
Tom Billings
Average Erogenians can be explained physiologically fairly easily. There is a gene for a protein called Myostatin, that keeps us humans alive during famines, by allowing the body to disassemble unused muscle tissue. Over the last 6 million years of the current Ice Age, the majority of hominid time has been spent in famine conditions compared to the current glacial interegnum. Since muscle tissue eats lots of calories, even sitting there idling, having less muscle at times of famine, when all the muscle in the world won’t get more food, Myostatin can be a life-saver. However, lacking or having a dysfunctional Myostatin gene can cause us here on Earth to have very substantial muscular similarities to Erogenians. There are a number of examples of this mutation known, some in Olympic athletes. The results when these people live in an industrial society that provides plenty of food are not too bad at all. However, an Erogenia hit with a famine would be in dire straits. May their lands always be fertile. Add this mutation to the red hair/blonde hair/blue eyes mutations, and a population with human bodies very much like Erogenia could be expected.
Zonn and Zona, however, are beyond that. While the greater musculature from a lack of Myostatin *does* also bring enough stresses on bone to promote denser bone growth, the type of resilience we see in Zonn and Zona is of an entirely different order of magnitude. I am counting on the image I saw in the story of Ipola listening to the Sun God when she took control of the Tower of the Moon, because that image looked *a*lot* like Zonn. Just as Heracles was a super strong descendant of someone from elsewhere than Earth, it is far from impossible that Zonn is a similar introduction from elsewhere. Whether the story eventually turns on that, or it’s a sidelight, I have no idea.
Uhl
How is he going to explain… THIS. Being absent from your child’s life for 25 years and missing out on actual WARS is not something that’s easy to overlook or forgive.
jd.
Isn’t there a notion that he got caught up in a remote place without any means to go back home or somesuch?
I mean, Zonn may not be a paladin in shining armour but he’s got at least acceptable ethics or Ipola would never have had usual sex with him. (She’s a Queen, first, foremost and without exceptions even for her own daughter.) She might have married him for politics, and might have taken him to bed to get a descendant, but their relationship was far deeper than this and I don’t think Ipola would have taken the chance to get betrayed by someone whose morals she didn’t trust.
Tom Billings
“Being absent from your child’s life for 25 years and missing out on actual WARS is not something that’s easy to overlook or forgive.”
You didn’t read what happened to Zonn? It was in some of the apochrypha that JED published on his site (now in process of replacement after a blowup of some sort). Zonn lead a raid deep into Urtt territory, and found his band surrounded everywhere but an exit to the East. He led his raiders East from there, successfully breaking free of Urtt pursuit by keeping going East. He then wandered a bit trying to find a way home. However, at some point he found an old structure in scouting for paths, in which he was given a vision by the Sun God. He was to found, with his raiders, the Sun Tribe, of Erogenia, and wait for his own offspring to rediscover them in that spot. Apparently he has been following orders. His essential answer to Zona’s questions about not getting back in touch are that he was instructed to wait, and he did.
BTW, the Sun God was also shown in the portion of the site’s apochrypha describing Ipola’s occupation of the Tower of the Moon, after it had been vacant for 3,000 years. In that story the image of the Sun God, as he spoke to Ipola, was astoundingly close to the images we have seen of Zonn. I am assuming that the Sun God of Teria is like the parent of Heracles, who we met in their effort to leave Earth, except not so much of a cad as “Zeus”. That would be why Zonn and his daughter have the strength they have, compared even to Erogenians.
jd.
I love how Chera is enjoying this. And of course, how he is proud of getting hit so hard by his daughter. Reminds me of when I lose a game to my pretty-darling princesses.
Descartes
Zonn might do well to remind Zona that her mother answered the calling of the gods and he could do no less.
Descartes
BTW, JED, does “The Light at the End of the Tunnel” refer not just to the recent plot developments but to the plot itself? Are we nearing the end of the story?
Prairie Son
He’s said elsewhere he has years more story to tell.
JE Draft
Well, this delights me, to see that you all are having fun. I am sorry I have not generally replied as I sometimes do, but things have been extremely busy for me for the last year. An old flame became a new relationship that became so successful she is now my Silver-Bonded, and we will be marrying in about a year. I am very happy. 🙂
Also, in about a week to ten days, look for a major announcement about the future of the “Challenges Of Zona” and “BarbarianPrincess.com” in general. Things are going to be changing, and it’s going to be all for the good.
That also has been taking up a lot of my time, and I am super excited about it. Watch this space!
Your questions and comments are very rewarding and if I sometimes go very quiet, it’s mainly because I don’t want to give anything away to those who haven’t already figured out what the next twist or event is going to be. You are all too sharp, and sometimes I like to have my little surprise.
One question I can answer definitively is that no, we are not nearing the end of the story. Not even close. We are, however, assembling the final elements that will be crucial to that denoument.
And when that one’s finished? I’ll just start another one. 🙂
Warmest regards,
JED
Paddy
Congratulations!
Joe
Old flame becomes a steady light. May you both shine.
Tom Billings
May your hearts bless each other with their warmth.
May your souls light the path each of the other.
May we bask in the glow of your joy.
jd.
Happy news! Congratulations to the both of you! May you share love, strength, peace and joy for the rest of your lives (and possibly beyond that)!
(Oh, and have good rock music at your wedding party. And the Ode to Joy at the end of the ceremony. It worked for me.)
Also and somewhat less importantly, I’m a bit surprised that the story isn’t even close to an end since we seem to near the gatherings on either side for what might be the final battle. (Unless, of course, the final battle is lost by the good guys and merely opens into a third act – the second one starting with the preparations of war and Mentl’s going back to San Bernardino – of Zona and company leading the resistance against His Utterly Hideous Majesty Kor Lachnis.)
You got me curious about the site’s future as well, but I’ve learned to wait for good things even before I came here.
Salisria
I don’t think JED intends to end this is one big climatic battle anytime soon. The last war with the Urrts lasted years. There’s no reason to think this won’t be a similarly lengthy affair either in-story or out-of story. Despite the best efforts of the Erogenians, I expect that Shuach’s forces will invade Kivalia. Shuach is smart enough to realize that’s where he needs to make his primary thrust. The Kivalians are unprepared, militarily, psychologically, and most importantly, spiritually. I doubt Shuach will be seeking merely plunder like the Urrts did. He’ll be seeking converts, and he can gain them among the Kivalians, not the Erogenians who know him so well and have rejected him thoroughly. The Kivalians worship Thrasu, but he doesn’t seem particularly active. An active god, even an evil one, is going to win converts if people are given a chance to convert and actively penalized if they don’t.
Adam Östergren
Blessed and Merry be.
Phoebe
She’s ONE of yours? Does that mean there are others???
Salisria
We know of at least one—Thann Zonn Melida—and he has abandonment issues as well.
MidnightDStroyer
It sounds like Zona has a few more bones to pick with her dad. This might turn out to be humerous to watch.
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