KELTAN: What … what is …?
IPOLA: Honestly? I think it’s a holy place. A place of memory and history … and more.
PANEL 2
KELTAN: (gaping at the central statue) This … this … who?
IPOLA: Tula says it is probably meant as a depiction of Garadan. (points to the other two statues) This would be Randa, and this is most likely Arelle. These three were the first of their kind. The scrolls say they are faithful depictions. Actual size.
PANEL 3
KELTAN: …
PANEL 4
IPOLA: Giants live many times the lifetime of a normal human, and they never stop growing, though it seems to slow after maturity. Garadan was apparently over six hundred years old when he finally died.
PANEL 5
KELTAN: Six … hundred … years. That’s … I’m overwhelmed.
ZONA: Oh, Keltan, my dear friend.
PANEL 6
ZONA: A long life, think of it. It’s a blessing. And you won’t be alone.
KELTAN: What … what is …?
IPOLA: Honestly? I think it’s a holy place. A place of memory and history … and more.
PANEL 2
KELTAN: (gaping at the central statue) This … this … who?
IPOLA: Tula says it is probably meant as a depiction of Garadan. (points to the other two statues) This would be Randa, and this is most likely Arelle. These three were the first of their kind. The scrolls say they are faithful depictions. Actual size.
PANEL 3
KELTAN: …
PANEL 4
IPOLA: Giants live many times the lifetime of a normal human, and they never stop growing, though it seems to slow after maturity. Garadan was apparently over six hundred years old when he finally died.
PANEL 5
KELTAN: Six … hundred … years. That’s … I’m overwhelmed.
ZONA: Oh, Keltan, my dear friend.
PANEL 6
ZONA: A long life, think of it. It’s a blessing. And you won’t be alone.
24 thoughts on “Actual Size – Page 1238”
Tom Billings
Organisms that never stop growing are possible, as long as they have enough food, but they are sometimes not nice to be around, … like saltwater crocodiles, or vast underground fungi. This 600 years old giant looks like he could eat an Ox, at one sitting. This, however, is an organism that is not only stimulated by a burst of “Magic” that is *very* occasional, but is gestated in normal humans, and retains their intellect, while needing less of the qualities of our species’ “Large, obstreperously violent primate” aspect of life, which is fortunate for humans, given their size.
I am wondering, given the actions of our large friends, so far, especially toward the young dragon, if they are there to fight Urts and dragons, or to help heal the wounds in all species, afterward, and how. Simple thumping on an enemy alone, for someone who comes that rarely, and is magically “modified” from the human norm, in any way, seems, … odd. There is also the fact that the giant boy was born *later* than Keltan and Lori, so something in the magic persists, at least awhile. Hmmm! Does it accumulate, or seep away? Hmmm!
jedraft
Tom,
I am a fair fantasy world-builder and have an educated layman’s knowledge of biology, but suffice to say without the effects of fantasy “magick” such large humans are physically impossible. 🙂 Fortunately, this isn’t real life, though hopefully I am at least internally consistent.
Yes, Lori was born a few years after Keltan, and Emmon only five years ago. So obviously the spell picks and chooses, according to what logic the Erogenians can only guess at this point. There’s much more to be discovered.
What was the original purpose of the giants that they needed to be so huge and tough? Well, I hope to reveal that, though no promises on when.
Warm regards,
JED
C-R*
Hmm, maybe a sort of Adam & Eve pair? Since they’re usually ‘born’ before/around a catastrophic event. They’d need to be strong & tough to survive, bearing witness to the event, so it can be recorded / less likely to happen again.
So, a sort of historian + parent/guide/whatever of humans.
calisto01
Other questions, can two giants give birth to a third giant? How about a “normal” human? The sampling is too small to understand if Keltan’s abilities are typical or special except they all seem to be fire resistant to an extreme degree. They also seem to have high intelligence, Keltan seems very wise for his years and Lori learned to read and write in what had to be a very short period of time after being driven from her village. (not enough back story to know for certain but it seems to fit) I wonder how much evidence there is about the population size of the giant’s ?temple?/ civilization. At one time were there more than three at once? Is three the maximum number for a reason? (other than restricted resources)
Tune in next page! Same Bat time, same Bat channel!
jedraft
Those are good questions. I will only say that Keltan and Liri have been VERY active in the sack for months, and so far she has not become in the family way.
Liri’s father was the town recorder, (a minor official) and books and papers of all kinds were available in the house. Liri also made the acquaintance of Brother Laemul, who had been assigned to their parish as an insttructor. He befriended her and she learned to read a couple languages (the equivalent of a Tudor Grammar School education) and do her sums well before her ninth birthday. Yes, both of them have a lot of native intelligence. Keltan’s parents were farmers, and neither could read or write, but unlike Liri, his childhood was more or less happy, and he used his inborn connection with animals to help make their little farm very prosperous and comfortable. Here is a couple of links to their respective bios that I put up a few years ago:
https://barbarianprincess.com/images/KeltanBioUpdated.jpg
https://barbarianprincess.com/images/LiriBio.jpg
More about the Giants will be revealed soon. Not guaranteeing *how* much more. We do have a major story arc to get back to, after all. 😉
Warm regards,
JED
Joe Fonebone
A six hundred year lifespan? We should all be so lucky. And special powers. Me likey.
Kiddeagle
Keltan’s not used to looking up at people
Joe Fonebone
True, but they are on pedestals.
RBZ
Are they? It doesn’t look like it to me.
Joe Fonebone
Previous page, last panel.
RBZ
Looks like the same shiny cobbled flooring as is shown in this page’s panels.
Joe Fonebone
Then why are the heads of the people standing there, even with the feet of the statue they are in front of?
RBZ
Sorry. I don’t think I quite understand what you’re asking.
Are you asking why you can see the heads of the people who, in that panel, are at a fair distance from the statues, whose feet are also visible?
Joe Fonebone
If you look at panel one of this page, you can see that they are right in front of the statues. They were never that far from them. It is, as Ipola said, a small dell.
RBZ
A dell is a small secluded valley.
They are in a system of immense caverns and gained entry via a dell.
Joe Fonebone
Yes, adjacent to the Tower of the Moon. In panel one, you are looking straight down on them. In panel 3, you are looking toward the statues, from Zona’s left side. There is a statue directly in the line of site from that position, yet in panel 3, you cannot see any of it; even the feet. All you see is a stone block structure. A pedestal.
RBZ
I had an inkling that you might mention ths.
The stone pillar that is visible next to them in panel 3 is the same stone pillar that is visible next to them in panel 1.
Note the candelabra.
Joe Fonebone
Sorry, but the angle is wrong. It cannot be the same candelabra.
RBZ
Looking closely at this and the previous page, I’ll admit, it may not be the same candelabra.
However, that same closer look has revealed conclusively that the stone pillars are not pedestals for the statues, as they are the supports for the vaulted ceiling.
RBZ
So, 600 Erogenian years. I wonder what that is in Earth years.
And whether Zona and Mentl could live long enough to see Keltan in old age by making judicious visits back to Earth.
Reservist
In Earth years? I’d wager it is the exact same.
RBZ
Time flows more quickly in Erogenia than on Earth.
This was established when Mentl, Zona & Tula went to Earth for a few days and by the time they’d returned to Erogenia, months had passed.
Reservist
“Time flows more quickly in Erogenia than on Earth.”
Does it? I must admit I did not pay that much attention to that particular detail, all that time back when I first read about it.
But it appeared to me that, although there might be this difference you mention, 24 hours would flow just the same on Teria than on Earth. To put it differently, waking up at 06H30 would feel the same, for Terians going on Earth and vice-versa.
RBZ
That is obvious, and not my point.
Let’s imagine that time flows 10x more quickly in Erogenia than Earth. So 1 Earth day would equal 10 Erogenian days.
Now, if Mentl travels from Erogenia to Earth, stays for a week, then returns to Erogenia, he will have aged a week, while Zona, who stayed in Erogenia during his absence, will have aged nearly 3 months.
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