23 10864

A council meeting via the sending rings. Ipola presides in her throne. Present are :



Tor - King Of The Bull Tribe

Uthic - King of the Wolf Tribe

Aglor - King of the Fox Tribe

Ona - Queen of The Lion Tribe

Uroc - Queen of The Bear Tribe

Ollsnic And Sulima - King And Queen of the Snake Tribe

Theradic - King of The Hawk Tribe

Zonn - King of The Sun Tribe

IPOLA - Queen Of The Moon Tribe, Liege Lady Of All Erogenia

IPOLA: So … this … creature … took Pontagar’s mind and manipulated it. His mind, his will … his personality?

CIRINA: Yes, your Majesty.

PONTAGAR: I … I’m … sorry. I still can’t remember things right … I can’t tell you what … Gods, can’t THINK!

IPOLA: (furious) This is blasphemy.

23 10864

Blasphemy – Page 1245

23 thoughts on “Blasphemy – Page 1245

  1. Oh thank goodness. He didn’t deserve to have all that work derailed. And now they’re aware Shuach is working in darker ways than expected.

    1. Yep.

      Game on!

      Warm regards,
      JED

  2. Wow, talk about a gathering of leaders. (I notice that Yanora isn’t invited, this time. Curious, because that could be useful information for her too. Then again, we’ve seen that magic is superfluous to tamper with Maldik’s brain — such as it is).
    Interesting that Lion and Bear tribes have queens despite a name and association that is more masculine than feminine. Good for Erogenia, that they value competence more than gender.
    Oh, and Zonn rocks the older Sean Connery look something splendid. I don’t think I would have recognized him with this tamer beard, but the effect is great.
    (I’m not so sure about Ipola’s face in the penultimate panel, though, I have to admit. The eyes conjure up something of a Claremont/Byrne/Austin-era X-men character…)

    1. This is an Erogenian council. It’s an emergency meeting, and, at the moment, Erogenians only. Have no doubt that, as soon as they reach their next steps, Ipola will inform Queen Yanora as well as Gudik and Tethik. (Maldik can stew.)

      So far as this shot of Ipola, it’s like I always say – these are models crafted and morphed to match my character design as best as I can. The variation is the camera angle and lighting. She is the exact same model and costume and texture, etc as in the previous scene with Keltan et al.

      Warm regards,

      JED

    2. You say bear is more of a masculine association?
      Who is it you’re not supposed to mess with? Papa Bear or Mama Bear?
      I think you’ve let the misogynists confuse you. Femininity isn’t necessarily weak. Zona’s not entirely an outlier.

      I believe lions are kind of the same deal. I mean, sure, king of the jungle and all. But that’s in large part due to the mane, and in large part due to how entrenched misogyny is in most modern cultures. Also, I’m not sure it’s a foregone conclusion which animal that isn’t human “rules the jungle”. Elephants and gorillas both seem to be more likely contenders to me than a misplaced resident of the savanna. That said, I’d tend to guess it’d actually be something small and deadly, something we wouldn’t even expect. After all, the jungle is said to be most deadly to those who don’t know it, and I think most people go into the jungle knowing about lions, gorillas, and elephants.

      1. Elephants and either leopards, jaguars, or tigers, depending on your continent and/or locale. But no, not lions. And gorillas tend to be outliers.

        On the plains, male lions (as with all Panthera) do tend to conform to the ‘king’ stereotype. The males are at the top and maintain the territory, and if one loses, his successor kills off the losers progeny. The ladies, however, tend to do all the work.

        Of course, lion prides certainly clash with elephant herds, their main rivals are really spotted hyenas, who are, by the way, not the subservient villains depicted in Pop Culture, but rivals who compete head-on with the lions, each making about 50% (Overall. The actual percentage varies from region to region) of their kills and stealing the rest from either weaker predators like cheetahs or one another. But hyenas are ruled by a queen, not a king (although a queen who sports a pseudo-penis. Yes, really. Nature is weird. Too bad you don’t have a Hyena Clan, JED, because… 😀 )**.

        The same goes for elephants. The mature males tend to do their own thing, either alone or in a sort of ‘boys club,’ while the lead female is the head of each family.

        **Yes, that is *exactly* why I made this comment. You can be young only once, but immaturity is immortal!

        1. “Too bad you don’t have a Hyena Clan, JED, because… 😀 )**. ”

          Sounds a bit like futa. 😛

      2. @Some Ed
        “Who is it you’re not supposed to mess with? Papa Bear or Mama Bear?”

        One is not supposed to mess with any adult bear. Male or female.

      3. “Femininity isn’t necessarily weak.”

        Indeed. There are female athletes and, being not a particularly fit male, I wouldn’t want even a regional athlete like, say, a marathon runner after me.

        Yet sexual dimorphism is a thing. And in the case of most mammals, humans included, that means the males are mostly bigger, more muscular, faster, more resilient, with a bigger bone density, a more favourable muscle/total mass ratio, etc., making them more suited to sports (the statistics in all competitions are tell-tale) and heavy-duty professions like quarry worker, miner, building, firefighter, LEO, servicemember, etc.
        All of these professions where one’s life expectancy in good health (or even just life expectancy, in general) is the shortest.

  3. how did Willem Dafoe sneak in?

    1. FINALLY someone recognizes him! 😀

      I cast Dafoe because I think he has one of the most interesting and badass faces in showbusiness. I made the likeness myself using some pretty cool Daz-friendly software and a publicly available image of the actor.

      Warm regards,

      -JED

  4. @jedraft
    Waitwaitwait… So that’s Willem Dafoe as king Aglor of the Fox Tribe?
    Now that you mention him… True, true. I do recognize him.

    Are there other cameos, pray tell?

    1. Ask me no questions, I’ll tell ye no lies. 🙂

      Warm regards,

      JED

      1. Aw, come on, Jed. Tell us who else has been cameoed in there. Don’t point who is who, but please, tell us woh else is on the list. Pretty, please? ^^

  5. To be fair to us, the hair did conjure up vintage metal musicians (I think someone mentioned Steve Tyler at some point).
    That reminds me of that short thing I read in a film magazine about Willem Dafoe having eight different faces in seven films! That was in the early nineties, and he’s gone more consistent since, of course.
    And yes, now that he’s been named, yeah, that’s him. Thanks for bringing this fabulous actor in this fabulous story.

  6. so of the 10 “Ring Bearers” present:
    6 have the ring on the Right hand and 2 have it on the left hand. (Can’t see Uroc or Ipola)
    Fashion statement? Left Handed vs Right Handed? Personal Taste?
    Just wondering.

    1. My guess, “it’s complicated.”

      Some of them could be wearing it on their main hand because they didn’t think about it. Some of them could be wearing it on their off hand because it feels like a distraction on their main hand, or they want to hide which hand they use more. Some of them could be wearing it on the hand their predecessor wore it on, with their own handedness not entering into it. Or there could be some other influence.

      People do many things for many different reasons. They say there’s always three reasons for everything: the one we say, the one we think, and the one that is. But in my experience, life is almost always more complicated than we think, and art mimics life.

  7. Good to see them holding council so quickly, but aren’t we missing a tribe? Or am I misremembering? I though Sun Tribe was tribe number eleven.
    Interesting to be introduced to the other tribe leaders; I hope we see more of them.

  8. The Gorram Batguy

    Good thing he’s leading the Fox Tribe, which is effectively Erogenia’s spy network. After all, “it takes one to know one” so who better than Dafoe to catch da foes. 😉

  9. @Lora
    Found this page https://web.archive.org/web/20111215113324/http://www.soulgeek.com/comics/zona/HTMLpages/erogenia.html which names the ten tribes
    Moon, Fire, Wolf, Lion, Hawk, Bear, Fox, Bull, Snake, Sun
    So yes, they are all accounted for.

  10. Sulima is giving off early-Daenerys vibes. I can’t wait to meet her.

  11. I just realized how much this looks like a Green Lantern meeting…

    1. Well, that would explain why Gorshash had such difficulty wielding Ipola’s old ring – too much fear in him.

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