King of Swords 1-1
Chapter: 1
“The Star Emperor is a man of great stature, with an oiled beard and stern countenance. He does not concern himself, as his kin do, with plotting and scheming against each other, but chiefly with the exercise of ruling. His primary concern is justice. His subjects live fairly, peaceably, and one might say even well, if not for the heavy blade of the law constantly grazing the tender skin of their necks.”
-Payapop Pritram, Chronicles of the Seven
Get out of the way quickly
This all seems very nice. I wonder when the horror will begin!
What is this, the council of beards?
I know. Isn’t it rapturous? Such a fine collection of magnificent beards, Solomon David’s the greatest of all.
Oh, my. Solomon is showing a lot of chest there and I don’t mind one bit.
Ah, the first breath of a truly resplendent figure…can’t wait to see him reduced to a withered husk like the others, cloying for our girls to do…something or other.
Truly though, curious to see what this big ol’ nipple-bearer’s deal is. I’m sure it’ll be fabulous.
The beardocracy
Truly, the only form of government worth having. All inferior forms of rule wish they were as magnificent or as wise.
There’s a couple of things that struck me here:
– The councilors wear headbands imitating the halo of Solomon David. Neat.
– I’m not sure if it’s the angle or just Abaddon’s drawing style, but the room looks *not quite* symmetrical. As if being just slightly off. I’m wondering if this is intentional or not.
“You don’t have long
I am on to you
The time, it has come to destroy
Your Supremacy”
-Muse, “Supremacy”
Is Solomon david purple or a shade of black?
I just think the strongest real world parallel is to the Knights of Solomon, more commonly known as the Knights Templar. Individual poverty, their order owned all they had, to the point of people using it as a bank. They sold the services of their mercenary armies to kings. They were all burned as heretics when a king decided it would be cheaper to get them all killed than to pay them for the wars they fought for him.
There is no such thing as an innocent before a King. His will is law, and thus his word is the only thing that separates the sinner from the saint.
Because the king’s mandate, be it ever so divine, was not won through justice but through steel. Reach Heaven through Violence.
It appears that beards are required to be in his advisors. Are any of them bearded women?
That beard….I’ve only seen it in the Player’s Handbook. He is a Fighter, I believe?
GAZE UPON MY GLORIOUS NIPPLES, PUNY MORTALS.
His symbol seems to be a bit of a square, which for symbolism’s sake, is associated with order… Except, it has soft edges at the top, and only the top, if you understand what that implies if put there purposefully for symbolism’s sake.
The other gods we’ve met so far have recounted slaying relatives, the witch a husband, the dragon a brother, although he at least expressed some remorse.
I am wondering if the sword-master, for he seems the prideful sort, has fallen into the opposite trap of choosing favored descendants, from whom he lives through their accomplishments, but ignores their failures. Considering the battle scarring on the one council member’s face, he is already choosing & rewarding those based upon them being a lot like him in the first place. Not hard for me to imagine him sitting around for eons, watching the progress of his decedents generation after generation, choosing his favorites, and promoting them to be councilors. And whether or not that is the case, he seems to have only chosen men. Huh… In that case, it really would be the Sons of Solomon, wouldn’t it? I guess I can only hope I am that accurate.
golly, I wonder how Allison’ll screw *this* guy up!
Holy hell. I just found your comic today and I just read through the whole thing. I’m amazed at the level of detail, the beauty of the characters and the fracking culture mashups you use for the designs and mythology.
Your artwork is gorgeous and the story is great.
I dearly hope there’ll be a way to get this comic on paper somehow, I want this in my library. :O
Hrmm… Is it just me or is it a tad bit nippley in here? Did I say nipple? >.>
Seriously though, for anyone wondering why his nipples appear that high on his chest, it is because he wills it so. Obviously they have to be there in order to be seen – otherwise his robes would conceal them, and then you could hardly see them nipples. >.>
This Council has the gender (and age) ratio of your standard panel on abortion…
I must say Abbadon, I am at a loss for words. It has taken me some time to get to this point in the story of Rising King Allison and her ascension to the Throne. I eagerly await the coming yarns in this wide tapestry of war.
The king of Pride surrounds himself with copies of himself. Classy.
When the King speaks the Councillors listen.
Tarot:
Solomon – Number 4, The Emperor
Mammon – Number 16, The Tower
Motton – Number 2, The High Priestess
Incubus – Number 15, the Devil
i kinda want to do a wiki entry on Solomon’s nips… i feel like… maybe…
Upon rereading this, all I can say is, Solomon David looks tired in that last panel. Like he wants to step down and believes (in different parallel to Mottom) that he cannot.