King of Swords 1-2
Chapter: 1
“YNEM E YNNU
YNNU E AP
I am he who protects himself,
Nothing can harm me.”
– Ya’at slave incantation
Kill Six Billion Demons
Seeker of Thrones
“YNEM E YNNU
YNNU E AP
I am he who protects himself,
Nothing can harm me.”
– Ya’at slave incantation
I feel like insinuating that Solomon-David might lose in any capacity is pretty much asking to be beheaded.
That being said, his confidence is pretty sexy.
is it truly attractive to be arrogant?
=//=
WILL HIS ARMY BE BEARDED TOO?
A death flag to be sure. Such a waste of a magnificent beard, but these matters were foretold, and then believed.
Behold the King! He kills without intent or volition! Great is He, the destroyer of thought, the annihilator of reason, the murderer of the self! Cut the world! Break the heavens! Defeat the enemy called I!
Hrmm… Getting a bit of a “Beware the Ides of March” / “Et tu, Brute?” vibe here. Never be the guy who asks about the chain of succession. If you have to ask then you aren’t the successor, and by bringing it up it also raises questions about why you are so concerned about the succession.
Not surprising. Solomon David is so confident in his abilities, he thinks there is no need to consider succession. As far as he’s concerned, he is invincible.
No, this won’t end badly whatsoever. [/s]
Solomon David is one arrogant prick, it looks like.
Also, Nadia starts consolidating her power. Looks like she followed Allison’s advice, such as it was. You know that you have to consider your ruling credentials when a barista comes up with a better way of running your transuniversal empire.
I don’t think Mottom is trying to run her empire anymore. I think she’s trying to claw up as many forces she can before death finally catches up to her.
If she’s to die anyway, she’ll turn her entire empire into her own personal pyre.
The war always starts with Malkuth burning and the death of the placental tree. But wait, is that not birth seen from the other side? Mottom better figure out which way is up.
To be fair, very few people in any event were ever in a position to give Nadia Om advice. Counsel in matters political, yes, but even they must be careful with their tongue, lest they offend their Demiurge (as Solomon David demonstrates here with his elders). And Nadia’s various generals and governors had their own interests and ambitions, making it inadvisable for Nadia to be candid with them.
Allison is likely the first person in thousands of years who not only had a chance to really understand Nadia’s situation, while at the same time having the unmitigated gall to try giving Nadia advice.
Lest we forget, that moment ended with Mother Om’s palace on fire. So, take the matter of giving Nadia advice with a mountain of salt.
Solomon David is the literal Demiurge of Pride, so no surprise 😀
Certainly one with as much power as he would have nothing beyond his influence. But to truly control those selfsame things, ah, takes far more than reaching them.
Sayeth the Gnawing One:
Perfection is the conceit of fools
Rejoice in the shattered mirror
And if no flaws are to be found
Create them thyself
Them’s six words he is not going to find tasty when he has to eat thrm.
Fuck BBC, I’d rather have BBB
(Big Black Beard)
Yup, smug as Hell.
Well, he is the Pride guy after all.
If the war were to be determined simply by whoever could eat the most ham, I suspect Jagganoth would still be the most likely to win. I mean, Mammon is pretty big, but he’s also kind of an old coot. Unless Jagganoth is allergic to ham. Then maybe Gog-Agog.
I am in full support of a Transuniversal Ham-Eating Contest to decide the fate of existence
As a blood god, his goes directly against my interests.
As cool as it sounds, there’s no way enough mortals will choke to death to make this into a win for me.
To deal with those of true and overpowering faith is a rare treat.
There is nothing they will sell, but given the proper pitch, there is nothing they will not buy.
In reality, the councilors were actually playing the popular board game “Dungeons and Demiurges” when their boss showed up. Now they’re trying to BS that they were actually strategizing.
Successor.
Hmm. I wonder what his will is in this case.
Now I see the shape of the the Paternum’s demise, and the silhouette of what will come to his empire.
“Your beards are indeed powerful, gentlemen, but let us not forget who possesses the Ur-beard. The font of follicular wisdom protects us all.”
Ah yes, pride before the fall…
So easy to bask in the praise & the glory of being the key to all that is good & all that is holy…
So easy not to think of who is going to clean up this mess…
When one forgets the sad sad fact, that when one becomes as essential, instrumental, & necessary as someone can come to be…
And decides to take great personal risk, not giving others some other option or form of redress…
For having everyone rely on you completely, & then dying recklessly instead of protecting what you’ve built, truly just quickens the grim reaper’s pace, as Death comes for us all…
Choose they croon the Ancient Ones
the time has come again
choose now, they croon
beneath the moon
beside an ancient lake
Pride goeth before the fall…
“There is nothing beyond my control.”
Never, in all the multiplicities of of space and time, have more arrogant words been pronounced.
Oh please, it *will* become a roaring fire and Mammon *will* win, no question about it. If I weren’t recovering from heart surgery to remove the gold nuggets from my cyber-aorta, I would be counted among the number of the mercenary army raised to defend the Dragon and grant Him triumph.
Seems like it’s time for a solid black page with white text reading ‘Allison is beyond his control’.
The fact that they dare to raise the question of succession in his presence is a surprise. I really wonder what is his dark side that makes his subjects suffer. There is surely something. My best guess for now that he purposefully keep the population a “simple” life (ignorant and underdeveloped) because it is “better for them” and possibly have such draconic laws that are barring impossibility to keep for normal people.
Of course I am surely wrong. I did not read any of the background materials and I am rather bad at mind reading authors.
Per the last page’s author notes, his laws are draconian enough to prevent his citizens from living well. However, other than divinely-enforced authoritarianism, their standard of living is high; certainly higher than the subjects of any demiurge except maybe Mammon.
It’s pretty obvious.
Go way back when we first saw the council with the seven. Back when they discussed the successor in the first book. The meeting where incubus did not even send a representative, but his “first consort”. The meeting Jagganoth called.
Compare the meeting as it first appeared with what we now know.
Mottom rightly sees the entire meeting for the sham it is.
Solomon takes everything completely serious. He makes a huge number of errors in judging the situation.
Now imagine someone has authority over you. Your boss. A judge at your trial. A moderator on a forum. Your immortal god-king. And he keeps getting things wrong. And he thinks he’s right. And he blames you for things due to those inaccurate, flawed judgements. That’s Solomon.
He’s delusional, and self righteous.
IA!
All praise Paternum!
May his nipples ever wander!
IA!
We have witnessed the nipples of 4 of the Seven Black Emperors…
SD is associated with Ya’at slaves, Mottom could be argued to be a scarred woman, Mammnon is a dragon, Allison is a thundering dumbass.
One recalls a tale of Intra and ponders the parallels.
YISUN is an inveterate liar, and like all of that exalted sorority, is wont to repeat his favorites from time to time.
Solomon’s beard is so advanced it’s made of several smaller, equally-sized beards. On that note, I am fully convinced that Solomon’s court is hierarchically organized by beard length, width, and symmetry.
He who holds tightest, finds all flows through his grasp
Such hubris
Much purple
wow
I love your comic and am excited for each update, just fyi
And what is that will, I wonder? I notice that none of these Councilor’s bear fragments of Solomon’s key…
Now that’s a death flag if I ever saw one.
“Pride here. About to fall.”
And I have to wonder, is Mammon leading his armies, or are his underlings doing that for him?
Do those sound like famous last words to you?
Because those sound like famous last words to me.
I suspect that the Emperor’s succession is less about who shall reign in his place, and more about who’s body he should seize control of if the one his mind and power currently holds direct dominion over should cease.
I think you’re spot on. When his host dies, the Sentient Beard that is Solomon will transfer to the nearest available host (that still looks ok without a shirt).
I like this king. This king is cool.
Lame. They don’t even paint their miniatures.
LO! For these wise ones have not heeded the vaster wisdom of the Great Panzer-of-the-Lake! Surely their downfall is imminent.
Amen.
Don’t think the moist vehicle is canon i KSBD:(
This is getting more epic by the panel
Panel 3 – I believe “publically” is a misspelling of “publicly,” since “public” is apparently the only “-ic” word that doesn’t follow the general rule (critically, tragically, etc.)
anyway i luv this comic thanks
Also I believe the word is ‘Imperatrix’.
I actually love Solomon as he’s been portrayed so far. Such a solid character! He *seems* like the good guy of the demiurges. But it is weeeird seeing how he has such an elitist reign, over a room full of starving old men. They look like they really could go for some of that eternal life he’s got, but I’m guessing generations of counselors have died in his service already. Grim prospects for our weary counselors, hope they enjoy their job while they’re alive.
“There is nothing beyond my control”, many emperors, kings, heroes, villains, gods and demons have uttered those words. Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer
It takes a special kind of conceit to believe that the empire would survive long enough after Solomon’s death for succession to matter.
Dude,
like,
get a clue?
How… foreboding.
But what happened to all the BREAD.
ＴＥＥＴＨ
dang, they are QUICK to jump on that succession matter.
Considering Mottom is now literally dying of old age, and Mammon is senile and losing his mind, I would not say worries about succession are entirely unfounded. Not only that, but his counselors are justifiably worried about a Third War of Succession. Mottom stated that it took all six of the other Demiurges to hold back Jagganoth. Now that the alliance is broken, Jagganoth will almost certainly invade, and then it is only a matter of time before the other three join in on the fun, if they have not secretly done so already.
The Die is cast. The Seven will fall. All Hope is lost, unless The King will sit His Throne.
He is a complete fool.
So, the man’s children seek to inherit the empire, hm? Has anyone ever successfully done so? Have there been Solomons before Solomon-David?
“And the beards have all grown longer overnight”
Whose beard do you judge worthy to succeed you? Also, nice flag with the “nothing beyond my control” statement.
Nothing, judiciously applied, may effect great changes.
The opposite of Intra: A consummate non-fool.
Allow me to share with you, oh great Paternum, the tale of a young human named Alexander…
“Paternum”
As someone wisely pointed out on the last page, this king rules over a rabble of his own aged children. Clearly they hunger for a share of his immortality, and his amazing beard oil!
Interesting that patriarch Solomon is the demiurge to talk of judging and correcting of children.
In many of the writings attributed to *our* world’s Solomon, he describes these (GEVURAH and BINAH) as two of the feminine aspects of God.
A righteous ruler strives to emulate all ten of the Divine traits, but he warns that exercising them without neutral balance (TIFERET’) is dangerous. They are only truly godly when accompanied by their their masculine counterparts insight (‘HOKHMAH) and compassion (‘HESED). Each trait is only properly expressed through the other nine, as these parts are merely tools that our mortal minds can use to try to understand the glory of the whole.
Kingship (KETER) is in the Kingdom (MALKUTH), and MALKUTH is in KETER.
I have my doubts as to who wrote that. Some argue that it was his mother Bathsheba, while others attribute it to 13th century Jewish Gnostics from Italy. Whoever it was, it wasn’t a man who lacked for wisdom.
Are the next chapters/pages going to be published in bulk or per page? Either way, just some advice: Making an antagonist character have a ‘hero’s journey’ kind of story makes him/her/it much more likable, if the both the enemy and hero are likable and liked by the audience, there is more at stake. This is often done in books like A Song of Ice and Fire where the story is very character driven and based on the characters inner and outer conflicts between other relatable and likable character regardless of their horrid or heroic actions
Perfection is a lie, Solomon David, the truth of it died with YISUN. All things that exist are imperfect, this is the nature of existence itself. And of things that do not exist, they are perfection only lasts until their transition into existence. Most notable are plans and schemes; tis common knowledge that pre-prepared stratagems are the first soldiers to die in battle. No one aside from absolute idiots and the Bearer of the Shape can say with any real confidence how things will turn out for any given action, especially martial endeavors.
This Includes You.
Mammon and Mottom are thy peers, Solomon David. They owe you no respect, or reverence, apart from that which you have cultivated in what is left of their hearts. Barren ground by any measure, and you don’t strike me as a gardener of any skill
You are not their father, and you are certainly not KING. Tread carefully or you will impale yourself on that towering spire named HUBRIS.
Hm. Either there is no heir (“because I’ll never need one”) or the councilors would really rather he pick one of them (“no, this orphaned pig farm boy will be perfect for the job”). My money is on the first one.
Zoss was greater and he has fallen. Gods came before him and are gone too. Nothing is the potential of EVERYTHING and will doom you as it did many far greater, prouder and humbler than thee, most patronizing demiurge.
If Zoss fell, he did so as the fruit falls from the tree. Intentionally, and with intentions to create anew.
Not only did he give up his power intentionally… he seems to have retained something! Perhaps Zoss has realized godhood without the key? Or lives now within it? That, then, would be why he seems to be watching our hera and advising in moments alone.
wisdom will only function so long as hubris allows it
=//=
EGO-DEATH IS THE PATH TO ULTIMATE UNDERSTANDING
Welp. Guess who’s gonna die pretty soon.
Nothing beyond his control? Oh, I’m definitely looking forward to the day his arrogance bites him in the ass.
And here I was worried that Solomon-David would have filled his council with people that were entirely without ambition. I guess the dude thinks he doesn’t have to worry about a coup of any sort.
So we finally see the old King.
I believe the matter of a Successor has already been very definitively settled.
Well, he certainly seems to be doing a better job of holding off the ravages of time than the Dragon or the Imperiatrix, not to mention wozzername who seems to have adopted the Dr. Munoz method for dealing with entropy. And Incubus is not well respected, and I suspect neither is wormface. One would think the existence of Jagannoth would instill a touch of humility, though.
I think the Paternum is possibly gaining his immortality by reversing the power structure the other members of the 7 have, where they loan out their power in the form of minor keys to seconds & subordinates, which would make sense, since none of his seconds on the council have any keys.
Plus, the play on words for an overbearing helicopter parent “living through their children’s accomplishments” just sounds right for him. The pressure these men must be unbearable! Just look at them, they are only in their 40’s!
I rather suspect that virtue is the key to immortality, as I have seen it elsewhere: the virtuous, even if they possess but one simple virtue, if they do not break it, keep a life of spirit that is unbreakable. Translate that through magic into the material, and in fact you *can* become immortal and even potentially youthful if you find a means of restoration through virtue rather than destruction.
Possession of an artifact that keeps the body alive while pretending that age is gone? Not so awesome after all. The part where this artifact grants immense force of will? A game of stacked towers, waiting for the wrong move. Only an authority that owns itself can stand there, and only if it maintains itself.
I like the authority of ever-presence, but it can be painful to wield without virtue. Adding a restoring virtue? Much less painful… as long as you don’t actually get cut.
Enter Intra, or his proxy, to have a chat.
Behold, the pride of tyrants! I say to you all, one who is ruled by pride rules nothing!
Conquer the enemy that is I!
As strange as it is to travel five years in a week, I am here.
So.
Other readers have assumed that Solomon is a body-switcher. If that is the case, he will have Zaid as his heir. And after his current host’s death, he will wear Zaid’s body.
Alternately he might aspire to groom Zaid as his heir, believing that this will preserve his memory as great predecessor of the conquering king. Well, he doesn’t have the time, and Zaid may turn out an even greater fool than Allison, and unfit for power. Solomon looks like the guy who will take prophecies at face value and ignore inconvenient doubts.
Or, Solomon didn’t acquire Zaid. In that case I assume it was Gog-Agog, as Jagganoth+Incubus+Jadis know about Allison while Mammon and Mottom don’t have him. I wonder if our group of heroes will have similar conclusions.
Abel, Precision
Simon, Decision,
a six-grind position
Plot twist: they’re all his sons, waiting for decades to assume the throne.
Except theyre all old and grey now as their quasi immortal dad sits there with his gloriously oiled beard
Everyone’s saying he’s not worried about succession, but that is very much not the message I’m getting. Note that he responds to the question with “You know well my will in this matter [that is, his succession].” It seems to me that he’s supremely confident, as his final statement indicates, but that he’s also well-prepared nonetheless, because he already has a plan for that event that he expects his councilors to know.
That said, I’m also HUGELY biased towards this guy because he’s easily the coolest of the Seven by a few country miles.
Body snatching? BAH! There is greater reason for all his subjects and advisers fashion themselves to his fashion.
Solomon David is a strong king.
Not because he mighty in form or magnificent in spirit, but because he embodies the strength that we all want.
The right of, “I AM.”
It is no wonder all his supplicants desire to become him.
HE IS.
I don’t want to be one to make presumptions. but I do believe that these councilors are the wise king’s sons. What better way to feed endless ego than to see one’s children old and frail while one stays in their prime.
Hoi Abbadon, kerning seems a little too much to the right on first talk bubble, “the war continues to slowly escalate”, not sure if accident but if it were me I’d want someone to point it out to me so here goessss
Solo reminds me of Aizen as first impressions.
from that dude/dudette betting ah ah about a left ovary about Solo’s offsprings/creations also reminds of Aizen.