Kindle the Flame, but do not feed the inferno. Oftentimes strength comes from having the ability to do great violence and knowing that to do so would be wrong.
18 Excruciating Patience Earned Through Many Lectures of the Blue Flame
We believe she may have strayed onto the path of Prim entirely on accident. Although that path was lain out before her to some degree when my siblings conversed earlier, I doubt my sister has taught her much of this path. I pray for the peace of the king.
Not sure if I’ve said it here, but I have said laboriously and repeatedly my own opinions on strength, as well as why I prefer to always carry a shield. Violence isn’t strength, not as such. Many claim strength by killing others, but that isn’t strength, that’s just violence. And any number of fools can tell you that anyone can be violent. Strength is not about who you can kill.
Strength is about who you can save. Who you can spare. Who you can let live. Strength is “I could kill you, a million times a million times, before my bangle hits the ground, but I choose not to.” Strength is choosing the option where everyone lives. Strength is the ability to stare *death itself* in the eye, or in the void pits where eyes ought be, and declaring “No, you shall do no more work today.”
In his vaunted performance earlier today, the demiurge Solomon David presented a great and incredible feat of violence, and in doing proved that he was as weak as any common man. Violent as a demiurge, violence befitting the name, absolutely. Strong? Never. Not even for a minute. Were he strong, not a life would have been taken, not a drop of blood spilled, by any of his foes.
Of all the names I’ve heard, Kassardis was by far the strongest. Remember Samura. To reach Heaven through Violence is a fool’s errand, and Throne is full to bursting with fools. To abandon seeking Heaven is to die by the roadside meaninglessly, and worse still. Reach Heaven though Strength.
Enlightenment is about embracing non dual reality. In the Bhagavad-gita (and Meti’s sword manual), it is taught that one must be thoroughly divorced from the outcome of one’s actions. Ethics are important but It’s not about good or evil per se. In one of the early parables it says a person attained royalty because they weren’t seeking it (or something like that).
Indeed. True Royalty is:
Pure,
Luminous,
Free,
Immutable,
Unique,
Beyond subject and object,
Beyond thoughts, beliefs, judgments and concepts,
Empty,
Open,
Peaceful,
Marvelously clear,
Whole.
Seeking True Royalty is like looking everywhere for the scopes that rest already on your nose, or rummaging through the Heavens and the Earth to find the priceless pearl you wear on your brow. And when you discover that IT was always already there, you have gained nothing, attained nothing… aside from the realization that (tag) you are IT.
Surely it is harder to spare all lives then it is to take them, but if that is all you can do then you are little better than those who are bound by violence.
No, true strength is the ability to choose both your outcome and your method. To slaughter or to save or to pass on unconcerned, as fits your desire, is the mark of true strength and one who possesses it will always defeat one who does not. After all, if you may choose your course and your would be opponent is bound to a single path, then you need merely pick one that they cannot follow.
Solomon David is mighty in his violence and I suspect Gog Agog saves many a life, in her own fashion, but both are trapped by their own methods. Allison, it seems, has begun to grasp for the power to choose.
This marks a clear misunderstanding of the nature of strength. Strength is not violence, nor salvation, nor a thing which may he measured. Strength is a declaration of magnitude.
Strength is not a trait a man can possess, but a description of a trait. A man can be strong in violence, strong in physical might, strong in conviction, or strong in anything else. Even strong in wisdom or compassion. If yhe magnitude of this trait is sufficient to dominate the world around them, that trait is “strong.”
This is the truth of “strength,” that a man is only “strong” when they choose to commit themselves to embodying these aspects.
Unfortunately a good chunk of that o.j. vanishes after taxes, given how we switched over to a juice-based economy after the Fall of the Vault and Mammon’s precious coins became next to worthless.
“In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves.”
Foolish Last-of-Pen, Favored of the Impure Snow Wolf
I pray that my opponents never love me the way that I love myself, for from a stranger I may always hope for mercy, but to myself? I know I give none to myself.
Eh. I found that line a bit silly in Ender’s Game and I still do.
It’s perfectly possible to understand someone well, to understand what they want, why they want it, and how they came to stand in opposition to you. You may even judge that they were perfectly reasonable and justified in all of those things. You might sympathize with their plight and bear them no ill will for opposing you.
However, doing all of that does not mean you need to agree with them or even slightly like them.
Huh, I always interpreted it completely differently, but also way before I knew Card was a dick.
I’ve always thought it’s the same concept as “grok”, love isn’t liking someone a lot, it’s truly understanding them. To truly understand someone is to know them is to love them. That doesn’t mean you can’t stand at odds, fight, or even kill them. To love someone doesn’t mean you agree with them, or even like them.
Sometimes people kill someone they love. Medical reasons, war, self defense, madness, even by accident. It’s the most painful thing a person can do. For Ender, every time he kills, he is killing someone he loves, and it’s why he gives up killing.
This, this is not Strength. Strength means being able to lift a couch on your own. Strength means to lick doorknobs without hesitation. Strength means to obfuscate the meaning of strength so that the mortals do not figure it out and give you a wedgie.
Strength definitely does not mean to retaliate against oppressive regimes. I know this because 2 Michael told me that, and he is a fair and just–
Wait, didn’t Zoss achieve royalty through the conquering of Throne and the interrogation of Metatron-1? Did not Maya claim “reach Heaven through violence”? How come AL-YS-UN is taking a step towards it through the lack of it? I should have been paying more attention during the lessons….
The answer is in the Cycle.
Zoss earned his throne through blood and slaughter, and was cast off it by the same. Maya and Meti alike know that violence is a useless thing and that committing to it without thought will earn nothing but more violence – and neither of them have attained Royalty, anyway.
For that matter, look at the Demiurges. Mottom? Desperately sacrificing women to her tree-husband for immortality yet loathing it altogether. Mammon? Blind, senile, and painfully aware his greed-quest destroyed everything he cared about, even the value of his plunder. Jadis? Sealed in a block and wanting to die. Jagganoth? Is taking Strength through Violence to its logical conclusion by annihilating the multiverse. Incubus? He who lacks the legitimacy accorded by his peers who only understand Strength through Violence, seeks revenge by aiding the Pankrator. Solomon David? Constantly seeking a heir yet disappointed, because he expects someone who can demonstrate even an appreciable fraction of his violent strength, yet nobody in this tournament could possibly be.
Zoss and A-YLS-SUN are True Royalty, for they have learned from this mistake, their mistakes.
“We have little to worry from a king who has abandoned his kingdom,” Solomon said.
“There is only one further along than me on the path to Royalty. The great lord of creation, the Conquering King,” Solomon also said.
How odd that so mighty a human can’t perceive this connection.
But royalty always follows established precedent: all bow before them, until none will do so. Even when royalty has slaughtered all and turned water to blood, there is one king left alone who is subject only to himself. His kingdom is a small pile of dirt beneath his feet.
It takes a lot of brute force to smash an apple flat, but a child can cut one into tiny pieces, even into mush, with a knife. It’s not about sheer amount of strength, but how you apply and wield the power you do have. I think this is what it means.
More questions allow one to get a better idea about the shape of the truth the liar so desperately wants to obscure. Come at it from enough angles, and while it cannot be directly viewed, its shape and nature can be surmised.
Pfft. All strength is a form of violence. No struggle is won without taking something from the other side. Even when you give them something, you take away who they were without it and what they might have become in pursuit of it.
The first, of course, because betting dividends are paid on a per-fight basis. Truly, this metaphor extends further than meets the eye. Luckily for me, I traded my eye for a delicious bowl of noodles a few decades ago. Best deal I ever made.
Curious, curious. For Al-YISUN to forsake the blood-soaked paths of the demiurges could represent a divergence from the cycle. But does such a change represent a new beginning or an end to all…or even both?
Whichever the result, it shall be fascinating to observe.
Turn the wheel on its edge and you will bear witness to the only name of God. There is no division in nature, the infinite is one with the finite. To separate one from all is the first and final sanctioned action.
Violence is not everything, a truth I must acknowledge despite being stained a myriad of colors in my bloody work. To kill those who must be killed is a different path than to kill those who can be killed, and I am glad to see the Rising King take her first step along it. Let us hope that she realizes what her criteria for ‘must’ is soon.
One hopes Allison shall remember this dream and possible epiphany when she wakes up (Incubus manifests in dreams, but also Cio isn’t in the cell).
Self-confidence, energy, and crackling white atum flame starting to come back. Use the Art, make a good barista ristretto out of nowhere, and let’s get to work!
The demiurges endure. We shall not see the generation that won power by force pass it to one secure in its place and capable of relaxing. How, I wonder, will AL-YISUN change the cycle.
Achieving Enlightenment is a paradox. You can cut away your attachments to free yourself of your burdens but your blade of want becomes heavier and more constrictive with each cut. True Enlightment is found in the deepest delirium. The kind where you do not lose your grip on reality but reality loses it grip on you.
Oh All-yis-un, you’ve come so far since those innocent heady days of seeing the world through ignorant eyes. It seems as you have left your mark on the World, the World leaves its mark on you.
I’m probably nitpicking here, but the alt text parable is rather imperfect because there ARE fish that can breathe air or at least use it in low oxygen waters, and there are invertebrates that can breathe air as long as their gills remain moist. Also, tetrapods evolved from fish that…. *cymbal crash* learned to breathe air.
Anyways, the problem with the second part aside, I get the point of the parable, how does one describe a thing that they’ve never experienced or are incapable of experiencing or vice versa. I wonder if the parable is about Incubus, after all, all he’s really known is struggle and violence. It’s kind of a ‘if all you have is a hammer…’ sort of situation.
Edit: A clarification, by vice versa I meant trying to describe something to a being that is incapable of experiencing said thing. Obviously the vice versa is imperfect since you can still attempt to explain.
Foolish Last-of-Pen, Favored of the Impure Snow Wolf
Ah, but given this new information, does the parable not become more interesting? Does the message not become more nuanced? The fish may breathe air (if such is its wish and in its power) but the fish does not breathe air because you ask it to. Just as the bee cares not what you think of its flight, the fish cares now what you think of its breath.
So too it may be of one who dwells in the dark. It is not that you know that they will lead you astray in what falls under the light. It is simply that your asking will not change their course. Does this uncertainty not make them a more dangerous enemy? Does this possibility of truth not make their advice yet more antagonistic? It is possible, even likely, that they may see things falsely, but you can not be sure that even this much is true.
I am glad to hear Allison verify our summation from the previous page: she could easily escape that cell, but refuses to leave WC behind. She could spare a thought for Nyave and Princess as well, but she’s got a lot on her mind. And a prison cell is – to quote David Byrne – a good place to get some thinking done.
Mebbe exists un o twae troggy darkdwellers knows leastsome summat o light. Frae passin speelios likesome. Lungsfish an Mudskippy o darkness be thums, outa myriadsome other uns.
Sometimes also the XIII. Always rendered as a wild lion gently resting beneath an unarmed and gentle hand.
But, as Prince Kassardis learned, violence is inescapable.
“Again and again you will destroy yourselves until you are mere hunks of flesh, crippled wrecks of meat. And there will come a day when you have become so ruined that even I will be able to best you in combat, and you will submit to my peace.”
Gog Agog and Solomon have an agreement, so, he tolerates her atm. Whether he is aware of Incubus’s dalliances with Allisons sleeping mind or not, I don’t know (doubt it, but it’s reasonable that he might suspect it), but it’s not like Solomon can do anything about it.
child let me tell you something no matter what path you chose its a path to enlightenment. It’s only the fact that you realized that violence brings violence that will let you take a less traveled path. But even if you find strength is something other than violence you will still attract fools to you like scavengers to carrion.
I wonder if anyone is collecting all these haikus and poems somewhere in the wiki. They are as much an inherent part of the webcomic as the alt-text or the stories under each page!
Maybe this will finally cool the heads of all those pretentious idiots who say “ALLISON PUNCH THING GOOD” or something of the sort whenever she does something idiotic. But I doubt they ever had the critical thinking skills to care about what they were saying, anyway.
To whom is this point being made? The wall? If I were a wall and the true king but asked I would gladly open up and let her through. No violence necessary.
42 Fragments the Universe Beyond All Reintegration
I like these sparks of a crown appearing in the last panel. I’m still going by the theory, and I’m open to being proven wrong, that the power can bend reality any which way you want as long as you can convince yourself you have the “right” to impose yourself on the world that way. As long as you “know” you’re entitled to wield the power. The physical law that those in the story has coded as the “continuous cutting motion”.
The demiurges and all who approach them so far have thought that this means realising the power depends on feeling like you’re “above” everything and everyone. But, and I admit this is very loose speculation, maybe Alison is beginning to think it can mean depending on the feeling you’re the only one in a position to “save” Throne from this shitty fascist-Darwinist system that’s keeping everyone from Mottom to the lowest slave trapped.
It WOULD be interesting if she did something in her dream, only to wake up and find that it had actually happened in the real world as well.
Maybe she is finally getting attuned to her Key?
Incubus has showed up in dreams when she was in other places, and that has not stopped Allison from rearranging the scenery to suit their dialog. The fact that she *chooses* to remain jailed even in her dream shows (imho) that she’s restraining herself
When fighting an inferno, another inferno does not help.
To combat a blazing gusher one must remove at least one of the components that makes it what it is. Be it fuel, heat or oxidizer. With an oil-well blaze one kills it with a large enough blast. Another way is just to close the source of fuel and the silly thing just sputters out.
With possession of a Master Key, all locks and doors could be opened at will or in this case closed.
Let us hope that our ALLISON discovers that she could use the key of keys to close and lock the doors on all the Demiurges
I, for one, am wary of any path that promises strength without violence. All strength is violence, what matters is the degree. A wise master once said: “There are no pure styles of combat. Purity comes only when pure knuckles meet pure flesh, no matter who delivers or receives”. Violence is the dialogue the multiverse has with itself. The only choice we have is: are we the knuckles or are we the flesh?
One thing I find fascinating is all the Seven we’ve gotten to know, those so great to rule the world’s under Throne, are in no way happy with their lives, and willing to trade these great powers for things they should consider petty. Do you think Mammon would have given up every ounce of treasure if he found a greater purpose in life? Would Mottom give up her power for a moment’s comfort? Could perhaps a kind person with a little cunning and a little wisdom put in the right place succeed in ways that violence never has and never will? Solomon seems far easier to speak to than to fight, perhaps all one needs to sieze great power and all that is between is to simply be the one thing great power never is: true.
I may be getting this entirely wrong, however. Still, the idea of defiance of prophecy and “Kill Six Billion Demons, The Great Peacemaker” is something that appeals to me enough that it could bias me.
42 Fragments the Universe Beyond All Reintegration
This is why I think Solomon needs to be shown that things are getting away from him. Currently, Allison may talk to him but his extreme faecoplenarity keeps him from really hearing her.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if White Chain somehow avoids or survives fighting Solly, and continues walking around with that huge hole in her chest? She’d be a living metaphor for the consequences of violence.
“Drink some fucking blood ” ? What ? Is it Vampire : The Masquerade: Blooflines all of a sudden ? And what is it that people here can gain by drinking human blood ? Asking for a friend.
I think it’s in a ‘drink some fucking blood from a fucking skull’ sense, in other words, be badass scary, his comment about weak attitude hints at what he’s driving at.
42 Fragments the Universe Beyond All Reintegration
Also, isn’t that what Incubus does? In a very early illustration he was shown sitting on his throne and people were offering him cups with what looked like blood. Or does he only bathe in it?
So you saying , he grants wishes , unlocks people potential and in exchange you have to let him suck you off ? Also it was hinted he is somewhat gay. Oh my. All kind of fun stuff , eh ?
Many fish do in fact gulp air in desperate circumstances. There may be wisdom here, that desperation pushes you to that which you could previously not even comprehend.
Allison is right: the cycle of violence is tiresome and endless. But refusing to fight and fighting to end the cycle are two different things. And if you doubt yourself while holding a key of Kings, you have already lost.
(Audibly sarcastic gasp) Audibly sarcastic gasp, you don’t mean that hitting things ISN’T strength, do you? My goodness! What a completely unexpected point of wisdom that no one could reasonably expect to pick up at all in their life.
I’m exceptionally impressed in you, Allison, that you managed to pick up this, such rare and unknown piece of wisdom out of your life of using your personal strength to best more physically powerful foes then you, so quickly.
Many proclaim the foolishness of using strength to solve problems and then go home and yell at their kids for this, that, and the other.
A true conversion is more rare. It often requires extreme trial or a tournament arc to bring about. We shall see if the key of kings knows what it is flashing about.
“Atrocity is recognized as such by victim and perpetrator alike, by all who learn about it at whatever remove. Atrocity has no excuses, no mitigating argument. Atrocity never balances or rectifies the past. Atrocity merely arms the future for more atrocity. It is self-perpetuating upon itself—a barbarous form of incest. Whoever commits atrocity also commits those future atrocities thus bred.”
I was counting the pages… I knew at last I had caught up… yet this is the first comic I have encountered where its characters feel so alive and its world so solid that I am not mashing the “next page” button in desperate need to see what happens next.
Whatever happens next will happen. Just as time ticks onwards, so too will this tale. As unstoppable and unpredictable as the future.
My goodness! How refreshing! Thank you, Abaddon! It may be a few months before I return and comment again, but know that this comic acts to me as a sort of beacon. A shining example of “how to’s,” be it character design to writing to world-building.
There are very few storytellers capable of mastering so many subjects, let-alone combining and balancing them so expertly. I cannot think of a single artist more impressive than you.
Agreed! It seems so rare to encounter a universe that has been so expertly crafted, no person, nor beast, nor piece seems out of place. Even in the most chaotic skirmishes and epic battles, there emerges an underlying order that speaks to just how much complexity lies beneath the surface.
Not to mention the commentary is often just as engaging as the story itself.
Much like existence itself, the art of good storytelling is lying so expertly and completely that (if only for a moment) your words become a most convincing reality. In this way, Abbadon is truly a consummate liar of the highest order.
The truth of violence is a circle. Any fool can use violence to achieve their goals, but any fool who does will rapidly find that more violence is always required. Eventually, such fools inevitably find that they’ve gotten nowhere at all, and have managed to achieve nothing but violence. This is why wisdom is in the edge of the sword, but rarely in the use of it.
Does anyone else get the impression that these panels could cycle? Ie. that the first panel could follow the last panel, as Allison comes to the edge of an epiphany and doesn’t quite get there?
All Against All was the First Game anybody played.
Then came, uh, if memory serves…All Sexin’ Up All.
I think our Rising King is beginning to figure out (maybe with a bit of devilish assistance) that seven days of love is a way more fun game than seven years of battle.
She done figured out the Peacemaker ain’t called that because a dead man’s quiet. ’bout damn time. Girl’s been runnin’ around quarter-cocked because she wasn’t in enough right mind to manage half-cocked.
Long about now, though, I’m gonna hazard me a guess. Ain’t a bettin’ woman, but I’m gonna guess just the same. That light right there is the hammer finally gettin’ pulled back, and that boy’s about to get his knee shot off.
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Kindle the Flame, but do not feed the inferno. Oftentimes strength comes from having the ability to do great violence and knowing that to do so would be wrong.
We believe she may have strayed onto the path of Prim entirely on accident. Although that path was lain out before her to some degree when my siblings conversed earlier, I doubt my sister has taught her much of this path. I pray for the peace of the king.
Not sure if I’ve said it here, but I have said laboriously and repeatedly my own opinions on strength, as well as why I prefer to always carry a shield. Violence isn’t strength, not as such. Many claim strength by killing others, but that isn’t strength, that’s just violence. And any number of fools can tell you that anyone can be violent. Strength is not about who you can kill.
Strength is about who you can save. Who you can spare. Who you can let live. Strength is “I could kill you, a million times a million times, before my bangle hits the ground, but I choose not to.” Strength is choosing the option where everyone lives. Strength is the ability to stare *death itself* in the eye, or in the void pits where eyes ought be, and declaring “No, you shall do no more work today.”
In his vaunted performance earlier today, the demiurge Solomon David presented a great and incredible feat of violence, and in doing proved that he was as weak as any common man. Violent as a demiurge, violence befitting the name, absolutely. Strong? Never. Not even for a minute. Were he strong, not a life would have been taken, not a drop of blood spilled, by any of his foes.
Of all the names I’ve heard, Kassardis was by far the strongest. Remember Samura. To reach Heaven through Violence is a fool’s errand, and Throne is full to bursting with fools. To abandon seeking Heaven is to die by the roadside meaninglessly, and worse still. Reach Heaven though Strength.
Enlightenment is about embracing non dual reality. In the Bhagavad-gita (and Meti’s sword manual), it is taught that one must be thoroughly divorced from the outcome of one’s actions. Ethics are important but It’s not about good or evil per se. In one of the early parables it says a person attained royalty because they weren’t seeking it (or something like that).
Indeed. True Royalty is:
Pure,
Luminous,
Free,
Immutable,
Unique,
Beyond subject and object,
Beyond thoughts, beliefs, judgments and concepts,
Empty,
Open,
Peaceful,
Marvelously clear,
Whole.
Seeking True Royalty is like looking everywhere for the scopes that rest already on your nose, or rummaging through the Heavens and the Earth to find the priceless pearl you wear on your brow. And when you discover that IT was always already there, you have gained nothing, attained nothing… aside from the realization that (tag) you are IT.
I believe you are half right.
Surely it is harder to spare all lives then it is to take them, but if that is all you can do then you are little better than those who are bound by violence.
No, true strength is the ability to choose both your outcome and your method. To slaughter or to save or to pass on unconcerned, as fits your desire, is the mark of true strength and one who possesses it will always defeat one who does not. After all, if you may choose your course and your would be opponent is bound to a single path, then you need merely pick one that they cannot follow.
Solomon David is mighty in his violence and I suspect Gog Agog saves many a life, in her own fashion, but both are trapped by their own methods. Allison, it seems, has begun to grasp for the power to choose.
Consider: the undefeated swordsman must be exceptionally poor.
well said indeed! Solomon has power certainly, but not strength.
Many are they who have conquered empires but never conquered themselves. Are they strong?
This marks a clear misunderstanding of the nature of strength. Strength is not violence, nor salvation, nor a thing which may he measured. Strength is a declaration of magnitude.
Strength is not a trait a man can possess, but a description of a trait. A man can be strong in violence, strong in physical might, strong in conviction, or strong in anything else. Even strong in wisdom or compassion. If yhe magnitude of this trait is sufficient to dominate the world around them, that trait is “strong.”
This is the truth of “strength,” that a man is only “strong” when they choose to commit themselves to embodying these aspects.
hehehe nipple piercings
The line bisecting recursive infinity.
so not just nipple piercings, Symbolic Nipple Piercings
Ding ding! We have a winner! You win enlightenment!!
Go on to the bonus round and you can win double enlightenment and a lifetime supply of orange juice.
Most contestants only bother with the orange juice, though.
Unfortunately a good chunk of that o.j. vanishes after taxes, given how we switched over to a juice-based economy after the Fall of the Vault and Mammon’s precious coins became next to worthless.
Bogus, we all know they’re hoarding the Yum Juice for themselves
incoming tiresome aesop about violence
“In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves.”
I pray that my opponents never love me the way that I love myself, for from a stranger I may always hope for mercy, but to myself? I know I give none to myself.
Eh. I found that line a bit silly in Ender’s Game and I still do.
It’s perfectly possible to understand someone well, to understand what they want, why they want it, and how they came to stand in opposition to you. You may even judge that they were perfectly reasonable and justified in all of those things. You might sympathize with their plight and bear them no ill will for opposing you.
However, doing all of that does not mean you need to agree with them or even slightly like them.
It was a weirdly preachy line that always seemed out of place in the book whose protagonist murdered a kid and then wiped out an entire species.
It finally clicked when I learned that Orson Card is extremely bigoted and religious irl.
“Do as I say not as I do” indeed.
Huh, I always interpreted it completely differently, but also way before I knew Card was a dick.
I’ve always thought it’s the same concept as “grok”, love isn’t liking someone a lot, it’s truly understanding them. To truly understand someone is to know them is to love them. That doesn’t mean you can’t stand at odds, fight, or even kill them. To love someone doesn’t mean you agree with them, or even like them.
Sometimes people kill someone they love. Medical reasons, war, self defense, madness, even by accident. It’s the most painful thing a person can do. For Ender, every time he kills, he is killing someone he loves, and it’s why he gives up killing.
Meti’s sword manual is the best Aesop about nonviolence, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.
Metti is the patron saint of non violence and I will feed your body to the dogs if you disagree
idk it’s helping my trauma, which really didn’t like solomon david
why make a labour of love like this if you had nothing to say
of course there is something abaddon would like to say
The meaning of strength.
“Strike hard, strike fast, no mercy.”
This, this is not Strength. Strength means being able to lift a couch on your own. Strength means to lick doorknobs without hesitation. Strength means to obfuscate the meaning of strength so that the mortals do not figure it out and give you a wedgie.
Strength definitely does not mean to retaliate against oppressive regimes. I know this because 2 Michael told me that, and he is a fair and just–
wait
Wait, didn’t Zoss achieve royalty through the conquering of Throne and the interrogation of Metatron-1? Did not Maya claim “reach Heaven through violence”? How come AL-YS-UN is taking a step towards it through the lack of it? I should have been paying more attention during the lessons….
The answer is in the Cycle.
Zoss earned his throne through blood and slaughter, and was cast off it by the same. Maya and Meti alike know that violence is a useless thing and that committing to it without thought will earn nothing but more violence – and neither of them have attained Royalty, anyway.
Maya is a greater king than any fool who has ever sat on a throne.
For that matter, look at the Demiurges. Mottom? Desperately sacrificing women to her tree-husband for immortality yet loathing it altogether. Mammon? Blind, senile, and painfully aware his greed-quest destroyed everything he cared about, even the value of his plunder. Jadis? Sealed in a block and wanting to die. Jagganoth? Is taking Strength through Violence to its logical conclusion by annihilating the multiverse. Incubus? He who lacks the legitimacy accorded by his peers who only understand Strength through Violence, seeks revenge by aiding the Pankrator. Solomon David? Constantly seeking a heir yet disappointed, because he expects someone who can demonstrate even an appreciable fraction of his violent strength, yet nobody in this tournament could possibly be.
Zoss and A-YLS-SUN are True Royalty, for they have learned from this mistake, their mistakes.
“We have little to worry from a king who has abandoned his kingdom,” Solomon said.
“There is only one further along than me on the path to Royalty. The great lord of creation, the Conquering King,” Solomon also said.
How odd that so mighty a human can’t perceive this connection.
To follow established precedent is the antithesis of Royalty.
But royalty always follows established precedent: all bow before them, until none will do so. Even when royalty has slaughtered all and turned water to blood, there is one king left alone who is subject only to himself. His kingdom is a small pile of dirt beneath his feet.
The rules of Royalty can be remade by those who possess it, like anything else.
And is Royalty not ipso-facto a vain pursuit?
Red sky in morning, Incubus warning.
Red sky at night, *something, something* FIGHT
Red sky at night, test your might.
It takes a lot of brute force to smash an apple flat, but a child can cut one into tiny pieces, even into mush, with a knife. It’s not about sheer amount of strength, but how you apply and wield the power you do have. I think this is what it means.
Some would say that the only way to peace is through the sword.
Others would say that the sword is an ugly piece of metal, and its peace is an ugly thing as well.
The greatest Cutting art, is the ability to cut away the sword from your kingdom, without exposing it to danger.
Ask a different question, hear a different lie. Maybe a better one.
More questions allow one to get a better idea about the shape of the truth the liar so desperately wants to obscure. Come at it from enough angles, and while it cannot be directly viewed, its shape and nature can be surmised.
Pfft. All strength is a form of violence. No struggle is won without taking something from the other side. Even when you give them something, you take away who they were without it and what they might have become in pursuit of it.
Yes yes, everybody’s story ends the same way.
Then he died, and the Lord of The Blood Harvest lapped up his life force.
I think it’s what someone does before that’s really interesting, if only to provide a slightly different flavor to my cup.
Who is stronger, the the one who wins every fight, or the one who never needs to fight at all.
I know which one I’d rather bet on.
The first, of course, because betting dividends are paid on a per-fight basis. Truly, this metaphor extends further than meets the eye. Luckily for me, I traded my eye for a delicious bowl of noodles a few decades ago. Best deal I ever made.
The wise sage plucks his eyes and says, “At last, I see”
“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” – Salvor Hardin in Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation”
Nay, for the incompetent it is the first refuge.
It is only for the competent that violence forms the last refuge.
Now behold the demiurges and judge them.
You can’t escape violence, neither is it the only thing.
Curious, curious. For Al-YISUN to forsake the blood-soaked paths of the demiurges could represent a divergence from the cycle. But does such a change represent a new beginning or an end to all…or even both?
Whichever the result, it shall be fascinating to observe.
The Wheel is a circle, but the “I” that bisects that circle has a clear beginning and end.
Turn the wheel on its edge and you will bear witness to the only name of God. There is no division in nature, the infinite is one with the finite. To separate one from all is the first and final sanctioned action.
Allison has never looked lovelier than she does on this page. Thoughtfulness is becoming on her.
Violence is not everything, a truth I must acknowledge despite being stained a myriad of colors in my bloody work. To kill those who must be killed is a different path than to kill those who can be killed, and I am glad to see the Rising King take her first step along it. Let us hope that she realizes what her criteria for ‘must’ is soon.
All against all… what a lonely existence.
One is the most boring of numbers.
So says YISUN. Or said. Or would have said.
It’s clear most of the Seven aren’t satisfied with their station, however high it is.
A mad existence indeed.
One hopes Allison shall remember this dream and possible epiphany when she wakes up (Incubus manifests in dreams, but also Cio isn’t in the cell).
Self-confidence, energy, and crackling white atum flame starting to come back. Use the Art, make a good barista ristretto out of nowhere, and let’s get to work!
The demiurges endure. We shall not see the generation that won power by force pass it to one secure in its place and capable of relaxing. How, I wonder, will AL-YISUN change the cycle.
Oblivion flashback.
(“Hear that? The guards are coming! For you! hahaha!”)
(From the next cell over): Hey, you. You’re finally awake.
“You were dreaming. Not even last night’s storm could wake you.”
The righteous Queen knows when her authority is best invested in another.
Achieving Enlightenment is a paradox. You can cut away your attachments to free yourself of your burdens but your blade of want becomes heavier and more constrictive with each cut. True Enlightment is found in the deepest delirium. The kind where you do not lose your grip on reality but reality loses it grip on you.
Kill not the billions without, but the demons within.
Nice one!
*Slow Clap*
Remember!
Kill Six Billion Demons is a name, not a command!
The heir is not the swordsman, but the sword itself!
Oh All-yis-un, you’ve come so far since those innocent heady days of seeing the world through ignorant eyes. It seems as you have left your mark on the World, the World leaves its mark on you.
Reach Heaven Through Something Other Than Violence
Royalty is an occasional cutting motion.
I’m probably nitpicking here, but the alt text parable is rather imperfect because there ARE fish that can breathe air or at least use it in low oxygen waters, and there are invertebrates that can breathe air as long as their gills remain moist. Also, tetrapods evolved from fish that…. *cymbal crash* learned to breathe air.
Anyways, the problem with the second part aside, I get the point of the parable, how does one describe a thing that they’ve never experienced or are incapable of experiencing or vice versa. I wonder if the parable is about Incubus, after all, all he’s really known is struggle and violence. It’s kind of a ‘if all you have is a hammer…’ sort of situation.
Edit: A clarification, by vice versa I meant trying to describe something to a being that is incapable of experiencing said thing. Obviously the vice versa is imperfect since you can still attempt to explain.
Ah, but given this new information, does the parable not become more interesting? Does the message not become more nuanced? The fish may breathe air (if such is its wish and in its power) but the fish does not breathe air because you ask it to. Just as the bee cares not what you think of its flight, the fish cares now what you think of its breath.
So too it may be of one who dwells in the dark. It is not that you know that they will lead you astray in what falls under the light. It is simply that your asking will not change their course. Does this uncertainty not make them a more dangerous enemy? Does this possibility of truth not make their advice yet more antagonistic? It is possible, even likely, that they may see things falsely, but you can not be sure that even this much is true.
I am glad to hear Allison verify our summation from the previous page: she could easily escape that cell, but refuses to leave WC behind. She could spare a thought for Nyave and Princess as well, but she’s got a lot on her mind. And a prison cell is – to quote David Byrne – a good place to get some thinking done.
Mebbe exists un o twae troggy darkdwellers knows leastsome summat o light. Frae passin speelios likesome. Lungsfish an Mudskippy o darkness be thums, outa myriadsome other uns.
New shoots, fresh growth.
New shoes, fresh feet.
New toothbrush, fresh breath.
Sometimes also the XIII. Always rendered as a wild lion gently resting beneath an unarmed and gentle hand.
But, as Prince Kassardis learned, violence is inescapable.
“Again and again you will destroy yourselves until you are mere hunks of flesh, crippled wrecks of meat. And there will come a day when you have become so ruined that even I will be able to best you in combat, and you will submit to my peace.”
Well said. Moreover, forget not the gentle caution contained in X. Swords, all of them reposing point first in one’s back.
Violence is inescapable. However, that is no reason to become cruel. Kassardis couldn’t find peace in the world, so he nourished peace in himself.
Uh. Where the heck is Cio? Is this in Allison’s mind? Given her previous interactions with Incubus, this wouldn’t be so far fetched…
Incubus loves to communicate through dreams, and Solomon might not appreciate another demiurge within his palace
Don’t you mean three? Do not forget our dear Gog-Agog.
Gog Agog and Solomon have an agreement, so, he tolerates her atm. Whether he is aware of Incubus’s dalliances with Allisons sleeping mind or not, I don’t know (doubt it, but it’s reasonable that he might suspect it), but it’s not like Solomon can do anything about it.
Do not mistake the dreamer for the sleeping pill.
child let me tell you something no matter what path you chose its a path to enlightenment. It’s only the fact that you realized that violence brings violence that will let you take a less traveled path. But even if you find strength is something other than violence you will still attract fools to you like scavengers to carrion.
Oh yeah, it’s pacifism time, baybee!
that last panel is gorgeous !
As a great poet once said, “WAR (HUH good god y’all) What is it good for? Absolutely nuthin’.”
“B-but how are you going to reach heaven without violence?”
Maybe that’s the catch. Heaven seems pretty full of assholes as-is.
Heresy!
The Ward’s new beat has so much light
he’s toned it down by drawing a fight.
Have you heard him preach midnight?
I wonder if anyone is collecting all these haikus and poems somewhere in the wiki. They are as much an inherent part of the webcomic as the alt-text or the stories under each page!
Be the change you want to see in the world. Write them in wax crayon, ha ha!
Riddles are fleeting
this is axiomatic
Seriously considering changing my handle for the KSBD comment section to Un’ What Dwells Un Darkness
Royalty is a continuous nipple-piercing motion
By what road, O Soma, Aditi or friends go, not hostile, by that do thou come to us with aid.
By what, O Soma, overpowering one, thou shalt make the Asuras subject to us, by that do ye bless us.
By what, O gods, ye did repel the mights of the Asuras, by that do ye yield refuge unto us.
~ Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 7
When you are down and out the demons show up because they know that this is the time when it is the hardest not to listen to them.
Glad to see you have been taking my lessons to heart!
Thank you, uncle. Your letters have seen me through many bad times.
Last panel is simply beatyful.
* Beautyful, of course. Damn Norman-infested orthography.
Maybe this will finally cool the heads of all those pretentious idiots who say “ALLISON PUNCH THING GOOD” or something of the sort whenever she does something idiotic. But I doubt they ever had the critical thinking skills to care about what they were saying, anyway.
Be not so harsh on those who explore the word BEAST. Pleasure and fun, the goals of the flesh are royal too.
I don’t think Gog Agog is into the carnal pleasures, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some aspects/units/fragments of hers explore it.
In all fairness, Mottom seems more like the demiurge to be into carnal pleasures.
Wasn’t that Incubus’ thing?
Yes Alison!!
ahh, accompanied by a white flame and a black, she truly is beginning to sound like a queen!
It would be appropriate for her to punch an escape-sized hole in the wall and then not actually escape. Just to make the point.
To whom is this point being made? The wall? If I were a wall and the true king but asked I would gladly open up and let her through. No violence necessary.
Yes, but the average demiurge is thicker than the average brick. Solomon needs to be shown that he is not in total control.
Why? He is not in total control. Whether or not he is shown so is, for the moment, immaterial.
‘Reach heaven through violence’ is true, but violence makes for a poor brick and mortar, and a poorer way to live a life.
To this and similar comments below, I observe:
“And having reached heaven… what then?”
Reach heaven through violence and then keep progressing on before it becomes your hell.
I like these sparks of a crown appearing in the last panel. I’m still going by the theory, and I’m open to being proven wrong, that the power can bend reality any which way you want as long as you can convince yourself you have the “right” to impose yourself on the world that way. As long as you “know” you’re entitled to wield the power. The physical law that those in the story has coded as the “continuous cutting motion”.
The demiurges and all who approach them so far have thought that this means realising the power depends on feeling like you’re “above” everything and everyone. But, and I admit this is very loose speculation, maybe Alison is beginning to think it can mean depending on the feeling you’re the only one in a position to “save” Throne from this shitty fascist-Darwinist system that’s keeping everyone from Mottom to the lowest slave trapped.
It WOULD be interesting if she did something in her dream, only to wake up and find that it had actually happened in the real world as well.
Maybe she is finally getting attuned to her Key?
Al-YIS-Un switching roles from carry to support.
But will White Chain click the lantern?
‘Tis must frustrate the Demiurge considerably. His ‘apprentice’ now thinks in the way of his former master.
One cannot argue against the occasional usefulness of violence, but it’s perpetuation feels wrongful as well.
Where did Cio go?
Incubus’ visits always take place in Allison’s dreams – the cell background merely shows that she’s restraining herself both in body and mind
Or maybe it’s just because she is in a jail and that’s just the psychic landscape atm.
Incubus has showed up in dreams when she was in other places, and that has not stopped Allison from rearranging the scenery to suit their dialog. The fact that she *chooses* to remain jailed even in her dream shows (imho) that she’s restraining herself
No, no, no, it’s ‘reach Heaven through violence’.
Violence is inescapable.
But that doesn’t mean there is *only* violence.
When fighting an inferno, another inferno does not help.
To combat a blazing gusher one must remove at least one of the components that makes it what it is. Be it fuel, heat or oxidizer. With an oil-well blaze one kills it with a large enough blast. Another way is just to close the source of fuel and the silly thing just sputters out.
With possession of a Master Key, all locks and doors could be opened at will or in this case closed.
Let us hope that our ALLISON discovers that she could use the key of keys to close and lock the doors on all the Demiurges
I, for one, am wary of any path that promises strength without violence. All strength is violence, what matters is the degree. A wise master once said: “There are no pure styles of combat. Purity comes only when pure knuckles meet pure flesh, no matter who delivers or receives”. Violence is the dialogue the multiverse has with itself. The only choice we have is: are we the knuckles or are we the flesh?
Violence is the dialogue the multiverse has with itself, undoubtedly, but sometimes one wishes for a bit of quiet.
As Aesma once observed, “Violence is the Universal Art.”
One thing I find fascinating is all the Seven we’ve gotten to know, those so great to rule the world’s under Throne, are in no way happy with their lives, and willing to trade these great powers for things they should consider petty. Do you think Mammon would have given up every ounce of treasure if he found a greater purpose in life? Would Mottom give up her power for a moment’s comfort? Could perhaps a kind person with a little cunning and a little wisdom put in the right place succeed in ways that violence never has and never will? Solomon seems far easier to speak to than to fight, perhaps all one needs to sieze great power and all that is between is to simply be the one thing great power never is: true.
I may be getting this entirely wrong, however. Still, the idea of defiance of prophecy and “Kill Six Billion Demons, The Great Peacemaker” is something that appeals to me enough that it could bias me.
This is why I think Solomon needs to be shown that things are getting away from him. Currently, Allison may talk to him but his extreme faecoplenarity keeps him from really hearing her.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if White Chain somehow avoids or survives fighting Solly, and continues walking around with that huge hole in her chest? She’d be a living metaphor for the consequences of violence.
Solomon is about to find out, first hand, how difficult it is to cut an ocean.
Just do what Moses did?
I feel the stories of YS-Het are especially applicable with the lesson that Allison is starting to realize.
Just because one can kill with the sword doesn’t necessarily make one a good swordsman.
Hold up, where is Cio? She was in the cage on the last page right?
Allison is talking to Incubus, so this is a dream. Cio isn’t there because Allison is dreaming.
I agree. She’s nodded off, and her “*” in the first panel is her becoming aware of this – it looks like she’s awoken, but it’s actually the opposite.
“Drink some fucking blood ” ? What ? Is it Vampire : The Masquerade: Blooflines all of a sudden ? And what is it that people here can gain by drinking human blood ? Asking for a friend.
I think it’s in a ‘drink some fucking blood from a fucking skull’ sense, in other words, be badass scary, his comment about weak attitude hints at what he’s driving at.
Both literal *and* metaphorical, possibly. See Seeker of Thrones 2-11 for an illustration of just how bad is this advice.
Also, isn’t that what Incubus does? In a very early illustration he was shown sitting on his throne and people were offering him cups with what looked like blood. Or does he only bathe in it?
I’ve never seen that illustration though.
His source of immortality may involve blood, whether in the classic vampiric sense or something else.
So you saying , he grants wishes , unlocks people potential and in exchange you have to let him suck you off ? Also it was hinted he is somewhat gay. Oh my. All kind of fun stuff , eh ?
Khorne is pleased from the Throne of Skulls, yet confused by the package his unexpected messenger bears.
Got all anime pretty with your shading there in that last panel Abaddon, like Griffith pretty, good fuckin’ show!
Incidentally wouldn’t a fish just call water “air” or am I the one asking the wrong question now?
Many fish do in fact gulp air in desperate circumstances. There may be wisdom here, that desperation pushes you to that which you could previously not even comprehend.
Then again, there may be only pedantry.
Allison is right: the cycle of violence is tiresome and endless. But refusing to fight and fighting to end the cycle are two different things. And if you doubt yourself while holding a key of Kings, you have already lost.
Amazing page- some really beautiful panels! Especially the very last one. Keep up the great work.
(Audibly sarcastic gasp) Audibly sarcastic gasp, you don’t mean that hitting things ISN’T strength, do you? My goodness! What a completely unexpected point of wisdom that no one could reasonably expect to pick up at all in their life.
I’m exceptionally impressed in you, Allison, that you managed to pick up this, such rare and unknown piece of wisdom out of your life of using your personal strength to best more physically powerful foes then you, so quickly.
Many proclaim the foolishness of using strength to solve problems and then go home and yell at their kids for this, that, and the other.
A true conversion is more rare. It often requires extreme trial or a tournament arc to bring about. We shall see if the key of kings knows what it is flashing about.
“Atrocity is recognized as such by victim and perpetrator alike, by all who learn about it at whatever remove. Atrocity has no excuses, no mitigating argument. Atrocity never balances or rectifies the past. Atrocity merely arms the future for more atrocity. It is self-perpetuating upon itself—a barbarous form of incest. Whoever commits atrocity also commits those future atrocities thus bred.”
–The Apocrypha of Muad’Dib
Good Going Muad’Dib GREAAAT JIHAD, 60 Billion 90 Planets Sterilized, how many atrocities is that?
Yeah, hypocrite much?
That last panel’s is especially gorgeous
I was counting the pages… I knew at last I had caught up… yet this is the first comic I have encountered where its characters feel so alive and its world so solid that I am not mashing the “next page” button in desperate need to see what happens next.
Whatever happens next will happen. Just as time ticks onwards, so too will this tale. As unstoppable and unpredictable as the future.
My goodness! How refreshing! Thank you, Abaddon! It may be a few months before I return and comment again, but know that this comic acts to me as a sort of beacon. A shining example of “how to’s,” be it character design to writing to world-building.
There are very few storytellers capable of mastering so many subjects, let-alone combining and balancing them so expertly. I cannot think of a single artist more impressive than you.
Agreed! It seems so rare to encounter a universe that has been so expertly crafted, no person, nor beast, nor piece seems out of place. Even in the most chaotic skirmishes and epic battles, there emerges an underlying order that speaks to just how much complexity lies beneath the surface.
Not to mention the commentary is often just as engaging as the story itself.
Much like existence itself, the art of good storytelling is lying so expertly and completely that (if only for a moment) your words become a most convincing reality. In this way, Abbadon is truly a consummate liar of the highest order.
Reach hell through concordance.
True wisdom if I have ever heard it…. When the time comes I will happily bow before her
I mean you were perfectly good at killing BEFORE he shoved his ead in your brain…
Oooh, the halo is starting to glow again. Looks like something badass is about to happen…
Strength through what then Alison?
Wait, where did Cio go?
Is this all in Allison’s head?
Yes? Incubus and Allison’s conversations have always taken place in some kind of mindscape.
Good job, young scion, of realizing that maybe taking advice from the mad anarchist named after a rapist sleep demon might not be the best of ideas
If violence wasn’t your last resort….then you didn’t resort to enough of it.
Do unto others.
…then run.
The truth of violence is a circle. Any fool can use violence to achieve their goals, but any fool who does will rapidly find that more violence is always required. Eventually, such fools inevitably find that they’ve gotten nowhere at all, and have managed to achieve nothing but violence. This is why wisdom is in the edge of the sword, but rarely in the use of it.
very profound but uh does incubus have nipple piercings
They are most profoundly pierced.
He’s had them since his first (in story, he did appear in some history sequences before that) appearance in seeker of thrones 4-23.
Since he has the same metal bits in his head and the earrings as he does in reality, I’d assume he has those as well.
oi, not this cunt again
Does anyone else get the impression that these panels could cycle? Ie. that the first panel could follow the last panel, as Allison comes to the edge of an epiphany and doesn’t quite get there?
The foundational Maxim of spear law: if there is any way to achieve your goal but violence, use it.
Huh. Allison has a point, there. If your strength is defined by violence, you must necessarily do violence to keep it, to use it, to preserve it.
Maybe the right path to strength is to just. Be strong.
All Against All was the First Game anybody played.
Then came, uh, if memory serves…All Sexin’ Up All.
I think our Rising King is beginning to figure out (maybe with a bit of devilish assistance) that seven days of love is a way more fun game than seven years of battle.
The best way to defeat an enemy is to make them admit they were wrong to resist you in the first place.
She done figured out the Peacemaker ain’t called that because a dead man’s quiet. ’bout damn time. Girl’s been runnin’ around quarter-cocked because she wasn’t in enough right mind to manage half-cocked.
Long about now, though, I’m gonna hazard me a guess. Ain’t a bettin’ woman, but I’m gonna guess just the same. That light right there is the hammer finally gettin’ pulled back, and that boy’s about to get his knee shot off.
’bout damn time.
Reach Heaven Through Violence.
Nobody thinks about what Reaching Heaven can actually get you.
What if “Reach Heave Through Violence” just means that you die?
If you have read thus far here, Strength is not simply the lack of violence. It is true strength to live by love and compassion, and act accordingly.
it was like, about reading some cute webcomic to pass the time, but i had like a weird moment
i forgot the fancy word for it, but it made me thing about my real life for a bit
thank you
One must pass through violence to reach heaven. Reach, Heir, and find what lies beyond thrones.
I wanted to thank you for this excellent read!! I definitely loved every little bit of it. I have you bookmarked your site to check out the new stuff you post.