KSBD 4-75
Chapter: 4
“I have long suspected the Belligerent Knight’s single minded devotion to Jagganoth as a natural outgrowth of the core tenets of their order. When a core part of your knightly creed includes the phrase ‘If it has a pulse – remove its skull!’, what can you do about a thirty foot immortal monstrosity impervious to physical harm and with complete mastery over space-time?
Worship it, of course.”
Preem Payapop Pritrum – On the New Gods
I dare say that Jagganoth is shaping up to be our prime antagonist
I’d totally be willing to bet he’s just Disc One Final Boss. I’d also totally be willing to follow him around with a bunch of marshmellows on a stick.
Purple pride guy usually ends up being the man behind the curtains in these kinds of stories. But then again… violence IS a virtue here… ohhohoho.
I think the final boss is either gonna be Incubus, or, in some Asura’s-Wrath-Esque shitty twist, ZOSS himself. Probably the former, but I make no assumptions.
As is wanton desire, is it not? That is, if Aesma is anything to go by.
The God-Eater certainly seems to be the biggest target.
I bet you 8 million dollars worth of Monopoly money that the biggest baddie will be Incubus, only based on the superficial reason that he was in the center of the page that introduced the Demiurges.
While superficial, that reason is very valid in my opinion. For something more to support your case – as I pointed out before, following the idea of the Demiurges’ vassals mimicking their choice of clothing and color, the riders that killed Zoss and abducted our heroine’s boyfriend in the beginning were followers of Incubus, as their outfit looked remarkably similar to his own battle dress.
Let’s be real here – is the mastermind generally the lumbering, violent behemoth, or the white-haired pretty boy with an evil smirk on his face? Naturally, convention may well be broken here, but I would not bet on it as of yet.
There’s also Mottom. As an incarnation of greed, one might say she has the greatest sense of want, a trait which might serve her well in a world run by YISUN. Though envy and lust do rival her in that respect.
Or, the lady in the big ‘ol block might be the last villain faced just by taking that long to actually make an overt move, if she isn’t just put aside as a decoration once her knights are taken care of.
No wait, I got that confused. Mottom is supposedly the one associated with gluttony, and the gragon with greed. So that’s four associated with wanting things. Pride could be said to involve wanting all the credit, and wrath for wanting to impose one’s will no matter how brutally. Sloth, I suppose, could be considered the desire to have the rest of the world wait while you move at your own pace.
No, wait, Mottom is the one supposedly associated with gluttony, another type of want, and the dragon with greed. Of the three sins left, pride could be considered a desire to take all the credit, anger a fixation with imposing one’s will no matter what brutality it requires, and sloth the expectation that the world ought to wait while one moves at one’s own pace. So any of them would get the YISUN seal of approval in regards to striving for things.
hehehehehehe
So, are the non-human people/gods we’ve seen so far, like Jagganoth, Mammon or Nungsis, sustainers or perceivers?
Perceivers, it would appear. Though I am unsure about Nungsis
But I think Mammon is likely Human-… Or was, I suppose.
I do believe that each one of the Black Emperors is a Perceiver.
They may be Destroyers, but they are unmasked and clearly physical in nature.
They are certainly no Protectors, and they are not made of fire and ceramic metals.
I think it is clear that they do not Serve or Sustain.
They are all Perceivers, for only a Perceiver can look upon the immensity of the Cosmos and name it theirs and theirs alone.
Is the rock a god?
Dude is perceptive
Well done, dude. Truly, I look forward to a larger image of the center of heaven bathed in ruination and decay. I do wonder how Wrath will treat Lust.
Now that one of the knight orders has been brought up, I’d like to ask a question I had in regards to the orders’ origins. 82 mentioned that it was the Demiurges who founded the 4 orders, however, Prim met and was assaulted by a Mendicant long before the Demiurges ever arrived. A case of lack of information causing erroneous conclusions, yes?
And because it can never be stated enough times; what a beard Solomon has.
You are assuming a linear timeline. At this point, that is unlikely.
Of course, it may just be a story. I confuse stories and reality sometimes, I suppose in the end there may not be that big of a difference.
One could say that “reality” is just the story that you’re in.
Prim’s stories have her interacting directly with YISUN. This isn’t something that is possible in the literal sense, so they have to be allegorical or false on some level.
(Although of course part of the message of the story is that YISUN is a liar and therefore nothing is literally true anyway. But those stories are, I think, particularly not-true; having YISUN as a character is always a red flag that the story shouldn’t be taken at face value.)
In the literal and canonical senses, none of this is true.
–and yet here I am, speaking to you from the future, even though I died to create a universe, before you were born, demiurge.
I both did, and did not, sit in the Speaking Hall of Yisun, which he never built, because he died before there was a Multiverse to build it in. It is impossible, and yet it happened. I could not have met Yisun, who died to create Yis and Un, who in turn died to create me, yet Yisun, in his totality of wisdom, overcame the paradox.
Prim both did, and did not, walk the road of the Conquering King, which was created to connect the universes that did not exist until she died, by a person who was born in one of those universes.
These things are all possible, because all things that happened in all of history, also did not happen. It is my Understanding, that this is the Truth, that is heavier than the universe.
If he is impervious to physical harm, then who/what gave him that scar on his left eye?
Why, something metaphysical in nature, of course. Perhaps like the Maybe Sword?
Well, he wasn’t ALWAYS an unassailable fortress of blood and horn. Even the greatest terrors of the universe have to start somewhere. Used to be just some dude in a goofy elephant mask. The mask has become significantly less goofy with time and experience.
Nothing so wounds a man as the words of his father, and for a god, who is word given flesh, the words cut all the more literally.
Or in version 29 of the common tongue…
You want to know how he got these scars?
His father was a drinker. And a fiend.
You mean “soirée”.
Your WordPress is being a bitch.
And here I believed our dear glutton was the one who organized this meeting. Interesting.
I very much like all of those empty chairs.
Funny, coincidentally enough before the 7 Demiurges were introduced I was collaborating on this forum story with a bunch of people. When it was my turn to add to the story I came up with these demonic antagonists called the “Soul Sovereigns” who had this over-complicated plan to make their universe submit to their will.
I was actually mildly influenced by K6BD at the time but I had no clue about the Black Emperors whatsoever, so now this hilarious coincidence is reminding me of the whole shebang. One of the strongest members in SS was even a big angry stompy dude who scared the bickering members into submission.
Funny how life is full of these strange coincidences isn’t it?
I wouldn’t call it a coincidence. Every council of genocidal supervillains needs a big stompy dude. It’s a fucking PREREQUISITE.
Well, Bobert (great subversion of the name btw, for years in video games I named the main characters Bob after a bit of teenage pothead stupidity led to us laughing for hours after FF7 presented us with the line “Boffmenow, Bob.” and it stuck to name all the leads in every ff game after that Bob.
Where was I, oh yeah, some stories are told, and some stories tell themselves… I’m not sure which this is yet.
Bobert came to be a injoke/nickname I got from my friends when I was dissatisfied with my IRL name, I thought why not be a Robert or a Bob? And they tell me that Bob is short for Robert, so that’s how we came up with it. I’ve ended up using it as my internet name ever since.
I can’t help but notice that Jagganoth seems to be carrying a Thorn Knight Angel around like a mere action figure.
I can’t help but think that Jagganoth also looks more than just a little… aardvarky?
Perhaps a nod to certain other belligerent and unstoppable figures in comic lore?
Just…Absolutely in love for your work! Tks!!!!
All stand for Jagganoth’s theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF08nQpW60o
And here I was thinking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L53gjP-TtGE
Two thoughts:
1. Solomon David in the second panel.
2. JAGGANOTH
Two more thoughts:
1. The field of empty thrones, and the single throne above.
2. Jagganoth’s halo.
and a third:
3. JAGGANOTH
I’ve been wondering.
What is this Heaven that we are supposed to reach through violence? Is it a universe over which we reign alone and supreme? YISUN killed itself because that was too boring, so I’m going to answer that with a tentative “no.” Is it instead a universe in which all of our desires, however grand or petty, are absolutely fulfilled, as all the rest of existence is rearranged toward our satisfaction? That sounds slightly better, but wanting is the essence of life (isn’t it?), and from that angle this second scenario sounds suspiciously like death.
Maybe the violence is supposed to be self-inflicted? Heaven might be ego-death, or the death of desire, and since the universe is a pointless exercise being dead might actually be preferable compared to being alive (on the individual level or in aggregate, though?). That being the case, the KSBD universe is just full of would-have-been-Buddhists with remarkably terrible reading comprehension. I find the prospect amusing, but also unlikely. It’s left me stumped.
I’ve been thinking as well as wondering, a worse affair by a significant degree, and something’s occurred to me beyond all the above. We learned that Heaven is reached through violence from YISUN, did we not? Either the “real” one or the metaphorical one in the scriptures, I don’t think it should matter.
Isn’t YISUN a liar? THE liar, come down to it?
Why are we taking them at their word?
‘Reach Heaven through violence’.
The phrase has been interpreted in a thousand different ways over the eons. In my view, it represents that a truly great soul should not accept the Multiverse as it is, but rather proclaim themselves sovereign and reshape it to their will.
We should not shy away from destruction and bloodshed, for violence is the art of life itself. We should not simply accept things as they are, for we are sovereign.
As for your skepticism regarding the words of YISUN, I would remind you that the Wheel itself is a lie/story told by YISUN and imposed upon infinity. His words are lies, but they are also truth; that is the nature of the ultimate liar.
The only ultimate truth is that of the I, which is YSUN itself.
Having just skimmed the proto-KSBD on the MSPA forums, I’m more curious about Gog-Agog. What is her relation to the being that tried to exploit an Allison Ruth of another universe? Is she the same being, or a reinterpretation? Are we witnessing the fate of the one who killed Baalz-Abab? Was she inhabited by her? Is her face now worn by the devil who goes by the name “Oscar?” Or is this a different being entirely, perhaps a colony of worms, born in the bowels of a nebula-dwelling dark matter cetacean, that spontaneously became sentient and realized that more than anything, it wanted to be pretty, blonde, and popular?
Perhaps that tale was simply another divine lie told by YISUN?
The true nature of Blessed Gog-Agog’s existence is veiled from our minds at this current juncture of space-time. That being said, of the many sapient masses of annelids we have encountered whilst walking the Road, all have expressed a fervent desire to be an attractive human female between the ages of seventeen and twenty-two.
We are certain that this fact contains some greater Cosmic Truth[Lie], though we have yet to discern precisely what it is.
I’m wondering if anyone here, including Abbadon, has read the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix? It just dawned on me that the general plot shares remarkably many elements with KSBD. The protagonist, an ordinary human from Earth, becomes the heir to the House, the center of the multiverse and thereby heir to all of creation. However, he must defeat the seven Trustees that have usurped it and claim their seven keys for himself.
Nice series of books. Always thought it was rushed near the end due to the fact it had basically tied itself to being seven books to fit with the seven days of the week. I think he could have expanded it by adding new days to the week.
Each of the seven Trustees also embody the Deadly Sins, and the pieces of the Will the 7 virtues. Interestingly – narrow virtue is also is represented a character flaw – Diligence is too terse and overbearing, and Patience is basically sloth-full. Good series, and I definitely recommend checking out the The Old Kingdom by the same author too.
Then again, “worship it” is a common reaction to any kind of immortal god-monster with control over time and space, regardless of sectarian practices and beliefs.
The other major one is “go mad”, but some cynical souls would say there is no difference.
We are pleasssed by these offeringsss though they be not for our Massster, Balerosss of the the Cloaked and Piercing Eye, Blighter of Living Thingsss, and Record Champion Baby Hurler Five Kalpasss in a Row.
Pleassse usss again, Preem Abaddon, and we will make a gift of impure sssouls to you.
oh
oh no
he’s really cute D:
Who? Jagganoth?
He kind of i-…
Don’t let him hear you say that! Don’t let him hear you think that! He would assuredly not approve~
I’m little curious what Belligerent Knights do with octopuses. A pulse, but no real skull to take out. Not enough to risk annoying one by asking, though.
The removal of craniums from all pulse-given beings is merely a single, albeit core, part of their tenets. I think for the being you have described they would follow the tenet that prescribes the “pulping and imbibing of the flesh of the defeated.”
It is only a slight impossibility to remove a skull which does not exist from a being which does not have one, a minor task for a being with training in the Divine Artforms, or a moderately talented sorcerer. While such persons are rare in the order of the Knights Belligerent, it is not unheard of.
Gotta say, ol’ Jaggy seems to have lost some weight since we last saw him.
Since this offering was given, I’ve been wondering as to what the Great Pankrator Jagganoth means by “It is empty but for six insects who refuse to be seated”. Even if we include Allison’s boyfriend, that’s still only five individuals being referenced, as Jagganoth would certainly not refer to himself as a mere insect. Could he perhaps be referring to all six of the other Black Emperors other than himself? Does he mean to imply that there is some greater task they are neglecting?
I believe he is either saying that the other 6 lack the ambition to reach for the Conquering King’s throne or that the 6 refuse to be satisfied with their current position, thereby hindering him from ascending to the top.
This is most likely the case, especially when he’s talking to them.
He’s also awesome. I like that halo.
I certainly hope there is more from the King of Worms. What a fantastic antagonist to have. One where you have to defeat yourself effectively. Although Gog-Agog is mimicking the other Demiurges the main face it seems to be constructing with it worrying ovr how its blond hair looks is rather like Allison’s.