Seeker of Thrones 1-7
Chapter: 1
“It is unfortunate that the only near-complete and exquisitely detailed chronicle of the Rising King was so elaborately embellished [21].
[21] I use the word embellished here with both a great deal of care and an extreme and calculated distaste.”
Pangoxes, Meta-historian of the Retroactive Record Monks, Circa 35 Third Conquest
…Stunning. What admiration I have for this girl, to find such an incredible way of causing injury!
She is definitely learning how to be Royalty, if she has figured out how to cut with words (the other way).
Oh, that novel looks wonderfully horrible.
And I want to read every single line of it.
One thing I shall always be happy about.
I will likely never be important enough to have people writing fanfiction about my life.
Oh, you can always have that friend with the secret shipfic folder.
BTW: Shipfic Folder has a really good Vassal module, if anyone wants to figure out a time to play a round.
http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Module:Twilight_Sparkle%27s_Secret_Shipfic_Folder
Preem Diem, I am afraid you have spoken too soon.
*Takes out quill and ink bottle*
Well that aspect of mistress cio’s history sure was an unexpected revelation
At first I was like Wha~?
–but then I was like, That isn’t really so different from how my marriage worked out.
So far Kill Six Billion Demons is doing nothing to change my opinion on how terrible marriage is.
Also Allison you dummy that guy is a male Sphinx! A slovenly servant who neglects his duties now that there is no one to tell him what to do.
In truth, he is a hollowed servant-carcass into which a golden devil has jammed its chaotic bulk — or perhaps a lobotomized servant who has co-opted the cerebrospinal system of an imprisoned golden devil.
The question is as moot as whether the philosopher was a man dreaming of butterflies or a butterfly dreaming of men. Either way, the beast Praman Nand is, and we defy him at our peril.
I see you are unfamiliar with the subtler arts or the structured discipline of marriage.
Marriage is as a mirror, reflecting your own imperfections from the eyes of one who sees all of you.
Marriage is as a whetstone, sharpening you by grinding away your flaws.
Marriage is the smallest aspect of royalty – a husband rules his wife as she rules him.
Look only at its destructive aspects and you miss its inherent nobility.
“Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them; but Love cannot cease to will their removal. Love is more sensitive than hatred itself to every blemish in the beloved…Of all powers he forgives most, but he condones least; he is pleased with little, but demands all.”
– “The Problem of Pain” by C.S. Lewis, p. 39
Whoa, what. Cio is married to Praman Nand?
Also nice animu, Cio. :^)
Secreted in the Coat of Arms, a “How to Draw Manga” book sits forlorn and abandoned.
By secreted do you mean heavily dog-eared and annotated for maximum shoujo?
Holy shit Cio, Holy shit.
To lie in the face of God is the foremost Art.
Why would one do so, unless you had a better universe to tell?
Can one truly lie in the face of god? We are the lie yis tells un, or un tells yis. We are the lie that there is no Yisun. Can a fiction spout a fiction? Can a story tell itself to it’s author? I for one have never managed to be surprised at the twist endings of my own stories. Nor have i once believed a lie one of my characters told, even if they had convinced themselves. But then again, my ouvre is mostly made up of Diem based slashfiction. So maybe i’m just not trying hard enough to believe my own lies
Your reach outpaces your grasp, friend angel. It is important to start with lesser lies, more generally agreed on in their superiority to the mundane universe. As an example, consider that the world where a humble merchant’s hands can twist into magma-edged razor talons when an impudent sellsword draws steel on him is far more intriguing than the alternative.
Clearly we lie in the face of God every moment. We exist, do we not?
There are many heresies that have sprung from similar question, and while each of them are fascinating, I will focus on the Heresy of YISUN the Successor.
To answer your question, one can only truly lie to the face of god, or indeed spit in it, if you yourself are TRUE, else, you would lie falsely. But how can one be TRUE when YISUN, the creator, is a liar and you but his words? You cannot, thus YISUN must not be creator, but successor.
Dronral the Thrice Condemned first proposed this dreadful philosophy, and for it was executed on no fewer than a dozen occasions, with some sources claiming he met his demise over four score times in the course of a millenium. He put forth that there was once a world of TRUTH, where no Art could shift the nature of things, where all was of perfect form and was in accord with its nature. YISUN, he contends, was the perfect and TRUE form of division, and was inspired by the beauty He saw in this world to try His hand at creation. As His nature, was division, not creation, He failed miserably, and in a terrible rage, shattered the TRUE world. Beholding what crime He had committed in His rage, YISUN turned his division inward, and split His own TRUTH, and became YIS and UN, both liars. With this broken TRUTH, they formed the shattered remains of the TRUE world into the realm of lies we now inhabit. Dronral therefore characterizes discovering and reconstructing these fragments of TRUTH, an act known as the Craft of Mending, as undoing the sins of God.
Thus, one who had assembled in themselves a TRUE existence, an exercise that would take uncountable years, as the TRUTH can only be revealed through meticulously unraveling the many layers of lies that compose the world, such a person could TRULY lie to the face of god, and in doing so attain that same false godhood to which YISUN has laid claim.
All accounts of Dronral’s many executions make a point of how incredibly painful they were.
She is, indeed, a fan fiction writer.
Art is pain! Fanfiction is exercise threatened by exorcists! A dry author’s quill is like a volcano cursed to never usher magma’s ascent again: An undeniable good, with one victim, with apocalyptic consequences. I would be more specific on that future, but blindness is only a blessing for moles and fish. I am not a mole nor have I found anyone using chocolate bait on their hooks.
It is a civic duty to write fanfiction! Improve and contribute and one day we shall earn a place in the library of congress, staining it like an unidentified white subtance.
allison can laugh all she wants at cio’s self-insert fic but i refuse to believe she didnt/doesnt have lovingly elaborate sailor moon ocs of her own.
also, i see cio ships herself w/ allison harder than i ship her w/ allison & i am impressed and pleased with this development.
Something tells me that Praman Nand has more than one wife.
He has many concubines, and his white demon “daughters” but Cio held a unique position as the keeper of his ledgers and his money.
In my experience, that makes her his only true wife.
“This is your new accountant. Also your new wife.”
“Yeah, that’s cool.”
I love Throne sometimes.
Later:
“That looks cool. I wish I knew if I could afford it.”
Not sure whether to be excited or horrified at the alt text. Perhaps both.
With each passing page I find myself more and more deeply enthralled by this ridiculous devil. Someone please save me from myself.
I cannot, for I, too, am enthralled by Cio. Let us go down this black spiral together.
Any chance of getting some hints that Cio’s red leystone, like Maya’s, is a de-powered Key of Kings?
I think you’re quite mistaken, fellow Inheritor.
Mayaand Cio don’t need any key of Kings. Their power is (or used to be, in Cio’s case) far more greater than what a Key of King can offer.
In my good ol’times, when the Demiurges first entered Throne, I came back hastily from the edge of the Void, where I was fighting Devils, to Throne.
There, I witnessed with my eyes seven hundred Kings with shining leystones, all mastering the Art of Cutting, all wearing no Keys, as Zoss was still dealing with the Prime Angels.
I was out of breath. Indeed, how, how could it be that Perceivers held such an immense power, the power of the Gods? For a brief moment, I felt disgust towards the Law which limits us Angels so much.
Now, in the present days, I know the Law is not a curse, but a benediction of YISUN themselves.
Wow, I only just noticed that Preem Nand has a key in his forehead.
Likely the one that Cio stole.
It is interesting to go back an recognize elements that didn’t hold any meaning at the time.
Considering his high profile and fixed base of operations, one assumes that Praman Nand is a proper Magister, and not a key thief. Considering that Cio has history with both of them, one assumes that he is sworn to the Dragon.
Considering the esteemed Praman Nand’s profession, is it not more likely that we have found a Magister of Incubus?
Sharpness of tongue is not a pretty way to strike.
Many who sweep decorum would call it dishonest.
Of course, it is in fact the wild truth which wounds the most gravely.
That’s kinda hot.
Ahh marriage. This most peculiar institution crops up all over the multiverse. I take its ubiquity as one of the more intriguing examples of the twin drives of the offspring of YISUN. All things are driven to Divide and Unite: to Cut and to Heal.
The resolving of marital strife, resulting in a closer and more fulfilling union between partners, is one of the more common ways for healers to earn some coin and is somewhat of a specialty of mine. I look forward to analyzing the soon to be revealed relationships.
If she kills him, maybe he’ll sprout revitalizing peaches?
Perhaps, but she will also find that simply killing ones spouse does not end the relationship.
Wow.
Cio may write a thousand words, but her expressions are worth a thousand thousand.
The phrase you’re looking for is “one million”, angel.
Thank you, but I was not looking for any phrase at all, having found the one I wished to use. In a standard mathematical reckoning, a thousand thousand and one million are the same thing.
This is not the only reckoning one might use, however.
(The other reckoning may simply be that I like the word ‘thousand’ more.)
“Circa 35 Third Conquest”
At some point these probably become a chore for everyone involved
The Future!
Yes! And that is when things truly get bad. As the public intrest wanes, both sides have to come up with ever more ingenious ways to spark enthousiasmfor their cause. I heard of a tiny handed orange toned devil once who apearantly did quite well by spouting hatefull rhetoric and making debauched statements. I’m not quite shure if he got his conquest, but if i remember correctly he had quite the short temper (he’d send out messenger birds ’till deep in the night to tweet his hatefull messages to whoever invoked his wrath) so i would not be surprised if he did
It is easy to do well when your oponents fail to realise that few believe their deceit.
Oh
Oh my
I can’t wait to see how she talks her way out of this one.
Jeepers, that’s some industrial grade cringe inducing fanfic writing!
The cringe isn’t in the writing. It’s in the wanting to read!
Circa 35 Third Conquest
At some point conquests probably become a just a minor nuisance for everyone involved
I fucking love this comic so much
If it’s any consolation, Cio, we knew you were a huge dork XD
Pity Abbadon couldn’t fit Princess Mamoru’s face in this page. That would have been glorious.
Really now Miss Cio? That is what you have chosen to fill a servant’s head with?
Such cruelty. I’m impressed.
The is of course the terrifying possibility that servant enjoys the trashy and vulgar tales of glistening orbs and hefting busoms it has been filled with.
While there are many noteworthy exceptions, Servants are not, on the whole, a terribly ambitious people.
So long as they feel they are valued for their abilities, and that they are being properly cared for, rioting can be quite rare.
I believe Cio may have misheard Al-YIS-UN’s title as “Kiss Six Billion Demons”.
That or the prophet’s interpreter is even worse than we thought.
Truly, perhaps it is not the purpose of the bard to share the truth, but to share the truth of the situation!! TRUTH OF THE HEART, THAT IS TRUE HISTORYYY BWAHAHAHAHAHAAA
Therefore bridle thy fanfique sternlie
Lest it become PROPHECIE
& squick the Universe Right Uppe
The fucking anime eyes, oh my god…
So much yes.
I don’t know what I expected, but this is much better.
bad decisions
they happen
poor cio
That’s mad gay yo.
Thumbs up!
I am positively twitching in anticipation of of clarification of some extant plot exposition.
Can’t wait till Allison cuckolds the giant cat demon, seems Cio can’t wait either.
This is not how I expected any part of this page to go.
Future historiography will involve disentangling what is real from what the writer was merely shipping at the time.
Have you read what some of these First Crusade Era princesses wrote about Tancred?
Apparently, the dude was ripped, and his beard could evaporate a lady’s underclothes with it’s mere presence.
I know, right? The First Crusade was terrible and amazing and I love it.
Now that you mention the Crusades, we may need to take a second look at Saladin. All of that “worthy opponent” business might actually mean something else.
The Historians’ Guild appreciates the respect, Preem Krieg, but in that awkward way that you appreciate someone complimenting you on something you have never done and also will never do. It is a poor historian who does not fall in desperate, unrequited love with their subject.
Always embarrassing when the love turns out to be requited, though. The Grand Enemy is ever the worst authority on itself, and offering it editorial control tends to make the story embarrasing garbage.
Kill Six Billion Demons is my favorite yuri dating sim.
Well…. I was not expecting that teir of fanfic
THE PLOT THICKENS.
Huh… Did not see that ‘husband’ bit coming.
I suddenly want to see a page or 2 done in Cio’s book perspective. The tail flickering is adorable, Allison’s slightly amused expression is great too
Pangoxes is one of /those/ historian monks who completely disregard historical webcomics. He’s probably more upset about the illustrations in the book than the actual embellishments. >_<
AL-YIS-UN is not happy.
Such is the nature of all Chroniclers. Unlike the Historian, who is interested in being as accurate as possible to their knowledge, the Chronicler will not just describe what happened, but what they think SHOULD have happened.
DEUS VULT!
I’m not sure why you’re saying that, but YISUN VULT!
Let’s take Throne back!
Let’s drive those Devils to the edge of the Void!
YISUN VULT! YISUN VULT!
They really should arrange a watch. They’ll get jumped by sky-pirates, all this time they’re spending lollygagging in the bowels of the ship. Have they even furled the sails, or is the ship going to keep going until it collides with something, like another ship, or a flock of demons, or the edge of the sky?
Defeated; fallen on her own pen.
This is adoreable! Now I want to be her assistant even more!
That’s about right…
Cio the weeaboo
Another, a pioneer I’d say
would spank you across the desk, before a crowd.
But that’s a Moot point.
that didn’t rhyme.
Oh Cio, never write Friend-fiction. You will always regret it.
Thank you Abbadon, because of you the orichalcum side panels of my body flew off beyond the rim of Throne, such was the explosion of laughter caused.
Related note, I would advise steering clear of the rimward forge district; the metaphorical explosion was, sadly, followed by a literal one.
I remain highly amused at the fact that your story is so awesome you had to write your own fan-fiction in-universe.
embellishment is only half the battle
=//=
SUBVERTING TRUTH IS THE OTHER!
Oh, so she writes THAT kind of fan fiction. Can’t say I’m against it, personally.
It becomes clear that Cio, who has hitherto passed herself off as a master of her craft, isn’t.
At least Alison was charitable in her choice of quotes – the section after that one does indeed display extremely poor taste.
On the contrary, this is practically the Platonic ideal of fan fiction.
I must agree with 45 Glowing Petals Falling from The Smiths Anvil. Much as a shitpost or a properly dank meme, there are times when “being low quality trash” is the finest form something can take.
Glory
“If I say my real name, the horrible curse that torments me will surely come true.” Oh? Oh?
I suspect that Cio’s ‘real name’, even in her mysterious stranger persona, should properly begin with “Mrs.”
That she views this state of marital bliss as a curse is of some consequence.
I find that this revelation of her marital status also sheds light on her domestic proclivities. We have never seen the little blue lady settle down without the creature comforts close at hand.
The pleasure of the cookfire, simmering a delicacy. The presence of a lamp and comfortable seating with snuggly covers. The pleasures of a fine smoke and drink, the scent of herbs. These are all things that delight, soothe, and comfort not only her troubled Ebon soul but those she makes company with.
I find her fascinating, a finely crafted entity at least on a par with our Confused Godking and Anguished Angel. I suspect the story and character of our two newest members in the Kings Court will be just as fine.
I read on, well entertained indeed.
this terrible lust
How much most one pay to procure a recording of Vladok/Princess narrating Cio’s “historical” records?
Those little devils! Not only can they fly boats and translate speech (if chewed), they can translate writing too.
if chewed.
At their essence, devils are made of the secrets that unmake the Universe. Imbibing the liquor does not so much teach one many languages as it whispers the secrets that break The Barrier of Language. Likewise; fueled with the devil liquor, an engine does not gain the power to fly; but rather it briefly knows how to break The Law of Physics.
These secrets are not particularly limited in what they can or cannot unmake, but one must be careful when pushing the envelope, lest you learn the secret that unmakes yourself.
Could it be that devils are made of that ultimate essence antithetical to this universe of lies: Truth?! Long thought to be a myth, could it have been hiding under our noses this whole time? Its very presence unmakes what ever it happens to lite upon as you have so eloquently described. Much pondering remains to be done. ……..mutter mutter with a capital T no less! mutter mutter……
I’m sometimes bothered by how drastically Allison’s expression changes between panels. But in this case… whoa. Rock that shock face Allison.
‘Member the Third Conquest, Chewie? I ‘member
There are worse ways for a friend to discover that you have a crush on them that reading your terrible fanfiction.
Like if they gain the power to probe minds and can flick through every errant thought in your head like a book.
Or if you blurt out the fact in the face of oncoming death, only to unfortunately survive and have to explain your words.
Or finding out that it was you that sent anonymously sent them the fresh corpse of a freshly slain lion, or whatever the local custom is to show affection on certain holidays.
someone once postulated that Cio’s introduction as a “fanfiction writer” was merely a translation convention- meaning her use of the Art and how this is lying to the face of god, writing her own reality instead of the extant one, and enforcing it.
Apparently not!
Cio is adorable. That is all.
Oh please- it’s not that bad. I assure you that at least 90% of the people who read webcomics have at least though about self-insert fanfiction, and I’m sure there’s a hefty number who have actually dabbled in it from time to time.
And yes, I include myself in that count.
Giant cat demon husband
Tiny blue devil wife
Yeah consummating that marriage couldn’t have been pleasant
Probably near fatal
Maybe she wasnt a Blue when they first were married? I am speculating of course. The idea of the physical intimacy mortals and some devils enjoy is lost on my kind for anything but pure speculative purposes. Pouring two living flames of creation together into one vessel? It would most certainly rupture.
I’m think that they probably got married when Cio was still an Ebon devil.
How did the Retroactive Record get a Cio codex? Was it not declared heretical and abominable long before Y30, shortly after the public learned it existed?
My good fellow, tis I, JAWIS-TEL, singer of songs, teller of tales. Bard of the great atheneum.
This, the great place from which I was taught, is where you will find such tales of future, past, current, and perhaps never at all.
Oh god… Cio is writing Erotic Friend Fiction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GdvGekQyM4
Oh, this is getting sooo good. Nothing is worse than someone reading your writing before it’s ready. I love watching Cio squirm. I hate myself for loving it. And these pages trickle in so slowly. I love every excruciating moment.
Husbands really can be revolting creatures. Not all, of course, but more than is tolerable.
Sisters, do yourselves a favor as I did and find a wife instead.
you may also
consider a
manservant
Oh I know why I prefer polyamory relationships over meriage 😛
… Ahh, whew… At first I feared the book to be the head of our all-time-favorite Geas Knight, Ingsvld.
But now I see that the eye-color is not the same.
Although it WOULD be lovely if this story was contained in the head of a similar entity.
The book itself has an eye at the front-cover… Maybe it is not too late for it to happen.
what’s a busom? is it like a bosom but in devil-speak?
OMG! Cio’s self portrait is killing me!
So… now that we have a quote establishing that Allison is the rising King, and does win, really the only dramatic tension is which of her companions will make it with her to the end?
Can the Prophecy be broken, truly? What shape will Allison be when the beast is dead, and what will she do then?
It is not impossible that she will be twisted to fit the horrid place the seven occupy.
And how do the other powers, Metatron, and Maya, our devil friends and enemies, factor into the new balance of power?
You should be more careful about the exact wording: a rising king has not yet risen: if she succumbs to the last obstacle, she will have never won. Furthermore, it’s not just a question of her companion’s health, but which shape Al-Yis-Un will decide to cut herself into. Will she bring a dream of justice to Throne and the multiverse, or only more war and despair?
The quote is dated as being after the third conquest though. If one of the demiurges took the throne, it would be merely a continuation of the second?
My guess is the fact that there is a new factor involved, being the Rising King (as well as other entities I shall not name since I come from the future and are rereading), hence called the Third Conquest.
The only elaborate chronicle is Cio’s fanfiction, which is completely unreliable. Yet indeed, Lying is second of the greatest arts, and is the most useful.
This might not be the case. The title of the writer is “Pangoxes, Meta-historian of the Retroactive Record Monks”. The inclusion of “Meta’ and “Retroactive” in their title prevent them from being totally reliable sources.
But even if it is the case, this is hardly surprising. Aside from having multiple individuals with future sight saying that she goes out and overthrows the system, so we already have a strong evidence that she is “fated” to succeed. That aside, a basic element of (nearly) all stories is that the hero makes it to the end of the story, whatever that ending is. Also, the difficulty, means, and cost of reaching that ending still isn’t known, so it isn’t without tension.
George R. R. Martin would like to talk to you about your theories on narrative tension, and then murder your favorite POV character.
Re the monks, they appear from the date to be writing after the events of the story, weakening the effect of their qualifiers.
Take the Mottom encounter. Many pages were spent furthering the belief that Allison was in mortal peril. But a repeat of similar events would lack similar punch, because we ‘know’ Allison makes it.
With the complication that Zaid might be the real rising King (however unlikely that might be), she was spared shielding by prophecy. But now that we ‘know’ the truth, her task is trivialized. She will triumph regardless of how she acts. She need not grow into her role or make hard choices, providence will provide, apparently. (Admittedly with the angel’s plot there exists a victory condition for Allison in which death would be preferrable, but given the omnicidal nature of that plot it probably isn’t the one the monks are writing about, as they are writing at all.)
“He’s mu husband, but I’m actually gay, so i ran away from him. Happens to the best of us, you know how it goes.”
Hmm can a blue devil turn red out of pure embarrassment? Cio’s gonna find out!