Seeker of Thrones 5-48
“Prince Kassardis struggled mightily to rid himself of his pursuers, for despite what the Very Wise Frog had told him, he still held within his heart the vain hope that the peaceful land of Samura existed and he would someday find himself upon its gleaming shores, free of his wives and throne.
First, he fled the road, and spying a low and reeking gully hurled himself therein. There, the mud and brambles were so thick that he could barely move, and the fetid water was choked with the corpses of animals that had become trapped in the muck. Thick clouds of flies bit at Kassardis as he struggled heroically onward, until at last he heaved himself from the mud, his trail almost completely invisible, and made for higher ground.
Indeed, when the clever and keen Vastoki came upon Kassardis’ trail disappearing into the gully, she was taken aback by his cleverness. But with her specially made eye-glasses, Vastoki’s eyesight was keener than a hawk’s. She picked out the shining pieces of thread from Kassardi’s silver waistcoat clinging to the brambles, and was back on his trail in scarcely an hour, her fellow wives close behind.”
– Tales of the Silver Prince
Such… interesting devils. Bethanderian appears to be a human wrapped inside a devil, perhaps one of those, ahem, alternatives to pacts. Astarion appears a strange parody of an angel. And Lobarrisleb almost looks like a Pale Devil that just happens to be Ebon instead.
Devils are fallen angels.
not here, friend.
No.
Have you not been reading this comic? Also, no. Not even in real world mythologies.
So im a little confused devils down here are maskless? Or are these just very atypical looking ebons?
It is quite possible they are unbound, but I’m leaning towards strange ebons.
If (by history) you have but glimpsed
and nothing like a pattern has pinched,
what would be typically of charred imps?
There is no such thing as a “typical” ebon
Seems like they are truly devils unbound.
They *could* be very strong-willed unbound, but I’m leaning towards odd ebons or something else entirely.
I get the feeling that those who have been maskless for some time have gained a mastery over form, and by extension increased their capacity for deception.
As a side note, I adore their designs, particularly the one that is mimicking the form of an angel. That is deliciously poetic. Alternatively, since free will exists it may actually be an angel (fallen? perhaps tasked with overlooking the prisoner and subsequently corrupted?). Technically it could also be an angel-demon contract hybrid entity, which would a bit cliche (although since this is a court of the most powerful of entities is would be acceptable).
I think they’re a form of maskless… This court is for people who’ve made a certain kind of alternative arrangement, if I’m understanding correctly.
In general, I kinda get the idea that nothing in this universe is exactly hard and fast, no matter what anyone claims. There’s always exceptions, wiggle room, corruptions, reflections…
This is especially true where the chaotic hot black flame is concerned. Any hard fast rule about their nature would fly in the face of the very chaos they are formed from. There are always a number of exceptions to prove each rule.
Or perhaps it’s the old European royalty definitions of “court”? If so, who is this prisoner heretic? Why is he/she feared and guarded so strongly by these courtiers? They get power by association; it’s the old fashioned way…
These are Ebon. By their nature, each is utterly unique. Often, their masks are difficult to distinguish from their bodies, and there seems to be some color variation. As well, some of their masks’ locations may not be the obvious one.
Well, Cio did say that while devils feel on soul flames acquired through contracts, the cleverest and most powerful among them have figured out ways around having to rely on them for their supply. I would imagine the Heretic’s Court is full of those who have gotten so good at whatever this method is that they have glutted on flesh and power, and have no need for masks and human name-gifts to give them form.
http://killsixbilliondemons.tumblr.com/post/160268113130/ive-noted-in-the-last-pages-you-show-the-inner Here’s your answer
The way they just repeated “a petitioner” makes me think they might be dead people. I know it would be quite surprising giving the place, but there’s nearly nothing truly impossible in this place.
Also lol astarion is literally ‘my eyes are down here’
Verily, shit just gotteth real.
They broke Cio’s glasses, y’all.
In bird culture, that’s called a dick move.
BirdbIrdbiRdbirD
B:Bird
I:bIrd
R:biRd
D:birD
BIRD
https://isotropic.org/papers/chicken.pdf
These demon-kings are fools. While she has lived, they have roosted, and they accuse her of anything?
Ouch. Allison, you’re not going to let Mr. Potatohead get away with disrespecting your servant/fangirl, are you?
Finally La Whinge is called on to actually DO something, no?
One of his eyes for each bruise he inflicts! Her NAME demands it!
Next page, Alice charges shouting “I am a devil slayer!”
THE EYES!
THE EYES!
DON’T LOOK INTO THE EYES!
Watcher, Watcher is that you
Looming over the ashen mire
Do you watch over my dreams too
Watching cruel fates transpire
See here. I thought I was going to like the Pale-like Ebon Devil. You can never really tell, can you.
Oh Amygdala, Oh Amygdala, have mercy on the poor bastard….
Given how well telegraphed that attack was, Cio really should have rolled.
An expression of total supplication would be to allow those in authority over your petition to do as much damage to your person as they wish. The more telegraphed and damaging the attack, the greater the significance of refusing to defend, or to even dodge it.
Except, if that’s what is happening here, there is like a 100% chance that Allison is going to freak out and muck it up somehow.
My thoughts similarly went to the twisted city of Yharnam at the sight of Loabarrisleb. Only time will tell if this devil has the anti-reality eyebeams to match.
So quick to discard the new philosophies, and the higher plane.
“Anti-reality.” One might as well claim the waters to be anti-earth, for their crimes in so easily drowning it.
If Reality is a Lie, then what is Anti-Reality? The Truth?
I recommend deep breaths and counting to 100. Pleasant visualizations are also helpful in calming the Amygdala and other troublesome brain areas.
Is not what you plan to do the very thing that got you into trouble the first time, Mistress Imp?
Certainly an eclectic bunch, aren’t they?
Trust not the crustaceous one. For ’tis an ebon devil, and the smiling pink face it presents to you is little more than its tongue, sitting within a gaping maw of sharpened fangs.
I sense a potential mistake here on the part of dear Loabarrisleb. I await eagerly the rememberance of how things turned out.
When one is destined to kill six billion, what is thirteen more?
:O Violence has been unleashed! Will the Kingling suffer seeing her companion treated like this??
‘Twould be best for her if she did. Rash actions bring bloody results.
An angelic response; quaint- ineffective as well. Fate will see it done that Allison there makes a mess of things- such is the way of things it seems.
These violent delights bring violent ends.
All the better. They are the weak here, yet they think themselves strong. They need to be put in their place.
But, if Heaven is to be reached through violence, how does one deal with Hell?
Bureaucracy.
The Lowerarchy demands nothing less.
Reach hell with good intentions
But she is the Heir. Rash actions with bloody results are what she’s here for.
It worked for the first king!
never forget, she is still the President of the bad decision club
Never before has a demon enraged me as this one does. You may eat the flash of men, but you shan’t assault a formerly powerful demon with a starry headed companion. This goes beyond idiocy.
There is only room for nothingness in 0, my friend. Only the oblivion.
..imposters, the lot of you..
And what is there room for in Azrael?
All. All things that end.
There is no thing that ends. All has happened, and will happen, and is going to happen. Thus spake the Green Man, his eyes closed to the falsehoods of the physical world.
The ones who spend their words cheaply jockey for position. Their interests can be ignored.
The one who spends violence cheaply gambles much on the disposition of his fellow court members being equally hostile. That, or is operating in concert with the one who will tell him to stay his hand.
Watch those who have yet to act. There power rests.
As a side note, my, but Loabarrisleb is a fashionable soul. The Yharnam look is in this year!
And the Xanthous raiment ’bout his shoulders is quite fetching…
Be careful of the sudden starts and stops mister squishy eyes, your face is leaking.
Such tears. I wonder if there is personal history here.
-Passes out snacks and drop cloth ponchos.-
Astarion was always the envious one, trying to appear as an angel, instead looking crafted from cruel black tar – a filthy, profane caricature. Bethanderian much like the crustaceans or roaches, hungers and flaunts its presence – how she delights in suffering and unwanted humility. Lobarrisleb, still wrathful and still blind, a fool.
I noticed that the many-eyed one’s years flow free. I wonder if it still bears trauma of the past.
Wonder upon the setting, the seating. Of thirteen remaining uncertain and seven burning behind the curtain. Echo only this idea of hatred corpulence; reach heaven through violence.
If a demon lies dormant inside a feeble vessel, its better not to provoke its awakening, lest it wakes from a pleasant dream hungry
The system is tiered,
stratified,
rigged.
An imprecation I find illustratively lacking. With no rigging, dear Head, however would one set one’s sails?
It is fixed to be ‘just so.’
Necessary, as you say, though
one mind how stranger winds blow.
“I’m the eyehole devil. I’m the only one who’s allowed to have eyeholes. Get on up out of here with my eyeholes.”
How do some of the commenters know the names of these devils? I must have missed that.
Alt text, my friend.
I get the feeling this fight is going to be preempted by a proclamation from Himself.
Does nobody realize that Lobarrisleb is weeping? I’d wager that Lobar cared deeply for Yabal, and new that somebody very much like her, made from Yabal’s very flame no less, has come and claimed that Yabal is gone for good poor Lobar can’t help but react in that way.
Lobar just want’s Yabal back…
Never make assumptions about what others have and haven’t noticed, here. Our silly nonsense takes a while to show up; several people pointed this out before you did, and now you look a little silly.
The way posts work is that they all go through Abaddon before they are posted. It is likely that previous posts mentioning said tears were not approved yet, and thus not shown, and now you look silly.
Family reunions are always tough when you’ve got a new look and a girlfriend in tow.
Rest in Piece, Cio’s glasses. The end of an era.
FUCK THAT EYEBALLING MOTHERFUCKER UP!
He MUST PAY for what he did!
It pleases me to note that Allison still hasn’t worked out how to bend her knee.
knees are
for arrowin’,
not bendin’
How do some of those posting Know the tha names of the devils?
The examine text.
Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.
Stranger: Indeed?
Cassilda: Indeed it’s time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
Stranger: I wear no mask.
Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask?! No mask!
Along the shores, the sky-waves break
The twin suns sink behind the lake
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa
And here I thought the Court would be filled with kind, misunderstood souls, eager to lend a hand/claw/tentacle to our “heroes”.
Perhaps Himself has better manners than Vogue Optical here.
Beware Bethanderian, you sod,
its smile is not where it seems,
and Astarion, its angel-like bod,
and Lobarrisleb’s eyes that steam.
No! Not the GLASSES!!
Bethanderian is just envious, as he can never find a pair that works for his idiosyncratic eyeball configuration.
Honestly, he ought to invest in a collection of individual monocles, and be done with it. Maybe then he’ll be able to see the error in his actions just now.
Hrmm… These here self-righteous Devil guys? Yeah, they forgot one a them Cardinal Rules: “somethin’ somethin’, don’t confuse the servant for the Master”. Right close variation is “somethin’ somethin’, don’t mistake the rider for the mount”.
I hope we get to see some of Alison’s SCA / LARPing skills. Break out that ornamental broadsword and make it sing!
It seems that Loabarrisleb has a history with she who was once Yabalchoath. I wonder if the Many Eyed One had some great steak in the domain of the Shadeside’s Thief-Queen.
Or perhaps Cio had an extraordinary bad taste in men back when her name was black as pitch…
Yes. A very great steak indeed.
However, Bethanderian is looking ever gorgeous – who knew that human flesh and blood could provide such a beautifully profane complexion? Perhaps it’s from fatted-pork stew that’s so popular with mortals these days.
i wonder
is “liar” praise
or dismays
prediction for the next page:
Allison, if she can be calm: “She’s only here because of me.”
Allison, more likely: “Hey, lay off her! Spidery bastard.”
shortly, Himself or a different inner Court member interrupts to prevent any important characters from dying.
Cio’s glasses will be missed.
No one carries a grudge quite like a devil.
they most likely assume the young kingling to be another one of dried up Yabalchoath’s possessions, a fatal mistake for many when they realize how she grips reality
Reach Heaven through Violence, girl
Riker: “I learned quite a bit.”
Picard: “Apparently not when to duck.”
Riker: “When not to duck would be more accurate.”
Bang! Zoom! Straight to the moon!
Like I said, this house is full of really nice people.
The eye of the enraged peers in many directions, seeking an outlet for its fury.
How much more furious, than, is the beast of many eyes?
Woah! THAT guy is NOT CHILL!!! >:(
Maybe he’s very chill, and Cio is just more out of order than we’d presumed.
ah, mister googily eyes is not a nice man…
Ah, mister googily eyes is not feeling nice today.
Who will write more in relation to you concerning such matters!
I liked the article and assume you’ve got more such stuff!
If so, so please note it as it’s somewhat unusual for me at the current instant,
and not only for me, that is my own opinion. Hopefully, I will get an in-depth manual
of yours and be conscious of all of the information and the latest data.