September 16th, 2013
A bunch of people were talking about witches in the comments last week so I dispense a bit of extra witch info in the extra doodle you can see if you Vote for Runewriters!
Thanks to everyone who came out to see me at SPX, thanks to people who bought books, and WELCOME to people who are joining just now after meeting me at SPX - thanks for checking out my comic! All of you were super cool and I had a blast! *u*
Vote Incentive for This Comic.
Ahahaha thanks! xD
Most runes are spells that are active for x amount of time, depending on the rune (including Sev's, which do eventually run out), and the runewriter's eyes usually only glow for a moment when they first cast. We've seen it with Iavin, too -- his eyes glow black initially, but he keeps puppeting people/ forcing people to stay seated for some time after casting the rune, while the spell is still active. c:
posted at 4:46pm on September 17th, 2013
Ah, thanks, that clears up a lot!
posted at 5:52pm on September 17th, 2013
Oh man! Just as always happens when there's an informative extra doodle, it tends to raise more questions than it answers.
For example... Can mind readers be all with the performing jedi mind tricks on people? Can vision makers cast true seeing and suchlike to enhance their own perceptive abilities instead o' just muddling such things for others? Can puppet masters puppetify non-living things?
Also, on a more general level, is there anything stopping any given witch from sitting down and studying all the different types of mind magic? Yes, I know runewriters don't generally study their majycks, but you get the point.
posted at 1:25pm on September 16th, 2013
Ooo, I can answer some of these! c:
Can puppet masters puppetify non-living things?
Aliveness isn't the issue for puppet-masters -- they cannot puppet non-thinking things. Their powers are over the mind, not the body; what they essentially do is force a signal from your brain that you didn't send.
Animating non-living things is a power that'd be more in line with a life mage or an elemental. I could see either of them developing a rune like that! (Jonan kinda already has some...)
Is there anything stopping any given witch from sitting down and studying all the different types of mind magic?
This applies to all runewriters - it's not just that they don't usually study it (though, due to runewriters not being super common, that is true), it's that studying isn't going to do them a whole lot of good. As Sev's implied before, you can't learn to use another person's runes. You have to develop your own, personal runes that work with your magic, which means depending on your magic (which may or may not even support those types of runes to begin with) and what sort of runes you've already developed, it might be hard to reach across the gap to another type. :")
posted at 1:59pm on September 16th, 2013
I'm sure others have arrived at this conclusion far sooner, but I finally got it: runewriters are sorcerers, not wizards. Right?
posted at 6:46am on September 18th, 2013
The awesomeness dammit. It's too awesome for me to handle. Also, in my timezone I usually have to wait till Tuesday to read your pages because lol, latelate Monday seems to be earlyearly Monday for you. But I'm not complaining!
Dude I know I've said this a thousand times but I just love how your characters are so... realistic and natural. I would totally say something along the lines of "I'm psychic!" just because it's my way of feeling less suspicious in the eyes of others (that's exactly how I lie or throw people off track). But through my own eyes, my face would be pretty much on fire and it would take all of my willpower to maintain eye contact and a believable expression.
OMG DID YOU ACTUALLY GET THROUGH THE COMMENT YOU'RE AWESOME DANG.
posted at 2:57pm on September 16th, 2013
On a side note, the way you double-wrote the two fonts on the second last panel because they spoke simultaneously is just great.
posted at 4:59am on September 17th, 2013
Ahhh gosh thank you! I DUNNO MAN sometimes it is wayyyy easier to make the truth sound ridiculous than to make up a plausible sounding lie. xD
especially when the truth is "I am a mind-reader and I'm navigating using people's thoughts"
it's not too hard to make that sound absurd
posted at 4:48pm on September 17th, 2013
Totally agree on that. And it's easier to laugh afterwards because both you and the one you're tricking feel kind of awkward by the end.
posted at 8:35am on September 19th, 2013
Meeting Shazz at SPX was the best!
posted at 5:18pm on September 16th, 2013
Ahhhhhhhhh thank you! ;u; I had a great time meeting everyone who stopped by, it was a great con!!
posted at 4:49pm on September 17th, 2013
I suppose we ARE all being rather racist calling Zira a witch. But now I feel like calling him a mind-bender for some reason. Perhaps it has to do with recent viewings of Avatar. ANYWAY I'd love to see one of those ones who can make visions, that would be suuuper handy! :D Clearly Zira is a mind/emotion reading type.
I love that they both knew where the zombie pony was using completely different senses. XD
posted at 5:33pm on September 16th, 2013
I wonder what it's *doing*? Nobody seemed to be reacting to the zombie pony with visceral disgust on the previous page, just thinking it seemed out of place.
posted at 6:30pm on September 16th, 2013
Oh no! Jonan has barfed and it is coming out of his nose!
posted at 6:15pm on September 16th, 2013
Uh...what?
posted at 1:24am on September 17th, 2013
Its just the first thing I thought of when I saw panels five and seven. I know how gross that is. Also..... Why doesn't Xira want Tareth to know he's psychic?
posted at 9:56am on September 17th, 2013
Witches are not welcome in this town. That was made clear at the city gate.
posted at 3:00pm on September 17th, 2013
Yes, another incantation phrase to work with! Also, witches totally are the go-to culprits in cheap mystery novels (The mind-mage, via Colonel Mustard, in the conservatory, with the candlestick.)
posted at 7:21pm on September 16th, 2013
Oh man I totally believe that's true in Varænske. And just give a character hair fading to black and he's INSTANTLY villainous.
posted at 4:52pm on September 17th, 2013
I come back here day after to read the comments. :3
posted at 10:38am on September 17th, 2013
No, no, no, vote-incentive-Shazz...
If Jonan can use all three facets of Life Magic, ANY witch could be dangerous!
posted at 1:51pm on September 17th, 2013
Jonan is a very rare and special case. He's a friggin unicorn.
His unique talents, and not just his charming personality, are what earned him his reputation.
posted at 2:59pm on September 17th, 2013
It's true, Jonan is a rare and delicate flower.
posted at 4:53pm on September 17th, 2013
...of death.
posted at 6:49am on September 18th, 2013
omg
That desperately needs to be one of those things you tack on to the end of fortune cookies. Like instead of "in bed" add "of death."
posted at 8:12pm on September 18th, 2013
I approve of this suggestion.
posted at 12:46pm on September 21st, 2013
...of death.
(hey, it's working :D)
posted at 3:00pm on September 22nd, 2013
The truth of the matter is this. It does not matter what abilities or skills one has. If one wishes to be dangerous, one will find a way, either by learning a new skill, or acquiring a new object of power (irl: a gun, or bomb, perhaps?).
posted at 7:24am on September 18th, 2013
It was great meeting you gals at SPX! My bf and I love your comic. Keep up the good work!
posted at 11:02am on September 18th, 2013
Ahhh thank you so much! *u*
posted at 12:52pm on September 18th, 2013
Out of curiosity, what were the classes you took at SCAD?
posted at 12:45pm on September 18th, 2013
Mostly curriculum classes! My entire major was "Sequential Art" so listing every comics-related class I took would take some time, haha (though the SCAD folder in my DeviantArt gallery can give you some idea of the sort of assignments I had). I spent the majority of my electives on my minor, Concept Art for Games, which didn't end up being the direction I went in at all.
If you wanna know specifics, though, feel free to email me about it and I will happily go into more depth! c:
posted at 12:52pm on September 18th, 2013
Well, I can't find the major 'Sequential Art' anywhere. It has vanished.
posted at 12:34am on September 23rd, 2013
Here you go! :") It was only hiding.
posted at 1:26am on September 23rd, 2013
Now I'm suddenly wondering weather Tareth is more attuned to her sense of smell as a general heightening of remaining senses from being deaf, or if Xira actually can't smell things properly. It seems sort of a weird handicap to have, but we do sort of have a set going with Sev's hands disabled, i.e. touch, Tareth's hearing, Jonan's mouth i.e. taste, and that kid in the box has some huuuge glasses making him a candidate for being near blind without them. Maybe Xira can't smell, rounding out a five-senses set?
Still, I think I remember something about this being a fun study of barriers in communication more than senses, right? No one really communicates by smell so far, this page is about the closest thing. Whereas the sign language makes Sev's hands a communication barrier, and even if the new kid was blind without glasses, he couldn't read, which would be a potential barrier with Jonan and with sign language as well. With Xira being able to actually read a person's mind, it makes me wonder a) if he can send thoughts to others that are consciously registered instead of subconsciously absorbed, or if the communication is only one way, and b) if he perhaps has some other more extreme communication handicap to balance it...
Loving the pages with them whatever the case, they're both so adorable! And look at Tareth out making friends all on her own!
posted at 2:36pm on October 28th, 2013
... It must be SO HANDY for Xira that Tareth can't hear. As long as she's not looking at his face, she has no idea he's casting, she can't hear him use his Abra Cadabra phrase.
Hmmm, I wonder if Xira could use his powers to, like, really quickly learn Handsign from someone who already knows it.
posted at 12:46pm on January 2nd, 2015
Xira: Did you /hear/ that? I thought you couldn't hear.
Tareth: How can you not SMELL that? I mean, honestly, does your nose not work? (And no, I didn't hear anything. Thanks for asking, though.)
posted at 4:07pm on September 15th, 2017
Comment is awaiting moderation.
posted at 1:04pm on February 1st, 2023
Comment by Why?!?!
Ahaha, the second-to-last panel! Their faces are priceless.
Also, I'm intrigued by Xira's mind-reading. It seems like he activates it with his "abracadabra" phrase, like any other runewriter, but then the effects. . . linger? Or is it like Sev's shapeshifting, and he has to consciously return to "normal"? And does Xira cast from runes? Because I've never seen any with him.
posted at 1:23pm on September 16th, 2013