March 14th, 2016
Voting for this week will get you some minor world info and the results of last week's betting pool(???)
Okay I got a buncha stuff going on, let's see: First, if you missed it last week, I've started a patreon!
I'm probably gonna put out the official call for April's Q&A questions and Fat Animal requests this week, so don't forget to check it out! :D
Secondly, LOOK AT THIS RAD SHIRT YOU CAN NOW BUY?
This is Redbubble's new graphic tee, but the design is available on a lot of other stuff (scroll down and click "available products")!!! So, if you've ever wanted neon RW characters on your wall/laptop/torso, NOWS YOUR CHANCE????
OKAY COOL I THINK THATS EVERYTHING FOR NOW
Vote Incentive for This Comic.
It'll be obvious from pronouns in a couple pages, but people tend to think of the Artist as masculine, though most art of him is fairly androgynous.
(A lot of readers have questioned whether my characters literally worship me, and like, I WONT RULE IT OUT, but they'd have to have some serious misconceptions about me xD)
I do think Tareth looks pretty young for 17 (and 5'1" in highschool is definitely on the short side), so that actually might be part of it!
posted at 7:50pm on March 14th, 2016
I just had an image of Sev looking up and seeing you hovering over the page with a pencil.
Is this an omnipotent god, or more limited? Is he the only god in that particular religion, or are there other gods that no one mentions? Do the traders worship the Artist? Are there other religions floating around? (You'll probably answer these questions in time, but I'm REALLY curious.) You have such great worldbuilding!
posted at 8:58pm on March 14th, 2016
Aw man, thank you so much!! *u*
I can give ya some quick answers!
-The Church of the Artist is a monotheistic religion, so yup, just the Artist!
-Traders can obviously worship whatever they want (Note Iavin, who is racially Trader but doesn't cover his hair and is pretty vocally Artisan) but very few have converted to the Church of the Artist.
-There are other religions!
Also,
posted at 6:16pm on March 15th, 2016
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BRINGING MY VISION TO REALITY. THIS IS SO FANTASTIC.
Also, thanks for answering my questions. I didn't intend to paint the traders as one homogenous group. I was curious about the general population, folks like Xira who identify more strongly with their general group than someone like Iavin. I know you probably didn't interpret it that way, but I just want to make sure I'm not misinterpreted.
posted at 10:13pm on March 15th, 2016
The vote link is broken!!
But also I rly want to save to buy a t-shirt now ;_;
Also.... The plot thickens......
posted at 3:09am on March 14th, 2016
Yeah, the link isn't working for me as well, though I could get to the vote incentive by going straight to the topwebcomics website.
posted at 3:20am on March 14th, 2016
(Should be fixed!
Also, you can always click the little blue box at the bottom to vote! Unless TWC is down, that one will always work. :> )
posted at 3:24am on March 14th, 2016
Wow, so going off the vote incentive, that means Aember was pretty young when she got stuck in that box, and really pretty young as well when she started doing force fields.
It makes me wonder whether miscasts are more likely to happen to little kids, or to beginners, and whether people all start to come into their magic at the same age, or if it's like puberty and happens all over the place, or perhaps if there's differences between the different types of magic. I do recall some discussion about ages regarding Jonan but I can't seem to track it down.
I'm also wondering about whether she can use her powers in any useful way in there- is it possible to cast a squishy force field for a pillow? And about not being able to go anywhere, can she sorta shuffle the force field around? Or slowly (and probably painfully, especially for Chitter) repeatedly knock the cube over to roll it along? So many questions in my head right now...
posted at 3:34am on March 14th, 2016
I remember an old vote-incentive which mentioned Jonan's childhood. I'm not sure on the details. But I'm sure Jonan could runewrite when he was a kid - how early he started I don't know.
posted at 5:31am on March 14th, 2016
Here's all the vote incentive sightings of younger Jonan that I can remember!
Little Kid Jonan practicing runes
Young Jonan with his Dad
Teenage Jonan attempting to dye the red out of his hair
Teen Jonan arguing about graveyards
Teen Jonan creates Necropony
posted at 7:51pm on March 14th, 2016
Okay, Jonan trying to dye his hair is suddenly REALLY INTERESTING. Like...why? Why would you hide something like that? Did something happen to make him ashamed of being a Runewriter? Maybe specifically life magic? Maybe he was trying to blend in with mundanes? WHY?!?!
posted at 3:22pm on March 16th, 2016
Maybe he just wanted to be left alone, and -if he started with healing magic- he hadn't yet found out how to threaten people with it, and they kept asking him to heal them?
posted at 2:26pm on March 17th, 2016
I had to laugh when I read in that doodle that zombies are actually smarter than Groo the Wanderer, who has zealously guarded the structure of a bridge while allowing enemies to cross it.
posted at 10:40pm on March 22nd, 2016
(I'm a huge nerd when it comes to different types of magic, so I'll prattle on about this.)
Remember what Sev and Jonan said about how people know runes? They're born with an instinctive knowledge of a First Rune, and then experiment from there. It looks like this particular magic system is based on art and language. Kids start drawing from around the age of two. So assuming they start drawing runes from the time they can draw, Æmber and Jonan and Sev could have been slinging runes around as toddlers.
One problem with systems like this is that young kids are much more likely to abuse their abilities. If you know any three-year-olds, imagine giving them powers like Xira's. Kids like Sev and Æmber could have caused serious damage, to others and themselves. This is especially true for a system that relies solely on experimentation. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that Sev got his horns at a young age.
As a side note, when you take that into account, seeing someone like Jonan with no obvious miscasts is mind-blowing. The guy must have been a prodigy! It makes me wonder who that girl is, the one who caused Jonan's miscast. Remember her? http://runewriters.com/index.php?c=84 I wonder what she is...
posted at 3:02pm on March 14th, 2016
Re-reading that page ("Jonan's spell wears off in less than a week") made me wonder why he didn't just lay low in his house until it wears off. Way less people would have noticed it.
And, kids drawing runes at two? Please, no. Have you ever seen a five-years-old's attempts to replicate on paper something he sees (either drawing from life or practicing writing) ? There would be no runewriters left older than six. Especially since miscasting seems so common including in grown-ups.
Plus what you said about abusing their abilities, it'd be a nightmare (though if their first runes are always very tame, that would be somewhat less of an issue; from the links shazzbaa gave, it seems like Jonan started fiddling with zombies when he was a teen, not a kid, which leads to think he started with healing magic).
posted at 5:20am on March 15th, 2016
That was his plan, until it was pointed out that he'd die of dehydration.
posted at 11:16am on March 15th, 2016
Not to mention that this isn't just someone casting his own spell on him- it's a rebound, a miscast, so there's no guarantee that it's going to wear off like they usually do.
posted at 8:04pm on March 15th, 2016
Runes are fairly simple. I mean, Sev could make one even with his hands messed up. But I do see your point. So, let's bump that up to...six? Seven? Say it takes, oh, 4 years to get relatively proficient (about the level Æmber is at.) That still means there are a lot of kids miscasting themselves. Sev could have gotten horns as young as ten.
posted at 8:11pm on March 15th, 2016
Wow, I like this page ...but I like all the pages so that's not too informative.
I think the lighting is -again- nicely done with the windows.
And the implications of the last few panels I think give some more depth to Sev.
re:incentive HAH I WON! :3 But to be honest, I would bet that You have mentioned that she is 11 either in an earlier comment, incentive or mouse-over text... But couldn't find where. (also IMO she Does look 10-11)
posted at 5:27am on March 14th, 2016
CONGRATS!!! xD
and Ahhh thanks so much! I've been having a lot of fun with the all the stained glass in the church, haha!
posted at 5:36pm on March 15th, 2016
Oh no WONDER she's so small! Jeez, she must have been so young when she got stuck in there.
(Also, yay for turning up in a vote incentive, even if just by virtue of starting the betting pool)
posted at 10:32am on March 14th, 2016
YUP SHE IS JUST AN EXCITED SMALL CHILD IN A BOX
posted at 6:19pm on March 15th, 2016
*does happy dance about technically getting the age right*
Also I'm getting one of those shirts as soon as possible; hopefully as soon as I get my next paycheck, but if not then the one after that. I NEED one of those shirts.
posted at 1:54pm on March 14th, 2016
OMG I'm so glad you guys like 'em, I'M REALLY PUMPED ABOUT HOW THEY TURNED OUT!! *u*
posted at 4:55pm on March 15th, 2016
*looks over bucket list and checks off "get mentioned in a vote incentive"* Whew, and here I thought that would be one of the more difficult ones to accomplish!
Also, regarding today's comic, glad to see Sev is conscious again, if still unclothed. I second all of Jade's wonderings about how the religion of this world will play out in the story. (And, um, I'm kinda hoping that panel 2 contains maybe just a little bit of foreshadowing . . . )
posted at 2:13pm on March 14th, 2016
'Course it does. Our merry band of misfits still needs its elemental runewriter, and here's another miscast. Gosh it's sure lucky we know someone who can turn into a big-ass dragon thing and carry people, huh?
posted at 4:15pm on March 14th, 2016
LOL SORRY GUYS IT TURNS OUT RUNEWRITERS IS JUST AN ELABORATE RETELLING OF WIZARD OF OZ
(though psssst elementals are purple hair, not blue!)
Also omg Ikwig I wish I could Like that comment xD
posted at 4:59pm on March 15th, 2016
Besides, this force-field doesn't seem...elemental. It's not fire or earth or air. It doesn't seem too watery, either. BUT WE'VE NEVER SEEN BLUE BEFORE. Is this to do with being the Chosen One or something? Blue being super-rare?
posted at 10:21pm on March 15th, 2016
Someone here in the comments said it was temporal/spacial; I don't remember where they got the info from, but there was a vote incentive about the different types of runewriters once.
posted at 7:17pm on March 17th, 2016
I second this.
And if we need to convince the priests, how about "those armed guys will come back and not be so accommodating this time" ? (actually, it's a wonder they haven't already)
posted at 5:36am on March 15th, 2016
I'm afraid I have my doubts, only because of one thing- I recall the criteria for someone going on the cast page was that a), they have shown up in the story, and b), they will be appearing in multiple chapters. And the cast page is sadly devoid of awesome frohawks.
posted at 7:05am on March 15th, 2016
Here's what Shazzbaa had to say about adding characters to the cast page: "Characters get added to the Cast page when (a) they are major characters who will last for more than one chapter, (b) it is obvious in the story that they are going to be major characters and (c) I have enough art of them to crop three little image slices that I like.
Also when (d) I have all their little extra info solidified, like knowing for sure what height they are, but that's sorta secondary." There's been enough focus on our frohawk-ed friend, that I think there's a good possibility that she'll end up being at least in the same category as Xira (who is definitely on the cast page); maybe all of her extra info is still on the uncertain side? At any rate, I think there is reason to hope! (Of course, I'm also hoping that Xira will be returning, based solely on the evidence that he is on the cast page, heh - I think he's a great character, even if he is on the creepy side . . . and now I'm wondering about how a miscast would affect a mind-reader like him . . . hmmm . . .)
posted at 2:04pm on March 15th, 2016
Okay I've officially added "when is x getting added to the cast page" to the FAQ so we don't have to search for where I posted these criteria anymore xD
posted at 5:40pm on March 15th, 2016
How many different Runewriter hair colours are there?
And what are the other kinds of Shape Runewriting?
posted at 12:25pm on March 16th, 2016
The basic "categories" of shapeshifting would be Living Things (Shapechanger) and Nonliving things (Alchemist). You could get more specific than that (like, Sev is good at animals but has no skill with subtle disguises) but those are the most basic types.
But as for hair colours, you've seen them all at this point! :>
posted at 1:10pm on March 16th, 2016
Hey, are you planning on doing more with this world after *chokes back sob* after Runewriters is over? I can tell you spent a lot of time on this. This just seems like one of those stories that has so much to say, and I'd like to see more of these beautiful characters exploring this wonderful world.
posted at 2:14pm on March 17th, 2016
Ahhh gosh, thank you! ;u; Though the truth is, Runewriters is a very long story, and there is a lot more of these characters and this world still left to explore! I don't have plans for after it's done because that's pretty far in the future (Lord willing that I'm able to finish it!)
As Andrew Hussie once said, "you don't make something as long as Homestuck by thinking about what you'll make after Homestuck."
posted at 3:32pm on March 17th, 2016
Okay, I totally understand. Thank you!
posted at 5:46pm on March 17th, 2016
Last question for this panel I SWEAR. Is that you in the T-shirt?
posted at 8:50pm on March 18th, 2016
Yup, it's me! :D
posted at 7:34pm on March 20th, 2016
Oh, Æmber, you're so small and huggable-looking, your life must be so hard in a box and all hug-less. :c
posted at 6:51pm on September 21st, 2017
Comment by Jade
Fascinating! I was wondering about how the religion was going to play into this! I didn't see any churches in Sev and Tarri's hometown (can't remember the name), and Tarri's mom made the only religious reference in that section that I saw. From Sev' "it's been awhile" I take it that the Artist doesn't play into his day-to-day life, although he does believe in the Artist. (Is the Artist male, female, or otherwise?) As I was saying, I think that the religion doesn't have as much sway in the outlying area as it does in the cities. Or maybe their town is a relatively secular spot.
Poor Æmber! She can barely pull off the dramatic flop inside her cube! And I have NO IDEA why I thought she was fourteen! Maybe Tarri is just small for her age...
posted at 12:38am on March 14th, 2016