April 4th, 2016
Vote for RW and get an extra doodle! This one is a short doodle of everyone's favourite. :>
Also here's a cool thing: Chapter Three books just went up in the store!! They're marked as being on "backorder" for now despite the fact that I have a huge box of them, because I'm about to be out of town for a bit and it'll be a couple weeks before I can start shipping them out, BUT: if you wanna go ahead and order one, you can, and I'll send it your way as soon as I get back!!
Now, you might notice that we aren't quite done with Chapter 3, but we're really close!! so book-readers will only get a couple pages ahead. c:
Vote Incentive for This Comic.
HAHA WHAT, EMOTIONS?? WE DON'T NEED TO TALK ABOUT THOSE HAHA, AS YOU CAN SEE I AM EMOTIONALLY FINE AND HEALTHY IN EVERY WAY,
(also omg that is an excellent motivator, IM SO GLAD I AM A MOTIVATOR INSTEAD OF A DISTRACTION xD)
posted at 3:34am on April 4th, 2016
Soooo....is Necro-pony's behavior based on Jonan feeling empathetic/sympathetic? Or am I giving both of them too much credit? XD
posted at 12:27am on April 4th, 2016
xD WELL I WILL SAY that Jonan's not like... empathically connected to Necropony or anything -- but whether Necropony is seeing sympathy in Jonan and "helping" by running over to affectionately head-bonk Sev, or just noticing that Jonan is distracted and that this is a GREAT chance to escape and check on Sev, is up to interpretation. xD
posted at 3:32am on April 4th, 2016
Sureeeee everything's fiinneeee. You liar. Necro-pony is reminding me of how dogs seems to know when you're sad and go put their heads in your lap ;_;
posted at 1:25am on April 4th, 2016
aahhhhhh yes! I've known cats who do this too!! ; v ; It is definitely a quality Necropony shares.
posted at 3:35am on April 4th, 2016
That necro-pony! Love 'im to...um...death?
posted at 1:29am on April 4th, 2016
TO DEATH, AND BEYOND
posted at 3:35am on April 4th, 2016
...is Jonan /blushing/? Good gods :D
posted at 2:37am on April 4th, 2016
OH LOL NO he just sorta banged up his face when he fainted earlier, sorry, NO BLUSHING YET
posted at 3:31am on April 4th, 2016
NO BLUSHING "YET", huh? :D
So there is gaurenteed blushing Jonan in the future. :D :D :D
posted at 6:56am on April 4th, 2016
Well I'm all for a blushing Jonan :D
posted at 12:13pm on April 4th, 2016
I GUARANTEE NOTHING!!!!
posted at 12:41pm on April 4th, 2016
*mutters about Jonan/Sev and shuffles off into the shadows*
posted at 1:19pm on April 6th, 2016
You mean 'necropony' wasn't canon before? Huh.
posted at 3:30am on April 4th, 2016
WELL, it's been on the cast page, but this is the first time anyone's used it in the comic, SO NOW ITS OFFICIAL
posted at 3:36am on April 4th, 2016
Okay so thanks to the voting incentive we now know;
1) Jonan still looked pretty normal when he was 17.
2) He was still living at home or at least was still close enough for his bro to pop in at random.
3) At least at that point, he was still on talking terms with his brother (don't really know if they're still on good terms in the present).
*slowly putting small pieces of everybody's backstories together, hurray! :D*
posted at 7:00am on April 4th, 2016
4) Also, his brother calls him J, and that is really cute. :3
posted at 7:06am on April 4th, 2016
5) The Father's Day vote incentive said that Jonan's dad is a captain in Rusanne's military. So he seems to be relatively well-heeled.
6) In the Mother's day vote incentive, Jonan says that "my parents are dead to me". Sooooo I'm betting that his brother is in the same category.
7) Jonan trained with Loa at a young age, and Loa lives pretty far from Rusanne. So he was away from home for a long stretch of time at a young age, maybe 7-10 years old.
8) He was skilled enough to summon a long-term, semi-independent zombie in his late teens, so my guess is that he started dabbling in necromancy at...geez, thirteen or fourteen. Some kids dye their hair black and write poetry, but Jonan was creating zombies. Everyone's different, I suppose.
posted at 1:32pm on April 4th, 2016
omg I love that you guys are enjoying all these little snippets as much as I do!! *u*
a minor point on 7) -- We don't know how old/young Jonan was when he knew Loa! Jonan's guard calls Loa "an old friend" but all Jonan has said is that he studied under the half-muulorn.
8) man there's no reason he can't raise the dead in a shambling mockery of life AND write angsty poetry, I mean, those things sort of complement each other nicely
posted at 3:11pm on April 4th, 2016
Oh man, now all I can imagine is teenage Jonan scribbling away at mournful poetry about how he's a failure at life because he accidentally created a necropony that has semi-free will and loves him to pieces XD
"Without breath or pulse/These lifeless creatures/Live better than I"
posted at 3:36pm on April 4th, 2016
I LAUGHED AT THIS FOR A SOLID MINUTE, DONT, DONT DO THIS TO ME, IM DYIGN
IM GOING TO GET SECOND-HAND EMBARRASSMENT FROM MY OWN CHARACTERS HYPOTHETICAL TERRIBLE HIGHSCHOOL POETRY
posted at 9:44pm on April 4th, 2016
"The dead claw from graves
Reflecting my struggle
To take a deep breath."
- Jonan, age 14
posted at 10:31pm on April 4th, 2016
Yuo guys
killnig me
pls stop
posted at 11:34am on April 5th, 2016
Now it's a challenge.
"Dead things don't sleep,
go away bad feeling,
this mare won't leap,
life is frail and fleeting"
#fakeJonanAngstPoetrySlam
posted at 3:46pm on April 5th, 2016
Yo, I'm bringing in the haikus!
"Watch the zombies rise
The worms that eat the undead
Rot away my soul"
#fakeJonanAngstPoetrySlam
posted at 8:56pm on April 5th, 2016
jonan im sorry all these mean people are bullying you
posted at 7:59pm on April 6th, 2016
"The Runewriters fans
Are writing angsty poems
Under my own name."
"Such a grave insult
that I just made a death pun.
Make the fandom stop."
Let's get #fakeJonanAngstPoetrySlam trending, y'all!
(And, Shazzbaa, you're the one who said that angsty poems and raising the dead go hand-in-hand. Don't blame us.
posted at 9:49pm on April 6th, 2016
I'm making a promise to all Runewriter fans. For every page Jonan is in, I will write one haiku describing his thoughts.
#JonanAngstPoetrySlam
posted at 5:27pm on April 9th, 2016
I, uH, kIND OF WISH THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN HERE BUT I WON'T,,,STOP YOU,,,,,
(tho there could always be a twitter for it or something!! I'm willing to bet @JonanAngstPoems is probably available xD )
posted at 7:05pm on April 9th, 2016
Okay, I won't, then. That's fine.
posted at 7:43pm on April 9th, 2016
SORRY TO RAIN ON THE PARADE!! ;u; It's a hilarious idea but also I know I would get genuinely embarrassed so it would be less fun for me. xD
posted at 10:13pm on April 10th, 2016
"Dead things don't sleep" needs to be a poster or... I dunno... the name of a goth-punk band or something.
posted at 3:15pm on April 4th, 2016
Oh, and I love how the priest's face goes from "sorry for your loss" to "suprised/shocked" to "slightly freaking out"
I can only imagine how freaked he will/would be in the moment after the last panel, when he makes the connection between "zombie" and the name "Jonan" D:
posted at 3:20pm on April 4th, 2016
Dang, I didn't mean to spam, but I'm a bit distracted... Anyway, I wonder what the church's stance on necromancy and the undead.
I mean for understandable reason, the dead and corpses are kind of taboo/'sacred' in many cultures and disturbing them is not really a thing. And dealing with death and what's "beyond" (afterlife, reincarnation, void etc) is a prominent part of most (if not all) religions. If I remember correctly, runewriting is connected to The Artist somehow, or attributed to him. So runewriting is probably seen as a gift of The Artist. But that doesn't mean necromancy can't be seen as a perversion or distortion of the Artist's gift (Iavin actually refers to Agorath rituals as blasphemy or something).
But I guess we will find out soon?
posted at 3:26pm on April 4th, 2016
That would make a lot of sense. Most necromancers in modern media are portrayed as villains, partly because of the graverobbing aspects. It could also be a medical concern. Having an undead pony walking around the house is probably not sanitary. Given this, I imagine the government would all but force Life Runewriters into healing fields, even if that's not their particular niche. They'd definitely prefer doctors over necromancers.
This also makes me wonder about the church's stance on witches. Most modern cultures at least pay lip service to the idea of bodily autonomy. Of course, witches are clearly distrusted, but I wonder if that's church doctrine or if it's just a knee-jerk reaction to the idea of controlling other people. It could be a mixture of both.
posted at 3:50pm on April 4th, 2016
I don't know if they could force Life runewriters though -- based on how the elemental powers are described in http://runewriters.com/index.php?c=59, it sounds like the subtype is as innate as the main type. So there's theoretically a bunch of very bored Death/Necromancy runewriters who aren't allowed to do much with their abilities. OR, odder still, necromancers who want nothing to do with necromancy: http://runewriters.com/index.php?c=145
posted at 7:39pm on April 4th, 2016
Ah, I forgot about that.
As a third option, maybe necromancers are just super-duper rare, so there's no real policy on them. Like, Jonan and maybe a handful of others, scattered across the country.
Or, as a FOURTH option, maybe there's a niche that necromancers can fill. Zombies seem like good workers. Maybe necromancers make corpses build houses, or dig irrigation. Cheap labor, right?
posted at 10:42pm on April 4th, 2016
iwillnotmakearunewritersociwillnotmakearunewritersociwillnot-- I think I have to make a Runewriters OC
posted at 8:56pm on April 4th, 2016
I...I support this
posted at 9:40pm on April 4th, 2016
You GO, Ely!
posted at 10:33pm on April 4th, 2016
*squirms* Okay, now I really wanna make one, too.
posted at 11:04pm on April 6th, 2016
SAME
posted at 6:54am on April 7th, 2016
I just nearly choked trying to squeal quietly over everything Necropony
posted at 9:43pm on April 4th, 2016
Comment by Jade
Sev is SO unconvincing. "Oh, yeah, I'm a runaway, but everything's fine now! I'm A-OK! Also, my parents are dead. Y'know, whatever!"
Also, JONAN IS A YOUNGER SIBLING. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. *Klaxon alarms*
By the way, Runewriters is now part of my motivation to get my homework done. If I don't have my homework done by midnight, I don't let myself look until tomorrow.
posted at 12:07am on April 4th, 2016