Bridging the gap between Fantasy and Philosophy

Day 1

“What happens to old heroes? Everyone assumes they get their precious and legendary ‘happily ever after’, but it doesn’t always work out that way, because some of us can’t give up a life of adventure. Five decades ago, my adventuring crew broke up, and ever since then I’ve been looking for a purpose.

The Horizon Dancers, we were called. You’ve probably heard of us. In an age of truly epic heroes, we were the best. It was back when SENTINEL was still being set up, and so bad things still happened on a scale that could threaten entire worlds. Back then, we had to deal with the Big Stuff. Once SENTINEL was established, we dropped back into a more advisory role. The diplomats, the people who really made the new world come together and function, they still had occasional need for heroes, but it wasn’t the same . Pretty soon, it was clear that no one really needed a team of our caliber anymore, and so we started to settle down and drift apart.

Georg and Gaile had it easy. They were (relatively) young, in love, and most importantly they never really wanted to be adventurers – the life had found them rather than the other way around. So they married and bought a farm and settled down, and they loved it. A true ‘happily ever after’ if I ever saw one. Hazel was the opposite, if anything she got busier when she left. She was always a meddler, taking a personal interest in everyone we met. So she found a home, and turned it into an odd combination of part orphanage, part commune, part school. She’d watch for interesting people that needed a place to stay, and she’d give them a home and teach and learn from them. She dove into politics full-force as well, never anything official but with more influence than anyone outside of the Inner Council. Carlotta went back home and announced that she was finally ready to take up the crown.  She’s done a fine job as far as I can tell, continuing a proud family legacy and even improving on it a bit.

So that leaves me, Brinsley Sheridan. I had more money and fame than I knew what to do with. I was the best swordsman in the world, the most legendary hero of all time, and had a list of honorary titles that took even an expert announcer two hours to rattle off. I had done everything I ever wanted to do, faced every challenge, and relished every reward. I had lived the best life I could ever have hoped for, with just one problem: I’m 137, and for an elf, in this era of modern medicine, that’s barely middle aged. I’ve got a century left in me before I even start to slow down, and nothing left to do. “The End” has already floated across the screen, and the credits have already rolled.

So I’ve decided: I’m starting over. I’ve put all of my money into long-term investments, and all of my equipment into storage. I’ve kept just enough on-hand for a cheap but durable sword and one of those cheap off-the-shelf Instant Adventuring Kits, plus this recorder to serve as a journal just on the off chance something bad happens to me. The name and face, fortunately, are now old enough that only an old friend or a historian would recognize me, so I’ll hang on to them.  I’ve still got my skills and training, but there’s nothing I can do about that except cultivate a sense of fair play.

I hear that some upstart calling himself “Volere Darchon” has set up a dark fortress a few days walk away and is terrorizing the nearby villages. The “Darchon” surname sounds suspicious, and the rest of the operation is so mind-numbingly stereotypical, that I know there’s something going on behind the scenes.

With that, Brinsley Sheridan closed and locked the door or his mansion, and walked off into the sunrise.

(Note to current readers: the Introduction post has been updated with a “How to Read” paragraph explaining the format and shorthand of the comic.)

People Are Starting to Suspect the Inquisition (page 2)

First panel

The scene from the last page continues – Jenny, Tarith, and Galen are standing next to each other.  Donal is visible in the background stretching.

Galen: “What do you mean by ‘breathable air was not required?’”

Jenny: “Some of the realities we encounter are a bit more… metaphorical”

Tarith: “Don’t worry, we’re not going into one of those.”

Galen: “How can you be so sure?  I thought we didn’t get that kind of information.”

Second panel

Donal appears to be balancing upside down on one hand in the background

Tarith: “We don’t, at least not directly.  But there’s a fair amount you can tell from who gets picked and who doesn’t”

“For example: Stanley, Moris, Frank, and Josephine are all absent, so technology isn’t likely to come up.  Keth and Grunewald are out, and it’s a training run, so we probably won’t have any really bizarre stuff.  I’m here, so magic is likely to come up, but Llarena and Frank aren’t so it’s a bit iffy.  Grunewald and Reggie are missing, so diplomacy is less likely.”

Third panel

Donal is maintaining the previous pose, but has raised himself to being supported by a single finger.

Jenny: “Basically you look at broad specialties and if one of them is completely unrepresented, you know it’s probably not going to come up.  We do a lot of guessing, but the predictability goes way down the more focused you get.”

“Technology is pretty big field, and we’ve got four people who specialize in it, so the absence of all of them is a fairly clear sign.  In the opposite direction, Tarith and I are the two history experts of the team, but that’s a more focused specialty so it’s more likely to be a coincidence.”

Fourth panel

The view has swung 90 degrees and zoomed out.  Donal is in mid flip to return upright.  On a raised platform in front of everyone, a door in a large silver sphere opens with a hiss.

Electronic voice from offscreen: “Gate capsule ready.  You may begin boarding”

Jenny: “That’s our cue.  Let’s go!”

Notes: The Rousai don’t like to give out more information than is absolutely necessary.

Bonus comic #1.

All four panels are in a vertical column

First panel

We are in the middle of a major modern metropolis in the process of being trashed.  The culprits are several huge three-eyed humanoid robots.  Some are red, and some are blue, and in the background they appear to be fighting.  One of the red robots is in the foreground swinging a sword at Tarith Bezeline, and a blue robot is in midair leaping to shield him with its body.

Second panel

The blue robot lies on the ground in front of Tarith, it is nearly cut in two.  In the background we can see the legs of two more blue robots fighting the sword-wielding red robot.

Blue robot: “We will fight on to the last to protect your species.  You are the last hope of the universe – within you lies great strength.”

Tarith: “You mean like this?”

Third panel

In a series of three scenes, Tarith stand with his arm outstretched and his palm raised, glowing with a faint blue nimbus.  He first aims his palm outwards, and a wave of force radiates away.  He then reverses his palm, and the wave of force returns.  Finally, he aims his palm outwards again, while raising his other arm with palm facing inwards.  The motion lines indicating the wave of force alternate directions, and we hear many loud “CRUNCH” sounds from offscreen.

Fourth panel

An overhead view, showing a circular ring of destruction centered on Tarith.  Blue robots can be seen staring at large piles of red dust.

Tarith: “Sorry, you were talking about metaphorical strength weren’t you?  My bad.”

Notes: These bonus comics will be light on plot and text and hopefully heavier on the comedy.

Welcome to the Team (page 11)

The page is divided into four equal panels

First panel

A close up of Squeaky and Galen.

Squeaky: “Well, it was good to meet you, but I’ve got to run.  I’ll be around if you ever have questions”

Second panel

Squeaky vanishes in a flash of light, and the view has zoomed out again.

Tarith: “Not that he’ll actually answer any of them.”

Frank: “So that was the boss.  Hopefully, you’ll won’t see him all that often – outside of special occasions like this, he only shows up when things have gone spectacularly bad.”

Third panel

Back to Galen and Frank, Galen is massaging his hand.

Galen: “Why only then?”

Frank: “Squeaky doesn’t really understand people.  Or the general concept of physical existence, to be honest.  So everything that actually gets to us has been routed through a filter of staffers whose job it is to think about things like “is there breathable air?” or “do they need food?”.

Fourth panel

The view has swung out 90 degrees to show the other side of the table again.

Grunewald: “Speaking of needing food: eat up.  There will be plenty of time to share stories later, but you’ll want a good meal going into tomorrow.”

Donal: “Aye, tha first mission is alwa’s a tough un’.  It gives ye a good taste o’ tha extremes ya haf ta be prepar’d for.”

Notes: And thus ends the introduction.

Welcome to the Team (page 9)

The page is divided into four panels.

First panel

We are focused at the end of the table, where Jenny, Grunewald, Frank, and Galen are seated.  A waiter has now arrived and is leaning towards Frank.

Waiter: “Excuse me, Frank, but you wanted to know when the boss was on his way.”

Frank: “Ah, thank you. Galen, it’s time for the big surprise of the evening.”

Second panel

The waiter has now left.

Galen: “Surprise?”

Frank: “You’re about to meet the closest thing we have to a commander, and I must warn you right now that he’s an alien. An alien of a race that the general public is unaware of, because they do not wish their presence to be known outside the Trail Maintenance Department.”

Galen: “Why not?”

Frank: “They are an extraordinarily advanced race, and under normal circumstances would not associate with us for quite a few more centuries. But with the Cataclysm we stumbled into a power far beyond our level of enlightenment, and the fallout from that is apparently a serious threat on a galactic scale.”

Third panel

The scene continues

Galen: “So what you’re telling me is that there are highly advanced races out there, but they have a strict non-interference policy with races that don’t meet their standards. But we accidentally screwed up big time, so these guys…”

Frank: “They’re called the Rousai”

Galen: “…the Rousai are bending the rules a bit because our problems could actually affect them.”

Frank: “That’s pretty much it. The way they explain it, normally we’d be left to succeed or fail by our own merits, but the collapse of the gate network would be bad on a large enough scale that they got special permission to interfere. It’s still our problem and our responsibility, but they give us a boost with some of the metaphysical theory that’s beyond our grasp.”

Fourth panel

The view has pulled out slightly to show Tarith as well.

Tarith: “It’s also not really a non-interference policy.  As I understand it, it’s got nothing to do with us, and is more of a compact among similarly advanced races to forgo using our level of reality.  So they didn’t have to get permission so much as convince everyone they weren’t up to anything fishy.  Kind of like the old attempts to ban nanotech research due to fears about weaponizing, except we’re the nanotech.”

Notes: “Rousai” does not stand for “Rodents Of Unusual Size And Intelligence”.