Old man dreams of past glories.
TGW-1371
Chapter: The Gods must be Crazy.
Characters: ahmya, chira, Dagger, dammitcat, Grand Admiral Mistrial Borogrove, higashi, Jochi, Jonathan, LT T'chagen, Miral, nakama, Taritha, Teresa
Location: Jon's home, park
The Gentle Wolf
A modern adventure webcomic
A BLACK dragonfly!? Unique indeed.
And besides the color, in what other
ways might this d’fly be unique?
Gunmetal blue, actually.
A blue so dark it can be mistaken for black in
indoor lighting. I thought it was black too until
the close-up in P8.
It’s a good thing Taritha spent time with Dagger
and Flower, I don’t know about you guys, but
if a mini-dragon suddenly popped in and made
a bee-line for my face/eyes, I’d be ducking and
waving my arms over my head heh. “AAAAAH!
Get it off! GET it OFF!!!” We had a rooster that’d
do that, fly up at your face, claws out. After
the first time, I’d just slap away 😛
Expansion by conquest. Great glory, great profit.
But at what cost in loss of material, people, and culture?
And the attacking country itself being conquered?
Versus expansion through persuasion.
There may be less glory and profit, over a longer timeline.
But there is correspondingly less loss of
life, material and culture. And MUCH more respect
overall. And over a longer timeline.
Besides, hasn’t anyone read and studied history?
Look at those who sought expansion through conquest recently.
Russia, Germany, (and ESPECIALLY) Japan.
You’d think they’d have learned by now. But nooooooo….
History demands its repetitions and rhymes.
I was thinking similarly vis-a-vis profit.
Even if you reduce human costs to just
another expenditure, I strongly suspect
both initial acquisition costs and
maintenance overhead will be MUCH
lower with the persuasion approach.
Long-term profits will be higher,
and glory is a poor substitute for honor.
Let me introduce you to the ‘Dolchstoßlegende’ or
‘stab-in-the-back myth’: The stab-in-the-back myth as an
antisemitic and anti-communist conspiracy theory that was
widely believed and promulgated in Germany after 1918.
It maintained that the Imperial German Army did not lose
World War I on the battlefield. but was instead betrayed
by certain citizens on the home front – especially Jews,
revolutionary socialists who fomented strikes and labor
unrest, and republican politicians who had overthrown
the House of Hohenzollern in the German Revolution of
1918–1919. Advocates of the myth denounced the German
government leaders who had signed the Armistice
of 11 November 1918 as the “November criminals”
– Wikipedia
You see, no matter how bad a loss was, there will
always be the ones that either think they could
have done it better or that they were betrayed
somehow. Denial of reality and conspiracy
theories are nothing new.
What I find more interesting is, an Empire that grows through low key persuasion,
but gains glory and renown in defending their people and allies against those who
would abuse them or try to conquer them. ‘They serve who only stand and wait…’
Essentially, I feel that those who are there, ready to put their lives on the line for
King and country, gain a degree of honor and glory, even if they never see combat.
Being involved in disaster recovery, security situations, and the like, in my opinion,
brings as much honor and glory as those who serve in combat. In disaster recovery
and security situations, the goal is not to kill or destroy the enemy, but to save lives.
overall, the same sets of skills taught to personnel in the various military branches
are the same sets of skills needed to help save lives, which, in my opinion, should
be considered to help, not just on call, but should be set up to help the communities
they live in as part of their military duties. Practicing their skills assisting police,
search and rescue, fire fighting, emergency medical help, disaster and incident
mitigation, and many other things that can be done to integrate them as a part of
the communities that they are based in or around. Practical use of the equipment
in non-combat situations, would allow not only active familiarity with their gear,
but would also allow the troops to both learn the quirks of their gear, and be able to
provide real world experience for critique and improvement of said gear that could
be vital ina combat environment.
I’ve always been of the opinion that, if you want to develop equipment that will work
in almost any extreme environment or conditions, hand that equipment to the
Marines for a year and tell them to use it until it breaks. Knowing the Marines I knew,
they would find whole new and interesting uses for the equipment provided, which
were never considered as appropriate uses, but somehow, still seems to do the job.
It’s not that Marines are dumb, far from it, but they do have a tendency of not only
thinking outside the box, but often forgetting where they left the box in the first place.
In retrospect, I suspect that a large number of Marines I knew had major cases of
ADHD, being afflicted with it myself, I can certainly relate, but I digress.
Having military personnel assisting in the community at large, as a part of their duties,
Would not only help eliminate the “townies versus troopers” attitudes, but would also
act as a major recruiting tool for potential military personnel. This would also allow
Military and Civilian personnel to become familiar with each groups operating procedures,
leading to simpler cooperation in high stress and emergency situations, as well as possible
adaptation and modification of procedures of both military and civilians, which would
provide vastly improved interoperability for both sides.
(Besides, it MIGHT lessen the severity of injuries in Civilian versus Military sporting events…)
Japan tried that during WWII, and from what I remember,
they lost a great number of future leaders and
infrastructure men that took decades to recover from.
More medieval thinking. Why some leaders think
“Hey we have too many young men, lets start a war and
thin the herd!” when it NEVER ends well.
Panel 8 – PC, your attention to detail is amazing. The lower
wings on the new dragonfly would be easy to ignore, and yet
there they are, barely visible over Taritha’s nose and lower jaw.
I noticed that too, well done PC!
So we get to hear him say what the real problem is, I know of a
simple answer for him, that many Emperors have done in the past:
replace those greedy, demanding, advisors! By force if need be.
Same issue that we had with Islam, the old folk give stupid orders
and then sit feeling smug for the “honor” they will receive.
Yes! Thank you PC, I had high hopes for Taritha, the odd color may
mark this new D’fly as being special. Nakama? Is that it’s name?
Advisors they may be, but that’s ALL they are,
your future wife has done more than any of them have,
so dump them before you and they find out just how
mean the Empire can be! The best way would be to
accept the Empires rules and even join it.
Not only would his empire benefit,
the level of protection would skyrocket and get
a member’s trade rates with the known universe.
Nakama is standing behind LT T’chagen in panel 3.
The emperor’s bodyguard/friend.
Full name – Akeshi Nakama.
Unless I’m totally confused.
That’s a distinct possibility as well.
Ah, ok. So maybe Monday we’ll
get a name from him/her?
And Jochi called it. A Dragonfly for Taritha!
Heh, I’ve been hoping she’d bond with one since
https://thegentlewolf.net/comic/tgw-1012/
I’m just glad to see it finally happen. Plus the
fact that all Cats have normal life spans now.
Actually, I think Scars gets this one.
Others had wished for a d’fly for Taritha,
I mentioned that and said Loki’s gift
would probably be something bigger and
more appropriate for HIM specifically.
Scars said not to rule it out,
that it was still likely.
Heh, squeaky wheel huh. 😛 I like her,
and I hated the idea that she’s only
live another 20-30 years. I honestly
think she could take over for either
the Empire or as the Catain’s Queen.
That would be a major shake-up! A
member of the “trader clan” becoming
the Head Honcho. 😉
I don’t see Miral ever bonding with a D’fly,
but at least now she can retire at a normal
age with her ever-growing family, in 40 years.
*ever-growing*
I’m tired…
Petercat,
I have given the requested reply to your reply
at TGW-1369
First panel (and you probably won’t see this, but anyway):
I don’t know that particular Catian’s name, but I am curious.
That’s the third frame she appeared in across two postings….
is it just she’s going somewhere for whatever,
or is she actually about to do something notable?
That’s Chira, the wanderer girl that stowed
away when Jayda first came to Earth. She’s
always watching and listening to everything
around her.
Johnathan adopted her and she lives there.
and yes, he (we) sees this.! “Oel ngati kameie.”
as Scars sed,, Chira,. daughter.
PC likes to “add” background that may or may
not mean something.!! IE: the mouse in his
office…
I’d agree, but PC has used the “Background noise”
items in later story lines. I don’t know much about
the mice, maybe the spy’s for the Elder gods maybe?
Like in the Hitch-hiker’s guide movie, where the
mice were actually the “gods” that created Earth…
In which case, to those “gods” I’m sorry for all
the rat poison I’ve used over the years 😛 😀
The mice as spies?!?
Scars, most likely,
those mice WERE
those Elder Gods!
In Hitchhiker’s Guide, actually the mice
were the people that had the earth created
just to figure out the question to the answer
of “42”. I was just thinking those odd
jackrabbit mice could be spies for the gods
because gods hate being bored 😉
As for the ‘rat poison’,
they probably snorted it
to get a buzz of it…
True, the main ingredient in a certain drug was rat poison.
“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” It causes mild brain
damage that gives the desired effect. Which also means
overdosing can cause an idiot to never come down.
I knew a homeless guy that was like that, always talking
to a certain fire hydrant, chasing the “butterflies”
in the dead of winter, you get the idea.
You reminded me….
I used to have to take warfarin for anti-clotting.
It had microgram doses of arsenic.
I had to have my blood timed for clotting weekly,
and my dosages adjusted accordingly.
I’m just as glad that’s all behind me.
My apologies. Again. There is no Monday page.
I keep retyping this, editing it… But nothing’s working right.
Producing this comic is something that I really enjoy,
and I’m not doing it. Damn.
Sorry.
Don’t worry about that PC, we all understand.
None of us are hitting on all cylinders, we just
do the best we can, and don’t expect you to
be a 20-something old developer.
My 2080 came today, just put it in. That thing
is a monster, twice the heat sink, twice the
fan power, same ram but better processing
speed. (Fires up Subnautica for a test run 😀 )
No hu hu. I’m just glad you’re okay. If I get here on a morning
after a new installment should have dropped and there isn’t
one, my evil “worst case scenario” mind goes off on a “I hope
PC is okay!” tangent. A bunch of us are so far over the hill we
could be dropping out of the race any time. I’m just glad my
favorite comic creator is still alive and kicking!
Over the hill so far you’re past the downhill
slide and you’re headed up the next hill?
You got it. Some days if I was a
car I would be a Rollscanhardly.
Rolls down one hill and can
hardly make it up the next.
heh, under rated movie…
I echo Bill here. Just glad you’re OK. Another 3D comic I follow,
DataChasers, the creator and artist (she had a friend take over
the detailed writing while she stuck to guiding the story) just died,
out of nowhere. The current writer is trying to pin down a new
artist while complaining about having to guess where the story is
supposed to go, while missing her friend terribly.
I was worried that since the 2080 was used that it
had issues, so far the only thing is the 2-70mm fans
it has (as the wife put it: it’s making a roaring
sound) louder fans, but I’m not worried about that.
I tested 3 games, all on max res. no issues.
The 1080 only had a single 50mm squirrel-cage fan,
high speed, but too many fins to have good flow.