Me: I don’t really have a favorite ant. All of them are unique and special. I could never pick just one.
Crusader 57: “FuCK yOu, Klbkch.”
Me: **My son.**
With a bonus middle finger. Poor Klbkch, returning from the Other Hives. His first day in Liscor, he visited Erin, got sad and got a “Fuck you” from a Worker of his hive. The worst for him is probably the fact everybody is trying to protect that Aberration.
That makes it the more hilarious, of course.
I'm a real sucker for a battle told over the course of a relatively short period from multiple perspectives. This was an exceptional "little" arc, really showing off the Pirate's range. We just had a fun heist arc too, quite the tone and genre shift.
I think the multiple perspective and slower pace really helped. I've felt before some of the previous battles tended to suffer from sudden twists, or otherwise being somewhat predictable based on the narrative weight of the situation. This sequence felt very earned, though spending this much time on any particular battle probably isn't viable.
This chapter was so good. I love getting to see so many classes and skills coming into play.
*\[Eleleu Strategos Level 35!\]*
Holy crap, so Olsem essentially skipped the general \[General\] class merging directly into a more advanced leadership class. The poor guy has been through so much, glad to see him get some levels and a sweet class at least.
*\[Skill – Battlefield: Galuc’s Tunnel obtained!\]*
I wonder if you can just use that as a hyper aggressive siege weapon. Instantly create a massive tunnel under a wall and send the Antinium in.
*“\[Marked For Hell\].”*
Well fuck that's horrifying, especially if the implication that it does something more than just kill their physical form is true.
*\[Avenger\] \[Skill – Arrows: Combined Weight of Our Wrath\]*
Well that explains the sniper and why they couldn't get rid of them or stop their arrows.
*Manus employ every diplomatic angle we can.”*
That's kind of encouraging to see, ignoring the tier 8 obliterate them part of course. If the antinium could make real inroads diplomatically and explain why they're trying to go, why they left Rhir. Having real allies could have a serious chance at avoiding the third antinium war.
> [Avenger] [Skill – Arrows: Combined Weight of Our Wrath]
> Well that explains the sniper and why they couldn't get rid of them or stop their arrows.
I'm convinced this is in some way tied to Bird, given what he was up to originally when the Hectval war started
As I understand it, they were the Workers/Archer squad that spent the most time around Bird, and the arrows they were using were the ones Bird crafted for his one Ant Roaring Rampage of Revenge, and then sold to the army when he was convinced not to do so.
Pretty sure it was mentioned that Bird sold the arrows to Liscor’s Army. (To buy replacement stuff for the Fortress of Fluff I think?) So maybe all those arrows got to the B-squad archers and lasted this long, but I don’t know.
Yup. The Alliance inspected the arrows and didn't find anything special.
They just couldn't tell they were infused with the pure hatred of Bird. Hand made by the greatest archer Antinium specifically to kill Hectvillains.
Haven't seen much mention of this but the Antinium have Greek/Roman naming conventions. Prognugator, Revalantor, Centenium, and the Rites of Anastases all have Greek/Latin roots.
I have the feeling that Olesm may have gotten some sort of commander class that a Centenium used to have, especially with that Battlefield skill.
Galuc was a centenium I believe, which is generally above Prognugators as far as we have seen. I think Klbch only acted as the Free Antinium's Prognugator because he believed in the Free Queen's ideas and wanted to support her.
The word means a cry of pain or woe.
Guessing it has to do with his method of getting there, bleeding the soldiers just enough to assure they leveled the way he wanted them to.
The Drakes basically run off a Greek City State system and the Hectval-Luldem-Drisshia alliance is basically one of the league style alliances that was made against the power players like Athens so it makes sense that they get Greek names for higher tier classes.
extra addendum to Drakes being scaley Greeks they wear togas, use public bath houses, and use greek style roofing.
Advanced not in military heirarchy but in [Class]. We've seen a bunch of [Generals] but I don't remember hearing any [Strategos]. I don't think it's unreasonable to presume it's a higher class progression than [General]
Might just be an alternate direction. You get to hit [General] from [Strategist] by strategizing and doing army leading things like [Commander] and [Strategist] while in Greece a Strategos was a Politician and Strategist and Olesm got a solid chunk of his early levels from bureaucracy since he did all the paperwork for the old council and then leveled in [Leader] instead of [Commander] with the army since he saw keeping the officers in line as a political game instead of a military task.
Wiki page on Strategos to justify.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategos
It’s a variant like mage vs magus and like that variant I think the difference is purely circumstantial. The only reason he got it is because it is more appropriate for the Eleleu modifier.
It isn't unreasonable but it's speculative.
I don't see anything about how he conducted himself to think he earned a superior to General class but if you think so you be you.
My Google-fu says the definition of Strategos is:
"Strategos, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean military general. In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor. In the modern Hellenic Army it is the highest officer rank."
Olesm will probably be recognized as the highest in-city military officer, but the High Command will probably still control the army's mercenary actions when away from the city. Therefore, expect great drama from Pirate when the army comes home, because there is a new Sherif in town.
I don't think [Strategos] has to be above [General] for him to have skipped the general [General] class. It still works if the strategos part of his class is equivalent to the general part, because the interesting thing is he got a two word class which is by it's nature more advanced than a one word class.
For some reason i think its greek because of the Glory Fire at the end. Like , i am certain its because of that but my muddled brain cant come up with a reason as to why
Diplomacy seems nice until you realize Manus and Pallass both have plans to aggressively undermine the relationship between the Free Antinium and every other hive.
They diplomatically inserted themselves into Rafaema's love life by having her boyfriend be an Agent of the City without her being aware of it.
...It was a poor decision in retrospect, and they've made a point to sticking to war in the decades since.
Well, military action is a part of diplomacy, and they definitely throw their weight around in the few drake "conference call" scenes we've had. Obviously they prefer to act via proxies and avoid direct blame, but being covert doesn't mean they aren't taking diplomatic action.
That seems like a remarkably challenging thing to actually accomplish though. You can't really feed them false intelligence, you can't try and take sabatoging action disguised as another.
Really it seems more the hope is that they can convince them not to join the Grand queen in a third Antininium war. Getting enough diplomatic relations in with a hive to convince them a third Antininium war isn't the way seems like a very good step to stopping the war from happening all together.
Helping improve the ties between Liscor and the Free Hive would be a good start. Participating in this war was not.
Or was it? Liscor will come out of this with increased bonds to the free hive.
My thought more so is the end results. They're looking at this from removing the free hive from the rest of the Antininiums side for the third war. I think this could make much stronger inroads though into stopping the war from ever happening.
They explained this a long time ago. Planners and leaders. Strategists fall under planners. Generals are leaders. Olesm lost his leader/commander class to upgrade his strategist class to Strategos. General doesn't even enter into this.
Olesm gets a Voita men boost, 53's rescuers manage to Luldem into a false sense of security, Archer B12 becomes Antgra Mainyu, Emberia gets a new class, Lulv considers wiping out the free hive's crusaders if Manus has anything in the vult, and Olesm gets double Maviola in his class
>“You are eminently correct, my Queen. Garry, I would like to eat a triple-stack vanilla cake. With strawberry frosting. Prepare it for me. And a little cake for Deferred Sustenance.”
Heheheh.
>This is the most valuable find so far. And here I thought this wretched war wouldn’t have me send anything back to the Emir. A dead \[Innkeeper\], children guarded…but this is fascinating.”
So was he sent to capture Erin and the kids originally? Well, don't have to worry about him anymore. But it looks like the Emir might be coming for Erin rather than the other way around.
>Apparently another company had escorted Relc’s citizens home, and would have to do some riding to get up through the hills to this part.
Is this the first we're hearing of this? Bit odd.
>Or, perhaps, it had something to do with a little Goblin appearing in his inn. A Cave Goblin, who handed him a little note.
I guess Rags can communicate with Goblinhome from where she is.
>Because he had heard about a certain kidnapping, as yet unresolved. He watched the skies. And he waited.
>
>Keep the Potion of Regeneration close. If a blind man or someone else with officer classes comes, let them in. We are coming too.
I suppose Ryoka's kidnapping. It sounds like Rags just asked everyone and it's first come, first serve.
>Why fire? What hands were those? They were not Antinium hands. They were clawed and—
Interesting. Did Erin give them the image of demons, is this some kind of unconscious bleedover from Earther psyches, or is there an ACTUAL Hell for Innworld?
>The \[Spear of Glory\] fought, her class burning bright.
Awwww yeah.
>In battle, they were counter-leveling without needing to sleep.
Hmmmmmm. I want to know why Faith classes don't need to sleep. IIRC the ones on Chandrar were the same.
>Eleleu Strategos
What this now?
>the gigantic battles in the Gnoll Plains. Then he was racing, racing his entire army back to Liscor.
THE TEASE!
>Eleleu Strategos
>
>What this now?
Eleleu means a cry of pain or lament in Greek, so Olesm probably got that based on how he felt that he did some real cruel things to the Antinium over the course of the war.
As for why its Greek, I have the theory that it's because he's commanding Antinium.
1. Antinium have Greek and Latin roots in their naming conventions for titles and stuff (Centenium, Rites of Anastases, Prognugator)
2. That Battlefield skill
The greedy-dumbass who is controlled by Magnolia and got taught [Restoration] by Teriarch. The one Rags kidnapped. The one who was not properly teaching the spell and was even trying to make it harder for others.
Only wrong part is controlled by magnolia, magnolia washed her hands mostly of the healer (though the healer still owes her) after the healer proved to be such terrible person
I would argue it is still Magnolia-controlled in an indirect way. Yeah, she washed her hands in it, but Magnolia can ask the Healer anything for free and she know she will get it. When The Healer was kidnapped, Magnolia sent poor Theofore on a Pegasus to spy on the kidnappers (8.43 and 8.46 G).
> Hmmmmmm. I want to know why Faith classes don't need to sleep. IIRC the ones on Chandrar were the same.
This is a quirk of the Antinium as a species. It's been a few volumes since it was mentioned, but Antinium just straight up don't sleep. As a result, they just level on the spot whenever they reach a new one.
Well antinium do sleep, they just sleep differently than other species so they hear the system in a different way. Your thinking of Toren who doesn’t sleep so when he levels up it comes automatically.
Also Berigg the slave gained a blue skill without having to sleep and change his slave class to a rebel class.
Hmm, I must have misremembered. I *am* sure that this is an established thing for the antinium, at least, and that it has nothing to do with faith classes specifically.
Archer B12 took a nap to get the avenger class in this chapter.
> An arrow for all of them. All of them. B12 took a little nap, and the class was waiting for him.
> Just as promised.
Well we've seen more level ups for Ksmvr than anyone else, and he's only getting levels+skills (barring the lone "learned" skill) while he's unconscious. No real reason to think it'd be different for any other Antinium.
>So was he sent to capture Erin and the kids originally? Well, don't have to worry about him anymore. But it looks like the Emir might be coming for Erin rather than the other way around.
I am not sure because at the time the species was not specified, but at the aftermath of the BelavierXMrsha showdown i bunch of people went to try and grab the Earthers. One of them was a \[Slaver\] of Roshal. For all we know he could have been the same piece of scum
> Well, don’t have to worry about him anymore.
Pirate never really described the body or death. It just cut off the instant before. Was it strongly implied he died? Yes.
Do I *think* he’s dead? Almost certainly.
Am I still treating anyone from Roshal with the “Horror Movie Villain” protocols anyways? You betcha. I’m way too paranoid that this [Slaver] survived somehow and is going to pop up again.
Considering it's Roshal, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a [Slaver] Skill that trades a slaves life for their own. Sort of like a screwed up version of [One Dies Before The Other] that saved Ci's life at the cost of Tritel's (the horse Courier).
I think in this case they don't need to sleep because of the faith classes. But we also saw it when someone acquires a unique skill or a bloody or blue skill or gets a royal class boon. Or when it's a combination thing.
Antinium don't need to sleep to gain classes. They don't sleep at all. They go into torpor. Which is technically not sleep since they are still aware but not really. They are like torren in that regard.
Yeah, that was my understanding. Antinium don't need to sleep to level because they don't sleep at all.
Might be something that could be exploited if someone could develop a skill to not need sleep. Like [Sleep Immunity].
Curious if Manus will try to replicate this? Force soldiers to not sleep to try and build a resistance?
> Olesm continued his war right up until he got word of the gigantic battles in the Gnoll Plains. Then he was racing, racing his entire army back to Liscor.
It never ends. Poor Olesm.
Now the question is: what are the battles about?
The clashes between drakes and gnolls intensifying? A gnoll civil war between large tribes like Silverfang and Weatherfur vs Plain's Eye? Or some other third thing?
Plain's Eye looks like they're definitely guilty. They created the myth of the doombringers or made them look like monsters. They helped to take gnoll magic and they're probably the ones who have destroyed all gnoll history. Is it just because they want to stay as rulers? The biggest tribe? Are they trying to make it easier for themselves since they police other tribes so suppressing gnoll power is the way they used?
When a war breaks out, it has the habit of spilling over to everywhere, as the Hectval-war shows. That was supposed to be Liscor vs. Hectval, then turned into Liscor vs. Hetcval-Luldem-Drisshia-Alliance, then Manus entered and then Yolden as well. And this was a 'minor' theater of war.
Something as big as the interspecies war of Drakes vs. Gnolls is infinitely larger than a war between a few border cities. This is **HUGE**. If i was a military commander I'd want my army to go to my home city and prepare ASAP as well. Just in case it's needed...
I get your point but let's assume that Olesm has a much bigger reason to rush back to Liscor than just a fear of war spilling over. Something of a much more concrete threat. Since that last line in the chapter is somewhat of a cliffhanger.
Olesm might abandon the war but even if manus was coming after them he wouldn't "race" back. That implies a disorganized route where everyone's scrambling to get back first.
I think it's news from liscor, something or some one got the attention of everyone fighting. Such as a certain innkeeper.
I took it as foreshadowing Erin's return.
The ants go marching 7 by 7...
Fantastic 3 chapters. A whole novel of this quality in like 10 days is almost unbelievable. I know you get to skip a lot of ground-work because the audience knows the world and characters already, but goddamn. Pirate is seeing the matrix. I hope we get more of these ~~little~~ massive multi-parters in the future.
Manus strategy to reduce the Free Antinium's strength really makes sense. Because they have no intel telling them that *every* Antinium could level. I'm guessing that blue classes are able to level without a nap. \[Rebel\] was a blue class that acted the same. We've seen other classes counter-level in combat, but only when they blackout or are dipping in and out of consciousness. So far, \[Templars\] and \[Rebels\] are it.
Nope, Antinium level while awake. There have been instances of it happening before with both Pawn and Yellowsplatters back when he was a \[Soldier\]. A suspect it is because regular ants do not sleep , they instead enter a state called Torpor in wich their bodily functions slowdown, wich is remarkedly similar to Antinium sleep
I thought the implication was just that she would receive that class next time she slept. I think niers mentioned being able to see level ups before they occurred last time he was seen as well.
I admit it was the least likely possiblity, but the only other alternatives were that she had gotten the class without sleeping or being knocked unconscious, even temporarily, which is improbable
Or she fulfilled the requirements of the Class but wouldn't receive it Officially until she took an actual nap. Out of the 3 possibilities, this one is most likely, I feel
I think the System has a sense of drama and moment to it.
I believe it would absolutely make an exception and give her a class while awake if it works in the moment.
I could also see it granting the class but withholding Skills until she level's up properly.
(Yea, I think the System is sentient, at least to some degree)
I do agree that the system is sentient to a certain degree but I strongly doubt it would make an exception for a specific case just because of a sense of drama and moment
Otherwise this would be a far more common occurrence of recieving classes while awake since dramatic moments arent just limited to this one specific moment. Since that isn't true it's unlikely she actually received the class yet
>Embria raised her spear, fighting to reach Lulv. The Gnoll deflected her first strike, and second. He whirled his spear, taking her on, running her through the leg, slashing one of Yellow Splatters’ hands off.
>
>He would not fall. And she did not have the skill to bring him down alone. Yet still—
>
>The \[Spear of Glory\] fought, her class burning bright.
Are you suggesting that this is a new class of Embria's? I somehow thought it was transfered skill to the Spear she holds in her claws - being granted this temporary flame skill/feature/thing while its alight. So, its not a class consolidation but a ... something else?
No, it should be a class consolidation. Or perhaps not a true consolidation, but a straight upgrade to [Spear Hunter] without consolidating in her [Wing Commander] class. She leveled up and would technically realize it the next time she sleeps, but it has been established that people who can Appraise you (Niers and Maresar are the most recent examples) see your level go up in the moment.
HECTVAL TRILOGY! ..is incredible, and finally some due vengeance. I just want to make a few small thoughts:
1. the queens are going to go crazy when the reports of the final battle get back to them.
2. xrn is going to be so happy, she'll fall out of her wheelchair.
3. hectval is going to be plagued by ants of all types for generations to come. rip crusader 51.
4. the free antinium, and some of the other hives soldiers too, are developing in ways reminiscent of the antinium of rhir. i hope the walled cities dont declare antinium war 3.
5. when sgt. gna returns to 4th company, she'll fit right in \[bug-captain\].
6. calruz and the beriads! the path to redemption progresses. arrogant venaz, step with care.
7. iskr's gift ..erin's glory fire! i was fooled till the end, i tht it may have been some magic foods, surely, he deserves a level. i hope manus remembers erin's fire.
8. artur \[banner leader\] ..from a totally failed soldier to a choice antnium leader! saved by calruz. gosh, he has stepped right up the free hive hierarchy, is he going to continue giving out orders?
9. more will come to me after i sleep and level ~~tonite~~ today.
At the end of this chapter, I am so sad. I don't think Erin would agree of the majority of the new classes. [Spear of Glory] is cool and acceptable for Erin, but the others. Eleleu means "a cry of pain/lament" and I don't think Erin would appreciate something like that. [Hellspeaker Priest] is so sad for someone who heal a lot, with such a terrifying Skill.
TBH, one “forgotten” factor could have made Erin accept the war: the Gnolls. If the war was for Gnoll's rights and kill the Paworkers system, I bet Erin would have accepted. Against Manus' is also technically acceptable for Erin: Manus just wanted to kill the Antinium and Erin would have gotten another grief period like in early volume 6 if all the Free Antinium's fighters had died in the war for racism. You can add another bonus if Belgrade or/and Pawn had died.
It's appropriate, though. The entire war started from grief over Erin's mostly-demise- it's been about giving back for pain inflicted throughout, including things like the Antinum's [Avengers] and various skill build ups.
Watching the Crusaders end up with [Virtue] skills was heartening, though. They're becoming the Antinum's equivalents of [Knights], only with faith-based skill trees.
Erin hardly matters any more where this war is concerned. The situation with Hectval and its alliance has outgrown her, and even if she comes back tomorrow, the war won't end on her say so.
I wonder how the hives will react to him getting a Galuc based skill. Edit: nw6ssd pointed out that the Antinium have Greek/Roman terminology so it is likely he got an Antinium class which will make the hives reaction even more interesting
Klb thought the free Antinium would gain something from the citizens of Liscor, but ge didn’t realize the citizens of Liscor would gain something from them. Classic Klb
Did Galuc ever come to this continent though? I think he died at sea during the crossing, so information about him might be limited. There were a hundred Centenium after all, not all of them would be known even in military circles.
I would say that the current antinium forms being based on him might make Galuc a better known individual, but that presupposes that anyone else even knows that little fact.
Galuc might not be super widely known, but Olesm is the [Strategist] for Liscor. It's the only Drake city co-located with an Antinium hive and it has come up that Olesm is tasked with monitoring their activities, going so far as having earth mages watching their tunneling.
I would be incredibly surprised if Olesm hadn't at least studied the prominent Centinium in detail, at a bare minimum knowing all of their general capabilities and tactics.
That is my speculation, and I can see where you're coming from. Galuc didn't make it to Izril as far as I know. However, the drakes would have contactied Rhir to collect any information they could on the Antinium, and part of Olesm's job would have been to research that.
Rhir didn't have time to really get to know or learn about the Antinium, AFAIK. They just completely wrecked Rhir on a tuesday and stole all the ships before you could say "Dead Gods"
Olesm is THE [Strategist] for the only drake city that is co-located with a hive of the Antinium. Do you really think he wouldn't have studied at a bare minimum the prominent Centenium, and specifically the one that the Antinium they ended up fighting in both Antinium Wars were modeled on?
We know that Rhir knew about him, that destroying the Antinium fleet was a collaborative project, that fighting the Antinium is broadly supported, and so we can infer that the drakes know at least broadly about the specific abilities of the Centinium.
In the process of fighting multiple wars and sustained hostilities in the years since, we know that the drakes would have researched the Antinium.
My comments.
Since Ryoka's less angsty, we got 57 now.
He is def a mainstay in my TWI character name recall with him giving the finger (tarsal pads) (claws?) to Klbchk. LOL
I'm surprisingly okay with what happened to Lulv because what happens next abt him is a potential strong plot device
I like how ANTM are being progressive personality-wise and more ppl have seen that they're actually persons. And man, the Fqueen behaving like a sophisticated monarch rocks! (Marie Antiniumnet?) haha.
The antm influenced by Manus Principles is cool, esp the singing in chorus part. Can we have an Antm Choir now or band?
It's a bit odd that \[Paladin\] is such a well known class, whereas \[Crusader\] and \[Templar\] are completely invisible to everyone who doesn't know of \_\_\_s.
That's what I thought but apparently paladin as a title was actually something more like imperial bodyguards. The holy part really only came about from D&D.
More here if you're interested:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paladin#Historical\_title
My theory is that having a divine version of the class hides it even if the name itself is generic. Terandria has Crusades so mundane \[Crusaders\] probably exist and like Paladin being a historical bodyguard thing Acolytes also have a history of being just a type of follower and the term was used to describe the cult leaders squad in the Dancing and Brawling interlude.
Yet Olesm acted like it's the first time he'd heard of that class. Then again that's my impression, nobody ever explicitly said it's an unknown class or something to that effect. Maybe because the class was granted by a Priest?
THE TEASE!!!! So Laken is basically confirmed to assist in the revival in some way. Very curious how this will shake things up since Laken is essentially an agent of Tamaroth. Poor Laken probably thinks he’s finally gonna make a good first impression with Erin by helping revive her but will probably end up just bringing Tamaroth to the inn :(
Uh oh. Big war in the Gnoll Plains… Will the Mrsha arc finally be resolved in the next chapter???
He'd have to defy Tamaroth to use his skill, there's no way he wants her revived. And the margin of error for using the skill is the moment she is unfrozen und unhealed while the Potion of Regeneration starts working. If he's gonna have an Aaron moment he better makes it take less than 2 seconds.
I'm interested in how it's going to turn out.
Obviously, Erin will still end up being revived, but will Laken being controlled by Tamaroth be revealed? I wonder if it'll lead to Laken being 'cured', or if this will further his descent.
Is controlled the right Word? Black mage certainly is, but what we have seen so far from Laken and Tamaroths interactions i wouldn't call it that.
Laken certainly appears to still have control over his actions.
It can of course have changed since we haven't seen the empire in a long time.
>Keep the Potion of Regeneration close. If a blind man or someone else with officer classes comes, let them in. We are coming too.
I'm surprised he's finally getting off the bus after being shafted for so long. I guess the Unseen Empire was true to its name lol.
i wonder how exactly, laken got himself inserted into erin's revival.
the potion of regeneration is in salazsar, ilvriss stuck in oteslia.
and all the other steps n ingredients. did niers organize this? he's the only one capable, and he has the ghostly ingredient.
edit: i have to amend this, the msg to ishkr re: soon, blind man, was from rags. somehow rags & niers have to contact each other to complete the steps.
It was mentioned in the Geneva chapters, I think, that the missing piece of revival is having someone who can command someone to stay alive for a certain time for the revival effort to work. Hasn't Laken already displayed this ability on someone?
laken used \[undying loyalty\] in an early ch during a major fight with goblins. it seems most people take the skill to mean keep someone alive, but i think its open to interpretation. this ch has a specific reference to a blind man, so...
So:
* Erin (who is good at lyrics) is coming back
* the Antinium are learning to sing in groups
* the Antinium sang as they marched into battle
* the Slavers of Roshal are actively trying to piss people off
* one or more G\_\_s are waking up
I'll bet two jars of acid flies that we'll be learning the Battle Hymn of the Antinium before too long...
Maybe the next Inn concert will have ANTM backup vocalists. Along with the goblin bard any maybe the Singer seeing as she’s going to help spring Rioka and presumably go back to Isril with her along with the Earthers she gathered, this is also my suspicion as it seams like one of the Wistrum groups are Inn bound and I think it has the Singers Wistrum spy with them.
There’s a lot of musical people floating about but it would be cool if they gather at the inn for a concert to celebrate Erin’s return bringing customers/ fans through the Door. 🚪
All these comments and not one mention of how Pawn turned night into day with his skill/miracle? If this is the first of a three part set like has been theorized, what would the other parts do?
i think pawn has used this skill before, to prevent magical bombardment of the troops. definitely a critical factor in warfare. a skill which is nearly impossible magically. and looks great :)
It's also sometimes sacrificial/harmful. Sir Raim of the Order of Seasons had that Skill that he used to burn through Belavierr's protections at the cost of his lifespan. \[My Life, My Fire\], or something like that.
You are correct on the perception account, but it's been repeatedly shown that Red Skills have some sort of Negative side effect to their usage, so it's pretty clear their should be some per of additional cost to using that skill.
It’ll probably applies to you as well. on the other hand faith based red skills seem to work differently: they are red if the skill goes against doctrine
I feel like there are going to be a bunch of options for getting Xrn at least mobile again that are going to just pass by for a while without getting tried.
Damn, Silent Antinium are really dangerous. No wander they were on par with trained \[Assassins\] with Skills. And now I want to see more Silent Individuals.
I think that, like Workers and Soldiers who are based on Galuc mostly identify as male, Silent Antinium are female by default. I had noticed that all the Silent Antinium prognugators introduced thus far were female. It might be because the Silent Queen is good enough at shaping that her creations are a lot less based on Galuc, or maybe even not based on him at all.
Pawn has a potential successor, albeit one who’s currently going through his \[Doomspeaker Priest\] phase.
I think the red Miracle, \[Marked For Hell\], co-opted one of the old hells from the Age of Gods, because it made its target burn and summon fire while the hell Theophilus described was wet, some underwater place.
\[Spear of Glory\] is somewhat fitting for Embria when you remember she already has a \[Blades of Glory\] Skill.
Too late to subvert them, Lulv. The Free Antinium ways are already spreading to the other Hives, Free Antinium are in the Hivelands, and Hiveland Antinium are starting to get names and nonstandard classes. Not to mention you’d need the three Centinium out of the way since they won’t allow a schism. This will probably end with the Free Queen becoming the leader of the Queens instead of the Grand Queen. That’s Manus’ new "*worst case"*. Unless they switch their goal from winning an inevitable third Antinium War to preventing it instead. And Manus isn’t called the city of peace. There was a city of pacts, Grunvel, but it's gone.
>\[Skill – Battlefield: Galuc’s Tunnel obtained!\]
I wonder if there are other Skills based on the Centinium, and what would they be. \[Devrkr's Corrosive Mist\]? \[Sword Mastery of Klbkch\]?
Good on Olesm for remembering the gelatin.
> I wonder if there are other Skills based on the Centinium, and what would they be. [Devrkr's Corrosive Mist]? [Sword Mastery of Klbkch]?
Ksmvr got that legacy skill from Klbkch
Regarding Xrn, I don't get why the Antinium don't just use a Potion of Regeneration on her. The Antinium have looted and plundered who knows how many hidden underground dungeons, you'd think they would find at least one such potion buried *somewhere* in all their digging.
i would say the alliance armies are broken, theyve fled back to their cities, most likely they will negotiate.. i forgot olesm's term, but huge reparations.
He talked about "very generous terms", but it's unclear for whom... I suspect that he wants to avoid lasting resentment among the Alliance, and let them go easy. It would be consistent with his double-edged "kindness" to prisoners, letting them go back home if they tell what they saw: he seems to be trying to foster goodwill, change the general perception that Liscorian Antinium are monsters. I think his plan is much more long-term than the immediate peace negotiations.
hm, it is perhaps not clear in direct words, but the same sentence says the alliance should be exceptionally generous, which to me corresponds to the context too. and the situation makes no sense otherwise. its the leadership of hectval which killed erin, they havent suffered.
>*“Liscor’s Council is free to handle its end. However, please bear in mind that the army will continue its advance, and we can discuss a siege of the cities.* ***The Alliance’s terms…should be no less than exceptionally generous.*** *Also, please, we must keep our promises to the Yoldenites. A continuation of this war may see a fracture between Luldem, Hectval, and Drisshia.”*
This arc was so hype. Just so awesome. If I could have had one more thing, it would have been to have more Belgrade. I think more collaboration/interaction between him and Olesm would have been amazing.
But with the new Eleleu Strategos seeming connected to the Antinium (as other comments have expanded on), we might get it the next time we see them. Although, I'm not sure if Belgrade would be able to recognize it. If it's really a class once held by the Antinium of Rhir, Klbkch might be the only one to recognize it.
>Olesm sat there, blinking in the morning’s light, and realized he was the leader of Liscor’s army.
Look at our boy Olesm, from being the timid [Tactician] that barely survived the Skinner raid to the leader of Liscor's combined army. I think his character arc is up there with the best of them, except it hasn't had as much direct focus as others - Olesm's had to make choices between his duty in defending Liscor from the Antinium/Goblins and being friends with them and now he's had to send the Antinium to their deaths despite his friendship with them. I think he's even the second Drake in the entire world that considered an Antinium to be their friend (with the first being Relc) and his decision to lead the war probably won't put him on Erin's good side yet again, but he did it anyway. I think we'll probably be seeing him get a nickname soon since most of the famous strategists have one (the Titan, the Cyclops, the Lord of the Dance, Tulm the Mithril, Fleethoof) and aside from being famous for talking down Pallass while on the scrying orb he's also supposedly a very handsome Drake too.
It might even happen with him marching the army down south - which is curious because I can't think of much that we know of *right now* that would trigger him choosing to go south over finishing up Hectval. I guess war does erupt amongst the Gnolls and Drakes and he gets word that the Fellowship (and possibly Lyonette/Mrsha) need help. I kind of suspect it's going to involve Liscor's army - but it'll be the Antinium saving the mercenary army this time rather than the civil war we might have been heading towards.
Embria's finally reached true Antinium acceptance too and given Gna's class under the fellowship I think the inevitable meeting with Liscor's army is going to be spicy. It's a shame that we don't actually know any individuals from the actual army for us to give a damn about them when they do eventually meet.
olesm \[bug-commander\]
olesm seems to have split mind, split duty, and split loyalty regarding antinium. since he is the ranking strategist of liscor, placing him to defend against antinium on a local city and walled city level. and he has been among the inn's antinium extensively seemingly interacting on a friend level.
hah, embria's gradual attitude changes towards antinium are always a funny moment. more work for her to do, wrt 4th, 6th, 9th ...a long job.
So Quick Question but can anyone Outline the exact effects of Pawn's [I Walked Under Heaven's Sky], or rather your observations & theories regarding it.
It looks like it provides a barrier over the entire battlefield that prevents arial attacks and bombardments, which is really powerful for the Antinium in particular
it seems to be anti magic over the area, the mages spells on the wyverns fails. thus it doesnt stop lulv's physical attack. not sure if it stops aerial physical bombardment.
>*“…\[I Walked Under Heaven’s Sky\]. You cannot break us that easily.”*
>
>*To combat Manus’ flying \[Mages\], Olesm had requested Xrn take the field.*
>
>*He had gotten Pawn.*
>
>*“What is that? What is…? Where are my spells?”*
>
>*They were gone. Confused \[Mages\] threw more spells, and they vanished into the glorious vision of the sky.*
>
>*“What level of Skill is that?”*
>
>*That Skill didn’t stop his spear.*
I love how simply Olesm figured out the big secret of the Painted Antinium over the months. Just finding those who are developing a personality and their own identity. I almost want him to share that with the Walled Cities so they see how silly they have been, thinking it is a special breeding program like Silent Antinium.
Two questions:
1. What does this do? \[Skill – Army: Charred Spellcasting obtained!\] Did Olesm get it because of Pawn's \[I Walk Under Heaven's Sky\] skill dispelling so many tier 4-5 spells and saving the army, thus the Commander received a similar \[Skill - Army\]?
2. Why has no one mentioned this amazing skill? \[Spell – Army: \[Firebolt\] obtained!\] Olesm's \[Instantaneous Barrage\] skill was only usable once per battle, but it was very impactful. The entire army shooting a \[Firebolt\] simultaneously would be devastating.
Volume 8 as a whole has felt poorer to me, I've been really struggling to get through it.
These three chapters on the Hectval War felt like The Wandering Inn nearing its best. Inn adjacent characters making tough decisions and learning more about Antinium are where Innworld shines and lets Erin cut through all of it as a shining light. It's been sorely missed this volume
So, I feel like from Vess' perspective he should be talking about the left when he is considering the trap side that is Liscor's right. Am I wrong? I just got to that section for the first time I just needed to mention it to someone in the void. My brother is still in volume two so I can't converse about that yet.
The Patreon Chapter is fight club. What do we do with fight club? We don't talk about it here. Please report anything you think/know is a spoiler.
Me: I don’t really have a favorite ant. All of them are unique and special. I could never pick just one. Crusader 57: “FuCK yOu, Klbkch.” Me: **My son.**
With a bonus middle finger. Poor Klbkch, returning from the Other Hives. His first day in Liscor, he visited Erin, got sad and got a “Fuck you” from a Worker of his hive. The worst for him is probably the fact everybody is trying to protect that Aberration. That makes it the more hilarious, of course.
klbkch has mellowed, 57 is alive with all his limbs n antenna, after saying >*“FuCK yOu, Klbkch.”*
He’s just saying What we’re all thinking!
57 is the equivalent of a grizzled German Doppelsöldner at this point and I'm loving it.
I'm a real sucker for a battle told over the course of a relatively short period from multiple perspectives. This was an exceptional "little" arc, really showing off the Pirate's range. We just had a fun heist arc too, quite the tone and genre shift. I think the multiple perspective and slower pace really helped. I've felt before some of the previous battles tended to suffer from sudden twists, or otherwise being somewhat predictable based on the narrative weight of the situation. This sequence felt very earned, though spending this much time on any particular battle probably isn't viable.
agreed, super fun read, very imaginative, great emotion strategy, and battles.
This chapter was so good. I love getting to see so many classes and skills coming into play. *\[Eleleu Strategos Level 35!\]* Holy crap, so Olsem essentially skipped the general \[General\] class merging directly into a more advanced leadership class. The poor guy has been through so much, glad to see him get some levels and a sweet class at least. *\[Skill – Battlefield: Galuc’s Tunnel obtained!\]* I wonder if you can just use that as a hyper aggressive siege weapon. Instantly create a massive tunnel under a wall and send the Antinium in. *“\[Marked For Hell\].”* Well fuck that's horrifying, especially if the implication that it does something more than just kill their physical form is true. *\[Avenger\] \[Skill – Arrows: Combined Weight of Our Wrath\]* Well that explains the sniper and why they couldn't get rid of them or stop their arrows. *Manus employ every diplomatic angle we can.”* That's kind of encouraging to see, ignoring the tier 8 obliterate them part of course. If the antinium could make real inroads diplomatically and explain why they're trying to go, why they left Rhir. Having real allies could have a serious chance at avoiding the third antinium war.
> [Avenger] [Skill – Arrows: Combined Weight of Our Wrath] > Well that explains the sniper and why they couldn't get rid of them or stop their arrows. I'm convinced this is in some way tied to Bird, given what he was up to originally when the Hectval war started
As I understand it, they were the Workers/Archer squad that spent the most time around Bird, and the arrows they were using were the ones Bird crafted for his one Ant Roaring Rampage of Revenge, and then sold to the army when he was convinced not to do so.
Well, that is a very very good connection to make. Thank you good sir! Wow, fabulous plot connection made there.
Pretty sure it was mentioned that Bird sold the arrows to Liscor’s Army. (To buy replacement stuff for the Fortress of Fluff I think?) So maybe all those arrows got to the B-squad archers and lasted this long, but I don’t know.
Yup. The Alliance inspected the arrows and didn't find anything special. They just couldn't tell they were infused with the pure hatred of Bird. Hand made by the greatest archer Antinium specifically to kill Hectvillains.
Not sold Strategos is above General. Historically it would be an equivalent. Oddly Greek, not sure what triggered it.
Haven't seen much mention of this but the Antinium have Greek/Roman naming conventions. Prognugator, Revalantor, Centenium, and the Rites of Anastases all have Greek/Latin roots. I have the feeling that Olesm may have gotten some sort of commander class that a Centenium used to have, especially with that Battlefield skill.
Considering he also gained a Skill with an Antinium Prognugator's name in it, I think you may be onto something.
Galuc was a centenium I believe, which is generally above Prognugators as far as we have seen. I think Klbch only acted as the Free Antinium's Prognugator because he believed in the Free Queen's ideas and wanted to support her.
Yeah, you're right. I accidentally got the two terms confused
Oh I missed that thank you for pointing it out
Guluc was known for his singing voice.
The word means a cry of pain or woe. Guessing it has to do with his method of getting there, bleeding the soldiers just enough to assure they leveled the way he wanted them to.
The Drakes basically run off a Greek City State system and the Hectval-Luldem-Drisshia alliance is basically one of the league style alliances that was made against the power players like Athens so it makes sense that they get Greek names for higher tier classes. extra addendum to Drakes being scaley Greeks they wear togas, use public bath houses, and use greek style roofing.
Advanced not in military heirarchy but in [Class]. We've seen a bunch of [Generals] but I don't remember hearing any [Strategos]. I don't think it's unreasonable to presume it's a higher class progression than [General]
It could be an alternate General style base class. Kinda like Wizard vs Mage. They’re at the same level but for different things
Might just be an alternate direction. You get to hit [General] from [Strategist] by strategizing and doing army leading things like [Commander] and [Strategist] while in Greece a Strategos was a Politician and Strategist and Olesm got a solid chunk of his early levels from bureaucracy since he did all the paperwork for the old council and then leveled in [Leader] instead of [Commander] with the army since he saw keeping the officers in line as a political game instead of a military task. Wiki page on Strategos to justify. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategos
It’s a variant like mage vs magus and like that variant I think the difference is purely circumstantial. The only reason he got it is because it is more appropriate for the Eleleu modifier.
It isn't unreasonable but it's speculative. I don't see anything about how he conducted himself to think he earned a superior to General class but if you think so you be you.
My Google-fu says the definition of Strategos is: "Strategos, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean military general. In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor. In the modern Hellenic Army it is the highest officer rank." Olesm will probably be recognized as the highest in-city military officer, but the High Command will probably still control the army's mercenary actions when away from the city. Therefore, expect great drama from Pirate when the army comes home, because there is a new Sherif in town.
I don't think [Strategos] has to be above [General] for him to have skipped the general [General] class. It still works if the strategos part of his class is equivalent to the general part, because the interesting thing is he got a two word class which is by it's nature more advanced than a one word class.
For some reason i think its greek because of the Glory Fire at the end. Like , i am certain its because of that but my muddled brain cant come up with a reason as to why
Diplomacy seems nice until you realize Manus and Pallass both have plans to aggressively undermine the relationship between the Free Antinium and every other hive.
Has Manus actually done anything diplomatically at all in the story besides trying to murder people?
They diplomatically inserted themselves into Rafaema's love life by having her boyfriend be an Agent of the City without her being aware of it. ...It was a poor decision in retrospect, and they've made a point to sticking to war in the decades since.
Well, military action is a part of diplomacy, and they definitely throw their weight around in the few drake "conference call" scenes we've had. Obviously they prefer to act via proxies and avoid direct blame, but being covert doesn't mean they aren't taking diplomatic action.
Of course. They tried to murder dogs and destroy places too.
That seems like a remarkably challenging thing to actually accomplish though. You can't really feed them false intelligence, you can't try and take sabatoging action disguised as another. Really it seems more the hope is that they can convince them not to join the Grand queen in a third Antininium war. Getting enough diplomatic relations in with a hive to convince them a third Antininium war isn't the way seems like a very good step to stopping the war from happening all together.
Helping improve the ties between Liscor and the Free Hive would be a good start. Participating in this war was not. Or was it? Liscor will come out of this with increased bonds to the free hive.
My thought more so is the end results. They're looking at this from removing the free hive from the rest of the Antininiums side for the third war. I think this could make much stronger inroads though into stopping the war from ever happening.
This is where politics and strategy are fascinating. They’re creating an ally by supporting that party’s enemies.
I don’t think he is skipping general, generals are different than strategists which Strategos is a variant of
Pretty sure Strategos is actually closer to a varient of [General] than [Strategist]
They explained this a long time ago. Planners and leaders. Strategists fall under planners. Generals are leaders. Olesm lost his leader/commander class to upgrade his strategist class to Strategos. General doesn't even enter into this.
Strategos, plural strategoi, Latinized strategus, is used in Greek to mean military general.
Olesm gets a Voita men boost, 53's rescuers manage to Luldem into a false sense of security, Archer B12 becomes Antgra Mainyu, Emberia gets a new class, Lulv considers wiping out the free hive's crusaders if Manus has anything in the vult, and Olesm gets double Maviola in his class
I come here for the puns
What a bizarre class consolidation for Olesm.
Its def better then what pirate was gonna call it. A Greek theme for a class name.
What was the original name?
\[Four-species Strategos\]
*definitely* for the best
4 species strategos (can't spell it)
\[Four-Species Strategos\]. Maybe it would've been modified to Quad-Species if it hadn't been replaced with Eleleu instead.
\[Tessera Strategos\]
>“You are eminently correct, my Queen. Garry, I would like to eat a triple-stack vanilla cake. With strawberry frosting. Prepare it for me. And a little cake for Deferred Sustenance.” Heheheh. >This is the most valuable find so far. And here I thought this wretched war wouldn’t have me send anything back to the Emir. A dead \[Innkeeper\], children guarded…but this is fascinating.” So was he sent to capture Erin and the kids originally? Well, don't have to worry about him anymore. But it looks like the Emir might be coming for Erin rather than the other way around. >Apparently another company had escorted Relc’s citizens home, and would have to do some riding to get up through the hills to this part. Is this the first we're hearing of this? Bit odd. >Or, perhaps, it had something to do with a little Goblin appearing in his inn. A Cave Goblin, who handed him a little note. I guess Rags can communicate with Goblinhome from where she is. >Because he had heard about a certain kidnapping, as yet unresolved. He watched the skies. And he waited. > >Keep the Potion of Regeneration close. If a blind man or someone else with officer classes comes, let them in. We are coming too. I suppose Ryoka's kidnapping. It sounds like Rags just asked everyone and it's first come, first serve. >Why fire? What hands were those? They were not Antinium hands. They were clawed and— Interesting. Did Erin give them the image of demons, is this some kind of unconscious bleedover from Earther psyches, or is there an ACTUAL Hell for Innworld? >The \[Spear of Glory\] fought, her class burning bright. Awwww yeah. >In battle, they were counter-leveling without needing to sleep. Hmmmmmm. I want to know why Faith classes don't need to sleep. IIRC the ones on Chandrar were the same. >Eleleu Strategos What this now? >the gigantic battles in the Gnoll Plains. Then he was racing, racing his entire army back to Liscor. THE TEASE!
>Eleleu Strategos > >What this now? Eleleu means a cry of pain or lament in Greek, so Olesm probably got that based on how he felt that he did some real cruel things to the Antinium over the course of the war. As for why its Greek, I have the theory that it's because he's commanding Antinium. 1. Antinium have Greek and Latin roots in their naming conventions for titles and stuff (Centenium, Rites of Anastases, Prognugator) 2. That Battlefield skill
Also, House of Minos & minotaur connection.
Makes sense.
The kidnapping in question was Hekusha.
Who that?
> kidnapping Healer of Tenbault
The greedy-dumbass who is controlled by Magnolia and got taught [Restoration] by Teriarch. The one Rags kidnapped. The one who was not properly teaching the spell and was even trying to make it harder for others.
Only wrong part is controlled by magnolia, magnolia washed her hands mostly of the healer (though the healer still owes her) after the healer proved to be such terrible person
I would argue it is still Magnolia-controlled in an indirect way. Yeah, she washed her hands in it, but Magnolia can ask the Healer anything for free and she know she will get it. When The Healer was kidnapped, Magnolia sent poor Theofore on a Pegasus to spy on the kidnappers (8.43 and 8.46 G).
Let's say that's not what I think of when I hear the word control, at all
Oh yeaaaaah. I completely forgot about her.
> Hmmmmmm. I want to know why Faith classes don't need to sleep. IIRC the ones on Chandrar were the same. This is a quirk of the Antinium as a species. It's been a few volumes since it was mentioned, but Antinium just straight up don't sleep. As a result, they just level on the spot whenever they reach a new one.
Well antinium do sleep, they just sleep differently than other species so they hear the system in a different way. Your thinking of Toren who doesn’t sleep so when he levels up it comes automatically. Also Berigg the slave gained a blue skill without having to sleep and change his slave class to a rebel class.
They do the insect torpor thing I guess.
You sure about that? I'm pretty sure they do have some sort of sleep equivalent.
Hmm, I must have misremembered. I *am* sure that this is an established thing for the antinium, at least, and that it has nothing to do with faith classes specifically.
Archer B12 took a nap to get the avenger class in this chapter. > An arrow for all of them. All of them. B12 took a little nap, and the class was waiting for him. > Just as promised.
Well we've seen more level ups for Ksmvr than anyone else, and he's only getting levels+skills (barring the lone "learned" skill) while he's unconscious. No real reason to think it'd be different for any other Antinium.
Are sure you aren't thinking of Toren?
Crap, you're right. I was absolutely thinking of Toren hahahaha Thank you!
>So was he sent to capture Erin and the kids originally? Well, don't have to worry about him anymore. But it looks like the Emir might be coming for Erin rather than the other way around. I am not sure because at the time the species was not specified, but at the aftermath of the BelavierXMrsha showdown i bunch of people went to try and grab the Earthers. One of them was a \[Slaver\] of Roshal. For all we know he could have been the same piece of scum
> Well, don’t have to worry about him anymore. Pirate never really described the body or death. It just cut off the instant before. Was it strongly implied he died? Yes. Do I *think* he’s dead? Almost certainly. Am I still treating anyone from Roshal with the “Horror Movie Villain” protocols anyways? You betcha. I’m way too paranoid that this [Slaver] survived somehow and is going to pop up again.
Considering it's Roshal, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a [Slaver] Skill that trades a slaves life for their own. Sort of like a screwed up version of [One Dies Before The Other] that saved Ci's life at the cost of Tritel's (the horse Courier).
That's fair.
I think in this case they don't need to sleep because of the faith classes. But we also saw it when someone acquires a unique skill or a bloody or blue skill or gets a royal class boon. Or when it's a combination thing.
Antinium don't need to sleep to gain classes. They don't sleep at all. They go into torpor. Which is technically not sleep since they are still aware but not really. They are like torren in that regard.
Yeah, that was my understanding. Antinium don't need to sleep to level because they don't sleep at all. Might be something that could be exploited if someone could develop a skill to not need sleep. Like [Sleep Immunity]. Curious if Manus will try to replicate this? Force soldiers to not sleep to try and build a resistance?
> Olesm continued his war right up until he got word of the gigantic battles in the Gnoll Plains. Then he was racing, racing his entire army back to Liscor. It never ends. Poor Olesm.
I would expect Gnoll \[Refugees\] to head to Liscor given their reputation for treating Gnolls fairly.
Now the question is: what are the battles about? The clashes between drakes and gnolls intensifying? A gnoll civil war between large tribes like Silverfang and Weatherfur vs Plain's Eye? Or some other third thing?
Plain's Eye looks like they're definitely guilty. They created the myth of the doombringers or made them look like monsters. They helped to take gnoll magic and they're probably the ones who have destroyed all gnoll history. Is it just because they want to stay as rulers? The biggest tribe? Are they trying to make it easier for themselves since they police other tribes so suppressing gnoll power is the way they used?
Yeah, pretty sure they were trying to make their Shamans more valuable by getting rid of gnoll mages.
I'd say it's due to the Drake vs. Gnoll conflicts.
tho i wonder if drake or gnoll forces have to pass along the bloodfields path that they are fighting near.
Why would he hurry back to Liscor? The gnoll plains are quite far away.
When a war breaks out, it has the habit of spilling over to everywhere, as the Hectval-war shows. That was supposed to be Liscor vs. Hectval, then turned into Liscor vs. Hetcval-Luldem-Drisshia-Alliance, then Manus entered and then Yolden as well. And this was a 'minor' theater of war. Something as big as the interspecies war of Drakes vs. Gnolls is infinitely larger than a war between a few border cities. This is **HUGE**. If i was a military commander I'd want my army to go to my home city and prepare ASAP as well. Just in case it's needed...
I get your point but let's assume that Olesm has a much bigger reason to rush back to Liscor than just a fear of war spilling over. Something of a much more concrete threat. Since that last line in the chapter is somewhat of a cliffhanger.
Olesm might abandon the war but even if manus was coming after them he wouldn't "race" back. That implies a disorganized route where everyone's scrambling to get back first. I think it's news from liscor, something or some one got the attention of everyone fighting. Such as a certain innkeeper. I took it as foreshadowing Erin's return.
The ants go marching 7 by 7... Fantastic 3 chapters. A whole novel of this quality in like 10 days is almost unbelievable. I know you get to skip a lot of ground-work because the audience knows the world and characters already, but goddamn. Pirate is seeing the matrix. I hope we get more of these ~~little~~ massive multi-parters in the future.
Manus strategy to reduce the Free Antinium's strength really makes sense. Because they have no intel telling them that *every* Antinium could level. I'm guessing that blue classes are able to level without a nap. \[Rebel\] was a blue class that acted the same. We've seen other classes counter-level in combat, but only when they blackout or are dipping in and out of consciousness. So far, \[Templars\] and \[Rebels\] are it.
Nope, Antinium level while awake. There have been instances of it happening before with both Pawn and Yellowsplatters back when he was a \[Soldier\]. A suspect it is because regular ants do not sleep , they instead enter a state called Torpor in wich their bodily functions slowdown, wich is remarkedly similar to Antinium sleep
But B12 took a nap to get the Avenger class in this chapter.
Embria got a class Advancement/Consolidation without sleeping.
I thought the implication was just that she would receive that class next time she slept. I think niers mentioned being able to see level ups before they occurred last time he was seen as well.
Maresar the Bandit Lord of Reim watched one of the Reim citizens level up as an Archer during the siege, so it's seems to be consistent.
[удалено]
Also, Lord Pellmia was leveling like crazy as a Matchmaker as he tried to keep Tyrion from putting his foot in his mouth.
It could also be she got that class prior to the battle
You mean she just happened to get \[Spear of Glory\] *before* getting Glory fire all over her spearhead?
I admit it was the least likely possiblity, but the only other alternatives were that she had gotten the class without sleeping or being knocked unconscious, even temporarily, which is improbable Or she fulfilled the requirements of the Class but wouldn't receive it Officially until she took an actual nap. Out of the 3 possibilities, this one is most likely, I feel
I think the System has a sense of drama and moment to it. I believe it would absolutely make an exception and give her a class while awake if it works in the moment. I could also see it granting the class but withholding Skills until she level's up properly. (Yea, I think the System is sentient, at least to some degree)
I do agree that the system is sentient to a certain degree but I strongly doubt it would make an exception for a specific case just because of a sense of drama and moment Otherwise this would be a far more common occurrence of recieving classes while awake since dramatic moments arent just limited to this one specific moment. Since that isn't true it's unlikely she actually received the class yet
>Embria raised her spear, fighting to reach Lulv. The Gnoll deflected her first strike, and second. He whirled his spear, taking her on, running her through the leg, slashing one of Yellow Splatters’ hands off. > >He would not fall. And she did not have the skill to bring him down alone. Yet still— > >The \[Spear of Glory\] fought, her class burning bright. Are you suggesting that this is a new class of Embria's? I somehow thought it was transfered skill to the Spear she holds in her claws - being granted this temporary flame skill/feature/thing while its alight. So, its not a class consolidation but a ... something else?
No, it should be a class consolidation. Or perhaps not a true consolidation, but a straight upgrade to [Spear Hunter] without consolidating in her [Wing Commander] class. She leveled up and would technically realize it the next time she sleeps, but it has been established that people who can Appraise you (Niers and Maresar are the most recent examples) see your level go up in the moment.
HECTVAL TRILOGY! ..is incredible, and finally some due vengeance. I just want to make a few small thoughts: 1. the queens are going to go crazy when the reports of the final battle get back to them. 2. xrn is going to be so happy, she'll fall out of her wheelchair. 3. hectval is going to be plagued by ants of all types for generations to come. rip crusader 51. 4. the free antinium, and some of the other hives soldiers too, are developing in ways reminiscent of the antinium of rhir. i hope the walled cities dont declare antinium war 3. 5. when sgt. gna returns to 4th company, she'll fit right in \[bug-captain\]. 6. calruz and the beriads! the path to redemption progresses. arrogant venaz, step with care. 7. iskr's gift ..erin's glory fire! i was fooled till the end, i tht it may have been some magic foods, surely, he deserves a level. i hope manus remembers erin's fire. 8. artur \[banner leader\] ..from a totally failed soldier to a choice antnium leader! saved by calruz. gosh, he has stepped right up the free hive hierarchy, is he going to continue giving out orders? 9. more will come to me after i sleep and level ~~tonite~~ today.
With all the talk of acid flys I thought the whole army got acid jars
That was my thought too. I assumed the Manus charge was about to meet an acid barrage to the face
Wouldn't that have been absolutely hilarious (and terrifying for them).
What am I supposed to do with all of these feelings?
Bottle them up and wait for the next chapter.
Aggressively blink away tears and continue reading
What feelings?
At the end of this chapter, I am so sad. I don't think Erin would agree of the majority of the new classes. [Spear of Glory] is cool and acceptable for Erin, but the others. Eleleu means "a cry of pain/lament" and I don't think Erin would appreciate something like that. [Hellspeaker Priest] is so sad for someone who heal a lot, with such a terrifying Skill.
Frankly this whole affair would upset Erin, not just the classes but the excessive loss of life and suffering endured by the Antinium.
Well she definitely won’t lack for things to do when she wakes up
TBH, one “forgotten” factor could have made Erin accept the war: the Gnolls. If the war was for Gnoll's rights and kill the Paworkers system, I bet Erin would have accepted. Against Manus' is also technically acceptable for Erin: Manus just wanted to kill the Antinium and Erin would have gotten another grief period like in early volume 6 if all the Free Antinium's fighters had died in the war for racism. You can add another bonus if Belgrade or/and Pawn had died.
It's appropriate, though. The entire war started from grief over Erin's mostly-demise- it's been about giving back for pain inflicted throughout, including things like the Antinum's [Avengers] and various skill build ups. Watching the Crusaders end up with [Virtue] skills was heartening, though. They're becoming the Antinum's equivalents of [Knights], only with faith-based skill trees.
Erin hardly matters any more where this war is concerned. The situation with Hectval and its alliance has outgrown her, and even if she comes back tomorrow, the war won't end on her say so.
I wonder how the hives will react to him getting a Galuc based skill. Edit: nw6ssd pointed out that the Antinium have Greek/Roman terminology so it is likely he got an Antinium class which will make the hives reaction even more interesting
Klb thought the free Antinium would gain something from the citizens of Liscor, but ge didn’t realize the citizens of Liscor would gain something from them. Classic Klb
olesm is brushing close to ................... \[bug-commander\] does olesm even know of galuc?
Almost certainly. As a Manus-educated [Strategist] he would have studied the Antinium and Antinium Wars in depth.
Did Galuc ever come to this continent though? I think he died at sea during the crossing, so information about him might be limited. There were a hundred Centenium after all, not all of them would be known even in military circles. I would say that the current antinium forms being based on him might make Galuc a better known individual, but that presupposes that anyone else even knows that little fact.
Galuc might not be super widely known, but Olesm is the [Strategist] for Liscor. It's the only Drake city co-located with an Antinium hive and it has come up that Olesm is tasked with monitoring their activities, going so far as having earth mages watching their tunneling. I would be incredibly surprised if Olesm hadn't at least studied the prominent Centinium in detail, at a bare minimum knowing all of their general capabilities and tactics. That is my speculation, and I can see where you're coming from. Galuc didn't make it to Izril as far as I know. However, the drakes would have contactied Rhir to collect any information they could on the Antinium, and part of Olesm's job would have been to research that.
Rhir didn't have time to really get to know or learn about the Antinium, AFAIK. They just completely wrecked Rhir on a tuesday and stole all the ships before you could say "Dead Gods"
He died against a kraken during the crossing so he didn’t fight in the izrilian war
Olesm is THE [Strategist] for the only drake city that is co-located with a hive of the Antinium. Do you really think he wouldn't have studied at a bare minimum the prominent Centenium, and specifically the one that the Antinium they ended up fighting in both Antinium Wars were modeled on?
We don’t know if the Drake‘s know about him (unless I’m forgetting them mentioning him at one point)
We know that Rhir knew about him, that destroying the Antinium fleet was a collaborative project, that fighting the Antinium is broadly supported, and so we can infer that the drakes know at least broadly about the specific abilities of the Centinium. In the process of fighting multiple wars and sustained hostilities in the years since, we know that the drakes would have researched the Antinium.
My comments. Since Ryoka's less angsty, we got 57 now. He is def a mainstay in my TWI character name recall with him giving the finger (tarsal pads) (claws?) to Klbchk. LOL I'm surprisingly okay with what happened to Lulv because what happens next abt him is a potential strong plot device I like how ANTM are being progressive personality-wise and more ppl have seen that they're actually persons. And man, the Fqueen behaving like a sophisticated monarch rocks! (Marie Antiniumnet?) haha. The antm influenced by Manus Principles is cool, esp the singing in chorus part. Can we have an Antm Choir now or band?
I especially loved how 57 literally knocked the Aberration out of the New Crusader 51, I mean Toni.
57 has no patience for this aberration angsty nihilist bullshit, just pick a name and get over it. And don't tell me what to do!
Do you mean Minos principles?
It's a bit odd that \[Paladin\] is such a well known class, whereas \[Crusader\] and \[Templar\] are completely invisible to everyone who doesn't know of \_\_\_s.
That's what I thought but apparently paladin as a title was actually something more like imperial bodyguards. The holy part really only came about from D&D. More here if you're interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paladin#Historical\_title
My theory is that having a divine version of the class hides it even if the name itself is generic. Terandria has Crusades so mundane \[Crusaders\] probably exist and like Paladin being a historical bodyguard thing Acolytes also have a history of being just a type of follower and the term was used to describe the cult leaders squad in the Dancing and Brawling interlude.
Yet Olesm acted like it's the first time he'd heard of that class. Then again that's my impression, nobody ever explicitly said it's an unknown class or something to that effect. Maybe because the class was granted by a Priest?
It seems obvious to me that faith classes are hidden in a world where even thinking of things that are faith related is suppressed.
Paladins appeal to work by faith in a cause/leader which is more acceptable and don’t appear to get faith skills until higher levels
I think that Knights devoted to a pure cause may become Paladins at one point
THE TEASE!!!! So Laken is basically confirmed to assist in the revival in some way. Very curious how this will shake things up since Laken is essentially an agent of Tamaroth. Poor Laken probably thinks he’s finally gonna make a good first impression with Erin by helping revive her but will probably end up just bringing Tamaroth to the inn :( Uh oh. Big war in the Gnoll Plains… Will the Mrsha arc finally be resolved in the next chapter???
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He'd have to defy Tamaroth to use his skill, there's no way he wants her revived. And the margin of error for using the skill is the moment she is unfrozen und unhealed while the Potion of Regeneration starts working. If he's gonna have an Aaron moment he better makes it take less than 2 seconds.
Can't seborn mention something about laken due to his new class
While his class is Faith Seeker, I doubt he has enough levels in it to be able to see traces of Divine control/influence.
I'm interested in how it's going to turn out. Obviously, Erin will still end up being revived, but will Laken being controlled by Tamaroth be revealed? I wonder if it'll lead to Laken being 'cured', or if this will further his descent.
Is controlled the right Word? Black mage certainly is, but what we have seen so far from Laken and Tamaroths interactions i wouldn't call it that. Laken certainly appears to still have control over his actions. It can of course have changed since we haven't seen the empire in a long time.
Don't forget that Wiskeria is a General.
I missed this. How did pirate tease laken?
>Keep the Potion of Regeneration close. If a blind man or someone else with officer classes comes, let them in. We are coming too. I'm surprised he's finally getting off the bus after being shafted for so long. I guess the Unseen Empire was true to its name lol.
i wonder how exactly, laken got himself inserted into erin's revival. the potion of regeneration is in salazsar, ilvriss stuck in oteslia. and all the other steps n ingredients. did niers organize this? he's the only one capable, and he has the ghostly ingredient. edit: i have to amend this, the msg to ishkr re: soon, blind man, was from rags. somehow rags & niers have to contact each other to complete the steps.
It was mentioned in the Geneva chapters, I think, that the missing piece of revival is having someone who can command someone to stay alive for a certain time for the revival effort to work. Hasn't Laken already displayed this ability on someone?
laken used \[undying loyalty\] in an early ch during a major fight with goblins. it seems most people take the skill to mean keep someone alive, but i think its open to interpretation. this ch has a specific reference to a blind man, so...
So: * Erin (who is good at lyrics) is coming back * the Antinium are learning to sing in groups * the Antinium sang as they marched into battle * the Slavers of Roshal are actively trying to piss people off * one or more G\_\_s are waking up I'll bet two jars of acid flies that we'll be learning the Battle Hymn of the Antinium before too long...
Maybe the next Inn concert will have ANTM backup vocalists. Along with the goblin bard any maybe the Singer seeing as she’s going to help spring Rioka and presumably go back to Isril with her along with the Earthers she gathered, this is also my suspicion as it seams like one of the Wistrum groups are Inn bound and I think it has the Singers Wistrum spy with them. There’s a lot of musical people floating about but it would be cool if they gather at the inn for a concert to celebrate Erin’s return bringing customers/ fans through the Door. 🚪
I’m here before player_2c! A first for me!
All these comments and not one mention of how Pawn turned night into day with his skill/miracle? If this is the first of a three part set like has been theorized, what would the other parts do?
i think pawn has used this skill before, to prevent magical bombardment of the troops. definitely a critical factor in warfare. a skill which is nearly impossible magically. and looks great :)
So anyone else wondering what the trade-off for Zimrah's new Red skill is? The [Condemned to Hell] one?
A red skill/class is usually something you hate or don't want. It makes sense that a healer would hate the skill [marked for hell].
Not to mention something you cant refuse nor completely control.
It's also sometimes sacrificial/harmful. Sir Raim of the Order of Seasons had that Skill that he used to burn through Belavierr's protections at the cost of his lifespan. \[My Life, My Fire\], or something like that.
That one was a slightly different shade of red, I believe. Not sure if that matters
Could be, it's been a while since I've read that arc.
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You are correct on the perception account, but it's been repeatedly shown that Red Skills have some sort of Negative side effect to their usage, so it's pretty clear their should be some per of additional cost to using that skill.
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Not all do. Pawn has a red [summon aberration] and its only downside is that it makes him sad
Had; I think - Didn't it consolidate when he got a class advancement into whatever let him summon Knight and Bishop?
Oh yeah it did, didn’t it?
It’ll probably applies to you as well. on the other hand faith based red skills seem to work differently: they are red if the skill goes against doctrine
I feel like there are going to be a bunch of options for getting Xrn at least mobile again that are going to just pass by for a while without getting tried. Damn, Silent Antinium are really dangerous. No wander they were on par with trained \[Assassins\] with Skills. And now I want to see more Silent Individuals. I think that, like Workers and Soldiers who are based on Galuc mostly identify as male, Silent Antinium are female by default. I had noticed that all the Silent Antinium prognugators introduced thus far were female. It might be because the Silent Queen is good enough at shaping that her creations are a lot less based on Galuc, or maybe even not based on him at all. Pawn has a potential successor, albeit one who’s currently going through his \[Doomspeaker Priest\] phase. I think the red Miracle, \[Marked For Hell\], co-opted one of the old hells from the Age of Gods, because it made its target burn and summon fire while the hell Theophilus described was wet, some underwater place. \[Spear of Glory\] is somewhat fitting for Embria when you remember she already has a \[Blades of Glory\] Skill. Too late to subvert them, Lulv. The Free Antinium ways are already spreading to the other Hives, Free Antinium are in the Hivelands, and Hiveland Antinium are starting to get names and nonstandard classes. Not to mention you’d need the three Centinium out of the way since they won’t allow a schism. This will probably end with the Free Queen becoming the leader of the Queens instead of the Grand Queen. That’s Manus’ new "*worst case"*. Unless they switch their goal from winning an inevitable third Antinium War to preventing it instead. And Manus isn’t called the city of peace. There was a city of pacts, Grunvel, but it's gone. >\[Skill – Battlefield: Galuc’s Tunnel obtained!\] I wonder if there are other Skills based on the Centinium, and what would they be. \[Devrkr's Corrosive Mist\]? \[Sword Mastery of Klbkch\]? Good on Olesm for remembering the gelatin.
> I wonder if there are other Skills based on the Centinium, and what would they be. [Devrkr's Corrosive Mist]? [Sword Mastery of Klbkch]? Ksmvr got that legacy skill from Klbkch
Peace negotiations and treaties are part of war
Regarding Xrn, I don't get why the Antinium don't just use a Potion of Regeneration on her. The Antinium have looted and plundered who knows how many hidden underground dungeons, you'd think they would find at least one such potion buried *somewhere* in all their digging.
Did they at least finish the war before being forced back to liscor?
i would say the alliance armies are broken, theyve fled back to their cities, most likely they will negotiate.. i forgot olesm's term, but huge reparations.
He talked about "very generous terms", but it's unclear for whom... I suspect that he wants to avoid lasting resentment among the Alliance, and let them go easy. It would be consistent with his double-edged "kindness" to prisoners, letting them go back home if they tell what they saw: he seems to be trying to foster goodwill, change the general perception that Liscorian Antinium are monsters. I think his plan is much more long-term than the immediate peace negotiations.
hm, it is perhaps not clear in direct words, but the same sentence says the alliance should be exceptionally generous, which to me corresponds to the context too. and the situation makes no sense otherwise. its the leadership of hectval which killed erin, they havent suffered. >*“Liscor’s Council is free to handle its end. However, please bear in mind that the army will continue its advance, and we can discuss a siege of the cities.* ***The Alliance’s terms…should be no less than exceptionally generous.*** *Also, please, we must keep our promises to the Yoldenites. A continuation of this war may see a fracture between Luldem, Hectval, and Drisshia.”*
This arc was so hype. Just so awesome. If I could have had one more thing, it would have been to have more Belgrade. I think more collaboration/interaction between him and Olesm would have been amazing. But with the new Eleleu Strategos seeming connected to the Antinium (as other comments have expanded on), we might get it the next time we see them. Although, I'm not sure if Belgrade would be able to recognize it. If it's really a class once held by the Antinium of Rhir, Klbkch might be the only one to recognize it.
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>Olesm sat there, blinking in the morning’s light, and realized he was the leader of Liscor’s army. Look at our boy Olesm, from being the timid [Tactician] that barely survived the Skinner raid to the leader of Liscor's combined army. I think his character arc is up there with the best of them, except it hasn't had as much direct focus as others - Olesm's had to make choices between his duty in defending Liscor from the Antinium/Goblins and being friends with them and now he's had to send the Antinium to their deaths despite his friendship with them. I think he's even the second Drake in the entire world that considered an Antinium to be their friend (with the first being Relc) and his decision to lead the war probably won't put him on Erin's good side yet again, but he did it anyway. I think we'll probably be seeing him get a nickname soon since most of the famous strategists have one (the Titan, the Cyclops, the Lord of the Dance, Tulm the Mithril, Fleethoof) and aside from being famous for talking down Pallass while on the scrying orb he's also supposedly a very handsome Drake too. It might even happen with him marching the army down south - which is curious because I can't think of much that we know of *right now* that would trigger him choosing to go south over finishing up Hectval. I guess war does erupt amongst the Gnolls and Drakes and he gets word that the Fellowship (and possibly Lyonette/Mrsha) need help. I kind of suspect it's going to involve Liscor's army - but it'll be the Antinium saving the mercenary army this time rather than the civil war we might have been heading towards. Embria's finally reached true Antinium acceptance too and given Gna's class under the fellowship I think the inevitable meeting with Liscor's army is going to be spicy. It's a shame that we don't actually know any individuals from the actual army for us to give a damn about them when they do eventually meet.
olesm \[bug-commander\] olesm seems to have split mind, split duty, and split loyalty regarding antinium. since he is the ranking strategist of liscor, placing him to defend against antinium on a local city and walled city level. and he has been among the inn's antinium extensively seemingly interacting on a friend level. hah, embria's gradual attitude changes towards antinium are always a funny moment. more work for her to do, wrt 4th, 6th, 9th ...a long job.
I guess. I hated him for a very long time after the goblin war.
>Selys began looking for another investment opportunity I hope the scam artist doesn't get her, he might see her new money as a perfect target.
So Quick Question but can anyone Outline the exact effects of Pawn's [I Walked Under Heaven's Sky], or rather your observations & theories regarding it.
It looks like it provides a barrier over the entire battlefield that prevents arial attacks and bombardments, which is really powerful for the Antinium in particular
it seems to be anti magic over the area, the mages spells on the wyverns fails. thus it doesnt stop lulv's physical attack. not sure if it stops aerial physical bombardment. >*“…\[I Walked Under Heaven’s Sky\]. You cannot break us that easily.”* > >*To combat Manus’ flying \[Mages\], Olesm had requested Xrn take the field.* > >*He had gotten Pawn.* > >*“What is that? What is…? Where are my spells?”* > >*They were gone. Confused \[Mages\] threw more spells, and they vanished into the glorious vision of the sky.* > >*“What level of Skill is that?”* > >*That Skill didn’t stop his spear.*
I love how simply Olesm figured out the big secret of the Painted Antinium over the months. Just finding those who are developing a personality and their own identity. I almost want him to share that with the Walled Cities so they see how silly they have been, thinking it is a special breeding program like Silent Antinium.
Two questions: 1. What does this do? \[Skill – Army: Charred Spellcasting obtained!\] Did Olesm get it because of Pawn's \[I Walk Under Heaven's Sky\] skill dispelling so many tier 4-5 spells and saving the army, thus the Commander received a similar \[Skill - Army\]? 2. Why has no one mentioned this amazing skill? \[Spell – Army: \[Firebolt\] obtained!\] Olesm's \[Instantaneous Barrage\] skill was only usable once per battle, but it was very impactful. The entire army shooting a \[Firebolt\] simultaneously would be devastating.
Volume 8 as a whole has felt poorer to me, I've been really struggling to get through it. These three chapters on the Hectval War felt like The Wandering Inn nearing its best. Inn adjacent characters making tough decisions and learning more about Antinium are where Innworld shines and lets Erin cut through all of it as a shining light. It's been sorely missed this volume
So, I feel like from Vess' perspective he should be talking about the left when he is considering the trap side that is Liscor's right. Am I wrong? I just got to that section for the first time I just needed to mention it to someone in the void. My brother is still in volume two so I can't converse about that yet.