Latest Page Discussions/Comic Update Chitchat

[Mirasol]

I still wonder if non-mages can see Kade? Like, does it have a full form, when it’s not in somebody’s mind? Minna presented us some kind of its visual form but we still don’t know if it’s what normal people see (that being wrapped in something that has one eye)

-disclaimer: entering full theory-territory here-

The wrapped-in-cloth-thing does seem to be pretty much human-shaped, and since they never found Ensi´s body (who was immune and therefore wouldn´t have reformed) the Kade could have made itself a physical form using Ensi. But the last time we saw it it was killing birds who-knows-where (probably in one of the other sentinel´s territories... didn´t one of them have sparrows or something?), so perhaps said physical form is currently hanging out somewhere completely different, and all that´s here now is that little dark cloud we saw with the bears. (I think on the Kade-infopage it said that the Kade could be invisible/ just in the wind or something.) Tuuri could see that, but maybe a spirit´s vision isn´t comparable to that of a non-mage who is... well... alive.

[Vulpes]

Hm... good point re the sparrow sentinel (Kauko Katainen, Adv. 2, p 177). I was wondering about that, if it can go about killing things with a glance, then the non-mages are in mortal danger. But perhaps it only bothered with the birds because it was concerned that it might be observed. Still it makes you wonder what sort of danger the others are in. The mages are confronting the kade in the spiritual realm, fingers crossed it is like them in that it doesn't do anything much in the physical world when it's occupied in the dream world.

[Annuil]

Interesting ideas, but since Kade has many beings trapped inside of it, it might be able to fight both DW and RL worlds... On the other hand we still have bears and Surma somewhere around to entertain the non-mages, so Kade might not need to stay outside of the DW and concentrate its full power on the mages 

-disclaimer: entering full theory-territory here-

Hah, this is always so fun!

Still, interesting, I guess we will not know what Kade really looks like for the regular people until Minna shows us 

[Vulpes]

Interesting ideas, but since Kade has many beings trapped inside of it, it might be able to fight both DW and RL worlds...

*covers eyes like mages* LALALALA I CAN'T READ YOU!!! 

[Annuil]

*covers eyes like mages* LALALALA I CAN'T READ YOU!!! 

Phaha, well, I suppose regular people cannot see Kade at all, as the latest page suggests. Maybe it has a potential danger only for mages, so we dont have to worry much about the non-mages... Nonetheless, now we know that Kitty can sense Kade too, which means that it has some mortal base, it's not just a lump of souls glued together that's flying around attacking mages in the DW.

Also, I was wondering, was Hilja immune or not? She did turn into a beast after being infected with, appearently, Kade's type of Rash illness, so, does the Kade-infection turn even immune people into some sort of... magical monsters that can change form or become invisable? And was it Kade that "was looking again" for the Hotakainens on page 334, Adventure 1? Or are these questions still a mistery for us?

[JoB]

Also, I was wondering, was Hilja immune or not? She did turn into a beast after being infected with, appearently, Kade's type of Rash illness, so, does the Kade-infection turn even immune people

According to Ensis on-the-spot diagnosis, Hilja infected herself with the vermin beast she had smuggled past Ensi earlier, which suggests that she was not immune. Also, Tuuri told Emil that "almost no-one" in her native village had been immune, with Lalli and Ensi being notable exceptions.

Of course, seeing that Ensi went into quarantine and wore masks just like the non-immunes, in spite of definitely being immune, makes it a tad difficult to tell for sure from the comic.

[Róisín]

My guess was that Ensi may have been doing the masks and quarantine thing because everyone had to? For all they knew, there might have been variants of the rash that could affect the previously immune? One of the fan writers, I think Seilann, played with that idea in a story called ‘Burning’, a few years back. It’s on Archive. And real-world diseases do that. Consider the variant strain of Covid that has turned up recently in the UK.

[Grade E cat]

Actually, while Ensi did go into quarantine with the others (so did Lalli) and was shown with something that looked like a mask on a chapter cover, she was the only one without a mask during the raid on Hilja's house.
I see two reasons immunes would need to go into quarantine: possible new variants of the Rash (or even new diseases) that can make immunity useless (hence the month-long quarantine even for immunes on the way back from Denmark), and the fact that their stuff would need some downtime after several weeks outside safe areas anyway.

[JoB]

My guess was that Ensi may have been doing the masks and quarantine thing because everyone had to? For all they knew, there might have been variants of the rash that could affect the previously immune? One of the fan writers, I think Seilann, played with that idea in a story called ‘Burning’, a few years back. It’s on Archive. And real-world diseases do that. Consider the variant strain of Covid that has turned up recently in the UK.

Certainly, there can have been any number of reasons back then - except one: Ensi had already started to train Lalli instead of Onni, so they already knew about immunity (because it is established that Onnis lack thereof was the reason why Ensi switched padawans).

Doesn't change a iota about the fact that the flashback doesn't offer us a reliable indication of who exactly has been immune or not - beyond "it is already known" (Ensi and Lalli), "... not" (Onni, Tuuri, and the entire rest of the family, per Tuuri's statement to Emil), "looks like she wasn't" (Hilja), "sounds like he wasn't" (Tapsa), and "few were" (Tuuri's statement, as well as the final death toll), though.

[Jitter]

I agree that the flashback heavily indicates Hilja was known to be non-immune. There were no signs of confusion about the fact she was infected, only to the why of it. If the others had known her to be immune, there would likely have been at least the question of whether the troll was her or something that had eaten her.

It seems the village was wiped out by the normal physical variety of the Rash, brought in via the rat beast by possessed Hilja and then spread like it normally spreads.

[Annuil]

Certainly, there can have been any number of reasons back then - except one: Ensi had already started to train Lalli instead of Onni, so they already knew about immunity (because it is established that Onnis lack thereof was the reason why Ensi switched padawans).

Doesn't change a iota about the fact that the flashback doesn't offer us a reliable indication of who exactly has been immune or not - beyond "it is already known" (Ensi and Lalli), "... not" (Onni, Tuuri, and the entire rest of the family, per Tuuri's statement to Emil), "looks like she wasn't" (Hilja), "sounds like he wasn't" (Tapsa), and "few were" (Tuuri's statement, as well as the final death toll), though.

All this sounds true, now I found another question to ask, HOW do they know who is immune and who is not? Like, the general thing, how do they check the immunity? 

[Jitter]

I think it's a bit of hand waving medicine - Minna has said somewhere that it's a simple test, probably on a blood sample, but nothing further. I think she hasn't really given it any details in her head either.

One assumes it's safe for the non-immune to do the analysis, or maybe all babies have to be taken to a special clinic, or a testing patrol comes round yearly to do the tests. In the case of Finland, and likely also Norway and Iceland, it could be magical too, but this doesn't apply to the Swedes and Danish.

[Lallicat]

I don't know if I'm sleep-deprivingly reading too much into today's page, but it looks to me like Headless Bear genuinely cares about Mole Rat Bear; following them... for some reason or another but I'm going to assume it's to make sure Mole Rat Bear is okay. They seem to have retained that sibling bond despite being rashified, and it's just heartbreaking. I really hope they can rest peacefully soon.

[thorny]

Next page seems to reinforce that, Lallicat.

And Mama's on guard.

[wavewright62]

I'll have to go back and look it up, but haven't the bears returned to a base they use?  Is Onni being overly optimistic about them leaving the town?