Chapter 2: Page 12
There was a lot of speculation last week on your part about just how Kenosh came to arrive at his stance on the Ermehn/Canid conflict. Some readers suggested that Kenosh was somehow directly involved in what happened. As this week’s page shows, the seeds of the conflict — at least for Sunsgrove — began well before Kenosh was born. It was a simpler time for the Lutren and the Tamian, and the world was a lot smaller back then, before the Canid arrived, before the Ermehn War, and before the signing of the Treaty of Cenolau.
One of the things Rachel and I have tried to do is to keep all the canon-specific dates and events contained to the comic itself. Part of the fun of Beyond the Western Deep is learning how the whole history of the kingdoms fits together over the last several hundred years, and how those events shaped the current conflict. To that end, the reader learns about the world along with our protagonists (and antagonists), and discussion hopefully ensues (just as it does between characters in the comic itself). You’ll all have your opinions, and because you get to see many different sides of the story as it unfolds, you’ll be able to judge for yourself who is right, who is more right, and whether history has been fairly written.
Ooo, history! Me like!
I could picture the shirtless otter in the first panel appearing in a very modern setting without looking out of place. On his way poolside to cruise for some chicks, perhaps, or heading out to catch some waves.
And speaking of otters, I can’t help but notice in the third panel that the council the Canid address seem to be all Lutren, in spite of the Tamian we see in panels one and four. Guess Sunsgrove, as Kenosh states, was far from fully integrated back then. Nice touch having a symbolic conch shell on the table before the presumed Lutren leader!
So, the Tamian and Lutren were hoodwinked into casting their lot with a less-than-truthful ally, hm? Why does that sound familiar? Will be very interested to find out more. Great work, as always!
The conch could conceivably also be used to designate a speaker and be passed on when someone else wants to speak like the conch from Lord of the Flies. It would cut down on squabbling and general shouting but also make it much easier to filibuster.
If it’s used to designate the speaker, it might be a shout-out to the Blackstone of the Guosim in the Redwall series. We can only hope that the Lutren council was better organized and less prone to squabbling than the guerilla shrews, though…
If the Lutren kingdom survive long enough for the Four Kingdoms to enter the modern era, their part of Sunsgrove would probably be a veritable surfer’s paradise, a mix between California and Florida, where it’s party, party, party all night long and surfing all day!
I saw the conch shell as being kind of like a gavel. Things get out of hand, the senior senate member gives it a honk. X)
Is that Quinlan’s grandfather in panel four?
I was wondering that myself, but he already looks old(er) and grizzled, and I gather from what Kenosh said that this conflict took place before any of the “current” characters or their immediate family would have been around. I’m sure Alex and/or Rachel will clarify the matter, either here or through the comic itself.
Some mistakes were made, a couple Ermehn villages lost their inhabitants, but the Lutren-Tamian gained an alliance with the Canid – an alliance they’re still keen on upholding even though they now know that it was made through deceit. That’s realpolitik for you!
On an unrelated note I just now noticed how the flashback panels have rounded edges, that’s a nice touch.
Now I’m all curious to see what exactly is the truth as Kenosh sees it. Historical subjectivity swings both ways, after all, and sure, maybe the Canid were the main aggressors, but they may not be entirely to blame; the Ermehn are likely not squeaky clean, either.
Well… my very first comment that comes out on the same day as the current page. Let’s see if I can join into the discussion…
It does indeed appear as if some of our speculations about Kenosh’s past last week were mistaken, and that the Ermehn-Canid war took place before he was born (though probably not too long before). This of course raises the question of whether he has a better view of what “really” happened than his son does, as he wasn’t around to witness it first-paw either. And if the account of the war was told to him second-paw, how come that he tends to sympathize with the Ermehn while Dakkan is much more on the Canid side? Maybe these questions will be answered by the comic soon enough.
As for the page itself, it’s a good one, like always. It’s lovely getting to see more of the history of the Four Kingdoms (should I use capital letters for that term or not?) and how the world looked in the decades before our current timeframe. In particular, it’s interesting to see the militaristic, disciplined and proud Canid presented as two ragged, dirty fugitives in simple clothing, The fact that they’re presenting their case directly to the Lutren council raises another question though: just how close to Sunsgrove did their conflict with the Ermehn take place. From the map and descriptions about geography given in the comic, their lands lie quite far to the north, so it seems strange that these two would’ve travelled all the way to Lutra, with one of them supporting the other, without waiting for their wounds to heal or to wash away the blood from whatever battle they were in. That they’re standing before an all-Lutren council seems odd too, given that Lutra lies several days south of the Tamian lands where they could’ve presented their case instead. Maybe the Ermehn once possessed a navy and they’ve stepped ashore from a sea battle? Then again, maybe the panels are meant to be symbolic more than anything else.
I agree with PB&J that it’s unlikely the fault for the conflict rested entirely with Canid. These matter are complex and it’s rare that one side is entirely to blame. That raises another question: where did the Canid come from? Didn’t they have any kingdom before the war, and lived as a dispossesed people just like the Ermehn do? Did they live with the Vulpen? If any of that’s the case, it is mighty impressive of them to have been able to go from that to being the mightiest nation and most powerful military force in the world in a couple of decades, regardless of how ruthlessly they achieved it.
Keen eye on the geographical observation! These two probably did attempt to find Terria first, but the Tamian were extremely insular then, and the details were fuzzy. Then there’s the fact that the forest itself isn’t exactly a hospitable place (it’s likely the red one wasn’t injured when they were sent out). The long western beach isn’t free of dangers either, but it beats near-death experiences with giant centipedes.
Lutra needed some screen (panel?) time anyway, heh. It’s a pretty cool place.
Ah, that does make sense.
Besides, any excuse to give Lutra some panel time in the comic is fine with me ^_^
I would still call it screen time . . . we are all watching this on our computers, after all. :)
“…as he wasn’t around to witness it first-paw either. And if the account of the war was told to him second-paw…”
Argh, my pedant-sense is tingling!
Blame Highwing for that. You have no idea how pedantic he can be about such things ^_^
The English language and I have a working relationship; I am one of those people who feel strongly about punctuation. Someone changing perfectly fine idioms just because they’re talking about anthropomorphic animals makes my teeth ache – it sounds so unbearably twee.
I cringed a bit, to be honest. Reading these comments now makes me laugh, however.
(Not sure how relevant this is now but…) It could have all been a ruse by the Canid. Dress up two soldiers to look like they’d been a serious battle, so that when they show up asking for help from two races that know nothing about them-and that they likely know very little about either, the Canid don’t look like hostile towards the Lutren and Tamian, and it makes their tale all the more convincing.
If f there were no true ‘kingdoms’ before this treaty of Cenlau mabye the canid an ermehn lived in the same general geographic area (like the tamien and lutren do now) and the former decided to oust the latter.
The above was supposed to be a reply to Samadhir. Silly comments system.
Since backround disscussion is quite popular in these comment sections, which is extremelly cool, I do feel like pointing out that in this comic, the characters’ tails seem to merely hang around, untouched by any kind of decorations and indeed, little embellishing marks, even in the Ermehn.
I did wonder at some point in my life “How would the world be if humans had tails, or other appendages that we don’t have, for that matter? How would influence art, culture, prose, aesthetic standards, and poetry, among other things?” It comes as let down that a world that has been under development for years didn’t ask that question. The rest of the details in the comic are well thought yet relatable enough, nonetheless.
I may be crazy, but is that a female Lutren in panel four?
Time for me to hop into the background here, since everyone else has the main serious stuff covered. Thanks for being the verbose one today, Samadir, so I don’t have to! (Take that comment with fondness, by the way.)
I’m a bit surprised that the Lutren in particular don’t have any tail rings or tail tattoos, since their tails have actual substance instead of being, y’know, balls of floof attached to their bodies that wag or bristle or tuck between legs at times. Looking at the Canid, Ermehn, Polcan, Vulpen, and Felis here. The Tamian have lively tails that stand up, so I suppose vainer ones might tie tassels or things on– assuming they’re not involved with Tesque or Treewalker hunting, because then that’s an awful idea.
Yes, that’s a female soldier. Whoo, Lutren ladies!
Also, on the subject of tails, has any poor scholar of Gair or Felis been subjected to the whole “tie tin cans/rattly things to a cat’s tail” thing by a fellow feline? And do they react the same way?
I haven’t forgotten tail adornment, or given it little thought. But you’re right – it hasn’t been too prominent up to this point. A couple characters were concepted with a sort of tail-bandanna (Crim, Felis bandit) but I decided against both in the final version – it looked weird. The Ermehn tribe Hardin took over had a tail ring among their tattoos.
I just don’t see it happening a whole lot, honestly. “Tattoos” (aka dye jobs) absolutely, but not so much jewelry, scarves, etc. The Sungrove races need their tails in their natural environment, so they’ll want as little surface clutter as possible. And for all races, the fact that tails are flexible all the way down is going to be a serious bother. That and fur direction is likely going to make things ride down constantly unless they’re tied on really tight, and I can’t imagine that’d be comfortable. Humans don’t wear much stuff directly on their joints due to this problem – even rings are placed on straight sections of bone.
And for the Lutren, the taper of their tails makes them even less suited to that kind of stuff.
I can imagine that after the Sunsgrovers found out that they’d been tricked they were PISSED.
I believe they were more like “ooooh, snap!”
“Aw, man, you mean we get no brownie points?”
well that sucks. no wonder the ermine hate everyone. but it was stupid of them to believe everything they heard from strangers. as the saying goes however, ‘all warfare is based on deception’.