Chapter 3: Page 92
IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN! Where Alex reminds you to please vote (hopefully for Beyond the Western Deep) in this year’s RINGO AWARDS! Just hit the link here if you haven’t and fill out your ballot! Thank you to everyone who’s voted already, and please spread the word any way you can to friends and family to get out the vote!
There, see? Tosch was just helping Sigrid out because she was, and I quote, “SO INTERESTED” in the canid war campaign! Nothing to read into that. Nothing whatsoever!
This is also the first time we’ve heard about the canid alliance with the polcan, but I wouldn’t read too much into that. I’m sure by “polcan allies” he just means that they go on picnics every once in a while, have a nice brunch, order up some pancakes, that sort of thing.
Oh, I guess there’s also a planned attack on Terria? Details!
As you might have noticed, we’ve finally retired our Backerkit pre-order store, as our business with Make That Thing begins to wind down following the end of the Kickstarter campaign. If you’re interested in getting a book, pins, prints, etc and weren’t able to, you’ll be able to find me and Rachel at San Diego Comic Con this July 18th-21st!
If you aren’t able to make it to Comic Con, we’re going to be looking into possible online store solutions. If nothing else, we’re looking into how we’ll work prior volumes into our inevitable Kickstarter for Beyond the Western Deep: Volume 2!
For guest art this week, I wanted to share this absolutely incredible piece from new community member Shay!
Look at that! JUST LOOK AT IT! It looks like somebody flipped on Netflix, scrolled over to “NEW IN ANIMATED” and started watching some cool new series called Beyond the Western Deep (with subtitles on, of course).
Shay, we absolutely love this piece! Your style really sells the animated quality of our characters, and we look forward to seeing more work from you in the future. We’ve already saved out a few of your other pieces from the Discord for future pages, so we’re excited to share those in the coming weeks as well. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Well, this was pretty major.
My first reaction was, “Well, surely he doesn’t mean ALL the polcan are allied with the canid, just some factions, right? Right?” But then he mentions the attack on Terria, led by a CAPTAIN and his FLEET, and this is no mere minor faction, it seems.
Like I said, major. Nice twist, Alex. And now I can fully see how the entirety of “BWD” could well fill out 7-8 chapters. Epic!
Oh, and congrats to Shay on his/her debut Guest Art showing, and a fine one it is! I already Salmon’d it on Discord when you first shared it, and if I could slap another Salmon at it here, I would!
I had no idea the Polcan and Canid were allies at all! The concept just sounds alien to me…but boy, that escalated faster than I thought!
1000 points to whichever very prescient member of the Salmon Party suggested the canid were in league with (at least some of) the polcan!
You may redeem your points at your nearest BtWD comments section.
Also I think Peregrine means something like “foreigner” which is a pretty good name for a port town.
It means “traveler”. It’s the classical form (closer to the original Latin) of “pilgrim”.
I have to wonder, though, is this a general polcan-canid alliance? Obviously it’s not all polcan: Nessa is full of unaffiliated members of species that “should” hate each other, Rook being just one example. But I’m wondering to what extent the pirates, of whom we’ve seen little and heard a bit more, are affiliated with each other–and Aisling.
What I’m really getting at here is, if the polcan in general have been allied with the canid all along, then I’m inclined to wonder if the polcan “pirates” that give Lutra so much trouble are actually not pirates but canid-backed privateers or even full-fledged polcan military acting to keep Sunsgrove from getting powerful enough to stand up to Aisling.
Unless Tosch has only just now reached this arrangement with the polcan fleet captain (and this entire joint operation is way too slickly organised for that to be likely) then I think you are exactly correct.
If so this means Aisling (or some faction thereof) has been waging a secret proxy war against Sunsgrove for who knows how long and absolutely nobody found out about it.
Ooh.
How very Metal Gear Solid.
It makes perfect sense from a polcan point of view. A polcan captain without a country probably has little recourse but to raid. Why not accept a canid letter of marque and get paid coming and going?
I’m beginning to harbour the distinct impression that Tosch is really terrible person.
I knew it! I called this, years ago! Woo Polcans!
Also it’s nice to see that Sigrid continues to show up in the story, I like her and want to know more about her character.
1000 points!
Concur about Sigrid. I wonder if her re-assignment means that Tosch trusts her to get the job done despite her recent failure or if this is the Dunian equivalent of being “sent to the Russian front”?
Thankfully it’s an unwritten rule of the squad based rpg that the protagonist will eventually be able to recruit one of the enemy race. Hopefully Sigrid will live long enough to join Quinlan along with probable future allies “The Last Good Cop”, “Scientist who did a Terrible Thing” and “Artificial Construct with a Soul”.
“Artificial Construct with a Soul” Oh you mean Kenosh? :)
Tosch has been steadily growing more irritated with Sigrid in the last few pages and she is not exactly jumping with joy when receiving her new orders, so I think she is being handed a bum assignment. Of course I’m happy that this opens up a possibility that she teams up with Quin and Dakkan–or even the Sunspiders!
*Sandspiders
Sandpipers?
This is very interesting. I was wondering where the Polcan were operating out of if they had no established territory, outside of perhaps the “Uncharted Lands”….
That being said, definitely getting a disturbing “Anschluss” vibe from the Canid. We’ve know for quite a while how militaristic they are, but now I’m curious about the bigger power games going on… If they’re supporting and encouraging the Polcan’s hostile action against the Lutren, then technically that provides Casus Belli (Just War) cause for Sunsgrove. Furthermore, while I know the assassination of his brother is a major diplomatic breech and could be seen as an act of war, the fact he doesn’t appear to be interested in actually investigating it concerns me. Almost as if we was intentionally looking for a conflict.
Phew! Just spent the week binge reading the whole comic in my free time to get caught up (yes, I just discovered this last Saturday). It’s been a great journey so far though. Awesome stories set in a awesomely build world!
Anyways, General Tosch’s very specific justifications for moving against Sunsgrove definitely smells of a long developed plan that was just waiting for a reason. Adding these Polcan allies to the mix certainly makes it seem like Aisling, or at least its generals, has been stacking its cards for an advantage in just such an eventuality. Poor Sigrid doesn’t seem like where things are headed either, though I have a feeling ‘no’ isn’t really one of her options.
Wow! I’m finally all caught up!
To be honest, I quite like that Commander person.