Chapter 4: Page 28
In a lot of ways, this moment between Rathik and the other members of the Sratha-din (but particularly Hardin) has been brewing for a long time. We’ve known all the way back since chapter three, following the revelation of Hardin’s family history.
Rathik is fiercely protective of the Sratha family name–and to see his famous ancestor’s legacy co-opted by some warlord who wants to mask his family’s own sorry past put him on this long road to confrontation. Rathik is finally taking a stand against what he sees as merely the latest in a series of lies and withheld information.
The way he sees it, it’s not Hardin who the ermehn are fighting for–it’s Sratha. It’s the weight of the name, a hero of old, that Rathik gave to Hardin for the ermehn to rally around. And if Rathik disagrees with how it’s being used, does he not have a right to rescind it?
Compelling questions, to be sure! And I’m sure the following pages will lead to some very interesting developments on those fronts!
ALEX IS DOING ONLINE-CON!
That’s great! I hear you ask! But what the heck is Online-Con?
Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world and cancelled all sorts of public gatherings–comic book conventions included. In response to that, Mouse Guard creator David Petersen concocted a brilliant scheme: what if there was a convention of cool creator-driven panels that you could just WATCH on Twitch, for free?
And so Online-Con was formed! This year, Beyond the Western Deep‘s co-creator and writer, Alex Kain (that’s me! Hello!) will be doing a really cool panel on March 27th at 3pm Eastern Time. In a nutshell, I’ll be building a small 1-scene point-and-click Mouse Guard adventure game LIVE in front of the streaming audience while chatting about narrative/game design.
So, for those of you skimming:
ALEX IS MAKING A MOUSE GUARD GAME LIVE IN FRONT OF A STUDIO AUDIENCE ON MARCH 27th, 3PM EASTERN!
https://www.twitch.tv/davidpetersen
There are other awesome guests in the lineup as well, including Lackadaisy creator Tracy Butler (who contributed a glorious pin-up piece for our Volume 2 hardcover last year), Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai, and of course David Petersen himself as the emcee and moderator! There are a TON of great panels this year, so check out the schedule below:
The convention begins this upcoming Wednesday, March 24th, and will be running on David’s Twitch channel right here:
https://www.twitch.tv/davidpetersen
Please join us for the show! We’d love to see you there!
Saved, by the threat of pursuing canids! Powerful confrontation. Lovely rain effects!
Hmm, I wonder if Hardin will use the canids’ approach as an opportunity to conveniently rid himself of Rathik. He can’t rescind family name privileges if he ain’t around, right?
I’d hate to think that but I’m not sure if I could put it past him. I mean, we are talking about the same guy who rallied a village’s worth of ermehn to his cause by killing their main protector, then let the rest of them die as canon fodder. He’s the guy who betrayed Kenosh by launching his attack sooner than he let Kenosh think he was going to, not only tearing what’s left of Kenosh’s family apart but very nearly getting Quinlan and Dakkan killed (not least because Rhosyn shot Quin, which could easily have been fatal despite her apparent intention). He’s very much an ends-justify-the-means and by-any-means-necessary kind of person.
It just goes to show that just because it’s obvious who the bad guys are and you’re opposing them doesn’t automatically make you the good guys.
I love the tension between those two, it is very well portrayed!
That looks like so much fun! If only it was spring break this week, I am now back to classes :{[
I’m not so sure you want to know, “Or what?”, Rathik. After all, Hardin is holding a sword on you. That should be a big enough hint that even you can figure it out.