Yay, Friday update!
Thank you all so much for all the birthday wishes! 
Being mid-week I didn’t get to do much to celebrate, but cake and ice cream were indeed had (alas, no cookies). Both were chocolate.
Galaxion
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But the name ‘Plague’ isn’t nearly as catchy as their real name.
Only five?? Eep.
Very interesting. Carl doesn’t mention what became of the crew they “lost”. Since, if memory serves, the only graves we’ve seen are from the original crash, this implies they were taken, not killed on sight. Thus, even Carl doesn’t really know their fate. As such, they could still be alive (much doubt to their happiness, but they’d be alive).
Oh, and you’ve run into the one problem with using non-English lettering for the name of a people: you have to use it every time they’re mentioned. Carl said that “orehu” was “close enough” and, as such, he wouldn’t be pronouncing it that way. It’s perfectly fine for the Galaxion crew to use the English pronunciation (with one exception of course
), but since Carl can pronounce it properly, he would.
That’s true, Carl would use the proper pronunciation. And so should Vessa. But it just doesn’t make for a very smooth reading experience! So I chose to stick to the English transliteration. I suppose I could use that comic book shorthand for foreign language where you write something like {Oheru} (but with the “< " and ">” signs, which I can’t seem to use here because they get caught in the html), to remind everyone without making it a stumbling block. Is that a better idea?
I think it’s easier on the eyes to just leave it as it is here (bolded + italics to me already implies non-English a bit). Although Carl can pronounce it right, the reader should just assume that he is pronouncing it properly and we’re seeing it as “Orehu” because lots of illegible squiggles make for confusing reading. :p
Actually bold and italics simply mean the speaker is somehow emphasizing the word either in volume or in the way it’s being said (usually, respectively). I agree with Tara that the use of either “” or brackets are a good means of seeing the English translation of a foreign language (e.g. “[The People]“), though that’s usually meant for complete sentences rather than individual words.
My big problem is consistency: if we’re not going to be using the squiggles from now on, why bother with it in the first place? Comics almost never use two different writings for the same word because it’s simply too confusing. The usual method of getting around this is for the speaker to use the squiggles, say it’s English translation, and then use the English word from then on. This is actually contrary to what we really do: unless the listener is physically unable to pronounce the word (e.g. alien language), the speaker will usually simply use the new word since the listener now knows its meaning. However, this is the trick often used.
I do think it would be acceptable to have a footnote that says something like “{squiggles} will be represented by Orehu for now on” (note that you have to make something of the word different to represent the slight difference in pronunciation). This would allow Tara her fun with the squiggles at first and then give the reader the heads up about the change in “font”.
Test. < >
<snicker> I believe it’s spelled “{Orehu}”, not “{Oheru}”.
BTW, you can get around the html problem by using ampersand “lt” semicolon and ampersand “gt” semicolon (“<” and “>” unless it translates within the quotes).
A phonetic might be more effective, since that would be how it was perceived, no matter if it was intelligible or not.
The first encounter with the Orehu would be just as effective if they were speaking “gibberish”- “Ata! Ata a nu’ptupo!”
Later on, when they talk to Carl would be when the Squiggles could be used, like someone explaining Arabic or Sanskrit.
In any case, not being able to understand what they say is the point, but if at least you can hear what they’re saying even if it doesn’t make any sense it would still be more realistic.
Finally, an answer! Only not the kind of answer Scavina was looking for. It sound like things are only going to get worse from here. Now I see why Carl didn’t want to tell them the bad news.
Space zombies, eh? Those are the WORST kind of zombies.
Except, they were armed with RAKES. So not too threatening, really— A few guys with RAKES managed to take out the whole crew?
So we have guys with RAKES (gardeners?) and Tunnel dwellers……. could it be that Karl has actually joined the bad guys? If the rest of the Galaxion crowd comes down, will they join the Rake people (After all, if the Morlocks kidnapped the advance team, and the rake-people (sorry… plague…) offer to help get them back……Lots of fun and adventure should result!
Because getting involved in an unclear dispute on a strange planet seems to come with all sorts of problems and mix-ups…. I can’t wait!
This is why the Ilxyk are hated and feared as a plague by the Orehu – because they practice the unspeakable dark art of Lorn Gah D’n Ning.
It is said they build their dwellings surrounded with moats of deadly green tendrils, to the upkeep of which they will sacrifice many a Freeday. They fashion cruel rotating many-bladed implements with which, every quarter-moon, they shave slivers from the green moat, keeping it in a perpetual state of fury and hostility. They drench it with toxic chemicals and remove from it every other lifeform. Around the moat they cause to be added infestations of bilious sporulating genitalia, hideous in their vile chromatic shrieks, an outrage to the visual spectrum from infrared to ultraviolet.
At night they succumb to the radiations of their Thought-Synchrotroller Box, filling their minds with the incanted Si’ Tcoms of Dreaded Su Bur Bi Ar. By day they patrol the green moats, watching for a stranger to trespass, upon which they lurch, rake in hand, wailing the ancient blood-freezing war-cry:
“Gah toff mah lorn!”
This is the hell the Ilxyk brought to our planet, and will bring to yours.
Frankly I’d use something bigger than nuking the site from orbit, but we’re all out of nova bombs.
Still the best comment here.
That’s a *some* hostile environment! But I imagine the Orehu must have devised some method of protection against the creepy rake people (perhaps the reason for the subterranean abode), so why didn’t the crash survivours have the common sense to stick with them and stay safe? Or are the {enter-squiggle-here} a relatively new threat to the Orehu as well, that they don’t have adequate countermeasures themselves?
@Nate: That. Was. Hilarious. I have rarely witnessed so much thought put into what is, essentially, utter nonsense. Great stuff, man.
Ok.. here’s the thing…. they went from hundred down to FIVE in a year? Why didn’t they flee after the first couple got taken?
If the crew is ‘going native’ and there are two warring tribes, I’d expect Karl to end up on the wrong one, based on what I’ve already seen.
Of course, there is the question: Why did the creepy rake people attack? After all, they could have jabbered and motioned to get the Galaxion folk to follow them… of course, the Morlocks…er…Orehu.. seemed pretty forceful too.
Basically, this situation looks WAY to complex to trust Karl’s appraisal.
(BTW— is this the place where I then segue into a rant about how your totally free webcomic of awesomeness is crimping my style by NOT being a daily so I have to wait for the next episode?
I mean, why are you eating and sleeping? We need to know what’s HAPPENING!)
er…. I mean… thank you for making this! I’ll have to buy the book when the kids are older so they can read it straight through!
No, it would take more than a couple of disappearances before “run away and hide” would kick in. The crew are more advanced technologically (although a lot of their tech doesn’t work right now; the attitude would still be there) and they’re military to boot. Once the loses mounted, their first instinct would be to find an easily defensible location (like, say, the ship?) to hole up in. Alas, the disadvantage of the ship is the need to get food and water.
The reason it got down to five is because it can be very difficult to tell who are the “good guys” in this case. Carl simply made a choice. One would think that if these were the “bad guys” then Carl wouldn’t have survived this long (granted he could be using his skills to help them and, unknowingly, keeping himself alive).
OTOH, I’m pretty sure the rake people are the bad guys. If they were, they would be better skilled in combat (they’d have to be to take the Hiawatha crew) and they would probably have more than just rakes with them. No, their “attack first” policy impresses me as their reaction to the same thing happening to them that was happening to the crew. I’m beginning to think there might be a mysterious third party involved. If the Orehu didn’t know of that party, they would obviously blame the other people for their troubles (after all, they’re hiding, too).
Grr. Sorry, I meant that to be “aren’t the bad guys”. Sorry about that.
The rake people might be crazies. These separate groups could be the result of some event which rendered one group (Orehu) to be constantly under attack by the other (rake people). Obviously there has been some sort of downfall. The Orehu live in some kind of underground installation connected with a subway system that we have not seen in use. We have not seen any buildings or cities on the surface of the planet…..because…..(????)
We don’t know enough about the situation to label anyone as bad or good yet, but this is also too black and white to be realistic. It might be a very complex situation in which all parties are simply trying to survive.
1) When you mention the word “plague”, I immediately thought of Zoey, Bill, Francis, and Louis.
2) “By the end of the first year…” That is so ominous. Just how many years have passed between the Hiawatha jump and the Galaxion jump? If it’s ten years (nice round number) then there could be a discrepancy between that and how long Carl has been on planet. (I would check, but I’m too sleepy right now.)
On that same note, maybe Carl is the only one left… !