Detroit explains the knowledge of new tech that Marta was trying to learn more about from Selkie and Todd. If memory serves (and it often doesn’t) she works for one of the big auto companies.
My husband, a Wisconsinite, looking over my shoulder: “We will gladly welcome the Sarnothi if they will emerge dramatically from Lake Superior, chase Michigan out of the Upper Peninsula, and give it back to Wisconsin.”
(For backstory, Michigan and Ohio almost came to civil war over who would control Toledo. The federal government stepped in, made Michigan give Toledo to Ohio, and gave them the UP as compensation. But it originally belonged to Wisconsin, and really has no reason to be part of Michigan. Why Michigan WANTED Toledo, no one knows…)
Toledo’s well positioned to be a semi-major port on the Great Lakes, and it was for many years, along with the farmland in the surrounding strip. The state of Ohio and the territory of Michigan saw the financial opportunity. Non-state territories had their boundaries redrawn quite a bit as they moved to statehood, so the rest of the UP going to Michigan as part of becoming a state and stopping the bickering was seen as all good.
(For more detailed backstory, look up the Toledo War. It’s a doozy.)
Going back to how Then kept some information from the parents at the assembly where the refugee Sarnothi kids were first introduced, I don’t think he’s learned that the fastest way to make humans distrust you is for them to find out that you’ve been keeping secrets from them. Makes you seem untrustworthy… mostly because you’re betraying their trust with a lie of omission. Because, in this case, they WILL find out eventually, and the longer you kept them in the dark, the worse it looks.
I think we have hit the crux of the reason for the oath. He doesn’t want ANYONE to know that there are Sarnothi in Detroit, Cambridge, or Palo Alto, lest the Dictator finds out and targets those Sarnothi.
Hey, unrelated to the page today, but I just learned that horseshoe crabs have blue blood due to it being based in copper instead of iron and I’m trying to recall if we’ve established the color of Sarnothi blood, ‘cuz blue blood would be neat.
Sadly, while typing this, I think I recall blood when Pants attacked the rancher’s son, so dang, so much for that idea.
As a Wisconsinite, I’m glad to see my state being used so prominently in fiction. Even if we’re only the publicly-known face of Sarnothi refugee relocation and there are actually several other spots they’ve gone to lay low, it’s nice to be included.
I’m going to assume that Echos can do some kind of illusion stuff. Otherwise, everyone would notice fish-people. Nobody bought into that “Selkie is just a weird human,” I’m sure.
It’s kind of funny to me that Then specifically points out ‘the human fear of change’ as if it’s a trait unique to humanity, when the sarnothi had a protracted civil war over whether they should stick to a status quo or not. Like, Then isn’t wrong about humanity but I don’t think fear of or resistance to change is unheard of among the sarnothi, either 😛
Ah. Then plays the very long game to avoid humanity’s unfortunate destroy all that is different tendencies
Hard for a green skinned people to blend in, but Then seems good at his job.
Machiavelli with gills!
Now that you mention it, there was this one guy when I was working in Palo Alto…
Detroit explains the knowledge of new tech that Marta was trying to learn more about from Selkie and Todd. If memory serves (and it often doesn’t) she works for one of the big auto companies.
My husband, a Wisconsinite, looking over my shoulder: “We will gladly welcome the Sarnothi if they will emerge dramatically from Lake Superior, chase Michigan out of the Upper Peninsula, and give it back to Wisconsin.”
(For backstory, Michigan and Ohio almost came to civil war over who would control Toledo. The federal government stepped in, made Michigan give Toledo to Ohio, and gave them the UP as compensation. But it originally belonged to Wisconsin, and really has no reason to be part of Michigan. Why Michigan WANTED Toledo, no one knows…)
Toledo’s well positioned to be a semi-major port on the Great Lakes, and it was for many years, along with the farmland in the surrounding strip. The state of Ohio and the territory of Michigan saw the financial opportunity. Non-state territories had their boundaries redrawn quite a bit as they moved to statehood, so the rest of the UP going to Michigan as part of becoming a state and stopping the bickering was seen as all good.
(For more detailed backstory, look up the Toledo War. It’s a doozy.)
I thought it was because of the hot dogs. (Klinger, on M*A*S*H would go ON about the hot dogs in Toledo.)
Hey Wisconsin cities used to be known for things… and stuff!
Going back to how Then kept some information from the parents at the assembly where the refugee Sarnothi kids were first introduced, I don’t think he’s learned that the fastest way to make humans distrust you is for them to find out that you’ve been keeping secrets from them. Makes you seem untrustworthy… mostly because you’re betraying their trust with a lie of omission. Because, in this case, they WILL find out eventually, and the longer you kept them in the dark, the worse it looks.
I do wonder who “my people” is reffering to in this case. The FBI, or some other group?
I think we have hit the crux of the reason for the oath. He doesn’t want ANYONE to know that there are Sarnothi in Detroit, Cambridge, or Palo Alto, lest the Dictator finds out and targets those Sarnothi.
Hey, unrelated to the page today, but I just learned that horseshoe crabs have blue blood due to it being based in copper instead of iron and I’m trying to recall if we’ve established the color of Sarnothi blood, ‘cuz blue blood would be neat.
Sadly, while typing this, I think I recall blood when Pants attacked the rancher’s son, so dang, so much for that idea.
The blood in https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie974/ looks kinda blue to me.
That’s Dave’s blood from the eel bite. I don’t think we’ve seen any Sarnothi blood yet.
As a Wisconsinite, I’m glad to see my state being used so prominently in fiction. Even if we’re only the publicly-known face of Sarnothi refugee relocation and there are actually several other spots they’ve gone to lay low, it’s nice to be included.
I’m going to assume that Echos can do some kind of illusion stuff. Otherwise, everyone would notice fish-people. Nobody bought into that “Selkie is just a weird human,” I’m sure.
It’s kind of funny to me that Then specifically points out ‘the human fear of change’ as if it’s a trait unique to humanity, when the sarnothi had a protracted civil war over whether they should stick to a status quo or not. Like, Then isn’t wrong about humanity but I don’t think fear of or resistance to change is unheard of among the sarnothi, either 😛