Before I comment on Brown’s quote about the citizens having to live with the fallout have we been told anything about the Political system of Selkies people?
This is the closest I remember, quoted from above: At the round table you can see the Voice (a leadership position which leads in-Clan matters) of the Mor’Kama, Tel’Dora, Jin’Sorai, and Sar’Teri (clockwise from top).
that’s exactly the kind of situation where political refugees come into play and how they are being handled in the normal world, it’s the perfect backdrop for this story and why it’s imperative that they have an ally like brown
Whats interesting and posibily confusing here is that for sarnothi clan is their equivalent of race/nationality but also faction/political party. So it’s important for Todd and Selkie to learn distinquish between the two.
I originally thought they were in the hallway. I’m guessing that Agent Brown isn’t going to open the kimono in public though.
I am impressed that he’s willing to tell them some things– although Todd should have clearance in another year or two, (yes, I’ve gone through the process, that’s what it takes) telling Selkie about it could probably get Agent Brown in trouble.
Actually, Todd *does* have clearance. Brown gave him a whole envelope of information… that I don’t think Todd has actually gotten around to reading yet, which is why Agent Brown gives him a little bit of flak a few pages back.
Actually, if this comic is still in 2010 it is possible that Todd managed to get fast tracked into at least an interim Top Secret fairly quick. Seeing as they more or less did the full scope background investigation for him to adopt Selkie anyways, he would just would have needed to be adjudicated for at least a limited to need to know information that would be relative/impact Selkie. Plus and also there are ways around the whole “need to know” and ways to tell people classified information without actually telling them the information that is classified. It’s all about the wording and sentence structures and foot notes/references. Like that game of you have to move these things from one side to the other but this can’t be left a lone and these things combined would be destructive.
I’m also impressed with David using this to put a face on the Sar’Teri– not all of them are going to be Jin’Sorai stomping warriors. Even the Klingons have lawyers, and one would assume, janitors.
No, the Federation blueprints show that there’s insufficient toilet facilities on their ships. The glorious Klingon empire knows they must be the opposite of the Federation if they’re to succeed. EVERY seat is a toilet!
I think they do, actually, have the equivalent of janitors. Though I think those are seen more as ‘man servant’/butler/house servant type jobs where the Klingon janitor in question is bound to a House/family. I don’t think their war ships or academies would have janitors though. That’s what the lowest rank/newest privates and those who are on the sh*t list of shame details are for honestly. Nothing motivates a person to get promoted faster or to not cause trouble than being put on bathroom cleaning detail for a bunch of combat MOS/Infantry guys in the field. Just saying…..
Children can be impressively penetrating in using innocuous questions to find out what they really want to learn.
I *think* Selkie just tested and found that she can continue to hope her Mother is alive -and hope, after all, remains one of the best of things.
If I’m wrong – well, my students know that wouldn’t be the first (100th) time for me, and she’s a tough kid.
Thats not really fair, Trump got elected and did not even get majority. Meanwhile my country has actuall facists make it into parlament – of course I didn’t vote dor them, but that’s democracy. It actually sucks as a system of government but we got nothing better that works.
Well, you _could_ argue that the people in america who didn’t vote for Trump, didn’t do anything to change the system so he couldn’t get elected without majority vote…. I mean, they had the exact same issue with George Bush Jr. so they’ve had more than 10 years to try and change the system.. And I haven’t heard about any significant number of people there actually trying. I’m very worried about the general political state of the world right now, but when these are the people elected, it is sort of our own fault… That said, we know next to nothing about the political landscape of Selkie’s people, so I’ll refrain from judging them 🙂
Changing the system is much harder than you make it sound, and outside of a few lucky individuals in position of power most of us are powerless to do anything. Even one individual vote is pretty much meaningless when taken in a larger context.
And it’s that kind of thinking that’s the problem. Trump is only the latest in a long history of inaction. Real change doesn’t happen from the top down but from the bottom up. You’re in this situation because decades ago the Right focused on the local elections: Elections that put anti-science people is charge of the school boards. Elections that put partisans in charge of election boards (look up “gerrymandering”). Elections that put crooks in the offices of the state attorney generals.
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” But unfortunately “The price of eternal vigilance is indifference.” The lesson to learn from this is never let ANY election pass without YOUR vote.
So lets say some random Joe is not happy with the state of things. He has been dutifully voting for dems all his life and did this time too – how is it his fault? What else do you think he should have done?
Become an activist and get more people off their butts.
Thanks to Trump millions of your countrymen have already figure that one out: It’s called the Indivisible movement.
Ok I missed where you said your “country has actuall facists make it into parlament” which means you’re not an American. So I don’t really know what your situation is, but if all else fails you could still ‘vote with your feet’ and move to somewhere more to your liking.
Now back to the American situation: Like I said The Americans are “in this situation because decades ago the Right focused on the local elections.” The left has to take a similarly long term approach. Sure getting Trump impreached would only get Pence in power but that’s only a problem for 4 years. It’s what happens after that where there is hope.
To an extent this is true, however there are systematic issues that limit the amount of change that can be done even with highly engaged populations. Gerrymandering for example that virtually gaurentees that certain politicians will always win an election. Also the “first-past-the-post” voting system all but ensures a two party pluarlity system. In both cases practically the only way to change it is to convince the people who benefit from it to do so, a highly unlikely event.
The United States is a union of federalism states not one state so a popular vote wouldn’t really work here. That said, hillary won the popular vote in California where the voting there us highly suspect, just look at what happened with Clinton vs sanders in that state. Furthermore, people voted for Trump because they are sick of corrupt, career politicians running the country. If you want to know what the average person who voted for Trump is like, think of Rick from Rick and Marty.
It is very hard for people to change the system anyway because the government will do anything to stay in power, such as using a corrupt press to mislead the people. It is only when the corruption reaches the highest levels that people demand change. There was a peak in that corruption in the last few years.
Not really surprised that Selkie isn’t the last of her clan. One big thing you pick up learning about history’s atrocities is how deliberate and organized an ethnic cleansing attempt has to be to result in genocide rather than a forced displacement and exile. From what’s been mentioned so far (the elimination of a clan power center of some sort), I think the most likely status of the Jin’sorai is that of Russian Whites (anti-Bolshevists, not an ethnic group).
It sounds like the Sar’teri are in a similar position to Eritreans: represented by an intensely despised government and thus forced to flee far enough away that nobody has any knowledge of the matter (most Eritrean refugees go for Israel).
Actually, I should apologize. That was written in heat of anger and not fully reading your post. I am very sorry. I actually do agree with you. My example is of something that was deliberate an organized.
My original build was 4, 4, 1, 10, 10, 10, 1, but 3, New Vegas, and 4 didn’t really award that kind of thing any more.
Also, I really hope Black Isle / Obsidian gets to make the next game. 4 was so incredibly lacklustre. Made 3’s story seem halfway decent, though.
Your mistake was playing a bethesda game for the story. 🙂 Fallout 4 is fun if you just run around exploring and tearing stuff up with your dog and an explosive minigun.
Am I weird for liking the story line for Fallout 3? I enjoyed it! And it was sort of my entry point for FPS… I mean, I played Metroid Prime for the GameCube, and that is a first person shooter, but it played more like a traditional Metroid game from a first person perspective, as opposed to an actual FPS… In my humble, filthy casual opinion.
It’s not necessarily weird, but as a long-time fan of the Fallout series, 3 was a HUGE departure from the core narrative hook of 1, 2, and Tactics; the player has control of their character’s motivations. 3 instead imposed its own emotional motivation factors, which were totally incongruous with how you could actually choose to play the game. ie: I didn’t give two shits about the player-character’s father, and actually tried to actively avoid the main storyline so I could just have fun in the Capital Wasteland. However, all dialogue options during the reunion implied my character couldn’t think of anything but dearest daddy the whole time. Hence the gameplay-narrative break. 4 was far, FAR worse in this regard, largely due to the inclusion of a speaking player-character.
Also of note; Fallout 3 being more of a First Person Shooter than the Roleplaying Game its predecessors were may have made it more accessible from a marketing standpoint. New Vegas demonstrated that it was possible to still be first-person and shooty, without losing anything in the roleplaying department. Ironically, neither Metroid Prime nor Fallout 3/New Vegas would be considered “true” First Person Shooters by fans of that genre. While they are games with first-person visual perspectives in which you can shoot, they’re quite a departure from combat-focused Doom / Halo / CoD, which purists would refer to as “actual FPSs.”
REALLY? Finally you show a cat where I notice it? TSK TSK TSK after all these years of me leaving the link to your comic untouched in the “archives” folder, it’s only been 11 years since I bookmarked your comic and moved on to other things. If you are going to give me high quality free entertainment then get on about it and show the cat!
Before I comment on Brown’s quote about the citizens having to live with the fallout have we been told anything about the Political system of Selkies people?
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie406/
This is the closest I remember, quoted from above: At the round table you can see the Voice (a leadership position which leads in-Clan matters) of the Mor’Kama, Tel’Dora, Jin’Sorai, and Sar’Teri (clockwise from top).
So besides the fact the leaders of the 4 clans are the ones in charge we know nothing of how one becomes a clan leader?
Ok…at least she isn’t the last. But the way they’re living sounds very,very bad. DX
Yes they’re good people. But Agent Brown,you do realize that doesn’t make the fear go away. Their former clan is still something to be afraid of. DX
that’s exactly the kind of situation where political refugees come into play and how they are being handled in the normal world, it’s the perfect backdrop for this story and why it’s imperative that they have an ally like brown
its great world building all aroun
Whats interesting and posibily confusing here is that for sarnothi clan is their equivalent of race/nationality but also faction/political party. So it’s important for Todd and Selkie to learn distinquish between the two.
Agent Brown is officially one of my favorite characters.
His facial expressions are beautifully evocative, well done.
I originally thought they were in the hallway. I’m guessing that Agent Brown isn’t going to open the kimono in public though.
I am impressed that he’s willing to tell them some things– although Todd should have clearance in another year or two, (yes, I’ve gone through the process, that’s what it takes) telling Selkie about it could probably get Agent Brown in trouble.
Actually, Todd *does* have clearance. Brown gave him a whole envelope of information… that I don’t think Todd has actually gotten around to reading yet, which is why Agent Brown gives him a little bit of flak a few pages back.
Actually, if this comic is still in 2010 it is possible that Todd managed to get fast tracked into at least an interim Top Secret fairly quick. Seeing as they more or less did the full scope background investigation for him to adopt Selkie anyways, he would just would have needed to be adjudicated for at least a limited to need to know information that would be relative/impact Selkie. Plus and also there are ways around the whole “need to know” and ways to tell people classified information without actually telling them the information that is classified. It’s all about the wording and sentence structures and foot notes/references. Like that game of you have to move these things from one side to the other but this can’t be left a lone and these things combined would be destructive.
I’m also impressed with David using this to put a face on the Sar’Teri– not all of them are going to be Jin’Sorai stomping warriors. Even the Klingons have lawyers, and one would assume, janitors.
I dunno…
Have you ever *seen* the inside of a Klingon ship?! Klingons are about the Glory of War, not cleaning up after it.
Great, now you all are making me think of a Klingon wearing janitor scrubs picking up garbage with one of those pokey sticks. *snicker*
Now I’m just imagining a Klingon level for Viscera Cleanup Detail…
There’s still the honorable Klingon war against the backed up toilets to deal with.
Silly, Klingons build their starships WITHOUT bathrooms, it makes them nastier!
No, the Federation blueprints show that there’s insufficient toilet facilities on their ships. The glorious Klingon empire knows they must be the opposite of the Federation if they’re to succeed. EVERY seat is a toilet!
This is funnier because the original Enterprise didn’t have bathrooms – even on the blueprints.
No need. Star Trek was in the mid-to-late 60s.
Nobody used the toilet on tv until Archie Bunker, in 1972.
I think they do, actually, have the equivalent of janitors. Though I think those are seen more as ‘man servant’/butler/house servant type jobs where the Klingon janitor in question is bound to a House/family. I don’t think their war ships or academies would have janitors though. That’s what the lowest rank/newest privates and those who are on the sh*t list of shame details are for honestly. Nothing motivates a person to get promoted faster or to not cause trouble than being put on bathroom cleaning detail for a bunch of combat MOS/Infantry guys in the field. Just saying…..
Must be from the builder half of the guardians and builders.
Children can be impressively penetrating in using innocuous questions to find out what they really want to learn.
I *think* Selkie just tested and found that she can continue to hope her Mother is alive -and hope, after all, remains one of the best of things.
If I’m wrong – well, my students know that wouldn’t be the first (100th) time for me, and she’s a tough kid.
“The people get the leaders they deserve” either through their action or inaction. It’s too easy to blame the leadership for what goes wrong.
Thats not really fair, Trump got elected and did not even get majority. Meanwhile my country has actuall facists make it into parlament – of course I didn’t vote dor them, but that’s democracy. It actually sucks as a system of government but we got nothing better that works.
And returning to the U.S., some of our leadership is effectively elected by a small subset of the population.
For example, Mitch McConnell, about whom I Have Opinions, and who is the Senate leader courtesy in part of the voters of the state of Kentucky.
Well, you _could_ argue that the people in america who didn’t vote for Trump, didn’t do anything to change the system so he couldn’t get elected without majority vote…. I mean, they had the exact same issue with George Bush Jr. so they’ve had more than 10 years to try and change the system.. And I haven’t heard about any significant number of people there actually trying. I’m very worried about the general political state of the world right now, but when these are the people elected, it is sort of our own fault… That said, we know next to nothing about the political landscape of Selkie’s people, so I’ll refrain from judging them 🙂
Changing the system is much harder than you make it sound, and outside of a few lucky individuals in position of power most of us are powerless to do anything. Even one individual vote is pretty much meaningless when taken in a larger context.
And it’s that kind of thinking that’s the problem. Trump is only the latest in a long history of inaction. Real change doesn’t happen from the top down but from the bottom up. You’re in this situation because decades ago the Right focused on the local elections: Elections that put anti-science people is charge of the school boards. Elections that put partisans in charge of election boards (look up “gerrymandering”). Elections that put crooks in the offices of the state attorney generals.
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” But unfortunately “The price of eternal vigilance is indifference.” The lesson to learn from this is never let ANY election pass without YOUR vote.
So lets say some random Joe is not happy with the state of things. He has been dutifully voting for dems all his life and did this time too – how is it his fault? What else do you think he should have done?
Become an activist and get more people off their butts.
Thanks to Trump millions of your countrymen have already figure that one out: It’s called the Indivisible movement.
Don’t see that doing much good, at most protests will maybe get Trump impreached, and you get Pence who is just as bad but actually competent.
Ok I missed where you said your “country has actuall facists make it into parlament” which means you’re not an American. So I don’t really know what your situation is, but if all else fails you could still ‘vote with your feet’ and move to somewhere more to your liking.
I’d just like to point out that this isn’t always an option either, even if you’re not dirt-poor.
Not me, but a friend who is stuck despite his intelligence and his parents being approximately middle class in his country.
Now back to the American situation: Like I said The Americans are “in this situation because decades ago the Right focused on the local elections.” The left has to take a similarly long term approach. Sure getting Trump impreached would only get Pence in power but that’s only a problem for 4 years. It’s what happens after that where there is hope.
To an extent this is true, however there are systematic issues that limit the amount of change that can be done even with highly engaged populations. Gerrymandering for example that virtually gaurentees that certain politicians will always win an election. Also the “first-past-the-post” voting system all but ensures a two party pluarlity system. In both cases practically the only way to change it is to convince the people who benefit from it to do so, a highly unlikely event.
The United States is a union of federalism states not one state so a popular vote wouldn’t really work here. That said, hillary won the popular vote in California where the voting there us highly suspect, just look at what happened with Clinton vs sanders in that state. Furthermore, people voted for Trump because they are sick of corrupt, career politicians running the country. If you want to know what the average person who voted for Trump is like, think of Rick from Rick and Marty.
It is very hard for people to change the system anyway because the government will do anything to stay in power, such as using a corrupt press to mislead the people. It is only when the corruption reaches the highest levels that people demand change. There was a peak in that corruption in the last few years.
It’s equal just as easy to blame the people for the deeds of the leadership that really isn’t in their control.
Not really surprised that Selkie isn’t the last of her clan. One big thing you pick up learning about history’s atrocities is how deliberate and organized an ethnic cleansing attempt has to be to result in genocide rather than a forced displacement and exile. From what’s been mentioned so far (the elimination of a clan power center of some sort), I think the most likely status of the Jin’sorai is that of Russian Whites (anti-Bolshevists, not an ethnic group).
It sounds like the Sar’teri are in a similar position to Eritreans: represented by an intensely despised government and thus forced to flee far enough away that nobody has any knowledge of the matter (most Eritrean refugees go for Israel).
Really? How many indiginous native american tribes are gone now after the United States came into (still) contested land?
Actually, I should apologize. That was written in heat of anger and not fully reading your post. I am very sorry. I actually do agree with you. My example is of something that was deliberate an organized.
Panel 3 typo: “thats” should have an apostrophe (“that’s”)
My original build was 4, 4, 1, 10, 10, 10, 1, but 3, New Vegas, and 4 didn’t really award that kind of thing any more.
Also, I really hope Black Isle / Obsidian gets to make the next game. 4 was so incredibly lacklustre. Made 3’s story seem halfway decent, though.
I never did finish 4. Think I drifted off it shortly after entering the Institute. I made a 9 Strength 8 Endurance 1 Charisma redhead named Amanda.
Your mistake was playing a bethesda game for the story. 🙂 Fallout 4 is fun if you just run around exploring and tearing stuff up with your dog and an explosive minigun.
If it doesn’t have a great story, it shouldn’t be called a Fallout game (just like “Brotherhood of Steel” . . . *shudders*).
Am I weird for liking the story line for Fallout 3? I enjoyed it! And it was sort of my entry point for FPS… I mean, I played Metroid Prime for the GameCube, and that is a first person shooter, but it played more like a traditional Metroid game from a first person perspective, as opposed to an actual FPS… In my humble, filthy casual opinion.
Probably? :p
If you want a similar game play experience with actually good writing and story get Fallout New Vegas.
It’s not necessarily weird, but as a long-time fan of the Fallout series, 3 was a HUGE departure from the core narrative hook of 1, 2, and Tactics; the player has control of their character’s motivations. 3 instead imposed its own emotional motivation factors, which were totally incongruous with how you could actually choose to play the game. ie: I didn’t give two shits about the player-character’s father, and actually tried to actively avoid the main storyline so I could just have fun in the Capital Wasteland. However, all dialogue options during the reunion implied my character couldn’t think of anything but dearest daddy the whole time. Hence the gameplay-narrative break. 4 was far, FAR worse in this regard, largely due to the inclusion of a speaking player-character.
Also of note; Fallout 3 being more of a First Person Shooter than the Roleplaying Game its predecessors were may have made it more accessible from a marketing standpoint. New Vegas demonstrated that it was possible to still be first-person and shooty, without losing anything in the roleplaying department. Ironically, neither Metroid Prime nor Fallout 3/New Vegas would be considered “true” First Person Shooters by fans of that genre. While they are games with first-person visual perspectives in which you can shoot, they’re quite a departure from combat-focused Doom / Halo / CoD, which purists would refer to as “actual FPSs.”
These two videos, while fairly long and a little blow-hard at times, strike upon the problem factors for Fallout 3 and 4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLJ1gyIzg78 (warning; a little sarcastic, bordering of offensive at times)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrQs9ugQiOA (warning; kinda monotone)
I don’t know… I wouldn’t be surprised if Plo Quar has a Pep Boy kicking around somewhere :)~
So that’s where Mirelurks come from…
REALLY? Finally you show a cat where I notice it? TSK TSK TSK after all these years of me leaving the link to your comic untouched in the “archives” folder, it’s only been 11 years since I bookmarked your comic and moved on to other things. If you are going to give me high quality free entertainment then get on about it and show the cat!
Meanwhile, cool comic, thanks.