What the actual F?!?! Dave I know you have real life to handle but I’m gonna need minimally 7 over the weekend to handle this!!! ? Ahh!!! I’m apparently massively obtuse cause I didn’t see this coming but wow!
well, that certainly explaines why he had no hard feelings even though she took his arm, his eye and voice….damn, woman must´ve made quite the impression for him to develop feelings for her, most (sane) guys wouldn´t want to touch a gall that near killed them with a pitch fork!
Scar is Selkie’s birth father?!?!? Oh snap!!!!!! I wonder how Selkie and Todd are going to find out if or when the truth comes out. Dave if you see this don’t leave us hanging. I want to see Todd and Selkie’s reaction to the truth. ?????
For Selkie it would probably be much like Amanda’s reaction to Andi, except with more anger. She has been bullied nonstop and forced to live with those who are noticibly different from her.
At the moment, given that the government does not publicly acknowledge the existence of the Sarnothi, I feel like it would be difficult to make a case for that to whatever caseworker was assigned. Unless it was Lillian. She might believe him. But I don’t know what she would think was best for Selkie.
probably for her own good – i got the feeling mixed couples aren´t all that common, possibly unwanted or even illegal, plus it would paint a target on his back for all of plo quars enemies.
that is not complicated really. having dealt with cross breed cattle before, a first generation cross frequently is going to look like one breed or the other with very little noticeable signs of the mix. simply put, you cross a black and white cow with a red and white one, you will almost never get a black and red and white cow. the calf will either be black and white or red and white.
odds are the clan coloring is similar to hair coloring with land creatures, you are going to get one distinct color pattern or another. the “calico” mixed colors being an oddity and likely in a strict clan setting outcasts of some sort which would keep the first generations of any clan crossing fairly pure to their color pattern further limiting the possibility of a calico type result.
can look up the genetics of red hair in people being crossed with other hair colors to see some of how it works.
of course that does raise an interesting question, if the clans are close to “breed” level of segregation in genetics of staying true to type, is one color pattern more dominant than another?
Yeah that’s actually quite right, the majority of animals don’t work the way we do, where skin colors are smooth and even and blend when people mix different races. They usually either look like one or the other or a patchwork of both.
Assuming he really is the bio-father, I guess the evidence is that Jin’Sorai genes are dominant over Sar’Teri, at least for skin and eye color. I wonder if it’s possible that the Sar’Teri genes would dominate for face markings, so a hybrid would become evident at puberty….
Gien, there’s this movie called “Fried Green Tomatoes” and I think you really need to inspect the eel cages to see if there are any safety issues.
Oh, and I’ll bet Pants is hungry. ….(Pants are hungry? Pant is hungry? This would be easier if there was a pair of them.)
This doesn’t mean Scar is Selkie’s biological father, but it means he could be, and thinks that he probably is. If this comic had character popularity polls like manga, he’d be shooting up through the ranks.
Incidentally, are clan markings always inherited from the mother? If this was answered already, I forgot.
Slightly less disturbing but still disturbing, maybe it was like a praying mantis situation when it’s two Echos. Just thought I’d throw that random thought out there.
i’m thinking it’s just the opposite… didn’t the back-story for Plo’Quar say that she was originally a guard of some sort?… i think they were co-guardsmen that got freaky on duty one night, and then when she found she was pregnant and that he was the father, and taking this from HIS flashback, he seemed to be a rather “not nice” guy, so he immediately refused to take responsibility for Selkie, and THAT’S when they fought, she caused his wounds, she took off and during his surgery/recovery time, he did some hard-core soul-searching / mulling over how much of and idiot/asshole he was being, and changed his way to be the better person we see him as now…
I wonder if ‘manual’ is the best word choice, but it might be. You are definitely correct about it being disturbing. It would be a sad and weird thing if the refugee group tried it, that way, to gain more power. That would be sad, very disturbing.
Well, here is a theory:
Scar got into the fight after the *tryst*, and BECAUSE they disagreed about how to raise Selkie.
Wouldn’t that be the icing on the cake, that he got his scars fighting for his daughter to be raised as an echo while Plo’Quar wanted her away from the war? Of course Plo’Quar won that fight.
Maybe. It suddenly makes sense that he recognized it for what it was. He may have been there when it was made, possibly even helped make it. Which would give an extra layer of reason for his appearing so sad at certain points surrounding the discussion of the suppressor.
Wow, Gien is a dick. Seriously, your species is basically endangered, and you still find the time to be racist towards an 8-ish-year-old child? (I just realized, I don’t actually know Selkie’s age for sure. I just assumed 8.)
And racist, or at least bigoted, toward a long-time associate.*
How would it sound if a human said, “The only thing I expect too much of, is to expect a [pick one: black/white/Asian/Hispanic/etc.] to understand the needs of a [pick a different one: black/white/Asian/Hispanic/etc.]”?
*I would have said “friend”, but with that attitude I doubt Gien has any friends. 😛
Wow. Okay, just re-read all the Scar strips, and I noticed: based on Gien’s comment that Selkie “at least has *the spirit* of a Jin-Sorai”, and the phrasing he uses in the third panel here…it sounds to me like he doesn’t think of Selkie as a true Jin-Sorai, due to being half Sar-Teri. o_O
For the most part, it seems sarnothi society, (at least in this part of the world), seemed to have ethic groups that are more a by-product of their caste-segregation, rather than environmental factors as with humans.
The interesting thing will be, now that there are refugees from all castes present in the village, will such social barriers still be active as time goes on and practicality starts demanding attention? 🙂
Also, Scar being Selkie’s biodad… it’s still possible he isn’t. Given this evidence it’s unlikely he isn’t but there’s still shenanigans possible. Such as if she had been pregnant before their tryst. Then again I don’t think we’ve learned yet how quickly a female Sarnothi lays their egg after it’s fertilized… orrrrrrrrrr if it’s a bit more, ah, complicated… yknow how… er… some aquatic species fertilize eggs AFTER they’re laid?
So… yknow… just sayin’…
Also, given this talk of genetics in the comments a song came to mind.
It’s possible. He, like the rest of neighbors, is stuck in a crappy situation and is trying make the best of it, so that and other possible factors from the past have made him the congenial person he is today. :/
Ooof Gien is gross.
I still think people who theorized he would try to forcibly keep Selkie in the village have read too many comic books, but yeah. Ew.
wut
ugh, great. A chess master. Just what we needed.
I was curious how the various clans mix in the genetic sense, this seems to suggest they don’t.
Ah HAAAA!
Knowing that he’s Selkie’s Daddy makes me very happy. Scar is a cool dude.
Hah, called it!!
Gien, you’re an asshole.
Amen!!
What the actual F?!?! Dave I know you have real life to handle but I’m gonna need minimally 7 over the weekend to handle this!!! ? Ahh!!! I’m apparently massively obtuse cause I didn’t see this coming but wow!
well, that certainly explaines why he had no hard feelings even though she took his arm, his eye and voice….damn, woman must´ve made quite the impression for him to develop feelings for her, most (sane) guys wouldn´t want to touch a gall that near killed them with a pitch fork!
Oh, I sure there were some “hard feelings”.
Giggity.
Uh, we don’t know what *order* things happened in. Possibly they had the mother-of-all-breakups?
I mean, I’ve never had a girlfriend want to *dismember* me but some have kinda come close…
i have a feeling she beat the crap out of him to stop his psychotic butt, and either healed him or visited while he healed and it blossomed.
No, I *am being* your father!
Scar is Selkie’s birth father?!?!? Oh snap!!!!!! I wonder how Selkie and Todd are going to find out if or when the truth comes out. Dave if you see this don’t leave us hanging. I want to see Todd and Selkie’s reaction to the truth. ?????
For Selkie it would probably be much like Amanda’s reaction to Andi, except with more anger. She has been bullied nonstop and forced to live with those who are noticibly different from her.
Would he have any legal standing if he tried to reclaim Selkie I wonder?
At the moment, given that the government does not publicly acknowledge the existence of the Sarnothi, I feel like it would be difficult to make a case for that to whatever caseworker was assigned. Unless it was Lillian. She might believe him. But I don’t know what she would think was best for Selkie.
Also, it seems Scar was wanting to keep it a secret.
probably for her own good – i got the feeling mixed couples aren´t all that common, possibly unwanted or even illegal, plus it would paint a target on his back for all of plo quars enemies.
I have so many questions… about genetics ?. How do the clans maintain such distinctive colorations when interbreeding is apparently no problem?
This is what bothers me, not magic or bio dad drama…
that is not complicated really. having dealt with cross breed cattle before, a first generation cross frequently is going to look like one breed or the other with very little noticeable signs of the mix. simply put, you cross a black and white cow with a red and white one, you will almost never get a black and red and white cow. the calf will either be black and white or red and white.
odds are the clan coloring is similar to hair coloring with land creatures, you are going to get one distinct color pattern or another. the “calico” mixed colors being an oddity and likely in a strict clan setting outcasts of some sort which would keep the first generations of any clan crossing fairly pure to their color pattern further limiting the possibility of a calico type result.
can look up the genetics of red hair in people being crossed with other hair colors to see some of how it works.
of course that does raise an interesting question, if the clans are close to “breed” level of segregation in genetics of staying true to type, is one color pattern more dominant than another?
Yeah that’s actually quite right, the majority of animals don’t work the way we do, where skin colors are smooth and even and blend when people mix different races. They usually either look like one or the other or a patchwork of both.
Assuming he really is the bio-father, I guess the evidence is that Jin’Sorai genes are dominant over Sar’Teri, at least for skin and eye color. I wonder if it’s possible that the Sar’Teri genes would dominate for face markings, so a hybrid would become evident at puberty….
Gien, there’s this movie called “Fried Green Tomatoes” and I think you really need to inspect the eel cages to see if there are any safety issues.
Oh, and I’ll bet Pants is hungry. ….(Pants are hungry? Pant is hungry? This would be easier if there was a pair of them.)
I like Gien less and less, and Scar more and more…good grief no wonder he looks so sad at various points.
And now Selkie has two dads in her life. I ship it!
There’s a typo in PARENT*E*GE, i think
No, I think Dave got it right.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/parentage
Oh, shit, sorry. I thought you were saying that it should be spelt with the E, not saying that Dave put an E in it. Hoisted by my own petard. Derp!
And in the same panel — Scar’s family name was previously spelled K’Limdai (#936).
This doesn’t mean Scar is Selkie’s biological father, but it means he could be, and thinks that he probably is. If this comic had character popularity polls like manga, he’d be shooting up through the ranks.
Incidentally, are clan markings always inherited from the mother? If this was answered already, I forgot.
So, mom cutting his arm and removing half his face, that’s just a lovers spat?
My guess is that they fought; she did that stuff to him…then helped him heal and they fell for each other after that.
Or…more distubing…the whole of greater Sarnoth society urged them to mate to try and manually produce more Echo’s.
Slightly less disturbing but still disturbing, maybe it was like a praying mantis situation when it’s two Echos. Just thought I’d throw that random thought out there.
i’m thinking it’s just the opposite… didn’t the back-story for Plo’Quar say that she was originally a guard of some sort?… i think they were co-guardsmen that got freaky on duty one night, and then when she found she was pregnant and that he was the father, and taking this from HIS flashback, he seemed to be a rather “not nice” guy, so he immediately refused to take responsibility for Selkie, and THAT’S when they fought, she caused his wounds, she took off and during his surgery/recovery time, he did some hard-core soul-searching / mulling over how much of and idiot/asshole he was being, and changed his way to be the better person we see him as now…
I wonder if ‘manual’ is the best word choice, but it might be. You are definitely correct about it being disturbing. It would be a sad and weird thing if the refugee group tried it, that way, to gain more power. That would be sad, very disturbing.
… I dropped my phone.
And my jaw.
Well, here is a theory:
Scar got into the fight after the *tryst*, and BECAUSE they disagreed about how to raise Selkie.
Wouldn’t that be the icing on the cake, that he got his scars fighting for his daughter to be raised as an echo while Plo’Quar wanted her away from the war? Of course Plo’Quar won that fight.
… is that perhaps part of *why* Plo’Quar took Selkie to live with humans?
you ARE the father!!!
Wait, jokes aside, does this mean he knows why Selkie had that inhibitor?
Maybe. It suddenly makes sense that he recognized it for what it was. He may have been there when it was made, possibly even helped make it. Which would give an extra layer of reason for his appearing so sad at certain points surrounding the discussion of the suppressor.
Wow, Gien is a dick. Seriously, your species is basically endangered, and you still find the time to be racist towards an 8-ish-year-old child? (I just realized, I don’t actually know Selkie’s age for sure. I just assumed 8.)
And racist, or at least bigoted, toward a long-time associate.*
How would it sound if a human said, “The only thing I expect too much of, is to expect a [pick one: black/white/Asian/Hispanic/etc.] to understand the needs of a [pick a different one: black/white/Asian/Hispanic/etc.]”?
*I would have said “friend”, but with that attitude I doubt Gien has any friends. 😛
This is an excellent way of putting the ethnic tension here. Thanks!
(missing comma? “her Gien”)
Well, well, well… Careful, Gien, or some dark night, you might get… pantsed.
Wow. Okay, just re-read all the Scar strips, and I noticed: based on Gien’s comment that Selkie “at least has *the spirit* of a Jin-Sorai”, and the phrasing he uses in the third panel here…it sounds to me like he doesn’t think of Selkie as a true Jin-Sorai, due to being half Sar-Teri. o_O
Now I’m picturing Selkie as Luke Skywalker.
For the most part, it seems sarnothi society, (at least in this part of the world), seemed to have ethic groups that are more a by-product of their caste-segregation, rather than environmental factors as with humans.
The interesting thing will be, now that there are refugees from all castes present in the village, will such social barriers still be active as time goes on and practicality starts demanding attention? 🙂
Ethnic, not ethic. (Stupid typos)
Okay. Remember how I was being patient with Gien?
Nah. Dude has lost 99% of my respect for him.
Also, Scar being Selkie’s biodad… it’s still possible he isn’t. Given this evidence it’s unlikely he isn’t but there’s still shenanigans possible. Such as if she had been pregnant before their tryst. Then again I don’t think we’ve learned yet how quickly a female Sarnothi lays their egg after it’s fertilized… orrrrrrrrrr if it’s a bit more, ah, complicated… yknow how… er… some aquatic species fertilize eggs AFTER they’re laid?
So… yknow… just sayin’…
Also, given this talk of genetics in the comments a song came to mind.
“I’m infected…. by my genetics!”
At least we don’t have to worry about Gien-etics.
True. I bet Gien will never reproduce, nor (IMHO) should he.
Oh, wait… just had a thought: What if Gien is such a bigoted, bitter jerk because his whole family was horribly killed in the war?
[resumes wait-and-see mode]
It’s possible. He, like the rest of neighbors, is stuck in a crappy situation and is trying make the best of it, so that and other possible factors from the past have made him the congenial person he is today. :/
called it
Gien needs to get slapped. In the face. With a chair.
DX I hope he never gets his hands on Selkie. He’d probably try to turn her into a living weapon.
Ooof Gien is gross.
I still think people who theorized he would try to forcibly keep Selkie in the village have read too many comic books, but yeah. Ew.
Meanwhile HEY SELKIE HAS TWO DADS
So it seems that Selkie inherited her bombastic inclinations naturally.