The Voice of Clan Jin’Sorai is fit to give me nightmares.
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). Jin'Sorai and Mor'Kama are easiest to tell apart; Jin'Sorai are generally light blues and violet skin tones, and have a tendency for green eyes. Mor'Kama are pale greeny-yellow with coal-black hair, and do not develop body markings. Tel'Dora and Sar'Teri can look similar at a glance, but Sar'Teri generally have darker forest-green or olive-green skin tones; their markings are lighter in tone than the rest of their skin, and develop in geometric tendencies. Tel'Dora are a light green-gray to aqua and have stripe-patterned markings.
I feel super awkward making this strip the weekender. Also, the arrow key navigation bug with the comment box should be fixed now. Let me know if you still see issues.
The Clan of Laborers and Peacemakers (Sarnoth's law enforcement body) are also the Clan with the most control over industry, finances, and other resources.
To prevent some dialogue glutting, today’s transcript commentary talks a little more about the sarnothi clan structure. So as before, make sure to check the Transcript for additional worldbuilding. If you missed it last week, I posted a bonus sketch[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Sarnothi culture is divided amongst the four Major Clans discussed previously, but each Major Clan also has it's own system of sub-clans branched within it. Many of these clans, including the four Major Clans, began as families of influence within Sarnoth's government until they evolved into social and political entities unto themselves. The term "clan" is largely divorced from the concept of a family structure in sarnothi society and generally refers to the established political and socially-influential groups of the city's government. Almost all sarnothi belong to one of the various sub-sects of their Major Clan due to Sarnoth using a form of caste system with varying amounts of rigidity. However, the individual's surname is unrelated to the clan you are born into (or in some cases move into). For example, there is no Clan De'Madiea; Pohl De'Madiea is a member of Clan Sho'Shen within Clan Tel'Dora. Among Sarnothi, this sentence structure would not be confusing.
Bit of background on the Clans. Also, a few strips back a reader suggested using the uncolored pages as a coloring page. I meant to share that with strip #400 but spaced on it. 😡 Bit lat,e but here’s a[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
The four Clans are loosely based on the premise of Mind Soul Heart Body (in the same order listed in panel 5). If I were to place them into a framework of the four classic Western elements, Tel'Dora would be Water (fluid and adaptable), Mor'Kama would be Air (restless and ethereal), Jin'Sorai would be Fire (passionate and dynamic), and Sar'Teri would be Earth (conservative and solid).
(Didn’t leave myself enough time before work, so here’s an “I’ll Finish It After Work” comic again. Seriously, I am speed-typing and about to dash into the shower right now) Todd’s been talking with his father. I am also going[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
For real-world comparison, Tokyo Metropolis is one of the largest cities in the world (if not THE largest), and it’s east-to west length is fifty-six miles. (my reference is Wikipedia.) I imagine Sarnoth’s public transportation system must be an absolute[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
I originally was going to put a green dash line between Pohl's hands in panel 6 to suggest motion, but I thought it might come across as Pohl using crazy-black-and-green-stuff to display his point, which I don't want to suggest him doing.
Excessive media references are excessive. (Director Commentary clarifies this for the non ATLA fans.)
Considering this list of baby names, I may as well and just go ahead and officially confirm the fandom speculation that, yes, Suko is named after Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender. XD For this reason the baby's name was originally going to be Asu La, but... well, it's an unlucky name. XD For those unfamiliar with the Last Airender franchise, the names listed are all sarnothi pronunciations of ATLA character names. Suko = Zuko Tai Li = Ty Lee Kio Shi = Kyoshi Bei Fon = Bei Fong (Toph's surname)
