Uhl: @Ganx, assuming that IS an apple, and not something else disguised as an apple.

Ganx: a tossed apple, works fine as a diversion, and could prove disastrous if the girls get distracted and screw up the show

Dvandom: "My honor is PREDACON honor!"

Fenyx: so remember it when you try to use honour as something that inmediately implies "good"

Fenyx: Guys just so you know Honour just means code of conduct that you abide to...and it can be as good as help your neightbour or as bad as rape the wife of the stealer...

Al-X: This week's compensation page is almost done! It will go online some time this evening.

Al-X: Larriki lives in the monastery on the other side of the valley. He wouldn't be able to fly to the fort during the storm, even if he got the message in time.

Ayra: Hey, unrelated question to the terrorist thing: Why didn't they get Brother Larriki to heal Behari? Sounds like he'd be the most appropriate for the job!

Uhl: Then running and hiding behind REAL civilians when someone tries to fight back.

Uhl: Not to mention going without country, uniform or flag and calling themselves "civilian" until they set off a bomb on a bus.

Tangent: The line between freedom fighter and terrorist is thin. Basically terrorists go after non-military targets and force non-militants to give them aid even if they don't want to.

Al-X: One man's terrorist is anotther man's freedom fighter. It's VERY gray territory. Luckiliy for our Hawk Maidens, being in that sort of position is a very slight-to-nil possibility.

Gus: Ok now terrorism is justified? I dont think so

Al-X: As tweetted, I had no time to work on today's page, but I'll pull a double update week next week and see if I can upload something artsy later today.

Osk: i can just see that. Tiny little man groveling before a soldier, "please dont hurt me"... "we want your women!".. suddenly this huge woman, meat cleaver in one hand, deboning knife in the other, comes from the back of the house... "What?"

Al-X: The Hawk Maidens were founded by the aforementioned wives saying "Wait... WHAT?!" ^^

Osk: If you are invaded, what would you do? say "ah, you won fair and square, here's my wife, here's my house."?

Osk: "fair" and "honorable fighting" is a luxury of the strong. During WW2, resistance groups did not and could not care about that. The end justified terrorist attacks

Gus: The end does not justify the means

Uhl: In a boxing match, or one on one fight, yes. In a competition, yes. In a sport, yes. In war, it's a luxury and war doesn't allow for luxury.

West: Read up on the history of the Selous Scouts in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe for an idea of how little place honour has in war.

Osk: If you are fighting in the street and an army comes down the road, you can not worry about honor. You have to do whatever you can to stop them. There are worse things than death, and there will be plenty of volunteers

Ganx: I like the philosophy of the HM creed. They are the last line of defense and surrendering is not an option

Al-X: And @azalea... fully intentional

Al-X: Thanks! You could ask for faster updating... not that I could comply, tho' <.<

Ayra: I have to say that this is a wonderful comic... The characters are interesting, the writing is good and it's beautiful. Can't ask for more! Thank you!

azalea: very good placement of word bubbles. Close up of Behari works well with what she's saying.

Osk: end does sometimes justify means. Saving others justify killing, you can declare war in the name of peace, you can kill a mass murderer to death. But, as is implicit in the warcry, it should only be seen so to stave off defeat

M. Northstar: but rather to keep them honourable, by providing them with the opportunity to live honourably and by providing them with an example.

M. Northstar: But as to your second comment, that's dangerously close to ends justifying means. Death comes to all men, sooner or later. A Hawkmaiden cannot, and should not, try to keep her charges alive at all costs,

M. Northstar: Thanks, Al. that's much better :-) @SteelBlaidd: (firstly, yay for Bujold quotes) I was going to say that I myself think of it more as Honour vs. Glory, but I see Derrexi already said the same thing.

SteelBlaidd: A Hawkmaidens honor lies in the safety of her charge, not in her methods for preserving that safety.

SteelBlaidd: I think she is addressing the common confusion between Honor and Reputation. "Honor is what you know about your self. Reputation is what others know about you."- Aral Vorkosigan

Al-X: I deleted it because she does believe in honor, with the stated caveats.

Al-X: The first draft of Derrexi's dialogue said "Honor is a silly notion men invented to feel good about killing in war." ;)

Gus: No honor?

Al-X: And comic is here!

Al-X: Comic is late; power has been terribly wonky :(

Annalia: Must be, as I had no problem reading. I can't wait for the next page.

Al-X: Hope this is better ^^

M. Northstar: Hmm... It's hard figuring out the order of the speech bubbles in the last panel.

Fenyx: alex, un consejillo tio, cambia el no que dice niriko por un Right?

Uhl: Smart, very smart. It's not being self-conscious. It's making sure the Elves of her mother's clan don't kill her with a poison arrow.

Tangent: Poor Niri. But she does have a point. Hiding her appearance will lessen disruptions. I just wonder how long it'll last. ^^;;

Wodan46: Don't think it would count, since he didn't TURN into a snake, he always was one. In fact, on at least 1 occasion, he's turned into a human. If anything, he is an inversion of the rule.

Mt-Hermit: Im more surprised now one made a reference to rule 34 of the Evil Overlord List: "I will not turn into a snake. It never helps." Though the demi-god was probably always a snake, this probably further enhances the Doom it faces.

Uhl: Cobra Commander (even after being turned into a Cobra by CobraLa and then half-restored by Destro) does not have a lisp.

Al-X: I shall insert "knowing is half the battle" at some point

Xpheyel: That would make the Hawk Maidens G.I.JOE.

Al-X: Dang... now I can't get the image of Xis'veki speaking in the voice of Cobra Commander... There goes my villain's dignity...

Ark the Legend: No one is willing to make any COBRA puns?

Uhl: Yessss! You are ussseful now, but do not forget. You can be re-playssed!

Arklite: Sadly the millenia old demi-god snake sorcerer union lacks decent organisation, what with all the interunion murdering ;)

Wodan46: Yes, I'm sure the millenia old demi-god snake sorcerer is really scared that you might take away his paycheck.

Al-X: I'm particularly happy on how Xis'veki came out in this page

Al-X: Ding! Xitlani Tzelan indeed

azalea: Xi Tzelan? I think that was what Derrexi called her in the one flashback...

azalea: Derrexi's sister?

Arklite: Aspis shield rather (darn spelling) however, considering nahast is more far east than western fantasy we're not too likley to see europian style shields and armour so the handle grip shield is probably going to be more likley

Arklite: http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/war/ArmorC.jpg for a bit of reference ;)

Arklite: well no, the aepis sheild used by the greeks in the classical period used the arm style grip. the romans however used the more traditional boss centre grip as it suited their tactics better.

Ashley: With shields like that, if there was any sort of arm-armor, it would be on both arms.

Ashley: Nearly all greek and roman shields were actually held in the hand, instead of warn on the arm. (the handle was behind the Boss, which was actually the reason the Boss existed)

Ashley: It also depends on the type of shield. Shields that are actually worn on the arm are actually (at least in european history) a relatively new invention.

Arklite: a good example of typical partial plate would be the armour worn by Arthur in the BBC's Merlin series. plated on the sword arm and across the shoulders while mail and a shield provided the main protection.

TheDom: Nope, usually your shieldarm would be unarmored, to reduce encumbrancel.But most armors are equal on both sides.

Osk: authentic armor also usually only provided armor for 1 arm, since the other was needed to swing a weapon. I dont know how that went for spear wielders though

Al-X: Hawk Maiden armor is modular; there's ceremonial, which even has exposed midriff, there's practice/patrol (the one here) and full battle, with more back cover and full helmet.

Arklite: all things considered, that armour seems more ceramonial than anything else. though the open back definently allows freedom for the arms and shoulders

Wanderer: Most armor of that design only protects the front. Silly, I know, but still. And look in the background, the other character wearing that armor reveals that the golden part is only in the front.

Tangent: If it's good armor, then the plating would be on the back of the leg to prevent that. Considering the design of the bottom, I suspect the armor protects hamstrings.

Wanderer: Niriko looks like she's about to be hamstrung, there.

Al-X: Damn typos! There, fixed n_n

Nyx: The blog thingy says that it's chapter 10, but the roman numeral/number on the cover says 9 o.O;; confusion D:

Al-X: The twitter says it; sneak peek of next chapter on the Facebook fan page

Al-X: @Ashley: Quetz~ and his brother Tezca~ are my favorite gods, but egads! The Feathered Serpent can be so whiny!

azalea: Gisako's spying while Zintzi seems to be comforting Eruhien aww~ Behari's awake yay!

Ashley: Heh. When I told dad what you'd said here, Al-X, he thought it was very amusing. Mostly because of how accurately that does describe the difference between them.

Al-X: That'd be Kukulkan. Old Quetz is his more emo Aztec cousin ;)

Uhl: As for dragons speaking Mayan, see Quetzocoatl!

Tangent: Cookie! *noms*

Al-X: Their cloaks bore the brunt of it And Tangent earns a cookie for spotting the meaning of Derrexi's change

Osk: their shirts and bodies are amazingly clean for having been in a mudslide, even considering the rain washing them clean

Tangent: So the outfit change is logical. In a spiritual sense, that is. ^^

Tangent: If you think of it, Tezlan isn't being a warrior now. She's being a mother. The mother that Behari has lacked for so long.

Ganx: yep, at least her shoulderpads are now missing

Arcura: is it just me or has Tezlan's outfit changed

Wanderer: Well, I think they deserve to be a bit proud of themselves right now.

Drakanor Dream: They all seem to be quite proud of themselves at the moment. And Waio Ko Xiang is awesome to manage that small feat.

Ganx: Dragons speak in mayan... cool!

azalea: baby steps~ She's got the box, now to perfect the font! XD

Silverthorne: If your speaking the same language as a dragon, then you should be using the same font.

Al-X: When she's an archmage she'll also be able to change her font! ;)

Wanderer: And Jakitza's speech bubble suddenly matches the dragon's. Makes sense.

Darius Drake: Go NOW! Don't freeze to death while holding those precious herbs.

guto: oi

Al-X: Eeeh... obrigado?

matheus: e muito massa

Silverthorne: Looked at the Pathfinder and it looks good. Remake of 3.5 D&D some better some worse. Over all a good shot.

Ganx: the rain is cold and she is only wearing her nightshirt

Uhl: She's cold, wet, and most likely doesn't have access to a bra.

Spider: either Jakiza is pretty excited to try out her magic or she's just cold =P

Al-X: The PF Core Rulebook is HUGE because it has both player and GM info in it

Drakanor Dream: I should probably buy the Pathfinder PHB and GM Books shouldn't I?

Ashley: It'll be fun seeing the new stuff you put up for Pathfinder. I'm having fun with my char that follows Ker'zei, and will be looking forward to seeing other stuff from this setting updated to PF.

Ry-kno: Excellent story, Great art, i can't wait for more.

Al-X: You're going to like the next couple of updates, then

Drakanor Dream: I must say I like this page!

azalea: excellent page!

Al-X: Contest ends at midnight (-6GMT, Central) tonight!

Al-X: Thanks! And on the topic... the contest deadline is next Monday!

Timeghost: 7 years, and I'm just now finding it? Crap. Congratulations!

S San: Congrats on 7 years! It's a great comic!

Vraymar: Congrats for the anniversary!

Gax: 7 years already, congrats!

Al-X: WRCA nominations are closed, and voting has started, I'd count votes for Nahast in writing as contest entries but there's no way to verify voter ID.. Still! You can vote, no?

Al-X: Nominations for the Webcomics Readers Choice Award count as entries for the contest! *hinthint*

Al-X: Start, you say Thanks and welcome!

Lora: Wow, just found you, thank you so much and congratulations on 7 years.. a good start!!!

Al-X: Contest Update: The PDF copy of Mecha & Manga in the prize will now be a PRINTED copy!

Celidah: Poor little death guide. I almost feel sorry for it. It just wants to help Behari...

azalea: *pokes* Help with the Shout contest! a lil' mention on your blog/twitter/DA/forum/youtube won't hurt. ^_^

Al-X: Many, maybe more Simple answer: one for every soul in the underworld. Full answer: coming soon! ;)

Darius Drake: The death guide exists for nothing else other than protecting one person? How many death guides are there?

Spider: args. i've misread what the deathguide said way back when the dragon appeared. this gave me a completly different view. good that this is cleared up.

Al-X: @Spider: Death Guides do not start Flayings; Behari's even took her out of hers. @Ikoma: I shall not deny my influences @azalea: Derrexi's a bit shaken ATM, but Xu're identified it.

azalea: has Derrexi realized who the guide looks like?

IkomaTanomori: This page has a very Wraith: The Oblivion feel to it.

Spider: deathguides. wanting to protect their protégé's to bring them pain ^.^

Celidah: Wow okay...I wasn't expecting that one at all.

Al-X: Thanks! I really appreciate it. That chapter was a lot of fun to write and draw

Walrus: Alex, just so you know, the battle between the good guys and the elves is one of the best I've ever read. Way to bring the passion. Great job! Your is up there among my favorite comics. I'm excited to see where this bit leads.

Wanderer: The death guide is overstepping its authority.

Al-X: And the 8th anniversary event is ON! Check the forum (or the Facebook page) for the rules!

Al-X: Noooot exactly...

Celidah: It will in a moment, when she totally kicks his turquoise ghostly butt. I mean....right?

Al-X: Good point. But it makes no difference for this guy...

Celidah: But...she's not quite dead yet...

Al-X: Comicwise? Yes, just this; I'd go crazy if I started another comic, especially with all the work I'm doing on related and unrelated projects (many of them linked from this page ).

Tom: Do you work on anything else too, or is it just this?

Al-X: Thanks and welcome! Stick around, things are about to get better

Tom: Hey I just discovered this today. Really, really nice.

Al-X: That's one of the questions I made myself as I wrote this chapter, the answer came easily and is shown in a few pages more

Spider: hmm dumb question: isn't dexi's trip rather pointless towards behari's rescue? i mean the dragon should be more then able to get her back.

Al-X: You get a cookie This is, indeed that same scene. The Region of the Dead is highly subjective, so my artistic license is just covering Derrexi's inexact memories

SuedodeuS: For those curious, I'm referring to page 72. Her uniform was different there (side cut-outs, headband, and purple sash), but that could just be artistic license.

SuedodeuS: Hmmm... She's wielding a naginata, dressed as a hawk maiden, in an arena, facing a swordsman she'd rather not. Looks like this is the fight shown for the death duel when she explained the three types.

Wanderer: She doesn't SEEM to be over it, given how it's getting her angry. Nevermind the ghost.

Al-X: Important-ish news in the news section! And on the last panel... let speculation begin!

azalea: I just like playing a Monster in Nightbane, or the bard in fantasy who's companions usually sacrifice her first chance they get... GM lets me have my revenge at some point~

IkomaTanomori: Palladium games are very enthusiastically written at least. Where else will you get multiple exclamation points in the rules and crunch of a game?

azalea: when was I ever sane? XD

Al-X: Palladium?!?! And you're still sane? Wait... nevermind... ;)

azalea: <_< I play Palladium's Nightbane, Rifters and Fantasy series. Nitebane being my favorite.

Spider: ah neuromancer. you remind me of something. i started reading it but stopped somewhere in the middle. i should pick that up again.

Al-X: I have a signed copy of Neuromancer myself But I just can't say no to zeppelins, brass goggles and rayguns

Spider: i prefer cyberpuk personally. especally with a good sprinkle of magic added in. but everyone has his preferences.

Arklite: the 349th rule of awesome, everything is better with a boiler and pistons. ;)

Al-X: Because I can? Also, it's Steampunk Month at tor.com

Spider: @ the GitS twitter post: why would you want to turn a cyberpunk into a steampunk world?

Al-X: Anyone can pray An actual answer depends on the deity, but it still works well for self-encouragement.

Spider: Does Xiang have some training as priestess or are all dwarves able to call on their god that easily?

Arklite: seems fair, death and darkness aren't nessisarily an evil thing after all. for things to begin other things must end, perspective is everything ;)

Al-X: Unrevealed fact: Kuo'digong, the dwarven Allfather, is in reality Azkenik, the Power of Death and Endings.

Ganx: I like the "create a new character" idea

Arklite: THOU SHALL NOT PASS!

Fenyx: nice pray, it has a good sound to it

Al-X: @Osk: This issue will be addressed next update ;)

azalea: *pokes* People go vote on the forum!

Osk: mudslide leaves behind bare rock and deposits mud in a valley. If they are on a slope and hang on, they might survive. No ordinairy human could hang on though

Al-X: Dunno; I love you, guys and gals, but you're too quiet a bunch for anything forum-y ;)

Arklite: 8th aniversery ay? could always do a forum based competition. create a character contest? winner gets a picture of said character?

Al-X: Well! There's a poll at the forum regarding the story site <.< Feel free to drop by!

Fenyx: lol if you feel lonely talk, alex, ppl will be sure to answer

Darius Drake: Even if they hold on and take that deep breath, they could still be buried under so much mud that they can't get out. I hope that that doesn't happen.

Name: DOOM!!!

Darius Drake: There, there, Al-X

Al-X: This was such a lonely week for the shoutboard...

Darius Drake: The potential assistance group looks cranky. Well, two out of three of them do, and I believe that that is enough.

Al-X: OK, I lol'ed ^^

Teal\'c: @Daniel, Indeed.

Daniel: It's always a good time to arrive at Nahast.

Al-X: Thanks! You arrived at a good time

Moox: Hey there, I just discovered this comic. Looks great! I'm really enjoying the story.

Uhl: Go find your own light, he he. Oh how many quests start that way...

Ashley: Ok, chargen finished and links to the charsheet and other pages sent.

Al-X: Sure It's always nice to see what others do with one's stuff.

Ashley: Thanks. I'll send a link to the charsheet when done, if you want to see the char.

Al-X: Replied to you by email ^^

Ashley: Hmm. Yahoo mail is claiming that your Nahast email address isn't receiving mail. I left a comment on the Small Justice story, since that was the next most logical place to ask my question.

Al-X: Fixed it for you

klajdi: Opps, wrong way.

Al-X: My hate for Scry-ed is an irrational thing I can't explain; it just irks me wholesale ^^ On the sobbing... we shall see soon enough >

Uhl: I found the ending rather confusing, but the story itself was well told. It was also easy to sympathize/ empathize with the charactes.

Darius Drake: I guess that that was her inner self crying. Of course, I might be wrong to a degree.

ShikomeKidoMi: Really? I admit to a perverse fondness for it myself, though I recognize enough stereotypical elements to think it shouldn't be better than mediocre to most. Hate seems strong, though.

Al-X: I hate Scry-ed, but it's the model that best encompassed all the elements in the book ^^

Dvandom: Just got Mecha and Manga. Nice Scry-ed pastiche for the "default" setting. I agree it's a good sort of thing to cover the main bases.

Ashley: It's a little more archaic, so is less well known, but it is a slightly more technically correct way of saying it.

Traae: I actually say "by the by" quite often ^.^

Spider: i hadn't heard of that before. thanks for clearing it up.

Uhl: "by the by" is an acceptable alternate for "by the way."

Uhl: IT'S

Spider: "and by the by..." is that a mistake? first panel last speechbubble. souldn't that be "by the way"

Dvandom: Warshape, as in dressed up for battle as opposed to looking exactly as her body currently does, or like some other stage (i.e. Behari as child initially).

Ganx: Specially inner darkness

Fenyx: warshape? o.O

Al-X: I'm quite happy here in SpiderForest

singedtentacle: Hi, I found your site on Comic Genesis. I just wanted to let you know about my new site, http://www.comicdomination.com . I'm looking for creators to sign up and post some comics. Please check it out if you get a chance! ;)

Wanderer: ...Ok... The reptilian is disguising his appearance, I assume. But that shadow mark must be real in some way or it wouldn't be worth drawing attention to. I'll have to read the extra stuff later, rather than be late for work.

_C_: Wanderer, I have to agree, that's the cutest dragon I've ever seen, and she keeps getting cuter, nice.

Al-X: The dragon didn't say it, I did in the shoutboard :3

Spider: arg i can't find it. that probably means i've confused it with something else.

Celidah: Ah. Well, that would be logical. Where do you remember the dragon saying that, out of curiosity?

Spider: didn't the dragon say that gender has no meaning to "her" anymore. and "she" probably knows of beharis problems with men and thus choosed this appearance.

Dvandom: Rather interesting place for the golden dragon head on her dress, too.

Celidah: Well, Wanderer, the dragon IS self-identifying as female...

Wanderer: And finally... geeze, man, could you stop making the dragon look so blasted cute? :p I keep wanting to call it "her" and I'm not even sure it really HAS a gender.

Wanderer: My mind keeps going to this "testing" mentioned on the World page. If this reptilian sorceror is part of that, the dragon certainly couldn't interfere.

Wanderer: Something about this situation, these people, this place, is special. The dragon can aid them, guide them, but it is not going to act FOR them.

Wanderer: It's not just that it's not the dragon's business. It has taken a proprietary interest in these events and these people. I believe normally it would step in directly, unless there was a reason not to.

Wanderer: You know... I'm reasonably confident the dragon could stomp that snake-creature if it wanted to. The fact that it HASN'T is important, I believe.

Rytch: The only really good conversations are hypothetical

Wanderer: Except that that is all hypothetical, since we already know that this dragon isn't dead.