I'm doing a big ol' Archive Trawl at the moment, the first I've done in a few years. I'm up to March of '04, and thought I'd point at a few small, interesting things I've noticed:

1.) The fate spider and his web. I have reason to believe that the web is not so much a web of "time" as it is a web of "connections." Connections between people, which lead to certain events. This may be why Oasis is outside the web, and why when the fate spider moved things around in Phoenix Rising, it seemed to move people into place to cause events rather than the events effecting the people. And when the DoR's web broke, it didn't destroy the future or fate or time. It destroyed the connections. And I got all this from one small explanation by one small bug made almost 10 years ago.

2.) The Vrykolakas vampires and the Holidays are linked somehow. I'm not sure in what way yet, but here we find out that Philinnon is both the oldest of the Vrykolakas, and that she's been around since about 400 B.C. That date is the same date that a Thanksgiving-type holiday was created on a Greek island. We know that in the beginning holidays were ruled by Greek gods. We know the vamps are Greek. I bet we may find out the connection between the two someday.

I'll keep in touch if I find any more links.

That... makes a good deal of sense. Connections between people have been driving a lot of the story lately, IMO.

Oooohhh....a small tidbit in this comic: Love Consumes. Said to Torg. Looks like a bit o' tha forshadowing to Torg's craziness of late.

Another connection to the Greek gods and myths, which I'm starting to notice get a lot of play in the Comic. In Ocean's Unmoving, Calix mentions a goddess his village worships (or at least acknowledges): Clotho. Clotho is the daughter of Themis. Both Clotho and Themis are from the Greek pantheon, Themis being divine order, law, and custom, Clotho being the weaver of fates. So, Greeks are probably the ancestors of Calix's village.

We know some "sorceress" is the one who sent the village to Timeless Space for some perceived slight. The storyteller is pretty unreliable thanks to drug induced stupor. We also know that an entire village was "swallowed by Poseidon over a holiday" and that Zeus wasn't too happy about it, which is how the Deus Ex Ovum came into existence. I'm not saying the swallowed village and Calix's village are the same, but it wouldn't surprised me if that turns out to be the case. Particularly since Bun Bun story lines almost all lead to his connection to the Holidays.

Oh, and since I'm seeing so much Greek myth in this comic, I'd say that the Moon Twin is probably Artemis, or at least Artemis is one aspect of the Moon Twin. Greek mythology being one of those where the moon is indeed a twin.

Another quick thing, to hold my place: back long ago during the Holiday Wars, spec started assuming that the current incarntion of Santa is about 150 years old, due to Mrs. Claus's statement "try listening to Jingle Bells every day for the last 150 years." Not so fast! Jingle bells came out about 150 years ago. Santa is probably way older than that. Also, take a quick look at that comic again: Basphomy and Santa started their individual reigns around the same time. And both remember why the second egg was used to stop Bun Bun's first rampage. Bun Bun's probably pretty ancient, or at least originates in more ancient times.

I do have another connection, but I haven't quite made it to that storyline. More later...

Hodehodeho. Putting forth another spec, this time involving the web of fate. I'll add links as I get to the comics that make my point. Okay, Zoe has a bunch of lines that lead to her, all of them, the Fate spider says, lead to the Bug. So, he traces the lines up the web, and reaches something that scares him to another occupation. We eventually find out that what scares him is the collapse of the web. As I speculated before the web is probably a bunch of connections between people that cause events. So actually it's someONE who causes an event that causes the collapse of the thread.

So who causes the collapse? We know its not Zoe, the fate spider says she's connected but not the cause. We know it's not Oasis, because, if not for the death of Fang, Shlock would have chickened out on pushing Oasis's buttons through death, he would have skipped town and Oasis would have followed him and killed him on her own time before the web snaps. These are really individual events, and have nothing to do with Hereti-Corp or the R&D companies, whom we know had something to do with the web snapping.* This counts out Shlock as well.

So, who is left that's connected to Zoe and has nothing to do with Oasis or K'Z'K or Shlock? Well...near everybody in the comic, I suppose. But if I had to put my money on it, I'd throw down many dollars on Riff being the cause of the thread snappage. The spiders moved people around in a way that zapped Zoe and Riff into another dimension really, REALLY close to the point that the web would have snapped. And the web didn't snap because of these actions. Riff is the key. I'm not too surprised by that, either, as the comic has shown what lengths he will go to to "make things right" if one of his devices fails. I'm assuming that in the DoR these lengths (or perhaps the device) pretty much destroyed the world, as we've seen other Dimensions' Riffs do again and again and again. I'm not sure what exactly was prevented yet, and I'm not sure where the DoR's Riff is yet, but I can't wait to learn the full story.

*Also, on a side note, I'd say that this also means Shlock is not His Masterness. If the DoR is a pretty straight reflection of the DoN, Shlock is dead.

Things that make you go "hmm"!

There is too much here for me to have time to really explore and think through until the weekend. I'm sure I'll be back later with more thoughts. But in the meantime, here is a link to add to your 'other dimensions' Riffs destroying the world' list. It's from '07 so you probably haven't gotten to it yet.

Hey, not really a connection, just a comment: I re-read Oceans Unmoving for the first time since its initial run, and let me tells ya, its much better as one big narrative. A good pirating epic, I think. I hope someday Pete gives us the conclusion. That was one hell of a cliffhanger.

Also, I'm sure Calix and Kada are related to Sluggy Prime in some way. The Greek connection to Calix's people, Kada's connection to Riff through the apparatus he began, and then sold to Kada's ancestor, and of course the when and how of Bun Bun's first dip in the void. These things intrigue me. I want to know more.

I've speculated in another thread that those two are Torg's parents. Time will tell but I have a feeling they are more important than they appear...

and thanks to you I'm beginning to believe that spec, I would have never thought of it honestly.

More links to Greece!

Rithuly's true form is that of a "Stygian Dragon." "Stygian" is a term in Greek mythology that typically means dark or gloomy as its root is the word Styx, i.e. the underworld river Styx. Also, he's an old god trapped by wizards in the Never.

Check out one of Chaz's old masters and the clothing he and his peers wear. Looks awfully Grecian to me. I wonder if the god Chaz's master worshiped was Rithuly? Hmmm.

Hey, guys, I have some questions that I don't think have come up before!

Remember the gang's short trip to the spirit world? The one that had the townhouse covered in the blood of the innocent? Question: Who the heck asked for a wish so awful that the spirits ripped up the contract of the wisher? The wish was 400 years in the past, which puts us out of range of pretty much all of the characters in the comic. (And no, it wasn't Bun-Bun. The spirits had no idea who he was.) Perhaps Pete just put it in there as a nice bridge, but keep an eye on any spirit users in the future.

Remember all that spec that came out during that storyline that mentioned how spirit Chaz looks suspiciously like the shadow sword that killed Bun-Bun's mother? Question: Who the heck was Bun-Bun's mother?? If the sword is indeed Chaz, then we have a few things going here. First of all, Bun-Bun must be from a time long past. The sword, taken from dark-ages England, has been out of history until present day. For Bun-Bun's mother to be slaughtered by that sword, she and Bun-Bun can't be more current than 900 A.D. or so. Secondly, Bun-Bun's mother either held a LOT of power, or was just an innocent bystander caught on the edge of the sword for a power-up. I'm more inclined to believe it's the former, though, considering Bun-Bun's fighting abilities, strength, general demeanor, etc. Not to mention his fantastic healing abilities!

So, who was she? A goddess? A trickster spirit? A particularly strong bunny?

Okay, after a whole bunch of readin', I've worked my way up to bRoken. And I'm pretty sure that Sasha is Kusari.

Now, I'm not quite sure WHEN Sasha became Kusari. I'm working on the hypothesis that Kusari and Oasis are weaponized ghosts. I think Oasis is more of a weaponized consciousness jumping into clone bodies when she dies. Kusari is a straight ghost, possessing whom she can, when she can (or when she is told to, anyway. I'm unsure if the possessed is aware of their possession, or if the ghost takes on the personality of the person, or if the ghost takes over completely.

Now, I'm not sure when Sasha became Kusari. I'd place my bets on right after DDA, though. My reasoning being that Kusari was missing from the events of DDA, as seen in this comic, in the boardroom. But then, here she is again at the end of the storyline. The only person really available in the group for possession was Sasha, after her injury sent her packing to the hospital. Why not possess a member of the gang? She could be helpful to Hereti-Corp eventually, yes? And there she was, an easy body in the hospital.

More proof that Kusari is at least someone the crew knows: here and here she expresses reluctance in getting the gang involved with Shlock's plans.

Update: Hereti-Corp and the K'Z'K cult meeting are the reason for the fall of the web of fate. I completely forgot about this comic when I made my previous post. So, the fate spider may have been trying to prevent Shlock's death more than anything, since Shlock would never pursue a cult of K'Z'K while other members may have plenty of reasons to. Riff may simply be a victim.

Of course, the Masterness of the DoR still considers him a threat, so he may still have been essential to building 4U city (besides cribbing from his designs, that is.)

I've long said that Riff is Torg's grandfather by way of Kada.