The Monster Under the Bed by Brandon Shane is licensed under a
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The Monster Under the Bed
“Embrace your fear.”
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
I’m sensing Termite will be announcing his plans for Nox Now that he’s the High-Father?
Well, some discussion will be had, yeah.
Discussion along the knes of “Join me or join Pax. The realm is in peril from “enemies within and without” and needs a STRONG HAND at the rudder of the State. Do it my way or else be declared an enemy of the state.”
Classic Fascism!
knes? = “lines”
This is the second time I’ve heard him being called a fascist… but… he ISN’T one! XD He’s a prick, but he isn’t a fucking fascist! 🤣
A fascist is simply a supporter of a particular philosophy & form of government. It is no more inherently insulting than communist–despite the communist’s insistence that “fascist” is supposedly the most deadly insult to level against someone.
If the new “High Father” in fact takes a line such as Tomokatu suggested, then, indeed, “fascist” is probably reasonably accurate label. While I believe it is entirely likely, I’m yet to determine for myself which breed particular breed of lying scum he is.
You may be using a different definition to the commonly accepted one, but ambitious, sociopathic, murderous and fond of militaristic display backed by a goon squad, that means fascist to me!
That describes basically all dictatorships. Fascism has a few more distinguishing properties than that!
Though if he actually adds the ‘enemies within and without’ line you suggested that would probably be a step in the ‘right’ direction.
Ulzgoroth said’…That describes basically all dictatorships…”
I am QUITE prepared to cast the net of fascism wide enough to catch them all
Next question; What do we DO about them?
And will see more. These days in about 99 cases out of 100 it’s just an equivalent of “icky poo!” for communists who didn’t grow out of a demo-version sized dictionary. 🙄 Thus unless something specifically suggests meaningful usage in a given case, it’s easier to defaults to interpretation as non-meaningful.
(insert sounds of a dozen keyboards typing a request to the hivemind and then ^C ^V)
No. He’s just fuckin’ evil. But he seems to enjoy her ass a lot so… maybe its a match made in hell…er Nox?
Now we know why the Termite was so cock-sure about getting away with calling Lord Mortis a murderer… he’s conveniently stashed Mortis well out of sight so that he is unable to refute Termite’s story – and of course Nightmare will back him to the hilt.
My guess is that Termite and Nightmare have locked Mortis behind the first set of doors leading to the core, doors that require two keys to open – one from the Brotherhood and one from the Sisterhood – thus ensuring no-one can find Mortis by accident. After all, that would be… inconvenient… for Termite…
That is exactly where he is, in the safest, most secure cell in all of Nox!
Honestly surprised Terminus didn’t kill Mortis, he’s already killed before what’s a little more blood?
He seems a naive visionary without good ethics and in a desperate situation, not a maniac.
Also, at that time he probably had great misgivings about being caught over dead Mortis. 😅
There’s actually potential political value in preserving a rival in a secure location for later revelation, particularly if (after say 12-24 months strict solitary) they can be “persuaded” to make public statement(s) in support of the new regime.
If popular sentiment turns against the new rulership, the rival (suitably medicated) can be trotted out in public in support of the claim “Look! I’m not as evil as the biased press claim. Here’s the alternate leader alive!”
Of course, THEN it’s useful if they can be diagnosed with a lingering fatal illness.
Eh, the stabbing was an accident and he seemed to be suitably horrified at the time. He made a quick recovery, but was still horrified.
He’s an asshole and opportunistic, but not a straight up murderer of his fellow noxians…yet.
The solution seems fairly obvious. However, relying on it underscores Termie’s cock-sure attitude toward dam-well everything, up to and including “The Core” itself (which Lord Pax seemed to think dangerous for some reason).
With more paranoid thinking, even what we know suggests at least two feasible scenarios in which simply leaving an aegis or several (does he carry a handful of them like Moonie?) anywhere near this place for a while can lead to… non-trivial consequences.
And who knows full extent of what Mortis can and cannot do? It’s not a cell for containing magic-users…
Doors with locks like that are made to keep something in, or something out. Given the magical nature of Nox it would be reasonable to think they are up to the job. Also that Noxians have ways of binding or otherwise containing someones magic, kind of like our law enforcement has handcuffs, and Mortis was out cold long enough to apply such measures. We cant see his hands in this, but I am guessing they are bound, probably by conveniently magic draining plot devices.
Well, yes, the doors look solid enough… if all this works correctly (which it doesn’t) and as simple as it looks (which it doesn’t have to be). But between “high security” and “broken magic” conditions there are many possibilities for things going sideways.
The “high security” part is simple: people probably are not supposed to muck around there, unless authorized and just passing through.
So if the parts that still work include an alarm, after they messed around this door, Noxians somewhere else could had a free jump scare at the sounds of «VE-E-EP! Unauthorized personnel loitering in a high security area! VE-E-EP!» — and won’t stop until someone traces and fixes the problem, since Mortis isn’t going to leave.
Or as a fallback it could forcibly transport Mortis half a town away (“think with portals”, indeed).
Now, a magical trinket or three, right next to a broken magical power source (which they apparently deemed too dangerous to fix) could lead to who knows what.
Such as some portal opening right there. Or transfer permissions from an aegis lost in the room (on strangely transformed remnants of a high ranked magi-technician who was there at the wrong time) to one of the aegises Mortis carries. Or wards on either door overload and explode.
Or something really weird. Heavy-duty magic hardware, damage and lack of maintenance sounds like an unpredictable combination.
I think Terminus must posses at least 3 Brotherhood aegises by now, incl. his own. But for the second door he’ll need 2 more items other than 2 aegises. And for one he may have to take a visit on the surface. And there’s no telling of the whereabouts of the other one. On the other hand, Term’s source of aegis-power is practically locked away as well now.
And there’s this mystery of the original owners of 3 ‘Sisterhood’ aegises. Maybe there are only 2…
Every member of each guild has at least one, they are not exactly scarce; it’s more about the numbers on them. They need powerful ones.
After making the above comment is when I noticed that Mortis got 2. So, assuming Term snatched both (and that from the old man too), he got 4.
He isn’t collecting them anyway, they don’t work that way.
I’ll need to recheck the pages with this old Brotherhood leader. I don’t recall seeing any aegis on him. I assume he got more than one too. So, by now, Term may have a whopping number of 5 or 6 in his possession. That greedy bastard!
2 of the ‘mystery’ Sisterhood aegises can be seen on Moonie, one on the young adult Tim. Probably he got that from Moonie, or maybe that’s indeed a third one. Looks like he made his way to Nox at a time. What else he may need it for……….
I think you’ll find that Tim doesn’t have an aegis YET.
He may be granted one in the future as a result of services about to be rendered or his Noxian heritage (through Ruth/Lady Blackheart) but check the timeline on the pages you’re referencing.
The future is clouded and we’ve already seen pages of events that haven’t happened yet.
Reason why I said “young adult Tim”. I noticed that the comic keeps hopping back and forth in time.
Even when he’s a kid / teen yet, Ruth *may* have an aegis meant for him, stored away somewhere already.
Can’t wait for next weeks page! Great as always.
I am sorry, but in the third panel where Morris is hit in the back of the head, all I could think of was hearing a cartoonish “bonk” sound. XD
I mean, there probably was one!
Meanwhile, I can’t help thinking about what exactly he was hit in head with … was it a valuable artifact?
Watermelons are probably rare and expensive in the perpetual twilight of Nox.
Well hope the Noxian has a truth spell to completely destroy Teminus’ arguments.
So Nightmare did act while these two were ranting, indeed.
What does Tim have to do with his plans?
He wants to open the door to the core of Nox, but he can’t open the door without Tim’s blood… so, he’s sort of important to his plans!
I can’t wait for the day this asshole gets put in his place…
… six feet under, so he can rest in pieces?
So … now Terminus knows where Tim lives?
How?
Tim’s not at the ceremony, Nightnare doesn’t know his location and neither Shadow or Midnight are talking.
So far, Terminus isn’t even aware of Tim’s existence.
but yes, of the existence of a hybrid … not that he has no way of tracking it or guessing which of all the houses in the world it is in or obtaining information from Shadow and midnight to find it … but he knows that Shadow knows alright where is she … I would just have to wait for the perfect moment and follow her where she goes most of the time ….now we just have to wait and see that Shadow is smart enough to be able to fool him.
Terminus knows he exists. He’s never met him, but Nightmare did tell him of Shadow’s Pet Human.
and that will be the big problem that Tim will have to face …. seeing someone who is not Shadow or midnight and that all they want from him is his blood …. either to obtain that by forcibly removing him or killing him in the act.
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!”
I feel like there are a few issues in the way in which monster society is organized, wrt. the legal system and succession.
Brandon’s not yet explained much of the Nox legal systen at all.
It seens to be based on the early Bolshevik system in that those with the miltary power and social position are always legal.
Seems Nox is pretty small and it’s legal system is quite simple because they don’t have enough lawyers.
… was there always so few of them or are they like last survivors of the last war?
(Also note that this is not limited to Bolshevik: Legal government is ALWAYS the one with superior military power. After all, history is written by winners.)
Agreed (and I approve (for what it’s worth) of your political cynicism).
It took me nearly thirty years to achieve such enlightenment!
Workers of the World, Unite!
You have nothing to lose but your Chains!
I am rarely overcome with emotions, but my blood is boiling with the desire for Termite to be physically ripped to literal shreds, and the cockhungry bitch is forced to watch.
Brandon, please, answer me. Is it okay to translate your comix on Russian?
I’m curious how the number of aegis works here.
Mortis had one on each shoulder. Moonie has at least three on her. Terminus, despite being the new highfather, still has just his one.
I’d be thinking more of a seniority than rank thing but Pax only had one.
Would’a thought Mr. T would have come up with something a little better than that. But who can dispute it?