Good on you, Emil.

Last chance to place bets

>>149213298
Lemuel

>>149213298
I'm becoming more convinced that it's Roger. Sonorie's been getting into recycling lately.

Holy shit. I actually tried to give the queen more credit than she deserved

>>149213298
Keon

Website comment:
>The crowd has some good ideas. I wonder who that is though… They’re about to have a bad time.

>-Ashley
Patreon comment:
>Who d'you reckon it is?

>(Consider following the Kickstarter campaign if you haven't yet! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ironspike/summer-2025-mystery-project )

>>149213298
I thought the lady on stage was Keon's wife at first, so I thought it'd be Keon with her presiding. Looking back, though, the only similarity in the outfit is the conical hat, so it's probably not her. The way the body is all but limp and has to be led around makes me think it's Roger's body.

>>149213213 (OP)
I wonder what this suicide mission that Emil mentioned is about. Clearly he was her first choice and as soon as he turned her down, she sends him away (I hope there will be no bullshit here) as if to clear the field. Why Emil Sava?
Anyway, the Grenzlan attack went well even after the black tongue annihilation. Interesting.
>>149213324
>Lemuel
I forgot. Is death by burning okay or no in Ssaelism?

>>149213531
It looks like he's walking though in the bottom left panel.

>>149213545
ssaelism is the one that loves cremations

>>149213531
>the conical hat
Anon, that's a statue.

>>149213326
I don't think Roger's body could even stand up of its own accord, let alone walk. unless its a plod for show.

>>149213561
Makes one wonder, doesn't it? Ssaelit demand cremations, Gefendur need their bodies preserved to be buried and returned to the earth. Burning one to death is the "proper" way (though one prefers after death to causing it), to the other it's a hideous crime.

So do the Gefendur burn the Ssaelit in effigy anyway? Because they believe it curses them? Or do they not burn them because they know it'll fuck with them to go to their death knowing their bodies won't be treated "properly?"

>>149213545
>I wonder what this suicide mission that Emil mentioned is about. Clearly he was her first choice and as soon as he turned her down, she sends him away (I hope there will be no bullshit here) as if to clear the field. Why Emil Sava?
One wonders what she's sad about?

It's clear the Queen is no mad woman (well, not legitimately mad, anyway), and so she is dutifully rewarding Toma for his loyalty, morality, and heroism. I don't think one needs to look more into it than that. She says that this whole dog and pony show is to appease her followers, not herself. Her real change is becoming more tyrannical, less willing to give people a leash to hang her with.

So this "suicide" mission, which must be related to the plans to unmake Alderode. She probably seems sad for one of two reasons. One, Toma is fucking awesome. He's achieved way, way more than one would've expected of him. Having him on the mission would probably be for the best, and might even turn it into a not suicide mission.

Or two, the Queen realizes fully she's lost the implicit support a good man who was gone through hell for her and shown nothing but genuine loyalty and belief in The Mission. That he tore her a new one probably actually hurt her feelings.

>>149213545
Wild speculation but what if this suicide mission is how Duane ends up leaving captivity and being fixed up and sent off to Alderode
She already presumably knows they work well together by this point

>>149214062
>Or two, the Queen realizes fully she's lost the implicit support a good man who was gone through hell for her and shown nothing but genuine loyalty and belief in The Mission. That he tore her a new one probably actually hurt her feelings.
Probably shouldn't have tried to get herself and his daughter turbo murdered by supernatural horrors due to her own scheming then

>>149213326
Couldn't be, he's in no shape to walk, doesn't even have the brains to coordinate such motor function.

>>149213298
Looks like whoever it is, we don't get to see their hands and therefore can't guess the color of their skin. But whoever it is has kinda short hair that doesn't end past their nape.

So I don't think it's Keon, since he has extremely short hair, and he hasn't been imprisoned long enough for it to grow there-- unless what I'm seeing peek out from under the mask is just shadow and not hair.

>>149214062
I agree, I think she's sad at what her victory has cost her. The unwavering loyalty of a good man. And the fact that good man chewed her out?

What probably hurt most is that she knows with every fiber of her being that she deserved every whip of that tongue-lashing.

>>149213298
Going over our candidates...

Keon: Ashley hinted a few years back that he'd suffer some awful consequences for his actions in the next book, but that might have been cut/changed. As the only known survivor of Bell's coup and the silver plot, he seems the most likely candidate.
Karl: Not entirely impossible, I suppose, but it'd make the previous scene a very strange fakeout.
Roger: I feel like trying to make him a scapegoat might not serve the queen's interests at this point, depending on how it's framed. And I don't think his body's in any state to even stand up.
Lemuel: Narratively weird, and I feel this show wouldn't make sense after the relatively quick hanging of the traktors. But it would ramp up the Duane drama. But I feel like we're moving on from that plot, Duane's story seems to be going other places next book.
Duane: ???

My bet's on Keon. But am I missing anyone?

>>149214570
Paul and Bastion aren't off the table, but it'd be kind of a stretch to do the reveal here when they haven't been seen in the comic at all for a good while just to promptly kill one of them.

>>149214628
I think that the fact that the crowd's expecting a Black Tongue kinda rules them out as well. But yeah, disregarding narrative conventions, it's not impossible.

This makes me thin it might not be Keon

>>149214570
>And I don't think his body's in any state to even stand up.
Can't they just make him a plod?

It's Keon - Ashley did the (smart) trick of hiding his skin color AND his hands. If he was Crescian we would know for certain it is Keon - this preserves a bit of the mystery. They've executed nothing but traitors so far. I imagine any Alds would still be held for interrogation - as Crescian traitors would demand priority and accountability before the enemy.

I can't imagine they would let any Ald captured in Grenzlan see home given they witnessed the breaking of the treaty. We have to assume Lemuel got out.

>>149214747
Sounds like Roger plod. Sonorie making a very public rebuttal of all her doubters, of whom we saw explicitly go beyond Bell's group in the populace, by burning Roger in front of them so they never question her dedication. Since he's dead and gone now, why not make one last "sacrifice" of him for the Cause? That's just green thinking. Using the entire Copper.

Even some captured Aldish officer doesn't make much sense, big or small. They'd just be some schmuck to most of the public, for whom an execution would be beyond question any way. What would burning such a person prove of Sonorie? That she can kill one Ald? The public wants more than that, so if she's gonna wrangle them into her scheme, she needs something that'll really impress them. The idea that she was "just using" Roger all along, that it was her "fucking" over him, and not the other way around, would help both solve the above issue of the doubt in her commitment to opposing Alderode and show she's got something exceptional planned so they should, as Cope says, "let her cook."

"I've been using this red fucker for a generation, trust me, I have a plan."

>>149213213 (OP)
>Guard there with the Jerrycan

ok I'm starting to buy that it's a plodified Roger. They want people away from the cart because he could still be dangerous if unmuzzled. next page will have him react to the blood in the last panel.

Alternatively, it's a Quigley plod. He was a red berry boy, he has infamously fucked over Cresce in the past, and he was at Litriya Shrine when things went tits up there. Easy to scapegoat unless Elka and Toma really want to stick their necks out.

>>149214747
If she wants the people to let her cook as a means to prevent open warfare, publicly killing enemy combatants while making a grand speech doesn't make much sense. She's done some really shady shit -- Roger, the black tongues, Ruck, Bell's insanity, the weapon factory in the shrine, breaking the plod treaty -- and at least some of it's bound to trickle down to the general population.

It makes more sense to push further blame on the traitors while stating your case. Especially here in Morstorben, where the silver and the Alds (who were working with Bell) hit. She's made it clear she won't be targeting the nobles, but burning Bell's right-hand man, the last remnant of the failed coup that caused all these atrocities? Yeah, that's what you want when you're making a plea that you'll be going for a victory without any further Crescian war casualties. "Our brave troops have defeated both our enemies and the traitors hiding among us, I know what I'm doing and the Gods are on our side, so let me handle this from here on out so that you will all be safe."

>>149215092
Quigley is well-liked due to the play, though. Might put a damper on things.

>>149215140
He also happens to already be dead.

At least Roger’s heart was still beating even after his soul got sucked up.

>>149213324

Anon you know that's just wishful thinking.

>>149215499
It's not. I'm actually really scared it's him. Not that he shouldn't die. Just not here. Not yet. Not like this.

>>149215092
Wouldn't that be problematic while Ruck still slithers about? When your enemies are still magically compelled to constantly hate THE ACCURSED ROGER FOI HELICK, it will lead to awkward questions and rumours that he's still somehow survived.

>>149215546
Ruck swallowed that soul. The curse is over.

>>149214664
I think some in the crowd saying it might be a black tongue rules them way in, not out. Think about it. They were openly helping the creascian army against the Alds. If the crowd thinks it might be a black tongue that suggests that the queen has levelled some false blame at them for the disaster. And if she blamed them, why wouldn't one of them be shown to pay?

>>149214628
>it'd be kind of a stretch to do the reveal here when they haven't been seen in the comic at all for a good while
It wasn't that long ago. They were helping the queen and the others try to escape the shit show in her underground villain's lair. There appears to be black hair under that hood. My money is on Bastion. Either the queen is rewarding him for saving her by trying to kill him to placate the people, or she knows he can zap himself away and this is a fake out just for the show.

>>149213326
I'm on team Roger too, it feels very Sonorie-ish to get rid of him like that. We'll probably get a page where she plays the sad lonely queen.

>>149215641
I thought that by devouring Roger's soul the curse had been transferred to him and the Alds began to target him - am I misremembering something?

>>149215991
It was applying to him while he was storing Roger's soul in his body, but now he's full-on swallowed it so it may well be gone

>>149215641
>>149216000
HAS he swallowed him? He shoved him back into his throat when he tried to rebel, but I don't think it's been shown or said that he's done away with him forever.

>>149213298
Bastion
>>149215712
>My money is on Bastion.
Doubly agree for the crows alone. Why else would crows follow if the person isn't black tongue related? Even the common crowd noticed the crows and the red and black carriage (and Bastion is fancy enough to roll into the "execution" in full tittybird flair).
So yes I think the person is Bastion, and he and Sonorie are in cahoots.

>>149216076
Yes, he finally digested it on instinct when he got wounded and fled in the water.

>>149213213 (OP)
>gas can
I know this is a weird question, but does the Unsounded world have oil and plastics?
If so, how?

>>149213324
Whoever it is looks like they have black hair in the bottom middle panel.

>>149215712
>or she knows he can zap himself away
Can he do that without Tittybird's help?

>>149216409
No coal or oil since the worlds is made from mountain ogres and also too young- this is whale oil, apparently.

>>149214085

Yeah, it's an obvious plot hook to send Duane and Sette off to Alderode, Dirty dozen-style.

Be interesting to see how Sette has been changed by her experiences in the Khert, incidentally. She may actually have grown up a bit as a consequence.

>>149216477

Lol, of course Ashley thought of that. I though perhaps it could be distilled alcohol.

>>149213213 (OP)
Ash wouldn't let Lem survive a zombie apocalypse just to be executed here would she?

>>149214570
I feel like Keon isn't notable enough to make a whole build up about. He was a secondary antagonist at best.

I feel like it's probably Lem or Bastion. It looks like whoever it was was capable of walking, so I feel like it isn't Roger.

>>149215162
Hence "Quigley-Plod"

That said, I don't think it would be Quigs since, again, Cresce kinda likes him and also I believe Ash said one of the cut epilogue scenes was Quigs' funeral.

>>149215991
If the curse transferred to him that'd be pretty karmic, but I think the implication was that they went rabid because they saw Roger in him when he came out and everything

>>149217559
If she does, I'm inclined to let her cook with it. I wasn't big on the Mikaila revelation in principle before it happened, but she made it work. So I'm willing to see where this seemingly anticlimactic turn for his and Duane's subplot would go.

>>149217869
I feel like, for how much it's come up, the comic perhaps should've been more explicit that the Alds (minus the golds) have a psychic connection to each other. Enough to recognize who they are, sense their emotions, and tell if they're lying.

That's the connection that led them to Ruck. They couldn't "see" the soul, per se, but to every non-Gold Ald in that building, all knew exactly where "Roger" was just as easily as you could recognize the person you hate the most at a distance. And having recognized his presence, the hate curse drove them into a frenzy of murder for "him."

>>149218483
IIRC it's the Dammakhert that unites them, that was just a random detachment of invaders that broke into Roger's room while they were trashing the whole place.
I think golds are supposed to be the true leadership caste because they are the only ones that are not influenced by the Dammakhert (every other caste is basically designed for something specific and if the curse is anything to go by they can be effectively brainwashed by it), but they got usurped one way or another, or they're the shadow government and the coppers are just the front.

>>149218483
i mean, we had a whole chapter of all the alds going, "I can FEEL him... ROGER FOI HELLICK... i can FEEL him... he's CLOSE...." i think it's kinda obvious there's some psychic feeling going on there? and even in chapter 14 it's said explicitly by Will and one of the plats, "Soud aren't real Aldishmen because you can't feel them in the Khert"

>>149218653
>IIRC it's the Dammakhert that unites them
The dammakhert makes them the way they are and allows for the weird things we've seen, such as the curse, but once it's been done to them, they're impacted by it everywhere. Where there's a khert, anyway.

The explicit confirmation has been out of comic, to be fair, but Cope recently confirmed Matty and Quigley still had their aldish lie detectors on during their last goodbye, which made it all the worse because they knew they were lying to each other. She's also, in the past, mentioned the only reason Bastion was surprised by and also not frothing at the mouth over Roger when Ruck dragged him to the Black Tongue meeting in their pocket dimension is that place specifically stops those kinds of khert interactions from happening.

On the subject of brainwashing, the only explicit one we've seen is the Etalarche Curse, which we do know in comic is a hasty exploit Jerry-rigged into the dammakhert after the fact and creating a vulnerability it wasn't meant to have. Or perhaps it was actually inserted during its creation? Food for thought, it's unclear when it happened I think. Important thing is it was an ill considered, quickly done thing, and it doesn't sound like there's much actual mind control otherwise.

>>149217559
Lemuel makes no sense narratively. He's got too much unresolved and from the Crescian's perspective he's a random pilot. Way too much ceremony in this execution for it to be him.

It's either Keon, Roger's soulless body, or if it absolutely is a Black Tongue then it's whatever weird insane abomination that resulted when Barbed Wire Bastion tried to offset while Paul was clinging to him in a khert fire.

>>149217594
>It looks like whoever it was was capable of walking, so I feel like it isn't Roger.
We've seen Roger's husk responding to certain stimuli, so there are still motor functions left in him. If he was walking unassisted I'd agree with you, but just moving his legs as he's guided along? Yeah, I think he's capable of that much.

Part of me does wonder if it might somehow be Bastion.

It wouldn’t make a ton of sense since he’s the one who actually SAVED her, but at the same time, there was a lot of confusion going on in the chaos and he could be convenient scapegoat.

>>149221199
Thing is he’s the one character we actually can be sure is story-immortal. That one comic of him as a very old man was confirmed canon. He survives everything Unsounded will throw at him. Not unscarred by the looks of things, but Duane will never eat his brains and/or fuck him to death.

>>149215546
Alderode insists he's dead, a crowd of Crescians can point to the very place they saw him hung. It'd blow over, not like there's a Kassylne 4chan where citizens can compare notes.

>>149213213 (OP)
>I read they captured officers!
At least this probably means Lemuel is alive

>>149214350
I mean she deserves death, but we don't get what we deserve, we get what we get.

>>149214628
Paul and Bastion where in THIS VERY ARC lol.

they were next to the queen on the night of this whole little event.

>>149221199
you act as if Queen Machiavelli has any heart left.

Bastion could have saved her a dozen times and if his death where useful, she'd do it immediately, act like she felt bad about it after, then move on.

>>149221710
Aw, why you gotta dash my hopes like that.

>>149222333
And then they tried to offset while in a Khert fire. Ashley isn't going to put a character in a dire cliffhanger like that and then have them show up later with nary a handwave, she's not J.J. Abrams.

>>149221710
Can't fuck him to death, it's long since fallen off. He'd have to repurpose Bastion's parts (or what's left of them) first.

>>149219871
Been doing a reread, and it might just be because it's a common thing for military leader characters to go through, but it was neat to have Toma beating himself up over Petr getting amputated over his "bad call."

There's other fun stuff too, like Sette shouting at Duane that he's just another thing for her to use in Chapter 2 before they go into the Red Berry Boys' base.

>>149222936
This comic's fantastic for rereads. I noticed that every single red berry boy died by the end, even Quigley. Even Anodyne and Knock.
I also noticed a few unresolved setups that I bet will come back in the sequel, like the new face for Uaid that Siya was working on. It would be so charming if Jivi finds that and gives it to Matty to help him recover losing him, like a death mask that matty can hold on to whenever he misses him

>>149221710
>he’s the one character we actually can be sure is story-immortal
That doesnt mean he's not the one under the hood

>>149218653
What would the coppers meant to be? Wisdom + longevity is a great combination for the ruling caste. Plus Rortide is believed to have have been a copper, unless everything we know about Aldish early history is a lie.
I would lean more towards something like a bargain struck between Ssael and Rortide where the Tains would be incorporated into Alderode but remain immune from the Dammakhert.

>>149221710
Yes, but he loses his hair.

>but she would've warned us about him [Bell] when she sent us after the silver
Sure about that, Emil? He's still pretty loyal by the time he and Bell have it out, but this is probably a hint that Emil personally feels like he's been ill used by the Queen.

Thinking back, I don't get why the Black Tongue centered Matty's solidity sight on Chitz instead of giving him a headband or glasses and using that as the reference point.

>>149227482
Ever the schemers, they sensed the market opportunity in a cute, easy to reproduce sack toy.

>>149227482
the stuffing was the first material that carried the enchantment, wasn't it?
it was probably way cheaper to just use a bag of first sand or whatever than some expensive refined material like glass or cloth

>>149227533
It was first copper if I recall, and they only would have needed to separate a bit of it, put it on a pair of regular classes, and link it to the rest, I think.

>>149224923
>Plus Rortide is believed to have have been a copper, unless everything we know about Aldish early history is a lie.
I'm 99% sure Rortide was just a big guy who was a redhead, whose description made Alds later on assume he was a Copper.
For someone to be a Copper, that means the Dammakhert existed and enforced the casts, which means Plats existed, whose whole purpose was being connected to the khert and good at Pymary.
But during Rortide's conquest, Pymary was known exclusively to the Tains.

>>149227482
Probably didn't occur to the daft eunuchs.

>>149227611
There's definitely something fucky with the founding of modern Alderode. Ssael is a historical figure, Rortide the well known and attested to founder of a country. But the dammakhert's creation post-dates both, and that seems murkiest of all. Obviously its maintenance is a closely guarded state secret, but it seems odd. So too is what little we've heard of the Etalarche Curse. Salty Reptile's description of its creation makes it seem like the popular perception of it, tying it more closely to the Ssaelism mythology, is a bit off the mark. Though it's only named for the poor bastard, not the first target. One wonders who the Aldish King, was it even Rortide?, so feared as to have the curse created.

Well?

>>149227742
BIG WOMAN + Silver chicks

>>149227742
It's gotta be the caste shit plus Victorian-tier repression. Bet their version of Dracula is insane.

>>149227757
Has Ashley ever shared a sketch of a big copper woman before? Preferably standing next to someone normal sized?

>>149227742
>Well?
It's silvers, and Cope knows it.

>>149224923
Doesn't Rortide predate the dammakhert? He would've been a Rortidian and not some dammakhert mutant.
Any mentions of him being a copper is surely just copper propaganda.

>>149227812
I don't think she has, but she did mention a while back that the leader of the aldish rebels is a copper woman and that we'll be seeing her in book 2.

>>149222674
And Osiris had his wing wong eaten by crocodiles, he just had Isis make him a new solid gold rod before he became king of the underworld. Where there's a willy there's a way!

>>149224923
Going by the idea that golds were meant to be the rulers it would simply be that coppers have a lot more time to gather influence and wisdom so they naturally displaced golds from their positions, they'd be designed to be generals and leaders (if not merely just extra strong soldiers due to their size) but not the rulers of Alderode itself.
Going by the idea that the shadow government is made of golds the coppers would still be the leaders in charge of managing most of Alderode due to their longevity and because they're designed to be good at it, but they'd still be part of the "experiment".

>>149219089
I think Cope said something that an Ald wouldn't be affected by the curse if they weren't in a dammakhert hub field when it was triggered and never went to one after

>>149229672
They'd also have to avoid other Alds, since the Curse can spread via the Ald telepathy
Also, bad news everyone: the parrot is going to be executed for his crimes against nature

>>149213324
Doubt.

>>149213298
My guess is someone who had something to do with her sisters assassination.

Fellow Alds! I ordered some copies from the shop before it closed this last weekend. Would you belive that Cope threw in some pencil sketches! I am absolutely over the moon, im bumping the thread now and hope to post photos once I get a chance but I just started my shift at work

>>149227812
Yeah, she posted some concept art with the chapter 18 script. The giant copper lady rebel leader is represented there. She has giant hair too, very interesting look

>>149232998
Chapter 14 being relevant here means it's not Keon. So, who's alive (or "alive") from then?
>Nora
Bagman seems to be just that: a man, so no dice. I guess you could play devil's advocate and say the shirt is baggier than it looks? As I'm rereading, I see a line where she calls herself someone the queen is willing to risk losing, but I just can't come up with any possible narrative the queen would spin to make the crowd like burning her, or any possible motivation that makes sense to even do it.
>Lemuel
Might be poetic for him to burn given what he did that chapter, but would some random pissmop really be exciting enough for the crowd to get his own center stage burning? The dialogue bubbles do seem to focus on there being Aldish officers from Grenzlan, I can't imagine that's for no reason.
>Roger
The suspect who merited quotation marks around the word 'alive.' Is it public knowledge that his whole plan came from the Salt Lizard? Burning is a heretics' lot, at least in our world, so maybe the queen is now revealing just how much Roger was inspired by senet beast(s) and treating it like she only just found out.

>>149232998
>>149234500
Ohhhhh, hold on a minute heeere

>>149234543
And a funny little parallel: Roger's mindless body might as well be an effigy like in that panel, considering the man himself is long gone from it

>>149234543
Interesting.

Lighting is kinda terrible

My fav

>>149236520
That's a nice Sette, anon.

PROPAGANDA Update!

>>149238370
Split open the horizon?

>>149238417
The giant khert fire that let the squishes in.

>>149238417
From what they can tell, the sky just burst open with… gold.

>>149238370
I was chomping at the bit to find out who it was under the sack today and feel like I just got cockblocked. Damn you, Cope!

DURKA DURKA DURKA JIHAD!!!

>>149238370
Did she walk over invisibly by pymary then make it look like she rose up from the floor, or is it all a glamour/projection?

>>149236484
>>149236496
>>149236520
Very cool. I see why it's your favorite.
>>149238370
Watching the queen's entrance must be terrible for anyone who was there for the massacre. Neat costume design to have her 'rescuing' her people with her squish dress.

>>149213298
Place yer bets, place yer bets.

Our contenders thus far from chapter 14:

- Lemuel Adelier
- Roger (“SIMPERING WORM!”) Foi-Hellick’s husk
- Nora aka “Erm”

>>149238651
they stuffed shaensigin in there

>>149227482
It was to hide the First Materials. You can read the making of Chitz in the short story "Orphans" on the website.

>>149238579
I think she must’ve, since she isn’t capable of actual teleportation like Bastion. That’s a fucking rad costume though, dayum.

>>149238651
Dude, Cope already mentioned science bitch is "investigating" Duane. Why the hell would the queen's most loyal sadist be up there about to be torched?

Any doubt who it is is basically gone now. It's Roger's corpse. His husk has probably had the plod treatment just so it can perform for this.

>>149238651
Only one of those that makes any sort of narrative sense is Roger. I'm not really satisfied with any of the options people have guessed though. I'm sure that whatever Ashley writes it'll look good when she puts it out, but right now they all feel unsatisfying. Just that Roger is the least.

>>149238695
I don't think you need to make him a plod to kill him. That would just be needlessly disrespectful and distasteful for the queen to do, more than just looking her co-conspirator and long term ally already is. It would also be an expensive waste of time and resources when pymaric boots would do if he really needed more aid matching to his death.

>>149238735
Lemuel might make sense in a parallel sort of way because he torched the cart of prisoners, but wouldn’t be satisfying at all.

I agree Roger makes the most sense. His fate, or at least the fate of his corpse, is the last real loose end of Book 1. And burning him while revealing to her people that she was playing him all along or whatever in order to build an anti-Alf weapon would certainly lift Crescian morale.

>>149238795
Without plodification he probably couldn't move or stand.

>>149227742
>twelve foot tall redheads
hufffhg

>>149238808
If it's Lemuel he isn't dying, the Queen would be making some crazy play that leaves him alive/uses him and is using all the pomp and circumstance to get the people on her side. The fact that she's hyping up being the gods chosen makes me think she's really pushing her agenda that the nobles, the military, and the church previously rejected, whatever that may be.

Still think Roger is a more likely pick though.

>>149238370
Sseth and Duane about to appear?

>>149238967
Hyped for the glorious reveal of Alderode's champion MechaDwayne

>>149238808
>>149238960
Lemuel has too much stuff left to do next book for him to die here. And whoever it is escaping would make this day... not be a good one for Cresce. I don't think we're likely to have that happen because at this point Ashley is positioning the queen to be successful and Cresce to be on the mend. Whoever it is that's tied to that post is done for.
>>149238829
I think that's a stretch. He isn't really standing. He was being dragged along by people who tied him to a post. He spent the entire scene extremely hunched over and mostly limp. What you can see of where he appears to be walking could be artistic license, it could be (potentially exaggerated) biological realities of skeletomuscular systems with brain dead creatures: for example some people with leg paralysis are capable of locking their legs to stand, it could be pymaric boots, a wright nearby, leg braces or other walking aides, or even just carefully making it look like he's walking by maneuvering him a certain way. Making him a plod to publicly kill him just makes no sense. Too convoluted.

>>149238967
This epilogue is going to have to be crazy long to tie up enough loose ends for this to be a full standalone book. There's so much left to resolve. What's going on with Duane, Sette, Jivi and Matty. How they get out of there. Will Elka and Emil hook-up here or at his parents, the whole offsetting debacle, Keon's consequences if that's still in the script, and all this business with the queen and Cresce.

I expected the epilogue to be short for some reason.

>>149239034
Oh I don't think Lemuel would escape, I think the Queen deliberately let him live to send a message that plays into her greater plan. Maybe make a play with the Soud or some shit, they aren't really Aldish or something. This is all baseless speculation since it probably isn't Lemuel but just based on
1. Lemuel isn't dying here
2. The Queen is winning here.

If Lemuel is up there both of those have to be true.

Do we even know that Lemon has been captured

>>149239100
She wouldn't be able to win over the people if she let an enemy of the state go like that. The only person a failed execution could be is Bastion, so he can offset away. But he makes even less sense than Lemuel. Before the chapter 14 hint I thought about it maybe being a secret keeper, but I think that's out at this point.

>>149239137
No. Some people are theorizing it from the fact that >>149213213 (OP) suggested commanding officers were captured. Same reason the crows and black tongue comment made people think of Bastion.

>>149238370
>weeks after 9/11
>George W. Bush addresses NYC by projecting a giant hologram of himself rising from a collapsing WTC
>Tells the crowd that Jesus chose America to hold back the tide of Islam
Absolutely unhinged ethnonationalist demagoguery on display here, lads

>>149238370
Website comment:
>Gotta get ‘em juiced first! Gotta get 'em roaring!

>-Ashley
Patreon comment:
>So many people thought there'd be a reveal on the next page but I just didn't have the heart to correct them :3 Let the lady work her showmanship, she's been through a lot to get to this moment.

>(Consider following the Kickstarter campaign if you haven't yet, it's over 1500! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ironspike/summer-2025-mystery-project )

>>149239229
We're not gonna find out who it is til next friday aren't we?

>>149239225
I would say it's more like projecting the WTC collapsing and out of the smoke and ashes first responders rising up while holding the American flag. It could maybe work? But it mostly would be tasteless and upsetting.

>>149239290
More like if yoir literal god appeared during the WTC collapse and saved people, and your god-appointed head of state projected themselves rising from the ashes while bedecked in a manner resembling how that god appeared on earth and waving the American flag.

>>149239225
>>149239290
>>149239504
French Olympics 2024 had a beheaded Marie Antoinette on display. They'll be fine.

>>149239225
>>149239290
>>149239504
Also worth noting that Alderode is not a bunch of radical terrorists hiding out halfway around the globe. They are Cresce's largest neighbor and have been engaged in open, world wrecking warfare on and off for centuries.

More than just religious propaganda, more than even just nationalist propaganda, this is a story that Cresce has been telling itself for longer than America has even existed. That makes the feeling entirely different. The visceral lack of appropriateness apparent in the 9/11 metaphor is entirely because it was a shocking, unexpected event that completely reoriented American geopolitical behavior for a generation. That's not so for Cresce and Alderode.

Not that the fundamental point isn't wrong. Even worse, we know Sonorie is playing to the crowd here. This is not exactly how she puts things in private. What we're learning here is not the Queen's perspective, but what she believes the Crescian people themselves believe.

>>149239290
Are you kidding? People would've eaten that up.

>>149238370
>squishes continue to be exploited for marketing
I guess the queen has got to get in on the craze while it's hot too.

>>149239504
>yoir literal god appeared
We've seen how that works out before.

>>149239225
I mean, if the sky opened and a bunch of angels flew out to stop one of the planes it wouldn't be too crazy to believe in divine protection

You know... it's not beyond the realm of possibility that Duane is about to get the Ned Stark treatment. He's been cucked and marginilised all through this chapter; allowed no win. This would be the final insult. The queen just started dribbling geffie shit after all. It would be the ultimate call back. Sette would be ropeable.

>>149239983
It must be horrible to know that one of your readers can go through a whole chapter of character development and only come away with
>he was....le cucked

>>149240067
You know exactly what I mean. There was at least one too many "ooh Duane is about to show his growth... oh, no he reverted" moments. Even when he was fighting alongside the crescians against the silver the narrative (and people here) blamed him for doing that instead of being with Sette. Some of those people thought he wasn't even coming back after Sette shoved him into the miasma in the khert.

>>149239983
What the hell purpose would that serve to the queen? Duane is a nobody whose face reveal wouldn't even work because he's already a damn corpse, so the crowd's just going to be confused. And if she's planning on demonstrating the power of the black tongue's swan song dammakhert fuckery, that won't work either since he's Soud.

>>149234499
Ohoho, she big, very nice.
The hair is silly but it makes sense for out-of-touch old money fashion.

>>149240179
>What the hell purpose would that serve to the queen?
He's an ald. He's also not geffender. He's also a very dangerous Ald, being a tacit caster. Also what happened to him is very likely part of the problems that have been going on in Alderode the last few years that we've heard about but not yet seen.

>Duane is a nobody whose face reveal wouldn't even work because he's already a damn corpse
You think the queen is really covered in squishes and just rose from a puddle? Glamours are easy.

I doubt it's Duane. It's almost certainly Roger. But if it is Duane I'm flipping this table right through the fucking wall.

>>149240137
You should stick to shounen.

what chapter is this from? saw it in the "dead kids" thread from a few days ago

>>149240268
The last one.

>>149240249
If you're just going to glamour the guy you can use ANYBODY. You don't have to set some uninvolved guy on fire just because of his ethnicity when he was alive, and you ESPECIALLY don't have to do that when he was actually seen helping out by credible witnesses such as Emil Fucking Sava, especially when high level pymaric experts are probably foaming at the mouth to figure out what the fuck is going on with him. It's completely stupid.

The ONLY reason they would use Duane here is because he'd be excellent for some kind of showy ruse. I bet setting him on fire wouldn't even kill him.

>>149240268
Chapter 18 page 233

>>149213213 (OP)
I recently started reading Unsounded and have gotten up to Ch9 but I'm gonna be honest I'm getting filtered hard by the dialogue. I have no clue what's being said or refrenced like a quarter of the time thank to the vernacular. This has never happened to me before...I think im just too retarded.

>>149240317
embrace expanding your vocabulary anon. You're only filtered if you give up.

>>149240281
There's plenty of witnesses who know what really happened to Roger too. The reasons you think it's not Duane aren't really valid. The reason it probably isn't Duane is if he's in the next book, which he probably is but not for the first part.

The queen is proving she's an opportunist and a political beast here in the epilogue. There's plenty of reason for her to off a ssaelit Ald after telling her people the gods are on our (geffie) side.

>>149227742
someone needs to control that woman

>>149240317
Anon if you come into these threads I will personally translate dialogue you find difficult for you. It won't be instant but I'm in basically every one.

>>149240346
>The reasons you think it's not Duane aren't really valid.
You'll have to demonstrate why, you haven't actually done that yet. So far all you've said is "because the queen has a hatred of all Ssaelit." So why would she parade Duane out and make a special point of killing him instead of just burning one of the many ssaelit soldiers that may have happened to survive their attack and WEREN'T actually trying to help prevent it?

Keep in mind also that the queen abhors senseless violence, so the reason to kill a guy who was helping needs to be really, really good.

>>149240317
At least it's not Platinum Grit, anon.

>>149240406
>So far all you've said is "because the queen has a hatred of all Ssaelit."
I didn't say that at all.

They're at war, anon. Alderode just attacked the city they're in. Of course they'd execute an Ald if they had one (like they're probably going to do with Roger). Him being a ssaelit would just be a cherry on top, because we've already seen cresce was meddling in the Aldish civil war before it got potentially religious.

I also said I doubt it's Duane. Just that the GRR Martin twist isn't out of the realm of possibility.

>>149240441
You did actually mention his being Ssaelit and his Aldishness as the main points, but that doesn't matter. The queen is showing up and giving a speech for the burning of this specific guy. If we presume that Aldishness and Ssaelitry are the reasons, why is Duane that guy when there are boatloads of other guys they could've used for the task who actually deserve it? You have not bothered to provide an explanation other than something about somebody being "cucked".

>>149240411
>Now then, I'll not speak a word against Jeremy. It was a fair fight, and poor Dougal had in coming, for all that. I just hope they're celebrating properly! Because you know, there's no babies where there's no nookie! It would be good to watch and be sure of the bonking, but I'll be dead and gone before they ever get to it... and maybe that's as it should be. Regrets are for Queens, do you follow?
>Regrets are for Queens

Some Baba Yaga foretelling from pre-Oglaf Trudy...

>>149240470
I've explained. We don't even know if they took any Ald prisoners. They were under the effect of the curse and all of them we saw were killed. Basically, the (false) reasons that they'd burn Roger are just as valid (false) as they would be for Duane. And once more, I said I doubt it's Duane anyway.

Knowing the word "cuck" has this brain-shutdown effect on you I'll be sure to say it much more often.

>>149240317
Duane speaking like a thesaurus and Sette speaking in thieves' cant care truly the great filters of Unsounded

>>149240524
If it was Duane's verbiage that he couldn't decipher I'd laugh pretty hard.

>>149240510
>Basically, the (false) reasons that they'd burn Roger are just as valid (false) as they would be for Duane.
Did you forget that Roger is a recognizable symbol to all of Cresce? Duane is a nobody. There are far more reasons to burn Roger than Duane for the purpose of the speech, and zero that make Duane a better candidate.

>>149240612
Duane is a freakish new Aldish weapon.

>>149240637
Queen's trying to prevent war, not start it up.

>>149240705
Knowing that would require them to read the words on the pages.

>>149240637
The important thing is you'd have to fucking explain Duane to people. You can't just drop "undead super weapon" on them out of nowhere. No one in the crowd's gonna understand anything and those that would, wouldn't believe it anyway.

Having to explain who this plod is and that it is a who and not a what is just not good propaganda.

>>149240705
>Queen's trying to prevent war, not start it up.
Citation needed. She started the current war by sending crescians into alderode and meddling in the civil war, and she's been planning big things ever since. Where do you think the contructs are that were built in litrya shrine? The speech she's giving right now doesn't sound like a call to peace, and if it's Roger about to be torched then even less so.

>>149240739
She has to explain bugger all for the crowd, beyond that it's an Ald. The crowd were already suggesting "It's the leader of the Aldish invaders" and they have no idea what that person's name might be, or what their face might look like.

And for the last time, I DON'T REALLY THINK IT'S DUANE. But nothing you've said, still, is reason it wouldn't be. All the crowd needs to see is it's an Ald and all they need to hear is he's important. The rest is schemes of queens.

>>149240825
>Citation needed.
The queen's entire storyline. The entire purpose of the scheming is to prevent Alderode from being an existential threat to Cresce without engaging in the wanton violence and bloodshed Cresce would have to endure from the escalation of border skirmishes into outright war.

Thankfully to save the trouble of citing entire scenes I can just invoke Word of God instead, but I encourage you to reread the comic.

>>149240825
>She has to explain bugger all for the crowd, beyond that it's an Ald. The crowd were already suggesting "It's the leader of the Aldish invaders" and they have no idea what that person's name might be, or what their face might look like.
>And for the last time, I DON'T REALLY THINK IT'S DUANE. But nothing you've said, still, is reason it wouldn't be. All the crowd needs to see is it's an Ald and all they need to hear is he's important. The rest is schemes of queens.
But again, as other anons have repeatedly pointed out, this is a WASTE of Duane for the Queen. If it could be anyone, it should be anyone. Remember, this is a dog and pony show for the people. She's explicitly said as much already. Duane has far, far more use as literally anything else than an effigy to burn.

And they wouldn't see Duane as an Ald because he's a desiccated corpse. They'd need to glamour him, a tricky thing, and, again, again, again, again, again, at that point it could be, and should be, anyone else.

I can't fucking believe they're gonna burn Matty

>>149241087
Now that you mention it, it could totally be Quigley, if we didn't know that he has been buried.

>>149241087

>>149240915
NTA, but that's still starting a war. I mean, you're living in a world where the same literally just happened. Israel attacked Iran with this reasoning. Fuck, Russia uses some very similar arguments in regards to the war in Ukraine. And they are, in fact, meddling in a foreign civil war. Just go and use this argument for either case in real life, see how it goes.

And you could be less smug about being wrong, goddamn.

>>149240915
Jesus christ you're a gold-plated knob. Her goal, the same as her grandma's, is the destruction of Alderode. This is not a peaceful goal. None of her actions, including waking up Ruck and using him to push Bell into full rebellion, were peaceful. Feeding Roger to Ruck wasn't peaceful. What she's about to do to his corpse isn't peaceful. Sure, once all your enemies are all gone, including your own people you don't like, maybe then there'd be "peace". But that doesn't make you peaceful. Cope isn't even saying what you think she's saying right there. Sonorie's whole speech to Ufal was more of her "woe is me, look what I have to do, now excuse me while I go do it". The same stuff that made Ruck laugh at her. First she's going to cook this guy for the crowd, then she's going right back to cooking her scheme.

>new page
>a being that can't exist according to your religion and one's who's existence disproves your religion
>one is an infidel, the other a sinner
>save your ass out of pure selflessness
>hur dur twin gods stronk

Yeah, it's all smoke and mirrors, but they still show an ugly image.

>>149241068
>They'd need to glamour him, a tricky thing
Not that tricky.

I don't know why you're even arguing about whether it's duane when anon doesn't even seriously think it's going to be duane. He's just bitching about him not being badass and coooool enough.

>>149241129
Why exactly do you think "preventing war" and "everybody holding hands and becoming besties" are the same thing? Sonorie wants Alderode as gone as can possibly happen, and she thinks she can do it without simply trying to wipe it off the map in a war that'll claim untold lives from both sides (you can guess which side she cares more about, though). If, for example, they gain an advantage so powerful from the flaw in the dammakhert that Alderode is forced to back off or risk ceasing to exist, that's the prevention of war.

>>149241194
>Why exactly do you think "preventing war" and "everybody holding hands and becoming besties"
You have a real problem with strawmanning.

>>149241136
Sonorie never personally saw what Sette and Duane were up to so she's probably gonna have a hard time believing any of it. Keep in mind that Toma and Elka weren't present for most of it either so they can't vouch. As far as she's concerned
>A khert fire backfired in a fortunate way and took out the rogue silver
>Two aldish freak test subjects wandered in
>They appear to be delirious but genuinely tried to help?

>>149241202
I said Queen wanted to prevent war. The response to this was "The queen's not above violence!" I think the response has a far bigger problem with it.

>>149241208
You're still strawmanning.

>>149241182
But it is: the Queen has the equivalent of a crazy CGI gown on, but she's not made up to look like a different person. That's a whole other ball game.

>>149241265
I mean if the fucking queen wanted to make it happen she'd make it happen. She won't because this entire scenario is fucking stupid but she could.

>>149241136
Remember, this is a pageant for the common folk. She's spinning them the narrative they're familiar with and expect. Sonorie is wise enough to know otherwise personally, I'm sure her wrights carefully explained this nonsense best they can, but she's not in this to make everyone enlightened.

More importantly, she's spinning them the narrative that makes them accept HER. "Yes, hell opened up because a traitor tried to nuke us, but the God's protect. Hey, notice who's the last one standing? Me? Why, it is me! That probably means something, don't it? You should listen to my plan, cause everyone else who disagreed got killed by the Gods."

>>149241271
Sure, but it's stupid to hang on that. Sorry, but the position of "well it's not gonna happen because it's stupid and complicated but she definitely COULD make it happen" is a dogwater thing to waste your time semantically trying to defend. We all KNOW THAT ALREADY. That's our argument: it's too troublesome and tricky when there's literally no point to it. The same ends could be achieved more simply and efficiently. There's no reason to think it's Duane, and every stupid, grasping explanation for why she would do it is self defeating because the same ends could so much more easily be done with someone else.

It's not Duane, there's no legitimate reason to believe it's Duane, and there's not good reason to try and argue why it could be, especially since the fool doing so says they don't think it's Duane either.

>>149241194
>>149241208
Christ Almighty, you're retarded. What you said is wrong. She started the war. What she wants to do is eliminate Alderode because she believes Alderode will eliminate Cresce in the future if given the opportunity. By the same logic Alderode could nuke every city in Cresce, and you'd still call that "preventing war". After all, its elimination would leave Cresce unable to start its own war in the future.

Cresce and Alderode are locked in a centuries long Cold War. The queen trying to win that for her own side is the fucking opposite of trying to "prevent war".

>>149241504
>She started the war.
Did she? We know she helped supply aldish rebels, but that started under her grandmother, and we don't know who approached who to make that deal.

>>149241600
Fair enough. But the issue is numbnuts up there trying to claim that actively trying to win a war is the same as trying to prevent one.

>>149241504
I assume anon means that she was trying for a 'clean' solution to the war because she couldn't stomach the slaughter of an all-out war.
Her getting the power to make whatever changes she wants and using that to simply mobilize people for war would be nonsense. She's not a sith lord.

>>149241600
Yes. We even saw the incident. Science bitch and her fellow crescians were seen inside Alderode with Roger, Vampire and the other rebels. That incursion was the cause of the current fighting between cresce and alderode. It was the queen that sent sceince bitch there, not her grandmother.

>>149241640
Yeah, but that still makes him wrong, because that's still fighting a war. And her chief concern is the effect the war would have on her own people, which isn't that out of the ordinary. She's not concerned with wasting Aldish lives, or any lives that she thinks would result in less Crescian deaths. We've already seen that. And Ash has said that she'd be OK with a Soud genocide.

>She's not a sith lord.
But she's not a saint, either.

>>149241722
She said no to the Silver BECAUSE she didn't want to use it on Alderode and kill people indiscriminately.

>Roger
>Lem
What? No you fools! Cresce finally got their hand on the Almighty Bett!

>>149243411
Speedreaders, all of you.

>>149243411
Anon, he’s still too relevant to the plot of Book 2 to be offed right now.

>>149243586
good lord it all comes out, they finally got him

>>149243720
I've been predicting that Mikaila is going to be humbled in pyramy by someone. For a time I thought it was going to be Quigley because how else was he going to get a win if not against a child? Ignoring that losing to a Plat is expected.
So maybe Bett will have to teach the little pissmop who's on top.

>>149243751
I wonder if Miki has even had any real training

>>149243751
>For a time I thought it was going to be Quigley because how else was he going to get a win if not against a child?
Damn. When you put it like this, Quigs was taken from us too soon. I hope his khert ghost shows up at least to score some more child humiliation from beyond the grave.

okay

>>149241104
Nuh uh

Yo this sucks, man.

>>149243411
Who?