OOPs #367
Aug27
All right, looks like everything’s up and working! I’ve been sitting on this site redesign too long, and just needed a couple days to get everything remade. And in a strange bit of good (?) timing, my Wacom tablet died a few days ago, which I assumed was the universe’s way of telling me to get off my ass and update the site already. Thankfully Wacom made a speedy repair and delivery back, so I’ve already sketched up the first few panels of the next OOPs page.
And a special shoutout to Xandispin, who first suggested a site update several months ago, then set up this snazzy new WordPress layout for me to customize (which I then sat on until this past week). Thanks man; it took me long enough to get around to it, but without you the site would still be looking like something from the early 2000’s!
Seriously, I was manually creating pages and re-entering every altered link when there was a new page, using a long-defunct version of Dreamweaver 2001. That gets tiring real quick.
Anyway! There’s some new stuff in the Art & Extras section now as well, which you might not have seen if you don’t frequent Deviantart and such.
Ooooo, and there it is! The Narklet hate is BACK IN ACTION!
Both from Kass, and from me, and probably from lots of people! I was at least willing to give him a chance, but HOOOO BOY.
Kass, you be underhanded with him, wring him for all he’s worth, make him regret existing one of these days. Match his energy, and give it back to him TENFOLD!
I’ve been willing to give Narklet the benefit of the doubt, but the doubt is shrinking. Either he’s stunningly unaware of how he sounds right now, or he’s as shady as the mossy side of the mountain. As long as he doesn’t use this “lesson time” to make a pass at Kassen, he might not have to get stabbed, but Vizlet REALLY needs to catch up and get an eye back on their conversation.
In other news, here’s the list I have so far of the yinglets who think Kass would make a good matriarch: Vizlet, Figgins, and Lopin. I expect that list to grow quickly from here.
Of course. Because nobody likes a narc. Or someone small enough to be called a narc-let. (:
Oh. OOOOH.
So THAT’S why yinglets as a whole are considered underdeveloped as a society despite having all the tools for population explosion.
At first I suspected overzealous eugenics but I feel there’s even territorial genocide at play here, by someone who wants to keep EVERYTHING under countrol.
Considering Kattajak’s reaction to Narklet’s mention of Zeska, I’d say that’s a pretty safe bet.
I knew there was something going on here beyond just him thinking that it’d be terrible for a female to have to live outside of an enclave; I have to wonder at this point if there’s some way that the central enclaves could actually DO something “swift and extreme” about a breeding yinglet population under Ivenmoth control or if Narklet is just vastly overestimating his position of power. The fact that he seems to consider it kind of the inevitable option makes me assume that at least HE is convinced that they could do something to take direct action against the Ivenmoths.
Something to do with that Yinglet poison resistance maybe? Central enclaves sending a Yinglet in with mustard gas or whatever.
The central enclaves see the female outside their control as the threat. Whatever they do would be aiming to kill her and any offspring that might be female. Other deaths would be lower priority targets or collateral damage.
So you can rule out any option where Yinglets are more likely to survive than anyone else around them.
I’m thinking they can muster 4 beizels with sharp pointy objects to deal with it.
Check page 229.
Subterfuge and infiltration seem more likely than overt military action. Rather than launch weapons of mass destruction which would demand reprisal, a few loyal yinglets sneak in and assassinate the target likely with hired help among the exiles. This would be plausible to deny and allow a stronger measure of verification the target was eliminated.
I do like that Narklet is a small king.
Can someone please rid Narklet of his ‘nads already, preferably without anesthetic
Zally just needs to makes him an offerz he can’t refuze… an everying wills says it was naturals causes…
Please don’t tellz za Yingstopo ons me… O_O
Oh, so the females are capable of asexual reproduction?
Very intradesting.
I’m not sure I quite see it that way. I mean, there is NO shortage of males in Val Salia, and heck, even The Teeth themselves at least have Lopin, and sometimes Beizel.
It’s not outrageous for Narklet to think that Kass may have already done something with the extreme plentitude of options available to him, given what he knows.
I don’t remember where (possibly on one of the other websites where the comic is posted), but I believe that the author has stated that female yinglets do not start to lay eggs until the first time they have mated.
No, I think its that narklet thinks its odd that she’s 3 (yinglet 18-20) and hasn’t had sex yet given their species’ reproductive casualness and focus. Even in human controlled val salia she could just wave a reed of carnal beckoning out her window and have 12 offers in 6 minutes.
Vizlet was horribly concerned her friend had been sexually assaulted, but also seemed to have another reason to need to know if Kass was carrying eggs at that point. Apparently that reason involved unsanctioned breeding and a mallet…
Once she starts, would she stop? A mallet would do little if the eggs keep coming. Obviously among Yinglets some females have a very high libido. The same is true of humans, of course, but one woman does not a kingdom make.
I’ve been toying with a species idea. Similar male-female balance and egg laying, but a twist. What if a female could both self-replicate, with rapid genetic degradation, and also store male genetics permanently with a mix and match option. Children with maximum genetic diversity come from high quality females with large male harems but the harem structure becomes a protective marriage system in order to prevent a sort of pump-and-dump harvesting which would use males disposably and minimally. Low class females can clone a few generations to get by, but unless they can rise through the ranks they’re going to start fighting wonky jaws and eyes the wrong distance apart… and then the organs stop acting right.
But a small army of replicant genetic failures hoarding a small number of males might save itself.
Or it might genetically engineer a dynasty of Habsburgs a million strong.
I’ve been working on the world-building and it’s been fun, but fast-breeding species in limited environments with fast-mutating biologies necessitate control rather quickly and rather strongly.
Given that the male is almost by definition the low cost high gain contributor of genetic material, you need a biological or absurdly strongly enforced mechanism for males not sneaking off to the females
If you want some irl inspiration look at kangaroos who have a pause button, and some turtles who can have one mating and then crank out fertilized eggs for five years.
If yinglets worked like that, I would imagine those eugenics little weirdos would just break out a yinglet sized sack kidnap the female until x amount of time ran out and then het them on the breeding scheduel.
I believe I know what you think you’re saying there, but what happens when a female uses literally the color of your eyes and exactly nothing else she gets from you? You’ve kinda lost there. It’s low cost, zero gauranteed returns. You could be with a girl for your whole life and she could tell you she’s totally using mostly your stuff but in reality that scale color that looks like yours is from some dude who died before you two met. Same with the musculature and the teeth. In fact, she’s not even using anything from you.
And if you’re the provider in that relationship? It’s not just that you have to make sure she’s never with anyone. You’d have to know she never was with anyone at any time ever, and if a group of males tried to go all females in chains, they’d just breed it out over a few generations. Hell, they could simply refuse to make eggs, or refuse to have male children… Or Make male children that were basically clones of themselves except for the sex chromosome. Only problem with that is winding up with self-culling clones when all those genes mutually delete. It’s like a living genetic time bomb.
The real psycho-power in this idea is in the claws of the females.
“Runt”. Told ya Narklet’s tiny.
So are yinglets capable of laying eggs without fertilization, similar to poultry? It sounds like Narklet is concerned with whether Kass has reached maturity or not. I’m concerned with if Narklet is hinting that unauthorized eggs could result in omelets being made. Involuntary population control could end in a violent revolution.
Val has said as much before. Egg production isn’t directly tied to actual fertilization, just the… right stimuli at the right time.
That also includes alone time.
I am not sure if that is correct. I think that what the author said is that females can lay unfertilized eggs but that they don’t start laying until the first time that they have mated, but I don’t think they indicated that non-reproductive sex could trigger egg laying.
The last time Viz visited val salia she asked if Kass was…carrying eggs after their incident in the alley. While she seemed genuinely relieved her friend hadn’t suffered such a fate, she also seemed relieve that no other action had to be taken as matriarch. I think such action would have involved omelettes.
What people in this thread read: Yinglets have the ability to reproduce asexually
What I heard: Kass hasn’t been fertilized yet
Folks, you have to remember that this guy is backwards. Old Yinglet culture is based on the females building reverse harems with patriarchs, and anything outside of that is heresy.
Vizlet, that is the power of *schmoozing* at work.
Maybe she should consider creating a “patriarch of schmoozing.” It’s too bad the local expert isn’t eligible!
What if Narklet is a barren female?
I doubt it.
What would that mean for the story?
…Actually what would that mean? What would be the implications of that? I’m struggling to think of anything this would actually do for the story, any way it would impact it.
Well… it would mean Narklet has no children, despite having access to the females.
It would also make him a hypocrite. Look at what he’s been saying about the females, sane females don’t speak like that.
It would also make the Elders really, really weird, sending a trans male to uphold traditions.
In short, it would simply make no sense.
Women can be pretty suppressive towards each other, more so than men at times. I don’t think Narklet is the best candidate for that story arc though. A new character would be better
It looks like my prediction was wrong, but I still expect there to be a Kass journal page soon.
Oh…there’s an OMINOUS pause there… Kess COULD probe by mentionign ahving access to males, but imply having been too buys with other duties…but that could be a DANGEROUS road. Also not me ahving obsessively read and am said i am now caught up. I NEED MORE
I guess humans could select for human subservience and just breed a servitor race. Ran might be the only human with the know how and desire to do something like that though…
War were declared.
I feel like Vizlet might want to take lessons from Kass about how to shmooze at some point, now. She’s seen the power of a REAL double-talker.
Nobodies expects za Yingquazition…
<__>
*goes to hides unders his box*
Guess who just painted a nice large target for Ivenmoth should anything untowards happen to our Ambassador.
So does this mean the central conclave is kinda like a dictatorship over yinglet kind
the mentioning of Kassen as a matriarch candidate seems like a dangerous foreshadowing to me, remember down the road there will be a problem of who will be the next matriarch of the enclave, and I suspect Kassen has just accidentally nominated himself or is it herself to that position should something ever happen to Vizlet
Wow. The implications here are grimly magnificent.
What impresses me is the forshadowing all the way back in FG02 with the reference to an incident with a ‘Lesser Yinglet’, and how it ties into the ongoing political intrigue to continue expanding the worldbuilding even eleven years later. With one sentence Narklet lends character to himself, his government, and the history of the species all at once.