The Beast
Shading: Koof
Out-of-Placers
A story of inconvenient changes
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The Beast
Shading: Koof
OOPs now has a Russian translation which updates shortly after the English pages are posted!
Now also in French:
And Ukranian:
I’m glad this discussion is going very rationally and peacefully.
Any guesses what the glowy tendrils are for? My guess is extra oxygen while in fight-mode.
In a different stage of zhe Baxxid life-cycle zhat’s where zhe sun-craving plant phase comes out of zheir bodies. Zo, yes? Giving more oxygen (if a Baxxid uses it) or whatever, but may also be a radiator for excess heat, for when a Baxxid is being active, like how zhe sail is postulated to have worked for zhe synapsid Dimetrodon.
We know there’s a couple different types of transformations Baxxid can undertake, maybe this is just another.
Hopefully this is just a test…
At zhis point, if it’s not a test, I’m OK wizh a few extra busted eyeballs on de elder. And I’m OK wizh it even if it is a test, as zhe asshats deserve a few scars for what zhey are doing here.
I wonder what colour their blood is? Perhaps we shall see soon… 🔪
Am thinking dis is one reason that Kal gets put into Laady Kass’s group. After dis, even if it is a test, or worse a joke, I can see it taking a long, long time before Kalgkur trusts de elders here again. It is a shame zhat Baxxid lack de middle finger, so Klagkur can’t flip dese asshats off each time he sees one in de future.
Yeah, whatever the true nature of this test is, the elders are putting Kalgkur through hell right now, and he’s probably going to have to be physically restrained at this point, even if the elders suddenly change their tune and say he “passed” the judgment, because this looks like a rage that won’t be stopped by words. I see two reasonable possibilities: either Kalgkur dies in this fight or he has to be separated from baxxid society after this failure to communicate. The best case scenario for all involved is if Kalgkur has just passed a brutal psychological test with flying colors, the guards come to break up the fight before anyone dies, the elders get a chance to explain what they were *really* doing, and there is so much shame and embarrassment to go around that Kalgkur ends up agreeing to be given a “punishment” of service somewhere he is less likely to cause problems again. But that’s the happiest comedic ending, and there are lots of other ways it can go.
I am zhinking dat Kalgkur is beyond listening to zhe asshats at dis point. He’s had a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY bad day. He’s already zhink he’ll never see his family, or Nell again, and worse dese so called leaders have coalased zheir brains wizh zheir colons are a danger to all he cares for.
Yeah, I don’t see Kal not shedding blood at this point unless zhere is someone who stops him physically, and likely causing him bodily harm. I’ll say it again, zhe chained one said Kalgkur is heading to hell, and dookie just hit de fan. Dey humped around, and are about to find out.
That is a good prediction. Narratively, though, I think it makes far more sense if Kal does not calm from this rage state, flees the Baxxid tunnels, and finds Nell at the entrance. Otherwise the interruption to the ceremony at the start of this doesn’t tie-in at all.
That might be cheating a bit, though, since it’s a narrative argument.
That guess would have him run past at least 5 guards though. Then again, are the guards really expecting a Baxxid to be trouble, or are they there just to prevent other species from getting in? It would also make for some VERY funny comic pages as guards react to Timid, Respectful-to-a-Fault Kal skittering past them in blind rage yelling nonsense.
hmm, being a predator myself, I zhink dat what impulse to violence zhat has been repressed in poor Kalgkur, has not only surfaced, but for once, Kalgkur’s concious mind is in alignment with his need to see blood spilled. At zhis point, what is zhere to stop an enraged predator who is also defending what he loves, and zheir beliefs?
Unless Nell has forced her way into where Kalgkur is currently, I don’t see him stopping from trying to turn his foreclaw into a Baxxid suppository.
…I’m betting that _this_ was the true test.
After all, if Kalgkur had _agreed_ with He Who Knows What He Did, and the elders had continued to say that HWKWHD was entirely wrong about their present and future purpose, why would Kalgkur _admit_ that? The elders would be left unsure if that was Kalgkur’s true belief, or if Kalgkur was simply a good enough liar to fool them and now waiting only to get out into the wider world to inflict more violence. The previous stage of the test filters out those who would immediately jump to violence, but those smarter, more controlled, more willing to wait?
What have the elders done here, though, but claim to _themselves_ be in that category? If being cunning, patient killers, putting off a little violence now for a lot of violence later, was the true core of their society, the policy of the elders themselves, why hide it then? Join the conspiracy, plot the slaughter, and hope the glorious day arrives in your lifetime while knowing that if it does not, your descendants at least will shed that blood!
It would take an even greater level of cunning on the part of one being tested to suspect a still-lurking test, and more control to resist the temptation — and perhaps if Kalgkur had appear to respond cooly to this, there would have been a further level of testing, or perhaps even the ability to respond cooly in that scenario would have been too suspect.
As things have gone, though, I suspect Kalgkur has just passed with flying colors.
(Sorry if this double posted; it looked like it didn’t go through the first time.)
I doubt this. The elders would literally be risking their lives every time this happened, with no body guards or backup, endangering the person thrown into a rage state by the test, and hoping that they can calm down whatever rage state arises? Far, far too risky for such a long-lived species with knives for hands.
No. The test is testing whether you’ll spill the beans like HWKWHD. It’s about containing a secret that is otherwise uncontainable whenever someone tastes blood for the first time. A secret whose knowledge threatens (or at least used to threaten) their entire species if known by the humans. (They seem to have reached a parity of strength by now, hundreds of years later.) If they truly wanted to avoid “coalescence”, they would avoid whatever place is related to it; likely either the mountain that the House Ivenmoth have built into, or the tunnels/undercity they currently inhabit. Instead, they live next to it, under it, or in it (exact location of the Baxxid living spaces is unclear).
Do remember zhat all zhose in zhe plant stage are basically hostages to de Baxxid’s good behavior. Any insurrection would lead to zhose who cannot leave, being killed.
I’m inclined to agree with this.
Probably one of the conditions of being a Baxxid Elder is accepting the responsibility – and potential consequences – of being read into this classified knowledge, so to speak, much like the leaders of many other nations.
Yeah, I think the number of baxxids who are “in on” the reality of this conspiracy, if it is real, must be very small, because neither Kuldra nor Tesshk’Gn, who are both high enough in the Baxxid social order to have been arguing in front of High Elder Varakses about what to do with Kalgkur, seem to be aware of the conspiracy. The same seems to be true of the guard who was planning to hunt during his escort duty for the caravan. It might only be the elders plus anyone who has had to suffer the Judgment. If that’s true, a majority of the population might side with the humans as Kalgkur has, instead of with the elders. But so much is hard to guess until we get another page … or two or three. The author is terribly good at keeping us in suspense!
This is a tricky one to guess at. On the one hand, it does feel a bit like a test-within-test situation, and it flies in the face of how the baxxid leadership has acted and spoken in the past. And maybe he’s already failed, because even in his outburst he’s succumbing to the violence he’s accusing them of. On the other hand, you have to admit this makes for an interesting way to hammer home how alien their thought processes are. Their logical and structured methods, that might find no problem with being friendly until the opportunity comes to go hostile. And, you have to admit, at the end of the day him getting exiled for Reasons is a bread and butter path for him to become out of place and join Kassen Akoll’s Wild Ride.
I see Baxxid as our world’s Elves. Yes, I know zhey are different looking for sure. But go deeper, and wizh elves you get some stories of how zhey live connected wizh nature, sometimes physically becoming trees. Elves have long lives, are very traditional, and stubbornly proud of being what dey are. And yet, zhere’s way too many half-elves in those same stories to explain zheir attitude towards “inferior humani”. Add to zhat keeping zhemselves in separate enclaves where zhey visit ozhers, but rearely allow ozhers to visit zhem.
Well cheers for zhe Baxxid not talking using zheir mouth parts. Not so much cheers for zhe continuation of de bullying. And wizh de way Kuldra is so so much a obvious human chaser, and zhe elder she lives wizh tolerates it, zhe more dis smells of a test of sorts. Add to it, zhat HWKWHD, zhe guy in zhe chains was not in on zhe whole insurrection plan. But zhe chained one was right about one zhing, hell did await Kalgkur upon leaving him.
He’s a good boy. He will not forsake his lovely human wife.
Yes, may zhey have lots and lots of little Isher’s running around! (Not yes sure if Isher is zhat, but hybrids are apparently a zhing, so here’s hoping some Ying will strike it lucky wizh a Humani Feemale and we get lots more Poak’s running around soon!)
Something I noticed about the fourth panel, which I think is going to be relevant to what is going on here, was that all three of them are standing there beseeching him, telling him he must trust their authority, telling him they love him and what is best for him, telling him there will be consequences if he does not accept this. I don’t know that this is the reaction they were looking for, but the idea that the Baxxid elders have been planning to revolt this whole time isn’t lining up with some of the stuff we’ve seen from them already, and the fourth panel seems like the situation was engineered to try as hard as they could to convince him to go down this path. So yeah, I think rejecting the ideology was what they were looking for…
…then again, he’s about to fly into some sort of Baxxid rage, so IDK what they’re going to do with him now.
Even in a rage I do not believe Kalgkur will stand a fair chance in a 3 vs 1
But rightly so.. being lied to, from birth, that it was all just a hidden dagger untill the right moment to reclaim their ‘purpose’
It depends on why de Baxxid respect zheir elders. Does growing old mean a loss of physical and mental ability like it does wizh us Yinglets? Or does it just degrade de physical bits like Humani (zhough disease can claim zheir minds too) Or are zhey some kind of undying abomination of nature zhat only grows stronger wizh age? We know Baxxid are wierd, but for many species, being a young adult means zhey are at de peak of zheir body’s reflexes and strengzh.
If he tries to kill them, yeah probably not. He could probably get a good hit in though. No, I’m far more worried about Kal’s safety. We haven’t seen any sedatives in this room, they don’t exactly have pockets to store tricks like that. And he can’t be knocked out, they’ve got huge built-in helmets. And he can’t be winded, they don’t have a chest so their whole body is ribcage. And simply holding him in place won’t work, the other baxxid only have teeth and sword-arms to grip him / hold on to him. The only way to stop him, once he’s in this rage state, will likely be… to hurt him. Badly.
I bet he could “sprint” faster than the elders though, so he could probably get past them, take some hits/wounds, and then leave them in the dust on his way out of the colony.
Agreed. Being lied to your whole life about something as big as this can’t lead to anything good when you find out the truth.
I do hope dear Kalgkur comes out of this alive, I’ve grown attached to the poor fool
Poor, poor Kalgkur. He never asked for any of this. I do feel sorry for him.
And now I’m wondering as well if what’s coming out of the back of his neck are sun-stalks or something else.
Also, now I’m wondering how much the ValSalia family knows about this.
Am zhinking zhe colored bit is a agression display zhat also serves to help cool a baxxid who is active. Being an ambush predator, Baxxid aren’t meant for any sort of long term physical activity, but many species have some sort of zhreat display like a Earzh bearded dragon as an example that can also radiate heat.
Is it related to zhe baxxid flowering impulse? Most likely. Baxxid are weird.
This must be the baxxid equivalent of hackles raised, then.
I wonder what the Baxxid frequency for ‘PSYCHE!’ is?
Back by unpopular demand! Me! Oh boy… Would you look at that. He seems quite angry. Imagine if the woman he sort of saved of the thief tries to help him get out of this predicament, but ends up being killed by him because of his instincts, rage. It would be quite funny! And tragic… But also funny!
Zhat is about as funny as having Chlamydia. And at least having Chlamydia generally means you have been having nice times, vs having you around just means people missing zheir yuck bread.
New theory: what if the black flags have a secret technique they can use to shut down a rage? That’s my best hope for everybody surviving this scene. Is that too much to ask?
I have a feeling it’s going to be Nell who diffuses the situation.
I would like that. Her being down there giving the guards a piece of her mind might be the luck Kalgkur needs to survive this. 🙂
It is eizher zhat, or it is gonna be a REALLY big bucket of very cold water dumped on Kalgkur.