Here’s a question: does this mean that Roy would not have necessarily remembered the celestial’s warning about V if she’d gotten a chance to say so? Or would it being a message directly from a divine source have stuck in his mind post-resurrection?
No doubt bureaucracy is screwed up with incompetents everywhere, but I can’t believe the deva would’ve bothered giving Roy the info unless she thought he’d retain its contents.
He had a good idea of what happened in the Heavenly Waiting Room, as it were, but the mountain itself was fuzzy. He would’ve remembered.
That was a special case, as his health was taking a downturn at the time. Gods willing, he’s doing better now, and we’ll just keep on going like we have at all the other book-breaks.
Does this mean Roy won’t remember what happened at the oracle?
He already remembered that Belkar skewered the little kobold. And that the Oracle foretold [what he’s been interpreting as] Belkar’s death in the next seven weeks.
What incident are you talkng about?
You know, so far the Oracle has been so trustworthy it’s making me suspicious (not trustworthy as in “he’s been helping” trustworthy as in “correct”). For one, every supplement I’ve ever seen says that predictions of the future, even for uber-deities and classes at least partially devoted to time travel (and that’s just official books), breaks down after a few weeks. Now, OOTS is its own universe with its own rules – fine, but it seems to me that as we see more unfold (and don’t forget, the snarl is effectively an unknown variable either way) the predictions may break down more and more.
One case I have for this is that the Oracle kept trying to lead Roy to ask the correct questions because of what the Snarl’s release means, this seems to imply at least a certain amount of malleability in the timestream (or that was just his ahem lizard brain (sorry) trying to fight forces he couldn’t control), both on the small scale – i.e. changing the predictions he was giving, which he probably foresaw – and on the large scale, that by giving out the correct information different things could occur.
Maybe I’m just being too generous with some of this, Burlew may very well just be using him as a hype-builder/exposition machine, but I’m just getting this feeling that SOMETHING, be it Xykon’s proximity to the next gate, Durkon’s posthumous return, or Belkar’s last breath may end up just not happening, or even better yet, being actively avoided by the heroes outright.
The Oracle derives his powers from the Supreme Being - Rich Burlew himself - so I think we can take his powers as unlimited in the strip. And Burlew uses the Oracle as a means to reveal only what information about the future he wishs to reveal. So I think we can take whatever the Oracle says as fact.
Which does raise one interesting point. The Oracle has already said his next death will be on March 26, 1187 (at 3:10 pm) due to chewed up by a big druid. This obviously means that the world isn’t going to end before then (it’s currently somewhere in 1184).
And how did the other book breaks go? How long a hiatus would you be hoping for if previous situations can be used as a guide?
An updated version of the timeline:
WARNING: INCLUDES SPOILERS FROM THE BOOKS
“The Dawn of Time”: The four original pantheons of the Gods arrive and form reality out of the threads of chaos. There were disagreements on which threads would be used and the result was the creation of the Snarl. The Snarl attacked and destroyed the Eastern Gods and then all of reality in an attack that lasted twenty seven minutes. The remaining three pantheons fled to the outer planes where they hid for centuries. The three elder gods finally met and made a plan to trap the Snarl and rebuild reality.
0: The gods used the threads of reality to rebuild their creation. This time they form agreements on what threads will be used. In addition to building the world, they also use the threads to form a prison to trap the Snarl.
The gods create clerics to carry out their will in the mortal plain but realize the clerics do not develop power quickly enough. They create low-level “monster” races like goblins, orcs, kobolds, and bugbears to give their favored races an easy challenge to let them increase their powers.
Eventually one goblin, the Dark One, arose who had significant power. He organized an alliance between various goblin tribes and led them to victory over human kingdoms. The Dark One met with the humans to negotiate a settlement to the war but was betrayed and assassinated.
His goblin followers were outraged and killed a million humans within a year in revenge. As a result of all these deaths in his name, the Dark One became a god. He now knew the monster races had been created for the purpose of being defeated by other races and was angry with the other gods. Some of the older gods wished to destroy the Dark One but he had some allies like Loki, Rat, and Tiamet and was allowed to exist as the god of the goblin races.
1073: Xykon is born.
1080: Vaarsuvius is born.
1080: “Xykon” discovers he has sorcerous powers.
1088: “Xykon” meets with Xavion. He kills Xavion and his parents. He assumes the name Xykon and embarks on his path of evil.
1101: Xykon decides to stop being a minion and become an archvillian.
1102: Eugene Greenhilt is born.
1114: Eugene Greenhilt enters Magic University.
1118: The rifts appear. A paladin Soon Kim and an elven druid Lirian are among the first to discover them and form a group to capture and seal them. The group’s members were Soon, Lirian, halfling rogue Serini Toormuck, dwarf barbarian Kraagar, illusionist/tracker Girard Draketooth, and wizard Durokan. They discover there are five rifts and learn how to seal them shut.
A goblin cleric also discovers one of the rifts and passes the knowledge on to the Dark One. The Dark One sees possession of the rift as a means to force the other gods to give the goblins a better position in the world. He creates the Crimson Mantle and gives it to one of his clerics and tells them to capture the rift.
Soon’s group gains control of the five rifts and seals them. Kraagar is killed. Each of the five surviving members of the group is assinged to guard one rift in whatever manner they feel is most effective. Lirian defends the rift known to the Dark One. Soon founds the Sapphire Guard to protect his rift.
1123: Vaarsuvius apprentices to Aarindarius to learn magic. He studys with Aarindarius for sixty years.
1124: Eugene Greenhilt dies and is resurrected for the first time. This happens again in 1143, 1149, 1158, 1159, and 1168.
1129: Durkon Thundershield is born. (Durkon’s age is incorrectly listed in some places and his birthyear of 1144 from that figure is also wrong.)
1129: “Redcloak” is born.
1136: Shojo becomes leader of the Sapphire Guard and ruler of Azure City.
1140: Pompey is born.
1143: Xykon kills Eugene Greenhilt’s mentor Fyron Pucebuckle. Eugene swears vengeance. He discovers Xykon’s name from the Oracle, swears an Oath of Blood Vengeance, and joins an adventuring group to track down Xykon. But he never finds Xykon and eventually gives up looking for him after ten years.
1149: “Redcloak” is ordained as an Acolyte of the Dark One. His village is wiped out by the Sapphire Guard. The only survivors are “Redcloak” and his younger brother. “Redcloak” assumes the Crimson Mantle.
1151: Belkar Bitterleaf is born.
1153: “Redcloak” and his brother meet Xykon. They adopt the names Redcloak and Right-Eye to avoid confusing Xykon.
1154: The Creature in the Darkness is captured.
1156: Xykon, Redcloak, Right-Eye, and their goblins attack Lirian’s Gate. They’re defeated and the survivors are placed in an underground prison. Redcloak transforms Xykon into a lich so they can break out. They attack Lirian’s Gate again. Xykon defeats Lirian but Redcloak accidentally destroys the Gate. But Lirian accidentally tells Xykon of the existance of the other four rifts. Kykon kills Lirian, turnes her body into a zombie and traps her soul in a gem. Xykon becomes outraged when he discovers some of the things he sacrificed by becoming a lich. He threatens to kill Redclaok and Right-Eye but relents. But he tells them he is now in charge and they have to obey his orders.
1155: Roy Greenhilt is born.
1155: Miko Miyazaki is born.
1159: Haley Starshine is born.
1160: Hinjo is born.
1161: Celia is born.
1162: Right-Eye gives Eugene Greenhilt information about Xykon in hopes that Eugene will be able to defeat Xykon. Eugene admits he’s no longer interested in revenge. Right-Eye decides to flee from Xykon and tries unsuccessfully to convince Redcloak to join him.
1162: Twin brothers Elan and Nale born.
1165: Eric Greenhilt dies.
1166: Durkon is sent away from his home due to a prophecy from Odin.
1167: Julia Greenhilt is born.
1167: Thog is born.
1176: Roy is a freshman at Bash University. His father visits him and tells him of the Oath of Blood Vengeance he swore against Xykon.
1177: Xykon disappears. While gone, he finds Serini Toormuck’s diary which has information about all of the rift gates.
1177: Mr Scruffy is born.
1178: Haley and Crystal meet and become nemeses.
1180: Eugene Greenhilt dies for the final time due to old age.
1180: Roy graduates from college and joins a adventurer group. Roy meets Durkon who is a member of the group. Roy and Durkon disagree with the other members of the group and split off on their own.
1180: Redcloak reunites with Right-Eye, who he finds now has a wife and three children. Redcloak steals the Creature in the Darkness from the circus where he is a sideshow exhibit. Redcloak is on the verge of abandoning his plans and settling down in Right-Eye’s village when Xykon reappears. He tells them he has located the other four rifts and forces everyone to rejoin his army.
1181: Sara Greenhilt dies.
1181: Xykon besieges Dorukan’s Tower, the location of a second rift.
1182: After over a year of waiting, Xykon lures Dorukan out to fight by threatening Lurian. Right-Eye tells Redcloak that he plans to attack Xykon while he fights with Dorukan in hopes that Xykon will be distracted enough to be defeatable. Redcloak refuses to admit he was wrong to follow Xykon and kills Right-Eye to protect Xykon. Xykon defeats Dorukan and then taunts Redcloak for being too servile to defy him like Right-Eye did.
1182: Haley receives a letter that her father is being held for ransom in Tyrinaria and quits Thieves’ Guild. Haley begins adventuring.
1183: Vaarsuvius is sent out by his master Aarindarius to learn about the world.
1183: Haley and Vaarsuvius meet.
1183: Roy and Durkon get Xykon’s current location at Dorukan’s Tower from the Oracle.
1183: Elan is abandoned by his patron Sir Francois.
1183: Vaarsuvious participates in an Iron Mage competition and accidentally blows up the stadium. The explosion lets Belkar escape from the prison next door, where he was being held for trial after killing 15 people in a bar fight.
1183: Roy recruits Haley, Vaarsuvius, Belkar, and Elan into the group. The group sets out for Dorukan’s Tower and adopts the name The Order of the Stick.
1183: The Order of the Stick enters Dorukan’s Tower. They meet the Linear Guild. They fight Xykon and his army and apparently destroy him. However he is able resurrect himself and escapes with Redcloak and the Creature in the Dark. Elan accidentally destroys Durokan’s Gate.
1183: Miko Miyazaki is sent to capture the Order and bring them to Azure City. The Order goes on a sidequest to obtain starmetal to rebuild Roy’s sword. Vaarsuvius kills a black dragon. Xykon and Redcloak recruit a new army of hobgoblins. The Order is put on trial for destroying Durokon’s Gate.
1184: The Order agrees to work for Shojo to destroy Xykon and protect the remaining Gates. The Order obtains information from the Oracle. The Linear Guild launchs another convuluted attack against the Guild and Nale learns about the rifts. Miko kills Shojo. Xykon attacks and captures Azure City. Roy and Miko are killed in the battle. The Order is split up.
1184: Roy reunites with his deceased family members in the afterlife. Haley and Belkar keep Roy’s body and reunite with Celia. Elan meets Therkla who subsequently dies. Vaarsuvius becomes obsessed with locating Haley and Belkar and leaves Durkon and Elan. Vaarsuvius makes a deal with three fiends for power. Vaarsuvius and O-Chul fight Xykon. They fail to defeat him but they do cause him to lose his phylactery and are able to escape. Roy is resurrected and the Order is reunited.
The other books didn’t have a hiatus at all, just the normal few-days gap from one comic to the next. The one actual hiatus he took, he announced in advance.
It’s hard to believe that the entire run of the comic (minus “The Origin of the PCs” and “Start of Darkness”) has occurred over the course of only two years (comic-time).
Which means that Belkar will breath his last when, sometime in 2013? 
Presumably if the Snarl eats all of reality and the goddess handing out the wisdom it causes a break down in prophecy. 
Not really for me. They’ve been on one proper dungeon crawl, a quick wilderness adventure side quest, then a big gap of “months” occurs when they’re hauled down to the city and less than a week later it’s attacked. Another set of long gaps in the separation arc which we know takes a little over nine months and we’re current. Without the big time skips it would only amount to weeks spent “on camera”.
Anyone know if anything has been mentioned about the strip being converted to 4th edition?
I’m pretty sure I’ve read that Rich has no intention to change the “rules set” to 4E. There were a couple of 4E-related gags not too long after 4E came out, but I haven’t even seen that sort of mention in some time.
I recall him saying that he had no intention of switching anything over, “unless it’s funny”.
Comic Book Relativity. We’ve recently seen that an hour can take forty strips to cover. And the one day Battle of Azure City took sixty-six strips.
In addition, it’s heavily implied that each generation is an “edition,” like Haley’s grandfather being a “first edition rogue” as well as V’s offspring having at least a passing resemblance to 4th ed elves in coloration if nothing else. Partial augmentations (i.e. 3->3.5) seem to magically take effect in an instant and globally affect all people running off the “lower” edition, however.
Contemplating what would happen if people from two separate generations fought each other is likely to cause madness, universal chaos and, in extreme cases, paper cuts so it’s best not to think about it.