Agreed. I was never a fan of Tim’s art but I loved the stories and jokes he tells (thus far reading this site weekly for almost a decade?). But this page really made me appreciate how his art improved over the years. Outstanding!
But can you amputate starcaster with a starcaster?
Starcaster-holder is not impervious to damage, otherwise they would be immortal and it would be impossible to transfer starcasters. They don’t need food or water, they regenerate almost instantaneously, most likely they don’t age, but still somehow starcasters change hands (literally) and people ARE trying to get this one
You’re making a big leap from “He’ll be okay if he doesn’t eat for a few days” to “he doesn’t need food or water at all.” His body still functions the way it did before, so he still needs to burn fuel to keep his system going. The Starcaster can stave off some of the initial damaging effects of hunger, but it can’t keep a body functioning indefinitely without the nutrients it needs. 🙂
The starcaster is able to release a lot of energy, so it’s reasonable to assume that 100W should be possible, too, maybe even beyond reasonable limits and magically creating matter.
Off cause with more realistic expectations e.g. he’ll lose carbon, so at least he’ll need to drink some oil or eat some coals. A vitamin pill won’t hurt … bon appetite?
The Starcaster channels energy, it does not create it. It pulls energy from a nearby source, like a star, and directs that energy through the host. It can use that same energy to speed the reconstruction of cells, but expecting an organic creature to live off that energy forever is a bit like suggesting a human wouldnt need food if you hooked them up to a battery 😉
A biological species whose bodies have evolved to require hydration and various vitamins and minerals to function would not suddenly just “convert” to running on an alternate fuel source.
The guy that the starcaster used to be on died from either hunger or dehydration, so its already been established that they’re not infinite food cheats
I’m assuming the reason why the Starcaster can short-term sustain him, versus creating water, has to do with unconscious actions and intended actions.
At its default, the Starcaster is just powering the processes that his body is already doing, and probably conserving bodily fluids and stored energy. But for him to do something major (say, isolating both gases and starting a chemical reaction to create water) would be a process *outside* of the body, which he’d need actual training for.
Maybe it’s possible and maybe it’s not, but it seems outside of Cort’s grasp for the moment.
Yea he just has a piece of jewlery perminatly fused to his arm that started a war turning himself into the single most wanted pawn on the board such a drama queen
I dunno, he’s got a point. I know many eight year olds who contemplate amputating one of their limbs in order to avoid near-certain death by almost everyone in a position of power, then decide against it because the idea is too horrific to consider and they’d rather take their chances. Really childish, honestly.
I can see that it’s a very unpopular opinion from all the downvotes I got.
But let’s face it. If you have a starcaster fused to your arm, you’re in no position to be even think about your feelings. You suck it up. There’s a lot more at stake.
There’s a lot of irony trying to chop off your arm next to someone doesn’t have one. And technically, not even the rest of the body.
That’s not a real body anyway though. Medical body that is not intended to be used in harsh conditions or for long
JMan
3 years ago
I was just wondering, if he does not need to eat, drink, and the Starcaster can “repair” his body at a whim… Why did Nyrah’s brother even die? Could the Starcaster not just have kept him fed all these years?
That’s not how Starcasters work. They can use cosmic energy to repair tissue, and thus stave off some of the early effects of hunger, but they cannot sustain a host indefinitely. The body still needs fuel to function.
All Nyrah was saying is he’ll be okay if he’s too preoccupied to eat at the moment.
You *could* use the energy to sustain yourself out of CO2 and N2 from the air, along with water vapor or drinking water. (Biochem major here). The only problem is energy, and if the starcaster can generate energy to repair tissue it could certainly break the CO2 double bonds and N2 triple bonds. Cort wouldn’t be able to survive a vacuum for a long time, though probably longer than a normal human could. But as the writer, you can decide it doesn’t work that way, and needs to not work that way for her brother to have died the way… Read more »
Wouldn’t that require a fundamental rewriting of how a typical biological body would have evolved to process and use energy? While you could argue that, at its most basic level, energy is energy, that energy comes in a variety of different formats that are not necessarily interchangeable. It seems to me that taking a body that burns glucose for energy and saying “here, use this cosmic energy instead” would be like expecting a gas truck to run on diesel just because they are both, technically, “fuel”. I believe some diesel engines can be converted, but now you’ve significantly altered the… Read more »
Again, you’re the author, you get to decide how it works. The starcaster is already magically using energy to heal otherwise fatal wounds almost instantly, so it’s obviously already screwing with biology somehow. If your intent is that it only accelerates what a body can do naturally, that makes sense why he still needs sustenance. But then how does it make him okay without eating for several days but not longer?
Apologies if this is overly nitpicky. I love the starcaster chronicles and am just idly speculating about what such technology could do.
The starcaster is already magically using energy to heal otherwise fatal wounds almost instantly, so it’s obviously already screwing with biology somehow. The Starcaster is Aug technology. It can only bond with species that were engineered by/from the Aug, and contain markers of Aug DNA in their genetic makeup. That Augish DNA is what interfaces and communicates with the Starcaster. The Starcaster can look at the genetic blueprint of its host, identify when something is wrong (let’s say a bullet wound) and say “Hey, that’s not supposed to be like that” and use outside energy to accelerate the rebuilding of… Read more »
But how does one die if it sustains and heals you once its bonded?
Patrick Michael Leitch
3 years ago
Not to be a stick in the mud or pedantic, but how did the arm go from being a lefty to a righty? Or is the Starcaster just the metal part. This again begs the question, is it ambidextrous and how did she cut it off herself?
Humsterr is correct; Nyrah never wielded the Starcaster. But at the same time, there is no “handing” to Starcasters that dictates they go on one arm over the other. Typically a bearer might get to choose which arm they put it on, but in Cort’s case, Nyrah stuck it on the arm that was closest to her at the time.
C. Mage
3 years ago
Oh, GOODY. Miss Suinshine has arrived. And he thought the day wouldn’t get worse….
James Rye
3 years ago
Decision A: Cut anyway.
Decis-
*all readers vote 100% A just for the lolz* XD
Leon
3 years ago
Doesnt matter. Cort just wanted to cut himself
Austin Mills
3 years ago
So…I know this would require an insane level of control, but could one theoretically use the Starcaster to rearrange the atoms in Nyrah’s cyborg body to rebuild her organic body? Like, no way in hell does Cort have that kind of control, but this tech is from the designers of star systems and species of life. Surely rebuilding a body is within its capabilities.
realist
3 years ago
I hope he’s left-handed cause otherwise a wank could spell disaster
24
Ain’t gonna lie. That is properly some of the best panneling, layout and pure storytelling you have done. That’s it. Beyyyy
Agreed. I was never a fan of Tim’s art but I loved the stories and jokes he tells (thus far reading this site weekly for almost a decade?). But this page really made me appreciate how his art improved over the years. Outstanding!
guillotine it is, then
Frome the sound of it thr caster would start knitting the tissue back together as soon as it was severed … might even go full Tetsuo to do it
But can you amputate starcaster with a starcaster?
Starcaster-holder is not impervious to damage, otherwise they would be immortal and it would be impossible to transfer starcasters. They don’t need food or water, they regenerate almost instantaneously, most likely they don’t age, but still somehow starcasters change hands (literally) and people ARE trying to get this one
You’re making a big leap from “He’ll be okay if he doesn’t eat for a few days” to “he doesn’t need food or water at all.” His body still functions the way it did before, so he still needs to burn fuel to keep his system going. The Starcaster can stave off some of the initial damaging effects of hunger, but it can’t keep a body functioning indefinitely without the nutrients it needs. 🙂
The starcaster is able to release a lot of energy, so it’s reasonable to assume that 100W should be possible, too, maybe even beyond reasonable limits and magically creating matter.
Off cause with more realistic expectations e.g. he’ll lose carbon, so at least he’ll need to drink some oil or eat some coals. A vitamin pill won’t hurt … bon appetite?
The Starcaster channels energy, it does not create it. It pulls energy from a nearby source, like a star, and directs that energy through the host. It can use that same energy to speed the reconstruction of cells, but expecting an organic creature to live off that energy forever is a bit like suggesting a human wouldnt need food if you hooked them up to a battery 😉
A biological species whose bodies have evolved to require hydration and various vitamins and minerals to function would not suddenly just “convert” to running on an alternate fuel source.
But…
How about (at least for hydration) using that energy to combine hydrogen & oxygen out of the air?
Possible? Likely?
The guy that the starcaster used to be on died from either hunger or dehydration, so its already been established that they’re not infinite food cheats
I’m assuming the reason why the Starcaster can short-term sustain him, versus creating water, has to do with unconscious actions and intended actions.
At its default, the Starcaster is just powering the processes that his body is already doing, and probably conserving bodily fluids and stored energy. But for him to do something major (say, isolating both gases and starting a chemical reaction to create water) would be a process *outside* of the body, which he’d need actual training for.
Maybe it’s possible and maybe it’s not, but it seems outside of Cort’s grasp for the moment.
Right, otherwise her brother would have still been kicking around with it – and it wouldn’t have been removed from his corpse.
I seem to recall we found the Starcaster *on a corpse* so something here does not hold.
Yup, there it is.https://cad-comic.com/comic/the-starcaster-chronicles-05-10/
I feel like you’ve skipped over all of the prior discussion we’ve been having here. XD
Pffft what a manchild
Yea he just has a piece of jewlery perminatly fused to his arm that started a war turning himself into the single most wanted pawn on the board such a drama queen
I dunno, he’s got a point. I know many eight year olds who contemplate amputating one of their limbs in order to avoid near-certain death by almost everyone in a position of power, then decide against it because the idea is too horrific to consider and they’d rather take their chances. Really childish, honestly.
Shinji Get in the Robot
I can see that it’s a very unpopular opinion from all the downvotes I got.
But let’s face it. If you have a starcaster fused to your arm, you’re in no position to be even think about your feelings. You suck it up. There’s a lot more at stake.
There’s a lot of irony trying to chop off your arm next to someone doesn’t have one. And technically, not even the rest of the body.
Your mom got you to eat your vegetables by telling you that there are starving children in Africa, didn’t she?
My mother never forced me to eat anything and I don’t see how eating vegetables changes the fate of African children nor how that’s relevant
As in: “stop whining – others have it worse than you.”
Plus you would need to use the sharp side of the knife, not the blunt one…
“Upside down Miss Jane!”
I don’t have time to go back and reread the last book or arc, how did she lose her arm again?
Her arm severely damaged by a hostile bounty hunter/mercenary during escape at the temple where they recovered the starcaster from her brother.
https://cad-comic.com/comic/the-starcaster-chronicles-05-21/
She tore it off later to save Cort from morally shot wound with the starcaster.
https://cad-comic.com/comic/the-starcaster-chronicles-05-24/
5/20 and 5/21, 2016. Nyrah gets her arm shot up in the Aug temple when they are chased down the second hall.
7/9/20, she takes the Grim’s sword to her leg to stop him from amputating the starcaster off of Cort (note the additional patch on her leg here).
So it IS possible to amputate starcaster?
Of course it is. There’s a big difference between a fast clean cut and trying to saw through tissue with a knife.
That’s not a real body anyway though. Medical body that is not intended to be used in harsh conditions or for long
I was just wondering, if he does not need to eat, drink, and the Starcaster can “repair” his body at a whim… Why did Nyrah’s brother even die? Could the Starcaster not just have kept him fed all these years?
That’s not how Starcasters work. They can use cosmic energy to repair tissue, and thus stave off some of the early effects of hunger, but they cannot sustain a host indefinitely. The body still needs fuel to function.
All Nyrah was saying is he’ll be okay if he’s too preoccupied to eat at the moment.
You *could* use the energy to sustain yourself out of CO2 and N2 from the air, along with water vapor or drinking water. (Biochem major here). The only problem is energy, and if the starcaster can generate energy to repair tissue it could certainly break the CO2 double bonds and N2 triple bonds. Cort wouldn’t be able to survive a vacuum for a long time, though probably longer than a normal human could. But as the writer, you can decide it doesn’t work that way, and needs to not work that way for her brother to have died the way… Read more »
Wouldn’t that require a fundamental rewriting of how a typical biological body would have evolved to process and use energy? While you could argue that, at its most basic level, energy is energy, that energy comes in a variety of different formats that are not necessarily interchangeable. It seems to me that taking a body that burns glucose for energy and saying “here, use this cosmic energy instead” would be like expecting a gas truck to run on diesel just because they are both, technically, “fuel”. I believe some diesel engines can be converted, but now you’ve significantly altered the… Read more »
Again, you’re the author, you get to decide how it works. The starcaster is already magically using energy to heal otherwise fatal wounds almost instantly, so it’s obviously already screwing with biology somehow. If your intent is that it only accelerates what a body can do naturally, that makes sense why he still needs sustenance. But then how does it make him okay without eating for several days but not longer?
Apologies if this is overly nitpicky. I love the starcaster chronicles and am just idly speculating about what such technology could do.
The starcaster is already magically using energy to heal otherwise fatal wounds almost instantly, so it’s obviously already screwing with biology somehow. The Starcaster is Aug technology. It can only bond with species that were engineered by/from the Aug, and contain markers of Aug DNA in their genetic makeup. That Augish DNA is what interfaces and communicates with the Starcaster. The Starcaster can look at the genetic blueprint of its host, identify when something is wrong (let’s say a bullet wound) and say “Hey, that’s not supposed to be like that” and use outside energy to accelerate the rebuilding of… Read more »
> so I am limited in what I can actually reveal in that regard without spoiling things.
I shall RAFO, then!
So guyver rules, once its bonded to you it’s on you till death
But how does one die if it sustains and heals you once its bonded?
Not to be a stick in the mud or pedantic, but how did the arm go from being a lefty to a righty? Or is the Starcaster just the metal part. This again begs the question, is it ambidextrous and how did she cut it off herself?
She never had it, you have to be in a real organic body to get starcaster fused to you. Hers isn’t, some sort of medical temporary body
Humsterr is correct; Nyrah never wielded the Starcaster. But at the same time, there is no “handing” to Starcasters that dictates they go on one arm over the other. Typically a bearer might get to choose which arm they put it on, but in Cort’s case, Nyrah stuck it on the arm that was closest to her at the time.
Oh, GOODY. Miss Suinshine has arrived. And he thought the day wouldn’t get worse….
Decision A: Cut anyway.
Decis-
*all readers vote 100% A just for the lolz* XD
Doesnt matter. Cort just wanted to cut himself
So…I know this would require an insane level of control, but could one theoretically use the Starcaster to rearrange the atoms in Nyrah’s cyborg body to rebuild her organic body? Like, no way in hell does Cort have that kind of control, but this tech is from the designers of star systems and species of life. Surely rebuilding a body is within its capabilities.
I hope he’s left-handed cause otherwise a wank could spell disaster