So, at this point, after the emotions cool down, the plot advances, here will be a lot of fireworks and starcasters going “voooom”. After that Cort will probably stay with the Federation to pick up the pieces and reform it into something decent. Or he leaves,a as planned, and the damage done will make Feds think about how did it come to this. Anyway it goes, I don’t see the old Federation survivng this as is. It’s kind of a classic plot. 😉
Too simple … Cort ‘only’ has to arrange now that the Dranglaex and the other 2 starcasters take each other out and – born is Emperor Cort of the Feder…i mean Empire.
Perhaps it’s time for the Federation’s liberty to die the way it’s supposed to – with thunderous applause 😈
Last edited 8 months ago by GUNnibal
CMasta1992
8 months ago
Yeah Nyrah just refuses to take the blinders off. See Cort comes from a lifestyle where he actually has to consider the angles and plays so he’s got better intuition here. Nyrah knows nothing and acts like she’s got it figured out.
I agree that Cort is better experienced to deal with this sort of thing, I don’t agree that Nyrah has blinders on.
Looking at it from her POV, we now know now she hasn’t had any real dealings with the Federation prior to the events we’ve seen in the comic. Even her first impressions are that they were going to hand her back to the people who captured and tortured her, the missing body being a strong reminder that she sees every time she looks down.
Thing is, we are talking about a Galaxy-wide organization. So of course there will be corrupted individuals. Hell I bet her race had some as well. I refuse to believe they were all fully good and pure.
Absolutely, no doubt. There’s going to be a lot of good people within the Federation but she hasn’t had a positive experience yet, it’s all been bad. My point is that it’s bound to change the way one sees things, for better or worse, right or wrong.
Ultimately her role, as she sees, it is to take care of the Starcaster and now it’s in the hands (albeit by proxy) of the same Federation she’s yet to see a good thing from. I’d be wary and concerned too, at very least.
We know that even their Starcaster holder was. He gambled. Nyrah can’t blame this on her ignorance. She’s a very black and white thinker living in a moment of profound grey. She’s just not well equipped for this.
I agree. They have only 3 options really. 1: Always hide from the 2 major forces. In fear of being captured. Always on the run. And eventually they WILL be captured as there’s no way they can run from the both of them for long. And if the one that captures them happens to be the bad guys they’re dead and the starcaster is then in the hands of…well…the bad guys. If they get captured by the empire they’ll all be criminals for life, and the starcaster will be taken away. 2: Join forces with the bad guys. Which will… Read more »
El_
8 months ago
This is one of the reasons I love this series, both arguments have merit, or at least understandable, and there isn’t as simple as a right or wrong option.
A couple of pages back I came to the conclusion I’d have done exactly what Cort has done, a temporary arrangement. Thought I couldn’t help but think is ‘temporary’ really possible? Are the Federation going to let a Starcaster walk out the door, common enemy or not?
Last edited 8 months ago by El_
Rolando
8 months ago
Called it, like many others. Cort is not an idiot. He’s being both ethical and pragmatic. Playing the long game. Meanwhile, Nyrah needs to grow up. Her idealism still blinds her. She just admitted he knows the game better than them. So, that means she should respect his decision a bit more. Just because the feds ain’t perfect, is no excuse to reject them entirely and risk giving the Dranglaex a potentially decisive edge. It’s clear who’s the worse enemy here. She needs to get it together. Set aside her feelings for the mission, like Cort did. I get it… Read more »
smiley
8 months ago
Wait, isn’t Nyrah’s whole shtick looking after the Starcaster(s) and making sure it’s not abused? Does she know one was recently used to obliterate an entire planet? Surely she should be at least a bit concerned about that… but no, staying away from Feds is more important…
Not entirely unpredictable, but hopefully once she calms down she’ll see reason.
She knows. Quel told them about it. I’d imagine that destruction is only more reason for her to want to keep this one away from the war, to make sure it won’t be abused for such atrocities.
It’s not that she’s unconcerned about the war, but that isn’t a problem she has any hope of dealing with. Keeping the Starcaster out of the wrong hands is.
I assume she wouldn’t deliberately choose to let the galaxy die, but I doubt she’s even considered it a possibility to make a difference in saving it.
Jon
8 months ago
I think I must have missed something during the comic; why is the federation so corrupt from Nyrah’s point of view? Isn’t the only evidence of corruption that Cort was corrupt when he worked for the federation? Or was there more to it that I missed?
If I remember correctly, the first Federation officer Cort reached out to to aid Nyrah instead turned around and tried selling her back to her captors. A really corrupt first impression of the Federation. Its a case of making judgements based on a first impression. (The first guy they approached was corrupt, therefore they all are).
Well, there’s the little detail of the remote Fed outpost she forced Cort at gunpoint to bring her in to just stalling her until Grin could come pick her up
Everything else she heard about the Federation lately was from Cort, who understandably didn’t paint a picture of an edifice of trustworthiness, as much because of his own experiences as because he was deliberately trying to keep Nyrah on his side
It’s more how Cort told her the Federation was corrupt. Then when she initially didn’t believe him and made him take her to the Federation, she was immediately betrayed and almost sold back to the Dranglaex. This is probably the biggest one. There’s also the small manhunt, Fed agents and the Grin attack when they were set up to talk. (Where she might well suspect Feds leaking their location.) Add this to the understandable fear, ptsd and paranoia from a century of torture with only her mission to cling to, and it’s not hard to see why she has trust… Read more »
Taylan Ertan
8 months ago
Nyrah truly is someone who thinks they know everything and yet has not clue as to what actually is going on. And when asked, she has no answer or solution to the problems either other than complain. Sure Federation might be corrupt, a galaxy spanning organization would inevitably get corrupted along the way…but there is literally no other options a self-respecting person can take. Especially after literally getting found out by the both parties and there is no chance of hiding anymore. The moment you leave the federation, you will get captured by the Dranglaex, get killed, and the universal… Read more »
Given a choice between ‘corrupt organization gets the Starcaster, will abuse it’, ‘genocidal maniacs might win and get the Starcaster, will abuse it’ and ‘run away and maybe nobody will find and abuse it’ it is perfectly reasonable to see running as the best option. As bad as it is, it’s the only one offering any chance of the Starcaster not being abused somehow. A very slim chance, but still better than nothing. That’s not the actual situation, but from Nyrah’s perspective it probably is. And running is indeed a fool’s hope, but that’s about the only hope she has… Read more »
Steve
8 months ago
Wild speculation: what if Starcasters were actually meant to be used with one on EACH arm?
Some characters use it left handed, some right handed.
Tbh, I’m not sure the guys who created the Starcasters (the Augs) even had arms, in our understanding of the term. Or if they even had symmetry in the number of their… appendages.
I think that’s the only glimpse we see of the Aug, and it doesn’t really give away much. Assuming the statue even IS an Aug, they look maybe bipedal… but that’s about all I can say.
My second thought was maybe the Aug had six arms, and that’s why there are six Starcasters.
Nyrah, what do you honestly expect to happen? Do you think you are going to be able to just walk away? That the federation won’t “accidentally” Cort and give the Starcaster to someone more reasonable?
Getting mad at Cort here is like getting mad at your pilot when they brought down their crashing ship in the water, because you don’t like getting wet, when the alternative was crashing straight into a mountain and dying in a massive fireball.
Seriously, get over yourself.
Ziveron
8 months ago
Classic Thanksgiving argument.
Bethany
8 months ago
This is a familiar argument. I wonder if Nyrah will ever stop arguing with the inevitable.
Honestly, it’s admirable that he didn’t throw it in her face that the last time they did things her way he almost died.
Scarsdale
8 months ago
Nyrah has NEVER listened to him, time and time again he’s tried to explain to her how things are and all she’s done is force this very situation on the man and all he’s done is try to help her… I do get it, she’s nothing but a head and guts in a sack, in a robot, and she’s lost her brother, and now because of her over-effort, she’s worried that the very thing that cost her everything is STILL going to happen. She’s not much better in her mind-set than the Dranglaex, being so devoted to an idea that… Read more »
Epsilon
8 months ago
I feel like everyone is right here. Cort made the best descision he could out of the limited options, in order to protect those he cares about. He’s got the experience and intuition to back that choice up. Nyrah is right that the Federation can’t be trusted. The odds are that the second Dranglaex are defeated, the Federation, or members of it’s higher eschelons, turn on and kill Cort in his weakened state to get his Starcaster is extremely high. Nyrah knows exactly how governments behave when they want a Starcaster. She’s lived through hell because of it. So like… Read more »
Alpha-00
8 months ago
Honestly, it’s not like Cort had many options. Essentially he either joins (and quite possible gets training from active starcaster user), fights his way out (making aforementioned user and whole federation his enemy) or gives up his arm and starcaster. It’s not like federation would let him walk away free. Honestly, I wouldn’t blame federation even if they step down to plain old blackmail by his friends lives. They literally have millions (if not billions – imagine Dranglaex targeting some kind of ecumenopolis or hive world) of lives at stakes, and second starcaster is too much of military advantage to risk… Read more »
24
So, at this point, after the emotions cool down, the plot advances, here will be a lot of fireworks and starcasters going “voooom”. After that Cort will probably stay with the Federation to pick up the pieces and reform it into something decent. Or he leaves,a as planned, and the damage done will make Feds think about how did it come to this. Anyway it goes, I don’t see the old Federation survivng this as is. It’s kind of a classic plot. 😉
Too simple … Cort ‘only’ has to arrange now that the Dranglaex and the other 2 starcasters take each other out and – born is Emperor Cort of the Feder…i mean Empire.
2 hands and 2 feet.. Does that mean room for 4 ‘Liberated’ starcasters?
Perhaps it’s time for the Federation’s liberty to die the way it’s supposed to – with thunderous applause 😈
Yeah Nyrah just refuses to take the blinders off. See Cort comes from a lifestyle where he actually has to consider the angles and plays so he’s got better intuition here. Nyrah knows nothing and acts like she’s got it figured out.
I agree that Cort is better experienced to deal with this sort of thing, I don’t agree that Nyrah has blinders on.
Looking at it from her POV, we now know now she hasn’t had any real dealings with the Federation prior to the events we’ve seen in the comic. Even her first impressions are that they were going to hand her back to the people who captured and tortured her, the missing body being a strong reminder that she sees every time she looks down.
Thing is, we are talking about a Galaxy-wide organization. So of course there will be corrupted individuals. Hell I bet her race had some as well. I refuse to believe they were all fully good and pure.
Absolutely, no doubt. There’s going to be a lot of good people within the Federation but she hasn’t had a positive experience yet, it’s all been bad. My point is that it’s bound to change the way one sees things, for better or worse, right or wrong.
Ultimately her role, as she sees, it is to take care of the Starcaster and now it’s in the hands (albeit by proxy) of the same Federation she’s yet to see a good thing from. I’d be wary and concerned too, at very least.
Edit – typo
We know that even their Starcaster holder was. He gambled. Nyrah can’t blame this on her ignorance. She’s a very black and white thinker living in a moment of profound grey. She’s just not well equipped for this.
I agree. They have only 3 options really. 1: Always hide from the 2 major forces. In fear of being captured. Always on the run. And eventually they WILL be captured as there’s no way they can run from the both of them for long. And if the one that captures them happens to be the bad guys they’re dead and the starcaster is then in the hands of…well…the bad guys. If they get captured by the empire they’ll all be criminals for life, and the starcaster will be taken away. 2: Join forces with the bad guys. Which will… Read more »
This is one of the reasons I love this series, both arguments have merit, or at least understandable, and there isn’t as simple as a right or wrong option.
A couple of pages back I came to the conclusion I’d have done exactly what Cort has done, a temporary arrangement. Thought I couldn’t help but think is ‘temporary’ really possible? Are the Federation going to let a Starcaster walk out the door, common enemy or not?
Called it, like many others. Cort is not an idiot. He’s being both ethical and pragmatic. Playing the long game. Meanwhile, Nyrah needs to grow up. Her idealism still blinds her. She just admitted he knows the game better than them. So, that means she should respect his decision a bit more. Just because the feds ain’t perfect, is no excuse to reject them entirely and risk giving the Dranglaex a potentially decisive edge. It’s clear who’s the worse enemy here. She needs to get it together. Set aside her feelings for the mission, like Cort did. I get it… Read more »
Wait, isn’t Nyrah’s whole shtick looking after the Starcaster(s) and making sure it’s not abused? Does she know one was recently used to obliterate an entire planet? Surely she should be at least a bit concerned about that… but no, staying away from Feds is more important…
Not entirely unpredictable, but hopefully once she calms down she’ll see reason.
She knows. Quel told them about it. I’d imagine that destruction is only more reason for her to want to keep this one away from the war, to make sure it won’t be abused for such atrocities.
It’s not that she’s unconcerned about the war, but that isn’t a problem she has any hope of dealing with. Keeping the Starcaster out of the wrong hands is.
I assume she wouldn’t deliberately choose to let the galaxy die, but I doubt she’s even considered it a possibility to make a difference in saving it.
I think I must have missed something during the comic; why is the federation so corrupt from Nyrah’s point of view? Isn’t the only evidence of corruption that Cort was corrupt when he worked for the federation? Or was there more to it that I missed?
If I remember correctly, the first Federation officer Cort reached out to to aid Nyrah instead turned around and tried selling her back to her captors. A really corrupt first impression of the Federation. Its a case of making judgements based on a first impression. (The first guy they approached was corrupt, therefore they all are).
Well, there’s the little detail of the remote Fed outpost she forced Cort at gunpoint to bring her in to just stalling her until Grin could come pick her up
Everything else she heard about the Federation lately was from Cort, who understandably didn’t paint a picture of an edifice of trustworthiness, as much because of his own experiences as because he was deliberately trying to keep Nyrah on his side
It’s more how Cort told her the Federation was corrupt. Then when she initially didn’t believe him and made him take her to the Federation, she was immediately betrayed and almost sold back to the Dranglaex. This is probably the biggest one. There’s also the small manhunt, Fed agents and the Grin attack when they were set up to talk. (Where she might well suspect Feds leaking their location.) Add this to the understandable fear, ptsd and paranoia from a century of torture with only her mission to cling to, and it’s not hard to see why she has trust… Read more »
Nyrah truly is someone who thinks they know everything and yet has not clue as to what actually is going on. And when asked, she has no answer or solution to the problems either other than complain. Sure Federation might be corrupt, a galaxy spanning organization would inevitably get corrupted along the way…but there is literally no other options a self-respecting person can take. Especially after literally getting found out by the both parties and there is no chance of hiding anymore. The moment you leave the federation, you will get captured by the Dranglaex, get killed, and the universal… Read more »
Given a choice between ‘corrupt organization gets the Starcaster, will abuse it’, ‘genocidal maniacs might win and get the Starcaster, will abuse it’ and ‘run away and maybe nobody will find and abuse it’ it is perfectly reasonable to see running as the best option. As bad as it is, it’s the only one offering any chance of the Starcaster not being abused somehow. A very slim chance, but still better than nothing. That’s not the actual situation, but from Nyrah’s perspective it probably is. And running is indeed a fool’s hope, but that’s about the only hope she has… Read more »
Wild speculation: what if Starcasters were actually meant to be used with one on EACH arm?
Some characters use it left handed, some right handed.
Tbh, I’m not sure the guys who created the Starcasters (the Augs) even had arms, in our understanding of the term. Or if they even had symmetry in the number of their… appendages.
https://cad-comic.com/comic/the-starcaster-chronicles-05-08/
I think that’s the only glimpse we see of the Aug, and it doesn’t really give away much. Assuming the statue even IS an Aug, they look maybe bipedal… but that’s about all I can say.
My second thought was maybe the Aug had six arms, and that’s why there are six Starcasters.
No one aug should have all that power.
2nd panel, “disintigrated” -> “disintegrated”
Nyrah, what do you honestly expect to happen? Do you think you are going to be able to just walk away? That the federation won’t “accidentally” Cort and give the Starcaster to someone more reasonable?
Getting mad at Cort here is like getting mad at your pilot when they brought down their crashing ship in the water, because you don’t like getting wet, when the alternative was crashing straight into a mountain and dying in a massive fireball.
Seriously, get over yourself.
Classic Thanksgiving argument.
This is a familiar argument. I wonder if Nyrah will ever stop arguing with the inevitable.
https://cad-comic.com/comic/the-starcaster-chronicles-05-16/
Honestly, it’s admirable that he didn’t throw it in her face that the last time they did things her way he almost died.
Nyrah has NEVER listened to him, time and time again he’s tried to explain to her how things are and all she’s done is force this very situation on the man and all he’s done is try to help her… I do get it, she’s nothing but a head and guts in a sack, in a robot, and she’s lost her brother, and now because of her over-effort, she’s worried that the very thing that cost her everything is STILL going to happen. She’s not much better in her mind-set than the Dranglaex, being so devoted to an idea that… Read more »
I feel like everyone is right here. Cort made the best descision he could out of the limited options, in order to protect those he cares about. He’s got the experience and intuition to back that choice up. Nyrah is right that the Federation can’t be trusted. The odds are that the second Dranglaex are defeated, the Federation, or members of it’s higher eschelons, turn on and kill Cort in his weakened state to get his Starcaster is extremely high. Nyrah knows exactly how governments behave when they want a Starcaster. She’s lived through hell because of it. So like… Read more »
Honestly, it’s not like Cort had many options. Essentially he either joins (and quite possible gets training from active starcaster user), fights his way out (making aforementioned user and whole federation his enemy) or gives up his arm and starcaster. It’s not like federation would let him walk away free. Honestly, I wouldn’t blame federation even if they step down to plain old blackmail by his friends lives. They literally have millions (if not billions – imagine Dranglaex targeting some kind of ecumenopolis or hive world) of lives at stakes, and second starcaster is too much of military advantage to risk… Read more »