Howdy, fellow Draconiacs! RazorFox here.
Did Cinder‘s message get lost in translation? Or is Kess just not the most eloquent of speakers? Either way, it looks like Kighan might have just gotten her wish.
Those of you looking for a soundtrack for this page can pull up “I Predict A Riot” by Kaiser Chiefs.
Thank you to all who’ve pledged your support for the comic via Patreon! Supporters got to see this finished page, in addition to snapshots of the page at different stages in development, before anyone else. Help support The Draconia Chronicles through Patreon and enjoy the benefits that come with it!
Work’s already beginning on the next page. Will Kess answer Cinder’s questions, or will Kess “axe” Cinder a question of her own? Stay tuned…
Take care, my fellow Draconiacs, and thanks for reading!
=RazorFox.
52 Comments
Ut Oh…
“Lemme ‘axe’ you something, Cinder!” ^__^
What I want to know is how in all the hells did the dragons learn the tigers speak. I mean they’re at constant war and have been for awhile. This isn’t like our wars where there are times of peace where people share and acquire knowledge. They’ve been at war for, you’ve implied, anywhere near a millennium.
So do they trade with one another, are there frequent converters(traitors), are there peace times when they talk peacefully (you’ve implied that no, there haven’t been), is it some sort of magic that allows them to learn some parts of a language, is it old carry over from the fox war? All this just raises big questions, and if your trying to bait us for the upcoming years, I applaud you.
Also this is some bad communication right here, get your horns in the game Cinder.
Thanks for the kind words! I’m always up for some baiting. As for the Dragons’ (apparently limited) knowledge of Tigerian, a key point in waging war is knowing thy enemy and trying to decipher their language for purposes of espionage. Judging by Cinder’s rather shaky grip on the language, though, it sounds like they’ve got a lot of work to do. ^__^;
Okay, yes a key part of espionage warfare is knowing the enemy language…but it still doesn’t answer how they came to know. Apparently the dragons have a good understanding, teaching it to some degree, so what did they watch a mother and cub having a conversation?
See most human languages have root ancestor languages, and patterns are involved in how new languages form and old languages die out. But in this situation they have been at war for an extended amount of time, and yes it’s good to know your enemy’s language but how did they acquire this information? Also they’re two different species, did they evolve parallel to one another and thus have some sort of root language which forms both of their languages?
Saying that they know cause it’s a logical thing is all fine and good until you think about it. Unless you are baiting, at which point (muffled screaming).
Well, we have shown that they have some common names for things, though filtered through a different language, such as the Dragons’ “Calera” being said by the Tigers as the “Khalira.” A distant, long-dead root language is not out of the question.
Learning a language in war is also expedited by capturing/be captured by your enemy, through immersion
very much so. long term captives especially learn the captors’ language. escapees from such captivity would be rare, but the knowledge gained (not just language) would be priceless
Ugh, whose idea was it to bring Kighan along?
Theres two people you dont bring to a diplomatic situation like this, and shes one of them >.>;
Kess is the other yet shes the one talking -.-;
They’re both a pair of hotheads. They complement each other perfectly in this scene. In an alternate universe, they could be an OTP. ^__^
Well it just saddens me to see a possible peaceful encounter ruined by the violent dispositions of folks like Kighan
Like you mentioned, Kess isn’t exactly all that rational right now, either, and neither side is particularly fond of the other. You’ve got two volatile elements there, so sooner or later, someone’s going to erupt.
True, but it once again brings lady reds decision process into question for me. Granted, she wants someone good in a fight in case things DO kick off, which is reasonable to plan for, but there has to have been someone less volatile to pick.
Tigers are tigers, and kess has been through some emotional stuff as of late, so shes understandable.
in other words, a great story
It’s not too late to make them OTP in this universe! All we need to do is have Kighan charge Kess for throwing her axe, then start a fierce grapple that turns into an affectionate cuddle!
Ooh hell…. Here we go again.
Unless Kilani show turn herself in to save her sister.
Anything can still happen… ~__^
TRANSLATION FAIL!!!
I’m just curious though…did Kess in fact make an grammatical error in her speech or is Cinder just not that great when it comes to speaking tiger? If it is in fact the latter, why didn’t the dragons bring someone more fluent in the language? I know that Kess has an anger issue, but was it really wise to throw her only weapon into the air as it will surely miss all the dragons…unless it’s going to hit one of the earth dragon?
Well, Kess is on the ground, and the Dragons are in the air, and while Kess herself can’t fly, she can certainly make her axe airborne. As for Kess’ grammar, if you’ve ever studied a foreign language and then been exposed to the place where that language is primarily spoken, you’ll often notice that the by-the-book grammar you learned isn’t always what the actual speakers use. ~__^
Quite true… the “queen’s english” and “conversational english” may use the same words, but they may as well be different dialects.
God dammit, Kess XDD She deserves the nickname Cabbage more than ever now! Ah well, nice try, Cinder! You get a gold star.
She tried, but something got lost in translation. ^__^;
why cabbage?
Cuz Cinder mispronounced “Kess” into “khess”, which means “cabbage”. It’s in the previous page.
So, does that mean the diplomacy is not their actual force? LETS GET READY TO RUMBBLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!
♫♪ “Words are weapons, sharper than knives…” ♪♫
one comedian once said (not sure which) “Diplomacy is the art of telling someone to go to hell in such a way he looks forward to the trip”.
I suspect these antagonists make sure the others know they would gladly send them on that trip… one way.
…you know, I can’t help but think this entire war started when members of each race tried speaking to each other, and there was a misunderstanding about something *extremely* trivial. I dunno, maybe one of the dragons accidentally called a tiger a brussel sprout or something. 😉
LOL!!! I’m tempted to make “Cabbage” stick as a nickname for Kess, and now hearing this, don’t be surprised if Scyde refers to Princess Kiriad as “Sprout.” ^o^
The start of the war may not have been anything dragon or tiger had done.
Remember, there is a third party involved which has been manipulating the leaders of BOTH sides. There is also the matter of the dragonic males abandoning the females when the females insisted on the fight. Could this also be a result of the ‘third party’ manipulation?
I am getting more and more interested in the foxes’ reasoning for the entire matter.
My head canon is it started because someone said the other’s outfit made them look fat.
…but nobody in this universe wears outfits except Mabel.
(And what Kess & Co. are wearing *doesn’t* count! At best, those are swimsuits!)
“What we have here is a failure to communicate”
or
“Of course you realize, this means war.”
Yes. ~__^
My money is on Kighan. Reduce Cabbage to ashes. And Cinder, you have a fan in me 🙂
Ooh, a fan of Cinder and Kighan? Yay! They’ll be so thrilled! ^o^
you know, I also like cinder. She’s actually trying to keep things civil, but getting pressured from both sides.
considering the obstacles she’s facing, she’s doing pretty good… just not good enough
IT BEGINS.
Also, does Kess realize she’s just thrown away her primary weapon?
If she hits her target, then it will not have been a wasted shot.
Well, since I’m assuming Dragons get +3 to Agility while in flight, she’d better hope she rolls a natural 20!
well it sucks but yet i guess i know who starts the riot. but yet its a more of a dumb move. kind a feel sorry a little bit for the dragons but still a dumb move of Kess throwing the axe.
It’s not wise to provoke Fire and Earth Dragons…
Ah damn………..”sigh”
Kess is why we can’t have nice things.
They were communicating then a lost in translation occurred and now a another bloody battle between these nymphs. Hot yet peeved though. XD
Well. I think Khess answered her own question. And the answer is yes.
And emphatically!
“Magical Boomerang Axe, Awaaaaaaaaaay!”
She should hope for it to come back!
maybe Cinder will give it back to her??
Well, I came to read this comic because I saw an add about a convention of cat girls (#16) with five cat girls doing the old “beatles crossing the street” gag.
Took a while finding this webcomic. I thought it would be a comedy (because of how silly the cat-lady for this webcomic looked), but was quite gratified to find it’s serious.
Yay! I’ve long wanted to tell a story that was primarily dramatic and dark, with the occasional flashes of whimsy to break it up. I chose Kenzi for that pic as she’s the one who’s most likely to be smiling, chipped tooth and all, but the series is mainly a drama. And thanks so much for reading! I hope to be at NekoCon again later this year! ^__^