Death, Destruction, Chaos. My work here is done

[Kurashima]

Am I alone in thinking that the directors plans for an epic battle with hundreds of thousands of people being killed are coming to fruition?

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0668.html

The wording here is quite specific. They see OOTS and their battle with Xykon as being key to their goals, but with the other pawns (the Linear Guild) unwittingly assisting.

I think all along the Directors have known about TE, and that there was little chance of drawing Tarquin and the others into a massive battle they were unsure of winning without make it personal along the way. OOTS alone, whilst powerful, are not capable of taking on and killing an entire Goblin/Hobgoblin army. TE is, and can very possibly win such a battle, depending on where it is fought. If they directly manipulated the players into the battle, the fallen souls would come to them which seems to be their sole purpose in the comic.

I think the directors may in fact be moving into position as the main villains in the piece. They are the only parties in the whole book who seem to know EXACTLY what to do with the gates, the others (Xykon / OOTS) know theyre powerful but dont know how to harness or destroy such power, and Tarquin seems disinterested in harnessing such power at the moment.

[AKA_Bait]

They are the only parties in the whole book who seem to know EXACTLY what to do with the gates, the others (Xykon / OOTS) know theyre powerful but dont know how to harness or destroy such power, and Tarquin seems disinterested in harnessing such power at the moment.

Redcloak seems to have a pretty solid idea of what to do with the gates.

[veti]

Am I alone in thinking that the directors plans for an epic battle with hundreds of thousands of people being killed are coming to fruition?

Knowing this board, I doubt if you're "alone" in that - but I don't see what you're getting at.


I think all along the Directors have known about TE, and that there was little chance of drawing Tarquin and the others into a massive battle they were unsure of winning without make it personal along the way. OOTS alone, whilst powerful, are not capable of taking on and killing an entire Goblin/Hobgoblin army. TE is, and can very possibly win such a battle, depending on where it is fought. If they directly manipulated the players into the battle, the fallen souls would come to them which seems to be their sole purpose in the comic.

Assuming you mean Team Tarquin - why would they have any interest in fightng an army of hobgoblins (presumably, the one now occupying Gobbotopia)? The army was a temporary accessory to Redcloak, now detached from him - there seems to be nothing to draw Tarquin in that direction.

And if they did fight, what would make the fallen souls come to the IFCC? Presumably the evil souls would go to evil afterlives, the good souls to good afterlives - but that's precisely what will happen anyway, given time. And given the demographics of goblinoids vs humans, the former will die sooner - you get through at least 2 generations of hobgoblins (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0702.html) for each 1 generation of humans. So if the hobgoblin society is evil (that is to say, fosters more evil souls than the human society does, proportionate to its population) - then the longer the two sides can be prevented from fighting, the more Evil souls will be generated.

If the IFCC's game is to harvest the maximum possible number of evil souls, then the best thing that could happen from their perspective is that Gobbotopia be allowed to live prosperously and peacefully for as long as possible.

[Newwby]

Redcloak seems to have a pretty solid idea of what to do with the gates.

Redcloak thinks he has a solid idea of what to do. M'thinks either the Dark One hasn't been 100% honest or, more likely, the gods just generally have an information blackout on the subject of the Snarl and the rifts (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0697.html).

[Tebryn]

Redcloak thinks he has a solid idea of what to do. M'thinks either the Dark One hasn't been 100% honest or, more likely, the gods just generally have an information blackout on the subject of the Snarl and the rifts (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0697.html).

He knows what do to do with them. That doesn't translate into him knowing what they'll do.

[FujinAkari]

Redcloak thinks he has a solid idea of what to do. M'thinks either the Dark One hasn't been 100% honest or, more likely, the gods just generally have an information blackout on the subject of the Snarl and the rifts (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0697.html).

We can also note that the IFCC's information comes from Sabine / Nale / Shojo, and he knew LESS about them than Redcloak.

[Bartle]

They want "destructive, unnecessary conflict" (or so they claim), and their final plan will make the slaughter of many good dragons trivial. Assuming that conflict is a means, the question is, how does such conflict lead to the ability to cause the slaughter of many good dragons?

Until we answer that, it's hard to say whether they care about any *particular* conflict. We have to know if it contributes to their plans first.

[RadagastTheBrow]

If they directly manipulated the players into the battle, the fallen souls would come to them which seems to be their sole purpose in the comic.


That's potentially brilliant. (I'm a little brain-fried after work, so I might miss a glaring error or two.) Team Tarquin would never blow his armies under the current plan- it's too stable, there's a relative peace brought about through the constant war. Lots of innocent deaths, few evil ones. Likewise, Xykon mostly recycles his troops and Redcloak started caring about hobos, so not a lot of hell-put through there, either. By letting the Western Continent and the Hobgoblins build up their respective armies and then kill each other at the gates, it's pretty much automatic recruitment of a massive part of the world's population for Team Infernal. A shiny new army, armed and ready to invade Heaven.

If only the fabric of reality was being coincidentally weakened during the battle to make penetrating the heavenly realms that much easier...