Comic Discussion > ALICE GROVE
Alice Grove MCDT - February 2015
Half Empty Coffee Cup:
Hm. Any possibility that Chapter Two might be a cutaway to the outer world, showing just what the hell's up with the Praesides?
SubaruStephen:
--- Quote from: Kugai on 01 Feb 2015, 17:27 ---Ask and ye shall receive BenRG, there are now TWO Voting Options available.
And to be fair to everyone else, I've reset the Vote Count to zero so you may all Revote.
--- End quote ---
Dangit!
Should've read that first, THEN voted.
NilsO:
Here are some of my impressions after reading Chapter One:
* Alice's "grove" (for lack of a better word) seems to lack basic civil administration. There is a doc, probably providing basic health care, but no signs of a mayor or police force (I guess the explosion would have triggered some action if they existed).
* Alice seems to assume the role as witch, mayor, judge, adviser, or police force whenever necessary. She is treated with respect, people seem to be in awe of her.
* This tells me the grove is not part of a bigger society, but a relatively happy, isolated, self-sufficient, and possibly quite primitive community of a few hundred people maximum.
* Also, Alice is not part of that society. She knows things others are not aware of, and has strange powers. The best analogy I can think of, is that she is some kind of foreign aid worker or caretaker, charged with governing this place and keeping the inhabitants happy.
* So, what is the bigger context? Is the grove some kind of preserve or museum? The outside world may use it as a kind of social experiment, or just for their own entertainment, but are prohibited from interfering with it (except for Alice, of course).
* The outside world seems to be run by the Praeses, which seem to be a collection of AIs. The AI known as Cupressaceae seems to be Gavia and Ardent's superior, mentor, or possibly (rebellious) slave.
* Ardent and Gavia seem to be utterly spoiled brats, possibly from always getting what they want. Cupressaceae might want to improve their behavior, by forcing primitive life upon them for a while.
* As the grove is not used to visitors, this is probably not a common punishment (or there may be other groves also set up for this purpose).
Isyrion:
--- Quote from: NilsO on 02 Feb 2015, 05:54 ---Here are some of my impressions after reading Chapter One:
* Alice's "grove" (for lack of a better word) seems to lack basic civil administration. There is a doc, probably providing basic health care, but no signs of a mayor or police force (I guess the explosion would have triggered some action if they existed).
* Alice seems to assume the role as witch, mayor, judge, adviser, or police force whenever necessary. She is treated with respect, people seem to be in awe of her.
* This tells me the grove is not part of a bigger society, but a relatively happy, isolated, self-sufficient, and possibly quite primitive community of a few hundred people maximum.
* Also, Alice is not part of that society. She knows things others are not aware of, and has strange powers. The best analogy I can think of, is that she is some kind of foreign aid worker or caretaker, charged with governing this place and keeping the inhabitants happy.
* So, what is the bigger context? Is the grove some kind of preserve or museum? The outside world may use it as a kind of social experiment, or just for their own entertainment, but are prohibited from interfering with it (except for Alice, of course).
* The outside world seems to be run by the Praeses, which seem to be a collection of AIs. The AI known as Cupressaceae seems to be Gavia and Ardent's superior, mentor, or possibly (rebellious) slave.
* Ardent and Gavia seem to be utterly spoiled brats, possibly from always getting what they want. Cupressaceae might want to improve their behavior, by forcing primitive life upon them for a while.
* As the grove is not used to visitors, this is probably not a common punishment (or there may be other groves also set up for this purpose).
--- End quote ---
Good Analysis, I personally think Alice is one of Ardent's and Gaiva's people (or at least affiliated with them in someway). Would explain what she knows so much about them and why the townspeople would hold her in high regards.
Wildroses:
--- Quote from: Half Empty Coffee Cup on 01 Feb 2015, 18:35 ---Hm. Any possibility that Chapter Two might be a cutaway to the outer world, showing just what the hell's up with the Praesides?
--- End quote ---
I don't think so myself. Jeph has gone to a lot of trouble to invest readers in this story by giving them lots of unanswered questions about Praesides, and it strikes me as too early in the story to start giving us answers. Mysteries can't be resolved too soon or it ruins the effect of having them in the first place. Also, the fact this story is named after Alice indicates to me that it is highly unlikely we will ever be very far away from her and she is currently nowhere near a Praesides.
I predict chapter two is going to be based around gags of Ardent and Gavia experiencing culture shock as they adjust to the fact they are trapped on a primitive world. Gavia looks like she's about to have a full on freak out and after her explosion display I think she's going to find herself a deeply unpopular person in the village, and Ardent clearly has no idea how their society works as he is only familiar with the concept of an economy based around money in theory and was shocked it is appropriate for women to respond with physical violence to being propositioned.
I could be wrong though. For all I know, Alice has ways of communicating and gathering information from the places outside her home that she is about to start using.
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