Chapter 5; Lit, page 91.

If I were a whore in Templar, I’d be pretty okay with Orpha watching my back. Which, I suppose, if sort of the point.

ANYWAY. If you can read this, my site updated like it should. Hooray for that, because currently I’m in Phoenix, Arizona, at the Phoenix Comicon! I’ll be sharing a table with Randy Milholland and Danielle Corsetto, and we’ll be doing a panel together, “The Wonderful World of Webcomics,” on Saturday at 1:30!

So come see us and come buy stuff. And, stay tuned for Saturday. I’m gonna try to start something new.

30 thoughts on “Chapter 5; Lit, page 91.”

  1. Orpha fears Gentrification.

    Isn’t Oarlock North a hipster/gallery ghetto now? Orphas has legit fears, actual Horses turned into theme parks. Thus the first page of this story, someone getting their picture taken with a Real Live Dov. The old line, people who never took risks standing to look at places where risks were taken.

    Wasn’t the Oarlock the site of some really bloody Mariah battles?

    Hmmph. No wonder Orpha’s mad. Orpha has a point.

  2. er Homes, meaning Brothels, not Horses.

    So what makes this great is I’m now on both Reclamation And the Dove’s sides. Yes they should re-establish abandoned buildings and yes they do have a claim on a lost property.

    If tey could come to an agreement, it would be moot but OF COURSE theses are the two groups that WOULD NEVER EVER see eye to eye and thus ….DRAMA

    1. and a big giant riot, which will quickly get out of hand, considering the various stripes of anarchists in town.

          1. see I’m thinking like, WTO or better level riot. possible fire and flood as well. something suitably apocalyptic anyway.

  3. My first post.

    I just wanted to say how much I enjoy your story & characters. I lot of webcomics i read for a while, realize that i don’t care about these people and then I wander away. But your world is surreal in a realistic, gritty way (if that makes sense). And almost all of the people in your various sub-plots have me hooked. I want to see what happens to them – where the story is going.

    A tip of the hat. Templar is a huge achievement. You should be proud of the work you have done – good job.

    Very warm regards, Rick.

    1. Templar is definitely worth the sometimes long waiting between installations. I’m dreading the next one, as it has now updated several times in a short period of time. :-(

      Also, the webcomics that offer people the chance to comment without having to log onto the forums, make it more fun to come back, as the comments give extra depth into one’s own perceptions of the world and the characters.

  4. The pleasure tax is a way better name than “sin tax”. And it’s applicable to more activities.

    1. I now shudder at your definition of MILF. In my understanding she’s a bit old for the category, but hey, whatever rocks your boat.

    1. I’ve seen her point all along, but I still don’t agree with it. She’s living in a f***ing mansion and not wanting to pay to restore her oh-so-precious falling-down state whorehouse. Why let it become a derelict ruin if it means so much to her? She’s clearly abandoned it, hence Rec having their eyes on it in the first place! She doesn’t want it, but she doesn’t want anyone else having it. She’s a like a kid who no longer plays with most of her toys, but still won’t let them being donated to charity so other kids could play with them.

      1. Orpha doesn’t give a damn about the Circassian building. It could go to Reclamation or to hell for all she cares. What she cares about is the whorehouse’s zoning license for prostitution. That she has to defend at all costs because if Reclamation manages to rezone it successfully, it will be seen as a tool and a precedent by the Dove’s political enemies and the enemies of their profession to erode away at the next brothel that falls under hard times. And then the next. And the next, until the whole of her profession is reduced to, at best, Hookerland™ (a division of Walt Disney Industries™) where actors are carefully cast by their corporate bosses (in New York) to walk about in whore costumes for the tourists and real prostitutes are forced back into the alleys at the mercy of pimps and pushers. And while that may be very lucrative for the share holders, it’s catastrophic for the whores.

        She’s not fighting to defend a brothel. She’s fighting to defend her industry’s and its workers’ right to self determination.

        1. If Orpha thinks of herself as a champion of sex workers, she should worry more about how they are treated. They’re legal now, and probably somewhat better off under someone like Orpha than under some thuggish pimp in a back alley, but I doubt their working conditions are great. If the public respected the profession, and treated them no differently than any other service industry, they would be better off. If their clients treated them with respect, they would be better off. By respect, I don’t just mean “don’t beat up the whores”. Don’t call them whores, and be as polite to them as you would be to your gas station attendant or hair stylist or accountant. I wonder if Orpha cares about zoning not so much due to her worker’s plight, but because she makes so much money off of being grand madam.

          Anyone know how the legal prostitutes in Nevada are treated? I doubt they’re respected, I bet they’re just tolerated.

          1. Keep in mind, Orpha was ELECTED to her position by the prostitutes of Templar. It’s probably incorrect to think of her as a “rich executive”. She’s more a “rich union boss”. (You’ll see the similarity to Hoffa if you look close enough – and then you’ll never be able to unsee it.) Yes, she’s wealthy and also probably a bit corrupt, but she is most definitely a representative and advocate of her industry and not just an exploiter of it.

          2. Have you heard of De Wallen, Amsterdam’s red lights district? Prostitution (brothels, “window” sex workers) is legal in Netherlands, but not street prostitution. Wikipedia has some info on it, if you’d like to do some reading. The human trafficking part is apparently a must in which ever Wiki article prostitution is discussed, but the area itself and the code of conduct there, etc. are pretty interesting. I’m now wondering if Templar has a similar concentration of sex workers (and brothels) or if they’re more evenly spread out?

          3. Actually, reading (from Wikipedia) about the fight to close down (*ahem* “reduce”) the red lights district area and activities might give good insight to Orpha’s point of the view, although I still think the Doves are basically a mafia and she’s just mad there’s a rival gang (not rival to her business, but to her turf) in the town now.

          4. > I still think the Doves are basically a mafia
            Technically, the Doves are a Union. Given the sordid history of organized labor, in the U.S. at least, some people would claim it’s basically the same thing. Which doesn’t negate the sordid history of corporate capitalism in the U.S. U.S. History contains a lot of Sordid.

      2. A pretty solid comparison so far as I can see, Hanna.

        Now admittedly we haven’t seen much OF her, and we can only go off that for now, but so far……

  5. Second panel, Zebulon looks very disturbed.

    Augh. It’s hard to side with either group because they both make good points. Fantastic writing.

    1. I’d look disturbed too, if Orpha was smiling at me. :-P

      As for siding with anyone… I’d rather just see someone set fire to the place. Then it’s have to be torn down, no matter what Orpha says, and probably something else would be built in its place, no matter what Rec says. (If the kids can’t agree how to share a toy, take it away. ;-P)

  6. Orpha throwing herself in harm’s way for Templar’s whores is admirable, even honorable, but she’s a victim of believing her own press. She’s taking the path of the blazing valkyrie, all set to throw every ounce of resistance she can against this perceived aggression without once considering if she SHOULD.

    Of course, John’s people are suffering from something similar. If either side could pull their head out of their ass long enough to realize that weakening each other’s positions only serves to help their mutual enemies, they BOTH might be able to make progress.

  7. Orpha reminds me of a doctor. She’s upset someone could challenge her power base and prestige. When people aren’t on board for her personal insult, she changes the tone to ‘logical’. Then she conjures up a huge boogeyman. The problem IS, she’s already clearly overindulgent to the point of excess and unwilling to inconvenience herself for anyone’s sake.

    She’s mercenary, like most doctors. And she’s only interested in protecting her own prestige and privelages, like most doctors. She will throw whatever scares at whoever she has to to maintain or increase her slice of the pie, like most doctors. Look at things like West Nile Virus or Bird Flu…… a few scarce cases and suddenly every doctor is earning their paycheque, no matter how insane, even though these things go away on their own.

    Reclamation is much like that. They’ll make a huge splash now, upset some people reclaiming the forgotten and unused, and then when reality rolls in, everyone will calm down and realize they probably have more work to do than they could ever achieve even WITHOUT coming into conflict….. unless of course someone starts their own bird flu campaign and FORCES conflict.

  8. Seeing their faces facing (mostly) forward and right next to each other in panel 2 makes it abundantly clear they’re related. Excellent work.

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