Interesting that in this society the police are authorized to mete out punishments without a trial. (Or does that apply only to kids?) My impression is that this is a sign of a society in trouble. Is that intended?
No, not a sign of trouble in itself. In a steampunkish vein, Lavarel hovers mostly around a late-industrial milieu (energy squirt guns aside) in everything from architecture to dress to military. Cops in such societies would’ve been more likely to smack a troublemaking brat upside the head and forcibly drag it back to its parents’ house by the ear, the shame of which would count far worse. A bit of light manual labour would fall well within their discretion. Involving higher authorities for every minor infraction would be bureaucratically unfeasible and would yield even harsher punishments.
In fact, my impression was the opposite, that Novil’s been going to some pains to portray the authorities straining to maintain lenience and a soft touch so the story doesn’t dip into stereotyped punk/dystopian motifs. Admist war and famine, Kirkiok remains a decent, polite, civilized place. Tibor’s not off the mark; Scarlet’s the one gratuitously overstepping various petit-bourgeois norms of behavior, which may partly be grief-induced self-destructiveness?
Eh… In a lot of places police are authorized to do that. A fine is a punishment, if there is no money to pay it can be exchanged by community work. Only major offences need a trial, this is a minor issue, and of course any action can be challenged in court, but if you are caught red-handed with plenty of witnesses I don’t think a judge rules in favor of you. In fact, Scarlet accepts the guilty and taunts the cop, this is a misdemeanour in almost all jurisdictions. What I don’t know is who supplies the cleaning stuff (the municipal chamber?).
I’m sure that a bucket of soapy water couldn’t be too hard for Scarlet to find. It’s a horse-using civilization…
The cube has got to be waterproof and rustproof, or else it would have visible problems by now, being outside.
It’s not that easy. It is supposed the goal of a punishment is to reeducate, to rehabilitate. Scarlet has said in advance she doesn’t oppose to clean the artifact, but for instance a political dissident could use the forced labor to dirty the cube, for instance, simply saying “I’m inept for this”. So you need somewhat “infrastructure” and trained staff only to enforce punishments, at least supervision. A fine is far cheaper and less problematic. On the other hand, Scarlet never questioned police authority, not even when jailed, she is somewhat a maverick, and accepts it, so I don’t see any social desestructuration or failed political networks, which, if true, the whole picture would he massively different, crime exists and it seems to be harsher out of the towns.
Everything we’ve ever seen and/or been told about Grondar indicates that they’re nothing but bloodthirsty conquerors and murderers. They killed Scarlet’s (unarmed civilian) parents in cold blood. I would be surprised if there were any pro-Grondar people in town, or anywhere outside Grondar, for that matter.
I would be surprised if any pro-Grondar people would be able to survive in the town without police protection. Which they would kinda get because they will be jailed for treason.
The verb est functions as a copula—linking the subject noun Grondar to the predicative verbal adjective delenda—and further imparts a deontic modality to the clause as a whole. Because delenda is a predicative adjective in relation to the subject noun Grondar, it takes the same number (singular) and case (nominative) as Grondar. And the same gender. What’s Grondar’s gender?
16 thoughts on “Machine Girl 023”
Zarylo
Go on Scarlet. Clean the cube.
Maybe a genie will apear,
or you’ll activate a portal to the ruins of mitra
or you will simply get a very clean cube.
Scarsdale
For all we know, that cube is the very weapon she was talking about… Just in storage mode.
ME
LOL, that’s a great callback to an earlier exchange between these two.
Hegel-Marx
Yes, 8 years ago! SFOS#002
https://www.sandraandwoo.com/scarlet/comic/a-sky-full-of-stars-002/
bh
Interesting that in this society the police are authorized to mete out punishments without a trial. (Or does that apply only to kids?) My impression is that this is a sign of a society in trouble. Is that intended?
Werwolfe
No, not a sign of trouble in itself. In a steampunkish vein, Lavarel hovers mostly around a late-industrial milieu (energy squirt guns aside) in everything from architecture to dress to military. Cops in such societies would’ve been more likely to smack a troublemaking brat upside the head and forcibly drag it back to its parents’ house by the ear, the shame of which would count far worse. A bit of light manual labour would fall well within their discretion. Involving higher authorities for every minor infraction would be bureaucratically unfeasible and would yield even harsher punishments.
In fact, my impression was the opposite, that Novil’s been going to some pains to portray the authorities straining to maintain lenience and a soft touch so the story doesn’t dip into stereotyped punk/dystopian motifs. Admist war and famine, Kirkiok remains a decent, polite, civilized place. Tibor’s not off the mark; Scarlet’s the one gratuitously overstepping various petit-bourgeois norms of behavior, which may partly be grief-induced self-destructiveness?
Poyntre
Eh… In a lot of places police are authorized to do that. A fine is a punishment, if there is no money to pay it can be exchanged by community work. Only major offences need a trial, this is a minor issue, and of course any action can be challenged in court, but if you are caught red-handed with plenty of witnesses I don’t think a judge rules in favor of you. In fact, Scarlet accepts the guilty and taunts the cop, this is a misdemeanour in almost all jurisdictions. What I don’t know is who supplies the cleaning stuff (the municipal chamber?).
Vicious Sand
I’m sure that a bucket of soapy water couldn’t be too hard for Scarlet to find. It’s a horse-using civilization…
The cube has got to be waterproof and rustproof, or else it would have visible problems by now, being outside.
Poyntre
It’s not that easy. It is supposed the goal of a punishment is to reeducate, to rehabilitate. Scarlet has said in advance she doesn’t oppose to clean the artifact, but for instance a political dissident could use the forced labor to dirty the cube, for instance, simply saying “I’m inept for this”. So you need somewhat “infrastructure” and trained staff only to enforce punishments, at least supervision. A fine is far cheaper and less problematic. On the other hand, Scarlet never questioned police authority, not even when jailed, she is somewhat a maverick, and accepts it, so I don’t see any social desestructuration or failed political networks, which, if true, the whole picture would he massively different, crime exists and it seems to be harsher out of the towns.
Vicious Sand
Stupid kids, cleaning up after themselves! Wait.. 🙂 It looks like there’s also some anti-Grondor people in town.
MegaJar
Everything we’ve ever seen and/or been told about Grondar indicates that they’re nothing but bloodthirsty conquerors and murderers. They killed Scarlet’s (unarmed civilian) parents in cold blood. I would be surprised if there were any pro-Grondar people in town, or anywhere outside Grondar, for that matter.
HKMaly
I would be surprised if any pro-Grondar people would be able to survive in the town without police protection. Which they would kinda get because they will be jailed for treason.
helcaraxe
Rubik’s cube?
SCNR: s/delenda/delendam/
ToBeFree
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carthago_delenda_est&oldid=1312289937#Grammatical_analysis
The verb est functions as a copula—linking the subject noun Grondar to the predicative verbal adjective delenda—and further imparts a deontic modality to the clause as a whole. Because delenda is a predicative adjective in relation to the subject noun Grondar, it takes the same number (singular) and case (nominative) as Grondar. And the same gender. What’s Grondar’s gender?
Dys
Cleaning the cube is the perfect way to accidentally find out how it works. If anyone can crack the code, it’s Scarlet!
WellBattle6
Grondar delenda est.
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