Hello friends! I could not resist (briefly) interupting our currently story so that I could do a spooky comic for Halloween. But worry not... our "Whether Permitting" story will resume on Monday!
Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Endangered Edition
Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!
"With the explosion of said robot god, are the robots a endangered species? Have they managed to develop a new way of creating more or are they facing a slow decline towards extinction?" -Cthulhulu Ftagan
The later! Unit 01's robots -- alongside the Buddy Bots -- are the only truly artificially intelligent robots that currently exist in the S&F universe. No one has been able to replicate the technology. It's definitely going to have major ramifications on the future of their species, and also on their role in the comic going forward. (You may have guessed that I'm interested in writing more about the robots by the way robot characters keep showing up in all these stories, haha!)
"I need to know: Do you plan to add the Calimari Dynasty, the Big Bad Broken Wolves, or any of the things in the rpg that never made it into the series to the upcoming stories?" -Lilly
This is an interesting question! I consider The Underground to be a 100% a canonical guide to the S&F universe. I wrote almost all of the lore and "universe stuff" in the book, which is why so much of it has subsequently shown up in the comic. (Things that debuted in the Underground RPG include: Unit 01 and the robot homeland, the vial of tar, the first details of shapeshifting slug society, and a lot of the minor Committee members.) I am sure more of it will creep into the comic as I go! It's kind of my personal lore bedrock.
That said... the Calimari Dynasty and Big Bad Broken Wolf factions specifically are actually two of the biggest pieces of lore that were originally created by the game's other designers! For gameplay reasons, they wanted joinable antagonistic (anti-Committee) factions for the main playable inhuman species, and pitched those two ideas as options for the wolfpeople and squids. I liked the ideas, and I collaborated on their development to make sure they fit into the S&F universe. But while I technically "own" them and could see myself dropping a minor reference to them somewhere, I don't think I'd ever use them in really substantive way unless it was part of another collaborative project with their co-designers.
"Today’s comic was very cute. Ah, for the days when a guest artist webcomic duration truly was obligatory! Is there anything else you miss about the pre-smartphone years of webcomics?" -Rob Wilson
Honestly? I miss when people's primary method of consuming online content was actual websites! I have a bigger audience than ever, and I appreciate that immensely, but it has never been more fragmented. It is scattered across various different social media sites and online platforms... especially my newer readers. In some ways it rules, but it's kind of a lot for one person to manage. (Plus, my website is the one platform where I don't have to worry about some big company screwing it up.)
That's all for today, team. But come back on Monday for our next comic!
-Sam Logan
"With the explosion of said robot god, are the robots a endangered species? Have they managed to develop a new way of creating more or are they facing a slow decline towards extinction?" -Cthulhulu Ftagan
The later! Unit 01's robots -- alongside the Buddy Bots -- are the only truly artificially intelligent robots that currently exist in the S&F universe. No one has been able to replicate the technology. It's going to have major ramifications on the future of their species, and also on their role in the comic going forward!
