A little more of this flashback. Turns out the War Priestess wasn’t all that bad….or just used niceties to get away with bad stuff…I’m not sure which 😀
Bata Neart
Irish Magical Girls!
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A little more of this flashback. Turns out the War Priestess wasn’t all that bad….or just used niceties to get away with bad stuff…I’m not sure which 😀
Poor Áine.
Hmmm, I hope Múinteoir is not manipulating the results to keep Áine down. 🙁
@Azrael: Queen Bee syndrome, or just a lack if suitable replacements?
That……was kind of an insensitive consolation attempt. O.o
@Azreal: I don’t think she’s trying to keep Áine, but honestly I don’t actually know. She’s one of my few characters that I know very little about. I don’t know yet how she got the Bata Neart or why she goes to war for Munster. The only thing I do know for sure is that she took Áine on to train her (and also how Áine ended up in this situation. That’s another story for later).
@Delta: Agreed, that wasn’t really a good attempt a consolation. My guess is that she thought that it wasn’t all that bad to be enslaved to her as an apprentice. But Áine is sorely disappointed by this, and my hope is that this scene helps explain why she was so happy to finally receive her Bata Draiochta from Ashling.
Before I say anything, I should add the caveat that I’m very bad at reading non-verbals and emotions, and am bad at “saying the right thing.” so take what I say with a grain of salt.
It seemed to me like a decent attempt at consolation. I mean, isn’t she basically just saying, “you’ll make it next time”?
@Azrael & Delta: I dunno guys, I don’t get that impression at all. Muinteoir seemed genuinely disappointed that it didn’t work on the last page. And I don’t quite see why she’d go through with the ritual at all if she just wanted to keep Aine.
@Rawr: So am I correct in thinking that the Bata Draiochta was created in the ceremony Aine did with Ashling? If so I’d suggest that each Battle Witch creates their own staff as part of their initiation ceremony, and Bata Neart was Muinteoir’s. The Bata Neart survived all these years because of the unusual circumstances of her death and the fact that her spirit has remained bound to this plane instead of moving on. So it’s very out of the ordinary for Ashling to have another witch’s staff and that’s why Aine reacted so strongly to seeing the Bata Neart when she first met Ashling. This could tie in to whatever Ashling’s connection to Muinteoir is. That could suggest a plotline about Ashling becoming a real witch and either creating her own staff or making the Bata Neart truly hers. Something along the lines of Cardcaptor Sakura when Sakura had to convert the Clow Cards to Sakura Cards?
Or another possibility is that each staff is the physical manifestation of a powerful spirit that chooses to partner with a particular witch – something like making a contract. That would emphasize the staves having their own will and their own personality.
Or it could be that an average battle witch has a staff she created herself like Aine’s Bata Draiochta, but there are a few special staffs that are ancient and powerful and passed down from one generation to the next. So the wielder of the Bata Neart could be like the Pythia – the preeminent priestess of her time who inherits an exceptional title.
@Kessy: There are quite a few holes in our information about the magic system here (not a dig, Rawr, it just hasn’t dome up). For example:
Is the failure of Aine’s, um, final exam due to a lack on her part? Does the spirit of the staff determine that, or some other agency? Is Ashling’s ability to use the Bata Neart solely due to Muinteoir’s spirit inhabiting her body? Did Muinteoir have a hand in the successful bestowal of the Bata Draiochta from her perch there, or did Aine finally pass muster?
Without all that we’re basically just guessing–although even that is fun. ^^
I was basing my opinion of the quality of consolation by the pat on the head. Pat a child, fine, but not someone as old as Aine. How would you feel if your boss/supervisor/superior patted you on the head? A little patronized, perhaps? It’s been my observation that when a woman wishes to console someone there’s usually hugging or handholding going on–like Panel 4, only more so.
Or, I could be wrong. ^^
“…preeminent priestess of her time…” wouldn’t THAT just send Ashling into full panic mode. ^^
@Delta: ROFL! You’re right – Ashling would totally panic. I’d love to see her face on hearing something like that. Yeah, no pressure there. Although on the other hand, considering the state of the world today, it’s not like she’d have a lot of competition.
Ah, I see, that’s what confused me. I’m big on physical affection, so I generally like any affectionate touch. Although we don’t actually know how old Aine is in this scene.
@Kessy: Yeah, and she probably wouldn’t mess things up any worse than the existing Powers-That-Be, worldwide. ^^
I was thinking mid-to-late teens, possibly very early twenties, judging by the fact that her head and upper torso seem to be the same size as her Muinteoir’s, and her body development says at least a few years past puberty. We also don’t know how long it was after this scene that she was put into stasis, but IIRC she’s a little older (physically) than Ashling and Aoife.
I do have to admit that I don’t know what would have been acceptable master-slave relations back then, however, and a head pat might have been expected. I do notice that it didn’t cheer her up as much as the praise and arm around the shoulder, though. 🙂
@Delta: Well, yanno, some people develop really early. some people look like adults by 12 or so.
My initial impression was that the head pat was primarily just because Aine was kneeling on the ground and Muinteoir was standing next to her.
@Kessy: Like I said, I could be wrong. 🙂
And you could very well be right. Ages ago, when I was in the eighth grade, and before anyone thought up Middle School, there was a girl who was pretty much developed by the sixth grade, although her body wasn’t adult sized. In the same grade there was a boy whose body WAS full adult size, but hadn’t reached full puberty (no beard or body hair). Sweetest, most easy going guy you ever wanted to meet, but literally as strong as an ox.
I hadn’t thought of her in almost sixty years.
@Kessy: Fifty years. apparently I’m also too old to subtract properly. ><
@Kessy: Some of your theories about the Bata Neart and the Bata Draiochtai (plural), are pretty close. Because I’m a jerk I’m not going to say which theories, or how close they were, but I’m glad to see that others are thinking this way about the story 🙂 I never want to ruin any surprises I have waiting in my hat for you folks, so I am also glad that there are some things that I can still surprise you with 😛
Funny you should mention Cardcaptor Sakura. I originally come up with the idea for Bata Neart while watching the horrid English dub of that Anime (named ‘Cardcaptors’ for some bizarre reason). I rather enjoyed CCS, but I always found some aspects of it to be a wasted opportunity. Of course I was forgetting that it was a kids show, but I felt that they could have gone further with the pagan-magic dimension they were playing with, and that although Sakura herself was a very likable character, she was too damned squeaky clean & well behaved to be ‘real’. I then started to think: “This would be very different in an Irish school”.
And that was the first spark that started off Bata Neart: A magical girl story that went further into pagan-magic, set in Ireland with rowdy/obnoxious Irish Teenagers” (and to prove that point I had Aoife punch Ashling into a window in Chapter 2). The Bata Neart design came after that, heavily infulenced by the Jurai tree-technology from Tenchi-Muyo, followed by Ashling’s first design in 2003 followed by Aoife’s original design in early 2004 (based heavily on C-ko from ‘Project A-ko). And the rest….is a veeeery long story that I hope to recount properly one of these days 😀
@Delta: Aine’s age was a bit of a plot point that girls are going to try overcome soon. Trick is, Aine didn’t live by our Gregorian calendar. She doesn’t really know how many ‘birthdays’ she’s had, and probably doesn’t know what a birthday is (another future plot-point, a character birthday is coming up in-story). Upon creating her, I have considered her to be about 19, going on 20. So she’s a good deal older than the others, who are all 17 at this time. However keeping her in the late teens means that she could conceivably be passed off as yet another 17/18 year old student at the school.
The War Priestess’ actions on this page were intended to be a some-what ham-fisted attempt to cheer Aine up. You’re going to learn more about their relationship in this chapter, but I’m trying to show her as a sort of mother-figure to Aine, who despite her own failings is trying to help her reach her potential as a witch, while still trying to care for her.
I’m still working out how I’ll reveal the genesis of their story (and how it ended), I do however know the details and there is much to still tell.
Wait a minute Rawr, so you’re telling us that Aoife is basically the love child of Tomoyo and C-ko? That… that… ckt… gaaa..
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[Brain rebooting, please wait. Your Kessy may turn off and restart several times during this process.]
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That’s a little horrifying to imagine. I always thought that C-ko has got to be one of the most annoying anime characters of all time… Personally, B-ko was always my favorite from that show. But now that you mention it, I can see some of the influence. Although I think I did compare Aoife to Tomoyo before, making Ashling dress up in magical girl costumes. Or trying to anyway. LOL
My understanding is that the people making the Macekred version of Cardcaptor Sakura wanted to conceal the fact that Sakura is the protagonist because they thought Western audiences wouldn’t like a female main character. I think the Doctor must have dropped them off in the wrong century. 😉
Ohhhhh, so the Bata Neart is Jurai tech. That explains a lot. LOL I always thought the look kind of reminded me of something, but I could never quite place it. So good job with the design! ^_^ Although now I’m smiling imaging Aoife and Ashling’s reaction to running into the Tenchi crew. I’m thinking Aoife would go into cute overload with Ryo-ohki…
When it comes to the War Priestess, it seems to me that characters are largely defined by their relationships. My suggestion for developing her a bit is to think about who trained her. Heck, if you asked her about her family, she might even decide to tell you her name. 😉
@Kessy: Apologies for crashing your brain there Kessy 😀 Yea, pretty much Aoife was modeled on C-ko, but as opposed to Tomoyo (who’s a little in the original mix) I think I was also mashing in a good bit of ‘Ne-ne’ from the original Bubblegum Crisis.
But that was the original Aoife I drafted. She started out as a fairly 2-dimensional comic relief character who would have likely annoyed the hell out of most of you. This was long before I put together her backstory, and in the many years since my first attempt to publish ‘Bata Neart’ Aoife has developed a lot more. Much of her current personality has been drawn from many of the experiences I have had along the way, but I think Anna has had the greatest influence on her current makeup. There is a lot of her in today’s Aoife, and apparently a good deal of me. Anna has mentioned while reading Back Office that I have a knack of putting myself in the comics, with every character (including female characters) reflecting some part of my personality. So I dunno…maybe Aoife is my sense of playfulness combined with the personality of my wife? A Psychology student could probably write a tonne of material on stuff like this for their thesis.
As for Cardcaptors: They thought that Western audiences wouldn’t like a female main character?! Had they not paid attention to the market at all?!! Bloody hell, it wouldn’t take long for a casual viewer of ‘Cardcaptors’ to realize that the show was about Sakura. This was many years after Sailor Moon broke into the western market, thus makes their decision even more nonsensical. That and and the whole nonsense of localising the entire show in ‘Readington’, and…I feel a very long rant coming…so I’ll leave it for now. TL:DR, I really don’t like when they mess about with Anime dubs.
Thanks for the kudos on the design. I’ve always loved the way Tenchi Muyo managed to make alien technology look like normal wooden stuff. So when it came to designing the Bata Neart, I wanted to do something similar. This was due to the Jurai influence, but also because of the similar importance that the old Celtic religions put upon trees. Seemed to fit in with my plan 🙂
Well, you know, now that I think about it, the dynamic between Ashling and Aoife is a lot like that between Sakura and Tomoyo.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen the original Bubblegum Crisis, remind how does the original Nene compare to the 2040 version?
Actually, I always thought that the Jurai look had a definite Celtic influence. Didn’t the tiara that Aeka used to control her ship in the original OVA have a Celtic look to it?
I know, right? I always thought that the reasons for giving Cardcaptors the Macek treatment were pretty bizarre. They also wanted to remove all the same sex shipping, which I find much more understandable for a kid’s show from that time. To be honest some of the shipping had a bit of a squick factor for me because of how young the characters are. From TV Tropes:
“Nelvana, with “Cardcaptors”, was responsible for much of the cast getting a Dub Name Change and removed all romantic subplots of any kind (not all convincingly). The US broadcast on Kids’ WB! attempted to widen the show’s appeal beyond its original demographic by switching the focus from strictly Sakura’s point of view and pushing the idea of Sakura and supporting character Li Syaoran being more like partners by rearranging and splicing episodes and tweaking scripts. This would have actually been convenient in later episodes, which play a lot more from Syaoran’s perspective and give him a rather prominent partnership with Sakura, unfortunately the unwanted romantic context of most of this footage actually led them to take out a lot of the character’s relevance. And even with all the butchering they did, they couldn’t remove the subtexts. It’s still pretty obvious how Syaoran and Sakura feel about each other. “
It might just be my modern sensibilities, but I get the feeling she was just manipulating her because she didn’t want to just give up her slave. Sure, she acts nice about it, but I don’t buy that anything was stopping her from freeing her if she really wanted to.
Ashling certainly didn’t have to do anything special to set her free.
@melaredblu: True, she could have just freed her, but I think becoming a witch was as important to Áine as being considered free.
I still need to expand on this back-story, but I’m going to expand more on the friendship between Áine and the War Priestess. What I hope to show is that Áine is only a slave officially, that she actually wants to journey with her teacher and to learn from her. For many years, this will have been the only life she had known…until now that is 🙂