The Order of the Stick

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The Order of the Stick (short Oots) is a fantasy - webcomic that on the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons based (D & D). Originally a pure webcomic, there are now nine printed books with the comic strips collected , including numerous bonus strips that did not appear on the Internet . The financial success of the comic enabled author Rich Burlew to quit his old job and devote himself entirely to the comic. Originally the comic appeared twice a week, three times in between, but now again irregularly.

OotS has appeared on Rich Burlew's website since September 29, 2003, essentially continuously until today. The longest break, caused by a hand injury by Burlew, was from September to December 2012. The comic is updated at irregular intervals, so far (as of June 2020) 1205 pages have appeared.

The comic often gets its joke from the fact that the laws of nature / rules of the game from the role-playing game D&D seem to apply in the OotS universe , and the characters know this too - they discuss their hit points, attitudes , levels and classes. Over time, however, the comic has moved away from the quick gags and puts more emphasis on an epic story. Allusions to works from the Geek - canon (eg. Harry Potter , Monty Python , Wile E. Coyote , Final Fantasy , The Lord of the Rings , Star Wars , Matrix , Dune , Babylon 5 ) and from different sagas have as their Place like the subtle caricature of the interactions of real role-playing groups.

OotS also appeared in the role-playing game magazine Dragon Magazine , which was discontinued in late 2007.

action

Roy Greenhilt is forced by his late father's blood oath to destroy the evil undead magician Xykon. With the help of the group of six adventurers he leads, he tackles this project. For his part, Xykon tries to control an ancient power in order to become even more powerful.

In addition to this main storyline, there are numerous interwoven subplots: Fights with the Linear Guild , which is the evil counterpart of the adventurer group; the search for the star metal and the renewal of Roy's family sword; the healing of Haley's language problem; the snarl; the rescue of various family members of the OotS; the Battle of Azure City and the fate of the Azurites after the occupation; the fulfillment of various prophecies; and the brutal shadow empire of Tarquin, whose rule is ultimately to be ended.

Plot of the online comics

At the beginning of the comic, the entire plot takes place within the Dungeon of Dorukan , with parodic elements around D&D rules dominating. However, the introduction of evil antagonists (the Linear Guild ) and the undead arch-villain named Xykon ultimately focus the story until the dungeon is destroyed. The Order of the Stick can escape in time and, believing in Xycon's destruction, sets out to forge Roy's broken sword. Meanwhile, Xykon regenerates his body. He achieves this with the help of an unholy amulet in which his soul is (in the D&D universe, Liche can let their body grow again and again, as long as the container in which their soul is located is not found and destroyed). At the same time one is Paladin the Sapphire Guard from Azure City sent out, which is to bring the adventurers for the destruction of the dungeon in court. After a short excursion into a forest in search of star metal, the group goes to Azure City at first voluntarily, but later involuntarily with the Paladin .

There they learn that a long time ago an ancient evil named Snarl was imprisoned and the cracks in the universe through which it could escape have been sealed by portals. One of these portals was hidden in the very same dungeon that was destroyed by the Order of the Stick . Now Roy and his cronies find out that Xykon was not destroyed as suspected and will probably make its way to the other portals. So the group receives the order to stop Xykon. This has now been fully regenerated and is on the way to Azure City , because a sealed crack can also be found in this city. In a battle for the city (which Xykon can win after a long struggle) Roy is killed and the portal for this rift is also destroyed.

After the battle, the group remains separated for a long time. Roy meets his parents and grandfather in the afterlife. Haley and Belkar form a resistance group against the Hobgoblin occupiers in Azure City , but then leave the city to find a cleric who can revive Roy, with Roy's friend Celia joining them. Elan, Durkon and Vaarsuvius accompany the refugees from Azure City and have to deal with the evil noble Kubota and his half-Orc ninja Therkla as well as the devils who are allied with him. Vaarsuvius almost goes mad because his / her magic cannot overcome the magical blockade of Xykon around Azure City . Vaarsuvius separates from the group and is contacted in solitude by the IFCC (an organization of devils and demons), which gives him / her great magical power for a short time. Vaarsuvius uses this to save his / her family from a dragon and (to no avail) to attack Xykon. Since then, however, Vaarsuvius has been indebted to the IFCC and gradually learns of ever more fatal consequences of the short-lived infernal power. The order is after all these complications in Haley's hometown Greysky City back together and Roy is the priest of the group revived by Durkon.

The Order of the Stick is now breaking into the great desert on the western continent, where the fourth and penultimate portal is located, to which, according to an oracle, Xykon is to set off next. Elan meets his evil father Tarquin on the western continent, who has been the gray eminence of several tyrannical regimes for years and rules with an iron fist. Meanwhile, his friend Haley finds her father Ian there, who unsuccessfully resists Tarquin. Tarquin and his vampiric high priest Malack play a double game, first providing Elan and the Order with information and equipment, but then teaming up with the Linear Guild and running a race against the Order. In several skirmishes, the groups fight each other and with the traps of the dead portal guards. The order finds the portal first: Roy forcibly destroys it, so that Xykon has no choice but to travel directly to the position of the last portal. The Linear Guild is completely wiped out in the course of the battle, the leader Nale is killed by Tarquin. The tyrant is increasingly obsessed with the idea of ​​becoming the new arch-villain of the entire story, but the order escapes his armies and embarks on the journey to the last remaining portal by airship.

In a fight against the now deceased lizard priest Malack, the dwarf Durkon was possessed by the soul of a vampire, who pursues his own plans on behalf of the dark northern goddess Hel , but pretends to be resuscitated. During a stopover in a gnome town, the group learns of a summit meeting of all the high priests of the Northern Pantheon and sets off there to grant Durkon his wish. It turns out, however, that some gods, in an act of desperation, would rather destroy the world than allow Snarl to be freed. Hel and the now unmasked non-Durkon advocate the end of the world. After multiple undecided votes at the summit of the gods, the group of adventurers travels to Firmament , where the vampire wanted to corrupt a dwarf council meeting, which has the last outstanding vote. After this plan also failed, the god Thor revealed to the soul of the deceased Durkon previously unknown secrets about the world and the Snarl.

The final dispute with Xykon is still pending.

Plot of the printed comics

Author Rich Burlew published printed editions of the online comic, enriched with additional material. Four extensive booklets consist exclusively of content that is not available online, but are not absolutely necessary to understand the online comics:

  • The history and background of Team Evil , formed by Redcloak, Xykon and the Monster in the Darkness, is told in the prequel “Start of Darkness”. In particular, the inner tensions among the villains are portrayed, but there is no lack of punchlines and allusions, for example to ET , X-Men and circus shows.
  • The prehistory of the six main characters is explained in the book "On the Origin of PCs" (the title itself literally means "About the origin of the SCs " and is an allusion to Darwin's main work "On the Origin of Species" ). In the search for a fighting name for the group, the members undercut each other with their suggestions, until the frustrated leader Roy kicks a branch lying around and sarcastically suggests "The Order of the Stick", which is enthusiastically received by the rest of the group.
  • The book "Snips, Snails and Dragon Tails" contains the comics that Burlew produced for Dragon magazine , as well as additional parodies of Hamlet , Hans and the Beanstalk , Little Red Riding Hood , James Bond and the D&D 4.0 set of rules not used by Burlew. Practically all of the bonus material in this booklet is detached from the plot of the online comic.
  • In "Good Deeds Gone Unpunished" stories about popular supporting characters of the main story are published; focuses on the setting of Azure City . Some of these stories are part of the Kickstarter comics (see below).

Kickstarter success and other products

On January 22nd, 2012, Rich Burlew decided to finance the new editions of some of the OotS books that had been out of print for years to present a corresponding project on the fundraising platform Kickstarter.com . With over $ 1.25 million, he raised far more funds than originally expected, so all books were reprinted. The project also broke several previous Kickstarter records.

In the course of the Kickstarter campaign, mainly merchandise fan articles were sold, which Rich Burlew gradually distributed to supporters of the campaign in the following years. In this context, he also auctioned the personal appearance of the role-playing figure of a fan, who received an important supporting role in 2015. Other bonuses for Kickstarter supporters, which will appear gradually and later also be distributed generally, are additional background stories to various characters in the series (Therkla, Belkar, O-Chul, Sir Francois, Julio Scoundrél, the Cliffport Police Department ), one parody of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet , and finally a parody of the D & D world Dark Sun .

Rich Burlew has also been selling PDF versions of his books since August 2015.

Characters

The Order of the Stick

  • Roy Greenhilt, a righteous good human fighter , leader of the group and, according to the author, the main character . Despite the clichés about fighters, he is also intelligent and educated, so he has a diploma from the Fighters Academy, which shows him as a Master of Battle Administration (MBA). Roy continues his late father Eugene Greenhilt's blood oath against the Lich Xykon who killed Eugene's mentor. In comic # 0443 Roy dies while defending Azure City when he falls from his dragon in a dogfight with Xykon , in comic # 0665 Durkon can revive him. In the course of the story, Roy builds a close bond with his eponymous family sword and thus acquires special skills. His character embodies the typical leader of a group, who has to deal with the counterproductive individual actions of his comrades-in-arms rather than with the main plot. However, this is only driven by his actions.
  • Durkon Thundershield, dwarf cleric of the god Thor . Like Roy, he is righteously good, is characterized as reliable and traditional and embodies the cliché of a fantasy dwarf: Bearded, always in heavy armor, with a battle hammer, consuming beer, with a Scottish accent, likes caves and stones and is afraid of trees. He was originally banished from his Nordic homeland because of an ominous prophecy and longed to return. Until his transformation into a vampire, he was the unchanging and resting pole of the group. Since its revival, the Order has known that Durkon has a large circle of families and friends in his dwarf home.
  • Vaarsuvius ( V for short , also used pronomically), elven magician . Highly intelligent, albeit with poor social skills, he / she strived for knowledge and magical power and was prepared to go far too far for it. V does not fulfill the cliché of the old, wise magician, but is impatient and appreciates offensive magic with a high potential for destruction. Characteristic of V is an exaggeratedly complex, long sentence structure, with V tries to emphasize his high intelligence. His / her gender is intentionally left in the dark - a nod to the androgyny of elves in fantasy literature. V has a partner and two adopted children, whose gender is also unknown; however, the relationship with these is tarnished by V's long absence. Sudden gain, devastating abuse and frivolous loss of absolute magical power has transformed V into a thoughtful elf in the middle of the story, who now again listens to the advice of his animal confidante Blackwing (a raven, symbolic of V's conscience).
  • Haley Starshine, human villain. She is a skilled archer and has been introduced to be overly greedy, even if she has rare altruistic tendencies. Because of her youth and upbringing in a criminal stronghold, Haley has great difficulty trusting other people. Her father, as it turned out late, was captured by Elan's father, who extorted a huge ransom from Haley . It was only because of this that she became a rapacious adventurer. However, her experiences as a responsible leader of the Azure City rebels and her romantic relationship with Elan now outweigh her villainous “business acumen”.
  • Elan (human bard / dashing swordsman, chaotic good). He's very handsome and charismatic , but also stupid and naive. He firmly believes in the rules of drama, knows all stereotypical stories, especially from the fantasy, fairy tale and science fiction genres , and behaves accordingly. Its usefulness for the group and its abilities have been questioned again and again, as it proved to be a block on the leg in various situations. However, his skills increased rapidly when he trained as a dashing swordsman. In the course of history he has gained new (positive, but also tragic) insights into the world, but remains the court jester of the Order .
  • Belkar Bitterleaf (Chaotic Evil Halfling Ranger / - Barbarian ). Belkar is a psychopath , filled with the sheer desire to kill. It is only tolerated in the group because that way it can be kept somewhat under control. Later he pretended with moderate success that his character had changed. During his time in the resistance in Azure City, he developed a friendly relationship with Mr. Scruffy (English: "Mr. Schnuddel"), the cat of the former ruler Shojo. As the ranger's animal companion, Mr. Scruffy is the first creature Belkar really cares about, but the cat does not have a positive influence on Belkar's anti-social behavior. Belkar's appearance is designed as a munchkin and a parody of the cheerful, lovable hobbit do-not-good, such as Tolkien's Peregrin Tuk or Salvatores Regis.

Allies

  • Celia, a sylph . She originally worked in the dungeon that the Order destroyed while searching for Xykon. She then trained as a legal assistant and became Roy's friend. As a resident of the air plane, however, she is extremely unworldly in the mortal world and abhors violence.
  • Eugene Greenhilt, Roy's father and wizard. He was already fighting against Xykon and swore a blood oath to defeat him. Since he did not do this during his lifetime, the oath passed to Roy. The relationship with his son Roy (and his own father Horace, who like Roy was a fighter) is marked by mutual dislike. Tied to the family sword in Roy's possession, Eugene's ghost haunted his son for a long time.
  • Julia Greenhilt, Roy's younger sister. She is studying at the Warthogs Magic School (allusion to Hogwarts ).
  • Captain Julio Scoundrél (German: "Captain Kanaille"), 32nd best swordsman (out of 100) of the century. Scoundrél taught Elan during the trip to Azure City on his airship (the Mechane ) in the prestige class Dashing Swordsman. Scoundrél once again supported the Order of the Stick in the fight against Tarquin, although he (as a mentor to Elan and as a connoisseur of stereotypical / clichéd stories) feared he would be killed by his enemy. He then went into retirement and left his ship to Bandana.
  • Bandana, the new captain of the Mechane after Julio's departure , agreed to bring the order to the last portal. In doing so, she got into a slowly increasing conflict with the ship's chief engineer, Andromeda. The other crew also includes Carol, Felix, Kwesi, Mateo and other pirates.
  • The Order of the Scribble (German: " Order of the scribble ") was a group of adventurers like the Order of the Stick, but sixty years earlier. Led by Paladin Soon Kim, it also consisted of the dwarf barbarian Kraagor, the halfling villain Serini Toormuck, the ranger illusionist Girard Draketooth, the elf druid Lirian and the human mage Dorukan. This group first found the five cracks behind which the Snarl was lurking and sealed them with those portals that the Order of the Stick wants to defend during the course of the comic. Then the group split up in an argument.
  • The Sapphire Guard (German: "Saphirgarde"), a group of paladins / samurais in the East Asian city of Azure City . She was founded by Soon Kim and is led at the beginning of the comic by Lord Shojo, who is not a paladin himself. Before the siege of Azure Cities , Shojo is accused of high treason and murdered, so that his nephew Hinjo becomes ruler of the city. Almost the entire Paladin Order died in the Azure City throne room. Only four paladins of the Guard survived: Hinjo himself, Lien, O-Chul and Thanh. Each of these are on the Orders of the Stick side.
  • The resistance of Azure City against the Goblin occupiers constituted a hindrance to the team Evil to move on. Haley united the fragmented groups under Paladin Thanh before she left Azure City herself. The resistance received Elven support before Redcloak wiped it out completely.
  • Ian Starshine, human villain, is the father of Haley. From his prison cell he fought a hopeless fight against the Tarquin regime and only trusts (fatally: his brother-in-law sabotaged his resistance struggle) only his own family. He therefore turned down a collaboration with Elan, the son of his hated enemy. After being rescued by the order, he joins the resistance fighter Amun-Zora.
  • Numerous dwarves from Firmament belong to the circle of friends around Durkon and his mother Sigdi. They are all united by the heroic deeds of Sigdi, and rushed to the aid of the order to prevent the betrayal of the vampires against the people of all dwarves. A rather dubious dwarven ally is Hilgya, the mother of Durkon's son Kudzu: She killed Durkon, who, in her opinion, was faithless out of resentment. Durkon and Sigdi appeased them by promising to take care of kudzu.

Opponent

Team Evil

  • Xykon, an undead epic warlock ( Lich ). With the help of Redcloak, he plans to carry out a ritual that will give him control over the sealed portals to the Snarl and thus indirectly also over the Snarl himself. With his strength he hopes to become ruler of the world. Xykon embodies evil and is cruel to opponents and allies. He often seems distracted and unaware of what is going on around him; z. B. he cannot remember the name of his sworn opponent Roy, although the latter almost destroyed him once. He is not interested in plans, nor is subtle procedures. By taking advantage of whatever advantage is available, he is a dangerous opponent who does not rely solely on his powerful magic.
  • Redcloak, a goblin cleric. Redcloak is the high priest of "Dark One" , the god of all goblins and all other humanoid monster races. He wears a red cloak, an artifact that enables him to perform the ritual to control the portals to the Snarl. But for this he needs the help of a magician or warlock. As a means to an end, he has chosen Xykon, whom he systematically cheats in order to achieve the goal of Dark One. Redcloak is an intelligent and charismatic leader who has dedicated his life to serving his people. He made a pact with Xykon, which resulted in numerous often unnecessary goblin deaths. Only in the course of time does he notice that he is already sacrificing the lives of his (hobgoblin) subjects just as carelessly as his master; he then changes his attitude drastically. Redcloak is driven not only by love for his people but also by hatred of all people. He lost his family and almost all of his friends in an attack on his village by the Sapphire Guard paladins .
  • Monster in the Dark (MitD for short). An unknown monster. At Xykon's behest, it has to hide in the dark, since it is its most powerful weapon and a sensible villain always reveals its best weapon last. The monster appears childishly naive and downright stupid at the beginning of the plot; it is perfectly capable of evil deeds if instructed accordingly. In the same way, however, the MitD is also capable of good deeds, as shown by his friendship with the paladin O-Chul, to whom it also revealed his ability to learn and his intelligence. The true identity of the monster has not yet been revealed, but it appears to have enormous power and magical abilities.
  • Tsukiko, a human mystic theurgess from Azure City . She joined Xykon as she was necrophilous and sought recognition of the undead. She was the opponent of Haleys in their time as the leader of the azurite resistance. Redcloak killed her when she discovered his betrayal on Xykon.

Linear Guild

The Linear Guild ( LG ; German: "Lineare Gilde") was a kind of evil reflection of the Order of the Stick:

  • Nale, Elan's righteous-evil twin brother and son of the evil general Tarquin. He headed the Linear Guild . In contrast to Elan, he was highly intelligent, but self-centered and prone to "overly complicated" plans. This was also evident in the choice of his classes: He was a fighter / villain / warlock, which in total was nothing more than a bard, Elan's class. Nale was driven by the urge to step out of his father's shadow. When he broke away from him with drastic words, he was killed by him.
  • Thog, half orc fighter / barbarian. He had a childlike disposition and was of very little intelligence. He was very attached to Nale and carried out his evil plans at any time, but occasionally organized bloodbaths of his own accord. Among other things, he liked puppies and ice cream and was afraid of girls. He was introduced as a counterpart to Roy, who is intelligent and keeps himself under control. Roy defeated him several times, most recently at the Bleedingham arena in the Empire of Blood - since then it has been uncertain whether Thog survived the fight.
  • Sabine, a figure- changing creature from the underworld and Nale's lover. She was introduced as an antagonist to Haley. At the beginning it was unclear whether she was a demon or a devil. Her identity as a succubus and an agent of the IFCC was later revealed. She has the hellish job of fueling Nale's pointless conflict with the OotS, which Nale doesn't know. However, her loyalty to Nale seems stronger than to her infernal superiors.
  • Zz'dtri, silent drow wizard. He wore two scimitar because they are "standard equipment". His character is the reverse of the rambling Vaarsuvius and a parody of Drizzt Do'Urden from the fantasy novels by RA Salvatore .
  • Hilgya Firehelm, dwarf cleric of the evil god Loki . She fell in love with Durkon; the tradition-conscious dwarf, however, disowned her when he learned that she had fled from her marriage.
  • Yikyik, leprechaun and tracker. He was just as psychopathic as Belkar.

As a result of the groups' first clash, the LG lost its members Yikyik, Zz'dtri and Hilgya. As a substitute came into the group:

  • Yokyok, son of Yikyik, who wanted to avenge his father. The goblin was a duelist (a prestige class ) and, unusually, not angry. He was killed by a mob of heroes after Belkar put a bounty on him.
  • Pompey, a half-Elf wizard and classmate of Julia Greenhilt.
  • Leaky Windstaff, Neutral Evil Gnomish Druid . He can bring trees under his control and, like Ents, make them walk and fight.

Pompey and Leaky left the LG after the second meeting with the OotS, at the third meeting the LG was only occupied by Sabine, Thog and Nale and therefore outnumbered. For the next, fourth meeting, the group was increased again:

  • Zz'dtri was recruited again, with the diabolical Imp Qarr as his confidante, there was a new contrast to the now permanently present Blackwing , Vaarsuvius' animal confidante.
  • The goblin ranger Yukyuk and his riding dog Sir Scraggly represented the counterpart to Belkar and his new animal companion, Mr. Scruffy. Vaarsuvius bewitched him to defeat Zz'dtri and used Yukyuk as a hypnotized henchman until his death.

For the fifth meeting, Tarquin determined the new group composition of the LG . Officially, Nale remained the leader, but was subject to constant subtle control of his father.

  • Nale, Sabine, Zz'dtri and Qarr remained group members. For the first time, Thog was not a member.
  • The vampire cleric Malack (as a counterpart Durkon), the goblin bureaucrat Kilkil (as a counterpart to Belkar) and Tarquin himself (in disguise as Thog, the counterpart Roys) joined the group, although they also belonged to the Empire of Blood Tarquins.

During the race to Girard's portal, the LG was completely wiped out: Sabine was banned by Durkon; Durkon was "recruited" as a vampire by Malack and increased the LG ; then Tarquin and Kilkil left the LG to return to the Empire of Blood ; Nale and Zz'dtri destroyed Malack; Durkon killed Zz'dtri; Qarr fled after his master's death; Durkon returned to order and eventually Nale was executed by his returned father. A return of the LG as a group of antagonists is therefore questionable.

Other antagonists

  • The Empire of Blood (dt .: realm of the blood ) is the dark realm of Elan and Pedernales father, General Tarquin. Contrary to Elan's naive expectations, Tarquin turned out to be a nefarious villain, but unexpectedly supported the Order of the Stick with information and equipment. Tarquin, for his part, is a member of an adventurer group that has spread throughout the government apparatuses of the Empire of Blood , Empire of Tears and Empire of Sweat . In addition to Tarquin, these are: Miron Shewdanker, Laurin Shattersmith, Jacinda, a previously unknown character and finally Malack, a vampire cleric of the death god Nergal. Malack and Nale hated each other; In ignorance of Malack's nature, Durkon made friends with Malack while drinking tea and theosophy. Despite the ideological differences, Tarquin and his cronies seemed sympathetic to the protagonists for a long time - until Tarquin openly turned against Roy, whom he viewed as an obstacle to the development of Elan's heroic epic.
  • With the transformation of Durkon into a vampire, Hel, the evil goddess of death, gained a direct accomplice in the midst of the order . The vampire holds Durkon's soul captive and easily won the trust of his alleged allies. Hel's main goal is the annihilation of the world in order to gain complete control over the souls of all dwarves according to a wager with her arch enemy Thor. The existence of other, more complex emergency plans has already been indicated. On Hel's side there are other northern deities, including Thrym , the demigod of the ice giants, who mobilized his followers against the order.
  • The Snarl, a monster with the power to destroy even gods. Legend has it that it was banned by the gods long ago, but over time cracks formed in its prison, which were closed by five sealed portals. The first portal was destroyed in the forest of Lirian by Redcloak, the second in the dungeon of Dorukan von Elan, the third during the siege of Azure City by Miko Miyazaki, the fourth by Roy in the pyramid of Girard Draketooth. The last sealed portal is in the Kraagor grave.
  • The IFCC ( Inter-Fiend Cooperation Commission ) is an organization to which a devil, a daemon and a demon belong. These three types of hell-dwellers (monsters) usually wage an eternal war against each other; the IFCC, on the other hand, is pursuing a revolutionary strategy, the aim of which is the ultimate triumph over the forces of good. Ever since they learned of the Order's battle against Xykon for control of the Snarl portals, they have been very interested in how the conflict unfolds. Two members of the Linear Guild are at their service : The Imp Qarr and the Succubus Sabine.
  • The Thieves Guild in Greysky-City worked on several fronts against the interests of the Order . Their leader Bozzok lured Ian Starshine with the help of his family in the clutches of General Tarquin; the assassin Crystal was an intimate enemy of Haley. After Haley's return to the Guild City, a major battle broke out in which numerous guild members and Crystal died. Bozzok then pursued Haley in revenge, receiving magical support from the sinister golem summoner Grubwiggler. In another skirmish in the gnome town of Tinkertown , Bozzok and (again) Crystal died; the guild has since been under the control of the pragmatic Hank, who has to consolidate his very weakened position.
  • Miko Miyazaki, female paladin of the Sapphire Guard . She interpreted the rules of the paladins extremely strictly and also tended to misinterpret certain events. It was sent by Lord Shojo to bring the protagonists to his court. Roy was briefly in love with her, but her character made the whole order unsympathetic. In her fanaticism she constructed a conspiracy theory according to which her ruler Shojo, the Order and Xykon made common cause. So she murdered Shojo, which resulted in the loss of her paladin skills. Still firmly convinced that she would do the will of the gods, she destroyed the seal to the portal of Azure City at the most inopportune moment and died in the explosion. The almost defeated Xykon therefore survived the battle for Azure City and carried off the victory, in addition, an obstacle was removed that keeps the Snarl in check.
  • Kubota, a high-ranking aristocrat from Azure City , was involved in several conspiracies against Lord Shojo and his successor, Lord Hinjo. When his half-Orc assassin Therkla took Elan's side out of love, he killed her. Since he hindered Vaarsuvius' research with his intrigues, the latter disintegrated him. His diabolical assistant Qarr tried to corrupt Vaarsuvius, but eventually joined the IFCC and the LG .
  • The oracle is a goblin and beneficiary of the evil dragon goddess Tiamat . His prophecies about the Order come true, but have always been misleading because the oracle doesn't like the group of adventurers - especially Belkar, who once kills it.
  • The black dragons. After Vaarsuvius killed an evil Black Dragon, his mother tracked down Vaarsuvius' family in search of revenge. In response to the failed attack on the elven family, Vaarsuvius killed an estimated quarter of the world's black dragon population. The Draketooth family, descendants of the illusionist Girard, were also largely related to the Black Dragons. With his impulsive act of revenge, Vaarsuvius killed all the guardians of the portal on the western continent, which threw the order's plans upside down .
  • Ganji and Enor, two reptilian bounty hunters from the Western Continent, managed to kidnap Haley, Elan and Vaarsuvius into the realm of blood. After that they met the Order of the Stick again and again, whereby they were initially hostile to the "warm-blooded animals". They too later work with Amun-Zora to overthrow Tarquin.

world

Unlike in numerous other role-playing comics, there is no game master or player for the protagonists in OotS . Still, the characters are fully aware that they are in a stick figure fantasy parody, and they regularly break the Fourth Wall . It was even pointed out within the series that the gods agreed on exactly this topic ( self aware stick figure fantasy parody ) when creating the world .

The world of the Order of the Stick (Stickverse) is a D&D setting (Dungeons and Dragons in version 3.5), which the author Rich Burlew created based on existing settings. The superficial medieval fantasy world is full of absurd anachronisms ( coffee machines , zeppelins , steampunk , dinosaurs , rainbow press , TNT ) and punchy allusions. For example, caster in addition to the four elements as well as the chemical elements summon: have occurred so far, inter alia, titanium -, chlorine -, silicon - gold - Magnesium - and osmium - Elementary .

In many regions of the world of Stickverse, humans make up the majority of the population, followed by dwarves, elves, gnomes and halflings . Orcs are viewed with suspicion in many places. A clear socially critical element of the comic can be heard in the treatment of humanoid monster peoples on the main continent: the fantasy beings systematically pursued by heroes include goblins and hobgoblins , lizard people and goblins as well as ogres , gnolls and trolls . The monster races were created by the gods as a source of XP : At least the goblinoids have recognized this fact and have taken up the fight for their own right to exist.

The world is divided into three major regions. The main continent comprises the northern and southern lands, separated from the western continent by an ocean with many islands. In the snow-covered and mountainous north of the main continent, the dwarfs live in a realm of underground tunnels, in the temperate latitudes mainly human kingdoms extend. Cities that are significant for the plot are the criminally dominated Greysky City , the modern-looking commercial center Cliffport and the technologically advanced gnome town of Tinkertown . The culture of the Nordland is strongly based on medieval feudal Europe. A contrast to this are the Southern Lands , these countries have diverse, but not precisely described cultures. As the most prominent representative, the city ​​of Azure City primarily combines elements from the Far East (especially from Japan). The remote western continent is characterized by a mountain range that separates the wooded northern part, inhabited by the Elves, from the Great Barren Desert in the south. The fringes of this desert are inhabited by different peoples, especially lizard people and humans. Due to the constant chaos of war, this is a very unsafe and unstable place.

There are three pantheons of gods named according to their geographical distribution. As usual in D&D settings, they also intervene directly in the fate of the world.

Each of the polytheistic and internally and externally disagreed families of gods is in turn divided into domains of effect - for example, Hel, Ratte and Nergal are the respective gods of death, albeit with different secondary domains. Other gods besides the three main families emerged after the creation of the world, known are the pantheon of the elves and the dark god of the goblins, who plays an increasingly important role in the framework story. The running gags of the comic also include the hand puppet gods Banjo and Giggles, created by Elan.

According to D & D's cosmology, the comic has at least one matching place in the hereafter for each of seventeen combinations of attitudes (good / bad, righteous / chaotic, neutral) ; as well as countless other planes of existence, including elemental planes and the astral plane. The plot of the comic is therefore partly set in the afterlife for righteous good characters Mount Celestia . Vaarsuvius also involuntarily visited hell and even the elemental half-level for salad dressing ( Semi-Elemental Plane of Ranch Dressing ).

Publications

  • The Order of the Stick (# 1): Dungeon Crawlin 'Fools. 2005, ISBN 0-9766580-0-3 .
  • The Order of the Stick (# 0): On the Origin of PCs. 2005, ISBN 0-9766580-1-1 . ( Prequel , black and white, never appeared on the internet)
  • The Order of the Stick (# 2): No Cure for the Paladin Blues. 2006, ISBN 0-9766580-3-8 .
  • The Order of the Stick (# -1): Start of Darkness. 2007, ISBN 978-0-9766580-4-7 . (Prequel, mostly black and white, never published on the internet)
  • The Order of the Stick (# 3): War and XPs. 2008, ISBN 978-0-9766580-5-4 .
  • The Order of the Stick (# 4): Don't Split the Party. 2009, ISBN 978-0-9766580-6-1 .
  • The Order of the Stick (#D): Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales. 2011, ISBN 978-0-9766580-7-8 . (Dragon magazine comics, never appeared on the internet)
  • The Order of the Stick (# 5): Blood Runs in the Family. 2014, ISBN 978-0-9766580-8-5 .
  • The Order of the Stick (# ½): Good Deeds Gone Unpunished. 2018.

Web links

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  1. ↑ Kickstarter: The Order of the Stick Reprint Drive , Jan. 22, 2012. Accessed February 21, 2012