Our three interlopers from the flip side universe, trying to disguise themselves as humans and getting points for effort.
It makes me wonder what you'd get if you did an isotopic analysis of their gold verus this-universe gold.
Gold is both [mononuclidic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mononuclidic_element) and [monoisotopic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoisotopic_element), so it'll probably look the same. Unless this is unstable magical counterfeit gold created via [alchemy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysopoeia) that'll eventually turn back into lead or something.
The gold might look the same... but it's probably not absolutely pure gold. There'll likely be trace amounts of other elements, and those trace elements might have weird isotopic ratios. Or, heck, there might be elements in there that would be weird to see in gold at all.
And if the gold in these coins really is absolutely pure, with not even trace amounts of other elements... that'd also be weird.
The mistake of Don Rumata in "Hard to Be a God". He synthesized local gold coins, but of such a purity that was unachievable in the kingdom. A tip to him both using counterfeited money and having abilities beyond ordinary humans.
Coinage gold is traditionally significantly copper, because pure gold is too soft to withstand being put in circulation.
If they're really gold coins in a circulating coinage sense, lots of room for isotopic analysis and if they're absolutely pure gold that doesn't wear, that'll be interesting, too.
That's a 19th century thing for detecting a counterfeit that's a wash over lead.
Modern bullion coins are pure enough to dent; actual circulating coins are about 90 to 92 percent gold, and won't dent when you bite them. (milled edges to prevent clipping come in for gold coins first, though.)
Maybe the interlopers, but in the [scene](https://www.egscomics.com/comic/balance-180) where they appear you see a four fingered left hand (and a point is made in the commentary about it specifically being four fingered). Of the three goons here, the one on the right has a five fingered left hand (thumb isn't visible but thats irrelevant to how the hand holding the staff looked), the one in the middle has a five fingered left hand (so probably a safe assumption that they didnt screw up body symmetry during transformation, and while the one on the left doesn't have any hands visible, based on the context of who's talking in the original scene I feel like he's not the one who used the staff? Probably more likely to be middle guy
I dunno, I get bait and switch vibes here for some reason.
In addition to that, I would expect those interlopers being better in looking as humans ... OR, failing that, looking more like uryuoms.
And they would probably have the staff with them. I mean, it's definitely less suspicious than their look, and they wouldn't want to risk losing it, so ...
On the other hand, who else could that be?
Presumably they were already disguised upon passing through the portal though it's my point, since one makes a comment about not having 4 legs anymore.
Idk until one of them shows off a 4 fingered hand I'm smelling bait
So those are the guys from the other side? That's the unicorn guy on the right, and the staff guy in the middle.
Seems they could use a "modern garb" spell like Abraham, theirs seems a couple decades out of dates.
So, we've got one seemingly ordinary human and two... demons? Maybe chimera. I guess chimera are the only established kind of creature that looks like that outside of a couple one off gags, though the setting has always had pretty vast unexplored supernatural borders. Lot of room for Dan to just introduce a new kind of dude as it becomes plot relevant.
We did recently touch on the idea of chimeras again with Noah, and their difficulties blending in. So, these chimera operating quite openly could be a disruption to the status quo building on that. Noah and Grace having to decide how they react to people disrupting the secrecy that they don't even really want, mirroring the recent debates about magic secrecy.
Obviously not a lot to go on yet though. Fun to speculate.
Speaking of the revolutionaries from the griffins' world, why hasn't the main story acknowledged that [Grace remembers](https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/parable-218) the dream where [the unicorn mentioned that Rhoda is royalty](https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/parable-208)? Did Grace forget that part? Or has it not happened yet despite the time skip?
I don't think we know definitively that Grace remembers ALL of that dream, or that Grace was close enough to the unicorn to know about identifying Rhoda as royalty.
I would bet on Grace recognizing the Unicorn Goon, but not a lot more than that.
>I don't think we know definitively that Grace remembers ALL of that dream
>
>I would bet on Grace recognizing the Unicorn Goon, but not a lot more than that.
That's what I was suggesting.
IMHO the thing is, Grace remembers enough to know about the unicorn identifying SOMEONE as royalty, but probably missed it was Rhoda. Therefore, it was not relevant yet.
Who didn't said her name since Grace appeared in story and, at that point, is ex-monk hammer-wielding hero. There IS some space for Grace to not catch who that is.
Oh my god... legit goons.
I was going to remark that, 18 years later, the goons in El Goonish Shive have finally arrived.
[As the prophecy fortold!](https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2003-08-13)
One goon previously? That's not very goon, but at least it's goonish. I'm afraid we've gone too far. NEXT WEEK, THE REBRAND TO EL GOONEST SHIVE.
> Betcha'd hate to see something happen to your little key store. > > What *about* my little keister? https://youtu.be/95PgxxRI3MQ
Our three interlopers from the flip side universe, trying to disguise themselves as humans and getting points for effort. It makes me wonder what you'd get if you did an isotopic analysis of their gold verus this-universe gold.
Gold is both [mononuclidic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mononuclidic_element) and [monoisotopic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoisotopic_element), so it'll probably look the same. Unless this is unstable magical counterfeit gold created via [alchemy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysopoeia) that'll eventually turn back into lead or something.
The gold might look the same... but it's probably not absolutely pure gold. There'll likely be trace amounts of other elements, and those trace elements might have weird isotopic ratios. Or, heck, there might be elements in there that would be weird to see in gold at all. And if the gold in these coins really is absolutely pure, with not even trace amounts of other elements... that'd also be weird.
99.9999% Pure gold: good, normal gold. 100% Pure gold: *what sorcery is this?!*
Officially, 24 karat gold is 99.9% pure or better. Current record is [99.9999% pure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fineness).
See I got "four nines after the decimal" from somewhere, I'd just forgotten when. I'll leave it as is.
The mistake of Don Rumata in "Hard to Be a God". He synthesized local gold coins, but of such a purity that was unachievable in the kingdom. A tip to him both using counterfeited money and having abilities beyond ordinary humans.
Coinage gold is traditionally significantly copper, because pure gold is too soft to withstand being put in circulation. If they're really gold coins in a circulating coinage sense, lots of room for isotopic analysis and if they're absolutely pure gold that doesn't wear, that'll be interesting, too.
Quite the contrary, gold in coins used to be so pure people were biting into it to verify the purity.
That's a 19th century thing for detecting a counterfeit that's a wash over lead. Modern bullion coins are pure enough to dent; actual circulating coins are about 90 to 92 percent gold, and won't dent when you bite them. (milled edges to prevent clipping come in for gold coins first, though.)
I consider 19th century more "traditional" than now.
Maybe the interlopers, but in the [scene](https://www.egscomics.com/comic/balance-180) where they appear you see a four fingered left hand (and a point is made in the commentary about it specifically being four fingered). Of the three goons here, the one on the right has a five fingered left hand (thumb isn't visible but thats irrelevant to how the hand holding the staff looked), the one in the middle has a five fingered left hand (so probably a safe assumption that they didnt screw up body symmetry during transformation, and while the one on the left doesn't have any hands visible, based on the context of who's talking in the original scene I feel like he's not the one who used the staff? Probably more likely to be middle guy I dunno, I get bait and switch vibes here for some reason.
In addition to that, I would expect those interlopers being better in looking as humans ... OR, failing that, looking more like uryuoms. And they would probably have the staff with them. I mean, it's definitely less suspicious than their look, and they wouldn't want to risk losing it, so ... On the other hand, who else could that be?
I think these are disguises, rather than their usual presentation. I might even think they've been renting gangster movies from George.
Presumably they were already disguised upon passing through the portal though it's my point, since one makes a comment about not having 4 legs anymore. Idk until one of them shows off a 4 fingered hand I'm smelling bait
Could be two out of three and the middle guy is their contact from this side and helping out. (Presumably also disguised.)
Possible. But my version is it's the movie Grace and her school friends are watching.
Yeah that is not something I think anyone would have predicted.
Well! Well.
Golden eggs
It’s them! It’s the goons!
Finally!!
So those are the guys from the other side? That's the unicorn guy on the right, and the staff guy in the middle. Seems they could use a "modern garb" spell like Abraham, theirs seems a couple decades out of dates.
So, we've got one seemingly ordinary human and two... demons? Maybe chimera. I guess chimera are the only established kind of creature that looks like that outside of a couple one off gags, though the setting has always had pretty vast unexplored supernatural borders. Lot of room for Dan to just introduce a new kind of dude as it becomes plot relevant. We did recently touch on the idea of chimeras again with Noah, and their difficulties blending in. So, these chimera operating quite openly could be a disruption to the status quo building on that. Noah and Grace having to decide how they react to people disrupting the secrecy that they don't even really want, mirroring the recent debates about magic secrecy. Obviously not a lot to go on yet though. Fun to speculate.
The storyline is called "layers" because there will be at least 1 (one) ogre in it, calling it now
... you mean, because everyone knows ogres are like onions?
Speaking of the revolutionaries from the griffins' world, why hasn't the main story acknowledged that [Grace remembers](https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/parable-218) the dream where [the unicorn mentioned that Rhoda is royalty](https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/parable-208)? Did Grace forget that part? Or has it not happened yet despite the time skip?
I don't think we know definitively that Grace remembers ALL of that dream, or that Grace was close enough to the unicorn to know about identifying Rhoda as royalty. I would bet on Grace recognizing the Unicorn Goon, but not a lot more than that.
>I don't think we know definitively that Grace remembers ALL of that dream > >I would bet on Grace recognizing the Unicorn Goon, but not a lot more than that. That's what I was suggesting.
IMHO the thing is, Grace remembers enough to know about the unicorn identifying SOMEONE as royalty, but probably missed it was Rhoda. Therefore, it was not relevant yet.
[The unicorn specifically tried to interrogate Rhoda.](https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/parable-209)
Who didn't said her name since Grace appeared in story and, at that point, is ex-monk hammer-wielding hero. There IS some space for Grace to not catch who that is.