8FOLD: Daylighters # 8 (Annotations)

[Tom Russell]

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              |___/     |___/  ANNOTATIONS

      # 8 - TEMPUS FUDGE IT


[1] Cascade's wedding in Lemuria

We met Cascade (Kumari Starshell) back in DAYLIGHTERS # 2, and learned
of her impending nuptials to Terak, an old flame of Darkhorse (Melody
Mapp). And while it's not at all crucial to this story or even this
arc, this seems like as good a time as any to talk about Lemurian
continuity.

Like any good lost continent, Lemuria was a place of high magic, deep
mystery, and technological sophistication before it sank beneath the
waves around the same time that the Lullaby - the spell that put dread
Venus to sleep - was cast. The Lemuria that survives is a relatively
small undersea kingdom ruled by a hereditary monarchy.

Like any kingdom, it had its share of dynastic struggles and at some
point some number of generations ago, the ruling House of Kandam was
cast out and replaced by another. Fast-forward to 2013 and that other
dynasty is still in charge, ruled by an ailing queen. Her chosen heir
is Terak - good-natured, but weak.

This set of circumstances creates opportunities for factions that want
to seize power. Terak's half-brother (we would assume they share a
now-deceased father) Edvark the Blackfin led the most persistent of
these, but was defeated again and again by Darkhorse. In 2014, Edvark
was executed on the queen's orders. Shortly before his execution, he
arranged for the reawakening of long-dormant undersea kaiju (which
ultimately leads into the kaiju troubles plaguing the Eightfold Earth
during the Pulse War).

The other prominent faction of course is the House of Kandam, and as
alluded to in DAYLIGHTERS # 2, Darkhorse also found herself fighting
Cascade. Terak's mother died in December 2014 (DARKHORSE # 1), and the
new king found himself without a political powerbase. A marriage
between himself and Cascade as equal partners stabilizes his position,
at least in theory, though it's widely expected both in Lemuria and
outside it that Cascade will be dominant.

Careful readers will note of course that Cascade is one of Rainshade's
agents within the Daylighters. Whether Cascade serves The Company, or
the blue lady, remains to be seen.

[2] the sewers of Buenos Aires

This is in reference to the terrestrial portions of DAYLIGHTERS # 4-5.
The timeline Pam is remembering was wound back after Violinista - who
had sworn never to kill - accidentally killed one of the space wasps.