I have compiled most, if not all, techno-mage related single images, adjacent story lines and lore on the page:
https://analognowhere.com/mini
I have yet to sort it and add proper descriptions, but to the impatient, you can delve in.
In the span of 2 years, since the mage first saw the light of the fediverse, I have created over 280 images (of varying quality).
Thank you, fans of unix_surrealism, there would be no mage without you.
Please don’t judge.
The thing is, I have never used a BSD-based system so most of the jokes are lost on me.
OK, I like lots of them but I’d pick sentient weaponry. And I don’t know if there’s a hidden meaning behind this one but it looks charming. However, not even the presumably subsequent panel explains much. I can only really relate to the Big Tech and hardware ones. I thought I would have an advantage because I have walked Prahou (Czech for “through Prague”) many times but apparently not.
And I know that 🐡 is the OpenBSD mascot but is this a Monty Python reference?
Anyway, the art style, characters and themes remind me of the YT channel vewn.
For me it’s a mix of vewn and u m a m i
i didn’t know vewn, and i didn’t know umami. thank you for mentioning them!
The spooky special is just Halloween themed. A sort of a joke about how many places make ‘special Halloween things’. Here it’s just ice cream (and costumes). Of course the second panel does provide some context, which was subsequently a response to the announcement of the OctopenBSD month. Girl and Penguin eat the spooky special and perceive Puffy as an octopus (because… octop enBSD).
As for jack2head, it’s important to know that the adult Techno-Mage has the OpenWellington brainbus embedded in her forehead, which is a free alternative to jack2head. At the moment two full episodes exist, centered around the special hardware: King’s Hold, where Girl and Puffy venture to recover the device and Wellington, which reveals its maker and his motivations to create it.
I didn’t think of it as a Monty Python reference, but it might very well be now.
Thanks! You’re amazing. Who’s the fosschild? Seems like me but a little more gullible.
Since the child Techno-Mage comics are usually much more lighthearted and comedic in nature, Fosschild was originally featured as a side character in the story, once Techno-Mage is an adult, to provide comedic relief. Techno-Mage meets Fosschild, a gifted homeless hacker, in Metacity and takes it in as her student. In some sense, she becomes Fosschild’s Puffy/Master.
The much more serious spin-off ‘Fosschild/Book of the Clown’ tells the story of Fosschild after Techno-Mage grows old. This series has not been explored much, apart for the few ‘mini’ panels, but it shows a much older Fosschild, OpenBlade and Penguin exploring a different part of the Analog Nowhere universe.