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The heroes rock the boat in Ep. 12 Part 2

Posted on April 9, 2019 by eczarnik

In Episode 12 (Part 2), the action picks up where we left off, with Etgar sending a speech balloon to rebuke the enemy and destroy his magic. While Shem struggles to defeat Deli’s water bearer, the Holy Tongue Society devises a new strategy to defeat evil. But has their arrogance outpaced their faith?

The Holy Tongue Society rebukes Deli. Tiqwah dismisses Shem's request for help. Tiqwah comes up with a new plan. The plan barely stays afloat.

Tiqwah wants Etgar to invite the Devir — the Temple’s Holy of Holies — into the fray. In the Bible, the Holy of Holies is a room where a vessel called the Ark of the Covenant used to dwell. The high priest was the only person allowed to visit it.

The ark is a chest that held the tablets of the law, manna and Aaron’s budding rod, and man generally was neither allowed to touch it nor even look at it. According to 1 Samuel, when the Philistines captured the chest, they began experiencing plagues.

Although the ark’s whereabouts are unknown today, it’s carried a sort of mystique throughout the ages, as any Indiana Jones fan knows.

Nevertheless, Tiqwah’s strategy of carrying the ark into battle is either naive or arrogantly foolish. Fortunately, whether it’s due to divine mercy, luck or Etgar’s ineptitude, the Devir never shows up.

Instead, the Holy Tongue Society’s alfon interprets the ד-ב-ר shoresh code in a way that calls up a “dovrah” instead. Morfix defines that word as a “barge, lighter; raft.”

A raft might not be much of a weapon, but it may prove to be a lifesaver…

In other news, it feels good to be back! Behind the scenes, I’ve been drafting out the print versions of “Milhamah” in time for spring and summer conventions. I’ll certainly have enough for one issue or possibly even two. Get ready for much more information in the weeks ahead!

The urn returns in Episode 11 (Pt. 2)

Posted on February 12, 2019 by eczarnik

While the battle continues, the evil urn Deli startles our heroes from behind. The villain seems to be reformed … but not in a good way! Will Tiqwah and Etgar find what they’re looking for in the aural grid before it’s too late?

This is Part 2 to “Slaughter in the Water,” and you can see the earlier part here.

Things get technical behind the scenes in this episode, as it starts to explain how the “Milhamah” characters weaponize their alfons to make blessing attacks outside of their own natural ability. Gradually readers will learn about these things over the next few episodes, but I’ll give a preview here.

Basically, Tiqwah and Etgar connected the speech balloon and the foundation glyph to their alfons to make new letters appear in the aural grid.

The aural grid shows sound frequencies, and Tiqwah and Etgar are looking for ‘Ivrit ones to do new attacks. The evil Bavel Empire try to scramble these ‘Ivrit frequencies to make it harder for the heroes to do this. (Though in Bavel’s perspective, they believe they’re actually unscrambling their own language!)

Anyway, it’ll be up to our heroes to find the correct sequence of letters needed — a shoresh root — to code in an alfon attack, or a blessing. Will they do this next episode? Maybe…

Meanwhile, what is Deli doing?

Etgar shot the urn in Episode 9, but now the fiendish jar is back. Well, it used an Akkadian curse called walа̄du. Deli’s natural shoresh root is dalet-lamed-yod (דלי). He’s using a permuted power caused by switching the letters around, (ילד). This undergoes a consonantal shift, as in Akkadian the same Semitic root is spelled waw-lamed-dalet (ולד).

The pink seal beneath Deli contains real Semitic letters and words. The Akkadian for walа̄du in the center. The Paleo-Hebrew and Ugaritic letters for (ילד) are in the middle orbit, plus the six different root permutations in Aramaic-style Hebrew script. The outer ring has the alef-bet.

So as the comic says, Deli permuted or switched his powers around to heal himself through a rebirth. Of course, since he’s from Bavel, he does this through the power of trickery and evil. Next episode you’ll learn the difference between the Holy Tongue’s Society’s truth-guided blessings and Bavel’s manipulative curses, and why it matters.

A side note

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Episode 10: Close Call

Posted on January 8, 2019 by eczarnik

It might be a close call, but Tiqwah and Etgar manage to daze Deli and reunite with Shem. Then Tiqwah starts scolding her teammate for leaving his alfon training device behind. But will alfons be enough to stop Deli from drowning them underground?

Tiqwah and Shem reunite.


This episode is a transitional one to a pivotal action scene, which I look forward to seeing play out. But first let me give a little background on the alfon.

An alfon is a communication device and weapon that acts like a phone, radio, hologram viewer and sonic weapon. It listens to the atmosphere for conversations, even scrambled ones like Bavel uses to corrupt the communications for all other languages. Then, with the help of its user, the alfon can convert what it hears into weaponized commands.

I’ll have more news to come in the upcoming days about “Milhamah” happenings. See you then!

Welcome to Moledet

Posted on December 3, 2018 by eczarnik

Welcome to the treacherous homeland of Moledet in this new concept design!

On the other side of Bavel’s gate is the province that Deli governs. As a coastal city battered by the tides, Moledet’s economy exports water and manpower to its surrounding provinces.

Moledet’s inspiration comes from Hebrew words derived from the shoresh root ילד, which deals with birth. (Deli uses a shoresh with the same letters swapped around.)

This location is famous for its giant midwife toads, which are actually male frogs. These creatures are in charge of raising the city’s children and brainwashing them into the armies of tomorrow. The baby in this image is swaddled in an Akkadian robe and wields a classical blade on a Bavel flag.

The Bavel Empire enjoys fanatical support from Moledet’s populace, which hates outsiders due to vague historical grievances. The citizenry also acts like a cultic family and invests much of its resources toward reproducing — naturally and artificially — for the government’s glory. It’s certainly hostile territory for the Holy Tongue Society!

In the new year, look forward to seeing more of Moledet in future episodes of “Milhamah: Fighting Words.” The next webcomic, Episode 10, should be ready by next week.

Later this week I’ll also publicize the new “Milhamah” RedBubble online store. While it was too late to make anything specific to Hanukkah, there is enough merchandise over there to make a great Christmas or holiday gift. And I’ll add new designs throughout 2019!

Episode 9: Taking Potshots

Posted on November 20, 2018 by eczarnik
“Episode 9: Taking Potshots” has been released!
 With Shem in a daze, Deli prepares his final attack.
But suddenly, someone appears to be targeting Deli.
The potshot is a direct hit, straight through Deli's eye!
Tiqwah and Etgar come to the rescue, and gloat a little too.
Although Shem might be battered and broken, his Holy Tongue Society colleagues Tiqwah and Etgar come to the rescue. They team up to snipe at the enemy, but have they arrived too late?
I’ve been looking forward to Tiqwah and Etgar’s reappearance for a long time. Based on limited interactions with readers, it seems like Tiqwah is most people’s favorite character. And fans seem to like how Etgar looks, even though he hasn’t shown much personality yet. At least he brought a cool holographic device with him this time, as well as some daring goggles.
Of course, as the adjective and article, Etgar and Tiqwah make a good team.  Etgar’s eagle eye identifies targets based on their profiles and descriptions, and Tiqwah confirms them with target lock-on reticles.
It’ll also be fun to finally develop interactions among the three Ḥeleq members. Etgar lives in the present and is hungry for new horizons and experiences, while Tiqwah wants everything to be planned in place. A couple of surprises await Shem over the next few episodes, and they’ll flesh out him in the process too.
When I designed Deli, I almost immediately got the idea of having someone shoot that urn after drawing a few smug, ridiculous facial expressions on it. I mean, look at him. He deserves it, right?
Anyway, if you enjoyed this comic, leave a comment below, and please subscribe to my social media for more updates!