Prediction: Voltaire plots to have Saou, Mist and Potestas (“SMP”) steal Tedd's magic specifically.

I started writing this post on September 4th. Sorry I didn't cut the word count further, but I felt I had to publish it after today's comic.

(Summary/Tldr; at bottom)

Reminder: Voltaire commandeered SMP’s “steal royalty” quest.

0. Why I’m confident Tedd HAS a royal aura:

• Tedd's father and cousin do. Saou & Tara confirm ‘royalty’ is hereditary.
• Tedd resisted the magic detection wand as a baby and has extensively trained his magic, so has the requisite “strength and knowledge.”
• This foreshadowing.

1. Voltaire would target Tedd to:

• Delay magic’s reveal, keeping his “toys” defenseless, as he knows about Tedd’s lab:
  • Voltaire knew Arthur and Tedd were eligible seers, initially assumed neither persuaded Magic, and presumably wants to know what “other” seer did.
  • So immediately post ‘not-change’ (before proposing immortal law revisions next week) he’d spy on Arthur or Tedd to find out.
  • Voltaire considered Tedd a “fruitcake whelp”, so he spies Arthur and learns about the lab.
• Get revenge on Tedd for stopping Magic’s change. Voltaire realized Tedd convinced Magic because:
  • Voltaire knows Tedd (unlike Arthur) wants to commonize magic.
  • The spying raises his estimation of Tedd’s importance. Also, nobody mentions Van.
  • Voltaire could also have heard about the immortal telling Uryuoms that Tedd got them magic (though I suspect that WAS Voltaire, shapeshifted).
• Indulge his sadism, as stealing Tedd’s magic hurts more people (see section 3) than stealing any of the other known royal auras.
• Most thoroughly punish SMP (see section 3.).

2. Targeting Tedd explains why Voltaire sent Potestas to smash Tedd’s Uryuom computer and steal his TF gun (alerting the government) rather than ’borrowing’ a lower-profile device.

Since Voltaire knew a CMD (any CMD) transformation helps seyunolus, he should have known of other (common among Uryuoms) CMDs. He sent SMP after the TF gun to:

• Convince SMP of Tedd’s ‘tyranny.’ Voltaire said he’d “assist” as a punishment for “thieves convinced of their own virtue.” SMP thus likely fears he’d target a good person. So Voltaire shows Potestas that Tedd, a human, has restricted Uryuom tech, expecting it to anger her.
• Prevent diplomatic solutions. Voltaire wants Tedd & co. to hate/fear SMP enough to keep their coming meeting from “becoming too civil.”
• Get SMP caught after they escape with Tedd’s magic. Because:

3. Voltaire’s original plan, the “greatest punishment” for SMP:

(Note that it’s already somewhat derailed and likely to derail further.)

• The SMP steal Tedd’s magic and skedaddle home. They begin their pro-Uryuom political plan, even though Tedd’s magic can’t directly cast spells, because making TF-gun esque “magical” (but suspiciously technological) items Uryuoms can use superbly empowers other-side Uryuoms to overcome their systematic oppression.
• On this side, the theft concerns the government and angers Tedd’s Uryuom fandom. Eventually they deduce the thieves were Seyunolo from the other side. The government sends people there (it learned how from the recently-established regular meetings with otherside folk) to reclaim Tedd’s magic, including some of the many Uryuoms who work in government and want to repay Tedd for the clone forms and magic.
• SMP learn from their own species how they’ve crippled a Uryuom hero and our side’s ability to commonize magic, horrifying them to various extents.
  • Mist wants to return Tedd’s magic (which he now feels SMP don’t deserve) and instead find and grab an actual tyrant’s magic.
  • Potestas staunchly opposes this because it would require Saou to return from a conspicuous absence with a different aura and ability set, raising suspicion of its artificial nature that endangers their people’s future.
  • Saou is torn between his sense of justice, his desire to uplift his people, and his recognition of the situation’s terrible practicalities: Potestas is right that returning Tedd’s magic is a huge risk, but not doing so risks people from our side exposing (possibly via truth orb) his fraud.
• Of course, the otherside conspirators presumably chose someone skilled at handling political problems as their unprecedented future king. Saou might actually find a solution—perhaps ultimately negotiating to quietly trade Tedd’s magic for Arthur’s, since the auras are presumably similar and Arthur’s retiring again soon anyway.
• If he does, before they can do it Voltaire, (possibly shapeshifted), posing as an ancient (who cannot lie), tells the otherside public that SMP stole Saou’s aura from a royal on our side who was beloved by Uryuoms. The resultant chaos (and erasure of our side’s leverage) precludes execution of the compromise plan. It also:
  • Destroys the nascent hope Saou’s ascent granted the otherside Uryuoms
  • Erodes Saou’s popular support as some otherside Uryuoms are too disgusted by the theft to still support him
  • Reinforces the otherside prejudice of Uryuom dishonesty
  • Gives the traditional royalty an excuse to attack Saou and
  • Discredits any future Uryuom royals even if they somehow got the aura legitimately.
• In the end, our side’s ability to smoothly commonize magic is delayed or destroyed, war erupts on the other side, the two sides’ diplomatic relationship is strained, and Voltaire (likely lauded by the otherside establishment for exposing Sauo’s fraud) gets abundant opportunities to “play” with mortals with near-impunity.

4. How I’d guess/hope Voltaire’s plan will play out

• Eventually everyone communicates and realizes Voltaire is their common problem. Potestas, Dame Tara and the main cast team up to beat him.
• They then jail him, and the rules change Voltaire instigated to increase his freedom traps him there. If he doesn’t have all his power with him, he’s stuck choosing between
  • resetting improperly (possibly becoming clueless and inept like Helena and Demetrius) or
  • rotting in prison until he convinces someone to free him (the government will ‘kill’ him before he ages enough to escape unaided).
• This storyline’s tension comes from seeing how far Voltaire advances his plan before that happens.

5. One sentence tldr;

Voltaire thinks yanking Tedd’s magic helps himself and screws others the most because it would delay/complicate magic’s reveal and ultimately expose the SMP’s theft (from a royal beloved by Uryuoms!), ruining SMP’s plans and jeopardizing the relationship between griffin-world and ours.