#Zepheniah Mann

[dinoburger]

I think I'm ready to call this done, mid-October seemed like a good deadline for a Halloween comic.

Specifically, this one is focused on the 1800's crew, so a brief summary for those unfamiliar:

contents includes alcohol, violence, body horror and death, and some implied child neglect I suppose. Mostly within the bounds of what's typical for TF2... mostly.

I would like to thank everyone who gave me feedback, schnozzbun-art for help editing and Nominel for his astute observations.

I feel it would also be amiss not to mention themannfamily who's writings have been a huge source of inspiration, I don't think I would conceive of Silas the way I do if not for them

so without further ado...

[aprofessionalwithoutstandards]

Hidden illustration of the original Mann Co. lineup, including Silas Mann, who became the Horseless Headless Horsemann upon his death, on the right, from the first Scream Fortress Update in 2010 (the portion on the left was originally included in the first Halloween update in 2009)

(descriptions in alt text)

[the-1-foxy]

Happy Halloween, Mortals!

Personally I think Merasmus keeps up with Mann family drama like its a weird sitcom, and now he's hosting the reunion episode!

[jsr-futurism]

the mann family sucks why cant they just stay dead. assorted sketches...

"erm scream fortress ended it isnt halloween anymore" YOUR CALENDAR'S NOT BROKEN, IT'S YOUR MIND! HALLOWEEN MODE!

[blubushie]

you’re all gonna think i’m batshit crazy for this, but bear with me here. this is a page from blood brothers. lady up top is a midwife, to the right we’ve got zepheniah mann (the father of the mann brothers) and the bloke on the left with the mustache is barnabus hale, saxton hale’s grandfather.

the context for this is that bette, zepheniah’s wife, just died during childbirth while delivering the mann triplets.

look at barnabus’ face. that man looks shattered. notice the small and quiet way he says the first name of zepheniah’s wife. look at the way he clutches his chest.

call me crazy, but i think the mann triplets might’ve been the bastard kids of barnabus hale and zepheniah mann’s wife. and none of them knew it except perhaps barnabus.

(which, if you think about it, would technically have made gray mann the rightful heir of mann co, since he’s the closest living descendant from barnabus.)

also, apparently bette was the daughter of “william darling,” which may or may not make her related to charles darling, who is saxton hale’s rival.

[jevilowo]

Tf2 Classless Update (2009) vs Tf2 Engineer Update (2010)

Gentlemanns, I believe I have uncovered what is either a PURPOSEFUL PIECE OF CENSORY LORE or a RETCON

(If you can't tell whats going on, in the first image the Quarterly Concern is credited to Zepheniah Mann, and in the second it is credited to him and Silas Mann. In addition, the second image has a section on "domestic occurance" which is replaced with an image of a zeppelin in the first image)

Edit: actually no on second glance the domestic occurance section has been moved further down. Its a section on "remarkable advertisements" that has been cut)

[themannfamily]

[to the mun] I'm incredibly curious about how you read Silas as a character since we get so little on him and you've put so much thought into the Mann family on a whole, what is he like?

The fact that there is so little information left about Silas also speaks about him as a character. In this he is very similar to Gray, only everyone tried to forget Gray, erase him from the past, whereas no one even remembered Silas.

After his death, he primarily protects the family manor (the original of which from London was exactly repeated in New Mexico), so he probably lived there with his brother's family, because he does not have his own.

At the same time, Silas seems to me distant from the family. He is not present when his nephews are born and does not appear in the comic at all. Zepheniah didn't say a word about him in his will, and this is understandable, given that Silas is older than him, but they founded a company together. Silas's opinion on this matter seems to be ignored, as if he once lost a war of primacy in the family to his brother. And it doesn't look like he was fighting at all.

In the family portrait, he is on the edge, as if he is unnecessary here. At the same time, he is the only one who looks upset about what is happening and the upcoming war of his nephews and the death of his brother.

Because of this, it seems to me that Silas is the only one who truly loves this family. And his cruel brother, because he remembers how he became like this, and his nephews, although they did not notice him, rushing only to the approval of their father. And that's why this character is so lonely.

Posthumously, he is a bloodthirsty monster and I like to think that during his lifetime he was the complete opposite: calm, melancholic, well-educated, religious, self-suppressing, gloomy, boring, and weak-willed compared to his brother. There are some Jekyll and Hyde motifs in this.

We remember that after his death, he is called the Horseless Headless Horsemann. But why is he a horseman if he was a salesman during his lifetime? Going back to the era, at that time, all the wealthy people had a horse, and it is obvious that the Manns also had because posthumously, he was wearing a rider's costume. I believe that he spent a lot of time in the company of horses because he found solace from loneliness in them. That's why they call him the horseman who lost his horse before Zepheniah's death because otherwise it wouldn't make sense.

At the same time, he is in a good relationship with Merasmus after death, which suggests that the topic of death and the supernatural is close to him (which is not surprising, given that in Victorian times it was a popular hobby). At the same time, Merasmus calls him an old friend and the question of how old is also interesting, because they could even have known each other during his lifetime. (We know that the wizard lived in Scotland for a while, so I wouldn't be surprised if he moved there from England because of the beginning of the Great Stink from the Thames. And it was because of his acquaintance with one of the Manns that he moved to their lands after a while.)

Well, the last point: how did he become headless? I am inclined to believe that he caused it himself. To be a co-owner of a weapons company when you are such a sad person who lost everything in one moment. . . this predisposes to the tendencies of premature termination of life.

[niblets-criblet]

Aw Mann...

[theyuanman]

''To my layabout, brain defective sons, Blutarch and Redmond, I leave the greatest curse of all - partnership. What land I have purchased in this new world is to be split evenly between you both. You have wasted your lives bickering over nothing, and so I leave you dimwits something of consequence over which to feud.'' Zepheniah Mann's Testament

[ultimate-valve-character]

Loser's Round 3: Match 5

[jaydraw209]

Did some more Obscured Characters for TF2 July.

Day 28 - Civilian

Day 29 - Old Nick

Day 30 - Zepheniah and Silas Mann/The Horseless Headless Horsemann

[dinoburger]

not long for this world

[aprofessionalwithoutstandards]

Hidden Mann brothers birth certificate and Zepheniah Mann's last will from the Mann vs. Machine update in 2012 (the will was originally included in the 2009 Haunted Hallowe'en Special update, with text about Gray Mann obscured)

(descriptions in alt text)

[fly-in-butter]

[catsurfavs]

The soldier crashes merasmus' party

[tf2incorrectquotes]

Zepheniah: Children these days expect so much; like attention and care and patience and a decent chance at life. Pathetic!