====== The Mapsiah ======

**Season:** 4

**Episode:** 21

**Written by:** [[offtopic:Thande]] and [[offtopic:Doctor What]]

**Air date:** December 21, 2008

**Trivia:** The episode deals primarily with the departure of [[offtopic:Diamond]] from the crew.

**[[http://alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=111365|Thread link]]**

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==== Plot ====

The AH.commers are under attack from Lesbian ships, but are rescued by a mysterious ship - the [[Mercator]], and its crew, the Guild of Cartographers or Mappist Cabal. Led by [[offtopic:Qazaq2007]], they are repaying a debt from when the AH.commers helped them in the WikiWorld (in [[CITATION NEEDED]]) and also help repair the ship.

At a celebratory feast, Qazaq happens across Diamond's mapmaking work and invites him to join the Cabal. Diamond is hesitant, but agrees to go over temporarily while the AH.com goes off to hunt the Lesbians. Thande also wants to become a Mappist, but fails the entrance test, convinced that Diamond sabotaged him. [[offtopic:VulcanTrekkie45]] smuggles him on board instead.

It seems paradisical to Diamond - the Mercator is built around the power of the Map Thread, which also fuels the Mapdala, a mysterious map which shows the whole multiverse. But Thande learns that there is a dark secret - Diamond is the prophesised Mapsiah, and Qazaq seeks to sacrifice him to renew the power to the Map Thread.

Meanwhile, the AH.commers hunt down the Lesbians and learn they are renegades who are on the run from Queen Anactoria, as they lived among men too long on a conquered planet and turned straight. After offering to resettle them on the Hollywood planet, Doc learns that they were paid by Qazaq to stage the attack in the first place...

On the Mercator, Qazaq duels with Diamond on a narrow catwalk above the Map Thread and Diamond ends up pushing him off - Qazaq falls into the Map Thread and his energies power it instead. But Diamond must then take his place as the Maptain. Good thing he likes maps!

(In a subplot, [[Bobo]] is transferred into a Frankenstein body by Torqumada; Thande gets Bobo-Frankenstein to take over his role on the ship while he's away, even though everyone should quickly realise he's gone - but they don't, and indeed refuse to believe Thande is the real Thande when he returns). 

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==== Continuity ====

This sets up the //[[Mercator]]// and renegade Lesbians for their appearance in [[THE ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN]]. It also sets up the existence of [[The Mappist Cabal]] for future shows. 

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==== Reception ====

Space reserved for notes.

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==== Behind the Scenes ====

The plot for this episode was loosely inspired by the Voyager episode "Think Tank". When originally storyboarded back in 2006, it had [[offtopic:EdT]] in the Qazaq role.

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==== Easter Eggs ====

Space reserved for notes.

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