With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

Mallobaude isn't actually a prince. He's a noble in his own right as he's completed his deed of erranty, but the only way he'd become a prince is by marrying into the title.

 

Marvel does superhero schools more often.

Xavier's of course, the fantastic four's Future Foundation, Avenger's Academy, the British Braddock Academy, the Wakandan School for Alternative Studies, and the Pan-Asian School for the Unusually Gifted.

The Shield academy from ultimate spider-man.

DC has a couple- Legion Academy in the LoSH future, Crucible Academy is an interplanetary alien school for heroes that has shown up in Superman family- Supergirl attended, as did Superman's latest science pal Shay Veritas.

Oh and the alternate reality Magic U, I suppose, where the likes of Zatanna and Sebastian Faust studied.

 

And if I remember correctly in recent comics Dr Strange opened up his own magic academy.

 

And? They are clearly no actual threat regardless. Why violate previously established facts so they can be slightly more of an inconvenience?

Additionally it would be equally out of character for them to have something that is actually effective against a Kinetic Barrier (Qward-edged teeth or some such) without Paul making a note of it in his internal monologue.

 

Yes but that doesn't mean that they can't do some damage.

I don't think he's violated any facts.

Unless he's too busy trying to beat them to put much thought in it.

 

you know who could address this for us? fraggin' Lobo.

 

Now I'm thinking that these things were his pets.

Kalmin better watch out.

 

The second image isn't showing for me.

 

Will we learn how they bypass shields then? Or is it just "they're from Qward so they should have something, but I can't be arsed to decide what". Because that would make it feel like Qward just happens to be a high level area in an MMO without level adjustment, and you usually avoid such things.

 

You do understand that kinetic barriers are basically seat belts, right? They're explicitly not space military equipment, because just about any advanced weapon will ignore them.

And yes, actually, Qward is a very dangerous place.

 

Ah yes, students include a frost giant, some asgardians, a fairy, a zombie queen, a demon, a crystal man-thing, and Doyle Dormammu.

 

It should be noted that kinetic barriers are, y'know, kinetic. Bite force is pressure. Pressure is not kinetic. The damage doesn't come from two massive objects colliding at speed; it comes from continuing to apply force after contact has been made.

To make a Dune reference: The slow blade penetrates the shield.

 

Yes, perhaps I should have stated it, but feel it was sort of implied that the hero creation/schooling should explicitly NOT be evil.

We've had loads of evil programs that churned out heroes. Usually from Canada.

People do seem to struggle with that yes. I've been on an MHA Kick recently, and for fun have searched "Izuku with a quirk" on Ao3.

This was a terrible mistake.

I've waded through 50 pages of pure shit those far. Just grim-derp this, Vigilante bullshit out the ass (Did people miss the part where they are kids going through actual school to become licensed professionals?!) far...far too many Fem-Izuku's with a healing quirk (and "She' will ALWAYS have a fucking healing quirk.) and finally...page after page after page of "Trans" Izuku....who will horribly abused by Inko because if you're going to be shit, by GOD you should go for the shittiest you can be.

There is no second image. I played hell trying to get the friggin thing to post. I literally did nothing different with the one that did take, and the dozen or so that didn't. The second "Image" is the same thing that apparently I didn't delete.

 

He shacked up with the Tau.

His ability to meaningfully effect the greater galactic stage is effectively zero at this point.

 

I want to preface whatever I'm about to type by saying that this is an emotional response, one made from my unending disappointment, but still an emotional response. So if you were aiming for that then... congratulations I guess?

To begin I'm going to try and unpack what you've said in the post I'm quoting. There's a very real chance that I'll fail for one reason or another, but I'm still going to try.

Point 1) "He shacked up with the Tau." P'aul has, from what we've seen, allied with The T'au, this is correct. Though he has kept his general modus operandi intact, which, while not important for this point, is something that must be said as it is important.

Point 2) "His ability to meaningfully effect the greater galactic stage is effectively zero at this point." In what way? You can't mean because he isn't able to go somewhere and do something about whatever morally objectional thing he finds in that area, he has a power ring with functionally infinite charge thanks to it tapping The Warp for power, so what? Is it because whatever he finds there will be too powerful? Is it because the galaxy can't be saved? Or are you saying that, because of the political ties he's chosen to forge with one of the only races in the galaxy that would be willing to listen to reason, he has near-to totally nullified his effectiveness in any and all engagements?

Well I have no clue what you mean, so I guess I'll just cover all of those in this.

Let's start with the "Too powerful" one for ordering's sake.

To avoid beating around the bush I'll just list something that we know can incapacitate a ring slinger if used correctly, psionics/inhibiting their ability to emotionally focus. That leaves us with a number of active (non-minor race because I don't know enough about them) threats: The Orkz, The Eldar, some of The Dark Eldar's machines, The Imperium, Chaos, The Tyrranids, and The Necrons.

That's a majority of the major races/factions in 40k, but there's something we can do to remove most of them. Biology. In 40k, and arguably Fantasy, it has been demonstrated on numerous occasions that genetics play a large part in someone's ability to access The Warp, to given a basic example The T'au evolved a miniscule connection to The Warp after their homeworld was caught in a Warp Storm.

P'aul, being from our world, does not have these. He practically can't have them since The Warp seems to be locked into the Warhammer parts of the multiverse, and there would be absolutely zero reason for our biology to include genetics that access the magic brain dimension since it doesn't exist here.

Which removes anything besides either hitting P'aul really, really hard for a sustained period of time, which is likely going to be their preferred solution anyways, or The Necrons, many of whom might consider slapping one of their Mindshackle Scarabs on him just to take down the odd glowing man that wants to negotiate as dishonorable and thus simply not do so, which itself assumes that said Scrabs can get through his environmental shield, his desire to be whole/undamaged, and whatever mental defenses he has. (Though I will admit that depending on how exactly the Scrabs work in P'aul's timeline the mental defenses may be a moot point)

Now we move onto option two "The galaxy can't be saved."

This I don't really have anything concrete to work off of for a counter argument, it may even be right, but given the fact that reason isn't actually dead in the galaxy, it's just memed to be, then if P'aul can get enough reasonable and powerful people to sit down and discuss how to actually fix things instead of just shooting each other until the other guys are all dead then a compromise can almost certainly be found.

Yes, I know that argument basically amounts to saying "People aren't that bad/stupid" and "Dude trust me" but it's the best I got.

Option number three now, "Political ties."

For this one I'd like to add something, more speculation than absolute fact assuming no Word Of Zoat that either hasn't come or I don't remember/never saw, but P'aul was likely involved in The Crisis Of Infinite Pauls, so he would have the full database Paragon and the others assembled and shared.

The Inquisition might know, some Farseers might know, Chaos might know, The Necrons might know, hell The Nids might know, but do the average citizens? Would they care if the magic glowing man that came down and turned their atmosphere from sulfur and acid and pain into breathable air had ties to the weird blue people on the other side of the galaxy? The Inquisition can't silence everyone, and Exterminautus is only a solution if they know and if it doesn't happen to dozens of worlds and if those worlds don't get systems installed by the strange glowing man to defend against it.

The Imperium didn't bother with Krieg because it wouldn't have been worth the resources to take it back, how would they be able to take and hold worlds that have been free of their control for years that have the backing of a man, and the empire backing him, with access to technology that can match up to some DAoT tech? These worlds could come equipped with singularity projectors, enhancements that make the average person equal, even surpass, an Astartes, methods of power generation and matter fabrication that makes them wholly self-sufficient, and non-Warp based FTL.

Sure, he could spend entire lifetimes working at making 40k a halfway livable place to be and still have more work to do, but you don't have to smash down all the walls of a house to take it down, you just find the supports keeping it up.

Chip damage might be small, but if you can't be hit and the other guy can't heal up fast enough then it will work.

Finally, we come to the conclusion of this rant.

I'm disappointed in you Vermina. it's not a rational thing, not even slightly, I just woke up today, saw the alert that said you had quoted my post, read what you had said, and found myself unimpressed because I expected better. You manage to get such a rise out if people I thought that maybe if it happened to me it would be interesting, a novel experience I could look back on with something approaching fondness.

Instead I've spent an excessive amount of time typing up a response to something that was better left ignored and have feed the troll.

tl;dr Please try harder with you witticisms internet person, I want to be cyber bullied on the tidddy forum because I think it would be neat.

 

I found this story... probably in 2017 or so? and read it and loved it.

I want to reread and get up to date, but I'm very confused as to which thread-version I should be reading.

I'd much prefer to read it as an epub, but the epubs in the OP seem to be rather old, and the standard programs seem to... get very very confused when they try to grab from the thread (they seem to only be grabbing one chapter per arc or something?)

 

"Would" instead of "I'd" here, I think?

 

For just the story, go to the Story-only here, also linked in the first post or Mr Zoat's signature. The threadmarks there will take you to the first post of each 'episode' overall, so you can quickly catch up (threadmarking each and every post would probably break the system given the length.) As for the EPUB files, You'd have to PM the respective creators about updates.
In the meantime, welcome to the madhouse that is the discussion thread. Enjoy the yahoos, feel free to likebomb Mr Zoat and don't pay any heed to the resident naysayer.

 

No, it's an abbreviation of 'I would'.

 

So they're kinda like Qwardian Hitler Youth.

'Then you'

Okay, so his new power up comes with drawbacks.

I'm now picturing him fighting an enemy that really wants to fight the OLC and Paul is overwhelmed and attacks his own side.

Wouldn't be surprised if Grayven actually manages to do this.

He managed to overwhelm Dox and he may do something similar to Paul.

So he's dumbing down the population to more easily control it.

'I would be' or 'would be interesting'

Please answer these questions.

Can Paul still see the other emotions, aside from avarice, after his second enlightenment?

Is his ability to see the other emotions on the same level as it was previously, or has it changed?

If it's changed then is his ability to see the other emotions weaker or stronger now?

'member of'

 

Ah yes, the traditonal method of making an evil teammate more palatable: make the other guy worse

 

No more than any other high school graduate.

Thank you, corrected.

Yes.

About the same.

No, that's correct.

 

That's not how the Warp works at all...

It's not some special genetics that let people connect to the warp, it's actually the opposite where there has to be special genetics to keep emotions which naturally effect the warp from doing so.

The thing you seem to be missing here is that none of those people care.

The first, and last, time the Tau were even so much as a pinprick bother the Imperium sent an Execution Force of four people who basically owned their entire army. At which point they lit an entire sector of space on fire effectively burning out that entire Sphere of Expansion.

Here you are suggesting something so far beyond that that the Imperium's response would be "Let's send in the Dark Angels".



That is The Rock, it's the size of a moon, and could take literally everything the Tau have without so much as blinking.

And that's just the Imperium, because it's a literal act of author that Trazyn the Infinite hasn't show up and stuck him in a stasis field yet. Or the Dark Gods haven't exploded his head. Or the Eldar haven't altered fate so he get's his ring stolen by a Null and then shot in the head by some random thug with a stub gun.

 

I... don't think Varnathon is worse, he's just... inefficient? I think? Everything that may be happening is something that was already happening to other people. The experimental medical duty happened to under performers early on, then to people that were loyal or could cope with the procedures in later, more successful stages; now Varnathon is behaving like a more "normal" dictator and targeting possible malcontents or people that in the future may represent a danger to him, the ones with "initiative and creativity", i.e. the ones most likely to advance to higher Weaponer or Thunderer ranks, I think.

In fact, Kalmin is definitely more dangerous and wors, because he's an unapologetic omnicide zealot and who knows how the mission to Qward would have gone if he was still in charge at the time, really.

 

'than'

 

Hmm. I expect Kalmin considers this foolish attempt a waste of potential. You don't send children to fight a war, you send trained soldiers. He probably recognises this was clearly an attempt to dispose of 'undesirables'... Those too principled or intelligent to do well in Varnathon's regime...

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Yep, definitely those with too much potential, principles or independence to be easily molded...

Manipulating Qwa-matter being the pinnacle of the Weaponer's art, eh? And since Kalmin was a master amongst masters, he's damn good at the art.

Yeah, that responsiveness to other's Avarice might be something to watch out for. Would have been nice if he'd had time to get a handle on it, but Kalmin gonna Kalmin.

Yeah, finding out some angels aren't all goodness and light probably shook up Earth-16's Abrahamic faiths just a bit. At least, those who got all their religious knowledge from television...

I'll bet that's a convenient euphemism... I expect there's a surge of 'volunteers' for more extreme medical science procedures right now... At leas, since Varnathon come into power..

Ah, sci-fi projected screens. Lovely stuff. Presumably Kalmin's doing it this way to avoid burning Ring charge. Or the Ring is incompatible with Qwardian internet...

Heh. Give you one guess as to the makeup of the subjects.

Yes, I'll bet he took it slowly, so it wouldn't be obvious to people. Most might object to that kind of wastefulness.

Yup, targetting those he can't control easily. No doubt he fears for his position if someone eager, talented and/or devout comes up through the ranks. Kalmin will almost certainly be offended by this level of pettiness.

Like any insecure tyrant. Disguising the purge of potential threats in the name of 'Public Order'. Good to see some things are universal (Or trans-universal, if you look at it that way.) He's still an evil arsehole, but it's good to see he's predictable.

A crony, no doubt. He could see which way the wind was blowing, and set his sails to profit from it...

Probably with a lot of Rage. Tightly-controlled rage, but rage all the same. After all, it's one more item for the long list of things he plans to chastise Varnathon for.

Surprised OL isn't more offended by the stupidity and wastefulness. This is one of the the things he's professed to dislike.

Ah, they assumed he'd be a softer target? Did they not pay attention in history classes, or did they figure he'd gone soft in his dotage? No wonder Kalmin called them 'adequate'. Another option would have been 'Mediocre.'

This fools aren't even worth killing, then? Perhaps they can make themselves useful in other ways. Distractions. Bait. Cannon Fodder.

Ooh, burn. Seriously, these kids are amusing in their teenage stupidity.

You expect them to care about politics that much? And honestly, I doubt any of the councillors will meet your exacting standards.

I bet it was something embarrassing, like hygiene technician.

Suuuure. She's got guts, though, lying to someone she knows could casually disintegrate her.

What's the bet they come back in later guns blazing as he attacks Varnathon? I mean, they'd be little more than a distraction in the fight, but hey... You never know, they might get lucky.

Or maybe the punks will start an uprising. Something to catch Varnathon's eye and turn it away from Kalmin.

Ideally percussive correction? After all, you have a hammer and a Qwa-bolt. It's be a shame not to put them to good use.

Well, then. We're seeing more of Varnathon's colours... And they are yellow. Seeing him get his eventual comeuppance should be nice and satisfying. The more pertinent question is whether Kalmin makes it fast.. or slow. Still, that the hard-liner Q'ardajin would allow him to act so brazenly inefficiently... I have to wonder if it's just cultural apathy or if something else is happening.

 

Even those who read the scripture may have still been shocked, since while they may know about the darker aspects of angels they may have still thought that was in the past.

Or he likes using other tech.

Ehh, Qwardian civilization getting damaged and ruined isn't exactly a bad thing.

He wasn't exactly opposed to destroying the Citadelians, so if a civilization is a lost cause then he may be more accepting.

It may not be as satisfying as you think since if he gets taken down then Kalmin or someone he chooses may step in.

And that person will probably be very devout and want to bring their civilization back to what it was.

A race of omnicidal maniacs.

 

Can someone clarify what this is a reference to, please?

 

While I don't remember the exact context of what Paragon is referencing as it relates to him, a burning cage is a metal cage you put things into to burn them, which in the context of the story and what some others have mentioned was likely used by The Silver City as a form of torture/punishment to those they interacted with directly that were "sinful."