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

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Mr Zoat, Jan 27, 2019.

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  1. Someguy Somewhere

    Someguy Somewhere The Critical Fumbler

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    I think TotalAbsolutism's got it right with the Early Warning System idea.

    Something similar came up during Cornwall Boy and Aqualad talking about his uncle going down for the whole penis dragon thing. The whole summoning was powerful enough to have huge side effects like rains of frogs and blood and all sorts of mystical crap. When they talked about the evidence of a minor caster like his uncle being clearly unable to output that degree of mojo, Aqualad raised the issue that Atlantis would have both detected and documented such a magical significant event. When they talked about how the authorities would react to 'magical evidence' Kaldur recommended couching the terms as 'exotic energy readings' to make it more palatable to the powers that be.

    Something like the rune stones OL uses, on a larger scale, perhaps in orbit, could be used for locating Large amounts of mystical energy shifts enough for mere mortals to have a heads up on larger scale events, while issuing stones to investigators at a more local level would at least give enough information to request an expert.
     
  2. rdfox

    rdfox Know what you're doing yet?

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    Hopefully, this doesn't run afoul of Rule 8, but there is a valid parallel to an existing technology.

    In the US, it's not inherently illegal to fire a gun; even in municipalities that prohibit firing guns within the city limits (they do have the legal right to do so, so long as they include exceptions for organized and safely-operated firing ranges, usually indoor ones), self-defense use of a firearm is exempted from such prohibitions. That said, it is legal for municipalities to deploy systems that automatically detect and locate the sound of gunshots, and forward said information to the police; from a legal point of view, it's seen as no different from having a cop at every streetcorner listening for it.

    And yes, in the early days after installation, they tend to frequently report people doing target practice at legal gun ranges; the computers that are involved are then programmed to ignore signals from the address in question, to reduce the number of false positives that officers would otherwise have to go out and check. So this would be the same as a magical early-warning system; it might be entirely innocuous, but it's something you want to look into when you see it happening, just in case.
     
  3. Valint

    Valint I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    ...

    Yeah, just apropos of nothing, what's the next stop after QQ.

    (Sorry, this is as nonsensical as claiming that discussions about Boris Johnson's actions don't fall into modern politics because prime ministers have existed for longer than 20 years. The rule isn't "Was this ever a political issue at some point more than 20 years ago?"; it's "Is this a political issue right now or in the recent past?" Just because it's a political issue from both the past and the present doesn't stop it from being modern politics.)
     
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  4. Lord Ernest

    Lord Ernest At the End...

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    I had more things to say but after reading for a while I kind of lost my train of thought and the only thing I can think of is... this feels like we are really close to the edge, right now, I can almost feel the draft/draught.

    Regarding other stuff, can somebody confirm if this is Doctor Gotham? I have never read anything about Shadowpact so I'm kind of lost. Although at the same time this is probably just a sidequest and will be done shortly. Also, I think somebody recently mentioned some retcons? I was trying to do a new re-read but got busy and haven't had the time, so can somebody clarify for me what the retcons were?
     
  5. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    That's the difference between Passive systems and Active systems.

    In a passive system being discussed sound waves leave a persons property and enter the public grounds, at which point the multiple detectors pick up the sound waves and then use their position to triangulate where the event occurred.
     
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  6. jaelin910

    jaelin910 habitual lurker

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    As of the time of the most recent move, I believe the next stop was at 'I give up' station.
    The issue I'm having here is that I'm struggling to think of anything not reflected in modern politics this side of the Neanderthal assimilation/extinction.
     
  7. Navi-Hank

    Navi-Hank An engine fuled by spite

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    Japanese Internment
     
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  8. Buggy123

    Buggy123 I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Yes, you can confidently say that, as of this moment, there is no: mass internment of people of Japanese origin in the United States.

    However, replace the words "Japanese origin" with some other words, or replace "United States" with some other places, or both, and you quickly run into rule 8.
     
  9. Queshire

    Queshire Not too sore, are you?

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    In an effort to move the conversation along... Aside from just a magical early warning system what about setting up a full blown Bureau of Divination and Prophecy? So when, say, some big bad guy starts heading to Earth they get some forewarning?
     
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  10. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

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    Do we even have any concrete evidence that prophecies of the future are an existing, reliable, intentional thing in this universe?
     
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  11. Prince Charon

    Prince Charon Just zis guy, you know?

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    With the right writers, interesting stories could be centred on an organization like that.
     
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  12. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

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    Apollo is the god of prophecy and has an oracle among the Amazons to this day.

    I would presume that the Legion of Superheroes included Dream Girl, who comes from an entire planet of people who can see the future, but she never got mentioned that I'm aware of, so I might certainly be wrong there.
     
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  13. Ganurath

    Ganurath Apologizes For Nothing

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    Is she from Frieza Planet 419?
     
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  14. Threadmarks: Guys from Gotham (part 10)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    16th February
    23:57 GMT -5


    "Uuuugh?"

    A lithely muscled old man with a receded head of long white hair weakly tries to pull himself out of the sarcophagus. His eyes are unfocused as he takes a bleary look around the room.

    Hm. There was probably some sort of ritual that was supposed to be used to wake him up. Ah well.

    "John?"

    "I don't know his face, but-" He raises his hands, a small ankh glowing between them. "-his aura's full of violent death, and… He's pledged himself to some sort of life-eater."

    "Good enough for me."

    I clamp magic suppression chains around him, an action which prompts a sudden increase in his wakefulness.

    "Who are.. you? Where's Strega?"

    "On the floor trying not to bleed to death. Please tell me who you are."

    "Oh." He just about manages to pull himself up into a sitting position and looks past myself and John, spotting Strega splayed out on the floor. "Ah. Well, in that case I'm going to have to kill you and use your life force to restore her. Nothing personal, but I've woken up early and I'm rather hungry."

    He gestures at me with his right hand, and nothing happens.

    "Thank you! For a moment I was worried about what I was going to arrest you for, but that was clearly attempted murder."

    He stares at his hand in bewilderment. "What-? You… How?"

    "That chain is capable of containing a Lord of Chaos. You're not quite at that level. Though it is mildly reassuring to know that in other circumstances you might have been a threat. Some of the people I've been wasting time with this evening…"

    I roll my eyes as he tries to get his hands working.

    "Now, I'm guessing that you've been life-leeching to sustain yourself? Your physical age is about seventy, and given how magic deageing effects tend to decay, I estimate that you'll drop dead before the ten years you'll probably serve for attempted murder elapse. As such I see no need for extraordinary measures."

    "WHERE DID YOU GET THIS INFERNAL CHAIN!?"

    "Why on Earth would I tell you anything? Now, I don't know how long you've been down here for, but I'll try and bring you up to speed." I frown for a moment. "John, what language is he speaking?"

    "He's switching between at least two languages at random, modern English and… A language I don't recognise. Sounds a little like Spanish."

    "Have you heard of a country called 'The United States of America'?"

    "What? Where?"

    "I wouldn't recommend that approach. The Gotham City police are very strict on insanity pleas."

    "No. Yes." He lifts his hands up to his head, but stops when the chains clack against each other. "I heard things as I slept and dreamt-."

    "Good! That will save your court-appointed lawyer a lot of time. Now: can you get out of there yourself, or do you require assistance and a wheelchair?"

    He points his hands to his left, and a hole appears in the air next to him. Through it I can see a white void filled with tiny-.

    The portal is surrounded by the upper loop of a golden ankh and floats over to John, much to the ancient sorcerer's obvious distress. John raises it up to his face so that he can get a good look at it.

    "From the feel of things, this is a pocket plane filled with magic artefacts."

    "How..?"

    "You learn a thing or two, living in a dimensionally exotic tower. And… That should cut off your access." He looks my way. "Do you need these as evidence?"

    "Probably. Put it somewhere safe without touching anything inside, and I'll try and get a forensic team and a court-appointed wizard sent to you before the end of the week."

    "They have those now?"

    "After Swamp Thing's attack, Gotham -and Connecticut generally, actually- made a point of getting the most up to date laws on magic they could. Some of the legislation is still passing through the state senate, but they expanded the court's ability to appoint experts to include wizards."

    "Is it a salaried position?"

    "I don't know. And.. I'm afraid that they'd probably ask for written qualifications, or membership of a known superhero team. Maybe if you upped your profile..?"

    "I could give it a try." He waves his right hand, and the ankh and all of the weapons associated with it vanish.

    The ancient sorcerer -who has just about managed to crawl his way out of the sarcophagus- collapses to the ground, his eyes fixed in despair on the point where his arsenal was moments before.

    "John, would you mind poking around and shutting off any other spells there are on this place? I'm going to have to call the police in, and they're not magic-proof."

    "Not a problem, mate." He looks around, the eyes of his helmet glowing gold. "Yeah, this is going to take a while. You couldn't get me a coffee, could you?"

    I take the mug of kopi luwak coffee I made for a joke out of subspace and-. And add a heat resistant straw to the mug, then pass it to him.

    "Cheers."

    He takes hold of the cup in his left hand -straw poking under his helmet- and generates an ankh over his right hand as I create a construct wheelchair and load the ancient-.

    "What's your name?"

    He looks at me like a man who has just had the pillars of his world kicked over. "I'm not-. Telling you my name."

    "Ah, no, see, we don't need your name to use magic on you. We’ve gotten far beyond that." I wheel him out of the sarcophagus chamber and generate another wheelchair for Strega, sticking her severed leg in the luggage compartment. "We just need something to put on the paperwork. You can make it up if you like, though I'll warn you that if you pick something like 'fuckingshitman'-" Sadly, an actual example. "-that everyone will call you that until you die, whereupon it will be written upon your grave."

    "Uh. The city above us. What is it called?"

    "Gotham."

    "Then… Gotham. Doctor Gotham."

    "Not without a doctorate from an appropriately notable educational establishment, Mister Gotham."

    I scoop Snotman up in another construct and add him to the villain train. They're never going to fit in the elevator. I'll have to take them up the tunnel I made for the prisoners.

    "Now, I should warn you that any casualties inflicted by gods, demons or spells you may have bound here will be considered as having been inflicted by you and taken into account when determining your sentence. Is there anything which you would like to tell me?"
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2019
  15. Razorfloss

    Razorfloss I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    There's just something hilliaruos about Paul no selling a old and powerful wizard
     
  16. Ganurath

    Ganurath Apologizes For Nothing

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    *Googles*

    Wait, so this pissant is the reason Gotham's so fucked up?
     
  17. Gantradies

    Gantradies Not too sore, are you?

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    ... that was brutal- Paul just shattered his entire world/self image without lifting a finger after the chains were on- if there’s ever any kind of meetup/information leakage,I hope the Renegade takes notes!
     
  18. Prince Charon

    Prince Charon Just zis guy, you know?

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    This is indeed a textbook case of being very overlevelled for the dungeon.
     
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  19. Ngamer11

    Ngamer11 Experienced.

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    Funny. Someone trying to use FEED ME on OL. Even if he wasn't restrained, I bet OL had enough FEED ME to counter him

    The power of Progress. Even with magic, progress renders what was known before obsolete.

    Now he realizes that he's completely beaten without even a fight.

    Gotham PD: Opening for wizard cop. Experience preferred but not required.

    Wonder what poor soul ended up with that moniker.

    No pretentious names for you.

    Taking in evil wizards is now a mundane act of superheroing.

    Alright, how many bad guys is OL going to take down before Batman shows up? At this rate, he might be starting to make Batman look incompetent.
     
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  20. Tzeentch

    Tzeentch I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Well, he's certainly PART of the reason, to be sure.

    The influence his presence under Gotham had was possibly kind of like how a "No Party Like a Donner Party" made a curse that afflicted The Town With No Name for centuries in The Goon...

    Except Mister Gotham's been around for millennia.
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2019
  21. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

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    And this is Doctor Gotham. 40,ooo years old, not a clue of what he's about to run into! :D

    Not a nice guy at all.

    Ah, the moment of confusion... Priceless.

    Ah, overconfidence. This is going to be hilarious.

    Wait until you get a skilled aura-reader on him. He's going away for a very long time.

    The joy of building relationship score with magic-users and Atlantis.
    Correction: 'wasting time with'

    Do try to keep up, dear boy.

    Probably something from before modern human civilisation?

    ...So how does the Joker keep avoiding the death sentence?

    Ah, politeness in the face of an ineffectual villian. Pure OL.

    I can already imagine the drooling over it once he gets a good look inside.

    "Or can I 'secure' a few things first?"

    Ha! Go, Gotham City.

    Guessing he'd like a paycheck to go with the phenomenal cosmic power. At least he skipped the itty-bitty living space.

    Good plan. Who know how trapped this place is?

    :p Pfft. The image... :D

    Now that would be humiliating as all get out.

    Hah, not even the dignity of a good Supervillian name. Well done!

    I don't think he's in any shape to talk right now. Just wait until he sees the surface...

    Oh, man, I was grinning the whole chapter. This was amazing, Mr Zoat. The joy of being over-levelled for a low-level side-quest...
     
  22. Tzeentch

    Tzeentch I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Ah yes, The Sun King, nasty little eldritch/cosmic entity, that.
    Well, if he's going to die of old age in prison, might as well fess up anyway. He's got very little to lose.

    The old monster was certainly proud enough in canon about how his presence under Gotham affected the whole place for thousands of years, so he's bound to boast and brag more than a bit about his nefarious doings.
     
  23. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    No, it was making a threat and waving his hand.

    Which is at most criminal menacing a criminal act with at maximum a 2 year sentence in the states said laws actually exist in. Which he wouldn't serve anyways because he has a self defense claim due to you breaking into his place of residence and violently waking him up.

    Now, if you actually wanted to get him for attempted murder you should have at least let him cast the spell only for it to splash harmlessly on your spell eater. Mind you, he would still have gotten off due to you attacking him first. But at least there would have been an argument to be made about him actually attempting to kill you.

    So you're admitting that the magic suppressing chains are negatively effecting his health.

    Which is all the argument any half way decent lawyer will need to have them removed so long as Doctor Gotham can assure them there isn't any permanent side effects of the short term minor life draining he would need to stay alive. Which in story has already been established as being true.
     
  24. RichardWhereat

    RichardWhereat Aia airëa Fëanáro.

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    I don't believe that the title "Doctor" is a legally protected title. He could call himself that if he wished.
     
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  25. Tzeentch

    Tzeentch I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    And the Magicians of the slowly burgeoning Department of Magic, (Thaumaturgy, Sorcery, Supernatural Affairs, call it what you will), of The U.S.A. punches the air with glee because they got a treasure trove of powerful magical artifacts to plunder and study!
     
  26. Buggy123

    Buggy123 I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    Agreed. Breaking into someones residence and violently awakening and restraining them would prompt a violent response/defense from any reasonable person.

    Now, granted, some rather suspect things have happened in his home. But still.

    Unlikely, I'd say. Long term, maybe, but for short term, precedent is that no one gives a second glance to harm/injury/negative health effects caused by restraining techniques used during arrest. Long term, it would probably come down to a argument of risk of flight/attack, and he hasn't been particularly cooperative so far.
     
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  27. FeepingCreature

    FeepingCreature Not too sore, are you?

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    Just because the gun isn't loaded doesn't mean that pointing it at you and pulling the trigger isn't attempted murder. So long as the method is credible, intent rules.

    And there's no such thing as a right to damage other people's health to sustain yourself, period, no matter how minor.
     
  28. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
    But no one else has to indulge him unless they want to.

    Oops, rule 8.
     
  29. NightmareWarden

    NightmareWarden Versed in the lewd.

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    I... I complained about the lack of magical items. And now Paul has conditional access to a pocket dimension full of the things.

    Wow.

    Maybe I should find something to complain about in Zoat's other thread :D.
     
  30. Massgamer

    Massgamer Not too sore, are you?

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    If I didn't know how awful he was I would pity the old man, it is just not fun picking on powerless old people. Granted he was made powerless but still.

    Also I wonder who gets to keep demi-plane full of magical items? I hope Paul plans to split it and hand stuff out.
     
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