1. Due to issues with external spam filters, QQ is currently unable to send any mail to Microsoft E-mail addresses. This includes any account at live.com, hotmail.com or msn.com. Signing up to the forum with one of these addresses will result in your verification E-mail never arriving. For best results, please use a different E-mail provider for your QQ address.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. For prospective new members, a word of warning: don't use common names like Dennis, Simon, or Kenny if you decide to create an account. Spammers have used them all before you and gotten those names flagged in the anti-spam databases. Your account registration will be rejected because of it.
    Dismiss Notice
  3. Since it has happened MULTIPLE times now, I want to be very clear about this. You do not get to abandon an account and create a new one. You do not get to pass an account to someone else and create a new one. If you do so anyway, you will be banned for creating sockpuppets.
    Dismiss Notice
  4. If you wish to change your username, please ask via conversation to tehelgee instead of asking via my profile. I'd like to not clutter it up with such requests.
    Dismiss Notice
  5. Due to the actions of particularly persistent spammers and trolls, we will be banning disposable email addresses from today onward.
    Dismiss Notice
  6. A note about the current Ukraine situation: Discussion of it is still prohibited as per Rule 8
    Dismiss Notice
  7. The rules regarding NSFW links have been updated. See here for details.
    Dismiss Notice
  8. The testbed for the QQ XF2 transition is now publicly available. Please see more information here.
    Dismiss Notice

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

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

Loading...
  1. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    22,134
    Likes Received:
    320,284
    Impressive growth of your spiritual abilities.

    That's probably not fully true, seeing as Dox seems to have some sensory abilities.

    Granted he could be unusually strong in the magic department compared to other Coluans.

    Or he puts some kind of spell on them that makes them cooperative and less prone to hostility, but letting other personality traits remain.

    If he can bring souls with him then the Psion homeworld may be a good place to start.

    I'm also imagining bringing Kori and Kom's grandparents souls to Erebus and have their family visit them.

    'as a'

    This will either end with them agreeing to all his terms or trying to kill him.
     
  2. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,693
    Likes Received:
    728,803
    Thank you, corrected.
     
  3. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2015
    Messages:
    5,514
    Likes Received:
    20,542
    Shouldn't he have lost most of his rings charge protecting from that black hole bomb?
     
    Cuchulin, BartlettMagic and Senevri like this.
  4. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    2,149
    Likes Received:
    33,423
    If they're crazy enough to have suicide devices in their brains, they're crazy enough to blow themselves up at the slightest hint of being tracked... The hard part will be preventing the next lot from committing suicide too.

    They're clearly clever, if nothing else. A pity it's devoted to killing themselves, or killing the inhabitants of the next planet they decide to move to...

    Even if they were mining exostellar planetoids or the like, there's still a major investment of time and resources to build them... They can't suffer that kind of wastage for long, no...

    The equivalent of shooting a bazooka into their own gas tank... Or would that be a grenade into the ammunition locker? All a matter of scale. Obviously a lot more effective when you're using somewhat unstable fissile materials than simple gasoline, I suppose...

    Lucky. Very, very lucky.

    In other words, you'll let Gozzi get on with it herself, while you poke around looking stupid? :p

    That... Is that a new development, or simply not worth mentioning? Because... That's kind of significant, man...

    "Caution: Alien defenders have exhibited a tendency to attempt to communicate. Do not engage the foreigner!" Yeah, I can see their leadership playing it down for morale purposes.

    One clue amongst many, Watson. Elementary, after all.

    Like sniffing out their desire networks from the souls you sense?

    Yeah, even if you're not afraid of dying, knowing you'll be a cold lump floating in space (or a very hot clump of excited molecules going somewhere else very quickly) would be just a little scary.

    Ugh, Robin rubbed off on you a bit there. So, this area is now slightly more magically active due to the extra energy of those souls? Not that that would last too long...

    At least he has a trace on their desires now. If the leadership is comparable, it'll be easy to locate them from here.

    It says a lot that he does care. I mean, Gozzi probably doesn't see much value in them, but his work with Hades has left him aware of their value... And I'm not just talking about as currency or anything like that...

    And if the rest of their fleets are like this, that's a very nasty sort of weapon to deal with...

    Still wondering if she's still plying the usual skin-tight outfit of a typical Lantern, or if OL has gotten her properly armoured yet...

    Hopefully this armour proves a little tougher than before. And that she's using the automatic dodging programs...

    Huh. Sounds like these folks are honestly just good with gravity tech...

    And concern for their smaller brethren, I see. Even if it's only on a tactical level.

    Mostly bluffing? That would not have been fun for his charge, as you-know-who pointed out...

    This is a pretty major assembly of naval power. No guarantee that it's their sole invasion fleet, but it has to be a significant chunk of their overall naval power...

    In other words, break your habit, or you will be broken. I see OL is losing his patience.

    Sure, they'll hear him. But will they really listen to him?

    Finally pinned them down, eh? Now to see what sort of racial character they really have. And whether they'll trust what he says... Because this can still go bad. It's hard enough to change habits of years. What about habits of centuries, habits so ingrained whole generations follow them as if they were normal? Or rather, because they are normal...
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2021
  5. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2019
    Messages:
    1,289
    Likes Received:
    12,971
    I think it's the same process as with souls: hang around magic users long enough and you are bound to pick up some stray Thaums.

    Re alien souls in Hades: the three judges are actually human souls. How do they judge aliens by their own moral systems?

    And if a unified but "evil" species is judged, like the Psions, wouldn't they all end up in Elysium since by there understanding what they were doing was okay or maybe even morally necessary?[/QUOTE]
     
  6. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    22,134
    Likes Received:
    320,284
    At least other people are doing things instead of just him.

    We knew he could see souls and he has been using magic so he may now see ghosts.

    I think they're judging them by the Hellenistic system.

    Though they may honestly admit some bad people into the better places seeing as some pretty bad people are already there.
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2021
  7. Senevri

    Senevri Not too sore, are you?

    Joined:
    Aug 17, 2015
    Messages:
    277
    Likes Received:
    1,059
    Seems intuitively so. Of course, black holes are just curving spacetime, which is what they use for FTL, and if it was an artificial black hole, which was my read, it might not have had much in the way off mass=energy.

    So he wasn't fighting the mass of a large sun, just the engines of the fleet he's facing.
     
  8. Assblaster5000

    Assblaster5000 I trust you know where the happy button is?

    Joined:
    Jun 7, 2020
    Messages:
    738
    Likes Received:
    4,308
    Eh, it really depends on the type of blackhole used. While I don't know enough to really say anything about natural ones an artificial one is probably coming from either graviton manipulation, or any other suitably technobabbly explanation, which equates more to "really strong gravitywell" instead of "artificial singularity", or by just shoving enough energy into one spot until it makes a blackhole, which is only really possible because entropy is for losers with the kind of tech in DC.

    It wouldn't be cheap in any case, but the graviton option, which seems the most likely given what else we've seen of these lads, would be a rather negligible cost compared to actually swatting a singularity out of existence.

    Though the amount of charge used hardly matters since Paragon has time to recharge now anyways.
     
  9. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2015
    Messages:
    5,514
    Likes Received:
    20,542
    It's kind of funny how the Ring's have gained so much more power capacity since they were first introduced in this fic...
     
  10. BlueMangoAdea

    BlueMangoAdea Alive. For now.

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2019
    Messages:
    4,734
    Likes Received:
    17,221
    Duh. It was always the case that "more emotion you put in = better effect", and Paul got much better at doing that.
     
  11. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2016
    Messages:
    873
    Likes Received:
    3,601
    I know we've all seen the result of that thousands of times in movies. A big fireball with the hero or heroine diving away in the nick of time. But real life ain't like that. Gasoline explosions require gasoline vapour in air and a source of ignition. Emptying a pistol into a gas tank isn't enough on it's own.
     
  12. megrisvernin

    megrisvernin Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2013
    Messages:
    12,303
    Likes Received:
    27,599
    I suspect Hades is prepared to offer a certain lenience for actions aliens due that makes context with their own biologies.
     
  13. Idkusername

    Idkusername Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2019
    Messages:
    1,463
    Likes Received:
    13,992
    It’s kind of funny how reading responses can clear things up.
     
  14. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    2,149
    Likes Received:
    33,423
    Indeed... I kind of lost the metaphor in the writing of it... ;) Given the destructiveness of their weapons, I've tweaked it a little.
     
  15. Senevri

    Senevri Not too sore, are you?

    Joined:
    Aug 17, 2015
    Messages:
    277
    Likes Received:
    1,059
    There was this comic where Superman was able to see souls, which felt... Wrong and stupid, but in the larger DC context makes sense and is entirely plausible.
     
    Chojin Patriarch likes this.
  16. BartlettMagic

    BartlettMagic peekaboo, you fucks you!

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    134
    Likes Received:
    379
    well my day has already taken a turn, and it's just begun

    what? now wait just a damn...

    alright, that's enough for today
     
  17. Finagle007

    Finagle007 [Verified Great Old One]

    Joined:
    May 20, 2015
    Messages:
    10,808
    Likes Received:
    95,105
    Come to think of it, where's Death? Isn't she supposed to be everywhere?
     
    Vaermina and infinityDivided like this.
  18. The Unaligned Player

    The Unaligned Player Agony that desires to meet Extinction

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2019
    Messages:
    205
    Likes Received:
    1,256
    Locate every time someone dies in the fic and you will see Death.
     
  19. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2015
    Messages:
    5,514
    Likes Received:
    20,542
    I think Zoat kind of forgot that Death of the Endless is very specifically supposed to collect all souls universe wide.
     
    Cuchulin likes this.
  20. Finagle007

    Finagle007 [Verified Great Old One]

    Joined:
    May 20, 2015
    Messages:
    10,808
    Likes Received:
    95,105
    Exactly! Death is supposed to show up whenever someone dies, no matter where they are in the universe.
     
  21. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    1,079
    Likes Received:
    4,181
    Death is inevitable, but not necessarily swift.

    Power consumption is inversely proportional to desire. Paul very much did not want to be sucked into a gravitational anomaly and he's basically the best in the universe at channeling that into a ring. (And importantly, he wanted to not be sucked in more than he was afraid of being sucked in.) It is one of the main driving forces in recent story arcs that he's trying to stop being so unique in that regard.

    Power consumption is directly proportional to construct size and complexity. Paul is notoriously very good at finding highly efficient choices of constructs to achieve his goals. (Though Gozzi is giving him a run for his money on this one.)

    So yeah, it was probably a bit spendy, but he's good enough at ringslinging to manage it and he's got twice as much charge capacity as most.
     
  22. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2017
    Messages:
    1,714
    Likes Received:
    9,862
    And Nekron runs the antechamber to the afterlife.

    And Black Racer, as a New God, is the conceptual embodiment of Death.

    And Lucifer in his own series was shown to be a psychopomp.

    And the Question had to save Superman from a shaman assassin who acts as a psychopomp to send hit victims to a Hell that supposedly does no take backs, to prevent resurrection.

    And the Black Flash shows up for speedsters.

    And pre-crisis Death was a male Grim Reaper.
     
  23. WorstMirari

    WorstMirari the girl in blue

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2019
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    12
    finally all caught up again! loving this arc, can't wait for more. I'm a big fan of Lantern Gozzi!!
     
    Cuchulin likes this.
  24. Nervaqus987

    Nervaqus987 Well worn.

    Joined:
    Jan 18, 2014
    Messages:
    5,376
    Likes Received:
    45,146
    Don't act like that's unique to this fic.

    A Power Ring's charge lasts for however long the Plot says it has to. When needed for the Plot, a Ring's charge may as well have an infinity sign, when the opposite is true they may as well be a cellphone with a shit battery with how fast their charge drains.

    That's true in this fanfic and it's true in comics.
     
  25. PrinceJonathan

    PrinceJonathan Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2016
    Messages:
    1,601
    Likes Received:
    16,657
    "Peek-a-Boo I. SEE. YOU!"

    Oh boy what a scary thought. There is no escape from Paul, not even in death.

    We need more necromancer protagonists. Villain commits suicide to deny the Protagonist what he wants. Then the Protagonist just goes NOPE, raises the Villain from the dead, and forces him to give up the information.

    "♪When I'm necromancin', everyone's dancin',♪
    ♪No one can stop me. I dare you to try.♪

    ♪The dead are infused with sensational groove♪
    ♪And they're coming for you now♪
    ♪There's nowhere to hide.♪
    "
     
    Cockus Blockamus and Cuchulin like this.
  26. Ideomancer

    Ideomancer Getting out there.

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    109
    It's also decently well explained early on in the narrative, where it's discussed how the SI's constructs and effects are empowered by how much he wants something. The more he wants an outcome, the more effective, and consequently efficient, they become. He is currently notably engaged in one of his major long term goals and is sharing work with other Lanterns similarly driven towards the shared purpose of thwarting the Reach, so it shouldn't really come as a complete surprise that Ring Charge is currently a bit abstracted.

    That's all setting aside...is the SI still dual wielding? While having an Enlightened, Orange soul with a main line to the Elemental Embodiment of Avarice itself? And the long ago sorted ability to carry his lantern in subspace for on-the-fly charging?

    When actually was the last time ring charge was mentioned?
     
  27. Threadmarks: Back Door (part 16)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,693
    Likes Received:
    728,803
    9th July 2012
    06:46 GMT


    The fleet is… Spreading out. As per my directions all their primary weapons are powered down, as are their main drives. While I can't get perfect scans of their interior, it's far easier to detect how much power is running through which parts of their hull. And once you know roughly which parts of their ships' infrastructure are where, that tells you where they're applying combat power. And unlike L.E.G.I.O.N. ships which have the luxury of maintaining full combat power indefinitely, the Leentniar ships don't.

    "Observations?"

    "To use the human phrase, we have them over a barrel. They can't get away and they can't afford to lose these ships. They might decide that dying here is better than dying while fighting the Reach, but otherwise you can probably make them do whatever you wish."

    "Don't put too much faith in people behaving rationally."

    "I don't. But leaving their original homes in order to survive suggests a far higher degree of rationality than most species display."

    "We don’t know who stayed behind."

    "Then the rational ones escaped, and with a little fortune passed on their traits to their descendents."

    They don't open a shuttle bay for us. I suppose that might be because they don't have permeable force fields, because they don't use small craft or because they're trying to keep our presence a secret from the majority of the crew. Instead, we're heading for what is basically a maintenance hatch. Quick scan… A basic sensor system but no obvious weapons. I press my right hand against the surface of the door and someone inside triggers the system to open it.

    I float inside first, Lantern Gozzi just behind me. An actual airlock. Do they not have the capacity for anything more sophisticated, or do they just choose not to overcomplicate a perfectly functional system? I'm getting slightly better scans of the interior of the ship from here, so I suspect that whatever's defying my scans is built into that impressive external armour.

    The outer door closes behind us and air metaphorically hisses into the vacuum. I land on the surface that's in the direction of local gravity and wait for pressure to equalise.

    "I assume that you're taking the lead during negotiations."

    "You assume correctly. This sort of discussion is something my rank requires me to handle, and my empathic abilities make me well suited to."

    "Understood."

    "Feel free to use silent ring communication if there's something you think I'm missing."

    She nods as pressure equalises and the interior door retracts directly away from us, sliding along a corridor on rails. Hm. I.. think they were trying to avoid having a weak patch in their exterior armour, which means that they've compensated for the relatively primitive construction with sheer mass. I wait until the column has fully retracted into an interior wall before walking down the short corridor into the ship proper.

    A single Leentniar is waiting for us. Humanoid, female and decidedly thin. Scans show… The surrounding part of the ship has been evacuated. That doesn't necessarily mean that they're planning anything; given their isolationist tendencies it's possible that everyone who has contact with us is going to kill themselves.

    I give her a moment to say something, but she's focusing on a personal scanner that she's waving at us. Well, social norms aren't the same everywhere.

    "Hello, I'm the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps and a member of the N.E.M.O. Council. Might I ask who you are?"

    "I will act as a go-between between you and the Masters of the Leentniar."

    Her voice… Sounds like she's ill-. Of course. If someone has to die, it's better if it's someone who was going to die anyway. Quick check… She wants to serve, to avoid being a burden. Do I scan her directly? They might detect it, but I don't think that really matters at this point. Do it. Ah, looks like widespread leukaemia-variant. Easily fixable by power ring. If we get a result which leaves the Leentniar as a going concern I'll fix it and offer her an ambassadorship.

    "Because they can't speak to me directly. I understand. Are we talking here or somewhere else?"

    "I can communicate with the Masters perfectly well from here."

    I look around at the plain utility corridor. I suppose there's no real need for a fancy meeting room-. Ah. It's a local custom. They consider things like that wasteful.

    "Very well. To summarise my demands: the worlds of this region are allied to my organisation."

    "We have encountered Green Lanterns before."

    "We're focused on a far smaller area."

    And… Well, we don't have the same quantity of veteran ring users that they do, but our total numbers aren't all that much smaller at the moment. A combination of lower moral requirements and far more Maltusians able to work on ring production. We'll probably outnumber the Green Lantern Corps within a year. For better or worse.

    "And we're at war with the Reach. Whether that was your intent or not, the Reach are using the Leentniar as proxies to get their foot in the door of civilisations neighbouring them with the eventual aim of assimilating them."

    "The methods of the Reach are known to us."

    "We're putting a stop to it. Which means that your people have a decision to make. We can't have you threatening our allies or driving neutral parties into the hands of the Reach. So, either you settle down and ally with us, or you accept us marooning you somewhere out of the way. Refusal will result in us assuming that you're siding with the Reach and treating you as our enemy. Do you understand?"

    "Yes. I will relay what you have told me."

    She takes a few steps away and activates a force field generator built into the collar of her space suit. It surrounds her head in a translucent purple bubble, a privacy screen which lets us know that she's still there but prevents us from hearing what she's saying or reading her lips. I take a moment to check, and I can scan through it perfectly well. But

    looking outside the physical, seeing the patterns of her desire mesh with those… There they are.

    Ring, send to Lantern Gozzi. 'I have the location of the Leentniar civilian government'.

    Message sent.

    Directly confronting them might make my point a little better, and I doubt that the people the Leentniar have raided over the years would object. But there are far more L.E.G.I.O.N. affiliates that haven't encountered them than that have, and we already risk looking high-handed due to the forceful way we've assembled our coalition at relatively short notice.

    'It's for your own good' is a justification that really looks better in history books than in a diplomatic conference.

    I advise taking no action. Don't even mention it.

    I don't nod. If I use that location, I can write off persuading them to ally with us. It might help convince them to surrender and it will make destroying them easier, but we're not there yet.

    The force field around the nameless emissary's head shuts down.

    "The Masters have questions."

    "Ask away."

    "What do the Leentniar stand to gain materially by aiding you?"

    "Assuming that we win, you can have your original homeworld and territory back, if you want it. In the short term, if you ally with us, we'll assist you in bringing whatever ships you want to commit up to our standards, and arrange a place away from the front line to settle as many of your people as you want to settle. You'll also gain the good will of your neighbours, which can be useful at times."

    "What do the Leentniar stand to lose materially by aiding you?"

    "Your lives. Your relative anonymity. The Reach might be happy to leave you alone while you weaken their targets, but if you side with us then that will change. Our main fleets have technological parity with the Reach, but in a slugging match we expect to lose ships and crews. You also stand to lose your fear."

    "Fear?"

    "The fear that causes your people to send a dying woman to meet a diplomat. Once the Reach are gone, you can become what you want, not what you need." I shrug. She probably doesn't have the cultural context to understand that answer. "Anything else?"
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2021
  28. Idkusername

    Idkusername Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2019
    Messages:
    1,463
    Likes Received:
    13,992
    It really, really, doesn’t.
     
  29. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2016
    Messages:
    873
    Likes Received:
    3,601
    out -> our
    we're -> we've
     
  30. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    22,134
    Likes Received:
    320,284
    If he's asking her then put a ? at the end.

    Still they have a lot of other bad traits.

    'at the'

    'door of'

    'theirs'

    'in us'

    'as our'
     
Loading...