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

... Yes, definitely not a good thing.

 

Correction:

me -> be

 

'they chased'

I'm reminded of this Marvel comic in which a group of aliens try to steal Earths culture through a techno-magical device to stop the Zenn-lavians from completely altering it.

Though I don't think this group has such noble intentions.

Oh dear, looks like he's starting to lose himself.

No you don't.

I get the feeling this has something to do with him basically ordering them around.

'I-Illustres'

An amnesia episode.

Qwa-matter is really fucking disturbing.

 

Sounds like he got made into a construct.

Now we get to see him spend a chapter reversing it and come out with a power up.

Of course, the real question here is whether he will extend this new construct turn back into people ability he gains to all the other construct rings.

 

If he was a construct, all his words would be orange. So he's not a construct.

 

Now I'm a bit worried of him deciding to indulge in his desires all willy-nilly due to his soul.

Even if he lost his enlightenment, his soul may still be a piece of the Ophiduan, a.k.a the Embodimenr of Avarice, so now he has literal avarice as his soul, but lacks the mindset for self control.

I'm also kinda getting the feeling that we'll be seeing the White Light in the next episode.

I think Zoat said that it would be used to bring someone back to life, and Gozzi did say that he's dead.

 

So what you're saying is that it's time to break out the words of numerous wise people throughout history?

Ah shit, here we go again.

 

so can someone explain what qwa matter is exactly?

 

Some sort of extremely destructive and dangerous energy used by the Qwardians.

It's probably connected to the Anti-Monitor, who they worship.

It has religious significance in their culture.

 

As I understand it it's basically anti-matter's bigger, angrier sibling with some kind of connection to the Anti-Monitor, so it could be something like weaponized entropy knowing comics.

Edit:Reading the DC Database page on Qward doesn't offer anything on the substance sadly, so My rough guesstimate above is the best you're going to get out of my I'm afraid.

 

Yeah, that's about the reaction most people who know what Qwa-matter is would have.. In the moments before they cease to exist... I'm picturing something like the anti-energy seen in 'Crisis on Infinite Earths', the energy that erased universes from existence...

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

That goes without saying. I'm reminded of Incompatible System, where Humanity's Weakly-Imteracting-Massive-Particle-based techonology has very.. Energetic reactions with Element Zero (of Mass Effect fame.) Think far in excess of matter-antimatter annihilation reactions...

Oh, shit. That's not good... Because that's connected to him...

Not going to help, I think. From what little I could find on this stuff, it's nasty enough to hurt pre-Crisis Superman. Pre-fucking-Crisis Superman!

Now I get a feeling of what Dox saw when he went full informational against Grayven-16. Too much to comprehend, all hitting at once, so much so that all thought is pushed away...

Okay, that's fixable. As long as he's not dead-dead...

...So, he's half the man he used to be? <ducks!>

Oh, hell. If this shit is doing this to him, the Leentniar ships are already ash! I think their species just became endangered...

...Shit... Oh, this is bad. I know this won't be fatal, we've seen future OL still running around a thousand years or more from now... But...

Is he picking up on the Desires of one of the Leentniar leaders? It must be.

Crud, I hope the Ophidian's Heart has a backup-restore feature. Or we could be facing an OL having to start levelling from scratch in the middle of an Epic Campaign... Which aren't very kind to level 1 PCs...

At least some primal part of him knows to avoid the Qwa-matter...

So, he made it into the Honden... But left behind most of himself. Cruuuud....

He's not even separating himself from the Leentniar desires around him? Man, the Qwa-matter was basically a level-drain effect...

But at least he remembers that he should resist impulsive behaviour... Not acting on every thought or want that crosses what's left of his mind...

And still reasonable about his views. There's hope he can rebuild himself, then.

Fascinating that he's weaving the desires within the Honden into a new form. Assuming that's even what;'s happening.

...Is it better to have lost, and not remember, than to have lost and know what you've lost, in the hope of regaining it?

A tangled skein is man, woven of many thoughts and feelings...

Ah, the most primal of questions. The foundation of sapience...

Heh, there's something familiar to everyone.

The question here is what's going to happen, if he's rebuilding himself solely of Avarice? That's basically the state of being the Ophidian enjoys, isn't it? Is he becoming a second Embodiment?

Friendship... Fellowship... The In-group...

Come on, OL. Pull it all together...

I know, right? How rude to be butting in on you putting yourself back together, like a jigsaw with no picture to follow...

At least he still wants to help people...

Sounds like she's holding what's left of his physical form together? At least she's able to keep her focus despite the surprise.

And now I get the feeling of a Timelord regeneration scene... And oh shit... His Enlightenment's gone? Wait was this so you didn't have to do coloured quotation marks anymore?

Huh. I suppose this might be one way to scale back the power-creep OL has been experiencing... I have the feeling next episode will something akin to him rebuilding himself from other people's desires toward him... Or at least seeing him settle into a new status quo. Pretty likely if he can't regain his former level of power, he's not going to be Illustres anymore...

---

...but I think the initial wave has passed me-.

Double Space.

 

and who was the guy paul was talking to on the reach side last chapter? he just started talking out of nowhere, no intro or anything.

 

My guess it was either a Reach commander, or maybe even a Qwardian that was sent to help the Reach.

The Qwardians may still be pissed at Paul, and Kalmin once talked to him from another planet in a way that suggested he wasn't communicating through the ring.

 

Yeah, I think an alien ally of theirs said that some amount of it can destroy a solar system.

Most likely a powerful elemental.

Is magic.

Though seriously hoping this involves the White Light.

Renegade got better by having several elements get rid of his problem, so maybe it's time for Paul to do the same.

Are you suggesting that Zoat is so petty that he would make his MC experience amnesia just so that he doesn't have to spend time making the quote marks orange?

...

I can see him doing that.

Future versions of him are enlightened and he is the Illusters, so this isn't permanent.

Most likely we'll be seeing him regain his former self, either by White Light, or maybe Kalmin can help, as he's probably an expert on this stuff.

Granted Paul may be the first person that's survived this and given Kalmins 'moral code' he may not want to do it since he views it as sacrilege.

Two more chapters, which may be renegade focused, and one final look at Xaul, and we go to the next episode.

 

i missed that part with the qwardians, what did paul do to them?

 

He attacked their city, played a role in the death of one of their warriors and helped Kalmin, who probably wasn't all that liked.

He also made them look bad, and the xenophobic Qwardians don't like it when an alien does that.

During a diplomatic conference they sent one of their warriors to attack the people there, so they were pissed.

 

he should have destroyed their home planet.

 

Maybe, but unlike the Citadelians, these guys are extremely advanced and have fought Lanterns before, so they may have been able to actually do some damage to him.

As we saw in this chapter, qwa-matter is no joke and they have a lot of it.

 

Considering "factory settings" for Paul are "not having a soul," that wouldn't be great.

I wouldn't put it past qwa-matter to be able to damage/destroy souls (I'd be more surprised if it couldn't), which means... Are Paul's tattoos gone? Because that wouldn't be great, either.

 

He may not even have a body anymore, so yeah they're probably gone.

 

I suspect he's using orange light to fill in for the bits of his brain that got melted by qwa-energy.
He couldn't keep up with the speed at which it was being destroyed fast enough to maintain data integrity.
Big chunks were lost and the orange light is keeping his body running in spite of the damage.

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

I really like this chapter, but I have a feeling I will hate the inevitable recovery and power up this will result in. Permanent identity loss would be a novel way of giving a character a makeover without pushing the reset button on the universe multiverse as a whole.

 

Novel, maybe. But I don’t think (pretty much) killing the protagonist and replacing them is a great idea?

 

Zoat's interpration seems pretty clear to me: Qwa matter attacks on a conceptual level, it destroys the very idea that something could exist.

Which could make spiritual entities, New Gods and avatars both less susceptible to it or more, depending on interpretation.

He was in the process of stepping out when the wave hit. I think this is what made it into the Honden. Normally this part would protect the rest of him from destruction.

The question now is how much information can be recovered.

His self seems to be mostly intact, meaning his soul probably is. Reconstructing his body from genetic data and old scans would be the easy part. The problem will be detailed memories.

I would recommend visiting Hades, memory and forgetting are huge parts of it

 

That's because Zoat made up the term.

What the thunderers of Qward use in the comics are qwa-bolts, powered by Q-Energy.

Thrown and melee weapons that can cause explosions, disintegrate, or generate intense heat, and a threat to lanterns and kryptonians alike.

Which is ironic, them being thrown weapons, considering Paul likes to stick his nose up at archery, which is generally a step up from thrown weaponry.

Im still hoping that a Paul runs into Deadeye, the Qwardian archer. The "trick arrows" of a Qwardian ought to be extremely nasty.....

 

Good point.

Hades can now give souls more power so they can act like they used to.

Though there is the possibility that due to his soul, Paul may not benefit like others do.

There's also the chance that what Hades does may not affect memories at all.

We know he can make souls more energized, but I don't think anything was mentioned of him manipulating their memories.

Their memories could have come with them.

 

I meant the place, not just the god.

Afaik, several cthonian gods are associated with mental aspects, like the Nymph of madness Paul met.

 

Are you suggesting Melinoe is the right person to help Pavlos recover his... self? Why not call Eris as well while you're at it. Can't make things any worse

In fact, after this whoopsy, Pavlos should seriously consider leaving behind an up to date memory backup with Eris for safekeeping just for situations like this. /s

 

i hope you're correct.

reading some of the discussion in recent pages about Renegade vs. Paragon has more or less made me realize my preferences.

i like Renegade. it's a mostly entertaining story that deviates from ring-based storytelling. i don't care for the pony angle. but, it's tolerable because Renegade isn't the main story and, more often than not, things make sense. i like the ongoing development of godhood and the spreading of godhood among the Renegade's people. i would like to see more about that. the effects of enlightenment on Artemis were one of the more interesting parts of their time in the Sheeda storyline.

i prefer Paragon. the concepts of the emotional spectrum and power rings have always been my favorite parts of DC lore. as such, i prefer it when OL interacts with those kinds of things (color users), but i also still greatly enjoy the magic stories, the stories about the greek pantheon, and other things that i vaguely know some things about. if there's some kind of 'hard reset' on OL here, i'm not sure how much longer i'll be sticking around. i've read every post since the beginning, and while i do acknowledge that it must be a challenge for Zoat to keep things fresh and moving, i would hope that we aren't to the point of reset just yet. there is so much more left that our delightfully overpowered OL can do with the story that's been created so far; there's no need to scrap all of that potential.

the 'offshoot' versions of Paul... well. i guess it depends on the backgrounds. i know nothing of and care nothing for Warhammer. but, i've been introduced to some really interesting lore, such as the Gates and the one whose name i can't remember, with superheroes (Wyrm?). so i guess that just depends on where we end up.

this is all a way of saying that i've been happy so far (lack of Lobo notwithstanding). i can enjoy the boat being rocked, but i have no desire to be dumped in the water.

but, in the end, my opinions don't matter in the least bit. roll with the punches, baby.