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

That's a valid usage.

Thank you, corrected.

Yes. Sort of.

 

I didn't think to name it. If I had to... Thesis Approval? Or, What Kalmin Wants?

 

Haha

"Try HADES! The new, exciting planet-to-planet FTL transport alternative!

Visit exciting new worlds, strange cultures and meet your dead grandmother on the way, trying to explain to her why you still don't have children of your own!

HADES!"

warningvisitorsshouldstayawayfromtheriverlethe,hadesincorporatredisnotresponsibsleforanymemorylossoccuring

 

I don't think Zeus will authorize the "Erebos Spaceport", first, as King Of Olympus, that Hades is receiving a LOT of power from the Dead Aliens should make him unhappy. Two, Zeus domain is the Sky, if Hades just straight up saying "I'm getting SPACE added in my Domain reach" he would feel undermined. If it ever get an 'OK', he might do many things, such as: Making more Demigod, Fight with Hades, looking for a follower that would surpass OL!Paul, and all of the above. It's gonna be so entertaining if it happen though

 

I don't think Hades gets power from souls.

If anything he's losing some of his power since he is using it to make the souls more lively.

 

As it exists within his own domain, Hades doesn't need to ask Zeus's permission. Zeus could demand that he stop, but... Hades doesn't have much reason beyond 'habit' for respecting him.

 

mildly -> mild

 

He's highly discordian, but gives a crap about actual Eris. I mean she literally told him she missed him and still he heaps gifts and followers upon Hades, Haephestus and Hera. What is a goddess supposed to do? Rename herself to Heris?

 

A mission nicely accomplished, all in all. I mean, yes, we all have our opinions on how he did it, but I for one have faith that things will turn out well from this.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

It's OL. You know how he works: If it can get more complicated, completely by accident, it will. I see Daciya is going to be that one friend, though... You know the one, who refuses to give ground on any decision made?

Eh, where'd that lampshade come from? Shoo! Gittouddahere! I suppose even Maltusians must answer to Narrative Conventions.

Every last one of them probably see their own grandmothers in her. Those that have grandmothers, given the sometimes odd reproductive practices of some DC alien races. And even they respond to the Narrative.

Heh, how logical.

Indeed. Maltusians are total Time Abyss lifeforms. (Apologies in advance for any Wiki Walks taken.) They've forgotten more things than entire races have learned, if they even have the ability to forget things at all.

Ah, lovely grandmotherly sass. Much more appropriate.

Now, back to the prior topic. Lovely little side conversations are fun, but staying on target does matter.

Well, when you say it like that, it sounds bad. Come on, don't you want to do Science! here? Imagine determining whether Qwardians are jerks because of their culture, or if they're just naturally arseholes?

Well, that's reassuring, at least. Unfortunately, Ol' Moebius has a tendency to pop up when you least expect him, so better to prepare for the worst and be pleasantly surprised when it doesn't happen...

Finally getting around to that little note on the 'to-do' list, I see. Man, OL's bucket list must have so many revisions... He's starting to get a memetic reputation akin to Jean Grey by this point, I bet: "The Lantern who won't stay dead!"

Ah, you're getting wise, Hinon. Who knows how much trouble OL can get into on Earth?

It's a useful distraction and warning. Between telling people you're about to not be there in a moment (as Queshire noted,) and making them think you have to do it to teleport (Darko put it best,) it make for a good mnemonic. Besides, can you imagine the faces of whatever Reach arses who might manage to take OL alive and restrained, thinking he can't get away, only for him to go, "No, leaving now." And promptly Do-Not-Want his way out of there.

It also makes for an amusing farewell gesture, if you do it at the right angle.

"I'm rather worried I may have voided the warranty on my soul, and I'd like an expert to check it over..."

It's not like he does it on purpose, you know. Things just seem to happen around him... Much like many a classical hero

Evidently a collective bit of apprehension at being judged, I take it. Or standing around waiting was boring as hell.

Something that should never have existed in this universe in the first place... Seriously, the Anti-Monitor has a lot to answer for in the end...

At this rate, OL may decide to switch after-life service providers. And I doubt anyone wants to elevate this case to the Underworld's retention department... They can be quite kindly...

Ha! Even Hades knows to brace himself when OL has Ideas. At this rate, complete strangers will be asking for a moment before he ask a question...

I wonder what it could be? An alien, certainly... Something noteworthy?

Interesting. Gordanians aren't really religious, are they?

Let me guess, she'll start packing pamphlets on the good word of Hades?

Ah, so many unknowns. Unfortunately, any proper research process would require a whole other kind of evil to carry out... Kind of a pity the Psions are dead, they'd be useful for this...

And so OL's little post-revival excursion into the Anti-Matter Universe ends. Quite a few nice plot hooks added to the veritable forest of them still hanging. I expect we'll see a little more of Krono's troubles in post-apocalyptic America, then some Renegade entertainment. It'll be nice to see Grayven and company again after so long away. Seriously, almost six weeks real-time...

 

It kinda is bad.

Probably not with a Qwardian.

If the Anti-Monitor did do something to them then they may be naturally destructive.

Varnathon may have been a mutation that lacked such tendencies.

Though you have to wonder after a while.

Or both.

Don't blame Hades for Paul getting into his shenanigans.

They may be worshipping Grayven now.

Though this one was probably desperate for any help.

The universe is full of irredeemable evil assholes.

A pagan Jehova Witness?

Wonderful.

 

even better, they see him put the fingers in the head and they all start looking to the sides for his teleportation... only for him to yell ' Special Beam Canon' qnd fire Piccollo's blast

 

Hades is still processing Alien

good lord that is just hilarious

 

There were billions of them, so it's understandable that he hasn't finished.

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

It's like OL took one look at 40k warp travel and said, "flying through hell, what a great idea! Shame about the demons though."

Normal person: "I should find a better mode of travel."

Paul: "I should find a better hell."

 

Hmm. So we have seen Hera, Hephaestus, Hades, and a few others in a more modern environment. Worshippers will be able to recognize their value as service providers in their respective domains. Now let’s look at hypotheticals.
What would a reformed Zeus look like? What would the best possible “service provider” Zeus look like?

A) Zeus is the king of the gods. He can unite fellow deities quickly when the need is great.
B) Magical and supernatural creatures, especially those of Greek mythology, are likely to hear him out for a variety of reasons, such as “joining the winning side.”
C) Hades offers a retirement plan for souls. Zeus would be an independent “Big Brother” surveillance service and assassination expert once proper relay satellites are setup in various Sectors. Such a thing would be bureaucratic with minions helping to keep track of incoming prayers to Zeus from various worlds. Zeus could go through the reports in descending order of priority, glancing over the territories with a personal eye before moving on. If someone needs a smiting, he’ll load up a lightning bolt.
D) Zeus is clever. He knows he only survived his father’s plans thanks to his mother’s cleverness. And I’d like to think he’s learned at least a little bit from his fellow gods’ schemes. If all of the gods are joined together for a cause like war, and modern weapons were on the table, I suppose Zeus would be the one to ensure there are still planets left after all of the bombs have been used. He’ll keep the warmongers from going overboard and leaving deserts in their wake.
E) I reckon Zeus would be the most mystically capable of banishing unruly interlopers on Earth like the Parliament of the Green. If every city has a temple to Zeus, then invasions will be costly.
F) And lastly holidays honoring Zeus could be beneficial to lands with institutionalized negative relationships. The spread of free love, poly relationships, and new ways of understanding libido, I guess. Whatever gray area isn’t covered by the other Olympians.

 

He may also be able to provide good weather.

Ted did make those weather control drones but maybe Zeus can help increase their power.

 

Imagine if Hades is able to build a space resort and move Elysium there. It would inherently be very well protected, because of the high numbers of powerful spellcasters that are in Elysium...

 

Elysium is much safer where it currently is.

 

Honestly, Zeus doesn't really have any reason to adapt to a modern setting. His only real thing he can "bring to the table", as it were, is being debatably the strongest of the Olympian gods (traditionally, Zeus was straight-up the strongest, to a point where it wasn't a question of if he could beat another god, but how long it would take and who would die in the crossfire), and thus able to protect the Thaumosphere from other threats... But he's also an asshole and a piece of shit, so I doubt he'd interfere with that unless he had to.

 

Not... Really. Ancient Greece didn't have much of a magic tradition, and it certainly didn't produce high level casters. The notable thing would be the demigods but their abilities are mostly instinctual.

 

Well there is Medea and Circe.

Though Circe's power is less her own and more the blessing of Hecate, while Medea is related to Helios, so her power may be mostly due to him, albeit she may know a lot of spells and magic, but the raw power is due to her divine heritage.

 

Hades, God of Wealth and Taste...

 

Actually the two most revered magicians of Ancient Greece were Pythagoras and Orpheus.

Greeks didn't differentiate magic from not magic based on nature. Magic was a skill level, magic was a Charles Atlas superpower.

Orpheus making stones weep with his music was magic.

Pythagoras teleporting and bilocating because he was just that good at math was magic.

The cyclops forging lightning bolts was magic from being that good at smithing.

Asclepius raising the dead was because he was that good at medicine it was magic.

Witchcraft like Circe was far from the end all and be all of magic to the Ancient Greeks.

 

Okay but in terms of spell casting I think Circe and Medea qualify much better than the others, at least when it concerns spell casting as it's portrayed in this fic.

 

I wouldn't discount mathemagicians in a fic that includes the ALE.

 

Someone seems to have forgotten that Zeus's domain is "King of the Gods".

 

This reminds me of an idea I read a long time ago, but I can't find it now. (I think it was on the Order of the Stick forums but I'm not sure.)

The idea is that clerics of the god of death developed a new business model. They would give their client a potion that would kill them painlessly, and then cast Graceful Repose on the corpse. The soul of the newly-deceased would go to the death god's afterlife in a specially prepared paradise of comfort and relaxation while the cleric would have the preserved corpse shipped along with other bulk goods to the client's desired destination, upon which time a cleric (possibly the same one, possibly another cleric of the same god) would cast Revivify and the client would be brought back to life. The client would have therefore had a luxury vacation without needing to worry about food, water, sleep, weather, or an uncomfortable cross-country journey.

While this wouldn't be faster than hiring a wizard to teleport the client, it would be significantly cheaper and it wouldn't be subject to the same destination and capacity limitations as Teleport. (Graceful Repose is a 2nd level spell and Revivify is 3rd level plus a 300gp diamond. Teleport is 7th level and would have to be cast twice in order for the caster to return home afterward, and there has to already be a receiving circle at the destination or you have an item that was taken from that destination within the last six months or else there's a risk of the spell going wrong.)

That's a title, not a domain. His domain is the sky. His powerset has nothing to do with kings or gods.

 

Historically speaking he didn't even have that title originally, with Poseidon holding the title before a massive restructuring of the pantheon sometime before The Bronze Age IIRC. That same restructuring is what got us things like Dionysus being a wine god instead of whatever eldritch abomination we're pretty sure the Greeks used to see him as, even if he kept madness as one of his domains.

Edit:It was actually during The Bronze Age that this was true, here's a video by Overly Sarcasitc Productions that talks about the subject.

 

Synecrtism is always weird in settings where the gods are real.