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

Yes that's what I was referring to, as his closest analogous technique to Renegade's hush tubes for universe-scale teleportation (is the finger to the forehead thing absolutely necessary for the DBZ version? Paragon only does it in homage to that).
Though actually, since Dox was able to create a boom tube with his power ring, maybe that's something Paragon can learn to do as well (it's understandable if he can't, since Dox is a genius and all, but since the ring is the one doing all the computational sciencey stuff anyway, Paragon should theoretically be able to).

 

'built'

So much for no fusion bombardments.

He might be good with the hard sciences and running numbers, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's good with other types of sciences, like psychology.

And he's a Paul, so he's extra confusing and frustrating.

Hmm, he may have the same idea as that Jevek guy and may be frustrated that their most powerful force, the Lanterns, require specific emotions to function and their recruitment pool is not that big so he wants to make hyper powerful soldiers that don't require certain emotions to do some things.

And I think Zoat mentioned that renegade was going to study this, so we finally got to it.

I also think he mentioned that it would lead to him meeting the Teen Titans, but I'm not so sure about that one.

You did give Lane data on New Gods and their metaphysiques, so you can give one to Dox.

Though he may want to gather the data by himself.

Maybe you can somehow go to Earth 50 and capture some Apokaliptians for him, or Actual Grayven or any New Gods he has working for him.

Or hell you can ask Knockout to agree to be studied by Dox in some probably very invasive ways.

Given that she grew up on Apokalips her being vivisected by Desaad for displeasing Darkseid may be a possibility.

 

X’hal? When did she first show up in renegade again?

 

Never.

She really hasn't shown up in this story aside from being mentioned a few times.

Though I think renegade had some sort of vision involving her burning Psion cities, so there'sthat.

 

Damn. I forgot who callous Renegade can be.

 

Nice to see some honest employer-employee interactions (probably something more in the realm of fiction than reality at this point...).

I feel like Renegade would have specified Weaponer Lysis here, since she would be the obvious point of contact to learning about Qwardian technology.

I don't fully understand Renegade's reservation on letting Dox study New Gods, unless he's worried that the latter will use that knowledge against him somehow. Sunset is/was basically doing the same thing, from a thaumaturgical perspective, and they both work for him (though they admittedly have big differences in their physical and social proximity to him).

A race of X'Hals would be very interesting. Has Renegade considered advancing Desaad's research on Awakening to non-Earth species? (assuming there are ways to do that ethically that his Mother Box would approve of). Or is it only possible for Earth because it's the Fifth World or something?

 

I think it's possible for humans to be Awakened due to the Life Entity living on their planet.

 

Hmm, what we have here is a failure to communicate!

Relevant gif.

 

It took a moment to remember what planet this is: Homeworld of the Branx, and the Nimbus. If I remember correctly, the Renegade let the Tamaraneans ransack the place for spacefleet yards and revenge. Guess their recovery from that isn't going so well...

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Heh. Never underestimate the violent impulses of a species that were the local weapons dealers.

Been getting a bit behind in your reading, Lord Grayven? Too busy canoodling with your equestrian lady?

I'm guessing this Dox is heading right down his canon trajectory of 'micromanaging asshole'. But really, you couldn't have the rings summarize for you?

It's kind of your fault that they're in this mess, what with the whole 'confined to their homeworld' thing...

... I... <Bites tongue> So many things I could say...

"The answer, if you must know, is obviously 'Yes'." Boy, I kind of feel for this Dox... Amazed he hasn't snapped and beaten someone to death with his bare hands yet...

Lesser corps taking shots of opportunity at once-stronger foes, eh? I can just imagine the mayhem breaking out. Like a world-wide game of Syndicate or Cyberpunk... But with no real win condition besides 'survive!'

What part of 'controlled by networks of corporations' did you not comprehend?

I suppose they needed some manner of interceding organisation. If only to prevent the kind of corporate warfare currently going on.

Guess someone got sick of them trying to calm things down?

To be fair, aren't you basing that on Earth? Remember, the Branx were interstellar before your little beatdown.

Since they had plenty of backstock just waiting to be used, and all...

And people knock me for taunting Murphy? I'm an amateur compared to the Renegade.

Only drawback of them bombing themselves back into the stone age... He won't be able to make use of them in the coming fighting...

Presumably they had to wait until they had the comparative high ground of being the aggrieved party? Tossing nukes around tanks your international reputation, after all. Or they were led by the Branx equivalent of Civilisation Gandhi.

The map must have been quite the patchwork of overlapping spheres of interest. In the past tense, at least.....

Assuming you can get anything out of the radioactive cinder it's shaping up to become. But unlike, say, the Krogans, they're not going to recover so well...

If you'd deigned to intercede before war broke out, maybe?

Well, at least you can see how that bit you in the arse now. Typical short-term thinking of a Renegade...

Yes, you can feel his desire to give you the old 'are you stupid' glare, can't you?...

You might have had to make a few examples of less cooperative groups, but that wouldn't have taken long...

Oh, going for the malicious compliance angle, Dox? Boy, he must really be fuming inside, under that iron self-control...

Probably didn't help that some of your decisions were made on a whim. That'd be hard to code the random factor for.

...Say a prayer for the dead and let it burn?

Then maybe you should have paid attention to Vega more?

So, short of a total conquest that shatters all existing power bases, there's no options. And that option would basically cripple the systems you want to make use of...

It's your own damn fault, Renegade. You made this bed, now you're having to lie in it.

Yeah, giving him carte blanche might be going too far the other way, after all. I'm sure the Renegade still has some memories how badly Dox can fuck up when left to his own devices...

You'd definitely want someone whose loyalty is unquestionable. No point making a Tamaranean god of war that'll decide you aren't worthy of their fealty.

Of course, Lysis is available, probably. But we haven't seen how amenable she is to sharing her own tech yet, really...

Given that it'll likely demand invasive analyses, and all the New Gods you have available are friends? Just a bit.

Ah, always a pleasure to see the Renegade reap the results of what he sows. A pity an entire planet is suffering for his hasty decisions. I mean, they can't all be assholes, after all. We can but hope that he actually bothers to think about things a little more next time the opportunity arises... Like when the fight with Grayven-16 begins.

 

Which in this fic is basically the reason for the numbering of the Worlds, in what Zoat said was 'canon welding' on his part; the Maltusians apparently just moved the Life Entity around the universe and Earth is the current/fifth spot for it.
Though I do wonder if the beings on Earth who qualify for Awakening (which includes non-human life, though I'm not sure about non-sapient, given that Michael Tawny was already human-level intelligent- I kind of want to see an Awakened/New God tree or something now) have to fulfil some metaphysical requirement of 'belonging' to Earth or something. Superboy was created on Earth so his soul would presumably be composed of Earthly magics, more or less, if I understand the mechanics right, but New Godhood doesn't work for him. Desaad's work seemed to revolve entirely around humans, and honestly it's only the fact that it was possible to Awaken Michael that raises questions about the range/applicability of the Awakening process beyond 'homo sapiens who grew up on Earth'; how much of it is due to the nature of your physical biology and how much to the nature of your soul? If Superman and Lois had a kid right now, would that kid be able to be Awakened?
(I occasionally ask if any more members of the League or Team have considered they want to get Awakened; or, for the Paragon side of things, wanted to get the Danner or Garrick formulas if they were viable; I guess I'm asking if there are any changes on that front. I recently reread the whole wargame episode where Green Arrow seemed open to finally getting enhancements of some kind, but I don't think there's been any narrative follow-up of that).

I wonder if that can become a logical weak point that the original Grayven can seize upon; I tend to imagine their godly struggle as a metaphysical court case or public debate presented before the judge/audience that is the Source/Universe, over who is the superior God of Conquest. Something like 'you are a foolish, hasty ruler who cannot manage the resources of your empire' that would (potentially) undermine Renegade's confidence, in a spiritual battle where psychological warfare is potentially as important if not more so than physical combat.

 

I think Zoat mentioned that it would be possible for alien species that are born on Earth to be Awakened, but that it would require several generations for it to work.

 

He may have thought that there was a government there, but that corporations basically had the actual power.

This is true, but don't think we'll go easy on you just because someone is even more reckless.

She did make a ring.

Though so did Kalmin and he's still reluctant to share.

There's always Apokalips 50.

And renegade could Awaken some very unpleasant people, like serial killers pedophiles, rapists etc, and let Dox go to town on them.

Though that could lead to a X'hal situation.

Don't get your hopes up.

 

I am kinda happy to see that the actions of both Paul and the Renegade led to the destruction of a world in the Vega Systems; Wombworld for Paul, and now Emana Branx for the Renegade. It helps to show that both of the methodologies that they used have their ups and downs.

Mr Zoat said that trying to recreate X'Hal results in the Renegade ending up on Earth 32, where the Teen Titans exist. Getting Qwardian tech isn't likely to happen. As for studying New Gods, can't the Renegade just give him Sleez? No one important will miss him.

 

The last we saw of him was renegade and Knockout beating the crap out of him.

Renegade may have told him to leave the planet, or Sleeze left himself after that.

 

This is going to end very badly given Paragon seems to be getting his New 52 mixed up with his classic.

Because Classic X'Hal was an Okaaran not a Tamaranean.

 

Dang. Too bad Paragon-Paul’s video game company isn’t getting this tasty, tasty data.

 

Thank you, corrected.

Oh, no. No. In the medium to long term, forcing the Tamaraneans to be self-reliant while destroying a potential rival is the better choice. It's just that it creates a short term problem as we see here.

Hey, watch the Rule 8 encroachment. This is a joke.

 

Fun Fact:No one that worked on the first Civ games actually remembers if it was an issue with the programming or if they did it on purpose. I know that there's a video on the subject that questioned some of them on YouTube and, if I'm remembering correctly, one of them thought they might have done it intentionally.

It was also the "Democracy" tech that people think caused it since the Gandhi AI has a natural aggression rating of 1, the lowest possible, but the Democracy tech lowers the AI's aggression by 2, so it would cause an overflow error that would give Gandhi a maxed out aggression and make him the most antagonistic civ in the game, beating out even Genghis Khan.

Edit:Grammar, and the video itself. As it so turns out it was likely more so an issue of it being Gandhi, a man perhaps most known for being a pacifist, nuking you that was the cause of the problem, not an actual coding issue, which likely relegates Nuclear Gandhi to the realm of human imagination. At least in the old games.

 

Looks like a job for the Friendship Ponies and their Magical Friendship Laser.

 

Consequences!

Not sure why studying new gods is a problem. He can make them on demand.

 

Perhaps Dox's ability to comprehend the data? He might have to be Awakened to perceive some of it, and Awakening him would be difficult.

 

He left Dox in charge and the guy decided to no nothing without Grayven approval because you know he didn't bother to TALK to Grayven before this.

 

To be fair, the only boss he'd had before this was his father.

 

And instead of spanking or making him go to bed without supper for his failures, Vril Senior probably tortured him and starved him to see how he would react.

 

Thinking of Renegade Dox's desire to study Qwardian technology, a power ring can theoretically synthesize qwa matter, right? I think I remember Paragon doing it when on Qward to recruit Kalmin, though he admittedly had to tap into the Ophidian temporarily to pull it off.

 

You get therapy!

And you get therapy!

EVERYONE GETS THERAPY!

 

Not news, I believe Zoat established previously in comments that here in his story the Tamaraneans are descendents of the golden skinned Okaarans.

Which isn't really that far away from the canon in the comics, since the golden skinned Okaarans and the Branx warriors were the only organic sapient species that actually evolved naturally in the Vega system.

The rest were created by the Psions.

Since there is no reason to believe they made them from scratch instead of using the DNA already available, the Tamaraneans probably do have golden Okaaran DNA in them in New Earth continuity.

Especially since Auron, the half golden Okaaran/Branx son of X'Hal, was not turned into energy like his mother but was simply able to metabolize his mother's energy for flight and energy blasts, just like Tamaraneans can metabolize solar energy.

Regardless, if Zoat was keeping to the comics, it wouldn't actually matter in the first place.

X'Hal's transformation was not racial in nature- The Psions intentionally turned her into energy. Which they did immediately after X'Hal's neck was broken, which means they did immediately with no plans or preperation to do so. Which means there's no reason to believe there was a racial component to it. The Psions just had "turn people into energy beings" technology. Apparently the reason the Psions don't rule the universe as a race of nigh omnipotent energy beings is because they want to torture people for "Science," not turn people into nigh omnipotent energy beings.

The psions mistake was in thinking that X'Hal had kept her sweet empathetic cooperative nature and not gained psychological issues over being raped and abused again and again and again.

And just like Zoat didn't incorporate Icon's "can give anyone kryptonian style powers" aspect, or "evolving radiation that can make anyone Superman-like" in Captian Comet's origin, I wouldn't expect him to use "can turn anyone into planet destroying nigh omnipotent energy beings" aspect of X'Hal's origin either.

Because Paul and his omnipotent friends benignly rule the universe is a recipe for boring invincible hero.

 

Missing closing quote.

 

This makes sense.

In this story Zoat made it so that they were genetically made to be sadistic little bastards and also educated and brainwashed in it.

And in the comics they basically imprisoned and raped the only members of their species capable of empathy.

Doing doing stupid things for completely evil reasons is one of the things the Psions are good at.