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

I'm rereading a bit of the Earth -16 episode and the mentions of the Zatara Crime Family's signature backwards-talking magic that can't really be faked. I remember Sephtian's excitement and bafflement at testing her ability as well. Is the source of their logomancy in this setting going to be given an explanation at some point?
I personally have a headcanon about Leonardo da Vinci (Zatanna's ancestor) and Dream of the Endless being lovers or at least patron and..patronee? (what would someone who has a patron be called?), to explain the power of words reshaping reality.

 

Not in ancient Greek! Χ was an aspirated velar stop, which means "kh" (the h isn't silent) is exactly the right way to describe it. And Themysciran Greek is closer to ancient Greek than modern or even Koine Greek, as they broke away from the rest of civilization circa 1200 BC.

Also, χαίρετε is specifically plural, so it's a greeting for groups of people.

There's not a precise word in modern English for it. If you backtrack to definitions that are obsolete in modern use, the appropriate term is "protege."

 

Zoat seems to be going with the Zatara logomancy being a genetic legacy- can't be faked because for non-Zataras it's as magical as pig latin.

 

I figured, but I was wondering if he'd provide an origin for it like he's done for other things (like the Genomorphs coming from a Kryptonian 'unicorn'-hybrid)

 

Also it is used specifically as what is called politeness plural. Generally it is a semiformal to formal way to say hello to someone or someones who you are not familiar with or to whom you were introduced for the first time.

As for this:

I will remain skeptical until someone links me an actual academic paper, and just treat it as the quick and easy excuse that Hollywood used it as; to not bother to get things right with an (admittedly) troublesome to get right language.

 

Probably not.

Sounds about right.

 

You know how Paul bought 40k did he bring back the squats?

 

https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521335558 says (emphasis in original):

 

'forced'

'attaches'

'stripes'

Well he's either telling the truth and they died, which would explain why Paul can't contact them, or they're still alive but loosing the fight.

 

Just finished another re-read.
Feels like it's been awhile since Paul used old classics like the Pithing Needle.

 

Ah, good on you. He'll probably find it more useful than you will now, and even the odds a little. Assuming things come down to close melee. And given that they didn't simply bombard New Cronus from their ships in the first place... I'd say the Ascendants want to get up close and personal.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Indeed. Though I don't doubt it'll take him a moment to work out how to empower it.

He's a pragmatic fellow, he'll use any advantage he can get...

I take it that's been frustrating him thus far. But with any luck he won't need to use it.

I can imagine him pausing as OL watches with amusement, then opens one eye and asks, "Um... Why aren't I dead yet?"

Ah, your first Error: OL isn't on New Cronus' side, officially. When someone busts in and starts shooting at the people you're talking to, you don't stand there saying "I'm not with them, thanks." You duck and shoot back.

To be fair, I can see him not knowing, actually. If he's low rank, he's probably had the old mushroom treatment like the rest of the lads....

Ah, OL. Only you could use a philosophic discussion as an opener for peace talks, in the middle of a firefight.

...I mean, you're not not looking like a god right now, flying above and holding him in a grand grasp...

And what good soldier doesn't want to avoid them or their mates dying?

Not if you don't ask, certainly.

Ah, progress! Show a bit of spine, though. Just because he's holding you by the scruff of your neck doesn't mean you can't be firm.

Good to see the comms disruption isn't applying to them. Makes it much easier than going flying looking for said Primus.

That is a good point. Most of the Titan's army is Karrakanian, isn't it? except where it's been supplemented by Minosyssines (Minosyssi? Argh, the nomenclature...) Depending on how long the trip from Karrakan took, some of the older ones would still remember the old days? Assuming it took years to get here...

Necessitating a show of trust on their part. Not that I doubt OL couldn't carve his way out of the enemy positions...

Now that's going to take a much higher Diplomacy check Difficulty Class... Let's hope OL can diplomance his way through it...

So, stand around, hurry up and wait, no shooting? Sounds good. Smoke if you got them!

Thankfully OL's shields are tough enough to tank their shots, if someone has a twitchy trigger finger. Wouldn't do to get the grunt shot...

Recognising an Ascendant fighting for the enemy, no doubt. I'll bet that's a shock, all right.

Yeah, no simply marching across a border without a proper Cassus Belli. That sort of thing went out centuries ago.

Heh. That would put the defenders at quite the advantage, since I doubt any of Sparta's Ascendants are gods of healing.

A helpful carrot there.

Ah, right. The other guy didn't have a scabbard, did he?

As long as it's not the naughty kind of 'sheathing'...

Though I suspect Athyns is feeling a little exposed. OL might be able to tank their shots, but...

Plus, I doubt either corpse's armour was in the best shape, given the force needed to kill them. Something many adventurers forget about when they're looting everything not nailed down (and rummaging for prybars for the things that are.)

Ah, good sensible rank markings. No golden cuirasses or big, flashy crests here, eh?

Which I suspect outranks the Primus just a bit. But it's not like high-ranked officers have never had to make peace with low ranks before...

If they weren't so honourable about these things, I suspect a meaner man would be chuckling to himself evilly... Imagine the bounty on such a person.

...Not literally, I hope. I doubt the Titans went down that easily.

Ah, reasonable discourse and polite discussion. The best way to break up an armed scuffle. It's a lot easier when you've got the biggest guns with which to enforce a cease-fire, though, which OL does. It'll be interesting to hear what the Primus means by that last statement, though. Let's hope the Titans aren't feeling desperate. Especially Coeus...

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

Well they may share something else in common with New Gods.

Plus he may still have some New God energy in him and this guy can sense it, probably due to being surrounded by the Ascendant.

They are outnumbered and in their avatars they would be weaker than they would be in full power, so Sparta and the other Ascendant may have been able to kill them.

 

Hades is gonna stop letting OL take his daughter out.

 

I really hope Melinoë isn't included in that statement or Paul is in some deep shit.

 

Maybe he's just Nietzschean.

 

Doing something of a reread, now I'm rethinking this in light of more recent chapters revealing Paul's tattoos are making him into something equivalent to a new god(Avatar off the Ophidian), and wondering whether Earl Dukeston has much chance of ending up as Avatar of this god of technology, he already has technology control abilities, and his soul was created using a fetish of the god of technology's power.

Also, this scene got me thinking about the confrontation with Boss Smiley some more:

It sort of seemed like Boss Smiley is actually an impressive master planner from that whole confrontation, aside from being able to hijack a bunch of saints' energy in the first place, the important thing is how he went about that whole confrontation, with a series of goals of increasing difficulty and decreasing likeliness of success, starting with a possible goal of ill-disposing the religious community towards OL, then the deaths of those associates driving the technological revolution(later reversed by resurrection) then the destruction of the Sword of the Fallen(apparently successful, but probably reversible by a method I've just come up with, but also removing one of the only things we're sure could kill Smiley), then putting OL in a disadvantageous position to try to offer a series of deals.

So basically I've been assuming that the destruction of the sword was planned, and have been wondering why Grayven hasn't been seeing more pushback.

But also I've been thinking that Smiley is probably why every parallel version of Sivana except for the theoretical physicist ended up a supervillain. Because only the one that didn't produce practical applications wasn't a threat to the balance of power, and it wouldn't be that difficult to convince people to not invest in his tech, and to convince Sivana himself to take revenge and become a supervillain.

Anyway, getting to how time travel is related to Smiley, I suspect that there will be a future anti-smiley alliance, and Sivana will be critical, because he could use a time machine to go back and pick up the Sword of the Fallen from before the Angels would have destroyed it. I know that the whole 'perception of a series of events in time leading to the present to avoid paradox' thing is unnecessary since OL changed how time works, but by the same token it probably wouldn't be that hard to fake the sword to a casual analysis followed by destruction, just in case for some reason they want to avoid creating a noticeably distinct hypertime branch.

 

I don't think Smiley planned the destruction of the Sword.

At least not in the way it happened, but it could be possible.

As for why renegade hasn't been confronted with Smiley, well that could be because Smiley is more cautious around him.

If he's aware of Apokalips then he may not want to have a fight with someone from there, at least not without extensive preparation.

Smiley could think that if he got in renegades way then he'd also have to deal with Darkseid, which would be extremely dangerous.

And that theory about Sivana could prove to be true.

Georgie is researching why advanced tech isn't spread more and she may discover Smiley, so that could be a way her the Sivana family to get involved.

 

Theoretically, sure.

But I doubt it. As the soldier stated, they are here to kill the gods, they have no orders about their followers.

So if they finished their mission, why are they still fighting instead of trying to leave?

Mission Accomplished, after all.

 

Going to be honest, I don't remember what that is.

 

It's a construct that creates a needle that, when inserted into a human's body, will render them mostly unable to move. Effectiveness against non-humans or altered humans may vary.

 

Because either the followers are still fighting them or Sparta's followers just want to keep fighting and killing to sate their bloodlust.

 

Alternatively, the Primus could be lying. Not saying he necessarily is, just that it's clearly an option.

 

True.

Or it could be that some of them are still alive and fighting, but losing to the point that they're unlikely to live much longer, so the Primus considers them dead already.

 

Yes. Also, the Primus could have been lied to by someone else (e.g. Sparta).

 

Did Paragon just forget that they are God's so would be included in the previously given "God's were killed" reference?

 

Even if they didn't fight they may have still been killed.

They probably feel like the Titans, what with being Old Gods and having the power of Erebus flowing through them.

I think she may also want to turn the planet the Titans were planning on ruling into a New Karrakan, which the natives may not like.

So he's either trying to lie or he doesn't know about the New Karrakan plan.

We knew they were probably religious zealots, but this just confirms it.

Or she herself may believe it.

She's probably a bit crazy and she may also not have too much information on what happened so formed her story of the Titans destroying the planet yo explain what happened, both forvherself and her followers.

It also requires her to be me mentally stable to do it, which may not be the case.

If she isn't then you're just giving godlike power to a maniac.

 

What's you're point?

It's pretty clear that OL has a less than stellar evaluation of these people's capabilities, knowledge, or general competence. Why wouldn't he double check?