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. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2017
    Messages:
    1,714
    Likes Received:
    9,865
    Thanagar, from that run in DC comics, is a society that never developed morality beyond might makes right. Their religious leaders have their own personal ninja assassins, and cops gun down children so that "they won't be a threat in the future."

    I don't recall him doing anything more villainous other than being a representative of a government that has as a collective has no more morals than a rabid meth house rat, though.
     
  2. Mquz

    Mquz Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2018
    Messages:
    2,117
    Likes Received:
    8,239
    Then it’s no longer the same Metal. It could just be used to perfectly isolate normal wires from the rest of the world, maybe. Not sure of the physics on that, but if you seal a normal wire from anything it could transfer heat to, you might be able to create something approaching the conditions for superconductors via supercooling (not sure how that works, I’m assuming by preventing the Metal from transferring energy away), and use another mundane metal for the superconductor.
     
  3. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2015
    Messages:
    5,521
    Likes Received:
    20,824
    You're thinking of subatomic particle arrangement not atomic topology.
     
    Handlewithcare likes this.
  4. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2017
    Messages:
    1,714
    Likes Received:
    9,865
    Nth metal manipulates the four fundamental forces of the universe. The flight is through gravity manipulation. It can do other stuff thanks to the power of electromagnetism such as....

    It can store energy. The Silver Scarab armor absorbs solar energy and then fires the absorbed energy as laser attacks.

    It can transform energy into another form of energy. Ancient Egyptian Hawkman flew by powering his Nth metal with Baghdad batteries in one comic, converting electromagnetic energy into gravitational energy. Another Hawkman comic established that Thanagar's floating cities were powered by the Hawk god's stolen energies. So Thanagar is like powered by a forsaken child, if the forsaken child in question is a deity capable of apocalyptic destruction. The Claw of Horus is powered by tapping into the Earth's magnetic field, so I'd assume it converts magnetic energy into kinetic energy, it can also project energy blasts of some sort.

    It can project the energy it's absorbed.

    Since it can absorb energy, I imagine it could be used as a resistor, but I'm not an engineer, so perhaps my ignorance is showing there.

    And since Nth metal can absorb and then project the absorbed energy, I don't see why it couldn't be used as effectively a superconductor.

    A bit of trivia- Synn was trapped in a Nth metal cage for millenia. Considering Synn is one of the Seven Devils of Thanagar, I would assume that his cage was set up to drain his magical energy so he couldn't get out.

    Nth metal can also manipulate the energy of the Emotional Spectrum. The Claw of Horus merged with a star sapphire to self upgrade.

    Synn the undisputed master of all things Nth Metal in DC, used his control over Nth metal to disrupt Sand's intermolecular cohesion and Flash's protective aura.

    Nth metal is also psycho-reactive much like the Emotional Spectrum is. Nth metal objects have been shown to be controlled by thought on more than one occasion. Hawkman and Hawkgirl defeated Synn by channeling their love into the Claw of Horus, and that was before the star sapphire upgrade.

    I'd imagine that Thanagarians cheat by using Nth metal as much as they can- It can work as armor, generator, mode of transportation, weapon system, and user interface.
     
  5. Mquz

    Mquz Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2018
    Messages:
    2,117
    Likes Received:
    8,239
    Problem with using it as a superconductor - it doesn’t seem to conduct, but absorb energy, then release it when somehow triggered. It can’t necessarily do both simultaneously. What you’re explaining it is is some sort of battery. Batteries store and release energy. Superconductors just transmit it without any being lost - and we’re not even sure if that’s the case here. It probably has some use in computer engineering, but it seems like it’s not a superconductor, since it hasn’t been shown to necessarily do both at the same time. Like, it could absorb energy in one state, and then change states to release that energy in another form.
    It’s a metal that can hold an extreme charge absorbed from preety much any source, which sort of makes sense with the huge amount of protons it has compared to neutrons, but makes it a battery and not a superconductor.

    Not that it really matters, since that would still be useful for data storage at the least - physically storing 1s and 0s in a permanent pattern. And you might be able to design computing around it, despite it not being a superconductor - the computer would just work a little differently than ones from Earth.

    The main difference between a battery and a superconductor is that while a superconductor in a loop is essentially a battery - capable of storing energy as a strong magnetic field, a superconductor can also do more if it’s not in a loop, by transmitting energy without loss - it doesn’t heat up or waste energy as you use it.

    Thing is, you’d still be able to replicate and read a computer system made from Nth Metal, so long as you could tell what parts were charged or not. Since the ring can read any language, it might be able to read data from a computer by picking up binary as a comprehensible language, and translating the meaning/ emotion behind having the Nth Metal charged in a certain way (if that’s how ting translation works).

    Any physical storage - disk systems, flash drives, etc. if they weren’t designed with charging Nth Metal as the storage medium - modern disks use tiny scratches / different states of them to store memory, which could be picked up by a power ring due to having a different state than parts surrounding it, and even if Nth Metal stores info via charging different parts of a disk, the ring might still pick that up by examining the state of various parts of the Nth Metal - reading the 1s and 0s.
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2019
    Obliviated fan and Chaoswind like this.
  6. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2017
    Messages:
    1,714
    Likes Received:
    9,865
    According to whom?

    Nth Metal absorbed energy from the Hawk God to keep the cities of Thanagar floating for millenia in the comics.

    So Nth Metal was absorbing, converting, and projecting energy continuously.
     
    Bramble Thorn and Ardy like this.
  7. Amrynel

    Amrynel Wat.

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2015
    Messages:
    79
    Likes Received:
    841
    Nth Metal: the unobtainium that goes around beating up all the other unobtainiums and yoinking their shticks.
     
  8. Mquz

    Mquz Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2018
    Messages:
    2,117
    Likes Received:
    8,239
    Hm... maybe then? Reading storage directly is still a thing a ring should be able to do
     
  9. Mquz

    Mquz Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2018
    Messages:
    2,117
    Likes Received:
    8,239
    DC Rebirth now has better unobtanium that does different things with 10th metal and the 5 metals that go into it. For example, Lazarus pits apparently work due to a specific type of unobtanium.
     
  10. Sceptic

    Sceptic Critical Irrationalist

    Joined:
    Jan 1, 2016
    Messages:
    1,462
    Likes Received:
    9,634
    I wouldn't make all of my computer chips out of it. Probably not even most of them.
     
  11. Stsword

    Stsword Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2017
    Messages:
    1,714
    Likes Received:
    9,865
    Yes, I feel Nth Metal, with its control over the four fundamental forces, is rather close to Dilustel, which gives control over matter and energy on the quantum level.
     
  12. lefthandturnsignal

    lefthandturnsignal Making the rounds.

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2018
    Messages:
    46
    Likes Received:
    162
    Sounds like Nth metal would be close-ish to a capacitor. Sort of the opposite of a normal wire which is slightly inductive. Definitely a use for it in computers and power transmission, but it's probably not used for wires.
     
  13. Sockmonkey

    Sockmonkey I trust you know where the happy button is?

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2016
    Messages:
    579
    Likes Received:
    3,033
    Human standards of dress don't apply to a street any more than they do to birds where the males tend to be the most frilly and colorful.
     
    Obliviated fan likes this.
  14. Impartial Panic

    Impartial Panic I trust you know where the happy button is?

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2014
    Messages:
    695
    Likes Received:
    10,774
    Hell it worked for Wakanda why not anyone else with magic plot metal.

    Space magic bullshit plot metal.
     
  15. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    1,079
    Likes Received:
    4,181
    All right.

    thought

    This is what I was thinking, too. I would also accept that it could (with proper doping) act as a transistor.
     
    nobodez and Mr Zoat like this.
  16. Nioz

    Nioz Know what you're doing yet?

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2016
    Messages:
    207
    Likes Received:
    565
    Not gonna lie, sounds like you are talking about Graphene here. . .
     
    Bramble Thorn likes this.
  17. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    1,079
    Likes Received:
    4,181
    It also sounds like silicon. The general principle applies to any semiconductor.
     
    Obliviated fan and Bramble Thorn like this.
  18. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,696
    Likes Received:
    729,038
    Thank you, corrected.
     
    Bramble Thorn likes this.
  19. Threadmarks: Wing and Dagger (part 10)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,696
    Likes Received:
    729,038
    21st January
    17:31 GMT


    I don't know what I was expecting, but I'm pretty sure this wasn't it.

    A young thanagarian woman dressed in an even-more-impractical-than-normal rendition of the Thanagarian military uniform is currently singing her heart out to the obvious enjoyment of the thanagarian -and the suitably armigerous alien- great and good sitting at the surrounding tables. Her dancing is energetic, and incorporates her wings with both gestures and short aerial sections to emphasise her athleticism. I've got my rings recording the whole thing, and I… Think I'll send a copy to Ms Parish once I return to Earth.

    The song itself… Personally, I found that hearing the words in English just messed up the rhyme schemes too much, so I instructed my ring to stop translating it. And then -because Quarish uses.. very different sounds to English- I was stuck listening to what sounds like the most metal screeching fit ever. I actually found myself chuckling because of the dissonance between the upbeat popular music instrumentals and the caterwauling coming from the singer. It's not unpleasant or anything, but as with a lot of alien things I'm finding it decidedly odd.

    Ambassador Klus leans in as the performance comes to an end, his surviving eyebrow raised in a distinctly non-thanagarian gesture of enquiry.

    "What do you think?"

    The singer makes a thanagarian bow gesture, head and wings tilted back, as thanagarians and longer-serving aliens pound their tables. I give mine a couple of bangs too.

    "I think that to appreciate the song I would need to understand the language far better than I do. To.. my ears, the lyrics and the music didn't quite… Match?"

    The singer strikes her left palm with her right fist, then heads back off stage.

    "Next, she's going to be performing a song.. inspired by the music of the aboriginal population of her homeworld, Havania. You might find that the tone matches your auditory range a little better." I nod. "Do you know the planet?"

    "I haven't visited. I know it's.. one of Thanagar's 'old' colonies. Slightly unusual in that it's controlled by a hereditary aristocracy."

    "That sort of thing wasn't too unusual back when it was founded, though we've moved to a more individualistic system since then." He sits back. "Thanagar itself is heavily militarised, but I don't want to give the impression that militarism is all there is to know of thanagarian society. Music is a far more palatable cultural touchstone for many of our alien guests."

    "She didn't come all this way just for me, I hope?"

    "No, she's touring Thanagar at the moment. If you'd been a hundred days later you would probably have missed her entirely."

    "She's clearly quite talented. What's her name?"

    "Bleez." He frowns as I start spasmodically blinking. "Have you.. heard of her?"

    "Yes. Yes, I-" Bleez returns to the stage, her new costume even less conservative than the last, and her.. entire body painted pale blue. "-hhhhhave."

    "I suppose that on your travels-."

    "No. No. Um. You are aware that Earth has a good deal more magic use than…"

    "'Any' would be more than Thanagar. If you're building up to claiming something you think that I will think is impossible, you needn't worry. I've been fully briefed."

    "I'm a citizen of the country of Themyscira. We have an.. oracle. Some time ago I.. read a… Book. A winged woman named 'Bleez' with skin that colour featured."

    "That's just a fashion statement. Quite popular on some of the colonies, though it's never caught on here. And what did this prophecy say about Bleez?"

    She begins singing, notes starting low and having an almost hiccupy quality to them. Each is held and sustained at a perfect pitch for several seconds. There are no words, she's simply using her voice and lungs as an instrument. The 'aboriginal' inhabitants of Havania -read, the native population now marginalised by the dominant thanagarians- are raniform amphibians. If she's matching their vocal range-.

    And then she starts dancing. The martial gestures of the thanagarian song are replaced with gentler, sinuous motions as she twists and bends and maintains the notes. I've got no idea how she's breathing.

    "It mostly concerned how she behaved after some fairly traumatic experiences. Tell me, would you consider Havania well defended?"

    "It's a mature colony. There's a defence network and a picket fleet. It's not up to Thanagar's standards and the locals have opposed further militarization. They have no need to fear raiders, though I suppose.. if there was a serious attack which took us by surprise..." He shifts in his seat as the.. astonishingly… Weirdly beautiful sound flows over us. "Illustres, if you know about a threat to the Thanagarian Empire or its citizens-."

    "Sinestro. Thaal Sinestro. At some point -I don't know when- he takes a Lantern battlegroup there. The planet supposedly gets ransacked. Bleez is taken as a concubine by one of his men."

    "Sinestro is no longer a Green Lantern."

    I open my hands and draw his attention to my rings. "They come in several colours. Sinestro's followers supposedly will use yellow rings."

    "I.. see."

    "Though obviously we'd both rather prevent the issue ever coming up. To the best of my knowledge he's a Corps of one at the moment." Unless Dox has given him ideas. "Though just in case…" I take a card out of subspace, draw a yellow sigil on it and pass it over. "This symbol? Don't trust it."

    "What does it represent?"

    "Sinestro's Corps, Sinestro himself… And fear. According to what I read, Sinestro's initial line up will be comprised of psychotic criminals, the sort of people who delight in the fear of their victims."

    I really hope none of that stuff happens. I take a moment to listen to a complicated series of note changes… I think I could grow to like this… And take a look at Ms Parker. She's… Frowning. Ah, she doesn't recognise any of the music. That's… Unfortunate. Hector, Kara and their minder have already left to do some sightseeing. I'll have to play a sample to Kara later and see what she makes of it.

    "Do you know how reliable these prognostications are?"

    "No. To date, most of them have been somewhat true. I've.. flown halfway across the galaxy and found someone exactly where I thought they'd be more than once. Other things are only accurate in broad swaths. And some are almost totally inaccurate, or just don't mention particular things."

    "Is there anything else Thanagar needs to worry about?"

    "The Seven Devils. Onimar Synn regaining corporeal form is very bad. I'm usually against state restrictions on religion, but I'll make an exception there."

    "And the others?"

    "I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with the others."

    "I'm an atheistic materialist myself, but I read up on our mythology to prepare for this meeting. Ichthultu.. supposedly, taught our people how to farm. Thasaro was described as a violent scourge, but also as one who taught his followers the virtue of strength, and the militant ethos we embrace today. If such beings do exist, can you say for certain that it would be wrong to trade with them, as we do with alien races today?"

    I shrug as the song comes to an end. "No. I've treated with strange beings before. And I worship the Olympian Goddess of Chaos. I suppose the only insight that I've got to offer is that it is exceedingly unwise to call up anything you can't put down. Or to make a pact with no way to enforce it."

    Another round of table thumping, and as I actually liked this one I put a little more effort into it.

    "Sound advice. Would you like to meet Bleez? That's the end of her set, but there are other-."

    "Yes. Yes, I would, please."
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2019
  20. Massgamer

    Massgamer Not too sore, are you?

    Joined:
    May 9, 2015
    Messages:
    478
    Likes Received:
    2,798
    Paul continuing to steal lanterns away from various corps.

    How many will that make so far?
     
  21. Ardy

    Ardy I trust you know where the happy button is?

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2017
    Messages:
    641
    Likes Received:
    3,469
    Hah, looks like it's not just Grayven who's into girls with wings.
     
  22. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2019
    Messages:
    1,289
    Likes Received:
    12,975
    I can't tell if the idea of trading with these entities is just good pragmatism or really bad hubris.
     
  23. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    2,149
    Likes Received:
    33,434
    Should these be plurals? Unless there's only one individual of each category present (and given this seems to be a large party, I doubt that)

    Good thing he wasn't drinking! :D

    Ah, the reputation of Earth Bullshit precedes it. ;)

    Some time ago I.. read a… Book.
    Also: A good alternative excuse for his knowledge, off-world anyway.

    'Raniform'? No link explaining it? For the peanut gallery: Frog-like form.

    Big... Lungs.

    I would be...Wary.

    And for Eris' sake, read the fine print of any contract!

    Oh, that Sinestro Corps info is gonna be important in the future, isn't it. Another one for the mantelpiece, Chekov? :)
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2019
  24. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,696
    Likes Received:
    729,038
    No, I think that's correct.
    Thank you, corrected.
    What can I say? I have high expectations of my readers.
     
  25. NightmareWarden

    NightmareWarden Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2015
    Messages:
    1,093
    Likes Received:
    5,097
    Aha! I think this is the first time Eris has come up she woke up in bed with Paul and led a dangerous angel to his Themysciran doorstep.
    I do remember Paul reached out to Hades after his trip to the Silver City so we knew his second choice for an afterlife has not changed. I wonder if Paul is going to have a breakup talk with Eris in the future.
     
  26. Mquz

    Mquz Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2018
    Messages:
    2,117
    Likes Received:
    8,239
    Considering they all seem to be Lovecraftian abominations, and demand excessive sacrifices, making deals sounds like a bad idea... unless you can cheat and sacrifice soulless clone bodies, for example, or, considering this is Thanagar, sacrifice poor people / invaded people to give benefits to the rich / Thanagar. Nuking a planet for eldritch knowledge seems like something Thanagar would do - in a “if we’re gonna do it anyway, might as well make the deaths useful” sort of way.
     
  27. BR549

    BR549 This is filth! FILTH!!

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2017
    Messages:
    637
    Likes Received:
    4,552
    "Bleez of Havania, what do you want?"
     
  28. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2015
    Messages:
    5,521
    Likes Received:
    20,824
    Oh... Well... That's not good...

    Let's just hope it doesn't choose now to wake up, cause that's one of those things even the Ophidion probably couldn't defeat.
     
  29. Queshire

    Queshire Not too sore, are you?

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2019
    Messages:
    466
    Likes Received:
    2,769
    Eh.... It's hard to take seriously when you know that they only named it that because they didn't realize they could just call it Cthulhu.
     
  30. ForeverShogo

    ForeverShogo Not too sore, are you?

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2016
    Messages:
    453
    Likes Received:
    2,723
    Well, if you have to poach anyone, you could do a LOT worse than poaching Bleez. She is quite the beauty. And I suppose sparing her from her canon fate is good too.
     
Loading...