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

Yes, she is knitting herself back together a bit, isn't she? I'd assume it's the killing down below giving her some sort of boost, though I suppose it could be the presence of her ships.

So either empowered by people dying in combat, like Ares, or because she's on her base of power.

"I haven't counted how many, but it is a large number. And I fully intend to eat yours once Grayven is done with you."

"You want to eat Apokolips? Good luck.

Technically you're human, so Earth is your home and they may honestly have a chance at doing it.

Astarte, who was your mother?" Truth Unchanging.

Ohh, God-Speech.

So either she's been practicing or the situation got to her.

I smile at Diana as I feel the data come in. "Well done on-."

"Not now, Grayven."

Yeah, her tolerance for your bullshit hit its peak.

"I did not have confirmation that the mysterious Olympian -whoever they were- was related to you

And given the Olympian family tree everyone is related to everyone else.

but this part of what's happening-"

Darn it.

"-was not a set up."

I take my hand off is something of a hurry.

So this thing isn't a set up, but other things probably are, and you're worried you'll blurt them out.

"I mean, how many women were having sex with gods in the Old City

Probably not that many.

Though it's assuming they knew they were having sex with gods.

Shape-shifting is a thing.

Possession may also be a thing.

And in some myths they apparently have dream sex, so there's that.

It can't have been that many; you don't have that many gods.

Probably in this story, but in the actual myths...

Well the Greeks aren't Indian, but they sure had a lot of gods.

And the goddesses would have gotten annoyed about it.

That hasn't stopped them before.
 
I'd have liked more Truth in Godspeech just when the lasso was doing its thing, like when Paragon confronted the League after Nabu's (brain)death. Especially when Renegade revealed something he didn't want to.
Nice to see Diana using Godspeech though; I feel like this is the first time? Maybe she did it when using the Spear of Destiny in the Silver City, but I either didn't look for Godspeech then or forgot.

Edit: Kanto'd, but the lasso's passive Godspeech (which has been seen before) and Diana using Godspeech to boost the former are two separate though obviously related things, in my opinion. Diana channeled Truth using the Spear instead of the Lasso once (unless she was using them in conjunction and I forgot. Too bad she won't do that on Earth for a minute and weed out the Light).

3000 years of possibly magical porridge makes Astarte's prowess more understandable. I'd still expect her to be an elite member of the Citizenry due to her heritage, though, instead of everyone being on her level. I'm not sure if the Citizenry was all-woman in their comics appearance, or if it's a dig at the New 52 Amazons (or both).

I wonder if Paragon is going to encounter Astarte too; I feel like he remembered a possible storyline with her at some point. Does the GLC have records on the Citizenry?
 
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Possibly relevant to yesterday's discussion. Originally published in White Dwarf.

Elves-and-Humans-in-Warhammer.jpg
 
Is she a canon character? How the hell did she get in space I assume either magic shenanigans or alien abduction. Anyway very interesting look forward to more.
 
Is she a canon character? How the hell did she get in space I assume either magic shenanigans or alien abduction. Anyway very interesting look forward to more.
Yep.

Not sure if Astarte not remembering her mother is just due to it being a long time away from home or some kind of Citizenry brainwashing that Diana and the Lasso just broke through. If it's the latter, she might show up again or embark on some space mission of atonement or something. Otherwise I kind of assume she'll be stuck in a Themysciran prison (though I feel like there would be a danger of Ares taking a lot of interest in his daughter if she's back on Earth and breaking her out to become his right hand-woman).

Wonder if Diana is going to reach the end of her rope (pun(s) semi-intended) and just lasso Renegade at some point during this mission to figure out what's going on without bothering with covert operations.
 
Yep.

Not sure if Astarte not remembering her mother is just due to it being a long time away from home or some kind of Citizenry brainwashing that Diana and the Lasso just broke through. If it's the latter, she might show up again or embark on some space mission of atonement or something. Otherwise I kind of assume she'll be stuck in a Themysciran prison (though I feel like there would be a danger of Ares taking a lot of interest in his daughter if she's back on Earth and breaking her out to become his right hand-woman).

There might certainly be something fishy going on about her origin.

You see, her origin makes no damn sense in the comics.

Every first generation Amazon was a clay statue brought to life by Greek goddesses in New Earth continuity just as Diana was.

So Astarte going "I will be tribute!" to save an infant Hippolyta makes no sense.

Now the first generation Amazons were reincarnated, but Hippolyta was a pregnant cavewoman killed by her mate.

So if one moves it to that incarnation, then Astarte's origin should have been something like 40 to 50 thousand years ago, not 3 thousand, and Astarte would have never been an Amazon despite being the demigoddess sister of Queen Hippolyta.

So while in the comics that can probably be attributed to shoddy DC editing and writers who don't do research, Zoat might have been inspired for a more Doylist explanation.

Porridge.

They...that is...

What kind of bullshit...

It's not even like they are a predator species indulging some instinct!

They use these snakes to hunt instead!

Oh Zoat left out some of the nonsense from the comics.

You see, in the comics, after the snakes eat everyone and everything on the planet, they then eat each other until only one snake is left, and then that snake is slaughtered to feed both the crew and apparently power the ships-the ships use biofuel.
 
1st September 2012
14:51 GMT


A grey metal corridor, blue tinted lights from above making it look even colder than it actually is. Diana frowns for a moment, but the ongoing action of my healing drone appears to convince her that this isn't some sort of backstab attempt.
That would be a waste of effort. Why beat down the foe and start healing her, only to turn around and execute her? Or hand her to some other party? Who might not be so pleasant about her condition.

As if.

She slows, keeping a grip on her prisoner.

"Where are we, Grayven?"
A good question. Presumably on the Citizenry's Fleet? Come to show off their leader's defeat?

"Karras kindly pointed out which ship held their command staff. We're on it." Let's see, the interdiction systems should be that way. "Obviously we can't leave it to carry on its work, much less reach Vega. Plus…"

Scan Astarte.

Unable to comply.
Not unexpected. She's charged with magical energies, and we all know how well the basic ring handles that. :rolleyes:

Yes, she is knitting herself back together a bit, isn't she? I'd assume it's the killing down below giving her some sort of boost, though I suppose it could be the presence of her ships.

"Diana, can you do something to reduce her resilience?"
:confused: ...What do you expect her to do? Ask nicely?

"Why?"

"Because I'm trying to scan her and I can't. New Gods like me -or you, apparently- can resist some types of probe. I'd like to learn more about who we're fighting."
And perhaps get a genetic workup to confirm your suspicions?

"I can't, but we-."

I punch Astarte across the face, causing her to fly back before being tethered back to the deck by the Lasso of Truth. Subject To My Whims.
...Typical Renegade... That's not going to make Diana very happy with you...

Scan Astarte.

Unable to comply.
...And it didn't even accomplish what you wanted it to.

Ah well. I-.

Diana steps in the way.

"What are you doing?!"
Being himself: short-sighted and foolish. :p

"Trying to weaken her resilience." I lower my fist and shrug at her. "You can see how she's healing, right?"

"You will not assault my prisoner."
Not unless you want Diana to give you the same treatment...

"What, you want to do it? I suppose that I could shoot her or assimilate her, but-."

"It's called the Lasso of Truth for a reason, Grayven."
...I'm not seeing a connection here.

"And how would that let me check her for internal injuries?"

"She's healing herself."

We maintain eye contact for a few moments. Alright, fine.
Evidently Diana's good graces are more valuable than giving Astarte's biology a once-over. Good.

"Astarte. What are the snakes for?"

She glowers, then the lasso glows.
Hmm... I wonder. How long has the Lasso been around? Would Astarte recognise it?

"The Providers harvest worlds with inferior populations before returning to our ships to be processed into porridge."

"To be clear." I look at Diana with my eyebrows raised. "You kill people for the sole purpose of eating them?"
:eek: ...Porridge. Porridge. You do all that for... Do you people not have some way to reformat the bio-mass? Never though 'I could murder a curry right now.'? :mad: Ugh, what a waste.

"The strongest women are recruited. Some of the strongest men are used for breeding before they are killed."

"Is this a ritual thing, or a religious thing..? High days and holidays? To mark a victory?"
:rolleyes: Space Amazons, everyone.

"It is all we eat."

"So you've done this a lot?"
...How much do you people eat?! How often do they do this, then? How long does the typical 'harvest' last them? Months? Weeks? Days? God, this is dumb... What the hell, DC.

"Yes."

"And you personally…" I shrug and shake my head. "How long..?"

"I have been a Citizen for around three thousand years."
...That's a lot of porridge. Are you people really happy with that?

"Gosh." I raise my eyebrows and look at the clearly horrified Diana. "Eaten a lot of planets in three thousand years?"

"I haven't counted how many, but it is a large number. And I fully intend to eat yours once Grayven is done with you."
...You can try. Whether it be Apokolips or Earth, I don't see it going well.

"You want to eat Apokolips? Good luck." I take a step back and smile at Diana. "So, about hitting her until her scan-blocking ability stops working?"

"No matter how monstrous she is, it is still wrong at beat a defenceless prisoner."
...Not even one whack? Knock a little attitude out of her? Or at least slow down her rate of recovery? Because you know she's going to try to escape as soon as she's strong enough. And it'll be at the worst moment.

"Oh. Oh! Sorry, silly me." I return my attention to the prisoner. "Astarte, whereabouts are you from?"

"Themyscira. It is a Greek nation on Earth."
Heh. If we hadn't seen it coming days ago, this would probably be a surprise.

"Three thousand years ago? Diana, when was it that your forebears left the mainland?"

"It was three thousand years ago, as well you know. Astarte, do you remember your mother?"
Oh, what a coincidence...

"No."

"Diana, I just-."

"Astarte, who was your mother?" Truth Unchanging.
Well, now, that's interesting. Presumably the Lasso itself wasn't running particularly hard, so no whispers from it. So that bit of Godspeech was from Diana herself.
Admittedly, the last time we saw the Lasso making godspeech whispers, it was in the Paragon's timeline, and his perception of it is different... For all we know, it's been chattering away the whole time, and the Renegade wasn't noticing.

The lasso glows, the usual mute gold colour suddenly shining brilliantly!

Astarte gasps-.
...What kind of Gasp? I know, I know, she's probably in pain, but you know the stories about Amazons. :p

Ring, scan her.

Compliance.

I smile at Diana as I feel the data come in. "Well done on-."
Impressive that that was enough to break her resistance.

"Not now, Grayven."

Astarte's eyes glow with the same golden light as the lasso. "Queen Otrera is my mother."
Otrera, as a reminder. A relatively minor character in Greek myth.

And I jump in. "Any other family?"

"A younger sister. Hippolyta."
Not that Hippolyta, in canon, remembered Astarte, as she was very young when she was taken, and according to the story, her memories would have been fiddled with to prevent the pain of loss. Never mind the various retcons to Amazon history over the years.

Diana's jaw tenses, and her eyes shift to me. "Did you know?"

"N-."
Choose your next words carefully, Renegade, or she'll be putting a boot so far up you, you'll taste her shoe leather at the back of your throat... I do not think she's in the mood.

"Put your hand on the lasso and tell me that you did not know."

I roll my eyes and put my right hand on the lasso.

"I did not have confirmation that the mysterious Olympian -whoever they were- was related to you. I suspected, and I am not surprised, but this part of what's happening-"
Whoops, sharing a little more than he'd meant to say, I suspect. :p

Darn it.

"-was not a set up."
Ah, yes, those tricksy truth-compelling objects, eh, Renegade?

I take my hand off is something of a hurry.

"I mean, how many women were having sex with gods in the Old City? It can't have been that many; you don't have that many gods. And the goddesses would have gotten annoyed about it. Anyway, yeah, your aunt is a mass murdering cannibal warlady. Thoughts?"
;) ...Bitch, have you met Aphrodite 'Queen of the Shippers' Pandemos? If the lady was hot enough, she'd probably have wanted to join the fun.

"What is he-" Astarte strains briefly against her bonds. "-talking about?"

"I am Diana, Princess of Themyscira, and your niece. And now I must decide what I am to do with you."
And with that, Astarte had her mind blown.

Well, the secret's out. Now to see how Astarte takes it. Wonder if she'll have a moment of big-sisterly 'What man dared bed my baby sister?' or not...I suppose once this whole thing's sorted out, there's the possibility of Astarte making a visit 'home'. I mean, technically Diana and the Renegade won leadership of the Citizenry with their defeat of Astarte. One quick round of orders and bam, whole new leaf for the fleet...

A spot of Godspeech, but one of them is a doozy!
"I can't, but we-."

I punch Astarte across the face, causing her to fly back before being tethered back to the deck by the Lasso of Truth. Subject To My Whims.
"Diana, I just-."

"Astarte, who was your mother?" Truth Unchanging.

Corrections!
...it is still wrong at beat a defenceless prisoner.
...it is still wrong to beat a defenceless prisoner.
I take my hand off is something of a hurry.
I take my hand off in something of a hurry.
 
The Lasso always made god speeches.

when Paul gave his Nabu rant to the league it had godspeech "truth" all over the place

Thanks, just checked it out and it was there.

Too bad she won't do that on Earth for a minute and weed out the Light).

She may not want to since it can count as mind control and she may not be so comfortable with mass mind control.

There's also the chance it can have serious side effects on the populace.

Also she may need to conquer the planet.

The Nazis needed to conquer a country before they could use the full effect of the Spear to keep the country under control.

I'm not sure if the Citizenry was all-woman in their comics appearance, or if it's a dig at the New 52 Amazons (or both).

I think they were all women, and it's not a dig at the n52 Amazons.

The Citizenry was a thing before the n52, though it was fairly close before the n52 came about.

There was an Astarte in the n52, but she wasn't a psychopath.

I wonder if Paragon is going to encounter Astarte too; I feel like he remembered a possible storyline with her at some point

I think he thought of 'Diana's crazy aunt' when he was in Vega.

Not sure if Astarte not remembering her mother is just due to it being a long time away from home or some kind of Citizenry brainwashing that Diana and the Lasso just broke through. If it's the latter, she might show up again or embark on some space mission of atonement or something

Assuming she wants to find redemption.

Remember she was raised by Ottera and has the blood of a psychotic war god flowing through her veins.

True Hippolyta turned out to be a perfectly sane and reasonable woman, but the same thing may not have held true for Astarte.

Though if she was brainwashed then she may want redemption.
 
There might certainly be something fishy going on about her origin.

You see, her origin makes no damn sense in the comics.

Every first generation Amazon was a clay statue brought to life by Greek goddesses in New Earth continuity just as Diana was.

So Astarte going "I will be tribute!" to save an infant Hippolyta makes no sense.

Now the first generation Amazons were reincarnated, but Hippolyta was a pregnant cavewoman killed by her mate.

So if one moves it to that incarnation, then Astarte's origin should have been something like 40 to 50 thousand years ago, not 3 thousand, and Astarte would have never been an Amazon despite being the demigoddess sister of Queen Hippolyta.

So while in the comics that can probably be attributed to shoddy DC editing and writers who don't do research, Zoat might have been inspired for a more Doylist explanation.
Let's not pretend that anyone in DC has perfectly congruous continuity. Your history one week may be radically difference to your history in the next.
Corrections!

...it is still wrong to beat a defenceless prisoner.

I take my hand off in something of a hurry.
Thank you, corrected.
 
That would be a waste of effort. Why beat down the foe and start healing her, only to turn around and execute her?

To make them think you're helping them but then turn on them.

Basically a mind game.

A good question. Presumably on the Citizenry's Fleet? Come to show off their leader's defeat?

I think they're here to destroy the ships controls.

Not unexpected. She's charged with magical energies, and we all know how well the basic ring handles that. :rolleyes:

Though renegade can enhance his rings with his divine power.

Being himself: short-sighted and foolish. :p

An apt description of the Renegade.

.I'm not seeing a connection here.

Not sure if you're joking or not, but the Lasso can make an excellent compulsion tool.

God, this is dumb... What the hell, DC.

Not the dumbest thing they've done.

There's a character named Condiment King.

You can try. Whether it be Apokolips or Earth, I don't see it going well.

Though they may have a better chance against Earth.

Not that Hippolyta, in canon, remembered Astarte, as she was very young when she was taken,

Hippolyta was basically a baby.

Ah, yes, those tricksy truth-compelling objects, eh, Renegade?

The bane of liars like renegade.
 
Dang, with all the talk about Citizenry I was hoping for more of a Greek / Roman split.
 
Honestly, the most offensive part of it is that they reduce them to porridge, and then SOLELY eat that.

Like, come on! Have some variety! Three thousand years of nothing but mystery meat porridge? No wonder she's such a bitch. And porridge, of all things? Sure, it's efficient, but it's so boring!

And the sheer lack of artistry! It's so... distant, so impersonal. If you're going to be an evil space cannibal, then at least do it with style, or panache, not just "Oh yes I pressed the 'convert planet into meat soup' button, and now I shall eat nothing but soup for the next thousand years." It's like buying brandless gruel and eating solely that because it technically has all the nutrients you need. Go to the space deli! Get some artisinal longpig! Make a sandwich or something!

The sheer boring-ness of the atrocities is offensive to me. This is yet another reason other Grayven needs to be stopped at any cost.






...Also the eating sapient life and genocide things, I guess they're pretty bad too.
 
She may not want to since it can count as mind control and she may not be so comfortable with mass mind control.

There's also the chance it can have serious side effects on the populace.

Also she may need to conquer the planet.

The Nazis needed to conquer a country before they could use the full effect of the Spear to keep the country under control.
I said 'won't' because it doesn't fit her personality, yes. And I did consider that there would be consequences of everyone confronting truth/reality for even a minute, like what happened with Green Arrow but on a bigger scale, but that just makes it more interesting for me to daydream about; I don't think it would be a logical narrative event without a lot of build-up first (though after murder-Flash, who knows?)
How was Diana able to use the Spear on everyone in the Silver City if she didn't conquer it? She's divine/semi-divine compared to the Kriegers, so that might be part of it (though Zoat's au idea with Diana becoming Queen of Greece indicates she'd still need to claim some kind of authority over an area), and the Spear might very well function differently in the Silver City compared to Earth, being even more effective since they're both part of the same divine/Source-based power.

Honestly, the most offensive part of it is that they reduce them to porridge, and then SOLELY eat that.

Like, come on! Have some variety! Three thousand years of nothing but mystery meat porridge? No wonder she's such a bitch. And porridge, of all things? Sure, it's efficient, but it's so boring!

And the sheer lack of artistry! It's so... distant, so impersonal.
Did Canis get a forum account? Is this a repeat of Queen of Fables?
(yes I know Zoat got told he couldn't do that kind of stuff here because of the no sockpuppet rule)
 
"The Providers harvest worlds with inferior populations before returning to our ships to be processed into porridge."

"To be clear." I look at Diana with my eyebrows raised. "You kill people for the sole purpose of eating them?"

"The strongest women are recruited. Some of the strongest men are used for breeding before they are killed."

"Is this a ritual thing, or a religious thing..? High days and holidays? To mark a victory?"

"It is all we eat."

"So you've done this a lot?"

"Yes."

"And you personally…" I shrug and shake my head. "How long..?"

"I have been a Citizen for around three thousand years."

"Gosh." I raise my eyebrows and look at the clearly horrified Diana. "Eaten a lot of planets in three thousand years?"

"I haven't counted how many, but it is a large number. And I fully intend to eat yours once Grayven is done with you."

"You want to eat Apokolips? Good luck." I take a step back and smile at Diana. "So, about hitting her until her scan-blocking ability stops working?"
i hope grayven wipes them out.
 
And Poseidon liked to rape temple priestesses.
Did he do that to anyone besides (Ovid's version of) Medusa? Not the rape part (Caenis and others come to mind, of course), but people who specifically demonstrate his predilection for temple priestesses.
 
"Gosh." I raise my eyebrows and look at the clearly horrified Diana. "Eaten a lot of planets in three thousand years?"

"I haven't counted how many, but it is a large number. ´

"I am Diana, Princess of Themyscira, and your niece. And now I must decide what I am to do with you."

I'd vote for "At least one of those planets must have had the death penalty for genocide, tens of thousands-count. Additonally 'Hostis Senti Generis' by own admission: <bang>", but Tartarus is a good thematic option.
 
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Hmm... I wonder. How long has the Lasso been around?
It was made after the Exile.
Would Astarte recognise it?
She might recognise the material as being the same as what her mother's girdle was made of.
I said 'won't' because it doesn't fit her personality, yes. And I did consider that there would be consequences of everyone confronting truth/reality for even a minute, like what happened with Green Arrow but on a bigger scale, but that just makes it more interesting for me to daydream about; I don't think it would be a logical narrative event without a lot of build-up first (though after murder-Flash, who knows?)
How was Diana able to use the Spear on everyone in the Silver City if she didn't conquer it? She's divine/semi-divine compared to the Kriegers, so that might be part of it (though Zoat's au idea with Diana becoming Queen of Greece indicates she'd still need to claim some kind of authority over an area), and the Spear might very well function differently in the Silver City compared to Earth, being even more effective since they're both part of the same divine/Source-based power.
The 'need to conquer it first' was a result of the ritual the Thuel Society was using, not a characteristic of the Spear itself.
 
Oh, joy. This isn't just evil, it's stupid evil.

You clearly have the technology to at least imitate the New Gods themselves. Why in the name of all that is practical in the world did your organization/civilization decide that being inefficient planet harvesters was the proper way to go about things?

The Citizenry is like the Sheeda but somehow even less practical.

Just kill her and be done with it.
 
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Mr Zoat, I was just adding some stuff to the TV Tropes page, and I was wondering. How many succupire children does the Renegade have, and what are their names? Just curious.
 
Mr Zoat, I was just adding some stuff to the TV Tropes page, and I was wondering. How many succupire children does the Renegade have, and what are their names? Just curious.
I have the list at home. Let me see if I can find it in-story...

I put Stephan down, and he giggles slightly before scurrying through slightly ahead of the pack. The Lad -responsible chap that he is- follows through after his brother, making sure to keep an eye on everyone else as well. Then Maeve, Christopher, Clare and Sarah head on through, with Lynne bringing up the rear.
 

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