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

[Vaermina]

Vega has at least half a dozen combat flotillas from multiple species, a cloning facility for Kryptonians with multiple combat users plus the doomsday and a local Orange Lantern Chapter. Their ability to tank a reach punitive attack is much higher than earth, hence why Grayv said he would use the opportunity to spread misinformation.

Click to shrink...

So you ignore all their defensive forces and Supernova their sun.

 

[Darko]

So you ignore all their defensive forces and Supernova their sun.

Click to shrink...

You obviously didn't read what Chaoswind wrote because if you did then you would know that they have a bunch of ships, Kryptonians and Lanterns present there.

All of these things can stop the Reach from doing shenanigans with any celestial body.

In order for them to blow up any sun they'd have to get past any defense force.

They can't just ignore it.

Oh, and you forgot one little thing.

Granted with your track record you seem to forget practically everything.

A few pages ago you mentioned that this wasn't the Renegade but just Grayven that's been brainwashed into thinking that he's the Renegade.

This is important because in the chapter where this supposedly happened there was a machine that could let someone control the Vega system and things in it like the suns and planets.

So if the Reach somehow manage to get past a fleet of ships, an army of Lanterns and Kryptonians and blow up a sun, the Renegade can probably just push the rewind button and the sun will be back in working order.

 

[Vaermina]

You obviously didn't read what Chaoswind wrote because if you did then you would know that they have a bunch of ships, Kryptonians and Lanterns present there.

All of these things can stop the Reach from doing shenanigans with any celestial body.

In order for them to blow up any sun they'd have to get past any defense force.

They can't just ignore it.

Oh, and you forgot one little thing.

Granted with your track record you seem to forget practically everything.

A few pages ago you mentioned that this wasn't the Renegade but just Grayven that's been brainwashed into thinking that he's the Renegade.

This is important because in the chapter where this supposedly happened there was a machine that could let someone control the Vega system and things in it like the suns and planets.

So if the Reach somehow manage to get past a fleet of ships, an army of Lanterns and Kryptonians and blow up a sun, the Renegade can probably just push the rewind button and the sun will be back in working order.

Click to shrink...

General reminder that we know from the main story that The Reach have ways to bypass any sort of FTL interdiction, which means the fleets don't actually matter.

Similarly we know, because they used one on Orange Lantern, that they possess "delete everything" bombs.

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

"With the Controllers." She considers me for a moment. "You've changed."

"If we ever meet, I'll give you a wooden spoon."

She blinks. "What?"

I shake my head, waving my right hand dismissively. "Cultural reference. A prize of no great value, usually awarded for last place or to someone who got no points."

Click to shrink...

I know this sounds a bit odd, but I do want to point out that:
1) As the Reachian observed, 'Grayven' HAS changed, his behaviour being significantly different from 'evil overlord' to 'smiling and insulting'.
2) Has made a very much out of (observed) character reference to a fairly specific cultural oddity.

Now, this Reachian is dead or dying very soon by the look of things, but I'd half expect a recording of the communication to get out as part of the 'disinformation' idea Renegade is going on.

I wouldn't put it passed the reach to try and identify both the cause of the change in their foe, and the obtuse references made by him, in part of their psychological profiling and counter intel work.

So....given that Savage did contact them, what are the odds that they have any data on Earth Culture to back track this with?

 

[BR549]

To be clear, the Reach have no idea where Vega is or what kryptonians are.

Click to shrink...

I'm not so sure about that. In canon Young Justice, it has been awhile (...14 years...), but I recall when the Reach learned of the Justice League, Black Beetle listed "Kryptonians, plural" as one of the reasons for his vote to give up the whole Earth project as a bad idea.

 

[Darko]

General reminder that we know from the main story that The Reach have ways to bypass any sort of FTL interdiction, which means the fleets don't actually matter.

Similarly we know, because they used one on Orange Lantern, that they possess "delete everything" bombs.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I'm sure that Dox and Renegade wouldn't have thought of adding any sort of censors in their tech that can detect ships coming near their territory.

And sure, the Reach ships can't be stopped, even though we've seen their ships destroyed plenty of times and they also have Kryptonian tech in Vega, which according to you is the most advanced tech in the universe.

Nit to mention the fact that so far we haven't seen them use qwa matter in the Renegade side of the stories, or even if they have enough to blow up a sun.

And you also didn't explain how they'd deal with the Orrery.

I'm not so sure about that. In canon Young Justice, it has been awhile (...14 years...), but I recall when the Reach learned of the Justice League, Black Beetle listed "Kryptonians, plural" as one of the reasons for his vote to give up the whole Earth project as a bad idea.

Click to shrink...

That doesn't necessarily contradict what Zoat said.

The Reach came to Earth years after this chapter takes place in-universe, so they could have eventually learned about them.

 

[Sockmonkey]

The Reach does send infiltrators to scout out places before they make official contact. Probably a brainwashed member of some other species to cover their asses. Probably passive stealth probes to listen in on broadcasts too.

 

[Mr Zoat]

18th August 2013
09:37 GMT -5

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

By which I mean of course the Dark Elves have warded their library. Which forces me to rely on Lushun to actually find anything. I'm just fortunate that the books aren't individually warded so I can scan the contents while interrogating the man directly. He seems to find my power ring's scanning ability fascinating.

"So this… Sandro person is the only one on this entire world who has managed to leave Ashan."

"According to himself and his followers, certainly. But with him dead at the hands of the Griffin Empire's knights, and his acolytes Markal confirmed dead in the Griffin Empire and Lucretia in the wind, there isn't any way to check."

"Two necromancers… Dead?"

"I understand your scepticism, but Archmage Zehir took measure to ensure that Markal couldn't come back." He looks contemplative for a moment. "With Sandro… Who can say?" He shrugs. "But I do know that he isn't here to answer questions, and any writings he had on his experiments would be under lock and key in Talonguard… Assuming that the barbarians didn't just burn them."

"You're an admirer?"

"It's a fascinating subject, and one so few researchers touch. Even the magicians of the Silver Cities who consider themselves above godly restrictions are so besotted with the idea of copying Sar-Elam's feat of apotheosis that they've never examined their underlying assumptions…" He regards me curiously. "But how is it for you?"

"Not even my first time."

"No?"

"My original homeworld didn't have… Magic, gods, elves… We'd gotten pretty good at material technology, but I suppose you could call it all mundane stuff."

"Material technology such as?"

"Rocketry that would let us leave the surface of the planet and send people into the airless void beyond. Tiny pieces of silicon etched with metal that could think… Or at least fake it convincingly. The ability to move still living organs from a dead person and put them into the body of someone whose own organs were failing… Or the truly cutting edge where new organs could be grown. And the ability to use focused explosive charges to force dense metals to undergo energetic decay and release enough heat and pressure to destroy a city."

I sigh.

"And I went to bed one night and woke up somewhere completely different. A new world, magic, interventionist deities, machines that people back home… Could imagine, but couldn't build… And it's possible that the operational laws of our universe wouldn't let them work anyway."

"But whose laws?"

"'In the beginning was nothing, which exploded.' My original home's study of universal background radiation can't tell us anything more. Certainly, there doesn't appear to be any single creature responsible, though any number of religions will tell you otherwise."

"But if there aren't any gods-."

"There's no good evidence of gods. Here, you can just head over to their roost and talk to a dragon if you want to communicate with a demigod. And you can go to Malassa's temple and make an offering if you want to speak to an actual god. That wasn't possible on my original homeworld. But that doesn't stop people imagining, trying to… Order the world in their mind in such a way that requires a directing intelligence. It's-. This world was created by Asha, right?"

"So every nation believes."

"But the orcs don't." I gesture to what is essentially a travelogue written by a wizard who spent some time following Gotai around after he left the Seven Cities at the end of the war. "'Earth Mother' and 'Sky Father', despite knowing who Asha is and who created them."

"They are orcs."

"Underestimating their intelligence has gotten a lot of people who should have known better in a lot of trouble." I send out a filament, pick up a book on the Orc Rebellion and pointedly wave it at him.

"Yes, but… They don't even use magic."

"Their war cries require mana, so… They do. Arguably, creating a form of magic that no one else uses is a greater achievement."

"In ignorance, perhaps. How did you get here? And… The other one."

"Several versions of me went to a great many places. I imagine that whatever it was that banished me from my original world and brought me to Universe Sixteen brought him here, but I have no more idea what that was now than I did when it happened."

"No idea?"

I shrug, shaking my head. "I've found a whole lot of ways that it didn't happen." I sigh. "Okay. I need to find out whether or not my colleagues came here-."

"Ah-. Pardon, but you didn't explain how you came from 'Universe Sixteen' to Ashan."

"Oh. Well, I'm not totally sure, but I think it was a misfiring fate manipulation spell cast and left to moulder by a magician called Zachary Zor. If I were to guess, it was supposed to alter my fate so that I immediately died, but between its age, the fact that Angelica was actively destroying it when it went off and my own defences, it just sent me to a version of me who had already died... But that's highly speculative."

Ah… First step. Find out if Ashan supports radio waves.

I… Fabricate a pair of radio transmitter handsets and hold one out to Lushun.

"Quick experiment. Hold this."

"Ah." He takes it awkwardly. "What is it?"

"It uses things called radio waves to send messages." I transition to the opposite end of the room and press 'talk'. "Testing, testing. Press the large orange button on the side and then speak into the cluster of holes at the bottom."

"Like this?"

"Yes, well done." I transition back, putting the other down on the desk. "Angelica should have a radio. Mazikeen might, but I want to eliminate the possibility before considering more extreme measures."

"And if you find them… Or if you find that they're not here… You plan to leave Ashan?"

"That's my aim, but I have no idea how to replicate the-."

"Ah, well…" He runs off towards a distant shelf. "I was able to find this… Where is it..? Ah! This record of the void walking ritual." He approaches with a… Fairly thin notebook. "If it works, it would take you -and passengers- outside of Ashan. Sandro lamented that he couldn't go further because he had no idea where to go. But if you have a destination…"

"It might be possible to use that ritual as a first step." I nod. "I assume you want to come? "

"What sort of wizard would I be if I didn't?"

"Happy and alive?" I snort. "Far be it from me to tell you how to live your life. How do we get to the surface from here?"

 

[Mr Zoat]

I'm not so sure about that. In canon Young Justice, it has been awhile (...14 years...), but I recall when the Reach learned of the Justice League, Black Beetle listed "Kryptonians, plural" as one of the reasons for his vote to give up the whole Earth project as a bad idea.

Click to shrink...

That was in the comics, where Superman had been a lot more active off Earth for a very long time.

 

[Duke Long]

"It's a fascinating subject, and one so few researchers touch. Even the magicians of the Silver Cities who consider themselves above godly restrictions are so besotted with the idea of copying Sar-Elam's feat of apotheosis that they've never examined their underlying assumptions…" He regards me curiously. "But how it is for you?"

Click to shrink...

'is it'? I'm not sure I understand the sentence.

"Several version of me went to a great many places. I imagine that whatever it was that banished me from my original world and brought me to Universe Sixteen brought him here, but I have no more idea what that was now than I did when it happened."

Click to shrink...

'versions'

"Ah, well…" He runs off towards a distant shelf. "I was able to find this… Where is it..? Ah! Thisrecord of the void walking ritual." He approaches with a… Fairly thin notebook. "If it works, it would take you -and passengers- outside of Ashan. Sandro lamented that he couldn't go further because he had no idea where to go. But if you have a destination…"

"It might be possible to just that ritual as a first step." I nod. "I assume you want to come? "

Click to shrink...

'This record'?
'use'?

Quite eager to defect, isn't he? I suppose this country does seem like a bit of a shithole.

 

[hkim]

"Happy and alive?" I snort.

Click to shrink...

Well, one out of two ain't bad.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

18th August 2013
09:37 GMT -5

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

By which I mean of course the Dark Elves have warded their library. Which forces me to rely on Lushun to actually find anything. I'm just fortunate that the books aren't individually warded so I can scan the contents while interrogating the man directly. He seems to find my power ring's scanning ability fascinating.

Click to shrink...

Of course he would. Imagine the ability to know every word a book contains without having to take the time to translate, read and understand the text. For a seeker of knowledge, that would be a literal godsend.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

"So this… Sandro person is the only one on this entire world who has managed to leave Ashan."

"According to himself and his followers, certainly. But with him dead at the hands of the Griffin Empire's knights, and his acolytes Markal confirmed dead in the Griffin Empire and Lucretia in the wind, there isn't any way to check."

Click to shrink...

Frustrating, no doubt. Though being aware that at least one powerful necromancer is at large means they can be prepared for when they make a move.

"Two necromancers… Dead?"

"I understand your scepticism, but Archmage Zehir took measure to ensure that Markal couldn't come back." He looks contemplative for a moment. "With Sandro… Who can say?" He shrugs. "But I do know that he isn't here to answer questions, and any writings he had on his experiments would be under lock and key in Talonguard… Assuming that the barbarians didn't just burn them."

Click to shrink...

I would imagine the bodies were burnt to ash and the ashes scattered to the wind and sea beyond any normal hope of recovery. On the other hand, magic can patch al sorts of openings.

"You're an admirer?"

"It's a fascinating subject, and one so few researchers touch. Even the magicians of the Silver Cities who consider themselves above godly restrictions are so besotted with the idea of copying Sar-Elam's feat of apotheosis that they've never examined their underlying assumptions…" He regards me curiously. "But how it is for you?"

Click to shrink...

I wonder if the fellow could actually manage to create an interdimensional portal, given sufficient knowledge...

"Not even my first time."

"No?"

Click to shrink...

Oh, he really wants to cross the void, doesn't he?

"My original homeworld didn't have… Magic, gods, elves… We'd gotten pretty good at material technology, but I suppose you could call it all mundane stuff."

"Material technology such as?"

Click to shrink...

Given the typical fantasy metals of Adamantine, Mithral and Orichalcum, Earthly materials would seem as magical in turn

"Rocketry that would let us leave the surface of the planet and send people into the airless void beyond. Tiny pieces of silicon etched with metal that could think… Or at least fake it convincingly. The ability to move still living organs from a dead person and put them into the body of someone whose own organs were failing… Or the truly cutting edge where new organs could be grown. And the ability to use focused explosive charges to force dense metals to undergo energetic decay and release enough heat and pressure to destroy a city."

Click to shrink...

Best not to let them know about the possibility of such things beyond what you've said. Last thing anyone needs is someone creating non-magical nukes.

I sigh.

"And I went to bed one night and woke up somewhere completely different. A new world, magic, interventionist deities, machines that people back home… Could imagine, but couldn't build… And it's possible that the operational laws of our universe wouldn't let them work anyway."

Click to shrink...

It's always a strange thing when two universes can have fundamentally different rules. It reminds me of Exalted, where every physics interaction is managed by little-g gods, and you can 'cheat' reality with tricks like causing tiny 'errors' in one place so the god can't see you doing shit elsewhere.

"But whose laws?"

"'In the beginning was nothing, which exploded.' My original home's study of universal background radiation can't tell us anything more. Certainly, there doesn't appear to be any single creature responsible, though any number of religions will tell you otherwise."

Click to shrink...

As for the DC Multiverse, it's a pretty well-known fact how it all got started: The Source.

"But if there aren't any gods-."

"There's no good evidence of gods. Here, you can just head over to their roost and talk to a dragon if you want to communicate with a demigod. And you can go to Malassa's temple and make an offering if you want to speak to an actual god. That wasn't possible on my original homeworld. But that doesn't stop people imagining, trying to… Order the world in their mind in such a way that requires a directing intelligence. It's-. This world was created by Asha, right?"

Click to shrink...

In our world, the most we can find is the occasional weirdness. Coincidences and strange feelings like deja vu. Honestly, I'm not sure if we're better off without overt gods or not...

"So every nation believes."

"But the orcs don't." I gesture to what is essentially a travelogue written by a wizard who spent some time following Gotai around after he left the Seven Cities at the end of the war. "'Earth Mother' and 'Sky Father', despite knowing who Asha is and who created them."

Click to shrink...

Takes a lot of brass to look at a clear example of a creator deity and say 'naw, we ain't buying it.'

"They are orcs."

"Underestimating their intelligence has gotten a lot of people who should have known better in a lot of trouble." I send out a filament, pick up a book on the Orc Rebellion and pointedly wave it at him.

Click to shrink...

Just because a culture doesn't operate the same way as others, doesn't make them primitive, after all. Makes me wonder what they'd think of a technologically advanced culture without any magic.

"Yes, but… They don't even use magic."

"Their war cries require mana, so… They do. Arguably, creating a form of magic that no one else uses is a greater achievement."

Click to shrink...

See? Just because they don't cast spells by waving tools around or saying funny words doesn't mean they aren't using magic.

"In ignorance, perhaps. How did you get here? And… The other one."

"Several version of me went to a great many places. I imagine that whatever it was that banished me from my original world and brought me to Universe Sixteen brought him here, but I have no more idea what that was now than I did when it happened."

Click to shrink...

Quite a lot of different versions indeed, given that he met a lot of them during that little mini-crisis. And many more he isn't aware of...

"No idea?"

I shrug, shaking my head. "I've found a whole lot of ways that it didn't happen." I sigh. "Okay. I need to find out whether or not my colleagues came here-."

"Ah-. Pardon, but you didn't explain how you came from 'Universe Sixteen' to Ashan."

Click to shrink...

That's a good point. It could be entirely relevant to the problem at hand.

"Oh. Well, I'm not totally sure, but I think it was a misfiring fate manipulation spell cast and left to moulder by a magician called Zachary Zor. If I were to guess, it was supposed to alter my fate so that I immediately died, but between its age, the fact that Angelica was actively destroying it when it went off and my own defences, it just sent me to a version of me who had already died... But that's highly speculative."

Click to shrink...

Or worse, it could have gone off at the exact moment they cast their resurrection spell on the local Paul. A fluke connection between realities that would be very heard to reproduce.

Ah… First step. Find out if Ashan supports radio waves.

I… Fabricate a pair of radio transmitter handsets and hold one out to Lushun.

Click to shrink...

Very good idea to check that. Just because things seem to work how you expect with regards to gravity, breathing and the like...

"Quick experiment. Hold this."

"Ah." He takes it awkwardly. "What is it?"

Click to shrink...

Ah, a walkie-talkie. Might want to get some distance just to be sure of their effectiveness. Especially if the building's warding interferes...

"It uses things called radio waves to send messages." I transition to the opposite end of the room and press 'talk'. "Testing, testing. Press the large orange button on the side and then speak into the cluster of holes at the bottom."

"Like this?"

Click to shrink...

Okay, it works over a short range. Let's hope they can broadcast over longer distances.

"Yes, well done." I transition back, putting the other down on the desk. "Angelica should have a radio. Mazikeen might, but I want to eliminate the possibility before considering more extreme measures."

"And if you find them… Or if you find that they're not here… You plan to leave Ashan?"

Click to shrink...

They could easily have turned up together. Or maybe Mazikeen found herself in the local Hell with a very confused bureaucracy trying to process the arrival. Heck, Angelica might have gotten dragged off to their Heaven to explain herself too.

"That's my aim, but I have no idea how to replicate the-."

"Ah, well…" He runs off towards a distant shelf. "I was able to find this… Where is it..? Ah! Thisrecord of the void walking ritual." He approaches with a… Fairly thin notebook. "If it works, it would take you -and passengers- outside of Ashan. Sandro lamented that he couldn't go further because he had no idea where to go. But if you have a destination…"

Click to shrink...

Hmm... Potential. If he can find Angelica and Mazikeen, they might be able to work out how to make use if that knowledge.

"It might be possible to just that ritual as a first step." I nod. "I assume you want to come? "

"What sort of wizard would I be if I didn't?"

"Happy and alive?" I snort. "Far be it from me to tell you how to live your life. How do we get to the surface from here?"

Click to shrink...

Well, one option is a big drill and going straight up...

One good thing about OL having a Power Ring here is the ability to cover ground insanely quickly by their standards. Once he gets topside and starts calling around, he should find Angelica with no trouble. Mazikeen might be trickier, especially if she ended up somewhere infernal. There's a local demon race, right?

 

[Bigreader]

How does he know that a local version of him died here already?
Update
Never mind I just checked, and apparently. I skipped a chapter that I didn't know existed. So my question is when they tried to resurrect him.Did they just resurrect an empty body since presumably?He hadn't been in this universe, long enough to naturally absorb magic energy and form a soul? So is it just a living, But comatose body?

 

[Mr Zoat]

'is it'? I'm not sure I understand the sentence.
'versions'
'This record'?
'use'?

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

So my question is when they tried to resurrect him.Did they just resurrect an empty body since presumably?He hadn't been in this universe, long enough to naturally absorb magic energy and form a soul? So is it just a living, But comatose body?

Click to shrink...

There are two ways to resurrect someone on Ashan. Find a strong souled hero who can cast 'Resurrection', or get an archangel to do it. The problem is that in game that only works if you do it in the battle they die in. Leave it too long and it becomes impossible. The other alternative is undeath. There's less of a time restriction there, but the Ashan Lantern didn't have a soul. Also, that requires a necromancer, and elves generally don't study necromancy.

 

[Old Knife]

so.... couldn't orange lantern just build a body based of the dead version of him, using his own as template?

also... is this a dark elf wizard OC?

 

[WereDragon]

Which forces me to rely on Lushun to actually find anything.

Click to shrink...

In fairness he has proven to be quite helpful.

"What sort of wizard would I be if I didn't?"

Click to shrink...

"I didn't become a wizard to not grab hold of the threads that form the very fabric of reality and give them a good sharp tug to see what happens."

 

[Mr Zoat]

so.... couldn't orange lantern just build a body based of the dead version of him, using his own as template?

Click to shrink...

Yes, and then he'd have two corpses, one fresher than the other.

also... is this a dark elf wizard OC?

Click to shrink...

Technically, no.

 

[lancelot]

That was in the comics, where Superman had been a lot more active off Earth for a very long time.

Click to shrink...

Quick question did you store your other versions body to possibly resurrect using the local magic later?

 

[Mr Zoat]

Quick question did you store your other versions body to possibly resurrect using the local magic later?

Click to shrink...

I've never met another version of myself, and I think that if I found a body I'd probably report it to the police.

If you mean, 'Did the SI store his body?' then the answer is 'no'.

 

[Silveraith]

@Mr Zoat , I noticed that you've yet to name the new travelling companion. Is he a named character of particular note?

 

[Duke Long]

@Mr Zoat , I noticed that you've yet to name the new travelling companion. Is he a named character of particular note?

Click to shrink...

By which I mean of course the Dark Elves have warded their library. Which forces me to rely on Lushun to actually find anything. I'm just fortunate that the books aren't individually warded so I can scan the contents while interrogating the man directly. He seems to find my power ring's scanning ability fascinating.

Click to shrink...

I think his name is Lushun.