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

Ardy · Jan 1, 2023

You know I just realized a missed opportunity for this story. When Paul got blown up and lost his enlightenment, he considers adding some other colors to balance himself out. He really should have written a message to Jade saying "died yesterday, lost orangeness, considering adding love before recovering, thoughts?"

Mr Zoat · Jan 1, 2023

Lord Ernest said:
Oh, and it makes me curious, do the Orange Lanterns regularly form squads or stuff like that? Attachments are actually kind of beneficiary for them, should give them a bit more motivation to defend each other, right?

Sort of. Lanterns are usually assigned to fleets that operate in the general area of their own homeworlds, with a senior Lantern from Maltus to act as an officer. However, as Orange Lanterns are supposed to follow their manias and some are recruited from other regions of the galaxy, there's a good deal of flexibility in the arrangement.

Windona · Jan 1, 2023

Now I'm just picturing the JL's reaction to Ragnar getting into a fist fight or duel with every top tier supervillain he can find. (Huh, that brings me to wondering how functional the Light is on Paragon Paul's Earth, given Anti-Life and everything.)

Hmm, stealth mission. That will be interesting, especially to see if the Lanterns are going to try to stay in the shadows or attempt to pretend to be conquered meat.

Coda · Jan 2, 2023

The last few days have been hell... my pet cockatiel passed away rather suddenly... today, I finally had a chance to catch up. Three corrections in three different updates:

Mr Zoat said:
Karakkan

I think it's "Karrakan" elsewhere?

Mr Zoat said:
Allyn's armour glows brighter and expands beyond his body, solidifying into armour.

His armour solidifies into armour?

Mr Zoat · Jan 2, 2023

Coda said:
The last few days have been hell... my pet cockatiel passed away rather suddenly... today, I finally had a chance to catch up. Three corrections in three different updates:
I think it's "Karrakan" elsewhere?

Thank you, corrected.

His armour solidifies into armour?

No, he's wearing physical armour and his aura solidified into construct armour.

Mr Zoat · Jan 2, 2023

14th January 2013
08:45 GMT

"Ah, this is going to be so great!"

"Ye-ah." Lotta can be a real downer sometimes. "I've never seen the core of Reach space before. I bet they've got forms of mind control there we've never even seen."

Uh…

"Yeah, probably." She doesn't look happy. "Come on. A few years ago, did you think we'd be doing something like this?"

"Not against a Reach core world. Probably against one of the worlds who signed up with N.E.M.O.."

"Because Grayven would have attacked them?"

Lotta frowns thoughtfully.

"Hm. No. If he bothered fighting the Reach at all, he'd have kept attacking the same places. He's clearly not worried about being caught."

"Or wasn't. I think that system bottle trap they had was for him rather than the Illustres."

She nods. "Makes sense. He's only got one place to go to get more junior gods, and the Illustres has thousands of systems he can go to if he wants to attack the Reach."

"What do you mean, 'if'?"

"You didn't hear? Apokolips attacked his homeworld. I heard he was going to ask for help before Controller Hinon told him about the Reach offensive."

"'Heard' from a reliable source, or is this just a rumour?"

"I got talking to some Lanterns who were at the Central Power Battery when Hinon took his call."

"Yeah, but they might not have gotten the whole thing."

"He's asked for help before."

"When the Source picked a fight with him. I've seen Apokoliptian invasions before. They're not that bad."

"For wiping out colonies too stupid to know not to settle in the Apokoliptian Waste, sure, that's just a couple of ships. The Illustres comes from a crazy death world. They're going to make more of an effort."

"I guess that makes sense. But if it was Khund that was getting attacked, I'd still be here."

"Yeah, but that's Khund."

Hey! "What, you don't like Khund?"

"Phil, no one likes Khund. You're literally on the other side of the galaxy from Khund. The only reason we're fighting the Reach rather than Khund is that whenever the Khundian Empire expands, it has a civil war."

"The Empress is always a total babe!"

I mean, it is kind of a drawback to needing to kill a man to take his wife. The Emperor gets his pick, and then everyone wants his pick. One time I tried explaining it to Tarant, he asked why we didn't just put the women in charge of administration. I said because we need rulers who can fight, and he did this whole… Lecture about the advantages of a permanent administrative civil service that I tuned out. But I think what he was saying is that someone who isn't going to get kicked out every five minutes needs to be around to organise things. Which is why the Khundian Empire is tiny, and why the Reach have been doing basically the same thing and winning for thousands of years.

Wonder if any of the Reach men I've killed were married?

Lotta shakes her head as we take our seats in the briefing chamber. Don't know if the Lanterns are going to turn up. They're basically there for if everything goes wrong, and if that happens they don't need much of a briefing to 'fight real hard'. Some like turning up anyway, the ones who used to be Darkstars or were in the military before they joined up. It doesn't really-.

One of the other doors open and the Lanterns walk in. Zartok's a good fighter. Grood's good at hitting things. Not much tactical awareness. Drusa… Not so great. Not all Lanterns are great fighters and that doesn't mean that they're bad at being Lanterns, but we haven't worked with her so we can't really use her. And the other guy… Must be new. I poke my arm computer.

Who is he?

Oh, one of Grayven's junior gods. Armour looks hoopy, but it isn't a great idea to have a new guy on the rearguard for a mission like this. If the goop hits the fan, we'll need someone who won't get confused.

Zartok takes a seat at the front, because of course he does. Drusa sits at the back, same as me. I try making eye contact, see if I can get some idea what she's thinking, but other than taking note of my position she doesn't reciprocate. New Guy sits next to Zartok, probably following the Lantern who's teaching him. Grood doesn't sit down, just sort of lurks at the side of the room. Other Darkstars file in around them, but no one wants to be too close to the near-animal who eats people.

Doesn't make sense to me. I've eaten people, and they don't react that way to near-animals who don't eat people. I'd get up and sit next to him myself if it wasn't for the fact that I've already sat down and that'd make it obvious that I was making a point.

Ah, looks like Colos is in charge of the mission again. Good. Since we took back Jenuwyne and started resettling people he's really gotten his head back in the game. And he's taking a seat-. Heh, he's spotted Zartok, and he needs to convey to Zartok that we're not working for him but doesn't want to look petty about it.

"Sit down, Ferrin."

Director Jeddigar walks in from behind him, and Colos immediately sits down in the closest chair. Solves that problem, I guess.

And the director's doing the briefing. I mean, sure, this is important, but he doesn't need to be here to deliver a briefing. He's got his hands full worrying about internal security and anti-infiltration work on a few thousand worlds these days. Or at least he should, because if we put all this work into pushing the Reach back and he drops the ball because he decided to micromanage rather than macromanage like he's supposed to, I might decide to marry his wife.

Jeddigar waves at the hologram projector, which then generates a large map of Reach space. Nothing everyone here hasn't seen a thousand times, though the thin sandy yellow line indicating reclaimed space is new enough that it raises a few smiles.

"We knew from our encounter during our first wave of attacks against the Reach as part of N.E.M.O. that the Apokoliptian Grayven was waging his own war against them. And now his actions have given us the opportunity to gather more information on their internal organisation."

A world gets highlighted… Oh, that's a… Little further into Reach space than I thought we'd be going. Not one of their proper core worlds, but only a little way away from that.

"We know that this world was recently ravaged, either by Grayven's fleet or the Citizenry-."

"How?"

Yeah, Zartok doesn't like being reminded that he's not the boss here.

"As has been a frequent problem, we don't have any direct intelligence on the Reach interior. However, we were recently able to acquire unusually detailed indirect information, both from the ship the Illustres captured and from the Qwardians. The Reach had been trying to buy anti-Lantern weapons from them for some time, and we've been able to subvert some of the Qwardians' information-gathering efforts."

Qwardians… Probably more advanced than the Reach. I knew they'd got some stuff… Wasn't just for our Lanterns, I guess.

"Is it reliable?"

"The Illustres managed to perform an identity theft on the ship's captain. We know everything he saw. The ship's sensor logs substantially agree, as do the Qwardian data intercepts."

Looks like Zartok's okay with that.

"In theory, the mission is simple. While the true core of the Reach will have systems to trap your ship, the worlds which you'll be surveying won't. If you get in, look around and leave without drawing attention, you shouldn't have a problem. And if you do, that's why you have Lanterns with you."

moralrelativity · Jan 2, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
there we're never even seen

we're -> we've

Mr Zoat said:
Apokolips attacked him homeworld

him -> his

Mr Zoat said:
look petty about it

needs a full stop

Mr Zoat said:
which the generates a large map of Reach space

the -> then
or maybe just delete 'the'

Ngamer11 · Jan 2, 2023

Okay, so not just Lanterns, but potentially any member of N.E.M.O. I remember Phil, he's one of the first Darkstars that Paul met. As for Lotta, she was both there and Paul met her later when he explained how he can respawn using cloned bodies. I kind of want to see her POV next, because she isn't a blood knight and because she's always seemed nervous when Paul talked to her, so I'd like to see her opinion of Paul.

Chojin Patriarch · Jan 2, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
14th January 2013
08:45 GMT

"Ah, this is going to be so great!"

"Ye-ah." Lotta can be a real downer sometimes. "I've never seen the core of Reach space before. I bet they've got forms of mild control there we're never even seen."

This would be the Darkstar team, I see. I take it they're about to have a joint briefing. Which handily gives both the characters and the readers some useful information in a natural way. Now, will there be any surprises, I wonder?

Uh…

"Yeah, probably." She doesn't look happy. "Come on. A few years ago, did you think we'd be doing something like this?"

It's amazing what a little new blood will do. And someone dropping off a Central Power Battery for your supreme commanders...

"Not against a Reach core world. Probably against one of the worlds who signed up with N.E.M.O.."

"Because Grayven would have attacked them?"

...I can see him being that confident. Or foolish. Pretty much one and the same for him.

Lotta frowns thoughtfully.

"Hm. No. If he bothered fighting the Reach at all, he'd have kept attacking the same places. He's clearly not worried about being caught."

Not when he had the Absolute Dominion to beat them over the head with. But now...

"Or wasn't. I think that system bottle trap they had was for him rather than the Illustres."

She nods. "Makes sense. He's only got one place to go to get more junior gods, and the Illustres has thousands of systems he can go to if he wants to attack the Reach."

An eminently logical deduction. OL getting caught in it would just be bad timing, then.

"What do you mean, 'if'?"

"You didn't hear? Apokolips attacked him homeworld. I heard he was going to ask for help before Controller Hinon told him about the Reach offensive."

Which is another case of bad timing. Honestly, if any of them were the suspicious type, I'd be amazed if they didn't make that connection.

"'Heard' from a reliable source, or is this just a rumour?"

"I got talking to some Lanterns who were at the Central Power Battery when Hinon took his call."

Ah, base gossip. The quickest way to spread rumours.

"Yeah, but they might not have gotten the whole thing."

"He's asked for help before."

Last year? Well, he had good reason for it.

"When the Source picked a fight with him. I've seen Apokoliptian invasions before. They're not that bad."

"For wiping out colonies too stupid to know not to settle in the Apokoliptian Waste, sure, that's just a couple of ships. The Illustres comes from a crazy death world. They're going to make more of an effort."

Plus, and they won't know this, the Life Entity is tucked away 'inside' Earth. I imagine the Controllers are perched in their sanctums with steepled fingers and "Concerned" expressions right now.

"I guess that makes sense. But if it was Khund that was getting attacked, I'd still be here."

"Yeah, but that's Khund."

To be fair, that seems to be it's natural state more often than not.

Hey! "What, you don't like Khund?"

"Phil, no one likes Khund. You're literally on the other side of the galaxy from Khund. The only reason we're fighting the Reach rather than Khund is that whenever the Khundian Empire expands, it has a civil war."

"The Empress is always a total babe!"

...By Khundian standards, of course.

Meaning she's built like a brick outhouse and capable of cracking a man's skull with her bare hands, huh?

I mean, it is kind of a drawback to needing to kill a man to take his wife. The Emperor gets his pick, and then everyone wants his pick. One time I tried explaining it to Tarant, he asked why we didn't just put the women in charge of administration. I said because we need rulers who can fight, and he did this whole… Lecture about the advantages of a permanent administrative civil service that I tuned out. But I think what he was saying is that someone who isn't going to get kicked out every five minutes needs to be around to organise things. Which is why the Khundian Empire is tiny, and why the Reach have been doing basically the same thing and winning for thousands of years.

Well, sooner or later, one of the Khund rulers is going to be smart enough to make that decision, and then the galaxy will be in trouble...

Wonder if any of the Reach men I've killed were married?

Lotta shakes her head as we take our seats in the briefing chamber. Don't know if the Lanterns are going to turn up. They're basically there for if everything goes wrong, and if that happens they don't need much of a briefing to 'fight real hard'. Some like turning up anyway, the ones who used to be Darkstars or were in the military before they joined up. It doesn't really-.

Well, getting to know the people you're working with can be a desire some have. It really does depend on how the Lanterns have taken the in-group concept to heart...

One of the other doors open and the Lanterns walk in. Zartok's a good fighter. Grood's good at hitting things. Not much tactical awareness. Drusa… Not so great. Not all Lanterns are great fighters and that doesn't mean that they're bad at being Lanterns, but we haven't worked with her so we can't really use her. And the other guy… Must be new. I poke my arm computer.

Who is he?

Heh. Allyn's gonna be the FNG in their eyes, isn't he? Let's hope if shit goes bad, he can prove them wrong.

Oh, one of Grayven's junior gods. Armour looks hoopy, but it isn't a great idea to have a new guy on the rearguard for a mission like this. If the goop hits the fan, we'll need someone who won't get confused.

Zartok takes a seat at the front, because of course he does. Drusa sits at the back, same as me. I try making eye contact, see if I can get some idea what she's thinking, but other than taking note of my position she doesn't reciprocate. New Guy sits next to Zartok, probably following the Lantern who's teaching him. Grood doesn't sit down, just sort of lurks at the side of the room. Other Darkstars file in around them, but no one wants to be too close to the near-animal who eats people.

And that just fits their characters so well.

Doesn't make sense to me. I've eaten people, and they don't react that way to near-animals who don't eat people. I'd get up and sit next to him myself if it wasn't for the fact that I've already sat down and that'd make it obvious that I was making a point.

Ah, looks like Colos is in charge of the mission again. Good. Since we took back Jenuwyne and started resettling people he's really gotten his head back in the game. And he's taking a seat-. Heh, he's spotted Zartok, and he needs to convey to Zartok that we're not working for him but doesn't want to look petty about it

Ah, the 'I'm in charge' dick-waving contest. Hopefully it doesn't take long.

"Sit down, Ferrin."

Director Jeddigar walks in from behind him, and Colos immediately sits down in the closest chair. Solves that problem, I guess.

Ah, handy. A higher authority always settles such matters quickly.

And the director's doing the briefing. I mean, sure, this is important, but he doesn't need to be here to deliver a briefing. He's got his hands full worrying about internal security and anti-infiltration work on a few thousand worlds these days. Or at least he should, because if we put all this work into pushing the Reach back and he drops the ball because he decided to micromanage rather than macromanage like he's supposed to, I might decide to marry his wife.

So just his presence means something big is afoot. Probably a good thing they're heading straight out, or the scuttle-butt would be across the planet inside five minutes.

Jeddigar waves at the hologram projector, which the generates a large map of Reach space. Nothing everyone here hasn't seen a thousand times, though the thin sandy yellow line indicating reclaimed space is new enough that it raise a few smiles.

"We knew from out encounter during our first wave of attacks against the Reach as part of N.E.M.O. that the Apokoliptian Grayven was waging his own war against them. And now his actions have given us the opportunity to gather more information on their internal organisation."

Good to know they're making some progress in the pushbacks.

A world gets highlighted… Oh, that's a… Little further into Reach space than I thought we'd be going. Not one of their proper core worlds, but only a little way away from that.

"We know that this world was recently ravaged, either my Grayven's fleet or the Citizenry-."

...If it was the latter, there'd be nothing alive. Should be easy to slip in...

"How?"

Yeah, Zartok doesn't like being reminded that he's not the boss here.

Get used to it, one-eye. Unless you can outfight Controllers, you'll be working for them.

"As has been a frequent problem, we don't have any direct intelligence on the Reach interior. However, we were recently able to acquire unusually detailed indirect information, both from the ship the Illustres captured and from the Qwardians. The Reach had been trying to buy anti-Lantern weapons from them for some time, and we've been able to subvert some of the Qwardian's information-gathering efforts."

Qwardians… Probably more advanced than the Reach. I knew they'd got some stuff… Wasn't just for our Lanterns, I guess.

You have no idea, my good fellow, you have no idea...

"Is it reliable?"

"The Illustres managed to perform an identity theft on the ship's captain. We know everything he saw. The ship's sensor logs substantially agree, as do the Qwardian data intercepts."

Well, it has been two weeks. I'm sure they'd have debriefed whoever they could and raided all the computers they could.

Looks like Zartok's okay with that.

"In theory, the mission is simple. While the true core of the Reach will have systems to trap your ship, the worlds which you'll be surveying won't. If you get in, look around and leave without drawing attention, you shouldn't have a problem. And if you do, that's why you have Lanterns with you."

Of course, that having been said, it's now guaranteed, by the law of Narrative Causality, that something will go wrong.

So, the mission is given, the team assembled and presumably, they'll be getting underway before long. And then we get to see just how bad the damage is in places Grayven has hit. Assuming there's anything left. And no doubt Reach flotilla will be cruising around on high alert, so we can see plenty of silent running scenes.

Or things going bad and the Power Trio stomping some scarabs...

Ngamer11 · Jan 2, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"We know that this world was recently ravaged, either my Grayven's fleet or the Citizenry-."

That should say 'by'.

Darko · Jan 2, 2023

Chojin Patriarch said:
...By Khundian standards, of course. Meaning she's built like a brick outhouse and capable of cracking a man's skull with her bare hands, huh

If a Khundian female breaks a male's jaw then that male has found his soul mate.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Get used to it, one-eye. Unless you can outfight Controllers, you'll be working for them.

Ehh, we have seen the Guardians, who are on the level of the Controllers, be defeated by mortal Lanterns, at least in other settings, so it is possible.

Duke Long · Jan 2, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
I might decide to marry his wife.

What a beautiful euphemism.

Mr Zoat said:
"We knew from out encounter during our first wave of attacks against the Reach as part of N.E.M.O. that the Apokoliptian Grayven was waging his own war against them.

'from our encounter'

theaceoffire · Jan 2, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Apokolips attacked him homeworld

His.

Mr Zoat said:
either my Grayven's fleet or the Citizenry

By.

Thanks for the update!

Doccer · Jan 2, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Apokolips attacked him homeworld.

his

Mr Zoat · Jan 2, 2023

moralrelativity said:
we're -> we've
him -> his
needs a full stop
the -> then
or maybe just delete 'the'

Ngamer11 said:
That should say 'by'.

theaceoffire said:
By.

Thank you, corrected.

Windona · Jan 2, 2023

Ooo, a Dark Star's POV.

I am going to place my money on there being a major complication, like anti-Lantern weaponry, being on the world that's being infiltrated.

I doubt Khundians are the only ones who would find a woman that can break a man's jaw hot. Hmm, introducing Khundians to Amazons would definitely have an Interesting result.

Rafin · Jan 2, 2023

Phil is a hoot. Thanks for the chapter.

Ngamer11 · Jan 2, 2023

Mr Zoat, were Holly and Karon among the people who are close to the Justice League and their allies that were fortunate enough to be recovered and brought to relative safety? I ask because I really hope Paul was able to at least help Holly out through that horrible experience with the Anti-Life. Side note, how badly will Christianity be affected after this is all over? Because in recent memory, Heaven attacked innocent people and now seem to be doing nothing to stop this latest disaster.

Chaoswind · Jan 2, 2023

Ngamer11 said:
Mr Zoat, were Holly and Karon among the people who are close to the Justice League and their allies that were fortunate enough to be recovered and brought to relative safety. I ask because I really hope Paul was able to at least help Holly out through that horrible experience with the Anti-Life. Side note, how badly will Christianity be affected after this is all over? Because in recent memory, Heaven attacked innocent people and now seem to be doing nothing to stop this latest disaster.

That wouldn't seem to be the case, the Justice League are recruiting loyal jumped up elementals to put them at work to protect people from the anti life. But some people are naturally more resistant than others thanks to their life experiences.

The congregation are already bathed in the light of the source and their powers are reinforced by their faith in the almighty (All abrahamic religions count) thus by default they should have a higher res counter than most humans, super heroes and magic users, the later because the planets magic field has been polluted in a similar yet lesser way to earth 666 and we know theurgy uses your own soul and it's connection to the source for power, not the local magic, so while magic users in general are getting it bad unless under the filter of a local elemental, the theurgys do not have this problem.

So while most churches are going to be absolutely worthless (specially the heretical shit like the prosperity gospel in the US), other abrahamic sites will not even more so if those places are tended by people with strong ties to the source like the Congregation.

And since personal belief and faith is such a huge factor on the applicability of personal theurgy (as Crusader demonstrated) Islam is going to come out ahead after this fiasco in comparison to the other abrahamic faiths.

Before you bring it up, Zauriel got fucked by the anti life, but angels were made to be unquestionably subservient to the presence meaning their free will IS limited and can be subverted by the Anti life and Zauriel already got told nothing has happened to the source and that the source is still there to be felt and used.

Mr Zoat I am correct to compare the current issues earth 16 is facing with the problem earth 666 had, I mean it's extremely similar on the surface and the anti life one seems to even be weaker without the helmets at least in comparison to the demon curse turning normal people into minor augmented pseudo demons (I believe the Nazis said they were slightly stronger than their soldiers and the Nazi soldiers are slightly augmented by default).

DougA · Jan 2, 2023

-ah." Lotta can be a real downer sometimes. "I've never seen the core of Reach space before. I bet they've got forms of mild control there we've never even seen."

mind control

Mr Zoat · Jan 2, 2023

Ngamer11 said:
Mr Zoat, were Holly and Karon among the people who are close to the Justice League and their allies that were fortunate enough to be recovered and brought to relative safety? I ask because I really hope Paul was able to at least help Holly out through that horrible experience with the Anti-Life.

No.

Side note, how badly will Christianity be affected after this is all over? Because in recent memory, Heaven attacked innocent people and now seem to be doing nothing to stop this latest disaster.

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

DougA said:
-ah." Lotta can be a real downer sometimes. "I've never seen the core of Reach space before. I bet they've got forms of mild control there we've never even seen."

mind control

Thank you, corrected.

Chaoswind said:
And since personal belief and faith is such a huge factor on the applicability of personal theurgy (as Crusader demonstrated) Islam is going to come out ahead after this fiasco in comparison to the other abrahamic faiths.

Sikhism: looks mildly hurt for a moment, then shrugs it off.

Chaoswind · Jan 2, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Sikhism: looks mildly hurt for a moment, then shrugs it off.

It's a numbers game and in your story the Congregation are empowered by the source and their membership recruits from all abrahamic faiths, heck you mentioned their light powers are theurgy that is empowered/strengthened by their faith in the almighty. Anyways, Islam is going to end with a slight majority of them, they just have a higher base of recruits.

Speaking of which, since the Congregation are a global experienced organization as they formed after episode 78 in late 2011 (is Jan 2013 in the story), what is their current role in this anti lifed earth? I mean you said the US got fucked sideways by the AL field, but they are a global organization and all members have on demand TP, the moment their membership in the US started to feel dread they could easily TP to their strongest out of the US members like moths plunging towards holy fire. I mean they got experience dealing with the absolute crap during the Sheeda invasion (Paul missed months of that shit) so it's not like they have absolutely no idea what they are doing.

Finally since the Congregation is a global super hero organization based off Abrahamic theurgy, is Kid Crusader 16 one of their members? Would help tie in his membership to the Titans with the current plan of dealing with the AL field on earth.

Darko · Jan 2, 2023

Ngamer11 said:
Side note, how badly will Christianity be affected after this is all over

Probably like a lot of other religions.

People may stop believing since something like that is allowed to exist.

Chaoswind said:
The congregation are already bathed in the light of the source and their powers are reinforced by their faith in the almighty (All abrahamic religions count) thus by default they should have a higher res counter than most humans, super heroes and magic users, the later because the planets magic field has been polluted in a similar yet lesser way to earth 666 and we know theurgy uses your own soul and it's connection to the source for power, not the local magic, so while magic users in general are getting it bad unless under the filter of a local elemental, the theurgys do not have this problem

The fight with Zauriel seemed to show that Anti-Life can affect even high-tier Source-powered beings, so if it can affect a guy that was born channeling Source energy and has probably been doing it for thousands if not billions of years, then a few humans may stand no chance.

Chaoswind said:
And since personal belief and faith is such a huge factor on the applicability of personal theurgy (as Crusader demonstrated) Islam is going to come out ahead after this fiasco in comparison to the other abrahamic faiths

Though it might experience a loss in Khandaq and various African countries, since Adom is using the power of his gods to shield people, so worship of the Khandaqi pantheon is likely to rise.

Chaoswind said:
Before you bring it up, Zauriel got fucked by the anti life, but angels were made to be unquestionably subservient to the presence meaning their free will IS limited and can be subverted by the Anti life and Zauriel already got told nothing has happened to the source and that the source is still there to be felt and used

Yeah, but it can still effect people that have greater free will.

Plus, members of the Congregation may be inclined to give themselves over to a higher power, since it's kinda required for their powers to work, so while they may have more free will than an Angel, they still have an inclination to follow.

Chaoswind · Jan 2, 2023

Darko said:
The fight with Zauriel seemed to show that Anti-Life can affect even high-tier Source-powered beings, so if it can affect a guy that was born channeling Source energy and has probably been doing it for thousands if not billions of years, then a few humans may stand no chance.

Dr Balewa already told Zauriel why he got fucked, the source didn't leave, Zauriel fell because that was his fear and the AL used it to make him fall and it only worked because Zauriel believed that to be possible from the start.

Someone like Kid Crusader 16 on the Congregation isn't going to be affected at all. I mean Paul wasn't affected and Alan and Guy were highly resistant.

Darko · Jan 2, 2023

Chaoswind said:
Someone like Kid Crusader 16 on the Congregation isn't going to be affected at all. I mean Paul wasn't affected and Alan and Guy were highly resistant

But everyone else might be.

They probably all have at least a shred of fear, regret or doubt about something that the AL can latch onto.

Bramble Thorn · Jan 2, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"In theory, the mission is simple. While the true core of the Reach will have systems to trap your ship, the worlds which you'll be surveying won't. If you get in, look around and leave without drawing attention, you shouldn't have a problem. And if you do, that's why you have Lanterns with you."

"And in actuality, this is a world that just got hit by enemy action where the defenses proved insufficient, and is on the short list for a systems upgrade. Let's go roll the dice to see if the work order has come through yet or not!"

Ngamer11 · Jan 3, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
No.

That's unfortunate. In that case, I hope Paul will visit them and help them out after the big fight is finished.

Mr Zoat said:
The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

I suppose that makes sense. The only question now is, who will succumb to temptation to evil because of this experience.

Mr Zoat · Jan 3, 2023

14th January 2013
07:12 GMT -7

Portal activation detected, Lantern Grayven.

Thank you, Sinestro.

I lower the milk bottle and take a moment to check on the children. It's Saturday, and the children are mostly sorted as far as breakfast goes. I think they're giving me unrealistic expectations regarding the likely behaviour of any children Luna and I have; they're really well behaved. No bickering, no randomly throwing their food across the room, no complaints when the elder take charge of the younger. It's a little sad, but at the same time, a bit of a relief? I'm not sure how I'd cope with this many children if they behaved like normal children. Normal parents can just have one at the start and then wait until they're past the constant attention phase before having another.

"Children, Luna's arrived. I'm just going to pop over to the portal room and escort her back."

Because while she can move around in human-form, she's made it very clear that it's far from her favourite thing. She's fine with the hands, not so much with the bipedalism. Which could be a little awkward, as I had a family sledging day planned and sliding across the frozen Denver countryside isn't something for people not comfortable on their legs.

Mother Box, hush tube.

Ping.

The portal opens silently next to me and I step through, smiling broadly.

"Luna, dear heartttt…"

That's not Luna.

Someone I strongly suspect to be Celestia smiles at me, standing exactly one pace from the portal and quite deliberately not moving another step.

"I'm sorry, but Luna is occupied with affairs of state today."

Quick check with the Mountain's magic monitoring systems… Yep, both her general power and signature match Celestia, and her clothing roughly matches the design of the New God barding I made for her, allowing for the changes the mirror has wrought. And she feels right; there's an established relationship and familiarity there.

"Yes, I… Thought that she would be. That's why this was a… Surprise. So… Was there something that you wanted..?"

"Yes." She bows her head a little and then frowns slightly. Yes, feels odd with a differently proportioned head and neck, doesn't it? "I thought that I should try to spend some time with the stallion my sister intends to marry. And I also wanted to see the world where Sunset has been living."

"That's… Fine. Ah, but why come through the mirror? I know from personal experience that it's a bit tricky to handle the new shape. Especially if you're planning on using magic."

"Because Sunset did the same. For a pony whose special talent relates to magic, losing her horn must have been extremely stressful."

"I think we distracted her with local magic before she could really notice. Ah… I… Take it that she doesn't know that you're here?"

"No. Given how… Tense, my relationship with Sunset is, I decided that-"

"Sinestro, call Sunset."

"Certainly, Lantern Grayven."

"-I wouldn't-. What are you doing?"

"Hey, Grayven. What is it?"

"Where are you?"

"Did you seriously call me to ask that?"

"Yes, Sunset, I care about you, and I get worried when I don't know where you are."

"W-? Now I just feel childish for complaining."

"Yes, that's intended, and it's a sign of your growing maturity that you recognised that without throwing a hissy fit. Well done."

"Ah… Thanks?"

"If I knew where you are, I'd boom tube right over there and pat you on the head."

"Not sure I wanna tell you where I am, now."

"Does it involve Z-?"

"Would you stop with that? Ghia'ta still doesn't believe me. Look, I'm in Venturia. Is that everything?"

"No, Celestia's paying us a visit." Celestia looks quite put out. "Just thought I'd warn you."

"Oh. Does she want to see me?"

"I think she's doing a home inspection. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't just run into her with no warning."

"Okay. Ah. Well. Thank you. I'm… I'm hanging up now."

She hangs up. Celestia still looks put out.

"Grayven, I asked you not to do that."

"Yes, I know. But I considered the thing that torpedoed your relationship with Sunset in the first place: concealing from her information that she wanted. Then I considered if she'd want to know that you were here, realised that the answer was 'yes', and told her."

"I didn't intend to hide the fact that I-."

"Ah-djah-" I point my right forefinger at her. "-djah-djah! That sort of 'from a certain point of view' stuff does not work when you're trying to repair an emotional relationship."

"Then what would you have suggested that I do?"

"Ask me in advance. And… Tell Sunset that you were going to be here, and then let it be her decision whether she approaches you or stays away."

She nods slowly. And awkwardly.

"It doesn't make any difference to your attempt to find out what suddenly having her shape changed was like, but it shows that you're interested in her life and that you respect her boundaries."

"I will remember that in future. Do you think that she would be prepared to stop taking Twilight to cult survivor lectures if I did?"

"Heh-hah-hah-hah-hah!" Celestia doesn't appear to appreciate the joke. "She's actually doing that? I thought she was joking!"

"I think that Sunset originally planned to take her to one. But Twilight wrote in a letter to me that she found it a 'highly informative window on the perils of applying the Magic of Friendship to other species without considering the differences in the way that species thinks'."

"So Sunset's been stuck taking her to them because she won't admit that she only took her to the first one as an insult to Twilight's relationship to you. That's so Sunset. Though I do admire her commitment."

"To dishonesty."

"At this point I think it's its own punishment. Or maybe it's like taking her out to a horror film?"

"I don't think that either Sunset or Twilight find other people suffering entertaining."

"It's cult survivor lectures. The ones giving them are the ones who made lives for themselves after they left. So there's suffering and an uplifting ending. Though maybe we could suggest alternative lectures?"

"I think that would be best. For now, I would-."

She takes a step forward, instinctively moves her arms to the 'walk' position, and falls on her face.

Ngamer11 · Jan 3, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Quick check with the Mountain's magic monitoring systems… Yep, bother her general power and signature match Celestia, and her clothing roughly matches the design of the New God barding I made for her, allowing for the changes the mirror has wrought. And she feels right; there's an established relationship and familiarity there.

That should say 'both'.

Mr Zoat said:
"If I knew where you are, I'd boom tube right over there and pat you on the head."

"Not sure I wanna tell you where I am, now."

"Does it involve Z-?"

"Would you stop with that? Ghia'ta still doesn't believe me. Look, I'm in Venturia. Is that everything?"

Has Ghia'ta been pestering anyone else about their love lives? Because I would be happy to see her doing that with others.

Mr Zoat said:
"It doesn't make any different to your attempt to find out what suddenly having her shape changed was like, but it shows that you're interested in her life and that you respect her boundaries."

I think that should say 'difference'.

Mr Zoat said:
She takes a step forward, instinctively moves her arms to the 'walk' position, and falls on her face.

Now I'm hoping the Renegade recorded that so that he can show it at a later date.

Cuchulin · Jan 3, 2023

Twilight sure acts kind of like a cult member at times.

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