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

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Mr Zoat, Jan 27, 2019.

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  1. Assblaster5000

    Assblaster5000 I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    That... is likely no one who isn't a upstanding, pure member of The Enclave. IIRC there were at least some moderates who said that so long as you looked like a "normal" Human you were fine, but the general stance was... a bit less forgiving. Baring groups like The Remnants who have been out of The Enclave longer than they were in.

    We know thanks to Allistair Tenpenny that The Isles survived, and are actually advanced enough to send people across The Atlantic, even if it's likely to be grossly expensive. There isn't really much info beyond that to my knowledge, though large portions of the fanbase suspect that large areas of the globe were, relative to The US and China, left mostly unscathed but still collapsed due to a lack of resources and the nuking they probably also got.

    Not sure how true that is in OBW though given the changes it makes to the lore.

    Edit:There is a Swiss Ghoul though.
     
  2. Akshka

    Akshka Wait, am I lost?

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    God I wish we had a way of organizing all the different snippets. But I like the dives into the other pauls
     
  3. NightmareWarden

    NightmareWarden Versed in the lewd.

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    I needed that reminder! Have a link, everyone. It looks like the game ended without a nuke, somehow. I hope someone is putting those satellite-guided bondage missiles to good use.
     
  4. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    How dare you?!

    The manliest captain is Jean-Luc Picard!

    And he is from France and sounds British!

    Cultural and linguistic shifts happen!
     
  5. Handlewithcare

    Handlewithcare Versed in the lewd.

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    Sorry, what was politics here?

    That's still Katherine Janeway and you all know it

    Britain had nukes themselves, no? That would have made then targets.
     
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  6. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

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    I disagree. Pointless complaints are the worst part. Reality is Zoat ain't going to change. A sensible person would either stop reading OR accept Zoat's story with all it's faults.
     
  7. preier

    preier I trust you know where the happy button is?

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    I'd argue that a sensible person would not start with the position that Zoat's politics have influenced the canon Fallout lore, but each to his own.

    edit: Uh, ninja'd by Zoat ^^
     
    Last edited: May 9, 2022
  8. jasonh23761

    jasonh23761 Not too sore, are you?

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    So two things:

    NCR! NCR! NCR!

    Also it goes Sisko, Pike, Archer, Kirk, Janeway, Picard and Burnham.

    Yes I'm biased. Picard was tied with Kirk in my eyes before this nonsense with the Picard series.
     
  9. DAT_NOOB

    DAT_NOOB Accused of writing in a far away land

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    They have the Brits on it, the Americans and Chinse would know that if they left them alone they'd take over and they were kinda trying to win.
     
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  10. jasonh23761

    jasonh23761 Not too sore, are you?

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    That's a fair point, plus the more simple out of story explanation being if other nations hadn't been caught in the exchange, where have they been in the last 200 years? Also just saying they all got hot ties up the number of writing loose ends I suppose.

    As an aside, the story doc for the proposed (but not picked up and thoroughly non-canon) Fallout Extreme would have had the player and party go to China to stop a second nuclear bombardment.

    Even the HOI IV Old World Blues mod canon (constantly expanding as it is) has been pretty firm about not crossing the Atlantic or Pacific, though they went as far South as Honduras all with custom content. Plus I think lore wise for that, South America is composed of multiple raider nations with Honduras acting as a barrier against them.
     
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  11. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    [Briefly meditates upon Rule 8]

    Perhaps. I do not believe that the Fallout background goes into the armaments of countries outside of the China/America conflict. However, the Trident system that the UK bought in 1980 was US made, and... There's no obvious source for a replacement.
    But how would they win?

    The American revolution in atomic batteries happened after the US went into isolation and sat out of the majority of the Resource Wars. Britain wouldn't have them and also wouldn't have any oil because for some reason the Fallout world never discovered thermal depolymerization. Shout out to Psyckosama and their Fallout story for that one. As a result, Britain might have wanted to conquer the world, but they... Couldn't. It's not even clear how they could maintain an industrial society. They'd be stuck using solar, tidal and wind power and batteries, and that's not an easy logistics train to manage.
     
  12. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    I do not agree with this statement, but I respect your position and I can see why you would include her.
     
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  13. ForeverShogo

    ForeverShogo Not too sore, are you?

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    I think the only confirmed thing that has ever been said about Britain is that it's worse off than North America. At the very least Allistair Tenpenny fled Britain as a refugee to seek a better life, ending up in the Capital Wasteland and setting up Tenpenny Tower.

    The nations of Europe turned on one another, and more than one was nuclear armed. They also already showed a willingness to use them given that they nuked the Middle East previously. That and I think a few nations basically have policies of "fuck everyone" when it comes to all out nuclear warfare.

    Also, given this is the OWB mod, there might be more Enclave aligned areas than one anticipates. The Courier doesn't exist in that mod, and I think there are plans for it to be the same deal for the Lone Wanderer. The mod's start date is a little bit before the events of Fallout 3, so Autumn's Enclave might have come out on top there. (Assuming the Autumn in Iowa isn't meant to be the Fallout 3 Autumn.)

    Even if it didn't, the major power in the American Midwest is the Chicago Enclave. From what I've seen, they started dominating the region when the arrival of the Midwestern Brotherhood prompted them to reveal themselves by either capturing or destroying the Brotherhood's HQ pretty much right after their arrival. So the Midwestern Brotherhood never got the opportunity to become a powerhouse and is considered to be "on the ropes".

    Though if Kronos is dicking around in Iowa he should have encountered them since Iowa neighbors Illinois.
     
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  14. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    I'm not sure that I'd count Bethesda Alistair Tenpenny as a reliable source.
    No, the Courier does exist. Once New Vegas gets an intelligence agency, one of the potential recruits is The Courier who is level 50. For reference, normal highly experienced agents might be level 8. Also, if you take Hoover Dam as the Reformist Enclave you gets a pop-up about the American flag hanging from the dam, and how American troops were aided by 'a courier'.
    Yes, it's the former colonel, who was allowed to leave with his surviving soldiers after the project purity garrison was defeated.
    Since they're not actually in the mod yet I'm ignoring them.
     
  15. KaiKolo

    KaiKolo Know what you're doing yet?

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    (I'm a first time commenter for this story.)

    *Fallout Sidestory*

    The thought of the United States reforming itself after the apocalypse, spreading sea to shining sea but this time from the Pacific to the Atlantic, is admirable though this will be a long, arduous process.

    Even with advanced technology like the GECKs and with help from the Enclave, it would probably take even longer for a new United States to spread through the continent as the old US did.

    Given how the people of the world were able to survive despite the hardship they've endured for the last two centuries, whatever emerges from the ashes would be more able to face the dangers found throughout space.

    *Hephaestean*

    I wonder if some people will suspect that Paul revitalizing the Olympian pantheon leading to an expansion of Hellenism would be partially out of spite given that Heaven had him killed once.

    I'm honestly worried at what Grayven in the alternate timeline would do if he was in a similar situation that pits him against Zeus given that we know that he can no-sell Zeus's lightning.

    A conflict between a New God and an Old God is the sort of thing that could spiral into a larger conflict.

    *Grayven story*

    I wonder if there will be an attempt to establish formal diplomatic relations between the nations of Earth and Wilson given that they are effectively closer to each other than Earth is to Mars thanks to the portal.

    Princess Luna did make a good first impression, Wilson is a very magically active planet which opens a lot of opportunities, and neither side has any territorial claim over the other.

    The only questions here is whether it's in Wilson's best interest to open relations given that their various nations are severely underdeveloped compared to those of Earth, they could be overwhelmed or negatively influenced by Earth nations, and Earth does have a supervillain problem.

    Wilson does have supervillains but they don't threaten the planet nearly as often as they do on Earth.

    *In General*

    Holy hell, it took me like two months of on-and-off reading but I finally managed to get caught up back from the beginning.

    I remember seeing this story (on another forum) around four or five years ago but was never able to read it through until now.

    There were times I got confused between POVs we were following and what timeline / reality we were in but it eventually works itself out with context and emotional color codes.

    I was beginning to think that Paul and Jade's relationship was slowly fading into the background or that Jade was being written out but then you brought it around and let them spend time together while (attempting) to take time off from working which I liked.

    It's been great to see how much this story has grown and it'll be great to see how it developes from here.
     
    Last edited: May 9, 2022
  16. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    He can't fully no-sell his lightning.

    He was able to endure it due to the armour he was wearing, but it was a single bolt, so a sustained attack may actually do some damage.
     
  17. Someguy Somewhere

    Someguy Somewhere The Critical Fumbler

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    Congrats on your first read through, and welcome to the mad house.
     
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  18. DAT_NOOB

    DAT_NOOB Accused of writing in a far away land

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    The same way they did the first time.



    Given Grayven is (Technically) Suzerain of earth they kinda already have.
     
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  19. Psyckosama

    Psyckosama Connoisseur.

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    *thumbs up*
     
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  20. Coda

    Coda Versed in the lewd.

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    Oh, my bad. You did correct it but you didn't post an acknowledgement of it, and I didn't think to double-check.
     
  21. RamiroGalletti

    RamiroGalletti Making the rounds.

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    soo. any bet of "how many years" befeore we get a "alternate paul" in the universes of "star wars", "star trek","transformers", dragonball, or some other anime? because sinse he got "isekaid" in 2012, the number of universes he would recognise is getting smaller. (at least CURRENT pop culture Franchises).. and honestly the idea of "Paul talking to Q from star trek" or "the ones from star wars" sound fun.

    also like a previous comment said, WHY IS HERA NOT INVOLVED IN THE HADES/PERSEPHONE SITUATION?, kinda her area of expertise
     
  22. Someguy Somewhere

    Someguy Somewhere The Critical Fumbler

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    We do have a transformers Paul....he got binary bonded with a lady bot and was generally enjoying himself.

    EDIT:
    Here and Here
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2022
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  23. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    Paul talking to Q from Star Trek would be like.

    Q: "No cheating."

    *Snaps fingers making Paul's Orange Ring disappear.*
     
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  24. Radix

    Radix Not too sore, are you?

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    Paul fixing the security on Star Fleet vessals would be great. But I think a key thing is that each Paulternate either needs a power source for their ring or use the ring to gaib some power. Star Trek doesnt really have that. Unless he could charge from a warp core or something.

    Although frankly I am surprised we havent had a Babylon 5 Paul yet. He could alter himself to become a P12 telepath or even a telekinetic.

    Wait. He wouldnt have his metaknowledge though as each Paul loses their specific franchise while being aware of the wider stuff. So Saul basically knows nothing. Whereas Red Paul still has wider DC. I guess for Star Trek he could be aware of broader stuff while foegetting the specific show's events. But Babylon 5 would be harder.
     
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  25. Vaermina

    Vaermina Well worn.

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    No elemental plane of avarice in Babylon 5, so his ring would be pretty useless.

    Also the First One's wouldn't put up with his shit... So it would be a super short insert even if his ring worked there...
     
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  26. rdfox

    rdfox Know what you're doing yet?

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    Trivia time! The actual event at Jonestown that inspired the "drank the Kool-Aid" meme didn't use actual Kool-Aid, it used Flava-Aid. Grape flavored, if memory serves, though I'd have to look that up again.

    (Yes, I spend entirely too much time reading about disasters and such, because it lets me forget about my own depression for a while on the grounds that, hell, it could always be worse, I could have been in that...)

    For the record, the UK is (or at least was) entirely capable of producing its own nuclear weapons. The US did not allow UK access to its nuclear programs at all after the end of World War Two until the UK tested its first indigenous atomic bomb in 1952. All told, the UK conducted 21 fully independent nuclear weapons tests, and another 24 joint US-UK tests, including five indigenous H-bomb tests in 1957-58; following those H-bomb tests, the US accepted that the UK had essentially caught up with US capabilities and offered full access to US nuclear weapons technology, which the Macmillan government took full advantage of to reduce the cost of the British nuclear arsenal by simply adopting US weapons instead of designing their own.

    While the Polaris and Trident systems were entirely US-made, there wasn't any component of them that couldn't be made in the UK, which had successfully produced and fired fission bombs, fusion bombs, and rockets capable of putting payloads into low Earth orbit (look up the "Black Arrow" program) entirely indigenously. Those are the three components of a missile-based nuclear deterrent, so if the UK decided it wanted to maintain a truly independent deterrent force, it certainly could develop one again--if you've developed the technology once, then it's not nearly as hard to develop it again.
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2022
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  27. Threadmarks: Regnancy (part 20)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    2nd November 2012
    04:25 GMT +3


    "…obviously not going to work, but at least it will be over."

    Zagreus and I walk towards Themyscira City and away from the forest. Since Demeter is obviously not a neutral chaperone, they ended up agreeing on Gaea. Which also put her in the perfect position to witness Hades swear an oath to her that he would release Persephone from all obligations if it didn't work.

    Persephone seemed marginally happier after that.

    "No faith in your father's attractiveness?"

    "Mother clearly saw him as a threat for a reason. It was unfair, but affairs of the heart aren't obliged to be fair. They have nothing in common and no political reason to be together."

    "How about you?"

    He glances at me, frowning. "Me? I'm not five years old. I can cope perfectly well with my parents separating."

    "No, I mean, from the sounds of it you have a modern view of marriage."

    "I am modern. For virtually all purposes I'm a modern… A human with a few magical abilities."

    "An unageing human with a few magical abilities. I've seen agelessness impair people's ability to learn new things."

    "Fortunate for me. And whether I prefer the modern version of marriage depends on what you mean. Marriage should be a publically stated commitment, not something you abandon when it becomes inconvenient or when the initial.. shine comes off the relationship. A marriage entered into by two people because they share life-goals can be a perfectly good marriage."

    "But..?"

    "There's no 'but' to it. Father let his emotions cloud his reason. He should have known that just driving up in his chariot and picking Mother up wasn't the right thing to do. It was Zeus, for Gaea's sake! There's a gap between 'sticking to your promises' and 'living a total fantasy'! If anything, I should-."

    He stops, staring at me.

    "No."

    "What?"

    "No." he shakes his head. "You aren't that cunning."

    "If you could give me a little more..?"

    "For a moment, I remembered your claim that Eris didn't cause the Trojan War, she just brought the pettiness of everyone else to the surface. And it occurred to me that I could interpret what you've done here in a similar light."

    "Oh-" I shake my head. "-no. I don't think like that."

    "I realised. But when Father fails, you'll have been able to do what even Demeter couldn't do: ending their façade of a marriage."

    "No problem with Macaria being made regent?"

    "No. Out of the three of us, she's the one with a connection to the dead. And she wants to be part of this new pantheon that Hephaestaean is drawing together."

    "Have you met your new God of War?"

    "No, I've been too busy bracing myself for whatever explosion you would create. Did Kratos break a clinch long enough to accept?"

    "No, you got Týr."

    "Your suggestion?"

    "I did suggest it as a half-joke to Diana a couple of years ago, but he volunteered without any direct contact with me."

    "Convenient."

    "Are you familiar with virtue ethics?"

    "Of course I'm familiar with virtue ethics. I come from the society that invented the concept."

    "Virtue guards against bad luck. Not completely, but to a significant degree. If you put flour in a sieve and shake, fine grains rain through while larger parts are broken up or trapped. Likewise, any system that can't survive a little chaos probably wasn't that good anyway."

    "You think chaos is a virtue, guarding against bad systems?"

    "The philosophers John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor argued against censorship on the grounds that even if an opinion was utterly vile, it was still worth having the opinion aired so that people could remind themselves that it was vile and practise the counter-arguments with a real example. My point is that it's always worth having someone test things, even if they're wrong. Because… If a man prodding a fence with his foot can knock it over then it probably wasn't going to withstand an actual storm. And if this many fences are falling over, they're probably overdue for a kicking."

    "Have fun with that. We've finally got enough judges trained up that I can afford to go back to Africa, so it's not going to be my problem."

    "You sure?"

    "You tell me."

    I take a look at his desire network and… Yes, he's pretty much done with this whole situation. That's a shame, but I understand where he's coming from. His role in the whole thing was supporting Hades and if his sister would rather do it…

    "I see that you are. Thank you for helping out for as long as you have."

    I hold out my right hand. He bows his head slightly with a smile as he takes it.

    "I'll be happy to go back to hippos. You don't have anything… Else planned for our pantheon, do you?"

    "Planned?"

    He steps back into the woods, slowly fading from view.

    "Nice safe hippos and lions…"

    I shake my head, sight Menalippe and transition over to her.

    "So."

    She looks me over cautiously. "What news?"

    "Hephaestaean has his pantheon more or less together, final negotiations pending. Macaria is temporarily taking over Erebos while her parents use the waters of the Lethe to either save or finally destroy their marriage. And I still don't know where John Constantine is."

    She frowns. "Who?"

    "He's a magician… You've never met, but he disappeared and I've been looking for him..?"

    She nods. "And you are not an easy man to hide from. Please explain what you mean by 'use the waters of the Lethe'."

    "Temporarily regress to the point where they first met and see if they can form a relationship without Zeus and Demeter sticking their oars in. Other than Hades maybe ending up single, it shouldn't affect anyone here."

    "Thank the gods for small mercies."

    I don't draw attention to her unfortunate phrasing.

    "And I'll try to avoid upending Themysciran religious practice again for at least a decade. Thank you for your forbearance."

    Now. Constantine.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2023
  28. hance1986

    hance1986 A pitiful excuse for a man.

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    ' shouldn't '
     
  29. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

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    Yes, Zag. Yes.

    Lucky her.

    You're not going to keep that promise.

    Finally.
     
  30. Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

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    Thank you, corrected.
    Any chance of the story carrying on?
     
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