Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

[Fouredged]

Fighting a serious Scion involves him retreating to a safe locked world, locking your world so you can't leave, then leaving.

His leaving destroys everything everywhere. You cannot stop him from simply taking all your toys and going home. We are sheep in a pen. Unless we can goad him into climbing INTO the pen and letting himself get bit, we have NO hope of trampling him regardless of our numbers.

 

[Ashura]

Can all of you people even imagine just how pressed will Scion be, once all the Endslayer combinations are tested against him? Training mode for Scion battle, that is all the Endbringers amount to, nowadays.

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Like Inverness stated, the Endbringers don't come close to Scion. I mean, Scion can probably ohko Endbringers around, and is in no way as restricted as the Endbringers are. I don't have the issues with the Endbringer battles that you guys seem to be having. Granted, it's no where as exciting as it used to be, but it is also no where close to being as tedious as you are making it out to be. With the way the story progressed, I doubt anything other then Endbringers can challenge Pantheon now, especially since the world is quite united in the fact that there are no major powers fighting each other.

Frankly, the thought that Eidolon spawned the Endbringers isn't something that seems very obvious. Though this, may simply be due to my spotty memory, but didn't Eden create the Endbringers and Eidolon is merely summoning them? Or am I just completely wrong on this point.

 

[Diller]

My guess is "not very." Even in canon when Taylor was doing this with 5000+ parahumans, he wasn't giving a single fuck.

The key to Scion's strength is twofold: First, his real body is hidden in a shielded dimension. The Warrior and the Thinker separated the dimensions and walled them off before the cycle began in order to maximize results and ensure safety. Sting can breach this blockade, but anything else is useless.

Second, Scion is optimized towards fighting. All the best combat powers, nullifiers, precog, PtV (admittedly expensive, but not so much that he won't use it at all) and no limiters of any sort. Scion is capable of casually cracking landmasses and is exceptionally difficult to do any real harm to. On top of that, his powers are already plugged into each other the way that Pantheon is still learning how to perform.

There's two ways to beat Scion: Fight him hard enough to make him spam PtV and wear down his energy stores, which would probably result in most of the species being dead anyways; and get him to allow himself to be killed, which is what happened in canon, and required him to go on his rampage first, so that he'd be indulging his emotions and vulnerable to sudden swings.

No matter how advanced Pantheon gets, it doesn't change the fact that the Passengers themselves were hard-coded to be either harmless to the Entities or simple to defeat. I find it highly unlikely that any combination of powers could put Scion into a difficult position if he were to put any sort of effort into the fight. If everything else fails, he just triggers his unblocked PtV and wins.

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This

Scion will wreck their shit so hard. Scion was dicking around the entire time in canon because he was enjoying himself. Examples he actually experimenting with killing people instead of going to kill off the parahumans, not immediately killing Taylor once he started choking her, walking through and checking the Caludron base out instead of nuking it from another dimension, not using his PTV like power to end the fight quickly.This makes sense give that as the Warrior he was to be focused more on the short term and he had been depressed for 30 years. So he was indulging himself on the first positive emotions he had ever.

Canon scion fought Kephri perfectly synergizing and coordinating basically every parahuman still alive and every EB (except for the dead Behemoth) with Tohu using GU who had Eidolon among her ghosts by then, Eidolon, and Myrridin and upgraded Leviathan.


All of that and he still only lost because he never turned off his ability to feel emotions. Mind you he was pretty much dicking around the entire time and even GU and near full power Eidolon together only annoyed him enough that he whipped out his PTV to kill Eidolon. If Scion was in serious mode and not dicking around they would've lost almost immediately.

 

[cosoco]

Nice of him not to add China and India to the mix. Victoria watched him and us. She's worried, afraid there will be a fight. I looked over at Taylor, still unconscious. If I needed any more proof that the Endbringers hated us in particular, I got it today. The bug monsters that controlled the infected were insect enough that her powers could see their senses. Not enough for her to control, just to watch. I didn't have much choice but to render her unconscious. It was kinder that way.

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I laughed so hard at this.

She's worried, afraid there will be a fight.

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Either the tense is wrong or this was meant to be italicized.

elogant

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elegant

On the plus side, the new protocols we used for these battles made it so there were only dozens of potential wounded, instead of hundreds.

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Hooray! Wait, is this because they killed everyone who got infected?

"And suddenly, Beelzebub's terror weapon is mostly useless," Lisa responded. "That's the thing about fear. It's only scary when you don't know how to fight back. When the target finds a way to mitigate the effects, you're left with nothing but a distraction. An annoyance. They might not be dead yet, but that's just a matter of time. The Endbringers have already lost the war. The next one or two Endbringers will be even weaker, in their own way. More blatant, more immediately frightening. And then, nothing. There's no scope left, the Endmakers didn't think to save their best for last. They have no tricks left."

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Prediction: Lisa is giving different information to different allies. By measuring how the Endbringers react to this, (or whether they react) she can divide up the space of possible candidates.

Unless this backfires horrifically.

 

[Diller]

. Tohu and Bohu, now that we know their tactics, can be countered. Force it to choose capes other than Khepri and Atropos before we start our next attack. We may even be able to kill them the next time they manifest, they don't really have methods to protect them from our Endslayer combinations. Barghest, we already know Eidolon beats handedly. We just use that tactic and the worst we face is a few mil in property damage. We could just stand there and let it do its thing, then bring everyone back."

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LOL Lisa can't be really underestimating Tohu right. I mean the fact she copied Shatterbird who is both dead and a Caludron cape should've told everyone that Tohu can copy any cape she wants. Trying to force her to not go with Kephri and Atropos is only going to result her pulling something like GU, Eidolon, or both if she feels like being a real bitch to them. Haven't even gone into her potential third face.

Well actually if tohu wanted to be a bitch, she go something like Amelia/Doormaker/Grue and warp over to Avalon then use Grue's power to suppress and copy everyone's powers before using Amelia to take over Yggdrasil.

 

[Rean]

You know, Thanda is an identifier for a certain class of indian cape, not a person. Sort of like Protectorate, Irregular, and Villain.

 

[sephlington]

You know, Thanda is an identifier for a certain class of indian cape, not a person. Sort of like Protectorate, Irregular, and Villain.

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In particular, it just means "Cold".

This particular Thanda cape never seemed to get a name. If you were to name him, three of the four named Thanda capes seem to just be the Hindi translation of particular words (I can't get the Se part of Phir Se to translate, but Phir translate to "Then", so I'm imagining it's something along the lines of "Then again" or similar. No clue what Turanta means). Pick a word to explain the power, and translate it - I'm a fan of Tālā, for "Lock".

 

[TanaNari]

You know, Thanda is an identifier for a certain class of indian cape, not a person. Sort of like Protectorate, Irregular, and Villain.

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If the name had been "Avalon" or "Haven" would it make more sense to you?

 

[Rean]

If the name had been "Avalon" or "Haven" would it make more sense to you?

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Eh, a "the" is really all you need.

 

[Empiricist]

The problem with that is that Endbringers don't even come near Scion's level. He has a significant amount of ridiculously strong powers (though he prefers his single, OP power) that are only tempered by his inability to find fucks to give, and in canon his interest in making people suffer rather than actually killing them.

It's sort of like comparing walking over hot coals to walking into a volcano, when it comes to Endbringers and Scion.

Sure Pantheon has quality when it comes to combat tactics, but Scion has quantity in the raw power sense.

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We are in agreement as to the current situation.

However, I don't think you are paying enough attention to Pantheon, and Cauldron's cooperative efforts to chip away at the Taboo.

Think how battles with the big guy goes when bullshit thinker powers have been working on understanding Him and Eden for a long time.

Think what Taylor, Victoria, and Dragon will come up with in terms of battle plans with sufficient Intel Entities life cycles and motivation.

Think what happens when, if, they break the taboos on powers...

[Edit] Oh and think all the consequences TanaNari can pull on them as pieces of this goes wrong [ /Edit]

 

[VaporDeagle]

So basically the Endbringers is like real life evolution of war.

First, we have World War one where a fucktons of people died because we had no idea how to make effective use of modern weapons tactics.

Then World War two came and EVEN more people died because we now know how to use those weapon effectively.

Then there's the Cold War, the 'Hurt us harder, we will hurt back even harder' mentality is formed around this stage.

Of course, Soviet Union eventually break down. Which lead to...

War on Terror.

I'm actually somewhat happy about this. Now go and write more social interaction!

I need my daily does of teenage drama.

 

[Ack]

In particular, it just means "Cold".

This particular Thanda cape never seemed to get a name. If you were to name him, three of the four named Thanda capes seem to just be the Hindi translation of particular words (I can't get the Se part of Phir Se to translate, but Phir translate to "Then", so I'm imagining it's something along the lines of "Then again" or similar. No clue what Turanta means). Pick a word to explain the power, and translate it - I'm a fan of Tālā, for "Lock".

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Word of God says that "Phir Se" (sorry, no accent marks) means "Repeat". So probably does literally mean "then again".

 

[Tavarokk]

There's two ways to beat Scion: Fight him hard enough to make him spam PtV and wear down his energy stores, which would probably result in most of the species being dead anyways; and get him to allow himself to be killed, which is what happened in canon, and required him to go on his rampage first, so that he'd be indulging his emotions and vulnerable to sudden swings.

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Or use that power replication cape to build a bigass Sting cannon, aim it near the hobo and one-shot the fucker once he appears before he has chance to turn on the precog. The way things are at the moment, Pantheon will have the first strike thanks to Dinah, so the question is whether they can build a powerful enough weapon in the decade they have. So far the progress has been promising.

 

[tordg]

I'm reasonably certain that's not how Queen Administrator works. Either the organism has a simple enough nervous system to be controlled, or it doesn't. There's no gradient, it either works or it doesn't.

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Simplicity of the nervous system is not the determinant. Most fish actually have simpler nervous systems than most insects (often an order of magnitude fewer neurons in the brain), all vertebrates have a nerve cluster indistinguishable from an insect brain in their hearts (insta-kill every human in range simultaneously power, anyone? (and low level lie detection and a few other things like no tagging)), and she can't control insects below a certain size (else she wouldn't be creeped out by mere pubic lice in canon, nor need to tag anyone ever (Taylor just controlling skin mites is an A-Class threat (now I want to read that story))). Her power has a very arbitrary Manton limit.

He has a significant amount of ridiculously strong powers (though he prefers his single, OP power)

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I recall some WoG that he actually left himself VERY few shards, with his Golden Fuck You Beam™ being his only offensive shard. By my count he only left himself about a dozen shards, assuming we saw almost everything. And he would have won with that, never mind his billions of other shards...

 

[Ack]

Simplicity of the nervous system is not the determinant. Most fish actually have simpler nervous systems than most insects (often an order of magnitude fewer neurons in the brain), all vertebrates have a nerve cluster indistinguishable from an insect brain in their hearts (insta-kill every human in range simultaneously power, anyone? (and low level lie detection and a few other things like no tagging)), and she can't control insects below a certain size (else she wouldn't be creeped out by mere pubic lice in canon, nor need to tag anyone ever (Taylor just controlling skin mites is an A-Class threat (now I want to read that story))). Her power has a very arbitrary Manton limit.

I recall some WoG that he actually left himself VERY few shards, with his Golden Fuck You Beam™ being his only offensive shard. By my count he only left himself about a dozen shards, assuming we saw almost everything. And he would have won with that, never mind his billions of other shards...

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How about the Ever Expanding Globe of Fuck-You Disintegration that nearly killed Taylor in canon?

Can we have a citation for that WoG?

 

[Peanuckle]

Or use that power replication cape to build a bigass Sting cannon, aim it near the hobo and one-shot the fucker once he appears before he has chance to turn on the precog. The way things are at the moment, Pantheon will have the first strike thanks to Dinah, so the question is whether they can build a powerful enough weapon in the decade they have. So far the progress has been promising.

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His PtV is set to a contingency; "If Sting, then Plot Escape and Execute."

He can also activate it manually.

Scion optimized himself to fight, with the knowledge that he might have to go up against the bearer of Sting. The weapon itself is a threat, but the delivery mechanism is trivial to defend against.

 

[Tavarokk]

His PtV is set to a contingency; "If Sting, then Plot Escape and Execute."

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Will it trigger if the source isn't the shard? That is, does he track the power itself or the physical effect it creates, and if the latter, how different would it have to be to avoid pinging Scion's precog?

 

[Peanuckle]

Will it trigger if the source isn't the shard? That is, does he track the power itself or the physical effect it creates, and if the latter, how different would it have to be to avoid pinging Scion's precog?

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No idea.

But considering what Scion is, and the fact that this isn't the first time around the block for him, I'm wagering that he's not going to be taken down by a clever combination of powers.

He's the final boss. There won't be any cunning victory or easy gimmick. It's going to be nasty, brutal and bloody.

 

[Snake/Eater]

No idea.

But considering what Scion is, and the fact that this isn't the first time around the block for him, I'm wagering that he's not going to be taken down by a clever combination of powers.

He's the final boss. There won't be any cunning victory or easy gimmick. It's going to be nasty, brutal and bloody.

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If they could the Homeworld of the Entities...they might have a fighting chance of not just killing Scion...but all of them.

Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear! - Captain Ahab's Last Words

 

[Peanuckle]

If they could the Homeworld of the Entities...they might have a fighting chance of not just killing Scion...but all of them.

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The entities' homeworld is a finely-dispersed dust cloud. It was the first place they detonated to reach other worlds.

There's really no stopping the Entities as a species; there's too many of them, they reproduce too much and they're phenomenally powerful. Scion's situation is incredibly unique, and even then he's almost invincible.

The Space Whales have basically won the game against other life-forms. They're fighting against cosmic forces, now, and making good headway at it.

 

[Diller]

Also Scion is the heavily heavily heavily nerfed version of the warrior.

That Guy had Missy's shard,Taylor's shard,Jack's shard,Brians shard,Aisha's shard,Accord's shard,Amelia's shard, Lisa's shard, every other Scion capes shard at full power. Remember all the non Caludron cape shards still have the restrictions the Entities put on them.

Meaning he could do shit like Kephri with the added ability to modify powers without the range limits or slowly going insane. And that is with QA alone.

They are going to be lucky to beat Scion. A full power Entity would LOLstomp so hard that it would be both sad and hilarious. Also they wouldn't have Scion's emotional weakness that makes it possible to best him besides forcing him to run out of energy.

 

[tordg]

How about the Ever Expanding Globe of Fuck-You Disintegration that nearly killed Taylor in canon?

Can we have a citation for that WoG?

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http://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/15024624/
So my recollection was that wildbow made a more absolute statement than he did. Zion may well have had more offensive shards, but given the description of the sheer power and versatility of the Golden Fuck You Beam™ shard, that would hardly be necessary.

 

[Jackercracks]

Also. Yes. The Moord Nag thing was intentionally anticlimactic. (Waits for bitching about THAT now, too.)

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I have to ask why? You have buildup to a big climactic moment, the potential for great fighting against the clock scenes, last minute escapes and someone flying in at the last minute to knock her out, and instead you choose to solve it offscreen. I have very little idea what actually happened. You're aware of it, so it must be part of some kind of plan but for the life of me I can't understand it.

 

[TanaNari]

I have to ask why? You have buildup to a big climactic moment, the potential for great fighting against the clock scenes, last minute escapes and someone flying in at the last minute to knock her out, and instead you choose to solve it offscreen. I have very little idea what actually happened. You're aware of it, so it must be part of some kind of plan but for the life of me I can't understand it.

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Because I value realistic and honest storytelling over drama for drama's sake and idiot balls just so you can have a plot. Realistically and honestly? There's no fucking way Lisa wouldn't see this coming. And there's absolutely nothing Moord Nag can do that works against Lily.

At the same time. It was still a fun moment to close a chapter on. And it's not without its (more subtle) consequences. But Moord Nag is not a valid threat under these circumstances. Plus her power deactivates when she loses consciousness/temporarily dies, so, there's that.

 

[Jackercracks]

Because I value realistic and honest storytelling over drama for drama's sake and idiot balls just so you can have a plot. Realistically and honestly? There's no fucking way Lisa wouldn't see this coming. And there's absolutely nothing Moord Nag can do that works against Lily.

At the same time. It was still a fun moment to close a chapter on. And it's not without its (more subtle) consequences. But Moord Nag is not a valid threat under these circumstances. Plus her power deactivates when she loses consciousness/temporarily dies, so, there's that.

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Oh right, so Lily was what took her out. I had no clue of that.

 

[TanaNari]

Ah. I thought the part where she was the one to report that Moord Nag was down and needed tinker tech to save her life (as opposed to letting Amelia or another healer do the work) was obvious.

Guess I could make it a little clearer.

 

[Daunmi]

Guess I could make it a little clearer.

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There's a function for that. color=transparent

More seriously, what happens to Taylor and Amelia's shards when Taylor or Amelia die? I mean, if you don't mind telling us.

 

[TanaNari]

More seriously, what happens to Taylor and Amelia's shards when Taylor or Amelia die? I mean, if you don't mind telling us.

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Same thing that happens to every other shard?

That's more a question for Wildbow than me.

 

[Daunmi]

Same thing that happens to every other shard?

That's more a question for Wildbow than me.

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I was more thinking in regards to the Taylia connection being broken temporarily, which is more up your alley.

 

[TanaNari]

I was more thinking in regards to the Taylia connection being broken temporarily, which is more up your alley.

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Well, they're shards. Their whole goal is to collect data. The Taylia bond is providing that, and plenty of it, and thus they follow the canon formula of rewarding their hosts with better, more streamlined, use of their powers. But it's not like shards have the psychological capacity to *care* about their hosts or each other. Or even themselves. They're following "the program"- all benefits seen by Taylor and Amelia are that program working in their favor.

Ergo: same thing that happens to every other shard.