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

Back Door (part 21)
9th July 2012
07:31 GMT


Oh.

-detected.

I try-

The ship's gone.

-to-

My construct's gone.

-step-

It hits me.

Armourarmourreinforcemyarmour!

I can see the flows of orange light from my rings pour into the mould of my construct even as the ravening qwa energy consumes it from the outside! I'm reading-. Every form of energy at once, and a few things that my rings' sensors are glitching trying to understand! A moment later I dully register more of the Reach's ships vanishing as the blinding wave annihilates them, but I think the initial wave has passed me-.

Then the qwa matter hits and my armour construct is gone and my armour is gone and I frantically pull my desires into my environmental shield as I feel the eldritch energy try to eat the very idea that a thing like me ever existed. That I could exist. My desire for autonomy against a force that wants to destroy everyone's desire for anything. My-.

My right arm's gone. I didn't even-.

Bodily integrity and self-image, not just mine but from the entire-.

And now I have no legs or nose.

Um.

The entire Leentniar species, the way things should be and must be-.

It's not enough. It's eating away at me. I'm surprised that my ring is still intact.

Well, if… Larfleeze's desires are still imprinted on his ring-.

What's a ring?

What's… What

am I seeing? I… Want to hide. For my people to hide. To keep away from the things that chase us, they chased our ancestors from wherever our home.. planet was. They're a threat, obviously, but it's the aliens around us that I'm concerned about. We have to harvest them before the Pursuers do, but there's a dreadful risk every time and I want to keep away from them and stay hidden. I want everyone to stay hidden.

Um. Nothing about that seems particularly unreasonable to me.

Who am I..? Hiding from? I mean, a name or something would be-.

GETAWAYGETAWAYGETAWAYGETAWAY!

I'm moving, I'm moving fast but I don't know if I'm going in the right direction or the wrong direction. Something about that doesn't seem-.

HIDE!

I look around this weird… Orange… Place. There isn't really anywhere to hide, just a corridor and it's walls. But I must hide. I try gripping the wall-.

Turning big rocks into small rocks and ore. This is how the fleet survives. It's not interesting, but with patience it can still be satisfying.

Okay, so I'm mining while hiding and fleeing? That doesn't sound right. They don't sound like they're coming from the same place, and I'm not sure how to do them at the same time. I don't think there's anything to actually mine here. I can't see anything to flee from and hiding appears to be impossible as well.

Be a productive citizen, even when it's hard to work out what that means.

I certainly don't have anything against being a productive citizen. I'm getting the impression that I'm not meant to mindlessly obey these impulses. That… Idea resonates in a way that the others didn't. So… Fine? Maybe if I walk a little way down the corridor.

Aliens shouldn't be able to tell us what to do. We should kill them until they stop.

'Alien' is really a matter of perspective. I mean, something's resonating about the desire to kill people and not liking being controlled, but I don't think that something as terminal as 'kill them all' should be applied to a group just because it's a group.

No, it totally should. Individualism is the problem. Society can't work if individuals focus on themselves.

That… Didn't sound…

I look at myself, and see threads from the walls and floor and ceiling binding themselves to each other in a shape… I assume that shape is me? Weird orange voices, is that a normal shape?

It's a shape that it's right to identify with.

Thank you, I think? I don't know, though. I don't think I'm meant to be made of orange light like this. It feels off. And… I think I'm meant to know. That definitely feels like something I should be able to do.

Are any of these threads from… Me? Is that a thing it makes sense to ask?

I try… Pulling at… Me? But none of the threads feel much different in nature from the others. Each of them shows me flashes of things I could want, but nothing really.. settles.

This feels… No, this is very wrong. I'm not meant to be like this.

What am I?

No. No.

I want to be me.

Ugh-? A strand… Connected to my left hand tugs… Okay, um. I follow it, pulling it up from the floor as I go. That causes it to flow into me, some of the other strands falling away as I move through… Whatever this place is. And I feel… A little more like I think I should feel. Though I don't have any.. evidence of that. I've just got feelings to go on, but I suppose that's better than nothing.

Is there anything else that feels familiar? What else do I want?

Some of the not-me desires relate to other people. Do I have..? People? A group I'm part of? The desires make that seem normal, so I suppose

I want to be with my peers.

"I-Illustres?"

I want to know my own mind.

"Illustres?"

I want to know what that voice is.

"This makes no sense."

Which implies that the voice wants it to make sense. Where's the thread for that? No, no… There

"You're dead, but-."

I open my eyes to the blackness of space, a woman I think I recognise and an orange glow. She blinks in shock, the threads from her ring maintaining the orange glow around me.

"Illustres?"

"Perhaps. Who are you?"
 
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'they chased'

We have to harvest them before the Pursuers do,

I'm reminded of this Marvel comic in which a group of aliens try to steal Earths culture through a techno-magical device to stop the Zenn-lavians from completely altering it.

Though I don't think this group has such noble intentions.

. Nothing about that seems particularly unreasonable to me.

Oh dear, looks like he's starting to lose himself.

I certainly don't have anything against being a productive citizen

No you don't.

Aliens shouldn't be able to tell us what to do. We should kill them until they stop.

I get the feeling this has something to do with him basically ordering them around.


'I-Illustres'

Perhaps. Who are you?"

An amnesia episode.

Qwa-matter is really fucking disturbing.
 
Sounds like he got made into a construct.

Now we get to see him spend a chapter reversing it and come out with a power up.

Of course, the real question here is whether he will extend this new construct turn back into people ability he gains to all the other construct rings.
 
Sounds like he got made into a construct.

Now we get to see him spend a chapter reversing it and come out with a power up.

Of course, the real question here is whether he will extend this new construct turn back into people ability he gains to all the other construct rings.
If he was a construct, all his words would be orange. So he's not a construct.
 
Now I'm a bit worried of him deciding to indulge in his desires all willy-nilly due to his soul.

Even if he lost his enlightenment, his soul may still be a piece of the Ophiduan, a.k.a the Embodimenr of Avarice, so now he has literal avarice as his soul, but lacks the mindset for self control.

I'm also kinda getting the feeling that we'll be seeing the White Light in the next episode.

I think Zoat said that it would be used to bring someone back to life, and Gozzi did say that he's dead.
 
Now I'm a bit worried of him deciding to indulge in his desires all willy-nilly due to his soul.

Even if he lost his enlightenment, his soul may still be a piece of the Ophiduan, a.k.a the Embodimenr of Avarice, so now he has literal avarice as his soul, but lacks the mindset for self control.

I'm also kinda getting the feeling that we'll be seeing the White Light in the next episode.

I think Zoat said that it would be used to bring someone back to life, and Gozzi did say that he's dead.

So what you're saying is that it's time to break out the words of numerous wise people throughout history?

Ah shit, here we go again.
 
so can someone explain what qwa matter is exactly?

As I understand it it's basically anti-matter's bigger, angrier sibling with some kind of connection to the Anti-Monitor, so it could be something like weaponized entropy knowing comics.

Edit:Reading the DC Database page on Qward doesn't offer anything on the substance sadly, so My rough guesstimate above is the best you're going to get out of my I'm afraid.
 
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9th July 2012
07:31 GMT


Oh.

-detected.
Yeah, that's about the reaction most people who know what Qwa-matter is would have.. In the moments before they cease to exist... I'm picturing something like the anti-energy seen in 'Crisis on Infinite Earths', the energy that erased universes from existence...

I try-

The ship's gone.
That goes without saying. I'm reminded of Incompatible System, where Humanity's Weakly-Imteracting-Massive-Particle-based techonology has very.. Energetic reactions with Element Zero (of Mass Effect fame.) Think far in excess of matter-antimatter annihilation reactions...

-to-

My construct's gone.
Oh, shit. That's not good... Because that's connected to him...

-step-

It hits me.

Armourarmourreinforcemyarmour!
Not going to help, I think. From what little I could find on this stuff, it's nasty enough to hurt pre-Crisis Superman. :eek: Pre-fucking-Crisis Superman!

I can see the flows of orange light from my rings pour into the mould of my construct even as the ravening qwa energy consumes it from the outside! I'm reading-. Every form of energy at once, and a few things that my ring's sensors are glitching trying to understand! A moment later I dully register more of the Reach's ships vanishing as the blinding wave annihilates them, but I think the initial wave has past me-.
Now I get a feeling of what Dox saw when he went full informational against Grayven-16. Too much to comprehend, all hitting at once, so much so that all thought is pushed away...

Then the qwa matter hits and my armour construct is gone and my armour is gone and I frantically pull my desires into my environmental shield as I feel the eldritch energy try to eat the very idea that a thing like me ever existed. That I could exist. My desire for autonomy against a force that wants to destroy everyone's desire for anything. My-.

My right arm's gone. I didn't even-.
:confused: Okay, that's fixable. As long as he's not dead-dead...

Bodily integrity and self-image, not just mine but from the entire-.

And now I have no legs or nose.
...So, he's half the man he used to be? <ducks!>

Um.

The entire Leentniar species, the way things should be and must be-.
Oh, hell. If this shit is doing this to him, the Leentniar ships are already ash! I think their species just became endangered...

It's not enough. It's eating away at me. I'm surprised that my ring is still intact.

Well, if… Larfleeze's desires are still imprinted on his ring-.

What's a ring?
:eek: ...Shit... Oh, this is bad. I know this won't be fatal, we've seen future OL still running around a thousand years or more from now... But...

What's… What

am I seeing? I… Want to hide. For my people to hide. To keep away from the things that chase us, the chased our ancestors from wherever our home.. planet was. They're a threat, obviously, but it's the aliens around us that I'm concerned about. We have to harvest them before the Pursuers do, but there's a dreadful risk every time and I want to keep away from them and stay hidden. I want everyone to stay hidden.
Is he picking up on the Desires of one of the Leentniar leaders? It must be.

Um. Nothing about that seems particularly unreasonable to me.

Who am I..? Hiding from? I mean, a name or something would be-.
Crud, I hope the Ophidian's Heart has a backup-restore feature. Or we could be facing an OL having to start levelling from scratch in the middle of an Epic Campaign... Which aren't very kind to level 1 PCs...

GETAWAYGAEAWAYGETAWAYGETAWAY!

I'm moving, I'm moving fast but I don't know if I'm going in the right direction or the wrong direction. Something about that doesn't seem-.

HIDE!
At least some primal part of him knows to avoid the Qwa-matter...

I look around this weird… Orange… Place. There isn't really anywhere to hide, just a corridor and it's walls. But I must hide. I try gripping the wall-.

Turning big rocks into small rocks and ore. This is how the fleet survives. It's not interesting, but with patience it can still be satisfying.
So, he made it into the Honden... But left behind most of himself. Cruuuud....

Okay, so I'm mining while hiding and fleeing? That doesn't sound right. They don't sound like they're coming from the same place, and I'm not sure how to do them at the same time. I don't think there's anything to actually mine here. I can't see anything to flee from and hiding appears to be impossible as well.

Be a productive citizen, even when it's hard to work out what that means.
He's not even separating himself from the Leentniar desires around him? Man, the Qwa-matter was basically a level-drain effect...

I certainly don't have anything against being a productive citizen. I'm getting the impression that I'm not meant to mindlessly obey these impulses. That… Idea resonates in a way that the others didn't. So… Fine? Maybe if I walk a little way down the corridor.

Aliens shouldn't be able to tell us what to do. We should kill them until they stop.
But at least he remembers that he should resist impulsive behaviour... Not acting on every thought or want that crosses what's left of his mind...

'Alien' is really a matter of perspective. I mean, something's resonating about the desire to kill people and not liking being controlled, but I don't think that something as terminal as 'kill them all' should be applied to a group just because it's a group.

No, it totally should. Individualism is the problem. Society can't work if individuals focus on themselves.
And still reasonable about his views. There's hope he can rebuild himself, then.

That… Didn't sound…

I look at myself, and see threads from the walls and floor and ceiling binding themselves to each other in a shape… I assume that shape is me? Weird orange voices, is that a normal shape?
Fascinating that he's weaving the desires within the Honden into a new form. Assuming that's even what;'s happening.

It's a shape that it's right to identify with.

Thank you, I think? I don't know, though. I don't think I'm meant to be made of orange light like this. It feels off. And… I think I'm meant to know. That definitely feels like something I should be able to do.
...Is it better to have lost, and not remember, than to have lost and know what you've lost, in the hope of regaining it?

Are any of these threads from… Me? Is that a thing it makes sense to ask?

I try… Pulling at… Me? But none of the threads feel much different in nature from the others. Each of them shows me flashes of things I could want, but nothing really.. settles.
A tangled skein is man, woven of many thoughts and feelings...

This feels… No, this is very wrong. I'm not meant to me like this.

What am I?
Ah, the most primal of questions. The foundation of sapience...

No. No.

I want to be me.
Heh, there's something familiar to everyone.

Ugh-? A strand… Connected to my left hand tugs… Okay, um. I follow it, pulling it up from the floor as I go. That causes it to flow into me, some of the other strands falling away as I move through… Whatever this place is. And I feel… A little more like I think I should feel. Though I don't have any.. evidence of that. I've just got feelings to go on, but I suppose that's better than nothing.

Is there anything else that feels familiar? What else do I want?
The question here is what's going to happen, if he's rebuilding himself solely of Avarice? That's basically the state of being the Ophidian enjoys, isn't it? Is he becoming a second Embodiment?

Some of the not-me desires relate to other people. Do I have..? People? A group I'm part of? The desires make that seem normal, so I suppose

I want to be with my peers.
Friendship... Fellowship... The In-group...

"I-illustres?"

I want to know my own mind.
Come on, OL. Pull it all together...

"Illustres?"

I want to know what that voice is.
I know, right? How rude to be butting in on you putting yourself back together, like a jigsaw with no picture to follow...

"This makes no sense."

Which implies that the voice wants it to make sense. Where's the thread for that? No, no… There
At least he still wants to help people...

"You're dead, but-."

I open my eyes to the blackness of space, a woman I think I recognise and an orange glow. She blinks in shock, the threads from her ring maintaining the orange glow around me.
Sounds like she's holding what's left of his physical form together? At least she's able to keep her focus despite the surprise.

"Illustres?"

"Perhaps. Who are you?"
And now I get the feeling of a Timelord regeneration scene... And oh shit... His Enlightenment's gone? :sneaky: Wait was this so you didn't have to do coloured quotation marks anymore?

Huh. I suppose this might be one way to scale back the power-creep OL has been experiencing... I have the feeling next episode will something akin to him rebuilding himself from other people's desires toward him... Or at least seeing him settle into a new status quo. Pretty likely if he can't regain his former level of power, he's not going to be Illustres anymore...

...but I think the initial wave has past me-.
...but I think the initial wave has passed me-.
...should be and must be-.
Double Space.
 
Some sort of extremely destructive and dangerous energy used by the Qwardians.

It's probably connected to the Anti-Monitor, who they worship.

It has religious significance in their culture.
As I understand it it's basically anti-matter's bigger, angrier sibling with some kind of connection to the Anti-Monitor, so it could be something like weaponized entropy knowing comics.
and who was the guy paul was talking to on the reach side last chapter? he just started talking out of nowhere, no intro or anything.
 
and who was the guy paul was talking to on the reach side last chapter? he just started talking out of nowhere, no intro or anything.

My guess it was either a Reach commander, or maybe even a Qwardian that was sent to help the Reach.

The Qwardians may still be pissed at Paul, and Kalmin once talked to him from another planet in a way that suggested he wasn't communicating through the ring.
 
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That goes without saying. I'm reminded of Incompatible System, where Humanity's Weakly-Imteracting-Massive-Particle-based techonology has very.. Energetic reactions with Element Zero (of Mass Effect fame.) Think far in excess of matter-antimatter annihilation reactions...

Yeah, I think an alien ally of theirs said that some amount of it can destroy a solar system.

Is he becoming a second Embodiment?

Most likely a powerful elemental.


Is magic.

Though seriously hoping this involves the White Light.

Renegade got better by having several elements get rid of his problem, so maybe it's time for Paul to do the same.

Wait was this so you didn't have to do coloured quotation marks anymore?

Are you suggesting that Zoat is so petty that he would make his MC experience amnesia just so that he doesn't have to spend time making the quote marks orange?

...

I can see him doing that.

Huh. I suppose this might be one way to scale back the power-creep OL has been experiencing... I have the feeling next episode will something akin to him rebuilding himself from other people's desires toward him... Or at least seeing him settle into a new status quo. Pretty likely if he can't regain his former level of power, he's not going to be Illustres anymore...

Future versions of him are enlightened and he is the Illusters, so this isn't permanent.

Most likely we'll be seeing him regain his former self, either by White Light, or maybe Kalmin can help, as he's probably an expert on this stuff.

Granted Paul may be the first person that's survived this and given Kalmins 'moral code' he may not want to do it since he views it as sacrilege.

Two more chapters, which may be renegade focused, and one final look at Xaul, and we go to the next episode.
 
My guess it was either a Reach commander, or maybe even a Qwardian that was sent to help the Reach.

The Qwardians may still be pissed at Paul, and Kalmin once talked him to him from another planet in a way that suggested he wasn't communicating through the ring.
i missed that part with the qwardians, what did paul do to them?
 
i missed that part with the qwardians, what did paul do to them?

He attacked their city, played a role in the death of one of their warriors and helped Kalmin, who probably wasn't all that liked.

He also made them look bad, and the xenophobic Qwardians don't like it when an alien does that.

During a diplomatic conference they sent one of their warriors to attack the people there, so they were pissed.
 
He attacked their city, played a role in the death of one of their warriors and helped Kalmin, who probably wasn't all that liked.

He also made them look bad, and the xenophobic Qwardians don't like it when an alien does that.

During a diplomatic conference they sent one of their warriors to attack the people there, so they were pissed.
he should have destroyed their home planet.
 
he should have destroyed their home planet.

Maybe, but unlike the Citadelians, these guys are extremely advanced and have fought Lanterns before, so they may have been able to actually do some damage to him.

As we saw in this chapter, qwa-matter is no joke and they have a lot of it.
 
Did his soul get reset to factory settings or something?
Considering "factory settings" for Paul are "not having a soul," that wouldn't be great.

I wouldn't put it past qwa-matter to be able to damage/destroy souls (I'd be more surprised if it couldn't), which means... Are Paul's tattoos gone? Because that wouldn't be great, either.
 
Considering "factory settings" for Paul are "not having a soul," that wouldn't be great.

I wouldn't put it past qwa-matter to be able to damage/destroy souls (I'd be more surprised if it couldn't), which means... Are Paul's tattoos gone? Because that wouldn't be great, either.

He may not even have a body anymore, so yeah they're probably gone.
 
I suspect he's using orange light to fill in for the bits of his brain that got melted by qwa-energy.
He couldn't keep up with the speed at which it was being destroyed fast enough to maintain data integrity.
Big chunks were lost and the orange light is keeping his body running in spite of the damage.
 
I really like this chapter, but I have a feeling I will hate the inevitable recovery and power up this will result in. Permanent identity loss would be a novel way of giving a character a makeover without pushing the reset button on the universe multiverse as a whole.
 
I really like this chapter, but I have a feeling I will hate the inevitable recovery and power up this will result in. Permanent identity loss would be a novel way of giving a character a makeover without pushing the reset button on the universe multiverse as a whole.
Novel, maybe. But I don't think (pretty much) killing the protagonist and replacing them is a great idea?
 
As I understand it it's basically anti-matter's bigger, angrier sibling with some kind of connection to the Anti-Monitor, so it could be something like weaponized entropy knowing comics.

Edit:Reading the DC Database page on Qward doesn't offer anything on the substance sadly, so My rough guesstimate above is the best you're going to get out of my I'm afraid.

Zoat's interpration seems pretty clear to me: Qwa matter attacks on a conceptual level, it destroys the very idea that something could exist.

Which could make spiritual entities, New Gods and avatars both less susceptible to it or more, depending on interpretation.

I suspect he's using orange light to fill in for the bits of his brain that got melted by qwa-energy.
He couldn't keep up with the speed at which it was being destroyed fast enough to maintain data integrity.
Big chunks were lost and the orange light is keeping his body running in spite of the damage.

He was in the process of stepping out when the wave hit. I think this is what made it into the Honden. Normally this part would protect the rest of him from destruction.

The question now is how much information can be recovered.

His self seems to be mostly intact, meaning his soul probably is. Reconstructing his body from genetic data and old scans would be the easy part. The problem will be detailed memories.

I would recommend visiting Hades, memory and forgetting are huge parts of it
 
Edit:Reading the DC Database page on Qward doesn't offer anything on the substance sadly, so My rough guesstimate above is the best you're going to get out of my I'm afraid.

That's because Zoat made up the term.

What the thunderers of Qward use in the comics are qwa-bolts, powered by Q-Energy.

Thrown and melee weapons that can cause explosions, disintegrate, or generate intense heat, and a threat to lanterns and kryptonians alike.

Which is ironic, them being thrown weapons, considering Paul likes to stick his nose up at archery, which is generally a step up from thrown weaponry.

Im still hoping that a Paul runs into Deadeye, the Qwardian archer. The "trick arrows" of a Qwardian ought to be extremely nasty.....
 

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