Chojin Patriarch
Veteran Lurker
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2019
- Messages
- 2,381
- Likes received
- 36,131
So the abbot won't be retaining his position whatever happens, most likely. And it doesn't look like there's much reason to try and improve matters for him. Certainly, there's no profit in it for OL... Whoever takes over will likely allow him to continue his research here.27th August 2012
09:29 GMT
Supplying weapons to the Spider Guild carries some fairly heavy penalties on Karax, for obvious reasons. Treating with enemies of the Green Lantern Corps like Sinestro would also warrant a heavy punishment. Karax tends to treat persistent criminality as a defect of will, so their punishments for serious crimes tends to involve the sorts of things that this monastery did anyway. Is there anything to gain by trying to arrange for something different to happen here?
Though the latter thing is still up in the air. That depends on the abbot, I suppose.I haven't personally lost anything. Lantern Onik got a useful lesson in the face of his peoples' ancestral enemies, I got a slightly better look at modern Spider Guild combat robots and we've got access to a yellow power ring.
Would have been awkward, then, if it had run out of charge out there in combat."Did Sinestro provide you with a yellow personal lantern?"
"No. He said that I should.. seek him out, if I… Came to a resolution."
Checking his options, I see. I doubt option two would be in any way helpful, and Sinestro might well see it coming anyway.So… What? Option one, hand him over to the local police. I can actually see inside him now, and he has no desire to resist. Option two… Try and get him to act as a double agent inside whatever Corps Sinestro is building? Karaxians aren't generally considered good at obfuscation, and he's not in the best mental state. Option three…
Ring..?
Not after the showing you gave them. Unfortunately, that comes down to whether the abbot can muster the strength to actually make the ring work... And right now, he seems kind of... exhausted.Option three would be to allow him to carry out a one-man death and glory attack on the Spider Guild, an option that is actually supported by Karaxian law. I don't know how much charge he's got left, but there's no way that the Spiders would try and take a Lantern alive right now.
Quite the crisis of faith for someone devoted to the power of the Green Light."Have you?"
"Even though I didn't feel it, fear shaped my thoughts and actions. My will was impotent. His argument that fear is more fundamental was borne out by my actions."
It's like he's resigned to his fate, whatever that might be. Show some spirit, abbot."Do you want people to fear you?"
"If that is the most productive way to act, yes. I don't like it, but that's… My life hasn't been about doing things that I've liked."
Questions we've been asking too. Unfortunately it doesn't look like they'll be answered anytime soon.And given how I assisted Onik in beating the Guilder, I can't argue about the efficacy of fear.
What was Sinestro trying to get out of this? A loyal henchman? Was it for a propaganda victory, and if so who is the intended audience? To weaken Lantern Toren in some way? To disrupt interstellar Lanternism and so encourage other fear-filled people to seek him out?
Too bad he's gone back to his world, to work further on matters there (until he finally gains the dimensional portal that got him onto Earth-Bet.)But that's all really about Sinestro.
My 'Lord Protector' alter ego attained enlightenment by meditating on his fears. By constantly forcing himself to feel them he became preternaturally aware of them, and so freed himself form their control. I wouldn't mind sticking the abbot in a laboratory to see exactly what he can learn to do…
Like I said, there's no profit in trying to intercede. Nearly every option costs you more than you gain...Except that I'm here to improve my abilities as a teacher, and the abilities of my students. Mucking about with this is likely to get me cut off from this place as a source of teaching materials. Self-centredness is the way to go. If the Karaxians want to try something clever I'll offer my advice, but that's something they can decide for themselves.
"To return to your question, what happens next depends on you. I can tell that you're feeling pretty down about the whole thing. If I ask you to hand over your ring and surrender, will you?"
Certainly, getting outside help might be useful. Have some N.E.M.O. scientists look at him to determine the effects of the Yellow light could be worthwhile..."Would it help?"
"Counselling by a non-Karaxian psychiatrist would probably help, but I imagine that they're going to want to disarm you before taking your case."
There's an option. give Sinestro the middle finger, flip the figurative table and walk away. I doubt the abbot would find any more comfort in the Orange light than he would the Yellow, though...If all else failing I can probably persuade Harleen to take the case. This sounds more like a cultural blind spot rather than a complex issue.
"But…"
"You said yourself; you haven't ever truly overcome your fear. There is nothing in your current belief structure that you haven't tried. All that's left is to try something else, something new."
Yes, embrace the thing fuelled by the very thing causing this crisis of faith... That'll work out so well...
The problem is that he's so soaked in fear that he can't see any other way out. What he needs is something to focus on..."If an excess of fear caused this problem, how would more fear help you solve it? Don't you want to stop feeling fear because the fear is gone? Don't you want to stop being afraid of fear?"
He shudders slightly.
Something like that. Lucky for you, OL. Looks like the Yellow Ring's decided to cut its losses."More than anything. I-."
"Conflicting emotional resonance registered. Avarice overriding fear."
A Deputy Ring, which is a known function of Green rings. Not a commonly used one since the average Green Lantern tends not to want any help from outside the Corps. I see Sinestro added some manner of programming in the case of failure, though..."A curious response, and not one I was expecting."
The ring… Fades. It was a construct of some sort? I suppose that would explain part of how it could exist. I know that imbuing energy from a ring into another object is possible, it just never seemed useful or efficient. As it fades, the light spreads out slightly, forming an…
Heh. Not quite the monologue we hoped for, but I suppose he's a busy Korugarian. But it looks like he is taking the first steps of forming a Corps, then, if he's investigating recruitment criteria.That's what the local Sinestro looks like.
"I assume that you have spoken to one of Vril Dox's people, then. If a man as fearful as you can learn to overcome himself through avarice, then perhaps I should reconsider my selection criteria. Farewell. I doubt that we'll see one another again."
More likely a pre-recorded contingency. And probably better not to poke the sleeping dragon. We've already seen what happens when you do, with a literal dragon, at that...The light fades out completely, leaving no trace of his presence.
Oh. So-. A transmission? He didn't seem to be aware of my physical presence. Aware of the candidate only? I could just contact him directly but I strongly suspect that he's a better character analyst than me when I can't use my empathic abilities.
Yeah, this is not something to be celebrated. No great victory or triumphant battle, just a man who gave into temptation...Lantern Toren walks out of the monastery and towards the abbot, who has collapsed to his knees. Lantern Dul follows, though she stays a little distance and keeps her ring at the ready. Toren has the resigned air of someone with a necessary but unpleasant job to do, and his ring's glowing at the bare minimum level that it can and still function.
"Abbot, you're under arrest."
Better put him on suicide watch, that doesn't sound healthy...The abbot doesn't move for a moment, then nods.
"Yes. Of course."
If depressingly poorly otherwise.He rises to his feet, then holds his arms limply out for Toren to cuff. Toren nods at me as he does so.
"Thank you for resolving this peacefully."
Oh, yeah, the atrocity. Against generally bad people, but still..."In the interest of providing you with all pertinent information-"
I toss a glowing orange mote to his ring, where it provides him with everything that happened since I left.
"-I only handled this bit peacefully. But you're both welcome."
I don't see trying to arrest him for attempted genocide and mass destruction of a biosphere would be too wise,... Best to bump it upstairs to the Guardians and let them try it.Toren's eyes glow as he takes it in.
"I.. see. I will have to consider this. What are your plans now?"
With any luck, Karax's Spider Guild issues might be greatly reduced for a few generations..."Being slightly more aware of the Spider Guild now, I think I'll have the practical part of this instruction session take part on their side of the border. Have Lanterns Dul, Onik and Xor put what they've learned into practice. Until either Dox calls us back or one of them has a breakthrough I need to share with Maltus immediately, I'll be staying here."
"We will speak more about that when I return."
Time to take out some frustrations on some bad people...He and the abbot rise into the air and head in the direction of the nearest large city.
I turn to Lantern Dul.
"Does the Thanagarian Empire have any contact with the Spider Guild?"
Bonding over the joy of orbital bombardments and mass destruction.
Well, not a good end for the abbot. A lot of death and pain for no real benefit. OL's had better runs, though I'm hard-pressed to remember any episode that ended worse for him. The confrontation with Nabu, maybe, since he lost at least three assets (Teekl, Micheal Sisken and John Constantine, to a degree...) Still, getting to make the universe a slightly better place soon might improve the mood.