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

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gustyeagle said:
That one guy that OL branded getting executed, makes me wonder if OL should be looking into getting more construct lanterns. If they were killing them anyway ...
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I think it's been very well established that OL considers being turned into a construct to be a fate worse than death.
 
Mr Zoat said:
He certainly wouldn't have a problem with executions per se, but killing a potentially useful intelligence asset seems a little short-sighted.
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Isn't there also the issue of killing demonic worshipers or worshipers of anything that deals with souls potentially helping that thing, and thus something that should probably be delayed and spaced out so they don't get potentially useful surges of power and afterlife resources or things like that while in active conflict with them? Probably better to put the worshipers in stasis pods or something, so they can't die or offer prayers or anything easily.
 
Why doesn't Grayven's metaphysique instinctively reject the emotional light bonds generated by power rings for there basic operation like it does all foreign magic? It seems like pretty clearly the sort of foriegn magical effect that the new god physiology of his wouldn't allow working on him.
 
Jirachi said:
Why doesn't Grayven's metaphysique instinctively reject the emotional light bonds generated by power rings for there basic operation like it does all foreign magic? It seems like pretty clearly the sort of foriegn magical effect that the new god physiology of his wouldn't allow working on him.
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Grayven feels emotions without rings, and wants to feel emotions. Spells attempt to shape Grayven in a way contrary to his nature.
Mquz said:
Thought you were talking about some bizarre mix of sunset shimmer and twilight sparkle until you specified.
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You mean they weren't?
 
Mr Zoat said:
Grayven feels emotions without rings, and wants to feel emotions. Spells attempt to shape Grayven in a way contrary to his nature.
You mean they weren't?
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I'm not sure how different 'foreign emotional spectrum energy' and 'foreign magical energy' are for that purpose. Also, since his metaphysique instinctively rejects even things like healing magic, I'm unsure if that is the case. And power rings can have kind of problematic side effects...
I mean, he obviously has a connection to the emotional lights without the ring, but the bond between the ring and his soul seems like it's an external effect trying to shape his nature so...
 
[QUOTE="Mr Zoat, post: 2573605, member: 1266].

You mean they weren't?[/QUOTE]
Apparently not, since that pony is likely female, due to the scarcity (though not absence) of male characters in MLP.
 
Well, considering what kind of cultists they were, you can't say that summary executions are unwarranted.
 
The opportunity here is to get Thanagar to ditch the Seven Devils and start worshiping Vulcan and Haephestus, who could provide the magical mojo to make Nth metal which nets them a shitload of new worshipers. Everyone wins, especially OL as they would all owe him a big favor. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised OL didn't give them a sample of the stuff to study.
Magic apparently works on Thanagar, so the smiths could go home to work after being trained.
 
Jirachi said:
Why doesn't Grayven's metaphysique instinctively reject the emotional light bonds generated by power rings for there basic operation like it does all foreign magic? It seems like pretty clearly the sort of foriegn magical effect that the new god physiology of his wouldn't allow working on him.
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Becoming a New God freezes your ability to enhance yourself in new ways, but it increases your ability to improve the ways in which you were already enhanced. His metaphysique doesn't reject the emotional spectrum because the emotional spectrum was already a large part of him when he first became a New God.
 
Sockmonkey said:
The opportunity here is to get Thanagar to ditch the Seven Devils and start worshiping Vulcan and Haephestus, who could provide the magical mojo to make Nth metal which nets them a shitload of new worshipers. Everyone wins, especially OL as they would all owe him a big favor. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised OL didn't give them a sample of the stuff to study.
Magic apparently works on Thanagar, so the smiths could go home to work after being trained.
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That would have greater ramifications throughout the region. A Thanagar with an even moderate scale magical materials industry would likely be able to lessen their reliance on Nth metal, which seems to be one of the things tempering Thanagarian adventurism in the region. Given that they're a military dictatorship with a state of cold war with their nearest peers in the region, have a history of xenophobia and empire building, and in at least one timeline conquered Earth as a means of attacking someone else I'm comfortable not helping them in this regard. Paul helping to build up Earth's advantage in material sciences (and magics, I suppose) helps Earth stand on more comfortable footing on the galactic stage, which isn't a meaningless consideration given the sorts of wrecking balls out there. The Light's means might be suspect, but the goal of getting Humanity to stand on its own two feet without being propped up by alien power structures seems like a reasonable one.
 
Wing and Dagger (part 22)
  • Threadmarks
    • 22nd January
    18:21 GMT +3

    Lantern Dul looks around in confusion as she takes in the orchards of Erebos. "This… Are we under the island?"

    "Metaphorically or literally?" I raise my right hand in greeting to some of the dead picking the fruit, and a few wave back.

    "Literally." She glares at her ring. "I can't tell where we are. Is it magic?"

    "This is the realm of the Hellenic dead. You could think of it as a pocket universe if you wish."

    She turns her head to look at the apple-pickers. "Those people-."

    "Dead."

    "They don't look dead."

    "No?" I shrug, turn and walk towards a small work party. "Excuse me!" They turn their heads in my direction. "Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could help me."

    A young-looking man climbs down his ladder and ambles over. "You serve Eris, don't you?"

    "I'm a devotee, certainly."

    "Well, always up for a spot of fun." He looks over Lantern Dul for a moment before returning his attention to me. "What's the game?"

    "My colleague here isn't convinced that you're dead."

    He narrows his eyes at me, craning his neck slightly. "Y'wot?" I shrug in the helpless manner of an intelligent man asked to escort a fool. "Okay." He looks at Lantern Dul. "Usually I look like this, but if you're really not convinced…"

    His neck.. twists around, bones misshapen and misaligned, wounds clearly visible on his head. Lantern Dul makes the gagging noise that thanagarians make instead of gasping. "Believe now?"

    "How'd that happen?"

    His neck twists back into place as his body reassumes the appearance of normalcy. "Some idiot smacked me with an oar 'cause he wasn't paying attention." He shrugs. "Bit stupid, but it weren't murder."

    "That…"

    "Here." He steps up to her and gestures to his neck. "Have a feel."

    Lantern Dul reaches awkwardly out and puts her hands on the man's neck. She won't feel any breakages of course, but I wonder-.

    "You don't have a pulse."

    "Why would a dead man need a pulse?" The man shrugs as she pulls her hands back. "I only breathe out of habit."

    "One day…" I look around. "I'll be coming here. Permanently. Not too soon, but as afterlives go it's not so bad. How do you think thanagarians would take to it?"

    "They'd be as bewildered as I am." She flaps her wings, flying up to just above the tree line and then turning her head this way and that. "There's-. There's no horizon."

    "Why would there be a horizon? This isn't a spheroid planet. We're in a pocket universe sustained by the inherent magics of a fallen titan straight out of the Dream. Don't bring your GCSE-level Objects and Motion physics into it."

    "This is insanity." I grin, throwing my arms wide as if offering to embrace her. Or perhaps offering to embrace the world. She looks around once more before descending back to ground level. "Are we dead?"

    "No, you can come here without dying. You just can't easily leave once you've died. The thaumaturgy is actually quite simple."

    The farmer raises his eyebrows at that. "Simple, he says."

    "How long have you been.. dead?"

    "Owh, that's a tough 'un. Near two thousand years, I think. Been able to think clearly for maybe a third of that."

    "What stopped you before?"

    "Think it was something to do with Lord Hades giving us some of his power." He looks at me. "The thaumawhatever's probably dead simple."

    "No, actually, it's really really complicated. There's a reason why he's a top tier god. Doesn't rest on his laurels." I nod politely to the man. "Thank you for your time, but I'm afraid we're needed in Lord Hades's court."

    "I'll not keep you, then. Good journey."

    Lantern Dul and I take to the sky, and I smile as I notice that she's using her wings rather than her ring. "I spoke to Dox while you were busy. Given the status of the Thanagarian Empire, we agreed that it was sensible to reassign you there pro tem."

    "What 'status'?"

    "Active demon cult. We'll probably call you back once we're certain that the Seven Devil Cult has been completely rooted out, but until then you're to assist Imperial Intelligence."

    "Understood."

    "I want to be clear, Lantern Dul: while we are prepared to accept you sending information to the Thanagarian Empire, you work for us. Your mission does not include reinforcing the High Council's control, expanding the Thanagarian Empire's borders or fighting Alstair. If you are unable to accept that, you may return your ring to me at any time."

    "I.. understand. I was instructed to accept those conditions."

    "Good show." We pass over the edge of the orchard and head towards the palace. I requested that Lord Hades meet us in the garden-. Ah, there he is, along with a portion of his court. "And I will personally stress the importance of your mission. I do not want to fight the Seven Devils. Or even one of them."

    "Yes sir."

    I land first and bow before Lord Hades, while Lantern Dul lands a little way back. I suppose the Seven Devils don't make the best impression as far as deities go.

    "My lord."

    "Pavlos, rise! Rise!" Lord Hades smiles warmly. "I am eager to see what new amusements you have brought me!"

    "My lord, do you accept post-mortem conversion?"

    "If they are genuine, yes, certainly."

    "And you're prepared to judge those not raised in the Hellenist faith?"

    "I'm prepared to judge you, and I'm sure that you'll be more trouble than anyone else could dream of being."

    "Well then." I take an unpowered Dolmen gate out of subspace. "The other end of this is on another world." It didn't take Ambrose long to confirm that Mother of Mercy's feeding methods could indeed result in there being millions of ghosts on Ater Clementia. That's the sort of problem I'd like to stay on top of. "Certain.. events of late have made me aware that those who die in deep space might be condemned to spend eternity there. You, my lord, my god, are the one I would have judge them and give them a place to spend eternity." His face grows more serious. "You should be able to feel how to activate the gate. And in future, if I locate mortal remains, I would like permission to bring them here."

    "I will not take those who are sworn to another god. But..." His eyes unfocus as he extends his hands towards the gate. "I will accept."

    The gate shimmers as it activates, and the first translucent shade is drawn through. Lord Hades gestures and it solidifies into a form which is humanoid but obviously not human. They look around in bewilderment.

    "Take a moment to get your bearings! No hurry!" Lord Hades looks at me. "How many are there, would you say? A few dozen? A hundred?"

    "Millions. Possibly billions. I'm sorry to say that funeral traditions in many places just aren't what they should be."

    Shades begin trickling through the gate, one after another.

    Lord Hades stares.

    "Billions."
     
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    • Why are people scared of Hades increasing his purview like this? This is a good thing! The Underworld is a better afterlife than Hell or Purgatory, possibly Heaven (no details on that one that I can remember besides fancy architecture). It's definitely a better deal than floating in the void of space for eternity.
     
    Man, the more I think about it, the more impressed I get. The crumbs leading to this have been building for a while. Mentioning ghosts in deep space, Boss Smiley drawing power from the souls in the conversion chambers, building up the knowledge of afterlife, in general and of Hades specifically. Everything we need to understand is there, but the execution is still sudden and unexpected. Well done Mr. Zoat!

    Even this chapter is well done, both referencing OL's patron and the skill of Hades's in magic. Both of which are much more ominous in retrospect.

    I wonder if Hades is going to share with Plato at all. I do believe that's the Roman counterpart.
     
    Well, if Greek gods actually get something out of that I think this might end up putting Hades above Zeus in the pantheon eventually. And right after OL got his wife to divorce him too.

    Zeus is going to join the Light out of frustration and rage at OL if things like this keep happening.
     
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