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

Reader mode
Ngamer11 said:
How exactly is Paol being in a relationship with the High Queen an example of Grim Dark? I ask because I don't really know Warhammer lore.
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Well, she is still an animate skeleton coursing with necromantic energies more or less wearing human flesh, no matter how living it is. I don't know about you, but that's just a bit creepy to me...

And you'll note he described it as unfeeling? She can't feel any damage the fleshy bits suffer in the course of a typical day. That's... Pretty dark. Think about the little knocks and bumps you experience without noticing, just walking about. Never mind if she spends all day sitting upon her throne... Amusingly, she could probably be thankful she can't feel the pin and needles.
 
Darko said:
'if elven'
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Thank you, corrected.
Someguy Somewhere said:
So...I guess that political marriage thing happened after all.....
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Who said they were married?
Doccer said:
Guess she has a thing for barbarians.
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Foreign concubines are a status symbol.

Sure, that's... Usually for kings rather than queens, but who's going to argue?
Chojin Patriarch said:
And yet another Paul has a reformed bad girl for a love interest.
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That's a little unfair.
...actually rises to greet me as I bow.
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Thank you, corrected.
 
Ngamer11 said:
So they're friends with benefits? Or engaged?
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According to Nehekharan law, he's her concubine. But there's a lot of difference between a 'ex-spouse of conquered enemy on display' concubine and 'I'd marry them but it doesn't make political sense' concubine.
Darko said:
Or just dating/courting each other.

Now I wonder how Saul would react to the fact that one of his alternates is actually fucking a corpse.

Unless Paol is waiting until marriage or until she's alive.
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It's living tissue.
 
Mr Zoat said:
According to Nehekharan law, he's her concubine. But there's a lot of difference between a 'ex-spouse of conquered enemy on display' concubine and 'I'd marry them but it doesn't make political sense' concubine.
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Are concubines allowed to have other romantic/sexual partners (officially)? I'm not sure if that was how it functioned in real-life cases, or whenever it comes up in fiction, though there are several variations (I'm not familiar with how the ancient Egyptian practice worked). The Roman context here has the masculine version concubinus though the female counterpart is concubina so I suppose concubine still functions pretty well as a gender-neutral term.
 
Mr Zoat said:
According to Nehekharan law, he's her concubine. But there's a lot of difference between a 'ex-spouse of conquered enemy on display' concubine and 'I'd marry them but it doesn't make political sense' concubine.
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When, how and why did this happen? That seems much more interesting to read than the recreation Earth Prime trade routes.

Paol is a foreign chief/prince who doesn't stick around in Khalida's harem. Khalida can't feel touch to any extent (or at least I think that her bound soul can't yet interface with her Paol-refreshed body that way). Paol doesn't love Khalida. Both of them should be aware enough of political implications to not just go for it for purely carnal reasons. I don't know if Khalida even posseses a libido in her state and Paol's is currently being satisfied elsewhise.

Given all of the above there myst be something more going on.
Mr Zoat said:
into multiple streams who converg
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Shouldn't it be "that converge" due to streams not being people?
 
Darko said:
Which is over a person that's still sorta dead.
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DrThoth said:
Are concubines allowed to have other romantic/sexual partners (officially)?
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How much do you think that the nation of animated skeletons cares?
Rafin said:
When, how and why did this happen? That seems much more interesting to read than the recreation Earth Prime trade routes.
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Pretty much the night after they met. Not that she could really get involved at the time, but he and Aranei made her feel included.
Paol is a foreign chief/prince who doesn't stick around in Khalida's harem. Khalida can't feel touch to any extent (or at least I think that her bound soul can't yet interface with her Paol-refreshed body that way).
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No, she can feel touch. Just not with her meat.
Paol doesn't love Khalida. Both of them should be aware enough of political implications to not just go for it for purely carnal reasons. I don't know if Khalida even posseses a libido in her state and Paol's is currently being satisfied elsewise.

Given all of the above there must be something more going on.
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For her, it's about regaining something that she lost due to Nerfarata and Nagash. For him, it's about a long term relationship prospect.
Shouldn't it be "that converge" due to streams not being people?
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Thank you, corrected.
 
I'm kind of curious about the Lizardmen. On the one hand, they love infrastructure. On the other, they're zealots with variable levels of willingness to negotiate in pursuit of the Great Plan. On the third, Paul's Ring is actually pretty similar to some of their magitek like Void Cubes or God Engines, if significantly smaller and more versatile, which is neat.
 
So what exactly does Khalida look like now that she has a meat suit to wear? I can't find any images of what she was supposed to have looked like before she became a walking corpse.
 
ForeverShogo said:
So what exactly does Khalida look like now that she has a meat suit to wear? I can't find any images of what she was supposed to have looked like before she became a walking corpse.
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My guess is a highly attractive woman with facial characteristics reminiscent of those common to people from Egypt.
 
quietwhile said:
he went on to like the reply so idk
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He liked the correction that was in the same post.

quietwhile said:
I was specifically talking about the idea that being enslaved was good to a people,
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No one in this discussion claimed that being enslaved is good to a people. Clearly, it is not. It may, however, under some circumstances and with some policies, be better than the alternatives. Under other circumstances, it may have no positive qualities at all. This is all anyone in this thread has ever said. It is a conditional, not an absolute.
 
Workhorse (part 11)
  • Threadmarks
    • 4th October 2012
    15:11 GMT

    I stretch out my arms and legs, spreading the wings of my wingsuit and catching the air rising from the hillside.

    Bleez catches up with a single wingbeat, looking over the canvas holding me in the air.

    Her mouth moves, and I can't hear a word of tree!

    I swerve around it, flailing slightly before catching the air current and getting a little more lift. This is very different from using a power ring. I know I'm perfectly safe, but my heart is actually racing.

    There's a click as Bleez activates her microphone.

    "This isn't flying. This is falling." A twist of her wings and she's gliding on her back. "Without style."

    "I don't have wings. I can fly by power ring, but that gives me perfect control and turns the whole thing into an exercise of the mind."

    Getting a little low open the wings gain a little height and over the ridge!

    "This engages my body. I feel this. Can you imagine not feeling the air moving through your feathers when you fly?"

    "Yes? I've been in space. But I guess I sort of get it."

    A lopsided flap and she barrel rolls around me, giving me an eyeful of her 'aerodynamic' flight gear.

    "But is that really the best your people have?"

    "Anything bigger and I'd be wearing a microlight."

    I angle down and retract my wings to gain speed in the descent.

    "Short of growing wings, this is about as immediate as I can make flying."

    There's a sharp intake of breath through the headphones.

    "That's so sad!"

    "It's pretty normal for humanoid species."

    "That doesn't make it less sad. How did your species used to get around?"

    "Ah, well, our really distant ancestors used to swing between tree branches using disproportionately long arms. After that we just walked everywhere until we started domesticating horses and building boats."

    I stop diving and open my wings again, causing Bleez to shoot past me as I exchange speed for lift.

    "Really? Whaw. That must have been slow."

    "It beat having our early civilisation controlled by soul-eating demons, but I suppose that it's hard to do a pure cost/benefit analysis."

    "Ooh, can you get me the number of that thanagarian who got reincarnated as humans? I'd love to hear about the sort of music we made back then!"

    "Yes, no problem. I'm sure that Missus Cantrell will be happy to hear from you."

    I'm not sure what sort of geographical upheaval caused this sort of landscape, a 'hill' that covers an area the size of central Europe with all manner of interesting features. Rivers have carved out valleys, water wearing away soft soil and leaving hard rock promontories and spines. Larger mesas produce interesting air currents and possible landing or taking off zones-.

    This is all artificial, isn't it?

    "How long did it take to put this place together?"

    "Like, two hundred years? It was pretty great for flying when the planet was first settled, then generations of thanagarians kept working on it until we got this. This is the beginner swoop-slope. I haven't been here since I was… Seven, I think? There are harder runs in other places."

    I angle towards a valley, not trying to test my reflexes but just looking at the natural beauty of Havania as shaped by the hands of its residents.

    "Hey, listen."

    Bleez flies directly in front of my, blocking my view and effortlessly matching my pace.

    "You didn't really say anything when I told you what I wanted to do with Havania after Mother dies?"

    "I'm on holiday."

    "Yeah, but you have an opinion, right? Whether it'll work or not?"

    "I don't know the ins and out of the Thanagarian Empire's government to know whether it's plausible or not. Looking into that aspect would very definitely be 'work'. Could you-? I can't see where I'm going at the-"

    She flaps and rises above my flight path. No, nothing in the way but artfully dressed landscape.

    "-moment-. Thank you. What you described sounds plausible, but I don't know the people involved. I also don't know how your fellow Havanian thanagarians think of this. You might inherit the position, but every leader needs some way to get other people to go along with them and I doubt that you've got a particularly large home guard."

    "They're cool with it. Father did a lot of the things I want to bring back while Thanagar was busy getting Equalised. Industrialisation stalled after Thanagar was Unequalised and the military started leaning on us to 'know our place', but powerful people like becoming more powerful."

    "Completely true, but are they going to want to have a whole lot of aliens come and live here?"

    "More people to lord it over. Literally, because we can fly and the owners of the industrial areas will be lords. But it still won't be as bad as Downside."

    "To start with."

    Bleez gives me a look of irritation.

    "I'm not going to turn it into Downside later! That goes against everything I'm trying to make happen!"

    "I believe you. But will they?"

    "Huh?"

    "Downside's probably less of a mess since the manhawks got cleared out, but it's still rife with violence and crime gangs. If you bring people like that here en masse, they're going to keep doing what they know in a nicer setting. I don't need to do special research for that."

    "But we'd treat them better."

    "Overcoming old habits isn't quite that simple. It would help, certainly, and if you were working exclusively with… Children or something, it might be enough, but with top thugs who manage to bring their whole gangs along with them?"

    "What about if we do law enforcement better?"

    "That would just mark out your police as different dressed Wingmen. Ideally, police should come from the community they're protecting-. Remind me to give you a copy of A Short History of the British Police before I leave. Essentially, you're going to want to vet people heavily at the Thanagar end and make sure that you've got the civic and social infrastructure in place to support a migrant population, and then… Make sure that it works in practice on a small scale before expanding it. This sort of thing is the work of a lifetime, and I really respect that you want to get started with it."

    Bleez thinks for a moment.

    "Do you..? Know anywhere that's done something similar that I could look at?"
     
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    • Mr Zoat said:
    "How long did it take too put this place together?"
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    That should say 'to'.

    Mr Zoat said:
    "I'm not going to turn it into Downside later! That goes against everything I'm trying to make happen!"

    "I believe you. But will they?"

    "Huh?"

    "Downside's probably less of a mess since the manhawks got cleared out, but it's still rife with violence and crime gangs. If you bring people like that here en masse, they're going to keep down what they know in a nicer setting. I don't need to do special research for that."

    "But we'd treat them better."

    "Overcoming old habits isn't quite that simple. It would help, certainly, and if you were working exclusively with… Children or something, it might be enough, but with top thugs who manage to bring their whole gangs along with them?"

    "What about if we do law enforcement better?"

    "That would just mark out your police as different dressed Wingmen. Ideally, police should come from the community they're protecting-. Remind me to give you a copy of A Short History of the British Police before I leave. Essentially, you're going to want to vet people heavily at the Thanagar end and make sure that you've got the civic and social infrastructure in place to support a migrant population, and then… Make sure that it works in practice on a small scale before expanding it. This sort of thing is the work of a lifetime, and I really respect that you want to get started with it."

    Bleez thinks for a moment.

    "Do you..? Know anywhere that's done something similar that I could look at?"
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    I suppose Bleez is a little naïve about how what she wants will end up in a few short generations. At least she's got Paul to point out some obvious flaws.
     
    Mr Zoat said:
    "It beat having our early civilisation controlled by soul-eating demons
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    Ehh, some of those civilizations may have been controlled by soul-eating demons.

    Mr Zoat said:
    "Ooh, can you get me the number of that thanagarian who got reincarnated as humans
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    'those Thanagarians who got reincarnated as humans'

    Mr Zoat said:
    Havania as shape by the hands of its residents.
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    'shaped'

    Mr Zoat said:
    anything when I told you want I wanted to do with Havania after Mother dies?"
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    'what i wanted'

    Mr Zoat said:
    going to keep down what they know
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    'keep doing'

    Mr Zoat said:
    If you bring people like that here en masse, they're going to keep down what they know in a nicer setting
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    Some may not if they're given better work opportunities.

    No reason to engage in crime when you have a paycheck and can work in a job that doesn't have a high likelihood of your body being dissolved in acid to cover your killers tracks.
     
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