Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2016
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Really-?Yay! No corrections, this is the right usage.
Competent pirates, how unusual!
I mean, yes, of course it was!
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Really-?Yay! No corrections, this is the right usage.
Competent pirates, how unusual!
neodymium
Boss.She tried to tell me it was an accident. But she knew. She knew.
Thank you, corrected.
Or am I just getting ratioed?TEN MILLION VIEWS someone get the party hats and streamers congratulations to Me Zoat for absolutely crushing it here in qq.
Yes, which is why I said it was unlikely he actually get's one.Grayven already asked one of the Green Lanterns to go directly to Ganthet about his Blue Ring Prototype. That ship has sailed.
So, does the MC not actually know that he has just lied*, or do you not look at the links you post?
Never make a final conclusion before you've gathered all the facts, OL. For all you know, Dal Cryoncus losing his son (presumably his eldest?) drove him mad. Reasonably possible, given the way he threw aside his wife and their children together...21st January 2013
10:49 GMT
There's little fanfare as the soldiers and civilians leave my large transportation construct and enter the city. I had to excavate a passage through the ash piles, but there's air and light inside so they'll live.
Though to be honest this sounds more like a mistake than an act of malice, the local ruler's bias notwithstanding.
I exhale slowly.
And there may well have been worse periods in the past when weather observations weren't so well-recorded. Earth's slightly irregular orbit does lead to periods of long cold or hot conditions, after all.How do you..? Alright, we had the Year Without A Summer, so no one was stupid enough to test-nuke a supervolcano on Earth. And they almost certainly bought the weapon from outside, so… So they knew there was a volcano there, because they had to know where to put the explosive. But maybe they didn't fully grok it? Because… They didn't have that experience. That exposure. The only thing they could compare it to was one of the continents smaller active volcanoes.
The hard part for some of those would be even identifying that they're imminent. Some, you might now even learn about until long after they're underway...I wonder-? I mean, I'm never going to agree with Star Fleet or anything, but I can't help but wonder how many inhabited worlds… Die, like this. A supervolcano goes off, or there's a mutation in a virus or bacterium that sends it rampant, or… I don't know, a geomagnetic reversal on a world inhabited by a species that has a magnetic sense. And everything.. just… Dies. Selling tactical weapons wouldn't really matter, even… Strategic weapons. But a seller probably wouldn't think to say 'don't put this on a supervolcano'.
No local legends of mysterious 'rage places' or the like?I wave as Razer and Ilana approach.
"The Dal was kind enough to give me a lead. Did you learn anything?"
Boy, their outlooks couldn't be more different, eh? She's all 'wow, so interesting' while he's 'damn, people are stupid everywhere.'Ilana smiles. "It's interesting to meet people from so far away."
Razer grimaces. "It seems strange that so many people go to fight and die for so little."
I mean, sometimes, you can see the avalanche coming, and all you can do is try to dig in and wait it out... Or sometimes, you can strike first and make it happen in a way beneficial to you.I attach filaments to them and rise into the air. "Perhaps it seems like a big deal to them."
"No, it didn't. They just seems to think it was inevitable that war would be the result."
...Still not the strangest war anyone's fought."On my world, two cities once went to war over a bucket. Though we've pretty much phased that sort of thing out."
Ilana looks interested. "How did your people do that?"
Sooner or later, we'll work out that it's easier to just turn it all into a sport..."We developed an economy where buckets aren't so valuable." She looks at me uncertainly. "That-. That was a joke. It was a combination of very deadly weapons being commonly available, and our economies becoming so interdependent and fragile that killing large numbers of fighting age men risked completely destroying the participating civilisations. Ah, plus nationalism, which increasingly made compelling a conquered population to obey too expensive to countenance because people would rather die than give their conquerors anything. You have to really hate someone to invade them under those circumstances."
And thankfully never on the same scale since.
Razer asking the real important questions.She bows her head slightly as I fly us out of the force field, everything doing dark as we leave. "You were serious about interstellar space not being 'peaceful'."
"Is that sort of ruthlessness common?"
I mean, OL was that ruthless for a while. Then he decided to try and be nicer.
Such is life."I can't.. claim.. to have studied every extant civilisation, but yes."
Ilana looks understandably downcast. "That's terrible."
...Well, it's not like OL's really bothered to look at the Anti-Matter universe in any detail outside of Qward and maybe Earth -16."You can't really assess terribleness in isolation. I mean, we've got this universe, but if we don't have another universe to compare it to, we can't really say that it's worse. Maybe this is as good as it can get."
Ilana looks understandably more downcast. "That's terrible."
Razer nods. "And now I'm imaging somewhere worse."
Referring to the Psion Wombworld's glassing, eh? And as I've said before, Mother nature is scarier."It's good practice. Before today, I'd never seen a supervolcano go off. I mean, I've seen worlds bombarded to death from orbit, but there's something about the sheer scale of nature's wrath that marks it out."
She frowns. "What happens if someone does this to the other three after you leave?"
...Let's hope the rookies don't wash out, then."Hopefully by then you have a Green Lantern assigned to this Sector, and they step in and fix it. More hopefully-"
Orange light strobes out, projecting a display of the canyon we're flying over onto the clouds below us.
I mean, you haven't really met anyone from elsewhere other than OL yet, have you? And individuals can be plenty sensible. It's just people that are... Idiots."-everyone learns enough from this to know that blowing up supervolcanoes is a bad idea for everyone. Please bear in mind that this is the best lead I have on the Butcher's blood, and the people here may not be entirely rational."
Razer makes a very quiet exhalation. "When compared to everyone else?"
And now we see how he could have called down a Red Ring in his grief and rage...Ilana favours him with a curious look, which prompts another exhalation.
"I thought that the people who intended to invade our homes were in some way unique. I thought that joining the militia was the best way to protect you. And I would have killed them, and then travelled to their city to ensure that they could not send another army."
See, that sort of attitude is how you unite a race. A pity not everyone feels the same way.She takes hold of his hands. "They probably felt the same about their wives."
"It's harder to kill someone when you know their name. Perhaps we should make more of an effort to get to know our neighbours."
And yes, the origins of World War I are as messy and confused as they appear. An ugly combination of alliances, racial tensions and two lucky gunshots that ended up killing millions of young men..."Good idea. Going down now. Oh, and-." I take a book out of subspace and translate it into their language before passing it to Razer. "This is how my planet's first global war happened a hundred years ago. You may find that some parts sound familiar." He cautiously takes the book. "Basically, don't do any of that."
"Thank you. I will make sure to avoid your planet a hundred years ago."
Ah, yes. This is why they thought they could get away with it, eh? Natural defences against both mortals and weather."Ah, also, don't go there now. We're got this thing with suicide magic-"
A volley of arrows fly in our general direction from the walls, either missing due to the ash or hitting my construct shield. The ash fall is much less bad here, and I can see where the air currents are diverting the majority of it around the mountains. Still not easy to see, but it's 'foggy' rather than 'Kahndaqi insect plague'.
I mean, a nice, thick history book could stop an arrow..."-and a giant robot god. Hello! We come in peace!"
Razer raises his new book slightly.
...The Ring translator is working right, isn't it?"Nearly! We'd really appreciate the opportunity to talk to whoever's in charge about the volcanic eruption!"
"No room here!"
If they pissed OL off, it wouldn't be a fight. It'd be a stomp.Ilana puts her right hand on my left.
"He thinks were here for shelter. There is no need to fight him."
Ah, yes. Nothing like being intimidating than casually flying through hostile fire and asking nicely."The great thing about being really strong is that it's not really a fight. I am strong enough to disable most of my opponents without causing them lasting injury. But you are correct."
I thicken the shield a little, just in case they've put an anti-air weapon on the walls, then float us into easy visual distance of the people on the top of the wall.
"And when I say 'appreciate', I mean 'do it now'."
"He thinks we're here for shelter.
Is that on purpose? Or should that say 'imagining'.
He likely knows and doesn't care.So, does the MC not actually know that he has just lied*, or do you not look at the links you post?
* To be more accurate, Wikipedia doesn't quite say "Some places say that the war was started over a stolen bucket, but this is obvious bullshit as made clear in the more reliable sources". Wikipedia is more weasel-worded than that, but given the options of "war over bucket" Vs "war where bucket was taken as trophy after it was won" it's pretty clear that the latter is the more plausible while the former makes a better story.
seems -> seem
He flexing! But is it weird that I find it bizarre for this Paul to use such overt commands?
Is the extra empty line deliberate?She bows her head slightly as I fly us out of the force field, everything doing dark as we leave. "You were serious about interstellar space not being 'peaceful'."
"Is that sort of ruthlessness common?"
Didn't he see Yellowstone go off? I guess he stopped it quickly so maybe it doesn't count."It's good practice. Before today, I'd never seen a supervolcano go off. I mean, I've seen worlds bombarded to death from orbit, but there's something about the sheer scale of nature's wrath that marks it out."
Thank you, corrected.
He didn't read the full article, but he's also saying it for emphasis.So, does the MC not actually know that he has just lied*, or do you not look at the links you post?
* To be more accurate, Wikipedia doesn't quite say "Some places say that the war was started over a stolen bucket, but this is obvious bullshit as made clear in the more reliable sources". Wikipedia is more weasel-worded than that, but given the options of "war over bucket" Vs "war where bucket was taken as trophy after it was won" it's pretty clear that the latter is the more plausible while the former makes a better story.
Who is this and what did he do with Paul?For a moment I think about suggesting [Sinestro] that he give Batman a try-out. I'm going to need a yellow ring at some point and having him just give it to my first choice of bearer would save me time. Fortunately, sanity prevails.
There's extra space in between these lines.interstellar space not being 'peaceful'."
"Is that sort of ruthlessness common?"
My mother has this saying: "Don't spoil a good story with the truth". It's not how I roll, but I do understand the idea behind it.So, does the MC not actually know that he has just lied*, or do you not look at the links you post?
Thank you, corrected.
He didn't give them both World Wars, just the first one.Just my 2c Mr Zoat, don't just give them a book leading up to the world wars, but at least cover the political and social aftermath after they ended. Don't just be a downer and what not to do, but how to recover and what to do after.
Lucky he's been to / met people from othersif we don't have another universe to compare it to, we can't really say that it's worse
I think I've somehow skipped this update once or twice when doing a reread. Or I'm tired enough that it doesn't really register. But looking at it now… I find it to be quite sweet! It is nice to see this side of Paul and the back and forth with his partner. I don't know how proud you are of your dynamics between Paul and Guy or Paul and Alan, but this update's relationship beats are just as lovely as those.
He didn't give them both World Wars, just the first one.
And the "how to recover and what to do after" the winners did there is what set up the second one.