moralrelativity
Recovering pendant.
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wince -> winces
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wince -> winces
I'd bet on that meaning to say 'Hm?'.
Yes.A portmanteau of 'Pyrrhus' and 'piracy'?
If not, then I don't know what it's meant to be.
No, it's a neologism derived from 'at some time'.
Thank you, corrected.
FYI, brobdingnagian is only worth $1.17.Ah, the ten-dollar words. 'Brobdingnagian' means 'gigantic or similarly large', by the by. No wonder she's feeling a little grumpy.
Is that what's happening I interpreted it as Ahri'ahn just made Aurthur think he was an ideal monarch and pulled Atlantis from the Dreaming.
levers
True, but he has the advantage of having a Mother Box, and thus the knowledge that New Genesis has of the Dream.Huh. Grayven has less experience with the Dreaming than Paul does, doesn't he?
Thank you, corrected.
That should say 'hear'.He points towards Kalmin's forge, and I'm a little surprised that I can't heard anything. Kalmin is usually quite happy to rant about why he's unhappy, but I suppose that he doesn't see the point if there's no audience?
That should say 'bother'."The concept was sound, though. The ring will function. Though it was a good deal more subtle a way of gathering fear than I would both using. Slower, too."
To be fair, Lyssa Drak seemed to be just a little cracked, in terms of worldview. Whether that predated her association with Sinestro or came about because of it, we may never know...14th February 2013
16:47 GMT
Ms. Mallor winces as she looks at the content of what I've started to think of as the Book of Shadows, occasionally glancing down at the array that surrounds the device that reformatted Lantern Peldak's ring. Nothing from Ub'x yet, though I suspect that my message got through.
"This is… It doesn't make sense."
Since as mentioned before, it never really noticed or cared about them. So whatever group were making sacrifices..."In what way?"
"Ritual sacrifice hasn't ever been part of what we do here. There-. There were religions that made sacrifices to the Father of Shadows, but that was before Shadow Champions existed as an institution."
...They were likely very quickly ended."How did the sacrifices end?"
She gives me a slightly awkward look. "People were being murdered. It only kept going as long as most people in those cultures thought they needed to. Usually, the moment those cultures had contact with a culture that didn't, it either stopped, or… Or it didn't, and there was a revolution that overthrew their priests and kings and sacrificed them."
The Aztecs. Certainly relevant to the discussion, all right."Reminds me a little of the Aztecs. I assume that the people doing the sacrifices were immune from being volunteered?"
"I.. don't know." She turns a page. "I wouldn't be surprised. Aztecs?"
I can imagine that story has played out on her world too."Culture from my homeworld. As far as I remember, they're the most recent one to practice human sacrifice. They demanded victims from their tributaries. When people from the next continent over where they didn't practice human sacrifice turned up and picked a fight with them, every single tributary rose up in revolt. The foreign invaders ended up trying to stop their allies wiping the Aztecs out."
She nods.
Best not to let it be widely known, then..."Do you understand any of what she wrote?"
"Some of it. We have studied the Shadowlands as much as we dared. I hadn't.. thought about it, but it makes sense that our studying accelerated after the Father of Shadows departed. Lyssa Drak would have been a natural choice to lead those studies." She turns the page again, frowning. "I am concerned about what will happen if it becomes known that our powers can be replicated through murder."
Hopefully without a desire to use the process."Does the book say how the book was made?"
"It's mostly a research journal. I assume that when I study it fully, I will understand the process."
...Honestly, that's a good question. At the level of technology the Rings operate on, there's not much difference between magic and science."Or that's something that she learned from elsewhere."
"Does Sinestro know anything about magic?"
Probably with promises of a position within his Corps upon success."He was a xenoarchaeologist. It's possible that he ran into something somewhere. And his sister supposedly used magic, though since literally no other Korugaran has ever shown any affinity for it I'm not sure that there wasn't something else going on. And he used to have access to the Green Lantern Corps' full database on magic and thaumically active locations, so…"
"He could employ someone easily."
...It said something that sounded like his name. Joy of it using an obscure dialect that's not translated by other Rings. For all we know, in the Indigo Tribesmen's language, 'Si Nes Tro' means 'User unsuitable' or something."Yes. But… Unless there's something written in that book, we don't have any proof that Sinestro had anything to do with this."
"You said that the ring said his name."
Honestly not impossible."Sinestro's existence and history aren't secret either."
And Abin Sur knew his name and counted him as a friend when he founded the Indigo Lantern Corps… Unless things are completely different from the comics. He might well have put Sinestro's name in the system as a back-up First Lantern.
Especially with access to NEMO's resources."Do you need any other resources here, or are you okay to keep working?"
"I'll probably need a physicist eventually, but I can find one for myself."
Presumably the dark-element mana he's absorbed is already being flushed out of his soul-stuff.I nod. "And… To the best of your knowledge, is there anything that I need to worry about?"
"About what you did to get a feel for the Shadowlands?" I nod. "Richard Swift doesn't seem to have any trouble in using or controlling his power. But unless he comes here and agrees to be studied, I can't tell you anything about how your species connects to the Shadowlands."
Never know what little things might pay off."Fair enough. Either a Controller or a Qwardian will be along later to have a look at the machine. Best of luck with the reunion."
I step out, orientating on the giant glow that is the Orange Central Power Battery. Ms. Mallor is perfectly capable of handling that investigation on her own, and she has even more legal authority to do so than the local Green Lanterns. The Shadowlands probably aren't either a threat or an opportunity, but transferring her doesn't really cost anything and it might prove to be useful.
Ooh, this could be loud. I bet he's not happy about the Yellow Ring thing.
While discreetly reinforcing your environmental shielding, of course.I wait a moment, then press the bell.
And then I wait another moment, because I strongly suspect that Kalmin isn't in the best frame of mind at the-.
Ah. That bad, eh? Hopefully he hasn't blown up anything important in his bad mood.The door opens, and one of his acolytes is standing on the other side. He realises who I am, then winces.
"Sorry. But he's the only one-."
...Okay, then. OL might want the heavy armour on for this, then...He steps aside, putting the gun he was carrying back into the doorside rack.
"He will see you. He is…" He looks me in the face for a moment. "About as happy as you might surmise."
To be fair, if OL knew that location, he'd probably already be trying to recruit them."I'd have brought something, but I don't know what Qwardians give in situations like this."
"The last known location of our enemies. That way."
Ooh. Beware the quiet rages, those tend to burn the hottest.He points towards Kalmin's forge, and I'm a little surprised that I can't heard anything. Kalmin is usually quite happy to rant about why he's unhappy, but I suppose that he doesn't see the point if there's no audience?
I walk slowly in the direction indicated, to give him plenty of time to express his unwillingness to see me if that's how he feels.
Because it's always more satisfying to yell at OL in person.
At least he's looking at it. That's a good sign?I walk into his inner sanctum, where the yellow ring is held in a vice while Kalmin's equipment interfaces with it. Kalmin doesn't look around, instead remaining focused on his readouts.
"What news?"
Well, good to know. I expect it was a proof of concept more than a functional try."It's a hideous hack job, but it would work. Barely."
"'Barely' meaning..?"
Oh, if only she had and found her method didn't work as well as she thought it did..."A ring needs to be acclimatised to the mind state of the user. It's less of a concern with green rings, as the user is supposed to be completely focused on whatever they're doing at that moment. With other colours, it's more significant. This was not configured for Lyssa Drak."
"No, I think we interrupted her before she could finish."
Makes you wonder how many other methods of Ring-crafting Sinestro is investigating that are slow but quiet..."The concept was sound, though. The ring will function. Though it was a good deal more subtle a way of gathering fear than I would both using. Slower, too."
"But it could go undetected for a long time."
So she may have learned what he was planning, but not talked to him about it beforehand. I suppose coming to him with a Yellow Ring in hand would have added to her appeal."If that was the goal. I knew Sinestro well. He could be patient, but once he had an aim in mind I doubt that he would be happy with such sloth. Or deliberate imperfection. I find it more likely that Lyssa Drak was trying to prove her worth to him, rather than that he was commanding her directly."
"You done with the ring?"
Sick of looking at the sloppy workmanship, Kalmin?"I haven't destroyed it." I wait a moment. "Yes, I have nothing more to learn. Take it and be gone."
I walk over and pull it from the vice.
Let me guess, that's an 'access denied' response from the Ring.
Thank you, corrected.
I don't think so.
I decided to look up the most recent, out of curiosity, and according to my half-arsed research both the Hawaiians and the Dahomey of Africa were doing some degree of human sacrifice as late as the early 1800s. Pretty surprising.As far as I remember, they're the most recent one to practice human sacrifice.
I don't know about the Hawaiians, but the Dahomey didn't sacrifice people to their gods. They did it for fun during their national festival, like an American ritually sacrificing a Brit on Independence Day.I decided to look up the most recent, out of curiosity, and according to my half-arsed research both the Hawaiians and the Dahomey of Africa were doing some degree of human sacrifice as late as the early 1800s. Pretty surprising.
The Incas and Mayans were doing it for a while after the conquest of the Aztecs, which I'm surprised he doesn't know.
Apparently illegal human sacrifice is an ongoing problem in parts of Africa, though I'm not sure whether I should call that a culture.
You might know more than me, but I was just going off the Wikipedia page which describes it as 'religious' and says they did it at least in part to gain favour from their ancestor spirits.I don't know about the Hawaiians, but the Dahomey didn't sacrifice people to their gods. They did it for fun during their national festival, like an American ritually sacrificing a Brit on Independence Day.
Nok probably means compassion, Nar probably means Fear... So White, being the combination of all colors, could be Neener-Neener.
A dedicated corp to supliment the Green Lantern's Law Enforcement with more social focused Peacekeeping?Nok is the name of the planet that the Indigo Tribe started on.
It somehow has an underground river of compassion that a slave uprising dipped their melee weapons in to make their slavers feel compassion.
Sur came across the planet, and being concerned about the Guardian's sociopathic tendencies, decided an Indigo lantern corps ready if/when the Guardians went off the rails would be a good idea, so they forged the staves and rings out of the liquid compassion.
More or less happened in this story, although Zoat's Guardians are not especially prone to sociopathy, so the Indigo Tribe was apparently not designed to enslave the Guardians to empathy. Emergency backup maybe?
Okay yes, but in the comics "Nok" is one of the most commonly said words by Indigo lanterns. It almost certainly means "compassion" or "act with compassion." Otherwise they're randomly sticking "Earth" or "Oa" into their sentences.Nok is the name of the planet that the Indigo Tribe started on.
It somehow has an underground river of compassion that a slave uprising dipped their melee weapons in to make their slavers feel compassion.
Sur came across the planet, and being concerned about the Guardian's sociopathic tendencies, decided an Indigo lantern corps ready if/when the Guardians went off the rails would be a good idea, so they forged the staves and rings out of the liquid compassion.
More or less happened in this story, although Zoat's Guardians are not especially prone to sociopathy, so the Indigo Tribe was apparently not designed to enslave the Guardians to empathy. Emergency backup maybe?
PingI don't know why but the idea of a ring that just says "Narf" every time it's given an order has me giggling. "Narf", and "Zort" when it's used to blast something.
Yes.
No.