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

Chojin Patriarch · Sep 18, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
4th Sigmarzeit 2512
Late Morning

"It's that simple?"

I glance at Richilde, but she's keeping her face blank.

When is anything simple in this world? But Paol's plan may work, given the time and resources to work on it. And given that several highly-placed figures in the fight against the Ruinous Powers think it will work, that should be a good indicator that it might just succeed.

"Countess?"

"The roads, man." She gestures to the map on the table between us, which has gotten me a few mildly dirty looks from the… I want to say 'restaurant', but I'm not sure that 'club' wouldn't be a better description. It's very clearly situated near to the expensive part of the city, is richly decorated and doesn't exactly appear to be interested in a high density of clients. "You're saying that if we do this we can stop worrying about the forces of Chaos entirely?"

To be fair, I suspect such businesses don't particularly delineate themselves so clearly. An alehouse with a few pliable waitresses willing to take a little time for 'private parties' could qualify as a whorehouse, after all. It's not like they have family-friendly restaurants.

"I realise that it's a big-."

"If I hadn't seen the Tower of Hoeth's seal on the document I'd have had you thrown in the river like every other charlatan. Which of the Loremasters did you convince to put their seal to this?"

Gee, she sounds like she thinks he paid a lot of money for the privilege.

I like to think that Karl-Franz's seal on it also had an impact, given that he's the reason that she's an Elector Count over other claimants.

"High Loremaster Teclis."

Pfft. I doubt many of the Counts like Karl. They mostly tolerate him because he was the least bad choice they could all agree on.

For a moment her mildly curdled expression turns into something… Else. Uncertainty? Disquiet? But it's gone a moment later.

"Though I should emphasise that it's not just building the roads. The roads have to run along lines of hysh flows, and we have to build monuments at the intersections. And the effect isn't total and.. requires quite a large section to be completed before they'll be an overt effect. Ah, other than the.. normal benefits to travel from better roads."

And that alone will be invaluable. Though maintaining them might be a little more expensive and time-consuming in and of itself...

She reviews the map of her province once more. "You've left several towns out of the network."

"If they're excluded, it's because they're not in geomantically significant locations. The road network can be extended to them, there just isn't any sort of magical benefit to it."

Which makes me wonder just how complex the pattern gets in some places. Especially major locations where multiple leylines cross.

"Who made these calculations?"

"My point of contact with the Light College is Master Alric, though I've also have the work checked by the High Loremaster." And Djubti, High Liche Priest of Lybaras, but I feel that mentioning his involvement would be needlessly distracting. "Short of having a slann or an old one go over it, it's as good as it can be made."

Now, whether that's a bonus as far as she's concerned, or a drawback, remains to be seen.

"Slann? The toad-men?"

"They actually look more like fat lizards than toads."

...Eh, it's varied over the years. But ultimately, most people see toads when they look at one.

The slann models from 5th edition looked like toads, and I remember the Drachenfels point of view part of the novel Drachenfels where he remembered the arrival of 'the toad men who came from the stars'. The oldest records the lizardmen were willing to let me see seemed to indicate that the old ones were somewhat toad-like in appearance, but the images could equally have been some sort of extinct servitor species or a different model of slann.

It's not impossible that they're some kind of broadly-built reptilioid that superficially resembles a toad. After all, they were masters of evolution and genetic engineering.

"Have you met one?"

"No. I was at the opposite end of a large room while a skink priest asked if I could petition it. It didn't respond, but I did get a good look at what it looked like."

I'm impressed they let you get that close, really. You must have done something impressive to receive such a high honour.

I didn't try scanning it, because we were inside a warded building and the Temple Guard surrounding me were loaded with enchanted equipment. I couldn't take the risk that someone would object violently.

"What good would this do to me?"

And that's a very sensible decision, given that Temple Guard are especially large and viciously protective Saurus wearing bone armour. Think 'upright velociraptors with Mayan weaponry made of enchanted gold' who stand about seven feet tall.

"If it were fully implemented?" She just looks at me. "There would be no residual built-ups of dhar in the region. Necromancy and Chaos magic would be weaker and harder to use, mutation less common and certain types of innately magical monster would try to avoid the area affected. It would be more difficult for daemons to manifest and they would need more power to remain materialised. Hysh-basic magic-."

"I wasn't asking what good it would do. I asked what good it would do for me."

...You know, you can be replaced with someone more agreeable.

Oh dear. "You personally would receive all of those benefits. You had a chaos warlord-."

"Yes, I remember it well. The maggot did not need dark magic from my state; he brought it with him."

Honestly, the Chaos Lord would have been proud to be called a maggot, given the association with Nurgle maggots and flies have amongst them.

She's glaring, but I don't think I've entirely lost her yet.

"My intent is to ultimately extend the network to all parts of the world, but in the mean time it would also weaken dark magic in the entirety of the world, though the.. strength of the effect would be reduced by distance. I can't guarantee that building the network in your state would prevent attacks by chaos worshippers. In fact I imagine that in the short term the Chaos Gods will incentivises their followers to attack places using it."

...Wrong thing to say, Paol. On the up side, she won't be the only one facing such a reaction.

"So you want me to pay millions of crowns and devote our entire stone supply and most of my labourers in order to mark my state and my people out as targets."

"With the greatest respect, Countess, you're already a target."

And not just from the Ruinous powers. I'm sure there are those under you with eyes on your seat. ...Of her throne, not her...

Well, given the way she presents it, I wouldn't be surprised of the other one.

"More of a target. You want me to go from being a target of a warlord once a century when one of the accursed scum managed to conquer the rest to being the only thing they target!"

I frown. "And… Small attacks are.. worse..? You'll have enough roads to move horsemen to counter their warbands wherever they are, and attacks like that wouldn't ever be able to threaten Nuln itself. Or even a walled town, really. And you certainly won't be the only target since I intend to prevail upon all Elector Counts to follow this plan."

...Oh, god, she's just the first one you've come to? I suppose it makes sense, because of the Engineering school.

Her eyes narrow. "Who has consent to this?"

"So far, just his imperial majesty, but I intend to try to visit everyone this week."

So, one out of about twelve provinces.

"One man."

"He does rather set the tone."

There is that, true.

"He'll be swarmed by beast-tribes from the Reikwald before it's halfway complete."

Oh! Oh. Slow communications surprises me again.

You'd think the Emperor would have sent runners with word of this. Then again, given the mortality rate on the present roads...

"Not likely, Countess. They're all dead."

She blinks. "What?"

Granted, such an extermination campaign would normally take tens of thousands of soldiers, and still not get every tribe. But Paol does have certain advantages.

"How do you think I got him to agree to this? I sought out and destroyed every single tribe. Destroyed every Herdstone. Took a while, and I had to take his least popular minister along as a witness, but I got it done."

She frowns again, in puzzlement rather than irritation. "How?"

Good lord, could that fellow look any more evil if he applied himself? Still, I bet he got quite the eye-opening look at Paol's capabilities.

"I'm quite good at killing. Sorry, I realise that I should have led with that. I'm not used to information travelling so slowly and just assumed that you knew."

"You killed all of them?"

Well, it's not like he could leave any hostile tribes alive. They'd be rather vexed by the treatment, after all.

"Well, all the males. Female beastmen are fairly docile, so I moved them to land marked for farm development and set them to work instead. No problems so far. And I… Can't completely guarantee that a few human-looking ones managed to flee. But they're not I the area any more."

"Are you willing to extend your services to me as well?"

I think he's got an afternoon or two free to handle that, surely.

I shrug. "I'm willing to extend them to anyone. If it worships Chaos, it's my enemy. If you know where my enemies are, I'll thank you for the information and then deal with the matter. If you want some particular group culled, just name them."

"And you can find them?"

True, it's not like there's a grand map of each warband's territory around.

"If you can provide a physical description and their approximate location, yes. Though it might have to wait until after this week. If I'm trying to get rushed meetings with the Electors, I can't guarantee exactly when I'll be available."

"We've had an upsurge of ratmen sightings since the invasion. I want them dead."

Ah... The Skaven creeping out of their holes, looking for a chance to stab people in the back.

"The local warren or the entire species?"

She looks at my face for a few moments.

Oh, he's entirely serious. Though committing that level of genocide might be an all-day job.

"Ideally, the latter, though I'll take it as a show of good faith if you manage the former."

"The species is on my long list, but I can handle the local warren…" Hm. "Actually, if you pull back your guards and ignore… Exactly how I do it, I can get started today."

Heh. The joy of making good use of Construct Lanterns.

She gives me a flat look. "What will I be ignoring?"

"Wide scale… Automata usage? Ill-educated people might say they're daemons or something… That's why I'm concerned. But they're very good at killing what I tell them to kill."

Especially the blood-letters. It's what they're built for, after all.

"That will be acceptable. But I want to see these 'automata' for myself first."

"Certainly, Countess. Shall we go now, or would you like time to prepare?"

I suggest preparing yourself with a couple of stiff drinks, ma'am. No way do you want to see this sober.

Heh. Speedrunning Vermintide-style encounters with effectively AI assistance. Now that's doing it Lantern-style. Admittedly, it'd likely panic a people already a little on edge after surviving a Chaos invasion just a couple of years earlier. Though the sight of Chaos Daemons annihilating the Ratmen instead of them might buoy their spirits. Or drive them to spirits.

Mr Zoat, some corrections:

...to be completed before they'll be an overt effect.

...to be completed before there'll be an overt effect.

Hysh-basic magic-."

Hysh-based magic-."

... the Chaos Gods will incentivises their followers...

... the Chaos Gods will incentivise their followers...

Her eyes narrow. "Who has consent to this?"

Her eyes narrow. "Who has consented to this?"

But they're not I the area any more.

But they're not in the area any more.

Vaermina · Sep 18, 2023

Vanbers said:
"Doing this will help stop Chaos in the long run."

"But it'll minorly inconvenience me!"

"...It will help stop Chaos in the long run. You remember, Chaos? Those beings that hate you and everything and everyone else, and want to violate everyone's souls? That Chaos?"

"But it'll cost me money! And be difficult! No, no, it's quite impossible, I'm afraid. Probably witch nonsense anyways."

This is one of the many reasons Warhammer 40k/Fantasy can't have nice things, yes.

If there was any chance of this actually stopping Chaos he would already be dead.

DoomLordSteve · Sep 18, 2023

Vaermina said:
If there was any chance of this actually stopping Chaos he would already be dead.

You will recall that he already has a construct army of daemons including a Keeper of Secrets. They have already tried and failed. Presumably multiple times.

Duke Long · Sep 18, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"You personally would receive all of those benefits. You had a chaos warlord-."

'Chaos'?

Mr Zoat said:
I can't guarantee that building the network in your state would prevent attacks by chaos worshippers.

'Chaos'?

Mr Zoat said:
I can't guarantee that building the network in your state would prevent attacks by chaos worshippers.

'Chaos'?

Senevri · Sep 18, 2023

Vanbers said:
"...It will help stop Chaos in the long run. You remember, Chaos? Those beings that hate you and everything and everyone else, and want to violate everyone's souls? That Chaos?"

"But it'll cost me money! And be difficult! No, no, it's quite impossible, I'm afraid. Probably witch nonsense anyways."

This is one of the many reasons Warhammer 40k/Fantasy can't have nice things, yes.

This is me, not bringing real world politics to the conversation. Loudly.

Vaermina said:
If there was any chance of this actually stopping Chaos he would already be dead.

How much do the chaos gods actually care about this single planet, though? Would be different if he were affecting several solar systems, probs.

If he wipes out every cultist and chaos-spawn on the planet, will the gods notice, or care?

Vanbers · Sep 18, 2023

Vaermina said:
If there was any chance of this actually stopping Chaos he would already be dead.

Ah yes, the "Chaos has already won everything forever everywhere so why bother trying" argument. A classic in the Warhammer community.

RoasterToaster · Sep 18, 2023

I don't know enough about WH's Chaos Gods to say if they're already getting personally involved on some level (making counter moves) but I know Kairos Fateweaver would probably be preparing something. Tzeentch probably isn't a fan of Paul lmao. Mr. Cut-your-bullshit-we-need-to-get-stuff-done and solver of mysteries by saying "Ring, scan."

Silverias · Sep 18, 2023

Senevri said:
This is me, not bringing real world politics to the conversation. Loudly.

How much do the chaos gods actually care about this single planet, though? Would be different if he were affecting several solar systems, probs.

If he wipes out every cultist and chaos-spawn on the planet, will the gods notice, or care?

This is fantasy, not 40k

Assblaster5000 · Sep 18, 2023

Silverias said:
This is fantasy, not 40k

Same gods, they just migrated over via The Warp. That's basically been true ever since 40k and Fantasy stopped being the same setting.

At least whenever the two aren't more directly connected because some author thought Fantasy just being a random world trapped in a Warp Storm or 40k being set in a marble on some wizard's desk was cool.

Mr Zoat · Sep 18, 2023

Chojin Patriarch said:
Honestly, the Chaos Lord would have been proud to be called a maggot, given the association with Nurgle maggots and flies have amongst them.

Yes, but this one was literally a giant maggot piloting an ogre corpse.

...to be completed before there'll be an overt effect.
Hysh-based magic-."
... the Chaos Gods will incentivise their followers...
Her eyes narrow. "Who has consented to this?"
But they're not in the area any more.

Duke Long said:
'Chaos'?
'Chaos'?
'Chaos'?

Thank you, corrected.

Vanbers said:
Ah yes, the "Chaos has already won everything forever everywhere so why bother trying" argument. A classic in the Warhammer community.

The Great Devourer will get them in the end.

RedX · Sep 18, 2023

Huh. The Big Plan is quite the dish to swallow, but the Secret Sauce makes it go down easy.

(The Secret Sauce is mass killing.)

DAT_NOOB · Sep 18, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"We've had an upsurge of ratmen sightings since the invasion. I want them dead."

Ridiculous, Ratmen don't exist, how could there be sightings?

Sockmonkey · Sep 18, 2023

I was doing a re-read, and noticed that in the bit where OL and Jade are about to vacation on a Thanagarian world, Jade acts surprised when he references Thanagarians fighting duels. He mentioned it to her post Nabu-killing, so is her surprise strictly at the particular context, or did the author lose track?

Mr Zoat · Sep 18, 2023

DAT_NOOB said:
Ridiculous, Ratmen don't exist, how could there be sightings?

They had an Emperor called Mandred Skavenslayer. At times, literal armies of skaven roam the surface world, leaving their bodies when the armies are defeated. People in Warhammer aren't that stupid.

Sockmonkey said:
I was doing a re-read, and noticed that in the bit where OL and Jade are about to vacation on a Thanagarian world, Jade acts surprised when he references Thanagarians fighting duels. He mentioned it to her post Nabu-killing, so is her surprise strictly at the particular context, or did the author lose track?

Probably lost track. Got a link?

Tzeentch · Sep 18, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"If I hadn't seen the Tower of Hoeth's seal on the document I'd have had you thrown in the river like every other charlatan. Which of the Loremasters did you convince to put their seal to this?"

I like to think that Karl-Franz's seal on it also had an impact, given that he's the reason that she's an Elector Count over other claimants.

"High Loremaster Teclis."

For a moment her mildly curdled expression turns into something… Else. Uncertainty? Disquiet? But it's gone a moment later.

Oh? Guess the Countess well remembers the Empire's history.... or she was familiar with Teclis in a different manner of speaking. Though knowing the Archmage, I dare say even HE has standards about the human women he sleeps with.

Lazurman said:
This is the kind of person that needs a swift bonk on the noggin from Ghal-Maraz.

You have an opportunity to take the first meaningful step towards neutering Chaos and you wanna be a selfish bitch? Sigmar preserve us...

And to think she was a childhood friend of Karl Franz.... although I could see him finding her just as insufferable in private, while being perfectly cordial to the Countess as it befits a good politician to do so.

Hell, in the past, he probably couldn't stand her then either, given she was the type of person to coerce her father to raise her younger sister as a boy, just so she wouldn't be potentially upstaged in the beauty department.

Vaermina · Sep 18, 2023

Vanbers said:
Ah yes, the "Chaos has already won everything forever everywhere so why bother trying" argument. A classic in the Warhammer community.

No, but they can see the future, and he has no defense against a Chaos Sorcerer sacrificing 666 slaves to cast a spell that seeks him out and causes him to explode.

Which means what he's doing isn't actually a threat to them.

Coda · Sep 18, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
ChaosChaos

I know it's in the nature of Chaos to be chaotic, but this might be a bit much.

Mr Zoat said:
And I… Can't completely guarantee that a few human-looking ones managed to flee.

Not sure how to phrase a corrected version, but you're saying you can't guarantee that they DID flee, and I think you meant you can't guarantee that they DIDN'T.

RoninSword · Sep 18, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
They had an Emperor called Mandred Skavenslayer. At times, literal armies of skaven roam the surface world, leaving their bodies when the armies are defeated. People in Warhammer aren't that stupid.

I thought I once read something like, Mandred was retitled Mandred Ratslayer as a way of historically removing the idea of 'Skaven' being anything other then underground beastmen.
I guess its more that, Mandred Skavenslayer being a well known historical figure has always confused me with the existence of the Conspiracy of Silence ('there is no underground Skaven Empire, just rat-like beastmen who prefer caves').

Sockmonkey · Sep 19, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Probably lost track. Got a link?

Here we go. Workhorse part 8. https://forum.questionablequesting....ustice-si-thread-fourteen.8938/reader?page=37

Nianque · Sep 19, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
They had an Emperor called Mandred Skavenslayer. At times, literal armies of skaven roam the surface world, leaving their bodies when the armies are defeated. People in Warhammer aren't that stupid.

Skaven don't leave bodies laying around though. The Black Hunger causes them to consume pretty much everything, battlefields where skaven win are picked clean.

Lord Ernest · Sep 19, 2023

Nianque said:
Skaven don't leave bodies laying around though. The Black Hunger causes them to consume pretty much everything, battlefields where skaven win are picked clean.

I believe that was referring to when Skaven armies are defeated, in which case, why would their bodies not be laying around? Do they turn to dust when they die?

I imagine any battlefield where the Skaven lose, even if they manage to retreat, would have plenty of ratmen corpes laying around. Especially because of their "quantity has a quality all its own" tactics.

Mr Zoat · Sep 19, 2023

17th February 2013
16:47 GMT

The city of Bubastis is well behind us as we head towards the rising sun. Which is a direction in its own right. We just keep going in one direction and the sun will just sort of appear. I was sceptical, but several different merchants confirmed it so…

Okay, I guess.

The angle of the shadows from the statues lining the route are a rough indicator that we're going in the right direction, as it changes the closer we get. And if we went in the other direction we could reach the setting sun, and a third direction for the sun at its zenith. I thought that the passage of the sun in Kahndaqi mythology-.

"Oh."

Kon glances at me as he hikes across the sands. "What?"

"I just remembered how Kahndaqi mythology says that the universe was created."

"Oh? How? Is it made from the parts of an older type of god?"

I mean… Technically.

"It was wanked into existence."

He blinks, mildly stunned. "What?"

"It's a fairly self-explanatory description. Ra 'took himself in hand', caught his own semen, took it into his mouth and then-"

Kon gurns in disgust. "Aw."

"-he spat it out." I smile. "It was funny, because when I was in secondary school, we read about creation myths in English. But the sheet we got on Kahndaq didn't actually have the creation myth on it. I wondered why at the time, and it wasn't for years that I heard what the actual myth was."

"Are you sure it's… Literal? It's not just a metaphor for creating life?"

"No, but Adom said that they didn't literally believe that their gods have animal heads and we're currently two for two."

"What's wrong with having an animal head?"

"Nothing. Adom just said that it was more of a metaphor."

Cernunnos nods pointedly. Okay, yes, that isn't necessarily a difference here-.

There's a.. structure ahead of us. The statues are petering out, and the sand path flattened down by the march of other devotees sort of stops a good distance from the structure which looks a little like a stepped pyramid with the top cut off. The hieroglyphics big enough to see from this distance depict the journey of the sun from the underworld into the sky…

Ah.

"I don't think we should get any closer."

"Why not?"

"I think that's the hole which-."

And there's the sun! Blinking and looking away, I can see the shadows cast by a huge beetle as the fiery orb is hefted into the sky. I see a hand setting it in the back of a chariot… But the chariot isn't here, it's elsewhere, and the charioteer is completely invisible. And the sun's moving but it's also still here in… Some sense or other, because it's a core part of the identity of the god we're here to see.

Bloody bright!

"Lord Khepri, thank you for seeing us."

Kon, unsurprisingly, is untroubled by the sun being right there.

"Why do you seek me?"

His voice is pretty normal. It doesn't sound like burning, which is something I'm grateful for. It also doesn't sound like he's speaking through mandibles, which…

I try peering through the blinding light, and… I think there's the shape of a man in there as well as the shape of a beetle?

"We were hoping that you could tell us where the sheeda beetles were. They're really big beetles from the future, and they kidnapped someone we're looking for."

"I'm the god of morning, creation and new life. I may be a beetle but I'm not the God of Beetles."

"Oh. Ah, sorry. Do you know where-?"

"Coincidentally, I do know where they are, as they flew out of and into this gateway to the underworld and I saw them go."

"Great, thanks! Can we use it?"

"Do you really think that you can survive the wrath of Apep, his primordial antagonism for all ordered matter? All life?"

"Probably. I mean, sheeda insects are tough for giant insects, but we're all a lot tougher."

"I'm not sure that we're all a lot tougher."

"Can Apep leave the darkness?"

"Not until all light dies."

"So we wouldn't be endangering anyone else?"

"Apep has never shown signs of great intelligence. I don't think that it could learn from you, and if other beings are travelling this route anyway then it is too late to worry about that." Shadows shift as the sun is lifted a little further. "But you should know that I cannot recover your soul if you die. You will be utterly unmade, a state only fit for the greatest sinners."

I go to head up the structure's steps, but… Maybe I'm becoming blasé about things like this. This is hardly the only way we could continue the investigation. We could try baiting them back, or follow up one of the other prongs of the investigation.

Kon's already half way up the steps. Not just me, then.

"A moment."

"If you're worried about-."

His body swells with muscle and his horns shift shape from a stag's antlers to a bull's horns, and an eagle's wings sprout from his back.

"That should help." He starts forward. "Do your hunts always go like this?"

"It varies."

It's interesting. As I join them in the journey towards the top of the ziggurat I'm shielding my eyes against the sun but I don't feel particularly hot. I suppose a land that never knew snow didn't have the same positive association with the sun's heat that they did with the light.

"Ah, Superboy?" Kon glances back as we approach the summit. "There are other approaches we could take to this."

"The sheeda are flying through a place of primordial chaos with no trouble. It's like you and those aliens: bad people don't stop doing bad things just because we're fighting Anti-Life. I think we should do this."

"Alright." I look down at the… Hole to the dark place. It's completely dark. No sight, no scans. "I agree. Everyone ready?"

Two nods, and we leap into the void.

Assblaster5000 · Sep 19, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
I just remembered how Kahndaqi mythology says that the universe was created.

Missing quotations.

Mr Zoat said:
their gods has animal heads

'have'

Mr Zoat · Sep 19, 2023

Coda said:
I know it's in the nature of Chaos to be chaotic, but this might be a bit much.
Not sure how to phrase a corrected version, but you're saying you can't guarantee that they DID flee, and I think you meant you can't guarantee that they DIDN'T.

Thank you, corrected.

RoninSword said:
I thought I once read something like, Mandred was retitled Mandred Ratslayer as a way of historically removing the idea of 'Skaven' being anything other then underground beastmen.
I guess its more that, Mandred Skavenslayer being a well known historical figure has always confused me with the existence of the Conspiracy of Silence ('there is no underground Skaven Empire, just rat-like beastmen who prefer caves').

That was a stupid retcon when they didn't it, and it hasn't gotten less stupid since.

Nianque said:
Skaven don't leave bodies laying around though. The Black Hunger causes them to consume pretty much everything, battlefields where skaven win are picked clean.

"Witch Hunter, that... Giant bell that the ratmen left, and the strange personal volley guns-."

"Weather balloons. They are weather balloons."

Darko · Sep 19, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"No, but Adom said that they didn't literally believe that their gods has animal heads and we're currently two for two

I'm guessing a change in belief altered their appearance, or they chose to look like that after a while.

Mr Zoat said:
His body swells with muscle and his horns shift shape from a stag's antlers to a bull's horns, and an eagle's wings sprout from his back

I guess that's his battle mode.

Ngamer11 · Sep 19, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"I don't think we should get any closer.

Missing a quotation mark at the end.

Mr Zoat · Sep 19, 2023

Assblaster5000 said:
Missing quotations.
'have'

Ngamer11 said:
Missing a quotation mark at the end.

Thank you, corrected.

Ngamer11 · Sep 19, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"-he spat it out." I smile. "It was funny, because when I was in secondary school, we read about creation myths in English. But the sheet we got on Kahndaq didn't actually have the creation myth on it. I wondered why at the time, and it wasn't for years that I heard what the actual myth was."

Is Paul saying Kahndaq instead of Egypt because he knows the difference is mostly in name and because he doesn't feel like explaining what's different between the two versions of the countries?

Vaermina · Sep 19, 2023

Darko said:
I'm guessing a change in belief altered their appearance, or they chose to look like that after a while.

Or they just did it to mess with LePaul.

Chojin Patriarch · Sep 19, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
17th February 2013
16:47 GMT

The city of Bubastis is well behind us as we head towards the rising sun. Which is a direction in its own right. We just keep going in one direction and the sun will just sort of appear. I was sceptical, but several different merchants confirmed it so…

Okay, I guess.

Naturally, it's a metaphorical aspect of the realm. Hopefully Khepri will be able to stop and chat in his busy duties of rolling suns around. Otherwise this could take a while. Heh. I wonder if he gets union-mandated breaks.

Would a giant scarab deity even smoke?

The angle of the shadows from the statues lining the route are a rough indicator that we're going in the right direction, as it changes the closer we get. And if we went in the other direction we could reach the setting sun, and a third direction for the sun at its zenith. I thought that the passage of the sun in Kahndaqi mythology-.

"Oh."

I'm reminded of Djelibeybi's metaphysical structure in 'Pyramids', where all the mythical stuff is happening all the damn time. Like a constant parade of 'going forths' and 'coming forths'...

Kon glances at me as he hikes across the sands. "What?"

"I just remembered how Kahndaqi mythology says that the universe was created."

And it is a doozy. Let's just say it isn't commonly seen for... Reasons.

"Oh? How? Is it made from the parts of an older type of god?"

I mean… Technically.

...And not just in things like Nut literally being the sky.

"It was wanked into existence."

He blinks, mildly stunned. "What?"

Beating off. Tugging the todger. A date with Rosie Palms. Surely your education in the bio-lab covered that much?

"It's a fairly self-explanatory description. Ra 'took himself in hand', caught his own semen, took it into his mouth and then-"

Kon gurns in disgust. "Aw."

To be fair, Ra was basically born a dirty old man, and continued in much that vein, no matter how regal he acted otherwise. Especially with all the other gods mixed in to him.

"-he spat it out." I smile. "It was funny, because when I was in secondary school, we read about creation myths in English. But the sheet we got on Kahndaq didn't actually have the creation myth on it. I wondered why at the time, and it wasn't for years that I heard what the actual myth was."

"Are you sure it's… Literal? It's not just a metaphor for creating life?"

I mean, a lot of creation myths do involve sex of some kind, usually between the primordial 'father' and 'mother' spirits. Assuming they don't make war first.

"No, but Adom said that they didn't literally believe that their gods have animal heads and we're currently two for two."

"What's wrong with having an animal head?"

Not to be rude, Cernie, old mate. But you tend to just be a bloke with overly hairy legs and horns. We're talking full on anthropomorphic zoo-morphs.

"Nothing. Adom just said that it was more of a metaphor."

Cernunnos nods pointedly. Okay, yes, that isn't necessarily a difference here-.

And don't be kink-shaming. If the Kahndaqi gods want to enjoy being furries, let them.

There's a.. structure ahead of us. The statues are petering out, and the sand path flattened down by the march of other devotees sort of stops a good distance from the structure which looks a little like a stepped pyramid with the top cut off. The hieroglyphics big enough to see from this distance depict the journey of the sun from the underworld into the sky…

Ah.

The exit point of the Duat, the shadow realm where Ra spends half his day.

"I don't think we should get any closer."

"Why not?"

"I think that's the hole which-."

...Oh, right. Rising Sun. Hope you guys brought sunglasses.

And there's the sun! Blinking and looking away, I can see the shadows cast by a huge beetle as the fiery orb is hefted into the sky. I see a hand setting it in the back of a chariot… But the chariot isn't here, it's elsewhere, and the charioteer is completely invisible. And the sun's moving but it's also still here in… Some sense or other, because it's a core part of the identity of the god we're here to see.

Bloody bright!

And now I'm picturing the sun-disc atop his head-dress being a literal sun, a tiny ball of glowing plasma...

"Lord Khepri, thank you for seeing us."

Kon, unsurprisingly, is untroubled by the sun being right there.

Kyrptonian eyes, with built-in flash dampening. Because why not over-engineer your species that far?

"Why do you seek me?"

His voice is pretty normal. It doesn't sound like burning, which is something I'm grateful for. It also doesn't sound like he's speaking through mandibles, which…

Thank goodness he doesn't have a silly voice, then. I doubt you could maintain any sort of respectful composure if he was, say, all nasally Brit.

I try peering through the blinding light, and… I think there's the shape of a man in there as well as the shape of a beetle?

"We were hoping that you could tell us where the sheeda beetles were. They're really big beetles from the future, and they kidnapped someone we're looking for."

I suppose that's one way to reconcile the image of a man with a scarab for a head. The joy of hieratic depictions.

"I'm the god of morning, creation and new life. I may be a beetle but I'm not the God of Beetles."

"Oh. Ah, sorry. Do you know where-?"

Well, it was kind of a logical assumption to make...

"Coincidentally, I do know where they are, as they flew out of and into this gateway to the underworld and I saw them go."

"Great, thanks! Can we use it?"

Well, that's not worrisome at all.

"Do you really think that you can survive the wrath of Apep, his primordial antagonism for all ordered matter? All life?"

"Probably. I mean, sheeda insects are tough for giant insects, but we're all a lot tougher."

Don't be too overconfident, Kon. After all, I have to wonder how magic-resistant you are, even with all those nice buffs you've got.

"I'm not sure that we're all a lot tougher."

"Can Apep leave the darkness?"

I see Cernunnos is being just as sceptical.

"Not until all light dies."

"So we wouldn't be endangering anyone else?"

Well, good to know you can't mess that much up.

"Apep has never shown signs of great intelligence. I don't think that it could learn from you, and if other beings are travelling this route anyway then it is too late to worry about that." Shadows shift as the sun is lifted a little further. "But you should know that I cannot recover your soul if you die. You will be utterly unmade, a state only fit for the greatest sinners."

I go to head up the structure's steps, but… Maybe I'm becoming blasé about things like this. This is hardly the only way we could continue the investigation. We could try baiting them back, or follow up one of the other prongs of the investigation.

...I would laugh if it turns out Apep has a bit of a crush on the Ophidian. Unlikely, but an amusing image.

Kon's already half way up the steps. Not just me, then.

"A moment."

Ah, need a moment to steel your loins, Cernie?

"If you're worried about-."

His body swells with muscle and his horns shift shape from a stag's antlers to a bull's horns, and an eagle's wings sprout from his back.

...Why do I feel a weird sense of recognition?

Probably something Warhammer-related.

"That should help." He starts forward. "Do your hunts always go like this?"

"It varies."

Sometimes there's much more screaming, fire and blood.

It's interesting. As I join them in the journey towards the top of the ziggurat I'm shielding my eyes against the sun but I don't feel particularly hot. I suppose a land that never knew snow didn't have the same positive association with the sun's heat that they did with the light.

"Ah, Superboy?" Kon glances back as we approach the summit. "There are other approaches we could take to this."

I wonder if Helios is nudging him a little? Not in any direct way, but maybe the blessing lends him a little confidence.

"The sheeda are flying through a place of primordial chaos with no trouble. It's like you and those aliens: bad people don't stop doing bad things just because we're fighting Anti-Life. I think we should do this."

"Alright." I look down at the… Hole to the dark place. It's completely dark. No sight, no scans. "I agree. Everyone ready?"

Two nods, and we leap into the void.

You just don't like being unable to look before you leap, huh?

And things are about to get much more bizarre. Seriously, though, This does seem a little foolhardy, even if you rather do need to find out what they were doing in there. I mean, you could maybe have gone to the Setting Sun and prevailed upon Ra to hitch a ride, maybe? At any rate, I expect things will get a little more lively... And possibly more scaly, given a predominance of serpentine imagery involved down there.

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

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At the End...

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