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Yup, Power Rings might be advanced hardware wise, but software wise, at least by the standard of a civ that can build real, non-insane murderbot AI, they are kind of pathetic.
On that note, we know the Malthusians are a lot less advanced when it comes to software then when it comes to hardware.
Case in point, their attempt at making AI, was the rather pathetic Manhunters.
Delaying the apocalypse is a bad thing, as the parahuman community is at the peak of its power of being able to fight back if it happens then. Past that, the parahuman community reaches critical mass and starts self destructing, with parahumans dying faster than they can become adept at using their powers.
I am left to wonder something with these side stories. Is Mr. Zoat setting up a future storyline like with the "Crisis of Infinite Paul's".
I could see some Hero from another Parallel going from Universe to Universe trying to kill all the Paul's, assuming they are all evil. Then finding OL Paul Prime (or Gravyen) he attacks and they get into a fight where OL has to talk his way out of things. Then; OL Paul, Chinese Paul (formerly Time Trapper), Gold Lantern (formerly Anti-Green), and Gravyen (because I still want OL to meet Gravyen) are all forced to join forces against an evil coalition of Evil Pauls to try to save the Multiverse from his/their tyranny.
A time-skip is likely in the near-to-mid future, this would keep Paul away from Universe-16 long enough for the Reach to get to Earth.
Or I am reading to much into things like usual.
Side note, I had to catch up a bit so I am late to the party. I am so excited to see OL talking to Kori about getting her a Blue Lantern. That would be amazing, and she would be officially duel wielding different colored power rings before OL. Maybe later her sister (Komand'r) will get a Red Lantern because, well I do enjoy some chaos from time-to-time.
Rather like that time that Static made Stewart a Lightning Lantern for a minute in Static Shock, although Zoat ignored that incident so that this story doesn't have Peter Wynn Lightning Lantern.
First of all, I typed shit about copying magic, the discussion was about being able to deduce what unknown phenomena can or cannot do after observation.
Second of all, absence of evidence is an argument from ignorance.
Third, Zoat goes by the mention in Hellblazer that anyone can learn magic, that it's a skill anyone can learn. So claiming they can't figure it out is in fact antithetical to Zoat's magic system.
Fourth, the idea that magic would work the same in every universe is silly, and thankfully this story showed that wasn't the case when it was mentioned that BtVS magic wasn't compatible. Why this story has BtVS magic not be compatible but pretends like MLP works the same makes absolutely no damn sense whatsoever, but that's neither here nor there.
I'm going to caveat this with the disclaimer that I am not familiar in the least with Worm, it's creator or his other works. I've got nothing to add on all the talk on that side of the arguments going on.
My issue is thus: Why does Lord Protector care about this earth?
OOC we know it's Zoat having a poke at a new setting and seeing what happens. I'm talking what does This Paul think he's actually doing.
I mean, when last we left him, he'd just been returned to Thundera, proposed to his lady fair, and was settling in for the long slog of pacifying the planet and creating a lantern. This is much further down his timeline, as mentioned by Zoat. He seems to have accomplished his earlier goals to some degree or another since he's got a full magitech power armor setup with a Lantern and passing references to Thundera and Mum-Rama would imply that much. So what's the new goal?
There had been some mention in his story that once he'd gotten the tech base, he'd go exploring for other races that had been subjected to Mum-ra's evils, but unless the Worm universe is even stranger then what's been implied by others here, this earth is not located in that same part of the multiverse.
Lord Protector had to either actively look for a way to jump universes, or someone else tossed him into Worm. If the latter I could understand him starting in on setting up shop in an effort to go home, but nothing much in his POV seems to come off as any desperate rush back to Thundera, or Earth Prime.
So, assuming he chose to poke around the multiverse on his own, got a look in at (one of?) the Worm Earth(s), Why stick around?
It's a shithole in a multiverse FULL of shitholes, and someone more optimistic or caring might want to stop in and fix it. But Lord Protector has no dogs (or Cats!) in this fight, and doesn't appear to have a higher objective at the moment to seek. He's just stepped in because he can, but I don't see what would have prompted his bothering to involve himself.
Once you've got a degree of multiversal travel, the many earths you'd see could be like flipping channels on TV. Don't like what you see, keep going, bound to be something interesting eventually.
This may be further down his timeline, but from the implications of his talks, it's the first time he's encountered 'superheros' out in the wild, so even if he's hit a few other planets in his Cat universe, or a few other Earths in the multiverse, he's not yet encountered the spandex types.
About the only attraction I can see is that is AN Earth, with people that are (more or less) human like him. If it's the first one he's run across there might be SOME level of attraction, but the man is Fear Enlightened, sure he still has other emotions, but the only reason I can think he'd want to stay around was if there was someone or thing he NEEDED, or just to hang around the HUGE amounts of fear this place would generate.
I'm just sort of left scratching my head and looking for what his end goal is, because without that context his current methods just don't quite line up as logical to me.
Compare and contrast Renegades visit to the Justice Lords for 'Paul ends up some place shitty AFTER getting OP', Because I'd sort of expect, if not quite the same level of theatrics, a similar mindset of figuring out how the place works and how to make it work better within the bounds of what the locals will except.
They do not, unless it's a WOG. There is the fanon idea that Cauldron didn't end Jack before the end of the world because the endbringers were killing more capes than they were creating, but if LP is killing them too then it's fine.
You knew," I said, interrupting Weld's angry monologue about Cauldron's monstrous parahumans. I spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. I didn't care anymore. "You knew Scion would do this?"
Doctor Mother looked my way. "Yes."
"And you did nothing. You stood back and you let this happen," I said. I was aware that every set of eyes in the room was on me.
"It's better that this happens now. From what we know- and I do want to express that I'm eager to compare notes with the other parties- it was inevitable. Now or later, Scion was going to go rogue. If we waited until a decade had passed, we might not have the numbers or the powers we have now."
"You knew," I repeated myself, staring at her. "We could have put this off. Bought ourselves time to deal with other crises, to find an answer, a way to stop him or…"
I trailed off, lost for words. To stop him. That's enough.
"We did try," the Doctor said. "We offered as much assistance as we could without hamstringing ourselves for the next part of this."
The Number Man spoke, "All of the statistics point to a decline in population over the ensuing few years. We were already in the midst of the breaking point. You experienced much of that yourself, Undersiders. Enough capes in one place, and it becomes the equivalent of nitro waiting to blow. Brockton Bay wasn't managed quite so well as other clusters like New York or New Delhi."
...
"No," the Number Man said, and he managed to sound only a little condescending. "I'm saying that parahumans as a whole are chain reactions waiting to happen, and we were already approaching a critical point. Every year, the percentage of parahumans in the population increases. At that same time, the odds of a cataclysmic event happening somewhere are increasing steadily. Imagine a situation like the Echidna event that turned out more unfavorably, or a Nilbog who wasn't content to stay in one place. We have the blasphemies, Sleeper, and the Ash Beast, even the Slaughterhouse Nine, all as living examples of this concept at work. The world already stood on a precipice, and I'm not even mentioning the Endbringers in all of this."
I glanced at the blasphemies. They hadn't moved an inch, even as they were mentioned.
The Number Man paused. "There was an exceedingly good chance that we would have only sixty-six to twenty-five percent of the forces available if we waited ten years."
"Fourteen years from now was the breaking point," Dinah spoke up.
"Fifty-three to two percent of the forces available, then," Number Man responded.
"Yes," the Doctor said. "We weren't helping it along, but we're not overly upset. In fact, we consider this a best case scenario."
...
"A poor choice of words," the Doctor said. "What I mean to say is that a very large number of powerful capes remain active and alive, ready to combat the threat...
Paul may also be hesitant in making a Red Ring due to the extreme rage they provoke in their wielders. He can at least control orange rings to stop their wielders.
That still leads to the problem that unless LP is massively more powerful than the combined justice league, he is doing much more harm than good all because he is jumping into it without taking more than 5 seconds to research what the problem actually is.
Ah, thank you rani.
Does anyone have anything to say about the really off characterization of LP? Killing when he doesn't need to, jumping into a situation without doing research, etc? Does anyone have a counterpoint or does this stand?
Oh, Paul would outright refuse to get her a Red Ring. I was imagining Atrocitus getting involved at some point........
ALL HAIL ERIS!
To be fair Paul's biggest problem has always been his Pride.Does anyone have anything to say about the really off characterization of LP? Killing when he doesn't need to, jumping into a situation without doing research, etc? Does anyone have a counterpoint or does this stand?
It's possible that LP just couldn't stand the civilization on Earth Bet and decided to fix it in his own way.
Other universes may be prettier, but they probably don't require fixing.
Mr Zoat, (In case it goes unnoticed) Vaermina raises the point that Thomas Calvert is not the director at this point in time. Emily Piggot is, and Calvert is an advisor.
We are focusing on Scion.
But there's another problem, the Third Entity.
That thing is still around the local cluster somewhere, and if LP starts throwing around unknown high energy reactions, it very well might come and investigate.
To be fair Paul's biggest problem has always been his Pride.
So it's pretty easy to imagine how, with a Power Ring and nothing around to check him, that Pride could lead to the giant God Complex we see with the Lord Protector.
I can understand that in part, but there is just a lack of forethought I think shown in LP's approach here. Near as everyone he's encountered thus far, he's a brand new player in the game, and his introduction is cold brutal murder, yes of people that might have had it coming, but even his own study shows significant gaps in information and judgment. He knows very little about anyone he's killed, he has a basic understanding of the power structures in place but not enough to recognize key players without ring reference.
There doesn't seem to have been a build up, a strategic or tactical plan set in motion, no moves to get local allies or resources. Very much out of character for all the other SI's we've seen thus far.
As Paragon mentioned during his first trip to to see the Controllers, "Start as you mean to go on"
LP is starting his visit to this earth with a spree killing, and by every indication intends to go on.
Despite having access to the data Paragon gave on weapons (he calls out the cold gun) which likely had less lethal options, or even more basic lantern attacks that don't use bloody ANTI MATTER in a civilian area.
I've got no issue with the character killing targets quickly and effectively when called for...but few of these targets are actually a threat to him....he could have dropped them on a preconstructed robot operated prison on the moon a touch of effort and foresight. Study of their powers would have been something that Grayven or OL would have jumped on as part of the tech revolution they depend on.
Unless there is an objective in killing quickly and cleanly beyond the obvious, I think LP is a lot closer to his statement of 'delusions of utility' comment then I think we're giving credit for.
In the thundercats universe, LP spelled out that he was brutal because of necessity. He didn't have a fast way to charge his power ring and his encampment did not have anywhere near the resources it needed. But now, he is being brutal even when he could capture and hand off to prisons.
He may not want to waste resources on criminals that have broken the law multiple times.
He did come from a place that lacked those initially and it probably influenced his mentality.
My point exactly, HE IS NO LONGER IN THAT PLACE, HE NOW HAS RESOURCES TO SPARE.
"Yes, but I suppose that answers the question of which colour suits her best."
It doesn't fit in with his previously established characterization. If his previous rational was being brutal because he had to be, but is now being brutal even when he doesnt have to be, it implies that he was lying about being brutal only because he had to be.
And he has years and possibly decades of practice being a necessary dictator handing out draconian justice, and it working. Of course when he enters another world and finds it to be even more of a mess - technologically more advanced, but a bigger mess nonetheless - he isn't going to look too hard for alternatives.My point exactly, HE IS NO LONGER IN THAT PLACE, HE NOW HAS RESOURCES TO SPARE
Many, however, have repeatedly escaped being sentenced to the Birdcage. Sometimes multiple times, like Hookwolf.
...Bolas? Against someone you just saw perform a precision bombardment remotely? Lord Protector's opinion of Armsy just dropped hard. Not that it had far to go to hit rock bottom.
And he has years and possibly decades of practice being a necessary dictator handing out draconian justice, and it working. Of course when he enters another world and finds it to be even more of a mess - technologically more advanced, but a bigger mess nonetheless - he isn't going to look too hard for alternatives.
Thank you, corrected.