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

Mr Zoat · 2026-06-14T09:41:50+0100

jasonh23761 said:
Honestly, I'd assumed the Maxson Chapter and all other chapters outside of Lost Hills had either been set up by remote or left Lost Hills during the early stages of the NCR-Brotherhood War at the latest.

I'm pretty sure that canonically they all left between Fallout 1 and Fallout 2.

Please note that the Maxson Chapter in Colorado and the town of Maxson in California are different things.

When it comes to inciting incidents, if one ignores Lonesome Road in its entirety, then the Brotherhood finding out the NCR had essentially annexed a missile base would be a very useful inflection point. Perhaps the Brotherhood did petition for access but a group of hardliners forced the issue when the NCR either rebuffed them or simply took too long to respond.

Yeah, that's a possibility. I was thinking something about a minor conflict over salvaging rights in the Navarro region blowing up, but that works too.

All good examples of things they could be doing or leveraging. I was speaking more towards how utterly boring I found playing as the Lost Hills in the current iteration.

Oh, yes, it's as snoozefest as it is now.

NightmareWarden said:
I wonder if the symbiotes are a leftover experiment from the smurfs or a a qwardian. This would be a great world for a special yellow lantern plot.

Sorry, it's just a fluke of native evolution. The Han Solo on the Millennium Falcon.

Wait. Could this give Jade a way to temporarily use Paul's innate superpower?

Ah... It's never been tested on humans before on in the case on thanagarians it removes their individuality. So, could it? Technically, yes, that's a possible outcome. So are death and insanity.

Chojin Patriarch · 2026-06-14T09:46:16+0100

Mr Zoat said:
14th September 2013
11:32 GMT

Polara isn't particularly close to Thanagar, even if it is technically in the same Sector. It also has the distinction of the constant attention of a quarter of the Thanagarian navy and a respectable record against them in fleet engagements. They haven't won, but they have done well enough that Thanagar hasn't been able to press into their core territory.

Which is impressive. I assume Thanagar hasn't thrown extra forces this way due to that Nth Metal bottleneck previously mentioned. They simply can't draw forces from other borders without weakening them to the point they'd be vulnerable to plucky attacks.

And they know that they'll get the chance to do so again, because this is the point of origin of the Equalizing Plague.

For the locals it's a perfectly normal symbiotic bacteria; a part of how they learn and preserve what previous generations have learned. Something like a trill symbiote, just compulsory. But contact with aliens and a slight genetic mutation and we get the Lord High Equalizer and the collapse of pre-Empire thanagarian civilisation.

So it's basically a networked database that every living polaran can tap into, plus passive sensory sharing they barely notice.

I wave as the system defence ships carefully monitor us flying towards their homeworld. "Have you been here before?"

Lantern Guarn makes an affirmative gesture. "As did my predecessor. Thanagar was not the only world infected, and the other worlds want assurance that they will not be infected again."

I'm sure they do. Not every race is comfortable with the level of shared consciousness the polarans have, I warrant.

"How did they get cured? Was it Hyathis?"

"Their bodies adapted. It is usually hard for a disease to infect other species."

So some races might have gained similar capabilities to the polarans? Something akin to a biological internet?

"And the thanagarians just got unlucky?"

"I am not a microbiologist, but the lizarkons were not infected. Or if they were, they showed no symptoms."

Not outwardly... Who's to say what traits they actually presented?

"And what was your predecessor doing during that period?"

"She was moving between here and the infected worlds, assisting the researchers who understood the bacteria the best in creating a cure. Though her efforts ultimately came to little, it was the best chance that she had to help."

Providing a go-between for worlds not advanced enough to have instant interstellar communications, among other duties?

"I didn't mean to sound that accusatory."

"No, I should not have assumed that you did. Often, even if a Lantern is aware of a major catastrophe, they may not have the knowledge or power to do anything about it. A power ring is not a sign of ultimate power."

I suspect OL just has a bit of a skewed perspective because he's just that damn powerful now.

"I understand. There are several kryptonians on my homeworld. Their homeworld exploded, and the local Green Lantern was a few hours too late to save it. Not his fault, he honestly did his best…"

"I have never been in the situation of losing an entire planet. But this is not a peaceful Sector. On two occasions I have been fired upon by both fleets in a conflict."

And not by two ships firing on each other that you flew between to stop a firefight, I take it.

"I've got a few ideas if you're interested in improving your own capabilities, both in terms of raw power and skill."

"I do not think that I am lacking. My performance-."

It's probably fine for an average Lantern in an average Sector. OL's just coming at this from a 'You wouldn't last five minutes on Earth, I bet' perspective.

"The Green Lantern Corps trains Lanterns up to a level where they can function in an 'average' Sector, and then leaves the rest to them. I… Used to have regular sparring sessions with my Sector's Green Lanterns, and we all got better as a result. If that's not practical for you-." Hm. "I assume that you don't have a local Star Sapphire or Sinestro Corpsman?"

If he does, they've been very careful not to cross paths with him.

"I don't know what those are-." He makes a gesture of astonishment. "Oh. I have not seen one. And we do not have an Orange Lantern, either."

"You do, but Lantern Dul is mostly involved in fighting the Reach." We descend through Polara's atmosphere, heading towards their one alien-friendly city. "If you've got a candidate in mind, let me know."

I like he had to look that up. If that query shows up on Salaak's screens, he'll probably glance at the logs and realise OL's there and sigh exasperatedly.

"I will. What are your ideas for getting stronger? I am alone in this Sector."

"Talk to Lantern Priest of Sector One Six Three Four. His Sector is almost completely peaceful, and he's so good that he doesn't need a ring."

Nor a Lantern proper, given his ability to recharge without.

"I thought it was only the Guardians who had such power."

"No, anyone can learn it, it's just really hard. And even the first few steps on that path can result in significant increases in personal power."

And probably takes more time to invest into it than Guarn has to spare, I suspect.

"If it will not distract him from his duties, then I will consult with him."

"The actual most powerful Green Lantern ever is his Sector partner, so him being distracted isn't really an issue."

...That would be Chaselon, right? Or was it Malvolio?

Been a while, so my memory isn't the best.

Huh. We're low enough to observe individual people, and… Quite a lot of the people here are wearing either full on power armour, space suits or at least A.B.C. protection gear. Some… Aren't, but most of them are wearing face masks or have visible health monitor readouts.

A curious fashion choice. Members of the species who travel off-world perhaps, ensuring they don't infect anyone?

"Have there been other outbreaks?"

"Not outbreaks, no, but the bacteria sometimes infects someone from another species. While it is not precisely harmful, it is disconcerting."

Presumably they begin to feel polaran thoughts and sensations? Which if you weren't prepared must feel like one hell of a schizophrenic episode.

"Have you ever had it yourself?"

"Once, for a few days. I will not forget it. Have you encountered something similar?"

"Not… Really. One of my old team mates is a telepath, and she usually set up a telepathic network for us when we were on a mission. But it's not really… The same."

Feeling a bit of nostalgia for 'the good old days' already, OL?

I'm not surprised by the way the orange glow flows amongst the natives. They don't all have the same desires exactly, but there's a commonality between each individual. Humans in isolated rural communities sometimes have something like it, where everyone knows everyone and there's a limited amount of external contact. But here it's a product of their symbiotes.

But they are individuals, right? It's not a true hive-mind, were each body is just a cell of the whole.

I watch as a polaran steps around someone he couldn't have seen, other polarans briefly directing their eyes that way. As I understand it, the one who dodged wouldn't even be consciously aware of why they moved. Or rather, it would be completely instinctual, with their conscious mind catching up a moment later. Likewise, a few glance up at us, but we don't seem to hold their attention.

And if it's as instinctual as it sounds, they probably won't even bother to think about it.

The crowd is looking at us. Individuals aren't.

A couple get into aerial transportation vehicles and head… Toward our target building at an accelerated rate. Other vehicles are coming in from other directions-.

Looks like folks are gathering for something.

"The conclave is gathering."

"Mm."

"They don't have a government in the sense that most species do. When a major decision needs to be made, a cross section of their species gathers like this."

And presumably the collective connection allows those gathered to vocalise the opinion of larger groups?

"But they're not a true gestalt, otherwise they'd only need one person."

"Yes. They all have the same information, but they can think about it differently. At least, that is how I understand it."

And then polls are taken to evaluate the overall preferences of the people as the knowledge disseminates?

Yes, the building we're going to is more of a small open air coliseum than a parliament or government office. I can see polarans walking calmly towards the available seats… Though again, unlike a true gestalt they are actually talking amongst themselves.

Probably sharing thoughts and opinions on what is known, swaying others through the shared connections.

As Lantern Gaurn and I take out positions in the centre of the arena, there's some sort of… Pointing of multiple sets of arms in various directions, then a pause, then some arms move… Several… 'Rounds' of that happen, and then a single individual moves to a podium facing us.

"Lanterns. Welcome to Polara. Its people will now hear your request."

Effectively agreeing on a single voice to speak for them, eh? A focus that all of them can listen through...

This is going to be fascinating, seeing how the things these folks are told spreads through the population at large, and how they respond to any offers made. I assume overall voting would be done by machine, as actually tabulating them would be tricky with just meat brains. We'll see one way or the other, I hope.

Ngamer11 · 2026-06-14T09:53:35+0100

Chojin Patriarch said:
...That would be Chaselon, right? Or was it Malvolio? Been a while, so my memory isn't the best.

It's Malvolio.

Mr Zoat · 2026-06-14T12:52:45+0100

Ngamer11 said:
It's Malvolio.

Yes. As a member of the Honour Guard, Illustres Chaselon is not assigned to a Sector.

Darko · 2026-06-14T14:49:57+0100

Does anyone remember the chapters with the Brimstone TV show crossover?

Mr Zoat · 2026-06-14T15:53:53+0100

Darko said:
Does anyone remember the chapters with the Brimstone TV show crossover?

Here.

Stsword · 2026-06-14T16:05:29+0100

You know, speaking of powerful Green Lanterns, I think Penelops deserves mention.

The oceans of his aquatic home were boiling, aliens were increasing the power of their sun to "terraform" and colonize their neighboring planet.

They were incapable of stopping the process, so Penelops put his planet in a stable orbit farther away.

By himself.

So kudos for having the strength of will to move a planet and the skill to do so without killing a bunch of his people or wrecking the planet.

Steelplaza · 2026-06-14T16:07:50+0100

Darko said:
We know he made the Kryptonian species because of Despair, and if I remember correctly

There was a story told about it in a Sandman comic, yes. I think even in comic book land, you don't have to take stories like that to be completely literal and factual. In the world of myths and dreams, Rao prevented Krypton from being saved, and in the land of physics it was a natural solar flare, and both are true and that sort of thing.

Someguy Somewhere · 2026-06-14T16:39:09+0100

NightmareWarden said:
This setup is pretty different from gestalts in other fiction

If that interests you, might want to give A Miracle of Science a shot. Very Interesting concept with Mars....Human Colony world that went into isolation, and when they came back out, every citizen was linked in a hive mind via nanotech.

Everyone is an individual, but everyone also has a low bandwidth mental radio to the group, or use a high bandwidth connection to effectively channel the Gestalt. Oddly enough there are some issues with how sub groups work, it's described as akin to the two hemispheres of the brain, with people coming down on a divide between creative artistic types vs rational scientist types, and while they can still transmit via the link, communicating complex concepts it's still best for them to talk it out person to person to get it to jump the gap.

Also it's just wonderfully full of mad science....seriously, it's a medical condition, a memetic disorder that trained cops have to deal with on the daily.

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

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