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

[Slayer Anderson]

"The business plan, the sex, or both, because honestly-."

"The business plan."

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Do I make you horny, baby? How about randy?

Because, really, I feel like this entire arc needs the Austin Powers theme overlaid onto it.

 

[Stsword]

Well Zoat's version of Roulette is certainly nicer than the standard version.

Her gladiator games tend to be filled with less employees and more kidnap victims enslaved through mind control forced to fight to the death.

So not generally something that people would pay their cable companies for if only for those pesky sports regulations.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

"Yeaaaaah… No. There's a gap between 'true altruism' and 'basic decency'. As far as I can see, the only reason for someone not sharing that technology is if they were deliberately sabotaging the human species."

"That is a strong statement."

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Oh, yes. Malign Hypercognitives are one thing, but Superheroes should be doing something to make the world a better place and Righteous Face-Punching doesn't count...

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

...and I hear that some criminal gangs are using metahuman 'champions' to settle disputes there.

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Heh. Keeps the bodycounts down, of course it's good for business.

"I like.. enjoying myself. I hate being serious. Life is to be enjoyed. It's just-" I wave my hands around my head. "-you should be doing that why aren't you doing that is there a reason you're doing that I don't think there's a reason why you're doing that. I don't want to have to care but I have to care, because…" I wave my arms at her instead. "Gahh! The world needs things other than people in costumes hitting each other! Anything outside an actual doomsday attack, car crashes still kill more people than supervillains by far. Why am I, of all people, the one pointing this out!?"

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And we see that at the center of things, he's still the same man as our OL, driven to frustration by the state of the DC Universe...

"Ohcomeon!"

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</Rainbow Dash>

Oh yeah, that. Giovanni Zatara steps down from the Justice League the day someone starts wearing the Helm of Fate. Do they really think that's fooling anyone?

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Huh. So, did Roanoke play out like it did in Canon? No, wait, Paulie here wasn't involved with the Team, of course it did.

"Are you a demon?"

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Very good question...

Tuppence insisted on turning every assignation into a test of strength. She called it off after I ate a malumi and could handle her without burning power at a ludicrous rate. Apparently she likes her men on the verge of panic.

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Heh, she likes Snu-Snu? And a nice reference to Grrl Power.

"The business plan, the sex, or both, because honestly-."

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Keep it in your pants, Paulie.

A fascinating insight into this alternate's personality and position. Not a world I'd want to stick with, but still fun.
(And now I can't envisage his donning clothes last chapter without Vehemence's 'Ka-Pants' sound effect )

 

[Ngamer11]

Mr. Zoat, could you tell us what the Justice League's opinion of Sybarite is? Fate thinks he can't be trusted (of course) and Wonder Woman thinks he's trying to do good, just that he's also a horndog. Also, is his soul completely that of a demon's, or is there some Orange in there as well?
Does the world really think he's his facade, or are some others, like the Light, who think there is more to him and should be observed?

 

[Ganurath]

Tuppence insisted on turning every assignation into a test of strength. She called it off after I ate a malumi and could handle her without burning power at a ludicrous rate. Apparently she likes her men on the verge of panic.

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1. How many super tough DC Heroes are there that are consistently on the verge of panic? I'd suggest Cornwall Boy, but after that dragon...
2. The link goes to 264, but it's 266 that names malumi.

 

[Vaermina]

"I power myself by eating demons." My rib cage splits open, my chest cavity glowing orange as it chomps at her before closing. "My first was an incubus, which may have impacted my subsequent behaviour a little. And if you'd like a demonstration of that…"

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So basically he has an incubus in place of his soul.

That certainly explains a lot.

And the funny thing is that he's still more sane then normal Paul.

 

[Queshire]

And the funny thing is that he's still more sane then normal Paul.

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Not really.

 

[Mquz]

So basically he has an incubus in place of his soul.

That certainly explains a lot.

And the funny thing is that he's still more sane then normal Paul.

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By what mark? How is Paul insane in any way?

 

[Ardy]

By what mark? How is Paul insane in any way?

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Paul is written by Zoat and isn't a one-off, thus by Vaermina's standards he's an abomination in the eyes of man and god

 

[Ngamer11]

Mr. Zoat, could you explain how the orange ring was able to power itself by consuming demons. I don't remember you ever saying that demons can be a substitute for ring charge. If it is, even if it is only for orange rings, then could Paul absorb demons like The First of the Fallen or Satanus?

 

[Gantradies]

So...the person who so often complains of bad writing is now literally advocating bad writing in the form of a blatant asspull?

Savage has died countless times in all manner of ways. He has failed in his goals for thousands of years, and continuously gets his ass kicked. So yeah, he IS an idiot.

Beyond that, what's he got on his person as a "contingency" against my dragging him hundreds of billions of lightyears away from earth, sealing him in a solid block of unbreakable material, and then burying him miles within a lifeless planet that somehow, SOMEWAY, my power ring couldn't pick up? Which then is going to, magically I guess, somehow get him back to earth just in time for me to take him to a literal death god to deal with. After I beat him unmercilessly of course. Because I have super powers, and he's just a fucking caveman.

Does he have access to the fucking script now?

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i second this-

he's, at heart, an intellectually dull to mediocre at best (albeit superficially charismatic at times),psychopathic caveman who's never had a reason to sharpen his intellect in his entire life- and to the best of my knowledge, his motives are, and have always been, rather petty..

i think thats what i dislike about him the most, really- he was essentially a nobody who got lucky and won the immortality jackpot, and proceeded to spend the entirety of recorded human history wasting it/using it for stupid or petty reasons....

 

[Ngamer11]

The description of Sybarite's chest cavity reminds me of Gluttony from Fullmetal Alchemist, just with a orange glowing lump (which contains his ring) in place of an eye. Was he an inspiration for Sybarite's design?

 

[Matthew Frost]

what is this nonsense?

 

[DrThoth]

My interpretation of the Sybarite mentioning that he killed Vandal Savage last chapter (permanently, as far as he's aware) was that he hamstrung the Light as well, though I suppose we aren't told when exactly he killed him. It's sad that Roanoake still happened, but I suppose Paul seems to be confining his territory and activities to sub-Saharan Africa, so perhaps he wouldn't really show up on the Light's radar as a major threat. It does make me curious if he'll ever manage to consume Klarion (who I know isn't a demon, but he's still a powerful mystic energy source, as the Praexis Demons have shown) or perhaps even Mammon. While Wonder Woman makes sense as the Justice League representative dealing with him, given her own mystic power and the topic being the purple healing ray, I do think Doctor Fate's personality would mean that he would show up in-person at some point to confront Sybarite, though perhaps he's monitoring him remotely.
It's also interesting to note that his orange light constructs don't feel demonic, suggesting that, similar to assimilation, the demonic energy of his victims are converted to orange light somehow, though his altered mental state suggests there's still spiritual corruption (or to be more neutral, alteration) that's not entirely due to orange light exposure. He does seem to be able to use the specific abilities of demons he consumes, as the malumi example shows (and getting empowered by violence sounds incredibly useful, especially if he has access to a more sophisticated Meta-Brawl arena), so he could possibly gain the Praexis Demon's ability to consume any source of energy, which would make him even more of a nightmare to fight.

 

[DAT_NOOB]

Mr. Zoat, could you explain how the orange ring was able to power itself be consuming demons. I don't remember you ever saying that demons can be a substitute for ring charge. If it is, even if it is only for orange rings, then could Paul absorb demons like The First of the Fallen or Satanus?

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I think is was established in the 40k omake that someone wrote

Edit: to clarify some demons run off greed and avarice so does the ring therefore through either assimilation or direct ring charging the ring can 'steal' the demons power

 

[BR549]

i second this-

his entire MO/logic can be summed up as "humanity is fucking the environment, i need to wipe out enough of humanity that there arent enough left/ enough infrastructure left to actually fix the damage dispute their industry slowly becoming less and less damaging over time,and their willingness to reduce/repair the damage also increasing with every decade, which will magically make all existing damage to the planets ecosystem vanish the moment i hit a few petastalins worth of casualties!
SURELY nothing bad will happen without people to maintain/slowly process dangerous waste, or to shut down/maintain nuclear facilities,chemical waste storage tanks near aquifers/rivers/oceans, no sir!"

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...that's Ra's, not Savage.

 

[Sockmonkey]

Edit: to clarify some demons run off greed and avarice so does the ring therefore through either assimilation or direct ring charging the ring can 'steal' the demons power

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What kind of mileage does he get? It's a pretty environmentally friendly fuel source after all. Eat a demon, the world is now a little bit more friendly!

 

[Mr Zoat]

Mr. Zoat, could you tell us what the Justice League's opinion of Sybarite is? Fate thinks he can't be trusted (of course) and Wonder Woman thinks he's trying to do good, just that he's also a horndog.

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You want me to tell you what the Justice League of America's opinion of a metahuman who operates primarily in Africa is? Probably 'Sybarwho?' Don't overestimate what the League does.

Also, is his soul completely that of a demon's, or is there some Orange in there as well?

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Probably? How much work do you think I've done on the background of a character who's probably going to show up in five segments maximum?

Does the world really think he's his facade, or are some others, like the Light, who think there is more to him and should be observed?

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The Light probably wouldn't say 'Sybarwho?', because seeming ignorant when you're a supervillain is a good way to get yourself killed. But they'd be more interested in Roulette than her muscle.

2. The link goes to 264, but it's 266 that names malumi.

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Sure, but without the build up it doesn't really explain anything.

Mr. Zoat, could you explain how the orange ring was able to power itself by consuming demons. I don't remember you ever saying that demons can be a substitute for ring charge. If it is, even if it is only for orange rings, then could Paul absorb demons like The First of the Fallen or Satanus?

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Sybarite took Magic Absorption really early on, and has levelled it up quite a bit.

i second this-

his entire MO/logic can be summed up as "humanity is fucking the environment, i need to wipe out enough of humanity that there arent enough left/ enough infrastructure left to actually fix the damage dispute their industry slowly becoming less and less damaging over time,and their willingness to reduce/repair the damage also increasing with every decade, which will magically make all existing damage to the planets ecosystem vanish the moment i hit a few petastalins worth of casualties!
SURELY nothing bad will happen without people to maintain/slowly process dangerous waste, or to shut down/maintain nuclear facilities,chemical waste storage tanks near aquifers/rivers/oceans, no sir!"

he's, at heart, an intelectually dull to mediocre at best (albiet superficially charismatic at times),psychopathic caveman who's never had a reason to sharpen his intellect in his entire life, with a painfully naive belief he can solve a complicated set of problems with his trusty old club/hand-knapped flint spear/axe to the back of peoples skulls- he can just save-scum through almost any threat/failure until something succeeds through sheer luck- one of his plans to "save the environment" was a fucking orbital kinetic weapons satellite intended to wipe out most of humanity, which would somehow not fuck the environment further!

i think thats what i dislike about him the most, really- he was essentially a nobody who got lucky and won the immortality jackpot, and proceeded to spend the entirety of recorded human history wasting it/using it for stupid or petty reasons....

i think the only time he EVER improved in any canon was that time he succeeded, accidentally killed everyone and everything, and spent centuries going insane/recovering/going insane in a loop from complete isolation until sanity finally stuck as the fact that he had a problem where "kill myself/get killed, try the exact same thing again" wouldn't work slowly seeped through his skull

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I.. believe that you may be confusing Vandal Savage and Ra's al Ghul there. I don't think that Savage has shown any concern for the environment ever.

The description of Sybarite's chest cavity reminds me of Gluttony from Fullmetal Alchemist, just with a orange glowing lump (which contains his ring) in place of an eye. Was he an inspiration for Sybarite's design?

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No. I've never actually watched Full Metal Alchemist all the way through. It was probably more The Thing.

While Wonder Woman makes sense as the Justice League representative dealing with him, given her own mystic power and the topic being the purple healing ray, I do think Doctor Fate's personality would mean that he would show up in-person at some point to confront Sybarite, though perhaps he's monitoring him remotely.

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Wonder Woman isn't there for the Justice League. She's there as Themyscira's ambassador.

 

[Sceptic]

How much work do you think I've done on the background of a character who's probably going to show in in five segments maximum?

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Far more than is reasonably justified, obviously. We've seen your work, after all.

 

[Ngamer11]

You want me to tell you what the Justice League of America's opinion of a metahuman who operates primarily in Africa is? Probably 'Sybarwho?' Don't overestimate what the League does.

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Way back when Paul first showed up, he looked up in the internet and it said that it's name was just Justice League, no America in it.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Way back when Paul first showed up, he looked up in the internet and it said that it's name was just Justice League, no America in it.

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I've also noted that a sizeable portion of the world call them that anyway, due to having near-exclusively American membership. Series three expanded the League a great deal, but the non-US resident members were Fire, Ice and Katana.

 

[DrThoth]

You want me to tell you what the Justice League of America's opinion of a metahuman who operates primarily in Africa is? Probably 'Sybarwho?' Don't overestimate what the League does.

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This can explain a lot, the world's a big place and the Justice League is largely Western. i imagine Batman would still have a file on him. Doctor Fate is relatively disconnected from the League's operations, though (I remember he would vanish without explanation on occasion presumably for Lord of Order business), and Sybarite would likely be on his list, but the lack of immediate malevolent danger probably means he's less of a priority in a world that hasn't had an active Lord of Order for decades. Doctor Mist however is in the region, and Ethiopia neighbors Kenya; the man might be a non-interventionist but he still seems to be keeping up with current supernatural events to some extent. I also wonder if the Sybarite has any plans regarding Gorilla City, since he's closer to it than any Justice League presence. I'm not sure if they're all telepathic in this continuity, but they seem like a potential source of manual labor at the very least, and I think this Paul would still be sufficiently ethical in that regard.
Actually, where was Brain's research base located? I'm not sure which Light member's operations are closer, him or Queen Bee (though Sybarite would probably just trade with her, since he might not know about her dealings with Apokalips).

"You would not be the first hero to disguise his nature."

"Oh, like a reverse Batman? Libidinite by night, corporate crusader by day? I wouldn't have time."

"So you say. But you would not have relentlessly requested access to a device which few outside Themyscira have heard of if personal gratification was your sole concern."

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This quite clearly implies he's aware of Batman's secret identity, which seems like a big cause for concern that Diana that doesn't really express. Unless the Light publicly released personal information on the League from their New Year Watchtower incident, which would still probably merit a mention.

 

[Ganurath]

I've also noted that a sizeable portion of the world call them that anyway, due to having near-exclusively American membership. Series three expanded the League a great deal, but the non-US resident members were Fire, Ice and Katana.

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Aquaman and Wonder Woman left?

 

[DrThoth]

Aquaman and Wonder Woman left?

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They didn't leave in canon, though you may count the first Aquaman passing the title down to Kaldur. Either Mr Zoat's statement had an oversight, or they both still count as US residents, since Diana doesn't seem to live full-time on Themyscira and Orin/Arthur might spend part of his time in Maine, though the latter doesn't really seem to be the case in WtR.

 

[Mr Zoat]

This can explain a lot, the world's a big place and the Justice League is largely Western.

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At this point, the only one who isn't Western is Nabu. And his experience of modern society comes from his decades of working through an American.

Doctor Mist however is in the region, and Ethiopia neighbors Kenya; the man might be a non-interventionist but he still seems to be keeping up with current supernatural events to some extent.

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Dr Balewa is around. He's not anchored in one place, and isn't paying Sybarite a special amount of attention.

I also wonder if the Sybarite has any plans regarding Gorilla City, since he's closer to it than any Justice League presence.

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Doesn't even know it exists. Because it doesn't. Gorilla City 16 gets destroyed by Shadows during the team mission where it appears.

This quite clearly implies he's aware of Batman's secret identity, which seems like a big cause for concern that Diana that doesn't really express. Unless the Light publicly released personal information on the League from their New Year Watchtower incident, which would still probably merit a mention.

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Diana is more surprised that his identity has remained secret for as long as it has, though she will certainly notify him of the potential problem.

Aquaman and Wonder Woman left?

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Arthur Curry is a US citizen, spent the first eighteen years of his life in the country and still speaks Atlantean Greek with a pronounced accent. Kaldur'ahm lived in the US for years, though it's quite possible that he isn't living there while series three is happening. Wonder Woman has spent... Twenty years in the US at that point? She certainly lives there, and fought for the US during World War 2.

 

[DrThoth]

Doesn't even know it exists. Because it doesn't. Gorilla City 16 gets destroyed by Shadows during the team mission where it appears.

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I didn't read the spin-off comics so I wasn't aware of this. Gorilla Grodd does show up in the Renegade timeline as part of the attack on Brain's base, which is why i assumed the city was still around, unless it was only Orange Lantern's presence that prevented the city being destroyed in the Paragon and Renegade timelines.

 

[Gantradies]

You want me to tell you what the Justice League of America's opinion of a metahuman who operates primarily in Africa is? Probably 'Sybarwho?' Don't overestimate what the League does.

Probably? How much work do you think I've done on the background of a character who's probably going to show in in five segments maximum?

The Light probably wouldn't say 'Sybarwho?', because seeming ignorant when you're a supervillain is a good way to get yourself killed. But they'd be more interested in Roulette than her muscle.

Sure, but without the build up it doesn't really explain anything.

Sybarite took Magic Absorption really early on, and has levelled it up quite a bit.

I.. believe that you may be confusing Vandal Savage and Ra's al Ghul there. I don't think that Savage has shown any concern for the environment ever.

No. I've never actually watched Full Metal Alchemist all the way through. It was probably more The Thing.

Wonder Woman isn't there for the Justice League. She's there as Themyscira's ambassador.

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DOH! *headesks, makes self-critical, incoherent Aussie sounds* ill... edit/redo/delete that to see if it's salvageable after I sleep and my brain turns back on >.<

in my defence, there's a lotta idiots in the light- they and their (lack of coherent/sensical) motivations in canon started to blur together a bit back >.<

 

[Mr Zoat]

I didn't read the spin-off comics so I wasn't aware of this. Gorilla Grodd does show up in the Renegade timeline as part of the attack on Brain's base, which is why i assumed the city was still around, unless it was only Orange Lantern's presence that prevented the city being destroyed in the Paragon and Renegade timelines.

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Pretty much.

The few gorillas they processed are telepathic, but have no material resources beyond what they can salvage from the remains of the base where they were augmented. And since the modifications are chirurgical, future generations will be born as normal gorillas.

 

[Stsword]

Arthur Curry is a US citizen, spent the first eighteen years of his life in the country and still speaks Atlantean Greek with a pronounced accent. Kaldur'ahm lived in the US for years, though it's quite possible that he isn't living there while series three is happening. Wonder Woman has spent... Twenty years in the US at that point? She certainly lives there, and fought for the US during World War 2.

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Wonder Woman left Themyscira to live in the outside world for the second time in 2001 according to word of greg.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Wonder Woman left Themyscira to live in the outside world for the second time in 2001 according to word of greg.

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Series three happens in 2018, so seventeen years plus however long she lived there during World War 2. More like thirty years in total, then.