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

PDV · Feb 16, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
"Oh, hello again. We met briefly at Professor Sephtian's party last September."

Link?

Twilight666 · Feb 16, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
One of them has a space suit shaped for a fin, and from his face I see that he's a dolphin-man. Wait…

"Oh, hello again. We met briefly at Professor Sephtian's party last September."

"Yes. I remember. The party where he told me to go and sit in the corner when everyone else did interesting work. Where I was the only one left after everyone else decamped to the surface."

"Oh. Ah, sorry, I didn't-. I wasn't keeping.. track. I didn't mean to insult your speciality."

"No, I don't hold you responsible. And it's… Due to you that I'm out here."

here:

Mr Zoat said:
A Dolphin-man with a pocket of air bound to his blowhole hesitates slightly. "Elementalism?"

Sephtian blinks at him. "Who invited you?"

"Ah. You did? You said you liked my study piece on-."

"Oh, that. Do you.. know anything about Angels?"

"A little. There isn't much published, but I-."

"Fine. Thought models. How is Orange Lantern's latest project going to need to behave in order to use their new magics?"

The Dolphin-man looks around as the huddles turn their back on him. "Just… Think about it on my own?"

ForeverShogo · Feb 16, 2021

On the question of Robobrains . . . They don't have psychic abilities. That shockwave attack they have is actually because Robobrains have a built in Mesmetron.

Well, starting from Fallout 3 they've had a built in Mesmetron.

And for a refresher, the Mesmetron is a pacification device that's supposed to make it easy to subdue or interrogate people. Though it also has a small chance of either driving someone homicidally insane or just making their head explode.

Despite what the lore says it's supposed to do, when used against the PC all it ever does is damage and disorient.

jaelin910 · Feb 17, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
"Ah… As far as I know, desperately cluster together and eventually sort of merge into a screaming nightmare."

...how common are colossal hands that that individual seemed to think comparing the objects size rather than its shape would make any kind of sense?

PDV · Feb 17, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
I really wish I'd finished reading Trinity.

Mr Zoat said:
happy ripping apart anyone who fights back -regardless of whether they were actually a threat or not- hitting non-combatants is still a major no-no. "-that you'll accept this in its place

Mr Zoat said:
"Oh God damn it." His hand goes to his right ear. "Flash to Icon, and hopefully Batman. We need to make sure that we get a full picture of exactly what happened in Thayer's Notch. Orange Lantern's doing a Geronimo and he might be on to something. Yeah."

Broken links in the archives from shortly after the incident with Sephtian and Damon.

…somehow he's going to end up being a problem. This is still a comic book universe, an expert in elementals named "Damon" is going to end up possessed somehow.

Mr Zoat · Feb 17, 2021

18th May 2282
10:32 MTZ

"Hey there, Mister Krono!" Andrew Shaw Very Junior jogs towards my party as the zetan-tech transport reactivates its stealth systems and heads back up into the clear Mojave sky. "How'd it go?!"

"President Vialla heard me out, and is considering his options. This is-" I turn sideways, gesturing to my companions with my right hand. "-his daughter, Miss Lucia Vialla. She's going to be travelling with us for a little while to check that I've been telling the truth. Miss Vialla, this is Andrew Shaw Very Junior."

Understandably, President Vialla wanted a little more than my assurances before agreeing to anything. Which is why Miss Lucia Vialla accompanied me on my return trip, along with a couple of tough-looking bodyguards. One's a war-era ghoul with two hundred years of military experience, the other is an ex-pro wrestler only slightly smaller than Jacobstown's resident super mutants.

I feel like there's a story there.

Miss Vialla steps forward and offers Andrew her right hand. She might be a little shorter than her escort, but given the sort of variety you get in the tribal militias I've gotten used to seeing around the place that no longer strikes me as odd. She certainly wears her fatigues and military rucksack as if she's used to them, and she has the sort of fitness I've seen from regular physical exertion in the wasteland.

"Pleased to meet you, Andrew."

He smiles a wide, friendly, honest, until-four-months-ago-I-lived-in-a-closed-Vault smile. He acts younger than his seventeen years, and I rather think that's at least partially why his great great great great great great great grandfather is so fond of him.

"Hey there, Lucia."

"Why are you called 'Very Junior'?"

He gives me what he probably thinks is a glare. "Golly gee, Mister Krono, are you going to introduce me like that to everyone?"

I nod. "Probably until you hit thirty, at least." I lead the way towards the old ski lodge that Jacobstown is built around. "There's an interesting story as to why. Andrew, do you want to explain it?"

"Well, ah, before the war, Gran-. Ah, the first Andrew Shaw was-. I mean, at least I think he was the first… Ah, anyway, he was a soldier in the American army, and he and his men were transporting samples of something called the Forced Evolutionary Virus. Do you know what that is?"

Miss Vialla nods. "It is the pre-war chemical that turned humans into super mutants."

"Sure is! But did you know there are a whole bunch of different types of it?" She shakes her head. "The Master-."

"Richard Monreau-." He gives me a hurt look. "Sorry, sorry, carry on."

"The Master did a whole bunch of experiments with the type he found in Mariposa, and that's where most West Coast mutants come from. The regular kind and the Nightkin. But over on the East Coast they've got a whole different type, and for some reason a bunch of barrels of that ended up in Oregon."

Probably because the psychotic bastards at the Mariposa Military Base wanted to see what the psychotic bastards in Vault 87 had managed to come up with based on their work.

"Andrew Shaw the First was in charge of moving them to wherever they were supposed to go, but the Communist Chinese nuked the whole place before they could get there. The fort they were in got hit and a whole lot of it got spilled out, and the people who touched it didn't die from the radiation. So they all touched it."

He shrugs.

"The mutations started after a few days, and, well, some super mutants like Mister Marcus stay smart after they change? They didn't. Andrew Shaw the First formed a kind of tribe of super mutants with the other survivors way up North and mostly just tried to stay out of the way. His wife and their kids went into a Vault-" He gestures to the number emblazoned on the back of his jumpsuit. "-and two hundred years later, here I am!"

"I have met dumb mutants before. How did he know who you were?"

"Well, you see, if an East Coast mutant studies real hard like Mister Fawkes did, they can get their smarts back! Not like the West Coast mutants. With them, if they're real lucky they stay smart like Mister Marcus and Mister Keats did, but if they don't, well, then they're stuck not smart. And Great Grandpa had two hundred years to get smart! Ah, and Mister Krono helped with his mind powers."

It's funny, in a depressing sort of way. Even as the near-feral First, even as a slave to Mermeralda and later the Odious King, he still kept the holotapes he made for himself before the mutation took his humanity to try and remind himself about the sort of man he used to be.

After he regained his memories, his listened to each of them once and then crushed them.

"So after the Bone Dancers were defeated, Mister Krono took Great Grandpa to each of the Vaults in the Northwest Commonwealth and eventually they found my Vault. My folks were real surprised to meet him, but he was real happy to find out for sure that his wife and kids survived the war!"

"…another medical procedure a person reaching the end of their life can choose to have. It's not as if we can have children the same way humans do."

My head jerks around when I hear his voice.

Oh dear, someone's let Keats near a reporter again.

After Richard Monreau's death, a super mutant general by the name of Attis commanded a large part of his army to head east into Texas, in pursuit of what they hoped would be an alternate source of FEV now that both Mariposa and the Citadel were destroyed. To cut a long story short, he failed, and after his death his army split into three groups with their own operational philosophy. His friend Shale kept trying to complete the original mission and his chief mechanic Juggernaut more or less abandoned the whole 'super mutant army' thing in favour of building awesome vehicles to drive around in. Keats was his PR guy, the only senior smart mutant who could be relied upon to be polite to humans. After Attis's death he decided that integration was the best course of action and his corner of Texas is one of the few places in the wasteland where super mutants and humans interact regularly without violence.

Or was, until recently.

"So, Andrew, why are you here?"

"Well, I work in Vault Security-."

Miss Vialla splutters in disbelief. "You are a soldier?"

"Oh, golly, no. Vault Security isn't about fighting people. We're all one big happy community. We've all gotta work together or nothing gets done, so Vault Security's about getting people to calm down and deal with their problems rationally. Can you believe that New Vegas didn't have any kind of civil police force until a little while ago? I've been-."

I push ahead, shoving open the front door of the ski lodge. And there they are. Colonel Andrew Shaw, orange-brown of skin and surly of expression, towering over the other super mutants. His sheer size has resulted in a large number of the local super mutants signing up with the Gamma Corps, much to Marcus's chagrin. Marcus, green-grey of skin and phlegmatic as ever, though clearly not entirely happy about having to deal with two sane and intelligent super mutants both of whom have radically different political philosophies to his own laid back form of fascism.

And Keats, a man who single headedly convinced me that super mutants perceive colour in a different way to regular humans. Because there's no other explanation for that jacket, those trousers or that tie. Keats, who after being thrown out of Austin by Shale's army kept going, kept working, kept smiling, doing everything he can to rally the people of Texas against Shale's army. Weirdly, after his initial victories Shale more or less vanished or I suspect that the newly formed Provisional Republic of Texas would be in a good deal of difficulty.

"Hey, grandpa! Mister Krono's back!"

Andrew Shaw Very Junior waves to his ancestor, whose face momentarily cracks in an awkward-looking smile.

The journalist glances around for a moment before returning her attention to Mister Keats.

"Is that a procedure that you want to introduce into the New California Republic?"

"Of course it is. People should have the right to modify themselves in any way they want, and the Forced Evolutionary Virus has a long and storied history. In the Unity of Austin we had an excellent track record of turning terminally ill and injured humans into super mutants, a great many of whom could remember their names and the faces of their families."

I can hear Colonel Shaw growl from here.

"Colonel? Do you-?"

Keats puts his right arm around Colonel Shaw's shoulder, causing the man to stiffen.

"The Colonel had the worst experience of mutation that it's possible to have: no family and no memory of anything else. I'm extremely excited at the prospect of studying the East Coast variant of the Forced Evolutionary Virus and seeing what it can to do aid us in improving the mental prospects for all super mutants."

"Ah, yes, but I think that the Colonel wanted to say something..?"

"I got my family back." I see the journalist blink in surprise. Colonel Shaw hasn't wanted us to study his unusual mutant physiology, but he did want us to try and restore his original voice. The size and general morphology of super mutants often leads to them sounding very different to what they did as humans. "And he's right. Family ties are what build society up. And people should make the best of the hand life deals them. But I honestly wouldn't wish this sort of life on anyone."

Darko · Feb 17, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
I feel like there's a story there.

Buddy cop type story I hope.

Mr Zoat said:
Jacobstown is build

'built'

Mr Zoat said:
Richard Monreau-." He gives me a hurt look. "Sorry, sorry, carry on."

That's so Paul.

Mr Zoat said:
his listened to them each once and then crushed them.

'he listened to each one and then'

Mr Zoat said:
same way humansdo."

'humans do'

NightmareWarden · Feb 17, 2021

Hmm. I've read Ribofunk, Girl Genius and Biohacker's Almanac: First Dan so I thought I had a decent appreciation for the biomod-class of transhumanism. But this conversation about super mutants? It reminds me of stuff I've only heard of in superhero stories. Figures that would give up their powers if possible and regret what they've done with their new form.

Neat, and I hope to see these mutants interact nonviolently in the future.

Mr Zoat · Feb 17, 2021

Darko said:
'built'
'he listened to each one and then'
'humans do'

Thank you, corrected.

Vaermina · Feb 17, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
Miss Vialla nods. "It is the pre-war chemical that turned humans into super mutants."

"Sure is! But did you know there are a whole bunch of different types of it?" She shakes her head. "The Master-."

This is wrong.

FEV is, as the name suggests, a Virus, and there is in fact only one kind of it.

What differs, is the DNA the FEV is injected with, which is how different "strains" come about.

jasonh23761 · Feb 17, 2021

This is awesome.

Handlewithcare · Feb 17, 2021

Yay for peace in the Wasteland!

It seems the Fallout Bo...Paul is the one being accidentally the most successful with the Transhuman bend.

Though it makes sense that people in the more dire situation would be more open to radical enhancement.

jasonh23761 · Feb 17, 2021

Vaermina said:
This is wrong.

FEV is, as the name suggests, a Virus, and there is in fact only one kind of it.

What differs, is the DNA the FEV is injected with, which is how different "strains" come about.

I'd make the argument that he's referring to the different strains of FEV rather then saying there are a bunch of different viruses all under the name of FEV. Although Fallout lore has always been a bit nebulous on the specifics of how FEV functions beyond it's green goop, don't worry about it.

Radix · Feb 17, 2021

Dragonriderjh said:
Want the ends, want the means. He desires to be whole, and expanding himself temporarily is the fastest way to do that.

But that isnt desire, I would call that willpower.

You dont just get to override your desire to survive to fulfill another desire. That involves rejecting one desire.

Paragon here also seems very in control for someone with no Enlightenment. He should be a lot more unstable.

Chojin Patriarch · Feb 17, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
18th May 2282
10:32 MTZ

"Hey there, Mister Krono!" Andrew Shaw Very Junior jogs towards my party as the zetan-tech transport reactivates its stealth systems and heads back up into the clear Mojave sky. "How'd it go?!"

Taking full advantage of alien technology to travel the Americas, I see. And presumably the rest of the world, what isn't burnt to a radioactive cinder...

"President Vialla heard me out, and is considering his options. This is-" I turn sideways, gesturing to my companions with my right hand. "-his daughter, Miss Lucia Vialla. She's going to be travelling with us for a little while to check that I've been telling the truth. Miss Vialla, this is Andrew Shaw Very Junior."

There's a very peculiar name. And I see El Presidente is smart enough not to trust one man's word on any matter...

Understandably, President Vialla wanted a little more than my assurances before agreeing to anything. Which is why Miss Lucia Vialla accompanied me on my return trip, along with a couple of tough-looking bodyguards. One's a war-era ghoul with two hundred years of military experience, the other is an ex-pro wrestler only slightly smaller than Jacobstown's residents super mutants.

I feel like there's a story there.

One that would likely make for an amazing 80's action movie series (and associated PG-rated cartoon and action figure line,) I bet. Not likely to see much actual crime-fighting though, unless you count wasteland raiders as crime...

Miss Vialla steps forward and offers Andrew her right hand. She might be a little shorter than her escort, but given the sort of variety you get in the tribal militias I've gotten used to seeing around the place that no longer strikes me as odd. She certainly wears her fatigues and military rucksack as if she's used to them, and she has the sort of fitness I've seen from regular physical exertion in the wasteland.

"Pleased to meet you, Andrew."

No land for shy, reserved wallflowers, eh? Unless you end up in the harem of some petty warlord.

He smiles a wide, friendly, honest, until-four-months-ago-I-lived-in-a-closed-Vault smile. He acts younger than his seventeen years, and I rather think that's at least partially why his great great great great great great great grandfather is so fond of him.

"Hey there, Lucia."

So, Super-Mutants are functionally immortal? Did his vault have cloning technology, then?

"Why are you called 'Very Junior'?"

He gives me what he probably thinks is a glare. "Golly gee, Mister Krono, are you going to introduce me like that to everyone?"

Gee-Whiz. I can't help but feel this kid would make an amazing host for the Power of Shazam if it existed here...

I nod. "Probably until you hit thirty, at least." I lead the way towards the old ski lodge that Jacobstown is build around. "There's an interesting story as to why. Andrew, do you want to explain it?"

"Well, ah, before the war, Gran-. Ah, the first Andrew Shaw was-. I mean, at least I think he was the first… Ah, anyway, he was a soldier in the American army, and he and his men were transporting samples of something called the Forced Evolutionary Virus. Do you know what that is?"

Super-soldier-serum from the sounds of it.

Miss Vialla nods. "It is the pre-war chemical that turned humans into super mutants."

"Sure is! But did you know there are a whole bunch of different types of it?" She shakes her head. "The Master-."

Fascinating. The crazy shit Fallout came up with, eh? I suppose that's one way to explain the difference in appearances throughout the games...

"Richard Monreau-." He gives me a hurt look. "Sorry, sorry, carry on."

"The Master did a whole bunch of experiments with the type he found in Mariposa, and that's where most West Coast mutants come from. The regular kind and the Nightkin. But over on the East Coast they've got a whole different type, and for some reason a bunch of barrels of that ended up in Oregon."

Hmm... What would happen if you could safely combine the variants, I wonder...

Probably because the psychotic bastards at the Mariposa Military Base wanted to see what the psychotic bastards in Vault 87 had managed to come up with based on their work.

"Andrew Shaw the First was in charge of moving them to wherever they were supposed to go, but the Communist Chinese nuked the whole place before they could get there. The fort they were in got hit and a whole lot of it got spilled out, and the people who touched it didn't die from the radiation. So they all touched it."

Well, that was sensible.

He shrugs.

"The mutations started after a few days, and, well, some super mutants like Mister Jacob stay smart after they change? They didn't. Andrew Shaw the First formed a kind of tribe of super mutants with the other survivors way up North and mostly just tried to stay out of the way. His wife and their kids went into a Vault-" He gestures to the number emblazoned on the back of his jumpsuit. "-and two hundred years later, here I am!"

Is that actually a thing that happened in the lore? Man, Fallout is weird.

"I have met dumb mutants before. How did he know who you were?"

"Well, you see, if an East Coast mutant studies real hard like Mister Fawkes did, they can get their smarts back! Not like the West Coast mutants. With them, if they're real lucky they stay smart like Mister Jacob and Mister Keats did, but if they don't, well, then they're stuck not smart. And Great Grandpa had two hundred years to get smart! Ah, and Mister Krono helped with his mind powers."

I wonder which helped more... Not to deride Shaw's work, of course...

It's funny, in a depressing sort of way. Even as the near-feral First, even as a slave to Mermeralda and later the Odious King, he still kept the holotapes he made for himself before the mutation took his humanity to try and remind himself about the sort of man he used to be.

After he regained his memories, his listened to them each once and then crushed them.

"That man is dead. Let him remain so..." Is the suggestion I get from that...

"So after the Bone Dancers were defeated, Mister Krono took Great Grandpa to each of the Vaults in the Northwest Commonwealth and eventually they found my Vault. My folks were real surprised to meet him, but he was real happy to find out for sure that his wife and kids survived the war!"

"…another medical procedure a person reaching the end of their life can choose to have. It's not as if we can have children the same way humansdo."

Ah, so Very Junior isn't a Super-mutant? Just a distant descendant.

My head jerks around when I hear his voice.

Oh dear, someone's let Keats near a reporter again.

...That's a bad thing, I take it. Or at least an embarrassing thing...

After Richard Monreau's death, a super mutant general by the name of Attis commanded a large part of his army to head east into Texas, in pursuit of what they hoped would be an alternate source of FEV now that both Mariposa and the Citadel were destroyed. To cut a long story short, he failed, and after his death his army split into three groups with their own operational philosophy. His friend Shale kept trying to complete the original mission and his chief mechanic Juggernaut more or less abandoned the whole 'super mutant army' thing in favour of building awesome vehicles to drive around in. Keats was his PR guy, the only senior smart mutant who could be relied upon to be polite to humans. After Attis's death he decided that integration was the best course of action and his corner of Texas is one of the few places in the wasteland where super mutants and humans interact regularly without violence.

Juggernaut sounds proper Orky. Shale would be wasting his time, I bet. And Keats is something of a Professor Xavier type?

Or was, until recently.

"So, Andrew, why are you here?"

Oh, that sounds bad. I suppose Krono's got that to sort out in time?

"Well, I work in Vault Security-."

Miss Vialla splutters in disbelief. "You are a soldier?"

Hey, you never know. Takes all types.

"Oh, golly, no. Vault Security isn't about fighting people. We're all one big happy community. We've all gotta work together or nothing gets done, so Vault Security's about getting people to calm down and deal with their problems rationally. Can you believe that New Vegas didn't have any kind of civil police force until a little while ago? I've been-."

I'm guessing his lot went in and corrected that, with a minimum of heads beaten in?

I push ahead, shoving open the front door of the ski lodge. And there they are. Colonel Andrew Shaw, orange-brown of skin and surly of expression, towering over the other super mutants. His sheer size has resulted in a large number of the local super mutants signing up with the Gamma Corps, much to Marcus's chagrin. Marcus, green-grey of skin and phlegmatic as ever, though clearly not entirely happy about having to deal with two sane and intelligent super mutants both of whom have radically different political philosophies to his own laid back form of fascism.

That just sounds like a recipe for fun times...

And Keats, a man who single headedly convinced me that super mutants perceive colour in a different way to regular humans. Because there's no other explanation for that jacket, those trousers or that tie. Keats, who after being thrown out of Austin by Shale's army kept going, kept working, kept smiling, doing everything he can to rally the people of Texas against Shale's army. Weirdly, after his initial victories Shale more or less vanished or I suspect that the newly formed Provisional Republic of Texas would be in a good deal of difficulty.

And now I'm picturing Stan from the Monkey Island series, and his ever-wide variety of suits with unmoving and hideous textures...

"Hey, grandpa! Mister Krono's back!"

Andrew Shaw Very Junior waves to his ancestor, whose face momentarily cracks in an awkward-looking smile.

Embarrassment at the boy's exuberance in front of the press, I take it...

The journalist glances around for a moment before returning her attention to Mister Keats.

"Is that a procedure that you want to introduce into the New California Republic?"

I'm impressed there even is a press service. The NCR must be relatively stable, then, to have a working newspaper...

"Of course it is. People should have the right to modify themselves in any way they want, and the Forced Evolutionary Virus has a long and storied history. In the Unity of Austin we had an excellent track record of turning terminally ill and injured humans into super mutants, a great many of whom could remember their names and the faces of their families."

I can hear Colonel Shaw growl from here.

Now, now, it's not a personal insult, Colonel. He's just letting his mouth run away with him...

"Colonel? Do you-?"

Keats puts his right arm around Colonel Shaw's shoulder, causing the man to stiffen.

I'm guessing they don't get on too well...

"The Colonel had the worst experience of mutation that it's possible to have: no family and no memory of anything else. I'm extremely excited at the prospect of studying the East Coast variant of the Forced Evolutionary Virus and seeing what it can to do aid us in improving the mental prospects for all super mutants."

"Ah, yes, but I think that the Colonel wanted to say something..?"

Something other than 'get off me you idiot.'?

"I got my family back." I see the journalist blink in surprise. Colonel Shaw hasn't wanted us to study his unusual mutant physiology, but he did want us to try and restore his original voice. The size and general morphology of super mutants often leads to them sounding very different to what they did as humans. "And he's right. Family ties are what build society up. And people should make the best of the hand life deals them. But I honestly wouldn't wish this sort of life on anyone."

Not as bad as that one Pirate King from 'Pirates of the Carribean' who was basically a soprano, I hope? I see the Colonel doesn't agree with Keats, then...

Ah, man... Gotta wait more for OL's impression of a weather balloon...

Still, if it gets more Fallout-verse, so be it. Curse my lack of knowledge about the setting... I'm guessing the Super-mutants involved had worse fates in canon?

Vaermina · Feb 17, 2021

jasonh23761 said:
I'd make the argument that he's referring to the different strains of FEV rather then saying there are a bunch of different viruses all under the name of FEV. Although Fallout lore has always been a bit nebulous on the specifics of how FEV functions beyond it's green goop, don't worry about it.

He agreed that it was a chemical though, not a virus.

Darko · Feb 17, 2021

Chojin Patriarch said:
One that would likely make for an amazing 80's action movie series (and associated PG-rated cartoon and action figure line,) I bet. Not likely to see much actual crime-fighting though, unless you count wasteland raiders as crime...

One's a centuries old soldier, the other is a former pro wrestler.

Together they fight crime.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Gee-Whiz. I can't help but feel this kid would make an amazing host for the Power of Shazam if it existed here...

Potential multiversal counterpart of Billy.

Rebu · Feb 17, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
his own laid back form of fascism.

That seems like a contradiction in terms, assuming we can discuss it without Modern Politics.

AidanMorgan · Feb 17, 2021

NightmareWarden said:
Hmm. I've read Ribofunk, Girl Genius and Biohacker's Almanac: First Dan so I thought I had a decent appreciation for the biomod-class of transhumanism. But this conversation about super mutants? It reminds me of stuff I've only heard of in superhero stories. Figures that would give up their powers if possible and regret what they've done with their new form.

Neat, and I hope to see these mutants interact nonviolently in the future.

Girl Genius Paul would be super interesting actually.

I'd especially like to see him interacting with (and quite possibly severely underestimating, like everyone else does) the Jägermonsterin.

That said, writing in a Mechanicsburg accent for any length of time might cause strokes so I understand if you don't wanna do that.

ForeverShogo · Feb 17, 2021

Just so you're aware, Chojin. When you specualted that Juggernaut was Orky? You're more right than you know.

In the mod, his faction is full of blatant references to the Orkz. To the extent they really are just, "What if Super Mutants acted the same as Orkz?"

Also, the single most distressing thing that I have read in these Fallout updates? Shale defeated Keats and Juggernaut . . . then disappeared. I do believe Texas is about to get bent over the barrel and fucked hard by [REDACTED].

===

I'm a bit curious as to what exactly Fallout Paul thinks of Caesar and the territory the Legion rules over, given a lot of the fluff around what Legion territory is actually like and what OWB has done with the Legion. I mean, I know he's helping the NCR prepare for the war and building alliances and whatnot, but there really isn't a choice there. Conflict would be inevitable.

Mostly because people in Legion territory generally like the Legion and think Caesar is a pretty good ruler. Even if they "don't know any better" because some areas, like Arizona, were apparently so fucking awful that Legion rule is a marked improvement.

===

Oh, and if you want an idea of what [REDACTED] is . . . Well . . . Read the spoilers only if you dare.

Think of Cerberus as Super Mutants crossed with The Flood.

Mr Zoat · Feb 17, 2021

Rebu said:
That seems like a contradiction in terms, assuming we can discuss it without Modern Politics.

Marcus believes that super mutants are superior to humans. That humans are inherently vicious, violent, short tempered and mean-spirited, and that super mutants have risen above that. Marcus would have like nothing better than for the Master to have won in Fallout, and the best complement he has for someone is 'you'd make a good super mutant'. After the Master's defeat he modified his ideas slightly, believing that some humans were just too evil for the miracle of super mutantdom to fix, and that in future they neeeded to 'apply a finer screen'. Which strictly speaking isn't facism, but it's close enough for most purposes.

Chojin Patriarch said:
No land for shy, reserved wallflowers, eh? Unless you end up in the harem of some petty warlord.

One of the possible rulers of the Broken Coast has two methods for getting a wife. One is a cage fighting tournament with the winner becoming his queen. The other is conquering one of his neighbours and taking their queen as his wife. It's pretty clear that in the case of the second option her opinion on the matter was not sought.

So, Super-Mutants are functionally immortal?

West Coast ones are, yes. East Coast ones sometimes turn into near-mindless behemoths which effectively marks the end of their lives as intelligent beings, but both Fawkes and Andrew Shaw avoided that for 200 years.

Did his vault have cloning technology, then?

No. Cloning technology exists but is fairly rare.

Hmm... What would happen if you could safely combine the variants, I wonder...

Probably nothing, because the only that would be safe is if they somehow neutralised each other.

Ah, so Very Junior isn't a Super-mutant? Just a distant descendant.

Yes. Super mutants are universally sterile, unlike ghouls who just have very low fertility.

Juggernaut sounds proper Orky. Shale would be wasting his time, I bet. And Keats is something of a Professor Xavier type?

More like one of the more social neo sapiens from Exoframe.

I'm impressed there even is a press service. The NCR must be relatively stable, then, to have a working newspaper...

Oh yes. The NCR's bigger than actual California at this point.

Ah, man... Gotta wait more for OL's impression of a weather balloon... Still, if it gets more Fallout-verse, so be it. Curse my lack of knowledge about the setting... I'm guessing the Super-mutants involved had worse fates in canon?

The First was created by the people who made the Old World Blues mod, so there isn't a canon ending for him. Keats gets assassinated at Shale's behest, while we won't know what happens to Marcus until the release of Fallout: New Vegas 2.

ForeverShogo · Feb 17, 2021

The single most important thing for the NCR is probably holding onto Lake Mead. At least in New Vegas, they were kind of suffering from a catastrophic water shortage to the point that Lake Mead was probably more important than the Hoover Dam itself. Though you only really learn about it if you talk to Ranger Chief Hanlon.

And if I recall, while Ghouls have extremely low fertility . . . they're functionally sterile without extremely invasive medical procedures. And even then I think The Reservation had to resort to Human x Ghoul pairings to make breeding viable. With the end result being the Born Ghoul.

===

Born ghouls are ghouls who are not mutated humans, but ghouls who were actually born as ghouls. Through cruel experimentation on humans by Dr. Sebastian at the Reservation, these ghouls gestated and were birthed. Reveling in their infrequent success (the ghoul procreation experiments have a 2% success rate), Dr. Sebastian and Dr. Willem Clark keep their born ghoul progeny close at hand and comfortable. To them, the born ghouls represent the future of the ghoul "species", and they will do everything in their power to make sure their "children" are well taken care of. There are only three born ghouls, including Measles and Belle.

At first glance they look like any other ghoul, but a closer inspection reveals that their lesions, exposed bone, and hair patches are very uniform and look like they serve some kind of purpose. On top of that, these ghouls are a little tougher, a little stronger, and a little faster than normal ghouls.

Assblaster5000 · Feb 17, 2021

Chojin Patriarch said:
Man, Fallout is weird.

Bit of an understatement that. In Fallout we have:

Ionizing radiation that causes beneficial mutations in basically everything it touches, plus gigantism for... some reason, from a global nuclear war in which, assuming realistic physics/numbers, had no less than 66,000 15-30 kiloton thermonuclear bombs dropped during its roughly hour long course.

Propaganda. (Better dead then Red!)

Genetically engineered giant lizards that were designed to charge headfirst into massed laser and plasma fire with minimal harm so they could tear apart infantry, armour, and complexes with contemptuous ease. (And can be fully sapient, with some non-sapient ones that definitively lack vocal cords learning how to imitate Human speech)

Dakka.

Godzilla! (Maybe)

Aliens that have been observing, and manipulating a bit, Humanity since at least the times of Feudal Japan for... reasons(?).

Doctor Who! (Maybe)

Dark Things From Beyond The Angles Of Time That Should Not Be Named.

Corporations more soulless than the average politician.

A long and storied history of single men and/or women that can single handedly fight armies and shape the course of history.

Cake! (Which you aren't allowed to have. Ever. unless you use console commands, but you aren't a cheater are you? because that's almost as bad as a Commie, and those guys made Satan! This message brought to you by The United States Government)

And more!!!

Join today to fall over dead (or cry, that works too) trying to understand this universe and learn things which Man Should Not Know!

nick012000 · Feb 17, 2021

Assblaster5000 said:
Cake! (Which you aren't allowed to have. Ever. unless you use console commands, but you aren't a cheater are you? because that's almost as bad as a Commie, and those guys made Satan! This message brought to you by The United States Government)

It's possible to get the Perfectly Perserved Pies from the machines in Fallout 4. It's just a random chance based on your Luck attribute.

Assblaster5000 · Feb 17, 2021

nick012000 said:
It's possible to get the Perfectly Perserved Pies from the machines in Fallout 4. It's just a random chance based on your Luck attribute.

A-are you saying... that Bethesda actually... used real RPG mechanics for a game?

One they made???

What bizaroverse did I wake up in!?!

Pinklestia · Feb 18, 2021

Eh why make more mutants? Just brainwashing... eh helping the ones that exist would give you a lot of warriors.

ForeverShogo · Feb 18, 2021

Probably cause plenty of people would volunteer. Especially if you could guarantee they don't experience any of the negative mental effects.

Not even desperate, terminally ill people. If someone could effectively make you immortal, while still letting you be you, I'm sure a number of regular people wouldn't mind being tall, buff, and green. Just need to get stuff that's adapted to your bigger hands.

So basically, if people want to become super mutants, why not make more of them?

Mr Zoat · Feb 18, 2021

18th May 2282
19:35 MTZ

Marcus is staring out into the night as I approach. Thanks to the Garden of Eden Creation Kit research carried out by Diana and Tlaloc, the Mojave is a good deal greener than it used to be. We've even started reintroducing insects based on the genetic samples Diana stored in Paradise. While they're a good deal less fearsome than the mutant insects that have been plaguing this part of America since the war, the new sound they've added to the night is making more than a few locals nervous.

"Good evening."

"I'm not sure I'd say the same."

I stop just behind him waiting to see if he's got anything else to say.

I first met Marcus when I started researching FEV. A super mutant named Dok-Tor had already told me that the Master wanted vault dwellers because their ancestors didn't have the low level FEV exposure that most of the west coast got when the Great War happened and Mariposa was hit. They and other isolated populations had no antibodies against his mutagen, and so had the 'easiest' transformation. I wanted to see if there was a way to correct the damage interrupted FEV infections caused, so that we could increase the intelligence of mentally stunted second generation super mutants. Marcus was willing to help, but as he wasn't involved in the dipping process himself he didn't actually know all that much. But I've shared what we learned and I like to stop by this sanctuary whenever I'm in the area.

"I didn't really know Keats, back when we used to work for the Master."

"A lot of super mutants worked for the Master."

"I used to think it was all of them. It wasn't too long ago that I'd never met a super mutant who wasn't created by the Master, or at least created by one who was."

I nod. "Did you know Attis?"

"He was one of the Master's generals. He gave me orders a few times, but I can't say we were close."

"What exactly did you do when you fought for the Master?"

"Oh, that stuff doesn't matter. It's ancient history."

I chuckle quietly. "If dealing with Mr. House, Diana and the zetans has taught me anything, it's that a hundred and twenty years is recent for things that can come back and bite us."

"Or maybe I just mean that I don't want to talk about it."

I nod. "Maybe."

We enjoy the night for a few moments in silence.

"Going to be a lot quieter around here."

"Once the insects have stable populations, we can introduce birds."

"The cazadores will appreciate the food."

"I didn't mean ostriches."

"Cazadores start small too."

"Alright Marcus, I've got to ask: you speak Latin and French. You know what an ostrich is, despite there not having been an ostrich in America for two hundred years. Are-?"

"That is ancient history." He turns around to face me. "I don't know who I was, but I'm just as capable of making deductions as you are. I stayed smart, which means that whoever I used to be probably came from a Vault. Maybe Vault Eight. Maybe not. Nothing about what I remember about that life makes me want to remember any more. I have absolutely no interest in you doing to me whatever you did to the First to make him think he's still Andrew Shaw."

"Good, because I actually can't. That was some sort of interaction between my psychic abilities, the Odious King's psychic abilities and whatever… Ritual he was performing. But I would like to ask about him."

"You probably know more about him than I do."

"He was wearing a purple robe, like the Children of the Cathedral used to."

"And Keats is wearing a purple suit. That doesn't necessarily mean anything."

"But it might. I definitely… Saw something about a Cathedral. And some of his followers had headwear designed to look like psychic nullifiers."

"The Master did experiment with psychic powers. Sometimes, injecting FEV into a human's brain caused them to get strange abilities. But usually they just died. Gideon could hear people's thoughts, but none of the Master's psychics were allowed out of the Los Angeles Vault. I can't think of any reason why a group up in Oregon would wear the robes of the Children. And I don't see how any of the Children could have developed psychic powers."

"They could have injected themselves later."

"And where would they get the FEV from? The Citadel was completely destroyed by the nuclear explosion. Mariposa was destroyed as well. Until I met the First, I didn't think there were any other sources of FEV in western America. Maybe not even the world."

"There aren't any caches anywhere?"

"Not that anyone I ever spoke to knew about. That was why Attis went east; trying to find a new source of FEV, because otherwise there wouldn't ever be any new super mutants."

"But if Keats has been creating new super mutants, he must have taken some with him."

"Maybe. Or maybe Attis found something and shared it with his lieutenants."

"But why would there be FEV anywhere else?"

"It doesn't have to be a store of FEV. Could be they found a pre-War workshop or laboratory of some kind. What I'm curious about is why you don't know already."

"How do you mean?"

"The Master never finished his work on telepathy, but I saw what the prototypes could do. Your people aren't prototypes. You don't have their drawbacks. Sure, you're not any physically stronger than regular humans, but all your people are telepathic receivers. Why not just read their minds?"

I sigh, nodding.

"Yes, we could do that if we could find him, but by the time I even heard that Shale existed he'd already vanished. The regular mutants I can get my people close enough to scan don't know exactly where he is or where the FEV comes from other than 'somewhere in Los'. Using telepathy to hide from a lot of people at once is really hard, to say nothing of robots which are totally immune to it or ghouls or super mutants who can be pretty darn resistant. And there aren't.. that many of us, not trained for that sort of work. Besides, Keats is an ally, and I.. can't be sure that he wouldn't notice. You remember the Master speaking in your mind, right?"

"He had a distinctive voice. Voices."

"Ours don't stand out quite as much. But if you know where to listen-" **-you still hear it.**

"So there's no way to find out what's going on in Los?"

"The Texans are busy with Santa Anna. Lanius has put his expansion on hold so he can help Mister Sallow. The Republic of the Rio Grande is thanking their lucky stars that Santa Anna was feeling diplomatic. We could breach Los with an army but we don't have one spare." I shake my head. "Unless you've got some insight, the only realistic option we've got is to stop worrying about it and focus on the Legion."

"'We'? I appreciate that the NCR aren't antagonising my people any more, but I don't care about Caesar."

"There's a difference between being a second class citizen and being chattel, Marcus."

"The NCR have already got the super mutant leader they want. But they'll never let anyone make any more super mutants in NCR territory."

"No. But Texas would."

Coda · Feb 18, 2021

Mr Zoat said:
Andrew Shaw. "

Extra space

Mr Zoat said:
between the my psychic abilities

Remove "the"

Mr Zoat said:
what's going on it Los?"

I think this supposed to be "in Los"?

Mr Zoat said:
Santa Anna

"Ana" unless I don't know my Fallout lore.

Handlewithcare · Feb 18, 2021

Hm. What is Pauls endgame here?

Antagonising the NCR by giving Texas an army of Supermutants seems like a bad idea.

But I don't know enough about the political landscape: would Texas need Supermutants just to have a chance to negotiate with the NCR?

I don't think Paul is working towards unification of the USA. There isn't any need for it, no mega projects or common enemy that would need the concentrated manpower or resources.

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

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Connoisseur.

Versed in the lewd.

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Well worn.

Not too sore, are you?

Versed in the lewd.

Not too sore, are you?

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Veteran Lurker

Well worn.

Connoisseur.

hey, little Anna, you're the one

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Not too sore, are you?

Dedicated ragequitter

Not too sore, are you?

I trust you know where the happy button is?

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Well worn.

Not too sore, are you?

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Versed in the lewd.

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