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

[Mr Zoat]

Found an old error. That should be the Pursuer.

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No, he's mocking him. To peruse means 'to examine at length'.

 

[FourthPear]

Didn't think Zoat could write a group worse than the Psions, but consider me impressed. Can't wait for the Gravy to open up a can of genocide on them like he did with Psions/Citadellians/Spiders.

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I can't wait for Paragon Paul to meet them. So far he is 3 for 4 on evil species Genocide. The only reason he doesn't have a perfect record is because the Vega alliance went behind his back to kill the Psions themselves.

 

[Darko]

Every thing about that says to me that this should be an Astarte beat down.

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'Everything'

"What is there to say? We're the Citizenry, the strongest, fiercest and most ruthless."

"Then why are you working for the other Grayven? You're clearly a bunch of psychotic misandrists, and he's an unapologetic man. And his followers are gordanians, and their military is mostly male. What's going on there

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They're evil.

Being massively hypocritical is probably their smallest sin at this point.

Mother wants another daughter. There's no point in trying to breed with a weak breeder."

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Everything is about sex.

Diana's a little slow on a dodge and her aunt rips a chunk of hair from her head.

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Ohh, that's gotta hurt.

"I don't really see the appeal, but I suppose it doesn't really cost him anything

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Astarte may be seen as a high class woman by Apokaliptian standards.

Wouldn't it be more rewarding work to grow crops and raise animals yourself

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For a decent person, yes.

For a psychopath, no not really.

I mean, a halfwit child could press a button, but farm labour takes-."

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This reminds me of a quote that goes something like 'Any idiot can pull a trigger. Try getting up every day and working for a living'

I glance at the centre of the arena, where Astarte's lost her gun and just took a left cross to the face. Yeah, Diana's got that. From the sounds of things, she's got that due to actually fighting people in her weight class rather than being massively overpowered compared to everyone around her

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So Astarte's experience is the equivalent of fighting people ten times weaker than her, while Diana actually knows how to fight people as strong as her.

"Hey, are you actually going to accept Diana's rule if she wins

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Of course not."

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Figures.

Then…" I draw my new daiklave "Why wait?"

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Indeed, let's not keep everyone waiting.

 

[Darko]

" We are superstrong bestest because we drop snakes on defenseless worlds!"

"What if someone beats you by your own rules?"

"Then we cheat

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You know I just got reminded of the Nietzscheans from Andromeda.

They're basically marauding egomaniacs that will betray you even if they say they'll be fair.

 

[Darko]

Though I wonder how much of that misandry is due to Astarte's leadership?

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She did grow up in a segregated and female dominated society, so part of it may be due to her.

Though seeing as they've been recruiting girls even before her then it may have been there before.

If he plans to integrate them at all. Maybe he's watching to see what you do with them: Extinction or subjugation? That would tell him much of your form of Conquest.

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So intelligence gathering.

Or trying to set a fire elemental on fire. With non-magical fire, at least. I've seen at least one case where the nominal hero of the story does beat a fire creature with magically-charged fire...

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Fighting fire with fire.

The problem being, do any of them want that? Do any of them have any desire to be more than a roving murderhobo, any aspiration to be greater than their upbringing? ...Actually, given said upbringing, those kind of thoughts either get you killed young or are beaten out by the time you come of age

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Apparently they were happy in the comics when Diana ordered them to be better, so they may be doing this due to fear of Astarte.

Gee, some test. I'm almost reminded of Adeptus Astartes recruitment practices from Warhammer 40k. Picking young warriors from feral worlds who show promise by being big, mean bastards... If that's their general kind of recruit, no wonder they're such stupid cunts...

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Astarte is honestly something like a Primarch when you think about it.

She's a demigod with a bunch of mental and emotional problems.

She leads a pack of psychotic maniacs that commit genocide. Though they're not all that xenophobic.

Her father is a huge piece of shit.

She has all the signs of being a Primarch.

And now I'm reminded of TTS.

This is just depressing.

 

[Sockmonkey]

If Astarte knew her people wouldn't stick to the terms of the duel, wouldn't that automatically put her in a metphysically weaker state due to the way new gods/divine magic crap works?

 

[Mr Zoat]

'Everything'

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[Darko]

If Astarte knew her people wouldn't stick to the terms of the duel, wouldn't that automatically put her in a metphysically weaker state due to the way new gods/divine magic crap works?

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Assuming she knew about it, then maybe.

But if she didn't know, then she may be fine.

There also wasn't exactly something like that challenge renegade issues, so that may not count here.

 

[NightmareWarden]

And now I'm reminded of TTS.

This is just depressing.

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I can't hug like Vulcan, but I can still offer a hug and my condolences.

Sighs with pain

 

[Bud-E]

Apparently they were happy in the comics when Diana ordered them to be better, so they may be doing this due to fear of Astarte.
.

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What is Diana's goal here exactly is she planning on being their ruler and teaching them morality for however long it takes them to not be genocidal sociopaths? Cause not only will that take a while she's going to be constantly fighting them because Astarte definitively said they enjoy their lifestyle.

 

[Steelplaza]

What is Diana's goal here exactly is she planning on being their ruler and teaching them morality for however long it takes them to not be genocidal sociopaths? Cause not only will that take a while she's going to be constantly fighting them because Astarte definitively said they enjoy their lifestyle.

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Okay, let me actually speak in defense of Diana's goals. There's a strong possibility that the Citizenry is being held together by their crazy demigoddess leader who seems to have been in charge for literally thousands of years. Her and her hand-picked cadre of like-minded leadership.

Diana is probably hoping that most of the Citizenry do not actually enjoy their lifestyle, which as Grayven himself points out is incredibly unfulfilling. Perhaps if she clears out the leadership and allows the Citizenry some more choices then they would descend to the level of "normal" evil aliens and take up some lifestyle that allows them to use their hard-won combat skills for an actual purpose and gain material possessions and food other than worm-produced gruel. I hear that LEGION is hiring!

EDIT: I mean, remember that a lot of them were recruited or are the children of people who were recruited as the survivors of worlds the Citizenry killed. Thinking there might be some repressed dissatisfaction there.

 

[cereal_lurker]

If Astarte knew her people wouldn't stick to the terms of the duel, wouldn't that automatically put her in a metphysically weaker state due to the way new gods/divine magic crap works?

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Assuming she knew about it, then maybe.

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I don't think she ever took a definitive stance on the matter... This is the closest I could find and it's a stated as a possibility rather than a declaration of certainty.

"If you beat me in the arena, the other-" We both turn to Astarte. "-commanders might accept you. Niece."

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[Vaermina]

I glance at the centre of the arena, where Astarte's lost her gun and just took a left cross to the face. Yeah, Diana's got that. From the sounds of things, she's got that due to actually fighting people in her weight class rather than being massively overpowered compared to everyone around her.

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Who could have guessed...

 

[Mr Zoat]

I hear that LEGION is hiring!

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If only they existed in the Renegade timeline.

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

You know I just got reminded of the Nietzscheans from Andromeda.

They're basically marauding egomaniacs that will betray you even if they say they'll be fair.

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Spoiler: I mean you're not wrong

 

[Nervaqus987]

Does the Citizenry not have cloning technology? I would imagine they could just set up something similar to vatborn Dark Eldar in 40k, only all women. Unless the tradition was ingrained before they technologically advanced enough (although, what is the canonical origin of the Citizenry? They existed long before Astarte joined them, right?).

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We don't know much about their origin. Apparently, they used to just wander around picking up the 100 strongest women on a planet and leaving. They went to Earth at some point in the past, which is how they got Astarte. Originally, they wanted Hippolyta, but Astarte offered to join them instead.

At some point in the interim, they evidently switched to their current methods and Astarte took over.

Do they go on these murder-binges through Green Lantern Corps patrolled space? Besides the Omega Gun (which should be a relatively recent tool in their arsenal) and Astarte herself, I feel like a task force could take them on, and I can't imagine they had many allies before the one with Renegade. Or are they just really stealthy in addition to being strawwomen misandrist Amazons who also apparently have advanced technological capabilities? (things about them still don't click well for me, clearly).

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In the story they showed up in, it opened up by showing a trio of Green Lanterns investigating a world they got done with and some left over snakes killed one of the Lanterns who covered the other two's escape with evidently the last survivor of said planet.

Granted, the Lantern they killed was a rookie who didn't even have a personal shield up.

In any event, when they're invading Earth, Wonder Woman mentions their weapons were similar to Green Lantern energy but "Malevolent." Astarte mentions at one point that even the Oans feared them.

Honestly, it feels more like the Guardians just had to job for the new guys coming in outta fucking nowhere for like one story. IIRC, Astarte shows up in some latter issue but I'm not sure the Citizenry does the same.

 

[Pinklestia]

Gotta love their bragging about being strong when their entire MO seems to be to find worlds that have no way of actually fighting back against them, and from the sound of things actively avoiding worlds that could put up a fight, only to drop a shitload of snakes that do just about everything for them.

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Yeah, a completel waste and really stupid evil.

 

[Sockmonkey]

Assuming she knew about it, then maybe.

But if she didn't know, then she may be fine.

There also wasn't exactly something like that challenge renegade issues, so that may not count here.

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Either way, Diana winning means she can invoke the divine "I'm in charge of you knuckleheads now" mojo on them.
That might be enough for her to actually lead them.

 

[Hidden Variable]

And thus the issue with all these Rule Of The Strong groups: They're all cowards and hypocrites.

Can anyone think of a setting/faction where one of these actually stuck to their principles once the shoe was on the other foot?

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Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Monsoon.

"No. I passed one... to you. Sure as the sun will rise. The slaughter will continue. Now I return... to the earth. Wind blows, rain falls... the strong... prey... on the weak... All... is as it should be."―Monsoon's final words

 

[Vaermina]

You know a funny thing...

I don't think Renegade can ever actually beat Diana in a metaphysical battle... Because her metaphysic is Truth... And Renagade has built his everything on a foundation of lies...

 

[DAT_NOOB]

You know a funny thing...

I don't think Renegade can ever actually beat Diana in a metaphysical battle... Because her metaphysic is Truth... And Renagade has built his everything on a foundation of lies...

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UNless you interpret what he's done as conquering the truth in which case he would have a metaphysical advantage

 

[Vaermina]

UNless you interpret what he's done as conquering the truth in which case he would have a metaphysical advantage

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You can't conquer conceptual Truth, it's a binary existence, either a thing is or isn't.

 

[Sordid Snake]

I hear that LEGION is hiring!

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If only they existed in the Renegade timeline.

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"Grayven. LEGION redde!"

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

You can't conquer conceptual Truth, it's a binary existence, either a thing is or isn't.

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I'm going to let an expert handle this

Spoiler: Humans Need to Believe the Little Lies.

 

[Coda]

"Then…" I draw my new daiklave "Why wait?"

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Missing full stop.

 

[Bud-E]

Guy's I just had a scary thought that this Citizenry arc might turn into something similar to what the Sheeda did to Flash to Wonder Woman. Her seeing the true atrocities of people especially her family might cause Diana to lose a bit of faith in humanity and her people. I don't think she'll go full psycho revenge murder spree or try to kill herself as the Flash did but this could have some serious negative consequences for her. This might be me projecting anxieties but I think it's a possibility.

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

Well, Paragon Paul short circuited the 'league of one' story line that would have done something a bit similar for Wonder Woman, by taking down the dragon without any fortune telling. For all we know this is her last straw moment.

Alternative she's so damned good and true and hopeful that she makes an impact on the whole lot, everyone smiles and nods and goes back home to rebuild peacefully as she orders them to, and the Team gets her relations as new members to work off that karma, like Canis does on the other side.

 

[Prince Charon]

Gotta love their bragging about being strong when their entire MO seems to be to find worlds that have no way of actually fighting back against them, and from the sound of things actively avoiding worlds that could put up a fight, only to drop a shitload of snakes that do just about everything for them.

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They're bullies. This is the basic simplification of what bullies in general are.

Guy's I just had a scary thought that this Citizenry arc might turn into something similar to what the Sheeda did to Flash to Wonder Woman. Her seeing the true atrocities of people especially her family might cause Diana to lose a bit of faith in humanity and her people. I don't think she'll go full psycho revenge murder spree or try to kill herself as the Flash did but this could have some serious negative consequences for her. This might be me projecting anxieties but I think it's a possibility.

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I'm forgetting, when did we see how the Sheeda affected Flash?

 

[Darko]

I'm forgetting, when did we see how the Sheeda affected Flash?

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Here.

Like hell!"

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[AidanMorgan]

You know... I'm not so sure Grayven!OL is Conquest anymore. Not sure what he is, mind you, but Conquest always felt a bit off, and it's been getting more and more off point since he got friendship beamed.