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

boo600 · Feb 12, 2023

Also, the quoted lines mention nothing of hand-to-hand drills, or drills at all. Merely training.

Still. I suppose the fact that the warrior caste has a warrior culture could be considered evidence that they - gasp - train, and thus evidence that it is likely that they train in hand to hand.

It's something, at least.

Rafin · Feb 12, 2023

What is the official rank of Bo'ohk and does his name mean anything?

Mr Zoat said:
that affect

effect

Mr Zoat · Feb 12, 2023

Rafin said:
What is the official rank of Bo'ohk

Aun'Ul, Prelate.

and does his name mean anything?

Yes. I haven't decided what, but it definitely means something.

effect

Thank you, corrected.

Mr Zoat · Feb 12, 2023

20th January 2013
12:48 GMT

Jade holds up a book. It looks like it was bound by an amateur, and the paper quality appears to be variable.

"My translator doesn't recognise the language."

I nod and take it from her, carefully opening the first page so as to not damage it. A date at the top of the page, and…

"A journal." I turn the pages, skimming the text. "Short entries about farm work done, a couple of things about local events… And then a gap, and…"

And a description of Kalmin's work, not that he ever introduced himself. Hm. Now that I think about it, Sinestro would have had to be here, wouldn't he? Or… Did he create the ring blank first, and then alter it based on Sinestro's mentality?

"The end of the world."

"There wasn't any sign of the robots coming here, was there?"

"Your ring has better sensors than my exo-mantle."

"Yes, but you're actually trained to track things. You're reconnaissance, I'm brute force."

"I didn't see anything. You said that the robots are programmed to wander a certain distance from each other?"

"Effectively."

"The mountains would make that difficult, and the lack of people would mean there wasn't anything to draw them closer. You saw the barricade and armory; they were prepared for an attack. Does it say what they thought was happening?"

"Whoever wrote this was convinced that it was aliens. It's not entirely clear, but I think they were ancestor worshippers."

"So no fire and brimstone preachers calling on sinners to repent?"

"No." I point to the page I'm on now. "'The Eldest has openly said what we had accepted in our lungs: that we will die with none left to watch over in our turn. No one cried out to deny it. Every action is undertaken with solemnity, and no one even postures violently. If we are all the ancestors will have to see, should we not ensure that they can have pride in us?'"

"I don't suppose you can resurrect them, can you?"

"Thaumically dead world. Their ancestors almost certainly aren't actually watching over them." I sigh as I read the description of people starting to sleep in their village's crypt. "I can mark this world for the Controllers to eventually resettle. There are plenty of genetic records, and quite a lot of cultural relics. Compared to some places, it'll be.. easy."

I frown.

"It's odd. Kalmin had ships in orbit. He'd definitely have known they were here, but all I can see from the writing is that they were becoming resigned and.. apathetic, rather than afraid."

"What else could they do?"

"Nothing, but-. Ah."

"There weren't any bodies outside. Let me guess: they went to the crypts and shot themselves."

I close the journal, then lay in on a nearby table. "The author did, though they note that there were several others still alive at the time."

"I suppose resignation is a way some people respond to fear."

I nod. "Rallying to old certainties, because if they limit their thoughts then they don't have to think about how doomed the situation is."

She turns her helmet to look at me for a moment, then shakes her head and walks out of the building.

I follow her. "What?"

"You recruited Kalmin. You knew he'd.. done this, but you recruited him because you were worried about the Controllers."

"Not that it would have altered my decision, but I didn't know exactly what it had involved. And the Controllers used to destroy planets by using Sun Eaters to send their suns nova. With Kalmin, the choice was between killing him out of hand and keeping him where we could see him. Don't think that I think he's a good person just because I can stomach working with him."

She stops, looking at the entrance to the crypt. It's decorated with images of… I think those are farm tools, but I don't have cultural context for the rest. I'd guess that it's scenes from their history.

"You sounded dismissive of them."

"I'd respect them more if they'd kept fighting, even if it wasn't possible to beat Kalmin. Even just bunkering down to try and outlast him. But I don't-. I don't know how I'd-. How I would have acted before getting my ring if this had happened on my Earth." I snort. "The same, probably. Is there a reason why this is affecting you so much?"

"They let me into their archives. The Citizenry keep records of every world they recruit from. Every world that they decide to eat. And anyone can go in and have a look; actually, they like it when the new recruits do that, so they know what they're a part of now. Seeing empty homes in person brings home just how many people they killed, and even they memorialised their victims better than Kalmin did."

I walk over to the crypt entrance and kneel, bowing my head.

"Honoured dead. I do not know your people, your world or your culture. I well understand if you hate me for my alliance with your murderer, and I will not gainsay it. I can only pray that your end was as peaceful as it could be under the circumstances, and that your ancestors greet you in whatever fashion you hope for."

"You said that they wouldn't."

I nod as I stand.

"The thaumosphere is too thin to sustain individual consciousnesses. But it's not impossible that there's a weak gestalt embodying all their ancestors. Even worlds with weak thaumospheres can sometimes generate a weak god."

She nods once. "I don't think the Scouring Path has a set funeral tradition." She turns to face the crypt entrance and puts her hands together in prayer.

She doesn't say anything out loud, so I give her a moment to finish.

"Just in case any of them didn't die, we should check the crypt."

I nod. "I didn't pick up anything, but Kalmin is perfectly capable of blocking ring scans if he wanted to."

I switch to my heavy armour and make sure that the force fields are active, because I wouldn't want to walk into Kalmin's booby traps with anything less than my best.

The doors aren't locked or latched, opening easily to a construct-push. No trip wires or mines on the inside. I push on inside. Looks like a museum, with relics… I check the description plates. Yes, relics from the village's history. A plough blade, a… Newspaper? A shoe and a brick. No remains from living creatures. We more or less skipped over this sort of building in the other settlements we visited, but this isn't a unique thing. This is part of their culture. Probably not worldwide, as their transportation networks weren't advanced enough to enable that level of cultural uniformity. But certainly over a good chunk of this contin-

"Yaaaaaaaaghuh!"

-ent.

"I'm not detecting anyone, but that wasn't a recording."

"You have point."

Let's… See. The entrances to the crypt proper appear to be marked in terms of date ranges. I can't tell where the voice came from using sonic scans alone. Solid rock conveys sound too well. Most recent remains are interred through there, and we wanted to check there anyway.

I fly through the entrance and into the crypt.

Darko · Feb 12, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
He's definitely have

"He'd definitely"

Mr Zoat said:
And the Controllers used to destroy planets by using Sun Eaters to send their suns nova

True, but at least they had the justification that the people kn the planets were somehow threats to others.

Kalmin doesn't even have that.

Mr Zoat said:
"You sounded dismissive of them

Nice to see her being compassionate.

Mr Zoat said:
"Yaaaaaaaaghuh!"

-ent.

"I'm not detecting anyone, but that wasn't a recording

Maybe it's a ghost.

Chojin Patriarch · Feb 12, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
20th January 2013
12:48 GMT

Jade holds up a book. It looks like it was bound by an amateur, and the paper quality appears to be variable.

"My translator doesn't recognise the language."

Not surprising. Conventional technology like that only has so much memory space available for storage. Even for maltusian-designed technology. So the linguistic databases would likely be focused on cultures aligned to NEMO or under threat from the Reach...

I nod and take it from her, carefully opening the first page so as to not damage it. A date at the top of the page, and…

"A journal." I turn the pages, skimming the text. "Short entries about farm work done, a couple of things about local events… And then a gap, and…"

...As long as it doesn't end with something like 'The hour draws late. They come. They come...' or cuts off mid-sentence with a splatter of blood. The latter is kind of unrealistic anyway.

Who'd keep writing even as they're in danger of dying?

And a description of Kalmin's work, not that he ever introduced himself. Hm. Now that I think about it, Sinestro would have had to be here, wouldn't he? Or… Did he create the ring blank first, and then alter it based on Sinestro's mentality?

"The end of the world."

To be fair, aren't most of the Orange Lantern Corps' rings made that way, only taking on more unique coding as their new wielder customises then? Barring bespoke customs for people like OL or Dox...

"There wasn't any sign of the robots coming here, was there?"

"Your ring has better sensors than my exo-mantle."

That doesn't necessarily mean they weren't here at some point in the past, though.

"Yes, but you're actually trained to track things. You're reconnaissance, I'm brute force."

"I didn't see anything. You said that the robots are programmed to wander a certain distance from each other?"

Now, now, let's not start an argument, kids.

"Effectively."

"The mountains would make that difficult, and the lack of people would mean there wasn't anything to draw them closer. You saw the barricade and armory; they were prepared for an attack. Does it say what they thought was happening?"

Maybe they got word from travellers or refugees fleeing the cities?

"Whoever wrote this was convinced that it was aliens. It's not entirely clear, but I think they were ancestor worshippers."

"So no fire and brimstone preachers calling on sinners to repent?"

...Not unless there was an ancestor spirit telling them so...

"No." I point to the page I'm on now. "'The Eldest has openly said what we had accepted in our lungs; that we will die with none left to watch over in our turn. No one cried out to deny it. Every action is undertaken with solemnity, and no one even postures violently. If we are all the ancestors will have to see, should we not ensure that they can have pride in us?'"

"I don't suppose you can resurrect them, can you?"

I am impressed at the logic in that statement, though. 'If we're it, then we should hold ourselves to the highest standards of behaviour...'

"Thaumically dead world. Their ancestors almost certainly aren't actually watching over them." I sigh as I read the description of people starting to sleep in their village's crypt. "I can mark this world for the Controllers to eventually resettle. There are plenty of genetic records, and quite a lot of cultural relics. Compared to some places, it'll be.. easy."

I frown.

...Might be a bit too much trouble for them, though. Being in the Antimatter universe, after all.

"It's odd. Kalmin had ships in orbit. He's definitely have known they were here, but all I can see from the writing is that they were becoming resigned and.. apathetic, rather than afraid."

"What else could they do?"

You can only be afraid for so long. If death appears certain, then why fight it?

"Nothing, but-. Ah."

"There weren't any bodies outside. Let me guess: they went to the crypts and shot themselves."

Better than being torn limb-from-limb by an unknown foe someday...

I close the journal, then lay in on a nearby table. "The author did, though they note that there were several others still alive at the time."

"I suppose resignation is a way some people respond to fear."

Also anger, willful defiance or pleading... No two people would have the same exact reaction, but group pressures can do a lot...

I nod. "Rallying to old certainties, because if they limit their thoughts then they don't have to think about how doomed the situation is."

She turns her helmet to look at me for a moment, then shakes her head and walks out of the building.

It is a grim picture this place paints, after all...

I follow her. "What?"

"You recruited Kalmin. You knew he'd.. done this, but you recruited him because you were worried about the Controllers."

To be fair, would you want someone capable of this running around where you couldn't keep an eye on them?

"Not that it would have altered my decision, but I didn't know exactly what it had involved. And the Controllers used to destroy planets by using Sun Eaters to send their suns nova. With Kalmin, the choice was between killing him out of hand and keeping him where we could see him. Don't think that I think he's a good person just because I can stomach working with him."

She stops, looking at the entrance to the crypt. It's decorated with images of… I think those are farm tools, but I don't have cultural context for the rest. I'd guess that it's scenes from their history.

All these tales, lost to time...

A sad fate.

"You sounded dismissive of them."

"I'd respect them more if they'd kept fighting, even if it wasn't possible to beat Kalmin. Even just bunkering down to try and outlast him. But I don't-. I don't know how I'd-. How I would have acted before getting my ring if this had happened on my Earth." I snort. "The same, probably. Is there a reason why this is affecting you so much?"

That is a good point, even after altering her brain to be more compassionate back when she had the Ring in hand, she's never been this...

"They let me into their archives. The Citizenry keep records of every world they recruit from. Every world that they decide to eat. And anyone can go in and have a look; actually, they like it when the new recruits do that, so they know what they're a part of now. Seeing empty homes in person brings home just how many people they killed, and even they memorialised their victims better than Kalmin did."

I walk over to the crypt entrance and kneel, bowing my head.

Ah. There's a little anger there, then. That this could be done, and the person responsible has no more concern for it than what he chose for breakfast a week ago?

"Honoured dead. I do not know your people, your world or your culture. I well understand if you hate me for my alliance with your murderer, and I will not gainsay it. I can only pray that your end was as peaceful as it could be under the circumstances, and that your ancestors greet you in whatever fashion you hope for."

"You said that they wouldn't."

...Never hurts to be polite.

I nod as I stand.

"The thaumosphere is too thin to sustain individual consciousnesses. But it's not impossible that there's a weak gestalt embodying all their ancestors. Even worlds with weak thaumospheres can sometimes generate a weak god."

...No offence to the locals, huh?

She nods once. "I don't think the Scouring Path has a set funeral tradition." She turns to face the crypt entrance and puts her hands together in prayer.

She doesn't say anything out loud, so I give her a moment to finish.

Since once the soul has left the body, it's just matter, I suppose? And most funerary practices are more for the ones left behind than for the deceased....

"Just in case any of them didn't die, we should check the crypt."

I nod. "I didn't pick up anything, but Kalmin is perfectly capable of blocking ring scans if he wanted to."

I switch to my heavy armour and make sure that the force fields are active, because I wouldn't want to walk into Kalmin's booby traps with anything less than my best.

Because you wouldn't put it past him to booby-trap a tomb, just in case someone came poking?

The doors aren't locked or latched, opening easily to a construct-push. No trip wires or mines on the inside. I push on inside. Looks like a museum, with relics… I check the description plates. Yes, relics from the village's history. A plough blade, a… Newspaper? A shoe and a brick. No remains from living creatures. We more or less skipped over this sort of building in the other settlements we visited, but this isn't a unique thing. This is part of their culture. Probably not worldwide, as their transportation networks weren't advanced enough to enable that level of cultural uniformity. But certainly over a good chunk of this contin-

...That just makes the loss of the stories behind these exhibits all the sadder. Why these things? Who decided on them? How long has each been displayed? Oh, I'm sure each has a plaque containing some details, but they rarely cover everything.

"Yaaaaaaaaghuh!"

-ent.

...Okay, that was notable.

"I'm not detecting anyone, but that wasn't a recording."

"You have point."

Ooh, you got a live one there? Be careful, they might be desperate.

Let's… See. The entrances to the crypt proper appear to be marked in terms of date ranges. I can't tell where the voice came from using sonic scans alone. Solid rock conveys sound too well. Most recent remains are interred through there, and we wanted to check there anyway.

I fly through the entrance and into the crypt.

Which probably isn't going to do much for the nerves of anyone inside...

...Well, that was unexpected. I wonder who might be down there, or how many. It is impressive that they've survived the... Years? Since Kalmin did his thing. I wonder if he even considered the possibility of survivors, or cared about it. At any rate, I suppose we'll get to find out more tomorrow. Wonder if it'll start off with a bang or not...

Darko · Feb 12, 2023

Chojin Patriarch said:
Who'd keep writing even as they're in danger of dying?

Someone that wants their last thoughts to be made known.

Chojin Patriarch said:
To be fair, would you want someone capable of this running around where you couldn't keep an eye on them?

A good way to fix that would be to kill the person.

Chojin Patriarch said:
That is a good point, even after altering her brain to be more compassionate back when she had the Ring in hand, she's never been this...

Even when she was working for Ras she could tell herself that Ras wasn't going for full genocide and that his intentions were somewhat noble.

Kalmin did go full genocide and he did it just because someone asked him to make a ring.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Since once the soul has left the body, it's just matter, I suppose? And most funerary practices are more for the ones left behind than for the deceased....

Though the soul still has a connection to the body.

Chojin Patriarch said:
...Well, that was unexpected. I wonder who might be down there, or how many. It is impressive that they've survived the... Years? Since Kalmin did his thing. I wonder if he even considered the possibility of survivors, or cared about it. At any rate, I suppose we'll get to find out more tomorrow. Wonder if it'll start off with a bang or not...

My guess is some kind of ghost, since after everything that happened, a spirit being unable to pass on would make sense.

Or heck, maybe one of the locals absorbed the ambient fear and became an elemental.

Vaermina · Feb 12, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"You recruited Kalmin. You knew he'd.. done this, but you recruited him because you were worried about the Controllers."

"Not that it would have altered my decision, but I didn't know exactly what it had involved. And the Controllers used to destroy planets by using Sun Eaters to send their suns nova. With Kalmin, the choice was between killing him out of hand and keeping him where we could see him. Don't think that I think he's a good person just because I can stomach working with him."

Your daily reminder that an assassin now has a higher level of morality then LePaul.

Ngamer11 · Feb 12, 2023

Vaermina said:
Your daily reminder that an assassin now has a higher level of morality then LePaul.

Paul runs on a blue and orange scale morality that just so happens to mostly align with most black and white morality scales. As such, it can be difficult sometimes to determine how he will act or react in certain situations that an average human would consider morally gray.

Old Knife · Feb 12, 2023

Darko said:
.

Maybe it's a ghost.

Sounds like a potential recruit

Handlewithcare · Feb 12, 2023

What will Kalmin do if it turns out there is enough left to recreate the species?

Duke Long · Feb 12, 2023

Chojin Patriarch said:
Not surprising. Conventional technology like that only has so much memory space available for storage. Even for maltusian-designed technology. So the linguistic databases would likely be focused on cultures aligned to NEMO or under threat from the Reach...

I think it has more to do with the fact that this language was only used on part of a single primitive world in the antimatter universe which was wiped out before Jade's equipment was probably built, or maybe even designed. Even if they had unlimited storage space I'd be surprised if they included this language. I think the ring can read it because of absurd translation abilities, not because it has a record of the language.

Handlewithcare said:
What will Kalmin do if it turns out there is enough left to recreate the species?

I doubt he will do anything. He wiped them out for practical reasons, not religious ones (insofar as he does anything for non-religious reasons, anyway). Obviously he'll want to kill them eventually because he wants to kill everyone, but I doubt he'd really care if they got resurrected in the short term.

Darko · Feb 12, 2023

Duke Long said:
I doubt he will do anything. He wiped them out for practical reasons, not religious ones (insofar as he does anything for non-religious reasons, anyway). Obviously he'll want to kill them eventually because he wants to kill everyone, but I doubt he'd really care if they got resurrected in the short term.

I don't know.

The guy clearly has pride in his work, so some of them surviving could force him to finish what he started.

BR549 · Feb 12, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"It's odd. Kalmin had ships in orbit. He's definitely have known they were here

'He'd', I think.

Chojin Patriarch said:
It is impressive that they've survived the... Years? Since Kalmin did his thing. I wonder if he even considered the possibility of survivors, or cared about it.

Handlewithcare said:
What will Kalmin do if it turns out there is enough left to recreate the species?

Darko said:
I don't know.

The guy clearly has pride in his work, so some of them surviving could force him to finish what he started.

He has pride in his work - but he completed his work. He drove a world to death with fear, in order to craft a Yellow Power Ring for Sinestro, and craft a Yellow Power Ring he did.

Unless there's some really bizzare version of Bobblehead Malware on Sinestro's hardware, the ring isn't going to stop working, or even suffer degraded performance, just because somebody discovered that the planet was only 99.9999999999999% dead.

Mr Zoat · Feb 12, 2023

Darko said:
"He'd definitely"

Thank you, corrected.

Darko said:
Kalmin did go full genocide and he did it just because someone asked him to make a ring.

What, you think this is the only world someone who worships destruction destroyed?

mastermenthe · Feb 12, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Thank you, corrected.

What, you think this is the only world someone who worships destruction destroyed?

You know the audience is bird brained about what is seen.

Pez · Feb 12, 2023

Wasn't one of the reasons Paul recruited Kalmin was in the hope he could convince him to build something that could help save Alan's life? Kalmin couldn't do Green, but was able to do Blue. Or was all of that secondary reasoning to the whole 'possible Controller counter' idea? I always assumed it was a bit higher up the list. If it wasn't, then I really need to reevaluate the character. For me, one of Renegade's strongest scenes was him standing over Alan's grave, talking to Diana. He was slower in getting what he wanted to help Alan, but I'd argue that he took the far more difficult/dangerous route of going to Darkseid to acquire an old Green Lantern.

Steelplaza · Feb 12, 2023

Darko said:
Kalmin did go full genocide and he did it just because someone asked him to make a ring.

And what happened immediately before this story is that Paul asked him to make another ring.

Come to think about it, nobody asked a lot of questions about how Kalmin made the blue ring and lantern for Alan, did they? The assumption is that hey, it was hope, he couldn't have done anything too harmful right... right...? Right?

Of course, the easiest way to generate hope is to first generate despair and then give people a way out of it. Maybe Kalmin killed only half a world, and then he gave the other half hope for salvation. Sort of like if this village had known they were all going to die, and then a superhero came in and beat up the aliens destroying the world. Do you think Kalmin played the part of the "hero" himself, or did he have a robot do it?

Windona · Feb 12, 2023

Interesting. It's easy to shrug at evil teammate Kalmin, because sure he talks but in story we don't really see him commit atrocities. This really brings everything home. And it does seem interesting if there's a survivor.

It's also really fun to see Jade's character growth. This really isn't the reaction early s1 Jade would have had, but her reformation, growing compassion, and work with NEMO seems to have done her well. Hmm, I wonder if this is a hint she's growing past the point where the only thing she can do is fight. (She probably will always fight, but having more talents is always helpful)

Steelplaza said:
And what happened immediately before this story is that Paul asked him to make another ring.

Come to think about it, nobody asked a lot of questions about how Kalmin made the blue ring and lantern for Alan, did they? The assumption is that hey, it was hope, he couldn't have done anything too harmful right... right...? Right?

Of course, the easiest way to generate hope is to first generate despair and then give people a way out of it. Maybe Kalmin killed only half a world, and then he gave the other half hope for salvation. Sort of like if this village had known they were all going to die, and then a superhero came in and beat up the aliens destroying the world. Do you think Kalmin played the part of the "hero" himself, or did he have a robot do it?

Kalmin assumed Paul saved the world where women had their eyes gouged out solely to give him enough hope to make a ring. I assume that Hope is what he used to make the Blue Ring and lantern.

Darko · Feb 12, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
What, you think this is the only world someone who worships destruction destroyed?

mastermenthe said:
You know the audience is bird brained about what is seen.

Nope, I remember that he destoryed more than one world.

Heck, it was mentioned that the work on the Anti-Green ring killed several civilizations.

I was pointing out that Kalmin is a lot worse than a lot of the other people Jade has worked for.

Windona said:
Kalmin assumed Paul saved the world where women had their eyes gouged out solely to give him enough hope to make a ring. I assume that Hope is what he used to make the Blue Ring and lantern.

That's it.

Shotiegun11 · Feb 12, 2023

Unaligned Malthusians seem to get off hand mentioned a lot, but I'd like to see actual effort put into talking to them, and trying to get at least some of them working in other Colors of the Emotional Spectrum. Like, that's been mentioned have a dozen times I feel but nothings really been done on that front.

Or go talk to the Zamorans again at least, after calling ahead and turning off Soul-O-Vision.

Cheiromancer · Feb 12, 2023

I stopped following this story sometime ago, and recently started up again. Is "Fear Ourself" part of the main story line, or is it about the adventures of an alt-Paul?

And is there a wiki or some other source that lets one follow a complete thread? I like the Xenopsychology storyline - I would like to know if there are earlier story arcs in the same universe.

mastermenthe · Feb 12, 2023

Shotiegun11 said:
Unaligned Malthusians seem to get off hand mentioned a lot, but I'd like to see actual effort put into talking to them, and trying to get at least some of them working in other Colors of the Emotional Spectrum. Like, that's been mentioned have a dozen times I feel but nothings really been done on that front.

Or go talk to the Zamorans again at least, after calling ahead and turning off Soul-O-Vision.

Unaligned maltusians either live under rocks or have a willingness to delete unwanted visitors.

There are the rare criminal exiles, too, but that would alienate the Controllers and put Paul in range of a Krona-lite Maltusian.

RoninSword · Feb 12, 2023

Cheiromancer said:
I stopped following this story sometime ago, and recently started up again. Is "Fear Ourself" part of the main story line, or is it about the adventures of an alt-Paul?

And is there a wiki or some other source that lets one follow a complete thread? I like the Xenopsychology storyline - I would like to know if there are earlier story arcs in the same universe.

Fear Ourself is part of the main Paul storyline.

There are other Warhammer 40k chapters out there but I do believe you have to manually find them. If you search by the Warhammer dating system with Mr Zoat as the author you will likely find them in the story only thread.

Duke Long · Feb 12, 2023

mastermenthe said:
Unaligned maltusians either live under rocks or have a willingness to delete unwanted visitors.

There are the rare criminal exiles, too, but that would alienate the Controllers and put Paul in range of a Krona-lite Maltusian.

Nah, I'm pretty sure there are a whole bunch just walking around on Maltus. Maybe as many as a couple dozen. I think I remember that Paragon actually ran into one randomly. The problem is more that they have their own projects and they're pretty self-absorbed, I think.

Darko · Feb 12, 2023

mastermenthe said:
Unaligned maltusians either live under rocks or have a willingness to delete unwanted visitors.

There are thousands, possibly millions of unaligned maltusians on Maltus.

The problem is that they may not necessarily focus on Light Spectrum tech, or their payment may be a bit too great and out of there.

RoninSword · Feb 12, 2023

Paul originally freaked out about Maltus having a multi million (billion?) population, wondering aloud if there were indeed that many Controllers. The Darkstar agent corrected him that the majority of the population was Clickers, with the Controllers being like, 30ish members. Paul did run into an un-aligned Maltusian but I think it was just seeing them in the crowd?

Someguy Somewhere · Feb 12, 2023

Cheiromancer said:
I stopped following this story sometime ago, and recently started up again. Is "Fear Ourself" part of the main story line, or is it about the adventures of an alt-Paul?

And is there a wiki or some other source that lets one follow a complete thread? I like the Xenopsychology storyline - I would like to know if there are earlier story arcs in the same universe.

It's a bit out of date at times, but someone around here still runs a wiki for all this.

http://wtr.greenmaw.com/wiki/Omake_Index

but I think the best list we have that is recent would be a post back here

https://forum.questionablequesting....i-thread-fourteen.8938/page-1336#post-4478265

Coda · Feb 13, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
accepted in our lungs; that we will die

Either : or , instead of ;

Someguy Somewhere said:
It's a bit out of date at times, but someone around here still runs a wiki for all this.

That would be me. Hi! But I knew when I started that project that I wasn't going to be able to keep up with it by myself. I'm still accepting volunteers!

Mr Zoat · Feb 13, 2023

20th January 2013
12:52 GMT

Desiccated corpses with small cups next to their shelves are arrayed near the entrance. Then there's a gap before the older remains, probably because they were sleeping here and didn't see the point in walking further than they had to. Several of the shelves had bits of bedding in with them, blankets or pillows or wind-up clocks. There's a residue of poison in the cups, and after calculating the likely result on the natives' physiology I find myself agreeing with my golden alter-ego: carbon monoxide really is the way to go.

The crypt is built into the stone of the mountain, and while the outer museum was a relatively normal room the crypt itself is bare stone. No decoration, but it does have oil lanterns hanging from the ceiling to light the way. They've long since gone out, reservoirs expended. For a moment I wonder where they got the oil from, but I suppose that it wouldn't be strange for communities like this to ship in a barrel a year or so.

I move deeper, Jade watching the flanks. Side passages are more crypts, but they don't have any markings so I've got no idea if they're for families or years or professions or… Whatever they considered most significant. Further in and the passages-.

"Stop."

I stop, attack constructs ready to go at a moment's notice.

"The walls. They weren't made with the same tools."

I take a closer look… Yes. This continent was early to mid twentieth century equivalent in terms of technology. This was done with something else, something they couldn't have built, either a plasma cutter or a matter disruptor.

"Kalmin wouldn't have left a test subject alive. But it's not that hard to come here if you know where you're going. There's no reason to assume that we're the first ones here."

I continue deeper. Something else that stands out: Kalmin wouldn't have bothered to copy local styles, whereas whoever did this clearly has. There are empty shelves, their design similar to but not quite the same as the ones the locals use. And there are bodies, but they're placed sporadically while the locals filled up spaces before moving on.

Alert.

Standard scan didn't spot it, but sonic and electrical sensors working together detected a spatial fracture system. Nasty if you walk into it, but the generator node… Should be…

I release the Colin Thornton construct lantern and send it onward. It marches into the fracture zone, which triggers and begins altering the relationship between spatial dimensions in its radius. Colin returns to my ring instantly, but I'm braced and prepared for the storm of horrifying images that come with seeing his memories and behaviours. I release and dispatch him again to the same result, and again-.

The spatial fracture generator stutters, a problem with hiding a power hungry system from a sufficiently capable attacker. Colin flies through during the flux with only some damage, and tears apart the generator with his bare hands.

"Dismissed."

He vanishes, and after another scan I advance into the area it was covering.

"Would that send an alert?"

"Probably. Nothing I can detect, so we're dealing with someone clever rather than opportunistic looters."

Scanners and mental acceleration on full I move forward, alert for-

"Nurnnurnnurnnurn…"

-any sign of danger to us. Nothing, and we're in a crypt cul-de-sac-. And from the way that dust cloud is moving I can tell that's a hologram.

I short it out, and-.

Plasma fire from a device built into the ceiling hits my force field and achieves precisely nothing, while my spear construct punches through its weak armour and cuts off its power supply. Hm. So far it looks like the technology here is advanced, but the application is a little slapdash. Someone with little field experience?

Other force fields or guns? Looks like no. I push on-

Scan available.

-into the room, construct tentacles snaking out and seizing control of the main computer system. Sadly it's not tied into anything other than the… Containment unit? But I stop the automatic subject purge countdown anyway.

The subject-. A dishevelled humanoid. Male. He's wearing a plug suit-. No, a bio-monitor suit, but his hair and beard are scraggly and I can see blood around his mouth.

And fear. So much fear.

The other equipment… Some of it looks a little like Kalmin's forge. Other parts look like the more mundane parts of his workshop. A Weaponer, then. Someone out of favour with Varnathon? Or just trying to hide a secret workshop away from prying eyes.

The computer doesn't have records on it. Because what sort of Weaponer wouldn't be able to just remember things like that?

The containment chamber is a custom job, and I don't think that it's designed to let things pass in or out easily. I could break through with a little effort, but I think it's best to get a better idea of what's going on first. The man inside doesn't look bound in any way, he's just sort of curled up against the side of the chamber.

And there's the speak-.

Wait. I know that face. DNA scan-.

I activate the speaker.

"Orange Lantern Illustres here." His head doesn't come up. "Can you hear me?"

"Eh-heh-heh-huuuu…"

Cowering and gibbering. Okay. If I understand this machine correctly, then pulling this lever and turning these dials should reduce the focus on the chamber interior.

"I think the Weaponer who set this place up was trying to focus the residual fear energy through this man."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure. Perhaps they were trying to make him into an ideal Yellow Lantern? Or just to see what would happen."

"Where did they get a human?" … "Don't tell me-."

"There's an anti-matter Earth. I mean an Earth Negative Sixteen. I don't actually know if he's from there."

"But you don't think he's from our Earth. You've scanned him."

"Yes. Hello in there! Are you feeling any better?"

"Hu-ur-huh?"

His head comes up slightly, his mind still filled with fear but regaining the capacity for coherent thought.

"I'm happy to remove you from this planet just as soon as we can get some idea how safe that is for you. Can you tell me your name, sir?"

He manages to make eye contact for a moment, then they drop back down again. I'm not sure if all that I'm seeing in him is fear because it's so strong that it's overwhelming, or because that's all there is left.

"W-where is she?"

"I don't know who you're talking about, sir. As far as I know, the three of us are the only people on the planet."

"No-no-no-no-no."

"Can you tell me your name?"

He manages to get up on his hands and knees, still cringing and unwilling to meet my eyes.

"Joseph. Joseph Harrolds."

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

Welp

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