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

[Ardy]

Ah, it's like we never left SV

 

[Austin Pharos]

Yup, Power Rings might be advanced hardware wise, but software wise, at least by the standard of a civ that can build real, non-insane murderbot AI, they are kind of pathetic.

On that note, we know the Malthusians are a lot less advanced when it comes to software then when it comes to hardware.

Case in point, their attempt at making AI, was the rather pathetic Manhunters.

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To my astonishment, this is yet another sensible point. Who are you and what have you done with the Vaermina we know all know and detest??!

 

[TheMidnightRook]

Have... Have you read worm?

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I've been working my way through it.

Delaying the apocalypse is a bad thing, as the parahuman community is at the peak of its power of being able to fight back if it happens then. Past that, the parahuman community reaches critical mass and starts self destructing, with parahumans dying faster than they can become adept at using their powers.

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Do you have a citation for that?

 

[Information era]

Im too tired to look through it, but essentially cauldron was driven partly by a paranoia that they might have regretted not taking a step which could have helped during gold morning, even if it was pretty evil, such as experimenting on the case 53's. This includes letting the siberian exist as a bodygaurd for jack and making gold morning happen in two years rather than 15 because of concerns over decreasing parahuman population.

Essentially 2013 was their strongest point in time, with the later years causing increasing loss of power.

Yeah, while terminus project says that eventually everyone would have powers, in the max 15 year timeframe, 2013 was the best bet.

 

[Darko]

I am left to wonder something with these side stories. Is Mr. Zoat setting up a future storyline like with the "Crisis of Infinite Paul's".

I could see some Hero from another Parallel going from Universe to Universe trying to kill all the Paul's, assuming they are all evil. Then finding OL Paul Prime (or Gravyen) he attacks and they get into a fight where OL has to talk his way out of things. Then; OL Paul, Chinese Paul (formerly Time Trapper), Gold Lantern (formerly Anti-Green), and Gravyen (because I still want OL to meet Gravyen) are all forced to join forces against an evil coalition of Evil Pauls to try to save the Multiverse from his/their tyranny.

A time-skip is likely in the near-to-mid future, this would keep Paul away from Universe-16 long enough for the Reach to get to Earth.

Or I am reading to much into things like usual.

Side note, I had to catch up a bit so I am late to the party. I am so excited to see OL talking to Kori about getting her a Blue Lantern. That would be amazing, and she would be officially duel wielding different colored power rings before OL. Maybe later her sister (Komand'r) will get a Red Lantern because, well I do enjoy some chaos from time-to-time.

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Interesting theory about that multiversal Paul fight.

After seeing Tangseid and now this whole multiversal traveling thing I can see something like that happening.

Kori may only wield the blue ring if she gets one, since dual wielding two different colored power rings isn't exactly all that easy and it may lead to trouble in mastering either ring.

Paul may also be hesitant in making a Red Ring due to the extreme rage they provoke in their wielders. He can at least control orange rings to stop their wielders.

Rather like that time that Static made Stewart a Lightning Lantern for a minute in Static Shock, although Zoat ignored that incident so that this story doesn't have Peter Wynn Lightning Lantern.

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One of the reasons Zoat is writing all these alternates is to show us what the SI would have done under different circumstances, and Peter is to show us how he would have been like if he lacked a ring charge and used his money to improve the world.

The reason Peter didn't seek out Static to give his ring a charge could be because he doesn't remember him and that he can charge rings.

The Static show seemed to be set in the JL animated universe, and the versions lose knowledge of the specific universe they are in.

Even if that wasn't the case, Peter was sent several years before Static began so he could have forgotten about him and the ring charging thing, and that's assuming he watched Static in the first place.

He may also not want a fully charged ring due to the risks.

First of all, I typed shit about copying magic, the discussion was about being able to deduce what unknown phenomena can or cannot do after observation.

Second of all, absence of evidence is an argument from ignorance.

Third, Zoat goes by the mention in Hellblazer that anyone can learn magic, that it's a skill anyone can learn. So claiming they can't figure it out is in fact antithetical to Zoat's magic system.

Fourth, the idea that magic would work the same in every universe is silly, and thankfully this story showed that wasn't the case when it was mentioned that BtVS magic wasn't compatible. Why this story has BtVS magic not be compatible but pretends like MLP works the same makes absolutely no damn sense whatsoever, but that's neither here nor there.

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Paul told Knight that anyone can learn magic, yes, but that could mean that anyone from Earth 16 could do it, and not say a giant eldritch thing like Zion.

Paul also said something that Constantine said, and that's not exactly a guarantee.

Dr Mist said that a Martian may have trouble adapting to Earth's magic system.

Paul also couldn't learn to do magic until he got a soul.

So no, claiming that someone can't figure out how to do magic doesn't really go against the magic system Zoat set up in his story.

There are many, many universes where in order to use magic you typically have to be born with it, and no amount of training is going to let you use it if you weren't born with it.

And there are universe, like Paul's original, where magic doesn't exist. Zion and his kind could have come from one such universe.

There actually are some differences between MLP magic and Earth 16 magic, as I think I remember Sunset mentioning that magic from her world is more 'orderly' because of the whole friendship magic thing. So there are some differences.

I'm going to caveat this with the disclaimer that I am not familiar in the least with Worm, it's creator or his other works. I've got nothing to add on all the talk on that side of the arguments going on.

My issue is thus: Why does Lord Protector care about this earth?

OOC we know it's Zoat having a poke at a new setting and seeing what happens. I'm talking what does This Paul think he's actually doing.

I mean, when last we left him, he'd just been returned to Thundera, proposed to his lady fair, and was settling in for the long slog of pacifying the planet and creating a lantern. This is much further down his timeline, as mentioned by Zoat. He seems to have accomplished his earlier goals to some degree or another since he's got a full magitech power armor setup with a Lantern and passing references to Thundera and Mum-Rama would imply that much. So what's the new goal?

There had been some mention in his story that once he'd gotten the tech base, he'd go exploring for other races that had been subjected to Mum-ra's evils, but unless the Worm universe is even stranger then what's been implied by others here, this earth is not located in that same part of the multiverse.

Lord Protector had to either actively look for a way to jump universes, or someone else tossed him into Worm. If the latter I could understand him starting in on setting up shop in an effort to go home, but nothing much in his POV seems to come off as any desperate rush back to Thundera, or Earth Prime.

So, assuming he chose to poke around the multiverse on his own, got a look in at (one of?) the Worm Earth(s), Why stick around?

It's a shithole in a multiverse FULL of shitholes, and someone more optimistic or caring might want to stop in and fix it. But Lord Protector has no dogs (or Cats!) in this fight, and doesn't appear to have a higher objective at the moment to seek. He's just stepped in because he can, but I don't see what would have prompted his bothering to involve himself.

Once you've got a degree of multiversal travel, the many earths you'd see could be like flipping channels on TV. Don't like what you see, keep going, bound to be something interesting eventually.

This may be further down his timeline, but from the implications of his talks, it's the first time he's encountered 'superheros' out in the wild, so even if he's hit a few other planets in his Cat universe, or a few other Earths in the multiverse, he's not yet encountered the spandex types.

About the only attraction I can see is that is AN Earth, with people that are (more or less) human like him. If it's the first one he's run across there might be SOME level of attraction, but the man is Fear Enlightened, sure he still has other emotions, but the only reason I can think he'd want to stay around was if there was someone or thing he NEEDED, or just to hang around the HUGE amounts of fear this place would generate.

I'm just sort of left scratching my head and looking for what his end goal is, because without that context his current methods just don't quite line up as logical to me.

Compare and contrast Renegades visit to the Justice Lords for 'Paul ends up some place shitty AFTER getting OP', Because I'd sort of expect, if not quite the same level of theatrics, a similar mindset of figuring out how the place works and how to make it work better within the bounds of what the locals will except.

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It's possible that LP just couldn't stand the civilization on Earth Bet and decided to fix it in his own way.

Other universes may be prettier, but they probably don't require fixing.

 

[Lurking Shade]

Do you have a citation for that?

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They do not, unless it's a WOG. There is the fanon idea that Cauldron didn't end Jack before the end of the world because the endbringers were killing more capes than they were creating, but if LP is killing them too then it's fine.

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27.2 has Number Man estimate that in 14 years, the max time for Scion going off according to Dinahs precog, theyd have anywhere between 53% to 2% of the available forces they had when Jack set him off so considered it happening when it did a best case scenario.

You knew," I said, interrupting Weld's angry monologue about Cauldron's monstrous parahumans. I spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. I didn't care anymore. "You knew Scion would do this?"

Doctor Mother looked my way. "Yes."

"And you did nothing. You stood back and you let this happen," I said. I was aware that every set of eyes in the room was on me.

"It's better that this happens now. From what we know- and I do want to express that I'm eager to compare notes with the other parties- it was inevitable. Now or later, Scion was going to go rogue. If we waited until a decade had passed, we might not have the numbers or the powers we have now."

"You knew," I repeated myself, staring at her. "We could have put this off. Bought ourselves time to deal with other crises, to find an answer, a way to stop him or…"

I trailed off, lost for words. To stop him. That's enough.

"We did try," the Doctor said. "We offered as much assistance as we could without hamstringing ourselves for the next part of this."

The Number Man spoke, "All of the statistics point to a decline in population over the ensuing few years. We were already in the midst of the breaking point. You experienced much of that yourself, Undersiders. Enough capes in one place, and it becomes the equivalent of nitro waiting to blow. Brockton Bay wasn't managed quite so well as other clusters like New York or New Delhi."

...

"No," the Number Man said, and he managed to sound only a little condescending. "I'm saying that parahumans as a whole are chain reactions waiting to happen, and we were already approaching a critical point. Every year, the percentage of parahumans in the population increases. At that same time, the odds of a cataclysmic event happening somewhere are increasing steadily. Imagine a situation like the Echidna event that turned out more unfavorably, or a Nilbog who wasn't content to stay in one place. We have the blasphemies, Sleeper, and the Ash Beast, even the Slaughterhouse Nine, all as living examples of this concept at work. The world already stood on a precipice, and I'm not even mentioning the Endbringers in all of this."

I glanced at the blasphemies. They hadn't moved an inch, even as they were mentioned.

The Number Man paused. "There was an exceedingly good chance that we would have only sixty-six to twenty-five percent of the forces available if we waited ten years."

"Fourteen years from now was the breaking point," Dinah spoke up.

"Fifty-three to two percent of the forces available, then," Number Man responded.

"Yes," the Doctor said. "We weren't helping it along, but we're not overly upset. In fact, we consider this a best case scenario."

...

"A poor choice of words," the Doctor said. "What I mean to say is that a very large number of powerful capes remain active and alive, ready to combat the threat...

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[Information era]

That still leads to the problem that unless LP is massively more powerful than the combined justice league, he is doing much more harm than good all because he is jumping into it without taking more than 5 seconds to research what the problem actually is.

Ah, thank you rani.

 

[Vaermina]

We are focusing on Scion.

But there's another problem, the Third Entity.

That thing is still around the local cluster somewhere, and if LP starts throwing around unknown high energy reactions, it very well might come and investigate.

 

[Gilhelmi]

Paul may also be hesitant in making a Red Ring due to the extreme rage they provoke in their wielders. He can at least control orange rings to stop their wielders.

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Oh, Paul would outright refuse to get her a Red Ring. I was imagining Atrocitus getting involved at some point........

ALL HAIL ERIS!

 

[Information era]

Does anyone have anything to say about the really off characterization of LP? Killing when he doesn't need to, jumping into a situation without doing research, etc? Does anyone have a counterpoint or does this stand?

 

[Darko]

That still leads to the problem that unless LP is massively more powerful than the combined justice league, he is doing much more harm than good all because he is jumping into it without taking more than 5 seconds to research what the problem actually is.

Ah, thank you rani.

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How is he supposed to figure out that there is a apocalypse coming to this world by a giant eldritch alien when that most likely isn't in any database?

And no, somehow being able to see where the powers come from doesn't indicate that there is a eldritch monster trying to destroy everything.

It may indicate that there is a monster, but not that it is trying to kill them

Does anyone have anything to say about the really off characterization of LP? Killing when he doesn't need to, jumping into a situation without doing research, etc? Does anyone have a counterpoint or does this stand?

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We didn't really get much characterization on him aside from the fact that he can be brutal, but fair, when punishing criminals.

We know he can still love people even if he's more reserved that the other Paul's.

That's about it.

Oh, Paul would outright refuse to get her a Red Ring. I was imagining Atrocitus getting involved at some point........

ALL HAIL ERIS!

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Atrocitus may appear around year 6, at leas that's what it says on the TV Tropes trivia page

 

[Vaermina]

Does anyone have anything to say about the really off characterization of LP? Killing when he doesn't need to, jumping into a situation without doing research, etc? Does anyone have a counterpoint or does this stand?

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To be fair Paul's biggest problem has always been his Pride.

So it's pretty easy to imagine how, with a Power Ring and nothing around to check him, that Pride could lead to the giant God Complex we see with the Lord Protector.

 

[Someguy Somewhere]

It's possible that LP just couldn't stand the civilization on Earth Bet and decided to fix it in his own way.

Other universes may be prettier, but they probably don't require fixing.

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I can understand that in part, but there is just a lack of forethought I think shown in LP's approach here. Near as everyone he's encountered thus far, he's a brand new player in the game, and his introduction is cold brutal murder, yes of people that might have had it coming, but even his own study shows significant gaps in information and judgment. He knows very little about anyone he's killed, he has a basic understanding of the power structures in place but not enough to recognize key players without ring reference.

There doesn't seem to have been a build up, a strategic or tactical plan set in motion, no moves to get local allies or resources. Very much out of character for all the other SI's we've seen thus far.

As Paragon mentioned during his first trip to to see the Controllers, "Start as you mean to go on"

LP is starting his visit to this earth with a spree killing, and by every indication intends to go on.

Despite having access to the data Paragon gave on weapons (he calls out the cold gun) which likely had less lethal options, or even more basic lantern attacks that don't use bloody ANTI MATTER in a civilian area.

I've got no issue with the character killing targets quickly and effectively when called for...but few of these targets are actually a threat to him....he could have dropped them on a preconstructed robot operated prison on the moon a touch of effort and foresight. Study of their powers would have been something that Grayven or OL would have jumped on as part of the tech revolution they depend on.

Unless there is an objective in killing quickly and cleanly beyond the obvious, I think LP is a lot closer to his statement of 'delusions of utility' comment then I think we're giving credit for.

 

[Doccer]

Mr Zoat, (In case it goes unnoticed) Vaermina raises the point that Thomas Calvert is not the director at this point in time. Emily Piggot is, and Calvert is an advisor.

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"I had been under the impression that superhumans were prohibited from holding positions of authority in the Parahuman Response Team. Does that just apply to directors?"

I've reread that passage and while it can be taken that way Mr Zoat could have meant that only Directors can't be parahumans but employees under the director could be?

 

[Lurking Shade]

We are focusing on Scion.

But there's another problem, the Third Entity.

That thing is still around the local cluster somewhere, and if LP starts throwing around unknown high energy reactions, it very well might come and investigate.

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Not quite. Sint have time to quote it like the last bit since its late at night but iirc Abaddon was heading in a different direction.

Spoiler: Ward

The real problem is the Simurgh wants to salvage the Cycle for another Entity to pick up, while only killing Scion without totally wiping the Shards leads to them individually trying to abort the Cycle and blow the planet to reform eventually.

Without tearing open portals thatll probably be delayed a lot.

 

[Darko]

To be fair Paul's biggest problem has always been his Pride.

So it's pretty easy to imagine how, with a Power Ring and nothing around to check him, that Pride could lead to the giant God Complex we see with the Lord Protector.

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He's bit arrogant at worst, he doesn't exactly have a god complex.

I can understand that in part, but there is just a lack of forethought I think shown in LP's approach here. Near as everyone he's encountered thus far, he's a brand new player in the game, and his introduction is cold brutal murder, yes of people that might have had it coming, but even his own study shows significant gaps in information and judgment. He knows very little about anyone he's killed, he has a basic understanding of the power structures in place but not enough to recognize key players without ring reference.

There doesn't seem to have been a build up, a strategic or tactical plan set in motion, no moves to get local allies or resources. Very much out of character for all the other SI's we've seen thus far.

As Paragon mentioned during his first trip to to see the Controllers, "Start as you mean to go on"

LP is starting his visit to this earth with a spree killing, and by every indication intends to go on.

Despite having access to the data Paragon gave on weapons (he calls out the cold gun) which likely had less lethal options, or even more basic lantern attacks that don't use bloody ANTI MATTER in a civilian area.

I've got no issue with the character killing targets quickly and effectively when called for...but few of these targets are actually a threat to him....he could have dropped them on a preconstructed robot operated prison on the moon a touch of effort and foresight. Study of their powers would have been something that Grayven or OL would have jumped on as part of the tech revolution they depend on.

Unless there is an objective in killing quickly and cleanly beyond the obvious, I think LP is a lot closer to his statement of 'delusions of utility' comment then I think we're giving credit for.

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He may not want to waste resources on criminals that have broken the law multiple times.

He did come from a place that lacked those initially and it probably influenced his mentality.

 

[Information era]

In the thundercats universe, LP spelled out that he was brutal because of necessity. He didn't have a fast way to charge his power ring and his encampment did not have anywhere near the resources it needed. But now, he is being brutal even when he could capture and hand off to prisons.

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th April
15:48 GMT -6

"Oh?" Alan smiles at Lantern Koriand'r. "I hadn't realise you spoke English."

"Yes!" Koriand'r is.. just about keeping herself from jumping up and down in excitement. Which is probably just as well, because her top doesn't look very supportive and Alan's not a young man. "Tamaraneans can learn languages by touching people!"

"Ah." Alan frowns in puzzlement. "How does that work?"

"I have no idea!"

Alan raises an eyebrow in my direction, but I just shake my head as well.

"My best guess is that it's a modification the psions made to X'Hal so that they wouldn't have to learn her language, but I've got no idea how it operates."

I've got Lantern Koriand'r's ring in my pocket, along with former Lantern Comic King's. I suppose that instead of keeping it to issue to someone else I could just give it to Koriand'r to extend her battery life-. No, no, Komand'r would hate that, and the two of them are cooperating reasonably well at the moment.

"Guess we.. might as well get started."

Alan gently removes his ring from his middle left finger and hesitantly holds it out to her.

"Now, be careful. I know-"

Koriand'r doesn't grab it, but I can see the effort it's taking.

"-that you're used to using an orange ring, but from what I can tell it's a whole lot less… Direct, I guess."

He takes a breath. Understandable, really. I think this is the first time he'll have been without it on since I gave it to him. And while he might accept death as an old man, I imagine that having your vitality renewed encourages a person to reconsider the matter.

"But flying's pretty intuitive, so-" He offers her his ring. "-if you wanna take it for a spin, go right ahea-"

Koriand'r plucks it from his hand and slides it onto her left ring finger, a wave of blue flowing over her outfit and replacing the orange sigil with a blue one.

"-d."

Koriand'r beams excitedly as she floats into the air.

Alan nods. "You seem to be getting the hang of-"

Koriand'r turns her head towards the western horizon and then she's gone.

"-things…" Alan turns to the west and watches the glowing trail. "Is she coming back?"

"Yes, but I suppose that answers the question of which colour suits her best."

"You sure you can't get her another blue ring?"

"Sure? No. I'll definitely be asking Kalmin about it after we're finished, but…" Hm. "You know that Lanterns are perfectly capable of making new-"

He's shaking his head.

"-rings, right?"

"I don't… Can Gardner do that?"

"I… Don't know, actually. I haven't asked."

"He doesn't seem like the sort of fellow who'd be slow to tell you if he'd learned to do something he thinks you can't do." He frowns slightly. "You can't, right?"

"I haven't yet. I probably can. But… I can get as many orange power rings as I want, and I can't make a new ring without already having a ring. Making a lantern is useful because I can do it when I have some charge but don't have access to my personal lantern, which is.. why I learned to make one."

"So you can't coach me."

I shrug. "Sorry."

"Oh, no. It could be an interesting change of pace. You know, back in the forties, Ted asked me how my ring worked. I guess he thought I made it myself."

I frown. "Ted Grant, or-."

Alan shakes his head. "No, no, Knight. I let him run a few tests, but we didn't really learn anything." He shakes his head. "After that, I just figured it was beyond human science."

"And now?"

"I'm only just getting back into this whole thing. Kinda awkward asking Diana to explain how the League's computer equipment works."

"Why?"

"When she first came to the US, Jay and I ended up showing her how a whole lot of things worked. She's nice about it, but I can tell she's enjoying the role reversal."

"I thought that was Major Trevor's job?"

"He was her official… Liaison, but I think half the reason for that was because the army didn't know if everyone else on Themyscira was as strong as her so they wanted to be a bit careful. He sure couldn't go with her on missions or train with her or anything." He looks away for a moment. "Hah!"

"What?"

"Oh, I just remembered the first time Hank had a practice bout with her. He got his-" Alan points to his right forearm. "-arm bent in half. Diana was horrified because she didn't know it was a prosthetic."

"Was he alright?"

"Oh, he made a joke out of it! Got hold of a regular uniform and started pranking some of the…" He glances down, his smile fading slightly. "Some of the kids. Pretending it was his real arm."

Yeah. The thing about hitting ninety is that a good few of 'the kids' have probably predeceased you.

"Oh, hey, are you alright about the big.. starfish thing? Guy said he was going to talk to you…"

"I'm not shy about killing people who deserve it. But I'd rather not kill people when there's a reasonable alternative, and I really don't want to kill someone-. Something that doesn't deserve it." I shake my head. "With the Star Conquerors, I've seen their records. I know what they do and how dangerous they are. But the Mother Star didn't even seem that hostile. I can't reconcile the desires I saw with their recorded behaviour, and that… That makes me uncomfortable that it died on my mission."

"So what did it want?"

"In the short term it wanted dreams to feed on. Or.. possibly watch or experience. I'm not sure. I mean, it was capable of complex behaviour… I don't even really know why the Star Hunters were digging it out. And I don't really think that the Green Lantern Corps is going to continue with an investigation."

"So? You want to go to Oa and talk to them about that?"

"No. It's not worth it just because I'd like a 'clean' ending. If we follow up with-."

A beaming Lantern Koriand'r appears, carrying three large teddy bears and a bicycle.

"I like this ring very much!"

 

[Darko]

In the thundercats universe, LP spelled out that he was brutal because of necessity. He didn't have a fast way to charge his power ring and his encampment did not have anywhere near the resources it needed. But now, he is being brutal even when he could capture and hand off to prisons.

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Prisons that they've escaped from.

He may also not consider it important to hand off multiple offenders to prison

 

[Information era]

He may not want to waste resources on criminals that have broken the law multiple times.

He did come from a place that lacked those initially and it probably influenced his mentality.

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My point exactly, HE IS NO LONGER IN THAT PLACE, HE NOW HAS RESOURCES TO SPARE.

Also, no one has escaped the birdcage. His only concern would be getting the legal system to accept them being imprisoned in the birdcage. He could probably shove them in there himself and they would have no way to get out in any case.

 

[Darko]

the air."

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just 'the air' without "

My point exactly, HE IS NO LONGER IN THAT PLACE, HE NOW HAS RESOURCES TO SPARE.

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HE MAY NOT WANT TO SPARE THEM FOR REPEAT OFFENDERS.

 

[cereal_lurker]

"Yes, but I suppose that answers the question of which colour suits her best."

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Yes. My question has been answered. Thank you

 

[Gilhelmi]

I admit it, I "Squelled" with joy when Kori put on the Blue Ring. It suits her well.

Blue is such a lovely color.

 

[Darko]

Maybe this episode will be about her getting used to the ring.

 

[Whenever Possible]

Never change, Koriand'r.

 

[Information era]

HE MAY NOT WANT TO SPARE THEM FOR REPEAT OFFENDERS.

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It doesn't fit in with his previously established characterization. If his previous rational was being brutal because he had to be, but is now being brutal even when he doesnt have to be, it implies that he was lying about being brutal only because he had to be.

 

[Darko]

It doesn't fit in with his previously established characterization. If his previous rational was being brutal because he had to be, but is now being brutal even when he doesnt have to be, it implies that he was lying about being brutal only because he had to be.

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No, not really.

Yes he was brutal because he had to be, but he hasn't exactly become some sadistic bastard that enjoys pain and suffering.

He probably doesn't consider it important enough to be nice and helpful to people that are harming civilization, like criminals tend to do.

He's also being brutal to the worst offenders right now and not every single criminal that crosses his path.

 

[PDV]

My point exactly, HE IS NO LONGER IN THAT PLACE, HE NOW HAS RESOURCES TO SPARE

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And he has years and possibly decades of practice being a necessary dictator handing out draconian justice, and it working. Of course when he enters another world and finds it to be even more of a mess - technologically more advanced, but a bigger mess nonetheless - he isn't going to look too hard for alternatives.

Also, no one has escaped the birdcage.

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Many, however, have repeatedly escaped being sentenced to the Birdcage. Sometimes multiple times, like Hookwolf.

...Bolas? Against someone you just saw perform a precision bombardment remotely? Lord Protector's opinion of Armsy just dropped hard. Not that it had far to go to hit rock bottom.

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Colin's smart; that was probably pro forma with no actual intention of succeeding.

 

[Information era]

And he has years and possibly decades of practice being a necessary dictator handing out draconian justice, and it working. Of course when he enters another world and finds it to be even more of a mess - technologically more advanced, but a bigger mess nonetheless - he isn't going to look too hard for alternatives.

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That would mean that he never improved his kingdom, and that is at been stuck at a communist dictatorship with draconian laws for decades. That would be an example of him utterly failing to actually uplift the society.

 

[Mr Zoat]

just 'the air' without "

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Thank you, corrected.