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

[NullVoid]

Favorite book, favorite music, favorite color... Life is too short and neurons too finite to waste on such things. How do I compare Agatha Christie's work to Tolkien's to Jules Verne's and to William Gibson's? The same goes for the several styles of music and colors depend on the mood you want and contrast to other colors around it.

 

[nogoodnames]

Good thing he asked about favourite novel instead of comic. Wonder how long it would be before we get crossover elements with Diskworld. I'm imagining this story written with elements of Pratchett's style, such as asides or similar bizzare situations or however that makes might work. Also what would an iced themed criminal favourite novel be Cat's Cradle for the ice jokes

 

[Enochi]

Hmm favorite book? Probably Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn.

Favorite fanfic? The Great Alicorn Hunt by R. H. Junior.

TGAH isn't even finished but I swear I reread it a couple times a year.

Of Terry Pratchett books Probably The Wee Free Men is my go to.

 

[Siskulous]

My favorite book series is probably either "The Dresden Files" or the "Suzumiya Haruhi" books honestly.

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I've not heard of Suzumiya Haruhi, but seconded on Dresden Files. If I had to pick one of the books it'd be a tough call between Dead Beat and Changes. I'm sure Sue would agree with Dead Beat.

 

[Khettien]

I read...voraciously. In spite of that, if you asked me for my favorite book, I'd have a hard time coming up with just one, because I don't really think of them like that - rather, I tend to judge them as better or worse, instead of best and worst. I especially don't really keep track of them, which I think may be one of the dividing lines between being a critic and a consumer.

I can, however, name my most hated (fictional) book - Moby Dick. God that book is dull.

 

[Ardy]

My favorite book is, legitimately and not sarcastically, A Practical Guide To Evil, but the looks I get whenever I tell people that makes me sad

 

[King of Frost]

I've not heard of Suzumiya Haruhi

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It's a series of Japanese light novels that the "Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi" anime is based on. It's an interesting series that unfortunately hasn't been updated in some time.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Hate to be the one to point it out, but...

...You missed one.

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Thank you, corrected.

Hmm favorite book? Probably Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn.

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Yeah, I remember when there was new Star Trek stuff I liked, too.

Favorite fanfic? The Great Alicorn Hunt by R. H. Junior.

TGAH isn't even finished but I swear I reread it a couple times a year.

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Windy City ruined it for me.

 

[Enochi]

Windy City ruined it for me.

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Huh really? Windy city was one of my favorite arcs. What did you dislike about it? Frankly I am just waiting for Hollow Shades to finally get going.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Huh really? Windy city was one of my favorite arcs. What did you dislike about it? Frankly I am just waiting for Hollow Shades to finally get going.

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All of the strawmanning. The author assuming that it wasn't necessary to justify the positions the character's he decided were 'right' took and his confrontational attitude to me when I politely asked about it.

If you liked it, let me ask you this: how did the mayor achieve his office?

 

[Idkusername]

My favorite book is, legitimately and not sarcastically, A Practical Guide To Evil, but the looks I get whenever I tell people that makes me sad

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Spoiler: My thoughts on why that is

It's been a while since I read it. From what I remember, it starts of really strong and it's first few arcs are really good. Then it slips from very awesome to very good, until the point where her mentor destroys the device thingy she needed to ascend to queendom or something.

It had set up in the in and out-of-universe narrative, and the sudden anti-climax in both would have been good if it was actually built upon. As it as, it just seemed a hilarious let down, and now that I think about it, may have been a way to maintain the status quo.

The breaking point for me was when her godhood was stolen from her - just like that. Woosh! aaaand it's gone. Do I really need to tell you why that was a spectacularly bad idea?

 

[Vaermina]

I couldn't finish Raising Steam. Snuff felt like generic fantasy, but Raising Steam was genuinely bad.

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Sorry but no, you don't get to claim a book is genuinely bad while at the same time admitting you never read the whole thing.

 

[Darko]

Sorry but no, you don't get to claim a book is genuinely bad while at the same time admitting you never read the whole thing.

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Past a certain point some books and stories can just become incredibly bad that even if you do finish them you'll still consider them to be bad.

Yes if you don't finish them you may not get the full context, but sometimes even when you finish the reason you found the book bad can still be valid, even if the ending somehow justifies all the bad shit you read.

You also have a tendency to basically badmouth this fic on an almost daily basis, and judging by some of your remarks I'm not sure you've actually read this story all that much, or paid attention to what you were reading.

 

[Enochi]

All of the strawmanning. The author assuming that it wasn't necessary to justify the positions the character's he decided were 'right' took and his confrontational attitude to me when I politely asked about it.

If you liked it, let me ask you this: how did the mayor achieve his office?

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Shmoozing from what I understood. Being good at promising a lot and appeasing the university crowd along with special interest groups.

Why did something about it seem odd about it to you?

And Yeah RH Junior can get on the Soap Box for sure. I completely understand disliking that but for whatever reason it never really bothered me. Probably because I agreed with most of it. But yeah he does not take criticism or even implied criticism well. Constructive or not. And tends to get very defensive. Which can be a problem due to the aforementioned Soap Boxing.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Shmoozing from what I understood. Being good at promising a lot and appeasing the university crowd along with special interest groups.

Why did something about it seem odd about it to you?

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No no no no no. Was he appointed or elected?

Equestria in The Great Alicorn Hunt is an absolute diarchical monarchy. However, Celestia and Luna can't personally make every decision. The mayor didn't seem to have any contact with them. That means that he either won a local election, rose up through the local bureaucracy, was appointed by the local landowning noble... Something. Something happened to give him the fancy hat.

If he was elected, that means that:
1) at one point a majority of people who voted voted for him, or at the very least more voted for him than any other candidate
2) he probably told people what his policies would be
3) he will at some point be up for re-election

Given that he cared about his popularity enough to court particular interest groups, it appears likely that he is an elected official. RH Junior refused to confirm this when I asked so that is pure supposition on my part. But if he was elected, surely it follows that a majority of ponies are fine with his policies? I mean, you don't re-elect someone if you hate everything they do. Do you? So this is one of my major problems. Either he's a career politician who only cares that he holds office or he has genuine beliefs. If he needs to be re-elected and he's unprincipled, he's going to attempt to get the most support he can. Which means that he must believe that the policies he implements are popular. Those restrictions on who can buy fast food? That has to a) have majority support and b) be legal for him to pass because otherwise he wouldn't pass it.

Alternatively, he's highly principled, courts interest groups to get his vote out and doesn't care if he never gets re-elected. But that means that the people of Windy City can get rid of him at the next election.

The story tries to have it both ways. It treats him as simultaneously unpopular and unprincipled when he wouldn't be in the job if he wasn't one or the other.

Or he could be appointed, in which case... Why has no one petitioned the local Duke?

 

[Ct613hulu]

My understanding in circumstances like this where you have an unpopular politician continually re-elected to public office is that this has something to do with political machinations or the support of a major faction. Politics can go in some weird directions and an unpopular politician staying in office would hardly be that unusual

We have something somewhat on a more general level in America where most citizens are dissatisfied with Congress but the sitting incumbents all still have a very high chance of retaining their positions.

 

[PDV]

I couldn't finish Raising Steam. Snuff felt like generic fantasy, but Raising Steam was genuinely bad.

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Raising Steam was very... here's a big sendoff for all the casts of all the stories. I thought it was pretty good anyway. But Unseen Academicals I couldn't get into, even after learning that one of my favorite quotes Sir PTerry ever wrote is in it.

 

[Mr Zoat]

My understanding in circumstances like this where you have an unpopular politician continually re-elected to public office is that this has something to do with political machinations or the support of a major faction. Politics can go in some weird directions and an unpopular politician staying in office would hardly be that unusual

We have something somewhat on a more general level in America where most citizens are dissatisfied with Congress but the sitting incumbents all still have a very high chance of retaining their positions.

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Sure, and this is why any sensible democracy either a) has a run-off election or b) uses transferable votes. But we're talking about Windy City, which didn't seem to be a particularly large city. They're voting for a single individual with direct powers, not someone who will serve as part of a group. There doesn't appear to be a political party system so there are no tribal loyalties. There is also no modern media, so the cost of standing against him isn't all that great. So... What's the problem?

 

[Enochi]

No no no no no. Was he appointed or elected?

Equestria in The Great Alicorn Hunt is an absolute diarchical monarchy. However, Celestia and Luna can't personally make every decision. The mayor didn't seem to have any contact with them. That means that he either won a local election, rose up through the local bureaucracy, was appointed by the local landowning noble... Something. Something happened to give him the fancy hat.

If he was elected, that means that:
1) at one point a majority of people who voted voted for him, or at the very least more voted for him than any other candidate
2) he probably told people what his policies would be
3) he will at some point be up for re-election

Given that he cared about his popularity enough to court particular interest groups, it appears likely that he is an elected official. RH Junior refused to confirm this when I asked so that is pure supposition on my part. But if he was elected, surely it follows that a majority of ponies are fine with his policies? I mean, you don't re-elect someone if you hate everything they do. Do you? So this is one of my major problems. Either he's a career politician who only cares that he holds office or he has genuine beliefs. If he needs to be re-elected and he's unprincipled, he's going to attempt to get the most support he can. Which means that he must believe that the policies he implements are popular. Those restrictions on who can buy fast food? That has to a) have majority support and b) be legal for him to pass because otherwise he wouldn't pass it.

Alternatively, he's highly principled, courts interest groups to get his vote out and doesn't care if he never gets re-elected. But that means that the people of Windy City can get rid of him at the next election.

The story tries to have it both ways. It treats him as simultaneously unpopular and unprincipled when he wouldn't be in the job if he wasn't one or the other.

Or he could be appointed, in which case... Why has no one petitioned the local Duke?

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Ah this was addressed. It was made very clear that he was an elected official. *Spoilers* The one-winged pony was his nephew and gave an inside look to how things worked. Mayor Fussbudget was on his way out because his polices were unpopular and it was pretty much stated that he had no chance in his upcoming reelection. He also did a lot of back room deals and it was only during his one and only reelection that he heavily courted certain groups to scrape past the finish-line. His cousin was also stated to be a judge in the area and approved most of his policies if they were brought under review. So yeah he was pretty much a wanna-be career politician who was rapidly flunking out.

 

[Mr Zoat]

Ah this was addressed. It was made very clear that he was an elected official. *Spoilers* The one-winged pony was his nephew and gave an inside look to how things worked. Mayor Fussbudget was on his way out because his polices were unpopular and it was pretty much stated that he had no chance in his upcoming reelection. He also did a lot of back room deals and it was only during his one and only reelection that he heavily courted certain groups to scrape past the finish-line. His cousin was also stated to be a judge in the area and approved most of his policies if they were brought under review. So yeah he was pretty much a wanna-be career politician who was rapidly flunking out.

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Could you give me a chapter reference for that? Because I made a point of reading to the end of that section and I don't remember most of that. The only issue I remember him being concerned about was looking bad in front of the new princess.

 

[Enochi]

Could you give me a chapter reference for that? Because I made a point of reading to the end of that section and I don't remember most of that. The only issue I remember him being concerned about was looking bad in front of the new princess.

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Most of it comes from a segment in Chapter 51 where Mach One confronts Fussbudget over his ties to the Crownbreakers.

 

[LazySloth13]

As far as a favorite book goes it's split between Storm Front of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and The Gunslinger of Stephen King's The Dark Tower, since the former introduced me to urban fantasy genre which later lead me to the Nightside series, and the latter because I had already read plenty of King's books.

Plus there's something about a cowboy-esque protagonist whose either a smart-ass wizard like Harry or a serious knight-errant like Roland I find appealing.

 

[Ardy]

Spoiler: My thoughts on why that is

It's been a while since I read it. From what I remember, it starts of really strong and it's first few arcs are really good. Then it slips from very awesome to very good, until the point where her mentor destroys the device thingy she needed to ascend to queendom or something.

It had set up in the in and out-of-universe narrative, and the sudden anti-climax in both would have been good if it was actually built upon. As it as, it just seemed a hilarious let down, and now that I think about it, may have been a way to maintain the status quo.

The breaking point for me was when her godhood was stolen from her - just like that. Woosh! aaaand it's gone. Do I really need to tell you why that was a spectacularly bad idea?

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Spoiler: Spoilers

She did not have her Godhood stolen, she straight up sold it to Sve Noc in return for becoming their high priestess. Being sane (and yes, she is 100x as competent and generally awesome in the next book when she's sane again), having dark miracles at your command, and being the prophet of the Drow entire is a pretty good deal for losing godhood. Especially when she started making worse and worse decisions the longer she was a god.

 

[Vaermina]

Past a certain point some books and stories can just become incredibly bad that even if you do finish them you'll still consider them to be bad.

Yes if you don't finish them you may not get the full context, but sometimes even when you finish the reason you found the book bad can still be valid, even if the ending somehow justifies all the bad shit you read.

You also have a tendency to basically badmouth this fic on an almost daily basis, and judging by some of your remarks I'm not sure you've actually read this story all that much, or paid attention to what you were reading.

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You might have had an argument if he wasn't talking about Raising Steam.

But I own a first edition of it and know that book from front to back.

And a key part of the story is that there's a giant Discworld fake out that you don't really get till the very end of the book.

 

[Darko]

You might have had an argument if he wasn't talking about Raising Steam.

But I own a first edition of it and know that book from front to back.

And a key part of the story is that there's a giant Discworld fake out that you don't really get till the very end of the book.

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I do have a argument since even if here was a fake out that doesn't exactly mean that everyone, or even just most people, would enjoy it.

 

[NightmareWarden]

Hmm.
Either Biohacker's Almanac: First Dan by Jamo Kane because it introduced me to my favorite subgenre of sci-fi (organic technology, gene-editing, and building creatures like a program)... Or the Chaos Walking trilogy, starting with the Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness for being the first coming-of-age novel to cut through my teenage bullshit.

 

[Mr Zoat]

13th April
22:12 GMT +1

Koriand'r looks around the Mount Etna countryside with an expression of puzzlement on her face.

"This is the home of your gods?"

"No, just two. They were worshipped before modern foundries were invented, so it was easier for them to build their main workshop in a volcano so that they'd have a source of heat."

She frowns as she lands on the ground next to me.

"If they are gods, could they not create fire for themselves?"

"Not ex nihilo. Conceptually, they design and build. Fire is something they use and manipulate, not something they conjure into being. And Hellenism doesn't really have a fire god, so if they'd wanted to negotiate for some sort of divine fire they'd have had to trade with someone outside of the pantheon."

Koriand'r doesn't seem to have as much trouble with the idea as Lantern Dul did. Which is not entirely surprising; while Thanagar and Tamaran were both shaped by active gods, X'Hal is still widely worshipped while the Seven Devils very definitely aren't. Actually…

"How much contact do X'Hal and Auron have with Tamaran?"

"We have not had contact with either of them for longer than we have lived on Tamaran. When X'Hal's rages grew too great and too frequent for any mortal to survive, it was Auron who persuaded her to leave Vega. I do not know where either of them are now."

I suppose I can put a pin in the idea of bringing them back to Vega, then. At least until we get some idea of exactly what the psions did to her.

"I suppose that it's not exactly the same thing. X'Hal underwent apotheosis. Hephaestus and Vulcan were born as gods."

And unlike when I first came here, it's no longer necessary to use their original stairwell. Because disguised as a blank rock face…

I walk into the wall, and the dolmen gate built into it takes me into… An antechamber which they built because they kept getting birds trying to nest on the rock and flying through. The guardian mechanoid on guard duty inside switches to 'active' mode, standing more upright as it fixes its eyes on me.

"Orange Lantern Illustres and guest to see the forge-gods."

The guardian mechanoid is a dramatic improvement on the tripods they used to use. Rather than have a single animating spirit they have hundreds bound to the microscopic mechanisms of a mechanical Babbage engine. The process makes it capable of far more complex decisions as well as substantially increasing its agility and dexterity. It isn't a person and it isn't much of a conversationalist, but it's remarkable how they've taken the whole arcane technology thing in such a different direction to the Atlanteans.

"Communing."

Koriand'r comes through the ring behind me and takes a look around.

"We are inside the volcano?"

"It's really more of a mountain these days. She's-" I point to Koriand'r with my right hand. "-the guest."

"Communing. Lord Vulcan responds."

"Thank you."

"Follow."

Its upper torso rotates, legs already in motion as it leads the way into the Mount Etna facility. Runic panels built into the walls are their power cables and fibre optic lines, magitech crystal chandeliers their light sources and-

We walk past a specialised cleaning mechanoid as its partially aqueous body removes whatever dust build up inside a mountain from the floor and walls.

-bound spirits their servants. Their actual helpers are human, and last time I visited they were inducting a few that Lord Vulcan had picked up. I'm not entirely sure how no one has twigged about-

"Paul!"

-Etna being reactivated.

"My Lord."

Vulcan's wearing a full face mask which puts me in mind of the masks Roman standard bearers used to wear. And… Hang on. How is his nose fitting under there?

"What are you working on?"

"Ah." He holds up his right arm, which has various runic bands strapped to it. "Watch."

He clenches and unclenches his fist, then swings his-.

A giant mechanical arm swings across the workshop, the open palm stopping next to us.

"I read an article on telepresence." He clenches his fist again and pulls his arm towards his chest, which causes the mechanical arm to fold back up. "And I realised that it was far easier to get around signal speed limits with magic than with radio waves. Well, until you leave the planet, anyway."

"Did you give up on the mechanical prosthetics?"

"No, those are ready." He shrugs, his mask still in place. "But if the Atlanteans are opening up, no one is going to want a mechanical limb when they can get their original limb grown back at a fraction of the cost."

I nod. "Probably not. This is-" I gesture to Koriand'r. "-Lantern Koriand'r. I wanted to introduce her to one of my gods while she was on Earth."

Koriand'r comes to attention and does a Roman salute. "Hail Vulcan!"

"Hail Koriand'r."

"Did you make a new face for yourself?"

"No. I'm-. My face is part of my concept, but I don't like it all that much." He unstraps the giant arm's control mechanism and uses his now freed hand to tap his mask. "I'm trying to find out if I can change it. I've managed to make my face conform to the interior surface of the mask, but only so long as I'm wearing it."

"That's still a significant achievement."

"I suppose. Though speaking of achieving things; did the Hawks from the Justice League tell you that they've been visiting me?"

"No. We're not on.. particularly good terms. Did they want anything in particular?"

"Nth metal." He picks up a small ingot from his work bench. "Interesting stuff. Transmuted lead, with a variety of fascinating properties. They made me an offer."

"They want to buy as much as you can produce?"

"And in return, I get my choice of unlimited resources, or unlimited resources and to be their new chief god. Do you think it's an honest offer?"

"They really need the Nth metal. But… They're materialists. They aren't used to worship, and they generally treat other species as inferior."

"Does that extend to gods?"

"I don't know. I doubt that they've been in this position before." I shrug. "I'll miss you if you go, but this is a good opportunity for you."

He nods, then makes a beckoning motion with his right hand.

"Come, Lantern Koriand'r. I'll show you around."

 

[Handlewithcare]

God shopping. How...reasonable?

I can already see the protests: "Damn aliens stealing our gods!"

Also, I would very much like to see more magitech. I love what you come up with.

 

[Darko]

they're generally treat

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Just 'they'

Is Paul taking her here to just show her around, or to see what they can make for her, like potentially a power ring?

 

[Queshire]

No, those are ready." He shrugs, his mask still in place. "But if the Atlanteans are opening up, no one is going to want a mechanical limb when they can get their original limb grown back at a fraction of the cost."

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Look, it's all about the features. Add in an integrated computer, maybe a taser fist ...vibrate function, and you'll find a market.