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

Darko · Oct 30, 2020

Gromweld said:
Slightly disappointed the SI didn't say it, if only in his head.

Or yell it out to him after he asked about his name just to weird him out.

Alexandercctv · Oct 30, 2020

So the God-Emperor is drawing in the Tryanids, hmm.
I knew we couldn't trust him.

Vaermina · Oct 30, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
"So I'll give you that lift home now, and you can pass this on to Ms Vale, and I don't want anything like that to ever happen again. Do you understand?"

He nods.

"Good show. Now let's be off."

And he believes Paul about any of this why?

You know what... No... Better question... Why won't he just call in a full on exterminatus of the Tau the moment he get's com access?

Mr Zoat · Oct 30, 2020

Darko said:
'taller than'

Thank you, corrected.

Nervaqus987 · Oct 30, 2020

Vaermina said:
Which is an exerpt from someone's personal TTRPG game...

IE Fanfiction...

Nope.

Ax'Senaea Thrice-Possessed is from the Black Crusade RPG, page 359 of the Core Book to be exact.

Agent Orange · Oct 30, 2020

Aside from knowing of 'Commissar Ciaphas Cain' as a memetic 'Accidental Hero' I have no idea what book this is supposed to be?

Would someone give me some context? Is this at the beginning of his... Legend? Sounds like he fucked up in some way? What are 'pariah abilities'?

Vaermina · Oct 30, 2020

Nervaqus987 said:
Nope.

Ax'Senaea Thrice-Possessed is from the Black Crusade RPG, page 359 of the Core Book to be exact.

The character yes, the story no.

Nervaqus987 · Oct 30, 2020

Vaermina said:
The character yes, the story no.

The thing Zoat linked to is literally copy pasted from her section in the core book.

The only bit of it that isn't is "How she ended up in the elaborate prisons of the Temple of Lies is not known, but she seemed truly grateful for her rescue." at the very end.

Handlewithcare · Oct 30, 2020

Now I want to see a daemon of Tzeentch or something try to unpuzzle what Paul is, look into his head and see the truth...that their entire world was made up to sell little plastic figurines.

Their reaction should be...memorable.

Chojin Patriarch · Oct 30, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
6 234 937.M41

The tall man straightens slightly-. He's at least a head tall than me. Engineered or a minor mutation, I wonder? Unless he's confirmed as 'hostile' it would be a bit off to scan him.

Humans of the 41st Millennium just seem to be taller. Now, the miniatures, that's just scale creep. But in universe? I'm not letting go of the 'unilateral genetic enchancement back in the Dark Age of Technology' yet.

"I'm afraid that my soul is spoken for."

Of course, if he is a cultist, I can have a go at trying to convert him. The tau… I don't think they understand human psychology well enough to do that.

Well, he's technically a cultist. Just not a Chaos Cultist... Like most of Humanity...

"Oh? Who's the lucky deity?"

There's a flicker of something on his face. Obviously, if he thinks that I'm a daemon then that wouldn't be the expected response. Do I look that much like a daemon? I'd have thought that the inorganic nature of my constructs combined with the obvious symmetry would clue him in, but I suppose there isn't much else he could compare me to.

Hey, there are plenty of minor Chaos deities out there. Who's to say they can't attract followers with clearly strong psychic talent, like you would appear to have. Also, the whole 'assimilating Daemonettes' thing.

"The God-Emperor of Mankind, in whose righteous-" The fellow with the meltagun is trying to creep closer. "-name we will smite you back to the nether hell from which you crawled!"

An imperial loyalist. Wonderful. Nice that he was prepared to stop his work as an agent provocateur for long enough to focus on the daemon cult, but still not someone I want on-planet. Not sure what to do next, but I should probably clear up the demon thing.

Would be bad to get started on that bad a footing. Now, what can you think of to tell him that he'll believe?

"To be clear? I'm not a daemon. This-" I extend my right hand and wave at myself. "-is an archeotech force field generator. It's not even warp-based, as far as I can tell."

Heh. I mean, it's not technically a lie. Lost Dark Age technology (the Archeotech he mentions) is some pretty damn advanced technology. Some devices hit the flat-out magitech tier.

His eyes dart to meltagun man, who stops behind a blast shield out of my line of sight. A meltagun isn't a completely reliable anti-daemon weapon. Most daemons have roughly a 1 in 3 chance of completely disregarding a hit from a mundane weapon, but that still leaves a 2 in 3 chance of the anti-tank gun hitting me. That would kill most daemons.

That's a 5 or 6 on a 6-sided die. The good old Invulnerable Save, a fundamental part of Warhammer 40,000. If he were Tzeentch aligned, that's be 4 or better, because warpy shenanigans. Yay. Of course, that all depends on what save his constructs provide him...

"So you've betrayed mankind to the tau rather than the dark gods?"

"I'm happy to talk about my philosophical convictions at length if you like, but I imagine that you'd rather I didn't. One moment, if you please?"

Especially since P'aul is still technically an atheist, isn't he? I mean, sure, you can believe the Chaos Gods exist, but not that they're Capital-G gods, after all. Believing in them as gods just encourages them...

Internal only.

"Orange Lantern to Kais. Tactical overview?"

"Reinforcements in theatre. Remaining mutants are being destroyed."

Ah, peace through superior firepower. The fun part of the Tau way. The other, less fun part being brainwashing and extermination.

"Good show. Whereabouts are you?"

"Working through the tunnels. We can take them from behind shortly."

oo-er! That's a spicy Outflank move. Might want to head that off, so you don't have blue-on-yellow tango foxtrot. (Yellow because they're a third party. Blame Samurai Warriors 1's Date Masamunecampaign.)

"Hold position. They're imperialists, so I'm going to offer them terms."

"This world is part of the Tau Empire. They're not here as part of an official embassy."

Like the Tau Empire don't indulge in a little spying now and again? Probably using human auxiliaries...

"No, but they were fighting daemon cultists. We both know that the Tau Empire isn't as effective at fighting those as it needs to be."

"That decision should be referred to Aun'la Bo'ohk."

And he's not here, is he? I doubt the Imperials want to hang around while you call him. I suspect Jurgen's trigger-finger is getting a little itchy.

"And I will refer it to him. But in the absence of a direct order, we should not escalate against people not demonstrated to be hostile."

…

"We're holding position."

Ah, sensible Tau philosophy. I see Kais knows not to go looking for more trouble than you can handle.

"Thank you."

External.

Is it just me who's picturing him holding on hand to his ear, Shepard style? On that note. Is he wearing a helmet with the typical comms antenna fin?

"So here's what I'm going to suggest. While I'm probably supposed to apprehend you, I'm jolly glad that you fought these daemon-worshippers and as such I'm prepared to offer you parole."

"Just as long as we bow down to your alien overlords first."

Only if you want to. I mean, they're not squeaky clean, after all. P'aul's hardly going to try and indoctrinate you in the next five minutes.

"Your choice. I can either take you to a human-controlled world in Tau Empire territory-" One of the 'in compliance' ones, obviously. "-or to the closest Imperial world or naval patrol."

"And what do you want in return?"

There's the rub, eh? Can't do something out of the kindness of your heart in the Imperium, can you?

"No, nothing. It's a 'thank you' for fighting these cultists. It's nice to meet someone with his priorities in order. Though I really do suggest that you consider the Empire. The Imperium can get a bit 'summary executiony' with people who've been this close to a daemonic incursion, and I'd feel that I'd wasted my time here if that happened to you and yours."

One iconic incident: After a daemonic invasion on the planet of Armageddon, the Inquisition were preparing to have anyone who fought the daemon and heretic Astartes armies shipped off-world for.. high-lethality deployments. Some of the Astartes chapters who fought alongside them had opinions about that. Quite a big argument, really.

"Fighting against the cultists of the dark gods is not grounds for summary execution. I truly pity humans like you who are raised by the tau to believe such lies. Still, I was here for the cult, and the cult is dead." But he lowers his laspistol, and the others appear to take it as a general sign that they're standing down. "My men and I will accept passage to an Imperial world."

"Good show." I don't dismiss my armour, but I do shrink it a little. "I'm afraid that the last rogue trader vessel left several weeks ago-"

One guess how they got here. Thank you, Inquisitorial privileges.

Which clearly explains how they got here. Someone is going to find that their Warrant of Trade suddenly has a more limited remit.

"-but you can travel with the next Water Caste convoy, or I can…"

I suspect they might find that a little distasteful. Depending on how orthodox they are about Xenos.

Three fingers on his right hand are cybernetic. He's about two metres tall. And the chap with the meltagun looks… Pretty normal, actually? But it might just be his pariah abilities that make people think he's messy in the novels.

Ring, access files on Gravalax. Confirm his appearance.

<Ring, Ring> Will someone pick up that phone?

Confirmed.

"Do I have the pleasure of addressing Commissar Ciaphas Cain?

I fucken called it.

He doesn't raise his pistol, but his hand definitely twitches.

"You do indeed."

He was expecting the 'HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!' wasn't he? Bet it feels like a letdown, doesn't it?

I float towards him, my armour strengthening.

"You're the reason why I had to spend eight months chasing down genestealer cultists." People around us… I don't know whether they're Valhallans in disguise or local imperialists. They fan out, guns at the ready. "So now you get a lecture on why what you did was really stupid. And then you can go home and repeat it to Ms Vale."

Oooh... Anyone who knows the books better able to pin down an approximate place in Cain's timeline here?

"Tyranid fleets-" He said it as 'Tie-ran-id'! Victory! "-are drawn towards the cults. I'm sure that you'd rather they preyed upon Imperial worlds than tau worlds. Why would you expect me to care about the reverse?"

"Because you clearly don't understand how far that beacon extends."

Preach the pronunciation, brother! Honestly, someone pronouncing it 'Tear-a-nids'? Fools! Do wish they'd do more pronunciation guides, though...

I hold up my right hand and generate a map of the region, with the locations of local hive fleets highlighted.

And that alone shows off just how powerful the Ring is to Cain. I suspect he's inwardly brushing the flop-sweat off his brow at that close call.

"These fleets have turned slightly towards the areas where the cults were operating. Mission achieved? No." I pull out a considerable distance, still marking the region's hive fleets. "Because these tyranids are now altering course just a little to fly a little more this way than they were before. And quite a few of those are going to hit Imperial worlds." I pull out again. "And so are these-" And out further, showing the tyranid fleets still approaching the galaxy. "-and so are these, and they're coming just a little bit faster, because they got a slightly stronger broadcast. Extra-galactic hive fleets are coming to this galaxy just a little bit faster… Because of what you did. And while that's bad for the Tau Empire… The Tau Empire only covers a little bit of the galaxy. Humans are everywhere. So the fleets over here-" I point. "-and over here and over here and over here, are flying into Imperium space, they're going to attack Imperial worlds, and they're not going to come anywhere near the tau because there aren't any tau over there, and because of what you did they're going to come just a little bit quicker. Do you understand… Why that's a bad thing?"

I mean, they might not arrive for a couple of centuries, but they're coming. Tyranid spaceflight is not that fast. What they lack in speed, though, they make up for in patience. And hunger.

He regards my image with disquiet. "I'll… Take it under advisement."

"Then take this under advisement too. Tyranids are drawn to psychic beacons. Like living worlds. Tau have minimal warp presence so tend not to draw them as much as humans, and far less than eldar. But do you know what the biggest psychic beacon in this galaxy is? I'll give you a clue: it's the one your ship's navigator used guide the ship you came here on."

Yeah, the Big E's like an intergalactic lighthouse out there. And even if he hadn't ended up on the Throne, Magnus the Red would have...

His face whitens.

"So I'll give you that lift home now, and you can pass this on to Ms Vale, and I don't want anything like that to ever happen again. Do you understand?"

And Ms Vale (Ciaphas Cain's biographer and an Inquisitorial agent) will pass it on to her bosses, who will debate it for a couple of decades before discarding it as 'trickery and lies from an indoctrinated traitor' until some young Radical double checks and confirms it. At which point enough bricks will be shat to build a cathedral.

He nods.

"Good show. Now let's be off."

Good to see him taking it seriously, even if he's only concerned for his own aft. After all, if they do turn up, guess who'll end up first in line to 'volunteer' for the fighting.

Through no fault of his own, either.

Heh, an entertaining end to the scene. I take it we'll be back to the paragon tomorrow, seeing him delivering the pardons to Sivana, or getting the 'no' from some recalcitrant nation?

...your ship's navigator used guide the ship...

...your ship's navigator used to guide the ship...

transhumansage · Oct 30, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
6 234 937.M41

The tall man straightens....
"Good show. Now let's be off."

wonderful. i loved the educating of the ignorant. hope there is more interaction between this paul and the imperium.

Darko · Oct 30, 2020

Chojin Patriarch said:
Hey, there are plenty of minor Chaos deities out there. Who's to say they can't attract followers with clearly strong psychic talent, like you would appear to have. Also, the whole 'assimilating Daemonettes' thing.

like Malal, who was hit with the not canon gun.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Especially since P'aul is still technically an atheist, isn't he? I mean, sure, you can believe the Chaos Gods exist, but not that they're Capital-G gods, after all. Believing in them as gods just encourages them...

Like renegade said, when there are godlike powers out there can you really be an atheist anymore.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Ah, peace through superior firepower. The fun part of the Tau way. The other, less fun part being brainwashing and extermination.

Eh, the Imperium is a whole lot worse in those categories.

Chojin Patriarch said:
Is it just me who's picturing him holding on hand to his ear, Shepard style? On that note. Is he wearing a helmet with the typical comms antenna fin?

The various versions are highly practical so he most likely does have a helmet on.

Chojin Patriarch said:
There's the rub, eh? Can't do something out of the kindness of your heart in the Imperium, can you?

Kindness?

In the Imperium?

You filthy HERETIC!

Chojin Patriarch said:
I suspect they might find that a little distasteful. Depending on how orthodox they are about Xenos.

Cain always did seem to one of the more saner Imperials when it came to aliens.

Granted that blind black guy who was a part of the KKK would also qualify for a sane position in the Imperium, so Cain's sanity isn't exactly all that big.

Chojin Patriarch said:
He was expecting the 'HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!' wasn't he? Bet it feels like a letdown, doesn't it?

If he feels regret or annoyance at that title then he may be thankful he didn't call him that.

Doc Sithicus · Oct 30, 2020

Mandatory

Vaermina · Oct 30, 2020

Nervaqus987 said:
The thing Zoat linked to is literally copy pasted from her section in the core book.

The only bit of it that isn't is "How she ended up in the elaborate prisons of the Temple of Lies is not known, but she seemed truly grateful for her rescue." at the very end.

Saying "it's literally copy and pasted" and then adding in "well except for X parts which were made up whole cloth" kind of defeats the purpose of this particular argument.

egooo · Oct 30, 2020

Vaermina said:
Saying "it's literally copy and pasted" and then adding in "well except for X parts which were made up whole cloth" kind of defeats the purpose of this particular argument.

And you are actively nitpicking to somehow try and "stay in the right" instead of admitting ye dun goofed claiming it was not a legitimate source to begin with.
The part added does not, objectively, impact the story, nor the facts, anywhere near strong enough to dismiss it under the pretense of being a fanfiction, as you did.

Grow up ready. Admitting to fuck-ups is okay.

RichardWhereat · Oct 30, 2020

Gromweld said:
HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!

Slightly disappointed the SI didn't say it, if only in his head.

Because Zoat is a Xeno-lover.

Alexandercctv said:
So the God-Emperor is drawing in the Tryanids, hmm.
I knew we couldn't trust him.

What is this fresh.. Heresy?

Mr Zoat · Oct 30, 2020

Chojin Patriarch said:
That's a 5 or 6 on a 6-sided die. The good old Invulnerable Save, a fundamental part of Warhammer 40,000. If he were Tzeentch aligned, that's be 4 or better, because warpy shenanigans.

Or 2nd Edition, when it was 4+ unmodified.

Especially since P'aul is still technically an atheist, isn't he? I mean, sure, you can believe the Chaos Gods exist, but not that they're Capital-G gods, after all. Believing in them as gods just encourages them...

The Chaos Gods are gods by the standards of the setting. There isn't a tier of 'divinity' above them.

Like the Tau Empire don't indulge in a little spying now and again? Probably using human auxiliaries...

Sure they do, but they expect their spies to be tortured to death if they're caught.

He was expecting the 'HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!' wasn't he?

No.

Bet it feels like a letdown, doesn't it?

Also no.

...your ship's navigator used to guide the ship...

Thank you, corrected.

Citizen · Oct 30, 2020

Inquisitor Vale is supposed to be one of the saner Inquisitors too. I was half-expecting P'aul to attempt to track her down to compare notes on things like the Tyranid (sorry, I pronounce it "TEER-ah-nid" in my head) and Chaos movements even with him working on the far side of the fence, but I suppose this is as much as we should expect for the foreseeable future.

Vaermina · Oct 30, 2020

Citizen said:
Inquisitor Vale is supposed to be one of the saner Inquisitors too. I was half-expecting P'aul to attempt to track her down to compare notes on things like the Tyranid (sorry, I pronounce it "TEER-ah-nid" in my head) and Chaos movements even with him working on the far side of the fence, but I suppose this is as much as we should expect for the foreseeable future.

Well... Paul's protected by thicker plot armor then the entire Tau Imperium... So it's not outside the realm of possibility that he will run into Vale and come out of it with a win...

Nioz · Oct 30, 2020

Vaermina said:
Well... Paul's protected by thicker plot armor then the entire Tau Imperium... So it's not outside the realm of possibility that he will run into Vale and come out of it with a win...

I mean... at least 50% of that, if not more, is due to Paul having good trope awareness and being genre savvy.

Assblaster5000 · Oct 30, 2020

Chojin Patriarch said:
Heh. I mean, it's not technically a lie. Lost Dark Age technology (the Archeotech he mentions) is some pretty damn advanced technology. Some devices hit the flat-out magitech tier.

Thank you for making me think about the blackhole gun that reloads with time travel. It's been too long since I did that.

Promenius · Oct 30, 2020

Agent Orange said:
Is this at the beginning of his... fame? Sounds like he fucked up in some way? What are 'pariah abilities'?

IIRC, in one of the Ciaphas Cain novels, he deals with a Genestealer Cult on a world that's home to both Tau and Imperial forces. After they start cleaning up the cult I believe he makes a point of NOT telling the Tau leaders about how some of their forces are infected when they leave the planet or something.

Cain, of course, didn't know that tyranids are drawn to psychic energy or anything like that, he just thought "Hey, alien locusts eating Tau worlds instead of Imperial Worlds, the latter of which I could be stationed on at any time? Sounds good to me!".

Pariah abilities are the Blank gene. Most humans and entities in 40K have a psychic presence; basically, blanks are those who DON'T have a psychic presence, or rather, a presence that makes every other psychically aware being wary, disgusted, afraid, terrified, feel ill at ease, and so on. Most humans, even though they aren't psykers, still have a presence in the Warp, and thus the Blanks creep them the fuck out regardless. Blanks are very effective at warding off psykers and daemons, to the point where their powers just fail to work for the former and the latter just losing their powers and fading from the Materium.

In the books, Ciaphas Cain's aide, Jurgen, is a blank. Jurgen is an extremely loyal man who has saved Ciaphas Cain's life on numerous occasions by "lol nope"-ing daemons and the like, but due to him being a Blank everyone (including Cain) seems to interpret Jurgen as being this filthy, wholly disgusting shape of a man that everyone wants to get the fuck away from.

Agent Orange · Oct 30, 2020

Much obliged!

Promenius said:
IIRC, in one of the Ciaphas Cain novels, he deals with a Genestealer Cult on a world that's home to both Tau and Imperial forces. After they start cleaning up the cult I believe he makes a point of NOT telling the Tau leaders about how some of their forces are infected when they leave the planet or something.

Since Paul mentioned spending 'eight months' cleaning up this mess I'm guessing the first chapter in this universe (the one where Paul met/boarded/rescued that Tau ship) was roughly around that time? How long has Paul been in WH40K? A year or so?

Also, isn't 'Ms Vale' supposed to be 'Ms Vail'? He's talking about the Inquisitor chick? Cain's biographer?

Razorfloss · Oct 30, 2020

Assblaster5000 said:
Thank you for making me think about the blackhole gun that reloads with time travel. It's been too long since I did that.

Wait this is a thing!?!?? How the fuck did predark age humanity loss to the men of iron if they had bullshit like this!?!?

Vaermina · Oct 30, 2020

Nioz said:
I mean... at least 50% of that, if not more, is due to Paul having good trope awareness and being genre savvy.

It's... Really not...

Just the past three chapters alone should have had the Necrons, Chaos, and Eldar making a beeline to murder him with almost literally everything they have.

Razorfloss said:
Wait this is a thing!?!?? How the fuck did predark age humanity loss to the men of iron if they had bullshit like this!?!?

It actually is a thing.

As to them loosing to the Men of Iron, they didn't, they beat them, and then the Eldar fucked themselves into the Eye of Terror and everything went to shit as Warp Travel broke down and the seal on humanity's psyker potential started to break.

The Unaligned Player · Oct 30, 2020

Vaermina Why do you bother coming here to bitch about everything when you know you are regarded as the lowest piece of half digested filth this side of Chris-Chan that has made it his life goal to annoy and spread disinformation to anyone who will buy it? Even if you are the only sane person in existence it doesn't really matter as the battle you are trying to fight is both incredibly hard to win and you already made it impossible for you to win years ago.

Assblaster5000 · Oct 30, 2020

Razorfloss said:
Wait this is a thing!?!?? How the fuck did predark age humanity loss to the men of iron if they had bullshit like this!?!?

To be fair that gun could have been made by one of The Men Of Stone post Aldarei murder-fucking Slannesh into existence, but even if it was a pre-Eye Of Terror thing The Men Of Iron had Titans that could eat spacetime and toss a continent into orbit, on top of ships that could eat entire star systems. It took basically everyone that wasn't The Men Of Iron teaming up to beat them, and it seems to have been a pretty close call even then.

It was functionally The War In Heaven Two:Electric Boogaloo.

CTrees · Oct 30, 2020

Darko said:
Like renegade said, when there are godlike powers out there can you really be an atheist anymore.

Well, "jumped up elementals," as the pre-Hellenism SI was fond of calling them...

Megaolix · Oct 30, 2020

The Unaligned Player said:
Vaermina Why do you bother coming here to bitch about everything when you know you are regarded as the lowest piece of half digested filth this side of Chris-Chan that has made it his life goal to annoy and spread disinformation to anyone who will buy it? Even if you are the only sane person in existence it doesn't really matter as the battle you are trying to fight is both incredibly hard to win and you already made it impossible for you to win years ago.

Take it to Rants or shut up. The insults are not called for.

WereDragon · Oct 30, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
6 234 937.M41

I wonder how the Inquisition will take the news that the Tau can monitor extra-galactic fleets?

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

Connoisseur.

Making the rounds.

Well worn.

Dedicated ragequitter

Well worn.

Experienced.

Well worn.

Well worn.

Versed in the lewd.

Veteran Lurker

Versed in the lewd.

Connoisseur.

Not too sore, are you?

Well worn.

Getting sticky.

Aia airëa Fëanáro.

Dedicated ragequitter

Well worn.

Well worn.

Know what you're doing yet?

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Not too sore, are you?

Experienced.

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Well worn.

Agony that desires to meet Extinction

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Chasing the ring

Bookwyrm

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