Grrl Power #1015 – Shock and brimstone
Yeah, everyone called it. Who else would have been calling Tom?
Deus enjoys stacking the deck. Also counting the cards, bribing the dealer, and telling the guy across the table that his mom gives great blow-jobs, and also replacing his girlfriend who is sitting next to him with a shapeshifting double agent who is blinking the guy’s cards in morse code.
He loves competition, because he’s very good at cheating winning.
Tamer: Enhancer 2 – Progress Update: Getting Proofed!
You know what’s taking so long? Fucking hyphens. Every paragraph I type seems to have six pairs of words that supposedly require hyphenation. Or should that be “Every-paragraph I type seems to have six-pairs of words that supposedly-require-hyphenation.” I don’t know. I just don’t get it. The rule seems to be that if there’s a adjective that modifies another adjective in front of a noun, then you use a hyphen, like the difference between “the loud, red car” and “the loud-red car” is one describes a car that is both loud and red, and the other describes a car that is very bright red, but honestly, if that’s what you’re trying to convey, you probably need to reword your sentence. That stuff I kind of get, but apparently all the other stuff (other-stuff?) is just brute force memorization. (brute-force?) Like ill-conceived, or silver-tongued or build-up. Is the sentence “There was a build up of leaves in the gutter.” so fucking hard to parse? Is anyone going to read that sentence and think someone built an “up” out of leaves? And “silver-tongued devil.” Without the hyphen, yeah, maybe it’s possible someone might read that phrase and think it’s about a devil which is silver, and has recently been tongued, which probably says more about the reader than the structure of the sentence. It just-assume there’s a cabal-of English-Professors sitting-around in a wood-paneled-room coming-up with a-bunch of extra-rules to torture-us with-.
Anyway. I’m on my last set of notes, about halfway through the book, and I may as well incorporate all this stuff so there are a few technical errors as possible. Still, I think it’s crazy that I’m on my last set of corrections, and only about 1/5th of the stuff this proofer caught had already been corrected by the other five. I guess everyone just has different things they notice. Hopefully the combination of proofers means I will have covered all the bases, but I can’t shake the suspicion the first final draft of the book will still be roughly 17% typo. I guess we’ll see.
Also I evidently messed up every possible use of laying/lying down. Pretty sure I’ve reversed them when speaking ever since I learned the words.
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Fully expected this. So much for lunch!
Expected yes but I think it is more than overkill.
He hired supers, aliens and demons to fight Mozambique. One of these is enough for an overwhelming victory, two for crushing their morale, three just adds costs.
Of course he could see it as a test for the available troops and building connections.
I think the statement he made by using the overkill-approach may well be worth the cost in the future. Setting this example now probably is going to make pending negotiations way easier and I do not think that Mozambique will be the only country he is planning to approach; nor Africa the only continent. Plus, it will deter others from trying to invade Galtyn and put an end to the “border skimishes” mentioned.
37. There is no ‘overkill.’ There is only “open fire” and “reload.”
Also, if violence isn’t your last resort, it means you didn’t employ enough violence.
Seriously though, a grand display at the very beginning usually means less fights in the long run. Until the US of A decide that they need a dick measuring contest…
“Until the US of A decide that they need a dick measuring contest…”
Didn’t they have one in 1998?
I think it’s a statement and posturing, frankly. Could possibly be viewed as “bait”
Maxima is now reconsidering visiting, after all…
If they were being recruited purely as military, then you’re probably right about the level of overkill. But they’re bringing so much more to the table besides that, and each with different advantages.
– Supers. Few in number, and what they can do generally relies on their direct involvement. But what they can do (at least some of them) is enough to more than pay for that low duty cycle. The technological version of something like Opal’s portals is unlikely to be anywhere near as flexible, let alone the cost and energy to build and run it.
– Alari. More numerous than the Supers, and apparently open to analysis of their tech and knowledge. Even if it’s not reproducible with current Terrestrial technology, it’s a pointer of what’s worth developing. Plus the political value of the altruistic* gesture, and of any off-world connections they may have. (They may be outweighed by the Demons, as noted below, but Deus didn’t know at the time that they were a potential option.)
– Demons. A different set of technological and philosophical sharings, and they came looking to share rather than just with whatever they could carry. It sounds from Thothogoth’s sales pitch as though the Bringers of Order have done a similar sort of uplift job on other worlds before, with at least a blind eye if not tacit approval from the Powers that Be, so they could be Earth’s way around the Xevoarchy’s ‘Prime Directive’.
* We need a less species-ist alternative to ‘humanitarian’.
yeah the demons look to have the same approach as Deus, the *we have come to uplift you with our tech and resources…now sign here and obey our laws and ideologies…not the best track record of this approach between Earth cultures…see cultural genocide and exploitation for resources and labor. That said an alien force with multiple worlds and advanced tech may have more on the table.
biggest problem I see here is the conflict of interest between Deus and the demons, Deus wants to be king and has the ego to want to be seen by the people as the benefactor of the carrot part of this *the “government” did the war “I” brought the snacks, water bottles, and new farming equipment, medical aid, ect….
the demons however likely just want him to be a human magistrate who answers to a demon representative for the Earth while THEY are looked upon as the uplifters and benefactors of the world.
“We need a less species-ist alternative to ‘humanitarian’.”
Considering that it is entirely possible that all species refer to themselves — in their own language — as “human”, we probably don’t. Some words, I think are truly universal.
I think it was implied Deus is MAKING Galytn supers.
“Something in the water”
I’m still not convinced Deus is a bad guy. Sure he’s had a tyrant killed and he has no reservations about taking what his country needs, but we’ve also seen him trying to convince the opposing military to stand down in order to avoid unnecessary casualties and he’s gone out of his way to improve the lives of the people he’s conquered. Galytn is obviously a dictatorship and not a democracy, but Deus has been a benevolent tyrant from the viewpoint of the average citizens. He’s really only a threat to the self serving “leaders” whose lands and subjects he’s taking.
He’s Chaotic Good. Or perhaps Lawful Evil.
Not sure which yet.
Trying to convince people to stand down to avoid casualties you plan on inflicting is just wanting to reduce paperwork no a sign of a good person. That “stand down” includes giving up sovereignty to this effing guy.
He’s Affable Evil.
Definitely Lawful Evil, with a strong enlightened streak.
He won’t waste resources (breathing or inert), doesn’t waste unnecesary time, and realizes that being generous and fair to those under his rule is by far the best method to ensure both the validity and longevity of his rule.
It’s just that the rules he adheres to are his own. :)
Yes, I like the use of non-polluting re-useable ammunition.
Mmm, yes. Quite.
I’d place him at Lawful Neutral. He has a ruthless streak, but he doesn’t go out of his way to cause suffering or death.
Yeah, lawful evil would not treasure that little girl’s craft project. OTOH, Lawful neutral would be scrupulous about obeying rules, and Deus only obeys rules when he’d face excessive consequences for violating them.
Not chaotic, though, as he doesn’t go out of his way to break rules.
Neutral-Neutral, at best, maybe edging a bit into good territory since he does seem to actually prefer positive outcomes for others as long as it doesn’t excessively inconvenience him, and would rather go with a carrot than a stick if he has a choice.
Being evil does not mean not appreciating a gift for killing a worse evil
His motives were spelt out earlier as purely selfish (Greed), so he’s definitely not Good.
He is also not particularly concerned by rules and has committed crimes such as smuggling from Shatterpoint station.
He avoids law breaking and “evil” activities only in so far as it would be detrimental to his plans.
He likewise performs acts of altruism when it costs him relatively little to do so.
Alignment is a hard beast to nail down, but he seems to be True Neutral bordering on Neutral Evil.
Smuggling from the station is not a crime. Galytn doesn’t have laws against bringing in anything from space, AFAIK. Alien laws do not apply to Earth in any way, there is no signature on anything agreeing to such.
Bringing in that advanced technology to a pre-FTL world like Earth was against the intergalactic rules. Not Earth’s rules.
Interesting point. It can be argued that Deus himself did not commit a crime because no official representative of Earth was made aware of intergalactic laws, let alone consented to be brought into the galactic civilization and thus beholden to those laws. However, Deus did presumably still make the merchant who sold him the goods an accessory to the crime of smuggling. Much like how resisting arrest is itself a separate crime, is it a crime to make someone else an accessory to a crime?
Umm. I buy this incredibly over-priced gizmo at the duty-free, march onto the airliner and make myself comfortable until the end of the flight. I then proceed to (righteously) slip the gizmo past customs and later that evening flog the thing off at some fleamarket. Is the duty-free at my home airport an accessory to my smuggling?
By that logic state laws don’t apply in my house because I never signed anything. But they do, because the state has a killer answer to “You and whose army”
I roughly define the good-neutral-evil axis in terms of economic efficiency. A neutral action is one that is efficient, even if selfish. Good and evil are both inefficient, with good being the willingness to sacrifice for the sake of others, and evil being willing to sacrifice to harm others.
Wrong on both counts.
Deus is clearly Neutral Evil. He can & will do anything & everything to advance his personal agenda, whether that involves exploiting or disregarding Capital ‘O’ Order, cooperating with the Good Guys, or liquidating them, or w/e.
If beneficence helps achieve his goal, so be it. After all, minions & allies who like you are much more reliable than the other kind.
Neutral Evil.
He is in it for himself and his own greater glory
He will uphold agreements but he is not 100% bound to them if he will be better of by breaking it.
He will kill or have killed to improve his own standing.
And ofcourse be completely neutral to other people killing sentients
I still believe he’s more akin to Disney’s Gargoyles original villain, Xanatos, that he’s schemer that only acts when he’s confident that he going to at least get some reward for it and almost no punishment, even if he fails.
He does have elements of Xanatos about him, while evil he’s pragmatic evil only doing the evil that furthers his plans rather than stupid evil that does evil just to be evil even when it undermines his short-term and even long-term goals because he can’t keep from doing evil things even when it hurts him.
He certainly is the embodiment of the Magnificant Bastard trope.
He is a true charismaniac
no Dave tried to hit the ” magnificant bastard” and sailed clear on through to Villain sue land
Deus happily kills anyone that gets in the way of what he wants.
He is most definitely a bad guy. No doubt or wriggle room.
A peace built on the bones of the innocent is not a just peace.
And can you name any country that has no history what-so-ever of sacrificing innocents for what the leadership felt was a good reason?
If everyone’s doing it, it must be right.
Well, now that you that on the internet, it’s verifiably true.
Oh well in that case, let Deus do whatever he likes because a bit more blood on an already bloody floor doesn’t matter.
“And can you name any country that has no history what-so-ever of sacrificing innocents for what the leadership felt was a good reason?”
Em, we could name most modern democratic countries actually.
Obviously the USA, China and USSR have such a history, but they have a lot in common with Deus in viewing the rights of innocents.
“Em, we could name most modern democratic countries actually.”
Just 4 or 5, please? We don’t want to put you to too much trouble…
He does? How many people has he killed? Only one that we’re aware of, and it was credible self-defense.
Killed personally, not many. However, every one of those tank drivers was just straight-up killed, on his command. So, yes, he’s willing to kill anyone who dares to actually get in his way.
I’m not sure enemy soldiers count as “innocent”. They’re operating under the same rules of “kill anyone who dares to actually get in [their] way.”
Yes enemy soldiers do count as innocent. EVERYBODY who signs up for military service does so in the sure and certain knowlege that the enemy military will be aiming at them, and pulling the trigger. It matters not whether the military service is compulsory or voluntary. You can only hope the incoming is not tolling for thee and/or their aim is wonky.
Everybody who signs up for military service does so in the sure and certain knowledge that they’ve put themselves in a situation in which they are likely to kill someone. How are they innocent?
This is a conundrum that Constantine faced in AD300 (more or less). Having proclaimed that Christianity would from henceforth be the official religin of Rome, there was now the small problem that a here-to-fore pacifist (love thy neighbour) sect would necessarily be drafted to the Army… There was much consternation in the Nation of Rome.
Eventually it was worked out that the now Christian proles would have to give their scruples a decent burial and learn to kill other humans, relying on words from (I think) Paul of Tarsus elucidating that one’s political leaders were placed there by God and therefore one must obey their commmands.
Most nations now have some constitutional or legal framework that killing humans IN BATTLE or TO DEFEND THE NATION is a forgiveable act.
I am not sure about Islamic logic here, but I think it is covered explicitly in the Koran.
I don’t see a connection between “forgivable” and “innocent”. I suspect your understanding of the concepts of guilt and innocence to be different from my own.
Yes, it probably is. I suspect that the word “innocent” is oft-times used unwarily. A new baby is “innocent”. The same child 3 years later is automatically guilty until proven innocent.
Humour aside, which “innocent” do you want? As in “baby”, incapable of crime; or as “young child”, cannot prove guilt?
A soldier doing his/her job is held legally innocent, but may well be guilty as shit due to in-barracks crimes such as gambling. HOWEVER. No soldier can simply wander out and start slaughtering the enemy as we so often see in the (paper) comix. That behaviour is an automatic court-martial if the soldier failed to decently get killed.
Online etymology sees the two interpretations as:
{
Meaning “free from guilt of a specific crime or charge” is from late 14c., as is the meaning “with childlike simplicity or artlessness.” Humorous sense “free, devoid of” is from 1706. The noun meaning “person who is innocent of sin or evil, artless or simple person” is from c. 1200, especially a young child (who presumably has not yet sinned actively).
}
However:
{
Indo-European words for “innocent” are generally negative compound of the word for “guilty.”
}
There is more, but it is largely repetitive.
Looking at the word “forgiveable”… An act which in itself can be considered gross and improper can also be considered “forgiveable” if it is performed in response to a morally just command from an NCO or higher.
It would be unwise to take any law into one’s own hands just because one thinks the target is a lump of fecal matter. Only a properly composed legal authority has the privilege of ordering what would otherwise be a crime.
Soldiers killing the enemy in battle have permissin to do the killing, and the killing is thus a “forgiveable act”, thus the soldiers are innocent. They have commited no crime.
I’m looking for “morally culpable”. Well, the reverse, for innocent. I am quite disinterested in the legal perspective. Guilt and innocence require no law or crime.
A soldier who kills someone is still guilty of having killed someone, whether it’s legally considered murder or praiseworthy performance. Someone who volunteers to join the military has made the choice to put themselves in a position where they may kill someone. They’re no longer innocent, particularly under the definitions “not responsible for or directly involved in an event yet suffering its consequences.” or “a person involved by chance in a situation, especially a victim of crime or war.”
Torabi said:
> He does? How many people has [Deus] killed? Only one that we’re aware of, and it was credible self-defense.
I’m on the ‘Deus is ultimately good’ train, but this point is wrong. Deus had Idigne murdered and it was not self-defense. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-389-interview-to-a-kill/ Indigne told him to get out, Deus insulted him, Indigne told him to get out or he would be shot, Deus had Cthillia murder Indigne.
I dont care if Deus is a cuddly widdle fluffy bunny, he took military forces and invaded another nations territory and proceeded to kill the other nations citizens. We dont stand for that kinda rattlesnake hereabouts. He is Toast.
I think I meant to say sidewinder not rattlesnake, meh, you dont want to find either in your bedroll in the morning
Um… you pretty much described the foreign policy of a LOT of nations… including the U.S.
Governments are just evolved protection rackets, (They run school systems to condition people to ignore that.) and your average African government is a lot less evolved than most. I’m not sure why violating the ‘rights’ of a protection racket should be morally problematic as long as you’re not harming the people it pretends to protect.
Some soldiers got killed here, that’s a bit morally problematic, but he didn’t go out of his way to kill more soldiers than he needed to win.
Brett – that’s a seriously scary view.
“I have a simplistic idea of governments, believing them to be a protection racket. Therefore, I support any attack on them by a strong arm gangster who decides that people should obey his orders, not the actual government they chose. And apparently soldiers are not part of the people – it doesn’t matter if they die protecting their homeland.”
How do you know the government is of their choosing? Because they haven’t overthrown it themselves yet?
Here’s a thought. One of the reeeeelly reeeeeeelly best national anthems I have ever heard is “The Star-Spangled Banner”. It’s not just technically “good”, it’s artistically beautiful.
It’s also a straight-up out-and-out seditious call to revolution, completely in line with the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration actually literally calls for the People to take arms against “A prince who….” and “… a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government …”
Yes, I cherry-picked. I am NOT about to insert the entire document here.
Now you get one guess as to which government does not think you need these freedoms.
It is a poem set to the tune of an old tavern song. The tune can only be belted out as if a drunk or mumbled through incoherently, unless you are a multi-range singer.
We could have America the Beautiful instead.
Aname said:
> I dont care if Deus is a cuddly widdle fluffy bunny, he took military forces and invaded another nations territory and proceeded to kill the other nations citizens. We dont stand for that kinda rattlesnake hereabouts. He is Toast.
It’s not as simple as that. The citizens of those nations were privately begging Deus to take them over so that they could share in the economic benefits of Galtyn. Also, there was an 80% surrender rate, meaning that Deus was making major efforts to prevent unnecessary casualties.
Status quo is god, whether in stories or real life. Anyone who tries to make significant, lasting change is going to be branded a villain or a hero, depending on whether an individual person benefits or suffers from the current system. He’s an antagonist, perhaps the ultimate antagonist of the overarching story, and he certainly likes to play at being a villain, but none of that makes him necessarily a bad guy.
He’s a villain, not just an antagonist. He has no problems committing murder and other evil acts to further his goals and his actions very much make him a bad guy. THAT’S why he’s branded a villain NOT because he’s trying to ‘make significant, lasting change.’
He seems to go to quite a bit of effort to avoid killing people. What other evil acts has he done?
Seems no worse than any other government leader. I guess since hes not invading for oil its bad otherwise it’s good?
Good people don’t commit mass murder or feed other people to demons. But he’s rich and white, so that makes it different
I mean, look at every single religion in the history of ever. All of them wade through rivers of blood and battle, almost every single nation that currently exists has a stack of bodies that would serve as a wall in and of itself. “Mass murder” is only seen as a negative, if its’ happening to you and your kin, otherwise it’s seen as eliminating the enemy, “rich and white” has nothing to do with it. There have been wars and mass genocide and murder long before the USA was a thing, and long before Great Britain came to be a super power.
your whattaboutism game is weak. And I guarantee that if you were on the receiving end your barely sapient reflexive defense of mass murder would stop immediately. But maybe you just can’t conceive of it, and in your imagination your hand, or one a lot like yours, will always swing the axe, hold the whip, or burn the village
I’d wager if I were on the receiving end of mass murder, I’d in fact be murdered, if “my people” were the target of mass murder, and I somehow survived, I’d probably see if the regime change helped humanity or hurt it, FWIW I’m of native american descent, so, kind of do know, that said, I’m also a sociopath, so I tend not to get tangled up in emotions and knee-jerk reactions like you seem to. “Good people don’t commit mass murder” So every single soldier who has ever soldiered for their country, to you, is evil, because most soldiers are gonna have to kill people. Mass murder as defined by the FBI is four or more people, in the same event. So…yeah, any live battle that’s gonna happen. So you assume every single soldier, including the ones who have fought for whatever rights you hold, in whatever country you currently live in, are all just evil, not good people. The world isn’t sunshine and rainbows, conquest happens, and conquest and war are the primary reasons technology and medicine advance primarily. It’s just a sad fact of humanity I’m afraid.
Oh come on cobber. You really need to do some reading. Of history.
First, you need to define “good” and also “bad/evil”. Those alone are not quite what most people think. We also need to understand the word “religion”. It comes together from “re” (again) + “ligere” (to bind). So a shared love of baseball can be called a religion…
The Greek empire before the Roman Empire had a problem with Jews. So they instituted what is arguably the first ever religious pogrom against them. The Jewish people have been targets of choice ever since.
Beyond simple anti-Jewish insanity (it’s NOT anti-Semitism, look the word up) we have Christianity warring (literally) against itself, all and only because of the wording and interpretation of just 3 verses in the Book of Matthew, chapter 26. it is a matter of history that entire populations of these… deviants… were enslaved or simply slaughtered.
Islam is no better, and to some eyes with far less reason. Their schism is about which group is authorised to be the Leader of the Muslim Community, and also the primacy of the Sunnah. These wars were no less bloody than the Christian wars.
Buddhism arose from the Phoenix’ ashes of Hinduism in the Middle East. Peace was not as widely practised as War, and tolerance soon gave way to narrow-mindedness and zealotry.
And atheism is not without its problematic devotees.
Considering the rich whites have historically been loath to consider poor whites the same race, we may need a term to differentiate between the two.
Considering this has been the same around the globe, one could almost conclude that it has to do with power and the abuse of it.
How shocking!
Have we any actual information about what the Demons wanted in exchange for their assistance? I don’t recall any evidence for that “feeding other people to demons” charge.
Considering you’re being an actual racist, I don’t think we can take your word on what makes a villain.
As for an intelligent rebuttal, we’ve seen literally no evidence of mass murder OR ‘feeding people to demons’, and judging by Tom, it’s very unlikely demons would even WANT to eat humans, slimy, greasy things that they are.
He has some antivillainous traits, that’s for sure. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AntiVillain
Oh, he’s a bad guy, but he might (maybe just) not be Evil.
So, you’re saying he’s a bad guy, just not a Bad Guy?
Deus is that sort of Dr Doom or Lex Luthor kind of evil. Yes he’s obviously villainous, dangerous and willing to use whatever means to grt his ways. But neither of the 3 treat the citizens under their rule like shit.
Doom and Luthor are well respected rulers by their people and both understand the importance in investing in your citizens wealthfare and quality of life. Ain’t gotta worry bout an uprising of your people against you if they are living well. Even the poorest of citizens cooperating under their tyrants are doing leagues better most in more what would be considered modern countries.
Deus has shown to be a bit geek savy and definitely has a dangerously high understanding of super hero logic and politics and how the two work in this world. And by all rights his takeovers it seems, have fallen into legal rights so far. He’s someone who can find a waybto execute someone on live television but if you so much as chip his fingernail, he could probably have you and whatever generations after you legally killed not even 20 minutes later. Top tier Doom and Luthor class villian.
Pragmatic evil.
Pragmatic good. I’ve seen nothing he’s done that would be considered evil.
I think it would be funnier if he is truly evil but so pragmatic that he does more good than harm. A parody of supervillainy.
I kinda think that’s how it is. He wants to be a villain for the style of it, but he can’t help himself from doing good because it’s the smart thing in the long run.
And we don’t yet know if this is DaveB’s longterm program?
There’s a ProZD skit about that exact thing.
A villain who WANTS to be villainous but everything he does winds up being good and benficial despite his best efforts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPUgjy-Pn-4
Love it. And now I have a brand new channel to go browse, so much for work today.
Well, Luthor actively despises normal people. And one of his most famous iterations idolizes Hitler.
So it’s a little eh to compare him to Deus.
“Deus is that sort of Dr Doom or Lex Luthor kind of evil.”
Deus is not like either of these people. Unless you mean Lex Luthor in Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, or Injustice, in which case I’ll agree about Lex Luthor.
But Deus is ACTUALLY like David Xanatos from Disney’s Gargoyles, especially after Xanatos’s heel turn to the good guys side. He’s chaotic good. Not evil at all. His methods even tend to be legal, and therefore ‘lawful’ but he’s able to manipulate how the laws are written enough that he’s not ‘Lawful’ but instead is ‘Chaotic.’
And unlike Lex Luthor, Deus actually likes the people who work for him. He tries to help them, he is very generous to them, he treats them with kindness and RESPECT…. all things that Lex Luthor does NOT do, even to his most trusted underling, Mercy. Deus does not throw his own people under the bus to protect himself or make things easier for himself, and he pointed that out as a failing of Sciona’s treatment of Wyrmil.
He also does not operate by causing fear in his underlings. He instead inspires RESPECT from his underlings. So he’s nothing like Victor von Doom either.
Boba Fett:
“Jabba ruled with fear….. I will rule with respect.”
> I’m still not convinced Deus is a bad guy.
Go to the second page of comments and Ctrl-F for ‘Pander’. This issue has been exhaustively discussed and the evidence supports the idea that he is in fact a good guy, at least from a utilitarian consequentialist framework.
I Know Deus is smart enough to make sure he doesn’t start an actual war. Short conflicts can work for nation states,but ant prolonged fighting doesn’t benefit anyone
Arms manufacturers.
then perhaps he shouldn’t be inviting interdimensional armies to aid him whose declared goal is total rulership of the planet.
Excuse me? What do you define as a war?
If you attack a neighbouring country with an overwhelming army, then that is a declaration of war. It is irrelevant whether the weaker state offers a suicidal defence, or surrenders to avoid pointless death and destruction.
It is what Putin is trying to do to Ukraine, and what the US did to Grenada.
It’s still vicious, brutal war. It still destroys a nation’s freedom. It’s just less bloody than fighting a bigger country.
Don’t you just hate it when a megalomaniac ruins your lunch?
Son of a Puritan, now that’s a true Succubus insult.
Whoa, Dabbler! Do you lick your dates with that tongue?
Yes, she does. But she needs to understand you must wash your mouth out if you learn invective from Syddles.
If you learn invective from Sydney, you need to wash your mouth out – with Fusion’s special sauce!
So now Deus isn’t even bound by that treaty, because he doesn’t need to employ supers in warfare. He has a demonic army instead.
“Nono this is not “army” they are just weapons enthusiast fanclub members”
Why not both?
What is your definition of “Super”? Going by Magellan, there is a character called Gifford Foss a goblin from another dimension. He is nothing very special in his home dimension but in the Magellanverse he is a Superhero, seems a similar situation to this.
I assume the definitions as listed in that treaty include the word “human”. And these guys aren’t that.
Super like dragon is defined by the series it is in.
This series seems to have some general guidelines for “super” that does not encompass all “superheroes” but as a general set of traits. Others with special skills, devices, and magic are not listed as “supers” in this series but can still be superheroes.
Off topic, but I always found that shrug (usually from OSP) offensive. Dragons have a clear taxonomy that can be traced, tracked, and understood, and wanting to muddy it by just saying ‘lul who knows’ is always such a cowardly non-answer.
(Obviously all offense taken is purely tongue in cheek here.)
It is a good thing I read the entire post, if not for that last sentence my knee jerk reaction would have taken hold to lecture on the history of the word and different types around the world, including likely linking to that very video as back up.
I mean, in the same way you wouldn’t ever confuse a wolf with a Weiner dog, but you’d call both canines, that’s how I see dragons. Obviously, mythology is going to mythology, and fiction writers are going to do what they want, but a lindwyrm and a wyvern are two very separate things, and you have a visual picture in your mind for what they are as soon as I say it, but they’d both fall under the overarching category of ‘dragon.’
Words have meanings, and my gripe about ‘we can’t define dragons’ stems from the same place as the dictionary redefining literally to mean it’s *actual* opposite. Otherwise, what’s to stop me from saying this soda can is a dragon. It can be anything, after all. I just meant I don’t *actually* take offence to it, much less to the degree of calling it ‘cowardly’, but it does legitimately bother me.
Historically, people weren’t very picky about taxonomy. On any topic. Whether it be animals, weapons, or the supernatural, they flung words around with reckless abandon. Spelling too, if they had a written language.
Also the tendencies of bestiary authors and others to categorize things. Some terms were not as specific as later authors thought they were such as dragon, fairy, nymph, gods, demons, heck even elf and troll were much broader categories originally
Their primary concerns were practical. “Will it attempt to kill me? How?” Distinguishing between things was only important if they required a different defensive response.
Don’t youse be mean to dragons :[ I have these little friends on the Komodo islands. They’re very cuuuuute and friendly, and they get all upset when uncaring folks say nasty things about them. It’s not their fault they can kill you with their spit!
Well…okay you asked for it (although I do think this is beyond the stretching point, dragons should be at least something scaly(ish) chimeric or serpentine monstrous even when silly or cut… but yeah.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_VMEunYHcic/hqdefault.jpg
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pv7QuJ7ueJY/hqdefault.jpg
yeah…ynless Android 21 or Majin Buu were involved here that is a bit…much.
or how about transformers vore jet dragons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve4kornbV0Q
*that is an anime where dragons swallow people who are their pilots who use special suits to not be digested and alter the insides into an iron-man style hologram area and the dragon transforms into a jet.
Does the whole ‘accord’ thing actually matter if Galtyn isnt a signatory? I was under the impression treaties like that were only enforced if the country were a signitory specifically to those parts, or agreed to abide by the treaty for that conflict.
Some accords and treaties provide for measures against non-signatories for breach. It could easily be the case that the signatories to this treaty have a NATO article 5 equivalent where any attack on a signatory with super humans would be met with all signatories going to war against the aggressor.
Depends—it could include clauses requiring signatories to come to the aid of other signatories who are under attack by military supers from non-signatories. But that doesn’t seem to be the case, based on the apparent waffling of the U.N.
If we take the Geneva Convention as an example:
Yes, it still matters.
Here’s how the convention works: Any signatory must assume that whoever they are fighting is either also a signatory, or intends to follow the rules. And thereby, also follow the rules themselves.
But if another party (signatory or not) breaks the rules of the Convention, then that means the conflict itself is no longer bound by the rules of the Convention, and that allows the Signatory to also ignore the rules of the Convention.
Going by this logic: If Deus employs supers in his army, then this automatically gives a free pass to other nations to also employ supers in their armies when fighting against Deus.
It’s basically a “We won’t if you won’t” situation.
which is why, when i was in the US Army during the time of government approved torture (ok so it may been going on long before then, it was just very public then), i was horrified at the blatent breach of the Geneva Convention, the ignoring of US Constitutional Law, and i was in genuine fear because of it, because if i got captured, nothing would stop them from doing that to me.
In addition to the other answers, there may very well (and, in fact, there almost certainly will be) be calls for economic sanctions and military action against Galtyn, similar to what happens to non-signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Unless Deus has already made Galtyn a self-sufficient economy (which seems unlikely, given his desire for immediate trade route access), those sanctions won’t bother him, but they WILL put the squeeze on the citizens he claims to care about so much. And if he’s studied recent history (Iran, North Korea, even Russia), he’ll know this. And he clearly doesn’t give a crap, any more than the leaders of those countries do about their people’s suffering.
So, yeah, Villain. Unless of course Dave uses Authorial Fiat to just make those sanctions not happen, which would dramatically weaken the story, IMNSHO.
“Recently signed accords”. So I take it that Sydney’s version of Earth has a Sokovia in it?
So what happens to the link with Xuriel when Sydney slices and dices Toms arse and dont think she would not, she blew through a kaijus eyeball and out the back of its head. I also think Deus had better fall back to an off-planet position. Having started a war (yes he just did that, undeclared or no) he would not be very beloved by the other african nations, the UN, the US and more pertinantly ARCHon. It is a generalisation, but in fairly recent times, wars have not generally turned out well for the agressors (not everytime but most times, eventually)
Nothing as that is extremely unlikely to occur. I assume there is some contract between Deus and Tom. It is also likely that he didnt break any rules to declare war on the other country and if they arent an Allied nation with the US there isnt anything they can do about it. Should Tom actually die or get killed she will need a new link partner.
I would think the UN would get involved with what is clearly an interstellar/interplanar invasion.
Even if it’s by invitation.
BTW: nice Pz.Kpfw. IVF2s there.
Dave, I think this would qualify as a spammer.
Nah thats not spam, thats the designation of the tanks, short for PanzerKampfwagen Infantry Fighting Vehicle if i had to hazard a guess
*Akshually*
It means Panzerkampfwagen (German for tank. They love long words).
‘IV’ is the Roman numeral for 4. A number to indicate a design improvement/change, akin to saying IPhone 4.
Lastly, F is short for ‘Ausführung F’, meaning a specific version.
German compound words, right? I think it roughly translates to ‘armored combat vehicle’. Panzer=armor + kampf=battle + wagen=wagon, or armoredbattlewagon right?
floccinaucinihilipilification. Just English, right?
The act of deeming something worthless (bit of an Eton gag but still recognised by the Oxford)
Especially after being hit by those tank-buster flails.
Don’t forget antidisestablishmentarism, which is just one letter less, and is a term that was actually used in theologigical discussions. (It applied to protesting against removing the special political status of the Anglican Church in England.) However, floccinaucinihilipilification appears to have started as a prank. https://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-flo2.htm Actually the problem is that German tends to group whole words together where English would put spaces between them. However, my understanding (If someone knows more, please correct me.), the creation of a long compound word in German does not necessarily that it is a sufficiently new word to get it put into German dictionaries.
Found two more beauties,
Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft.
Association for Subordinate Officials of the Main Maintenance Building of the Danube Steam Shipping Electrical Services. (DDSG was a pre-World War I Viennese shipping company) However there is no evidence that the association actually existed.
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
A synonym for Silicosis, but it is an artificial long word. It is in the Oxford but I feel that it is cheating.
Maybe after another meeting or five. So, give or take a year? Paperwork man, paperwork.
Well, they were…
“I would think the UN would get involved with what is clearly an interstellar/interplanar invasion.”
I mean, it’s technically not, though. You could make the argument those demons are basically working for Galytn as “military contractors” – and it’s not like the UN ever gave a shit about those.
Yeah, seems like just mercenaries to me. Don’t see any issues there whatsoever
I’m not sure what they think they’re supposed to do about this either, frankly. Like.. they have no jurisdiction here whatsoever, no? This was a declared war, between two nations.. and Deus even offered them a very fair and reasonable chance to surrender
Honestly, considering he seems to have gone for shock and awe and deliberate military strikes, this war is probably going to be very bloodless as far as African wars go. He’s literally doing nothing wrong compared to most other countries
@Dave –
“… messed up every possible use of laying/lying down.”
“Lay” is transitive, “lie” is intransitive. Imma gonna be rude and let you figure those out, ‘cos thass wot the teetcha tole me at skool. Oh, and while both words actually contain the concept of “down”, you need to keep the tautology because you don’t want to give your readers any unnecessary unwholesome ideas… :D
Hyphens are a noxious gift to humanity from the Devil. Avoid them as far as possible, and you’ll be mostly OK. There’s some word combos that really do need them, but I’d err toward leaving them out so your proof-readers have less work to do — they’ll only be correcting the ones that do need them. A good rule of thumb is to test how the two separate words sound as one word. Usually they don’t. English is not agglutinative like (for example) German, so we wind up with a much easier-to-read — see what I did there? — list of adjectives rather than a long string of unfamiliar letter combos.
You were saying, Pander?
I was saying that Deus is a paragon of humanity and does the right thing. Everything I said still holds ABSOLUTELY true. In fact, possibly moreso now.
And I still see that here. Look at the overwhelming force Deus has. And yet…. there’s very few casualties. Because he let them surrender. Because he does not want violence. He just wants an end to the conflict so he can continue with his work of making life better for everyone in the region. A region which, I will remind you, the PEOPLE have privately begged him to come into to help, even if the corrupt government of a failed state that regularly harms its own people do NOT want.
And before, you, or anyone says ‘but he’s getting help from Infernals!’:
1) So does Archon. Dabbler is an infernal as well. And at least Deus doesn’t lie about it to the people like Archon does. They STILL haven’t told people that Dabbler is not only an alien, but a succubus. IE, a demon.
2) So does the Council. They hold a leadership vote in the Council even.
3) Deus made the contract, not Tom – and I trust Deus’ contracts to work in Deus’s favor, which means working in Galytin’s favor, which means working in Earth’s favor, because Deus, while being a business leader, is not a tyrant, who is not lusting after power – but after wealth and his goals to help everyone have a win-win scenario. Everything he’s done so far has shown this to be true.
4) Deus does not determine who is fighting for him based on race, human or otherwise. Don’t be racist. :) (just kidding, I know you’re not racist, I just wanted to throw that in there because it’s funny and on the last few pages there’s always someone who starts throwing charges of racism just because this happens to be in Africa).
Is that Decolette’s hair band I see keeping Sydney’s bangs at bay?
Looks like someone’s missing New Comic Day on Wednesday
I pity those who will be at the receiving end of said frustration and rage.
Yes, even the demons.
Ouch. Talk about outdated equipment. Nice detail on the Pz-IVs but wow.
Yeah, those old German WWII tanks really get around, eh?
I wonder why not depict T-55 tanks, which Mozambique actually has? Military gear from the old Warsaw Pact and from Communist China is littered all over Africa.
Because Dave just needed a tank model, as he has explained in the comments of the previous page.
My first thought on seeing those was: Kudos to Mozambique on keeping those museum pieces running, wonder where they get the parts?
Love me some Fallout references!
Deus appears to be Good Evil. Perhaps Evil Good. Chaotic Lawful is also possible.
For more of my opinions from a half-century ago on the game I did not name, read Jon Peterson’s Playing at the World.
Mass murdered are not good no matter how much we have been conditioned to lick the assholes of the rich
What mass murder did he even commit though? The only actual murder shown is him killing the old leader of Gatlyn. This is a declared war between two countries and they both came out swinging (the other country deployed their supers and their tank divisions). They haven’t done anything they arent already allowed to do. Remember Deus is the leader of their country so he can declare war legally if he chooses to do so.
It was in a special secret chapter called “Tsath Wants To Make Everything About Their Pet Political Cause.”
Welp. NOW we know who was the “contact from earth” Tom received a message from.
I kneew this was coming from that moment on it’s the very deal he was offering to make to Max etc…
For the hyphens just do what the Dutch and Germans do and allow combining words. So wood-paneled room becomes woodpaneled room.
There is an exceptional case to be made when comparing Reed Richards and Victor VonDoom that Richards is the villain. If Richards were to share one in a hundred of the science magic innovations he creates on a daily basis it would revolutionize the world. Doom puts the majority of what he invents to work for Latvaria.
This is similar to Superman and Lex Luthor. Supes could change the world with a couple of things he keeps locked away in the Fortress of Solitude, but he doesn’t “for our own good”. In this story Lex shares a little, but nothing like the quantity Bruce does through WayneTech. So at least the bad guy doesn’t have the monopoly here.
Deus is at best neutral greedy with a talent for self delusion. His plan to cut a country in half because he chose to take over a landlocked country and wants a port is bullshit. He isn’t interested in Galtyn or helping any part of Africa. He is a colonizer and in that way no better than Leopold II. However he pretties it up is just PR. He has allied himself with external powers because he wants temporal power on Earth. In most countries we call this treason.
By any measure Deus is a villain and easily classified as evil. Just because he doesn’t like the messy system of democracy and thinks he is smarter than everyone else doesn’t justify his actions. If he were half as smart as he thinks he is, he would be able to accomplish what he is after without all the murder.
Also by Deus’s logic if Max happens to dismantle Gatlyn’s entire military while she is visiting, whether sanctioned by the UN or not (and in the real UN all those countries Deus thinks he can keep tied up in parliamentary maneuvering would be stampeding to sanction Gatlyn and authorize the Security Council to use all necessary force to contain Gatlyn due to it posing an immanent threat) she is entirely justified because she feels threatened by them and while she is there her position as a member of the American military makes anything she touches sovereign property of the US.
Deus is only getting away with his megalomania b/c this is a comic book.
No shes not justified shes still part of the military command structure, she doesn’t get to go loose cannon and actively hates when people do. If the US wants to get involved they would need to actively declare war on Gatlyn and that is extremely unlikely to occur. He is the leader of Gatlyn so I am not sure how in any way shape or form he is a traitor. You can say he is a villain but so far the only people he has actively gone against are worse monsters than he is. And this current fight is a war declared between two countries the US has no reason to get involved anymore than they do in our actual reality with all the wars going on. We send equipment and do sanctions that is about it.
I agree with the conclusions but have some criticisms of the beginning part.
> There is an exceptional case to be made when comparing Reed Richards and Victor VonDoom that Richards is the villain.
Nah. Doom has killed thousands of innocent people, and even held Richard’s child hostage, just to get one up on Reed.
He is, unquestionably, a worse person in every way.
>If Richards were to share one in a hundred of the science magic innovations he creates on a daily basis it would revolutionize the world.
That’s a comic book trope. Not an actual part of his character. If Reed did that, the story would break.
>This is similar to Superman and Lex Luthor. Supes could change the world with a couple of things he keeps locked away in the Fortress of Solitude, but he doesn’t “for our own good”.
No, he doesn’t. Humanity in DC doesn’t need Superman’s alien relics and bad guy doomsday weapons he’s picked up over the years.
Humans in DC are a space-faring race with military weaponry capable of killing Kryptonians. (Without using the green rock or magic)
The big reason Richards, Stark, Superman, and every other character with super advanced tech doesn’t share it with the world is…
and you are going to hate this…
because the comics would cease to have a real world look and feel and the cultural and social changes that would occur within the comic would make them unrecognizable to the audience thus possibly decreasing sales to the average comic reader.
Yeah, its dumb, and it kills the fantasy. But in general “the city” is just sort of “there to be saved” or act as an obsticle ect…depending on the comic rather than given any realistic interaction.
even during the deconstruction era of comics (early 2000s into the early 2010s before the neo-deconstruction age started), this aspect was still ignored for the most part of BS excuses were made like politics getting in the way with more of the realism focus being on consequences for super hero actions and battles.
even the MCU is doing this, despite time skips and trying to feel realistic, we aren’t seeing Arc reactors powering cities, or anything because despite the fact their Earth has gone through crap that should make it entirely different from the real world, they still want to (feel) like the real world to a general audience.
Not sure if anyone wrote one but a what-if Earth where they do share this tech and treat the general population like real world demographics and politcis would be an interesting read.
but I can still see lobbyists launching some bad PR campaigns against arc reactors or whatever with BS claims and saying it will put all these workers out of jobs ect…the same crap we see whenever anything that isn’t setting fire to 200 million year old rotted plant remains is proposed.
Again, status quo is god. As Deus said, maintaining it is Max’s real job. Not making people’s lives better, just preventing other powerful people from making them any different — whether for better or worse.
Deus is the antagonist because he intends to shake things up, make them different. Better, even.
I really don’t think you should take Deus at his word there or all his goals at face value.
Kinda wonder what other nasty toys Deus grabbed from the Councils secret vault.
Eg. Just what did Dues use for collateral for the demon merc deal. The problem with mercs is getting rid of them afterwards, else they tend to work for other paying customers
Deus expects Max and her sidekicks to get rid of that problem. Or at least to weaken it enought to use his own true army to obligerate what remains of the Tom (and his army) vs Max (and supes) battle. Leaving the rest of the world unprotected an for him to take over it.
It´s no coincidence that Deus is using a huge army of demons to thet rid of a weak army that could be easily obligerated by one or two supes. He is wrapping Max´s attention to lure her into this trap and defeat her and her group of supers without him having to stain his hands (much).
Max should be able to see through this trap.
Max will not do anything that rash, especially without receiving a corresponding order.
On the other hand she might threaten to deploy Kevin to any warzone Deus is planning top create.
*snickers*
The threat is not just supes. It´s an army of demons. It endangers humanity and whatsmore, I´m sure the attacked country will ask for help.
I’m not a fan of the whole “country flourishes when a benevolent leader whose super power is organization takes charge” trope. It’s just economic nonsense. The Red Son comic, otherwise a fantastic graphic novel, did this twice when superman took over the USSR and when lex luthor took over the US. Oh, you have fantastic growth in GDP, well, look at MY fastantic growth in GDP!
Yeah GDP is a really stupid data point to base anything on, it relates nothing of the actual health of a countries economy, the distribution of the wealth or the productivity of its industries, It is just … stupid, cant think of any good points about GDP except in the grossest indicators of a countries productivity.
GDP is a rubber ruler at best. At worst, it’s just blather.
Example: A general surgeon in Britain makes about 60,000 dollars per year. So this added to their GDP.
A general surgeon in the USA, doing exactly the same job, makes over 400,000 dollars per year.
Suppose the British guy decides to move to the USA and get in on the gravy train. The US GDP bounces by 400k, while the British GDP drops by 60K.
See what I mean by rubber ruler? The whole thing is ridiculous.
I agree with the comment on GDP, but I meant it more generally. The idea that a fantastic increase in *material and socioeconomic prosperity* is obtainable if only the right benevolent dictator is allowed to enact the correct policies is nonsense.
But what is benevolent? Benevolent is certainly a step up from “horrible monster” which is what Deus replaced, but benevolent is not likely to grow the country either.
I look at Deus as more the pragmatic dictator than anything. He’s not going to interfere in religion because religion has no bearing on anything he wants. He’s going to ensure Galytn has good schools and health care because he needs an educated and healthy workforce.
The citizens of Galytn had no voice in any previous government, they haven’t had anything taken away, and are getting more than any of their “democratic” (and you’d put that in quotes too if you’ve travelled enough to see some of the excuses for democratic government in the world) neighbors.
I don’t have any particular admiration for Deus, but pragmatism will take you a lot further than ideology. And Deus seems very pragmatic.
So… What do you think affects socioeconomic prosperity, other than how resources are used and allocated?
His superpower is dedicated to getting himself more wealth and power. We’ve seen what that leads to in the real world. Spiraling inequity, disinvestment in anything useful, and the eventual impoverishment of the many to give the very rich just that little extra bit of wealth
Deus doesn’t have to bribe politicians, which is the source of most corruption, he did away with politics as it interfered with his goals. He intends society to be very flat in Galytn, save for himself. I did NOT say “for himself and ten important families of wealthy supporters, each with 50 hangers on that must be kept up too”.
Looks to me like there’s the “Deus and his agents” payroll, which he probably handles himself, then there’s everyone else, who get paid handsomely by the countries former standards.
This is nothing new at all, it is exactly what the Chinese did in the 90’s. Galytn does not have the population to compete in that way, but I would presume Deus is targeting specialty electronics markets given what’s been shown. Plus, it gives him a power base that doesn’t care what he does as long as their lives keep improving and the electricity is flowing.
But that’s not exactly what’s going on here, is it? Galytn hasn’t improved because Deus is a Great White Politician super-genius. Galytn has improved because the previous government was an exploitative pile of corruption, and Deus ripped that government out by the roots and replaced it with a system that’s actually designed to help people and improve the country.
Of course you get prosperity when you replace a corrupt, exploitative system with one that’s at least basically competent and trying to improve things. How could you not?
Archon’s mandate is internal defense against extraordinary threats.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-147-flying-not-allowed-in-the-super-high-jump/
Plus, the US was pushing for the no supers in war treaty. If it’s already signed, add another level of complication. Add in the “joy” of publicity hungry members of Congress screaming on both sides of the aisle.
I have a feeling that if push came to shove then “The Imminent Lawless Action” test could be applied to Deus in this case as he is still a US citizen and bound by the Constitution, maybe, we will see.
Archon is a national defense force so it would require a country to ask from help from the USA and at the rate these attacks are moving Deus would need to go after a UN member to trigger this. He’s playing it safe and attacking small non-member countries that would have to send someone to beg for help and by time that goes through it’s too late.
Mozambique is a member of the UN. It might not be one of the big players, but it’s there.
Yeah but this is not Internal defense as he is not attacking the US. Also neither country had signed that treaty, Mozambique only did after it had lost all their supers not before. Plus I am sure he has lined quite a few politicians pockets to look the other way.
Kuwait
Galytn does not have oil. Nor was it actually recognized by the UN or most countries.
Zaire actually claims the breakaway – but I doubt they dare do that very loudly now.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-387-a-noble-investment-embiggens-the-smallest-wallet/
Got nothing to do with oil. Iraq invaded Kuwait and the US jumped in dragging half the UN with it. It is expensive to go to war, economically the US would have been better served to ignore the invasion and make a deal with the new owner for the oil. If anything it was the Saudis who wanted Saddam out, he was too secular for them to accept, they wanted a Wahabi religious government in Kuwait and Iraq, full on Sharia.
How PO’d would Max be when she sees Tom again and would she have a few “words” with Deus as well?
Also Sydney’s folks would tell her that they have to be going anyway and will call later…
At least in war; if you’re not cheating you’re not trying hard enough. That’s a ‘first rule of war’ after all.
Counting cards isn’t actually cheating. A casino will blacklist you if you get caught doing it, but otherwise it’s not actually against the rules of blackjack. It also doesn’t give the player an advantage; just reduces the house advantage. Plus, if there’s at least six decks in play it doesn’t even work all that well anyway.
In any other game it’s encouraged, especially in poker or in trick-taking games like bridge.
You need to read up on card counting (blackjack). Watching Rainman does not count.
Four years of elementary and advanced game theory.
As Andromeda’s Nitzchean said: “It’s only cheating if you get caught.”
Hold on…. Just one gorram second, here.
How the hell has this NEVER happened before? That no ruler has ever taken it upon themselves to bargain with daemonic forces for military power?
No. Seriously. If it is just a matter of calling up someone and making a deal, how have there not been armies of demons ALL OVER ham history? Or not even that, just within living memory? Because nobody ever tried? Because it would be morally wrong?
What is even the point of this “Council”?
I kinda think you answered your own question there. Presumably, the council was able to prevent these kind of incidents in the past. That they weren’t able to prevent this one doesn’t make them useless.
And I imagine a large component of that job was keeping any of the Muggles from learning that demons actually existed (and that they could be contracted to win you all the wars, and how to contact them, etc.), which… they were doing by default anyway, because Veil.
Look at the timeline – Tom shows up, bounces off Maxima & Dabbler, goes back home, and *then* there’s a Deus-o-gram waiting. Deus saw opportunity coming down the street and rolled out the welcome mat.
If I’m reading the Council right, this would be one of the first times that a significant Demon (or similar) force has got established before they were aware of it. Most times, the herald (or whatever they call the one who negotiates the contract) would have to go through the Council’s auspices to be operating on Earth in the first place, and could be monitored in that way. And in an age before rapid mass (Human) communication, there’s a lot more leeway to stamp out any successful incursions and the rumours thereof before they spread.
I love that Dabbler’s worst insult is to call Deus a “son of a puritan.” Seems very appropriate for her.
What’s interesting is her ignorance of Earth’s religious history. The Puritans were remarkable in their time for many things including an inability to get along with anyone except other Puritans, even the tolerant Dutch.
But when it came to sex their views were, for Christians of that era, radical. Standard Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant dogma at the time was the sex was only EXCUSABLE in order to bring new souls into the world. Like Judaism, Islam, and several strains of Indian religion (I can’t bring myself to use the catch-all “Hindu”) they believed that sex and sexual pleasure were gifts from God to be enjoyed within the legal bounds of marriage. The Puritans were, in short, much more sex-positive than other Christians.
I imagine she’s not interested in subtle distinctions between different levels of prudery. All christian religions are clustered near one end of the scale, and her scale is so much wider that those distinctions are all but indistinguishable.
Ok politics warning here, you can kill this comment if you deem it unsuitable Dave.
I have been having a deeper look into this Imminent Lawless Action test thing (I’m not from the US so I didn’t know anything about it before, initially I was looking for the Clear and Present Danger law (yes, Clancy))
Anyhow, why wasn’t it brought up against Trump for the 1/6/21 thing. The course of events “seem” to check off all the precedent rulings,
Whitney v. California (1927), Yates v. United States (1957) and Hess v. Indiana (1973)
No opinion on it (not in US) just surprise.
Kill or no kill, entirely your choice Dave
Because we’ve reached the point where people don’t agree on the basic facts, let alone interpretations of more complex ones.
To give you a real answer, though hidden name, because I don’t trust political people not to be up my ass for opinions, it’s because it’s very clear that the man did not incite anything.
Side-stepping all of the political hoopla (HOOPLAAA) of us vs. them and theories of what happened, what Trump said was in no way inciting. Unless you can rejigger the definition of ‘peacefully and patriotically make your opinions heard.’ to be ‘go walk around a publicly owned building and act like rowdy tourists.’
Another problem is any republican leaning lawyer worth the paper their degree is on would be able to turn the claim around on democrats so fast it’d make their head spin, with the dozens upon dozens of statements of support of the numerous riots before in the democrats favor, and not just talking about the BLM riots, but as far back as the ‘not our president’ riots. Kind of like how if you and your brother both do something wrong, you don’t tell one one another, because the other has the information on you as well.
You are only selectively quoting what Trump did.
He was watching the attack on tv and didn’t send in the national guard as back up. He told them to show strength, to stop holding back, and He had his lawyer tell his supporters to have a trial by combat. He told his supporters to go there and be wild. He also made numerous previous statements explictly encouraging violence.
And they weren’t just walking around the capitol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVZvp-Dv0gg
It wasn’t just walking around the capitol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVZvp-Dv0gg
I see you like sedition and treason. I have no time for traitors and those who defend them
“… rejigger the definition of ‘peacefully and patriotically make your opinions heard.’ to be ‘go walk around a publicly owned building and act like rowdy tourists.’”
Sounds like a crowd of Aussie tourists in Bali :(
To be fair to Mozambique, they might have been more willing to surrender if Deus had mentioned that he was basically going to unleash the Zerg on them in the form of a demonic mercenary batallion.
Uhm Dave. You do know that standing in a line waiting for around for enemy artillery stopped being a thing, y? and tanks dont need to be in vision for you to get shot up. just…wtf man, only living being left would be Vale, nobody else seems remotely rated for actually getting hit by tanks. and they would be, standing around like morons.
I have an operating theory on Deus’ powers. He has gated omniscience. To clarify, he knows the answer to any question he thinks to ask. Doesn’t ask the question, doesn’t know the answer. Asks the question, knows the answer. This includes the question, “What question could I ask that, if answered, would make me very happy for a long time?” Of course knowing the answer doesn’t mean he *understands* the answer. That’s why he needed to barter for alien technology. Also, if a question has multiple answers, he may only get one of those answers, unless he asks the question again with additional restrictions or clarification.
Are you intimating he might be one of those mythical beings, and actually working AI(general branch) robot?
aka:Asimovian Robot?
That… is not even close to what I was trying to say. Not unless the Asomovian robots had access to infinite knowledge of the universe and everything in it. As far as I knew, they were smart, but not infinitely smart.
Let’s try this from a religious perspective. Imagine Deus having a direct connection to a being with infinite knowledge of the universe/multiverse and all things in it. Let’s call that being God for lack of a better description. Deus can ask God any question he wants, and God gives Deus an honest and unbiased answer. Deus can do this as often as he wants. The answers God gives Deus are not intentionally cryptic or vague, but since they come from God, they may still be difficult for Deus to understand. Deus can ask follow-up questions, try to refine his questions, change his approach, etc., until he gets answers he can understand and use.
Now, Deus doesn’t actually know who is answering his questions. He does know that the answers he gets are truthful, unbiased, and always correct. So he keeps asking qustions, and he keeps getting answers. This is Deus’ super power.
Deus is smart, but not superhuman smart. Asking how to turn himself into a god gets him an answer he can’t use. Asking how to copy Maxima’s or Halo’s powers gets him answers he can’t use. Asking how Maxima got her powers points him to the geode, half of which he now keeps on his trophy shelf. Asking how Syndey got her powers points him to a set of coordinates in the Chicxulub crater, which he has already searched, and probably found nothing useful. Asking how to make super humans gets him a complex scientific answer, which he eventually breaks down through follow-up questions into something he can write down and hand off to scientists. Asking how to get rich results in a variety of answers depending on his phrasing. Asking how to become powerful gets him the answer, “Ask questions and act on the answers.”
And as a side effect of having a super power, his physique corresponds to the human ideal. Just as it does with every other super human.
That is a very useful reply. It is perhaps possible that DaveB may incorporate it as canon.
Isn’t that just a slightly weaker version of path to victory from parahumans? (the only real difference being that path to victory can autopilot the user’s body to do things that require precision)
Um…What’s up with Max’s hair? It looks shorter than even when she has it done up for military events.
When she gets really, really angry it reverts to a Marine buzzcut, it’s a Super thing. She also shines more.
Yeah the UN only gets involved when second class third world nations ruffle the feathers at one another. Never when the big boys get into a dust up other than to whine, whinge and otherwise nervously rub their collective hands together. The UN is a rigged game. It’s why they didn’t do a damn thing when Russia took Crimea and won’t do anything if Putin finally invades Ukraine.
I think it was Heinlein who said that the best political ruling system is that of a benevolent dictator, the only problem is there being a lack of such. Regarding the comments on Deus being good, evil, chaotic, whatever. He certainly isn’t evil. Evil is grinding babies up for lunchmeat. I don’t think we’ve seen Deus take out any innocent civilian types. Invading other countries is not by definition evil especially when by doing so you are improving the lives of of the locals by removing them from tyranny of shit hole leaders. Note, this is NOT what Putin is planning. He wants the three major Ukrainian shipyards capable of building and maintaining huge ships such as aircraft carriers and he doesn’t care how many innocent civilians have to die in order to get them. Big difference between Deus and Putin just for comparison sake.
There are many different levels that classify evil, and Dues fits into several of the categories. Yes, he’s overthrowing a corrupt regime, but only to fuel his own agenda. Many of the most evil people (believe it or not) fall into the corporate stooge of today’s world. Greed is a very dark thing to embrace and most in the corporate world have done so. It has brought down civilizations in the past and Dues is riding this train to his own personal goals which will either ruin everyone else,. or himself. I’m counting on the latter as he’s deserving of ruin.
The big problem with a benevolent dictator is the same as with a good absolute monarch: There is no guarantee that the heir will also be benevolent. By putting all the power in the hands of one person, once that person dies terrible things can and will happen.
Sounds a lot like Democratic Party Politics… By putting all the power in the hands of one Party, once that Party loses office terrible things can and will happen.
Flying creatures = shantaks?
The rule-of-thumb that I tend to use when making use of hyphens (other than the ones that are set in stone by the language) is to use hyphens when I am trying to convey a single concept using multiple worlds. Like you mentioned above, separate adjectives imply something that is this, and this, and this; while hyphenating would imply that the item is this-one-complex-description-that-cannot-be-separated.
Yup. Should have killed him. This is why military doctrine exists, Colonel Leander. If you have a foreign invader who is a credible threat declaring war, you TAKE. THE. BASTARD. DOWN.
Not really her place to go loose cannon. There is a chain of command for a reason and Tom was talked down there was not a need to escalate prior.
Absolutely. However, it is of highest importance that ONLY nations which cannot fight back be so chastised.
Chile: use General Pinochet to remove Salvador Allende;
Nicaragua: send “advisors” to help hunt down the Sandinistas;
Grenada: use military force to prevent construction of modern airstrip.
Cuba: We will try not to remember the thrashing they gave us at the Bay of Pigs;
Korea: may have been a mistake;
Vietnam: almost certainly was a mistake.
The primary problem with calling Deus evil is that pretty much all national leaders are evil. It’s rare that a leader of a country isn’t evil. So if his promises of improving the common citizens’ lives are more than hot air, then he at least qualifies as neutral on the good/evil balance.
You are lying. Please stop telling lies.
Most national leaders do not wage unprovoked war on their neighbors.
Most national leaders do not make pacts with demons.
Most national leaders do not commit wholesale mass murder.
Most national leaders are not motivated by a burning desire to dominate the world and aggregate all power to themselves.
You really think most national leaders wouldn’t do those things if they thought they could get away with it? What’s changed throughout history is that the scale of the consequences has increased, and that has perhaps provided some deterrent.
“You are lying. Please stop telling lies.”
Um it’s odd that you would say that to Magnus, then have the next 2 to possibly 3 sentences be lies (both lies as it relates to Deus, and lies as it relates to actual facts), and one sentence be something that ARCHON has done as well.
“Most national leaders do not wage unprovoked war on their neighbors.”
This would be lie #1. Admittedly it might not be a lie, but rather you might just not be aware of it, in which case it has no intent as a lie, and it’s just you being wrong. I don’t want to assume intent to deceive since you’re probably a very nice person actually.
The war with Mozambique is not unprovoked. Galytin was already AT war with Mozambique and all other surrounding nations, except Zaire, which was too involved in its own civil war to notice Galytin, even before Deus got involved with Galytin.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-388-delicate-negotiations/
Not to mention, the people in Mozambique privately BEGGED Deus to come into help them. Not surprising considering how corrupt Mozambique’s government is to its own people as a good example of a failed state. There’s a good reason that DaveB chose Mozambique if he wanted to make Deus look like the good guy here.
Also, yes, many national leaders HAVE engaged in unprovoked wars on their neighbors. Heck, you’d be describing the majority of wars that happen in Africa in the last two centuries at least.
“Most national leaders do not make pacts with demons.”
This would be the one that isnt a lie, but it’s something ARCHON has also done. And is a lie is you extend that to what Deus is using the demons AS. Ie, Mercenaries for a war.
That would be because demons don’t actually exist. But mercenaries do. And many national leaders DO make pacts (agreements) with mercenaries. Including even nations with huge standing armies. Including the United States.
Also, if you note, Deus’s agreement with Tom came at DEUS’s request, not Tom’s. And apparently he’s using Tom’s army to encourage surrender, and to MINIMIZE casualties. In a war. He’s actively going out of his way to make sure as few of his enemies as possible die, when it would be a lot easier to just use his already massive overwhelming advantages to cause a MUCH higher body count, which would make the entire war even easier than it already is for him.
“Most national leaders do not commit wholesale mass murder.”
This would be lie #2. Again, most likely more it’s just you being wrong, because I don’t think you’re intending to deceive, and are just not aware of the facts involved. But you did call Magnus a liar so I dunno.
This is also a lie, because neither has Deus ever committed wholesale mass murder. In fact, I can’t see where he’s committed any murder at all, save for the former murderous tyrannical warlord of Galytin, King Indigne, formerly General Indigne of Zaire. And even with him, it was self defense because the King was going to order Deus to be thrown off the roof for telling him that he is corrupt and if he gave Indigne a million dollars, he doubts even $1000 would be spent on his people to help them. And even with Indigne, he tries to first REASON with him and deal with him as a business venture in order to help his people.
And it’s pretty obvious that many national leaders HAVE engaged in mass murder. Actual murder, not just deaths as a result of war (which would not be murder unless you think Maxima and Sydney – depending on if you consider killing aliens to be murder – are both murderers). Deus has not.
“Most national leaders are not motivated by a burning desire to dominate the world and aggregate all power to themselves.”
This would be lie #3. Not because Deus does not want world domination – although he does seem to treat it as more of a joke than an actual thing. He wants world control more than domination, since the people he’s in charge of actively WANT him in charge and appreciate him being in charge. No, it’s a lie because of human history in general.
The history of the planet would suggest otherwise than what you’re stating. Deus himself has mentioned Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, for example.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-395-the-benefits-of-a-classical-education/
This is shaping up to be quite a difficult situation. And I kinda agree with some others that I have been soured on the “benevolent dictator who’s really good at organizing fixes all the problems” trope.
The trick is dose D have anything that can even harm Max and Syd. I am pretty sure Max can justify glassing the entire army at this point. Syd could literally bifurcate then with the a wave of her had with PPO but I don’t think she’s menially able to do that short of her personal friends being in danger. Even then where would be a LOT of therapy time after.
How would she be justified? They have not attacked US elements and she is there to protect domestic assets not foreign who arent allies and have signed no treaties with the US. We dont get directly involved in most legitimate declared Wars in the world why would we get involved here?
Under normal circumstances you are correct.
However there is a small x factor that would need to be verified before action and that is clarifying the demons’ intentions. Thothogoth last declared his intentions to Maxima to subjugate the entire planet (which the US despite its policies is part of) . So this concern would need to be addressed first and verify if this intention is still standing.
“Under normal circumstances you are correct.”
Not just under normal circumstances. Under the exact circumstances in the comic, she cannot do anything. Nor does she have any reason to do anything whatsoever against Galytin and Deus.
“However there is a small x factor that would need to be verified before action and that is clarifying the demons’ intentions.”
I’m assuming that you missed (or forgot) the part where Tom left and was given a deal BY Deus. He didnt go to Deus. So there is no intent by Tom.
“Thothogoth last declared his intentions to Maxima to subjugate the entire planet (which the US despite its policies is part of)”
1) Unnecessary dig at the U.S.
2) We already discussed how this was tough talk puffery, which was IMMEDIATELY recanted after the bodyslam.
3) Tom. LEFT. And got called back by Deus. Also Mozambique is not the entire planet. Mozambique is a failed state run by a corrupt government according to every humanitarian and international agency, where the people tend to live in abject poverty and squalor. There is corruption throughout the entire country from the top down, including the government, the police, the army, the courts, etc. I posted a link to this yesterday which goes into thorough detail. Plus, in comic, the people there begged Deus to come in to help them.
“So this concern would need to be addressed first and verify if this intention is still standing.”
This is correct, so we agree here. Which is why Maxima is going to take Deus up on his offer to have her (and probably some other members of ARCHON) visit Galytin to see what they’re doing there, in order to have Galytin become a trusted trade partner with the USA.
It makes sense for Maxima to want to make sure that Tom has not gone back on his word. But that does NOT mean invading Galytin, which she literally cannot do legally because the USA is a signatory to the accords which prevent super intervention, while Galytin and Mozambique are not (yet). Instead, there are legal, diplomatic means involved since Deus DOES want Maxima to come to Galytin to see what he’s doing for the nation and the region in general.
By europa universalis standards Deus dont have casus belli for that agression and now is” worse than dishonorable scum.” And if russia or china dont step up with “if you involve i also” who cares? Deus dont have Alliances and clearlry have WMD, USA need less to do agression
The US also has a history of deciding who our allies are, retroactively, when the need arises. And the justification, here, would be the Supers Non-Proliferation Agreement, or whatever the treaty that Galtyn isn’t part of is called. Much like the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, being a signatory is often used as justification for military activity against states that are attempting to violate the Treat, even if they aren’t signatories.
And Big D’s showboating here creates an opportunity for the US. “Max, while we can’t order you to assassinate a foreign head of state, anyone stupid enough to be on the far side of an army you have to pulverize with those personal death rays of yours is, well, expendable by virtue of their stupidity.
“The trick is dose D have anything that can even harm Max and Syd.”
1) The geode possibly.
2) D isnt trying to harm Max or Syd in the first place.
3) D probably knows where Syd got the orbs from by now and if he wanted, he could cause a lot of PR trouble for ARCHON, despite ARCHON having a good legal standing to argue with regards to salvage rights.
4) Maxima is not a soldier for Mozambique, or for the UN, and the super accords which the US IS a signatory to, say she cannot do anything here anyway.
5) That would be a real great image, Maxima, soldier of the United States, defending a corrupt regime while the civilians under that regime DO NOT WANT HER THERE and do want Deus there.
” I am pretty sure Max can justify glassing the entire army at this point. ”
She would literally have no justification whatsoever to do so, unless she was psychotic and the actual supervillain of this story.
“Syd could literally bifurcate then with the a wave of her had with PPO”
See my response about Maxima.