Grrl Power #1050 – The one with the list
Deus: We’re the two most attractive people in any room.
Max: You wildly overestimate yourself.
Deus: I notice you didn’t disagree about your comeliness.
Max: I know what I look like.
Deus: Pamela Anderson crossed with Xena.
Max: … }sigh{ Right. Besides, it’s hardly a reason for us to date.
Deus: Between your physical might, military position, and fame, and my own economic, political and technological resources, we would redefine the term “power couple.”
Max: Again, hardly a reason to date.
Deus: It would make couples comprised of actors and/or musicians feel downright silly by comparison.
Max: Hmm. I suppose that would be amusing.
Deus: I challenge you.
Max: You aggravate me. Did you know your new buddy enslaved Dabbler’s sister?
Deus: That was a tad petty, but for demons, I think it’s roughly equivalent to pulling on a succubus’s pigtails. Regardless, Parfait is going to get quite an education, tagging along from world to world with Thoth. I would expect the move was designed to make Dabbler envious of her sister’s incipient adventuring career, but I don’t know what Thoth and Dabbler’s early years were like.
Max: I can’t help but picture them sharing an efficiency with furniture found on the sidewalk just before trash day.
Dues: Hah hah hah hah! I was just about to say the same thing! With a bunch of pizza boxes stacked up on the wobbly kitchen table, Thoth running a kickstarter to get his “sweep the chaos from your world” business going.
Max: And Dabbler trying to save enough to get her “Adventurer’s First Kit” with the fifty feet of rope and the ten foot pole.
Deus: I never understood that. How do you maneuver a ten foot pole through a dungeon?
Max: Maybe it was collapsible?
Deus: Maybe.
Max: I’m still not dating you.
Deus: I have a really nice caaaaar.
Max: Hah hah hah! That wouldn’t have worked on me even if I was still in high school!
Deus: “Makes Maxima laugh.” Check.
Max: Are you seriously putting this on the whiteboard?
Deus: We’re making Pro/Con lists.
Max: }sigh{ Oh my god. Add “You exhaust me.” to the Cons.
The May Vote Incentive is up! This month it’s Warsyl, from Tamer: Enhancer 2! I’d say “spoilers,” but the book has been available for 5 months now. Anyway, this pic doesn’t have a zillion outfit variations, partially because her armor took longer to draw than I thought it would, but mostly because she just has an armored form, and an unarmored form. The latter being available over at Patreon.
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:you exhaust me” can also be added to the pros in the…right circumstances.
+1 for posting my first thought after reading that ‘con’ before me.
I imagine Maximum would have to get really good at holding her breath, um, stratigically.
Technically true. Which is the best kind of true. Hehehe
Glad I wasn’t the only one who thought this. ;-)
If you exhaust Sciona… Mayhaps you have a chance at wondong max
History shows that you can have a great leader, dictator, king, whatever, who makes the world a better place for everyone under him/her, and everyone will sing their praises for centuries. Unfortunately, they die. And all hell breaks lose, eventually putting almost everyone in a worse position than they started in. Happens every single time. When Deus dies, a whole bunch of people will try to duplicate what Deus has done, and you end up with a super powered world war anyway.
Be Franklin managed to get 2 centuries of peace. Not much more then that but hey what’s a world/covil war between frenimies
I’m going to assume you meant Ben Franklin. And then I’m going to tell you that The War of 1812 was a thing that happened, and that your initial estimate is off by about 160 years.
Also, the Cherokee-American war began before the US war of Independence was even over, so in that light Franklin got zero years of peace. All of the many American Indian wars cannot be simply discounted, they were military actions taken by US troops. They certainly cannot be hand waved away as being times of peace.
The US has never had more than a very few years of peace since its formation as a nation.
Those weren’t wars… They were nation building. It’s entirely different… except to the people fighting and the people who live where the fighting is and anyone looking closely. … So obviously, it’s very different. National building makes the world a better place by lowering commodities pricing.
True. But, looking at this from Deus’ perspective, at least he wouldn’t need to live through it. If he sits around and does nothing, it would totally wreck his retirement.
I read this in the same mental voice I read everything Deus says in.
I was gonna say “I read this in Deus’s voice” and then remembered this comic is not, in fact, dubbed (to my knowledge)
Both the god-emperor of mankind and Leto Atreides the second had a solution for that…
Also Winston Duarte
Also Winston Duarte
The Martian traitor so nice, you posted him twice. :)
Dune and Warhammer 40,000.
Applesauce to you!
Nothing lasts forever, even if he probably could become semi-immortal with alien tech.
Or if he figures out how to give humans anti-ageing superpowers.
Very true
But aliens and super powers can VASTLY improve lifespan to the point that you are more likely to find/make a worthy successor
Ah, yes, the old ‘ten-foot pole’ question…
I was running a D&D game YEARS ago, when a player asked why they couldn’t find it on my page of ‘standard dungeon gear’. I told them to look in ‘weapons’ under ‘staves’… It’s two 2-foot screw-in sections for a standard quarterstaff. For an additional charge, you can get a quarterstaff that unscrews into two 3-foot parts (not recommended if planning on using the quarterstaff in combat).
Is that a buck and a quarter Quarterstaff?
I now have an urge to reforge a 25-cent piece into a long stick for a minifigure wizard, with an LED at the top and a watch battery in the figure base. A quarter staff of power.
post pictures. I liked the ‘wand of magic missiles’ mini
More like a buck and two Quarterstaff.
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge honestly believed “a tiny few deaths” would be an acceptable price to create their “better world”. I don’t doubt for a second that Deus really has good intentions, but nearly every despot and tyrant honestly believed they were making a better world.
lolwut? Do you have any idea what you’re talking about Dr O? Pol Pot emptied out the cities, executed anyone with an education or glasses and started Aushwitz style prison camps to process anyone who resisted, which was half of the country. At no point did he say or pretend that it would only be a few deaths. The guy was a French Educated Communist Eugenicist. Every facet of his ideology revolved around killing large numbers of people.
And he thought the world would be better for it. That it would bring about peace, prosperity, and a utopian paradise and that he would be hailed as a savior of humanity for eternity. (I’m assuming)
As did Hitler, Stalin, Ghengis Khan, and a very, Very, VERY long list of other maniacs.
But you’re both kinda right. Nice motive, still genocide.
My friend, I have advanced degrees in history. I sometimes wish I didn’t. Deus SOUNDS reasonable, but a tyrant is a tyrant, no matter what the motive or end goal is. The ends do not justify the means.
Panel 2, Max took the words right out of my mouth. Panel 3, I can’t tell if Deus is amused because the greed is the bit she chose to focus on, or because she thought that greed was his end game (or somehow incompatible with it).
And note how he didn’t deny it?
Deus doesn’t realize what Maxima’s Pros versus Cons list looks like. For ease of list generation, I’m going to alternate between pros and cons here. Note that this is only a small portion of the overall list, just touching on a few obvious points.
Con: Deus has an excessive fondness for making lists.
Con: Deus is exasperatingly smug.
Pro: Deus is really rich.
Con: Deus is exasperatingly smug about being really rich.
Con: Deus is one of Maxima’s employer’s suppliers.
Pro: Deus is handsome.
Con: Deus is exasperatingly smug about being handsome.
Con: Deus has an excessive fondness for making lists.
Pro: Deus knows how to push all the right buttons.
Con: Deus is exasperatingly smug about knowing how to push all the right buttons.
Pro: Deus would probably pop like a tier 4 brute if they actually had sex.
Con: Deus might still enjoy it.
Con: Deus would be exasperatingly smug about it if he survived.
Pro: Deus always seems to know whatever he needs to, like it was his actual super power rather than that crazy story he said about super intelligence.
Con: Deus is exasperatingly smug about always knowing whatever he needs to.
Con: Deus has an excessive fondness for making lists.
Con: Deus is exasperatingly smug.
Now, added just today.
Con: Deus has an excessive fondness for making lists.
Con: Deus is exasperatingly smug.
I’m not entirely sure why Maxima’s cons list is twice as long as her pros list, but this is probably at least part of it.
From what I’ve seen of your pro and con list, eight of them are the same con that you list over and over again. Smugness, and two are the same con of making lists. I know you wrote that as a joke but still, the pros are HUGELY in Deus’s favor. And one of the cons was ‘he is easy to murder during sex.’
Lets do a real pro and con list. And I’ll even give the smug as a con. And the pros are things which Maxima herself ha admitted.
Pro: Deus is a self-made multi-billionaire
Pro: Deus is powerful, both physically (for a non-physically superpowered human) and socially.
Pro: Deus is incredibly intelligent.
Pro: Deus is a philanthropist (proven on Macroeconomics TV show)
Pro: Deus is loyal to those he is in a relationship with.
Pro: Deus has a very good sense of humor.
Pro: Deus has massive nerd cred and geek cred, and probably could chat with Maxima about Lord of the Rings without her having to feel embarrassed for her own nerdish inclinations.
Pro: Deus is actively trying to make humanity more peaceful to prevent the destruction of the planet once everyone is a super.
Pro: Deus is respected on multiple countries, and among several alien civilizations apparently.
Pro: Deus is someone Maxima admits she finds ‘handsome in a mo’ai sort of way.’
Pro: Deus actually respects Maxima, even though she’s excessively rude to him on a regular basis, so he sees through the protective persona she puts forward.
Pro: Deus gives great gifts.
Pro: Deus is astoundingly good at sex.
Pro: Deus believes in education.
Pro: Deus believes in women’s rights and is an equal opportunity employer.
Pro: Deus is not afraid to be in the spotlight (and is in fact already in the spotlight so he’s used to it), which being in a relationship with Maxima would necessitate.
Pro: Deus is someone that several of her friends approve of (Anvil keeps wanting Maxima to date him and Sydney has a lot in common with him… and admittedly Harem has a thing for him)
Con: Deus is in a ‘non-exclusive chilling’ relationship with one of the Harems.
Con: Deus is frequently under investigation by the government. Also can be a pro if the government sucks and is inherently corrupt.
Con: Deus is smug
Pro: Maxima is also smug, so they have that in common.
Pro: Deus has ample reason WHY he’s smug (see list of pros)
Con: Deus pushes Maxima’s buttons, usually on purpose.
Pro: Deus knows when to stop pushing buttons and do something nice for Maxima, and feels comfortable enough around Maxima to be able to push buttons. He’s courageous, both in a broad sense and in a personal sense.
Pro: Deus pushes the RIGHT buttons as well.
Pro: Deus understands Maxima’s mindset.
Con: It’s hard to keep secrets from him, and Maxima has a lot of secrets as a high ranking member of the military.
Con: Maxima’s governmental department is in business with Deus’s company, so there could be a conflict of interests.
Pro: Deus is TRUSTWORTHY to keep Maxima’s secrets – like with the geode, which he was willing to give Maxima, but Maxima trusts him to keep it.
Pro: Deus probably has more understanding of Maxima (and supers in general) than anyone in the government or on the planet. Including Dabbler.
Pro: Deus is well on his way to running the entire planet in a way which is going to be relatively peaceful and voluntary, based on finance instead of killing.
Pro: Deus does not gawk at Maxima.
Con: As far as she knows.
Pro: Deus has excellent taste in restaurants and food.
Pro: Deus is strategic and does not do things without a good reason.
Pro: Deus is a master of the win-win scenario for all parties involved.
Pro: Deus genuinely likes Maxima, not just for her physical hotness.
Pro: Deus is very patient and does not lose his temper. He also does not shirk away from a debate or degrade it into insults. He’s a grown-up.
Con: Deus brags a lot.
Pro: Deus brags about things that are TRUE.
Con: Deus cares about Maxima’s well-being, but does not belittle her by thinking he needs to be her hero when she’s fully capable of handling herself.
Pro: Deus can keep a secret
Con: Deus keeps secrets. Although this might be because he and Maxima are not in a committed relationship yet.
Con: Maxima’s incalculably stronger than Deus and would have to be very careful in a sexual relationship with him during the throes of passion.
Pro: Deus has probably accounted for this and can handle it somehow, or trusts Maxima to not hurt him severely during sex.
Con: Maxima is concerned that Deus might eventually be in conflict with the United States.
Pro: Deus is not currently in conflict with the United States, has said he would not be in an ARMED conflict with the United States in the future, that it would likely wind up being cooperative, and he’s been very open about every step of his plan so far, none of which involved a military conflict with the United States or other first world nations.
Pro: Deus is in REALLY good shape (Maxima specifically said this).
Pro: Maxima has not been in a real relationship for a long time, and it’s not healthy to keep yourself socially separate from EVERYONE, and she isnt able to have a relationship with Hiro since she’s his direct superior officer, while there’s no legal or legally ethical problems with a relationship with an independent contractor to Archon who she is not in charge of.
Pro: Deus is environmentally aware.
Pro: Deus is rich and powerful enough that he can’t be easily controlled by a third party.
Con: Deus is rich and powerful enough that he can’t be easily controlled by MAXIMA or ARCHON.
Pro: Maxima might like the idea of someone who isnt a mealy-mouthed toady that she can push around.
Con: Deus likes making lists.
Pro: Deus likes making lists because lists are awesome and show that a person is well organized and thinks about both sides of possible decisions, strategies, and actions.
You missed:
Pro: Deus gives good gifts (I refer specifically to the boots)
I also have to say that I cannot agree more with:
People should make more lists. A list helps a person focus their energy on the things which are most important instead of on unimportant things or things of minimal importance. Just the act of making a list can help a person to recognize that things which they thought were very important aren’t as important as they once thought they were. Or recognize that things which they were treating as being of lesser importance are actually very important. It can help a person kick themselves out of a rut, get more done with less energy, and spend more time on the things which are important to them.
This applies to both professional and personal matters.
I did mention the pro of good gift giving right above being astoundingly good at sex, and below that he actually does respect Maxima :)
And yes… list making is a very valuable pro and everything you said about list making is spot-on. :)
Tangent on “Maxima trusts him to keep [the geode].” He’s already had a long time, possibly years, to do R&D on it, so there’s not much to be gained by removing it from his possession. However given the existence of magic and technowizardry in the Grrlverse, it seems like the geode could become a strong sympathetic link (could be already) if returned to her possession or spent enough time in close proximity to her. He may already have the other half, or have kept some fragments.
Could be argued either way. Personally, I think she should take it and hand it over to ArcLight for research into Max’s potential Achilles’ heels. No not the team’s actual Achilles, his heels are fine.
The fact that he offered it to her and she told him to hold onto it does show a high level of trust despite some of the stuff sge says about him. If anything it shows she might trust him to keep the secret of the geode more than her own government, since she coukd have accepted it and brought it to arclight. But she did not.
Or possibly she’s aware that by taking it she raises its perceived value to basically everybody except Deus. Sure, Deus can do whatever with it, but he’s been able to do that for years. Sure, Deus doesn’t secure his possessions in something like the vault that the Twilight Council used, but then that was breached, so it’s clearly not that incredibly secure.
It’s also possibly relevant that while Deus has it, it’s an innocuous curio in a collection of innocuous curios and insanely valuable relics. If a thief manages to steal from Deus’ collection, they won’t be going after the geode, unless they’re going after *everything*.
But if Maxima took it, suddenly it’s something that she had that she got from Deus. Despite her well-known animosity for the man, she somehow thought it was reasonable to accept it from him. That probably means she values it enough to outweigh how much she dislikes him.
Where does she have to put it? Does she carry it around with her everywhere, which raises its value even more? Keep it in her room at Archon which is ostensibly hers, but you can bet some other people have access to it also? Sure, they’re not going to *use* that access except in the most dire emergency, apart from once a week when the cleaning service comes to empty her trash. Unless, of course, someone decides to risk upsetting her, which you know will *never* happen. Oh, wait, some of the other characters do that for funsies. Keep it in her own house, which is probably not a secure facility, so any reasonably secure burglar could take it?
Letting Deus keep it means she knows where it is and it’ll almost certainly stay there. Taking it means, at least in this genre, it’ll go missing, and we’d go through a chapter or six to find it. But even without the genre savvy, I’m sure she’s smart enough to realize it’d be at greater risk.
Splitting into two parts because I keep getting Internal Service Errors for some reason.
Part 1:
Possibly yeses to your ideas, but it seems a lot less likely than the obvious answers being presented in the webcomic, and your ideas require a bit more bias against Deus that isnt actually SHOWN in the comic.
“but then that was breached, so it’s clearly not that incredibly secure.”
I’d say the Black Reliquiry was pretty secure, despite what Ingsol said. It took a lot for Sciona to break in.
“But if Maxima took it, suddenly it’s something that she had that she got from Deus. ”
Why would you assume that anyone would know where she got it from. It would likely be classified. So unless Maxima does not trust her own people in government, that wouldnt make sense. So she seems to trust Deus MORE than she trusts the government or ArcLight on this.
“Despite her well-known animosity for the man,”
Her animosity has always looked like a thinly covered disguise for that she likes him. Sydney spotted it within seconds when she asked almost immediately “Did you two used to date or something?”
And Maxima is like that with almost EVERYONE – not just Deus. She’s even been like that with Anvil and Sydney, who she’s the most relaxed around (the scuffle with Anvil in the breakroom, and Maxima warning Sydney about what she uses to cut down on the glare from her skin – the ashes of people who annoy me).
Yeah, Maxima actually likes Deus but doesnt like admitting that she likes Deus. :) It gets in the way of her persona of a strong independent feminist woman that she tries VERY hard to present to the world.
Why do I KEEP GETTING Internal Service Errors when I try to post responses?
Okay I’m going to stop trying to respond to this because no matter what I do I get internal service errors when I try to post the second half.
Summary of what I was writing – Occam’s Razor works best when figuring out if Maxima actually trusts Deus on a personal level rather than a professional one.
That is quite a beautiful list. But you forgot one very important Con.
In comic #840 Deus handed her a very big stack of paperwork.
$300 billion of contracts.
Assuming she actually handed the paperwork over to the correct people, she would be directly, or indirectly tied to it. But, if she started dating the CEO who was on the receiving end of the $300 billion dollars, that could be a problem.
Sorry, I didn’t word if very well.
Except she started dating AFTERWARDS. Plus again, that’s not actually illegal or legally unethical per se.
I don’t know if military procurement is different, but civilian government procurement has lots and lots of rules (to “prevent” bribes).
She is “officially” there are this moment to inspect their ability to make good on said contracts. It’s almost certain that her dating him while in her position violates those rules.
If she was never officially involved in the procurement process, then there is a small chance that it could fly.
When I was a contractor at the FAA, I couldn’t give even a smile without them having to fill out paperwork.
Here’s my take, Deus knows he would loose the contracts but considers dating Max as worth more than the contracts.
“Here’s my take, Deus knows he would loose the contracts but considers dating Max as worth more than the contracts.”
Quite possible. Or he knows that the US Government would make an exception for him given that what he offers is too valuable to pass up, regardless of with whom he is in domestic relationship. Plus I don’t think that Maxima is really on the procurement side of things, and I think most military restrictions on relationships are based on impropriety toward ones subordinates. You could have a point about relationships with a foreign head of state, but Deus has dual citizenship and is also an American citizen so I’m not sure if they’d be able to force her to not date him there. Not that I think anyone can actually ‘force’ Maxima to do anything anyway.
Oh also, in counter to being smug…
Pro: Deus is CONFIDENT.
Con: Too much confidence might lead to overconfidence, like when he pushed Sciona’s buttons to the point where she released the death field in the black reliquiry.
Pro: Deus was quick to own up to his mistake in being overconfident there, so it’s likely that he doesn’t make the same mistake of overconfidence twice. Also he’s familiar with the Evil Overlord’s List (despite him not being evil, because it’s a good list in general for a genre-savvy individual to follow) and many of those rules are to prevent a person from being overconfident.
And the biggest con that trumps everything else.
Deus is not Hiro.
Unfortunately and alas, Hiro is her subordinate in the military. Big no no. :)
Up until the point he isn’t directly under her. At which point he’ll be on top of her, behind her, etc, etc.
This two are going to end up banging like rabbits is what I’m saying.
Hence why Deus makes his move now so Maxima can compare. :)
Biggest CON point that generally trumps all others; Conflict of Interests. Her bosses would be a little more than irritated if the leader of their investigation team was dating the subject of said investigation. Him being a government leader and corporate CEO work against him given her current occupation. Her position basically means she has to be careful who she dates. Now if she was a civilian or a government leader herself, things would be different.
Theres no LEGAL or legally ethical conflict of interests tho. She is not a politician making policy, and Deus’s business dealings with ARCHON makes him, at the very least, trustworthy on the books with Archon. And once the US is in formal business with Galytn the US and Galytn will be officially ‘trusted business partners’ and allies.
Being in a relationship with a non-citizen can make obtaining and renewing a security clearance a huge pain in the ass. I have no direct experience with this, but I’ve worked with enough people who were married to foreign nationals, even if they had been naturalized, to have heard about their issues with the process because of that attachment.
And while Deus is probably a US citizen he is also almost certainly a citizen of Galytyn(sp?).
That’s not to say that Maxima would find her clearances pulled were she to begin dating Deus, but the added hassle is surely worth mentioning in the CON list.
True, but Maxima’s important enough that the government would want her to have top level clearance, and Deus is powerful enough contacts-wise that he probably already has top level clearance for anything they’re worried about.
Is Maxima important to diplomats, security specialists or bureaucrats?
There are VERY big differences between those and none of the groups get along much of the time.
It would be quite funny to see all three different groups try to browbeat her at the same time and the General her boss finally says ‘Are you TRYING to get her to leave Archon and go join him????’.
Because that is exactly what it feels like when you get caught between politicians and bureaucrats. I was once caught up in such a mess. No superpowers for me, unfortunately or I would have Hulk-ed out right then and there! I will NEVER get caught in such again if I can help it.
I never had to get a security clearance, but I heard a bunch of horror stories about people trying to get even the lowest level of those. The first thing to go for any government type security specialist is anything resembling a sense of humor or proportion. No joke.
“Is Maxima important to diplomats, security specialists or bureaucrats?”
To quote Captain Kirk, and speaking in the ancient geek tongue of our people, she is “a soldier, not a diplomat.” :)
Totally agree with the third sentence you wrote btw :)
Only one con is important.
he believes he deserves a list of reasons for why she said NO, so he can argue and try to convince her otherwise.
yup. “I don’t want to” is more than enough of a reason. It really bothers me that even the other women seem uninterested in what maxima herself wants, like she’s just some sort of pawn to be pushed into situations.
I have long since lost hope that humanity will extinguish itself and am now hoping for a planet killer.
Oh they are well along the way. have patience it has to sneak up on them, too fast and they might rally and fix it. slow and steady, a little bit at a time.
Man, you are going to continue to be exasperated and disappointed at humanity’s ability to pass through the multiple “The Great Filters” that advanced civilizations have to go through to survive to become space-faring, galaxy spanning and permanent. We’re probably already at the point where a planet killer in the form of a quickly moving space rock isn’t going to bring us down. Better hope for a really powerful gamma ray burst. For all my gripes with this race, when it has to, it pulls its shit together.
Who is to say that we haven’t already failed one of the “great filters” with a choice we made well before now.
A filter doesn’t have to destroy you outright, it just has to stop you from progressing in the right direction.
We could already be doomed to stumble on as a degenerating species, eventually fading away.
A footnote of a defunct species in galactic lore.
Why would you wish for a planet killer or the extermination of human life? You are human, yes?
Plus a planet killer destroying Earth would be very inconvenient. It’s where I keep almost all my stuff!!!
Should it matter whether they’re human or not? Objective judgment, the ability to apply the same rules to your tribe or in-group that you would apply to anyone else, is a requirement to actually be a moral being.
I do tend to care a bit more if it’s the extermination of all human life than other non-human life.
Mainly because I’m human and I’ve become very accustomed to remaining alive. Not that I’d be wanting non-human life to be exterminated. If I was a non-human, I’d be more ambivalent about the extermination of human life, and more adamant about not allowing the extermination of non-human life..
But vegetables and none sentient animals have rights that matter much more than human rights to many!
That is one reason I am so amused by (and sometimes terrified for) humanity as a whole.
We make no sense much of the time.
that’s because humanity makes dollars. not cents.
You’re trying to get me on the side of extermination of human life on Earth because that would mean no puns, aren’t you?
*stare*
that may read to you as a pun. it is the second bitterest joke I have. its a piece of excrement wrapped up in the best donut I can find. the trouble is it keeps going down well.
right now being in favor of the extermination of the human race is easy. we don’t need to do anything. the process is well underway. just like building a small fortune is done in small increments over time and compounding so too the human race is killing itself. there is always a chance Humankind can pull it out of their arse but it gets harder every day.
Those who sell fear are the ones working the hardest to this end. I didn’t figure it out and haven’t developed the ethics required to ride that train.
Best we can do is annexing the planet, removing humans from a position of disturbance, and repurposing humans as household pets for giant fluffy aliens.
Oh just say ‘I already have a boyfriend’ Just to see his reaction.
Deus smiles smugly. “You’re just saying that to see my reaction.”
Maxima glares at him harder. “No, I have an actual boyfriend. I’m saying that so you’ll back off. I’d hate for him to accidentally kill you, what with you not being a brute super.”
Deus doesn’t even hesitate. “You’re thinking about a guy you refuse to date because he reports to you. Don’t worry about me, I can take him. But I wouldn’t have to, because Vale would take him first.”
Maxima yells, “What makes you think I’m talking about Hiro!?!”
Deus somehow manages to look even more smug. “You, by thinking about Hiro.”
Maxima can win with just this simple phrase: ” If you are so smart, can’t figure out a way to do this without any “Tiny little wars”?
Omelettes and eggs, omelettes and eggs.
“I’m limited by the tools available to me. Now, if you were to ally with me more OPENLY, then I’d be able to afford even more precise methods.”
Beat.
“Of course, I still intend to kill off the power mad tyrants and corrupt corporate executives in the world. Though I suppose I might be convinced to just stick them all on an island with plenty of food and water, if you really wanted.”
We’re already trying to get them to all move to an island on their own, shhhh.
LOL, that whole thing was a hoot. CryptoLand, inexplicable ingenuous inanity.
If you’re not willing to win a few ‘tiny little wars,’ you will almost certainly lose one final big terrible war.
Also what Archone said was excellent so I don’t really have anything good to add to that.
How does one manoeuvre a ten-foot pole through a dungeon? With difficulty. Unless you take a certain (mis)interpretation of the rules: “Here’s my ten-foot Pole. Her name is Edyta. Say witam, Edyta!”
{Applause} I like this. I dont like that Edyta wont touch me, but I like this.
Honestly, I hope the text conversation is canon.
By all measures though, Thoth’s kickstarter must have gone pretty well, I wonder what some of the top tier backers rewards were ;P
Positions in the top tier, obviously.
Honestly, I’m with Deus here.
Humans are violent. Change enacted through violence _makes sense_ to us on both a visceral and cultural level. It’s not _good_, but it’s _true_. And a lot of the problems with ‘old’ benevolent dictators were problems because 1: They were only able to benevolently dictate to a portion of the world and 2: Their worldviews/goals were around making the world better while they were alive (I’m assuming some things here, but it’s an assumption based on general knowledge of many world medieval cultures and how those would translate to the outlooks of the ruling class). Oh, and also all of them were motivated by religion which is basically building a HUGE GLARING flaw into your plans.
It’s been shown that you really only need about 2 generations worth of a culture under a new worldview to completely change how they function forever- what traits are considered positive, negative, how good and evil are determined and dealt with, etc. etc.- and so if you can do that WORLDWIDE with a set of well thought out self-perpetuating methods (which Deus is probably smart enough to figure out)… There won’t be all these outside influences trying to take things back to the violent way they used to be- instead it’ll almost be the opposite, since the alien races seem to have hit upon post-scarcity cooperation.
And violence will never go away. Nor will greed, sloth, etc. So you _can’t_ design a society around eliminating those things- only one based on incorporating them in the least damaging way possible.
The term you are looking for is xenophobic homicidal monkeys. Been using it for years sums up humanity in a nut shell and explains why any species with an ounce of commons sense has stayed as far away from us as they can. Now at some point we will figure out that being homicidal xenophobic monkeys is a bad thing and move past it.
“explains why any species with an ounce of commons sense has stayed as far away from us as they can.”
That is actually one of several possible answers proposed for the Fermi Paradox. :)
Earth is a truck stop attraction being one of them. Stop by this sun to fuel up your mega ships and check out our tours of this safari park nearby.
I have said it before, if there is an advanced civilization out there with hyper space pathways as some suspect then humans inventing warp drive and zipping out there would be like seeing a bunch of squirrels on a tree bark moped suddenly zip out onto the interstate.
South Park did a show on that possible answer :)
less Truman show and more wild Safari park and reptile zoo off the long interstate tourist trap.
Xenophobic genocidal suicidal monkeys, more like?
Max: Because … Because I’m a “snapper”. I’m so strong that if I clamp down during sex your penis will turn into a jet of steam and melt your balls off.
and this is why we must fear for the “lucky” man in the She-Hulk trailer.
Death by Snu Snu.
although I always question how good could it be for her, she is eight feet tall, a body that can bounce off artillery shells, and strong enough to crush solid titanium balls between her thighs.
there is no way anything short of the juggernaut or a dildo that could jack hammer through diamonds is going to penetrate that.
He better be good at the oral examine portion of this quiz.
The carrying the guy to bed in the trailer isnt much different than how she acts with Wyatt Wingfoot, except in the trailer she carries the guy in a cradling motion and in the comic she just scoops Wyatt under an arm and heads to the bedroom with him. In both cases the guy seems to be juuuust fine with it. She-Hulk has had sex with several men who were not superstrong or invulnerable – Starfox, Wyatt Wingfoot, Tony Stark, Daniel “Zapper” Ridge, Richard Rory, Clay Quartermain Agent of SHIELD, and John Jameson III (who she actually MARRIED at one point, until he became Stargod and they divorced).
In fact the only superpowered or invulnerable people she’s had sex with (outside of alternate universes like Old Man Logan where Hulk and She-Hulk had a family of inbred hulklings) have been Juggernaut and Hercules (as far as I can recall).
I should have worded myself as satisfying sexual encounters for her, as I actually did know most of that list..although for the record pretty sure Eros half brother of Thanos has some degree of super strength and durability.
but yeah, the rest had to be like Super bad girlfriend movie where she has to be really careful, woman of steel man of playdoh.
and I was being somewhat facetious for the intent of tongue and cheek humor with my post.
Okay yes, Starfox does have superhuman strength (forgot about that) but he is a class 25, while she hulk is a class 100+. He is nowhere near thanos in terms of strength or durability but he is a lot more…. sturdy…. then a human :).
Also she Hulk seemed VERY sexually satisfied with Wyatt, Tony, Zapper, and Clay. And was so satisfied with Jemeson that she did marry him. It wasnt until Jameson became superpowered that she became dissatisfied in fact.
Just a guess but it could be that She Hulk has a psychological and subconscious restriction against the ‘men of kleenex’ concept, just like Hulk won’t kill (generally, even when enraged, tho I know there have been exceptions) because banner wont kill.
if we want to think in-universe then we can argue her ability to depower and empower at will can play a part where she goes down to a point where she keeps the hulk look but only has proportional strength and durability, and closer to six feet tall would keep in the human range of genital compatibility.
of course the real answer is sexy superheroine in comic books with beefy men to titillate the young male readers. so any *physics* and *anatomy* issues are just ignored so we can pair them off (same with most superstrong characters for decades before someone had to come along and try to and explain it as everything else was trying to be realistic.* at least as far as those writers were allowed and were comfortable exploring for the superhero comics.
but if Hulk and Betty (Red She Hulk) destroying a few city blocks, or Superman and Wonder Woman reshaping a mountain landscape is any indication; they know these types of characters are closer to precise muscle control and emotional connections *which is what we can say about She-Hulk being satisfied with relationships*, the StarWolf thing was less about sex and more about him growing distant and detached from their relationship.
some characters its best to look at the relationship and emotional side of if and not question how they could compress a steel bar into paper thin sheets if they clinched on it.
“Superman and Wonder Woman reshaping a mountain landscape is any indication”
That wasn’t canon – it was artwork by nebezial (Stjepan Sejic). Who is a brilliant comic book artist but was not writing for DC comics when he drew that. He was just making fun of Twilight.
“of course the real answer is sexy superheroine in comic books with beefy men to titillate the young male readers. so any *physics* and *anatomy* issues are just ignored so we can pair them off”
This is true. :) But we’re doing a nerd debate and real world business logic has no place within these walls.
Well then how many relationships she has been in, above the national lifetime average may spell some drama , not all going back to the bedroom. But if she depowers a bit and let’s them take the lead there is less chance of hurting them. But dang if she don’t have some toys for those days she is a grind mood and not just a make love mood. That said that is still healthy. Wanting an emotional connection not just a physical one, but still having those physical needs so uses other means. Of course that is a two way street and some men will feel demasculated as a result even when really it’s She Hulk . Would have go back and look at each relationship and see how it went but, it may also depend on some censorship. And the real world may play some part as she was a fourth wall breaker and had to sign a legal contract to not acknowledge the fourth wall and limit her power over it. Squirrel girl is under the same contract.
How many relationships, or how many sexual relationships? And do you mean pre- or post-She Hulk?
If post-She Hulk sexual relationships, I believe it’s 10. Starfox (Eros), John Jameson III, Clay Quartermain, Luke Cage, Hercules, Richard Rory, Daniel “Zapper” Ridge (but he was also in a relationship with her pre-She Hulk and they’d been friends since childhood), Tony Stark, Wyatt Wingfoot, and Juggernaut. Technically Juggernaut slept with She Hulk from Earth-721 though, not Earth-616, but no one tends to believe her when she tells them that.
If you include futures that never actually wound up happening, she was also in a redneck (greenneck?) marriage with Hulk and had a bunch of Hulk children with him in ‘Old Man Logan.’
She’s also recently dated Thor, as of 2020. Not sure if they’ve had sex but given it’s Thor…. probably.
After Juggernaut she had a bit more trouble with sleeping with heroes, because several turned her down. Wolverine in particular turned her down because “he didn’t want Juggernaut’s sloppy seconds.” Always stay classy, Logan.
It’s my understanding that at least some women can get off with non-penetrative sex, and some women really enjoy their partner getting off.
A normal guy who knows how to make that work wouldn’t even require her to power down, and because of what Marvel’s willing to show of any trysts falls under the heading “not much”, we’d never know which option happened.
Starfox is a Titan Eternal, and both superstrong and mid-tier invulnerable.
Also, she’s 6’7, not eight feet tall. Eight feet is the biggest form of the Hulk, he’s normally about 7′, so Jennifer’s normally a few inches shorter than her cousin… and so proportionately stronger, by size and weight.
Starfox is actually low-tier invulnerable (Class 25 according to Marvel’s wiki) but yes, I forgot that when I made my original post.
Also I never said she was 8 feet tall. That was Rhuen who said that.
I was basing her height on assuming the man she was standing next to was around six feet, an odd assumption, but really in the comics between the angles and how tall other heroes are supposed to be Hulk and She-Hulk often look to be around eight to twelve feet tall depending on the artist and how hulked up they are.
and this
https://i.stack.imgur.com/Y5sdj.jpg
which I assume is based on how they are drawn in relation to everyday objects in the comics like cars and doorways.
That picture is excellent proof that she’s over 7 feet and ALMOST 8 feet tall. Which would imply that the Hulk is significantly taller than 8 feet since in most comparisons I’ve seen, he (and Red Hulk) are several feet taller than She-Hulk.
I’m just saying I never said that when Red was correcting me on something I didn’t say.
never mind that chart has different heights written under them not reflective of the image shown. But still we see She-hulk and others on page looking a lot bigger than their “official” bios will say.
if nothing else She-Hulk and Hulk can both grow much bigger when they hulk up now, their defaults are much closer to human
I’m fairly sure that the Hulk is MUCH stronger than almost all forms of She-Hulk except the one that destroyed an entire town and almost killed half of the Avengers. And even that one got matched by a not-peak-form version of Hulk.
I’m not even a Hulk fangirl (though I do love She-Hulk) but I know that.
Re-reading this I’m realizing that you saying ‘proportional by size and weight’ might make things different but I’m not sure if that really matters in the end.
It all comes down to how much power they can get from super Satan, gods that was one of the dumbest retcons in Marvel history. The comics are well past due for a reboot and sadly the chances they had they made minimal changes and only those to appease the Disney stock holders by diminishing the then non Disney movie rights held characters …but story wise between gamma radiation coming from super Satan and Metallica reject dark god number 12 being behind the symbiotes, and the mobias strip that is Wanda’s backstory retcons a more streamlined reality is in order, like the movies only not hindered by real world actor contracts and real world time.
I’m sorry but I might have had a stroke while reading the post once I got to ‘Super Satan and Metallica.’
thanks to the pages of Immortal Hulk *gamma radiation(, you know something is just a bandwidth of electromagnetic radiation and thus directly related to X-rays and radiowaves…is from the One Beneath All (AKA Super Satan).
and Knull the dark god that created the symbiotes as parasites to kill Celestials…his entire backstory makes no sense, the whole (I was alone in the darkness at the beginning of time and then the Celestials made light and created the universe)…is absolute BS given Marvel already established their comic pantheons and universe origin stuff decades earlier. One Knull has a really generic design honestly, and his supposed role as the dark being in the void at the beginning of time was already taken by at least half a dozen or more other *cosmic threat this year* villains like Abraxas, Oblivion, and Chaos King, etc…
its just weird retcons and this drive both DC and Marvel have had in recent decades to keep trying to get stronger and more powerful and have the character do insane stuff, rather than focus on character driven stories *which they have as short series given the least artistic effort*.
Actually bad retcon rants aside,
She-Hulk is MUCH MORE powerful than the Hulk…IF…they took off the
(FINAL SHACKLE by nullifying
the contract…
*ominous thunder*
see She-Hulk like Deadpool and Squirrel Girl is aware she exists in a fictional universe. However unlike them she had the power to use that to a significant media breaking way (think Popeye punching the animator, or jumping betyween film reels), yeah she went full Toonforce to the maximum backed up by her strength.
they nerfed this in-universe by having her sign a contract so she could no longer acknowledge, know during important events, or utilize this fact to her advantage.
(and yes she was doing this long before Deadpool, and Deadpool could only dream of pulling her stunts)
like overlapping the meta reality with her reality
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/661/059/142.jpg
https://preview.redd.it/oa2y7iycv1a41.jpg?auto=webp&s=8afdc2f561aba3bab85fef550ff02b12b7db48d2
https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*OF7m4LXPe26f1aiTAgi2-A.png
When I say more powerful, I mean physical strength and endurance, not her 4th wall breaking, in which case she’s the third most powerful being after Deadpool and Gwenpool. :) Mainly because only Sensational She-Hulk could do that meta stuff, but almost all versions of Deadpool break the 4th wall. And Gwenpool’s only real power IS that she knows she’s in a comic book and can break the fourth wall, since she’s actually from the real world.
deadpool and Qwenpool can’t pull it off like She-Hulk could. They can crumple up pages, jump between panels, etc…(at least not last I saw anyway).
She-Hulk combines her strength and endurance with her 4th wall power to strong arm the fourh wall.
that said, of course she won’t be as strong as Hulk so long as Hulk is the more popular character. Sorry, due to the too many chefs in the kitchen issues with mainstream comics and the contradictions on character personality and abilities its hard to try and think like Screw Attack’s death battle and not like a writer given the rules as *what looks cool, and popular ones have to be the best and strongest*
“that said, of course she won’t be as strong as Hulk so long as Hulk is the more popular character.”
That’s how Deadpool defeated Gwenpool also :) By pointing out that almost no one actually has even heard of her, while he’s extremely popular and had the highest R-rated movie ever. Meanwhile most people who havent read her book, and some who have, probably think she’s Gwen Stacy. :)
https://i.redd.it/xdkhc69xu3o21.png
This scene is the first time that I more than half wished she’d just rip his arm off and super speed out of there. The fact Max is even attracted to this bozo is kinda gross.
Megalomaniacs don’t make good leaders. They sound good for a while because they promise you what you want. But follow any chain long enough, and it’s always, always about them.
Altruists are rare, and they don’t talk like Deus.
Grrlpower page 1169:
Maxima: “Dabbler, can you erase my memory of having slept with Deus?”
Dabbler: “Don’t feel bad, I had to erase my own memory of sleeping with him. Then when my forget hammer ran out of juice, I had to leave myself a note to not sleep with Deus again after forgetting I already did so”
Anvil: “Can I borrow the hammer? I slept with [REACTED] and it was forgettable, just not forgettable enough”
Math: faints with a joker smile on his face
Sydney: I see Math’s desensitization training didn’t work… I guess we’ll have to do it Dabbler’s way?
I bet his pro list includes most of what is on her con list.
Meh, Deus is pretty much the kind of smug prick I can’t stand in any sort of situation involving, what might be charitably called, “flirting”. Is he a great villain? Sure. Should he get over himself? Definitely. Personally? I hope Maxima punts him into the sun.
Sydney grabs Deus with the light hook then Max yells “PULL” and he goes flying while Max points her finger…. LOL
I think this is a simple trick to distract Max from what is going on he knows she knows she’d just be another entry in his “little black book” and nothing Deus does is purely for the feeling of love and/or friendship there’s always a need to dominate and control everyone and everything in his life to some degree it doesn’t make him a villain just an a*hole. He knows she won’t but is tempted so he keeps Max on the defensive and off-balance the entire time. Even if it’s just for a laugh like the “Make Max say” list or the photo library of her rants that the team members are building. No different than the buddy teasing like my youngest son is rather homo-phobic so he get teased about it by his friends and sometimes by me lol. Can’t blame his he’s between girlfriends and keeps getting hit on by gay men I know the feeling well some guys hit on me with my wife stand beside me… yeah no…
Proper nouns need capital letters. Just sayin’.
I’d like to see Sydney recommend that Deus try the grakz on Fracture Station. He won’t be speaking so eloquently for a while…
likely he’s been warned about it. I can’t see his bodyguard enjoying the… aftermath. it is a rather spectacular and crappy experience.
Actually, Given that Max has probably tried it already, SHE might suggest a “Date” to Fracture station at the Grakz booth and some window shopping. She, of course, would eat something other than Grakz, knowing what Deus is in for later.
Deus is probably already aware of grakz. He was already aware of Fracture Station well before Archon was.
Also, given this is Smug D we’re talking about here, I’d bet his response would be to smile and accept and make a show of eating and enjoying graz with a casual air that Sydney could never manage. If we were lucky, we’d get a Patreon bonus which would show him thanking Lorlara for “those pills” to help him with his “negotiations”, which would be the only evidence we’d get for how he pulled it off. There’d be no other mention of aftermath, because the pills, unlike the goggles, do something.
I can totally see that happening.
+1 internet for you.
I was going to raise the question of whether D did know of Fracture first or was just really quick to get there, based on somehow getting intel from Harem 53 (58?) days beforehand when she got back from Alar to the original timeline. Or even from eavesdropping on Dabbler getting Cora’s location update when she found Sydney on Fracture, but that didn’t happen until the future.
But then I remembered a) he’d been working with Vale for who-knows-how-long, b) had her steal the Skybreaker only minutes after Sciona’s base exploded, and c) no matter how rich you are, there’s no possible way to get a solar farm, an updraft tower, and a not-a-Stargate researched and built in only 7 weeks.
He not only knew about Fracture Station, he knew which stores to go to ON Fracture station. He might have been told by one of the many hot alien women he has bedded.
I suspect Vale, sure she had the portal coordinates too. If not an eldritch she may be a 3rd tier civilization alien *one of those that instead of being lights is some smoky shadowy thing full of eyes*
Possibly, but I don’t think she’s actually a big extraterrestrial information resource. Honestly don’t really have any idea what she actually is. I’m not even entirely clear on her powerset aside from her being very strong and able to be some sort of smoke/energy thing that goes into a human ‘shell.’
Thought, super-intelligence has a required secondary power of an energy source to feed that super-intelligence, otherwise the brain is likely to eat so many calories that they get really lazy/low-energy, spend most of their time being deliberately thoughtless, and eat a lot.
That’s a version of actually super-intelligent which is limited in ways I could write a story around, without making it purely super-engineering.
Are we overlooking the fact that Maxima doesn’t NEED to give him reasons? He asked her, she said no. He can ask her why not until he’s blue in the face but she doesn’t need to explain herself. No means no, even in the superhero world. Having to explain herself to him is as annoying as fending off Anvil’s attempts to pressure her into double dating.
Does anyone consider that Maxima doesn’t have to give Doctor Zeus reasons for rejecting him? He asked, she said no, that’s the end of it. Having to explain herself to him is as annoying as having to fend off Anvil’s attempts to pressure her into a double date.
Good point(s): she is under no obligation to explain why, and not explaining will drive him nuttier than Sydney under a no-swear spell :P
I am surprised I haven’t seen a portrait of Lord Vetinari in his office as they seem to have the same goal, but wayyyy different personality’s
Not true. Vetinari was content with one city that worked with a minimum of violence. Deus wants an entire world that works, preferably with a “lower” minimum of violence. The quotes there are because fights between supers have a high probability of being far more violent than fights between, say, vampires and werewolves. Due to that concern, Deus certainly wants a lower number of fights per capita than what Vetinari’s resigned himself to accept.
Deus probably also has a higher aversion to getting his own hands dirty.
Vetinari was also limited by the technology at hand – travel by cart or horse, communication by courier mail (or at best the clacks telegraph much later in the series). It would be impossible to maintain any kind of foreign influence or reliable spy network with that kind of delay. And yet Vetinari was still able to pull some strings at a distance.
Whereas Deus has global internet, private jets, and probably a deniable teleport soon. I would actually really like to see those two interact.
I apologize for posting twice. I’d like to be able to delete one (why don’t we have that option?).
Been a problem for awhile now where it doesn’t look like a post has gone through, and we have never been able to edit or delete posts (helps to cut down on drama: where someone posts shit, then goes back and deletes it and claims innocence when people started to jump all over them)
Deus: “I bet my pro list is longer than your con list!”
Max: “Con: Everything is a size competition to you… including lists, apparently.”
Deus: “… Okay, I walked right into that one.”
there’s a simple statment Deus gives that is often accredited to Abe Lincoln, he only gives a portion of it.
The original statement is:
“Anyone can endure adversity, if you truly want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
Why is power, not adversity, the test of a man’s character?
Because Adversity does not offer the chance to enjoy corruption, while power offers it in such abundance that it not only corrupts, it attracts the corrupt, like shit attracts flies, and the more power involved? the faster it works its ‘magic’.
Just came to post a “Deus X Maxima” observation based on their conversation and the scar between his eyes.
Honestly I am starting to wonder if Deus at the very end of it is an actor. He knows what he has to do, and very likely is aware that he will have to become the villain of the play in full at some point in the future (pushing humanity down the ‘right’ path, which may indeed need a villain for people to rally against), so he puts on a grand spectacle as if it was one giant play. I’m just curious how much of what we’ve been shown is really him.
To make it clear I’m not saying hes not doing something pretty bad overall especially with his actions, just that hes literally doing what he has to do to achieve his designs.
If you’ve read either Worm or Dune, then you will know that a perfect precog sacrifices their free will to achieve their goals.
Once you start being able to know with certainty what will achieve your goals, you either follow the path, or fail.
I always thought Deus felt like a Dr. Doom type. Nice to know I was right. He’s my favorite mainstream “villain.”
Doom saved the universe (not Earth, the whole universe) at least twice, and his plan to take over the world was for the same reasons that Deus has: the world was headed for destruction, at least partly because of rampant superpowers. And he was apparently right, because the Panther God read his mind/heart and said “Yep, sounds about right, go ahead and take the world’s supply of vibranium” when Doom asked.
Then the “heroes” stopped him. Again.
He he he.
I just realized that Deus is Miles Nelson, of LJ’s Evil Genius series, an amoral super-genius with a team of supers and no qualms about doing what needs to be done for the betterment of the world…and his profit margin. Brilliant! Loved that series. Really sad it didn’t do well and had to be wrapped so abruptly. :-/
Those Cufflinks Tho.
a bit late on Sunday night so probably be lost, but the idea expressed about human history, human behavior, and the idea the super powers are a direct result or byproduct of something a Nth levels is behind had me thinking on some of my own plot stuff and the idea
(would they even care? and would they only care what humans do past a certain point)
the written thought piece copy and pasted:
If I were not human I would find humans adorable, and dismiss their more negative aspects as just animal behaviors. I do believe this is an understandable mindset and perspective.
No matter how adorable or well behaved an animal is as a pet, in the wild these animals will fight and attack their own kind for a variety of reasons, territory, access to resources, access to mating partners, sexual frustration, dominance; or simply because something is off with their bio-chemistry like dehydration, hunger, illness, or something else that increases their aggression and makes them behave irrationally. When animals get more complex these also get more complex, especially with social animals; but its always (these are wild animals).
And yet even as pets it can be frustrating to see these behaviors crop up from time to time, the dogs fighting despite all having full bowls, that parrot you loved so much and behaved so well suddenly attacks and tries to violently rape a female of its own species, dolphins attacking other animals and torturing them for fun, we dismiss this as animals, and hold our own pets and the ones we interact with on a pedestal, because…we find them cute.
Training away these behaviors is very hard, and it seems impossible to imagine any animals could remove all of this internally. We have seen some social animals make changes in their groups to alter some of these, but there is always one dominance group war, or illness among the ones making change, or just the older one passing away and a younger more aggressive group beating down or killing off their rivals; away from reverting.
So this is how it is for the likes of the Amoana and the Ki’an’ta. They keep humans as pets, raise their own, and may even see potential in humans; but they don’t get involved in human politics or conflicts for the same reason humans won’t intervene in battles between packs of dingos, wolves, monkies, dolphins, or any other social animal unless there is some issue such as a concern these animals may endanger their populations…damaging their environment beyond survivability is not really a concern with animals, but worth noting here. These beings could get involved if humans commit to some action that is seen as a threat to their overall survivability and the stability of a future ecosystem *such long lived beings don’t hold the same importance for current ecosystems as humans (should)*. However if these beings intervened, this would no longer be a wild world, and they would go all in, a zoo, a carefully watched and cultivated preserve with open access rescues and adoption of the local wildlife.
-back to not copy and pasted for this forum comments chat area,
the long short, if something like that is so advanced would they not potentially view humans as humans view animals, and with this mindset could they not dismiss a lot of horrible things humans do; only getting involved on a personal (my dog in my yard) level or if they believe the species is endangering its self as a whole.
Regarding the contents of this page… I’m just going to suggest that everyone run a search engine on “Boko Haram.”
Seriously. Boko Haram. Look them up. See what they do. If the guys Vale is dealing with are anything like Boko Haram… well…
Am I the first one to notice this?
Maxima: Is this a Diplomatic Dinner or a date?
Deus: Yes!