Grrl Power #829 – Spilling news
Hmm, looks like Anvil’s master plan might be interrupted by this little development.
C.C. St. Claire’s show Macroeconomics is one of those little specialized news shows that probably has a fairly small audience, but Deus likes it because it usually features deep dives on complex topics, and doesn’t rely on sound bites or angry aging white men yelling at each other. That and he’s probably trying to get C.C. in bed. There are much more prominent venues for him to tease out little nuggets like he’s doing here, but he doesn’t care about his social media presence at this moment. He knows the right people will be listening.
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A point.
Deus is an idiot. I don’t care what his objectives are, but he now has established himself as the biggest threat to every powerfull country in the world with nothing, but a second grade economy and (possibly) a few more supers to back him up.
Even if he claimed to have nukes it would have gone better, since a nuclear war would have world wide long lasting effects, while a super war wouldn’t.
He’s basically North Korea, but without Nukes and China.
I think you’re making the same mistake that a lot of people do of their opponents (actual or perceived), which is underestimating them (usually based on personal biases) by claiming he’s an ‘idiot’ because of what he said on a public broadcast. As intelligent, capable and experienced as the man has been proven to be in the past, do you really think he would just casually say something so careless during an interview? That there’s no way possible he couldn’t have intentionally let that out, knowing full well how likely people are to respond to it?
Consider this – He’s lying – Gaitlyn doesn’t actually have ten times the supers, and he’s bluffing to see who will call his bluff. Or, he’s telling the truth, and wants to see who will test that truth so he can test the actual strength of his supers, and then call out the attackers, painting his small country as the victim.
Just because we don’t currently understand his motives doesn’t mean he’s a idiot, and you not caring about his objectives only means you’re not interest enough in the truth to put your own claims to the test. ;)
I’m willing to entertain the possibility that he ‘slipped up’ because of his own (well deserved) ego got the best of him, or he’s trying to, as DaveB said, “get C.C. in bed”, but discrediting him based on one aspect of his personality is a fool’s errand at best.
If he’s bluffing: Ariana like bosses would take him down for positive publicity.
If he’s not bluffing: he needs a lot more than those supers to defend against something like America(with evidently supers in their army), Russia or in this case even worse after an unavoidable civil war: China(China is worse, because of their possibilities with randomly spread super weapons a. they have more people than anywhere else in the world, b. they would immediately enforce through their communistic might that all their supers joined the military, but could lose all their power, due to some of their current “non-loyal regions” gaining an overpowering super)
Yet you’re right: I acted under the assumption that all he had said in this news cast was all true, everything he said in the news cast was part of his plan and that I had perfect creativity to think out all options in a matter of seconds, which aren’t very smart assumptions.
As for painting his country as a victim: would’ve worked if he didn’t invade his neighbors and proclaimed to have supers/super weapons, now propaganda writers need only a reason to associate with his neighboring countries or to find any reason why he could be a possible national threat, which is commonly not hard.
Also bear in mind that he has access to alien technology, interstellar transport, and exceptionally powerful magical artifacts on top of his super-powered team and any other supers his small, well educated, loyal, ‘corruption-free’ country might have. We also know that he is smart enough to more expertly utilize the individual powers of the supers at his disposal than the US military has proven thus far.
He has also earned the loyalty/friendship of quite a few aliens who may or may not have powerful magitech. And we know he has something that was considered worth trading with civilizations far more advanced than our own.
I’d say Deus is holding a much stronger hand than anyone else on Earth suspects. As DaveB said, he knows the right people will be watching this show and hearing what he has just said. And he’s counting on it.
That’s true, but
Alari aren’t that usefull, because: a. intentionally been kicked back to low tech,
b. how are we sure this is a ship of Alari and not Sciona and friends,
c. Alari have shown to be planning to take over earth and to be able to exert massive amounts of force to achieve such a thing and he sits first row to encounter the Alari attack,
d. Scionia was a prepared and special trained Soldier, something these imported Alari in their current position can’t promise and
e. why are these Alari seeking liveable places on earth if they have such FTL-technology instead of going to some uninhabited backwater planet(Squidwards, no FTL, other problems)?
Another problem with the Alari is:
He accessed and acquired something from a space station that nobody else on Earth knows about but probably Dabbler, and arguably Sydney and thus Max and possible superiors.
The Alari could be little more to him than a scapegoat for how he got such and such tech – they are contacted and deny it? well, they’re obviously lying, because there’s no other way he could have gotten this tech… what are the Alari trying to hide, exactly? what’s their motive? can we trust them? we didn’t invite them! They just showed up one day! we tried to help them and now they’re playing politics! Maybe Deus is actually the victim! Maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time! Again, what are they hiding?!
Not at all.
The earth is an alien sex tourism hotspot. There are a lot of aliens on earth at any given time and we saw a good number gathered on an evening in at Club Oontz.
The galactic civilization has a seat on the Twilight council (currently filled by Decolette) and Semper Vigilantis monitors offworlders who come to earth.
Deus is in also in posession of items stolen from the Twilight council vault and the council is not in the habit of granting trials for grievous crimes. I don’t see this as well thought out on Deus’s part.
Also, also, is a big contractor for what concern US military technology; even Archon buys things from them
Dues has alot more than just supers, he has the Alari. Keep in mind that one Alari , Sciona, working in secret gave all of Archon a run for their money. Deus has a ship full of Alari (possibly also a bunch of Alari ghosts) that are state sponsored and have a crashed ship full of advanced tech.
That’s true, but as I said in the comment you’re reacting to
Alari aren’t that usefull, because: a. intentionally been kicked back to low tech,
b. how are we sure this is a ship of Alari and not Sciona and friends,
c. Alari have shown to be planning to take over earth and to be able to exert massive amounts of force to achieve such a thing and he sits first row to encounter the Alari attack and
d. why are these Alari seeking liveable places on earth if they have such FTL-technology instead of going to some backwater planet(Squidwards, no FTL, other problems)?
Another problem with the Alari is:
Sconia was specially chosen to lead the attack on earth, so she is one of the strongest Alari and thus not a good representation of what they can do.
They seem to be stuck, in a small South American country.
Sciona, may have given her ghosts, female bodies, just to shut them up. :)
My mistake it wasn’t in the comment you’re reacting to.
Excuses
Plus super double super agents in every organization and government.
Noting that paychecks from him are higher than they are from official sources…
Hell, even there, after considering it later, his ‘expanding our borders’ comment could mean any number of things. He may be legitimately negotating with neighboring countries for additional land. He may be inviting in impoverished nations to partake in his country’s sudden prosperity. Hell, the dude may be building up nearby islands that he bought for a song because they were little more than five square foot rocky oceanic hazards.
I can’t imagine he’d willingly state on air that he was engaged in a campaign of aggressive nation building via conquest. His investors might have a problem with that, and corporations live and die by public opinion.
Ugh, so frigging much to unpack when the machinations of a supervillain are involved, let alone one as intelligent and charming as Deus. Him and Hank Scorpio must play golf together.. XD
To be fair, they live and die by the public opinion of the victors – so if there is significant enough confidence that giving more money/resources will ensure his successful conquest of enough land/people/resources/status (and you can trust him to share that wealth/status once it is acquired), then it would be a good investment.
Think about it real quick. 10 times the Supers per capita. Archon consists of a trained select of Supers in one country. Max herself said that there are only two Supers that fought her to a standstill. One is in Artchon and the other MIGHT be dead. Deus so far has shown to be at least five steps ahead of everything. The very reason why he has yet to get in trouble up until this point with the shady things he has been doing behind the scenes. Now humor me for a moment. Why would someone so smart say something that might put him in the crosshairs of an organization he has been in good graces with up to this point? Remember the geode piece he offered to Max? The same one that turned her into a Super? What if he was lying about not being able to figure out how she got her powers from it? What if his small town country has a few Maximas running around? There is an entire laundry list of reasons why he can say something so blatant and be fine with it. it means that he could turn left at any moment and people had better duck. Don’t underestimate your opponent ever. No matter how dumb you might think they are.
Max was already a super, she just gained more super abilities, from that.
The same one that turned her into a Super? What if he was lying about not being able to figure out how she got her powers from it?
It’s also an odd assumption that “bosses like ariana can take him down for good publicity”. He’s kinda on top of good publicity regarding that country, supporting them and raising them up in a big way, as well as having all the big G-8 countries basically looking to be his best friend while also making sure none of the other ones get a stranglehold. Him suggesting that there is something in the water only makes the area of more interest…which again, makes everyone want in, but it’s a balancing act because at the same time you can’t just kick the door in without everyone else that wants in just as bad going “Hey, stop that guy” and then potentially legitimately charging in to stop you. (and probably getting more out of it than you)
Which means that anyone, and whatever country they’re from, charging into the country is more likely to be on the shitlist of a huge chunk of the rest of the world. And that will be including Archons bosses. Yes, him expanding his territory sounds bad…but bigger countries probably do not particularly care about that, if they don’t have interests in the countries being encroached upon, that are more vital than the other things they could gain from good relationships with him and the country.
he can bluff all the way he wants, he has his secretary and that’s quite enough
No, just because he’s ‘intelligent’ doesn’t rule out him being an idiot: it’s the whole package that makes him a steamingly smug douche-biscuit
Might makes right.
He officially is housing an entire race of aliens with ftl tech at the very least and has revealed he theoratically has an army of supers he can deploy at a moments notice,Any country trying to declare war on him without a good reason will not only expect to get obliterated but also expect all other countries to sit back and watch how well things go for the sacrificial idiot so they can size up how dangerous Deus actually is without risking collossal losses.
Also since he has alien tech access his tiny nation might be able to do much much worse than nukes in retaliation so even America( A country that has no problem with going to war cause they usually have colossal advantages against all countries without nukes) wouldnt be in a hurry to try anything cause they have no idea how catastrophic the results could be-for eg: Imagine the USA declaring war on a micronation and suddenly having every US military base thats not in a major 1st world country destroyed at once thanks to teleporter tech and explosives that make nukes look like grenades and all technology in the country being EMP’D to death in an instant as a flex.
Maybe he cant do that but no ones going to take a swing at a non aggressive country thats clearing out tinpot dictators like its nothing until they know they can win and not look like maniacs for doing so.In short Deus is really smart cause hes just shown to the world that his nation cant be bullied into sharing its theoratical intergalactic tier tech by a show of arms and is also showing that his nation is only willing to move against actual threats.
Yeah, I don’t agree.
He is a dictator who has started a war with neighboring countries, so he’s not a “victim” anymore even if they’re controlled by dictators(pot and cattle argument), so everybody with a diplomat worth his salt can claim they’ve reason with some reasons being he’s an ursurpator with the potential to hurt them and their allies.
He’s housing some Alari: his chances for FTL-presents are at least just as big as his chances for world conquering ones like the one we last met, except for the reasonable suspicion that someone has actively kicked back their technology level to lots lower, these Alari still not having built a space ship to go to some uninhabited back water planet as a replacement planet(implying that they also could be hiding in wich case: every earthly super power is suddenly a minor threat compared to Squidwardia) and canonical proof there are some Alari on Earth.
But, I still was wrong to use such strong words, since he can have goals, methods or weapons I have missed.
Especially since he raided the Black Magic Vault and used that to build a wormhole to the Fracture. And already had a secret cadre of supers BEFORE he was the ruler of a country. Honestly, I think he’s setting himself up as a less unstable Doctor Doom. Sure, he still wants to rule the universe. He also wants to be a HERO for doing it. He already has an in with all the major players (Supplies for Archon, Heads a Country, Heads a Multi-Billion Dollar Corporation, Savior of the Alari [a terrifying magitek super race of conquerers currently down on their luck], access to Fracture).
He’s aiming for ruler of Earth with an eye for more than that… And he’s savvy enough to get everyone to praise him for it. (Is he going to start a bottled water brand now? Probably. Everyone on the planet would buy, even if it didn’t change a thing)
Technically, he is not the ruler. He merely owns most of the business interests and tells the king what to do. While that might not sound like much of a difference, geo-politically it is HUGE. For example, it would be a normal procedural process to allow Deus to speak before congress, but if the Queen of England wanted to then it would require a full vote to make an exception (which should have happened when the King of the Vatican spoke before congress, but they let it slide because he’s also the Pope).
And officially, the previous corrupt king died of a heart attack. His son was just far more open to outside business ties and cleaning up corruption to provide a better life for his people.
Technically, Deus isn’t making any threats. He is reporting that the nation he has been working in is pushing out neighboring dictators, and presumably, his corporate education system is taking in the people and giving them better lives. He is reporting a statistic that may be a factor in their military success.
Technical threatening isn’t the diplomatic problem here, it’s the political problem, the diplomatic problems are:
a. The country he openly sponsors and helps invades other countries and is protecting extraterrestrial invader, I’ve seen people and up on black lists and having to pay fines for less,
b. he apparently spies in all nations of earth, has super locatiolising tech or spreads false information, since it has already been stated in the start interview that the amount of supers is classified
c. He plunders governmental protected Vaults
The counsel are not a recognised government but I’m only pointing out a technicality.
Correct, but since the counsil can summon military back-up for it’s protection the US military apperantly has at least a high connection with it’s protection.
If your military is powerful enough, then starting wars with third world nations will cause zero other nations to attack. Just look at the last 40 years of American foreign policy. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were both started under false pretenses (that were known to be false at the time) but other nations actually helped us because our military and economy are powerful enough to override things like accountability. Deus could just announce that the neighboring countries have terrorists with WMDs. If he invades and doesn’t find any, Misson Accomplished !
“He is a dictator who has started a war with neighboring countries,” You assume, so.
No, he publically declared it: how can he expand into neighbouring countries without conflict?
Unwarranted, assumptions. Until John, reveals otherwise, they are assumptions.
Let us also consider the fact that Galytn is not necessarily his main plan. We must remember that since Deus does not actually rule the country, he has no implicit reason to prevent any strife from afar. Instead of asking why he’s doing something stupid like painting a target on his country, we should instead be asking what he stands to gain by doing so. Furthermore, we’re ignoring the most important implication that Maxima picked up on. If he knows how to make supers, he is individually more dangerous than anyone can afford to engage.
The thing is, if he can make supers, he’s also a potentially invaluable asset. You could try kidnapping him and pumping him for the information, or stealing the information, but he’s got alien tech and supers on his side. The easiest, least risky path would be to smooch up to him.
Also, don’t mistake the US’s tendency to start wars with the weakest countries in the world as a sign of that being seen as good – like with Russia, the US is an aggressor state which is mostly not messed with due to it having too much military might and mostly it being a nuclear power. Starting a war with a state with enough supers is equivalent to starting a war with a nuclear power. You don’t.
Vincent’s got it. Deus knows Gatlyn is weak relative to its surrounding nations militarily so he’s trying to bolster its image with global powers. Long-term that won’t work in his favor – but short-term it gives him time to plan. We’ve already seen how his plans turn out when he’s given a little bit of time… As with the Alari and the vault. The man should never be given any time to plan, period, yet the major powers will now give him just that. See, unlike us readers, the major powers don’t know what Deus has accomplished in this short period.
“Agressor”
The only “aggressor” in the history of the world to conquer huge swaths of territory, not claim sovereignty or plunder, and leave once they decide stuff is doing OK again the country in question isn’t going to start randomly invading their neighbors and such.
That doesn’t mean “aggressor” is inaccurate, or that the US is pure as the driven snow, or any of that, merely that there are a *lot* of implications in the word “aggressor” that, based on pure factual history, simply do not apply.
The people of the US largely see themselves as the “good guys”, and while their politicians are… well, politicians (the same scum everywhere), they have to twist themselves in knots to justify even fairly minor evil things, and the really big stuff they’d like to do, the people simply won’t put up with.
“Savior complex” is probably the easiest manipulation the politicians like to use, but it does carry some pretty serious “good guy” baggage that prevents true “conquering” kinds of behaviour – you know, enslaving, plundering, etc. Heck, the last significant war the US engaged in, the dictator’s army used the country’s own population as hostages, and the invading American army stopped and negotiated to avoid harm to the civilians. Of the country they were invading.
On the scale of “nations and empires which have actually existed”, I think their claim to “good guy” is easily the least bad.
Please remember while Deus does control Galytn, officially he is just the financial support. The son is the “ruler” when politics are involved.
Supers are a very hard asset to plan against since the power scaling seems to be exponential between levels and there are a lot of variables. We have seen how one Harem like ability can quickly supply and resupply without the need for dangerous supply lines. And Halo is a walking arsenal that can turn any convential weaponry into slag with no risk to herself. Dabbler is so versatile that she can cover gaps and probably render nukes useless. After all as long as the nuke doesn’t land it wont damage anything and “sticky air” sounds like it could stop a nuke if she knows its coming.
If he has ten times the supers that means there are too many abilities and variables to consider without know what the enemy capabilities are. And that isn’t considering that they may have a Maxima level threat on their side which is exponentially worse than ANY modern day weapon. Honestly the other countries would be trying to sanction the US to prevent her use in ANY foreign conflict, as well as control her output.
And that is just Super threats. The far more advanced Tech from an alien race is also on the table. If they could give every grunt in the army a rifle that can take out a tank, other than high end supers there is not much that could stop them even if you swarm them with people. If one grunt can take out 10 men with the tech, most countries CAN NOT afford to lose that kind of man power. China is probably the only one but even they would be hesitant because its not just boots on ground. As a military leader you will have to assume the enemy has FAR more advanced fighters and will most likely control the sky and ground vehicles being proportionally stronger than the grunts is also a fear.
There is NO possible way ANY country would try and oppose Galytn without some form of SERIOUS provocation. So as long as it concerns itself only with African countries its doubtful ANY country will mount a response. US, Russia, and China would be the only ones to try and they will want to see how the other two respond before doing anything themselves.
On top of all this, the establishment that there is life in the universe besides us being made public has most assuredly caused tons of issues in all countries and people are still adjusting and countries are probably still trying to get control from the more panicked responses of its citizens.
Nukes don’t land – they do more damage if they airburst at the right altitude. Of course, I’m sure Dabbler has all kinds of fun and exciting ways to change their altitude of detonation, and assuming Max is as immune to radiation as she is to everything else she could just disassemble them midair.
In short, before any contry could really concieve of successfully going up against that country (if what Deus said was true), thier going to need a lot more intellegance. As was mentioned, just too many unknowns. And in a conflict, what you don’t know can wipe out your army resulting in defeat.
The other reason for supers being a power play, is that they can strike the government officials directly. A nation with a super that could open a long distance portal to the middle of a session of Congress and toss through a few grenades, would have nothing to fear from the US.
Deuce hires supers. It’s a small country likely to be expected to have very few supers of native origin. He is basically admitting how many he has hired.
Agreed, we’ve seen that his entire inner circle is composed of supers, have to assume he’s been recruiting them for ages. And probably granting amnesty to any who need it to sweeten the deal. This is either a red herring, baiting Max after revealing to her that he has the geode, or straight-up foreshadowing the onset of Deus’s plan to take over the world.
Also possibly from where. If he’s hired the supers away from his neighbors, he doesn’t need to hire as many to get to that factor ten number.
Presumably, he’s been hiring disaffected supers away from his neighbors, rather than hiring probable security holes into his organization.
The Per Capita part is a very important distinction though, if he has ten times the average for other countries but the place only has 10 million people because it’s a tiny nation that means it has less than a third of the supers you’d find in the US which as his public position as a major CEO and not the ruler of the country just makes him a savvy businessman trying to take advantage of that fact to swoop in and make billions by investing in a collapsing state.
There are such Things as Double Bluffs, Xanathos Gambits and just trying to be feared, or making all people of dangerous power level look at his “African Colony while he does more important stuff otherwhere.^^
But as for the final Sentence: Cauldron confirmed (would ALSO explain the Stupid^^).
“with nothing, but a second grade economy and (possibly) a few more supers to back him up.”
are you forgetting his shopping trip to the black library? The terrifying things he currently has in his possession give the twilight council nightmares about what would happen if they fell in the the wrong hands. I’m pretty sure by ‘the wrong hands’ they meant DEUS’S hands.
You are also forgetting his OTHER shopping trip to the fracture. Frankly even if american AND russia double team deus I would say even odds he could take them. None of them KNOW THAT of course since none of them are aware of how much of a bargain shopper Deus is.
Then there is this fact. America is far more likely to purchase what they want from Deus rather than seeing him as a threat. Deus was (almost) literally DATING americas most powerful weapon. He is a major weapons supplier AND AN AMERICAN CITIZEN. If Deus can manufacture supers I’m pretty sure america would be happy to PAY to be the exclusive customer of that particular technology rather than go to war for it. Anyone ELSE who wants to go to war with galytin to get their hands on AMERICA’S brand new toy had better have a plan for getting through maxima and americas military because I don’t think america would enjoy sharing their new toys with the other kids. All things considered I don’t think Deus is taking much of a risk here. he’s got at least 3 aces up his sleeve and a loaded deck. He aint exactly playing fair.
EXACTLY THIS.
And to add to the cream to this cake the alien tech alone can change the power balance of the earth. DO you think the USA would allow their foes to get it?
Considering Max And Dabbler , no one has nukes unless they have Supers to guard them.
A fixed position object like a nuke that a deep scan device (dabbler’s) can detect across a solar system is just a target and not a threat.
Hell countries may even think they have nukes, they just don’t understand that they are only a shell and 99% has been hyperspaced.
Deus tends to do things by extreme candor. He says things that sound like bragging, but are actually only a trivial part of what he has going on. He very rarely lies because he understands that misunderstood TRUTH is the most effective lie, and your victims can’t even place the blame on you afterwards.
“… he understands that misunderstood TRUTH is the most effective lie …”
This‼️
Not really. If, for example, America tried to muscle in, then Galytan can claim that they are trying to steal/monopolise their supers and alien tech. This would make Russia and China push back. Plus, with alien refugees present in the country, the aggressor might find their government excised by UFOs – this is no longer only playing out on a global stage.
And border changes happen frequently around the world – Bakassi in 2008, South Sudan in 2011, Belgium and the Netherlands in 2016, India and Bangladesh in 2015, not to mention the ongoing disputes between Israel/Palestine, Russia/Ukraine, Turkey/Syria, Vietnam/Cambodia, Oman/Yemen, Kazakhstan/Uzbekistan, USA/Marshall Islands, Spain/Portugal and Guyana/Venuzuela (to name but a few)
Really, this is just Politics as normal.
Conversely:
This could be thinly veiled sales pitch. Seeing as how on paper he’s not the ruler of that country but a financial backer and has his own international corporation. So.
“Make me an offer I can make super soldiers for you”.
Okay, I have to know. Did you use to watch the Great Space Coaster?
“No gnus, is good gnus, with Gary… Gnu.”
Personally preferred the Speed Reader bits
Glad others caught that.
I didn’t. Is that the source of the joke about gengnucide?
“Cafeful”?
When you have had enough coffee? Or if you have eaten enough cafes.
His scar isn’t very visible. The question is, is this a change in his design, or is he wearing makeup for the interview?
Maybe it’s just the contrast with all the impossibly smooth-skinned women we keep seeing, but but Deus’s face looks way off to me in this one. Too many surfaces and contours, almost looked like warpaint on my phone screen. Less drastic but still off now that I’m on a desktop.
Synthetic Skin. His face is smooth but the scar remains. Optional clear coating method but why would you want to show off your scar?
I’d guess makeup for the interview.
Okay this’s the stupidest political action he could ever take, after a story about intelligence faillure:
claim you’ve nukes: hold the world away from you, because they don’t want nuclear winter,
claim you’re a loser: Let the world skip you for being no threat,
claim you can make supers: scare off all armies in the world,
claim this: give every nation in the world a reason to sent intelligence to steal your tech, infiltrate your circles to steal your supers, have the counter intelligence actively search for his spies, since he seems to know super statistic, which are obviously classified and conquer your country to stop a growing threat.
As for why he suffers from intelligence failure: the Alari have shown to the American government to be an exceptional threat out to conquer earth, so if his intelligence was worth their salt they would have informed him and before you say it: yes, I know not all Alari are shit, but they have a shitty military ready with the command to conquer earth and have shown that even one rough individual can form an exceptional treath.
Now is the question what could be his objectives:
Draw Maxima out, so she will become his girlfriend: than don’t start a war with your weak neighbors, because that irritates super-heroines and leftist like her in general.
Draw Maxima out to kill her: than don’t put yourself in a position where every super power on earth and Alaria has reason to get you, because that makes it easier to target individuals.
Become unimaginable rich: than don’t start a war and don’t put every super power on earth against you(expensive hobbies).
Have sex with everybody: than don’t start talking down to everybody on television, wars and angering super powers.
Destroy the world: buy some nukes.
Annoy Ariana: works, I guess, but starting wars gives her too much of an opening.
Now I think about it: I missed something important.
Does his country have nukes? Because if his country has nukes he now has spread fear through global population with a method to keep all threatening armies away.
If he is employing JUST Atomic Bombshell, he has the equivalent of nukes. There are several indicators during her appearance suggesting that she’s capable of tossing around nuclear-level explosions. Maybe not Maxima/Tsar-Bomba level blasts, but those are 100x the size of the bigger deployed nuclear weapons anyways.
The point of atomic bombs is in this case not raw power, but lasting damage and rareness. Atomic bombs are more than just an explosion.
One big boom can be endured as long it doesn’t exceed like 100× Tsar bombara, but decades of global uselessness of farms is another story and supers can be harnessed by any country, for a nuke you need high tech and lots of resources, so it shows your entire country is resourcefull.
As for how strong Maxima’s blast is: according to the measurements of Cora’s crew: one Tsar bombara, but more precise and less lasting.
Don’t
I apologize if this reply catches you midstream. Yours looked like you hit enter too soon and I was waiting for the continuation, but it’s been a couple of hours now.
I think you’re a bit off base on strategy surrounding nukes. Certainly they can be developed to act as area-denial weapons (cobalt salting) but that is not the normal strategy in mind for their use. In Deus’s case, I would expect him to be employing a Supers-based variant of the Minimal Deterrence theory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimal_deterrence
This has a high cost to benefit ratio – he doesn’t need to develop a world conquering force (which would rightly be seen as a major threat), he only needs to develop enough power projection that anyone who would attack Galtyn has to worry about surviving the counter-attack.
So just in terms of trying to stick with nuke-ish destruction – 2 or 3 supers with force projection abilities, paired with someone possessing movement capabilities and Deus has an extreme amount of retaliation potential. Let’s say Opal working with Atomic Bombshell, Evil Jiggawatt’s antimatter-mode plus Hiro for standoff distance, Harem (or any speedster for that matter) with a bunch of Davy Crockett munitions … there’s really no end of possibilities.
Maxima’s observed power is in the same ballpark as a full-power Tsar Bomba (100 megatons), but we don’t know at least two important factors.
1. We don’t know exactly where she is in relation (“few hundred petajoules”) – when I did the math I assumed 3 or 400 (I don’t remember) petajoules – what if the Fel-wrecking beam was 800 petajoules? That’d be around 200 megatons, 4x the size of the actual Tsar Bomba (50 megatons) and its 60-mile serious-damage blast range. 4x that is spooky.
2. Worse – as far as I’ve seen, we still don’t know if this is Max’s top end. She wasn’t winded after blasting the Fel. Would she be visibly weakened after an all-out effort? What if her apex is in the exajoule range? Higher?
Top end individual Supers in the Grrlverse are definitely city-destroyers, and Max (and therefore anyone she’s had trouble fighting) is well past that.
Wait is he using maxim’s geode to make supers? Since we know it gave max her powers it could still have a similar effect on others.
that or Sciona joined the Alari there, remember she had a way to infuse herself with Super powers using blood magic, chances are she just needs a blood sample from a Super, a little alien tech and/or hocus pocus and boom, any Alari or possibly person she wants can gain that power too.
heck that mech-thing she had could power copy using blood during a fight.
The Machina Industries logo looks a little like an object on a pillar being split in half, fairly suggestive of that geode or one like it.
So… random risky ploy that comes to mind.
Galytn’s current population of supers/metas/aliens is extremely high because Deus is one of the few companies/organizations that’s seen the advantages of employing them. [Remember that he’s aware of the others, so he can hide the other two as the first] In reality, Galytn’s native population of supers is bog standard, but the cover stories placing his metas as Galytnian[?] citizens will take a while to unravel, and in the meantime he’s pushed himself onto the world stage, with all the interest that will cause in media and commercial circles.
Even if it’s eventually unraveled as a lie, Galytn comes out as a name that everybody knows, a bunch of foreign research teams have spent years poking at and around his country, and all the while nobody wants to aggress on Galytn until they have proper intelligence on exactly how many and how powerful Deus’s super army is.
Bold, definitely has risks and possibility of backlash… but those all seem very Deus, and he’s definitely demonstrated he can think in long terms.
Wow, that’s a good idea.
It would explain a lot, but how would you deal with the political tension it would set on his already warring country?
It was my understanding he used these supers from the beginning of his Galytn involvement to eradicate those political tensions, such that there’s now very little remaining tension.
As far as the “cover stories” of his metas as Galytnian citizens… I’m pretty sure he has enough influence with the king to make their citizenship and his own quite real.
I don’t feel like Deus is necessarily a leader in the idea of hiring supers on the corporate level. However, I feel he is a leader in understanding that it’s important to make your supers feel like they’re valued as people. A lot of what he’s doing in Galytn seems quite focused on that: he’s showing that he values people, and therefore when he values his supers as people, it means something.
Arianna could probably do well to take some notes here. She’s pretty good, I’m not trying to say she isn’t. But he’s taking employee satisfaction to the next level, or maybe the one past that. He’s been at this long enough that all of his supers can feel confident that he’s really looking out for the betterment of their country. I’m certainly not saying they *have* to, because an organization leader can’t manage *that* without mind control powers.
But I’m sure they’ve all gotten used to trusting him to be a good guy that they can look past things like this, which seem quite dubious from a number of perspectives. So they’re not going to see this as him boasting he can make supers, unless he’s been making supers and they know it. They’re not going to see this as him trying to draw heat from bigger countries. He’s just explaining to his neighbors why he has an edge, now that he’s certain they can’t possibly get an advantage by that knowledge.
I do enjoy little details like Deus using the eldredge knot instead of a Windsor. A nice deviation from the norm and what I would expect from him
Everybody’s saying that he’s stupid, but since he robbed all the useful magical artifacts, bought a lot of useful space artifacts, and has hired seemingly a stupid amount of both supernaturals and supers themselves, in addition to apparently also having a super maker (and having enough resources to track down stuff like Maxima’s geode thing means he has the resources to dig up *everybody else’s dirt*) means that he’s more or less holding all the trump cards, and sure, while in theory people could try to spy on him, what he’s doing now? He’s inviting all the responses, on his own terms, instead of waiting for them to come up with them, so that he can openly subvert all of them, with the several higher grades of tech than anybody on the planet is allowed to have. This is just him cleaning up shop on loose ends because he won’t have time for it later when he’s planning planetary conquest moving into galactic conquest. He’s saying, while everybody’s flatfooted and still in their infancy, to come try him now, when he’s at a peak that they may not possibly reach at this point. It’s actually more risk averse to force the heroes to react when they’re still in the middle of their arcs instead of at the end of them.
Of course, he might have not picked up on Sydney yet because she’s both an inscrutable goofball and having entirely failed to notice her during his space trip, but it’s only a matter of time before she has to face him, because she’s the only one (besides, perhaps, Maxima, but I get the feeling he’s got her number figuratively, even if he’ll never have it literally) whose tech/power level surpasses his resources.
Maybe it’s just my mind that goes to the Dark Places. There is another way to achieve 10x per capita super rate: Institute a pogrom against non-supers…
He’s too concerned about his satisfaction ratings at home. Unless he’s been very particular about what supers he recruits, that wouldn’t go over well with his supers, either.
It’s more likely he’s instituted a pogrom against his neighbor’s supers. Either that, or a hiring blitz. My guess is a little of column a and a little of column b. Buy out all the neighboring disaffected supers, kill all of the ones loyal to his opponents.
But he also has other irons in those fires. Hiring supers from the world at large who fit the profile he’s looking for. This will include some flashy but less useful supers. These will be less for the value of their abilities or for inflating his own numbers, and more for giving the impression that it’s a numbers game.
Because really, he’s talking numbers when it’s more about the quality and the synergy you can get with that quality. Porta and Vale probably combine to be worth more than the rest of them combined. Mostly that’s because Vale’s pretty high end, but letting her go basically everywhere certainly raises that an order of magnitude.
There’s also the question of all of the artifacts he has from the vault and from Fracture station, which he really isn’t talking about.
There are four basic ways to achieve those numbers.
1) He can make supers.
2) The blind chance of numerical distribution.
3) Emigration of supers.
4) The aliens are SUPER-aliens.
5) Kill off non-supers.
I’m betting it’s actually 1 OR 3.
Well Sciona could empower a mech when it got ahold of blood from supers via a power copy, and she had a way to infuse herself with powers via blood magic and/or tech with just blood samples. Also Alari can parasitize bodies via that soul battery method; so they have three ways right there to get more supers. Its doubtful Sciona was unique in the first two methods, even if she isn’t, time has passed and may have joined back up with the Alari for all we know.
He could be presenting non-supers (aliens, vampires, or whatever) as supers.
Deus is not a dictator,
he did not declare war on the world.
He is a financial backer, international corporation and implying he can make supers.
This has become a “weapon’s demonstration” by an arms dealer. The most likely outcome isn’t country’s attacking that little country, calling his bluff, no, its back door dealers from country’s giving him phone calls to make super soldiers.
He’s not just trolling Archon, he’s specifically trolling Maxima. She got her powers from the water inside an alien geode.
Cue the insignificant pottery devices!
“She got her powers from the water inside an alien geode.’ We cannot assume that, it may have been a lifeform, the be, a symbiotic lifeform, maybe sharing Max’s body or controlling it. With her will, or even taking it over.
I’m pretty sure Deus’s goal here is to imply he knows how to make Supers both to scare and entice his enemies or potential enemies, while in reality he’s simply recruited a lot of foreign supers. I’m pretty sure for a small country like Galytn just the bunch of supers he had with him when executing the takeover would already skew the stats enough for this.
From the top of my head the stats were about 1 in 500k to 1 in a million or so for supers, 1 in 10 million for combat-capable (page 204 implied they estimated there were 30 or so combat-capable supers in the US. There being about 320 million people in the US, do the math). So Deus’ stats would be one in 50-100K supers and 1 in a million combat-capable supers. I doubt the nation he took over had more than a handful of millions of inhabitants, and he had like 6 combat-capable supers with him. Let’s say the nation he took over had 12 million people. That’d mean only 1 native combat-capable super. Lets say the neighboring nations had 2-3 each, of varying strength. Having 7-8 combat-capable supers trained to work as a team the way his lot are would mean he could probably challenge most non-nuclear nations. It would take a multi-nation’s alliance worth of supers to counter that. Nevermind his newly obtained alien tech.
Ofc, he may just be trying to provoke Maxima into doing something. His interest in her is definitely more than just ‘rich, power-hungry business magnate interested in most powerful super in the world’.
What’s this? Can it be… plot? After a whole year of filler, are we finally getting plot?
F-FILLER?? *splutter* It’s NOT filler, it’s character growth!! Showing Sydney’s competence grow is important to the story, she’s the main character after all!! This is a superhero coming-of-age story, not How Deus Took Over The World!! {/indignantdiatribe}
It should happen during the plot, not outside of it, and that several month long debacle with Areana? And the night club prior to that? or all the full page jokes that add nothing to the story?
*monocle falls off*
*sputters*
” … !”
*gasps* I say, wot wot?! Intolerable!
One of my most surreal life experiences happened while talking pleasantly in the home of an older Englishman who looked every bit the stereotype of the quintessential British gentleman, whom it turns out, misunderstood who I was. He became rather upset when a comment from another party, 30 minutes into the conversation, clued him in that I was in a demographic he highly disliked.
After a literal gasp and confirming that I did in fact “mean to say” I was a member of said demographic, he turned beet red and stood up stiff as a board, pointed his finger at my chest, and reverting from his somewhat Americanized accent to his full native tongue, shouted with a lovely Received Pronunciation complete with rolling R’s: “You, sir, are a charlatan! You are here under false pretenses, and I must insist that you leave my home at once!”
Rather startled and more than a little bemused at the sudden change, I arose promptly and apologized for the misunderstanding, and he escorted me swiftly to the door. After ensuring I was properly clear and on the step, he followed up with an even posher and only slightly quieter “Good day to you sir!” and managed to shut the door extremely hard without actually quite slamming it.
…you’ve never been truly insulted and thoroughly dismissed until Major-General Stanley has suddenly manifested from the 1800s, taken your existence as a personal insult, and thrown you out of his house in a rage with perfect British manners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm-6RR4sLXw
Dues isn’t claiming Galytn has a higher super population, per capita.
He is asking if the reporter knows that it does.
“Do you know that car is red?”
“… No it’s not. It’s blue.”
“Oh. I stand corrected.”
lol
Sorta. What he is using is a rhetorical question. A statement phrased as a question.
Although politicians have been known to try and weasel out of having made such statements, in a manner similar to what you suggest. Or try and cover their backs by using evasive language. So, yea, it is best to pay attention to such nuances.
Best bottled water sales pitch in history!!
Indeed.
Now contrast that marketing ploy to Coca Cola’s in the UK.
It didn’t help Coca Cola’s image any that what they did in real life echoed the plot of an episode of Only Fools And Horses.
How will this turn out???
I suspect that it will result in other nations actively avoiding provoking Galytn. I was going to say that ‘similar to how you may avoid provoking a nuclear armed nation’, but then recalled Argentina invading the Falklands.
However they could be fairly sure that the UK would not retaliate with a nuclear attack, as such would be a disproportionate response, which would also break various international treaties/laws.
I wonder if Galytn is cooperating with plans to make international treaties banning the use of supers in wars?
Thanks,and here’s a bacon flavored Yorpie snack!
Deterrence is creating in the mind of the enemy the FEAR to attack. The doomsday device, due to its automatic and irrevocable nature, is credible and convincing. But the whole point is lost IF YOU KEEP IT A SECRET! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL THE WORLD, EH?!
It is enough that enemy intelligence knows, and keeping it secret disarms political attacks which rely upon diatribes about how it is your nation which is making threats.
That is why we see nations with fairly extensive nuclear arsenals in the real world being cagey about the very existence of even their nuclear programs, much less the weapons those programs have produced.
In case the reference was missed – https://youtu.be/2yfXgu37iyI?t=172
The world map with countries represented by their currency symbols is a nice touch for the background of a show called Macroeconomics.
To have meta abilities is not illegal.
To have them in your armed forces is not illegal.
Galtyn has been expanding its borders ‘lately’, and before this reveal the world has given a collective ‘meh’. Calling them out on the use of meta’s offensively opens up the same claims to be made against the major players. ‘Destroyer of Mosques’ comes to mind.
Deux wouldn’t have revealed this without having prepared for the reactions it would cause. He wouldn’t have revealed this without expecting to benefit from the reactions it would cause.
Guys, in all the speculation y’all seem to have forgotten that ever since his intro we’ve been watching Deus be the world’s biggest employer of mercenary supers.
Shh. We know that. But Maxima does not.
Archon seems to have a blind spot for
her boyfriend’sDeus’s activities.We-e-ellll, mayhap ArcSWAT has a blindspot, but then it’s remit is actual violence and mayhem. Archon probably hasn’t let Arianna or Maxima in on the secret yet.
However I would be surprised if ArcDARK has not been poking around…
yeah, was gonna say, that doesn’t mean he knows how to make supers when it’s much easier to just PAY supers…
He doesn’t know how to “make” them, he knows how to HIRE them. Similar results, much smaller timescale.
Breeding program? No, no, that sounds too ‘Nazi’. Let’s go with ‘family-friendly healthcare system’. We don’t force people to bear children. We encourage them to have lots of free, uninhibited sex with no judgements, and if they HAPPEN to get pregnant, Galtyn has a very open adoption system, with comprehensive health care, free education and military training, and a very satisfying compensation package. Are they free to leave? Sure, but why would they want to?
Oh no… Anvil has a drinking problem.
Yes, I noticed that it looks like Anvil pouring her wine down her dress top. That’s going to leave a nasty stain.
Well, with the influx of alien tech, maybe he wants to push the UN to ban deployment of supers to war zones. This type of announcement will probably expedite a UN ruling on the subject. Then, without neighboring supers to worry about, he can gain more ground by out-tech-ing his opponents. And it doesn’t have to be flashy tech. Why use a laser beam when you may be able to make homing bullets.
Other options exist, of course, but the ban on super deployment seems to be the probable outcome of an announcement like this seems to be furthering the ban. And Deus seems to be quite deliberate in his actions. Also, he never said the “extra” supers were combat-capable. It’s entirely possible that very few are actually useful in combat. Maybe he wants the ban to keep the supers in other countries from being able to oppose him. I mean, for all we know, Galtyn was where “That Flying Rescue Guy” and “The Filmer” came from…
The USA has Max. That means we’d veto any law which suggested we couldn’t use her.
Max was the one that informed the crowd: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-147-flying-not-allowed-in-the-super-high-jump/
Also, given how much a super can offset equipment, it might be in our best interest to limit the deployment of Supers so our numerical advantage means more. I mean, would you want Opal being deployed against your forces? Not only could she open a portal to plant explosives, she may be able to access a lava flow, the ocean, or possibly even space. Other options abound, of course. And there’s the “prove a super was involved” loopholes but it stands.
Uh…Anvil. Wine shelf.
So who Is he trying to pick a fight with with that gauntlet being cast.
possibly no one as he is only that country’s financial backer on paper and any implication he can make supers would be a selling point for other countries. As in (make me an offer and I’ll sell you a way to make super soldiers).
@DaveB: That’s some fancy tie knot you gave Deus… Trinity? Might I suggest he try the Eldritch next time? A personal favourite of mine
Brings to mind Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight Returns”, when Superman is trying to redirect an incoming nuke in flight. “Twenty million die by fire if I am weak”
“Nevermind his newly obtained alien tech.”
Just like in the movie, Superman: The Movie.
It’s a small state so at most they should have one. So he just claimed to have 10 supers. With his resources that could just be his murder squad and he could have twice that in non-combat types.
We should assume he effectively knows every super on the planet and recruited for loyality and effectiveness.
He presumably has the teleporting girl, add Atomic Bombshell to that and he’s got the ability to nuke anywhere on the planet. If he’s got alien genades he doesn’t need Bombshell, and with the resources of a country he could actually have nukes if he wants them.
Er… Atomic Bombshell all by herself represents a $bazillion saving: any nuke can only be used once, but the damage lasts for centuries, but Miss Atomic can be used many times, with adjustable output and insignificant long-term AD effects.
Accepting Deus does have “the teleporting girl”, who needs alien grenades? Our Earth tech has lots to offer, especially if it can be ‘ported into a “sealed” room…
Cici C. St. Croix’s last name is St. Croix, right?
Or is it really St. Claire?
Or does she pick whichever one seems convenient?
Headcanon: C. C. St. Croix is heiress to the La Croix beverage fortune, but 1) she realizes it’s just a fad, and people will move on to the next soft-drink quickly, 2) she wants to distance herself from the money, and be self-made. Also 3) she got tired of having to explain it to Every. Single. Guest. on her show. So, she is using a nom-de-plume, as it were. A nom-de-tube?
Cici C. St. Croix’s last name is St. Croix, right?
Or is it really St. Claire?
Or does she pick whichever one seems convenient?
“Angry white men!” says the white man of his white villain in his mostly white comic. Did Commissioner Gordon light the Virtue Signal?
In his defense:
a. while mostly white and angry. Most people we meet often are female and
b. the amount of yelling is pretty restricted and
c. he’s explaining the actions of his characters not making a political statement.
So what you’re saying is that white men aren’t allowed to complain about angry white men.
I like Deus, I really hope that he just become an “Antagonist” and not full villain.
IF he can create supers, then all he is doing is creating the environment that would allow everyone equal means of transcending their humanity. Evolution is natural, speeding that evolution up just makes sense. (Just like selecting the right genes in plants to make the crops more drought resistant or produce the same amount with less water)
That all depends on whether he is willing to export his water.
As regards being an antagonist, that is not normally something directly declared in a story. However he has had a hard staring contest, with the main protagonist. Which is a pretty good indicator of his status.
Not to mention being Maxima’s
ex-boyfriend‘its complicated’.If the rate of evolution in power exceeds the rate of evolution in morality, self-destruction is the most likely result. Destruction of others too. Destruction all around, really.
DaveB?
…I give up.
How are we supposed to pronounce Galytn? What does it sound like? (Use capital letters for syllable emphasis, aka “SILL-ah-bull EM-fah-sis”, please? And if there’s any doubt, use common comparison words like the “au” in “sauna” is pronounced like the dipthong “ow” in “how”, not the single vowl “ah” in “hot”.)
(…Trust me, I got lectured repeatedly by the Finnish husband of my best friend until I “done learnt it proper.” It’s SOW-nah, not SAH-nuh. Finns take the subject of sauna, their national pasttime, VERY seriously.)
My head-canon is that since Archon in based in Texas, it’s derivative of Gallatin TX and pronounced the same.
Which is apparently classed as a city, despite having a population of 419! America can be weird.
And their wikipedia entry does not tell us how to pronounce their community’s name.
Technically speaking, at least in the US, a city is any settlement where 2,500 or more people reside as residents, although some countries require a population of 20,000 or more to be a city. Population density also has some bearing on whether a place is a city, town, hamlet, etc.
Settlements come in the following categories – homestead, hamlet, village, town, city, different types of metropolis-level cities
Homestead – cluster of isolated dwellings occupied by a single extended family (usually up to 5 buildings or families)
Band – Population larger than a homestead, but usually no more than 30-50, with a core kin group
Hamlet – Population of 100 or less, with a few buildings
Village (or Tribe) – Larger than a hamlet, smaller than a town – usually 100-150 people, but can get as large as almost 1000. – has buildings plus bare essentials (church, grocery store, post office, etc)
Town – population of 1,000 to 10,000
Large town – population of 10,000 to 100,000
Suburb – mixed-use town or residential area, usually on the outskirts of a city, primarily residential with a few non-residential buildings. Varies in population, usually not much larger than a large town population. Low density, large land area
Small city (sometimes called a borough) – a city that functions as a municipality/subdivision of a consolidated city. Some exceptions to this like the boroughs in NYC, which are higher populations than other boroughs.
Medium city – abundant services, medium density, population usually between 100,000 and 300,000
Large city – city with large population, medium density, many municipal services – population between 300,000 and 1 million
Metropolis – HIGH density, a large city + suburbs consisting of multiple cities, towns, or boroughs. Population is usually between 1 million to 3 million
Conurbation – HIGH density, a group of metropolis, consisting of three to ten million people
Megalopolis – HIGH density, a group of conurbations, consisting of more than 10 million people total
There’s also a few theoretical settlements which do not YET exist. The main theoretical settlement level is:
Ecumenopolis – a structure in which an entire planet is taken up by human settlements which are linked to create urban areas so big that they shape an urban continuum. Extreme density, population of more than 1 billion. Example: Corsucant from the Star Wars universe.
Long story short, a settlement with a population of 419 is not actually a city, it’s a town at best, more likely a village. Only way I could see it being classified as a city is if 1) It used to he more heavily populated, and was mostly abandonned (abandonned human settlements sometimes lag in their official definitions on paper), it’s acutally part of a suburb, which itself is part of a city, and they’re just glomming onto the city definition, or 3) the people who defined it as a city were just dumb.
:)
In popular usage, historic western settlements which were considered cities and called such back when they were founded generally continue to be called cities even today.
I guess. I’m mainly talking about modern usage of the word though since it was mentioned that a place in Texas was defined as a city with only 419 people. By the time the US came into being, and definitely by the time cities in Texas were founded, what I listed was pretty much the accepted usage (and they didnt even HAVE metropolis-level cities back then)
…
“Sauna”. For this denizen of the last 3rd world country on Earth, the word is pronounced “sOR-nuh”. The example you gave is illustrated perfectly by the dipthong “au” as in “das Haus”=>”the house”.
We use British pronunciation, not U.S. I’d use IPA to do this, but that’s been made stupidly complicated through a distinct lack of foresight by the inventors of the internet (who were NOT British).
And no way would we ever pronounce “hot” as “heart”. It’s “hot” as in German “Gott”.
It’s about time we had access to both English and US dictionaries. I use the word as it was originally intended by John of Garland in 1220, who compiled “Dictionarius” to help his students with Latin “diction”, the “way of pronouncement”. It’s worth noting that in 1754 Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield lamented “[It is] a sort of disgrace to our nation, that hitherto we have had no… standard of our language; our dictionaries at present being more properly what our neighbors the Dutch and the Germans call theirs, word-books, than dictionaries in the superior sense of that title.” He was referring to the habit of defining the meaning of a word, rather than prescribing how the word is pronounced.
I’d better stop ranting here…
‘Thy dothn’t’ ???
Please,no. Look it up, there’s plenty of resources online
*whoosh*
It’s a joke reference to the line in Macbeth, obviously misquoted deliberately. She’s needling, not doing a period stage performance – ruffled neckline notwithstanding.
That neckline doesn’t look at all ruffled… Perfectly composed actually!
The ruffles might be damped down. We’ll need a closer look at that neckline to call it.
I present
Exhibit Panel 3, ruffles. Small ones compared to Tudor style, but definitely not a straight serged edge.flubbed the closing tag, only ‘exhibit’ should have been struck for comedic effect.
To date, Deus is one of my favorite super-villains in all of fiction. Like, he’s right up there with Lex Luthor, as far as I’m concerned. Not quite on par with, but definitely in the same league.
If there was such a thing as a counter to an antihero, he’d be it. He’s like the antivillain – a bad guy who is all utterly nice and compassionate and cares for the community he’s usurped, but man oh man, he will ruin your day if you try to interfere with his machinations. XD
He’s not only read the Evil Overlord checklist, he has a copy posted on his office wall, and goes down it every morning to make sure he’s doing everything right.
Indeed. He’s actually a great foil for how genre-savvy Sydney and some of the others are, while Sciona is pretty stereotypically evil just for the sake of it. I do enjoy the slice of life stuff, but I’d like to see more plot development with both of the main antagonists.
Ok this is bad, assuming that none of the near by countries are willing to take the risk and enough politicians are in pocket to avoid any backlash there are still those countries that are mid teir countries that like Iran that might choose to neutralise this threat or take extra territory to prepare for any upcoming conflict.
Basically this could destabilise the wider world just because Deus wants a port to export from.
Well… That’s not good at all.
(Dis gunna get gud!)
Deux’s ‘reveal’ reminds me of the interplay between Max and Dabbler back in #184. ‘By initiating dramatic events, you collapse all probable futures into a smaller number of more predictable outcomes’
Ala, The Scarlet Witch!