Grrl Power VII: Let Me Explain For The Next Thirty Comics!

[sihnfahl]

It is possible she can use it for more than day trips to the fracture station and back, I forgot about that, but even then, not sure if it lets her go wherever she wants more or less or if its just a few major landmarks she can work with to re-orient herself on.

The main issue is her intrasystem speeds. Sure, she can probably hop to major systems now, but how fast can she get from Earth to Mars?

We know she can hit mach 16 (word of God), but that's a measly ~ 12.28k mph. The distance is about 142 million miles.

Or about 11,551 hours away. Longer than a year.

While your average starship probably does that distance in the length of time it takes to toast a pop tart.

[Radar]

If Sydney can manually aim with that drive, she will have no problem with going to whatever target within her sight like for example the Moon or Mars. Precision of that drive is good enough that when she went to fracture and back, she actually came back to the original location on Earth and not some thousands of kilometers away. So intrasystem movement is most likely not an issue.

[sihnfahl]

And now we know how Deus was going to help Cthillia get the souls to repower the rejuvenator.

And dealing with the psycho supers.

[Rydiro]

And now we know how Deus was going to help Cthillia get the souls to repower the rejuvenator.

And dealing with the psycho supers.

At least he is not classically evil. He does care about innocents.

[sihnfahl]

At least he is not classically evil. He does care about innocents.

Does he care about innocents, or the fact that they were trying to destabilize the country he put so much investment in, and harm the people he's trying to use as part of his economic engine?

[Traab]

Does he care about innocents, or the fact that they were trying to destabilize the country he put so much investment in, and harm the people he's trying to use as part of his economic engine?

I think Ryd was talking about punishing Vale for her collateral damage or bloodbath or whatever she was doing when someone died who shouldnt have and deus made her cry.

[sihnfahl]

I think Ryd was talking about punishing Vale for her collateral damage or bloodbath or whatever she was doing when someone died who shouldnt have and deus made her cry.

The explanation in the flavor text below the comic, then.

"Not in some sort of collateral damage incident, but in a capricious, “get out of my way, brat!” way during an incident when she was chasing down some guy who emptied an AK-47 at a Doctors Without Borders convoy that Deus was meeting with."

[lord_khaine]

And now we know how Deus was going to help Cthillia get the souls to repower the rejuvenator.

We have not been told anything about souls.
Just that its recharget on kills.

At least he is not classically evil. He does care about innocents.

Still hard to estimate if he is evil at all.

[Shining Wrath]

We have not been told anything about souls.
Just that its recharget on kills.



Still hard to estimate if he is evil at all.

Actually, in the text below a recent comic there was a Dave comment about "Just in case you were starting to think Deus was a good guy".

He's evil.

[lord_khaine]

Actually, in the text below a recent comic there was a Dave comment about "Just in case you were starting to think Deus was a good guy".

He's evil.

The actual quote i think your refering to is this?
"And just when some of you started coming around on Deus. Of course, some of you might like him more now as well."

That was from the comic where Deus was about to have a bunch of terrorists executed.
A decent number of states does that. Would you like to claim all of them are evil?

Back on Deus we dont have author comment going either way.
Likely quite intentional.

[Dragonus45]

The actual quote i think your refering to is this?
"And just when some of you started coming around on Deus. Of course, some of you might like him more now as well."

That was from the comic where Deus was about to have a bunch of terrorists executed.
A decent number of states does that. Would you like to claim all of them are evil?

Back on Deus we dont have author comment going either way.
Likely quite intentional.

So there are questions about what if any trial process they went through and then questions about fair and just punishment probably not including being sacrificed to an ancient evil weapon considered to heinous it was locked beneath the ocean behind dozens of counter measures alongside dozens of other artifacts of great power. Like, I believe that Deus is honestly trying to consider the global fate of all humanity on Earth and has decent intentions even if he may be motivated purely by greed and a desire to maintain a personal standard of living with everyone else being happy and healthy as a means to an end. But he also clearly has a very low floor for what he will do to make it happen. Also this could still all be an act, we just don't see far enough into his head at this point to work it out.

[Shining Wrath]

So there are questions about what if any trial process they went through and then questions about fair and just punishment probably not including being sacrificed to an ancient evil weapon considered to heinous it was locked beneath the ocean behind dozens of counter measures alongside dozens of other artifacts of great power. Like, I believe that Deus is honestly trying to consider the global fate of all humanity on Earth and has decent intentions even if he may be motivated purely by greed and a desire to maintain a personal standard of living with everyone else being happy and healthy as a means to an end. But he also clearly has a very low floor for what he will do to make it happen. Also this could still all be an act, we just don't see far enough into his head at this point to work it out.

I'm going to argue that working with Cthilla probably means you're bad. And using Cthilla as a trap for Max is also probably bad. A lot of minions are likely to get hurt when this goes down. Anvil, for example, is pretty much out of her league here.

[Radar]

I'm going to argue that working with Cthilla probably means you're bad. And using Cthilla as a trap for Max is also probably bad. A lot of minions are likely to get hurt when this goes down. Anvil, for example, is pretty much out of her league here.

This guy attacking right now is very much not Cthilla - having the face wrapped up is the only similarity here. The attacker is very much human as was shown in his first appearance, while Cthilla is very much not to the point where they are not sure if there is any other being like them.

As for working with Cthilla, in of itself one could make the same argument as for Roy working with Belkar. Details however may vary.

[Shining Wrath]

This guy attacking right now is very much not Cthilla - having the face wrapped up is the only similarity here. The attacker is very much human as was shown in his first appearance, while Cthilla is very much not to the point where they are not sure if there is any other being like them.

As for working with Cthilla, in of itself one could make the same argument as for Roy working with Belkar. Details however may vary.

As to Roy working with Belkar, we have the word of Lawful Good Deva that Roy brought his evil back down under the "Love Child of Sauron and Cruella de Ville" line.

[halfeye]

As to Roy working with Belkar, we have the word of Lawful Good Deva that Roy brought his evil back down under the "Love Child of Sauron and Cruella de Ville" line.

Love Child? not hate child?

[Rydiro]

The comic is still somewhat unclear if he ordered to kill pure missionaries or if those missionaries were part of violent marauding bands.

Terminating pure, nonviolent missionaries seems evil Overkill. Just put them into Jail.

[sihnfahl]

The comic is still somewhat unclear if he ordered to kill pure missionaries or if those missionaries were part of violent marauding bands. Terminating pure, nonviolent missionaries seems evil Overkill. Just put them into Jail.

No, that's just part of his Lecture Series.

It's implied he only has her kill mercenaries.

Missionaries just get ... The Speech.

[Radar]

Love Child? not hate child?

I hope we will not need charts and quadrants to figure this out.

[lord_khaine]

So there are questions about what if any trial process they went through and then questions about fair and just punishment probably not including being sacrificed to an ancient evil weapon considered to heinous it was locked beneath the ocean behind dozens of counter measures alongside dozens of other artifacts of great power. Like, I believe that Deus is honestly trying to consider the global fate of all humanity on Earth and has decent intentions even if he may be motivated purely by greed and a desire to maintain a personal standard of living with everyone else being happy and healthy as a means to an end.

Initially. I personally think its pretty clear by now the bit about Greed was just a smokescreen.
By all account Deus already has the degree of wealth where he could not use all of his money if he actively tried. I mean. This guy decided having a personal island wasnt &%¤ enough, and went ahead and got himself a personal country.

While as for trial. Well the purpose of those is to establish guilt, and protect the innocent.
These were seemingly armed mercenaries caught planning terrorist action. People are executed for less than bombing hospitals.
And lets not get into the actual morality of this. But i hope everyone agrees that -if- anyone deserves execution, its scum like this.

By all account Deus does care a lot about guilt versus innocence, when he even discipline his personal right hand.

While as for the weapon. Nothing we have been told indicate its evil itself.
It just encourage mass murder because its to useful.

It's implied he only has her kill mercenaries.

More than implied. Straight up stated its only mercenaries illegally entering the country on a mission that gets a visit from Vale.

[Rydiro]

Oh so he just kills murdering rape-bands who terrorize 'his' country.
Like yeah, you can critizise the lack of the rule of law*. Then again, most countries in the world are lacking in that regard.

* Actually, Vale is the capturing police force, Deus is the Judge and Cthilla executioner. At least some separation of duties is achieved.

[lord_khaine]

Oh so he just kills murdering rape-bands who terrorize 'his' country.
Like yeah, you can critizise the lack of the rule of law*. Then again, most countries in the world are lacking in that regard.

Well.. those who live by the sword. Personally i do find it understandable that if caught in the act Deus just has them ended.
I dont see it that much different from a police shooting of a terrorist.

Like. Its perhaps not ideal. But certainly a huge step up from how things were.
And i do think allowances can be made for basically being in a warzone.

[Traab]

Well.. those who live by the sword. Personally i do find it understandable that if caught in the act Deus just has them ended.
I dont see it that much different from a police shooting of a terrorist.

Like. Its perhaps not ideal. But certainly a huge step up from how things were.
And i do think allowances can be made for basically being in a warzone.

You could argue the moral point of vale being so strong that she has no need to kill, like superman taking down muggers. Yeah they have guns, but they literally cant do anything with them to endanger anyone while superman is there so no, superman shouldnt be setting them on fire with his heat vision. But honestly, at that point we are arguing a sliding scale of justice and right versus wrong and police action versus military action and it all gets bogged down. I prefer to keep it simple, as far as we can tell, deus does not allow his people to rampage or hurt the innocent. If they do he finds ways to deal with that. We dont know what vale is yet so for all we know a lecture good enough to make her cry is about as strong a punishment as he can do to her. You wont punish anvil by spanking her, so you gotta find what works, you know? So im going to go with, he aint no saint, but neither is he a devil. He is enforcing his control over the area he takes over, seems to be lethal towards what pretty much everyone would agree are bad guys, and so far as we can tell does not condone nor allow harming innocents. So he is good enough for me, unless his end goal ends up being something absurd.

[Mechalich]

So he is good enough for me, unless his end goal ends up being something absurd.

His end goals appear to be a post-scarcity utopia for humanity with himself as the immortal god-king, which on the megalomaniac scale is pretty good.

Deus is, ultimately, very much an 'ends justify the means' kind of guy. However much restraint he exercises he still does thing like launch unrestrained wars of aggression. The big thing about 'the ends justify the means' is that achieving the ends is actually extremely rare. Most attempts to pave the way to paradise along a road of skulls end up with a road of skulls leading nowhere. Deus is powerful, but he's not invincible and there are other actors who oppose him and are going to make his path very bloody indeed, as Darude has helpfully just showed up to illustrate.

[Rydiro]

Most attempts to pave the way to paradise along a road of skulls end up with a road of skulls leading nowhere.

I agree with that sentiment generally (especially in real life). Deus though has already made progress. The living conditions for his subjects have improved. He seems to be measuring his progress on that front regularly.

[lord_khaine]

Hmm.. to be pedantic then i dont think megalomaniac fits Deus. So far he has not shown an obsessive wish for power.
Nor the desire to become the immortal god-king. I also cant see why he would want that. It sounds excessively dull compared to just being the advisor to the king.

And i also dont think its fitting to call them unrestrained wars.
Actually it seems surgical, or minimal aggression is more fitting. Since Deus has employed such an overwhelming degree of force and supers he could afford to use the kid gloves on his opponents.

Else yeah it does seem like Deus can already show an impressive degree of progress in his pocket state.
Max has confirmed the investments in infrastructure.

[Shining Wrath]

Since motives matter, the question I'd pose is:
Does Deus seek power so he can improve people's lives, or does Deus improve citizen's lives as a part of a path to greater power?
And I think the answer is undoubtedly "some of both", but it may well turn out it was 99% of one and 1% of the other. And keeping us in suspense as to the exact breakdown is part of the dramatic tension of the story.

[Traab]

You know who deus reminds me of? A mix of Lex Luthor and Dr Doom. He is the ruthless businessman with all the connections and ability to achieve his goals, mixed with the somewhat egotistical, but arguably deserved outlook that the world would be better under his rule. And he also has lines he doesnt seem to cross. His failing is, he is used to being the most clever person in the room, so he is sure he can think his way out of any issues that may arise such as dealing with demons.

[Squire Doodad]

Hmm.. to be pedantic then i dont think megalomaniac fits Deus. So far he has not shown an obsessive wish for power.
Nor the desire to become the immortal god-king. I also cant see why he would want that. It sounds excessively dull compared to just being the advisor to the king.

And i also dont think its fitting to call them unrestrained wars.
Actually it seems surgical, or minimal aggression is more fitting. Since Deus has employed such an overwhelming degree of force and supers he could afford to use the kid gloves on his opponents.

Else yeah it does seem like Deus can already show an impressive degree of progress in his pocket state.
Max has confirmed the investments in infrastructure.

At a glance, I think his pocket state is now bigger than Egypt, particularly if you incorporate Mozambique into it, so perhaps it should upgrade to pouch or satchel state.
If I had to guess, Deus's motivation in starting all of this is more "because he can", and now there's more things there.

I guess his country is kind of like a Lawful Neutral w/ Good tendencies being run by a Lawful Evil w/ Chaotic tendencies? Idk
It's clearly prioritizing ethics and fair law and equity and whatnot but for all we know, uh... I don't know.

[Keltest]

Deus respects the rule of law exactly as long as it doesn't get in his way, and not an ounce more. Ask Mozambique. He's employing bread and circuses for the modern age. We just haven't seen him when he's reacting to somebody he can't understand yet.

[Shining Wrath]

Deus respects the rule of law exactly as long as it doesn't get in his way, and not an ounce more. Ask Mozambique. He's employing bread and circuses for the modern age. We just haven't seen him when he's reacting to somebody he can't understand yet.

Or when he's stymied by someone who has outplayed him according to the rules - which he doesn't believe is possible, of course.