Darth Wong wrote:No, I missed the part where you explained why there is a spike in violence whenever arms shipments go into the region.
Probably because someone has ordered the arms so that they can then engage in some new violence. I doubt that they would just remain peaceful if they couldn't import arms. One can kill as many "cockroaches" with locally produced clubs or kitchen knives as imported machetes. Those machetes were specifically ordered for the Rwandan genocide. It didn't happen because a camping implements firm happened to spontaneously dump a few tens of thousands in Kilgali.
Great plan! Let's just get rid of all bad people!
Or one could ensure that the good people are armed as well.
You might want to consider a couple of points., Violent crimes have declined as much or more in US states that permit concealed carry than one that do not, and that very few CCW authorized persons have used their weapons to commit crimes. This contradicts the anti-gun argument that laws permitting gun ownership and carry would lead to increased violence and Wild-West shoot outs.
“Did I get it right? Nobody back on Earth dresses like this any more, not that I know of anyway.”
“Looks right to me, look if The Boss isn’t interested, you might give me a call.”
Jade Kim punched Titus Pullo’s arm and entered Caesar’s tent. He was bent over a table that doubled as his desk, piles of paper scattered around him. Despite the apparent chaos, Kim noticed that he never had to search for a document he needed. Obviously there was method in the chaos.
“Jade, thank you for coming. Any chance of getting more supplies?” Gaius Julius Caesar straightened up and looked over the crowded desk. “Now that is a sight I haven’t seen for many a long year.”
Kim posed, very self-consciously, one leg thrust forward, hands on hips. “I had it copied from one of Servilia’s dresses in ‘Rome’. Do you like it?”
“Very much.” Caesar paused slightly. “That play of yours was very unkind to her you know. And to Atia.”
“So some historians said.” Kim giggled slightly. “I suppose they’re all out of a job now. Why go through ancient records when they can ask the person who wrote them? Anyway, on supplies, they’re coming through but nowhere near the amount we need. I don’t think that’s coincidence.”
Caesar looked up sharply. “We’re being kept on a leash? By restricting supplies?”
“That’s my guess. I think nobody back on the living level knows what to make of you. They’re worried, a bit frightened. You’ve got quite a reputation you know and getting ten legions to change sides sort of confirmed the image. And they can guess you want out of here.”
“And I want the Romans out of here as well. We’re surviving down here but we can do a lot better. We need land outside the pit. Any word on that?”
Kim leaned back against a tent pole, almost putting her weight on it, then deciding that it wasn’t strong enough. “Gaius, I’m a Lieutenant still, and nobody tells Lieutenants anything. Especially dead ones. All I can pick up are rumors and you know how reliable they are. Anyway I don’t think the politicians have decided what to do next, they’re far behind the curve. We’re winning this war so fast that the politicians are out of the loop. When they took down Minos, they gave themselves all the problems they can cope with just handling all the recent-dead that are coming through. The recovered dead, they haven’t even begun to think about. My guess is, you move fast enough, they’ll accept what you achieve rather than argue it. One caution, Gaius, don’t call yourself Dictator. I know you were but the word has really bad connotations for my people. Try ‘First Senator’ or something like that.
“Another thing, I have got some maps of Hell, the whole place, not just the pit. We’ve only mapped small areas in detail but we’ve got the general sense of the ground here. It’s huge, one continent with a land area at lest 50 percent greater than that of Earth, seas proportionally smaller. Also, the climate doesn’t change no matter where one goes. There’s a huge amount of usable land here, its not like Earth where so much can’t be used. That’s good because there are a lot of people to find homes for. The guess I’ve heard is that there’s 90 billion humans in Hell. To put that into perspective, baldricks and orcs together don’t total a billion.”
Caesar nodded slowly. “Enough room for all the humans in Hell. So we need to grab ourselves a good bit. Anything else?”
“So what are you up to?”
“Reorganizing the Army so it makes a bit more sense. The demons relied on mass and shock charges, they don’t work against firepower. So, I’m altering their legion structure to maximize their firepower at expense of shock. If we could get rifles for them, it would help.”
“Not a chance. There are rumors that we’re making rifles suitable for baldricks but none are finding their way here. All we’re getting is stuff suitable for humans. M114s and 115s, grenades, C-4 packs, mortars. Perhaps if we corseted the baldricks with human troops carrying guns?”
“Corseted?”
“Put small groups of humans in with the demons to stiffen them. Our military technology is so far in advance of theirs even a small number of humans should make a big difference. Corseting is a pretty standard way of strengthening weak armies allied to strong ones.”
“Our British Colonel won’t accept his battalion being split up like that.”
“Doesn’t matter, he’ll be gone soon. The British tried a take-over bid, it failed and they need the troops. Anyway, that’s what rumor says.” Kim took a deep breath, this was what she had been putting off. “Important thing, how do you like your breakfast eggs?”
“What?” Caesar was astonished at the apparent irrelevance. “What do eggs have to do with this.”
Kim was trying to control her shaking breath, and the fact she was frightened in a way that hadn’t been the case for years. “Gaius, in our culture, when a girl wants a man friend to know he’s welcome to spend the night with her, she doesn’t say so outright, she just asks him what he wants for breakfast.” She controlled the shaking, Kim knew she was close to crying and her voice was trembling. “So what do you want for breakfast?”
Caesar stared at her. “You’re terrified. We’ve got a good alliance here, one that works because we need each other. You don’t have to force yourself to sleep with me in order to maintain it. And I don’t force women.”
“And if I don’t force myself, I never will. Like riding a horse, once somebody falls off, they have to get right back up again or they’ll never ride again. Gaius, I want a normal life and I want it with you. So, just pretend I’m not forcing myself, please? This is nothing to do with politics or armies. Just with me and getting my head fixed.”
Caesar nodded slowly. “Ah, so I’ll be doing you a kindness then. That’s different. By the way, I like my eggs boiled.”
Kim grinned and held up a finger. “One moment.’ Then, she went to the flap of the tent and stuck her head out. “Sorry Titus, you’re out of luck. Won’t be calling.”
Underground Fortress of Palelabor, Tartarus, Hell
“Baroness Yulupki, when will the chorus be ready?”
The naga shifted uneasily on her couch. “Sssseven dayssss perhapsss. The new nagasss must be trained and we mussssst rehearse. Or we may have another dissssasssster.”
“Then you have seven days. Then we will open up another portal and drown Turin in white hot boiling lava. The humans think they were clever to shut down our previous portals? They will find we can open them faster than they can close them.”
Around Grand Duke Belial, the courtiers applauded the bombast. It was always safer to do that. Euryale masked her own thoughts very carefully. What she had discovered about the humans and their war-making capability gave her no confidence that Belial could, in fact, open portals that fast. Even if he could, humans had a demonstrated preference for striking at the head of an enemy rather than nibbling at his talons. Sheffield and Dee-troyt had made the humans into mortal enemies of Tartarus and all it contained. What would they do if more of their cities were added to that list. Lakheenahuknaasi had passed some information about what humans could do when they got really angry. In doing so, she had made it clear that some of those things scared even them. One of them was something to do with Nagas like Yulupki, They’d done something called a Naga-sarkee.
Euryale didn’t want to be around when they did another one.
Belial had finished his interrogation of Yulupki and withdrew. Euryale followed him, the next stage of the day’s duties was an inspection of the new weapons being developed by the workshops far below. Weapons that might yet change the course of the war. The procession trailed down through the tunnels and caverns, far below the normal workings into areas where the heat grew oppressive. Down here, demon workers would sicken and would die if not relieved at regular intervals. The heat wasn’t the reason but the iron tools they worked with were. Down here, iron was used instead of bronze and that was why Palelabor had been kept such a total secret.
“Have you perfected a means of destroying the human tanks? And shooting down their aircraft?” Belial’s bellow was directed at the human who knelt before him.
“Yes Sire.” Herwijer had, or at least believed he had. The unfortunate thing was, he wouldn’t know whether his belief was true or not until he tried it out and that was likely to be a do-or-die moment for him.
“How?” Belial’s question was short and sharp.
“Sire, we can use the bolts from a naga. They are powerful enough, they contain enough energy, to destroy a tank or an aircraft but it is too spread out. I have built a system that will compress the bolt so that the energy will do its work. It is called a capacitor.”
“Show me.”
Herwijer led the way to a wooden cart that was off to one side of the chamber. On it was a pile of strange looking structures and wires. In the middle of it all, a young naga, one that had been badly burned an crippled during the attack on Detroit was coiled, fastened down by bronze hoops around her body. While everybody was looking at the equipment, Euryale took the opportunity to stamp on the Naga’s tail. The creature hissed in protest but only one of Belial’s guards noticed and he gave a broad grin. Nagas were even less popular than Gorgons normally were. And the stock of Gorgons was rising, Euryale had gone to great lengths to see to that.
“Sire, the naga generates her charge as before but instead of discharging it in a bolt, feeds it into the capacitor. Then, the operator can discharge the capacitor in a much shorter more intense bolt. Watch this.”
Herwijer instructed the naga to generate and fire a normal bolt. It shot out, briefly illuminating the darkened recesses of the cavern and revealing the hideous creatures that lurked in the shadows. The bolt hit one of them, sending it to the ground, its fur burning.
“That was a normal bolt sire. Now, we try the enhanced bolt.” He connected wires to the bronze rings securing the naga and told it to generate its charge.
“Nothing is happening.” Belial sounded disappointed and that was a serious threat in itself.
“Not yet sire. But when we fire the weapon…” Herwijer closed the switch and another bolt shot out, one that was many times more intense than the previous one. It was gone so quickly that the audience could barely believe it had happened yet it left colored after-images dancing in their eyes. What was not in doubt was the damage the bolt had wrought on its target. The rat-monster had exploded and its burning fragments were scattered over the floor of the cave. Behind it, a dark crater scarred the wall. A murmur of appreciation went around the room. This was a weapon indeed.
“You have done well human. Bring this weapon up to the palace level. We will install it at the gate in case the humans come. And you will build more of these.”
“Sire, I need one naga for each. Those crippled by the accident will do, they do not need to move. As long at they can generate the charge.”
“Take what you need, leaving only those needed for Yulupki’s chorus.”
Belial left the chamber greatly cheered. With the next lava attack in hand and a way of stopping the human tanks available at last, things were looking up.
1/33 Battalion, Third Brigade, Third Armored Division, Ninth U.S. Corps. North of Dis.
The trouble with the situation was that the whole of Ninth Corps was bogging down as it occupied more of the small farming villages on the outer fringes of Dis. Stevenson’s own battalion was now split up between twelve such villages, controlling each of them although, in truth, not that much control was actually needed. Most of the communities had got the message from the runners she had sent out sand simply laid down their arms, such as they were, when the tanks had appeared. A few of the lords had put up a fight and they were now dead. The rest had just accepted it was better to be alive and deposed than killed.
The good news was that the armored cavalry had pushed further north and reported that the villages had petered out and the rest of the territory was apparently unoccupied. As far as could be seen so far, demon inhabitation of Hell was concentrated within a relatively small radius of Dis. The rest of the single great continent was split up as the ‘holdings’ of the various great dukes but they’d done nothing with it. It was all very strange.
Stevenson strolled through the village that had become her base, looking at the baldrick farmers as they got on with their daily routine. They ignored the Abrams and Bradleys that were parked around the buildings, intent on simply making sure they had food enough to eat. A few baldrick kidlings were playing on a tank and over in one corner, a couple of her soldiers had gathered some older kidlings and were teaching them to play basketball. It occurred to her that since she now had a dozen or so minor ‘lords’ reporting to her, that meant she was going up the ranks of the aristocracy as fast as she was through the ranks of the Army.
It was nice and quiet up here though. The aircraft were still pounding Dis last time she had heard, and most of the actual fighting was concentrated down there. With the airfields and logistics bases to the south of Dis, the areas to the north of the city had an almost bucolic charm to them. That charm was interrupted when a V-22 swung overhead, its slung load pivoting as the pilot brought the tilt-rotor in. It was the extra rations she’d requisitioned for the villagers. The V-22 shifted back to forward flight and set off over the horizon. Peace and tranquil calm returned to the village. Stevenson noted that the baldricks had paid little attention to the aircraft as it had made its delivery. Humand and their equipment were already becoming part of the environment.
“Colonel, you better come. Brigade is on the line.”
She walked over to the radio shack, actually her command track with a tented enclosure at the back.
“Kilo-Alpha Actual Here.”
“Kilo prime. Stevenson, are you sitting down?”
“Sir?”
“Got news for you. We whacked Satan just a few hours ago. No doubt about it, he’s gone.”
The news spread across the camp at a speed that comfortably exceeded the speed of light. Stevenson heard the cheering and looked over her shoulder. The local villagers were being just as enthusiastic as her troops.
“What does that mean Sir?”
“We’ve put our own guy in charge. Abigor, now President Abigor. You remember him, the football player?”
“For sure yes. So he’s made President.”
“More like President on a string. Anyway, the second thing he did was sue for peace. There’s a ceasefire in place as of about an hour ago. The following is the word straight from General Petraeus. All offensive actions against the baldricks are to cease as of 1300 Zulu. Defensive only actions will be undertaken. Any hostile forces attacking your positions are to be killed in a friendly manner.
“So its all over Sir.”
“No way. Our guess is that at least some lords will repudiate Abigor’s lead and try to carry on. Belial is the leading candidate, he must understand we want his guts torn out. But, as far as organized resistance is concerned, that’s over. Just try and make sure that none of your people are the last to die.”
“Willco on that sir.” Stevenson thought for a moment. “And there’s always Heaven isn’t there.”
“That’s right Stevenson, there’s always Heaven.”
Nations do not survive by setting examples for others
Nations survive by making examples of others
ray245 wrote:Err...Darth Wong, is it ok for you guys to shift the debate to somewhere else...I know you are the owner and all...
However, it DOES seem to me that your debate is going on about gun ownership in general as compared to gun ownership in this story.
I initially started talking about gun ownership as it related to this story, but then the people had to come rushing in with the generic NRA arguments. The fact is that indiscriminately pouring heavy weapons into the general populace won't magically direct them only toward good people. It will also put a lot of them into the hands of bad people. And for what? I have yet to see any reason to believe there are so many demon incursions that it would be necessary, and criminals don't suddenly stop being bad people because there's a war on.
The hypothesis that bad people will get automatically eliminated by the good people with guns is not one that has ever really worked out in reality. Ruthless people with guns are generally more dangerous than civilized people with guns. That's why we have armies and police forces instead of simply arming everyone and trusting things to work out.
In a way, demonic incursion is just as rare as you getting mugged...or robbed...
Darth Wong wrote:
The hypothesis that bad people will get automatically eliminated by the good people with guns is not one that has ever really worked out in reality.
I don;t believe that hypothesis is actually held by anyone. You will never eliminate crime and criminals. Arming the populace would certainly not eliminate them, but it would make criminals a lot more cautious. It's probably no coincidence that Canada and England have more B&E's per capita than the US. As for the admittedly higher murder rate ion the US, that seems to track with concentrations of underclass poverty and the associated gangs and drug dealing than gun ownership. Suburban communities in the US and Canada seem to have fairly similar violent crime rates
R011 wrote:I don;t believe that hypothesis is actually held by anyone. You will never eliminate crime and criminals. Arming the populace would certainly not eliminate them, but it would make criminals a lot more cautious. It's probably no coincidence that Canada and England have more B&E's per capita than the US. As for the admittedly higher murder rate ion the US, that seems to track with concentrations of underclass poverty and the associated gangs and drug dealing than gun ownership. Suburban communities in the US and Canada seem to have fairly similar violent crime rates
Indeed. And even then, the vast majority of murders committed in the US are with edged weapons. After all, there's something to be said for silence.
The capacitator might damage a tank, or even destroy a lightly armored vehicle, but unless an aircraft is flying REALLY low, I don't see how it can shoot it down. Can someone with more knowledge of lightning strikes and other means of electrical damage enlighten me on its feasibility?
CaptainChewbacca wrote:V FOR VICTORY! Of course, now we'll have to deal with a final assault on Palelabor.
Belial, meet my good friends MOP and MOAB. They're here to rearrange your furniture with H6 (not to be confused with the H-6 bomber, although one or ten might knock on your door very soon).
Those gun nuts do not understand the meaning of "overkill," and will simply use weapon after weapon of mass destruction (WMD) until the monster is dead, or until they run out of weapons.
They have more WMD than there are monsters for us to fight. (More insanity here.)
Sidewinder wrote:The capacitator might damage a tank, or even destroy a lightly armored vehicle, but unless an aircraft is flying REALLY low, I don't see how it can shoot it down.
I'm just not seeing much power, there. I don't think it will damage an auto, much less a tank. I think this will be another of Hell's wonder weapons being batted aside with a giggle. The volcanos are potentially devastating, and the rat creatures may be nasty if/when they're released into our world.
I think Belial's end will be suitably grisley to be satisfying.
For their sake, I hope the Human traitors are killed quickly before we get to them. Then again, it would be nice to recreate the art of making Tartar Candles.
- Dennis
--
Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer, and the King does not believe that coffee-drinking soldiers can be relied upon to endure hardships in case of another war.
-Frederick the Great, 1777
Sidewinder wrote:Belial, meet my good friends MOP and MOAB. They're here to rearrange your furniture with H6 (not to be confused with the H-6 bomber, although one or ten might knock on your door very soon).
Problem is, they already bombed Belials fortress and believe he's dead, and anyone who knows about Palelabor is already INSIDE the fortress. Right?
Wait, have they bombed it yet?
Stuart: The only problem is, I'm losing track of which universe I'm in.
You kinda look like Jesus. With a lightsaber.- Peregrin Toker
The Vortex Empire wrote:Does Ed really remind anyone else of Voluntaryist? It's some of the exact same stupid arguments.
I think I know our Edward Becerra. Not in person, but we were sub-authors on the failed-for-the-forth-time-give-it-up-it's-dead-jim Revenge Wars "project." If it's really him, the words "Tangled Skeins" should ring a bell, too.
I don't think he's Voluntaryist. If he were, he'd be spouting not only about Guns For Everyone, but also Corporations Über Alles.
Darth Wong on Strollers vs. Assholes: "There were days when I wished that my stroller had weapons on it." wilfulton on Bible genetics: "If two screaming lunatics copulate in front of another screaming lunatic, the result will be yet another screaming lunatic. " SirNitram: "The nation of France is a theory, not a fact. It should therefore be approached with an open mind, and critically debated and considered."
Cornivore! | BAN-WATCH CANE: XVII | WWJDFAKB? - What Would Jesus Do... For a Klondike Bar? | Evil Bayesian Conspiracy
Darmalus wrote:I eagerly await Yahweh's reaction to the death of his arch-enemy. I predict a ... stormy reaction
I would imagine that Michael would take great relish in Yahwehs reaction to the news.
Although I don't believe he would be foolish enough to be the one actually delivering that little hot potato
So I stare wistfully at the Lightning for a couple of minutes. Two missiles, sharply raked razor-thin wings, a huge, pregnant belly full of fuel, and the two screamingly powerful engines that once rammed it from a cold start to a thousand miles per hour in under a minute. Life would be so much easier if our adverseries could be dealt with by supersonic death on wings - but alas, Human resources aren't so easily defeated.
Darth Wong wrote:Great plan! Let's just get rid of all bad people!
Or one could ensure that the good people are armed as well.
You might want to consider a couple of points., Violent crimes have declined as much or more in US states that permit concealed carry than one that do not, and that very few CCW authorized persons have used their weapons to commit crimes. This contradicts the anti-gun argument that laws permitting gun ownership and carry would lead to increased violence and Wild-West shoot outs.
I think it all comes down to do you believe that (a) "Bad people murder, good people don't" or (b) "bad people murder, good people murder then lie about it"?
The first shows a sincere and deep belief in the eventual perfectibility human race, and that we're able to reach beyond the laws of the jungle.
The second tends to be more brutal and cynical, more in keeping with the attitude of AA... "we're drunks, but we won't drink TODAY. No promises about tomorrow, mind you, just one day at a time. And it might be needful, for some as yet unknown reason, to take a drink tomorrow. But we won't think about that, we just won't drink today."
Substitute the work kill for drink, and you have the speech Gene Roddenberry gave to William Shatner.
Then again, that same speech sent the "no death penalty!" people ballistic, so...
If you choose to believe that sometimes, the BEST solution to a problem is to end a person's life, like it or not, you'll always find people who say no.
I remember, almost thirty years ago in Europe, a devout pacifist who, in a fit of anger, killed a rather vile criminal. More than a few people took the opportunity to taunt him, as he'd been particularly annoying folks with his "I'll preach at you 24/7 'til you give in to me and my beliefs" attitude, and enjoyed his mental struggles to reconcile his actions with his philosophy. IIRC, he eventually took his own life, leaving a note about how he simply couldn't go on when his personal philosophy hadn't succeeded for him, but violence had. I remember thinking how ironic that was, then ordering another drink. *shrugs*
I'm sure that even the Dali Lama has, in the privacy of his own mind, a little list labled "the world would be SO much better off if I just killed THESE people..."
He just doesn't use it. Good for me, I suppose, I'd be high on a lot of people's lists. Of course, that works both ways.
So it looks like the war in Hell may be far from over, even though Satan is dead (wonder is he's ended up in Super-Hell?). Hopefully we'll stop Belial before Turin get's destroyed.
'Fire up the Quattro!'
'I'm arresting you for murdering my car, you dyke-digging tosspot! - Gene Hunt.
The Vortex Empire wrote:Does Ed really remind anyone else of Voluntaryist? It's some of the exact same stupid arguments.
I think I know our Edward Becerra. Not in person, but we were sub-authors on the failed-for-the-forth-time-give-it-up-it's-dead-jim Revenge Wars "project." If it's really him, the words "Tangled Skeins" should ring a bell, too.
I don't think he's Voluntaryist. If he were, he'd be spouting not only about Guns For Everyone, but also Corporations Über Alles.
*ding* *ding*
And Corporations over all? Ick. I'd sooner eat ground glass. While I'm former military, I have nothing but contempt for corporations. (Doesn't mean I won't take their money, though, it spends like everyone else's. I'll just be damn leery of any strings that money brings with it.)
Corporate-run futures leave me feeling nothing but dread, and a real desire for a frontier with empty land to run to.
Darmalus wrote:I eagerly await Yahweh's reaction to the death of his arch-enemy. I predict a ... stormy reaction
I would imagine that Michael would take great relish in Yahwehs reaction to the news.
Although I don't believe he would be foolish enough to be the one actually delivering that little hot potato
Got to agree with that. This is the sort of news you hand to a VERY dim subordinate, tell him that Yahweh can't WAIT to hear the wonderful news that Lucifer's dead, the rebellion's over, then give him a shove from behind towards the general direction of Yahweh's throne room and make certain you reach minimum safe distance before the expendable flunky gets... expended.
Fyrwulf wrote:Indeed. And even then, the vast majority of murders committed in the US are with edged weapons. After all, there's something to be said for silence.
Yeah. Colorado had a few murders some years ago where the killer used nothing but a piano wire knotted around two pieces of broom handle. Very messy. VERY effective. That was some years ago, but I still recall the general "ho-hum" non-reaction of the public.
JN1 wrote:So it looks like the war in Hell may be far from over, even though Satan is dead (wonder is he's ended up in Super-Hell?). Hopefully we'll stop Belial before Turin get's destroyed.
Or maybe not. That way, that fucking shroud will be destroyed once and for all. (Super-Hell would be an amusing Epilogue to the series.)
EdBecerra wrote:
Wyrm wrote:I think I know our Edward Becerra. Not in person, but we were sub-authors on the failed-for-the-forth-time-give-it-up-it's-dead-jim Revenge Wars "project." If it's really him, the words "Tangled Skeins" should ring a bell, too.
*ding* *ding*
Then it is you...
Darth Wong on Strollers vs. Assholes: "There were days when I wished that my stroller had weapons on it." wilfulton on Bible genetics: "If two screaming lunatics copulate in front of another screaming lunatic, the result will be yet another screaming lunatic. " SirNitram: "The nation of France is a theory, not a fact. It should therefore be approached with an open mind, and critically debated and considered."
Cornivore! | BAN-WATCH CANE: XVII | WWJDFAKB? - What Would Jesus Do... For a Klondike Bar? | Evil Bayesian Conspiracy
Stuart wrote:Caesar looked up sharply. “We’re being kept on a leash? By restricting supplies?”
“That’s my guess. I think nobody back on the living level knows what to make of you. They’re worried, a bit frightened. You’ve got quite a reputation you know and getting ten legions to change sides sort of confirmed the image. And they can guess you want out of here.”
“And I want the Romans out of here as well. We’re surviving down here but we can do a lot better. We need land outside the pit. Any word on that?”
Okay, now this is just outright SCARY. Caesar on the loose, with as many legionaries as can be found in Hell?
Can you say "Nova Roma", people? Good, I knew you could.
The man took a republic and turned it into an empire that lasted centuries, I shudder to think of what he can do with an indefinite life span, loyal troops, and at least a few modern human dead who can help him design reasonably modern weapons.
I - ouch. Another gunsmith moment.
With baldricks, the bigger the hole you punch in them, the better. Large caliber seems to be somewhat more important than high velocity. Weapons from the American Civil War, perhaps? Hell's general level of technology seems to be that of the 1400's... but with people who know what they're doing, 400 years can be leaped in 100.
Second thought, this for the author.
Can a dead person in Hell survive in Heaven? That is, someone who's already been down to Hell?
If Heaven's ever taken, a large scale evacuation is something that might be thought of.
Last edited by EdBecerra on 2008-08-29 07:49pm, edited 1 time in total.
Wyrm wrote:I think I know our Edward Becerra. Not in person, but we were sub-authors on the failed-for-the-forth-time-give-it-up-it's-dead-jim Revenge Wars "project." If it's really him, the words "Tangled Skeins" should ring a bell, too.
*ding* *ding*
Then it is you...
Well, I've tried to convince people I'm really Bruce Banner, but I can't find a piano player who's willing to follow me around playing the tv theme song...
Chinese forces to still resisting Demons: "Hell has bad Feng Shui, and we generously will rearrange it."
Lightning_Count
There once was a chap named Samael
Who's comments went beyond the pale
He thought he did rock,
but only sucked c*ck
And his life was made up of pure Fail
EdBecerra wrote:And Corporations over all? Ick. I'd sooner eat ground glass. While I'm former military, I have nothing but contempt for corporations. (Doesn't mean I won't take their money, though, it spends like everyone else's. I'll just be damn leery of any strings that money brings with it.)
Corporate-run futures leave me feeling nothing but dread, and a real desire for a frontier with empty land to run to.
Good point. Disliking large government does not necessarily imply that one loves large corporations--nor does disliking large corporations imply that one loves large government.
And to bring it back on-subject: the "corporation" of an undead GJC 's empire has to have almost every political leader on earth turning into insomniacs while popping antacids and muttering "oh shit, oh shit, oh shit."
Sidewinder wrote:Belial, meet my good friends MOP and MOAB. They're here to rearrange your furniture with H6 (not to be confused with the H-6 bomber, although one or ten might knock on your door very soon).
Problem is, they already bombed Belials fortress and believe he's dead, and anyone who knows about Palelabor is already INSIDE the fortress. Right?
Wait, have they bombed it yet?
They know Belial isn't dead yet. Recall when Belial's above-ground fortress was blasted and Memnon and the undead Special Ops team observed part of Belial's retinue engaged in an organized retreat from the palace.
"
