The Salvation War: Pantheocide. Part Eighty One Up

[CaptainChewbacca]

how frequent are updates gonna be.

You never know. Shortest was I believe 6 hours, longest has been probably a month or two.

[thegreatpl]

Why do i get the feeling that the rocks were not all that was dropped on New York? Seems to me that there is some sort of plague as well, or maybe it's just the dust.

[Simon_Jester]

how frequent are updates gonna be.

I think in this case he had one long scene that he decided to release in two parts for dramatic reasons. If so, in effect this was all one big update.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Not trying to be a jerk, just pointing out a few things.

The problem was that the original flurry of rocks had taken down many of the nodes the system depended on and there was no reliable way of finding out which were up other than by 'binging' them.

Wouldn't that be "pinging", or was that to illustrate a lack of technological know-how?

Why knew how many people were trapped in the wreckage.

I believe you meant "who" there.

"Attorneys for the deceased members of Goldmans-Sachs, the law firm of Bleedum, Grabbit and Runne, have also filed suit before the Federal Court asking for an injunction against the Securities Exchange Commission prohibiting the SEC from cancelling the trading licenses of the deceased Goldman-Sachs employees.

And here would be "canceling".


Okay, now that my nitpicking has been satisfied, I just want to say this is quite possibly my favorite story online these days. So few stories are about humanity taking on the supernatural and winning.

Dude, Stuart's from the UK originally. Spellings and slang terms are slightly different there.

[Crazedwraith]

But not different in any of the three mistakes quoted.

[Stuart]

But not different in any of the three mistakes quoted.

In two of the three, I'm right. Cancelled has two ls and its binging not pinging.

The why not who was a type though.

[Bayonet]

Thanks. I really enjoyed that.

[Pelranius]

It should be interesting to see other deceased partners of Goldman Sachs try to sue their way out of the whole business.

I take it that Azrael is still around? We'll find out soon enough I guess.

For the Seventh Bowl of Wrath, I wonder if Heaven is going to try to dump out more rocks again. Azrael might not be willing to, but Michael can probably find more buddies to do it with.

Thinking about it some more, Mikey probably won't get out our line of firing, probably because there are a whole lot of other people who are perfectly willing to sell him out.

Speaking of mounted police, how effective would rhinolobster mounted police be? That's assuming that the rhinolobsters aren't carnivorous (I forgot if they were).

[Flameblade]

Dude, Stuart's from the UK originally. Spellings and slang terms are slightly different there.

Oh.

But not different in any of the three mistakes quoted.

In two of the three, I'm right. Cancelled has two ls and its binging not pinging.

The why not who was a type though.

Yeah, that would be me assuming you were using American English instead of British English. Silly me.

[GrayAnderson]

Stuart,
That chapter kicked ass. I'm really looking forward to that lawsuit playing out, though I suspect that this is going to make Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno look like a cakewalk as far as change of venue goes (that was a funny story...you had claims being made to have the case be heard in California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Scotland on various convenience grounds).

As to the oil prices bit: Not really surprising, considering that the invading demon army initially came marching in through the Middle East. That alone would've sent oil prices out of control, let alone the sudden demands of the war effort and the fact that you probably had more than one supply hiccup due to all of the people dying at once. Even if that suppressed demand, though, the war would've swallowed up a lot...even with the added portals, you've still got a decent amount of traveling around Hell.

[tortieconspiracy]

Dude, Stuart's from the UK originally. Spellings and slang terms are slightly different there.

I'd noticed. It drives me buggy when he puts British phrasings in American mouths, e.g. "The Air Farce are scrambling two fighters" from Uriel's attack on El Paso. An American would say "The Air Farce is scrambling two fighters." This oddity of American usage apparently dates back to the Civil War.

[Edward Yee]

Oddly enough, that analogy reminds me of the important distinction as a result of the ACW between the antebellum "The United States are" and the postbellum "The United States is."

[tortieconspiracy]

AFAIK, that's the origin of the American habit of using a singular verb with collective nouns in singular form.

[Tiwaz]

As to the oil prices bit: Not really surprising, considering that the invading demon army initially came marching in through the Middle East. That alone would've sent oil prices out of control, let alone the sudden demands of the war effort and the fact that you probably had more than one supply hiccup due to all of the people dying at once. Even if that suppressed demand, though, the war would've swallowed up a lot...even with the added portals, you've still got a decent amount of traveling around Hell.

Well, they didn't really get anywhere important with their invasion. Most of the army to my recollection being smack in the middle of nowhere.

But sudden turn to war economy for largest economies is going to cut the supply to absolute minimum.
Specially kerosine will be worth it's weight in gold with all the CAP flights swallowing it.

Most likely kerosine is extremely expensive and/or confiscated for military use with some allowances for international travel.

Nations depending on air or road travel are hit worst, ones with good rail transportation have it easier.



Now, regarding this first/second life issue with bankers etc.

My legal knowledge is not anywhere near the best, but I was wondering few things.

If we take the American situation (We have to remember that other nations might not suffer any similar resource drain because their inheritance laws can be completely different. Perhaps it is not even possible to testament your property to someone who does not exist at the time of making the will.) the first lifer has to testament their possessions to their second life self.

Thus, bankers are out of luck as their right to pension died with their first body. Else Americans would not have to testament their possessions as they would be still owners of them despite dying.

[Edward Yee]

AFAIK, that's the origin of the American habit of using a singular verb with collective nouns in singular form.

On the other hand, I understand that in the case of the ACW it had an immeasurable amount of political and cultural significance.

[TimothyC]

Silly question I had when I woke up this morning, but what is the political situation in Thailand from the start of the Salvation War on? Does Thaksin still come back in February of 2008? Does the political instability that the nation is going through these days still happen? With Thailand's membership in the Yamantau Group, do other nations take a greater interest in keeping the Thai government stable, or is the additional stability (if it exists) come from internal sources? I know the Royal Thai military wouldn't let the nation go to pot, but do they have to intervene (more than the usual influence that they exert on the 'natural' Thai political process)?

[Stuart]

But sudden turn to war economy for largest economies is going to cut the supply to absolute minimum.
Specially kerosine will be worth it's weight in gold with all the CAP flights swallowing it. Most likely kerosine is extremely expensive and/or confiscated for military use with some allowances for international travel. Nations depending on air or road travel are hit worst, ones with good rail transportation have it easier.

The problem for the world is that the HEA is consuming a huge amount of oil in the form of diesel fuel for its vehicles. Not only is the HEA the largest army humans have even mobilized, it's completely mechanized. Everything moves in armored vehicles and teh logistic pipeline behind it is immense. There are truck convoys stretching for miles to keep it supplied. Some of those trucks burn gasoline but most use diesel. The HEA might be waiting for the bridgehead into Heaven to be opened but it is still doing peacekeeping and peace enforcement work in Hell - along with training the hordes of new recruits that are being absorbed into its ranks. Then there's the problem of teaching the Chinese and the Russians to work with the Americans (and vice versa).

The aircraft supporting the HEA also burn large quantities of jet fuel (not quite kerosene any more but close enough). Again, there's a lot of training activity going on plus air support missions in Hell itself. One reason why the old aircraft recovered from museums and private collections are still valuable is that they burn gasoline not jet fuel. This is a direct throwback to the situation in the early-mid 1950s when refineries hadn't caught up with the switch in aviation from gasoline to jet fuel. During those years jet fuel was expensive and in short supply so piston-engined aircraft were kept in the inventory to keep numbers up and provide capability for second-line duties. That's why, for example, F-51 Mustangs were kept in the ANG inventory until 1957. It was only when airlines started to switch over to jet airliners in the very late 1950s and early 1960s that the jet fuel shortage eased and air forces deleted the last of the warbirds. Even then, in some parts of the world, they lingered on (the last F-51 Mustangs were pulled from service in the mid-1980s).

Anyway, so because there is a war on, the military worldwide get all the fuel they need. The civilian world gets what is left over - and they pay for it at prices that subsidize the military use of fuel. A hidden form of taxation in fact. So, with oil supplies for civilian use being severely reduced and prices artificially inflated to cover military fuel supplies, fuel in the civilian world is getting very expensive. Heating oil and power generation take much of what is left with fuel for vehicles, especially private vehicles, being very scarce indeed. An enormous boost to electric vehicles of course and we can expect to see frantic work to develop alternative automotive fuel supplies.

[Stuart]

Silly question I had when I woke up this morning, but what is the political situation in Thailand from the start of the Salvation War on? Does Thaksin still come back in February of 2008? Does the political instability that the nation is going through these days still happen? With Thailand's membership in the Yamantau Group, do other nations take a greater interest in keeping the Thai government stable, or is the additional stability (if it exists) come from internal sources? I know the Royal Thai military wouldn't let the nation go to pot, but do they have to intervene (more than the usual influence that they exert on the 'natural' Thai political process)?

As with the rest of the world, minor political differences get forgotten in the over-riding mission of defeating Heaven and Hell. That doesn't mean they aren't there, it just means that everybody has other things to do. In the case of Thailand, the fact that the country is playing with the big boys at Yamantau and has scored some impressive if minor successes on its own means that internal problems have been back-burnered. Thaksin Shinawatra is still around and doesn't like being deposed but he has enough political sense to keep his mouth shut.

Looking ahead a little, this is one area that will appear in the third part. Human internal political problems haven't gone away, they've just been deferred a little. Once the pressure is off, they'll be back, all the more so since they've been left to simmer for so long. Plus there are all sorts of wrinkles that will be added into the pot.

[Darth Yan]

the message occured on January 8th 2008 correct? I'm also curious as to how the situation has effected countries not in the HEA, like south africa. I take it that Cast Lead never occured. And finally, I'm confused as to how the missle was shot at Azrael.

[Darth Yan]

Edit. Sorry. Double post.

[Edward Yee]

I'm confident that the fallout of The Message put paid to "the" Middle-East conflict enough for Cast Lead to be unnecessary. Also, the missile wasn't shot at Azrael, he just happened to be physically present on the Hell side of the portal when the missile payload went off.

[Pelranius]

I imagine that South Africa would have probably mobilized much of the SANDF as they could, and are probably going into full mobilization (it will take a while to get all the old SADF personnel up to date, and then fill out their ranks with newer recruits/conscripts).

[PaperJack]

It'd be cool if the militaries of the world converted\built a bucketwheel excavator on par of Bagger 293 into a steel leviathan whose only purpose is to annhilate armies with inferior technology.

[Darth Wong]

I love this update. Mind you, I think that the deceased Goldman-Sachs executives have no case. Pension plans and annuities generally have death as a termination condition, written explicitly into the contract. The only way to challenge it would be to argue that corporeal death is not really "death" in a legal sense, but that would cause far more legal problems than simply treating Second Lifers as separate people.

Of course, the lack of a legitimate case doesn't mean they wouldn't try anyway.

[Jaevric]

Wouldn't allowing pension plans to continue after death effectively destroy the First Life economy? Would Social Security continue after death if pensions do? Would people who died long before the Salvation War be owed back pay for pensions and Social Security that they had been unable to collect?

At some point legal issues would almost have to take a back seat to pragmatism; if pensions and Social Security had to be paid in perpetuity to anyone who got old enough, retired, then died, it wouldn't take long for more people to be collecting those payments than paying into the programs.

I'd assume that at some point laws are going to be passed that any such payments cease being payable upon death. Hell, if Second Life humans can accumulate wealth that can be used on Earth, won't dead people end up owning basically everything fairly quickly? Look at the percentage of people in the United States who control most of the real wealth, and imagine them dying and leaving everything to themselves.