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needs to be exploding

Thank you for an enjoyable chapter, and the insight that Army medics would be so petty as to not let navy doctors know about best techniques. I must admit, I was a little confused when you pointed that out in your spoiler reply. Also, very cool that you're giving Elhmas some obfuscating stupidity when around Michael's circle. It makes me wonder if he knows more about Michael's plans than he's letting on.

Stuart wrote: ... but they [Michael and Raphael] don't know humans the way I do.

Heheheh, and how.

Stuart wrote: Enatenael-Lan, take one cohort of the Incomparable Legion and its human levies. That'll give you 10,000 angels and five times that number of levies. Keep pushing at the forces the humans throw at you. Once they've stripped the rest of their perimeter to stop you, I'll lead the other nine Cohorts and their levies in. They'll punch right through the thinned-out human lines. It'll be rough on you and your Cohort but it'll cost us less overall.

I wonder if Enatenael-Lan-Elhmas will realize how fucked he is and surrender before he gets his ass blowed up.

Stuart wrote: "So, we hit this army hard. Give them a butcher's bill that'll make their eyes water."

(Yeah, probably not.)

Stuart wrote: "My name is Memnon, I am currently Minister of Communications in the Government of President Abigor..."

So that's what happened to our (my) favorite Karma Houdini character.

Stuart wrote: The doctors said that it was because metal fragments from the missile warheads were interfering with the nerves and blood vessels but I think it was because the fragments were iron and iron is poison to us."

So we still don't have an answer as to whether or not it was the shrapnel itself or the fact it was iron. Oh well.

Stuart wrote: Zinder thought carefully. He could see several problems with this, not least of which was obvious from Memnon's wings. Despite the similar structure, Angelic wings were bird-like, Daemonic wings were more akin to those of lizards. And many earth lizards could regrow lost limbs. That didn’t mean that humans could. "Memnon, why are you telling us this? Angels are your enemies, just as they are ours."

Should that be Angels? Or am I just misunderstanding that third to last sentence?

All in all, thanks for the chapter. I look forward to the next one, whenever it's ready.

Hell yeah! YAWEH BABY, IT'S PAY DAY AND THE HEA IS THE REPO MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, that bit about humans is part of the analogy. Lizards can regrow limbs, but humans can't. Similarly, the doctor is worried that demons can regrow limbs, but angels can't.

Anyway, Stuart, I wasn't aware of any lizards that had true wings, unless you're referring to pterosaurs, which aren't exactly lizards. Aren't demonic wings supposed to be batlike?

Yahweh forced hate on the world... now it's time to TAKE BACK THE LOVE!

I'm sorry, I seriously love the chapter but I've been meaning to make a Fist of the North Star reference regarding TSW. ^^;

The earlier art work, plus a recently seen bumper sticker on the road inspired me to make up this bumper sticker.

Atlan wrote:Jezus isn't nearly the brain-dead patsy Micheal thinks he is. Pity that he might still not be smart enough to survive.

True. Although from the way he spoke, I kept expecting a brown and black Great Dane to be following Him around, begging for Scooby snacks...

Ed.

Stuart wrote:

Simon_Jester wrote:Very good overall, though I think you made Jesus sound a bit too stereotyped. Hippie Jesus isn't exactly new, after all. Something a bit crisper and more focused might have worked better, I think.

You might note, he's a lot less hippie and a lot sharper when he was talking to Enatenael-Lan-Elhmas than he was when talking to Raphael-Lan.

Ah. Good point. Clever.

JN1 wrote:Good work. I like the Order of the Day at the end, very inspiring.

We have to thank Marina for that. She wrote it in the original thread and I have been wanting to include it for posterity ever since.

Fair enough.

Thank you, Marina!

here-here

The original version of the Duchess' reaction (as seen on the original thread pre-dating Armageddon????) actually had Humanity teaming up with Satan, IIRC.

Nice one Stuart - a lot was concentrated in that chapter.

The depiction of Jesus actually reminds me of a work colleague. He looks like and generally acts like a '60's throwback but he is also a formidable chess player and wargamer, and hence well versed in military history. I can just see him acting like that when receiving or giving orders!

As for regeneration, we humans can do so, however it is restricted to our fingertips (the article I read did not refer to toes). I'd wager that amputation is worth a try for angels given their otherwise good recovery abilities though there is no direct metric to compare them with daemon recovery.

Stuart, how are second life humans in heaven in HEA occupied areas getting intel to the Eternal City? Are angels "reading" them? Are they allowed to come and go as they please through HEA lines?

Excellent chapter, as always. There's one typo I found ("General Pestraeus"(sic), but it's a great bit.

Given Jesus' mentality in the story as best I can tell, I would not be surprised if he sees his forces get smashed and seriously looks at a side-switch.

If I remember my research correctly, we can regenerate much more than our fingertips - but the mechanism gets blocked by scarring, and so we don't. There's an evolutionary explanation for that; scarring takes less time, and warm-blooded animals cost so much energy to just keep alive that we can't afford the time proper healing would take.

Not all of the regeneratory programs have bit-rotted, though, so we can still do a little better if you take anti-scarring drugs. There are a couple that just made it to market for that exact reason; it greatly improves the result of corrective surgery and such.

Well, that's still not up to the level of regenerating a limb, or even a finger (though the latter may be possible with some intervention). But I'm willing to bet that, if you examine an angel, you'll find that they either don't scar or the scarring reaction is much slower than ours.

GrayAnderson wrote:Excellent chapter, as always. There's one typo I found ("General Pestraeus"(sic), but it's a great bit.

Given Jesus' mentality in the story as best I can tell, I would not be surprised if he sees his forces get smashed and seriously looks at a side-switch.

I'd find it hilarious if Michael-lan doesn't see coming that somehow Elhmas (let's not call him Jesus) isn't killed straightaway. I would imagine that there's a backup plan if somehow the humans don't kill him in open battle, but will that necessitate Michael-lan's own involvement to get the job done, or does he have a way to make Elhmas' survival (defection or not) serve his end goal...

Ah, but is there a backup plan for if the humans capture Jesus?

His real name may be Elhmas, but Jesus is what we know him as. We sure don't know the poor carpenter.

Probably. It's called cyanide.

Wow, Jesus isn't the baked hippie Mikey thought he was. Still. He's basing his opinions on our society and technology - that he got with centuries-old intel. Like Mikey said, it hinges on whether the HEA will manage another "Clean Sweep". Personally, I want to see the nukes/daisy-cutters break out, but since Jesus is closing in on Petraeus' positions, it might not be a good idea to have massive craters and radiation on the road to Yahweh's throne.

The idea of Jesus' feint running into an army from Hell is just too awesome, though. Angels and Heaven's undead humans vs Daemons and Hell's Second Lifers... it's going to be a battle of Biblical proportions...

Aw crud, I did NOT intend that pun. honest.

Still, despite the Angels' powers, its' going to be Iron Age tactics vs WW2 tactics with 21st century firepower. I'd almost pity the poor saps if they weren't deliberately endangering the civilians working at the concentration camp.

I've been following and enjoying the War from the beginning. Now I decided to reply.

I'm thinking that Jesus is as much the "Most-High" Pot Bum as Michael is the Most Loyal Servant of Yahyah. I'm thinking that military feint might be for the same reason as the various "earnest attacks" Michael made against the Earth - a convenient way of weeding out the Yahyah loyalists. Which would mean that the bulk of Jesus' army might actually be used to pull off a coup-d-etat right under Michael's nose.

But then again, I also thought that the assassination attempt against Lemuel was made by his wife. So what do I know?

More story please. (And more dakka )

Night_stalker wrote:Probably. It's called cyanide.

But that would ruin the POINT of this whole thing on Michael-lan's part!

Wait, you mean cyanide for Elhmas? Oh... I see what you did there. *narrowed eyes*

David has the 'tools' to win.

He isn't going to bring out his trump cards is he? I'd think he'd hold the nukes and chemical agents until the right moment where he can cause maximum damage to the greatest number of targets...

Of course, he might have just meant bringing the King of Battle into action.

Chris OFarrell wrote:David has the 'tools' to win.

He isn't going to bring out his trump cards is he? I'd think he'd hold the nukes and chemical agents until the right moment where he can cause maximum damage to the greatest number of targets...

Of course, he might have just meant bringing the King of Battle into action.

That would be the default -- though, nukes are no longer quite the hidden ace-in-the-hole thanks to two separate Earthside nuclear device initiations (Myanmar, then Tel Aviv). On the other hand, the intended rationale for using WMDs in Heaven is itself politically charged -- minimize "first life" human casualties who could end up joining New Rome and thus augmenting Caesar's power...

Edward Yee wrote:

Night_stalker wrote:Probably. It's called cyanide.

But that would ruin the POINT of this whole thing on Michael-lan's part!

Wait, you mean cyanide for Elhmas? Oh... I see what you did there. *narrowed eyes*

I was thinking he would use a L-pill and make himself into a martyr

nobody_really wrote:Thank you for an enjoyable chapter, and the insight that Army medics would be so petty as to not let navy doctors know about best techniques.

The disconnect isn't at the medics level. They just seldom get to meet each other. When they do, they cooperate fine.

The disconnect is that the two bureaucracies (Three really - there's also the Air Farce.) behave like, well, bureaucracies. They don't properly intermesh, so important lessons learned can be dropped. Then, there's inter-service rivalry. The worst of that happens at a high level, also.

I did my own mock-up of a bit of Salvation War fan-art, in lieu of the ACTUAL fan act that I want to do (I need to seek permission of the owner before I take a photo, since it means stepping on to his lawn to take a picture of the mural). I took this photo recently. Super extra bonus points as to where I actually took it before I infernalized the image.

If it weren't for the landing gear being engaged, it'd had been a very good picture. It's good, and I like it clean and simple. As for where you took it...I'll say an air show.