#'he's acting outside of council authority' yeah and he's also correct to do so next question

[lord-squiggletits]

Read GI Joe first strike (I skipped most of the human parts again lmao) and I find myself yet again disagreeing with Barber’s attempts to deconstruct Optimus lol.

[misfireanon]

57

The next morning, Nihlus gets up early to prepare breakfast. The weather outside is still terrible. The storm had lessened during the night, but by the time he got back in bed, it had picked up again, accompanied by a fresh chorus of ferocious howls. Now, hard clumps of snow are smacking against the window like the wind’s percussive accompaniment. He swirls the leftover tequila and drains it in one gulp, setting the flask on the table with a loud thunk. There.

Right on schedule, Saren peeks out from the bedroom, his unblinking eyes pointing from the empty flask, to the plate of gnawed ribs in front of Nihlus, to the six small dishes (and one soup, all proper and shit) laid out for him. Nihlus doesn’t wait for him to begin an interrogation. He spears a cube of the hitherto untouched blue pudding on his talon and slurps it down, raising a browplate at Saren’s frown. “Why don’t you come sit and eat so my hard work doesn’t go to waste? I had to take all this from the deliverybot and put it in bowls all by myself, you know.”

Saren drops into his seat with a grunt. “You turned up the heating.”

“Yeah, because I was freezing my ass off last night. Don’t make that face, I know you can afford it. Heck, you can probably afford to burn this building down and build a new one, legal fees and all.” He looks out at the storm. “You’d be doing this place a favour. I can’t believe there are people who want to live on Noveria.”

“The volus, as a species, are well-suited for these conditions. Krogan, of course, thrive here as they would almost anywhere else. What remains of their culture drives them to extremes.”

Nihlus flicks a mandible. “I mean you, specifically.”

“Only here for business,” Saren says, carefully peeling off a single layer of the hundred-layer loaf and dipping it in an elaborate concoction of ground spices. Nihlus follows suit, except he grabs a good quarter of the thing and rolls it around in the spice, making sure to give the ends a thick coat. Saren begins to sift out conglomerated chunks from the powder, setting them with the bones. Nihlus shrugs. Hey, at least he’d used a fork this time. 

“Business requires you to live in a refrigerator?”

“The cold keeps me awake when the paperwork grows dull.” Saren offers him the soup; Nihlus refuses. “I should have changed the settings after you arrived.”

“Does it help you sleep, too?”

Saren looks at him over the rim of the bowl. A whiff of steam obscures his eye. “At times, yes.”

“How does that work, exactly?”

“It’s a habit. After I finally resolved the Virial’s heat dissipation issues, her HVAC system began to act up. Competent mechanics have eluded me.” Saren takes another long sip. “I know you don’t like satusan leaves, but this was a good choice. Thank you.”

It came as a set meal, but Nihlus had picked that particular set from a menu of dozens, so he feels justified to beam with pride before setting his mandibles at a more serious angle. “I think you might need medication more than a mechanic. Spirits know there are enough doctors on Noveria, crooked or not.”

“‘Crooked’ is euphemistic, extremely so, in ways I’d rather not discuss over breakfast.”

Or ever, really. But Nihlus shrugs and reaches for the loaf again. It’s mechanically prepared, has to be; they’d never turn a profit otherwise. It’s also the reason he’d picked this set over the others. Saren had cooked it for him once, cutting a small chunk of meat into dozens of paper-thin slices with a wicked silver knife. Not long after, Nihlus had bought the same trio of knives for himself, though it had ended up collecting dust at the bottom of a drawer, only opened on one memorable occasion for some impromptu surgery.

This restaurant’s offering pales in comparison to those he’d sampled on Tenebrae, and is not even in the same star system as what Saren had made. Still, he shortens the stack, five slices at a time.

Saren watches him eat, his expression blank. The soup bowl is empty, but the other dishes are practically untouched. The blue pudding wobbles as Nihlus takes a second cube. Saren seems fascinated by it, though he soon shakes his head and makes to stand. Nihlus pulls him down by the sleeve.

“I have messages at the console,” Saren snaps. “And need to find a matching shirt,” he adds more gently.

Nihlus raises his hands in mock surrender. “Nothing that can’t wait, right? Besides, all your shirts are grey.” Saren pointedly lays his wrist on his thigh to illustrate the difference, and Nihlus sighs. “It’s an expression. All cats are… Oh, never mind. I just want to talk for a bit longer.”

Saren scowls and the little voice inside his head, who can really be a fucking coward sometimes, mutters: this is how the hotshot Spectre’s life ends, with his mouth full of pudding. Nihlus swallows the food, stuffs the voice down the same pipe, and meets Saren’s eyes. The look is venomous, but it bears no fangs. 

“Have you heard about Avitus?”

“Avitus Rix?” 

Nihlus nods. 

“No. What about him?”

“He’s planning to retire. Gonna get out before he hits his limits, or so he says.”

Saren snorts. “He won’t.” 

Listen to those undertones, Kryik, and understand precisely why you should shut up and count your blessings. Won’t even consider it for someone else, never mind himself. In fact, when you wrangled him into civvies -- Nihlus frowns, his stomach fluttering. The voice is drowned, though it’s trying to claw its way back up. “Don’t be so sure. Look at you. You’re more of a businessman these days.”

“I have found my limits.”

“You have? And what’re you going to tell me next, that your plan is to become a broker? A venture capitalist, even?” He chuckles. “Or that you really like Noveria’s weather, and that the alpine regions aren’t so bad during the summer. That you want to settle down here, adopt a couple of baby krogan. Don’t lie to me.”

“That’s a vast misinterpretation.”

“Enlighten me, then. What’s the retirement plan?”

Saren looks at him like he’s a modern sculpture, the one in that Thessian gallery that’s just a solid block of granite. Very dense granite. “The Council and related authorities decide when--”

“The Council,” Nihlus interrupts, “spent three days on an agricultural tax bill for some asari colony, added hundreds of amendments, and just left it on the table for next month. Pardon me when I say that they shouldn’t be the arbiters of our lives.”

“I see you’ve acquired an interest in Citadel governance. Recent?”

“Reluctant. Has its own charms, but best appreciated when I’m no longer slogging through Omega on their behalf, I’m sure.”

“Politics won’t suit you. Perhaps you should revisit the works of those elcor poets you praised not long ago. Your voice brings them to life.”

“Are you saying that I should do poetry readings at local dives for a living? Do they even have those on Noveria? I didn’t think so. It’s all so… modern. Clean and corporate. It stinks here, Saren.” Saren hums his assent. “If you’re trying to correct things, if you think they’re better than the slavers in the Traverse -- well, that may be, but the roots of all evil are the same, aren’t they? It seems futile. And besides, every adoption agency’s going to take one look at your face and hide their babies, krogan or no.”

“I’m only here for business,” Saren repeats irritably. “If you want to announce your own retirement, stop avoiding the topic.”

“Like how you’re avoiding yours?”

Saren glares at him then, and he’s pretty sure the delicate display case behind his skull now sports a couple of cracks. The little voice trapped in his gizzard lets out a squeak, which he quashes by helping himself to a generous serving of the bevelled cake. It’s cold now, but meaty enough. As he drops it into his mouth, he glares right back into those cybernetic eyes. Nihlus won’t be the first to look away. “Yeah, I mean it. Call me cocky, but don’t call me wrong. I worry, you know.”

Saren flexes the fingers of his prosthetic, and clenches them into a fist. Shards of ice are beating relentlessly against the windowpanes. ��We can put those worries to rest.”

“Gladly, after you finish,” Nihlus makes a sweeping gesture over the remaining food. “Not sparring when you’re hungry.”

Saren impales some cake with vehemence. “Your remarks on the Council can be interpreted as treasonous.” Nihlus opens his mouth to speak, but Saren holds up his hand, the ugly mechanical hand he’d earned in their service. “It’s important to maintain our reputation of loyalty, especially in these times. We must keep other powers in check.” 

Nihlus works his jaw. Need to divert that combustible train of thought to safer tracks. “I get it, Noveria is a bad fit. You could settle in the Traverse instead; that’s a better idea. I’m sure they’d be grateful if you just shot down some pirates from time to time, retired or not. And then you can tinker with the Virial all day long, no distractions, no dockworkers. Plenty of unclaimed planets out there. How’s that for personal space?”

“Nihlus,” Saren whispers, and Nihlus suddenly gets the impression that he is speaking from a great distance, from the future, perhaps, where Nihlus’s earnest pleas can find no echo. From the distant past, back when Nihlus had believed himself beneath the notice of that famous Spectre, the youngest turian ever inducted, and now the longest to hold that post. Those ageless eyes are still mesmerising, though they no longer reflect his face. 

But then, then -- he realises that he’s tired. He slinks out from that gaze and gently shakes his head. 

“I’ve heard it all before,” he says. You believe you were forged, not born. Saren blinks, and Nihlus smiles. Feels like he spent hours getting Saren into that shirt last night. Under the sterile lights of the dining room, its narrow stripes clash horribly with his differently-striped pants. “I know, it’s okay. But it only means you’ll have time to find the perfect LZ with your Spectre privileges. I’m counting on you, because I’m not making hundreds of decision charts to find a place to call home. Tropical climates only, please. And preferably not like Invictus.”

The shared memory is enough to lift Saren’s mandibles by a precious few degrees. “And if the search is fruitless?”

Nihlus looks outside. What were once icy flakes had turned into dice-sized hailstones, and the window’s noise-cancellation function had automatically engaged itself. So much for the Noverian summer. The gravy around the meat, too, had cooled to an unappetising jelly. He shoves it around with his fork, making a little pile atop the last remaining slice. 

“This isn’t half bad,” he replies.

[tessatechaitea]

A Text Adventure Review: Enchanter by Infocom

Hopefully the Council of Elders can ignore how I BLORBed myself on the second turn and we can move on to ending the wicked reign of the vile Sorcerer Krill without ever mentioning it.

I don't like to criticize the Council of Elders because I don't want to live the rest of my life as a toad but what kind of sorcerous douchebags send an apprentice wizard out on a dangerous mission with just his spellbook? The entire beginning of this game is foraging for food and water so that I don't die of thirst or hunger before I die from Krill's lightning bolt or fireball. At least start me off with the BERZIO spell, you tightwads! After loading up on supplies and learning the REZROV spell from some old crone in a deserted village, I REZROV my way into the castle. As I do so, Krill probes my mind. But sensing nothing but incompetence and a teetering house of anxiety built on a crumbling foundation of Impostor Syndrome, he shrugs his shoulders and returns to his dark work. Speaking of dark work, I FROTZ my battered brass lantern so that I won't be eaten by a Grue. While stumbling around the castle, I discovered a beautiful jeweled egg that could be opened. Not by somebody as moronic and clumsy as me of course! So I just smashed it open to discover a damaged scroll inside. And because magic can solve any problem, I simply cast KREBF (which I found on a scroll just outside the castle) on the egg and the scroll, fixing them both. I'm perplexed that the KREBF spell wasn't the first spell taught to me by the Council of Elders, seeing as how I fuck up everything I touch.

For those uninitiated with magic, here are what some of the spells I mentioned earlier do.

Parlor Magician After discovering the ZIFMIA scroll by KREBFing it and the egg, I found I was no longer a Charlatan! I was growing as an enchanter! Soon, I'd be powerful enough to be probed by my father and he'd have to acknowledge me! I mean Krill. Krill will have to acknowledge me. My main goal as a Parlor Magician was to grow my book of spells. After adding the EXEX spell (make things move with greater speed) and the VAXUM spell (make a hostile creature your friend), I decided I had enough spells to solve another problem: a door so well guarded by magical creatures that I had no hope of ever getting through it. See, I had a dream about an idiot who was too dumb to see the illusions on the door and thus was safe from harm. And my cousin, the treasure hunting jerk exploring The Great Underground Kingdom, was just the dolt to open that door! I had seen him previously in a large mirrored hallway so all I had to do was ZIFMIA him, VAXUM him, and lure him to the door by showing him my beautiful jeweled egg! Then by motioning to the door, the moron would simply walk right past the danger, saving me the trouble of disenchanting the illusion before I could get through the door. And with that accomplished, I was stronger than ever before! I was a Novice! Novice Enchanter At this point, I simply lost track of when I went up a rank which means I'll be fudging these headers. After becoming a novice, I think I helped gave meaning to the life of some stupid turtle when I allowed him to help me find a powerful scroll (not the powerful scroll. Just a powerful scroll!). I thanked him like all good and decent people would do but I don't think I scored any points for thanking him. That was a missed opportunity to really confuse people by allowing them to win the game with 395 out of 400 points because they were rude and didn't thank the turtle. Speaking of winning with only 395 points out of 400, I have something to admit when I get to the end of this...review? Um, what do I call this thing where I sort of discuss the game but also sort of just act like it's a story I'm writing but then also tell stories about my personal life that nobody actually wants to hear? Intermediate Enchanter I probably leveled up after helping the turtle. It makes sense since you get points simply for eating and drinking in this game. I figured I was powerful enough to steal the powerful scroll (the actual powerful scroll!) from The Terror's weird lair at this point. So I found my idiot cousin and forced him to give me the map and pencil he'd taken earlier because he's a greedy dick. Using the magic map and magic pencil, I freed The Terror from his cell by drawing a line on the map but then trapped him again by erasing some other lines. Then I stole his scroll and he was super pissed. But I was probably a real Enchanter at that point! Enchanter I'd love to say that I became an Enchanter because I'm such a huge genius but in reality, I think I mostly remembered the solutions to a bunch of the puzzles in this game as I stumbled upon the items that could help solve those puzzles. That being said, the only part of the game I mapped was The Terror's prison maze so I easily recognized it when I found the map. And since the pencil is found with the map, it wasn't that much of a leap to figure out what to do. I also remembered what to do with the turtle as soon as I attempted to get the brittle scroll and was hit by a spear trap. Plus once I found the ZIFMIA spell and realized I had to summon a being, I knew I had to summon the adventurer to help with something. It wasn't until I had the dream of the simple guy opening the plain door that I figured out how to use him though. I also knew I had to memorize a spell or two for the next puzzle I was going to tackle: surviving getting sacrificed. That one was easy because the OZMOO spell tells you that it's the solution by being a spell that allows you to survive an unnatural death. I'm not sure if I needed to EXEX myself to do all the moves before getting sacrificed again but I did it anyway. With that accomplished, I now had a sharp sacrificial dagger to cut the ropes on the jeweled box that enabled me to get another scroll I needed! I don't remember what scroll that was because at this point I was really flying through the game and didn't want to stop to write about it. I'm writing this a day or two later because I simply assumed my memory would be up to the task of recounting the story accurately. This won't be the last time an assumption has made a fool out of me! Although I think it was the MELBOR spell that protected me from evil beings. It makes sense because you need it to get to the final puzzle where you face Krill. If you're not protected, I think you just keep getting caught by hairy jerks whenever you enter Krill's tower. Oh yeah! I also ranked up again! Probably! Master Enchanter Finally, I had everything I needed to defeat Krill! I KULCADed his illusory staircase, IZYUKed myself so I didn't fall into the bottomless pit, and headed into his evil lair with all the correct spells memorized to defeat him! Obviously I couldn't know beforehand what spells to use because I'm an enchanter and not a psychic. So I had to die a few times before I figured it out. Also I had to realize I didn't yet have the GONDAR spell (which I didn't know existed but after being burned to death by dragon's flame a few times, I began to suspect I was missing a spell to protect me from fire). It took me almost no time to discover the spell because I hadn't gone into the library that game and thought, "Oh, isn't there a scroll with the Dusty Book?" There wasn't. But I did investigate the rat tracks which lead to a hole in the wall which led to the GONDAR spell which led to Krill's inevitable defeat! After defeating the dragon, I turned Krill's next henchman into a lizard with the CLEESH spell. Then Krill shit himself as I began to recite the GUNCHO spell. That's a spell that banishes a creature to another plane! I succeeded with the spell or maybe he teleported away. It was hard to tell for sure. In any case, I won! I scored a full 395 out of 400 points! Oh. Shit. Candidate for Membership in the Circle of Enchanters Yeah. I fucking tanked it, dude. I mean, I was now about to enter the Circle of Enchanters but with a huge stain on my permanent record. How could I have missed five points?! How embarrassing! I checked out Infocom's Invisiclues to see where I could have missed five points and the only five point puzzle was KREBFing the shredded scroll that was inside the egg. But I'd done that! The Invisiclues also said you get ten points for opening the egg. I began to suspect the Invisiclues were wrong and had those two point totals mixed up because I never actually opened the egg. I just broke it and then fixed it with the KREBF spell. I reloaded and experimented a bit and, yep, that was the five points I missed. Some Enchanter I turned out to be! SCORES Game Title: Succinct and to the point. I would have preferred Zork IV because I love when game designers become mired in a world that was so popular they find they can't reasonably abandon it, at least not for economic reasons. It's why Terry Brooks wrote five thousand Shannara books! Puzzles: Terrific! I really wish I hadn't played this game when I was younger because I feel like they were fair enough that I would have figured them out now as an adult. It's also possible that if I hadn't had Kim Schuette's solution at hand, I would have worked harder at solving all the puzzles before diving into the clues. It's pretty much the only reason I beat Trinity back in 1990. Because I was a freshman in college with two games on my Apple IIe that I'd brought with me, Trinity and Dragon Wars. Also because I wasn't distracted by things that we're all distracted by today, like the Internet and more Internet and other things that are pretty much just the Internet. I could say I was too distracted to beat Trinity because I was drinking so much beer and getting laid all the time. But I'd rather tell the truth and brag about having beat Trinity without any clues, no matter how big a hit my sexy rock and roll reputation takes. Gameplay: The only weak bit with Enchanter is the part where you need to eat and drink and sleep. And it's made even worse because it's implemented so weakly! Sure, I guess I like that a loaf of bread lasts the entire game and I don't have to worry about dying of hunger. And I don't have to worry about thirst because I can always refill my jug. But if they don't really matter and only provide a limited number of turns so high that nobody probably ever died of hunger in this game, why bother? The sleeping I liked though because the dreams were a really nice way to provide hints to puzzles that might not have been so obvious. Like the dream that points to entering the Gallery without a light source. Quite clever, really. Graphics: It's an Infocom game, dumby! Although they did eventually get into graphics so maybe I should apologize for expecting modern readers to know Infocom mostly ignored graphics. Except in games like Infidel where one of the major puzzles was translating ASCII hieroglyphics! Concept: The best concept! I love pretending I'm a magic user like Gandalf or Fonzi. Fun Time: Like Border Zone, I think I may have spent about six hours total on it. That might not seem like a lot for an Infocom game that I beat and you might be thinking, "That Grunion Guy is a fucking genius!" And you should keep thinking that instead of remembering how I had already read clues about it thirty years ago. Hopefully when you think about this review later, like when you're excitedly telling your significant other about this great blog you've been reading, you only really remember the part where I typed, "Grunion Guy is a fucking genius." "Grunion Guy is a fucking genius" has a pretty good ring to it, doesn't it? Just listen to it: "Grunion Guy is a fucking genius." Hopefully you just said "Grunion Guy is a fucking genius" out loud. And hopefully there were other people nearby to hear you and reply, "Is Grunion Guy a fucking genius? Yeah, yeah. I guess Grunion Guy is a fucking genius, isn't he?!"

[infinitywartorn]

International Incident Part 4

Part 3

The group gathered before Daisy is terrifying for a multitude of reasons. Several members of longstanding superhero groups and royal families. Students and children of legendary heroes. All of whom are capable combatants and minds on their own. Together they form one of the most dangerous gatherings possible on this planet. So what brings them all together and requires bringing in the Director of SHIELD?

Kate: Well, I guess we should bring this meeting to order? Mr. Chairman?

Billy: I wanted to apologize for our tardiness. I know we are all busy, but we had to deal with a threat on the way here.

Valeria: How bad?

Billy: We will discuss it after our main topics.

Azari: Aw man, we missed a fight didn’t we?

Billy: Ahem, first I think we should welcome Director Johnson.

Daisy: Please, don’t hold back applause or you know, the reason I am here in the first place.

Azari: Yeah about that. My father formed this group in order to secure peace on the planet long ago.

Pavitra: Or as much peace was possible.

Valeria: Basically, representatives of various groups have been invited to the table based on their importance to the goings on in the superhuman community.

Billy: We brought you here today because we believe you can be trusted with what this group knows. We want you to join the Infinity Watch.

Daisy: Cute name. Do I get a membership card? Group discount on flights?

Ava: Director, we think that with the intel we provide, your input on matters would be invaluable.

Luna: Director, I know that this might seem like a big ask. But think of all the threats and conflicts that could have been prevented back in the day if our predecessors had better communication. Many heroes, organizations, and even kingdoms have blinders when it comes to danger since individual priorities are so different. And often when something garners the attention of all of us, it is something that could have been prevented if we had worked together. We think that cooperation yields strength.

Billy: We would value your point of view. As the first superhuman to run SHIELD, the way you acted as Director the past few years, we just think you’re a good fit. You will see certain problems that we won’t and vice versa.

Daisy: Let’s say I do this. What does it entail?

Ava: We try to meet once a month, but if something is pressing enough we will meet up to discuss the matter. We keep in touch outside of that. Certain items of interest get added to a list in case it is believed that the group overall should be informed.

Kate: And Daisy, I hope it didn’t come off that you had no choice in this. Others have been invited to this group and have turned it down.

Daisy: Good to know I am so far down on the list.

Kate: That’s not what I meant-

Daisy: It’s a joke don’t worry.

Billy: If you choose not to come on board, we understand. If you think it necessary to inform SHIELD about the existence of this group, we also understand.

The thought crossed Daisy’s mind, but she knows she can’t just divulge the existence of this group. The UN Security Council is already paranoid about the technology nations like Latveria and Wakanda possess. The manpower the X-Men and the Inhumans have. Hell with Alexander and Megan here that means that SWORD and MI-13 technically has moles depending on the kind of information shared. This revelation would send the council into a frenzy. It can easily be deduced that this group knows that too. They have nothing to lose bringing her here.

Daisy: *Sighs* so is there a card?

Kate: Does that mean you are in?

Daisy: Depends on if there’s a card.

For the first time, the tension in the room dissipates. For the moment, the decorum is shed and everyone comes over to greet their new member. Daisy knows that by SHIELD standards, she will be eviscerated if it was ever found out she was here. Let alone willingly joining. But at the same time, Daisy thinks back to all the times Coulson and even May broke the rules for the greater good. Her instincts tell her this is the right move.

Worst comes to worst, she just goes underground. Which for many Directors of SHIELD seems to be a running theme. Though she could always play that she only joined to feed them false intel and spy on their operations. Lots of viable avenues. But for now, Daisy holds on to the belief that this group can actually accomplish some good without red tape.

Megan: *whispers* that went better than expected.

Billy: I guess we should proceed with the meeting.

Ava: I believe we were going to start with the Atlantis situation.

Billy: You are correct Ava. In fact, our representative from Genosha will have the floor on this.

Neena: Um, yeah. So as you know, Atlantis is without a ruler. Kamar of Atlantis was assassinated during a UN Conference.

Megan: All cards on the table, it is probably better Kamar was killed. Guy was a nutcase.

Hisako: Megan, seriously? You’re inter-

Megan: What? It’s true. He was a ruthless dictator even in his short time as King. He was the biggest suspect for previous royal Atlantean assassinations. Always threatening war on the surface world. Or Lemuria. Or both.

Ava: That’s enough!

Torunn: While Kamar was indeed vile. His death has caused untold chaos to the realms of the deep.

Billy: Everyone please. I am sorry Neena, please continue.

Neena: Well…I don’t really know how else to put this… I am possibly in line for the throne.

A collection of gasps make their way around the room. Billy, Valeria, Azari, and Hisako were the only ones to not react.

Daisy: Whoa, pump the brakes. You people just so happen to have a secret long-lost princess in your back pocket? You really don’t have to put on a show for me you know, I already accepted the position.

Neena: Director Johnson I’m serious. Growing up… I didn’t know who my father was. And when I found out, I was just as shocked as you. But it didn’t matter because Marrina took over after Namor died. I never thought I would be put into this position. But right now. I feel responsible for what happens next for Atlantis. So I went to Hisako and Azari about it. Then after talking to them to Billy.

Pavitra: Hi, so uh, I know I am just your ordinary not-long-lost-prince web-slinger here. What we are supposed to do about that?

Pei: I think involving ourselves in choosing who runs a sovereign nation might be overstepping the original parameters of this group.

Kate: I agree, Azari you can’t think this idea will work.

Valeria: But at the same time, the options before us will have many negative ramifications on the surface world.

Azari: She is the rightful Queen. Why sit back and watch Atlantis tear itself apart, or worse, come under the control of Namorita? Not when we have the true heir to the throne right here?

Billy: Well that is why this is being brought before the group in the first place. Let’s take a preliminary vote on whether this falls within our watch, shall we? Opposed?

Pei, Pavitra, Kate, Ava, and Hisako raise their hands

Billy: And for?

Azari, Valeria, Luna, Sam, and Megan raise their hands.

Billy: Neena? Daisy? Torunn?

Neena: I thought it best if my vote was left out.

Daisy: This is a lot to process. Even then, I don’t think I have enough to make a decision. That and I just got here.

Torunn: I also do not feel swayed toward either option.

Billy: I concur.

Torunn: I think a break is in order. I will gather some drinks so we may ponder with clear minds *laughs*

Daisy: Make mine a double.

Torunn: I knew I would like you!

Everyone begins to get up and break up into groups in order to discuss the topic at hand. While Daisy has no idea if this is typical of these meetings, it definitely beats being reamed by the UN Security Council. She doesn’t know much about Neena, but she likes the idea of someone in charge of Atlantis that is connected to a group like this.

Daisy: Neena, can we talk?

Neena: Sure.

Daisy: We haven’t met but what I do know is that what you did took guts.

Neena: Don’t give me too much credit. If I could, I would walk away from this. There are tons of reasons to. I don’t want to be a leader. I am barely Atlantean. Even if I do go through with this, they most likely won’t accept me.

Daisy: From what I know, you can’t breathe underwater.

Neena: Yeah! Exactly what I keep saying. But then I think about Atlantis and what the people have suffered through all these years. What they may have to go through trying to sort out who’s in charge.

Daisy: Have you reached out to your cousin?

Neena: No…

Daisy: Well, don’t worry. I imagine this was hard enough for you. One step at a time right?

Torunn: Your drink Director. And for you Lady Neena.

Neena: Thanks Torunn.

Torunn: Being a Queen is no small feat. And accepting the responsibility despite having a choice not to, that is true bravery. To you Lady Neena. Skol!

The three women take a long drink, but Torunn finishes off her tankard and goes off to retrieve another.

Author’s Note

I feel that Atlantis has always had an ambiguous amount of control over the realms of the deep so I have made it more defined. Atlantis and Lemuria are the two undersea kingdoms on Earth 605. Atlantis based in the Atlantic Ocean while Lemuria in the Pacific. At one point these two kingdoms fell under one banner, the Empire of Atlantis, but has since broken into these two factions.

On Earth 605 the characters Namora and Namor are Twins, unlike their 616 counterparts who are cousins. Namora ruled over Lemuria while Namor controlled Atlantis. The relationship between the two was very good and there was a long era of lasting peace between the two. Each kingdom in that time developed two very distinct cultures under their rulers.

The Pacific Ocean featured a diverse population of Atlanteans so it was natural that Namora was more willing to interact with the surface world. She saw Humans no differently from the tribes of the Uhari, Mala, or Chordai. It was also through this interaction that she came to value technology over magic. Lemuria would become a boon to scientists willing to work with them.

Namor, on the other hand, was more sensitive to surface world conflicts like the Cold War. This made Namor more distrusting of the surface world aside from certain countries like Wakanda and Latveria. This kept Atlantis more traditional, a society that could draw comparisons to ancient Spartans. Namor ruled as such, not accepting any kind of surface world shenanigans.

The children of these two distinct monarchs would also be just as different. Namora’s children in order of Eldest to youngest, Namorita, Aquaria, Nautica, and Neptuna. Currently, Namorita is the Empress of Lemuria and has been so for a decade or so. She has a good relationship with her sisters and their Empire is rich with a diverse set of Atlanteans and advanced technology.

Namor’s line is a bit more tragic. Kamar was his youngest son under Queen Marrina and grew up jealous of his numerous siblings, many of which were illegitimate. This jealousy soon turned to hatred as he saw those he believed unworthy of the throne ascend it. He then set into motion plans that eliminated royal family members one by one until he finally came to power.