9.3 KiB
The Two Year Emperor, Ch66 - When Gods Do Battle
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Author: u/eaglejarl *
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URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9669819/66/The-Two-Year-Emperor
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Score: 20
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Created: 2014-10-18T16:24:23
Post:
Comments:
u/Zephyr1011 [+9] Potentially Unfriendly Aspiring Divinity*
Herrún appears to be a goddess made up by you, so the dad part seems unlikely to be any part of established mythology. So, it's presumably because the books Loki wrote count as his sacrifices. Loki's color is silver which is rare in Grofhamr and the books made a silver color, supporting this. Loki earlier said that sacrificing to Herrún makes her part you, so this would make her mostly him, in which context the "Hi dad" makes sense, since Loki contributed most of her being. Plus, her diction seems far more casual than in our other meeting with her, which could indicate that Loki had influenced her personality. Could just be because she isn't telling off a mortal though Also, that god battle was wonderful
u/eaglejarl [+4] *
Also, that god battle was wonderful Thank you! I wanted to make it clear that Amilsandre was just way more powerful and the best that Loki could do was run and hide.
u/JackStargazer [+1] Primordial Apologist*
Called it!
u/None [+7] *
I think, the god fight was shown to Jake by Loki on purpose. Loki still thinks that opposing Neklos directly is BAD BAD BAD IDEA, and that Jake should cancel his plan, no matter whatever it is.
u/OffColorCommentary [+5] *
If we polymorph Jake into a rabbit, cast Awaken on him, and have him run through the FLEA, will he gain character levels?
u/eaglejarl [+4] *
Nope. And yes, I know, supposedly PAO changes the true nature of something so in theory you could do that and it would change his true nature and he should be able to gain levels. Still can't, because reasons.
u/eaglejarl [+3] *
Enjoy!
u/Gurkenglas [+3] *
This can't have been Loki's plan from the beginning, since he had no way to know that Jake would preserve the knowledge needed to revive Herrún. I'm betting he just took the opportunity when Jake brought up sacrificing the room.
u/Empiricist_or_not [+3] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm*
This leads to the question: is the room what made Loki Herrun's dad, or was he always her dad?
u/Gurkenglas [+5] *
The room, of course. I mean, he outright said that he doesn't want them to use the room. How much more obvious can his central objectives get?
u/Empiricist_or_not [+1] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm*
Yes but was that his central objective because he wanted to be the father, or because she already was his daughter? Lies and trickery is related to secrets, though usually I'd think of them as descended from not birthing secrets.
u/Gurkenglas [+2] *
He wouldn't need to be so deceptive about feeding her his library if he didn't have a daughter to gain in the process.
u/Zephyr1011 [+0] Potentially Unfriendly Aspiring Divinity*
Loki said that sacrificing puts part of you in Herrún, and as those books constituted most of her that would make most of her room Loki, so calling him dad makes sense. Plus her diction is far less formal, suggesting Loki influence
u/eaglejarl [+3] *
This can't have been Loki's plan from the beginning Ah, epistemology at its finest. ;>
u/None [+2] *
[deleted]
u/eaglejarl [+2] *
Pretty much. Sometimes Loki is self-defeating (it's part of who he is; see the legends of Loki / Coyote / etc), but he plays at a high level. Not always "one level higher than you" but often.
u/None [+3] *
[deleted]
u/Empiricist_or_not [+3] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm*
Does singing a catchy song about him make you a worshiper? Edit fixed cell phone post
u/eaglejarl [+3] *
No, but it does put him in your mind. Thinking about a god isn't nearly as good as worshipping him, but it's something.
u/eaglejarl [+3] *
He's actually fairly low-ranked. Not many people primarily worship a trickster god -- he's part of their pantheon, so he gets some charge off of them, but nothing like from a direct worshipper. He can't directly stop another deity from seeing something, but he can keep setting up things to distract them so that they don't choose to look. That only works for so long, though. Also, the gods are fairly constrained on what they can do to mortals, and creating new ones is one of the most heavily restricted things. Can't just create new creatures ex nihilo programmed to adore you, and you can't use Dominate Person or direct divine power to force someone to worship you.
u/None [+2] *
[deleted]
u/eaglejarl [+2] *
Pretty much the same deal -- mortals don't imagine gods doing things like that when they create them, so they can't. Gods actually have a lot less free will than mortals. Plus, Overgods.
u/Zephyr1011 [+3] Potentially Unfriendly Aspiring Divinity*
If throwing something someone else wrote in the sacrificial fire counts as their sacrifice, this seems like an incredibly powerful ability. If someone writes a note to a subordinate about some plan and you get it, you could wipe their memory of the plan altogether. Or, if someone you dislike is an expert in a field and wrote a book on it, you could sacrifice their book and wipe out most of their knowledge
u/AmyWarlock [+2] *
I don't think that's necessarily what would happen. If I'm remembering correctly, you can sacrifice knowledge but sacrificing a secret is MUCH more powerful. So you could sacrifice the note but it wouldn't wipe the memory. If this is the case then I'd assume that Loki didn't sacrifice all his knowledge as a secret, as he would then lose it, but his knowledge is so extensive that even sacrificing it just as knowledge still outweighs everyone else.
u/Zephyr1011 [+2] Potentially Unfriendly Aspiring Divinity*
you can also sacrifice random pieces of knowledge. Just make sure that it's actually something that matters, and be prepared for the fact that you won't be able to learn it again—even if someone came up and told you what it was that you sacrificed, you wouldn't be able to understand them. The words would just be gibberish." You'd still forget the contents of the note, it's just a less potent sacrifice
u/AmyWarlock [+1] *
But surely we can assume that that's not the case, otherwise Loki has just lost a large chunk of his knowledge, including his knowledge of the gods?
u/Zephyr1011 [+2] Potentially Unfriendly Aspiring Divinity*
Loki seems to have planned that the books be sacrificed, so he may have accounted for that. Alternately, being a god may give him a form of immunity to that or he will ask Herrun for the information back. Alternately, since we know that Loki can create doubles, he could have had a double make the books
u/AmyWarlock [+3] *
I suppose it would been completely no trouble for him to have done the ice-assassin trick, or something along those lines
u/eaglejarl [+3] *
Well, addressing one point: Gods are not immune to the consequences of sacrifice.
u/eaglejarl [+2] *
You can't be tricked into making a sacrifice -- by definition, a sacrifice is something you choose to give up. You can, however, voluntarily have someone else actually physically put your sacrifice in the fire.
u/Zephyr1011 [+2] Potentially Unfriendly Aspiring Divinity*
So, if Loki had not consented to them burning his books, what would have happened when they threw it into the fire? Assuming that Loki didn't stop them. Alternately, what would happen if Loki simply never knew that they were burning his books?
u/eaglejarl [+2] *
The books would have burned like normal paper, but it would have had no magical significance or effect as a sacrifice.
u/None [+2] *
She doesn't know that was Loki who ordered to destroy her temple, does she?
u/eaglejarl [+3] *
She doesn't know that was Loki who ordered to destroy her temple, does she? Actually
u/RMcD94 [+1] *
If the entire valley is a sea of white did they actually really need to get rid of every single book?
u/eaglejarl [+2] *
They probably didn't have time to get rid of all of them. I'll need to do the math on how many they had time to railgun out, but there's probably still a bunch left.
u/Gauntlet [+1] *
Is Jake going to introduce the Death God to Starcraft? Then he can micro manage as much as he wants. Maybe the sims?
u/eaglejarl [+1] *
Heh. That would be funny but no. Nothing so nice.