Grrl Power #1417 – Some peers are more equal than others
Cora means Max could take on everyone physically, but a like any good adventuring parties, quite a few of them have indirect powers, or things like crowd control debufs, or can turn into mist, or just cast crazy ritual magic with all kinds of oddball effects. Even so, Max’s speed could probably mitigate most all of that. Cora wasn’t doing a deep tactical analysis, just trying to get everyone to understand why she has confidence in her scheme.
I’m sure I’ve heard the name Destra somewhere, but I can’t pluck it from the pinkish-gray folds I keep most of my stuff in. It’s probably an evil My Little Pony or a Rule 34 G.I. Joe’s Destro in an adult gender-swapped comic I definitely accidentally stumbled across a decade ago. You know how the internet is, always throwing those Rule 34 adult comics at you. I guess I don’t have to specify “adult” if it’s Rule 34. Anyway, Destra is the big demon chick. I’m sure most of you would have guessed that. Celestabelle is obviously the angel girl with the guitar, and Destra doesn’t really sound like a Valkyrie’s name. I guess the blue demon chick could have been Destra, but Destra is a brawler’s name. Blue looks more like a, uh… I don’t know, alchemist? Or maybe someone with a bunch of wands strapped to the small of her back. Javelina could be the Valkyrie, if it was pronounced with a hard “J,” but in this case it’s pronounced as an “H.” I guess her half-orc side is Hispanic. Or, some other nationality tied to a language that pronounces J’s as H’s. Like who the heck knows what Undercommon sounds like? I always assumed it involved a lot of consonants and that “hock a loogie” sound that some Middle-Eastern languages have. I guess that would also be a consonant? But maybe Undercommon is a romance language that sounds closer to Castillian Spanish than someone cursing in German cause they just slammed a door on their thumb.
Probably everyone in that room thinks they could eek out a victory against everyone else, maybe assuming favorable conditions. That doesn’t mean they don’t recognize Gaxgy as probably the biggest threat physically, and are over him reminding everyone about it. Modesty is his dump skill.
Javelina lacks that particular adventurer confidence, even though she’s smart and a curiously powerful mage. She’s one of those adventurers because she repeatedly finds herself in the position of being able to help, but is far from an adrenaline junkie.
Kobold Sydney vote incentive! Is finally done!
So… you know, check it out. Oh, and as usual, Patreon has a scales only version.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
Nevermind the people in the room.
She could probably take on their ships, possibly the entire stations defense network.
Love the Animal Farm reference!
I heard a bastardization of that movie is coming out soon.
Of that movie? It was a book first!
Also either it’s a movie only reference or I’m just missing it. Or is just been so long since I read it I can’t remember…
Was wondering what the reference was as well…
It’s the name of this page, “Some peers are more equal than others”.
The problem with this whole plan is that Max knows how durable humans are, but has no idea how durable any given alien is…
So if she gears her hits for a human it may be useless against any given alien, and if she calibrates higher (or based on a previous alien she dealt with) she may punch right through them…
Simple solution: don’t hit. Grab one and hold them immobile, give them time to fail to break free (while dodging other attackers without releasing the currently grappled one), then toss them aside and move on to the next.
Would platinum be the best bikini in this case? Would it be enough contrast to stand out against the gold of max’s skin and the gold of the pile of hoardings? I’m thinking something to work with Max’s purple hair. Maybe platinum with amethyst scales.
That actually sounds gorgeous. I want that for the next vote incentive!
If only there were some kind of forum in which they could all settle these pressing questions, some kind of test of their fighting prowess or – dare I say it – a TOURNAMENT in which they could prove their prowess!?
No, surely such fantasies remain far out of reach – for at least another week or so…
I think it’s actually socially important for this diverse group of friends/lovers/business partners/adrenaline junkies to verbally play out their combat prowess with one another as a heated argument on occasion. Like, yeah, they’re all going to sound like arrogant munchkins arguing like children on the surface, but if egos like Gaxgys are left unchallenged, even out of politeness, it could snowball into more annoying problems later than just ‘silly arguments about who would win in a fight’. I’m not saying everyone has to be equal, or that anyone would do anything drastic like betrayal just because everyone let that person’s ego grow too big, but it does show a certain level of trust and closeness to argue about your powers and abilities without getting too upset about it, right? And in a place like this crazy advanced space station, they probably have ways to try and measure their magic or skills or weapons that don’t result in direct fighting, like arm wrestling instead of getting into an outright brawl. I dunno, I think amongst a group like this, a ‘Battle Debate’ probably would be fairly interesting, since unlike people arguing about mythical characters, they’re arguing about themselves! They’re not making up powers or pulling from obscure side comics or esoteric wiki entries, they’re gagging their own actual abilities. Maybe they’d exaggerate a little, but it’s still their actual reality.
Green and gold is usually a good pairing.
Maybe we could wrap Maxima in the Statue of Liberty?
I’m into Statue of Liberty play.
The same set of rules that originally brought us Rule 34 also includes Rule 63: “For every male fictional character, there exists a female counterpart, and vice versa.” This is probably the second most well-known rule on that list. So you could just say “Rule 34/63” and reference both of them…
Cora needs to remind everyone at some point she’s likely all beaten their collective asses (otherwise, why would ANY of these folks take orders from her OR Dabbler) and that even SHE couldnt take Max? and that is the problem with adventurers (and mages) as they get overconfident they feel that NO ONE could defeat them (and its that overconfidence that gets them killed every time)
People have different skills, and intelligent people (beings, aliens, etc.) recognize this. This clearly isn’t a group of barbarians where the strongest fighter is automatically the leader. There are a variety of intelligence levels in these crews, but none of them would outright idiots (unless paired with a higher intelligence to keep them in check) or Cora wouldn’t put up with them.
Cora would need to be a good fighter, but absolutely would not need to be the best fighter in order to be the best leader. Cora’s skills obviously lie more toward leadership, management, networking, and apparently the ability to identify good money-making opportunities. That’s why the follow her; not because she could beat them in a 1-on-1 fight.
except theres the obvious point you’re ignoring.
they are ALREADY saying that they can basically take each other down. meaning their egos are already writing checks that they cant afford.
appreciate the management thought tho, Cora IS an affective admin, but the problem with ‘ive got the might, therefore i have the right’ is that ALL of these guys are ‘oh, i can TOTALLY take the dragon’ and the dragon is ‘oh, i can TOTALLY take this gold skinned woman’ when the orc mage has ALREADY pieced that the stygian was the gold woman in disguise. you have folks who, from the sounds of things, *already* view themselves as the absoulte APEX warriors/mages/soldiers of fortune who CANT be beat.
thats the takeaway here. Gaxgy hears “you cant beat her” and says “im a dragon, i win *EVERY* time” and we have some of the others say “No, i can take you, you arent that good…” and its really sounding like not everyone is focusing on our boy Gax..
the expression “herding cats” is totally these guys. they arent co workers, they’re all RIVAL GROUPS united by a common goal: MAKING MONEY.
OK, at this point I have to tell a tale. True tale, but I about had a seizure I was laughing so hard.
This happened in Iraq. I’m part of a group that’s contracted to the signal battalion for all kinds of comm support (73rd? they did RIF in and out). One of the guys is a very tall, very Black basketball player body type who, for some reason, gets along with me famously, we’re always pulling stuff. (He nearly cried when I got sent elsewhere.) I’m avoiding names because he might not want his name used.
So he’s in charge of phone comms, and we happen to have both VOIP and POTS phones. VOIP phones are restricted to Five Eyes only, but POTS can be run to anyone as they aren’t digital. We aren’t busy, FOB is small, only a couple hundred permanent residents, so nearly everyone has a phone jack, though you have to bring your own phone.
Ok, that sets the scene.
Things shift around, and we get a bunch of guards contracted to work the gates and so forth. They are Ethiopian.
These guys want phones. The liaison doesn’t want to fill out the paperwork.
So my buddy walks into the office and starts off : You ain’t gonna believe what just happened to me. One of them damn guards walks up and starts yelling at me about wanting a phone line. I told him to get his lazy ass liaison to get the request filled out and he gets upset and that fucker started click talking me! He’s going ^ ^ ^ at me and I’m telling him to cut that shit out! Fucker was clicking at me!
I’m laughing so hard I’m getting sick and telling him to stop, so of course he keeps right on. I don’t know how I survived that. I got stiches.
And if you don’t get it, read back over that and picture it in your mind.
I agree no regarding the platinum bikini but what about an armless strapless full length dress? Maybe one of those slit dresses so max can show some leg? We can make this work.
As a Spaniard, reading that “J sounds as H” sounds weird to me because in Spanish H is mute, so a J sounding like a H would be mute as well.
So as a matter of curiosity, how would you describe how an English speaker pronounces a “J”? Or an “H”?