this is crazy

[from_scratch]

Cam is watching a new recording of Atriama, tail swishing in the gap in his couch, and doesn't stop to pause the show when he feels a summons go by.

Comments

[wormcan]

"Lots of people are indestructible. How are you on death by demon?"
The speaker's compatriots look at her like she just violated some taboo, which is reasonably likely.

[from_scratch]

"I mean, I haven't tried it, but my indestructibility is pretty all-purpose. Are you talking about Moord Nag or is there another one?" Ha, ha.

[wormcan]

No one gets the joke. Not fair.

"Yes! Her! That's what comes after the army, if you're right about that. She'll kill you by looking at you, and end up even stronger."

[from_scratch]

"I'm not specifically planning to go pick a fight with her. People in her territory seem to be doing better than a lot of other people."

[wormcan]

"And if you don't stop here, you'll be picking that fight."

[from_scratch]

"Well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I hope you didn't think I decided to conquer Angola without being aware that Moord Nag existed."

[wormcan]

"Uh, maybe?"

[from_scratch]

"Nope. I considered going and hassling her first, actually, but while she commits a ghastly amount of casual murder she's stable and her constituents aren't dying at as high an overall rate as some of her neighbors', so I prioritized other things."

[wormcan]

"Prioritized. You knew what you were up against and decided to save Moord Nag for later.
We can go pass that message on? Can't promise anyone will believe it."

[from_scratch]

"Be my guest. Please stop attacking my buildings. Orange doesn't go well with a lot of other colors."

[wormcan]

"Absolutely. I have no objections to you being someone else's problem."

She and her equally orange teammates start getting out before the implausible person changes his mind about letting them.

[from_scratch]

And Cam goes back to trying to balance making sure everyone has enough to eat with making sure the locals are capable of managing their own food infrastructure when, say, he's gone for a while fighting an Endbringer. No reason not to bring local farms up to 2159 standards of yield and encourage them to rely on that and mostly call him when they want other stuff.

[wormcan]

In pretty much no time Cam's chunk of Angola is the best chunk of Angola—it already was, but sustainably—and some nearby regions that aren't on the south border ask to be annexed. The existing leadership can't very well stop them.

[from_scratch]

Cam is delighted to be invited to annex things! That is the best thing that has happened in ages! He annexes the things.

[wormcan]

The formerly existing leadership finds an elsewhere to be before Cam comes for them. It's like a revolution but without the revolution.

[from_scratch]

How nice and tidy.

[wormcan]

Well, less so for the elsewhere.

Now that being annexed by the post-scarcity genie has worked well in the past, there may be a bit of a domino effect. Some places this is more controversial than others. In Lubango, for instance, the people who call for defecting tend to be the targets of some parahuman-led enforced orthodoxy.

[from_scratch]

Okay. So now he can pick a fight with Moord Nag's crowd...

...or he can permit atrocities to be committed against a city which is literally trying to call him personally over to help it, no contest, to Lubango he goes.

[whole_new_can]

In defense of option two, most of the city wasn't calling for him personally.

When a single faction controls a city, they're usually pretty attached to it. No advance disappearances this time. Instead, shootings of Cam's spaceship out of the sky. (At least to whatever extent it's vulnerable to generic tinker firepower.)

[from_scratch]

The spaceship isn't heavily armored. He lets the ship disintegrate around him and swoops in on his own wings.

[whole_new_can]

And when the air solidifies?
There's a fair number of capes, and Cam doesn't know yet exactly what minions are present.

[from_scratch]

Well, when the air solidifies he hangs there and looks for someone to knock over.

[whole_new_can]

It evaporates before he sees anyone likely looking. Most capes aren't really intimidating enough. But when Cam gets lower it happens again, this time holding him in place for a large scarred man to throw a house at.

[from_scratch]

Okay, so a house has been thrown at him, and the large scarred man can have some drugs.

[wormcan]

The drugs have no more effect than the house does. A few more blasts from the spaceship-destroying weapon, giving away the tinker's position, and Cam gets released again.