Die Vorfahr

I hope that Google Translate didn't bork that for me.

So, I've tried several times to write this thread, to no avail. Words just stop coming and I eventually close the tab. /: This is like..the fifth try or something. Anyway.
This is a thread where I will muse and ramble about Nereus' ancestor. I know he is officially listed as 'Archduke Whitecap', but as we've seen from canon (Executor into Expatriate), adult names change. So I'm just going to refer to him by whatever he went by at the time when talking specifically about that point IN time, or just 'Nereus' ancestor' when talking generally. I figure I might as well outline the different names he had.

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Benedi Caspia: His childhood name. Unlike Nereus, Benedi spent his entire childhood in a normal hive, albeit on a secluded tropical island that was itself home to ruins strongly resembling the parthenon, an abandoned courthouse (My headcanon is that His Honorable Tyranny wasn't always a thing in the troll legal system, and the dangerous nature of trolls nessecitated that courthouses be secluded. ) The ruins still contained, in what amounted to offices in the building, lawbooks and such. These are what got Benedi interested in the law. The love of the sea is more or less in the bloodline's..erm..blood.

Neophyte Snowhead: Benedi's first 8x8 adult name. During this period of his life, he first experienced life at sea, moving back and forth between different officially-sanctioned pirate hunter ships. This is also during the time of the Signless, and Snowhead is present in the crowd when Signless dies (And thus is also present for the Vast Expletive, as well as Darkleer's moment of weakness). Snowhead is one of the trolls in the crowd that attempted to gun down the Disciple as she fled, but didn't strike her. The Vast Expletive and Darkleer's faltering planted the seed of unrest that made him rethink the 'Only legal or illegal' attitude he held up to that point, the same attitude Nereus has.

Archduke Whitecap: His name for the vast majority of his adult life. He remained at the relatively high legislacerator rank of Marshall for several hundred sweeps, actively refusing promotions to higher, more leadership-oriented positions, firmy preferring to actively dish out justice (He grew into fully accepting and believing in the concept of justice and right and wrong, or good and bad, even if the warped troll sense of it.). He captained his own officially-sanctioned pirate-hunting ship, his social status as a very high highblood allowing him to own what more or less amounted to a fourth-rate ship of the line, thinly-plated with iron to reduce the damage done by most cannonballs, and with the first gun deck's standard cannons switched out for at the time revolutionary Paixhans cannons firing exploding shells as opposed to standard inert cannonballs. This was Mindfang's time, and also the time of her death, and the temporary chaos caused by His Honorable Tyranny's death that eventually led to a restructuring of the legislacerators, into the current, very human-like system of operation. Many trolls called it a 'defanging' of the system, and if he had somehow lived to the modern age , he'd agree.

Turncoat Hoarmane: The last name he took, when he discarded his status as Archduke and legislacerator when the Sufferist Movement/Taurid Rebellion started up. At first, Whitecap was wholly opposed to the idea, viewing the complete upheaval of society as unjust, as well as having very clear memories of the mass burning of settlements and public torture of more or less innocent people during the time of the Signless. However, the seed that had been planted in him while hearing the Signless' final sermon had at this point grown into a nagging voice in the back of his head that caused him to doubt his opposition to the rebellion. The grain that created the quadriplegic dromedary wpuld have barely been a footnote in the annals of history, just a statistic to anyone else: A small rebel blockade runner being cornered and pounded by a first-rate imperial warship. For whatever reason, the sight of that (Having luckily been sailing by at the time) completely shifted Whitecap's opinion to that of sympathy with the rebellion, and though there was a mutiny onboard his ship, enough of the crew agreed with him to come to the aid of the smaller vessel. After more or less an official joining of the rebellion, his ship flew the rebel's flag, and he discarded the title of Archduke Whitecap for Turncoat Hoarmane, boldly and proudly wearing the name 'Turncoat' and feeling no shame in abandoning his life's career for the pursuit of real justice and goodness, unbound by the harsh laws of the empire.

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And those are the things he was called, and a overview of his life. Feel free to comment or criticize, or just completely blow me apart for being an idiot. V: More to come in the future.

Oh, cool! Not enough people involved in the Summoner's thing rather than the Sufferer's, imo.

On an unrelated note, I was under the impression that His Honorable Tyranny was an office held by a monster rather than a single monster that was present for every case. Given how Terezi playacted her court thing, I would assume there had been such monsters presiding over cases in more recent times as well. Not only that, but it would be nigh-on impossible to have one being preside over every court case held on one day, let alone for the entirety of a species' existence for the entirety of that being's life...

As for the German, "Die Vorfahre" is feminine. You want the masculine "Der Vorfahr". Gender is one of those things Google Translate has a hard time taking into account especially since English doesn't have genders for most nouns. : P

...Damn it, logic. concerning the HHT thing. :T I had really thought that there was just the one monster, for some reason. Terezi also does mention to Dave that legislacerators are, now, confined to courtblocks or something. That was how I assumed the change happened: Kill the big judge monster, everything got restructured, suddenly less HEMPEN JIG and more OBJECTION!

Weh 8c what do

Although, I guess it's not a MAJOR plot point..

Well, the way you've got it written up there, it's not actually a plot point at all, just an (admittedly important) setting detail (unless you're hiding something for later, which is fine). It looks like you could just ditch the HHT bit with minimal rewriting, although you may have to make some changes to your current view of him in your head depending on how much the detail affected him.

Dude, this is awesome. Just wanted to say that straight out.

As for the HHT bit, I have an idea. If the office is just filled by "a monster" rather than being one single being that presides over the courts forever, there can still be a major restructuring via a new HHT being put into place, one that has a radically different view on justice than the current troll ideal. Some other kind of horned monster, perhaps? Or just a more moderate member of the same species?

Edit: Snuff is half-right. The masculine form of "ancestor" (you're talking about a man) is "der Vorfahr," just like he said. The word literally translates as Vor=before, fahr=drive/go/move/travel, so "one who went before." "Der Vorfahre" is also acceptable.
The feminine form of "ancestor" (you're talking about a woman) is actually "die Vorfahrin."

I'm hesitant to say that HHT is an intelligent being, at least to the extent that different ones have different views. Even if he's sentient (I outright refuse to believe he's sapient), I still want to see him as just a big huge monster that doesn't do a whole lot. I think..okay, this is dark, but you know how 9/11 affected air travel? Like 'oh shit, planes can be taken over to this extent, we gotta change shit!' ? Like that. Maybe The High Justiciar (The name I've been using for the leader/head of the legislacerators) at the time is like 'oh shit, these huge-ass crustacean monsters can be killed this easily! We gotta change shit!'

Double post, you say?



Anyway, since I can't stop thinking shit up for this guy, here's some more pointless info: Shit he owns!

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Weapons

Sledgegavel: He has owned this weapon since his grubhood days. Benedi found this hammer in the courthive ruins near his hive. Instead of traditional sledgehammer construction (Wooden handle and metal head), the sledgegavel is one solid piece of carved dragon bone. It is also enchanted, possessing some degree of intelligence. In the hands of someone who would abuse or ignore justice (It wasn't until he became Hoarmane that he pieced together that it was justice instead of the law, because he continued to use it after joining the Summoner's rebellion), it becomes heavy enough for the wielder to just barely be able to awkwardly swing it around. It is, as its name suggests, designed to resemble an oversized gavel.

The Jury: A single-shot .577 pistol, The Jury is used only for execution (Hence the name he decided on). This is mostly because the absurd amount of recoil it has, despite having both a weighted barrel and muzzle brake. He acquired this during his Neophyte days, taking it from the body of the captain of a pirate hunter ship that was attacked and overrun (Snowhead himself survived only because of the double luck of his lusus snatching him away and a lightning bolt striking a gunpowder barrel dangerously left on the deck) .

Morgan's Revenge: A strangely-named weapon (The name was provided by his sylladex, and as long as he lived he never figured out who Morgan was, what his or her revenge was against, and how the weapon tied into it) created specifically for himn during his Whitecap sweeps by one of his crew members, the stocky jadeblood in charge of the crew's melee weapons. Morgan's Revenge itself is more or less a pistol sword, a wide-bladed cutlass with two (One on either side of the blade) small-caliber pistol barrels married to it. Pulling the trigger fires both barrels at once
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Other notable possessions

Libra Glove: Found by Benedi in the courthive ruins, in an office that was accessed after nearly half a sweep of clearing rubble away from the door. The glove is white leather (Actually from wingleather of a dragon), with metal plates and large-head screws in the major knuckles, round metal tips on the fingers and thumb, and the Libra symbol emblazoned on a square metal plate on the back of the hand. He kept this glove through his entire life, 'because it looks cool' in his youth, and as a fond reminder of his younger days once he grew up.
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I'll probably add more things to that second section afterwards, but that glove was all that came to mind at the moment.

It's 3:30 and I'm bored, so it's appearance time! :3

Benedi: Same general build as Nereus, strong but thin, born out of constant physical exertion on his lonely island home instead of Nereus' constant physical exertion on a boat. His clothing is simple, but in the fashion of the times: A simple t-shirt style shirt with thick horizontal stripes, black and indigo, long black leather boots with the legs rolled down, and black 'puffy' satin pants. He keeps his face shaven clean (Though he bears the marks of cutting himself with his straight razor pretty badlt several times), and his hair tied back in a ponytail. Has a belt with a big indigo buckle that bears his caste symbol. Keeps his Libra glove on this belt since it's too big for him.

Snowhead: http://ib.skaia.net/post/view/40134 for reference. Similar to Redglare's look, but nowhere near as eye-catching in color scheme. It's almost entirely black, save for the odd indigo highlight here and there. He now wears his Libra glove on his left hand.

Whitecap: This is the most dramatic and eye-catching he ever looks. Big black leather longcoat (Very similar's to Lord English's, but the rolled back sleeves aren't as big and it isn't a technicolor dreamcoat) with the sleeves rolled back, Libra glove still worn on his left hand, flexible metal breastplate bearing his caste symbol visible when the coat is open, indigo pants, boots similar to those he wore as a child, again in black. Wears a bicorne (Look up 'Buccaneer's Bicorne, the TF2 item is the best example) bearing a prominent 'noose and crossgavels' mark on the front. His hair reaches his shoulderblades now, and his beard can best be described as 'triangular' ( http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs42/i/2009/105/0/0/Soul_Calibur_IV_Cervantes_by_YamaO.jpg is pretty much exactly what his facial hair is at this point)

Hoarmane: Has gone back to simple clothing again. Coat near-identical to http://winchestersutler.com/CoatGreatL.jpg excapt black with indigo buttons and his caste sign on each cape-like bit or whatever. Still wears his Libra glove on his left hand. His hair reaches the small of his back now, and his facial hair and beard are wild and lond, he's more hair than head at this point. Also emblazoned on his coat is a big red Cancer symbol, the sign of the Sufferist Movement/Taurid Rebellion.

Well, great. Seems some SBOARD assholes think the ancestors are pointless. Which means all the hard work (Implying that was actual work and not me just writing down bullshit) I've put into this thread is for nothing. Great. That's really fucking great.

Nicekat, let's not get into name calling. I even specified like every other sentence on the irc that it was just MY opinion. I never claimed they were pointless, just that currently they aren't really tied into the plot and that *I*, and this ME speaking about MY thoughts and not stating facts or anything, wasn't sure where ancestors would come in during the Sboard story. And *I*, that is MY OPINION AND NOT ANYTHING I AM FORCING ON ANYBODY, wasn't entirely fond of the idea of wedging an Ancestor story in the middle of our characters playing Sboard.

All this work isn't for nothing because we haven't decided anything. And whether we have a Scratch, or a Net, or what ever, or not, you can keep your ancestor exactly as you've written it. No one is making you do anything.

Just cool it.

[1:42 AM]Karkat Vantas: oh my christ, idea

[1:42 AM]Karkat Vantas: I D E A

[1:42 AM]Karkat Vantas: Nereus’ ancestor met Troll Benjamin Franklin

[1:43 AM]Karkat Vantas: who was also a part of Summoner’s rebellion at the same tikme

[1:44 AM]Karkat Vantas: Nereuscestor had a connection to lightning that parallels Nereus’ Ward of Storm powers: A tendency to bring heavy thunderstorms with him into battle, and often he’d only emerge from said battles because of a ‘lucky’ lightning strike.

[1:44 AM]Karkat Vantas: so

[1:47 AM]Karkat Vantas: Ben Franklin, himself having a strong interest in lightning and electricity, sought out Nereuscestor, and helped him harness this lightning affinity, modifying the sledgegavel to accept and channel electric charges, as well as some armor that acted as a sort of lightning rod, attracting lightning strikes and using them to temporarily increase his strength

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So I had THIS idea. I know, I know. It seems ridiculous, but the ancestors have done weirder things, and I do genuinely think this is a cool parallel.

That seems like a superhero's origin story, hmmmm.

Well, we've sort of seen that sort of thing in canon with Tavros and Pupa Pan being sort of a retelling of Summoner's shit, so idea!

Nereus is a HUGE fan of the Steel Corsair comic book character. The Steel Corsair is a legislacerator encased in an electrically-powered suit of armor that grants him increased strength and access to many nifty electric gadgets that trump his foes! Suspense, action, and good old fashioned wholesome eviscerating of baddies! Definitely good reading material for trolls. Visually, he resembles a mishmash of different Iron Man bits, with a helmet like the Hypervelocity suit, the arms of the hydro suit, and a chest piece whose glowy bit strongly resembles the Storm aspect symbol, except the entire thing is pure black and he wears a sleeveless, buttonless longcoat over it.

Nereus has modeled his FLARP self after the Steel Corsair, and his FLARP outfit is a helmetless 'poor man's' version of the costume, much like how Terezi's FLARP costume is a poor man's version of Redglare's outfit. The Steel Corsair comics are where Nereus picked up his habit of spouting one-liners like a stereotypical action movie star, as well.

Also Nereus kinda jizzed his pants at that one comic where Steel Corsair fought Two-Face..