Maxus as Military leader for the moment. Once the state of emergency has been brought under control and the Senate can meet, they can vote on whether or not to ascend Acantha to the throne with a Regent to guide her decisions.
With our Authoresses however there MIGHT be some Senators who might try a power grab and try to get someone OTHER than Maxus appointed as Regent.
As for Tennyo, she isn't or shouldn't be Maxus' 2IC, she is the 2IC of Cassians under Noctis. Maxus' 2IC would have to be one of his subordinate officer in the Nova Roma Military.
All Tennyo should be allowed to do is as an assistant and facilitator. Cassian's stand OUTSIDE of the Nova Roman Military chain of command.
The Cassian's serve the throne,(For the Greater Good)the military serves the state and it's emperor/empress/Imperator/Imperatrix.
The military serves who is on the throne, the cassians serve THE throne.
ETA: As to who is the current CIVILIAN leader of Nova roman, that SHOULD be the President of the Senate or a Prime Minister if New Rome has one.
Under most normal circumstances (and we presume so for Nova Roma until told otherwise), the Military is tasked with defense, while the Civil Authority is tasked with maintaining civil order. (Note: There are many autocratic regimes where this is not true and there is no separation between Military and Civil Authority -- however canon evidence suggests this does not apply to Nova Roma.) Both answer to the Head of State, since it is from him that both of them derive their power and authority.
"Martial Law" specifically breaks down this separation and the Military assumes the authority and responsibility for maintaining civil order. Thus the military Commander-In-Chief becomes the ultimate civil authority until such time as civilian control is restored. (Typically after such time as whatever emergency prompted the declaration of Martial Law in the first place has been resolved and control is returned to the civilian authorities in an orderly fashion.)
If you have multiple, independent, 'supreme authorities', each independently determined to enforce civil order, and none of them officially answering to the other, the technical term for that is 'Warlordism', or (in an extreme case) 'Anarchy'. In such case, of course, there are actually multiple Commanders-In-Chief, or none at all. So, hypothetically, it could be argued that Maxus is one warlord, and Noctis is the other. The Princeps (First Speaker) of the Senate may well be a third, assuming the Senate has its own guard. And, of course, Setorius, as Primate of the Church with command of the Templars may well be a fourth. If there is a single military Commander-In-Chief, with unified command over all these various forces in the interim until the Crown is confirmed to Acantha or a Regent selected, that person has not yet announced themselves (as far as I know, anyway).
But not in charge of the Cassians, who are also policing Nova Roma. And (presumably) not in charge of the Church troops -- or can he give them orders to override Setorius, if necessary?
@Gilrandir, Maxus isn't in charge of the Cassians, per se, but Noctis was acting in conjunction with him, as there is no de facto head of state at this time. For the time being, working with Maxus IS working for the good of Rome, and the Throne, so it is consistent with their directives. Noctis placed Tennyo in command of the Cassians in her absence, and their mission has not changed, so the Cassians are following Maxus' directives for the time being. Noctis: "I hope you will wield the Cassians as the scalpel we once were. . . "
hence "Martial Law" ,, military is in charge TILL the Senate decides what is what.!! .. that way you Don't have all the little guys trying for leader.! .. so yes Everybody answers to Maxus,, an IF Maxus makes a sweeping change, he has to answer to the senate... IE: nobody armed. under the penalty of death. Except on duty Military.
If the military is someone you trust then you also don't have to worry about a coup..
Except, as the creatrices pointed out much earlier, the Cassians do not answer to Maxus (even under Martial Law), opening the question of, under Martial Law is there anyone to whom everyone answers before the Senate confirmation and, if so, who? Current signs are 'no'.
The Cassians do not formally answer to Maxus, no. What they have is an alliance since their goals are more or less the same. Noctis agrees to work with Maxus, and the Cassians are following his commands mostly voluntarily, as doing so is also beneficial to the good of Nova Roma. It could be argued that since that is the case, they temporarily have a duty to follow his orders until someone is in a proper legal position to issue orders to them. Nova Roma is in turmoil, and they can't just sit down and wait until someone finds an authority figure. Since Martial Law is in place, Maxus is that authority figure, until such time as a proper civilian authority is either named or found.
As I said, I don't know the laws there, so I can't be certain, but that's my take on it.
We are (at least I am) discussing formalities. I don't think anyone here doubts that both Maxus and the Cassians have the best interests of Nova Roma at heart -- as articulated by that idealized Throne who hasn't really existed since the accession of Decimus, but which they all wish would have been in existence all along. So, in a general and unofficial way they will all be cooperating to make sure the right people stay alive and the right people get dead. But, you can't have it both ways: Either the Cassians are supposed to be following Maxus' orders, or they are just generally going along with his suggestions because he's a smart guy and the suggestions tend to make sense. Except when they don't, because they don't. And we have been told they are not supposed to be following his orders. So, I'm going with the "going along with suggestions" thing until I hear otherwise. ^_^
Obviously, all the rules change once the Senate confirms someone as either Ruler or Regent, but that hasn't happened yet.
Sure, I understand what you're after, but I don't recall any codified directive as to what the Cassians do when they find themselves (legally) leaderless. Lacking an in-story example, or word from the Authoresses, I find myself left to trying to figure it out on my own. We both agree that they are following Maxus at this point, but I think it's a little more solid than "they follow him until they don't". Noctis has directed them to work with him, and she is not there to direct them to do otherwise. Technically the Cassians' leader is Noctis, and presently Noctis is leaderless, except to say that she is deferring to Acantha at this time.
edit: Sorry, Rose, I did not know you were posting. (And thank you)
Except that Noctis has already *demonstrated* that she follows Maxus only "until she doesn't", in putting her own judgement above his command in the cyberpath situation.
Also, AIUI the whole point of this discussion is that the Cassians following another leader's orders only voluntarily, apparently doesn't follow the definition of martial law.
Cassians cooperating voluntarily, rather than as part of the military command, fits just fine as part of 'martial law' as long as the Cassians stop doing any law enforcement beyond that of any other private citizen as long as martial law is in force, @antrik. Once martial law is declared, the military assumes law enforcement powers until it is once more suspended. If the Cassians are military (they're not), then they can continue enforcing the law consistent with the overall chain of command. If they're not, then like any other civilian, they are expected to cooperate when requested and otherwise stay out of the way. So a general can talk to the Chief of Police and get a whole bunch of beat cops as extra manpower and local experts -- but if he does, those policemen would be expected to follow orders while so doing because their Chief is expected to follow the orders of the general. (The Chief, himself, simply being a highly trained civilian.)
Or, more to the point, that's how martial law works here and now. In DataChasers, it works however the creative team says it does. And, of course, if a 21-year-old, green-as-grass lieutenant tries to give orders to a police chief with 35 years of real-world experience, no matter what the law says, the results may not be what the lieutenant expects. (But then, as a rule, police chiefs aren't equipped with inhibitors.)
@antrik: That's not quite correct. More accurately, "she does until she cannot". It has never been shown that Noctis was ordered to stand down before Astraea started firing. It was only loosely assumed, and again, she deemed her action to be for the good of Nova Roma. Either way, her core directives supersede orders given in a loose alliance.
Personally, I simply don't buy the theory that her orders haven't been clear before... But that's irrelevant here, as she got a clear order after the shooting started, and she still refused.
Her motivation is irrelevant here. The fact is simply that she follows orders only selectively, which was the whole point here.
It is not irrelevant. She has an inhibitor enforced directive to protect Nova Roma at all costs, up to and including her life! This isn't just some whimsical disobedience. You are entitled to your opinion, of course.
I never said it's whimsical... While you raise a good point that she only has limited choice in the matter, the fact stands that Maxus doesn't fully control law enforcement. Which, again, was the only point being made in the present discussion...
Well, maybe not whimsical, per se, but you see what I mean. It isn't possible for us to know exactly what she was weighing in her mind.
As Rose pointed out, the Church handles the local security forces, aka, police. Maxus lets them do the policing. He can, but probably wouldn't order them around. Before she left, Noctis ordered the Cassians to obey Maxus. This was a legal order and they HAVE to obey. Maxus can now legally order the Cassians, and they HAVE to obey. (except Noctis)
Until Noctis unilaterally decides they don't any more. Maybe, if he is a very good boy, she will be kind enough to send him a memo the next time she decides not to have them follow his orders. In advance, you know, of not actually following his orders. That'd be nice, I think. Considerate, even.
That is very true, but unless we get insight into exactly what she is weighing in her mind, we can't say why she chose one action over another. The Creative Duo have been avoiding spoilers on some of the details; perhaps there will be clarification later on. We do, however, have concrete evidence that she has core directives, which are inhibitor enforced. She is compelled to act in the interest of those directives. She has to weigh her options and decide which course of action best succeeds in accomplishing that.
*OR*
Noctis: "Oh, that old thing? It went offline years ago!"
The possibility that Noctis' inhibitor is non-functional is, indeed, something for which a case could be made. It might produce some very interesting story. As you say, we'll just have to wait and see if we ever get any further elaboration on this or not.
Maxus Valerius is, unquestionably, the Lord General of Nova Roma. All military assets in the city answer to him.
The Cassians are presently under Maxus's direction, per the orders of their Princeps.
The Church's troops are a security force that are, by tradition, at the Lord General's command in a case of martial law. However, the Lord General is usually savvy enough to direct them to carry on with their usual duties--protecting the Church's assets and personnel. In this case, that means they'll be securing the medical facilities and providing cover for the medics who are going into the streets to pick up the wounded. (And yes, they're pretty pissed off about all that fire.)
The Senate has no independent guard; they are legally barred from having one. Senators may have their own bodyguards, but general security is provided by the military.
But the Cassian Princeps is a free agent, even under Martial Law, during an Interregnum, correct? Not a military asset, not in any chain of command, and not responsible to any living party, as I understand it. Until confirmation of a new Regent or Ruler by the Senate.
She is unofficially deferring to Acantha. She trusts Maxus, hence her directing the Cassians to follow him in her absence. No one can technically give her a legal order. Mostly she is free to do whatever she thinks is best for Rome, as that is one of her core directives. Right now, that seems to be to accept Acantha as her superior. (JMO)
Not a free agent.! the Princeps answers to the crown/throne.. and the Cassians answer to the Princeps.. with the crown dead, they would follow the next to sit on the throne, so Noctis surrendered to Maxus (pg1277), cuz he was Acantha's most likely choice of regent ..
Actually, the Crown has never been mentioned among the Cassians' loyalties IIRC; only the Throne... Don't know what the legal difference is, though :-)
The Cassians and their Princeps answer directly to the Throne*. In the absence of a confirmed ruler, they are to follow whatever course of action the Princeps judges to be in the best interests of the Throne.
* "Throne" is generally interchangeable with "Crown" in this context. I settled on using the former instead of the latter as a sort of private, personal joke.
That is consistent with my understanding, @Tokyo Rose. During a period of Interregnum, the Cassian Princeps is a law unto herself, governed only by her core directives and her best understanding of what is in the best interest of the (currently empty) Throne of Nova Roma and its eventual occupant. All the other Cassians, of necessity, will obey the commands of their Princeps. Meanwhile the Lord General of Nova Roma is in an equivalent position during a period of Martial Law, with all the forces of the military necessarily obeying his legal orders.
Nova Roma may consider herself fortunate that Maxus and Noctis are essentially in close agreement about what is best for the city-state at this time. Could get a bit ... messy, otherwise. ^_^
.. Bows to Tokyo Rose.. Domo Arigato ..
cuz that's what i said,!!! ,, not the same words , but the same thing..
she is MUCH better wordsmith than i ever hope to be.!
I believe we were told that a lot of this story arc will take place in New Troy. I bet some of the power grabs you mentioned will entail assassination attempts on Acantha, while she's here.
There are more than a few criminal organizations, (that include corrupt senators) which will be threatened by Acantha's ascension to the throne. If Acantha were murdered while here, it would be easy to pin the blame on New Troy, Cent-Comm, and maybe even the Taylors.
I can't wait to see how things play out. If (meaning when) things go off the rails here, it'll be really interesting to see how the Nova Romans and the New Trojans end up working with and against each other. I'd love to see Noctis, Dolly, and several Black Angels working together to protect Acantha and the Taylors.
And, since Tokyo Rose will certainly be involved somehow, I'd love it if a certain familiar face reappeared on a "shiny" new frame, just in time to save "Mommy"... this time, with her Yin and her Yang working hand in hand... or paw in hand, as the case may be. ;)
They could also run with a Triumvirate, where Maxus, Setorius and a someone from the Senate run the different branches of government until Acantha can stake her claim on the throne.
@Sheela, you could well be right. I am not always clear on Roman politics at the best of times, let alone in this chaotic mess! :D
@antrik, it's true we don't exactly know Aeneas' final personality after restoration. For all we know he is sitting there fuming over how he hates humans, because they betrayed him, and turned him into a cybernetic vegetable. A lot is going to hinge on his perception of this big mess. One thing I like to mention, is that Acantha had, and should still have, a rapport with Aeneas. That's gotta count for something.
They could, @Sheela, but a Triumvirate would imply codification and pre-established procedures. Delegation of authorities into prescribed spheres of influence. Certainly possible.
@antrik :
For some reason, I think Aeneas will stick to his original plan, which was getting Acantha on the throne .. which he has been planning since he was insane.
@Megados :
I think he will stick with Acantha, since she was such a major influence on him while he was all alone. And he knows she likes Maxus, so Maxus is probably safe. He also knows that Setorius stood up for her, so he's probably safe as well. Well .. relatively safe.
@Gilrandir :
True, but it's also a solution, that allows the people in power to *stay* in power, in their respective area.
Sure, they have the opportunity to try and grab *all* the power, but if they are going to do that, they will probably have to fight Maxus for it, and .. well .. I don't think they want to. :D
Heck, even old man Setorius would think twice about that. And the senators would have to fight *both* Maxus *and* old man Setorius !!
The fact that Acantha has the backing of both those esteemed gentlemen, means a lot for her chances of sitting on the throne.
The city AI in this case ( Roma ) was designed to assist and help the human population and aid with fabrication and work force management. It was never designed to " RUN" Nova roma..
@Centcomm that's what I thought really... I'm not sure why people are taking my obviously humorous remark seriously. Nothing we have seen of Aeneas's origins or personality so far indicates he would have any interest in a power grab.
Having said that, while he will let the Roman rulers do their thing, and follow their commands as long as he deems them appropriate, my understanding is that he has the means and willingness to oppose them, whenever he finds they are doing something really stupid: such as, aggression against other states. Clearly he has some programming for this -- otherwise, there would have been no motivation for the coup against him in the first place.
So while he has no ambition for ruling absolutely, it can be argued that he is indeed the ultimate power in Roma.
Most likely he won't see the need to exercise this power any time soon, if the Senate confirms Acantha and Maxus. If they decide otherwise though, and put someone else in power who turns out to be another dick, the situation could play out quite differently...
No way in Hell, that Aeneas would allow himself to be put in the same situation as before, where someones betrayal could expose himself and his friends, and the population of Nova Roma to another horror regime. It is his very literal nightmare scenario, he will oppose that so vehemently, that he would break the limits of his programming.
That said, Acantha came to him when he was at his lowest, and gave him the Cookie of Good Intentions (not to be confused with the Fork of Truth, which is also not Morton's Fork). So she is possibly the only human that Aeneas trusts completely.
@Sheela, is it possible that trust might extend to Lynn to some degree? Acantha had brought Lynn along on a visit, and Aeneas saw that Acantha trusts Lynn, so maybe she fits under the umbrella of his good side. AFAIK, no other human came there, or was allowed there.
Can trust ever be absolute? If Acantha ordered him, say, to nuke Troy (because she got into a lover's spat with Lynn or something ;-) ) -- do you think he would do it? I have some doubts...
Acantha is taking this all in very well! Level headed, even under these conditions, remarkable! She didn't miss a beat, and she was only mildly surprised to see Noctis, who, for her part, had pertinent answers at the ready. They work well together so far!
I find it funny how almost all bits of this pointed conversation have been predicted (to various degrees of correctness) in previous comment discussions :-)
I am surprised a bit that she is inquiring again after Maxus and Irene, considering that she had already been informed of the failure of the assassination... Let's hope it's just extra concern, not partial amnesia.
Another surprising bit is her question about Kali. It *does* make sense for her to inquire, so she understands what kind of orders Noctis is operating under -- it just seems surprising it would be one of the first things to come to her mind...
Bear in mind that she knows she's been out of the loop for some time, and last she knew, Maxus and Irene were threatened.
Alive and well, but still under threat.
So, asking did they make it through is prudent.
Also, she was fatally injured just before Kali delivered her final service. From her perspective, Kali could have been merely badly damaged. Probably not, but she did have this whole dying thing to deal with.
AIUI Acantha was already out by the time Kali took action. Of course she is curious what came to pass after that -- but nevertheless it feels rather unexpected that Kali would be the first thing on her mind...
Thinking about it, I guess it's not *entirely* surprising: since she didn't know about "Libertatem" AIUI, I guess she might have expected Kali would come after her when she shot Decimus... Still, his fate would seem more immediately relevant to understanding the current situation.
A person will ask about those closest to them emotionally, first.
Maxus & Irene is surrogate family, Aeneas her best friend, Kali is sort-of-family even if unfriendly, and Deck *was* family.
The contingencies weren't family, but they were just that important ! >_<
Well, you have a point there about Kali *technically* having been among her closest companions... Though considering her role and her demeanour, I have a hard time believing she was at all close emotionally. In fact I think that, propaganda aside, Kali must be the main reason (more so even than the other Cassians) why Acantha has a hard time seeing androids as people.
If Acantha is to think like a ruler, duty before sentiment. Regardless of what may have passed between them, Kali was family. (Just my opinion, of course.)
Here we go again. It wasn't a fatal injury, it was a _near_ fatal injury. Fatal Injuries kill you. Acantha came really really really really really close, but she never actually died. Slowed heart rate and induced into essentially a coma she never died. Thus it is a NEARLY FATAL injury.
@Jist_IDD
You're right. She survived.
However, there was no way she would have pulled through barring heroic efforts, which were made.
On her own, however, the wounds she received would have been quite fatal.
Also recall that, as a special exception, Kali is a family retainer and (only incidentally) was in charge of the Cassians. Seeing Noctis there and Kali not there might very well provoke curiosity about Kali since her absence is even more out of the ordinary for Acantha. One imagines that, on those rare occasions when Decimus allowed Acantha any kind of guard at all, he presumably tasked Kali with the the job. We saw that she was the one he sent after her back when he was in control of Nova Roma, and he said that she was discouraged from having other guards and attendants of any regular kind. So, asking about her could well be more asking about 'family' than asking about 'government'. Or I could be completely wrong. ^_^
I think Tokyo Rose's nerves are too frayed for me to go on, I just don't have the heart for it, someone else will need to cover the situation. (Why does TR dislike puns? Is there anyplace online where the reason is mentioned?)
Horrified Groans are only allowed if they are accompanied by rolled eyes and palm to forehead gestures indicating that they are checking if their brains were dislodged by the force of Wit. I'm sure Mr. Black and you had that Hart to Heart discussion already. I might just be experiencing Growing Pains, but I for one would like a visit from Dougie Houser or Trapper John. Other wise it would just be General Hospital staff dropping by to check on Acantha. I probably should be sorry about that MASH-up but I wanted to let the CHiPs fall where they may. Hopefully it will all turn out to be Happy Days.
@The Sunny Side of Life note that @Tokyo Rose is mostly annoyed specifically about egg puns in the comment section, for very specific historical reasons :-)
By the way, I am surprised that Lynn's bruise is still clearly visible. I would have assumed Troy nanomeds would be able to handle such superficial damage in a few hours...
She probably wanted to keep the bruise. I bet she's proud of it.
I wouldn't be surprised if a selfie of her bruised face, captioned "I took on a dick-tater, and lived to tell about it!" was posted to her social media page, as soon as she got ahold of her tablet. Less than a millisecond later, Cent-Comm would've blocked it.
She's been in stasis for a good chunk of the bruise's existence which would stop natural healing. Also, if she's got an artificial heart and is currently waiting on another major surgery to swap back to a more normal one the docs probably don't want to fuss with cosmetic treatments. They'd view it as something that has a chance of going wrong, so save it for later. Like her older injuries, it'll get noted and attended to later if need be.
We don't actually know what medicine is what, how medical nanites work, what Regenerex (TM) is, and whether or not Regenerex (TM) contains nanites; but, recalling that Lynn is violently and life-threateningly allergic to Regenerex (TM), wearing a bruise for a few days is an inconsequential price to pay for not having to expose herself to medical 'care'.
Actually, in new canon, regenerex is explicitly a "biological treatment, not a nano-med", unlike what Troy uses. (See http://datachasers.thecomicseries.com/comics/114/ )
If Lynn was allergic against nanites (I don't think that's even possible...), she would have known. She didn't know about the regenerex allergy, because they don't use anything like that in Troy. She has no reason suddenly to be apprehensive of Troy's med-tech, just because she reacted to some weird stuff they use in Roma ;-)
@antrik, I typed almost the same reply to the regenerex issue, and then saw your response and erased it. :D
As far as the bruise on Lynn's face, I would bet that the second she stepped off the Navarro, she headed straight here, and didn't stop for treatment of any kind. While she was IN the Navarro, she was piloting. She hasn't had or made time for treatment of her boo-boo.
@megados well, she did take time for a change of clothes at least :-) And since she is in a medical facility anyway, I don't think sicking some nanites on her bruise would take much extra time... Especially since for the last couple of hours, she's just been watching vids.
Sheela has a salient point, too. She might not even be paying any attention to it. She would have had to clean up to get in to see Acantha, and I think that Acantha is first and foremost on her mind. While it can indeed be argued that she HAD the time, she may simply have not made the time. Its not high on her list.
Lynn isn't really bothered by it she has actually forgotten about it. this medical facility is a emergency one and is set up on the fly. ( And its better than most hospitals. ) But yes Lynn grabbed clothing from home and a shower and came right to see Acantha and get her vid tablet. She had bearly had time to say hi to anyone in the tower.. as for mom .. wait.
@CentComm my assumption was that Calliope was simply waiting to meet them, when the whole merry Navarro band arrived from Roma?...
Of course I'm very curious for the various events that transpired in the meantime. Such as, the moment Dr. Bitchy first sees Dolly. Wouldn't want to miss the epic crow-eating for anything :-)
I think she knows that Lord Headcase didn't have the legal power to replace the Lord General at his whim. Since Maxus survived the assassination attempt -- and also, Lord Headcase is no more -- I'd say she has no reason to assume the current Lord General is someone else than Maxus...
I suspect he did have the power to replace him on a whim -- he just didn't have the power to legally execute him on a whim. ^_^ He didn't go through the formal steps of replacing hm, since he was expecting that to be unnecessary once Maxus was dead -- leaving the matter in a gray area of which Maxus and Tennyo were later able to take advantage. (Just my opinion, of course.)
Well, Maxus himself concluded, "Then Decimus has realized that he cannot remove me legally" (see "Nos morituri te salutamus...", presently at http://datachasers.thecomicseries.com/comics/1201 ) -- and considering Maxus is very smart and well-informed in general, I'm trusting his conclusion.
I interpreted that "remove" as meaning "remove from the political landscape", i.e., 'silence permanently' (whether by exile, bribery, assassination, or whatever), rather than simply "remove from his current command". But, @antrik, you may have the right of it -- I am often wrong about such interpretations. Maxus appeared (appears) to enjoy significant respect, reputation, and political influence in his own right, so Decimus might well have been technically able to demote him, but been unable (realistically) to afford the political fallout such a maneuver would have triggered.
This shows that, unlike her brother, she knows who the different Cassians are. Then again, given that she was brought up by Max, that's hardly surprising.
Well, with Lord Headcase, the situation is actually rather ambivalent: he *did* know the names of the various Cassians when he assembled his hit squad (see "King of Swords ( Reversed )", presently at http://datachasers.thecomicseries.com/comics/1145 ); but he didn't seem to recognise Noctis later ("Status Report", presently at http://datachasers.thecomicseries.com/comics/1251 ). Unless he only knew them by name, but not how they look -- which seems unlikely -- I guess that was just another symptom of his declining remnants of sanity...
I hate to be the Grammar Nazi, but... My brain screams at me that this should be written as Highness', instead. Though, it would still be pronounced as one might say, Highness's.
I was taught this: To write the possessive of a noun that ends with an "s" the apostrophe goes at the end - no exception.
As such, the possessive of James would be James' and the possessive of Princess would be Princess'.
That's what we have been told in school as well. (Learning English as a foreign language.) However, since then I found that in practice it's often (indeed perhaps more often?) actually written out -- e.g. in Bridget Jones's Diary.
(I for my part adopted the spelled out variant willingly, since it's more logical, and less ambiguous with singular vs. plural.)
I remember seeing on TV recently (ie within the past 5 years) a grammar expert saying that a possessive always has an apostrophe and an extra "s" (with the exception of "its"). Of course, it could be one of those things that shows that English is less of a common language than we like to think.
I know that back when I was in high school (many years ago), the rule was definitely as I stated. However, not all experts will agree 100% of the time. And there is such a thing as 'language drift', especially with the The Great Linguistic Melting Pot that is English. I'm not too surprised that there are some English experts who claim just the opposite now. (They're probably trying to dumb down the rules to make it easier to learn.) However, I'm certain that there are some English experts who would agree with me.
The Chicago Manual of Style states that a name/noun ending in an "s" acquires an apostrophe and another "s" when it becomes a possessive. I recognize that other options are acceptable in common use, but that shit never, ever looks right to me.
Speaking of things not looking right or maybe of alliteration...It took me about 15 minutes to come up with this....
To the Aeneas status, can Noctis reply...
No, Nocti doesn't seem right in any scenario. If you go by actual Latin declinations, Nocti would be the singular dative. Plural would be Noctes (nominative) and Noctium (genitive); while singular would be Noctis both nominative and genitive. (Well, strictly, the nominative is Nox if we go by the actual word... But since this a name, let's just pretend it's already Noctis in the nominative, and extrapolate from other words with the same pattern.)
All this really shows that it makes little sense to try using Latin declinations in English -- they just don't fit with the rest of the grammar.
@Gilrandir indeed I meant declension... I didn't realise it's a different word in English -- both German and Polish use "declination" for this meaning. Whoops.
You are quite right, @antrik, that it is not a grammar issue. Also, your English is worlds better than my non-existent Polish or German, so you are to be recognized for your superiority in that arena. <bow>
There should be a specific collective noun we can use to describe groups of exactly 8 Noctes. That way we could write "3C was besieged by a Noctopus", and there would be no confusion. ^_^
"The contingencies activated. All of the septic systems in Nova Roma started flowing in reverse, so that no one could even tell that Decimus had PASSED. A few people almost caught on, because they had Less excrement than usual to deal with."
---------------
For Aeneas, Noctis could have said, "Defragging". That would have been correct both digitally and physically.
Just don't de-frag Decimus. His fragments need to be transferred beyond the Customs sector, on a silver platter.
The murderturds would find the fragments fragrant. They might rant about the Decimus fragments being such meager portions. The Customs inspectors hate the murderturds' frag rants.
Luckily, Kali made very sure Lord Headcase is far beyond "defragging" :-)
(And feeding the remains to the resident scythe lizard seems a good plan for getting rid of them...)
As for Aeneas, I'd say his current state is more like syncing -- defragging would probably better describe what Loverboy Kyle, Rosie, and the Treasures were doing...
As I pointed out above since I didn't see the Alliteration Alley here Debugging could work, I mean there may have been some outside unless Aenaes was regularly torching the terrain through terror.
Acantha seems to be in full possession of her facilities, fairly sure Lynn has seen Mama-san has seen to Dolly and grabbed her tablet to binge watch her soaps. She probably has told Cent in no uncertain terms Acantha is both a guest of the Taylor's and is Lynn's sister from another mother. She will stay in the Taylor's building with Lynn and if Cent doesn't like sit on a magnent. She has grown quite a bit maturity wise and she is a Taylor.
There isn't a hosp in Taylor Towers so of course she's in 3C was referring to her recovery period. There is adequate security MORE comfortable surroundings and exposure to Dolly, and various android personas and they way they are accepted.
That's the Noctis we all love and enjoy...the one ready to do whatever is needed of her. Seriously though she must be going bonkers unless she has worked out some way to establish communications back to Nova Roma, She was the one in charge of Black Palace Communications after all.
"Yes Princess. Decimus and Aeneas are fragged and defragging, respectively. Kali and Nova Roma likewise have been destroyed, and spared destruction by, their respective contingencies."
Anybody else notice that, apart from coloration and, you know, inconsequentials like the presence or absence of biology ...
Noctis and Acantha have faces that are more similar than a lot of full sisters? Noctis' lips are a little bit fuller, but otherwise - shape of face, bone structure, nose, proportion and placement of eyes ... either of them could be what the other sees in a mirror.
I have to disagree there. While I'm not good at recognising faces, comparting them side by side, I see differences in the shape of pretty much every feature...
I noticed you're "it's my birthday" comment and asked Cent if she could take some time off making Friday's page to put together a Ceci pic for you :) Happy birthday!
I guess they don't wanna give up their US Standard Unit Craftsman® tools, that are still under warranty. xD
With our Authoresses however there MIGHT be some Senators who might try a power grab and try to get someone OTHER than Maxus appointed as Regent.
As for Tennyo, she isn't or shouldn't be Maxus' 2IC, she is the 2IC of Cassians under Noctis. Maxus' 2IC would have to be one of his subordinate officer in the Nova Roma Military.
All Tennyo should be allowed to do is as an assistant and facilitator. Cassian's stand OUTSIDE of the Nova Roman Military chain of command.
The Cassian's serve the throne,(For the Greater Good)the military serves the state and it's emperor/empress/Imperator/Imperatrix.
The military serves who is on the throne, the cassians serve THE throne.
ETA: As to who is the current CIVILIAN leader of Nova roman, that SHOULD be the President of the Senate or a Prime Minister if New Rome has one.
The church is going to be an important factor, I think.
Under most normal circumstances (and we presume so for Nova Roma until told otherwise), the Military is tasked with defense, while the Civil Authority is tasked with maintaining civil order. (Note: There are many autocratic regimes where this is not true and there is no separation between Military and Civil Authority -- however canon evidence suggests this does not apply to Nova Roma.) Both answer to the Head of State, since it is from him that both of them derive their power and authority.
"Martial Law" specifically breaks down this separation and the Military assumes the authority and responsibility for maintaining civil order. Thus the military Commander-In-Chief becomes the ultimate civil authority until such time as civilian control is restored. (Typically after such time as whatever emergency prompted the declaration of Martial Law in the first place has been resolved and control is returned to the civilian authorities in an orderly fashion.)
If you have multiple, independent, 'supreme authorities', each independently determined to enforce civil order, and none of them officially answering to the other, the technical term for that is 'Warlordism', or (in an extreme case) 'Anarchy'. In such case, of course, there are actually multiple Commanders-In-Chief, or none at all. So, hypothetically, it could be argued that Maxus is one warlord, and Noctis is the other. The Princeps (First Speaker) of the Senate may well be a third, assuming the Senate has its own guard. And, of course, Setorius, as Primate of the Church with command of the Templars may well be a fourth. If there is a single military Commander-In-Chief, with unified command over all these various forces in the interim until the Crown is confirmed to Acantha or a Regent selected, that person has not yet announced themselves (as far as I know, anyway).
If the military is someone you trust then you also don't have to worry about a coup..
As I said, I don't know the laws there, so I can't be certain, but that's my take on it.
Obviously, all the rules change once the Senate confirms someone as either Ruler or Regent, but that hasn't happened yet.
edit: Sorry, Rose, I did not know you were posting. (And thank you)
Also, AIUI the whole point of this discussion is that the Cassians following another leader's orders only voluntarily, apparently doesn't follow the definition of martial law.
Or, more to the point, that's how martial law works here and now. In DataChasers, it works however the creative team says it does. And, of course, if a 21-year-old, green-as-grass lieutenant tries to give orders to a police chief with 35 years of real-world experience, no matter what the law says, the results may not be what the lieutenant expects. (But then, as a rule, police chiefs aren't equipped with inhibitors.)
Her motivation is irrelevant here. The fact is simply that she follows orders only selectively, which was the whole point here.
As Rose pointed out, the Church handles the local security forces, aka, police. Maxus lets them do the policing. He can, but probably wouldn't order them around. Before she left, Noctis ordered the Cassians to obey Maxus. This was a legal order and they HAVE to obey. Maxus can now legally order the Cassians, and they HAVE to obey. (except Noctis)
*OR*
Noctis: "Oh, that old thing? It went offline years ago!"
The Cassians are presently under Maxus's direction, per the orders of their Princeps.
The Church's troops are a security force that are, by tradition, at the Lord General's command in a case of martial law. However, the Lord General is usually savvy enough to direct them to carry on with their usual duties--protecting the Church's assets and personnel. In this case, that means they'll be securing the medical facilities and providing cover for the medics who are going into the streets to pick up the wounded. (And yes, they're pretty pissed off about all that fire.)
The Senate has no independent guard; they are legally barred from having one. Senators may have their own bodyguards, but general security is provided by the military.
The Cassians and their Princeps answer directly to the Throne*. In the absence of a confirmed ruler, they are to follow whatever course of action the Princeps judges to be in the best interests of the Throne.
* "Throne" is generally interchangeable with "Crown" in this context. I settled on using the former instead of the latter as a sort of private, personal joke.
Nova Roma may consider herself fortunate that Maxus and Noctis are essentially in close agreement about what is best for the city-state at this time. Could get a bit ... messy, otherwise. ^_^
cuz that's what i said,!!! ,, not the same words , but the same thing..
she is MUCH better wordsmith than i ever hope to be.!
There are more than a few criminal organizations, (that include corrupt senators) which will be threatened by Acantha's ascension to the throne. If Acantha were murdered while here, it would be easy to pin the blame on New Troy, Cent-Comm, and maybe even the Taylors.
I can't wait to see how things play out. If (meaning when) things go off the rails here, it'll be really interesting to see how the Nova Romans and the New Trojans end up working with and against each other. I'd love to see Noctis, Dolly, and several Black Angels working together to protect Acantha and the Taylors.
And, since Tokyo Rose will certainly be involved somehow, I'd love it if a certain familiar face reappeared on a "shiny" new frame, just in time to save "Mommy"... this time, with her Yin and her Yang working hand in hand... or paw in hand, as the case may be. ;)
@antrik, it's true we don't exactly know Aeneas' final personality after restoration. For all we know he is sitting there fuming over how he hates humans, because they betrayed him, and turned him into a cybernetic vegetable. A lot is going to hinge on his perception of this big mess. One thing I like to mention, is that Acantha had, and should still have, a rapport with Aeneas. That's gotta count for something.
For some reason, I think Aeneas will stick to his original plan, which was getting Acantha on the throne .. which he has been planning since he was insane.
@Megados :
I think he will stick with Acantha, since she was such a major influence on him while he was all alone. And he knows she likes Maxus, so Maxus is probably safe. He also knows that Setorius stood up for her, so he's probably safe as well. Well .. relatively safe.
@Gilrandir :
True, but it's also a solution, that allows the people in power to *stay* in power, in their respective area.
Sure, they have the opportunity to try and grab *all* the power, but if they are going to do that, they will probably have to fight Maxus for it, and .. well .. I don't think they want to. :D
Heck, even old man Setorius would think twice about that. And the senators would have to fight *both* Maxus *and* old man Setorius !!
The fact that Acantha has the backing of both those esteemed gentlemen, means a lot for her chances of sitting on the throne.
Trauma's like that could change his personality a great deal.
It could even make him .. political !
Having said that, while he will let the Roman rulers do their thing, and follow their commands as long as he deems them appropriate, my understanding is that he has the means and willingness to oppose them, whenever he finds they are doing something really stupid: such as, aggression against other states. Clearly he has some programming for this -- otherwise, there would have been no motivation for the coup against him in the first place.
So while he has no ambition for ruling absolutely, it can be argued that he is indeed the ultimate power in Roma.
Most likely he won't see the need to exercise this power any time soon, if the Senate confirms Acantha and Maxus. If they decide otherwise though, and put someone else in power who turns out to be another dick, the situation could play out quite differently...
That said, Acantha came to him when he was at his lowest, and gave him the Cookie of Good Intentions (not to be confused with the Fork of Truth, which is also not Morton's Fork). So she is possibly the only human that Aeneas trusts completely.
Trust will never be "absolute", but it can be fairly deep, which is what I meant.
As was mentioned, she has the bearing of a ruler!
Dialog and visuals are very "real"
But seriously, if she does that well with those drugs, I am even more impressed! :D
Are we going to stab Acantha again ?
Can Noctis do it ?
Well scripted as always!
I am surprised a bit that she is inquiring again after Maxus and Irene, considering that she had already been informed of the failure of the assassination... Let's hope it's just extra concern, not partial amnesia.
Another surprising bit is her question about Kali. It *does* make sense for her to inquire, so she understands what kind of orders Noctis is operating under -- it just seems surprising it would be one of the first things to come to her mind...
Alive and well, but still under threat.
So, asking did they make it through is prudent.
Also, she was fatally injured just before Kali delivered her final service. From her perspective, Kali could have been merely badly damaged. Probably not, but she did have this whole dying thing to deal with.
Thinking about it, I guess it's not *entirely* surprising: since she didn't know about "Libertatem" AIUI, I guess she might have expected Kali would come after her when she shot Decimus... Still, his fate would seem more immediately relevant to understanding the current situation.
Maxus & Irene is surrogate family, Aeneas her best friend, Kali is sort-of-family even if unfriendly, and Deck *was* family.
The contingencies weren't family, but they were just that important ! >_<
You're right. She survived.
However, there was no way she would have pulled through barring heroic efforts, which were made.
On her own, however, the wounds she received would have been quite fatal.
*pant*
*pant*
*pant*
I wouldn't be surprised if a selfie of her bruised face, captioned "I took on a dick-tater, and lived to tell about it!" was posted to her social media page, as soon as she got ahold of her tablet. Less than a millisecond later, Cent-Comm would've blocked it.
If Lynn was allergic against nanites (I don't think that's even possible...), she would have known. She didn't know about the regenerex allergy, because they don't use anything like that in Troy. She has no reason suddenly to be apprehensive of Troy's med-tech, just because she reacted to some weird stuff they use in Roma ;-)
As far as the bruise on Lynn's face, I would bet that the second she stepped off the Navarro, she headed straight here, and didn't stop for treatment of any kind. While she was IN the Navarro, she was piloting. She hasn't had or made time for treatment of her boo-boo.
You'd be surprised at the level of pain a person can ignore.
Of course I'm very curious for the various events that transpired in the meantime. Such as, the moment Dr. Bitchy first sees Dolly. Wouldn't want to miss the epic crow-eating for anything :-)
Like - Lynn is so badass, that the bruise is afraid of hurting her! :D
"Princess, your brother had me eliminate numerous people, for lesser puns that that."
"Well, no more capital PUN-ishment for criminally bad puns, from HEAR out."
"Thank you, Princess." (Heh. Malati, I may well join you in the Celestial Bit Bucket, before this day has... parsed.)
Dead princess she escorted your brother to hades after he stabbed you to ensure he is thrown in the propped eturnal hell for his deeds
But that's just me
{edit}
I think she knew that Decimus appointed someone to replace him.
Guess we'll never know, now. ^_^
I hate to be the Grammar Nazi, but... My brain screams at me that this should be written as Highness', instead. Though, it would still be pronounced as one might say, Highness's.
I was taught this: To write the possessive of a noun that ends with an "s" the apostrophe goes at the end - no exception.
As such, the possessive of James would be James' and the possessive of Princess would be Princess'.
(I for my part adopted the spelled out variant willingly, since it's more logical, and less ambiguous with singular vs. plural.)
Rose writes the way people "speak" sometimes that may set off grammar alerts. Trust me she is a grammar judge from hell.
To the Aeneas status, can Noctis reply...
"Debugging."
it could be true...
So, @Tokyo Rose, if Noctis cloned herself, you would have Noctis', and if she owned the other, it would be Noctis's Noctis' ?
Of course, if she created more than one clone, we would have Noctis's Noctises... And Noctis's Noctises' swords ;-)
All this really shows that it makes little sense to try using Latin declinations in English -- they just don't fit with the rest of the grammar.
I'm pretty sure you meant 'declensions'.
That's not a grammar issue, though :-)
sounds about right to me!
... I suppose, upon consideration, you might well be right. What an amazing thing! ^_^
---------------
For Aeneas, Noctis could have said, "Defragging". That would have been correct both digitally and physically.
Just don't de-frag Decimus. His fragments need to be transferred beyond the Customs sector, on a silver platter.
The murderturds would find the fragments fragrant. They might rant about the Decimus fragments being such meager portions. The Customs inspectors hate the murderturds' frag rants.
Luckily, Kali made very sure Lord Headcase is far beyond "defragging" :-)
(And feeding the remains to the resident scythe lizard seems a good plan for getting rid of them...)
As for Aeneas, I'd say his current state is more like syncing -- defragging would probably better describe what Loverboy Kyle, Rosie, and the Treasures were doing...
Hmmmmmm . .
I'd say that heart transplant surgery still isn't an out-patient procedure, even in this future.
There is an odd symmetry to it...
Noctis and Acantha have faces that are more similar than a lot of full sisters? Noctis' lips are a little bit fuller, but otherwise - shape of face, bone structure, nose, proportion and placement of eyes ... either of them could be what the other sees in a mirror.
My mother always got names mixed up between me and my siblings. I think it's an hereditary wiring error in my brain. :D
Well, enjoy the cake! :-)
And enjoy the sun-carrouselle!
Happy Birthday Rashala...
Though I still plan feeder fueled revenge.............after cake!