[sup][h1][center][img]https://speedforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/relaunch-banner-gl.jpg[/img][/center][b][center][color=black] G R E E N L A N T E R N[/color] [color=green]G R E E N L A N T E R N[/color][/center] [/b][/h1][/sup] [hr] [color=gainsboro]Hal clamboured over subterranean rocks, stumbling and mumbling.[/color] [color=green]"In Brightest Day..."[/color] [color=green]"Hup-- In-- Brightest Day..."[/color] [color=gainsboro]He trips, rocks clatter. And suddenly the clattering of something else - chitinous legs - begin to clatter louder now.[/color] [color=green][sub]"In Brightest Day..."[/sub][/color] [color=gainsboro]He whispers hoarsely.[/color] [color=green][sub]"In Brightest Day..."[/sub][/color] [color=gainsboro]He looked behind him, as he continued to reach forward for his destination.[/color] [color=green][sub]"In Brightest day... In Brightest Day..."[/sub][/color] [color=gainsboro]Behind him, the rocks nearest the entrance to the cave still held enough light from the distant day that their photoluminescent glow dimly backlit the silhouettes of the clattering creatures. The Brood. They knew there was a presence here. And they scavenged on desperate for the new warm place to keep their eggs.[/color] [color=mediumspringgreen][i]So... Aren't I the popular one? Hal Jordan. Cosmic cop of Sector 2,814. How'd I get myself in this situation where I'm scrambling, powerless for my life from what seems to be a small to moderate nest of Brood based somewhere off of their Homeworld? Well, I guess to understand that, you need to understand some things about the ring...[/i][/color] [hr] [center][img]https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/superheroes/images/8/81/Gnort.jpg[/img][/center] [color=gainsboro]A furry upright dog-like alien is chasing his tail, with frantic intent.[/color] [color=mediumspringgreen][i]The ring's power, whilst being almost infinite in scope and limited mostly to the mind of the user, is not unlimited in it's duration. When the Guardians of the Universe created the rings with the intent of empowering a law and order force to watch over the entire universe, they were mindful of the potential for corruption and abuse of power. ...although as what exactly their definition of corruption is that they haven't intervened already, I sure would like to know...[/i][/color] [color=gainsboro]The doglike creature stands upright and scratches its head.[/color] [color=seagreen][b]"Umm..."[/b][/color] [color=mediumspringgreen][i]So what the Guardians did is they ensured that the rings required to be "Powered up" and charged, at regular intervals which they determined. They based these intervals on the gradual rotation of their home planet Oa. It just so happened that the amount of time they landed on was roughly a day. Well... twenty four hours, three minutes and twelve seconds - I timed it out once at home just to be certain, because when the thing that provides you with all life support when you're flying through space... well, you want to be sure. You can't really "Get out and push". Anyway, you might be thinking to yourself, "A day? That's not very long. My cell phone has more juice than that." Well, thing is that number never changes. The charge doesn't degrade. It's been twenty four hours, three minutes and twelve seconds as long as I've had the ring. It was twenty four hours, three minutes and twelve seconds for when Abin Sur, the guy before me had the ring. Twenty four hours, three minutes and twelve seconds when the guy before him had the ring, and it'll be twenty four hours, three minutes and twelve seconds when I'm long since returned to cosmic dust and the next spacecop has the ring. I'm pretty sure your L-Phone can't claim that... And I get better coverage as well.[/i][/color] [color=gainsboro]The doglike alien checks it's "pockets", and is looking under assorted rocks. Behind trees. Again it scratches its head. It holds it's hands out in despair, with a pleading look on its face.[/color] [center][img]https://townsquare.media/site/622/files/2010/01/gnort.jpg[/img][/center] [color=mediumspringgreen][i]Yes, yes, G'nort. We're getting to you. So anyway... rings charge lasts a day pretty much regardless what we use them for... how do we charge them? Well, that's where the "Green Lantern" name comes in. There is a physical, solid charging device. Takes the appearance of a large light source. Humans, english-speakers, it translates out as a green lantern. Hence the name of the corps. Insert the ring into the lantern, repeat the oath we all Corps members received when given the ring, there you go, like magic - although, I don't know if it technically is magic... Huh... maybe it is..? - anyway, it charges the ring and you have yourself another day. But it ties each Corps-member to a sizeable, and frankly cumbersome physical object. So the question becomes, "What do you do with it?" and you have a few options. You can keep your cumbersome physical object in a cumbersome physical space. Some leave it on their homeworld, some, like my predecessor Abin Sur, well, they chose to fly around in a ship rather than use the ring's power and then have their lantern with them wherever they may be. Now this has a few obvious shortcomings. The lantern can be lost, it can be in a place too awkward or difficult for the corpsmember to get to, potentially leaving said corpsmember stranded and powerless. Or its presence can also add risk to a Green Lantern's own homeworld - as, for that matter, can personal ties. But we'll get to that later... So what's the other option? Well, as mentioned before, the rings are [b]INFINITELY[/b] versatile. hey actually possess the power to open up a pocket dimension - a space [b]OUTSIDE[/b] of space - in which the Corps member's lantern can be stored. Corpsmembers are shown how to do this in basic training, because most come from species who don't perceive time and space in such a way that doing so would naturally occur to them.[/i][/color] [color=gainsboro]The upright dog howls in despair.[/color] [color=mediumspringgreen][i]Now the downside of this is the Green Lantern's own ability to charge his ring becomes tied to the notion of the Corpsmember's ring having power left to start with. Take our friend G'nort here. G'nort has used the "pocket dimension" storage method, and foolishly--[/i][/color] [color=seagreen][b]"Hey!"[/b][/color] [color=gainsboro]The dog-creature objects.[/color] [color=mediumspringgreen][i]--foolishly waited too long to produce his lantern from the pocket dimension, now leaving it stranded there since his ring no longer has power. There is a third option... you can also, if both corpsmember's will it so, re-charge a ring off of another ring. But this is somewhat inefficient, since it can only do so at about a 33% loss. Or in other words, charging one ring 2% will come at the loss of 3% from the other ring. Of course since rings are potentially capable of FTL or Faster than Light travel, very little is needed to either get to the destination where the corpsmember keeps their lantern, or to simply open the pocket dimension to re-charge their ring in full. ...but let's not forget, there are currently 7,204 Green Lantern Corpsmembers and they patrol 3,600 sectors of space. So... there's not that many to potentially charge a ring off of. It is recommended by the Guardians and at basic training that should two or more corpsmembers find themselves collaborating on a case, they should space out charging their rings at intervals to assure there is possible backup in case of emergencies. It is sensible policy--[/i][/color] [color=seagreen][b]"So... uh... Give me a jump?"[/b][/color] [color=gainsboro]The dog-creature asks.[/color] [color=mediumspringgreen][i]Oh. Umm... Yeah, you're not really here though. You're a hypothetical G'nort. The real one's actually... Where are you again? I think you're in Sector 68.[/i][/color] [color=seagreen][b]"Beg y'rs..? I'm not here? Hypothetical? What do you mean?"[/b][/color] [color=mediumspringgreen][i]Yeah, you're not actually here. In this case you're hypothetical. I was--[/i][/color] [color=seagreen][b]"Are you kidding me?! I'm not real?! I'm a cosmic joke?! My suffering is just the result of some kind of some sick joke of a malevolent God's sense of humour?! A god that just seeks to make an example out of me!"[/b][/color] [color=mediumspringgreen][i]Well, I'm not a god. But yeah, I was just using you to make an example of what can potentially--[/i][/color] [color=seagreen][b]"Yeah, no, that actually checks out now that I think about it... My whole life. Things-- Things actually seem to kind of make sense now. Huh... It's not all my fault. I'm just-- God's just making an example out of me..."[/b][/color] [color=gainsboro]The dog creature starts to walk away, feeling revivified, with renewed confidence in his understanding of his place in the universe.[/color] [color=mediumspringgreen][i]Wait--! No! Not your whole life! Just this occasion here! With you leaving your lantern-- Ah well. I'm sure he'll be alright. Anyway, where were we? Ah yes. Rings charge. Twenty four hours, three minutes twelve seconds. Keep your lantern either in the physical world or sub-space. Don't let the juice run out. So let's go back a little bit before...[/i][/color] [hr] [h3][b][i]Earlier...[/i][/b][/h3] [color=gainsboro]Hal Jordan touches down on the planet's surface. A starfreighter crew been found with much of it's crew slaughtered and it's cargo stolen. They were hiding out somewhere on this wilderness planet, bereft of civilised life, as far as he could tell. Waiting him out for an opportunity to planet hop again, once it was clear to do so. The planet's yellow sun was scorching, so he took a moment's respite in the most remarkable cave. The rock's in the cave seemed to be covered in some kind of photoluminescent material. It would absorb and emit low light back, like the glow-in-the-dark stickers his ceiling was covered in as a child. He walked in deeper and deeper and opened the pocket dimension for his lantern to charge his ring. ...and then he heard screaming. Hal put his lantern down and clamboured, scrambling and running out of the cave where he then looked across the planet's wasteland... and he saw it. The shade was coming. And before it, the wave. Due to some kind of gravitational anomaly due to the relatively close proximity to the great yellow sun, nightful was preceded by a colossal wave of a sandstorm. Like a giant tsunami, of less dense sand particles in the throes of the falling sun's gravitational pull. Before the planet would enter the "great night" it's surface would be covered with sand anew. Hal ran and scrambled, he clamboured back into the protection of the well lit cave, just as the sandstorm sealed its entrance. But the photoluminescence from the rocks and rockwalls near the entrance had caught so much light that they provided far more than ambient lighting. Exposed to more light, they had absorbed a great deal and when the light source is everywhere it was enough to seem artificially bright, even if the process was entirely natural. Hal ran his hand along the wall half expecting it to be warm, with it's light, but it was cool to touch.[/color] [color=green]"Well-- I suppose I'm here for a while then..."[/color] [color=gainsboro]He said to himself. Only to be answered by a distant chittering. Something else was here. And Hal was pretty sure he'd just tipped off that he was too. He looked down at his hand, and remembered he was about to charge his ring. And the Lantern was-- He looked further into the depths of the cave. It was darker there. The rocks further in the cave hadn't been exposed to as much daylight, for the photosynthetic process to absorb. Then in horror he watched as it got darker still. The creeping darkness approaching him. As rocks further into the cave had been emitting what little light they had already absorbed, and fell into darkness.[/color] [color=green][sub]"Shit!"[/sub][/color] [color=gainsboro]He hissed out his curse in a hushed tone. The chittering reply told him it was not hushed enough. And around him, from directions unknown, he heard the clattering of exoskeleton legs falling on stone. Hal matched it, with his own boots pounding rock. He thought back and realised the scream he'd heard earlier wasn't one of anguish from the oncoming sandstorm wave, and the doom it presented, but one of pain. Of being overwhelmed. How much juice was left in the ring? He didn't know. He knew he'd been cutting it pretty fine. Too fine. Stupid. He couldn't risk using it, making himself a bright obvious target as the light source and then having that light go dim when he might need it most. Sure, he couldn't see what was coming, but he hoped that cut both ways. He hoped. He knew he was around the area where he'd laid his Lantern to rest. He started desperately reciting the start of the oath in hope of falling upon it and speeding up the whole process.[/color] [color=green]"In brightest day--"[/color] [color=gainsboro]Stumbling.[/color] [color=green]"Hup-- In-- Brightest Day..."[/color] [color=gainsboro]Looking behind him, he saw the rocks nearest the entrance still held enough light from the distant day that their photoluminescent glow dimly backlit the silhouettes of the clattering creatures. The Brood. Hal remembered something about the Brood. They designed their nests in such a way that entrances and exits fell on the outside, so that prey would stumble its way deeper within the Brood-nest and the Queen itself. Of course before he got to the Queen herself he'd hit the nursery where the prey were contained whilst they-- ugh-- gestated, where he'd no doubt find himself dealing with the Warrior breed who protected the nursery, the weaker Nurse breed and of course the Queen herself. They were mustering him further into the nest, corraling him away from what their evolutionary process had taught them was any avenue of escape.[/color] [i]"So let's just find the lantern first."[/i] [color=gainsboro]He thought to himself.[/color] [i]"With that less than comforting thought..."[/i] [color=green][sub]"In Brightest Day..."[/sub][/color] [color=gainsboro]He whispers hoarsely.[/color] [color=green][sub]"In Brightest Day..."[/sub][/color] [color=gainsboro]He felt their presence closer now. They were on top of him![/color] [center][color=green]"In Brightest Day--!"[/color][/center] [color=gainsboro]He was warmed by a sudden emerald glow, which illuminated the cavern and caused all of the Brood to clatter back briefly at the new development.[/color] [i]"Oh Hell, yes!"[/i] [center][color=green]"In Blackest Night, No evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might, Beware my power-- [b]GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT![/b]"[/color][/center] [color=gainsboro]Suddenly the entire cavern was filled with a flash of the brightest green light, and seconds later an emerald bottle seemed to fire out of the cave like a bullet from a gun. Three Brood was chattering and clattering their fanged jaws against the hard-light bottle's surface, as they still searched for a way in. The bottle took to the sky, before it exploded in a spray of verdant pyrotechnics, revealing Hal carrying his Lantern like a football. The Brood fell back to the planet's surface. Hal searched beyond for an ion trail, but found nothing. There was no sign of the space pirates having made any attempt at an escape. The sandstorm wave had swept over any all tracks and trace of life. This "abandoned planet" had become a home for Brood. And in light of not seeing any other signs of recent civilisation, and with no escape route he felt he could safely assume where they were. In a nursery in some unseen nest or another down below, housing the next generation of Brood. Hal sighed, and returned his Lantern to its pocket dimension, before taking to the stars. Far below, the last of the rocks at the mouth of the cave faded into darkness.[/color]