Episode 108: Anti-Thesis
Takes place 10-11 July 2012.
Short version
Paul wakes up in a new body made by Lantern Gozzi, then reintegrates his soul and goes with Kalmin to investigate Qward and stop the supply of qwa matter to the Reach.
Longer version
Paul finds himself incarnated in a new body, created by Lantern Gozzi, but with his memories fragmented and his Enlightenment Superpowers gone. He is able to recover his desires by spending time with the Central Power Battery, but still doesn't have his enlightenment, making him unable to access the Honden or commune with the Ophidian. Hinon provides him with a new ring, although it was designed for his full self and will be sub-optimal until he recovers.
With the aid of the Orange Lantern Corps' hired magicians, he gathers the fragments of his soul that remain around the site of his death, which helps, but he's still incomplete. Suspecting that his remaining soul portion may be in the Honden of Avarice, he prepares a ritual to help him access it, and confronts the Leentniar desires that became tangled with his soul, achieving a new level of understanding of others and ability to empathise with them. His Enlightenment Superpowers return, but his empathic vision now makes him feel others' desires as if they were his own.
With Paul's power restored, Kalmin immediately seizes him and brings him to the anti-matter universe to confront High Weaponlord Varnathon. The two of them learn that in addition to distributing qwa-energy and qwa-matter weapons, Varnathon has been culling creative or independent students and sending them for medical experimentation, and that the other members of Qward's ruling council are unwilling to act against him, with the exception of Kalmin's former student, Diataria Lysis. Upon confirming all of this, Kalmin opens fire and kills the council, with Paul and Lysis assisting him. Paul apprehends Varnathon, who rants about how he wanted to change Qward into a less nihilistic and more productive society, whereas Kalmin just wants to destroy all of existence; Paul is sympathetic, but doesn't want to risk Qward becoming less self-destructive and more organised, and lets Kalmin kill him.
The title likely refers to Kalmin's crusade to avenge himself on First Weaponer Varnathon and reform Qward. Note that Kalmin created the first anti-Green rings, known as the Antithesis Corps, and worships the Anti-Monitor.
- Absolute Xenophobe: After Kalmin sees that Varnathon and the Council of Commanders are no longer devoted to the Anti-Monitor, he decides to just kill them all, saving Varnathon for last. His former student, Weaponer Lysis, is spared because she helps him do it.
- Alternate Universe: We see Krono again. He's now working on creating alliances between various factions to attain peace, and to combat any other factions that don't want peace.
- Came Back Strong: When he recovers the orange portion of his soul and regains his enlightenment, Paul finds that his empathic vision is more intense, that he identifies more with the desires he's seeing rather than merely observing them.
- Decapitation Strike: It's unclear just how much of the Council of Commanders died when Kalmin opened fire at their meeting, but it was everyone who didn't run away, and it was a lot.
- De-power: Without his Orange Enlightenment, Paul loses many of his notable abilities, such as his universe-wide teleportation and his bond with the Ophidian. He can still use a ring, but is no longer the most powerful Lantern in the Corps.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Varnathon presents himself as this compared to Kalmin and traditional q'ardajin. He desires practical conquest, not the destruction of all life (including all q'ardajin) at the hands of the Anti-Monitor.Varnathon: We're a species governed by mad scientists! I'm in the process of changing our culture so that we'll become a normal empire, conquering people to exploit their resources and to swell our egos, not out of a sense of obligation to a god who quite literally wants to kill us!
- Oh, Crap!: Varnathon has this reaction when he learns that the ones he sold qwa-matter to, the Reach, are enemies of the Orange Lantern Corps.Paul: You're trading with the Reach.
Varnathon: Probably? Who are-? The ones with no noses and beetle-themed elite soldiers?
Paul: Yes. You sold them qwa-matter.
Varnathon: For which they paid extremely well. Access to their supply chains and distribution networks will enrich Qward without giving them anything radically different to the weapons they already deploy.
Paul: Are you aware that they're fighting the Orange Lantern Corps?
<beat>
Varnathon: Oh eat my marrow. - The Purge: Varnathon has been quietly sending any creative or independent-minded trainees for (frequently lethal) medical experimentation, so that no-one will oppose his reforms.
- This Is Unforgivable!: Kalmin is completely furious about the large volumes of qwa-matter that Varnathon has been providing to aliens, and returns to Qward to address the matter.
- Unrobotic Reveal: In his Powered Armor, Paul looks like a robot on casual inspection, and it suits Kalmin's purposes to treat him that way. Paul actually finds it quite good fun. Eventually Weaponer Lysis figures out that he's not acting like a mere robot (or at least not one that Kalmin would build).Kalmin: An automated weapon platform. It's an adequate aide, but it doesn't manage my life and it knows when to keep silent.
