Tefler from patreon - Three Square Meals Ch. 170 (Part 1)

To limit the number of times you can be charged per month before the end of the year to take care of that pesky second placeholder. Go to Membership -> Edit -> Payment Amount -> Set Monthly Limit and enter "1".

Tom Ray

2024-12-22 11:05:27 +0000 UTC

That body (Faye's) is still in need of both a mind and a spark of consciousness (a soul), ... and those chapters you mention are only a few days in TSM days (time), ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-10-01 14:38:24 +0000 UTC

Then how long will Fay’s body have to stay in stasis? 4? 5? 10 or more chapters? Or, will John look for a sneaky way around the problem? Alyssa/Athena The hard part here is that she/they is/are literally two aspects of one person. A multiple personality, but by intent instead of a disorder. If not, then Athena may already have the ‘spark’ of life. John would only need to separate her from Alyssa, and transfer her, and a copy of their memories to the new body. Or, perhaps, Just say, the heck with it, and have Alyssa absorb her. Although you might use the idea of Athena as the spark for Faye to skip around the issue of entering the deep astral, it would mean one of the personalities being lost. Either Faye, or, more likely, Athena.

MVFast

2024-09-07 21:39:37 +0000 UTC

Oh I like that. Robot Queen Faye.

ThunderBird Two

2024-09-07 15:16:23 +0000 UTC

Teller I think I’ve been one of the biggest critics of your placeholders I truly hate them lol but I just don’t see an end to them so I say just scrap them forget the backlog forget owing us all 8 chapters or however many it is and start afresh just forget about the ones you owe. I’m past it now I’m sick of fighting with people for £40 plus tax’s lol so end it all now by doing a vote on here just like the votes you’ve done before about which character you want artwork done next but do it for forgetting about what you owe us all and end this shit once and for all but if you do this you can’t ever start doing them again

Jim lynch

2024-09-06 07:51:04 +0000 UTC

If the progenitors are coming after John instead of each other, X will starve if they aren’t killing each other.

MVFast

2024-08-31 04:08:36 +0000 UTC

I also predict we will establish a telepathixlc connection to the collective.. once Dana figures out how to send and recive data Bio<>machine. I suspect that is also how we introduce the ashnaa(?) Into the fold to be strong batteries and perhaps communication relays for easy telepathic connection

Myrnalin

2024-08-31 02:57:11 +0000 UTC

🙂

MVFast

2024-08-31 02:52:42 +0000 UTC

Faye is the brigde between the collective and john.. I am confident she will be back soon. A full economical war is hard to avoid with X.. at some point he will just send 10 prognitors.. so how to avoid that? With robots ! We need Faye to be the AI Empress/Martriarch

Myrnalin

2024-08-31 02:50:39 +0000 UTC

-- Andrew may have thought up a Tef Twist way to bring Athena onto the Invictus and to join John's crew, .... amazing, ... If she can duplicate and separate from Alyssa, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-30 19:27:08 +0000 UTC

Faye’s body is there. It’s a bit early to enter her as a plot device, if she’s going to sit around until the end of the story. Athena It was explicitly said she’s a part of Alyssa’s mind.

MVFast

2024-08-30 17:50:06 +0000 UTC

I don't know, with how important Faye is to John, I feel like he won't want to take any chances. He's planning to defeat X anyway, and being immortal he can afford to be as patient as he needs to be. I hate to say it, and I hope it isn't true, but I think Faye might only be brought back after X is defeated, at the end of the story. As for Athena, my current theory is that she'll come through a portal from the Astral plane, like the Astral monsters did when John tried to bring back Rachel's mother and Alyssa's parents. It's not a direct relationship, as Athena is part of Alyssa's mind and so doesn't exist independently in the Astral like the monsters do, but maybe she'll find a way to separate herself without being absorbed. Then she would be a purely Astral entity like the monsters, and could maybe slip through a portal that opens during one of the Astral fights (possibly the one that occurs if they bring Faye back sooner?)

Andrew Shultes

2024-08-30 14:42:17 +0000 UTC

Yes, but he’s far more powerful now that he’s whole. He has access to all the runes, including some other progenitors don’t. Further, he’s linked with more girls, and is getting more energy from each of them than when he last tried it. Also, four of the new girls are nymphs, so that’s a great deal of energy. Obviously, raw power won’t be enough. X is very old, experienced, and far, far more powerful than John, so we’ll have to wait and see what twist Tef comes up with.

MVFast

2024-08-30 14:01:35 +0000 UTC

Not sure we will get Faye :( John has to delve deep in to the Astral where X lives, to get the spark of life for her, and now X knows he is coming. If they can move Fayes' digital mind in to a body, why not transfer Athena via a similar method too? I expect it won't happen, as she is being used a plot device to stop the gang becoming OP - 2 full power progenitors vs 1 would be very one sided.

ThunderBird Two

2024-08-30 09:43:01 +0000 UTC

My thoughts are, the rest of 170, and a 50/50 chance of 171. If we get 171, we almost certainly get Faye as well.

MVFast

2024-08-30 01:11:24 +0000 UTC

F5, F5, F5, sigh.

MVFast

2024-08-30 01:09:03 +0000 UTC

Oops! I mean the day after tomorrow.

MVFast

2024-08-30 01:08:36 +0000 UTC

Tomorrow!!!

MVFast

2024-08-30 01:08:10 +0000 UTC

F5, F5, F5…

MVFast

2024-08-30 01:07:57 +0000 UTC

Even though I know better…

MVFast

2024-08-30 01:07:38 +0000 UTC

Addendum… That’s over 20 fleets stuck in enemy territory he’d have to recover.

MVFast

2024-08-30 00:27:07 +0000 UTC

My guess? Logic would say, most/all would be from back in the empire. Training new warriors is likely to take more time than repairing his fleets, but… His attitude might be scorn on those whose ships got damaged. On the other hand, husking 10,000 people on the home worlds might be so demoralizing you’d think he’d want to avoid that. Assuming he’d even care.

MVFast

2024-08-30 00:25:48 +0000 UTC

-- Hey, we WILL get something, ... either a partial chapter #170, a completion to chapter #170, or hopefully a chapter #170 plus more, like a completed #171 too, .... fingers crossed, and I'm saying my anti-gallstone prayers, ... hopefully yours, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-30 00:05:07 +0000 UTC

Anyone willing to wager whether we’ll get part 2 or not? Anyone think Tefler is off his meds enough to try posting more placeholders? Sincerely hoping we get the rest of 170 and part or all of 171… fingers crossed 🤞🏼

EroticPoetic

2024-08-29 22:31:26 +0000 UTC

I think that Valeria is less evil than Edraele as she was a puppet of Gahldeadguy, Edraele did all those things for personal gain. One did for discipline, the other for power.

Green Seadragon

2024-08-29 00:10:25 +0000 UTC

I think the Progenitors lack of empathy is akin to a young gamer who acts out his fantasy of world domination. That's why John will clean up with assassinations.

Green Seadragon

2024-08-28 23:54:25 +0000 UTC

Yeah, it should be soon, .... but will we suffer a Tef Twist, .... and not really get our sweet Faye back? .... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-27 02:09:54 +0000 UTC

can you tell me when faye comes alive. I think it should be in this chapter but.....

Unctadsk

2024-08-26 01:54:12 +0000 UTC

They, mainly Cartwright will immediately demand john hand over all the empires to their hands. since he is still in paper working as a lowly rear admiral.

Unctadsk

2024-08-26 01:37:49 +0000 UTC

@Dominic...I'm not so sure about the well liked and respected part! The only emotions I got from her underlings were feelings of hatred, and extreme jealousy, at the position she held under her Progenitor's writ! And her ways were extremely heavy handed in dealing with the rank and file. As shown at the end there, they were willing to leave her behind in making their exit, with their fears of possible reprisals from the Maliri. They didn't though, as they realized there might be a need for her, but I don't know about the loyalty or respect aspects of that.

Greg Hill

2024-08-24 22:34:06 +0000 UTC

Knowing the key to the hyper-warp gate is Valaria’s reason for living. I was hoping she would die but someone has to have that key.

AzureReader

2024-08-24 15:06:57 +0000 UTC

Hey Dominic, are you by any chance an ancestor of, or a relation to Admiral Laurence Walker, Commadore Daniel Walker, and convicted traitor Tom Walker? ... 21st century to 28th century, .... that's a lot of generations, ... so maybe, huh? .... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-24 01:29:28 +0000 UTC

-- okay then, Teamwork is the answer, .... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-23 23:08:15 +0000 UTC

He might have husked thralls from his home empire. …edit to add, I’m late. This was already said.

MVFast

2024-08-23 21:43:07 +0000 UTC

Rahn'hagon(sic)...Papa Progenitor whom we haven't heard from in more than a year or so it seems.

Greg Hill

2024-08-23 18:53:10 +0000 UTC

I mean the Progenitors can control gravity, they could easily create planets

Kensyi

2024-08-23 16:43:30 +0000 UTC

Definitely end it with "please"

Kensyi

2024-08-23 16:38:17 +0000 UTC

Ran?

Kensyi

2024-08-23 16:27:42 +0000 UTC

Not if Racheal can cast barriers away from people

Kensyi

2024-08-23 16:25:40 +0000 UTC

-- Tef didn't say how or why Dominic, ... and Gally (Kal) might have just forgotten about them, but he really could have husked crew in all the stranded fleets, .... It would not have penalized him any, as he'd already written them all off, hundreds of thousands, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-21 22:25:21 +0000 UTC

Hey John, good idea, but I would not think so, .... and that one might be really hard to train for, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-21 22:18:28 +0000 UTC

Just a thought, can Dana park a black hole inside of a progenitors hexagon defenses?

John Degennaro

2024-08-21 21:40:37 +0000 UTC

Thoughtful comments, thank you. I agree with almost everything, however, after Dana nuked him from behind he was pretty panicked and may not have been as discriminating about where he pulled his power from. I also agree that these are things that John and the girls are going to have to solve. Likely that is the reason we are seeing these issues so dramatically now, because they will continue to crop up as they fight more progenitors if nothing changes

SilverBanshee

2024-08-20 17:02:31 +0000 UTC

I have a feeling he was husking thralls from the Empire, rather than his invading forces. It wouldn’t make sense to husk his military before the civilian population… not that ol’ Gally was one for finesse, but hopefully that was the case. Throughout the battle, i believe he husked about 100,000 thralls to repair himself - although i wasn’t keeping tally after each recovered injury. That would be the equivalent of one of his 30 fleets. As to how it would affect John and the girls if they were lives taken from the fleets, perhaps it would make them realize the cost of a drawn out duel, and how important it is to finish a progenitor quickly before he can begin draining his thralls. While the desire to preserve enemy thralls may seem benevolent, it is ultimately strategic in the long-term war against Xar’aziuth, where the intention is to starve him of his fuel, which is the pain, suffering and death of those in the Progenitor wars. Every time a progenitor dies, it seems billions of thralls suffer unthinkable agony, ending in mass suicide. In the future, as John gets stronger, he should be able to manipulate the decaying psychic network of a fallen progenitor, perhaps cleansing and restructuring it rather than letting it completely decay and need to be replaced.

EroticPoetic

2024-08-20 16:13:14 +0000 UTC

On top of her being a fount of military intelligence, Valeria is also significantly enhanced, psychically and physically. She’s also the undisputed leader of her special forces unit and the Military that saw countless victories under her command. She’ll be an invaluable asset as a guardian of the new Matriarch (i.e. Luna & Edraelle) if John is able to rewrite her personality the way he did with Edraelle and the other Matriarchs. The only risk is that John removed the compulsion to obey, which would give Valeria free will to express her true personality. However, John also removes jealousy and enmity between his wards, so it should still yield a positive result. As such she would maintain her purpose and position of authority among her thralls, but have a much more loving and fulfilling relationship with her Progenitor. It would also be amazing to see the Gladiatora spar with Sakura, Luna and the other Assassins. Ultimately, it would be great to recruit Valeria’s entire squadron to become the Galkiran Imperial Guard, and have them collectively train similar elite forces for each empire. There’s no denying Gahl’kagor’s prowess in combat, or the effectiveness of running a gladiator empire in the context of the Progenitor wars. Figuring out how to effectively incorporate the beneficial aspects of Galkiran gladiator culture into the military of the empires under John’s leadership, along with the autonomous self preservation of life strategies, using Calara and Jehanna’s guerrilla warfare tactics, will be incredibly valuable moving forward. Anyone else think it’s possible to have John keep multiple Thrall military forces housed on separate planets under the shroud until he’s defeated all the other Progenitors? Wouldn’t Kythshara be a perfect home-world for the Galkiran forces once they’re incorporated into the psychic network? There’s almost 3 MILLION of them after all, and 30 fleets of ships that need to be repaired and prepared for battle. The Collective and manufacturing facilities on Kythshara should be capable of being retrofitted for the task. Let’s hope chapter 170 can tie up some of these possibilities.

EroticPoetic

2024-08-20 15:28:06 +0000 UTC

I'm little confused about that too. It kind of felt like Helene's effort was completely pointless. I think it makes sense within the story, though: Alyssa asked for Helene's help to mitigate losses while John recruited a new matriarch. I doubt she expected Helene to do what she did. I suspect the main reason it was included is long term: it gives the Galkirans in the city a sense of joy and love that was very likely missing from their lives, which will probably help to start healing them from all the trauma they suffered under Gahl'kalgor.

Andrew Shultes

2024-08-20 00:02:31 +0000 UTC

So I was re-reading ch 169 while I wait with the faint hope of an update to 170, and I was struck by the fact that Gahl'kalgor husked more than 10,000 of his thralls himself when Valeria refused to send him any energy. I'm wondering where they came from. Will we find floating tombs among the stranded Galkiran fleets or will they come from back at the empire or a combination. It will be tough on John and the girls to find ghost ships after all their efforts to save the invaders. Clearly some portion of the Galkirans are alive (and running away) but some are also clearly dead from combat. suicide. etc. How many more are Gahl'kalgor's direct doing among the invasion forces?

SilverBanshee

2024-08-19 23:04:52 +0000 UTC

I’m confused about Helene’s teal wave and John’s blue wave being a few seconds apart. It was nice that Helene would try to save the thralls but why would Tef write it happening right before their being claimed? Perhaps a few thralls were saved in those seconds but I’m guessing there was more of a point. Maybe Helene did something we don’t yet understand?

AzureReader

2024-08-19 18:52:12 +0000 UTC

Obviously John and the girls have not seen Avengers: Infinity War. Movie night.

AzureReader

2024-08-19 18:36:24 +0000 UTC

She is important to learn about the current state of other Progenitors and how they operate. An intelligence asset. From the storytelling part, the continual theme of redemption makes her very interesting in the same way Ran is.

2ndAndrocentric

2024-08-18 15:51:05 +0000 UTC

What difference does the Valeria make now, she's no longer in charge of the psychic network! John had claimed the Galkirans at the end there, and selected a new matriarch from among them...so she's just the hired help now!

Greg Hill

2024-08-18 15:47:31 +0000 UTC

Fair, but she may know a lot of things that could be helpful.

Florida Reader

2024-08-18 01:58:36 +0000 UTC

It is a puzzle. Perhaps it was because John wasn’t knowingly claiming the Maliri when he added the twins?

HillCountryCowboy

2024-08-17 17:36:12 +0000 UTC

I think progenitor m.o. is to treat their matriarchs as necessary thralls, not to share deep dark secrets and Xar’s machinations with. Remember, Gally used to beat the sh*t out of his matriarch regularly. That’s not how you treat a confidante.

HillCountryCowboy

2024-08-17 17:31:30 +0000 UTC

The progenitors are evil. Destruction is a rush for them. Their motivation isn’t as much seizing assets for their empire, but in destroying others.

HillCountryCowboy

2024-08-17 17:26:29 +0000 UTC

thanks, I thought that John had to refeed the matriachs for his changed edict to apply. Luna was protecting aurelia because of the ensuring wariness from other Maliri. Speed of ‘claim’ , how long before the homeworld thralls are caught and/or suicidal actions?

stephen mincher

2024-08-16 20:02:49 +0000 UTC

@Florida Reader - Why should we care about Tom Walker?? Did you miss the little clue about his eyes?? Or about the genetic experiments used by High command that created the likes of Dana, Tom and more than likely Maddox? No doubt there’s going to be a big scandal involving the Children of the Eugenics Program in TFA High Command.

EroticPoetic

2024-08-16 15:40:02 +0000 UTC

@Stephen, when John introduced Aurelei to the other Matriarchs on Genthalis, they were able to be cordial and even become friends. All of his connected Maliri are able to put aside their instinctual enmity and abide by John’s wishes. Also, unconnected threats simply feel a sense of apprehension towards other thrall groups. However, because John changed the very nature of his connection to his network, i believe there is a possibility of creating true alliances between the ruling classes of each empire who are directly connected to John. More than likely, John will setup a similar structure in each empire with a head Matriarch, with a group of Young Matriarchs beneath them to rule the different ‘houses’ managing groups of inhabited planets. This governing body, all connected to John would be able to communicate with, and even meet with, the other governing bodies to create peaceful alliances across empires, all united under Kyth’vindathis/Baen’thelas/John. The result would be John starving Xar’ out slowly while preventing new Progenitors from emerging in conquered empires.

EroticPoetic

2024-08-16 15:34:35 +0000 UTC

Unfortunately, the stronger and more seasoned John gets, the faster we approach the end of TSM. As much as i dread all these placeholders, I’m dreading the conclusion of the saga that much more. Much like The Highlander, ‘there can be only One!’ If John can master recruiting a new Matriarch and also rehab the previous enemy’s Matriarch, he can claim the race and acquire all the Progenitors data and tactics, including defeated empires that he can claim uncontested, thereby preventing the emergence of neophyte Progenitors. But that again accelerates the demise of all Progenitors and hastens the final battle with Xar’aziuth.

EroticPoetic

2024-08-16 04:41:53 +0000 UTC

Oh I agree from a story-telling point of view. That's why I think it would be a good topic for the after battle wrap up. Might make Tefler's job a bit easier when a Progenitor can be one-shot though. There are still a few score out there.

Frostfyre

2024-08-16 00:33:50 +0000 UTC

I see your point about head shots and missed opportunities, but I also feel like the way things played out had a lot to do with storytelling. This was the first invasion level boss battle and to one shot kill might have felt a little anticlimactic in context. Larn was tough, but maybe C or B tier and John leveled up a bit after absorbing his guide. Gal represents more of an A tier effort with the invasion and all the effort, planning, resources, and time John and the girls put in to it. I feel like a quick death might have cheapened that effort. Going forward, I can completely see a scene where John quickly flattens another progenitor in seconds (think Raider of the Lost Arc - sword vs gun). Perhaps in a situation where the gang is facing multiple progenitors and one needs to go quickly. This battle feels like a step toward that more Uber power level. I believe we'll get there, but I think John and Co. are still "leveling up" and the head shots are not automatic quite yet

SilverBanshee

2024-08-15 14:30:32 +0000 UTC

when are you going to update this??? Don't wait and use the update at the end of the month!!!! you need to finish this chapter now, then post at least 1 full chapter at the end of month. no more excuses....

Tom Ray

2024-08-15 06:51:45 +0000 UTC

With John now having 3 major power sources - Edraelle unfortunately being out of the loop for now, but hopefully will awaken with Kyth’faren revelations & enhanced powers - and adding two more ‘virgin’ Matriarchs with the two additional claimed races, he’ll need to train the matriarchs to access their networks (once established) precisely and early in future battles. If Edraelle is any indicator, John’s network will be MASSIVELY upgraded by each new lovingly connected Thrall network. How the Matriarchs will handle the ‘Love Drunk Coma’ once the Galkyran fleet (2M+ thralls) is added with the typical heartfelt pep talk, and the Larathyrans come online with their rite of passage rituals, remains to be seen. With basically unlimited power access, John should be able to accelerate his rate of Conquered progenitors as well. If he’s able to acquire the Gladiatora Valeria, he’d have a working knowledge of all recently defeated thrall empires, allowing John the ability to ‘claim’ them - thus preventing the emergence of neophyte Progenitors - while expand his base further, thereby protecting those empires’ thralls and eventually putting himself on par with Xar for when they ultimately have their final battle, be it in the Astral realm or the physical. As a side note, Dana will ultimately have to come up with a counter to the Quantum Annihilator to prevent other Progenitors from destroying the home worlds of claimed species, since that will be an obvious tactic to counter John’s growing threat to Xar’aziuth himself.

EroticPoetic

2024-08-14 23:37:49 +0000 UTC

What new runes are you referring to? I can’t recall new runes being discovered or activated beyond the ones he used to forge Kyth’vidanthis and the others used to protect himself in the astral plane. I’m hoping i missed something here. I’d love for you to elaborate, and give an idea how you think they might be used.

EroticPoetic

2024-08-14 23:06:45 +0000 UTC

I think we should also add in that the story arc has developed significantly since then, possibly creating more complexity to ensure continuity. Tefler created a complete universe with loads of inter relations as well as parallel timelines...

VT

2024-08-14 19:53:07 +0000 UTC

Apparently she’s pretty maxed out in that department - basically one shield per 100 psychic weapons. She had to decide between dozens of psychic constructs vs 1 psychic mind shield. So basically she could potentially shield a few hundred thralls - potentially up to a thousand - but wouldn’t be able to protect her wards or help John in a battle with a progenitor. It appears the mental shield is incredibly expensive in terms of allocated psychic capacity for Alyssa.

EroticPoetic

2024-08-14 17:46:22 +0000 UTC

Correct, that's what I'm referring to. Now Krishan did have a trick up his sleeve. He was able to be in multiple places at the same time thus giving each one attention. I'm neither Hindu nor well versed in that VERY complicated religion. However, it would seem to me Jehanna could tell "Papa" that by being part of a harem of a blue signature Lord Baen'thelas already worshiped as a god by the Trankarans, that she's being even more traditional Hindu than her monogamous parents.

2ndAndrocentric

2024-08-14 17:37:45 +0000 UTC

FYI - Krishna was said to have married about 16000 women at one point (99% of them were former wives of a defeated enemy king, and would have had bad things happen to them if he hadn't married them).

Akram123456

2024-08-14 17:16:30 +0000 UTC

So I've been thinking about eventual conversation with Jehanna's parents. They're Hindus who have a thing with blue skin gods. There's plenty of interesting dialogue to go along with 1- the Maliri skin tone and perhaps ancient memories of them being like gods...that Jehanna now is intimate with 2- the multiple women Krishna was husband to (if you are a VERY traditional Hindu, harems should not be a problem) and 3- it has been brought up before, immortality being a problem

2ndAndrocentric

2024-08-14 15:46:28 +0000 UTC

Imagine John walking into a High Command meeting with all his matriarchs in tow and start listing off all the empires he not just lead; but outright owns. As in, I personally own every star system and military asset and my love slaves here manage it for me. Don't worry Admiral Caldwell, I'm too busy with my multiple harems to bother with the Terran Federation. Just don't mess with the Fernandez or Elanis please.

2ndAndrocentric

2024-08-14 15:41:18 +0000 UTC

SOP = Standard Operating Procedure, correct? In any case, a good story means that sometimes they do the best they can in a messy situation so I'm not bothered that Kaija was not a particularly "wounded little bird". Too much SOP becomes boring so unexpected variations are a good thing in moderation.

2ndAndrocentric

2024-08-14 15:37:17 +0000 UTC

EXACTLY, multiple times John has been told that by his team. For one of multiple examples, when he had a heart attack at Larn's soul forge rather than allow Jade to shoulder some of the task. This has been well explained as John reacting against his Progenitor nature of abusing women.

2ndAndrocentric

2024-08-14 15:32:04 +0000 UTC

They need to retrain out of aiming for center mass in shooting Progenitors. Alyssa hitting the hand yo was odd, but odd things happen in combat. Alyssa is an 18yo that only became exposed to shooting 6 months ago. As to Sakura, guessing that as Gal was lifted up by John, perhaps she didn't have the height to get a solid shot at a weak point in the armor. By lifting him up, John exposed weak points in the armor at the torso but occluded whatever weak points there might have been at the neck. As for the story, it is good when stupid things happen in sudden situations for believability. I have both seen and done some very stupid things.

2ndAndrocentric

2024-08-14 15:15:33 +0000 UTC

Neither the Brimorians or Humans are Thrall races, so I’m not sure if The Abandoned are capable of adhering to a matriarch hierarchy, much less being’ claimed’ as a thrall race can. But if they are, that’s a billion potential connections. I think we’ve all considered the possibility of Giant John filling up the vats - maybe with Tamiloth’s or ‘Giantess Jade’s’ help lol. But it seems other progenitors use a severely diluted essence serum in their coming of age rituals to recruit thralls. John’s method does seem to give a significantly stronger connection as the Maliri all get white hair once ‘blessed’ with the seed of Baenthalas. Perhaps this needs to be explored

EroticPoetic

2024-08-14 04:56:58 +0000 UTC

The biggest mistake is headshots...or lack thereof. Sakura, a professional assassin, had a chance to end the fight but ignored the simple fact that Progenitors regenerate. If she had severed his spine at the base of the skull or stabbed up into his brain and frozen it, instant death. Instead she went for a body shot and accomplished nothing but getting hurt, exactly the same as the last time she engaged a Progenitor. Alyssa did the same thing. A nova lance to the back of the head would have been fatal, but instead, for no good reason, blew off his HAND(???). Again, nothing useful accomplished except getting hurt. Dana had her big gun set and ready to go...and shot him in the stomach. For a third time, nothing was accomplished except getting hurt. Its time for John to review the battle and remind everyone that headshots kill Progenitors and hurting them anywhere else accomplishes nothing except getting the girls hurt.

Frostfyre

2024-08-14 00:22:31 +0000 UTC

And Larn's cum vats were a sad mechanical version of the Nymph's Kisses, and those lovely smooches are warm and sweet, which I think must be nicer than those vats, ... -- Baen'thelas can print up cards that say 'Have Nymphs - Will Travel' to pass around as he treks from one Empire to the next with his lovely cat girls, .... some good PR I think, .... -- But sooner or later he will need Rachel to develop a Synthetic Eldritch Semen Elixir to really pack in the Wards, ... with high-capacity cum manufacturing plants in all his Empires, ... sell it fairly cheap and by the pint, ... John's tax base for civic improvements, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-13 23:26:05 +0000 UTC

--- Tef discounted Giant John being able to provide 'more' psychic semen back when he loaded up (via Jade) the Kintark Empress Tamolith, ... Tef claimed it could not be done, ....I still say HUH? ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-13 21:53:51 +0000 UTC

...Aaannd the squick factor returns ;-)

SilverBanshee

2024-08-13 19:35:14 +0000 UTC

They should explore if giant John can produce semen with same potency as regular sized John. If so, he can produce about a 1000 times more of the magic juice to spread across

Akram123456

2024-08-13 16:48:53 +0000 UTC

I just hope we get a brigade or two of Dana build suits and weapons soon.

Myrnalin

2024-08-13 16:25:38 +0000 UTC

If I remember correctly, Larn had "Vats" that were mentioned as the source for connection for girls coming of age. So there's that, but the squick factor was quite high when I first read that. But I do agree the numbers are against John on this one without some help

SilverBanshee

2024-08-12 23:18:00 +0000 UTC

-- Besides all the new Matriarchs from John's killing of those Empire's Progenitors, .... John needs to save the Abandoned, and make one of the elder Mermaids a Matriarch, .... Also he must get Rachel, possibly along with the Maliri and Ashanth scientists, to develop a Synthetic Eldritch Semen Elixir that would allow Baen'thelaas to recruit Wards by the millions in all his Empires, and they'd set up lots of plants to make the stuff, .... think how powerful he would get to be in a very short time, ... Look out Xar'azuith, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-12 22:24:46 +0000 UTC

Chivalry is definitely one of John's Achilles heels. I doubt he will ever completely grow past putting the girls welfare first. Nor would i necessarily want him to, since he wouldn't be the John I know and love. Plus it always leads to interesting conflicts with his growing posse of matriarchs which is a nice bonus

SilverBanshee

2024-08-12 21:42:10 +0000 UTC

Okay, TSM time vs Fan chapters Time (Our time), John might not have fully acclimatized to using his psychic gifts yet, let alone when it's his girls on the line, ... (Chivalry?) .... I bet Tef lets John grow out of that 'mistake' within the next 100 or so chapters, ... maybe, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-12 19:00:50 +0000 UTC

I'm not yet convinced this is the final or even only solution to the mass suicide issue. The mere fact that John could so easily see the disintegrating network gives me some hope that he will be able to actually interact with it. after all, if he is to be the answer to Xar, it would make sense that he should be able to affect his psychic creations if he is to stop him. I hope that it is a matter of experience and in John and the Girls' case, trial by fire. Also John has access to additional runes now that may help. I'll be very interested to see the gang post mortem this battle. Rachael and Alyssa in particular will have strong feeling about this and a determination to solve this going forward and represent a huge resource. I'm also encouraged by the fact that John's psychic bonds are stronger and more efficient than other Progenitors - producing far more power per connection if I'm reading things correctly. Adding the Invading Galkirans via a Nymphs' Kiss scenario could bring huge power dividends in the not too distant future. We also have the Valeria wild card which Tef has yet to play. Finally, with regard to the the last sentence in your original post "where everything is at stake, being undermined by a post-war, anti-mass-suicide bj" I would simply like to point out that post battle Bjs and full tummies are very much on brand for John and the girls and more often than not the solution to whatever ails them :-)

SilverBanshee

2024-08-12 17:03:45 +0000 UTC

One mistake that John continues to make: he does not draw power from the girls early enough. He seems o leave it for when his own abilities are exhausted.

2ndAndrocentric

2024-08-12 15:37:37 +0000 UTC

With the shield gone, Jessica will revert back to the typical control under Ran. She'll make a bee line for him and he will know what happened. He may then realize very soon that John defeated a very powerful Gal and reconsider his fear that John is a failure. At this point Ran will have an opportunity to reach out to Alyssa for some sort of reconciliation. Perhaps Ran can even learn to make a new bond free of the obedience and especially suicide commands I would hope this path to redemption is written in.

2ndAndrocentric

2024-08-12 15:35:17 +0000 UTC

Given my understanding of Tef's plans for this part of the series (as he has allegedly indicated wanting to do a second part altogether, after maybe a timeskip of sorts), I think it would hard to imagine this not being SOP, unless we are suddenly thrust into another progenitor conflict immediately after this one.... These battles are epic, and do give much opportunity for the characters to develop their powers or gain new ones, but unless we have another significant confrontation without another war (e.g. deep diving into the astral, or facing his father), I fear that this establishes that the only solution to mass thrall suicide post-progenitor death, is quickly loading up another matriarch. Ofc it's still early and you are right that this is a new problem the pack have come across, so maybe Tef will find a more tasteful way of solving this as he is given time to finish this chapter.

Nathos

2024-08-12 11:44:58 +0000 UTC

With regard to Kaija as both an easy fix and potentially not sufficiently deserving of the honor of matriarch, I will go back to the very beginning of the series and simply say "XO in charge of recruitment" I think that, given her abilities, Alyssa's scan was far from cursory and Kaija will prove to be a good and necessary addition. I'm also not convinced that this process will become SOP as they encounter/defeat new Progenitors. The current situation was a response to a brand new situation and set of circumstances the gang had not encountered before. Given some time I think they will adjust and everything won't be quite so fraught. However, I don't necessarily believe that will include John simply taking over pre-existing psychic network. for several reasons - First it seems kind of Deus Ex Machina Second - If I were an evil galactic space tyrant, I would not create a system that would allow my peons to accrue enough power to eventually challenge me. If Progenitors could simply take over the networks of defeated foes eventually (over millennia) you might have a situation where one progenitor is left standing and Xar's food trough is empty since there are no more wars - and now a potentially very strong challenger. Finally John changed the bonds in his network after defeating his guide, but that was a network he had both a physical and psychic connection with. No such connection exists with the Galkirans (other than Kaija). His new abilities may eventually allow him do do this, we will have to wait and see. Also I'm not sure it would be a good idea in the first place. Thinking back to the Nymphs' Kiss incident, John was wiped out afterwards since he had to expend a large amount of energy all at once to create those connections. Imagine that same scenario when John and the gang are running on fumes after a hard fought battle with another Progenitor and trying to add potentially millions of thralls while simultaneously changing those corrupted bonds and sending a personalized love letter - That feels like a lot to ask, just say'n

SilverBanshee

2024-08-12 11:34:26 +0000 UTC

The humans were Mael’nerak’s experiment and aren’t a thrall race, therefore exempt from the rules of Xar’s game. Otherwise John wouldn’t have been able to make Alyssa his Lioness matriarch, nor claim the rest of his ‘pride’ of human lionesses. I still find it odd that the Maliri twins are tied to Alyssa rather than Edraelle, but I guess it makes sense within their intimate network dynamic.

EroticPoetic

2024-08-12 00:55:22 +0000 UTC

Oh I agree that John has connected to his lionesses out of selflessness, the greater good, passion, or when a life is at risk; that is what I was trying to convey by "merit-based". In Kaija's case, I have no doubt that she is/will prove herself to be a capable addition, who deserves John's love. But the nature that she joined feels more forced due to plot, than making the best kut of a shit situation.... That's not even touching on my other growing gripe of an endless cast of close lionesses for us to grow attached to. Once again, I'm sure Kaija will prove to be no different, but I worry that any time commited to introducing Kaija and establishing her as a new leader of the Galkirans, right now and in this method; will take away from exploring John's growth as a challenger to the progenitors' master, the relationships/story of already well established characters (i.e. the infinite trail of Tom Walker, Empress Tamolith, etc...)

Nathos

2024-08-12 00:02:33 +0000 UTC

I mostly agree with you. I kind of expected John, with his special Kyth'vindathys powers, to be able to directly manipulate the psychic network, maybe attach it to himself without needing to fill up one of the Galkirans. I still think that might happen in the future, and him making Kaija his matriarch was just a quick fix because he doesn't fully understand his abilities yet. However, when you look at most of the lionesses, very few of their recruitments were about their merit or character. Most, if not all of them were about helping someone in need. The majority of them he hadn't even known for a full day before he recruited them (Alyssa, Dana, the nymphs, Sakura, Helene, Auralei). In every case, he was more concerned that they knew the consequences of connecting to him rather than their character. Sure, he wouldn't have willingly connected a woman to himself who he thought was morally bankrupt, but it was never a big consideration. In Kaija's case, Alyssa did a quick sweep of all the Galkirans' brains, and probably would have marked any that were truly despicable, not just that had killed any Maliri. Then, like all the other lionesses, John gave Kaija and the Galkirans the help they needed.

Andrew Shultes

2024-08-11 22:58:07 +0000 UTC

I love the ending to this epic battle, great writing as per usual Tef, but I must admit I think you could have gone in a different direction with 170..... Great depiction of how horrible the standard progenitor network works and it's insidious nature, but John only being able to fix by loading up a new empress asap? No matter how you look at it, it's a bigger departure from the merit-based, character choice route of selecting a new lioness.... I think there might have been potential for expanding on John's uniqueness compared to other progenitor, by having him manipulate the decaying network that he could see, after Gally's death...... Maybe he could have found a way of hijacking the network via that route, but still needed to find a Galkiran empress to fully claim them and manage their network . This rings true especially as Helene comes in with her "going further beyond" moment, maybe Helene could have interacted with the fraying network via Gally's corpse.... Just worried about heavy progenitor conflicts where everything is at stake, being undermined by a post-war, anti-mass-suicide bj.

Nathos

2024-08-11 20:18:24 +0000 UTC

That is interesting. We shall see what her level of hate is.

Florida Reader

2024-08-09 22:06:25 +0000 UTC

-- YEP! ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-09 19:46:12 +0000 UTC

If Valeria is ‘claimed’ there should be automatic hate for other thrall races. How fast/far does John’s claim go? I assume galaxywide to claim the other planets in the empire.

stephen mincher

2024-08-09 07:16:07 +0000 UTC

Yes. As the story is written, you can’t regenerate new thrall empires without planets to populate. I think there’s a big difference between terraforming an existing planet, and starting from scratch, creating a planet. Or, shall we look to Star Trek, and have them come up with a genesis device?

MVFast

2024-08-08 21:59:13 +0000 UTC

Also, did he leave additional fleets at home to guard his territory against other progenitors?

MVFast

2024-08-08 21:55:37 +0000 UTC

Yep! Admiral Cartwright (?) would probably freak out. It would DEFINITELY be a conflict if he was active. Technically, I’d guess it could become an “honorary” position, but you’d definitely revoke his access to all military data systems, not that it would matter with Irillith there.

MVFast

2024-08-08 21:52:04 +0000 UTC

Please try to complete ch 170 in 3 months with no more than 4 more pre charges.

AzureReader

2024-08-08 04:53:11 +0000 UTC

Also, Progenitors are puppets of Xar who wants mass death.

2ndAndrocentric

2024-08-07 15:36:41 +0000 UTC

What I want to see is the scene where the rest of the admiralty discovers that John is actually the leader of the Maliri. (After having destroyed the ridiculously powerful Galkirans). That aside, isn't there a bit of conflict of interest there with John still a member if the admiralty?

SilverBanshee

2024-08-07 15:24:20 +0000 UTC

-- And I want the scene where FA Lynette tells the Admiralty that the Galkiran threat is now all over, thanks largely due to the Lion, ... She wants another Awards ceremony, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-07 05:32:58 +0000 UTC

Excellent point.

Florida Reader

2024-08-06 18:05:09 +0000 UTC

Excellent point about Valeria and Edraele, you are correct - there is a point where you are just morally bankrupt no matter how long you've been doing it and I think your Sarinia solution is likely spot on. I'm also wondering if Valeria will get an unexpected Ally in Alyssa , who may see a dark reflection of herself in the Galkiran matriarch. Eventually, we will find out what Tef has in store for us along with a few surprises as well, I'm sure. I'm very much looking forward to it as the story continues to be excellent

SilverBanshee

2024-08-06 17:24:47 +0000 UTC

-- Okay, how many of the Galkiran Fleets were able to escape from their loss / defeat at Kythshara, I think it was about 3 mostly intact fleets and a number of strays? ... and didn't Gahl'kalgor split his forces and send another 7-9 fleets off in another direction to search for Baen'thelas's Throne World, ... And I recall that ole Gally originally brought 29 of his Fleets to bare on the Maliri, in his search for Baen'thelas, .... but maybe Gally arrived in Shrouded space with a total of 30 Fleets? and maybe one fleet was left to guard the Hyper Warp Gate, ... those retreating (with their tails tucked between their legs) fleets can regroup with the separated Fleets and this single, bored on guard duty, Fleet before jumping home, .... here's a thought, how many of these 9 1/2 to 12 Fleets lost a high percentage of its crews, when Gahl'kalgor died and so many Galkirans / Thralls committed suicide, with the various fleets retaining perhaps about half crews, or skeleton crews?... and perhaps the combined Fleets escape course might take them close to a number of stranded Fleets where they might be able to pick up some surviving ship's crew to fill out their ship's rosters. And are all of these remaining crews without any Eldritch connection now that the network has collapsed? No longer Thralls, .... -- and will Valeria awaken to order / command the embarrassed Fleets to not head back home just yet, ... maybe Kaija and Baen'thelas reach out to her, .... expect some Tef Twists, ... but I want Valeria to be redeemed and to serve as a bodyguard for Empress Kaija, .... time and Tef will tell, ... -- Hyper-Warp Gates: 1) the new one that was Galkiran built, ... 2) the one (Mael's) near to Kythshara, ... 3) the one way out past Vulkat space that brought Rahn'hagon to Shrouded space, .... Baenthelas has 3 Gates to guard / control access to, .... -- And John should deal with the approximately a dozen left over, and pretty much intact, Galkiran Fleets of non-Thralls, .... he needs to make wards of all of them, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-06 05:49:18 +0000 UTC

Out of necessity. Because in a war of attrition with a rival progenitor, the number of thralls on a planets far far outweigh the number of thralls on ships. Gahl came with 29 fleets with 100k per fleet for a total of 2.9 mil thralls. How many planets are in Galkiran space? Unknown, but we do know that Larn had 87 habital planets. So even if Gahl had 30 habital planets with a modest one billion population each, that would total 30 billion. Take away 5% for males and, let's say, 15% for women under age 30, that would leave 24 billion thralls. By running the numbers that would mean that 99.88% of Gahl's thralls live on planets. Therefore the only real way to reduce an opponents psychic potential is to destroy planets. Thus the need to lug around the Quantum Annihilator. Which takes time and why these are long drawn out campaigns.

wolverine006

2024-08-06 05:12:40 +0000 UTC

@Dominic Walker: Interesting thoughts. Thank you. I think your explanation of the heard reset makes pretty good sense.

Florida Reader

2024-08-06 05:04:42 +0000 UTC

I see one. It is a docx

Florida Reader

2024-08-06 04:59:00 +0000 UTC

Good question.

Florida Reader

2024-08-06 04:58:32 +0000 UTC

Stupid thought brought up by all of this: by taking Jessica as his "Matriarch," did Rahn claim the human race as his thralls??

Florida Reader

2024-08-06 04:58:00 +0000 UTC

I think I missed all of this -- what shield?

Florida Reader

2024-08-06 04:56:11 +0000 UTC

Asshats just like blowing stuff up ... so true.

Florida Reader

2024-08-06 04:54:03 +0000 UTC

Fair points. Thanks for the ideas.

Florida Reader

2024-08-06 04:51:42 +0000 UTC

Good thoughts. Thank you for your ideas.

Florida Reader

2024-08-06 04:50:48 +0000 UTC

I think what they are going to do with the dreadnought is put out a mass call to all the ships in the fleets. We saw Gahl do that during the invasion (when he first saw Ashryn), and if the Galkirans get a call from their command ship, they are likely to answer it. Then, when they all see John, they'll be willing to listen to him because of the enhanced attraction. Hopefully the intact flight controls means Jade didn't destroy the comms either. As for Valeria, I think she'll be less vulnerable to the enhanced attraction because her psychic powers will protect her slightly, like we saw with the Valaden women. I don't necessarily think of her as worse than Edraele was, because once you get to a point where you can casually kill and torture people, I don't think you can get much worse: she has just spent more time doing it (Not downplaying the fact that Valeria has negatively affected scores more people than the old Edraele did, but if you just look at them side-by-side, they both share the same level of cruelty and lack of morals). Although, I could see the argument that Edraele was slightly better because, in scheming against the other houses, she had to at least slightly consider how her actions affected other people, and how those people would respond. In any case, that's a whole other debate about the nature of evil. I think we'll get a similar change in Valeria that we saw in Sarinia, with the removal of all the mental damage that built up.

Andrew Shultes

2024-08-06 02:20:06 +0000 UTC

Got it! thank, I missed that detail

SilverBanshee

2024-08-06 00:20:54 +0000 UTC

-- I am curious how Tef will play John's claiming the Galkirans, .... will there be any left alive in the home Empire? if not then, they might be more like the Laranthyran Empire, with a Matriarch but no Thralls in the Empire, .... could that mean that John could recruit some wards to be under Auralei, and give that young Matriarch some experience and power, .... what will Tef do? -- and I want sweet Faye back soon too, .... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-06 00:17:35 +0000 UTC

Regarding Valeria - I was thinking of 150 yrs of evil for Edraele vs literally thousands for Valeria which is a lot more to fix. although since defeating his guide John is much more flexible about mental tampering so I am also hopeful for some redemption. She is so very damaged and would certainly qualify as a wounded little bird even if a very twisted one. Regarding the Dreadnought - If Jade was flying it away from John (and Faye) it's still somewhat functional if not exactly space worthy. assuming Jade didn't destroy a lot of equipment i.e. computers with the lightning blast that took out the bridge crew, Irillith should still be able to find the code to make the gate work to the Galkiran empire. A lot of ifs, I know, but I think they'll get what they need from our favorite hacker. What this enquiring mind wants to know is how they will deal with the many, many stranded spaceships and crews who have got to be beyond freaked out at this point. And what I'm really really wondering is when they are going to make time to visit the Trankarans and the Stellar Forge (name?) which could potentially solve a host of problems...

SilverBanshee

2024-08-06 00:17:10 +0000 UTC

I wonder if Valeria will recognize their defeat and submit when she wakes up.

Florida Reader

2024-08-05 22:33:12 +0000 UTC

I agree with you regarding Valeria as a source of intelligence; she could be invaluable to John in his upcoming war with Xar. While it is true that she has done much evil, I only need to point to Edraele to see that there can be redemption -- even if it requires some mind adjustment. I think her arc cries out for some redemptive scene. What will happen to the Larynthian (?) homeworld and the Galkiran homeworld now that John has claimed them as a thrall species? Will other progenitors wipe them out now that John has become a threat? For that matter, is John yet seen as a threat?

Florida Reader

2024-08-05 22:31:50 +0000 UTC

I set the bar based on prior experience and feedback....for almost the past year, we have heard nothing and given partial drips and drabs at the end of each month... I call em as I see em....

Hendrix Morton

2024-08-05 20:44:18 +0000 UTC

-- I am hoping that the former Matriarch, previous Gladitorix, Valeria, is made into Kaija's bodyguard, like Luna is for Edraele, .... and that she gets to fence with Luna and with Sakura sometimes, .... -- and was the thoroughly beat-up Dreadnaught still space worthy? or will Baen'thelas (John) and company eventually control it, ... thereby getting the Hyper-Warp Gate codes, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-05 20:10:03 +0000 UTC

It was mentioned that Mael'nerak terraformed Gaia class worlds in the Trankaran republic that Rahn'hagon later destroyed, ,,,, anyway, it was also revealed that a little Onyxium can be found coming from the interaction between the Astral and normal space, like in the Niryean rift, .... It was a thought, .... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-05 19:47:10 +0000 UTC

Huh... I don't remember reading about that as a progenitor capability. Was that disclosed during one of the trips to the astral repositories? I obviously missed it if it was. It's the only reason that would make sense for them to be allowed to wholesale destroy useful Goldilocks planets which would likely be needed for the next thrall seed race

SilverBanshee

2024-08-05 19:09:57 +0000 UTC

-- These guys can grow / build their own Gaia class worlds, ... and I am guessing that the destruction of those worlds can create a small percentage of Onyxium as a byproduct, something they need in their Soul Forges, .... A Tef hint, I might be wrong, .... And a small percentage of a worlds mass is still many thousands of tons of the black lattice ore, ... plus, evil Asshats just like blowing stuff up, .... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-05 19:03:15 +0000 UTC

Also, while we are cleaning up this latest battle and looking forward to fighting the rest of the progenitors, does it bother anybody else that these guys love to go around blowing up habitable planets like they're a dime a dozen? This just feels like a ridiculous waste of resources if your goal as an evil astral tyrant is to perpetuate endless war. I mean, there's got to be a point of diminishing returns, right?

SilverBanshee

2024-08-05 17:32:33 +0000 UTC

I am so ready to get Faye back!

Jim Owens

2024-08-05 17:25:23 +0000 UTC

I have been wondering many of the same things. With so many POVs focused on Valeria, I always wondered about a Redemption Arc for her. I think the situation is greatly complicated both by John claiming the galkirans and a new matriarch. Valeria represents a fantastic amount of intelligence on what's happening out in progenitor space, but I'm not sure about a path forward for her. She has, after all, been a very bad girl for literally thousands of years. I'm also not sure about Gally's Psychic Network, Alyssa was able to hold their Network together because I think, John was still alive at the time and still held the Maliri. In Gally's case he's pretty dead and the network was literally breaking down in front of John's eyes so I'm not sure there's anything for Valeria to hold on to when she wakes up. I'd like to think there's a path forward for her, but rehabilitating her would be a monumental undertaking. It would make having to fix all of the old matriarchs look trivial by comparison Either way, interesting times are ahead for John and the girls Also, they're probably okay on the warp gate combination because they still have the dreadnought. If I remember correctly, they got Larn's combo when Irillith scanned his ship

SilverBanshee

2024-08-05 17:20:45 +0000 UTC

Anyone speculating on what will happen to the Gladiatora? She did come to realize how full of shit her lord has been, so there is that. Is there an arc of redemption to be had here? Will it be similar to Edraele's? It would be very cool if she became part of the solution to getting the fleeing and crazy thralls to stop their flight, calm down, and surrender to John willingly rather than returning to Xar for wholesale slaughter and harvesting. She could be the salvation of her sister thralls instead of the calculating killer she has been in the past. Last we saw her, she was unconscious and being carted off by her fellow thralls. When she regains consciousness, will she still have control of the degrading psychic network as the matriarch even though Gallyboy lost his head? The fleeing thralls need her because she has the combination to the warp gate, but what if she refuses to allow them to flee?

Florida Reader

2024-08-05 15:05:06 +0000 UTC

@Hendrix—I agree. We are lucky when we get a completed or new chapter. Not to be too down on Tefler, I am still waiting for some of my favorite authors to put out another book—and it has been years. I still remember how frustrating it was to wait for George R.R. Martin to put out his Game of Thrones sequels, and I think I have finally given up on the long-awaited but never-delivered fourth book of GoT. I do hope we get some closure on some of the themes in the TSM Universe: Faye's resurrection, Maliri's ascendancy, claiming and using the Larynthian fleet, the fate of the Galkirins, what to do about the Brimorian asshats, and why I should care about Tom Walker. That's not to mention the outcome of a battle between Xar and John -- although I do not even pretend to hope to see that. But I continue to support Tefler as I choose. I assume you do the same. Otherwise, you would not be able to continue to leave comments.

Florida Reader

2024-08-05 14:55:02 +0000 UTC

You are setting the bar awfully low aren't you Hendrix? I prefer to think positively, ... and then to deal with less if needed, ... you must prefer to Not have very high expectations, so, less disappointments I'd guess, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-05 00:35:26 +0000 UTC

Lol, we will be lucky to see another part of 170 at the end of the month...

Hendrix Morton

2024-08-04 04:44:43 +0000 UTC

It appears that the ‘Hard Reset’ has freed the minds of the thralls, prompting them to value self preservation and return to what they know - to return to their empire. There is basically only about 2 of the original 28 fleets still functional that may attempt to return to Galkiran space. The rest are stranded under the shrowd with thousands of thralls on Kythshara itself, all waiting to be added to John’s network. More than likely, the Nymph’s Kiss will add them all, ship by ship, and they will become the new residents of Kythshara. With the help of the collective, they’ll rebuild what’s left of Kythshara’s Capital and cities while the fleets are repaired before effectively ‘invading’ the Galkiran empire and claiming the rest of its military and citizens. It would be interesting if John added Valeria as a second Matriarch, thereby fast tracking the addition of the original psychic network. Just a thought… Also, Ghal’Kagor killed several of other progenitors, leaving their Thrall races unclaimed. Valeria would be invaluable to John if she led him to those unclaimed species where John could claim them, preemptively taking them out of the Progenitor wars, essentially eliminating the emergence of new Progenitors within those species. No loss of life, with all the technology and infrastructure knowledge of his collective of empires shared between them. Then John would only have to deal with existing progenitors and not have to kill any Neophytes.

EroticPoetic

2024-08-04 04:11:32 +0000 UTC

I just wish he was healthy enough to catch up on the place holders

Jim Owens

2024-08-03 21:12:12 +0000 UTC

Hey Jim, even if Tef only gives us a completed chapter or two (#170 and #171) I would be pretty happy, ... if more, ... well that would be Awesome (a Danaism) ... and this wonderful story keeps moving along, Tef Twists and all, .... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-03 21:05:08 +0000 UTC

See if you can catch all the way up in August....

Jim Owens

2024-08-03 19:12:57 +0000 UTC

Auralei's character development came about through the crisis she found herself in after the husking of all the adult female thralls and made sense given the situation and the fact that John and Co. would not get there for some time. For Kaija there would be nothing to develop before she meets john since there is no crisis for her she's a thrall following orders on a ship - not very interesting. The crisis of suiciding thralls meant that they had to intervene immediately, and couldn't wait for John to develop a relationship or for us to come to care about her. Her character development will come as a result of dealing with the aftermath of the battle and all the mess of terrified Galkirans running all over the place that she will have to help integrate with John's network. I believe we will come to know her and care about her at least a little as she struggle to deal with the changes in store for her people. The implication that Tef didn't plan for this seems a bit off. I think that was the entire point of all the Valeria POV sections showing us a glimpse of the Galkirians and setting up a situation where readers might wonder if John was somehow going to capture and rehabilitate the horrible Matriarch. The fact that didn't happen is a nice and interesting curveball and leaves Valeria's fate in question for the moment and solve the Galkiran problem in a way that honors all the work John and the girls put in to sparing as many Galkiran thralls as they could. There are a lot of characters in TSM now, but I have found that Tef always manages to breathe life into them so I'm willing to have a little faith

SilverBanshee

2024-08-03 02:35:22 +0000 UTC

Sorry I wasn't clear, I meant when he discovers it has now been removed and he is free to adjust Jessica at will once again

SilverBanshee

2024-08-03 02:25:44 +0000 UTC

@Silverbanshee he knew as he stumbled into it already

Myrnalin

2024-08-02 23:10:55 +0000 UTC

Auralei’s character development started right after Larn’s death, which was about 20 chapters before John met her. This is part of what makes us care about his characters. It also demonstrates excellent world building and plot integration. In this case it feels like Tef didn’t start thinking about who might be the new Gahlkirian matriarch until July 31st and put about as much time into it as John did.

AzureReader

2024-08-02 21:51:44 +0000 UTC

I'm pretty sure the shield she removed was from John's mother. Which begs the question how will John's father react when he finds out and what shenanigans will ensue from there

SilverBanshee

2024-08-02 20:10:17 +0000 UTC

-- How will Tef go about all the clean-up needed now, ... so much to fix, to follow through with, to take charge of, ... all the Maliri bodies on Genthalas, and on the surface of Kythshara, .... with the recovery of Genthalas, and all those needing medical aid (both Maliri and Galkiran), ... restoring of Edraele and the thanking of Luna, ... the Angel of Terra healing hundreds or even thousands of Maliri and Galkirans, ... the reanimating of Faye, ... the claiming of all those stranded and left behind Galkirans, ... the fate of the Galkiran's former Matriarch, Valeria, I'm hoping that she gets made into Kaija's version of Luna, ... and the helping out of John's 'mind controlled' mother, Jessica, ... and the. perhaps, not killing of Rahn'hagon, depending on what he has done with / to Jessica, ... just to name a few things to start with, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-02 19:37:05 +0000 UTC

Why do you think the ships are returning then? Why has this not been effective on Gentalis?

Florida Reader

2024-08-02 19:27:31 +0000 UTC

So, I'm guessing the existing shield that Alyssa was maintaining was on Jehanna's psyche and we're about to find Ailita dead and John unable to revive her

James Sinohui

2024-08-02 19:24:16 +0000 UTC

I hope you are correct Andrew, ... Ole Rahn has so many millennia of 'bad' behavior to overcome, ... and Jessica probably cannot fix him all by herself, ... I think they need to recruit a few helpful retired Terrans to become wards under Rahn'hagon (compulsion to obey removed), ... Rahn's loads will restore their youth, and they'll keep Jessica company, as well as help to fully civilize John's partly civilized Progenitor father, ... and those handful or two of retirees can be from various education, social worker, phycologist, and group leadership backgrounds, ... they'll help make Rahn better, and will build up his eldritch power a little bit too, .... a few can also have a bridge crew background and help run that big ship, ... these 'new' wards for Rahn would not be introduced until after John shows Rahn his new and improved Astral plane / Fortress to keep out the monsters, so, having more wards than just Jessica would less of a risk for him, ... -- And maybe John might have the engineers at the big Maliri Shipyard, orbiting Valaden, Genthalas. make some repairs to Rahn's internally damaged dreadnaught, and also get Dana to sketch out a fix up plan for some of the damage done by John's girls from when they killed off Larn'kelnar, ... they could return the Progenitor's personal Shuttle too, ... also maybe upgrade the red lighting to a more normal full spectrum light, and perhaps mask a lot of the 'bad' psychic echoes behind baffles of some sort, if they can, ... ask the psychic Ashanath for advice, ... and they could restock the big ship with food and other consumable supplies too (including recipes for both the Terran and Maliri dishes), ... many possibilities, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-02 18:14:47 +0000 UTC

A very pleasant surprise. Totally unexpected. And a few twists and turns. Thank you.

John the 5th

2024-08-02 18:07:16 +0000 UTC

I actually have a theory that over time, Rahn will realize he misses the non-enthralled Jessica, and feel guilty about the control he has over her. I imagine a scenario where he shows up to wherever John is and asks Alyssa to shield her again. Maybe I'm an optimist, but who knows?

Andrew Shultes

2024-08-02 17:10:49 +0000 UTC

From what we have seen and read so far, claiming seems to act as a "hard reset" disconnecting them from the now deceased progenitor, and preparing them to eventually be added to the new progenitors psychic network. I think it is designed to prevent a situation where to progenitors each claim half of a thrall species. Simply disconnecting them from the corrupted psychic network seems to be enough to stop the suffering without having any other practical effect or benefit for John and company

SilverBanshee

2024-08-02 16:49:01 +0000 UTC

I'm really not sure how else this could have been done given the emergency situation. For John to do otherwise would have been completely against his character and dismissive of all of the hard work they had done to save all of those enemy thralls. I expect character development will come through the struggles in the battles aftermath. Also, I feel like we got a lot of potential matriarch character development in the form of Valeria, setting up the potential redemption arc. But then, Tef subverted readers expectations with the new matriarch; something good writers often do

SilverBanshee

2024-08-02 16:34:47 +0000 UTC

A good start to the chapter! I'm wondering now if we will be seeing a nymphs' kiss situation with all of the now stranded Marines. Particularly since they now have a matriarch. I feel like John and company are going to need some "brand ambassadors" for all those thralls trapped on the stranded ships. Given the current fight / fight response after the battle, I'm betting they are positively hysterical trapped as they are

SilverBanshee

2024-08-02 16:28:35 +0000 UTC

You may be right, but how did claiming the race and taking on Kaija stop the misery of the thralls on the planet, and why did it not have the same effect on the thralls on the ships or at Gentalis? The argument has been that while the network decays, the thralls killing themselves will somehow benefit Xar, and that claiming the thralls and taking over the network will stop this tragedy.

Florida Reader

2024-08-02 15:16:53 +0000 UTC

-- a possible Tef Twist might be a direct result of Alyssa needing to remove a Psi Blocking / Protecting Shield in order to aid Kaija, .... I can only think of one person that such a shield could be pulled from, .... I am thinking that it would be Jessica Blake, John's Mother, who Alyssa was forced to leave vulnerable, .... and I would expect Rahn'hagon, John's Father, might well take advantage and put his lovely Jessica back under his mental control, ... Now that could lead to an interesting family get together with John, ... Yeah, Tef still has a few story twists and turns ahead for us to enjoy, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-02 13:26:57 +0000 UTC

So if Alyssa can shield thralls from their corrupt psychic network, why can't she do that for thralls before their progenitor die? They can reduce the amount of power the progenitor can get.

Mike Biagio

2024-08-02 11:26:56 +0000 UTC

I believe he did not take over the existing psychic network, since that ran/runs through Valeria. When he recruited Kaija he at the same time claimed the Galkiran seed race, but the only female in John's psychic network at the moment is Kaija, when she wakes up. The claiming merely means that Galkiran females are now drawn to him and will probably be repulsed by other Progenitors.

Unresolved Plots

2024-08-02 10:29:13 +0000 UTC

Sorry my fault looking in the wrong folder

William Wallace

2024-08-02 07:49:27 +0000 UTC

It would be nice if the chapter was included in this posting, I see no download file?

William Wallace

2024-08-02 07:47:23 +0000 UTC

Maybe I didn't get this, but once he "claimed" the Gallys snagging a new matriarch, the rest of the thralls on the planet were affected as well. He essentially took over the existing psychic network. What am I missing?

Florida Reader

2024-08-02 03:56:09 +0000 UTC

I truly hope that this doesn’t go down the path of a 6 part chapter that will get passed along over the next 2 or 3 months.

Jeff Combes

2024-08-02 03:25:03 +0000 UTC

I agree with Andrew, but will add that the theory that John could have taken over Gahl'kalgor's psychic network was with the proviso that he claimed Valeria as his Matriarch after killing him. When Alyssa was released by Progenitor John who then left to claim Edraele, her network with the Invictus crew remained in tact, so this might have worked, or might be possible with a future Progenitors Matriarch. However now that John has claimed Kaija as his Galkiran matriarch instead, it is a moot point at the moment.

Unresolved Plots

2024-08-02 02:18:49 +0000 UTC

So, as we saw with the Larathyans, John only had to connect Auralei to his network to claim the whole species, so the Galkirans as a species are claimed by John now. I suspect you might be confusing claiming with connecting them to his psychic network. Claiming just means that species is reserved for a specific progenitor, but he still has to individually connect them to his psychic network. (If you weren't confused about this, I apologize. Please disregard this paragraph.) As you said though, there really isn't any precedent for a progenitor claiming an existing network, so even in-universe, they don't really have the answers. My best guess is that claiming the Galkirans removed any previous psychic connections they had, giving a sort of clean slate so that they are ready to connect to John. I don't think it was essential that Kaija was willing, I just don't think John would have been comfortable forcing it, or that it would even be possible if she was constantly trying to end herself. Also, the thralls at Genthalas were affected, we just saw the aftermath as they gained clarity again and started running.

Andrew Shultes

2024-08-01 23:04:04 +0000 UTC

The condition "nymphomania by proxy" is not to be confused with Munchausen's by proxy. They are very different syndromes. Then there is "Carpet Munchers by Proxy" -- totally different animal altogether.

Florida Reader

2024-08-01 22:14:01 +0000 UTC

Nice. Tiene usted tanta caca que su ojos estan cafés.

Florida Reader

2024-08-01 22:11:59 +0000 UTC

I didn't realize that Literotica was so far behind.

Florida Reader

2024-08-01 22:08:09 +0000 UTC

I have an extreme love/hate relationship with these partial chapters. I love seeing more of the story, but dammit, I get impatient. 😅 Also, (as others have said) I can’t help, but wonder if the postings on Lit will ever catch up to Patreon; the last chapter viewable there is 145, released on May 2 of 2023.

Tealguy

2024-08-01 20:12:32 +0000 UTC

So, I could use a little help to understand this. How is it that by claiming just one of the Galkirans, he ends up claiming them all? I don't exactly understand the mechanism at play here. Also, why is Edraele unconscious? Maybe what I don't get is with Larn's group, he husked all of the thralls, leaving only the unclaimed behind. I guess we have never really seen the actual takeover of an existing psychic network, even one that is decaying. Was it essential that Kaija was willing? How is it that her conversion miraculously swept over all the other Galkirans on the planet? Why did the psychic network at Gentalis remain unaffected? These are just some of my questions from reading the beginning of 170. Oh, and good call and reviving Ilyana ("she had a nasty case of death"). Nice save, Rachel.

Florida Reader

2024-08-01 19:48:00 +0000 UTC

Tef, So good a start on this one, loose ends galore. What about Valaria?, are the ships going to stop and turn around?. Can healing everyone still happen?. Faye get finished? and of course my favorite the Tefler twist no one ( except Rus:~) saw coming. Inquiring minds are waiting thanks

!raptor

2024-08-01 19:41:56 +0000 UTC

Will any of these updates be posted on Literotica?

William Hill

2024-08-01 18:49:20 +0000 UTC

Disappointed the plot involved grabbing the first girl he saw and making her a matriarch. Feels like an afterthought. Auralei received extensive character development over many chapters. I’m sure John will proclaim his love for her in a few pages, then we’ll never hear from her again. Won’t miss her.

AzureReader

2024-08-01 18:32:09 +0000 UTC

Being prior military no stranger to seeing the light fade from people's eyes to in a position working for a oil field company that's pretty much be the Wolf in a flock of sheep. Today has been a heck of a day with emotions staring at my phone reading your story had to lock my office door to not be disturbed. I just finished reading your latest update and all I can say is wow well done Teflar. Describing the fight scene ultimately leading to the unfortunate scenario where thralls wanted to end themselves( pulling them out of the darkness and showing them to love) to Jade flying in the enemy's dreadnought like a bad B 😂. Yet again you have done outstanding work hope all is going well for you and looking forward to the next installment. Again well done 👏

Michael

2024-08-01 17:59:54 +0000 UTC

Chpt 169 was great but I enjoyed the start of 170 even more. Everything as I would have expected in terms of the suicide compulsion to feed Xar, the retreat of those that did not off themselves etc. My favorite is how Alyssa is harrasing John, again. Reminds me of the 1991 movie "Robin Hoodd prince of thieves" when the old witch is urging on the Sheriff of Nottingham. Performance anxiety anyone? Alyssa has nymphomania by proxy.

2ndAndrocentric

2024-08-01 17:58:47 +0000 UTC

Tu nombre es el apodo que el esposo le dio a mi hija major.

2ndAndrocentric

2024-08-01 17:51:40 +0000 UTC

Thanks Tefler. Hope you stay healthy and get the op soon!

Unresolved Plots

2024-08-01 15:43:48 +0000 UTC

That's a good suggestion. I might clean up my reference document with the full list of characters and release to you guys.

Tefler

2024-08-01 08:51:18 +0000 UTC

Getting better and better. I hope not to have to wait until the end of the month to see the end of 170

Puttanegra Ficondo

2024-08-01 08:00:02 +0000 UTC

-- Whew! the battle with the Galkirans is finally concluded, and the start of chapter #170 shows some of the clean-up efforts John's girls needed to do, ... And thank you for not totally sacrificing brave Ilyana, ... Rachel was in time, yay! ... looking forward to many more chapters, thanks loads, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith

2024-08-01 06:03:51 +0000 UTC

Thank you for finally finishing the battle it seemed like it took forever was about to give up hope that it would ever end. Lol...glad to see you are so with us Telfer we love this story our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family always

Tammy Hoffman

2024-08-01 04:50:40 +0000 UTC

Is there any way you could make a cast of characters? There are so many it's getting harder to keep track of who is who.

Jim Owens

2024-08-01 04:39:18 +0000 UTC

Many thank.s. Look forward to the next tranche

Antoine Scrivener

2024-08-01 04:25:41 +0000 UTC

If they are happy to keep supporting placeholders that’s their choice. They know what they’re getting. I’m glad I now chose to cap him at one a month and that’s my choice. We all know what he’s going to do at this point. He’s going to write at best one chapter, say he’s going to do better, then do multiple placeholders. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone and if you want to support that in an unlimited fashion then good for you and Tef is lucky to have you.

Ben

2024-08-01 04:24:44 +0000 UTC

This actually makes a lot of sense. A lot of the thralls dying to feed the Devourer before the psychic network is fully dissolved, but those that survive (and there must be a fair number of them), need to disassociate from the enemy thralls so that they can retreat back to their own domains so that they’re available for the next Progenitor. Thralls dying after being disconnected from their Progenitor would not provide a harvest for Xar’aziuth, so would need to be avoided after the withering of the psychic network. Sustainable farming of thralls is something that Xar’aziuth must have perfected to a significant degree over the eons, and the deaths of Progenitors would be a fairly common occurrence, by his design, so retention of assets to participate in the next cycle of conflicts would be a critical requirement to provide for maximum harvests for him.

Evan

2024-08-01 04:18:58 +0000 UTC

I don’t think it is bad habits. I think it was new parents biting off more than they could chew. He then wanted to spend time with his kid (then kids) while they were young to bond with them. I personally think that if they went to day care or school for 6-8 hours a day he could easily write 4 chapters a month and catch up. But only time will tell.

DemonHunterCole

2024-08-01 04:17:44 +0000 UTC

Awesome job of getting the next chapter underway. Keep it up!

Jim Owens

2024-08-01 04:13:39 +0000 UTC

I too have been reading since the beginning and know where he was back then. But I think your optimism is misplaced given how bad habits now have extended for 2+ years now

Korzic

2024-08-01 04:13:27 +0000 UTC

At Tefler’s best, he was regularly writing 3-4 chapters a month. But this was before his second child was born. Hopefully after his gall stone issues are resolved, both children will be old enough and in day care that Tefler will be able to catch up in no time.

DemonHunterCole

2024-08-01 04:11:37 +0000 UTC

As someone who’s been following since the beginning, I can tell you that Tefler has an ending for this story and even has the idea for a sequel set 18 years in the future where the main cast aren’t the main characters. The only things that have changed are the additional plot points that keep evolving and multiplying. That is why there is a dedicated maniac that keeps a timeline of Vernets so that things can easily be tracked and track of time lost.

DemonHunterCole

2024-08-01 04:11:21 +0000 UTC

Even with a massive drop in support, he will just up the number of Placeholders to match....there are those here that will just eat it and carry on and say thank you.

Hendrix Morton

2024-08-01 04:08:57 +0000 UTC

thank you Mr. Tefler.... what a great start and I am so happy Rachel started healing and saving Ilyana...

Taco1085

2024-08-01 04:07:47 +0000 UTC

Like a bottle of milk in the desert sun

Korzic

2024-08-01 04:07:27 +0000 UTC

This aged well

Ben

2024-08-01 04:05:40 +0000 UTC

That is the same as my setting. Financially, it's obviously not a burden to me. However, even with minimum contributions I'm at the point where I'm starting to feel that unless he ends up with a massive drop in support, he won't stop the precharging. I'm also concerned that this story won't actually see an ending because he has no financial plan. Guarantee he won't catch up as that will mess with his income flow.

Korzic

2024-08-01 04:05:02 +0000 UTC

Nope you spoke too soon. And yes, it is. We’ve tried for 5 years and it’s just not something he likes to do. He works best under pressure. If you are really unhappy with how it is, I recommend you unsubscribe and come back in 3-6 months. I’ve personally set my donation at a $1 and then once per month. When he’s caught up, I’ll increase it to make up for the difference.

DemonHunterCole

2024-08-01 04:00:08 +0000 UTC

And there is 178....so we are now 8 behind....

Hendrix Morton

2024-08-01 03:59:52 +0000 UTC

Ahahahahaha

Korzic

2024-08-01 03:59:22 +0000 UTC

There's the placeholder for 177...

Hendrix Morton

2024-08-01 03:58:40 +0000 UTC

Thanks for the nice 15 minute read. I look forward to your next chapter.

DemonHunterCole

2024-08-01 03:55:49 +0000 UTC

Well - we got a third of 169 and a third? of 170 for July and no precharges to this point so I suppose I should be happy? Is it really too much to ask for regular updates about progress? Edit: Welp - spoke too soon there

Korzic

2024-08-01 03:52:42 +0000 UTC

Thank you, Tefler!

Evan

2024-08-01 03:49:27 +0000 UTC

Thanks Man

Sushant Bhartiya

2024-08-01 03:44:50 +0000 UTC

Sick!

Evan jones

2024-08-01 03:38:17 +0000 UTC

Thanks @tefler!

sunxia

2024-08-01 03:37:58 +0000 UTC

Yay first #2!

sunxia

2024-08-01 03:37:23 +0000 UTC

Three Square Meals Ch. 170 (Part 1)

Comments

To limit the number of times you can be charged per month before the end of the year to take care of that pesky second placeholder. Go to Membership -> Edit -> Payment Amount -> Set Monthly Limit and enter "1".

That body (Faye's) is still in need of both a mind and a spark of consciousness (a soul), ... and those chapters you mention are only a few days in TSM days (time), ... ;-) ttfn

Oh I like that. Robot Queen Faye.

If the progenitors are coming after John instead of each other, X will starve if they aren’t killing each other.

I also predict we will establish a telepathixlc connection to the collective.. once Dana figures out how to send and recive data Bio<>machine. I suspect that is also how we introduce the ashnaa(?) Into the fold to be strong batteries and perhaps communication relays for easy telepathic connection

🙂

Faye is the brigde between the collective and john.. I am confident she will be back soon. A full economical war is hard to avoid with X.. at some point he will just send 10 prognitors.. so how to avoid that? With robots ! We need Faye to be the AI Empress/Martriarch

-- Andrew may have thought up a Tef Twist way to bring Athena onto the Invictus and to join John's crew, .... amazing, ... If she can duplicate and separate from Alyssa, ... ;-) ttfn

Faye’s body is there. It’s a bit early to enter her as a plot device, if she’s going to sit around until the end of the story. Athena It was explicitly said she’s a part of Alyssa’s mind.

My thoughts are, the rest of 170, and a 50/50 chance of 171. If we get 171, we almost certainly get Faye as well.

F5, F5, F5, sigh.

Oops! I mean the day after tomorrow.

Tomorrow!!!

F5, F5, F5…

Even though I know better…

Addendum… That’s over 20 fleets stuck in enemy territory he’d have to recover.

-- Hey, we WILL get something, ... either a partial chapter #170, a completion to chapter #170, or hopefully a chapter #170 plus more, like a completed #171 too, .... fingers crossed, and I'm saying my anti-gallstone prayers, ... hopefully yours, ... ;-) ttfn

Anyone willing to wager whether we’ll get part 2 or not? Anyone think Tefler is off his meds enough to try posting more placeholders? Sincerely hoping we get the rest of 170 and part or all of 171… fingers crossed 🤞🏼

I think that Valeria is less evil than Edraele as she was a puppet of Gahldeadguy, Edraele did all those things for personal gain. One did for discipline, the other for power.

I think the Progenitors lack of empathy is akin to a young gamer who acts out his fantasy of world domination. That's why John will clean up with assassinations.

Yeah, it should be soon, .... but will we suffer a Tef Twist, .... and not really get our sweet Faye back? .... ;-) ttfn

can you tell me when faye comes alive. I think it should be in this chapter but.....

They, mainly Cartwright will immediately demand john hand over all the empires to their hands. since he is still in paper working as a lowly rear admiral.

Knowing the key to the hyper-warp gate is Valaria’s reason for living. I was hoping she would die but someone has to have that key.

Hey Dominic, are you by any chance an ancestor of, or a relation to Admiral Laurence Walker, Commadore Daniel Walker, and convicted traitor Tom Walker? ... 21st century to 28th century, .... that's a lot of generations, ... so maybe, huh? .... ;-) ttfn

-- okay then, Teamwork is the answer, .... ;-) ttfn

He might have husked thralls from his home empire. …edit to add, I’m late. This was already said.

Rahn'hagon(sic)...Papa Progenitor whom we haven't heard from in more than a year or so it seems.

I mean the Progenitors can control gravity, they could easily create planets

Definitely end it with "please"

Ran?

Not if Racheal can cast barriers away from people

-- Tef didn't say how or why Dominic, ... and Gally (Kal) might have just forgotten about them, but he really could have husked crew in all the stranded fleets, .... It would not have penalized him any, as he'd already written them all off, hundreds of thousands, ... ;-) ttfn

Hey John, good idea, but I would not think so, .... and that one might be really hard to train for, ... ;-) ttfn

Just a thought, can Dana park a black hole inside of a progenitors hexagon defenses?

Obviously John and the girls have not seen Avengers: Infinity War. Movie night.

She is important to learn about the current state of other Progenitors and how they operate. An intelligence asset. From the storytelling part, the continual theme of redemption makes her very interesting in the same way Ran is.

What difference does the Valeria make now, she's no longer in charge of the psychic network! John had claimed the Galkirans at the end there, and selected a new matriarch from among them...so she's just the hired help now!

Fair, but she may know a lot of things that could be helpful.

It is a puzzle. Perhaps it was because John wasn’t knowingly claiming the Maliri when he added the twins?

I think progenitor m.o. is to treat their matriarchs as necessary thralls, not to share deep dark secrets and Xar’s machinations with. Remember, Gally used to beat the sh*t out of his matriarch regularly. That’s not how you treat a confidante.

The progenitors are evil. Destruction is a rush for them. Their motivation isn’t as much seizing assets for their empire, but in destroying others.

thanks, I thought that John had to refeed the matriachs for his changed edict to apply. Luna was protecting aurelia because of the ensuring wariness from other Maliri. Speed of ‘claim’ , how long before the homeworld thralls are caught and/or suicidal actions?

Oh I agree from a story-telling point of view. That's why I think it would be a good topic for the after battle wrap up. Might make Tefler's job a bit easier when a Progenitor can be one-shot though. There are still a few score out there.

when are you going to update this??? Don't wait and use the update at the end of the month!!!! you need to finish this chapter now, then post at least 1 full chapter at the end of month. no more excuses....

I think we should also add in that the story arc has developed significantly since then, possibly creating more complexity to ensure continuity. Tefler created a complete universe with loads of inter relations as well as parallel timelines...

FYI - Krishna was said to have married about 16000 women at one point (99% of them were former wives of a defeated enemy king, and would have had bad things happen to them if he hadn't married them).

EXACTLY, multiple times John has been told that by his team. For one of multiple examples, when he had a heart attack at Larn's soul forge rather than allow Jade to shoulder some of the task. This has been well explained as John reacting against his Progenitor nature of abusing women.

--- Tef discounted Giant John being able to provide 'more' psychic semen back when he loaded up (via Jade) the Kintark Empress Tamolith, ... Tef claimed it could not be done, ....I still say HUH? ... ;-) ttfn

...Aaannd the squick factor returns ;-)

They should explore if giant John can produce semen with same potency as regular sized John. If so, he can produce about a 1000 times more of the magic juice to spread across

I just hope we get a brigade or two of Dana build suits and weapons soon.

If I remember correctly, Larn had "Vats" that were mentioned as the source for connection for girls coming of age. So there's that, but the squick factor was quite high when I first read that. But I do agree the numbers are against John on this one without some help

Okay, TSM time vs Fan chapters Time (Our time), John might not have fully acclimatized to using his psychic gifts yet, let alone when it's his girls on the line, ... (Chivalry?) .... I bet Tef lets John grow out of that 'mistake' within the next 100 or so chapters, ... maybe, ... ;-) ttfn

One mistake that John continues to make: he does not draw power from the girls early enough. He seems o leave it for when his own abilities are exhausted.

That is interesting. We shall see what her level of hate is.

-- YEP! ... ;-) ttfn

If Valeria is ‘claimed’ there should be automatic hate for other thrall races. How fast/far does John’s claim go? I assume galaxywide to claim the other planets in the empire.

Yes. As the story is written, you can’t regenerate new thrall empires without planets to populate. I think there’s a big difference between terraforming an existing planet, and starting from scratch, creating a planet. Or, shall we look to Star Trek, and have them come up with a genesis device?

Also, did he leave additional fleets at home to guard his territory against other progenitors?

Yep! Admiral Cartwright (?) would probably freak out. It would DEFINITELY be a conflict if he was active. Technically, I’d guess it could become an “honorary” position, but you’d definitely revoke his access to all military data systems, not that it would matter with Irillith there.

Please try to complete ch 170 in 3 months with no more than 4 more pre charges.

Also, Progenitors are puppets of Xar who wants mass death.

What I want to see is the scene where the rest of the admiralty discovers that John is actually the leader of the Maliri. (After having destroyed the ridiculously powerful Galkirans). That aside, isn't there a bit of conflict of interest there with John still a member if the admiralty?

-- And I want the scene where FA Lynette tells the Admiralty that the Galkiran threat is now all over, thanks largely due to the Lion, ... She wants another Awards ceremony, ... ;-) ttfn

Excellent point.

@Dominic Walker: Interesting thoughts. Thank you. I think your explanation of the heard reset makes pretty good sense.

I see one. It is a docx

Good question.

Stupid thought brought up by all of this: by taking Jessica as his "Matriarch," did Rahn claim the human race as his thralls??

I think I missed all of this -- what shield?

Asshats just like blowing stuff up ... so true.

Fair points. Thanks for the ideas.

Good thoughts. Thank you for your ideas.

Got it! thank, I missed that detail

I wonder if Valeria will recognize their defeat and submit when she wakes up.

I set the bar based on prior experience and feedback....for almost the past year, we have heard nothing and given partial drips and drabs at the end of each month... I call em as I see em....

I am so ready to get Faye back!