Tomn_Peng said:blah blah blah
Wtf, over? Questions and critisism is all fine and good, but what's with the superior attitude and sarcasm? What have YOU created lately?
Tomn_Peng said:blah blah blah
This is true, and has been brougth up before - but even God-Emperor's with mandate from heaven get assassinated in the end if they hang around too long.Tomn_Peng said:It should be noted, though, that immortality would hardly have been detrimental in certain cultures, particularly those that aren't monotheistic. The Chinese, for instance, had legends of enlightened men becoming immortal, and with him actually being immortal, I'm sure someone with the supposed genius of Fu Manchu wouldn't have had much difficulty creating an underground resistance cult before making himself the God-Emperor of China with the ultimate Mandate of Heaven, that being immortality.
Good point too. My guess (as if I didn't know) is that Fu hasn't been a scientist for that long, 200-250 years tops. Because before that, there wasn't such a thing as science, and no matter how smart he migth have been, (if we assume he was first born as Attila) he hails from a pre-scientific barbarian culture. The idea of inventing things might simply not have occured to him until recently.* Before this, all his efforts would have been channeled towards achieving enough money and influcence to catapult him to world domination in the span of one lifetime, because he has learn't the hard way that his left-behind dynasties never acomplish much in his wake. But with all opposition crushed, perhaps, a line of caretakers under his immortal superivision could rule the world if not for ever, then at least for a very long time.Tomn_Peng said:As for the mocking of Fu's lack of inventions, I was referring to how he made the Elixir in his first century, and then did...what? Most of his developments mentioned in the tale so far places his creations at around this century. There's a long, long gap in-between where he presumably divides his time between world domination and facing untold horrors beyond human ken, but even so it's a fairly long time for a genius to go through without coming up with, I dunno, a personal cure for the common cold or something. And as for the Jade Fever and the Soul of the Dragon, they seem pretty impressive, but their strategic effects appear just a tad limited. That might have been just an impression, though.
Very good! There must be deep-seated psychological reasons for such an irredeemable philanderer as Bond - and I don't think we've even seen the end of those yet.Tomn_Peng said:One final note: Bond is devoted to Hannah. Hannah cuts him off in favor of Buck Rodgers. We know that Bond will later become famous as a ladykiller. Is Hannah thus indirectly responsible for the many broken hearts that Bond will leave in his wake?
Originally Posted by The Yogi
*But then, how did he come up with the Elixir Vitae? Ah, you have NO IDEA! Mwhahahah!
Lyon_Man said:Now hold on just a minute here; I thought the answer had already been said in the story. From what I remember, while Fu was living as Attila (possibly his first actual life), the poison meant to kill him actually backfired somehow and he became immortal. Sound familiar to anyone? Seriously, I'm hoping that this is in the text and I didn't just cobble together something completely different.
I suspect that the Elixir does cure the common cold. Moreover, it is unreasonable to assume that we have seen all of Fu's inventions. His cure for the common cold is not relevant to the story, and the Yogi has been good about not including irrelevant details.Tomn_Peng said:As for the mocking of Fu's lack of inventions, I was referring to how he made the Elixir in his first century, and then did...what?
but even so it's a fairly long time for a genius to go through without coming up with, I dunno, a personal cure for the common cold or something.
Any disease much more effective than Jade Fever would be too effective; it would spread to his own ranks. And the Soul of the Dragon is actually quite effective. Insofar as any 'super-soldier' drugs can make combatants more effective, the Soul is probably doing a good job. After all, no drug will make your men better shots or smarter tacticians.And as for the Jade Fever and the Soul of the Dragon, they seem pretty impressive, but their strategic effects appear just a tad limited. That might have been just an impression, though.
Now that is a good spec.One final note: Bond is devoted to Hannah. Hannah cuts him off in favor of Buck Rodgers. We know that Bond will later become famous as a ladykiller. Is Hannah thus indirectly responsible for the many broken hearts that Bond will leave in his wake?
I actually agree, which is why I debated those points at length. They're good enough to merit serious attention in my book.The Yogi said:cthulu, Simon_Jester, thanks guys but it's OK, I don't think Tomn_Peng is trolling, in fact I think he makes some good points:
I'm guessing he stole it from somebody else who already knew how to make it. He was probably Attila the Hun at the time, after all. And from the historical character of Attila, it seems very likely that he'd be happy to steal an immortality potion.*But then, how did he come up with the Elixir Vitae? Ah, you have NO IDEA! Mwhahahah!
He did settle down and get married once (or at least the 'get married' part), if I remember rightly. But it didn't stick because somebody used a plothammer to kill his wife off.Very good! There must be deep-seated psychological reasons for such an irredeemable philanderer as Bond - and I don't think we've even seen the end of those yet.
The Yogi said:cthulu, Simon_Jester, thanks guys but it's OK, I don't think Tomn_Peng is trolling, in fact I think he makes some good points:
It's a chronic problem for me; using sarcasm on me is like dynamiting fish in a barrel because I have trouble identifying sarcasm in online posts. Everything looks the same to me, so it's hard for me to tell what people meant.Tomn_Peng said:Woof, Simon, you're taking some of the stuff I'm saying way more seriously than I did. Like the common cold thing, for instance, that was a throwaway line.
Well, there's a practical limit on why either the fever or the drug could be hoped to achieve. Most weapons are only tactically significant, when you get right down to it. With a few exceptions, new weapons only affect the strategic level by making troops more effective on the tactical level and therefore more likely to win battles.As for the bioweapons, it's true that they're fairly useful tactically, but on the strategic level they don't really pop up that much; the Jade Fever demoralized the Japanese, but failed to stop them fighting (much), while the Soul of the Dragon, if I recall correctly, has more usage in close combat. Of course, it helps them GET close, what with the whole "ignoring a shot straight to the chest" thing, but I'd imagine that once the drug wears off, they'd fall dead. Thus, strategically limited, unless you want to turn your entire army into suicide bombers or somesuch. Although that wouldn't be too unreasonable, considering...
Wouldn't Fu remember how he got the elixir as Attila?By the by, here's a paranoid conspiracy for the thinkers out there: The Allies beat down the Pan-Asian Empire, and as a last ditch effort to save his empire, Fu Manchu breaks out a time machine. Unfortunately, it's not calibrated properly, and he ends up well, well back in the past where a barbarian by the name of Attila cuts his head off, drinks the Elixir on hand, and reads the recipe. Dun dun dun. Although now that I think about it, that particular hypothesis might actually make sense, considering how Nayland's visage was on those murals.