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julia-drusilla-xii · 3 years

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- What if Caligula defeated Apollo and became the new sun god?

- What if Nero managed to convince Meg in betraying Apollo once again?

- What if Commodus managed to destroy the Waystation?

- What if the Triumvirate won the battle against Apollo?

I got extremely carried away since I've thought about this for a long time. Everythings under the cut not only because it turned out to be long, but also so I can warn you that it gets pretty dark.

Caligula defeating Apollo

Medea successfully took Apollo's immortal essence.

With her fancy spellwork, Caligula now has the combined powers of Apollo and Helios.

Ave, Neos Helios!

And history repeats itself- the Triumvirate goes to civil war.

Commodus allies with Caligula

Python switches sides from Nero to Caligula

There was a scene in the book where Python was all "if there's a new sun in the west-" to Nero and that basically implied Python would no longer support Nero if Caligula succeeded.

New Rome would've fallen, either the same way as it did in Tyrant's Tomb or by the sheer power of Caligula and Commodus' army, money, weaponry, you name it (bc tbf they could've won if Rick didn't hold back). And possibly sooner than in the books unless Caligula still wants to slow his arrival and drink his Shirley Temple.

Any survivors are now on Caligula's side.

Meanwhile, Nero's desperate although he's hiding that desperation as much as he can.

Meg's no longer in control of Apollo and MIA over in California.

But, she has the Meliai.

Nero knows the reason Meg and her father ended up in New York. Because Caligula burned their home down. Because of how her father was working on something important and powerful, Caligula viewed that as a threat. He probably knew about the seeds and what they were, same as Caligula.

And Caligula knows that Nero knows.

Meg McCaffrey is the one who can change the odds, even slightly.

Realistically, she'd never want to go back to Nero or help Caligula. But Nero might be able to talk her into his side. She could equally decide to help Camp Half-Blood.

Caligula, Medea, Commodus, Python vs Nero vs CHB

Assuming Caligula is in control of Herophile, Harpocrates, and the Oracle of Cumae, then not only does he still have the power of prophecy but also the communications are still down for the demigods.

No matter how you want to dice it, Caligula wins overall by the sheer amount of power and resources on his side.

What would stop him from ordering to kill Meg on sight, simply firing an onager at camp (and it working bc Octavian isn't there to catapult himself to the sky), and winning against a full-fledged fight against Nero?

Maybe the gods but that's on if they decide to work with Camp Half-Blood to begin with. Rick's characterization via reactions on Apollo's return makes them iffy, but I'd really like to believe they at have a heart for their children, Jason, and Apollo. They stand a good chance if they side together in the end and it shows they actually learned the message of not letting the kids do all the work and appreciating them.

Maybe even the Waystation could help, provided that Commodus doesn't destroy them first.

If Caligula won, then it's just taking out Commodus and Python if he wants sole power.

If he lost, then there's a lot of mourning, the numbers of survivors are small, but there's a new appreciation and a better environment for the demigods.

Meg betraying Apollo

At any point in the series, Nero could have convinced her to betray Apollo but the two more likely times are in the Dark Prophecy- before she escaped to find Apollo and at the end of the book when after everything they've been through together all it took was being back in Nero's environment to get her back into being his pawn.

And as Apollo mentions multiple times in the series, Meg has the power to command him to kill himself. So, it wouldn't end well for Apollo.

If it were the first one, then it would be less emotional and painful on both parties, but it would still hurt.

The only person on Apollo's side from the beginning turned out to be a traitor. He'd have support from his children, but that doesn't change how she helped him.

The only escape from Nero that Meg had was no longer beside her and there was enough convincing to happen to convince Meg it was for the better.

Apollo still has a chance of restoring his immortality, especially if Lityerses became his companion in replacement so Apollo's not alone.

Meg would just be out to get him throughout his trials.

If it were towards the end, it would be more emotional.

Both lose their friend, ally, and their greatest supporter.

Domino effect to Nero's favor. Camp Half-Blood falls first. The rest of New Rome and the Waystation is next. Possibly Olympus if he wanted to go that far but if he doesn't want to push his luck then he still is powerful and the Olympians might be content that at least they are still standing.

Nero gets a swifter rise to power because Caligula and Commodus are already eliminated and Nero has their combined powers.

And Python rules from a backseat.

Ave imperator! Ave Caesar!

Commodus destroys the Waystation

Unlike before, Commodus has proven he could be a threat.

Especially if Apollo never got the chance to blind him.

There isn't much seen with him being someone who plans ahead and willing to just fight without the flashiness so I'm not entirely sure if being the sole ruler is in his favor.

He does, however, turn the tides in either Caligula or Nero's favor depending on who he decided to support. He still is part of the Triumvirate with wealth and resources, regardless of his want to provide a show and have fun.

If he sided with Caligula, then after the demigods and Nero are taken care of, Commodus would be next on Caligula's list.

Same if he sided with Nero.

The only real chance Commodus has of winning big is if he destroyed the Waystation before Apollo destroyed the oracle and if Commodus manages to capture Apollo first.

Apollo and Commodus seem to both at least remember how they were before Apollo drowned him.

Maybe manipulation via that way?

Either way, I can't say much for Commodus so this one's shorter than the rest. I can see anything happening, from him achieving co-emperor at best to still losing everything at worst.

Triumvirate vs Apollo

This one entirely depends on which battle.

Assuming that all the three emperors are alive, then the story changes at the latest in the Tyrant's Tomb. Specifically, Caligula and Commodus are actually still alive despite Frank's sacrifice.

And they show up at the end, weak, but alive.

Because unless you count that picture Rachel got of them in a penthouse that was blurry, there was never a scene where all of them were together which isn't fair. Then again, Rick was the one who invented overpowered emperors in the series so that was probably a conscious decision to make it easier for Apollo.

The soonest would be immediately after The Hidden Oracle, where Nero could supply help to Commodus since he would know that would be Apollo and Meg's destination.

This one would be short because this is an equally open-ended question.

But if they actually helped each other first, things don't look good for Apollo or the demigods.

They might spare the demigods for the specific purpose of ruling over them.

If they continued to share their victory, then their empire is still split three ways.

If they decided to go all civil war, then as the first two triumvirates of Roman history went, the weakest go down first and the main two hash it over a lot of battles.

Caligula would still have Medea, so he has the means of magic.

And Nero would still have Python. Tbh, not sure if that snake even has powers of prophecy. But either way, Python was Nero's ally from the beginning.

I'd say the only thing stopping the triumvirate from complete control is once again, Olympus itself.

Especially if Meg's alive and inspires everyone to avenge Jason and Apollo.

Bonus~

Caligula as the sole emperor includes paranoia that someone betrays him since he was originally killed by his own guards. He might be able to rule the people as well as he did when he first became emperor (back in ancient Rome, the first few months of his rule he was well-loved until he became ill). If anything else, you can count on the yachts being his palace. Incitatus might be by his side because they might part ways since Incitatus wants horses to rule the world in the books. Caligula might renovate New Rome to his liking and upgrade it with his personal wealth.

Commodus as sole emperor involves Commodianapolis and a football stadium where he can host games. A lot of wealth being poured into grandeur, parties, and Commodus' name and likeness everywhere.

Nero as sole emperor means the Imperial Household is there to stay. From what I gather, there are twelve children to replace the twelve Olympians. I don't they're exactly all are children/legacies, but I could be wrong. Either way, Nero has them to help him enforce the rules. He has his tower and he's conveniently near Olympus and Camp Half-blood. He could decide to expand in Manhattan and Long Island.

#these were all scenarios I thought about when the books were released #great minds think alike #not sure if this is what you wanted but hope you liked this anyways #tw mention of death #tw mention of suicide #trials of apollo #caligula trials of apollo #neos helios #nero trials of apollo #commodus trials of apollo #meg mccaffrey #lester papadopoulos #python

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these-are-the-first-steps · 7 years

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It’s 3am... (Ode to an old favorite fic writer)

so would it be alright if I gushed about one of my life-long favorite fanfic authors?

She went by Jade, and she wrote what we’d call crack fics today. At the time, it was just ‘parody’. And her most famous stuff was for Xena.

If you guys didn’t know, “Xena” essentially invented the AU. At the time we called them ‘ubers’ (no idea why). But even the show made episodes like them- suddenly everyone's descendants are excavating in greece in the 1940s. Or in the future where a reincarnated bad guy makes clones of the heroes and uses episodes of the show (breaking the 4th wall) to download their personalities into the clones. Or modern-day where everyone’s descendants/reincarnations again are attending Xena conventions and Ares shows up STILL trying to date the new carrier of Xena’s soul. “Mer-May”? Try an ep where Xena’s sidekick Gabrielle hits her head and hallucinates she’s a mermaid with a squid and a blowfish for kids all with a 1960s aesthetic.

These were actual episodes of Xena, sprinkled around main storyline eps full of blood-drinking, vestal virgin deflowering, god-killing, and summoning the literal devil. They were insane. And they opened up the fanfic floodgates, so to speak. To this day, to my knowledge, “Xena” is the only tv show that’s ever hired a fanfic writer off the net to write a couple of episodes for the show that they really did make. Her name is Missy Good, and I’m still proud as hell of her.

I’m digressing, though. But take the crack/parody fics, mix it with the early birth of the AU, and suddenly you get Jade’s works. Masterpieces. They were written quite awhile ago now but they still absolutely kill me. I remember sitting at the computer when I was about 12-13 and wheezing because I couldn’t breathe I was laughing so hard.

Basically, the reason why I don’t do crack/parody fics is because Jade set the bar so high in my mind I know anything I attempt will automatically be garbage in comparison.

What’s also nice about Jade’s work is that you don’t necessarily have to have watched every episode of Xena to get a kick out of it (although it helps- ‘Hercules’, too). They’re funny even on their own. But luckily since most of us at least know of “Xena” (story of former ancient greek warlord Xena, Ares’s Chosen, giving up warfaring to be a ‘good guy’ and help others with her flower-sniffing sidekick gabrielle, who Xena later accidentally molds into a killing machine while Ares stalks her every waking moment- ahhhh my first otp, xena and ares...<3), it shouldn’t be too hard to appreciate.

So I’d like to share a couple of Jade’s fics, because everybody needs a good laugh and sometimes checking out things that aren’t star wars is nice, too. So please enjoy this tiny selection (have my fic recs ever steered you wrong?) and don’t forget to read the disclaimers- Jade’s were always the best.

(very) Short Stories:

“Attention Shoppers” Xena and Ares go shopping at a modern-day grocery store when a blue light special causes unnecessary competition and a disgusting amount of price checks for embarrassing items. Also, someone won’t get off the kiddie rides.

“Arguing on the Ides” Xena and Gabrielle have been crucified by Caesar, and frankly Xena’s just not satisfied with Gab’s confession of alleged ‘love’ before they were hauled up into the snow. Callisto’s no help, and after stabbing Caesar up, Brutus is more concerned with beheading and staking him than saving the two. Satan also comes to call to politely ask Xena to be his, even though she’s a little busy dying at the moment.

Long Fics:

“The Great Wall” Possibly my all-time favorite fanfic. Nearly every single character from “Xena” AND “Hercules” grace this story. Herc’s overbearing mother needs yet another wall built to defend her from kidnappers and he’s fed up. He invites everyone he knows and then some- it’s going to be the biggest wall in creation. Drug use, alcohol consumption, communal bath time, wooden spoon-hitting, fornicating, visits from Hell, and a whole slew of other bizarre goings-on happen here. Definitely worth the read.

“Government Cheese” It’s modern day, Xena’s immortal, and she and Ares are shacked up in a cheap hole living on welfare because why not? Aphrodite, listless in this age, sleeps on their kitchen floor, Cupid’s in jail, and Herc is now a notorious hobo living in a cardboard box with a poster of Pamela Anderson on their roof. They’re disgusting, so Zeus and Hera decide to intervene. They need to clean. And need jobs. And they know just who to bring back from the dead to motivate them (spoilers: it’s gabrielle).

----

I managed to find Jade again, a couple years ago. A suspicious screen name ended up leading me to her FF.net account. I sent her a message, and nearly fell over when I found out I was right- that it was her. Finally, after growing up reading her silliness, I could thank her for it. And thank her I did. I was even able to help her recover some lost stories thanks to the internet archive. I’m not sure if she was especially keen on someone recognizing her from her work back then (she later changed her screenname to something very different), but I’m glad I got to say thanks to her for helping make my truly horrendous middle school years a little more tolerable. :,)

So the moral of this story is that you DO have an impact on readers, fic writers! You DO have an impact! People will remember your work for years to come! And you will even inspire future writers some day! So take pride in that, and know that you’re helping make peoples’ lives brighter. <3

#fanfiction #fandom history #xena warrior princess #xena #xwp #xena/ares #jade #jade khindin #not star wars

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