The Qu vs. The Affini | B&B BATTLE BLOGS!

 I would like to offer an explicit content warning for this blog.


All Tomorrows is a speculative science fiction book that deals with the extinction of humanity and their biological reshaping into something else. The series does not shy away from body horror with such aberrations as the colonials, and much of what the Qu do to their victims can be a very difficult read or look at to the squeamish.


More pressingly, Human Domestication Guide is a NSFW setting whose worldbuilding is based in kink, transfemininity, asexuality, and disability. It’s a series very dear to my heart, but the themes of it are not for everyone, and most people would be more likely to consider it horror than anything sexual. However, the intent of the setting is very clear, and while we’ll obviously be focusing on the compact from a VS standpoint and dancing around the NSFW topics, it’s going to be impossible to entirely ignore the overarching themes of the series as they are part of what makes this matchup as good as I find it to be.


All of this is to say, this is NOT a blog for general audiences, as it will contain significant body horror, discussion of NSFW topics, and other content like drugging. Viewer discretion is advised, so please keep that in mind.


Admittedly, I’m very nervous about posting this blog given its content, but I hope that those who read it enjoy it nonetheless. Honestly, I was debating even making this at all, but the Tusk VS. Human Centipede blog did kind of convince me that if people were on board with that, they could probably be normal about this.


And do not do not do NOT under any circumstances go off and harass anybody who makes content for this setting. Please do not do this, I do not care if you don’t like the setting or its content, harassing people on the internet is cringe. Don’t do that.


Thanks for listening.


P.S. if this turns out well you’re getting like 5 monster girl quest blogs at some point because i did not play paradox for genuinely 160 hours to not use any of that sweet powerscaling LMAOOOOO


THIS BLOG CONTAINS DISCUSSION OF NSFW TOPICS AND A NSFW SETTING. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. 


“Do steers make treaties with meat packers?” 

-Robert A. Heinlein


The Quhanim, the nomadic scourge of the star people from All Tomorrows.


The Affini Compact, the Arboreal Overlords of the galaxy from Human Domestication Guide.


For as long as mankind has looked to the light of the stars, we’ve dreamed of finding other life among the heavens. From the primordial gods of mythology to the little green men of pop culture, the alien, the extraterrestrial other, has been a staple of our storytelling, as much a core part of humanity as humans themselves. And of course, just as much a staple of alien stories is the Alien Invader, a hostile force aiming to conquer our world and remake it as their own… for better or for worse. 


These starfaring civilizations of masterful bioengineers have wrapped up hundreds of worlds in their tendrils, and even the best that a future humanity had to offer never stood a chance against their reign. And yet, despite their grand capabilities and reach, the core axioms of these imperialist extraterrestrials couldn’t be more different. So when they go head to head in all-out galactic conquest, which empire will claim the ultimate victory? Time to find out, on DEATH BATTLE!


Before We Begin…


For the Qu, we’ll be looking at the original All Tomorrows book, as well as what’s available of the upcoming remake, All Tomorrows Redux. 


It should be noted that only a few chapters of Redux have been released so far. All Tomorrows is a relatively obscure book that only recently came into popularity, and only recently got a physical release through crowdfunding, so it’s not easy to find resources on everything. We’re just two people working on this blog, but we’re doing our best to be as comprehensive as we can.


Additionally, All Tomorrows Redux has yet to release or have a release date. While the Author is hard at work on it, the book is still “only” 300 pages so far, and as far as we know from updates is only at the Qu’s reign (which is a little before the halfway mark of the book). While I’m absolutely willing to do a remaster of this blog if and when that comes out, I… honestly just kind of didn’t want to wait for this, I’m moving in 3 weeks so I wanted to make sure I got a blog out.


For the Affini, it’s a little more complicated as Human Domestication Guide is not a singular story. Think of it as more akin to something like the SCP Foundation, as it’s a creative commons work managed and updated by the community with various tales and entries in the lore. Given this, it’s impossible to nail down everything as there are hundreds of stories that vary in quality, canonicity, tone, and content while keeping the overall broad strokes consistent. Think less the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and more the James Bond canon, as the wiki puts it.


So for the Affini, the things we’ll be focusing on in this blog include:

  • The original eponymous story. 

  • The six foundational works listed on the wiki: Abcission, Divaricated, Nurture & Acquisitions, Wellness Check, No Gods No Masters, and For a Better Universe.

  • The HDG-lorets Tumblr account, which is staffed by lore experts and series writers that answer lore questions about the series.

  • Some word-of-gods posts by series creator GlitchyRobo, as she posts things like galactic maps or diagrams of Affini ships that can be helpful.

  • The Human Domestication Guide wiki, which compiles large amounts of series lore spread across various other stories such as warp travel, xenodrugs, and digitization, which are obviously important for a debate.

  • Other bits and pieces from stories that I’ve read personally that help to flesh out something like an affini’s physical feats (Cat and Mouse has one stop a moving train, for example)


While I’m sure I’ll have missed something about these two, I fully intend to remaster this blog once All Tomorrows Redux releases, and I believe this blog will be comprehensive enough to work for now.


Matchup Rules


Given that the Modus Operandi of our combatants today aren’t typically to simply kill everything they come across, this battle obviously is going to come with a few stipulations. We’re not going to simply break the settings to ensure that they kill each other - Rather, we’re going to let both species play by their rules. 


In essence, the win condition for each faction here is not to simply wipe out the opposing side, but to subjugate them. For the Qu to overrun the compact like they did to the Star People, or for the Affini to successfully domesticate the Qu like they did to the Terran Accord. Obviously, a full wipeout will still be accepted as a valid win condition, but it’s not in-character for either side. 

  • The Qu view themselves as gods, and view resistance and other species’ usage of genetic tampering as infidelity that has to be punished in a way worse than simply killing them. Even the planets that were able to push back their invasion forces twice were still subject to becoming the Colonials instead of being killed. As a result, their attempts to defeat the Affini will likely be similar.

  • The Affini are extremely averse to killing, and do their best to maintain the happiest life possible for everyone under their care. Even those with otherwise incurable and debilitating conditions will be put under a full drug treatment to remove their consciousness rather than simply mercy-killed, allowing them to peacefully remain until science advances enough to cure those conditions. As a result, their attempts will be to pacify and domesticate the Qu, rather than to kill them.


Special thanks goes to:

  • C. M. Kösemen, for creating the excellent All Tomorrows.

  • GlitchyRobo, for creating Human Domestication Guide.

  • Bang’s Blogs, not because they helped with this blog or anything, but because they had the absolute fucking adamantium cojones to publish Human Centipede vs Tusk and that genuinely gave me the confidence boost to make this blog happen. Seriously, I really appreciate that, guys, thank you.


Now, without further ado, let’s get to the discussion!


Background

The Qu 


“To them humanity, with all of its relative glories, was nothing more than a transmutable subject.”


Ah, you made it. Please, sit down. I’ve been compiling the most fascinating research documents as of late, and I’ve been dying to share them with somebody. Tell me. Have you ever heard of a little species called Homo Sapiens?


More than a billion years in the past, the species once known as humanity changed forever. The Star People, genetically-engineered spacefarers with expanded brains and wondrous technology, had quickly spread across their spiral arm of the Milky Way, creating a world that was by no means a galactic utopia, but one that was a free-flow of information spanning centuries of light, where an individual’s living conditions and cultural wealth could be compared to that of modern-day nations and weapons could be stockpiled to nova stars and wreck entire solar systems.


Even so, a feeling of dread loomed over this species. The discovery of a terrestrial creature, a being of Earth’s biology taken from its planet millions of years ago, had left a striking fact clear to the star people: They were not alone. Somewhere in the vast universe was a species who had been performing the same experiments and colonization as them for millions of years before they had even left earth. And in time, they would find this species, and the culture shock that followed would lead to the extinction of humanity as we know it.


In time, they would find the Quhanim.


A nomadic species that had existed for nearly a billion years, the Quhanim (Or the Qu, as they’re much more popularly known) wandered the galaxy as nomads, in epoch-spanning voyages following the dogma of their religion. These masters of genetics and nanotechnology had evolved themselves repeatedly over their eons of life, becoming masters of the material world and believing themselves to be divine harbingers of the future. Ironically once benevolent in nature, millennia of power unchecked turned the Qu into monsters, and it was these monsters that humanity was utterly helpless against.


In a mere thousand years, despite their armaments and advancements, the Star People had been all but wiped out, their achievements mere dust in the wind. And yet, humans… or perhaps what were once humans, were not. No, that would be far too kind of a fate for the infidels. At least, that’s what the Qu believed. Instead, when they swept over the worlds of humanity, they left them irrevocably changed.


In their disgust for humanity’s genetic experiments, for daring to step into their territory, the Qu genetically modified every world humankind lived on, turning its inhabitants into worm-like creatures, massive, bestial titans, animals with the brains to think and mourn but no features with which to manipulate the world. Those few worlds who were able to push back the Qu for even a moment were subject to even worse fates - Living waste filtration systems able only to exist and suffer, or parasites forced to feed on their brethren to survive.


For millions of years, the Qu reigned over these terraformed planets, and then they left just as suddenly as they arrived, leaving behind only destruction and cruel miles-tall monuments and torturous existence in their wake. A whole interstellar civilization, a height of art and culture, snuffed out just like that.


Even so, life tends to find a way. The changed humanity, disparate and divided as they were, continued to live. Not all of them lived, many went extinct. But some survived amidst the ruins of their world. They began to flourish, to adapt. And over millions of years, they began to evolve. And deep within the recesses of their mind, they did not forget what the Qu had done. As sapience and civilization re-evolved, and as ruins and history were rediscovered, the many disparate peoples that were once human found what had been done to them, some even taking up the identity for themselves. Parasites became symbiotes, systems for filtration evolved into systems of cooperation and specialized biological function. 


One by one, as the Qu left behind their work, it began to grow and turn against them. Some warred with eachother, certainly, but others still joined together, spreading through the galaxy until one day they were able to match the forces of their dark gods. What humankind had become was the Asteromorphs, a species of godlike being as powerful as the oppressors that once dominated them so easily. And when the Qu returned, this time, they were ready. 


This time, they won.


The Qu were encountered once more, and subdued. What followed was an unprecedented era of intergalactic peace, of the rediscovery of earth and the development of technology so grand that even the idea of travel itself became a foreign concept. But all this could have been accomplished so much earlier, with so fewer casualties, had it not been for the Qu, the greatest enemies ever faced by any life in the universe. 


Ironically, in the Qu’s dreams of an ideal, perfect universe, they distorted the worlds they came across beyond recognition. Even so, the story of mankind and its rebellion proves the indomitability of the spirit. It was not the destination, but the journey itself that mattered. To evolve, to adapt, to push forward, and to seize All Tomorrows.


I can only speak for myself, but I personally think that’s rather uplifting, don’t you?


The Affini Compact


“We never stood a chance, did we?”


Citizens of the Terran Accord! Lend us your ears. This is not a drill.


Humanity is besieged by an enemy from beyond the stars. Our intel tells us that they come from the distant Triangulum Galaxy, but where they came from is hardly more important than what they’re going to do to you if they catch you. These Xenos - No, these weeds have wormed their way into our galaxy, and god only knows what they’re doing to the brave men and women on the front. All we know is what our few scouts have been able to return to us. Stories right out of a sci-fi horror show. 


These monstrous plants are taking our men, our people, and brainwashing them into mindless pets! They’re turning our own soldiers against the safety and order of the Accord, and threatening to plunge the galaxy into the chaos. Only you can put a stop to this alien menace! Join the Terran Cosmic Navy today, and burn those weeds to the-


KSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH-


Now, that’s quite enough of that, petal. We wouldn’t want you to get the wrong idea about us! After all, that was a whole universe ago.


Hello, cuties! Cicuta Nerium, Fourth Bloom. Pronouns She/Her. I’m sure you’re all very confused and scared by the sudden cut-off there, but let me assure you, it’s for your own good. I’ll be your guide through our lovely little compact, and if you all behave, I’ll make sure there’s a special reward for you waiting at the end!


So, let’s take a step back, shall we? Ah, the Terran Accord. Such a truly horrific abuse of terran rights that government is. Did you know it’s not allowed to make your own music if it’s too close to something a corporation has made? Or that you aren’t even allowed to fix anything you have that gets broken? Dirt, they don’t even allow you poor things to express your own gender or sexuality! It breaks my heart to see any sophont going through something like that.


Luckily for you, we’re here to help! We are the Affini Compact, hailing from the Triangulum Galaxy, and we specialize in taking care of Sophonts like you. In fact, just a few years ago now, we arrived at the edge of Accord space, rescuing dying terrans we found and nursing the poor things back to health, studying them so we could better understand you and your biology! Don’t worry, there were some complications, but thanks to our help, they’re living just fine with our assistance.


Of course, three years before we pacified the accord, we revealed ourselves like we do to all of the worlds under our care. We’re hardly violent conquerors, after all! Our protectorates enjoy the highest standards of care and living in the compact, free of scarcity and the struggles of everyday life. But the Accord’s quadrillionaire rulers - Honestly, such a silly number to ascribe to something as ephemeral and unnecessary as currency - thought they’d really be able to wipe us out, just to keep oppressing their people! 


Of course, we couldn’t have that, so we began our domestication campaign! Oh, what’s domestication, you might be asking? Well, that’s an excellent question, little one. You see, we Affini have very high standards for self-care and the ability to live a happy life. While anywhere from 60-85% of any given planet is able to do this just fine, those remaining 25-40% can be a little more… complicated. Dangers to themselves or others, suffering from conditions that can’t be managed in everyday life, or a feralist mindset that tries to fight back against us, not knowing what’s best for them. 


In these situations, Domestication is our go-to solution! Through Xenodrugs, our special Haustoric Implants, and lots of tender love and care, these fortunate few become Florets, our happy, absolutely adorable pets. Don’t worry, it may sound intimidating, but before you know it, you’ll be living a happy life as your best, truest self under our care.


It really didn’t take long for us to take care of the Terran Accord. They called it a war, of course, but we prefer to think of it more as a pacification. Three of your earth years, to be precise, plus a few more to take care of those pesky Free Terran movements. Your government and people certainly fought hard against us, but in the end, we always win. After all, we only want what’s best for the universe! That’s why, even hundreds of thousands of years after domesticating the accord, we continued to Divaricate, to develop our technology, until we finally created the apex of our advancements: The Universe Ascension Engine! 


We hadn’t figured out a way to domesticate Entropy until now, but we finally cracked it. Thanks to you Terrans, in fact! It was a Terran and Affini scientist working together, alongside plenty of others, that finally created a universe free of concepts like death, entropy, oppression - And yes indeed, even the forced florethood we put so many of you cuties under to help you live your best lives. It may not be perfect yet, but together, we can make it better and better.


So just remember! When we reach your doorstep for your wellness check, greet us with open arms. All we want is for the happiness and prosperity of every sophont, because there is nothing we won’t do For a Better Universe. Nobody will be left behind or slip through the cracks. You will be taken care of, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it!


Experience, Skill, & Infrastructure


Qu 


“A mile high Qu pyramid towers over the silent world that once housed four billion souls.”


Though the nature of All Tomorrows makes it difficult to exactly pin down everything the Qu are capable of, the showings they have are more than enough to establish how much of an absolutely unstoppable presence they were. With their civilization being almost a billion years old, their status as gods can certainly be backed up, as they were performing interstellar travel and genetic experimentation during the time the dinosaurs walked the earth.


Individual Qu, if we’re comparing them to similar god-like beings such as the Asteromorphs, should have the knowledge and capability to terraform and create entire worlds almost from scratch, and they’re far above the likes of the Star People, who were able to colonize an entire spiral arm of the galaxy and maintain communications through the entirety of it by inventing free-floating informational travel through electromagnetic waves. Even long after they left the ruins of the Star People behind, the Qu continued to wander the cosmos for hundreds of millions of years, as they were still around by the time of the United Galaxies.


Speaking of, indeed, an interstellar civilization was only able to mount flashes of ephemeral resistance against the Qu. Their power and reach is so vast that it took a united force of several galaxies working together to ultimately subdue them, and at that point, its residents were masters of nanotechnology, manipulating gravity to their whim with personal gravity fields, and even creating megastructures large enough to house entire worlds inside them.


As for infrastructure, the Qu aren’t a single imperialist empire. Rather, their species is nomadic, and crosses galaxies in epoch-spanning journeys, reshaping the world as they see fit and leaving behind ruins, monuments, and forever-changed humans.


All of this is to say that while we may not know how any individual Qu operates, what the species as a whole is capable of should be absolutely feared.


Affini


The Affini Compact originates in the Triangulum galaxy, but they have spread their reach far beyond that over their time domesticating the universe. As of the end of the Terran Domestication Campaign, they had already spread through the entire Andromeda galaxy and set up warp gates between them. It took the compact roughly 100 years to conquer the entire Milky Way, and their civilization is so large that information from one end of Affini space can take years to reach the other end. 


Thus, rather than a single hierarchical empire, the Compact is a large collection of interconnected communes forged in rigid bureaucracy and record keeping. After all, a human lifetime is just a flash in the life of an Affini, which can live to be hundreds of thousands of years old - Indeed, as of the time of the Universe Ascension, the compact as a whole was well over 400,000 years old. And yet, the Affini treasure every memory and individual sophont under their banner, rendering the heart of the compact a bureaucracy rather than a military stronghold.


Their dedication to the happiness and well-being of those under their care have of course led them to developing all manner of strategies to eliminate resistance. Most typically, an Affini force will locate isolated sophonts - Those who are lost in space, or solo explorers - and take them in to study them in a Cotyledon Program, determining their biology and learning how to make the most effective countermeasures. Only after they completely understand the species they’re after will they announce themselves, offering peace as a protectorate under the compact first, and only seeking conquest should that species decide to fight back, once they’ve already developed countermeasures.


Don’t let that fool you into thinking they have no military prowess, though. Pacifistic as they might be, they spare no expense in ensuring the well-being of every sophont, and will outright move stars to ensure one’s happiness. The ships of the Affini are capable of outright engulfing the largest Terran vessels and stretch kilometers wide, and Affini scientists are masters of all manner of technologies. The compact has discovered a fifth fundamental force, mastered FTL travel and communication, and even developed an engine capable of resetting the universe! 


All that is to say, the Terran Accord really never stood a chance.


Equipment and Technology

Qu 

Technology 



Pictured above is a genetically-modified tracing creature, just one of the many inventions of the Qu’s Biotechnology. This knowledge essentially made the Qu masters of the material world, as they were capable of all manner of horrific modifications. After all, they themselves were highly genetically modified to the point of being considered gods even to the likes of the Star People, so one can only wonder what they might be capable of doing to other individuals.


The Qu were also described as “masters” of Nanotechnology, and while it’s hard to say exactly what their capabilities were, we can certainly compare them to other users of the same technology. The Qu were known to employ nanotechnological drones in their conquest of the Star People which likely aided in their ability to remodel a living being’s physiology so entirely. 


Comparable users of Nanotechnology like the New Machines were able to create bodies that could survive the vacuum of space, and instantly adapt and transform for any situation, taking on any shape or size imaginable. In fact, they could even use these technologies to grow temporary ramjet engines and hyperdrives for themselves to achieve faster-than-light travel, so it’s very likely the Qu could do the same given that this was achieved long before the second war with them.


Among the many inventions and biological alterations of the Qu, what we know of include:

  • Crystalline growths that can recycle and convert oxygen similar to plant life, and provide it to the underground, which the Qu left on the planet of the worms.

  • Technology that can alter the size and intensity of a sun, making its heat “monstrous” and scorching the surface world to force all the planet’s inhabitants to live underground.

  • Changing the mass of living beings, turning humans into massive titans that were more than 40 meters long.

  • Adapting beings to gravity a fifth of earth’s, or even as high as thirty-six times greater than Earth’s, as shown with the Lopsiders and Striders.

  • Adapting land-based beings to live underwater, as seen with the Swimmers, or granting the ability to flow.

  • Completely removing intelligence from beings and making them instinctual, as well as adding modifications to the cerebrum that prevents the necessary steps for sentience from ever developing again.

  • Alterations to one’s personality on a genetic level to stagnate evolution and create a permanent state of hedonism, as seen with the Hedonists.


Creations


Being the masters of biotechnology that they are, the Qu obviously created all manner of strange beings out of their victims. While they aren’t necessarily ones that the Qu would use in combat scenarios, they are still notable to discuss as an example of what the Qu are capable of, and willing to do to their opponents.

  • Worms: Underground beings the length of a human arm, with stubby limbs and mindless instincts. They were specialized to dig and eat, and not much else.

  • Titans: Massive, gentle creatures more than 40 meters long, which developed their lower lips into a trunk-like organ that could manipulate objects.

  • Predators and Prey: Mutated humans that were made to hunt eachother, resembling the creatures of fairy tales like goblins or werewolves.

  • Mantelopes: Mutated star people that were bred as a sort of living recorder. They were able to record and play back sound, retaining memories over generations.

  • Swimmers: A group of various kinds of domesticated mutants, including limbless ribbon-like eel people, “brainless wallowers” that were used as food, massive whale-like behemoths, and and pets that could swim by squirting out water from their mouth similar to a nautilus.

  • Lizard Herders: Humans for whom the Qu simply removed the sentience of, altering aspects of the cerebellum to prevent it from ever emerging again.

  • Temptors: Strange beings used as mere decoration by their overlords, the females were rooted in place, but used vocal and pheromonal signals to command males to perform tasks for them.

  • Colonials: Perhaps the most terrifying of the fates that the Qu doled out to humanity, the world that had managed to repel two Qu invasions before falling to the third had its inhabitants converted into cubes of flesh and eyes, living waste filtration systems that existed solely for the sake of suffering for generations to come, in a twisted form of retribution for daring to resist their gods.

  • Flyers: A variety of aerial humans that were able to maneuver through the sky, including those that resembled flying squirrels, bats, or pterosaurs.

  • Blind Folk: A group that tried to hide underground to avoid the invasion, but were found and converted into blind cave-dwelling beings that found their way around with echolocation.

  • Lopsiders: Beings that were transported and adapted for a planet with 36 times Earth’s gravity, misshapen lumps of flattened flesh and atrophied limbs.

  • Striders: Large beings adapted to a planet with a fifth of the gravity of Earth’s moon. They were peaceful, but sickeningly fragile and could have their bones broken with a fall even in this low gravity world.

  • Parasites: A group of humans that the Qu split in half, creating a group of parasites and a group of crippled hosts and forcing them to feed on eachother to survive. 

  • Hedonists: A pampered pet species that the Qu designed genetically for a life of pleasure, made originally from humans and set loose on a tropical island world of pleasure and bounty. They were made to only be able to reproduce after decades of attempts, keeping the species stable but genetically non-adaptable, and it took millions of years for them to finally return to any kind of sentience.


Affini

Phytotech 

Pictured: An example of what phytotech is capable of doing to the human body. Art by ObliviaWrites.


Being plant people, you would expect the Affini to be masters of biotechnology, and you would be right.


Obviously, having been spacefaring for 100,000 years, the Affini’s level of technology is outright Utopian. While we’re only scratching the surface of what they can do in this blog, even that should be enough to give you an idea of what they’re capable of. Phytotech is the broad term for their technologies, which often appears to be plant-based in nature. Their ships resemble giant flowers, their prosthetics resemble branches and thorns, even the bodies of the Affini are all heavily genetically modified to resist things like fire or chemical weaponry. However, this is a vast oversimplification, as phytotech can interface with technology and even digitize the human consciousness in a ship of theseus-styled continuity of existence.


Some of the advancements that the compact has developed with its phytotech besides the obvious include:


Xenodrugs 

“It had been blooms since I had assembled a cocktail from true raw compounds, but I could easily compile the equipment needed. It was a longer process, but an act of love she deserved.”


Xenodrugs are one of the most ubiquitous inventions of the compact, and almost every Affini will have some amount of these grafted onto themselves. These chemicals, which many of them know how to make and synthesize, can be dispensed through needles, gels, pills, aerosols, and more, and have a variety of different effects. They’re one of the first tools brought out in any domestication campaign, and are even available recreationally to those living in the compact.


Xenodrugs come in several different classes, with the ones we know about being listed below:

  • Class-A: Alters the sense of touch, often causing it to be more pleasurable. Can also cause euphoria and intoxication similar to weed.

  • Class-B: Allows for the manipulation of memories, including implantation, alteration, or outright removal, although certain individuals can still have particularly traumatic memories resurface through them.

  • Class-C: Increases the bonding response of the affected and facilitates attachment.

  • Class-D: Essentially a “Truth serum”, Class-D drugs remove one’s inhibitions, causing the affected to blurt out what they’re really feeling and lose their emotional repression.

  • Class-E: A tranquilizing drug that can be used to calm panic attacks and relax the muscles.

  • Class-F: Thought-altering Xenodrugs that increase the power of the haustoric implant and disrupt intrusive thoughts.

  • Class-G: Essentially superpowered hormones, Class-Gs can alter the body in a variety of ways, including changing one’s sex characteristics, hair and eye color, height to a degree, and even causing inhuman features like fur growth to appear.

  • Class-H: Hallucinogens that put their target into a suggestible trance.

  • Class-J: Xenodrugs that temporarily reduce the target’s intelligence and mental state to something more akin to a pet or animal. They have a ramp-up and ramp-down of several days.

  • Class-L: Causes intense ego death, and pervasive euphoria. They require close supervision to be administered due to the risk of addiction if used too frequently.

  • Class-M: Paralytic Drugs that inhibit the thoughts and movement of those affected, reducing them to a state similar to a doll.

  • Class-O: A more dangerous form of Class-Ls which cause permanent identity death as long as an explicit antidote program isn’t administered. The closest thing the compact has to Euthanasia. These are a big deal and are typically used as an absolute last resort for beings whose well-being otherwise cannot be secured using the compact’s current technology. They’re often used on Cotyledons who are damaged from the initial program, keeping them in a state of long-term life support until a more effective measure can be developed. Obviously, these are something that the compact will absolutely not use in a combat scenario.

  • Class-P: These Xenodrugs are used on those who were already affected by the Haustoric Implant, allowing the affini connected to said implant to control the body of the recipient.

  • Class-S: Similar to Class-H, these drugs act as hallucinogens, but they have more broad alteration of the senses and can also induce something like synesthesia, or altering one’s sense of taste to make everything taste sweet.

  • Class-V: Drugs that prevent the body from rejecting modifications, or otherwise help the recipient use their modifications. You would give this to someone who got a tail surgically added onto them, for example.

  • Class-W: Induces Aphasia, a communication disorder that affects the language system of the brain. Someone affected by Class-Ws may lose their ability to read, write, speak, or even understand spoken language, while keeping their intelligence intact.

  • Class-Z: Sleep drugs, basically. They can alter or prevent dreams, prevent sleep entirely, or put a target into a comatose state for long-term life support.


Ships 

Yes, these are the smaller ships.


Obviously, a spacefaring species like the Affini have plenty of starships with which to traverse the cosmos. But compared to the starships of humanity, an affini ship is… well, more than a little different. As an example, we can look at the above post from series creator GlitchyRobo. Pacification vessels like the Capitella can reach up to 15 kilometers in wingspan, and these are some of the smaller ones that the compact has access to. Obviously, these ships are equipped with a variety of ways to subdue enemy vessels, so let’s look at some of what they’re capable of!

  • Vines: Obviously, they’re big plants. The ships of the Affini Compact have weaponized vines, which are easily able to wrap up, restrain, and pierce ships as large as the 800-meter Deneb’s Dawn, doing so with enough precision to avoid killing anybody onboard! Since most of these are civilian vessels, they don’t have many direct weapons on their own, but to be fair, it’s not like they really need them given their size and the capabilities of Affini on their own.

  • Jump Drives: FTL drives that allow for ships to travel vast distances in short periods. In the Human Domestication Guide setting, Jump Drives work through the Fifth Fundamental Force. By manipulating the space-time metric of an object, one is able to shunt it into hyperspace, an alternate dimension. With the correct force and geometries, one is able to use this to travel faster than the speed of light. Of course, the FTL drives of humanity are nothing compared to those possessed by the compact.

  • Firebreak: A frankly-ingenious defense system that uses a complex array of sensor grids and jump drive tech to nullify essentially any conventional weaponry. Whenever a projectile gets close, the firebreak will jump the incoming matter into Hyperspace, making it basically impossible to even hit the ship to begin with.



Universe Ascension Engine

“Not really, I mean. But, I think to a certain extent we humans are blessed by our own mediocrity. Sure, we’re capable of accomplishing great things when we put our minds to it. But we can fuck up, it’s expected. You did your best to be impartial, but you’re not gods. Your whole damn species decided they were going to bear the weight of the universe's collective trauma and you think you're gonna come out the other end perfect?”


The ultimate and final creation (that we know of) of the compact. This marvelous device represented not only the technology and capabilities of the Affini, but also their fatal flaws, and the capabilities of those they took under their wing. The device was created not simply by Affini, but by a coalition of them and other sophonts working together for a better universe. When activated, this device sends out a wave that reaches across all of reality, space, and time, altering the fundamental rules and concepts of the universe to create a new one without the concepts of scarcity, entropy, and oppression.


It isn’t an instant process - The engine took hundreds, if not thousands of blooms (each of which can last more than a human lifespan) to reach the entire universe - But the end result is the same. All living things will arrive at the same time within a new reality, including those who were dead thousands of years before. For long-lived species like the Affini, they’ll even be splintered into various versions of themselves at different points in their lives, as with thousands of years of experience, you could consider them to be entirely different people over the course of ages.


Ironically, the new world they created was one where the Affini’s grip on the cosmos was rendered unnecessary. Haustoric implants would fail if that was the true wish of their recipients. They no longer domesticated civilizations. But ultimately, that was their goal. If a better universe meant one where they could finally be free of the collective burden of all life, they would do everything in their power to make that happen.


And so, they did.




Abilities 

Qu 

Qu Physiology 

Art by Clockweiz


As you might be able to tell from their design, the Qu are anything but close to humans. 


This hive-mind species has spent a billion years mastering bio- and nano-technology in order to bring itself to the closest state of perfection that it can be. These god-like aliens are capable of free flight, and their body is loaded up with weapons, including powerful wings, razor mandibles, and a prehensile tail that can not only easily restrain humans but easily perform fine maneuvering enough to operate weapons like firearms. 


However, it’s quite likely that the singular Qu we’ve seen an image of may very well be just one of many diverse forms the species can take. After all, being the masters of bioengineering they are, during their travels, a Qu can constantly upgrade and change itself into a form to better fit its situation. It’s this ability that allowed them to remake the universe as they saw fit, believing themselves to be divine harbingers. All Tomorrows Redux has two early-release chapters that confirm this theory, with the Larvae of the Quhanim being capable of developing variants simply by growing. They’re capable of worming their way deep underground, allowing them to find the colonists that hid there and convert them into the Whistling People.


It must be emphasized, the Star People that they conquered possessed weapons that could nova stars and destroy entire planets, and yet any resistance to the Qu could be considered ephemeral at best. The people that became the Colonials were only able to repel them twice before falling on the third attempt, and they were far and away the most successful of the lot given the fate that befell them. Humanity never stood a chance.


Affini


Affini Physiology 

Art by Meanderling


The Affini evolved alongside other sophonts on their homeworld, reproducing by catching the local bee people, covering them in pollen, and letting them go. This evolutionary cycle, plus a few dozen millennia of spacefaring, created the imperialist plants we all know and love/hate today. Rather than all being the same direct species, however, modern Affini are grown from a bioengineered core that can come from nearly any species of plant. Affini doctors, as a result, must be skilled in thousands of possible cores, grafts, and body plants.


This core is the wonder of the Affini Compact; Beyond being extremely durable to the point of being outright bulletproof, Affini are able to “rebloom” from this core in a manner not dissimilar to a Time Lord’s regeneration. They shed their old bodies and grow a new one over the course of a few hours if damaged beyond repair, and using this process are able to restore physical and even psychological damage! Obviously, millennia of bioengineering have served them well. Chemical weapons, diseases, even fire aren’t able to take out an Affini, so you’d be hard pressed to even get them to rebloom in the first place. Hell, even understanding them in their entirety requires an understanding of 37 different fields of math that Earth hadn’t discovered by the time of the domestication campaign, and a distinct knowledge on the fifth fundamental force. The file explaining it was over 500 Exabytes long.


But they aren’t simply durable and long-lived - Affini can completely control and shift around their body with Phytotech. Their forms are comprised of hundreds of prehensile vines that can easily restrain humans and other sophonts, and each individual Affini has plenty of different variations and grafts. Among the most common are Injectors, needle-like weapons which can dispense xenodrugs into any unlucky victim they get their vines around, but that’s hardly the full extent. The eyes of an Affini are also hypnotic in nature - The patterns they flash are able to induce trances in those that look into them, or even cause entire cognitive resets. Even their Biorhythms (the combination of organic rhythms such as breathing and heartbeat) have evolved to be hypnotic, so their presence alone can have an effect on those more susceptible.






Feats 

Qu

Overall 

  • Continually modified themselves to the point of Biological Perfection

  • Easily conquered the Star People, taking over the spiral arm over the course of a thousand years

  • Reigned for 40 million years over the planets the Star People had conquered

  • Their empire lasted for millions of years after they left, enough for the Asteromorphs to achieve intergalactic unity 


Strength


Speed 

  • Traveled between the spiral arms of the galaxy in “epoch-spanning migrations”

  • Took over the entire Star People, who had colonized the spiral arm of the galaxy, in 1000 years (At least 20c to cross the length of it)

  • Should be comparable to the Gravitals and Asteromorphs, given their god-like status within the setting.

    • The Gravitals were capable of making interstellar jumps with their own bodies (At least 4.25c)

    • The Asteromorphs colonized the entire galaxy in under a thousand years (100c, likely higher)



Durability

  • The weaponry of the Star People could only mount ephemeral resistance against them

  • Should be comparable to the Gravitals, whose bodies can explicitly withstand interstellar jumps

  • Should be much stronger than the Titans they created, which could support their own weight despite being 40 meters long (.23 Tons of TNT)

  • …Yeah that’s about it, speculative biology doesn’t lend itself well to good durability feats


Affini

(Art by Sheepwave)


Overall 

  • Have been colonizing and domesticating entire galaxies for hundreds of thousands of years

  • Successfully pacified the Terran Accord in three years

  • Can and will move stars for the sake of a single individual

  • Ultimately rewrote the fundamental laws of the entire universe to create one where their own reign wasn’t necessary anymore


Strength 


Speed 


Durability


Weaknesses

Qu 

Bro’s defeat literally got reduced to a footnote in his own book lmao


It’s hard to list any specific weaknesses of the Qu. Having altered themselves biologically into their view of a supreme lifeform, it’s safe to say most physiological weaknesses have been stamped out, and a whole spiral arm of the galaxy capable of busting stars couldn’t mount much resistance against them. 


Still, if there’s one thing that can be pointed towards as a weakness, it’s their Arrogance. The Qu believe themselves to be the gods of the universe, and hate other species who attempt to perform biotech alteration. Even then, they don’t tend to kill their victims, rather transmuting them and leaving them in their altered states. Over the course of a cosmic timeline, this ended up coming back to bite them in the end. The human spirit was retained in the star people that they annihilated, and when they returned, they re-evolved past their former glory and ended up subjugating the Qu, truly surpassing them. For being ‘divine harbingers’, it was ultimately their own hubris that ended their nomadic empire.


Also they already lost to the compact as you can see here, this is totally canon and 100% meant to be taken seriously trust me bro


Affini


Similarly to their opponents, it’s hard to really say that the Affini have any particular weaknesses. You would think being plants would give them a weakness to fire, but they actually managed to overcome that. And while their core contains their vital organs and can kill them if destroyed, its durability means it’s extremely hard to actually make that happen.


However, something to be noted is the Modus Operandi of the compact. They are dedicated to the safety and well-being of all sentient life, and will go out of their way and pursue extreme solutions in order to ensure it. When a hab had thousands of rebel terrans hiding in the walls, instead of simply removing them from it, they replaced all of the structures of the walls and installed artificial sunlight and filtration systems, slowly upgrading the interior to allow them to live comfortably and hygienically inside. It’s not like this has ever seriously hampered their efforts, but a species with enough firepower and the right strategy has used this to resist them in the past, like the Hurlians knocking out several Affini warships. In the hands of something with the infrastructure to compete with them, it could become a serious problem.


They also don’t know what a horse is, on account of horses going extinct and nobody knowing what a horse is anymore. This is a weirdly consistent aspect of the lore.


The Verdict


Given that this is a match between two galaxy-crossing empires, individual stats and physicality aren’t going to be all that important compared to things like their firepower and infrastructure. Therefore, the categories this time around will be a little different from the usual fare. Think closer to Coil VS. Shroud than Vox VS. Syndrome. Still, just like usual, this can still be split into three major categories. 


So, let’s start with their stats!


Physicality


The first thing to analyze, of course, is their firepower, so we’ll start by analyzing the average Qu and the average Affini.


Of course, the nature of All Tomorrows means the Qu don’t have a lot of direct feats on their own. We can of course scale them to their own creations, given how easily they were able to create and subjugate them, so in the case of the Qu, they should be significantly superior to beings that can survive ocean pressure, gravity many times that of earth, or their own body weight as seen with the titans. That one in particular is notable, as given their huge size of over 40 meters (And using this helpful equation to help figure it out), the Qu would be capable of outputting a force around .232 Tons of TNT.


Comparatively, an Affini like Tamai was able to halt a moving train in its tracks, taking the impact directly white protecting someone from the worst of it. We can compare an Affini train to the vastly inferior bullet trains of the modern era, and given that she completely stopped it, that would give an Affini durability of around 4.5 Tons of TNT, nearly 20 times stronger. And that’s just one Affini. Their body types vary heavily, with some even being able to hit the size of planets! That’s a level of sheer size and strength that no individual in All Tomorrows is able to match up to. So in a physical contest, an Affini will probably beat a Quhanim.


Of course, this battle was never about physical strength. Let’s look at their firepower instead. What are their technologies capable of? Well, pretty much the same stuff, actually. Both of them are able to alter stars, with the Qu changing the heat and energy of the one on the Worm People’s planet, and the Affini moving a star further away from a planet to reduce the damage from solar flares. Species the Qu should undoubtedly be superior to like the Gravitals could block the sun out with massive solar sails, and send asteroids as weapons, while the Affini could just as easily stop surface-wiping weaponry or redirect those same asteroids. Shot for shot, they seem pretty evenly matched.


However, we have to consider the greater contexts of their worlds. While the Qu’s direct feats match up pretty similarly to the Affini’s, something that gives the former the advantage is their scaling to the Star People. These people also stockpiled weapons of a similar category. Far from moving stars, they were actually able to nova them and wreck entire solar systems. This is significantly over anything we’ve seen from the compact short of the Universe Ascension engine. This means that in a direct confrontation, the scaling the Qu gets should give them the edge in strength.


As a result, The Quhanim take firepower.



But what about Speed? Well, both of them are capable of easily subjugating humans, but neither are exactly known for being speedsters. So we have to look, once again, at their technology for this. 


First, let’s look at their direct methods. Who can conquer planets faster?


The Qu are intergalactic nomads, traveling from one spiral arm to another in Epoch-spanning migrations, and in their conquest of the Star People, they were able to cross an entire spiral arm in the period of a thousand years. Even making the low-end assumption that they were doing nothing but traveling the entire length from one end to the other, this would still put their speed around 20 Times Lightspeed. We can also compare them to the Asteromorphs, who in just under 1000 years, colonized the entire Milky Way. Given the distance, this would be around 100 Times Lightspeed!


Extremely impressive, make no mistake, but when we compare it to the compact, it falls flat.


The compact’s own conquest of the Milky Way not only crossed the entire galaxy rather than just the spiral arm, but took only half the time, being accomplished in under 500 years compared to 1000. Given both the larger distance to travel and the shorter timeframe, the travel speed of the Affini’s empire would be around 200 Times Lightspeed, 10 times faster than the Qu are able to travel, and twice as fast as the Asteromorphs! This means that they would be taking over around 10 times the territory of the Qu in a galactic war, being able to establish a perimeter and base of operations far faster. 


In terms of FTL travel and communications, the Affini also have the edge, Even though the Qu were able to sweep across a whole galaxy’s spiral arm in a millennium, the Affini can propagate information across multiple galaxies in just a few years. That’s anywhere from 19 Thousand to over 1 Million times the speed of light, allowing them to run circles around the Qu from an informational standpoint.


It’s pretty clear-cut. When it comes to taking over planets and traveling the cosmos, the compact definitely has the advantage. The Affini take speed.



So, the direct comparison in stats isn’t all that complex. While the Qu are notably outmatched on a physical level, their technology should have a moderate advantage in firepower compared to Affini tech, at least that we know of. In comparison, the Affini should be anywhere from two to ten times faster in terms of how quickly they can get things done, and they have a significant advantage in FTL communications, allowing them to easily keep ahead in a cosmic war. 


Overall, Physicality is a pretty debatable category with advantages on each sides, so firepower alone isn’t going to win this war. Let’s discuss their abilities.


Ability


Both the Qu and Affini are masters of technology with eons of development under their belt. They’ve traveled between galaxies, conquered thousands of planets, and created wonders and terrors that the modern man could only dream of.


In particular, both these groups are most renowned for their mastery over biotechnology. They’re capable of basically entirely overwriting what a creature actually is, and constructing all manner of strange creations like crystalline trees and… well, other Affini. But whose mastery over their craft is actually superior here? 


Well, it’s really hard to say. Both empires basically have the same kinds of feats, being able to completely change a target’s biology. They can dramatically alter a target’s size, change their biological structure from the ground up, and create entirely new lifeforms like the Qu’s tracing drones. While the Qu do have a notable advantage in outright fleshcrafting with the kind of shapes and sizes they can render a target into, genetically speaking, human DNA still remains within their targets. Comparatively, the Affini are capable of a much more thorough overwrite of biology with things like digitization and phytotech, being able to truly change what something is at a base level.


There’s not a clean answer on whose biotech is better, and how they might directly interact, especially when much of the Qu’s direct methodology hasn’t been explored within the context of All Tomorrows. Comparatively, we have a much better idea of how the Affini do what they do, with a lot of concrete onscreen examples. The original story for the haustoric implant, Wellness Check for digitization, et cetera. It’s possible that the Qu could be outright biomancers that can fleshcraft their opponents on the fly, which would certainly give them an advantage, and the drones they carry around does imply that a Qu might be able to perform more on-the-fly alterations. 


Assuming this is the case, an average Qu might be able to best an average Affini, as the latter typically have specialized doctors or xenoveterinarians to handle this sort of thing, but at the same time, the Affini are also much faster in what they do. Surgery requiring months of recovery in our time is a day trip with outpatient care in the compact, up to and including full body alteration, and their usage of Xenodrugs also gives the average Affini an advantage back against an average Qu, who have no displayed resistances to chemical weapons like that.


There’s too many unknowns to safely say who stacks up more, so overall, biotech is a tie.



Of course, while the biological is certainly the bread and butter of the Qu and the Compact, it’s far from the only thing they have in their arsenal. If their biotechnology is a tie, then we have to look at the rest of their arsenal to determine who takes the scientific edge. And when we look at their tertiary technology, the gap certainly becomes much clearer.


Despite being intergalactic nomads, the Qu are notably outmatched when it comes to non-biological technology. If we compare them to something like the Gravitals or the Asteromorphs, they should have access to some technology the Affini do not. Gravity Manipulation, for example, is something that’s extremely scarce in the world of Human Domestication Guide, with rotating ring habs being used to simulate it instead. However, the Affini have pretty much every tool that they need to even the odds.


Comparing the two directly, the Affini’s mastery over the fifth fundamental force gives them a distinct advantage the Qu can’t match up to. Not only is their own FTL travel superior to other FTL users in the verse like the Terran Accord (Keep in mind, the Star People that the Qu conquered only had interstellar communication, not true FTL travel), their Firebreak system will shunt all attacks into Hyperspace, rendering most of the Qu’s weaponry useless. Even if the qu’s weaponry is stronger, if their projectiles aren’t actually hitting their target, that strength is rendered moot. 


The Affini also have an advantage in how they’ve genetically modified themselves to have hypnotic eyes and biorhythms. Given how much more soft sci-fi the setting tends to be, the more hard sci-fi, speculative evolution setting of All Tomorrows just really doesn’t have a counter to outright mind manipulation. While the setting did eventually reach a similar level of technology, with the United galaxies mastering wormhole travel and immortality, the Qu were chronologically subjugated before this point, meaning they would always be playing catch-up. The Atomic Compilers mean that they’ll also have no worries about resource limitation and be able to make whatever they need nigh-instantly.


The final nail in the coffin here is the Universe Ascension Engine. Quite frankly, this is an instant win button held back only by Affini bureaucracy insisting on constantly checking and re-checking every parameter, and ultimately being rather useless in terms of actually getting someone to push it, but given that its creator and her florets were able to just kind of… waltz in and push the button, that wouldn’t actually be that much of an issue. If it actually got to that point, its propagation speed not only travels far faster than anything in All Tomorrows, but affects a range of the entire universe, meaning the Qu wouldn’t be able to simply run or stay out of its range.


The Qu definitely aren’t without their advantages, but the Affini’s are far more significant and wide-reaching. The Affini take Technology. 



So far, while the Qu have an advantage in firepower and sheer force, the Affini has access to more potent abilities and speed. This fight could go either way, so it’s time to talk about the final factor: Their scope. Their logistics, their experience, and their numbers. Which empire is the more well-oiled machine? Which one takes the edge in Mentality?

Mentality 


Well, the best way to start is at the beginning. Who’s been around longer? Let’s talk about Experience.


Being an ancient precursor race, one might assume the Affini Compact is the oldest and most experienced here, and that’s certainly true in the context of their verse, but that couldn’t be further from the truth in this fight. The Affini became spacefarers in the middle paleolithic era, but the Qu had already visited earth during the age of the dinosaurs. Even just the timeline of All Tomorrows vastly eclipses that of the timeline of Human Domestication Guide, with the Qu explicitly being over a billion years old. They’ve been wandering the galaxies since before the Affini ever existed. Really, with that knowledge in mind, is there any wonder they thought of themselves as gods?


Beyond that, the Qu likely have a greater knowledge on military tactics, or at least less arrogance by comparison. Compare For a Better Universe and the Hrulian domestication campaign and the Qu’s invasion of the Star People. The Qu were efficient, and humanity’s far greater subset of weaponry were only able to mount very brief flashes of resistance. Even the colonials, who repelled the Qu twice, would be overrun in time. Compare that with the Affini and their hubris when it comes to dealing with other species. The loss of three ships was considered such a striking defeat for them that it caused outright existential crises in several Affini who witnessed it. Obviously, this isn’t to say the Affini are dumb by any stretch of the imagination, just that they’re not used to resistance being that effective.


Given all that, it’s pretty easy to say that The Qu take Experience.



So, will that be enough? Will the Qu’s greater experience give them the extra military prowess they need to overwhelm a greater foe? There’s one last factor that can tip the war here. It’s time to talk about their Logistics. What wins this war in the end ultimately isn’t going to be simple firepower or hax, but the ability to strategize and work around the advantages of their opponent.


The Qu are nomadic, despite their size and reach. This gives them a distinctive advantage in that, despite ruling over the Star People’s old home for years, they don’t have a single base of operations. They won’t have to play defense in the same way as the Affini, who have coreworlds to protect, and so they can use the strategy of sweeping across large swaths of space and going on the offensive.


However, when it comes to logistics and bureaucracy, nobody beats the Affini Compact.

Frankly, the territory that the Affini govern vastly exceeds even the United Galaxies that defeated the Qu in the first place, with a whopping sixteen galaxies under their belt before they had even reached Earth. This means that the Qu will be fighting an uphill battle from the get-go just due to the sheer range and numbers that they’re working against. Additionally, because information and ships travel far faster between the two, with the Affini already having dedicated hyperspace infrastructure to work with that lets galaxies be crossed with ease. What the Qu took a thousand years to accomplish, the Affini can do in a couple centuries, so anything they do will already have been reported and planned for by the time the initial skirmishes are over.


Furthermore, the style in which the Affini operate is going to give them a significant advantage over the Qu. Because of their Cotyledon program, once the Affini have a few Qu incapacitated, they’ll be able to study their physiology and develop more explicit countermeasures. Their focus on ensuring the safety of the sophonts under their care and ability to evacuate entire planets in a short time means the Qu will be hard-pressed to do any significant damage, as any habs can simply be moved somewhere else with ease. All they have to do is stall long enough to develop countermeasures against the Qu, and by that point they’ll be able to go into every battle with a distinct advantage even if they lose any initial fights. 


Initially, the Qu’s sweeping strategy means they’ll be able to dictate the flow of the battle. However, any progress they make will be as ephemeral as the star people’s resistance against their own strategies, as the Affini will pick off individual Qu and study them to create the perfect way to domesticate the species as a whole. From there, they have all the tools and range they need to surround and trap the entire empire. Before long, any sense of victory will be swept out from under the galactic nomads, as The Affini Compact takes a solid advantage in Logistics.


Summary


Affini 


Advantages:

  • Likely superior physically, especially with planet-sized individuals

  • Far wider arsenal of known weapons

  • Has an instant win button with the Universe Ascension engine

  • Better technology overall

  • Much faster and more efficient

  • Their logistics allow them to run circles around the Qu in a war

  • The Firebreak system helps negate the Qu’s firepower advantage

  • Has the Floret Wiggler


Disadvantages:

  • Loses out on pure firepower

  • Far less experienced

  • Would likely be vulnerable to biological alteration on an individual level

  • Pacifistic nature could be a weakness

  • Reddit discourse is really bad around this series oh my god dude-


Quhanim


Advantages:

  • Significantly more ruthless

  • Likely stronger firepower

  • Many orders of magnitude more experience

  • Better-armed for an actual war

  • Statistically more likely to know what a horse is


Disadvantages:

  • Significantly slower travel and communications speed

  • No known resistance to xenodrugs, biorhythms, or other cognitive weaponry

  • No counter to Firebreak systems or the Universe Ascension engine

  • Completely outmatched logistically

  • Likely outmatched on an individual level

  • Does not have the Floret Wiggler

  • Has anyone asking for Qu vs Grox actually read all tomorrows they really don’t have much to talk about man just wait for the remake first



This was an interesting match to debate, and at a glance, it could certainly have gone either way. With the Qu’s superior firepower and shock and awe tactics, gaining an initial foothold wouldn’t be all that hard. 


However, looking deeper into this, the Affini just had every tool they needed to win. The Qu’s firepower could be rendered moot, their biological mastery gave no resistance to Affini hypnosis, and they were ultimately a small fish in a big ocean compared to the sheer scope at which the compact operates. With the Universe Ascension engine in play, all the Qu could do was delay the inevitable. Pacifist or not, the Affini know how to subjugate a civilization, and it wouldn’t be long in a cosmic sense before the Qu became another protectorate, and before their knowledge was absorbed into the compact’s own.


And really, it makes sense, right? These are the axioms of the setting. For as much as one may disagree with their methods, the Affini do what they do out of genuine benevolence. They want to see the people of the universe cared for and happy, as extreme as their way of going about it may be. At the end of the timeline, the Universe Ascension engine was completed not by the Affini alone, but by the sophonts they had enabled to thrive under their wing. The Qu, while they may have started out with the same benevolent hearts, had that desire twisted into religious dogma. They believed the universe was theirs to do with as they pleased and would put their resources into keeping others down instead of working with them to help them grow. What sealed this battle in the end wasn’t who could blow up bigger stars or who could make better bioweapons, but the simple fact that the Affini’s philosophy, their dead-set beliefs on helping others, gave them every tool and piece of knowledge to take the win here.


In the end, while the Qu were a tenacious and deadly foe, the Affini had everything they needed to weed them out and seize all tomorrows.


This round’s winner is… wait, what are those vines growing out from my door- OH SHIT-


…


…


Well, I couldn’t miss the big finale, now could I? Don’t worry, darlings. The winner is us! And now that we’ve done that, The winner is you all as well. The Affini Compact always wins, after all~







Next Time on B&B Battle Blogs…










When the Demon God’s mother died, he lost his whole world - and the fetters that bound him. Freed from everything that held him back, he brandished his power with nothing but his empty heart.




The killings were brutal, cruel and morbid. He humiliated farmers and warriors alike, yanking off their topknots and stripping them of their armour. His rage, bloodlust and perverse sense of honour knew no bounds.



“It ain’t enough… It just ain’t enough at all!”


“Only a fool would spit in a demon’s face and declare victory.”



Hino Choko VS. Kazan Yamaoka (Tenkaichi VS. Dead By Daylight)

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Shroud vs. Coil | B&B BATTLE BLOGS!

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  “Brains will always conquer brawn, in the end. The soldiers can flex their muscles all they want, but the well-thought-out tactics of the generals are what win the war.” - Patrick Hall Shroud , leader of the Red Ring and scourge of the Superhero Dispatch Network. Coil , crime boss of Brockton Bay and one of its most calculating Parahumans. In a world of larger-than-life heroes faster than speeding bullets and more powerful than locomotives, it’s hard to imagine someone without that same kind of power becoming a feared supervillain. But these two have proven the exact opposite - Their powers of prediction and their dangerous minds allowed them to become some of the most terrifying, fearsome villains in their cities. But when these two masterminds and their criminal organizations go toe-to-toe, which one will prove themselves the better? Time to find out, on a DEATH BATTLE! Before We Begin…  What we’re covering in this fight is more complicated than it may initially seem. For ...
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