Hmm... after reading many of your reviews, I've concluded that anything that Kiwikatipo worries about, whines about, or doesn't like, I love. Ends, justify those means! Crush the opposition beneath your authoritarian boot!

Ave! Ave, Illyria, Deus Imperatrix!

You know Orwell's 1984 is supposed to be read as a warning not a guidebook :-p

All hail the God-Empress! ;-)

I think this fic is turning me into a fascist, because I'm starting to really like the idea of Illyria as God-Empress of Humanity. She would not be kind, or tolerant, or merciful, but these are overrated traits in a ruler anyway. What she would be, it seems to me, is just. I cannot imagine the Illyria you have created having someone tortured for the heck of it, or wiping out a village on a whim. She would certainly do either if tactically necessary, but it is *arbitrary* cruelty that one really needs to fear in a ruler.

Based on what we know of her thoughts and motivations, she truly seems to be fond of humanity, if not all humans, and considers their best interests her best interests. She is a progressivist, not interested in holding humanity back. She would be a good ruler because she would want to remain ruler indefinitely: she is well aware that a ruler hated by the people cannot maintain power forever. I also do not think that one need worry about power corrupting her, as it's not like she could be any more certain of her own power already.

She wants to rule, which is not an evil thing in itself. Her methods for doing so are questionable, but given the alternative possibilities, you've just about convinced me it would be the best thing for humanity at this point in time. Though, I'm not sure if that was your intention.

Brilliant story, by the way. Illyria's little temple dimension: is that canon, or your own creation?

Illyria's pocket dimension temple Vahla ha'nesh is canon, it's visited in episode 5:16 of Angel.

Glad you're enjoying the Fic, thanks for the review and may the God-King watch over you :-p

it would make a weird sort of sense if like Buffy and the slayers creating the very jasmine crusade enyo came back to stop, berith and WR&H inadvertently created the very scenario that lead to the corporal first evil enyo faced.

I like the irony but the origin of the corporeal First Evil is a little more prosaic, he's just from a world where an alternate Buffy lost. More on that to come in the fifth Compelled story!

More good writing in this part. However, I'm a bit worried that you makes the First too dangerous for you to find a way to deal with.

The bigger and badder they are the harder they fall ;-)

a great fic with a surprising last chapter

Glad you liked it :-)

As usual, the story kicks ass!

I do have a few questions, though:

- Why don't Buffy & Spike get together?
- Will there be more Spike in the future? (I'm not all that fond of Buffy, but I have a big soft spot for Spike)

Well, that's it for the review, I guess. Aside from 'wow', there's not much else to say. And I saw there is a number 5, gotta go read it!

The problem with having so many characters in play is that they get limited face-time I'm afraid. Spike will pop up in the storyline pretty often, often just to annoy Angel of course :-p

I just spent the last two days reading this series. I've been having a wonderful time. "Compelled" is fascinatingly complex and has marvelous characterizations, with exciting combat scenes and terrifying politics. I love it in every way.
On to the next book...

Pretty impressive to get through it all in two days, it's getting a tad long now!

Remember to read the Tales from the Compelled 'Verse ficlets by myself and a few others too :-)

I recently came back to this story and reread the entire series. It was even better than I remember. I can't wait to see how Illyria and the Slayers handle the First. I'm sure you have all kinds of scary stuff planned for them. I was curious if you plan to continue to have Buffy be the, I don't want to call her idiot but maybe challenged person?, of the group. In your story, Buffy seems to be the one who has issues dealing with the new reality that Illyria has created.

Will Enyo be able to get through to Buffy and stop her destructive course? Since she is from an alternate timeline, I was hoping that she could do what was needed to fix things without having to fix Buffy permanently, if you know what I mean.

Buffy isn't being stupid so much as she's being conservative, or dare I say luddite and old fashioned in approach (as she is in the comics) and is worried that the Enyo/Illyria agenda is far from being the moral one. Buffy also thinks her position as Chief Slayer is in danger of being usurped (which it is).

Cordelia is also highly suspicious of the motives of the Old One's so it's not just Buffy who has her doubts.

Liked the story, and I am looking forward for more, especially of the Gunslayers. However, I have to say that I've found Enyo to be a mixed bag. Despite her apparent age of 21, there are often instances where she acts more like a spoiled 6 year old than a veteran with campaigns under her belt. Especially with the whole plan to sabotage Faith's birth control pills. I believe it was another reviewer who suggested the flat side of a scythe? At the same time, she had many traits make her an endearing character. In her I saw the deep insecurities of someone who had lost everything they ever held dear, and was trying to recreate what she had lost with similar but at the same time very different people from the ones she had lost. Despite that, I would suggest toning her behavior down just a smidgen, or perhaps providing an explanation for some of her idiosyncrasies (she seems remarkably puerile given her parantage). However, despite my criticisms of the character, I find her to be overall an interesting and valued addition to the cast, especially in her role of providing a legitimate offset to Buffy, and as a source of political leadership for the Gunslayers. Just one note, I would like to see the reaction of the Burkles to Enyo, as well as a meeting between Illyria and Wes's mum.
I am eagerly awaiting the next part of the series.

B.Szoke

P.S. Stirling has got to be one of my favorite characters. I just can't help but love the old fellow. Reminds me of an article I read a couple of years ago when some young thugs tried to mug an ex member of the S.A.S, if I recall. He beat them quite soundly despite being 3-4x their age (Late 70's I believe).

Enyo has a few mental problems, the two minds in her head don't exactly help her very much and a combination of her upbringing and genetics did not lead to a particularly level-headed stable personality. She veers from one side of her personality to the other on an almost random basis which I think makes for an interesting character! One problem she does have is that her childhood memories are imprinted on Enyo, and these are clearer and sharper than they should be in a person her age, this reveals itself sometimes as you noticed. There's more character development and explanation of Enyo planned in the fifth story.

Glad you like Stirling, I always hope people like my additional characters :-)

I really enjoy this series. Although I still expect Xander to try to start up a "god squad" and give them a cartoon show nickname. Although I think Illyria would object to the smurfs.

Another thing i'm sort of curious about is weather or not Illyria or Enyo had thought about bringing in reinforcements. They do have access to the deeper well, and although most of the Old Ones stored there wouldn't be a good fit, there should be a few that are smart enough to help out.

And I'm guessing that the future crossover that you've been hinting at is going to be the 3rd side in the upcoming dimension war. Although I have to say that with the over all strength of both the slayers and the First Evil, I'm not certain what other universe would be remotely as powerful. (maybe a fully operational timelord empire, or dalek empire)

Please keep up the good work and please post the next story as soon as it's ready.

>Another thing i'm sort of curious about is weather or not Illyria or Enyo had thought about bringing in reinforcements.

That would be an act of utter desperation, the Old One's in the Deeper Well were put there for eternity for a good reason... of course there *is* another Illyria in there...

>And I'm guessing that the future crossover that you've been hinting at is going to be the 3rd side in the upcoming dimension war.

Nah, there's already the Slayers, W&H, Jasmine, Twilight, PTB's and the First Evil as factions.

>Please keep up the good work and please post the next story as soon as it's ready.

One more chapter of XSGCOM then I'm returning to Compelled

Caught an old typo in Ch8
I think still someone should have told
should be
I still think someone should have told

Sorted

Best. Chapter. Ever.

Between Charlotte channeling a Gunnery Sergeant and Harmony giving a verbal smack-down to Glory I almost peed my pants--twice!

>Best. Chapter. Ever.

Thanks :-)

After sitting back and re reading the whole series (which takes a while) I can pretty much say that its the best long term BTVS story I have ever read.
That said- I still think Illyria is being short sighted in trying to sideline buffy- and I also think you are giving the rest of the Slayers too little credit. They should not be falling for Enyo's line. First she is NOT one of them; she is not human or even really close to it. And compared to Buffy frankly she does not have the street cred. She has never had to do it alone; she has not died; she has not had to be the one everyone was depending on and being alone in that. Everything she has done she has done with HUGE advantages in strenght, and so on. I frankly doubt that more then a few slayers would listen to her at all. I think you are dumbing them down too much. Also, frankly, a Demon Scythe? Does not really work that well. It should be something else if you are going to have one. It should NOT be a scythe.

>After sitting back and re reading the whole series (which takes a while) I can pretty much say that its the best long term BTVS story I have ever read.

Thanks :-)

>She is NOT one of them; she is not human or even really close to it.

*Rebecca* was human, she was also a slayer for five years before Enyo came along.

>And compared to Buffy frankly she does not have the street cred. She has never had to do it alone;

Rebecca/Enyo went up against the corporeal First Evil alone... Buffy has never faced anything *like* that kind of opposition. Buffy also never fought in the Dimension Wars (which the Slayers have seen on video recordings) which make most anything Buffy ever dealt with pale by comparison.

>she has not died

Technically Rebecca died when exposed to Enyo, she's a reanimated corpse just like Buffy ;-)

>she has not had to be the one everyone was depending on and being alone in that.

When Rebecca/Enyo took on the First Evil (3 times) that is exactly what she was doing. The problem was despite being godlike she ironically didn't have a deus-ex-machina to bail her out like Buffy always did in similiar situations and lost as a result.

>Everything she has done she has done with HUGE advantages in strenght, and so on

Nope, the Corporeal First Evil was relatively stronger than Enyo than Enyo is a slayer. Also while Enyo is very strong and resilient she has fought several of the Beast species at once which is relatively not that different from Buffy fighting vampires either.

>I frankly doubt that more then a few slayers would listen to her at all. I think you are dumbing them down too much.

Rebecca is a great help on the PR front and remember that as regards "dumbing down" she does have better intellectual arguments for her position. Siding with Buffy is the gut-instinct "divine right of kings" move.

>Also, frankly, a Demon Scythe? Does not really work that well. It should be something else if you are going to have one

It's a direct counterpart of the slayer scythe, a perfect instrument of restoring the balance because it *is* identical... that's pretty much the point. It was created at the instigation of the PTB's because the scythe gave the slayer too much of an advantage.

I am really begining to miss this epis :(. I hope you start the next isntalment soon

It'll be another few weeks, I'm concentrating on my XSGCOM crossover for now.

Nice ending. I had been vaguely wondering where the balance was going to kick in. Now I'm happily anticipating the Powers' wake-up call (and whatever fate awaits Berith and Illyria on the edge of the black scythe.

As much as I'm enjoying XSGCom - don't wait too long before starting the next Compelled instalment!

It'll be a few weeks until the next part starts, hopefully that's not *too* long.