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MentalMath: It's the thought that counts
2014.03.24 06:30 gmsc MentalMath: It's the thought that counts
Want to learn how to do math in your head, or even just wrap your head around a mathematical concept? This is the place!
2018.06.14 09:41 Deadshot_Calamity tf2css2
2024.04.28 23:13 NexyQueen_ Finally unlocked armored core! i loved the game every second of it, even trough all the rage
 | submitted by NexyQueen_ to armoredcore [link] [comments] |
2024.04.28 23:05 delifissek Does multiple goroutines sending to a channel that only one goroutine receives from create a bottleneck? Is it better to pass data from multiple goroutines to one goroutine to access and write to files or using mutex and accessing from each goroutine?
I have a folder of multiple files. Each file has warying length lines. The goal is to read each line and depending on the first cahracter, put it in a foldefile named with that character. To optimize this I created a goroutine for each of the files first. Each goroutine reads the files line by line and creates a pair that consists of the path of the file it will be written to and the line itself. Then it is sent to a channel that all the other goroutines also send to. Then with a range over the channel, I receive all the pairs.
What I wnat to ask is does this process blocks the sender goroutines for a significant time beacuse there is only one receiver and multiple senders?
Is there a better aproach to this to make it faster?
main func
submitted by delifissek to learnprogramming [link] [comments]
What I wnat to ask is does this process blocks the sender goroutines for a significant time beacuse there is only one receiver and multiple senders?
Is there a better aproach to this to make it faster?
type data struct { key string value string }func ProcessFile(entry fs.DirEntry, Index string, Processed string, Unprocessed string, wg *sync.WaitGroup, channel chan<- data) { defer wg.Done() file, err := os.Open(Unprocessed + "/" + entry.Name()) if err != nil { fmt.Printf("there was an error during access to a file in the directory : %v \n", err) } var m data // struct with key and value strings. Holds the path of the target file and the line to be written scanner := bufio.NewScanner(file) for scanner.Scan() { line := scanner.Text() alphanumeric := regexp.MustCompile("^[a-zA-Z0-9_]*$") isAlphanumeric := alphanumeric.MatchString(string(line[0])) path := Index + "/symbol" md5hash := md5.Sum([]byte(line)) sha1hash := sha1.Sum([]byte(line)) sha256hash := sha256.Sum256([]byte(line)) if isAlphanumeric { path = Index + "/" + string(line[0]) } if _, err := os.Stat(path); errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) { err := os.Mkdir(path, os.ModePerm) if err != nil { log.Println(err) } } m.key = path m.value = line + " " + hex.EncodeToString(md5hash[:]) + " " + hex.EncodeToString(sha1hash[:]) + " " + hex.EncodeToString(sha256hash[:]) + " " + entry.Name() + "\n" channel <- m } file.Close() err2 := os.Rename(Unprocessed+"/"+entry.Name(), Processed+"/"+entry.Name()) if err2 != nil { fmt.Printf("there was an error deleting the file : %v \n", err2) } }
main func
func main() { pwd, _ := os.Getwd() Unprocessed := pwd + "/Unprocessed-Passwords" Processed := pwd + "/Processed" Index := pwd + "/Index" files, err := os.Open(Unprocessed) if err != nil { fmt.Printf("there was an error during opening of the Unprocessed-Passwords directory : %v \n", err) } defer files.Close() fileInfos, err := files.ReadDir(-1) if err != nil { fmt.Printf("there was an error during access to the directory : %v \n", err) } wg := sync.WaitGroup{} channel := make(chan data) for i, entry := range fileInfos { wg.Add(1) fmt.Printf("goroutine: %v \n file: %v \n ----Started----- \n", i, entry.Name()) go ProcessFile(entry, Index, Processed, Unprocessed, &wg, channel) } go func() { wg.Wait() close(channel) }() m := make(map[string]map[string]bool) for item := range channel { m[item.key] = make(map[string]bool) fmt.Printf("\n\nchannel output \nkey: %v \nvalue: %v \n", item.key, item.value) m[item.key][item.value] = true } var wg2 sync.WaitGroup for key, value := range m { wg2.Add(1) go func(key string, value map[string]bool) { WriteToIndex(key, value) wg2.Done() }(key, value) } wg2.Wait() }
2024.04.28 23:05 DragonKnov Kunlun Sect's Weakest Disciple: Chapter 05
[📖First ⏮️Previous Next⏭️]
In the cavernous Hall of Insight that same night, the Elders and the venerable Patriarch of the ancient Kunlun sect gathered amid the flickering crimson glow of numerous lanterns.
Towering pillars lined the vast space, their shadows stretching across the polished stone floors. Large rounded tables of intricately carved redwood filled the chamber, their surfaces gleaming under the warm illumination.
The Elders, legendary for their profound martial prowess, wore stern expressions, their brows furrowed in contemplation. The Patriarch, his wizened face etched with deep lines, was seated in the central position of honor, back ramrod straight.
He raised a gnarled hand, silencing the hushed murmurs, and spoke in a voice roughened by decades of experience, "What is this, Elders?" His piercing eyes, the only visible feature in the dimness, scanned the gathered council.
"This illusion, Patriarch," confidently spoke one of the Elders, straightening his posture as all eyes turned towards him. "It must be the work of the Illusionary Sect. We have all borne witness to the sudden and inexplicable appearance of the 'Tower of God.'"
A heavy silence blanketed the hall as the gravity of the situation sank in. Even the revered Patriarch was not exempt from the effects of this powerful sorcery.
Another Elder spoke up, leaning forward with furrowed brows and eyes sharp as daggers, "I disagree. The simultaneous abduction of all of us, using the name of 'God.' This is not the usual approach of the Illusionary Sect." Their voice carried an edge of consternation.
A muscular Elder with a rough, weathered face adorned by a thick beard nodded firmly. "Elder Fang's point is valid, but aside from this strange occurrence, I am more concerned about our missing disciples." His words hung in the air like a tangible weight, silencing everyone once more.
The creak of the large wooden door suddenly shattered the tense quiet as a disciple slipped inside, promptly bowing low with hands cupped at chest level.
"Forgive my impudence, but I am here to deliver a report about our missing disciples, as instructed by Elder Xia."
The disciple, fighting to keep his voice steady, proceeded to narrate the gathered reports in full detail.
In summary, all the missing disciples had inexplicably vanished at the exact moment when the strange hovering illusion first manifested before their eyes.
He confirmed this sobering fact personally, having witnessed his friend's absence upon their return from the mysterious occurrence.
A palpable unease settled over the hall as the Elders and the Patriarch exchanged weighted glances, eyebrows raised in shared trepidation at this alarming development.
"It is evident that only the disciples above 17 years old are missing. This aligns with what the mysterious Spirit Illusion has stated," the Patriarch declared, shaking his head slowly in the encompassing darkness.
Despite his steady tone, weariness lined his voice, a testament to the heavy toll this sudden crisis had already taken on the aged master after so long without major incident.
"Gather all of them in the Central Courtyard immediately. Whether this is a ploy by the Illusionary Sect or the insidious Demonic factions, as leaders of the Orthodox Faction, we must prioritize the safety of our own people above all else."
...
The tense night eventually gave way to the vibrant warmth of the rising sun, its golden rays filtering through the trees as the melodic chorus of songbirds welcomed the new day.
In the Outer Disciple Courtyard of the renowned Kunlun Sect, typically alive with the sounds of disciples engaging in rigorous morning training exercises, an unusual stillness prevailed.
Not a single figure moved amid the empty training grounds.
Within the humble Outer Disciple dormitory, Ji Wuye, the lone occupant with long flowing white hair and striking aristocratic features, slept peacefully.
His closed eyes twitched briefly before slowly opening, revealing piercing crimson irises that scanned the vacant beds surrounding him.
He let out a long yawn, his unbound hair cascading in silken waves over the simple sheets. As the last vestiges of sleep finally released their hold on his mind, his gaze sharpened with harsh reality.
"So this is not merely a dream..."
Once again, he was forced to accept the bitter truth of his circumstances. It seemed unfathomable that just the day before, he had been diligently performing push-ups and triumphantly conquering the first floor of the Tower of God.
"Let's see... after the first day..." Ji Wuye muttered to himself as he deftly changed into a fresh set of pristine white martial robes, tying the sash neatly at his slim waist. There could be no doubt as to their next course of action.
"They must be gathering at the Central Courtyard." As for the puzzling question of why no one had bothered to rouse him from slumber, the obvious answer soon became clear - he had no male friends.
...
As Ji Wuye made his way from the quiet Outer Disciple dorm towards the Central Courtyard, the winding path remained utterly deserted, an eerie stillness permeating the air.
Normally this route would be alive with the sounds of disciples making their way to the Outer Courtyard for early morning training sessions.
However, as he passed by those vacant practice grounds, not a single figure could be seen moving amidst the neatly raked sand and wooden practice dummies, confirming Ji Wuye's deduction that all able disciples had been summoned elsewhere.
Upon finally reaching the expansive Central Courtyard, he was met with a stark contrast - a bustling scene of disciples lined up in orderly rows, nervous murmuring carrying on the crisp morning breeze.
Furtive glances were exchanged as friends and peers reunited after the harrowing events of the previous night.
"I still can't believe it..." one lanky disciple muttered, vigorously rubbing his palms together as if to ground himself.
"One moment I was sleeping soundly, and the next, this bizarre symbol just appeared out of nowhere and transported me to some mysterious room!"
He nervously tapped the toe of his cloth shoe against the hard-packed earth, crimson eyes scanning the assembling crowd with thinly veiled trepidation.
"My heart was racing the entire time," another disciple, shorter and sporting a rumpled topknot, chimed in with a tremulous voice.
His hand visibly trembled as it clutched the fabric of his robe. "I thought it was all just some bizarre dream!"
A young woman standing nearby pursed her lips, brow furrowed as she regarded her fearful peers. "At least we're back safely at the sect for now. But I can't help worrying about Liu Fei and the others who didn't return with us last night. Do you think they..."
"Don't say it!" The lanky disciple cut her off sharply, shaking his head adamantly. "I'm sure they're fine. They're strong, capable disciples - they can definitely take care of themselves out there."
"Still, it's very strange that only those of us above the age of seventeen were taken," a taller disciple mused, one hand stroking his clean-shaven chin as he calmly analyzed the situation despite the palpable tensions.
"I overheard the Elders speculating that it might have something to do with that Hidden Sect faction you mentioned."
The shorter disciple rolled his eyes derisively. "The Hidden Sect? Those sniveling cowards? I thought for sure that Unorthodox faction was behind all of this!"
The gathered disciples continued to murmur and chatter, swapping tales of their individual experiences, some faces etched with fear while others were practically vibrating with reckless excitement at the prospect of danger.
Ji Wuye observed the diverse array of attire among his peers, able to easily distinguish the Inner Disciples by their martial sect robes adorned with crisp dark purple stripes along the hems and sleeves.
These elite few maintained a composed, aloof demeanor even in the midst of such chaos, observing the commotion with critical eyes.
Among these disciples, those with dark blue stripes on their robes were mostly filled with youthful excitement and bravado, practically bouncing on the balls of their feet with eagerness.
In contrast, those like Ji Wuye with aqua-colored striped robes appeared visibly shaken, eyes wide and knuckles pale from anxiously clenching their trembling hands.
'Well, our strength can't even begin to compare to the Official Disciples or Inner Disciples,' Ji Wuye thought to himself with a inward sigh, absently toying with the aqua-striped hem of his own robe.
The Official Disciples, characterized by their dark blue striped robes, were accomplished martial artists who had attained the 4th realm or above and received advanced Inner Art Pulse Cleansing Gongfa instruction to further elevate their skills.
The prestigious Inner Disciples, on the other hand, were personally handpicked by the revered Elders themselves from among the most exceptional talents.
Most had reached at least the 5th realm, with some even managing to break through to the immensely formidable Seventh Realm.
The Elders themselves were said to have achieved the sublime 8th realm, while the venerable Patriarch alone stood at the pinnacle - the mythical 9th realm.
A martial artist of the 9th realm was likened to an untouchable ruler of the world, with fewer than fifteen such experts existing across all of the sects and clans. Most had formed their own powerful factions or even entire royal lineages.
Just as Ji Wuye was lost in his awed recollections regarding the uppermost echelons of power, a sudden thunderous clap abruptly shattered the tense atmosphere.
BANG-!
The subtle shockwave compelling the gathered disciples to fall into an uneasy silence as every head snapped towards the source of the disturbance.
[📖First ⏮️Previous Next⏭️]
submitted by DragonKnov to HFY [link] [comments]
I just noticed that the chapters were reversed between Chapter 3 and 4, but it's been fixed now. Thanks for the heads-up!
In the cavernous Hall of Insight that same night, the Elders and the venerable Patriarch of the ancient Kunlun sect gathered amid the flickering crimson glow of numerous lanterns.
Towering pillars lined the vast space, their shadows stretching across the polished stone floors. Large rounded tables of intricately carved redwood filled the chamber, their surfaces gleaming under the warm illumination.
The Elders, legendary for their profound martial prowess, wore stern expressions, their brows furrowed in contemplation. The Patriarch, his wizened face etched with deep lines, was seated in the central position of honor, back ramrod straight.
He raised a gnarled hand, silencing the hushed murmurs, and spoke in a voice roughened by decades of experience, "What is this, Elders?" His piercing eyes, the only visible feature in the dimness, scanned the gathered council.
"This illusion, Patriarch," confidently spoke one of the Elders, straightening his posture as all eyes turned towards him. "It must be the work of the Illusionary Sect. We have all borne witness to the sudden and inexplicable appearance of the 'Tower of God.'"
A heavy silence blanketed the hall as the gravity of the situation sank in. Even the revered Patriarch was not exempt from the effects of this powerful sorcery.
Another Elder spoke up, leaning forward with furrowed brows and eyes sharp as daggers, "I disagree. The simultaneous abduction of all of us, using the name of 'God.' This is not the usual approach of the Illusionary Sect." Their voice carried an edge of consternation.
A muscular Elder with a rough, weathered face adorned by a thick beard nodded firmly. "Elder Fang's point is valid, but aside from this strange occurrence, I am more concerned about our missing disciples." His words hung in the air like a tangible weight, silencing everyone once more.
The creak of the large wooden door suddenly shattered the tense quiet as a disciple slipped inside, promptly bowing low with hands cupped at chest level.
"Forgive my impudence, but I am here to deliver a report about our missing disciples, as instructed by Elder Xia."
The disciple, fighting to keep his voice steady, proceeded to narrate the gathered reports in full detail.
In summary, all the missing disciples had inexplicably vanished at the exact moment when the strange hovering illusion first manifested before their eyes.
He confirmed this sobering fact personally, having witnessed his friend's absence upon their return from the mysterious occurrence.
A palpable unease settled over the hall as the Elders and the Patriarch exchanged weighted glances, eyebrows raised in shared trepidation at this alarming development.
"It is evident that only the disciples above 17 years old are missing. This aligns with what the mysterious Spirit Illusion has stated," the Patriarch declared, shaking his head slowly in the encompassing darkness.
Despite his steady tone, weariness lined his voice, a testament to the heavy toll this sudden crisis had already taken on the aged master after so long without major incident.
"Gather all of them in the Central Courtyard immediately. Whether this is a ploy by the Illusionary Sect or the insidious Demonic factions, as leaders of the Orthodox Faction, we must prioritize the safety of our own people above all else."
...
The tense night eventually gave way to the vibrant warmth of the rising sun, its golden rays filtering through the trees as the melodic chorus of songbirds welcomed the new day.
In the Outer Disciple Courtyard of the renowned Kunlun Sect, typically alive with the sounds of disciples engaging in rigorous morning training exercises, an unusual stillness prevailed.
Not a single figure moved amid the empty training grounds.
Within the humble Outer Disciple dormitory, Ji Wuye, the lone occupant with long flowing white hair and striking aristocratic features, slept peacefully.
His closed eyes twitched briefly before slowly opening, revealing piercing crimson irises that scanned the vacant beds surrounding him.
He let out a long yawn, his unbound hair cascading in silken waves over the simple sheets. As the last vestiges of sleep finally released their hold on his mind, his gaze sharpened with harsh reality.
"So this is not merely a dream..."
Once again, he was forced to accept the bitter truth of his circumstances. It seemed unfathomable that just the day before, he had been diligently performing push-ups and triumphantly conquering the first floor of the Tower of God.
"Let's see... after the first day..." Ji Wuye muttered to himself as he deftly changed into a fresh set of pristine white martial robes, tying the sash neatly at his slim waist. There could be no doubt as to their next course of action.
"They must be gathering at the Central Courtyard." As for the puzzling question of why no one had bothered to rouse him from slumber, the obvious answer soon became clear - he had no male friends.
...
As Ji Wuye made his way from the quiet Outer Disciple dorm towards the Central Courtyard, the winding path remained utterly deserted, an eerie stillness permeating the air.
Normally this route would be alive with the sounds of disciples making their way to the Outer Courtyard for early morning training sessions.
However, as he passed by those vacant practice grounds, not a single figure could be seen moving amidst the neatly raked sand and wooden practice dummies, confirming Ji Wuye's deduction that all able disciples had been summoned elsewhere.
Upon finally reaching the expansive Central Courtyard, he was met with a stark contrast - a bustling scene of disciples lined up in orderly rows, nervous murmuring carrying on the crisp morning breeze.
Furtive glances were exchanged as friends and peers reunited after the harrowing events of the previous night.
"I still can't believe it..." one lanky disciple muttered, vigorously rubbing his palms together as if to ground himself.
"One moment I was sleeping soundly, and the next, this bizarre symbol just appeared out of nowhere and transported me to some mysterious room!"
He nervously tapped the toe of his cloth shoe against the hard-packed earth, crimson eyes scanning the assembling crowd with thinly veiled trepidation.
"My heart was racing the entire time," another disciple, shorter and sporting a rumpled topknot, chimed in with a tremulous voice.
His hand visibly trembled as it clutched the fabric of his robe. "I thought it was all just some bizarre dream!"
A young woman standing nearby pursed her lips, brow furrowed as she regarded her fearful peers. "At least we're back safely at the sect for now. But I can't help worrying about Liu Fei and the others who didn't return with us last night. Do you think they..."
"Don't say it!" The lanky disciple cut her off sharply, shaking his head adamantly. "I'm sure they're fine. They're strong, capable disciples - they can definitely take care of themselves out there."
"Still, it's very strange that only those of us above the age of seventeen were taken," a taller disciple mused, one hand stroking his clean-shaven chin as he calmly analyzed the situation despite the palpable tensions.
"I overheard the Elders speculating that it might have something to do with that Hidden Sect faction you mentioned."
The shorter disciple rolled his eyes derisively. "The Hidden Sect? Those sniveling cowards? I thought for sure that Unorthodox faction was behind all of this!"
The gathered disciples continued to murmur and chatter, swapping tales of their individual experiences, some faces etched with fear while others were practically vibrating with reckless excitement at the prospect of danger.
Ji Wuye observed the diverse array of attire among his peers, able to easily distinguish the Inner Disciples by their martial sect robes adorned with crisp dark purple stripes along the hems and sleeves.
These elite few maintained a composed, aloof demeanor even in the midst of such chaos, observing the commotion with critical eyes.
Among these disciples, those with dark blue stripes on their robes were mostly filled with youthful excitement and bravado, practically bouncing on the balls of their feet with eagerness.
In contrast, those like Ji Wuye with aqua-colored striped robes appeared visibly shaken, eyes wide and knuckles pale from anxiously clenching their trembling hands.
'Well, our strength can't even begin to compare to the Official Disciples or Inner Disciples,' Ji Wuye thought to himself with a inward sigh, absently toying with the aqua-striped hem of his own robe.
The Official Disciples, characterized by their dark blue striped robes, were accomplished martial artists who had attained the 4th realm or above and received advanced Inner Art Pulse Cleansing Gongfa instruction to further elevate their skills.
The prestigious Inner Disciples, on the other hand, were personally handpicked by the revered Elders themselves from among the most exceptional talents.
Most had reached at least the 5th realm, with some even managing to break through to the immensely formidable Seventh Realm.
The Elders themselves were said to have achieved the sublime 8th realm, while the venerable Patriarch alone stood at the pinnacle - the mythical 9th realm.
A martial artist of the 9th realm was likened to an untouchable ruler of the world, with fewer than fifteen such experts existing across all of the sects and clans. Most had formed their own powerful factions or even entire royal lineages.
Just as Ji Wuye was lost in his awed recollections regarding the uppermost echelons of power, a sudden thunderous clap abruptly shattered the tense atmosphere.
BANG-!
The subtle shockwave compelling the gathered disciples to fall into an uneasy silence as every head snapped towards the source of the disturbance.
[📖First ⏮️Previous Next⏭️]
2024.04.28 23:03 Accomplished-Bed3030 Is the customer login website and the app working properly?
I’m able to login to the website but everything is saying “we’re having trouble displaying those details”. I’m a new customer and I can’t see my bill or set up auto pay. Also, it looks like the app is not working as well, when I go to my account, my name was changed to “FF”, and my email is displaying “…@ftr.com” which is not the one I used to sign up.
submitted by Accomplished-Bed3030 to frontierfios [link] [comments]
2024.04.28 22:41 Dreamcatcher64 Matrices of the Psyche. Structure
 | Image generated with DALL-E 3 submitted by Dreamcatcher64 to u/Dreamcatcher64 [link] [comments] In my previous post, I talked about matrices of the psyche and my path to this concept. You can read it here. All matrices are facets of a whole, and each facet has its own place in relation to the others. In order to put the matrices in their places and find a point of reference, you need a structure, a foundation to lean on. And I found such a foundation in Carl Jung, namely in the theory of types. Matrices determine the meaning and ways to achieve it, i.e. functions. Jung identified four basic functions of the psyche, which are dichotomies: sensation - intuition (irrational), feeling - thinking (rational). Additionally, there is an extroverted - introverted orientation of the psyche. Although all functions are active in the human psyche, one in each dichotomy dominates and prevails over the other. One function is the leading one, and another (of a different class) is auxiliary. Thus, Jung identified 8 types, and Aushra Augustinaviciute expanded their number to 16 by dividing the 4 basic functions into extroverted and introverted aspects. You can learn more about Jung's typology in the book Psychological Types, and about Aushra's typology in the materials on Socionics. Here I will not discuss these theories in depth; for our purposes, it is enough to highlight the following type formula: Dominant function of one -vertion + Auxiliary function of another class and opposite -vertion = 16 combinations of functions (types) For example: Extroverted sensing + Introverted sensing = let's call him Sensory-Sentimental Extrovert (SSE in Socionics) Below in the table I will present the distribution of all 16 psychotypes among the matrices, but before that I want to touch on a few more topics. The functions of the psyche are its tools, but it also has resources, driving forces that put these tools into action. In my opinion, these driving forces are emotions. Emotion is the archaic element that probably underlies matrices, because it sets the direction of movement, and meaning (generated by matrices) is primarily a goal in the appropriate direction. The following table shows groups of consonant emotions distributed in pairs of opposites. https://preview.redd.it/1qv3k6851axc1.png?width=945&format=png&auto=webp&s=ce0895242248d91493f1752644cb2a17bfe685ac Pairs of emotion groups in this table are also divided into 4 zones of related groups, and all emotions are divided into 2 halves of the table: - on the left, emotions as a reaction to past events; - on the right, emotions as expectations of future events; To make the final table complete, in addition to the distribution of psychotypes and emotions, I will mark each matrix with a color, the symbolism and psychological perception of which, in my opinion, best corresponds to it. I associate colors with the emotions they usually evoke. The general principle is light and saturated colors for positive emotions, and dark and dull colors for negative emotions. https://preview.redd.it/7uxs4psh1axc1.png?width=558&format=png&auto=webp&s=148376aa6844938b2752371a0698aa8b91b5a8b6 So below I present a variant of the distribution of psychotypes, emotions, and colors between the matrices, open to your suggestions, criticism, and ideas. https://preview.redd.it/d6syxsma4axc1.png?width=1196&format=png&auto=webp&s=1156ce72f3f5d721954869b7abe05f306ffd5566 Vertically, the types are divided into Socionics clubs (groups of types are grouped by leading functions): Socials - feelings (ethics) + senses (sensory) Humanitarians - feelings (ethics) + intuition Pragmatists - thinking (logic) + feeling (sensory) Researchers - thinking (logic) + intuition The principle of horizontal division requires further explanation. The reality with which a person interacts can be divided into 4 main areas: The Conscious and The Unconscious, Society and Nature. Each of these realities is reflected in the human psyche, for example, the Conscious is present in the form of the Ego, to interact with this reality a person uses the Will, and this interaction mainly occurs in a state of Stress. The table below provides more details on each reality. https://preview.redd.it/2jh79cxt6axc1.png?width=779&format=png&auto=webp&s=e085dde40ca5e4f6f15c383531073d7b8bb6dfd7 The types are divided into central (extroverted sensory/introverted intuitive - seeking challenge and competition) and peripheral (introverted sensory/extroverted intuitive - seeking comfort and voluntary cooperation), respectively: The Conscious - central extroverts; The Unconscious - peripheral introverts; Nature - peripheral extroverts; Society - central introverts; So this is an attempt to structure the matrices, and this structure we will use going forward. Welcome suggestions, criticism and ideas. |
2024.04.28 22:39 patiofurniture85 The Great Mongolian State
 | submitted by patiofurniture85 to Kaiserreich [link] [comments] Great Mongolian State January 1951 January 1, 1951…On the plains of the steppe, Mongolia finds itself under the iron grip of a unique regime—a military junta, led by “The Mad Baron of the Steppe” and Leader of the Greater Mongolian State, Roman Fedorovich von Ungern-Sternberg. He and his leadership cadre of high-ranking military officers are known as the Rossiyskaya Voyennaya Klika (Русская военная клика) and have ruled for nearly 20 years. Predominantly consisting of White Russian émigrés, Mongolian loyalists, and other exiles with extensive combat experience, their power is deeply entrenched within the apparatus of the state. Internationally, Greater Mongolia's unique blend of military rule and autocracy garners both curiosity and caution from neighboring powers and the global community. As this chapter in Mongolia’s history unfolds, it will be one defined by the convergence of military might, ancient tradition, and the relentless pursuit of power. Following the tumultuous events of the past few decades, Mongolia’s political landscape underwent a seismic shift, paving the way for the ascendancy of von Ungern-Sternberg and his military clique in the 1920’s. The military (Army and Air Corps), now numbering at 250,000 men, serves as both the enforcers of state authority and the guardians of national security, with an emphasis on maintaining readiness for any potential external threats or internal unrest. Political dissent, activism, and independent thought have been harshly suppressed through a combination of persecution, arbitrary detention, and intimidation tactics. In 1933, the 9th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, discovered and installed in Tibet, was brought back to Mongolia and crowned as Khaan with von Ungern-Sternberg as Regent—a symbolic gesture aimed at uniting the populace under a common heritage and legitimizing the regime’s rule. Buddhism holds deep cultural and religious significance in the country, with a rich history dating back centuries. By embracing Buddhism, Baron von Ungern-Sternberg aligned himself with a revered aspect of Mongolian identity, thereby tapping into a source of cultural legitimacy. His outward display of reverence for Buddhist traditions, rituals, and symbols continues to resonate with the populace, fostering a sense of connection and affinity with their spiritual heritage. Now 17 years of age, the Khaan, while serving as a ceremonial figurehead, lends spiritual authority to the regime, intertwining the martial ethos of the military with the spiritual traditions of Mongolia. Additionally, this embrace of Buddhism enhanced the Baron’s standing on the international stage, particularly among nations with Buddhist-majority populations or those sympathetic to religious freedom and cultural heritage. From the Mongolian capital city of Niislel Khuree, the Baron and his cadre of seasoned generals and commanders oversee a government that is characterized by strict discipline, an adherence to centralized control, and an unwavering commitment to national security. They adopted a pragmatic approach to international relations, prioritizing alliances and trade partnerships that bolstered their military and economic strength. Under the Baron’s guidance, the country underwent a rapid industrialization and a thorough militarization, with emphasis placed on bolstering defense capabilities and expanding territorial control. Country Information In the waning days of summer in 1949, Baron von Ungern-Sternberg, aged 63, experienced a succession of debilitating strokes, precipitating a decline in both physical vigor and mental acuity. Many within his inner circle feared his incapacitation or death would create a leadership vacuum at the apex of the regime. Given the Baron’s stature as a charismatic and influential figure, his potential absence threatened to destabilize the intricate equilibrium of power within Mongolia. To preempt such a scenario, an imperative emerged to consolidate authority and formalize the regime's structure under a novel executive apparatus of the state. By February 1950, the governmental structure was completely reorganized under a newly formed “Greater Mongolian State Supreme Council for Peace and Order” (Высший государственный совет Великой Монголии по вопросам мира и порядка), colloquially called the Supreme Council or Vysshiy Gosudarstvennyy. The Supreme Council holds ultimate authority over all aspects of governance, including military affairs, foreign policy, and domestic administration. Key government positions, administrative roles, and provincial councils are predominantly filled with retired or active-duty military personnel who’s loyalty is unquestioned. While the Baron retained de facto leadership owing to his prevailing health condition, the Supreme Council assumed preeminence under the stewardship and dominance of the Rossiyskaya Voyennaya Klika. The two top organs of the Supreme Council are the Executive Governance Committee (Исполнительный комитет управления) and the Army Reform Committee (Комитет по реформе армии), the latter serving as the general staff of the armed forces. Beneath the top echelons of the regime’s leadership, a smaller bureaucratic apparatus extends its reach across the nation. The posts are staffed by a combination of military officers and technocrats, tasked with implementing the directives of the Supreme Council. There are four main ministries, all based in the capital but having offices spread across the country: the State Security Directorate (Управление государственной безопасности), the Internal Affairs Directorate (Управление внутренних дел), the Military-Industrial Directorate (Военно-промышленное управление), and the Foreign Affairs and Commerce Directorate (Управление внешних связей и торговли). The Supreme Council places great emphasis on cultivating a sense of national identity. Central to the regime’s legitimacy is the alignment with Mongolia's traditional institutions. Mongolian symbols, such as the Soyombo emblem and the image of Genghis Khan, are prominently featured in state propaganda and public ceremonies alongside massive portraits of Baron von Ungern-Sternberg. Despite an outward appearance of stability and order, dissent still simmers beneath the surface. Opposition to the regime’s rule exists among some segments of the population, fueled by grievances over authoritarianism and the erosion of traditional freedoms, especially in the recently conquered provinces. Any perceived threats to the regime’s stability are systematically targeted by state security forces, ensuring a climate of fear and submission. As the regime maintains strict control over the flow of information through state-controlled media outlets, newspapers and radio broadcasts are utilized to disseminate pro-government propaganda, glorifying the military regime and denouncing dissenting voices as subversive elements. Censorship and surveillance mechanisms are employed to suppress any challenges to their authority. The Greater Mongolian State Supreme Council for Peace and Order represents a fusion of military power, traditional symbolism, and authoritarian governance. With the Rossiyskaya Voyennaya Klika at the helm, backed by a pervasive apparatus of state control, they exert a firm grip on power while navigating the complexities of domestic unrest and international diplomacy. A web of alliances... R5: Wars still raging as time passes by... |
2024.04.28 22:39 LunaLooh Did actual USSR commun1sts get k!l l3d or arrested in the 90's?
I'm referencing this comment: https://www.reddit.com/socialism/comments/14hpzje/comment/jpcsktn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
I could find people getting arrested during the 1991 soviet counter coup, but other than that i couldn't find anything on communists getting arrested or k!l l3d during the dissolution of the USSR. If there was k!l l!ng and arresting of communists, can you tell me examples of it so i can study it?
I'm writing with symbols because reddit is filtering my posts and i'm not exactly sure why, sorry.
submitted by LunaLooh to socialism [link] [comments]
I could find people getting arrested during the 1991 soviet counter coup, but other than that i couldn't find anything on communists getting arrested or k!l l3d during the dissolution of the USSR. If there was k!l l!ng and arresting of communists, can you tell me examples of it so i can study it?
I'm writing with symbols because reddit is filtering my posts and i'm not exactly sure why, sorry.
2024.04.28 22:23 natty1066 Little diamond symbol?
Hey all!
I'm not sure if I'm just being dumb but in the school curriculum, some of the techniques have a little symbol next to them.
In the advancement section it says it denotes a technique in your curriculum but I can't quite see how it's different to the other named techniques in the curriculum?
For example, in the worldy ronin path:
'Open hand style' has the symbol but 'shallow waters' does not - but I can't see what's different?
Thanks!
submitted by natty1066 to l5r [link] [comments]
I'm not sure if I'm just being dumb but in the school curriculum, some of the techniques have a little symbol next to them.
In the advancement section it says it denotes a technique in your curriculum but I can't quite see how it's different to the other named techniques in the curriculum?
For example, in the worldy ronin path:
'Open hand style' has the symbol but 'shallow waters' does not - but I can't see what's different?
Thanks!
2024.04.28 22:21 TrapCamel Copilot can’t pick a random letter
 | I even tried to explain to it what a letter was and tried again lol. submitted by TrapCamel to bing [link] [comments] |
2024.04.28 22:14 JakobOnEdge Yellow VGA light no POST
Just built a pc. These are the specs below
CPU: Intel I9 12900kf GPU: TUF GAMING 4080 SUPER Motherboard: z970 torus elite ax 4tb name ssd Corsair Vengeance DDR5 RAM 64GB Cooler MASTER liquid 240l
I have put everything together and upon trying to boot it up, it will not post. Once starting it cycles through the dram light and the cpu light but gets stuck on the yellow VGA light. Nothing shows on the monitor. I initially started with a display port cable and then tried an HDMI Cable.
I saw a video that states that it could be a potential bios problem. If that's the case it states with this motherboard specifically that I need to put the gpu in the second pcie slot. Only problem with that is the gpu can't go that far down in my case due to its size. So my two options for that would be either get a 3.0 riser cable just to try to get it to post, or get a bigger case that would allow for the clearance.
This is what I've come up with so far, I have re seated the gpu multiple times and checked all connections multiple times, any help would be much appreciated before I take the route of trying the two options listed above!
submitted by JakobOnEdge to buildapc [link] [comments]
CPU: Intel I9 12900kf GPU: TUF GAMING 4080 SUPER Motherboard: z970 torus elite ax 4tb name ssd Corsair Vengeance DDR5 RAM 64GB Cooler MASTER liquid 240l
I have put everything together and upon trying to boot it up, it will not post. Once starting it cycles through the dram light and the cpu light but gets stuck on the yellow VGA light. Nothing shows on the monitor. I initially started with a display port cable and then tried an HDMI Cable.
I saw a video that states that it could be a potential bios problem. If that's the case it states with this motherboard specifically that I need to put the gpu in the second pcie slot. Only problem with that is the gpu can't go that far down in my case due to its size. So my two options for that would be either get a 3.0 riser cable just to try to get it to post, or get a bigger case that would allow for the clearance.
This is what I've come up with so far, I have re seated the gpu multiple times and checked all connections multiple times, any help would be much appreciated before I take the route of trying the two options listed above!
2024.04.28 22:13 Azoicx Edge of Darkness Edition should include The Unheard Edition
Edge of Darkness was a limited time "supporter" edition, that basically had to include everything that came new in the future. Also the yellow name with the crown is something I am very proud of since it shows I was supporting the game from the early stages (at least from before it got removed) and now with the introduction of "The Unheard" Edition not only I don't get what's inside it, but also i feel like all the EoD owners have been put in secondary place to make space for the new edition. Now if you had to buy "The Unheard" Edition you would get the blue name with that symbol, which is very disappointing to see since the rarer instance should be the EoD yellow name with the crown, moreover I expected to have my EoD include the new edition as it does for all the other ones. I'm of the opinion that BSG can sell a secondary support edition (The Unheard Edition) to substitute EoD and still make profit off new players that are getting the game now and want to support it as we EoD owners did in the past, but nothing should surpass EoD. I'd expect to see the new edition fully included and not just only the PvE mode. If you really need more money which is fair, you can get it with NON Pay to Win microtransactions such as cosmetics, hideout decorations, personalized Dogtags, voicelines, and other thousand ways, not to say that you could also remove Arena from EoD to release some server load, since as you promised with EoD, we should only get DLC's and Arena it's a game of its own (that by the way no one or little to no one wanted nor payed for). Oh and I almost forgot, why the PvE has to rely on a server when you could make it Peer to Peer to play coop, and save files locally? I'd like to hear what you have to say about this Nikita and EFT Community.
submitted by Azoicx to EscapefromTarkov [link] [comments]
2024.04.28 22:07 justinrhyme69 ARCHAX Tsubame Industries by FLUX1
 | https://preview.redd.it/no8qzx8us9xc1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=614be244b74dc8c10fa4f1a678c1ee7d15df96ea submitted by justinrhyme69 to armoredcore [link] [comments] Tried to recreate the real-life Japanese AC. ARCHAX - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5zoxhsFlMA |
2024.04.28 22:07 arramzy Cleanse and Nausea
So I was looking at the spell Cleanse and noticed it can apparently end the Nauseated condition. I say apparently because this spell takes a standard action to cast and has a target of 'you' and a range of 'personal' which nausea makes pretty difficult:
Now this to me looked like a fun challenge to try and figure out how you can actually use cleanse to cure nausea. Potions seem off the table, they take a standard action to drink, and even though we usually play with the ability to feed each other potions in our games, RAW you can only use a full round action to administer a potion to an unconscious creature. Quickening won't work either, nausea not only specifies only a single move action (though assuming free actions are still allowed, in which case so are swift actions) but it also specifies you are flat out unable to cast spells so we are still out of luck.
So what does work? The most common option I found is probably a Cleric with the Animal Domain using Share Spells in case the animal is the one that is nauseated. This goes for any Animal Companion or Familiar that gets Share Spells which you can get of course.
But what if you are the one who is Nauseated? What works here? Very specifically a Caster Level 15+ Oracle with the Time Mystery, which gives you access to the spell Contingency at 12th level (though to combine it with Cleanse you still need to be CL 15+)
Now there may be some niche ways classes can pull from other spell lists, which might open up some new possibilities or something completely different which I haven't found at all. In a daily spell discussion from eight years ago nobody seems to have commented a way to use the spell to get rid of nausea.
So, just for fun, what are some ways you can think of in which someone could use Cleanse to end the Nauseated condition?
Bonus points if you can do it at the lowest possible character level, somehow use it on yourself or using only options that were available as of the release of the Advanced Player's Guide as that is where we get Cleanse for the first time (basically trying to figure out some reasons it might have been included as part of the spells effect in the first place).
submitted by arramzy to Pathfinder_RPG [link] [comments]
Nauseated: Creatures with the nauseated condition experience stomach distress. Nauseated creatures are unable to attack, cast spells, concentrate on spells, or do anything else requiring attention. The only action such a character can take is a single move action per turn.(italic emphasis mine)
Now this to me looked like a fun challenge to try and figure out how you can actually use cleanse to cure nausea. Potions seem off the table, they take a standard action to drink, and even though we usually play with the ability to feed each other potions in our games, RAW you can only use a full round action to administer a potion to an unconscious creature. Quickening won't work either, nausea not only specifies only a single move action (though assuming free actions are still allowed, in which case so are swift actions) but it also specifies you are flat out unable to cast spells so we are still out of luck.
So what does work? The most common option I found is probably a Cleric with the Animal Domain using Share Spells in case the animal is the one that is nauseated. This goes for any Animal Companion or Familiar that gets Share Spells which you can get of course.
But what if you are the one who is Nauseated? What works here? Very specifically a Caster Level 15+ Oracle with the Time Mystery, which gives you access to the spell Contingency at 12th level (though to combine it with Cleanse you still need to be CL 15+)
Now there may be some niche ways classes can pull from other spell lists, which might open up some new possibilities or something completely different which I haven't found at all. In a daily spell discussion from eight years ago nobody seems to have commented a way to use the spell to get rid of nausea.
So, just for fun, what are some ways you can think of in which someone could use Cleanse to end the Nauseated condition?
Bonus points if you can do it at the lowest possible character level, somehow use it on yourself or using only options that were available as of the release of the Advanced Player's Guide as that is where we get Cleanse for the first time (basically trying to figure out some reasons it might have been included as part of the spells effect in the first place).
2024.04.28 22:07 Brilliant-You-3172 Twitter Spaces AMA WarOnDevs [MC 200K] $SOLFIN $SOL big line up it's gonna be loads of energy I can promise you that 8pm CST! Link below
AMA⤵️ https://x.com/solfingerxyz/status/1784507310649315350
Contract: ⤵️ uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
Website:⤵️ https://solfinger.xyz/
Dex Screener⤵️ https://dexscreener.com/solana/uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
— Token name: WAR ON DEVS — Token symbol: $SOLFIN — Blockchain: Solana — Current price: US$0.0005791 — Market Cap: $210k — Launch date: April 16th
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
-Big Partnerships - Top Callers, Influencers - DexTools, DexView, DexScreener & Ave Trending - Liquidity 100% burned - All Authority Revoked - Automatically Launch On Raydium After Presale No team tokens so its all in the hands of the community Team will do buy backs CMC applied
Website: https://solfinger.xyz/
Twitter: ⤵️ https://twitter.com/solfingerxyz
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
Solfinger is a meme coin to show all the devs that rugged their community a massive fuck you. It's community driven no team tokens Solfinger holders are encouraged to participate in governance and decision-making processes to ensure the project's success. The meme coin also serves as a way to poke fun at the rug-pullers and scammers in the crypto space. Join the Solfinger community and help build a better future for meme coins!
submitted by Brilliant-You-3172 to AllCryptoBets [link] [comments]
Contract: ⤵️ uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
Website:⤵️ https://solfinger.xyz/
Dex Screener⤵️ https://dexscreener.com/solana/uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
— Token name: WAR ON DEVS — Token symbol: $SOLFIN — Blockchain: Solana — Current price: US$0.0005791 — Market Cap: $210k — Launch date: April 16th
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
-Big Partnerships - Top Callers, Influencers - DexTools, DexView, DexScreener & Ave Trending - Liquidity 100% burned - All Authority Revoked - Automatically Launch On Raydium After Presale No team tokens so its all in the hands of the community Team will do buy backs CMC applied
Website: https://solfinger.xyz/
Twitter: ⤵️ https://twitter.com/solfingerxyz
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
Solfinger is a meme coin to show all the devs that rugged their community a massive fuck you. It's community driven no team tokens Solfinger holders are encouraged to participate in governance and decision-making processes to ensure the project's success. The meme coin also serves as a way to poke fun at the rug-pullers and scammers in the crypto space. Join the Solfinger community and help build a better future for meme coins!
2024.04.28 22:06 NoBarracuda2587 Silentverse: Archives
File Sequence: <Beginning> -First Contact[10]- -Conclusion- <Legends>
_______________________________
Secret Files: <CoS[1]> -Cos[2]-
Note: Figured it would be "lore-flexible'' to divide the "Tree" into 3 branches; Legends(WP/Side stories that might not be canon), Archives(Main safe route), and Secret Files(Major Spoilers). Also, no intro quotes this time, sorry, i decided to make them only for "serious" chapters.(Besides, i wrote like 20 already.) Also, Lazarus is not around due to internet issues, so, *tsk* im doing it all alone, again...
Oh yeah, I also must congratulate myself with my last chapter. Forget about not receiving any help requests, we managed to remain on 0 comments and -1(if i remove mine) upvotes. And more than 6k people saw the post. Unbelievable... Thats the record! Of lowest score ever possible. You can't repeat it on HFY subreddit, or probably ANY subreddit with at least 2000 followers for that matter. Even if you tried to do so on purpose... Should i drop the writing for real this time? I think im cursed...
...
...
...
/Connected.
/Mellator Matrix Mind.
/SubUnit: AVA-9252002
/Memory Transmission Subject: Woorrrl, emperor of Bloboid empire. Former Grand Admiral of First Blockade of Intergalactic Alliance. Current Chancellor of Intergalactic Senate.
/Time-space: 9 rotations from Black Battle.
/Location: On the way to Gh'urrl.
/Sequence Code: .- .-- ..- -- .- -- -.- --.. -- -... .-
/Transmission in 3...2...1...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We were quiet.
All of us.
Yes, just like that monsters, "Shaders"...
Entire fleet crew was traveling back home, without dropping a word to one another. Of course, as there was really nothing to talk about to begin with. We just blankly looked at our screens and panels, or even freezing our minds at times, looking into one spot.
Around 80 percent of our "first strike" and observation fleet was destroyed. Their remains, or "corpses", as our warrior race likes to name them, was drifting back there, way on the edge of the dead space quadrants. And we probably won't be able to retrieve any of them at all, like we tend to do with broken down or dismantled equipment...
Our remaining ships wasn't in their "blooming" stage either. Some had broken wings, not fully functioning FTL drives and gears, unstable shields that consumed more energy while trying to stabilize themselves and ultimately failing by simply popping due to unbalanced particle voltage, missing few components here and there, and also had empty pockets of hatches, where our "life-probe's" supposed to be stored. Well, thats due to the fact that some of them were deactivated in that skirmish or used to rescue our crew.
Now we were flying across the expanse of space, back to square one(both literally and figuratively), where it all started. Most of our dining and rest rooms were now overcrowded. Since the most of our Escorting Fleets were obliterated, their helmsmen and crew now was aboard the Mothership, cleaning the deck from all this mess or fixing and repairing systems. And oh holy pores, there was things to repair...
The "Scout Fist" alone had 90 percent of it's weapons broken down and melted. It's main turrets were burnt and smoked with fifty or so shades of gray, showing the complete combat incapacity. Mothership's main shield generator occasionally short-wired, making it look like a giant broken lightbulb, or billboard with electricity problems. Only thing that kept us alive is the hull itself, that, thankfully, was only scratched and "drawn" over with that constant laser beams. I really wonder how big of a repairment fees the Alliance will have to pay for all of this...
As for me? I just stood, (well, not really as these black snipers somehow managed to disable most of our gravitational panels as well so we been half walking-half hovering from now on) on the main deck, surrounded with my fellow generals as well as unused engineers on standby. We have to admit, going straight to the enemy was not the wisest idea, and it will cost us. A lot. I doubted that there could be a possible way to confront them. In fact, after seeing how these "Dark Warriors" fought, any direct assault would end up in their favor, leaving us at their mercy. I didn't know what are we going to do now. Just didn't...
The signal light on the panel blinked, indicating the incoming call. I tiredly waved my manipulator and one of the Ewwlian workers, that was not even supposed to be on this ship, nodded and patched it through.
After a longer than usual static, the main screen finally lit up, revealing the all known war hero, Mikik (despite his firm stance, it was a little awkward to loot at as two Tamlite spiders, one Crickzuk praying mantis, and one Shuulma octopus in their suits with "Q" symbol on their uniform tried to fix one of the gravity panels, blowtorching the floor behind his back).
"Greetings, Your Highness..." He tiredly hissed.
"Likewise, Fleetmaster." I replied.
"I'm rather glad to notify that most of our FTL drives have been stabilised and we can increase our speeds at 40 percent."
"Good" i sighed, rubbing my cuirasses below my metal suit "Reroute energy in main engines and increase the collider particles acceleration."
"Yes, Your Highness..." He nodded then turned to his(and not) crew " Activate FTL drives!" With echoes of "Aye aye sir!" and feet (or appendages for some) stamping, the crew trotted to the engines to activate them to their max. With buzzing of hundreds remaining engines, ships are now flew with their "normal" sub-light speeds, cutting the fabric of space even more than before.
We all just took our seats (or fixated the exoskeleton to the floor in my case). Mikik took a sip from his favorite drink and exhaled:
"Finally... I wonder, what we do now?"
"So do i..." i answered. "What i can say for sure however, is that R'ikitiks lost their status of "Strongest warriors in the galaxy", no offence [gentlemen]..."
"None taken." General lizards waved back and gritted their teeth, realizing the full weight of shame in that statement.
"True, true..." Fleetmaster Mikik sighed. "I can't even imagine that walk of shame when we will tell the senate that our 'Scout Fist' failed. Oh, and the panic of society, it's going to be a nightmare..."
"Yeah, but we can't help but tell them." I growled "Everyone must know how much of a danger these "Shaders" possess. We must unite like never before, if we want our people to be safe." I raised my manipulators in determination.
**********
Attention to all personnel. We will arrive in Lura Twins system in half a suuta. Get ready.
**********
Suddenly was announced from main intercom by the tech team.
"Oh well, here we go..." I replied.
When we finally entered the system, i entered the observatory room and opened the main telescope to see one of these twins. What i saw however shocked me to my cores. There wasn't two tropical worlds with all their sands and beach water that most of xenos so liked to swim in. What there was instead is two black spheres with red outlines. The oceans was not even visible. Entire landscape was complete darkness. The center of the planet looked like a red eye, rings of glowing lights surrounded the sides. It looked like that rings you see on the stump of the tree, or cırcles of streets in the center of megapolis. It looked like some eldrich abomination consumed and terraformed it...
Once i shakingly shifted my visors from it, i saw even more horrifying picture; Hundreds, no, thousands of darker than black ellipsoids with different sizes were rotating around it, constructing the rings with their bodies.
Suddenly, few dozen of them flew directly to "Scout Fist". They ignored any fire from the support fleets, their ability to dodge every shot made them look twice as menacing. When they reached the Mothership, they have formed the the ring on semi-perpendicular diagonal from its axes around it, spinning in that slow and scary manner. It did not took long enough as all of our systems roared with alarms from incoming laser rain. We were doomed. For sure this time.
Now the atmosphere depressure alarms joined the party as the giant hole was blown straight in the middle of the main deck, sucking in all of ship's crew members. I felt that my exoskeleton too, was losing its posture and slowly started to slide to that breach.
Oh no...
I quickly grabbed one of the panel slabs and tried my best to hold on it. Unfrotunately, the grounding plates that it was installed on, slowly started to come off of its pocket. Just a few more [seconds] and it will be all gone. One last loud metal gritting and i flew base forward in that breach along with that slab i was holding on, spinning like a propeller in the void of open space.
This. Cannot. BE!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
/[Dream] class memory sequence ended.
/Returning to original sequence.
/Transmission in 3...2...1...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I woke up cold like the side of a freezer. With nearly a roar i jumped from my socket, making a flip, and ended up upside down on the ceiling, clinging to the dim spotlight like a [tick].
"Are you okay?" I heard one of the General R'ikitiks asked as the rest of them looked at me from their rest bunks, woken from all the noise i made.
"I'm fine. It was just a nightmare, sorry..." i guiltily exhaled, looking at the dents on the metal i made with my manipulators. Then i jolted from abrupt and yet so familiar intercom announcment:
************
Attention to all personnel. We will arrive in Lura Twins system in half a suuta. Get ready.
************
"Okay, maybe not!" I exclaimed and quickly hovered(Yes, gravity panels was still an issue) from the cabin.
While i could not believe that this is possible, i still wanted to make sure it was just a stupid dream and not some sort of "forecast". I tried my best to move in this zero gravity and swimmed in the corridors like a [jellyfish] retracting my appendages on the walls and propulsing forward. When i managed to get to the main observation compartment, i rushed to the main telescope, pushing aside the navigation specialist before he even could say "Your Highness?!". When i looked trough it, for real this time, i saw that familiar sand-planet, with all it's glory of that cloud clusters, some craters and that famous river on the equator.
What a relief.
"S-sir?"
I looked at the source of meowling, and saw one of the most recognizable Ewwlians in my fleet, Captain Moor. He stood(as much as one could with gravi-panels working only with 20% output) among the navigation team members, with ears slightly folded on the back of his head. One would think that he supposed to be on one of that drone-carrier frigates, but guess what? Yes, it was abandoned and blew up in the dead space as well. In fact two thirds of Mothership itself was disconnected and left behind as it was broken down and became a dead weight on our engines and energy routes. We were only hanging on the remaining disc of one third of it's former glory, crowding it from the toilets to rest rooms.
"Im fine." i camly replied "Well, not completely but everything is better than it could be..."
The concerns slowly faded away from his muzzle and ears flip back up. Then he asked me once again, flicking his tail:
" E-excuse me sir, shouldn't we start to prepare for the landing?"
"Oh, oh right!" i snapped, remebering all of the duties i have to perform on this now one-wreck-of-a-ship. "Tell everyone to gather on main deck, we need to contact the Lyra-1."
He saluted me with firm tail swing and trotted back in the corridors.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
/Time-skip: {20 human minutes}
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
It was actually painfully long to properly enter the orbit of this planet. Thats due to the fact that our non-FTL thrusters was kinda in "shambles" as well. So here were are, nearly drifting to this choke-point. And, as all strategically important things, it was well defended. Why it's been pointed out? Thats because entire armada came to meet the remains of our expedition.
When these ships swarmed us, we got an immediate signal, hailing us. With my manipulator wave, it was patched through. On the screen was an wery familiar member of molluscoid species:
"What is the meaning of this?! The 'Scout Fist' wasn't supposed to return! Why more than the half of it is GONE?!" the octopus on the other side of the screen exclaimed. " Also my radars only scans like twenty destroyers, where are the remaining, like, five hundred of them?!"
"Calm down Bluufo..." i tiredly responded. " It's gonna be a wery, WERY, long story..."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
/Memory transmission ended.
/Sequence Code: .. --.. -- ..- .-- --.. -- .--. --.- .-.. .-.. -- ...-
/Disconnection...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
submitted by NoBarracuda2587 to HFY [link] [comments]
_______________________________
Secret Files: <CoS[1]> -Cos[2]-
Note: Figured it would be "lore-flexible'' to divide the "Tree" into 3 branches; Legends(WP/Side stories that might not be canon), Archives(Main safe route), and Secret Files(Major Spoilers). Also, no intro quotes this time, sorry, i decided to make them only for "serious" chapters.(Besides, i wrote like 20 already.) Also, Lazarus is not around due to internet issues, so, *tsk* im doing it all alone, again...
Oh yeah, I also must congratulate myself with my last chapter. Forget about not receiving any help requests, we managed to remain on 0 comments and -1(if i remove mine) upvotes. And more than 6k people saw the post. Unbelievable... Thats the record! Of lowest score ever possible. You can't repeat it on HFY subreddit, or probably ANY subreddit with at least 2000 followers for that matter. Even if you tried to do so on purpose... Should i drop the writing for real this time? I think im cursed...
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Return Of Vanquished
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++/Connected.
/Mellator Matrix Mind.
/SubUnit: AVA-9252002
/Memory Transmission Subject: Woorrrl, emperor of Bloboid empire. Former Grand Admiral of First Blockade of Intergalactic Alliance. Current Chancellor of Intergalactic Senate.
/Time-space: 9 rotations from Black Battle.
/Location: On the way to Gh'urrl.
/Sequence Code: .- .-- ..- -- .- -- -.- --.. -- -... .-
/Transmission in 3...2...1...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We were quiet.
All of us.
Yes, just like that monsters, "Shaders"...
Entire fleet crew was traveling back home, without dropping a word to one another. Of course, as there was really nothing to talk about to begin with. We just blankly looked at our screens and panels, or even freezing our minds at times, looking into one spot.
Around 80 percent of our "first strike" and observation fleet was destroyed. Their remains, or "corpses", as our warrior race likes to name them, was drifting back there, way on the edge of the dead space quadrants. And we probably won't be able to retrieve any of them at all, like we tend to do with broken down or dismantled equipment...
Our remaining ships wasn't in their "blooming" stage either. Some had broken wings, not fully functioning FTL drives and gears, unstable shields that consumed more energy while trying to stabilize themselves and ultimately failing by simply popping due to unbalanced particle voltage, missing few components here and there, and also had empty pockets of hatches, where our "life-probe's" supposed to be stored. Well, thats due to the fact that some of them were deactivated in that skirmish or used to rescue our crew.
Now we were flying across the expanse of space, back to square one(both literally and figuratively), where it all started. Most of our dining and rest rooms were now overcrowded. Since the most of our Escorting Fleets were obliterated, their helmsmen and crew now was aboard the Mothership, cleaning the deck from all this mess or fixing and repairing systems. And oh holy pores, there was things to repair...
The "Scout Fist" alone had 90 percent of it's weapons broken down and melted. It's main turrets were burnt and smoked with fifty or so shades of gray, showing the complete combat incapacity. Mothership's main shield generator occasionally short-wired, making it look like a giant broken lightbulb, or billboard with electricity problems. Only thing that kept us alive is the hull itself, that, thankfully, was only scratched and "drawn" over with that constant laser beams. I really wonder how big of a repairment fees the Alliance will have to pay for all of this...
As for me? I just stood, (well, not really as these black snipers somehow managed to disable most of our gravitational panels as well so we been half walking-half hovering from now on) on the main deck, surrounded with my fellow generals as well as unused engineers on standby. We have to admit, going straight to the enemy was not the wisest idea, and it will cost us. A lot. I doubted that there could be a possible way to confront them. In fact, after seeing how these "Dark Warriors" fought, any direct assault would end up in their favor, leaving us at their mercy. I didn't know what are we going to do now. Just didn't...
The signal light on the panel blinked, indicating the incoming call. I tiredly waved my manipulator and one of the Ewwlian workers, that was not even supposed to be on this ship, nodded and patched it through.
After a longer than usual static, the main screen finally lit up, revealing the all known war hero, Mikik (despite his firm stance, it was a little awkward to loot at as two Tamlite spiders, one Crickzuk praying mantis, and one Shuulma octopus in their suits with "Q" symbol on their uniform tried to fix one of the gravity panels, blowtorching the floor behind his back).
"Greetings, Your Highness..." He tiredly hissed.
"Likewise, Fleetmaster." I replied.
"I'm rather glad to notify that most of our FTL drives have been stabilised and we can increase our speeds at 40 percent."
"Good" i sighed, rubbing my cuirasses below my metal suit "Reroute energy in main engines and increase the collider particles acceleration."
"Yes, Your Highness..." He nodded then turned to his(and not) crew " Activate FTL drives!" With echoes of "Aye aye sir!" and feet (or appendages for some) stamping, the crew trotted to the engines to activate them to their max. With buzzing of hundreds remaining engines, ships are now flew with their "normal" sub-light speeds, cutting the fabric of space even more than before.
We all just took our seats (or fixated the exoskeleton to the floor in my case). Mikik took a sip from his favorite drink and exhaled:
"Finally... I wonder, what we do now?"
"So do i..." i answered. "What i can say for sure however, is that R'ikitiks lost their status of "Strongest warriors in the galaxy", no offence [gentlemen]..."
"None taken." General lizards waved back and gritted their teeth, realizing the full weight of shame in that statement.
"True, true..." Fleetmaster Mikik sighed. "I can't even imagine that walk of shame when we will tell the senate that our 'Scout Fist' failed. Oh, and the panic of society, it's going to be a nightmare..."
"Yeah, but we can't help but tell them." I growled "Everyone must know how much of a danger these "Shaders" possess. We must unite like never before, if we want our people to be safe." I raised my manipulators in determination.
**********
Attention to all personnel. We will arrive in Lura Twins system in half a suuta. Get ready.
**********
Suddenly was announced from main intercom by the tech team.
"Oh well, here we go..." I replied.
When we finally entered the system, i entered the observatory room and opened the main telescope to see one of these twins. What i saw however shocked me to my cores. There wasn't two tropical worlds with all their sands and beach water that most of xenos so liked to swim in. What there was instead is two black spheres with red outlines. The oceans was not even visible. Entire landscape was complete darkness. The center of the planet looked like a red eye, rings of glowing lights surrounded the sides. It looked like that rings you see on the stump of the tree, or cırcles of streets in the center of megapolis. It looked like some eldrich abomination consumed and terraformed it...
Once i shakingly shifted my visors from it, i saw even more horrifying picture; Hundreds, no, thousands of darker than black ellipsoids with different sizes were rotating around it, constructing the rings with their bodies.
Suddenly, few dozen of them flew directly to "Scout Fist". They ignored any fire from the support fleets, their ability to dodge every shot made them look twice as menacing. When they reached the Mothership, they have formed the the ring on semi-perpendicular diagonal from its axes around it, spinning in that slow and scary manner. It did not took long enough as all of our systems roared with alarms from incoming laser rain. We were doomed. For sure this time.
Now the atmosphere depressure alarms joined the party as the giant hole was blown straight in the middle of the main deck, sucking in all of ship's crew members. I felt that my exoskeleton too, was losing its posture and slowly started to slide to that breach.
Oh no...
I quickly grabbed one of the panel slabs and tried my best to hold on it. Unfrotunately, the grounding plates that it was installed on, slowly started to come off of its pocket. Just a few more [seconds] and it will be all gone. One last loud metal gritting and i flew base forward in that breach along with that slab i was holding on, spinning like a propeller in the void of open space.
This. Cannot. BE!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
/[Dream] class memory sequence ended.
/Returning to original sequence.
/Transmission in 3...2...1...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I woke up cold like the side of a freezer. With nearly a roar i jumped from my socket, making a flip, and ended up upside down on the ceiling, clinging to the dim spotlight like a [tick].
"Are you okay?" I heard one of the General R'ikitiks asked as the rest of them looked at me from their rest bunks, woken from all the noise i made.
"I'm fine. It was just a nightmare, sorry..." i guiltily exhaled, looking at the dents on the metal i made with my manipulators. Then i jolted from abrupt and yet so familiar intercom announcment:
************
Attention to all personnel. We will arrive in Lura Twins system in half a suuta. Get ready.
************
"Okay, maybe not!" I exclaimed and quickly hovered(Yes, gravity panels was still an issue) from the cabin.
While i could not believe that this is possible, i still wanted to make sure it was just a stupid dream and not some sort of "forecast". I tried my best to move in this zero gravity and swimmed in the corridors like a [jellyfish] retracting my appendages on the walls and propulsing forward. When i managed to get to the main observation compartment, i rushed to the main telescope, pushing aside the navigation specialist before he even could say "Your Highness?!". When i looked trough it, for real this time, i saw that familiar sand-planet, with all it's glory of that cloud clusters, some craters and that famous river on the equator.
What a relief.
"S-sir?"
I looked at the source of meowling, and saw one of the most recognizable Ewwlians in my fleet, Captain Moor. He stood(as much as one could with gravi-panels working only with 20% output) among the navigation team members, with ears slightly folded on the back of his head. One would think that he supposed to be on one of that drone-carrier frigates, but guess what? Yes, it was abandoned and blew up in the dead space as well. In fact two thirds of Mothership itself was disconnected and left behind as it was broken down and became a dead weight on our engines and energy routes. We were only hanging on the remaining disc of one third of it's former glory, crowding it from the toilets to rest rooms.
"Im fine." i camly replied "Well, not completely but everything is better than it could be..."
The concerns slowly faded away from his muzzle and ears flip back up. Then he asked me once again, flicking his tail:
" E-excuse me sir, shouldn't we start to prepare for the landing?"
"Oh, oh right!" i snapped, remebering all of the duties i have to perform on this now one-wreck-of-a-ship. "Tell everyone to gather on main deck, we need to contact the Lyra-1."
He saluted me with firm tail swing and trotted back in the corridors.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
/Time-skip: {20 human minutes}
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
It was actually painfully long to properly enter the orbit of this planet. Thats due to the fact that our non-FTL thrusters was kinda in "shambles" as well. So here were are, nearly drifting to this choke-point. And, as all strategically important things, it was well defended. Why it's been pointed out? Thats because entire armada came to meet the remains of our expedition.
When these ships swarmed us, we got an immediate signal, hailing us. With my manipulator wave, it was patched through. On the screen was an wery familiar member of molluscoid species:
"What is the meaning of this?! The 'Scout Fist' wasn't supposed to return! Why more than the half of it is GONE?!" the octopus on the other side of the screen exclaimed. " Also my radars only scans like twenty destroyers, where are the remaining, like, five hundred of them?!"
"Calm down Bluufo..." i tiredly responded. " It's gonna be a wery, WERY, long story..."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
/Memory transmission ended.
/Sequence Code: .. --.. -- ..- .-- --.. -- .--. --.- .-.. .-.. -- ...-
/Disconnection...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
2024.04.28 22:03 Brilliant-You-3172 Twitter Spaces AMA WarOnDevs [MC 200K] $SOLFIN $SOL big line up it's gonna be loads of energy I can promise you that 8pm CST! Link below
AMA https://x.com/solfingerxyz/status/1784507310649315350
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
Website: https://solfinger.xyz/
Dex Screener https://dexscreener.com/solana/uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
— Token name: WAR ON DEVS — Token symbol: $SOLFIN — Blockchain: Solana — Current price: US$0.0005791 — Market Cap: $210k — Launch date: April 16th
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
-Big Partnerships - Top Callers, Influencers - DexTools, DexView, DexScreener & Ave Trending - Liquidity 100% burned - All Authority Revoked - Automatically Launch On Raydium After Presale No team tokens so its all in the hands of the community Team will do buy backs CMC applied
Website: https://solfinger.xyz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/solfingerxyz
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
Solfinger is a meme coin to show all the devs that rugged their community a massive fuck you. It's community driven no team tokens Solfinger holders are encouraged to participate in governance and decision-making processes to ensure the project's success. The meme coin also serves as a way to poke fun at the rug-pullers and scammers in the crypto space. Join the Solfinger community and help build a better future for meme coins!
submitted by Brilliant-You-3172 to CryptoIndia [link] [comments]
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
Website: https://solfinger.xyz/
Dex Screener https://dexscreener.com/solana/uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
— Token name: WAR ON DEVS — Token symbol: $SOLFIN — Blockchain: Solana — Current price: US$0.0005791 — Market Cap: $210k — Launch date: April 16th
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
-Big Partnerships - Top Callers, Influencers - DexTools, DexView, DexScreener & Ave Trending - Liquidity 100% burned - All Authority Revoked - Automatically Launch On Raydium After Presale No team tokens so its all in the hands of the community Team will do buy backs CMC applied
Website: https://solfinger.xyz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/solfingerxyz
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
Solfinger is a meme coin to show all the devs that rugged their community a massive fuck you. It's community driven no team tokens Solfinger holders are encouraged to participate in governance and decision-making processes to ensure the project's success. The meme coin also serves as a way to poke fun at the rug-pullers and scammers in the crypto space. Join the Solfinger community and help build a better future for meme coins!
2024.04.28 22:02 Strawberri-Animates Buying Tarotta for 20k! [read text before commenting]
Hiya! I'm looking to by a Tarotta for 20,000 that has a good color palette [aka, not any with strange colors heh]. Give me your user in the comments, I'll fren u as soon as I see the comment. [My user: BentleyWhiteDog. Display name: Strawberri WH.] Once u accept the req, join my game and show me your tarotta. Depending on the palette, I may or may not accept. anyway thats it! ty!
submitted by Strawberri-Animates to DragonAdventures [link] [comments]
2024.04.28 22:00 JYanezez [PHP] - Form to Calculate Distance Between Cities
Hello all, trying to create a simple form that calculates distances between cities. already have the Google Map API. This is for a Wordpress site.
// Check if form is submitted
if(isset($_POST['submit'])) {
// Get the starting and ending city values from the form
$start_city = urlencode($_POST['start_city']);
$end_city = urlencode($_POST['end_city']);
// Google Maps API URL to calculate distance
$api_url = "https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/distancematrix/json?units=metric&origins=$start\_city&destinations=$end\_city&key=G MAP API REMOVED FOR POST;
// Fetch data from Google Maps API
$response = file_get_contents($api_url);
// Decode JSON response
$data = json_decode($response);
// Check if the API request was successful
if($data->status == "OK") {
// Extract distance in kilometers
$distance = $data->rows[0]->elements[0]->distance->text;
} else {
// If API request fails, set distance to an error message
$distance = "Error: Unable to calculate distance. Please check your input.";
}
}
?>
HTML form
Display distance
if(isset($distance)) {
echo "The distance between $start_city and $end_city is $distance.
";
}
?>
thank you all
submitted by JYanezez to reviewmycode [link] [comments]
// Check if form is submitted
if(isset($_POST['submit'])) {
// Get the starting and ending city values from the form
$start_city = urlencode($_POST['start_city']);
$end_city = urlencode($_POST['end_city']);
// Google Maps API URL to calculate distance
$api_url = "https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/distancematrix/json?units=metric&origins=$start\_city&destinations=$end\_city&key=G MAP API REMOVED FOR POST;
// Fetch data from Google Maps API
$response = file_get_contents($api_url);
// Decode JSON response
$data = json_decode($response);
// Check if the API request was successful
if($data->status == "OK") {
// Extract distance in kilometers
$distance = $data->rows[0]->elements[0]->distance->text;
} else {
// If API request fails, set distance to an error message
$distance = "Error: Unable to calculate distance. Please check your input.";
}
}
?>
HTML form
Display distance
if(isset($distance)) {
echo "The distance between $start_city and $end_city is $distance.
";
}
?>
thank you all
2024.04.28 21:55 Brilliant-You-3172 Twitter Spaces AMA WarOnDevs [MC 200K] $SOLFIN $SOL big line up it's gonna be loads of energy I can promise you that 8pm CST! Link below
AMA https://x.com/solfingerxyz/status/1784507310649315350
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
Website: https://solfinger.xyz/
Dex Screener https://dexscreener.com/solana/uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
— Token name: WAR ON DEVS — Token symbol: $SOLFIN — Blockchain: Solana — Current price: US$0.0005791 — Market Cap: $210k — Launch date: April 16th
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
-Big Partnerships - Top Callers, Influencers - DexTools, DexView, DexScreener & Ave Trending - Liquidity 100% burned - All Authority Revoked - Automatically Launch On Raydium After Presale No team tokens so its all in the hands of the community Team will do buy backs CMC applied
Website: https://solfinger.xyz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/solfingerxyz
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
Solfinger is a meme coin to show all the devs that rugged their community a massive fuck you. It's community driven no team tokens Solfinger holders are encouraged to participate in governance and decision-making processes to ensure the project's success. The meme coin also serves as a way to poke fun at the rug-pullers and scammers in the crypto space. Join the Solfinger community and help build a better future for meme coins!!!
submitted by Brilliant-You-3172 to SolCoins [link] [comments]
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
Website: https://solfinger.xyz/
Dex Screener https://dexscreener.com/solana/uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
— Token name: WAR ON DEVS — Token symbol: $SOLFIN — Blockchain: Solana — Current price: US$0.0005791 — Market Cap: $210k — Launch date: April 16th
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
-Big Partnerships - Top Callers, Influencers - DexTools, DexView, DexScreener & Ave Trending - Liquidity 100% burned - All Authority Revoked - Automatically Launch On Raydium After Presale No team tokens so its all in the hands of the community Team will do buy backs CMC applied
Website: https://solfinger.xyz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/solfingerxyz
Contract: uuhapQ127n3fAYL4WNeitFHsx54dhrAticUJc9b15BK
Solfinger is a meme coin to show all the devs that rugged their community a massive fuck you. It's community driven no team tokens Solfinger holders are encouraged to participate in governance and decision-making processes to ensure the project's success. The meme coin also serves as a way to poke fun at the rug-pullers and scammers in the crypto space. Join the Solfinger community and help build a better future for meme coins!!!
2024.04.28 21:46 mclarke77 The Wall
https://preview.redd.it/k1dkm6gvx9xc1.png?width=924&format=png&auto=webp&s=b0e18c5341ab01988b22fcfa21eee7e5568afc59
I’m trapped. I can hear that thing lumbering through the hallway. My God, what the hell is it?The soft scratching of my pencil sounds deafening in the quiet of this tiny closet. I’m almost certainly gonna die in this place. I just hope someone can find this, maybe it will do some good. Or maybe it already doesn’t matter. I’m not sure how long I have until that wheezing thing finds me. Oh Jesus, or that grey stuff might ooze under the door and dissolve me. Oh my God! What it did to Benny, Sammy, Jonesy and Donald! To all of them! Even if I don’t survive, the world needs to be warned!
Long story short, I was a cop but I got shot in the head. The doctors said I was lucky, that it went straight through without hitting anything vital. However, I still needed three steel plates to hold my skull together. Also ended up with permanent tremors in my right hand and a nasty scar just under my eye. So, it’s no surprise that my cop career didn’t thrive. Just a year later I was a “retired” 45-year-old cop, living off scraps. After a few months, I started to get desperate for work. One evening while out with my friend, Graham, he mentioned something about some private research institute in the Mojave Desert. “What, are they still blowing A-bombs out there?” I scoffed, eyebrows arched with bemused incredulity. Graham stared down at his beer, “Not sure what the hell they do. But they pay super well, so who cares,” he took a long sip of beer, foam clinging to his lips, “I think it would be a good fit for you”.
Turns out this facility, and it really is known as the “Facility”, was located in the middle of nowhere. When I looked it up I couldn’t find any information at all. Later that week I called the number that Graham had scrawled down for me on a beer stained napkin. My right hand wasn’t good with delicate tasks so when I dialed the number I had to use my left hand. The phone rang twice before a metallic voice answered and said to hold for an operator. After a few seconds of muted elevator music, I spoke to a soft voiced woman who told me my skill set was perfect for their current vacancy: a security management position. Her voice was soothing, “Your credentials are excellent. If you like I can fax some forms and a draft contract over, and we can pay for you to fly on up to see us in person. I’m certain you’ll get offered the job.”
She was right. One flight and several NDAs later, I was employed again! By the time I started my new job I realized I had no idea what research went on down here. During the interviews my duties as a security manager had been discussed but any mention of their actual research interests had been carefully omitted. On my first day I asked others about the nature of the Facility’s research, but no one had any interest. “Just stick to your contract. No point in rockin’ the boat,” my new boss, Sammy, said to me curtly. I’ve not discussed it since.
The part of the Facility which I managed was section B.15. This area was located several hundred feet below the sun scorched surface of the Mojave Desert. It comprised many green corridors peppered with tall wide doors made from dark, stainless steel. The rooms inside were large and sterile. Of course, whether or not we wanted to know the nature of the research, after patrolling some of the research labs for weeks, it wasn’t hard to figure out that the scientists were mostly archeologists. Or maybe paleontologists. I often found different objects lying around in various states of cleanliness. Some looked like ancient amphoras, or large stone bird baths or even fossilized remains. Others were less identifiable: a melted lump of some glimmering metal or large chunks of a glass-like material. I found this all extremely curious because, as far as I knew, the Mojave Desert didn’t have much in the way of ancient architecture. At least of any ancient civilization that I know.
As the months went by I started to get friendly with the other guards, most of them ex-cops too, and we played cards and drank Irish coffee in the evenings. My two main colleagues consisted of a jovial, short man with orange hair named Jonesy and a much older much grumpier and much balder man, Donald. They were good men and we had a lot of laughs together. My stomach twists when I think about where they are now. Though I grew fonder of my fellow guards, I found myself developing a severe dislike for the researchers. Most of them were mean and arrogant. The only scientist my security buddies liked was a scrawny guy named Benny. Our favorite thing about Benny was that he never talked about his work.
It was earlier, at 1400h, when all the scientists were running from their rooms. They must have received some message a few minutes before and we watched them from the surveillance monitors as they got all excited, their lab coats flapping and flowing as they made for the stairs. Soon after this, the large red landline phone near my desk began to ring. Expecting the call, I picked up the receiver before the first ring finished, “Hey boss, what’s all the excitement about?” Sammy’s voice was uncharacteristically anxious, “The diggers have found a friggin’ huge object out here! The biggest thing they’ve ever dug up. They want to bring it to B.15 so I need you to organize the logistics and security”. My brow furrowed, “I guess it’s too big for the main entrance? Maybe we could bring it in via the big doors of the auxiliary hangar?” she grunted with agreement, “Yea, we’ll have to improvise a bit but should be manageable. I’ll get some of the boys from B.10 and B.14 to help you out.” I nodded, “Thanks, see you soon”
Donald, Jonesy, some interns and I had coffee in the office and called the guards at the hangar doors to arrange clearance. About an hour later we met the guards from B.10. and B.14, together we climbed the many stairs to the hangar and waited for the cargo to arrive. The massive metal hangar doors had been opened, which was rare. What was more irregular was that nearly every staff member from sections B.09 to B.18 were all gathered together in a silent knot of people. Despite the silence the air sizzled with anticipation, as well as the searing heat. I stood transfixed from curiosity, waiting in the shade of the doorway as the relentless sun beat down outside. I squinted. In the distance I saw a black speck grow larger against the bright blue sky. Slowly it took the form of a helicopter with an enormous rectangular shaped mass dangling below it.
Within less than a minute the helicopter made its cacophonous approach toward the hangar and gently lowered the object onto a wide wooden scaffold. I barked orders and signed forms as the guards rushed about. The air was blaring with the sound of helicopter blades and sand rocketed into my face, forcing me to splutter. “Alright, let’s get this thing processed!” I yelled over the sound of the helicopter as its engines powered down. My colleagues and I wiped dirt from our faces. Sammy emerged swiftly from the chopper and shook my hand. Her hair was in its characteristic librarian-bun but her eyes were glassy. Had she been drinking? We quickly reviewed the paper work she gave me and then she made her way back downstairs to her office in section B.1. She was keen to get away for some reason.
As my colleagues cleared away most of the staff and the excitement died down I was finally able to take a moment to inspect the object. It had been lowered onto a wooden scaffold fitted with wheels and had been pushed slowly into the center of the hangar. The few aircraft in this hangar were all currently under repairs, leaving plenty of space for the object.
The object was a wall. It was rectangular and about twenty-five feet long, ten feet thick and twelve feet high. The wall first appeared made from boring grey stone. I even remember thinking, “It’s not even that big”. However, when I looked closer it was, alive. I barely noticed the helicopter take off and leave as I saw the wall’s surface bubble. The hangar doors began to close as the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. A bead of sweat ran down my cheek and I thought I heard something. It sounded like someone far away calling my name. I felt a strange pressure around my head. A sudden invasive thought dug into my mind: throw yourself into the wall. I shuddered and held myself back despite the sudden strong desire. I heard the faint voice of Benny and crashed back to reality. My eyes snapped open and I found my nose an inch away from the wall. It radiated cold like an open freezer and it smelled like rotten clay. The surface of the wall simmered ever so slightly. It reminded me of the fizz of some grey effervescent medicine. I paled as I took a large step backward, “I.. uh, what is this?” I turned to face Benny who stood with another scientist. He glanced at her briefly before he approached the wall, “Honestly, we have no idea”.
I got Donald and Jonesy to help Benny transport the wall down to room 278B via the service elevator. Donald grumbled, “Guh, this thing smells like something my dog puked up”. Meanwhile Jonesy stared with eyes as large as saucers, “It looks so cool!” Once downstairs, I told Donald and Jonesy to take some forms to the admin department and I returned alone to my office to get some more coffee and file away the rest of the paperwork. I tried to put the strangeness of the wall out of my mind, but it had truly unnerved me. I felt so tired. As I sat at my desk facing the surveillance monitors I was unable to fight the force fusing my eyelids together.
I’ve been hungover a lot, but when I woke up at my desk I’d never felt quite so singularlyawful. My clothes were soaked with sweat and my whole body felt exhausted. My arms felt like molasses. My forehead throbbed and I was bruised. I also felt a weird pressure squeezing my head from all sides. I sat back in my seat and rubbed my eyes.
Then I froze.
A hand was lying motionless on the floor just behind the table at the center of the room. I leapt to my feet and rushed forward. I gasped from horror as I saw Donald lying there, his chest sliced to ribbons. Gallons of dark scarlet stained his blue uniform. His eyes stared up empty and terrified. Pallid and shaking I ran to my landline to call for backup immediately. As the receiver met my ear my stomach dropped into my feet.
The line was dead.
I was so confused. We had lots of fail safes to ensure communication remained enabled, but the line was dead and there was no sign of any response. I rushed back to the monitors. The cameras were all operating normally. I started to breathe heavily. I couldn’t see anyone. The corridors were green and bare. I looked at the clock. It was 1817h. I had slept for about two hours. But where was everyone? Where were the janitors? My heart was hammering in my chest and my head was throbbing. My eyes narrowed with a sudden thought. Where was that wall?
I searched for the wall and found it was back in the hangar! It sat upon the bare ground right by the massive doors. However, the doors were sealed. The wall itself looked different. It was absolutely enormous! Just over two times longer and taller and wider. Just then, I realized that the titanium blast doors had been sealed as well. My heart rate doubled as I noticed large dents, scorch marks and scratches all over the doors. The hangar floor was covered in blood. My God, I even saw a rocket-launcher lying blackened and fractured near the doors. What the hell had happened?
I spun my head to look at the security panel on the wall to my left. My heart, already racing, felt like it leapt out of my mouth. My eyes grew wide as I realized Donald must have activated a quarantine procedure. This meant that the entire Facility would be sealed airtight. The only way to open any doors now was from the outside. My God! Why had he done this? Where was everyone? Did I really sleep through all this? Where was Jonesy? I looked back at Donald, my heart still racing from seeing his dead eyes stare into mine. I sighed sadly and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was now 1831h. I returned to the monitors and began to rewind the security footage.
Surveying the screens, I watched my past-self enter the security office at around 1600h. By 1610h I had passed-out on my chair, drool dangling from my mouth. “Ok, so let’s see where the wall was at that time. Should be room 278B.” I thought to myself aloud as I clicked on the button that displayed the footage of room 278B and the surrounding corridors. The screens were black as the footage loaded and I was about to hit the play button but hesitated. Did I really want to see this? I closed my eyes and took a few slow breaths. I have to know. I hit play.
The camera was located opposite the door giving a full view of the room. At first everything was normal. It was 1623h when they were unstrapping the wall. A loud popping sound was heard and the researchers spun around. The lights in the room dimmed and flickered. Suddenly something long and slimy exploded from the flesh of the wall. It wrapped around Benny and pulled him in. He screamed in terror as he vanished, his cries immediately silenced.
Without realizing it I was instantly on my feet, shaking my head in pure denial. My heart burst. What the hell was that? What the hell? What the hell? My head was full of static. I felt tears in my eyes as I watched guards and researchers rush into the room. The wall shimmered, it’s simmering surface began to boil and bubble and it grew a few inches higher. I saw it reshape itself so that intricately carved figures appeared on the wall’s edge. I leant in closer and gasped. One of those figures looked just like Benny, his mouth stretched into a permanent scream. The guards and researchers were horrified by what they saw. Suddenly, without warning, their body postures relaxed, their eyes grew glassy, and their arms fell slack at their sides. Those within the room moved as if sleepwalking. Some stayed still while others left the room. Brow furrowed from confusion and fear, my eyes swiveled to the footage of the corridors outside. The guards and researchers that had just exited 278B immediately began attacking and grappling those around them. I yelped as a vacant-eyed guard lazily shot another man in the leg. The thrall then dragged the wounded guard into room 278B. The mad guard held the wounded guard’s leg fast as he casually walked into the grey wall, pulling the struggling man in behind him. During this altercation I noticed Donald, he was hiding behind the corner of the corridor at the far end and was firing his gun at the thralls. He didn’t manage to hit anyone though. He then ran over to help a stray research intern to her feet and then they both ran down the corridor and out of view.
I could still hear the pleas for mercy as those who fell victim to the thralls were dragged into that horrifying wall. With every person it swallowed, the wall wriggled and grew. More ghastly decorations began to bloom on its surface, all of them made from the bones or likenesses of those absorbed. The bigger it got the stronger its psychic influence became until it reached everyone in the Facility. I looked on in horror as one by one, all janitors, researchers, guards, diggers, admin staff, everyone stopped what they were doing, mid conversation, their eyes emptying. The janitors dropped their mops and buckets. Researchers dropped precious materials and equipment without care, letting them smash to pieces. In unison, with vacant expressions, they moved toward room 278B. Among the horde of thralls, I saw Sammy and Jonesy, and so many others I knew. A guy who’d held the door for me once, a researcher who always slurped her coffee at lunch. Hundreds of people! What filled me with an unnamable dread was that I knew what was gonna happen. I knew what was coming. I tried to shout at the monitors, “Stop! Wait!” I grabbed the monitors and shook them with frustration.
A terror began to fill my stomach, deep and cold and aching. Suddenly I noticed Donald reappear on the screen. He was trying to hold back the intern he’d helped earlier, but it was useless. I saw Donald stare with incredulity as he sat defeated on the ground. Everyone else around him stumbled dreamily toward their doom. But Donald refused to give up. I saw him run from corridor to corridor, trying desperately to stop them. He threw chairs and tables in their way but they simply pushed them aside or jumped over them. I saw him run toward this office. I saw him enter, saw myself slumped on my chair still completely unconscious. I saw Donald try to shake me awake, he slapped me a few times and was yelling in frustration. He gave up with me eventually and ran over to activate the quarantine lockdown. I saw him tear down the hall back toward room 278B, pistol in hand.
As soon as Donald got close to 278B a long pale tendril burst through the door directly into his chest. The tentacle had a hooked end and it slashed him. I saw blood spurt out of him, saw him stumble and fall to the ground. However, he still managed to get a hold of his gun and fired multiple shots at the tendril. It writhed and flailed. Donald took this opportunity to climb to his feet. He grimaced and clasped his chest as crimson leaked to the floor. He moved back down the corridor. Eventually he got back to the office. He locked the door and, still fumbling with his keys, attempted to open the ammunitions cupboard. Before he could find the right key, he cursed and then collapsed. I cried out in frustration. That whole time I was completely useless!
My mind felt like static again for a few seconds. I couldn’t work out what my next move should be. A thought hit me hard. Why had Donald and I not been psychically affected by the wall? Everyone had been enslaved. Why not Donald? And me? My eyebrows shot up into my receding hairline with sudden realization. “Shit, the steel plates in my head!” And Donald had a steel plate in his skull too because of a rock-climbing accident he had in his 20s. When I got close to the wall, had it sensed my resistance? Had it tried to incapacitate me? If so, it meant the thing possesses sentience.
While I pondered this, I noticed some thralls re-strap the wall in room 278B. They transported it to the elevator and back up to the hangar. Once there, the thralls moved the wall off the scaffold onto the floor and began to beat heavily on the large metal doors with bare fists. Some even shot at the doors with their handguns. The ricochets killed a few of them but not one single person even noticed. Some of the guards even used a rocket launcher! I yelled with shock as they fired at deadly close range, lazily blowing themselves up, leaving the doors scorched. After this proved futile, the thralls all grew rigid. Next, they all formed a line in front of the wall and one shambling step after another, all the remaining employees were - assimilated. Even the dead and wounded were not spared. Those still alive carried the corpses of their fellow thralls into the wall.
It was 1735h when the last employee disappeared forever into the grey horror, and the wall expanded to its current size. Without warning, a large mass of twisted limbs emerged from the wall. I gasped from horror. Its silhouette was about seven feet tall and thin and stretched. It had too many legs and it didn’t appear to have a head. This thing lumbered over to the doors and began to strike them with a strength and ferocity found only in a starving polar bear. I could tell that the doors were taking strain, and they began to bend, but even then, they did not yield. After just over half an hour of smashing the door, the creature stopped and slowly shambled toward the stairs. My heart froze. It was coming here! Or was it here already? I sat still for a moment and tried not to lose my mind completely. I swear I could hear Woody the woodpecker laughing somewhere in the distance. I needed to keep it together. I took a long deep breath and tried to think of a way out.
Summarizing the details of my predicament, I realized I was trapped alone inside the Facility with an otherworldly force. Also, even if I found a way out, I’d potentially be letting an evil into the world that could destroy all life. My eyes grew even wider and I grabbed at my hair, “But my God, if this thing gets out. If it gets into the minds of other people. If it gets larger and larger. Could it swallow the world?” I was talking aloud now; the sound of my voice gave a new clarity to my situation that made me shudder. I turned back to the monitor. It seems I was all caught up. I stared blankly into the screen while I watched my past-self wake and wince from pain. I switched the monitor off and saw my reflection in the blackness of the screen. I was pale and my eyes were sunken and unblinking. “What do I do now?” I turned in my chair to look at Donald’s body. “Poor Donald, he didn’t deserve this”, I muttered softly. My eyes moved from his body up to the ammunition’s cupboard just above. “Wait, was he trying to get into the cupboard earlier?”, I gasped with realization. “Holy crap, he was trying to get the bomb! Me and Donald were gonna use a left-over bomb from the excavation site to blow some random shit up!”
I stood up quickly and walked up to the cupboard. I opened the cupboard with little effort and found the twenty pounds of plastic explosive inside. It had already been set up with a sixty second timer and a remote detonator. I sat at the table with the explosive, a vague plan forming in my broken mind. “Maybe if I somehow get this wall-thing to eat this bomb then...”
Before I could formulate my thoughts fully, the lights flickered, and the entire Facility was plunged into darkness unceremoniously. My nerves burned with fear. What had happened? Had that thing knocked the power out somehow? The next few seconds that past were the longest I’d ever experienced. Eventually dim green light bloomed to life and the reserve power kicked in. Then I heard slow, shuffling footsteps in the corridor just outside the office. I froze once again, my insides turning to mush. My mind raced. Had I remembered to lock the door? My stomach leapt into my feet as I heard the shuffling get louder and louder. I heard hoarse, wheezing breaths, as if the thing struggled to breathe. I jumped from fright but remained absolutely silent as whatever the thing was banged on the door with a deafening blow.
BANG!
The door shook and bent slightly.
BANG!
Silence.
BANG!
My heart was hammering in my ears and I sat deathly still. I could hear that thing breathing louder. After a few moments I heard it shuffle away. My entire body was shaking as relief washed over me. I turned to look at the screens. Dare I turn them on and check what it was? After a few seconds I turned to the monitors and switched them on. I waited in nervous anticipation as they flickered to life showing me that all the corridors between me and the wall were currently empty. I didn’t bother checking the corridor I suspected the shambling thingwas in. I didn’t want to see it unless I needed to. I’d had just about all the stress and terror I could take and by this stage I felt weirdly calm. It must be shock. A thin sigh escaped me as I stood. The fear in my blood began to feed a furnace of anger in my heart. I thought about all those who I had lost. I felt my expression turn to granite, “It’s time to kill this thing.”
I opened the door slowly, my fully loaded gun in my good hand. Spare ammo along with the explosive and a sawed-off shotgun was stashed in my backpack, and the remote detonator was tied to my belt. I held a heavy-duty flashlight in my shaky right hand. I moved cautiously through the dark green corridors. I’d never thought of how creepy this place could be until this moment. Gooseflesh crept up my arms and neck as I continued. All I could hear were my soft footfalls and shallow anxious breaths. I cleared the corridors one by one until I made it to the stairs. I walked up the stairs carefully. I took one step. Then another. Slowly, I climbed. After many minutes, I was near the hangar. Then I heard the soft sound of crying.
Someone was crying. No. Many people were crying.
I stopped dead in my tracks. My entire body shook from the adrenaline surging through me. Once my head peeked over the top of the landing, I froze. The wall loomed gigantic before me. Its edges were now framed intricately with the skeletons of hundreds of people, all twisted and screaming in agony; tortured souls bound together. I could hear them all. They were all screaming. Screaming for me to join them. I felt that pressure squeeze against my skull tighter and tighter. I shook my head in defiance. “No! You bastard! NO! I will not join you!” All at once the moans and wails stopped. I suddenly found myself at the top of the stairs without knowing when I’d finished climbing them. “But you will” came the sound of hundreds of twisted voices fused into one. “We are them. We are all. We can be all. We will be all. All and all and more than all.”
A deafening blast came from the wall and slithering, tangled human limbs emerged. It had four legs and several arms. It looked like the bodies of eight or more people shuffled and glued into an otherworldly horror. Its multiple mouths screamed a high pitched roar that was pure torment, and its sharp pointed teeth gnashed and chomped. I only had a second to dodge. I leapt to the side and fired multiple shots at the thing’s center of mass. Its horrifying body of fused torsos wriggled and bled black ichor. It screamed with pain and jumped at me, grabbing my leg. It tossed me into the air and I slammed into the floor a few feet away. As I hit the ground I yelled in pain and heard something metallic smash. Before I could catch my breath, it was upon me again. From the ground I fired several shots at it. This made it jump away and scuttle down the stairs. I noticed immediately that the remote detonator had been smashed beyond repair. With the creature momentarily out of sight, I kneeled and took off my backpack as fast as I could. “Only one way then”, I said quietly as I pulled out the bomb and started the timer manually. I also got the shotgun out. I needed to do this now or never.
As the final shell clicked into place I heard a roar coming from the stairs. The thing was back. Before I could react, it leapt at me and knocked me to the ground. The bomb flew from my grasp. It bared down on me, grabbing at my throat ready to tear me apart. My reflexes saved me and I managed to use my shotgun to hold the thing at bay, but it was way too strong. Desperate, I kicked it hard in the chest and it let go. I used this moment to grab the bomb that lay behind me; only 37 seconds to go! Terrified and crazed, sweat pouring down my face, my mind in pieces, I rammed the bomb into one of the creature’s mouths and kicked it back again as hard as I could. I heard it yelp like a wounded dog and it lost its footing. It fell sideways and in that second, I took my shotgun and fired at it in the chest. The force of the close-range blast sent me flying. At the same time the creature was hurled back into the wall where it was enveloped quickly.
My head was fuzzy. I was dizzy and the wind had been knocked out of me. Was the bomb going to work? I felt something warm and wet drip into my ear and touched the side of my head. My fingertips came away soaked in blood. My head was spinning. With a foggy mind I grabbed my bag, collecting my weapons and flashlight. As I stood up I heard a low rumbling sound. The ground beneath my feet shook and for a moment I was confused. Then I looked up at the wall. Its surface was boiling like I’d never seen before. It was shaking and growing. I turned to run when suddenly there was a massive blast, and the entire wall exploded into hundreds of grey chunks. These rained down all around the hangar, smashing several aircrafts. The blast knocked me off my feet.
When I awoke I could see early morning light through the tiny cracks in the blast door. Where the wall had once been now stood a small blackened crater. I coughed and lifted my head to inspect the wall pieces and found that they – my mouth opened. They were melting. I watched in dumbfounded horror as the pieces began to merge, just like that scene from Terminator 2. It was rebuilding itself.
As I stood to run I heard a groan. My blood became ice.
I turned slowly in terror to find the shambling, wheezing monstrosity behind me. Like the creature I’d shot, this one seemed made from bits and pieces of human limbs knitted together randomly. This one had six legs which came out of its mouth, its head positioned within its torso where the bellybutton should be, and it wheezed in pain. I almost puked from fright but my feet were already carrying me away. I sprinted down the corridors, ignoring all the pain and fear and exhaustion and anger and frustration inside me. Without thinking, I leapt into the first janitor’s closet I found and locked the door. After catching my breath, I found this notepad and pencil, and have been writing this report in the sterile glow of my flashlight. Hopefully, I have left some useful information for anyone who may find this.
Now I lie in wait. What is that thing? If it can survive a bomb like that, what hope do we have? It’s no wall at all. It’s a membrane. An interface. Somewhere very different is pressing up against us. It has torn a small hole, and was now prying it open further.
So here I wait, hoping to be saved, but even as I write this I can hear that thing walking past the door. With a soft click I turn off my flashlight. I try not to breathe. I can hear the snuffling, it’s right outside!
Shit! Shit! I hear keys. The door is unlocking! How? How?
Oh God! The doorknob is turning...
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I’m trapped. I can hear that thing lumbering through the hallway. My God, what the hell is it?The soft scratching of my pencil sounds deafening in the quiet of this tiny closet. I’m almost certainly gonna die in this place. I just hope someone can find this, maybe it will do some good. Or maybe it already doesn’t matter. I’m not sure how long I have until that wheezing thing finds me. Oh Jesus, or that grey stuff might ooze under the door and dissolve me. Oh my God! What it did to Benny, Sammy, Jonesy and Donald! To all of them! Even if I don’t survive, the world needs to be warned!
Long story short, I was a cop but I got shot in the head. The doctors said I was lucky, that it went straight through without hitting anything vital. However, I still needed three steel plates to hold my skull together. Also ended up with permanent tremors in my right hand and a nasty scar just under my eye. So, it’s no surprise that my cop career didn’t thrive. Just a year later I was a “retired” 45-year-old cop, living off scraps. After a few months, I started to get desperate for work. One evening while out with my friend, Graham, he mentioned something about some private research institute in the Mojave Desert. “What, are they still blowing A-bombs out there?” I scoffed, eyebrows arched with bemused incredulity. Graham stared down at his beer, “Not sure what the hell they do. But they pay super well, so who cares,” he took a long sip of beer, foam clinging to his lips, “I think it would be a good fit for you”.
Turns out this facility, and it really is known as the “Facility”, was located in the middle of nowhere. When I looked it up I couldn’t find any information at all. Later that week I called the number that Graham had scrawled down for me on a beer stained napkin. My right hand wasn’t good with delicate tasks so when I dialed the number I had to use my left hand. The phone rang twice before a metallic voice answered and said to hold for an operator. After a few seconds of muted elevator music, I spoke to a soft voiced woman who told me my skill set was perfect for their current vacancy: a security management position. Her voice was soothing, “Your credentials are excellent. If you like I can fax some forms and a draft contract over, and we can pay for you to fly on up to see us in person. I’m certain you’ll get offered the job.”
She was right. One flight and several NDAs later, I was employed again! By the time I started my new job I realized I had no idea what research went on down here. During the interviews my duties as a security manager had been discussed but any mention of their actual research interests had been carefully omitted. On my first day I asked others about the nature of the Facility’s research, but no one had any interest. “Just stick to your contract. No point in rockin’ the boat,” my new boss, Sammy, said to me curtly. I’ve not discussed it since.
The part of the Facility which I managed was section B.15. This area was located several hundred feet below the sun scorched surface of the Mojave Desert. It comprised many green corridors peppered with tall wide doors made from dark, stainless steel. The rooms inside were large and sterile. Of course, whether or not we wanted to know the nature of the research, after patrolling some of the research labs for weeks, it wasn’t hard to figure out that the scientists were mostly archeologists. Or maybe paleontologists. I often found different objects lying around in various states of cleanliness. Some looked like ancient amphoras, or large stone bird baths or even fossilized remains. Others were less identifiable: a melted lump of some glimmering metal or large chunks of a glass-like material. I found this all extremely curious because, as far as I knew, the Mojave Desert didn’t have much in the way of ancient architecture. At least of any ancient civilization that I know.
As the months went by I started to get friendly with the other guards, most of them ex-cops too, and we played cards and drank Irish coffee in the evenings. My two main colleagues consisted of a jovial, short man with orange hair named Jonesy and a much older much grumpier and much balder man, Donald. They were good men and we had a lot of laughs together. My stomach twists when I think about where they are now. Though I grew fonder of my fellow guards, I found myself developing a severe dislike for the researchers. Most of them were mean and arrogant. The only scientist my security buddies liked was a scrawny guy named Benny. Our favorite thing about Benny was that he never talked about his work.
It was earlier, at 1400h, when all the scientists were running from their rooms. They must have received some message a few minutes before and we watched them from the surveillance monitors as they got all excited, their lab coats flapping and flowing as they made for the stairs. Soon after this, the large red landline phone near my desk began to ring. Expecting the call, I picked up the receiver before the first ring finished, “Hey boss, what’s all the excitement about?” Sammy’s voice was uncharacteristically anxious, “The diggers have found a friggin’ huge object out here! The biggest thing they’ve ever dug up. They want to bring it to B.15 so I need you to organize the logistics and security”. My brow furrowed, “I guess it’s too big for the main entrance? Maybe we could bring it in via the big doors of the auxiliary hangar?” she grunted with agreement, “Yea, we’ll have to improvise a bit but should be manageable. I’ll get some of the boys from B.10 and B.14 to help you out.” I nodded, “Thanks, see you soon”
Donald, Jonesy, some interns and I had coffee in the office and called the guards at the hangar doors to arrange clearance. About an hour later we met the guards from B.10. and B.14, together we climbed the many stairs to the hangar and waited for the cargo to arrive. The massive metal hangar doors had been opened, which was rare. What was more irregular was that nearly every staff member from sections B.09 to B.18 were all gathered together in a silent knot of people. Despite the silence the air sizzled with anticipation, as well as the searing heat. I stood transfixed from curiosity, waiting in the shade of the doorway as the relentless sun beat down outside. I squinted. In the distance I saw a black speck grow larger against the bright blue sky. Slowly it took the form of a helicopter with an enormous rectangular shaped mass dangling below it.
Within less than a minute the helicopter made its cacophonous approach toward the hangar and gently lowered the object onto a wide wooden scaffold. I barked orders and signed forms as the guards rushed about. The air was blaring with the sound of helicopter blades and sand rocketed into my face, forcing me to splutter. “Alright, let’s get this thing processed!” I yelled over the sound of the helicopter as its engines powered down. My colleagues and I wiped dirt from our faces. Sammy emerged swiftly from the chopper and shook my hand. Her hair was in its characteristic librarian-bun but her eyes were glassy. Had she been drinking? We quickly reviewed the paper work she gave me and then she made her way back downstairs to her office in section B.1. She was keen to get away for some reason.
As my colleagues cleared away most of the staff and the excitement died down I was finally able to take a moment to inspect the object. It had been lowered onto a wooden scaffold fitted with wheels and had been pushed slowly into the center of the hangar. The few aircraft in this hangar were all currently under repairs, leaving plenty of space for the object.
The object was a wall. It was rectangular and about twenty-five feet long, ten feet thick and twelve feet high. The wall first appeared made from boring grey stone. I even remember thinking, “It’s not even that big”. However, when I looked closer it was, alive. I barely noticed the helicopter take off and leave as I saw the wall’s surface bubble. The hangar doors began to close as the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. A bead of sweat ran down my cheek and I thought I heard something. It sounded like someone far away calling my name. I felt a strange pressure around my head. A sudden invasive thought dug into my mind: throw yourself into the wall. I shuddered and held myself back despite the sudden strong desire. I heard the faint voice of Benny and crashed back to reality. My eyes snapped open and I found my nose an inch away from the wall. It radiated cold like an open freezer and it smelled like rotten clay. The surface of the wall simmered ever so slightly. It reminded me of the fizz of some grey effervescent medicine. I paled as I took a large step backward, “I.. uh, what is this?” I turned to face Benny who stood with another scientist. He glanced at her briefly before he approached the wall, “Honestly, we have no idea”.
I got Donald and Jonesy to help Benny transport the wall down to room 278B via the service elevator. Donald grumbled, “Guh, this thing smells like something my dog puked up”. Meanwhile Jonesy stared with eyes as large as saucers, “It looks so cool!” Once downstairs, I told Donald and Jonesy to take some forms to the admin department and I returned alone to my office to get some more coffee and file away the rest of the paperwork. I tried to put the strangeness of the wall out of my mind, but it had truly unnerved me. I felt so tired. As I sat at my desk facing the surveillance monitors I was unable to fight the force fusing my eyelids together.
I’ve been hungover a lot, but when I woke up at my desk I’d never felt quite so singularlyawful. My clothes were soaked with sweat and my whole body felt exhausted. My arms felt like molasses. My forehead throbbed and I was bruised. I also felt a weird pressure squeezing my head from all sides. I sat back in my seat and rubbed my eyes.
Then I froze.
A hand was lying motionless on the floor just behind the table at the center of the room. I leapt to my feet and rushed forward. I gasped from horror as I saw Donald lying there, his chest sliced to ribbons. Gallons of dark scarlet stained his blue uniform. His eyes stared up empty and terrified. Pallid and shaking I ran to my landline to call for backup immediately. As the receiver met my ear my stomach dropped into my feet.
The line was dead.
I was so confused. We had lots of fail safes to ensure communication remained enabled, but the line was dead and there was no sign of any response. I rushed back to the monitors. The cameras were all operating normally. I started to breathe heavily. I couldn’t see anyone. The corridors were green and bare. I looked at the clock. It was 1817h. I had slept for about two hours. But where was everyone? Where were the janitors? My heart was hammering in my chest and my head was throbbing. My eyes narrowed with a sudden thought. Where was that wall?
I searched for the wall and found it was back in the hangar! It sat upon the bare ground right by the massive doors. However, the doors were sealed. The wall itself looked different. It was absolutely enormous! Just over two times longer and taller and wider. Just then, I realized that the titanium blast doors had been sealed as well. My heart rate doubled as I noticed large dents, scorch marks and scratches all over the doors. The hangar floor was covered in blood. My God, I even saw a rocket-launcher lying blackened and fractured near the doors. What the hell had happened?
I spun my head to look at the security panel on the wall to my left. My heart, already racing, felt like it leapt out of my mouth. My eyes grew wide as I realized Donald must have activated a quarantine procedure. This meant that the entire Facility would be sealed airtight. The only way to open any doors now was from the outside. My God! Why had he done this? Where was everyone? Did I really sleep through all this? Where was Jonesy? I looked back at Donald, my heart still racing from seeing his dead eyes stare into mine. I sighed sadly and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was now 1831h. I returned to the monitors and began to rewind the security footage.
Surveying the screens, I watched my past-self enter the security office at around 1600h. By 1610h I had passed-out on my chair, drool dangling from my mouth. “Ok, so let’s see where the wall was at that time. Should be room 278B.” I thought to myself aloud as I clicked on the button that displayed the footage of room 278B and the surrounding corridors. The screens were black as the footage loaded and I was about to hit the play button but hesitated. Did I really want to see this? I closed my eyes and took a few slow breaths. I have to know. I hit play.
The camera was located opposite the door giving a full view of the room. At first everything was normal. It was 1623h when they were unstrapping the wall. A loud popping sound was heard and the researchers spun around. The lights in the room dimmed and flickered. Suddenly something long and slimy exploded from the flesh of the wall. It wrapped around Benny and pulled him in. He screamed in terror as he vanished, his cries immediately silenced.
Without realizing it I was instantly on my feet, shaking my head in pure denial. My heart burst. What the hell was that? What the hell? What the hell? My head was full of static. I felt tears in my eyes as I watched guards and researchers rush into the room. The wall shimmered, it’s simmering surface began to boil and bubble and it grew a few inches higher. I saw it reshape itself so that intricately carved figures appeared on the wall’s edge. I leant in closer and gasped. One of those figures looked just like Benny, his mouth stretched into a permanent scream. The guards and researchers were horrified by what they saw. Suddenly, without warning, their body postures relaxed, their eyes grew glassy, and their arms fell slack at their sides. Those within the room moved as if sleepwalking. Some stayed still while others left the room. Brow furrowed from confusion and fear, my eyes swiveled to the footage of the corridors outside. The guards and researchers that had just exited 278B immediately began attacking and grappling those around them. I yelped as a vacant-eyed guard lazily shot another man in the leg. The thrall then dragged the wounded guard into room 278B. The mad guard held the wounded guard’s leg fast as he casually walked into the grey wall, pulling the struggling man in behind him. During this altercation I noticed Donald, he was hiding behind the corner of the corridor at the far end and was firing his gun at the thralls. He didn’t manage to hit anyone though. He then ran over to help a stray research intern to her feet and then they both ran down the corridor and out of view.
I could still hear the pleas for mercy as those who fell victim to the thralls were dragged into that horrifying wall. With every person it swallowed, the wall wriggled and grew. More ghastly decorations began to bloom on its surface, all of them made from the bones or likenesses of those absorbed. The bigger it got the stronger its psychic influence became until it reached everyone in the Facility. I looked on in horror as one by one, all janitors, researchers, guards, diggers, admin staff, everyone stopped what they were doing, mid conversation, their eyes emptying. The janitors dropped their mops and buckets. Researchers dropped precious materials and equipment without care, letting them smash to pieces. In unison, with vacant expressions, they moved toward room 278B. Among the horde of thralls, I saw Sammy and Jonesy, and so many others I knew. A guy who’d held the door for me once, a researcher who always slurped her coffee at lunch. Hundreds of people! What filled me with an unnamable dread was that I knew what was gonna happen. I knew what was coming. I tried to shout at the monitors, “Stop! Wait!” I grabbed the monitors and shook them with frustration.
A terror began to fill my stomach, deep and cold and aching. Suddenly I noticed Donald reappear on the screen. He was trying to hold back the intern he’d helped earlier, but it was useless. I saw Donald stare with incredulity as he sat defeated on the ground. Everyone else around him stumbled dreamily toward their doom. But Donald refused to give up. I saw him run from corridor to corridor, trying desperately to stop them. He threw chairs and tables in their way but they simply pushed them aside or jumped over them. I saw him run toward this office. I saw him enter, saw myself slumped on my chair still completely unconscious. I saw Donald try to shake me awake, he slapped me a few times and was yelling in frustration. He gave up with me eventually and ran over to activate the quarantine lockdown. I saw him tear down the hall back toward room 278B, pistol in hand.
As soon as Donald got close to 278B a long pale tendril burst through the door directly into his chest. The tentacle had a hooked end and it slashed him. I saw blood spurt out of him, saw him stumble and fall to the ground. However, he still managed to get a hold of his gun and fired multiple shots at the tendril. It writhed and flailed. Donald took this opportunity to climb to his feet. He grimaced and clasped his chest as crimson leaked to the floor. He moved back down the corridor. Eventually he got back to the office. He locked the door and, still fumbling with his keys, attempted to open the ammunitions cupboard. Before he could find the right key, he cursed and then collapsed. I cried out in frustration. That whole time I was completely useless!
My mind felt like static again for a few seconds. I couldn’t work out what my next move should be. A thought hit me hard. Why had Donald and I not been psychically affected by the wall? Everyone had been enslaved. Why not Donald? And me? My eyebrows shot up into my receding hairline with sudden realization. “Shit, the steel plates in my head!” And Donald had a steel plate in his skull too because of a rock-climbing accident he had in his 20s. When I got close to the wall, had it sensed my resistance? Had it tried to incapacitate me? If so, it meant the thing possesses sentience.
While I pondered this, I noticed some thralls re-strap the wall in room 278B. They transported it to the elevator and back up to the hangar. Once there, the thralls moved the wall off the scaffold onto the floor and began to beat heavily on the large metal doors with bare fists. Some even shot at the doors with their handguns. The ricochets killed a few of them but not one single person even noticed. Some of the guards even used a rocket launcher! I yelled with shock as they fired at deadly close range, lazily blowing themselves up, leaving the doors scorched. After this proved futile, the thralls all grew rigid. Next, they all formed a line in front of the wall and one shambling step after another, all the remaining employees were - assimilated. Even the dead and wounded were not spared. Those still alive carried the corpses of their fellow thralls into the wall.
It was 1735h when the last employee disappeared forever into the grey horror, and the wall expanded to its current size. Without warning, a large mass of twisted limbs emerged from the wall. I gasped from horror. Its silhouette was about seven feet tall and thin and stretched. It had too many legs and it didn’t appear to have a head. This thing lumbered over to the doors and began to strike them with a strength and ferocity found only in a starving polar bear. I could tell that the doors were taking strain, and they began to bend, but even then, they did not yield. After just over half an hour of smashing the door, the creature stopped and slowly shambled toward the stairs. My heart froze. It was coming here! Or was it here already? I sat still for a moment and tried not to lose my mind completely. I swear I could hear Woody the woodpecker laughing somewhere in the distance. I needed to keep it together. I took a long deep breath and tried to think of a way out.
Summarizing the details of my predicament, I realized I was trapped alone inside the Facility with an otherworldly force. Also, even if I found a way out, I’d potentially be letting an evil into the world that could destroy all life. My eyes grew even wider and I grabbed at my hair, “But my God, if this thing gets out. If it gets into the minds of other people. If it gets larger and larger. Could it swallow the world?” I was talking aloud now; the sound of my voice gave a new clarity to my situation that made me shudder. I turned back to the monitor. It seems I was all caught up. I stared blankly into the screen while I watched my past-self wake and wince from pain. I switched the monitor off and saw my reflection in the blackness of the screen. I was pale and my eyes were sunken and unblinking. “What do I do now?” I turned in my chair to look at Donald’s body. “Poor Donald, he didn’t deserve this”, I muttered softly. My eyes moved from his body up to the ammunition’s cupboard just above. “Wait, was he trying to get into the cupboard earlier?”, I gasped with realization. “Holy crap, he was trying to get the bomb! Me and Donald were gonna use a left-over bomb from the excavation site to blow some random shit up!”
I stood up quickly and walked up to the cupboard. I opened the cupboard with little effort and found the twenty pounds of plastic explosive inside. It had already been set up with a sixty second timer and a remote detonator. I sat at the table with the explosive, a vague plan forming in my broken mind. “Maybe if I somehow get this wall-thing to eat this bomb then...”
Before I could formulate my thoughts fully, the lights flickered, and the entire Facility was plunged into darkness unceremoniously. My nerves burned with fear. What had happened? Had that thing knocked the power out somehow? The next few seconds that past were the longest I’d ever experienced. Eventually dim green light bloomed to life and the reserve power kicked in. Then I heard slow, shuffling footsteps in the corridor just outside the office. I froze once again, my insides turning to mush. My mind raced. Had I remembered to lock the door? My stomach leapt into my feet as I heard the shuffling get louder and louder. I heard hoarse, wheezing breaths, as if the thing struggled to breathe. I jumped from fright but remained absolutely silent as whatever the thing was banged on the door with a deafening blow.
BANG!
The door shook and bent slightly.
BANG!
Silence.
BANG!
My heart was hammering in my ears and I sat deathly still. I could hear that thing breathing louder. After a few moments I heard it shuffle away. My entire body was shaking as relief washed over me. I turned to look at the screens. Dare I turn them on and check what it was? After a few seconds I turned to the monitors and switched them on. I waited in nervous anticipation as they flickered to life showing me that all the corridors between me and the wall were currently empty. I didn’t bother checking the corridor I suspected the shambling thingwas in. I didn’t want to see it unless I needed to. I’d had just about all the stress and terror I could take and by this stage I felt weirdly calm. It must be shock. A thin sigh escaped me as I stood. The fear in my blood began to feed a furnace of anger in my heart. I thought about all those who I had lost. I felt my expression turn to granite, “It’s time to kill this thing.”
I opened the door slowly, my fully loaded gun in my good hand. Spare ammo along with the explosive and a sawed-off shotgun was stashed in my backpack, and the remote detonator was tied to my belt. I held a heavy-duty flashlight in my shaky right hand. I moved cautiously through the dark green corridors. I’d never thought of how creepy this place could be until this moment. Gooseflesh crept up my arms and neck as I continued. All I could hear were my soft footfalls and shallow anxious breaths. I cleared the corridors one by one until I made it to the stairs. I walked up the stairs carefully. I took one step. Then another. Slowly, I climbed. After many minutes, I was near the hangar. Then I heard the soft sound of crying.
Someone was crying. No. Many people were crying.
I stopped dead in my tracks. My entire body shook from the adrenaline surging through me. Once my head peeked over the top of the landing, I froze. The wall loomed gigantic before me. Its edges were now framed intricately with the skeletons of hundreds of people, all twisted and screaming in agony; tortured souls bound together. I could hear them all. They were all screaming. Screaming for me to join them. I felt that pressure squeeze against my skull tighter and tighter. I shook my head in defiance. “No! You bastard! NO! I will not join you!” All at once the moans and wails stopped. I suddenly found myself at the top of the stairs without knowing when I’d finished climbing them. “But you will” came the sound of hundreds of twisted voices fused into one. “We are them. We are all. We can be all. We will be all. All and all and more than all.”
A deafening blast came from the wall and slithering, tangled human limbs emerged. It had four legs and several arms. It looked like the bodies of eight or more people shuffled and glued into an otherworldly horror. Its multiple mouths screamed a high pitched roar that was pure torment, and its sharp pointed teeth gnashed and chomped. I only had a second to dodge. I leapt to the side and fired multiple shots at the thing’s center of mass. Its horrifying body of fused torsos wriggled and bled black ichor. It screamed with pain and jumped at me, grabbing my leg. It tossed me into the air and I slammed into the floor a few feet away. As I hit the ground I yelled in pain and heard something metallic smash. Before I could catch my breath, it was upon me again. From the ground I fired several shots at it. This made it jump away and scuttle down the stairs. I noticed immediately that the remote detonator had been smashed beyond repair. With the creature momentarily out of sight, I kneeled and took off my backpack as fast as I could. “Only one way then”, I said quietly as I pulled out the bomb and started the timer manually. I also got the shotgun out. I needed to do this now or never.
As the final shell clicked into place I heard a roar coming from the stairs. The thing was back. Before I could react, it leapt at me and knocked me to the ground. The bomb flew from my grasp. It bared down on me, grabbing at my throat ready to tear me apart. My reflexes saved me and I managed to use my shotgun to hold the thing at bay, but it was way too strong. Desperate, I kicked it hard in the chest and it let go. I used this moment to grab the bomb that lay behind me; only 37 seconds to go! Terrified and crazed, sweat pouring down my face, my mind in pieces, I rammed the bomb into one of the creature’s mouths and kicked it back again as hard as I could. I heard it yelp like a wounded dog and it lost its footing. It fell sideways and in that second, I took my shotgun and fired at it in the chest. The force of the close-range blast sent me flying. At the same time the creature was hurled back into the wall where it was enveloped quickly.
My head was fuzzy. I was dizzy and the wind had been knocked out of me. Was the bomb going to work? I felt something warm and wet drip into my ear and touched the side of my head. My fingertips came away soaked in blood. My head was spinning. With a foggy mind I grabbed my bag, collecting my weapons and flashlight. As I stood up I heard a low rumbling sound. The ground beneath my feet shook and for a moment I was confused. Then I looked up at the wall. Its surface was boiling like I’d never seen before. It was shaking and growing. I turned to run when suddenly there was a massive blast, and the entire wall exploded into hundreds of grey chunks. These rained down all around the hangar, smashing several aircrafts. The blast knocked me off my feet.
When I awoke I could see early morning light through the tiny cracks in the blast door. Where the wall had once been now stood a small blackened crater. I coughed and lifted my head to inspect the wall pieces and found that they – my mouth opened. They were melting. I watched in dumbfounded horror as the pieces began to merge, just like that scene from Terminator 2. It was rebuilding itself.
As I stood to run I heard a groan. My blood became ice.
I turned slowly in terror to find the shambling, wheezing monstrosity behind me. Like the creature I’d shot, this one seemed made from bits and pieces of human limbs knitted together randomly. This one had six legs which came out of its mouth, its head positioned within its torso where the bellybutton should be, and it wheezed in pain. I almost puked from fright but my feet were already carrying me away. I sprinted down the corridors, ignoring all the pain and fear and exhaustion and anger and frustration inside me. Without thinking, I leapt into the first janitor’s closet I found and locked the door. After catching my breath, I found this notepad and pencil, and have been writing this report in the sterile glow of my flashlight. Hopefully, I have left some useful information for anyone who may find this.
Now I lie in wait. What is that thing? If it can survive a bomb like that, what hope do we have? It’s no wall at all. It’s a membrane. An interface. Somewhere very different is pressing up against us. It has torn a small hole, and was now prying it open further.
So here I wait, hoping to be saved, but even as I write this I can hear that thing walking past the door. With a soft click I turn off my flashlight. I try not to breathe. I can hear the snuffling, it’s right outside!
Shit! Shit! I hear keys. The door is unlocking! How? How?
Oh God! The doorknob is turning...
2024.04.28 21:45 Squirrelflight148931 Graham and Cobalt OC descriptions.
I've had the Rogue's Rest, (Ancient faction split off from the Clans ancestors before the Sun Trail, focused on providing a home for Rogues and Loners without a purpose. A fellowship of lost souls brought together.) for quite somw time. I only recently have described their local Leadership. I don't even think anyones heard of this AU. But, maybe the OCs are interesting to some of ya! Enjoy.
The two leading heads of the Rogue's Rest factions centered around Clan Territory. Graham's faction resides north of Highstones, to the east of the Tribe of Rushing Water in forests north of the Sun Trail. Cobalt's faction is now more locally prevalent to the Lake Clans, seated in a forest grove north of what is now Skyclan's Camp. Though far enough to cat would ever stumble upon it accidentally.
Graham's faction had little contact with the Clans in any respect, though had frequent communication with their ancestors of the Sun Trail, an unexplored connection that is certainly at Graham's leisure to expose.
Graham, a personality type INFJ-A (Advocate), is a cat of unyielding virtues. Graham was born as a Loner under unknown parentship with his Sister, also unnamed by him. He has said his name was given in kindness, meaning nothing of who he is today. He knows not it's meaning, but if his parentship derived from Twoleg Housecats, it's possible it followed their definitions, even meaning Grand/Gray Home, a fitting reflection of his current standing nonetheless. Graham has only discussed his motivations and history with those within the Rogue's Rest, including Cobalt, who is a good friend to him. From shared accounts, Graham suffered the injustice of the world. His family was lowborn even among Loner standards, and an internal struggle was the least of their problems. Often abused and set upon by more violent and passionate cats. It would all come to a head the night he found his loving Sister violated on the rainy stones, breaking her spirit and ruining her sense of purpose in the world.
Graham witnessed his Sister's fall to earth, losing her charm and wit, no action or thought holy enough to block out the horror. Graham despaired for her immensely, seeing the morality of having something removed from you–forced into you against all your will, and being denied your vengeance.
Years of watching his own family, and unnoted similar lowborn families being defiled and hurt by cats with no reason to fear, to stop–he soon found himself losing his respect for the natural order. Life did not care who was cruel or kind. Punishment was not given by prayer or karma alone. Even karma needs a weapon to punish those who deserve it. If no one else would step up, he would.
Graham grew furious at the injustice of the world, seeing the evil at ease, and vowed to forever torment their kind. Graham has been admittedly traumatized into never forgetting the sickness of the world. He hardly grants himself a reprieve or rest, and rarely can be found enjoying a nice day or night. He is duty bound, determined, tempered by vengeance. He seeks to punish those who once went unpunished, to show them there will no longer be mercy. He is a brutally effective combatant, and in conflict, his methods serve to terrify and torment rather than straight efficiency. The cats he deems ill, rarely offend again, on the occasional instance where they keep their life.
In the Rogues Rest, he has risen to the head of their faction with military mind and stern, unwavering devotion. He loves his new family here, and respects them as kindly as ever. His stoic and cold nature is often reserved for enemies, though he still always bears it inside. He wishes the best for the Rogue's Rest, for they embody the principle he has sworn to protect, to serve and protect the lost and hurt of this world, to give guidance where there was none, to shine a light into any sad shadows. The Rogue's Rest is a beacon of promise for a new life to innocent and guilty cats alike to become something new.
Graham keeps the Rest's ancestral 'policy' of reforming even the worst cats, though his sense of vengeance often makes him more untrustworthy to such newcomers, he relents nevertheless and sets his bias aside, yet makes aptly sure these criminals prove they can be redeemed.
Cobalt's faction provides constant support and alliance with certain rogue units, including most notably, The Sisters, of which the Clans are aquatinted with. The Rogue's Rest had been notified almost immediately when the Clans first intruded on the Sister's Affairs. They were primed to defend them against the Clans if any plan went afoul. According to rumor, Squirrelflight of Thunderclan discovered and befriended Cobalt with their widely similar vigor and temperament, and may have settled some agreement that promised Squirrelflight would protect the Sisters. It was assured that if the Rest ever became involved between that War, the Clans would loose brutally.
Cobalt, a personality type ENTJ-A (Commander), is a lively, and horrifyingly wild She-Cat with a love for the theatrics, yet a remarkable drive for efficiency and future. Cobalt has a more conflicted mind than Graham, yet appears to expertly conceal it. To quote a wise mind among her faction, 'It should appear that Cobalt's history is a closely guarded and sensitive subject, yet at any time she will appear to hide certainly nothing, a complete open sky with hardly a regard to conceal anything one wishes to know. She keeps everything secret, yet hides nothing. Hardly a one understands who she really is, and in fairness, I am sure she no longer does either.'
Cobalt strives for a near perfection, a high work ethic, and absolutely adores the thrill of conflict and pressure. To quote her, 'A slow and steady life is positively bloody boring, and I have none of it.' Cobalt bears many scars, most of which proudly on display, actively damaging her once beautiful good looks, though Cobalt has a complete disregard for this notion. She has no interest or care in her appearance, saying she only minds the pain. 'If I don't gotta deal with the pain, power to it all, mate!' She sees them as marks of honor, and appears to hold no grudges. Though, when she does, they appear to be unforgivable–insinuating that insulting her is nigh impossible, though is severely reminded once the line has been crossed.
Cobalt has less fascination with moral ethics than Graham, and is more focused on the present, though she does maintain that ever seeking moral philosophy is the key to the Rogue's Rest ideology in reforming and providing for Rogues and Loners. Cobalt balances her own chaos with the knowledge and respect that sometimes, philosophy is the key to their civilization.
Cobalt follows her heart and intuition more than any sense of logic. She is wild and free, and will make friends with the most chaotic sort. Simultaneously, she prefers to keep her 'close friends list' quite short. Not from any degree of shy behavior or reluctance, but simply due to- 'If you're old as ! and you've got a short list of confidants, I conclude that you meticulously pick your mates that will wade through burning ! waters just to lick your fur the wrong way and piss you off! I love those ones. You got the entire roster of the bloody planet on your friends list? Tells me you're a little pushover with no creativity. Good heavens that generic gaggle of innocent bestie besties. Give me two or three absolute lunatics to raise hell with and I'm all set!'
Cobalt has a can-do mentality, and anything she sees fit to achieve, she shall. Cobalt protrays the same atmosphere around her smallest relationships. She is the type to insult absolutely everyone with no filter, yet means the best of them, and seems to actually dislike nearly no one.
Unlike most cats of her personality, Cobalt has a striking lack of Pride, Stubbornness, or impatience. Cobalt absolutely adores her faction of the Rogue's Rest, friends like Graham, and any cat who treats her honestly. She despises hand-holding and sugar coating. The more honest and true you are, the more she loves you. She functions the best, not around lesser cats, but ones that actually match her attitude and vigor, considering them, well, 'Not at all boring and a worthy investment of time.' Cobalt appears to share Graham's vision of freedom and peace for lost souls, which has led her to rise as head of the Rogue's Rest faction. She adores her fellow cat, and protects them fiercely. While she may be arrogant, having a great deal of personal investment, and followed her own opinion much stronger than others, she is firmly of the opinion that she follows what is best, which often is her own choices. Yet should another cat provide a wiser choice, she has no bitterness or jealousy to the topic, and actually appears to have great respect and joy for the matter, showing a sense of pride for the intelligence and wisdom of her faction family. She is far from stubborn, and wholeheartedly accepts criticism and outside views, as like Graham, she understands that the entire philosophy of the Rogue's Rest is providing a sanctuary for all walks of life to live in harmony. One cannot be tied to one idea or truth, or the Rest could never survive.
As for her backstory, it is widely unknown. Many cats suspect only based on what has been hinted at over her lifetime. It is suspected that Cobalt possibly holds a great deal of regret and lament for something in her life. Quite possibly she may have wronged someone she cared for, or was too timid to act, and someone paid the price. The oldest ones to know her seem to perceive that her wild and chaotic personality, is not necessarily a shield or false by any degree, yet appears to have been a sort of evolutionary construct to protect her. Cobalt likely shaped herself into the 'hard-ass' she is today out of necessity to protect herself in whatever flawed life she left behind. Whatever happened to Cobalt in her past, it appears to have simultaneously locked her completely down, and opened her completely up. A remarkable contradiction that places her in perpetual mystery, one she appears to find amusing, though many claim that–'The more chaotic the personality trait, the more pain it covers up. Or, more accurately, channels.'
Cobalt is determined to never make that same mistake again. It has shaped who she is. What that mistake was, is her secret. She may never share it with another living being, and if some accounts are to be believed... mayhaps she no longer knows herself.
submitted by Squirrelflight148931 to WarriorCats [link] [comments]
The two leading heads of the Rogue's Rest factions centered around Clan Territory. Graham's faction resides north of Highstones, to the east of the Tribe of Rushing Water in forests north of the Sun Trail. Cobalt's faction is now more locally prevalent to the Lake Clans, seated in a forest grove north of what is now Skyclan's Camp. Though far enough to cat would ever stumble upon it accidentally.
Graham's faction had little contact with the Clans in any respect, though had frequent communication with their ancestors of the Sun Trail, an unexplored connection that is certainly at Graham's leisure to expose.
Graham, a personality type INFJ-A (Advocate), is a cat of unyielding virtues. Graham was born as a Loner under unknown parentship with his Sister, also unnamed by him. He has said his name was given in kindness, meaning nothing of who he is today. He knows not it's meaning, but if his parentship derived from Twoleg Housecats, it's possible it followed their definitions, even meaning Grand/Gray Home, a fitting reflection of his current standing nonetheless. Graham has only discussed his motivations and history with those within the Rogue's Rest, including Cobalt, who is a good friend to him. From shared accounts, Graham suffered the injustice of the world. His family was lowborn even among Loner standards, and an internal struggle was the least of their problems. Often abused and set upon by more violent and passionate cats. It would all come to a head the night he found his loving Sister violated on the rainy stones, breaking her spirit and ruining her sense of purpose in the world.
Graham witnessed his Sister's fall to earth, losing her charm and wit, no action or thought holy enough to block out the horror. Graham despaired for her immensely, seeing the morality of having something removed from you–forced into you against all your will, and being denied your vengeance.
Years of watching his own family, and unnoted similar lowborn families being defiled and hurt by cats with no reason to fear, to stop–he soon found himself losing his respect for the natural order. Life did not care who was cruel or kind. Punishment was not given by prayer or karma alone. Even karma needs a weapon to punish those who deserve it. If no one else would step up, he would.
Graham grew furious at the injustice of the world, seeing the evil at ease, and vowed to forever torment their kind. Graham has been admittedly traumatized into never forgetting the sickness of the world. He hardly grants himself a reprieve or rest, and rarely can be found enjoying a nice day or night. He is duty bound, determined, tempered by vengeance. He seeks to punish those who once went unpunished, to show them there will no longer be mercy. He is a brutally effective combatant, and in conflict, his methods serve to terrify and torment rather than straight efficiency. The cats he deems ill, rarely offend again, on the occasional instance where they keep their life.
In the Rogues Rest, he has risen to the head of their faction with military mind and stern, unwavering devotion. He loves his new family here, and respects them as kindly as ever. His stoic and cold nature is often reserved for enemies, though he still always bears it inside. He wishes the best for the Rogue's Rest, for they embody the principle he has sworn to protect, to serve and protect the lost and hurt of this world, to give guidance where there was none, to shine a light into any sad shadows. The Rogue's Rest is a beacon of promise for a new life to innocent and guilty cats alike to become something new.
Graham keeps the Rest's ancestral 'policy' of reforming even the worst cats, though his sense of vengeance often makes him more untrustworthy to such newcomers, he relents nevertheless and sets his bias aside, yet makes aptly sure these criminals prove they can be redeemed.
Cobalt's faction provides constant support and alliance with certain rogue units, including most notably, The Sisters, of which the Clans are aquatinted with. The Rogue's Rest had been notified almost immediately when the Clans first intruded on the Sister's Affairs. They were primed to defend them against the Clans if any plan went afoul. According to rumor, Squirrelflight of Thunderclan discovered and befriended Cobalt with their widely similar vigor and temperament, and may have settled some agreement that promised Squirrelflight would protect the Sisters. It was assured that if the Rest ever became involved between that War, the Clans would loose brutally.
Cobalt, a personality type ENTJ-A (Commander), is a lively, and horrifyingly wild She-Cat with a love for the theatrics, yet a remarkable drive for efficiency and future. Cobalt has a more conflicted mind than Graham, yet appears to expertly conceal it. To quote a wise mind among her faction, 'It should appear that Cobalt's history is a closely guarded and sensitive subject, yet at any time she will appear to hide certainly nothing, a complete open sky with hardly a regard to conceal anything one wishes to know. She keeps everything secret, yet hides nothing. Hardly a one understands who she really is, and in fairness, I am sure she no longer does either.'
Cobalt strives for a near perfection, a high work ethic, and absolutely adores the thrill of conflict and pressure. To quote her, 'A slow and steady life is positively bloody boring, and I have none of it.' Cobalt bears many scars, most of which proudly on display, actively damaging her once beautiful good looks, though Cobalt has a complete disregard for this notion. She has no interest or care in her appearance, saying she only minds the pain. 'If I don't gotta deal with the pain, power to it all, mate!' She sees them as marks of honor, and appears to hold no grudges. Though, when she does, they appear to be unforgivable–insinuating that insulting her is nigh impossible, though is severely reminded once the line has been crossed.
Cobalt has less fascination with moral ethics than Graham, and is more focused on the present, though she does maintain that ever seeking moral philosophy is the key to the Rogue's Rest ideology in reforming and providing for Rogues and Loners. Cobalt balances her own chaos with the knowledge and respect that sometimes, philosophy is the key to their civilization.
Cobalt follows her heart and intuition more than any sense of logic. She is wild and free, and will make friends with the most chaotic sort. Simultaneously, she prefers to keep her 'close friends list' quite short. Not from any degree of shy behavior or reluctance, but simply due to- 'If you're old as ! and you've got a short list of confidants, I conclude that you meticulously pick your mates that will wade through burning ! waters just to lick your fur the wrong way and piss you off! I love those ones. You got the entire roster of the bloody planet on your friends list? Tells me you're a little pushover with no creativity. Good heavens that generic gaggle of innocent bestie besties. Give me two or three absolute lunatics to raise hell with and I'm all set!'
Cobalt has a can-do mentality, and anything she sees fit to achieve, she shall. Cobalt protrays the same atmosphere around her smallest relationships. She is the type to insult absolutely everyone with no filter, yet means the best of them, and seems to actually dislike nearly no one.
Unlike most cats of her personality, Cobalt has a striking lack of Pride, Stubbornness, or impatience. Cobalt absolutely adores her faction of the Rogue's Rest, friends like Graham, and any cat who treats her honestly. She despises hand-holding and sugar coating. The more honest and true you are, the more she loves you. She functions the best, not around lesser cats, but ones that actually match her attitude and vigor, considering them, well, 'Not at all boring and a worthy investment of time.' Cobalt appears to share Graham's vision of freedom and peace for lost souls, which has led her to rise as head of the Rogue's Rest faction. She adores her fellow cat, and protects them fiercely. While she may be arrogant, having a great deal of personal investment, and followed her own opinion much stronger than others, she is firmly of the opinion that she follows what is best, which often is her own choices. Yet should another cat provide a wiser choice, she has no bitterness or jealousy to the topic, and actually appears to have great respect and joy for the matter, showing a sense of pride for the intelligence and wisdom of her faction family. She is far from stubborn, and wholeheartedly accepts criticism and outside views, as like Graham, she understands that the entire philosophy of the Rogue's Rest is providing a sanctuary for all walks of life to live in harmony. One cannot be tied to one idea or truth, or the Rest could never survive.
As for her backstory, it is widely unknown. Many cats suspect only based on what has been hinted at over her lifetime. It is suspected that Cobalt possibly holds a great deal of regret and lament for something in her life. Quite possibly she may have wronged someone she cared for, or was too timid to act, and someone paid the price. The oldest ones to know her seem to perceive that her wild and chaotic personality, is not necessarily a shield or false by any degree, yet appears to have been a sort of evolutionary construct to protect her. Cobalt likely shaped herself into the 'hard-ass' she is today out of necessity to protect herself in whatever flawed life she left behind. Whatever happened to Cobalt in her past, it appears to have simultaneously locked her completely down, and opened her completely up. A remarkable contradiction that places her in perpetual mystery, one she appears to find amusing, though many claim that–'The more chaotic the personality trait, the more pain it covers up. Or, more accurately, channels.'
Cobalt is determined to never make that same mistake again. It has shaped who she is. What that mistake was, is her secret. She may never share it with another living being, and if some accounts are to be believed... mayhaps she no longer knows herself.
2024.04.28 21:43 MarzipanOk6769 My main AC: NEXUS
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