Jann arden die for you

Repent! For Tomorrow You Die!

2017.11.02 14:26 Dekaizer64 Repent! For Tomorrow You Die!

Welcome to TheUnforgiven! The Reddit home of the Dark Angels, their successor chapters, and imprisoned Fallen.
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2019.03.07 04:07 geobioguy Not To Be Dramatic But I Would Die For This Animal

Not to be dramatic but I would die for this animal Because Reddit needs another cute animal sub
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2018.06.03 02:11 P1ac3h01d3r ROBE LOCKS

roblxo
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2024.05.10 03:42 heart-eater Are you a fellow enjoyer of well-written, plot-forward fantasy with less-is-more romance? Here's an incredibly long and unasked-for rant about a bunch of books I've loved and not loved.

The Vibes

My favorite flavor of fantasy has high stakes, suffering and loss, romance that makes you feel like you're losing your mind, and a realistic HEA or bittersweet ending.
Most importantly, I like thoughtful, well-edited writing. I see a lot of requests and recommendations for "beautiful writing" here, but that’s not exactly what I look for. Flowery prose is great! Spare prose is also great! I can even enjoy choppy, inelegant writing, as long as the author has something compelling to say. I am on my hands and knees, begging for subtext.
THINGS I LIKE:
THINGS I DON'T LIKE:
(A couple of these exist even in my favorite books.)
THINGS I'M FINE WITH:

The Ratings

Many of these books are not classified as fantasy romance, but all include at least a dash of romance.
SO OBSESSED I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING INSANE:
LOVED:
NET POSITIVE FEELINGS:
NOT FOR ME/ LOST INTEREST:
ACTIVELY DISLIKED:
MY CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC TBR:
Reminder that these are just my opinions and I honestly understand if you disagree with any/all of them. If you think we have similar tastes, I'd love to hear what other books you've loved or hated!
ETA: I implied this, but should have explicitly stated that several of these works have pretty serious content warnings.
submitted by heart-eater to fantasyromance [link] [comments]

2024.05.06 20:25 WolfOfWitchcraft Bravely Second positivity post

Bravely Second is far from a perfect game. But it is a game that I have a soft spot for. And in light of recent posts, I wanted to take the time to talk about things I enjoy about this game. Admittedly, they’re not the most… thought out points, but I wanted to talk about this game’s positives for a change, and if I don’t do it, who will. So, here, have my semi-coherent gushing about a flawed sequel.
So, yeah, those are some of the main things I like about Bravely Second. I’m not going to, like, tell anybody they’re wrong for disliking Second or any of its characters, fiction is subjective after all. And I fully admit that a big part of the reason I love this game is because it just hits certain sweet spots for me. But I do think there are genuine redeeming qualities to this game, and I felt I should talk about it a bit.
submitted by WolfOfWitchcraft to bravelydefault [link] [comments]

2024.05.03 06:27 Few_Fee3331 Adventurer: A Fantasy LitRPG - Chapter 1, Druid Swordsman

Previous First Next
(Story is available on Royal Road and for pre-order on Amazon.)
I held the practice blade out in front of myself, just as mother had taught me.
I liked the way a sword felt in my hand in general, but not the way the grip she’d drilled into me did; but mother was ever a believer in learning the basics. I’d practiced with a weapon every day since I could remember, and she’d still refused to teach me anything but the first form of her chosen sword style.
“…”
She charged at me. My mother that is. She wore very little. A brown leather jerkin, sloping down from the collarbones and ending just at the mid-ribs, and a pair of cloth-sack training shorts.
The swords we used were just wooden; she didn’t need armor to protect herself from them. Not when I hardly had the strength to threaten her, but this would have held true even had the blades been steel instead of the baneoak practice weapons my father had meticulously shaped for his wife.
Mother jump-stepped directly in towards me; she moved linearly at first and then shifted to strike sidelong, planting her non-dominant left foot at the end of her initial lunge into my range. Only to then use that leading foot to spin-pivot and to step out towards my right side.
I inhaled deeply.
In theory, the first form of the fiend-hunter style should allow one to be evenly protected on both sides. Still, something about mother’s movements kept me from feeling protected at all, even if I knew she was holding back.
I just didn’t have the skill to face the woman who’d brought me into the world. I hadn’t, no matter how much I’d practiced it, mastered the first form of the fiend hunter style, or unlocked its corresponding skill ability—but not for a lack of trying on the part of my mother Celis.
I want to impress my parent turned teacher, but a familiar and primal tingling at the base of my neck informed me that I was outclassed. When I’d once brought the feeling up to her, mother had explained it was a warrior’s instinct—something to be trusted and followed, but not controlled by.
So, I endeavored to do what was expected, to react in the way that was expected, even though my instincts told me it was futile.
Despite not truly having unlocked the skill, my hands still had the muscle memory of my countless hours of imitating my mother’s use of her style’s first form, along with her advice to never allow fear to freeze you when you can do something against what you feared. Thanks to this advice, when faced with the picture of mother’s shining carmine hair blowing in the morning breeze as she raised her weapon to strike down at me, my arms did move.
Strike Redirection, my mind silently spoke the name of the skill that I was trying to imitate, as I’d been trained to do. It was a practice that was not strictly necessary, but one that meant to center the mind further into the movements of the body—to align the two into unison.
My wrists twisted, my left hand opened momentarily and gave free reign to my right hand, which was now the only hand of the two wielding my practice blade by the handle; by this motion I swept my sword into the start of a wide arc meant to intercept and then redirect my mother’s horizontal slash.
My heart jumped a bit. I could see it: the movement of the two blades of myself and my opponent, their arcs set to intercept in a loud harmony that would force the weapon that was determined to strike me to instead fly haphazardly away as I pivoted around its wielder to gain a better position. If I could pull everything off perfectly that was.
My heart quickened in anticipation. It was all going to work out; an exchange between my mother and myself was finally going to end in my favor and, more importantly, in that moment where my mind froze the two blades in my gaze, I finally felt like I was almost understanding the first form of my mother’s fighting style.
I didn't believe it. Surely, she would stop me, as she had done so many times before. Could I truly beat her, even if only in one, small exchange?
A loud wooden clang strained my ears a half-moment later.
“…!”
I could hardly believe it.
Our swords had actually connected; I felt the weight of my mother’s blade shift along my own in a way I could manipulate. I’d never gotten this far in an actual spar, only in practice drills where she’d allowed me to get a feel for the movement—but those didn’t count.
In that moment of collision between our blades, I searched my mother’s beautiful, cherubic face. I saw the upturning of a smirk on her lips.
What was that? Was she proud of me?
I felt the surge in my chest rise up further at that. Finally, I’d done something right when it came to wielding this darn sword.
Mother's smile quickly faltered, however, as I did the same. My mind had wandered with my mother’s approval, and I forgotten to take the final, proper step of footwork to solidify my movement.
“Disarming Parry,” my mother spoke the words and I felt the battle aura leak out of her, just in the smallest of fractions. It was an energy that smelled like life and vibrancy, sweat and hot springs.
All at once--as my mother spoke the name of her skill, as she always did for my benefit, but didn’t need to do to activate her abilities—her arm twisted, and I lost the upper hand when it came to the battle of leverages between our two weapons.
No! I was so close.
My blade was ripped from my hand, as my mother returned her second hand to the back of her sword for added leverage, and her arms became a perfected whirlwind.
I stumbled backwards, my confidence leaving me as mother’s body flowed like a surging animal, shifting from the third form of her sword-fighting style to another—one I feared much more than the first or third.
“Direct Execution,” mother spoke.
“…!”
My eyes widened. I saw death. I knew she wouldn’t kill me, couldn’t kill her own child—or should’ve known it, but her battle aura was emotionless. It felt curt, shameless, efficient. Unable to be channeled into anything but swift, humble murder.
Mother had demonstrated the three most basic forms of the fiend-hunter style—and used them to soundly defeat me.
A form to redirect a strike. Which I’d failed to utilize when she’d struck my blade.
A more exertion heavy form to reclaim the upper hand in a clash of weapons, should the first form fail to give it to you, as my mother had used when I’d failed to deflect her attack.
And a form to immediately and swiftly end a fight once the first or third forms left the enemy open. A straightforward killing strike designed not to injure or maim, but to finish a fight as quickly as possible.
It was the second form [direct execution], that was perhaps the most lethal of them all, and, just as she’d said, it was the skill that she was now using against me, and another my mother’s fighting style boasted and that she had completely mastered. Direct Execution didn’t pretend to be anything that it wasn’t. It was not showy or flashy, not meant to protect as was the first form. The second form was purified, simplistic violence carefully sharpened to a harsh utility.
And it was coming to end me, or so it felt like.
Mother's blade shot towards my face, faster than I could stumble backwards.
I felt the weapon tap my forehead and my entire body clenched and convulsed.
The killing intent was palpable. My mother wasn’t my mother to me then, but a killer. My killer, or so my mind screamed.
My backside hit the lush grass and I blinked. The aura that ran my body cold dissipated as quickly as the strike itself was pulled back. I wasn’t dead.
Of course, I wasn’t dead.
I scowled. I never died when she beat me… and yet I always thought that I would.
I was afraid each time she struck me. I was ashamed of that fear. I could lie to myself, but in those moments when it reared its head, the terror of death controlled me and not I it.
My mother’s face, now smiling and sweet filled my vision as she leaned down in front of me.
She reached out to squeeze my cheeks together with her palms. “You’re so silly. I’ve told you a thousand times that I'm not going to hurt you.”
“Mom,” I blushed and waited for her to remove her hands.
She did so. The mother I knew in the hours that we weren’t sparring was back. The sweet, bubbly, oftentimes sarcastic woman that had been with me every day since I could remember. She didn’t scare me, not like the other mother did, the mother whose eyes were devoid of anything but focus and violence.
Celis removed her hands from my cheeks and ruffled my red hair, a slightly lighter shade than her own though speckled with bits of my father’s blonde.
“Did you learn anything?” Celis asked me.
Just that I can’t even manage to stay focused even when I’m doing good.
“Maybe,” I replied.
Her smile turned into a nod, and we stood. “You almost had it, you know.”
She didn’t help me up. She never did.
“I messed up,” I said looking at the ground.
“If you learned then it’s okay, this time,” she said and laughed. “Stop sulking. You remind me of your father.”
“You love dad,” I said, feeling a bit offended at her mocking of her life partner.
“Yes, but he’s always like you are now before he figures something out that’s bothering him,” she said, “but maybe it’s good. He was like that before he created his first expert level spell. It could mean you’re close to mastering the first form.”
“Really?” I looked up to her.
I really loved my mom, but my dad was so smart. If he was like I was, then maybe I wasn’t hopeless just because I wasn’t as good as mom.
“Mhm,” Celis replied and motioned for me to follow beside her; she’d retrieved our practice swords and was carrying both in her hands. “He’s probably in the garden now. Go help him; maybe he’ll tell you about it, but don’t let him show you anything too advanced. It’ll discourage you. You have to be happy with the small skills before the big ones, or you’ll never get good enough to pull off the big ones.”
“Mom… you’re lecturing me again,” I said, before feeling a wooden bonk on the back of my head. “Ow!”
Celis smiled devishly, the wooden sword she’d just half-smacked me with was still in her hand. She wasn’t even trying to hide what she’d just done! “I’m your sword master. We lecture.”
“That hurt,” I said rubbing my head as we walked.
“You’ll get good enough to dodge strikes from behind someday,” Celis said, “until then you’re going to get bonked when you say dumb things.”
“You’re so mean,” I said, keeping my eyes on her hands.
She just smiled at me, looking particularly carefree and beautiful under the twin suns of Arden. “Yep.”
We continued on to the house, a large manor, chiseled from white stone, framed in dark wood, and accented by carefully maintained withervine ivy among other floral dashes of color. The house was a product of my father’s learning, skill, money, and magic. Mother shooed me away to find the man himself and told me she’d meet us both later when it came time for our midday meal.
Father helped our maid to cook. I’d never really thought it was odd. He was the one who was so good with plants. We ate a lot of meat too, of course, which was something mom provided. She’d hunt in the morning, drop it off with my dad, since he tended to sleep in, and then wake me up for a few hours of sword practice; by then our maid would have consulted with father about how he wanted the meat butchered and prepared while he went out to tend to the garden and collect whatever he might want from it to garnish the day’s meal.
I brushed through the double doors of our house and into its main foyer.
Usually, I’d have been met with the sight of the village blacksmith’s large hunting dog waiting for me outside our home, hoping for a pet or two and maybe a snack from my dad. The hound didn’t like dad as much as she liked me, but had surprisingly really taken to mom, but dad still often tossed her a treat or two and a few polite words. The hound didn’t like the blistering heat or fire of her master’s forge, not since she’d been stuck in a small house fire as a young pup, so she generally explored while he was working during the day and returned to sleep at his feet at night, but she had just had puppies a while back, so I assumed she was still resting or taking care of them. Apparently, it had taken a lot out of her, but I’d asked the dog not to give me too many details—not that dogs, in my experience, were generally detailed focused creatures, unless they were working of course.
Instead of taking the time to talk to the lazy canine, since she wasn’t around, I continued walking through the reception hall and beneath the twinned staircases that led to the second level balcony and sleeping quarters of our home, and then went further on through the back door that connected to the stone-walled garden behind our manor.
I was met with a world of verdant green and rich, edible color. Well-watered flowers, gliding songbirds, and trees with normal and multi-hued leaves alike all filled my field of vision. The smell of fruits, foreign and domestic, all grown and touched by my father’s hands and mana, danced across my nose. The garden was one of my favorite places in the world.
A hum of magic pulsed in the oxygen rich air. It wasn’t burnt or scary, but was the scent and sensation of potential and nurtured-intentions. The plants and shrubbery of the garden, my father’s walled world, were apart from those outside it; they were healthier, thicker, and more plentiful—each one also gave off a hum of tingling energy that was mixed into the very oxygen they produced and wasn’t intrusive at all, but more peacefully energizing than anything else as it slipped into your lungs and revitalized them.
I looked for my father as I stepped onto the earth-cobble path that led into the many trails of the garden. The path was walled by sections of uneven boulders stacked atop one another that occasionally gave way to groupings of vegetable-bearing vines or mini-orchards of fruit-bearing trees.
The garden was rather big—no, it could probably be considered massive; the hewn-stone walls that enclosed it were as wide, and twice as deep, as the white manor that they were built firmly against.
I pulled up my status sheet as I casually walked and looked for dad. The garden was safe, and its pathways were almost always cleanly free of obstacles and thus easy to navigate. This was because the trees very rarely shed either seeds or branches and were supremely healthy specimens, preternaturally so in fact.
The semi-opaque character sheet filled out in front of me. I could mentally shift its position or dismiss it with but a thought. It was entirely user-friendly and only I could see it, unless I chose to show it, or parts of it, to others.
<<<>>>
Peregrine Borncrest
Body: N/A
Mind: N/A
Soul: N/A
Attributes
Brawn: 1 (20/100) (Novice)
Dexterity: 1 (60/100) (Novice)
Endurance: 1 (40/100) (Novice)
Magic Potency: 1 (20/100) (Novice)
Magic Control: 1 (50/100) (Novice)
Magic Efficiency: 1 (60/100) (Novice)
Proficiencies
Acrobatics: 1 (80/100) (Novice)
Archery (No Style): 1 (40/100) (Novice)
Alchemy (Potion-Making): 1 (70/100) (Novice)
Animal Husbandry: 1 (60/100) (Novice)
Butchering: 1 (50/100) (Novice)
Cooking: 1 (50/100) (Novice)
Druidry: 1 (98/100) (Novice)
Herbalism: 1 (90/100) (Novice)
One-Handed (Fiend-Hunter): 1 (90/100) (Novice)
Traits
Mind of Memories: With effort, you can perfectly visualize anything that you have felt, seen, tasted, or heard. You can relive the moments of your life, as you perceived them exactly, at will. The more focused you are on something, in the moment a memory is created, the easier it is to recall it. (Born)
Titles
None.
Skills
None.
Spells
Growth: Use your mana to influence the growth of plant-life that you are physically touching. Mana cost is determined by the level, scale, and rate of growth. (Nature) (Novice) (Upgradeable)
Mending: Lay your hands on anything that is or was living. You may accelerate the healing of living things or repair damage to natural fibers and crafts. Mana cost is determined by the extent of the mending done. (Nature) (Novice) (Upgradeable)
Minor Beast-Tongue: Through extensive practice and understanding, you can learn to speak the tongue of beasts and plant-life fluently. The fluency of communication is based upon the understanding and druidic resonance with individual’s species. Mana drain is negligible. (Nature) (Novice) (Upgradeable)
<<<>>>
I’d brought up my character sheet because, despite the beauty of the garden all around me and how much I really did like it, it was a place I was used to and that I’d seen all my life. I couldn’t stop my thoughts from wandering away from it and back to my bout with my mother--and thus to my skills.
I was getting better. She always told me that when I asked, but, despite her paradoxically both bubbly and sometimes prickly personality, she wasn’t the kind of person to ever offer praise unprompted. It was there if I asked for it, but that almost made it feel cheaper.
I wanted to become so good that she’d compliment me without me having to ask. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to beat her… but surely I could make enough progress to make her proud?
I was approaching the point where my one-handed skill, in my mother’s sword style, would reach one-hundred proficiency points. It’d taken my whole life to get to that point. I was just eleven now, but I couldn’t ever remember not training with mother. It seemed like it was taking a long time to get better.
Mother had also mentioned that swordsmen without talent could bottleneck once they’d reached the peak of the novice level. This was apparently enough for some and devasting for others.
I didn’t really care about what other people did, however. I just knew mother would be disappointed if I didn’t’ have any talent. She spent so much time teaching me… I really didn’t want to fail her.
Just as I was thinking this, a yellow and black creature fluttered down onto my shoulder.
I glanced at the songbird as it chirped and stared intently into my eyes. Not a bit of fear or skittishness radiated off the confident. tiny avian as it hopped twice on my shoulder.
“Okay, I’ll follow you,” I said, not at all surprised by the intelligence in the creature’s beady, cute little eyes.
The yellow thing chirped happily and gave another small bounce, before counterbalancing itself with its tail and flapping away from me and onto the breeze, trailing along the garden path I was walking on.
I mentally closed my status screen and followed after the bird. Normally, it’d be too fast a flyer for me to keep up with, even by running, but I was familiar with the path and my guide didn’t rush along to the fullest of its capabilities.
The bird slipped between two white-droop willow trees, fluttering gracefully between the low-hanging, squat trunked, purple and white blossomed flora.
I smiled a bit as I saw the bird settle onto the shoulder of a man who was picking berries methodically from a large row of bushes--bushes that sat just beyond the willow trees that made a natural gateway along the garden path.
The bird chirped excitedly to the man, who slowly turned his attention to the creature with recognition in his gaze.
“Oh, you found him for me? Thank you,” the man, in a plain, cream-colored work shirt and surprisingly clean, brown sack-cotton pants said to the bird, listening politely as the avian chirped in reply.
Nodding in understanding, he lifted a berry to the bird’s beak and allowed the thing to take it and then fly off happily.
The man’s face was bookish, but handsome. His hair was a shoulder-blade length and straight; the length of it was a naturally hay-colored mane in places, and in others it mixed and intertwined with what appeared to almost be a thick moss that also grew from his scalp. He often pulled up his mana-touched locks into a pale, untanned leather strap when he was working or studying. His nose was a mix between thick and thin, leaning towards the latter, with a dash of longness. His jaw was angular, but not too pointy, but it was definitely a bit more feminine than it was rugged. His eyes were a grey cobalt, ringed around the iris by a near-glowing and ever-shifting gold, that contrasted my mother’s naturally vibrant, but more mundane looking green. His eyes—also unlike my mother’s always energetic gaze--appeared perpetually tired in a way that didn’t quite seem to reach too much deeper than the surface or the purple-bagged skin that set around those intelligent orbs themselves. The most interesting thing about my dad's appearance, of course, were the velvety and truly large stag horns that grew from his forehead, a mark of his mastery over nature magics.
“Dad,” I said as I approached the man. “What are you picking today?”
The man looked at me softly and gently lifted up another berry, between his thumb and index finger, towards me. “You tell me, Pery?”
The berry was mostly a golden orange; it was a little bigger than a pea or medium-sized lentil. There was a burnt pumpkin gradient that blended into the rest of its hue towards where it grew on the bush. I glanced towards said bush, noting the heart-shaped leaves that could look slightly like ovals from a distance or if you squinted a little.
“Those are heartberries,” I said confidently.
“Very good,” my father said, “and what are they used for?”
“They can be brewed into weaker health potions to allow the veins to better tolerate the mana inherent in the stronger ingredients,” I offered.
Dad nodded but didn’t smile. I could still tell he was pleased though.
“True, but we’re not brewing potions for lunch,” he prompted me.
“Um,” I paused, “are they for a sauce?” I asked. “Mom loves them.”
“She isn’t the only one who loves them,” father replied.
I blinked. I didn’t really like heartberries. Despite their citrus-like coloring they were more tart than tangy and created a thick, creamy taste--that I didn’t find appealing--when you added water and flour to them, before thickening that mix’s consistency through reduction.
So, who else liked them? Oh, really?
“Brother is coming?” I asked with excitement.
My brother was a knight, much like my mother--though he belonged to an actual knightly order and she didn’t really; mostly anyway--it definitely wasn’t a traditionally structured order that mother had been granted induction into at least. As far as allegiances went, my brother served Duke Vembrandt as one of his men-at-arms, in the nearby city of Highseat. The city was about a week-and-a-half’s ride away from the fief that my father managed under the authority of the castellan of said same city.
“Bastion should be here sometime tonight,” my father answered. “I’ve already picked some greenroot and spryleaves for lunch, but these are for dinner.”
Bastion was amazing; I was very happy to hear that he was coming. He’d reached the competent level in mother’s fighting style by the time he was eight and the journeyman tier a half-decade later. I was jealous, at least a little, but mostly I just wanted to be more like him. He’d also gone on to also become a journeyman rank in his order’s more defensive fighting style by the time he was twenty. He was now twenty-four, married to his lord’s second daughter, and very much a local up and comer as far as I understood.
“Is he here for my birthday?” I asked.
It was tomorrow, my birthday that is. The twelfth year of one’s life was a big milestone in the kingdoms of man. It was the pre-cursor to the final milestone of being fifteen, which marked the official entryway into adulthood. A person was still seen as a child at twelve, but they were expected to take up training in a life path or trade so they could prepare themselves for the fast-coming future.
“He is,” my father nodded and handed me the basket of berries he’d collected. “He wrote me some time ago and said he wouldn’t miss it for anything. I think he has a present for you.”
“What’s the present?” I asked shamelessly.
“I can’t tell you that,” father said and shrugged. “Bastion might be cross with me if I did,” he appeared to reconsider that statement for a moment, “or, rather, I just don’t want to ruin the surprise for you, I suppose.”
“Aw,” I was still smiling, but my mind drifted again as I thought about how amazing my big brother was and my smile faded. “Dad? Do you think he’s going to be disappointed when he sees me again?”
It’d been a year since I’d seen Bastion. He’d been busy in the service of his lord during the majority of the previous months. I honestly hadn’t even known he’d returned from the borderlands until dad had mentioned he’d be coming soon.
My father shook his head. “Why would you think that?”
“Well, he was a lot better than I am at everything when he was my age. Mom always brags about him,” I replied.
It was true. My mother never seemed prouder than when she was talking about her eldest son and all his accomplishments and exploits.
“Hm,” my father hummed and gestured towards a nearby bench that appeared as if it’d grown from the soil itself—mostly because it had. “Let’s sit down for a second.”
“Okay,” I said and followed to rest myself beside him on the spell-grown, root-constructed bench.
“How’s your sword training going?” he asked me.
“It’s hard,” I replied. “I’m almost twelve and I'm still not competent level like brother was at eight--and I haven’t even unlocked a skill yet.”
“Oh, I see,” he sighed.
“What is it?” I asked him.
“Has your mother told you that most adults don’t even have any skills unlocked?” he asked me.
“Huh? They don’t?” I asked.
This was news to me. Mother, father, and Bastion all had skills or spells. All the heroes in the storybooks also had extremely powerful and leveled skills. I’d just assumed it was normal and expected for adults.
He shook his head. “They don’t. Most people never even get beyond the competent level in their life-long trade. I’m guessing she at least mentioned that leveling up from novice to competent doesn’t guarantee a skill to be unlocked either?”
“Well, yeah. She said I had to work really hard and lay a good foundation, or I’d mess up my breakthrough to competent and ruin my chance to get one,” I replied, in a bit of dour tone.
This knowledge was something that bothered me even more than the fact that I felt so slow to progress beyond the novice level. What if I reached the next tier in my swordsmanship, but still messed it up by not unlocking a skill? What would mother think? That I’d wasted all her time when it came to training me up through the lowest proficiency tier?
“Celis, I swear,” my father said with a bit of exasperation as he mentioned my mother’s name. “Pery, your mother loves you very much and is very proud of you, but she’s a little… oblivious to how her high standards put pressure on the ones who look to her for approval. She’s very good at bringing out the best in people because of that and is an amazing warrior, but I honestly don’t think she understands that some of us stress over things more than she does.”
“She’s proud of me? Why doesn’t she say it if I don’t ask her then?” I asked.
“Probably because she thinks you already know, or doesn’t consider that you might not,” my father replied, “but she tells me how good you’re doing every time I ask. Almost being at the peak of the novice level in swordsmanship at your age is almost unheard of. You’re doing just fine, son.”
“How is it unheard of if Bastion did it when he was just eight?” I inquired.
“Not that you didn’t get it too, but your brother inherited all of your mother’s talent and, honestly, I think a little extra,” my father said thoughtfully, “but, you know, Bastion has zero talent for or interest in magic. It used to make me a little sad that he just didn’t want to learn anything from me. Call it a father’s pride, but I wanted my son to look to me and want to be like me. Still, you have talent for both magic and swordsmanship, even if the sword also runs a little deeper in you because of your mother’s strong genes.”
I didn’t feel like I was particularly great at magic, but I was well over halfway to the competent level in what my father had taught me of his druidry.
“I’m not very good at magic either, though,” I said.
“That little bird told me it found you and led you to me, before it harassed me for a berry as a reward. Did you understand it when it spoke to you?” my father asked me.
“I didn’t understand what it was saying exactly,” I admitted, “but I understood what it was trying to get across. I understand dogs a lot better than birds”
“There are far fewer people who can understand the meaning of an animal than can swing a sword,” my father explained. “I’ve already mentioned it to you, but the novice level of magical disciplines all deal with basic manipulation of a type of energy or concept. It's honestly impressive that you can resonate with animals enough to understand some of them beyond vague impressions at all at your level; your passive spell that allows you to do so is like a warrior having a beginner tier, passive body-reinforcing aura.”
“So, I’m not bad at magic?” I asked.
“I always tell you that you’re doing very well,” my father replied.
“I know. I just forget I guess,” I replied, realizing that my father did praise me a lot; however, I guess I’d just not noticed it since it was such a common thing and he did it so casually and calmly. Whereas my mother was loud and mischievous, but pretty much never offered me any words of praise freely.
“You’re a very smart young man,” my father said calmly. “I’m not sure how much of it is your born trait, since it makes your memory simply incredible, but you seem like you could be a very proficient mage if you put your mind to it.”
“I do like the sword though,” I said, gently resting my sore head on the bench behind it.
“You should never give up any of your passions, as long as you have enough talent and time to make something of them,” my father said. “When I was an adventurer, I knew magicians who wielded swords and swordsmen who weaved magic. It doesn’t have to be one or the other if you work hard.”
It almost seemed too good to be true: being good at both magic and swordsmanship--but I couldn’t say I didn’t want that. I liked the sword more, but I didn’t want to just forget everything my dad had taught me either. He’d spent so much time teaching me what the plants in his gardens and the nearby roadsides, fields, and forests did. He’d been so patient as I’d learned to summon my mana from my soulcore and connect it with the ambient magical energy of the natural world. It was also really cool to be able to at least sorta talk to the local animals, like I could now--and dad could do much more amazing things than that with his magic.
“Were they ever any good at both?” I asked, inquiring about the warrior mages and mage knights he’d met.
“Hmm. I won’t lie and say that some of them weren’t seriously lacking and unbalanced,” my father replied. “I knew one rogue-like fighter who depended on creating illusionary afterimages of himself to confuse his enemies in a fight. It made him incredibly effective at doing a lot of damage very quickly, before an opponent could pin him down. However, when we faced a blind devil who fought based off sound and not sight… well, he didn’t have the pure fighting skills needed to be a damage dealer without his illusions providing him a smokescreen against the devil’s attacks. A few of our party got hurt somewhat badly once the thing got past him before we realized what was happening." My father paused, thoughtfully. "But Pery, with your talent, I don’t think there would be much of a problem as long as you remembered to never rely on just tricks."
"What do you mean, not relying on tricks?" I asked. "That I should be more versatile than that fighter you mentioned?"
"Magc is about versatility and swordfighters usually value a form of simpler utility, if that makes sense, but magic isn’t versatile if you only learn a shallow bit of it and swordsmanship doesn’t provide much utility if you don’t hone the basics enough to rely on them—somewhat like your mother always says, honestly." he explained. "Like I said, though, you have talent for both, and if you work very hard. I think you could pull it off. Just don't forget to find time to live a little too; that was a lesson your mother had to teach me, but life would have been a little better if I hadn't waited so long to learn it.”
“You really think so?” I asked my dad.
“I do,” he nodded.
“Thanks, dad. I feel a little better,” I replied. “I guess I’m not doing that bad, then?”
“Not at all,” he confirmed. “I’m very proud of you; I only say it so often because it’s very true, not to make it mean any less than it does to me.”
I smiled. I was about to say something else to my father when a loud metallic clanging echoed from the direction of the manor. Then there was a feminine shouting, but not the terrified kind--it was the taunting kind instead.
My father sighed again. “We were having such a good father-son conversation. Oh well, I suppose. It seems your brother is here early, Pery, and your mother got to him first. Why does that always happen…?”
(Story is available on Royal Road and for pre-order on Amazon.)
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2024.05.03 00:54 BOfficeStats Domestic BOT Presale Tracking (May 2). The Fall Guy shooting towards ~$2.9M total previews (~$2.2M True Thursday) while Tarot scares up $0.6M-$0.7M. The Phantom Menace flying towards ~$3.5M Friday opening day with some theaters seeing a big increase on Saturday.

BoxOfficeTheory Presale Tracking
USA Showtimes As of April 26
Presales Data (Google Sheets Link)
BoxOfficeReport Previews
DOMESTIC PRESALES
Tarot Thursday comp/predictions assuming $0.70M from el sid and considering katnisscinnaplex's Combined and Santikos comp separately: $0.59M/$0.69M
The Fall Guy EA comp: $0.74M
The Fall Guy Thursday previews comp/prediction considering katnisscinnaplex's Combined and Santikos comp separately and assuming $2M for keysersoze123: $2.11M/$2.18M
Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace Re-Release Friday opening day comps/predictions assuming $3.5M for Charlie Jatinder and considering katnisscinnaplex's Friday and Santikos comp separately: $3.61M/$3.42M
The Amazing Spider-Man Monday Re-Release
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes EA+Thursday previews comp: $4.88M
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Monday Re-Release
IF Thursday comp: $2.07M
The Garfield Movie EA+Thursday Comp: $2.07M
The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Re-Releases (June 8-10)
Domestic Calendar Dates (last updated April 23):
MAY
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
Presale Tracking Posts:
March 12
March 14
March 16
March 19
March 21
March 24
March 26
March 30
April 2
April 4
April 6
April 9
April 11
April 13
April 16
April 18
April 20
April 23
April 25
April 27
April 30
Note: I have removed most tracking data that has not been updated for 2 weeks. I think there is value in keeping data for a week or two but at a certain point they start to lose their value and should not be treated the same as more recent tracking data.
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2024.05.02 08:24 bobotheturtle Honor Duel Hero Tier List and Overall Strategy

I love honor duel and find that it's easy to climb in if you can consistently get 9 wins. I have a 30% rate for getting 9 wins so I hope these tips can help you.
Overall Strategy
Hero Tier List
Some heroes are better than others but you should just field what you are given. If you have a legendary hero from buying faction packs they are probably better than a S tier hero that is still epic.
Graveborn
Graveborn is the best faction because they have the highest burst and have revive mechanics so they have the least need for healers and tanks. Their weakness are teams that can survive their burst (lucius, hewynn, rowan) and then outsustain them.
S (always pick)
Silvina
Cecia
A (always good)
Igor
Thorin
B (solid)
Niru
Salazer
Carolina
C (use if higher tier)
Viperian
Notable out of faction synergies
Seth
Hewynn
Lightbringers
Second best faction because they have target selection through Vala and really good antiburst through Lucius' shields. Their weakness is their low dps so they can be susceptible to being outsustained.
S (always pick)
Lucius
Vala
A (always good)
Rowan
Temesia
B (solid)
Korin
Casadee
C (use if higher tier)
Marilee
Mirael
Notable out of faction synergies
Hewynn
Wilders
Wilders are the third best faction. They are great at sustaining themselves and have decent if inconsistent burst damage. However they are prone to getting one shot themselves leading to poor matchups against graveborns, and their damage options are limited.
S tier (always pick)
Hewynn
Parisa
A tier (always good)
Grannie
B tier (solid)
Eironn
C tier (use if higher tier)
Damian
Byron
Arden
Lyca
Notable out of faction synergies
Lucius
Maulers
Maulers are the worst faction in Honor Duel. They have great tankiness to survive burst but low dps and even lower burst. They synergise well with artifacts that mitigate this weakness by improving damage, such as the crimson gem which gives melee heroes a burn aura.
S tier (always pick)
Shakir
Seth
A tier (always good)
Antandra
B tier (solid)
Odie
Lumont
Satrana
C tier (use if higher tier)
Brutus
Smokey
Notable out of faction synergies
Hewynn
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2024.04.29 02:16 Successful-Bread-347 November 1984 band search

This is the list of bands that played on NDR in November 1984. This month is important as a lot of songs from November (28) 1984 were on the N01 tape that has our best version of TMS.
For new people involved in the search these are good to check on YouTube, discogs and the web for any connections to TMS.
I haven't had time yet to remove the bands that were ruled out from the September or October searches. At some stage I need to go through all those posts and basically create a new ruled out leads document as the current one is out of date.
EDIT: bands that already appeared in the October search are now removed to reduce about 100 entries. And then just a quick pass to remove super well known bands (about half the names have been removed but as reddit will point out, there will be some errors and some better known bands will still be here - I don't know everything). What I find works well are searches for: (bandname) +band +1984 or +demo

If you find that one of these isn't the band, please post a comment saying "bandname" RULED OUT to help me scrape this post later on.

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2024.04.26 06:41 igreggreene Barron Read-Along 22: "Hand of Glory"

Barron, Laird. “Hand of Glory”. The Book of Chthulhu II. Night Shade Books (2012).
Write-up courtesy of u/ChickenDragon123
Johnny Cope is a gun for hire in the roaring twenties. After a hotel ambush nearly kills him, he intends to exact retribution, only to find himself dragged into the occult.

Summary

Johnny Cope is a man with a reputation. His father started it, serving as the preferred troubleshooter for a gangster until his heart gave out. Johnny stepped right into his father's shoes, breaking heads and pulling triggers as necessary to fuel his vices and pay his creditors. The inciting incident is a hotel room ambush by a pair of hit men nicknamed "the long and the short." Johnny manages to turn the ambush around, but he's almost killed in the process, barely making it home before bleeding out. When he wakes he is under the "protective custody" of gangster Mylon Arden. The Long and the Short, while not exactly popular, were useful, and Johnny's fate is in limbo until things can be worked out.
Johnny asks politely if he can take his "bodyguards" along on a little investigation to find out who wants him dead, and Arden agrees. Enter Phil Wary (Helios Augustus), While Johnny was down and out, Augustus paid him a call, claiming to know about a man named Conrad Paxton, who allegedly killed Cope's father and now is trying to finish the job on his son. Johnny has questions, so drives into Olympia for a little chat. Augustus' evidence isn't strong, but he's persuasive enough, and shows Cope a film reel by the late auteur Eadweard Muybridge that depicts some rather unpleasant images, and ends with a young Paxton, Muybridge’s stepson, skittering about like a spider. Johnny is unnerved but determined to follow through, so Augustus points him toward Ransom Hollow and the Corning sisters, who originated the claim that Paxton killed Cope Sr.
The sisters are a creepy bunch. Upon the approach to the house a naked man is seen slipping between the hedges, before disappearing. Inside the house, is filled with the sounds of a child crying despite the fact that the women claim to be spinsters without children. Apparently, it's the darkening of the moon, and they are doing some kind of ritual to prolong their lives. The chosen ambassador, Carling Corning, tells Johnny their side of the story: Paxton sucked the soul out of Cope's father through ritualistic photography. Cope writes it off as insanity but is quick to take the talisman that Carling offers him as protection, and leaves behind one of his "bodyguards" in exchange.
In town, he debates the merits of proceeding with his revenge as he finds his way to a dive called Satan's Bung. Soon a "band" of sorts takes the stage, led by Daniel Blackwood. The Blackwood gang expresses their interest in Cope, and invites him out into the boondocks, where Cope assumes he's about to be murdered. Instead, Blackwood asks him to whack Paxton for him at a party Paxton is throwing the next day. Blackwood’s hands are tied, since he swore an oath not to harm Paxton, but the time for their arrangement is coming to a close and Cope has a reputation. Cope is hesitant, and Blackwood draws in close before noticing the talisman and flinching away. Cope agrees to think about it, and is sent on his way alongside his bodyguards.
At this point it’s clear that black magic of some sort is being practiced by almost everyone in Ransoms Hollow and Johnny's initial instincts are to get out of there, but an appearance by the Blackwoods makes it clear that the only path forward is through. Johnny goes to the Paxton’s shindig, gets there early and is surprised when, despite his threats, Paxton is quite welcoming and dismisses his guards. Johnny leaves his own men outside, speaking privately with Paxton as guests arrive. Paxton it seems is something of a failed anti-Christ figure for many in the hollow. He claims to believe in black magic and Satan only so far as it follows natural law. Satan, he claims, isn't interested in us. He says the Copes’ evil is of the lower-case variety, while his is proper Evil. Alas, the Crones, the Blackwoods, they had hopes for him, and he can't live up to them.
Paxton also claims that Helios Augustus is the one who killed Cope's father. Augustus was a friend of Conrad's father, and put him on the path to dark magic, and disturbing imagery in the first place. Then when Muybridge died Augustus wanted his remaining film reels and Paxton refused to give them up. Ever since, Augustus has been trying to kill Conrad and now he has at last succeeded. Conrad’s tired now, and just wants it over with. (I am greatly summarizing, and the details here are fascinating. Really worth reading the story for yourself if you haven't).
Despite himself, Cope believes the man but kills him anyway. Paxton is after all upper-case Evil by his own admission, and even if he didn't kill Cope's father, Cope wants to be sure. Shortly after, Helios Augustus enters and, upon seeing Johnny, deploys the titular hand of glory taken from the late Cope Sr. Johnny finds himself paralyzed as Helios gloats, largely confirming Paxton's account and looting the room for occult treasure. Then he leaves, mentioning that the Blackwoods have claim to Johnny, though he leaves the lit hand close enough for Johnny to blow it out, freeing himself from paralysis. From there Johnny makes his escape, mowing down a number of Blackwood thugs and setting fire to the manor before fleeing the burning estate.
When he gets home, all is forgiven. He's back in the good graces of Mr. Arden, and even needed in a fight with a rival crime boss. Johnny is glad to hear it, though he’s now developed higher aspirations than to merely be like his father. When he searches for Augustus at the Broadsword Hotel, the proprietor informs him that Helios has left for parts unknown. Johnny half expected it, and the story closes with him musing on how he'll get his vengeance.

Thematic Analysis

The Beautiful Thing that Awaits Us All is a very different collection from Occultation or Imago Sequence. Imago was (at least in my view) about snapshots of different worlds. Different lives. Different viewpoints. Occultation is about relationships. How they can be eaten away and manipulated. The Beautiful Thing, though, is about Death. It's about the Cycle. The ring. "Hand of Glory" is similar to a lot of Laird's other work. The archetypes are the same. Cope is a "poet-barbarian" with a lot more intellect than most will credit him, and a mean sense of honor. His failure in education is more due to lack of interest than lack of intellect. Cope moves through the world with a kind of fatalism. When he dies it will be at the end of a gun barrel, and he knows it. If he's ever asked for last words they'll probably be along the lines of a shrug and a "Fate's a bitch. What can you do?"
Cope's foils are interesting then. The antagonist of the story, Helios Augustus, is a man of flash and style, wholly at odds with Cope's earthy demeanor. Augustus is a deceiver, a Lucifer far more effective than Conrad Paxton, the failed antichrist. He's a dark Gandalf, kicking Cope out the door in an attempt to claim the dragon's hoard. This is at odds with Cope who, though a criminal, is a fairly honest man, a Ronin of the Roaring Twenties. He displays a bizarre sort of honor almost as much as his violent tendencies. He shoos call girl Pearl out of the way when the Long and the Short come gunning, and he expresses remorse over the fate of a prostitute his father brained in his defense years ago.
It's that honor that separates Cope from the other foil of the story: Conrad Paxton. Paxton may be genial, but he's also clear that he is a monster. Murdering another schoolboy, for reasons unknown, and his sister for reasons that are hinted at. He willingly allies himself with the forces of darkness. His geniality is born of exhaustion rather than empathy. Paxton is a monster, capital-E Evil, but apathetic towards his own existence. In some ways it's an apathy that Cope shares. For a large chunk of the story, Cope is resigned to his fate. What separates him from Paxton (apart from the practice of black magic) is that Cope will still fight it. It's also interesting that Paxton lacks faith and understanding in his chosen field of Darkness. Paxton is a man of reason. He believes in Satan with the same tired understanding as most Christians. Sure, the arch-devil is out there but his interest in this plane has long waned. Despite this lack of faith, he still flinches from the talisman Cope was given by Carling Corning, only to decry it as fake a moment later. It's interesting that mere moments after his death there is a hellish miracle in the form of the Hand of Glory. I think the reason Paxton is a failed antichrist is he doesn't believe in what he's preaching. He's apathetic. There is the disappointment. Blackwood, the Crones, and Augustus are enthusiastic about the darkness. Zealots in Lucifer’s army, if you will. In comparison, Paxton is dead weight.
It's also important to note that Paxton and Cope both live in the shadow of a father’s legacy. Both men live in their father’s homes and carry on their occupations. Paxton apparently has some talent like his father did (though whether this is in black magic or photography is left somewhat vague and it could go either way.) In the same way, Cope has his father's gifts. He works for the same mob boss, doing the same work. Paxton is a mirror for Cope. More refined, but also drained of anything to live for. He is less passionate, less empathetic, and less honorable. He is (I suspect) what Cope would be in ten years’ time if the events of the story hadn't pushed him to want to be more than his father's son. When faced with death, Paxton is fine with it. Cope, though, finds that there is more life, and more fight in him.

Thematic elements that didn't fit in this essay:

Cope is bookended by Helios and Paxton. Paxton, who died young, and Helios, who seems to have unnaturally long life. Cope, to the best of my knowledge, hasn't appeared again, and any revenge he might have attempted against Helios probably went poorly.
It's interesting to view “Hand of Glory” as the opposite of John Lanagan's “Technicolor” in how it was composed. See Historical Notes below.

Historical Notes

Holy Bleep. This one has some interesting stuff in it. So, I'll be honest, out of the ones I asked Greg for, “Hand of Glory” was the one I was least interested in. I thought it was a well-written but ultimately well-worn story. Now, though, I’m really excited to share my thoughts on this one. This story is insane, and the historical context is fascinating. So, Eadweard Muybridge is a real person, and almost everything about him in the story is true as far as I can tell. The only exceptions are the last reel with Conrad Paxton, and Conrad Paxton in general. Both are fictional. However, there are some fascinating insights here.
  1. The opening lines, presumably written by Paxton, are in reference to Muybridge's "Buffalo Running across the plains." You can find it on his Wikipedia page. It's either a dream version or maybe some updated darker version of Muybridge’s actual work.
  2. Muybridge's filming of people doing everyday things naked actually happened. Again, see Wikipedia. It's bizarre, and the story is actively bleeping with my brain.
  3. Muybridge had a son in real life (Florado who is briefly referenced in “Hand of Glory”). He also had a photography company. Both had the name Helios. It was Florado's middle name and the name of the company. Clearly Laird is emphasizing how close Muybridge and Helios Augustus actually were. I had to double check that both Helios and Paxton were fictional people after this.
Basically, everything mentioned about Muybridge is accurate as far as I can tell. It’s fascinating that with just a couple of pieces Laird was able to tack on so much fiction. It's sort of the opposite of what John Langan did for the story “Technicolor.” In that tale of horror, Langan makes up a whole fictional story tacked onto Poe's “The Masque of the Red Death,” but it is presented with such authority that it feels real. “Hand of Glory” goes the other way, tacking fiction onto real life, and using the connection to greatly deepen the story.

Discussion

  1. In terms of genre, how do you categorize “Hand of Glory”? Horror? Dark fantasy? Noir fantastic?
  2. Is there a significance - thematic or otherwise - to the hand of glory being the hand of Johnny Cope’s late father?
  3. Of all the characters in this story, who do you consider to be the most dangerous?
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2024.04.26 04:13 MelasD Kara - Chapter 40: The New Alyona

When Kara had arrived at Yulia, she didn’t know what to expect. Certainly, she had known what she hoped for— a place that would offer her a reprieve from all the fighting she had been doing since the destruction of Alyona.
More than just fighting, she was exhausted from flying at all times. So she wanted to rest. And she thought that things would finally start going smoothly now that they were here in a Sanctuary City.
However, she must have forgotten what exactly came as a human who was arriving in a city of dark elves, orcs, trolls, minotaurs, dwarves, and other non-humans. Because—
“Kill the human.”
Kara heard the order. She saw the Dark Lady of Alyona conjure even more giant swords of ice as the guards in the room raised their weapons and started forward. Before Kara could even fully process what was going on, Aiza sent the volley of ice swords her way.
Leaping back, Kara barely managed to dodge the first few projectiles. But the rest were too quick for her to easily evade. They struck her, cutting her across her shoulders and her stomach as she cursed and fell out of the air.
“Fuck—”
Crashing into the ground, she saw the first of the guards charge her way. They raised their weapons as she gritted her teeth, ready to activate her Dragon’s Scales, but a large rock crashed into the guards.
“Angel?” Kara stared at the utlas bear as he roared. “Don’t—”
He slammed his staff onto the ground and began creating the statue of a familiar minotaur as Aiza narrowed her eyes. But before it could finish forming, she snapped her fingers, and the rocks crumbled into dust.
Angel blinked as Kara rose to her feet.
“Don’t hurt him!” she shouted and raised her hand.
But Aiza pointed at the utlas bear, and his lower body froze. He paused, looking down at himself as he couldn’t move. Kara’s eyes went wide as she thought the worst had happened for a brief moment, before sighing in relief when she realized he was still alive.
However, that distracted her long enough for the guards to reach her. She spun around just as she heard their shouts. They struck out with their spears as she braced herself—
“Eighteenth Core: Storm of Blades!” Hayder exclaimed and crashed into the guards on the back of his draken.
He took down a group of them with that single attack. But even more of them charged at the human. Tashia intercepted them with the other captains as she glanced back.
“Get out of here, Kara!”
“I…” Kara swept her gaze around the room, seeing the chaos break out.
Kurg led the orcs and the trolls to form a circle around her as the captains fended off the nearest guards. But even more began to pour into the throne room, and she pursed her lips. Her friends were fighting for her. Angel chipped away at the ice keeping him in place. Hayder fought off a trio of guards on his own. Tashia, Bushra, Kurg, and even Uzbug moved to hold off the charging guards. However, despite the fighting happening all around, it seemed like Aiza only wanted the human dead, leaving the others incapacitated.
The Dark Lady of Yulia pointed at Hayder, freezing his draken as he dove out of the way in the nick of time. Her fingers drifted over to Bushra, then a group of orcs, freezing everyone who moved to Kara’s aid. Only their lower bodies were covered in ice, just to prevent them from moving.
The human knew she needed to escape before she was killed, so her body was lit ablaze, before she spread her flaming wings wide. She saw her opening to escape through the double doorway. She shot forward straight for her only exit, but Aiza pointed.
A wall of stone shot up, blocking the doorway immediately. Kara crashed into it, thinking she could break through. But the wall must have been magically enhanced as she barely cracked its surface.
“Shit—” She fell back to the ground as her flames flickered.
But as she picked herself back up, she saw a bright light flashing from behind. Looking back, she saw Aiza raising her hands in the air, a magic circle forming above her head.
“What is that…?” Kara asked with round eyes.
She could sense the powerful magic emanating from the spell circle. It continued to shift, the patterns on its surface growing more and more complicated as it grew brighter. Kara bit her lower lip. Whatever it was, she knew she didn’t want to be here for when it went off.
But before she could figure out a plan of escape, and before the spell could be completed, an arrow shot straight for the Dark Lady of Yulia. Aiza’s eyes flickered as she brought a hand out to catch the arrow
And the spell circle vanished.
The room froze, the fighting coming to a halt as everyone turned to face the person who fired the arrow. Caius stood there as he lowered his bow, the Helmet of Alyona still held to his side.
“Dark Lady Aiza, I apologize for the language, but what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he exclaimed as he aimed his bow at her. “Why the fuck are you attacking us?”
Aiza narrowed her eyes at him. “I have not harmed a single one of your people, Dark Lord Caius. You, however, have made an attempt on my life.”
Kara shifted back as the guards in the room aimed their weapons at Caius. But the new Dark Lord of Alyona did not flinch.
“Good gods, don’t mess with me— you attacked Kara.” He pointed at the human.
“I simply wish to kill the intruder who has infiltrated the Sanctuary City of Yulia,” Aiza replied as she tilted her head. “Or are you telling me this human is a citizen of Alyona?”
“That’s…” Caius opened his mouth, before hesitating.
The Dark Lady of Yulia waited expectantly. “Go on. I will be able to know if you are lying, Dark Lord Caius.”
Caius closed his eyes as Kara glanced around, searching for another way to escape. There was none.
“Kara is not a citizen of Alyona,” the elf admitted.
And Kara felt her heart sink as the guards in the room readied themselves to apprehend her again.
“Thought so,” Aiza said as she raised her hand again, ready to continue casting that spell from before.
But Caius wasn’t finished. Before the fighting could resume, he spoke up and drew the attention from everyone in the room, making them pause to listen.
“However, Kara is more important to Alyona than any ordinary citizen…”
“Oh?” That piqued the Dark Lady’s interest. “Explain.”
The guards exchanged confused glances. Even Kara didn’t know where the elf was going with this.
“That’s right, Kara is more important to Alyona than any ordinary citizen because…”
It almost seemed like he was stalling. He glanced back towards the human as she bit her lower lip, hoping whatever this plan of his would work. Aiza looked like she was starting to lose her patience, and Caius nodded to himself.
He faced the Dark Lady of Yulia and spoke simply.
“Because Kara is the Guardian of Alyona. So if you kill her, you’d be making an enemy of all of Alyona.”
Aiza frowned at that. “Azad is the Guardian of Alyona. Not some human girl.”
“Azad is dead— destroyed by the Dreamers,” Caius countered as he crossed his arms. “Since then, Kara has become the Guardian of Alyona. She is the reason we were able to make it here without losing tens of thousands more lives. She is the reason why I’m even alive today.”
There was a long silence as Yulia’s guards looked at each other uncertainly. Kara hoped that the elf’s words were enough to persuade Aiza. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like it was enough.
“Ridiculous,” Aiza said as she shook her head. “Do you truly think I will believe such a blatant lie? The people of Alyona would never accept a human as their guardian.”
She brought her hand up as her guards immediately readied themselves to attack once more. Kara knew her only option was to fight back, so she began to conjure up a sphere of golden flames. But before the fighting could continue, a figure stepped up next to the human.
“Dark Lord Caius is telling the truth,” Hayder said as he stood tall next to Kara. “We have chosen this human to be the new Guardian of Alyona.”
Tashia and Bushra joined him. And the other captains followed a moment later. They stood in a circle around Kara as she blinked a few times.
Kurg nodded at his fellow orcs and they walked up to the human’s side too. “The orc clans of Alyona will die before we let you kill Kara. She saved my life. We owe her a great debt.”
And the gathered trolls— none of which Kara recognized— joined in. “Hmph, we have seen what Kara has done for the people of Alyona. Not only that, we have been told that Kara is a friend to the Zuri Tribe. So we shall not let you harm her.”
That is right, a voice spoke in Kara’s mind. And these thoughts were conveyed to everyone else in the room. Uzbug strode up to the human as well, her mandibles clicking. As the Guardian of Alyona, Kara slew my queen to save thousands of lives. Killing her would be no different to making a declaration of war.
“You guys…”
Kara looked at all the people who were standing by her side. From those who were her friends, to those she didn’t even know. They stood in a protective circle around her, standing opposed to the Dark Lady of Yulia herself. Even though they were risking their lives, it didn’t matter. They were doing it for the human.
In return for everything she had done for them.
Her gaze finally landed on Angel. He had broken out of the ice and quickly joined her. Growling, he raised Zlo’tan’s staff and aimed at Aiza.
The Dark Lady of Yulia’s brows were creased as she saw this scene unfurl. And finally, Caius stepped up to the front of the group as he raised the Helmet of Alyona.
“As I told you, Kara is the Guardian of Alyona—” As he spoke, he donned the helmet on his head, before his voice boomed. “And we will not stand by idly as you threaten her life!”
The guards in the room backed up apprehensively. They turned to Aiza who was still standing on her elevated platform, but with her gaze darkened. She lowered her head and spoke in an icy voice.
“Do you not realize that putting yourself at odds with me will only hamper your chances of being let into my city?” Aiza said threateningly.
“We do not care,” Caius replied simply. “We will simply make our way to Tatania if you refuse to shelter us.”
Aiza’s brows snapped together. “I see.”
For a long moment, Kara wondered what was going to happen. If the Dark Lady of Yulia still wanted her dead, then everyone was going to die. They stood no chance of escaping the palace, considering how many guards she had seen.
But after what seemed to be a long moment of silent deliberation, Aiza acquiesced.
“Very well,” she said as she spun around. “That human— the Guardian of Alyona— will be treated no differently to the rest of your citizens when she is within the premises of my Sanctuary City.”
Kara and her friends let out a collective sigh of relief. But the Dark Lady of Yulia raised a hand as she settled back into her throne.
“However, understand this: I am not pleased with this arrangement, Dark Lord Caius. And while I will still give your people shelter Yulia, I will not offer you the same comfort and priority I have given the people of Vera. You will receive the same treatment as the refugees that come from outside the Sanctuary Cities. That is the consequences of your actions here today.”
Caius shrugged in response. “Anything is better than sleeping in the mud, I guess.”
Aiza didn’t seem amused by his quip. She simply continued to explain their arrangement as Kara found her shoulders sagging without even realizing it.
—--
Once Aiza finished her explanation of what would happen to the refugees of Alyona, she dismissed them, not wanting a human to be in her sight for a moment longer. The group was escorted out of the palace as Caius recounted what was explained.
“Five thousand of us will be let into Yulia each day. But we will only be allowed to live in the Hakyr District of Yulia…” the elf murmured.
“Which is the poorest and largest section of the city,” Hayder added.
“Right.” Caius sighed. “Meanwhile, the refugees from Vera were all given priority entry straight into the Yastra District. Which is the arrangement we would have been given if not for what happened.”
And Kara scratched the back of her head as she followed behind them. “Sorry about that…”
She still felt bad about what happened. Not because anyone was killed— there were a few injuries, but fortunately, everyone came out alive. But still, she should have foreseen her being a human causing at least some complications to the meeting. However, she had just been so accustomed to being around the people of Alyona, she forgot how they acted when she had arrived for the first time.
Perhaps Caius was also partially to blame for stringing her along to this meeting. But a situation similar to this would have inadvertently happened anyways, since she would eventually step foot inside of the Sanctuary City of Yulia. But it seemed that dealing with this issue right now of all times resulted in the worst possible outcome for everyone.
So Kara apologized as the group stepped out of the palace. Caius turned back to face her as she came to a halt. Angel paused with her, while Hayder and the rest of the group continued on.
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have to deal with this. And if things had escalated…” Kara pursed her lips, imagining the worst that could have happened.
But Caius just waved a hand off dismissively. “Things wouldn’t have escalated. I know Dark Lady Aiza. She wouldn’t make an enemy out of an entire Sanctuary City.”
“Still, we’re now stuck in a shitty situation because she’s racist towards me,” Kara said as she shot a quick glance back to the palace. Angel nodded vehemently, shooting a glare in the vague direction where the throne room would probably be.
“I don’t think wanting to kill you on sight qualifies as just racist, Kara,” Caius chuckled.
Kara harrumphed. “Yeah, because racist isn’t the right word for it. It’s speciesist. But saying that ‘she’s speciesist’ doesn’t quite roll off the tongue in the same way.”
Caius smiled as he stared at her, then he turned towards the sprawling Sanctuary City of Yulia spreading out before them. An orange glow was cast over the colorful buildings, a stark difference to the dull-gray colors of Alyona.
The three of them stood before this scene of their new home as Caius turned back to face the human.
“Kara.”
She tilted her head at him. “Yes?”
“I know that I was pretty much making up whatever excuse on the spot I could to save your life, but I meant everything that I said.” Caius held her gaze. “I consider you my friend, and without you, I wouldn’t be here today— in more ways than just one.”
Her eyes went wide when she heard what he said. But he wasn’t finished.
“You’re my… friend,” the elf continued as he placed a hand on his chest. “So I don’t want to lose you too.”
Kara lowered her head. And she felt her cheeks tugging at her lips.
“You’re my friend too, Caius,” she finally said as she looked up at him. “Even if you did give me a lot more responsibility now, by making me the Guardian of Alyona.”
Caius blinked, then he smiled too. “Calling you the Guardian of Alyona now won’t really make much of a difference, considering what you’ve been doing for the last few weeks. We’re just making things official now with the title.”
And Kara grinned at him. “Oh, really? Does that also come with a salary?”
“Well… I hear that friendship is priceless?” He gave her a half-hearted shrug.
The two of them stared at each other for a long moment as Angel glanced between them. And they broke out into laughter. Kara, Angel, and Caius began to catch up with the rest of the group as they headed out of Yulia.
“I’m glad we finally made it here,” Kara said as she stared into the undulating mountains in the distance. “I just want to take a long nap in a comfy bed already.”
Caius pursed his lips, following her gaze. “We’re not safe yet. The Dreamers could reach Yulia at any moment. So we should be prepared for anything.”
Kara rolled her eyes at him. “We aren’t safe, but for today, we can rest. And that’s what matters.”
Turning to the utlas bear walking next to her, she raised a brow.
“Isn’t that right, Angel?”
In response, Angel made a sound of affirmation.
“And then we can prepare for any threats to come,” Kara said, looking back at Caius.
He stared at the shadowed shape of the mountains in the far-off distance, their figures painted black because of the backdrop of the sun. And while his face clearly showed the warring of emotions within him— the uncertainty he must have felt. He chose not to acknowledge it for now, instead choosing to agree with Kara.
“Right,” Caius said as his eyes closed. “Let’s rest, for now.”
—--
And far away from the Sanctuary City of Yulia, amongst the remains of Alyona, a single eye snapped open as it took in the light of day.
Adam had almost forgotten what sunlight looked like. It made him want to recoil in disgust. But he continued to pull himself out of the rubble, before glancing back. He saw the two figures following after him.
They looked like children. However, they were unlike any other kind of children that existed in this world. One of them resembled the figure of an elf, but when she opened her eyes or a mouth, there was only darkness within. And the other barely even wore the appearance of a child, wearing the night sky on his skin.
They were Eve and Abel, and they were both Adam’s creations. He stepped out of the ruins of Alyona, making way for them to follow.
“Come on Abel, let’s play outside!” Eve exclaimed as she pulled her brother along with her.
Abel didn’t look too enthused. He tried to turn around and return down the hole into the darkness. But Eve yanked him up, ignoring his wishes.
“Now, now, Eve. Do not be too rough with your brother,” Adam said, watching the two children as they stepped out and bathed in the sun’s rays. “You must remember, he is still a newborn. The world is alien to him, and he needs some time to acclimate to it, just as you did.”
“Of course, Adam. I understand that.” Eve rolled her eyes as she dragged Abel along with her, despite his clear discontent.
Adam watched as the two children walked over the rubble that had been both Alyona and the mountain that had collapsed into the Sanctuary City. And he stepped forward as a deluge of nightmares erupted from the hole behind him.
“Now—” he started, looking up.
He saw the tens of thousands of nightmares he had created over the last few weeks. While he had been trapped in the lower tunnels of Alyona, he hadn’t been idle. There had been numerous nests of varying sizes of giant centipedes down there, all of which he had slaughtered and turned into a brand new army.
An army that would take down the remaining Sanctuary Cities.
Adam smiled as he walked up to his two children.
“Let us find your brother,” he finished simply
And the three Dreamers began to make their way through the Xor-In Mountains once more, accompanied by the swarm of nightmares behind them.
—--
But that wasn’t the only army that was making their way through the Xor-In Mountains. A different kind of army arrived at the very edges of the mountain range, dismantling the encampment they had set up for the night.
“So these are the Xor-In Mountains,” a knight said as he swept his gaze over the sprawling landscape of hills and mountains that stretched as far as he could see. “I have to say, I’m not impressed. It doesn’t seem nearly as dangerous as it is made out to be.”
Next to him, a man dressed in an ordinary suit and tie sighed, “Gracious System— Apprentice Jacob, I have explained this to you numerous times, but the real dangers of the Xor-In Mountains lie even further within. It is said that even those who have reached Level 100 struggle to survive the perilous terrain in the very heart of the mountain range.”
“Damn the divine— why are we even wasting our time here then?” Jacob said as he drew back. “Didn’t you say the dragon we’re hunting is way deep within too? Let’s get going!”
Jacob marched straight back to the camp as the man in the suit rubbed his temples. He watched as the knight continued to go.
“Come on, Darius!” Jacob gleaned back briefly and called out.
“I’m on my way, Apprentice Jacob.” Darius nodded as he started forward. And under his breath, he murmured, “Master Arden, your son is really quite the troublesome man.”
And the two of them made their way back to the camp, gathering their army to make their way further into the Xor-In Mountains. But this army was different from most armies that made their way through these lands.
Because it was an army of humans.
End of Kara Book One
submitted by MelasD to HFY [link] [comments]

2024.04.26 02:22 DrUniverseParty [QCrit] THE RUDE MECHANICALS - Literary/Adult - 92,000 words (3rd Attempt) + first 300

Hi all--this is my 3rd query attempt. Thanks so much for all the help on the past ones! I've been taking some time to revise my manuscript and now I'm preparing to send another round of queries. I'm trying a few new things in this one that I hope people can give me feedback on. For instance, I decided to try doing a log line in this one--but I'm not sure how it's working. I'm also trying a "___ meets ___" thing in the housekeeping--but I don't know if that's working either.
Thanks in advance--any and all feedback is appreciated!
...
Dear [AGENT],
I’m seeking representation for THE RUDE MECHANICALS (92,000 words), a dual-POV literary novel. It’s The Talented Mr. Ripley meets Nick Hornby, with the Shakespearean theatre hijinks of Mona Awad’s All’s Well, and the punk nostalgia of Sam Lipsyte’s No One Left to Come Looking for You.
An alcoholic one-hit-wonder risks losing his happy family when his estranged alcoholic son reappears in his life disguised as a Shakespearian actor.
Twenty-two years ago, Liam Parsons ran out on his girlfriend when she made him sober up. He’s never even met their son, Henry Arden. In the time since, Liam has cleaned up his drunken punk act and now plays violin for a Shakespearean theatre company in Kent, Ohio. He keeps his past hidden from his current wife, Sabine, and their three young children. But after his father dies, Liam slides into relapse. At a pre-season party for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he sneaks off to find a bottle of whiskey and finds Nick, a new actor, already drinking it.
Liam doesn’t realize his new drinking buddy “Nick” is Henry in disguise. Henry, a college dropout, is on the run from his mother who’s trying to put him in rehab. He’s so desperate to forge a bond with the man who abandoned him that he’s willing to abandon his own identity in the process. It works at first, but when their partying goes too far, Sabine gives Liam an ultimatum: get sober or get out.
As “Nick,” Henry helps Liam concoct a ruse to deceive Sabine into thinking he’s attending AA. Problem is, once Liam learns the truth about Henry and wants to sober up for real, there’s no easy way out of their tangled lies. Ultimately, Liam will have to choose between abandoning Henry for a second time or coming clean to the family he’s been lying to for years.
I’m a recovering alcoholic and college writing instructor in Northeast Ohio. My work has appeared in such places at [Big Anthology, top tier literary journals, mid-tier journals, humor website.] I’m also the recipient of a 2024 ___ grant for fiction.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
...
First 300:
After dropping the kids off at kindergarten, Liam drove home to burn the oats. All week, he’d been gathering materials: egg shells, charcoal, kitty litter, gravel. He’d spent hours Googling: “what do human ashes smell like?” and “how to make fake human remains.” If it was only the kids he had to fool, he wouldn’t have put so much effort into it. But if he wanted it to work, he had to convince Sabine, and that was why he found himself grinding blackened oats in the Cuisinart on a Friday afternoon.
The kitchen reeked. It was mid-December and cold. He opened the windows and soaked the food-processor in baking soda and water. He wiped the counters with Orange Cleaner. In the garage, he mixed his materials in a Home Depot bucket. Earlier that week, he’d baked the egg shells. Once crushed, they mixed well with the oats and kitty litter. Actual human remains for a hundred-and-seventy pound man would weigh about the same as a bag of sugar, give or take.
His father’s real body had once existed. A month ago, Paul had died in a motel room in Wheeling, West Virginia, likely from untreated liver disease. A housekeeper had found him. However, since Paul was checked in under one of his assumed names (there’d been fake IDs, phony credit cards), there was confusion in identifying him. Once the Ohio County Coroner sorted it out, they contacted Gabrielle, Paul’s second-cousin, now living in Arizona, and she contacted Liam.
Over the next few weeks, he tried to claim his body. Since Paul's real name wasn’t on Liam's birth certificate, the coroner required alternative documentation. But Liam wasn’t able to retrieve any documentation since his parents never married or had any child support arrangements in place. Paul sent checks, often in unmarked envelopes
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2024.04.21 19:30 Unable_Language5669 Thoughts and questions from first session of Arden Vul

Hi! I just GMd my first session of The Halls of Arden Vul (after watching way too much 3D6 Down the Line, but who doesn't?). I did the session as a one-shot to test it out before I run it as a campaign for my main group. Some thoughts and questions:
Spoilers for The Halls of Arden Vul ahead (duh):
  1. I started the players in Gosterwick but only for character creation and expedition outfitting which I had prepped to make it quick. Real play started when they were at the bottom of the falls. I felt it worked well to get them moving ASAP.
  2. During my prep for the falls, I found the random encounter math too complicated so I redid it to: Turns are 15 minutes, and this is how long it takes to walk up one of the six "legs" of the stairs. Roll a D30 each turn, random encounter on 1, you see something in the distance on 2-5. I think this matches the original math and I'm happy with how it plays. I suggest you steal it if you plan to run Arden Vul.
  3. I rolled the lion as a random encounter. I didn't want to get stuck in combat, and I didn't want anyone to die for no fault of their own, so I fudged and said that nothing happened. I feel bad about it, and I wish I would have played the lion more like a trap: it jumps down from a ledge and tries to drag someone off the cliff. No need to fudge then and it wouldn't have taken much time.
  4. I decided on the fly to remove EX-10. I wanted to get going to the dungeon, I didn't want to have to spend time on inventory management and explaining items, I didn't want to give the players loot they didn't earn and it didn't make sense to me that loot would be lying around such a well-travelled path. I'm a bit torn about this decision but I think I'll go with it again if I play again. Opinions are welcome.
  5. I decided before the game that I wouldn't include The Broken Head: I wanted to make the dungeon wilder and less explored. The location of the inn would have just been the broken statue among some rubble (it didn't matter since the players didn't go there). I feel like this choice worked well for my purposes but of course I didn't see how it would work long-term. Overall I'm happy with this but I'd be glad to hear what others think.
  6. The players explored the city with a suitable level of wary. They had a couple of encounters with vermin but always won the initiative and anti-climatically drove them off without any real harm or danger. Once again I wished I'd run the encounters less like combat and more like traps.
  7. They found Lankios (1-6) and talked to him. I spent way too much time in dialog. In hindsight it was something of "guess the GMs password", where they tried to ask Lankios stuff and I gave insane answers back unless they asked about the right things. I should have broken up the dialog after a few back-and-forts and said "So do you talk to this guy politely? Ok, he's clearly insane and rambling, but you pick up on these things: ...".
  8. The Monkey Room (1-8) was a mess. I hadn't prepped the room (I thought they would go down the pyramid) and had to figure it out on the fly which wasn't easy. Luckily for both me and them the players quickly retreated. Now I know the room better so I can likely do it with less confusion, but it's a pretty complicated room and I'm not sure that the complexity is worth the pay-off. But that's also the charm with OSR: the world isn't always adapted to the players, that means that sometimes there's complexity without a clear pay-off. The players should figure it out (or run away).
Overall it was a great session: my players played smart and avoided many dangers (and they deduced that the pyramid was likely explored already and that they should find an alternative entrance: good for them). They were impressed by the setting and liked the Rome/Egypt historical themes. They didn't find any loot, but that's acceptable for a first session (but some tiny find to crown the session would have been nice).
I had fun and learned a lot. The adventure mostly runs like a dream even if the text is a bit dense at places, especially if you haven't prepped. As you can tell by my comments above, I like the game to go fast and we did have great tempo (not to brag but 3d6 took 4½ sessions to start dungeon delving, we did it in 1). I'm happy for thoughts and opinions, especially about my removal of EX-10 and The Broken Head.
submitted by Unable_Language5669 to osr [link] [comments]

2024.04.15 18:07 InsaneHiabusa I'm pretty sure i looked like a hacker last night

Last night my buddy and i were playing. We got into a fight at Godard and i died. He rezzed me using lawful, and he makes his way to the banished bounty that was left, (there was a bounty in Godard too.) Godard bounty starts chasing him. I trigger the restoration and we meet up at Arden. A long fight ensues and a couple downs are shared. Finally my friend and i push the remaining player. He shoots me with a dumdum, and i'm letting loose my dualie Pax's to just put pressure. My second shot (not ads, and while walking) nailed him in the head. I felt so horrible for that luck. Anyway, hope you enjoyed my ramble!
submitted by InsaneHiabusa to HuntShowdown [link] [comments]

2024.04.12 22:17 ConsciousRun6137 Time Travel Discourse; On Timelessness Of Spirit & Benefits You Possess

THOUGHT is ENERGY, and THINKING creates more energy, and energy is always seeking new forms of expression. EVERYTHING we want to experience, ALREADY exists. What you have to do is close the distance between your present self and the version of you enjoying those experiences. Because it is THOUGHT and BELIEF that have kept these things from you thus far, then thought and belief are required to reverse this.
I am more than I suppose myself to be, thus, I am more than anything that can happen to me.
Meister Ekhart in the 11th century said, “I receive that God and I are one…I am then an immovable cause that moves all things.”
The thought of power, produces power.
Breaking pattern is what any soul can do to get the Construct’s undivided attention.
“If anyone’s a wizard, everybody is, to some degree, a wizard.” Charles Fort.
What the Teacher Really Conveyed
What was Jesus’ message? If He was a real person, if He was truly the Son of God, if He was the sum of many ancient figures and faiths, if He was crucified or not- NONE of these matter compared to His message. Since when is the man more important than his message? With Jesus we have a spiritual Law laid out for us that almost the entire world has missed. He said over and over, “Go, and sin no more.” And this was ALL THE GUILTY had to do. The PAST was irrelevant to Jesus. The core teaching of this figure was that the selfless act of an instant can undo a lifetime of guilt. So if this is true, that the PAST does not obtain, that the past does not restrict the soul acting in the PRESENT, then it must be equally true that the soul acting in the PRESENT can reap benefit from its FUTURE self. If within the coordinates of our sojourn through this experience we are powerful spirits having grown more powerful with the accretion of newer lessons and experiences, then there is no barrier between the FUTURE you and who you are today- any limitations are self-imposed. Remember, if you believe resistance to anything will be experienced, then resistance will appear.
Hebrews 11:13: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." STRANGERS and PILGRIMS on the earth is implicit they knew they weren’t here to SAVE it.
1 Peter 2:11: “I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." This admonition recognizes believers as temporary residents on earth, urging them to live holy lives in anticipation of somewhere better.
2 Corinthians 5:1: Paul speaks of the earthly body as a temporary dwelling, saying, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." A BUILDING of God?
Hebrews 13:14: "For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come." This is reinforcing the concept of being sojourners on earth. And Hebrews 11:10 reads that concerning Abraham, “He looked for a city that had foundations, whose builder and maker was God.” When did he do that? According to Genesis text when Abraham took a long journey he went to Egypt.
  1. John 18:36: Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."
  2. John 17:14: In His prayer to the Father, Jesus says, "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."
  3. John 17:16: Continuing His prayer, Jesus states, "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world."
  4. John 14:2-3: Jesus speaks of His heavenly abode, "In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."
  5. John 15:19: Jesus tells His disciples, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."
You're NOT here to save the world. Waking up is evidence of being CHOSEN.
2 Corinthians 4:4: "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light…” This is AIX, the god of this world. Modern Christianity is only fooling itself; a soul does not become virtuous to BECOME one of the Elect, no, he is virtuous BECAUSE he is one of the Elect. This dovetails nicely with the statement of James Allen, “We receive not what we want, but what we are.” Further, this means faith is not conceived and known, but lived and enacted. Even our failures are acceptable to God- the parable of the Prodigal Son is evidence of this. That the wayward son who rebelled was given more attention and the place of honor than the one who blindly obeyed and has never stepped out to experience the world. It is the rebellious who change the world, not the obedient. Those who follow the status quo never build new experiences. This is dungeon programming.
Philosophers Stone: Transmuting the Unreal to the Realized
The holosphere, an impressionable medium, takes products of the imagination, which are fictions, and turns them into experienced facts. The generative field is totally independent of existing conditions and can originate new conditions OUT OF NOTHING. David Icke wrote that we are the direct result of a magnetic image we cast out of the way we think of ourselves.
Self-perception creates circumstances and conditions that confirm one’s own self-image, meaning, reality responds to you in the exact proportion to the way you perceive yourself. Our assumptions of truth, BECOME the truth.
Attitude will always influence OUTCOMES.
Fear is the Antipode of Faith
People who live in fear synchronize their spirit to receive the frequencies of those things that are feared. Faith is the opposite of fear. The spirit that experiences one is never experiencing the other at the same time. It is impossible for these two modes of frequency to coexist within the same soul. The positive mind produces power generated into a neutral field waiting for instruction. The negative mind absorbs the negative energies already present in the field, of fears others have experienced. Positivity is freedom to create forms by thought and action; slavery is fear-based thought that subjects you to dungeon programming If you think there is opposition, opposition will appear.
Application of force is a broadcast of energy exhibiting a lack of faith; it is the light yet firm touch that tells not of weakness, but of POWER HELD IN RESERVE.
A PERCEIVED Reality
Itshak Bentov in Stalking the Wild Pendulum, wrote, “The physical body is made up of interesting, pulsating fields. What we call a physical body- flesh, bones and blood, rapidly disappears when highly magnified.” We are the nexus between the quantum and cosmological, the infinitely tiny light components of the ether to the vast constructs that have been built out of the worlds of ideas already impressed upon the holography. The placebo effect is evidence that this is a PERCEIVED reality, not an actual one.
René Descartes (from "Meditations on First Philosophy"): "I have convinced myself that there is absolutely nothing in the world, no sky, no earth, no minds, no bodies. Does it now follow that I too do not exist? No: if I convinced myself of something [then] I certainly existed." Descartes' methodical doubt led him to question the reality of the external world, suggesting that our perceptions and beliefs about the world could be deceptive.
Massimo Citro said that we are victims of a machine that produces a virtual reality that keeps us separated from the REAL reality by representations that are not real. Sounds a lot like Arthur Schoepenhouer and Rene Descarte to me.
Massimo also said that our bodies are illusions, that we live in a fiction.
Borrowing from the Future
Paul Arden said, “If you can’t solve a problem, it’s because you’re playing by the rules.” Remember, this isn’t an actual reality, but a PERCEIVED reality. And this experience is merely the result of our perceptions, then borrowing from a FUTURE perception is not impossible at all.
Albert Camus wrote that the last pages of a book are already contained in the first pages. So is it so hard to believe that in the book that is your life you can borrow from a future chapter a part of the story you need today? James Ray said it best- “When you look at your current state of affairs and define yourself by that. Then you doom yourself to have nothing more than the same in the future.”Because we are spirit moored to that which is Eternal, then our present self is little different from the self we will one day be. And since our future self is also our present self and this self actually lies outside
TIME, then there is no mystery in our present ability to draw power, courage, healing and faith from a future version of our timeless identity Imagination is where most of us live anyway. The past is experienced through MEMORY and the future is experienced through WORRY, which is not as it should be. When thinking of the future most people slip into negative default mode and the thinking is negative. We’ve been doing it all our lives and it’s the CAUSE for our present conditions.
Thomas Troward over a century ago said, If the end is already secured, then all the steps leading up to it are secured as well. This means the solutions have already been found and experienced, and if they already exist SOMEWHERE, then they can be accessed ANYWHERE. Draw from ourselves more than we contain, only possible because we are moored to something else and this power reserve is limitless.
The world of thought and imagination vibrates on a higher order than base matter- this is why the mental realm is NOT BOUND to the laws ascribed to the physical world. MIND exists in a dimension beyond the material Because THOUGHT is the start of all things, the PAST is totally inconsequential. The field receives our new thoughts and is in no way LIMITED BY PRECEDENT. The past is not a predicate for the future to the individual, only for the collective.
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This is an excellent pdf from Archaix, ive came to the same conclusion from different sources which only strengthens what this says. I added some quotes from some great minds to.
Have a beautiful day folks stay positive.
submitted by ConsciousRun6137 to starseeds [link] [comments]

2024.04.07 20:38 Likes2game03 The 10 Worst Luxendarc Villains Based on Personalities

I'm ranking these people or being based on their personalities. As in, they would truly suck if they existed in real life too. And I'm taking into account their actions as well. Comment if you agree or disagree.
  1. Ouroboros. Sees everything & everyone as either boring or expendable. He would bring all negative aspects of creation onto the entire mulitiverse for his own damned enjoyment. He destroys several worlds just to demoralize his enemies. He is nihilism personified and I cannot imagine what life would be like if a being like Ouroboros existed. Without a doubt he's THE WORST.
  2. Airy. Everyone who's played through the whole knows how vile she really is. Once the crystal is spiraled, her complete facade is gone. The very definition of "vituperative", she has NO redeeming qualities. When her fakeness comes off, you cannot look past it! Seriously, I've never experienced a villain whose personality becomes that hateful in only a few minutes. Her death couldn't have been more fitting! Awful all over, scum who does absolutely no one any good.
  3. Anne. Someone who enjoys manipulating other for their own goals. She makes it clear it's more like she won't be reasoned with rather than can't. Even worse, she taunts others when she thinks she has the upper hand. Before she dies, she still thinks she'll succeed. That's how overconfident she is, even after being killed by the very people she spat at in their final battle and mocking their whole kind. She's a trash-talking, evil, piece of filth. She will go un-mourned.
  4. Qada. He's boastful, arrogant, & lacks remorse. This deliberately causeed the deaths of several thousands (including his allies). The only time he feels sorry is when he loses bodies for his own twisted experiments. He's so slimy, even his own allies show visible contempt. And he would've continued his twist ambition if he was killed during the Eisen arc.
  5. Fiora DeRosa. He uses women either as experiments or as steppingstones for his own selfish purposes in way frankly vile ways. What's worse is that he doesn't feel any guilt in what he does. Don't need to say more, he just sucks!
  6. Janne Balestra. Possibly the most vindictive person in the Luxendarc Saga, his way of think is way worse than most. He blames the entire world for his misfortune & thinks it's rotten. On top of that, he's a murderer (in both timelines). What makes him worse than Victoria is that while she had an awful past & was mentally ill, Janne is making these choices in his right mind. Plus, he positively had a better life than Victoria. Foster parents that cared for him, a good education at a private school, friends, and a promising future. He's just an awful person who plays up his misery.
  7. Omnias Crowe. Unhinged, anti-social, & a misogynist. He's an arsonist who would've burned down Caldisla if he wasn't told otherwise. Don't forget he killed his own men during the first chapter of BD. Also, during the later chapters, the party tries to calm him down, but he does not listen. One of those people who choose not to listen because of irrational thinking. Yeah, he would definitely suck if he existed in real-life.
  8. Denys Geneolgia. I'll get into this more in a later post, so I'll be quick, this man is a total jackass! He was willing to erase the entire world & everyone in it for the sake of a few people! Among trying to kill his only brother (more than once) and throwing the world back into chaos. Plus, I think he a bit of an egotist as well. That's as far as I'll get into him for now.
  9. Victoria F. Stein. Anyone who's played through the first half of BD knows what she's like. She kills several bystanders during the Florem arc, murders Olivia in cold-blood, taunts Agnes for being a vestal, among other things. She's a vicious psychopath. What keeps her from being higher is her past. Thrown away like trash from the Orthodoxy because of a terminal illness and left to die. The only reasons she's like this because of experiment that messed up her mind. So, beyond real help, but somewhat excusable.
  10. Holly Whyte. This woman is a downright sadist. During the first chapter of BD, Agnes was willing to surrender to them, but Holly just tries to beat on her just to vent? Healing or not, that is brutal! And it was implied she would do more than once! She's not the worst, but my God!
submitted by Likes2game03 to bravelydefault [link] [comments]

2024.04.05 17:34 DrUniverseParty [QCrit] Adult Literary Fiction, THE RUDE MECHANICALS (96k words) 2nd attempt + first 300

Hi all--I posted last week and got some very helpful feedback. :) I'm still holding off before sending my next round of queries out. (I sent 12 about a month ago, and haven't heard much--just a couple form rejections....so I'm gearing up for another round soon.) Anyway, I took a lot of the advice I got last time and developed this new version of the query. As always, any and all feedback is appreciated!
...
Dear [AGENT],
I am seeking representation for THE RUDE MECHANICALS, a multi-POV literary novel (96,000 words). It’s part trickster novel like Zoe Whittall’s The Fake, part Shakespearean theatre homage like Mona Awad’s All’s Well, with much of the same 90’s punk nostalgia found in Sam Lipsyte’s No One Left to Come Looking for You.
Once the frontman of a 90’s punk band, Liam Parsons now plays violin in a Shakespeare festival in Kent, Ohio. It’s been a long time since he’s had a friend who gets him. This is what happens when you’re a liar and a drunk—people move on. For the last ten years, he’s managed to be on good behavior for his wife, Sabine, and their three kids—but it’s all an act. Beneath the surface, he’s always itching to let loose.
At the cast party for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Liam meets Nick, a brash young actor. They befriend one another over a bottle of whiskey. However, Liam’s got no clue that “Nick” is actually Henry Arden—the son he abandoned over twenty years ago.
Henry, a college dropout, is also a liar and a drunk. He’s always wanted a relationship with Liam, but Liam has always refused his requests to meet. Henry, still fearing his rejection, wants to get to know him as “Nick” before revealing his true identity.
After each rehearsal, Liam and “Nick” hit the bar together. When their partying goes too far, Sabine kicks Liam out and won’t allow him back until he sobers up. Liam’s not ready to call it quits—nor is “Nick” ready to end his ruse. Therefore, they devise a plan to deceive Sabine into believing they’re attending AA. Problem is: once Liam decides to save his family and sober up for real, “Nick” may not let him off the hook.
I’m a college writing instructor and a recovering alcoholic from ___. My work has been published in such places as Big Anthology, Top Tier Journal, Mid Tier Journal, and Humor Website. I’m also the recipient of a 2024 ___ grant for fiction.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
....
[First 300]
After dropping the kids off at kindergarten, Liam drove home to burn the oats. All week, he’d been gathering materials: egg shells, charcoal, kitty litter, gravel. He’d spent hours Googling: “what do human ashes smell like?” and “how to make fake human remains.” If it was only the kids he had to fool, he wouldn’t have put so much effort into it. But if he wanted it to work, he had to convince Sabine, and that was why he found himself grinding blackened oats in the food processor at noon on a Friday.
The kitchen reeked. It was mid-December and cold. He opened the windows and soaked the Cuisinart in baking soda and water. Wiped the counters down with Orange Cleaner. In the garage, he mixed his materials in a Home Depot bucket. Earlier in the week, he’d baked the egg shells. Once crushed, they mixed well with the oats and kitty litter. Actual human remains for a hundred-and-seventy pound man would weigh about the same as a bag of sugar, give or take.
His father’s real body had once existed. A month ago, Paul had died in a motel room in Wheeling, West Virginia, likely from complications due to untreated liver disease. A housekeeper had found him. However, since Paul was checked in under one of his assumed names (there’d been fake IDs, phony credit cards), there was confusion in identifying him. Once the Ohio County Coroner sorted it out, they contacted Gabrielle, Paul’s second-cousin, now living in Arizona, and she contacted Liam.
Over the next few weeks, he tried to claim Paul’s body. Since his father’s real name wasn’t on his birth certificate, the coroner needed alternative documentation. But Liam wasn’t able to retrieve any documentation since his parents never married or had any child support in place.
submitted by DrUniverseParty to PubTips [link] [comments]

2024.04.03 05:29 SaphiraFlames Watching AHS again and got to Asylum

I probably have an unpopular opinion on their situation since I myself am Polyamorous but it honestly doesn’t seem like Alma was upset, or bothered by that part of their situation. In fact she let Grace comfort her when she thought they were being attacked by them again.
Alma also showed compassion and care for Grace when she first lost her temper, but they both had different trauma responses to their mutual experience. Grace took the side of everything happens for a reason that it was all a miracle, and Alma saw them as monsters (to be fair they saw them as an experiment like how human scientists treat animals to the Aliens kit and his offspring were important no doubt but not in the “precious life” way but more the possibility of creating amazing specimens important).
It’s also is understandable how they have different takes seeing as the Aliens killed Alma and then brought her back while they saved Grace from her death caused by the guards actions.
Even though if we were to get technical the Aliens also almost killed Grace with their “botched hysterectomy” if not for Arden saving her.
But again Grace only sees the miracle they gave her, a return to life and a child. She also believes they will return for the children and that “they serve a greater purpose” basically while Alma has a bit more realistic perspective that while they may not have had evil intentions they still committed evil/horrible acts and treated them like experiments, a means to an end if you will, and they left her with untreated PTSD, she was happy until Grace started to become obsessed with the Aliens and non stop mentioning them.
People who hate on either woman clearly don’t understand that both had their own experiences and beliefs and past. Grace had already been through the worst thing traumatically possible in her mind with her father and stepmother, and so she took the next one and made it a sign of greater things. Alma while being hated for her color and also having traumatic experiences due to the time period found the the interactions with her abductors were the most traumatic experience for her and not one that she could seek help for without being locked up.
There is something we are taught as trauma survivors no two people react to the same trauma the same way, a good example that was often used to help me understand was two people are in a car when it crashes. One was severely injured and almost died while the other came out with some scratches. The girl that almost died d while still having some reactions to things was not affected by her trauma much at all, and even was able to get in a car some months after the crash. The friend that had come out of the crash with only some bruises and scratches never got in a car again and would spend the rest of her life in therapy dealing with her PTSD. Both girls were in the crash and only one was affected in a way that was severe, and to add to it not even the one who was actually physically hurt by the crash. This is because we are all different and have different experiences even when having the same experience. This is often used as a reminder not to compare trauma because in the end we all react to trauma on a scale some of us have extreme reactions and some don’t, but no matter how small the event was that perpetuated this response for that person it was huge and life altering.
submitted by SaphiraFlames to AmericanHorrorStory [link] [comments]

2024.04.01 06:59 omegacluster Album Anniversary List 2024-04-01

Today's anniversaries are:
1976
1999
2000
2001
2003
2007
2008
2009
2010
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
submitted by omegacluster to ctebcm [link] [comments]

2024.03.29 15:39 DrUniverseParty [QCrit] Adult Literary Fiction - THE RUDE MECHANICALS (96k words) + first 300

Hi all--I'm still somewhat new to this sub. This is my first post. This is my second query attempt (I've already sent out a small round, but haven't gotten any bites yet--so I thought I would revise and get some feedback before I send out another round. (I anonymized a few details in my bio.) Any and all feedback is appreciated!
​
Dear [AGENT],
I’m seeking representation for THE RUDE MECHANICALS, a multi-POV literary novel (96,000 words). It’s part trickster novel like Zoe Whittal’s The Fake, part Shakespearean homage like Mona Awad’s All’s Well, with much of the same 90’s punk nostalgia found in Sam Lipsyte’s No One Left to Come Looking for You.
Twenty years ago, Liam Parsons, a 90’s punk rocker, abandoned his pregnant girlfriend after a drunken incident. His best friend, Seth Arden, married her and raised their son, Henry, as his own. Liam left town and has never acknowledged Henry’s existence. The guilt has eaten at him ever since, but now, in his late forties, he’s finally sobered up. He and his wife, Sabine, have three young children in Akron, Ohio. He manages a music store and spends his summers playing violin in an outdoor Shakespeare festival.
But when his father dies, he spirals. Next, he learns through a friend of a friend that Seth has also died, leaving Henry fatherless. It’s enough to make Liam start drinking again.
Seth’s heart attack occurs shortly after Henry has suffered a life-altering college soccer injury, kicking off his own drinking problem. Unsure who he is without soccer or his dad, Henry goes in search of Liam, the bio-father who rejected him. He disguises himself as an actor named “Nick” and auditions for Liam’s Shakespeare company. He’s cast in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Liam has no idea who he really is, but they quickly become backstage drinking buddies.
One night, after their partying goes too far, Sabine kicks Liam out and won’t allow him home until he’s working a recovery program. Liam’s not ready to sober up, nor is “Nick” ready to lose his new drinking-buddy. Therefore, they devise a plan to deceive Sabine into thinking they’re attending AA while continuing to drink in secret. Problem is: once Liam decides to sober up for real and save his family, “Nick” may not let him go so easily.
I’m a college writing instructor and a recovering alcoholic from ______. My work has been published in such places at [Big well-known Anthology, Top Tier Journal, Mid-tier journals]. I’m also the recipient of a ______ grant for fiction.
Thank you for your time and consideration!
Sincerely,
​
First 300:
After dropping the kids off at kindergarten, Liam drove home to burn the oats. All week, he’d been gathering materials: egg shells, charcoal, kitty litter, gravel. He’d spent hours Googling: “what do human ashes smell like?” and “how to make fake human remains.” If it was only the kids he had to fool, he wouldn’t have put so much effort into it. But if he wanted it to work, he had to convince Sabine, and that was why he found himself grinding blackened oats in the food processor at noon on a Friday.
The kitchen reeked. It was mid-December and cold. He opened the windows and soaked the Cuisinart in baking soda and water. Wiped the counters down with Orange Cleaner. In the garage, he mixed his materials in a Home Depot bucket. Earlier in the week, he’d baked the egg shells. Once crushed, they mixed well with the oats and kitty litter. Actual human remains for a hundred-and-seventy pound man would weigh about the same as a bag of sugar, give or take.
His father’s real body had once existed. A month ago, Paul had died in a motel room in Wheeling, West Virginia, likely from complications due to untreated liver disease. A housekeeper had found him. However, since Paul was checked in under one of his assumed names (there’d been fake IDs, phony credit cards), there was confusion in identifying him. Once the Ohio County Coroner sorted it out, they contacted Gabrielle, Paul’s second-cousin, now living in Arizona, and she contacted Liam.
Over the next few weeks, he tried to claim Paul’s body. Since his father’s name wasn’t on his birth certificate, the coroner’s office said he had to submit alternative documentation. But Liam wasn’t able to retrieve any documentation since his parents never had any court arrangements
submitted by DrUniverseParty to PubTips [link] [comments]

2024.03.24 03:16 Yarbles The Official Report of the February RVA Reddit (no we haven't) Bookclub

We met up on an appropriately cold day in February, but it wasn't so bad. Many of the regulars were out, but two new people showed up. My notes are really poor this month and I waited until the very last minute, but hopefully I'll get some of the books matched up to the right readers.
Antinium started us off and told us about Happy Place by Emily Henry, which is a romance but also about navigating complex relationships. And she also talked about Beach Read and Book Lovers by the same author. Antinium says she likes romances, but stresses they have to have a good plot and be written well.
Aurora_the_Off-White had read Emma by Jane Austin specifically for this month's theme. She said the male character was written by Austen to be unliked by the audience and not be relatable. Austen was trying to crank up the social commentary. We also talked about Pride and Prejudice and talked about Darcy having "all the worst, and the best, qualities of gentlemen at the upper end of the landed gentry class." Aurora said this book likely had a large influence on women's overall opinion of men.
AimeeAlissa has read a lot of Romantasy lately including the Ash and Ember series by Carian Cole, which starts with Storm, and A Court of Thorns and Roses. She likes Sarah J Moss's two series and went back to the Throne of Glass series. Apparently people say the series gets good at book 4 or 5. She said she was a little tired of the male characters all being princes, and all princes have supernatural powers.
She also read a Jane Austen type book from the one of the servant's perspective called Longbourn by Jo Baker, and talked about ElfQuest, calling it the original Romantasy. In a weird coincidence I happened to see this short documentary about the creator of Elfquest. It just popped-up into my suggestions list.
Aurora talked about a gateway to to the Jane Austin universe called The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray, which I think had some of the same characters as the Austen novels, and the first book of the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde called The Eyre Affair.
She also read The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna, calling it a cozy fantasy, the Winternight Trilogy starting with The Bear and the Nightengale by Katherine Arden, and Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko with Julia Meitov Hersey as translator. The second was a fantasy set in Russia in the 14th century, and the third is a fantasy from a more contemporary Russian setting. She especially liked Vita Nostra, saying it was like Harry Potter if it was written by Franz Kafka. I probably missed a few - Aurora usually reads around 10 books a month.
Asterion7 read Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, as his brother loves the musical, Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, which is a romance but doesn't go overboard with it, Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott, a retelling of the Baba Yaga story, and Menewood: A Novel by Nicola Griffith, the author of Hild. Asterion liked Hild quite a bit, which was about a woman born into pagan times and the lands around her became Christian across her lifetime. He also read A Separate Peace by John Knowles saying it made him angry it was so bad and calling it unrelatable private school bullshit.
Skyverbyver continued with the The Murderbot Diary series by Martha Wells, and read Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth, a retelling of the Antigone story but within a dystopia. We also talked about Illium and Olympos by Dan Simmons and its post literate society.
I think both AimeeAlissa and Skyverbyver read Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree and Bookshops and Bonedust. Alissa also read Third Eye by Felicia Day, saying it's a fantasy but it's funny, Bridge Kingdom by Danielle Jensen, TJ Kingfisher's Nettle and Bone, and [Fan Fiction by Brent Spiner], saying it was fine but Spiner is a humble and self-depricating person, and just isn't very good about talking about himself. She added that Making It So by Patrick Stewart actually made Stewart a little less likable.
I started with Sunshine by Robin McKinley for the romancy book assignment, and it was great at first. A different take on vampies in an Urban Fantasy setting that wasn't cartoonish the way some Urban Fantasies can be. The author was able to put the reader into the story and build characters you care about very quickly. Until about halfway through the book and the main character turns into the bratty, angsty woman character that's really prominent in YA. The plot and characters just kind of became less interesting.
So I cracked open The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman, about a (very) young teenager going about her business in a post-apocalyptic world where most people die in their early twenties. The dialogue is written in a strange pidgin vernacular, like if Mark Twain was writing Native American characters. This is interesting at first, but then, for me, stops being interesting about the point that I put it down.
So I cracked open 1945 by Robert Conroy, a World War II alternate timeline. I gave it a fair shot, but it sucked, so I put it down. I ain't got enough time to waste it on this.
So I cracked open Far North by Marcel Theroux, a post-apocalyptic about a woman living in post-Russian central Asia among the descendants of the modern world. It's very well-written and the main character was easy to like. She wasn't a transvestite, but found it easier to go through life allowing people to assume she was a man. It was very good and I'm not sure why I put it down. Maybe I was tired of the post apocalyptic stuff.
So I cracked open Blood Grove by Walter Mosley, which I needed to finish to add to a little free library at work. Walter Mosley is fantastic and the main character is a cerebral hard-boiled black detective in maybe the late 60s. I was about three fourths of the way through, but I was just in the mood for something else.
So I cracked open The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff and stuck with it to the end. I can't say I enjoyed it because there is so much abuse and hardship, but it's very good and brilliantly written. It's a survival story set in colonial America about a runaway indentured servant who wants to find freedom in the French colonies in the north, and has no idea how to get there.
I went back to and finished Far North and then cracked open Chenneville by Paulette Jiles and finished that. This was mostly a western about the immediate aftermath of the Civil War and a guy a guy with a brain injury looking for a murderous hombre. I learned a lot about the telegraphs during that period and how they worked. Maybe it's not the most useful information but I tend to like books that teach me about something. It's nothing special but the book was well put together.
Then I picked up The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner, a contemporary book about ecological disaster. There's something about the way it's written that seems wrong. Like the author might be an okay guy but might be a boomer or a capital "C" Conservative. It just seems wrong-headed to me. The society the author creates values captains of industry and everyone in it is a little bit racist and misogynistic. But it came out in 2017, so it shouldn't be too bad even if it were written by a conservative. Maybe I'll go back to it, but our next meeting is coming up.
So I picked up Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames for the good book by an asshole assignment. I never read it because the author got hit with a couple Me Too complaints a few years ago when that movement was front and center. The author would go to conventions and help out new authors (who maybe happened to be attractive woman) and then would expect some affection as recompense. But I'm liking the book so far. The guy doesn't seem like an asshole from his writing style, but the world is a little cartoonish so far. Too many mythological creatures show up in the story. I understand that it's a fantasy, but I want all the creatures to be ecologically sustainable within the environment. You can put a giant and a cyclops and a manticore and merdudes and a centaur in your story, but I want a plausible reason for them to be there.
On audio, I'm listening to Living the French Revolution by Suzanne M. Desan, The Ones who Got Away by Bill Yenne, still slogging through The Silk Road by Valerie Hanson, These Six Things Will Kill You by Brandi Shillace, and Chop Suey by Andrew Coe.
I'm not sure who was reading these, but we talked about Family Meal by Brian Washington about a gay an whose partner is killed during a police stop, Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto, and Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower. We talked a little about Tamsyn Muir books, and I was surprised to see two ore Locked Tomb books: The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex # 0.5 and As Yet Unsent # 2.5.
We talked about reading things at the wrong time in your life, like reading the Jane Austen books or Looking for Alaska as an adult instead of as a young adult. And about rereading something you know you are going to like to get out of a rut. We talked about disaster movies and horror movies being a reflection of a sociological fears, and certain types of films being popular at different times reflecting the fears of the overall society. We talked about trauma being sexualized, and you can sometimes you can see what a woman might be trying to process by seeing what they are reading or they are writing, or watching some of these tiktoks about books. Skyverbyver had a nice tip - she ended up canceling her Audible subscription because she was always able to find an audiobook that she wanted to listen to using Hoopla.
Anyways, happy reading.
submitted by Yarbles to rvaBookClub [link] [comments]

2024.03.22 05:04 BehaveYourselfPlz Reflections on the last couple of days in Welly

I'm not much of a writer, but what started as an exercise in catharsis has turned into something I wanted to share. I am a long-time public servant who has also worked overseas in the private sector, and the callousness exhibited by the government over recent days is unlike anything I have seen in my career.
Former US President Ronald Reagan, an icon among people with hawkish dispositions toward the nanny state, famously said that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help”. As soundbites go, it was a gem. To this day, like minded politicians the world over can parrot or paraphrase the words President Reagan spoke, knowing that the public sector is always available for a kicking.
Here at home, small-government advocates, whether by choice or through ignorance, don’t understand that for many people the government is not terrifying, but a life without government support would be. For many Kiwis, the nine most terrifying words in the English language right now are, “National, New Zealand First and ACT are in government”. Whether you are a recipient of government support, or a person working to provide that support, these are dark days.
As a public servant who worked through the full term of Jacinda Arden’s premiership, I was inside the tent during the period through which the current government says the public sector expanded to an unacceptable size.
While the public sector certainly grew during the Arden years, so too did the workload. Being asked to work late and at the weekend was a normal occurrence for most public servants, and being tasked with delivering a complex piece of work for a Minister at short notice was part of the day job. In fact, when Labour led the coalition with New Zealand First and the Green Party, the nine most terrifying words in the English language, for a Wellington-based public servant at least, were, “Shane Jones has demanded more advice on something pointless”.
The COVID-19 response period in 2020 and 2021 feels like a fever dream now, but it showed the importance of a skilled, well-resourced public service. I’m proud to say that everyone I worked with during those strange days rose to the challenge, and for almost two full years gave everything they could to the work of protecting the public. No task was too daunting, no barrier too high to scale. They didn’t do it for the glory or reward then, and they still don’t. They do it because they want to help build a better New Zealand.
How then, you may ask, has the government responded to the slashing of hundreds of public sector jobs this week?
David Seymour took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, now owned by fellow Libertarian and all-round nice guy Elon Musk, to bathe in the warm glow of job cuts at the Ministry for Primary Industries. Good.
Nicola Willis, the proud holder of a degree in English Literature, used the power of words to comfort the soon-to-be-jobless by conveying that her “heart goes out” to them. This of course is the same sentiment expressed by Lord Farquaad in the first Shrek movie, when he tells his followers that, “Some of you may die, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make”.
Penny Simmonds managed to stay out of the job cuts conversation, instead focusing her ire on that notoriously greedy subset of New Zealanders – the parents of children with disabilities. Finally, someone is standing up to them.
Self-made Chris Luxon, who against all odds and through brilliance alone managed to successfully lead the monopolistic, State-backed national airline of a wealthy island nation, accessible only by plane, has shown real leadership by encouraging the newly minted job seekers to explore their options.
Winston Peters may not have noticed what was happening in Wellington this week. He seems focused on engaging in slagging matches with Chris Hipkins, applying the Nazi label to various things, and engaging in a game of chicken with Chumbawamba.
Making public servants unemployed will score points with the government’s political base, but I implore you to look past the rhetoric to who those public servants are. Public servants are Kiwi taxpayers too. They are your friends, family, and neighbours. They take their kids to school, and they bring them to rugby or cricket at the weekend. They pay rent or have mortgages. They do their grocery shopping. They worry about paying the bills and saving for retirement. They have hopes and fears. They, like you, are just trying to do right by the ones they love.
Whatever you feel about these job losses, please don’t revel in them, because remember that the nine scariest words in the English language for those of us not affected right now, are “There but for the grace of god go I”.
Diatribe complete.
submitted by BehaveYourselfPlz to newzealand [link] [comments]

2024.03.22 04:22 BehaveYourselfPlz Reflections on the last couple of days in Welly

I'm not much of a writer, but what started as an exercise in catharsis has turned into something I wanted to share. I am a long-time public servant who has also worked overseas in the private sector, and the callousness exhibited by the government over recent days is unlike anything I have seen in my career.
Former US President Ronald Reagan, an icon among people with hawkish dispositions toward the nanny state, famously said that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help”. As soundbites go, it was a gem. To this day, like minded politicians the world over can parrot or paraphrase the words President Reagan spoke, knowing that the public sector is always available for a kicking.
Here at home, small-government advocates, whether by choice or through ignorance, don’t understand that for many people the government is not terrifying, but a life without government support would be. For many Kiwis, the nine most terrifying words in the English language right now are, “National, New Zealand First and ACT are in government”. Whether you are a recipient of government support, or a person working to provide that support, these are dark days.
As a public servant who worked through the full term of Jacinda Arden’s premiership, I was inside the tent during the period through which the current government says the public sector expanded to an unacceptable size.
While the public sector certainly grew during the Arden years, so too did the workload. Being asked to work late and at the weekend was a normal occurrence for most public servants, and being tasked with delivering a complex piece of work for a Minister at short notice was part of the day job. In fact, when Labour led the coalition with New Zealand First and the Green Party, the nine most terrifying words in the English language, for a Wellington-based public servant at least, were, “Shane Jones has demanded more advice on something pointless”.
The COVID-19 response period in 2020 and 2021 feels like a fever dream now, but it showed the importance of a skilled, well-resourced public service. I’m proud to say that everyone I worked with during those strange days rose to the challenge, and for almost two full years gave everything they could to the work of protecting the public. No task was too daunting, no barrier too high to scale. They didn’t do it for the glory or reward then, and they still don’t. They do it because they want to help build a better New Zealand.
How then, you may ask, has the government responded to the slashing of hundreds of public sector jobs this week?
David Seymour took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, now owned by fellow Libertarian and all-round nice guy Elon Musk, to bathe in the warm glow of job cuts at the Ministry for Primary Industries. Good.
Nicola Willis, the proud holder of a degree in English Literature, used the power of words to comfort the soon-to-be-jobless by conveying that her “heart goes out” to them. This of course is the same sentiment expressed by Lord Farquaad in the first Shrek movie, when he tells his followers that, “Some of you may die, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make”.
Penny Simmonds managed to stay out of the job cuts conversation, instead focusing her ire on that notoriously greedy subset of New Zealanders – the parents of children with disabilities. Finally, someone is standing up to them.
Self-made Chris Luxon, who through brilliance alone managed to successfully manage the monopolistic, State-backed national airline of a wealthy island nation, accessible only by plane, has shown real leadership by encouraging the newly minted job seekers to explore their options.
Winston Peters may not have noticed what was happening in Wellington this week. He seems focused on engaging in slagging matches with Chris Hipkins, applying the Nazi label to various things, and engaging in a game of chicken with Chumbawamba.
Making public servants unemployed will score points with the government’s political base, but I implore you to look past the rhetoric to who those public servants are. Public servants are Kiwi taxpayers too. They are your friends, family, and neighbours. They take their kids to school, and they bring them to rugby or cricket at the weekend. They pay rent or have mortgages. They do their grocery shopping. They worry about paying the bills and saving for retirement. They have hopes and fears. They, like you, are just trying to do right by the ones they love.
Whatever you feel about these job losses, please don’t revel in them, because remember that the nine scariest words in the English language for those of us not affected right now, are “There but for the grace of god go I”.
Diatribe complete.
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2024.03.20 14:56 Hamza9575 Warhammer 3 Revive Guide

Wulfrik, Demon prince, Festus, Sigvald, Vilitch cannot be revived. Cant revive wulfrik unless he got confederated into faction that can be revived. Cant revive middenland\talabecland\stirland as anyone except when you are playing as empire, Skaven rebels have a tendency to not occupy occupied settlements but sack them till they die unless it was razed.
Factions which cant be revived via rebellions can still be revived when crisis triggers if they are a crisis faction as long as they were not confederated, because confederated factions cannot be revived via both ways crisis or rebellion. Crisis factions are Sentinel tomb kings, Sentinel chaos dwarfs, All LL greenskins, All major and minor dwarfs, All LL skaven, All LL vampire counts, All LL wood elves. Cant have rebellions at bastion fortresses so cant revive anyone there except by nkari, Same is true for empire forts and high elf gates.
Changeling tzeentch respawns as a horde randomly but like nakai he may be affected by the LL never reappearing bug. Nakai, Changeling, Rogue armies, and Beastmen are hordes and so respawn randomly.
Tzeentch faction next to belakor cant be revived. Cant revive norscans varg, baersonlings, skaelings, aeslings and naglfarlings.
Slaanesh factions as player and even minor ai slaanesh factions can force revive a faction that was not confederated via post battle option after attacking that settlement. They can use this mechanic to revive factions even from high elf gate, cathay bastion and empire fortress settlements which is impossible to do with everyone else. So you can bait ai slaanesh faction to revive someone you cannot revive yourself. Warriors of chaos have similar but limited force revive capacity on dark fortress settlements if the norscan faction linked to that dark fortress was not confederated.
Revive locations:
Gharghar WoC at western plains of illusion and eastern noisome tumour, Yuan bo Cathay at shang wu, Ostankya kislev at bleak hold fortress, Valkia WoC at southwestern ironfrost glacier, Tong norsca at southern bloodfire falls, Boris ursus Ursun revivalist kislev in east eastern oblast, Kholek WoC at dragons death central chimera plateau, Archaon WoC at northern bloodmarshes, Yusak norsca at western eastern steppes, Khrag norsca at northern and western eternal lagoons and western deadwood, Vanaheimling norsca at konquata in albion, Belakor WoC at isle of wights southern albion, Subtle torture slaanesh at northern shard lands and 3 eastern the cold mires, Azazel WoC in eastern red wastes province, Norscan rebels norsca in vanaheim mountains and mountains of naglfari and icetooth mountains and helspire mountains and west red wastes and north albion and eastand southwest mountains of hel, Septic claw nurgle in the 2 western noisome tumuor, Mung norsca in frigid wasteland and north and east ironfrost glacier and north iron coast, Maggoth kin nurgle in kdatha, Kul norsca in north and south skull road and eastern the blood marsh, Exquisite pain slaanesh in western skull road and western the blood marsh, Dolgan norsca in stonesky foothills and northern chimera plateau and southern eastern steppes and all stonesky foothills, Crimson skull khorne in all northern wastes, Flesh greeders ogres in southern chimera plateau, Clan helhein dwarfs in eastern skull road, All seeing eye tzeentch in northeast and southeast plains of illusion, Broken wheel tzeentch in eastern eternal lagoons and western the cold mires, Bloody sword khorne in northeast and northwest and southeast bloodfire falls, Aghol norsca in southeast and southwest shard lands, Khazag WoC in center eastern steppes province, Miao ying cathay at northern gunpowder road, Zhao ming cathay at southern wasteland of jinshen, Snitch skaven at west Forests of the moon, Jiangshi rebels vampire counts at north nongchang basin, Celestial loyalists cathay at southeast and southwest imperial road, Dimmed sunz greenskins at north and south and east forests of the moon, Cathay rebels at celestial lake and north imperial road and south plains of xen and northeast celestial riverlands and southwest and southeast jade river delta, Burning winds nomad cathay in all broken lands of tianli and south great canal and northern of serpent estuary, Dead flag fleet vampire coast north jade river delta, Dissenter lords of jinshen cathay at all warpstone desert and center wasteland of jinshen, Clan krizzor skaven north wasteland of jinshen, Eastern river lords cathay at mount Li and south nongchang basin, Rebel lords of nanyang cathay at Lands of stone and steel and south gunpowder road, Spirits of shanlin wood elves at jungles of chian, Lokhir fellheart dark elves at north plains of xen, Jade custodians cathay at northwest and west and southeast celestial riverlands and north great canal, Wyrmkins norsca at south serpent estuary. Throgg norsca northwest and center mountains of hel and west gianthome mountains, Baersonling norsca east gianthome mountains, Kraka dak dwarfs north gianthome mountains, Throt clan moulder skaven hellpit black bloodpass, Druzhina enclave kislev troll country and center southern oblast, Goromadny tribe norsca in all 3 settlements of goromadny mountains, Sarl norsca trollheim mountains, Kostaltyn Great orthodoxy kislev at erengrad in river lynsk, Ungol kindred kislev at western oblast, Ropsmenn clan kislev northwest and southwest eastern oblast and the cursed city, Katarina kislev at river urskoy, Brotherhood of the bear kislev east southern oblast, Red eye greenskins at southwest northern worlds edge mountains and east peak pass and south rib peaks, Treehammers ogres north northern world edge mountains, Bonerattlaz greenskins at southeast northern worlds edge mountains, Karak kadrin dwarfs west peak pass, Black venom greenskins east solland and northwest eastern border princes, Dwarf rebels black mountains, Zhufbar dwarfs black water, Balthasar gelt golden order empire at west solland, Templehof vampire counts at northern sylvania and north southern sylvania, Sylvania vampire counts at center and south southern sylvania, Empire secessionists rebels empire at talabecland and middenland and stirland and mootland, Clan kreepus skaven at western ostermark, Drycha wargrove of woe wood elves at gryphon wood, Laurelorn forest wood elves at laurelorn forests, Averland empire at averland, Hocland empire at hochland and the middle mountains, Marienburg empire at the wasteland, Nordland empire at nordland, Ostermark empire at north and southeast and east ostermark, Oatland empire at ostland, Reikland empire at reikland, The black pit tribe greenskins at the misty hills, Wissenland empire at wissenland, Barrow legion vampire counts at north northern grey mountains.
Wydrioth wood elves at wydrioth, Torgovann wood elves at torgovann, Talsyn wood elves at talsyn, Skullsmasherz greenskins at settlement south of couronne, Parravon brettonia at forests of chalon, Mousillon vampire counts at south coast of lyonesse, Lyonesse brettonia at north coast of lyonesse, Karak norn dwarfs at center and southeast and southwest southern grey mountains, Karak ziflin dwarfs at north southern grey mountains and south northern grey mountains, Couronne brettonia at marches of couronne, Carcassone brettonia at carcassone, Bordeleaux errant brettonia at north river brienne and northeast piranha swamps, Bastonne brettonia at bastonne, Artois brettonia at forest of arden, Argwylon wood elves at argwylon, Aquitaine brettonia at south river brienne, Broken axe greenskins at barrows of cuileux, Citadel of dusk high elves at the capes, Clan fester skaven at southeast and west river qurveza, Clan mange skaven at center gwangee valley and southwest the creeping jungle, Clan pestilens skaven at center the lost valley, Clan spittel skaven at headhunters jungle and south volcanic islands, Blue vipers greenskins at aymara swamps and north jungles of green mist and northwest creeping jungles and south and west jungles of pahualaxa, Cult of sotek lizardmen at night forest road, Deserters of khatep tomb king at copper desert, Hexoatl lizardmen at isthmus of lustria, New world colonies empire at north and east jungles of pahualaxa and south the isthmus coast, Order of loremasters high elves at north volcanic islands, Sentinels of xeti lizardmen at northeast and southeast and northwest turtle isles, Skeggi norsca at center and north the isthmus coast, Southern sentinels lizardmen at south lost valley and north and west culchan plains, Spine of sotek dwarfs at spine of sotek, The awakened vampire coast at east and south jungle of webs and east mosquito swamps, The huntmarshals expedition empire at east creeping jungles, The thousand maws dark elves at southwest turtle isles, Tlaxtan lizardmen at north and west gwangee valley and west piranha swamps, Wardens of the living pools lizardmen at the sacred pools, Xlanhuapec lizardmen at north mosquito swamps and west jungle of webs and southeast piranha swamps, Blood hall coven dark elves at south and southwest jungles of green mist, Itza lizardmen at southeast gwangee valley and southeast culchan plains and south mosquito swamps and northwest lost valley and center river qurveza. Ghosts of pahuax lizardmen west ice fire plains, Brazen throne khorne center and east ice fire plains, Kairos oracles of tzeentch east southern wastes, Flaming scribes tzeentch west and both center southern wastes, Bubonic swarm nurgle abyssal glacier, Rapturous excess slaanesh daemonium hills, Clan gritus skaven north and center and south western ashen coast and west ironsand desert, Ssildra tor dark elves center and southeast and southwest titan peaks and southeast ashen coast, Cult of pleasure dark elves north titan peaks, Bleak holds dark elves bleak coast and north doomglade, Drackla coven dark elves south doomglade, Heralds of ariel wood elves at the witchwood, Broken chainz greenskins north and two center red desert and west doomglades and east ironsand desert, Clar karond dark elves at obsidian peaks, The drowned vampire coast south clawed coast, The forgebound dark elves at east and west clawed coast and south granite hills, Karond kar dark elves at the broken lands and north and east granite hills, Exhiles of nehek tombkings south red desert, Hag graef dark elves black flood and south iron mountains, Naggarond dark elves south ironfoothills, The ancestral throng dwarves south iron coast, Clan septik skaven at middle iron coast and north ironfoothills and north iron mountains, Ghrond dark elves spiteful peaks, Har ganeth dark elves road of skulls, Deadwood sentinels dark elves northeast deadwood, Da cage breakaz greenskins south deadwood. Alith anar nagarythe high elves at west and northeast nagarythe, Scourge of khaine east nagarythe, Nkari seducers of slaanesh slaanesh northwest chrace and north cothique, Avelorn Alarielle high elves at south avelorn, Caledor high elves at caledor, Chrace high elves at east and southeast chrace, Cothique high elves at south cothique, Ellyrion high elves at ellyrion, Eataine Tyrion high elves at lothern port in south eataine, Cult of excess dark elves at island in north eataine, Saphery high elves at saphery, The dreadfleet vampire coast at galleons graveyard, Tiranoc high elves at tiranoc, Yvresse Eltharion high elves at west northern yvresse, Tor elasor high elves at the islands of eastern colonies, High elf rebels at east and west eataine and northeast and northwest avelorn and southern yvresse and east northern yvresse, Grimgors ardboyz greenskins southwest path to the east, Bloodmaw ogres at east gash kadrak, Loose tooth ogres at southeast path to the east, Fulg ogres at west and center gash kadrak, Rebels at wyrm pass and north path to the east and east ancient giant lands and center zorn uzkul, Sabre skins ogres at center and west ancient giant lands, Blood guzzlers ogres at center and west bone road, Mountaineaters ogres at east bone road, Dark land orcs greenskins at plains of zharr and the wolf lands and north and southeast zorn uzkul and north and south howling wastes, Eyebiter ogres at center howling wastes, Sons of the mountain ogres at east and center mountains of mourn, Karak azorn dwarfs at west mountains of mourn, Crossed clubs ogres at northwest ivory road, Greasus Goldtooth ogres at northeast and south ivory road, Clan treecherik skaven at gnoblar country, Thunderguts ogres at mouth of ruin, Helman ghorst Caravan of blue roses vampire counts at haunted forest, Kugath Poxmakers of nurgle at south dragon isles, Tepoks spawn lizardmen at north and west and east dragon isles, Lahmian sisterhood vampire counts center and nortwest blasted wastes, Drippin fangs greenskins southeast blasted wastes, Moon howlerz greenskins northeast and southeast desolation of azgorh, Clan rictus skaven northwest desolation of azgorh, Imrik Knights of caledor high elves southeast plain of bones, Clan helhein dwarfs north plain of bones, Karak azul dwarfs southern worlds edge mountains and southwest plain of bones and east and center eastern badlands, Clan mange skaven east broken teeth, Clan carrion skaven west and center broken teeth, Clan verms skaven northwest and southwest and southeast death pass, Bloody spearz greenskins north rib peaks and east silver road and northeast death pass and southwest and center dreadrock gap, Crooked moon greenskins north dreadrock gap, Rebels in northeast and northwest and southwest blood river valley and south and east western badlands and north and south western badlands, Creeping death greenskins in forest of gloom, Scabby eye greenskins in north western badlands and southeast blood river valley, Karaz a karak dwarfs west silver road, Crooked moon mutinous gits greenskins east eight peaks, Red fangs greenskins west eight peaks and west eastern badlands and west and center blightwater, Clan mors skaven southeast blightwater and west devils backbone, The bloody handz greenskins west western badlands, Border princes empire northeast and south eastern border princes and north and west and south western border princes, Disciples of the maw ogres east western border princes, Tilea empire tilea, Aranessa Pirates of sartosa vampire coast pirates current, Clan skryre skaven blighted marshes, Estalia empire irrana mountains and estalia, Broken nose greenskins west and south the vaults, Clan angrund dwarfs east the vaults. Court of lybaras Khalida tombkings center crater of the waking dead, The silver host vampire counts east devils backbone and north and southeast and southwest crater of the waking dead, Top knotz greenskins southeast marshes of madness and center southern badlands and west and center barrier idols, Skarbrand Exiles of khorne east barrier idols, Sires of mourkain vampire counts northeast and southwest marshes of madness, Rebels in northeast land of assassins, Followers of nagash tombkings northwest and south land of assassins, The famished ogres great desert of araby, Greybeards prospectors dwarfs center and southwest atalan mountains, Thegans errantry brettonia northeast atalan mountains and east coast of araby, Chevalier de lyonesse brettonia west coast of araby, Knights of origo brettonia north coast of araby, Rakaph dynasty tombkings east and west cracked lands, Sudenburg empire south cracked lands, Strygos empire vampire counts north cracked lands, Khemri tombkings northwest land of the dead, Sentinels tombkings great mortis delta, Numas tombkings east and northeast land of the dead, Necrarch brotherhood vampire counts south land of the dead, Dune kingdoms tombkings northwest and southwest shifting sands, Drakenhof conclave vampire counts east shifting sands, Cult of sigmar empire land of dervishes, Clan mordkin skaven kingdom of beasts and east golden pass, Last defenders lizardmen west golden pass, Clan morbidus skaven jungle of the gods and south southern jungles, Leaf cutterz tribe greenskins at central jungles and northwest western jungles, Bowmen of oreon wood elves heart of the jungle, Ironbrows expedition dwarfs south southlands worlds edge mountains, Arachnos greenskins center and north southlands worlds edge mountains, Tlaqua lizardmen northeast and southeast western jungles, Fortress of dawn high elves dawns landing, Zlatlan lizardmen north southern jungles. Astrogoth chaos dwarfs at 2 northern settlements in zorn uzkul, Zhatan chaos dwarfs at central and west stonesky foothills, Drazhoath chaos dwarfs at southeast howling wastes, Tower of zharr chaos dwarfs in wolf lands.
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2024.03.16 07:44 YiMyonSin Who would you say is on the hot seat for this coming season? (2024 edition)

As free agency dies down, and we enter a new era of Titans football under Carthon's sophomore year as GM and Brian Callahan as head coach, there are hardly many expectations amongst the fanbase for what we're expected to do this coming season. The only starters left from our run to the AFC Championship game are Jeffery Simmons and Harold Landry, and if you want to throw in the last time we had a winning season, you can only throw in Amani Hooker. Of course, there are certain players that will have expectations to meet and/or are expected to leave Nashville if they don't show out this year. On last year's post, I predicted that Vrabel was on the hot seat alongside a bunch of other names like Autry, Tannehill and Henry. Fulton, Farley and NPF are still TBD to stay here with the latter two under contract, but I still managed to go at least 7-3 on my prediction. Regardless, here is who I think is currently on the hotseat for this season as well as guys that I doubt will make the final cut.
Will Levis: Let's start with the main focus of this offseason, the question that we have to answer this season: is Will Levis our franchise guy? Dude came out blazing hot against the Falcons with four touchdowns to no picks, but the games thereafter showed more struggles with a 4-4 TD:INT ratio and a lot of sacks taken. Like most fans that watched the games regardless of affiliation, I'm not holding this past year against him, but we just brought in another weapon to throw to, a veteran center to stabilize the offensive line, and are probably picking Joe Alt to protect his blindside. If he fails to progress under a coach that earned his stripes as a QB coach and offensive mind that can adapt to anything that comes his way, there's a good chance that Callahan will want his own guy under center.
Dillon Radunz: The man is entering a contract year, and filled in well on the right side of the line, grading out higher to close out the season at right tackle than Mike Onwenu, a popular free agent target for us. He's a decent pass protector and mauler in the run game, but there's one critical issue that he *must* clean up to find a starting role with us or elsewhere: penalties, specifically false starts. He finished the regular season with the most false starts of any player as Tennessee finished behind only the Jets for false starts committed. He's got two holding penalties, which isn't bad, and with Callahan in tow, I'm confident that he can blossom into a franchise lineman with another year removed from an ACL tear two seasons ago. It's do or die time, though.
Daniel Brunskill: He's been a decent guard, but he's fallen off a bit as the season went on, so I'm not sure if he can be trusted to be a full-time starter, let alone on the wrong side of 30 and spending most of his career as a backup. Still, in old Bill Callahan we trust.
Treylon Burks: Putting aside how he got here, let's look over his career stats: 49 catches, 665 yards, one touchdown with 22 games played and 15 career starts of 34 games. These statistics are simply unacceptable for a receiver taken within the first two days let alone a first round pick and the guy that was supposed to replace a man that could have exceeded Derrick Mason's stature as a franchise wideout, and I'm absolutely ready to move on from him. If Calli and his guys think they can get something out of him, go ahead, but the odds are slim to none.
DeAndre Hopkins: He's been a reliable pass catcher, but he's a 32 year old wideout and a free agent next year, so I had to mention him.
Caleb Farley: Burnt toast in the few games he was able to play, missed all of this past season, has only played 12 of a possible 52 games, enters age 26 season. Sucks what's happened to him over the years, but I can't trust him to be part of this secondary despite the lax competition he has.
Arden Key: His analytics are good, with a 20% pass rush win rate. However, there's one significant issue I have with Key that prevents me from anointing him the next Denico Autry: sack production. The dude has never had a season with more than 6.5 sacks, and has never been a consistent starter in Oakland, Jacksonville, or here. He's going to be 28 with an out next year that will save 7.1 million dollars. Considering that Harold Landry has most of his sacks in the two years he could play with Denico Autry, we need to find a sidekick for him and fast.
Harold Landry: While we're on the subject, I'm higher on this guy than most Titans fans and see him as a valuable contributor to the defense. However, the fact of the matter is that he's had only one season over 5.5 sacks without Denico on the other side with an out in his contract that will save 39.4 million dollars over the next two years. So far, we only have him and Simmons as legitimate difference makers in the front 7, and the last time that occurred, we had one of the worst defenses in the NFL despite having a decent secondary at the time. At the very least, I'm all ears on taking an edge rusher with our second round pick even more than a cornerback, especially considering our weaknesses up front.
Amani Hooker: When healthy, this man can play like one of the best safeties in the game. Problem arises in those first two words: he's missed twelve of 34 games the last two seasons dealing with various ailments. Furthermore, he's only forced three turnovers the last two years. Seeing how safeties are being cut left and right and that we can save 8.14 mil in 2025, don't be stunned if he's not on the roster then.
Kenneth Murray: This is the only free agent signing that I really disliked. For an analytically-minded front office, it was strange to give a near 8 figure AAV contract to a guy whose highest season PFF grade was in the 50's with ample time to show us who he is. All he does well is blitz, so he really needs to step up or face the chopping block with a stronger linebacker free agency and draft class in 2025. The guarantees haven't come out as I type this, but it's likely not fully guaranteed. God, I hope this linebacking corps is even mid to be perfectly honest with you
Nick Folk: He's been pretty reliable for us, but he's also turning 40 in November and missed two major kicks down the stretch that could've won games against hated rivals for us and possibly allowed Vrabel to keep his job if the rumors about the Oilers debacle hold any water.
Anyone in the front office or coaching staff: That just comes with Strunk; no one is ever as safe as they may appear, especially if they stack together lack of success for years at a time. It's not necessarily a bad trait, but just keep your eyes peeled. I don't anticipate Carthon getting the boot just yet, especially considering how he beat out Vrabel of all people in a power struggle, a guy that's embodied the Titans of the last six years to a degree that only Henry had exceeded, and Callahan just got here.
Would love to hear your thoughts
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