Disclaimer:
This post has heavy spoilers to the story of the version 2.2 and maybe to something else. Good luck to read all of this. I yap for Ena and maybe repeat myself little too much. Mentioned characters:
Sunday
Robin
Aventurine
Dreammaster
Bronya
Seele
Cocolia
Mentioned Aeons:
Ena
Xipe
Hooh
Long
Oroboros
Qlipoth
Mentioned organisations:
Beyond the Sky Choir
Astral Express
Family
In loving memory: Ena the Order “The one who transcends the many”
In loving memory of Tazzyrronth the Propagation “The Sand king”
In loving memory of the Great Tatalov “The Garbage King”
So, the original intent behind this post was to create a lot of puns about Order and Sunday (for example something like Golden Order Radagon Sunday, “I will have order” with Sunday and a falling train instead, Sunday working in a delivery and saying that someone’s order was cancelled).
But then I started remembering all parts of Penacony storyline that have fascinated me. And one particular part master stroked me. When Sunday used his “tell the truth or die in 24 hours voice magic” he used not the power of Order, but Harmony – the Path he supposedly deliberately left behind and betrayed.
How can I be so sure, that he didn’t use the power of Order, making it look like the power of Harmony? Well, nor Dr. Ratio, nor Aventurine, nor Welt, nor (most importantly) Robin didn’t notice any sign that the Order was used and that the power on display did in fact belong to Harmony. And mind you, all of them are quite clever, experienced and hard to deceive. And in Aventurine’s conversation with Acheron in the Horizon of existence, Acheron (who as Self-Annihilator isn’t affected by the illusions of Order and can see through them) referred to the brand, used on Aventurine as the “brand of Harmony”. And the last proof is that when Sunday uses this power, he makes a call (or if you are a pun enjoyer like me, “an order”) to Xipe, referring to THEM as “Triple-faced soul”.
So, this was a really long and a roundabout way to prove that even with his supposed devotion to Order, Sunday still remains the Pathstrider of Harmony (and the laws of the HSR universe dictate, that you become a Pathstrider by following a philosophy of a particular Path). While being a Pathstrider of two Paths is not called impossible in the game, and Harmony and Order mostly overlap, there are some key differences between them. It means, that Sunday to some extant still believes in a philosophy of Harmony and is not a complete devotee of Order, how some people could have believed.
So, the goal of this post is to delve on the philosophy of Ena and Harmony through Sunday’s story, words, thoughts and actions. And to make some obnoxious theories, but that’s later.
So, let’s begin!
Ⅰ
In his childhood, Sunday alongside Robin, was called by the Dreammaster “two best interpreters of the Great One”. That means, that as a child, Sunday was extremely close to the philosophy of Harmony.
Let’s remember what Harmony embodies as a philosophy:
“Then, they say, O you who have reached the end, enter into the paradise that envelops all! Join this great choir and feast, listen to the beating of billions upon billions of hearts, holding you in THEIR embrace...”
“To battle the brutality of the laws of the universe, intelligent lifeforms must discard their cowardly selfishness and the differences between individuals, fusing into one singular melody — to have the strong help the weak, and to protect life with death.”
That is what Harmony preaches and Sunday was a follower of this ideology. Harmony preaches selfless people not only helping and uplifting each other to build “the paradise” (a prominent theme in Sunday’s thoughts) bit also welcoming every other willing person. Harmony philosophy is about acceptance, forgiveness, cooperation, that no person is beyond redemption, that in every person has inside of them the force that genuinely cares for others and strives for good. Harmony preaches something like this: “Because if it is possible for every person to become a member of Family’s shared paradise, then we should at lest try to welcome them in it.” That’s why Harmonic Strings (Emanators of Xipe) are not people and are actually manifestations materialized as the responses to the Hive Mind’s demands. It is a seemingly naïve and romantic ideal for the sometimes and indifferent brutal universe of HSR that requires great kindness, compassion, understanding, belief in other people, ability to see the better in other people and uplift them. And Sunday-follower of Order reflects on that:
"When I appeared as a child, my speech, mindset, and soul reflected immaturity and innocence."
"As I grew into adulthood, I left behind my childlike side."
Sunday (as shown in the quest) was a person of great understanding, compassion, and love for other living beings, full of desire to protect them (bird, Robin, other people). He was able to embrace even the worst people if they would show even the slightest glimpse of desire to redeem themselves and change for the better, like people who allegedly sold their own children. It is notable that he both acts as a follower of Harmony and an enforcer of Order conspiracy because of these very character traits. The motivation is the same, just the choice how to act based on this motivation is different between him and Robin because of different experiences.
As the ardent believer of Harmony, the seed of doubt in his mind was planted ironically by the very followers of the Harmony -the Family. And the disillusionment about Harmony also began, when his belief in other people was tested. When asking Xipe to clear his doubts, Sunday asks three questions:
“Who can judge the strong when their power hides their crimes?”
“Who can vouch for the weak when they will pay any price to survive?”
“If "the strong defending the weak" is truly the foundation of paradise, then who is responsible for the suffering and anguish in this wretched world?”
The questions display that the preached Harmony doesn’t work as intended. The extremely hard ideal to follow was exactly too demanding for numerous people who couldn’t stand up to the responsibility that came with upholding it. Also, as displayed both in the main quest of Penacony and in numerous events and side quests, flaws and imperfections of Family(note: of the Family on Penacony) are numerous. We have an entire “Ode to Fool” in the Grand Theatre about internal bloodthirsty war between the Family, where two of the seven families of Penacony ceased to exist. When even Family: those who preach the Odes of Harmony don’t act as they preach, are not harmonious, don’t show compassion and forgiveness, it is extremely hard to still believe in its teachings. And from that, the belief in people starts to slowly crumble as the very belief in a possibility of a paradise preached by the Xipe, is tested.
That is what turns him to Order. The feeling that while the paradise of Harmony is theoretically possible, how much suffering must people experience before it actually arrives. And when will it arrive? And IF it will arrive? These doubts in human inherent desire to change for the better leads to the idea: “And what if they don’t change? Then why take the risks? Why not to create something that guarantees their safety, happiness and protection?” His desire for Order is still born from his love for humanity.
Ⅱ
And while the shift in beliefs did in fact happen, it wasn’t completed and some beliefs in Harmony remain, alongside doubts about the philosophy of Order.
To prove that, let’s remember the Grand Theatre part of the quest (“Everything that Rises Must Converge”).
Before that Dreammaster has a particularly interesting conversation with Sunday. Sunday not only changes their plan, taking Robin’s place in the plan and then he asks Dreammaster why Penacony was the chosen planet to bring “paradise” of the Order. If he was completely convinced, why would he pose these questions?
Sunday several times brings the part of 107,336 souls of the Oak Family in his monologues. Why? Because he uses them to give self-validation to his beliefs. It comes not only from his desire to grant “paradise” to everyone (and this guys as stated dreamed about the paradise of Order), but also from his self-perceived responsibility as the Head of the Oak Family to stand up to wishes and desires of his subordinates, to protect them, and as the man with greatest position among them, to fulfil the hardest task. Because if people he is in charge of follow and support his views, not only it gives him more belief in his set of beliefs(ha), but also gives him even greater responsibility to prove that their faith in him, in Order is not misplaced.
In first two acts he displays before us shortcomings of the Harmony, trying to display himself as the ardent believer of the Order:
In the first act “Ode to Prisoner” he says that the freedom was not really achieved in Penacony’s great Independence War, posing a doubt that the ideal of Harmony even existed in Penacony since the very beginning.
In the second act “Ode to Fool” the theme of not so harmonic Harmony remains. Sunday talks about internal civil war between the Family, that eradicated two of the seven families on Penacony. How “harmonic” it is!
But in the last and most important act “Ode to Order” has a surprisingly different theme, hidden in it.
It is supposedly talking about the future of Penacony, but there is something more if you listen to its content once again:
General: “Without a ruler who would protect the weak and fight back against the tyrants?”
Chansellor: “We must assist each other in protecting the weak, just as we must assist each other in opposing the tyrannical.”
This dialogue argues that the very measures Sunday preaches, are not required for the coexistence and unification are also an option. Case of how differently Order and Harmony solve one problem.
Jester: “Without a ruler, who will make the stars follow their paths, the tides rise and fall, and allow life to grow?”
C: “These things did as they will long before the ruler appeared, just as they will continue to do with rulers gone.”
Where the Order requires an all-mighty divine king, controlling the world (like God-Emperor of Mankind from Warhammer), Harmony simply says that actually such beings are not needed.
Minister: “However, now that we have bid farewell to our ruler. Who shall take their place?”
C: “We no longer require a ruler, for we were originally all rulers who stand above all things.”
Once again, order preaches about the ruler on the top of everything, the one who has all of the rights and makes all of decisions. But harmony doesn’t work that way. Harmony preaches that if every person has equal rights to enter its paradise, then they are essentially equal. Where Order differentiates people and treats them differently according to THEIR criteria, harmony does not as THEY are all-embracing.
The choice of the position of Chansellor as the one giving answers is deliberate. It is another innuendo on differences between Harmony and Order. In Order king takes the power and pushes everyone under his control. Chancellor, as the representation of Harmony in this argument, is a position not a person. He is subject to change, unlike king. Unlike king, Chancellor is chosen among the people, by the people. He serves as one man being the voice of many people, for they have chosen him as a Chancellor because their ideals are the same and thus, they have entrusted him to fulfil their ideals in reality in their stead.
Some people were not satisfied that the arguments were not posed against Sunday by the Astral Express. Well, this entire act serves as a counter to his arguments, showing the point of view of Harmony arguing against the necessity of ideals of Order. Most importantly, they don’t disprove hid arguments completely, but rather pose a possible alternative take on things.
The Clockwork doesn’t work on puppets because they are “satisfied”. But what gives satisfaction: Order or Harmony? In my opinion, Harmony. Remember: in THEIR paradise there is “peace bestowed, sorrows and strife released.”
The “king” in the text obviously refers to Ena the Order, and the last talk from the “Future” in the act is about “final rites” to the king, that there is no need to seek THEIR existence, nor remember THEM. It illustrates the final confusion of Sunday: if Ena didn’t fight back while being consumed, if the philosophy of Harmony prevailed in the confrontation among the Paths, why try to restore the Order?
And after that particular act he chose to reveal to us the finale of Ena’s story. That THEY were banished to oblivion by the united will of the people who defied Order. And THEIR death was praised alongside praises for the appearance of Harmony – the ideal that prevailed on Penacony in the end.
And that is what actually 3 is actually about. Puppets(Members of the Beyond the Sky Choir) ask what they and everyone else should do after the “king(Ena)” disappeared.
They feel no safety and out of their comfort zone when the one that controlled everything about their lives suddenly disappeared. And Chancellor’s answers are the representation of the ideology of Harmony, that you don’t need to be controlled to strive in life, for that there is more to universe and that the “king” is not actually required for betterment of society, that society can harmonize and evolve on their own, that the unity of people can replace the “king”. Ironically, “the Ode to Order” doesn’t glorify Order but rather disproves it from being the one and only universal truth.
In this act Sunday actually reveals, intended or not, that he doesn’t disprove Harmony’s ideal, that he subconsciously feels that it can stand on par with the ideal of Order.
Then, Sunday poses between us three questions, each one has different answers depending on your set of believes: order or Harmony. Notice, that Sunday doesn’t give his own answers to the questions.
“Is darkness equal to daylight?”
This question is very metaphorical. Radiance and light, eradicating darkness and giving protection to those under the light are a repeated theme in the ideology of the Order (“I shall ascend to the heavens, becoming the scorching sun. Bathed in my light, my people shall flourish, while all evil shall be eradicated” / “Those who live in the shadows do not bear the right to tread the illuminated stage.” / “I now permit you to gaze into the sun [hardest line in the game btw]”) But radiance is also a term sometimes used to describe Xipe. The greatest difference lies in the fact that what Order will not tolerate (“darkness”), harmony will be able to co-exist with and eventually embrace. So for Order they are different, but for Harmony not at all.
“Are sinners equal to the righteous?”
Order punishes the unjust and uplifts the righteous. For it, they are not equal. But for Harmony they are, mostly because before Xipe the very concept of sinners doesn’t exist. Harmony is all-embracing, for everyone can change for the better and be redeemed.
It is a discourse in philosophy: first question was about whether are you able to tolerate something that goes against you. While Harmony can, Order cannot (Sunday can as literally shown in the quest so he leans more to Harmony in that part). Second question was about whether people can change for the better and be redeemed. Order doesn’t believe in it, Harmony does.
“If you are born weak, which god should you turn for solace?”
It is another question to choose between philosophies because Sunday struggles to choose himself. If you are weak and you bow before someone(“king”) for the protection then this is a choice befitting Order, but if you choose to cooperate with others, uplift one another and “listen beating of billions of hearts holding you on their embrace” then this is the choice of Harmony.
Notice, that Sunday doesn’t consider us as enemies at all. As he says: “I genuinely wish to avoid a violent clash with my esteemed guests from afar.” When Astral Express team asks Sunday why did he invite us to the duel, he responds: “Because our shared goals give equal weight to the beliefs we strive for.” He regards everything happening more like a debate of two equally valid philosophies. Even in the fight with him (second one) he still invites us to join his chorus of Order. And he says “our final talk is concluded” only when he turns into his Embryo of Philosophy form, when literally everyone who could has risen against him. And then he reveals his true emotions:
“If your ‘paradise’ can save more people, sever my path with your hands”
He knows he is not infallible, that his plan can be wrong, that there is a possibility of making better choices, better decisions. And he asks us to prove, that Harmony after all is a stronger concept then that of Order. And his quote before that really makes everything extremely ironic:
“If we had never experienced solitude, how could we embark on different paths?”
Once again, this solitude refers to the times when he still completely followed Harmony. Yet he was the only person on the entire Penacony because of his great compassion, who actually followed what Xipe preached. Yet, in this he was alone. How can you be in Harmony with anyone, if you are alone. The irony is in the fact, that if Robin didn’t leave Penacony, of if he met another genuine believer, he wouldn’t have turn to Order and he would remain under Xipe. With many similarities of Order and Harmony: the epitome of Order is loneliness, being a sole ruler of everything, the epitome of Harmony is a unity of numerous people.
“And thus, my talk about Sunday has concluded. Next part is about Ena.”
Ⅲ
While his monologue about history of Ena can also be interpreted as parts above, it is much more interesting to discuss it when talking about Ena THEMSELVES.
“Let us commence with the dawning of the world… After the Dusk Wars, darkness veiled the sky, and chaos consumed the earth. Ena the Order emerged, destined to restore all existence. That marked the first day.”
The Dusk Wars are one of the most ancient (if not the most) periods of history we know about. Ena emerging at that time, makes THEM one of the oldest Aeons alongside Long, Hooh, Qlipoth and Oroboros.
” THEY gathered nebulae and forged them into picks, thus creating a grand lyre with black and white keys. Strike the white keys, and the sun rose. Strike the black keys moon and the rose. And so the cycle of day and night arose. That marked the second day. “
“THEY transmuted streams of stars into inked nibs, creating symbols to be pronounced and counted. THEY molded stardust into flowing rivers, assigning the righteous upstream and the unjust downstream. Thus, all things were marked and the world learned to discern between good and evil. That marked the third and fourth days. “
“THEY used the planetary rings to establish the law, forging a code of conduct among the masses. A grand lyre with black and white symbols of articulation and numerical notation took the form of musical notes. The downward-flowing river became a melody, and the cannon of law dictated the form. Thus, all mortals found their unique place within this symphony. That marked the fifth and sixth days. “
Ena, as we know was a control freak, at much bigger scale and extent, then Sunday could have ever hoped to become. We know that «Ena's harmonic songs seems to align within a three-dimensional framework, akin to an emperor maintaining hierarchical order among all creatures» Not only people, but the movement of celestial bodies were under THEIR control. THEY wanted to and almost controlled everything in the known cosmos. So, THEY were the only person responsible for everything. And when THEY were consumed, the manager of everything disappeared and the scales of order and discord lost their balance. That is why Hooh intervened and took THEIR responsibilities.
“THEY imbued world with meaning, perfecting all things in the heavens and earth. Then, THEY rested from the labors of creation. Yet, all beings cried to Ena – ‘Under the banner of the Order, you have defined all things in the Cosmos… but this made us realize that we are but puppets in your hands!’ – Thus, on that day, all beings united and cast the Aeon into the abyss of oblivion. That marked the seventh day. “
And this is the most interesting part. We know that Ena was consumed by Xipe, so why does Sunday refer to THEIR death as an action, made by humans?
As we know, Xipe “hails from multiple harmonious celestial words”, “a plural Aeon” and “THEY are the amalgamation of thousands of entities”. Thus, I pose that Xipe ascension was not a process of accension of a one person who somehow become an Aeon, but rather that several beings in a moment of unity (of “harmony”) were ascending as one. Next bit is purely theoretical:
But who could provide such unity before the existence of Harmony? Only the Beyond the Sky Choir – followers of Ena could understand the true extent of Ena’s control over everything and unify to create a change. Thus, mortals ascended into Aeon, befitting their shared beliefs, and from the Beyond the Sky Choir, Xipe arose with a new symphony of Harmony.
ⅠⅤ
Also, some other interesting bits from 2.2. storyline:
The most overlooked part of 2.2 quest for me is that part before boss battle when Sunday says that he doesn’t intend to either resurrect Ena or become a new Aeon of Order. While the actual possibility of such actions remains “enigmatic, we can now speculate that it could be possible to take control of a masterless Path or revive its master. I speculate that when we finally reach strongest Emanators level of poweallies/etc. the enemies we will be facing before actual Aeons will be unique beings like that: fallen Aeons in the process of resurrection or people in the process of becoming a new Aeon of a Path without one.
Another interesting bit of lore about Ena is that while she was “consumed” by Xipe, her Path still lingers in the cosmos masterless. While it was known about Paths of other fallen Aeons it is interesting that even assimilation by a broader concept Aeon isn’t enough to completely eradicate the Path from the face of the cosmos.
Some other connections that I noticed about Sunday while rewatching 2.2 quest were surprising even for me. Name a planet where the ruler intentionally left their subordinates in ignorance about the truth about the events for the sole reason of protecting them? It’s Belobog with Bronya and Seele (I could talk about similarities and differences of Bronya and Sunday but that would make already long post even longer). And this is why Ena was able to persuade Qlipoth. Because Qlipoth shares with THEM that general theme of protection. Because their Paths partly overlap. Because Preservation is about keeping everything dangerous behind the walls (in this case dangerous information about Cocolia), and everything inside the walls is safe, protected, or you could say “in Order”.
Ⅴ
P.S. I feel like in this quest there is still so much more to discuss(and I could write EVEN MORE), but this long wall of text is already too out of character from me as a humble follower of Enigmata.

I recently discovered there’s a club in my city that holds an open mic night once a month. You get four minutes on stage. I’ve never written or preformed comedy before. I plan on attending and just watching the other people’s set this month, then next month maybe try a set of my own.
For context, I’m pretty dry, sarcastic and say things I truly don’t mean for comedic effect.
Please check out what I’ve written so far and give me some creative feedback. Much appreciated, thank you!
Wow! Terrible idea alert!
No sugar coating it, this is gonna suck hard.
I’ve read the material and I guess ChatGPT was having an off day. Singularity is safe for now…
This is my first open mic ever, but I feel the need to mention my Patreon.
Let’s get serious though… about my Patreon
No, I wanna talk about finally finding a cure. Not for the pandemic, but the real virus, the woke mind virus. A lot of you are skeptical, but I can see one guy nodding along. He gets it.
No politics tonight. I tackle what really matters: racist impressions with puppets. But the thing is they’re not here yet, so it’s imagination time, close your eyes
I’m a liberal guy, but people have too many tattoos now. You used to have to be bad and scary to have them, now my CPA looks like he’s in the Yakuza
Recently hit the high seas and discovered a new breed of comedian: the cruise ship retiree doing ten sets a day. Met a guy doing his best Dave Chappelle. Dude, we just came from the Dr. Seuss water slide, I dunno if we’re primed for a discussion on free speech absolutism.
We’re more concerned with the ice cream machines than cancel culture debates. Read the cabin, this is like Wall-E in real life.

"Children learn to correlate consequences with their own actions. This is true of all of us, no matter what species we are. Adulthood is universally defined by maturity, and maturity is defined by nature as appropriate behavior to ensure your species' survival. If we apply this wisdom to the stage of evolution of a species, the culture and conservative capacity of intelligent creatures, then we can see it on that scale also. A species is like a child while they liberally explore their surroundings, learning the best behavior by trying everything, through the Trial of Errors. Then they mature and adopt appropriate behavior, avoiding doing things that work against their species, as individuals and as a whole. We can apply this pattern to the history of all alien races among us here today. This also includes the humans. I testify to this, as one who remains traveling alongside them and seeing each era of their ascended history. As the representative of the will of the Frendsikeel, as attorney to the cause of human endeavors and as their one follower in this galaxy, I say the humans are very cool." The alien sea otter with the boney shells covering her body spoke somehow in a human voice, having perfected the use of her translator so that it was indistinguishable from human speech.
There was applause among the limited audience of aliens at the application hearing for membership, each in their own way of signaling immediate approval. If the Cave Gods agreed, the Combine would be added to the councils of the Cave Gods And Friends Association. It was the dawn of a new and wonderful age for the humans.
The alien attorney visibly shuddered as an equally smoothly articulated translation started, and in a voice all-too-familiar. Osowl Fitten, Attorney-to-the-Humans, heard her nemesis from across the vast distances of both space and time. She was the Sunder representative, Supreme Prosecutor (of the humans) Eshka Layenna. The reptilian alien slithered out with a stylized collar to hide her frill and colorful paint on her face to look more appealing to the human eye. Indeed, the humans felt their eyes drawn to the masterful and ancient alien, who specialized in charm and glamor.
"Beautiful denizens of Rhema, world of art and music, esteemed guru, priests and patrons of the arts, lend to me your native attention. I will speak for you, and worry not what decision is made behind my back, by our wise leaders, the benevolent Cave Gods. They have heard the song of human laughter, recognized the absolution of human mistakes, graced the humans with thousands of years of benefits and gifts simply because they admire the beauty of the human soul. Is beauty not important? I would not stand in the way of beauty. We all know it is the first component of harmony, and we all know harmony is the first component of peace and we also know that peacefulness is necessary for love. And what meaning is there, that is greater than love?" Eshka Layenna spoke with passion in her human sounding voice, translated from a skillful use of her own vowels in order to inflect such sincere emotion. The attorney for the humans worried, for she had sparred with this particular individual alien half a dozen times throughout the centuries, and clearly they were both on the same course through the stars, sleeping for decades at a time in order to extend the usefulness of their respective careers.
The prosecutor skillfully explained that humans were beautiful in the ears of the blind leadership who had overlooked the capacity that humans had for, in their own word: violence.
Osowl Fitten sat quiet during her turn to speak in rebuttal. She could not quickly speak without thinking, it was not the way of her species and she was especially slow to decide what she wanted to say. In the silence one of the humans coughed expectantly, it was meant to prompt her, and she knew so. It was in all things, their little violences, and she had started to find it beautiful.
"Violence is the appropriate behavior when humans utilize it. They are equally capable of restraint and sometimes their violence is directed purely against the storm. Humans respond to all violence, they endure it and survive, they fight back, they commit violence for gain, even sometimes because they want to commit violence, with no further motivation. The Sunder administration has long sought to prosecute the humans because of this, and they are here today, to do this. I approve of this because it is the appropriate behavior. I would like to point out that the Sunder have invented many consequences to inflict on humans, and I must point out that to the human, those are called weapons and the Sunder have become hypocrites. On this day the Sunder are here to prevent the humans from becoming their equal, which is the appropriate behavior for the Sunder, because they anticipate that humans are dangerous, a known threat. They would list off all the times they have tried to blame humans for tragic events, or simply point out that humans were involved in a disproportionate amount of such tragic events, at the very least. And yes, humans are dangerous. Does not each new member bring a gift to the association? The Blue Light Watchers brought the gift of honest music, such as nobody had ever heard. Who among us was not moved by their music? The humans have brought a gift, and I foresee, the Dream Time, that this gift shall prove to be the greatest gift of all."
"What gift would that be?" Eshka Layenna spoke out of turn, amid gasps and gestures of outrageous surprise. Osowl refused to engage her opponent informally and ceased speaking until the Cave Gods had politely reminded the respected and venerable serpent of the absolute procedure of the courtroom, and begged her to behave appropriately. Then Osowl spoke, carefully avoiding addressing the question, while answering it anyway:
"When the Dream Time goes into darkness, and the galaxy can be crossed in an instant by the mere thought of terror, and there is no trade besides violence with this spreading nightmare from outside, that is when the greatest gift of all shall shine upon the threshold." Osowl Fitten turned off her translator and captions and spoke only in her own language. For a moment the court felt confused by this deliberate action, before the significance of it began to sink in. Even the scarred and brutal human Admiral Jinar they had allowed into the proceedings looked deeply moved, her eyes watering, as though she personally understood both the words and the power behind them.
"I have no further arguments, Wise Ones. The prosecution rests." Eshka Layenna said with strange reverence, abandoning her entire cause suddenly.
"This then, is the final enactment of all our discussions, and there are no further actors. Let the humans say then, what is decided here today." The Cave Gods spoke in rehearsed unison.
The humans cheered. They had just become members of the Cave Gods And Friends Association, and the humans were now officially equal to all the coolest aliens throughout the galaxy.
When the courtroom had emptied there were still two creatures sitting there. Osowl Fitten stared for a moment at the human, gradually recognizing her.
"You are Jinar. How so? Humans do not use Star Sleep or live such profoundly long life spans. But I am sure, somehow you are she." Osowl Fitten said at last.
"I am now Admiral Jinar, of the Combine Unified Forces. We are currently disbanded, but I still think they are coming, and we should be preparing for them. Now that we have a say in things, I'd like to get started on that." Admiral Jinar told Osowl Fitten, coldly speaking business.
"Are you not pleased that humans are now recognized as equals to the Cave Gods themselves? In the association, all species have an equal vote." Osowl Fitten twitched her whiskers in a personal greeting, hoping to see Jinar's mood change.
Jinar relaxed and smiled just a little bit. Somehow sitting there trying to interpret the whisker twitches of the Frendsikeel made her feel like a little girl again. It was just a moment, but it reminded her of her own resolve of character. She had felt a kind of personal hell for most of her life, regretting something she had done while she was very young, but worried it somehow defined her. When she had defeated the scout, something had changed, she had realized she was merely playing a role, and the universe was calling the shots.
"Maybe it was better to have gods. The thought that we are responsible for the course is somehow terrifying." Jinar said in plain, soldier-like way of speaking.
"This is humor." Osowl gestured that she found it mildly amusing.
"Do you think they are out there? You're my attorney, I kinda care what you think." Jinar grinned a little, realizing she could communicate very easily with the alien. It was like Osowl just understood everything. It was reassuring to be fully understood and also approved of at the same time.
"It is not a coincidence that I chose this world for Summoning. Allow me to show you what inspires so much art, why this world is a melting pot of artists from seven alien species who all come here for inspiration." Osowl Fitten paused and found a small box held for her by a servo.
"What is it?" Jinar wondered.
"It is a gift." Osowl seemed perplexed. She was trying to assess the correct way to receive such a gift. It was meant as a statement of many different meanings, what was known as a cruciform. Osowl realized it was in the form of clothing, a colorful sash. She wrapped it over one shoulder, wearing it as a kind of toga.
"What for?" Jinar asked.
"It is complicated. I will wear this, to show my admiration and to accept the insult. It is a sign of deep friendship, but one forged through a necessary rivalry, for we are not without the other. My opponent, perhaps she says farewell."
"No, she says she wishes to be your companion still - to continue to argue with you. We shall Star Sleep beside each other and visit the same places. I do not want to be alone and I do not want this to end. It is what is best for each. Ave." The Sunder spoke from the shaded curtains, slithering out dramatically.
"I accept this. I would not wish to be without you. I understand the duality of our arguments the same way you do. Come with me, and we shall visit distant stars and foreign worlds." Osowl Fitten said without hesitation.
From there, the three women went to the attraction of Rhema that Osowl had chosen as a backdrop for the human inclusion in the association.
"Of this moment, we suspend ourselves, for the brace, my dears." Osowl hissed in Sunder and made her new friend laugh with an emote.
Eshka Layenna stopped and suddenly slithered around Jinar with serpentine swiftness. "Is she with us, equal one?" In plain English, another idiom but this as a joke of some kind by Eshka Layenna. She donned a purple garland and wrapped part of it gently around Jinar, the exact movement dancelike and affectionate. She flicked out her snake tongue absently in her self-satisfaction and then turned and wrapped part of the boa around Osowl, who groaned in mock reluctance to the amicable game.
"So we walk together?" Jinar asked.
"Precisely. Unless there is a place we must do something else?" Eshka gestured to the colonial canteen.
"They serve alcohol here?" Jinar felt no resistance as she walked towards the bar with her old lady alien friends in tow, the fragile feathered tether wrapped loosely around all of them.
"Drinks. You may take your toxic beverage." Osowl complained.
"I insist. I know you got something you'll imbibe." Jinar grinned.
At the bar the servo identified them and guessed they wanted alcohol. Osowl was served a thimble of it and a proper shotglass with the colonial guard stamp half scratched off of it was put down for the lady in uniform.
"That's pretty strong. Can I have more?"
"No." The servo said, and took the shotglass and wiped it out with a wash towel.
"Actually, I'm good. That's a pretty nice buzz." Jinar grinned.
"It is precise, madam." The servo said with a little bit of an attitude.
"I'll have mine - not." Osowl said.
"Is that right, are you afraid you'll seem ridiculous? I assure you your friends won't notice your inability to change your eye color while intoxicated. If it helps, you can wear a mood medallion. Would her Gentleness wish her mood medallion?" The servo had split personalities, and was suddenly all cool while talking to Osowl.
"Very much so, Jehosephet." Osowl accepted the medallion with a quickness that conveyed a gleeful shift in her feelings about the bar. Once her medallion was worn and shining, looking exactly like flax colored eyes, she gladly accepted the drink with no further inhibitions. She took the thimble and insufflated it and exhaled what sounded like a drunken wheezing.
"You party hard." Jinar complimented Osowl.
"Yes, this is the celebration I am in for." Osowl seemed to be gagging in her translator and took it off to fumble with the delicate settings.
Jinar laughed, noting that her eyes were flaxen with tints of green and yellow while her medallion showed bright red frustration and embarrassment.
"I cannot drink alcohol, so I shall wear the hat." Eshka Layenna leaned on the bar and the servo placed a massive crown of supreme derpiness on her, some kind of cartoon creature vaguely resembling a Sunder. It looked insane. Jinar laughed so hard she fell over and landed on her butt.
"Okay, so now that none of us may have her pride before the others, now what?" Osowl sounded normal, but her medallion was a glimmering pink, showing she was aware she was being deceptive in some way, as her voice betrayed none of her sloppiness in communicating. It somehow made her seem more hilarious to Jinar, as she could tell Osowl was drunk.
"I am worried that if we stay we'll be seen this way by those who admire and respect us and it will somehow diminish our reputations." Eshka Layenna stated.
"That's part of the fun. But anyhow, we're on a mission. Let's go to this place." Jinar agreed.
"I am afraid our jovial antics won't last beyond the threshold." Osowl cringed as she realized she had spoke a word that meant the same as Threshold, the prophecy of her people.
"What's the matter?" Jinar's voice drained of laughter and she adopted gradual concern, as Osowl hesitated to answer.
"Let us go first, and bid this moment to memory." Osowl insisted.
They departed, leaving their festive garments behind.
There was no landscape to explore, but rather spires of habitats above radiated pools of slag. They flew in a saucer, hovering at different speeds and angles against the natural gravity of Rhema. After a while the saucer had found a break in the low gray-orange clouds that obscured the world below the observational habitats.
"What is the significance of this wasteland?" Jinar asked slowly, not really wanting to hear the answer - already knowing what such an answer would be. The rhetorical nature of her voice was greeted by merciful silence.
The three sisters, each from a distant corner of the galaxy, born in different ages, and different species, stared out at the desolation and they each recognized the same measure of it, for it was the limit of suffering.
Osowl knew her friends understood. She herself had adjusted to her existence, the last of her people. It still hurt to come home.

Hey guys, as you probably or not know I am a 2024 graduating mechanical Engineering student who has been lurking in this subreddit for some time. My NUS journey has finally ended after officially closing my FYP for good. To commemorate this occasion, I like to share my farewell speech script since I always wanted to give one in real life but didn’t get the chance because I not 2024 valedictorian. At the same time I will make it an AMA post too. So just ask any question about ME u like. Can be about easy elective modules which I got A, optimum academic workload, FYP matters, Internship, etc.
It is my pleasure to finally graduate from NUS. Looking back my 4 years of University life really pass by in a flash. While it has been undramatic and lonely where I made 0 close friends, eat mostly alone except for a few rare occasions and made no GF🥲 like not even a single relationship. However ultimately I am glad I went through it. Saying I learnt a lot from NUS ME will be lying but at least I was exposed to a ton of engineering concepts which challenged me mathematically to a point I almost throw the towel and drop out. In a sense University education has built my resilience and drive towards learning sth that I don’t know which I believe is important in the context of life long learning. Since technology is constantly evolving and as engineers we need to ensure we don’t get left behind.🤖
Lastly atb for 3 June grade release, grades is ultimately just a variable in that job hunting equation. So even if u get bad grades it ain’t the end of the world. Can always compensate with other factors (E.g CCA, internship experience, competitions).
After Graduation Plans:
Will be flying back to my hometown later to chill before I start work. Speaking of work recently I have received a job offer from the public sector (defense is all I will disclose so no more DM spamming ah). Shocked they gave me an offer but it is a 2 year contract with full time conversion depending on performance so not exactly surprising. Guess I have to work hard for that full time conversion opportunity to truly unleash that almighty iron rice bowl. Gov job always been my goal since NUS matriculation so I guess I have achieved my purpose of coming here. Students who hit their goals aren’t real LowTierStudents so I will relinquish this title. Hence this will be my final post as LowTierStudent aka LTS on Reddit.🫡
Lemme know if u got any questions about ME major via this post or DM.
See ya! 😊👋👋 NUS, nus and LowTierStudent
PS: CS1010E you were a pain in the ass but ultimately I am glad I had to take up u twice. Although I lost a $349 mechanical keyboard…..nvm f*** this shit ass mod.
EDIT: Some think I am a foreignePR but I am a SG citizen. Just my parents were ex-china citizens and for some reason I pop out there so I consider china as my actual hometown. Majority of my relatives are there too. Reddit is blocked there so I will be going dark for quite some time. Will reply to the queries related comments and DMs when I get back.🙂‍↕️

A few days back, I had my college farewell. Everything went well and even I had given my farewell speech which everyone had appreciated.
You can checkout my breakup story here: https://www.reddit.com/RelationshipIndia/s/znkDjV9CEQ
For crux: Recently I had a very harsh break up with my gf(M22) of 2 years a month back. She is in love with her cousin brother right now. Even though her brother already has a gf but still she likes him and calls him Babu Sona, etc and they talk all day late night. In March, even she threatened me with a Gun on video call where her cousin brother was threatening me with a Gun on video call and she was giving a thumbs up as a cheer up for what her brother was doing. Our common friends had seen the video call when he was threatening me.
Lekin abhi jab me jab enjoy kar raha tha toh Mera ek friend bola ki hn bhot hasne Lage ho uske jate hi. Toh uska mane reply dia ki ab mujhe nahi farak padta usse because the way she treated me in the end is like sh*t. Tabhi uski ek friend tezi se bol badi ki hn hona bhi nahi chahiye Jo ki mujhe odd laga kyuki ye insaan itna bolta nahi hai.
I know ki jo hamare friends group me common ladkiya hai vo uske ghar jati rahthi hai. I know ki usne unko pura manipulate kia hai but what hurts me is that ki inhone dhekha tha ki how she was treating me and how her cousin brother threatened me on call. Me ek jindagi or maut ki ladai se bach ke aya hu or ye sab dhekhne ke bad bhi ye log aj usko support kar rahe hai.
I can't understand ki koi ase kase kar sakta hai yrr. Jis insaan ke liye me kuch bhi kar sakta tha. I was loyal af. Jisko me railway station pe pick or drop karne jata tha jab bhi vo Ghar jati thi. Fir jab vo insaan mere room pe ata tha uske par tak dabae mane ki thakh gai hogi. Ye sab hote hue bhi us insaan ne mujhe itni gandi tarha treat kia last me. Upper se Jo logo ne ye sab dhekha or mere efforts dhekhe us insaan ke liye fir bhi aj vo log uska hi support kar rahe hai.
Literally me pure raste roya hu is bat pe metro me. Ki ek jindagi or maut ki ladai se bach ke aya me or aj Puri duniya mere khilaf hai. Jis insaan ke liye mane itna kia aj vo hi mere Jan ke piche pada hai. Pure 2 ghanta me crowded metro me farewell se ghar ate time khada raha kar me roya. People was watching me. Me khud apne apko control karta fir vapis se Rona ajata. Me kisse ye bat kahu mujhe samaj nahi ata. Gharwalo se bol nahi sakta kyuki vo alag tension me ajaenge. I am trying myself to move on or kafi had tak mujhe lagta hai hogaya hu but fir bhi ye khayal a jate hai daily.
Abhi me apne studies or Kam pe focus karne ki koshish karta hu but bhot jaldi burnout ho jata hu. I am battling myself in my thoughts.
Last me ye hi kahuga ki life ne mujhe ek dam bottom pe fak dia hai. Kabhi socha nahi tha asa hoga mere sath. Nahi karna chahiye tha kisi ke liye itna taki uske jate time itna dhukh na ho. Meri galti hai sab. F*CK!! 😭
Sorry agar mere posts se pareshan ho, but this is the best place to rant and talk to people 🙏

It hasn't always been THIS catastrophically bad, I had a pretty wide vocabulary in my own language, and I used to do pretty well at my oral tests despite never studying if not as a last resort. Now, God I suck at every department. Terrible speech organization, few words in my head, I forget even the most basic ones at just eighteen. As a result I'm a nervous wreck whenever I have to mutter a sentence from the top of my head. It's completely empty.
I might be making it sound like there was a dramatic change at some point, but I've always been below average at pretty much anything that concerned talking properly, and that just now has been slowly degrading. I've always been slow in that department. And I'm talking only from an academical perspective, because socially I've been deemed to have Pragmatic Speech Disorder, as well as Social Anxiety (long gone, farewell) by my therapist, whom I had a pretty good relationship with and the first of three at the time that actually wanted to help me practice on a social side. I still suck, and she's been out of my life since three years ago already. What I need is a method to actually form a logical sentence in my head, that doesn't take three minutes to think of and five more to find the words for.
Should I get checked? Is my academic performance becoming even worse than it already was from a burn out? I feel like it takes an awful lot even just to think, and it's making my final year just a whole, incredible mess.

Rappville pub is in a class of its own been two story Timber over 113-year-old heritage listed Hotel, the Commercial Hotel Rappville is a Destination Dining Hotel and worth the visit in the small village of Rappville. Only a few minutes to Myrtle Creek and 20 minutes from Casino. This hotel has got so much history and is a credit to the current owners how have restored and maintained the integrity of the pub and offers food to a higher standard than most hotels and has a made a name for itself. The public bar timber tables and country style layout and then moving into the Parlor or lounge area and then to the rear dining area where the magic happens with the food the chef special board are the best, this is where he can show his true skills and we get to eat them.
Rapp's Commercial Hotel operated using the licence from a previous establishment of the same name owned by his wife's mother in the neighbouring settlement of Myrtle Creek 1880s early settler and businessman Henry Rapp, who first selected land in the area in 1888. In the same year, Rapp opened his new Commercial Hotel, designed by the local architectural firm of Popplewell and Sykes, on a site opposite the small Rappville Railway Station. This is a destination Pub and “This is Australia”.
Built in 1911 by Henry RAPP. 'Rappville' was named after the pioneer. Commercial Hotel, Rappville is now one of the oldest and last Timber pubs standing in NSW. The pub is also known as 'The Rappy' and 'Rappville Pub'. of historical history with design and many structural still in place in this 2-story building in original condition.
June 1913 Trove: H. V. Rapp, Commercial Hotel, Rappville, annual rental value assessed at £100 per year (Mr. S. M. Raff for applicant).
Rappville is situated was initially developed by European settlers for cattle grazing the likes of Wooroowoolga Station and forestry first, cedar getting, then other species hoop pine from the 1840s onwards; to these rural industries was added dairying.
Troves exert: RAPPVILLE SOLDIERS FAREWELLED.
On Thursday night, 23rd September,1915 Messrs. H. Rapp, C. Rapp, D. Lee, J. Hedley, D Owen, and H. Price, of Rappville, who have enlisted and left for Enoggera that night, were tendered a farewell smoke concert at the Commercial Hotel. The attendance was very large and the proceedings enthusiastic. Mr. K. N. Perrett resided, and after proposing "The King" gave the toast of "The Departing Boys." He referred at length to their patriotic action. He commended them and wished them a safe return after doing their bit for the King and Empire they all loved so much. Several other, toasts were proposed, and patriotic speeches made by Messrs. V. C. Small, A. Ford,'R. Forester, and others.

Jim Simons, a Pioneer of Quantitative Trading, Dies at 86
A mathematician, he helped usher in a revolution in trading, embracing a computer-oriented, quantitative style in the 1980s
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/jim-simons-a-pioneer-of-quantitative-trading-dies-6621d66e?mod=djemalertNEWS
Jim Simons, a mathematician who became one of the most successful investors in modern financial history, has died at age 86.
A cutting-edge code breaker and geometer, Simons helped pioneer a revolution in trading, embracing a computer-oriented, quantitative style in the 1980s well ahead of the Wall Street crowd. He and his team employed trading algorithms and artificial intelligence to outperform the market—and the likes of Warren Buffett and George Soros. Later, Simons became a political donor and an influential philanthropist in the worlds of science, health and education.
Simons, the son of a Boston shoe-factory executive, developed an early passion for mathematics and ignored the advice of the family physician who urged him to steer clear of the field because he wouldn’t make a living. The warning proved misplaced.
Simons began his career as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. He proved popular with students. One year, Simons amused a graduate class by confessing that he didn’t know much about the topic—partial differential equations—but that he viewed teaching the course as a good way to learn.
Simons became restless, though. He started businesses with friends and dabbled in trading. Friends and family detected a desire for wealth.
“Jim understood at an early age that money is power,” said Barbara Simons, his first wife, in an interview.
During the Cold War, in 1964, Simons joined a U.S. intelligence organization fighting the Soviet Union. He successfully broke Russian code but was fired when he took a public stance against the Vietnam War, upsetting his boss, who had spoken in favor of the war.
Simons joined Stony Brook University in Long Island, N.Y., where he ran the math department, developing an ability to recruit talented professors. At 37, he won geometry’s highest honor, cementing his reputation in the world of mathematics. His Chern-Simons theory remains one of the most widely cited math papers of the past century.

Farewell to academia

In 1978, at the age of 40, Simons astonished his colleagues by quitting academia to try his hand at trading. He started an investment firm in a dreary Long Island strip mall, next to a women’s clothing boutique and two doors from a pizza joint. At the time, many rivals were “fundamental” investors, chatting with corporate managers, scrutinizing balance sheets and relying on judgment and intuition to predict the ups and downs of investments.
Where others saw the zigs and zags as chaos, Simons, who had been trained to scrutinize large data sets, sensed that financial markets had more structure than most presumed.
“I developed a view that markets are not random, and [were] to some extent predictable,” he later said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “There were statistical anomalies that could be exploited.”
Early on, Simons traded like most others, reading the news and betting on gold prices and other investments. He scored gains but found it hard to endure the market’s volatility. He developed stomach pains and berated himself for miscues.
“One day you’re a genius, the next you feel like a dope,” Simons said. “Fundamental trading gave me ulcers.”
Simons set out to build an automated trading system that could discover fleeting and overlooked patterns in prices.
“I want models that will make money while I sleep,” Simons told a friend at the time. “A pure system without humans interfering.”
Simons hired scientists and mathematicians who used data going back centuries, predictive algorithms and machine learning. They often met with frustration.
“There’s a pattern here; there has to be a pattern,” Simons insisted one day.
At one point, their trading system inadvertently came close to cornering the market for Maine potatoes, to the dismay of regulators.
“We were viewed as flakes with ridiculous ideas,” said Elwyn Berlekamp, who helped lead the firm in the 1980s, in a 2017 interview.

A payoff, finally

By 1990, Simons and his team, in their East Setauket, N.Y., headquarters, had identified ways to profit from currency, commodity and other markets using short-term patterns they had found. It took years longer, but the firm, by then called Renaissance Technologies, eventually discovered a way to make billions of dollars on stocks.
Their winning strategy: holding investments for short periods, even minutes, turning almost all of the trading decisions to computers—and maintaining a veil of secrecy unlike almost any in Wall Street’s history. Colleagues said one reason for the firm’s success was Simons’s ability to coax accomplished mathematicians and scientists to join his firm, and get them to work together—his genius was managing genius.
“There is one GOAT [greatest of all time]. His name was Jim Simons,” said Clifford Asness, managing and founding principal of AQR Capital Management. “That he was also a nice, kind, generous and caring man just makes it that much more amazing.”
Between 1988 and 2018, Renaissance’s flagship Medallion Fund produced gains of more than $100 billion and average annual returns of 66% before the firm’s unusually hefty investor fees. The annual gains were 39% after those fees, a performance that topped those of Buffett, Soros, Peter Lynch and other investors during that period. Medallion years ago became a fund only open to Simons and his colleagues.
Simons defied the odds in other ways. He was a regular cigarette smoker, lighting up in office buildings, restaurants and most everywhere else. Once, during a presentation to potential clients, Simons couldn’t find an ashtray so he buried his cigarette butt deep in a sheet cake, amazing his guests.

Many converts

Today, more investors have embraced Simons’s mathematical, computer-oriented approach. About one-third of all money is managed by so-called quant firms, and businesses in various industries rely on algorithms.
Away from trading, Simons suffered tragedy. One son, Paul, died in a bicycle accident. Another, Nicholas, died while scuba diving.
“My life is either aces or deuces,” Simons once told a colleague.
Over the years, Simons reduced his role at the firm while focusing on science, education and other philanthropies. In 2010 he resigned as Renaissance’s chief executive, yielding the job to longtime employee and former International Business Machines computer scientist Peter Brown. Simons retired as chairman in 2021.
Simons’s health had deteriorated recently.
Simons gave away more than $6 billion during his lifetime. The Simons Foundation became a leading private funder of research in basic science. Simons also provided annual stipends of $15,000 to more than 1,000 top math and science teachers in New York City. He funded efforts to discover treatments for autism and spent $75 million to build an observatory in Chile to gain an understanding of creation’s earliest moments.
In 2021, Simons and senior Renaissance executives agreed to pay up to $7 billion to settle a long-running tax probe related to how the firm converted short-term gains into long-term profits, which are typically taxed at a lower rate. It was one of the biggest settlements in Internal Revenue Service history.
Simons was one of the biggest backers of Democratic candidates, supporting the presidential campaigns of Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, Robert Mercer, then the co-CEO of Renaissance, in 2016 became one of then-presidential-candidate Donald Trump’s most important backers.
In a 2019 speech, Simons offered a life lesson to MIT students.
“Be guided by beauty,” he said. “It can be a way a company runs, or the way an experiment comes out, or the way a theorem comes out, but there’s a sense of beauty when something is working well, almost an aesthetic to it.”
Simons is survived by his wife, Marilyn Simons, and three children. His earlier marriage to Barbara Simons ended in divorce.

My SO is in the military, just as a job, not as part of the culture. I usually avoid going on base like the plague, hello, Boomer fucking central.
We had to go on base last week, and figured we might as well stop at the on base grocery store for some essentials. Where we live, plastic bags are banned, been so for a while so we are used to bringing our own bags to the store, but since the base is federal, the plastic bags are still allowed. So we went to the grocery store with pur reusable bag, load up the cart, shopping obviously. When we got to the SELF check out, on purpose, we just want to pay and leave. If you're not familiar, the base often employ retiree, so if we want to avoid 10extra minutes of small talk, self check out is the way, except for this day.
We rolled up to the (again) SELF CHECK OUT, and this boomer lady is trying to help us check out. We are in our mid 20s, we have been to grocery stores before, we don't need an extra person fussing over our stuff. She purposely remove our reusable bag that we put in the bagging area, and put our stuff in the plastic bags. I said we brought reusable bags. That triggered her to go on a speech about how when she was young plastic bags were the way to go, and that everything comes in plastic bags, so what's the point. Me not wanting to engage, just said "well, we brought our bags so we would like to use these instead", didn't work. She is still going off about how when she was young, plastic bags were made to be convenient, she would never think the lazy generation nowadays would reject it, everything in the back comes wrapped in plastic, so what is even the point, blah blah, while still putting our stuff in the plastic bags, at (say it again with me folks) SELF check out.
I have just had enough at this point, I literally put the cart between her and the bagging area, so nudge her out of the way, and remove every items in the plastic bags and put it in our reusable ones. In the sweetest voice, I said "well time has changed a lot from when you were young, and we still have a lot of time on this earth so I think the stake is higher for us. You feel free to use plastic bags though, I just prefer not to be part of the problem, everyone has to do their part". She...short circuited? Then just turned around wothout saying anything and went to fuss over someone else.
We left with everything in our reusable bag, and the now deformed plastic bags where left in the bagging area.
Was it petty, yea, but what a weird fucking hill to die on, not to menion the invading of personal space, not respecting any bounderies, and think she knows better. Who cares what you were told when you were young? You popped lead like candies back then, so not really the height of science and technology.

We were never going to win back-to-back titles. Winning the title next year is more important. It's meant to be. Muller will give his farewell speech to the Allianz Arena crowd while holding the UCL trophy.

BHAAL
Lord of Murder
Intermediate Power of Gehenna
Symbol A white, face-on human skull surrounded by a counterclockwise orbit of many streaming teardrops
Realm Throne of Blood (Gehenna/Khalas)
Alignment Lawful Evil
Aliases Niynjushigampo (among the Gugari)
Superior Bane
Allies Hoar, Mask, Myrkul
Foes Arvoreen, Gargauth, Chauntea, Helm, Ilmater, Lathander, Llira, Savras, Solonor Thelandira, Torm, Tyr, Yondalla
Servants Loviatar, Talona; Kazgorath (dead), Shantu (dead), Thorax (dead)
Servitor Creatures annihilators, baatezu (dogai), beholders, blood warriors, bodaks, bonebats, boneclaws, bonedrinkers, cloakers, corpse creatures, cursts, darkmantles, darktentacles, deathdrinkers, deathfangs, displacer beasts (fiendish), dreads, firbolgs (fiendish), grell (usually philosphers), hangman golems, harrla of hate, ironclad maulers, lurkers, lurkers above, lurking stranglers, mad slashers, mohrgs, murderjacks, owlbears (fiendish), perytons, redcaps, ropers, shadow chokers, skeletons, spectral lurkers
Manifestations a pair of flying crawling claws that can point, carry or wield things, or grow or fire bone daggers from their fingertips; a flying and laughing human skull that hurtles around trailing teardrops; a sudden and uncontrollable urge to murder
Signs of Favor none
Worshipers assassins, murderers, bounty hunters, ritual killers, torturers, mercenaries
Cleric Alignments LE, LN, NE
Specialty Priests Deathstalkers
Holy Days Feast of the Moon
Important Ceremonies Day’s Farewell, any ritualistic act of murder
Portfolio death, especially violent or ritual death, assassination, murder, violence
Domains Death, Destruction, Evil, Hatred, Law, Planning, Retribution, Suffering
Favored Weapon Bone Blades (dagger)

BHAAL
Male Swordsage 20, Assassin 25, Soul Reaver 20
LE Medium Outsider (Extraplanar, Evil, Lawful)
Divine Rank 15
Init 53, Supreme Initiative; Senses 15-mile-radius; Listen 119, Sense Motive 119, Spot 119; remote sensing (10 locations), portfolio sense; sense magic
Aura divine aura (Will DC 73); Languages can communicate with any living creature; Dark Speech
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AC 106, touch 88, flat-footed 106 (+1 dodge, +16 deflection, +20 Dex, +15 divine, +16 Wis, +28 natural); improved uncanny dodge; Epic Dodge, Mobility
hp 1,730 (20d8 + 45d6 plus 1,300); fast healing 35; divine shield 23/day (150 hp); DR 35/epic, good and adamantine
Immune ability damage, ability drain, acid, antimagic, banishment, death effects, disease, disintegration, electricity, energy drain, imprisonment, mind-affecting effects, non-lethal damage, paralysis, poison, sleep, stunning, transmutation, and turning
Resist cold 35, sonic 35; SR 79
Fort 83 Ref 89 Will 85; discipline focus (Stone Dragon and Shadow Hand), improved evasion, save vs poison +32
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Speed 60 ft. (12 squares)
Melee Bone blades 108/108/103/98 (3d10 +67 plus 3d6 unholy plus 1 negative level vs good plus 1 Con plus 1 vile/18-20/x2 +32d6 sneak attack plus 6d6 unholy plus 2 negative levels vs good plus 2 vile plus wither limb) or
Melee unarmed strike 108/108/103/98 (3d10 +67 plus 3d6 unholy plus 1 negative level vs good plus 1 Con plus 1 vile/18-20/x2 +32d6 sneak attack plus 6d6 unholy plus 2 negative levels vs good plus 2 vile) or
Melee touch 94 or
Ranged Bone blades 108/108/103/98 (3d10 +67 plus 3d6 unholy plus 1 negative level vs good plus 1 Con plus 1 vile/18-20/x2 +32d6 sneak attack plus 6d6 unholy plus 2 negative levels vs good plus 2 vile plus wither limb) or
Ranged touch 94
Base Atk 58; Grp 72
Atk Options Bounding Assault, Dire Charge, Gloom Razor, Flying Kick, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Combat Reflexes, Improved Grapple, Leap Attack, Lunging Strike, Overwhelming Assault, Power Attack, Rapid Blitz, Shock Trooper, Snap Kick, Spring Attack, Stone Power, Stunning Fist (Fort DC 60), Two Weapon Pounce, Two Weapon Rend; death touch (1/day, kill a creature with less than 65d6 hit points as a melee touch), death attack (Fort DC 67, +15 against studied targets; double death 2/day, sudden death 2/day, vampiric death 2/day; Destructive Attack, Lingering Death), discipline focus (insightful strikes – Stone Dragon and Shadow Hand), strike of retribution 1/day (one attack with maximum damage against someone that that has harmed Bhaal), smite 1/day (+4 attack, +60 damage), sneak attack +32d6 (Disemboweling Strike, Maiming Strike, Painful Strike, Persistent Attacker, Staggering Strike), suffering touch (1/day, -2 to Str and Dex as a melee touch attack)
Special Actions alter reality, divine blast (31d12 damage, 15 miles) 21/day, power of hate 1/day (+2 profane bonus on attack rolls, saving throws, and Armor Class against one opponent for 1 minute); Adaptive Style, Blinding Speed, Deflect Arrows, Exceptional Deflection, Infinite Deflection, Reflect Arrows, Snatch Arrows
Combat Gear bone blades
Divine Spell-like Abilities (CL 60^th; +1 evil and law spells)
At will – animate dead, antipathy (DC 49), augury, bane (DC 42), banishment (DC 47), bear’s endurance, bestow curse (DC 45), blasphemy (DC 48), cause fear (DC 42), calm emotions (DC 43), clairaudience/clairvoyance, contagion (DC 44), create greater undead, create undead, death knell (DC 43), death ward, deathwatch, desecrate, destruction (DC 48), detect scrying, dictum (DC 48), discern location, disintegrate (DC 48), dispel chaos, dispel good, doom (DC 42), earthquake, enervation, eyebite (DC 48), feeblemind (DC 46), fire shield, forbiddance (DC 47), greater scrying (DC 48), greater teleport, harm (DC 47), heroes’ feast, hold monster (DC 47), horrid wilting (DC 50), implosion (DC 50), inflict critical wounds (DC 45), inflict light wounds (DC 42), magic circle against chaos, magic circle against good, mark of justice, mass inflict light wounds (DC 46), order’s wrath (DC 45), plane shift (DC 46), protection from chaos, protection from good, rage, righteous might, scare (DC 43), shatter (DC 43), shield of faith, shield of law (DC 49), slay living (DC 46), speak with dead (DC 44), spell turning, status, storm of vengeance (DC 50), summon monster IX (evil or lawful creatures only), symbol of pain (DC 49), time stop, unholy aura (DC 49), unholy blight (DC 45), wail of the banshee (DC 50)
Assassin Spells Known (CL 45^th or 60^th vs SR; +1 evil and law spells)
9^th (4/day) – energy drain, imprison soul (DC 51), mass harm (DC 51), superior invisibility.
8^th (6/day) – bodak’s glare (DC 50), mass inflict critical wounds (DC 50), mind blank, screen (DC 50).
7^th (6/day) – finger of death (DC 49), greater harm (DC 49), pulse of hate (DC 49), shadow walk.
6^th (6/day) – arrow of bone (DC 48), illusory pit (DC 48), mislead (DC 48), spectral touch (DC 48).
5^th (6/day) – choking sands (DC 47), ethereal jaunt, friend to foe (DC 47), shadow form.
4^th (8/day) – heart ripper (DC 46), sniper’s eye, unseen strike, vulnerability.
3^rd (8/day) – find the gap, misdirection (DC 45), nondetection, vital strike.
2^nd (8/day) – darkness, pass without trace, smoke stairs, wraithstrike.
1^st (8/day) – blade of blood, critical strike, ebon eyes, shadow double.
Maneuvers and Stances Known (IL 42^nd)
Stances – assassin’s stance (3^rd), blood in the water (1^st), flame’s blessing (1^st), leaping dragon stance (3^rd), shifting defense (5^th), stance of alacrity (8th)
Strikes – ancient mountain hammer† (7^th), bonesplitting strike (4^th), bone crusher (DC 53) (3^rd), bounding assault† (4^th), charging minotaur† (1^st), claw at the moon (2^nd), colossus strike (DC 57) (7^th), death in the dark (DC 49) (7^th), diamond nightmare blade† (8^th), emerald razor† (2^nd), feral death blow (DC 59) (9^th), five shadow creeping enervation strike† (9^th) (DC 51), hamstring attack (DC 57) (7^th), mountain tombstone strike† (9^th), pouncing charge† (5^th), sapphire nightmare blade† (1^st), shadow blade technique (1^st), shadow garrote (DC 46) (3^rd), shadow noose (DC 48) (6^th), swooping dragon strike (7^th)
Boosts – sudden leap† (1^st), dancing mongoose (5^th), raging mongoose† (8^th)
Counters – diamond defense† (8^th)
Other – shadow blink† (8^th)
Disciplines: Desert Wind, Diamond Mind, Iron Heart, Setting Sun, Shadow Hand, Stone Dragon, Tiger Claw
† Readied maneuver
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Abilities Str 50, Dex 50, Con 50, Int 42, Wis 42, Cha 42
SQ AC bonus (Wis), avatar, dual boost 3/day, discipline focus (weapon focus – Shadow Hand and Stone Dragon), divinity, hide in plain sight, immortality, poison use, quick to act +5
Feats Adaptive Style, Bounding Assault, Combat Reflexes, Dark Speech (B), Deflect Arrows, Disemboweling Strike, Dodge, Extend Spell (B), Flying Kick, Gloom Razor, Greater Two Weapon Fighting, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Grapple, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack, Improved Two Weapon Fighting, Improved Unarmed Strike (B), Leap Attack, Lunging Strike, Maiming Strike, Mobility, Overwhelming Assault, Painful Strike, Persistent Attacker, Power Attack, Rapid Blitz, Shadow Blade, Shock Trooper, Snatch Arrows, Snap Kick, Spring Attack, Staggering Strike, Stone Power, Stunning Fist (Fort DC 60), Telling Blow, Two-Weapon Fighting, Two Weapon Pounce, Two Weapon Rend, Vile Deathstrike, Vile Martial Strike, Weapon Focus (discipline)
Epic Feats Blinding Speed, Destructive Attack, Dire Charge, Epic Dodge, Exceptional Deflection, Improved Combat Reflexes, Improved Death Attack (x3), Infinite Deflection, Lingering Death, Perfect Two Weapon Fighting, Reflect Arrows, Superior Initiative
Salient Divine Abilities Alter Form, Annihilating Strike (Fort DC 77 or die; destroy 15,000 cubic feet of matter), Battlesense, Dead Bones (unique salient divine ability), Divine Dodge (65%), Divine Fast Healing, Divine Inspiration (dread, 15 creatures), Divine Sneak Attack, Divine Weapon Focus (dagger), Divine Weapon Specialization (dagger), Free Move, Hand of Death (Fort DC 73 for 25d6 damage), Irresistible Blows (Fort DC 77), Instant Move, Know Death (Will DC 73), Life and Death (Fort DC 73 or die, 300 damage on a successful save), Lord of Murder (unique salient divine ability), Possess Mortal (up to ten, Will DC 73), Shapechange, Supreme Initiative
Skills Balance 132, Bluff 61, Climb 123 (131 ropes), Concentration 123, Decipher Script 71, Diplomacy 71, Disable Device 80, Disguise 81 (83 acting), Escape Artist 85 (93 ropes), Gather Information 107, Heal 91, Hide 123, Intimidate 121, Jump 129, Knowledge (arcana) 66, Knowledge (geography) 76, Knowledge (history) 76, Knowledge (local) 81, Knowledge (nature) 65, Knowledge (the planes) 66, Listen 119, Martial Lore 119 (121 Shadow Hand or Stone Dragon), Move Silently 123, Open Lock 103, Search 99, Sense Motive 119, Sleight of Hand 92, Spot 119, Survival 83 (85 above ground, extraplanar, to avoid getting lost or natural hazards, 91 tracking), Swim 123, Tumble 123, Use Magic Device 99 (101 scrolls), Use Rope 123 (127 binds)
Possessions bone blades
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Discipline Focus (Ex) Bhaal can focus his training to take advantage of up to his disciplines’ fighting style. This focus manifests in the following ways:
Weapon Focus: Bhaal has the benefit of the Weapon Focus feat for weapons associated with the chosen discipline.
Insightful Strikes: Bhaal can add his Wisdom modifier as a bonus on damage rolls whenever he executes a strike from the Shadow Hand and Stone Dragon schools.
Defensive Stance: Bhaal gains a +2 bonus on saving throws whenever he adopts a stance from the Shadow Hand and Stone Dragon schools.
Bhaal also gains a +2 bonus on Martial Lore checks made regarding a maneuver in disciplines in which he has discipline focus.
Dead Bones (unique salient divine ability) Bhaal has honed his skills at torture to such a degree that he can turn his victims’ own bodies against them with a single strike, rending bone from flesh with but a thought.
Fifteen times per day, Bhaal can force up to 15 creatures to which he has dealt hit point damage to succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 77) or die as their bones are violently torn out of their bodies in a spray of jagged shards. All creatures within 15 feet must succeed at a Reflex save for half damage or be rent apart by the splinters, suffering 15d6 vile damage and 15d6 piercing damage. Creatures that die from the damage suffer the same fate as the original victims.
At will, Bhaal can animate these bone splinters into a halo of 3d10 blades that orbit a point of his choice (though usually his own body) and launch them as ranged touch attacks with a range of 150 feet. He can launch up to 3 blades per round as an iterative attack, and each blade is treated as one of his bone blades as a ranged weapon. Any creature that dies suffers the effect of Dead Bones as detailed above.
Alternatively, the Lord of Murder can turn the bone splinters into a barrier of magical grinding bone that functions as a blade barrier dealing 30d6 damage, half of which is vile damage. The barrier can be attacked and otherwise has all the properties of a wall of bones. Bhaal can make the barrier permanent if he desires, and creatures that die either from the damage or from the initial effect of Dead Bones cannot be raised or resurrected until the barrier is destroyed. (CL 65^th).
Divinity Bhaal is an embodiment of ancient divine power. As such, reality is his to shape as he sees fit.
Alter Reality: Bhaal may alter reality within the bounds of his portfolio. This functions as a wish spell that requires no XP or material cost. The limits of this ability are fully described in Deities and Demigods. He can additionally alter his size from Fine to Colossal and may additionally alter up to 100 pounds of objects in the same manner.
Avatar: Bhaal can have up to ten avatars at any given time. The Lord of Murder prefers to manifest in urban settings as the Slayer, a male, humanoid corpse with a feral face and ivory skin inset with deep lacerations that flow with black ichor. In rural areas, he manifests as the Ravager, a giant of a man over 30 feet tall, with long, tough sinews, a flowing beard and mane of hair, eyes that glow with the flames of Gehenna, a face twisted in a grimace of supernatural hatred, and two 7-foot-long curved horns protruding from his forehead.
Divine Blast: Bhaal can create a ray of divine power that extends for up to 15 miles, dealing up to 31d12 points of damage, as a ranged touch attack with no saving throw. Bhaal can unleash a divine blast 19 times per day, and alter the visual, auditory and sensation-based qualities of his divine blast as he desires. Bhaal’s divine blasts generally take the form of blasts of bloody fire carrying the whiff of brimstone.
Divine Shield: As a free action 23 times per day, Bhaal can create a shield that lasts 10 minutes and stops 150 points of damage from attacks. Once the shield stops that much damage, it collapses. Any damage Bhaal is naturally immune to does not count towards the shield’s limits.
Double Death (Ex) Twice per day, Bhaal may declare one death attack to be a double death attack. When he makes the death attack, the victim must make two saving throws to survive rather than just one.
Dual Boost (Ex) Bhaal can use two boost maneuvers simultaneously. Whenever he initiates a boost maneuver, he can also initiate any other boost maneuver that he knows as a free action. Both boosts he initiates are expended normally. He can use this ability three times per day.
Lord of Murder (unique salient divine ability) Death is Bhaal’s kingdom, but assassination is his trade. Murder is his art and his gift, and he has honed his skills at bringing death to truly terrifying heights. This grants Bhaal the following boons:
Enhanced Spellcasting: Bhaal continues progressing his assassin spells up till 9^th level, although he can only select spells from the Dread Necromancer spell list and the illusion and necromancy schools in addition to the spells allowed by his Assassin and Soulreaver levels.
Killer Instinct: 15 times per day, Bhaal can make a death attack against a foe without studying the foe beforehand. Every attack of opportunity he makes resolves as a death attack.
Profiling: Bhaal can study a target as a move or swift action. He gains a +15 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Search, Spot and Survival checks attempted against that opponent, and a +15 bonus on weapon attack and damage rolls against it as well as to the DCs of all Assassin and Soulreaver abilities against that target, and automatically confirms all critical threats against his studied targets. He can maintain these bonuses against 15 opponents at a time; these bonuses remain in effect until either the opponent is dead or he studies a new target. When Bhaal deals sneak attack damage to a target, he can study that target as an immediate action.
Trained Killer: Bhaal uses his character level to determine the effectiveness of his assassin class abilities. This also grants him 10 virtual bonus feats in addition to those already gained from his divine rank and his class levels.
Quick to Act (Ex) Bhaal has a +5 bonus on initiative checks.
Sense Magic (Su) Bhaal can spend 10 minutes focusing upon a weapon or suit of armor. If he succeeds on a level check (DC 10 + the caster level of the weapon or armor), he can identify the properties of that item, including its enhancement bonus and special abilities. This ability does not reveal the properties of artifacts or legacy weapons, though it does indicate that such items are significantly powerful.
Sudden Death (Ex) Twice per day, Bhaal can draw on unholy energies to strike with blinding speed with a death attack. This death attack is a full-round action, but it does not require him to spend 3 rounds studying his victim; the attack must still be a sneak attack, however.
Vampiric Death (Su) Bhaal may declare a single death attack to be a vampiric death attack, up to twice per day. If the death attack successfully slays the victim, he absorbs a tiny portion of the departing soul's life energies and gains a +6 profane bonus to his Strength and Constitution and +6d6 temporary hit points for the next hour. This cannot be combined with the double death ability.
Possessions
Bhaal wields the bone blades, a set of bone daggers he can conjure at will as melee weapons or as ranged weapons. The bone blades are +10 ghost strike keen speed wounding daggers of ki focus, martial discipline and unholy power when wielded as melee weapons and +10 ghost strike keen speed wounding daggers of distant shot, triple throwing and unholy power as ranged weapons. On a critical strike, the victim is afflicted with wither limb. Bhaal’s weapons are extensions of his being and thus are treated as unarmed strikes when it would be most advantageous and confer their weapon bonuses and special abilities to his unarmed strikes. (CL 65^th)
Other Divine Powers As an intermediate deity, Bhaal automatically receives a die roll of 20 on any check. He treats a 1 on an attack roll or saving throw normally and not as an automatic failure. He is immortal. Senses Bhaal can see (using normal vision or darkvision), hear, touch, and smell at a distance of 15 miles. As a standard action, he can perceive anything within 15 miles of his worshippers, holy sites, objects, or any location where one of his titles or name was spoken in the last hour. He can extend his senses to up to ten locations at once. He can block the sensing power of deities of his rank or lower at up to two remote locations at once for 15 hours. Portfolio Sense Bhaal can sense any act of assassination or murder the instant it happens and is aware of any act of murder or assassination, as well as any death, 15 weeks before the event occurs. He is likewise aware of any act of ritualistic killing or bounty hunting. Automatic Actions Bhaal can use any skill related to death and murder as a free action if the DC for the task is 25 or lower. He can perform up to 10 such free actions each round. Create Magic Items Bhaal can any kind of magic item that facilitates assassination or death, as long as the item’s market price does not exceed 200,000 gp.

• Drama: Nothing Uncovered
  • Korean Title: 멱살 한번 잡힙시다
  • Also Known as: Let's Get Caught by the Neck , Let’s Get Grabbed by the Collar , Let Me Grab You by the Collar , Grabbed by the Collar , Myeoksal Hanbeon Jabhibsida
• Network: KBS2
• Premiere Date: March 18th, 2024
• Airing Schedule: Mondays and Tuesdays
• Episodes: 16 (70 min each)
• Screenwriter: Bae Soo Young (Drama Special Season 9: Review Notebook of My Embarrassing Days)
• Director: Lee Ho Jae (Recipe for Farewell)
• Genre: Thriller, drama, mystery, melodrama
• Cast:
  • Kim Ha Neul (18 Again) as Seo Jung Won
  • Yeon Woo Jin (Daily Dose of Sunshine) as Kim Tae Heon
  • Jang Seung Jo (The Good Detective) as Seol Woo Jae
• Streaming Source: Kocowa On Demand Korea Viki
• Plot Synopsis: KBM Reporter Seo Jung Won is known as the Villain Hunter. Her show, “Nothing Uncovered,” reports about the villains who provoked the public, and her sharp comments made the show popular, making Jung Won a star reporter. However, she gets involved in a shocking incident that drags her down to the bottom, and she has to team up with her ex-lover, Kim Tae Heon. Tae Heon is a detective at Gangha Police Station, and he has to do everything his way. He meets Jung Won while investigating a case and gets confused by their reunion. Woo Jae is Jung Won’s husband, and he's a famous mystery writer from a wealthy family. Although he’s a romantic who’s willing to do anything for Jung Won, he has been secretly hiding his wounded heart. And now, the three are deeply involved in serial murders.
  • Adapted from the web novel "Oanyu-Myeoksal Hanbeon Jabhibsida" (오아뉴-멱살 한번 잡힙시다) by Nyureoki (뉴럭이)
• Previous Discussion: [Episodes 1 & 2] [Episodes 3 & 4] [Episodes 5 & 6] [Episodes 7 & 8] [Episodes 9 & 10] [Episodes 11 & 12] [Episodes 13 & 14]
• Conduct Reminder: We encourage our users to read the following before participating in any discussions on : (1) Reddiquette, (2) our Conduct Rules (3) our Policies, and (4) the When Discussions Get Personal Post.
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Good afternoon, tributes, and welcome back to "Stories of Panem." As usual, I would like to thank Christian Blanco, the original writer of "Tales of the Hunger Games," and Lauren from "Panem Reborn," from which these tales are inspired. One thing I would like to note is that after the 115th Games, I will be going on a 1 to 2-week break to finish up the extra lore part of the series. Likewise, I hope you all are having a wonderful day, noon or night, and if you guys are ready, let's go.
**Game 113 (149):**

• District 1: Unknown boy and Unknown girl
• District 2: Marcus and Hera
• District 3: Brock and Ignatia
• District 4: Sailor and Annamaria
• District 5: Leo and Arianna
• District 6: London and Wyoming
• District 7: Unknown boy and Ashley
• District 8: Slip and Monica
• District 9: Keith and Willow
• District 10: Georgio and Frida
• District 11: Argorio and Daisy
• District 12: Mayfair and Julia
• District 14: Vicente and Hannah

Belle Figoura, last year's victor, began her journey from district to district as per the usual duties of a victor. However, she had to be quickly ushered out of District 12 after both Mayor Trips' niece and nephew were reaped, causing a large uprising to form with a grand total of 62 of the district's population being sent to Ember Cavern, with unfortunately 4 peacekeepers passing away. After a rather boring reaping in District 10, she then arrived in District 9.
Mayor Osborne welcomed Belle and her entourage, which consisted of Acacia Ebony, victor of the 102nd Games, and a few of her housemates. Belle was soon whisked upon a rather quick tour of the district. Belle appeared transfixed at wide wheat fields, even being granted permission to bring back a handful of fluffy bread loaves. However, as she noticed a nearby warehouse start to set ablaze and many "delinquents" run out as peacekeepers chased after them, Acacia gently turned her mentee back as the tour continued on. Belle’s attention was soon turned back to the bread loaf as the 14-year-old comically nibbled her bread loaf as if she was a "woodpecker nibbling wood" by Silca. As the three returned to the square, the beige-cadred youths were being ushered into the square.
After the usual mayor speech was soon read aloud by Mayor Osborne, she then welcomed Belle to the stage before she herself expressed the joys of being a victor. She walked over to the female reaping bowl before taking out the name after 5 minutes of deliberation to herself of who she wanted to choose Belle took out the name of 17-year-old Willow Fraiser.
An olive-skinned girl with light brown hair and hazel eyes soon surrendered herself to the peacekeepers as they walked her up to the stage. This year's commentator, Silca Monty, had taken Camilia's position for this year due to her being on maternity leave. Silca marveled at Willow's long brown dress and hazel eyes, saying that she’d kill for that shade of brown. Willow weakly shook Belle’s hand as Mayor Osborne smiled and gave her a reassuring pat on the back as Willow stood to the right of Belle. Belle then walked to the before sighing dramatically as she walked to the male reaping bowl. After a brief pause Belle dug her hand into the reaping bowl before taking out the name of 18-year-old Keith Orduza.
A tall boy with short black hair with deadly green eyes with also a stern expression glared at the camera with a cynical expression leading Silca to ask if he “Got up on the wrong side of the bed.” Keith walked to the stage even Belle seemed petrified shaking the hand of the tall figure of Keith. After he shook Belle’s hand Willow smiled sadly as he looked the other way as Belle announced Keith and Willow as the tributes for District 9. Mayor Osborne soon dismissed the population of the district as Keith and Willow were driven to the hall of justice to meet with their families.
Willow was visited by her mother and grandmother tearfully embracing Willow. Her grandmother made her promise to come back as Willow's own mother looked the other way not wishing to upset herself further. Her mother soon turned around and sadly told her to “At least try.” Willow wiped a few tears before embracing her mother and nodding. As Peacekeepers, she sadly waved goodbye as her own grandmother shouted verbal tirades against the peacekeepers, leading to Mrs. Frasier to quickly usher her mother out of the farewell room. As for Keith, he was only visited by his elder sister. She patted Keith on the head before telling her brother about some humorous anecdotes about her new job as a security guard at the McDonald's warehouse. These anecdotes resulted in a smile crossing Keith’s face. He hugged his sister before being escorted to the train for the capital.
Keith shot Willow a glance before walking to the bar carriage. He poured a “Liberation Machine,” drinking this alcoholic beverage at a leisurely rate. He soon laughed to himself seeing Willow talking to herself about a “cat and a string.” He then walked to the nearby mirror before putting his hands through his hair and appeared to be styling his hair. After 20 minutes of poking and prodding at his hair, he managed to craft a rather attractive looking style. Viewers in the snow square laughed with Silca soon commending Keith on his effort on “beauty”.
However, the pair's mentor quietly walked in. Willow appeared to notice their mentor. She waved before silently giggling seeing what they were about to do. Once Keith turned around, he soon looked forward as their mentor Juninus Jasper said, “hello.”
Keith soon walked back to the dining table as Willow followed timidly as Junnius told the pair a bit about his background. He also mentioned his great-grandmother Altala. Willow’s face whitened asking, “Was she the mentor for the lunatic axe lady.”
Viewers in the capital laughed hysterically at Willow’s sudden wit before Junnius laughed, saying he “Already liked her wit”.
When it came time for dinner, Junnius watched in disbelief as Keith and Willow enthusiastically dug into the feast before them, much to his horror. "Well, I suppose we can't all have refined dining habits," he muttered sarcastically, shaking his head in amusement.
However, as Junnius tried to talk about the upcoming week, Keith abruptly cut him off, saying, “You're not going into the games, so why do we have to listen? We're going to be dead anyway within the next week. You shouldn't expect me of all people to be well-mannered.”
Junnius grinned before saying, “You can listen to me, and maybe you can get out alive.”
Again, Keith barraged out the words, “Try being us, you blonde rat.”
Junnius then shrugged before telling him to come here. It was then Keith suddenly whacked Junnius in the face. He dodged before slamming his arm into the wall. He yelped before Winnow looked at the fighting men before she pinched a nerve on Keith’s neck causing him to pass out. As Keith went limp Junnius looked on in surprise before grinning, “Come on, girl, let's try to give your district a win without the brat.”
Winnow smiled before Junnius chatted with her about the upcoming week before sending her to bed. As the pair from 9 and their dear mentor soon arrived at the capital. However, rather surprisingly, Junnius ushered his tributes, apparently not wishing Keith's verbal outbursts. When they arrived at the 9th floor, their stylist Frida Green warmly embraced him before ushering her tributes to the dining table as Junnius put on the reaping for District 5, and Frida showed them the butterscotch pudding-themed outfits.
When landing in District 5, viewers could see the visible sign of disgust on her face. Probably due to the fact that a rather rowdy crowd of district 6 citizens attempted to tamper with the hovercraft that was supposed to bring London and Wyoming to the capital. However, peacekeepers soon shot these hooligans, hence allowing the hovercraft to fly normally.
Mayor Hookfire and his entourage greeted Belle as the hovercraft disembarked. He brought her on a rather long tour of the district, touring the old victors' village homes such as Jason Gennings, victor of the 20th Hunger Games, Samuel Van Altagot, victor of the 32nd games, Porter Milfencent Trip, victor of the 38th games, and Ivette Li, victor of the 57th games, and Linett Laurier, victor of the 82nd games. The fact that these houses were still alive greatly confused Belle, in particular, but Hookfire redirected her to the “rather boring parts.”
After the tour had ended, Belle was escorted to Ravenstil Tower as the silver-cadred youths were brought up to the 100th floor of the building. Mayor Hookfire did his first-ever mayoral speech before welcoming Belle to the stage. She looked blankly at the rather large population of youths before muttering about the joys of the Capitol and the joy her victory brought her district before walking to the female reaping bowl. After a small silence followed, she dug her hand deep into the female reaping bowl before taking out the name of 16-year-old Ariana Swallow.
Immediately, cameras spotted a rather pretty girl with long brown hair with petrifying green eyes in the middle of the 16-year-old youths. Immediately, a chorus of giggles soon followed as one of the district’s “problematic youths” was ushered up to the stage with a deep scowl on her face. Once she arrived at the stage, she glared deep into Belle’s eyes, resulting in Belle laughing and saying, “My my, we’re in a vivid mood today, aren’t we?”
Viewers in the Capitol laughed hysterically; however, as Ariana was about to slam Belle into the wall of the nearby wall, she changed her fists to a nearby peacekeeper. After the issue was “resolved,” Ariana was then sent to the Drill Hole for the time being.
“You really want me to continue?”
Hookfire smiled with a tired expression before Belle walked over to the male reaping bowl before taking out the name 18-year-old Pluto Gingham.
A moment of silence followed before the district's sign language interpreter signed Pluto’s name. A tall boy with reddish-brown hair with glasses was soon seen signing to his friends before surrendering himself to the peacekeepers. Once he arrived at the stage, he gently shook Belle’s hand before signing to the interpreter, “Where's the girl?” As the interpreter laughed, Pluto then realized what had been before awkwardly walking to Belle’s left as Pluto and Ariana were soon announced as the tributes for District 5.
Belle soon escorted Pluto to the family meeting rooms before she was soon brought to District 4. Pluto hugged his mother and two younger sisters before signing to his mother some locations of hidden money from his job. His little sister Celestia soon gave him a good luck charm, resulting in most of the Capitol audience to awe sympathetically.
Pluto smiled before attaching the moon earring to his ear before giving the three of them one final hug as Pluto and the peacekeepers were brought to Drill Hole to pick up Ariana. After this, the hovercraft landed as the pair from 5 begun their journey to the Capitol.
Pluto wandered around the dining hall. He looked to his right, seeing the now vivid-looking Ariana. She flipped him off as he happily reciprocated before walking to the dining table, preparing himself a plate of food before eating in a rather dignified manner.
Ariana looked at him in a quizzical manner before walking to the other side of the table to eat. Their mentor Regina Harrington walked in quietly before signing, “How did you not see me? If I were another tribute, the two of you would have been gone by now.”
Ariana shrieked before apologizing. However, Regina looked dead into Ariana’s eyes before saying. “You already screwed your chances over. Go to your own carriage and think over your actions.” The Capitol laughed with Silca saying, “I forgot she’s a mother of 3.”
Ariana stormed off in anger before Regina looked over at the rather petrified Pluto. She smiled before introducing herself and signing to him about the upcoming week of the games and what to look out for. Regina was impressed by his attentive focus during her lecture, rewarding him with some Capitol cake. Pluto soon signed to Regina about his life in District 5 as a security guard at the district's most-used Powerplant. Regina then proceeded to turn on the reapings in the past districts before asking Pluto about possible weaknesses and strengths.
However, he soon appeared to be quite drowsy after the reaping in District 6. Regina allowed him to rest before rejoicing to herself that her district may have some contenders. Before she herself went to bed as well. Bright and early the next day, Regina awoke Pluto and Ariana before smartening her tributes' appearances as the hovercraft landed in the Capitol.
Regina was given a sympathy of cheers before she wished her tributes luck before chatting with her nearby acquaintances. Pluto appeared to be quite the hit with the audience with his “Sarcastic Jokes” about his district partner, which was now known as the “angry cow” by the audience. After signing autographs, he looked at Regina, smiling and giving him two thumbs up. However, unsurprisingly, Ariana was frowned upon by most of the Capitol citizens, most of them talking to Pluto more than her. Causing her to become quite jealous, however, before she could do anything else, Regina soon thanked the Capitol for their time as she congratulated Pluto on a good job before glaring at Ariana before repeating what she told her on the train.
Once the pair from 5 arrived at their apartment, their stylist Francis Wright greeted them. Regina, in particular, was happy that the stylist was no longer Fabrine. Francis soon showed them their security guard-themed outfits, causing Ariana and Pluto to look at each other in bewilderment. As the pair soon dressed in their outfits, Regina yelped before realized that they were running late before bringing her tributes down to the parade hall.
(running the text through ai never works 😢)

My love for Fischl needs neither word nor statement, neither measurement nor proof, neither confirmation nor expression, neither reason nor logic, neither doubt nor uncertainty, for it is the truth, the self-evidenced truth, the make-believed fact, the initial-reasoned legitimacy, for it is becoming the cornerstone of my philosophical worldview, of my mental comprehension, of my reality perception.
Notwithstanding, I humbly and patiently long for a day beyond days, a time outside of history, a promised enlightenment, where concepts and meanings are born, barely worthy of retelling a fraction of her magnificence.
And I dream, vastly beautiful dreams, of calling her name, truly calling it, not this bastardization of that holiest concept through the limitations of a mortal tongue.
Many times, I would argue, perhaps this verbal weak imitation of her naming, along with that of her many titles, should be worth at least a sense of punishment, if not capital then that is retributive. But again, with greater reasoning, it is most likely the sheer guilt from that of self-realization of that insurmountable limitation surely must be tenfold more crushing than most sufferings of an external cause.
Thus, it should be from this realization that the most common deduction comes to any intellectual entity; that my affection for the Prinzessin remains far beyond any doubts and needs no confirmation. But should it be needed; it is certainly not above me to scream desperately her name (or rather my best attempt at pronouncing the unpronounceable) into the darkest of abyss and highest of heaven to proclaim this love to those ignorant of such.
And I would do it again, again and again until my blood runs cold, my tears go dry, my throat torn off, yet heart continues beating hotter still from sheer devotion. And it would not be simple repeats but rather iterative, that every syllable of my confession escaping this mouth shalt hold its unique space, for all my actions in her name and for her name unquestionably must be remembered and specialized, immortalized into key moments of my history and that of the larger world.
At this point, the only question that remains is that of the 'why', for the 'how' remains crystal clear and the 'when' and 'where' simply matter not. And let's me tell you why, why I adore Fischl so much.
That she is beautiful is a given. The same to say about her prettiness. And she is cute too, more than adorable. And elegant undoubtedly, she is. But even more than that, to assign these terms to one of her significances, is by itself an elevation of language as a whole. For when saying “Fischl is beautiful”, it says more about your definition of ‘beautiful’ than that nature of her Prinzessin. For never before could one know of a more descriptive expression of that word, that term. And to assume that this statement reaches the ear of someone unfamiliar with the word, yet aware of the person (for all shalt have known Her), and that before, they has never come across a single usage or definition of the word ‘beautiful’, this simple assignment of that term to the Prinzessin should tell more than enough what must be known of the word. For to tell “Fischl is beautiful” to someone lacking the knowledge of “beautiful” immediately reveals to them the understanding of such word, such term, and it is not unreasonable to assume immediately in their mind it comes around to accepting “Ah, so beautiful is to be perfect and attractive, to be made purely of goodness and all virtues, for that are what the Prinzessin holds, and for her to be beautiful, beautiful itself must mean at least one of these things”. And so, as a whole, one must beware of the challenges that lie within using adjectives in describing her Prinzessin, for more easily than not her existence itself may redefine your understanding of language. And for so it makes complete no sense to even argue that “she is ugly”, for this simply returns the fact you lack understanding of what ‘ugly’ truly means.
And even though unnecessary and completely insufficient, I can rant on too, about her beauty, of the golden flowing hair down the waist like a river of fine silk weaved by the masters of art; of the pair of illustrious emerald gemstones, shining, piercing, holding yet a deeper secret within; of the pale white skin from the freshest of snow, tendered to the touch, delicate even to the breeze; of the slender figure bearing a fragile physique, inducing to all minds, one deep sense of wanting to protect.
And I can tell you more about the clothing too, of the eye patch which hides her most sacred passage into a soul realm of riches; of the night-inspired dress adorning to perfection her feminine frame, and its playful tease into the excellence of carnality; of the uneven length high tights leaving just a glimpse of those milky white thighs protected beneath; of those pairs of high boots, of a grim color, of a predatory design, missioned purely for her walk across this land.
But that will only be the Dunkelnacht Sakrament to the series, there exists still the Ein Immernachtstraum to the total.
And with it a blood-red ruby replaces those innocent green, and a dark violet tiara now fittingly crowns her Royal Highness. And the outfit itself changes the tone, lighter purple and skillfully paired with the depth of blue. Like a cloak of elegance and charm now encapsulates her being and refuses to leave out a single hint of imperfection. The details layer itself, building upon the core theme of aristocracy. The accessories each compete for attention yet the harmony itself never truly breaks. A testimony to the limit of artistry. A fruitful product of mortal craftsmanship and divine inspiration. Another outfit to adorn her Prinzessin.
Her appearance alone is a gift to the world, a cure to the sick, a meal to the hunger, an angel to the faithful, a fatale to the heretic, a key to your problem, a question to your answer, the destination of your journey, an utmost brilliant beauty to ever be. But that alone does not make Fischl herself, her full self.
Next on we shall discover her charm, her grace, and her millennial rich soul. Fischl practices a love for the grand, with big words, big talks, she is to capture the mind. Legends weave myths, form together into fairy tales, retold through all fancy syllables leaping from her tongue. As if it were a different world, it is a different world, a world pure of imagination, a make-belief truer than reality. And when sanity is put to the question, no limitation remains far too great, no fate seems too far, and no stars are impossible to reach. And it is through those stories of magic and knights, of a palace more tempting than heaven, of a struggle against all hope, and a final triumph over all fear that her Highness resides upon a golden throne, adorned with a silver crown, ruling over all that is good and judging all who fall to evil. It is where dreams meet, fates intertwine, destinies merge and from there all an epic is born.
Fischl is like that, charming and brilliant, the main actress to a grand theatre, the underlying shade overshowing an entire novel. She is the noble songstress which breaks the silence of an era, the masterful writer who crafts worlds into existence through the might of a pen, the talented dancer who effortlessly attracts all eyes, because even if the spotlight was not there for her, she has already owned the entire opera.
Fischl is like that, so big and impressive, royalty in nature and divine breaths through her veins. Her steps walk legends, her gestures weave myths, her eyes shine new eons, immortalized to the most fundamental sense.
Fischl is like that, ever daring and already on the next adventure, already planning the death of another great beast and toppling of yet another evil kingdom. She would battle ancient sorcerers, with the same seriousness and, at the same time, nonchalance of running after a petty thief. Because justice burns bright in her heart and goodness guides her soul, truly the Princess of Condemnation.
Fischl is all of that, but all of that is not her, not her full.
Because underneath I see a gap, a fracture upon the perfection that is her visage, a hidden young girl beneath that magical Prinzessin, I see Amy too, where Fischl stands.
I see her relentless battles against worldly struggles, against the cruel twist of mortal tongues, against an utmost imposing predicament, against an all-consuming isolation.
I see her naïve dream of a world beyond good, a perfect reality where everything is just right, of somewhere she can be the best she can ever be.
I see her effort put into things most do consider useless, into things most would shun her for, into things she truly loves but for a long time never dares.
I see into it her growth, her talent outshines all peers, her mental maturity out-scales all others, her understanding reaches below fragile subtleties, and she truly comprehends the world, and see into it as a harsh and cruel place, of merciless trampling over childish dream and desire, of absolute predation over naivety.
But I see so clearly, a burning courage, a soul cast in bravery, a relentless struggle against cruelty. Because she never gives up, not once, not for a moment. She sees the world for what it truly is, says fuck it and wishes for a better world regardless. Her dreams mature but never lose their childlike hopefulness, her reality manifests truer yet ideal fantasy all the same. And she walks yet one step closer to being who she could be, who she needs to be, and most importantly wishes to be.
I see a girl living her dreams, and that is commendable.
Fischl is not solely the almighty Prinzessind der Verurteilung so revered in legends and myths, nor is she just Amy - a normal girl chasing after an ever-distant dream. Fischl is both, and therefore neither.
She is Amy living a Fischl dream.
She is Fischl personified through Amy.
She is the most ideal and perfect image for a young girl to ever be.
She is the utmost human and realistic version of a story character.
Fischl is interesting just like that, the more you know.
Then, let's understand further a large part of the becoming of her character, due in no small part to the Mighty Lord of Nachtraben, Ozvaldo Hrafnavins. This relationship between Fischl and Oz is rarely talked about, or if mentioned, only superficially. Their connection is an endless labyrinth, with all the twists and turns, yet the road ahead remains clear always. Each step forward, a building block laid down. Each true dead-end reveals new color. And in the end, a fortress, a palace, a monument, no matter their color or design, stands strong regardless for that is to be the bond they share.
Fischl and Oz have many dynamics:
Friends: Oz is Fischl's first friend, she got bullied and isolated as a child and Oz has been her first and only friend back then. Oz as a friend never leaves Fischl, they are always together and for so understand the other deeply.
Companions: This may sound like the friend part, but companions mean that they are a duo, they are irreplaceable to each other, and they are only fully themselves when together. There isn’t only a Fischl or an Oz, there is always, Fischl and Oz.
Master-Servant: The role-playing part is obvious, Fischl bestowed Oz a name from her favorite book (which she also names herself from) and they act out their roles. But more than that, Oz is a vision construct of Fischl, his existence, sentience, movement, speech, and action are all due to Fischl. Fischl rightfully holds the master position in this relationship, but at the same time, “A king is nothing without his people”, she is only the Master because Oz is the Servant, they are interconnected and inseparable.
Chunnibyou and the straight man: It is often played as a comedic relief or a running joke but Oz being the translator between Fischl and other characters is an important dynamic. From the 2.8 event, we all get to see just how perceptive Fischl is of the world, noticing every smallest detail. Then with her vast imagination, blows a wind of creativity and uniqueness into them all. Fischl paints a world full of colors and spectacles, but few understand. She feels the need to use flowery words because the world she sees is just that beautiful, and gorgeous as her speech flows, it strikes closer to reality than most dare to believe. Anyone who can understand and play along with such will be invited to her word of pure imagination. Oz explaining things, in a sense gatekeeps you from doing so. A lot of Oz translation makes some of Fischl meanings lost and put an emphasis on how eccentric she is. He does this out of a sense of necessity, not only for the world to partially understand Fischl’s intention but also to protect Fischl from inviting those unworthy of her personal world because if they can’t understand even her speeches, what good could they do to comprehend her imagination?
Chunnibyou and the evidence of their fantasy: Lastly, Oz is an irrefutable evidence of Fischl's power, of her fantasy, of her creation. The inner working of Oz is left unknown, yet he is the one single proof that Fischl can use to claim her fantasy. But she did no such things, and Oz supports no such things. They both understand very well the role they are playing, the beautiful dream-like world they are acting out They are content with it be that way, because Fischl doesn’t actually need to be a Prinzessin, she doesn’t need to have a kingdom to rule over, what she desires is friends, companions, respects, self-confidence, and inner strength: virtues that she may have not been able to find within herself because of self-loathing. Fischl understands very well the nature of her fantasy, but instead of trying to be real, to face reality, she goes a step further and pushes for genuineness instead, to live true to her feeling, to shape the world to her true desire. One may think growing up is to face reality and accept cruelty, but it is in Fischl to demonstrate a level of maturity unseen by many: to cross over the line of fantasy and realness, to stare at the horrible truth of the world directly, and still have the courage to strive for dreamlike goodness, to still live true to one’s wish. Oz, in that way, or rather, the lack of that role, allows Fischl to be Fischl, not Amy born Fischl in the Book nor Fischl reincarnates Amy in real life. Fischl is simply and irrefutably Fischl.
Finally, let's delve into something more physical and tangible, of her strength and weakness, for Genshin remains a game, and these things matter also.
To cite an internet intellectual (me):
“I can’t take it anymore! I’m sick of Fischl (not really)! I try to play Yae. My Fischl deals more damage. I try to play Raiden. My Fischl deals more damage. I want to play Aggravate. The best teams have Fischl. I want to play Cyno, Keqing, Yae, Raiden, Lisa, Dori, Razor. They all want Fischl. She grabs me by my throat (yes harder my Prinzessin). I pull on Standard and Ass Banners for her. I cook for her, mine for her, commit genocide for her. I give her R5 Stringless. She isn’t satisfied. I give her Aqua Simulacra, Polar Star, Skyward Harp, The First Great Magic. “Why the hell aren’t they R5” she insults me (uwu). “Gives me more field time” she demands. She grabs Nahida and makes the poor Archon throw herself against the enemies. She kidnaps Kazuha and makes him jump up and down like a Mario spinoff to debuff enemies. She seduces Bennett and takes all of his juicy buff for herself. She isn’t satisfied. “You just need to … forget it, I have no weakness, just give me 54.4 CV artifacts to deal more damage”. I don’t have any 54.4 CV artifacts, my luck is shit. She forces me to refresh resin, I can’t refresh resin, I don’t have enough primogems. She grabs my credit card. It declines. “Thou hath outlived thy usefulness, my final farewell to thee”. She summons Oz. She orders: “By Royal Decree”. I stare into the birb’s eyes. There’s nothing there. Nothing but pure, 50% of most Aggravate team damage, no icd, electro damage. What a cruel world (I prefer being choked).”
Fischl is fucking overpower.
Low field time, non-existent ER requirement, combo independent, snapshottable skill, highest electro application, a fuck lot of damage, insane particle generation, ridiculous flexibility.
Basically free damage, except this damage is a minimum 20% of your entire team, except she also batteries, and enables reactions. So it really is a top-tier support doing top-tier damage with zero maintenance cost and skill-less gameplay: Drop Oz, fuck the enemies up, repeat and profit.
Playing Fischl is like playing with cheat on, except the cheat is free, except people will pad you on the back for using it, and Mihoyo loves you now since they also think Fischl is best girl.
And it costs literally nothing to start, get her free from the shop, c0 already really good, c2 feels really nice, c3 really strong, c6 is literal ascension. Level her up normally, with that common flower already excess in your inventory, with the arrowheads you accidentally stock. Then talent up her skill, and only her skill (unless you are like me and based), because she literally only needs her skill, so that’s more resource you can save. And don’t worry about artifacts, 4pc Golden Troupe is obviously the best, 2pc 2pc of any random em/attack/DMG % also works, you can use Gilded Dream too, or Tenacity if addicted to buff; or you would rather throw on her any remaining scraps from building your main dps, since really she works with everything. Finally, for her weapons, since she only cares about stats, just throw everything into an Optimizer and mess around.
And Fischl is like the definition of future-proof, out of the 10 recently released characters, 8 already have top teams with her, 1 still at an Abyss clearing level, and only 1 without synergy. And Mihoyo seems keen on buffing her, either with new artifacts, weapons, or new teammates. And to cite again that internet intellectual:
“A mediocre character like Fischl obviously needs such a buff. They kinda did something in 1.6 and 2.1. The release of Dendro is a nice quality of life improvement but nowhere near enough, a step in the right direction though, have to give them that. Now this new artifact set may finally make Fischl competitive with super meta Dori and Dehya. Still looking forward to her next, very needed, very essential buff.”
And also don’t worry about finding her gameplay boring, since with how flexible she is, it is faster to name teams where she doesn’t synergize with than vice versa. She is basically a top 3, top 5 fourth spot for any non-cryo, non-Nilou team. Top 1 core choice for any team with an electro carry. Top 1, top 2 choices for any double electro variation. And practically irreplaceable in aggravate. So Fischl is like a really good answer to most questions, and a perfect answer to some, and basically the only answer to one.
For a new player, her high attack range and burst-independent gameplay are a godsend. While extremely cheap to build into lategame and compatible with most future archetypes.
For a midgame player, Fischl acts as your team core, her low maintenance in combat comes in extremely clutch, her stupidly efficient domain feels like cheating.
For an endgame player, Fischl is literally a carry, snapshottable skill means mega-buff-able skill with zero need for extra input. And her mechanics counter loads of annoying enemies.
For an ultra-endgame player, Fischl’s damage may feel a bit lacking now, but her particle generation and elemental application are still top tier. Elegy and Tenacity are always there if you feel like doing a buff. And no, fuck it, her damage isn’t any weaker in lategame, vertically scaling Fischl is real, don’t deny it, give her Aqua or Polar, add either a Bennet or C2 Nahida and she will do a fuckload of damage again.
So yeah, Fischl is fucking overpower.
That then will be the end of my analysis on the perfection that is Her Prinzessin.
Whether is real or not, regardless of the ending of this devotion, I will still propose to Fischl with 72 paragraphs of perfectly written, Shakespearean level sophistication, Immernachtreich common interest driven, Heaven Principles deceiving performance love letter.
She will either reject me, insult me with her own 14 paragraph of Shakespearean level slurs in a stereotypically aggressive German voice, hopefully step on me and I can finally off myself peacefully from a roof; or join in my quest of throwing hands against Celestia.
Anyway, as a Fischl-connoisseur, who is well-versed in the analysis and preaching of the Prinzessin’s character and appearance, with profound and extensive knowledge in the field of Fischlology, and decorated experience in online argumentative interactions, my source for everything I said thus now is that I made it the fuck up.
TLDR: Fisch is best girl.
Let end this essay with a short poem:
Upon each morn's awakening, I rise, From Immernachtreich-themed bed, I prize, Beside Her visage, perfection in my eyes, Whose magnificence, my dreams don’t lie.
I envision a meal, a princely feast, Spoon-fed by the Prinzessin, noblest, grandest, Her guiding hand, worlds to navigate, many seas, Without her presence, life's perils would not cease.
In lectures, I mimic, a foolish endeavor, To match Fischl's intellect, a pursuit I'll never, Her wisdom, a fortress, challenges to sever, In academia's halls, I strive to be clever.
At lunch, I imagine, in the cafeteria's crowd, Her Majesty with me, her praise spoken loud, Noticeable and eccentric, my devotion avowed, In her honor, my love, profound and proud.
After school, I stroll, thoughts on her, unswayed, Through three trees embraced, my path displayed, Two shady alleys, true, I may have strayed, Her Excellence's praise, my protection, unafraid.
Returning home, to my sanctum I fly, To the Immernachtreich bed, with a joyful cry, Beside Fischl, my wish, my spirits, soar high, In Genshin, I grind, for million moons, I'll comply.
Finally, I want Fischl to insult me with 14 paragraphs of Shakespearean level slur in a stereotypically aggressive German voice.

She rolls in like the tide
To take the edge off the heat
She dapples and shines crystals
Each glimmer an idol's mystique
.
I've no eye for beauty
Only what is and must be
But her passion, her laughter
Draws mind to a flawless physique
.
Her breath on my shoulders
Is a storm at its peak
Homes quake, the bold shudder
She finds where disaster relieves
.
I clutch at her desperate
As a man lost at sea
I’m charmed… Refined as she is,
A monsoon aged in barrique
.
I examine my flaws
Recount her civil farewell speech
But I find no debris barbed
In her winding critique
.
I long to hold her close
But won’t deny her leave
She rolls out like the tide
Her silhouette shapen oblique
.
Critique 1: https://www.reddit.com/OCPoetry/comments/1cjp8to/comment/l2hpyxd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Critique 2: https://www.reddit.com/OCPoetry/comments/1cj9dvg/comment/l2hswp1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Edit: Tried to figure out reddit line breaks, but couldn't so just added periods.