Part 1: Childhood Part 2: Oregon Part 3: Puerto Rico Part 4: Global Part 5: Iran Part 7: Retirement

Part 6: Elsewhere

The glass vial was unharmed, but now instead of transparent, there was something cloudy inside. As quick as anything I grabbed the stopper from my pocket and plugged it up.
I’d won! I’d fought a djinn and won! I had a bottle worth fourteen million dollars, and only a few scrapes and bruises as punishment! I sat down to a well-earned rest in the shade of the tent, and looked across the rocks and the red morning sky.
I’m ashamed to say it took me far too long to figure it out. Sat in the shade, I was facing west, and the sky should not have been such a deep red. And for that matter, what was I in the shade of? The tent should not exist in our world. I looked around at the craggy rock formations, where previously there had been sand dunes. And it gradually sank in.
The book! What was that last line? I quickly wrote what I’d spoken in a notebook, and then retrieved the spellbook from where it had fallen. I’d misspoke just one syllable. What was it Shamil said? “That rock exists in both worlds” - implying that other things did not.
Djinn are reputed to be almost invisible, insubstantial, like gas - but that’s only because they exist in another world, and only barely in ours when they are in their natural form. The incantation was designed to shift the djinn between worlds and trap it in a bottle. By messing up that last line, I conjectured, I had shifted myself between worlds. And now what? I was alone, trapped in another world, with only a few weeks’ food and water.
Another thought hit me then. I could barely bring myself to believe it, until I looked. The Jeep was gone. Or rather, it was still exactly where I had left it; it just wasn’t in this reality. I had only the supplies in my pack, maybe two days if I rationed myself.
Hunting in the desert is slim pickings, even for an expert. Hunting in a desert of an unknown world? Even if I found food, there was no guarantee it would be good for me to eat. I had little food, little water, no shelter, and no way back home.
Actually, I did have shelter. I carefully opened the tent, without the faintest idea what I expected to find there.
It was surprisingly ordinary. The furniture and decor was alien, but there was a bed, and even a table and chair, though all a bit big for me. A lamp hung by a string from the ceiling, emitting a constant orange light, though I could not figure out the source of its power. A bookshelf contained about thirty books, all written in a language I didn’t recognize - no human language I’ve ever seen. And there was a large chest, made of a strange gray wood with metal fastenings.
I opened the chest, and found it filled with food fit for a djinn. But djinn prefer rotting meat and bones. I quickly closed the chest as the stench threatened to overpower me. Aside from shelter, there was nothing for me here. I had a day, maybe two, to find either food or a way back. Three decades of hunting and wilderness experience might not be much use here, but it was better than nothing.
I don’t know how they found me. Perhaps they brought supplies to the outcast hermit; perhaps they have a psychic link and knew what I’d done. Whatever the reason, as I sat in the oversized chair, reading my notes and the spellbook, I heard voices. This was the first time I’d heard a djinn, but I knew instantly what they were. At the same time deep and shrill, several voices pierced the air from the slope up to the tent. They were getting closer and I had no intention of being there when they arrived.
You learn to keep things close when you’re a hunter, and everything was in my pack. I stuffed my books into a pocket, went to the back of the tent, and quickly slipped under the leather walls. With the tent between myself and the advancing djinn I crept towards the edge of the rock and began the sixty foot climb down to the desert floor.
The climb was more difficult than I’d hoped. The rock was sharper in the world of the djinn, presumably because without the desert sand of our world, it had seen less weathering. I was nearly at the bottom, with painful lacerated hands, when my foot slipped. I reached out for a handhold and grasped a sharp rock; as it dug into my flesh, I yelped like a wounded animal, let go, and fell the last ten feet onto my back.
The fall winded me, but I was more or less unharmed. The sudden cry of pain before the fall was worse. The voices above me grew louder and more excited, and as I picked myself up I saw three djinn staring down at me.
Thirty-two years as the hunter, yet I was unprepared to be the hunted. All I could think to do was run. And run I did. Humans are the best long-distance runners in our world, and I hoped that this applied in that other world too. If the djinn went down the slope, rather than climbing the cliff or turning ethereal, I would also have a good head-start.
I’ve since learned that djinn can shape-shift at will, but can only become invisible or insubstantial in our world. They also seem unable to assume the form of a flying animal, and humans are indeed better at long-distance.
The trouble is, our phenomenal distance running is because we have so many sweat glands. I covered about fifteen miles before I felt it was safe to stop and take stock of my situation. Fifteen miles running for my life, with my heavy pack, under the sweltering orange alien sun. My clothes were soaked through, and I used up a third of my water supplies just to stop feeling dizzy.
I wouldn’t say I was comfortable in the distance I’d put between us, but I was exhausted. I rested until my heart no longer felt like it was going to burst out of my chest, then explored the area. I had found myself in a canyon, cliff walls rising about thirty feet either side, and a relatively smooth floor, most likely the path of an ancient river. I found a large cave, checked that it seemed unoccupied, and took shelter there to consider my options.
The mirror was gone. Perhaps it could still have shown me our side, but the shards were back near the tent, so it simply wasn’t an option. The vial, which I’d cushioned in clothing in my pack, was intact, the captured djinn still swirling around inside. The talisman was a weapon, but a clumsy one, and not much use for finding food or water.
I had one change of clothes, which I used while waiting for my sweat-drenched clothing to dry in the sun. I had enough food for a couple of days, but water was a problem. The cave was cool so I could stretch out my water to two or even three days by staying in there, but that was hardly a long-term solution. My weapons were fine; the GPS seemed functional, but I was unsurprised that it could locate no satellites.
That left the spellbook and the pouch.
The book contained twenty-four spells. Shamil had explained only a few, as most were apparently not useful. I knew the protection spell, the bottling spell, and something he had called a “joining incantation”. He had been quite cryptic about what it was supposed to do; something about returning things that were separated but meant to be together, whatever that meant. Shamil had told me even less about the pouch of sand, only that “I hope you won’t need to use it”.
I’m an intelligent and well-read woman, but I’m no wizard, or priest, or theologian. I’d believed in magic for only a few hours at that point. Still - I could give it a go.
Sand from the desert. I was in a desert, for sure, but one with very little sand, and that little was coloured a deep reddish-brown. This was sand from our world. A spark of an idea came into my head - could the joining spell return the sand to the other side?
I opened the pouch and poured a small amount of sand onto a large flat rock. Sitting over it and holding my hand just above the sand, as the notes in the margin told me to, I read the incantation.
As I reached the last few words, the sand started to glow faintly. The moment I reached the final syllable there was a bright flash - and the sand was gone.
I had hoped, I’d really hoped, that I would return to our world. But I guess I just didn’t have the same attachment to the Iranian desert that the sand did. The spell worked perfectly - it just didn’t do what I wanted. I slumped back in despair, and started to cry.
After a while I dozed off. I think I slept for a few hours, and it was dark in the cave. Outside, however, the light of a moon shone down. I went out to look; it was not our moon, but it was bright enough. It would have to do. Now would be a good time to explore. I found a route up to the top of the cliffs and began to climb.
I made for the highest point nearby without too much trouble, and surveyed the landscape. It was alien but beautiful. Huge rocky spires shone in the moonlight like obsidian. The cloudless sky displayed the stars, and I was relieved to recognize many constellations. Same planet, different world, it seemed. And off in the distance, further along the direction I’d run, I could make out what I believed to be a city. Black rock walls rose fifty feet above the ground, parapets and minarets gleamed white or silver in the moonlight, and above it all, in the center, stood what I believe to be a palace larger than any I’ve seen in our world. Some windows were lit from the inside, and in many ways, this looked like a human city. But I knew it wasn’t.
Djinn can shift into human form, but I can’t do the reverse. The city held no sanctuary for me. I turned back the way I came, and thought I saw the village Shamil had mentioned. It was harder to make out, as there were no lights, but even from this distance I could make out shapes that looked like houses or tents. This would be my destination. I needed food and water; perhaps I could scavenge from there in the night.
So I set off, working a path across smooth rock and between crags and spikes, sometimes meandering through valleys, other times climbing cliffs, and gradually making my way back to the place I’d fled just hours earlier.
It was still night when I arrived, and there was no sign of stirring in the village. The hunting party must have come from here, less than a day earlier; they knew I didn’t belong, probably knew I was human, and hopefully knew my chances of survival were slim to none. With luck they’d given up on me, assuming I’d die alone in the wilderness. There were no lights or movement, and I scouted around. This was difficult, as the moon had already set. I had a few chemical glowsticks for emergencies, and cracked a yellow one.
In the eerie light of the glowstick I managed to find a cave. Actually the tall rocks were riddled with them, so I chose one about five hundred feet from the nearest tent that looked out onto the village. It was smaller inside than the RV, with an entrance that even I had to crawl through, and I settled as comfortably as I could on a bed of spare clothes, looking out to the camp.
Around sunrise the djinn started to move out of their tents. I have no idea what errands or duties they occupied themselves with - but, I thought to myself, they’d probably have an equally difficult time understanding the comings and goings of humans in Chicago or New Delhi. I watched for the entire day, until they went to sleep, making notes on their movements. Alien as their faces were to me, I started to recognise individuals, by their clothing at first, then by their individual features, which seemed as varied among the djinn as among humans. There were about fifty djinn in the village, including about ten children. I understand from what I’ve read that there are males and females, but I could not yet tell the difference.
In the early afternoon I saw two children - teenagers in human terms - leave the camp and head north. I lost sight of them until they returned, carrying large leather bags. They were hailed as they reached the middle of the village and emptied the bags into a large bowl. Water! Somebody rang a bell and the djinn each came up, one by one, with their own bowl and filled it, sipping some and taking the rest back to their tent. If there was any left at night, I could take some.
And so I waited. In the dark of what I estimated was about 2am, by the last light of the moon, I crawled out of the cave and slowly crept into the village, my heart pounding and my ears peeled for the slightest sound. I heard nothing, and reached the earthenware bowl.
It was empty. Of course it was. Water was a scarce resource here, and if any was left over it would surely have evaporated in the afternoon heat. I crept back to the cave and reviewed my notes. The children had headed into the hills, and taken about two hours to return. They were about my size, and walked about as fast as me. I gathered my gear and struck out in the same direction.
Out on the lifeless plains to the north, travel was a little easier. And even as the moon set I could see just enough. People generally assume that a moonless night away from a city is pitch dark, but the stars do provide enough light to make out shapes, silhouettes. I cursed myself for not bringing a compass - not that I knew whether it would have worked here. After about an hour, when I should have been nearing the children’s destination, I reached the hills.
This was a problem. I had no idea where to go, and the landscape limited my visibility even further. Having no better plan, I decided to climb a hill and try to look around. Maybe I would just have to wait for sunrise.
I got a lot luckier than that. As I reached the top of the second hill I heard something! The landscape had been so eerily quiet for two days that it took me a moment to recognize the sound. It was a stream! Elated, and feeling genuine hope for the first time since my encounter back at the rock, I followed the sound.
The stream was tiny. It came out of a crack in the rocks between the hills, ambled downwards for about twenty feet, and then settled into a small pool where I assume it drained back into the ground. I drank, filled everything that could contain water (except the glass vial of course), and even washed my hands and face.
Now, with proper rationing, I could last … I did some quick calculations. Perhaps a week. My water would last a couple of days, and I could always return for more, but food simply wasn’t available. The djinn ate rotted meat, entirely unsuitable for even short-term human survival.
A question, then an answer, came to me in rapid succession.
The question was: where did the djinn get the meat that they left to rot?
The answer came in the form of a deadly coincidence. Or perhaps it wasn’t a coincidence, I don’t know. The coincidence sounded like the shriek of a creature from hell.
I quickly turned my head this way and that. It was so pitch-dark, I couldn’t make anything out. Then I saw it. A shadow blotted out the stars overhead. Before I could react a searing pain ripped through my temple. I fell over, lying prone on the ground, as it landed and stood over me.
I could barely make out any features, but it was big. Bigger than a human. Its wingspan must have been fifteen feet, and it had a vicious beak and talons the size of kitchen knives. I could see its eyes glinting in the dim starlight, which meant they must have been large - it could see better than me. I’ve hunted plenty of beasts, and even in the dark I could tell what it was thinking. It was waiting, trying to decide if I was a threat, and working out the best way to take me out without losing too much of my flesh.
I whimpered like a fox in a trap. I held my bleeding head with my left hand, and whined. I rolled over onto my left side, wounded by the fall, crying out in pain.
The bird stepped towards me. Its head bent down, taking a close look at me. The monster raised a foot, and gently prodded my leg with what seemed like curiosity. I howled in agony. It moved its talons to my waist, and unhurried, knowing that I was helpless and too injured to fight back, clasped them around my waist.
I knew from decades of experience what a defeated animal looks like, how it sounds, how it behaves. Was I in pain? Of course I was. But I had exaggerated my injuries. I had made myself bait - and it had worked. My right hand was just where I wanted it. I drew the knife from my belt, grasped the bird’s skinny leg above the foot, and struck with all my might.
The cry of pain pierced my ears like an ice pick through the skull, leaving me almost deafened. The creature threw itself into the air and flew upwards, leaving its severed foot around my body. It circled a couple of times as I got to my feet, then made right for me, its remaining talon ready to strike with all the force it could muster.
BANG - BANG - BANG - BANG - BANG - BANG - BANG - BANG - click - click - click - THUMP. My pistol was empty. I was on the ground again, the bird’s body pinning me to the floor. It was dead.
As I gathered my breath and my wits, I found it easier to wriggle out from under the bird’s corpse than to heave it off me. I sat in silence, listening, not knowing if it had been alone. But I didn’t hear or see another that night, and come sunrise I found yet another cave-home and dragged the beast in. This was now my food for the next week. I’m adept at skinning and butchering animals, and the anatomy of the bird was similar enough. In a couple of hours I had strips of meat curing in the sun, and I spent the rest of the day turning the skin into a rather poor substitute for a bedroll.
With the food I already had, the meat would last me a couple of weeks. I couldn’t afford to hunt like that again; I had only enough spare ammo to refill the pistol once, and I had fifteen cartridges for my rifle. The knife was beginning to dull, although at least I had a spare. I did make myself an additional makeshift weapon: I cut the bird’s talons off, and strapped them into my left-hand glove. I had absolutely zero confidence in its value in a fight, but hey - what else was I going to do with my time?
“What else” was, of course, reading the one book I had with me. Most of the spells were not relevant to my situation, or so Shamil had told me. It was a mass-produced book for various purposes. Well, “mass-produced” meant a few dozen, and it was copied by hand, but Shamil had only written his notes against the three that I’d used. I tried to decipher them, but I understood only a few spoken words of Farsi, and had no chance with written Old Persian. I tried to match up words from other spells with the transliterations of those three, but remembering what happened when I simply mispronounced one syllable, thought better of trying them out loud. I did try the joining incantation a few times, but only the sand ever reacted to it.
A week came and went. I had experienced no strange otherworldly disease from eating the overgrown chicken, and decided to hunt another. With preparation perhaps I wouldn’t have to empty my gun this time.
I knew next to nothing about the birds’ habits or behavior. It had tried to carry me off, so I guessed it had a nest somewhere, and possibly young to feed. I had encountered it in the hills, so most likely I would find others high in the hilltops. Not much to go on - I already knew it was a bird (more or less), so hardly a revelation there. Still, this was all I had, and I needed to eat. I got a good night’s rest and set off at sunrise.
I spent a couple of days climbing the hills, searching the horizon, and wishing I had a pair of binoculars. On the afternoon of the second day I heard a screeching sound, and knew I was closing in. I couldn’t see it from where I was, and honed in on the sound, keeping as much as I could to the shadows between the rocks.
And soon enough, there it was. A little smaller than the first one. Good, I thought - an easier fight. I hid myself between a couple of crags, watched it circle around overhead a few times, and then it landed about fifty feet away, the other side of a small plateau. It didn’t look particularly alert, presumably not expecting trouble, though it’s hard to tell on those emotionless bird-faces.
I quietly retreated, and circled around the plateau, taking care to stay hidden. When I reached the creature’s resting spot I peered carefully over a rock. It was facing away from me.
The beast’s neck was too high to reach easily, but its heart was at my chest height. I checked my pistol, readied my knife, and crept toward my prey, about to strike, when -
Two djinn leaped from above, where they’d been hiding behind a rock. The bird, hearing their landing, turned. And for what felt like an age, but can’t have been more than a second, the four of us just stared at each other.
Then the bird squawked loudly and flapped its great wings. It rose about ten feet into the air before one of the djinn threw a spear, piercing its heart. I turned to run. I heard the bird thump to the ground behind me. And then everything went black.
I came to in a tent, I don’t know how long later. I guess the second djinn had clocked me round my head, which was pounding like the worst hangover I’ve ever had. I groaned and tried to make sense of what I saw. The furniture was a similar design to the outcast’s, but better made - a bed, a food store, lamps, a desk with what looked like writing implements. Glass and earthenware jars held items I couldn’t even guess at identifying. And three djinn sat on chairs nearby, one with black skin, and two dark gray, talking in their own language.
My moaning had attracted their attention. They turned to me and watched. Why was I alive? Why had they captured me?
I found out soon enough. The larger one spoke to me. The voice was that of a djinn, but the language was human. It was hopeless, though; my grasp of Persian was even less than the djinn’s, and I didn’t understand a word. I tried talking in English, but it was clear that it didn’t understand. It seemed to be getting frustrated, and after a short time it grabbed me, easily lifting me from the floor where I’d been lying.
It put me at a second desk, one I hadn’t seen earlier. It was covered in human artifacts - a fedora here, a can of beans there, a vinyl record, a spark plug from a car … it looked like the strangest thrift store you’ve ever seen. I guess sometimes, things fall between worlds, and this djinn collected them but had no idea what they were.
The djinn continued to bark what I now understood to be commands. It wanted me to explain the items to it.
Well, if they weren’t attacking me, I’d prefer to keep that state of affairs going as long as I could. I picked up the fedora, slowly so as to avoid any perception of threat, and placed it on my head.
The djinn looked pleased. It took the hat from my head and placed it on its own, making two holes for its horns to fit. I’m grateful that their vocalizations differ so much from ours, since the sight a seven-foot semi-naked black-skinned demon wearing a pink fedora made me sputter out a laugh before I choked it back.
I moved on quickly. The desk was large and cluttered; there were hundreds of items there. I couldn’t open the can of beans, so I held it in my hand and mimed eating it. The djinn took the can, cut a hole with a single sharp claw, and sniffed. It put the can down with a look of disgust. I shrugged, not knowing if it would understand the gesture.
I did not recognize all the objects. Many of those I did were simply impossible to explain with gestures - how do you demonstrate the operation of a spark plug, or a computer mouse, just by waving your hands? But I worked my way through a dozen or so of the items before the djinn said something to me, and I understood that we had done enough for the day. It motioned to the floor. I lay down on the uncomfortable surface, the djinn’s friends left, and my djinn - if you’ll pardon the expression - lay down on its bed. It said a single word in the djinn language and the light above us winked off.
That night was not the most restful of my life. Trying to sleep next to the person who has taken you prisoner is a task made even harder when that person is a monster from another world. I considered running, but how far would I get? And what would they do to me when they inevitably caught me? I resigned myself to staying, at least for now, and somehow I did eventually drift off.
I was woken by the loud grunts of an alien attempting to speak Persian. Derek (as I’d decided to call him, despite having no idea if it was a “him” at all) had fully opened the can of beans, and gave it to me. Cold baked beans? Well, I’ve eaten worse. And after breakfast we continued our tour of human bric-a-brac. We worked our way through various items, some more successfully than others, until I found a car key.
The key fob was a distinctive red color, and an unusual shape. I recognized it immediately. It was the key for a Gladiator Rubicon. How many can there be? What are the chances? I remembered I’d taken it with me up the rock when I battled my first djinn. It must have fallen on the ground up there. Thoughts raced through my mind, and I tried to push them down. There would be time for this later. I must give no indication that anything was amiss, not while Derek was watching over me. Pushing the key to the pile of items I couldn’t easily explain, I moved on.
In the late afternoon I heard a bell ring. Derek gave me a small clay bowl and led me outside. This was when I knew where I was - the same village I’d spied on all those weeks ago. I collected water along with all the other inhabitants of the village, had a sip, and took the bowl back to Derek’s tent.
That, apparently, was the day done. Derek spent an hour or so at his writing desk, leaving me alone to think. My pack, still unopened, was on the table with the other artifacts, along with my guns, but I knew I stood no chance against the entire village. I hadn’t seen the knives; presumably their function was obvious, so they hadn’t made it to the collection. I had no intention of showing Derek how a rifle worked unless I had no other choice. Not that he would need mechanical aid to kill me if he wanted to.
What about the key? I had seen no indication that the djinn had vehicles, and I knew the Jeep could outrun them, but I only had the key. The Jeep was in another world.
Then it hit me. The key and the car belonged together. The joining incantation! Yet again I gulped down an outward expression of excitement, and soon enough the djinn went to bed and turned the light off.
I waited, silent, for hours. In the middle of the night, when I was as certain as I could be that Derek was fast asleep, I rose and moved, silent as a mouse, to the artifact desk.
The most important thing was the key, and I quietly slipped it into my pocket. I considered taking the guns, but they would be no use on my journey, and would only slow me down. I reached for the pack, gingerly picking it up, and knocked over a jar of Marmite.
My heart raced. Derek stirred, but did not wake up. After standing silent as a statue for over a minute, I retrieved my pack and slowly, ever-so-slowly, walked out of the tent.
It wasn’t far to where I’d parked, only about a twenty minute walk. But it wasn’t close enough. With the village barely behind me, the ground in front of me lit up faintly. I turned around; the lights in the village were coming on. I heard loud voices. Four or five djinn were outside, and then one pointed in my direction and yelled.
I slung the pack on my shoulders and ran. Long-distance endurance was all well and good, but right now I simply needed speed. I sprinted through the alien night at break-neck speed, and very nearly did break my neck when I tripped in the poor light. Somehow I righted myself and kept going, not looking back, but hearing voices getting louder. They were gaining on me.
With my head-start I might make it. What then? I reached in my pocket for the spellbook, but couldn’t find it. The joining incantation was only five lines, and I’d tried it several times - could I remember it?
I pulled the key fob from my hand, holding it tightly. The key belonged to the car. I could return it to our world. What about me? I liked that car. No - I loved that car. The Jeep was basically a part of me, I tried to convince myself. We had spent weeks together. Months, I told myself. Years. I was the driver. I needed it, and it needed me, to be complete.
I was close. I imagined the look of the car, the tire tracks through the desert sand. The gear in the back. The coffee cup in the cupholder.
I chanced a look behind me. Six djinn were nearly on top of me. I said the first line of the incantation. I was at the spot now, I was sure of it. I slowed, and stopped. I said the second line.
One of the djinn barrelled into me, flinging me to the ground. With a death grip around the key, I said the third line.
Two djinn pulled up to my side, and turned me to face the sky. I said the fourth line.
Derek stared at me with eyes burning fiercer than I’d ever seen. He reached back his fist and swung it with all his strength at my face. I said the fifth line.
The djinn’s fist filled my vision. And as the outstretched claws ripped through my face, they turned to smoke. Expecting death, I felt nothing more than a gust of wind on my skin and a chill in my brain, as though something insubstantial had passed through my head.

1. Fa-bokao type matchlock rifle. 

2. Nung-fa-shuo type special rifle. 

3. Ka-fa type shooting cylinder. 

4. Ka-fa-mokau fragmentation hand cannon. 

Tiamat let out a hissing laugh as she raised both hands, unleashing a wave of twisting and churning purple mist at the party standing before her. The mist expanded towards the group before Misha rammed his great blade into the ground, fire erupting from the impact as he and Ludwig roared in unison, Ludwigs claws clapping together before separating wide as he shouted:
”AEGIS!”
A barrier , made of Ludwig and Mishas magic mixed together, formed around them and the others, flashing and warping as the miasma struck it, battering the barrier like a horde of smoky tendrils.
Tamil hissed under his breath, bow snapping up and twangling as the smaller dragon unleashed arrows as fast as he could, each one glinting with green magic and fizzing as it struck the miasma.
“Cyka….” Svet mumbled, her blade at the ready, breathing in and preparing to unleash more Dragons Fire-
The red clad mage sprinted forward, ignoring Tamils panicked shouts as he hung low to the ground, right as Svet breathed out, unleashing a amethyst blast of plasma.
The Lich Queen laughed as she held up a claw, a barrier of miasma erupting to block the flame. “Silly, foolish welp~ I Know how to keep Cleansing Fire from-” she jerked back as a metal fist erupted out of the miasma, much to her shock, followed by the mage, unharmed, if a little singed. Her hand shot up and caught the metal fist, a smirk forming on her face. ”Fascinating~ I wonder, how did you survive the Fog of the undead, little squishy~?” she purred, before a click was heard.
“That's for me to know, and you to ponder” Talos said with a tone indicative of a smug grin-
BOOM
The pipe on the back of his arm went off, its payload breaking the claws that held his metal hand and drilling into the face of the dragon Lich, making her stumble back as the sound of shattering metals could be heard behind her.
She swung her arm, using the remains of her claws to throw the smaller magic user across the room, and spun around to stare at the remains of the odd pedestal she had been messing with. Sick sounds of cracking bone, splintering and reforming to maintain her shape, were heard as she realized what the little mage had done.
”.......no…..no no NO NO NO!” She snarled as she looked up into the darkness of the massive room behind her and began to slowly step back….
Around them, they heard the sound of something whining, rising in pitch and volume as Talos heaved himself up from where he had been thrown, his glowing irises locked on the Lich Queen in horror. “You actually tried to activate and control it!? Are you FECKING insane!?” He shouted, as a single, massive, crimson light suddenly illuminated the darkness.
“WARNING. PURGER ONLINE. ALL REMAINING PERSONNEL ARE REQUIRED TO MAKE THEIR PEACE AND PREPARE FOR IMMOLATION.”
The strange voice seemed to echo around them, as around the crimson light, two blue lights ignited, burning with a baleful glow, swiveling around in the shadows, aimed at them.
“GET TO COVER, NOW!” Talos yelled, diving for a hole in the wall as the rest of the party ducked out the door they came in through, escaping just before whatever was in the darkness unleashed a storm of blue energy, filling the room with a blast of light and destructive energy.
/zzzzzzzzzz/
WARNING! Mana Regeneration nullified due to Mana acclimators in use within vicinity
WARNING! Mana loss detected! Rate of .05 per second!
Mana Low, Mana:20/75
Talos cursed as he twisted through the air, mentally berating himself as the light from the smoldering, immolated room above him illuminated the area he had thrown himself into. Before him stretched a massive room, lined with concrete and rails designed to carry heavy assembly arms, one of which hanging just on the edge of the illuminated area…… and as he was taking all in he caught sight of a metal hydraulic piston swinging out at him, easily multiple times bigger than himself.
Channeling a little Mana to his feet, he twisted himself upright, before expelling it out in an explosive, bright blast in an effort to slow himself down. Despite his efforts, he still slammed into the piston hard, slid down and catching on a metal panel-
“UN4L1GHN3D 4UT0M4NC3R D3T3CT3D. PR10R1T151NG T4RG3T.”
“......feck.'' Talos sighed as he heard the blast of binary shake the room, thankful he didn't have eardrums for the machine to damage, despite its best efforts.
WARNING! MANA CRITICALLY LOW!
Mana:9.95/75
The automancer cursed to himself softly as he saw just how little Mana he had remaining, and how much he had used to slow himself down, before movement catches his eye. He barely swings himself around the piston as a massive metal, arachnid like leg slams down where he just was.
Shaking his head from the clouds, he began to pull himself up the piston he was on, climbing on top and running along it, a malevolent optic focusing on him as he moved.
“T4RG3T L0C4T3D.”
The sound of rocket motors filled the room, bright lights from missile exhaust partially illuminating the machine as they arched through the dark chamber, forming a pseudo eclipse of their own engines as they angled at the running skeleton.
Sounds of metal shutters opening were heard, accompanied by the whine of something charging up and dozens of pinpricks of light illuminating underneath, around and above the massive optic focused on Talos, along with the two larger Plasma casters on either side of the eye.
Talos wasn't playing fair, however. Reaching down into his bag, he pulled out the metal grapple and rope he still had on him from going spelunking in that cave for ores, and twirled it as he ran….
Just as the missiles were about to hit his cloak, he let the grapple fly, swinging it down around the slowly moving machine’s leg, only for it to come back up and hook on its armor on the other side. Once hooked, he leapt off the side of the piston, letting his weight and momentum swing him to avoid the missiles, if only barley, before landing on the other side of where he jumped from. Once he landed the hook slipped free, as his weight wasn't pulling down to keep it in place anymore.
Talos pulled the rope back, twirling it again before letting it fly forward, latching onto the leg once again, this time at the height of its knee joint that was sticking out into the air, a blue, crystal like cylinder jutting out from it, armor covering the half of it aimed away from the main body, and glowed brightly.
It seemed to be pulling some form of mist into itself…
“Bingo.” Talos muttered as he spotted the cylinder, clambering up the rope as fast as he could, even as the chatter of weapons fire erupted around him and the leg began to move, forcing the rope, and himself, to be flung back and forth.
“THR34T 45535M3NT, T4RG3T 4PPR04CH1NG 4CCUMUL4T0R. CUTT1NG 0FF R0UT3”
Weapons fire screamed through the air in a flurry of energy, the projectiles launched all traveled slower than a bullet, but were easily able to singe the rope burning it in half as Talos watched helplessly.
He cursed as he fell, spinning about as he saw another leg aimed at him, and grinned, grabbing onto it as it barely missed him and using its momentum to fling himself back to the piston.
He drew his revolver from its holster and ran, ducking and dodging around blasts of prepared spells and mana, ignoring the explosions and debris the spells sent flying off the concrete walls of the room, leaping from the piston to its casing as it moved, and began chanting quietly to himself, a golden energy forming around the barrel of the ring action pistol, Aurebesh swirling around the glowing sphere as he moved.
One particularly nasty blast of energy forced him to jump, and he took advantage of it, spinning around in the air and aiming, before pulling the trigger.
The muted explosion of the cartridge going off went unnoticed as the glowing round streaked from the barrel, striking the Mana Accumulator and causing it to cave in on itself-
WA-BOOM
The ensuing detonation blew the leg off and unleashed a wave of stored mana, slamming into Talos and being absorbed by his body, and more importantly, his Phylactery.
WARNING! MANA SURGE DETECTED!
MANA POOL OVERLOADED! Mana: @>²()!?/75
WARNING! MANA LEVELS RISING!
EXPEL MANA TO PREVENT CRITICAL FAILURE OF PHYLACTERY!
Talos hissed as his prosthetic arm spasmed and twitched, fighting with it to get it under control, using the sudden surge of power to speed up his perception and buy time to think.
The room was illuminated by the ethereal glow of the Mana, some being absorbed by him, but much of it was flowing back into the other crystals of the massive, six legged machine….
Well. Five legged, now.
The machine in question looked odd, a sphere connected to the arachnid like legs, acting as a central hub, with a second sphere acting as its abdomen, massive and covered with weapons, arranged in a ring pattern and pushing out of hatches on its back. The outermost ones looked to be some sort of anti infantry armament, fast and able to overwhelm infantry armor and shields, while inner rings seemed to contain artillery and anti aircraft weapons. On its head area was the spherical optic, the twin plasma casters on either side of said optic appearing like some form of facsimile of fangs. The machine itself clung to the wall, its optic swiveling to look ‘up’ from its perspective, tracking him closely from its position.
Waves of mana pinged off it, like echolocation, striking him, though slower now with his altered perception, letting him see how they interacted with the machine-
New skill gained!
Mana Scanning. 1/10
By sending out a pulse of mana, Talos can do an in-depth scan of a target to find weaknesses in its armor, weapons, and many other things. Mana absorbing materials, however, can nullify this ability unless overcharged
The scan showed there were little in the way of weakpoints….well, short of the Mana Accumulators on the ‘knees’, but that could make things worse then better, if destroying one was anything to go by.
He hissed as he saw exactly what he feared in the very Core of the machine, a beating, pulsing heart consisting of radioactive isotopes and severely unstable Mana, both providing power for the mechanoid’s destructive rampage……
And the final end. If he removed the legs, he suspected it would trigger its own self destruct, and if it was anything like a Mjölnir class core he was used to, anywhere from the surrounding area to the whole continent was going to be a uninhabitable crater, and the entire planet would end up irradiated.
He didn't have a team to coordinate with, so he would make do with what he had.
Twisting around, he examined the chamber, now illuminated by the mana… and saw massive, mechanical armature laying around the room, likely meant for other mechanoids like the one he faced down now, but never being completed or having been discarded to be cannibalized for parts, even another one of the massive bucket wheel excavators from the entry hall lay off to the side, mostly disassembled except for the arm….
It clicked. The mechanoid was designed for infantry or armor….
But not another one of its Own.
/zzzzzzzzzz/
Tiamat, the Lich Queen, floated above the fight, watching in fascination as the massive warmachine she had tried to control focused down the Automancer, her smirk widening as she saw the mage run headlong into the fight, pulling out some quite clever tricks when he realized the mana drain in progress. She herself could feel the negligible drain on her mana, but ignored it, having the mana to spare, watching as the mage shot the Mana Accumulator, causing it to explode.
She sighed, a pity. The little mage was far too close to the explosion, such a thing would fry any normal organic, and even a Lich like herself would have an issue with such an influx of mana…. Truly, a great loss. Not many would think to close the gap between herself and them under the cover of their own allies' fire and use a Force Multiplier at point blank on her. The aim was a bit off, but she attributed that to him thinking her Heart for this body was in her head-
WHOOOORACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK
She flinched and shot back as a flood of golden mana erupted from the tiny pinprick that was the mages body, acting like ethereal mechadendrites, ripping the long dormant machines around them off the walls, from their resting areas on the floor or in storage. As components flew, they started to pop apart and began swirling around the tiny mage as he floated back up, hovering before the Purge Machine, much to its, and her, confusion.
The Automancer spread his arms, and the machinery began to assemble itself around him, first forming what looked like a Command Throne, which floated up for him to sit in, before a shell surrounded him…..
And then the components bound themselves together, forming a massive, bipedal body, digitigrade legs keeping balance as pistons hissed once it touched the floor, feet designed with three toe claws in the front and one in the back, capable of digging into the ground if needed. One arm ended with the massive bucket wheel of the excavator rather than a hand, while the other arm was tipped with bladelike claws, around a massive Mana Cannon, glowing with ethereal golden energy.
The shoulder joints were protected with rectangular pauldrons, the arms made out of massive pistons and supports. The upper body was designed like a knight's cuirass, though the belly area was segmented armor plates, while a short, segmented tail stuck out like that of a dragon, allowing for balance.
Along the spine area were dormant Mana Accumulators, retracted and shrouded to protect them, hidden underneath short, sharp spines. The head was ripped off one of the older bipedal Purge Machine frames, like the legs had been, and designed to look draconic, its optical bar igniting, a glowing point of light panning back and forth on the visor as the machine stared down its competitor.
“ŔØŮÑĎ ŤẀØ, MÓŤĤÉŘFËĈĶƏŔ.”Came the distorted voice of the automancer at the heart of the monstrosity, as the war machine dropped into a combat stance. Leading with a brutal right hook, the mech brought the spinning bucket wheel slashing across his opponents back before it could fire, the sound of screeching metal ringing out and filling the chamber.
/zzzzzzzzzz/
“ACH DU HEILIGE SCHEISSE! SVET, DIE HÖLLE DID YOU FIND!?” Ludwig said in stupefied horror as they watched their teammate pull machinery around him apart and form a massive Automail armor.Its optical bar light going back and forth was all they could make out in the distant shadows, until the sound of screeching metal and the sight of sparks illuminated him and the machine he was fighting.
The others around the pearly white dragon were watching in shock, all of them looking out the window of the room they were in, which appeared to be some kind of control room. Around them stood a variety of destroyed machines, and what looked to them like something where one would stand and place a book or scroll, but nothing but ash remained on it.
The room just outside the window looked like a arena, the massive spider like machine leaping off the wall, its legs spinning around to try and pin down their mages Automail armor, only for a glow of mana to erupt from the armor, launching it to the side and bringing the other hand to bear. The barrel in its ‘palm’ began to charge up as the claws retracted, unleashing a bright golden blast of energy and punching a massive dent in his opponents armor, causing the spider to screech loudly
“THR34T 45535M3NT R41S3D, T4RG3T C4P4BL3 0F C0MB4T C0NSTRUCT5.*”
Ludwig couldn't make out what the machine said, even as the two circled one another in the arena, the massive wheel spinning on Talos’s armor while the spider mech kept its single optic focused on him, its remaining weapons aimed at the other machine, but not firing.
Misha hissed angrily as a purple haze suddenly hit the massive spider machine, making it screech and chitter as the miasma tried to push into the holes in the armor from its fight with Talos, the crimson light from its glass eye flickering from red to purple.
“3RR0R-3RR0R! H05T1L3 PR0GR4M SP3LL D3T3CT3D! S34RCH1NG……T4RG3T L0C4T3D.”
The machine blasted out, still unintelligible to Ludwig, but even he could see the optic snap to look up, locking onto a small purple spot in the air, as it charged forward.
The weapons on its back ignited, hissing as spellfire erupted from the remaining functional weapons systems, unleashing blast after blast and causing the purple pin prick to begin teleporting around to avoid the spellfire. The Automail armor caught the spider as it charged, the bucket wheel spinning to pin a leg between it and the arm to hold it in place, trying to lift the arachnid up by its front legs before delivering a brutal spartan kick to its underside, directly hitting a hatch trying to open up and crushing whatever was popping out.
The spider screeched as it slammed onto its back from the kick, its legs spinning around to lift it up off the ground, MORE weapons popping out from its underside-turned back, though they were noticeably smaller, likely meant for infantry.
The weapons took aim at both of its opponents, unleashing blast after blast into the air, missing the smaller, faster target. The larger one, built using the cast offs of its own design phases, simply shrugged off the attacks, choosing to rush forward itself, leaving gouges in the floor as it charged, one shoulder down in a tackle position.
The spider hissed and lept to the side, chattering in what almost appeared as mockery….
Right as the spinning bucket wheel struck another one of its leg’s knees, shattering the glowing column in it and letting loose another vicious blast of mana….
But this time, instead of an explosion, it was all pulled into the massive Automail armor's own crystals, which had, for but a moment, popped out of its spine, drawing all the mana into itself and converting it into a deep, golden color.
Just as they retracted into the armor once more, a purple miasma began covering both combatants, cruel laughter ringing out over the arena….. only to be cut off as a massive blast erupted out from the Automail armor, punching a hole in the ceiling where the purple pin prick had been and causing part of the cave to collapse down, catching the purple blight and pulverizing it against the floor.
/zzzzzzzzzz/
Talos panted heavily on his command throne, cables running under his cloak and connecting to his Phylactery, allowing fine motor control over the towering mechanism as if it were his own body, but he had a time limit, mentally and mana wise. The strain of minutely controlling every sub system was hard on a human mind, and he was running low on mana, even drawing from the mechs own reserves.
The top up from the Purge machines Mana Accumulator had helped stave off power loss, but the consecutive blasts from the main cannon, purification spells to keep the miasma out, and minute shield spells across the armor was running him ragged, especially with his own Accumulators shrouded to protect them. He had already burned off the initial charge he had gotten at point blank range when he built the armor, and he had to take out the Purge Machine before it set off its core…..
“...that's it!” He mumbled to himself, sending out an overcharged mana pulse, much to the spider mech’s confusion, easily overpowering its remaining mana Accumulator’s defenses, and got another in depth scan.
“Now, where….There!” The smaller Lich smirked before charging forward, pumping a little extra mana into the pistons to help launch him forward, cannon arm's claws extended as he rammed it through the hole he had made earlier on the arachnids back, now underside, and dug them into the core, wrapping the claws around it.
The massive spider mech screeched again, binary alarms blasting out as he yanked, bucket wheel pressed against machine’s side, helping brace him against it….
And with one final tug, just as the Spider mech brought its leg down and broke the bucket wheel, he tore the core out, the sudden loss of opposing power allowing him to shove the other mech away…. even as he felt his own mech loose power, both from lack of mana, and his Phylactery forcing him to sleep, mind tired from working every system under heavy duress…..
/zzzzzzzzzz/
Tiamat watched, unseen, no longer inhabiting the simulacrum which had been ground to dust under the rubble, as the mecha before her lost power, the stub of its arm resting against the ground, while the other hand clutched the remains of a NIM core tightly, carefully, as if to protect it.
She slowly smirked to herself, an idea beginning to form in her mind as she stared up at the machine. True, she failed in her objective…. but she had also found something so, so much better.
“I'll see you soon…. my little Automancer~” She purred as she faded away to one of her other, spare bodies, pulling it from its casket with a smirk on her boney muzzle.

I've recently fallen in love with the Wilkinson Sword blades that I picked up in a sampler pack. My understanding is I have the German version, which comes in a black plastic box and isn't branded Gillette. They are quite a bit more expensive than the Indian version (sold on Amazon as a "Saloon Pack" for around $7 per 100!). Can anyone comment on the differences between the two? The German blades are so perfect for me...sharp, smooth and long lasting. I'd rather spend less if the Indian ones are comparable; if not, I'd be willing to pay 3x more for the German ones (I found them for $21 on eBay, which of course is still a bargain compared to cartridges). Thanks!

I've been using a Brother monochrome laser printer (See Price on Amazon) for the past two years now, and I wanted to share my experience in case anyone is on the fence about getting one.
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Overall:
I'm very happy with my Brother monochrome laser printer. It's a reliable, efficient machine that produces high-quality prints. If you're looking for a laser printer that excels at black and white printing, I highly recommend giving Brother a look.

I've been using the Brother MFC-L6700DW laser printer (See Price on Amazon) for a few months now in my home office, and let me tell you, it's been a game-changer.
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If you need a reliable, high-performance monochrome laser printer for your home office or small business, the Brother MFC-L6700DW is a fantastic choice. It's fast, delivers excellent print quality, and is packed with features. Just be sure you have the space for it!

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/HO11baS
Only looking to SELL. Shipping is included in price.
Prices are not firm. Please reach out if you have any additional questions

1. Benchmade 945 Mini BLK - Original owner. Never used. Only carried. No box $150 https://imgur.com/a/8hoex2t
2. Bestech Knives Shinkansen - Don't know the model name. Carried and lightly used. Dropped once. Still factory sharp. No box/tacoshell $100 https://imgur.com/a/Yp7Bu4A
3. Protech Malibu Reverse Tanto 20CV w/ Textured scale - Never carried. Never used. No box $250 https://imgur.com/a/tYXap2v
4. Sharp by Design Micro Evo Bowie - Carried and used. Dropped a couple of times. There is a very small chip near the top of the blade. Still very sharp. No box $150 https://imgur.com/a/upKZ43Z
5. Sharp By Design Mini Evo M390 Satin Compound Tanto Blade, Glass Blasted Titanium Handles with OD Green Micarta Inlays - Carried but never used. Very smooth action and factory sharp. No box. https://imgur.com/a/rHLDOUy $300
6. Spyderco Para 3 Maxamet - Original owner. Never used. Only carried. No box. Factory sharp. Comes with Lynch NW deep pocket clip. No box $175 https://imgur.com/a/dWngJA5
7. SpyderCo Para 3 S110v - Original owner. Carried a couple times. Used to open envelope. Factory sharp. Comes with Lynch NW deep pocket clip. No box $160 https://imgur.com/a/SbPACv1
8. WE Knives 821A Pleroma - Original owner. Carried but never used. Did drop it once. See photos $200 https://imgur.com/a/0NhSU76
9. WE Knives 821B Pleroma - Never carried. Never used. Lost box when moving $200 https://imgur.com/a/1dh11Hf
10. Zero Tolerance Hinderer 0562CF - Carried but never used. Missing box $185 https://imgur.com/a/8dFnRmb
11. Zero Tolerance Hinderer 0393 - Carried. Used to only open envelope. Dropped once. Replaced Hardware with Hinderer hardware. No box $215 https://imgur.com/a/mmkeiGn
12. Shirogorov Tool Pen Stonewashed Titanium $200 https://imgur.com/a/N3V5oaN
13. Grimsmo Saga #6622 - Never carried or used. Comes with extra refill cartridge $275 https://imgur.com/a/cPTv44H

[<-PREV][FIRST][NEXT->]

Chapter 5 - Clash and Retreat

The room was distressingly silent for how many people were present. At the head of the meeting table was Tiri, staring intently at the video being projected on the screen in the far side, to his left was a venlil and a takkan, to his right were two venlil.
The screen shows a video of the lobby of the Cloud Inn. It continues for about a minute, but the detail they had been looking for becomes apparent. “Hard to notice in the video, yes, but the metadata doesn’t lie. This was tampered” a human voice echoes, caller unseen as his view is obscured by the video.
To the left of the precinct chief was his second-in-command and the chief of the police. The takkan lowers his head in his paws, rubbing the bridge of his snout “I can see the clock looping, and the one who saw the stranger is never there… Why’d this have to happen right now?” he sighs and looks up “We’re not ready for this, at all”
“Nobody is” says the venlil at his side “But we’re going to have to be” Tiri’s second adds “I suppose we should get the place locked down and start looking for… Something?” he sighs
Tiri taps his claws in the desk “We’ll have to figure out what to look for. I’d say this isn’t exterminator work anymore, but for now we’re all together on this. Someone went in to threaten Kenim, and he seems to believe it’s real.”
The three turn to look at the venlil on the chief’s right. "We did have to deal with something… Somewhat like this before. Twice.” Aren starts “We’ll help, it’s what we’re here for, but it’d be good to have someone coming along”
With a few signs of agreement the five stand up and the takkan walks over to the other side of the table “Right, forgot to introduce myself earlier. Dorn. Since we don’t have anyone with the skillset, I’ll be sending my second-in-command, lieutenant Akathun. He might not know what to do but his nose should prove useful.” he offers an earflick.
“Any help is appreciated, what do you mean his nose?” Marik asks as they start making their way out of the room.
“Tulsek are a rare sight out of their world, but their nose is unmatched. I hear a rumour not even the arxur can track as well as they can”
The trip is short, right out of the meeting room Dorn waves over at someone before leading the pair to the armoury. There they meet someone- a biped that is just shorter than Aren, a dark tan color and seemingly furless with how sparse it is, a flat circular nose on their snout that twitches now and then “This is Akathun. Ak, those are Marik and Aren from the Blackriver precinct, you’ll be helping them out for now”
The tulsek twitches their long right ear forward in agreement “Fine by me. What’s the plan?”
“First step is going back to Cloud Inn and see if we can find something else.” Aren starts as Akathun reaches behind a counter to pick up what seems to be a baton “Since Kenim is still staying in there hopefully things haven’t been too disrupted yet.”
It wasn’t long until they were in the car “Hope the break room wasn’t too bad, by the way? You’ve been here for over a paw already”
The black venlil in the back seat sighs “Did the job.”
It doesn’t take much longer until they finally reach the Inn again, and soon they step out of the car. The entrance of the Cloud Inn, however, is unlike how it was the previous paw. It is empty, and more importantly, dark. Sharing a momentary look the three approach the front desk, barely illuminated from a beam of sunlight from outside.
“Nobody here…” Marik says before walking around the desk to check “I’m getting a bad feeling” he twists his ears at Aren as he scans around.
“Blood…” at the whisper, Marik turns to their tulsek reinforcement. His nose is twitching “Venlil, takkan… Oh kha-taul, it’s strong…”
In response, Aren produces a flashlight from a pocket and unholsters his tranq pistol, with a silent tap of his tail the three start to proceed towards the corridor, heading further inside with Akathun staying a step behind them. It doesn’t take long until the flashlight in Aren’s paw finally finds something. Past the corner was an open door and just barely visible in the beam of light- An orange stain.
Cautiously approaching it soon becomes obvious what the door is, the elevator. And the stain makes its source obvious as the flashlight follows its trail: Propped against the wall is a body, a single clear bullet wound in the head, orange long since stopped dripping. A second body is on the floor, two bullets in the chest. “Not again…” Marik mutters.
Carefully, the two venlil kneels down beside the bodies, inspecting them without touching for a while until Aren points his flashlight at… Something. He gently picks up what appears to be a small fragment of wood, the flashlight showing a scattering of wood chips badly misplaced inside a fully metallic elevator. They stare at them for a few seconds before suddenly light floods around them, causing them all to stand back up.
A few tense seconds pass until heavy footsteps can be heard, Aren and Marik step in front of Akathun, pistols raised, until they see what arrives. The heavy suit adorned in red that crosses the corner causes them to lower their weapons, the tierkel’s heavy breathing hitches and stops for a moment at the sight of the bodies “Y-you’re here…”
Her eyes are frantic, her breathing tense. “It-it took me a while to get the lights back on- I- I was locked in the room, we couldn’t get the phones-” she shakes her head, before pulling up a holopad “L-look, the cameras”.
The holopad is already showing a few screens with the output of cameras. The time markers on them show they’re all of the present, and all they show is the lifeless trail of corpses in the upper floor, all of it leading to an open door. There was no need to consider what would be behind that door, he had made sure to warn them what was going to happen last paw.
But among the screens there was one odd one, the only one showing a recording of the past instead of a stream of the present. In there, someone familiar is staring directly at the camera, a short and stubby snout with cuts and scars, lips spread to an aggressive display, his teeth including a pair of sharp incisors and long ears with rounded ends. A distressingly alien expression, in a body unfit for it. A threat.
In a matter of seconds the tulsek officer had backed away, frantically tapping away at his own device “How long ago was this?” Marik asks the manager.
“Not long- Less than a claw” she gets her holopad back from the officers.
A couple of steps behind them Akathun’s voice can be heard “Brother stay home. I don’t care about the job. If anyone asks, say it’s an order from the police!”
Meanwhile, the two venlil stare at each other. The first one to speak up is Marik “We need to find them, fast… But the cameras are already unreliable, and given no panic outside likely nobody saw them leave either”
“Anything out of place here should be a hint then…” Aren turns an ear over to the direction of the elevator. A couple of seconds later they stiffen “There was one thing” he holds out a small fragment of wood that he had collected.
He thinks for a few seconds in silence, his partner just staring at him, until he pulls out his lighter. The green flame gets brought closer to the wood fragment in his paw until it starts to smoulder and eventually ignites. After a second more staring Aren finishes his analysis “Aramek wood. It’s a nightsider, doesn’t grow here.” He clicks the lighter closed, blowing the light flame on his paw off “The elevator was metal, it didn’t get knocked loose in the fight. That guy was wearing construction gear, also a toolbox.”
“There were marks fitting the toolbox in the face of one of the bodies”
“Near where the wood shavings were, yes.”
Marik takes a deep breath “So they got knocked loose from the box? Is there a construction site that would use imported wood here?”
“No” finally done with his call, Akathun walks closer “They try to only use local stuff here… But there is an old wood mill spinwards, venture project, never went anywhere and it’s been abandoned for years”
They do not tarry in contemplation, quickly returning to their car with little more than a command for the manager of the Inn to not allow anyone to disturb the corpses. Once in the vehicle, Aren starts speeding as Marik hands his pistol over to Akathun “Here”
“What about you?” the tulsek officer worries as he checks the weapon. A tranquilliser pistol barely seems like a useful tool against something, someone, that caused that much bloodshed alone.
Once, the noise of something metallic opening “I got my hunting rifle” clack again the noise of the weapon closing.
The rest of the trip remains a silent affair, the car travels through roads until the asphalt becomes dirt. Trees far too young and evenly spaced to be natural hide the distant silhouette of a building, the car stops a good distance away as the three step out of the vehicle.
-*-
“Incoming.” Came a voice, announced over the subdermal radios. “Intelligence room’s been rigged.” He added. I peered through the window at the incoming vehicles, screeching to a stop. My ears instinctively swept back in that ‘negative’ expression. Hah, it seemed like that venlil was a better teacher than I initially thought her to be.
“Understood, overseer in place.” Another said as I massaged my wrist, instinctively grasping at the handle of the scythe knife affixed to my vest. Another hand went to feel my autogun, then my knife hand snuck down to reach for my mask, preparing myself to stick my gun out the window and open fire. I paused.
No.
Death is an old friend. You don’t introduce someone you care about with a letter.
You do it face to face.
“Engaging.”
A thunderous crack. Our opponents were alerted.
I relinquished my grip on the mask and gun, moving back up to the knife. Quietly, I unsheathed it before bounding to my right, hopping out the window and into the brush, eyes locking on one particular victim. This person looked like they could fight. Perhaps this would be fun after all.
-*-
Aren and Akathun both ready their tranq pistols, behind them Marik keeps his rifle just slightly lowered as they move forward. The black-fleeced venlil keeps his ears alert, listening to any strange sound “What… There’s… Blood in here… And… Accelerant? Some vola-” the tulsek’s voice vanishes from Marik’s mind as something else calls his attention, a light rustle, and he begins to turn his face to look.
It takes but a moment, at the edge of his color band a distant shape moves, something vaguely resembling a person under a blanket, and a long object… But as his eye focuses on it the entire thing vanishes- Aside from the glint of metal. In the span of a breath he paws hurl him forward, left arm shoving Aren into the ground, right arm grabbing at Akathun’s as he dives to the ground.
He does not stop to consider the wet feeling on his back, he simply crawls as fast as he can to a nearby tree, the tulsek’s screams of pain in his ears. Pressing his back against the tree he finally turns around to look at the situation. Akathun lies on the ground, left arm missing completely, a scatter of indigo painting the teal foliage. A short distance away, Aren’s flat against the ground and hidden behind a rock. Before his partner can act Marik shouts “Don’t move! Bait!”
For a few seconds, there are no sounds in the wind… Marik lowers his body to the ground and gets down on all fours, slowly crawling through the underbrush between trees until he reaches the next one. Carefully, he peeks out his rifle’s tip through the foliage, looking through the scope… He sees nothing for a moment until a very recent memory strikes him- He tilts his head just slightly, to put the scope out of his color band. In shades of black and white he sees it, something vaguely person-shaped and what is quite obviously the barrel of a gun.
The barrel moves, so he moves faster. He lets off a snap shot, before quickly moving to scurry away, hoping to have hit the minuscule target in the distance. The tree he had been hiding behind erupts into splinters as whatever ammunition that demonic rifle was using tears into it like a tank shell. Sliding to a stop behind another tree he loads another cartridge- But another sound distracts him. A venlise bray and an alien growl, followed by the muted hisses of a pressure pistol.
His heartbeat spikes and his body moves on it’s own. He turns around, exposing his body and rapidly scanning ahead, he brings his rifle up and fires another snap shot where he guesses the opponent shooter is a mere moment before he sees the flash of his opponent’s weapon fire. He jumps backwards as he loads another charge, in time to avoid the splinters from his previous cover being eviscerated. He hits the ground and rolls, aiming now at a different position- Where he had heard the bellows before. In there are two people, and he doesn’t have time to see where his shot lands when he fires before he needs to run again.
-*-
“I’m letting him scream. Claw. Go.”
Thank you, Angel. I giggled lightly as the fighter approached the collateral, arm torn to pieces by my commander’s shot. Slowly, I rose from my crouched position, before brandishing my knife like an antlion does so its fangs, rushing my opponent with a wondrous, near fervent smile.
---
Aren looks out carefully from his cover behind the rock, one eye focused on the bleeding tulsek and another scanning for whatever might have caused that to begin with. When he sees a trace of green light appear he takes it as sign to act and dashes out of cover- His aim the fallen officer. But his situational awareness warns him of something, causing him to abort that plan and turn aside.
What he sees is exactly who they had come for- The same man from the recording, the same one he’d seen in the construction uniform, but this time his expression isn’t wrong, like how it was before. The bared teeth speak of true and terrifying glee and the long curved knife on their right hand speaks of ill intent. For the span of but a thought Aren considers drawing his pistol, but the man is approaching fast, too fast-
Something in the man’s movement shifts, his body’s center of gravity going lower for a moment- Letting his animal drive take control, Aren follows as it instructs and steps forward towards the man once, before lowering himself the same. The incoming leporid suddenly vaults forward, twisting midair to aim both feet forward, moving at tremendous velocity-
But Aren’s own natural drive guides him in a similar strike, with less forward momentum he jumps, twists and kicks- Feet and paw connect with enough force to send both combatants flying off of each other, the grinning unknown twisting in the air and landing on his feet while Aren barely recovers in time to land in a crouch. He remains crouched with a grimace as he finally draws his pistol, forfeiting precision he squeezes the trigger quickly as he tries to adjust his aim.
The stranger prefers to indulge in melee, however, and dashes towards him. He leaps left and right as he advances in bounds, dancing around Aren’s attempt to track his with his pistol until he finishes closing in the distance and swipes his leg at the weapon. Without trying to fight for it Aren rolls backwards as the gun goes flying, finally capable of jumping to his paws, just in time to block the incoming swing of a knife by stepping in closer and impacting his wrist against the stranger’s. His subsequent attempt of an upward swipe with the opposite paw frustrated by the stranger’s quick backstep.
The leporid stranger emits a chittery mumble “This one’s fun. Let’s make this a long one.” before leaping forward again. Aren tries to take a step back to keep distance but the stranger extends forward with a perfect match, stepping in close and bringing his knife in an upwards arc. Though there is but a drop of orange on the tip of the blade, the follow-through elbow under the chin sends Aren reeling backwards, his discombobulated state preventing him from noticing as the stranger spins in place to deliver a powerful kick to his chest all in a single fluid motion.
Stumbling backwards, Aren lashes his tail left and right to keep balance, avoiding a topple by the barest of measures. The two combatants stare at each other for a moment… Aren can feel the dizziness setting in, the pain in his breath- He lowers his stance as the stranger sprints forward again, ducking down under a high swipe of the knife he pushes his body forward, grabbing the stranger’s waist with his right arms.
Before he can do further, Aren feels an impact on his spine- Once, twice as he continues to push and when the third impact takes too long to arrive he quickly shoves his paw against the body of the aggressor, stopping his momentum and pushing upwards with his entire body, tilting the leporid in the air, over him and behind him. He turns around in time to see the other man land on the ground with a small wobble. The maniac shakes his head slightly, but undeterred he steps forward again.
Aren steps in again to meet the challenge, the low knife swipe is just a little slower than it was before giving him time to swat it at with his tail before extending his right claw forward towards the man’s abdomen. The move is easily countered by a simple grab, his arm is held in place as the opponent raises his knife again- Aren reaches up with his left and grabs at the hand holding the knife, awkward grip earning him a shallow cut between fingers. Using the leverage of their combined weight his enemy makes a small backwards motion, spinning them both in place- And a sudden thunderous noise interrupts the fight as dirt and splinters of stone shower them from below as something impacts the ground. A half-second later both combatants shove each other away as a trace of green light flies between them.
—
“No fun!” I chided in my somewhat fluent Venilese, beginning to hop from side to side as the other appeared to gaze at me with a strange mix of horror and attempted stoicism. “A gun? It’s like ordering takeout, no soul in it, is there?” I added.
I then rushed him, knife brandishing once again as he went to counter. Thrusting my knife with obvious intention, he managed to take the bait. As I made impact, elbow pressed to his neck, the knife was stopped by a grab to my wrist. Within the second, I adjusted my hold, spinning my wrist to hook the blade against the tendons that controlled the last few digits.
Tug. A delicious yelp of pain. His grip on my wrist failed as I followed up by grabbing the side of his head with the arm that pinned him, using the shock from the injury to pull him under my arm in a hold, exposing his throat.
Maybe not yet. Instead of going for the throat and ending this quickly, I wished to continue the fight. So, I simply let him go, allowing him to fall to the ground as I hopped backwards, weaving my body as another shot embedded itself into whatever might’ve been behind me.
“Claw?! What was that?!” A voice shouted over the subdermal communications. I snorted as I watched my opponent get up. I then got into a stance, making sure he saw me bob my head from side to side, ears loosely swaying along. Making sure he knew I enjoyed this.
“My first good fight in months, Angel. Don’t ruin this for me.” I said with a tad bit of a serious tone as the venlil’s eyes drifted to something they must’ve dropped during the fight. I rushed him again as he went for it.
The venlil was smarter this time, instead grabbing my forearm, pulling it in while raising a knee to my abdomen. I went with his movements, pulling myself out of its way as I spun around him, using that momentum to strike a punch into the hough of his steadying leg, sending him down. From there, he went to blindly elbow me, which I refused with a strike of my knife hand’s forearm, sending it away with a crack as I pivoted to his side, grabbing his head and sending a knee straight into his face.
The brutal impact sent him flying back as my ears picked out the subtle click of a trigger being compressed, dodging yet another glowing projectile.
The venlil grabbed at the dirt as he got up again, blood flowing from the corners of the mouth. Wow, tenacious, this one was. I smirked, as this time, he approached me. I welcomed it with a stance before immediately getting to work.
A hook to my face with his half-functioning hand. I denied it with a block with my knife hand, using my other arm to wrap about the back of his neck and pull him in for a knee to the gut. Once he was stunned, I pulled away slightly and sent my knife forward with unparalleled speed. The venlil had good reflexes, jerking his shoulder back and denying me of his artery. Must’ve seen my previous work.
However, it was hardly fast enough. The hooked end of the knife dug into his chest, dragging upwards fiercely before sending a deep slash into his chin. I followed it up with a downward slash to the shoulder, hitting its mark and digging right into the muscle, dragging downwards into the chest. Horizontal slash, along the chest. Another slash, right below it. The venlil then went for another hook with the other arm, which I caught.
For a microsecond, he must’ve caught the manic glint in my eye as I threw my knife hand up. That face contorted into horror as I followed with a set of lightning fast, zig-zagged slashes to the wrist, inner elbow and armpit.
Then, I slid my grip on his wrist away, which soon balled itself for a crushing hook to his face, smoothly followed by an elbow to the gut. I made a decent space with that strike, which I utilised by kicking him away with a jumping two-legged slam.
He was sent skidding across the ground. I rolled back and steadied myself on a crouch as another shot found its way to me, grazing my ear as I recovered from the unsteadiness that’d come from such a kick. Feeling the blood trickle down and the pain dancing through my nerves, I willfully ignored it as I approached the venlil.
“You’re good.” I complimented, crouching.
Wordlessly, the venlil then unpinned some kind of grenade, which soon erupted into a blast of gas. It was a gas that stung the eyes, stung the nose and had me cough and retch for a bit as he appeared to pick himself back up.
A shot rang out, from much closer this time. Shit. He must’ve been using his gun. I sheathed my knife, turning around and retreating as the shots followed after me, one of them finding its mark in my shoulder, throwing it forward for a moment.
As I ran towards the safety of the dark industrial building, a gleeful smile found its way to my face. What a good fighter!
Someday, I’ll have to come back for him.
See if this experience taught him anything.
-*-
To be both the hunter and the hunted, there is a certain exhilaration to this. Blood pumping loudly through his ears, he realises that maybe, in the right conditions, he might even enjoy the experience. But not with everything that is on the line right now, not when real blood is on the line, not when his herd is in danger- There is no place for enjoyment in this situation.
Forcing his small claws in the bark of the tree, Marik carefully makes his way up before quietly balancing himself on top a branch- He will be gone in a second. He brings up his rifle, takes in a breath and aims- For a second he scans ahead, the monochromatic ghost had moved from the foliage where he was to behind a rock to the left. He swings his rifle sideways and moment the front aligns with his target he presses the trigger, the silent acceleration barely felt, and leaps off of the branch. The shower of splinters behind him declaring how dangerous every perch becomes.
His right knee complains badly as he lands hard but he continues for two more steps before diving into a bush again and crawling a little further. He stops and sweeps his his rifle to the side again, an intake of breath and a blur of black, white and color is all that his eyes process but instinct drives his aim- A low-heat shot flies through the air impacting a tree behind Aren and the stranger as a small crater opens behind the stranger from his own opponent’s strike- Clack open the rifle, dirty charge, sweep right- He rolls to the side and adjusts his aim again, firing through the shower of dirt that the tank-killer round causes by his side.
He rolls back and into his paws as he begins loading another charge, he sprints for just a short while before slowing down greatly, he ends behind a tree and is rewarded with the opposing shot landing a few paces ahead of him, he turns around the tree and makes a guess of where he’d find his foe- The ghost sniper’s monochrome silhouette has the vague form of a monstrous rifle aimed elsewhere and he knows where it is, he has to fire too quick to land an accurate shot and has to hope the verdant trace of supersonic plasma distracts their aim at the very least.
He quickly dives out of the way as he sees the opponent start to move again, and stays in place for one, two, three heartbeats before continuing to crawl forward. Holding his breath he listens to the clashing and grunting of the melee combatants for a while until he finally finds cover behind a rock barely as tall as he is when laying down. He focuses his aim at Aren and the stranger fighting, closely locked in a mortally intimate embrace, he pulls his aim up but a noise tickles at his right ear- He forfeits absolute focus on his quarry and perceives to his side a dread glint of another scope- A gamble, whose trigger is faster? He squeezes the trigger as fast as he can tumbles backwards.
The rock shatters into small fragments, and Marik has the chance to witness the leporid warrior simply take the dirty plasma shot through their ear with no reaction. But his herd is still in danger, he can’t care about it right now. “Guess I know what the other side of the scope feels like now…”
He pulls out the charge at the top of his bandolier, highest temperature dirty plasma charge, and chambers it. He throws himself on the ground again and claws his way through the underbrush and peeks through the leaves again- But he cannot see the monochrome ghost… He frantically searches for a few seconds- Had his opponent finally realised that whatever mystery tool he was using had the opposite effect on him? He continues to scan carefully, but with his color band instead… And he sees it.
A glint, a single spark of light. In a flash of movement he steadies his rifle, brings it up and fires.
Through the air sails two deadly tools- A heavy, pointed piercer propelled by enough explosive force to punch through the armored veil of a war machine, built in heavy metal and machined to perfection. A spiralling cloud of shredding metal dust embedded in plasma hot enough to metal through, all propelled at hypersonic speeds. Their user’s aim equally perfect, their users’ target each other’s own tools of destructions.
The collide midair, the anti-tank round’s careful machining ablated to pieces, the dirty plasma’s containment field disrupted, the bullet’s course deviated by thermal energy and the plasma bolt’s shredder dispersed through kinetic energy. For a moment only the elongated trail of green plasma and red-hot metal a sign of the weapons’ discharge.
It all plays out in the span of a single breath, and the impact hits. The weakened bullet’s course deviated just slightly, from the scope sight to a few millimetres to the side it impacts the accelerator rails of Marik’s hunting rifle, the metal absorbing most of the energy and bending inwards, a great deal of the remaining energy absorbed by the polished wood of the stock which shatters into splinters sent flying up the side of the gunner’s face, the last few joules dispersed through his shoulder into bruising pain.
Falling backwards Marik quickly scrambles for cover again and look at Aren- He sees him drop down an object and the other combatant runs away. If they are retreating then- He finally takes a risk and starts running ahead, not towards his companion but the still agonizing Akathun on the ground, who’d been left to witness the duel as he bleeds out “Aren, get back!”.
But Aren does not respond “I lost my rifle, they got a shooter!” he howls as he drags the downed officer back into cover. But the only response he gets from his partner is movement- But not the direction he expected it.
-*-
Whoever their shooter was, their aim was true. The rounds had hit each other. I ejected the spent round from my longrifle as I peered at the suppressor. The plasma - or whatever the fuck the other had shot - had torn through the suppressor and barrel, rendering my prized rifle inert. I decided to withdraw from my position.
“Claw, Recluse. Status?” I called into the subdermal communications as I backtracked into the mill, cloak draped over my back as I carried my rifle along with me.
“Entering the shuttle. The documents we weren’t able to scan in time are all here.” Claw said with a slight pause. “Ern is here too.” I gave a nod, only to reassure myself as I darted through the corridors, sunlight creating small pockets of yellow in the omnipresent shadow which served as my cover.
“Central command’s been cleared out. Tossed a white flame in there, nothing left. I’ll keep them off your tracks.” Recluse spoke with steely resolve as I made my way up some stairs, hearing the thundering of the man’s heavy weaponry as it shook and rumbled the very foundations of the building.
“Get to the shuttle if you can.” I said, coming out on an elevated section of land, where an out-of-place spacefaring craft had been sitting. It was draped in foliage and dirt, seeming almost like a part of the old mill as I bounded in, dropping my gear. Claw greeted me in the pilot’s seat as I did so, Ern positioned further to the side in one of the passenger’s seats.
“I cannot. See you soon.” Recluse responded. I gave a frustrated punch to the solid interior wall of the shuttle, cursing lightly under my breath.
“Claw, start the ship. Cloak it. We’re leaving.” I grumbled. With nary a word, not even a light snort, the operative prepared the launching sequence, door shutting and cutting off the golden rays that poured into the ship.
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Oops, apparently the chapter we wrote is just THAT BIG and just one post won't be enough~ Turns out writing with someone else is just that fun.

This isn't any grandiose scenario about alternate wars or nations. Just my best attempt at a Forgotten Weapons style history of two fictional nation's small arms from the 1830s to the modern day.
Disclaimer: I would have added multiple flairs considering this post covers the mid 1800s to the present, but since I could only add one I went with Post 1900s. I do hope that is the correct one for this post.
Introduction
The California Republic and Republic of Texas are two nations linked in shared history and struggle. Both were founded by alliances of American immigrants and local Californio and Tejano dissidents that joined together and fought for their freedom against the unstable and often dictatorial Mexican central government of the 1830s and 1840s. In their fights for independence, the Bear and Lone Star Republics adopted many different weapons over the years. In this we will chronicle the different small arms used from the earliest days of each nation’s military to the modern day.
Part 1: Independence to the Great War
Arms of Independence: 1835-1848
We begin with each nation's fight for independence. As we will come to see, through the 19th century, both California and Texas would mirror each other with weapons adoption. Additionally, internal weapons development would be rare throughout this time period as well. For the most part, both nations would use a collection of whatever they could get their hands on in terms of infantry small arms.
There were three principle firearms employed by the Bear Flag and Lone Star Rebels; the American Model of 1816 Springfield Musket, the Spanish M1752 Musket, and the India Pattern Brown Bess. These also included examples of all the variants of said firearms. The M1816 and M1752 were by far the most common as many of the fighting men owned their own weapons, however the India Pattern Brown Bess was heavily used by regular Mexican forces during the Texas and California Revolutions, so it’s unsurprising that captured examples made their way into the ranks of the rebels.
It should also be said that during both wars, the United States did happily supply the Rebels with arms, powder, and munitions. This would make the Model 1816 the most common arm used by either nation by the late 1840s. It’s ironic really, as in 1848 the Californians would turn the arms supplied to them against their former American benefactors when the U.S. attempted to annex the fledgling state in 1848.
Standardization and Modernization: 1848-1867
Following the Californians stunning victory over the American Army at the Battle of Lake Tahoe, the sister Republics of Texas and California would solidify their independence as the latter was quickly recognized by the Great Powers of Europe, and the former would see the defeat and collapse of the pro-annexation political parties in government. It’s during this time that both nations looked to standardize and modernize their weapons.
Texas had begun this process during the late 1830s and early 1840s, however they were unable to truly begin standardizing on a weapon until just before the outbreak of the Californian Revolution in 1845. Texas’ first true standard weapon would be a variation of the aforementioned Model of 1816 Springfield, namely the caplock Model of 1842 Springfield Musket. While still a smoothbore design, this weapon would bring the Texan Military up to date with their contemporaries. It would take Texas several years, but by 1849 their entire military would be equipped with the new weapon.
California began its modernization campaign during the tenure of its second President, Joshua Stevens and continued under the third, Mauricio Valdez, a span of time between 1850 and 1872. Both were military men, Stevens having served in both the Texan and Californian Revolutions, while Valdez had been an officer in the Alta California Militia before leading a mutiny and joining the rebels. They both recognized the need for a standard arm if the young republic was to defend itself. Like Texas they had taken several years and trial several different weapons, including the 1853 Enfield and 1854 Lorenz, but ultimately they would choose the Model of 1855 Springfield due mostly in part to the ease of procurement given their proximity to the U.S. One major request they made however was the removal of the tape primer system the Springfield Armory had been experimenting with, and the installation of a traditional caplock mechanism. Texas would soon follow suit and adopt the new Model of 1855. The weapon for its faults had a distinct advantage over their 1842s, it was a rifle musket and thus offered greater range and accuracy than the smoothbore 1842.
The Model of 1855 would never fully outfit either the Texan or Californian militaries, but it would contribute a significant minority of small arms equipped to infantry. The Model of 1855 would be quickly superseded by the Model of 1861 Springfield, which would come to be the standard arm of both nation’s military. There was a complication however, considering the U.S. was in the midst of the Civil War and couldn’t spare rifles to sell to foreign nations. To remedy this issue, both nations would purchase the license and tooling to build the rifles themselves. This would be the first time either nation would produce their own rifles themselves.
The 1842, 1855, and 1861 would serve Californian and Texan troops well during the War of the American Alliance, which lasted from 1863-1867, and saw California and Texas intervene in the Franco-Mexican War to assist Mexico from being subjugated by France and Austria. Also, while officially neutral, many independent Californian and Texan volunteers would take these rifles with them to fight in the American Civil War on the side of the Union and Confederacy respectively.
During this time of standardization there was an attempt by both nations to standardize the arms of their officer corps. During the era of the Revolutions from 1835 to 1848, officers used what they could get their hands on much like the rank and file infantryman, everything from full length rifles to flintlock pistols, and early revolvers. Two revolvers would be unofficially adopted by both nations during this time period, both Colt designs, the 1851 Colt Navy and later the 1860 Colt Army. I say “unofficially” because these were popular firearms purchased by the officers themselves and were never truly standard issue. It wouldn’t be until the early 1870s when a standard side arm was adopted by either California or Texas.
Breech Loader Revolution: 1867-1894
Following the end of the American Civil War and War of the American Alliance in 1865 and 1867 respectively, the Californians and Texans began to look at further modernization of their small arm, and for the first time this would also include their cavalry forces. Up until now California and Texas have outfitted their Cavalry forces very differently from each other, with the former employing large numbers of Lancers and Hussars, and the latter simply equipping their cavalry with the infantry musket. Both would experience issues with their respective doctrines during the War of the American Alliance as massed Cavalry charges were slowly becoming obsolete and long infantry rifles were not very practical for use on horseback.
California had employed Lancers and Hussars in their military over Dragoons due mainly in part to the success they had with both types of troop during their war of independence. Many Californios formed a corps of Lancers whose charge was deadly and used to great effect by Mauricio Valdez in his campaign down the central valley and pacific coast. On a similar note, Joshua Stevens led a guerrilla band of light cavalry on lightning raids throughout Eastern Alta California and Nuevo Mexico. After the war, these militia formations would be reorganized into regulars, the Crimson Lancers and Emerald Hussars.
Texas on the other hand operated an irregular band of horsemen, mostly a mixed formation of what could be considered hussars and mounted rifles, known as the Texas Legion. The Cavalry in Texas didn’t have as formidable a reputation as the Californian Cavalry, but still proved to be an effective fighting force during the revolutions of the 1830s and 1840s.
The Californians and Texans had been paying attention to military developments in both the American Civil War and in the wars of Europe. What they had seen was the widespread adoption of breech loading and repeating firearms. Each of their infantry forces would adopt breechloading conversions of the 1861 Springfield, The Model of 1866. These weapons however would see short service lives, and like the Model of 1855, would never come to fully equip either nation’s military. Instead, the weapon that became the iconic arm of the mid to late 19th century for the Bear and Lone Star would be the Model of 1873 Trapdoor Springfield, as well as the later iteration, the Model of 1881. Both would be adopted in the American .45-70 Cartridge.
When it came to their cavalry however, this is where both nations took a differing approach to arms procurement. Many Texan volunteers in the Confederate Army had been cavalrymen, famed for their lightning raids under the command of men like J.E.B Stuart and Nathan Bedford Forrest, and they had been quick to adopt short breech loading carbines, namely the Sharps Carbine, when they could get their hands on them. When these men returned to Texas after the war, quite a few had brought their new preferred weapon with them which prompted the Texan military to look into the firearm. After extensive testing and research of battlefield reports through the late 1860s, the Texan military would formally adopt the Sharps Carbine as their main cavalry arm in 1871. This coincided with the Texas Legion being reorganized into a force of regular Light Cavalry Dragoons and being renamed the Texas Rangers.
Californian Volunteers in the Union Army made up a single infantry brigade as well as a cavalry regiment. These were the “California Brigade,” made up of the 69th, 71st, 72nd, and 106th Pennsylvania, and the 2nd Massachusetts “California Hundred” Cavalry. These men had very different experiences in the war, with the Infantry becoming famed for their tenacity and discipline, while the cavalry would be notable for having a pair of Medal of Honor recipients during the war. In any case, to make a long story short, the men of the 2nd Mass had come to use both the sharps and spencer carbines during their service, and while both were well liked, the spencer was far more popular. Like the Taxan military, the Californian military would test both weapons, with President Valdez taking a personal liking to the Spencer. By 1869, California had chosen the Spencer as its standard cavalry arm and would purchase several thousand from the U.S. and begin licensed production as well. Like Texas, California would reorganize their Lancer and Hussar cavalry units into Dragoons, the renamed Crimson Dragoons operating as “Heavy” Cavalry and the Emerald Dragoons as “Light” Cavalry.
Both weapons would have a relatively short service life however as newer weapons developed in the 1870s would quickly surpass them. In 1876 Texas would adopt a carbine variant of their 1873 Rifles while California would adopt the 1876 Winchester Repeater in 1877, followed by the Models of 1886 and 1892 later on.
A weapon with a significantly longer service life would be the sidearm adopted during this time period by both nations. Both California and Texas held extensive trials during the early 1870s to finally standardize the sidearms of their officers and replace the collection of 1851 and 1860 Colt revolvers they operated. By 1875 this had resulted in both nations adopting the iconic Colt Single Action Army for their officer corps for both the infantry and cavalry. The Single Action Army would go on to have a long career in both nation’s militaries, serving a frontline role until 1895 and a reserve role until 1918.
The weapons adopted during this post war era would see little service beyond peacekeeping and garrison duty as between 1867 and 1912, no wars were fought involving either California or Texas.
Part 2: Weapons of the World Wars: 1894-1956
Rifles, Short Rifles, and Carbines
The late 1880s and early 1890s were a whirlwind for weapons development on the world stage. The invention of smokeless powder and the subsequent adoption of the 1886 Lebel by the French produced a dreadnought effect that would make all existing single shot and black powder firearms obsolete overnight. To their credit the Californian and Texan militaries would begin to shop around and trial many different firearms, but it would take many years before they would adopt new arms to outfit their soldiers. This would occur in 1894 in Texas and 1896 in California.
One thing both Texas and California would do would be to outfit their militaries with a single standard rifle, the infantry, cavalry, and navy (including marines) would all have a single rifle made in different patterns based on need. In Texas this took the form of the Model of 1894 “Lone Star” Rifle, a Texan contract Krag Jorgensen Rifle. All rifles would fire the same cartridge, the proprietary .30-30 Krag (aka .30 Texan), but all would be made in differing lengths. The 1894 “Army” had a 30 inch barrel, the “Navy” had a 27 inch barrel, and the Cavalry Carbine would have a 20 inch barrel.
California would adopt a variation of the American Model of 1895 Lee Navy in 1896. A small group of Californian military attaches had been present during the U.S. Navy trials of 1894-95 and quite liked the rifle. Following its adoption by the U.S they would approach James Paris Lee about purchasing a license to produce the firearm. After a short testing period they would adopt the weapon in three variations as the M96 Rifle in 6x60 Lee (aka. 6mm Lee Navy) . The M96 “Navy” would be unchanged from its American counterpart with a 28 inch barrel, while the “Army” would have a longer 32 inch barrel. The Cavalry Carbine would sport a 20 inch barrel.
Both the Texan Krag and Californian Lee would come to fully replace all their black powder firearms by the mid 1900s and would undergo some incremental changes. In the case of the Texan Krag, this took the form of the weapon being rechambered in the American .30-06 cartridge in 1907. This was done for two reasons; Reason number one being that .30 Texan had proven to be an underpowered cartridge for what the Texan Army wanted in their service rifle. During early tests and field trials all seemed fine, but with the rapid pace of firearms development, it had been outpaced by its contemporaries. Reason number two was that .30 Texan was not a spitzer bullet, it was a round-nosed type. With the aforementioned reason of it being underpowered, the Texan military opted to not update .30 Texan and just replace it all together. The newly minted Model 94/07 Rifles and Carbines would go on to serve the Texan Army well during their Joint Intervention in the Mexican Revolution with California as well as in the trenches of WW1 during their involvement from 1916-1918.
The M96 Lee would not be updated until after the aforementioned intervention in the Mexican Revolution and California’s annexation of the Baja California Peninsula. Like the Texan rifle, the Californians would update their ammunition, however instead of rechambering their rifles, they would update their ammunition to spitzer bullets, retroactively naming the early type “M1 Ball” and designating the new 6x60 spitzer ammunition as “M2 Ball.” Additionally, the Californian troops had issues with losing their extractors when field stripping and cleaning their firearms, so this update also saw the free floating extractor of the M96 seated in a track on the bolt, still allowing it to move, but without it falling out of the gun when removing the bolt. These new updates were developed in 1914 and formally adopted in 1915, giving the rifle with these updates the designation of M96/15.
Texas would have one final iteration of their “Lone Star” Krags developed in the mid 1920s and formally adopted in 1927. This iteration would be the “Lone Star” Short Rifle. The Texans had come to learn that having three different versions of your main weapon wasn’t necessary anymore. World War 1 had proven cavalry to be mostly obsolete beyond reconnaissance and garrison duties, so a short Carbine wasn’t entirely necessary for them. Similarly, the long 30+ inch barrels many infantry rifles of the day had along with the sword style bayonets proven to be overly long for modern warfare. The new Model of 1927 Short Rifle would feature a universal barrel length of 26 inches for all three major service branches. In addition to this, a semi-pistol grip would be added for ease of use by the shooter. This firearm would have a short frontline service of only 11 years before its replacement by the American M1 Garand. It would serve in a reserve and auxiliary role until 1943 when it would be formally replaced in this role by the M1 Carbine. Both these iconic American repeating firearms would serve with Texan forces through the 1940s and 50s, and into the early 60s in a reserve role.
California would also develop a new version of their M96 Rifle. Development and testing took place in the mid to late 20s, of both a new rifle and new ammunition. California had seen many contemporary militaries switch to 7mm or .30 caliber ammunition over the last 30 years and 6x60 Lee was beginning to show its age as a military cartridge. They looked at many different rounds such as .303 British, 7.5 French, and 8mm Mauser, but also considered just chambering the new round in .30-06. However, after several rounds of testing and development, California created a proprietary cartridge, 7.5x55 M1 Ball (aka 7mm Lee). The most major change to the M96 was the decision to go to a traditional straight pull rotating bolt action rather than keeping the existing upward camming tilting bolt action. This was done to allow the fitting of a rear aperture sight to the new rifle, which provided a better sight picture than the tangent sights of the M96 as well as to make the action more slick and faster to use as a whole. Lastly, a universal barrel length of 25 inches would be chosen. The new weapon was adopted in 1932 as the M32 Service Rifle. The weapon would receive an update in 1942 to make it simpler to produce and be dubbed the M32/42. Additionally, due to experiences in the thick jungles of the South Pacific a carbine version with a 20 inch barrel would be developed and adopted in 1944 as the M44 Carbine. The M32 would be formally retired in 1954 while the M44 would be rechambered into 7.62 NATO and be made standard issue as the M4 Service Rifle, it would serve until its replacement in 1956, and remain in reserve and auxiliary usage until 1965.
Squad Support Weapons
Neither California nor Texas had adopted a portable light machine gun in the years leading up to World War 1. They had however adopted heavier machine guns mounted on tripods such as the iconic water-cooled Maxim Gun and the much cheaper Colt-Browning M1895 “Potato Digger.” The search for a portable light machine gun would begin during the 1912-1913 Intervention in the Mexican Revolution by both nations. The fluid nature of maneuver warfare in that conflict meant that heavier mounted machine guns like the maxim and potato digger were of limited and varying effectiveness and it was found by the joint intervention force that units of infantry needed more portable heavy firepower. This would result in California and Texas holding joint military trials in 1915 of several different firearms, most notably the Madsen and Lewis Guns. These trials wouldn’t ultimately lead to the adoption of any one standard light machine gun as by 1916 they had found themselves embroiled in World War 1 and in serious need of firearms. Both the Californian and Texan militaries would operate a collection of these early light machine guns during the Great War, the Madsen was a favorite among troops, and the Lewis proved to be reliable, but the infamous Chauchat was more common and available in higher numbers.
Following their experiences in World War 1, both nations would continue their trials of various Light Machine Guns albeit separately. Texas would adopt two Browning designs in the early 1920s, the first being the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle and the other being the M1919 Browning Machine Gun. The latter of these two arms was meant to replace existing stockpiles of Maxims and Potato Diggers, while also serving a man portable sustained fire support weapon at the section level. The BAR on the other hand was meant to be issued out at the squad level as was the original intention of the trials back in 1915. The adoption of these weapons made sense for Texas considering they were proven reliable firearms already chambered in their standard .30-06 cartridge.
California on the other hand would initially standardize on the Lewis Gun rechambered in 6x60 during the post war years, dubbing it the M22 Light Machine Gun for its year of official adoption in 1922. However, with the adoption of a new cartridge and rifle in 1932, the Bear Republic sought to replace the Lewis Gun entirely rather than simply rechambering it for the 7.5x55 cartridge. During this time, the Lewis Gun would be put up against several other firearms including the aforementioned BAR and M1919, as well as the Madsen Gun, FM 24/29, and ZB 26. Ultimately the Czech ZB 26 would be officially adopted in 1934 to replace the Lewis Gun as the M34 Light Machine Gun and chambered in 7.5x55.
The M1919, BAR, and M34 would serve with Texas and California respectively through the Second World War and into the 1950s. All would prove to be reliable and well liked by the troops issued with them. In the case of the M34, it would go through an update in 1955 to rechamber it into 7.62 NATO, being redubbed the M5 Light Machine Gun and would serve in a reserve role until the 1980s.
Sidearms
California and Texas would both adopt a new revolver in the mid 1890s, this being the Colt M1892 to replace their existing Single Action Armies. While the iconic revolver would remain in reserve service through World War 1, the new M1892 would prove to become a favorite among officers and other troops issued with them. California and Texas would in fact hang on to their revolvers longer than the U.S. would. While both nations would experiment with more modern handguns, they didn’t have the same push to replace them as the U.S. had considering the Californians and Texans weren’t fighting fanatical guerrillas in the jungles of the Philippines. It wouldn’t be until the 1930s when either nation looked to replace their revolvers, and they would take two distinct routes.
Texas in the mid 1930s would continue their trend of adopting the American standard firearm with the official adoption of the Colt 1911 in .45 ACP. The trials for this weapon were fairly extensive as it was tested against several contemporary arms including the S&W M1917 Revolver, the Luger P08, and an early version of the FN Browning High Power. Ultimately however, the 1911 won out and would be the Texan military standard until they jumped on the 9x19 bandwagon in the early 2000s.
California would as part of their rearmament program in the early to mid 1930s adopt a new pistol, the FN Browning High Power. While the American 1911 was considered for adoption and tested during this time, Military officials saw the growing global standard was the 9x19 Parabellum cartridge and decided to adopt that as their national standard. Like the 1911 in Texan service, the Browning High Power would have a long service history, being in frontline service until the mid 1980s and continuing to today in a reserve role.
Part Three: The Cold War and Beyond
Cold War Modernization: 1956-1985
Following World War II and the creation of NATO, there was a push for Western Aligned nations to standardize on a rifle and cartridge for ease of logistics in the event of another major war. Texas and California would formally participate in NATO trials in the 1950s for said firearm and rifle, this was also despite the fact that the latter was not formally a part of NATO. Following the adoption of 7.62x51 as the standard NATO cartridge, California and Texas would look to convert their existing firearms to it as well as adopt new self-loading battle rifles to replace them in frontline service.
For California this would take the form of the semi-auto only Inch Pattern FN FAL, which would be adopted in 1956 as the M6 Service Rifle. The Californian Inch Pattern FALs are identified from Commonwealth FALs in that they lack the carry handle and for their distinctive Redwood furniture. The M6 would serve as the infantry standard until 1989, and continues in the role of a designated marksman’s rifle today.
Texas would adopt the Armalite AR-10 in 1957 as the select fire M10 Combat Rifle. The Texan M10 also featured wood furniture rather than plastic or bakelite and is distinctive for its khaki tan color. One other marking to tell Texan contract AR-10s from others is the presence of the Texan Lone Star stamped into the side of the receiver. The M10 would serve as the infantry standard until 1992. A DMR version dubbed the M10S would be adopted in 1987 and continues to serve in that role today.
In the realm of Light Machine Guns, both nations would adopt the FN MAG in 7.62 NATO in the early 1960s. Officially, the weapon was dubbed by California as the M3 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) and in Texas simply as the FN GPMG. This weapon would formally replace each nation’s stockpile of squad support weapons and section machine guns, and continue in their roles to this day.
Modern Small Arms for a Modern World: 1985-present
Almost as soon as 7.62 NATO was adopted, there had been a trend towards the adoption of smaller intermediate rounds. The U.S. had adopted the AR-15 in 5.56x45 to replace their existing 7.62 M14 less than 10 years after their official adoption, and other nations in both the Western and Eastern Blocs were experimenting with similar cartridges. Texas would begin to phase out the M10 Combat Rifle when they adopted the American M16 in 1989 and the shorter M4 Carbine in 1995, both chambered in 5.56 NATO. California would do the same with their M6 Service Rifle earlier in 1982 with the adoption of the FN FNC as the M2 Service Rifle in 5.56 NATO.
While the FN MAG would continue in service for both nations, a lighter more easily portable Machine Gun was looked for by both nations. An early attempt to replace the FN MAG as the squad support weapon would be made in the 1970s with experimental heavy barrel M6s and M10s equipped with larger drum mags and bipods. These tests however would go nowhere as neither weapon was suited to the role. It wouldn’t be until the 1980s when both nations would trial and adopt the FN Minimi in the role of the Squad Support Weapon. Adopted in 1987 in California, they would dub the weapon the M7 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), while Texas would adopt the weapon in 1986 as the FN LMG.
California and Texas would also modernize their handguns during this time. While the Browning Hi Power and M1911 had served both nations well, they were well over fifty year old designs by this point. California would adopt a new pistol first, choosing the Glock 17 to replace the Browning Hi Power in 1984. Seeing as both pistols were chambered in 9x19 it was also seen by Californian officials as the right choice since they could use existing stockpiles of munitions. Glocks continue to serve in the Californian military today, with more compact Glock 19 coming to be the most common form in the military today. Texas would test a multitude of pistols over the 1990s, including the Glock, but would ultimately adopt the H&K USP in 9x19 in 2001. This handgun continues to serve Texan forces to this day as their standard side arm. In both the case of California and Texas however there are ongoing discussions to adopt the SIG M17 and M18 pistols to replace the Glock and USP, but very little has been done to test and trial the proposed weapons against the existing standard.

Welcome to your SOTD Hardware Report for April 2024

Observations

• After the MM24 orgy that was March, the hangover has set in and most folks have walk-of-shamed back to their trusty DEs putting the big 3 (Game Changer, Christopher Bradly, and Blackbird) back on top. But while the it may be sulking in the basement in twenty-first, I say to MM24, "Come back upstairs and hold your head up! You still wracked up more shaves this month than the next two GEMs combined, even after the reckless abandon of last month."
  
• Straights took advantage of the weakend GEM showing to jump to second in the blade format race for the first time since I have taken over the report. The Schick Injector also benefitted, moving up 9 places to finish 7th in the razor race.
  
• On the brush front, it was a worse month for the badgers who let the synths retake the top spot. Even their joint partnership with the boars (Mixed BadgeBoar) lost out to the perenially also ran horses.
  

Notes & Caveats

• 1,774 shave reports from 133 distnct shavers during the month of April 2024 were analyzed to produce this report.
  
• I only show the top n results per category to keep the tables readable and avoid max post length issues.
  
• Blade Format stats don't differentiate between DE and half DE razors, they are all counted as being DE blades
  
• Blades recorded as just 'GEM' will be matched to 'Personna GEM PTFE' per guidance here
  
• The Personna blade name is going away, but the majority of entries are still coming in under Personna, so I am sticking to that for this report. Once more than 50% of the entries come in under the new names, I will reverse this and map any old Personna entries to the new name.
  
  • Personna GEM PTFE is now Accutec Pro Premium (GEM)
  • Personna Lab Blue is now Accuforge Super Stainless MicroCoat
  • Personna Med Prep is now Accuthrive Super Med Prep
• Any brush with a DG knot will come under the DG Bx category - eg Dogwood B8 is recorded as 'DG B8'
  
• In the case of most brush makers (eg Maggard) - knots are split into synthetic / badger / boar and attributed to the maker - eg 'Maggard Synthetic'
  
• Notable exceptions to this are Omega and Semogue, in order to retain the model number. Unless someone just puts 'Omega Boar' which I then report as 'Omega (model not specified) Boar' .
  
• The unique user column shows the number of different users who used a given razor / brush etc in the month. We can combine this with the total number of shaves to get the average number of times a user used a razor / brush etc
  
• The change Δ vs columns show how an item has moved up or down the rankings since that month. = means no change in position, up or down arrows indicate how many positions up or down the rankings an item has moved compared to that month. n/a means the item was not present in that month.
  

Blade Formats

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
DE	1397	128	10.91	=	=	=
Straight	117	12	9.75	↑1	=	=
GEM	108	27	4	↓1	=	=
AC	57	15	3.8	=	=	↑1
Hair Shaper	33	8	4.12	↑1	↑1	n/a
Cartridge	31	2	15.5	↑1	↑1	=
Injector	28	10	2.8	↓2	↓2	↓3
hair shaper	2	2	1	n/a	=	n/a
Rolls	1	1	1	n/a	=	n/a

Razors

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
RazoRock Game Changer	114	14	8.14	↑2	↑4	↑7
Karve Christopher Bradley	113	18	6.28	↑5	↓1	↓1
Blackland Blackbird	103	22	4.68	↓1	=	↑8
Gillette Tech	80	16	5	↑5	↑2	↑1
Gillette Super Speed	71	18	3.94	↑3	↓3	↑8
Rockwell 6S	52	8	6.5	↑7	↑5	↓3
Schick Injector	40	12	3.33	↑9	↑3	↑3
Yates 'Merica	40	3	13.33	↓1	↑29	n/a
Other Straight Razor	39	10	3.9	↑4	↑12	↓2
Henson Ti22	38	3	12.67	↑1	=	n/a
Karve Overlander	37	6	6.17	↑8	↑3	n/a
Chiseled Face Legacy	36	14	2.57	↓6	↓3	n/a
Yates Winning	36	4	9	↑6	↑20	n/a
Van Der Hagen Razor	33	2	16.5	↓1	↑23	n/a
Rockwell 6C	32	3	10.67	↓9	↑4	↓9
Headblade ATX	30	1	30	n/a	↑21	n/a
Mühle Companion	30	1	30	=	n/a	n/a
Merkur 34C	27	11	2.45	↓1	↓11	↓1
Weck Sextoblade	27	7	3.86	↑2	=	↑15
Boker Straight	27	3	9	↑4	=	n/a
u/EldrormR Industries MM24	26	10	2.6	↓15	↑2	n/a
Wolfman WR2	25	8	3.12	↓2	↓1	↑12
Aylsworth Drakkant	25	4	6.25	↑14	↑17	n/a
Karve Bison	24	2	12	↑18	n/a	n/a
Merkur 37C	22	4	5.5	↑10	↑5	↓7
Charcoal Goods Lvl 2	20	8	2.5	↑1	↑2	↓6
J A Henckels: Straight	16	4	4	↑11	↑6	↑8
Gillette Fatboy	16	2	8	↓1	↓2	↓10
Blackland Vector	15	6	2.5	↑5	↓7	↑3
GEM Flying Wing (aka Bullet Tip)	15	5	3	↑10	n/a	=
Gillette NEW	15	5	3	↑14	↑1	=
Ralf Aust Straight	15	5	3	↑9	↓1	↑10
Stirling Stainless DE Razor	14	3	4.67	↓2	=	n/a
Blackland Era	14	2	7	↑14	↓6	n/a
Other Shavette	13	2	6.5	↓2	↑1	↑3
RazoRock Lupo	12	3	4	↑4	↑7	n/a
Proof Razor	12	2	6	↑9	↑9	n/a
GEM Micromatic Open Comb	11	7	1.57	↑8	↓5	↑6
Gillette Slim	11	7	1.57	=	↓6	↑1
GEM G-Bar	11	2	5.5	↑5	↑7	↑6
Timeless Razor	10	4	2.5	↑3	↓8	↓18
Weck Hair Shaper	10	4	2.5	↑9	↑12	n/a
Mongoose Alumigoose	10	3	3.33	=	=	↑2
Gillette Old Type	10	1	10	↓9	↑8	↓3
Personna BBS-0	10	1	10	↑8	↑4	n/a
Fatip Piccolo	9	5	1.8	↑3	↑9	↓1
Koraat Straight	9	4	2.25	↑7	↓12	↓8
Ever-Ready 1912	9	3	3	↑5	↓3	=
Blackland Dart	9	2	4.5	↑4	↑9	↑4
GEM Junior	9	2	4.5	↑6	↑4	↑3

Razor Manufacturers

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
Gillette	219	40	5.47	↑2	=	=
Karve	174	24	7.25	↑4	↑1	=
RazoRock	151	25	6.04	↓1	↑2	↑5
Blackland	146	27	5.41	=	↓2	↑2
Rockwell	85	12	7.08	=	↑2	↓2
Yates	85	9	9.44	=	↑15	n/a
Merkur	65	19	3.42	↑5	↓2	=
GEM	60	15	4	↑5	↑2	↑8
Other	53	13	4.08	↑2	↑5	↓3
Mühle	51	9	5.67	↑2	↓1	↑1
Henson	46	9	5.11	↓2	↓4	n/a
Schick	41	13	3.15	↑4	=	↑1
Weck	41	10	4.1	↑3	↑4	↑14
Chiseled Face	36	14	2.57	↓5	=	n/a
Van Der Hagen	33	2	16.5	=	↑19	n/a
Wolfman	32	9	3.56	↓5	↓4	↓7
Headblade	30	1	30	n/a	↑17	n/a
Boker	27	3	9	↑1	=	n/a
u/EldrormR Industries	26	10	2.6	↓16	↑1	n/a
Aylsworth	25	4	6.25	↑9	↑13	n/a
Charcoal Goods	23	9	2.56	↓3	↓3	↓6
Fatip	20	10	2	↓1	↑4	↑1
Ever-Ready	17	7	2.43	↓4	↓5	↓3
J A Henckels:	16	4	4	↑6	↑4	↑2
Ralf Aust	15	5	3	↑4	↓2	↑4
Stirling	14	3	4.67	↓6	↓2	n/a
Proof	12	2	6	↑5	↑6	n/a
Paradigm	11	3	3.67	↑4	n/a	↓8
Tatara	11	3	3.67	↑5	↓12	↓10
Maggard	10	6	1.67	↓7	↓4	↓23
Timeless	10	4	2.5	↓1	↓8	↓16
Above the Tie	10	3	3.33	↓8	↓2	↓16
Mongoose	10	3	3.33	↓5	↓1	↓4
Baili	10	2	5	↓6	↑9	↓4
Personna	10	1	10	↑4	↑1	n/a

Blades

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
Astra Superior Platinum (Green)	241	32	7.53	↑1	=	=
Gillette Nacet	141	22	6.41	↑1	↑4	↑3
Personna GEM PTFE	107	26	4.12	↓2	↑1	↑6
Gillette Silver Blue	97	18	5.39	=	↓2	=
Wizamet	86	16	5.38	↑1	↑4	↑7
7 O'Clock - Sharpedge (Yellow)	66	7	9.43	↑13	↑2	↑10
Feather (DE)	60	16	3.75	=	↓2	↓5
Voskhod	50	8	6.25	↑20	↓1	↓1
Gillette Platinum	47	11	4.27	↑13	↓6	↑2
Gillette Minora	47	4	11.75	↑1	↑23	n/a
Wilkinson Sword	44	10	4.4	↑2	↑14	↓2
Personna Lab Blue	42	11	3.82	↓6	↓1	↓1
Polsilver	34	6	5.67	↓3	=	↓9
Personna Platinum	33	9	3.67	↓2	↓2	↑11
Schick Proline (AC)	32	11	2.91	↑3	↑12	↑7
Cartridge	31	2	15.5	↑15	↑13	n/a
Kismet Hair Shaper	30	8	3.75	↑5	↑10	n/a
7 O'Clock - Super Platinum (Black)	28	7	4	↑9	↑3	↓4
Derby Premium	27	1	27	↑6	↑12	↑5
Dorco ST-300	26	4	6.5	↑3	↑15	=
Personna Med Prep	25	3	8.33	n/a	↑2	↑6
Personna Red	23	3	7.67	↓7	↑8	↓6
Schick Injector	20	8	2.5	↓6	↓8	↓11
Rapira Platinum Lux	20	3	6.67	↑12	↑5	↓6
Bic Astor Stainless	19	4	4.75	↓5	n/a	n/a
Bic Chrome	18	6	3	↓11	↓6	↓10
Kai (DE)	14	4	3.5	↓3	↑2	↓7
Durablade Sharp Titanium	13	2	6.5	=	↓7	n/a
Gillette Perma-Sharp	11	5	2.2	↓19	↓14	↓21
7 O'Clock - Super Stainless (Green)	11	4	2.75	↓12	↓3	↓10
Boker	11	1	11	↑1	↑6	n/a
Astra Superior Stainless (Blue)	9	5	1.8	↑3	↓13	↓15
Lord Platinum	9	3	3	↑1	n/a	n/a
Diane Hair Shaper	9	1	9	=	n/a	n/a
Kai Captain Blade (AC)	8	2	4	↓1	n/a	↓2
King C Gillette	7	4	1.75	↓2	↓4	n/a
Personna Injector	7	2	3.5	↑2	↓5	n/a
Feather ProGuard (AC)	7	1	7	↓1	↓2	↓4
Derby Extra	6	1	6	↓3	↓3	↓8
Gillette Spoiler	6	1	6	n/a	n/a	n/a
Lord Tajam	6	1	6	↑3	n/a	n/a
RK Stainless	6	1	6	↓6	↓1	↓5
Gillette Wilkinson Sword	5	3	1.67	↑1	↓5	↓7
Tatra Platinum	5	2	2.5	n/a	=	n/a
Tiger Platinum	5	2	2.5	↓7	↓1	n/a
Super-Max Blue Diamond	5	1	5	n/a	n/a	n/a
Kai Captain Titan Mild Protouch (AC)	4	2	2	↑1	↑1	n/a
Derby Blue Bird	4	1	4	n/a	n/a	n/a
Rapira Swedish	4	1	4	n/a	↓17	↓12
Treet New	4	1	4	n/a	n/a	n/a

Brushes

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
Maggard Synthetic	164	24	6.83	↑2	↑3	↑3
AP Shave Co Synthetic	147	26	5.65	↓1	=	↑15
Yaqi Synthetic	73	17	4.29	↑2	=	↑1
Stirling 2-Band Synthetic	65	4	16.25	↑2	↑5	↑2
wetshaving MOAR BOAR	60	24	2.5	↓3	↓4	n/a
Chisel & Hound V20	38	7	5.43	↓2	n/a	n/a
DSCosmetics Synthetic	38	2	19	↑5	↑17	↑13
Zenith Boar	37	10	3.7	↑1	↓2	↑18
Declaration Grooming B16	35	8	4.38	↑1	↑18	n/a
Stirling Synthetic	32	4	8	↓2	↓3	↑13
Chisel & Hound Badger	31	6	5.17	=	↑5	n/a
Chisel & Hound V23	30	11	2.73	↑8	n/a	n/a
Chisel & Hound V21	30	1	30	↑2	n/a	n/a
Maggard Badger	29	14	2.07	↓4	↓4	↓2
Stirling/Zenith 31mmx50mm Boar (510SE-XL)	29	8	3.62	↑8	n/a	n/a
Dogwood Badger	23	6	3.83	↓3	↑1	↑2
Some Making Required Synthetic	22	1	22	n/a	n/a	n/a
AP Shave Co Badger	20	7	2.86	↓1	↑11	n/a
Aurora Grooming Synthetic	19	7	2.71	↑10	n/a	n/a
CaYuen Synthetic	19	1	19	↑5	↓9	n/a
Semogue SOC Boar	18	11	1.64	↓2	↓4	↑8
Turn-N-Shave Badger	18	7	2.57	↓5	↑12	↑7
Declaration Grooming B3	16	8	2	↓2	=	↓5
PAA Synthetic	16	3	5.33	=	↑3	↑12
Declaration Grooming B14	15	8	1.88	↓2	↑11	n/a
AKA Brushworx Synthetic	15	5	3	↑4	↑5	n/a
Oumo Badger	14	5	2.8	↑1	↓2	↑6
Declaration Grooming B9A	13	2	6.5	↓5	↓2	n/a
Leavitt & Pierce Badger	13	1	13	n/a	n/a	n/a
Chisel & Hound V19	12	4	3	↓3	n/a	n/a
Semogue 830	12	3	4	↑6	↑4	↑4
Declaration Grooming B13	11	6	1.83	↓1	↓12	n/a
Declaration Grooming B15	11	6	1.83	↓11	↓9	n/a
Omega 10049	11	6	1.83	↓1	↓7	↑4
Declaration Grooming B2	11	3	3.67	↑7	↑7	↑1
Omega 10048	11	2	5.5	↑5	↑7	↑7
Semogue 2020	11	1	11	↑7	n/a	n/a
Simpson Trafalgar T3	10	4	2.5	↑2	↓6	n/a
Omega 11137	10	3	3.33	↑2	↓1	n/a
Semogue 610	10	3	3.33	n/a	↑8	↑5
Semogue 2000	10	2	5	↓4	↑9	↑1
Omega 46206	10	1	10	n/a	n/a	n/a
Simpson Trafalgar T2	9	7	1.29	↓6	↓8	↓5
Declaration Grooming B10	9	3	3	↑6	↑4	↑6
Plisson Badger	9	2	4.5	↑6	↑8	↑5
Simpson Trafalgar T1	8	5	1.6	↓2	n/a	↑5
Wild West Brushworks Synthetic	8	5	1.6	↑1	↓1	↓18
Chisel & Hound Boar	8	2	4	↑11	↑7	n/a
Wald A1	8	2	4	=	=	n/a
Wolf Whiskers Badger	8	2	4	↓8	↑3	↓12

Brush Manufacturers

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
Maggard	198	34	5.82	↑3	↑4	↑3
Chisel & Hound	184	35	5.26	↓1	↑7	n/a
AP Shave Co	171	32	5.34	=	↓1	↑10
Declaration Grooming	150	32	4.69	↓2	↓1	↓3
Stirling	100	9	11.11	↑1	↑3	↓3
Semogue	98	23	4.26	↑1	↑4	↓3
Stirling/Zenith	97	32	3.03	↓2	↓6	n/a
Yaqi	81	19	4.26	=	↓4	↓3
Omega	74	24	3.08	=	↓2	↓3
Zenith	62	17	3.65	=	↓4	↑9
DSCosmetics	40	2	20	↑3	↑10	↑3
Aurora Grooming	32	8	4	↑11	n/a	n/a
Dogwood	31	11	2.82	↓2	↓2	↓7
Simpson	29	15	1.93	↓2	↓1	↓1
Some Making Required	22	1	22	n/a	n/a	n/a
Oumo	19	7	2.71	↑1	↑1	↑5
Turn-N-Shave	19	7	2.71	↓3	↑11	↑4
CaYuen	19	1	19	↑3	↓4	n/a
PAA	16	3	5.33	=	↑3	↑8
AKA Brushworx	15	5	3	↑2	↑4	n/a
Wild West Brushworks	13	6	2.17	↑2	↑1	↓12
Wolf Whiskers	13	4	3.25	↓2	↑7	↓10
Leavitt & Pierce	13	1	13	n/a	n/a	n/a
Summer Break	12	3	4	↑2	↓4	n/a
Boti	10	3	3.33	↑3	↑4	n/a

Knot Fibers

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
Synthetic	778	93	8.37	↑1	=	↑1
Badger	591	86	6.87	↓1	↑1	↓1
Boar	341	65	5.25	=	↓1	=
Horse	13	3	4.33	↑1	=	↑1
Mixed BadgeBoar	9	3	3	↓1	↓1	↓1

Knot Sizes

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
26mm	527	75	7.03	=	↑1	↑1
24mm	383	53	7.23	=	↓1	↓1
28mm	212	43	4.93	=	↑1	=
22mm	100	19	5.26	↑1	↑2	=
31mm	89	29	3.07	↓1	↓2	n/a
30mm	60	17	3.53	=	↑2	↑1
27mm	33	13	2.54	=	↓2	↓2
21mm	22	5	4.4	↑3	↑1	=
25mm	17	5	3.4	↑3	↑3	=
23mm	16	10	1.6	↓2	↓3	↓4
20mm	10	5	2	↑3	↑2	↓1
32mm	8	5	1.6	↓3	n/a	↓1
29mm	8	2	4	↓2	↓2	n/a
27.5mm	3	3	1	=	↓2	n/a
26.5mm	1	1	1	↑1	n/a	n/a

Karve Plates

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
C SB	53	7	7.57	↑1	=	↑1
D SB	27	5	5.4	↓1	↑1	↑1
E SB	16	3	5.33	=	↑2	↑1
A SB	6	1	6	n/a	n/a	↑1
B OC	1	1	1	n/a	n/a	↑2

Game Changer Plates

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
.84-P	49	9	5.44	=	=	↑1
.68-P	41	5	8.2	=	=	↓1
.76-P	24	2	12	=	n/a	n/a

Most Used Blades in Most Used Razors

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user
Karve Christopher Bradley + Astra Superior Platinum (Green)	48	7	6.86
Karve Christopher Bradley + Gillette Nacet	31	4	7.75
Karve Christopher Bradley + Wizamet	7	3	2.33
Karve Christopher Bradley + Personna Lab Blue	7	2	3.5
RazoRock Game Changer + Wizamet	24	5	4.8
RazoRock Game Changer + Voskhod	10	2	5
RazoRock Game Changer + Astra Superior Platinum (Green)	7	3	2.33
Gillette Super Speed + 7 O'Clock - Sharpedge (Yellow)	24	2	12
Gillette Super Speed + Gillette Minora	9	2	4.5
Gillette Super Speed + Astra Superior Platinum (Green)	6	2	3
Gillette Super Speed + Feather (DE)	5	2	2.5
Blackland Blackbird + Gillette Nacet	22	6	3.67
Blackland Blackbird + Astra Superior Platinum (Green)	16	5	3.2
Blackland Blackbird + Personna Lab Blue	13	2	6.5
Blackland Blackbird + Wizamet	12	2	6
Blackland Blackbird + Voskhod	11	2	5.5
Blackland Blackbird + Gillette Silver Blue	7	3	2.33
Gillette Tech + Gillette Silver Blue	9	3	3
Gillette Tech + Polsilver	7	3	2.33
Schick Injector + Schick Injector	19	7	2.71

Highest Use Count per Blade

user	blade	format	uses
u/sgrdddy	Gillette Nacet	DE	543
u/RedMosquitoMM	Personna Lab Blue	DE	77
u/RedMosquitoMM	Astra Superior Platinum (Green)	DE	74
u/Impressive_Donut114	Personna GEM PTFE	GEM	69
u/RedMosquitoMM	Voskhod	DE	39
u/RedMosquitoMM	Voskhod	DE	39

Top Shavers

user	shaves	missed days	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
u/Impressive_Donut114	60	0	=	↑1	n/a
u/Engineered_Shave	36	0	=	↑2	n/a
u/djundjila	33	0	=	=	n/a
u/Environmental-Gap380	31	0	=	↓1	n/a
u/jrhunter25	31	0	=	↑13	n/a
u/oswald_heist	31	0	↑1	=	n/a
u/35048467	30	0	↓1	↓3	↑15
u/AdWorried2804	30	0	=	↑23	n/a
u/Breadheater9876	30	0	↓1	n/a	n/a
u/el_charminman	30	0	↓1	↓2	n/a
u/Eructate	30	0	↓1	↓2	n/a
u/gcgallant	30	0	↓1	↓2	n/a
u/InfernalInternal	30	0	↓1	↓2	n/a
u/kind_simian	30	0	=	↓4	n/a
u/loudmusicboy	30	0	↓1	↓2	n/a
u/Marquis90	30	0	↑1	↓2	n/a
u/partyman97_3	30	0	↓1	↑14	n/a
u/rebdoomer88	30	0	↓1	n/a	n/a
u/scribe__	30	0	↓1	↓2	↑23
u/tsrblke	30	0	↓1	↓2	n/a
u/EldrormR	29	1	↓1	↓2	↓5

Welcome to your SOTD Hardware Report for April 2024

Observations

• After the MM24 orgy that was March, the hangover has set in and most folks have walk-of-shamed back to their trusty DEs, putting the big 3 (Game Changer, Christopher Bradley, and Blackbird) back on top. But while the it may be sulking in the basement in twenty-first, I say to MM24, "Come back upstairs and hold your head up! You still racked up more shaves this month than the next two GEMs combined, even after the reckless abandon of last month."
• Straights took advantage of the weakend GEM showing to jump to second in the blade format race for the first time since I have taken over the report. The Schick Injector also benefitted, moving up 9 places to finish 7th in the razor race.
• On the brush front, it was a worse month for the badgers who let the synths retake the top spot. Even their joint partnership with the boars (Mixed BadgeBoar) lost out to the perenially also ran horses.

Notes & Caveats

• 1,774 shave reports from 133 distnct shavers during the month of April 2024 were analyzed to produce this report.
• I only show the top n results per category to keep the tables readable and avoid max post length issues.
• Blade Format stats don't differentiate between DE and half DE razors, they are all counted as being DE blades
• Blades recorded as just 'GEM' will be matched to 'Personna GEM PTFE' per guidance here
• The Personna blade name is going away, but the majority of entries are still coming in under Personna, so I am sticking to that for this report. Once more than 50% of the entries come in under the new names, I will reverse this and map any old Personna entries to the new name.
  • Personna GEM PTFE is now Accutec Pro Premium (GEM)
  • Personna Lab Blue is now Accuforge Super Stainless MicroCoat
  • Personna Med Prep is now Accuthrive Super Med Prep
• Any brush with a DG knot will come under the DG Bx category - eg Dogwood B8 is recorded as 'DG B8'
• In the case of most brush makers (eg Maggard) - knots are split into synthetic / badger / boar and attributed to the maker - eg 'Maggard Synthetic'
• Notable exceptions to this are Omega and Semogue, in order to retain the model number. Unless someone just puts 'Omega Boar' which I then report as 'Omega (model not specified) Boar' .
• The unique user column shows the number of different users who used a given razor / brush etc in the month. We can combine this with the total number of shaves to get the average number of times a user used a razor / brush etc
• The change Δ vs columns show how an item has moved up or down the rankings since that month. = means no change in position, up or down arrows indicate how many positions up or down the rankings an item has moved compared to that month. n/a means the item was not present in that month.

Blade Formats

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
DE	1397	128	10.91	=	=	=
Straight	117	12	9.75	↑1	=	=
GEM	108	27	4	↓1	=	=
AC	57	15	3.8	=	=	↑1
Hair Shaper	35	10	3.5	↑1	↑1	n/a
Cartridge	31	2	15.5	↑1	↑1	=
Injector	28	10	2.8	↓2	↓2	↓3
Rolls	1	1	1	n/a	=	n/a

Razors

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
RazoRock Game Changer	114	14	8.14	↑2	↑4	↑7
Karve Christopher Bradley	113	18	6.28	↑5	↓1	↓1
Blackland Blackbird	103	22	4.68	↓1	=	↑8
Gillette Tech	80	16	5	↑5	↑2	↑1
Gillette Super Speed	71	18	3.94	↑3	↓3	↑8
Rockwell 6S	52	8	6.5	↑7	↑5	↓3
Schick Injector	40	12	3.33	↑9	↑3	↑3
Yates 'Merica	40	3	13.33	↓1	↑29	n/a
Other Straight Razor	39	10	3.9	↑4	↑12	↓2
Henson Ti22	38	3	12.67	↑1	=	n/a
Karve Overlander	37	6	6.17	↑8	↑3	n/a
Chiseled Face Legacy	36	14	2.57	↓6	↓3	n/a
Yates Winning	36	4	9	↑6	↑20	n/a
Van Der Hagen Razor	33	2	16.5	↓1	↑23	n/a
Rockwell 6C	32	3	10.67	↓9	↑4	↓9
Headblade ATX	30	1	30	n/a	↑21	n/a
Mühle Companion	30	1	30	=	n/a	n/a
Merkur 34C	27	11	2.45	↓1	↓11	↓1
Weck Sextoblade	27	7	3.86	↑2	=	↑15
Boker Straight	27	3	9	↑4	=	n/a
u/EldrormR Industries MM24	26	10	2.6	↓15	↑2	n/a
Wolfman WR2	25	8	3.12	↓2	↓1	↑12
Aylsworth Drakkant	25	4	6.25	↑14	↑17	n/a
Karve Bison	24	2	12	↑18	n/a	n/a
Merkur 37C	22	4	5.5	↑10	↑5	↓7
Charcoal Goods Lvl 2	20	8	2.5	↑1	↑2	↓6
J A Henckels: Straight	16	4	4	↑11	↑6	↑8
Gillette Fatboy	16	2	8	↓1	↓2	↓10
Blackland Vector	15	6	2.5	↑5	↓7	↑3
GEM Flying Wing (aka Bullet Tip)	15	5	3	↑10	n/a	=
Gillette NEW	15	5	3	↑14	↑1	=
Ralf Aust Straight	15	5	3	↑9	↓1	↑10
Stirling Stainless DE Razor	14	3	4.67	↓2	=	n/a
Blackland Era	14	2	7	↑14	↓6	n/a
Other Shavette	13	2	6.5	↓2	↑1	↑3
RazoRock Lupo	12	3	4	↑4	↑7	n/a
Proof Razor	12	2	6	↑9	↑9	n/a
GEM Micromatic Open Comb	11	7	1.57	↑8	↓5	↑6
Gillette Slim	11	7	1.57	=	↓6	↑1
GEM G-Bar	11	2	5.5	↑5	↑7	↑6
Timeless Razor	10	4	2.5	↑3	↓8	↓18
Weck Hair Shaper	10	4	2.5	↑9	↑12	n/a
Mongoose Alumigoose	10	3	3.33	=	=	↑2
Gillette Old Type	10	1	10	↓9	↑8	↓3
Personna BBS-0	10	1	10	↑8	↑4	n/a
Fatip Piccolo	9	5	1.8	↑3	↑9	↓1
Koraat Straight	9	4	2.25	↑7	↓12	↓8
Ever-Ready 1912	9	3	3	↑5	↓3	=
Yates 921	9	3	3	↑1	↑4	n/a
Blackland Dart	9	2	4.5	↑4	↑9	↑4

Razor Manufacturers

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
Gillette	219	40	5.47	↑2	=	=
Karve	174	24	7.25	↑4	↑1	=
RazoRock	151	25	6.04	↓1	↑2	↑5
Blackland	146	27	5.41	=	↓2	↑2
Rockwell	85	12	7.08	=	↑2	↓2
Yates	85	9	9.44	=	↑15	n/a
Merkur	65	19	3.42	↑5	↓2	=
GEM	60	15	4	↑5	↑2	↑8
Other	53	13	4.08	↑2	↑5	↓3
Mühle	51	9	5.67	↑2	↓1	↑1
Henson	46	9	5.11	↓2	↓4	n/a
Schick	41	13	3.15	↑4	=	↑1
Weck	41	10	4.1	↑3	↑4	↑14
Chiseled Face	36	14	2.57	↓5	=	n/a
Van Der Hagen	33	2	16.5	=	↑19	n/a
Wolfman	32	9	3.56	↓5	↓4	↓7
Headblade	30	1	30	n/a	↑17	n/a
Boker	27	3	9	↑1	=	n/a
u/EldrormR Industries	26	10	2.6	↓16	↑1	n/a
Aylsworth	25	4	6.25	↑9	↑13	n/a
Charcoal Goods	23	9	2.56	↓3	↓3	↓6
Fatip	20	10	2	↓1	↑4	↑1
Ever-Ready	17	7	2.43	↓4	↓5	↓3
J A Henckels:	16	4	4	↑6	↑4	↑2
Ralf Aust	15	5	3	↑4	↓2	↑4
Stirling	14	3	4.67	↓6	↓2	n/a
Proof	12	2	6	↑5	↑6	n/a
Paradigm	11	3	3.67	↑4	n/a	↓8
Tatara	11	3	3.67	↑5	↓12	↓10
Maggard	10	6	1.67	↓7	↓4	↓23
Timeless	10	4	2.5	↓1	↓8	↓16
Above the Tie	10	3	3.33	↓8	↓2	↓16
Mongoose	10	3	3.33	↓5	↓1	↓4
Baili	10	2	5	↓6	↑9	↓4
Personna	10	1	10	↑4	↑1	n/a

Blades

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
Astra Superior Platinum (Green)	241	32	7.53	↑1	=	=
Gillette Nacet	141	22	6.41	↑1	↑4	↑3
Personna GEM PTFE	107	26	4.12	↓2	↑1	↑6
Gillette Silver Blue	97	18	5.39	=	↓2	=
Wizamet	86	16	5.38	↑1	↑4	↑7
7 O'Clock - Sharpedge (Yellow)	66	7	9.43	↑13	↑2	↑10
Feather (DE)	60	16	3.75	=	↓2	↓5
Voskhod	50	8	6.25	↑20	↓1	↓1
Gillette Platinum	47	11	4.27	↑13	↓6	↑2
Gillette Minora	47	4	11.75	↑1	↑23	n/a
Wilkinson Sword	44	10	4.4	↑2	↑14	↓2
Personna Lab Blue	42	11	3.82	↓6	↓1	↓1
Polsilver	34	6	5.67	↓3	=	↓9
Personna Platinum	33	9	3.67	↓2	↓2	↑11
Schick Proline (AC)	32	11	2.91	↑3	↑12	↑7
Cartridge	31	2	15.5	↑15	↑13	n/a
Kismet Hair Shaper	30	8	3.75	↑5	↑10	n/a
7 O'Clock - Super Platinum (Black)	28	7	4	↑9	↑3	↓4
Derby Premium	27	1	27	↑6	↑12	↑5
Dorco ST-300	26	4	6.5	↑3	↑15	=
Personna Med Prep	25	3	8.33	n/a	↑2	↑6
Personna Red	23	3	7.67	↓7	↑8	↓6
Schick Injector	20	8	2.5	↓6	↓8	↓11
Rapira Platinum Lux	20	3	6.67	↑12	↑5	↓6
Bic Astor Stainless	19	4	4.75	↓5	n/a	n/a
Bic Chrome	18	6	3	↓11	↓6	↓10
Kai (DE)	14	4	3.5	↓3	↑2	↓7
Durablade Sharp Titanium	13	2	6.5	=	↓7	n/a
Gillette Perma-Sharp	11	5	2.2	↓19	↓14	↓21
7 O'Clock - Super Stainless (Green)	11	4	2.75	↓12	↓3	↓10
Boker	11	1	11	↑1	↑6	n/a
Astra Superior Stainless (Blue)	9	5	1.8	↑3	↓13	↓15
Lord Platinum	9	3	3	↑1	n/a	n/a
Diane Hair Shaper	9	1	9	=	n/a	n/a
Kai Captain Blade (AC)	8	2	4	↓1	n/a	↓2
King C Gillette	7	4	1.75	↓2	↓4	n/a
Personna Injector	7	2	3.5	↑2	↓5	n/a
Feather ProGuard (AC)	7	1	7	↓1	↓2	↓4
Derby Extra	6	1	6	↓3	↓3	↓8
Gillette Spoiler	6	1	6	n/a	n/a	n/a
Lord Tajam	6	1	6	↑3	n/a	n/a
RK Stainless	6	1	6	↓6	↓1	↓5
Gillette Wilkinson Sword	5	3	1.67	↑1	↓5	↓7
Tatra Platinum	5	2	2.5	n/a	=	n/a
Tiger Platinum	5	2	2.5	↓7	↓1	n/a
Super-Max Blue Diamond	5	1	5	n/a	n/a	n/a
Kai Captain Titan Mild Protouch (AC)	4	2	2	↑1	↑1	n/a
Derby Blue Bird	4	1	4	n/a	n/a	n/a
Rapira Swedish	4	1	4	n/a	↓17	↓12
Treet New	4	1	4	n/a	n/a	n/a

Brushes

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
Maggard Synthetic	164	24	6.83	↑2	↑3	↑3
AP Shave Co Synthetic	147	26	5.65	↓1	=	↑15
Yaqi Synthetic	73	17	4.29	↑2	=	↑1
Stirling 2-Band Synthetic	65	4	16.25	↑2	↑5	↑2
wetshaving MOAR BOAR	60	24	2.5	↓3	↓4	n/a
Chisel & Hound V20	38	7	5.43	↓2	n/a	n/a
DSCosmetics Synthetic	38	2	19	↑5	↑17	↑13
Zenith Boar	37	10	3.7	↑1	↓2	↑18
Declaration Grooming B16	35	8	4.38	↑1	↑18	n/a
Stirling Synthetic	32	4	8	↓2	↓3	↑13
Chisel & Hound Badger	31	6	5.17	=	↑5	n/a
Chisel & Hound V23	30	11	2.73	↑8	n/a	n/a
Chisel & Hound V21	30	1	30	↑2	n/a	n/a
Maggard Badger	29	14	2.07	↓4	↓4	↓2
Stirling/Zenith 31mmx50mm Boar (510SE-XL)	29	8	3.62	↑8	n/a	n/a
Dogwood Badger	23	6	3.83	↓3	↑1	↑2
Some Making Required Synthetic	22	1	22	n/a	n/a	n/a
AP Shave Co Badger	20	7	2.86	↓1	↑11	n/a
Aurora Grooming Synthetic	19	7	2.71	↑10	n/a	n/a
CaYuen Synthetic	19	1	19	↑5	↓9	n/a
Semogue SOC Boar	18	11	1.64	↓2	↓4	↑8
Turn-N-Shave Badger	18	7	2.57	↓5	↑12	↑7
Declaration Grooming B3	16	8	2	↓2	=	↓5
PAA Synthetic	16	3	5.33	=	↑3	↑12
Declaration Grooming B14	15	8	1.88	↓2	↑11	n/a
AKA Brushworx Synthetic	15	5	3	↑4	↑5	n/a
Oumo Badger	14	5	2.8	↑1	↓2	↑6
Declaration Grooming B9A	13	2	6.5	↓5	↓2	n/a
Leavitt & Pierce Badger	13	1	13	n/a	n/a	n/a
Chisel & Hound V19	12	4	3	↓3	n/a	n/a
Semogue 830	12	3	4	↑6	↑4	↑4
Declaration Grooming B13	11	6	1.83	↓1	↓12	n/a
Declaration Grooming B15	11	6	1.83	↓11	↓9	n/a
Omega 10049	11	6	1.83	↓1	↓7	↑4
Declaration Grooming B2	11	3	3.67	↑7	↑7	↑1
Omega 10048	11	2	5.5	↑5	↑7	↑7
Semogue 2020	11	1	11	↑7	n/a	n/a
Simpson Trafalgar T3	10	4	2.5	↑2	↓6	n/a
Omega 11137	10	3	3.33	↑2	↓1	n/a
Semogue 610	10	3	3.33	n/a	↑8	↑5
Semogue 2000	10	2	5	↓4	↑9	↑1
Omega 46206	10	1	10	n/a	n/a	n/a
Simpson Trafalgar T2	9	7	1.29	↓6	↓8	↓5
Declaration Grooming B10	9	3	3	↑6	↑4	↑6
Plisson Badger	9	2	4.5	↑6	↑8	↑5
Simpson Trafalgar T1	8	5	1.6	↓2	n/a	↑5
Wild West Brushworks Synthetic	8	5	1.6	↑1	↓1	↓18
Chisel & Hound Boar	8	2	4	↑11	↑7	n/a
Wald A1	8	2	4	=	=	n/a
Wolf Whiskers Badger	8	2	4	↓8	↑3	↓12

Brush Manufacturers

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
Maggard	198	34	5.82	↑3	↑4	↑3
Chisel & Hound	184	35	5.26	↓1	↑7	n/a
AP Shave Co	171	32	5.34	=	↓1	↑10
Declaration Grooming	150	32	4.69	↓2	↓1	↓3
Stirling	100	9	11.11	↑1	↑3	↓3
Semogue	98	23	4.26	↑1	↑4	↓3
Stirling/Zenith	97	32	3.03	↓2	↓6	n/a
Yaqi	81	19	4.26	=	↓4	↓3
Omega	74	24	3.08	=	↓2	↓3
Zenith	62	17	3.65	=	↓4	↑9
DSCosmetics	40	2	20	↑3	↑10	↑3
Aurora Grooming	32	8	4	↑11	n/a	n/a
Dogwood	31	11	2.82	↓2	↓2	↓7
Simpson	29	15	1.93	↓2	↓1	↓1
Some Making Required	22	1	22	n/a	n/a	n/a
Muninn Woodworks	20	6	3.33	n/a	n/a	n/a
Oumo	19	7	2.71	↑1	↑1	↑5
Turn-N-Shave	19	7	2.71	↓3	↑11	↑4
CaYuen	19	1	19	↑3	↓4	n/a
PAA	16	3	5.33	=	↑3	↑8
AKA Brushworx	15	5	3	↑2	↑4	n/a
Wild West Brushworks	13	6	2.17	↑2	↑1	↓12
Wolf Whiskers	13	4	3.25	↓2	↑7	↓10
Leavitt & Pierce	13	1	13	n/a	n/a	n/a
Summer Break	12	3	4	↑2	↓4	n/a
Boti	10	3	3.33	↑3	↑4	n/a

Knot Fibers

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
Synthetic	778	93	8.37	↑1	=	↑1
Badger	591	86	6.87	↓1	↑1	↓1
Boar	341	65	5.25	=	↓1	=
Horse	13	3	4.33	↑1	=	↑1
Mixed BadgeBoar	9	3	3	↓1	↓1	↓1

Knot Sizes

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
26mm	527	75	7.03	=	↑1	↑1
24mm	383	53	7.23	=	↓1	↓1
28mm	212	43	4.93	=	↑1	=
22mm	100	19	5.26	↑1	↑2	=
31mm	89	29	3.07	↓1	↓2	n/a
30mm	60	17	3.53	=	↑2	↑1
27mm	33	13	2.54	=	↓2	↓2
21mm	22	5	4.4	↑3	↑1	=
25mm	17	5	3.4	↑3	↑3	=
23mm	16	10	1.6	↓2	↓3	↓4
20mm	10	5	2	↑3	↑2	↓1
32mm	8	5	1.6	↓3	n/a	↓1
29mm	8	2	4	↓2	↓2	n/a
27.5mm	3	3	1	=	↓2	n/a
26.5mm	1	1	1	↑1	n/a	n/a

Karve Plates

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
C SB	53	7	7.57	↑1	=	↑1
D SB	27	5	5.4	↓1	↑1	↑1
E SB	16	3	5.33	=	↑2	↑1
A SB	6	1	6	n/a	n/a	↑1
B OC	1	1	1	n/a	n/a	↑2

Game Changer Plates

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
.84-P	49	9	5.44	=	=	↑1
.68-P	41	5	8.2	=	=	↓1
.76-P	24	2	12	=	n/a	n/a

Most Used Blades in Most Used Razors

name	shaves	unique users	avg shaves per user
Karve Christopher Bradley + Astra Superior Platinum (Green)	48	7	6.86
Karve Christopher Bradley + Gillette Nacet	31	4	7.75
Karve Christopher Bradley + Wizamet	7	3	2.33
Karve Christopher Bradley + Personna Lab Blue	7	2	3.5
RazoRock Game Changer + Wizamet	24	5	4.8
RazoRock Game Changer + Voskhod	10	2	5
RazoRock Game Changer + Astra Superior Platinum (Green)	7	3	2.33
Gillette Super Speed + 7 O'Clock - Sharpedge (Yellow)	24	2	12
Gillette Super Speed + Gillette Minora	9	2	4.5
Gillette Super Speed + Astra Superior Platinum (Green)	6	2	3
Gillette Super Speed + Feather (DE)	5	2	2.5
Blackland Blackbird + Gillette Nacet	22	6	3.67
Blackland Blackbird + Astra Superior Platinum (Green)	16	5	3.2
Blackland Blackbird + Personna Lab Blue	13	2	6.5
Blackland Blackbird + Wizamet	12	2	6
Blackland Blackbird + Voskhod	11	2	5.5
Blackland Blackbird + Gillette Silver Blue	7	3	2.33
Gillette Tech + Gillette Silver Blue	9	3	3
Gillette Tech + Polsilver	7	3	2.33
Schick Injector + Schick Injector	19	7	2.71

Highest Use Count per Blade

user	blade	format	uses
u/sgrdddy	Gillette Nacet	DE	543
u/RedMosquitoMM	Personna Lab Blue	DE	77
u/RedMosquitoMM	Astra Superior Platinum (Green)	DE	74
u/Impressive_Donut114	Personna GEM PTFE	GEM	69
u/RedMosquitoMM	Voskhod	DE	39

Top Shavers

user	shaves	missed days	Δ vs Mar 2024	Δ vs Apr 2023	Δ vs Apr 2019
u/Impressive_Donut114	60	0	=	↑1	n/a
u/Engineered_Shave	36	0	=	↑2	n/a
u/djundjila	33	0	=	=	n/a
u/Environmental-Gap380	31	0	=	↓1	n/a
u/jrhunter25	31	0	=	↑13	n/a
u/oswald_heist	31	0	↑1	=	n/a
u/35048467	30	0	↓1	↓3	↑15
u/AdWorried2804	30	0	=	↑23	n/a
u/Breadheater9876	30	0	↓1	n/a	n/a
u/el_charminman	30	0	↓1	↓2	n/a
u/Eructate	30	0	↓1	↓2	n/a
u/gcgallant	30	0	↓1	↓2	n/a
u/InfernalInternal	30	0	↓1	↓2	n/a
u/kind_simian	30	0	=	↓4	n/a
u/loudmusicboy	30	0	↓1	↓2	n/a
u/Marquis90	30	0	↑1	↓2	n/a
u/partyman97_3	30	0	↓1	↑14	n/a
u/rebdoomer88	30	0	↓1	n/a	n/a
u/scribe__	30	0	↓1	↓2	↑23
u/tsrblke	30	0	↓1	↓2	n/a
u/EldrormR	29	1	↓1	↓2	↓5

What is a dangerous game rifle?
In the simplest sense, it's a rifle designed to hunt Dangerous Game (DG). Dangerous game are large megafauna and pachyderms that present a high probability of causing bodily harm or death to the hunter. Dangerous game include the "African 5 Five" which includes leopard, lion, cape buffalo, rhino and elephant but also includes hippo, Asiatic water buffalo, bison, bears and many more. Anything big with sharp teeth, clays and horns that can do you harm.
A dangerous game rifle is traditionally a bolt-action or double barreled rifle but it could also include single shots and even lever actions and semi-autos in the North American context. Picture an elephant gun, that's what we're describing about here.
Some of the common traits of a bolt-action dangerous game rifle are:

• Magnum length action
• Controlled round feed action
• Iron sights, i.e. "express" style sights
• Internal magazine
• Barrel band sling swivel
• Wood stock and blued barrel (although other finishes are becoming popular)

What calibers do dangerous game rifles come in?
I'm going to focus on the calibers that fit the more traditional definition of a DG cartridge as required by African hunting requirements, however looking through a North American lens, I'd be open to considering the likes of 338 WinMag, 358 Norma and 45-70 dangerous game cartridges for NA game.
African nations place minimum caliber requirements as a pre-requisite for hunting the big give. it's generally a caliber requirement but sometimes also a minimum energy requirement. A handful of nations allow for the 9.3x62 (.366 caliber) for use on dangerous game, but many do not. The standard load of the 9.3X62 is a 286gr bullet moving at 2,350 fps, producing about 3,500 ft-lbs of energy and 28 pounds of felt recoil. The main advantages of the 9.3x62 is the ammo is relatively easy to source, it fits a standard length action (30.06 length) and the felt recoil is relatively low compared to the others on this list.
Stepping up from there you get into the 375's, whether it be the 375 Holland & Holland or 375 Ruger. The 375's are universally accepted across all African nations as the minimum caliber for up to and including elephant. The standard load for the 375's is propelling a 300 grain bullet between 2,550fps-2,650fps, producing upwards of 4,700 ft-lbs of energy and around 40 pounds of recoil.
The 375's are the best one-and-done cartridge choice for a do-it-all North American dangerous game rifle. Ammo and rifles are plenty and affordable. The recoil is stout but can be easily managed by an average shooter who's used to .308, 30.06 etc. The 375HH is capable of taking all game in North America.
Once you've mastered the 375s and want to step up (or you're just a glutton for punishment) you arrive at the lower 40's (40 cals). These include the 404 Jeffery (.423 cal) and the 416's (Rigby, RemMag and Ruger, .416 cal). All of these will throw a 400 grain bullet between 2,300fps-2,400 fps, producing up to 5,100 ft-lbs of energy and 58 pounds of recoil in the case of the 416 Rigby, that's approximately 3x more recoil than a 180 grain 30.06 load.
The 416's strike a nice balance of being relatively flat shooters (like the 375's) but also provide more stopping power with less recoil with the larger calibers to follow.
Jumping up another level you arrive at the .458 cartridges, starting with the 458 WinMag which is likely the most commonly available and accessible of the .458's. The 458 WinMag throws between a 400-500 grain bullet at 2,150fps-2,250 fps. The full power loads of 500 grains at 2,150 fps produce over 5,000 ft-lbs of energy and 62 pounds of recoil (similar to the 416's). I'd argue that the 458 WinMag is the upper limit of the "sane" cartridges that is still applicable for North American game and that can be mastered by the average shooter, with recoil that isn't quite retina-detaching levels like the heavy hitters that follow.
If you've ever heard the term stopping rifle, it's a rifle used by a professional hunter (PH) chambered in something with enough authority to instantly turn out the lights on a large critter that's about to turn you into red mush and pink mist, from about 10 yards away. The following cartridges would fit into this category

• 458 Lott- 500 grains at 2,300 fps, producing 5,800+ft-lbs of energy and 70lbs of felt recoil.
• 500 Nitro Express- 570 grains at 2,150 fps, producing 5,800+ft-lbs of energy and 75lbs of felt recoil
• The 500 Jeffery or 505 Gibbs that can push a 600 grain bullet over 2,100 fps, producing 100lbs of felt recoil.
• 577 Nitro Express - 750 grains at 2,050 fps, producing over 7,000ft-lbs of energy and 127 pounds of felt recoil.

I can't afford a $100,000 bespoke British London's Best rifle, what else is available?
Bolt Action Options:

1. Zastava M70 (375HH, 458 WinMag) -$1,000
2. Ruger M77 Hawkeye - Guide Gun/African/Alaskan (375 Ruger, 416 Ruger) - $1,800
3. Ruger Safari Magnum -RSM (375HH, 416 Rigby, 458 Lott) - $3,000 used.
4. Winchester Model 70 Safari Express (375HH, 416 RemMag, 458 WinMag) -$2,100
5. CZ Safari Magnum (375HH, 416 Rigby, 404 Jeffery, 458 lott, 505 Gibbs) - $3,000 used
6. Sako 85 Kodiak/Brown Bear (375HH, 416 Rigby, 450 Rigby, 500 Jeffery) - $3,000+ used.
7. Heym Express (375HH, 416 Rigby, 458 Lott, 505 Gibbs) - $12,000+

Double Rifle Options:

1. Sabatti Big 5 - (450 Nitro Express, 470 Nitro Express, 500 Nitro Express) -$5,000
2. Merkel 140/160 AE - (375HH, 416 Rigby, 450/400 NE, 470 NE, 500NE) - $12,000+
3. Krieghoff Big Five - 470 NE, 500 NE, 577 NE - $20,000+
4. Heym 89B (375HH, 416 Rigby, 450/400 NE, 470 NE, 500NE, 577NE) - $20,000+

Single Shot Options:

1. Ruger N0.1 - (375HH, 416 Rigby, 458 WinMag, 450,400NE, 500NE and more) - $$2,000-3,000

I don't plan on hunting in Africa, why should I own a DG rifle in Canada?

• Because they are epic.
• Because saying you shoot a 375 Holland & Holland or 416 Rigby is indefinitely classier than a .223 or .308.
• Because recoil is addictive and once you've experienced some, you want more.
• Because they are often handcrafted works of art that would make for a wall-hanger centerpiece in any collection.
• Because they are still very much used and applicable for hunting North American game. No you won't blow the deer in half, that's a myth.
• Because many of these cartridge's have very storied histories with famous hunters who engrained them in the history books.
• Because maybe, just maybe you'll one day find yourself hunting in Africa or facing down the charge of an angry Brown Bear and would like to have the proper gun for the occasion.

I hope this discussion has piqued the interest of at least a few of you here and that you'll be interested in adding a DG rifle to your collection, whether or not for hunting, collector purposes or as a fun range toy.
I'm hoping to see more of these rifles and the discussion of these cartridges pop up here.
Happy Hunting.

​
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