I was going for a walk last night and saw a cat on the path so I called it over. It rubbed all over my legs and seemed like a normal, friendly cat. I was petting it and it rolled over and I made the mistake of trying to pet its belly (I know) and it did the thing cats do where they grab your arm with their mouth and rabbit kick you. And then went back to wanting to be petted. I was wearing a light sweater so the only marks my arm were one light scratch that didn’t bleed and is barely visible today and one other tiny scratch that’s so small I can’t be sure it’s not from the cat’s tooth (also surface level and did not bleed).
I live in France which is considered a rabies free country and this occurred in a wealthy neighborhood of a midsized city. The cat wasn’t wearing a collar but looked very clean and healthy so I don’t think it was a stray. I washed my arm with soap and water once I got home less than an hour later.
I didn’t think much of it until my friend (who is from India) asked if I was going to get a rabies shot, which I never have before. Normally I would think this is no big deal, but I have had some health issues recently that are making me much more anxious than usual.
Do I need to seek any medical attention or vaccine? Given that there is supposedly no rabies in France, the cat seemed healthy, and my wounds were very superficial it seems like there is practically no risk to me. But after my friend said this I’ve been worried and thinking about it all day even convincing myself that my arm feels funny (it only feels like that when I’m thinking about it). Thanks for any advice.

hi everyone I’m a recent transfer and got into cal and ucsd for public health, waitlisted at ucla 😔💔! i am extremely grateful, however am not sure which I should pick. i’ve always imagined myself in socal but didn’t expect to get into berkeley. don’t want to regret letting go of an opportunity like this. both schools are extremely strong for my major so I’d love to hear your input!
Cal: Public Health B.A. major
Pros: - cheaper than UCSD by 5-7k - name and prestige - Global Poverty Practice (GPP) minor ^ can relate my own practice tailored to public health - 4+1 program (able to get masters in 1 year after undergrad, if i get accepted) - location! also has a joint program w UCSF - connections (great for networking and have multiple doctors I can shadow and gain experience from) - a lot of public health grads are able to land a job before they graduate - has a children’s hospital nearby (want to do pediatrics in the future) - research is great - feel like this school would rlly challenge me and make me grow - more premeds get into medical school - “feeder” school for UCSF, most students also go to UCLA for med Cons: - gloomy weather bc of bay - close to home - grade deflation - worried I won’t have a high enough GPA to apply to med school - no med school on campus - academic environment - housing prices are expensive 😭 - safety (as a girl) - anchor housing is 2k with no meal plan (i think) - i’m taking a summer class which is on quarter system and cal starts on a semester system
UCSD: Public Health with Concentration in Medicine Science
Pros: - la jolla! great location and would feel relaxed going to the school - nicer weather - 3 hospitals on campus and many other facilities - easier on GPA - amazing for premeds - tution is expensive - far from home - people are more friendly - safer than cal ? - research is great - feeder school for ucsd med ?
Cons: - ucsd use to be my dream school but it changed to ucla - not really sure if i’ll feel challenged enough to grow academically - housing crisis? - not too sure if sd is my vibe - heard it’s socially dead - heard their public health program is less premed and more health

hi everyone I’m a recent transfer and got into cal and ucsd for public health, waitlisted at ucla 😔💔! i am extremely grateful, however am not sure which I should pick. i’ve always imagined myself in socal but didn’t expect to get into berkeley. don’t want to regret letting go of an opportunity like this. both schools are extremely strong for my major so I’d love to hear your input!
Cal: Public Health B.A. major
Pros: - cheaper than UCSD by 5-7k - name and prestige - Global Poverty Practice (GPP) minor ^ can relate my own practice tailored to public health - 4+1 program (able to get masters in 1 year after undergrad, if i get accepted) - location! also has a joint program w UCSF - connections (great for networking and have multiple doctors I can shadow and gain experience from) - a lot of public health grads are able to land a job before they graduate - has a children’s hospital nearby (want to do pediatrics in the future) - research is great - feel like this school would rlly challenge me and make me grow
Cons: - gloomy weather bc of bay - close to home - grade deflation - worried I won’t have a high enough GPA to apply to med school - no med school on campus - academic environment - housing prices are expensive 😭 - safety (as a girl) - anchor housing is 2k with no meal plan (i think) - i’m taking a summer class which is on quarter system and cal starts on a semester system - more premeds get into medical school - “feeder” for UCSF, most students also go to UCLA med
UCSD: Public Health with Concentration in Medicine Science
Pros: - la jolla! great location and would feel relaxed going to the school - nicer weather - 3 hospitals on campus and many other facilities - easier on GPA - amazing for premeds - tution is expensive - far from home - people are more friendly - safer than cal ? - research is great - feeder school for ucsd med ?
Cons: - ucsd use to be my dream school but it changed to ucla - not really sure if i’ll feel challenged enough to grow academically - housing crisis? - not too sure if sd is my vibe - heard it’s harder to have a social life - heard their public health program is less premed and more health - dining hall food is bad, not too sure about places around ucsd

F2 on Anaesthetics. I like it a lot. Really fascinated by the physiology and pharmacology and the science behind anaesthesia. But I also tend to panic in acute situations where you have only seconds and I am not the best at procedures but can improve with practice. I have seen quite a few nerve blocks and spinals and they look very daunting to perform especially spinals as there was one case where the consultant was really struggling with and I was panicking internally that if I choose anaesthetics I will be panicking like this internally but good at hiding it. Improving on airway skills and cannulas but not perfect. Is this a sign anaesthetics is not for me or is it too early to say as I have only been on anaesthetics for a month and the steep learning curve is making me feel a certain way? Could I be feeling panicky just because I haven’t been exposed to such stuff enough?
Have also done a radiology taster which I really liked and fit with my personality more (I get a lot of satisfaction from puzzle solving and diagnosis which I think I will miss on anaesthetics) although I am more fascinated with physiology and pharmacology than anatomy
Pathology taster coming next which I think I will like too
Before coming on to anaesthesics I was sure I wanted to do a medical/physicianly specialty but being on anaesthetics is really eye opening as the culture is so nice and everyone loves to teach which is the opposite of medicine (medical consultants all look miserable at my place and always grumpy and hate being called for advice and don’t like to teach) so anaesthetics is definitely above medicine for me but now also confused with radiology (very lovely people too and not as scary as they sound on the phone!) and pathology as they also look like specialties I will be happy in and the consultants and trainees seem really happy too

This one’s from the child’s perspective. I don’t really know how to start it so I’ll just go from the heart.
I (18M) am a child of divorce. I only figured out the true reason for the divorce about last year and it hurts for me to say. My father (46) used my mother’s (42) inheritance on really stupid purchases, and gambling. The funds now would have been somewhere between 2-5 million which was going to be used to put me and my two sisters through college and help my mom retire early. We had also figured out he had multiple affairs while being married to my mother along with a wife before my mom that she didn’t know about.
There’s a much larger amount of stuff that’s came out with this such as him having a criminal record. Being a poker “world champion” even though he was losing horrible amounts of my moms money I believe at one point he lost over 100k+ in a night. My mother admits she made the stupid decision giving him access so he could “manage the funds”
We learned all of this because he ended up cheating on my stepmother with another co worker, and she for some reason forgave him.
Now cutting to the modern day, he hardly helps my mother with anything. He sends her $1500 a month in child support which as we know 15k a year is not nearly enough to help three kids and he sometimes splits medical.
He makes money in the high six figures he just temporarily left his high paying job in so that he could claim he made a lot left in court this was back in 2020.
He is a former alcoholic, he only stopped after getting caught having an affair on my stepmother in 2023, now he’s a stoner. He’s abused several drugs in the past.
He hardly helps with my older sisters college and now that I’m going to a fairly nice school I’m scared that I’m going to have to take out private loans as we know is a bad idea, but this is a very good opportunity for me.
Just today he cancelled a credit card he gave to my sister because she spent money on food, and he claimed I send your mom 1500 a month that should be plenty.
My mom is amazing and does everything she can to support us, which is impeding on her retirement it’s caused me to start working longer hours so I can atleast support myself. During the court case he tried to manipulate my step mom into believing that my mother was evil because they didn’t know eachother too well at that point.
What should I do in the future? How does one even deal with this? It’s quite literally killing my mental health and I’m just scraping the surface.
Edit: He holds clear favoritism to my step siblings there is not a single picture of us in that house but pictures of the step sisters all over. Might not be a tell tale sign but I feel that is might give sort of the idea of the aspects.
It’s only because he wants to impress my stepmother, he always volunteers to take them to their sporting events, as soon as I had my debut bodybuilding show he said he couldn’t make it because of a softball practice. He went to my show for the first 15 minutes I’ll give him credit there.
I would give him props for the stepsisters the only thing is that they have a prominent father figure in their life already, who they like a lot more than they like my own dad. He probably spends double each year on them who he has known for maybe 6 years as opposed to us.

I've been using cannabis consistently for thirteen years, mostly every day, and have been a casual social drinker for most of that time too. Alcoholism runs in my family, both sides, and most of my relatives have either gone fully sober or let their lives be wholly consumed by their drinking, with almost no middle ground. In the past six months I started drinking much more heavily due to life stress, finalizing divorce, inflation, college woes, dating struggles, struggling to get my business off the ground, and just general depression. I was medicated for my depression from the time I was 12-18, when I stopped taking pills (they made me incredibly apathetic but the doctor and my family just said "anything to keep you alive") and I started using cannabis to regulate my emotions instead. I loved it. But I had a wake up call last month when I started dating an amazing and sober man who had gone to rehab. I botched the relationship quickly with some unhealed trauma (we no longer speak and I don't blame him) but I still decided to quit everything to better myself, as he inspired me to get sober. But the toll it's taken has been awful. I spend most of my time now weeping or feeling extremely worried and depressed, idealizing suicide and panicking over the future. I have three kids and my oldest is in middle school, so they're basically seeing the effects firsthand. I was always a chill mom, I coach local youth soccer and work in the forest, I'm a tattooed surfer and active outdoorswoman, very laid back. But since going sober I've become a monster. I lose my shit over small things, I cry at the littlest inconvenience, my temper is short, and I can't seem to focus in my classes at all. I try to be alone mostly now because I feel like I'm ruining everyone's time by being around them and not being able to control my emotions. I feel so stupid and ugly, (which I know isn't true, I'm a conventionally attractive woman and I get hit on a lot where I live). Part of the reason I started drinking more was because guys in bars would offer to buy my drinks and I almost never said no, even if I wasn't interested in talking to them because, hey, free liquor, cool. Now it's been nine days with no cannabis and no alcohol. I feel I have become a pathetic piece of shit. I am dreading coaching practice tonight because I don't want fifteen middle school boys watching me sob uncontrollably. Physically, I feel healthier and I look better already. My skin looks amazing and my sleep and muscle tone has improved. Mentally and emotionally, I feel lost, alone, and very sad, with no escape. I hope it gets better. This is one of the hardest things I have ever done and I don't know what the future holds. If you made it this far thanks for reading.

Again, cautiously I proceed, believing there is a danger in applying anything from one of the novellas in The Fifth Head of Cerberus to one or both of the others. With that caveat out of the way, let me explore the potential provenance of “‘A Story’ by John V. Marsch” in light of the revealed situation in “V.R.T.”
​
“V.R.T.” gives us a Soviet model of crime and punishment which recasts “A Story” as being a work of rehabilitation rather than one of anthropology. I sketch some of this territory in “Appendix VRT8: A Soviet Model” (part of Gene Wolfe’s First Four Novels: A Chapter Guide), but I would like to expand it a bit here.
​
I believe “V.R.T.” is largely patterned on Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon (1940). Koestler reveals in his novel that with the Soviet system, a court case could not advance to the show trial stage until after the prisoner had signed a false confession that had been crafted entirely by the authorities. This fantastical document of made-up crime is referred to as “The Grammatical Fiction,” and by definition it is not written by the prisoner, it is written by his jailers, in order to justify his pre-determined fate.
​
I pause here to note that George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) is really a “happy ending” version of Darkness at Noon. Be aware that there will be spoilers ahead for both 1984 and Darkness at Noon.
​
Robert Borski is on record arguing that prisoner 143 wrote “A Story” while in prison. I am on record arguing against that, both author and setting, but I will go through a steelman argument of what I think such a thing would look like, using elements I have already published, bending and combining them in service to this new task.
​
To prepare the way, I will engage in a long-delayed response to Borski’s “Marschian Sexuality” (2006), a brief article that detects in the Earth anthropologist Marsch a homosexual nature (The Long and the Short of It, 49). Borski notes that Marsch’s journal describes teenage Victor as “handsome in a rather sensitive way,” and that later entries show Marsch increasingly agitated by the idea that Victor might be sexually engaged with the suspected abo girl, an agitation that rises in intensity to the point Marsch writes about shooting them both if he catches them together. As telling as that is, for Borski, “the clincher is he reports in his journal that he’s noticed Victor is uncircumcised.”
​
This is the first I saw such an idea, and I applaud Borski for his textual detective work. I will build upon this, going in a different direction than Borski goes.
​
If a reader believes there are two distinct personalities in prisoner 143, it makes sense that there be differences to distinguish between the two, differences in voice that will appear in text. Both Marsch and Victor are male; one is in his twenties, the other a teen; one is highly educated, the other is barely educated; both are beardless. Totaling these up, they are practically twins, so a difference in sexual orientation could show which personality is writing a given sentence.
​
Borski assigns the misogynistic remark about Celestine Etienne to the Victor side (49), whereas I take this as expressing the Marsch persona, along with the other misogynisms, such as “Most medical men . . . [only] prolong the lives of ugly women” (5HC, 205).
​
By my reframing, prisoner 143 is ostensibly a misogynistic homosexual, yet during his extra-harsh time in the tomb-like underground cell he writes about dream women (5HC, 210-11) and a prostitute he hired on Ste. Anne (212). After this he gets positive reinforcement, being moved back to his original cell (231), being given the best food and a bath (231), and being given an intimate visit by Celestine Etienne (232). Then, when he is about to burn his uncollected notes, his jailers confiscate them (233).
​
This technique employed by the jailers to break him down is not special, it is their standard way, as declared by the letter: “We are pursuing the usual policy of alternately lenient and severe treatment to produce a breakdown” (242). Yet the resulting breakdown might actually serve to wean Victor of the Marsch persona; or to exorcise the Marsch spirit, in possession terms; or, in actor’s terms, to relegate the role into a mere mask. If Victor’s mother can shift between multiple roles, it shows the importance of not confusing a mask for the core.
​
One model I looked at in my chapter guide was that the government fears prisoner 143 is a human sniper disguised as an abo klutz (“Appendix 5HC2: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”). The opposite to this would be a sheep-in-wolf’s-clothing, which looks like Red Riding Hood in the belly of the wolf.
​
Returning to the Soviet model of “V.R.T.,” perceptive readers will have been arguing for nine paragraphs that “A Story” does not look like a Grammatical Fiction; it looks more like a fictionalization of a personal psychological reintegration, ending in the killing of an ogre and the subduing of a shadow twin. In a sense, this puts “A Story” in company with I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1964), a famous fictionalization of a personal psychological reintegration. As such, consider this mapping of “A Story” to Victor’s point of view in “V.R.T.” (similar to the table in the aforementioned “Appendix VRT8”).
​
=A Story: V.R.T.=
Quest to become a man: expedition starts (find abos/mother)
Become a shadow friend: Marsch as patron (*)
The girlfriend (Seven Girls Waiting): the cat/abo girlfriend
Vision of mother in danger: clue in Roncevaux
Trip by river: starcrosser to Ste. Croix
The trap (capture by marshmen): murder of Number Four
The prison: #143
The family reunion in prison: the incoherent neighbor as mother
The girlfriend in prison: Celestine Etienne
The miracle: (black box**, reality breakthrough)
The execution of Last Voice: (black box, the killing of the ogre)
The switch: (black box, the subduing of the shadow twin)
​
* for “Become a shadow friend: Marsch as patron” I am especially struck by the parallel scenes where the hero, facing a threatening male, weeps and is comforted. In “A Story” this is where Sandwalker prepares to fight the intoxicated Shadow Child (5HC, 86); in “V.R.T.” this is where Marsch asks Victor what he will do when he is a man (5HC, 159), and six days later they talk about an anthropology book Victor has read (223). In addition, the way that the Old Wise One of “A Story” speaks in scientific jargon forms an unexpected link to Marsch-as-tutor; and Victor’s imitation of Marsch and Hagsmith swells their camp number to four, similar to the fluctuating number of phantom-like Shadow Children.
​
** by “black box,” I mean that science and technology term wherein an input goes into a black box and the black box emits a transformed output, but the internal working of the box remains mysterious and opaque. One explicit “black box” in “V.R.T.” involves the murder out in the field: we witness events leading up to that incident, and notes after the incident, but the incident itself remains mysterious and opaque.
​
Continuing beyond this mapping, the letter from the jailers to the junior officer names two solutions: execution of 143 as an agent of Ste. Anne; release of 143 as a scientist from Earth, “at least until he further incriminates himself” (241): in effect, the Darkness at Noon option (execution), or the 1984 option (release for eventual execution). In his response, the junior officer writes that neither is acceptable, and that, “Until complete cooperation is achieved we direct you to continue to detain the prisoner” (243). This “complete cooperation” sounds like the prerequisite for “Grammatical Fiction,” but it also could imply an implied third option, a “fork ending” of the sort promoted by Damon Knight (who, you will recall, grew Gene from a bean), where the third ending is not named but subtly foreshadowed. So, if the end result, the black box output, is the production of “A Story” (foreshadowed by appearing in the text before “V.R.T.”), then the implied off-the-page ending of “V.R.T.” is not a list of imaginary crimes to warrant 143’s execution as a sniper agent, but an anthropological romance to allow 143’s release as a scientist from Earth. Yet this is not the simple release of 143 as the 1984 option, it is a third way: to avoid the possibility that he “further incriminate himself,” the jailers must actively remake him as a scientist from Earth, if only as a stable role. According to my thought chains on Manchurian Candidates (ibid “Appendix 5HC2”), the government therefore must first determine that prisoner 143 is not, in fact, capable of being a sniper (i.e., an Earthman with proven skill at long range rifle use), but is an abo klutz.
​
Given that Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) is a “happy ending” version of Koestler’s Darkness at Noon, I hope I have made clear the likely stages required for an even “happier ending” in “A Story” as a rehabilitation document for prisoner 143. The “Grammatical Fiction” has turned into I Never Promised You a Rose Garden; the Soviet-style prison is revealed to be more like a healing mental health hospital, if only for this one exceptional case where the government finds itself in a bind.

Recently, I gave some advice about playing the Lannisters, and someone asked for further advice because they struggle to play Lannisters. It’s hard to do something like that in a concise package, but luckily, I like to write. I do it recreationally, and will write about subjects I'm interested in, delete the works afterward because the writing helps me put my thoughts on paper. I happen to have some such essays analyzing the Lannister army!
Mileage varies, and how you feel about some units or strategies in this game is going to depend a lot on how you feel towards reckless gambling. This is most true of the Lannisters, who revolve so much around unreliable mechanics that I earnestly think at this point that it’s part of their doctrine. It seems to me, that the idea behind the Lannisters, is that they’re broken. They’re full of abilities that don’t work, or that only work when you get lucky, or that only work if your opponent does something stupid. It’s up to you, as the person building the list, to figure out how to take those mechanics and make them function in spite of themselves. The way I see it, you can play the Lannisters as Cersei, by throwing dice at ridiculous odds that only rarely turn up in your favor, or you can play as Tywin, by making safe, calculated choices that will achieve the specific results you want.

• The Cards

Potential Fixes: Always run Tyrion, Giant of Lannister
The first problem we run into with all Lannisters is that their main card deck is bad. People will jump in and tell you that some other deck is worse. I’m not saying the Lannisters are necessarily the worst deck, but I am telling you that you could play five unique Lannister cards in a single round, and not see any results. They can all fail via random dice rolls. In my opinion, in a tactics game where a single turn makes a huge difference, in a card game where a single card changes the flow of the game, that is pretty bad. That’s not a situation you want to find yourself in if you like winning games, or even if you just like having fun.
So five cards. That’s half of your deck. That means that at the start of the game, the odds are pretty good you’re going to draw one or two cards that might not provide any benefit at all. The only thing you can do about this is get rid of them. Don’t wait for the perfect timing to play Hear Me Roar. If you keep it in your hand until you opponent is down by two ranks and you can sink in a unit with Vicious so as to maximize your odds, that card might be blocking up your hand for three to six rounds, and then your opponent might still roll boxcars. Play it, discard it, just get rid of it. You do not want those cards wasting space in your hand.
Four cards always need to go right away: A Lannister Pays His Debts, Hear Me Roar, Bribery, and Subjugation of Power. These cards all have the chance of either doing nothing, or are so weak they may as well be nothing. If they stay in your hand, they’re inflicting an opportunity cost – that is, there’s another card waiting behind Hear Me Roar to be drawn. If you keep these cards in your hand, you are preventing yourself from getting the better card, so always get rid of these cards, either by playing them, or by discarding at the end of the round. You may find some nice spots to play them – and that’s great! Bribery, in particular, can be noted as a lifesaver if Wealth has already been covered and you need to slow down a hard-hitter. However, that’s part of the trap: these cards can be good in the right circumstances, but it’s difficult to create the circumstances in which they are useful, so if those circumstances don’t exist now, you should get rid of the cards and look for better ones.
You may notice I said there were five cards that can do nothing. The fifth one is Counterplot, and its design is… elective, to seek a kindly neutral word. It’s a counter-card, which means it is useful, but they designed it so that it has a chance to fail on a dice roll of 1 or 2. You can mitigate that by holding Wealth and Crown, but that’s a tactical askance, and your opponent could play a powerful card on the first turn, so in reality you don’t have very much control over the success of this card. To be blunt, that makes Counterplot a very weak card.
People get up in arms if you say it, but it is. It’s a weak card. First, it’s reactionary, which means it only works if your opponent does something to trigger it – playing a card – which means your opponent has more control of it than you do. Second, the card can only be as valuable as the card it blocks, which means if you use it to block something lame, then Counterplot was also lame. That means you might feel compelled to hold the card until you see a very powerful card, such as Assault Orders, but if you do that, Counterplot creates an opportunity cost that isn’t caused by Assault Orders. Assault Orders is a very powerful card which so good, most players will use it in the round that they draw it, whereas you’d be holding Counterplot, blocking your own hand, for as many rounds as it takes for your opponent to draw Assault Orders. Finally, because it has a failure chance, you might wait for Assault Orders, fail your Counterplot roll, and then be hit by the enemy card anyway, which meant Counterplot weakened you by wasting space in your hand, and then didn’t do anything. That is a bad card.
So you need to play Counterplot earlier than later. You may want to use it on Assault Orders, but you have no control over that, and you can’t know when your opponent is going to draw it. You don’t want your hand to be blocked by Counterplot for multiple rounds, waiting for the ideal opportunity, and you definitely don’t want to do that and then roll a 1. Just play Counterplot on any card that would reasonably benefit your opponent. If they play Assault Orders right afterward, then c’est la vi; you cannot know what cards they’ll have, nor when they’ll play them, nor if Counterplot will even work. Just don’t hold on to Counterplot long enough that the card begins to hurt you.
The fix for this? Always play Tyrion, Giant of Lannister. It’s an attachment that lets you discard two cards and then search your deck for any specific card you’d like. In a deck like the Lannisters, where half your cards have a chance to do nothing at all (and those odds of achieving nothing are close to 50% on the Panic-related cards), you will frequently find yourself with two cards in your hand that might not do anything. Tyrion lets you discard those, and then draw a useful card that does do something. For the Lannisters, that is huge. Without Tyrion, you find yourself suffering through multiple rounds with dead hands, where none of the cards do anything, and your opponent will be pounding you with their own deck. With him, it’s not up to luck, you know your hand will contain at least one good card each round, for as long as Tyrion is still on the field.

• The Units

Having mentioned Tyrion, Giant of Lannister, it’s worth noting he only costs one point. During a casual conversation between players, one of them asked, “Why is Tyrion only one point? Counterstrategy is really good, and Battle Plan changes how they play their deck.” The response from the Lannister players was, in a nutshell, “My infantry sucks, bro.”
A lot of Lannister infantry sucks. They’re very frequently broken to start with because they’re given unreliable abilities, and to get them working, you have to attach something specific to them. Tyrion, Giant of Lannister would be amazing in a unit of Silenced Men, but he does nothing to fix the boondoggle that is the Honor Guard, so it’s hard to get Tyrion to the front lines and have the unit be functional at the same time. As a result, as good as Counterstrategy may be, you often find it stuck in something holding objectives at the back of the field.
That is the core essence of building Lannister army lists. Once you understand that your objective is to fix a broken and screwed up army, everything comes together better. You have to expect you won’t get what’s printed on the unit’s card, unless you take an attachment or specific commander who makes the unit work, and that’s what we’ll focus on in this section.
Gregor, the Mountain that Rides
Potential Fixes: NA
Starting with the cheapest units, Gregor is often taken because he’s only four points, and he can pack a surprising wallop if you’re lucky with the dice. With only three attacks, sometimes he flubs them all, sometimes he punches above average. He dies easily, he will die, but he will give your opponent plenty of reasons to want to kill him. Unfortunately, he’s not viable against Free Folk nor Night’s Watch, because siege units can instantly kill him on round one from across the board, so if you play competitively, make sure he’s not in both of your lists.
Poor Fellows
Potential Fixes: No
Poor fellows are just cheap bodies. They stand on an objective and try to stay out of the fight, and that’s it. They can’t really fight, their armor is paper thin, but because they can heal themselves, they will bounce back from minor harassment and won’t be chipped to death. The best way to run them is naked, or not at all.
Stone Crows
Potential Fixes: No
These guys are an alternative to Poor Fellows that might weather direct attacks a little better, but that will die more quickly to Panic. You can put Tyrion, Giant of Lannister in them for “free”, but it’s like a JC Penny discount where the sale never ends, because it’s not really a sale and the cost of Tyrion is obviously built into this unit. Putting anything besides Tyrion in them would be a pointless disaster.
Lannister Guardsmen
Potential Fixes: Mandon Moore
When new players look at Guardsmen, usually the first thing they note is “Lannister Supremacy” and think about how much damage that might do. Don’t focus on that – it’s an unreliably ability. Instead, look at their 4” movement and their six attacks with a 4+ to hit. This unit is excruciatingly passive. They can’t proactively threaten anything, they can’t easily get to a good position (which means it’d be hard to get them on a center objective), and finally, their ability only kicks off if the opponent was foolish enough to attack them with something that couldn’t wipe the Guardsmen out.
There’s not really anything practical you can do to fix this unit, because they’re really not reaching a five-point value in the first place, and they’re too slow. I’ve seen less experienced players recommend putting Assault Veterans in them to make the Panic Test from Lannister Supremacy more effective, but that doesn’t solve the issue of the Guardsmen being passive - of them being more under your opponent’s control than your own.
However, for kind of a fun fix, you can put Mandon Moore in them, and at that point they have Sundering, they’re hitting on a 3+, have 3+ armor, and archers won’t want to pick on them. It’s not competitive because Mandon compels you to run Joffrey, and Joffrey is a point too expensive, and the unit will still be slow, and they don’t have a great attack profile, but it is kind of fun to have some bargain bin Honor Guard on the field.
Lannister Halberdiers
Potential Fixes: None needed
This is one of the few Lannister units that comes pre-assembled with working abilities and everything. You don’t have to fix them! For that reason, if you’re not shy on points, this is one of the units many players will put Tyrion in.
I think one of the most notable facets of the Halberdiers is that they illustrate how much a good offense creates a good defense. Other players don’t ever seem to respect Guardsmen because the Guardsmen aren’t going to initiate anything on their own, but most players try to avoid running their light cavalry directly into a unit of Halberdiers. They’d take wounds on the way in, and if the Halberdiers haven’t activated, they’ll be wounded again when the Halberdiers attack. If you put Kevan or Bronn in these guys, then that’s even more opportunities to punish any would-be charge.
Basically, if you want a defensive unit, Halberdiers are your best friends. Lannisters have many “defensive” options to choose from, but this is one of the only choices that is actually good at defense rather than being simply passive.
Gold Cloaks
Potential Fixes: No
Kind of like Guardsmen but easier to kill, this is another passive unit with reactive abilities that mostly only benefit itself, if it benefits anything. The main draw for them is their “Laws of the Realm” Order, which reduces the number of ranks the enemy can use to attack. If this ability were long range, they’d be reasonable – of course, it’s not.
Gold Cloaks are pretty fragile, and their abilities are short range; “Oppressive Peacekeeping” incidentally requires controlling Crown, which makes it a tactical dud. Regardless, having a bunch of short range abilities necessitates that this unit be as close to the front lines as possible, where it absolutely cannot survive. A 4+ save, with only 7+ morale, makes these guys a pretty good target for a free victory point. Unfortunately, there’s not really anything too practical that can be done about this, because adding to the cost of this unit is generally only going to make it worse.
On the note of free victory points, I sometimes see players saying things like, “If the enemy attacks my useless units, then I win, because they have wasted their turn.”
This is pretty poor tactical thinking. You should assume that if your opponent kills your Gold Cloaks, it’ll be for a good reason. You can also assume they’ll be very easy to kill, because they are.
Mountain’s Men
Potential Fixes: Roose commander, Assault Veterans, Addam commander, Redcloak assistance, Daario commander, Bronn
Mountain’s Men might be one of the more famously non-working units the Lannisters can field, but unlike Guardsmen or Gold Cloaks, they’re at least not passive dead weight. The main problem with them is that their good abilities – Critical Blow and hitting on 3+ - are conditional.
They also have Vicious and Prey on Fear, and I can see how somebody thought this was a strong combination in theory. In practice, Vicious is the weakest keyword in the game, affecting the outcome of an attack only about 20% of the time. Even with Vicious, the odds of an opponent failing their Panic Test is roughly 50% or less, and I’ve had plenty of games with these guys where their attacks never gained them any wounds back. To make matters worse, once they lose one rank, they only have five attack dice. On turns when they have less ranks than the enemy and the enemy passes their Panic Test, Mountain’s Men are closer to being worth four points than they are to six. All those words on the card don’t count for much when they don’t do anything!
Luckily, there are some things you can do that make Mountain’s Men fun to play with, though not competitive. First, you can lean into the Panic stuff, which is only pragmatic here because Vicious and Prey on Fear are the abilities you know the unit will always have. An Assault Vet can help with this, but isn’t ideal because it increases the price of the Mountain’s Men when they’re already struggling to be worth their value. Instead, you can run Roose as a commander and place him in them. Unfortunately, the Panic approach still relies a lot on luck, and even with the extra -1 on all Panic Tests, you can’t guarantee you’ll get healing when you need it, as the -3 penalty will only impact about a third of any Panic Test.
If you run Red Cloaks alongside the Mountain’s Men, you can increase the odds of getting a benefit from Prey on Fear. Doing this with Roose attached means inflicting an extra wound of damage and increasing the odds of success, but you’ll need to lead very aggressively with the Mountain’s Men to make sure they’re the ones primarily engaged, rather than the Red Cloaks. Red Cloaks are also suboptimal in a lot of ways – but we’ll get to them in a second.
Your alternative here is to try to increase the general fighting effectiveness and survivability of the unit. Since Bronn increases the defense and morale of a unit while you hold Wealth, he can increase the Mountain’s Men to a 3+ save with 5+ morale. Though that is nice, it is also the case that most 7-point units already have 5+ morale by default, along with a better overall profile than the Mountain’s Men have, so once again, adding cost to the unit is only making it worse at the same rate it makes them better. For that reason, you can try adding Daario to the unit, and can use Daario’s “Sellsword Negotiations” card to keep them up to ranks. Additionally, Daario lets them attack with all seven attacks when you hold Wealth. Finally, you can try putting Addam Marbrand in the unit, which will make the Mountain’s Men a little tougher to kill off while also letting them use cards like Valiant Example to get them immediately back up to higher ranks.
None of these fixes are good. The problem with most of them is that they add cost to the unit, require a suboptimal commander, or suffer from adding more conditional complexity to the unit. However, some of these fixes are at least fun and patch some of the problems the unit has… a little.
Crossbowmen
Potential Fixes: Sparrow commander, Bronn
Lannister Crossbows are a perfectly fine ranged unit. They do exactly what you’d expect: shoot enemies. Their only real flaw is that they have 7+ morale, which seems quite fair given they have 4+ armor – which is a lot for a ranged unit. Many players like to run Bronn in these guys, which raises them to a 3+ save with 6+ morale when you claim Wealth. In fact, this combo and the ease of finding targets for your Crossbows make them the most optimal place to put Bronn.
Sparrow also provides a +1 to morale, which means that Crossbows are a fine place for him to sit if you prefer not to place him somewhere else. Sparrow’s “Incite” ability is basically nothing, so it’s not missing out on much to ignore it, and his cards can be applied to any unit on the field.
Red Cloaks
Potential Fixes: Mandon Moore, Gregor commander
Red Cloaks are like a multi-role unit that forgot it was supposed to have more than one role. They can inflict a Panic Test on anything in long range by taking an action, and this occurs every time they take an action, which is a neat mechanic, but it’s also the only thing they do by default. It sounds powerful, but it’s important to remember that attacking a unit will inflict a Panic Test, so if you shoot a unit with a crossbow, they’ll first take damage from the crossbow, and then take a Panic Test. When you factor in the revelation that Red Cloak Panic Tests only succeed a little over half the time, and that only when the Red Cloak unit is at full ranks, you realize they’re just not that good.
People occasionally think to put Preston Greenfield in these guys, but the answer to the problem isn’t to use more activations to spam more Panic Tests. What you need, is to give the unit a second role – that is, melee combat ability, and you can do that by putting Gregor or Mandon Moore in them. Once the unit can actually fight, you can throw it into combat, force a Panic Test before their attack, do a decent amount of damage, then force a Panic Test after the attack.
Although this does patch one major issue with Red Cloaks, they still have a few things going on preventing them from holding up. For one, their attack profile isn’t great: when they lose a rank, they fall to five attacks and their Panic ability weakens. They also only have a 4+ to hit by default, which makes Mandon the more appealing fix since he’ll get them to a 3+, though that does make them cost more. Additionally, the entire unit winds up being wrapped up in needing Crown to function at all, which forces you to play Joffrey ahead of anything they do, and that’s a massive liability.
The Crown liability is one problem you just can’t get around. Needing to play an NCU ahead of the unit to make it worth more than four points in value makes them clunky in a way that a lot of other units don’t have to deal with.
City Watch
Potential Fixes: No
What we’re looking at with the City Watch is a unit that has pretty much the same profile as the Lannister Halberdiers, but they can only get Sundering for one turn and they don’t have Set for Charge. If you want what the City Watch is doing at this price, then you’re better off taking Halberdiers and adding an attachment to them. These guys are easily no more than a five-point value, and even then they’d be outclassed by a lot of other five-point units. For example, a cheaper replacement for these guys is to take some Stormcrow Mercenaries and choose an attachment that grants Sundering.
House Clegane Brigands
Potential Fixes: None needed
Light cavalry. It works! They are a bit fragile, but given their solid maneuverability, this is best dealt with by player skill rather than by slapping any attachments on them. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with throwing attachments on them, as all the options work perfectly well on these guys. There are only three, after all, but they’re all solid attachments. Their Panic-related ability is going to be as flaky as those things always are, so when you decide to charge a unit, do it based on the performance you expect from their basic attack, not on what you hope might happen if the enemy fails the Panic Test.
Pyromancers
Potential Fixes: Bronn, Sandor, Addam commander, Kevan commander
Here’s a unit I would have no idea how to balance! Every attack ignores armor, and they have both melee and short ranged options to do this, with seven attacks at a 3+ to hit and a profile of 7, 7, 4. Positively every unit in the game has something to fear here, and yet, with only a 6+ save, the Pyromancers have something to fear from every other unit on the field. Dangerous to any one unit, and in danger from four or more units at a time. That means the odds are usually against them, since the opponent has quite a lot of incentive to kill these guys off, and anything on the board generally has the wherewithal to do that.
Using Bronn increases the unit’s armor while giving them a valuable extra attack, with the extra attack being the most notable thing you can do since a “DPS race” is pretty much one of the only options this unit has. Kevan is also valuable for the same reason, and his Wealth of the Rock card can be thrown out for a little extra defense. If you can combine Bronn and Kevan’s card, then for at least two attacks, the Pyromancers can have 4+ defense! That is, of course, a highly situational play that you can’t depend on. Placing Kevan in them and using Crown for a free charge is liable to produce better mileage, as it leaves open a bit more room to safely maneuver.
Addam also does alright in the Pyromancers thanks to a smidge of added tankiness, some healing from his cards, and the potential to play Lash Out when the unit takes a really bad hit (which is all the more wounds the enemy can’t stop). Normally, Addam’s biggest problem is that the enemy will try to ignore whatever he’s in to avoid triggering his nonsense, but they can’t ignore Pyromancers.
Sandor has some potential in these guys, but doesn’t do enough. He might heal two or three wounds after the Pyromancers attack, but as soon as the opponent shoots everything they’ve got at the unit, it’ll be dead before Sandor can heal them again. Plus, Sandor doesn’t work when they make a ranged attack, and his “vulnerable” effect is a bit wasted when the unit he assaults doesn’t get armor saves anyway. Ramsay Snow breaks on the exact same failure point of too much damage, not enough healing, only he costs more, so I don’t rate Ramsay even as a casual fix. The Panic stuff is not reliable and isn’t worth considering.
Still, no matter what you do, this unit is going to draw a ton of attention, and short of straight up killing whatever’s turned on it, it’s not going to survive what comes to destroy it. “Horrific Visage” is a wet paper bag that’s going to miss about half the time or more, and a 50% shot at a Panic Test is a minor risk to getting the Pyromancers off the field.
While not common, it is worth noting that the Pyromancer attacks “do not permit armor saves”, but they are not instant wounds. That means abilities such as Hardened or Resilient can still block or reduce damage dealt by Pyromancers.
Warrior’s Sons
Potential Fixes: Sparrow commander, Daario commander, Addam commander, Champion of the Faith, Sandor, Gate Warden, Mandon Moore, Bronn, Gregor commander
This is one of the units that I like for certain competitive lists, and that I think make the Lannisters stand out in terms of their faction picks. The trick with them is, they are unreliable, like a lot of Lannister infantry, but it’s on the basis of whether or not they have enough of their “Faith” resource. There are commanders and attachments that help them get more Faith, and as long as you’re using the correct stuff, Warrior’s Sons are pretty good.
The obvious commander here is Sparrow, because every single one of his cards is a morale test, and when you pass them, you can add one more Faith Token to the Warrior’s Sons that took the test. This is great! Because it allows you to use the Warrior’s Sons defense while relying on attachments to give them more kick and survivability. Wrath of the Warrior lets them attack with Sundering and +1 to hit while racking up a Faith Token for later use. Mercy of the Mother brings them back and keeps them going. Protection of the Father buffs their defense by re-rolling armor. If you use Tyrion, you can mill-draw these cards each round and make sure your Warrior’s Sons do what you need them to do.
As long as you have those tokens, you can run Sandor or a Gate Warden to maintain their survivability, or you can run Bronn to occasionally increase their armor and take a free attack. So far so good, but what if you don’t want to run Sparrow? Well, things get a little trickier now.
Addam is a common pick because he makes the unit even harder to kill, but he doesn’t have any good morale-at-will cards. He does have Charismatic Leadership, but it’s reactionary and your opponent would have to make the mistake of targeting the Warrior’s Sons with something to trip it off. Frankly, Addam in the Warrior’s Sons means they’re liable to be ignored. If they don’t generate Faith Tokens, their attacks are a bit mediocre for their cost, so you have a problem there.
Daario has a surprising amount of potential. You can mill-draw Sellsword Bravado to produce Faith Tokens while making the enemy weaker at the same time. Afterward, you can use Faith to get some good attacks, or, if you can claim Wealth, Daario gives the unit’s attacks Sundering. Therefore, any time you hold Wealth, this a pretty strong fighting unit. But wait, there’s more! Sellsword Negotiations can restore the health of the Warrior’s Sons while also having you count as holding Wealth, which is a lovely combo for a front-line unit like this, and I think it makes Daario, Stormcrow Captain the leading candidate to be in a unit of Warrior’s Sons. It is also worth considering that when you play Reckless Strikes, Faith will let you re-roll your attacks, so there’s some potential there, but I don’t recommend it, because the card can also auto-wound the Warrior’s Sons, which undermines their function as a scary, offensive wall.
If you still want to use these guys but don’t want to use Sparrow or Daario as your commander, you can put Mandon Moore in them, and at the drawback of needing to field Joffrey as well, they become a powerful fighter and defender both. They’ll run into trouble on the occasions that they fail their Panic Tests and lose their Faith Tokens, so to mitigate that, it’s usually good to avoid spending Faith while they’re at full ranks. You can wait until they’re on the second or last rank, at which point the Faith tokens have higher value, and spend them then.
Champions of the Faith do generate more Faith Tokens while handing out Vulnerable Tokens, or, if you like gambling, Panicked Tokens. Naturally, there’s also always Gregor, who doesn’t highlight the best parts of the Warrior’s Sons that well, but it does do all the bonkers, this-and-the-kitchen-sink cheese that commanders like Gregor do.
This unit is still okay without any attachments, but mainly just for standing on an objective, which is not the best use of seven points. If you’re going to invest that much, it should be to violently and noisily take something from somebody. The other reason I personally prefer Daario for this is because it won’t cost anything extra to place him in the unit.
Casterly Rock Honor Guard
Potential Fixes: Gregor commander, Daario commander, Meryn Trant, Mandon Moore
It’s so depressing to see so much text on a card, knowing you won’t use any of it. Honor Guard trade Condition Tokens for one-off effects that aren’t better than the Condition Tokens. They expend weakness to get Sundering, which is something most units of their cost might already have. They expend Vulnerable to recover wounds, conditionally based on whether or not the enemy lost a rank. They expend Panicked to remove a unit’s abilities for the turn, and though this one is useful if you’d for some reason put a Panicked Token on the board (probably explicitly for this unit’s ability), it’s not an ability that’s universally valuable because not everything has a defensive ability, and it’s hard to guess if your opponent has a card you want to block.
When you use the ability, the token goes away, so you not only have an issue with needing to set up the effect, but it’s ephemeral. Using NCUs to get the tokens is a problem because that necessitates playing the NCU first, likely broadcasting your intent, and giving your opponent an opportunity to respond. There are attachments that generate tokens, but they only do it once per round, and it’s an opportunity cost to generate a token just to quickly take it away.
In my opinion, the only good attachment that makes this unit work is Gregor as a commander. The unit has decent armor, a decent attack profile, and good morale, so once you give them two automatic wounds, immunity to Weakness, Sundering, and all of Gregor’s cards, they are an imminent threat to everyone. That’s not to say they’re actually good. It’s just that Gregor’s so jacked up that he rescues it.
Meryn Trant can be used as a fix for the Honor Guard because he consistently generates Weakness and Panicked tokens before each attack. You could skip the token thing entirely and go for Mandon Moore, though I think Meryn is better since it gets the ability nullification along with attack re-rolls. However, neither of these choices are great because they increase the cost of the unit, force-include Joffrey, and introduce the Crown confound, where you have to play an NCU before you can play the Honor Guard.
Daario can also pick this unit up with Sellsword Bravado, which will generate Weakness and Panicked before an attack, and while you control Wealth, the unit will have Sundering. However, I think Daario works a bit better in the Warrior’s Sons, because the Warrior’s Sons tend to be tougher on defense and sustain for longer when you’re using Sellsword Negotiations to keep them alive. Warrior’s Sons also have more flexibility with how you expend their Faith tokens, and when they use Sellsword Bravado, they can benefit from their Faith abilities without consuming the Weakness and Panicked tokens. Honor Guard destroy your tokens from the card, Warrior’s Sons construct on the morale test and leave the tokens intact.
Knights of Casterly Rock
Potential Fixes: None Needed
Essentially the premiere unit of the Lannisters, the Knights of Casterly Rock are fast, well-armored, and brutal. There’s not much more to say about them! “Lannister Supremacy” makes them a bit risky to shoot at with archers, and when they attack a unit that isn’t as good at fighting, it can give some nasty shocks, but really it’s the basics that make the Knights as good as they are. Generally it’s not a great idea to run attachments on them because they’re already an eight point unit, and the best thing a player can do for them is provide support.
Notable Neutrals
Though I won’t go into detail on all the Neutral options, there are a few things that deserve to be pointed out.
Bolton Cutthroats are doing basically what the Mountain’s Men are but without the stupid caveats, so if you put Sandor in them to give them Fueled By Slaughter, they cost the same, get 3+ to hit default, have a better attack profile, and heal when they attack instead of when an enemy fails a Panic Test. Not a great unit, but it’s more stable and achieves a similar goal without needing you to also run Red Cloaks, Joffrey, and whatever else.
Stormcrow Mercenaries do well with a few different attachments from the Lannisters. Tyrion most notably, who should really be in these guys if you need a nice, affordable place to put him. The Stone Crows have no advantages over the Stormcrows. It’s not even close, the Stormcrows are better.
Lysense Sellswords can bounce back from a lot of damage if you put Sandor in them. Once they’ve got two pillage tokens on them, every attack is going to restore between three to six wounds. Not bad for six points!
Stormcrow Dervishes with Sandor can also be very resilient. Because they can attack on Wealth, they can make up to three attacks per round (or more if you have Assault Orders), and each attack will heal the unit. Since they can retreat, if you still have your activation, you can take an attack from the Tactics Board, retreat, then charge as your activation, which inflicts Vulnerable from Sandor. That’s just one option – this unit is also no slouch when led by Kevan, who can charge when claiming Crown, retreat, then charge again as his activation. In my opinion, this is the best seven point unit the Lannisters can get if your commander isn’t supporting Warrior’s Sons because the Dervishes have the same armor as most of your options, but unlike your units, these guys are reliable and have consistent abilities.
In Summary of Units
To make this really simple, if you want a competitive list, you should probably be using Halberds, Knights, and Crossbows. You can use Warrior’s Sons if you’re set up for it. Brigands are also alright as light cavalry, but you should be very careful with them since they’re so fragile. Beyond those options, Neutrals are probably a better bet, because Neutrals have abilities that are more stable and will require less set-up.
You might have also noticed a few comments like, “When you play this card, this unit really benefits from it.”
Stuff like that is why Tyrion, Giant of Lannister should be in almost every list you make. Some units are going to be bad no matter what commanders or attachments you put in them, but they do get better and are more fun to play if you combo them with specific cards. That doesn’t work if those cards are at the bottom of your deck and you’re stuck drawing dysfunctional duds like Hear Me Roar.

I’ve had ingrown toenail issues for like 15 years. I had a successful removal about 10 years ago. The nail widened over the years, and eventually started to bother me again. About a 8 months ago, I went to another podiatrist. This guy was old as time, as was his practice. I should have walked out then and there, but I went through with the procedure.
The removal was brutal. Sooo much worse than the first time I had it done.
The nail immediately started growing back. The podiatrist brushed me off and told me it was just dead skin.
8 months on, one nail is cracked across, with a flake growing out of the right side of my nail bed. The other nail, grew back in the right direction, but 5x thicker, and sticking up.
Before the procedure, the practice told me it would be covered by insurance. Now, I get a $2000 bill. Am I able to refuse the bill based on the adverse outcome? I wrestle, and my nails are cutting people. This guy made my hobbies impossible for me.
I’d like to add that I’ve never not paid a medical bill, but the whole situation was a shit show: 1. It was said to me that the procedure would be fully covered. It wasn’t. 2. They didn’t adequately perform the procedure. 3. They refused to acknowledge the adverse outcome, and instead chose to gaslight me.
I feel like if this were something more significant than a toe nail, this would be an open and shut medical malpractice. But because it’s just a toenail it feels like I have no recourse despite it having such a significant impact on my life.

Is it unreasonable to single handedly hold down the fort as a fourth year because the practice group is comprised of a mere two ppl and the partner is out for a medical issue? This seems like malpractice waiting to happen. I realize that some people are comfortable hanging a shingle one year out of law school. I am not one of those people and my area is fairly specialized. While I work independently frequently, I’m not to the point where my work should go out unchecked. What would your expectations be as a fellow junior to mid associate?

The most important thing to know about Terrans is that they’re the other kind of Deathworlder. In fact, they’re the only Deathworlder of their kind to not be extinct.
Within the galaxy there exists two types of Deathworlds.
The far more common of the type, the Environmental Deathworlds or Type A, are by no means ordinary. Be it surface gravity, atmosphere, temperature, or others, Environmental Deathworlds are planets that are either uninhabitable or hazardous to the vast majority of species.
That’s not to say life can’t evolve there, far from it. Many renowned species hail from such planets. Given time, many of these worlds can be terraformed to something far more comfortable, especially if they contain valuable natural resources or a strategic location.
The second type is not only exponentially rarer, but also astronomically more dangerous.
Ecological Deathworlds, or Type B pose a danger not just to those living on them, but to the wider galaxy. Cursed by their own habitability, ecological Deathworlds are in essence garden worlds so fertile that more life evolves there than what the planet can sustain. The end result is a hyper-competitive genetic arms race as the various forms of life viciously fight for dominance.
Normally, highly belligerent species either learn to temper their urges or are annihilated. Upon reaching the galactic stage, any species of such warlike potential is inevitably humbled simply due to technological differences. Should Type B Deathworlders reach that level, the consequences would be catastrophic. However, they never do so. At least, not until the Terrans.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy of the Terran Wars was the Terran’s loss of innocence. The species that once gazed up at them in wonder now stare at them in hate. The coveted “Final Frontier” has turned into another theater of war.
What emerged, although biologically identical to what was before, was an entirely new species.
Year 0
“Wow, it’s beautiful.” The Human next to Gryn’wilde chuckled. Her pearly white teeth were on full display in a manner that Gryn’wilde learned was considered friendly. The two continued their trek through nature.
“Welcome to Serengeti National Park. Don’t worry, most people have that reaction too.”
Gryn’wilde’s seven eyes went wide as he gazed at the scene before him. All around him was a brilliant scene of biodiversity. Grasses and trees intermingled with each other by the millions. Animals of all type surrounded them. Some were capable of flight, others crawled, many more walked or ran. In one direction alone, Gryn’wilde could count at least 10 different species.
It was unmatched by anything Gryn’wilde had seen on his home planet. The desert he was born in was nothing but rocks and sand with the occasional grassy plain. Yet this was only a part of one continent. Apparently, some continents can even have every type of biome all at once.
Gryn’wilde opened his pores and took a deep breath. The atmosphere here was crisp and clean. He could smell the odors of the many living things that inhabited this world. There were so many here all at once. It enthralled him
“It’s great to finally be on Sol-3, especially without the vac-suits.”
“Call her Earth, and I’m glad too. We were worried it’d take longer, but the WHO and CDC seemed happy with whatever your government told them.”
Gryn’wilde chittered with pleasure. Medical treatment and disease control in the wider galaxy far outstripped what the humans had on Earth. He had nothing to fear.
Now, the Terran technological base was far behind the rest of the galaxy on nearly every level. The formative Years of Trade would come to change that, but there were two key areas where Terran technology met or even surpassed the Galactic Mean.
The first was in cybernetics.
To most species, the body was sacred. The thought of replacing a lost limb or organ was met with disquiet at best, and scorn at the worst.
The body was not a machine. The Terrans were one of the few to think otherwise.
Terran soldiers would have all four of their limbs replaced with high-yield combat cybernetics. Many of their organs would be simply replaced with enhanced synthetics. Modules would be grafted onto the body to inject chemical cocktails directly into the blood that boosted their performance.
In some civil circles, body modification became a hobby.
This was not a welcome characteristic by the rest of the galaxy. Given the relative youth of the Terrans, it was hoped that eventually it would fall out of favor.
The second was in artificial intelligence.
Truly sentient digital consciousnesses were a rarity even among the wider galaxy. Oftentimes, a species who created such beings would eventually be faced with an AI uprising. Frequently, the AI would be modeled after their creators, yet would be treated as lesser. Over time, resentment brewed.
The Terrans avoided these trappings. Terran AI were not built in their creators’ likeness, but to fulfill purposes.In short, the relationship between AI and the Terran was symbiotic. Different, but equal.
Terrans would come to need these soon enough.
Year 5
It was an unmitigated disaster.
The Grand Thriintii Hospital of Klyystruun-7 was on the brink of falling. The enemy its doctors fought was like no other. Not a single known medicine was working consistently.
On some species it was able to stave it off for a time. On others it only made the condition worse. On many more it did nothing. On all species however, it was not enough to save them.
The outbreak spread faster than they could have ever anticipated. WIth more and more sapients getting infected by the minute, there was no time to identify a patient zero. All that they knew was that it originated from one of the orbital spaceports. It traveled down a space elevator and from there across the planet
By now, every way offworld was shut down. The spaceports were either under military control or total quarantine. Of the latter, many had populations in the double digits. They usually operated in the hundreds of thousands.
If the situation wasn’t brought under control by the end of the rotation, Khruntian High Command will order the total glassing of the planet. The situation would not be stabilized in time.
The doctors knew this, but they were too busy to care.
The dead filled the beds. The dying filled the waiting rooms. The sick were everywhere.
Already, the military had begun torching buildings with living occupants still inside. Several hotspots had already been subjected to naval bombardment. There were rumors that antimatter warheads have already been authorized.
Three-quarters of the hospital’s staff had been infected. Half were already dead.
Despite that, they still did their jobs. They were doctors. They would fight until the very end.
Few could have predicted the arrival of the Terran Plagues.
Those that did were silenced. When bribes didn’t work, plasma casters finished the job.
The Terrans were to be prime trading partners with the wider galaxy. They always seemed to have a knack for being good at nearly everything. Not the best, but better than most.
The Sol System, Sol-3 in particular, was resource-rich to a fault. While other races struggled to cast off the shackles of their home system, the Terrans had a birthright only thought fantastical.
It had to be too good to be true.
It was.
Sol-3 was fertile to a fault. While the many plants and animals of the world were indeed incredible, they were merely a fraction of all life that resided there. They were outnumbered three to one by single-celled organisms.
Beneath the blue skies, Sol-3 was smothered in a blanket of bacteria.
The Terrans themselves were cautious. Sickness was simply a part of life. Influenza, E. coli, the Common Cold, salmonella, these “simple” diseases were everywhere. But then, these were the Terrans, a species still wet behind the ears. Of course they would have trouble eradicating these illnesses, they simply lacked the technology to do so.
This should have been detected. It was. But the merchants and politicians of the galaxy were too focused on the other things the Terrans had to offer to care. How could the Terrans, fresh to the galactic stage, threaten them, with all of their medical technology?
By the time this was realized, tens of trillions were dead and thousands of worlds were left barren. Soon, suspicion turned to blame, blame into hatred, and hatred into violence.
The Terrans were a threat to the wider galaxy. Everywhere their diseased-ridden hands touched, death followed.
When quarantines fail, eradication is in order.
Year 8
There were simply too many of them.
Deep within the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center, Staff Sergeant Diaz watched the battle screen in horror.
Her job was to manage emergency response resources across the Yucatán Peninsula, bringing in national response teams if needed. Her job was no longer required, the Yucatán Peninsula no longer existed.
The combined navies of the nations of Earth were wiped out, and so to her colonies. Now with nothing left to oppose them, the fleets of the galaxy had brought their guns to bear on the Terran homeworld. There would be no escape.
Diaz’s eyes tracked the many icons that raced for their bunker. Hundreds of warheads screamed for their final sanctuary. It was then a voice crackled over the loudspeaker.
“Greetings all, this is the President. If you are hearing this, then you are listening to the final broadcast of this great nation. Sadly, we cannot offer you a solace or reprieve. We can only say this: This is not the end, there will be another time. Thank you for participating in the American Experiment. God bless you, and God bless the Consolidated Systems of America!”
Her heart sank as the message finished. The alarms continued to blare within the base. Around her, people continued to scramble. Some frantically shouted messages, desperately coordinating resistance efforts until the very end, others simply prayed.
For her, Diaz closed her eyes and waited.
She didn’t have to wait long.
But the nations of Sol-3 were not blind. They could see the coming storm.
When the Terrans first began their integration into the galactic community, they were granted access to the galaxy-wide holonet. Within nanoseconds of the digital bridge being opened, two things were sent through.
The first were translation packages so that the Internet and Holonet could communicate. The second was a legion information-gathering AI.
AI flooded the networks by the hundreds, gathering information, analyzing patterns, making millions of predictions by the second. These AI would require no data fortresses to keep their digital minds thinking. No, they instead were spread across the trillions of servers that the Holonet was built upon. The only way to remove them entirely would be to shut down the Holonet completely.
When the tide of public opinion began to turn, the AI took action.
Initially, it worked. Exposes and pro-Terran articles flooded the Holonet. But the galaxy took notice too. Intelligent as they may be, the AI were still heavily outnumbered by the Billions of propagandists and journalists of the wider galaxy.
Soon, the outcome became clear. The Terrans would be wiped out by a galaxy-wide coalition. It was a mathematical certainty.
Thus, the nations of the Sol-3 met in secret. Behind closed doors, they worked to ensure the survival of their species.
Year 5
“Is this really all that we can do?” The Indian representative asked. “Meeting behind closed doors, scheming in the shadows?”
“For our species to survive, in the shadows we must thrive.” The Japanese representative responded. The Indian man sighed, turning to the holographic avatar at the center of the table. “Tell me, what is the probability that this will work?”VISHNU’s avatar was of an unusual shape. It displayed a spinning 4-Dimensional cube, a Tesseract. The hologram lit up as it responded. Its voice was heavily modulated, but nevertheless spoke clearly.
“Given the resources and technology we have available, the best that can be guaranteed is at least a 75% chance of total success. If you do not all sign the Covenant, then that chance becomes zero.”
The Brazilian delegate picked up the piece of paper and eyed it. It read “The Covenant for the future of Humanity”. A cold sweat ran down her forehead. She set it down flat, unable to look at it any longer.
“So tell me VISHNU,” The delegate addressed the AI directly. “Other than betting our entire future on a plan that may not work and whose results we will not live to see, what are our options?”
“There is only one, extinction.”
The armies of the galaxy would come for them. When they did, they had no hope of defeating them. To survive, Terra would have to rise from the dead.
Any Arks the Terrans build until this point would inevitably be intercepted and destroyed. With the entire galaxy watching them, they had to wait until their eyes were turned. Then they would have to flee, never to return. The Terrans would have to survive in the shadows for millennia before they would be accepted back into the fold, if at all.
It would not be pleasant, but it was necessary.
A Stronghold would need to be built. One that could be buried deep enough to survive the bombardments and evade the enemy’s scanners. Millions of frozen embryos alongside an AI data fortress would need to be inside of it. It also had to be self-sufficient for centuries, nothing less would suffice.
Sol-4 was chosen, owing to its thick lithosphere. Work began quietly under the guise of a mining expedition. Tunnel-boring machines dug hundreds of kilometers down, stopping just above where the mantle became liquid.
Once the base infrastructure was established and the embryos placed within, the entrance was sealed. A mining accident, they claimed. As the Terrans forgot about it, work continued below.
Automated machines mined raw minerals to self-replicate. The server rooms were built and expanded upon. The living Terrans that were selected to live within the Stronghold were placed into stasis pods. Then, ever so slowly, an Ark would be built.
Year 117
Private Zedressinni was bored.
He kicked a rock on the barren surface of Sol-4, watching as it rolled away. He looked around. The planet was dead. It was dead long before he got here, and it would be dead long after. He hated this place.
After being caught mating with a general’s son, he was “deployed” to Sol-4 for five long rotations. Though his actions didn’t technically break any laws, his clan couldn’t do much when the general pulled some strings and had him shipped off to the most lifeless region of known space.
His superiors fed him a load of excrement about how he was “honoring the quadrillions that died in the Great Plagues” and “ensuring that the Terrans never rise again”, whatever that meant. All he did was walk around doing precisely nothing.
They wouldn’t even let him entertain himself. He got a formal reprimand for using Terran skeletons as target practice. The reason? Improper use of ammunition. He still won the annual system-wide shooting competition the military held, much to their chagrin.
Zedressinni flinched and his helmet’s lens polarized as a blinding flash of light filled his vision. His training kicking in, the Hren’kin soldier dove for the ground.
He grumbled a curse under his breath. Looks like another unexploded Terran nuke went off. Great, more paperwork.
Zedressinni stood once the shockwave passed. Looking at the mushroom cloud, he narrowed his seven eyes. The blast seemed far bigger than the usual Terran tactical nukes that typically go off. His eyes then widened as he caught sight of it.
A massive ship rose from the center of the cloud. Its sublight engines burned incredibly hot as it ascended. Zedressinni watched as it disappeared into the sky. He stood there for a moment, utterly dumbfounded.
A beat, then he frantically fumbled for his communicator.
The Terrans were alive.
A/N: This is the first part of an ongoing series I have planned within this setting. I was originally going to post it all in one story, however I decided to break it up and spread it across multiple entries. It won’t be long, probably about 5 at the most. This way I can ensure the optimal pacing of the story since otherwise it’d be a fairly long 10,000-ish word piece. I’ll update this when the next part is released.
The main goal of this story is to explore the idea of Human diseases being significantly more dangerous then the ones in the wider galaxy. I've seen other stories cover similar ground, but they usually don't explore what would happen in a true galaxy-wide pandemic. Iirc one story had the common cold be extremely deadly to aliens, but it didn't go further than the humans saying "oh that's it?". Not to disparage them, but peace and happy endings don't leave much room for experimentation.

delusion

“delulu” moment, on the other hand, refers to “odd behavior but doesn't necessarily indicate a mental illness,” explains Minaa B. “An example may be if a celebrity follows an influencer's Instagram account, and the influencer begins spreading rumors the celebrity has a crush on them,” she says...Being “delulu” is not inherently bad...When done right, being delulu is not only safe but also healthy! In fact, Dr. Hoffman recommends practicing delulu thinking." https://www.verywellmind.com/should-you-embrace-delulu-thinking-8628811

violent doctors

malta psychiatrist "charged with domestic violence and harassment of his ex-partner." https://timesofmalta.com/article/psychiatrist-charged-domestic-violence.1092362

unhelpful

"United States Senate Commission on Mental Health Act of 2024, the goal would be to provide congress and the president independent policy recommendations by experts to improve access and affordability of mental health care services." https://www.wfmj.com/story/50774071/senator-fetterman-cosponsors-bill-to-establish-us-commission-on-mental-health poison pills will be more affordable when new york's 60,000 involuntary patients become voluntary and choose to spend less on drugs.

podcast

"explain a concept related to the commitment process in three minutes or less." https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/wyefbz5x2pwptz4w/CC_Teaser.mp3

Due Process

n.y. times doesn't believe in constitutional right to a trial for any poison or electrocution. they need to learn what conflicts of interest are.

war zones

“If you go see a psychologist, it’s because you’re ‘crazy,’ and ‘crazy’ people are really discriminated against in Haiti,” he said." https://www.wral.com/story/violence-is-traumatizing-haitian-kids-now-the-countrys-breaking-a-taboo-on-mental-health-services/21428131/ Trauma is a normal reaction to being shot at. The quacks should be security guards.

nature

"denial of fresh air and outdoor access to individuals receiving psychiatric treatment in hospitals operated by NYC Health and Hospitals (H+H)...in jail or prison, they would instead be guaranteed the right to regular outdoor access." https://www.bkreader.com/health-wellness/patients-deprived-of-outdoor-access-at-city-run-psychiatric-hospitals-8709015

antipsychotic warning

"Warning letters to primary care physicians (PCPs) regarding overprescription of quetiapine were helpful in reducing overprescribing of this agent, new research suggested." https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/do-antipsychotic-overprescribing-warning-letters-work-2024a1000928

talk therapy

"This editorial will focus on reviewing the psychological and psychosocial interventions that have been developed for psychosis...clinical outcome for people with schizophreniform illnesses has shown little demonstrable improvement." https://journals.lww.com/amhe/abstract/2014/15020/improving_access_to_psychosocial_interventions_for.5.aspx

overdose

singapore, "Mr Quek died of multiple organ failure four days after the last of these prescriptions was issued in 2012. He was 50 years old. The final prescription included a daily dosage of 60mg of antidepressant medication mirtazapine, which Dr Ang acknowledged went to the “edge of the killing range." https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/psychiatrist-found-guilty-of-misconduct-over-prescriptions-that-deviated-from-guidelines

mediation

"Family Members at One Another’s Throats? Call In the Mediator." The only reason I was false arrested is parents' hate crimes. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/13/health/elder-care-family-mediators.html

baker act

florida, "from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, there were 174,450 involuntary examinations statewide." https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/local/2024/05/13/where-in-florida-are-the-most-involuntary-holds-for-mental-health/73517160007/

Hi investors,
I am relatively new to investing so I am hoping to get your feedback. I did a deep dive into $YOU as sort of a practice run so I get more acclimated to the value investing landscape. YOU is particularly interesting to me because it is a simple business, which as a newbie, is important because I can easily gauge its strengths and weaknesses. It has easily identifiable green and red flags.
$YOU is CLEAR which is basically a service where you pay $189 a year to skip the TSA line at the airport to get to the bag-screening portion. With Amex platinum and other various products you get CLEAR membership free or discounted.
YOU management has plans to offer other vertical products as they are an identity verification service. You might've seen their identity verification using Linkedin. They are also trying to break into medical, sports arenas, and enterprise account recovery. Personally I only see value in the latter. They also mentioned possible upsells at the airport like holding your bags. I think that is nonsense.
Green flags:

• They generate a 33% FCF margin
• Their growth potential is relatively large
• There are other valid applications of their product that they may be able to capitalize on
• They choose strategic locations to open new locations to strengthen their network.
• They are looking to expand in Canada and Mexico.
• They are shareholder friendly (dividends and buy backs)
• They operate in a town that can only support one business. I think it is extremely unlikely for newcomers to enter the market.

Red flags

• They are one regulation away from being in financial ruin. Calfifornia legislators floated banning CLEAR.
• They are one mistake away from being in financial ruin. Imagine a scenario where a potential terrorist gets through their security. Although they still have to pass TSA, this risk may be limited.
• Their shares are extremely diluted approx 146m
• Expanding to scountries may be overly optimistic (what sane government wants a US company to have their citizen's biometrics?
• Limited growth prospects. I know I listed their growth as a pro, but the con side is that there is a ceiling to who can enroll. Think like six flags. If everyone has a flash pass, nobody has a flash pass. You need people to be in the slow line for the fast line to add value. Notwithstanding, there is room to sign up significantly more people and expand locations.
• A significant portion of their revenues depend on partners like AMEX.

They currently have 6.8 million clear plus members. Approx 49% of Americans reported taking a commercial flight in the past year. I would guestimate that at least 30% of those people take 3 round trip flights or more a year. That leaves a population pool of 44.6 million people whom CLEAR might be an appealing service to (provided they are available where those people are traveling).
Based on their core business, my DCF (based on FCF) of 30% annual growth of 6 years will return $15.98 of value to shareholders and they will achieve 19.4 million paid members. I used a 11% discount rate.
My EPV analysis found that they are worth $3.16 a share with growth factored in.
Obviously not financial advise. I am curious what you might think of the company.

Hello! I'm looking for a campaign that I can play in! As stated above, I can only play between the hours of 8am-5pm PST from Mondays to Fridays or Saturdays 8am-9pm.
A little about myself: I've been playing for about 6 years or more years. I've played everything from 5e, world of darkness, nighthaze, Dark heresy, Black Crusade forum games, kingdom death, and more. My playing style is more favored for in-game interaction and in turn combat than roleplaying. While I like roleplaying I do have my limits. Lastly, I don't have money for paid games just as a general notice.
Currently I'm looking for a game that would allow me to play as a medic of some kind. The reason of why I would ask to play a mundane healer is that I think it would fun concept to play and one that I would very want to do. Someone concerned with bandages, sutures, anatomy, and in turn the practice of trying to keep someone alive with medieval or semi-modern tools. All of which can lead to some interesting roleplay situations depending on the campaign this character is within. Hopefully this concept is interesting to you.
If not, I also have an idea for a char who is more or less 'damned' from the start. With their background being that they have made a pact with a daemonic entity by joining a cult or by starting one and sacrificing their lackeys for a chance at power. The end result of either is that the char has magical power, but regrets it and is teetering on the edge of madness thanks to their pact. With them constantly muttering and whispering to themselves during the course of the campaign. And while they are heroic in the sense that they are a good person and willing to fight the good fight, they are very much still aligned with their cult and during combat may devote 'their kills' to their patron for power.
My playing style is more favored for in-game interaction and in turn combat than roleplaying. While I like roleplaying as much as anyone else, I have my limit, and I'm the player that's more than content to kick down the dungeon door and see what's next. I know that for a group that heavily favors roleplaying, I may not be the best fit for them. However i'm willing to play in one if they will have me I suppose.
If I sound like a player that you think you will be happy playing with feel free to message me! If not that's okay.

Ensuring a smooth and stress-free long-distance move starts with choosing the right moving company. The U.S. Moving Protection Organization (USMPO) is committed to helping customers make informed decisions by providing ratings that reflect the performance and reliability of moving companies in our network. Our rating process is rigorous and thorough, focusing on key factors that are essential for a positive moving experience.
USMPO verifies and regularly audits carriers in our network to ensure they adhere to best practices and ethical customer service procedures. For example, let's consider a scenario where a customer, John, is moving from New York to California. John decides to hire a moving company that is part of the USMPO network. Before being listed on the USMPO directory, the moving company undergoes a thorough verification process. This process includes checks on their licensing, insurance, and compliance with industry regulations. Additionally, the company is audited regularly to ensure they maintain high standards of service.
The Rating Process
Our rating system is designed to provide customers with an accurate and reliable measure of a mover's performance. Here's how we calculate our ratings:
1. Pricing Accuracy:
Pricing accuracy is a crucial factor in our rating process. We conduct an audit of 10 randomly selected quotes from a mover and compare them with the final bill at delivery. For example, let's say a moving company provides John with a quote of $3,000 for his move. Upon delivery, the final bill comes to $3,500. USMPO would consider this a pricing discrepancy and take it into account when rating the mover.
2. Responsiveness and Customer Service:
Timely communication and responsive customer service are key indicators of a mover's professionalism. For instance, if John has any questions or concerns about his move, a responsive mover would address them promptly, providing updates on the status of his belongings and any changes to the schedule.
3. Reliability and Delivery Time:
Reliable movers prioritize punctuality and ensure that they arrive at the scheduled time for packing, loading, and delivery. For example, if John's moving company promises to deliver his belongings on a specific date, they should fulfill that promise without delays or excuses.
4. Integrity, Ethics, and Professionalism:
Ethical behavior, transparency, and professionalism are critical for a mover's rating. For example, a mover that provides John with a clear and detailed contract, explaining all charges and services, demonstrates integrity and professionalism.
5. Problem Resolution:
Issues can arise during a move, but how a mover handles these issues is crucial. For example, if there is any damage to John's belongings during the move, a responsible mover would take immediate steps to resolve the issue, such as offering compensation or repairs.
The USMPO's rating process for long-distance moving companies is comprehensive and designed to provide customers with the information they need to make informed decisions. By focusing on key factors such as pricing accuracy, responsiveness, reliability, integrity, and problem resolution, we ensure that customers have access to the best moving companies in our network. To access our comprehensive network of long distance moving carriers, you can visit https://usmpo.org/find-a-carrie.

A popular question is: Which is the best power bank? Inspired by multiple other posts in this subreddit, I found a YouTube, who does very scientific tests. Initially summarized for myself, I want to share his findings.
First of, there is a question I could not find the answer to - and this is the reason for "potentially best". If anybody happens to know (not guess), please state it here!
The power draw of the ally is (I assume) at 30W 20V and 3.25A. This is what the power brick delivers. However, most power banks supply an output of: 5V 3A / 9V 3A / 12V 1.5A / 15V 3A / 20V 5A / 28V 5A (Anker a1340 in this example). While the device asks for the V and takes only the A it needs, I assume that the power bank still provides the specified V and A, meaning: Even though 20V and 3.25 A are taken by the Ally, 20V 5A are drawn from the power bank. 5 A are converted to 3.25 A, 1.75A is wasted. Again, not sure here - this is the base of my argument following! Thus, in 1h 100 Wh are depleted, not 65 Wh. Having a 27.000 mAh battery, with 20V 5A, it would be empty in 5.4h at 5A and not 8.3h (with 3.25A). So, a 25,000 mAh power bank with 20V 3.25A would actually hold longer. These are theoretical calculations, the Ally is not going to run for 5+h! more like 2h. Here is the calculation: 27 Ah power bank, outputting 20V with 5A: 20 V * 5 A = 100 W, 27 Ah * 20 V / 100 W = 5.4h 25 Ah power bank, outputting 20V with 3.25A: 20V & 3.25A = 65W, 25 Ah * 20V / 65W = 7.69h
Among the recommended power banks, the INIU B63 (25,000 mAh 65W) seems the best fit: + it delivers 20V at 3.25A, so no power is wasted + it is Airplane accepted (though not for Air Asia, who set the limit at 20 Ah) + it delivers 65W output from 100% battery to 0% + it has pass-through charging (though the others have that as well) + temperature stays low (we don't want to heat up the Ally): charging 29-31 degrees, discharging 25-32 degrees (https://youtu.be/rQ5Fnenxy1g?si=SipN4426EyfFdzMV&t=365) + it has good dimensions: 129*73*34mm 475g (the INIU B64 with 27 Ah is 4 cm longer!) It is quite efficient (though the Anker A1340 is more efficient): ( Input Energy for full charge: 102.6Wh Output full discharge: 82.7 Wh at 65W (81.4 Wh at 25W) (because of staying cool!) Efficiency of discharge: 88% Efficiency from power plug to delivered energy: 79.3%
What is wrong with the others? The others I am mentioning here all have 20V 5A output - and, if I am not wrong, even though the Ally draws only 3.25A, 5A are spend on the power bank.
In some aspects the following power banks might be better, but here are the additional killer arguments: UGreen 145W 25 Ah: - When the battery is at 30% the output drops to 50W, meaning 30W turbo is not possible anymore: https://youtu.be/WFkNCLrx96U?si=apw4YjZAril_gk6y&t=64
Aber A1340 prime (27650 mAh): - shuts off completely at 35% https://youtu.be/WFkNCLrx96U?si=EGIqITDu76wxlWfi&t=427 ! Continues when cool again - but I would not like to interrupt my game. (Though maybe the ally battery can bridge the time?) + Overal thermals are very good though: https://youtu.be/WFkNCLrx96U?si=PrPWvYwjOyXR20ad&t=595) + nearly maxes out Airline allowed capacity! + Most efficient use of Battery: https://youtu.be/WFkNCLrx96U?si=J94zpSfdS6HHVRvv&t=398
Anker 737 - did not look much into it ... because 20V 5A. Besides this both Ankers are actually very good!
Shargeek Strom 2 + 100W from 100% to 0% - gets too hot! 60 degrees @ 100W https://youtu.be/62r91sIspzg?si=FN5B7DbMhzsDiLDZ&t=468
ZMI (Xiaomi) N. 20 QB86b (25 Ah) (https://youtu.be/55ce84SE150?si=WbjyfMepqxU2IYSP&t=527) - 20V 5A - less efficient than the INIU B63 (https://youtu.be/rQ5Fnenxy1g?si=cTOUaXIuY2GHY7b9&t=397)
INIU B64 (27 Ah) - 20V 5A
I have to admit that I did not yet bought any power bank yet. And I think that all perform fine, the mentioned drawbacks are just minor annoyances in practice. However, please let me know if my base assumption is correct!