Ive watched a fair few long anime’s in my time i like watching them so i always have something to watch. Ive watched most of the common ones (One Piece, Dbz, Bleach, Code geass)
i would love to find some new long anime recommendations that you have enjoyed.
I also like the short ones tho, so if you have a recommendation I'll be happy to hear.

TLDR AT THE END
This is the story of one of my more unique campaigns, and how it all went south due to a rather messed up definition of "Justice".
The cast:
Dm: Running a game where each player was a deity
Me: Playing as Deity of Fire
Problem: Deity of Justice
Clown: Playing as deity of mischief
Others: Not really important that much
So the game started well enough. There was general peace between the deities. There was a little RP friction between me and the Water deity, but we had agreed on it beforehand. The only REAL friction/tension was between Clown and Problem.
Problem was playing his character like a Lawful Good Paladin sort of deity, trying to bring justice and peace. Clown was playing hers as an omniscient prankster who really liked chaos. This led to some moderate tension early on, but usually was resolved fairly easily, especially since Clown tended to avoid places with other deities and focus more on having herself be the main one.
Tension began to really escalate about 6 sessions in. After Clown pulled off a really big stunt involving a giant statue and making faces (and me burning down a city by accident), Problem decides it's time for a holy war. He rallies his followers across the globe, for a grand holy war against "injustice" and "those who would do the world harm". DM is hyped because COOL CONFLICT, Clown is a bit worried because she doesn't have that many followers (she didn't really do much for praise or worship, she just liked pulling off crazy stunts), I was mostly unbothered since I hadn't done much bad stuff and had loads of followers, and everyone else mostly didn't care since it was obvious Clown was the target, not them.
Fast forward 3 sessions and things are going bad. Problem has decided that EVERYONE who doesn't worship him is somebody who would do the world harm, since "only by following justice can the world be saved". His warriors commit massive war crimes, which he excuses as "the price of justice". He also does some weird stuff of VERY VIOLENTLY describing how he kills rich, monarchist, or generally right-wing and upper class figures. He also explains his "justice" with "long term stability is vital" and "anyone who stands in the way of justice deserves to be crushed".
So all the gods form "THE HOLY COALITION" and declare a Crusade against him. However, despite every other deity fighting against him, he is somehow... winning? The DM starts fudging things in his favor, and he starts getting items. DM is also getting more excited every session, talking about how great the drama and stuff is.
Eventually, we reach the final battle. All of the gods versus Problem. This isn't about followers, this is about pure power. 5 on 1, we should win easy. Unfortunately, the DM had other ideas. He constantly gave us disadvantage on rolls, and problem advantage. When we rolled a Nat 20, it "didn't count for balancing" but when he did it "counts completely, its DnD". Finally, he hits 1 HP. Nobody enjoyed the fight, except for DM.
We ask Problem why he started the holy war as he dies. He goes off on a monologue about how he is bringing "justice to the world", before suddenly veering into political territory about why the Soviet Union had a great system for traitors.
We are all standing there, really shocked, as he starts talking about why hardline authoritarian communism is awesome and why Woke is the only real justice and stuff that is all politics and has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE GAME OR WHAT HAPPENED AT ALL. Clown finally interrupts by asking what that has to do with the game, and he basically just summarizes his whole argument with "You did things that were unjust, all of your followers deserve to die".
So while I am sitting there trying to figure out what any of this has to do with Woke or Communism or anything political (seriously that had nothing to do with the game he just suddenly veered into political territory), the DM is getting super hyped and talking about how "epic" and "dramatic" the whole game was. Clown leaves the call, and so do most of the deities. DM is confused as to why they are leaving, I am still too busy trying to wrap my head around Problem's argument, and Problem calls the people leaving a slur. I leave.
So that was a really weird game. TLDR: We are all playing as deities, Justice Deity decides to enforce Soviet Union style justice, goes into long political rant after that.

In One Piece, celestial bodies are a heavy point of symbolism but also have practical functions.
Let’s start with Luffy to show that Oda’s symbolism is laid on incredibly thick. Luffy is someone that was:

• Raised on DAWN Island.
• Has a ship called the Thousand SUNNY.
• Ate the fruit of the Sun God.

We also have the Five Elder Stars/Planets, and the Moon’s weird often-indirect role.
Even Toki’s prophecy uses the Moon as an epithet. The actual direct meaning of the full prophecy isn’t as important here, but the symbolism is. “You are the Moon, unaware of the Dawn”. The moon is viewed not so much as an antagonistic force in the prophecy, but an ignorant one that is missing a coming truth.
So what does this have to do with Laugh Tale and being early?
Minks already use the Moon as a source of power. The sea is rising. The Moon controls the tides. The Mother Flame seems to run on a source of power similar to Gear 5, and powers things like the robot and possibly Uranus.
Is it possible that the Sun and Moon are BOTH power sources? Why are Luffy and Blackbeard being lined up for the final encounter at Laugh Tale? Why was child Blackbeard drawn with a moon in the background in an SBS, just like Luffy was (correctly) theorized to be a Sun God after G5 was hinted at an in SBS?
Blackbeard now has the power of darkness and earthquakes. What does this all lead to? What is associated with darkness and earthquakes in countless stories?
An eclipse! The Sun and Moon’s powers working in tandem as a combined power source, revealing the way to Laugh Tale!
This explains why it’s possible to be early, and why you can’t do anything about it until the day comes. You need to wait for the right day, and beyond that, you need have the ability to harness the power of the Sun and Moon BOTH to do anything with it.
Some less-evidence-based thoughts on BB representing the moon:

• Maybe BB doesn’t sleep at night because he’s strengthened by the Moon as well, perhaps because of his secret lineage?
• Maybe a long time ago, the representatives of the Sun and Moon were once on better terms. I could see this being one of the points that kicked off the ancient war, and one of the roots of the moral ambiguity Vegapunk found when studying that history.

Tutorial: Getting Characters with Lots of Powerful Equipment

Introduction

Sometimes, while playing online, you come across an opponent whose character has very powerful equipment, called a "build". If you're wondering how to get such a strong build, this tutorial is for you.

Basic Equipment

Your character has 5 pieces of equipment: 1. Head 2. Torso 3. Arms 4. Legs 5. Special Equipment (for Batman, it's a belt)
Each equipment piece has stats that can evolve based on 4 possible choices: - Strength: Influences melee attack damage. - Ability: Influences special attack damage (zoning, power). - Defense: Influences damage taken when the character is protected. - Hit Points: Influences the character's number of hit points.

Example of Perfect Build

A balanced build could be: - 3000 strength - 2100 ability - 5000 defense - 2000 hit points

Obtaining Regeneration Tokens

To improve your equipment, you need regeneration tokens. Here's how to get them: 1. Play in the Multiverse 2. Purchase Mother Boxes in the Eye's Strongroom (main menu of the game)

Regeneration Process

For example, for an original headgear with the following stats: - 200 strength - 300 ability - 0 defense - 0 hit points
This equipment needs to be regenerated with tokens to improve its stats.

Regeneration Strategy

To regenerate your equipment (your "cards"), you need tokens. To obtain these tokens: - Sell blue or gold cards (blue ones are more common and accessible) - Keep the gold cards initially to complete equipment sets.
There are two types of gold cards: "classic" gold cards and those belonging to a set.
What is a set? An equipment set is like a collection. To complete the collection, you must possess all 5 body parts.
Let's give a fictional example, the set of the Wandering Knight. For example, to have the complete set of the Wandering Knight, you must have:

• Wandering Despair Head
• Bulging Wandering Torso
• Wandering Arms
• Wandering Legs
• "Special Item" Wandering Knife

You recognize epic equipment belonging to a set because they have bee hive-like motifs, while simple epic equipment is just gold.

Types of Mother Boxes to Know:

You have several types of Mother Boxes to choose from:

1. Simple Bronze Boxes
   
   • Contain common cards and sometimes rare ones
   • Cost: 50 for $250,000
   • Disadvantage: Don't yield many rare cards
2. Silver Boxes
   
   • Contain common cards, at least one blue (rare) card, and sometimes epic (gold) cards
   • Cost: 50 for $500,000
   • Advantage: Better balance, yield blue cards and sometimes gold ones
   • Conclusion: The best choice for a good balance
3. Gold Mother Boxes
   
   • Contain common, blue, and gold cards
   • Cost: 50 for $1,000,000
   • Advantage: Always yield blue cards and very often gold ones
   • Disadvantage: Very expensive

Conclusion

With 1 million in-game currency, you can buy: - 100 blue cards by purchasing silver Mother Boxes - 50 cards by purchasing gold Mother Boxes
To optimize your build, focus on silver Mother Boxes. Don't hesitate to sell the gold cards of characters you don't want to play.

Additional Tip

The level of your characters influences how quickly your build will evolve. If you have a level 30 character and the rest of your characters are level 1, you will mostly earn level 1 equipment that you can sell for cheap. Remember that money allows you to buy Mother Boxes which themselves yield cards.
Level 1 equipment has practically no resale value compared to level 30 equipment. If you sell 5 level 1 blue cards and 1 level 30 card, the level 30 card will earn you the same amount of money as the 5 level 1 cards combined.
I haven't done the exact calculation, but it's for you to understand the importance of leveling up all your characters.
In summary, it's a cycle. You need to earn money to buy Mother Boxes, you need to open the Mother Boxes and take blue and gold cards, and you need to sell the cards you obtained to get tokens.
You should play online and in the Multiverse to earn equipment. Playing in the Multiverse will earn you a lot of equipment, especially if you repeatedly face Multiverse bosses offline. Each victory will earn you about 2 rare cards, money, or tokens.

Forget about Judge and Soto vs. Shohei and Mookie. It's Volpe's world now.
Also, while I was checking Volpe's stats, I noticed how quickly Aaron Judge has pulled far and ahead away from the rest of the pack. Just a week ago he was like 2nd or 3rd in WAR and now he's ahead for 1st in the league by .5 points over Bobby Witt Jr. Also has a 210 wRC+ with the next guy at 191.

Hey fellow Quest'ers!
Looking for some lovely and (mostly beginner friendly) gaming recommendations that won't just drain your wallet dry? Look no further! 😎 With my referral links, you not only get to snag some awesome games for 25% off, but you also get to support a fellow gamer (that's me!) with a sweet store credit. It's like getting a virtual high-five along with your discounted game purchase. 🎮✨
Drop me a message if you used one of my referrals, so I can thank you personally. If not, than let me just 'Thank You' here!
Cheers and have a great rest of your day!

Ghost Giant

Beautiful game, where you help out a little guy with his problems. Nice graphics, very relaxed game, great puzzles & variety, sweet story. One of my favorite VR game so far.
https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/Schmuddelfilm/2366136696841248/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral

Richie’s Plank Experience

The quintessential VR experience imo. You - a wooden plank - high up at the edge of a skyscraper. That's it. Again, perfect for friends and family and always funny to see, how your body reacts to the illusion of height. Has additional game modes, which I have jet to try.
https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/Schmuddelfilm/1642239225880682/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral

BRINK Traveler

Travel to lovely locations around the world, enjoy a nice view and learn a few things. Perfect for beginners and to show of VR to your family & friends.
https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/Schmuddelfilm/3635172946605196/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral

Spacefolk City

Cute Citybuilder… in Spaaaace. Build in every direction (even upside down) and watch adorable tiny Aliens move into your floating city. Fulfill their needs and expand your city. Great funky Soundtrack too! Missions, Free Play and passthrough mode available.
https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/Schmuddelfilm/3566126356743668/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral

Traffic Jams

Very funny game with great cartoon graphics. Easy to pick up, simple controls and very obvious in terms of what you have to do, but turns (positively) hectic in no time. Be the traffic warden you never knew you wanted to be or let them all crash and enjoy the carnage. ;)
https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/Schmuddelfilm/2753873371404693/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral

Ragnarock / Ragnaröck

Viking, music, rhythm game. Use hammers on drums to cheer on your boat. Great Metal soundtrack (Wind Rose, Alestorm, Gloryhammer) with a variety of different styles. You can add custom tracks via two easy to use websites.
https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/Schmuddelfilm/3749621795127676/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral

Time Stall

Funny Sci-Fi game with the robot crew on a 'build for humans' space cruise ship and a slow motion mechanic to save the day. Good humor, creative ways to solve the puzzles and adorable little robots which need you to save them.
https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/Schmuddelfilm/2055554051161375/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral

Chaos Magus

Brand new game just released to the app lab as Early Access. Use magical elements to form weapons or spells and fight monsters. Waves of different enemies, with some boss monsters in between.
https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/Schmuddelfilm/6750192061692936/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral

Asgard's Wrath 2

If you want a AAA game for your Quest, then look no further: This is it! Great in scale, epic in length, lots to do. Already looks great, but a big graphic update is already on the horizon. Just the intro alone is just 'wow'!
https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/Schmuddelfilm/2603836099654226/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral

Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge

Quest exclusive Star Wars game! Primarily a shooting game, looks and sounds pretty good and gets you that Star Wars feeling we all crave.
https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/Schmuddelfilm/3484270071659289/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral

This is a crossover fanfiction between original fiction titles: Nature of Predators by SpacePaladin15 and The Last Angel by Proximal Flame respectively. All credit and rights reserved goes to them for making such amazing science fiction settings that I wanted to put this together.
You can read The Last Angel here: Be warned, it's decently long, and at its third installment so far. I highly suggest reading it before reading this, or this story will not make sense.

Otherwise, enjoy the story! Thanks again to u/jesterra54 and u/skais01 for beta and checking of work!
First Prev Next (soon)
Memory transcription subject: Adjek, Venlil Space Corps Engineer
Date [standardized human time]: October 24, 2136
I had departed with a collection of other engineers who had assisted on the tethering of Nemesis several days ago back to her massive ship. There were twenty-five of us, although none I knew directly from my work.
As our cargo shuttle entered the direct monitoring range of the beast once more, I felt a bad feeling throughout my fur. I didn't know what, exactly, but it was like we had just stepped into the eyes of a predator lurking in the undergrowth, watching us intently. As if to capitalize on that unease, our pilot Mimek bleated something in a panic that made said fur stand straight.
"T-th-th-there's an Arxur vessel trailing us!"
I whirled onto the oncoming feed near the front of the shuttle. Behind us, was a Arxur Ambusher-class dropship that had taken a path directly behind us. It followed the exact same trajectory as our own, and showed no signs of diverting. I bleated out a panicked command of my own.
"K-kick it! W-we need to get distance from them!"
While I had no authority to tell the pilot what to do in this situation, he must've nevertheless agreed, and as such Mimek kicked the boosters into overdrive to escape their proximity. I kept an eye on the rear display, watching as in response, the Arxur craft opened up its own engines, as if to accept the chase, and closed in.
Mimek spoke again. "Why are they chasing us?! D-didn't the humans forbid them from attacking us in-system?!" I had a horrible thought as to why...
"They've fallen to their p-predator bloodlust! They won't be stopped so long as we're in vulnerable space! Close to Nemesis, fast!" I pointed at the guidance lights to the hangar on Nemesis' keel opening. While the Arxur could likely outrun us in an extended burn, we had the advantage in a sprint over a shorter distance. Nemesis was in that shorter distance range, and so we needed to reach it fast to be in its haven.
Mimek, already piloting at full afterburn, corrected the shop in a sharp turn from the plotted approach vector cleared with the Lunar Shipyards. As this occurred, a reminder from the very same monitors came through on comms.
"Venlil ship, this is LSC Tower 3, you have left the agreed final approach vector, adjust your course to match the planned path immediately, do not continue on your current heading."
The humans did not realize the threat we were currently in, and thus the pilot ignored the warning. The Arxur seemingly took our course change as a challenge, and followed suit.
"I repeat, readjust your course heading immediately or fighters will be scrambled. This is your only warning." Even were that the case, we were far too close for them to plot an intercept vector. The shipyard monitors would need at least [one minute] to reach us, and Nemesis was merely [20 seconds] at full-burn-then-brake approach. We would not let the ship closing in behind us catch us, disciplinary action be damned. The damned Arxur succumbed to their predator madness!
A lazy-curve speed burnoff pattern was adopted, and we rocketed at ever-decreasing, but still frightening pace towards Nemesis in an attempt to shake the Ambusher behind us. The hangar was merely moments away, don't fail us now!
The Arxur vessel broke off the chase near the massive docked ship, seemingly slowing for no apparent reason. Perhaps it realized it couldn't slow down as fast as we could, and as such had to? But, that came with another stomach-hurdling problem: us slowing down. If we didn't, we'd crash and turn into nothing but paste on the walls of the gargantuan ship's hangar.
Thankfully, Mimek pulled through, and we zoomed into the hangar space, hitting the emergency external inertial dampener breaking as we attempted landing. The ship skidded across the floor, as it skipped nearly a [fourty meters] to a stop, crashing through something on the way through, but we were moving at such a pace that I had no clue exactly what.
As the ship came to a complete stop, rocking back onto its belly with a final thump, there was the sound of heavy stomping outside, before something rammed into the back of the ship, nearly rocking it off-balance again. "What...what was that?!" We both exclaimed.
We stepped away from the back exit ramp of the vehicle, all twenty five of us, as it began to groan under immense stress. The door dented in, and a few of us instantly cried out in surprise and fear.
And then again. And again. Another rocking of the ship as a dent formed. Another.
And finally, with an unsettling sound of metal being torn through, a crack in the plating of the door turned into a gap that widened into a shaking hole, until the door literally flew off its hydraulic support. The strain spat out fluids and electrical sparking, and several bleated in fear of the sudden disassembly of the door between us and the hangar. Had the Arxur caught up to us? Were we doomed?
But as the burst of electrical smoke cleared, and the light was filtered through our adjusting eyes, what was on the other side shocked me.
A mechanical monstrosity, far bulkier and massive than the one that had confronted my group and I aboard Nemesis stood on the other side. It towered above us, with a intimidatingly large cannon built into one of its arms, aimed dead center into our room, looking more akin to a vehicle's gun than a handheld one. One could see behind it many more of a similar looking model closing in. It spoke in a wrathful tone...Her wrathful tone.
"What the hell are you doing CRASHING INTO ME? There better be a-"
But I felt a chill as it suddenly cut off, and the featureless head of the bipedal robot swiveled to look directly at me instead. Though I could see no clear indicator of eyes like the nightmarish drone I had talked with in the past, I could feel it gaze directly at me, ignoring the others. It suddenly spoke again, a single word conveying contempt dripping in it. The blood in my veins turned cold as the Twilight.
"YOU..."
+CONFED IO.5+
+READING MAIN SEQ.MEM+
+ADDENDUM: ADJUSTED DATE 24.10.2136+
Something's wrong, I can feel it.
The bearing of the approaching ships has left the supposed approach vector, and directly accelerated towards my open hangar bay. While the ships pose no threat to me directly, I am uncertain if they are capable of stopping quickly enough to not risk the human crew that had just landed. I considered my options...
+grab beam non-responsive, schedule systems evaluation immediately+
I had no capability to tractor the ships from their path, and they showed no sign of slowing. I could fire a particle beam in the path of both ships, but there was no ability to tune down the power enough to not destroy the ships, and it would not reduce their velocity. I plotted the relative course of the Venlil shuttle to be coming at this angle, which thankfully was towards the opposite side of the hangar as the Human delegation. That did not remove the possibility of shrapnel from a crash, however.
I interspersed my Praetorians in front of them, seeking to act as a shield in the case of any flying debris. I warned them in the same instant.
"Take cover behind these drones, there is a problem with the landing Venlil ship on route."
"W..What's going on, Red?" Hailey asked, confused. Never had I been this direct with her physically, actively interspersing my drones in front of her and the rest of the scientific delegation.
"They are likely to crash. Predicted acceleration curves of the shuttle do not meet the prerequisite delta-V to stop safely at this current distance and velocity. Duck and cover."
The shuttlecraft streaked into my hangar bay at speeds that would make a 21st century jet blush. It slowed anomalously upon entering, but did not slow at enough rate to prevent the crash. The Praetorians situated on that side of my hangar were incapable of moving fast enough to dodge out of the way, and I was forced to watch as the shuttle crashed through thirty-two of them in a 45-meter break distance, before slamming into a hangar wall. They were built to withstand incredible munition strength, but not twenty-some odd tons of shuttle at near mach speeds. The impact brutally cast them across the deck, smashing some, tearing apart others.
Debris flew from the front of the shuttle outward, but none reached near the humans. Those moronic aliens were about to answer painfully for their incompetence on my deck.
"Dear god!" One of the humans swore at the sound of the shuttle crashing. Another screamed and ducked down further behind my Praetorian. The drone curled down to better envelop her in protection. Hailey was speechless.
A squadron of Praetorians had been closing in from a safe distance throughout the entirety of the crash. They were a mere hundred meters away, only 4.9 seconds to reach the doors. I collided with the shuttlecraft's exit ramp, and slammed repeatedly into the back of it, aiming to create a gap by which to pry the thing off. Eventually, a gap was made, and the Praetorian body wrenched a manipulator into it.
Then, after tearing off the ramp door to the ship, and beginning to interrogate the idiotic fucks at gunpoint, I find no less that a familiar face has come with them. A familiar face I would have rather not seen again in the slightest.
+identity confirmation, Adjek, Venlil engineer+
"YOU...What, are you doing here, again?"
I stepped forward, into the cargo shuttle, the Praetorian I controlled looming over them, over him, by nearly one and a half meters. I made certain to emphasize that size difference. One does not just crash in me like this without a good reason, or I'd be testing how long a Venlil survives vacuum.
Adjek decided to speak up, fear laden in his voice. "I-I-I...W-we were being chased by an Arxur vessel on the course here! T-They ignored the human's truce and decided to p-pursue us directly!"
I faltered a bit at that. Chased? The Arxur supposedly promised that they wouldn't attack the Venlil in-system, but given how much the bad blood between the Arxur and herbivore races was hyped up, I couldn't toss out the possibility.
"Is he telling the truth?" I swung the Praetorian's fake head about the room, scanning over each Venlil in the audience. It wasn't necessary, I had a panoramic view just from the chest optics alone, but the psychological effect and bait of having a head was palpable. They all parroted something similar to what Adjek and the pilot said, so I had no clear contradiction to go off of yet.
But I wasn't done with intimidation, I warmed the cannon muzzle to be visible within the deep red visual spectrum, and aimed it at him.
"Tell me everything, now."
He began to describe his intent and clearance for coming here...but reality decided to be a pain at that exact moment, as the likely culprit entered the hangar. Thankfully, I wasn't hampered by multitasking. A section of me split attention equally to the Arxur ship landing in my bay.
This ship, supposedly the Ambusher-class Goring Claw going off the IFF, was an armed dropship of some sort capable of intro-extra-atmospheric operation, given the rotary variable mode engines. They had been given landing clearance, but not by me, no, instead by the shipyard.
I would need to ask the UN to bring down that blackout protocol soon. This is immensely inconvenient to not have access to monitoring and communication outside myself, except through Hailey. Nevertheless, I positioned my remaining Praetorians around the likely exit of the dropship, awaiting it to open and...greet...these likely troublemakers. I had one Praetorian stand directly front-and-center to the back end, and aim weapons, but not arm them at the dropship hangar doors.
With a hiss, and a burst of slightly depressurized gas, the door opened, and out marched a line of two pairs of two Arxur guards. Their gear looked highly ceremonial, given its lack of tactical or efficient features, and the choice of weapon being a spear of some sort with a sidearm still holstered. Behind them, walked an even more gaudy individual than the guards, an Arxur with a prominent scar across their face covered in flamboyant ceremonial uniform. I was almost certain this was Chief Hunter Isif, Lithke's commanding officer, given Hailey's description of the visitors earlier. Behind him marched a set of less extravagantly dressed figures, likely advisors of some sort. And, of course, Lithke.
I wouldn't just let them off the hook so easily though, despite their far better entrance.
"Chief Hunter Isif. Lithke. You had best have a good reason for making a Venlil ship crash into my hangar."
Memory transcription subject: Chief Hunter Isif, Arxur Dominion Sector Fleet
Date [standardized human time]: October 24, 2136
Those idiots seriously did not-
...No, calm yourself, a Chief Hunter must always look composed, even in the face of absurdity.
The pilot in control of this Ambusher had heard my order to follow the Venlil in, got target fixation, and decided to escalate it to a chase. I would have him lashed for the offense later, but for now, I needed to quickly rekindle what little good will the Arxur had in Red One's eyes.
Losing it now could mean turning up hungry forever.
"I apologize for my pilot's unprofessional actions. He will be punished severely later for the transgression of letting his instincts override both human and my orders. Is there anything I can do further to fix your appetite, Red One?"
The robot frontmost of our shuttle stepped forward, it's bulk and size intimidating even by Arxur standards. It towered tall enough to nearly be at my head height despite the fact I was standing on the dropship ramp. Red One's response was curt, and [quick to the kill]. "You can start by convincing the odd twenty-five or so Venlil engineers your pilot chased into crashing on my hangar deck that you aren't here to eat them all, or whatever sickening actions you Arxur do. When that's done, then you may converse with Hailey Whitmer."
At least it wasn't "you've done enough, stop". I'd seen plenty disappear after that particular response in the Dominion.
"Fine. Blades!" I shouted to the ceremony guard I was issued. "Two of you will hold the pilot at the ship for punishment. He is to not eat, nor rest, nor do anything until I return. The rest will assist Lithke in assuaging the prey that they are safe...for now. I must speak with Red One while you do."
They saluted, and went about their way.
Good, everyone bought it. In a sense, this was funnily enough just the distraction I needed. Perhaps I'll reduce the pilot's lashing count quietly for that.
Now...for the harder part. I had no idea if Red would sense my intentions, and so-
The combat drone spoke once again. "Lithke's sung your praises, Chief Hunter Isif. An icon of 'applied cruelty' in his words. I'm curious as to why that should be praised, out of all things in a leader."
We're still too close to the ship, even if none are around to hear it, audio logs might pick up any dissenting thoughts. I should bring this conversation elsewhere.
"I see Lithke wasn't convincing on his own, it seems. Here, walk with me, I still have yet to meet your Special Envoy Hailey personally." I began to walk towards the group of humans near the other end of the hangar.
"So, you have met her?" Red One instantly picked up on the message, noticing the phrasing. So, she's capable of understanding subtlety...
"Yes, but not directly. She gave a presentation at the UN's discussion on you, which I attended."
"And what, pray tell, did you learn about there?" Red One seemed to press me slightly on the session, clearly looking for something. I'd play along, get in their favor.
"Plenty. You're by far the most powerful ship in the galaxy, as far as I can tell. The Humans and Venlil alike are afraid of you, but the former less-so, seeing a more mixed reaction to your presence."
"And what do you think of me?" Red questioned.
I began with a political mealy-mouth phrase.
"The Dominion is not-"
But she interrupted my train of thought. "No. I didn't ask what the Arxur thought. I was asking what you thought, specifically."
What?!
I scanned quickly, my head paced from side to side as I looked for any potential monitoring agent or tools nearby that could potentially pick up on my dialogue.
"You're...an interesting shake-up to the galaxy. Possibly even a means to an end I've been looking into."
There was a curiosity laden in that tone. "Is that so? What, pray tell, would an Arxur fleet leader need with me?"
Again, I checked about, to make certain none were close. "I...am trying to solve a personal problem. Your emergence is convenient to it..."
"Ah...so I was correct..." Red One's drone stopped in front of me for a moment, before turning directly to address me. "...The constant checking about other Arxur assets, the send-off of your personal guard, the overcompensation on the facial details and micromovements, the ordering of Lithke to 'convince' me of Dominion ideals. How much of it is an act, Chief Hunter Isif?"
She already found me out!?
The mask dropped in a panic, knowing none were close enough to pick up on it. "Quiet! How did you pick up on that?" I hissed under my breath to them.
She neglected to answer that statement directly, instead asking another question. "That's not important. The better thing to ask, is what exactly do you want with me?"
Well, since the meat has been spoiled...
I decided to be blunt, and honest. "I need either a line to directly converse with you on a sensitive matter later, or a method to do it now. There is a deep sickness within the Arxur, and you are a possible lynchpin to excise it. But it is traitorous in nature to Betterment, and they have agents everywhere. I would need it to be done away from their ears."
"I am currently operating in blackout conditions. I cannot send or receive signals from the outside without going through a UN transponder, so the first option is out currently. You need a distraction then, while you're here." Red's drone turned back around and continued walking, not giving away anything to the outside of her sudden skinning of my fake personality. "That can be arranged. But not this instant, we are already too close to outside ears for an extended conversation."
"A codeword, then? Some indicator that I may step away and talk securely with you?"
"A codeword is a start, but I'm more concerned about your personal guard. Are they loyal to you enough to ignore such a conversation?"
"Absolutely not. Effectively none of the group that has come along with me is loyal enough to hear this."
Red One didn't speak immediately, but the pause was small. "A full separation might be possible. I have an idea during the tour. If I say the phrase, 'Feel free to peruse' to you specifically, it will mean I have sufficiently separated attention enough that you may speak to me securely. Do you understand?"
She already has a plan? Her speed on that matter is dizzying.
I would have to trust her method. "I understand."
"Good, mask up again, we are within the distance of maximum human audible range given this volume."
Her matter of figuring out my intentions and act that quickly was unnerving, but it made some sense for a sentient computer. She likely thought far faster than the average Arxur, or even Human. But I could consider that later, I needed to get back in character. While my physical demeanor hadn't wavered any, I needed to give off the mental face of a Chief Hunter once again to allay suspicions. Especially since my personal guard were likely to return soon.
Hailey Whitmer noticed us soon after, and disengaged herself from talking with the other Humans. She began her way over here, leaving them to huddle around their ship, still unloading a collection of scientific equipment and personal belongings. "Chief Hunter Isif! Welcome to the UECNS Nemesis. What happened exactly that caused the Venlil to crash in like that, however? I heard a concerning bit that they were chased?"
I lashed my tail in frustration at that. "Our pilot idiotically got fixated on the Venlil ship. He will be punished later. For now I apologize on their behalf. I will try and...convince the Venlil's not to fear soon, but I honestly don't expect them to listen. They are prey, after all, sniveling in fear at the slightest provocation."
Hailey looked annoyed at that statement, but I could at least take personal solace in knowing it was mere persona. She would simply have to deal with it. "That's rather rude to our allies, Isif."
I corrected her: "Your allies, Human. The prey do not interest me. No, what interests me and my cohort is this ship." I pointed a claw at the robotic soldier behind me.. "I have already met Red One herself, and as you are the UN's Envoy here, I must meet you as well. Lithke has spoken much about both of you."
Hailey's expression changed from veiled frustration to surprise at that. "He has? Hah! I did charm-...oh, excuse my manners. When your entourage arrives over here, we can begin a proper tour with the both of us at the helm. Red?"
A voice emanated from the walls. "Yes, Hailey?"
"Do you have a path listed for a proper tour throughout your facilities?"
She responded immediately. "Yes. The UEC military has conducted tours before of my hull to other officials. I can follow said pathing, ignoring areas currently exposed to vacuum or damaged heavily. It will cover roughly 45% of the ship, and with transportation aid, take roughly 4 and a half hours."
Hailey clapped her hands together. "Perfect! When the three groups are gathered properly here, we can begin."
Given I could see my guard returning, thankfully not laden with prey blood or wounds, that would be soon.
+CONFED IO.5+
+READING MAIN SEQ.MEM+
+ADDENDUM: ADJUSTED DATE 24.10.2136+
I have had tours done of my shipself before. When my form was still under construction, Commander Theodore William Billingsly had given a walk-around to Yasmine, in preparation to turn over the role of Captain to her. The visit had gone rather easily, and familiarized her with my layout quickly in a professional manner. I had given numerous miniature tours of my layout to new crew members, with assistance from more established crew. I figured tours were nothing too special to my sensibilities and experience.
But I had never quite had the experience of juggling a tour where each distinct species of the tour was at odds with the other two. Listening to them was taxing.
"What are you looking at, leaflicker?"
"H-Help! I-It wants to e-e-eat me!!!"
"Could y'all just get along for a single moment? We're coming up on the barracks, supposedly, and yet you're at each other's throats!"
"Of course we're at their throats, those are rather delicious to tear out."
"You predators would focus on our vulnerable spots, w-wouldn't you!"
"Fuck's sake, you can't behave, can y'all?"
"Jealous of our vicious nature?"
"No we're not! What you do to the other races in this galaxy is abhorrent!"
"Yeah, you Arxur monsters have nothing to be proud of! I've lost family to your kind!"
Very taxing.
The human team and Hailey were trying to somewhat wrangle the mood down, but the Arxur and Venlil despised one another, and it showed. There was no quieting-down of their feud for more than a few minutes, before it started up again for the smallest altercations. I was glad I had brought a host of Praetorians to keep them physically separate somewhat, as I'd hate to have seen any humans hurt in the way.
Instead, I tried to focus on just providing an air of authority, as Hailey led them throughout my assorted systems and layout, only providing input where she did not know about. There were at least some receptive comments of myself during the tour that didn't result in lambasting the other two parties.
"The internal layout of this ship is rather unique. It doesn't look like anything in the Federation proper." A Venlil engineer by the name of Joluk mentioned.
"Yeah, I know!" Said a human scientist by the name of George Oscoda. "It's very...Death Star meets Nostromo, made a bit wider, then painted gunmetal black with red detailing."
Joluk turned back to him. "I have no idea what those are, but I don't like the sound of a Death Star." Their tail went ramrod straight, hanging down at the comment. Perhaps a body language fear response?
I decided to clarify from a drone nearby. "The internal design pattern of the UEC favors a highly geometric, hexagonal or octagonal hall layout, for maximum support with little freestanding support. A three-to-two width to height ratio also helps alleviate claustrophobic concerns, and detriments mental health minimally for extended stays."
George spoke up again. "I guess that's fair, but nothing will change how depressingly dark and scarred-up some of these corridors and bulkheads are currently. I get that it's battle damage, but..."
Lithke piped in from the front. "Nemesis wears her scars proudly. She is a predator forged in war, none escape without scars." I couldn't find a reason to directly deny said statement. I did sometimes prefer the reminder of how many Compact Janissaries had died within myself. How I shivered in delight at knowing they met their ends aboard my hull.
I decided to just remain silent on that. Hailey also responded to that soon after. "Well, honor besides, a lot of that damage will have to be repaired eventually. No amount of self-righteousness excuses holes to vacuum in some spots." She was also right. There were various spots throughout me that were not even enterable, let alone habitable as I was. Numerous collapsed-in sections, holes in my hull all-throughout. There wasn't even a main engines section anymore, with the aft exposed to space after redlining to Earth to save them from the Federation fleet. No amount of scars would justify not repairing battle damage.
I was at least partially glad they could not read Compact Standard. The various little easter eggs of alien languages scattered on my walls were filled with warnings and resignations of regret for boarding me. I left them there, to add to the ambient horror of unwelcome borders, but currently it just felt...out of place. I did not want to scare the people on board.
Thankfully there were few along this path, and none noticed it as the language it was offhand, so I avoided those questions. As we walked to the entrance doors to the barracks, there was a hallway we would have to cross first. One I had kept tenderly over the centuries.
I decided to speak ahead of time on it. "We are coming up on a particular area of mine en route to the general barracks. It was not something made in my time with humanity, but more...a personal project. Reminders and trophies of what and who I fought for both myself, and any others who might unfortunately find themselves this far into my halls." Some of the Arxur looked intrigued by that statement.
Hailey looked a little nervous at the way I introduced it. "I-I wouldn't really call it something particularly-"
I kept going over her response. It wasn't particularly polite, but if I was to make a maximal psychological distraction for Isif to say his piece, it would need to be done...
As a drone already within put the finishing touches on the arrangement, and skittered away into the dark lofts above, the doors opened to my favorite rooms, and I introduced the hallway ahead.
"Welcome...to my Collection."
First Prev Next (soon)

I went to a Lego convention recently, and one of the local Lego groups had made a 7000 piece Destiny’s Bounty that was about as big and as detailed as the UCS Venator, it was amazing. It got me thinking, what non-Star Wars themed UCS-style set would you love to see? In addition to a UCS Destiny’s Bounty, a giant, Gringott’s-sized Princess Peach’s Castle from Mario 64 would be amazing. What say you?

While Israel-Palestine drama is basically cheating as far as this subreddit is concerned, this drama is unique as the freeing of hostages is objectively good news. People were kidnapped by Hamas during the October attacks and have been held in secret locations since. Some have died, some have been killed deliberately and by accident, but this is the first time that this many hostages have been freed in one go. In particular, the woman hostage is familiar to those who have been following the conflict as the girl who was snatched on a Motorcycle in the kidnap footage (Noa Argamani). The biggest issue with the operation to rescue them was that it incurred lots of casualties, as the hostages were being held in a civilian camp.
The hostage situation has caused mounting pressure on Israeli leadership, and the liberation of hostages goes a long way in calming and reassuring the Israeli people, whose leadership is becoming increasingly unpopular both internally and across the world.
Not everyone is pleased at the news. The raid itself has a significant casualty pool even if some of those were terrorists. While we don't know the exact figure, rumours say over 90 people have been killed in the raid. Israel's actions in the conflict have also been extremely controversial, with many accusing Israel of conducting ethnic cleansing or genocide under the guise of fighting a terrorist organisation. Whether earned or not, some see Israel as the 'bad guy' in the conflict.
Was the hostage rescue 'worth' the casualties? Did Hamas treat them well? Is it 'appropriate' to celebrate hostages being freed when Israel is killing people? Is this a good or bad thing? Will freeing hostages allow Israel to do worse things? Does Reddit support Hamas? Is it hypocrisy when Israel holds many prisoners without trialing them? Will this victory cause Israel to double down on it's extreme actions?
----- Pics ----- (A Father embracing her daughter who was rescued from captivity after 250 days) Locked. 76% upvoted.
Wasn't this girl who got taken by a motorcycle?
Watch how pro-terrorist will try to spin this beautiful reunion into something horrifying justifying her kidnapping. If you justify the murder, gang rape, torture, and kidnapping of kids, teenagers, and civillians including women and elderly, youre on the wrong side.
Strawman much? Literally no one is justifying any of the kidnappings. You’re making up arguments in your head to get mad about.
Hamas shouldn't have captured/killed/raped 300 innocent civilians from multiple nations of the world
Already seen a lot of people angry about this
Did people just want her to die or something?
Happy shes free and safe, lets hope to see the day when the Palestinians hostages are free and safe too.
How does someone that's been captive for 250 days by the worst group of people in the world have no scars, no bruises, clear healthy skin, and doesn't look like they've lost a pound that whole time??
----- Global_News_Hub ----- (55 civilians killed in refugee camp, 4 hostages saved: Report)
Zionists doing what they do best. Killing civilians and finding reasons for it later or play victim.
Originally, the Zionists didn't even know there were hostages there. They just wanted to kill civilians.
Epic levels of cope
55 Arab Lives are not important to Zionists. They are animals to Israelis.
Maybe Hamas shouldn’t hide their hostages in refugee camps? It’s almost like they want their civilians to die to gain international sympathy
Despicable! The IDF should let Hamas kidnap, rape, torture, and murder without any consequences!! How dare they rescue the very few surviving hostages
----- MadeMeSmile ----- (Footage of hostage reuniting with family)
Israel killed over 200 palestinians today. This is not a day for smiles
She looks very healty. Thats how hostages should look like at the end. Not like the ones israel and russians are holding. We clearly can see who are the real terrorists. Good she made it back like this and is able to smile
And isnotreal killed 210 to “rescue” her
Saved four and killed 150 Palestinian civilians. What a heroes
Makes me sad, not smile: 1200 upvotes after 6 hours. The state of mind of Reddit users.
Big mistake to sort by controversial - what the heck is wrong with some of you?
And you really trust Hamas?
More than "israel"
As much as one should be happy about it, Palestinians continue to be under a Genocide. Israel has Palestinian hostages 26 times more than what Hamas has Israeli hostages. Israel has dropped bombs on Gaza more than what were dropped in World War II.
The entire kidnapping was absolutely awful on every level. What Israel is doing right now is absolutely awful on every level I’m happy that she is back safe with her family. All things can be true at the same time
What kind of shitty, hateful comments, especially on such a wholesome group.
----- IsraelPalestine -----
Cool, I wish that all hostages get released from the captivity of Hamas. It’s a big shame that Netanyahu is refusing any ceasefire and is continuing this war, and I hope that we eventually get a ceasefire so that all the hostages can return home.
Ahhh when success is refusing a deal to release all hostages because your adversary is evil and your response is checks notes using aid vehicles as troop convoys (a crime you've accused Hamas of) to rescue four hostages and in the process kill two hundred people, thus showing that Palestinian civilian life has lesser value than Israeli Nothing like committing repeated war crimes to show you're the good guys, right? It's a good thing US taxpayers are bankrolling THIS as opposed to dealing with inflation or healthcare. Seriously, what blackmail does Bibi have on Biden?
Great news for the families. But the pictures of the hostages post rescue (not the one above) are very telling. - basically Hamas are kinder, gentler hostage takers than Israel
Genuinely good news for the hostages and their families. I'm happy to hear they were found in good health. Unfortunately this will send the message that the current IDF strategy is worth it, and many more people will die as a result. Small victories I guess.
Up to 200 people killed on that operation, lots of innocent Palestinians. Local hospital was overwhelmed with insured and killed people.
----- InternationalNews ----- (IDF rescues 4 Gaza hostages: Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv)
So we're now at what? 7k dead Palestinians per hostage?
Get yourself ready for propaganda interview videos...
oh it's already in full force, saving 4 hostages is now being used to justify the killing of hundreds. Since we know these ppl don't think Palestinians are humans, they are going to not care one bit about the 47 innocent civilians (so far, more injured as well) killed in this "special operation". Israel will 100% use this to further try and justify killing more people in Rafah and probably to refuse the ceasefire deal on the table right now.
So, now we'll have four Mossad agents posing as freed hostages telling us horror stories of their brutal treatment. "They gang raped my severed baby head!"
There’s video of Noa being abducted on Oct. 7.

MAIORES. IV, CAL. IUNI. FORTUNA PRIMIGENIA.

This subject follows along from the general conclusion of infantilism, i.e. if we agree that infantilism exists in a culture that therefore all aspects of (such a culture) must be examined as to how they are impacted ‘by’ that infantilism, as: infantilism constitutes an undeveloped form of a thing; here (without covering absolutely every single aspect of it, as this could be a book in and of itself) we explore ‘sexual immaturity’ and its promulgation and consequences (of which we could easily make the case of the consequences as to be the cause of ‘all social ill’).
In an anthropological view; as if like we are looking at a chimpanzee colony, both procreation and familial-tribal child-raising takes place in our contemporary Western societies in a very clumsy sort of way; with the latter (i.e. the actual raising of children) not occurring at all, with the consequence of ‘arrested development’ – usually we would recognize and name it as that, if we ever thought very deeply about it:
However, the notion that all of this could be reduced to and fathomed as ‘sexual immaturity’ is an interesting (and unexplored) avenue to approach these matters from; certainly the act of actual procreation is deliberately accidental (I mean here in the contemporary West) in that a Woman does “not seek a mate” and then become pregnant, i.e. she does not even consider the sexual act to be procreative, rather: she accidentally becomes pregnant (“it was a miracle”), having beforehand and all throughout the duration and beyond it a culture which is far detached from the physical reality of things and thus a new human is created with no forethought for its care or provision and no security net in place to provide for it and ensure its prosperity and intelligent up-bringing, and increasingly there are fewer and fewer intelligent older persons around who are capable of providing the education and care for that child as would naturally exist in the large familial-tribal unit of an extended family where, historically, we all came from and of which is still the norm across much of the world (i.e. village elders who would otherwise raise the children up to be intelligent even if the Mother herself is too young to be a real parent - if we imagine as the species norm would be that most Women historically had their first child at around the age of fourteen or fifteen). Without, then, that familial-tribal unit to instruct and care for the child’s intellectual development and without either land to make a living from to provide for it's economic development then we find a cursed life, that is: a life far more difficult than it otherwise ought be had it been born in a more wisely chosen environment.
My point here is that ‘procreation’ is considered almost never at all by our society as being the most basic step in the creation and promulgation ‘of’ a tribal unit; with procreation itself being left down to blind chance and more often either legitimately accidentally or feigned accidently so as to attempt to cement a relationship (see: divorce and break-up rates in the West), either way this is the material circumstance into which children are born.
To say, then, that not grasping this reality ‘is’ itself a product of sexual immaturity; i.e. a Woman who does not understand what a new human is, seems to me to be far more of an accurate view of the thing than to declare it as ‘sexual immorality’ as it is usually insisted by the Abramic types, as: rather obviously it is ‘Sexual Immaturity’ rather than ‘Sexual Immorality’ that is the really cause of (the above scenario), that is: it is not Men and Women knowing too much about sex but of Men and Women knowing virtually nothing at all and therefore absent of a practice and familiarity necessary for Sexual Maturity, with Sexual Maturity itself being the very thing declared to be Immorality - an irreconcilable paradox.
It seems to me, then, that the habits we observe of ‘accidental pregnancy’ are the natural occurrence in such an unnatural society; that is: a consequence of misplaced moralism over the vital mechanical sexual functions of the human body (a thing which may well dominate and drive our unconsciousness entirely) have been rendered so alien to our expression and consideration but of which are so incessant and irrepressible; that sexual release is habitually denied, I mean here societally (i.e. “it is not polite”), and only finds ‘permission’ to appear in extreme drunkenness in fits of frenzy, and so on, so that when procreation actually occurs it is sporadic and neither at that moment nor before it was the adult rational mind involved – again, this is plainly a consequence of ‘sexual immaturity’ ‘before’ it could ever be said to be a consequence of ‘sexual immorality’.
It’s worth considering, of our own society in contemporary times, how far removed we are from most of the world which practices arrange marriages in one form or another (i.e. whether we are speaking of large tribal units or smaller family units) and what the consequence of this is on our own communities being absent of that; that is: the most fertile years of our lives are not spent having gotten procreation out of the way by having five or six children by the age of twenty or nineteen (so that when the child is fifteen you might be thirty, which seems to be the age where the sexual drive begins to dissipate or has anyway lost its novelty), and instead (i.e. without of being match-made far earlier in life) procreation instead occurs – if it does at all – accidentally and well-past the most fertile and healthy years, with such children being often quite sickly and the strain on the body being significantly more risky to the Mother (haphazardly enabled only then by massive external resources which would not have been required at all beforehand). I do not mean to seem as if I am advocating “having five or six children by the age of twenty or nineteen” only that in our natural environment this has always been the way of the thing due to natural sexual exploration when we are at that age.
At the same time, at the beginning and at the end of this “waste of time” (as I would say) of those most fertile years in which our sexuality is forbidden to us; that culture which we examine here as being simply Sexual Immaturity, it has been the case that that “Immaturity” persists well into later life by those afflicted adults who were forbidden to practise their natural sexuality when they were at the age where they wanted to, that is that the culture and mentality of such persons subjected to such restrictions quite demonstrably can be shown to have regressed them to the point that, as then as adults, they dress as children, speak and think as children, shun adult responsibility and seem altogether to have matured intellectually no further than the age of twelve or thirteen years, despite physiologically and neurologically having surpassed far beyond that early almost larval-like stage of our development where the body and mind are both only partially formed.
Instead it has been the “dragging-out” of that childlike insensibility, again: to no useful outcome, which has by that point in time essentially mitigated most of their procreative potentiality in that 1) physically having children is then far more difficult for them, and 2) they are now twenty-five years behind where their familial-tribal unit might otherwise have been, i.e. they do not have five or six twenty year old children bringing in incomes to the Household (to purchase a Household in the first place if they did not possess one before) or working the land (or likewise to purchase land) so that their prosperity will not have developed beyond mere subsistence off of the external labour market so as to escape the poverty and dependency traps inherent in the cities – which nominally constitutes their entire existence ‘to’ escape such miseries. All in all it is a lot of hard work by that point and I could not help but notice, of my own generation and those slightly older, how this outcome would have been entirely altered and set on a more prosperous trajectory if, say, at the age of sixteen a couple had been put together and had a few children, as: by the age of twenty the best seeds would have been sewn and they would not have to even think about “having children” ever again which is itself a thing, I observe anyway, that is so daunting and bothersome later in life that it really is something better gotten out of the way as early as possible in the manner that we would have done quite naturally otherwise.
If the idea here is to build up that familial-tribal unit then this methodology serves the purpose in the most optimal manner; the adults are freed up and enjoy their liberties, the younger adults (i.e. the teenagers) are preoccupied quite happily fulfilling their single greatest biological urges to have sex as much as they like, and the population figures begin to climb up at a rate of replacement which is far superior, e.g. a thirty year old parent of a fifteen year old only has five years before that fifteen year becomes a physically matured adult ready to contribute to the unit, whereas by contrast a thirty year old parent of a five year old has a great longer time to wait for physical maturity so that the distance between the two age groups becomes fragile and thin the further it is stretched with a concurrent loss of replacement manpower by a space of ten additional years.
There is something to be said for the older more experienced Father, of course, I remember quite well that the children I grew up with whose Fathers were in their forties and fifties and whose Mothers were in their twenties or very early thirties were quite better-off in their disposition and intelligence (whilst those with older Mothers tended to be sickly in one way or another); simply put though I think it is more to do with the experience of age as the influencing factor than anything else and a functional familial-tribal unit would have this influence in far greater capacity.
If we add to this factor the notion of polygamy (something shunned as ‘pagan’ by the Abramic religions yet advocated for in their own holy books, indeed: it was the universal norm) then we find the whole circle being completed in that young teenagers do as they please with each other, becoming familiar with relationship and their sexuality, and then when they reach a more mature age they might marry each other or other people properly so as to begin families of their own; but that by that age they may well have produced several children already via multiple partners so that the actual ‘legitimate children’ (in the sense of inheriting land and titles) of a more formal marriage is superfluous to population replacement insofar as the tribe is concerned, as: they have already increased the headcount quite massively by comparison. It is worth mentioning here the legal problems of land inheritance and the seeming inability for people to ever work this all out amongst themselves as being one of the most desirable points of the introduction of some of the Abramic religions, when they first appeared, as rules were laid out of who could inherit (some rules more effective than others, some quite ruinous in fact) which provided a framework in perpetuity (but on the other hand, with all children being considered legitimate in some instances, i.e. the children of concubines, this produced the problem of “all children” being in competition for the single title or, in turn, a vast spread of land, i.e. a Kingdom, being broken apart “to make it all fair”: this did not differ in form from, say, Imperial China to the late Ottoman court whilst the European Monarchies to their credit, somewhat, temporarily solved the matter by the allocation of specific titles to be given to the first born, second born, third born, etc., and then bouncing back to the Monarch upon the death of that Duke to be allocated again – although some would say this is a feeble manner by which to govern large polities it differs not very much from the essential ‘oversight’ duties over local governments as practiced in the Roman Principate rather than direct-governorship over those provinces themselves).
The tribal influence in real terms upon children cannot be understated in its superior effects upon the character and long-term capacity of the children themselves (when compared to others); I have some experience in my own up-bringing with this and really the outcome (again: compared to the infantilism, i.e. arrested development, you will almost always find in the nuclear family type, which we might easily compare to factory farmed within four walls and a hen-pecking parental authority vs. free range) is a quite more matured and capable disposition (call it “street smarts” if you like; they follow what actually works rather than what is ‘pretended to them’ to work, which is typically nothing more than the parents own whimsical desires of the moment) amongst all the children when they are simply freed up from the poor influence of an unfit parent even without the good influence of a more fit parent of which, then, the fit parent itself could be determined to be largely superfluous, as: of their own accord they learn amongst themselves and become naturally fortified against being instructed into error by a witless or ill-inclined adult, whereas a child stuck under the thumb of a witless ‘parent’ has no means to disobey that witless parent without facing severe punishments and so there the child is sculpted into a helpless fool, later embittered in life and at the tender mercy of their peers, as: even as they might innately know-better (than to do the foolish thing their parent demands they do) they are forced nevertheless, either physically punished or emotionally coerced, into adopting the ‘silly walk’ and ‘dress’ of the witless parent, which is to say: they are forced into conforming toward the cultural idealism determined by the parent with no thought whatsoever for the practicalities of life, e.g. the matter of “how will my child earn a living” is addressed neither by parenting nor by schools thus begrudgingly selling themselves auction block of the labour market turns out to be the only method, whether they were deluded into thinking that their aspirations to be a professional athlete or an astronaut were entertained and encouraged for them at the expense of informing them about any other means of paying the rent or not.
I should say here that when I say “familial-tribal unit” I am broadly referring to any number of groupings, in whatsoever local forms they may take shape, but that the decisive factor, most chiefly, will be a large extended family network of which, if it ever needed to pool its resource together, would constitute a decent size force in land, resource production and manpower – but chiefly it is the possession of land which enables everything else:
More ideally, to my mind, it would resemble (or be very close in composition to) that Roman ‘Familia’ (the origin of the word ‘Family’ in our English) where a fairly large blood family of at least five generations inhabited in and around the same House or group of Houses (see: Palace, Villa and Manor Economy), with servants and adoptees and associates (business partners) likewise being considered as extended kin; altogether forming, as it were, a little nationality. In the sense of ‘Nationality’ it is, it ought be said, more a return to how we actually were prior to the ‘naming conventions’ of the 1700’s or so where the stupid surnames made up on the spot of many Europeans were forced into Law over what would have originally been clan and tribal identities and from which there came that fake sense of disparate ‘Nationality’ (i.e. cut off from tribe and forced into atomization; identity through a very small family unit alone) from which the misnomer of ‘Race’ would be made-up to lend credibility to. In many ways a great deal of the urbane ‘neurosis’, let’s call it, stems really from this absence of ‘true tribe’ with it having been eradicated either by the fecklessness of urban societies; societies of strangers and thieves, and also more directly via those religions which pretend to fill the void of ‘true tribe’ with their witless rituals and effete pretences – things which are a wet-blanket over true fellowship wrought in such a manner as comes in all reality perfectly naturally the moment the screws holding foolishness in place are undone and cast away – and really here, when we stack these observations together one upon the other, we are really speaking of a sound and strong society certainly immune to the shallow perversity created by denialism toward the basic mechanics of the human body – in addition to any other considerations which follow from that.

THE OVERALL INFLUENCE (OR LACK THEREOF) OF A TRIBAL-FAMILIAL UNIT

It must be considered quite seriously by the reader as to the overall influence, or lack thereof, of a tribal-familial unit as to what fills its place in the education of people otherwise and, as I began this text by considering for myself, how much of the ‘dysfunctionality’ can be attributed to the “lack thereof”.
Along with the cultural instance on sexual immaturity as to produce the consequence of delaying and drawing out for decades a fetish of normal sexuality which ought naturally be done with by a person after reaching the age, say, of maybe seventeen, there is the greater point which I am trying to relay here in this text of how many other aspects of ‘bad culture’ are singularly anchored to and thusly totally dependent upon that sexual immaturity – that is: we would be hard-pressed to imagine how really many of the pernicious scenarios in our contemporary society would even arise if that foundation stone of ‘sexual immaturity’ were removed from the equation:
For instance, how much of a ‘relationship’ is spent and sculpted (either by the Man or the Woman or both) on jealously and worry of the other ending the relationship for having found another person or another means to fulfil their sexual gratification? If a ‘relationship’ is based upon, let’s call this, “mutual masturbation” then at the heart of that is sexual immaturity of the mental age of maybe fourteen years whereupon a person has been sort of coaxed into dependency for orgasm on a third party; they are fraught and fearful that this should be taken away from them – it being so vital as like a mechanical necessity for either sex – that the entire content of their ‘relationship’ revolves around it; seeking it, coaxing it, demanding it, guarding it from be lost, and so on, of which I think it is not exaggeration to say that such concerns constitute 100% of the verbal interaction in such a ‘couple’; either outright or in the back of the mind so as to reinterpret all scenarios and verbal expressions as being related to that end-goal of maintaining the “mutual masturbation”.
Simply put this ‘relationship’, then, revolves around twenty minutes of sexual activity in a day – if that much (or even if every day), yet dominates the entirety of the mind; that is: the entirety of the ‘relationship’, when this action itself is something that a servant or a slave or a prostitute would be used for in many societies, with the ‘content’ of the marriage, say, being concerned more with running the business of a Household or concerned with procreation to produce legitimate children to inherit the business, the title, the land, whatever. My point here is that neither Man nor Woman are elevated or their dignity improved, somehow, by this absence of sexual maturity but rather that both are reduced; i.e. greatly lowered, to the cognitive and social standing of the “servant, slave, prostitute,” in that as far as they think of and conceptualize themselves as part of a Household at all it is singularly the concern with simple sexual acts which dominate their interpersonal interactions and their ideas about their own self; it is their ‘social currency’.
If this seems alien – I mean my observation on this – consider how much neurosis goes on in the daily grooming rituals of Women or those sad excuses for Men who “lift weights but cannot fight” (not to mention the ease at which a thin muscular physique bleeds out at the slightest of puncture wounds, see: Roman Gladiator training), i.e. whose only concern is that of admiring their own bodies in a mirror, this being intellectually identical to young Women. Is this not the mentally of a slave? If so, even if we shy away from saying it plainly, then we must ask “what forms the mentality of a slave (i.e. where does it come from)” – in the above equation a slave in a Household is more like an object fulfilling a function than He or She is a person with any autonomy (well, obviously there is no autonomy for a slave) so it is almost to be expected that in such an environment that the intellectual trajectory of an object-person goes away from externalities and becomes entirely absorbed with self-presentation and equates their social status from that, and if groups of such persons will set this to be the common culture; deriving status in that manner among themselves – although still these are slaves possessing no ‘status’ to speak of, as being object-people. This is evidenced also in victims of sexual abuse or those, in general, suffering at the hands of third parties whose autonomy is in some way or another restricted; that their singular focus becomes that of sexuality as like depression is “rage turned inward”, thus too it seems for sexual infantilism.
I cannot pass up this subject without mentioning a series of interviews describing, a thing quite novel to me, the notion of American Christian ‘Purity Culture’ from the point of view of those heavily indoctrinated into that; instilled with Catholic levels of guilt over the normal function of the body, who have then left their small churches or megachurches, or whatever, and spoken plainly about the mentality of those inside of it as relating to sexuality. It is a thing I think long suspected but seldom expressed that, as it was described, the mentality of such persons is that they are “horny all the time” due to the relentless guilt inculcated into them; that due to denialism of sexuality their ordinary sexual impulses are magnified to an incredible degree and that, consequentially, their entire being is animated by repressed sexuality so that their thoughts are ‘impure’ all the time whilst verbally they express strong denialism and shame over the thing. I think this is no real difference to any such religious malinstruction; be it Muslim, Jewish or Christian, in that the perpetual infantilism of their surrounding society stems first of all from their own bedrock religious culture (i.e. whatever religion which is at odds with the human body, etc.) were due to such ‘culture’ they never really get over, say, an early adolescent view of sexuality where they are driven entirely by it and never learn to overcome it, no pun intended, but utterly unrealized – which would take them leaving their religion – is that this process demonstrably brings out the absolute worst in their character and disposition with the process itself being the promulgation ‘of’ those very “Viceful thoughts ” that they claim to be “at War with in the world”, in other words: it is just they themselves who, for example, look at a young teenage girl (or god help us, a small boy) and thinks all manner of sexual rapacity – and that this animates them politically to campaign for restrictive legislation to be put into Law to police “all society” as if “all society” existed at their low level is an incredible thing to consider. But I do not think their broader societies are any exception to this, rather point here is that their broader societies are comprised of persons exactly like them; that the Christian or the Jew driven by a lifetimes shaming over their normal sexuality adopt, in turn, the most depraved expressions ‘of’ sexuality as a self-affirmation; that is: the extreme self-identification with a simple sexual action, for example, came to literally define a persons personality in such places to the point that (Americans anyway) seriously put out the notion during the late 1990’s and 2000’s that a fleeting sexual act 1) defines a persons entire character, and 2) it is also inborn, e.g. as like to say that whether you prefer this or that on the menu at a restaurant is something determined genetically; this is utterly stupid and utterly, in my opinion, a consequence of society which has not wanted to evolve beyond the ‘sexual immaturity’ of which physiologically seems to occupy a very small window of the middle to late teens and of which repression during those ages quite demonstrably creates madness and retardation – I mean that if their culture did not peripherally do this to them then the manner by which swathes of their cultural-historical institutions do this to them ‘outright’ by inculcation into this process in particular certainly does it to them, and merely it is the unwillingness to fully condemn these Religions and relegate these influences to the dustbin which keeps the entire thing ticking along with “just enough” of the population bent out of shape by it to present those same persons, seemingly confused as to where they came from, lumbering through the broader society and serving as examples of lunacy and degeneracy.
In short - and I may as well add this here also, the aim to abstain for a while from sexuality was a custom introduced by the Ancient Romans and was designed to heighten sexual pleasure; in effect, then, foreign barbarians coming to this culture much later on with nobody to really explain it to them ended up unwittingly engaging in what they would probably have recognized as ‘sex magic’ whereupon the denial of their own mechanical sexual function was ‘abstained’ by them; i.e. they saw the value in holding off on doing drugs or having sex for a while, – but they did not understand what the effect or the outcome of that was ‘intended’ to be in that one would abstain specifically ‘to’ heighten the senses toward that pleasure; and this is evidenced chiefly in the Lunar Orgies and the Fast/s of Ceres. Interestingly, Jesus himself in (i think the Gospel of Thomas?) mentions to his followers that “they will hate him for what he says now,” and that he says that “fasting brings out all the worst in them” – in other words, engaging in periodic abstinence will turn them all horny. Knowing this from a relatively early age it was no surprise to me at all why celibate priests ended up diddling children or member of their own congregation or why the most outwardly pious zealots proved to be the most morally weak people to be found as even with the most ‘clean’ example, let’s say, of a person who has never drank wine, for example, they have not ‘overcome’ that thing but have rather avoided ever experiencing that thing so that it will always be a novel temptation to them of which they will have no understanding of and which they can be leveraged by in various ways primarily due to their ignorance of which ‘experience itself’ would otherwise render them far more fortified against:
A good example here is the ‘pot scare’ of the early 1930’s in America when it was seriously believed by a wholly ignorant chunk of the urbane voting public that smoking cannabis (and drinking alcohol, for that matter) would turn a person into a serial killer, this is totally bizarre to us now, but notice that this was the same society whose moral standard was that “a table leg” should not be uncovered because it reminded them of a Womans bare leg – although here we might better understand why they were so preoccupied by thoughts like that (I think very seriously in their heightened state of perpetual arousal any little thing would send them to buggery of a farmyard creature)! Hilarious. But – notice also that this was the same society which was engaging in some of the most casually egregious inhumane criminality that history had ever seen, as if they ‘were’ high on narcotics and their rational senses dulled; I do not mean here to bring American notions of ‘Race’ into this as to be seen to ‘condemn Black Slavery’ in the fashion of my own day (although we mentioned family-tribe as a better form of so-called nationality earlier) but the ghastly images of actual Country Fairs where smiling families with children by their knees would pose for crude photographs with the charcoaled or bloated rotting carcass of a burned or lynched Man is beyond my ability to play-down or normalize. I mean here to say, that: far from the pretense of ‘clean mindedness’ of such persons about themselves that we find these same persons are the filthiest and most depraved characters around, being those few persons who walk amongst us who are actually capable of doing those inhumane things (again, see: Banality of Evil) as would be unthinkable to a person of normal rational healthy conscience. We might connect this, also, to the historical BDSM extravaganzas which took place in the Christian monasteries and public squares for many centuries where young Women were sexually tortured by celibate clergymen as to recognize how deep and quick a plunge it is from a person or their culture going from the denial of normal healthy sexuality into the kettled and sadistic gore fetish of outright murder.
It is always worth reminding the reader who wishes to minimize these more egregious aspects of the subject (as rape is still rampant among the clergy); which are consequential of sexual immaturity, that it was not ‘reason and rationality’ per se that stamped this out from European society but soldiers kicking in the doors of such Churches, Town Halls and Houses with muskets, rifles, long knives and grape-shot and physically eradicating the perpetrators and their willing congregations from America and France for the practice itself of sexually torturing a Woman and then burning the evidence on the fake pretexts of obviously made-up accusations of “she turned me into a frog” to actually be ended. That is to say that the ‘mentality’ and ‘culture’ which provided the framework for such inhumane activities was never formally realized or educated-out of a people, so to find it lingers along into contemporary times; animating the otherwise dormant farmyard animal-like character of such persons “like powers of evil”, is not surprising to me in the least. What was more surprising to me is that as so much of these religions are so obviously outright ‘evil’ that more persons do not speak of the intricacies of the things in such necessary detail these more ‘egregious’ cases would qualify, and then to spool back to discover the cause of every evil action in the mentality of every perpetrator – generally speaking, for instance, it will be a character with a disposition of infantilism and perhaps this is more easy to understand without needing to connect it to sexual immaturity though, to my mind, these are not distinct enough to warrant any separation; as: infantilism is always going to be immaturity and immaturity is always going to run concurrent with a lack of adult intellectual development where a mature and experienced view of a thing, sexuality in this case, has likely been within the powers of a person to have gleaned naturally through experiences – in which case there would be no argument with anything I say here, or of which such experiences have been prevented by external powers from being gleaned by the person in question; in which case they remain ‘as if’ they were fourteen years old with the allure of mysterious unknown sex acts utterly dominating their consciousness at all times and yet physically being thirty, forty, fifty years old – well past the age (certainly physiologically) where they should have gotten it all out of their system but of which they have not, chiefly because their experiences have been rather dull and monotone and so much social currency has been valued by it ‘being’ dull and monotone, e.g. monogamy, legal repercussions binding two people in place, the atomized kettling nature of the disconnected nuclear family unit, living amongst strangers in large cities where it not so simple as just going topless to change the local culture, control through the selective denial of the sex act itself (as William Reich and Esther Vilar both write on), the sexualisation of young people by adults, the accidental ‘perversity’ (in the real meaning of the word) of unfulfilled (or poorly fulfilled, or repressed altogether) sexuality and its effects on the brain and society, and so on and so on.
I am always inclined to think when considering this subject, and I may as well end this text in conclusion with this recurrent thought of mine, that ‘sexual perversion’ really begins in the mind of ourselves as young teenagers when the normal human body is leeringly presented to us as being something ‘illicit’, e.g. the breasts of Women are concealed in our society and so due to ‘hiding them away’ they become objects of mystery and fetish which they otherwise are not. I do not think this is deliberate reverse psychology (as god help us few enough people even understand the concept to understand what they do inadvertently) but it produces the same consequence of reverse psychology, whereupon quite arbitrarily a certain piece of the body, say, an ankle, is all of a sudden declared by a mad Adult to be “evil, sinful, lustful, of the devil,” when no such notion existed in the minds of people otherwise, as then: their natural curiosity is piqued by this imposition and so they develop a perversion dervied in chief part – as a sense of lewd pleasure – from bucking the arbitrary nonsensical imposition forced upon them by that dictate of which such a scenario never would have had cause to occur if not for that imposition having created it. I feel that this ‘perversion’ (again, in the real meaning of that word) stands in the way of a fully realized and fully pursued sense of actual sexuality and, from it, of a more resonant concordance between Men and Women whose interactions are otherwise thrown off balance by such impositions as they are dragged back down to sexual immaturity all the time; or into fear and jealously etc., as like a dozen avenues are presented in any conversation and virtually of them are strewn with piss, vomit and polyfoam which had no reason to be put there in the first place, or more accurately: it was put there through the carelessness of an atomized and witless peoples who knew no better than to do this to themselves but of which a familial-tribal unit would have drummed out of them quick sharp if for the actuality of nothing else than “we are all in this together” being something that is tangibly true and not merely shallow political rhetoric when it is said of a tribe vs. when it is said of a state polity comprised of countless strangers.

MAIORES. IV, CAL. IUNI. FORTUNA PRIMIGENIA.

So a lot of people are talking about this adventure not being one of the best and I have to agree. Criticism aside I like the outline of the adventure and have decided to run it. I wanted to get some feedback on my planned changes to the adventure and see if anyone had any other cool ideas to enhance the adventure. I'll list each change out by number that way it's easy to read and respond to.

1. I plan on adding way more travel between and within each setting. Part of this is throwing out the portal mechanics from within Sanctum and adding in tons of encounters, NPC, and locations. Lots of work but I like doing it and it's gonna be worth it to my players. The players will know about where they need to go but will have little direction on how to get their causing them to engage with the world to find the solution.
   
2. I'm replacing Tasha with Elminster. It's makes way more sense and doesn't really change the adventure in any major ways
   
3. I'm introducing a rival party working with Vecna s cult to aquire the rod pieces before the characters can. This gives them a persistent threat for each setting that they may have to deal with and makes Vecna seem more like a proactive villain
   
4. Vecna will know of the characters and will be more active in the story. Other than commanding the rival group he will constantly talk to and taunt the players through dreams and astral projection. There will also come a point in the story where the players encounter a simulacrum of Vecna (probably like 16th-17th lvl) the final fight will also include a battle with a simulacrum then the real fight because it can't be too easy lol
   
5. And now for my biggest change. Total rework of the story. In my game Vecna actually needs the Rod and Miska (more specific the blood of Miska) to complete the ritual. The chaotic blood to perform the unmaking of the universe and the rod to reform it with the power of secrets being used to power a Mythallar (magic battery) and then connected to a black obelisk (more specific the one found in RoTFM) this provides actual structure to the ritual vs it just being "secret magic" which I felt was very lazy writing. In my story, Kas still works to userp Vecna but he has no real understanding of the ritual. Vecna is near omnipotent and knows of Kas's plans and the players involvement and manipulates both parties into bringing him everything he needs while he collects secrets and extracts the power for his battery
   

There are probably other changes I'm just forgetting to mention here but these are the major ones I think should make for a more enjoyable and memorable campaign.

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WaveOfWire Edits :D
- - - - -
Harrison’s vision was still foggy from waking up, several blinks failing to clear the tears from his drawn-out yawn. He just escaped the encompassing embrace of his four-armed guardian, leaving their shared bed for the bathroom, where he would have to say goodbye to his beard. If he was going to travel out of the settlement, a proper seal on his gas mask was a must.
It was a shame. The slow buildup of the hair over the last month or so was a representation of his growth in a way, building up alongside his experiences in this hellhole, be they life-threatening or informative. It was almost like wiping the slate clean, even if cutting some chin scruff didn’t really change anything at all—he’d never be able to forget anything he had seen here for as long as he lived.
And there was no telling how long that’d be.
The engineer sighed, splashing the lukewarm barracks water into his face from one of the many wall-attached sinks, allowing him to fully open his eyes and size up the damage done to his favorite black blood-and-sweat-stained t-shirt. It always stayed in good condition with washing and fabricator repairs, but somehow Shar’s talons always found a way to make small holes in it. She wasn’t trying to, but with the way she fully wrapped her arms around him, the tips of her sharp fingers sometimes ended up poking into the fabric and causing some cuts.
It was such a small issue that he never considered bringing it up to her. Plus, she’d probably do her whole guilty talon-tapping thing with puppy eyes and all… He shook his head, letting the stray beads of water on his face drip into the sink.
His palm ran across his beard while his other hand reached for the razor. There wasn’t any shaving cream or the like, but he’d make do. At least he had one of the proper tools for the job. He went into the task, the blade driving through his scruff, slopping off wide areas of his hair from jaw to chin for a few seconds before it was interrupted.
A short ‘woosh’ of the entrance caught his attention.
“Aww, you’re shavin’ it off?” Tracy commented dejectedly through a yawn, the lazy drawl reinforcing the fact that she just woke up. “Th’ beard was sorta growin’ on me.”
He eyed her through the mirror, his voice coming out in a dull tone. “Yeah. I feel the same.”
She squinted under the bright bathroom lights, rubbing an eye with her wrist as she walked up to the sink beside him and started her own morning routine. “Mmm… Womp womp. Why though?”
“Need it to get a gas mask seal,” he stated flatly, focusing on the task at hand.
The technician stopped momentarily, the gears turning in her head before she gave him a downcast frown. “You’re still set on going for the vehicle bay? You know we can just send some long-range drones out there, right?”
His short exhale echoed throughout the tiled room. The engineer closed his eyes, already mentally withdrawn from the conversation. They've had this discussion twice now. “It’s to be better prepared for any chemical, biological, or radiological surprises that might come up—not just for the excursion. Even more importantly, there’s no guarantee the module is in perfect shape. If I’m there in person, I’ll have the means to get through anything for those blueprints. Plus, it should only be four days, so the only issues we have are my beard and finding a way to protect the Malkrin from the radiation while we’re out.”
Tracy looked like she wanted to say something back, but bit her lip and cast her eyes down at the sink in front of her, twisting the knob before mumbling a quiet response. “I don’t think you need to protect them from radiation at all…”
“Hmm?”
She stared at him meekly, his dismissal of her worries having clearly dampened her mood. Guilt tugged at the back of his mind before her words further caught his interest. “I think they’re immune… or resistant or something. Radiation immunity is the whole reason they were sent here. You’ve added up the pieces together too, right?”
He stared down at her, running a hand through his hair with tired exasperation depressing his voice. “Tracy, I’ve been trying my hardest to just make it another day on this God-forsaken planet, not dig into their religion. So, no. I have not spent the time to add up the pieces. Enlighten me, please.”
“…S-Sorry. I just, you know, get a lot of time to think when working on drones, and Cera has been drawing all kinds of representations of these things.” Tracy paused, gesturing toward the engineer. “Okay, so you remember the whole backstory for why the Malkrin are on the mainland in the first place?”
“Pseudo-eugenics?” he commented dryly.
“Yeah.” She nodded, a sense of excitement leaking into her voice. “And what were the parameters of banishing someone?”
“Not getting sick from a rock.”
She eyed him feverishly, brows raised with a sudden zeal. “Aaaaand that rock represented the Sky Goddess’ wrath, which did what?”
“Uhhh…” He looked upward in thought, recalling his conversation with the paladin. “I think Shar mentioned nausea, vomiting, blisters, skin melting… off…” He froze, the pieces forming. “Wait, you don’t think…”
“I do. Those symptoms could mean a lot of things, but the anomaly field was the real kicker. You know that Shar just straight up didn’t have any lingering radiation effects or anything while you were nearly put… six feet under…” Her voice quieted momentarily, the speed of her speech outpacing her train of thought. “Sorry. Um… so, I was gonna say that she, uh, I mean the scanner mentioned she had damage from ‘alpha particles’ on her skin, but nothing else happened to her organs or anything.”
Harrison squinted at her for a moment, mouth slightly opened and prepared to give some alternative reasoning besides ‘immunity.’ Maybe her armor protected her from it? No… she didn’t even have full protection, radiation would have certainly gotten around her eyes or snout. What about her height? What if… No.
He didn’t just want to believe that somehow the Malkrin could just evade a force of nature, but he didn’t have any way of proving or disproving it on hand… Well, no humane way of testing it.
“I… guess?” the engineer grumbled, rubbing his eyes. “Even then, they still need armor and gas masks. The worst part of the radiation isn’t even the ionizing part. It’s the trace elements that get into your lungs and decay there. So it doesn’t hurt to use some CBRN filters.”
“Fair… but it’s interesting, isn’t it?” Tracy beamed. “Like, what kind of evolutionary factors lead to radiation immunity? Why do only some of the Malkrin have it and others don’t?”
The only real cause of radiation he could think of would be a massive nuclear proliferation of some sort. Maybe the anomalies? He ran a hand through his hair, pushing the lingering thoughts away. “I wouldn’t know. You could always ask Sebas to bring up some papers about it or generate some theories when you get the chance.”
“I probably will at some point… Maybe while I’m working.” She poked him in the bicep. “You’re still helping me with the mule, right?”
He bobbed his head, loose beard hairs itching up his chin. “Sure am. Gimme a bit to shave and test the fifty-cal ammo, then I’ll be free to assist.”
“Kay Kay.” The tradeswoman smiled and returned to the sink, washing her face.
- - - - -
“What the hell did you do to your shield?” a stunned Harrison asked the paladin, his face scrunching up in concern… and confusion.
Sharky proudly held up her once grungy orange shield with a smile, looking at its new… paint job? “Artificer Tracy has s—n to imbue my bulwark with the crest of the Sky Goddess herself! Observe the b—utiful wings that cover it!”
The engineer had just got back from setting up and overseeing the automated mule’s first excursion to the mine and back. It was a grueling task, requiring him to reset its pathing several times before it was able to make a round trip without input. Now, the maroon-skinned Malkrin in front of him had apparently gotten her massive aegis laser imprinted with crossing wings in the two hours or so he’d been gone. The areas between the black feather decals were colored with white and blue paints, contrasting with the new dark gray background.
A small weight was placed on his shoulder, Tracy’s forearm suddenly appearing atop it despite her being nearly a foot shorter than him. She beamed, staring up at him with all-too-proud eyes. “The scout regiment symbol looks good on it, right? Cera helped me with the laser engraving.”
“I…” His brows raised in perplexity. “The scout regiment?”
She shrugged, watching the paladin observe her shield from all sorts of different angles underneath the workshop’s light fixtures. “From an anime I used to watch. Men and women who were sent out to battle against massive titans for the greater good of the last settlement of humanity. Somewhat fitting, and fuckin’ awesome on her big-ass shield! Matches the bird’s wings on her armor too.”
He loudly sighed. “You wasted materials on imprinting wings on Shar’s shield? Really?”
“Hey!” Her brows furrowed into faux-annoyance, a smug grin betraying it. “It’s not a waste if you were never gonna use the paint we had on hand. Plus, we’ve got energy to spare with all the wind turbines and power cells you’ve been printing out.”
“Those paints probably could have been used for important designations… or something…” he grumbled.
“Doesn’t matter.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “Anyway, want me to put some scary teeth or something on that big ‘ol fist-sized muzzle break on your shotgun?”
“No?” he took an incredulous step away from her, letting her arm fall off his shoulder and to her side.
“It’s okay to admit you’re jealous of Shar’s awesome decals, bro,” Tracy teased, her smugness growing tenfold. “No need to get defensive.”
He groaned, figuring there wasn’t a point in staying to bicker with the tradeswoman, leaving the two vanity-focused females to their devices. He still had to figure out how to fabricate armor and gas masks for the Malkrin and himself.
“Hey! Where ya goin?” the technician called out, clearly disappointed that he hadn’t indulged in her taunts.
“Work.”
Short taps against the hard floor sounded out as she caught up to him. She leaned forward and curiously looked up at him as she walked, holding her hands behind the small of her back. “What kind? Can I help?”
“Just need to take some measurements and compare options. Right… Speaking of which.” He turned around and cupped his palms around his mouth. “Hey Shar! Get over here, I need your help!”
The addressed Malkrin perked up, snapping out of the small haze of admiring her new shield and happily making her way toward him. She stood at attention, her tail oscillating side to side. “What n—d do you have of me?”
“Just a quick task,” he briefed her, grabbing some measuring tape from his desk… that Tracy had decided was her new chair. He sighed and turned his attention back to the paladin. “Can I bother you to lean down for a few seconds while I take some measurements?”
“Of course. Pl—se, take your time.” She stepped forward and kneeled, her head brought down to his height. Her face wore that simple content look he was growing all too accustomed to by now—slightly vibrating frills, a little curl upward of her lips, and warmly glowing eyes.
He wasted no time getting to work, noting down the various distances around her jaws, snout, eyes, and ears, already piecing together how he could cobble together some gas mask designs to fit the dimensions. She sat there quietly, sometimes leaning into the accidental head scratches adorably. It contrasted heavily with the cold-sweat-inducing layers of razor-sharp teeth within her muzzle as he measured the angle her maw opened at, bringing an idle curiosity prodded his mind.
“Say, Shar, do your teeth grow back if they fall out?” he poked, absently observing the dozens of triangular bone protrusions in her mouth as he held the underside of her jaw.
“They do,” she confirmed, the way she was able to speak despite not moving her mouth still messing with his head. “Do y—rs not?”
“Nope. Only once.”
She attempted to tilt her head, but quickly returned it when it left the embrace of his palm. “Only once?”
He nodded. “Yeah, sometime a few years after birth. They’re replaced with the teeth I have now. Don’t get any new ones, so we gotta take care of ‘em.”
“Birth?” The Malkrin’s eyes widened. “You were not cr—ted as you are now?”
A shock of stress poured down his spine like a bucket of ice water, raising the hairs on his back. Fuck. How did he let that slip? He was supposed to have just appeared from the sky to her, right…? He was doing so well for so long in keeping that in. God, had he really gotten so comfortable with the paladin that he simply forgot what he was to her? His teeth clenched, a huff of air escaping his nostrils as he lightly shook his head. It was a bit too late to backtrack. It could be explained vaguely and brushed off, right?
“Yeah. I was born,” he affirmed flatly. His hand dropped away from Shar’s muzzle, her head falling an inch or two before she registered that she couldn’t keep leaning into his touch. “That’s it for measurements, so you’re free to leave.”
A frown carved through her small smile. “I… See… F—give me if I have brought up someth—g improper.”
His exhalation burned through his frustration at himself, his hand running through his hair to wash away the spike of anxiety. “You’re fine. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Th-Then I shall take my leave,” the massive alien stated softly.
He nodded, feeling a little regretful for pushing the kindhearted Malkrin away as he shuffled back to his desk. Tracy was still sitting atop it, giving him a disappointed reaction with low brows, forcing a pointed reaction from him. “What?”
The technician took a long inhale before shrugging. “Nothin’.”
“…Alright.”
The rolling chair squeaked lightly as he rested himself, his hands already going through the motions of opening the computer and the blueprint folders. There were plenty of tabs open of sensors and motor assemblies he hadn’t closed from the previous night. That wasn’t even mentioning the pile of notes he had on proper radio-protective methods, their corners bent from his frequent flipping through them.
“Soooo…” The short black-haired woman leaned forward from her perch atop the only clear part of his desk. “Can I help you with your ‘comparing options’ work, mister busyman?”
“Sure…” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, raising a brow. “How much do you know about armor?”
- - - - -
“No way. The back support is a must, so you can have extra plating over your shoulders and chest.” Tracy pointed out from her seat beside Harrison’s, all but forcing him to pause his Malkrin gas mask designing to give her argument his full attention.
He calmly took his hands off the mouse and keyboard. “A back support needs leg assistants, which means I’ll need to have at least a fifteen pound battery pack somewhere. Those kinds of exosuits are either all in or not at all. You can go full armor and engine, or lightweight protection and simple limb support.”
“So you’re just gonna go out there with normal armor? Just run-of-the-mill plates and gear? Those fucking things would go through that shit like butter! I know we can’t make synthetic muscle yet, but at least consider wearing something a bit more. Please. Even Sharky has heavy armor!”
Harrison pinched the bridge of his nose, his brows furrowed. “Do I look like a several-hundred kilogram monster of pure muscle to you? I’m more than willing to put on a few extra kilos for protection, but I’m trying to weigh the pros and cons of putting on more armor rather than more equipment. I’d rather fifty pounds of magazines and ammo than fifty pounds of armor. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah yeah… You and your storage space…” she mumbled, swiping through a few more images on her data pad when a familiar Mars-pattern suit showed up, catching his eye.
“Hey, wait, pull that one up…”
She rotated the tablet for him to see a little better—despite already being shoulder-to-shoulder with him. “This one? What’s so special about it?”
He analyzed the few pieces of equipment on screen, noting the rusty-orange and tan color scheme, the old Martian-American flag attached to its breastplate, and the iconic quad-nod integrated helmet. “Holy shit,” he whispered. “That’s… We have that in our blueprints?”
She raised a brow, clearly confused. “Whaddya mean?”
“That’s an Orbital Drop Ranger’s standard kit,” he stated slowly, a simmering sense of awe bubbling up—why the hell was it in their blueprints folder? “It was used during the Sino-Venusian incursion of southern Mars. It still has the Old Earth American flag embedded into it, so you know it’s pre twenty-two-hundred C.E.”
“Oh shit… Pre-St.Loual’s construction? This is ancient, then, huh? Would it be any good?” She leaned in closer to him, eying the tablet further.
“Does it have the assembly view of the armored pieces?”
“Mmhmm.” She tapped a few icons, showing an isometric, exploded view of all the parts and their individual components.
It was a piece of history alright. The armor was produced just about the time when Mars was connecting their orbital stations and ground colonies to work in tandem, allowing for specialized forces to be trained in space and launched anywhere across the planet from drop pods in mere minutes, leading to common nickname of ‘Minutemen’ given to the troopers. The suits were expertly designed to withstand the harsh environments of Mars and give the soldiers the ability to engage with enemy combatants for several days before extraction, though the adept units usually completed their objectives within twenty-four hours of their landing.
The helmet was very angular and blended in with the expected rocky terrain of Mars, each component taking on a sloped frontal design with rectangular prisms flowing behind—radio, breathing apparatus, and vision modules all sharing a sleek, yet bulky look in their own right. It reminded him of some in-atmosphere ships, with the overhanging visor above the quad-nod viewport being the only non-aerodynamic pieces.
The chest and legs were a bit different, following the design of late twenty-second-century operators with tan lightweight rigs, and ammunition pouches alongside armored plates that ran from the shoulders to wrists in segments. There was a rusty-orange undersuit beneath it all for the purpose of keeping air in, which required some sturdy polymer structures to ensure it didn’t rip. Then, of course, there were the classic shock-absorbing leg supports. They weren’t too far off what Tracy was asking about earlier, but these ones didn’t provide any assistance in moving with any motors—just straight-up structural reinforcements.
Hell, the blueprints on screen even had the mag-grip gloves used to scale domes, buildings, and satellites alike. There was no doubt that the Orbital Drop Rangers had some of the coolest equipment on Mars, especially considering that it was the last to keep the ‘operator’ look… It was such a shame the government decided the orb-like helmets and rounded bubble armors were more effective.
“Hey, you know what?” he asked the technician, a shot of excitement in his voice. “This might actually work out as a suitable armor replacement.”
She perked up, her brows raised. “Oh? Actually?”
He shrugged, trying to play off the smirk plastered on his face. “Wouldn’t need a horrible amount of changes to work for our purposes. Just need to remove the oxygen converter on the back and put a gas mask replacement in the front portion of the helmet. Plus, we could probably get rid of the airtight aspect and just keep the undersuit for scratch protection. And, most importantly, it’s radio-protective.”
“Meets all your criteria, then?” She tapped through some UI interfaces, sending the armor assembly to Harrison’s monitor, which he accepted quickly.
“Sure does.” He readily clicked through the different parts and systems to differentiate what needed to be kept. “We have the resources for it, and all it needs is a layer of cadmium plus a few replacements. Definitely doesn’t need the heads-up display since there’s nothing for it to interact with either, so that’ll save on print time and materials too. Shame I cut up the beard… the Orbital Drop Rangers were allowed to have some cool ones.”
The tradeswoman scooted in even closer, practically resting her chin on his shoulder and watching him sift through the working parts. “Yeah, rest in peace, beard. Still, your armor situation is solved. What about the Malkrin?”
“I’ll be working on their gas masks, then I was thinking I’d use another one of your modeled armors for their protection since they’ve helped Shar a hell of a lot. Do you have any recommendations?”
“Mmmmm…” She looked up in thought, a smile forming along her cheeks. “You know, until we can make them any real power armor, I was thinking just some regular phobos-pattern armor. Could color ‘em based on their skin too.”
“Phobos-pattern armor?” he hummed to himself, clicking through the folder to find it. It was just as bulky as Shar’s armor, except it appeared a good bit smoother, with more rounded edges compared to her horns-and-spike-lined gauntlets and pauldrons. The blue suit Tracy was proposing didn’t have the four-armed protection compared to the chaos version, but it certainly had the same thickness of its metal plates. “Looks like it’d work pretty well. Does it have any electric components or anything?”
“No…” she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Not so good with designing that stuff in the modeling program I did the WarHarberd stuff in. Could add in more sophisticated leg support or whatever if you gave me time, but for now it’s just maneuverable slabs of alloy.”
“I think that’s all we need for the time being.” He shrugged. “I just don’t want the others to be vulnerable to getting cut up by the little spider-crab grunts.”
“As long as it works for what we need, then.” Her elbow poked into his arm. “Here, how about I take care of that armor stuff while you finish up the gas masks? They need the extra arm slots too, yeah?”
“I’d actually appreciate that a lot.” He offered her a back-palm fist bump, to which she eagerly took, taking on a grin that he mirrored. “Thanks, Trace.”
“Don’t mention it. I wish work was always just doing my hobbies like this.”
\= = = = =
A grand pylon of metal construction taller than the mightiest female’s frills stood atop the beach. Blue-scaled surfaces extended near the foot of the tower, gathering the power of the sun itself. The lattice layering upon their sides hid the weaving wires and Goddess-blessed machinery. A staff the same as Shar’khee’s peeked from its top, the glass eye on its side given a wide view of the sandy environment it resided on, the defense it now provided becoming absolute. The aura it exuded as a creature of pure metal was awe-inspiring, its mere presence a showing of Harrison’s might and domain.
No abhorrent would dare step foot upon the meadow’s rolling hills, for such a mistake would ensure their immediate execution for encroaching upon his settlement—the ‘fifty-cal-e-bur’ bullet is not one to rend any beast with only simple injuries, especially with three hundred of them available at once.
The maroon-skinned paladin treaded up the hill, having completed her task of setting up the last turret. The craftsman, the juvenile, and the lumberjack had also assisted with its setup, pulling their weight in both mind and muscles to piece the components together. They completed a few others around the modules already, but this one was done without the star-sents’ oversight. The four Malkrin had practiced and learned enough to be entrusted with such.
The idea of Harrison having enough confidence in them sparked much conviction in the group, each of them more than eager to prove him right—none more so than Shar’khee herself, of course.
She finally returned to the workshop, the sun’s last rays pressing into the back of her head and frills as she crouched beneath the doorway, a small gnawing hunger for dinner digging within her stomach. The cacophony of machines soon reached her ears, the sounds of their efforts almost working in tandem with the strange melodic music playing from an unseen source above her.
Tracy was in her corner, working on new beings of metal as always. The bright lights above were turned off in favor of smaller, warmer emplacements atop her surrounding circle of desks. A hard worker, that star-sent was, though both of them were like that, the paladin supposed. Their kind was certainly intent on keeping their hands busy.
Shar’khee passed through the snakes of machines, finding her way to Harrison’s desk with an increasingly strong sway in her tail. He was working with a black object with light gray accents. It appeared to be partially flexible, yet firm in other places—notably, a large glass fixture on one side of it. There was very little she could make out about its purpose, but with the delicate touches he applied, it appeared to be quite important.
Her tongue clicked twice, garnering the attention of the Creator. He paused his work, swiveling his chair to face her and revealing a long blue-leaf jutting from his mouth. Her male appeared quite tired, but his voice did not show it.
“Oh, Shar, what’s up? Did y’all need any help with the last turret?”
She shook her head. “We do not n—d such, for it is completed. Would you care to join me for din—r? The rest of the settlem—t is enjoying their meals as of now. ”
He raised his brows before looking back at the myriad of notes, tools, and materials atop his cluttered desk. “Well, I’m kinda busy, but…” His jaw rolled around in contemplation. “Here. Let’s just test this thing real quick.”
Her head tilted. “What sh—l we be testing?”
“Your gas mask… er, well, a Malkrin gas mask. Kneel down real quick, I’ll run ya through putting it on.” He stepped off his chair and grabbed the equipment, uncomfortably rotating his shoulders. How long was he sitting on that chair? The male approached her and she did as requested. “I had the sewist help me with some of the design. Never considered you guys would ever wear hats.”
She nodded. “It is unh—lthy for one to have their frills touched by the sun for so long. Adequate shade is a must, and trees are not so p—valent along farm land.”
“Mmhmm. Shame this is just a mask… Alright, this might be a bit uncomfortable, but it’ll do the job.”
He stepped forward and slipped the black apparel onto her snout, pushing it over her face until it pressed against the sides of her head. A cool material rubbed against her skin, locking her into its embrace. It was encapsulating, surrounding her wholly.
Her breaths strengthened as she allowed the mask to cover her, a short shock of nervousness riding down her spine. She was only now registering how vulnerable she was, allowing him to possibly suffocate her… but she stayed put, keeping her four palms rested within her lap as he continued to apply the straps around her ears. She would allow it. She trusted him with her life. She would not falter.
The cords around the back of her head were tight, a few of which went along both sides of her frills, pushing up against their sides. He kept going, ensuring a ‘seal,’ but it was getting much too—
Pop.
A lightning bolt of pain rolled throughout the top of her head, sending her reeling. It stung for the briefest of moments, but its effects rebounded through her entire body, short sparks pulsing from its origin. She felt nothing but its agonizing hold for several more moments as the rest of her body caught up.
When her eyes opened once more, she found herself on the floor and staring at the ceiling. The star-sent rushed to her side, appearing to ask many questions while looking over her head, but all she heard was a piercing ring and the gruff vocalization he made whenever he shared his intent. No words reached her mind, only the now faint phantom pains from where her frills met her skull. It put everything in a haze, her eyes barely settling on her dearest’s, despite how nauseous she had become.
His deft hands quickly worked to loosen the straps, practically ripping them off until his voice suddenly reached her, like breaching the surface of the water. His voice was deep, attempting to be calculating, yet despite his calmly created stoic demeanor… she could feel his panic, his sheer worry almost flooding her senses through practiced medical queries. She slowly sat up on the floor, holding herself with two arms while the other pair quelled the kneeling male, assuring him that she was alright with their weight resting atop his shoulders.
“I am well, dearest Harrison. Do not fret for me. The straps were simply too tight.”
His anxious breaths barely slowed, narrowly allowing for his exclamation. “Too tight? Shar, you practically blacked out!”
“Too tight upon my frills, I mean. There was a pain there for a few moments, but it has passed,” she returned calmly, softly kneading his stiff shoulders with the joints of her digits.
He exhaled sharply, matching her gaze with regret in his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Shar. I should’ve known. I was just trying to see how…” He paused, resting his palm atop her forearm. “Nevermind. I just… Are you alright? Should I get you to the med bay for a quick scan?”
“I do not believe that to be necessary, no.”
His guard finally fell. “If… If you say so. Guess I have to redo the straps then. Definitely gotta make sure they’re not pressing on your frills like that.”
She smiled, appreciating his dedication. “Would you like my assistance?”
“As long as you don’t have anything else to do.” He shrugged, his shoulders barely moving upward against her massaging hands.
“There is no greater wish of mine than to be by your side,” she stated warmly.
He was frozen, the soft ministrations of his digits along her arm slowly stopping in contrast to the red flush growing from his cheeks to his ears. The crack of a smirk on his face finally with a short, heart-warming chuckle brought the statue back to life after a few moments. “You know… that’s probably the sweetest thing I’ve heard for years.”
Her brows raised in subtle surprise at his response. “It… was not intended to be such… However… you are more than welcome. You must understand by now that I am speaking only the truth.”
The two of them sat there in relative silence amongst the desks and machines; her half laying on the ground with her hands on his shoulder, and him on his knees by her side, a singular hand running up and down her comparatively large forearm. She felt… weak, in a way. A vibrating sensation rummaged through her stomach, attempting to pull her muscles and nerves astray.
It was warm, just like his palm, each motion of his hand sending lightning through her skin. The upward curl of her lips into her cheeks was suddenly an insurmountable force, incapable of being put down by a thousand females. There was a tear within her to either look away or… close the distance, and she suddenly found looking anywhere but his curious green eyes to be a waste of her time.
Her talons wrapped further around his shoulders and his back, ever so slightly bringing him into her embrace—
“A-HEM.” A voice cut the moment down to its knees. “The fuck happened here?” Tracy’s swift interjection caused the paladin to flinch backwards, allowing her to see that Harrison’s other hand had been hovering right beneath her snout. The female star-sent wore a furrowed brow and crossed arms, looking down at them. “I heard a crash and came over. Are you two alright?”
Harrison cleared his throat, ever-so-subtly scooting away from the paladin. “Uh, yeah. Shar fell because, um, I tied the gas mask a lil’ too tight.”
The artificer wore an expression that told of her disbelief. “She fell because of the gas mask?”
“It was something with her frills.” The male returned with a shrug, picking himself off the floor before offering the paladin a hand up.
She took it, despite not requiring it, and wiped off some loose dust from her pants. The three of them quickly returned to work soon after, with both her and the black-haired star-sent joining Harrison in his quest to produce the gas mask. She was much less… What did the Creator call it? Bubbly? Yes, that was it. She was much less bubbly than usual, sometimes sending a cold yet emotionless glare toward Shar’khee… Nevertheless, the two females offered input on the design and applied help where they could, eventually creating the final piece of equipment.
Tracy commented on its looks, apparently drawing inspiration from the Leviathan itself, as she believed it to be like that of a ‘Sea Dragon’s.’ The maw-covering portion held two cylindrical canisters on the adjacent sides, the bottom portion being capable of distention, so that the user’s mouth may open somewhat. Its motion created what the female star-sent believed to be ‘the coolest teeth design on a mask’ she’d ever seen with how the separation formed alternating triangles.
The monster-like appearance was furthered by her own frills and horns that peeked out from behind the mask. That was not even mentioning the see-through visor that formed a malicious glare of sharp brows. The paladin looked through a hand-held mirror, finding it difficult to disagree with the look. She could imagine the horror on a fisherwoman’s face as such a terrifying creature approached from the depths.
And yet, despite its nightmarish visage, it was apparel designed to save lives, not take them—much unlike the unassuming metal rods that spewed fire with a mere flick of a lever. Curious indeed. The star-sents were seemingly never out of surprises. They even spoke of grand robots and firearms larger than Shar’khee herself as possible future projects.
Only time could tell what machinations of alloy would be birthed from their hands.
- - - - -
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Next time on Total Drama Anomaly Island - Under The Milky Way

Hey fellow Quest'ers!
Looking for some lovely and (mostly beginner friendly) gaming recommendations that won't just drain your wallet dry? Look no further! 😎 With my referral links, you not only get to snag some awesome games for 25% off, but you also get to support a fellow gamer (that's me!) with a sweet store credit. It's like getting a virtual high-five along with your discounted game purchase. 🎮✨
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Ghost Giant

Beautiful game, where you help out a little guy with his problems. Nice graphics, very relaxed game, great puzzles & variety, sweet story. One of my favorite VR game so far.
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Richie’s Plank Experience

The quintessential VR experience imo. You - a wooden plank - high up at the edge of a skyscraper. That's it. Again, perfect for friends and family and always funny to see, how your body reacts to the illusion of height. Has additional game modes, which I have jet to try.
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BRINK Traveler

Travel to lovely locations around the world, enjoy a nice view and learn a few things. Perfect for beginners and to show of VR to your family & friends.
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Spacefolk City

Cute Citybuilder… in Spaaaace. Build in every direction (even upside down) and watch adorable tiny Aliens move into your floating city. Fulfill their needs and expand your city. Great funky Soundtrack too! Missions, Free Play and passthrough mode available.
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Traffic Jams

Very funny game with great cartoon graphics. Easy to pick up, simple controls and very obvious in terms of what you have to do, but turns (positively) hectic in no time. Be the traffic warden you never knew you wanted to be or let them all crash and enjoy the carnage. ;)
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Ragnarock / Ragnaröck

Viking, music, rhythm game. Use hammers on drums to cheer on your boat. Great Metal soundtrack (Wind Rose, Alestorm, Gloryhammer) with a variety of different styles. You can add custom tracks via two easy to use websites.
https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/Schmuddelfilm/3749621795127676/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral

Time Stall

Funny Sci-Fi game with the robot crew on a 'build for humans' space cruise ship and a slow motion mechanic to save the day. Good humor, creative ways to solve the puzzles and adorable little robots which need you to save them.
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Chaos Magus

Brand new game just released to the app lab as Early Access. Use magical elements to form weapons or spells and fight monsters. Waves of different enemies, with some boss monsters in between.
https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/Schmuddelfilm/6750192061692936/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=2&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral

Asgard's Wrath 2

If you want a AAA game for your Quest, then look no further: This is it! Great in scale, epic in length, lots to do. Already looks great, but a big graphic update is already on the horizon. Just the intro alone is just 'wow'!
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Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge

Quest exclusive Star Wars game! Primarily a shooting game, looks and sounds pretty good and gets you that Star Wars feeling we all crave.
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Henry Lippitt resigns as Opposition Leader in Parliament. This was the big news many expected him to contest the next Election against Prime Minister Blaine. But now the canadiates have all declared. Here who is running to take Blaine and his New Federalist on in the winter of 1881.
Ambrose Burnside- Rhode Island MP and former Governor General from the small Unity wing of the party which favors re unification with the Union while many New Englanders are against this he is considered a non starter but does have a reputation of being a War Hero due to his David vs Golitah victory in 1865 in the First New England War. He is also technically in favour of leaving the Commonwealth but thought re unification. All the other candidates are in favour of remaining in the union.
Hannibal Hamlin- Maine's Own and former Two Term Vice President of the Union and is credited with helping Abraham Lincoln and New England Comprimise after the first war and known for lobbying President Grant to give New England Independence. Considered by many to be a Centrist in Parliament.
Charles C Van Zandt- Also from the Moderate Wing and is Mainly focusing on Education. But considering Lippitt was from the Same State many have wrote off his Candidacy.
William B Washburn- also hails is considered a swing vote for Freedom and also campaigns with moving to the center. Hails from Massachusetts the most populous State in the Republic.He is in favour of reinstating Governors.
George Edmunds- Is from Vermont and was a main supporter in the Civil Service Reform, he has one of the best name recognition across the Country and is Considered a mainstream member of the Party.He is Against the reinstating of Governors.
So who will take the Crown? Will Washburn put the largest State on the Map? Will Burnside win and push foward with Reunification? Will Edmunds take the party in a more radical direction or will outsider Van Zandt pull Ahead. Maybe even the party will rally behind Hamlin and push his pre Republican Credentials though some will argue he is disabled as serving as a VP in a 'Foreign Land'.
View Poll

• following his first ever loss to Wardlow, Malakai disappears off TV. The announcers say how nobody has seen or talked to Black, his whereabouts are completely unknown. However, after a couple of weeks, vignettes start happening; they show Black in an undisclosed location, training in martial arts, reading old textbooks, getting healed with herbal medicine, all of it happening while multiple hooded figures are present, helping him. Black's vignettes speak of concepts of a House, and how an individual is stronger with a family around him. The vignettes go on for 6 weeks.
  
• at Revolution 2023, The Elite lose the Trios Titles to Blackpool Combat Club in the semi-main event. As The Club is celebrating, the lights go out, and then ominous music plays. Malakai Black is back, and he has 4 mysterious masked figures with him - The House of Black has arrived!! The House goes after both Elite and BCC, proceeding to destroy everyone. Bryan Danielson, BCC's unofficial leader, runs down to help his boys, but gets his head kicked off by Black. Danielson has an Iron Man Match next, and he's laid out. Black's group poses with the gold, before unmasking to reveal who they are and what they are to The House:
  

"House's Creator" Malakai Black
"House's King" Antoine Crowler (formerly known as Brody King)
"House's Gem" Ruby Waite (formerly known as Ruby Soho)
"House's Fallen Angel" Kahun (formerly known as Bishop Kaun)
"House's Predator" Laevey (formerly known as Toa Liona)

• The House starts terrorizing the Trios division, even managing to defeat Elite in a contendership match (after Black himself interferes), to get a shot at BCC. All the while, Black makes proclamations about how BCC will fall, and how they targeted them because BCC present themselves as a real family bound by the blood of others, when in reality they're a incohesive unit bound by individual loneliness. Crowler, Kahun and Laevey actually win the Trios Titles off of BCC, with Crowler pinning Moxley, after Black interferes once again. Tired of playing games, BCC challenge House of Black to a 4 vs 4 Blood and Guts match. After a brutal contest, House manage to win due to Ruby Waite's interference.
  
• with The House using their numbers game to the advantage constantly, BCC realize they need someone to even the odds a little bit. Therefore, the AEW Women's Champ Jamie Hayter joins the fight in order to combat, pun intended, Ruby. The big faction warfare rematch goes down at Double Or Nothing, in Anarchy in the Arena. BCC win after ganging up on Kahun, pinning him with a Ricola Bomb/Diving Knee Strike Combination. Following the loss, Black says that this war is far from over, so now he'll personally get involved. Black's mind games continue, with him anointing Danielson as BCC's leader during promos in order to alienate him from the group. Black then challenges Danielson to a Creator's Rules match - three part match where you need to pin your opponent, make him bleed, then either tap or knock him out. In the main event of Dynamite in early July, Black gets the first two wins easily. Danielson makes a comeback, rolling up Black for the pin (becoming only the second person ever to do so), and then busting him up with elbow strikes. Finally, Black makes Danielson pass out with a Black Lotus Lock, Dragon never submitting though. Afterwards, Black grabs a steel chair, attempting to use it on Danielson, but Moxley runs him off.
  
• Moxley then shifts his focus to Black, challenging him to All In, in their first match ever. Moxley surprisingly wins clean, becoming the third man to defeat Black one on one. Moxley hits a Butterfly Superplex, beautifully transitioned into a pair of Death Riders for the win. The loss intensifies Black's studying, training and healing, before he challenges Moxley to a rematch at All Out. During the final moments of the match, Black hits a Black Mass, but Moxley bounces off the ropes Nigel-style... INTO ANOTHER BLACK MASS!! Black wins the second match, we're tied. Due to both men needing to hit their finisher twice, a stipulation is added to the final match at WrestleDream, where Moxley can't use Death Rider and Black can't use Black Mass. By the way, the match is also a Seattle Street Fight!! Naturally, both men steal each other's finishers in an attempt to win, mixing it with weaponry and brutality in the middle. Black finally manages to win after a Blood Moon Stomp through a thumbtack-filled table, immediately followed with a Black Lotus Lock for the submission knockout win.
  
• after a win over Danielson and two wins over Moxley, Black says it's finally time to complete his destiny, to do what he couldn't do last year - win the World Title. Black disappears off TV to do his hardest and most strenuous training yet, but he sends the rest of his House to keep an eye on the champion MJF. The House strikes a deal with Bullet Club Gold - House will help Jay win the World Title, and BCG will help The House win the ROH Tag Titles off of MJF. Then, Black and Jay can have a "gentlemanly" match for the World Title. The plan works partially; Gates of Agony do manage to snatch the ROH Tag Belts off MJF in the opening match of Full Gear due to Gunns interfering, but Jay loses to MJF after Adam Cole, Roderick Strong and Kingdom fend the heels off. Malakai reappears at the end of the show, applauding MJF from the stands.
  
• MJF vs Black is set for World's End, big title defense. Black plays his mind games with Max, saying how he used to be someone who didn't trust anyone, and now he trusts everyone who gets even a bit close. The House retain their Trios Titles over Roddy and Kingdom in the buildup, but lose an 8 Man Tag Match to Max and his friends. During the title match, Max becomes the first person in 2.5 years to kick out of Black Mass, which gets a big pop and bewilders Black. MJF makes a comeback, then asks Cole to give him the Dynamite Diamond Ring to finish Malakai off. Cole does, but since he was taking so long, Malakai regroups and clocks Max with a devastating Black Mass. One Black Lotus Lock submission later and it's over - Malakai Black is your new AEW World Champion!! Post match, the whole Devil turn happens, proving that Malakai's mind games remain undefeated again. AEW has just been ushered in to an era of evil and darkness...
  

The Universe in its INFINITE wisom felt it was necessary to connect us, bring us together - despite the oceans and literal miles between where we started. Brought us together and let us have the most incredible chemistry/connection.
You liked my nose.
Drawn to one another like moths to fire. Spending time with and communicating you only solidified how intensely I felt. You were kindred. From your words and actions I presumed you felt it, too. And then just as abruptly as you came into my life, you were gone.
Taking everything with you. Leaving me with a gaping hole in my chest where my fragile heart once was.
It was ALL your choice. Without warning or explanation for you to cease all communication, block me, and make yourself unreachable. Leaving me abandoned, confused, hurting and alone.
To not only process what I may have possibly done to have created the most epic catastrophe - resulting in this near fatal affliction I currently am suffering through.
You see, you'd been granted access to parts of me so well hidden, and guarded for so long, I didn't even know they existed any more... This access you were granted was the masterkey - and I think you knew it. Taking full advantage. Picking my heart up, lifting it so high - making it so full... to toss it up knowing full well you had no intention of catching it again on the way back down. Letting it hit the ground, to shatter into unrecognizable pieces. Even if by some chance they could be reassembled, they can never be quite the same, never quite as whole as they once were.
And this Sweetness, This is the note I composed after I realized I could no longer call you or text you. When it was all excruciatingly fresh - because I didn't know or understand anything...and I stupidly was concerned about how you were feeling... believing you had to be hurting, too.
Darling,
Was this all a creation of my imagination and entirely one sided? I do not think I could have been so off in all that. We were both saying we missed each other so much it hurt. Now without you feels like my entire chest was torn apart, the ache so strong.
I am having a really hard time untangling you, and the ideas of you from my feelings and my mind. I think even if I do, manage to separate them, I'm always going to keep a part of your memory, of us, tucked away for the rest of my life. Because I know if this was not real, it wouldn't hurt so badly.
Yet here we are...can I say I still don't understand what I've done for you to have blocked me? If I knew I could apologize. I don't even know whether or not you will get this message...
I can hope, though.
On the off chance it does, could you please, please hear me out?
I'm going to do my very best to hold it together right now and not to cry so much that you'll not understand any of it...
And I promise as hard as this is I'll respect your decision to end things, if that is still what you ultimately want.
I don't, I never did, and I guess now that you took that choice away from me, I responded accordingly.
I mean I've never been blocked before. And I don't know if you ever have been on the receiving end, but it really sucks...
Even now, it's doing still doing so much shit to my head and has been since I figured out that blocking me is what you'd done.
Yeah, at first I was upset and angry, confused, and now, now I am left here grieving the loss of you, like you've died, only its so much worse because my brain knows you're still out there. And I still want you. And my fear is I'll always want you.
It's so overwhelming - this sadness, the frustration, and despair, and there's just so much loneliness... all amplified by my feelings of rejection, and self-doubt about everything.
All of which is leading my brain to treating these emotions - this emotional pain I'm feeling right now differently than it does my physical pain...I can't remember the last time anything hurt this badly... it feels like it's killing me. I guess now I really get why some people are said to have died of a broken heart... I'd truly rather break my bones again than feel like I do now, like this!
My heart shattered and I have been struggling with my overthinking on everything... replaying and analyzing every text, each conversation, basically all we have had since the very beginning that could have led us to this point.
Trying to pickup the broken bits and pieces to make it make sense. And I don't mean to be obtuse, yet still I'm coming up empty for making it make sense.
I really had thought... with you I was safe...
And you so wonderfully kept reassuring me, telling me not to stress - because you liked me, that you missed me, you cared.
So I let myself trust, trust you, in you, believing we were on the same page in this...
I read it all so wrong?
Or was it that it changed and I missed the signs?
Was it something I said or I did? Something that I didn’t do and should have? Was it all the videos? Or was it me, was I simply too much? Not enough?
I don't even know.
I have only ever wanted you to feel as special as you made me feel.
And being completely cut off without any warning left me blindsided, hurting, and with so many unanswered questions.
I guess now I'm here pleading with you, could you please let me know what went wrong? Could you help me understand the reasons?
Maybe if we'd agrued or you'd told me your mind had changed I'd have something to go on, but even still I'd have wanted to fix it.
Can you please not shut me out entirely? I don't think I'm deserving of that. I'm not so hateful of a person that you can hope to never have to speak with me again, right?!
Maybe?
Since I am already saying things now, without having to worry too much about how you'll take it, or if I'm scared because it's too soon or maybe even not reciprocated (that was the worst fear I had, and I guess its already sorta come true...) I'll just say it... because life is too short for regrets.
I Fell For You
I love you
I think I have since our conversation about Giraffes...
And I'm sorry, so very sorry things weren't different and that eventually loving me back wasn't what you must have wanted.
I mean, if could know what I did to make it change I would, I'd go back and do it better. You have no idea how much I would take it back/and fix this.

I've seen a big sentiment of people going "lmao they just added more rng and gold sinks...this is trash and doesn't fix anything...T4 is a mistake!" and to me it seems like these people don't realize that not all RNG and progression is created equal and there are good ways and bad ways to implement RNG and progression and what they showed with T4 so far looks very promising and does indeed fix a lot of things. I am not saying the new systems are perfect and they completely fixed Lost Ark...there are still some big L's in the new system which I will get to aswell but I wanna try and make a somewhat unbiased showcase of what changes these new systems will actually bring and why it is better than what we currently have.
Honing:
Let's start with one of the big L's that they didn't really fix. Honing has always been an annoying system where the gap of progression between lucky and unlucky people was too big and considering it is mandatory to do to access new content it felt like the most painful system since it is always the number 1 thing you are forced to focus on in terms of progression whereas the power increase for all the investement is very little.
They now introduced an improved honing system with Echidna that is far better and had the chance for T4 to make it the standard system and instead it seems like both systems will exist in parallel which is definitely sad.
If you wanna hear my cope take for honing: The big problem for the old honing usually only starts at the higher levels where honing chances go down to 5% and below. Beforehand honing usually goes relatively fast and the gap between lucky and unlucky isn't that bad yet. If they increase the amount of ilvl that is available through Echidna honing in T4 there is potential that you only need to go up to +16 to +18 with old honing and can then solely engage with Echidna honing for ilvl progression and accessing new content and the remaining 20-30 ilvl from old honing system is just there for whales that wanna flex and don't have to be used by normal players.
Books:
Lets go from the biggest L to the biggest W when it comes to progression systems. Atm books are a mandatory system for engravings that are completely useless until you reach 20/20 legendary books creating a massive paywall especially for new players but also alt enjoyers. You can also only use books for 2 out of 5 engravings and the other 3 have to be bought again for each new character through stones and accessory.
With the new system you now get a massive free baseline (I use Grudge as example since we have pictures of that) of 15% from blue and purple books (since you get tons of those from events etc. and they will always be cheap on the AH). And then you get slow 0.75% increments of power for each 5 extra legendary and relic books you buy. This means new players will instantly have access to a decent amount of the power and then have a slow and steady progression instead of having to face a giant paywall for all 20 books at once.
The books now also apply to ALL 5 engravings meaning they turned engravings as a whole into a ROSTERWIDE RNG FREE SYSTEM where the investement on your main also benefits all your alts making alts much cheaper aswell as balance updates hurting way less if your class suddenly gets a new build.
Obviously in the short term it is a new gold sink with relic books and lego books you dont have yet but the gold you spent into this system has 0 RNG involved and it will benefit every single character you will ever create which to me makes it probably the best progression system they have in the game.
Stones:
Atm stones are a mandatory system for your engravings that can be a massive gold and pheon sink depending on RNG since you are forced to get a 7/7 and anything below is useless on each new char which sucks for new and old players.
With the new system suddenly a 7/0 stones is also totally usable for new players and alts since the difference between 7/7 and 7/0 is only 3% dmg which nobody will ever gatekeep you for.
Yes obviously once you start maximizing your chars you wanna go for 7/7 stones again and the RNG of the whole system is the same as before but the big difference is that you aren't forced into doing it anymore to just make your char playable with engravings. It is now a minor dmg increase that you can come back to at any time once you have the ressources for it.
Accessories:
Everyone seems to be worried that you now have 5 new bracelets to roll and everything got worse than before but if you think about it current accessories are much worse RNG. You have base stats, quality and engravings on them and only a single shot per accessory to get a useful roll and it is again very binary where it is either completely useless or extremely good. With the new system you have multiple chances and the progression is much more linear where you can go for small dmg increases first and only once you maxed out other systems come back to improve your dmg with them.
Also the biggest change in this system compared to bracelets is that you can roll and then still sell AFTER the rolls. This means if you don't like the RNG part of this new system you can completely ignore it and buy finished accessories on the market for fixed prices.
This makes the system identical to its current form of just buying the right ones for you on the market with the difference that you now have options and can choose how much you wanna invest depending on how much power you want/how much gold you have to spare. It's again an amazing system for alts and new players who will be MUCH cheaper than before and even for your main it is a nice RNG free (unless you choose otherwise) gold sink system with more freedom compared to before.
And for anyone arguing "you are actually forced into upgrading all these systems instantly cuz of gatekeep"...no you won't. I feel like people overestimate the amount of effort people go into when it comes to gatekeeping. The order of operations for most people when it comes to gatekeeping goes: Roster Level -> Title(if asked for) -> Class(depends on the person of course) -> Ilvl -> Transendence+Elixir -> Engravings -> Gems And if there are no red flags along this path they will most likely accept. Nobody checks stuff like quality, bracelets etc. and people won't start with it here by going over every single accessory or whether someones Grudge deals 1.5% more dmg etc. And the few people that are cringe enough to go to these lengths in gatekeeping you don't wanna be in the party anyways.
Now overall all these changes give two big things: Flexibility and very cheap baseline power levels. The cheap baseline is absolutely amazing for new players who can instantly get their main and alts going without having to spend hundreds of thousands of gold on these system just to get a playable char in terms of engravings. It is also amazing for vets when it comes to trying out new alts because you don't have to wait and commit to a class with each new Express pass and instead can create a functional good alt for almost no gold and try them out in T3 raids before deciding whether or not you wanna commit to them. Your build is now much more flexible than before since you can easily swap out engravings for others and at worst loose 3-6% dmg and in most cases since books are rosterwide you loose no dmg at all. This can allow you to experiment with new builds, adjust to balance patches more easily, have PvP builds, swap between both Class engravings of your class without any extra cost and so on.
Now one limiting factor of this flexibility that I haven't adressed yet and is my 2nd L of these new systems is gems.
Gems:
When you change around engravings you often also change around abilites which means you also have to change Gems in a lot of cases but it is not realistic to just have spare high lvl gems laying around for each ability but you also can't reroll with silver everytime you change around your build. I think one change they should have introduced here is that instead of getting gems like in T3 currently you unlock a gem slot of the respective level and can then apply this gem slot to any skill and change the skill around whenever you want. If you wanna be extra nice make the gem slots rosterwide progression but that would probably be too much hopium to ever happen. But in general if they somehow make gems changeable in an easy way so you can easily switch builds it would just really compliment all the other changes they seemingly made with the goal for more flexibility.
Now the whole Lvl 10 -> Lvl 8 gems for T4 I don't think is that problematic. Gems have always been an extremely solid RNG free progression system (if we exclude the Lvl 10 dmg vs CDR roll) that people don't mind investing gold into and since in Korea the system is just maxed out for a lot of players raising the ceiling is just a nice way to give these players a way to invest into this system again. For an average player in the west not much changed by them raising the ceiling of gems...you won't suddenly get gatekept because your gems are Lvl 6-8 again because guess what...everyone around you also only has Lvl 6-8 gems and very few people will instantly go back to 10 again. The same way how a year ago nobody expected you to have Lvl 10 gems in the West nobody will expect gems above Lvl 6-8 in T4 for a long time.
Transendence/Elixirs:
Those 2 systems are obviously not ideal considering how massive the power increase is for them which forces players to engage and finish them asap if they dont wanna get gatekept. I don't think just removing them in T4 would solve the problem since it would first of all just create massive short term problems of these systems being obsolete very soon while being massive powerspikes right now and since so much power is tied to them you would have to just introduce a new system that compensates for the power loss in T4 so your char isn't suddenly weaker than before so instead of hating the current Transendence/Elixir system people would hate on the new system in T4 instead.
Still the good part about these systems is that they have a clear finish point at which you are done with them and don't have to engage in them anymore and by reducing the cost and time to get there by 50% they still did quite a big improvement on those 2 systems.
Quality taps:
Only got a small change by introducing a pity system to it which is obviously a great addition to make it so even unsuccessful taps give you some form of progress in the form of pity meter. I don't think this is a problematic RNG system because getting to a solid 70-80 quality baseline is very easy and nobody will ever gatekeep you for lack of quality on your pieces so tapping above 80 is mostly something you do at your own pace whenever you got some spare gold and not something you are forced to do.
Bracelets:
Probably the worst RNG system in the game but the good thing is that you don't really have to engage with it all the much if you dont want to. Its fairly easy to get a 6-7% dmg bracelet and nobody will ever gatekeep you for not having a 10+% bracelet. The reason why people invest so much into bracelets is mostly personal pride of wanting to have a god bracelet on your main but realistically if you dislike this system you loose at best 3-4% dmg from not going all out on it.
It's hard to say how big the changes are for the T4 bracelets...perhaps with the new options it's much easier to get good bracelets compared to before and the preview of being able to choose if you want the old or new values will definitely help too. But this system probably is still not gonna be that great but it's arguably an improvement to the current version.
So as a summary when it comes to the changes of RNG and gold sinks for T4 here nothing got worse compared to before and a lot of things just got a lot better by making the RNG cheaper or less mandatory in a lot of places while making the progression of systems much more linear compared to being a binary perfect/useless that it is right now while also giving new players and alts very cheap baseline powers in a lot of these systems.
Massive buffs:

• Books
• Stones
• Accessories

Small/Medium buffs:

• Transendence
• Elixirs
• Quality Taps
• Bracelets

Just as bad as before:

• Honing
• Gems

Ok, so this idea has been bonking around in my head for awhile and I thought I'd ask if it's possible or been discussed before?
At the end of s1, Crowley says the next one (war) will be us vs them, but they'll have a couple years before that happens. Then s2 he's annoyed at Aziraphale for helping Gabriel for a variety of obvious reasons, but refers to the fragile existence they've carved out, etc ....
My big thought is: wouldn't they have planned for the contingency of the war of heaven/hell vs earth since it was pretty inevitable and they obviously felt so strongly about protecting the humans/Earth? And Crowley is recognizing Gabriel's situation as the catalyst and foresees their happy times on earth coming to an end.
If so, it would change their motivations in the ending of s2. All the stuff that is frequently discussed about their emotions and miscommunication still stands, but what if Aziraphale comes back from his talk with the Metatron and is actually trying to say, 'well it's time to enact the plan we made for this scenario; they are ready for the next war!'
But Crowley is saying, 'screw it, let's just go off and be happy and not do our plan and not worry about all this'
And then the nothing lasts forever, no nightingales, and all the sadness, but because they both know they might have to sacrifice what they have.
And then Crowley hangs by the car to say, 'yeah yeah, don't worry, I've got your back, we'll do the plan.' I imagine him frustratedly rolling his eyes.
But it's all such a huge thing, and they do love each other and are just realizing how deep that goes, so everything is emotionally charged and all the feelings are getting felt.
Does this makes any sense? There is so much unseen in those last scenes, so I'm usually just willing to wait (very impatiently) to see what's going to happen, but I guess I just wanted to see what other people thought about this idea. It might be totally silly.
Cheers everyone! ❤️❤️❤️. Edited for typos.

What if ... we get exclusive characters for every consoles/platforms? I got this idea from Rocket League that have exclusive cars for PS4, Xbox One and Switch. I think is good for 3rd parties characters slot.
Playstation can get characters like Aloy (or those Machine), Drake, Joel and Ellie or just AstroBoy.
Xbox get Master Chief and Marcus Fenix from Gears of War.
Switch; anything from Castlevenia, Harvest Moon or something that's not Nintendo IP.
For PC, if the players play on Steam, I want Scout from TF2, Axe from Dota, Diablo/Leeroy Jenkins, GlaDOS and Doomguy. If the the players linked the account with Epic, they can got Peely from Fortnite and Beans from Fall Guys