Okay folks this is my story of being medicated as young as 13 and the huge benefits it gave me to fight Hashimoto’s (little fucker that reeks chaos and havoc for no bloody reason other than it feels like it).
KEEP IN MIND THST THIS IS MY PERSONAL Experience AND HOW IT AFFECTED MY THOUGHTS ON MEDICATING MY OWN DAUGHTER COME December. (Sorry for caps but it helps drive home a point many miss).
Diagnosed at 13 via biopsy due to the fact that being hyper and hypo with its fluctuating causing many tests to lie, be contradictory or inconclusive. It also confirmed I had Hashimoto’s, thank you family history for this, and not Graves. But because of this while being hyper and hypo with its annoying attitude my thyroid was so severely damaged that it was estimated to only last to my mid twenties. Endocrinologist was so not having that and rejected surgery due to age and being in puberty.
Opted to start with medication, Synthyroid, and go from there. Fortunately for me medication was the best treatment option and surgery was thrown out as a treatment option. My biggest problem with my diagnosis was most doctors believed I was misdiagnosed Hashimoto’s instead of Graves until they read the 3 page cliff note version of the 20 pages of notes taken by first endocrinologist. Turns out being both hyper and hypo was so uncommon at the time that none of my endocrinologist, including new recent one, could even fantom it being possible. Hell my old endocrinologist 21 years ago attended the same conference as my college one, listened to her present my case, then hunted her down for more information due to his curiosity.
I ended up the last week of college receiving a call from his office to set up a consultation that lead to him taking me on even though his portion of his practice wasn’t accepting new patients.
Long journey story short….i believe and whole hearty feel that if I wasn’t medicated that early I would have a totally different and more rough of a journey dealing with this fucker Hashimoto’s. I even told my daughter’s pediatric endocrinologist how I believe medicating before she turns 18 would be more beneficial than anything based on my experiences. Thankfully my old endocrinologist, with my permission, sent a copy of the notes that have been passed from endocrinologist to endocrinologist as I move throughout my life to help them understand where things began, the struggles, notes on how I literally process changes, and just an overview of my whole diagnosis.
Two days after my 46th birthday I was told that despite all the efforts to sustain its life….my thyroid finally gave up and died.
So to end this, and go for biting you want to downvote me because this post is for those who need it not the ones who just like to be mean because they don’t understand.

Okay folks this is my story of being medicated as young as 13 and the huge benefits it gave me to fight Hashimoto’s (little fucker that reeks chaos and havoc for no bloody reason other than it feels like it).
KEEP IN MIND THST THIS IS MY PERSONAL Experience AND HOW IT AFFECTED MY THOUGHTS ON MEDICATING MY OWN DAUGHTER COME December. (Sorry for caps but it helps drive home a point many miss).
Diagnosed at 13 via biopsy due to the fact that being hyper and hypo with its fluctuating causing many tests to lie, be contradictory or inconclusive. It also confirmed I had Hashimoto’s, thank you family history for this, and not Graves. But because of this while being hyper and hypo with its annoying attitude my thyroid was so severely damaged that it was estimated to only last to my mid twenties. Endocrinologist was so not having that and rejected surgery due to age and being in puberty.
Opted to start with medication, Synthyroid, and go from there. Fortunately for me medication was the best treatment option and surgery was thrown out as a treatment option. My biggest problem with my diagnosis was most doctors believed I was misdiagnosed Hashimoto’s instead of Graves until they read the 3 page cliff note version of the 20 pages of notes taken by first endocrinologist. Turns out being both hyper and hypo was so uncommon at the time that none of my endocrinologist, including new recent one, could even fantom it being possible. Hell my old endocrinologist 21 years ago attended the same conference as my college one, listened to her present my case, then hunted her down for more information due to his curiosity.
I ended up the last week of college receiving a call from his office to set up a consultation that lead to him taking me on even though his portion of his practice wasn’t accepting new patients.
Long journey story short….i believe and whole hearty feel that if I wasn’t medicated that early I would have a totally different and more rough of a journey dealing with this fucker Hashimoto’s. I even told my daughter’s pediatric endocrinologist how I believe medicating before she turns 18 would be more beneficial than anything based on my experiences. Thankfully my old endocrinologist, with my permission, sent a copy of the notes that have been passed from endocrinologist to endocrinologist as I move throughout my life to help them understand where things began, the struggles, notes on how I literally process changes, and just an overview of my whole diagnosis.
Two days after my 46th birthday I was told that despite all the efforts to sustain its life….my thyroid finally gave up and died.
So to end this, and go for biting you want to downvote me because this post is for those who need it not the ones who just like to be mean because they don’t understand.

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This is going to take a while, so id like to lead with something i found sort of amusing while doing research for this post
currently, the highest amount of energy a warframe can achieve, would be Garuda Prime with Primed Flow, Endurance Drift, and 5 blue Tauforged Archon shards. this would get 1319 max energy.
Assuming that Garuda could fully activate Battery Armor, by itself, she would reach 1320 max energy.
lastly, it has been made clear that Battery armor is subject to change, as are all of the upcoming arcanes. what follows will be assuming that we get it as it has been shown. and may serve as argumentation for if it should, or should not, be changed.
Battery Armor is a very interesting Arcane. at .3 max energy per point of armor, youd need 3334 armor to fully activate the effect, granting any warframe 1000 energy max.
there is alot to unpack here, but before we talk about how much armor that is, and if/when this is worth using when you cant max it out, we need to address a more complicated problem.
why do you want energy Max? and when you do, what would you possibly want with that much of it?
Energy max is a component of the Trifecta of the "Energy Economy". that being energy generation, energy expense, and energy max, aka your buffer.
there are about a billion ways these days to generate energy, and efficiency/duration can reduce the amount of energy you spend. letting you increase income and decrease expense. with good enough energy generation, energy max becomes superfluous. so when is energy max warranted?
the first case is when you want to cast 1 ability for a really, really long time, that has a drain effect you cant bypass. this is sort of the Mesa problem, though with health orb creators and the Dispensary in the helminth its not that big of a deal for Mesa either.
the second case is when your energy Generation is very "Bursty". the peak popularity of Primed Flow Coincided with the dominance of Arcane Energize. having a high energy cap was important to ensure that when energize went off, you didn't lose part of it due to not having room for the full 150. Energize has a hard cap of 600 energy per minute. it can only be less efficient than that, not more. if your energy cap was low, around 200, youd often lose part of your energize, it was important to bump it up higher so that didnt happen. as Energize has fallen out of favor, so has flow. there are still some energy generation setups that are sufficiently bursty. Spectrosiphon setups generate about a billion energy orbs, but they can be tedious to maintain. having a high E max can mean you dont need too do the siphon dance nearly as often.
the third case is in combination with things like the Preparation mod, for non-endless mission builds that forgo energy generation entirely and plan to just bring all the energy they need with them.
these all focus on Emax as it pertains to the role of energy in ability casting, but there are 3 more cases that dont.
the first being ofcourse, incarnon weapons. a number of them have effects that only work when you have a certain amount of Emax. and for some frames reaching that number is not possible with Primed Flow alone. for some setups Battery Armor may be more practical.
the current lowest base energy capacity is Ash Prime, at 150. to get to 700 Emax for triggering Paladin's Virtue would require Ash to have 1834 armor. this is still a little bit... . this is still very impractical.
so maybe god didnt intend ash prime too use Angstrum incarnon, and we will just have to live with that. surely there are other frames and situations where it will be more helpful.
the second worth noting is Secondary Surge. Yet another new arcane which, if it shipped as its presented, would offer up a damage multiplier on the next shot in exchange for your Current energy. up to 8x at 1600 Current energy.
if this is, effectively, 800% roar, then surely someone somewhere will find a practical use for this. even if it is just killing Terry with a non-incarnon Lato. i can feel the Dark Pull of the Azima once again calling to me, but im sure DE pre-emptively made this not apply to the turrets to salt my wounds.
nothing definite can be said about Surge right now, since we dont have it. the fact that its 1 shot and the fact that most of our big enemies damage attenuate means this will likely end up as a gimmick for BTFO'ing Demo units at absolute best.
the last reason to want high energy max has already been foreshadowed, Quick Thinking.
Quick thinking is a profoundly old mod. its rare to find something from 2013 warframe that still has some straight up voodoo too it, but well. . .the Wiki cannot Define what a "strong hit" is, and the problem isnt even documented ingame.
setting that aside, Quick thinking lets you treat your energy bar like a health bar. 1000 energy would translate into 2400 additional health. and yes Quick thinking scales with your armor. to get that energy you are automatically assuming atleast 3334 armor, so that'd make you fairly tanky. really the idea of being able to spec into survival focusing on shields, health, or energy as your main juice of survival would be great.
ok so there are at least a handful of reasons you might want to Spike your Emax into the Stratosphere, now lets talk about the problem.
3334 armor is alot of fucking armor.
really only one warframe is going to get this effect for free. .and thats Chroma. who arguably doesn't need it. i mean i guess itd make using his 4 easier. . i guess. Quick Thinking Chroma is kind of a silly concept for a frame that can already get a billion health without any help.
moving down the line, Triple umbral atlas prime with his Maxed out Passive hits 2900 armor. Health conversion + his passive hits 3350. thats just 1 mod, which is not bad. though HC isnt totally reliable, particularly when you are solo.
a valk with Health conversion and like 375+ strength would get there as well. in this case Triple umbral and Health conversion are of equal value.
Grendel Prime, with his gourmand augment, a fully stacked passive, and Health Conversion gets there. though the reliability of keeping Grendels belly fully is somewhat iffy.
Hydroid's plunder can get there, though the abilty is. . we shall be generous and say "has a high skill cap" and not "is profoundly unreliable". he would sill need like over 400 strength or to be running an extra source of armor, but any one will do.
Wukong's Defy gets him part of the way there, but 1350+1500+290 still puts us short.
oberon and inaros would both need totally impractical amounts of power strength, and you dont remember that octavia has an armor buff, so i wont talk about it.
Melee fortification and 16 kills per 10 seconds gets there, il leave explaining why this is not helpful as an exercise for the reader.
lastly, lets talk about Parasitic armor. we can fiddle with the numbers here a bit. at 300 Strength youd only need about 1100 shields, or really less given your base armor. the main issue with this idea is that you cant gain more shields until it runs out, so you cant use this effect to keep your energy max up permanently. you can use it to temporarily spike your Emax. .but to what end?
lets look at some more practical things.
a Tauforged blue archon shard gives 225 armor and would also give 67.5 Emax. effectively doubling the value of the shard, in a very specific way.
ive mentioned health conversion a few times. for most warframes, health conversion is the best 1 slot source of armor available. you need more than 750 base armor before Triple umbral'd fiber becomes a better option.
Battery Armor makes Health conversion give 405 Emax in addition to the armor it gives.
is that good?
Primed flow gives exactly 405 Emax if your have 225 base energy. 225 is the most common base energy in the game, though again, accounting for base armor, you would come out slightly ahead of primed flow
the problem here is that arcane slots are generally. . .more valuable than mod slots. so spending an arcane slot to save a mod slot seems pointless. especially if you are having to build into armor just to get it active.
Battery armor being balanced so that the most powerful source of flat armor being roughly as valuable as primed flow on the bulk of warframes feels intentional, and that feels bad. Battery armor feels like a "third arcane slot" arcane as it is currently presented, but. . well. i genuinely think even if the armor to Emax was a 1 to 1 conversion, it would probably still not be terribly popular. it feels over-balanced at the moment.
.3 = 3334 armor to max
.4 = 2500 armor to max
.5 =2000 armor to max
.6=1667 armor to max.
let me present you with a Hypothetical.
currently, there is a combo i call HC+AB. Health Conversion + Arcane Blessing, gives 1350 armor and 1200 HP. its a pair of flat buffs that gives even relatively squishy warframes a solid baseline of tanking, for the bargain price of 1 mod slot and 1 arcane slot.
if Battery Armor were set to .6 armor per 1 E max
most warframes can get too 1667 armor with Health conversion+ their base armor + an Archon shard.
if they instead Ran Battery Armor instead of arcane Blessing, and also ran Quick Thinking. they'd have 1350 armor and +1000 Emax which would then be counted as effectively 2400 HP.
for 1 additional mod slot, weve doubled the Ehp of blessing, we dont need a source of healing anymore, but we are significantly more dependent on good energy management. no i will not start talking about Adaptation this late in the game, but in terms of boosting your Ehp for 1 mot slot. . .you get the idea.
and i still in my gut feeling thing that this would not be worth it. you'd need to address the Faults of Quick thinking and like. . make it a 9 cost mod or something. and the itd still be more build-space than shield gating for something that's likely just as hard to pilot.
this is obviously meant to be combo'd with the other Emax based arcane dropping this set but there is a single digit number of frames that can even Feasibly get too 1600 Emax through this effect, and for that work you still need too cast an ability before every shot.
is this intended to support. .what? the selection of Mediocre Grenade based incarnon sidearms that nobody uses? Atamos Zylok and Gammacor? maybe you could put this behind Lex but Lex is already ludicriously strong without a trapeze act to perform before you can shoot it. i say again . .to what end?
this is alot of work to put into achieving Big Number given you've spent the last 2 years making all of the relevant bosses and minibosses resistant to Big Number technology. i guess maybe this is a new avenue for acoltye nuking, maybe? should be funny with the Grimore alt fire.
as someone who plays almost entirely for Novelty these days, and who has spent much of the last few months getting to know Caliban on a first name basis, my standards of "worth it" are about as low as you can go without busting out the spade. so when i say something doesnt seem like its worth it, that is a judgment of value coming from someone who considers 6 formaing Venato to be a valid use of my time.
TL;Dr.
for the effort required to use it, Battery Armor will almost certainly not see much use. only Chroma, Atlas and Valkyr can activate it reasonably easily, for everyone else its just too much of a pain in the ass.
there are limited reasons to even want significant amounts of Emax, aside from a bespoke combo with an upcoming sidearm arcane that will probably be more trouble than its worth outside of Mr.WarframeGuy's meme videos (and they will no doubt be glorious). interactions with Quick thinking while interesting to think about are burdened by the fact that you are forced to run quick thinking. QT is occasionally useful, but until DE at a bare minimum publishes the conditions for it to Stagger me, and better yet just removes that part of QT entirely il leave the Energymaxxing survival strategy in the hypothetical category.
do you think Battery Armor should ship as presented, or should the rate of armor too energy be raised? personally i think .5 armor per energy, for a max requirement of 2000 armor, would be a fair bit more mannage for a larger portion of the cast. i think .3 is unreasonably low, but im curious if im alone in that. i think any higher than .5 and were lapsing from Fair into Generous.
i also think that no amount of Emax can make the stat itself more Valuable, as simply generating energy reliably is easier and more useful than being able to store alot of it. having good energy generation is a need. having good energy storage is a want.
the best use of over 1k energy max that i can think of is Recreating this old meme using Banshee's 4.
Have a pleasant evening, its 3am and ive been staring at wiki pages and doing math for 3 hours. im going to bed.

**Trigger warning for in-depth discussion of the deaths and bodies of children*\*
Many of you probably know the story of the Unknown Child, or Body #4 – the body of a baby boy recovered from the sea shortly after the sinking of the Titanic and buried in Halifax’s Fairview Cemetery. Unidentified for years, he was speculated to be either Gosta Palsson or Eugene Rice, tentatively identified with DNA analysis as Eino Panula in 2002, and definitively identified through improved DNA testing in 2007 as Sidney Goodwin. The Unknown Child has come to represent all the young lives who were lost in the disaster.
However, much less well-known is the mystery of Body #1. Pulled from the icy Atlantic on April 21^st 1912 by the cable ship Mackay Bennett, the body of an approximately 10-12-year-old boy was the first of 337 Titanic victims to be recovered. Officially, Body #1 was identified as Walter John van Billiard, a 9-year-old third-class boy who perished along with his father Austin and 10-year-old brother James William. He was buried next to his father, whose body was also recovered, in the Whitemarsh Union Cemetery of Zion Lutheran Church, Flourtown, Pennsylvania. However, doubt has always lingered among Titanic researchers and enthusiasts over the true identity of the body. In this post, I’ll examine the case for and against the body’s identification as Walter Van Billiard, investigate some other possibilities for its identity, and summarize my findings.
A few disclaimers: firstly, I’m not a professional, just someone who’s been interested in the Titanic (and specifically its child/teen passengers) for a long time.
Secondly, although I’ve never seen a detailed write-up on Body #1 before, others have discussed this topic and arrived at similar conclusions as mine, so I’m not breaking any entirely new ground here.
Finally, this post isn’t meant to disrespect or offend any of the Van Billiard family or to shatter the idea of a father and son resting beside each other. I’m just trying to take a critical look at the identification of Body #1 and suggest some alternate possibilities.
Approximately 115 Titanic passengers and crew under the age of 18 were lost, and very few of their bodies were ever found. In attempting to identify one of them, I hope to honour them all.

Part I: The Van Billiards

Walter and James van Billiard (photo here) were the two eldest sons of Austin Blyler van Billiard and Maude Murray. One or both boys had been born in Paris, France, but spent most of their lives in Africa, where the family was engaged in diamond mining. By April 1912, the Van Billiards had had four more children and wanted to return to Austin’s family in North Wales, Pennsylvania. They travelled to London, where Maude fell ill. It was decided that she would stay there with her parents and her four youngest children to recuperate, while Austin would take James and Walter ahead to America. Austin’s parents had never met any of their grandchildren before, and he wanted them to spend Easter together. Tragically, they booked third-class on the RMS Titanic, and the rest is history. No survivor accounts mention the Van Billiards by name, so it is unknown how they passed their time on the ship or how exactly they met their ends. A newspaper article (Daily Home News, April 23rd 1912) suggests the boys may have refused to leave their father, but it’s equally likely they simply arrived on deck too late to have the option of boarding a lifeboat.
What is known is that two bodies purported to be members of the Van Billiard family were later recovered and sent to Austin’s relatives in Pennsylvania for burial. Body #255, that of an approximately 40-year-old man with a dark red beard and moustache, was identified as Austin. Body #1, allegedly young Walter, was described as such:
No. 1 – MALE – ESTIMATED AGE. – 10-12. – HAIR. LIGHT.
CLOTHING – Overcoat, grey; one grey coat; one blue coat; grey woolen jersey; white shirt; grey knickers; black stockings; black boots
EFFECTS – Purse containing few Danish coins and ring; two handkerchiefs marked “A”.
Probably Third Class.
Furthermore, the “Inventory of the property found on the body of the late W. VanBilliard” adds that the purse also contained one United States cent and “three wooden disks.” This document can be viewed online at the Nova Scotia Archives website. Interestingly, “Unable to identify from clothing or effects” has been written across the middle of the page in pencil. Further down, it says “Remains shipped. See #255.”
Right off the bat, it's unclear why Body #1 was identified as that of 9-year-old Walter, as opposed to 10-year-old James – or, in fact, why a connection with the Van Billiards was made at all. The Philadelphia Inquirer of May 8^th 1912, reporting on the arrival of the bodies in Pennsylvania, states that identification was made “through the Red Cross Society and papers found on their persons.” However, no such papers are mentioned among the effects found on either body, despite this being common practice for the descriptions of Titanic victims’ bodies.
It is also noteworthy that no member of the Van Billiard family was reported as having identified or even viewed the bodies. Identification would, of course, have taken place at Halifax, where the recovered bodies were brought before being buried there or forwarded elsewhere, and I could find absolutely nothing to suggest that any Van Billiard travelled to Halifax to view them. The North American newspaper of May 8th 1912 states quite clearly that Austin’s father, Burgess James van Billiard, was in Pennsylvania when the bodies arrived. Maude and the other children were still in England, and in fact would not make the trip to America until February 1913, almost a full year after the disaster.
Moreover, it must be remembered that none of the Van Billiard family members in America had ever seen their grandsons. They may have seen photographs of them, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they’d be able to identify a body which had spent six days floating in the freezing ocean. There are stories from other maritime disasters of the era, such as the General Slocum (1904), the Eastland (1915), and the Princess Sophia (1918) of children’s bodies being misidentified (or dubiously identified), even by close relatives. Therefore, even if Burgess van Billiard or another family member had seen Body #1, would that have conclusively proven that it was Walter (or James)? Or would it simply be a case of a grief-stricken human being clinging to the belief that their loved one was one of the few recovered from an icy grave?
According to Judith Geller’s Titanic: Women and Children First, “popular reports” of the time stated that Austin’s body was found with Walter’s clasped to his chest. However, as she goes on to state, this was not the case. This can be seen plainly from the numbers of the bodies, which were assigned in the order that they were retrieved. Body #1 was recovered on April 21^st, while Body #255 would not have been picked up until April 25^th, according to the diary of Mackay Bennett crewman Clifford Crease. Therefore, identification of Body #1 cannot have been made by its proximity to Austin Van Billiard.
The effects found upon Body #1 also do nothing to prove, or even suggest, that the body was that of Walter Van Billiard. It is true that the handkerchiefs marked “A” could have belonged to Austin, but “A” could stand for many other names of those on board the Titanic. The Danish coins are a tantalizing clue, but none of the Van Billiard family was known to have lived in or visited Denmark. (Of course, it’s possible that the coins could have been misidentified – perhaps they were actually Belgian or Boer, as the Van Billiards lived in both the Belgian Congo and South Africa; or Dutch, as Austin Van Billiard is known to have visited Amsterdam shortly before embarking on the Titanic. (Perhaps the “A” handkerchief was a souvenir from the city?) However, these are only theories.)
It has never been conclusively accepted by Titanic researchers and enthusiasts that Body #1 is that of Walter Van Billiard. Walter’s entry on Encyclopedia Titanica contains the footnote: “Because of the effects recovered with the body there has to be some doubt over the authenticity of the identification.” Similarly, Women and Children First states that “the body might in fact have easily been that of another Third Class boy.” That book’s section on the Van Billiards ends with the somber observation that “a monument to [the] husband and two sons … stands in the Whitemarsh Union Cemetery, but only two (and perhaps one) of them lie beneath it.” Whether or not Walter van Billiard was truly Body #1, one hopes that this (mis?)identification brought some solace to his surviving family members.

Part II: Other Possibilities

With it being established that there is no conclusive proof that body #1 belonged to either of the Van Billiard boys, let us examine other possibilities. I have assembled a list of all male Titanic victims between the ages of 8 and 14 whose bodies were never found. The reason for extending this range is that the estimated ages given to bodies were not always entirely accurate. For example, the body of 12-year-old William Sage was estimated to be 14, the body of 16-year-old Rossmore Abbott was estimated as 22, and the body of 17-year-old Ernest Price was estimated as 26.
Our candidates are:

1. Eugene Joseph Abbott, 13
2. Filip Oscar Asplund, 13
3. Clarence Gustaf Hugo Asplund, 9
4. William Neal Thomas Ford, 14
5. Charles Edward Goodwin, 14
6. William Frederick Goodwin, 13
7. Harold Victor Goodwin, 10
8. Frederick William Hopkins, 14
9. Husayn Mahmud Husayn Ibrahim, 11
10. William Andrew Johnston, 8
11. Albert Rice, 10
12. George Rice, 8
13. Betros Seman, 10
14. Karl Thorsten Skoog, 11
15. George Frederick Sweet, 14
16. William Albert Watson, 14

A few possibilities can be easily excluded from this list:

• Karl Skoog had been involved in a railway accident at the age of 7 and had to have his left leg and the toes on his right foot amputated. He used crutches for mobility. It is impossible that such an obvious feature as a missing or prosthetic leg would not have been noted in the descriptions of the bodies.
• Husayn Ibrahim and Betros Seman were from Lebanon. It is unlikely (though not impossible) that a Middle Eastern boy would have had blonde hair or carried Danish coins. Accounts from the era almost invariably describe Middle Eastern passengers as “dark-complexioned,” “foreign-looking,” or “Italian types” – a detail which does not appear in the body’s description.

Several more possibilities can be marked as unlikely, if not ruled out entirely:

• In the only known photo of the Goodwin family, the boys all seem to have had dark hair. The eldest boy, Charles, was also only 2 months away from his 15^th birthday, putting him at the very edge of our age range and making it relatively unlikely that he would be mistaken for a 10-12-year-old (let alone one who could feasibly be 9 years old).
  • However, one point in the Goodwins’ favour is that the body of their youngest brother, Sidney Leslie (the ‘Unknown Child’) was found, meaning at least one member of the family was above decks at the moment of the sinking.
• George Frederick Sweet was one day away from turning 15, and was not permitted (or did not want) to board a lifeboat along with his adoptive mother and sisters, implying that he looked his age and could not have been mistaken for a preteen. A purported* photograph of him circa 1912 also shows him as dark-haired. Finally, he was in second class, while the body was described as “probably third class” (although this is hardly conclusive).
• Frederick Hopkins and William Watson were members of the crew, Hopkins being a plate steward and Watson a bellboy. It is therefore possible, if not certain, that they would have been wearing some sort of uniform rather than the clothing the body was described as wearing. Furthermore, like Charles Goodwin and George Sweet, both were within several months of turning 15.

Our list is thus reduced to:

1. Eugene Joseph Abbott, 13
2. Filip Oscar Asplund, 13
3. Clarence Gustaf Hugo Asplund, 9
4. William Neal Thomas Ford, 14
5. William Andrew Johnston, 8
6. Albert Rice, 10
7. George Rice, 8

Now, let us look at each of these boys in turn and examine the evidence for and against them being Body #1.
Eugene Joseph Abbott:

• His last name starts with A, meaning the handkerchief could be his.
• He was originally from (and was returning to) the U.S., so may have carried American money.
• He was just 2 weeks past his 13^th birthday, meaning he could likely have passed for 12 (within the estimated age range for the body).
• He and his family were known to have been on deck right at the time of the sinking, rather than belowdecks in the steerage areas. His mother, Rhoda, was the only woman to be rescued alive from the water, and his older brother Rossmore’s body was found (#190).
• He may have had fair hair – his brother’s body is described as being “very fair,” though it’s unknown if this refers to skin or hair. An alleged* photo of him from the Pigeon Forge Titanic Museum shows a light-haired boy. However, both his mother and brother appear to have dark hair in photos taken of them.
• There is nothing to suggest he would have had Danish coins.

William Neal Thomas Ford:
Little is known about Ford, an English youth emigrating to the USA with his extended family and a family friend. None of their bodies are known to have been recovered (although they may be among the unidentified). He has no known connection to the letter A or to the nation of Denmark. Therefore, I see him as among the most unlikely of these boys to be Body #1.
William Andrew Johnston:
William Johnston, a cousin of William Ford, is a slightly more likely candidate for two reasons. Firstly, his father’s name (and his own middle name) was Andrew, providing a connection to the letter A. Secondly, in the one photo of him provided by the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge,* he appears to have had light hair.
Albert and George Rice:

• The Rice family is known to have been on either the boat deck or A-Deck on the night of the sinking (reported by family friend Bridget Mulvihill, who survived), and their mother Margaret’s body was recovered. In fact, her body was #12, meaning her body was presumably located far closer to #1 than Austin Van Billiard’s was. (Though this doesn’t necessarily mean much given how far apart the bodies might have drifted, how they might have been flung around by the ship’s foundering, etc.)
• They were originally from the U.S., having only lived in Ireland for about a year following the death of their father.
• Albert’s first name, of course, starts with “A.” One may imagine that, perhaps, Margaret Rice might have given handkerchiefs to all her sons with their own first initials embroidered on them.
• Their hair colour is difficult to determine from photographs – it looks on the darker side to me, but this may simply be due to poor lighting.

Filip and Clarence Asplund:
I believe the Asplund boys are the strongest possible candidates for body #1, due to the following evidence:

• They have, by far, the strongest association with Danish coins out of all the boys I have examined. The Asplund family was of Swedish descent; most of their 5 children had been born in the U.S., but they later returned to Sweden and had been living there about 4 years before deciding to return once again to America in 1912. Their home in Sweden was Alseda Village, Småland, located relatively far south in the country; they certainly lived closer to Denmark than anyone else on this list, and very likely passed through it on their way to England to board the Titanic. It is even possible that the coins were not Danish but Swedish – someone more knowledgeable about early 20^th-century Scandinavian currency would have to tell me how similar they looked.
• Furthermore, as they had once lived in the U.S. and were travelling back there, it makes sense for them to have been carrying American money as well.
• Obviously, the “A” on the handkerchief could be for Asplund.
• As Swedes, the boys could very well have had light hair. It’s hard to make out their hair colour in the only known photos of them (Filip, Clarence), but surviving siblings Lillian and Felix appear to have had light hair in some photos (1, 2)
• The entire family was known to have been on one of the upper decks (Boat or A) at the end. As third-class passengers, they arrived there quite late in the sinking. Mother Selma managed to board one of the later lifeboats (I have seen boats 10, 15, 4, and Collapsible C all suggested) along with children Felix (3) and Lillian (5), but somehow the three other children – Filip, Clarence, and Lillian’s twin Carl – were left on board with their father, also named Carl. Furthermore, Carl Sr.’s body was recovered (No. 142), further proving that the Asplunds were up on deck during the final plunge.

If I had to choose between the two Asplund boys for the true identity of body #1, I would suggest that it was 9½ year old Clarence, rather than 13-year-old Filip, due to the fact that those identifying the body clearly deemed it likely to belong to a 9-year-old. However, I think either boy is a likely option.

Part III: Conclusion

None of this is to say that I think the body couldn’t have been one of the Van Billiard boys. After all, there had to be *something* that caused Walter Van Billiard to be singled out amongst all the other possible candidates. Any of the clues I pointed out in this post may have been red herrings.
Maybe the “A” handkerchiefs were a parting gift from a friend whose first or last name started with that letter, or a souvenir of some city the boy had visited. Maybe the Danish coins were simply picked up off the deck, or given to this boy by a Danish passenger for whom he had done a favor. Maybe the age estimate was far off, and the boy was actually a tall 7-year-old or a very young-looking 15-year-old. Maybe Walter really is resting alongside his father in Union Cemetery, Flourtown, Pennsylvania. In the end, unless DNA analysis is ever done, we will never know the true identity of body #1.
My personal ranking of likelihood, out of all the boys examined, is:

1. Clarence or Filip Asplund (in that order), aged 9 and 13
2. Walter or James Van Billiard, aged 9 and 10
3. Eugene Abbott, aged 13
4. Albert or George Rice (in that order), aged 10 and 8
5. William Andrew Johnston, aged 8
6. William Neal Thomas Ford, aged 14
7. Harold, William, or Charles Goodwin (in that order), aged 10, 13, and 14 – I might even bump Harold (and possibly William) up higher than William Ford due to their younger age.
8. Frederick Hopkins or William Watson, aged 14
9. George Frederick Sweet, aged 14 (almost 15)
10. Husayn Ibrahim, aged 11, or Betros Seman, aged 10
11. Anthony William Sage, aged 12 – borderline impossible as Will Sage’s ticket was found on body #67, meaning that was almost certainly him. Perhaps an onboard friend of his had stolen his ticket as a prank, or they had switched tickets to keep as mementoes of each other, but I find this quite unlikely.
12. Karl Thorsten Skoog, aged 11 – impossible; his missing or prosthetic leg would certainly have been noted.

The true tragedy of Body #1 is the fact that there are so many possible candidates for its identification. In memory of all these boys and their families who were lost on the morning of April 15^th 1912.
^\I have some doubts about the veracity of some photographs from the Titanic Pigeon Forge Museum, but the vast majority of the photos I've seen from there are genuine. I can elaborate further in the comments if anyone is interested.)

(OPEN & LOOKING)

Hello!
LONG POST! Image heavy (and shitty loading times). 5 Pages! Apologies for the length, trying to pre-empt your questions and show fixed scope.

Request:

One person with excellent, higher-order programming skills in Godot GDScript who could pair with my graphics and programming abilities for a highly popular 1990's game title, top down racer remake.

Game Synopsis:

Single player, Super Cars Clone but more realistic + crazy + more detailed and prettier graphics. With 1990’s styling and Roguelite-ish collect & combat precepts throughout.
Image set

Citing the Original Game:

Explanation video of Super Cars 2, 1990’s charm: Descriptive Video
Just flick through these next two videos, no need to watch to completion. This is to show you how dated they are.
Long Play video of original Game: Amiga Super Cars 2:
Earlier Super Cars 1: Long Play Video

Proof of Concept Test Video:

Here is a proof of concept video with artwork (no props except for road elevation).
Concept Video

Proof of Concept, Playable Game:

You can download and play it here. Do note: Road elevation changes marked by Red and Green rectangles on track, in case you’re confused about varying accelerations. AI is hypershit.
Playable Game Link
Some of the old video’s on there show the lo-res flippers, water cannons, pits, pins, rough roads, trains, etc, in working order.

Synopsis of Theme:

You are an up and coming racecar driver. It is the 1990's when flamboyant super cars, daring films(James Bond esq) and thrilling car races are all the buzz. Catching this excitement, a movie studio has noticed your driving talent. During a racing season, you'll be given access to 'unique' races at movie locations. Ie: "Blues Brothers Mall scene", or driving through a mine site with giant excavators and blasting of rock walls for that all important movie-shot. Or, many other weird and unusual prop-heavy locations, like a slime factory, or an industrial petrochemical plant complete with fiery explosions and other such spectacular events. To achieve access to these, you need to prove your worth on the daily race track. Many are non-ordinary tracks. They'll have things like giant water canons to push you around, wobbling roads, uneven rocky tracks, dips, jumps, giant pinball flippers, oil firing canons, trains and other devices all while in furious and intense competition with other NPC drivers.
Be forewarned, the video’s below show a distinct lack of polish. Ie: skidding-black level on packed dirt, no inertia correction in skid, no proper power to gear ratio etc, etc.
Mine Site and Prop Test Free Drive:
This one would be more or less representative of a special type track (due to location).
Katawarra mine
Plugin Functionality test:
Plug-In, Multi-Prop-Installations (shopping centre test), farmland, pushroads and cutaway view of mountains.
Plug In Building Test
And have another jungle track for good measure.
Jungle scene free-drive

Overview of Game ‘Chunks’:

Some Cars
Ok. in absolute brief: You start at ‘D’ category, have access to those cars and parts at that level. Above, cars on the left are ‘D’, then the next two are ‘C’, then next two are ‘B’, ‘A’, and the last two are ‘Ultra Class’ category. Each Category is an entire season of 10 tracks each. Including special event tracks.
On the roads, there are props, you plough into them for rewards, and special things called ‘chits’. Props are fences, oil drums, wood piles and anything that looks like it needs a good smashing.
Ultimately, Chits are used in a mini game (like Wheel of Fortune), to earn higher grade parts, cash prizes and even a better car than your current season’s level cap.
There’s a parts shop, a car shop, a Tv studio(for the WoF bit) and your assembly garage.
When you complete a season, if you make it into the top 3 racers at the end, you can upgrade to the next season D -> C. That means better and faster cars, higher grade engine parts, more challenging drivers, more tracks and bigger prizes on the Wheel of Fortune spin mini game. And you keep going until you reach Ultra class, where you’re driving monstrous hypercars against the best to win the entire full season.
It is meant to be a difficult game, just like the original. Practice makes Perfect.

Market Expectations:

Do note: Top down racers are NOT big money earners, so don't expect a huge audience. We would probably be lucky to fit just Below 'Make Way' at position 15.
Steam stats

What Happened and why am I doing this:

Me: Senior IT Manager. (BMech Eng.). + Hobby Artist (Pretty OK & particularly fast) + VB6 Coder (Strong skills). Was working on a BIG VB6 program for enjoyment. (https://nelfid.com/)
(https://www.reddit.com/roguelikedev/comments/1aeaoo8/2024_in_roguelikedev_monstergirl_resonance_call/ )
Had to stop. Looked at Godot for continuation, seriously impressed, started learning it, WOW. Decided to build a racer for shits and giggles and to learn from it. Ok, fun, easy, cool, and then decided to upgrade it with pretty graphics and decent gameplay. Game testers went nuts, I went nuts. Too much fun.
But, I’m long suffering from a sleep disorder. So re-re-re-learning Godot between medical hiatuses isn’t fun. However I can churn out art and Godot prop code no matter my condition.
I’m still a beginner at Godot, an advanced coder in VB6, I can prototype well. HOWEVER, I’m better at smashing out tracks worth of art, cars portraits, cars sprites, car cutaways and Godot track and props setup.
What I am NOT good at is the higher order setup of minimising repeat code and proper setout of node hierarchies (I haven’t learned it yet). I’m tired of bashing my head against, all the old vector math, engine math, gearing data and power curves. (I graduated that stuff at University too many years ago.)
I’m looking for someone who likes THAT, car-frictiony-enginey-handling-math. Someone who likes building car-part-shop-garage-drag-drop-thingy-interfaces. Someone who enjoys a good thrash and smash car game with a penchant for comedy and silliness. Someone who’ll also help with all the OTHER things needed to put a game on Steam and random marketing functions. Someone who knows how to handle multi-packed scenes and not build shit code.
As needed, I’ll be covering ALL the art, all the interface art, you-name-it, you just make it work. I’ll also be building and drawing all the tracks. Ideas and creation for silliness, wackiness, interesting tracks, cool props, etc, will be a duo effort for building them. If you have art skills too, great, join in.
Do note: I’m aiming at hand-drawing 50 tracks in grand total, their props and variants. This is an astronomical amount of work. I WILL get burnout, and the contingency is to ask the audience for fun and silly ideas too. This way, the track-select-bucket can be filled over time. Even after Steam’s Early Access commences. Seriously, you’ve got to go above and beyond to stand out nowadays.
Have SQLite skills? Good, because we will be using it.

Build Time:

Speculatively guessing for build time. Minimum time 3 months. Maximum time 6 months to complete.

Goal Post 1:

Schedule I'd like to do: Prep the game with a first stage demo. As per above, but with say 3 tracks, and 3 different user cars and proper NPC AI. Chuck that on Steam as a first port of call. This shouldn't take long as the shop/parts/Tv studio are not relevant here. Just racing and a simplistic track select menu. Car types can be basic hard coded engines and handling here (ie: no part swapping yet).

Goal Post 2:

Second stage demo: and with it, Early Access. Entire Season 1 Tracks ready. All stuff is here, shops, parts, Tv studio. Category 'D' racing is fully open here. The user can run through the whole 1'st stage, 10 tracks (with celebrity tracks included). However, more difficult grades C, B, A and Ultra cars, parts and other tracks are not available. This is so the users can get a 100% feeling for the game, and if they want to go to the next level (more difficult, more tracks, more parts, more cars, more excitement) they'll have the incentive to purchase the full game. Early access means we'll start dumping down new tracks and celebrity tracks as they get made so EA's can get them in the random bucket as we go along.

Goal Post 3:

Real Launch: Everything done, but tracks might not be fully complete yet (at least 50% done). Track selection is done from a diminishing pool randomly selected per each season. If short, it will select from the bucket again. At this stage the entire game should be coded in full, with the exception of new props for upcoming tracks. Which you'll be helping out with.

Marketing:

Marketing is informal at the moment, and happy to share ideas and discuss approaches accordingly. Currently I've been collecting relevant forum/group websites for those who love or may love this stuff.

Sound:

Music and sound effects assets will be from sites like Zapsplat and other affiliate style sites. (So we'll need to program in a car CD Player or Tape Deck, lol) If worthwhile to translate for other languages, we can do that as it's not a text heavy game.

Revshare:

Rev share will be pinned at 50/50 unless there is some other extenuating circumstances. Official company setup and final legals will occur immediately prior to Early Access -> pending interest level by users.
You won't be 'just' coding. Wherever we can both cover each other's backs to smash things out as fast as possible, you'll need to be flexible. Game's are not just coding and artwork.
I expect you to be proactive because I’ll have my hands full with art and technical props.
Let’s do our best to get it over the line.

Response:

I won’t be responding to Discord currently. My account seems to have been inactive-erased, I haven't ‘dug’ in my records for it, that’s a ‘later’ thing. DO NOT DM me, myself and others want to see and verify who you are first, exclusively write below.

Timezone:

East-coast Australia timezone, happy for any talent, anywhere. English language only.

About you:

If you are interested and have some seriously strong Godot skills, please introduce yourself, what you've done, programming background, any training or other videos you've made (please link them). Can you program caengine physics and road AI exceptionally well already? How do you avoid spaghetti code? How long have you been tackling Godot? Do you know shaders? What are your daily hours/location? What can you do for your 50/50 rev-share of this project?
Corso
^{Have some AI Generated art for theme and ideas fishing. Note: I won’t be using AI art anywhere, this is only for sticking into the ideas-box and to give you a feel for what the game is about.}
Coverart Ideas
^{Lastly, if you’re good and we work well together, I’m happy to discuss any future projects that require similar arrangements. There is a mountain of short-term, popular 90’s and similar games begging for modernisation and graphical updates.}

Prev Royal Road Patreon
Karghol stepped forward. As Rob he might be scared, but he'd been the leader of the group for a long time, operating as our main tank across a ton of games, and now, I could see him taking that step again, "Okay, first thing's first. If they're gonna pop us out of this from the outside, then that's not on us, but we've all seen this anime. If they're not coming, then we need to get to the endgame as fast as possible."
"Nope," I shook my head, surprising even myself at how quickly I'd said something.
He turned, "What? I mean, we gotta get out ahead of this."
"In most games, I'd agree, but not here, not in this game. Also, side-point but decision time for everyone: Real names or character names? I can't keep flipping between them. Lugh is what's on my party registry, so I'm sticking with Lugh," It seemed small but wasn't.
I'd learned well enough that giving people all of the information was most often counter-productive at best. Giving people a small, immediate choice was far preferable and got them on the path to understanding better. Temur snorted slightly at the absurdity, "Well, I suppose you can call me either Temur, or Temur. Whichever floats your boat."
Several groans came out, and finally, some laughter. I mean, it was dad joke humor to be sure, but jokes were probably going to become a much more specific thing for us. From there, everyone chose their character names, either because it was simply easier given the nametags in our party rotation, or because they just didn't want everyone knowing their real ones. Khargol however, was a slight agitated, "Alright, so why not speedrun it?"
"Because speedrunners die and reset constantly."
The slight mirth died out in the room, but Khargol wasn't ready to yield the point, "I've watched you do a no-death run of Dark Souls!"
I nodded, "And do you have any idea how many times I died in that game getting to that level of skill? Look, this isn't Dark Souls. That game has set difficulty levels. Yeah, it's got solid AI, but here? The AI adapts to tactics, and I'm pretty sure the beta test players are about to learn that the hard way."
Everyone was a bit curious at the statement, but it was Shelara who spoke up, "What does that 'adaptive AI' mean?"
I sighed, and took a seat at the head of the table, with Khargol finally sitting down next to me, "It means the AI of the system is learning. Beta testers essentially get to play ahead of the general public to try and stress test the system under actual play conditions. Most usually, they'll try to learn as many exploits as possible, so even if they start out on brand new characters, they're still going to be far ahead of the pack, getting gear and coin ahead of others. Assume that the beta testers have watched things like SAO or other 'trapped in a video game' style series, and they're doing the same as Khargol is suggesting. Problem is, that's exactly what a bunch of them already did, and if the AI works like it's supposed to, then it's ready for them.
"For Valorian Saga, one of the biggest selling points was its adaptive AI system, a system that learns. What that means is that the system behind bosses has already learned those exploits from beta testers and has some sort of answer for them, and they're going to run dead into them."
Chrysta sat forward, leaning her elbows on the table, at least in part to show off her biceps, "Well if a speedrun is out of the question, then what do we do instead?"
Shelara cut back in, "But... shouldn't we try and go save the beta testers?"
I considered, "Shelara, in answer to your question, we can't. Even assuming we could catch up to wherever they're at, there's almost no chance they'd listen to us if we did. They're just as likely to assume we're rivals, or to think we're idiots, but regardless they won't be following our instructions just because we say so. As far as they're concerned, they already know this game, and we're a bunch of sprouts who are panicking. Even if we could get past that point, we don't know the game like they do, and we're more likely to end up needing saving before we ever get to them.
"As to the other question, Chrysta, what we do now is finish up the starter quests, then we use our flyers to join the militia."
Every MMO veteran groaned openly. Arkadi especially was annoyed at the concept, "Come on, man, faction-grinding on day two? We're not even out of the gate yet!"
I'd expected this, and checked my in-game clock, and swore under my breath. We needed to get moving, with only roughly eighteen minutes of daylight left, "Guys, that's why we need to join the militia. It's safe, and grinding up our faction rep with Valoria opens a lot of doors, not least of which is giving us barracks space to live in free of charge, basic equipment upgrades, and getting coin. That's just the short-term gains. Yeah, not much, but it gives us a foundation. We get the lay of the land, and we build up our strategies. There's another reason though, and it's important."
Khargol nodded, "As militia, we get arrest powers in line with the laws of Farrelston."
"Wait, we'd be cops?" Shelera seemed slightly hyped about the concept.
I nodded, "More or less. We aren't out in the main room right now cause everyone's losing their minds out there. They're all coming to terms with the idea that this place is where they might die, and that breeds desperate reactions. Fourteen million players split between fifty servers, giving an average server population of... two-hundred-eighty thousand per server give or take for server popularity. Assume maybe one percent of that go fully around the bend and get violent, and that gives us two thousand eight hundred violent criminals that just hit the city on this server that have the ability to level up within the system.
"Farrelston has to be a safe space for players to return to, but that can't happen if there isn't order, and that means law enforcement."
One of our newcomers made her presence felt, the elf woman from the cathedral, shaking as she spoke, "I'm Layala. What about my brother?"
Tom... "I don't know. I don't what happens to those who die in the game. Maybe they wake up, maybe they're just comatose in a hospital somewhere, or maybe they're gone."
I let it sink in for everyone. Layala's eyes fell to the table as she slowly wept. I hate this, but sugarcoating the thing wasn't good for anyone, "All I can work on right now is keeping us all alive. This is a fantasy RPG, so for all I know, there might be another way to get them back, but I don't want to get anyone's hopes up. Anyone who knows someone who didn't respawn, we'll keep a journal of names, to see that they're remembered. We chronicle the dead, and if the opportunity to get them back presents itself, we go all-in on it.
"I know we all have questions... but we can't stay here to answer them all, and I don't have all the answers for you. We need to start moving, and moving now. We've got thirteen people here, our five and the eight we added on. We've got enough people to form a guild when the time comes, so we should start acting like a guild now."
Layala's voice cracked, "I-I nominate Lugh."
I was startled. I've been very game-knowledgeable, but I wasn't the leader type. It was never my role in the group.
"I second the nomination."
Khargol. My head whipped around, "Look, guys, I'm not a leader. I know stuff, that's what I've got. Khargol's the one who leads."
Khargol shook his head, "Not here, not in this game. I'm all good for the tanking, but you're the only one of us who's putting out a plan of attack, and I'm getting more lost by the minute. It sucks dude, and it hurts to admit it to myself, but you're the guy this time."
Nods occurred, and by show of hands, I was almost unanimously elected to command the 'guild', minus my own dissenting vote. Well.... crapbaskets, "Alright, fine. I won't argue it, but we've gotta get a move on. Get the starter quests going, and when we unlock the job change system, we'll work things out from there. Until then, we'll break into three parties, two four-man parties, and one five-man. Khargol, you're in charge of the five-man, Temur and myself are the other party leaders for now. We'll meet at the barracks come sundown. We spread out the neos amongst the three parties so they're all protected, and we get started. Don't do any combat quests alone."
I picked up Shelera for my party's neo, along with Chrysta and Layala, and the parties agreed to meet up in front of the barracks around sunset so we could join up together. We fought the press of bodies in the tavern to get out into the streets, and headed off for our quests. I could feel my heart racing a bit, the whole thing feeling like some sort of bad dream, but we would need a minute to get things together, "Okay, let's check everyone's quest logs. Any shareable quests, share them with the group so we can all help out and get rewards. We tackle them from lowest to highest."
We moved through the streets to the first quest, running messages around the city for the heralds. The quest was designed to get new players oriented with the larger city of Farrelston and what factions existed within it. The vast majority of players though, were barely moving, either pressed into the tavern or milling about in front of the cathedral. This was a huge problem, and we were finding clusters of people around, hiding and trying to just deal with the enormity of it all. We were running messages to guards, merchants, and nobles on what was a very low-key questline while watching people crying or raging. Shelera moved up next to me, close to tears herself, "We can't do anything?"
a I halted, and looked around again, and noticed some people who weren't in groups. Solo players who had come in by themselves, the same as you'd see in any MMO, and now they were cut off from the world, friends, family, and no party. Solo players really only existed in MMOs, people who would just fill in the gaps, and otherwise keep to themselves, and it worked in the world of video games. In the real world, though, it wasn't good, "We can do a little."
I jogged over to where a powerfully built Dracon with a sword and shield was balled up on the ground, weeping, purple-scaled head buried in his arms. I knelt down next to him, laying a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, what's your character name?"
The Dracon boy looked up imploringly, his voice quavering, "Umbaar..."
"Hi, Umbaar. I'm Lugh, and these are my friends. Why don't you come with us? You can join our party," I kept my tone even by pleasant.
He nodded sheepishly and accepted the party invite, "My mom's gonna kill me. I wasn't even supposed to be playing the game."
Oh God, no, "How old are you, Umbaar?"
"I'll be fourteen in December."
Due to the nature of the game, the minimum age for Valorian Saga was eighteen. He'd likely gotten access to the rig, and just jumped on, and now he was trapped, "I'm sure right now, your mom's just worried about you, but we'll keep you safe. Come on, we've got quests to do."
The absurdity of our questing was fully growing with each step we took. After running messages, we helped the watch with investigating some local crimes to learn the search system, worked with merchants on trading to get the economy down, and along the way, we found some more solos to fill us out to the party cap of eight. The jobs were immaterial to me, but Shelera and Layala both found comfort in picking up more people, with the latter taking over care of Umbaar. NPCs went about their day's work, and I started to catch on to something, "Hey... is this day... running long to anyone else?"
Games don't use full twenty-four-hour days, using a shorter day and night cycle to give the impression of a world without having to artificially inflate the game to make it feel like a full day. Valorian Saga had, in the videos, been shown to have a twenty-minute day, and twenty-minute night, but as we ran around, it had been far more than twenty minutes now. The sun had barely moved in the sky, which given the rest of the game's level of detail wasn't something they would've ignored. Chrysta spoke up after counting her clock, "Uh... well dearheart, I do believe we've got us a twenty-four cycle now."
There were several possibilities to this, perhaps either our minds changed gear to work with in-game time, or the game had altered to have twenty-four-hour time. Either way, we had no answers for it. I was getting a bit sick of having more and more questions I couldn't answer, but I couldn't focus on it in the here and now. I called a halt, and we found a small corner tavern to get food and drink. I took some time with the menu system, and up popped the character status window.
By statistics, we were moving up a bit, but the main stats of our jobs weren't changing very much at all. My basic stats for movement had risen, but not by much, and the gain was tapering off. That was probably from all the walking around the city we were doing. Reputations were going up in the city guilds attached to our quests, but again, they were minor improvements, and the effective XP was tapering off from doing them. I took out my character journal, a system conceit by the devs that the game world was simply too grand in scale to not allow a lot of notetaking, and did stat-math just like when I would spreadsheet my builds at home. From what I could see, the game had no true 'leveling' system. Instead, skills and attributes were built up by how you played, sort of like in Skyrim, but the same actions would not keep getting you the same degree of XP. A common enough point, or else someone could pull a South Park and just merc wolves until they hit the cap. Abilities would unlock as your stats rose, some coming online automatically like Sprint, while others you had to find a trainer for, such as the Double Knock ability for archers. From what I'd seen online, the abilities would unlock advanced jobs, and certain combinations would unlock hybrid jobs, so a Paladin would be a combination of a knight and acolyte. None of the testers had gotten that far, however, they'd just seen the possibility of it.
I noticed Shelera leaning over to look at my journal, and I smiled, "Just doing nerd stuff, plotting my progression to figure out what jobs I need."
She smiled back, "That seems weirdly normal. What are you thinking of doing?"
"Well, for now, I need to move up my abilities as a Hunter, right? Hunter eventually leads to a few choices, so I'm thinking I'll probably go for a Ranger build. That means I can train up Yndress here as a battle companion."
Yndress had been flying about with me, and sometimes resting on my shoulder, and now, she was curled up by my arm on the table as I continued. Shelera reached over and petted Yndress, "That is so cool. She's so warm. I totally should've figured out a way to get the limited edition... so what should I be leveling up?"
"Well, you're a vagabond, so you might look at something like Bounty Hunter since we're working with the militia. Combine that with another job.... huh."
"What?"
Daeva grinned, "Oh, sweetie, he just worked somethin' out. What do you need, Lugh?"
"Give me a minute. I need to go to the scrivener," I shot up and stepped out of the tavern.
It wasn't far to the scrivener where I could buy the supplies I needed. We'd just done an ink delivery there, and now, I would need paper and ink to work with. Returning, I cleared off the tavern table and laid out a large scroll used for maps, currently unmarked, "Okay, I need everyone to bring up your character pages and stand where I can read them."
Gamers generally do have a sense of when someone's worked out an exploit, and this was one of those times. They brought up their screens so I could start marking down abilities, attributes, and skills. Of note, my Scibing ability was ticking slowly upward as I laid things out. Scribing could turn into runic writing and other more arcane and mundane pursuits. What I was working on became a skill tree system, with the various jobs being grouped together. I had to move things around, and in real life I wouldn't be able to do that with ink, but in the game sense, it was pretty simple. I kept moving around my drawing, finally starting to come into a workable initial system of abilities, jobs, and other things that built off of one another. It look a bit mad, like if no one had stopped the devs on Path of Exile's skill tree, but it was there, "We're thinking about this wrong. We need to get to the barracks. I don't want to explain this twice."
Banded back up, I stopped by our newest unlock: Carriage Stations. The city was entirely too big to be running around it all the time, and for just half a silver, we could go to any other ward in the city. I signaled the coachman, handing him my flyer, "Take us to the militia barracks."
The coachman nodded sharply, "Right you are, sir."
The coaches held four, so we split between the two, and I rechecked my numbers. I was pretty certain I was right by the math, but these things didn't always pan out like you wanted, so it was best to recheck. It still seemed to be working out like I thought, but I needed Temur for a blind study of it. We got out at the barracks, a building made up of fortified walls and barred windows with internal shutters. Militiamen NPCs were standing guard out front, while we could just see some working in the training yard to the side. From what I could see, however, we were the only players here.
Temur's party arrived first, and apparently, I wasn't the only one picking up strays as two carriages emptied of people. He was running a full party as well now, and grinning in his uniquely Temur way, even if he did have draconic features now, "So, I see we're all taking in the lost little lambs?"
"I mean, sure, why not? That's how we met, so why not do it here, too?"
He nodded, "Questing went well, if a bit hum-drum, but you have a look in your eyes that says you've worked something out. You got math time!"
I nodded, "Waiting for... yeah, Khargol went off-road, I see."
Temur and I had shown up with two carriages each, only for Khargol to pull up with four, all packed. That put our new numbers at thirty-two players as he practically bounced up to us, "What?!"
We both shook our heads, "Nothing, man. Never change. I've got some news for everyone."
The full mass moved over to the side of the building so we weren't obstructing the entrance, "Party people, I worked something out at lunch."
I rolled out my map of the skills tree, "Okay, so I was going over my character screen, and did some math. I know what we need to do: We need to move up on every job."
Khargol shook his head, "Isn't that gonna leave us as jacks of all trades? We'd be running pretty average."
I gestured with my hands a bit in dismissal, "Usually, you're right, but here, it's different. The stats aren't really separated here, they're intended for cross-classing, and it's not just the combat jobs. I moved up a bit at Scribing here, and it looks like it'll be the same for crafting and gathering jobs. Move up in X, Y, and/or Z jobs and you unlock a hybrid. So like, say you move up as a blacksmith, armorer, and weaponsmith. All three have abilities building into one another, and that can unlock further abilities, other jobs, a whole classification of things we can't see yet.
"Using abilities works up the stats associated with that ability, and the higher the ability, the more XP it generates for the stats. Those stats still stay there when you do a job change, so you could be a Gladiator working up strength by working the forge."
Shelera looked over the drawing, "Okay, so you think if we take every job up, then that'll make us a lot stronger? But won't we end up with a bunch of usless stats?"
I shook my head, "No, for two primary reasons. For one, what if instead of Paladin, you went something like a Hexblade in D&D terms? Or, Shelera, you take Bounty Hunter, then build up your hunter job to Scout, and you have something akin to a Justicar class? Or Khargol, what if you master every weapon group?"
Temur's interest was peaked at mention of Hexblade, "And what is the second reason?"
I sucked in a breath, "It's a job change system. There's a job change skill, and every basic skill I've seen has upgrades, even if I can't see the end of the trees yet. The adaptive AI is going to adapt to our individual tactics, but even if all of us were playing hunters, we'd all approach hunting differently, maybe more reliant on archery, or snares, or pets. It would force the AI to keep readapting its own tactics on the fly. If we build up, we might just be able to get to something better than the sum of our parts."
Karghol nodded, "And that makes it doubly important we get going on the militia stuff. Shall we?"
The lot of us went over to the barracks, where a guard greeted us at the door, "Hold, citizens. What is your business with the thirteenth Valorian militia?"
I stepped forward, "We're here to enlist for service."
The guard perked right up, "Ah, good. Greetings and well met! I am Sergeant-at-Arms Brant. We are in need of stalwart folk to help protect Farrelston and wider Valoria in these trying times. Dark things are afoot both at home and afar, and it speaks well of you that you would choose service. Please, enter the hall, and register yourselves with Yeoman Granger. Welcome once again, may the purple dragon fly eternal!"
Prev Royal Road Patreon

Four years ago during quarantine I had a thing with a guy with so many followers. We were locked up cos covid. Maybe I was his source of entertainment/staying sane back then. He wanted to voice call or face time me almost everyday. I felt prioritised/like I was being chased. None of my romances after this have ever lasted past a month so this was practically my longest talking stage of half a year lol. I didn't have any relationship exp baxk it was new to me. He made it clear that he really wanted to come meet me. Never ended up happening.
I get red flags though. Douchey sense of humour sometimes. & It's obv he's a player with a high as body count and 100 toxic exes. Not to Mention the fact that this long distance thing once happened before with a girl From Korea who he actually Flew to meet long before me. Then they drifted and accepted they were just friends.
Which is how I feel is how we've ended up. But I know him well enough to sense a genuine person that's a good loyal friend and values commitment in relo's. And I've accepted through the hrs the chances of a long lasting relationship is not very realistic. I mean who knows? But I'm happy with a week or two of spending real time with this boy. Whether it's just hanging out or a fling.
Long story short. I have a holiday plan with a friend in the Phillipines. I messaged him if he was down, as my translator and my bodyguard (as a joke). He is part Fillipino. soft spot straight away when he said he might be free "and that's during my bday that'd be an exciting trip." and offered us to stay at a place someone from his family owns. I said no because stranger danger. Lol.
I was dumb and lustful enough to want to stay in the same building with him straight away. But my instincts got the better of me - meet in public and get to know each other first two state. Third state: he can stay with us. It's totally fine if he doesn't end up coming. Less chances me me ending up r-ped abducted and murdered because we don't actually know each other (I'm joking but who knows). Or coming home pregnant🤣.
But it would be such a bonus if we did meet up. I'm open to falling madly in love or the opposite, diff in person and not getting along. But I don't want to think bout that. Just go with the flow.
Becsuze we don't talk anymore I'm getting left on unopened messages again. I don't want to be the only one talking so I try to not send him anything at all. And he doesn't like any of my pictures like he used to back then. Maybe he's no longer as interested. But I do notice only once in a blue moon he'd visits my page and like multiple posts.
I'm 25 now, back then I was 21 when I was talking to him. We're roughly the same age. Ive never felt so head over heels about any man like this one. But it's obv it's because it's a fantasy/imagination kinda thing. You don't actually know the real person. The least I'd try one more time is call him with my voice for a confirmation about this trip when I officially have the tickwts. Right?

Riding on the sleek, silvery subway, there I was, my eyes devouring the pages of my latest book on Emotional Intelligence. I glanced up from my book to check my position, and I noticed a woman sitting opposite me, seemingly upset, her eyes welling up with unshed tears. Mustering all my courage, I decided to apply my newfound knowledge to this real-life scenario and approached her with a warm smile.
I asked if she was alright to initiate a conversation, rather than jumping right into her personal matters. She looked surprised at first but a small nod of her head gave me the green light to proceed.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help but notice that you seem distressed," I said gently, "Sometimes a listening ear from a stranger can help, if you'd like to talk about it."
Maybe it was my sincerity or maybe she just needed someone to share her troubles with, but she opened up to me. She was facing challenges at work and her anxiety about it was spilling over into her personal life. She was struggling to find a balance between her sputtering emotions and maintaining a professional demeanor.
As she narrated her story, her tone fluctuating from frustration to a softer sadness, I listened, I empathised, I related. I asked open-ended questions, not to probe, but to give her space to express herself. I assured her she was not alone in her struggle, as we sometimes feel we are. It made me understand how important emotional intelligence is, not only in our personal and professional lives but also in our interactions with strangers.
As we approached her station, she thanked me for my empathetic ear and said that our conversation had lightened her burden a bit. I suggested some self-help books on emotional intelligence that might help her handle her work stress more efficiently. Her eyes, now a bit brighter, she thanked me again and stepped onto her station, giving me a little wave.
I came back to my book with a newer, fresher perspective, realizing that the theories in it had a practical side too. It's funny how an everyday subway ride turned out to be such a profound learning experience of emotional intelligence. Taking my newfound insight, I can tell you that the impact of emotional intelligence on our daily communication is huge. It's not just about understanding others' feelings but also about how we handle ours.
P.S: Yes, dear readers, this story might seem out of a heartfelt drama movie, but it's purely hypothetical. Just thought I'd give a warm and human touch to the concept of Mental Models. But hey, who says it can't serve as a guide for your everyday commute? So, the next time you’re on the subway, bus or simply in a coffee shop, remember, our emotional intelligence can be a lantern in someone's dark tunnel. Who knows, maybe someone might do the same for you one day.

i honestly find hilarous how some people would protect these practices with tooth and nail, instead of just admitting that they did an oopsies and are getting the consequences of it, they said it was free to play, they label it on steam as it, and the recieved backlash and where like "oh no no we said free to play, we meant a demo", most games that do this atleast have their prices for the full game directly on the steam page, because yes, believe it or not, america is not the only country on the world that plays this, and on some places 30 dollar is much more worth, and no, its not only about the money, is the fact that before it was deleted from steam, before the lawsuit, this game was completely 100% free,high roller dungeons and multiple characters, so is not like they cant do it.
i dont think they tried to be malicious about the whole free to play thing, i 100% blame the marketing team about it, they should 100% specified more about it, because then stuff like this happen. I dont think is a bad game, if anything i believe if the game was actually worth like 15-30 dollars would be fair, because it offers an unique extraction looter with a lot of mechanics and content.
i wont retract my negative review, i lost 10 hours playing normals recently, getting loot, having to delete multiple lvl 20 or more characters to play other classes, and i found it acceptable, is just that feeling of dissapoint i assure multiple players who leaved bad reviews felt, when they looted good stuff, tried to make it a little bit more spicy by playing high roller, try the loot they worked to get, and getting a paywall that covers the screen, saying how you broke ass has to pay 30 dollars or just keep playing normals without any progression at all.
Tl;Dr: game is great, fun, even funnier with friends, worth the 30 dollars, but didnt know how to incorporate the pricing, making a paywall on the process, that frustrated free to play players and know are facing consequences

This event is held in Portland, Oregon at Mt. Tabor park.
If you need a carpool we can accommodate.
There will be shuttles so you don’t have to walk back up which is a life/leg saver!!
Registration: https://www.daddiesboardshop.com/tabor
Video of path: https://youtu.be/_fbGqzjKn6M?si=kcmHLmA0tC-pcADL
$1000 First Place for Women's Class and $1000 First Place for Open Class.
This year's race classes include Open Skate, Womens Skate, Masters Skate (40+), and Luge (new this year). Cash Prizes for all podium finishers of each class.
Skateboarders as well as Lugers can register for either Racing or Freeride. Roller Skaters and Roller Bladers allowed for Freeride only.
All registered riders Freeriding or Racing will be shuttled to the top for all the runs.
Full Face Helmets required for Racers Only for every class. Freeriders must still wear a skate or bike helmet with secure strap. All riders are required to wear slide gloves.
SATURDAY SCHEDULE -
8:30am - Check-in for Registered Riders who paid online. Day of Registration (cash only) 9am Riders Meeting 9:30am-Noon Freeriding Runs for all. Noon-1pm Lunch 1pm-5pm Freeriding, practice runs, and Racing. 5pm-ish Podium and Awards 9pm After Party TBA
Sponsored by Landyachtz and Loaded Boards. Information source was Mt. Tabor official page on Facebook.
Their page: https://facebook.com/events/s/11th-annual-mttabor-downhill-c/1185398456152736/

I (27F) have been with my partner (31M) for about 3 years. We moved in together after about 6 months, and now have 2 children under 2. At the beginning of our relationship, we explicitly made it clear that pornographic content of any kind is prohibited and we established an open phone policy if we were to be in a committed relationship, otherwise we could just continue to be a tinder hookup if we want to entertain ourselves with that. (No judgement towards others who permit that in their relationship - this is simply a condition of ours.) I’ll skip unnecessary details, but to sum things up, there were occasional flairs of issues between him and a previous girlfriend that he was possessive and obsessive of, however that died down after I encouraged him to make the decision of pursuing life with that ex or continuing with me, and he begged to stay. Fast forward, we fall pregnant with our first child and all is good, we’re both working full time, 50/50 on bills and I did 90% of the housework and shopping/errands. Bare in mind I had a high risk pregnancy, along with sciatica and was in a lot of pain, and we still had sex nearly every day because he basically claims that he needs it. When I was 8 months pregnant, I was using his phone to search reference photos for a painting I was working on. While opening his google, I found several pages of his opened search pages - of course being porn sites and links to inappropriate photos. After putting 2 and 2 together, I realized that day he specifically begged me to leave the house for a bit to get him Mexican food and when I had to call him from the taqueria to relay a text from his mom, he suddenly didn’t answer for once. Things as far as pathetic searches for “woman in tiny bikini that barely covers breasts” , and that’s when I found myself disgusted that I settled for a man that is so lowly desperate enough to make searches that equivalent to that of a 16 year old boy. After confronting him, he denied everything for nearly 20 minutes, even with the evidence right out in his face and his search history showing months of this behavior. After gaslighting me and trying to manipulate the situation and trying to turn it around on me saying he doesn’t know how those got there and he never searched those, he finally reluctantly admitted he was guilty. So he intentionally sent me out of the house so he could watch porn, and to make matters worse, he did it with our newborn in his baby chair right in front of him, apparently while he was sleeping. I was beyond disgusted with him and ready to kick him out of my apartment and deliver and raise this baby on my own even though I didn’t have any family or friends to help. After hours of him crying and begging for another chance, he specifically promised he would not be entertaining himself with pornographic content again nor do anything to risk losing his family. So with that, I stayed, we had the baby, we got engaged, things seemed fine. After a few months, we decided to deliberately try for a second baby and we moved a couple hours away into our first home and I agreed to be a SAHM and raise our baby. The day we moved, I had to use his phone for an internet search and AGAIN found porn all over his open pages. I immediately took my son and left for a week before having to come home due to limited resources. We sat and talked for nearly 6 hours, he cried to be and profusely apologized and again begged me to stay with him for our family and that he would never do anything to risk losing our family. I stayed, and we found out suddenly we were pregnant again. Surprise, timing. Time moves along, things seem fine, I have another high risk pregnancy but baby is born fine. The first few months with both kids were a struggle but we make it through. Second baby is about 4 months old when my phone broke so I needed to use my laptop for communication. I logged in to YouTube on there and was going through history to find the song my son wanted to listen to - and that’s when all the history of inappropriate dancing videos of women came up from YouTube videos to YouTube shorts. I was in complete shock. Per the history, he even had the audacity to watch a first video that explains how women partners sacrifice everything for their male partners, just for men to disregard them. Then following were practically naked women or sexualized women performing in appropriate acts or dances. Now these are the kind of videos people normally make fun of their friends about for watching because they are desperate thirst traps, and I’m just amazed that my partner is not the person I thought he was all along. It genuinely disgusts me that my main focus is my partner and children and his focus is on anything that has any sexual appeal. I find myself lost and confused on how someone can be so immature that they cannot separate the boundary of entertainment and obsession, and that the family they have created will never be enough to fill what they want or need. I asked him about the history and he denied it for 10 minutes before I showed him the evidence. He continued to deny it for almost an hour. After several hours of back and forth arguing and him lying to my face, he was provided the evidence and came clean - admitted he intentionally leaves me with both crying kids when they’re being difficult and he pretends to poop or takes extra long bathroom trips so he can watch videos of provocative women on YouTube and watch porn because he is anxious and needs relief, and that he intentionally sends me out to the store or on errand trips so he can watch porn at home. He allows me to go through the rest of his phone, and of course I find things everywhere from google to Temu - and again I’m shocked that my partner is so desperate and unhinged that he has to look at women in crotchless tights on Temu. We argue back and forth about honesty and transparency and intentions and he has the nerve to keep arguing that it’s to relieve anxiety and stress and asks me what he should do and asked what I do… I said “what other people do for anxiety - see a therapist and take anti-anxiety meds or just deal with it.” He was too stunned to speak. At this point I advocate for myself and the children and explain that I cannot subject myself to a partner like this and do not believe the children need a role model like this. He even agreed to sign over custody of both kids to me just to settle it, which now I’m seeing through his actions prove he doesn’t want to be a father or a partner despite saying he does. Since then, I’ve agreed to co-parent and continue living together for the children since we cannot afford child care, he is not working and we are living off the last of my savings and I cannot trust him to stay alone with the children. We share the same bed, although I sleep in the opposite direction due to wanting my own space. We still hook up occasionally since I have the IUD and it’s convenient, however we do not have any other intimacy such as hand holding or kissing. I cut that off early/mid April, both took off rings during the last fight about porn and have just been raising the kids as is. He supposedly has not watching any pornographic content since, but at this point it’s like I’m waiting around for the relapse in behavior. I don’t enjoy feeling like I put my full commitment into someone, for them to give me a partial percentage and lie in my face and continuously risk losing their children. If I can stop vaping because I was pregnant, a man should be able to stop watching inappropriate content if he wants to stay with his partner and children. I’m at the point where I don’t want us to be with anyone else because I love him and wanted us to live our lives out together, but respectfully without being a “Debby downer” it feels like life this way will continue this nasty cycle and I’ll keep disappointing myself with putting trust in him over and over. He swears up and down he wants to be with me and it just doesn’t feel his actions add up to that.
Please tell me anything - your advice, your feelings and thoughts, your recommendations, anything you have to say. Trolls, haters and negative comments - bring it on, I have a hateful heart too and would love your difference of opinion without needing to argue 🖤 Thank you!

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Administrator Haran sighed as he looked over the report, another space station lost to bugs. 576 trillion credits down the black hole because some idiot didn’t follow the proper quarantine rules. The station Kushtan had been a tremendous success for trade and now he had to call in the navy to blast the thing into spacedust. Well, at least they would like the target practice. He reluctantly called for his assistance, Qarl, who came into his office. “Yes Administrator! What can I help you with, and what’s so secret that I have… “He stopped talking as he saw Haran pour them two glasses of nusha. “That bad, eh?” Qarl sat down and took the glass. “What’s the occasion?” “Kushtan is lost to bugs. 576 trillion credits down the black hole. We have to inform the navy and tell them to destroy it utterly. “ “We can’t send in somebody to rescue it?” “Who would be stupid enough to enter a bug hive? We can’t even use droids. They are basically invisible to heat and energy readings, so you have to rely on movement, and their claws have venom that is corrosive to electronic. And with the amount that’s there, they would fry any droid sent in, and any bio droids would just end up as food and breeding pods for these bastards.” “What kind of bugs are we talking about? “Qarl sipped his drink as to contemplating and trying to figure out a solution that didn’t involve trillions of credits becoming target practice material. “It’s the jasatins. You know the centipede type, they are about 3 meters long and the claws have the sischan venom. My guess is that somebody was trying to import a few to milk them. “ “Are they the source of that venom? I didn’t know that. Well, jasatins are a real nasty bug. But they don’t destroy the lair, so in theory, we should be able to exterminate them.” “And again, who would be stupid enough to enter that bug hive?” Qarl grinned. “You know who.” “Humans? Come on. What can they do?” Qarl got up, went to a screen, logged into the public net, went to the ad section, and searched for bug extermination. Billions of agencies came up, mostly run by different species and all with a qualification about the size of bugs. Rarely were any above 20 centimeters. “Yeah, see, nobody deals with 3-meter-long ones.” Haran looked at the screen as Qarl added one more piece of information to the search parameter. ‘Large lethal bugs.’ Suddenly, the search was only a few million, all of them human. He then Ranked them for service rating. “Hmm Hick’s and Ripley extermination company.” Qarl skimmed through the text and gave Haran the main point.” Founded 500 years ago and has over a million successful jobs. Promise full success or money back as long as the information given before the job is accurate. Price is reasonable, 0.05 per cent of objects cleansed, 25% if intel is deliberately misguided. Will refund 50% if object needs to be destroyed. Using market value only. Is not responsible for small internal damage during bug extermination. They take care of the life insurance of their workers. That’s good. They do except tip. Costs extra if we want an observer during the crew. Hey! They also offer courses on how to avoid bug infestations in the future as well. Reasonable prices there as well.”
Haran leaned back in his chair, looking out the window at the waste space with a smirk. “God damn humans. That would be 288 billion credits. But a hell of a lot cheaper than building a new one. What are the others? Any cheaper?” Qark scanned the pages quickly “Yeah but for the job we want it seems even they recommend we go with Hick’s and Ripley. It looks like even the Twongars use them on a regular basis. With this amount of credits, we should go for the professionals.” “Give them a call, then. Hell, give them all the intel and hold nothing back. With some luck, it's too bad, and they have to blow it up for us. That way, we will recover at least half the loss.” “And if they clean it?” “Tip them a million credits per crazed idiot who ventures in and, hell, give a million for those who perish as well. If they are so good, then we put them on a retainer and order that course. It will save us lots of money. Remember last year?” Qarl shudders at the thought. Last year, they lost three stations to bugs, and the cost was several thousand trillion. The federation was not happy about it, but at least they had done everything by the book.
4 weeks later Haran looked at the human in front of him, he had expected a big brute of a man instead it was a well dress man with short curly brown hair in a suit. Though there was something about him that made him a little nervous. Humans were such strange creatures, they looked remarkably similar to his own species, the Nalos, but unlike them, humans didn’t have patterns, only one constant color. This one was slightly tanned, quite unlike his blue and red patterns, their eyes were strange as well, this one had brown eyes, not red like his and five fingers, it was the one thing that separated humans from most bipedal species, most who had four.
“Thank you, Mr. Ripley. I must say we are extremely pleased with the result. The Kushtan is already operational again. As promised, we have transferred the credits to your company and the tip for such a well-done job. I read the report. Let me say we are all saddened by the loss of Mr. Gong and Mr. Sanderson. Please extend our gratitude to their families. " Mr. Ripley nodded solemnly "We also discovered how the bugs came in; they were on their way to a military facility but mislabeled the actual cargo by the sender."
“What? I can ensure you we knew nothing about it.” Haran was getting nervous now, was this a scam to collect more money or worse somebody is deliberately spreading bug infestation. “We know, we actually found the manifest and checked the security recording. Its part of our service.” He handed him a memory storage unit.” Here is what we found and a list of similar incidents around the sector. We are suspecting a group called Yog-Uhulu but this sems to be a front for somebody else. I’m here to ask for permission to search for this group within the federation. I know Humanity just have observation status, but I have a feeling this is too important to not investigate, and my company are the experts in the field of the bug hunts.” Haran looked at Mr. Ripley. Did the human just volunteered to go after a terrorist group on behalf of the federation? That will give them full deniability if they cause trouble as they are an outsider.
“I will make some calls, but you might have to accept observers, perhaps a few investigators as well. There will be politics involved but I think I can make that happen.” Mr. Ripley smiled but it was a scary smile, like he was looking forward to this hunt. Haran was glad this human was on his side.
( A few edits and the missing ending. Will be a trilogy next part in a few days time)

Previously, on Hell’s Kitchen…
The final 7 participated in the presentation challenge, but this time, it was every chef for themselves, as they competed for an incredible reward: a black jacket and immunity from elimination. It was a closely fought contest, but in the end, Lauren cemented her frontrunner status by taking the win with a dish that impressed Chef Ramsay and the former winners who had stopped by to guest judge. Not only did Lauren earn her black jacket early, but she also got a photo shoot with Epicurious, and a dinner with the former Hell’s Kitchen champions. While Lauren was riding high, everyone else was left behind to clean up the mess from several weeks of dorm life.
In service, both teams had their share of issues, and although they each managed to fight through it, Ramsay wasn’t content with choosing a winning team, and instead had both teams nominate one chef for elimination. At elimination, the choice seemed to be an easy one, as Grace and Ramona found themselves in front of Ramsay yet again. But in the end, it was Grace who fell just short of obtaining a black jacket, which saw her dream of becoming the next head chef of Gordon Ramsay Steak go up in flames.
The final six have overcome each obstacle Ramsay has thrown at them, but are they truly ready for what lies ahead? FInd out tonight, on Hell’s Kitchen..,
https://reddit.com/link/1dbjm6p/video/uyknwqndlg5d1/player
And now, the continuation of Hell’s Kitchen…
The final six were in a celebratory mood as they sprinted down the hallway and excitedly exchanged high fives and hugs. Lauren said in her confessional that they were really here, to the part of the competition that mattered most, and best of all, Grace was finally gone. Thomas was equally glad, as he said in his confessional that it was another weak chef removed from his path, though he wasn’t really worried about anyone here. Ramona was absolutely ecstatic, saying in her confessional that not only did she get a black jacket, but she got to see Grace walk out the door. With the chefs seemingly celebrating being rid of their biggest nuisance as much as getting their black jackets, Michael pointed out that Ramsay had mentioned the black jacket lounge, and the chefs eagerly entered to find it decked out with a bar, a banner congratulating them, and several bottles of champagne on ice, with a note telling them to enjoy.
Michael said in his confessional that he knew the booze was always a trap, but that wasn’t gonna stop him, as he popped open a bottle and poured himself and Faye a glass. The others were equally willing to indulge, as Melody said in her confessional that right now, it was time to let all that tension roll off their shoulders and just enjoy this moment with Lauren. The two of them drank a couple of glasses until Melody finally said they should save something for tomorrow, as she laughed in her confessional and said someone had to be the voice of reason here. Michael had no such inhibitions as he quickly downed more than enough to get him in a relaxed state, while Faye teased him about how well he could hold his liquor. Thomas said in his confessional that he was definitely going to regret that tomorrow. The chefs continued to celebrate well into the night before finally getting what little sleep they could.
Challenge
The black jackets were awakened early the next morning, however, and went downstairs to meet Ramsay, who asked them if they enjoyed their reward last night, to which Michael replied that they did, and Ramsay said he could tell just by looking at them. Michael admitted in his confessional that he still felt like shit, and just hoped the challenge wouldn’t be too difficult. Ramsay said he hoped the chefs had saved a little pep in their step for today, because Hell’s Kitchen was opening tonight for a very special occasion: A 20th anniversary reunion night where all of the guests would be chefs who had appeared on past seasons of Hell’s Kitchen. Ramsay emphasized that he wanted to see this team at their absolute best during service. Ramona groaned in her confessional and said today of all days, she didn’t need to be dealing with a hangover. Regardless, Ramsay said that for now, he wanted them to focus on the here and now, and that meant today’s challenge. Ramsay briefly went over how much food had been wasted throughout the history of Hell’s Kitchen, to which Melody prayed in her confessional that they wouldn’t have to do any dumpster diving. Ramsay went on, though, saying that one of his favorite challenges to revisit was designed to test the chefs’ ability to work with leftover ingredients. He told the chefs that they had 45 minutes to prepare a stunning dish using leftover ingredients from last night’s service, and their time started right now.
The final six rushed into the kitchen and began rummaging through the pile of leftover ingredients. Thomas was confident as he said in his confessional that he could make a five star dish out of any ingredients, fresh or not, and already had a plan in mind. Meanwhile, Faye said in her confessional that she needed a win in this challenge to get herself back into the running, and was determined to put her best foot forward. As most of the chefs got to work on cooking, at least one chef still seemed undecided in their ingredients. Melody said in her confessional that she wanted to take her time and plan out her dish mentally first. As Ramsay called out that 10 minutes had passed, Lauren wondered in her confessional what Melody was doing, and said she needed to get a move on. Finally, Melody chose her ingredients and joined the other chefs. Ramona was determined to get it right, as she said in her confessional that she needed a win here badly, and was hoping to come up clutch again as she had during Cook For Your Life. Michael was doing his best to stay focused given his partying last night, as he joked in his confessional that hopefully he cooked even better hungover than sober. Lauren was full of confidence after having been the first to earn a black jacket yesterday, though admitted she was also feeling the after-effects of last night’s celebration. With all six chefs working frantically to wrap up their creations in the allotted time, Ramsay counted down the final seconds, then told them to stop and bring their dishes up to the pass.
Ramsay announced that since this was the 20th anniversary of Hell’s Kitchen, it was only right for a legendary judge to help him score this contest. That was why he had invited the one and only…Wolfgang Puck. A choir of voices sang his name as the iconic chef walked through the door and stood by Ramsay’s side. Melody gushed in her confessional, as she could not believe she was standing just feet away from Wolfgang Puck himself. Ramona was suddenly very nervous, as she said in her confessional that if she had known Chef Puck was going to be voting on these dishes, she would have put in 100 times the effort. Nonetheless, with the introduction out of the way, Ramsay now called on Faye to bring her dish up first.
Faye presented her pan seared halibut over pea puree with sliced vegetables. Puck examined the dish carefully, noting that the presentation could have been a bit better, though he did enjoy the taste of the halibut itself. Ramsay said it was a nice tasting dish, though unfortunately, he did get the sense it was made from leftovers, as nothing really seemed to pop, which Puck agreed with. The two chefs were ready to give their scores on a 1-10 scale, and both Ramsay and Puck gave her a six, for a 12/20 score. Faye kicked herself in her confessional, as she felt that she had played it far too safe, and it backfired on her. Next, it was Ramona’s turn to step forward, as she presented a plate of chicken breast over turnip puree with fingerling potatoes and asparagus. Again though, Ramsay commented that he wasn’t feeling a wow factor, and said it had a decent taste but one that was distinctly more like leftovers than fine dining. Puck also pointed out that the chicken was a bit undercooked for his liking. Ramsay was still willing to give it a six, but Puck felt it only earned a five, giving her an 11/20 score and leaving Faye in the lead. Ramona was upset with herself in her confessional, as she said she couldn’t believe she screwed it up right when she needed a big challenge win the most. Ramsay urged the chefs to step it up big time, as this wasn’t what he was expecting at this stage from the black jackets. Third up was Melody, who expressed anxiety in her confessional after seeing both Faye and Ramona struggle, and knew she had to get this right. She presented her herb-crusted salmon with buttered caper sauce, and Puck noted right away that it was a big step up on looks alone, which Ramsay agreed with. The chefs tasted the dish and came away just as impressed, with Ramsay saying this was the first standout dish of the challenge by far. Puck gave his score first, saying that deserved a nine. Ramsay agreed completely and also gave it a nine, for a strong 18/20 score.
Melody was thrilled in her confessional to have gotten such a strong score, but knew Thomas, Lauren and Michael were all good enough to potentially take the win. Lauren went next, saying in her confessional that Melody had raised the bar here, and it was now up to her to keep pace. She was hoping to do so with her filet mignon with red onion and tarragon relish. Ramsay had praise for the presentation, as he noted it was simple, but appetizing. Once they sliced the filet, Puck was pleased to see it cooked beautifully, and both chefs praised the taste of the meat. Puck did express that the garnish could have been a bit better, but Ramsay said they had a very tough decision on the hands. Ultimately, both felt it wasn’t quite on the same level of Melody’s dish, and each gave it an eight, for a score of 16/20. Lauren was disappointed to have come up short, but said in her confessional that she hoped Melody could hold on for the win. Next was Thomas, who expressed confidence in his confessional despite the tall task in front of him, as he said he continually demanded perfection of himself and expected nothing less here. He presented his John Dory with orange glazed endives, which earned strong praise from both Ramsay and Puck for its clean and modern presentation. Both also praised the flavor of the dish, though both noted the orange glaze was a bit too sweet for them. Ramsay was willing to overlook this though, considering how strong of a dish it was, and gave it a nine. Puck…said it did take the dish down a peg for him, and he could only give it an eight, giving Thomas a 17/20 score and leaving Melody with a narrow lead. Thomas showed some frustration in his confessional, as he was getting tired of always coming up just short in challenges. Finally, Michael was the only one left to take on Melody, and he said in his confessional that this was finally his time to take home victory in a challenge. He presented his lamb chops with butter fondant, morels, peas, and a balsamic reduction, which again earned high marks for the presentation, as Puck said the chefs were definitely putting forth their best in this challenge. Ramsay agreed, and said the dish looked nearly perfect, with only one problem…the lamb looked as if it might’ve cooked about half a minute too long. Michael kicked himself in his confessional, as he said he had been so focused on not serving undercooked food, that he had overcompensated. Despite this critique, though, both Ramsay and Puck enjoyed the dish and said the flavor was excellent.
Ramsay said this was a very tough choice, but even with the slight overcook on the lamb, everything else was good enough to earn it a nine. With the deciding vote in his hands, Puck said in addition to the lamb, he also had a bit of a problem with the garnish not adding as much as it could have, and that was why he could only give it an eight, leaving Michael with a 17/20 score, and giving Melody the win in the challenge.
Reward / Punishment
Ramsay congratulated Melody on running the gauntlet, as this was one of the closest challenges in recent years, and she absolutely earned the win. And as a reward for that win, she was going to be treated to an afternoon of surfing lessons from 2024 Olympian Carissa Moore. Melody was nothing less than giddy in her confessional, as she said this day couldn’t get much better, but Ramsay wasn’t finished, and said that a reward like this shouldn’t be spent alone, and she should bring one of her fellow chefs along. Without hesitation, Melody told Lauren to get her stuff packed, because they were going surfing. Lauren was pumped up to get a reward with Melody and have an opportunity to spend personal time with an Olympian. As the two embraced and rushed off to get changed, Ramsay told the remaining four chefs that today’s punishment would be anything but the breezy fun Melody and Lauren would be experiencing, as the kitchens needed to be cleaned and prepped, and the dining room appropriately decorated, for tonight’s 20 year Reunion Night service. Lauren wondered in her confessional why both kitchens would need to be prepped, but Faye said in her confessional that she had a sneaking suspicion about what Ramsay was up to.
While the four losing chefs got to work on their grueling punishment, Melody and Lauren went back downstairs and left Hell’s Kitchen together, eager to get started on their day in the sun, where they saw that an appropriately stylish top down convertible would be taking them to the beach. After a scenic drive through the city, they finally arrived at their destination and stepped out onto the beach on a perfect sunny afternoon. There, they were greeted by an enthusiastic Carissa Moore, who congratulated them on winning the challenge and said she hoped they were both ready to catch some waves. Melody admitted in her confessional that she didn’t actually know surfing was an Olympic sport, with Moore saying it had been added only a few years ago, and giving them a bit of her backstory on how she got into surfing and became an Olympic athlete. Lauren said in her confessional that it was a huge inspiration to talk with an Olympian, as they shared the same dedication to their respective crafts, and she felt that she and Melody could learn a lot from this in addition to having a great time. With the introductions out of the way, Moore took the chefs out on the water, giving them basic tips on riding a board and eventually to standing. Melody kept falling, much to Lauren’s amusement, as a sheepish Melody said in her confessional that nobody was perfect. However, after a long afternoon of practice and a lengthy spell of trial and error, both chefs had improved somewhat, with Melody beaming in her confessional and saying she was having the time of her life right now, a sentiment which Lauren agreed with, as she said in her confessional that there was nowhere she’d rather be than here and now. After a deeply enjoyable afternoon for both chefs, they finally said goodbye to Moore, who wished them all the best going forward, and returned to Hell’s Kitchen just in time to witness the restaurant’s transformation.
While Melody and Lauren enjoyed a day of sun, fun and relaxation, the four remaining black jackets were left with the task of turning Hell’s Kitchen into a stunning venue for the 20th anniversary reunion. Michael was particularly disappointed, as he still felt like crap thanks to his hangover, and also had come up just short in the challenge, saying in his confessional that some time outside of Hell’s Kitchen could’ve really done him some good. Thomas was still upset, as he said in his confessional that Melody and Lauren could have all the fun they wanted, but he was going to work his ass off and make sure he stood out in service. Faye and Ramona were also disappointed in their performances, though Faye said in her confessional that Ramona seemed to be taking it the worst, and she tried to encourage the younger chef to bounce back in service. Ramona was still feeling down on herself though, but said in her confessional that Faye was right, and the best thing she could do now was get locked in and try to move on from her performance in the challenge. Once the chefs had finished cleaning the kitchen and dining room, it was time to start decorating. Faye tried to keep the mood light by saying this was going to be the prettiest Hell’s Kitchen dining room in its 20 year history, getting a smile from Ramona. Meanwhile, Michael was struggling to get the decorations right and constantly asked for help. Thomas told them to focus as they didn’t have much time and still had to prep the kitchen, and said in his confessional that he felt like a babysitter right now.
Pre-Service
Melody and Lauren returned to Hell’s Kitchen to find their fellow chefs wrapping up prep. Ramsay then gathered all six black jackets in the dining room and told them that for tonight’s service, not only would they be serving a dining room full of former Hell’s Kitchen chefs for the restaurant’s 20th anniversary, but they would also be competing against a handpicked team of chefs whom Ramsay held in the highest regard. With that, Ramsay announced that the first chef cooking in the blue kitchen tonight was…Season 21 winner Alex Belew. The chefs watched in awe as the door to Ramsay’s office swung open and Alex walked down the stairs. Lauren said in her confessional that Alex was an amazing winner and she couldn't wait to compete against him. Following Alex were Season 19 winner Kori Sutton, Season 20 winner Trenton Garvey, Season 16 winner Kimberly-Ann Ryan, Season 13 winner LaTasha McCutchen, and Season 12 winner Scott Commings. With the six former winners now lined up opposite the black jackets, Ramsay assured his current proteges that he was not going easy on them in the slightest, and tonight was all about showing how far they had come as chefs and leaders when stacked up against elite competition.
Thomas was excited for this opportunity in his confessional, as he said he thrived off going against the best of the best, and he hoped the past winners were ready to pass the torch to the current chefs after tonight. Lauren was similarly excited, and said this was the perfect chance for her to prove to Ramsay that she was more than good enough to join the ranks of the champions. The winners themselves were equally pumped up, with Scoot saying in his confessional that after over a decade away, it was great to be back in Hell’s Kitchen for such a special occasion. Kori said in her confessional that these rookies might put up a good fight, but she and her teammates were winners for a reason. Alex expressed similar thoughts aloud, as he teased the current chefs by saying they could learn more from defeat than victory. Faye warned him not to speak too soon, while Michael said that this was their kitchen now. With both teams appropriately fired up and ready to go, Ramsay told them that tonight, he wanted to see two perfect services, as their fellow chefs deserved nothing but the best, then dismissed them to their respective kitchens.
Finally, Ramsay called Marino over and told him to open Hell’s Kitchen for its 20th anniversary reunion night.
Dinner Service
The doors of Hell’s Kitchen opened for this very special service, and as a sea of familiar faces streamed into the dining room, Ramsay told the chefs that everyone here was a VIP, and urged them to give their fellow HK alumni a night to remember. The former chefs were seated, with Ed from season 7 saying it felt strange to be back here again and not being the one getting yelled at. Rochelle from season 12 was already having a great time with the former chefs at her table, as they were all laughing and looking forward to their meal. Soon, tickets began to work their way back to both kitchens.
In the red kitchen, the black jacket team had Thomas and Ramona on appetizers, Melody on fish, Lauren on garnish, and Michael and Faye on meat. Early on, Thomas had no issues serving up his capellini on schedule along with Ramona’s risotto and Melody’s scallops, and the black jackets got off to a good start by getting their first table of appetizers out with no hiccups. The black jackets would settle into a rhythm from there, as they were able to keep a steady flow of appetizers going out into the dining room to pleased past chefs, with Declan from season 19 saying he was loving it so far, while Carmen from season 22 joked that it could use some more salt. Back in the kitchen though, the kitchen started to slow down thanks to Ramona serving up two bland, undercooked risottos, and dragging on all of her orders. Thomas was getting annoyed and said in his confessional that he didn’t have time to be constantly cleaning up after Ramona’s mistakes, as they were all supposed to be elite chefs at this stage. Despite his frustration, though, he helped Ramona with her risottos and impressed Ramsay with his leadership from appetizers. Melody was able to communicate well with him and served nicely cooked scallops throughout the night. Ramona served up another bland risotto though, and Ramsay schooled her for still not paying attention to the fine details at this stage of the game. She was finally able to recover with her next attempt, and the black jackets began firing entrees while still wrapping up appetizers.
In the blue kitchen, the winners were hoping to make their comeback to Hell’s Kitchen a successful one with Kori on appetizers, Trenton on fish, LaTasha on garnish, Alex and Kim Ryan on meat, and Scott acting as a floater. Early on, Kori and Trenton were able to get into a groove with their apps, sending out beautifully cooked risottos, capellini and scallops, as Trenton said in his confessional that it was just like riding a bike, and he hoped the rookies were ready to take a whooping tonight. The former champions did hit a snag though as Trenton and Kori got a bit mixed up on their times, and Trenton ended up falling behind on his scallops. Meanwhile, Kori served undercooked risotto, and Ramsay schooled them both for making such basic mistakes. Kori said in her confessional that it was time to stop messing around and get back on track. Trenton was still dragging, and Scott said in his confessional that nothing pissed Ramsay off more than a backed up kitchen, and he moved over to help out. With an assist from Scott, Trenton managed to catch up on his scallops, and the blue kitchen once again began sending out appetizers at a solid clip. Out in the dining room, the past chefs watched the teams competing with a mixture of amusement and secondhand anxiety, as Steve from season 20 said it was fascinating to see everything unfolding from the sidelines.
Back in the red kitchen, with the teams still neck and neck, the black jackets started firing off entrees. They got off to a rough start on their first ticket though, with Faye serving up undercooked lamb on the first table, while Michael was sluggish and still seemed out of it. Communication issues also arose between the meat station and Lauren on garnish, as she was ready well before they were. The overall energy in the kitchen seemed down, which Ramsay called out, as he told the chefs again that everyone was a VIP, and they needed to get their asses in gear. Michael said in his confessional that everything felt disorganized right now and it wasn’t helping his headache in the slightest. He did try to power through it though, and was finally able to get on the same page with Lauren, as he started to get back to his usual energetic self again. Meanwhile, Melody managed to serve up nicely cooked portions of John Dory and salmon along with scallops for the remaining appetizers, though she did get in some trouble for firing two halibut on a ticket where it wasn’t needed, but she bounced back quickly. Lauren continued to be vocal and drive tickets from the garnish station, while Michael did start getting it together, and after Ramsay praised his Wellingtons as being cooked perfectly, he said in his confessional that it was just the boost that he needed. Faye got in trouble again though for serving undercooked ribeye, and Lauren served a cold sauce for it. Ramona, who was still wrapping up appetizers, sent up a table of overcooked capellini and consistently dragged on orders. The black jackets fought through their problems, and finally managed to settle down into a solid groove and serve their remaining tables. Out in the dining room, Will from season 9 said that it was great to see the rookies not letting their heads go down and keeping up with the winners.
In the blue kitchen, the former winners were ready to begin firing entrees alongside their appetizers, with Alex and Kim Ryan on meat driving the tickets along with LaTasha on garnish. The winners had no troubles on their first table, as they continued their momentum from appetizers, but Kim Ryan sent up raw ribeye, and got mixed up with LaTasha on their timing. Trenton, who was now working both apps and entrees, said in his confessional that the ladies needed to get their shit together, because he was not going to let anything ruin this reunion night. Thanks to Scott stepping in to call out times for the vets and help Trenton on fish, food once again began to leave the kitchen at a steady pace. Meanwhile, Kori was able to continue sending out appetizers without any issues, and the champions seemed to be on course for a smooth service. Alex had an unexpected mistake, though, as he served up overcooked Wellingtons, which he kicked himself for in his confessional, saying there was no excuse for screwing up a dish they had cooked every night in Hell’s Kitchen. Alex was able to bounce back quickly, and along with Kim Ryan, got the meat station back on track. LaTasha, meanwhile, had success calling out times and keeping the kitchen running from garnish after the earlier communication issues, as she said in her confessional that everyone here was a pro, and they knew how to close a service out. Sure enough, the winners seemed to only get stronger as the night wore on, talking to each other and sending out entrees to satisfied Hell’s Kitchen alumni. In the dining room, season 18 winner Ariel joked that she was enjoying the show and getting some great food out of it too. With the vets now firing on all cylinders, they managed to finish sending out the rest of their entrees.
Ramsay told both teams to clear down, then had them join him in the dining room.
Post-Mortem
Ramsay started out by telling the chefs that tonight was all about honoring the storied past of Hell’s Kitchen, and despite their struggles, both kitchens had managed to do that by finishing strong and delivering what he hoped was a great service. At this, the guests in the dining room applauded and cheered loudly. Ramsay then said it was time to turn to the matter of the winning team, which would be decided by customer satisfaction cards handed out in the dining room. After tallying the scores, Ramsay said there was one team who had the edge. First, he read out the score of the returning winners. Their tables had given them a 93% satisfaction rating. Next, he turned to the current black jackets, and said that their tables had given them…an 87% rating. This made the past champions the winners of service, which they took with huge smiles as their fellow chefs, including the current black jackets, applauded them. LaTasha got a bit emotional in her confessional and said that it felt great to get one last win in Hell’s Kitchen, on the 20th anniversary no less, while Scott said in his confessional that being able to deliver a great service to their fellow chefs meant just as much as winning had. Lauren was disappointed in her confessional, but had to hand it to the returning winners, as she said they simply performed better and deserved the win.
With the results announced, Ramsay told the black jackets to say goodbye to the past winners, and to everyone else in attendance. Once the crowd had cleared out, Ramsay brought the chefs back into the kitchen and had them line up like normal, telling them that it was close, but close would no longer be good enough, and there were still too many inconsistencies here given that it was supposed to be the best of the best. With that said, he instructed the black jackets to have a good, long discussion about which two they felt should be on the chopping block tonight, and dismissed them to the dorms.
Back in the dorms, the discussion began with Thomas saying that Ramona had been the clear weak link on apps, and it wouldn’t be right for anyone to go up before her. The others quickly seemed to agree, with Lauren saying that she still seemed to get overwhelmed, and it was clear by now that she wasn’t ready to take the next step. Ramona admitted she had the worst service, but announced Faye and Michael as her nominees given that they had been inconsistent on the meat station. Michael argued back that he may have had a bit too much to drink last night, but he was still vocal and fought back. Thomas agreed with Faye going up, though, saying that by this point, it wasn’t about your experience in Hell’s Kitchen, but what you did with it. Faye agreed that she could have done better, but still felt that Ramona was their weakest chef, as much as she hated to say it. Ramona became frustrated, saying this same routine had been going on for weeks and she was tired of hearing it, as she went off to the bedroom, and Melody went in after her to try to offer some comfort. Melody told her that she had been a fighter throughout the competition and not to give up on herself now.
Elimination Ceremony
The black jackets entered the dining room and lined up, and Ramsay started off by saying that he had expected more from his top six, especially given the occasion, and it was frustrating to watch at times when he knew that their potential was much higher than what they were showing. With that said, he asked Melody for the black jacket team’s first nominee and why. Melody announced that the black jackets had decided to put up Ramona, due to having struggled the most in services to this point. Ramsay asked for the second nominee and why. Melody seemed to hesitate a bit, but finally announced that Faye was the second nominee, due to having problems on the meat station. Ramsay accepted the nominations and called Ramona and Faye forward.
Deliberation music
Ramsay first asked Ramona why she should stay in Hell’s Kitchen.
Ramona: “Chef, I’ve had a long journey in this competition, from signature dish to where I am now. I didn’t always have this belief in myself, but having been through it all, now I know that I belong here, I deserve this black jacket, and I believe I have the potential to be the head chef you’re looking for.”
Ramsay moved on to Faye, asking why she should stay in Hell’s Kitchen.
Faye: “I'm disappointed in my performance tonight, chef, and I know you are too. The important thing though, is that I don’t let those mistakes get to me. I feel like I have the composure that Ramona maybe doesn’t at this point, and I think that’s what sets me apart. I expect a lot better from myself, and if you give me another chance, I’ll show you.”
Ramsay struck a thoughtful pose, as he said that he had a very difficult choice ahead of him, but at last, he was ready to make it.
Ramsay: “My decision is…”

Ramsay: “Faye…I expect a lot better too. And I need to see it soon, because I can’t go on much further. Back in line!”
A relieved Faye rushed back to rejoin the other black jackets, while Ramsay turned his attention to Ramona.
Ramsay: “Ramona…step forward, darling. I think we both know that you are not quite ready to become the next head chef of Gordon Ramsay Steak.”
Elimination music
Ramona stepped up and handed over her jacket.
Ramsay: “Let me tell you this: you do have potential, a lot of it. I could see that from your very first dish. Unfortunately, it’s consistency and leadership that I’m looking for, and I haven’t seen enough of it. What you’ve got to do now is keep going. Don’t stay down. Fight back, and become the chef I know you can be.”
Ramona thanked Ramsay as he hugged her, and she waved goodbye to her fellow chefs before leaving Hell’s Kitchen.
Ramona’s comment and montage
Flashback to signature Signature Dish challenge
Ramsay: ‘Your name, young lady?”
Ramona: “Ramona, chef.”
Ramsay: “Ramona, that dish is absolutely stunning, it’s a clear five.”

Ramona: “It’s been one hell of a ride here in Hell’s Kitchen. I’m young, I don’t have the experience of some of my fellow chefs, and that was an obstacle I had to overcome.”

Flashback to various services
Ramsay: “Good god almighty…RAMONA! It’s still raw!”
Ramsay: “Hey, you, take a look at that, what the fuck is that?! Do you want to go home right now?”
Ramsay: “Oh come on, Ramona, this is your course, they need to hear you!”

Ramona: ‘Was it a struggle to work with my fellow chefs at times? Oh hell yeah. But I never backed down.”
Flashback to chefs in dorms
Grace: “So you’re gonna stand there and say you deserve to be here more than me after that service, really?!”
Ramona: “Hey, look, I served my tables, I owned my mistakes! And guess what? I work with the team. T-E-A-M, honey, I know that doesn’t mean anything to you!”

Ramona: “If there’s one thing I’ve taken away from all this, it’s that being a head chef is a lot harder than I thought it would be. You have to work your ass off, and I did. Even though I’m walking away empty handed, Chef did recognize my potential.”
Flashback to various services and challenges
Ramsay: “Beautifully cooked, Ramona! Keep the bar up there!”
Ramona: “Yes, chef!”
Ramsay: ‘The immunity pass goes to…Ramona, well done, young lady, that dish was fantastic.”
Ramsay: “Ramona, great sear on those scallops!”

Ramona: “He may not think I’m ready now, but I know that one day, I’ll get there.”

With Ramona’s elimination, Ramsay remarked that there were just five left standing, a fourth of the original field of 20, and while they had held their own against the winners and given them a decent run, their services going forward needed to be even better if they wanted to become the next head chef of Gordon Ramsay Steak. With that, he told them to go back to the dorms and rest up, because the competition was just going to get more and more intense with each passing day, and each of them now had a one in five chance of reaching their dream.
As the chefs went back upstairs, each of them had a confessional. Michael said that from now on, he was fully locked in and done with partying until his door opened, as he had a restaurant to win, and nothing was going to get in his way. Lauren said that even small mistakes could get you sent home at this point, and she would simply have to trust her skill and composure under pressure to carry her through. Faye said that she had just had another close brush with elimination, and knew she needed a Texas-sized comeback tomorrow to show Ramsay that she was far from done. Melody said that she could never have imagined getting this far when she first walked in, but now, she couldn’t imagine walking out with anything less than a head chef position at Gordon Ramsay Steak. Finally, Thomas said that with Ramona gone, it was down to the five truly strong chefs, but he was completely confident that whatever challenges Ramsay threw at them, he was the best equipped to handle them and take home the prize.
Placement
https://preview.redd.it/9wkhsxjimg5d1.png?width=2470&format=png&auto=webp&s=8c1625f0e178310b26ada5dac999987706bffc08

Overcoming Authentication Challenges in Spring Boot Using GCP OAuth2

In the realm of web application development, securing communication between services is paramount. This is particularly true when dealing with sensitive data, such as sending emails through Google's Cloud Platform (GCP) services. OAuth2 stands as a robust authorization framework that facilitates these secure interactions, enabling applications to obtain limited access to user accounts on an HTTP service. However, integrating OAuth2 with Spring Boot for email services, developers often face the notorious '403 Access Token Scope Insufficient' error. This error signifies a misconfiguration in the access scope of the OAuth2 token, hindering the application's ability to perform its intended actions.
To navigate through this challenge, understanding the core concepts of OAuth2 and the specific requirements of GCP for email sending capabilities is essential. The error typically arises from an oversight in defining or requesting the correct scopes required by the Gmail API for sending emails. This introduction serves as a guide to correctly configuring your Spring Boot application to use OAuth2 authentication with GCP, ensuring seamless email communication without encountering permission-related errors. By addressing the common pitfalls and providing a step-by-step solution, developers can efficiently overcome this hurdle and enhance their application's security and functionality.

Command	Description
GoogleCredentials.getApplicationDefault()	Obtains the default credentials for authorizing calls to Google APIs.
.createScoped(List scopes)	Limits the permissions for the OAuth2 token to the specific scopes required.
new Gmail.Builder(HTTP_TRANSPORT, JSON_FACTORY, requestInitializer)	Creates a new instance of the Gmail service for interacting with the API.
service.users().messages().send(String userId, Message emailContent)	Sends an email message on behalf of the authenticated user.

Enhancing Email Functionality with GCP OAuth2 Authentication

Integrating Google Cloud Platform's (GCP) OAuth2 authentication into a Spring Boot application for email services presents both opportunities and challenges. The OAuth2 framework offers a secure, efficient way to handle permissions without sharing password details, but it requires careful setup and understanding. The core issue many developers encounter, as illustrated by the '403 Access Token Scope Insufficient' error, typically stems from incorrect scope configuration. This error indicates that the application's OAuth2 token does not have the necessary permissions to execute its intended actions, particularly sending emails via Gmail APIs. To resolve this, developers must ensure their application requests the correct scopes during the OAuth2 flow. Scopes like 'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.send' and 'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.compose' are critical for email operations, allowing the application to compose and send emails on behalf of the authenticated user.
Beyond scope configuration, understanding the lifecycle and refresh mechanism of OAuth2 tokens is vital. Tokens have a limited lifespan and require refreshing to maintain application functionality without user re-authentication. Implementing automatic token refresh in a Spring Boot application involves using the Google Authorization Library to manage the OAuth2 tokens efficiently. This setup ensures that the application can securely and continuously send emails, leveraging GCP's powerful email services. Additionally, properly handling errors and exceptions, such as the '403 Access Token Scope Insufficient', enables developers to build more resilient applications. By thoroughly understanding and implementing GCP OAuth2 authentication, developers can unlock the full potential of their applications, ensuring secure, reliable email functionality.

Configuring OAuth2 Credentials for Email Sending

Java SDK for GCP

GoogleCredentials credentials = GoogleCredentials.getApplicationDefault() .createScoped(Arrays.asList(GmailScopes.GMAIL_SEND, GmailScopes.GMAIL_COMPOSE)); HttpRequestInitializer requestInitializer = new HttpCredentialsAdapter(credentials); Gmail service = new Gmail.Builder(new NetHttpTransport(), GsonFactory.getDefaultInstance(), requestInitializer) .setApplicationName("myappname").build(); 

Constructing and Sending the Email Message

Utilizing JavaMail with GCP Gmail API

Properties props = new Properties(); Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(props, null); MimeMessage email = new MimeMessage(session); email.setFrom(new InternetAddress("from@example.com")); email.addRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, new InternetAddress("to@example.com")); email.setSubject("Your subject here"); email.setText("Email body content"); ByteArrayOutputStream buffer = new ByteArrayOutputStream(); email.writeTo(buffer); byte[] bytes = buffer.toByteArray(); String encodedEmail = Base64.encodeBase64URLSafeString(bytes); Message message = new Message().setRaw(encodedEmail); message = service.users().messages().send("me", message).execute(); 

Advancing Security and Functionality in Email Services with GCP OAuth2

Utilizing Google Cloud Platform (GCP) OAuth2 authentication for email services within Spring Boot applications enhances both security and functionality but requires an in-depth understanding of Google's authentication mechanisms. The process involves navigating through Google's API and OAuth2 infrastructure to correctly set up and manage credentials. This includes handling the OAuth2 flow, from obtaining access tokens to managing token refresh to ensure uninterrupted service. The complexity arises not only from setting up OAuth2 but also from ensuring that the application adheres to Google's security standards, including proper scope configuration and secure storage of tokens and credentials.
Moreover, integrating GCP OAuth2 with email services necessitates a keen attention to detail regarding the specific permissions each token grants. It's crucial for developers to request and assign the correct scopes that match their application's needs. Misconfiguration can lead to errors, such as the dreaded '403 Access Token Scope Insufficient' error, which indicates that the application's permissions are not adequately set up to perform the requested operations. This highlights the importance of a thorough understanding of both the OAuth2 framework and the Gmail API's requirements, ensuring a seamless integration that leverages the full capabilities of GCP's email services.

Frequently Asked Questions on GCP OAuth2 Email Integration

1. Question: What is OAuth2 in the context of GCP?
2. Answer: OAuth2 is an authorization framework that allows applications to obtain limited access to user accounts on an HTTP service. It's used in GCP to securely authenticate and authorize API calls.
3. Question: How do I resolve the '403 Access Token Scope Insufficient' error?
4. Answer: This error is resolved by ensuring your application requests the correct scopes necessary for the operations it needs to perform, such as sending emails through the Gmail API.
5. Question: How can I securely store OAuth2 tokens in my application?
6. Answer: Tokens should be stored securely using encrypted storage mechanisms, such as secure server environments or encrypted databases, to prevent unauthorized access.
7. Question: Can I automate the token refresh process for my application?
8. Answer: Yes, the Google API client libraries support automatic token refresh when configured correctly, ensuring continuous access without manual intervention.
9. Question: How do I set up OAuth2 credentials in a Spring Boot application for GCP?
10. Answer: Set up involves creating a credentials file from the Google Developers Console, loading it into your application, and configuring the GoogleAuthorizationCodeFlow with the necessary scopes.
11. Question: What scopes are required for sending emails via the Gmail API?
12. Answer: At a minimum, 'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.send' is required for sending emails. Additional scopes may be required for other operations.
13. Question: Is it possible to send emails on behalf of users without accessing their entire Gmail account?
14. Answer: Yes, by requesting only the specific scopes needed for your application, such as sending emails, you can limit access to just the necessary functionality.
15. Question: How does the OAuth2 flow work in a Spring Boot application?
16. Answer: The OAuth2 flow typically involves redirecting a user to an authorization page, obtaining consent, and then exchanging an authorization code for an access token.
17. Question: Can I use OAuth2 for applications running on localhost during development?
18. Answer: Yes, Google's OAuth2 services allow for applications running on localhost to be authorized for development and testing purposes.

Securing and Streamlining Email Services with OAuth2 and GCP

Successfully integrating OAuth2 with Spring Boot for email services via Google Cloud Platform marks a significant achievement in application development, offering a blend of enhanced security and functionality. This journey reveals the critical importance of correctly configuring OAuth2 scopes and managing access tokens, which are fundamental to avoiding common pitfalls like the '403 Access Token Scope Insufficient' error. Developers must diligently ensure their applications request appropriate permissions and handle token refreshes efficiently to maintain seamless operation. The exploration underscores the importance of understanding OAuth2 and GCP's email services in-depth, enabling developers to leverage these powerful tools to build robust, secure applications. By adhering to best practices for OAuth2 integration, developers can create applications that not only meet the stringent security standards of today's digital landscape but also provide a smooth user experience. Ultimately, mastering OAuth2 authentication in the context of GCP services empowers developers to unlock the full potential of their applications, ensuring reliable and secure email communication capabilities.
https://www.tempmail.us.com/en/oauth2/solving-the-403-access-token-scope-insufficient-error-in-spring-boot-with-gcp-oauth2

Hey y'all! So, I've been prepping for a bit to run A More Perfect Union, the HA campaign arc given in the Battlegroup book, and in the process there of I've discovered that for as much as I love this game for some of it's brilliant ideas and execution, it has some awful issues, such as the ammount of sheer effort it takes to make enemy fleets and the lack of proper character sheets and the such; to that end, I made them.
In here there's an actual player character sheet made in Excel that includes a sheet for your commander, an action reference page and a full page for each potential Capital Ship in your group; there are also printable versions of these that can be done double sided and made as needed.
All maneuvers and tactics, plus a round order and gyre reference details have been put together into sheets for easy printout if needed and there's a printable gyre included, as well as my ongoing notes on A More Perfect Union as I'm still prepping it. Any additional resources or printouts or changes I make will all be in this Drive, so...
Yeah, I hope this helps.
Enjoy!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ceBUM092GgY53TcAHteigoRnwIpUuo-4?usp=sharing