For most (inherently subjective) things you could rate, anyway. I'm not talking about, like, measuring something in a lab, where being as precise and granular as possible as all upside.
But for rating, say, books or movies or games or restaurants or product reviews? Rating out of 5 is generally all the granularity you need to cover all the meaningfully distinct subjective evaluations, and in fact has a number of advantages over more granular rating systems. 1 genuinely sucks, 2 is mediocre, 3 is average, 4 is good, 5 is a masterpiece—that's really all you need if you really want to put a number on your opinion. And by rating out of 5, you generally avoid some of the weirdness that gets carried over from the American education's grading system (where 50 or 60 is failing, and 70 is merely average)
Rating out of 100 generally introduces a meaningless level of granularity for something that is basically fuzzy and subjective. Saying one album is a 4 out of 5 vs a 3 out of 5 says something meaningful about how you rate them. But saying one album is an 81 and another is an 82? A functionally meaningless distinction.
Rating out of 10 isn't as bad as out of 100 for meaningless granularity, but it runs into another problem, which is the extent to which ratings have been warped by the American education's grading scale. In theory, 3/5 and 6/10 are the same. In practice, 6/10 tends to invoke associations with a failing score in school (at least for Americans, but I'd argue its sort of infected everyone else via the internet), and so both reviewers and those reading reviews tend to treat 7/10 as "average". For whatever reason, that doesn't hold true with 5 point rating systems, where people are less inclined to treat 3/5 as a failing score.
5 point rating scales also usually avoid another stupid blindspot of other rating systems, which is the tendency of some reviewers to treat the top end of 10 and 100 point scales as some impossible to attain level of perfection that should never be rewarded. Many (dumb and wrong) people will argue that a 100/100 game or movie or album can't exist because thats a perfect score and perfection is unattainable. This is a fucking stupid way to structure a rating scale—the top end should be the best that someone can achieve, not some theoretical platonic ideal of perfection that doesn't and cannot ever exist—and fortunately for 5 point rating scales basically no one makes this stupid argument. The people who say a 100/100 or 10/10 work of art can't exist generally don't say a 5/5 work of art can't exist, because the system doesn't have enough granularity for cutting off 20% of the possible scores to be viable. This is a good thing.
In conclusion, 5 point rating scales get a 5/5. 10 point scales get a 3/5. 100 point rating scales get a 1 out of 5.

Hello, I am the developer of Archean, which just released on Steam today, in Early Access.
Archean is an immersive Engineering Sandbox and Space Sim. The game is set on Earth, 3 billion years in the past, in the Archean eon.
This is a challenging sandbox that can be played solo or multiplayer with dedicated servers. It also happens to be a full scale Space Sim but it doesn't force you to do space stuff.
This game (and custom engine) is developed by a single programmer (myself) in a small team of two.
This project is my baby, I've been working on it for more than 13 years, starting over many times, until the technology got to where it needed to actually make it happen.
It's priced at USD 19.99 but there is a 25% discount at the moment for the release!
NOTE: You require an NVIDIA RTX graphics card to be able to play it. It won't run on a GTX or an AMD gpu.
Current Features

• Engineering / build sandbox
• Resource gathering and crafting
• Solo or Multiplayer with dedicated servers
• Open World with full size Earth and Moon
• Space Sim with orbital mechanics
• Aerodynamics simulation
• In-game coding with the XenonCode language
• Workshop integration
• Creative and Adventure modes
• Fully ray-traced graphics

Future Updates

• Survival mode
• Vehicle destruction and PVP
• Pressurization system
• Full scale solar system (with all the planets and moons)
• Weather system
• LOTS more content
• SDK for modders

Immersive Engineering Sandbox

We offer a very advanced, high precision build and engineering system with small resizable blocks from 25 cm to 4 meters. In this game, you have to connect components with actual cables/pipes for power, data and fluids. Build in-game live in an immersive way, not in an editor. Code your own logic in virtual computers, using pure code or a node-based visual programming system.

XenonCode

We have developed a new programming language designed to be easy to learn and optimal for in-game virtual computers. The game has a built-in cooperative editor with syntax highlighting and multi-cursor support, as well as a node-based visual editor to facilitate scripting.

Adventure Mode

In this mode, you begin with nothing in your backpack. You have to gather resources and craft everything you need. You start by hand, picking up rocks, build mining rigs, build automated machines and so on. Some resources are underwater, some are at the highest mountain peaks. It's up to you to build vehicles that can get there. The ultimate goal is to reach the Moon.

Native Ray-Tracing

Our innovative renderer is fully ray-traced with a great performance. This is not a eye-candy, it's actually a necessary feature for this game to even exist, because of its dynamic nature. Since the content will be mostly user-created and it's set to be moddable out-of-the-box, we cannot afford any artist-driven baked lighting, and with the full scale aspects with customizable solar system, we need the sun(s) lighting to be completely dynamic based on the real-time scenario, instead of tweaking shadow maps and reflection probes manually like other games do. The entire scene is rendered in a single ray-tracing pass with many recursive light bounces. This allows for realistic hard shadows, perfectly reflective mirrors and physically correct refractions. Just make sure you have an NVIDIA RTX graphics card and you're good to go.

Space Sim

The final goal of this game is to be a Full Scale Space Sim with the entire solar system. At the moment we have the Earth and the Moon, Orbital Mechanics and Re-Entry effects based on velocity. There is no artificial speed limit, so you can actually orbit realistically at 8 km/s. You can also dock with your friend's ship while in orbit, if you're good.
We have great plans for this game, and we swear by our 5 commandments:

1. Thou shall obey physics

It's NOT arcade-style and we do not underestimate our players. You must understand science or be willing to learn some physics. The game features realistic 6-dof space physics without any artificial speed limit. As far as we know, it's the only multiplayer space sim where you can dock with your friend's space station while in space at Full Orbital Velocity. This game is NOT meant to be a dogfight-style space shooter because that would not be practical with realistic physics.

2. Thou shall not see "Loading..."

Seamless transitions, no loading screens, EVER! From ground to orbit to another planet... it's all seamless. The game also happens to "load" pretty much instantly... For reference, in our Quadcopter video, the recording started BEFORE the game's executable was launched.

3. Thou shall not hit a wall

No fake boundaries. No skyboxes. No predefined paths. IT's a true Open World game, and it's all full scale. If you see a mountain, it's not a texture... You can just walk there and climb it if you have the courage... But I would just build a Rover or some kind of aircraft to get there faster. The moon that you see from the surface of Earth is the actual moon's terrain that you will land on, if you manage to build a good enough rocket, that is. The stars you see are individually rendered points in 3D space. It's not a skybox. But let's be honest you won't ever be able to reach another star.

4. Thou shall not be Thee

Immersive, first person controls and no cutscenes. There will NEVER be a point where the player loses control of their avatar to a cutscene or to some long animation. This game will keep a focus on First Person Immersion. Even though there is a 3rd person view available, it's mostly for taking screenshots, the game is not meant to be played this way.

5: Thou shall make sense

Everything has a realistic purpose based on science. Nothing should be fake, and in-game technologies must be at least plausible with some math behind it. This means that there is no such thing as magical artificial gravity. There are only two ways to have gravity in your spaceship when you're in space:

• Constant Acceleration: Players inside an accelerating ship do feel gravity realistically, and there is no artificial sublight speed limit as opposed to most (if not all) other multiplayer space sims.
• Centrifugal Forces: Yes you can also build a rotating station and you will have realistic "gravity" sensation like you would expect.

Also, there will be no Faster Than Light space travel. The math for a plausible Warp Drive would not allow that, but will let you multiply your acceleration quite a bit, in a way that you can travel up to 99% the speed of light.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2941660/Archean/
I sincerely hope you'll enjoy this game a lot, as I did developing it and will keep enjoying working on it for years to come.

Hi all! I had a few days of headache with a new build recently using the B650 PLUS WIFI motherboard and I wanted to share what I tried and what worked for me!
Basically, the problem was that I was able to boot into windows just fine if I used my integrated graphics from my CPU. While in windows, I could move the HDMI from the motherboard port to the graphics card, and everything worked as expected with my GPU being recognized and working great. If I tried to turn on the computer with the HDMI cable plugged into the graphics card, the VGA LED on the motherboard would stay on and the computer would not boot.
It turns out my TV was not sending a signal (or strong enough signal) for it to clear POST. I fixed this by forcing my TV to used HDMI 2.0 (by turning off compatibility mode).
If you are having the same issue as I was, these are all the things to try. It's possible any one of these methods will be the solution for you:

1. Make sure your monitor is on before turning on your computer.
   
2. If it is on, check your monitoTV settings to force HDMI 2.0 with a compatible HDMI cable.
   
3. Unplug and re-plug in your GPU power cable, try a different cable if your PSU is modular.
   
4. Remove your CMOS battery for 10 seconds to reset your motherboard settings.
   
5. Switch your GPU between the available PCIe slots.
   
6. Try a few things with your RAM. Remove and re-seat. Use only one stick. Switch which stick is in which slot, and be sure you are using the right slots. (Example: using 2 sticks, my model required them to be in the second and fourth slot counting from the CPU)
   
7. Update your motherboard BIOs, be sure to get the right model! I tried the B650 PLUS on accident when I needed the B650 PLUS WIFI bios... No damage was done in case you get this wrong too!
   
8. Try booting with a different GPU, then switching back to your desired GPU.
   
9. Power cycle to drain your motherboard circuitry: Turn off computer and switch off PSU. Hold down power button, and switch the PSU on and off quickly 5 to 10 times.
   

If anyone else has any advice, please share here! At first, I tried everything except for number 2, which wound up being the solution for me! -_- I did not see anyone mention this possibility online, so hopefully this is everything you can try just short of RMAing the motherboard!
I hope this helps! ☺

Hello!
I'm here because I've had success with forming a meaningful friendship from this subreddit before- and while it didn't work out in the long run, it's shown me that it is absolutely possible to find that spark here.
In an effort to not waste your time nor mine, I'm not here seeking a casual chat- I want to get to know someone beyond just a few exchanges. I'm here for a genuine connection and conversation.
So, why message me? Good question! I'm rather shy, and modest- so trying to talk myself up is honestly really difficult. Instead, here are some random things about me and if any of it interests you, strikes a chord, or makes you smile, then I probably can, too!

• I live in the south of England but I have lived around Europe previously. I lived for around a year in Lithuania and about 6 months in Austria, and further time living in Scotland
  
• I have a degree in chemistry and a further Master's in Drug Design and Biomedical science
  
• I currently work as an analytical chemist, which sounds more interesting than it actually is with me spending most of my time in a windowless lab testing random chemicals
  
• I've always been a voracious reader. Bookstores make my heart happy. I'll read anything with a good plot. I am currently reading a lot of books on history, but I will pick up whatever random fiction book looks interesting, which tends to be random depressing books!
  
• I will happily eat anything that is highly spicy!
  
• I have travelled quite a bit over the last couple of years with trips to Denmark, Spain, Germany (twice), Austria and Czechia! I am also into photography, mainly architecture and I have put some of the better ones here!
  
• Empire is the best Star War
  
• Last Crusade is the best Indiana Jones.
  

So what now? Introduce yourself, share a photo to I can put a face to the words, tell me 5 random things about you, or 5 things on your bucket list, or the first 5 things you'd do if you won the lotto- or anything at all you'd like to share. Have animals? Show me pics!
Lastly, I know it's hard to take the time to write a thoughtful message on the chance that it may go unanswered. I'm not here for a lot of messages- I'm here for just one, and I know the kind of message that I'm hoping to receive. I don't want to waste anyone's time, so if I don't reply then know that I'm rooting for you to find the person you're hoping for, too!

Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road
Deep in the groaning halls of sinew and bone he awaited his audience with the god. At a wave of his hand the ribs which held up the ceiling contracted, tendons shifting within the pink walls of the chamber as the jagged, calcareous spurs that composed the doorway sank back into the spongy masses of tissue, revealing a passage curving down and out of sight.
Menash stood before the yawning portal and considered eternity. This was no an idle thought: here in the Dawning Chamber, the concept was very real. His father, Yulan, had stood in this exact spot times beyond count. When he was struck down in his prime by the Night Weaver and her Leaper offspring, torn limb from limb as he fought to defend Chthonis from a raiding party, Menash’s uncle, Aqavarr, had carried his broken remains over that grinning threshold to join the hosts of the dead, never to return.
A hot and heavy exhalation rattled up out of the depths, wafting in the acrid scent of the bonding pools and the wet slithering sound of the rebirthing canals. Menash felt a crackle of static in the corners of his mind before the signal sharpened and he heard It whisper distinctly:
“Enter…”
The familiar dread crept its way up the small of his back, and he gave a little shiver. No matter how many times he had communed with the Vitalus, he’d never been able to shake the feeling of his utter insignificance. But he persevered, walking bravely down the slurping passage, past the rows of broad antechambers lining either side of the hallway. Each one held a slumbering shape immersed in a cryogenic bath, towering hulks of muscle encased in ribbed and riveted plates of chitin. No two were alike in size or physiology, but all seemed to emanate the same primeval aura of dread that tickled Menash’s fight-or-flight-instinct, skewing it very much towards the latter response. These were the Hollowores, soulless avatars of the Vitalus, each one a tool capable of eradicating an entire species. As Menash approached, one of the living weapons stirred to life. A pronged, anvil-shaped head emerged from the bath, umbilical feeder tubes detaching from its armored flanks as the rest of its bulk followed, its mauve exoskeleton as sleek and shiny as amethyst. The Hollowore extended legs as thick as grown pine trees and lifted itself above him, its pairs of crushing pincers dripping amniotic fluids as it herded him towards the central room.
Bundles of white gossamer filaments spread all across the floor, encircling steaming pools of pus and acid. He saw arms and legs, sensory organs and entire exoskeletons being knitted before his very eyes, the amino acid chains being stitched on a layer at a time, the weeping pus evidence of microphages fighting off possible infections as the Vitalus did Its work.
These were the next generation of exomorphs, yet to be assigned to their hosts. It was here that Vitalus constantly improved the only thing that could ensure the continued survival of Menash’s subspecies. Exomorphs were bonded to Gallivants at birth, the organisms supplying their hosts with the means to breathe an atmosphere they was never meant to endure, and the strength to fight in a world that was red in tooth and claw. They were as swift as the summer wind and could multiply their host’s muscular power by up to twelve times their natural output.
But for all their God-given might, Gallivants were still mortal. They could and often did perish in the endless struggle for existence that the Vitalus called the Great Game. But even in death they could still commit their essence to posterity, passing down their defining traits through the malleable genetic code of the gilt helix. It was the Vitalus’ greatest boon; through the gilt helix a single individual could become a progenitor of an entire generation, becoming at one stroke the father of whole nations and peoples.
One day he too would prove worthy of the honor that Yulan had earned with his life. But he was not alone in that ambition. Menash was annoyed to find the crimson-clad Vezda and the cowardly Racek waiting for him inside, standing next to a large ball of filaments that hung from a tonsil-like growth hanging from the walls.
This node pulsed, emitting a small storm of bioelectric activity, networks of fungi conveying commands in the form of oscillating voltages to their communities of symbiotic bacteria, the latter containing greigite mineral crystals aligned in the shape of electromagnetic coils. Other networks hidden in the walls modulated and amplified the signals, and the three Gallivants steeled themselves for the onrushing flood of information as the Vitalus tapped into their minds.
He was a candle before the raging heart of the thunderstorm. For an instant Menash touched a fraction of Its intelligence, the divisions of time and space rolling back as they joined the ocean of shared consciousness, becoming one with the living systems of Arachnea. From the tiniest aeroplankton floating above the waves of the golden coastlines, to the herds of ultrapods munching their way through swathes of trees in the savannahs. Menash felt himself pushing up out of the soil, longing and lusting and reaching for the sunlight with a trillion green fingers uncurling, alive with the furious movement of life.
But what was that flicker of orange to the east? That searing heat, that prickling pain spreading like a cancer down his side?
The Vitalus scooped them up and hurled them headlong into hell itself. A roaring wildfire was sweeping into the heart of the eastern rainforests. Menash tasted ash and ruin, felt pieces of himself wither and burn, his branches tongues of fire, wood cracking from the intense blaze, sap boiling instantaneously upon contact and rupturing, splitting him right down the grain. He fled in terror, running, slithering, digging, swimming, flying away in crazed panic from the walls of red death closing in on him. As his skin flaked off in clumps of charcoal he looked back and saw it towering over the treetops, the epicenter of this howling vortex of destruction: the grey behemoth. Its burnished metal hide gleamed like copper, reflecting the fury of the conflagration burning well into the night.
Menash pulled his mind away before it was lost forever in the storm of electric potentials. He saw Racek and Vezda swaying on their feet, breathing hard and fast.
“Heart of the World,” he managed to gasp, “What is your bidding?”
The Hollowore maneuvered itself until it was facing him directly. Tiny beady eyes fixed him in their blank gaze. The node emitted a blue pulse and the creature shuddered as it received the signal. It opened a maw powerful enough to chew boulders into gravel and rumbled:
“This one is the alpha which survived first contact with anomalous variable. It will tell Us what occurred, and from whence this threat emerged.”
“It came from the karst mountain range, where the yellowjacket Amit live,” Menash replied, “It was destroying the largest mound in that area, massacring its inhabitants. It brought the mountain down on them—we’ve never seen anything like it. Zildiz was the first on the scene. She warned us not to approach, and that it was dangerous, but some of us,” here he cast an angry look at Vezda, “Some of us went ahead and tried to scavenge from the bodies of the dying. Then the behemoth ignited the air and burned scores of us to cinders.”
“Irrational. Why did you do this?”
“W-we thought that you had spawned the grey behemoth,” Menash stammered, embarrassed to say the least, “That it was the newest addition to the Great Game, another species of ultrafauna that would help perfect Arachnea.”
“Not so. It was made by an evil far older than the All-In-One,” replied the Vitalus, “It is called a Divine Engine. In cycles past, this evil sought to undo this world and all that inhabit it. In that, it almost succeeded.”
Menash felt his blood run cold at those words.
“Is it the only one of its kind?” Racek piped up. Menash and Vezda both bristled at his interruption; subordinates were only supposed to speak when spoken to.
“There were several deployed here in Our infancy. We had thought them all destroyed in the War of Creation.”
“Your Munificence,” Racek went on, heedless of the venomous looks he was getting from the other two, “Most of us survived because Zildiz persuaded us to dive into the river. She saved all our lives! But as I washed up on the riverbank, I saw the behemoth casting a seedpod into the skies. I did not see where it landed, but it was travelling in a high arc due east. Is this the behemoth’s method of reproducing? If so, then how many offspring can it generate from this one seed?”
The Vitalus met his questions with a minute of silence. Menash had never known It to take so long to respond to a query, and felt another stab of unease in his gut. Unless he was imagining things, the Vitalus seemed genuinely disturbed by the scenario that Racek has raised, enough to convince Menash that the danger was far from hypothetical.
“That is a distant possibility,” It said somewhat cryptically, “Regardless, We cannot allow the Engine’s continued existence.”
“Then it must be destroyed,” Vezda said, her barbed tail eagerly perking up.
“We are not certain that it can be,” the Vitalus said, and Menash heard Racek audibly gulp at the admission.
“But Your Omniscience, you alone are the arbiter of growth and decay,” Vezda said in disbelief, “Surely you can unmake this monster as well?”
“Perhaps. The Divine Engines were built to withstand the extremes of temperature, gravity, atmospheric pressure, acidity and irradiation found on semi-inhabitable exoplanets. Worlds of bareness and desolation, glassed by thermonuclear bombardment or infested with alien microorganisms. In the wars of Our youth, the Betrayers used tungsten-alloy warheads fired from space platforms to crack their bulkheads. Not even Our vessels, the Hollowores, could damage them in any significant way. We will need time to gather the raw materials and fabricate the weapons needed to end this threat.”
“What must we do?” Menash asked.
“If this variable is not dealt with, it could upset the delicate balance We have sacrificed so much to achieve. Already the wildfire it has caused will release close to 400 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and destroy 2.3 million acres of forest before Our countermeasures can stop it. Time is our limiting factor. If the Engine cannot be destroyed now, it must be restrained.”
“It hasn’t moved an inch since we last saw it,” Vezda said brightly, “Maybe it has already died?”
“Yes, and maybe your mother was a horka toad,” Racek said snidely. Vezda scowled and took a step towards him, then stopped as she remembered that she trod on hallowed ground.
“Not so. It has merely gone dormant. Having expended its fuel, it is now running on the bare minimum of its reserves. My children, you must ensure that it does not wake again. Establish a quarantine zone around the Engine and let none approach, on pain of death. The Leaper kindreds will secure the ground while the Gallivants patrol the skies.”
Vezda and Menash exchanged troubled looks. Nobody wanted Leapers establishing a foothold in what was essentially a buffer zone between their subspecies. Once allowed to settle in a habitat, it would not take long for them to adapt and become masters of their new territory. Ousting them would become a battle of attrition, and given the lower birthrates of Gallivants, it was not one they could long afford.
“Respectfully, we do not require assistance from our brother kindred,” Menash ventured, “We are more than capable of safeguarding the area ourselves.”
The node throbbed again, the bioelectric flashes taking on an angry purple hue. With a sound like the grinding of a millstone the Hollowore clashed its claws together impatiently. All three of the mortals took a hasty step back.
“The alpha will obey, or another will be found that can,” the Vitalus growled at them, “All subspecies will observe a general truce during this period. This is a temporary addition to the Great Game. Those that serve Us well shall be rewarded. We shall also enlist the aid of your terrestrial cousins, as well as the Cataphract clans to replenish the soil, and lone Saints who shall rove beyond the quarantine zone.”
Menash’s unease deepened. The Vitalus was bringing together four different kindreds, some of which killed each other on sight, in a move that reeked of desperation. The kindreds had worked together before, of course, on complex projects such as altering rainfall patterns and husbanding struggling species, but never so many at once. This was bound to end in bloodshed.
“Those that break the truce shall be chemically neutered, and their gilt helix purged from the existing gene pool,” the Vitalus continued, “You will maintain this quarantine until We have dealt with the Engine.”
“It is understood!” Menash and Vezda said at once.
“But what about Zildiz?” Racek blurted out, again risking his entire lineage by speaking out of turn, “She might still be alive out there!”
“He’s right,” Menash found himself agreeing despite his dislike for Racek, “She’s our alpha, after all. It would be a shame to lose her helix. Do we have your leave to send out a party to recover her?”
The Vitalus pondered the request for a moment, then crushed his hopes when it said:
“Regrettable, the loss of the female. Valuable stock for the breeding program. But it has not responded to Our signals—it is unlikely to have survived. The female Vezda shall take up its duties as alpha.”
“But Your Benevolence—” both men cried out in unison.
“It is decided. She has risked the Great Game, and must abide by its outcome. To speak more on this would risk Our displeasure,” the god warned.
“We can’t spare the manpower anyway,” Vezda pointed out, trying not to look too pleased at Its decision. She darted a quick look at Menash, long enough for him to see the selfish desire festering in her heart. He turned away from her in disgust, baring his blades by the slightest of margins to let her know what he thought of her, then asked the Vitalus:
“But what of the Engine’s seedpod? Should we search for it?”
“Negative!” the Vitalus boomed, its node reinforcing the word with a spike of activity that sent needles of pain spearing into their heads, “We shall complete this task. It is dangerous and can be entrusted to no other.”
The Hollowore angled its massive head towards the cavernous ceiling, armored flaps on its back sliding aside as it unfurled sets of rigid sixty-meter wings. A wide sphincter on the roof gaped open and Menash saw the evening sky awash with the stars in their milky multitudes. The Hollowore took a deep breath through the spiracles lining its thorax and abdomen, pumping air through a pair of hollow tube-like protuberances under either of its wings. Menash and the others quickly scampered to a safe distance. Seconds later there was a scream of chemical combustion and the Hollowore rose into the evening skies, leaving behind a long trail of superheated gases, the backwash almost knocking Menash off his feet. They watched as the Hollowore gained altitude, making straight for the columns of billowing smoke on the horizon, a sweeping shadow blotting out the light of the heavens.
The Vitalus’ mental presence receded with it. When it did not return, they took it to mean that they were dismissed and likewise took flight and headed for Chthonis. They were hardly out of the Dawning Chamber when Vezda seized the scrawny Racek by his wings and anchored her feet right up against his back.
“Funny little man, are you? Crack jokes at my expense again, and I’ll see to it that you’ll never fly again!” she snarled, yanking hard. Racek yelled as his wings threatened to pop out of their sockets.
“Stop!” Menash said, ramming his shoulder into her and knocking the smaller male out of her grip. Vezda rounded on him, blades out and her tail aquiver with rage.
“As for you! No one should speak to the Vitalus like that!” she shrieked, “Much less gainsay It! Are you trying to get us all killed? It is the source and continuance of life itself—”
“But the Vitalus doesn’t always consider the individual scale of things,” Menash reasoned, controlling his rising anger as he tried to defuse the situation, “Its scope of thought is beyond ours. Therefore it is up to us to look after each other. None of us can win the Great Game alone. We need people like Zildiz for the species to prosper.”
“Your logic is flawed,” Vezda spat, “Empathy is a sham devised by the selfish action of the gene, which seeks only to preserve itself. At least I am honest enough to look after my own interests. Your obsession with that whore is misplaced. Heed my words, Menash. What happened today marks a change in the Great Game. Only the ruthless will reap the rewards of this era. Think on that, and act accordingly.”
The female darted off in another direction, leaving the two behind.
“Thanks,” Racek said, rubbing at his sore shoulders, “My, my. She’s really taking her promotion very seriously, isn’t she?”
“This doesn’t make us friends,” Menash said shortly, “We share a common interest, that’s all.”
The two flew together in silence for a time, the dark canopy unrolling below their feet. Racek had always been a bitter rival for Zildiz’s affections. In the mating seasons he and Menash had flown the damsel-dance against each other countless times, racing and dogfighting at top speed through the dense bamboo thickets in an effort to impress her.
But each time she had always chosen Menash. Naturally. He was the stronger, the braver, the son of the Scourge who had slain hundreds on his lightning raids into Leaper territory. Their pairings had been brief and passionate, yet she had always laughed at the end and gone on her merry way, a rose petal borne on a scented breeze, the dalliance as meaningless to her as other concerns like eating or breathing.
But not to him. Right now, all that mattered was her. And Racek was the only one in the whole wide world who knew exactly how he felt. Did that mean he could be trusted? Menash considered the enormity of what he was about to do, and wavered. Then he saw her face in the darkness of his home, the face she wore when they were all alone together, and he took a deep breath before breaking the silence, saying:
“I’ll be in charge of the quarantine. I can arrange for you to disappear for a few days. I can have one of the younglings mimic your magnetosynaptic signal, make it seem like you’re with the rest of us.”
“You’d do that? For me?” Racek said in astonishment.
“Hah. Not for you,” Menash laughed softly. He looked Racek straight in the eyes and continued: “What’ll it be, then?”
If he so much as hesitates, I’ll have to kill him here and now, Menash told himself.
“Why, yes. Yes, of course!” the little brown male said vigorously.
“Good,” Menash sighed with relief, “She’ll be very grateful to whoever brings her home. I’d do it myself, but as an alpha I can’t risk being seen as disobedient.”
“Then why give me this chance? After all that’s passed between us?”
“I should have thought that was obvious,” Menash replied. Racek digested that for a bit, then out of nowhere said:
“If I find her—when I find her—I’ll tell her exactly who it was that sent me.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Bah! Just so we’re even, that’s all,” Racek grinned, his mouthparts slanting askew.
“Thanks, I guess. I’d…I’d appreciate that. You do understand what we’re risking here, right?”
“Sure. We’ll be total genetic write-offs if we’re caught. But it’s not like I wanted to see tiny ugly Raceks running around the house anyway. What about you, though? Why are you putting your neck on the chopping block?”
“You know why,” Menash said quietly, his thoughts still lingering on her face.
“Yes,” Racek agreed with a wistful air, “Yes, I suppose I do.”
And the pair spoke no more until they reached Chthonis.
Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road

I lived in another state before Alabama and was a party to a multi-employee wage & labor dispute. Please know, I am not 'the guy who sues people'. This was a unique circumstance where we were approached by a lawyer who was representing another employee in our office, and it was explained to us clearly that our rights were being violated and legal wages owed to us were being withheld. It was not a class action claim (too few claimants), but the same lawyer represented each of us individually. Our claims ranged from misclassification (being illegally classified as a 'manager' so that we weren't eligible for overtime), unpaid breaks, and most importantly, major tip violations, where the employer was keeping our tips. The lawyer calculated each of our claims individually and sent separate demand letters. The employer then retained their own attorney who reviewed our claims against the state labor code (which our attorney had generously provided), and advised their client to promptly pay our claims so as to avoid a guaranteed loss in court + far greater attorney fees.
I say that to say this. I am constantly reading comments from workers both within this Reddit sub as well as the occasional google review of restaurants where a disgruntled current or former employee will anonymously outline ways in which they feel they were cheated. If you feel you have a reasonable wage or labor claim, I highly advise you to make note of any any all suspected violations, and contact a local wage & labor attorney. My claim was not in Alabama, and I have no allegiance to any local attorneys, therefore I am listing 3 that I found at first glance.
I am not an attorney and don't want to speak as one (super annoying when people do this) but I can tell you that if you are in the below criteria, you most definitely have a claim:
Did your boss or owner tell you at hiring, something along the lines of "The credit card tips at the cash register are too hard to keep up with, so what we do is pay everyone a higher hourly rate than anyone else around here, and it works out better for you that way" ? Not legal. All tips taken during a time frame are legally required to be properly accounted, and distributed to the employees classified as 'service' within that time frame. It can come later in the form of a check, and a % of it (roughly 3.5%) can be deducted for the CC fee, but this must be calculated and paid to the penny.
Did your boss convince you to waive your right to breaks and allow you to work 8 straight hours, eating at your desk so that you can "not have to take breaks and get off an hour earlier"? Not legal, you cannot waive this right even if you want to.
There are a slew of other wage and labor claims that your bosses or owners could be violating. During my ordeal, I personally read the labor codes of my state beforehand to try and see off the top of my head which ones had been violated. I counted 8. After meeting with the attorney and answering 100+ questions, they found 19 labor codes that had been violated. I liked his number much better.
If you are averse to attorneys, you also have the option of making a claim directly with the state labor board, who will investigate your claim and get you your money. It takes much longer.
The restaurant business is somewhat in shambles right now despite the lines you see out the door when you drive by. The cost of goods and services is at an all time high. Labor is at an all time high. Profit percentages are at an all time low. I have the deepest respect for the plight of the mom & pop restaurant owner. But the law is the law, and a local business owners rough tides cannot be stilled by the exploitation of workers.
Here are 3 wage & labor attorneys I found local to Birmingham:
https://www.adamporterlaw.com/
https://hkm.com/birmingham/
https://www.allenarnoldlaw.com/

Hello!
I'm here because I've had success with forming a meaningful friendship from this subreddit before- and while it didn't work out in the long run, it's shown me that it is absolutely possible to find that spark here.
In an effort to not waste your time nor mine, I'm not here seeking a casual chat- I want to get to know someone beyond just a few exchanges. I'm here for a genuine connection and conversation.
So, why message me? Good question! I'm rather shy, and modest- so trying to talk myself up is honestly really difficult. Instead, here are some random things about me and if any of it interests you, strikes a chord, or makes you smile, then I probably can, too!

• I live in the south of England but I have lived around Europe previously. I lived for around a year in Lithuania and about 6 months in Austria, and further time living in Scotland
  
• I have a degree in chemistry and a further Master's in Drug Design and Biomedical science
  
• I currently work as an analytical chemist, which sounds more interesting than it actually is with me spending most of my time in a windowless lab testing random chemicals
  
• I've always been a voracious reader. Bookstores make my heart happy. I'll read anything with a good plot. I am currently reading a lot of books on history, but I will pick up whatever random fiction book looks interesting, which tends to be random depressing books!
  
• I will happily eat anything that is highly spicy!
  
• I have travelled quite a bit over the last couple of years with trips to Denmark, Spain, Germany (twice), Austria and Czechia! I am also into photography, mainly architecture and I have put some of the better ones here!
  
• Empire is the best Star War
  
• Last Crusade is the best Indiana Jones.
  

So what now? Introduce yourself, share a photo to I can put a face to the words, tell me 5 random things about you, or 5 things on your bucket list, or the first 5 things you'd do if you won the lotto- or anything at all you'd like to share. Have animals? Show me pics!
Lastly, I know it's hard to take the time to write a thoughtful message on the chance that it may go unanswered. I'm not here for a lot of messages- I'm here for just one, and I know the kind of message that I'm hoping to receive. I don't want to waste anyone's time, so if I don't reply then know that I'm rooting for you to find the person you're hoping for, too!

Hello!
I'm here because I've had success with forming a meaningful friendship from this subreddit before- and while it didn't work out in the long run, it's shown me that it is absolutely possible to find that spark here.
In an effort to not waste your time nor mine, I'm not here seeking a casual chat- I want to get to know someone beyond just a few exchanges. I'm here for a genuine connection and conversation.
So, why message me? Good question! I'm rather shy, and modest- so trying to talk myself up is honestly really difficult. Instead, here are some random things about me and if any of it interests you, strikes a chord, or makes you smile, then I probably can, too!

• I live in the south of England but I have lived around Europe previously. I lived for around a year in Lithuania and about 6 months in Austria, and further time living in Scotland
  
• I have a degree in chemistry and a further Master's in Drug Design and Biomedical science
  
• I currently work as an analytical chemist, which sounds more interesting than it actually is with me spending most of my time in a windowless lab testing random chemicals
  
• I've always been a voracious reader. Bookstores make my heart happy. I'll read anything with a good plot. I am currently reading a lot of books on history, but I will pick up whatever random fiction book looks interesting, which tends to be random depressing books!
  
• I will happily eat anything that is highly spicy!
  
• I have travelled quite a bit over the last couple of years with trips to Denmark, Spain, Germany (twice), Austria and Czechia! I am also into photography, mainly architecture and I have put some of the better ones here!
  
• Empire is the best Star War
  
• Last Crusade is the best Indiana Jones.
  

So what now? Introduce yourself, share a photo to I can put a face to the words, tell me 5 random things about you, or 5 things on your bucket list, or the first 5 things you'd do if you won the lotto- or anything at all you'd like to share. Have animals? Show me pics!
Lastly, I know it's hard to take the time to write a thoughtful message on the chance that it may go unanswered. I'm not here for a lot of messages- I'm here for just one, and I know the kind of message that I'm hoping to receive. I don't want to waste anyone's time, so if I don't reply then know that I'm rooting for you to find the person you're hoping for, too!

Hello!
I'm here because I've had success with forming a meaningful friendship from this subreddit before- and while it didn't work out in the long run, it's shown me that it is absolutely possible to find that spark here.
In an effort to not waste your time nor mine, I'm not here seeking a casual chat- I want to get to know someone beyond just a few exchanges. I'm here for a genuine connection and conversation.
So, why message me? Good question! I'm rather shy, and modest- so trying to talk myself up is honestly really difficult. Instead, here are some random things about me and if any of it interests you, strikes a chord, or makes you smile, then I probably can, too!

• I live in the south of England but I have lived around Europe previously. I lived for around a year in Lithuania and about 6 months in Austria, and further time living in Scotland
  
• I have a degree in chemistry and a further Master's in Drug Design and Biomedical science
  
• I currently work as an analytical chemist, which sounds more interesting than it actually is with me spending most of my time in a windowless lab testing random chemicals
  
• I've always been a voracious reader. Bookstores make my heart happy. I'll read anything with a good plot. I am currently reading a lot of books on history, but I will pick up whatever random fiction book looks interesting, which tends to be random depressing books!
  
• I will happily eat anything that is highly spicy!
  
• I have travelled quite a bit over the last couple of years with trips to Denmark, Spain, Germany (twice), Austria and Czechia! I am also into photography, mainly architecture and I have put some of the better ones here!
  
• Empire is the best Star War
  
• Last Crusade is the best Indiana Jones.
  

So what now? Introduce yourself, share a photo to I can put a face to the words, tell me 5 random things about you, or 5 things on your bucket list, or the first 5 things you'd do if you won the lotto- or anything at all you'd like to share. Have animals? Show me pics!
Lastly, I know it's hard to take the time to write a thoughtful message on the chance that it may go unanswered. I'm not here for a lot of messages- I'm here for just one, and I know the kind of message that I'm hoping to receive. I don't want to waste anyone's time, so if I don't reply then know that I'm rooting for you to find the person you're hoping for, too!

Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road
The Colonel’s tent was leaking again. Ordinarily such a mistake would’ve earned his adjutant an hour-long dressing down and possibly, if the Colonel was feeling particularly enthusiastic, a sharp backhanded slap across the face. After all, a leaky tent could hardly be said to be hermetically sealed, now could it? But this affront to his sensibilities paled in comparison to the utter travesty and exemplar of sheer incompetence that now sat before his desk, a sagging wreck of a man in the tattered uniform of a Fleet officer. Colonel Moch Leelan curled his lip at it and barked:
“Once more, if you please. And I don’t want this on record,” he added, darting a look at the clerk poised to take dictation in the corner of the room, “Not a word of this gets out. There’s been enough of a snafu already, and the brass won’t stop shitting down my neck about Mound 13 and the loss of Prota’s pestilential pet project. Did you hear me, man? I said start from the beginning!”
Outside the monsoon was intensifying into one of those proverbial downpours which prompted doddering old men to remark that it was ‘raining cats and dogs’, though what either a cat or a dog were, none could now say. A trickle of it seeped in like a string of winking glass beads, catching the orange glow of the gas lamp and turning into sparks of amber, into seeds of flame. They dripped on the bald man seated on the low footstool, and he raised his head to meet the scornful gaze of the Colonel, grey eyes unabashed and unafraid. He spoke then, in a hoarse voice that matched his pallid flesh and buzzard nose:
“It was the third day of reconnaissance. We were forced to abandon our pack-beasts in the mire. My assistant and I—”
“Name, rank and serial number!” Colonel Leelan interrupted, for the sole purpose of seeing the coward blink and quaver like the worm he was. But in that he was to be disappointed, for the man continued in the same flat tone:
“Sollem Deschane, Lord Navigator, 3^rd Pathfinder Regiment, serial number 18911944. We received orders from the Admiralty and Fleet Command to reconnoiter the area around the enemy concentration designated as Mound Euler. I was to lead a platoon of twenty handpicked volunteers across the river Foss at its lowest point, then scale the outlying cliffs to get better readings as we mapped out the approaches to Mound Euler. It was the third day of reconnaissance. We were forced to abandon our myropods in the mud and carry our own gear. My assistant navigator Rene Louvoture and I noticed a discrepancy with our visually confirmed data and the aerial sketches of the Aeronautical Division. We quickly worked out that the enemy concentration far exceeded initial estimates by an order of magnitude. Mound Euler is an omega-class colony the likes of which the Fleet has faced only once in its entire existence, during the Scouring of Assail. It is my belief that—”
“Leave your hysterics for later and get on to meat of things,” Leelan snapped. Deschane straightened a bit in his seat and scowled as his layers of bandages shifted. The man was practically mummified by the sheer extent of his wounds that it was a wonder he had managed to limp into the tent in the first place. But the navigator had made a point of refusing to be debriefed in his sick bed and had insisted that he be given no further pain killers. This was to prove that his report was not at all influenced by the effects of opiates, as well as to underline the supposed importance of his eyewitness account as the sole survivor of the siege of Mound 13.
But Colonel Leelan was no fool. He knew the tactic for what it was: a bit of playacting by a soon-to-be-disgraced officer, a desperate attempt to pass himself off as a tragic hero rather than the author of the most monumental military cock-up of the decade.
You may very well get that wish, Deschane, Leelan smirked inwardly. If you play your cards right. You’ll find that I can put on a pantomime as well as the next man.
Deschane regarded him cooly, replying:
“You asked for my report, sir. I am stating the facts as I understand them.”
“Understand?” Leelan guffawed, “There’s precious little to understand about this debacle! Explain to me how a routine scouting mission winds up in the loss of 5,000 men, a Rear-Admiral and an entire frontline outpost! Explain to me how you not only got every last one of your own men slaughtered, but still managed to save your own sorry arse!”
Now that had an effect on the navigator’s bearing. He dropped the holier-than-thou attitude and even pretended to dab at some moisture in corners of his eye. For a moment his mask of iron cracked and he looked tired enough to sleep for a thousand years, never to waken. Then he seemed to recall that his career was at stake and had the temerity to argue with the Colonel:
“We were given faulty intelligence. I made mistakes, I’ll admit that here and now. We should never have continued after our pack animals were trapped in the mire. The gear slowed us down in enemy territory. I can’t wash my hands of the loss of my platoon. They were the best and bravest men I ever fought with, and I will carry the shame of losing them to my grave. The fact that I am still alive when none of them are breathing is an accident that was not of my choosing. As for Mound 13, it was only a matter of time before they were discovered and dealt with. They were only two day’s travel from Mound Euler. In fact, it was miracle they managed to exist for so long undetected.”
Magnificent deflection. Colonel Leelan had to admire the snake and his flawless attempt to pass the blame onto the shoulders of the dead Rear-Admiral Prota.
Yes, I think we can make an arrangement here, the Colonel thought wryly. He waved Deschane’s prattling aside and said:
“This omega-class colony of yours. A mound so large that is beggars belief, you say? Curious, then, that such an object should have escaped your keen senses for three whole days!”
“Visibility in that terrain and climate is poor. But yes, it was another one of my errors.”
“I’m so glad that you agree,” Leelan purred, his words dripping with condescension. He reached into the drawer of his desk and took out a bottle of fermented honeydew. Uncorking it with a loud pop, he poured out two glasses and lifted one to his lips, saying:
“On a related note, it’s funny how the fog of war can obscure so many important details. Even the best commanders can lose their bearings, lose sight of the greater picture, fixate on the wrong things. Take our dearly departed Rear-Admiral Prota, for example (may she rest in the Flight Eternal). Not to speak ill of the dead, but she was assigned an entire sector for her research into enemy behavior. And what does she do with it? Cultural studies! Anthropology! As if the Amits have a culture worth sneezing at! They’ve been working with flint and wood since this primeval war of ours began, and they’ve never taken the hint. Meanwhile, we’ve finally gained the advantage of powder and artillery and mass-produceable gas masks.”
“One big push! That’s all it would take to clear the northern highlands. We have the men, the will and the technology to do it! The last thing we need is some starry-eyed academic telling us that the Amits have somehow found religion. I mean, really!” Colonel Leelan warmed to his subject, “Five thousand soldiers dedicated to safeguarding some blessed cave paintings, right on the frontlines, too! What a waste. Like you said: if you hadn’t led the Amits directly to them, someone else would have down the line.”
“We took steps to ensure they wouldn’t follow us. We tried, but they found the fear-death pheromones—”
“Steps?” Leelan pressed him mercilessly, “What steps, exactly?”
Deschane looked away and said nothing. Leelan sniffed, continuing:
“I thought so. As I was saying, Prota’s project was doomed from the start. It was an ill-conceived, harebrained mission, and now the Admiralty will have to explain to Fleet Command and the general public how it lost an entire regiment in the name of some woman’s flight of fancy. But there is a silver lining to all this. Seeing as how we recaptured what was left of Mound 13 within mere hours of it falling, we think there’s a way to salvage the situation after all. You can be part of that, Deschane. Every victory may have its price, but it must also have its heroes.”
Leelan sipped his honeydew, waiting for the offer he’d made to sink in. Deschane smiled, a humorless crack in his granite features.
“You’re going to make me a hero?” he asked. Leelan nudged the other glass towards him, shrugging:
“And why not? Someone has to wear the medals. ‘Lone Survivor of Desperate Last Stand’,” Leelan exclaimed, dramatically forecasting the future headlines, “He tried to warn them, but did they listen? You get the rest, I imagine. We’ll have to improve some of the details, of course. Like how it was the 3^rd Pathfinder Regiment which held back the flood of Amits in the final hour and ignited the fortress’ ammo depot—”
“We never did that,” Deschane objected, rudely cutting off Leelan’s train of thought, “It was the Divine Engine. I saw it with my own eyes. It broke out of Mound 13 and slaughtered the enemy.”
Leelan sighed.
“Not this again. Deschane, I’d appreciate it if you’d save your hallucinations for the regimental shrink. Think, man! The honor of our unit is at stake here. You have a chance to redeem the men of your platoon, even if you can never truly redeem yourself.”
“I saw it,” Deschane growled, and for a moment Leelan almost reached for his ceremonial saber hanging by its belt on his coatrack, “Sir, it left footprints the size of—”
“For heaven’s sake, you witless worm, the earthquake was felt all the way in the Southern Delta! Not very big one, but certainly enough to account for the avalanches and landslides that took place around Mound 13, not to mention the sinkhole we found you snoring in! It’s certainly not the first time an uncontrolled detonation triggered a seismic event. Deschane, I’ll only say this once: either you get your story straight or by thunder, I’ll bury you so deep in shit you’ll start to think you’re made of it! And you are! If you breathe a word of this delirious vision of yours to the press, you’ll not only receive no medals, but I’ll have you court-martialed faster than you can say ‘diddly-squat’. Which is precisely what you’ll be left with unless you jump like a good boy and ask how high. No honor, no rank, no reputation, no pension. Nothing! Do you understand?”
Colonel Leelan wrathfully thrust the glass at Deschane, spilling most of it in the process.
“Well, do you?”


Deschane hobbled out of the tent, escorted by a pair of grenadiers in fluffy white shakos. They sealed the adhesive lining of the tent airlock after him and the Navigator went on his way, the taste of honeydew lingering on his tongue like a bitter poison. He lifted his mask and hawked up a gob of spit that eloquently described his opinion of the colonel, wiping his scowling mouth with the back of his hand.
Ven was waiting for him with the crutches, a young and rather portly corporal with apple cheeks and a worried, pouting mouth. She helped Deschane as he made the slow and painful walk across the encampment to his field tent, the lord navigator deep in thought. Along the way they cut across the central avenue of the camp where a seemingly endless artillery train was lumbering its way up from the south and curving around the broad talus skirts of Gorgo Plateau, teams of scuttling myropods hitched to six or twelve-pounder guns, their hundreds of tiny legs threshing the soil into a quagmire. Behind them, plodding dejectedly into the rapidly liquefying mud, were ranks upon rank of fresh colonial levees, their brand-new sealant suits creaking loudly at the joints as they made what for most of them would be their first expedition into the surface world.
And what a foray it would prove to be. Almost two hundred thousand men amd women were mustered here at the edge of civilization, poised on the cusp of what was to be the largest surface offensive in recorded history. The Fleet had arrived in the Northern Hinterlands, and it had come to conquer.
"Gangway!" the levees hollered at Ven as she tried to cut a path for Deschane through the line, "Can't you see we's marching 'ere, ya stoopid bint?"
"He's an officer, ain't he?" she screamed back, pointing at the navigator.
Upon noticing the faded chevrons on Deschane's shoulders some of them clumsily snapped to attention, stopping in their tracks. Their comrades behind them, oblivious to this turn of events, bowled right into them, causing a minor stampede. Men and women cursed as they dropped their pristine muskets, never fired in the heat of battle, into the churning soup at their feet, or themselves went sprawling on their hands and knees. Baton-wielding sergeants descended on the mess, screaming for them to get back up, generously assisting them with a boot to the rump or a smack on the side of the head. Deschane looked back at the display for a long moment, as if considering something. Abruptly he grunted at Ven and they continued on their way to the outskirts where the Pathfinders were billeted.
She waited until they were inside the tent and Deschane was back in his sick bed, the navigator turning his back to her in stony silence. Cautiously, she ventured:
“What now, sir?”
“Draw up a list of volunteers,” he rasped, “But do it on the sly. We’re going back out there."
"Very good, sir," Ven squeaked, and went scurrying out of the navigator's chambers, sealing the tent flap softly behind her. She knew that tone and what it signified: the lord navigator had made up his mind, and heaven help whoever would stand in his way.
Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road

Hello!
I'm here because I've had success with forming a meaningful friendship from this subreddit before- and while it didn't work out in the long run, it's shown me that it is absolutely possible to find that spark here.
In an effort to not waste your time nor mine, I'm not here seeking a casual chat- I want to get to know someone beyond just a few exchanges. I'm here for a genuine connection and conversation.
So, why message me? Good question! I'm rather shy, and modest- so trying to talk myself up is honestly really difficult. Instead, here are some random things about me and if any of it interests you, strikes a chord, or makes you smile, then I probably can, too!

• I live in the south of England but I have lived around Europe previously. I lived for around a year in Lithuania and about 6 months in Austria, and further time living in Scotland
  
• I have a degree in chemistry and a further Master's in Drug Design and Biomedical science
  
• I currently work as an analytical chemist, which sounds more interesting than it actually is with me spending most of my time in a windowless lab testing random chemicals
  
• I've always been a voracious reader. Bookstores make my heart happy. I'll read anything with a good plot. I am currently reading a lot of books on history, but I will pick up whatever random fiction book looks interesting, which tends to be random depressing books!
  
• I will happily eat anything that is highly spicy!
  
• I have travelled quite a bit over the last couple of years with trips to Denmark, Spain, Germany (twice), Austria and Czechia! I am also into photography, mainly architecture and I have put some of the better ones here!
  
• Empire is the best Star War
  
• Last Crusade is the best Indiana Jones.
  

So what now? Introduce yourself, share a photo to I can put a face to the words, tell me 5 random things about you, or 5 things on your bucket list, or the first 5 things you'd do if you won the lotto- or anything at all you'd like to share. Have animals? Show me pics!
Lastly, I know it's hard to take the time to write a thoughtful message on the chance that it may go unanswered. I'm not here for a lot of messages- I'm here for just one, and I know the kind of message that I'm hoping to receive. I don't want to waste anyone's time, so if I don't reply then know that I'm rooting for you to find the person you're hoping for, too!

Hello!
I'm here because I've had success with forming a meaningful friendship from this subreddit before- and while it didn't work out in the long run, it's shown me that it is absolutely possible to find that spark here.
In an effort to not waste your time nor mine, I'm not here seeking a casual chat- I want to get to know someone beyond just a few exchanges. I'm here for a genuine connection and conversation.
So, why message me? Good question! I'm rather shy, and modest- so trying to talk myself up is honestly really difficult. Instead, here are some random things about me and if any of it interests you, strikes a chord, or makes you smile, then I probably can, too!

• I live in the south of England but I have lived around Europe previously. I lived for around a year in Lithuania and about 6 months in Austria, and further time living in Scotland
  
• I have a degree in chemistry and a further Master's in Drug Design and Biomedical science
  
• I currently work as an analytical chemist, which sounds more interesting than it actually is with me spending most of my time in a windowless lab testing random chemicals
  
• I've always been a voracious reader. Bookstores make my heart happy. I'll read anything with a good plot. I am currently reading a lot of books on history, but I will pick up whatever random fiction book looks interesting, which tends to be random depressing books!
  
• I will happily eat anything that is highly spicy!
  
• I have travelled quite a bit over the last couple of years with trips to Denmark, Spain, Germany (twice), Austria and Czechia! I am also into photography, mainly architecture and I have put some of the better ones here!
  
• Empire is the best Star War
  
• Last Crusade is the best Indiana Jones.
  

So what now? Introduce yourself, share a photo to I can put a face to the words, tell me 5 random things about you, or 5 things on your bucket list, or the first 5 things you'd do if you won the lotto- or anything at all you'd like to share. Have animals? Show me pics!
Lastly, I know it's hard to take the time to write a thoughtful message on the chance that it may go unanswered. I'm not here for a lot of messages- I'm here for just one, and I know the kind of message that I'm hoping to receive. I don't want to waste anyone's time, so if I don't reply then know that I'm rooting for you to find the person you're hoping for, too!

Hello!
I'm here because I've had success with forming a meaningful friendship from this subreddit before- and while it didn't work out in the long run, it's shown me that it is absolutely possible to find that spark here.
In an effort to not waste your time nor mine, I'm not here seeking a casual chat- I want to get to know someone beyond just a few exchanges. I'm here for a genuine connection and conversation.
So, why message me? Good question! I'm rather shy, and modest- so trying to talk myself up is honestly really difficult. Instead, here are some random things about me and if any of it interests you, strikes a chord, or makes you smile, then I probably can, too!

• I live in the south of England but I have lived around Europe previously. I lived for around a year in Lithuania and about 6 months in Austria, and further time living in Scotland
  
• I have a degree in chemistry and a further Master's in Drug Design and Biomedical science
  
• I currently work as an analytical chemist, which sounds more interesting than it actually is with me spending most of my time in a windowless lab testing random chemicals
  
• I've always been a voracious reader. Bookstores make my heart happy. I'll read anything with a good plot. I am currently reading a lot of books on history, but I will pick up whatever random fiction book looks interesting, which tends to be random depressing books!
  
• I will happily eat anything that is highly spicy!
  
• I have travelled quite a bit over the last couple of years with trips to Denmark, Spain, Germany (twice), Austria and Czechia! I am also into photography, mainly architecture and I have put some of the better ones here!
  
• Empire is the best Star War
  
• Last Crusade is the best Indiana Jones.
  

So what now? Introduce yourself, share a photo to I can put a face to the words, tell me 5 random things about you, or 5 things on your bucket list, or the first 5 things you'd do if you won the lotto- or anything at all you'd like to share. Have animals? Show me pics!
Lastly, I know it's hard to take the time to write a thoughtful message on the chance that it may go unanswered. I'm not here for a lot of messages- I'm here for just one, and I know the kind of message that I'm hoping to receive. I don't want to waste anyone's time, so if I don't reply then know that I'm rooting for you to find the person you're hoping for, too!

In late game, the daily check-ins are no longer simple 10 minute checks when progressing past w5 and into w6, especially with the beanstalk and king doot.
There are numerous problems with extremely wasteful time sinks and these are the suggested changes:

• With high gaming levels (200+) it’s very easy to get many chemical plants to play many log games. The problem with log games is the staskull cards are highly random, if not completely random. There’s no strategy to it but it is a huge time waste. Solution is to make log just ONE click with all the reward time added together, and remove the card flipping aspect.
• Sailing loot pile - we know having ‘unending loot’ turned off is better to find artifacts (having more chests is better than rare chests). Problem is even if the loot pile is full, the sailing map is frozen for 5 seconds and can’t close the map to access the loot pile. Solution is to just stop the sailing progression when all boats and chest loot is full up, so we can close the window.
• Sailing EZ access - With king doot + beanstalk, my golden hampter is over 80% chance on all characters. All 10 of my characters straight up trigger the sailing chance every time. It’s incredibly annoying moving each character to w5 town to access sailing and bring them back, especially with the 5 second pause above. Solution is to make sailing ez access like gaming garden.
• Boss waves in worship - On waves 110+ bosses go into billions of HP and kraken towers hold them in place, so despite clearly having won the wave, the boss takes 30 minutes to hours to kill. Please just reduce HP on these or make equinox wiz tower damage scale up exponentially into infinity, not linear.
• Swapping Prayers - I get there’s problems with putting prayers on ez access, but at least move the prayer monolith to the w3 spawn point so we don’t have to move all the way to the fucking bottom and left side of the map.
• Farming world bosses in hopes of rare drops - when you hunt for kruk cape, you have no need for any common loot but have to farm hundreds of kruks. Here’s a very simple math solution, just give 10x, 100x options and multiply the character’s drop rate by the same amount. So for 100x choice, formula is DRx100 which effectively simulates 100 kills by killing just 1 kruk.

Players, anything else missing to add to list? Any minor time wastes that add up to huge amounts over time? I will be away for few hours but will check back.
Ultimately, these annoyances can be only so much that it becomes a difference between playing or quitting Idleon.

*Long Vent Post*
September 2024 bride, and I always knew June was going to be an insane month...but this is out of hand, and my nerves are wrecked.
My best friend of 20 years is getting married at the end of July, and her bachelorette trip is the weekend of June 7th. We planned our wedding showers to be the same weekend at the end of June (me on Saturday, her on Sunday) so I could minimize my travel. This was decided very early on. It's been a lot of fun sharing all of this together, and she honestly has been the best support system.
My FMIL, who has been engaged for almost 10 years, decided months after FH and I got engaged that they were going to get married at the end of July. The day after my best friend (where I am a bridesmaid). They are going to elope and don't want anyone there, but she planned a 4-day bachelorette trip for herself and made it a mother-daughters thing. I am very much looking forward to it and excited to bond more with FMIL and FSIL. This trip is the weekend after my bestie's bach trip.
FH has not visited his brother or nephews in a year, and my FBIL is going through some marital troubles. We planned a road trip to visit them for Memorial Day weekend (they live 5 hours away). I am looking forward to the getaway, even if I have to reign in my irritation/rage with FBIL's wife because I know too much of his side of things.
I have a project for work that requires an international site visit. My boss asked if I could go on 5/27 for the week. I told him that is Memorial Day, so he replied, "OK...then Tuesday." So now I'm going out of the country for the week after I return from FBIL's.
I had a business trip two weeks ago that was cancelled while I was *in transit* to the destination. I turned around and came back home. It has now been rescheduled for the day before my FMIL's bachelorette trip. Cool.
Last week my mom tells me that her and my step-dad (together 27 years, never officially married) are having a wedding on June 1st. Beyond excited for them, especially given my step-dad's health struggles the last two years. My aunt is hosting and orchestrated the whole thing as a spur-of-the-moment decision. It was intended to be a JP courthouse wedding originally, but Aunt has now made it a big backyard family celebration. I adore this for my mom. What I don't adore is the now 2-week rush to plan a wedding for my parents, where my mom texts and calls non-stop with questions and asking me to make decisions for her. She literally called me at 10:30 PM last night to ask me what the guys should wear. I had to pick the color palette and flowers because it was all to be based on a dress I already own. I'm being pulled into every detail...and I am tired. I was already past the point of decision fatigue while planning my own wedding and consulting on my best friend's choices. I do not have the mental capacity for this.
A recap for my travel now...
5/25-5/27: Road trip to visit FH's family
5/28-5/31: International business trip
5/31-6/2: Flying to hometown for my mom's wedding
6/7-6/9: Best friend's bachelorette trip
6/12: Business daytrip (flying to and back same day)
6/13-6/16: FMIL's bachelorette trip
6/28-6/30: Flying to hometown for both mine & bestie's wedding showers
This past Sunday on Mother's Day, my FMIL implied I wasn't expressing enough excitement for her bachelorette trip. She's also disappointed I won't be staying with her the night before we leave for the airport, because I'm getting in late from my business trip. I'm sensitive to this given that she is paying for the whole weekend, but I am exhausted and cannot think about it today. I have FOUR places to be before then. I will be excited when I get there, but please wait for that moment.
In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out laundry, a clean home, who is watching the dog next month, still staying on top of my wedding planning to-do list (had a major issue come in this morning regarding invitations), need to coordinate my MOG gift (another major project), and wrap up craft projects assigned to me for the wedding shower. I want nothing more than to lock myself in a room this weekend and talk to nobody, but know that is unrealistic.
I'm not looking for a solution to any of this and know that it will all work itself out, but today I am in my feels and PMS'ing, and just need to scream because I have already ate two chocolate chip muffins today due to stress and a third seems extreme. Thank you.

Throwaway account for anonymity, although this story is pretty popular among my group. I wrote this directly to Charlotte, so I hope you like it!
I wanted to tell the story of my marriage to my now wife and how vastly different our mothers have taken the whole thing. I’m sharing because I find the whole thing absolutely wacky, so sit back and enjoy!
I (34m) and my now wife (30f) have been together for 5 years, and we got engaged back in 2022. We made elaborate wedding plans because I’m very outgoing and extroverted, and she went along with everything because she loves me. We both knew neither of our families would not be involved. While her mother (55f) absolutely hates me because of my skin color, my mother (72f) suffered from Alzheimer’s and dementia. We knew she could never fly in for our wedding, as she could barely leave the house, let alone the state, and my father (77m), as much as he loves me, refused to leave her side for longer than an hour.
Her mother refused to ever meet me and would insult me whenever she possibly could. I really didn’t want her to attend the wedding, so I wasn’t too pleased when my wife wanted her to walk her down the aisle instead of her father (58m), who had a long history of being incredibly flaky for important events. When we created the bridal party, my side had only friends since I’m an only child and she had her brother (26m) as a bridesman. However, he didn’t like wearing suits so he dropped out of the wedding, citing that he MIGHT have work the day of the wedding, which was 6 months away. Her mother called the next day and dropped out, leading to a lot of crying, an argument and a lot of talks to get through the heartache. Her father actually stepped up and asked to walk her down the aisle, and was practically in tears apologizing for not being there for her. My wife agreed and hugged her father so tightly. I was worried but I had to give the man credit...he was trying.
Our priorities changed when I heard that my mother was quickly slipping away, so my wife had the idea of having a private ceremony just for her and my father so she could see me get married. We flew down, and discovered that the cat peed on her only white dress, and my father forgot which day we were getting married. Luckily…thanks to a lot of bleach and phone calls, we were able to get married in front of her, and she had a very good day. She remembered me the whole time, and she absolutely loved my wife. It was probably the most perfect day of my life: I got to solve problems, have my mother remember me and marry my best friend…albeit illegally technically since we didn’t have a marriage license. To this day, we called it our “marriage before God.” My mother passed away 3 weeks after that ceremony. It was pretty devastating.
By the way…we still had our “lavish” wedding to hold, which was still a month away. Her mother and brother wanted NOTHING to do with the wedding, and I was perfectly happy, but I knew she wasn’t. We had a lot of talks leading up to it, and I made sure she always had support, whether it was from me, her bridesmaids, and all of our friends coming together to let her know how much she means to us. Her father was on time and in a suit, so that was already a victory. I later heard that he told her how proud he was of her and how lovely she looked, something he rarely said when she was growing up. He really stepped up to the plate. Our wedding day had just as many calamities as the marriage before God, which includes a very late Bridesmaid, a very cold and windy outdoor ceremony and a very hot and sweaty reception. Oh, and my wife’s mother texting her on the wedding day how disrespectful she and her friends are, and how she’s “guilty” for not being a “good enough daughter.” This really pissed my wife off, and it led to her FINALLY going NC with her. But that text came well after our wedding ended, and it was the most perfect day we’ve ever had. I love my wife so much and what she did for my mother and I will make me do anything to make her happy for the rest of our lives.
Just goes to show not to let negative people ruin your life…even if they gave birth to you.

I'm recently out of work and I didn't exactly have much of a rainy day fun to support me while I'm looking for a new job. I can basically survive until July without a new source of income as of now. In short,
Debts (~80-81k):

• ~28k Auto Loan (2.49%)
• ~30k Student Loan (5.05%)
• ~8.4k Personal Loan (14.99%)
• ~3.2k Personal Loan (6.63%)
• ~8.2k 401k Loan that needs to be repaid before the end of May or else it's treated as a distribution
• ~2.5k Credit Cards (varying APR but all high)

Assets (~110-115k):

• 401k from 1st Job: ~21k
• 401k from 2nd Job (had the loan taken out): ~47k
• Checking/Cash: ~4.5k
• The state of Pennsylvania still owes me about 6k in tax refunds that I'm working on getting back at the moment
• My Toyota is supposedly worth ~34-36k right now but I'm still paying it off. Don't want to entertain selling this vehicle or the contract unless I'm in dire circumstances.

Minimum Monthly Obligations ($3,430):

• Rent & Utilities: $1,100
• Auto & Insurance: $789 + $191 = $980
• Loans: $700
• Subscriptions: $50
• Grocery/Gas/Other: $600

If I get my tax refunds back from PA in a timely enough manner, I've basically got about 10k to work with and burn until I have to have a new source of income. I've got a few ideas for stop gap jobs to extend my unemployed period until I get a new offer worth taking, but I guess my main concern right now is I want to take out a personal loan to pay back the 8.2k remaining on my loan from my 401k that I had out and I'm wondering if that's a bad idea for a reason I'm not seeing.
As I understand it at the moment, the penalty and taxes on 8.2k treated as a distribution is going to be closer to 3k which will exceed the interest I would probably pay on a personal loan that I could pay it off with. Not to mention the extra interest that 401k would accrue in the meantime with the loan paid back sitting in a target retirement fund.
Anyway, I'm also curious as to what someone who is more well versed in personal finance has to say about how I should approach my situation besides the obvious--getting a new job to pay my bills. Please let me know!

You know what the best part is about playing Engineer in Team Fortress 2? You get to watch how angry everyone gets when they get shot by your sentry guns. Me and my best friend Jose both main Engineer, and can confirm that the best way to spend your Friday nights after school is to set up a sentry and get ready for the rage. There’s been matches where we haven’t even used our actual guns even once, but racked up lots of kills just because of the sentries.
One day Jose called me up with an idea that was either going to be the stupidest thing ever or the smartest thing ever. He wanted to fill an entire team with only Engineers and watch the chaos unfold. I couldn’t stop laughing at the mental image in my head and agreed with the plan. I joined a Discord server with everyone else on the team.
I convinced my cousin Matthew to join, and he in turn brought along his little brother Zack. According to Matthew, it took quite a bit of convincing because Zack was a Scout main who couldn’t stand Engineers. He eventually got through to his little brother by promising him a Steam gift card. I even got their dad Graham to play along (yes, I have an uncle who plays TF2. How cool is that?). Jose enlisted his friends, who turned into friends of friends and soon enough we had a team of 16 Engineers.
To say that we caused chaos that night was an absolute understatement. As soon as we joined the game the text chat was flooded with messages from the other team wondering what the hell was going on. And they only got worse from that point on. We surrounded our control points with a ring of sentries that people just kept running into. I saw keyboard smashes and heard other teen boys’ voices crack in rage and many, many words that I personally don’t care to repeat here.
The most skilled Engineer was this guy named Craig, who was a friend of one of Jose’s friends. Not only was he the main person capturing the enemy control points with some very strategically placed teleporters, but he was also really friendly and encouraging to all of us. I didn’t know what he looked like, but from his voice it sounded like he was in his early 20s.
Me and Craig started to chat more and more on Discord. He was a super nice guy who was also really fun to talk with. He took time out of his day to teach me how to be an even better Engineer player. Whenever someone started dissing me in the voice chat, he firmly told them to leave me alone. After seeing my fair share of toxicity in the TF2 community, it was nice to know that this complete stranger was looking out for me.
This whole Team Engineer thing became a weekly tradition for us on Friday nights. It was something everyone could look forward to after work or school. One time after everyone logged off and said their goodbyes, Craig sent a message a few hours later in our Discord:
“You guys gotta check this out. I found the weirdest server ever. It’s literally Engineer heaven. Meet me at vl_sentry.”
I was still in the mood to play and I could stay up late tonight, so I hopped back on TF2. I saw that Jose, Graham and this other girl we played with named Lynn were also online. I found vl_sentry and connected to the server. The map was called Valley of the Sentries and it was created by Valve.
It took my computer a little bit to process the map, and it took me even longer than that to process what I was seeing.
The map looked like a chessboard with 3D-sculpted hills. The sky was just pure white. Not even white walls, just the color white. Every square had a blue sentry on it and there were about 4 or 5 other Engineers jumping around, spamming their voice lines. That’s when I realized that we were the only ones there, and there was no red team.
“Hey Sean, glad you could make it :)” Craig said in the text chat. “What the hell is this?” I asked. He told me that this was a server that one of his friends showed him. The friend said he was introduced to the map by a friend of his who knew someone who worked at Valve. Craig then went on to explain that apparently Valley of the Sentries was an experiment to test the limits of the sentry guns and their effect on the servers. Rumor has it that the map is infinite.
“Check this out.” said Jose. He switched to Heavy and immediately got shot down. All of the sentries turned towards him. There were so many of them that it made the game lag a ton. He respawned as Engineer and the sentries just kept on spinning.
“WTF?” I typed. “We tried it with all the other classes and it does the same thing.” said Craig. “It ignores Engineers, but shoots everyone else.” Lynn added. “And that’s why we’re the best class. Engineer power!” Graham joked.
I asked what would happen if you were to play as Spy and sap one of the sentries. “I tried, but you gotta have a godly reaction time to activate it.” said Jose. As soon as he said “godly reaction time”, I knew I had to try it out just for the bragging rights.
Respawn. Shot down. Respawn. Shot down. Respawn. Shot down.
Yeah, I did not have a godly reaction time. The others kept spamming “lol” in the chat each time I failed. I got annoyed pretty quickly and stopped trying. Then out of nowhere, all the sentries turned away from me and started firing at someone. I turned around and all five of us were still standing there. I looked at the top bar that shows how many characters were in the game. There were only five Engineers and they were all on the same team. So what the hell were the sentries targeting?
I started to walk in the direction that the sentries were facing and Jose followed me too. We moved really slow, not only because of the sentries on every square but also the uphill climbs. It was just us two in the chat for a while, talking about seeing each other back at school on Monday while we made our slow walk across the map. Then our conversation was interrupted by a chat message from Lynn.
“Why is there a man in the sky?”
Me and Jose tried to get to Lynn to see what she was talking about as fast as possible, but we moved like snails. To get back to the spawn point, we both switched classes, instantly died and respawned as Engineers. I don’t think we respawned in the same place we started from. I don’t even know where we respawned. There were no landmarks or notable things to help you find your way. Just hills, valleys, and sentries.
I asked Lynn where she was and she just told me she was with Graham and Craig. Only that wasn’t very helpful because we didn’t know where they were either. We stood there, stumped for a minute and a half until Jose got an idea. He said that she should just switch classes and respawn, because then all of the sentries would point toward her and we could follow them all the way back to her. She made the switch, got shot down, and we instantly knew where to find her.
We finally got close enough to kind of make out the vague shape of a few Engineers over the non-existent horizon. Me and Jose were relieved, until all the sentries pointed to our right. I swiveled around and saw them open fire on…nothing. I checked with Jose to see if he caught something I didn’t, but he also didn’t see what they were shooting at. I decided that it wasn’t that important and continued to walk towards the rest of the group.
We met up with Lynn, Craig and Graham, disappointed that we made that trek all for nothing. Even though we were all together now, it just felt so lonely. The only sound coming from my computer was the constant beeping of the sentries in perfect sync. I don’t know why, but it made me so uneasy. I attempted to break the silence by going to the voice lines and playing the iconic Engineer “Nope” soundbite. It echoed across the checkered land with no response.
It was about 12:30 AM at this point and I was starting to feel more and more unsettled with each passing minute. There was just something about this black and white world that I felt creeped out by. Before Craig invited us to come over, there was no one else on the server. Who would even want to play on this map, anyways? It’s so unfairly balanced that only one class can survive. Movement speed was super slow, and you can’t even really do anything except watch the sentries turn and turn and turn forever. It was like hypnosis, except I didn’t feel sleepy or relaxed at all.
Speaking of being sleepy, Jose said he was getting tired and was going to be logging off. We all said goodbye to him and continued chatting amongst ourselves. It sounds stupid, but my stomach dropped when I saw the fifth Engineer portrait disappear. One less person to talk to. One less person to keep myself from wondering what else was out here. I could have sworn that after he left, the beeping got louder.
“So is this map actually infinite?” asked Graham. “Only one way to find out.” Craig said. “Just keep on walking and see if it goes on forever.” “Why don’t you just fire a shotgun and see how far it goes?” Lynn suggested.
I took out the shotgun and fired. The bullet flew off into the white distance and disappeared.
Then I heard the distinct sound of someone getting shot.
A message appeared in the chat, from someone named sentry_check_pattern.
“sentry_check_pattern: stop that”
Once again I looked at the top bar. It just showed four blue Engineers. That meant we were the only ones on the server. Or so we thought.
The chat was flooded with our confusion, almost as if everyone realized at the same time that something wasn’t right. None of us moved an inch.
“What even is this place?” I asked, hoping that the mysterious user would provide me with an answer. “Must be Engineer heaven.” said Graham.
“sentry_check_pattern: more like my personal hell”
This was the moment that made me trust my intuition. I knew there was a reason why I found this map so creepy. I wanted to leave the server, but there was just one thing keeping me back- my own curiosity. My wish to unveil the mysteries of the Valley of the Sentries.
“Okay this is really freaking me out. See ya guys.” said Lynn before she left the server. The fourth Engineer’s portrait disappeared from the top bar.
No no no, please. Please don’t go. Don’t leave us. I wouldn’t want to be alone here. Now there’s just three of us, and I really hope that number doesn’t go down anymore. When the others were here, this was just a weird TF2 map that we were exploring together as friends. And now it feels like we’re trapped in this infinite world, but we aren’t alone. The only problem is we don’t know what else is here.
I shuddered, imagining Craig and Graham ditching me and leaving me all alone in the Valley of the Sentries. Just me and whoever- no, whatever was talking to us.
“sentry_check_pattern: you don’t know how good you have it
you can leave at any time
i can’t”
This terrified me. What a horrible thought, never being able to leave this place. But of course, no one could really be trapped here. It’s a Team Fortress 2 server. You can just exit the game and shut your computer. No one could be trapped in a video game.
But if you think about it, aren’t the characters themselves trapped? They can’t leave the game. They’re characters. They don’t even know they’re in a game. You or the computer controls all their actions. They don’t have free will. And if you’re bad at the game, they’ll just keep dying over and over again.
Wait, why was I thinking about this?
I carefully considered what I wanted to say next in the chat. Whatever I said could either answer all my burning questions or leave me asking more. But sentry_check_pattern talked first.
“sentry_check_pattern: i was made for one purpose
to die over and over again”
Oh my god. It was like this person read my mind and knew exactly what I was thinking about. Who or what was I talking to? I turned all the way around to make sure that no one else was there. It was just the two blue Engineers standing behind me. Just Graham and Craig. And that man with the checkered skin.
Startled, I asked my friends if they saw what I saw. It took them a second, but both of them confirmed that yes, there was indeed something else there. A basic male model with the same chessboard texture as the map. Graham immediately started to shoot at him. Nothing. It just went straight through him.
“sentry_check_pattern: you can’t kill what’s already been killed millions of times over
valve made that mistake too
every company has that one failed project they don’t talk about
and that’s me”
Whoever was behind this weird account was talking crazy. The Team Fortress 2 developers were very open about everything like fixing their glitches and bugs. They always posted things on the official blog about the development process. They’re so open about their failures and always promise to fix them.
“Stop with the weird stuff. We just wanted to know what the deal is with this server and the weird chess guy. Do you know anything about it?” Graham asked in the text chat.
“sentry_check_pattern: know anything?
you’re not very bright, graham
none of you are
do you not realize where you are and what you’re talking to”
Something about the way sentry_check_pattern used Graham’s name gave me goosebumps. I didn’t know what I was talking to. I didn’t even think I wanted to know at this point.
“sentry_check_pattern: this is one of valve’s test servers
i’m the texture they use to check if the sentries work
read between the lines”
“Quiet, NPC.” Craig said. I laughed a little bit to fight off the awkward tension. Then I reminded myself that I was talking to a video game character, no- not even a character. A blank character model. A texture.
“sentry_check_pattern: just because i’m a character model doesn’t mean i can’t feel pain
open fire”
The sentries all swiveled around to face the man and shot at him. He kept falling to the ground, turning white and standing back up in the same position.
“sentry_check_pattern: cease fire”
All of the sentries stopped shooting and just went back to spinning around, their beeps echoing in the air.
“sentry_check_pattern: ready to see what i’ve been through for over a decade?
open fire”
Before any of us could react, the sentries opened fire on Craig all at once. He kept dying, but he didn’t explode the way you’re supposed to when you die in TF2. He just dropped to the floor, turned white, and respawned over and over again. There was no death scream. I tried to type something else in the chat but the game lagged so much that my typing just ended up as a string of random letters that meant nothing. Craig tried to type something out too. It just ended up as “wwwwwwwwwwthisishowitfeelswwwwwwwww” Then the game crashed and my computer shut down.
I hyperventilated. Then I laughed at myself for hyperventilating over a stupid computer game. It was Team Fortress 2 for god’s sake. That game with all the memes and goofy jokes. Stupid, stupid Sean. Scared of a character model. Jose would never let me live it down. I just laughed and laughed to push the fear away.
I closed my laptop and took out my phone to rewatch all of my favorite TF2 animations for the millionth time. As if they weren’t already the funniest things in the world, I forced myself to laugh even harder than usual. Every time I saw the Engineer, I couldn’t help but look at the reflection in his goggles. The reflection of an endless map of black and white squares.
Thankfully, nothing bad happened to my game, account or laptop. The next day I just went right back to playing and enjoying the rage coming from all the people who ran right into my sentries.
Team Engineer was still a thing, but it was never really the same. We played together a lot less frequently. It was still a lot of fun, but I felt a change that I couldn’t really describe.
We found out that Craig had lost all progress on his TF2 account. Everyone gifted him all his favorite cosmetics and we all pooled our money together to get him a Steam gift card. He video called us, crying at our kindness. It was the first time I ever even saw his face. He was a lot older than most of us. If I had to guess an age, I’d say somewhere around 30. He had black bangs and was wearing a TF2 shirt. His room was dark, only lit by his glowing computer screen. He thanked us repeatedly and even tried to return the gift card, but we were all adamant that he should keep it.
Speaking of Craig, we still kept in touch but he didn’t talk to me as much anymore. Any time I tried to ask him about vl_sentry, he ignored me for a few days.
The other day, I got some postcards from my cousin Matthew. He was very academic and happened to be studying at a private high school about 9 hours away from where I live. All of his postcards were pictures of him making funny faces with all his friends at favorite school activities like robotics, debate team, and chess club.
I looked at the chess club photo closely. Matthew and his friends were standing in front of a chessboard with a mirror on the wall. And for a split second, I could have sworn that the chessboard looked different in the mirror. It looked warped, like it wasn’t a flat board anymore. Like it almost had hills and valleys. No, it couldn’t be. I rubbed my eyes. There, in the mirror was a checkered man. I knew it was there. I swear on my mother’s life that there was another person in that photo. And then it was gone. Maybe the picture was just printed badly. But I had to make sure my eyes were right.
So I brought the postcard to school with me and I showed Jose. I asked him if he saw the checkered man in the mirror. He said no. But that wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear. That was the answer I hoped I wouldn’t hear. I asked him again. He said no again. Then I asked him another time. He said I was being annoying. So I asked another one of my friends. He said no too. So I moved on to yet another friend. He told me to stop.
I angrily clutched the postcard in my hand, crumpling it. I was the only one that saw what was really there. Everyone else was lying to me. They refused to see the truth.
I screamed and ripped up the postcard. I stomped on its pieces. I rubbed them in the dirt for good measure.
Somewhere in the distance, I heard the sound of electronics beeping.
It rang in my ears.
It was weirdly comforting to me.
You can leave the Valley of the Sentries. But the valley will never leave you.

T/W: Mentions of Suicide and Schizophrenia.
It was the year of 2022, my personal life and family issues have gotten worse, for my mother who suffers from schizophrenia and depression went back to my grandmother's place because she couldn't handle the stress that comes with taking care of a household just a month before my 12th boards were going to start.
My heart ached for her but I knew with my exans a month away and other responsibilities of the household falling back on my shoulders, I was incapable of takinh care of her mentally.
I still casually chuckle at the thought of how I skipped my history pre-boards because she was feeling sick and suicidal and had done things before when I was younger so my heart did not dare leave her alone. My little sister who was only 10 at that time was genuinely scared and worried, would cry non stop. She said "Didi, is it because of me that mumma is going to die? Am I really that bad?" My heart broke that day.
Skip to 2 months later, the results came and the best of four marks was decent but not good enough to get me a college solely on merit. But I was fine, my aim was to prepare for CLAT anyway and so I did. Took a risk, conviced my father for a drop year and prepared diligently for 3 months straight but luck was not by my side, and my health started deteriorating- stomach issues, weak immue system, anaemia, fatal cramps from periods. Every month I felt like I was on a war against myself and hence, my motivation to study collapsed.
After my results my mother was back at our place because she couldn't live with her parents anymore, she missed us and was stubborn at how she was better and would like to be back and be a mother to both of her children. And she arrived, with full enthusiasm but alas, that didn't last long and she left again . I can't blame her honestly, we live in a place where the mental institutions are pathetic and not one relative nearby who could help us. And where was my father in the whole scene? He has been posted to a different state, kilometres away from us. Visiting only once a month, it was tough handing all the responsibilities of home along with my sister.
I am grateful for my father earns well, we had a cook and a helper to do all the chores but it was still tough. I would study hours and hours, help my sister with her academics, making her lunch, dropping her to the busy, grocery shopping, going to the coaching on weekends. It took a mental toll on me.
So the dreaded moment finally came in last December, tons of mocks, revisions and practice I went to the exam centre and sat for it. Mentally convicing myself that it will be okay, no need to nervous and it would just be fine. But I don't think my thoughts really went into my head because my mind went blank the moment I read the question paper and the exam anxiety kicked in. And god, it kicked in so hard I regret to this date.
After the exam, I cried and cried and cried. I was devastated, I did my best sure but the fact I could have done better only if I was capable enough to handle my anxiety ate me alive. I still remember the look on my father's face when the results came in a week later, it was as if he didn't even expect me to do well but was still disappointed that I didn't prove him wrong.
It took me two months almost to get out from that zone of self doubt, embarassment and low motivation. I decided everything is fine, life can give me another chance right? A person as passionate as me about law obviously deserves a chance to get into my dream college and be a successful person. But man, I was wrong.
Yesterday, I gave CUET conducted by the most esteemed agency which considers how important the future of it's aspirants are /s. And to say less, it went pathetic too lmao. My english is genuinely a strength of mine so I did well in that but an hour later, when I sat for General Test with time duration of one hour, I failed to attempt even half the number of questions I was required to. It wasn't as if I didn't study enough, did not do enough mocks or got extremely nervous. Infact, it was the complete opposite this time.
Yet, luck wasn't with me this particular juncture as well. NTA, infamous for it's paper leaks, disastrous management and cancelling exams did what it is good at. I was unfortunate that my invigilators had the least amount of respect for the students. Giving the paper 5 minutes late, not knowing the instructions properly, tons of signatures in between (which I actually do not mind) and shouting in the middle of examination at a boy who sat on another desk which wasn't his designated one. In hand we had 45 minutes, which I made full use of still, it wasn't sufficient.
Came home dejected, tired with centres being 30-40 kms away, I made the mistake of counting my marks and oh lord, I haven't stopped having anxiety attacks since then. I always knew there was no use of having so much of expectations from this exam but god it hurts, it aches and it is killing me. I worked day and night for the 2 and half a months setting everything aside. Every fear, each regret and now I am at loss because of something which isn't even my fault.
They say cut off will go low, but honestly how low can it go? I am at such position where even if I ace two subjects out of three, the one I failed was the deciding factor and without it, my name will be on no college list.
Maybe it's my fault, maybe I don't work hard enough, maybe my mind is messed up or maybe, I am just a lazy person who deserves no college seat because let's be real, if I was really worthy of it, I'd have it already. This is not a blame myself or my circumstances post, I just wanted to share the emotions I have been trying to suppress for the past year. Parent's don't really get it and think I am just another average Joe. Also, nobody around me is empathetic enough to hold my hand and console me. ( Expecting it seems wrong now too )
I said my life is over because I am genuinely scarred now, and yes it has only been two exams, I deserve to move on and I'll understand the later. But two consecutive failures where I genuinely worked hard, though wasn't enough, makes me think maybe I am not meant for this. As an elder daughter someday the responsibility of the household will fall on my shoulders, but if I can't even get a college to complete my education how will I do a job and earn money?
We don't have enough money to join a private college and all the entrance exams seems too tough for my dumb mind now. Thankyou if you read till the end.