They look for excuses to expand their power and influence. And when an excuse does not readily exist, they create one.
The Façade
Recent history confirms this. Let's review several cases over the last 130 years in chronological order.
■ At the end of the 19th century, the US wanted to expand its sphere of influence. In 1898, they sabotaged one of their own battleships, the USS Maine, in the harbour of Havana, Cuba, blaming it on the Spanish. US newspapers built the case for war, which was viewed as a pretext even at that time, as represented in the movie Citizen Kane.
From https://www.workers.org/2022/04/63411/ :
"A declassified CIA document written March 13, 1962, outlines Operation Northwoods, a plan for a U.S. attack on Cuba following its 1959 Revolution: (tinyurl.com/2p9cj7ek)"
"On page 11, during an outline of false-flag tactics, the CIA directly uses the phrase “a ‘Remember the Maine’ incident”, and follows with plans to intentionally blow up a U.S. ship to start a desired “war on communism”. Our revolutionary comrades in Cuba hold as official history that the 1898 incident was a planned, false-flag operation."
As a result of the sinking of the USS Maine, the US gained the port of Guantanamo in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and control of the Philippines as a foothold in the Orient. Note the theme... a covert act by government used as an excuse for war, and using the media to spread misinformation to gain public support.
■ Next example, WW1. England wanted to draw the US into the war for some badly needed support. So Winston Churchill, who was serving as First Lord of the British Admiralty, created the excuse the US needed to justify joining the war.
The English Channel was swarming with German submarines (U-boats), attacking British shipping. The British implemented shipping by convoy under protection of British warships. But on May 7, 1915, Churchill called-off naval protection for the RMS Lusitania, a British commercial liner with 123 Americans onboard, which was subsequently sunk by the Germans. "A ship sacrificed. Her innocent passengers, pawns in a cruel new era." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0X01_RGcNE / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH11zZlppRY
The sinking turned American public opinion against Germany, and contributed to US entry into the war. "Remember the Lusitania" became a rallying cry repeated in the papers.
■ Next example, WW2. On the morning of December 7, 1941, the day Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, a sequence of intelligence and messaging failures sealed the base's fate.
Prior to the attack: "Radio communications intelligence 'lost' the location of Japanese carriers." "Kimmel did not inform Short." "Washington issued 'War Warning' messages." "Anti-aircraft guns to protect Pearl Harbor were not deployed or had their ammunition locked up. No fighters were ready to engage a Japanese attack." https://www.nationalww2museum.org/waarticles/pearl-harbor-missed-tactical-warnings
The morning of the attack: Japanese submarine periscope sightings, dismissed. A huge wave of aircraft blips on radar, dismissed. Nervous phone calls from radar operators, dismissed. One desperate message was found "balled-up in a trash can". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_warning_of_Pearl_Harbor_attack
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was not a "false-flag" event; it indeed happened, and Japan was indeed the perpetrator. But such readiness failures despite warnings give me the impression it was made just too easy for them, that the gate was left open.
Was Japan baited and lured into attacking Pearl Harbor by suggestions, whether private or public, that the American public did not want war, and the US government would simply cede territories in the Pacific? This theory has been in circulation since the war. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pearl-Harbor-and-the-Back-Door-to-War-Theory-1688287
Whatever the cause, the US government got what it wanted... a reason to join the war.
■ Next example, sabotage proposals: The US Department of Defense proposed "Operation Northwoods" (cited in the 1st example above) to President Kennedy in 1962, outlining a number of "false flag" missions to make it seem the US had been attacked by Cuba. The proposal suggested the US government engage in "acts of terrorism against American military and civilian targets, blame them on the Cuban government, ... to justify a war against Cuba." Among the proposed acts of sabotage were shooting down a remote controlled aircraft painted as a US Air Force plane, blowing up an American ship (described above), and orchestrating acts of terrorism in US cities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods
Other proposals: "Create an incident which has the appearance of an attack on US facilities in Cuba"; covert attacks on British Commonwealth member states Jamaica and Trinidad-Tobago to "incite the people of the United Kingdom into supporting a war against Castro"; and "bribe one of Castro's subordinate commanders to initiate an attack" against US Navy base Guantanamo. All such proposals were flatly rejected by President Kennedy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mongoose
■ Next example, Vietnam War. On August 2, 1964, US forces carrying out amphibious operations off the coast of North Vietnam were confronted by North Vietnamese troops. On August 4th, the US claimed it was attacked by North Vietnam. On August 7th, US Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave newly installed President Johnson (less than one year after Kennedy was assassinated) legal justification to enter the Vietnam civil war.
But as Wikipedia explains: "Later investigation revealed that the second attack never happened." "The National Security Agency, an agency of the US Defense Department, had deliberately skewed intelligence to create the impression that an attack had been carried out." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident
The US weapons industry had been wanting another war since the Korean War ended in 1953. But President Kennedy wasn't cooperating. After Kennedy was conveniently taken out of the way, Johnson got what he always wanted - the Presidency, while US weapons manufacturers got what they wanted - war.
■ Next example, US involvement in Iran-Iraq war 1980-88. In 1978-79, Iran’s religious revolution overthrew Iran’s king, the Shah of Iran. The new religious regime in Iran confiscated the oil fields and facilities of US oil companies operating in Iran.
The US oil barons called on the US government to get their oil fields back, citing US interests in controlling global oil flows. The US wasted no time attacking Iran immediately following the revolution, but not directly. Instead, the US backed the forces of Iraq in what became the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War
■ Next example, 1^st Gulf War 1991. By the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988, the US had not been able to orchestrate Iran’s downfall, and thus had not been able to retake the oil fields it had lost in Iran. The US decided it needed to put its own troops in the Middle East and finish the job against Iran themselves.
But the US needed an excuse to station US troops in the Middle East close to Iran. So it created another pretext, making Iraq believe the US would not interfere in Iraq’s plans to invade Kuwait.
“On the 24 July [1990], U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, Margaret Tutwiler, told journalists, "We do not have any defense treaties with Kuwait, and there are no special defense or security commitments to Kuwait.[10]" On the 25 July, Saddam Hussein held a meeting with American diplomat April Glaspie. During the interview, April said, "We have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait," and, "We should express no opinion on this issue and that the issue is not associated with America.[11]" Some historians believe that these comments represented an unwitting green light of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationale_for_the_Gulf_War
On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. On January 16, 1991, the US launched Operation Desert Strom against Iraq in what is now called the 1^st Gulf War.
■ Next example, 911. I know, I know. People have been refuting a US cover-up since day 1. I'm not going to sidetrack into that debate here. All I will say is... both Trade Center towers and the Pentagon had been recently renovated, the work of which is difficult to ascertain and still secret. Everything else has already been extensively debated on the web; I'll just leave it there.
The main question concerning 911 has always been, "Would US agencies commit acts of terrorism against their own cities as a pretext for war?" Given the scenarios presented in operations Northwoods and Mongoose cited above, the answer to that question is, "Yes."
For more evidence that 911 was a planned American operation, see my other post: https://www.reddit.com/conspiracy_posts/comments/1daih25/warnings_of_911_in_back_to_the_future/
■ Next example, false claim of WMD in Iraq. In late 2002, US intelligence presented grainy satellite images of what appeared to be military trucks and supply depots in Iraq. They claimed the trucks and depots hid weapons of mass destruction. Congress gave the military permission to attack Iraq, which it did in March 2003. And behold... there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
David Kay, Head of Iraq Survey Group, later blamed the false claim on "a lack of human agents inside Iraq in the months before the war", and "analysts being under pressure to draw conclusions". https://www.sipri.org/commentary/essay/2023/twenty-years-ago-iraq-ignoring-expert-weapons-inspectors-proved-be-fatal-mistake
What did the US get out of 911 and the false WMD claim? Excuses to invade Afghanistan and Iraq... neither country of which ever had any involvement with 911.
The official reason for entering Afghanistan was to capture Osama Bin Laden. Yet after OBL was killed in 2011, the US remained in Afghanistan until 2021. Why did the US remain in Afghanistan for an additional 10 years? Because Afghanistan borders Iran.
■ Iran has always been the principal target of interest. The US oil barons have been eyeing Iran since its religious revolution of 1978-79, which confiscated the properties and facilities of US oil companies operating there.
The US wasted no time attacking Iran immediately following the revolution, backing Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. But the US realized it wasn't going to get Iran without direct US involvement. 911 and the false WMD claim gave the US excuses to plant troops on either side of Iran - in Iraq on the west, and Afghanistan on the east.
After removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq in 2003, the US remained there, fighting groups backed by Iran. This was followed by the conflict in Syria starting in 2011 and still ongoing, with the West fighting Iranian-backed groups there as well.
From the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88, to post-Hussein Iraq, to Syria from 2011 onward, the US has been engaged in a 40-year proxy war against Iran. What has been only a proxy war until now is poised to turn into a direct conflict soon, as tensions between Israel and Iran continue to escalate.
The Rehearsal
Preparations for war require more than just fabricating excuses, but also conditioning the population. This includes spreading misinformation, controlling the judiciary, and displaying intimidating force. Trump's presidency worked on all three.
Trump's term in office was a dress rehearsal in spreading misinformation and manipulating the news, principally through Fox News and a large number of conservative talk shows across the country.
"Fox News has been described by academics, media figures, political figures, and watchdog groups as being biased in favor of the Republican Party in its news coverage, as perpetuating conservative bias, and as misleading their audience in relation to science, notably climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News_controversies
Additional charges against Fox News include spreading misinformation regarding the 2020 election results.
The paper "What is Fox News? Partisan Journalism, Misinformation, and the Problem of Classification" - a collaborative work by several university academics - questions "the idea that Fox should be considered a news source in the first place, claiming it should be considered something more akin to propaganda". https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/19312431211060426
Trump's presidency was also a dress rehearsal in influencing the judiciary, filling the courts with loyalists to promote the group's causes, including overthrowing Roe v Wade. This will come in handy when the time comes to suspend other rights and freedoms, including the constitution.
Then came COVID. That was a dress rehearsal to practice locking down entire countries, suspending rights and freedoms en masse.
They also practiced displaying force by mobilizing militias and gun activist groups behind the insurrection of Janurary 6, 2021, intimidating voters at election sites, and shooting at protestors. They even practiced defending their obedient shooters, ie: the shooter who showed up at a protest rally with a full-sized rifle, killed a protestor, and was later exonerated on grounds of self-defense. What a joke.
The Actors
So what's next? They're already working on their excuse for WW3 in the Middle East. Look at what's happening in Israel and Palestine. And now they have a new excuse for US presence in the Persian Gulf - attacks on shipping. Attacks against shipping in the region have been occurring for decades. Why are they reacting so strongly now when they didn't before? Because both these conflicts allow the US to strike at Iranian allies: Hamas in Palestine, and the Houthi in Yemen.
I'm not saying atrocities should be ignored. I am asking why the West focuses on some atrocities and not others. There are plenty of atrocities taking place in Africa, Asia, and Latin America in which the US never gets involved. But when anything happens that gets their troops close to Iran, they're there.
The West has been fighting Iran in one arena after another ever since the Iranian revolution. The recent conflicts in Palestine and the Persian Gulf are just the latest excuses to position forces in the Middle East. They've been there since 1980, and will remain there until they are ready to attack Iran directly. It will be an allied invasion, composed of the US, the UK, Israel and Russia (which borders Iran to the north).
Russia is allied with this "group" we've been talking about here. Recall the glowing accolades Trump showered on Putin. Recall the assistance Russia gave to Trump in the 2016 election. https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyberussian-interference-in-2016-u-s-elections
Trump even asked the Russians to find Hillary Clinton's emails. Why would Trump ask Russia to find US government emails unless he knew they were hacking US government computers? Why ask Russia and not US law enforcement? Why Russia and not another country? Because Trump knew Russia would help him. https://www.pbs.org/newshoupolitics/trump-asked-russia-to-find-clintons-emails-on-or-around-the-same-day-russians-targeted-her-accounts / https://www.vox.com/2020/9/29/21493319/trump-russia-if-youre-listening-comments-rewrite-history
Recall also how Trump kept denouncing NATO, challenging it, threatening to withdraw the US from it, weakening it from within. The intent was to make it easier for Putin to take Ukraine and other former Soviet territories in Eastern Europe. Had Trump won in 2020, Putin would have been free to achieve his ultimate objective of rebuilding the USSR. All handed to Putin in exchange for helping Trump get elected, and for Russia's participation in the up-coming war against Iran. Fathom that. After all the effort Ronald Reagan put into dismantling the Soviet Union, Trump would help Putin rebuild it.
Notice too how Koch Industries, the 2nd largest private company in America with over $125 billion in annual revenue, refuses to observe US sanctions against Russia, and has continued doing business in Russia. The Koch brothers have also refused to denounce Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Koch's ties with Russia go back to the 1930's, where their father, Fred C. Koch, made fortunes building oil refineries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_C._Koch
Today, Koch Industries engages in a range of industrial enterprises. A severe polluter of the environment, Koch Industries finances misinformation denying climate change, buying political influence to fight environmental legislation. The brothers' political influence supporting conservative politicians and conservative think tanks has been described as "overwhelming". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_Brothers_Exposed
President Eisenhower identified another player pushing the world toward war, which he called "the military-industrial complex", a cluster of industries that benefit from war. They need war to clear-out their inventories so they can produce more weapons. They prosper from armed conflict, and thus influence politicians to pursue war. As Eisenhower warned in his farewell address to his nation, "We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists." https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-dwight-d-eisenhowers-farewell-address
Another major actor in this drama is big-oil, which benefitted from US control of Iraq and its oil fields, and is salivating over the prospect of regaining control of Iranian oil fields. And big-pharma, which benefitted from government money for COVID vaccines, but then refused "to waive intellectual property rights and share vaccine technology" with developing countries, "fuelling an unprecedented human rights crisis". https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/09/new-report-shows-leading-covid-19-vaccine-pharma-companies-fuelling-unprecedented-human-rights-crisis
And who else belongs to this cast but Elon Musk, who not only defended Putin's invasion, but also cut-off Starlink's satellite service in Ukraine to prevent Ukraine's military from launching satellite-guided missiles to defend themselves against Russian attacks.
Not all conservatives belong to this malicious group; the vast majority do not. The conservative camp has become divided into two broad clans: the “middle-right” and “far-right”. I use “clans” because the two groups do not get along.
The middle-right are reasonable, cooperative, respectful of the law, devoted to the order of government, and committed to building the nation for the benefit of all its citizens.
The far-right, though, are radical in their dealings. They are divisive, they lie profusely, they incite violence, they threaten other members of congress, they are disruptive to orderly government and international cooperation, they do not know the meaning of "compromise" which is essential to keeping the nation united, they are unreasonable.
The “directors” of this drama are from this far-right clan. These directors manipulate the actors from behind the scenes. They put the various actors on stage and in the spotlight to sway and stir the audience, while they themselves hide behind the curtains. The script they follow has been decades in the making, and is about to reach its climax.
The Script
All this until now has been in preparation for what is to come, regardless of who wins the next US election or any election after it. Remember, political leaders are only figureheads. They are just servants providing this group of directors with important services, and to sway the public to support their causes.
When they are ready to launch their plans for World War 3, something will happen (real or faked - perhaps a radioactive "dirty bomb" detonation on US soil) that will prompt another lockdown similar to the one we "practiced" under COVID. Only this time, it will last much, much longer. The freedom of the press will be suspended, and so will the constitution. Our freedoms will be removed again, but this time it may be permanent.
If you throw a piece of wood into the water, it will rise to the surface. But if you sink that wood deep enough under water, it will not rise up anymore. Why? Because the water pressure grows more powerful the deeper you go. The weight of the water prevents the wood from rising up. This is why pieces of shipwrecks stay on the ocean floor.
Civilization as we know it is about to become shipwrecked. Society recovered from COVID because the interruption was brief. It was like a piece of wood that never sank deep enough, and so rose to the surface again.
But this time, they will keep civil liberties suppressed for a very long time; years. Suppress something long enough and it will not rise up again. They are getting ready to shut us down, and it will be a shutdown from which society will never recover. We will forget the press. We will forget elections. We will forget owning property and money. They just have to keep things suppressed long enough for people to forget them. A decade should do it.
Now we know why e-money is so heavily promoted and being so quickly adopted. Anyone protesting the new regime will be erased from society via user-specific digital shutdowns. Barred from transacting, investing, buying or selling. Cards deactivated, crypto seized, bank accounts emptied.
No? Have we forgotten Cyprus 2013? Well, it has been a decade.
The next phase of the plan for World War 3 is ready to come into effect, regardless of who takes power in the US - Republican or Democrat. The US entered existing wars and started wars of its own regardless of who was in power. Remember, a president is not the real power behind government. Actual power lies in the hands of the directors behind the curtains who control the actors they put on stage.
Joseph Cafariello
PS...
So how can we endure what is coming? Better still, how can we avoid it?
One word... truth.
All the turmoil and chaos we are experiencing come from deceptions, distortions, and lies. What they build on lies, we can demolish with truth.
Everything built on lies is unstable, since lies shift like sand. Whereas truth is stable and constant, and cannot be destroyed.
Embrace only truth, reject lies. Speak only truth, abandon lies. Receive only those who come to us with truth, dismiss those who deliver lies.
Remove the façade and expose the actors who try to deceive us. Reveal what has been concealed, uncover what has been covered, speak what has been hushed.
Only then will we have a better world, a stable world, a world built on truth, a world of freedom. Because lies enslave those who believe them, whereas truth sets us free.

Preface: The four classes (Duelist, Initiator, Controller, Sentinel) are amazing for beginners to get a basic grasp of how each agent plays, but that's it. Once you get deeper into the patterns of gameplay, these roles become unreliable, despite what your solo-q teammates are telling you ("We need an Initiator" is way too vague).
The following categories should provide a much clearer picture of how each agent plays and what their objectives are. Of course, some traits will be shared, which means there's going to be some overlap, but each agent's core identities are taken primarily into account when distributing them.
This is a word-vomit of how I perceive the game to be, and any disagreements and counterarguments are welcome.

Divers

Jett, Raze, Neon, Omen
Divers possess omnidirectional on-the-fly movement abilities and are used to capture space faster than any other class. Consequentially, Divers pair well with Breakers (see below) because they can capitalize on Breakers' utility quickly and efficiently, typically resulting in a kill or two during execs.

Juggernauts

Phoenix, Reyna, Iso, KAY/O, Clove
Juggernauts are built to plow through multiple enemies head-on with either low risk (e.g. Run It Back and Null/CMD) or the chance to reap exceptional rewards if they win their fights (e.g. Devour and Double Tap). They are the most self-sufficient agents in the game, typically possessing their own crowd control and other utility. Juggernauts also have the highest potential for chain killing.
If a team comp is centered around a Juggernaut in lieu of a Diver, Brimstone should (theoretically) also be drafted, due to his unique ability (Stim Beacon) to enhance his team's entry power.

Recon

Sova, Fade, Skye, Gekko, KAY/O, Cypher
Recon agents are all about answering questions, such as "Is anybody here? Who? How many? Can I walk through here safely?" Although all types of info are better than zero info, each type generally follows this order of value (assuming nobody can avoid the recon utility in an unexpected manner), highest to lowest:
1. Headcount + specific agents 2. Headcount only (Dizzy) (tied) 2. Blank response; headcount of zero 4. Util broken before detonation; variable non-zero headcount
This is why it's almost always better to have a means of breaking that Sova dart in B main rather than to let it tick and see nothing, even if you plan on hitting A site.

Breakers

Breach, Gekko, KAY/O, Skye, Omen
"Breaker" is a classification that I came up with (I kind of just didn't know what else to call them), which would explain why you've never seen this term in the context of Valorant. The idea is that Breakers can "break" the balance of a 50/50 gunfight via crowd control, like flashes and stuns. Their utility is superior to non-Breaker crowd control (such as Curveball or Relay Bolt) due to their range, AoE, speed, and reliability.
The caveat is that nobody can actually take advantage of Breaker util at max range... EXCEPT Divers. The benefits of this type of play include suddenness and unpredictability, often resulting in kills that should otherwise never happen.

Watchdogs

Cypher, KJ, Chamber
Watchdogs have ways to monitor spaces that they already control with little to no risk of death. This includes Chamber's Rendezvous, as he can threaten sightlines at strange off-angles while having the option to dip whenever he feels unsafe. Although they sacrifice some power in their ability to deter pushes (especially compared to Bastions), Watchdogs can cover HUGE amounts of space with their utility, and should have a better idea than any other player of where the enemy can/cannot be.

Bastions

Sage, Deadlock, Astra, Viper, KJ
Bastions specialize in locking out enemies from spaces that are highly valuable to both sides, or having a major advantage, to the point of being able to mow them down, if the enemy does come through (Slow Orbs, Gravity Well, Snakebites). One of the most famous examples would be the classic Sage wall in Split mid. If a team wanted to capture mid control (which generally should be a priority on Split), they would have to start by shooting down a wall while vulnerably standing in open space. Then they would have to wait out or get caught in two slow fields, followed by walking into a three-way crossfire, potentially between a chokepoint no wider than a toddler's wingspan if they hadn't broken all four segments of the wall.
However, outside their designated space, Bastions are less equipped than any other class to influence a skirmish. Unlike Watchdogs, Bastions are gods within the portion of the map that they call their kingdom. Everywhere else, they are mediocre peasants.

Smokes

Brimstone, Omen, Astra, Clove, Harbor, Viper (on Icebox/Breeze only)
Hopefully, we all know by now what smokes do and how they can be used.
Viper is an exception, as she can only be considered a primary Smoker on Icebox and Breeze due to their unorthodox (and widely hated) designs. Viper is neither flexible nor rapid enough to play as a solo smoker on any other map, so if your teammate locks Viper on Haven, do not consider the Smokes role to be filled. You still need that Omen pick.

The Architect

Viper
I just spent a whole paragraph roasting Viper, so let's talk about why she's actually one of the strongest agents in the game.
Viper has the power to essentially alter an entire portion of the map to benefit her team. Multiple times throughout a round, she can activate streamlined passageways, split open spaces into smaller pieces, drop damaging and info-starving obstacles in enemy territory, and more. Locations that were inherently advantageous to the enemy team suddenly become neutral, even safe to contest. And the best part about all this? She can do it remotely and at-will.
Many of you will probably associate Harbor with this classification as well, given that he also has a massive wall and single dome smoke, but there are a few key differences between Harbor and Viper that disallows him from filling this niche.

• Harbor cannot place his utility in pre-round.
• Harbor cannot remotely activate his utility.
• Harbor cannot deactivate his utility.

Of course, he has strengths that make him a significantly better primary smoker, such as wall bending and his Cascades (which are actually way stronger than people give them credit for). To simplify, Harbor is more flexible; Viper is more consistent.
My categorization of Viper as "architect" is probably the most confusing and abstract of all, so if you need further elaboration on this, let me know.

The Trickster

Yoru
The final (and second single-agent) class is The Trickster: Yoru. There can be an argument made for him to be placed in multiple other classes, like Breaker (for his Blindsides), or Diver (for Gatecrash), or maybe even Recon (Dimensional Drift). However, his fundamental identity doesn't sufficiently resonate with any of those. His is much more... complex.
I already went over how Recon agents specialize in answering questions. Conversely, Yoru is the king of feeding questions to the enemy, questions that are significantly more difficult to answer.
A Gatecrash goes off somewhere behind you. Was that a fake, or is Yoru actually roaming around in your spawn now? You hear footsteps in a nearby corridor, maybe even catch a glimpse of him passing by. Was that a clone, or is that psycho actually just stomping around for fun? You get punched in the eyes by a blue flash. Is Yoru close by? Maybe he is, but you also need to remember that Blindside has a global cast range. The dude could be literally anywhere.
I debated on whether or not to include Omen in this class, as he also shares these "may or may not be here" capabilities, but I ultimately decided against it. Most people are not picking Omen with this playstyle as the main objective in their minds.
Cheers.

As one of many lower realms to the immortal realm, Gulathnia suffered a horrific fate in which its already mediocre cultivation population began to lack dao energy, even in the air, such power was thinned immeasurably. Eventually, cultivators disappeared almost entirely and resigned themselves to places that were of extreme abundance once upon a time and are now slightly better environments for culitvation. While this was happening, the world took martial arts as its centre stage, the martial artists are like cultivators and will refine their techniques to bring better harmony with their body and mind. Though they won’t become immortal, if they keep persevering, they can attain body reformation and will be able to purify the impurities they have gained throughout their life. Everybody reformation becomes harder since the things that were perfected or purged will not be needed to be removed again. After the first body reformation, the next ones become about strengthening the body, then the mind and so on. This attainment is considerably harder than cultivation since it’s steeped in the lack of dao energy and the inner refinement of the person, instead of the uplifting of one's mortal existence to a heavenly stage. But this pays off and often results in a stronger fighter than a cultivator in the equivalent stage of martial arts, even allowing martial artists to ascend to the heaven realm.
With the removal of cultivator tools and society, different ethnicities began to take the common stage due to not being able to resist the elements. The worst part is that the world was heavily reliant on dao energy to keep up nature and mystic aspects, leaving only very few and very large forests or reefs.

1. Most people died of hunger or from the elements and had to devolve into small tribes or go to where the dao energy was still plentiful enough. This place became a nation called Gigwan and was the equivalent to ancient China, allowing for the Murim to form. Famous families would rise like the Tang Clan, Beggar Sect, Mount Hua Sect, Imperial Family, Buddha Sect, Wudang Sect, Demonic Sect, Ocean God Clan, Sound Sect, Assassins Hall, Dragon Blood Family and many others. Famous individuals also came about like the Knuckle King, Spear Saint, Sword Saint, Dual Bladed Demon, Golden Emperor, Shadow Executioner, the Great Beast Tamer, Pickaxe Of Doom, Poison Dragon, and others. Like the wielders and groups, many infamous and revered weapons also circulated the Murim. Weapons like the Blood Sword, Diamond Daggers, Lightning Spear, Steel Mountain Great Sword, Flood Spraying Bottle and the Shadow Axe were simply some of the weapons that circulated the Murim. Yet despite the knowledge and fame of the weapons, people or organisations, they all seemed to form under 3 banners, the Orthodox Faction, the Unorthodox Faction and the Demonic Sect. The Orthodox Faction only had people who were seen as above board or standard within the Murim like sword wielders. The Unorthodox Faction contained groups and forces that were not traditional like axe wielders, potion users, beast tamers and others. The Demonic Sect was their own faction and group with others only being allowed to work under them or for limited operations. Together the 3 factions helped the Murim in a vice with other martial artists having to choose a faction or remain as a random, since those who attained martial might would become threatened by the three as a threat or demon.

Yet, no matter what they did, even the martial artists couldn’t sustain themselves in such a world that could only drain its dao energy over time. Eventually, the dao energy dissipated so much that even the martial world could not stay and people were left to be able to only become cultivators or martial arts at the early tiers with much effort and a lot of resources.

1. Though the world was mostly deserts, wastelands and other horrors of decay and death energy. The Western Continent, Philidel, mostly survived since they already specialised in selling crops to the mortals around the world. Though they were in a similar state to Gigwan, they were off dao wise but were better infrastructure wise. This did not stop their research into power with even their more miniscule dao energy playing to their strength. By infusing dao energy into their crops, the long history of farming played to their strengths and allowed them to create something similar to pill refinement and even better in certain aspects. Working alongside their desperation, the countries and people on the Philidel continent developed an explosive martial arts technique that absorbed the abundant dao energy from the crops and the lesser energy in the air. Once collected, they used the explosions in their core to forcibly expand all filter the cultivation roots and veins. This allowed them to create aura and magic, with magicians using their staffs to recoup their energy and without it they would not be able to use magic. With these powers in mind, the Philidel continent developed several cultures and swords, mainly taking on ideals of chivalry and knightly cultures.
2. With the world in disarray, the tribes that survived had to find new creative solutions or needed to make tough decisions and scrape by. Enormous cities were made empty and had been stripped down, so people could go to their towns and villages underground and eat the fish and moss they were farming. Geniuses devised various different methods of witchcraft from sacrifices that forcefully pulled out inner dao energy to create rain or other miracles to the use of death energy to make an undead army to spirit and soul shamans to rune crafting. Though most of the world became places for conquest, other places outside of Gigwan and Philidel were also able to become prominent, like the Fizzle Kingdom which created massive homunculus beasts.

But this isn’t where the desperate story of the people in their world ended, for though Gigwan had lost its mystic splendour and shine, a dao energyless world had surfaced. Like Earth, science became a staple while the majority of the planet raised stories and legends of mortal feats. Born from the prestigious history of their cultivator ancestors, the martial artists and cultivators still found ways to shine alongside a third type of legend, mortals. While martial artists used similar techniques to cultivate themselves like cultivators, mortals are not simply ordinary people and do not focus on dao energy or substitute energies. Mortals take the essence of their existence and push it even further, like making a swordsman reach the strength of an aura knight. Whether this be assassinations, leadership roles, cavalry, taming or other feats, these special Mortal Legends have become their own classification of heroes and villains. Since improving is hard for them in their respective category, they are more akin to superheroes and will not have any growths in powers but will still reach heights akin to Immortals, Gold Core cultivators and so on.
Regardless of all of the mortals, martial artists and cultivators, the world progressed. Reaching a modern era with motor combustion, planes, race cars, tourist groups, office workers and so forth. The world was slightly more advanced than Earth since the moon had already had a colony started with cultivators and even a sect adapting to the moon’s special energies. Without cultivation or dao energy, the moon and Gulathnia became reachable to one another, allowing cultivators and martial artists to enter and strengthen their passages. But, ultimately, the most significant show of improvement for Gulathnia is how it didn’t simply stick with its systems or create new techniques to cultivate. With such cultivation resource scarcities, the general public had long received information about cultivation and martial arts techniques. The impressive part is that they didn’t simply destroy themselves to learn things that would take them multiple lifetimes without resources. Instead, humanity would spend time on and off, whether as discussions or research endeavours, to advance the beginning stages of cultivation, since their people could barely get halfway to becoming an immortal. Now, though there are still people who can’t cultivate, either because they are part of the extremely small minority who don’t have cultivation roots or because their aptitude and talent are so abysmal. 97.3% of the population around the world has at least reached the Dao Energy Establishment Stage. Along with this advancement in cultivation, martial arts also continue to progress by establishing sects around the world and advancing martial arts by becoming more effective in their usage of dao energy. The two of these groups continue to stand side by side, advancing to new frontiers so that they can prosper to even greater heights and share public versions which are also being advanced even more rapidly. Knight houses have also grown around the world and become like slightly less overseen police precincts in mediaeval times as they patrol the streets and refine their skills in the knight temples. Like martial arts, the other more obscure crafts are also prevalent like the magicians and shamans who offer a magical alternative. To deal with mystical energy deficits, they either use the unusual ones like martial artists and cultivators or they create crystals and vats that store their magical energy needs. This has allowed the creation of magic towers which are really just giant storage facilities where magicians and shamans can conduct their research and experimentation.
Though people have a focus on cultivation and martial arts are usually in sects since it is necessary to have a group of people training in the same technique to rouse the dao in such a dao energy-lacking world. Martial arts are also studied around the world as much or even more than cultivation. Either by supplementing with demonic energy from the demon realm or death energy from funerals, graveyards and such, many people have found ways to make up for the lack of dao energy. Even those who stick with dao energy can become powerhouses in the world and be comparable to Gluf’fisten, arousing the personification of power through spirits on hallowed grounds. Such things aren’t even considering the factions and sects that still remain from the Murim days:

• The Tang clan didn’t simply disappear from the world and stood strong like many others, becoming an influential family that is popular for creating poison experts and poison-based martial artists. Though they have their hands in the medical sector, their family personally works on the experimentation of new poisons and their antidotes, working towards more deadly and scary poisons. If a poison appears that needs diagnosing, people can go to the Tang family app or website and report the poison’s symptoms, colour and place. The website will then quickly relay an antidote and the necessary ingredients/steps. They also sell special kits that come with all the parts and things needed to analyse the poison and check with the database expertly.

The Tang clan still maintain their martial arts training and will try to obtain people with specific martial arts bodies like how cultivators look out for people with specific cultivation bodies. For the Tang clan, they look out for 2 types of bodies, the martial arts poison immunity body and the cultivator poison body. When such members are found, they are recruited into the sect and will be attempted to be integrated into the family bloodline, either by using their sperm for IVF in a married couple of the main line or by playing matchmaker. Though the odds of finding them are vast, the selective breeding and connections all over the world allow them to have 1 from every 10 generations, either from the poison immunity hall or the poison body hall. This does not mean they will not be on the prowl and also secretly donate such sperm and eggs to the city they control along with simply relocating people with poison-related physiques to the city. Either naturally or scientifically, the family acts as shepherds and mayors of the city and has created both a poison-loving culture and a high percentage of such people. Coincidentally, Fallgrave, the city the Tang clan controls, has also developed unique cuisines which involve poisons since they are usually immune in one way or another. Gourmets and foodies travel to Fallgrave in waves to try the unique foods of the city and will either buy antidotes or build up immunity beforehand.

• The Mount Hua Sect remains a virtuous, upright and renowned sect that has only become more splendid in its techniques and personification of plum blossoms.
• The Demonic Sect deal with the criminal underbelly and allows their practitioners to train their martial arts using the shady mokes from black markets and drug empires. They also help deal with addicts by either weaning them off or using their addictions to refine their sins and recruit new members who, though are ironically more needy for drugs and other addictions, seldom partake in them. The Demonic Sect also peers into the demon realms and request for aids of powers but are by no means puppets or servants. Though their powers are demonic in origin, their sect goes by the laws of strength, no matter what principles prevail and as long as their organisation stands and is not harmed by itself, the Demonic Sect is fine with anything. This has caused modern bias despite their PR work and the actual good they are doing, but they do not let this top them as they allow their members to teeter on the edge or even go past it for power.
• The Imperial family continues to rule over Gigwan like how the British royal family rules over England, though they have all the power and can do as they like, they aren’t taking on the extra stress. That being said, the Imperial family do still command ministers and prime ministers when the need suits them, like when they want food to be distributed to poorer regions or to attack another region or to simply spend the government budget.
• The Buddha sect has been able to build temples in even more remote locations and continue to do Buddhist things. The Buddha sect and their branches live in reclusive places like top of mountains but will regularly make pilgrimages to towns or cities to recruit new believers, offer prayers, offer their hands and bless places. Although the sect allows reproduction among its members, love between sect members is prohibited since everyone needs to treat each other fairly. This doesn not mean they close their gates to people who come unprompted since they will allow everyone to join them, so long as they pass the sect’s trials and purity training.

Often, Buddha sect members will end up leaving the sect after a number of years and training and will take up a married life or join the workforce or do other things in society while maintaining their virtues and wearing their orange cloaks and scarf-like clothing, either on top of normal clothes or on its own.

• The Wudang Sect has become reclusive like Mount Hua, but unlike Mount Hua, the Wudang Sect remain active in the martial arts world and operate like a knightly house.
• The Ocean God clan adapted to the even thinner amount of dao energy and created happy underwater settlements which were free from surface strife and wars. The Ocean God clan either lived in simple towns underwater or they lived in domed cities which also worked for tourism with the split being for those who weren’t as innately blessed by the water element. It is also because of this that all children are recovered to be birthed in air pockets or one of the domed cities and is also why there is a somewhat high orphan rate since their culture sees it as acceptable to not want to relocate.
• The Sound Sect refuses to be performers or bands after already having to deal with such issues in the past. Instead, the Sound Sect sings to nature and acts as a reclusive sect that creates sound techniques and devices which play into their strengths by allowing them to discover poisons.
• The Dragons Blood family continue to show off their innate power and talent as a family of high-level cultivators and people born with both high intellects and immense strength. Managing their own business empires and a slight interest in the Gigwan political stage, the Dragons Blood family keeps good ties with the Imperial family and have been known to entangle children to one another.
• The Assassin Hall has become more reclusive and taken some hits but they remain as a renowned assassination group that employs a lot of mortal legends in the modern era.
• The Unorthodox faction and Orthodox faction have remained rivals but have also created strong ties to one another. They aren’t as harsh about recruiting talents and let many try to make their mark. For the most part, they are spending their time setting up competitions and managing the creation as well as the upkeep of universities along with schools and high schools that are aligned with their faction which all have martial arts courses or are completely for training martial artists.

Though the major and ancient forces exist within the world, they do not have their own sovereignty and are instead regarded as forces to listen to and be cautious of, like the Demonic Sect who controls the local mountain range. Various nations in Gulathnia include:

• The Fizzle Kingdom, which exists above Gigwan on the world map, is similar in size to Gigwan. The Fizzle Kingdom continues to use outdated soldiers who are armed with spears, swords and heavy armour. Despite this, the Fizzle Kingdom is not to be underestimated since they are one of the 3 major powers. The reason they can be on the main stage despite not being Gigwan or from Philidel is that the Fizzle Kingdom had long since mastered biomancy arts. Against a cultivator, the creations would be like sludge against a brick, even if the brick couldn’t do anything, at most they would be splashed. But this is not a problem against the low-quality martial artists and cultivators who find 1 homunculus to be a dangerous threat. Ironically, though the larger ones can cause more damage, it is the more human and smaller ones that the Fizzle Kingdom create which are the things to fear. In the wars of contention where kingdoms and groups fought over supremacy and dominance, the Fizzle Kingdom quickly rose to power once they started using homunculi as their main force. Though high-level cultivators can better deal with them, unless they are immortal, the homunculi are still a threat to cultivators, martial artists and traditional cultivation puppets, even from the heaven realm.

As it currently stands, the Fizzle Kingdom has 3770 large homunculi, 27000 lesser homunculi, 300 high-quality homunculi made from the bodies of powerful and legendary figures and 10 top-tier homunculi. The top 10 homunculi are made as 1 of a kind and cause the kingdom strife to make even a single one of them, from blackouts to food shortages to the spreading of diseases and beyond.

• Like many other nations, Stevontasia is a nation that sprang up in the massive power vacuums around the world with Stevontasia being one made by Steven from Philidel. Unlike the rest of the world, though Stevontasia was a progressive nation of its time by inventing steam power, it chose to stagnate and not move to fossil fuels, nuclear or renewables. But this is not where Steontasia ended, as another nation on the central continent, Stevontasia knew they had to adapt, lest warlords or outside influences consumes them. Starting by building up their infrastructure via retrofitting their factories to run through homes so people could have free warmth. Stevontasia used their steampunk society’s scientists to create something similar to cold fusion using steam power. With that creation, they were able to create autonomous robot units that weren’t plugged into machinery and could utilise electric attacks. The move forward also enabled the people of Stevontasia to not be worked so hard and enjoy an even further prosperous life.

In the modern era, Stevontasia remains a steampunk nation with all sorts of contraptions that utilise steam power. But the most marvelous part of their society is the utilisation of their automatons as soldiers and workers, allowing for more people to live middle or upper-class lives with an incredibly small poor percentage. The Stevonians also enjoy some of the best prosthetic organs and limbs that only have the downside of being somewhat heavy. Although people are happy with the way their lives are technologically, the Stevonians still have their technology exported as Gulathnia’s equivalent to alternative medicine (not used for healing) or as pieces for study. The only notable problems for their society is the enormous water and smoke that fills the air. They deal with the water costs using well maintained and extremely efficient aquaducts and canals while they deal with the smoke in the air using large vent towers that collect the smoke and pumps it away from the country. The pumping is used for energy as well by deploying wind turbines where the thick air is pushed, since they can tolerate alternative energy methods as long as it involves steam power.
The Stevonians are also very conscientious about keeping the world green and their people updated with old timey designs put on modern tech which often ends up being more advanced since they like to stick to old sizes, allowing them to put in more. Though they aren’t going to stop their ways of steam power, they understand its effects on the global climate and know that they need to be part of the solution and are researching ways to remove the smoke in a cost-effective manner. The Stevonians are also working with other nations on green initiatives and trying to include more groups and powers in the struggle for the planet that cannot heal itself like other cultivation worlds. This combined with the love for old-styled modern tech has turned out a large number of mechanics for and outside of Stevontasia. This has only benefitted their nation because the high number of engineers and mechanics has allowed them to improve their steam tech and get authorisation for absolutely gigantic projects like the steam accordion/pipe organ. It uses rain and floods as water in its pit and is the size of the Opera House in Australia. Other projects include the goliath which has similar strength to a top-tier homunculus by the Fizzle Kingdom. The only reason they aren’t produced on a larger scale is because they are extremely costly resource-wise and has only allowed the nation to make 3 of the goliaths with 27 supporting gundams. But out of the mechs, goliaths, hyper pressurised rifles and other creations of this gifted people, the most fearsome thing is the police androids which look like if a humanised cleaning robot became an old-timey cop, got yoked and constantly kept a smoking pipe on him. Though it is only at the capacity of a soldier coming up against a gorilla, for law breakers and other such types of people, the cop bots are things of nightmares. With electricity moving around the outside of their body, bright red eyes, smoking coming out of the pipe and the cops gripping onto smooth tower walls, they come, literally, crashing down on enemies. One can only imagine the fear coursing through a thief or drug dealer who has his roof crashed through while his chemists are working.

• Oomerocomerica is a continent sized nation which inhabits the Brizigna continent and operates very similarly to America. Though their political and civil situation are a lot more controlled, especially with gun control, the ideals of freedom and the anime stereotypical idea of blonde women is true. People can still purchase guns with regulations to make crime and school shootings a thing of the past, and most of all, Oomerocomerica continues to spend most of their budget on military development and upkeep. Cutlivation bullets, something other nations consider extremely costly and is something only the super rich use on a limited basis is used by the Oomerocomerica army. Every soldier is given at least 30 bullets of cultivation bullets and the rest are spiritual bullets which most armies of other nations use. Just like their bullets, the amour, vehicles and other tools of the army are treasured items and are kept in extremely high regard. 3 of the 92 states are completely converted to the creating of military arms, if only due to the long amounts of time it takes to produce them. The states are also not simply created to control territories and are instead designed for water and dao energy in mind as well as farming and specific exports of certain states. The ordinary people, however, are stuck using normal firearms with no rapid fire like pistols and will need to pass several evaluations from mental health to criminality.

Oomerocomerica, besides being the land of freedom and the right to bear arms, is home to the largest number of “superheroes” who are in actuality mortal legends. Though fairly autonomous and beloved by the people, the mortal heroes are still beholden to the law and will have other superheroes and the government take them down if they do anything illegal.

• Beast Country is a nation of animals, insects, plants and anything that isn’t human which has attained some semblance of consciousness. Regardless of the value of their corpse, the Beast Country has taken in many refugees using secret shelters around the world. From caves in the forest to gatherings in sewers, the Beast Country takes in all walks of all and species. This has been both to their benefit and harm since they often take in creatures that are amazing tonics for cultivation or powerful beasts that people wish to tame. The only reason creatures still go to Beast Country is because it is either their only alternative or because they can trust the agents in the shelters because the agents are veterans or escapees themselves.

As one would imagine, just because they are refugees doesn’t mean that there won’t be crime. Although borders are tight and creatures from Beast Country do not like humans near the continent, there are still exports and goods through the black market. This is only possible because Beast Country isn’t a unified territory under a powerful existence and is instead a conglomerate of packs, groups and even kingdoms. The factions are not the most friendly to one another but they do not try to separate or cause too much strife. Instead, a council has been constructed for the various states and special locations like the Tranquility Garden which is a paradise for creatures who couldn’t defend themselves and were a massive prize, like the rainbow infused butterfly or rock elemental with its high value magic core. In total, there are 13 seats on the council that oversee the continent and 7 more seats for various positions like head general or finance minister. But even the possession of such creatures could not warrant entire nations to wish to assault their doors until the Beast Country began taking in weapons of war that had gained sentience like homunculi from Fizzle. This started a conflict between Fizzle Kingdom and Beast Country which quickly escalated as mercenaries offered their services for free, nations hopped on the train for free resources and people signed up as mercs for the war. If not for the fore warning, Beast Country wouldn’t have been able to prepare border defences in the form of a wall, armed with cannons, around the continent. Even though the wall did not completely stop the invaders, it certainly helped a lot and allowed the continent to only lose a state, half of which they recovered after the war, the other half crumbled and fell to the ground.

• Pinnacle is another nation in Gulathnia that exists in Glubnuke and has control over 90% of the islands above the continent. Despite being a rather small nation on the continent, Pinnacle is a paradise for advancement and modern ideals. From art to history to science and all other fields that are believed to enrich peoples lives. It is this love for science and discovery that allowed Pinnacle to quickly rise above the others and control the islands on the surface. No matter the emotions of other nations, the relations and ties that Pinnacle manages alongside their advanced society means that they are a threat that no one wants to destroy easily, especially considering the rap they would get. Their strength has only gotten more impressive as they have heavily invested in the islands above and manage a border similar to a mushroom. Unless people went to enter through the less amicable eastern islands, Pinnacle is the one collecting 99% of all tithes for entry. It is because of this immense profit margin that Pinnacle invests a large amount of their population into the islands with smooth and comfortable lifts down to the air bubbled underwater continent. All of this only makes it more frightening for invaders and aggressors to find out that though Pinnacle is willing to make some concessions, piss them off enough and they will go balistic. From the Island Wars of 372 ACW (After Centention Wars) where they quickly retook all the taken islands in a night to the siege of the Night Moon castle. Though they are pacifists that keep a calm approach which couples with their enlightened attitudes, poke the bee nest and a dragon attacks.
• Gigwan is the oldest and most ancient empire in Gulathnia and is home to some of the strongest styles, techniques and abilities for cultivation and martial arts. Because of their long history and fortune, Gigwan has created many legendary figures, almost all martial artists of legend existed in Gigwan, due to it being the golden age of martial arts. Similarly, most older generation cultivators with renown and greater power are also based in Gigwan for the same reasons, along with powerful cultivation and martial arts families.

Though they aren’t filled with the latest tech and most sophisticated researchers, Gigwan remains a leading power and a driving force for advancements. Although their research and initiatives are usually geared towards cultivation and martial arts, despite them not being the strongest nation, thanks to Oomerocomerica.

• Ashrihan Republic’s Mcfarnach Dukedom is a dukedom that is still recognised by both parties as part of the Ashrihan Republic. The reason they are still a dukedom and not reincorporated as a state is because the dukedom could succeed at any moment it wished. Though the Ashrihan Republic is a democracy with a president ruling over a council and an outdated monarchy who are treated like monuments rather than a ruling power with any authority. The dukedom is kept around with its classic noble lineage because the Duke of the Mcfarnach territory and his people are impossibly strong. Although they lack the military power to stretch beyond their dukedom, the Mcfarnach Dukedom is possibly the most impenetrable place in the whole world. Being only the size of a major city, the city-state has its main population behind its inner walls around the city while it is protected by 3 entry points that both generate the territory wealth and give them safety. By all measures, the dukedom can separate as an independent nation and only chooses not to do so because of their love of the Ashrihan Kingdom and its royal family. Although the royal family is kept around as a trinket for tourists with a section in their home dedicated for tourists, the reason they still keep even this much power and stability is because of the Mcfarnach Dukedom. In fact, when the Mcfarnach Dukedom has to have talks and discussions with the Ashrihan Republic, they require the presence of the royal family who acts as the last say in the conversation. Despite what people may think, the royal family of Ashrihan is both strong and defiant against the republic for though they might bend the knee on most matters, they will not allow the dukedom which has given such loyalty to be dishonoured. This has led to many issues with the republic who thought they could simply put in a fake monarch and order them to disarm or quickly replace the dukedom’s army long enough to enact their “democracy”. Every time this has failed and led to the republic giving the dukedom compensation, something they will always bend the knee to because not only do they lack the ability to take the city-state but they are also dependent on the dukedom. The reason that is the case is because the Mcfarnach Dukedom is mostly secured by their high mountains and treasure trove soil which supply the republic with precious metals every week. This only exemplifies their trustability because despite being next to other nations or with easy access, the dukedom ensures that 70% of all mineral trade and business goes to the Ashrihan Republic and is sold in a way that allows the people to experience greater wealth and prosperity. No matter if it is the royal family’s influential friends or orders of the government, the Mcfarnach Dukedom will not simply shuffle off their minerals to big organisations and companies that will export the minerals elsewhere. This has made them extremely well-liked within the people’s eye and makes it so that they cannot act rashly against the dukedom, especially since the dukedom with an open and vocal advocate against corruption.

The entrances of the dukedom include a passage between 2 steep mountains, a river ending inside the dukedom and a part of airspace that doesn’t have constant storms of mineral ice. Though the storm that is constantly staying around the region has given them air defences, the main and primal form of defence has and always is the steep mountains surrounding the dukedom. With these natural defences and phenomenon, only the 3 entrances are needed to be defended. The defences are not to be worried about though, since the entry points are secured and filled with high and thick concrete walls, anit-air defences and armed guards guarding the borders.

• Black Country is the last standing nation in and on the Hydraniliion continent and is slowly losing their grasp. Although they re-appeared in Gulathnia during and after the Contention Wars, Black Country has remained unaided, despite constant cries and requests for aid. The situation is so desperate because the Hydraniliion continent is threatened to be consumed by massive leviathans that lurk in the ocean under the world, giving the darkness malevolent sounds. But the leviathans are but a secondary issue for the prime problem is the Tainted Ones, both an ethnicity and an organisation that has consumed 63% of the continent and destroyed all other nations. The only reason the Tainted Ones have not taken over the sacked and ruined territories is because Black Country is using whatever forces tehy can gather from their nation and the ruined ones to enforce the borders. Though it is unknown what conditions brought about the Tainted Ones, what is known is that they use the powers of darkness and have become its apostles under the world. Every inch of ground they take only seems to empower them while every ground taken is only a slight annoyance or inconvenience, signalling that the controlling and corruption of land is not their strength but some grander entity rewarding them. What makes things worse is that even if people wanted to come and help the Black Country, the trench is simply too thickly filled with the essence of darkness, meaning that a quantitative difference or an economic one is not possible. Only those with high cultivation or advanced martial arts powers can enter and no one wants to play delivery man with such strength, nor does a single man or woman’s efforts mean much when combating a seemingly endless tide.
• Moon Dancer’s Sanctum is the nation of those who live on the moon and is in actuality a shared territory between various powers in the world who colonised the moon during their space race, giving the moon enough autonomy to not be any groups puppets. Their special trait is that they have a unique energy which is similar to celestial or star dao energy that acts with an earthy mix. Unique to Gulathnia, since most cultivation worlds cannot access the moon unless they are one of the strongest cultivators or possess meteor shards. The moon of Gulathnia allows for unique insights in cultivation, new styles of martial arts and an affinity to this unique dao element that others couldn’t realise they had without harnessing their innate elemental affinity.

Though people almost always have a wood, fire, water, earth, air or lightning element affinity, something that cultivators don’t usually need to care about since it doesn’t help them cultivate and they can simply use a range of techniques. For more rare elements like moon dao energy, it can at the very least offer insight or enlightenment to cultivators, already making it a treasure. The fact that the moon dao energy is so unique and otherworldly that it can greatly help cultivation progress only enhances its value, by several folds if specifics are involved. It is for this reason that the moon of Gulathnia is heavily invested in with the most modern techn and why there is significant amounts of infrastructure for mining already put in. The most astonishing part is the launcher track which takes the harvested moon pieces and shoots it out of a conveyor belt to the planet’s many launch bays. There often needs to be security details in the sky to prevent theft but the reward for reselling or using moon pieces is astronomical. Entire temples or training grounds are built out of moon rocks to enhance a person’s cultivation progress. Most buildings on the moon are either built with, in or from converted pieces of moon rock, making citizens on the moon extremely exotic in their powers. It is for this reason that the Moon Dancers, the group the moon is named after, exists. The Moon Dancers are like if a swat team, power rangers and ballerinas mixed together. They guard the planet from criminals and invaders, giving them a great reputation and several statues built in their honor. If people want to work in law enforcement on the moon, they will have at least minimal training as a Moon Dancer, allowing them to dash and dance across the buildings, thanks to the low gravity.

• On the west of Glupnia, Grizan is a nation that is extremely blessed to have several dragon veins contort over the centuries into their land, allowing them to become a powerful nation once they relearned cultivation. Though the times were tough with overthrowing foreign rule and reuniting their lands and taking a bit extra from hostile neighbours who were just outside of the dragon veins to get such riches. The Grizan people have a 100% cultivator population and extremely rich and beautiful environments. They don’t export anything and the whole nation is almost always cultivating or working on big cultivation projects like absorption towers that condense and collect the power underground and overlapping under them to make especially powerful or advanced cultivators. The only problem they have is that a lot of them are stuck on emerging immortal and have massive border restrictions after the heavenly tribulations of 96 and attempt to unify the world, leading to MASSIVE war.

The syllabus is : Physics: Basic Mathematics in Physics (up to Sinusoidal graphs)..
Chemistry: Some basic concepts of chemistry (Up to stoichiometry Calculation).
Botany: Living World, Biological Classification (Three Domains System)
Zoology: Animal Kingdom (Non Chordata) (up to Phylum – Ctenophora)

The War Scroll, also known as the "War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness," is a unique text within the Dead Sea Scrolls that portrays an apocalyptic battle between the forces of good (Sons of Light) and evil (Sons of Darkness). This scroll provides insight into both historical and symbolic elements.
Historical Accuracy:
The War Scroll, while containing detailed military tactics and an epic narrative of the ultimate confrontation, doesn't explicitly reference any specific historical event or timeframe. Some scholars believe it could be a product of the community's anticipation of a future messianic conflict or a reflection of their own community's struggles against opposing forces during their time. Interpreting the historical accuracy of the scroll often involves exploring the context of the Qumran community and the turbulent times in which they lived.
Symbolism and Esoteric Wisdom:
The War Scroll goes beyond a mere description of a physical battle. It portrays a cosmic conflict between the forces of light and darkness, reflecting not just a literal warfare but also a symbolic and spiritual struggle. The text emphasizes righteousness, divine intervention, and the victory of good over evil.
Within the study guide, activities and exercises could involve dissecting the symbolic elements present in the War Scroll, exploring the deeper meanings behind the battle tactics and the metaphysical implications of the conflict. Understanding the symbolism could involve group discussions, comparative analysis with other ancient texts with similar themes, and exploring the impact of this symbolic representation on the community's beliefs and practices.
Here are a few activities and exercises to explore the symbolism and historical context of the War Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls:

1. Symbolism Analysis:

Provide excerpts from the War Scroll and encourage participants to identify and discuss the symbolic meanings behind elements like the "Sons of Light" and the "Sons of Darkness," various weapons, and the strategies outlined for battle. Group discussions or written reflections can help participants explore the deeper layers of meaning.

1. Comparative Analysis:

Compare the War Scroll's themes with similar apocalyptic or eschatological texts from different cultures or religions, such as apocalyptic passages in the Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible or apocalyptic texts from other ancient traditions. Create worksheets or discussion prompts to highlight similarities and differences in themes, symbols, and beliefs about cosmic battles.

1. Historical Context Exploration:

Present historical information about the era when the Dead Sea Scrolls were written. Discuss the political, social, and religious climate of that time, including the turmoil in the region, to understand how these factors might have influenced the composition of the War Scroll. Encourage participants to consider the possible motivations behind the text's creation.

1. Creative Interpretation:

Encourage creative expression by asking participants to create artwork, poems, or short stories inspired by the themes and imagery found in the War Scroll. This exercise allows individuals to engage more deeply with the symbolic elements and interpret them in their own unique ways.

1. Role-playing or Debates:
   Organize a role-playing activity where participants take on the roles of "Sons of Light" and "Sons of Darkness," debating their ideologies, motivations, and strategies for the ultimate battle. This exercise helps in understanding differing perspectives and interpreting the conflicts presented in the scroll.
   

Interpretative variations regarding the river's crossing in different ancient texts reflect the unique religious, philosophical, and cultural perspectives embedded within these narratives. These differences in interpretation offer insights into diverse worldviews and varying theological frameworks present in ancient texts:

1. Mesopotamian Context:

• In Mesopotamian mythology and literature, the Euphrates River often held symbolic significance as a boundary between the known civilized world and the wild, unknown realms. The crossing of the Euphrates could symbolize journeys into unexplored territories or transitions between order and chaos. This perspective reflects a worldview rooted in the physical and geographical division of lands.

1. Biblical Context:

• In biblical texts, such as those in the Book of Revelation or Old Testament prophecies, the crossing of the Euphrates carries eschatological significance. It may represent a divine intervention or a decisive moment in God's plan, marking the commencement of apocalyptic events. This interpretation aligns with the biblical narrative of divine judgment and the unfolding of God's ultimate purpose in history.

1. Gnostic or Apocryphal Context:

• Gnostic or apocryphal texts often interpret the river's crossing as a symbolic liberation or awakening. It might signify the release of spiritual forces or the ascent to higher consciousness, reflecting a philosophical perspective emphasizing spiritual enlightenment and liberation from material constraints.

1. Greco-Roman Interpretation:

• In Greco-Roman literature, crossings of rivers were often associated with mythological journeys or transitions between realms. The crossing of the Euphrates might symbolize a transition from mundane existence to a realm of mystery or spiritual significance, reflecting a cultural perspective rooted in mythology and cosmology.

These varied interpretations highlight the richness and diversity of religious, philosophical, and cultural frameworks present in ancient texts. The river's crossing serves as a flexible symbol that adapts to different narratives, conveying themes of transition, judgment, liberation, or cosmic transformation based on the unique perspectives of each tradition.
Exploring these interpretative variations allows participants to appreciate the complexity of symbolism within ancient texts and provides insights into how different cultures and belief systems interpreted common motifs like the river Euphrates. It showcases the intricate interplay between religious, philosophical, and cultural elements shaping the symbolism and theological implications embedded in these narratives.
The river Euphrates, a prominent geographic feature in ancient texts, embodies universal themes that transcend specific cultural contexts. Identifying these universal themes helps reveal shared human concepts of transition, boundaries, and transformative events across diverse ancient traditions:

1. Threshold and Transition:

• The Euphrates often symbolizes a boundary between known and unknown territories. Its crossing represents a transition from one state to another, signifying a pivotal moment of change or passage. This theme of crossing a threshold echoes the human experience of transitions in life, moving from familiar to unfamiliar realms.

1. Boundary and Separation:

• As a geographical boundary, the Euphrates signifies separation between distinct territories or civilizations. This concept of demarcation resonates with universal human experiences of setting boundaries, delineating spaces, or marking divisions between different aspects of life.

1. Transformative Events:

• Crossing the Euphrates is often associated with cosmic or transformative events in ancient texts. This universal theme reflects the human fascination with the concept of epochal change, cosmic upheavals, or moments of divine intervention that reshape the course of history.

1. Symbol of Power and Control:

• The river might represent a symbol of power, control, or geopolitical significance. Crossing it could signify shifts in dominance, challenges to established authority, or the assertion of influence. This theme resonates with human narratives of power struggles and shifts in societal dynamics.

1. Metaphor for Spiritual Journeys:

• Across cultures, rivers are often used metaphorically to represent spiritual journeys or quests. The crossing of the Euphrates might symbolize the pursuit of enlightenment, the passage to higher realms of understanding, or the quest for spiritual transformation.

These universal themes associated with the river Euphrates highlight fundamental aspects of the human experience—transitions, boundaries, transformative events, power dynamics, and spiritual journeys. The river's symbolism in ancient texts speaks to shared human aspirations, struggles, and beliefs that transcend cultural boundaries and resonate across different epochs and civilizations.
By identifying and discussing these universal themes, participants gain a deeper appreciation for the profound symbolism embedded in ancient texts and recognize the timeless relevance of concepts such as transition, boundaries, and transformative events in shaping human narratives and aspirations.

1. Historical Context:

• What historical events or societal conditions might have influenced the composition of the War Scroll?
  
• How does the historical context of the Dead Sea Scrolls' discovery contribute to our understanding of this text's significance?
  

1. Symbolism and Esoteric Wisdom:

• How does the War Scroll use symbolism to convey spiritual or cosmic themes?
  
• What esoteric wisdom or deeper spiritual insights can be derived from the portrayal of cosmic conflict and divine intervention within the text?
  

1. Comparative Analysis:

• Compare the themes and symbolism of the War Scroll with other apocalyptic texts from different cultures (e.g., Book of Revelation, The Book of Daniel). What common motifs or differences in interpretation do you observe?

1. Parallelism in Biblical Texts:

• Explore connections between the War Scroll and other biblical texts. How does the language, imagery, or themes in the War Scroll intersect with passages from the Hebrew Bible or New Testament?

1. Community Beliefs and Practices:

• How might the apocalyptic expectations depicted in the War Scroll have influenced the beliefs and practices of the community that produced it?
  
• Discuss the impact of such intense anticipation of cosmic conflict on communal life and religious rituals within the community.
  

1. Cultural Significance of Cosmic Battles:

• Across various ancient cultures, why do you think depictions of cosmic battles and eschatological events were significant? What might these narratives represent in a broader cultural context?

1. Interpretive Variations and Unique Perspectives:

• Explore the diverse interpretations of specific passages or symbols within the War Scroll. How do different scholars or traditions interpret these elements, and what underlying factors might influence their interpretations?

1. Personal Reflection and Modern Relevance:

• Reflect on how the themes of cosmic conflict, righteousness, and spiritual warfare in the War Scroll might resonate in contemporary society or personal belief systems.

1. Theological and Philosophical Implications:

• Discuss the theological and philosophical implications of a cosmic battle between forces of light and darkness. How does this theme intersect with broader philosophical inquiries or theological doctrines?

1. Literary and Symbolic Analysis:

- Analyze the narrative structure and symbolic elements present in specific passages of the War Scroll. How do these elements contribute to the text's overarching themes and meanings? 

These study questions aim to provoke critical thinking, promote in-depth exploration of themes, encourage comparative analysis, and stimulate discussions on the multifaceted nature of the War Scroll's content and its significance within ancient and contemporary contexts.

1. Archaeological and Linguistic Analysis:

- How does the physical condition of the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the War Scroll, impact our understanding of their preservation and historical context? - Discuss the linguistic peculiarities or unique textual features found within the War Scroll and their implications for translation and interpretation. 

1. Apocalyptic Expectations and Messianic Concepts:

- Explore the portrayal of messianic figures or anticipated saviors within the War Scroll. How do these concepts align with or diverge from contemporary expectations of a messianic figure in other ancient texts or religious traditions? 

1. Impact of Apocalyptic Literature:

- Analyze the enduring influence of apocalyptic literature, such as the War Scroll, on subsequent religious, literary, or cultural traditions. How have these texts shaped later beliefs or inspired artistic and literary works? 

1. Ethical and Moral Frameworks:

- Discuss the ethical or moral implications of the cosmic conflict depicted in the War Scroll. How do the themes of righteousness and wickedness contribute to the text's underlying moral framework? 

1. Role of Prophecy and Revelation:

- Explore the role of prophecy and revelation within the War Scroll. How do the prophetic elements contribute to the text's portrayal of future events and cosmic justice? 

1. Experiential and Ritualistic Elements:

- Investigate potential ritualistic or experiential dimensions associated with the teachings or beliefs conveyed in the War Scroll. How might the community have engaged with these teachings in their religious practices or communal activities? 

1. Literary Genre and Interpretation:

- Discuss the classification of the War Scroll within the broader genre of apocalyptic literature. How does its classification influence our understanding and interpretation of its themes and symbolic elements? 

1. Relevance in Modern Scholarship:

- Reflect on the ongoing scholarly debates or discoveries related to the War Scroll. How have modern interpretations evolved, and what implications do these new perspectives have on our understanding of the text? 

1. Intersection of Faith and Scholarship:

- Consider the interplay between faith-based interpretations and scholarly analyses of the War Scroll. How might religious convictions or theological frameworks influence academic research and vice versa? 

1. Future Research and Interpretative Avenues:

- Propose potential avenues for future research or areas of exploration concerning the War Scroll. What unanswered questions or unexplored aspects merit further investigation? 

The composition of the War Scroll, along with other Dead Sea Scrolls, was likely influenced by several historical events and societal conditions prevalent during the time of its writing, which is estimated to be between the 2nd century BCE and the 1st century CE:

1. Hellenistic Rule and Cultural Influence:

• The region where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found was under Hellenistic influence due to the conquests of Alexander the Great and the subsequent control by the Seleucid Empire. This era saw a clash between Hellenistic culture and Jewish traditions, leading to cultural tensions and a desire to preserve religious and cultural heritage.

1. Political Turmoil and Resistance Movements:

• The Jewish people experienced political unrest, particularly during the Maccabean Revolt against Seleucid rule. This period was characterized by resistance movements, attempts to preserve Jewish identity, and fervent anticipation of a messianic figure to deliver them from foreign oppression.

1. Religious Sects and Spiritual Expectations:

• Various religious sects existed within Judaism, each with its own interpretations and expectations of messianic redemption, purity laws, and theological doctrines. The community associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls, often believed to be the Essenes, likely had distinctive theological beliefs and a strong apocalyptic worldview.

1. Anticipation of Cosmic Redemption:

• There was a widespread belief in the imminent arrival of a messianic figure or a divine intervention that would bring about cosmic redemption, ushering in an era of righteousness and divine rule. This anticipation of apocalyptic events and a cosmic battle between forces of light and darkness is reflected in the War Scroll's themes.

Regarding the historical context of the Dead Sea Scrolls' discovery, its significance lies in multiple facets:

1. Preservation of Ancient Texts:

• The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the War Scroll, provided an invaluable collection of ancient manuscripts that significantly expanded our understanding of ancient Jewish texts, religious beliefs, and the diversity of Jewish thought during the Second Temple period.

1. Insights into Jewish Sectarianism:

• The scrolls shed light on the diversity of beliefs and practices among Jewish sects during that time. Understanding the beliefs and expectations of the community associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls helps contextualize the theological and apocalyptic themes present in the War Scroll.

1. Confirmation of Scriptural Accuracy:

• The Dead Sea Scrolls' discovery contributed to confirming the accuracy and preservation of certain biblical texts, highlighting the continuity of textual transmission across centuries and supporting the authenticity of biblical manuscripts.

1. Impact on Biblical Studies and Scholarship:

• The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls revolutionized biblical studies, providing scholars with invaluable primary sources for studying ancient Judaism, the development of biblical texts, and the context in which these texts were composed.

The historical context of political upheaval, religious expectations, and the preservation of texts within the Dead Sea Scrolls contributes significantly to understanding the milieu in which the War Scroll was written. It provides a backdrop against which the themes of cosmic conflict, eschatological anticipation, and religious fervor within the War Scroll can be comprehended.

So based on a previous post, I decided to work on creating an actual fully-fleshed out WDW acronym list. There are a handful floating around on the Internet, but I've not seen any that are comprehensive, and especially any that include many of the attractions/lands and other features inside the parks/hotels.
With that, this is what I've started with. If you have any acronyms you're aware of for attractions, restaurants, or other locations within the WDW ecosystem, feel free to make a comment with it below and I'll add it in. This includes any you see in the scheduling system, CDS, or that you're aware of in local use (if you think it might be helpful to future CMs/CPs to know).
Note that this is for WDW only at this point. Once I'm satisfied that this one is fairly complete, I'll add DLR stuff into it.
LOCATIONS
MK Magic Kingdom 7DMT Seven Dwarfs Mine Train AdLib Adventureland/Liberty Square AL Adventureland ATT Aladdin/Tiki Rook/Swiss Family Treehouse complex (ATR) BBB Bibiddi Bobiddi Boutique BOG Be Our Guest BTMR Big Thunder Mountain Railroad CBJ Country Bear Jamboree CHH Columbia Harbor House COP Carousel of Progress CP Crystal Palace CRT Cinderella's Royal Table FAN Fantasyland FL Frontierland FOF Festival of Fantasy (Parade) HEA Happily Ever After (Fireworks Show) HM Haunted Mansion HOP Hall of Presidents IASW It's a Small World LS Liberty Square M3C Mickey's Most Merriest Christmas (Castle Show) POTC Pirate of the Caribbean SC (Cosmic Ray's) Starlight Café TL Tomorrowland TST Town Square Theater TTA Tomorrowland Transit Authority TTC Transportation and Ticket Center
EC Epcot F&G Flower and Garden Festival F&W Food & Wine Festival FW Future World GOTG Guardians of the Galaxy IGW International Gateway MS Mission: Space TT Test Track WS World Showcase
ST Hollywood Stuidos (Also HS or DHS) GE Galaxy's Edge ROTR Rise of the Resistence TOT Tower of Terror SDD Slinky Dog Dash MMRR Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad BE Backlot Express RNRC Rockin' Rollercoaster BATB Beauty and the Beast (Show)
DAK Disney's Animal Kingdom (Also AK) FOP Flight of Passage KSR Kilimanjaro Safaris NRJ Navi River Journey Y&Y Yak and Yeti
DS Disney Springs WOD World of Disney
TL Typhoon Lagoon
BB Blizzard Beach
AKL Animal Kingdom Lodge AOA Art of Animation Resort ASMo All-Star Movies Resort ASMu All-Star Music Resort ASR All-Star Resort(s) BC Beach Club Resort (Also BCR) BLT Bay Lake Tower (Contemporary) BW Boardwalk Inn Resort (Also BWR) CB Caribbean Beach Resort (Also CBR) CS Coronado Springs Resort (Also CSR) CT Contemporary Resort (Also CON or CTR) DAAR Disney's Art of Animation Resort (Also AAR or ART) DU Disney University EWWS ESPN Wide World of Sports (also WWOS or SPTS) FWC Fort Wilderness Campground (Also FW) GF Grand Floridian Resort (Also GFR) OKW Old Key West Resort POFQ Port Orleans - French Quarter Resort POP Pop Century Resort POR Port Orleans Riverside Resort PY Polynesian Resort (Also POL or Poly) RIV Riviear Resort (Also RIR) SOG Shades of Green SS Sarasota Springs Resort (Also SSR) WL Wilderness Lodge (Also WLR) YB Yacht and Beach Club Resort (Also Y&B or YBW) YC Yacht Club Resort (Also YCR)
ROLES
ART Artists (Sketches, Drawings, etc.) ASE Animals, Science, and Environment ATR Attractions BOH Back of House CON Concessions (at EWWS) CON Conventions/Catering (at other sites) COS Costuming CUS Custodial DPI Digital Photo Imaging (refers to the department) ELE Entertainment Costuming ENT Entertainment F&B Food & Beverage FOH Front of House GEM Guest Experience Manager GFT Guest Flow Team GR Guest Relations GSO Guest Service Operations (Front Desk, Concierge, Bell Svcs) GUS Constuming Distribution H/H Host/Hostess HOH Heart of House (generally same thing as BOH) HORT Horticulture HSK Housekeeping HSP Houseperson IMG Photo Imaging IV Investigator (Security) MER Merchandise MOP Merchandise Operations (AK MER) ODV Outdoor Vending OPS Operations OTR Operations Transportation PAC Parade Audience Control QSR Quick Service Restaurant R&R Resort & Retail REC Recreation S&R ??? SEC Security TS Table Service (Sit Down) Restaurant TXT Textile Services UT Untrained
OTHER ACRONYMS
ADO Authorized Day Off (or Additional Day Off) AP Annual Pass CDS Cast Deployment System CFTOD Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (Replaces RCID) CIF Call-In Factor (shift coverage) CM Cast Member (Disney Employee, Generally) CP DCP Participant CR Casual Regular CRO Central Reservations Office DAH Disney After Hours DAS Disability Access Service DCP Disney College Program DHLP Disney Hospitality Leadership Program DLR Disneyland Resort DORMS Disney Online Room Management System (FCV) DPEP Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products DVC Disney Vacation Club ECV Electric Convenience (or Conveyance) Vehicle EMH Extra Magic Hours ER Early Release (early end of shift, usually due to overstaffing) ER Employee Relations FAM Facility Asset Management FCE Flamingo Crossing East FCW Flamingo Crossing West FOS Facility Operations Services FT Full Time HR Human Resources HRLY Hourly JM Job Managed (denotes job classification in Workday) LR Labor Relations MDX My Disney Experience (Also MDE) MNSSHP Mickey's Not-so-Scary Halloween Party MVMCP Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party OJT On-the-job Training PM Position Managed (denotes job classification in Workday) POET Post-Offer Employment Test (Medical/Physical Assessment) POS Point of Sale PT Part Time RCID Reedy Creek Improvement District (Replaced by CFTOD) RDO Regular Day Off ROS Relief of Shift (early end of shift due to personal emergency) SAL Salaried SEAS Seasonal TWDC The Walt Disney Corporation WDI Walt Disney Imaging WDPR Walt Disney Parks and Resorts

THE EMERGENCE OF BIOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY
The vast reservoirs of carbon dioxide, silicon dioxide, oxygen, water, methane, and ammonia
molecules, present on the early Earth, would have been manufactured, sorted, combined and
refined by the planet itself; and would later serve as the raw materials for the planet-wide
production of more complex compounds, such as sugars, amino acids, fatty acids and other complex
carbon-containing compounds. In other words, on the early Earth, many of those inorganic chemical
compounds and the molecular structures they form would serve as the container (or beaker and
petri dish), fuel source (or Bunsen burners), reactant, catalyst and reagents for various complex
reactions (or syphoned-off, closed-off, pressurized and temperature controlled reactions) used for
the production of many basic organic compounds. Essentially, the natural convection and
geochemical mechanisms of the planet would only need to get certain specific light or gaseous
elements confined within certain reaction channels, pockets, or cavities, at or just below the Earth’s
surface, in the presence of certain natural catalysts and reagents, to start to create the very first
chemical permutations for biological life. This is because, spectroscopic analysis of organic
compounds and biological molecules (such as sugars, amino acids, and fatty acids) shows that, in
their most basic forms, all organic molecules comprise of some combination of just 11 specific light
elements, all of which would have been abundant within the lower atmosphere and upper crust of
the newly formed Earth.
Essentially, because of the specific chemical composition and energy orientation of the early Earth,
all variations of carbon-based life, at the molecular level, mainly contain six elements: oxygen,
carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus, with trace amounts of another five elements:
potassium, sulphur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. Which is why, the experiment conducted by
Stanley Miller and Harold Urey, in the 1950's, where they tested if organic molecules readily form
from simple inorganic compounds, used a closed system of gases, thought to be abundant in the
atmosphere of the early earth (namely, H2O, N2, NH3, and CH4). Importantly, for the main energy
resource, to aid or ignite the chemical reactions, they chose to simulate lightning by sending sparks
of electricity through the mixture. Then, after letting the experiment run for a week, Miller and Urey
found that various types of amino acids, sugars, fatty acids and other organic molecules emerged
within the mixture. However, no natural catalysts (such as clays minerals, metallic substances, or
phosphates) were used and as a result, no large complex polymer chains, such as proteins or RNA,
were formed within this mixture, but the experiment demonstrated that, at least, some of the
building blocks for life could form spontaneously from simple inorganic compounds, using
reasonable quantities of energy.
Therefore, in nature, the sequences of compounds, made from those 11 elements, that did not
immediately overheat and decompose back to their individual inorganic or elemental components,
and were able to remain stable, long enough, to merge into complex polymer chains, to become
proteins and lipids, would mark the start of bio-coherency on the planet. Where, under this notion
of bio-coherency the reactant for the newer reaction would mainly be comprised of the organic
compounds or strings of organic chemical information that were manufacture in the previous
reactions, microseconds earlier. This is because, the emergence of the first set of protein molecules,
would also make the arrival of enzymes, as well; as most enzyme are proteins that would allow ever
more complex polymer chains to be engineered or manufactured, and would allow more chemical
information and chemical energy to be stored within increasingly more complex chemical mixtures
and chemical systems. Additionally, these newly formed enzymes would be able to act as natural
catalysts (or Extremozyme), and thus would help many complex reactions to occur at much lower
activation energy levels, than they otherwise would in nature (as, enzymes are known to be able to
catalyse more than 5,000 biochemical reaction types), even at extreme temperatures. As such, the
emergence of life and biological complexity would about not only the quality and quantity of
chemical ingredients, but it would also be about energy availability, reaction activation levels,
chemical durability, and catalytic integrity, as well.
Furthermore, introducing a catalytic component to these mixtures would allow for faster and more
efficient reaction, and would allow for a more streamline ordination of the reactions that need to
occur in sequential order (or even concurrently). Essentially, the organic molecules or polymers that
emerged to take the place of inorganic mineral catalyst would quickly elevate the complexity and
efficiency of those enclosed mixtures, as they would not have to rely on constant outside refuelling
of catalytic components, instead they could simply make their own, in the right proportions, as
needed. As such, any protein or other polymer structure that reliable meet, those functionalities
would quickly attain significant dominants within the burgeoning mixtures. Which is why, ribonucleic
acid (or nucleotides) and amino acids (or peptides) became an indomitable part of all functioning
bio-chemical mixtures at the molecular level, as they are the chemical that possess the ability to
preserve both chemical information and catalytic information, within their overall arrangement and
overall molecular structural framework, shape, and orientation. Furthermore, ribonucleic acid, as a
polymer of nucleotides, functionally act as the sequencer that facilitates the polymerization of
amino acids into specific proteins. As such, the set of RNA molecules that possesses catalytic
properties to optimize (or that are able to recall and preserve the exact steps and components need
for) the production of organic compounds such as proteins would serve as the first type of genetic
code (or as a means of storing the chemical and catalytic identity of an enclosed mixture).
Consequently, the emergence of the first set of enzymes, which are the type proteins or other
polymers that can catalyse the creation of protein molecules, would facilitate the emergence of the
very first closed loop autocatalytic chemical mixture, which would represent a mixture containing
reactant and catalysts that were synthesized by and within the mixture itself. Additionally, the
existence of this catalyst-filled mixture running on reaction autopilot would facilitate or allow ever
more complex polymer chains to be engineered, or manufactured, within minutes if not seconds of
each other. Essentially, this would allow vast quantities of chemical information, or chemical energy,
to be stored within these increasingly more complex compounds, or chemical systems. Such that,
these chemical mixtures or chemical systems would conduct organic chain reactions on overdrive, as
the chemicals contained within them would be either the main ingredients and/or the means of
lowing the activation energy for future reactions, which would exponentially increase the likelihood
of specific types of reaction taking place. Therefore, the constituent parts (or catalytic substances
and substrates) within these dynamic mixtures would quickly evolve into more complex and large
polymer structures, which would allow them to acquire more functionalities, as well as more
physical properties, shapes and traits.
Importantly, it should be noted that given that unlike most inorganic catalyst, catalytic enzyme
cannot function in open / unprotected environments; as such, the emergence of lipids (which are
the complex polymer chains, or molecular chains, of fatty acids), would represent the emergence of
the very first partially insoluble molecular shells or membranes, that could enclose or wall-off
mixtures. Thus, the many little spherical pockets or oily bubbles create by lipid molecular shells
would serve as the very first maze-like multi-chambered multi-layered structures that could fully
enclose and insulate various chemical systems, or mixtures, of ongoing molecular reactions that
contain both catalytic enzymes and proteins. So, many of the reactions that were being catalysed by
proteins and enzymes would readily be protected from being directly exposed to the harshness of
the outside environment, like they would be if those reaction were solely occurring in underground
vents, rock channels and closed rock cavities (or in lakes or stagnant pools of water). As such, the
concurrent emergence of the carbon- containing compounds, or chemicals, known as proteins,
enzymes, and lipids would mark the point where new portable diffusion gradients, reaction
pathways, along with new pressure and temperature gradients could form on the early Earth.
Therefore, within those moments, thousands of new reaction types, or chemical combinations,
would start create fully functional Molecular Machines, designed to complete specific chemical and
physical tasks, while others would become Discrete Data storage units, designed to store specific
kinds of chemical information, within the 3-dimensional structure of their physical molecular chain.
Thus, some of these organic molecular machines and molecular structures would represent fully
functional sequences, or pockets of chemical information and they would preserve the accumulated
lineage of the chemical information once only held within the system that created them, while
others would preserve the properties, functionalities, chemical pathways, rules, protocols, and
syntax unique to those systems. As such, these units or pocket biological coherency, could be
defined ostensibly as an enclosed set of localized mixtures (or as a mesh of compounds) that exist
collectively to follow an existential set of algorithmic permutations (or axiomatic source codes),
written in, written on, or stored within carbon-based molecular compounds, or chemical molecules.
Where, those compounds would not only possess the ability to store information by virtue of their
arrangements, configurations, reactions, and interactions, but they would also possess the ability to
functionally read, compile, execute, and utilize, the multiplicity of chemical information, or chemical
energy, stored within the other molecules they come in contact with (or interact with). Therefore,
the life-like structures would represent bounded units of stored chemical information working
together in unison with or within various mechanical and chemical microsystems; where, catalytic
enzymes and lipids would actively, or continuously, help to reduce the activation energy levels
needed for certain reaction to occur, and to prevent premature halting caused by excess heat or
other external environmental pressures.
As such, with these lipid enclosed chemical pockets, reactions that once took days or even millions
of years to unfold naturally would now reach completion within microseconds; and, this jump in
complexity, and efficiency, would result in the creation more complex chemical entities such as
viruses, which toe (or straddle) the line between the living and non-living world. As, viruses are
portable chemical structures that are simply messenger catalysts / enzymes and proteins (or
chemical information) physically and chemically fused to, or encased within, a lipid shell (and can
simultaneously be view as nest of biological functionalities, or as inert chemical molecules stuck
together). However, unlike the limited chemical information and functionalities or properties stored
within individual lipids, proteins and enzymes, each virus’s amalgamated molecular structure would
possess a lot more functionalities and a lot more stored chemical information, when compare to the
basic polymers or organic compounds, or progenitors, that preceded them. Therefore, viruses would
represent one stratum up in the lineage of chemical structures manufactured by a concurrent
amalgamation of chemical mixtures that actively use energy to sequence and store information, and
that protect and insulate these pockets of chemical information from the inorganic world, or outside
environment.
Additionally, the syntax or sequences of chemical information (proteins, enzymes and catalytic RNA)
held within these viruses, would have the added functionality of being able to hijack the resources,
mechanisms and chemical infrastructures of other chemical systems, to derail, interrupt, or interfere
with many of their natural protocols and tasks. As, viruses would be able to chemically, or
genetically, introduce some of their own chemical information, catalytic instructions, RNA code and
mechanical sequences into other structures and mixtures, specifically through the existing chemical
pathways of the lytic and lysogenic cycle, which is the universal chemical syntax shared by all
biological entities. Which would allow viruses to functionally transport and actively facilitate the
exchanging of genetic material and catalytic tasks among the many lipid bound microsystems that
happen to be in close physical proximity to each other, or that possess very structurally similar lipid
membranes and can attract and attach to each other. Therefore, viruses would be the means
through which some isolated lipid bound chemical mixtures would place, preserve or package
segment of their existing catalytic information or catalytic instructions into portable pockets, for
later use by them or by other larger systems to make newer, more complex, or more elaborate
permutations or arrangements of polymer chains.
Consequently, on the newly formed Earth, before the formation of the first true single cell
organisms, viruses and some loosely held together proto-cells that resemble lipid bound organelles
would be the main stores of biochemical information and catalytic instructions. However, the cross
membrane interactions among these wide array of organelle like structures or viruses (or proteins
stores of chemical information protected by lipid shells) and enzymes (or functional catalytic
proteins), would quickly lead to the creation of the first true single-celled prokaryotic organism.
Which would represent one of the most significant leap in the complexity of shared and stored
chemical information (and would take the form of a concentrated energy enriched mixture of
proteins, enzymes, and various dissolved organic and inorganic substances, protected by or encased
with a semi-permeable lipid mesh). Additionally, even though, at first glance, a prokaryotic organism
would appear to be very similar to a virus, or would appear to be a virus that simply happens to be a
lot more hydrated (or that happens to have retained a lot more water and dissolved chemicals); it
would, actually, represent a gigantic leap in biological complexity. This is because, prokaryotes
would be able to install within themselves organelles or molecular structures such as Ribosomes,
which comprise of many set of catalytic molecular machines, that would serve as the site of
biological protein synthesis; and would represent a set of structures that no virus would be complex
enough to possess. As, these ribosomes would have the ability to link amino acids together, in the
sequential order specified by the instructional templates, or data, stored within the physical
structure of the molecules such as messenger RNA molecules.
However, much like viruses, many prokaryotic entities would possess the ability to either hijack,
and/or have its own internal mechanisms infiltrated by, other prokaryotes due to the similarity
among their internal catalytic structure, proteins and enzymes, or because of the shared
commonalities of syntax used within certain aspects of their membranes and lysogenic chemical
pathways. Subsequently, this process of endosymbiosis would allow two or more prokaryotes, (or
one prokaryotic entity and a multiplicity of viruses), to merged or to coalesce within a share physical
structures. Which would permanently merge the molecular, chemical or catalytic lineage of these
different chemical structures, or sources of chemical information, and would represent a key step in
the evolutionary process of cellular structure; as, it would lead to the creation of the first set of
eukaryotes, which are the entities that are one fractal stratum above prokaryotes in biological
complexity. Which means that, eukaryotes are the results or by-products of a multiplicity of
prokaryotes and viruses hijacking or co-opting each other’s genetics and catalytic chemical pathways
via forceful membrane intrusion and through the lysogenic cycle. Thus, the double-membranebound mitochondria, with its very own strands of circular DNA, found in the complex structures of
most eukaryotic cells, may have originally been a prokaryotic entity that had its own internal
mechanisms hijacked or overwritten by another; where, one entity utilized the lysogenic cycle to
forcibly splice its own chemical instructions, or genetic information, into the other.
CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
Overtime, depending on the level of exchange, integration or interaction amongst these prokaryotic
entities, there would soon emerge more reliable ways to attain mobility or to acquire energy, more
efficient ways of storing chemical information and catalytic instruction, or more reliable ways for
recording or storing genetic information and instruction, etc. As such, congruent to this exponential
growth in complexity would be the emergence of DNA (which are nested fractal molecular folds of
cumulative codes or polymerized RNA), from which more expansive protein synthesis can be
harness, when pair with extensive clusters of ribosomes, and more proficient ways of storing or
extracting power or energy within the cell. In addition, some microcellular organisms would develop
or acquire new say build, generate or repair their membranes and the specialized membranes would
create separate species that are able to defend against unwanted genetic material or chemical
resources, chemical energy, and chemical information intrusion, or defend against viruses and other
intrusive external pockets of genetic code or catalytic information. Which would ensure that only
specific type of chemical information would be absorbed or incorporated into their existing chemical
system, without causing significant changes to, or disruption within, the system. Therefore, this
would allow for the assimilation, upgrade and installation of entire chemical systems, and this would
mark the first sign of true biological evolution.
Essentially, these prokaryotes would exist as unique individually and not necessarily direct clones or
replicas of each other, but since they would not be able shout to each other nor shine a flashlight to
display the unique qualities, they would only be able to communicate or show their distinct
personalities through means of physical contact or through direct chemical exchanges. Which would
allow them to transfer catalytic enzymes, proteins, or genetic information, within their local
ecosystem. As such, it is through these cross membrane (or intermembrane) means of
communication, regulated by the share syntax of lysogenic cycle, where techniques and chemical
procedures would have occasionally gotten distributed, amongst the population, without invasively
destroying or completely overriding existing information. Which would serve as a new multiplicative
or additive way for organisms to develop or refine their previously individually developed ways of
performing certain tasks, and would allow them to adopt or develop many new traits,
functionalities, or techniques, to add to, or replace, all the ones that they came up with in isolation.
Furthermore, this continued growth in complexity amongst all these populations of biological
entities, where information from external sources could get continually, continuously and seamlessly
added to existing nucleic acid / RNA or DNA, rather than causing the host cell to be destroyed, would
allow for a seamless elevation in overall biological complexity across the entire planet.
In general, this lysogenic exchange or sharing of chemical information and catalytic instructions, via
physical and chemical mechanism, would be a process that predate the development of any multicelled entities, and predate any firm classification of living entities in any known domain, kingdom,
phylum, class, species, or even gender mechanisms. Thus, it would have been the continued
absorption and replication of new or existing genetic information (or physical chains of chemical
information, chemical instructions, chemical instruments, and chemical energy) through those
chemical exchanges that would have led to the emergence of, the stratum of microbial complexity,
known as eukaryotic entities. As such, the distinct organelles or structural features and physical
characteristics present within a eukaryote would have originally been in a separate and distinct living
entity that somehow got absorbed and chemical or genetically fully integrated into this much larger
biochemical composite structure or system. Therefore, in general, eukaryotes are, undoubtedly, the
entities within which many viruses and prokaryotes voluntarily (or forcibly) passed on their catalytic
data, RNA and DNA, during their life cycle, and their combined genetic code or combine catalytic
information, which got preserved by the larger hosts, before being passed on to future generations,
of the new hybridized entities.
As a result of this, the first eukaryotic entity to exist on the planet, ostensibly as an interconnected
net of subjugated prokaryotes, would have emerged with the collective chemical knowledge or traits
of the many strata of entities whose merged genetics and functional chemical codes helped to make
it in into a full functional being. Such that, even the cell nucleus of a eukaryote and the nucleolus of
this nucleus, would been acquired via some version of this absorption or integration process.
Essentially, the precursor to the nucleus may have been an entity that was able to proficiently
control and assemble ribosomes, was able to allocate a vast array of catalytic enzymes to alter
transferred RNA, or was proficiently able to sense intracellular stresses, which allowed it to co-opt
many of the chemical traits of the entities that it encountered. As such, while maintain its own
position of dominance, the nucleolus within this precursory entity was able use its extensive
repository of DNA, RNA and proteins to create a new network of cognition, logic modules, and
chemical data pockets, much like the catalytic data utilized by enzymes to subjugated many other
entities, while ensuring that its own structure remained intact.
Therefore, once the subjugated chemical systems have been fully integrated and is now a part of its
collective, the nucleus and its nucleolus would be able to pass information these organelles (or
subjugated prokaryotes), and the internal infrastructure of these organelles would follow the
catalytic information in the data pockets they received. Where, most of the instructions given for
each subjugated prokaryote would no longer come from chemical sequences recorded on circular
genetic code, or a maze of functional RNA or catalytic enzyme, floating within its structure, instead
most instructions would come from the nucleus and the enzyme and proteins it produce, which
would mimic the syntax of the original prokaryote. Consequently, these structures would only use,
bind, fuse and combine the existing finite number of polymerized molecules whose existence and
functionalities got deemed valuable by the intracellular network, controlled by the nucleus. Thus,
most of the hybridized structures within a eukaryote would not aim to create or catalogue all 10 to
the 21 power peptide bonds (or protein combinations) that are possible, or all possible chains of
billions of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen that can make the most lavish genes, instead they
would simply do the tasks assigned to them. Which is why there is not currently an infinite number
of random permutations, combinations, or arrangements of mismatched proteins, peptides, and
genes, instead only a stable syntax of very consistent and very steady arrangements of proteins,
peptides, and genes now exist, shared across most classification of biological life forms, on the
planet.
Furthermore, in addition to their very stable, organized and well control intracellular system,
eukaryotic entities would have been the first entities to emergence with cognitive functionalities,
such as the ability fully perceive their surroundings, ascertain ideas, understand correlations, and
make logic based decisions about allocating resources, as well as using precedent and prioritization
to make correct choices. Essentially, eukaryotic entities would be able to use computational logic to
interpret any stimuli acquired from the outside environment, related to vibrations,
electromagnetism, temperature levels, PH, hydration levels, etc. This is because the centralized
nucleus or main organelle of the eukaryote would have been an entity that originally specialized in
many of those functions as well as sensing the chemistry of the outside world or ecosystem. Which
allowed it to be the entity that successfully co-opted the catalytic function other entities, to merge
with them catalytically or genetically, and to construction a fully functional ecology made entirely of
subjugated molecular structure and chemical data. Therefore, in general, microscopic life on the
early Earth would have been less like a "pitch patch" mesh of random chemicals stuck together, and
would more be like refined self-contained amalgamation of micro-machines or self-contained microecosystems.
Which is highlighted in the existence of the mitochondria, as it is an organelle that possess its very
own remnant genetic material, its own lipid membrane, is able to divide at its own independent
rate, and is able to take nutrients and breaks them down, to the creates energy rich molecules for
itself and the eukaryote within which it resides. Which means that, the mitochondria too is perhaps
yet another organelle that may have originally been an entirely separate prokaryotic entity, whose
entire structure and genetic information were absorbed, interpreted and incorporated into a much
large system of chemical chains and sequences. So, in general, microscopic symbiotic system built
from an integrated set of recursively synthesized, recycled and replicated structures built made of
sugars, acids, proteins, enzymes, viruses, RNA and DNA all confined with a variety of lipid
membranes are the things that would together create life and pre-life or life-adjacent systems or
chemical mechanisms. Such that, complexity, or higher-level functionalities would emerge in nature
only through those types of symbiotic relationships or genetic mergers amongst catalytic, viral,
prokaryotic and eukaryotic microsystems. Thus, the development of new higher-level traits such as
logic, computation, cognition, consciousness, and self-awareness, would all relate to those types of
mergers and interactions amongst microbial entities, and this would help those systems to attain the
ability to proficiently solve problems and make decisions about themselves, their environment, and
their acquired resources.
However, as the bridge between the living and non-living world, viruses at their core would not be
conscious and would possess no notion of good or bad intent, they simply would exist as pocket of
data or as pockets of catalytic instruments that can relocate from one biological microsystem to the
other. In other words, virus would mainly serve as hardware to upload and install new genetic data
into and existing bio-computers or cells, without necessary overriding all of the existing stored
chemical data that was stored in the form of polymerized molecular strings or sequences.
Consequently, the concurrent emergence or existence of a collection of two or more viruses,
prokaryotic entities, and eukaryotic entities, regardless of their size, regardless of their relationship
to each other, and regardless of their relative physical distance to each other, would constitute the
existence of first true sign of ecological biodiversity, on the planet. However, these entities would
either have the ability continue to exist as separate entities, or to have their genetic information
chemically further co-opted by one or more of the other entities. Where, although the acquisition of
a stable pool of genetic and catalytic information would be important, if this information is unable to
help the organism to acquire raw material, ingredients, and energy (or chemical resources), in the
form of sugars and/or ions, to prevent the its chemical death or thermal decomposition, then the
information acquired would be functionally useless.
Consequently, as these entities continue to interact physically, chemically and genetically, they
would either all maintain the ability to acquire energy directly from physical inorganic resources; or
only some would continue to possess this ability, and the others would become symbiotic or
omnivorous to acquire readymade pockets of chemicals such as sugars, amino acids and fatty acids
from the others. Essentially, one or more of these entities would recognize the other biological
entities as portable pockets of energy or as food and fuel, which would start a food chain mechanism
to convey energy resources to themselves. As such, the food web that would emerge would be an
offshoot of the lysogenic and lytic battle amongst these viruses, prokaryotes, eukaryotes and other
microbes. Where, some cells would consciously choose to reinforce their infrastructure to protect
themselves and to acquire the life sustaining resources from the inorganic world; whereas, another
group of cells would consciously choose rip open other cells to get their resources (and the remnants
of this choice is evident in the distinction between plant cells and animal cells).
Alternatively, one of the entities may have overly selecting for specialization in lysogenic defence by
way of lysogenic offence, such that it would develop the cognitive ability to detect and capture all
lipid bound or protein producing entities within its vicinity. Where, once captured it would break
down their structure to it prevent its own genetic or catalytic control from being corrupted,
changed, overwhelmed, and over time this fight or flight mechanism would turn entity into the a cell
that can envelop, breakdown, consume or digest other cells, and conduct the absorption of their
chemical remains. As such, eukaryotic plant cells possess chloroplasts, which are organelles that
convert light energy into relatively stable chemical energy via the photosynthetic process. By doing
so, they provide diverse metabolic activities for plant cells, including the synthesis of fatty acids,
membrane lipids, starch, and hormones. While, animal do not contain any energy producing
organelles, but they possess lysosome, which is a membrane-bound cell organelle that contains
digestive enzymes; where, lysosomes destroy invading viruses and bacteria and break down excess
or worn-out cell parts, back to their non-living constituent parts. Therefore, the entities at the
bottom of the food chain would be the entities that were able utilize the energy that come directly
from the Earth or directly from the sun (sunlight), and were able to make direct use of the inorganic
and non-living chemical energy resources that came from metallic salt ions, hydrogen ions, carbon
dioxide, sulphur, sulphate, etc.
Beyond this, the unexplained and overwhelming innate drive that most organic entities have to
reproduce and replicate themselves, would also be an offshoot of the lysogenic and lytic battle
amongst viruses, prokaryotes, eukaryotes and other microbes. This is because, the story of life is a
story about captured energy, that happens to be temporarily held or confined within very organized
chemical pockets on the surface of the Earth; and without this captured energy there would be no
organic chemistry, and no organic chemical reactions on the surface of the Earth. Consequently, the
main self-sustaining goal that all living organisms would have is to breathe and feed, or to take in
both simple and complex organic and inorganic compounds, as well as to find ways to use energy to
sustain their internal repository of biochemical resources, or to prevent it from collapsing and
reverting to simplest individual non-living inorganic compounds. Therefore, many of the main
characteristics of living things, at the base level, are functionalities that arise as a lysogenic byproduct of the encounters or interactions amongst microscopic cells or that arise as a means to
cause or prevent natural chemical energy resources from being continually co-opted, transmuted,
transformed, and transferred.
Importantly, the emergence of multi-cellular organisms would be a natural progression in biological
complexity once eukaryotic entities have acquired enough catalytic data (or are unable to readily
merge with new external entities), and cognitively start to recognize or compute that they can
construct towers of themselves to strategically specialize in specific task, in order to benefit their
interconnected unit parts. Essentially, a multi-celled organism would represent a nested set of
Turing machines (or computers) that achieved collective synchronicity across the lysogenic network.
Where, each cell or specific sets of cells would have certain task to carry out based on the specific
instructions held within their internal cellular matrix (or their internal mesh of proteins, enzymes
and translated genes). Furthermore, the cross-membrane communication amongst the different
cells within the network would allow certain catalytic functionalities to be on or off (or specific
protein synthesis or polymerization processes to be active or inactive), where this selective cell
specialization would improve the efficiency and sustainability of the collective. Therefore, the
lysogenetic transfer or cross-membrane transmission of protein, enzyme and other forms of
chemical information, amongst these physically conjoin collection of cells, would allow certain cells,
from very early on in their lifespan, to possess certain specific traits, perform certain specific tasks,
or to conduct certain specific functions.
Essentially, these towers or columns of cells from the same eukaryotic entity, would communicate
via the lysogenic network (where, chemicals molecules would be the data and enzymes or the signal
receivers and transmitters in the inter-cell and intra-cell network); and this would mark the arrival of
the first set of multi-cellular biological stratum on the planet. Furthermore, as the level of
instructional data held within these collection of cells continue to grow, and each group of cells
become substantially better at the specific specialized task, then this would eventual cause the
emerge of stem cell, organs and systems. Where, these organs and systems would be stacks,
columns or rows of cells or groups of cells assigned to certain tasks or specialized functions (or
cluster of specialized cells operating within an inter-group co-operative that share data or
information and instructions across the lysogenic network). As such, the specifications of the
specialization would come from the instructions held within genes, but could also come through the
action of protein, enzymes or other chemical units.
Nevertheless, if the different traits, tasks and functions assigned are good to the organisms overall
wellbeing, and are passed on, then the generational longevity of these traits would be noticeable
genetics of future generations. However, if the organism’s death was due to the lock of functionality
brought about by these traits then they would not attain any genetic longevity, as most biological
units with the population with those traits would eventually die off. Unfortunately, another byproduct of any malfunction within this specialization process would be mutations within individual
cells, and any sustained collective breakdown process could cause the entire lysogenic or catalytic
cycle across an entire collection of cells to start to perform incorrect task, which would be cancerous
or carcinogenic, and could cause the biochemical death of the organism, as well. Essentially, cancer
cells are the cells that have some level of chemical amnesia and have had their catalytic processes
(or the controls and parameters of their operating system) changed to the wrong settings (or
corrupted), relative to the collective that they are a part of. As such, these cells would continuously
synthesize the wrong set of protein, enzymes, or lipids, because they continuously receive the wrong
instruction, or started to interpret the syntax of the instructions they receive incorrectly.
Additionally, this would have the additive effect of preventing new instructions from getting into the
cell, due to the infrastructure and catalytic machines (or proteins and enzyme) being preoccupied
with the wrong tasks, which would reduce the overall functionality of the cell in service to the
overall goals of the other cells in the collective. Therefore, cancer cells are simply cells that have
corrupted operating systems or cells that can no longer read, compile or decipher the syntax of the
existing chemical codes from its own genes, or its own intercellular polymer, catalytic enzymes or
protein chains (and thus, fail to maintain the specific traits, task and functionalities they were
selected to specialise in).

Improper Classifications
Sat Apr 08, 2023 12:39 PM
This is certainly one of the events of all time.

Welcome to the show, ladies and gentlepeople of HobbyDrama. Please, turn off your cellphones (except if you’re using one to read this very post), grab some popcorn, and get comfortable. Today I shall weave you a tale of Discord DMs and late-night forum posts, a tale of backstabbing and backpedaling, a tale of how a nearly decade-long treaty between the two biggest regions in NationStates fell apart, and what any of that even means.
This is the tale of The North Pacific Extortion Scandal.

Preliminary: What is NationStates?

(Note: I’m going to be using a lot of acronyms here in this post, so each word with a corresponding acronym will have that acronym listed in parentheses right next to it. Don’t question it, it’s just a NationStates thing.)
After reading the title, a good portion of y’all probably thought “Wait, NationStates? That website’s still alive?” Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your perspective, it is. In fact, it’s arguably thriving - NationStates celebrated its two-decade anniversary two years ago and, as of the time I am writing this write-up, is home to 291,701 nations residing in 28,154 regions. It’s quite impressive how long it’s managed to last, really.
Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar, NationStates (often called NS for short) is a political simulation web browser game created in 2002 by author Max Barry. It was initially created to promote his at-the-time newly-released book, Jennifer Government. The game offers the opportunity for users to create, and subsequently govern, their own nation. These nations can also join a region, which usually functions as a cross between a social club/group chat and a nation in its own right, with its own formal government. There are a variety of different regions that a new nation can join, with a variety of themes, from fantasy to Ancient Egypt to leftism to the United Kingdom. NationStates is also home to the World Assembly (WA), a mock United Nations divided into the General Assembly (GA) and Security Council (SC), which are roughly analogous to the real-life UNGA (except our GA can actually do shit) and UNSC, respectively. The GA generally governs things like human rights, trade, world peace, etc, while the UNSC governs geopolitical relations between nations and regions. All you need to know about the WA for this post is that two types of proposals one can pass in the SC are commendations (essentially saying that some nation or region is good) and condemnations (essentially saying that some nation or region is bad), each giving the nation or region in question a shiny new commended or condemned badge. However, both are generally considered as rewards by their recipients - especially since, beyond the aforementioned shiny badge, commendations and condemnations don’t actually do anything.
One can subdivide the NationStates community into many different sub-communities focused on different things. For instance, there is NS roleplay (or “NSRP”), in which users roleplay as their countries and interact with each other on the international stage (this itself is subdivided into roleplay taking place on the NS forums and roleplay held in a single region). The sub-community that is relevant for this particular event is what is known as “NS gameplay”, or NSGP for short, a fascinating little dumpster fire of a sub-community best watched from a distance. In order to grasp what NSGP actually is, first you need to know the following:

• All members of the World Assembly can “endorse” other members of the World Assembly that are within their own region.
• Each region has a position known as the World Assembly Delegate, occupied by the nation which has the most endorsements in that region. When the WA delegate goes to vote for or against WA resolutions, its vote has more weight than the vote of ordinary nations - while all other nations get one and only one vote, the number of votes a WA delegate gets is equivalent to the number of nations endorsing them.
• The region’s government may incorporate the WA delegate in a variety of ways. In many regions, the WA delegate is the executive leader of that region, while in others the WA delegate has no power beyond its increased WA vote weight.
• In many regions, the WA delegate has actual executive power in the region as per game mechanics, including the power to ban nations and change the region’s appearance.

Now, a very long time ago, in the ancient times known only as the Year of our Lord 2003, a couple of NS players realized something. Specifically, they realized that if they all joined the WA, rushed en masse into one region at the same time, and endorsed each other, they could topple the region’s WA delegate and seize the region for themselves, essentially conducting a coup. These lovely folks became known as invaders or, more commonly, raiders, and they made invading regions into something of a hobby. However, not all were happy with the newfound frequency of invasions. Some of these unhappy people went on to form their own groups to defend regions from raids by rushing into regions that were being raided and endorsing the native Delegate. These folks became known as “defenders,” and depending on who you’re talking to they’re either the heroic saviors of innocent regions or buzzkills who hate fun.
Expectedly, raiders and defenders became consistent rivals, nemeses even, as each faction sought to remain one step ahead of the other. This would evolve into military gameplay, often also referred to as raiding/defending (D), and over time, the never-ending conflict between raiders and defenders would gain significant importance in other facets of NationStates such as the World Assembly (where defenders are routinely commended and raiders condemned) and inter-regional politics. R / D is the axis upon which all of NSGP revolves around, with entire regions being dedicated to raiding and defending. Most regions involved in NSGP have regional militaries, and almost all of them care about R / D in some way. Some regions are independent, meaning they engage in both raiding and defending - whatever serves the interests of their region. NSGP is a very unique sociological beast, with its own international relations and even its own political ideologies. NSGP is also a very old beast, resting upon a very long and rich history. I could go on about how fascinating it is that this one browser game that was meant to be an ad for a book has developed its own pretend sociology, history and philosophy, but I think I’ll refrain - for now, at least.
Okay, I think we’re ready to dive into the subject of this post. Strap in, folks, and prepare to behold the absolute clusterfuck known as the North Pacific extortion scandal.

The Revelation

On Friday, April 7, 2023 at 8:39 PM UTC, a post was made on the NationStates gameplay forums that would change the world (of this very niche section of the Internet) forever.
This post was made on the official forum thread of Lone Wolves United (LWU), a major raiding organization. Before, LWU had somewhat amicable relations with the titular The North Pacific (TNP), at the time the largest active region in the game and the most powerful region in the World Assembly. TNP has a very long and storied history, spanning from almost since the first few days of NS’s existence. It’s perhaps the oldest democratic region on NationStates, where governmental officials are elected by the residents. It was famously invaded by the New Pacific Order in 2004, and in its early days experienced many notable coups - these could all be their own HobbyDrama posts (honestly, you could fill this subreddit to the brim with the amount of drama NS has spawned). TNP was also unique in that, while it usually aligned itself with defenders, it was officially independent - meaning it was also the largest independent region in the game. In fact, TNP was one of the leaders in codifying independence, being the authors of the historic document “The Independent Manifesto”, which is where the very definition of an independent region comes from. Furthermore, at the time of this scandal, TNP’s delegate had a little over 1000 endorsements, meaning that their vote was often one of the deciding votes in whether or not a resolution passes or fails. (Even now, the current official delegate has around 770 endorsements, which is a decrease from their previous power but is still a lot). To put it bluntly, TNP is a pretty big fucking deal.
Now, LWU’s post didn’t exactly bear good news. In the post, LWU announced that they were cutting relations with TNP following a string of… rather unfortunate incidents. The first was one where TNP’s WA delegate, Hulldom, had approached LWU regarding an SC resolution that they wanted to get passed - a condemnation of Chef Big Dog, a “prolific raider and historic member” of LWU. Condemnations are generally regarded by raiders as badges of honor, or rewards for their extensive invading experience - so they understandably wanted this resolution to pass. Hulldom sent a screenshot of his Discord DMs where HumanSanity, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for The South Pacific (TSP), a staunch defender region and ally of TNP, threatened with an ultimatum that he and a host of other allied defender regions - The League (TL), the Order of the Grey Wardens (TGW), and 10000 Islands (XKI) - would vote against all commendations and condemnations of TNP members if TNP did not vote against Condemn Chef Big Dog (and any other resolution perceived to benefit LWU) - which was especially concerning to TNP considering that a commendation of MadJack, a prominent TNP resident, was at-vote at the time. Hulldom was aware that defenders were trying to strong-arm him into voting the way they wanted - this wasn’t the first time defenders had pressured them to vote against this condemnation, and the last time Hulldom had offered the compromise of abstaining from the vote. However, this time, Hulldom caved into the defenders’ demands - a win for the defenders to be sure but a blow to relations between TNP and LWU.
The second incident concerned a condemnation of Dream Killers, one of the oldest and most historic members of LWU, of which Hulldom was a co-author. When asked about whether he could be counted on to vote for the condemnation, Hulldom responded with affirmation - after all, he was the co-author of the resolution. It would make absolutely no goddamn sense for defenders to pressure him to vote against the proposal he helped write. And it would make even less sense for him to waver from his staunch support of his own proposal.
Take a lucky guess as to what happened.
Now, this wasn’t the first time there had been controversy surrounding condemnations of raiders. Condemnations of raiders have historically been treated purely as roleplay. However, at the time of this scandal, there had been a concerted push to repeal condemnations of raiders, which many raiders felt was a gameplay-motivated push by defenders to, essentially, erase raiders from NS history. But this string of incidents regarding Hulldom and the condemnations of Chef Big Dog and Dream Killers was the final straw for LWU. After repeated broken promises caused by what was perceived to be effectively bullying from defenders, LWU could no longer trust TNP. They broke off relations with TNP - which, I should remind you, is an independent region, meaning they theoretically shouldn’t take shit from either raiders or defenders but rather carve their own path. The fact that TNP, the largest region in the game, seemed to be acting as a lapdog for defenders shattered LWU’s conception of them as an proudly independent region.

The Fallout

Those sentiments weren’t limited to LWU. Very quickly after this forum post, the sentiment of shock and disappointment with TNP’s capitulation to defenders was widespread among raiders, independents and even some defenders. Responses in the thread varied from sneering about TNP’s independence to expressions of disappointment with TNP acting un-independently and defenders’ stances in the SC to just pure confusion. Memes were made, and of course, raiders from other regions grabbed their popcorn and watched with amusement. Defenders were especially criticized as being hypocritical due to respect for regional sovereignty being a stated core aspect of defender ideology - yet now defenders were trying to infringe upon TNP’s regional sovereignty. News of the TNP’s seeming submission to somewhat less powerful regions elicited anger among TNP citizens, with Francois Isidore, a former delegate of TNP, harshly panning the government as “weak” and calling Hulldom bowing down to defender pressure a “staggering failure” in a post on TNP’s Regional Message Board (RMB). Others were less harsh, but still critical. One prominent defender condemned the defender regions who had pressured TNP into voting against the raider condemnations as being captured by the “neo-moralist sect of defenderdom,” which became a rather popular term among those disgruntled with the “defender establishment” and its de facto inter-regional policy. Another at-the-time up-and-coming defender criticized TNP as having become a “lapdog” of the clique of defender regions that had pressured them. Later on, one critic argued that the pressuring of TNP into alignment with defenderdom’s SC agenda was a violation of the democratic norms practiced by the accused defender regions themselves, especially TSP - that it should be the residents of TSP who, explicitly or implicitly, decide the TSP’s voting record, not some NSGP agenda. Overall, most people expressed disappointment at the situation, concerned about TNP, a powerful independent region, seemingly submitting to smaller defender regions without good reason.
Then, a sign of things to come. Shortly after LWU’s post, Wymondham, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the North Pacific, resigned. While Wymondham did not directly reference the events that had taken place between LWU and TNP, he said that his warnings were “consistently ignored” and stated that he “will not serve in an administration which allows the region to be blackmailed into allowing other regions to dictate our policy in the World Assembly and Foreign Affairs.” It was pretty clear among everyone who had been active on the NSGP forums what he was referring to.
The next day, at 4:30 PM UTC, Hulldom resigned from his position as WA Delegate of TNP, posting a lengthy statement on the TNP forums. In this statement, he gave his side of the story, framing the situation as a tremendously difficult calculus to balance the interests of two of TNP’s major allies, LWU and defenderdom. Hulldom also gave his advice on how TNP should move forward with regards to inter-regional relations, namely arguing that ties with raider regions should be cut and ties with defender regions, despite recent events, should be preserved. This advice fuelled further criticism from some, who saw it as more evidence of TNP’s long-held independence deteriorating. Quickly thereafter, Gorundu and Siwale were sworn in as Acting Delegate and Acting Vice Delegate, respectively.
Now, if you’re a leader in defenderdom, you’d probably have to be very careful as to how you want to respond to all this criticism. Defenders have historically had good PR among NSGP-oriented people who weren’t raiders or raider-leaning, but this turmoil threatens that goodwill. You would probably want to take a step back, considering your words carefully, and apologizing to Hulldom and TNP and affirming you would never undertake such coercion again. You would probably want to internally assess what led to defenders exerting such pressure on TNP and dial it back, while working to mend relations with TNP and the broader NSGP community. And, for god’s sake, you should not double down on your actions, attempt to throw Hulldom and TNP under the bus, or do something utterly stupid like that. You should not, under any circumstances, even think about doing something like tha-

The Doubling Down

On April 8, 2023, at 7:07 PM UTC, TSP Prime Minister Sporaltryus (more commonly known as ProfessorHenn) posted a “Response to Allegations from Lone Wolves United” on the NSGP forums. The joint statement, signed by leaders of the South Pacific, the League, 10000 Islands, and the Order of the Grey Wardens - all defender regions accused of pressuring Hulldom into voting against the condemnations of Chef Big Dog and Dream Killers - outlined the long-standing relationship between TNP and defenderdom, while criticizing TNP and Hulldom’s administration especially for “haphazard” and “unreliable communication.” The statement framed LWU as a “direct threat to the sovereignty of all our regions” and called Hulldom’s initial decision to abstain from voting on Chef Big Dog as “hugely damaging to [their] collective interests.” It also stated that the governments of these defender regions had informed TNP that “if [TNP] weren’t able to cooperate on this key agenda item, [they’d] be unable to cooperate on other parts of their SC agenda” - essentially, that if TNP did not vote for or against resolutions according to the requests of defenders, then defenders would not align their agenda with TNP’s - that is, they would not vote for commendations or condemnations of any TNP members. The statement concluded by blaming the incident on “escalatory miscommunications” from Hulldom and Wymondham.
So, um, this isn’t exactly an apology. It’s an admission of guilt, without remorse, and a series of deflections.
This statement went down about as well as you’d expect. While I’ll detail the response to this statement in a bit, you could honestly just scroll down to experience the backlash this response produced. The thread this statement was posted on spawned 12 pages of discussion, mostly criticism. Every aspect of the statement was picked apart and critiqued by the peanut gallery. Potshots were taken, memes were made, and meanwhile the mods were stuffing their mouths with popcorn. All in all, defenderdom’s response to LWU’s allegations were met with raving reviews:

• “A ‘comedy of errors’”
• “Awful cop-out”
• “Absolutely disgusting”
• “Definitely one of the statements of all time”
• “Disappointed in my own region”

That’s not to say that there weren’t people trying to defend (pun not intended) the defenders’ response in the thread. Qvait, a former Prime Minister of TSP, came out swinging by loudly proclaiming that “the defenders did nothing wrong,” and arguments between her and critics made up a significant portion of the thread. She wasn’t the only defender defender (heh heh), though - Grea Kriopia, at the time the First Warden of TGW, called criticism of the statement “substanceless clamor” (though this doubling-down was later retracted, more on that later).
Must I remind you, all this chaos and drama stemming from a few shiny badges.
Adding fuel to the fire, a pseudonymous nation posted some screenshots of the DMs between HumanSanity, TSP’s Foreign Affairs Minister, and Hulldom. These screenshots shed more light on the affair, detailing the exact nature of the pressure placed on Hulldom and adding specificity where there was vagueness. Critics of the defenders’ actions seized on these as further proof of defenders’ wrongdoing, without their sugarcoating. Arguments, agenda posts and memes abounded, and those not as directly invested in the affair looked upon the trainwreck with awe.
So, okay, doubling down didn’t do the wonders that defenders thought it would do. Now, if you were a defender, it might be time to reconsider one’s strategy here. Especially given how badly defenderdom’s response backfired, it might now be time to retract that statement and issue genuine apologies to the aggrieved, namely TNP and Hulldom.

The Apologies

It is perhaps surprising, given defenders staunchly standing by their actions, or unsurprising, given the backlash that caused, that HumanSanity resigned from his position as TSP’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on April 10, 2023 at 12:32 PM UTC. While, like Wymondham’s resignation, HumanSanity’s resignation did not directly reference the ongoing scandal, it did reference a vague “recent events” - the most impactful of which was almost certainly the extortion scandal.
Shortly after HumanSanity’s resignation, at 3:00 PM UTC, government officials from the League and the Order of the Grey Wardens posted a brief joint statement on the NSGP forums. Calling the earlier Response to Allegations from LWU a “poor decision, poor statement,” TL and TGW officials retracted their signatures from the response and formally apologized for their actions, expressing hopes that a “productive conversation may ensue.” Grea Kriopia also retracted her initial doubling-down in the April 8 response thread. Many officials and residents of TNP accepted the apology, with Hulldom himself praising the statement as a “positive first step.” Some others expressed skepticism as to the sincerity of the statement, while others argued that the statement would not have any meaningful effects, and TNP would go back to being a lapdog - just less obviously. Overall, though, the apology was received positively or neutrally, and many saw it as a first step towards reconciliation.
The next day at 2:10 PM UTC, 10000 Islands followed up with their own retraction and apology, made in a similar vein to TL’s and TGW’s apology. XKI offered their “humblest apologies” to TNP and expressed hopes that this apology would be followed up with “words of goodwill” and “commitment to good relations with the North Pacific.” Many TNPers, including Hulldom, accepted their apology, though not without a little bit of snark. Of note was a follow-up comment made by Lenylvit, then the WA Delegate of XKI, who admitted that they “did not read the statement that was drafted before giving [their] permission to have [their] name added to it.” This caused more snark to be hurled in the thread and opened up even more questions as to the drafting of the initial response. If Lenylvit hadn’t read the response before signing on to it, well then, who else didn’t fully read it or agree with it? And who actually wrote it in the first place? Similarly to TL’s and TGW’s apology, some questioned the sincerity of the apology, especially if one can just sign off on a statement without actually reading it.
Now, with three of the initial signatory regions having retracted their signatures and formally apologized to TNP, only one remained. The one who, arguably, played the most significant role out of all the other defender regions in pressuring the North Pacific: the South Pacific.
And, don’t you worry good reader, an apology from them did come! …Eventually. Two weeks after the scandal initially broke.
On April 22, 2023, at 11:05 AM UTC, ProfessorHenn posted a retraction and apology statement signed by them and Esfalsa (aka Pronoun), TSP’s new Minister of Foreign Affairs after HumanSanity’s resignation. In the statement, TSP expressed their “deepest regrets for [their] role in this series of events,” retracting their assent to both the original ultimatum presented to TNP and the subsequent defender response posted the day after the scandal broke. The statement stated their regret for “the threats issued to Hulldom and the North Pacific on the behalf of and at the behest of the South Pacific and its allies involved in this matter,” calling their actions “strongarm tactics” which were “needlessly unproductive, disrespectful, and antagonistic.” After this lengthy apology, TSP promised introspection and internal re-assessment so as to not repeat such actions in the future. Out of all the apology statements released by the defender regions, this is the most specific and detailed apology released, and the one which cast their actions in the most negative light. No TNP leaders posted their responses to the apology in the thread, though they later iterated they accepted it in a later statement (that’ll be covered in a bit). Some snark was hurled regarding how late the apology came, and the statement was picked apart and critiqued by LWU leader A Bloodred Moon (aka JoWhatup). However, compared to previous apologies, there wasn’t a major response for TSP’s apology.
So, we’ve now heard from all involved defender regions, both in terms of doubling-down and apologizing. TL, TGW, XKI, TSP, we know how they’ll be moving forward and correcting course. But there’s one region we haven’t heard from - the region central to this whole scandal, that is in the title of this very post: TNP themselves. While Gorundu, the new Acting Delegate, made an internal statement on April 9 to inspire confidence in TNP going forward, we have not heard any external statements, detailing how TNP would deal with the involved defender regions moving forward. People were hoping for a strong statement, one which reaffirmed TNP’s independence on the inter-regional stage and displayed leadership amidst the crisis.
And those people would get their wish.

The Re-emergence

On April 22, 2023 at 1:15 PM UTC, Gorundu posted a statement titled “Response to Recent Defender Transgressions” on behalf of TNP. The statement started off with “The North Pacific is a proud Independent region,” a confident affirmation of independence. While all defender regions’ apologies were accepted and hopes were expressed to re-establish ties with these regions, the initial attempts at coercion were scathingly criticized, as Gorundu and TNP firmly stated that “the tactic employed by [the defender regions] will never be accepted by our region, and will never be successful.” Stating that “TNP has been disrespected and humiliated,” a series of sanctions were levied against various defender regions in response to what the statement calls the “outrageous behavior” they took on when initially delivering the ultimatum, including the following, to quote directly from the statement:

The North Pacific Army will not partake in any bilateral military cooperation/training operations with the South Pacific Special Forces, The Order of the Grey Wardens, the League Defence Forces, or the Ten-thousand Islands Treaty Organization;
The talks in pursuit of a non-aggression pact with The League will be suspended;
No additional diplomatic agreements will be considered with the regions of The South Pacific, The Order of the Grey Wardens, The League, and 10000 Islands, nor additional embassies constructed where they do not currently exist;
All planned cultural events with the regions of The South Pacific, The Order of the Grey Wardens, The League, and 10000 Islands will be canceled, and no future cultural events or collaborations will be considered.

This statement was met with raving reviews - no, genuinely this time. A wide spectrum of players, from raiders to defenders to former TNP delegates to leaders of other non-military regions praised the statement, considering it a strong showing of independence. The defender regions involved in the scandal accepted the sanctions with grace, and it seemed that the turmoil that had afflicted TNP and the wider NS Gameplay sphere was finally coming to an end.
So this is the seeming end to the TNP extortion scandal - resolved by apologies from the involved defender regions and a confident affirmation of independence from TNP themselves. It seems that, while ties may have been broken between TNP and the involved defender regions, and indeed TNP and LWU, that these ties may one day be restored - and that the only lasting casualties would be the resignations of Hulldom, Wymondham, and HumanSanity.
“But wait,” you cry out, “I was promised that a (nearly) decade-long treaty would be ripped apart in this whole affair! You said that in the first paragraph of this post! Yet such a treaty was never even mentioned!”
Indeed. Yet, careful readers may have noticed that I indicated this was the seeming end of the scandal. Why is that? Well…

The Re-emergence (of the Drama)

On May 9, 2023, at 3:19 PM UTC, HumanSanity was re-nominated for the position of Minister of Regional Affairs in TSP, a newly revived position dealing with the region’s internal affairs and culture. You might remember that HumanSanity played a key role in the scandal, being TSP’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and the person who presented the ultimatum to Hulldom in the first place. This was generally supported by members of TSP’s government at the time, but was also quickly noticed by TNPers, who weren’t super happy about seeing one of the main players in the scandal re-appointed to TSP’s government a mere month after the whole affair. Both MadJack and Hulldom voiced their displeasure in TSP’s main forum thread on the NSGP forums, with the former casting doubt on whether TSP’s apology was actually sincere, and the latter stating that HumanSanity “shouldn't be within a mile of any Cabinet.” This quickly stirred up controversy, and it seems that TNP-TSP relations would once again be put to the test.
Well, shit. Here we go again.
Many players, including some notable TNP members, would arrive into the thread to give their opinions and spread some snark. TSP’s decision to re-nominate HumanSanity was firmly criticized, and as usual, jokes were made. Some residents of TSP, most notably Sandaoguo (a former Prime Minister of TSP) and Qvait, came to TSP’s defense in the thread, with the latter accusing TNPers of poking their noses into what was argued to be “no one’s business,” and the former engaging in long arguments with TNPers regarding the legitimacy of HumanSanity’s re-nomination, the sincerity of TSP’s apology, the usefulness of the TNP-TSP alliance, and more.
Now, this is where the treaty comes into picture. The Aurora Alliance is the primary treaty of friendship between TNP and TSP. Ratified all the way back in ye olde medieval times of January 2015, the treaty establishes mutual defense, intelligence sharing, and cultural exchanges between TNP and TSP and codifies their already at-the-time longstanding friendship. The Aurora Alliance was a cornerstone of TNP-TSP relations, an integral part that codified their friendship. And, at the time of this whole affair, the treaty had lasted for a strong eight years, which in Internet terms is a pretty long time.
And Sandaoguo, one of the loudest voices from TSP after the re-emergence of this controversy, was openly calling for it to be “thrown in the trash.” Furthermore, some noted that, curiously, TSP officials didn’t pop up in the thread to correct them or distance themselves from them.
Now, a good portion of the thread was essentially re-litigating earlier historical events and arguing over interpretations of said events, specifically the 2016 Hileville coup in TSP and TNP’s role in that (which, itself, could be a HobbyDrama post. I told you that NS spawns a lot of drama!). However, broader questions were brought up concerning relations between TNP and TSP - about whether TNP and TSP were both willing to engage in a collaborative, constructive partnership with each other, about whether TNP could trust TSP. The very merits of the TNP-TSP alliance were being questioned, and some of the loudest voices from TSP were openly calling for an end to that alliance.
All of this was not great news for TSP’s government, who very much wanted to keep the treaty and alliance in effect. Thus, a few days later, on May 17, 2023 at 8:28 PM UTC, TSP posted a statement, citing the recent strain that the TNP-TSP alliance had come under, announced that they would withdraw the nomination of HumanSanity and distancing themselves from “provocative” voices “expressing desire for the dissolution of the treaty which binds our two regions in partnership.” The statement apologized for the initial re-nomination of HumanSanity and endeavored to “engage with the best intentions with our friends and allies,” but “in a more consultative manner, learning from our mistakes.” Amerion, who was appointed as TSP’s Minister of Foreign Affairs after Esfalsa stepped down, reiterated that “this is the first move/step in the process of making amends and we are in open dialogue with our partners to the north.”
Yet the damage was already done. As the old saying goes - “fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you.” This was the second apology TSP has had to issue in such a short amount of time, and at this point TNP’s trust in TSP had been shaken. Outside of TNP, some non-TNPers questioned whether TSP’s second apology would actually lead to anything, whether TSP would actually change their approach to foreign affairs and their partnership with TNP.
And it was all of this that set the stage for the last days of the Aurora Alliance.

MORE IN COMMENTS (Because character limit)

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That is the most succinct way I can pose this question but I want to give more context. I grew up very catholic in rural, central Europe, as such faith had been imposed top-down onto me. After years of rejecting faith in my adolescent and early adult years, I have come to appreciate religion over the years of closer study of human nature. One could say I have come closer to god again. However, there is one aspect that I have a difficult time integrating. The bible talks a lot about god uplifting people but then there is something inherently contradicting, or rather peculiar about the way the bible teaches us. There are numerous examples throughout where it is said that rich or worldly successful people will be the last to enter the kingdom of god. Striving for worldly possessions and “success” seems to be punished by god. This is where Nietsche’s classification of slave morality comes in; and this is also where the holy scriptures lose me. After my studies I have come to appreciate the immense value of a life devoted to something greater than myself, a family and ultimately god. Yet, I do find it difficult to accept that god wouldn’t want me to make the best life for me and my family. In our world that ultimately means material success.
My take on master vs slave morality is that it is mostly based on the idea that life is a zero sum game which I do not believe to be the case. I think the majority of life is a positive sum game. Lift yourself up so you can lift others. I don’t deny that there are zero-sum games, but I would argue that these are the least virtuous games one can play. I also do not think that all positive-sum games will lead to a good life for everyone, that is ultimately each and everyone’s own task in life, but I do believe that slave morality is not the answer. Maybe master morality is neither, but I have a strong sense that slave morality is the lesser of the two.
If anyone can point me to material where this is issue is discussed, JBP or otherwise I would be very grateful.
P.S.: Throwaway account that will be actively monitored for some time.

Christianity & the Roman Empire vs Homosexuality.
Understanding the Term "Arsenokoitai" in Biblical Context
‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------
The term "arsenokoitai," (Greek origin) often translated in modern Bibles as "homosexuals" or "men who bed men," appears in the New Testament, specifically in the letters of Paul, written during the first century AD. Understanding its historical and cultural context can shed light on its meaning and implications.
Summary of Linguistics and Paul's Use of "Arsenokoitai" ‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------
Paul’s Use of "Arsenokoitai":

• Broad Application:

The term was likely intended to cover a broad range of sexually immoral activities, particularly those involving exploitation and abuse, rather than consensual same-sex relationships. Paul could have used more precise words in Greek to describe the roles of male on male sexual contact which are highlighted below:
Alternative Greek Terms:

• Cinaedus:

Used to describe effeminate men or those who took on a passive role in sexual relationships, often derogatory.

• Pathicus:

Another term for men in passive sexual roles, also used pejoratively.

• Catamitus:

Referred to boys in pederastic relationships with older men.

• Erastes and Eromenos:

Terms describing the active (older) and passive (younger) partners in pederastic relationships.
Reasons for Using "Arsenokoitai":
Paul wrote in Greek to reach a broad audience across the Roman Empire, including both Jews and Gentiles. The Greek language allowed him to communicate effectively with diverse communities.

• Jewish Ethical Background:

Paul’s teachings were influenced by Jewish law and ethics, which condemned exploitative sexual behaviors. The term "arsenokoitai" may have been derived from the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) to address behaviors seen as immoral.

• Broad Ethical Guidelines:

By coining a new term, Paul could address various forms of sexual immorality without getting entangled in the specific cultural nuances and roles emphasized by existing terms. This allowed him to focus on ethical behavior broadly, aligning with Christian values of justice and protection of the vulnerable.
Time Frame and Historical Context ‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------

• New Testament Writings**:

The term "arsenokoitai" appears in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10. These letters are generally dated to around 53-54 AD for 1 Corinthians and the late first century AD for 1 Timothy.

• Roman Empire:

This period falls within the early Roman Empire, which began in 27 BC and continued through the first few centuries AD. The Roman Empire was characterized by its vast influence over the Mediterranean region and beyond.
Roman Practices and Power Dynamics ‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------

• Roman Society:
  Roman culture included various sexual practices, some of which were socially accepted but involved significant power imbalances. Relationships between freeborn males and slaves, for example, were common and often non-consensual due to the inherent power dynamics.
  
• Public Bathhouses:
  

Bathhouses were social spaces where various interactions, including sexual encounters, took place. These settings often saw exploitative and coercive behaviors, especially involving slaves and lower-status individuals.
Exploitation and Violence ‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------

• Slavery and Prostitution:

Many slaves and prostitutes in Roman society faced sexual exploitation and violence. Slaves, having little to no autonomy, were particularly vulnerable to abuse from their masters.

• Lack of Consent: The concept of consent as understood today was largely absent in many of these relationships, making them inherently exploitative.

Early Christian and Jewish Ethics ‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------

• Protecting the Vulnerable:

Early Christian and Jewish teachings emphasized the protection of vulnerable individuals. This ethical stance contrasted sharply with many practices in Roman society.

• Biblical Condemnation:

The condemnation of "arsenokoitai" in the New Testament can be seen as a critique of exploitative sexual practices rather than a blanket condemnation of consensual same-sex relationships. Early Christian ethics sought to promote justice and protect those who were marginalized and exploited.
Translation Challenges and Modern Psychology ‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------
Modern Interpretations:
Translating "arsenokoitai" as "homosexuals" in modern Bibles can be misleading. The term originally addressed specific exploitative behaviors prevalent in the Roman context.
Cultural Misunderstandings:
Modern readers often project contemporary understandings of sexuality onto ancient texts, which can distort the original meanings and intentions. The ancient concern was more about justice and protecting the vulnerable than about regulating consensual sexual relationships.
Influence of Modern Psychology ‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------

• 1946 Bible Translation:

The term "homosexual" first appeared in an English Bible translation in the Revised Standard Version (RSV) in 1946. This change was part of an effort to modernize and clarify the language of the Bible.

• Social Conservatism:

The mid-20th century was a period of heightened social conservatism, especially in the United States. This cultural backdrop influenced how sexual behaviors were viewed and classified.
Homosexuality as a Mental Disorder ‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------
In 1946 and 1947, homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). This classification reflected contemporary psychological theories and societal attitudes, viewing homosexuality as a deviation from the norm.
Different Types of Relationships ‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------
While the term "arsenokoitai" focuses on specific sexual acts, it does not address the broader and more nuanced aspects of relationships. Understanding the different facets of relationships is crucial to recognizing the limitations of this term.

• Loving Relationships:

Emotional Bonds: Many relationships are built on deep emotional connections, mutual respect, and love. These aspects are not explicitly addressed in the term "arsenokoitai."

• Support and Companionship:

Relationships often involve support, companionship, and shared experiences, which are fundamental to human connection and go beyond mere physical interactions.

• Romance and Affection:

Romantic relationships involve expressions of love, care, and affection. These elements contribute significantly to the depth and richness of the relationship.

• Commitment:

Many romantic relationships are characterized by commitment and a shared vision for the future, aspects not considered in the term "arsenokoitai."

• Consensual Same-Sex Relationships:
  Modern understandings of same-sex relationships recognize that they encompass much more than just sexual acts. They include emotional, romantic, and supportive dimensions that are integral to the relationship.
  
• Lack of Biblical Coverage:
  

The Bible does not provide detailed accounts of consensual same-sex relationships that reflect the complexities and multifaceted nature of these bonds. The focus on specific sexual acts, like those implied by "arsenokoitai," fails to capture the entirety of such relationships.
Intimacy ‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------
Intimacy in relationships goes far beyond physical acts; it encompasses emotional closeness, trust, and deep personal connection. The biblical texts, particularly those using terms like "arsenokoitai," often fail to address this broader understanding of intimacy. In healthy relationships, intimacy is about sharing one's innermost thoughts, fears, and dreams with another person, creating a bond that is both profound and nurturing. This kind of intimacy fosters mutual respect and understanding, essential components of any loving relationship.
One crucial aspect of intimacy that is often overlooked and overshadowed by the focus on "arsenokoitai" is emotional intimacy—the deep sense of acceptance and validation one receives from being truly known and loved. This emotional intimacy is weaponized when biblical texts are used to condemn and marginalize individuals based on their sexuality. Instead of fostering acceptance and emotional closeness, these interpretations create barriers and promote exclusion. True intimacy, rooted in emotional acceptance, is about affirming each other's worth and creating a safe space for vulnerability and genuine connection. When this form of intimacy is ignored or denied, it undermines the foundational principles of love and compassion that should guide our relationships.
Love ‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------
Love is the cornerstone of all meaningful relationships and a central theme in Christian teachings. Jesus emphasized love above all else, teaching us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to show compassion and kindness to everyone. In the context of relationships, love manifests as unwavering support, care, and dedication to the well-being of the other person. The term "arsenokoitai" and its traditional interpretations often miss this crucial aspect of relationships. Love is not just about physical attraction or acts; it is about forming a deep, abiding connection that transcends superficial differences and challenges societal norms. True love, as taught by Jesus, is inclusive and unconditional, celebrating the uniqueness of each individual and their right to love and be loved authentically.
Judgment ‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------
Judgment is a significant theme in both religious teachings and societal interactions, often influencing how individuals are perceived and treated. In the context of biblical texts, particularly those like "arsenokoitai," judgment is frequently wielded as a tool for exclusion and condemnation. Jesus taught us to refrain from judging others, emphasizing that judgment is reserved for God alone. In Matthew 7:1-2, He clearly states, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
When interpretations of terms like "arsenokoitai" are used to judge and condemn individuals based on their sexuality, they stray from the core message of love and acceptance that Jesus preached. This kind of judgment creates divisions and fosters a culture of exclusion, where people are marginalized and denied the dignity and respect they deserve. True Christian teachings call us to embrace others with compassion, understanding, and an open heart.
Judgment, when misused, can be a powerful weapon that inflicts deep emotional and psychological harm. It stands in stark contrast to the values of love, intimacy, and acceptance that form the foundation of healthy, meaningful relationships. By moving away from judgment and towards a more inclusive, compassionate approach, we honor the true spirit of Jesus's teachings and create a more loving and just world for everyone.
Historical Misinterpretations and Their Consequences ‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------

1. The Crusades (11th to 13th Centuries)

Initiated by Pope Urban II in 1095, the Crusades were a series of religious wars aimed at reclaiming the Holy Land from Muslim control.
Impact: Led to widespread violence, loss of life, and long-lasting animosity between Christians and Muslims. The Crusades also had significant impacts on Jewish communities, which were often targeted by crusaders.

1. The Inquisition (12th to 19th Centuries)

Established by the Catholic Church to root out heresy and enforce orthodoxy. The most famous was the Spanish Inquisition, beginning in 1478.
Resulted in the persecution, torture, and execution of thousands of people accused of heresy, witchcraft, and other religious crimes. Jewish and Muslim converts to Christianity (conversos and Moriscos) were particularly targeted.

1. The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648)

A complex and destructive conflict involving many European powers, rooted in religious disputes between Protestant and Catholic states within the Holy Roman Empire.
Impact: Caused immense suffering and loss of life, with significant political and territorial changes in Europe. The war ended with the Peace of Westphalia, which established principles of religious tolerance in Europe.

1. Salem Witch Trials (1692-1693)

A series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts, driven by Puritan religious beliefs and interpretations of the Bible.
Impact: Led to the execution of 20 people and the imprisonment of many others, creating an atmosphere of fear and hysteria.

1. Colonialism and Missionary Activity

European colonial powers often justified their expansion and domination of indigenous peoples through a religious mandate to spread Christianity.
Impact: Led to the suppression of indigenous cultures, forced conversions, and significant social disruption. Examples include the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the British colonial activities in Africa and Asia.

1. Anti-Semitism

Biblical interpretations and teachings have historically contributed to anti-Semitic attitudes and policies. Notably, Jews were often blamed for the death of Jesus and portrayed negatively in Christian teachings.
Impact: Led to widespread persecution of Jewish communities, including pogroms, expulsions from various European countries, and ultimately contributing to the Holocaust.

1. Slavery and Racism

Certain interpretations of the Bible were used to justify the enslavement of African people, particularly in the United States. Verses from the Old and New Testaments were cited to argue that slavery was a divinely sanctioned institution.
Impact: Justified the transatlantic slave trade and the systemic exploitation and oppression of African Americans, leading to deep social and racial divides that persist to this day.

1. Wars of Religion in France (1562-1598)

A series of conflicts between Catholics and Huguenots (French Protestants) in France, rooted in religious and political disputes.
Impact: Resulted in significant violence and upheaval, including massacres such as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572, and ended with the Edict of Nantes, which granted limited tolerance to Protestants.

1. Northern Ireland Conflict (The Troubles) (Late 20th Century)

A violent conflict between primarily Protestant unionists who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom and Catholic nationalists who wanted it to join the Republic of Ireland.
Impact: Led to decades of violence, terrorism, and social division, resulting in significant loss of life and lasting political tension.
These examples illustrate how interpretations of the Bible and religious authority have been used to justify conflicts, persecutions, and social disharmony throughout history. Understanding these events highlights the importance of careful and compassionate interpretation of religious texts to prevent their misuse and promote peace and understanding.
Conclusion ‐--------------------‐--------------------‐--------------------
Understanding the term "arsenokoitai" requires a deep dive into the historical and cultural context of the Roman Empire and early Christian teachings. This term likely referred to exploitative sexual behaviors common in Roman society, characterized by significant power imbalances and a lack of genuine consent.
Early Christian ethics, rooted in Jewish traditions, emphasized protecting the vulnerable and promoting justice, which helps explain the biblical condemnation of such practices.
The translation of "arsenokoitai" to "homosexuals" in the mid-20th century was influenced by the social and psychological context of that time, including the classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder.
This historical perspective highlights the importance of considering cultural and temporal contexts when interpreting ancient texts.Moreover, the biblical texts focus primarily on specific sexual acts rather than the broader aspects of relationships, such as emotional bonds, romantic love, and mutual support. Recognizing these dimensions is crucial for a more compassionate and comprehensive understanding of relationships.

I can't seem to find a definitive answer anywhere on the internet, so I thought I would ask here.
What is the full taxonomic classification of the Orcinus Orca? Like its domain, kingdom, phylum, etc. But also any subclasses or infraorders or anything. Basically ALL the in between.
No website seems to include everything, but if you have any sources or links that do, that would also be greatly appreciated!