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All the worst from the world's most dangerous sex and relationship advice

2013.01.13 04:32 All the worst from the world's most dangerous sex and relationship advice

This is a sub to share some of the most horrific, hilarious, dangerous, or flat out weird sex and relationship advice. While there will be regular awesome excerpts from Cosmo magazine and its website, we will welcome any bad advice from anywhere.
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2017.09.05 20:56 gorgossia Beauty for the Curious

Subreddit designed for makeup experts, enthusiasts, aficionados. Created to be a resource, not an ego-boost.
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2013.02.08 01:42 Life finds a way

Where evolution meets science fiction and art. Speculative Evolution (also called Speculative Biology and Speculative Zoology) is the envisioning of fictional, but scientifically possible creatures that could have existed on an alternate Earth, or might actually exist somewhere on another planet or in the deep sea.
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2024.05.15 03:08 ForestHasEyes Polish GROM has been fighting a secret war for decades, our enemies aren't human [Part 3]

Blachowicz here.
Kept yah’ waiting, huh? Heh, sorry about that one, but I can explain. As we all know… we lost a few good men the last few months.
That’s the brutal part of a hybrid war like ours: We’re fighting a foe unconventional, with half our arsenal tied down because those who grant us authorization are either in disbelief of the true facts, or scared… or already assimilated. That being said our momentum recently was a change not seen in years, and because of that… despite the losses we have garnered, we were close through a breakthrough. One last night Krol pulls myself and other two must trusted squad leads into the back of our COP. There is one of our equipment cages, surrounded by m-bitter radios, tripods, and several hundred thousand dollars of equipment he brought us around a simple worn table. Before us he laid a map of eastern poland… red markings indicating cells that seemed to dot the countryside like a pestilence, or used to… as deep gashes of advance from raids had trisected their lines, even if ones did pop up in the interior.
It was a back and forth; an outside virus infecting Polska at it’s heart, and we were the antibodies sent to drive them out. To which… Major Krol points to one of the largest symbol on the map: a dark red diamond, the NATO symbol for an enemy unit, deep inside of an untouched wooded area, adjacent to a mountain ridge. Several jagged lines indicated entrenchment, with red horizontal lines indicating possible enemy control… or our contested control, for over 20kms surrounding it. Letting us all look, the Major lit himself a cigarette.
“Sir, you sure it’s wise to smoke in here with the dive tanks just behind us” 1st Squad’s lead quipped. “Fuck off” Krol dryly said.
“Alright… this is it… this is the one we’ve been searching for for years, this is the nucleus my predecessor commander died trying to find” he says, pointing to it. Not far from Zamosc, it was almost touching the border with Belarus, the contested area indicating the Strigoi did operate over it… indicating one of the largest spill through points. “-It’s an old soviet bunker, made during their 1960s initiative it was designed to hold the munitions and manpower of several units in the event of a NATO first strike” Krol explained. “It’s gotta be massive then…” I said gazing at the map; “Didn’t the army demolish all of the old soviet hulks near Belarus to prevent any infiltrations?” 3rd Squad’s lead asked. “National Police took the effort over… and by extension, the Strigoi. It was halfway demo’ed before they burrowed into it and have been using it as a bridgehead ever since. This is it…” Krol said. He looked around at all of us, a sense of certainty I had never seen before as he blew smoke from his nostrils; “We’ve been fucking around in the dark for so long, it’s hard to believe we’ve made any progress, but this is it. With this gone, this will set them back over a decade and the momentum will finally shift into our favor… into Poland’s… -Europe’s”.
I swear there was almost a flash of joy, of pride in his eyes and a phantom of a smirk before reality set back in “That being said… we can’t leave this to chance, especially not something as important as this. We’re going to have to go there ourselves… clear through every inch of that place, and tear it all down, piece by piece. I will be straight with you all… when we go, there will be some of us that aren’t coming back. -but we are going… a whole generation is counting on us, and unborn billions rely on us to succeed”. We all nodded, a silent agreement washing over us as we took this upon ourselves. Echo-1 spoke up: “So… They’re authorizing a raid? How big?”. “We’re rolling in as a hard target, armor, explosives, and air support” Krol answered, taking a drag off his cigarette. “Aviation? How the hell did we get that approved, we’ve gotten attempts shot down four times due to those leeches” I said in disbelief. “There’s too much evidence here pointing to the human trafficking tied to their actions… We’ve finally got too much weight pinning them down, to keep the hammer from slamming into their necks” Krol chuckled. He looked around “Any questions?”. “When?” Echo-3 asked. “Three hours. We’re hitting them in the dead of night, only time we could get the birds authorized. Get your boys ready. We’re rolling out” Krol said, dying the cigarette bud out on the table. I can’t begin to tell you the euphoria we felt leaving that cage, as our men started arriving, they did so a lot quicker, and with their heads a lot higher than they had in weeks. As Second Squad’s lead we were going to be one of the main arms of attack into the bunker, thus I made sure we had a breacher loaded with enough thermite, charges, and tools to cut through anything. Our shield bearer we ready to go, as was our assaulters, grenadiers, and machine gunner. I double checked each and everyone of their weapons; ensuring the feeder paws of our squad’s belt fed were intact, making sure every breach charge we had was properly set and packed. There was going to be no mistakes, no slip ups. The margin of error needed to be the smallest it had ever been for us tonight if we were going to make the gore spilt worth it.
Finally… there on the outside of the building, the bright LED lights kept the darkness of the ensuing night at bay as the roar of our MRAPs could be heard. It was said once that war is 99% peace, and 1% chaos, they were right. The slow periods where the blood slowed and the doubt creeped in was the worst… yet we all kept it at bay. We needed to, there was going to be no backing down tonight. All three squads were up, all of us ready to go… we circled up… short stares and shaky nods telling us one things: We were in this together, till the end… the finish line so many before us had been searching for, we were being granted tonight.
A single set of footsteps could be heard as we turned, Major Krol stepping into the center. He took the last drag of a cigarette, throwing it down to the ground and stamping it out onto the damp concrete. He looked around… his chin strap blowing in the weak air as he met everyone of our gazes… then mine… then looked around. “I want you to remember every detail of tonight, as you have every other night… when you are situationally aware, scanning for the enemy, liberating the subjugated, I want you to remember the sting of anxiety, the shake of adrenaline, the chill of the bunker, the heat of your weapon as it cuts them down… because tonight we are going to write every fine detail of our victory, their defeat, in history…” Krol’s words echoed deep into our souls. He paused for a moment, staring around he looked down… a small pause before he said “When you are ruthless in combat, remember to be patient, and reserved in victory. This conflict is for our existence… a lot of innocents have bled due to the mistakes of those who failed to listen, a lot of our brothers are now laid under because we had to bridge the gap of uncertainty with their lives. We remember them now… but in an hour? We forget them… when we raise our barrels, when we cut into those foes, and we liberate Polska!! This does not end tonight, but history puts everything in it’s place, and patience is the companion of the victor… All of our hard work will be cemented, no matter the obstacles we face in that darkness… no matter the demons, the blood, no matter what incomprehensible horrors, we will make them comprehend that to invade our land, to bleed our people, the justice will be paid in full… Load up. It’s time*”*.
The purpose in our steps was heavy as we climbed the back ramps of the MRAPS; Four of the heavily armored vehicles, one for each squad with an additional for attached personnel including our JTAC, the term means Joint Terminal Attack Controllers. With air support requisitioned to us for this operations, there needs to be a definite liaison on the ground who can directly communicate to the birds, and coordinate their fire and progress. I’d worked with many of them in the past, resourceful guys, quick thinking though I guess that comes with the position they hold of needing to quickly figure out what bombs to drop, on which target, at what precise points, whilst taking contact. He loaded in the lead vehicle with Major Krol… and soon, our convoy kicked off.
The drive was several hours as myself and my squad sat in the back of that forty ton goliath, the rumbling of the engine keeping us awake as the crap heater fought to keep the cold from the outside frost from setting in. I looked around to each of them, some were catching some sleep because even with the circumstances… better to get all the energy you can, than to stay awake for nothing. Others were checking their weapons… My gunner locked eyes with me, the same one from the village extraction… many of these men I had trained with for a while now, fought with for months.
We may have met on unconventional circumstances but those in JW Grom thrive on austere chance and create opportunity from scratch. I was pulled from my thought by the sound of a transmission, my peltors were set up for dual comms so I could both receive information from the Major and other leads, whilst communicating with my team.
Krol himself sent out: [“Approximately 10 minutes from enemy AO…”]. As the rest of the squads acknowledged, I quickly sent out [“Echo-2 Copies”], before kicking the boots of any of them sleeping: “Look alive, we’re here”. Through the exterior net armor of the MRAPS, and the bars protecting the small reinforced windows, we could barely see jack shit. I reached up, turning off the overhead light as we all looked through our nods to scan the outside. A dark wall of dense trees was shown before us, making it difficult to see… in addition to night vision capabilities we had also requisitioned ourselves some thermals… when mounted onto rifles they were bulky, made it a pain to aim down quickly, but considering the supernatural capabilities of spotting our foes we needed every advantage necessary.
I flipped out one of my tubes… scanning the outside with my scope. I looked over to one of my assaulters who had been assigned to man the turret of the MRAP, seated near the view screen as he controlled the 50. Cal. Each of the vehicle turrets had been assigned a direction to cover… we took the 9 o’clock, the left flank. “See anything?” I asked. He shook his head; “Negative… wait… I’ve got two cold signatures, front left heading to our rear”.
I quickly scanned the far tree line, at approximately 60 meters off our left were two cold signatures… followed by a third heading to our front… then another. They were surrounding us, moving at speeds so fast I could barely keep my reticle on them. Is this what the National Police saw? What they faced at that lodge without the benefit of a foot of heavy armor protecting them on all sides. Then… suddenly. Something slammed into the side of our MRAP so hard, it caused it to shake. From over the leader comms, Echo-3 quickly shouted [“Contact right!! 4 hostiles!!”].
One of the Strigoi… so bold, had charged and slammed into the side of our MRAP. I quickly looked to see the figure, a dark blue mass of cold energy through my thermal, back away without so much as a stagger… as they tried to flee into the woods, the white hot justice of Echo-3’s gun fired at them, cutting them down. “Blachowicz I’ve got a few breaking for our vic” my man on the turret called out, I spun around, spotting out the window.
Just then, Major Krol announced [“weapons free, watch and shoot for targets of opportunity…”]. I turned to him… “take those fuckers out-”. Without hesitation my vic’s turret began to quickly target them, and through the darkness I saw a stream of outgoing fire bisect one of them, the ISR of the black blood freaking out the optic so badly it didn’t know what temperature to register it as… but it did register it. As another was cut down, one broke through the tree line and latched onto the side of our MRAP. The thing tore at one of the outer net armor panels, usually made to stop RPGs. It grabbed at the bars near the windows, tearing one off… I lowered my rifle as we locked eyes through the reinforced window.
The thing… the Strigoi looked at me, skin cracked as putrefied muscle fibers seemed to leak through dead flesh. It’s teeth were corroded and worn down to sharp fragments, alongside newly mutated fangs that messily protrude from the jaws. Even through the thick walls of the MRAP I could hear it’s roar, as it then tried to punch it’s way through… it cracked the outer coating of the vehicle… but it wasn’t getting anywhere near. My machine gunner, seated next to me, seemed to chuckle at the sight, quippily saying “Yeah… fuck you too”. It’s then our vehicle lurched upwards, as we began to climb the small incline of the bunker. I knew the layout, mapped it in our head, the main entrance was built into the rocky side of an old cliff meaning we could easily set up a defensive perimeter around it, a horseshoe. Krol’s vehicle was first, taking to the right as Echo-3’s MRAP followed. My vehicle, third, left the incline and took a left and… that’s where things got complicated.
We’re still trying to work out what happened but… from what Joakim says his drone captured. Right when the MRAP turned, several of the monsters quickly slammed into the side of the vehicle, as another more bulkier one, pushed at it’s undercarriage. The result.. Was the 40 ton armored vehicle tipped over. It wasn’t uncommon, hell in some cases a well placed IED, a good shot with a recoilless rifle, have been known to tip over Oshkoshs and Maxpros all the time. But this beast? Needless to say we barely had a second to comprehend it as it leaned to the left; “Grab on to something-” is all I had time to shout. A mess of gear and men spilled onto one side of the vehicle as it slammed into the old gravel and dirt.
Several of my assaulters, my grenadier planted right ontop of myself and the others as we came to a stop. Someone’s knee slammed directly into the side of my skull, causing me to dazily bob in and out of consciousness as my face was smushed against the glass of one of the windows.
Through my peltors, the other squads were erratic;
[“Echo-2’s vehicle is down!!”].
[“Echo-3 to Echo-2… Echo-3 to Echo-2…”].
Krol’s voice came through the comms;
[“Echo-Lead to Echo-2… Fuc-... Echo-1 secure Echo 2’s flank, Echo-3”].
[“Echo-3 to other units, they’re spilling through, I’ve got several enemy combatants converging on Echo-2’s vehicle”].
I pushed the legs of my grenadier off my head as I fought to my hands and knees, unfucking my nods as I looked around… “Fuck it… we’re going lights on, shield your eyes” I muttered as I reached for the overhead lights and flipped them on. The bright LEDs bathed the inside of the vehicle as we all gained our bearings, a mess of multicam, gear, and weapons as we quickly pushed each other off. My gunner caught as he fought to realign his promask, from what I gathered one of the assaulters had landed directly into his gun, pushing it directly into his jugular, as pulled back at the rubber and coughed, freeing up his esophagus. We didn’t have time to think however… the sound of bending metal caught our attention… as the back ramp door of the MRAP was ripped clean off. I could barely believe it but as the white light of the MRAP’s interior poured to the outside, a hulking mass leaned in, the dead flesh on it’s face nearly fallen off as the hideous Strigoi leaned inside.
Without hesitation I aimed took aim, yelling “Keep to the deck!!” to any of those inbetween myself and the invader as I opened fire. A burst of full auto fire tore through it’s collar and neck, my men quickly clung to either sides of the fallen MRAP as a few more fired out. As the thing backed up, a blast of .50 cal fire quickly tore it to shreds, along with several others as I realized they were fuckin swarming over the outside of our vehicle. Echo-3’s vehicle continued to carefully fire on the Strigoi on the outside, the sounds of .50 cal ricocheting off the outside of our armor was enough to make the pucker factor set in.
[“Echo-3 to Echo-2”].
[“This is Echo-2, we’re green on ammo, equipment, men”].
[“Roger, we’re shifting fire, exit the vehicle”].
“Hurry up let’s go!!” I barked to my men, leading the way as I staggered out. I turned on my peq, taking aim at silhouettes in the brush as I began to fire. The sounds of machine guns lighting up the brush, as a sea of growls, howls, and incomprehensible roars fired back at us was the ambient noise of the night. My men quickly exited, my gunner being the last as he and I pulled back to the rest of the defensive perimeter. I set in my men to take up the frontal security, as 3rd squad took the right flank, 1st squad to the left. Major Krol and the JTAC were bickering with each other; “How far out are the birds”. “They’re entering airspace now…” Joakim said, already scanning his smart book.
I asked “What’ve we got?”. He then flipped through… to the NATO combined arms segment, quippily saying; “Apaches…”. This caused me to pause as Echo-3 turned their head whilst directing their squad’s fire “The hell… where did we get apaches from?”. “The Americans… they volunteered” Krol said dismissively as he took aim at the darkness, firing off a controlled trio. “Volunteered? They’re aware of what’s going on?” I asked.
Krol seemed to stop, glancing back at me before returning his focus “There’s a lot more going on than you realize, Blachowicz… Prep the breach, you and 1st are going on”.
I quickly pulled my breacher off the line, securing some thermite as the reinforced bunker door wasn’t going to go as easily as a conventional door breach would. 1st Squad pulled back, stacking up and preparing themselves to be the first in. All the while… Joakim gave his firing solution; “Alpha Hotel Two Five Nine, This is Bravo-4…… Type 2….”.
I snapped to my right, watching as a Strigoi managed to dark across the clear gravel field, only to be cut down by my gunner, the peq’s laser marking the burst as it tore through the beasts’ hips, as it hit the ground and still continued to claw, another GROM operator took aim and fired into it’s skull. Joakim popped up to his feet…. “Marking laser, high power…”. He then pulled out a target marking laser… if you’ve watched night operations, you’ve probably seen them.
The green laser than as it says on the label, marks targets. The pattern of which can vary… if it’s a point target, it’ll usually lasso an area, or remain on target until the target is removed with extreme prejudice. If its close air support, then it’ll be a line of the general area… and Joakim damn near marked the entire perimeter around us. He quickly pocketed the tool, turning back to Krol; “Don’t go past 20 meters unless you want to be liquidated”.
With that… 2nd and 1st stacked up at the door as 3rd squad took up the perimeter security. As Major Krol went over to Echo-1… I saw them. A single blinking IR strobe from the beasts as they moved on the far off horizon, converging from several angles… and fired. The sound of the Apache’s main gun, the M230, truly sounds like the hammer of god… the 30mm cannon shot through the dark sky, lighting it up as we saw three incoming streams tear up the woods. Only then as the sound broke did we start to hear their rotors as they broke and began to circle, firing again… then… Joakim dipped his head and looked to Krol; [“Foxtrot Mike, hang onto your teeth…”]. One of the Apaches fired off a AGM-114… a Hellfire. I barely saw it out of the corner of my eye as the Apache from our right flank fired off at a target approximately 200 meters off. A fireball lit up the forest as the horrendous roar echoed throughout… then went silent.
Echo-3 scanned the horizon carefully;
[“Echo-3 to Echo-Lead, enemy contact is starting to die down”].
[“Maintain perimeter, Close Air is to maintain fire mission until we are boots up, Break…”].
[“Echo-Lead to Echo-1, condition white has been met. Proceeds”]. I saw Echo-1 and his men quickly stack up close to the wall and gesture to me; Breaching. I quickly pulled my stack back against the wall as his and mine breacher quickly hit their actuators. Now under normal circumstances, it doesn’t take much for thermite to melt the locks off of a metal surface, in fact it’s a more precise took as alternative means get real medieval like saws, pry bars… we weren’t in the mood for precision, we need to breach their little lair, and drag them out. The sound of several pounds of hellfire burning through the metal could be heard around the corner as a sea of white and red sparks flew out… after several seconds, two of our men tossed a fragmentation grenade and a nine-bang through the opening… a series of concussive blasts and a large explosion rang out.
Echo-1 and his men maneuvered. 1st Squad quickly converged as we followed them in.
Stepping through the black wall of smoke, the dark abyss of the interior was illuminated in a white light as entered barrels raised. Shots rang out as several of the beasts near the entrance were cut down, though not immediately, rounds disconnected the shoulder of one of them, leading to their arm hanging limply by a single tendon as they roared… another series of rounds putting them down. What greeted us was a messy concrete hell of rust and debris, fecal matter, trash, and all kinds of obstacles laid in our way, our boots sticking to the floor. I thank every god we had promasks that night. I called my shield bearer up, 2nd squad leapfrogging ahead to take the next corridor as 1st squad checked their weapons.
One of my men mule kicked the metal door ahead, twice, finally the latch gave away as we tossed in a grenade. A horrifying roar was cut off as an M67 shook the walls of the ancient soviet mausoleum, frag and spall kicked off the walls as I moved in right behind my shield man. The cramped russian design meant there was barely enough space for three people, and that’s three normal people, not in 50kgs of kit, moving slowly and maneuvering against creatures of the dark. Still… we moved forward, my shield bearer and I pushing the pace as two stacked of either squad formed on either wall.
As we passed doorways they flowed in… “Door Left!!”, “Door Right!!”. “Move!!”.
Two men entered each side, no gunshots, we moved up, a roar came.
“Door left!!-”. A series of gunshots came out as we continued to push forward.
“Two down!!”. “Confirm them” Krol commanded, as a series of gunshots run out in response. From one of the doorways, a Strigoi emerged… a female… clumps of hair had been ripped from her decaying skull, as her blooded eyes locked on myself and my shieldman. The skin on her hands had been tore down to the point where barely her bones and tendons remain… looking like huge talons as she roared and lunged at us. He fired off his pistol, though the rounds did little to stop her as she pushed against our stack.
“Fuck!!” he muttered, somehow her strength caused him to stagnate, holding up the advance… fuck that. I shoved the muzzle of my MK18 into her ribcage, flipping the weapon to auto as I fired of round after round. The 5.56 salvo disconnecting her spinal column, causing her to fall as I continued to fire, along with a man to our right and left as the stacks reformed as we pushed to the end of the hall. I fell back, dropping the magazine and loading a fresh one, like clockwork a GROM Operator from 1st squad took my place. Krol was beside me as we approached the end of the hall.
[“-Prep an entry”] I radioed to my breacher, a comrade handed him one of the charges from his back panel as he took to the door, quickly securing it. We all moved as far back as we could, look away, exhale. The blast knocked metal and wood in all directions, scrapping against our uniforms and kit as we made our way in and what laid before us was… it used to be the center atrium of one of these bunkers. Soviet’s loved their grandiose designs, the complex was supposed to be a circular room around a central planning table… instead. It had been turned into some sort of church. Runes and old eastern Romuva pagan symbols written in black ink and blood across the walls, old rotten filing cabinets, long receipt terminals. In the center… several of the Strigoi were kneeling before the table where someone had been tied down, flayed, and… shared amongst the group. They rose to their feet, we aimed our barrels…
The ladder amongst turned to us… his skin wasn’t cracked, or flayed, it was smooth… it still looked dead as the body on the table but it seemed more… accustomed to it. I don’t know… evolved? Under the surface however I could see it’s darkened veins pumping whatever cursed blood ran through them as it locked two blood red eyes onto each of us. It’s nose had long since been turn off, exposing boney nostrils to the open air as it seemed to smirk. All across it’s body were the same symbols on the walls, in every cell… markings of death, of rebirth, of assimilation… From behind this seemingly Alpha emerges another figure I had never seemed before… dressed in a white cloak with a deer head.
"So they've followed the trail... they're too late" the Deer headed individual spoke, definitely not from here, a dialect similar to an Americans but... aristocratic? Each word was drawn out, assurance as if they had everything mapped down to our actions. They didn’t sound like they were from Poland or the east.
“Doesn’t matter…” the Alpha growled… and then, it lunged at us. Quickly breaking from their ground it slammed into my shield man knocking both him and myself at the ground as it displayed an intense feat of strength. Around us I could see several of the Strigoi leap at our comrades… though to no fruitful endeavor as I could see one GROM operator cut two down, as another got into a hand to hand confrontation… my breacher, crafty as they were, reached back and slammed one of the prybars of his kit into the skull of the beast.
The Alpha however was not content as it threw away the 90lb shield, sending it flying across the room as it grabbed my comrade by the skull. I quickly kicked up at it, firing my MK18 into it’s body as the rounds pierced it’s gray and rune covered flesh. The thing simply seemed to chuckle… that was until Major Krol blasted away at the side of it’s head, the alpha turned… and it’s smirk turned to a scowl when face to face with the major. A knowing pause almost like they had done this dance before…
The creature lunged, locking up with Major Krol as it swung and slammed railing. Krol didn’t back down however as he pushed against the creature, hiptossing it to the ground even as it tore at his armor and gear. But the beast pulled, both of them rolled and the Major was on his back as the thing reached for his neck. I fought to a kneel, firing into the creature messily with my MK18, trying not to hit my commander… then…
Click. A sound sends a chill up the spine of every warfighter during a firefight.
My gun ran dry. I dropped the magazine, looking to load another, but the thing came up and with one of it’s claws, sliced deep into my cheek, through the pro mask. I could feel my own blood go flying through the air as I landed hard on my back plate, spitting out red iron as I quickly tried to adjust my mask. Through my fogged up, blood covered lense… I saw my shield man raise his pistol, firing into the skull of the thing staggering it with a roar. Krol came from behind, drawing his knife he sunk it deep into the neck of it…. I reached for my rifle, forcing a new magazine in and damn near punching the bold release. ““Sir, down!!” I shouted, Krol rolled away, back to his own rifle as I fired. So did my comrade as he continued to fire his pistol… so did the Major as he fired his rifle. All of us chewing through that apex predator of darkness, that beast… the leader that had been preying on our people for so long. Layer by layer, muscle group by bone… eventually… the alpha landed on whatever was left of his back.
The silence of the fight died down as all of us checked our surroundings, GROM Operators putting controlled pairs in the heads and nerve stems of any Strigoi laying around… I flicked my weapon onto safe, letting it hang as I pulled off my mask. I dared not touch the wound on my face… the pain nearly crippling me if it wasn’t sheer will pushing me through, and adrenaline doing all it could to subdue it. The sound of the apaches continuing to lay hate drew us from our moment of contemplation as the Major went back to work; [“Confiscate any info, burn the rest…”]. He turned back to me as I shoved my damaged M50 mask back into it’s bag, chuckling as he looked at the sight; “You need a medevac, Blachowicz?” he quipped.
I shook my head, barely able to speak as I muttered; “Negative sir…”. The two of us scanned the room as my shield bearer went to collect his defense implement turned 90lb projectile, we scanned the center of the room, checking and confirming bodies, until we got to the last one alive. His white gown was soaked in red crimson and black ooze, as his dear head was mangled from bullet fire and impact from falling on it. I swear… the way his blood poured out of it though made me wonder if it was a mask. I gave it no second thoughts as he looked to Krol; “You… you can’t stop this, they’ve already-”.
The Major was in no mood for communication as his rifle snapped up and fired off three rounds to the body, four the head. The violent yet quick salvo ending the cultists life, I looked down at it, then to him as he remarked; “Have your squad drag him out to the front, burn the rest”. I stood alongside him, looking down as the sight of it’s deer head was both captivating and horrifying… the curiosity in me wanting to look closer at it fighting the primal instinct I had to burn the thing to ash. “-Haven’t seen one of those before…” I muttered, thinking the Major had an answer.
He didn’t. Krol saying “Neither have I…” shortly before he walked away, was what truly shook my soul about that entire night. Victory stood firm in our hearts that night as we stood outside of the bunker. The night sky burning with fire and white phosphorus as we watched the ruin burn from the inside from the other side of the lot. In the distance, the Apaches continued to scan and circle the forests, no longer firing…. Which meant they had driven any or turned to glass any enemy combatants within a four miles, probably both, more than likely the latter. Echo-1 patted me on the shoulder as we stood there, soaking it all in, though Krol looked none to pleased. “In the time it took us to take this one down, they’ll be trying to set up three more cells… that being established…” he said, looking to either of us, then to Echo-3. “-Hell of a thing we did tonight, been waiting for this one for a decade, cleanly, maybe more… but no time to rest on our laurels… we’ll have another task for us as soon as we’re boots down back home” he said, to which his eyes followed mine, the body of whatever cultist that was zipped up in a black body bag beside the wheel of one of the MRAPs. The fire from the bunker casting an orange hue over it’s shiny jet black outside, something didn’t sit right with me… “That wasn’t a Strigoi…” I said to Krol.
“That’s very clear…” the Major said, shoving his mask under his arm and lighting a cigarette. “So… someone’s helping them?” I asked. The meer notion of it shook me to my core, sickened me. This parasite was already badly infecting Europa, Polska… if it was spread like this throughout the world. Krol settled my nerves: “We’ll be ready… It’s not just us anymore”. As he said that, I realized what he meant… my eyes looking to the Apaches as they started to form up, leaving the areas as their thunderous propellers melted into the night’s calm, unnerving ambience.
It’s been a couple of weeks since then, Echo Detachment has been busy. We’ve gained good ground against the enemy and honestly I think in a few years, we might see a much larger change. For now… we must keep going, that being said the Strigoi aren’t the only ones we’ve been combating. Recently we’ve made contact with of some sort of extermination coalition, they’ve known about the Strigoi, and others plaguing the world, the level of corruption and corrosion on society goes deep. Regardless a lot of the units we’ve been working with are apart of NATO, such as this “4th Special Forces Group” of the American Military. I don’t know where the road from here leads, but we’ve gotten momentum on our side, finally. Just remember… these things are out there, in every town, every city, every nation… preying and waiting for you to be alone, vulnerable, so they can take you and replace you.
Watch your back, and stay safe.
For now, Blachowicz signing out. Until next time
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2024.05.14 18:08 Mophandel Archaeotherium, the King of the White River Badlands

Archaeotherium, the King of the White River Badlands
Art by Bob Nicholls
Nowadays, when we envision the words “prey,” among modern mammalian fauna, few taxa come to mind as quickly as the hoofed mammals, better known as the ungulates. Indeed, for the better part of their entire evolutionary history, the ungulates have become entirely indistinguishable from the term “prey.” Across their two major modern branches, the artiodactyls (the “even-toed ungulates,” such as bovids, pigs, deer, hippos and giraffes) and the perissodactyls (the “odd-toed ungulates,” including horses, rhinos and tapir), the ungulates too have created an empire spanning nearly every continent, establishing themselves as the the dominant herbivores throughout their entire range. However, as a price for such success, their lot as herbivores have forced them into an unenviable position: being the food for the predators. Indeed, throughout the diets of most modern predators, ungulates make up the majority, if not the entirety, of their diet, becoming their counterparts in this evolutionary dance of theirs. They have become the lamb to their wolf, the zebra to their lion, the stag to their tiger. If there is a predator in need of lunch, chances are that there is an ungulate there to provide it. Of course, such a dynamic is not necessarily a recent innovation. For the last 15-20 million years, across much of the world, both new and old, the ungulates have served as prey for these predators through it all. Over the course of whole epochs, these two groups have played into these roles for millions of years, coevolving with each other in an eons-long game of cat-and-mouse. The shoes they fill are not new, but have existed for ages, and within their niches they have cultivated their roles to perfection. Indeed, with such a tenured history, it seems hardly surprising the ungulates are wholly inseparable from the terms “prey,” itself.
However, while this is the case now, as it has been for the last 15-20 million years, go back far enough, and we see that this dynamic is not as set in stone as we would think. Indeed, back during the Eocene and Oligocene, during the very earliest days of age of mammals, things were very different for the ungulates. While today they are considered little more than food for modern predators, during these olden days, the ungulates weren’t quite so benign. In fact, far from being fodder for top predators, the ungulates had turned the tables, instead becoming top predators themselves. Indeed, though nearly unheard of today, throughout much of the Eocene and Oligocene, carnivorous ungulates thrived in abundance, developing specializations for catching large prey and establishing themselves as top predators that competed alongside the more traditional carnivores, and even dominating them in some instances. Given such success, it’s no wonder that multiple such clades had arisen during this time. Such predators included the arctocyonids, a lineage of (ironically) hoof-less ungulates with large jaws and sharp teeth for capturing large prey. There were also the mesonychians, a lineage of dog-like ungulates with massive skulls and jaws that allowed them to reign as the top predator across much of the Eocene.
However, among these various lineages, one stands stands out among the rest, by far. Arising during the Eocene, this lineage, though superficially resembling modern pigs, hailed from one an ancient lineage of artiodactyls far removed from swine or most other ungulates in general, with few close relatives alive today. Through perhaps not the most predatory of the bunch, it was among the most formidable, as their superficially pig-like appearance came with giant predatory jaws and teeth unlike anything from the modern era. And of course, as if all of that wasn’t enough, this lineage also went on to earn arguably one of the most badass nicknames of any lineage of mammals, period. These predators, of course, were the entelodonts, a.k.a the “hell-pigs.” More so than any other predatory ungulate lineage, these formidable ungulates were the ones to turn the current paradigm upside down, becoming some of the largest and most dominant carnivores in their landscape, even with (and often in spite of) the presence of more traditional predators. Through impressive size, fearsome teeth and sheer tenacity, these animals became the top dogs of their time, ruling as behemoth-kings of their Paleogene kingdoms, domineering all comers, and throughout the ranks, one entelodont in particular demonstrated such dominance the best. Though not the largest or most powerful of their kind, it is one of the most iconic, being among the most well-known members of its lineage to date. Moreover, this enteledont also has some of the most complete life histories ever seen out of this clade, with its brutality and predatory prowess being displayed in the fossil record in a way seen in no other member of its kind. More than anything else, however, it was this predator that best turned the notion of “ungulates being prey” on its head, living in an environment that bore some of the largest carnivoran hypercarnivores to date and still reigning as the undisputed top predator of its domain. This fearsome beast was none other than Archaeotherium, icon of the entelodonts, terror of the Oligocene American west and undisputed king of the White River badlands.
The rise of Archaeotherium (and of entelodonts in general) is closely tied to the ascendancy of carnivorous ungulates as a whole, one of the earliest evolutionary success stories of the entire Cenozoic. Having become their own derived clade since the late Cretaceous, the ungulates were remarkably successful during the early Paleogene, as they were among the first mammalian clades to reach large sizes during those early days after the non-avian dinosaurs had gone extinct. As such, it was with incredible swiftness that, as the Paleogene progressed, the ungulates swooped upon the various niches left empty by the K-Pg mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs. This of course included the herbivorous niches we would know them for today, but this also included other, much more carnivore roles. Indeed, early on during the Paleogene, it was the ungulates that first seized the roles of large mammalian predators, becoming some the earliest large mammalian carnivores to ever live, well before even the carnivorans. Such predators included the arctocyonids, a lineage of vaguely dog-like, hoof-less ungulates with robust jaws and sharpened teeth that acted as some of earliest large carnivores of the Paleocene, with genera such as Arctocyon mumak getting up to the size of big cats. Even more prolific were the mesonychids. More so than what pretty much any other lineage of predator, it was the mesonychids that would stand out as the earliest dominant predators of the early Cenozoic. Growing up to the size of bears and with enormous, bone-crushing jaws, the mesonychids were among the most powerful and successful predators on the market at that time, with a near-global range and being capable of subjugating just about any other predator in their environments. Indeed, they, along with other carnivorous ungulates (as well as ungulates in general), were experiencing a golden age during this time, easily being the most prolific predators of the age. Given such prevalence, it should be no surprise that there would be yet another lineage of predatory ungulates would throw their hat into the ring, and by early Eocene, that contender would none other than the entelodonts.
The very first entelodonts had arisen from artiodactyl ancestors during the Eocene epoch, at a time when artiodactyls were far more diverse and bizarre than they are now. Through today known from their modern herbivorous representatives such as bovines, deer, and antelope, during the Paleocene and Eocene, the artiodacyls, as with most ungulates of that time, were stronger and far more predaceous, particularly when it came to one such clade of artiodactyls, the cetacodontamorphs. Only known today from hippos and another group of artiodactyls (one which will become relevant later), the cetacodantomorphs emerged out of Asia around 55 million years ago, at around the same time that artiodactyls themselves had made their debut. These animals included the first truly predatory artiodactyls, with many of them possessing large skulls with powerful jaws and sharp, predatory teeth. Among their ranks included animals as puny as Indohyus, a piscivorous artiodactyl the size of a cat, to as formidable as Andrewsarchus, a giant, bison-sized predator often touted as one of the largest predatory mammals to ever live. Given such a predatory disposition, it wouldn’t be long until this clade produced a lineage of truly diverse, truly successful predators, and by around 40 million years ago, that is exactly what they did, as it was at that time that the entelodonts themselves first emerged. From their Asian homeland, the entelodonts spread across the world, spreading through not only most of Eurasia but also colonizing North America as well, with genera such as Brachyhyops being found across both continents. Here, in this North American frontier, the entelodonts began to diversify further, turning into their most successful and formidable forms yet, and it was around the late Eocene and early Oligocene that Archaeotherium itself had entered the scene.
Just from a passing glance at Archaeotherium, it is clear how exactly it (as well as the other entelodonts) earned the nickname of “hell-pigs.” It was a bruiser for starters; its body bore a robust, pig-like physique, with prominent neural spines and their associated musculature forming a hump around the shoulder region, similar to the hump of a bison. With such a bulky physique came with it impressive size; the average A. mortoni had a head-body length of roughly 1.6-2.0 m (5.3-6.6 ft), a shoulder height of 1.2 m (4 ft) and a body mass of around 180 kg (396 lb) in weight (Boardman & Secord, 2013; Joeckel, 1990). At such sizes, an adult Archaeotherium the size of a large male black bear. However, they had the potential to get even bigger. While most Archaeotherium specimens were around the size described above, a select few specimens, labeled under the synonymous genus “Megachoerus,” are found to be much larger, with skulls getting up to 66% longer than average A. mortoni specimens (Foss, 2001; Joeckel, 1990). At such sizes and using isometric scaling, such massive Archaeotherium specimens would attained body lengths over 2.5 m (8.2 ft) and would have reached weighs well over 500 kg (1100 lb), or as big as a mature male polar bear. Indeed, at such sizes, it is already abundantly evident that Archaeotherium is a force to be recorded with.
However, there was more to these formidable animals than sheer size alone. Behind all that bulk was an astoundingly swift and graceful predator, especially in terms of locomotion. Indeed, the hoofed feet of Archaeotherium, along with other entelodonts, sported several adaptations that gave it incredible locomotive efficiency, essentially turning it into a speed demon of the badlands. Such adaptations include longer distal leg elements (e.g. the radius and tibia) than their proximal counterparts (e.g. the humerus and femur), fusion of the radius and ulna for increased running efficiency, the loss of the clavicle (collar-bone) to allow for greater leg length, the loss of the acromion to enhance leg movement along the fore-and-aft plane, the loss of digits to reduce the mass of the forelimb, the fusion of the ectocuneiform and the mesocuneiform wrist-bones, among many other such traits (Theodore, 1996) . Perhaps most significant of these adaptations is the evolution of the “double-pulley astragalus (ankle-bone),” a specialized modification of the ankle that, while restricting rotation and side-to-side movement at the ankle-joint, allows for greater rotation in the fore-and-aft direction, thus allowing for more more powerful propulsion from the limbs, faster extension and retraction of the limbs and overall greater locomotive efficiency (Foss, 2001). Of course, such a trait was not only found in entelodonts but in artiodactyls as a whole, likely being a response to predatory pressures from incumbent predatory clades arising at the same time as the artiodactyls (Foss, 2001). However, in the case of the entelodonts, such adaptations were not used for merely escaping predators. Rather, they were used to for another, much more lethal effect…
Such notions are further reinforced by the entelodonts most formidable aspect, none either than their fearsome jaws, and in this respect, Archaeotherium excelled. Both for its size and in general, the head of Archaeotherium was massive, measuring 40-50 cm (1.3-1.6 ft) in length among average A. mortoni specimens, to up to 78 cm (~2.6 ft) in the larger “Megachoerus” specimens (Joeckel, 1990). Such massive skulls were supported and supplemented by equally massive neck muscles and ligaments, which attached to massive neural spines on the anterior thoracic vertebrae akin to a bisons hump as well as to the sternum, allowing Archaeotherium to keep its head aloft despite the skulls massive size (Effinger, 1998). Of course, with such a massive skull, it should come as no surprise that such skulls housed exceptionally formidable jaws as well, and indeed, the bite of Archaeotherium was an especially deadly one. Its zygomatic arches (cheek-bones) and its temporal fossa were enlarged and expanded, indicative of massive temporalis muscles that afforded Archaeotherium astoundingly powerful bites (Joeckel, 1990). This is further augmented by Archaeotherium’s massive jugal flanges (bony projections of the cheek), which supported powerful masseter muscles which enhanced chewing and mastication, as well as an enlarged postorbital bar that reinforced the skull against torsional stresses (Foss, 2001). Last but not least, powerful jaws are supplemented by an enlarged gape, facilitated by a low coronoid process and enlarged posterior mandibular tubercles (bony projections originating from the lower jaw), which provided an insertion site for sternum-to-mandible jaw abduction muscles, allowing for a more forceful opening of the jaw (Foss, 2001). All together, such traits suggest a massive and incredibly fearsome bite, perhaps the most formidable of any animal in its environment.
Of course, none of such traits are especially indicative of a predatory lifestyle. Indeed, many modern non-predatory ungulates, like hippos, pigs and peccaries, also possess large, formidable skulls and jaws. However, in peeling back the layers, it is found there was more to the skull of Archaeotherium that lies in store. Indeed, when inspecting the animal closely, a unique mosaic of features is revealed; traits that make it out to be much more lethal than the average artiodactyl. On one hand, Archaeotherium possessed many traits similar to those of herbivores animals, as is expected of ungulates. For instance, its jaw musculature that allowed the lower jaw of Archaeotherium a full side-to-side chewing motion as in herbivores (whereas most carnivores can only move their lower jaw up and down)(Effinger, 1998). On the other hand, Archaeotherium wielded many other traits far more lethal in their morphology, less akin to a herbivore and far more akin to a bonafide predator. For instance, the aforementioned enlarged gape of Archaeotherium is a bizarre trait on a supposed herbivore, as such animals do not need large gapes to eat vegetation and thus have smaller, more restricted gapes. Conversely, many predatory lineages have comparatively large gapes, as larger gapes allow for the the jaws to grab on to more effectively larger objects, namely large prey animals (Joeckel, 1990).
Such a juxtaposition, however, is most evident when discussing the real killing instruments of Archaeotherium — the teeth. More so than any facet of this animal, the teeth of Archaeotherium are the real stars of the show, showing both how alike it was compared to its herbivores counterparts and more importantly, how it couldn’t be more different. For instance, the molars of Archaeotherium were quite similar to modern herbivores ungulates, in that they were robust, bunodont, and were designed for crushing and grinding, similar in form and function to modern ungulates like peccaries (Joeckel, 1990). However, while the molars give the impression that Archaeotherium was a herbivore, the other teeth tell a very different story. The incisors, for example, were enlarged, sharpened, and fully interlocked (as opposed to the flat-topped incisors seen in herbivores ungulates), creating an incisor array that was seemingly ill-suited for cropping vegetation and much more adept at for gripping, puncturing and cutting (Joeckel, 1990). Even more formidable were the canines. Like the modern pigs from which entelodonts derived their nicknames, the canines of Archaeotherium were sharp and enlarged to form prominent tusk-like teeth, but unlike pigs, they were rounded in cross-section (similar to modern carnivores like big cats, indicating more durable canines that can absorb and resist torsional forces, such as those from struggling prey) and were serrated to form a distinct cutting edge (Effinger, 1998; Joeckel, 1990; Ruff & Van Valkenburgh, 1987). These canines, along with the incisors, interlock to stabilize the jaws while biting and dismantling in a carnivore-like fashion. More strikingly, the canines also seem to act as “occlusal guides,” wherein the canines help align the movement and position of the rear teeth as they come together, allowing for a more efficient shearing action by the rear teeth. This function is seen most prevalently modern carnivorous mammals, and is evidenced by the canine tooth-wear, which is also analogous to modern predators like bears and canids (Joeckel, 1990). Indeed, going off such teeth alone, it is clear that Archaeotherium is far more predatory than expected of an ungulate. However, the real stars of the show, the teeth that truly betray the predatory nature of these ungulates, are the premolars. Perhaps the most carnivore-like teeth in the entelodont’s entire tooth row, the premolars of Archaeotherium, particularly the anterior premolars, are laterally compressed, somewhat conical in shape, and are weakly serrated to bear a cutting edge, giving them a somewhat carnivorous form and function of shearing and slicing (Effinger, 1998). Most strikingly of all, the premolars of Archaeotherium bear unique features similar not to modern herbivores, but to durophagous carnivores like hyenas, particularly apical wear patterns, highly thickened enamel, “zigzag-shaped” enamel prism layers (Hunter-Schraeger bands) on the premolars which is also seen in osteophagous animals like hyenas, and an interlocking premolar interface wherein linear objects (such as bones) inserted into jaws from the side would be pinned between the premolars and crushed (Foss, 2001). Taken together, these features do not suggest a diet of grass or vegetation like other ungulates. Rather, they suggest a far more violent diet, one including flesh as well as hard, durable foods, particularly bone. All in all, the evidence is clear. Archaeotherium and other entelodonts, unlike the rest of their artiodactyl kin, were not the passive herbivores as we envision ungulates today. Rather, they were willing, unrepentant meat-eaters that had a taste for flesh as well as foliage.
Of course, even with such lines of evidence, its hard to conclude that Archaeotherium was a true predator. After all, its wide gape and durophagous teeth could have just as easily been used for scavenging or even to eat tough plant matter such as seeds or nuts, as in peccaries and pigs, which themselves share many of the same adaptations as Archaeotherium, include the more carnivorous ones (e.g. the wide gape, using the canines as an occlusal guide, etc.). How exactly do we know that these things were veritable predators and not pretenders to the title. To this end, there is yet one last piece of evidence, one that puts on full display the predatory prowess of Archaeotheriumevidence of a kill itself. Found within oligocene-aged sediment in what is now Wyoming, a collection of various fossil remains was found, each belonging to the ancient sheep-sized camel Poebrotherium, with many of the skeletal remains being disarticulated and even missing whole hindlimbs or even entire rear halves of their body. Tellingly, many of the remains bear extensive bite marks and puncture wounds across their surface. Upon close examination, the spacing and size of the punctures leave only one culprit: Archaeotherium. Of course, such an event could still have been scavenging; the entelodonts were consuming the remains of already dead, decomposed camels, explaining the bite marks. What was far more telling, however, was where the bite marks were found. In addition bite marks being found on the torso and lumbar regions of the camels, various puncture wounds were found on the skull and neck, which were otherwise uneaten. Scavengers rarely feast on the head to begin with; there is very little worthwhile meat on it besides the brain, cheek-muscles and eyes, and even if they did feed on the skull and neck, they would still eat it wholesale, not merely bite it and then leave it otherwise untouched. Indeed, it was clear that this was no mere scavenging event. Rather than merely consuming these camels, Archaeotherium was actively preying upon and killing them, dispatching them via a crushing bite to the skull or neck before dismembering and even bisecting the hapless camels with their powerful jaws to preferentially feast on their hindquarters (likely by swallowing the hindquarters whole, as the pelvis of Poebrotherium was coincidentally the perfect width for Archaeotherium to devour whole), eventually discarding the leftovers in meat caches for later consumption (Sundell, 1999). With this finding, such a feat of brutality leaves no doubt in ones mind as to what the true nature of Archaeotherium was. This was no herbivore, nor was it a simple scavenger. This was an active, rapacious predator, the most powerful in its entire ecosystem.
Indeed, with such brutal evidence of predation frozen in time, combined with various dental, cranial, and post cranial adaptations of this formidable animal, it’s possible to paint a picture of how this formidable creature lived. Though an omnivore by trade, willing and able to feast on plant matter such as grass, roots and tubers, Archaeotherium was also a wanton predator that took just about any prey it wanted. Upon detecting its prey, it approached its vicim from ambush before launching itself at blazing speed. From there, its cursorial, hoofed legs, used by other ungulates for escape predation, were here employed to capture prey, carrying it at great speeds as it caught up to its quarry. Having closed the distance with its target, it was then that the entelodont brought its jaws to bear, grabbing hold of the victim with powerful jaws and gripping teeth to bring it to a screeching halt. If the victim is lucky, Archaeotherium will then kill it quickly with a crushing bite to the skull or neck, puncturing the brain or spinal cord and killing its target instantly. If not, the victim is eaten alive, torn apart while it’s still kicking, as modern boars will do today. In any case, incapacitated prey are subsequently dismantled, with the entelodont using its entire head and heavily-muscled necks to bite into and pull apart its victim in devastating “puncture-and pull’ bites (Foss, 2001). Prey would then finally be consumed starting at the hindquarters, with not even the bones of its prey being spared. Such brutality, though far from clean, drove home a singular truth: that during this time, ungulates were not just prey, that they were not the mere “predator-fodder” we know them as today. rather, they themselves were the predators themselves, dominating as superb hunters within their domain and even suppressing clades we know as predators today, least of all the carnivorans. Indeed, during this point in time, the age of the carnivorous ungulates had hit their stride, and more specifically, the age of entelodonts had begun.
Of course, more so than any other entelodont, Archaeotherium took to this new age with gusto. Archaeotherium lived from 35-28 million years ago during the late Eocene and early Oligocene in a locality known today as the White River Badlands, a fossil locality nestled along the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. Though a chalky, barren landscape today, during the time of Archaeotherium, the White River Badlands was a swamp-like floodplain crisscrossed with rivers and interspersed with by a mosaic of forests concentrated around waterways, open woodlands and open plains. As with most ecosystems with such a lush disposition, this locale teemed with life, with ancient hornless rhinos, small horse-like hyracodonts and early camels roaming the open habitats while giant brontotheres, small early horses and strange, sheep-like ungulates called merycoidodonts (also known as “oreodonts”) dwelled within the dense forests. Within this locale, Archaeotherium stalked the open woodlands and riparian forests of its domain. Here, it acted as a dominant predator and scavenger across is territory, filling a niche similar to modern grizzly bears but far more predatory. Among its preferred food items would be plant matter such as roots, foliage and nuts, but also meat in the form of carrion or freshly caught prey. In this respect, smaller ungulates such as the fleet-footed camel Poebrotherium, a known prey item of Archaeotherium, would have made a for choice prey, as its small size would make it easy for Archaeotherium to dispatch with its powerful jaws, while the entelodonts swift legs gave it the speed necessary to keep pace with its agile prey.
However, the entelodont didn’t have such a feast all to itself. Just as the badlands teemed with herbivores, so too did it teem with rival predators. Among their ranks included fearsome predators such as Hyaenodon, a powerful, vaguely dog-like predator up to the size of wolves (as in H. horridus) or even lions (as in the Eocene-aged H. megaloides, which was replaced by H. horridus during the Oligocene). Armed with a massive head, fierce jaws and a set of knife-like teeth that could cut down even large prey in seconds, these were some of the most formidable predators on the landscape. There were also the nimravids, cat-like carnivorans that bore saber-teeth to kill large prey in seconds, and included the likes of the lynx-sized Dinictis, the leopard-sized Hoplophoneus and even the jaguar-sized Eusmilus. Furthermore, there were amphicyonids, better known as the bear-dogs. Though known from much larger forms later on in their existence, during the late Eocene and Oligocene, they were much smaller and acted as the “canid-analogues” of the ecosystem, filling a role similar to wolves or coyotes. Last but not least, there were the bathornithid birds, huge cariamiform birds related to modern seriemas but much larger, which filled a niche similar to modern seriemas or secretary birds, albeit on a much larger scale. Given such competition, it would seem that Archaeotherium would have its hands full. However, things are not as they appear. For starters, habitat differences would mitigate high amounts of competition, as both Hyaenodon and the various nimravids occupy more specialized ecological roles (being a plains-specialist and forest-specialist, respectively) than did Archaeotherium, providing a buffer to stave off competition: More importantly, however, none of the aforementioned predators were simply big enough to take Archaeotherium on. During the roughly 7 million years existence of Archaeotherium, the only carnivore that matched it in size was H. megaloides, and even that would have an only applied to average A. mortoni individuals, not to the much larger, bison-sized “Megachoerus” individuals. The next largest predator at that point would be the jaguars-sized Eusmilus (specifically E. adelos) which would have only been a bit more than half the size of even an average A. mortoni. Besides that, virtually every other predator on the landscape was simply outclassed by the much larger entelodont in terms of size and brute strength. As such, within its domain, Archaeotherium had total, unquestioned authority, dominating the other predators in the landscape and likely stealing their kills as well. In fact, just about the only threat Archaeotherium had was other Archaeotherium, as fossil bite marks suggest that this animal regularly and fraglantly engaged in intraspecific combat, usually through face-biting and possibly even jaw-wrestling (Effinger, 1998; Tanke & Currie, 1998). Nevertheless, it was clear that Archaeotherium was the undisputed king of the badlands; in a landscape of hyaenodonts and carnivorans galore, it was a hoofed ungulate that reigned supreme.
However, such a reign would not last. As the Eocene transitioned into the Eocene, the planet underwent an abrupt cooling and drying phase known as Eocene-Oligocene Transition or more simply the Grande Coupure. This change in climate would eliminate the sprawling wetlands and river systems that Archaeotherium had been depending on, gradually replacing it with drier and more open habitats. To its credit, Archaeotherium did manage to hang on, persisting well after the Grand-Coupure had taken place, but in the end the damage had been done; Archaeotherium was a dead-man-walking. Eventually, by around 28 million years ago, Archaeotherium would go extinct, perishing due to this change in global climate (Gillham, 2019). Entelodonts as a whole would persist into the Miocene, producing some of their largest forms ever known in the form of the bison-sized Daeodon (which was itself even more carnivorous than Archaeotherium), however they too would meet the same fate as their earlier cousins. By around 15-20 million years ago, entelodonts as a whole would go extinct. However, while the entelodonts may have perished, this was not the end of carnivorous ungulates as a whole. Recall that the cetacodontamorphs, the lineage of artiodactyls that produced the entelodonts, left behind two living descendants. The first among them were the hippos, themselves fairly frequent herbivores. The second of such lineage, however, was a different story. Emerging out of South Asia, this lineage of piscivorous cetacodontamorphs, in a an attempt to further specialize for the fish-hunting lifestyle, began to delve further and further into the water, becoming more and more aquatic and the millennia passed by. At a certain point, these carnivorous artiodactlys had become something completely unrecognizable from their original hoofed forms. Their skin became hairless and their bodies became streamlined for life in water. Their hoofed limbs grew into giant flippers for steering in the water and their previously tiny tails became massive and sported giant tail flukes for aquatic propulsion. Their noses even moved to the tip of their head, becoming a blowhole that would be signature to this clade as a whole. Indeed, this clade was none other than the modern whales, themselves derived, carnivorous ungulates that had specialized for a life in the water, and in doing so, became the some of the most dominant aquatic predators across the globe for millions of years. Indeed, though long gone, the legacy of the entelodonts and of predatory ungulates as a whole, a legacy Archaeotherium itself had helped foster, lives on in these paragons of predatory prowess, showing that the ungulates are more than just the mere “prey” that they are often made out to be. Moreover, given the success that carnivorous ungulates had enjoyed in the past and given how modern omnivorous ungulates like boar dabble in predation themselves, perhaps, in the distant future, this planet may see the rise of carnivorous ungulates once again, following in the footsteps left behind by Archaeotherium and the other predatory ungulates all those millions of years ago.
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2024.05.14 16:25 Mophandel Archaeotherium, the King of the White River Badlands

Archaeotherium, the King of the White River Badlands
Art by Bob Nicholls
Nowadays, when we envision the words “prey,” among modern mammalian fauna, few taxa come to mind as quickly as the hoofed mammals, better known as the ungulates. Indeed, for the better part of their entire evolutionary history, the ungulates have become entirely indistinguishable from the term “prey.” Across their two major modern branches, the artiodactyls (the “even-toed ungulates,” such as bovids, pigs, deer, hippos and giraffes) and the perissodactyls (the “odd-toed ungulates,” including horses, rhinos and tapir), the ungulates too have created an empire spanning nearly every continent, establishing themselves as the the dominant herbivores throughout their entire range. However, as a price for such success, their lot as herbivores have forced them into an unenviable position: being the food for the predators. Indeed, throughout the diets of most modern predators, ungulates make up the majority, if not the entirety, of their diet, becoming their counterparts in this evolutionary dance of theirs. They have become the lamb to their wolf, the zebra to their lion, the stag to their tiger. If there is a predator in need of lunch, chances are that there is an ungulate there to provide it. Of course, such a dynamic is not necessarily a recent innovation. For the last 15-20 million years, across much of the world, both new and old, the ungulates have served as prey for these predators through it all. Over the course of whole epochs, these two groups have played into these roles for millions of years, coevolving with each other in an eons-long game of cat-and-mouse. The shoes they fill are not new, but have existed for ages, and within their niches they have cultivated their roles to perfection. Indeed, with such a tenured history, it seems hardly surprising the ungulates are wholly inseparable from the terms “prey,” itself.
However, while this is the case now, as it has been for the last 15-20 million years, go back far enough, and we see that this dynamic is not as set in stone as we would think. Indeed, back during the Eocene and Oligocene, during the very earliest days of age of mammals, things were very different for the ungulates. While today they are considered little more than food for modern predators, during these olden days, the ungulates weren’t quite so benign. In fact, far from being fodder for top predators, the ungulates had turned the tables, instead becoming top predators themselves. Indeed, though nearly unheard of today, throughout much of the Eocene and Oligocene, carnivorous ungulates thrived in abundance, developing specializations for catching large prey and establishing themselves as top predators that competed alongside the more traditional carnivores, and even dominating them in some instances. Given such success, it’s no wonder that multiple such clades had arisen during this time. Such predators included the arctocyonids, a lineage of (ironically) hoof-less ungulates with large jaws and sharp teeth for capturing large prey. There were also the mesonychians, a lineage of dog-like ungulates with massive skulls and jaws that allowed them to reign as the top predator across much of the Eocene.
However, among these various lineages, one stands stands out among the rest, by far. Arising during the Eocene, this lineage, though superficially resembling modern pigs, hailed from one an ancient lineage of artiodactyls far removed from swine or most other ungulates in general, with few close relatives alive today. Through perhaps not the most predatory of the bunch, it was among the most formidable, as their superficially pig-like appearance came with giant predatory jaws and teeth unlike anything from the modern era. And of course, as if all of that wasn’t enough, this lineage also went on to earn arguably one of the most badass nicknames of any lineage of mammals, period. These predators, of course, were the entelodonts, a.k.a the “hell-pigs.” More so than any other predatory ungulate lineage, these formidable ungulates were the ones to turn the current paradigm upside down, becoming some of the largest and most dominant carnivores in their landscape, even with (and often in spite of) the presence of more traditional predators. Through impressive size, fearsome teeth and sheer tenacity, these animals became the top dogs of their time, ruling as behemoth-kings of their Paleogene kingdoms, domineering all comers, and throughout the ranks, one entelodont in particular demonstrated such dominance the best. Though not the largest or most powerful of their kind, it is one of the most iconic, being among the most well-known members of its lineage to date. Moreover, this enteledont also has some of the most complete life histories ever seen out of this clade, with its brutality and predatory prowess being displayed in the fossil record in a way seen in no other member of its kind. More than anything else, however, it was this predator that best turned the notion of “ungulates being prey” on its head, living in an environment that bore some of the largest carnivoran hypercarnivores to date and still reigning as the undisputed top predator of its domain. This fearsome beast was none other than Archaeotherium, icon of the entelodonts, terror of the Oligocene American west and undisputed king of the White River badlands.
The rise of Archaeotherium (and of entelodonts in general) is closely tied to the ascendancy of carnivorous ungulates as a whole, one of the earliest evolutionary success stories of the entire Cenozoic. Having become their own derived clade since the late Cretaceous, the ungulates were remarkably successful during the early Paleogene, as they were among the first mammalian clades to reach large sizes during those early days after the non-avian dinosaurs had gone extinct. As such, it was with incredible swiftness that, as the Paleogene progressed, the ungulates swooped upon the various niches left empty by the K-Pg mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs. This of course included the herbivorous niches we would know them for today, but this also included other, much more carnivore roles. Indeed, early on during the Paleogene, it was the ungulates that first seized the roles of large mammalian predators, becoming some the earliest large mammalian carnivores to ever live, well before even the carnivorans. Such predators included the arctocyonids, a lineage of vaguely dog-like, hoof-less ungulates with robust jaws and sharpened teeth that acted as some of earliest large carnivores of the Paleocene, with genera such as Arctocyon mumak getting up to the size of big cats. Even more prolific were the mesonychids. More so than what pretty much any other lineage of predator, it was the mesonychids that would stand out as the earliest dominant predators of the early Cenozoic. Growing up to the size of bears and with enormous, bone-crushing jaws, the mesonychids were among the most powerful and successful predators on the market at that time, with a near-global range and being capable of subjugating just about any other predator in their environments. Indeed, they, along with other carnivorous ungulates (as well as ungulates in general), were experiencing a golden age during this time, easily being the most prolific predators of the age. Given such prevalence, it should be no surprise that there would be yet another lineage of predatory ungulates would throw their hat into the ring, and by early Eocene, that contender would none other than the entelodonts.
The very first entelodonts had arisen from artiodactyl ancestors during the Eocene epoch, at a time when artiodactyls were far more diverse and bizarre than they are now. Through today known from their modern herbivorous representatives such as bovines, deer, and antelope, during the Paleocene and Eocene, the artiodacyls, as with most ungulates of that time, were stronger and far more predaceous, particularly when it came to one such clade of artiodactyls, the cetacodontamorphs. Only known today from hippos and another group of artiodactyls (one which will become relevant later), the cetacodantomorphs emerged out of Asia around 55 million years ago, at around the same time that artiodactyls themselves had made their debut. These animals included the first truly predatory artiodactyls, with many of them possessing large skulls with powerful jaws and sharp, predatory teeth. Among their ranks included animals as puny as Indohyus, a piscivorous artiodactyl the size of a cat, to as formidable as Andrewsarchus, a giant, bison-sized predator often touted as one of the largest predatory mammals to ever live. Given such a predatory disposition, it wouldn’t be long until this clade produced a lineage of truly diverse, truly successful predators, and by around 40 million years ago, that is exactly what they did, as it was at that time that the entelodonts themselves first emerged. From their Asian homeland, the entelodonts spread across the world, spreading through not only most of Eurasia but also colonizing North America as well, with genera such as Brachyhyops being found across both continents. Here, in this North American frontier, the entelodonts began to diversify further, turning into their most successful and formidable forms yet, and it was around the late Eocene and early Oligocene that Archaeotherium itself had entered the scene.
Just from a passing glance at Archaeotherium, it is clear how exactly it (as well as the other entelodonts) earned the nickname of “hell-pigs.” It was a bruiser for starters; its body bore a robust, pig-like physique, with prominent neural spines and their associated musculature forming a hump around the shoulder region, similar to the hump of a bison. With such a bulky physique came with it impressive size; the average A. mortoni had a head-body length of roughly 1.6-2.0 m (5.3-6.6 ft), a shoulder height of 1.2 m (4 ft) and a body mass of around 180 kg (396 lb) in weight (Boardman & Secord, 2013; Joeckel, 1990). At such sizes, an adult Archaeotherium the size of a large male black bear. However, they had the potential to get even bigger. While most Archaeotherium specimens were around the size described above, a select few specimens, labeled under the synonymous genus “Megachoerus,” are found to be much larger, with skulls getting up to 66% longer than average A. mortoni specimens (Foss, 2001; Joeckel, 1990). At such sizes and using isometric scaling, such massive Archaeotherium specimens would attained body lengths over 2.5 m (8.2 ft) and would have reached weighs well over 500 kg (1100 lb), or as big as a mature male polar bear. Indeed, at such sizes, it is already abundantly evident that Archaeotherium is a force to be recorded with.
However, there was more to these formidable animals than sheer size alone. Behind all that bulk was an astoundingly swift and graceful predator, especially in terms of locomotion. Indeed, the hoofed feet of Archaeotherium, along with other entelodonts, sported several adaptations that gave it incredible locomotive efficiency, essentially turning it into a speed demon of the badlands. Such adaptations include longer distal leg elements (e.g. the radius and tibia) than their proximal counterparts (e.g. the humerus and femur), fusion of the radius and ulna for increased running efficiency, the loss of the clavicle (collar-bone) to allow for greater leg length, the loss of the acromion to enhance leg movement along the fore-and-aft plane, the loss of digits to reduce the mass of the forelimb, the fusion of the ectocuneiform and the mesocuneiform wrist-bones, among many other such traits (Theodore, 1996) . Perhaps most significant of these adaptations is the evolution of the “double-pulley astragalus (ankle-bone),” a specialized modification of the ankle that, while restricting rotation and side-to-side movement at the ankle-joint, allows for greater rotation in the fore-and-aft direction, thus allowing for more more powerful propulsion from the limbs, faster extension and retraction of the limbs and overall greater locomotive efficiency (Foss, 2001). Of course, such a trait was not only found in entelodonts but in artiodactyls as a whole, likely being a response to predatory pressures from incumbent predatory clades arising at the same time as the artiodactyls (Foss, 2001). However, in the case of the entelodonts, such adaptations were not used for merely escaping predators. Rather, they were used to for another, much more lethal effect…
Such notions are further reinforced by the entelodonts most formidable aspect, none either than their fearsome jaws, and in this respect, Archaeotherium excelled. Both for its size and in general, the head of Archaeotherium was massive, measuring 40-50 cm (1.3-1.6 ft) in length among average A. mortoni specimens, to up to 78 cm (~2.6 ft) in the larger “Megachoerus” specimens (Joeckel, 1990). Such massive skulls were supported and supplemented by equally massive neck muscles and ligaments, which attached to massive neural spines on the anterior thoracic vertebrae akin to a bisons hump as well as to the sternum, allowing Archaeotherium to keep its head aloft despite the skulls massive size (Effinger, 1998). Of course, with such a massive skull, it should come as no surprise that such skulls housed exceptionally formidable jaws as well, and indeed, the bite of Archaeotherium was an especially deadly one. Its zygomatic arches (cheek-bones) and its temporal fossa were enlarged and expanded, indicative of massive temporalis muscles that afforded Archaeotherium astoundingly powerful bites (Joeckel, 1990). This is further augmented by Archaeotherium’s massive jugal flanges (bony projections of the cheek), which supported powerful masseter muscles which enhanced chewing and mastication, as well as an enlarged postorbital bar that reinforced the skull against torsional stresses (Foss, 2001). Last but not least, powerful jaws are supplemented by an enlarged gape, facilitated by a low coronoid process and enlarged posterior mandibular tubercles (bony projections originating from the lower jaw), which provided an insertion site for sternum-to-mandible jaw abduction muscles, allowing for a more forceful opening of the jaw (Foss, 2001). All together, such traits suggest a massive and incredibly fearsome bite, perhaps the most formidable of any animal in its environment.
Of course, none of such traits are especially indicative of a predatory lifestyle. Indeed, many modern non-predatory ungulates, like hippos, pigs and peccaries, also possess large, formidable skulls and jaws. However, in peeling back the layers, it is found there was more to the skull of Archaeotherium that lies in store. Indeed, when inspecting the animal closely, a unique mosaic of features is revealed; traits that make it out to be much more lethal than the average artiodactyl. On one hand, Archaeotherium possessed many traits similar to those of herbivores animals, as is expected of ungulates. For instance, its jaw musculature that allowed the lower jaw of Archaeotherium a full side-to-side chewing motion as in herbivores (whereas most carnivores can only move their lower jaw up and down)(Effinger, 1998). On the other hand, Archaeotherium wielded many other traits far more lethal in their morphology, less akin to a herbivore and far more akin to a bonafide predator. For instance, the aforementioned enlarged gape of Archaeotherium is a bizarre trait on a supposed herbivore, as such animals do not need large gapes to eat vegetation and thus have smaller, more restricted gapes. Conversely, many predatory lineages have comparatively large gapes, as larger gapes allow for the the jaws to grab on to more effectively larger objects, namely large prey animals (Joeckel, 1990).
Such a juxtaposition, however, is most evident when discussing the real killing instruments of Archaeotherium — the teeth. More so than any facet of this animal, the teeth of Archaeotherium are the real stars of the show, showing both how alike it was compared to its herbivores counterparts and more importantly, how it couldn’t be more different. For instance, the molars of Archaeotherium were quite similar to modern herbivores ungulates, in that they were robust, bunodont, and were designed for crushing and grinding, similar in form and function to modern ungulates like peccaries (Joeckel, 1990). However, while the molars give the impression that Archaeotherium was a herbivore, the other teeth tell a very different story. The incisors, for example, were enlarged, sharpened, and fully interlocked (as opposed to the flat-topped incisors seen in herbivores ungulates), creating an incisor array that was seemingly ill-suited for cropping vegetation and much more adept at for gripping, puncturing and cutting (Joeckel, 1990). Even more formidable were the canines. Like the modern pigs from which entelodonts derived their nicknames, the canines of Archaeotherium were sharp and enlarged to form prominent tusk-like teeth, but unlike pigs, they were rounded in cross-section (similar to modern carnivores like big cats, indicating more durable canines that can absorb and resist torsional forces, such as those from struggling prey) and were serrated to form a distinct cutting edge (Effinger, 1998; Joeckel, 1990; Ruff & Van Valkenburgh, 1987). These canines, along with the incisors, interlock to stabilize the jaws while biting and dismantling in a carnivore-like fashion. More strikingly, the canines also seem to act as “occlusal guides,” wherein the canines help align the movement and position of the rear teeth as they come together, allowing for a more efficient shearing action by the rear teeth. This function is seen most prevalently modern carnivores mammals, and is evidenced by the canine tooth-wear, which is also analogous to modern predators like bears and canids (Joeckel, 1990). Indeed, going off such teeth alone, it is clear that Archaeotherium is far more predatory than expected of an ungulate. However, the real stars of the show, the teeth that truly betray the predatory nature of these ungulates, are the premolars. Perhaps the most carnivore-like teeth in the entelodont’s entire tooth row, the premolars of Archaeotherium, particularly the anterior premolars, are laterally compressed, somewhat conical in shape, and are weakly serrated to bear a cutting edge, giving them a somewhat carnivorous form and function of shearing and slicing (Effinger, 1998). Most strikingly of all, the premolars of Archaeotherium bear unique features similar not to modern herbivores, but to durophagous carnivores like hyenas, particularly apical wear patterns, highly thickened enamel, “zigzag-shaped” enamel prism layers (Hunter-Schraeger bands) on the premolars which is also seen in osteophagous animals like hyenas, and an interlocking premolar interface wherein linear objects (such as bones) inserted into jaws from the side would be pinned between the premolars and crushed (Foss, 2001). Taken together, these features do not suggest a diet of grass or vegetation like other ungulates. Rather, they suggest a far more violent diet, one including flesh as well as hard, durable foods, particularly bone. All in all, the evidence is clear. Archaeotherium and other entelodonts, unlike the rest of their artiodactyl kin, were not the passive herbivores as we envision ungulates today. Rather, they were willing, unrepentant meat-eaters that had a taste for flesh as well as foliage.
Of course, even with such lines of evidence, its hard to conclude that Archaeotherium was a true predator. After all, its wide gape and durophagous teeth could have just as easily been used for scavenging or even to eat tough plant matter such as seeds or nuts, as in peccaries and pigs, which themselves share many of the same adaptations as Archaeotherium, include the more carnivorous ones (e.g. the wide gape, using the canines as an occlusal guide, etc.). How exactly do we know that these things were veritable predators and not pretenders to the title. To this end, there is yet one last piece of evidence, one that puts on full display the predatory prowess of Archaeotheriumevidence of a kill itself. Found within oligocene-aged sediment in what is now Wyoming, a collection of various fossil remains was found, each belonging to the ancient sheep-sized camel Poebrotherium, with many of the skeletal remains being disarticulated and even missing whole hindlimbs or even entire rear halves of their body. Tellingly, many of the remains bear extensive bite marks and puncture wounds across their surface. Upon close examination, the spacing and size of the punctures leave only one culprit: Archaeotherium. Of course, such an event could still have been scavenging; the entelodonts were consuming the remains of already dead, decomposed camels, explaining the bite marks. What was far more telling, however, was where the bite marks were found. In addition bite marks being found on the torso and lumbar regions of the camels, various puncture wounds were found on the skull and neck, which were otherwise uneaten. Scavengers rarely feast on the head to begin with; there is very little worthwhile meat on it besides the brain, cheek-muscles and eyes, and even if they did feed on the skull and neck, they would still eat it wholesale, not merely bite it and then leave it otherwise untouched. Indeed, it was clear that this was no mere scavenging event. Rather than merely consuming these camels, Archaeotherium was actively preying upon and killing them, dispatching them via a crushing bite to the skull or neck before dismembering and even bisecting the hapless camels with their powerful jaws to preferentially feast on their hindquarters (likely by swallowing the hindquarters whole, as the pelvis of Poebrotherium was coincidentally the perfect width for Archaeotherium to devour whole), eventually discarding the leftovers in meat caches for later consumption (Sundell, 1999). With this finding, such a feat of brutality leaves no doubt in ones mind as to what the true nature of Archaeotherium was. This was no herbivore, nor was it a simple scavenger. This was an active, rapacious predator, the most powerful in its entire ecosystem.
Indeed, with such brutal evidence of predation frozen in time, combined with various dental, cranial, and post cranial adaptations of this formidable animal, it’s possible to paint a picture of how this formidable creature lived. Though an omnivore by trade, willing and able to feast on plant matter such as grass, roots and tubers, Archaeotherium was also a wanton predator that took just about any prey it wanted. Upon detecting its prey, it approached its vicim from ambush before launching itself at blazing speed. From there, its cursorial, hoofed legs, used by other ungulates for escape predation, were here employed to capture prey, carrying it at great speeds as it caught up to its quarry. Having closed the distance with its target, it was then that the entelodont brought its jaws to bear, grabbing hold of the victim with powerful jaws and gripping teeth to bring it to a screeching halt. If the victim is lucky, Archaeotherium will then kill it quickly with a crushing bite to the skull or neck, puncturing the brain or spinal cord and killing its target instantly. If not, the victim is eaten alive, torn apart while it’s still kicking, as modern boars will do today. In any case, incapacitated prey are subsequently dismantled, with the entelodont using its entire head and heavily-muscled necks to bite into and pull apart its victim in devastating “puncture-and pull’ bites (Foss, 2001). Prey would then finally be consumed starting at the hindquarters, with not even the bones of its prey being spared. Such brutality, though far from clean, drove home a singular truth: that during this time, ungulates were not just prey, that they were not the mere “predator-fodder” we know them as today. rather, they themselves were the predators themselves, dominating as superb hunters within their domain and even suppressing clades we know as predators today, least of all the carnivorans. Indeed, during this point in time, the age of the carnivorous ungulates had hit their stride, and more specifically, the age of entelodonts had begun.
Of course, more so than any other ettelodont, Archaeotherium took to this new age with gusto. Archaeotherium lived from 35-28 million years ago during the late Eocene and early Oligocene in a locality known today as the White River Badlands, a fossil locality nestled along the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. Though a chalky, barren landscape today, during the time of Archaeotherium, the White River Badlands was a swamp-like floodplain crisscrossed with rivers and interspersed with by a mosaic of forests concentrated around waterways, open woodlands and open plains. As with most ecosystems with such a lush disposition, this locale teemed with life, with ancient hornless rhinos, small horse-like hyracodonts and early camels roaming the open habitats while giant brontotheres, small early horses and strange, sheep-like ungulates called merycoidodonts (also known as “oreodonts”) dwelled within the dense forests. Within this locale, Archaeotherium stalked the open woodlands and riparian forests of its domain. Here, it acted as a dominant predator and scavenger across is territory, filling a niche similar to modern grizzly bears but far more predatory. Among its preferred food items would be plant matter such as roots, foliage and nuts, but also meat in the form of carrion or freshly caught prey. In this respect, smaller ungulates such as the fleet-footed camel Poebrotherium, a known prey item of Archaeotherium, would have made a for choice prey, as its small size would make it easy for Archaeotherium to dispatch with its powerful jaws, while the entelodonts swift legs gave it the speed necessary to keep pace with its agile prey.
However, the entelodont didn’t have such a feast all to itself. Just as the badlands teemed with herbivores, so too did it teem with rival predators. Among their ranks included fearsome predators such as Hyaenodon, a powerful, vaguely dog-like predator up to the size of wolves (as in H. horridus) or even lions (as in the Eocene-aged H. megaloides, which was replaced by H. horridus during the Oligocene). Armed with a massive head, fierce jaws and a set of knife-like teeth that could cut down even large prey in seconds, these were some of the most formidable predators on the landscape. There were also the nimravids, cat-like carnivorans that bore saber-teeth to kill large prey in seconds, and included the likes of the lynx-sized Dinictis, the leopard-sized Hoplophoneus and even the jaguar-sized Eusmilus. Furthermore, there were amphicyonids, better known as the bear-dogs. Though known from much larger forms later on in their existence, during the late Eocene and Oligocene, they were much smaller and acted as the “canid-analogues” of the ecosystem, filling a role similar to wolves or coyotes. Last but not least, there were the bathornithid birds, huge cariamiform birds related to modern seriemas but much larger, which filled a niche similar to modern seriemas or secretary birds, albeit on a much larger scale. Given such competition, it would seem that Archaeotherium would have its hands full. However, things are not as they appear. For starters, habitat differences would mitigate high amounts of competition, as both Hyaenodon and the various nimravids occupy more specialized ecological roles (being a plains-specialist and forest-specialist, respectively) than did Archaeotherium, providing a buffer to stave off competition: More importantly, however, none of the aforementioned predators were simply big enough to take Archaeotherium on. During the roughly 7 million years existence of Archaeotherium, the only carnivore that matched it in size was H. megaloides, and even that would have an only applied to average A. mortoni individuals, not to the much larger, bison-sized “Megachoerus” individuals. The next largest predator at that point would be the jaguars-sized Eusmilus (specifically E. adelos) which would have only been a bit more than half the size of even an average A. mortoni. Besides that, virtually every other predator on the landscape was simply outclassed by the much larger entelodont in terms of size and brute strength. As such, within its domain, Archaeotherium had total, unquestioned authority, dominating the other predators in the landscape and likely stealing their kills as well. In fact, just about the only threat Archaeotherium had was other Archaeotherium, as fossil bite marks suggest that this animal regularly and fraglantly engaged in intraspecific combat, usually through face-biting and possibly even jaw-wrestling (Effinger, 1998; Tanke & Currie, 1998). Nevertheless, it was clear that Archaeotherium was the undisputed king of the badlands; in a landscape of hyaenodonts and carnivorans galore, it was a hoofed ungulate that reigned supreme.
However, such a reign would not last. As the Eocene transitioned into the Eocene, the planet underwent an abrupt cooling and drying phase known as Eocene-Oligocene Transition or more simply the Grande Coupure. This change in climate would eliminate the sprawling wetlands and river systems that Archaeotherium had been depending on, gradually replacing it with drier and more open habitats. To its credit, Archaeotherium did manage to hang on, persisting well after the Grand-Coupure had taken place, but in the end the damage had been done; Archaeotherium was a dead-man-walking. Eventually, by around 28 million years ago, Archaeotherium would go extinct, perishing due to this change in global climate (Gillham, 2019). Entelodonts as a whole would persist into the Miocene, producing some of their largest forms ever known in the form of the bison-sized Daeodon (which was itself even more carnivorous than Archaeotherium), however they too would meet the same fate as their earlier cousins. By around 15-20 million years ago, entelodonts as a whole would go extinct. However, while the entelodonts may have perished, this was not the end of carnivorous ungulates as a whole. Recall that the cetacodontamorphs, the lineage of artiodactyls that produced the entelodonts, left behind two living descendants. The first among them were the hippos, themselves fairly frequent herbivores. The second of such lineage, however, was a different story. Emerging out of South Asia, this lineage of piscivorous cetacodontamorphs, in a an attempt to further specialize for the fish-hunting lifestyle, began to delve further and further into the water, becoming more and more aquatic and the millennia passed by. At a certain point, these carnivorous artiodactlys had become something completely unrecognizable from their original hoofed forms. Their skin became hairless and their bodies became streamlined for life in water. Their hoofed limbs grew into giant flippers for steering in the water and their previously tiny tails became massive and sported giant tail flukes for aquatic propulsion. Their noses even moved to the tip of their head, becoming a blowhole that would be signature to this clade as a whole. Indeed, this clade was none other than the modern whales, themselves derived, carnivorous ungulates that had specialized for a life in the water, and in doing so, became the some of the most dominant aquatic predators across the globe for millions of years. Indeed, though long gone, the legacy of the entelodonts and of predatory ungulates as a whole, a legacy Archaeotherium itself had helped foster, lives on in these paragons of predatory prowess, showing that the ungulates are more than just the mere “prey” that they are often made out to be. Moreover, given the success that carnivorous ungulates had enjoyed in the past and given how modern omnivorous ungulates like boar dabble in predation themselves, perhaps, in the distant future, this planet may see the rise of carnivorous ungulates once again, following in the footsteps left behind by Archaeotherium and the other predatory ungulates all those millions of years ago.
submitted by Mophandel to Naturewasmetal [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 07:06 Objective_Box5956 Just finished my third 100% play-through

Just finished my third 100% play-through of Tears on the 1 year anniversary. It’s pretty brutal to 100% this game, but I enjoyed it. Here’s my 100% list:
I compiled a list of things I found online that helped me farm material so hopefully it’ll help others. My apologies for no credit to those who contributed. I simply copied and pasted a lot of these - but some are my own contributions.
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Useful Links
Zelda Dungeon Interactive Map
Armor Upgrade List
Horse Upgrade List
100% Map Landmark Guide (Helped me find a few missed locations)
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Missed Locations (after collecting all Koroks, quests, shrines, caves, and wells)
Missed all 3 times
Kolomo Garrison Ruins
Missed Twice
Gatepost Town Ruins
Castle Town Watchtower
Lost Woods
Inogo Bridge
Dracozu Altar
East Passage
Water Reservoir
Kolomo Garrison Ruins
Missed Locations (2nd and 3rd run-though)
Desert Rift
Device Dispenser on Thunderhead Isles
Sargon Bridge
Drena Canyon Mine
Retsam Forest Cave (North Entrance)
Missed Locations (1st run-through)
Lutos Crossing
Lanayru Road - West Gate
Canyon of Awakening Mine
Abandoned Eldin Mine Forge Construct
Floret Sandbar
Faron Woods
West Passage
Dalite Grove
Grove of Time
Nabooru Canyon Mine
Walnot Canyon Mine
Madorna Canyon Mine
Hickaly Grove
Rozudo Canyon Mine
Daval Canyon Mine
Granajih Canyon Mine
Agaat Canyon Mine
Applean Grove
Rok Grove
Rhoam Canyon Mine
Ruto Canyon Mine
Akkala Bridges (all 3)
Stolock Bridge
Crystal Refinery in Lookout Landing
Faloraa Canyon Mine (last one)
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Final Koroks (2nd and 3rd time)
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Money Makers
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Armor / Weapon Tips
Rock Octoroks
Mark these locations on your map and visit when you want to refresh a weapon. Turn off Sages or they will shoot the Octoroks before they refresh your weapon. One thing I found out on my own is you don’t have to wait for the Octorok to spit the weapon out, as soon as he sucks it in, shoot him with an arrow and your weapon will be good as new.
https://preview.redd.it/6njacxsk7e0d1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e973024978dd8c0536dc7c2815b4c75b02ec6313
Lizalfos Tails
Will update later
Fighting Lynels
Royal Guard’s Claymore: you can find inside Hyrule Castle behind a broken statue in Hyrule Castle Sanctum (-0282, 1086, 0356). I liked to fuse Molduga Jaws with this. Once fused, keep kitting the ground or anything until you get the message: “Your Royal Guard’s Claymore is badly damaged,” then hit it 2 more times. Your weapon will be down to 1 hit and 1 hit only before it breaks. Save this weapon for your Lynel fights. When you ride the backs of Lynels, you have infinite weapon durability so your weapon won’t break. Combine Royal Guard’s Claymore fused with Molduga Jaw and Radiant Armor, you’ll be able to defeat most Lynels in 3-6 hits. Be sure to save before and after fighting each Lynel in case your weapon break.
Pristine Royal Guard’s Claymore
I didn’t find this until my 3rd playthrough. Picture below are statues where 2-handed pristine weapons spawn. Go there every Blood Moon and eventually you’ll find a pristine one to make fighting Lynels even easier.
https://preview.redd.it/bd4qwp4n7e0d1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=716a518b7407d695024d21856ad564123827cbe1
Gibdo Bones
Best place to farm is a room inside the Lightning Temple, just strategically set up mirrors. Other good farming locations are the Ancient Altar Ruins and the Gerudo Underground Cemetery. These make great fuse arrows combined with Level 2+ Radiant Armor.
Potions
I didn’t realize this until TOTK (and never tried it in BOTW), but you can actually make 30 min potions from Monster Extracts (instead of using hard-to-grind Dragon Horns). You might have to save scum (save before, make potion, if it’s not what you want, then reload game) to get the 30 mins, but Monster Extracts are only 50 rupees and easier to get than Dragon Horns.
Rocket Shields
Oromuwak Shrine (east of Rito Village). I visit here regularly to stock up on Rocket Shields.
Zonaites and Crytalized Charges
Hudson Signs
Horses
4-4-5-3 Stat Horses Found Southeast of Bublinga Forest
Gems Info
_____________________________________________
How to get Stars
Notes: You can do this with any of the other Skyview Towers below, but you must rest until night in between each star. Gerudo Canyon Skyview Tower seems to be the most convenient because there is a cooking pot next to Pikango at the base of the tower.
Also works with (not confirmed on my end)
_____________________________________________
Silent Princess and Blue Nightshade
(-2476, -0646, 0208)
Milk
Acorns
Dragon Parts
Beetles
Hinox
Black Lizalfos
Black Boss Bokoblin
Red Boss Bokoblin
Blue Lizalfols
Captain Construct I locations
Captain Construct II locations
Captain Construct III locations
Horriblins
Desert Colosseum
Gibdo Wings
Gerudo Underground Cemetery
Sand pits
____________________________________________________
Shopping
Restock Shops
To restock any shop in Tears of the Kingdom, here is what you will have to do.
  1. Buy out the item in the shop until there are none left.
  2. Take out wood and flint to make a fire.
  3. Rest by the fire till the next day.
  4. Manually save the game.
  5. Load the game from the save you just made.
Hateno General Store
Hylian Rice x5 (need 38 + recipes)
Swift Carrot x10 (need 10 + horses + recipes)
Bird Egg x5 (need 12 + recipes)
Fresh Milk x3 (need 66 + recipes)
Goat Butter x5 (Need 84 + recipes)
Kakariko General Store
Aerocuda Eyeball x3 (need 42)
Aerocuda Wing x3 (need 48)
Kakariko General Store Trissa
Goat Butter x5 (need 84 + recipes)
Swift Carrot x12 (need 10 + horses + recipes)
Bird Egg x5 (need 12 + recipes)
Fortified Pumpkin x3
Lookout Landing General Store
Hylian Rice x3 (need 38 + recipes)
Fresh Milk x4 (need 66 + recipes)
East Akkala Stable
· 3 Sticky Frog (need 30)
· 3 Smotherwing Butterfly (need 15)
Lakeside Stable
· 2 Sticky Frog
· 3 Thunderwing Butterfly (need 9)
· 2 Hightail Lizard (need 21)
South Akkala Stable
· 2 Sticky Lizard (need 24)
· 3 Hightail Lizard (need 21)
· 2 Fireproof Lizard (need 15)
Woodland Stable
· 3 Cold Darner (need 15)
· 3 Fireproof Lizard (need 15)
Kara Kara Bazaar General Store
Green Lizalfos Tail x3 (need 18)
Riverside Stable
· 5 Hylian Rice (need 38)
· 3 Thunderwing Butterfly (need 9)
· 3 Electric Darner (need 15)
Tabantha Bridge Stable
· 4 Fire Fruit (need 9)
· 3 Summerwing Butterfly (need 15)
· 3 Winterwing Butterfly (need 15)
· 3 Thunderwing Butterfly (need 9)
New Serenne Stable
· 4 Warm Darner (need 15)
· 4 Sunset Firefly (need 15 + 10 + 10)
Kara Kara Bazaar
· 5 Summerwing Butterfly (need 15)
· 5 Cold Darner (need 15)
Snowfield Stable
· 3 Summerwing Butterfly (need 15)
· 3 Warm Darner (need 15)
Kara Kara Bazaar
Summerwing Butterfly x5 (need 15)
Cold Darner x5 (need 15)
Foothill Stable
· 3 Thunderwing Butterfly (need 9)
Wetland Stable
· 3 Smotherwing Butterfly (need 24)
Rito Village General Store
Goat Butter x5 (need 84 + recipes)
Cane Sugar x3 (need 24 + recipes)
Tabantha Wheat x3 (need 42 + recipes)
Sunshroom x4 (need 15)
Korok General Store
Tabantha Wheat x2 (need 42 + recipes)
Hylian Rice x3 (need 38 + recipes)
Cane Sugar x3 (need 24 + recipes)
Goron General Store
Cane Sugar x3 (need 24 + recipes)
Goron Spice x3 (need 12 + recipes)
Zora General Store
Hylian Rice x4 (need 38 + recipes)
Swift Violet x4 (need 90)
submitted by Objective_Box5956 to tearsofthekingdom [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 02:54 cazwax Another UT/WG conundrum

Another UT/WG conundrum
I have one of those apparently classic bits of confusion WRT Untangle and WireGuard
I've configured WG via the Untangle UI. I can 'reach out' from the FWbox labeled 'HQ' to both sites A and B w/out much problem. Hosts on the network at HQ can reach any points on sites A and B.
However from sites A and B I cannot reach any network clients behind the HQ untangle box. From sites A and B I can ssh back to the FWBox at HQ, and from there ping any HQ machine/service.
UT's UI did add routes for the network ranges ( see diagram ) so I don't think I'm missing anything there. Is the WG Address correct - should it be common between the machines, and a range ( /24 or something ) ?
https://preview.redd.it/nkoaye4cha0d1.png?width=1686&format=png&auto=webp&s=392b89856a5696d474c4de763c889544729c0495
Here's the diagram ( apologies if I slammed it in here twice ). this is a transcription of the wg0 configurations gathered while ssh'ed into the respective UT boxes. Also the routes ( well, a subset clearly )
I haven't had much luck persuading UT to log anything I find meaningful via the reporting system About the closest is the 'events' table but there isn't really much going on there other than 'hey something happened lookee that'
( edits to correct ... edits )
submitted by cazwax to Untangle [link] [comments]


2024.05.13 21:50 KiraWinchester H: trades (list below) W: items off wish list

WISH LIST:
Rare apparel
Overeater's Civil Engineer 1S/WWR (chest, left arm, right arm, right leg)
Overeater's FSA 1S/WWR right leg
Overeater's Excavator 1S/WWR (left arm, right leg)
Vanguard's Scout 1S/WWR (left arm, right arm, right leg)
Vanguard's Excavator 1S/WWR (chest, left arm, right leg)
******************************************************************************
COMPLETE TRADE LIST: (Thank you for your time browsing this huge list!!!)
FIXERS: AA/25/15r,,, AA/25/15v,,, AA/50c/15v,,, AA/50vhc/25,,, AA/50L/25,,, AA/AP/25,,, AA/E/Dur,,, Ari/25/15r,,, Ari/E/15r,,, Ari/E/25,,, As/E/25,,, B/25/15v,,, B/50L/25,,, B/E/Dur,,, BAP/25,,, Exe/AP/25,,, Exe/E/25,,, GouE/25,,, GS/E/25,,, H/50c/25,,, Jug/50c/25,,, Jug/AP/25,,, Junk/25/15r,,, Junk/50c/15v,,, Junk/50L/25,,, Junk/AP/25,,, Junk/E/15v,,, Med/25/25,,, Med/50c/25,,, Med/AP/25,,, M/25,,, MS/50c/25,,, MS/AP/25,,, N/AP/25,,, N/E/25,,, Q/25/15r,,, Q/25/15v,,, Q/AP/25,,, Q/E/15r,,, St/50c/25,,, St/AP/25,,, St/E/25,,, S/25,,, Su/AP/25,,, Su/E/25,,, T/50c/25,,, T/AP/25,,, TS/25/15r,,, TS/25/15v,,, TS/50vhc/25,,, TS/AP/25,,, V/AP/25,,, Z/25/25,,, Z/50c/25,,, Z/E/25
HANDMADES: AA/E/15v,,, I/E/25,,, Junk/25/15r,,, Junk/50c/25,,, MS/E/25,,, M/25,,, M/25,,, Q/E/15r,,, Q/E/50
HEAVY WEAPONS: AA/25/15r AGL,,, AA/25/90 AGL,,, AA/25/15r Cryolator,,, AA/E/25 Gatling Gun,,, AA/25/90 Harpoon Gun,,, As/25A/90 Fatman,,, As/25/15r Gatling Laser,,, As/25/90 Gatling Plasma,,, B/25/15r 50cal,,, B/E/Gho 50cal,,, B/50L/90 AGL,,, B/25A/90 Cryolator,,, B/50L/90 Cryolator,,, B/25A/90 Missile Launcher,,, B/50vhc/90 Missile Launcher,,, B/25/90 Ultracite Gatling Laser,,, B/25/Dur Ultracite Gatling Laser,,, B/90 Gatling Gun,,, Exe/50c/15r Flamer,,, Exe/25A/90 Gatling Plasma,,, Exe/E/25 LMG,,, F/50c/25 Cryolator,,, Jug/25/15r Cryolator,,, N/25/15r 50cal,,, Q/50L/90 Minigun,,, Q/E/Gho Mini,,, Q/50L/15r Pepper Shaker,,, T/25/15r Cryolator,,, TS/25A/90 Broadsider,,, TS/25/15r Gatling Gun,,, TS/E/90 LMG,,, TS/E/25 Minigun,,, TS/25A/15r Missile Launcher,,, V/25/15r 50cal,,, V/25/25 Broadsider,,, V/25A/90 Cryolator,,, V/AP/15r Flamer,,, V/25/25 Gatling Gun,,, V/50L/90 Harpoon Gun,,, Z/E/90 LMG
LEGACIES: Stalker's SS/1S melee: Baseball Bat,,, Bowie Knife,,, Chinese Officer Sword,,, Cultist Dagger,,, Guitar Sword,,, Revolutionary Sword,,, Walking Cane
MELEE: AA/SS/1S Cultist Blade,,, AA/SS/1S Death Tambo,,, AA/SS/1S Deathclaw Gauntlet,,, AA/40P/1S Gulper Smacker,,, AA/SS/1S Meat Hook,,, AA/SS/1S Pole Hook,,, AA/50c/15v Power Fist,,, AA/SS/1S Revolutionary Sword,,, AA/50L/1S Ripper,,, AA/SS/1S Spear,,, AA/SS/1S Super Sledge,,, Ari/40P/1S Drill,,, Ari/SS/1S Sledgehammer,,, Ari/SS/1S War Drum,,, As/40P/1S Chainsaw,,, As/40P/1S Drill,,, As/SS/1S Sheepsquatch Staff,,, B/50L/1S Chainsaw,,, B/AP/1S Chainsaw,,, B/SS/1S Chinese Officer Sword,,, B/SS/1S Deathclaw Gauntlet,,, B/50c/1S Drill,,, B/SS/25 Gulper Smacker,,, B/SS/25 Meat Hook,,, B/SS/90 Power Fist,,, B/SS/1S Power Fist,,, B/50c/25 Spear,,, B/1S Combat Knife,,, Exe/40P/25 Drill,,, Exe/SS/1S Fire Axe,,, Exe/SS/1S Pitchfork,,, Exe/50c/1S Power Fist,,, GouSS/1S Hatchet,,, GouSS/1S Super Sledge,,, GS/SS/1S Chainsaw,,, I/SS/1S Death Tambo,,, I/40P/40 Drill,,, I/SS/1S Golf Club,,, I/SS/1S Pitchfork,,, I/SS/1S Shepherd's Crook,,, I/SS/1S Super Sledge,,, Junk/SS/1S Assaultron Blade,,, Junk/SS/1S Rolling Pin,,, Junk/SS/1S Security Baton,,, M/1S Deathclaw Gauntlet,,, M/1S Gulper Smacker,,, M/1S Switchblade,,, MS/SS/1S Baseball Bat,,, MS/SS/1S Shishkebab,,, MS/SS/1S Shovel,,, MS/SS/1S Switchblade,,, S/1S Assaultron Blade,,, S/1S Cultist Blade,,, S/1S Revolutionary Sword,,, S/1S Spear,,, S/1S Tire Iron,,, T/SS/1S Baseball Bat,,, T/SS/1S Bowie Knife,,, T/SS/1S Golf Club,,, T/SS/1S Machete,,, T/SS/1S Sledgehammer,,, V/SS/1S Combat Knife,,, V/SS/1S Deathclaw Gauntlet,,, V/SS/1S Pole Hook,,, V/SS/1S Shishkebab,,, V/SS/1S Sledgehammer,,, Z/SS/1S Buzz Blade,,, Z/40P/1S Chainsaw,,, Z/SS/1S Fire Axe,,, Z/SS/1S Knuckles,,, Z/SS/1S Pipe Wrench
RAILWAYS: AA/50c/25,,, AA/50vhc/25,,, AA/E/15v,,, AA/E/25,,, Ari/25/15r,,, B/50vhc/25,,, B/E/15r,,, B/E/90,,, F/50c/25,,, F/E/25,,, GS/50c/25,,, H/50c/25,,, I/25/25,,, I/50c/25,,, Junk/E/25,,, Q/25/15v,,, Q/50L/90,,, Q/E/1P,,, St/50c/25,,, S/25,,, TS/50L/25,,, TS/50vhc/25,,, TS/50c/15r,,, TS/AP/25,,, TS/E/Dur,,, V/25/25,,, V/50c/25,,, Z/E/90
TESLAS: AA/25/15r,,, AA/AP/25,,, AA/25/25,,, As/25/25,,, B/25/25,,, B/25/90,,, B/25/Dur,,, B/25/Gho,,, B/15r,,, B/25,,, Exe/25/15r,,, Exe/25/25,,, Exe/25/90,,, Exe/50L/15r,,, Ext/25/15r,,, F/25/15r,,, GS/25/25,,, GS/25/90,,, GS/50c/25,,, H/25/15r,,, I/25/15r,,, Junk/25/15r,,, Junk/50L/15r,,, Med/25/25,,, MS/50c/25,,, M/15r,,, M/25,,, N/25/25,,, Q/25**,,, Q/AP/25,,, St/25/25,,, St/25/90,,, S/90,,, S/25,,, T/25/15r,,, TS/25/15r,,, TS/25/25,,, TS/50L/15r,,, V/25/15r,,, V/25/15v,,, V/25/90,,, V/25/250,,, V/25/Dur,,, V/50c/15r,,, V/50L/15r,,, Z/25/15r,,, Z/25/90
AA/25/25 Assaultron Head,,, AA/50c/15v Crossbow,,, AA/50c/25 Crossbow,,, AA/50L/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, AA/25/25 Gamma Gun,,, AA/50c/25 Pipe Bolt Action Pistol/Rifle,,, AA/25/15r Plasma Pistol/Rifle,,, As/50c/25 Crossbow,,, As/25/25 Gauss Rifle,,, As/50c/25 Laser Pistol/Rifle,,, B/AP/25 Compound Bow,,, B/25/25 Gauss Rifle,,, B/25 Bow,,, B/25 Crossbow,,, B/25 SMG,,, Exe/50L/25 Alien Blaster,,, Exe/50c/25 Blunderbuss,,, Exe/50c/25 Combat Rifle,,, Exe/50c/15v Compound Bow,,, Exe/50c/25 Double Barrel,,, Exe/25/25 Gamma Gun,,, Exe/E/25 Hunting Rifle,,, Exe/E/25 Lever Action,,, Exe/50L/25 Plasma Pistol/Rifle,,, F/50c/15v Compound Bow,,, F/E/25 Double Barrel,,, F/50c/15v Thirst Zapper,,, GouE/25 Assault Rifle,,, GouE/25 Double Barrel,,, Gou25/25 Lever Action,,, GS/50c/25 Gamma Gun,,, I/50c/25 Combat Shotgun,,, I/50c/15v Compound Bow,,, I/50c/25 The Dragon,,, Jug/E/25 Combat Rifle,,, Jug/50c/25 Laser Pistol/Rifle,,, Junk/50c/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, Junk/25/25 Radium Rifle,,, M/25 10mm Pistol,,, M/25 Crossbow,,, N/25/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, N/50c/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, Q/50c/25 Assaultron Head,,, Q/25/15r Combat Shotgun,,, Q/25/1P Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, Q/AP/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, Q/25/15r Plasma Pistol/Rifle,,, St/50c/25 Crossbow,,, St/E/25 Single Action Revolver,,, S/25 Radium Rifle,,, TS/25/15r Combat Rifle,,, TS/50c/25 Combat Rifle,,, TS/E/15r Pipe Revolver,,, V/50c/25 Bow,,, V/50L/25 Compound Bow,,, V/AP/25 Crossbow,,, V/50c/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle,,, V/50c/25 Gauss Rifle,,, V/25/25 Pipe Pistol/Rifle,,, V/50c/25 Pipe Pistol/Rifle,,, Z/25/25 Enclave Plasma Rifle
ARMOR: Aristocrat's Civil Engineer chest LED/Cavalier
Aristocrat's Civil Engineer chest LED/HTD
Aristocrat's Heavy Robot left leg LED/Sentinel
Aristocrat's Heavy Robot left leg LED/WWR
Aristocrat's Marine right leg AP/Cavalier
Aristocrat's Marine right arm LED/WWR
Aristocrat's USA left leg LED/WWR
Assassin's Civil Engineer chest Strength/JWR
Assassin's FSA chest LED/FDC
Assassin's FSA left arm AP/FDC (2)
Assassin's FSA left arm AP/Sentinel
Assassin's FSA left arm LED/HTD
Assassin's FSA left leg AP/FDC
Assassin's FSA left leg Strength/HTD
Assassin's Heavy Leather left arm AP/WWR
Assassin's Heavy Robot chest Strength/WWR
Assassin's Marine left arm AP/Cavalier
Assassin's Marine right leg LED/Sentinel
Assassin's Sturdy Combat chest AP/Sentinel
Assassin's Trapper right arm Poison resist/Sentinel
Assassin's Trapper right leg Strength/Sentinel
Assassin's USA left arm LED/WWR
Assassin's USA left arm Poison resist/Sentinel
Assassin's USA left leg LED/HTD
Assassin's USA left leg Strength/WWR
Auto Stim Civil Engineer chest LED/FDC
Auto Stim Civil Engineer chest Poison resist/Cavalier
Auto Stim FSA right leg LED/WWR
Auto Stim Heavy Metal chest LED/Sentinel
Auto Stim Heavy Raider right leg LED/Sentinel
Auto Stim Heavy Robot chest LED/Sentinel
Auto Stim Heavy Robot right leg Cryo resist/Sentinel
Auto Stim Marine left leg LED/Sentinel
Auto Stim Ultracite left arm LED/Sentinel
Auto Stim USA left arm AP/Cavalier
Auto Stim USA left arm AP/WWR
Auto Stim USA left arm LED/FDC
Auto Stim USA right arm LED/Sentinel
Auto Stim USA right leg LED/WWR
Auto Stim USA right leg Strength/Cavalier
Auto Stim USA right leg Strength/Sentinel
Auto Stim USA right leg Strength/WWR
Bolstering FSA left arm AP/Sentinel
Bolstering FSA left arm Luck/WWR
Bolstering FSA left arm Strength/WWR
Bolstering FSA left leg AP/Sentinel
Bolstering FSA left leg LED/Cavalier
Bolstering FSA right leg Strength/HTD
Bolstering Heavy Metal left leg AP/Cavalier
Bolstering Heavy Metal right arm AP/Sentinel
Bolstering Heavy Metal right leg LED/HTD
Bolstering Heavy Robot left arm Strength/Cavalier
Bolstering Marine right arm Cryo resist/Sentinel
Bolstering Marine right arm Strength/FDC
Bolstering Raider right arm AP/Sentinel
Bolstering Sturdy Combat left leg LED/Sentinel
Bolstering Sturdy Leather right leg AP/Sentinel
Bolstering Trapper chest AP/Cavalier (2)
Bolstering Trapper right arm LED/Sentinel
Bolstering USA left arm LED/FDC
Bolstering USA left arm LED/Sentinel
Bolstering USA right arm AP/FDC
Bolstering USA right arm Intelligence/Sentinel
Bolstering Wood left leg LED/WWR
Chameleon FSA chest LED/Cavalier
Chameleon FSA left arm Strength/Sentinel
Chameleon FSA left leg AP/Cavalier
Chameleon FSA left leg LED/Sentinel
Chameleon Heavy Combat right arm LED/Cavalier
Chameleon Heavy Raider right leg AP/Sentinel
Chameleon Marine left arm AP/Cavalier
Chameleon Marine right arm AP/Sentinel
Chameleon Marine left leg AP/WWR
Chameleon Robot chest LED/WWR
Chameleon USA chest AP/WWR
Chameleon USA chest LED/Cavalier
Chameleon USA left arm AP/JWR
Chameleon USA left arm LED/Sentinel
Chameleon USA left leg Cryo resist/Sentinel
Chameleon USA right arm LED/WWR
Chameleon USA right leg AP/FDC
Cloaking FSA chest AP/Cavalier
Cloaking FSA right arm AP/WWR
Cloaking USA chest AP/Sentinel
Cloaking USA right leg AP/WWR
Exterminator's FSA right arm AP/Sentinel
Exterminator's FSA right arm LED/Cavalier
Exterminator's FSA right leg LED/Cavalier
Exterminator's USA chest AP/Sentinel
Exterminator's USA chest LED/WWR
Ghoul Slayer's FSA right arm AP/WWR
Ghoul Slayer's FSA right leg AP/Cavalier
Ghoul Slayer's Heavy Metal left arm AP/Sentinel
Ghoul Slayer's USA left arm AP/WWR
Ghoul Slayer's USA left leg AP/WWR
Hunter's Civil Engineer chest AP/Sentinel
Hunter's Heavy Metal right leg AP/Sentinel
Life Saving Civil Engineer chest LED/HTD
Life Saving Combat left leg AP/WWR
Life Saving FSA chest AP/Sentinel
Life Saving FSA left arm LED/WWR
Life Saving FSA left leg LED/Sentinel
Life Saving FSA right leg Strength/Cavalier
Life Saving Heavy Combat AP/HTD
Life Saving Heavy Raider chest LED/WWR
Life Saving Heavy Robot chest AP/WWR
Life Saving Heavy Robot left arm AP/WWR
Life Saving Marine chest LED/Cavalier
Life Saving Marine left leg AP/WWR
Life Saving Trapper left leg AP/Sentinel
Life Saving Trapper right leg LED/Cavalier
Life Saving USA left arm LED/WWR
Life Saving USA left arm AP/Cavalier
Life Saving USA left leg Strength/Cavalier
Life Saving USA right arm Poison resist/Sentinel
Mutant's Civil Engineer chest AP/WWR
Mutant's FSA left leg LED/WWR
Mutant's Heavy Combat right leg AP/FDC
Mutant Slayer's FSA left arm AP/Cavalier
Mutant Slayer's FSA right leg AP/Sentinel
Mutant Slayer's Heavy Raider right leg AP/Sentinel
Mutant Slayer's Trapper chest AP/Sentinel (2)
Mutant Slayer's USA chest AP/Sentinel
Mutant Slayer's USA left arm AP/Sentinel
Mutant Slayer's USA left leg AP/Cavalier
Nocturnal Heavy Combat right leg Strength/Sentinel
Nocturnal Heavy Robot right leg AP/Cavalier
Nocturnal Robot left arm AP/Sentinel
Nocturnal Trapper chest AP/Sentinel
Nocturnal USA left leg LED/WWR
Nocturnal USA right leg AP/HTD
Nocturnal USA right leg LED/Cavalier
Overeater's Civil Engineer chest Agility/WWR
Overeater's Civil Engineer chest Antiseptic/WWR
Overeater's Civil Engineer chest AP/Toxic
Overeater's Civil Engineer chest Fire resist/Cavalier
Overeater's Civil Engineer chest Fire resist/FDC
Overeater's Civil Engineer chest Intelligence/Sentinel
Overeater's Civil Engineer left leg AP/AWR
Overeater's Combat chest AP/FDC
Overeater's FSA chest Endurance/Sentinel
Overeater's FSA chest Poison resist/Cavalier
Overeater's FSA left arm Charisma/FDC
Overeater's FSA left arm Intelligence/Sentinel
Overeater's FSA left arm Perception/Sentinel
Overeater's FSA left leg AP/HTD
Overeater's FSA right arm AP/JWR
Overeater's FSA right arm Strength/FDC
Overeater's FSA right arm Strength/WWR
Overeater's FSA right leg LED/AWR
Overeater's Heavy Combat chest LED/HTD
Overeater's Heavy Combat left arm LED/JWR
Overeater's Heavy Combat right leg Perception/Sentinel
Overeater's Heavy Leather right arm Glutton/Sentinel
Overeater's Heavy Metal left leg Strength/Sentinel
Overeater's Heavy Metal right leg AP/Sentinel
Overeater's Heavy Raider left arm LED/Cavalier
Overeater's Heavy Raider left leg Charisma/WWR
Overeater's Heavy Raider right arm Fire resist/FDC
Overeater's Heavy Robot chest Endurance/Sentinel
Overeater's Heavy Robot chest Rad resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Heavy Robot left leg Agility/WWR
Overeater's Marine chest Rad resist/FDC
Overeater's Marine chest Rad resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Marine left arm Strength/FDC
Overeater's Marine right arm Rad resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Marine right leg Fire resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Marine right leg Luck/FDC
Overeater's Marine right leg Perception/WWR
Overeater's Metal left arm AP/FDC
Overeater's Metal left leg Agility/Sentinel
Overeater's Metal left leg Cryo resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Metal right arm AP/Sentinel
Overeater's Metal right leg Poison resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Raider right arm Cryo resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Raider right leg LED/WWR
Overeater's Sturdy Metal chest Strength/FDC
Overeater's Trapper chest Rad resist/FDC
Overeater's Trapper left arm AP/HTD
Overeater's Trapper left arm Cryo resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Trapper left arm Perception/Sentinel
Overeater's Trapper left leg Perception/WWR
Overeater's Trapper right arm Luck/WWR
Overeater's Trapper right arm Rad resist/WWR
Overeater's USA chest Cryo resist/HTD
Overeater's USA chest LED/WWR
Overeater's USA chest Poison resist/FDC
Overeater's USA left arm Antiseptic/Sentinel
Overeater's USA left arm AP/HTD
Overeater's USA left arm Endurance/FDC
Overeater's USA left arm Endurance/WWR
Overeater's USA left arm Fire resist/FDC (2)
Overeater's USA left arm LED/AWR
Overeater's USA left arm LED/FDC
Overeater's USA left arm Poison resist/Sentinel
Overeater's USA left arm Rad resist/Sentinel
Overeater's USA left leg Fire resist/WWR
Overeater's USA left leg Intelligence/FDC
Overeater's USA left leg Strength/FDC
Overeater's USA right arm Luck/Sentinel
Overeater's USA right leg AP/FDC
Overeater's USA right leg Intelligence/HTD
Overeater's USA right leg Poison resist/Sentinel
Overeater's USA right leg Rad resist/Sentinel
Overeater's Wood left arm LED/Cavalier
Regenerating Civil Engineer chest AP/Sentinel
Troubleshooter's Excavator right arm LED/Cavalier
Troubleshooter's FSA chest AP/WWR
Troubleshooter's Heavy Robot left arm AP/Cavalier
Troubleshooter's T-60 left arm LED/Sentinel
Troubleshooter's Trapper right leg AP/WWR
Troubleshooter's USA left arm Strength/Sentinel
Troubleshooter's USA left leg AP/WWR
Unyielding Civil Engineer chest AP/Electrified
Unyielding Civil Engineer left arm Antiseptic/FDC
Unyielding Civil Engineer left leg AP/Electrified
Unyielding Civil Engineer right leg Intelligence/Burning
Unyielding FSA full set AP/Cavalier
Unyielding FSA chest Cryo resist/FDC
Unyielding FSA chest Intelligence/Acrobat
Unyielding FSA chest Intelligence/Dur
Unyielding FSA chest LED/JWR
Unyielding FSA left arm Cryo resist/AWR
Unyielding FSA left arm LED/Sentinel
Unyielding FSA left arm Poison resist/AWR
Unyielding FSA left leg AP/Acrobat
Unyielding FSA left leg Endurance/Sentinel
Unyielding FSA left leg Fire resist/AWR
Unyielding FSA left leg Luck/AWR
Unyielding FSA right arm Cryo resist/Cavalier
Unyielding FSA right arm Poison resist/WWR
Unyielding FSA right leg AP/JWR
Unyielding FSA right leg Intelligence/JWR
Unyielding FSA right leg LED/HTD
Unyielding FSA right leg Luck/JWR
Unyielding FSA right leg Rad resist/AWR (2)
Unyielding Heavy Combat chest Strength/HTD
Unyielding Heavy Combat left leg Cryo resist/Cavalier
Unyielding Heavy Combat right arm Poison resist/JWR
Unyielding Heavy Combat right arm Poison resist/Sentinel
Unyielding Heavy Leather chest Cryo resist/HTD
Unyielding Heavy Leather left arm Rad resist/HTD
Unyielding Heavy Leather left leg Luck/Cavalier
Unyielding Heavy Metal right arm LED/Cavalier
Unyielding Heavy Metal right leg Endurance/Sentinel
Unyielding Heavy Raider chest Agility/Sentinel
Unyielding Heavy Raider left arm Poison resist/FDC
Unyielding Heavy Raider right arm AP/HTD
Unyielding Heavy Raider right arm Charisma/FDC
Unyielding Heavy Robot chest Cryo resist/Cavalier
Unyielding Heavy Robot right arm Endurance/Sentinel
Unyielding Leather left leg LED/WWR
Unyielding Marine chest Perception/Sentinel
Unyielding Marine chest Luck/WWR
Unyielding Marine chest Strength/HTD
Unyielding Marine left arm Cryo resist/HTD
Unyielding Marine left arm Strength/Cavalier (2)
Unyielding Marine left leg AP/FDC
Unyielding Marine right arm AP/Acrobat
Unyielding Marine right arm Rad resist/Cavalier
Unyielding Marine right leg Fire resist/WWR
Unyielding Marine right leg LED/AWR
Unyielding Marine right leg Luck/FDC
Unyielding Marine right leg Rad resist/AWR
Unyielding Metal chest AP/HTD
Unyielding Metal left arm LED/Sentinel
Unyielding Metal right leg AP/Cavalier
Unyielding Raider chest Luck/Cavalier
Unyielding Robot left leg Poison resist/Sentinel
Unyielding Sturdy Combat chest Strength/Sentinel
Unyielding Sturdy Combat right arm AP/AWR
Unyielding Sturdy Leather left leg LED/Sentinel
Unyielding Sturdy Metal chest AP/WWR
Unyielding Sturdy Metal left arm Rad resist/Sentinel
Unyielding Sturdy Raider chest Intelligence/FDC
Unyielding Sturdy Raider right leg Intelligence/FDC
Unyielding Sturdy Robot right arm LED/Sentinel
Unyielding Trapper chest Luck/FDC
Unyielding Trapper left leg Cryo resist/WWR
Unyielding Trapper right arm Cryo resist/Cavalier
Unyielding Trapper right arm LED/HTD
Unyielding Trapper right arm Luck/Cavalier
Unyielding USA chest AP/JWR
Unyielding USA chest Fire resist/AWR
Unyielding USA chest Luck/HTD
Unyielding USA chest Intelligence/Cavalier
Unyielding USA chest Poison resist/Cavalier
Unyielding USA chest Rad resist/JWR
Unyielding USA left arm AP/Sentinel
Unyielding USA left arm Cryo resist/WWR
Unyielding USA left arm LED/Acrobat (2)
Unyielding USA left arm Perception/FDC
Unyielding USA left arm Poison resist/AWR
Unyielding USA left arm Poison resist/HTD
Unyielding USA left arm Rad resist/Cavalier
Unyielding USA left leg Luck/AWR
Unyielding USA right arm Cryo resist/WWR
Unyielding USA right arm Intelligence/JWR
Unyielding USA right arm Luck/Cavalier
Unyielding USA right arm Poison resist/HTD
Unyielding USA right leg AP/Cavalier
Unyielding USA right leg Charisma/WWR
Unyielding USA right leg Fire resist/AWR
Unyielding USA right leg Perception/FDC
Unyielding Wood chest AP/FDC
Unyielding Wood chest Luck/Cavalier
Unyielding Wood chest Luck/Sentinel
Unyielding Wood right arm AP/Sentinel
Unyielding Wood right arm LED/WWR
Unyielding Wood right leg Strength/WWR
Vanguard's Civil Engineer chest LED/Cavalier
Vanguard's Civil Engineer chest LED/HTD
Vanguard's FSA right arm Strength/Cavalier
Vanguard's FSA right leg Strength/Cavalier
Vanguard's Heavy Leather right arm LED/HTD
Vanguard's Heavy Metal chest Strength/Cavalier
Vanguard's Heavy Robot right arm LED/HTD
Vanguard's Marine right arm Strength/WWR
Vanguard's Marine right leg Strength/Sentinel
Vanguard's Sturdy Robot left arm AP/Sentinel
Vanguard's Sturdy Robot right leg LED/WWR
Vanguard's Trapper left arm LED/Cavalier
Vanguard's USA chest Luck/Sentinel
Vanguard's USA left arm AP/FDC
Vanguard's USA left arm Intelligence/Sentinel
Vanguard's USA left arm LED/Sentinel
Vanguard's USA left arm Strength/FDC
Vanguard's USA left arm Strength/Sentinel
Vanguard's USA left leg Strength/Cavalier
Vanguard's USA right arm AP/Cavalier
Vanguard's USA right leg Strength/Cavalier (3)
Vanguard's Wood chest Strength/Sentinel
Weightless Civil Engineer chest AP/Sentinel
Weightless Civil Engineer chest Strength/WWR
Weightless FSA left leg Strength/Sentinel
Weightless Marine right leg AP/Cavalier
Weightless Trapper chest AP/Cavalier
Weightless Trapper left arm AP/Sentinel
Weightless Trapper left leg AP/Sentinel
Weightless USA chest Strength/Sentinel
Weightless USA right leg AP/Cavalier
Weightless USA right leg LED/WWR
Zealot's Trapper left arm LED/Cavalier
Zealot's USA chest AP/Sentinel
Zealot's USA left arm AP/Cavalier
Zealot's USA left arm AP/Sentinel (2)
Zealot's USA right arm AP/WWR
Zealot's USA right leg AP/WWR
PLANS: Alien Blaster,,, Alien head lamp,,, Alien table,,, Alien target practice poster,,, Assault rifle,,, Assault rifle wraith's wrath paint,,, Barbed walking cane,,, Baseball bat rocket,,, Baseball bat searing puncturing rocket,,, Bear arm,,, Bear arm heavy mod,,, Bear arm puncturing mod,,, Bloody curtain door,,, Bloody rug,,, Boxing glove lead lining,,, Camo Backpack,,, Cave cricket tube,,, Chainsaw ghostly grinder paint,,, Chainsaw septikill paint,,, Cultist adept hood,,, Cultist adept robes,,, Cultist enlightened hood,,, Cultist enlightened robes,,, Cultist eventide hood,,, Cultist eventide robes,,, Cultist incarnate helmet,,, Cultist neophyte hood,,, Cultist neophyte robes,,, Deathclaw gauntlet,,, Dense marine armor torso,,, Dense trapper armor torso,,, Dr. Bones,,, Dried wildflower bouquet,,, Electro Enforcer,,, Enlightened lantern,,, Executioner mask,,, Fire station bell,,, Flannel shirt & jeans,,, Fluttering moths,,, Fuzzy enlightened plushie,,, Fuzzy mothman plushie,,, Giant red dinosaur,,, Glowing flatwoods monster lamp,,, Hatchet electro fusion,,, Hazmat suit teal,,, Honeycomb paper blue mothman,,, Honeycomb paper brown mothman,,, Honeycomb paper ghost lantern A&B,,, Honeycomb paper green mothman,,, Honeycomb paper holiday tree A&B,,, Honeycomb paper icy snowflake,,, Honeycomb paper jack o'lantern A&B,,, Honeycomb paper jolly target,,, Honeycomb paper mothman globe,,, Honeycomb paper red mothman,,, Honeycomb paper ribbon bell,,, Honeycomb paper snowman,,, Honeycomb paper spider lantern,,, Honeycomb paper standing santa,,, Junkyard fountain,,, Machete sacrificial blade,,, Meat Tenderizer,,, Mutant hound diagram,,, Mutant hound taxidermy,,, Nuka girl area rug,,, Pepper Shaker,,, Peppino pig plushie,,, Pitchfork flamer,,, Plastiform Candle,,, Plastiform gingerbread,,, Plastiform nutcracker,,, Plastiform santa,,, Plastiform santa sleigh,,, Princess backpack,,, Protective lining marine underarmor,,, Protective lining raider underarmor,,, Puncturing pole hook,,, Punty pig plushie,,, Rad skull rider helmet,,, Radioactive barrel,,, Raw cement barricade,,, Sacred mothman tome,,, Scorchbeast queen plushie,,, Scorched tube,,, Shielded lining casual underarmor,,, Shielded lining marine underarmor,,, Shielded lining raider underarmor,,, Ski sword skate blade,,, Skiing outfit,,, Sledgehammer heavy searing sharp rocket,,, Small vault girl statue,,, Snallygaster plushie,,, Spiked walking cane,,, Star light,,, Straw goat,,, Super mutant diagram,,, The Fixer,,, T-60 BOS knight paint,,, TV Aquarium,,, Ultracite emergency protocols,,, Undershirt & jeans,,, Vintage water cooler,,, Wilber McPigg plushie,,, WV state bird rug,,, Yao Guai tube,,, Zenith alien blaster paint,,, Cutting fluid recipe,,, Fasnacht donut recipe,,, Fasnacht sausage recipe,,, Healing salve Ash Heap recipe,,, Healing salve Cranberry Bog recipe,,, Healing salve Mire recipe,,, Formula P recipe,,, Stimpak Diffuser recipe,,, Tato salad recipe
APPAREL: Asylum Uniform Blue,,, Asylum Uniform Forest,,, Asylum Uniform Pink,,, Fasnacht Brahmin mask,,, Fasnacht Buffoon mask,,, Fasnacht Crazy Guy mask,,, Fasnacht Deathclaw mask,,, Fasnacht Demon mask,,, Fasnacht Fiend mask,,, Fasnacht Hag mask,,, Fasnacht Loon mask,,, Fasnacht Raven mask,,, Fasnacht Winter Man mask,,, Emmett Mountain hazmat suit,,, Garrahan Foreman Outfit and Helmet
CHEMS: Addictol: 264,,, Berry Mentats: 3600,,, Buffout: 2059,,, Calmex: 855,,, Daddy-O: 1404,,, Day Tripper: 1142,,, Disease Cure: 539,,, Mentats: 1000,,, Overdrive: 493,,, Psycho: 3781,,, Psychobuff: 1903,,, Psychotats: 1881,,, X-cell: 658
FOOD: Canned meat stew: 75,,, Pepper: 3305,,, Salt: 2915,,, Spices: 1648,,, Sugar Bombs(w/rads): 1237
MODS: Enclave Aligned automatic barrel,,, Enclave Aligned short barrel,,, Enclave Aligned sniper barrel(3),,, Enclave Aligned splitter(2),,, Enclave Refined beta wave tuner(3),,, Enclave Severe beta wave tuner(2),,, Enclave Stabilized automatic barrel(2),,, Enclave Stabilized flamer barrel(2),,, Enclave Stabilized Sniper Barrel,,, Enclave True automatic barrel(2),,, Enclave True capacitor(4),,, Enclave True flamer barrel(2),,, Enclave True sniper barrel(3),,, Enclave True splitter(2),,, Enclave Vicious capacitor
submitted by KiraWinchester to Market76 [link] [comments]


2024.05.13 20:09 snowboardnirvana Google's Smartglasses Patent acquired from Canadian Company 'North' was published last week

Why is Dr. Mark Spitzer still on our BoD? Hmmm.
https://www.patentlyapple.com/2024/05/googles-smartglasses-patent-acquired-from-canadian-company-north-was-published-last-week.html
Integrated Laser Package with Light Intensity Package
Google's acquired patent describes systems and methods for providing laser projectors having laser-based optical engines as well as light intensity and/or laser output power measuring (e.g. monitoring) capabilities. According to the various embodiments described herein, an optical engine of a laser projector includes at least one laser source (e.g., a laser diode or a plurality of laser diodes) that may be enclosed in a (e.g. partially or completely hermetically sealed) enclosure. The enclosure may include an optical window (sometimes referred to herein as an “exit window”) that may be integrated with one of its side walls or top surface or that forms one of its side walls or top surface.
Laser light beams output by the laser source(s) may pass through the exit window to exit the enclosure during active operation of the laser projector. The optical engine may support a relatively small substrate area for power monitoring, reducing the overall size of the optical engine. The laser projector or the optical engine can therefore be flexibly employed in a variety of display designs, including wearable heads-up displays or other head-mounted displays.
In some embodiments, after passing through the exit window, the light beams are passed through respective collimating lenses to a dichroic filtebeam combiner, at which light beams of different wavelengths are combined. The combined light beams may then be directed to one or more scanning elements that project the light beams across a display surface of an object, such as the holographic lens of a pair of smart glasses or another type of wearable heads-up display.
While various embodiments described are provided in the context of a wearable heads-up display, it should be understood that the laser projector and optical engine of the present patent application can instead be included in other systems, such as projection engines, lidar systems, sensing systems, ranging systems, external cavity laser diodes (e.g., as an integrated intensity stabilization servo), and/or the like.
It is generally desirable to monitor the laser output power of the laser sources of the optical engine of the laser projector, which allows for improved control over the quality of the projected image or video and enables a controller or processor of the device that includes the laser projector to dynamically limit the maximum output power of the optical engine based on real-time or near-real-time measurements of the laser output power.
For example, laser output power monitoring tends to be particularly important for the design of laser projectors used in wearable heads-up displays due to the generally limited availability of power and space (e.g., volume) in such wearable devices. Conventional methods for designing a laser projector with laser output power monitoring capabilities require a relatively large footprint on the laser projector substrate, which may be a printed circuit board (PCB) to be dedicated to the placement of a photodetector such as a photodiode, to the placement of optical components such as a pickoff mirror, and to maintaining a clear optical path to the photodetector.
In some instances, this footprint may be as large as that of the optical engine itself. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to reduce the substrate area taken up by the photodetector(s) and/or optical component(s) (sometimes referred to collectively herein as “laser output power monitoring component(s)”) that implement laser output power monitoring for an optical engine of a laser projector.
The systems, devices, and techniques described in the patent application may provide a reduction in the substrate area required for laser power output monitoring components, e.g. by utilizing an exit window of an enclosure of an optical engine having e.g. a diffraction grating that may be disposed in or on a primary output surface of the exit window and that may redirect (e.g., via diffraction) a portion of the incident light from the laser light beam(s) output by the laser source(s) toward one or more photodetectors, which may be photodiodes, and which may be disposed across from one or more surfaces of the exit window.
According to various embodiments, the exit window includes a diffraction grating that can be disposed or formed on or in the exit window, and that redirects the incident light from the laser sources toward the one or more photodetectors. In some embodiments, one or more photodetectors may be disposed on a top surface of the substrate so as to receive light that is redirected by the diffraction grating and that is output through a one or both side walls of the exit window. A “side wall” or “side surface” of the exit window may be defined as a surface of the exit window that extends between the primary input surface of the exit window and the primary output surface of the exit window that defines a plane that intersects (e.g., that is perpendicular to) the surface of the substrate upon which the optical engine is disposed.
In some embodiments, one or more photodetectors may be disposed below the exit window and completely or partially embedded in the substrate, such that the one or more photodetectors receive light that is redirected by the diffraction grating and that is output through a bottom surface of the exit window. In some embodiments, the exit window is disposed on a first side of the substrate and one or more photodetectors, which may be photodiodes, may be disposed below the exit window on a second side of the substrate that is opposite the first side, such that the one or more photodetectors receive light that is redirected by the diffraction grating and that is output through a bottom surface of the exit window, which passes through one or more apertures that extend through the entire thickness of the substrate to reach the one or more photodetectors. In some embodiments, one or more photodetectors may be disposed above the exit window on the surface of a second substrate that opposes the surface of the first substrate on which the window is disposed, such that the one or more photodetectors receive light that is redirected by the diffraction grating and that passes through a top surface of the window.
Google's patent FIG. 1 below is an illustrative diagram showing a side view of a wearable heads-up display (WHUD) #100 that employs a laser projector #110, which may be a scanning laser projector. For example, the WHUD 100 may be a pair of smartglasses or a virtual reality (VR) headset. The laser projector comprises an optical engine #111 that includes a red laser diode (labeled “R” in FIG. 1), a green laser diode (labeled “G” in FIG. 1), and a blue laser diode (labeled “B” in FIG. 1), and a scan mirror #112 that is controllably rotatable about two axes of freedom
Generally, it is desirable to monitor laser output power in the laser projector in order to better control the image or video projected onto the Holographic Optical Element (HOE) #130 (i.e., display surface) and to limit the maximum output power of the WHUD. Monitoring laser output power in a laser projector such as the laser projector is typically performed using a discrete pickoff component to redirect a portion of the laser light #120 to an on-chip photodetector. However, such laser output power monitoring approaches require a relatively large footprint on the laser projector substrate. In order to reduce the footprint of laser output power monitoring components, an exit window of an enclosure that includes some or all of the components of the optical engine may be configured to redirect a portion of the laser light through the top, bottom, or side walls of the exit window toward one or more photodetectors placed across from and in the optical path of the top, bottom, or side walls of the exit window.
2Google-smartglasses-fig.1
Google's patent FIG. 2 below is an isometric view of a wearable heads-up display with a laser projector that includes an optical engine.
3Google-smartglasses-figs-2&4
Google's patent FIG. 4 above is a block diagram of a top-down view of a laser projector having an optical engine that includes an exit window having a holographic diffraction grating.
For more details, review patent application US20240154379 published on May 9, 2024.
Inventors
Dan Adema: Opto Mechanical Engineer (formerly from 'North,' Kitchener, Ontario) Timothy Bodiya: AR Hardware Research (formerly from 'North')
submitted by snowboardnirvana to MVIS [link] [comments]


2024.05.13 16:52 Pain7216 Separation techniques ATP 5070 (complete)

If examiner gives you 2 solids and asks to separate they cannot be separated instantly, mostly one of them will be soluble for eg he gives you sand and NaCl and asks u to separate them, we know that sand is insoluble in water and NaCl is soluble so we will add water to both solids the NaCl will dissolve then we will take a filter funnel on a conical flask , place a filter paper on it and pour the solution, the insoluble sand will be collected on the filter paper as residue and the salt solution will flow through as filtrate. Now here he can ask two things 1. NaCl in crystal form 2.Nacl in powder form. 1) heat the NaCl solution to crystallization pint and allow the remaining liquid to slowly cool or evaporate, after some time crystals will be formed and we can just filter them and dry them by tapping with filter paper or in an oven. 2) Just heat the salt solution till constant mass nothing else.
now for the sand that we got although we have separated it, it may contain some soluble impurities of NaCl, which we do not want so we wash the sand with "DISTILLED" water and then dry it by using filter paper.
Also for the crystals that we got for the NaCl, please do not wash them with any water as NaCl is soluble in water so they will dissolve again. everything i wrote is for understanding the process in exam please summarize this.
Liquid+Solid If solid is insoluble just filter it and wash with distilled water to remove any soluble impurities and dry it
if solid is soluble we will do simple distillation. please do not sit there write the whole setup just draw the distillation diagram and label it (a picture speaks a thousand words) showing the heat source the round bottom flask the condenser with water in and water out and thermometer labelled, the solid will remain in the flask and the water or liquid will be evaporated and and then condenser and collect in the beaker at the other end.
PLEASE IF IT IS A ORGANIC LIQUID THAT WE ARE SEPARATING DO NOT USE A BUNSEN BURNER TO HEAT THE FLASK AS THEY ARE HIGHLY FLAMMABLE. use an electric heater or a thermostatically controlled water bath. also please make sure that whatever the liquid being separated, its boiling point should be below 100 degrees or we cannot use water to separate it as the water we are using in the condenser to condense the liquid will evaporate itself.
Liqud+Liquid if both are immiscible meaning they form layers and do not mix. use a separating funnel and pour one the more dense one off as it will settle at the bottom. if asked why are we able to separate them in this way, the answer to that is because both liquids have different density.
if both are miscible, then just write we will use fractionating column please do not sit there mentioning the details just draw a rough diagram including the round bottom flask, fractionating column, thermometer, Liebig condenser with water in and out marked, beads in the fractionating column to allow only particles with more energy to pass through and particles with less energy meaning lower temp to fall back in to the flask and a beaker in the end to collect the separated liquid.
if GAS + GAS then first step is to liquify them, which is done by lowering their temp, and then we will again be facing a liquid + liquid (miscible) so we will then do fractional distillation to separate them.
if both gases have different MOLECULAR MASS then we easy way to separate them is by diffusion. Gas with lower Mr will diffuse faster hence can be separated
hope everyone understands :)
submitted by Pain7216 to Olevels [link] [comments]


2024.05.13 15:05 nomass39 I found an old recording of the most gruesome TV show ever broadcast

Me and Lila always carved dozens of jack o’ lanterns every October, so they’d absolutely saturate our lawn on Halloween night. It was our thing. But looking back on it, now that I’ve lost her, I just feel bad for the pumpkins. I almost relate to them, somehow. The way they were carved up, had everything of substance inside of them torn out, and left as hollow, rotting shells with forced smiles.
Needless to say, I didn’t cope with her death well. I didn’t want to cope with it. I wanted the world to drown in the black sludge of my grief. I loathed the people I saw going about their lives, unaware that the world had already ended the moment Lila died. The Earth shouldn’t keep spinning. Life shouldn’t go on. Not without her.
Even my relatives bringing me along on a trip to Kauai only made it worse. The most gorgeous place on Earth, and it made me sick with hatred. Nothing that beautiful deserved to exist if Lila wasn’t ever going to get to see it. It wasn’t fair.
I thought I’d never enjoy or care about anything again. Then I discovered media preservation.
It started with taking some of Lila’s old VHS tapes to a video repair place to fix some issues with the footage before it’s digitized. The job fascinated me. In a universe based on entropy, where everything inevitably fades away and is forgotten… restoring something lost is like snatching it from the jaws of death, right? Like flipping the bird to the universe and its so-called ‘natural order’. People die, but information doesn’t have to.
Now, it doesn’t matter how small — be it some god-awful plug-and-play licensed game, or a cereal commercial from 80’s — it’s my mission to recover it in as high a quality as I’m able, and make sure it’s freely available online for as long as possible.
A couple weeks ago, I came across a big haul. Four boxes of old VHS tapes offered up on E-Bay for dirt cheap. Most of the tapes were just recordings of Cheers episodes already preserved in higher qualities, but one Maxell E-240 caught my interest.
First of all, I’d never seen one so melted. Sure, sometimes they were left in an attic too long, and the colors and audio start to degrade. But this one looked like it had survived a house fire. It was covered in soot and the smell of smoke, and had the overall shape of a chocolate bar left out in the sun a little too long.
Second was the label, which read in neat sharpie: ᴇᴘɪꜱᴏᴅᴇ 4,679,329 ᴍᴀʀ 8 2035.
The casing was so disfigured, I had to bust it apart just pull out the tapes and respool them in a fresh cassette. I tried to iron out the creases in the tape as best I could, but I had no illusions about it accomplishing much — the mylar surface had been irreparably warped in places by whatever fire had half-melted the thing.
Imagine my despair at the sight of that dreaded ‘ɴᴏ ꜱɪɢɴᴀʟ’. I could clearly see the tape wasn’t blank, yet no amount of adjusting the tracking or trying different TVs or VCRs accomplished anything. Just as I was about to give up, though, the thing just suddenly started playing properly at the exact instant the clock struck 3 AM, as if it had only now decided to work. My all-nighter had paid off.
I didn’t dwell on the fact that this ‘miracle fix’ had been impossible. If I’d had any sense, I’d have torn the horrid thing out of my VCR and buried it beneath holy ground. Instead, fool I was, I sat down and watched.
At first, the thing seemed unwatchable. The audio was so distorted that the show’s theme song emerged as a low, crackling, staticky wail that made my head throb, and the logo was completely indistinguishable through the flickering and interference. I thought it was a lost cause for a moment. But then a figure appeared and cleared away the static, like Moses parting the Red Sea.
It was the sight of the show’s host that hooked me. He was just… perfect. Perfect in every way. I knew it just looking at him. Infinitely handsome and likable and charismatic, and he always said the exact perfect thing. The only issue is, I don’t remember a single thing about him now, in the same way you can’t remember a dream that seemed so clear to you while you were experiencing it. He just appears in my memory as this abstract blur in a sharp suit. Yet at the time, I was awestruck, even before he said a single word.
I can’t even remember a word he said. It was like he was speaking another language, one I felt as opposed to heard. I’ll try and transcribe it as best I can into words, but know that it’s only a pathetic imitation.
“... for another night of laughs, prizes, and fun for the whole family, with your host, #####!” I noticed that the audio and visual distortion seemed to suddenly intensify the instant he said his name, rendering it completely illegible. Idiot I was, I figured that was a coincidence. “Tonight is a night of celebration, folks, because thanks to the support of loyal viewers like you, we have just been approved for, get this: two hundred thousand more seasons!”
The “live studio audience” went wild with applause. I put that in scare quotes because, as far as I could tell, besides the host, the studio seemed completely empty. As if he was standing on a plain white stage that extended outwards into infinite darkness on all sides.
“For those just joining us, the game here is simple…” He explained that this was some sort of a trivia show. Every time a guest got an answer wrong, it brought them a little closer to some sort of unspecified ‘punishment’. And if they got it right? He smirked. “Well, they get to delay the inevitable.”
I wondered what he meant by ‘inevitable’. I didn’t have to wonder long.
The host gestured to a curtain that hadn’t been there moments ago, which raised to reveal a middle-aged man. You know the type — bushy mustache, gray hair, round-rimmed glasses. Kind of guy you’d have doing your plumbing. He couldn’t look any more out of place stood up and restrained in that — what the hell is that?
I recognized that metal coffin-looking thing from a medieval torture museum I went to once. The iron maiden. The lid hung open, countless long, needle-like blades poking inwards, threaten to poke a million new holes in him if it was shut.
His situation was not lost on him. “Where… where am I? What the hell is this!?”
“Oh, lucky guess!” The host ‘joked’. More canned laughter. “I know you always loved watching those trivia shows, Malcolm? Weren’t you always sitting there, grinding your teeth, seething that it wasn’t fair? That you should be the one up on stage, winning big?”
The man paused. Even he seemed mesmerized by the unreal perfection of the host before him. “I… this is a… game show?”
“All you have to do is answer a few questions! Think you can handle that, Malcolm?” He pulled out a cue card without waiting for an answer. “And our first question! What were you doing the night of February 18th, 1998?”
The man seemed baffled. “Just… sat on my couch watching the NFL, I think? I’m not sure how I’m supposed to remember —“
He let out a startled squeal as a horrid buzzer sounded. On cue, the lid slid a third of the way closed, making him flinch. “Oooh, I’m afraid that’s the wrong answer, Frank! But you know what? I’ll give you one more chance. What were you —“
“Following a girl home!” The man cried out. “F-from the bar. There, are you happy?”
“Cor-rect!” The canned audience began cheering! “Such honesty! Now, our second question: just what were you carrying while you followed her?”
He hesitated for a little too long. And then the buzzer sounded again, and the lid slid so near to closing that its blades began poking uncomfortably against his skin. He tried to press himself against the back of the maiden as well as his restraints would allow. “Jesus! Okay! A knife, a knife!”
“Awww, if only you’d said that just a second earlier!” Another big question. “Our third question: why, Malcolm? Why did you do it?”
That set Malcolm off. He started thrashing, clawing, screaming. “Let me out of this thing, you maniac! You can’t do this to me! Do you know who I am? Is this some sort of sick joke? My lawyers will have your head for this, you—“
And then the buzzer. All of a sudden, the lid slammed shut full-force, and the man was utterly silenced save for an unnatural, drawn-out wheeze. “Another wrong answer, Malcolm! I’m afraid I was looking for: ‘because if I can’t have her, no one can’!”
I admit it. I laughed. Out of shock more than anything. How was this allowed on TV? I took it as some sort of dark comedy show, and it was kind of satisfying to see that freaky character get his comeuppance. Still, there was something unnerving to me, seeing the man’s eyes through the openings in the maiden. Wide and red and terrified. They just looked a little… too real.
But the maiden disappeared as quickly as it came, before I could dwell on it too much. “Oh, envy! Definitely one of my favorite sins.” More laughter. “Stay tuned, folks! We’ve still got a night of fun and games in store for you! But first… how’s about a word from our sponsors?”
Cut to a corporate logo which I again couldn't recognize.
“This segment was made possible by Buer Health, which has recently announced a brilliant new initiative to protect our citizens from skin cancer by removing their skin completely.”
The camera cut to a massive industrial building, resembling a solid concrete cube around 50 meters in width and height. Its surface bore arcane symbols etched using carvings of wailing, tormented faces. The host would occasionally be rendered inaudible by a deafening metallic scraping from within, though he didn’t seem to notice. The only protrusion from the building’s cubic shape was a single smokestack, belching a scarlet red smoke into the atmosphere. A queue of gaunt figures waited at the entrance, herded and coerced by their grim overseers, and there were no words to describe the procession of scarlet ghouls limping out the building’s other end.
“Owing to the nonlinearity of time, the brand new Grand Skinpeeling Machine has spontaneously appeared several years before construction deadlines, and indeed, before it was even conceived of by anyone in our timeline. People have rushed all the way from Malebolge just to try this miracle of technology out on opening day, and so far, the reviews have been stellar!”
He shoved his microphone in the face of a shambling thing that could only scarcely be called a human. Tatters of flesh clung to its exposed musculature, blowing in the wind. Its eyes were the only hint of color in that sea of bloody red, and they were wide, white and terrified. The thing screamed and wailed for as long as it could before the last tendons connecting its jaw to its face snapped, and it was left to choke and gurgle.
“An amazing wail! The results speak for themselves, folks. The Grand Skinpeeling Machine is a hit!”
So far, I was still laughing along and having a good time. The sight of the next ‘guest’, however, started making me nervous.
It was an old lady.
She couldn’t be a day younger than sixty, the sort of sweet elderly woman who in a just world would be cooking chocolate chip cookies for her grandchildren in a comfy cottage somewhere. But here she was, tied to a metal chair, eyes wide, shaking like a leaf. Unlike the last contestant, she seemed to know exactly what was happening.
“In exchange for our loving endorsement, they’ve agreed to loan us one of their star employees. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for: the Liqisma!”
Something slunk from the darkness far behind her — or perhaps it’d be more apt to say that the darkness birthed it whole-cloth. It was like a living shadow, and it took my eyes a moment to register what I was even seeing.
How do I even begin describing this creature? I could say it looked almost human, or at least like something that may have been human long ago. Or I could start with its skin, which was all black and shiny as latex and seemingly smooth on first glance, but if you looked closer you’d realize it was covered in a million tiny reptilian scales, almost like a shark. Its head was a bald man’s, utterly devoid of any distinguishing features, like the basic stock template for a human being. It was notable only for a complete lack of pupils and irises, its eyes a pure white.
Its body defied basic biology in so many key ways, I had to stare it at for what felt like an eternity just to wrap my mind around its physiology. It was at least five or six meters long, by my estimate, composed of multiple human torsos stacked one on top of the other like segments of a centipede, each melding with the ones around it at the waist and shoulders. Each torso sported a pair of short, stubby arms that propelled it with terrifying grace. It ended with a pair of human legs, perpetually bent on their knees, beneath a ‘tail’ that looked more like its coccyx was poking free from its body.
The old last could clearly hear it, and kept futilely trying to turn her head around enough to get a peek at what stood behind her. I mouthed uselessly, don’t. You don’t want to know.
“Glad you could join us again, Miss Wethersby! Judging by our ratings last week, you seemed to have been a fan favorite!”
Her voice was so soft, I could barely hear it below the static. “Oh, God. Please, why won’t you people let me go? I’ve told you, I’ve never done anything, never hurt anybody. There must be some sort of—”
He waved a hand over her, and it seemed to forcefully snap her mouth shut. “Please, Miss Wethersby, save your breath for our questions!” Another cue card. “Your first question, my friend: where did you and your husband buy your first home?”
She had to think about it for a long time. Eventually, she cried out, “Alabama! Tuscaloosa, Alabama!”
“Ding ding ding! Why, you’re already doing better than our first contestant! Next question: what breed of dog was your childhood pet?”
She had a pained look on her face as she thought. Eventually, a timer started ticking down. It wasn’t visible, so it wasn’t clear how much time she had left exactly, but the sound it made got more shrill and high-pitched with every second. “Miss Wethersby, need I remind you that we have a time limit on this show?”
A tear ran down her cheek. “I… I keep telling you people, I don’t know. I have dementia, I can’t remember, please—”
That buzzer again. “I’m afraid that was the wrong answer! Liqisma?” The old lady shuddered at the sounds of hundreds of feet drawing a little closer to her. “Now, your first grandchild. What did he look like? What color were his eyes? His hair?”
She was crying harder now, like it hurt her that she couldn’t remember something so dear to her. “I told you I can’t remember! Why are you doing this to me!?”
“If you don’t remember them, why would they remember you?” The host mocked as the buzzer sounded, and the beast drew a little closer. “Really, do you believe they still even think about you? Or do you think they’re glad that the old bag of bones isn’t there sucking up their inheritance?”
This went on for… God, it could have been an hour. I was glued to the screen all the while, frozen with terror, praying for this nightmare to just end, for her to make it out okay somehow. He poured over every little detail of the life she lived and the people she loved, delighting in how little of it she could still recall.
And the thing grew closer, and closer… until she finally felt multiple pairs of hands resting upon her shoulders. The thing was looming over her now, and a long, black tongue a few feet in length emerged from its mouth and ran trails of dark saliva over the back of her head. She looked broken down, eyes raw from crying, and I could tell by the dampness of her dress that she’d wet herself.
“Now, Miss Wethersby, our time here has been fun, but I do believe it is time for our final question. Tell me, what is the name… of your only son?”
She couldn’t even answer anymore. She just stared ahead, like her mind was a million miles away. He cackled as the buzzer sounded one final time, and threw his cue cards aside. “Thank you for playing, Miss Wethersby. Better luck next time.”
I would say the thing unhinged its jaw like a snake, but that’d be an understatement. The way the thing’s face malformed and wrinkled and stretched as it opened its maw, it no longer looked even remotely human. Its jaws must have parted at least thirty centimeters apart, revealing a second, pharyngeal pair of jaws that lashed out and gripped the woman’s skull, pulling her headlong into that darkness.
I could hear bones crunching and snapping as its throat constricted down around her body, peristaltic muscles compacting her into a meat slurry, bit by bit. Yet she just wouldn’t die. Even as her skull and upper body were already crushed and compacted, organs and muscles pressed into mulch, she still kicked her legs, twitched her fingers, let out a gurgling that must have been some attempt at screaming. She was squirming even as the beast snapped its jaw shut around the last of her, condemning her to whatever torments awaited her inside the creature.
And all the while, that horrible laughter. “Don’t worry, folks! She’ll be back next week! And the next. And the next…”
Needless to say, I wasn’t having fun anymore. In fact, I had to turn away and fight the urge to throw up. I stood, about to turn the TV off and —
“Ah, ah, ah! Don’t touch that dial, now!” I froze. There was something chilling about the way he said that, staring right into the screen as if reacting to what I was doing. I hated that grin on his face. “The real show is just beginning.”
And with the barely restrained excitement of a child on Christmas morning, he yanked back another curtain, and I recognized everything.
I recognized that crappy bootleg knockoff Always Sunny in Philadelphia jacket that was so gaudy and terrible it instantly became her favorite thing in her wardrobe. I recognized those subtle hints of slight acne she disguised as fake freckles. I recognized the way her gray eyes would remind me of those overcast mornings at the beach at Hilton Head and pointing out all the cannonball jellyfish washed up on the sands. I recognized that tattoo of the name ʀᴏᴄᴋʏ, how I’d held her all night long as she cried into my shirt after her childhood cat had died.
It was Lila.
I shuddered, gasped, fell from my seat as if I’d been punched in the stomach and the air had been knocked out of me. I couldn’t breathe. This couldn’t be real. I was dreaming right now. I must be. I just had to wake up.
But I couldn’t wake up. Nothing I could do dispelled the sight of her curled up in that… that thing. That bronze statue of a bull, horns jutting on either side of a head that roaring silently up at the heavens, all while the love of my life was locked in its hollowed out belly, visible only through a pane of glass. I could hear her cry out in shock at where she’d found herself, and every whimper felt like it drove a knife through my chest.
The host soaked in the moment. It was ecstasy for him, the suffering of it all. He stared dead into the camera like he was looking right at me as she called, “What is this? Where am I?”
“Why, I have good news, my dear Lila! You’re exactly where every American dreams of being: you’re on TV.” He pointed to the camera. “And we have a very special guest in the audience tonight. Your very own beloved Jackson!”
I shuddered, hearing my own name ooze from his fetid lips. His façade of perfection was slipping, and there was something so profoundly ugly beneath it. Her eyes snapped to the camera, confused, despairing. “Jackson? Baby? What — what’s happening? What is this?”
I don’t know, I thought, gripping the sides of the TV so hard my knuckles turned white, but I’m going to get you out of there, baby. I’m going to find whoever did this and I’m going to bury them all so far beneath that studio that they’ll never-
“I’m afraid Jackson hasn’t joined us quite yet, my dear. But if you truly love him, surely you’ll give him a show to remember, won’t you?” He taunted her. “All I want, after all, is to ask you a few questions! In fact, I’ll offer you a special deal: get even a single answer right, and I’ll let you go free! But get one wrong and, well…”
On cue, a fire was lit beneath her. Small, smoldering for now, but she whimpered as she noticed the heat. We both realized in that instant what this was. By now, I was screaming things I can’t repeat here, and slamming my hands against the TV screen as if I could reach through and save her.
She bit her lip and acquiesced. Not like she had any room to argue. The host grinned and readied a cue card. “Your first question: where are you, Lila?”
“I… I don’t know. How am I supposed to know?”
“You do know, Lila. You know exactly where you are.” He smirked at her. “Here’s a free hint: what’s the last thing you remember, before you woke up here?
She thought about it… and choked back a sob, visibly shaking as the realization slowly settled in. “But… but why? I… I…”
The horrible wail of the buzzer cut her off. “Oooh, too bad! I’m afraid you’ve run out of time!”
Seemingly as if on its own, the fire doubled in size. Sparks licked the belly of the bronze bull, and began to ever-so-slowly heat the surface. She pawed around in the tight confines, searching for any reprieve from the scalding heat all around her as the metal grew hot like it’d been left out in the sun on a summer’s day. “Please! Oh, God, let me out of this thing! It hurts! It hurts!”
The host seemed to breathe in her pain as if stealing a moment’s indulgence. “Now that there is no doubt about where you are, my dear, let us proceed to the second question.” He switched to his next card. “Did you believe in God, in the end?”
“O-of course!” She pled her case as if she was being tried in court. “My entire life… every day I gave to the poor, helped the sick, did whatever I could to honor Hi-“
“I’m afraid you misunderstood my question. I asked, did you believe in him at the end? The very moment your pitiful little life was snuffed out?”
“I always believed! I’d never forsake Him!”
“Yes, yes, I know. You lived a good and holy life, didn’t you?” He cackled. “But what of the very end? You and your little husband were so excited to deliver your first little baby boy. But o, tragedy! It all went wrong, didn’t it? Your precious little boy didn’t make it through childbirth… and you followed closely behind.”
“That whole business with the botched pregnancy, it was… what do you call it? Ah, yes. A ‘test of faith’. And I’m afraid you failed. In your final moments, you watched the light fade from your child’s eyes, and you assumed — wisely, in my humble opinion — that no ‘kind’ and ‘loving’ God would allow something like that to happen.” He laughed. “Funny how after a lifetime of dutiful service, all it takes is one little mistake at the end… to bring you here. To us.”
I’d never seen such depths of despair in a person’s eyes. Such emptiness. Like with every word, he’d been scooping out another piece of her until she was hollow. And then that buzzer roared again, more shrill than ever, and I could barely see her little window through the smoke and flames. The belly of the bull was turning orange in places, and I could hear her flesh start to sizzle like meat on a grill. There are no words for the noises she made. No words at all.
“And our last, final question,” he continued. “What were your last words to your poor, beloved Jackson?”
“I love you!” I called out the answer. Bloody fingerprints stained the TV screen from my slamming my hands against it, as I screamed the answer over and over. “I love you, I love you, I love you!” At some point, I forgot that there was ever a question. I was just screaming it at her as if hoping that she could hear it, that it could bring her a modicum of comfort in that place.
The buzzer sounded again. I couldn't bring myself to look. All I could hear was the roaring of the bull, and the steam rising from its bronze nostrils.
The curtain fell. Silence drowned the sound. The host dropped all pretense that he hadn’t been speaking directly to me. “Now, Jackson. You just might be one of my new favorite audience members this show had ever had. I know this must have been hard for you. But if you’ll just stay tuned, I have one more show I know you’re certain to love!”
I didn’t bother to touch the remote. After all, nothing could be worse than what I’d just seen, right?
Wrong. Horror wracked me as the curtain rose, and I saw the man chained to a chair. I pulled away like a caveman witnessing fire, cringing and stuttering, face wet with sweat. It was the sort of fear that worked its way into your bones like a bad chill, that left you shaking, teeth chattering.
It was me.
An older me, sure. But not by much. Ten years, maybe. A gaunt and hollow version of me, one twisted by ten years of depression and hard drugs. But it was unmistakable.
His eyes widened as he recognized the host. “Oh — oh God, God please no! It can’t be — oh Christ, let me out of this chair, you —“
“Come, now! We wouldn’t want to use the lord’s name in vain, would we? I mean, that would be a sin!” The host laid a hand on the other me’s shoulder. “It may have been a few years since you watched our program, but I’m sure you remember the rules, don’t you, old friend?”
The other me was wordless, on the verge of hyperventilating, just as I was. The host was giddy with delight. “Now! Our first and only question is one I’m sure our viewer will be very interested in: what sins, exactly, do you think landed you here?”
The other me tried to speak, but the words caught in his throat. I could see it in his eyes. The years of self-destruction, the bitter hopelessness, the whirlpool of nihilism and vice and decay. The suffocating depths of a man. The darkness. How could he put it into words?
The sound of the buzzer was like a pig’s squeal. “Mmm, I’m afraid that our viewer is going to have to figure that out for himself! In the meantime, your punishment? Well, we wouldn’t want to spoil anything…”
The curtains slowly began to fall just as a couple other of those black, grotesque monstrosities emerged from the darkness. The curtain covered them all before I could get a good look at their obscene, twisted, asymmetrical figures. All I could hear was the crunching, the sound of skin tearing like paper, the screaming that went on for longer and louder than a human throat or vocal chords could endure.
The image and audio were beginning to distort, glitch, burn away. The tapes were physically melting as they played. My VCR was starting to overheat, sparks pouring from its front panel. The host voice jumped around in tone, his voice fading into the static blur as the tapes bubbled and boiled and distorted. “But, my friends, I’m afraid that concludes tonight’s episode of our show! So, with a final farewell to our dear, beloved viewer, Jackson…”
Just before the image melted away, the camera seemed to jump forward until his face filled the screen, his eyes piercing into mine as he cackled in that singsong voice.
“See you sooooon~”
submitted by nomass39 to nosleep [link] [comments]


2024.05.13 10:13 alex123711 AWS architecture diagrams for practice/ understanding?

Looking for basic example AWS example diagrams for practising such as label the diagram, for example EC2, Private subnet, auto scaling group, load balancer to help with understanding/ passing tests etc. Any recommendations?
submitted by alex123711 to aws [link] [comments]


2024.05.13 03:01 jGatzB The Eldritch Spider (archived from Discord)

Originally posted by jGatzB.
Through the decades of combined Board & Bureau Operations Reports, there has only been a single mention of an Eldritch Spider sighting--a belated depiction of the event that transformed Jesse Gatz before appropriating the name jGatzB. No other operator has ever witnessed a creature like it, in the alleyspace or any cabinet reality, therefore this report remains unverified.
Gatsby describes his initial weeks in The Arcade as a Nomad, before an encounter with a Nothing Machine (NM #001 - CENTRAL NETWORK) seems to have snapped him back to consciousness. He spent the following days carefully inspecting his surroundings and becoming familiar with them, returning to the Nothing Machine frequently as a means of restoring his focus. During this time, he describes playing various machines using scavenged quarters, in an attempt to root out some escape-room style design that might be solved to escape. Gatsby does not recall finding a Token, and was likely not paying much attention to the difference in coin discovered in the dark, but we believe his encounter with the Tabula Librum cabinet to have been the first near-incursion into a cabinet reality.
Gatsby describes attempting to play a Gauntlet styled arcade cabinet, covered in 80's D&D-style artwork and labeled "Tabula Librum." In his belated report of the event, "The machine boots, goes to white, goes to black, and then--I don't know how to say this--but the screen turned a color I have never seen before. I can't even describe what color it was. I just know it was extremely vivid, like the saturation was cranked out, but the hue value was unfathomable." He describes being mesmerized by the sight during what we now understand to be the "entry window." As no attempt to enter the machine was made, something instead made the attempt to climb out.
"This fat spider-leg comes jutting out of the screen--like, black and chitinous, but glistening with this blue-green mucus. Then another one, and another one, and then the thing's pulling itself out through the static, snapping its fangs at me and moving faster than anything I've ever seen. It bit me on the left shin, right through my pants leg--and when it bit me, it felt like the way dial-up tone SOUNDS. Like I had stuck a fork into an electrical socket the moment the edible hit. I remember my pants leg burning off first, and my left pocket buzzing like my phone was finally working--except it was pulling away from me like something was trying to fly out of my pocket. I felt a different sensation rush through me then, and when those feelings started to mesh together, I passed out."
We know that at that moment, Super64 turned the corner, saw the spider, grabbed it by the skull and crammed it back into the cabinet screen. It struggled, nearly matching Super's strength before Super finished the chicken philly in his left hand and began shoving with both free hands. Afterwards, Super unplugged the machine, tacked up an "Out of Order" sign, and left. Having not yet formally met Jesse Gatz, he simply presumed this stranger to be dead.
"When I woke up--and it took a long time for me to really feel AWAKE--my body was gone. I don't know how else to describe it, except like logging into a match in-progress as a spectator. When I looked down, there was no one there, but I could feel myself--like I was invisible. It wasn't until I headed back into the darker hallways that I started to see myself too--only I wasn't myself anymore. I had become..." //Gatsby motions to himself// "...this hole, right? I'm like a hole with a purple nebula on the other side. And of course, if the light is right, you can still see the features of my face. I have an outer shell, right? But it isn't skin anymore. My hair isn't really hair. But it's all retained its correct shape and dimensions. I weigh the same, if that makes any sense. I can eat, drink, gain, and lose weight. My body functions, but isn't there. I am the hole where Jesse used to be."
submitted by jGatzB to cadelore [link] [comments]


2024.05.13 01:24 gringoswag20 A Letter To My Younger Self, The "Red Pill"

The public only wakes up at the end.
“Know that this universe is nothing but a dream bluff of nature to test your consciousness of immortality.” - Paramahansa Yogananda
I will not sit here and lie to you that I know what is to come in the future. I can research and pose educated hypotheses', but I do not know what the future holds.
I'm writing this today because the most important thing is knowledge, wisdom, and information, and not only is it not easily available, but is inside and belonging to each of us by birthright.
https://preview.redd.it/y6mz6avh220d1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=1a8cd543c0b3b462924ae989a43e0682e6c7a1ce
There is always someone who knows more than me, so please comment and add anything. There may be a time with no Reddit, a completely censored or no internet and people fully have to rely on their own wisdom and personal knowledge.
Before we get into this,
We all have to understand that our senses can pick up such little available sound and light frequencies that we are basically blind.
The greatest psyop of all history has been the programming of human beings to worship the material world semicolon and hence the erected prison of our left rational mind.
https://preview.redd.it/fqbopcxm220d1.png?width=563&format=png&auto=webp&s=17f1191a3eaefa97d0da436d93ac13e7fd1ca7b3
What truly is 'rational' in this world, is pretty ignorant and arrogant once you research ancient civilizations, religions, magic, history Etc.
This has been the ultimate goal of the controllers and rulers of our reality:
To sever our connection with our true nature, and our true identity; a reflection of God. Made up of the substance of God, given the mind of God, to experience God... to remember oneself as god...to ascend and go back to godhead.
The rulers of this reality worship Saturn, form, the material world, and the cold, dark forces that make up our existence. There is a reason why the Black Cube is represented in many different countries with massive sculptures; as well as the largest investment firm in the world being called BlackRock. In Mecca, Muslims walk around a massive black Cube and Jews put a black Cube on their forehead during prayers. The Black Cube represents what we find ourselves in. We are the Black Cube and we find ourselves inside of the black cube. Form.
https://preview.redd.it/ui5yyxco120d1.png?width=1051&format=png&auto=webp&s=fbb3329537d03910b6b348c8f3bf2238e7acf0fc
https://preview.redd.it/t1vnxt8tw10d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=ffe88ce44739690e865cf0f08bbaef48d9c4f594

If you don't read anything in this writing, simply read this:

Every ancient religion, society, prophet, civilization etc, desperately is trying to tell you that you are not this body, but you are the observer, immortal awareness.
The greatest illusion cast on to man is the illusion of separation. Your skin doesn't separate you from reality but is the bridge to it. Everything is truly a projection of the mind, and once you realize your senses are so lacking, you basically do live in a literal holographic electrical reality.
Every prophet and religion when not mistranslated is telling you to identify and remember your true nature, that you are love, unity, and the universe itself (God).
https://preview.redd.it/m7ek2n58w10d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=16cba6e7b613c0c8ddc02551bdcbe962764e4adf
To ascend this three-dimensional realm and reincarnation (ascend the black cube) become the cross, become crucified, and raise your consciousness past Duality and polarity; to Unity and the godhead reality. The kingdom of Heaven is within.
"Be In The World, Not of This World"
https://preview.redd.it/190o7izgu10d1.png?width=508&format=png&auto=webp&s=9c13c20fa9354276740c262fe2f7355bef0b182a

ANCIENT CREATION STORY (Eagle vs. Serpent)

Satan and the serpent
The oldest recorded creation stories can be traced back to ancient Sumer. The cuneiform tablets show the true story, the same story that is mirrored and varied in every other society and religion.
The Sumerian cuneiform tablets say that the Sky gods came to Earth to create a race of worker slaves. They use in-vitro fertilization using the DNA of the already existing primate to create a hybrid between themselves and our ancestors. The stories speak about Sky gods falling from the Heavens to Earth. Does this mean the avatars of the seven planets, or avatars of higher astral beings, or angels descending through the firmament, or aliens coming from another star system... I don't know. But all of the stories represent the characters being the same and in a reptilian humanoid form (shapeshifting).
https://preview.redd.it/j04a9d0x520d1.png?width=768&format=png&auto=webp&s=060b79d170b03489ab5afa4319de32e4c8ff7608

Enlil (Satan, Saturn, Kumarabi, Amun-Ra, Zeus, YHWH, etc.)

Enlil, the god of the storm, the prince of the air, and the god of the sky are represented in many different cultures as Zeus, Kumarabi, Amun-ra, Saturn, and many more. They're all representations of Satan or Saturn, the dark force in the universe and form and the material world. Yahweh in the Bible is Enlil. A wrathful deity who sees Humanity as no more than slaves and wishes to bring Humanity to degeneracy and the destruction of humanity. Originally during the creation of humans, he did not want to give Humanity intelligence and wanted to keep them toiling as worker slaves. Famously you can see this in the Mistranslated Adam and Eve serpent story where God tells Adam and Eve not to eat the apple of the Gods (Knowledge of the gods.)
Enlil (Lord of The Sky, Lord of The Storm [Yaweh, Satan])
In fact, it is said that Yahweh enacted many famines upon the people of the day as well as ordered the rapes and pillaging of many different cities. He created Wars and ultimately he did not warn Humanity of a coming flood as he wished to see them all wiped out.

Enki (Thoth, Enoch, Prometheus, Quetzalcoatl, Odin, etc)

\Yahshua {Maybe} "I and the father are one"]))
Enki, or "The lord of the Earth", is the mediator between humans and the true loving God.
Yes, Enki's the 'serpent' in the Garden of Eden. He is the one who went behind the back of Enlil to give Humanity the knowledge of the gods. In fact, in many ancient texts, it is said that humans are more enlightened than their rulers as Enkis really created the perfect creation. Enki falls in love with his creation and sees himself in humanity. He is the one who warns Noah or Utinapishnu to save his family and animals from the flood.
In ancient times the serpent represented Enlightenment and wisdom. The serpent can be traced back to the Hebrew term Nahash, which means shining and is a reference to the oil or Kundalini energy rising up the spine.
Kundalini energy, the oil or energy coiled in man. When raised allows him to realize god.
Moses lifting the serpent just as man should be lifted (god realization)
Briefly one can view our reality as an ancient battle between a force trying to lead us to degeneracy and slavery and another force who sees us as himself and is trying to lead us to reach our Highest Potential and Escape the Black Cube.
Enki or the energy of "The Lord of The Earth" can be traced to many different cultures and be seen by many incarnations such as Thoth, Enoch, Odin, Prometheus, etc.
Many of these cults of the serpent went on to become secret societies and this is where I believe they start to label Enki as Lucifer. I do not understand how the elites and other societies see Enki's actions as anything other than akin to Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Muhammad, and all the Prophets... But I guess there's something I'm missing.

Cyclical Cataclysms, Global resets and Our lost (Hidden) History

https://preview.redd.it/2yixual9220d1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=e538f6c3460731b79d969a88ab09ad566030574a
I've read in many different places that there was the insanely advanced Society of Atlantis that began to fall as dark occultists and magicians began to hijack the society and Lead it into debauchery. Whether the cataclysm that ended Atlantis was created from a black Magic Ritual or from a supernatural external event, Atlantis was destroyed. In the Sumerian Kings list when the Kings descend from the heavens again I believe this is after that. I’d equate this to either 11,000 years ago or 6,000 years ago. The problem with time frames is the Roman Empire probably added thousands of years to Its supposed rain and messes up a lot of the chronology of our timeline.
One of the biggest lies we have as a society is that we came from apes (and not genetic hybrids of our past homo sapiens). That we are from this material world and we are just on a long journey of evolution. Humanity did not evolve from Africa and spread over the world through land bridges.
Every single Society has the same creation story, the same architecture, and the same iconography and names. The same creation stories and flood myths permeate all throughout the world, even the fact that the same Rock reliefs and sculptures can be found literally in societies that supposedly never knew each other.
By now most people are probably familiar with the topic of Tartaria. Tartaria probably being a misnomer for the true name of the ancient civilization who inhabited the planet before the Satanic conquest of the world. I've researched that a cataclysm probably happened a few hundred years ago that completely reset the world. anyone who can completely tell you what happened in our past is completely lying. There have been so many mistranslations, manipulations, and flat-out Lies by our controllers it is challenging to piece together the truth.
The same arcticture all over the world.
What is obvious though is that the empty City pictures of the 1800s and the gargantuan churches and buildings (built by people with dirt roads and horses lol) that look like they had been covered in a mud flood are far older than we have been led to know.
Past technology is being hoarded and we are all truly being extorted by controllers who wish to rid us of all of our spiritual energy and financial capital. Ancient cathedrals in the past knew how to harness the electromagnetic frequency in the atmosphere to create a healing energy and frequency inside. Basically a massive healing center. There have been inventions where you sit in a chair and hydrotherapy can fix many of your ailments. Hell, if you even look at many of the past World Fairs there is so much electricity it is obvious that we knew and understood electricity a lot earlier than we can remember.
\"Tartarian\" Technology
I'm trying to make this as brief as possible but people must realize that our history is a complete lie trying to manipulate you to have a false identity and a false perception of reality.
The world today is run by a certain 'ethnicity' (which is also my own) that has stolen most of their own teachings and knowledge from the rest of the world, then changed history, so they may seem more ancient and more advanced than they truly are. But you can see who they truly worship by the symbolism on their flag. A hexagram is the 2D form of a 3D cube. In other words, the people whose holy day is on Saturday are the ones who worship Saturn. Now you can see how the Muslim religion and Catholicism with its worship of Yahweh has been hijacked as well.
https://preview.redd.it/0rdyh91by10d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=4fb8f54c20024be682e547e3dc23852695208dad
After the most recent cataclysm is when the hijacking of the current world began. The Catholic Jesuits, the wealthy Phoenician families, the Freemasons, the Skull and Bones, the illuminated ones, and the Cult of Saturn worshipers (Cult of Baal [Cabal]) took over the world, burned and destroyed much of our ancient artifacts, and history and then changed up our entire chronology so we would believe their false chronology and adopt their forced self-identity that they have clouded our perception.
The ancient black Hebrews who inhabited the Americas have had their deep knowledge of the universe raped and pillaged from them and they've basically been exterminated. You walk into any African-American Museum and it starts with slavery, when in all actuality California is named after a black Warrior Queen named Califia.
https://preview.redd.it/2k4wtqg3x10d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=b38cb95cf35dccba9b46a52460680ae8f34655b9
Many other societies and cultures have fallen into the void of history as they have had their histories and cultures stolen and manipulated. The ancient Irish, where you can trace many of the earliest versions of the Bible have had their total history erased. We're currently watching a genocide take place where the descendants of European Jews are killing the actual semites and then turning around and calling everyone anti-Semitic... this has been going on for a while.

Plans For The Future

The Tower of Babel allegory might be the closest to relating to our time today. It seems that the masses are mostly asleep, but there is a growing large number of people who understand the truth of reality and are trying to share it with others. Our controllers and the god they serve want the exact opposite of this.
They guard this occult knowledge and keep the masses in a thought perception of slavery and confusion, all to create a false sense of scarcity and ravage the Earth of her Bountiful resources. They hide different forms of energy such as hydrogen, and the electromagnetic frequency that permeates throughout the Earth's ether, to push toxic Industries such as oil and other fossil fuels. They spray us with metals that cause health and mental problems, putting fluoride and other metals such as aluminum in our water source. Most of our food is filled with fake preservatives and microplastics, and our health and educational systems both make the individual much sicker than they do heal and grow.
The eagle, Satan truly is the leader of this false world. everything in our reality now has been totally corrupted And now siphons the life force out of basically everything.
We slaughter animals like they're nothing, we throw every single human being we can into a metal box like it's nothing, Our children are now being sexualized and pedophilia is becoming normalized to the point. Children have their gender identity totally confused because Black Rock wants to make more money pumping ESG through companies.
To even the minimally aware, they easily can see the devil in the world everywhere they turn. The world is not based upon truth, honesty, and love, it's based on scarcity, ego, and the worship of form and death. All Illusions in their grandest sense.
And this is what our ancients knew, all throughout the world they understood this deeply. they passed it on to their children. They lived close to Source during their daily life.
The goal of the Elites, AND the god they serve is to return man to the form which they see fit, a worker slave toiling in degeneracy and ignorance. With this realization, the whole world is easily understood. (And outgrown.)
The amount of technology that is being withheld from us is truly mind-boggling. They most likely already have reverse-engineered UFOs and an alternate free energy source. (Nikola Tesla lol)
We've already been infected with nanobots, whether you took the vaccine or not; they have direct energy weapons that can burn down whole cities. They can make earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes whenever they please. They make bioweapons through vaccines and diseases that they spread to the populations for money. They wish to create a one-world currency, a digital CBDC, so they can really make the world into a prison planet.
They can produce a fake alien invasion, or they could maybe even create a dark ritual and enact a cataclysm that can be seen throughout our history (ie floods, electromagnetic storms, fires, asteroids etc). The elites have been planning and guiding the world to their ultimate plan, I would not be surprised if they cause a giant reset to thwart our Awakening.
Their ultimate goal is to microchip everyone so they can see and control all of their thoughts and biometrics. To fully return you to a slave and keep you trapped inside the material world.
They basically tell you everything and program you to accept and manifest the reality that they are trying to create. Do not give them the power to do so. Do not consent to this reality they are trying to make. A reality of cyber attacks, pandemics, food shortages, world wars, political unrest, instability, violent race relations etc etc.
https://preview.redd.it/axv0pbjt120d1.png?width=1170&format=png&auto=webp&s=def333bb5ac9ab3fb8987d013a84db4cb03cb5e1
https://preview.redd.it/j41xfqd5y10d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=117b99956c48096010244f3eac94d7f53dcdfcd0
This may sound weird but truly there is nothing to fear. Once you realize that you are not the body, and are immortal awareness there's nowhere to go. There's nothing to lose, there's nothing to gain.
Everything is an illusion in this world. This life shouldn't be this hard but it is. It shouldn't be this hard to stay healthy, gain knowledge, and grow, but it is.
Just don't lose hope or let the demiurge, satan forces win.
You are a creator god, a being of light, a being of unity and love. Once you deeply understand that is your true identity you can never unlearn it.
I know in the deepest part of my soul that the creative loving force of the universe is much stronger than the destructive force, and this is weird to say but truly in the biggest reality, we are all the same being experiencing itself and this place doesn't even "matter". But this place does matter, because we are all experiencing it, and I don't think any religion or Society or prophecy ends with Satan winning.
You are more powerful than you think. You control your reality, you control what you experience. Don't let this Demiurge AI-like reality corrupt you and bring you down to this dense false reality. Learn as much as you can, become as wise as you can, and realize that you have the power to create and do anything in your own life.

The Controllers and El-ites are Scared of YOU, not the Other way Around. You are more Enlightened than the Rulers.

Truly nothing new is under the sun.
The goal of this life is to realize your truth, gain liberation and never come back to this shit show again. I love you, and see you as myself. I hope we can reach the highest point we possibly can. Be safe.
“People of this world are deluded. They’re always longing for something-always, in a word, seeking. But the wise wake up. They choose reason over custom. They fix their minds on the sublime and let their bodies change with the seasons. All phenomena are empty. They contain nothing worth desiring.”-Bodhidharma
Samsara, The Wheel on endless Reincarnation
The Big I, the only conciousness in the universe, the real you (and me lol)
submitted by gringoswag20 to conspiracy [link] [comments]


2024.05.13 01:16 gringoswag20 A Letter To My Younger Self: Time is Running Out, Here is the "Red Pill"

The public only wakes up at the end.
“Know that this universe is nothing but a dream bluff of nature to test your consciousness of immortality.” - Paramahansa Yogananda
I will not sit here and lie to you that I know what is to come in the future. I can research and pose educated hypotheses', but I do not know what the future holds.
I'm writing this today because the most important thing is knowledge, wisdom, and information, and not only is it not easily available, but is inside and belonging to each of us by birthright.
https://preview.redd.it/yatk3gw6u20d1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=7a28a7c01432f4c0581cc0618c6f49ce654db9b6
There is always someone who knows more than me, so please comment and add anything. There may be a time with no Reddit, a completely censored or no internet and people fully have to rely on their own wisdom and personal knowledge.
Before we get into this,
We all have to understand that our senses can pick up such little available sound and light frequencies that we are basically blind.
The greatest psyop of all history has been the programming of human beings to worship the material world semicolon and hence the erected prison of our left rational mind.
https://preview.redd.it/7ibs0n09u20d1.png?width=563&format=png&auto=webp&s=5ec1d39c8a5b171932260892950568b586e93a01
What truly is 'rational' in this world, is pretty ignorant and arrogant once you research ancient civilizations, religions, magic, history Etc.
This has been the ultimate goal of the controllers and rulers of our reality:
To sever our connection with our true nature, and our true identity; a reflection of God. Made up of the substance of God, given the mind of God, to experience God... to remember oneself as god...to ascend and go back to godhead.
The rulers of this reality worship Saturn, form, the material world, and the cold, dark forces that make up our existence. There is a reason why the Black Cube is represented in many different countries with massive sculptures; as well as the largest investment firm in the world being called BlackRock. In Mecca, Muslims walk around a massive black Cube and Jews put a black Cube on their forehead during prayers. The Black Cube represents what we find ourselves in. We are the Black Cube and we find ourselves inside of the black cube. Form.
https://preview.redd.it/w135m26cu20d1.png?width=1051&format=png&auto=webp&s=935aa3c562338e28cac4de4314698bb6975fb957
https://preview.redd.it/8rvu6oycu20d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=c9bb70007f02b0b43b098e3c1897a6a2316e7468

If you don't read anything in this writing, simply read this:

Every ancient religion, society, prophet, civilization etc, desperately is trying to tell you that you are not this body, but you are the observer, immortal awareness.
The greatest illusion cast on to man is the illusion of separation. Your skin doesn't separate you from reality but is the bridge to it. Everything is truly a projection of the mind, and once you realize your senses are so lacking, you basically do live in a literal holographic electrical reality.
Every prophet and religion when not mistranslated is telling you to identify and remember your true nature, that you are love, unity, and the universe itself (God).
https://preview.redd.it/75stedneu20d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=64fea086721fd8a34d5e46106c805ea01e8cd23e
To ascend this three-dimensional realm and reincarnation (ascend the black cube) become the cross, become crucified, and raise your consciousness past Duality and polarity; to Unity and the godhead reality. The kingdom of Heaven is within.
"Be In The World, Not of This World"
https://preview.redd.it/zv1p3j8gu20d1.png?width=508&format=png&auto=webp&s=fa73fcec4ff272d46267bb2be7c409a510002909

ANCIENT CREATION STORY (Eagle vs. Serpent)

Satan and the Serpent
The oldest recorded creation stories can be traced back to ancient Sumer. The cuneiform tablets show the true story, the same story that is mirrored and varied in every other society and religion.
The Sumerian cuneiform tablets say that the Sky gods came to Earth to create a race of worker slaves. They use in-vitro fertilization using the DNA of the already existing primate to create a hybrid between themselves and our ancestors. The stories speak about Sky gods falling from the Heavens to Earth. Does this mean the avatars of the seven planets, or avatars of higher astral beings, or angels descending through the firmament, or aliens coming from another star system... I don't know. But all of the stories represent the characters being the same and in a reptilian humanoid form (shapeshifting).
Ninmah, Mami (Where we get Mother)

Enlil (Satan, Saturn, Kumarabi, Amun-Ra, Zeus, YHWH, etc.)

Enlil, the god of the storm, the prince of the air, and the god of the sky are represented in many different cultures as Zeus, Kumarabi, Amun-ra, Saturn, and many more. They're all representations of Satan or Saturn, the dark force in the universe and form and the material world. Yahweh in the Bible is Enlil. A wrathful deity who sees Humanity as no more than slaves and wishes to bring Humanity to degeneracy and the destruction of humanity. Originally during the creation of humans, he did not want to give Humanity intelligence and wanted to keep them toiling as worker slaves. Famously you can see this in the Mistranslated Adam and Eve serpent story where God tells Adam and Eve not to eat the apple of the Gods (Knowledge of the gods.)
Enlil (Lord of The Sky, Lord of The Storm [Yaweh, Satan])
In fact, it is said that Yahweh enacted many famines upon the people of the day as well as ordered the rapes and pillaging of many different cities. He created Wars and ultimately he did not warn Humanity of a coming flood as he wished to see them all wiped out.

Enki (Thoth, Enoch, Prometheus, Quetzalcoatl, Odin, etc)

\Yahshua {Maybe} "I and the father are one"]))
Enki, or "The lord of the Earth", is the mediator between humans and the true loving God.
Yes, Enki's the 'serpent' in the Garden of Eden. He is the one who went behind the back of Enlil to give Humanity the knowledge of the gods. In fact, in many ancient texts, it is said that humans are more enlightened than their rulers as Enkis really created the perfect creation. Enki falls in love with his creation and sees himself in humanity. He is the one who warns Noah or Utinapishnu to save his family and animals from the flood.
In ancient times the serpent represented Enlightenment and wisdom. The serpent can be traced back to the Hebrew term Nahash, which means shining and is a reference to the oil or Kundalini energy rising up the spine.
Kundalini energy, the oil or energy coiled in man. When raised allows him to realize god.
Moses lifting the serpent just as man should be lifted (god realization)
Briefly one can view our reality as an ancient battle between a force trying to lead us to degeneracy and slavery and another force who sees us as himself and is trying to lead us to reach our Highest Potential and Escape the Black Cube.
Enki or the energy of "The Lord of The Earth" can be traced to many different cultures and be seen by many incarnations such as Thoth, Enoch, Odin, Prometheus, etc.
Many of these cults of the serpent went on to become secret societies and this is where I believe they start to label Enki as Lucifer. I do not understand how the elites and other societies see Enki's actions as anything other than akin to Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Muhammad, and all the Prophets... But I guess there's something I'm missing.

Cyclical Cataclysms, Global resets and Our lost (Hidden) History

https://preview.redd.it/wrq8u801v20d1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=405667d018b8d17823da4e18232b03f827e34608
I've read in many different places that there was the insanely advanced Society of Atlantis that began to fall as dark occultists and magicians began to hijack the society and Lead it into debauchery. Whether the cataclysm that ended Atlantis was created from a black Magic Ritual or from a supernatural external event, Atlantis was destroyed. In the Sumerian Kings list when the Kings descend from the heavens again I believe this is after that. I’d equate this to either 11,000 years ago or 6,000 years ago. The problem with time frames is the Roman Empire probably added thousands of years to Its supposed rain and messes up a lot of the chronology of our timeline.
One of the biggest lies we have as a society is that we came from apes (and not genetic hybrids of our past homo sapiens). That we are from this material world and we are just on a long journey of evolution. Humanity did not evolve from Africa and spread over the world through land bridges.
Every single Society has the same creation story, the same architecture, and the same iconography and names. The same creation stories and flood myths permeate all throughout the world, even the fact that the same Rock reliefs and sculptures can be found literally in societies that supposedly never knew each other.
By now most people are probably familiar with the topic of Tartaria. Tartaria probably being a misnomer for the true name of the ancient civilization who inhabited the planet before the Satanic conquest of the world. I've researched that a cataclysm probably happened a few hundred years ago that completely reset the world. anyone who can completely tell you what happened in our past is completely lying. There have been so many mistranslations, manipulations, and flat-out Lies by our controllers it is challenging to piece together the truth.
The same arcticture all over the world.
What is obvious though is that the empty City pictures of the 1800s and the gargantuan churches and buildings (built by people with dirt roads and horses lol) that look like they had been covered in a mud flood are far older than we have been led to know.
Past technology is being hoarded and we are all truly being extorted by controllers who wish to rid us of all of our spiritual energy and financial capital. Ancient cathedrals in the past knew how to harness the electromagnetic frequency in the atmosphere to create a healing energy and frequency inside. Basically a massive healing center. There have been inventions where you sit in a chair and hydrotherapy can fix many of your ailments. Hell, if you even look at many of the past World Fairs there is so much electricity it is obvious that we knew and understood electricity a lot earlier than we can remember.
\"Tartarian\" Technology
I'm trying to make this as brief as possible but people must realize that our history is a complete lie trying to manipulate you to have a false identity and a false perception of reality.
The world today is run by a certain 'ethnicity' (which is also my own) that has stolen most of their own teachings and knowledge from the rest of the world, then changed history, so they may seem more ancient and more advanced than they truly are. But you can see who they truly worship by the symbolism on their flag. A hexagram is the 2D form of a 3D cube. In other words, the people whose holy day is on Saturday are the ones who worship Saturn. Now you can see how the Muslim religion and Catholicism with its worship of Yahweh has been hijacked as well.
https://preview.redd.it/d0c9ks6bv20d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=e1d86b136ed19450e5cd70d1691002ce528e7bdd
After the most recent cataclysm is when the hijacking of the current world began. The Catholic Jesuits, the wealthy Phoenician families, the Freemasons, the Skull and Bones, the illuminated ones, and the Cult of Saturn worshipers (Cult of Baal [Cabal]) took over the world, burned and destroyed much of our ancient artifacts, and history and then changed up our entire chronology so we would believe their false chronology and adopt their forced self-identity that they have clouded our perception.
The ancient black Hebrews who inhabited the Americas have had their deep knowledge of the universe raped and pillaged from them and they've basically been exterminated. You walk into any African-American Museum and it starts with slavery, when in all actuality California is named after a black Warrior Queen named Califia.
https://preview.redd.it/5rr4fw1dv20d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=ef7bc49fcb0d268c00aa79f514740139c5befc00
Many other societies and cultures have fallen into the void of history as they have had their histories and cultures stolen and manipulated. The ancient Irish, where you can trace many of the earliest versions of the Bible have had their total history erased. We're currently watching a genocide take place where the descendants of European Jews are killing the actual semites and then turning around and calling everyone anti-Semitic... this has been going on for a while.

Plans For The Future

The Tower of Babel allegory might be the closest to relating to our time today. It seems that the masses are mostly asleep, but there is a growing large number of people who understand the truth of reality and are trying to share it with others. Our controllers and the god they serve want the exact opposite of this.
They guard this occult knowledge and keep the masses in a thought perception of slavery and confusion, all to create a false sense of scarcity and ravage the Earth of her Bountiful resources. They hide different forms of energy such as hydrogen, and the electromagnetic frequency that permeates throughout the Earth's ether, to push toxic Industries such as oil and other fossil fuels. They spray us with metals that cause health and mental problems, putting fluoride and other metals such as aluminum in our water source. Most of our food is filled with fake preservatives and microplastics, and our health and educational systems both make the individual much sicker than they do heal and grow.
The eagle, Satan truly is the leader of this false world. everything in our reality now has been totally corrupted And now siphons the life force out of basically everything.
We slaughter animals like they're nothing, we throw every single human being we can into a metal box like it's nothing, Our children are now being sexualized and pedophilia is becoming normalized to the point. Children have their gender identity totally confused because Black Rock wants to make more money pumping ESG through companies.
To even the minimally aware, they easily can see the devil in the world everywhere they turn. The world is not based upon truth, honesty, and love, it's based on scarcity, ego, and the worship of form and death. All Illusions in their grandest sense.
And this is what our ancients knew, all throughout the world they understood this deeply. they passed it on to their children. They lived close to Source during their daily life.
The goal of the Elites, AND the god they serve is to return man to the form which they see fit, a worker slave toiling in degeneracy and ignorance. With this realization, the whole world is easily understood. (And outgrown.)
The amount of technology that is being withheld from us is truly mind-boggling. They most likely already have reverse-engineered UFOs and an alternate free energy source. (Nikola Tesla lol)
We've already been infected with nanobots, whether you took the vaccine or not; they have direct energy weapons that can burn down whole cities. They can make earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes whenever they please. They make bioweapons through vaccines and diseases that they spread to the populations for money. They wish to create a one-world currency, a digital CBDC, so they can really make the world into a prison planet.
They can produce a fake alien invasion, or they could maybe even create a dark ritual and enact a cataclysm that can be seen throughout our history (ie floods, electromagnetic storms, fires, asteroids etc). The elites have been planning and guiding the world to their ultimate plan, I would not be surprised if they cause a giant reset to thwart our Awakening.
Their ultimate goal is to microchip everyone so they can see and control all of their thoughts and biometrics. To fully return you to a slave and keep you trapped inside the material world.
They basically tell you everything and program you to accept and manifest the reality that they are trying to create. Do not give them the power to do so. Do not consent to this reality they are trying to make. A reality of cyber attacks, pandemics, food shortages, world wars, political unrest, instability, violent race relations etc etc.
https://preview.redd.it/hiz2o5ifv20d1.png?width=1170&format=png&auto=webp&s=06e8443631649d689dfa20cf85aa33477fbd3769
https://preview.redd.it/xbcs29jgv20d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=a1b1b18f0e3a70aedac12f98931bcf33b89f97de
This may sound weird but truly there is nothing to fear. Once you realize that you are not the body, and are immortal awareness there's nowhere to go. There's nothing to lose, there's nothing to gain.
Everything is an illusion in this world. This life shouldn't be this hard but it is. It shouldn't be this hard to stay healthy, gain knowledge, and grow, but it is.
Just don't lose hope or let the demiurge, satan forces win.
You are a creator god, a being of light, a being of unity and love. Once you deeply understand that is your true identity you can never unlearn it.
I know in the deepest part of my soul that the creative loving force of the universe is much stronger than the destructive force, and this is weird to say but truly in the biggest reality, we are all the same being experiencing itself and this place doesn't even "matter". But this place does matter, because we are all experiencing it, and I don't think any religion or Society or prophecy ends with Satan winning.
You are more powerful than you think. You control your reality, you control what you experience. Don't let this Demiurge AI-like reality corrupt you and bring you down to this dense false reality. Learn as much as you can, become as wise as you can, and realize that you have the power to create and do anything in your own life.

The Controllers and El-ites are Scared of YOU, not the Other way Around. You are more Enlightened than the Rulers.

Truly nothing new is under the sun.
The goal of this life is to realize your truth, gain liberation and never come back to this shit show again. I love you, and see you as myself. I hope we can reach the highest point we possibly can. Be safe.
“People of this world are deluded. They’re always longing for something-always, in a word, seeking. But the wise wake up. They choose reason over custom. They fix their minds on the sublime and let their bodies change with the seasons. All phenomena are empty. They contain nothing worth desiring.”-Bodhidharma
Samsara, The Wheel on endless Reincarnation
The Big I, the only conciousness in the universe, the real you (and me lol)
submitted by gringoswag20 to starseeds [link] [comments]


2024.05.13 01:15 gringoswag20 A Letter to my Younger Self: Time is Running Out, Here is the "Red Pill"

The public only wakes up at the end.
“Know that this universe is nothing but a dream bluff of nature to test your consciousness of immortality.” - Paramahansa Yogananda
I will not sit here and lie to you that I know what is to come in the future. I can research and pose educated hypotheses', but I do not know what the future holds.
I'm writing this today because the most important thing is knowledge, wisdom, and information, and not only is it not easily available, but is inside and belonging to each of us by birthright.
https://preview.redd.it/yatk3gw6u20d1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=7a28a7c01432f4c0581cc0618c6f49ce654db9b6
There is always someone who knows more than me, so please comment and add anything. There may be a time with no Reddit, a completely censored or no internet and people fully have to rely on their own wisdom and personal knowledge.
Before we get into this,
We all have to understand that our senses can pick up such little available sound and light frequencies that we are basically blind.
The greatest psyop of all history has been the programming of human beings to worship the material world semicolon and hence the erected prison of our left rational mind.
https://preview.redd.it/7ibs0n09u20d1.png?width=563&format=png&auto=webp&s=5ec1d39c8a5b171932260892950568b586e93a01
What truly is 'rational' in this world, is pretty ignorant and arrogant once you research ancient civilizations, religions, magic, history Etc.
This has been the ultimate goal of the controllers and rulers of our reality:
To sever our connection with our true nature, and our true identity; a reflection of God. Made up of the substance of God, given the mind of God, to experience God... to remember oneself as god...to ascend and go back to godhead.
The rulers of this reality worship Saturn, form, the material world, and the cold, dark forces that make up our existence. There is a reason why the Black Cube is represented in many different countries with massive sculptures; as well as the largest investment firm in the world being called BlackRock. In Mecca, Muslims walk around a massive black Cube and Jews put a black Cube on their forehead during prayers. The Black Cube represents what we find ourselves in. We are the Black Cube and we find ourselves inside of the black cube. Form.
https://preview.redd.it/w135m26cu20d1.png?width=1051&format=png&auto=webp&s=935aa3c562338e28cac4de4314698bb6975fb957
https://preview.redd.it/8rvu6oycu20d1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=c9bb70007f02b0b43b098e3c1897a6a2316e7468

If you don't read anything in this writing, simply read this:

Every ancient religion, society, prophet, civilization etc, desperately is trying to tell you that you are not this body, but you are the observer, immortal awareness.
The greatest illusion cast on to man is the illusion of separation. Your skin doesn't separate you from reality but is the bridge to it. Everything is truly a projection of the mind, and once you realize your senses are so lacking, you basically do live in a literal holographic electrical reality.
Every prophet and religion when not mistranslated is telling you to identify and remember your true nature, that you are love, unity, and the universe itself (God).
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To ascend this three-dimensional realm and reincarnation (ascend the black cube) become the cross, become crucified, and raise your consciousness past Duality and polarity; to Unity and the godhead reality. The kingdom of Heaven is within.
"Be In The World, Not of This World"
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ANCIENT CREATION STORY (Eagle vs. Serpent)

Satan and the Serpent
The oldest recorded creation stories can be traced back to ancient Sumer. The cuneiform tablets show the true story, the same story that is mirrored and varied in every other society and religion.
The Sumerian cuneiform tablets say that the Sky gods came to Earth to create a race of worker slaves. They use in-vitro fertilization using the DNA of the already existing primate to create a hybrid between themselves and our ancestors. The stories speak about Sky gods falling from the Heavens to Earth. Does this mean the avatars of the seven planets, or avatars of higher astral beings, or angels descending through the firmament, or aliens coming from another star system... I don't know. But all of the stories represent the characters being the same and in a reptilian humanoid form (shapeshifting).
Ninmah, Mami (Where we get Mother)

Enlil (Satan, Saturn, Kumarabi, Amun-Ra, Zeus, YHWH, etc.)

Enlil, the god of the storm, the prince of the air, and the god of the sky are represented in many different cultures as Zeus, Kumarabi, Amun-ra, Saturn, and many more. They're all representations of Satan or Saturn, the dark force in the universe and form and the material world. Yahweh in the Bible is Enlil. A wrathful deity who sees Humanity as no more than slaves and wishes to bring Humanity to degeneracy and the destruction of humanity. Originally during the creation of humans, he did not want to give Humanity intelligence and wanted to keep them toiling as worker slaves. Famously you can see this in the Mistranslated Adam and Eve serpent story where God tells Adam and Eve not to eat the apple of the Gods (Knowledge of the gods.)
Enlil (Lord of The Sky, Lord of The Storm [Yaweh, Satan])
In fact, it is said that Yahweh enacted many famines upon the people of the day as well as ordered the rapes and pillaging of many different cities. He created Wars and ultimately he did not warn Humanity of a coming flood as he wished to see them all wiped out.

Enki (Thoth, Enoch, Prometheus, Quetzalcoatl, Odin, etc)

\Yahshua {Maybe} "I and the father are one"]))
Enki, or "The lord of the Earth", is the mediator between humans and the true loving God.
Yes, Enki's the 'serpent' in the Garden of Eden. He is the one who went behind the back of Enlil to give Humanity the knowledge of the gods. In fact, in many ancient texts, it is said that humans are more enlightened than their rulers as Enkis really created the perfect creation. Enki falls in love with his creation and sees himself in humanity. He is the one who warns Noah or Utinapishnu to save his family and animals from the flood.
In ancient times the serpent represented Enlightenment and wisdom. The serpent can be traced back to the Hebrew term Nahash, which means shining and is a reference to the oil or Kundalini energy rising up the spine.
Kundalini energy, the oil or energy coiled in man. When raised allows him to realize god.
Moses lifting the serpent just as man should be lifted (god realization)
Briefly one can view our reality as an ancient battle between a force trying to lead us to degeneracy and slavery and another force who sees us as himself and is trying to lead us to reach our Highest Potential and Escape the Black Cube.
Enki or the energy of "The Lord of The Earth" can be traced to many different cultures and be seen by many incarnations such as Thoth, Enoch, Odin, Prometheus, etc.
Many of these cults of the serpent went on to become secret societies and this is where I believe they start to label Enki as Lucifer. I do not understand how the elites and other societies see Enki's actions as anything other than akin to Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Muhammad, and all the Prophets... But I guess there's something I'm missing.

Cyclical Cataclysms, Global resets and Our lost (Hidden) History

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I've read in many different places that there was the insanely advanced Society of Atlantis that began to fall as dark occultists and magicians began to hijack the society and Lead it into debauchery. Whether the cataclysm that ended Atlantis was created from a black Magic Ritual or from a supernatural external event, Atlantis was destroyed. In the Sumerian Kings list when the Kings descend from the heavens again I believe this is after that. I’d equate this to either 11,000 years ago or 6,000 years ago. The problem with time frames is the Roman Empire probably added thousands of years to Its supposed rain and messes up a lot of the chronology of our timeline.
One of the biggest lies we have as a society is that we came from apes (and not genetic hybrids of our past homo sapiens). That we are from this material world and we are just on a long journey of evolution. Humanity did not evolve from Africa and spread over the world through land bridges.
Every single Society has the same creation story, the same architecture, and the same iconography and names. The same creation stories and flood myths permeate all throughout the world, even the fact that the same Rock reliefs and sculptures can be found literally in societies that supposedly never knew each other.
By now most people are probably familiar with the topic of Tartaria. Tartaria probably being a misnomer for the true name of the ancient civilization who inhabited the planet before the Satanic conquest of the world. I've researched that a cataclysm probably happened a few hundred years ago that completely reset the world. anyone who can completely tell you what happened in our past is completely lying. There have been so many mistranslations, manipulations, and flat-out Lies by our controllers it is challenging to piece together the truth.
The same arcticture all over the world.
What is obvious though is that the empty City pictures of the 1800s and the gargantuan churches and buildings (built by people with dirt roads and horses lol) that look like they had been covered in a mud flood are far older than we have been led to know.
Past technology is being hoarded and we are all truly being extorted by controllers who wish to rid us of all of our spiritual energy and financial capital. Ancient cathedrals in the past knew how to harness the electromagnetic frequency in the atmosphere to create a healing energy and frequency inside. Basically a massive healing center. There have been inventions where you sit in a chair and hydrotherapy can fix many of your ailments. Hell, if you even look at many of the past World Fairs there is so much electricity it is obvious that we knew and understood electricity a lot earlier than we can remember.
\"Tartarian\" Technology
I'm trying to make this as brief as possible but people must realize that our history is a complete lie trying to manipulate you to have a false identity and a false perception of reality.
The world today is run by a certain 'ethnicity' (which is also my own) that has stolen most of their own teachings and knowledge from the rest of the world, then changed history, so they may seem more ancient and more advanced than they truly are. But you can see who they truly worship by the symbolism on their flag. A hexagram is the 2D form of a 3D cube. In other words, the people whose holy day is on Saturday are the ones who worship Saturn. Now you can see how the Muslim religion and Catholicism with its worship of Yahweh has been hijacked as well.
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After the most recent cataclysm is when the hijacking of the current world began. The Catholic Jesuits, the wealthy Phoenician families, the Freemasons, the Skull and Bones, the illuminated ones, and the Cult of Saturn worshipers (Cult of Baal [Cabal]) took over the world, burned and destroyed much of our ancient artifacts, and history and then changed up our entire chronology so we would believe their false chronology and adopt their forced self-identity that they have clouded our perception.
The ancient black Hebrews who inhabited the Americas have had their deep knowledge of the universe raped and pillaged from them and they've basically been exterminated. You walk into any African-American Museum and it starts with slavery, when in all actuality California is named after a black Warrior Queen named Califia.
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Many other societies and cultures have fallen into the void of history as they have had their histories and cultures stolen and manipulated. The ancient Irish, where you can trace many of the earliest versions of the Bible have had their total history erased. We're currently watching a genocide take place where the descendants of European Jews are killing the actual semites and then turning around and calling everyone anti-Semitic... this has been going on for a while.

Plans For The Future

The Tower of Babel allegory might be the closest to relating to our time today. It seems that the masses are mostly asleep, but there is a growing large number of people who understand the truth of reality and are trying to share it with others. Our controllers and the god they serve want the exact opposite of this.
They guard this occult knowledge and keep the masses in a thought perception of slavery and confusion, all to create a false sense of scarcity and ravage the Earth of her Bountiful resources. They hide different forms of energy such as hydrogen, and the electromagnetic frequency that permeates throughout the Earth's ether, to push toxic Industries such as oil and other fossil fuels. They spray us with metals that cause health and mental problems, putting fluoride and other metals such as aluminum in our water source. Most of our food is filled with fake preservatives and microplastics, and our health and educational systems both make the individual much sicker than they do heal and grow.
The eagle, Satan truly is the leader of this false world. everything in our reality now has been totally corrupted And now siphons the life force out of basically everything.
We slaughter animals like they're nothing, we throw every single human being we can into a metal box like it's nothing, Our children are now being sexualized and pedophilia is becoming normalized to the point. Children have their gender identity totally confused because Black Rock wants to make more money pumping ESG through companies.
To even the minimally aware, they easily can see the devil in the world everywhere they turn. The world is not based upon truth, honesty, and love, it's based on scarcity, ego, and the worship of form and death. All Illusions in their grandest sense.
And this is what our ancients knew, all throughout the world they understood this deeply. they passed it on to their children. They lived close to Source during their daily life.
The goal of the Elites, AND the god they serve is to return man to the form which they see fit, a worker slave toiling in degeneracy and ignorance. With this realization, the whole world is easily understood. (And outgrown.)
The amount of technology that is being withheld from us is truly mind-boggling. They most likely already have reverse-engineered UFOs and an alternate free energy source. (Nikola Tesla lol)
We've already been infected with nanobots, whether you took the vaccine or not; they have direct energy weapons that can burn down whole cities. They can make earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes whenever they please. They make bioweapons through vaccines and diseases that they spread to the populations for money. They wish to create a one-world currency, a digital CBDC, so they can really make the world into a prison planet.
They can produce a fake alien invasion, or they could maybe even create a dark ritual and enact a cataclysm that can be seen throughout our history (ie floods, electromagnetic storms, fires, asteroids etc). The elites have been planning and guiding the world to their ultimate plan, I would not be surprised if they cause a giant reset to thwart our Awakening.
Their ultimate goal is to microchip everyone so they can see and control all of their thoughts and biometrics. To fully return you to a slave and keep you trapped inside the material world.
They basically tell you everything and program you to accept and manifest the reality that they are trying to create. Do not give them the power to do so. Do not consent to this reality they are trying to make. A reality of cyber attacks, pandemics, food shortages, world wars, political unrest, instability, violent race relations etc etc.
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This may sound weird but truly there is nothing to fear. Once you realize that you are not the body, and are immortal awareness there's nowhere to go. There's nothing to lose, there's nothing to gain.
Everything is an illusion in this world. This life shouldn't be this hard but it is. It shouldn't be this hard to stay healthy, gain knowledge, and grow, but it is.
Just don't lose hope or let the demiurge, satan forces win.
You are a creator god, a being of light, a being of unity and love. Once you deeply understand that is your true identity you can never unlearn it.
I know in the deepest part of my soul that the creative loving force of the universe is much stronger than the destructive force, and this is weird to say but truly in the biggest reality, we are all the same being experiencing itself and this place doesn't even "matter". But this place does matter, because we are all experiencing it, and I don't think any religion or Society or prophecy ends with Satan winning.
You are more powerful than you think. You control your reality, you control what you experience. Don't let this Demiurge AI-like reality corrupt you and bring you down to this dense false reality. Learn as much as you can, become as wise as you can, and realize that you have the power to create and do anything in your own life.

The Controllers and El-ites are Scared of YOU, not the Other way Around. You are more Enlightened than the Rulers.

Truly nothing new is under the sun.
The goal of this life is to realize your truth, gain liberation and never come back to this shit show again. I love you, and see you as myself. I hope we can reach the highest point we possibly can. Be safe.
“People of this world are deluded. They’re always longing for something-always, in a word, seeking. But the wise wake up. They choose reason over custom. They fix their minds on the sublime and let their bodies change with the seasons. All phenomena are empty. They contain nothing worth desiring.”-Bodhidharma
Samsara, The Wheel on endless Reincarnation
The Big I, the only conciousness in the universe, the real you (and me lol)
submitted by gringoswag20 to Soulnexus [link] [comments]


2024.05.13 00:12 r0773nluck Linneo Wiring harness guide?

I just ran my wiring harness to my board but the labeling does not match of the voron wiring diagram for Spider Board
I’m left with GD - Ground 24v - 24v line H0 - hotend heater 0
I have nothing hooked up to my extruder heater post yet which I assume these in some configuration go to.
Also for the XY end stop PCB the wiring on the connectors are in a different pin then the voron wiring guide and it doesn’t say which is x and which is y just 4 colors
submitted by r0773nluck to VORONDesign [link] [comments]


2024.05.12 22:16 justherelol1415 [Chemistry: 10th grade] Heating Curve

[Chemistry: 10th grade] Heating Curve
How would I draw this graph? I tried doing it and plotting the points, but the gas one is 1.287 kJ and ends up at a weird spot, making it impossible to do a heating curve.
submitted by justherelol1415 to HomeworkHelp [link] [comments]


2024.05.11 22:01 ProfessorHawkinsJr hopeless love story

made this for my narrative essay in american literature, but one of my friends said i should share the story
“But I Still Need You” Throughout my life, I had always fallen easy for girls. The elementary mindset of, “she’s cute, so I have a crush on her,” prevented me from developing a legitimate relationship with any girl I tried to talk to. The few times that my feelings were reciprocated, I had no idea because I was already on to the next girl, and this continued until I was left with a multitude of friend-zone situations and a list of “crushes.” My charisma already lacking, it seemed each year that passed, previous to 3rd grade, I grew in weight and therefore awkwardness. The struggle to interact with women lessened as I grew up, while the fat remained. So, by the 8th grade I was the ideal guy friend; easy to talk to, kinda funny, understanding, and unintimidating. My approachable “funny fat friend” nature had its ups and downs. While guys, for reasons I still don’t fully understand, suspected me to be gay, girls found it intriguing and it made them want to be friends with me more. Back then I didn’t know, but now I know that by being forced to be friends first, after finding out I was in fact not gay, the right woman for me would want to be with me for my personality. In the winter of 2021, I fell hard for a girl named Madeline. Maddie was no different than many of the other girls in that she had a bland personality and I thought she was cute. She had brunette hair with bangs, big glasses, way too much makeup on, and a unique fashion sense. Her sense of fashion was one of the few interesting things about her, yet it was disregarded by the public. Not too many guys found her appealing, but I did, for whatever reason. I was dead set on getting to know her better in hope of becoming more than friends. Unfortunately, she hardly paid attention to me, but I didn’t give up. I merely slowed down because of my interest in her friend, Isabella. Isabella is the Spanish and Italian variation of Elizabeth (derived from the Hebrew name Elisheba). The meaning of Elishiba can be translated to, “God is my oath.” In Arabic, the beginning of Isabella, “Isa,” is the classical Arabic name for Jesus, while in the French language, the shortened version of Isabella, “Belle,” translates to “beautiful.” I had met Isabella in the sixth grade, and grew a tiny crush on her, in the elementary sense, before we all went into hibernation (COVID). I barely knew her though, and she had no idea who I was, so when we interacted in my last two classes, if we did at all, it was like two strangers who kept running into each other. I sat by her in my sixth period, and one seat up and to the right from her in seventh. We only ever made small talk and the occasional joke, but when I spoke with her I felt content. Still barely knowing her, all I could admire was the little things in the way she laughed and spoke. I longed to know more about Isabella, she was mature, intelligent, and very opinionated, but still light-hearted and made time pass at the speed of light. It wasn’t until she was in my group in sixth period one day that she began to open up a little by sharing the details of her current long-distance relationship. The shards of my heart stabbed and crushed my stomach; hope, the oxygen to my mind, depleted faster than the air of a broken space shuttle; palpitation, nausea, asphyxia, and neurosis bombarded me like Persian arrows on the Greeks. Then, all at once, the excruciating tidal wave evaporated, but instead of calm waters, I was left with a drought. Every emotion muted or gone, my body went numb while everything I cared for vanished from my mind. I didn’t speak throughout the rest of that day, and went directly from the bus to decaying in my bed. I was devastated, so I retreated to my pointless crush on Maddie. Unrelated to the rather sad lovelife, my anxiety and depression worsened throughout 8th grade, and while I was going to therapy, most of my issues wouldn’t and still haven’t been worked through. Throughout the school year I had developed a toxic system of self pity, in which I would spend hours a day cycling through the feelings of hope, anger, and despair- never that of joy. I knew what I was doing, gathering enough hope to face the school day just before I reflected on the doubts and grievances going on throughout my life. I’d bring myself up just for a greater fall because honestly, overtime I became numb to the natural pain. If I were going to fall into the pit that is depression, the higher I peaked in terms of optimism the more excruciating the freefall of nausea and the heavy flow of salt water. At that point in my life, I saw no point in getting out of bed to do anything, school or even my own mother’s birthday. By the end of eighth grade I had spent almost a total of six weeks absent, two of which were from me being quarantined. Typically over the span of one or two days, others up to four, I would be in my bed “sick.” During these mini-vacations I would sleep all morning, if my mom let me, and stay up all night, oftentimes listening to Radiohead or Cigarettes After Sex while staring at my ceiling. I wanted to stay up, I wanted to feel the bags grabbing and pulling towards my cheekbone, I wanted to feel empty, emotionally and physically. During the day, my anxiety attacks became panic attacks and I would get sent home for vomiting. I'd throw up to give Mom a reason to let me stay home. I’d throw up to feel something, anything. I’d throw up to keep my stomach empty. I’d throw up because I had to, because the nerves and overthinking forced me to. Every morning, I’d drag my black air force ones across cement, carpet, tiles, and marble, each step leading towards Mrs. Clements’ homeroom. For every step, a different worry or insecurity flashed through my brain. But then, out of the blue, I’m “Lincoln” again. I walk into homeroom with an ear-to-ear grin and dap up “the boys”. I’d spend the morning building up hopes of making Isabella laugh today, or maybe calling her once I got home, but I knew that nine times out of ten my hopes were delusional. To “Lincoln,” this was no problem, he would make a gay joke, join the boys with teasing a cute girl in my class, and laugh until just for a moment, the despair was gone. Finally, the sixth period would come and I’d get to see Isabella. In here I got the least work done out of all my classes as I would find myself strategically planning my next interaction with her, just for said plans to go out the window when I was brought face to face with her. Typically seventh period followed the same pattern except Ms. Shirley Davis could never allow small talk in her classroom. When the last bell rang, I went straight to the buses. I’d sleep on the way home, dreaming of a call that would hardly happen. On the off chance my phone didn’t reach its feared 11th cry, we’d talk for hours at a time. On a weekday or not, it seemed that, when we did call, it was guaranteed to go into the early morning. It’s hard to put my finger on a specific topic, or even general. In our conversations, we discussed anything and everything. Everything, except her own love interest. I admired this, as my inability to keep who I’m thinking about at the time a secret is a major flaw of mine. The more that me and her spoke, the more I grew to love her. Our talks were so honest, so raw, that the secret I held began to eat away at me. My core collapsing like a dying star, each day it felt like the pain got worse. To cope with the feelings I had buried deep inside me, I’d turn to my friends. At first, they said to come forward with my feelings, but I knew that’s what any friend would’ve said. The relief I got from venting the conflicting hurricane within me was brief. Overtime, their words of encouragement turned to annoyance, and understandably so. When people grew sick of the same old sadistic untold love, I turned to Isabella. I wrote a text so full that, to read it, one needed to tap on an arrow at the bottom right corner of my message. The essay was compiled with the confliction I had, developing feelings for a friend, and the sorrow that filled me each day that passed without her. I described the perfect imperfections that I admired about her, how life was complete when I spoke to her, the beauty that paralyzed me every time I saw her in person, and the character that I felt God had curated specifically for me. Sitting there unsure if I should press send, a fear grew within my chest that Isabella would see right through me. I could hear the music that so often triggered tears; the vocals of Thom Yorke or the beats of Kanye West, they faded in and out. What if she didn’t even respond? What if she thought I was a creep? What if- then she responded. Suddenly, the ominous 808s & Heartbreak pounding vanished, my respiratory chaos became paralyzed, and time stood still. I couldn’t breathe until I finished reading, and once I did, my sigh was all but relieving. Isabella explained to me how unhealthy my habits were; even in comparison to the anguish that would follow, I’d suffer far more and far longer should I suppress my emotions. She told me how that level of affection, in the context of the warped concept of romance most men had, was something she had only dreamt of. Isabella said that holding these feelings would eat away at me, exponentially increasing in severity, until I broke. Not only would I be hurting myself, but I would be depriving the person I care about most from the appreciation they deserve. I became bloated with fear of the friendzone, those insecurities, all based upon inference, became a reality with Isabella’s last piece of advice. She said, “If she doesn’t reciprocate those emotions, then don’t worry. I’m sure there’s a girl out there who can appreciate your compassion.” The blame had no other place to go than my shoulders, after all, I got what I asked for, advice on another girl. Isabella, even if she saw the crush I had on her, is far too kind to address it. She cared for everyone, and to her, she was merely boosting up a friend who’s down. For the rest of the night her text echoed through my mind; pain, regret, and admiration caused my mind to sporadically leap from conclusion to conclusion. Two years later, those words still haunt me, reiterations of that phrase torturing me when I least expect them. The school year progressed, but my aspirations with Isabella didn’t. Over time, the frequency of my writings grew to be weekly, at times reaching two a week, and the weight of my confessions depleted. I opened my audience to a mutual friend of Isabella’s, Miley, with the intention of acquiring useful advice. Eventually, my choice to try concealing what I felt for Isabella became too heavy of a burden, weighing down on me in forces I had not endured before. Soon, the love I had for Isabella turned to hatred for myself. I was relentlessly criticizing every aspect of myself and my mind. I hated how fat I was, my smile, my voice, my laugh, and most of all my personality. What I had thought was my greatest strength, was revealed as my worst trait. The gullibility I exhibited when thinking for a second Isabella could possibly like me; the lack of confidence that caused me to chicken out of confessing my feelings to her; my insufferable need to make people laugh; the hyperfixation I would develop for those that I love. Everything about me was wrong. I stopped eating, stopped sleeping, stopped caring, and eventually I stopped living. The “Lincoln” my friends had grown to recognize, the only remnant of the joy I felt when I was younger, died, and I was left with only my love for Isabella and resentment for myself. I began testing the limits of what was left of me, praying for relief. At first in the middle of the night, an anaconda would find its way to my throat, wrapping around my neck. Its cold black scales gracefully gliding across my skin before silencing my cries with the swift tug of its metallic USB head. The snake would maintain pressure until I let go of it, the entire time whispering into my ear, begging me to hold on. Some nights it came with what must have been a full stomach for it was drastically wider, it was brown these nights, with leather skin, and a slight warmth, but it behaved the same. Most visits from the snake ended with my vision blurry, my breath short, or my head dizzy. The only consistency of our transactions was Asia’s Death Lake that streamed down my face from start to finish. Eventually, the snake seemed closer and closer to silencing me forever, but I also became used to its visits. I began writing letters to everyone I loved so that, should the snake come out victorious, they’d have a final goodbye. Once I had sorted out my notes, I called the snake to my room. This time it came striped with shades of blue, its skin a soft fabric. For once, I controlled the snake, because our intentions finally aligned. I locked the door, sent out my texts, placed the written notes on my dresser, and joined the snake at my closet door. Holding onto the doorknob, the snake wrapped itself around my neck just as it had done in nights of the past. It whispered to me, “let go,” for I had been on my knees in hesitation. I followed the snake’s order by making a sort of plank with my body, the bottom half resting on a stack of dirty laundry and pillows while the top was supported by my elbows. Pressure swiftly fell down on my neck and didn’t stop. “This is it,” I thought to myself. My eyes seemed to pop out of my skull, and my tears, falling down like summer rain, became blurry dots as my vision went dark. Next thing I know, I’m waking up, snot, saliva, and tears strung between my face and the carpet floor. My head pounding and my eyes burning, I looked up at the “snake” that was the tie my mom had gotten me for Sunday service. Although my mind was more clear, it was not out of revelation, but from a muted sense of the world around me. Other than Isabella, nothing mattered anymore, and the little emotion I felt was squashed by my immortal love. The following day I get called to the counselors office on charges of suicidal thoughts and self harm. I said what I had to in order to escape her grasp, but left infuriated. Not only had my own friends betrayed me, but the lady who was supposed to guide me essentially scolded me for being sad. Throughout the day my anger faded out and my focus became making an excuse as to why my parents got a weird call from my counselor, then I’d find the traitor who sold me out. That afternoon, I lost two friends, and for the first time ever got mad at Isabella. Apparently, Miley, Maddie, and Isabella all reported me to the counselor that morning. They said I had been traumatizing them with what was going on in my life, being normal and messing around at school, then detailing my thoughts and actions to them outside of school. I felt like I had been tricked. I thought they were my friends. I thought they understood me. They asked me if I was okay, they said they wanted, cared, needed to know, but now I had scared them? I addressed what had happened with Miley first. She immediately lashed out at me, saying I should be thanking them, not be mad. While I didn’t want to accept it, I understood the core of her choices. On the other hand, Maddie’s response to my confrontation was disgustingly cruel. She said I had been unfair and just seeking attention, that no thirteen to fourteen year old should hear about what I was going through because it was unnatural. Before she continued, I apologized, that’s all I could think to do, because deep down I believed her. She told me it wasn’t all my fault because my brain was messed up, and that opening up to the girls would only make them not want to be friends with me. The one word that rang through my head then, and still does today, was “creep,” she claimed that what I felt wasn’t love, but I was just mentally unstable and creepy. Any remnants of the sweet kid from elementary school who just wanted a friend and loved everyone were obliterated. Maddie was right, all I had done was hurt and scare them, it didn’t matter what I thought. I told her all I could, that I didn’t know what to say other than I was sorry for the damage I had done, and I would try and get better. Her response, like a branding iron on my mind, was, “It’s not damage, it’s baggage. Imagine if the roles were reversed.” It was only then that I stopped texting back. I wish I could say it was out of frustration or self respect, but the reality of my manipulative traits is what silenced me. Shockingly, the response that hurt the most was from Isabella, yet it somehow meant the most to me too. Isabella told me that she needed me in the world. She told me that if I ever got those thoughts again, to think about her as well; to think about the pain I’d be causing her; to think about the trauma she’d live with for the rest of her life. After repeating the phrase, “I need you in my life,” she acknowledged how selfish it was, but still didn’t care. Isabella continued elaborating, she didn’t care because no label of selfishness outweighed the value of my life. What she said that night has been vivid in my mind since, but my only wish is that she had needed me as I needed her. Tears began to hide my freckled cheeks as I texted her about how much her words meant to me, how much she meant to me, and I apologized to her. I said sorry for the baggage I caused, the “creepy” behavior, and any other ways I had wronged her. I said sorry for loving her, and told her I’d do better. She disregarded my apologies, telling me that I could always talk to her because no matter the baggage she could carry, it’d be worth taking the smallest bit off of me. Her words meant so much to me, yet hurt me just the same. I hated myself for it. I couldn’t see a life without an affection for her, it was pathetic. If I truly loved her, I’d let my feelings go, right? What kind of person did that make me? Summer came and went. Hoping that time would kill the crush I had on Isabella, I prohibited myself from contacting her. Instead I spent time with my family and a few friends, but Isabella never left my head. Even when accompanying my dad to Berry College for the Governor’s Honors Program, she’s what filled my head. At first I felt frustrated because before I had come forward to her, she had known about the feelings I had. I came to the conclusion that she had been dragging me along, but even then I knew how easily that thought would be abandoned. First day of High school, I got in touch with her. For maybe two weeks, I maintained a platonic relationship before free falling into the ominous pit once again. This time felt different though, it felt like what I had thought about everyday, for what seemed eternity, could be more than a daydream. We texted each other throughout the school day and facetimed after her cheer practice and my band practice. Eventually, Isabella was falling asleep on call. Before, we’d talk long into the night, and it began to drain the energy out of the both of us. Now, we were listening to music, playing Roblox, watching Netflix, or just sitting in silence. I had never felt comfortable with silence, but she made it seem better than having a conversation with anyone else. It’s a beautiful thing when words aren’t required to appreciate someone. The moment I had the courage to do so, I asked her out to Steak n’ Shake. It’s just my luck that the restaurant was hardly a shell of what I remembered as a kid. At first the conversation was awkward because we hardly spoke in person, but as time progressed so did we. I still remember the tightness of my cheeks as I failed to suppress my ear-to-ear grin. The euphoric nausea and beating heart that disappeared throughout our conversation. I remember the booth we sat in, the fact that she wanted me to swap seats with her because of her creaky seat, the way she giggled, how I fought tooth and nail to pay for such a small bill, the way she smiled when she said, “next time you’ve gotta let me pay,” and the shared excitement for our next hangout. Even though Isabella and I were still friends, even though the restaurant was a disaster, even though the fries were stale and the milkshakes chunky, that moment is one of the best in my life. With how well things were going, I thought that it was my best chance at making something more out of this friendship. So, I shot my shot. I told her that despite my efforts the summer before, she still held a special place in my heart. Isabella responded with her own struggles with recovering from a past relationship, detailing the trust issues and pain she still felt almost a year later. I was yet again, devastated. Then she added that despite her own feelings, she had to be careful and the risk of losing our friendship scared her. I understood her reasoning, but it made me sick to think of how close I was. In response, I expressed how I could relate to those feelings, and the conflict I had with them. It felt ridiculous having opened myself up once again, to just be friendzoned. Her response struck me with both hope and devastation, “I f*cking love you a ton Lincoln, but I’m struggling to differentiate my admiration as a friend and as something more. I’m terrified of losing you.” Previously I would have seen this as a sign to keep trying, but at that moment, I couldn’t see past the blatant friendzoning. After pursuing her for so long, it felt cruel of her to continue dragging me along like this, even though she was being honest. My reaction to the straw that broke the camel’s back is one of, if not, the biggest regrets in life. Homecoming was a little over a week away and she was going (as friends) with my buddy, Davis, so in a storm of hatred for myself and the situation I was in, I gave up on her. Our conversations grew to be minimal and far apart. Soon, I started to resent her. Each day since then, I have somehow felt more remorse than the last for not asking her to Homecoming. Homecoming night is when I began flirting with Claire, a sweet redhead from gym class. We connected on not going with the person we had hoped for. All it took was me joking that I should’ve spent more time around her, instead of leaving the dance early, for Claire to lose her mind. Over the next month or so, I was becoming closer and closer with Claire, despite her irritable “quirks”. I only spoke to Isabella if she reached out to me first with the only exception being when I would ask her for “advice” about Claire, which was a shameful habit I started as petty revenge on Isabella. Eventually, Isabella blocked me on Snapchat, but it didn’t matter. Things with me and Claire were going great, she made me feel like I didn’t need to starve myself to be good enough for her. She made me feel like I was enough. For the next two and a half months, life was great. After the first couple months of ignorant bliss, I was sick of her. Sure, there were a variety of reasons to find her annoying, most people I knew could list more than they have fingers and toes, but she didn’t do anything wrong. I shouldn’t have gotten into the relationship in the first place not only because of Isabella, but also the speed at which me and Claire started dating. She was still growing out of the elementary relationship phase, so while it was nice to connect with someone so quickly, it was rushed. Another issue being that I was her first real boyfriend, the baggage that followed me was detrimental to her and I couldn’t give her the attention she needed. As me and Claire began our month long drift apart, I was unblocked by Isabella. She and I caught up, and we quickly began to talk trash about Claire while on call. It was unbelievably toxic, and I’m embarrassed of how I handled things to this day. Eventually, with the support of Isabella, I decided it was time to break up. The only issue was the guilt I had in such a terrible choice, I could never do it. So I began to get more distant by the day, ignored texts and calls, and stopped walking her to classes because “I had to pee.” Eventually she caught wind of my plans and called me after school one day. Sobbing, she told me what she had heard and how she knew it wasn’t true, but it still worried her. I began to get ready to break the news, but she was already crying so what's the worst that could happen? I wish I had never asked myself that, because next she told me she’d been cutting herself. My heart sank in remorse for what I knew I would do. If I led her on longer, the aftermath of my cold actions would lead to even more catastrophe. I was scared, but knew the lesser of the two evils I had to pick from. I calmed her down, quickly notified her friends to be keeping an eye on her, and then dumped her. To this day, I am disgusted by my actions. Throughout the past three months, Claire expressed how she had loved and trusted me, yet I threw that all away. There are so many ways I could’ve handled the situation differently, but two stood out the most. Showing respect by speaking to Claire the moment I realized my feelings had fleeted was the bare minimum that I disregarded, but the second was far simpler. I had known from the start that I was still in love with Isabella and that love never faded, but was only suppressed. The entire relationship we developed, while we both enjoyed parts of it (her more than me), was a lie, and essentially a cruel joke played on Claire. There’s no excuse for my actions, and even worse, I could’ve cared less back then. It was only when time had passed that I began to understand the damage I had done. Without Claire holding me back, my newfound freedom led to a closer friendship with Isabella. I dove headfirst into the familiar pit all over again. A friendship was not enough, I appreciated every interaction I had with Isabella, but my life depended on a future with her. It’s likely she felt this as she slowly began to drift away from me. Before I had stayed up speaking to Isabella, but now I couldn’t sleep out of the tormenting absence of her voice. The only path to good health was time; distance was best for the both of us, and I knew it. For the rest of that school year, everything around me was going, but I stood still. It was like my life was just a sitcom, and I was no longer the main character. The summer that followed was just the same, I was living but dead, moving but still, speaking but silent. I was dissociating from my friends and family, but the absence of that violent snake made my depression insignificant. Living a life without her was more punishment than death itself, and I didn’t deserve relief. Even now, I think of that summer and remember almost nothing, for my life isn’t worth remembering without Isabella in it. Sophomore year began, and so did my conversations with Isabella. This go around, I was subtle with my feelings for her. The excitement I had for speaking with her was under control, but it was because the spark inside me had faded, even when it came to Isabella.The years of self pity and depression had left a toll on me that could never be reversed, and it didn’t help that Isabella began to build a relationship with another guy. When we spoke, if we did, Isabella’s concern for my mental state outweighed the friendship we were struggling to preserve. I had come to the conclusion that pursuing Isabella would only make things worse, and I needed to just be her friend. Since I couldn’t lose the feelings I had for her, I just sat in them. While I sat in the pit, Isabella and I had one particular Facetime call in which I brought up how much I regretted dating Claire. To that, Isabella added, “Yeah, she’s so annoying. I can’t remember if you told me why you got together in the first place, what led you to her?” I paused with the thousand-yard stare of an American private fresh out of West Point. “I guess I was just so disappointed with myself for not being able to go to homecoming with you and being stuck on you for so long that I impulsively got with another girl to forget about my shortcomings,” I said with reluctance and stuttering every few words. She told me that she would’ve said yes to homecoming without a second thought, but I knew she meant as friends. Then, to my dismay, Isabella revealed that whenever I got with Claire, she still had feelings for me. It was me talking to Isabella about how great things were with me and Claire that led her to block me and cut contact with me. The piano melody from “No Surprises” by Radiohead began looping through my mind as tears ran down my face. I forget how I ended the call, but once I did, I broke. I lost my breath, my head got light, my eyes became blurry, my stomach was nauseous, and my insides sank as far as they could. Everything I wanted, dreamed of, needed had been so close, and I blew it. Everything was my fault. Later I would ask her why she lost them, and her answer proved how much better she was than me. Isabella answered, “I had been hurt, so I moved on. Just got over it.” We hardly spoke anymore, but one text message has found a permanent home in my mind. After asking me how I was, Isabella wasn’t satisfied with, “it’s complicated.” She asked that I explain it to her so that she could try to understand. I told her about all the issues going on in my life, except the torch I still held for her. She wrote, “I know you’re not religious, so it may not mean anything, but I pray for you every night, Lincoln. Even though it sounds bad, I think that I've known you weren’t in the greatest mental place for a while. I want you to know I'm not judging you, I want you to feel comfortable enough to share that with someone. You have to be able to recognize how you’re feeling in order to even fix it.” These words broke me despite their simplistic appearance. Reading that she prayed for me hit me hard as she had always tried to get me to believe in God again. I’m agnostic, and nothing has come closer to bringing me back to faith as Isabella did. The idea that if God were real and I could see her in heaven was appealing, but should Christianity be the wrong choice, I wanted to be wrong with Isabella. In the following days, Isabella told me about Alex, a guy she had been talking to a lot, and how they were at most a month away from being together. I hated everything about Alex, which is a stupid name in the first place. I hated his choice of friends, I hated how white-washed he was, I hated how he dressed like a conservative cowboy, I hated the underbite that made him look like a pug, I hated his short curly hair, I hated the fact that he was a diehard Trump supporter while people of his race were being oppressed, I hated how he pretended to be someone else when he was around Isabella, I hated how he hid unhealthy habits from her, I hated that a guy like him garnered Isabella’s affection when I couldn’t. I barely knew the guy and I was wasting my energy with hatred for him, when in reality, he was just a mind-numbingly basic douche among the hundreds just like him at our school. Isabella regularly complained about Alex, but hardly did anything. Instead she stopped bringing it up, saying that talking about her issues with others only makes it worse and that she was just wining. The monotone delivery of her reasoning hurt my soul, it was like she was reciting a text from Alex. Each day that passed, I felt the urgency of expressing my feelings one more time rising. Soon Isabella and Alex would be official, and I would lose my chance to try and express how I felt one more time. I reached out to Isabella and asked if she was free to hangout that friday. On November 10, 2023, Isabella picked me up around 5:30 in the evening. She kept the inside of her SUV looking brand new in contrast to the familiarity of her smile. My nerves left me winded after every sentence and shivering in her passenger seat. Quickly our conversation became more natural as I cracked jokes to ease my anxiety, but my shaky breathing never stopped. We went to Publix to grab some snacks and drinks and headed right back to my neighborhood park. At the Grove Point Park, we found a swinging chair to sit in. Due to the time of the year, the sun had already set, but Isabella’s beauty was indifferent under the moonlight. I haven’t the slightest clue how long we sat there together. When I’m with Isabella, even Father Time gives me grace, for he knows that he is as powerless as I am to the frequency of these moments. After a while, I mentioned that it was getting late and she agreed. On the ride back to my place, I mustered the bare minimum of strength it took to confront my feelings. As she drove over the speed bump before entering the roundabout, I began to open up. I briefly told her that I still felt the same way I did two years ago, that I had tried to forget about the feelings I had with no success, and that I was sorry to once again ruin our unstable friendship. She told me it was fine and my feelings were natural, nothing to regret or be ashamed of. Her words meant nothing to me this time because I had already heard them. Defeated, I paused for a moment, then said, “Isabella, you reciprocated my feelings in the past, so after Alex, do you think that maybe we’d have a chance?” She looked at me with pain in her eyes, not for herself, but for me. She quietly said, “I- Lincoln, you know I can’t answer that. I’m with Alex now, it wouldn’t be fair.” All I could get out was, “Oh- I- I’m sorry. Uh yeah no, you’re uh- you’re right.” Everything in me pulled and begged at my lips to say what I wanted to, but I couldn’t. I still look back on that night and wish I had said the few words I never got to tell her. What if saying them could’ve changed something? Realistically, it wouldn’t have, but the regret remains. I doubt Isabella would have even remembered where my word choice stemmed from. Regardless, the words rang in my head then, and never stopped. All I wanted to say at that moment was, “but I still need you.” Today, 1,725 days since I first saw Isabella, 822 days since I first facetimed Isabella, and 178 days since that heartbreakingly beautiful night, I still love her the same. Looking back on my experience with her, I regret many things (oversharing, Claire, the snake, etc.), but the one thing I have never regretted was meeting and loving her. It was only recently that I realized that loving her has been one of the biggest mistakes in my life. For three years, day in and day out, I’ve thought about her. Three years where I could have met other people, worked on myself, enjoyed my friends and family, but instead I’ve loved her and nothing, nobody else. The one lesson that was essential for me to take away from my experience was impossible. In eighth grade I was 5’7 and 215 lbs, today I’m 5’10 and 165 lbs. In eighth grade I spent time with my parents, today I hide in my room. In eighth grade, I told people how I felt, now I’m too scared. In eighth grade, I talked about my depression, now I am left alone to deal with it. In eighth grade, I had many friends, now I rarely speak to them. In eighth grade, I needed Isabella, but the one lesson I should’ve learned never took effect. I still need her.
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2024.05.11 18:31 relishboi Predator's Disease Chapter 30

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Memory transcription subject: Jakiv, arxur scientist
Date [Standardized human time]: August 31st, 2148
[Day 24]
I woke up on the couch swaddled in a soft blanket. The light filtering through the windows illuminated and highlighted the red in Nuri’s fur. She was sleeping soundly on a pillow on the carpet. We were up late last night watching more movies and just talking about anything and everything.
For once I wasn’t feeling held down by sleep as I stood up from the couch. The yotul barely stirred. I went to the kitchen to make some coffee and eat breakfast. She’d ordered some food last night that I finished quickly because the time was 10 am and I was late for work.
I hastily swept up the folder with my report in it and headed for the door, my claws loudly clicking on the floor.
As I gripped the door handle, I heard Nuri call out, “Jaki?”
I turned around to see the yotul, draped in her blanket and smiling warmly. She approached and hugged me, “Have a good day at work,” she patted my back.
“Thank you, Nuri. I’ll see you later, okay?”
She nodded and waved as I stepped out into the warm sunlight. Today was going to be a good day.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Daniel Stat, human virologist
Date [Standardized human time]: August 31st, 2148
[Day 24]
Jakiv should’ve been in by now. I figured it didn’t matter too much, today we were going to be testing the vaccine and seeing how it interacted with the venlil body. He’d have loved to take notes, but a man like him would have a reason to call out of work, so I didn’t bother dwelling on it.
I stayed by Silvon’s side as we worked. I knew she still wasn’t feeling great after the email, and I was pretty on edge at the thought of Humanity First tracking us down. I promised her nonstop last night that I’d keep her safe.
“Danny?” she spoke softly.
“What’s up?”
“Can you pass me that sample there?” I handed her a vial of spliced cells and watched her drip them onto a slide with a myriad of other venlil cells. Various tissue cells, brain cells, and a couple of miscellaneous things like bone marrow and a tuft of fur. “Thanks, hon,” she smiled.
I felt giddy watching the cells harmlessly coexist. Then, she dripped a sample of the rhinovirus. Immediately the spliced cells got to work destroying the virus and protecting the other samples in the dish. “That’s looking really promising,” I observed.
She nodded, “I think it’s ready for the real test.”
“Got it. I’ll run these to the infirmary then. Be back in a sec, hon,” I promised, blowing a kiss since I was still suited in PPE.
I went through the decontamination cycle feeling like I was on cloud nine. Today was going to be a good day! As I started for the infirmary, sounds right out of my worst nightmares echoed down the corridor. Gunshots and screaming.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Aaron Clemont, Humanity First rallier
Date [Standardized human time]: August 31st, 2148
[Day 24]
Today was going to be a good day. Jatsen Labs was almost completely unguarded. The UN only sent two armed guards to stand outside the door, which were dispatched so easily, that they might as well have sent nobody at all.
While the peacekeepers were staining the sidewalk outside, I entered the building flanked by Landen and Vernon. We were immediately met with a pencil pushing yotul manning the front desk. Before she could even look up, a bullet blasted through her skull from my rifle. Landen and Vernon only had handguns, unfortunately. The local HF branch was rather poor. But they made do by squeezing off rounds into the panicked scientists who desperately ran down the halls to escape us.
Sprays of green soaked the walls and floors. I reloaded my rifle after eviscerating a Xeno and motioned forward. There was a map of the building on the wall that I scanned. We were pretty close to the virus lab, just a few short turns and Stat was at our mercy.
As I finished registering the info, the lights overhead dimmed and flashed red. “Good mood lighting,” I mused. As a trio we moved down the hall, leaving no survivors in our wake. We got to the door labeled ‘virus lab’ and used a keycard ripped from a corpse to unlock it.
“Let’s fucking do this,” I growled.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Daniel Stat, human virologist
Date [Standardized human time]: August 31st, 2148
[Day 24]
The gunshots were growing louder outside as the decontamination cycle came to an end. I threw myself inside the lab. Silvon looked panicked and was pressed against the far wall. Those plexiglass windows wouldn’t survive a bullet, and my love wasn’t making herself less of a target.
“Silvvy,” I spat hastily, “C’mere!” she hustled toward me as I threw open a cabinet beneath the lab and moved aside enough equipment for her to squeeze inside. “Get in here. Don’t even think of coming out. Whatever you hear, whatever you see, keep quiet,” I breathed.
“Danny-?”
“Now!” I roared.
“I love you,” she said. I could see her goggles fogging.
“I love you too,” I said, closing the cabinet door. I ducked beneath the wall under the plexiglass. The other yotul seemed to have run out. I was thankful Tinasi wasn’t at work today. I heard the sound of the decontamination cycle going on and steeled myself for the worst.
The door swished open slowly. The barrel of a rifle extended through the doorway first, followed by 3 humans. The one with the rifle scanned the room, finding me immediately. “Dr. Stat,” he smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you in person.” I stood, ready to fight for me and Silvon’s life. Then, for whatever reason, the man set down his rifle. “Where’s your Xeno, Danny?” he growled.
“Her name is Silvon,” I spat, “And she’s far, far away from her.”
I cracked my knuckles. “Y’know Doc, you’re pretty infamous among Humanity First. Killing one of our own, undermining all our efforts at every turn, fucking the locals, it’s awful,” his voice was suave and matter-of-fact, but filled with the kind of vitriol only a terrorist could muster.
“Is that so?” He asked, then chuckled. “Guess she won’t know she’s a widow for a while.”
I raised my fists, and one of the other humans chimed in, “Aaron, what are you doing?”
“Quiet!” he barked, reaching into his pocket and procuring a switchblade. “I’m doing good on Stephan’s name.”
He clicked the blade and lunged toward me. I quickly grabbed his wrist and tried to wrestle the blade from his hand. He slammed his fist into my face and I lost my grip on him. He fell to his knees on my chest, putting his full weight on my ribcage, and tried to slam the knife down on me. I took both his wrists in my hands, desperately pushing him back as the blade got nearer and nearer to my throat.
I simultaneously released on hand and moved my head aside, the knife clattered next to my ear as I punched him in the stomach and pushed him off of me.
“Do you need help?” The other human called.
“No!” He barked as I crushed his nose with my fist. “Watch the fuckin’ doors!”
He grabbed the knife and slammed it into my arm. I howled in pain as blood spurted from the wound. He laughed maniacally, his crushed nose seeping crimson. He ripped the knife from my arm and swung again, cutting me up further. I got a grasp on his wrist again, continuing to pummel him. We rolled over, he was once again on top, each punch made me see stars.
“It’s the end of the fucking line, Stat,” he coughed. Aaron punched full force into my throat, and I struggled to breathe. He got up, towering over me with a sadistic grin.
“DANNY!” a shrill voice screeched. There was a flash of auburn fur and a scream as Silvon jammed a partially shattered test tube deep into Aaron’s back. He whipped around, catching the venlil across the snout. Under the PPE I could see blood.
“Silvon,” I gasped, “What- are… you- doing?”
Aaron stamped down on my hand as I reached for her, the bones snapped beneath his heavy footfall and I cried out.
“I knew she wouldn’t be far,” the human growled.
“No-” I wheezed as he ripped the mask off Silvon’s face. We locked eyes. “I’m sorry, Danny,” she whispered.
“Boys,” Aaron chuckled heartily. “Grab me one of the samples.”
One of the humans by the door reached into a handheld cooler, withdrawing a small orange vial I knew all too well. “NO!” I screamed as Aaron knelt by Silvon. I tried to stand. One of the humans by the door swiftly raised his handgun and fired into my leg. The hot lead seared my flesh and my pantleg grew warm and wet.
“Sweet dreams, Xeno,” he laughed, forcing open her mouth and forcing the sample’s contents down her throat. He threw her aside while she tried fruitlessly to cough out the blood, then returned to me.
“There’s no way out for any of us now, Stat,” the knife gleamed, covered in my blood. He held it to my throat, I could feel the blade cutting in, then-
“HOLY SHIT!” The other Humanity First members screamed in unison. The plexiglass shattered, there was a blurry gray mass that landed with a heavy thud. The human who shot me turned his gun on the imposing figure of the arxur and popped off several shots.
Jakiv staggered, clutching his chest, but no blood pooled around the holes in his hoodie. “Stupid human,” he growled, slashing his throat in one smooth motion. He turned to the other terrorist, shakily holding his handgun out. He fired, striking Jakiv on the arm, but the arxur literally shrugged it off, clawing the human’s face.
Aaron was pale and stood, knife in hand, to face the arxur. “B-back off, gray!” he spat. He dove for his rifle, but Jakiv was faster, grabbing the gun and chucking it through the broken window. He stomped Aaron’s hand, his claws impaling the appendage. The terrorist groaned in pain as the arxur slowly bent over and slammed his jaws shut around Aaron’s windpipe. The human’s movements halted with the sickening crunch of bone.
I caught my breath, and leaned against the wall, pain shooting through every limb. “Silvon,” I reached my non-broken hand toward the venlil, who ran over to me.
“Danny, oh stars,” she examined the wounds on my leg and arm.
“Are you two okay?” Jakiv asked, catching his breath and wiping the blood from his lips. He approached slowly, I could tell he was worried about scaring Silvon, but she ran to him and threw her arms around him.
“Thank you,” she sobbed, “Thank you, Jakiv.”
He awkwardly patted her back, “You’re welcome?”
She broke away, getting back to me, “Help me lift him, we need to get out of here.”
“On the count of 3,” the arxur said. “1, 2, 3!”
“Aaaugh! God!” I cried out as they helped me up.
“We’re getting you out of here, Danny. You’re gonna be just fine,” the venlil said half pleading. The edges of my vision began to blur and distort as my legs threatened to give out. Jakiv steadied me with his tail as we began walking toward the decontamination hall.
“Silvon,” I groaned, suddenly remembering the sample. “Silvon,” I tugged her arm.
“Yeah?” she asked.
“You’re sick,” I wheezed, stumbling slightly. “You need the- the-” I pointed frantically toward the container full of the vaccine I was supposed to run to the infirmary.
Silvon left my side only long enough to secure the case. “We need to leave now, Danny,” she told me.
I pressed myself against the wall as the decontamination cycle completed, then Jakiv helped me down the main hall. My legs were getting weaker with each step, and I could no longer feel my injuries. I felt lightheaded, and put more and more of my weight on the arxur, who eventually just threw me over his shoulders.
I heard voices up ahead, but the world around faded to black before I could see their sources. My last conscious thoughts were Silvon.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Jakiv, arxur scientist
Date [Standardized human time]: August 31st, 2148
[Day 24]
Dr. Silvon was great at keeping pace as we raced down the bloody corridors. At the entrance, there were several yotul police officers and zurulian doctors filing in.
“HELP!” I screamed at them, rushing toward one of the stretchers.
“Stand down, gray!” An officer barked, pointing his gun at me.
“Help me, please, get these two to safety. The venlil is infected with the flu, the human is critically injured. Please,” I urged.
The yotul eyed me suspiciously, I figured it was 50/50 whether or not he’d pull the trigger. “Listen to him officer,” Silvon begged, “He saved our lives.”
Two zurulians rushed over, I carefully lowered Dr. Stat into a stretcher. My claws and hoodie were soaked in blood, hardly any of it mine. “Please help him,” I begged. The zurulians exchanged nervous glances before hurriedly hauling the human off.
“You say you were… saved by this arxur?” The officer asked Silvon as another pair of medics rushed to her aid.
She coughed a bit, “Yes sir. He’s a hero…” she trailed off, noticeably growing weaker. “Where’s… my husband?” she groaned, falling into the stretcher and knocking out cold. Poor venlil overexerted herself running. Before they could wheel her off, I stopped one of the zurulians.
“Please, take this,” I said, handing the doctor the case we recovered. “It’s for the flu,” I explained as the zurulian took the vaccines and escorted Stat and Silvon through the lab doors. I registered my burning lungs at last, and leaned up against a wall for support, suddenly feeling weak in the legs.
I sighed heavily and let myself slip down to the floor where I could more easily catch my breath. The six shots to my chest stung badly, but a quick glance over told me they didn’t break the skin. Suddenly, the door swung open, and someone far off shouted “You can’t be here!”
In a flash of red fur, Nuri was at my side. “Jaki?!” she cried, her voice wrought with concern.
“Hey, Nuri,” I waved a claw, “What’re you doing-?” She wordlessly began running her paws along my chest, unzipping my hoodie and feeling the dents in my scales. “Nuri?” she looked up at me, there was fear in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” she asked frantically.
“Yeah, I’m just fine,” I answered. She threw her arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug that almost hurt. I didn’t know how to react besides returning the gesture, leaning into the marsupial.
“I thought-” Nuri’s voice broke, “I thought I-”
“Hey, hey,” I cooed, “Everything’s fine, I’m okay, Nuri,” I reassured the yotul. She sniffled, but said nothing, just pulled me tighter. We stayed like that for a while before she finally broke away. She sat down next to me and leaned her head against my arm.
“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you,” she confessed.
“Oh please, have some faith,” I smiled. “I’m a big strong arxur, I can handle a little tussle.”
The marsupial perked up slightly at my words. “You know you’re a hero now, right?”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I dismissed.
“You saved a bunch of people today,” Nuri said. “What about that isn’t heroic?”
“I guess that’s true. Fuck,” I chuckled, “I need a drink.”
Nuri stood and extended a paw to help me up. “Let’s get outta here, Jaki,” she smiled.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Daniel Stat, human virologist
Date [Standardized human time]: September 1st, 2148
[Day 25]
My head spun as I came to. I was in a hospital bed, hooked up to all those wires, with a cast on my shattered hand and nose. Directly across from me was Silvon, typing away on her holopad. The second she saw I was awake, a smile crossed her features.
“Good morning, Danny,” she greeted.
“Hey,” I groaned. Speaking hurt. I rubbed my eyes, and yawned, then instantly snapped up, “Holy shit, Silvon,” I cried, “Aaron he- you’re sick!”
Silvon seemed unbothered, I couldn’t keep the confusion off my face. “I was,” she smiled.
“What?”
“I was sick, Danny. But they administered the vaccine, and it worked,” she explained.
“It did?!” I laughed in disbelief, clutching my sides as the pain hit, but smiled regardless. “Oh thank god,” I cried. “I was so scared,” I breathed.
“You’re not losing me that easily,” Silvon giggled.
“Good,” I sighed, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. “Good,” I muttered. A tear rolled down my cheek that I hastily wiped away.
“Danny?” My breathing hastened, and it was suddenly hard to breathe. “Danny, are you okay?”
Silvon’s words echoed, drowned out by the beeping heart monitor. I failed to hide the torrent of sobs that escaped me as I buried my face in my hands. “I thought it was over for us-” I choked out, “I don’t want to lose you.”
A paw found its way around my neck. I ran my fingers through Silvon’s soft fur. “You won’t,” she promised.
“I’ve been having so many nightmares,” I sobbed, “I’m so afraid,” I confessed. She sat on the edge of the bed next to me and wiped the tears from my eyes.
“Nothing can tear us apart,” she said, “Nothing.”
“I-” I gesticulated, every emotion possible swirled in my chest.
“Shhh,” she cooed, “You don’t have to speak.” Silvon hugged me, and planted a kiss on my cheek.
submitted by relishboi to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]


2024.05.11 15:00 River_Elysia entomological anatomy

So, Google's been no help and I'm personally not much of an entomologist, but I'm looking for the name for the join where an insect's wings meet it's bodies. Every drawing, diagram, and doodle I've seen doesn't label that part, but surely there's a name for it!
Thanks!
submitted by River_Elysia to Entomology [link] [comments]


2024.05.11 08:38 Pleasant_Banana_6484 Potion Theme and Color Palette Help!

Hey all!
I have been working on a piece for the last few days and the design and color palette are completely clashing. Any help would be appreciated!
NOTE: The renders are included in the comments.
  1. What do you want to achieve?
I have two designs (renders will be included) each has a different color palette, but same design. I am currently struggling with matching the design to the color palette, in which I really like one color palette but the design doesn't make sense or vice versa. I would like to find a way to unify the design and color palette so when people look at the work both the colors and design, they communicate what kind of potion it is. To achieve this I was hoping for color palette suggestions or suggestions for the theme of the potion as I feel one usually drives the other. Ex. Pink for love and Green for Poison.
P.s (I am happy with the composition and lighting so I would like to keep them the way they are apart from centering the potion a bit more visually and possibly adjusting the position of the swirl. I am will to add details if needed ofc!)
  1. What did you try?
I have played with the color palette and green and pink are the only colors I liked on the design. I have also played with the symbol design of the front of the bottle. Currently it is a skull and cross bones, but for the sake of the love potion I have tried a heart but didn't like it. Not having something on the front, I felt made the potion too bare, perhaps a label rather than symbol?. Lastly, I tried to introduce outside elements like vines around the bottle but they didn’t fit the stylized look I was going for.
  1. What went wrong?
The design and color palette are completely clashing, with the pink potion render I really love the color palette but the skull and cross bones dont help communicate the love potion idea. On the other hand, I have the green potion render where the skull and cross bone makes sense giving off a poison potion theme, but I dont love the color palette as much as I do the pink, they are both set with the same contrast setting but the pink draws my eye more. I can’t seem to find a good middle ground between theme and color choice.
I should mention the theme isn’t permanent for any palette. They are just what I thought of when I did the color palettes originally. I am open to adding details to help with the overall design and theme!
Again, Thank you for any suggestions!
submitted by Pleasant_Banana_6484 to blenderhelp [link] [comments]


2024.05.11 04:47 OShaunesssy Book report guy back with the Bryan Danielson 2014 book. Its got some solid dirt and backstage stories on his time in WWE and other companies.

Book report guy back, with the Bryan Danielson book from 2014 and it has some fun backstage stories from his time in WWE!
Solid wrestling book, though not super memorable in my opinion. Some solid detail and dirt like you expect, but honestly it felt like he was holding back.
As always, it's in chronological order as best as I could do that. Hope y'all enjoy!
Bryan is a weird dude, while describing his adolescence, he casually says that he has a lot of weird hypothesis on various subjects, and we should ask Nigel McGuinness about Bryan's theory on how a penis grows. He doesn't expand on this more. He just says that and moves back to talking about his childhood.
Bryan rants a bit about how modern medicine has stunted human evolution because kids who would have died off got to live and reproduce and pass their "defects" onto the next generation. He says that he is one of those defects, sick all his childhood and sick a lot as an adult. He says that his wife Brie is also a "defect" but says she can share the details in her own book if she ever writes one.
When Bryan was 16 years old, he contacted Dean Melanko's wrestling school and was told it would cost him $2,500, but he needed a $500 deposit to secure his spot. Bryan was scared that there were hundreds of people on the waiting list and worked extra shifts at McDonald's in order to get the cash together asap. He put $500 deposit down for a wrestling school he couldn't go to for 2 more years.
Three months before Bryan graduated high school, the Melanko Wrestling School contacted to inform Bryan that the school was shutting down permanently. When Bryan asked for his $500 back, he was told that they no longer had it and that he was SOL.
While watching Monday Night RAW, an ad flashed advertising a 900 number (an old pay-per-minute phone concept that was always a money drain on the caller), and it advertised Shawn Michaels opening up a wrestling school. After an expensive phone call, Bryan was told to pay $20 more for a package to be mailed to him with more info. He did, and when he got the package, it detailed how Michaels wrestling school would cost $3,900 dollars, and it had another 900 number to call if you're interested. Bryan was demoralized and almost didn't call. When he did, though, he was speaking to Shawm Michaels mom, who was helping Shawn run it. Bryan's mom ended up doing all the talking, and the two mothers helped Bryan get set up with a place in San Antonio where the school was. They agreed to let Bryan pay monthly to help him with the finances.
Bryan's first day of wrestling school went exactly like everyone else's first day of wrestling school, with 90% of the students gassed and vomiting. Bryan said out of the 10 guys there, only he and Lance Cade didn't end up vomiting.
Bryan remembers how much Shawn Michaels prioritized his training to Lance Cade. One of the first days, Lance did a basic jump and got so much air that Michaels loudly proclaimed, "I smell money!"
Even though it was Shawn's school, the primary instructor was Rudy Boy Gonzales, a pretty insignificant wrestler from the 80s and 90s. Bryan puts over Rudy as a passionate trainer who motivated him to try harder. Bryan said Rudy would show Bryan anything Bryan saw on a tape and wanted to try.
Bryan says that he and "The" Brian Kendrick became friends immediately as they were both around the same size in the training and had the same level of passion for wrestling.
I always heard that Shawn Michaels wasn't very present for this school, but Bryan tells a different tale, putting Shawn over as someone who was always around and always showing them how to be better.
Bryan does remember some days that Shawn would come in with his sunglasses on, sit at the back of the class, and then dip out early. Bryan didn't realize then that Shawn was in deep with a bad painkiller addiction, and so some days he wasn't as present. Since Bryan grew up with his dad's addiction issues, Bryan says seeing Shawn actually kick the addiction fully put Shawn on a pedestal in Bryan's eyes.
After a couple of months, Shawn was telling the students to start thinking of ring names, and when Bryan couldn't come up with one, he asked Shawn about using his real name. Shawn thought about it for a second before adding "The American Dragon" to it. When Bryan asked why that name, Shawn said it's because Bryan wrestled like a Japanese guy. Bryan took that as a massive compliment.
Bryan didn't tell Shawn, but Bryan initially hated "The American Dragon" name.
Bryan had trouble being expressive and emoting in the ring, so Shawn had him wrestle under a mask.
On October 4th, 1999, Bryan wrestled his first ever match for Shawn Michaels' small promotion, Texas Wrestling Alliance. His opponent was Brian Kendrick (then known as Spanky), and Bryan says as rotton as it was, everyone in the back was super excited for their performance, including Shawn.
Bryan confirms that Kendrick called himself "Spanky" as a masturbation reference.
Shawn arranged for Bryan and Lance Cade to head over to Japan and wrestle for Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling, a bit of a "mudshow" wrestling promotion. Shawn got Bryan and Lance a spot on their card by agreeing to referee a match for the company.
Bryan remembers seeing one guy shove a bottle rocket up his opponents butt and light it off at that FMW show. So yeah, some pretty outlaw stuff.
Bryan describes attempting a moonsalt to the outside of the ring during this Japan tour, but he slipped and cracked his head on the cement. Bryan says, "When I came to, I didn't even know where I was" before describing how he stumbled his way through the match. He notes how concussions have always been a problem for him.
Lance Cade was invited back to FMW later for a 2nd tour, but they didn't ask for Bryan back. That's when Bryan realized that at his size, he needs to get much, much better.
In February 2000, HBK got Bryan, Lance Cade, Brian Kendrick, and another student named Shooter Shultz, a dark match on an episode of Smackdown. He says they planned for a 15-minute tag match before being told last minute that it's been cut down to 6 minutes. Bryan says HBK went and yelled at some people about "his guys" until he got it bumped up to 10 minutes.
Bryan says he got his first documented concussion that match, because they weren't used to a literal ramp, and Bryan cracked his skull on it, doing a pointless dive. He says the WWE doctor backstage told him to just make sure he doesn't fall asleep.
Bryan says when they got backstage after their match, HBK was excited and pumping them up, telling everyone backstage that they should sign all 4 guys immediately. This was on Tuesday, and by Thursday, when WWE still hadn't contacted them, Shawn called them up and threatened to take the 4 to WCW where Kevin Nash would make sure they were signed. Bryan says WWE quickly offered all 4 guys developmental contracts for $500 per week. Bryan says HBK was a great guy to have in your corner.
Shortly after getting the developmental contract, Bryan and Kendrick wrestled a main event ladder match for Shawn's TWA promotion. At the time, Bryan believed that in order to stand out, he would need to wrestle a more daredevil style, so he did some dumb stuff in this match. He did some ridiculous spot that ended with Bryan separating his shoulder. After the match, he took a table bump that legitimately knocked him unconscious for a full minute.
A week or 2 later, the teams had a rematch in a steel cage where all 4 agreed to blade for the first time. Why is he doing this dumb shit right after being offered a WWE contract?
Bryan says those ladder and cage matches made him realize he needed to change his style up and become more mat based. He wouldn't have had a long career if he kept getting hurt. At this point, Bryan has only been wrestling for 6 or 8 months and already suffered maybe 3 concussions. At least 2 for sure.
Bryan Danielson, Lance Cade, Brian Kendrick, and Shooter Shultz all moved to Memphis, where WWE's development primarily opperated out of at the time. William Regal was also a developmental system at the time, trying to show he had kicked his addiction issues.
Memphis Championship Wrestling was the territory they wrestled for, and Bryan remembers wrestling in all sorts of crazy locations like a WalMart parking lot once.
Although Shawn eventually took the mask off Bryan in TWA, the guys at MCW immediately put the mask back on Bryan.
The only time Bryan thought he might get called up to the main roster was in January 2001, when he heard rumors that WWE wanted to start up a cruiserweight division and use Danielson and Kendrick That didn't happen, though, and Bryan never heard another rumor or wiff of him being called up.
In June 2001, someone from WWE talent relations came down to evaluate talent. Brian was let go and told that despite his talent, they just had no plans for him.
In October 2001, Bryan was offered a spot in California based All Pro Wrestling's annual King Of The Indies tournament. Danielson would beat Kendrick in the first round, and after the show, Nick Bockwinkle, who was there watching, loudly told promoter Roland Alexander, "If you don't put that guy over." Bockwinkle said while pointing directly at Bryan, "You're crazy!"
APW head trainer Donovan Morgan was scheduled to beat Bryan in the second round and go on to win the tournament, but promoter Roland made the call to have Bryan win instead.
Bryan says this that while this really pissed Donovan off, what really upset the guy was when Roland offered Danielson and Kendrick trainer positions alongside Donovan.
Kendrick turned the offer down, but Bryan took it and moved to California in January 2002, where he became the head trainer. Though Bryan says he was a lousy trainer and no good at motivating anyone.
On February 2002, Bryan sat down with Gabe Sapolsky, who, after being inspired by the Super 8 tournament Bryan won, wanted Bryan part of his new promotion, Ring of Honor.
Bryan remembers both William Regal and John Laurinaitis said they would try to get Bryan an in to Japan, but both came up short, and both eventually stopped returning Bryan's calls.
In March 2002, Bryan Danielson, Christopher Daniels, and Brian Kendrick got a tryout with New Japan in Santa Monica. Antonio Inoki was actually there to oversee, but he literally had his back turned to the ring while Danielson and Kendrick wrestled. Inoki never bothered to turn around and watch them, instead watching someone stretch, Bryan says. Bryan later heard that New Japan never intended to hire anyone. They just wanted their dojo to look full for press.
After the "tryout," Bryan says that Inoki fell and had to be helped up by a bunch of people. Only the three of them didn't get up to help, with Kendrick saying loudly, "serves the motherfucker right."
Bryan kept making trips to the Santa Monica dojo every couple of weeks until Shinya "Togi" Makabe told him that if Bryan really wanted to be taken seriously, he had to be at the dojo every single day. Bryan took the advice seriously, quit his training job and moved to Santa Monica.
Bryan says he was offered to come tour with New Japan after only training at the dojo full time a few weeks. It was on this tour where Bryan first wrestled in the Tokyo Dome.
In May 2003, Bryan wrestled another Tokyo Dome show, where Bryan, Rocky Romero and TJ Perkins were all pulled aside in the hotel after the show, by Justin Cully. Cully literally slapped each man across the face, saying the slaps are from Inoki, who was disappointed in their proformances that night. Apparently Inoki expected them to wrestle more of a shoot style fight and was very upset.
In March 2004, Bryan won his first title with New Japan, the IWGP Junior Tag titles with Christopher Daniels, and Bryan would spend the majority of the year with New Japan where he wrestled 8 different tours.
Bryan pitched a 3 hour long match to Gabe Sapolsky for a ROH show and is disappointed they didn't go the full 3 hours.
Going into 2005, Bryan expected to wrestle his whole career in New Japan, but was startled when New Japan didn't get his visa renewed for the January tour like they always do. He was told it was a mistake and he would be back for March tour, but again he was told last minute they didn't have a visa for him. In May they contacted him last minute inviting him for a tour, but at a ridiculous pay cut down to $500 per week. Bryan turned the offer down and never went back to that Santa Monica dojo or work for New Japan again. He later heard that he was used as a pawn in a power struggle with the Dojo and New Japan.
In mid-2005 Bryan got an email from CM-Punk about a rumor suggesting that both WWE and TNA were interested in Bryan, Punk and Samoa Joe. Joe would quickly sign with TNA after this and Punk took a developmental deal with WWE. Bryan never heard from either company, and a few months later Gabe Sapolsky told Bryan he wanted to build ROH around Bryan but wanted a promise that Bryan wouldn't just leave to WWE or TNA. Great timing Gabe, because Bryan immediately said yes.
After winning the ROH World title in September 2005, Bryan says his title reign was falling flat until he started being cocky and cutting those "best in the world" promos. Bryan even shades Jericho and Punk a little by saying at the time no one else was saying it and that's why it worked so well for him.
Bryan puts over his matches with Nigel McGuinness in summer of 2006, but points out one in particular he regrets. Nigel had the idea for Bryan to pull Nigel's face into the steel ring post 3 times to get real blood. After 3 attempts and no blood, Nigel yelled, "One more time!" They got blood on the 4th time, and gave Nigel a severe concussion.
Five minutes into an hour long match with Colt Cabana in August 2006, Bryan landed bad on the outside of the ring, where he separated that same right shoulder as before and tore two tendons.
Three weeks later, Bryan defended his ROH title against KENTA of all people, who legitimately targeted his hurt shoulder all match. Then Bryan went to tour Japan with Pro Wrestling Noah where he and KENTA had a rematch.
Bryan would finally drop the ROH title in December 2006 and then take nearly 4 months off. This is the first time he took off since he started wrestling in 1999.
After doing a tour of Japan with Pro Wrestling Noah in April 2007, Bryan was excited to come back to ROH and signed a 2 year contract.
In June 2007, Bryan and Nigel wrestled an extremely physical match that featured a spot where the two traded headbutts. The match didn't air until September that year and in the mean time, the Chris Benoit double murdesuicide happened and the talk of concussions and safety concerns changed completely. The match was not recieved well and Gabe later told Bryan that they shouldn't have aired it at all.
ROH struggled after the Benoit incident and most everyone had to adapt and tone down their styles. Bryan wasn't one of those people, and actually refused to tone down his style. Later in 2007 he would rupture his ear drum exchanging open palm strikes with KENTA and he would suffer a detached retina in a match with Takeshi Morishima. To this day, he has trouble hearing from his left ear and has trouble with vision.
Bryan remembers being super late for a show and not even being able to meet his opponent beforehand. To Bryan's suprise, his opponent, who despite being green, was great to work with and the two had good chemistry. That was a young Jon Moxley.
In Summer of 2008, Shawn Michaels was fueding with Chris Jericho and they incorporated Lamce Cade on Jericho's side, since Shawn trained Lance. Shawn actually reached out to Bryan about also joining the WWE and being involved in the story.
Bryan met with Vince McMahon and remembers how taken back Vince seemed when they first met, and thinks it was because of Bryan's size and how plain he looked. Bryan also didn't sell himself well in the meeting, saying he is "just okay." Head of talent relations John Laurinaitis told Bryan that they would call him, but he never did.
When Bryan returned from a Japan tour in October 2008, he was shocked to find Gabe Sapolsky had been fired by ROH and replaced by Adam Pearce. Bryan details that while Gabe liked to book long shows with everyone on the card trying their hardest to steal the show, Pearce booked shorter shows and had the lower card guys preform well, but not to try everything under the sun to outshine the main event. You can see why Jim Cornette and Adam Pearce get along so well.
Bryan notes how he was fueding with Claudio Castignoli when Gabe was fired, but Pearce immediately ended that program to which Bryan says he and Claudio were disappointed.
After another failed attempt to get into WWE I'm early 2009, Bryan refocused his energies by moving to Las Vegas where he started training in kick boxing and other forms of mixed martial arts.
Bryan trained religiously for months under a former MMA fighter Neil Melanson. Neil is the one who taught Bryan the LaBell Lock.
When Bryan's ROH contract expired in May 2009, he called John Laurinaitis and left a message, but never heard back.
Bryan says in mid-2009, he was talking to Gabe Sapolsky about starting up a new promotion that would become Evolve. Bryan says that Paul Heyman was even involved with these talks.
Brian Kendrick called Danielson up to pitch Danielson coming to WWE as Kendrick's tag partner. Danielson even went and filmed a bunch of promos with Kendrick and fel optimistic. Unfortunately, Kendrick was fired just a few weeks later before any of those vignets aired and that opportunity was gone as well.
Bryan had given up ever going to WWE when John Laurinaitis called him in September 2009 offering him a main roster contract. Bryan was so excited he didn't have to go to developmental, that he would be right on the main roster immediately. Or so he thought, I guess they didn't bother telling Brilyan about NXT at that time, even though it sounds like he was signed with that in mind.
Nigel was also signed at the same time (probably also meant for NXT) but before either man could start, they had to pass WWE medical tests. They asked them both about past injuries, and Bryan just lied, saying he never had anything wrong and was fine. Didn't mention his shoulder being separated twice, or the detached retina, or any concussion. Nigel on the other hand, was very honest about his injuries, including a torn bicep that he didn't get worked on, he just rehabbed it. Nigel figured he was a lock and didn't see the need to lie.
WWE was concerned about Bryan's elevated liver enzymes, and wanted Nigel to get surgery on his bicep before they would sign him. Both guys were wrestling a farewell tour with ROH and both genuinely concerned they wouldn't actually be leaving. In their last match for ROH, Bryan accidentally gave Nigel a concussion, because apparently these guys only know how to wrestle at one speed!
Nigel couldn't afford the bicep surgery and his own doctor was telling him he is fine, so Nigel went to TNA instead. Nigel would only wrestle for another year before his body would break down too far on him and he would retire.
Bryan signed his WWE contract on October 2nd, 2009, nearly 10 years to the day of his debut match. William Regal actually told Bryan, "Your wrestling career came before this and is over now. Anything else that happens now is a bonus."
William Regal came up with the name "Daniel Bryan" for Bryan to use in WWE. Brian tried arguing to Laurinaitis to use his real name and citing John Cena as an example, Laurinaitis simply told Bryan, "We don't do that anymore."
In early 2010, Bryan and seven other guys were told one day about the NXT concept and how they would be used. Bryan found out who his NXT "pro" would be just like everyone else, when WWE posted it on their website. Bryan initially legit wanted Regal as his "pro" but soon realized being paired with Miz gives him a story immediately.
Bryan describes his time in NXT as the most unusual of his career. The "rookies" all legitimately didn't know what was going to happen on any show and everything they did was 100% unscripted and improvised.
The first night in NXT, all the "rookies" were told 15 minutes before the show, that their "pro" would cut a promo on them and they needed to react accordingly. Bryan had no idea that his pro, the Miz was going to tell him to head to the ring and cut a promo on himself, literally telling him on live TV to make the fans care about him. Bryan had no idea what to say, no real direction he was given to go in, and no tome to plan or rehearse. Miz also told him to come up with a catchphrase, and Bryan said he always hated catch phrases.
In the ring, Bryan cut a generic promo where he said he lost his train of thought and was super greatful when The Miz came out to finish the promo off. Bryan didn't know that would happen and Bryan definitely didn't know Miz was going to slap him at the end. Bryan says that later, The Miz confided to Bryan that he was worried Bryan would try to fight him over the slap.
Bryan credits Chris Jericho for getting him over in his first WWE match, and says that neither he, nor Miz knew that Miz was to beat up Brian after the match. Apparently, Miz was informed during the Jericho/Bryan match that he was to attack Bryan after the finish. Wild how much "flying by the seat of their pants" that WWE did with early NXT.
After the show, Jericho told Bryan that Vince was impressed, though he noted how Vince said, "Ugh, but he doesn't even eat meat!"
Bryan describes promo class with Vince as kinda insane to be honest. One time Bryan accidentally spilled a water bottle, and Vince asked everyone how that made them feel about Bryan. Stuff like that.
Bryan says the NXT rookies weren't allowed to use the regular dressing room and had to use some tarped off part of the backstage area.
Bryan notes how most of the NXT season, the NXT rookies never really knew what was going to happen. The 2nd week Bryan lost to Wade Barret and wasn't told that Chris Jericho would be attacking him after the match.
Bryan says his initial storyline with The Miz wasn't a losing streak idea, but something where each loss had meaning and was being built with purpose. Miz was very hands on with each show and helped to put over Bryan and the storyline, but when Miz missed 2 weeks in a row, the producers left in charge basically just turned it into a losing streak storyline, which Bryan says, "never works."
One time on a plane, Ezekiel Jackson asked "which rookie has an isle seat?" Bryan raised his had and Ezekiel said, "Not anymore." Bryan stood his ground and refused, offering his seat to anyone but Ezekiel. Ezekiel got pissed but William Regal came over and chastised Jackson, saying Bryan is like a son to him and how Bryan has more talent in his pinky ginger than Jackson has in his whole body.
Bryan says the NXT "Pros Polls" were legitimate voting done by the pros. That's why Bryan ended up in first place, despite losing every match.
A week after Wrestlemania in 2010, NXT's direction and purpose shifted away from being serious to silly, and Bryan says they were suddenly doing dumb game show competitions and putting over how demoralizing it was.
Bryan says Skip Shepfield (Ryback) was the only rookie taking the competitions seriously and trying to win each game. Sounds on brand for the big guy.
Bryan says he was trying to be humble when asked who should be eliminated and he said himself. He figured since he lost to everyone he didn't have a right to say any of them. Backstage Miz told him he made a mistake and shouldn't have put that perception out there.
A week later they liked the rookies up on TV (an hour before it goes live) and informed Bryan and fellow rookie Michael Tarver that they are both eliminated, without telling them beforehand. Bryan felt this validated all the warnings guys like Colt Cabana and other gave him about WWE.
Right after Matt Striker interviewed him backstage and when asked an insulting question, Bryan snapped and started talking down about "Daniel Bryan" and started to put over "Bryan Danielson!" Bryan says he could hear Vince screaming into Striker's ear piece and apparently Vince threw his headset when Bryan said his real name.
They made Bryan retape the interview without saying that, but still aired his original interview.
Bryan was surprisingly called back to NXT the following week to start a rivalry with Micheal Cole, who had been verbally obliterating Bryan on commentary since Bryan debuted. Bryan seems to be greatful for that program since it kept him on tv and made him confident that he would keep his job.
The RAW after NXT season 1 ended, all the rookies were pulled into Vince's office and told about Nexus and the attack in the main event. They were told not to tell anyone or else they will be fired. Bryan says he even lied to William Regal, when asked why he was dressed to wrestle.
They were supposed to attack John Cena and Rey Mysterio in the main event, because WWE let the fans vote on Cena's opponent and they assumed Rey would get it. Surprisingly it was CM Punk, and Bryan isn't sure how much Punk was told about the angle.
Bryan legit choked Justin Roberts during the melee, leaving red marks on his skin with his tie. Bryan said he doesn't trust non-wrestlers to sell good so he did it for real, with Justin going purple on Tv. Later during the brawl, Bryan was grabbing a cable to choke someone else when a cameraman told him "no choking!" Bryan does note that he thinks Justin Roberts found it pretty cool to be involved. And later Heath Slater grabbed the dismantled ring ropes to choke Cena, but Cena told him as well, "No choking."
Cena told Bryan before the angle, "It's not the hit you do that's important, it's what you do before the hit that matters." This is why Bryan spit in Cena's face before kicking him in the head.
Backstage, Bryan was reprimanded twice, for choking and spitting. Two days later Vince McMahon personally called Bryan to tell him he was let go and apologized to Bryan for it. Bryan, arrogant as all hell, responded with, "Don't apologize, I'll make more money this year on the independents than I would have working for you."
Bryan called John Laurinaitis to clear up details and Laurinaitis was shocked to hear Bryan was fired. Apparently Vince didn't tell anyone, just called Laurinaitis up and asked for Bryan's number. The comment Bryan made about money seemed to get to Vince since Laurinaitis called Bryan back and asked about it. Laurinaitis actually told Bryan that he can start working independent dates immediately if he wasn't on TV.
After working several shows and making good money off merchandise for several weeks, Bryan was shocked when John Laurinaitis called him in August and asked him to come back for a big angle leading into SummerSlam. Bryan sheepishly asked for a raise and made sure he could make all his already planned independent bookings.
Bryan says Nexas should have won at SummerSlam, noting how they went from dangerous to jobbers in one night.
Bryan remembers a taped RAW after SummerSlam where he did an angle with The Miz. When he got backstage Vince was so mad at how it came off that he made Bryan and others go back out there and do it again. It was the first time Bryan ever had to redo something like that and he said he felt humiliated.
Bryan didnt seem to see much value in being US Champion outside of how it would keep him on tv and maybe monthly ppv matches.
At Hell in a Cell 2010 ppv, Bryan had a good match with Miz and John Morrison, but was scolded after that match for a spot where Bryan threw Miz's stoog Alex Riley off the stage where he landed on cameraman. They showed the two guys the footage and accused them of doing it on purpose to get themselves over. Bryan started regretting coming back and really hating his time in WWE.
Bryan was paired with the Bella Twins in a storyline he hated, that was based on the Twins confusing the word "vegan" for "virgin" and competing to sleep with Bryan. Despite how bad that storyline was, Bryan and Brie would develop a relationship and would start dating in February 2011.
Sheamus was given a choice of Wrestlemania opponents that year between Rey Mysterio and Daniel Bryan, and Sheamus chose Bryan. Bryan was greatful but concerned Sheamus chose wrong and their match would be cut but Sheamus wasn't worried at all. A week before Mania they were informed their match was on the pre-show at a meeting with literally every other wrestler. Bryan says Sheamus buried his face in his hands and remembers how Rey Mysterio got on the card in a match with Cody Rhodes. Bryan says Sheamus picked the wrong guy.
Bryan got some details in his book messed up where he talks about Miz winning the WWE title off Cena at Wrestlemania 27 and he talks about how Miz was WWE Champion going into Over The Limit ppv 2011, but Miz lost the title by then. It's notable because he says he pitched hard for a "Rocky style" storyline where he would challenge Miz for the WWE title at the Over The Limit ppv.
Bryan says the 2011 Smackdown Money in the Bank winner wasn't decided until the day of the show but it was always between Wade Barret, Cody Rhodes and Bryan. He says despite winning the briefcase, his tv time tricked down and eventually he was spending weeks off tv, until he was randomly inserted into the World title program between Mark Henry and Big Show in late 2011.
Bryan was being left at home and off shows, even watching Survivor Series 2011 from home and was suprised when WWE had him come to the December TLC ppv show, last minute. The day of the show he was told he was cashing in and winning the title and the only direction Vince McMahon gave him was to act like he won the superbowl, so that's where Bryan's over the top celebration came from. He didn't even tell his girlfriend Brie Bella about the plan and says she was shocked when he came backstage afterwards.
The only direction Vince gave Bryan as champion is to celebrate every appearance like he won the lottery, saying, "there is no too over the top here."
Bryan said he adapted his "Yes" chants from MMA fighter Diego Sanchez who was celebrating in a similar way at the time.
Bryan's favorite moment from that first world title run was the closing sequence in the 2012 Elimination Chamber match with him and Santino Marella.
Bryan originally expected he and Sheamus to get 15 minutes or so at Wrestlemania for their match, but was shocked when Chris Jericho told him he heard it would be 8 minutes, including the pre & post match stuff. A week later Arn Anderson confirmed to Bryan that he would lose a 1-move match, dropping the world title to Sheamus at Wrestlemania that year. Bryan and Sheamus were both pissed, to say the least.
Sheamus expressed concern that the short match would turn fans against him as a new champion. Smart man.
Bryan says a bunch of guys came up to him after his Mania loss and were pissed at what they did to Bryan out there. Great Khali even came up and told Bryan that it was bullshit in his broken English.
Originally Sheamus was planned to move into a fued with Alberto Del-rio right after Mania, but the crazy crowd support for Bryan forced them to extend they story another month. Bryan says his Extreme Rules ppv match with Sheamus in 2012 is one of his favorites. Mine too!
Bryan acknowledged the weird booking of Punk as champion in 2012, noting how heels would face John Cena, lose, then be sent to face Punk with no momentum. Interesting take on the situation.
Bryan mentions how when he and Punk fueded in 2012, they never got main event spots outside of non-televised events. One time at a house show, Bryan and Punk veered too far into comedy and after the match John Cena chastised Bryan by pointing out that they didn't wrestle a "main event style" match. Apparently the next house show, Cena was moved into the main event spot with Punk/Bryan being before the intermission. An enraged Punk went and yelled at people until he got his main event spot back. This time, no comedy spots were done and they stayed the main event for the circuit.
Bryan had brand new, edgier gear made up prior to Money in the Bank 2012 and didn't tell anyone backstage. He wore shorts over his trunk and hid the jacket until he had to go out. When he got to the ring, the ref told him to lose the jacket, because I guess Vince was in gorilla position freaking out over how Bryan looked. Dean Melanko was the producer for the match, and Bryan felt bad when Vince blamed him for allowing Bryan to wear it.
Bryan was originally planned to wrestle Charlie Sheen at SummerSlam 2012 in a celebrity match, but Charlie "bailed" as Bryan put it.
Bryan was trying to be "Mr Small Package" by winning matches with Small Package and then boasting about how he has an "inescapable small package!" It didn't get over.
Bryan thought his anger management vignets with Kane and Dr Shelby were going to be terrible.
The only reason they stopped using Dr Shelby is because he had limited days off from his regular teaching job.
Bryan and Kane really wanted their team name to be "Team Friendship" and they even had shirt ideas but Vince let the fans vote and he always kept those votes legit, so their team name was "Team Hell No" which Bryan brings up a good point about. He said as a team primarily appealing to kids, a name with "Hell" in it would be hard to sell merchandise to those kids.
The plan was to break up their team so they could have a good heated fued together, but they were so popular that they kept teaming for 9 months.
Bryan says his first good Wrestlemania experience was in 2013 when he teamed with Kane.
One night after Mania in 2013, when Bryan tagged with Kane and Undertaker to face The Shield, Vince McMahon told Bryan that he would pay him several thousand dollars if he could get Undertaker to hug Bryan in the ring. After the show Bryan got on the mic and tried his hardest to get the hug but couldn't quite do it.
Bryan says that both he and Kane agree that teaming together was some of the most fun in either man's career.
Bryan was scheduled to win the biggest match of his career up to that point, he would be beating Randy Orton clean on RAW. Bryan would botch a dive that left both arms nunb and him unable to stand. He got feeling back in one arm but eventually the doctor called the match off. Backstage Bryan started screaming at Triple H for calling the match and called him a hypocrite for doing so, citing his own injuries in matches. At one point Orton tried to calm Bryan down, but Bryan snapped at him and Orton started yelling too. Brie got Bryan away to calm down, but when Vince came to talk to Bryan, the shouting started again. Much later, William Regal advised Bryan to apologize to both Vince and Triple H, to which Bryan took his advice. The next week, Bryan would get his win over Orton and he says that that drama over everything made that win matter more.
An MRI showed that one of Bryan's disks was pushing into his nerves and eventually he would need surgery. With his momentum starting to rise, Bryan opted to put surgery off.
John Cena pitched facing Daniel Bryan at Money in the Bank 2013 ppv. When Vince asked why, Cena said because it's the biggest match they could do at that time. Vince ended up agreeing, but deciding that it belongs at SummerSlam that year instead!
As proud as Bryan is of the build to and match with Cena at SummerSlam, he acknowledges that the ppv didn't do good numbers, nor did the house show business the following 2 months when Bryan was the main protagonist. He thinks a lot the the Authority promos on him stemmed from some truth.
Bryan isn't satisfied with the quality of matches he was putting out in the latter half of 2013 amd he specifically calls out the series of bad finishes he had with Randy Orton in ppv main events. From the fast counting crooked ref, to that terrible one with Big Show knocking everyone out, and then to Shawn Michaels betraying Bryan at Hell in a Cell ppv.
Bryan initially thought he was getting a Wrestlemania match with Shawn Michaels after that Hell in a Cell finish, but after talking with HBK, it was clear that was never in the cards.
Bryan feels he failed as a main eventer in the 2nd half of 2013, regardless of match quality. He didn't move business and that's all that matters.
The Slammy's were fan votes and Vince didn't think Bryan would win and almost laughed when Bryan asked him what he should say if he does win. Vince said, "whatever you want." I wish I could have seen Vince's face when Bryan won later that night.
When Bryan started fueding with Wyatt Family in late-2013, Bryan was pitching for him to be "brainwashed" and join the group. He suspects that his rising popularity in early 2014 is what convinced WWE to have Bryan turn on Bray and leave the group. At the time, Bryan was hoping to stay with the group and be involved in the planned Cena/Wyatt Wrestlemania program since Bryan had no plans for Mania at that time.
Bryan says he was disappointed when Vince told him he would be facing Sheamus again at Wrestlemania 2014. No disrespect to Sheamus, but Bryan felt he belonged in a higher spot.
Bryan felt bad for the way Rey Mysterio was boo'd at the 2014 Royal Rumble.
When Punk quit WWE after Rumble that year, Bryan remembers how plans didn't change too much for a few weeks, and he assumes Vince expected Punk to come back and for Batista to win the crowds over, and neither happened.
Triple H was being vocal about wanting to face Bryan at Mania that year, but Bryan was trying to not get his hopes up since he had seen Triple H try and fail to get his ideas on screen.
Bryan and Brie only agreed to let Total Divas shoot their wedding, because Total Divas agreed to pay for the whole wedding! Hard to say no to that!
Bryan is very satisfied with his matches at Wrestlemania 30 and says he was so focused between matches that he missed Undertaker losing to Lesnar. He heard the ring bell and looked up at the monitor in shock. He says they cameras should have filmed the guys and girls in the back because their reactions were wild, apparently.
Five days after Wrestlemania 30, Bryan and Brie got married, but 2 days after their honeymoon ended, Bryan's dad unexpectedly passed away at the age of 57. Bryan was devastated and described how he was crying still as he was writing about it.
The book ends on a complete downer, very unlike most other wrestling books. Bryan says that as long as he wrestled when asked if everything he was missing or sacrificing was worth it, Bryan always said yes. He assumed he would have more time when he was done and could catch up on what he missed, but his dad is gone and Bryan openly admits that it wasn't worth it. If he could, Bryan would change a lot of his decisions if it meant more time with his dad.
He says he is still wrestling though because he literally doesn't know what else to do or what comes after. This is especially depressing 10 years later, when Bryan is still wrestling despite having started a family of his own. I hope he doesn't regret any time missed with his daughter.
He ends the book by describing the last time he saw his dad, on Christmas in 2013, where his dad dressed up as Santa. Fuck. I'm sad now.
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2024.05.11 04:45 OShaunesssy Book report guy back, with the Bryan Danielson book from 2014 and it has some fun backstage stories from his time in WWE!

Solid wrestling book, though not super memorable in my opinion. Some solid detail and dirt like you expect, but honestly it felt like he was holding back.
As always, it's in chronological order as best as I could do that. Hope y'all enjoy!
Bryan is a weird dude, while describing his adolescence, he casually says that he has a lot of weird hypothesis on various subjects, and we should ask Nigel McGuinness about Bryan's theory on how a penis grows. He doesn't expand on this more. He just says that and moves back to talking about his childhood.
Bryan rants a bit about how modern medicine has stunted human evolution because kids who would have died off got to live and reproduce and pass their "defects" onto the next generation. He says that he is one of those defects, sick all his childhood and sick a lot as an adult. He says that his wife Brie is also a "defect" but says she can share the details in her own book if she ever writes one.
When Bryan was 16 years old, he contacted Dean Melanko's wrestling school and was told it would cost him $2,500, but he needed a $500 deposit to secure his spot. Bryan was scared that there were hundreds of people on the waiting list and worked extra shifts at McDonald's in order to get the cash together asap. He put $500 deposit down for a wrestling school he couldn't go to for 2 more years.
Three months before Bryan graduated high school, the Melanko Wrestling School contacted to inform Bryan that the school was shutting down permanently. When Bryan asked for his $500 back, he was told that they no longer had it and that he was SOL.
While watching Monday Night RAW, an ad flashed advertising a 900 number (an old pay-per-minute phone concept that was always a money drain on the caller), and it advertised Shawn Michaels opening up a wrestling school. After an expensive phone call, Bryan was told to pay $20 more for a package to be mailed to him with more info. He did, and when he got the package, it detailed how Michaels wrestling school would cost $3,900 dollars, and it had another 900 number to call if you're interested. Bryan was demoralized and almost didn't call. When he did, though, he was speaking to Shawm Michaels mom, who was helping Shawn run it. Bryan's mom ended up doing all the talking, and the two mothers helped Bryan get set up with a place in San Antonio where the school was. They agreed to let Bryan pay monthly to help him with the finances.
Bryan's first day of wrestling school went exactly like everyone else's first day of wrestling school, with 90% of the students gassed and vomiting. Bryan said out of the 10 guys there, only he and Lance Cade didn't end up vomiting.
Bryan remembers how much Shawn Michaels prioritized his training to Lance Cade. One of the first days, Lance did a basic jump and got so much air that Michaels loudly proclaimed, "I smell money!"
Even though it was Shawn's school, the primary instructor was Rudy Boy Gonzales, a pretty insignificant wrestler from the 80s and 90s. Bryan puts over Rudy as a passionate trainer who motivated him to try harder. Bryan said Rudy would show Bryan anything Bryan saw on a tape and wanted to try.
Bryan says that he and "The" Brian Kendrick became friends immediately as they were both around the same size in the training and had the same level of passion for wrestling.
I always heard that Shawn Michaels wasn't very present for this school, but Bryan tells a different tale, putting Shawn over as someone who was always around and always showing them how to be better.
Bryan does remember some days that Shawn would come in with his sunglasses on, sit at the back of the class, and then dip out early. Bryan didn't realize then that Shawn was in deep with a bad painkiller addiction, and so some days he wasn't as present. Since Bryan grew up with his dad's addiction issues, Bryan says seeing Shawn actually kick the addiction fully put Shawn on a pedestal in Bryan's eyes.
After a couple of months, Shawn was telling the students to start thinking of ring names, and when Bryan couldn't come up with one, he asked Shawn about using his real name. Shawn thought about it for a second before adding "The American Dragon" to it. When Bryan asked why that name, Shawn said it's because Bryan wrestled like a Japanese guy. Bryan took that as a massive compliment.
Bryan didn't tell Shawn, but Bryan initially hated "The American Dragon" name.
Bryan had trouble being expressive and emoting in the ring, so Shawn had him wrestle under a mask.
On October 4th, 1999, Bryan wrestled his first ever match for Shawn Michaels' small promotion, Texas Wrestling Alliance. His opponent was Brian Kendrick (then known as Spanky), and Bryan says as rotton as it was, everyone in the back was super excited for their performance, including Shawn.
Bryan confirms that Kendrick called himself "Spanky" as a masturbation reference.
Shawn arranged for Bryan and Lance Cade to head over to Japan and wrestle for Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling, a bit of a "mudshow" wrestling promotion. Shawn got Bryan and Lance a spot on their card by agreeing to referee a match for the company.
Bryan remembers seeing one guy shove a bottle rocket up his opponents butt and light it off at that FMW show. So yeah, some pretty outlaw stuff.
Bryan describes attempting a moonsalt to the outside of the ring during this Japan tour, but he slipped and cracked his head on the cement. Bryan says, "When I came to, I didn't even know where I was" before describing how he stumbled his way through the match. He notes how concussions have always been a problem for him.
Lance Cade was invited back to FMW later for a 2nd tour, but they didn't ask for Bryan back. That's when Bryan realized that at his size, he needs to get much, much better.
In February 2000, HBK got Bryan, Lance Cade, Brian Kendrick, and another student named Shooter Shultz, a dark match on an episode of Smackdown. He says they planned for a 15-minute tag match before being told last minute that it's been cut down to 6 minutes. Bryan says HBK went and yelled at some people about "his guys" until he got it bumped up to 10 minutes.
Bryan says he got his first documented concussion that match, because they weren't used to a literal ramp, and Bryan cracked his skull on it, doing a pointless dive. He says the WWE doctor backstage told him to just make sure he doesn't fall asleep.
Bryan says when they got backstage after their match, HBK was excited and pumping them up, telling everyone backstage that they should sign all 4 guys immediately. This was on Tuesday, and by Thursday, when WWE still hadn't contacted them, Shawn called them up and threatened to take the 4 to WCW where Kevin Nash would make sure they were signed. Bryan says WWE quickly offered all 4 guys developmental contracts for $500 per week. Bryan says HBK was a great guy to have in your corner.
Shortly after getting the developmental contract, Bryan and Kendrick wrestled a main event ladder match for Shawn's TWA promotion. At the time, Bryan believed that in order to stand out, he would need to wrestle a more daredevil style, so he did some dumb stuff in this match. He did some ridiculous spot that ended with Bryan separating his shoulder. After the match, he took a table bump that legitimately knocked him unconscious for a full minute.
A week or 2 later, the teams had a rematch in a steel cage where all 4 agreed to blade for the first time. Why is he doing this dumb shit right after being offered a WWE contract?
Bryan says those ladder and cage matches made him realize he needed to change his style up and become more mat based. He wouldn't have had a long career if he kept getting hurt. At this point, Bryan has only been wrestling for 6 or 8 months and already suffered maybe 3 concussions. At least 2 for sure.
Bryan Danielson, Lance Cade, Brian Kendrick, and Shooter Shultz all moved to Memphis, where WWE's development primarily opperated out of at the time. William Regal was also a developmental system at the time, trying to show he had kicked his addiction issues.
Memphis Championship Wrestling was the territory they wrestled for, and Bryan remembers wrestling in all sorts of crazy locations like a WalMart parking lot once.
Although Shawn eventually took the mask off Bryan in TWA, the guys at MCW immediately put the mask back on Bryan.
The only time Bryan thought he might get called up to the main roster was in January 2001, when he heard rumors that WWE wanted to start up a cruiserweight division and use Danielson and Kendrick That didn't happen, though, and Bryan never heard another rumor or wiff of him being called up.
In June 2001, someone from WWE talent relations came down to evaluate talent. Brian was let go and told that despite his talent, they just had no plans for him.
In October 2001, Bryan was offered a spot in California based All Pro Wrestling's annual King Of The Indies tournament. Danielson would beat Kendrick in the first round, and after the show, Nick Bockwinkle, who was there watching, loudly told promoter Roland Alexander, "If you don't put that guy over." Bockwinkle said while pointing directly at Bryan, "You're crazy!"
APW head trainer Donovan Morgan was scheduled to beat Bryan in the second round and go on to win the tournament, but promoter Roland made the call to have Bryan win instead.
Bryan says this that while this really pissed Donovan off, what really upset the guy was when Roland offered Danielson and Kendrick trainer positions alongside Donovan.
Kendrick turned the offer down, but Bryan took it and moved to California in January 2002, where he became the head trainer. Though Bryan says he was a lousy trainer and no good at motivating anyone.
On February 2002, Bryan sat down with Gabe Sapolsky, who, after being inspired by the Super 8 tournament Bryan won, wanted Bryan part of his new promotion, Ring of Honor.
Bryan remembers both William Regal and John Laurinaitis said they would try to get Bryan an in to Japan, but both came up short, and both eventually stopped returning Bryan's calls.
In March 2002, Bryan Danielson, Christopher Daniels, and Brian Kendrick got a tryout with New Japan in Santa Monica. Antonio Inoki was actually there to oversee, but he literally had his back turned to the ring while Danielson and Kendrick wrestled. Inoki never bothered to turn around and watch them, instead watching someone stretch, Bryan says. Bryan later heard that New Japan never intended to hire anyone. They just wanted their dojo to look full for press.
After the "tryout," Bryan says that Inoki fell and had to be helped up by a bunch of people. Only the three of them didn't get up to help, with Kendrick saying loudly, "serves the motherfucker right."
Bryan kept making trips to the Santa Monica dojo every couple of weeks until Shinya "Togi" Makabe told him that if Bryan really wanted to be taken seriously, he had to be at the dojo every single day. Bryan took the advice seriously, quit his training job and moved to Santa Monica.
Bryan says he was offered to come tour with New Japan after only training at the dojo full time a few weeks. It was on this tour where Bryan first wrestled in the Tokyo Dome.
In May 2003, Bryan wrestled another Tokyo Dome show, where Bryan, Rocky Romero and TJ Perkins were all pulled aside in the hotel after the show, by Justin Cully. Cully literally slapped each man across the face, saying the slaps are from Inoki, who was disappointed in their proformances that night. Apparently Inoki expected them to wrestle more of a shoot style fight and was very upset.
In March 2004, Bryan won his first title with New Japan, the IWGP Junior Tag titles with Christopher Daniels, and Bryan would spend the majority of the year with New Japan where he wrestled 8 different tours.
Bryan pitched a 3 hour long match to Gabe Sapolsky for a ROH show and is disappointed they didn't go the full 3 hours.
Going into 2005, Bryan expected to wrestle his whole career in New Japan, but was startled when New Japan didn't get his visa renewed for the January tour like they always do. He was told it was a mistake and he would be back for March tour, but again he was told last minute they didn't have a visa for him. In May they contacted him last minute inviting him for a tour, but at a ridiculous pay cut down to $500 per week. Bryan turned the offer down and never went back to that Santa Monica dojo or work for New Japan again. He later heard that he was used as a pawn in a power struggle with the Dojo and New Japan.
In mid-2005 Bryan got an email from CM-Punk about a rumor suggesting that both WWE and TNA were interested in Bryan, Punk and Samoa Joe. Joe would quickly sign with TNA after this and Punk took a developmental deal with WWE. Bryan never heard from either company, and a few months later Gabe Sapolsky told Bryan he wanted to build ROH around Bryan but wanted a promise that Bryan wouldn't just leave to WWE or TNA. Great timing Gabe, because Bryan immediately said yes.
After winning the ROH World title in September 2005, Bryan says his title reign was falling flat until he started being cocky and cutting those "best in the world" promos. Bryan even shades Jericho and Punk a little by saying at the time no one else was saying it and that's why it worked so well for him.
Bryan puts over his matches with Nigel McGuinness in summer of 2006, but points out one in particular he regrets. Nigel had the idea for Bryan to pull Nigel's face into the steel ring post 3 times to get real blood. After 3 attempts and no blood, Nigel yelled, "One more time!" They got blood on the 4th time, and gave Nigel a severe concussion.
Five minutes into an hour long match with Colt Cabana in August 2006, Bryan landed bad on the outside of the ring, where he separated that same right shoulder as before and tore two tendons.
Three weeks later, Bryan defended his ROH title against KENTA of all people, who legitimately targeted his hurt shoulder all match. Then Bryan went to tour Japan with Pro Wrestling Noah where he and KENTA had a rematch.
Bryan would finally drop the ROH title in December 2006 and then take nearly 4 months off. This is the first time he took off since he started wrestling in 1999.
After doing a tour of Japan with Pro Wrestling Noah in April 2007, Bryan was excited to come back to ROH and signed a 2 year contract.
In June 2007, Bryan and Nigel wrestled an extremely physical match that featured a spot where the two traded headbutts. The match didn't air until September that year and in the mean time, the Chris Benoit double murdesuicide happened and the talk of concussions and safety concerns changed completely. The match was not recieved well and Gabe later told Bryan that they shouldn't have aired it at all.
ROH struggled after the Benoit incident and most everyone had to adapt and tone down their styles. Bryan wasn't one of those people, and actually refused to tone down his style. Later in 2007 he would rupture his ear drum exchanging open palm strikes with KENTA and he would suffer a detached retina in a match with Takeshi Morishima. To this day, he has trouble hearing from his left ear and has trouble with vision.
Bryan remembers being super late for a show and not even being able to meet his opponent beforehand. To Bryan's suprise, his opponent, who despite being green, was great to work with and the two had good chemistry. That was a young Jon Moxley.
In Summer of 2008, Shawn Michaels was fueding with Chris Jericho and they incorporated Lamce Cade on Jericho's side, since Shawn trained Lance. Shawn actually reached out to Bryan about also joining the WWE and being involved in the story.
Bryan met with Vince McMahon and remembers how taken back Vince seemed when they first met, and thinks it was because of Bryan's size and how plain he looked. Bryan also didn't sell himself well in the meeting, saying he is "just okay." Head of talent relations John Laurinaitis told Bryan that they would call him, but he never did.
When Bryan returned from a Japan tour in October 2008, he was shocked to find Gabe Sapolsky had been fired by ROH and replaced by Adam Pearce. Bryan details that while Gabe liked to book long shows with everyone on the card trying their hardest to steal the show, Pearce booked shorter shows and had the lower card guys preform well, but not to try everything under the sun to outshine the main event. You can see why Jim Cornette and Adam Pearce get along so well.
Bryan notes how he was fueding with Claudio Castignoli when Gabe was fired, but Pearce immediately ended that program to which Bryan says he and Claudio were disappointed.
After another failed attempt to get into WWE I'm early 2009, Bryan refocused his energies by moving to Las Vegas where he started training in kick boxing and other forms of mixed martial arts.
Bryan trained religiously for months under a former MMA fighter Neil Melanson. Neil is the one who taught Bryan the LaBell Lock.
When Bryan's ROH contract expired in May 2009, he called John Laurinaitis and left a message, but never heard back.
Bryan says in mid-2009, he was talking to Gabe Sapolsky about starting up a new promotion that would become Evolve. Bryan says that Paul Heyman was even involved with these talks.
Brian Kendrick called Danielson up to pitch Danielson coming to WWE as Kendrick's tag partner. Danielson even went and filmed a bunch of promos with Kendrick and fel optimistic. Unfortunately, Kendrick was fired just a few weeks later before any of those vignets aired and that opportunity was gone as well.
Bryan had given up ever going to WWE when John Laurinaitis called him in September 2009 offering him a main roster contract. Bryan was so excited he didn't have to go to developmental, that he would be right on the main roster immediately. Or so he thought, I guess they didn't bother telling Brilyan about NXT at that time, even though it sounds like he was signed with that in mind.
Nigel was also signed at the same time (probably also meant for NXT) but before either man could start, they had to pass WWE medical tests. They asked them both about past injuries, and Bryan just lied, saying he never had anything wrong and was fine. Didn't mention his shoulder being separated twice, or the detached retina, or any concussion. Nigel on the other hand, was very honest about his injuries, including a torn bicep that he didn't get worked on, he just rehabbed it. Nigel figured he was a lock and didn't see the need to lie.
WWE was concerned about Bryan's elevated liver enzymes, and wanted Nigel to get surgery on his bicep before they would sign him. Both guys were wrestling a farewell tour with ROH and both genuinely concerned they wouldn't actually be leaving. In their last match for ROH, Bryan accidentally gave Nigel a concussion, because apparently these guys only know how to wrestle at one speed!
Nigel couldn't afford the bicep surgery and his own doctor was telling him he is fine, so Nigel went to TNA instead. Nigel would only wrestle for another year before his body would break down too far on him and he would retire.
Bryan signed his WWE contract on October 2nd, 2009, nearly 10 years to the day of his debut match. William Regal actually told Bryan, "Your wrestling career came before this and is over now. Anything else that happens now is a bonus."
William Regal came up with the name "Daniel Bryan" for Bryan to use in WWE. Brian tried arguing to Laurinaitis to use his real name and citing John Cena as an example, Laurinaitis simply told Bryan, "We don't do that anymore."
In early 2010, Bryan and seven other guys were told one day about the NXT concept and how they would be used. Bryan found out who his NXT "pro" would be just like everyone else, when WWE posted it on their website. Bryan initially legit wanted Regal as his "pro" but soon realized being paired with Miz gives him a story immediately.
Bryan describes his time in NXT as the most unusual of his career. The "rookies" all legitimately didn't know what was going to happen on any show and everything they did was 100% unscripted and improvised.
The first night in NXT, all the "rookies" were told 15 minutes before the show, that their "pro" would cut a promo on them and they needed to react accordingly. Bryan had no idea that his pro, the Miz was going to tell him to head to the ring and cut a promo on himself, literally telling him on live TV to make the fans care about him. Bryan had no idea what to say, no real direction he was given to go in, and no tome to plan or rehearse. Miz also told him to come up with a catchphrase, and Bryan said he always hated catch phrases.
In the ring, Bryan cut a generic promo where he said he lost his train of thought and was super greatful when The Miz came out to finish the promo off. Bryan didn't know that would happen and Bryan definitely didn't know Miz was going to slap him at the end. Bryan says that later, The Miz confided to Bryan that he was worried Bryan would try to fight him over the slap.
Bryan credits Chris Jericho for getting him over in his first WWE match, and says that neither he, nor Miz knew that Miz was to beat up Brian after the match. Apparently, Miz was informed during the Jericho/Bryan match that he was to attack Bryan after the finish. Wild how much "flying by the seat of their pants" that WWE did with early NXT.
After the show, Jericho told Bryan that Vince was impressed, though he noted how Vince said, "Ugh, but he doesn't even eat meat!"
Bryan describes promo class with Vince as kinda insane to be honest. One time Bryan accidentally spilled a water bottle, and Vince asked everyone how that made them feel about Bryan. Stuff like that.
Bryan says the NXT rookies weren't allowed to use the regular dressing room and had to use some tarped off part of the backstage area.
Bryan notes how most of the NXT season, the NXT rookies never really knew what was going to happen. The 2nd week Bryan lost to Wade Barret and wasn't told that Chris Jericho would be attacking him after the match.
Bryan says his initial storyline with The Miz wasn't a losing streak idea, but something where each loss had meaning and was being built with purpose. Miz was very hands on with each show and helped to put over Bryan and the storyline, but when Miz missed 2 weeks in a row, the producers left in charge basically just turned it into a losing streak storyline, which Bryan says, "never works."
One time on a plane, Ezekiel Jackson asked "which rookie has an isle seat?" Bryan raised his had and Ezekiel said, "Not anymore." Bryan stood his ground and refused, offering his seat to anyone but Ezekiel. Ezekiel got pissed but William Regal came over and chastised Jackson, saying Bryan is like a son to him and how Bryan has more talent in his pinky ginger than Jackson has in his whole body.
Bryan says the NXT "Pros Polls" were legitimate voting done by the pros. That's why Bryan ended up in first place, despite losing every match.
A week after Wrestlemania in 2010, NXT's direction and purpose shifted away from being serious to silly, and Bryan says they were suddenly doing dumb game show competitions and putting over how demoralizing it was.
Bryan says Skip Shepfield (Ryback) was the only rookie taking the competitions seriously and trying to win each game. Sounds on brand for the big guy.
Bryan says he was trying to be humble when asked who should be eliminated and he said himself. He figured since he lost to everyone he didn't have a right to say any of them. Backstage Miz told him he made a mistake and shouldn't have put that perception out there.
A week later they liked the rookies up on TV (an hour before it goes live) and informed Bryan and fellow rookie Michael Tarver that they are both eliminated, without telling them beforehand. Bryan felt this validated all the warnings guys like Colt Cabana and other gave him about WWE.
Right after Matt Striker interviewed him backstage and when asked an insulting question, Bryan snapped and started talking down about "Daniel Bryan" and started to put over "Bryan Danielson!" Bryan says he could hear Vince screaming into Striker's ear piece and apparently Vince threw his headset when Bryan said his real name.
They made Bryan retape the interview without saying that, but still aired his original interview.
Bryan was surprisingly called back to NXT the following week to start a rivalry with Micheal Cole, who had been verbally obliterating Bryan on commentary since Bryan debuted. Bryan seems to be greatful for that program since it kept him on tv and made him confident that he would keep his job.
The RAW after NXT season 1 ended, all the rookies were pulled into Vince's office and told about Nexus and the attack in the main event. They were told not to tell anyone or else they will be fired. Bryan says he even lied to William Regal, when asked why he was dressed to wrestle.
They were supposed to attack John Cena and Rey Mysterio in the main event, because WWE let the fans vote on Cena's opponent and they assumed Rey would get it. Surprisingly it was CM Punk, and Bryan isn't sure how much Punk was told about the angle.
Bryan legit choked Justin Roberts during the melee, leaving red marks on his skin with his tie. Bryan said he doesn't trust non-wrestlers to sell good so he did it for real, with Justin going purple on Tv. Later during the brawl, Bryan was grabbing a cable to choke someone else when a cameraman told him "no choking!" Bryan does note that he thinks Justin Roberts found it pretty cool to be involved. And later Heath Slater grabbed the dismantled ring ropes to choke Cena, but Cena told him as well, "No choking."
Cena told Bryan before the angle, "It's not the hit you do that's important, it's what you do before the hit that matters." This is why Bryan spit in Cena's face before kicking him in the head.
Backstage, Bryan was reprimanded twice, for choking and spitting. Two days later Vince McMahon personally called Bryan to tell him he was let go and apologized to Bryan for it. Bryan, arrogant as all hell, responded with, "Don't apologize, I'll make more money this year on the independents than I would have working for you."
Bryan called John Laurinaitis to clear up details and Laurinaitis was shocked to hear Bryan was fired. Apparently Vince didn't tell anyone, just called Laurinaitis up and asked for Bryan's number. The comment Bryan made about money seemed to get to Vince since Laurinaitis called Bryan back and asked about it. Laurinaitis actually told Bryan that he can start working independent dates immediately if he wasn't on TV.
After working several shows and making good money off merchandise for several weeks, Bryan was shocked when John Laurinaitis called him in August and asked him to come back for a big angle leading into SummerSlam. Bryan sheepishly asked for a raise and made sure he could make all his already planned independent bookings.
Bryan says Nexas should have won at SummerSlam, noting how they went from dangerous to jobbers in one night.
Bryan remembers a taped RAW after SummerSlam where he did an angle with The Miz. When he got backstage Vince was so mad at how it came off that he made Bryan and others go back out there and do it again. It was the first time Bryan ever had to redo something like that and he said he felt humiliated.
Bryan didnt seem to see much value in being US Champion outside of how it would keep him on tv and maybe monthly ppv matches.
At Hell in a Cell 2010 ppv, Bryan had a good match with Miz and John Morrison, but was scolded after that match for a spot where Bryan threw Miz's stoog Alex Riley off the stage where he landed on cameraman. They showed the two guys the footage and accused them of doing it on purpose to get themselves over. Bryan started regretting coming back and really hating his time in WWE.
Bryan was paired with the Bella Twins in a storyline he hated, that was based on the Twins confusing the word "vegan" for "virgin" and competing to sleep with Bryan. Despite how bad that storyline was, Bryan and Brie would develop a relationship and would start dating in February 2011.
Sheamus was given a choice of Wrestlemania opponents that year between Rey Mysterio and Daniel Bryan, and Sheamus chose Bryan. Bryan was greatful but concerned Sheamus chose wrong and their match would be cut but Sheamus wasn't worried at all. A week before Mania they were informed their match was on the pre-show at a meeting with literally every other wrestler. Bryan says Sheamus buried his face in his hands and remembers how Rey Mysterio got on the card in a match with Cody Rhodes. Bryan says Sheamus picked the wrong guy.
Bryan got some details in his book messed up where he talks about Miz winning the WWE title off Cena at Wrestlemania 27 and he talks about how Miz was WWE Champion going into Over The Limit ppv 2011, but Miz lost the title by then. It's notable because he says he pitched hard for a "Rocky style" storyline where he would challenge Miz for the WWE title at the Over The Limit ppv.
Bryan says the 2011 Smackdown Money in the Bank winner wasn't decided until the day of the show but it was always between Wade Barret, Cody Rhodes and Bryan. He says despite winning the briefcase, his tv time tricked down and eventually he was spending weeks off tv, until he was randomly inserted into the World title program between Mark Henry and Big Show in late 2011.
Bryan was being left at home and off shows, even watching Survivor Series 2011 from home and was suprised when WWE had him come to the December TLC ppv show, last minute. The day of the show he was told he was cashing in and winning the title and the only direction Vince McMahon gave him was to act like he won the superbowl, so that's where Bryan's over the top celebration came from. He didn't even tell his girlfriend Brie Bella about the plan and says she was shocked when he came backstage afterwards.
The only direction Vince gave Bryan as champion is to celebrate every appearance like he won the lottery, saying, "there is no too over the top here."
Bryan said he adapted his "Yes" chants from MMA fighter Diego Sanchez who was celebrating in a similar way at the time.
Bryan's favorite moment from that first world title run was the closing sequence in the 2012 Elimination Chamber match with him and Santino Marella.
Bryan originally expected he and Sheamus to get 15 minutes or so at Wrestlemania for their match, but was shocked when Chris Jericho told him he heard it would be 8 minutes, including the pre & post match stuff. A week later Arn Anderson confirmed to Bryan that he would lose a 1-move match, dropping the world title to Sheamus at Wrestlemania that year. Bryan and Sheamus were both pissed, to say the least.
Sheamus expressed concern that the short match would turn fans against him as a new champion. Smart man.
Bryan says a bunch of guys came up to him after his Mania loss and were pissed at what they did to Bryan out there. Great Khali even came up and told Bryan that it was bullshit in his broken English.
Originally Sheamus was planned to move into a fued with Alberto Del-rio right after Mania, but the crazy crowd support for Bryan forced them to extend they story another month. Bryan says his Extreme Rules ppv match with Sheamus in 2012 is one of his favorites. Mine too!
Bryan acknowledged the weird booking of Punk as champion in 2012, noting how heels would face John Cena, lose, then be sent to face Punk with no momentum. Interesting take on the situation.
Bryan mentions how when he and Punk fueded in 2012, they never got main event spots outside of non-televised events. One time at a house show, Bryan and Punk veered too far into comedy and after the match John Cena chastised Bryan by pointing out that they didn't wrestle a "main event style" match. Apparently the next house show, Cena was moved into the main event spot with Punk/Bryan being before the intermission. An enraged Punk went and yelled at people until he got his main event spot back. This time, no comedy spots were done and they stayed the main event for the circuit.
Bryan had brand new, edgier gear made up prior to Money in the Bank 2012 and didn't tell anyone backstage. He wore shorts over his trunk and hid the jacket until he had to go out. When he got to the ring, the ref told him to lose the jacket, because I guess Vince was in gorilla position freaking out over how Bryan looked. Dean Melanko was the producer for the match, and Bryan felt bad when Vince blamed him for allowing Bryan to wear it.
Bryan was originally planned to wrestle Charlie Sheen at SummerSlam 2012 in a celebrity match, but Charlie "bailed" as Bryan put it.
Bryan was trying to be "Mr Small Package" by winning matches with Small Package and then boasting about how he has an "inescapable small package!" It didn't get over.
Bryan thought his anger management vignets with Kane and Dr Shelby were going to be terrible.
The only reason they stopped using Dr Shelby is because he had limited days off from his regular teaching job.
Bryan and Kane really wanted their team name to be "Team Friendship" and they even had shirt ideas but Vince let the fans vote and he always kept those votes legit, so their team name was "Team Hell No" which Bryan brings up a good point about. He said as a team primarily appealing to kids, a name with "Hell" in it would be hard to sell merchandise to those kids.
The plan was to break up their team so they could have a good heated fued together, but they were so popular that they kept teaming for 9 months.
Bryan says his first good Wrestlemania experience was in 2013 when he teamed with Kane.
One night after Mania in 2013, when Bryan tagged with Kane and Undertaker to face The Shield, Vince McMahon told Bryan that he would pay him several thousand dollars if he could get Undertaker to hug Bryan in the ring. After the show Bryan got on the mic and tried his hardest to get the hug but couldn't quite do it.
Bryan says that both he and Kane agree that teaming together was some of the most fun in either man's career.
Bryan was scheduled to win the biggest match of his career up to that point, he would be beating Randy Orton clean on RAW. Bryan would botch a dive that left both arms nunb and him unable to stand. He got feeling back in one arm but eventually the doctor called the match off. Backstage Bryan started screaming at Triple H for calling the match and called him a hypocrite for doing so, citing his own injuries in matches. At one point Orton tried to calm Bryan down, but Bryan snapped at him and Orton started yelling too. Brie got Bryan away to calm down, but when Vince came to talk to Bryan, the shouting started again. Much later, William Regal advised Bryan to apologize to both Vince and Triple H, to which Bryan took his advice. The next week, Bryan would get his win over Orton and he says that that drama over everything made that win matter more.
An MRI showed that one of Bryan's disks was pushing into his nerves and eventually he would need surgery. With his momentum starting to rise, Bryan opted to put surgery off.
John Cena pitched facing Daniel Bryan at Money in the Bank 2013 ppv. When Vince asked why, Cena said because it's the biggest match they could do at that time. Vince ended up agreeing, but deciding that it belongs at SummerSlam that year instead!
As proud as Bryan is of the build to and match with Cena at SummerSlam, he acknowledges that the ppv didn't do good numbers, nor did the house show business the following 2 months when Bryan was the main protagonist. He thinks a lot the the Authority promos on him stemmed from some truth.
Bryan isn't satisfied with the quality of matches he was putting out in the latter half of 2013 amd he specifically calls out the series of bad finishes he had with Randy Orton in ppv main events. From the fast counting crooked ref, to that terrible one with Big Show knocking everyone out, and then to Shawn Michaels betraying Bryan at Hell in a Cell ppv.
Bryan initially thought he was getting a Wrestlemania match with Shawn Michaels after that Hell in a Cell finish, but after talking with HBK, it was clear that was never in the cards.
Bryan feels he failed as a main eventer in the 2nd half of 2013, regardless of match quality. He didn't move business and that's all that matters.
The Slammy's were fan votes and Vince didn't think Bryan would win and almost laughed when Bryan asked him what he should say if he does win. Vince said, "whatever you want." I wish I could have seen Vince's face when Bryan won later that night.
When Bryan started fueding with Wyatt Family in late-2013, Bryan was pitching for him to be "brainwashed" and join the group. He suspects that his rising popularity in early 2014 is what convinced WWE to have Bryan turn on Bray and leave the group. At the time, Bryan was hoping to stay with the group and be involved in the planned Cena/Wyatt Wrestlemania program since Bryan had no plans for Mania at that time.
Bryan says he was disappointed when Vince told him he would be facing Sheamus again at Wrestlemania 2014. No disrespect to Sheamus, but Bryan felt he belonged in a higher spot.
Bryan felt bad for the way Rey Mysterio was boo'd at the 2014 Royal Rumble.
When Punk quit WWE after Rumble that year, Bryan remembers how plans didn't change too much for a few weeks, and he assumes Vince expected Punk to come back and for Batista to win the crowds over, and neither happened.
Triple H was being vocal about wanting to face Bryan at Mania that year, but Bryan was trying to not get his hopes up since he had seen Triple H try and fail to get his ideas on screen.
Bryan and Brie only agreed to let Total Divas shoot their wedding, because Total Divas agreed to pay for the whole wedding! Hard to say no to that!
Bryan is very satisfied with his matches at Wrestlemania 30 and says he was so focused between matches that he missed Undertaker losing to Lesnar. He heard the ring bell and looked up at the monitor in shock. He says they cameras should have filmed the guys and girls in the back because their reactions were wild, apparently.
Five days after Wrestlemania 30, Bryan and Brie got married, but 2 days after their honeymoon ended, Bryan's dad unexpectedly passed away at the age of 57. Bryan was devastated and described how he was crying still as he was writing about it.
The book ends on a complete downer, very unlike most other wrestling books. Bryan says that as long as he wrestled when asked if everything he was missing or sacrificing was worth it, Bryan always said yes. He assumed he would have more time when he was done and could catch up on what he missed, but his dad is gone and Bryan openly admits that it wasn't worth it. If he could, Bryan would change a lot of his decisions if it meant more time with his dad.
He says he is still wrestling though because he literally doesn't know what else to do or what comes after. This is especially depressing 10 years later, when Bryan is still wrestling despite having started a family of his own. I hope he doesn't regret any time missed with his daughter.
He ends the book by describing the last time he saw his dad, on Christmas in 2013, where his dad dressed up as Santa. Fuck. I'm sad now.
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