The tearsheet of Waste Management which i compiled can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15qwGjsW6yMPTPIl9e_FwdQ-bV4WNVquXW5ZS3Ilwolw/edit?usp=sharing
Please note, i removed all formulas.

I am sharing something which i wrote for myself recently.
Please note, the description and operations are lifted verbatim from their website.

Waste Management $WM.
"Description: Waste Management, Inc. is the leading provider of comprehensive waste and environmental services in North America. Headquartered in Houston, the company’s network of operations includes 431 collection operations, 381 transfer stations, 286 active landfill disposal sites, 17 waste-to-energy plants, 119 recycling plants and 90 beneficial-use landfill gas projects.
These assets enable Waste Management to offer a full range of environmental services to 22 million residential, industrial, municipal and commercial customers."

Their operations:

COLLECTION. Waste Management provides solid waste collection services to millions of customers across North America, ranging in size from the single residential subscription to large national customers requiring comprehensive, one-source waste programs to serve hundreds of locations. With 25,000 collection and transfer vehicles, the company has the largest trucking fleet in the waste industry. The company uses advanced technology and disciplined programs to bring improved efficiency to the process of solid waste collection.
TRANSFER. With most of the waste collected by Waste Management going to its own landfills, a supporting network of transfer stations provides an important link for efficient disposal. Waste Management has 381 strategically located transfer stations to consolidate, compact and load waste from collection vehicles into long-haul trailers, barge containers and rail cars for transport to landfills.
DISPOSAL. Waste Management operates the largest network of landfills in its industry, with 286 active sites managing the disposal of more than 120 million tons of waste per year. The company operates its sites according to standards of safety and environmental compliance that go beyond regulatory requirements. Waste Management is focused on solutions that impact the future of solid waste management, including bioreactor technology, which accelerates the decomposition of organic waste through the managed introduction of air and liquids into the waste mass. Currently, the company is conducting research at 10 landfills to confirm the environmental benefits of bioreactor technology as an alternative method for managing landfill waste.
RECYCLING. As the largest recycler of municipal solid waste in North America, Waste Management handles more than eight million tons of recyclable materials each year, largely through its 119 recycling facilities. Through the resources of Recycle America Alliance, a majority-owned subsidiary, WM provides costefficient, environmentally sound recycling programs for municipalities, businesses and households across the U.S. and Canada.
LANDFILL GAS PROJECTS. For many years, Waste Management has worked with businesses, industries and public utilities across North America to develop beneficial-use projects from landfill gas. This gas is a reliable, renewable energy source that is produced naturally as waste decomposes in landfills. When collected, it can be used directly as medium Btu gas for industrial use or sold to gas-to-energy plants to fuel engine or turbine-driven generators that produce electricity. WM currently supplies landfill gas to 90 beneficial-use projects nationwide. The company’s 57 gas-to-electricity projects provide more than 260 megawatts of energy, enough to power 230,000 homes. The 33 projects that sell landfill gas as fuel to industrial users replace more than 2.6 million barrels of oil each year.
WASTE-TO-ENERGY. Waste Management’s Wheelabrator Technologies subsidiary pioneered the use of municipal solid waste for fuel in the generation of electrical power in the U.S. more than 25 years ago. Since then, the company has processed more than 117 million tons of municipal solid waste into energy, saving more than 180 million barrels of oil while generating nearly 64 billion kilowatt hours of electricity. Its 17 waste-to-energy plants have the capacity to process more than 24,200 tons of waste per day into electrical or steam energy. Together the plants generate an aggregate 690 megawatts of electric energy, enough to power 600,000 homes
FROM WM website

A. SWOT

1. Strength
1.1 Strong Competitive Advantage
1.1.1 Regulations on Landfill licence.
WM and RSG and WCN control 80% of the landfill in north america. WM owns 5 out of the biggest 10 landfill in the US. Landfills are not easy to get approved for construction, mainly due to residential communities generally being averse to having them near their homes. This provides a significant "moat" against future competition in the landfill space. Many of Waste Management's collection competitors are forced to pay the company to use its landfills due to the lack of other options and the difficulty in constructing new landfills.
1.1.2 Scale of Vertical integration
The vertical integration model, where the company owns and operates its own landfills, transfer stations, and material recovery facilities (MRFs), Renewable natural gas extraction allows management to pull significantly more levers to drive results than smaller competitors. Margins are higher, and absorbing the large costs associated with the maintenance of all that infrastructure is dispersed across a much larger operation.
ETC
1.1 Shareholder-friendly Management
Growing dividend, and this has attracted quite a following among dividend investors The company is also increasingly buying back stock. In 1Q24, the company spent $250 million on buybacks, slightly less than the $300 million it spent on dividends. This dividend is protected by a low 40% payout ratio and comes with a history of 20 consecutive annual dividend hikes and a five-year CAGR of 8.4%.
The CEO James C. Fish, owns ~172 thousand shares worth over $28 million. His 2022 compensation was $14.8 million, of which $8 million was in stock awards and $1.7 million in stock options. Mr. Fish has a tenure of 7.3 years. The CFO (Devina A. Rankin) also had over 50% of her compensation package rewarded in stock, and as of 2022, she owned 65.5k shares and 14k options, together worth over $13 million.
In the last five years, the share price has compounded at 13.91% a year excluding dividends ( Jun 10th 2019 closing price was 104.57, june 7th 2024 closing price is 200.55).
1.2 Management takes a long term view of then business, and has made acquisitions where it made sense.
In 2020, WM acquired Advanced Disposal Services (ADS), a leader in in recycling and landfill gas-to-energy.
In 2022, the company started to implement RNG (renewal natural gas) extraction from waste and by 2026 to have a 400m run rate ebitda from RNG.
In 2024 June, WM announced that they are seeking to buy Stericyle for $7.2 billion. Stericycle is a leader in medical waste disposal.
1.3 The business is recession resistant but it is not immune.
WM will be impacted in a recession as 70% of collections revenue come from their commercial and industrial customers. A slow down in the economy general means a slow down in economic activities and trash. This is especially true for housing starts, a slow down in construction sector will temporarily impact the business. It is resistant because the business is a recurring one, and most of the commercial agreements are signed for 3 to 5 years.
The company was not immuned from short-term headwinds caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company resorted to flexible contract for commercial accounts during the crisis, and that smaller businesses got offered free service in the near term. However the dip lasted until April and the company’s SP ended 2020 higher than it started.
In the 2022 decline of the general stock market, the share price dipped only 5.4% for the whole year from $166 to $157.
1.4 Strong financials
In the last ten years, the company has had only 1 and 2 years where revenue and EPS werelower than the previous year. Their stated debt to ebitda ratio is 2.5 to 3.
Their ROE and ROIC metrics have grown in the past five years, although it is still in the low teens, it is considered the best of class in this business.

1. Weaknesses

2.1. Exposure to recycled prices.
WM was quite exposed to recycled prices in 2018, chinese recycled goods were dumped onto the US market and caused price volatility. WM then changed the pricing model to reduce its exposure by generating more revenue from the collection of recycling. So instead of an 0.20 EPS impact due to a 40% volatility, the impact is now just $0.06-0.08.
2.2 This is a high Capex business.
The CAPEX was supposed to go down after spending the elevated sum to build the RNG plants and reaping a 500m Ebitda run rate from this business by 2026. But with the acquisition of Stericycle, it looks like the company is heading into the Medical Waste business in a big way. And I don’t think capex as a % of revenue is going to drop too far from its current 10%.
3. Opportunities
(See Below for Catalysts and Drivers)
4. Threats & Risks
The evolving nature of the business. For a boring utility-like nature of this business, it is quite dynamic.
The American waste management market is supposed to increase 5% CAGR from 2022 to 2027 or 5.6% CAGR between 2022 and 2030 depending on the research report. However, this doesn't mean that the solid waste volume will grow at 5% CAGR, the CEO made a remark recently:
“If you were to ask me what business do I want to be in right now, I want to be in a medical business of some kind because it's only getting bigger. And our business, by the way, solid waste, if I think about volume over the next decade is going to grow at probably 1% to 2%.” June 7th, The Stifel 2024 Cross Sector Insight Conference
I think the company has to constantly think about growth and the company has to execute flawlessly.
The latest news is that WM is seeking to divest in the RNG business, a business that was touted in 2022 as a strategic direction for the firm and a long term driver for growth. (I wont comment much about this development as it is just an exploration by the company, i suspect it has to do with trying to keep the debt to ebitda ratios between 2.5 - 3, the CFO has alluded that the acquisition of Stericycle might put them on a negative watch by S&P or Moody’s, so i think this is due diligence process)
https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/waste-manager-wm-explores-3-billion-sale-renewable-natural-gas-unit-sources-say-2024-05-16/

B. Catalysts for unlocking value

B.1. Continued Industry consolidation
In the last 5 years, WM acquired about 90 companies. Last week, they announced their latest and largest acquisition, Stericycle. Stericycle is the largest provider of medical waste disposal and data destruction (primarily paper shredding) services in the United States. I think a lot of investors really dislike this deal and the WM’s SP was sold down when it was first announced. This is because the to-be acquired company has very meh metrics, like being GAAP unprofitable in 5 out of the last 10 years (They were FCF positive in all ten years though).
To quote WM’s CEO on the deal:
“So a lot of opportunity there. And then I look at the growth trajectory over a 10-year period. And the medical services business, and this is not us saying, this, this is a third-party saying this, is projected to grow at somewhere in the neighborhood of 5% to 6%. That's the volume side of medical services.
Not a surprise to anybody in the room. The U.S. average American has aged 10 years in the last 40. We're getting older, and the replacement rate is like 1.7% or 1.7% right now. So we're not replacing, we're getting older. If you were to ask me what business do I want to be in right now, I want to be in a medical business of some kind because it's only getting bigger. And our business, by the way, solid waste, if I think about volume over the next decade is going to grow at probably 1% to 2%.”
B.2 Renewable Natural Gas from garbage dumps
To quote this 2022 WSJ article: WM is spending $825 to build 17 new plants to convert methane from garbage dumps into biomethane. “ The company also intends to sell the gas to utilities, industrial firms, and organizations seeking to enhance their environmental credentials.” The company hopes these investments to result in $500 million of run-rate EBITDA per year totaling 21 million MMBtu per year by 2026.

C. Valuation

An interesting topic always. I scoured the SA archives, out of the 86 articles written on WM (last article in 2019 to current June 7 2024), there were 47 articles that said that WM was too expensive to buy and investors would not beat the market if they bought WM at such high earnings multiple, 29 articles gave WM a buy rating and 10 articles were neutral.
Can you imagine, the naysayers, the fence-sitters who for 5 years said “NO” and then watched the share-price battle covid, lockdown, war in ukraine, inflation, the great crash of 2022, and fear of recession in 2023 and then almost doubled by 2024 and beating the S&P 500 in the process, with an annualised 13.91% returns vs the 13.12% CAGR for the S&P 500.
If i were to use SA as an reverse indicator, then i should be bearish because most of articles in 2024 turned positive even though the share-price is at an all time high, and Q1 results were okay although revenue was little light. Many of the Dividend growth-focused SA authors switched from negative to positive towards WM in 2024.
If I were to look at valuation from my own calculations (please refer to the tearsheet):
My blended calculation puts the fair value around 151 to 164 against the current price of $200
If i were to use the analysts estimates, and then work backwards to to match the current price, this implied growth rates works out to around 12%, which is at the edge of what they used to achieve in the past. In my opinion, this 12% growth rate is a bit optimistic and the company must execute it flawlessly. For my blended calculator, i used 9% as a more realistic long term growth-rate.

tl;dr skip to questions please
Disclaimer: I am not a professional, just looking to educate myself and others to improve my craft.
Oversight:
I am looking to calibrate my studio and check my nearfield listening levels.
I am a little confused on how loud is too loud and which levels matter more
-dBA vs dBC

I am aware that the Fletcher-Munson curve is
one of many sets of equal-loudness contours for the human ear
*The A-weighted dB scale (dBA) is based on the Fletcher-Munson equal-loudness curve

Some literature denotes "safe" environmental noise levels by time in dB/dBA
-OSHA(Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
-NIOSH(National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health)
https://www.fldata.com/osha-noise-exposure-limits

dBA vs dBC Chart comparison
-dBA seems to roll off -20db at 100hz, -10db at 20k(Covers:mid, and high freq)
-dBC is more flat on the bottom, and -10db at 20k(Covers:Low, mid, and high freq)
-Since dBC is more flat/flat on the bottom it will pick up the lower frequencies/more frequencies in total and register a higher reading comparing to dBA

Some literature says to calibrate off dBC, while some says to calibrate off dB with no notion of what weight to use
(dBC) - Frequencies sound the flattest at around 85dB - points to measure in dBC
-https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/how-loud-should-you-mix/
(dBC) - has Room Size vs Reference Level
-https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/establishing-project-studio-reference-monitoring-levels?page=3
(dBC) - shows dBC mixing levels
-https://www.masteringthemix.com/blogs/learn/the-perfect-monitoring-levels-for-your-home-studio

---My Mixing Levels---
1.)
I was mixing at(70-77dBA)
-76/77dBA which is like 90dBC
It seems like 85dBA in nearfield listening is really loud, the loudest I was going, in order to "feel" the music was peaking around 80dBA
2.)
I brought it down to(60-67dBA)
67dBA which is like 83/85dBC
3.)
Then down to(50-56dBA)
56dBA is ~76dBC is very quiet in comparison
I can literally speak with an indoor voice over the whole mix without trying
to me this makes it harder to pickup all the little details
There are some recommendations to calibrate to 73-76dBC as it is flat

The last two levels(2 and 3) 85dBC/76dBC
-85dBC seems optimal
-76dBC seems too quiet

---My setup---
Nearfield Monitors
Kali in8's w/ a ELX200-12sp sub
2nd setup I A/B sound with is just a home theater set of speakers
Bose tower speakers
~130sqft room

---What I measure with---
SPL Meter Reed 8050 - which is calibrated
supports dBA/C

tl;dr Questions:
What levels are you mixing/producing at, and in dBA or dBC?
What is the standard to calibrate in dBA or dBC?
-if in dBC what is the "safe" level?
obviously 85dBA isnt the same as 85dBC
-why calibrate in dBC if its easier to follow guidelines written closest to the human ear - dBA?
What is the point of dBC other than seeing how much bass there is?
Other than mixing, if I was to just listen to music should I just measure in dBA, and follow the written saftey guidelines?

I feel like im missing some info as I like to listen to music to feel it more, but want to do so in a safe manner. Obviously when im mixing/working on production its at a lower level than standards(dBA) but if we are basing the standards to be off dBC it just seems very quiet.

--Other--
I found this cool post that has a response by an audiologist with a good explanation @ u/earguy
https://www.reddit.com/audiology/comments/3wfs8u/as_a_music_producer_trying_to_protect_my_hearing/
Quick summary:
"The C-weighting scale was originally designed to be the best predictor of the ear’s sensitivity to tones at high noise levels.
Even though the low frequencies and high frequencies are perceived as being equally loud at high sound levels, much of the low frequency noise is actually being filtered out by the ear, making it less likely to cause damage. The A-weighting scale in a sound level meter replicates this filtering process of the human ear.
Keep in mind, no matter what intensity of the noise is, no matter what the frequency weighting of the noise is, the damage to hearing is consistently worst in the 3-4kHz range. And, not coincidentally, the resonant frequency of the ear canal is 3-4kHz, depending on the individual.
So, really, the dB-A scale and its well-established exposure-time guidelines are pretty safe."

Any insight is welcome. I am looking forward to your responses.
Cheers
Z

I’ve been cross shopping and test driving a significant amount of cars over the past 2 months.
I have settled mainly between a 2019-2021 Honda Civic SI, and a 2017+ Toyota Corolla hatchback with a manual. I drive 75 miles each way, each day, 90% of it being 70ish highway cruising. I never have more than one adult and one child passenger, most of the time being one or the other.
Both seem relatively economical. Reliability leans towards the Corolla but that’s not to say the civic 1.5t is particularly problematic, main issue being oil dilution in low mile usage(clearly a problem I won’t have). Does anyone have experience in putting high miles on these models?
I cannot do EV as I do not have any form of at home or at work charging. As for the many suggestions I’m sure to get of comfort or avoiding manual, that’s not something that particularly bothers me. For reference I have been making this commute for over 4 years in a Jeep Renegade with a 6spd manual and a 1.4l engine. I am used to being busy. I want something that I can enjoy on the weekends and these have been the two most engaging to drive. I did also enjoy the new generation GTI I drove, as well as an Acura ILX.

This is going to be a long thread with thousands of words so unless you're truly interested in what multipathing is, how it works, how it's countered, and how it could be implemented in warthunder, you won't read it all, so i tried to TLDR the best i can at the bottom. The format uses Gemini AI to save my time as well as highlight key points in a Question -> Answer format. The questions are asked in ways that would be observable in game, while also providing realism to the multipath effect. My summarized implementation thoughts will also be TLDR at the bottom.
In radar systems, multipathing refers to the phenomenon where radar signals travel along multiple paths before reaching the target and reflecting back to the radar receiver. This can cause issues like:

• False targets: Reflected signals from objects like buildings or terrain can appear as additional targets on the radar display.
  
• Signal distortion: The combined reflected signals can weaken or distort the original signal, making it difficult to accurately determine the target's range, speed, or position.
  

How do missiles reduce the effect of multipathing on low flying targets?
Missiles themselves don't directly reduce the effect of multipathing on low-flying targets. Multipathing is an issue with the radar guiding the missile, not the missile itself.
Here's how radar systems can mitigate multipathing effects on low-flying targets:

• Advanced filtering techniques: Radars can employ signal processing algorithms to distinguish between the true target reflection and unwanted clutter from the ground or other objects.
  
• Pulse-Doppler radar: This type of radar transmits pulses and analyzes the returning signal's Doppler shift to differentiate between stationary clutter (like ground) and moving targets (like aircraft).
  
• Low-lobe antennas: These antennas minimize the radar signal transmitted close to the ground, reducing ground clutter reflections.
  

These techniques help radar systems provide a clearer picture to missiles, enabling them to better track low-flying targets despite multipathing challenges.
Does data link help as well?
Yes, data links can indirectly help reduce the effects of multipathing on low-flying targets for missiles in a couple of ways:

1. Sharing Target Information: Data links allow radar systems on other platforms (aircraft, ground stations) to share target data with the launching platform. This can provide a more complete picture of the target's location and movement, potentially reducing reliance on a single radar potentially affected by multipathing.
   
2. Improved Filtering: Data links can transmit processed radar data, which has already undergone some filtering to remove clutter. This can reduce the workload on the missile's own radar receiver, making it less susceptible to multipathing interference.
   

Older semi active radar missiles didn't have internal radar like more modern active radar missiles, and relied on the radar of the aircraft to guide the missiles. These aircraft usually were not equipped with data link, pulse doppler, or other semi-advanced mitigation techniques for multipathing. Were improvements made to the missiles seeker in order to mitigate multipathing?
You're right, older semi-active radar missiles faced greater challenges with multipathing due to limitations in both the missiles themselves and the launch platforms. Here's how they addressed multipathing to some extent:

• Filtering Techniques: While not as sophisticated as modern filtering, some early semi-active radar seekers incorporated basic filtering methods to differentiate the strongest target return from clutter.
  
• Seeker Design: Some seeker designs prioritized receiving reflected signals from specific target areas, like the top of an aircraft, which might be less susceptible to ground clutter.
  
• Launch Tactics: Launch tactics could involve maneuvers to minimize the missile's flight path over clutter-heavy areas, reducing multipathing effects.
  

Overall, mitigating multipathing in older missiles relied more on filtering within the seeker itself and launch tactics compared to the advanced techniques used in modern systems. These limitations are why semi-active radar missiles often performed better against high-flying targets with less ground clutter interference.
What were some various seeker or filtering types?
Here are some specific seeker and filtering techniques used in older semi-active radar missiles to mitigate multipathing, though they weren't as effective as modern methods:

• Track Gate Filters:** These filters focused on signals within a predicted range and velocity window, rejecting signals outside that area likely caused by multipathing.
  
• Spectral Filtering:** By analyzing the frequency content of the reflected signal, these filters could distinguish between the target's signature and ground clutter based on their spectral characteristics.
  
• Lobing Techniques:** Some seeker antenna designs employed multiple lobes with varying antenna patterns to null out reflections from specific directions (like the ground) while optimizing reception from the target's direction.
  

How do variations like the inverse monopulse seeker relate to this?
Inverse monopulse seekers represent a significant improvement in mitigating multipathing for semi-active radar missiles compared to older designs. Here's how they work:

• Traditional Trackers:** Conventional semi-active seekers compared the strength of the received signal in its entirety. Multipathing could create a stronger overall return signal even if it wasn't directly from the target.

*Inverse Monopulse: This design incorporates two or more antennas within the seeker. It compares the signal strength between these antennas to determine the target's direction rather than relying solely on overall signal strength.
*Multipathing Impact: Even with multipathing, the target's true location will cause a slight directional difference in the signal received by the seeker's antennas. Inverse monopulse can detect this disparity and focus on the target's true direction, effectively filtering out much of the multipathing clutter.
This directional comparison offers a significant advantage over relying on absolute signal strength, making inverse monopulse seekers much more effective in low-altitude environments where multipathing is prevalent.
Is multipathing a significant factor for active radar missiles?
Multipathing has a lesser impact on active radar missiles compared to semi-active radar missiles. Here's why:
-Active missiles have their own radar transmitters and receivers, making them less reliant on reflected signals from the launch platform's radar, which can be susceptible to multipathing.
-They can employ more sophisticated filtering techniques within the missile itself to distinguish the target's signature from clutter caused by multipath reflections.
However, multipathing can still affect active radar missiles to some extent, particularly at low altitudes where ground clutter is more prominent.
What environmental factors can lead to a higher multipath signature?
Several environmental factors can contribute to a higher multipath signature for radar systems:

• Terrain: Rough terrain with mountains, buildings, or other obstacles can create multiple reflection paths for the radar signal, increasing multipathing.
  
• Vegetation: Dense forests or vegetation can absorb and scatter radar signals, leading to more complex reflections and potential multipathing issues.
  
• Weather: Humidity, rain, or snow can refract radar signals, bending them and creating additional propagation paths that contribute to multipathing.
  
• Low Altitude: When a radar operates close to the ground, the signal is more likely to reflect off the ground and surrounding objects, creating more opportunities for multipathing.What environmental factors can lead to a lower multipath signiature?Here's what minimizes multipathing for radar systems:
  
• Flat, Open Terrain: Smooth, unobstructed areas with minimal clutter like buildings or mountains provide a clear path for the radar signal, reducing reflections that cause multipathing.
  
• Sparse Vegetation: Environments with low vegetation density allow the radar signal to travel with fewer obstacles, minimizing signal scattering and potential multipathing.
  
• Dry Weather Conditions: Clear skies with low humidity minimize signal refraction by atmospheric elements, leading to a more direct path and less multipathing.
  
• Higher Altitude: Operating at a higher altitude increases the distance between the radar and ground clutter, reducing the likelihood of ground-reflected signals interfering with the target signal.
  

Does the angular relation between the two aircraft have an effect on the multipath signature?
Yes, the angular relationship between the launching aircraft, the target aircraft, and any reflective objects that cause multipathing can affect the signal received by the radar. Here's why:

• Signal Strength: Depending on the angle, the target aircraft might reflect a stronger or weaker signal back to the radar. This can be crucial for distinguishing the target from background clutter if the multipath signal is significant.
  
• Doppler Shift: The relative angle between the aircraft also affects the Doppler shift of the reflected signal. Missiles and radars use this shift to differentiate moving targets from stationary clutter. In multipath scenarios, a favorable angle can help isolate the target's true Doppler signature.
  
• Signal Cancellation: In some cases, the relative positions can lead to partial or complete cancellation of the target signal by the multipath reflections. This can make it difficult to detect or track the target.
  

What angles would be more difficult to distinguish from a multipath signal?
Angles where the target aircraft and reflective objects are close in line with the radar will be more difficult to distinguish from a multipath signal. This is because:

• Similar Signal Path: When the target and reflector are aligned, the reflected signals from both might travel similar paths to the radar, making it challenging to differentiate based on signal arrival time.
  
• Doppler Shift Similarity: If the target and reflector are moving in similar directions relative to the radar, their Doppler shifts might be comparable, further complicating discrimination between the true target and multipath.
  
• Signal Cancellation: In some cases, the aligned position can lead to destructive interference, where the target's signal and the multipath reflection partially or completely cancel each other out, significantly weakening the target signal received by the radar.
  

Define "target" and "reflector"In the context of radar systems:

• Target: The object of interest that the radar is trying to detect and track. This could be an aircraft, ship, vehicle, or any object the radar needs to locate.
  
• Reflector: Any object in the environment that reflects the radar signal back to the radar receiver. This can include terrain, buildings, trees, or even weather phenomena like rain or snow. Ideally, reflectors are not the objects of interest and can create clutter that makes it difficult to detect the actual target.
  

Would a target flying low and perpendicular to the aircraft be more difficult to detect through multipathing than a target traveling low and directly at the aircraft?
Yes, a target flying low and perpendicular to the launching aircraft could be more difficult to detect through multipathing compared to a target flying directly at the aircraft at low altitude. Here's why:

• Signal Path: When the target is perpendicular, the reflected signal from the target travels a longer path compared to a direct approach. This can make it weaker and potentially more susceptible to cancellation by reflections from closer objects like terrain.
  
• Doppler Shift: The perpendicular target's relative motion creates a less pronounced Doppler shift compared to a head-on approach. This can make it harder to distinguish the target's signature from ground clutter, which might have a similar Doppler shift in this scenario.
  
• Multipath Reinforcements: Depending on the specific geometry, perpendicular flight paths might create multiple reflection points that reinforce each other, further obscuring the true target signal.What are some other multipath reinforcements?Multipath reinforcements occur when multiple reflections of the radar signal combine in a way that strengthens each other, making it even more challenging to detect the true target signal. Here are some additional examples beyond perpendicular flight paths:
  
• Corner Reflectors: Objects with sharp angles or dihedral shapes, like buildings with square corners, can create strong multipath reflections due to efficient signal bouncing between the various surfaces.
  
• Curved Surfaces: Curved objects like domes or spheres can focus radar signals, creating intensified reflections in specific directions that can overwhelm the target signal.
  
• Multiple Reflectors: In cluttered environments with numerous objects like trees in a forest, reflections can bounce back and forth between them, creating a complex web of reinforced multipath signals.
  

Would a target flying low and at the aircraft be harder to detect than a target flying low and directly away from the aircraft? (Test question, intentionally wrong)
No, a target flying low and directly at the aircraft wouldn't necessarily be harder to detect through multipathing compared to a target flying low and directly away. Here's why:

• Similar Multipath Effects: Both scenarios involve low-altitude flight, which means both are susceptible to ground clutter reflections causing multipathing.
  
• Doppler Shift Advantage: In a head-on approach, the target's relative velocity is maximized, leading to a more pronounced Doppler shift. This can actually benefit detection by making the target easier to distinguish from stationary clutter on the ground.
  

However, there are other factors to consider beyond multipathing that might influence target detectability:
-Radar Cross-Section (RCS): An aircraft's RCS depends on its size, shape, and material composition. In some cases, an aircraft's frontal RCS might be larger than its rear RCS, making it more detectable head-on.
-Radar Look Angle: The specific direction the radar antenna is pointed can affect signal strength. If the radar isn't perfectly aligned with either target, detection might be slightly less efficient.
Overall, while multipathing is a concern in both scenarios, a direct head-on approach might offer some advantages for target detection due to the Doppler effect. Other factors like RCS and radar look angle can also play a role.
So to summarize the past few points, aircraft relation plays a significant role in the efficiency of multipathing. Perpendicular and directly-away positions for the target aircraft can lead to stronger multipath signatures compared to a direct head-on approach.
This is because of the factors you mentioned: weaker target signal strength, less distinguishable Doppler shift, and potential for reinforced multipath reflections in certain geometries. In addition to multipathing, chaff is often used to enhance the reflection of radar waves.
Does this also effect pulse doppler radar types?
Yes, chaff can affect pulse doppler (PD) radars to a certain extent, but PD radars are generally more resistant to chaff compared to traditional radars. Here's why:

• Doppler Shift Filtering: PD radars rely on the Doppler shift principle to differentiate between moving targets (like aircraft) and stationary clutter (like chaff). Chaff typically falls through the air at a slow, relatively constant speed, creating a minimal Doppler shift. PD radars can filter out signals with minimal Doppler shifts, reducing the impact of chaff.
  
• Clutter Rejection Techniques: Many PD radars incorporate clutter rejection algorithms that can distinguish between the complex Doppler signature of a target aircraft and the simpler signature of chaff.
  

However, chaff effectiveness can depend on various factors:

• Radar Design: The specific design and processing techniques of a PD radar can influence its susceptibility to chaff.
  
• Deployment Techniques: The way chaff is deployed (quantity, altitude) can affect its effectiveness in overwhelming the radar's filtering capabilities.
  
• Target Range: At close range, the velocity difference between a target and chaff might be smaller, making it more challenging for PD radars to discriminate between them entirely.
  

Overall, pulse doppler radars offer a significant advantage over traditional radars in mitigating the effects of chaff due to their Doppler shift filtering and clutter rejection techniques. However, chaff can still be a factor in certain situations.
Can chaff also increase the multipathing effect due to how it reflects radar waves?
Yes, chaff can indirectly worsen multipathing effects for radar systems. Here's why:

• Multiple Reflectors: Chaff creates additional reflective objects in the environment. These extra reflectors can cause radar signals to bounce around more, creating more opportunities for multipathing.
  
• Complex Signal Reflections: Unlike a clean target return, chaff reflects radar waves in various directions due to its irregular shapes and materials. This can lead to more scattered reflections that contribute to a more complex multipath environment.
  

While chaff itself isn't the direct cause of multipathing (which is caused by signal bouncing off objects in the environment), its presence significantly increases the number and complexity of reflections, making it harder for radars to distinguish the true target signal from the clutter caused by multipathing.
Would that also increase the effectiveness of chaff against a pulse doppler radar, since the chaff itself has a relatively low doppler shift?
The effect isn't as straightforward. Here's why adding to the complexity of multipathing with chaff might not necessarily increase its effectiveness against pulse doppler radars:

• PD Filters Focus: Pulse doppler filters primarily target stationary clutter based on minimal Doppler shift. While chaff introduces more reflections, PD radars are designed to handle complex clutter environments.
  
• Doppler Differentiation: Even with increased multipathing, the actual target aircraft will still have its own distinct Doppler signature due to its movement. PD radars can potentially isolate this signature from the chaff clutter.
  

However, there can be some indirect effects:

• Processing Load: The increased complexity from multipath due to chaff can overload PD radar processing in some situations, making it temporarily harder to isolate the target signal.
  
• Reduced Signal-to-Noise Ratio: More chaff reflections can contribute to a higher noise level, reducing the overall signal-to-noise ratio of the target return. This can make it slightly more difficult to detect the target.
  

Overall, while chaff can add to the challenge for PD radars by worsening multipathing, their core functionality of filtering based on Doppler shift makes them generally more resilient to chaff compared to traditional radars.
So basically, chaffing while minimizing the targets doppler shift by flying perpendicular to the aircraft would be ideal, and it would potentially have a more pronounced effect down low?
There are some nuances to consider:

• Perpendicular Approach: While a perpendicular approach can minimize the target's relative velocity and Doppler shift, it might not be the most practical flight path during combat maneuvers.
  
• Doppler Shift Not Eliminated: Even perpendicular motion won't entirely eliminate the target's Doppler shift. Some shift will still be present due to the aircraft's own internal movements and the non-zero closing velocity between the two aircraft.
  
• Low-Altitude Advantage: Chaff is generally more effective at lower altitudes where ground clutter can further complicate the radar picture for the opponent.
  
• Combined Tactics: The ideal strategy might involve a combination of tactics like deploying chaff, executing maneuvers to reduce Doppler signature, and potentially using terrain masking to reduce radar exposure.
  

Remember, chaff effectiveness is situational and depends on various factors. While the perpendicular approach can reduce Doppler shift and potentially aid chaff in confusing the radar, it's one element of a broader electronic countermeasures strategy.
TLDR
Given the above information, we can summarize that a more realistic implementation of multipathing would generate a significant advance in tactical approach in the game. The multipathing effect could be refined on a per map basis, and similar to the front line mechanic, it could be worse in certain areas. For example, depending on plane aspect you may be able to multipath easier. If you're flying over a city, mountains, etc the radar signal would be more likely to have an unstable return than over water, or plains. In addition, an aircraft flying high should have an ability to mitigate multipathing, reducing it further due to the radar waves being too weak by the time they reach the aircraft for the radar to prioritize it, while low flying aircraft would be recieving more multipathing due to their own sidelobe energy being detected as noise. Also, modes like TWS would be more susceptible due to them having to use more power to sustain and monitor each track. The perpendicular approach, or notching, would also increase the multipath effect as well as other modifiers such as chaff, being in a "multipath zone" such as a city, mountains or other rough terrain, as well as the altitude of each aircraft and their position. Multipathing could have a base effect, and depending on these factors, modifiers could be placed in addition to raise the value of the multipathing in a dynamic way. This would eliminate gripen invulnerability, and other OP flight models. Airfields could be spawn protection 100% multipath, OR [hear me out] it follows the same logic as the rest of the map with addition of new airbase defense systems with a larger range and attack pattern that can engage enemy fighters as well as the missiles they shoot. A dedicated type for each role could even be added to make simulator a more immersive environment and add a new "final boss" for my fellow 'virtual weasels' to play with. The multipathing base could also be reduced incrementally, so early SARH with monopulse seekers are slightly worse than ARH but better than late SARH, which is still better than the Early first generations of SARH. This allows realism, the inclusion of MP as a valid tactic, solves OP modeling rushes, Airfield camping, and forces the players to evolve based on the situation, map, and number of enemies to exploit and explore the entirety of the map. Currently corners and sides going fairly unflown due to SARH being ineffective outside of 10km and having to be nose hot, causing a large number to lock someone on launch and proceed to overfly the entire map just to fight a mig who was in a fight by his spawn to get that one missile off, because of multipathing. 128 kilometers is small enough, but right now the player base in its current meta state probably uses less than 80 km² due to the fundamentals at work, so it feels even more cramped. There's loads more but I will leave the rest up to your speculation. Here's hoping for change

Summer 2024 Update - Pre-formatted details and info related to my own experience & techniques - this serves me as a quick compendium for pre-formatted replies of mine that are very frequent. Individual categories are also included as comments for easier filtering and copy-pasting of formatted text.

🎒 TRAVEL LOADOUT - PACKED

This is my typical indefinite loadout for 3 seasons -

• 4+1^✧ 🩲 Boxer Briefs
• 4+1^✧ 🧦 Pairs of Socks
• 4+2^✧ 👕 Top Garments - (1-2 long sleeve, rest short sleeves)
• 1+1^✧ 👖 Trousers - (1 convertible, 1 long trousers)
• 1 💤 Sleepwea🧗🏻‍♂️ Activewear set (shorts, tank top)
• 1^✧ 👟 Pair of shoes (trail running shoes)

^{✧ - Refers to a worn set, not packed}
On top of that I evidently have my toiletry kit, sleep kit, electronics, laundry & misc kit, travel filmmaking gear, and medikit (I am T1D) - my entire loadout fits in an 18L backpack
 

🚶🏻‍♂️ TRAVEL LOADOUT - EDC

As a T1D, I also have to carry specific items. Those critical and less-critical items are stored in a Waist Pouch that is not considered a ''bag'' by airlines, and it is sleek enough to allow me to carry it while seated on planes. It usually contains:

• Insulin Pens with 2-days worth on injection supplies
• Glucose Reader with relevant supplies (testing strips, lancets, lancing device)
• Emergency Glucose Gel (for hypoglycemic events, but only when there are no other sources of carbs available)
• Disinfectant wipes and cleaning wipes
• Tote bag (packable, packs very small)
• Nail Clipper (this one is not used for nail clipping but as a quick, small cutting tool)
• Electronics microkit (SIM Card tool, USB-C to 3.5 mm adapter, USB-C to Micro USB adapter, Micro USB to USB-C adapter)
• Bluetooth Earbuds (noise cancelling)
• Permanent twin-tip Sharpie (one tip is thick as a marker the other is ultra fine as a pen)
• Pills Tube (Paracetamol, Ibuprofen, Acetylsalicylic Acid tabs)
• Lip balm

 

🎦 TRAVEL FILMMAKING GEAR

While I do own a mirrorless camera and production kit, I rarely use it for travel, unless needed for a commercial shoot or specific projects. That said, I now always travel with a smaller Travel Filmmaking Kit which is basically the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Creator Combo Kit stored in a Travel Organizer and a few extra accessories -
DJI OSMO POCKET 3 CREATOR COMBO KIT (stored in the travel organizer)

• DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Camera w/ 512 GB micro SD card
• DJI Camera Shell w/ wide angle lens stored within
• DJI Battery Handle
• DJI Mini tripod
• DJI 1/4'' adapter
• DJI Mic 2 TX w/ magnet clip & windscreen
• DJI High Speed USB-C to C cable
• 2 × 512 GB micro SD cards in their SD card adapter & case

OTHER ACCESSORIES (stored or attached in/on the backpack or daypack)

• FREEWELL 8-pack ''All Day'' lens kit
• KAIESS Travel tripod/Selfie Stick combo with Remote
• AUKEY Basix Mini 10 000 mAh quick charge power bank
• PEAK DESIGN Capture Camera Clip paired with the
• PEAK DESIGN POV KIT

 

💊 MEDICAL SUPPLIES

I'm T1D (Type 1 Diabetic) so I need to carry a bunch of critical medical supplies unless I want to die a slow painful death. Most supplies and spares are stored in a Medikit and the daily items I need to use are stored in a waist pouch I always carry as EDC.
Here are my medical supplies for a 21-day trip:
💼 STORED IN THE MEDIKIT
T1D SUPPLIES

• 2 × Continuous Glucose Monitor - FreeStyle Libre 2 - (Spares - a sensor lasts 14 days and I already have an activated one in my arm)
• 5 × Extra pen vials (3 × Bolus, 2 × Basal)
• 4 × Energy Gels
• 100 × Injection Needles (21-days worth + redundancies)

GENERIC SUPPLIES

• 20 × Disinfecting Wipes
• 20 × Cleaning Wipes
• 12 × Self-adhesive bandages of various types and sizes
• 21 × Vitamin D tabs - 2,500 UI
• 3 × Acetylsalicylic Acid tabs - Aspirin
• 5 × Ibuprofen tabs - Advil
• 7 × Paracetamol tabs - Tylenol
• (The over-the-counter pills are stored in a pill tube and often carried in my EDC)

🚶🏻‍♂️ CARRIED AS EDC IN MY WAISTPOUCH

• Bolus Insulin Pen (in Pen Case)
• Basal Insulin Pen (in Pen Case)
• 8 × Injection Needles (in Pen Case)
• 6 × Disinfectant Wipes
• 4 × Cleaning Wipes
• Glucose Reader (in Reader Case)
• Lancing Device (in Reader Case)
• 6 × Lancets (in Reader Case)
• 50 × Glucose Testing Strips (in Reader Case)
• 10 × Ketone Testing Strips (in Reader Case)
• 4 × Energy Gels (used as emergency glucose when no other carbs are available)

 

❄️ COLD CLIMATE - LAYERING

For colder climates I have a pretty lightweight and packable layering system (Base layer, Mid layers, Outer layer) but I never had to bring it/use it while travelling as I typically travel in Spring or Summer and I am easily hot - my layering system is as follow:

• L1 - 💦 Moisture Management - Long-sleeved merino undershirt with thumbholes - PARADOX Drirelease Merino Blend
• L2 - ♨️ Insulation - Some super warm fleece with thumbholes - KALENJI Warm+ Men's Running Zipped Hoodie Fleece
• L3 - 🔥 Insulation B (if needed) - Packable ultra light down jacket with hood - UNIQLO Ultra Light Down Parka
• L4 - ☔ Weatherproofness - Rain & wind jacket with hood to protect from the elements - LABO MONO Urban Jacket
• L5 - 🧤 Accessories - Hat, gloves, scarf/buff, warm socks - Buff, Forclaz, Chaos, Darn Tough

 
^{⚠️ Do note that although I have this system, I get hot very easily so I rarely use it in full - I spent the previous winters in Canada by only using the rain jacket, hat and gloves - if I can stop convection, I can remain comfortably warm! Through freezing days and even blizzards, it has been sufficient for me.}
 

🧼 HAND WASHING GUIDE

While I sometimes wash my clothes as I shower, I always travel with a small laundry kit that includes:

• Scrubba Wash Bag - any regular drybag can do the same
• Travel Clothesline - packs really small and is 5 meters long
• All-in-one Detergent - stored in my toiletry kit as it is multi-purpose

 
This is my hand washing process when using a sink or the Scrubba (any drybag can work as a scrubba)

1. Thoroughly wash the kitchen sink/dry bag
2. Throw dirty laundry in the empty sink/dry bag - the clothes are pulled inside out.
3. Fill sink or drybag with lukewarm to warm water - depending on washing recommendations
4. Add a tiny amount of laundry detergent as the sink/drybag fills with lukewarm water
5. Move things around a bit, shaking the clothing articles, gently rubbing against each other - gotta be gentle, as hard and extensive rubbing can lead to pilling and damaged clothes
6. Let your clothes soak for 2-40 minutes depending on dirtiness, amount, clothing size/thickness/type (see table below)
7. Shake, spin, agitate, gently rub clothing for 3-5 minutes
8. Empty the sink/dry bag
9. Rinse a few times by filling sink/dry bag with clean, cold water, shaking clothes, emptying again. Repeat until the rinsing water is clear and free of gunk, debris, fogginess

 
I clean (or thoroughly rinse) my hands before and after any time I put them in and out of the soapy/dirty water
 
As to how I do not make my hand skin get effed up, not sure how to answer, between that and the over-washing of hands and extensive use of disinfectants due to work, I feel my hands developed some resistance ahahaha (I'm a pretty athletic dude with soft and silky smooth hands. I blame nutrition, genetics, stress-free and active lifestyle, consistent sleeping schedule. Yeah I only blame those.)
 

Mini chart of my own soak times

ITEM TYPE	SOAK DURATION in minutes
Socks 🧦	🕐 2-5
Underwear 🩲	🕐 2-5
T-Shirts 👕	🕐 2-10
Long Sleeved 👔	🕒 5-15
Shorts 🩳	🕓 5-15
Longs (Ha! Regular Pants) 👖	🕔 5-20
Hoodies or other Bulkier items 🧥	🕘 10-40

 
💡 Dish soap is the best solution against oil-based stains
💡 Shampoo is ''safer'' and more gentle for Merino and other wool-based fabrics
 

♨️ DRYING GUIDE

⚠️ Do not wring your clothes

Wringing clothes can and will distort, stretch and damage fibers, textiles & materials, greatly reducing durability.
Instead, ''squeeze,'' ''squash'' and ''compress'' them to squeeze water out.
 
If you have access to a towel, this is a popular trick to quicken drying while travelling:
 
THE TOWEL METHOD

1. Spread a clean and dry towel flat
2. Lay your clothing on top, open and flat
3. Roll the towel+item of clothing into a tight burrito
4. Step/Sit on the roll a few seconds (30-60 seconds) - this will transfer a large volume of water from your wet clothes to the towel
5. Unroll everything
6. Hang the piece of clothing to dry - aim for well ventilated areas where the most of the clothing is exposed.

 
💡 For heavier items, flip them over after a few hours so the inner area is also exposed for drying
💡 For clothes with pockets, pull those pockets inside out
💡 If your hostel/hotel/accommodation has hangers and curtains, hang those hangers on them curtain poles. During the day, the heat of the sun can expedite drying, and if you can open the windows, you'll get better airflow at anytime.
 

🔗 FREQUENT ITEMS & QUICK OVERVIEW

BACKPACKS

GREGORY BORDER 18 Backpack

• 18L
• Dimensions: 47 cm x 28.7 cm x 16 cm / 18.5'' x 11.3'' x 6.3''
• Weight: 771 grams / 1.7 lbs
• Great weather resistance
• Laptop sleeve (15'')
• Water bottle pocket
• Sternum Strap
• Very comfortable with excellent padding
• Trolley sleeve
• Top pocket lined with soft fabric for sunglasses
• Front pocket with another zipped inner pocket
• Inner organization for business papers, 3 pen holders, key leash, large mesh pocket
• Top and Side handles
• Pig Snout/Lash tab
• 4 accessory loops
• 90-120$CAD
• Warranty: Lifetime

 
Quechua Escape NH500 23L Rolltop

• 23L-27L (expandable storage thanks to rolltop)
• Dimensions: 46 cm x 28 cm x 22 cm / 18.1'' x 11'' x 8.6''
• Weight: 830 grams / 1.8 lbs
• Great weather resistance
• Laptop sleeve (15'')
• 2 Water bottle pockets
• Sternum Strap
• Very comfortable with excellent padding
• Trolley sleeve
• Front pocket
• Hidden back pocket
• 9 other inner pockets and inner organization
• Cable passthrough
• Shoulder strap pocket that can accommodate large cellphones
• Pig Snout/Lash tab
• 60$CAD
• Warranty: 10 year

 
Quechua MH500 Hiking Backpack 30L

• 30L
• Dimensions: 55 cm x 30 cm x 23 cm / 21.6'' x 12'' x 9'' - (this is with the brain pocket not saturated)
• Weight: 1200 grams / 2.6 lbs
• Integrated rain cover
• Laptop sleeve (15'') - (doubles as a water bladder compartment)
• 2 Water bottle pockets - (accessible as you wear the backpack)
• Sternum Strap
• Waist straps
• Extremely comfortable, the best backpack I've ever owned thanks to superb weight distribution
• Suspended backpanel for maximal airflow
• 6 pockets including 2 belt pockets
• Compression straps
• Pole straps
• Also has a large J-shape opening on the front to access main compartment
• 90$CAD
• Warranty: 10 year
• The bag itself has a minimal height of 55 cm (21.6'') when the brain pocket is not saturated due to its rigid back frame, making this bag carry-on approved for most airlines

 

PACKING CUBES

Knack Bags Compression Cube - Medium

• Dimensions (Compressed): 30 x 14 cm x 7.62 cm / 12'' x 5.5'' x 3''
• Weight: 82 g / 2.9 ounces
• Carry handle
• See-through breathable Mesh
• Compresses by up to 67%
• Very durable nylon
• Warranty: Limited Lifetime
• 25$USD

 
Knack Bags Compression Cube - Large

• Dimensions (Compressed): 30 x 20.32 cm x 7.62 cm / 12'' x 8'' x 3''
• Weight: 99 g / 3.5 ounces
• Carry handle
• See-through breathable Mesh
• Compresses by up to 60%
• Very durable nylon
• Warranty: Limited Lifetime
• 30$USD

Excerpted from my book Royal Bloodline Wetiko & The Great Remembering: Chapter 12: The Bloodline Take Down of America: Part I
The Rothschilds had already funded both sides of numerous European conflicts, from the Crimean War to the Napoleonic Wars to World War I. Now, with oil to burn, Germany spiraled into hyperinflation. And with the US needing the new industry coming out of the Goldman Sachs-engineered Great Depression, the Crown would light the fuse for their most ambitious military conflict yet – World War II.
In Japan, the royal Yamato bloodline had been Emperors for centuries, much to the chagrin of the average Japanese citizen. The royal shoguns were becoming increasingly unpopular and Japan’s Communist Party was burgeoning in membership. Something had to be done to stave off a revolution.
The Crown began to groom Isoroku Yamamoto. Born Isoroku Takano, his father was a samurai from the Nagaoka feudal domain, which was ruled by the Makino clan. Samurai were hereditary nobility who protected the daimyo fiefdoms of the royal Nephilim bloodlines in Japan. Takano was adopted by the Yamamoto family in 1916 and quickly rose through the ranks of the Japanese Naval establishment.
From 1919-1921 he attended Harvard University, which along with Yale, would now serve the same role as Oxford and Cambridge in manufacturing loyal Crown Agents to run the United States Corporation. In 1924, he visited the US Naval War College. In 1930, now a rear admiral, he attended the London Naval Conference. Five years later, he turned up at the Second London Naval Conference.
Though these conferences were touted as olive branches to disarmament, just the opposite was happening in both Japan and the US where the Crown was building up its armament industry. In 1940, Yamamoto became an Admiral. And one year later, as commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, he was planning the infamous December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
Before this false flag event, the US public was strongly against entering WWII to help the Crown. But US President and 33rd Degree Mason, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, eventually performed his Masonic duty to the Crown and acceded to British Prime Minister and 33rd Degree Mason Winston Churchill’s calls for help. Roosevelt ignored warnings that the Japanese fleet was headed for Hawaii, while quietly moving the most expensive military equipment out of Pearl Harbor ahead of the strikes.
Yamamoto had served his royal bloodline benefactors well. The terms demanded by General Douglas MacArthur in the peace agreement following WWII included leaving the royal Yamato family in place as official heads of state in Japan and banning the Japanese Communist Party. The bloodline-controlled daimyo would be re-branded as zaibatsu, six giant interlocking corporations that would lead the world through the electronics and digital-driven Third and Fourth Industrial Revolutions. Mitsubishi was organized from the Dan family daimyo, while Mitsui came from its namesake Mitsui family. The other four are Sumitomo, Daichikangin, Yasuda, and Nomura. These six companies own nearly every Japanese multinational corporation to this day.
Meanwhile, in Europe, the Crown was grooming two other wetiko warriors in their quest for another world war. The House of Savoy, a royal dynasty founded in 1003, had unified Italy and ruled as monarchs through a succession of kings until King Umberto II finally stepped down in 1946, ending Italy’s “official” rule by monarchy.
In 1922, House of Savoy King Victor Emmanuel III appointed self-proclaimed fascist Benito Mussolini as Prime Minister of Italy. Victor was also the King of Ethiopia and Albania for a time and the Savoy bloodline had also ruled Spain. In Italy, the Savoys stood by as Mussolini’s squadristi, or Black Shirts, brutally attacked domestic enemies and built their National Fascist Party. Remember, it was the old Venetian bloodline bankers who had come up with the concept of fascism.
A year earlier in 1921, the newly-founded Royal Institute of International Affairs hatched the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. Initially headed by military intelligence officer Major John Rawlings, Tavistock would become a false flag and social engineering incubator creating pretexts worldwide that required United States Corporation military intervention on behalf of the City of London’s financial interests.
Isoroku Yamamoto and Benito Mussolini were two such walking, breathing pretexts. But before Tavistock was even officially founded the Crown invited a third such person for a visit – Adolf Hitler.
From February until November of 1912, Hitler attended the British Military Psych-ops School in both Devon and Ireland. This later became the Tavistock Institute. It is the psychological warfare arm of the Crown and is involved in everything from Hollywood to gang stalking. Shortly after its inception, the Tavistock began promoting the neo-Malthusian philosophies of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud of the Frankfurt School.
By 1922, Queen Victoria’s son Prince Charles Edward had met Adolf Hitler. In 1933, the prince became a member of the Nazi Party. He would soon become its leader. Several other royal family members supported Hitler and his Nazi Party, including Royal Dutch Shell insider, Prince Bernhard of the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau.
That same year, Prince Charles Edward became President of the German Red Cross, another Crown tentacle that funds its global spy operations by stealing the blood of “donors” and selling it to hospitals for hundreds of dollars per pint. Red Cross is simply the English language version of Rosicrucians, whose main job it is to guard the secret that the royal bloodline is not human. Red Cross refers to the crossing of blood between the Anunnaki and humankind. The reason Jesus had to die on a bloody red cross is because they wanted this revolutionary to suffer a slow tortuous crucifixion to symbolize the grafting of bloodlines, also referred to by those in the know as Zionism.
ROYAL BLOODLINE WETIKO & THE GREAT REMEMBERING
In his seventh book, Dean Henderson tracks the royal Anunnaki bloodline from Sumeria through Babylon, Egypt, and Rome to their current power base in the City of London and deconstructs their methodology to keep humans enslaved and isolated during this relatively brief period of human history. Drawing upon ancient Lakota culture to remind us who we are, Henderson sees a great remembering unfolding which makes this royal bloodline very nervous.

Special thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for his awesome universe! Second part to my first time writing a fic, critique until your heart is content.
——
First
——
Memory Transcription Subject: Katamiri, Fissan chief exterminator, Spirefin Bay.
Date [Standardized Human Time]: November 2, 2139.
“You know you don’t have to be an asshole all the time.” I responded as I heard Narn approaching from behind me, attempting to quicken his step to the front entrance as if Isaac wouldn’t notice if he were just fast enough.
“Narn!” Began Isaac. “My favorite exter-“
“Shut it, you mange ridden ape! I’ve got urgent business to attend to and it doesn’t involve entertaining your sadism and sass.”
“What you got goin’ on that’s more important than this?” Said Isaac, gesturing to his own form. “Got some elderly couples to hose down in all this heat?” He continued, pointing to Narn’s brightly colored plastic water gun.
After the incident with Kavithi and the foam our former chief made it mandatory that Narn never be allowed near a real flamethrower, as his eternal punishment, Kavithi issued him a “state of the art” toy water gun. Narn was to even clean and maintain it, and when it came time for weapons inspection Narn would dress with the rest of us and present it and the chief would check with the same thoroughness as he did our gear.
“Pretty colors too,” Isaac continued, “that pink sure is frightening.”
“It’s not the pink you should be worried about, it’s the orange, the color of blood and sacrifice,” said Narn while violently shaking his water gun before him, “You’re laughing now but you’ll be weeping the day I’m allowed to get a real flamethrower!”
“That’s cute buddy! You go ‘an get ‘em!” Isaac said while motioning a swinging gesture with his fist, “Though I do hope it’s soon, Dayside city already finalized the paper work on an outright ban of flamethrowers. Other offices are considering following their lead.” He added with a sadistic grin.
Narn’s face fell sheepish with a hint of existential dread, “Narn says he has important business to attend to,” I interjected with the utmost authority of my voice. “You are not a member of this guild so you’ve no business harassing my employees when they’re on duty. Be on your way Narn.”
Without a second glance Narn jutted his way past Isaac and through the front doors. I thanked the stars neither tried to get any last words in. Now it was just me and the man of my guild’s nightmares. I now realized that I never had a proper, sit down, face to face with him, I hope I was prepared as I now understood that I had no idea what to expect.
“You know you should probably get a better quality water gun, with the way that thing rattles and leaks about, when he’s doing that cute little flustered walk,” Isaac said. “you’d hear him from a mile away and he leaves a trail. Then again, why don’t you get him a real flamethrower? Couldn’t be because the SC slashed the guild’s funding again could it?” He said through his smile.
Keep your composure Katamiri, loosing your temper is the stuff this predator feeds off of.
What would Kavithi do in this situation? I asked myself as the image of a middle aged Krakotl, prancing about and squawking profanity, going on a long tirade about “predator filth”, asserted itself in my mind.
Never mind.
Some around the office initially claimed Isaac must have killed and ate our old exterminator chief to dispose of any evidence, but Isaac wasn’t that sort of man neither were humans that sort of predator. Vulgar and the embodiment of lacking tact, he was strange and hard to get along with but he wasn’t violent.
I let in a deep inhale while massaging my temples, finding myself at the climax of a situation that had been building up for over a cycle. Ever since his arrival strange things had begun to happen in and around the town, especially near the office.
It began, not long after the incident with Kavithi, when an anomalous caller phoned in a predator attack, Code Indigo, at a cross roads just off of an abandoned farm on the outskirts, this called for the deployment of all on duty exterminators in Spirefin. Kavithi was on a business related trip to Tonalu thus I led the charge! Suited and loaded up we took to the roads only then to discover that the emergency alert system aboard all of our Rapid Response Trucks (RRTs) were broadcasting an ancient Earth jingle known as “Turkey in the Straw”. Puzzled, I instructed all in our convoy to resort to declaring our presence over our loud speakers, informing nearby civilians to make way.
Due to Spirefin’s infamously unique geographic location, dusk had set and we were guided by our headlamps. We arrived at the abandoned farm where we were met with an odd sight. At the crossroads was a primitive construction, a scarecrow, though in hindsight, an effigy, made of local dried grass, fitted with an exterminator suit. Narn, being eager to please, lept from his truck to dismantle the object. I sent the others to search the abandoned farmhouse and surrounding woodlands. As Narn began tugging at the scarecrow, rather violently, it exploded in a cloud of pink dust and glitter. Narn flailed about in the dirt road, crying for help, as a ‘predator was attacking him’, it wasn’t until I came to his side that he came to his senses. The others, searching the perimeter, turned up dirty, bruised, and a good bit terrified as after scavenging the forests and decrepit farmhouse for nearly an [hour], they turned up a number of strange carvings, runes, and small totems, made from local tree bark, wood, and grasses. One such carving had human script carved into the back of it scribing the words; ‘Scuzzlebutt was here’.
Accepting defeat, after realizing it was all a prank, we loaded ourselves back into our RRTs and headed to the office as I called our police chief to look into the matter. Once back at the office things did not get better.
Opening the doors we were greeted with [0.5 feet] of standing water. Every tap in the office had been opened and the drains plugged. Our basement was completely submerged. And yet again we found more odd tiny runes and totems littered around the office. Likely meant to scare us with some form of supernatural mysticism, then again they may have just been the perpetrators calling card.
We could never find the culprit as all of our security monitors had suddenly gone missing from their mounts. We looked through the security feed only to find that all recordings of the day had been replaced with episodes from an ancient Earth children’s cartoon depicting a creature called a “wabbit” and his parlous, yet humorous, encounters with a human hunter named Elmer.
Odd, I thought at the time. It seems the ancient humans were depicting this wabbit as the protagonist of the tale and the human hunter as both the villain and comedic relief. Humans were much more complicated of a species than the Federation initially gave them credit for. I wasn’t sure if I was more mystified or curious that a predatory species would depict a human hunter and his prey in this manner.
This would not be the last time we encountered this culprit. Some would claim that it was of the supernatural order but most knew better, and we had a good idea of who it was, but with new anti-profiling laws passed by the SC we would need hard and undeniable evidence, thus whenever an incident would occur we would refer to it as ‘Scuzzlebutt’s’ doing.
As I was distracted, reminiscing on one of my more chaotic shifts, I passed a glance at the window behind Issac to see a frustrated Narn entering one of our, rather beat up looking, RRTs, parked along the sidewalk.
“Say Kat, what happened to Narn’s truck? Lookin’ a little rough.” He said, turning around, to watch the same spectacle as I, as a very bitter Narn tried to close the driver side door, only to find that it refused to latch shut.
“An, unknown assailant, coated our driveway in vegetable oil a few [days] ago,” I said through clenched teeth. I let out an exagerated sigh and approached the window, standing beside him as we both observed the commotion, “caused a lot of damage to our fleet, you wouldn’t know anything of that would you?”
“No ma’am,” he said with a chuckle, “Sure wouldn’t!”
“I certainly hope not. Feaden is looking into it as it is a very serious criminal offense! He seems to think that it’s the same perpetrator who flooded our office a while ago.” I stated with bitterness.
“Ah Scuzzlebutt at it again! I hope that sheriff finds ‘em. They sound like a real scumbag!” Said Isaac with his unwavering smile.
“And a danger to public safety might I add!”, I stated sourly as the commotion from outside continued to catch both of our attention as we watched a livid Narn repeatedly slamming his door in vein to latch it shut while screaming incoherently.
While the damage to our fleet was moderately severe I don’t recall this door malfunctioning. Why was the door not closing?
Isaac then let out another light chuckle and it dawned on me.
Oh, of course…
“Well I’m sure you guys got the budget to at least fix that door.” He said cheerfully.
We didn’t.
The SC did cut our funding after all, and exterminators across Skalga were turning in their silver suits left and right. There was a certain, unforeseen, response to this. A vacuum was left in a world dwindling of forsaken exterminators.
Initially starting out as an enterprise backed by the local magistrate, known as the Epidemic Prevention and Wildlife Purification Department of the Tonalu Valley Authority, often short handed to “The Authority”, was created. A name that was supposed to sound appealing in the minds of SC politicians, lawyers, and big decision makers, however most everyone knew them by a different name, a name they still refused to publicly deny.
The Immolators.
Created mere [months] after a massive controversy took place in Tonalu city, which led to the disbandment of the entire city’s exterminator office and brought in countless investigators from across SC space.
I can still see the news reels, and the unsettling B-roll footage.
Regardless, they were making a name for themselves across Skalga and beyond. Earning the favor of many of the rich upper-class, politicians, bankers, and a small handful of other Magistrates across our planet and colonies. Former exterminators flocked to them. Though they were a controversial group, earning the ire of many peoples longing to be a part of this human led alliance and of those who wished to distance themselves from the federation, still, they were gaining a small, yet loyal, fellowship.
We stood in silent contemplation for a moment as we watched Narn exit the cab and lept into the trucks bed, tossing out a random assortment of items across the pavement.
I don’t know that I can do this anymore, is this what utter defeat looks like? Is surviving the exterminators a lost cause? I ask myself looking at our young recruit reduced to nothing more than a muddled mess scavenging for scraps of supplies we probably didn’t have.
We used to be so much more.
The Federation betrayed us, the SC ignores us, the humans are draining us dry, and the people barely acknowledge us anymore! Worst of all being that I couldn’t just indict the man beside me based on crimes of suspicion due to one of the earlier reforms of ‘anti-profiling laws.’
“Why do you do this?” I asked with a defeated breath, deciding to give up our game, I turned to face Isaac. “I’m not doing this dance with you anymore, I know it was you. It always has been you. Many in the SC are on the path to shutting the guild down entirely, it’s everything I’ve ever worked for my entire life and I have you adding insult to injury. Have we not changed enough? I like to think that I have been very much fair to you humans since you arrived here. You can at least agree that I’ve been much more so than Kavithi!” I spat, finally loosing my temper. “I wish no ill will against your people and I hope you Humans prosper with the rest of us in this new galaxy but I just wished that you would leave us alone.”
“Not sure what you’re on about Kat”.
“That’s it? That’s all? You want to continue this song and dance?” I said with pleading desperation. “The time we had a stink bomb tripwired at our front door? The time that all of our radios got jammed with…” I struggled to remember. “‘Serbian’ war music? The multiple times that someone of our office has had their guild account hacked? Should I even mention the number of my exterminators who have had their Bleet and MyHeard account’s hacked and flooded with anti-exterminator propaganda?”
“Not a clue about that, it could be anyone considering you guys ain’t popular with the public like you used to be.” He finished with a smirk.
“Oh really? Not a single brahking clue?”
Isaac paused for a long while, as if in deep contemplation. A long moment passed as we idly watched Narn continue to litter the pavement. He let out a long sigh.
“Why are you still here Kat?” He said with a somber tone. “You’re a good person, most of you, that are left, are good people, why still hang on to this?” He said without looking at me. “You all know it’s a sham, since the guilds founding. Be something better, the exterminators are no longer needed. They never were needed.”
I felt a sudden fury flutter in my chest. Not Needed?! Of course I was still here, we all, or what was left of us, we’re still here! We were needed! “We are necessary! People need us, that won’t change it will never change! We have been the protector of prey peoples for countless centuries! We have upheld the peace and stability with dignity and glory and honor and respect since our peoples first ventured forth into the black abyss of the unknown and Found Ourselves At The Precipice of A Predator Infested Galax—“ I found myself searching for breath that I didn’t know I needed.
Oh stars,
I let myself go, I thought that out loud didn’t I?
I glanced in his direction, searching for that sinister snarl. But it wasn’t there, instead it was the stone face of a man who had been bombarded with a monologuing tirade and didn’t know what to do with himself.
Yeah, you thought all of that out loud.
Now he finally has me right where he wants me.
I brush my now frizzled mane from my eyes and shut them as I exhale. I accept my fate and await his barrage of insults and lecture of human pseudo sciences like ‘ecology’.
Is this really how it all comes to an end? Being the guardians of peaceful loving preyfolk everywhere for centuries only to be undone within a few solar cycles by these creatures?!
“Relax Kat, I didn’t come here to insult you.” He said. “Well, not initially anyway.” He lightly chuckled.
What?!
“I found you at last my pretties!” Announced Narn, dancing with delight, as he found a pair of bungee cords.
“We’ve embraced change even knowing that it will harm us all in the long run. You’ll never know what it’s like to be prey.” I said sadly as I noticed his smile suddenly fade. “All of those methods you use on Earth may work for you humans because you’re-erm…”
“Predators?” Replied Isaac, though oddly I didn’t find any malice in his voice.
“Yes,” I said flatly. “I— do try to police my speech, I want you to know. I understand the connotation that that word carries to your kind.”
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t appreciate that.” Came Isaac. “Must be a struggle to wash all of that Federation brain washing off ya.”
It wasn’t all brain washing! Some of it was necessary to protect us! I calmed myself down before I replied. “Yes. As I was saying it may work for you humans, this idea of ‘preserving ecosystems’, but I know time will show that it doesn’t work when applied on a prey planet, filled with prey folk.”
“Hmm.” Was his only reply, was he actually contemplating what I was saying? Did I actually crack through a bit of his exterior?
I stiffened my posture with new found pride realizing that the man of the guild’s nightmares was actually listening to me. “Yes I’m sure in time you’ll realize that there is a lot more to us exterminators than just setting fire to feral predators.” I stated proudly.
I was always careful to use the word feral before ‘predator’ in the hopes that the humans I interacted with didn’t make the mistake of thinking I was including them when I talked about the monsters who lurked in Skalgas wood and dark side. I understood the difference between sapient, though sometimes troubling, humans and a feral beast of the field that needed to be vanquished. I wanted humans to be comfortable in my presence, in a way I was a saleswoman and I was determined to sell the idea of the exterminators to the humans so they could see our worth.
I needed their cooperation if I were to save the guild. I needed it now! I was not going to wait until feral beasts were wondering our cities, devouring our children and elderly. I was not going to wait for the predator taint to take hold of entire herds, I was not going to wait for the humans to realize their mistake!
“We orchestrate charity events for the needy,” I continued. “teach school children how to react to and combat predators, how to identify when a predator has been near.” I puffed out my chest and held my hand to it. “We install predator defense systems into the homes of the elderly. We rehabilitate wild prey animals back into health, we provide perimeter defenses to farmers, and instal trail cameras to monitor heard migrations!” I finished with my head held high!
“That’s all well and good Kat, maybe I’ll humor you another day, but I didn’t come here to have a long back and forth either.” He said, sounding disappointed.
I found myself puzzled, was he not up for a debate with me? Clearly it must be that now he understood that I was a lot more intelligent than he thought, he must have thought he could beat me in a game of wits, challenging our ideals, now he’s on the back paw looking for a way out! That must be it! Pride swelled in my chest at my own genius before I began. “Then why, in all of the stars of the galaxy, are you here?” I said with authority.
“Ahh! Eureka!” Shouted Narn as he finished wrapping the bungee cables around the door and rear window frame.
“Came lookin’ for Grith!” His tone suddenly taking on a cheerier mood. “Shelby’s been whisperin’ in her ear and that Skalgan’s adventurous! It’s about her shift’s end an’ she’s been itchin’ to learn how to swim. Wants to be the first Skalgan to take a dip in the bay and see a Spirefin for ‘er self!”
Ah, Grithilyn. Just a young ‘local yokel’, as Kavithi would call her but I always saw something more in her than most, always eager to put everyone around her in a good mood and her constant happiness was infectious, though her overbearing curiosity was hard to tame. When the SC made the demand that all exterminator offices have a ‘forensics’ division our little intern was the only one who volunteered in ours and thus became the division’s lead, not that she knew more than anyone else. She’d spend countless hours with her exchange partner watching human ‘crime dramas’ under the guise of “taking classes.”
“Well you’re waisting both of our times,” I huffed. “She’s at the bi-annual Spirefin festival running our recruitment booth, looks promising,” I said with a smug expression, “guild numbers have gone up two percent since last season.”
“Two percent ain’t nothing when the season prior saw ya drop eleven percent”. He said with a wide grin.
I loath this man.
We both turn when we hear a series of loud and incoherent bleats coming from outside. Narn had launched himself headfirst through the driver side window of the truck, his legs were sticking out of the window and kicking in every conceivable direction.
I had no idea a Venlil had such a wide vocal range, nor did I know a Venlil held that much air in their lungs.
To my horror the truck lurched forward and began rolling, for all of about [10 feet] until it collided with a road marker.
I raced through the front entrance to ensure Narn was okay. It wasn’t a hard impact but regardless I wasn’t about to let my employee embarrass himself any further, in addition, it was my duty to ensure that everyone under my command knew that they were cared for.
I opened the passenger door to see Narn, slowly skidding face down on the floor boards.
“Isaac!!” he yowled as I noticed the man was now standing beside me.
“Buddy!” Replied Isaac, “Why didn’t ya use the passenger door?”
“Is this yours?!” he yelled while fidgeting his arm from under his belly and lifting his face. In his grasp was a time keeping device with a band running through it. Definitely a human artifact. It featured a cartoon mouse with the direction of its hands indicating the time. Isaac’s. I turned to see Isaac, and Narn had the same idea, looking at his bare wrist.
Anti-profiling laws had been one of the earliest reforms pushed by the humans looking for acceptance in a galaxy that was very unaccepting. It was also laid out for those of other species looking to reverse ‘the cure’. The SC claimed that far too many resources and man hours were being diverted, from local law enforcement, to instances of ‘humans just doing human things’. Unfortunately this is what Isaac used as his personal play thing. With no hard evidence ever being found at any of the odd instances we encountered, and no eye witnesses, we had no hard proof that he was responsible. He’d only say snide remarks about the incidences when pressed. We could do nothing but pray and beg that he’d mind his own business.
Not anymore.
I put on my best “shit eating grin”, as he would say, and turned to him, as me and Narn’s laughter slowly rose from a chortle to a thunder. Isaac sheepishly rubbed the bare spot on his arm.
“Got you now you sneaky prick!” Screamed Narn through his fit of laughter.
“Hmm, Narn, my dear employee,” I said as he gave an ear flick of acknowledgement. “Why would Isaacs’s watch be in one of our guild’s vehicles? Did anyone invite him in it lately?”
“No ma’am!”
“Did anyone authorize him to be in one of our company vehicles?”
“Nnnnope!”
I turn to Isaac to see that his sheepish expression was now replaced with one of sullen disdain.
“Do you think this watch is from the same culprit who doused our driveway in vegetable oil?”
Narn took in a surprisingly long inhale. “Considering we’ve been under similar antics in the past and it only began after an Isaac Riffson started residing in this town and now that we have a personal possession of this Isaac Riffson at the scene of a crime, a personal possession, that we have him wearing in plenty of social media posts, I’d say it’s highly likely that we can at least criminalize him for trespassing on guild property, though considering that this trucks door was working a claw prior and the watch was discovered very shortly after it’s malfunction, I conclude that this Isaac Riffson was also tampering with guild property with the intent of sabotage.”
I was shocked at Narn’s sudden, long winded, professionalism, as if he’d been waiting for this moment for quite a while.
Had he been reading Skalgan law just for an instance like this?
“And with Skalga’s law of reasonable suspicion, this is enough grounds to at least incriminate”.
Yeah, he’s been researching Skalgan law.
“I’d say this is the same culprit who broke the door frame and laced our driveway with vegetable oil.” He continued. “The same culprit who goes by the alias of ‘Scuzzlebutt’, the same culprit whom Feaden has been searching for for [months], the same culprit who once placed a flaming paper bag of feces on my doorstep, the same culprit who once replaced my shampoo With Hair Remover!!”
Oh yes, how could I have forgotten about that…
Narn turned to a very grumpy looking Isaac. “As you would say; get fucked ape boy! We finally got you!”
“Isaac, do you know anything of this?” I asked. “Don’t make me call Feaden, I will call Feaden!”
Isaac let out a growling exhale, his sullen expression never fading.
I’ve got you right where I want you!
This was it, I could finally rid myself of this menace! I could finally free my local guild of this nightmare! Finally we have undeniable evidence! A simple call to chief of police Feaden and have him locked behind bars, or better, deported back to Earth!
Or…
I could be throwing away the chance of a lifetime. The man had a very unique set of skills, skills of which I doubted any of my employees had. Skills that I needed on my team. Skills that the exterminators needed. Stalking around for over a solar cycle without ever being caught, without ever being seen, leaving behind no trace, no evidence, and no witnesses while reigning chaos and mayhem!
What could be done if he actually applied himself?
I need him!
“Isaac, sweetie!” I said turning to see Narn taking selfies with the watch as an agitated Isaac tried to pry it back. “How about you join Narn in resupplying Grithilyn’s booth?”
“WHAT?!” They both shouted in unison.
Oh yes, you are going to make an excellent exterminator.
I grabbed Isaac by his shirt collar and with all of my strength I dragged him to the side of the truck and shoved his back to it. “I’ve shown you the exterminators good side now show me your good side!” I said through my teeth. “Everyone else in this town seems to get along with you, except us, now show me why!”
Maybe I could make him see!
Isaac let out a huff of defeat. “Could I at least call my boss and tell ‘em I ain’t showing up for work today?”
I smiled in the human way as I jingled his watch in front of my gaze. “Dearest, I am your new boss!”
—————————————————————————
—————————————————————————
Memory Transcription Subject: Isaac Riffson, exterminator new hire, Spirefin Bay.
[Time accelerated] - 10 minutes.
“I lost all interest in talking to Kat when she called herself prey,” I said. “as long as she thought that way I’d never get through to her.”
“But we are prey.” Narn replied while munching absently on his Earth made granola bar.
“I know you think that way but I thought better of Kat. I thought she was starting to see things our way.”
“You’re a predator and I’m prey, it quite literally is that simple.” Stated Narn in a matter-of-fact kind of way while balancing the steering wheel in one paw while the other opened another granola bar.
“Yeah, I know that, I just want people to stop thinkin’ like that.” I responded. “As long as people hold on to those old Federation ideologies there’ll never be any sort of progress made.”
I sat there, stewing in silence for a moment before I began again. “I mean before we met you lot we never really thought o’ ourselves as predators.”
“What? Really?!” Said Narn with a high amount of surprise in his voice. “How?!” He spat crumbs from his muzzle.
“What? You think we walked around all like; hello fellow predator,” I said in a tone of mockery. “fine predator day we’re having here aren’t we? Under this wonderful predator sun and this fine predatory weather. Can’t wait to go to my predator home and tend to my predator garden and eat dinner with my predator wife-“
Narn let out a light chuckle, “alright, I get it!”
I let out a deeply needed sigh, “Before we met you all, we were people, not predators, feels like we got demoted.”
I let silence permeate in the air. I was hoping Narn was using this quiet time as contemplation but knowing him he was probably just sulking. Or just really enjoying that granola bar. What was it that Kat said, show your good side?
After an awkward minute or two of silence had passed I decided that I was going to show that good side. “Hey Narn!!” I said a lot louder than was necessary.
“Gahh!” Was his sudden reply.
“Calm down, I was just guna suggest some music.”
“I don’t wanna listen to your—“
But I wasn’t going to allow him enough time to retort. “I like me some ole southern gothic too!”
“What? No! That’s not what I—“
But my holopad had already been connected to his truck’s music player since before his shift began. I had bypassed the volume control and the on/off authority as originally I was going to remotely force him to listen to the wondrous and sloppy sounds of Skuggels mating on his drive today but that wouldn’t do now that I was in here.
The music began.
Narn began saying something more but I turned the volume up until he realized that any further protesting would only be in vein.
Well fuck me sideways and call me Sally, I’m an exterminator now, how did that even happen, it was all so fast. I thought to myself as I took in the views of the rural town along our route.
Can’t really be mad at ole Kat for this one, I sort of had it coming, but of all the ways… blackmail?!
I look to my left to see that Narn was a bit more acceptive of the music than I thought he would be.
Guess this means I got to start being nice to you now too.

Happy Saturday! - One more of the brand new, latest and greatest modded VSF "no-dates" available for anyone who might have missed out on the last one I posed. This is the latest version with the upgraded VS3230 movement which has NO GHOST DATE and a 70+ hour power reserve!
As you all know, this is a top-tier, NWBIG piece with an amazing power reserve. This is the latest "Q66" batch! The watch will also come with a Rolex warranty card. These are both inspected, tested and ready to go!
In addition to the modifications spec’d out below, all of my watches receive the following quality control:
1.) Line up the dial at 12 o'clock to the engraved Rolex coronet on the rehaut (best as possible) 2.) Thin crystal gasket (because it can be too tall) this allows the crystal to sit lower and bezel to rotate more freely on certain watches 3.) Reinstall/rotate crystal to line up the cyclops to the date window and LEC 4.) Grease all gaskets using Bergeon 7055 5.) Adjust bracelet to desired length and tighten all screws/clasp 6.) Remove any burrs from the stem to ensure tight/smooth operation 7.) Visually inspect movements, remove any foreign debris/dust and apply Möbius 9010 oil as needed 8.) Ultrasonically clean and lubricate entire bracelet and clasp mechanism to eliminate any squeaking
-VSF 124060 w/ VS3230 Movement -"Deep" Crystal -Polished Rehaut -Individual Bezel Scallop Polishing & Re-brush -Genuine Hytrel Ring (better bezel fit/action) -Edge Softening of Case/Bracelet/Clasp -Waterproof'd to 5ATM -Regulated Movement
ALBUM
Price = $OLD + shipping (USPS: Priority $13/Express $30/Canada $40) I ship the same day and am based in Boston.
I take all of my photos using an iPhone 15 Pro. I don’t use any filters, or effects and try to get various angles and lighting to most accurately depict the beauty of the watch. Many, many, many satisfied clients and references available.
———
Pricing is firm. I accept ZELLE, WISE or BANK WIRE ONLY. If you tell me that you’re “taking it”, I will hold it for you for 15 MINUTES before it goes to the next in line.
I have sold a lot of watches prior on and have an extensive post history on .
Standard disclaimer: I will pack the watch very securely with lots of bubble wrap. Once the package leaves my possession, I will no longer be held responsible for anything that might happen during the shipping and handling process. I also will not take the watch back if you decide you don’t like it, or that your significant other is angry at you (yes, this has happened before). I will however always do my best to ensure that you’re happy with your purchase.

Roleplaying games are a fantastic way to tell a story with friends, and Pathfinder is no different! Something that certainly attracted me to the system (way back in the pages of Dungeon magazine, pre-Pathfinder) was Adventure Paths and the immense amount of pre-written content out there for GMs. However, there’s still plenty of room for you and your group to tell the story that fits you best. One of the best resources you have for writing adventures is the GM Core book - especially Chapter 2: Building The Game, which begins on page 63. I’ll be referring to these rules and suggestions (and others) often throughout the post, but think of this as a more focused resource than the Core book.
I’ve been approached by GMs looking to write adventures in the past and I often hear the same thing: “Okay, the group starts out as small town villagers, but then they will go on to defeat one of the risen demigods of death!” Which is to say, I hear about massive, epic stories, but no real plans on how to get there. What I’d like to do with this little exercise is look at how we write an adventure in service to a story, not just one or the other. We’ll approach our games from both a mechanical and storytelling perspective and work to make something like a guide to adventure writing. Hopefully, we can explore a variety of adventure archetypes together, from dungeon crawls to diplomatic missions to planar escapades.
Why Should I Write Adventures? I wouldn’t think of it as “writing an adventure” so much as it is “approaching GMing from a new angle.” If you’re someone (like me) who mostly runs pre-written adventures, you may not see the advantages of peeling back the curtain on both the storytelling and mechanical aspects of the game. And that’s okay! But sometimes those games go off book and it’s a helpful skill to have in your back pocket. It also lets a GM craft more personal encounters for their group to tie them more strongly to the story. It’s also just a fun solo exercise that can be entertaining for GMs with time on their hands.
What A Story Needs - Structure There are numerous ways to tell a story and one could dedicate their life working on perfecting what it means to write a story. Something, of course, to keep in mind is that story writing provides one singular perspective and outcome to how the tale unfolds while an adventure allows for numerous (if not limitless) ways for the story to develop. That said, for this first adventure, let’s keep things simple. We’ll focus mostly on the mechanics of adventure design and just make sure that we have a few storytelling elements before we begin. When I say elements, I mean:

1. Inciting Incident (Adventure Hook): What happens to drag the PCs into the adventure? Seeing a poster in town promising gold for the defeat of some goblins may motivate a group to action, but it’s hardly dynamic. The tower at the edge of town collapses, spurring the group on to investigate. Or perhaps a child is thrust into the care of the PCs with only the name of a close family member to go off of. What about fire that springs up at night suddenly calling out the names of the PCs? These all are interesting ways to involve the PCs directly into the adventure and tease them into the story rather than them existing as outside entities who have no connection to the story.
2. Adversary: An adversary has many meanings and can range from things such as other people, to forces of nature, to one’s own inner struggles. Once more, keeping it simple, let’s keep our adversaries as external, physical opponents; opponents that we can dispatch through encounters. While adventures certainly don’t need combat encounters to succeed, it’s a good place to start in a combat-focused game like Pathfinder 2e.
3. Goal(s): And one of the most important elements that an adventure should have is a goal - the thing that keeps the PCs moving forward on the right track and should, presumably, tie somewhat into resolving the resolving incident and will put them up against the adversary (who may have their own goals in opposition to the party).

Now these are not all you need to write an adventure (and sometimes you can do without them!), but it’s a good place to practice adventure writing. You can quickly come up with some adventures by filling in the blanks. Signposts like these can easily become the seed for a fully-fleshed out adventure and it gives you easily identifiable markers to cleave to when putting together a story.
Adventure Flow - The Five Scene Adventure So while you may have some narrative idea of the direction you’d like the adventure to go, we have to start thinking about how that story comes together at the table. Just as there are countless ways to tell a story, there are numerous ways to construct an adventure. I’d like to take a look at one that you may see crop up in adventures from time to time and is quite easy to execute. If you play a lot of Pathfinder Society, this sort of format should feel a bit familiar. I’ll refer to it as the “Five Scene Adventure”

1. Inciting Incident - The story has to start somewhere, and just like with narrative structure, having a strong opening that establishes the goals of the adventure is key.
2. Investigation - Instead of having the group charge headlong at the goal, they should get a chance to engage with the story and uncover more of what’s going on. This could be through roleplay, encounters, or skill checks, but they should serve to further the players’ understanding of the adventure.
3. Overcoming Challenges - From here, the PCs are armed with some knowledge of what they’re doing and most now overcome challenges on their way to accomplishing their goal. This is often done through a series of encounters, but can actually be handled in many different ways so long as the PCs are challenged.
4. Climax - The major turning point in the adventure where the PCs come face to face with their adversary and accomplish their goal. This is typically the scene where everything comes to a head and is the greatest challenge that the group has faced up until this point.
5. Resolution - An oft-forgotten part of the adventure, but the portion where the PCs return home as heroes and see the fruits of their labor in accomplishing their goal. This is a scene for the heroes to collect their rewards and unwind from a trying adventure.

So now we have a simple flow for how we want our adventure to go. Our group will encounter a problem, learn more about it, work to overcome what lies in their way, solve the problem, and then reap the rewards. On its face, this is a very simple concept, but breaking it down into easy to manage chunks makes adventure writing so much easier.
Now this is specifically setting out to create a low-level adventure, so let’s take a look at how to make those sorts of adventures really play well at the table!
Low-Level Things To Keep In Mind - Tips What follows is a list of tips of things to keep in mind when writing for low-levels. An adventure doesn’t need to cater to every single one of these points, but they’re good guidelines when designing.

• The encounter building guidelines work great across all levels of play in Pathfinder 2e, but I’ll make a small caveat here - if you want to explore more difficult Severe encounters, you should look towards using a larger amount of weaker enemies than a single strong enemy at lower levels. To illustrate, a Severe encounter for a group of level 1 PCs could be a single level 4 opponent. Let’s use an owlbear as an example: with 21 AC, your players will likely only be hitting it around 35% of the time while it’s going to be critting your group about 35% of the time and with damage (7 to 16 on a hit, 14 to 32 on a crit) that’s likely going to be dropping them in one blow. That same Severe encounter budget can instead give us a fight with two ghasts (which, I still don’t love for 1st level parties, but it beats an owlbear), or a healthy trio of mephits. At low-levels, characters don’t have a large breadth of options to help them survive and mitigate damage as well as impact an enemy’s stats. So for low-levels, aim to keep difficult combats against a large quantity of weaker foes as opposed to a singular powerful foe.
• Magic is not ubiquitous. Depending on your group, this could be a real selling point for low-level adventures. Problems are solved through skill checks and investigation and the opposing forces don’t often use magic to foil senses (no invisibility used to escape, no teleportation, no flight, no illusions). It also means that simple problems that get handwaved at higher levels (such as crossing a river, navigating through a forest, or getting food in the wilderness) can become interesting challenges for the PCs to overcome.
• Weaknesses and resistances are felt the most at low-levels. This can give players a real sense of agency over the game when they correctly identify an opponent’s weaknesses and come prepared to exploit it. Likewise, giving PCs enemies with resistances out of nowhere is a bit of an unfair move. If the group was unaware of a ghost lurking in the mine and had no way to discover it, they would feel a little cheated in being unable to overcome its resistances.
• Healing is not assured at the very lowest of levels. Even groups with dedicated healers may fumble that Treat Wounds check or lack the spell slots available to keep everyone topped up. Low-level games should provide groups with opportunities to rest and recover and aren’t served well by throwing encounter after encounter into the PCs.
• Low-level games are some of the best times to play around with non-magical light sources or the lack thereof. A dark room is suddenly much more dangerous when the human fighter has to put away his greatsword to carry a torch because the wizard didn’t prepare light.

Rough Draft - Ideas When writing anything, it’s important that you get all of your ideas out somewhere so you know what direction you’re going in before you start. The first thing you should do before writing an adventure is know the group that you’re writing for (what level, what they’re doing in the story, what the goal of the adventure will be, and the group’s playstyle, to name a few things). When we write our adventure, I’ll be sure to put a few things up top, such as the level the game is intended for, an additional rulesets, how much XP is budgeted for the adventure, and the like.
So let’s start simple. Let’s make an adventure for level 1 characters. Our goal as adventure writers is to provide a fairly straightforward low-level adventure for PCs to get a handle on adventuring. Let’s look at our narrative elements: Inciting incident, adversaries, and goals. I always find it easiest with smaller games to take an adversary and work backwards, as they often provide plenty of good roleplaying opportunities. Let’s take a look at some potential adversaries. This is a list of level -1 to level 1 creatures and gives us a nice range of opponents to consider.
After some searching, I settled on doing something with Tooth Fairies, as there’s a lot of fun stuff to work with. They’re tricky little fey with strange motivations who, like many fey, have a weakness to cold iron. There’s plenty to work with! Perhaps our inciting incident involves an attack by a swarm of tooth fairies who have been pushed to the limit and are attempting to exact revenge for a slight the PCs don’t quite understand yet. Looking through the list of potential adversaries, I see that a number of animals could also fit in nicely. Something to keep in the back pocket. Now we just need a goal - typically one in opposition to the adversary: the tooth fairies. What if the fey creatures stole away something that the PCs want to return. I propose something that could be a bit fun while maintaining the darkness of the fey: a dog. Let’s take a look at what we have narratively so far.

• Inciting Incident: The PCs are attacked by a swarm of tooth fairies while they are at a friend’s home/roadside tavern/storefront. The tooth fairies escape with a dog that potentially has a connection to the PCs
• Adversaries: Tooth fairies, fey creatures, animals
• Goal: Retrieve the dog safely from the tooth fairies.

With our narrative ideas laid out, we can start looking at what we want to do mechanically with our adventure. It’s important to ensure that these scenes actually allow your players to interact with the story. Remember that you’re creating this as an adventure to be played, not read. Let’s try out the “Five Scene Adventure” and rough out some ideas before we fill them in fully.

• Inciting Incident: I’d like to keep this adventure somewhat general while still setting it in a place a bit farther from civilization. It’s also interesting to me if it’s something that you can use to bridge two adventures or start a new campaign! So, while it may be a bit cliche, the PCs are at a roadside inn that is suddenly attacked by a swarm of fey creatures! (To me, cliches get a bit of a pass in low-level games as it sort of builds on something familiar that everyone can easily get into the headspace of).
• Investigation: The PCs discover that the inn’s dog has gone missing! The fey are suspected. During the course of this investigation, the PCs can learn about where the fey are known to be, some of their weaknesses, and perhaps even a cold iron weapon to help deal with weaknesses.
• Overcoming Challenges: We have the trip to the fey home - not sure if we want to do anything here as we want this area to seem relatively safe. The fey could live somewhere interesting, like an abandoned farmhouse, tunnels beneath a tree, or a thicket of unruly briars. From here we could plan out some encounters. We don’t need to think about the exact mechanics of things right now, just general ideas. We don’t have to use all of these, but it gives us a good idea of where we’d like to go with our encounters
  
  • An encounter with wildlife to get the party warmed up
  • An encounter with a Hazard and some sort of guard as a means of protecting the fey base
  • A larger encounter against many fey
  • A plant based encounter (either Hazard or creature)
  • A fey puzzle - perhaps involving teeth?
• Climax: We should have the PCs come face-to-face with a group of tooth fairies, the truly most malicious of this fey group. This could be an encounter with numerous tooth fairy and maybe one elite version, or perhaps a Hazard to keep this interesting. Our dog should be here - maybe locked away (poorly) so that there are alternate ways to approach this encounter (such as simply sneaking in and freeing the dog).
  
• Resolution: The return to the inn should be a triumph, with a reward coming to the PCs for what they’ve done - even small rewards like a free meal and night at the inn and perhaps an item that is special to the owner. This is also a great time to have the group really feel like heroes and perhaps plant the seeds for future adventures.
  

Alright, we have a good outline of an adventure, so now we just need to fill in the details!
The Adventure - The Mechanics Now we get into the actual mechanics of the adventure. You can have all of these ideas ready to go before the game begins, but if you just start throwing out your ideas without any planning, things can get messy real quick! Before I go too much further, I want to put a very important clause here for everyone:
We are not professional game designers and are not getting paid for our work. Don’t pour blood, sweat, and tears into a project and burn out. We’re writing adventures for our friends to play in. Do not let perfect become the enemy of good. An adventure scrawled on the back of a napkin plays just as well as one printed in a Paizo book.
Now, that said, I am putting a little bit more effort into the adventures you see just because I am sharing them with you all and want to provide more clarity in the process than what my typical note-taking would be. Find what works for you!
Now let’s get started! Let’s go through the mechanical bits one-by-one and address how to create them. For our first adventure, I won’t go into too much detail about every choice made since we’ve already covered a lot of material, but rather an explanation of how to accomplish the encounter design. We’ll be focusing more on encounters in this post. While we could talk about designing monsters, hazards, or even subsystems, let’s keep things simple.
First up is the inciting incident in the roadside inn. Now, a tooth fairy swarm at such a low level would be a disastrous first encounter for a group, so we’ll rule that out right away. We’ll be using the guidelines found starting on page 75 of the GM Core Book for this, but I’ll be referencing the AoN pages throughout. The first thing we need to do is decide what our encounter budget is. Given that we want this to be an introduction to the game, let’s make this a Low encounter for our level 1 group. This means we have 60 XP to use to choose our creatures. To find out how much a creature is worth, we compare its level against the party’s level and use this handy chart. Our Tooth Fairies (only level -1) are worth 20 XP to our level 1 party. That means we can use three of them for our encounter. Nothing fancy, but we’ll mix things up as we continue!
Our investigation is going to be a bit more open-ended. We know when combat starts and ends, but the players dictate the flow of the story when they are given the reins of what to do next. And that’s a good thing! But we need to provide them with options that both advance the story and engage them. We have a pretty easy path here - the PCs want to chase after the tooth fairies, but they don’t know where to start. Let’s create a few areas for them to explore. Something like…

• Common Room: Asking patrons, maybe even tending to injuries; success here should put the players on the right track on where to go, and introduce the idea that the fey had a goal in mind during the attack (Using Charisma skills)
• Kitchen: Searching through to find what the fey may have been looking for - a great place to introduce treasure, especially a cold iron weapon (likely a dagger) to give the PCs something to combat the fey (Searching, Perception)
• Overnight Rooms: Here we can put in some more hints about what the group may encounter when they confront the fey; I like the idea of a traveling merchant staying here who offers the PCs a way to deal with a Hazard they could run into later in the adventure
• Backyard: Here we can see that the inn’s dog has been taken, but Investigating PCs can find more clues - like a trail of blood from where the dog fought back. (Nature, Survival, Perception?)
  • Quick note: The game should never hinge on the PCs discovering something. If we want to go this route, we instead introduce a way to “fail forward” like “the PCs can find the fey camp after some wandering, but the sun has already gone down, giving them an hour of dim light before it becomes dark.”

Importantly, when deciding on the DC of these skill checks, we are going to refer to the Level-Based DCs chart (found on page 53 of the GM Core) and keep things around that area, typically adjusting for easy (-2 DC) or hard (+2 DC) while also keeping some wiggle room in between.
And we come now to overcoming challenges, where the meat of our adventure lies. Now, our group should know their enemy and where they’re located, or at least they have a goal in mind. Now it’s our job to put barriers in the way to that goal. Looking back over our rough draft, there are a few ideas for encounters there that seem interesting. I picked out three and want to workshop them a little. We also look through the Bestiary for creatures that fit the theme we’re going for, which is something of a fight against the fey and nature.

• A Low encounter with a Hunting Spider and a number of Hampering Webs
• A Moderate encounter with three Melixies who have swiped some sweets from the inn
• Finally, a Severe encounter with six Tooth Fairies - our finale

However, as I look over the adventure, there isn’t much for the PCs to engage with that isn’t just combat and on top of that, the encounters aren’t terribly exciting. Let’s look at the pain points. The first that I see is that the PCs are encouraged to just move from scene to scene fighting, so what about a way to circumvent the encounter for clever players? On top of that, I want another antagonist to give the fey a bit more character. Finally, the finale encounter is… somewhat dull. Using those three ideas as our tent pole encounters, let’s try something like…

• A Trivial encounter of an elite Sprite who was left to watch the inn. Their role is not to engage the PCs directly, but tail them and strike when they’re preoccupied. Players then have a chance to spot the sprite out and chase him off before he ambushes them in the spider fight.
• The Melixie encounter is changed to have the three fey fighting loudly and distractedly over cake or pie. Clever characters could use the opportunity to slip by or get the jump on them.
  • As a side note, we can also tempt the group with some treasure here, as well as another hazard
• Lastly, let’s keep the Severe encounter, but instead of a boring fight against six Tooth Fairies, we’ll make it three Tooth Fairies and their “pet” Snapping Flytrap who has the weak template since the fey have been feeding it nothing but stolen sweets, coins, and teeth.
  • I’m a little leery of this combat, but if we make the arena large enough, it should be easy for the group to keep away from the plant.

With the mechanics handled, we can write a resolution and give the PCs a big pat on the back for a job well done!
This is also the point in adventure writing where we want to start thinking about Treasure. Now this is hardly enough to get the group the 1000 XP they need to level up - maybe about 1/3rd of that. So we can take a look at the Treasure By Level and roughly sprinkle about a third of that throughout the adventure. Again, I personally like to put in things that will be immediately useful at lower levels.
With all that said and done, let’s take a look at the finished product!
Stepping in with a quick note here, much of this idea was put together during the transition from Legacy PF2 content to Remastered. The following adventure includes some Legacy content, but not in any way that will complicate the experience.
Link to the Low-Level Adventure, “Dognapping!”
As we said earlier, there’s a little more effort put into the presentation of this adventure just to make it easier to parse and for people to use at home if they like. You don’t need to do so much with your own games! If you know the story well enough, just a few notes on a piece of paper and you’re good to go.
Making It Spicy - Alterations Rough drafts are our way of getting ideas down on paper so that we can refine them into a complete thought. However, that’s not to say that we’re always finished after that. Something I enjoy doing is looking at encounters or adventures that I’ve written and adding a little “spice.” What this means is putting in a bit more flavor to either make a scene more memorable, give characters in an encounter more options, or to change how my players look at the game. Adding “spice” does not mean making things harder - it looks to enhance the experience, not bog it down.
While this is certainly not a necessary part of adventure design, I recommend keeping it in the back of your mind. It can even help when running pre-written adventures! So, here are a few “spicy” ideas for this adventure.

• Stitchleaf carries with him a few nets that he happily throws on the PCs when they’re doing battle with the spider before extinguishing his light and slipping away to Hide behind a tree. Likewise, the sprite could even speed ahead to warn the thicket should it look like the PCs will overcome the spider. This removes the possibility of slipping past the melixies and Stitchleaf can join in another encounter, becoming a recurring enemy.
• The thicket itself has enough space within its thorns to allow Tiny creatures like the fey to enter, Take Cover, Sneak, and Hide. When the odds start to turn against them, the melixies use this to great effect.
• The tunnels into the thicket and between the two “rooms” act as choke points for Medium creatures, requiring them to Squeeze (DC 15 Acrobatics) through. On a failure they treat the tunnels as difficult terrain, but take 1d4 piercing damage in the process. This can create a feeling of being “locked in” once a battle has begun.

Wrapping Up - The End And that’s it! Making a low-level adventure is actually quite a straightforward process. We didn’t have to design any new monsters, plan for higher level magic, or create a sweeping, grand story. We came up with a very simple direction and put the pieces together in a way that’s hopefully fun and interesting for the table!
Up next? We’ll take a look at mid-level adventures, when characters start to break the rules a little more!

Nickel wire mesh stands out as an indispensable material in various industrial fields, from filtration systems to aerospace engineering. Finding reliable suppliers for Nickel Wire Mesh in UAE is paramount to the success and longevity of any project involving this component, so in this guide we delve into its intricacies as a matter of sourcing high-quality suppliers and present Sachiya Steel International as your reliable partner in this endeavor.
Understanding the Importance of Quality Nickel Wire Mesh
Nickel wire mesh is widely recognized for its corrosion resistance, high temperature tolerance and superior conductivity properties – qualities which make it a popular choice in demanding environments like chemical processing plants, oil refineries and marine applications. From filtering or reinforcement applications to filtration or separation requirements, its quality has a direct bearing on performance and lifespan of industrial systems.
Considerations When Selecting Suppliers
Quality Assurance: By choosing suppliers who adhere to stringent quality control measures, Sachiya Steel International guarantees superior products that surpass industry standards and specifications. Sachiya Steel International prioritizes quality in every step of its production process so as to provide clients with products which exceed expectations.
Variety of Grades and Specifications: Different applications require various grades and specifications of nickel wire mesh, so any reliable supplier should provide a wide variety of grades and specifications to meet these demands. At Sachiya Steel International, we have an impressive collection of nickel wire mesh options to meet these diverse industrial demands; you are sure to find what fits best!
Customization Capabilities: Flexibility is key when meeting unique project requirements, and working with suppliers that offer customization services allows you to get tailor-made solutions that align perfectly with your goals. Sachiya Steel International possesses the experience needed to customize nickel wire mesh according to your exact specifications for maximum performance and efficiency.
Reliability and Timely Delivery: Sachiya Steel International provides reliable delivery at the right time to keep projects on schedule and minimize downtime, so selecting our supplier with an impressive track record in prompt deliveries ensures smooth operations. Sachiya Steel International stands behind its promises by meeting nickel wire mesh requirements on time without delays. Exploring the Technical Specifications and Applications of Nickel Wire Mesh Nickel wire mesh, an adaptable and highly functional material, plays an integral part in various industrial applications due to its exceptional properties and wide array of capabilities. From filtration systems to electrical components, its robustness and dependability have earned it favor among different sectors. In this article we explore its technical specifications, properties, applications and significance within modern engineering.
Exploring the Technical Specifications and Applications of Nickel Wire Mesh
Nickel wire mesh, an adaptable and highly functional material, plays an integral part in various industrial applications due to its exceptional properties and wide array of capabilities. From filtration systems to electrical components, its robustness and dependability have earned it favor among different sectors. In this article we explore its technical specifications, properties, applications and significance within modern engineering.
Technical Specifications
Material Composition: Nickel wire mesh typically comprises high-purity nickel ranging from 99.999% purity. This ensures optimal corrosion resistance, thermal stability and electrical conductivity characteristics suitable for demanding environments.
Wire Diameter: Nickel wire mesh comes in various wire diameters ranging from ultrafine to coarse gauges, most frequently 0.02mm (20 microns) to 1.5mm for various filtration needs and mechanical strength demands.
Mesh Count: Mesh count refers to the number of openings or apertures per linear inch or centimeter of wire mesh. Nickel wire mesh offers a range of mesh counts that span from 2 to 500 meshes per inch (0.79 to 196 meshes per centimeter), providing for precise filtration and sieving applications.
Weave Types: Nickel wire mesh can be manufactured in various weave patterns, including plain weave, twill weave and Dutch weave. Each type offers different benefits in terms of uniformity, strength and filtration efficiency allowing for tailored solutions tailored specifically for particular requirements.
Width and Length: Nickel wire mesh can be purchased in rolls or sheets with standard widths ranging from 0.5 meters to 2 meters and lengths that meet customer preferences or application needs. Custom sizes can also be requested to meet special project demands.
Read More: https://steeltube.co.in/nickel-wire-mesh-suppliers-in-uae/

The defunct warehouse of Valdemar Machinery has slowly been sinking into the earth for decades, twisting and descending like a soaking, porous cork languidly driving itself down into a puddle of muck, its facades all twisted askew, the walls leaning, the roof caving, sinking, down, down... and the panoramic maw like choking despair having already brought it within sight of its own digestion. Many of the walls had split from their foundations, some lay utterly crumbled, piled upon the ancient and indecorous ruins of industry.
Like a putrid caldera broken free from the deep internal pressure of earth, a swampy marshland now surrounds the place like a dank and fetid moat that floats rather than flows. Broken sticks, blades of old mown grass, leeches, and bellied-up lifeless amphibians swirl in slow, still circles like dead stars hovering around an opaque and monochrome event horizon. The malodorous ichor creeps unseen into the senses a fair distance removed from the broken and tattered gates, themselves enmeshed in defunct wires around the entrance that once served to flood the property with harsh electric beams so bright as to shun the scrap vestiges of moon in the sky.
As it was, by sheer impulse, I indeed pursued my curiosity, not once thinking or comptehending, not once reasoning or stopping to rest or to ask myself, "Why?" Indeed, the buried enterprise had stood loftily before me in a single unbroken framework, an insular, ironwrought image of harsh and lurid darkness. There, it stood in my thoughts, abrupt and martial, intimidating, hostile, before I had even hit the freeway.
'Bloody Mary', say the myth makers, resides within the very walls of Valdemar Incorporated - the cursed reflection appearing at will, never in the same place, not even from mirrors, from that which reflects- the walls peal back of their own will, the scattered remnants of light fall back as into a precipice. Otherwise, all reality vaporizes in an instant, and she shudders forth like thunder and lightning, jumps out at the unsuspecting victim without warning, and so it is paramount - proceed slowly. Take comfort in your fears and appropriate them as a scrap of hellfire - make fear friend.
I cannot but admit a sense of the carnal attached to the thought, seductive to my own sensual eccentricities as often as vile to the vulgar, that I derive a certain untamed passion at being scared out of my wits - that the inevitable confrontation with the fantastic might not stir up something ravenous or self-destructive.
I digress.
Easing alongside an old rotting security shack, after having followed the driveway without lights, I shut off the engine. Berenice was already awaiting my arrival, but when I approached her car, I found it empty and dark, like a tomb untenanted.
I called her repeatedly, but the rings rang hollow. In this place, at this time of night, empty, still, vacant, and removed ten miles from our neighborhood, an anxious sensation gripped my heart.
I circled the building, calling after her, ringing her phone, the calls moving in intervals to an empty voice at the end of many abrupt processions. Nothing stirred, no phone shouted back.
I was at a loss and could scarcely imagine, considering with what ease she could be frightened, how in any conceivable way she could have entered that shadowy warehouse alone, such was the undeviating nature of her timid character. She could never do this, never have entered on her own, *not without force*.
Now I was bound. My own morbid passions notwithstanding, an urgency arose, an indistinct, but perhaps unusually distinct, voice called out in my mind. I proceeded, step-by-step, to breach that shuddering miasma that surrounded the building like a disease, a plague, soaking warm as blood into my shoes, into my socks, curdling the soles of my feet white.
The only visible point of entry that I could find after numerous passages around the premises was a tear in the crumpled door above the loading dock. But this couldn't be - a broken sledgehammer lay in two halves on the ground, and the sliver through which a chilly interior breeze filtered (the night was humid and airless) could not have given way to a human body (without shedding a few drops of blood). I fixed my eyes on the uneven shards of hammerfall. "But why would she have...?"
Again, I raised a soaring, searching cry, which merely bounded back at me like a manic resignation.
I routed the breezy sarcophagus again at close range, indifferent to the mess of muck it made of my shoes and pants, and inspected closely, and but for a broken window that could never have admitted a body without a life's worth of bloodshed, there was nothing, nothing but the loading dock entry door. I scrounged a crowbar out of a pile of mesh and mold and wedged and wracked it with all my might when abruptly an icy blast fired out like a putrid and moldering backdraft I ducked and forced myself in and found myself in the mouth of utter darkness. Despite my impulse to scream her name, some untenable asseveration impelled me to silence, and then to deliberation. Then, it encumbered me, the death-anxiety I had been enduring over my mother, slaving under, servicing, and dying along with. The shaft of nacreous skylight cutting across the scum-ridden floor was behind me. I had already begun to walk and hadn't even suspected my own movements, lost in the reveries of dearer fears.
Like darkness pervading darkness, poured forth like oil; that my will carried me so far that I at last could not figure exactly where I was standing, or near what - was I about to make a fatal misstep and plunge fifty feet? how had I gotten here? wherefore and from whence had my body carried me? where went the light? the light!- I was lost in and penetrating deeper into the perforations of a corporeal void, an endlessly ceasing abyss. I was free, and therefore enslaved - enslaved by the very exercise of freedom.
I could not see, was blind, choking down motes and tasting swoons of dust, coughing it out of my lungs, but standing still. I dropped to my knees. I felt the floor, the metal edges, and the musty concrete, and began to crawl.
I crawled a long, long time, stretching my arms as far as i could on every side looking for vats to fall in, or shards pf metal to be pierced by, clambering, clawing. Far off, the world continued to exist: a church bell struck once, shouting out of phantom lungs to remind me of existence existing - I had been ninety minutes already, had but once cried Berenice's name, and all the while remained- restrained, buried alive some place far away.
Though the building maintained its opacity and rigid dimensionality, though clusters of dust gagged me, though that chilly and paradoxical blast of air-
Alas... My finger brushed a cold dab of warm flesh. No way it could not have been flesh because I felt the bones, too. I smelled the malodor of roses and geraniums and formaldehyde (I worked for a family friend once who embalmed and knew the scent intimately).
My head began spinning; I felt as- no, believed that, I had been lying in bed in my childhood home, in the childhood dark, snuffing the childhood scent, shrouded in the childhood blankie, and thus did my mind revolve....it was as if I was drunk on the most intoxicating, most powerfully pure grade of Deja Vu along which no sentient animal had ever ridden, and I momentarily lost all sense of reference, of reality. It was as if I was on the verge of a seizure - the nerve signals firing pell-mell in all the wrong directions, firing like tank cannons, destroying one another, and my body...for Christ sake, my bones, it's as if they were streaked with razors, that in my tremulous shuddering I had been sawing myself put of my own natural jacket....I could taste all the blood, I was rolling in it, slipping in it like oil- and then-
The walls were no more. I reached out and felt nothing but that drafty chill, that dank and tepid river of stench, and I could hear, perceive, my own dead mother's voice as she screamed my name - *Berenice!*
Two feeble beams, arms, something indescribable and yet ineluctable had raised me to my feet, raised me, and, face to face with the oval mirror, I gazed within, and saw the terrible face, the affrighted countenance of my own self, pale as a sheet, looking in at the consumptive curse that really is my ownself, only the face in the mirror stood with her chin tucked into her breast, eyes closed, mouthing words which I could not make out, could not comprehend, and then she opened her eyes, raised them to me, and screamed... .....and the glass shattered, and my mother whispered, again and again, as she had since time immemorial, the name, the curse- Bloody Mary

Good Evening
Recently, I travelled to Japan for 10-12 days, depending on how you count travel time. I also have a deathly allergen to nuts. While the smell doesn't make me die (although, any allergen people can confirm - it stinks to high heaven) , the touch and taste are big trouble. This includes cross contamination.
I wanted to quickly share my experiences in the country eating with allergies. I will preface with a couple quick things

1. I live in Canada, one of the greatest places on the planet for having a nut allergen.
   • 2. I am more diligent than most people with a nut allergy - I base my decisions on safety and employee transparency. I have had 3 attacks in 24 years, and all have been from family members whos food I refuse to eat now. I know lots of people with anaphylactic allergens - including several who will just "eat around the nuts". I don't eat in store bakery food due to cross contamination, I actively avoid restaurants that use nuts (based on frequency in the cooking) and am low risk adverse
   • 3. I speak next to 0 Japanese, so communication was a bigger hurdle than it may be for you. Its worth noting that more Japanese people speak English fluently than its made out to be online; for a secondary language, its pretty impressive.
   • 4. I work retail and in a high school in Canada; I have trained around 50 people in customer service and witnessed a few hundred. I can say with out a doubt in my mind that the minimum wage/part timers/service industry people here are WORLDS above the average here. I would say 80% of my current department would be fired for their customer service skills in Japan. I have 0 bad to say about the service, and appreciate how difficult it is for my allergy
   • 5. Japan has 28 major allergens - but not every nut is one. This means they don't have to identify them all on the wrapper of food in the same way we have it here.
   • 6. Tokyo was, overall, Slightly better equipped for dealing with allergies. this is probably due to the fact its a major tourist spot, and closer to the major airport

I also want to note that I am making this post in response - research lead me to find things before we left, but I read everything I could find with very mixed results. I'm not sharing this to hear your opinion on how I conduct myself with my allergy; I'm sharing this as a guide for those who want a more detailed analysis of food allergen in Japan.
Lets Begin OVERVIEW
So, people will tell you how great Japan is with a peanut allergy. This is true - to some extent, very few items in japan carry peanuts in my experience. However, other nuts are fairly frequent. We saw a great deal of almonds, cashews, and pistachios. You can definitely avoid them; but its something to be cognizant of. The big thing here that's different is Understanding; People in Japan will look at you like an alien when you pull out your allergy cards (Linked below). While it takes them longer, they will help you to a high level to understand. I also appreciated the authenticity of their care; while in Canada I often get a "I don't know, man" or something equivalent, the people here were very confident saying either Yes or No. I walked out of around 50% of restaurants based on safety - a pretty big increase from Canada.
PREPERATION
Preparation is key for travelling anywhere with an allergy, and my first steps are always CHECK
C: Chains: Chain restaurants are so huge for people with allergens. Chains have uniformed stances, *Often\* the same menu and easy to find allergen info online.
H: Home: Cooking at home is great, if you have the time. renting somewhere with a stove may be a good idea for you
E: Expensive: While I didn't use this too much in Japan, Expensive restaurants can often be better than smaller operations due to career staffers,
C: Convivence: Identifying snacks and easy to grab food before leaving. In Japan, with the convivence store food being more edible, this was a huge help
K: Keep looking: This may be the hardest for me; after a few restaurants in a row tell you they cant accommodate, or don't know, it wears down on you. You have to keep your head up
This ideology helped me stay sane in japan; while it isn't always a big deal, I am a pretty big weightlifteathlete back home so I eat like a machine. I eat a lot, and especially when my walking was using so many calories and energy.
a HUGE assistance for me was my allergy cards; essentially, there are 2 cards that say everything that I am allergic to, and a preface mentioning both the food and the oil. I used two together, since the phrase Tree Nut isn't as common there.
Here is a link to the first card and the secondcard. For the second one, I cut and paste the nuts in Japanese and placed them in the clear section to avoid confusion from poor handwriting.
RESTURANTS/EXPEREINCES
Convenience stores: We ate at convivence stores a little bit. I would say a convenience store meal in Japan is equivalent with a fast food restaurant here (not great, but good enough). I often had a sandwich from the cooler. it was ok, and I used google translates camera (A MUST USE) to translate and asked the worker.
McDonalds: If you had told me, that while i was in Japan my most eaten place would have been McDonalds - i wouldn't be happy. However, I was pleasantly surprised - McDonalds Japan is consistently a pretty good meal. The ones in Canada are, quite frankly, horrendous. I would avoid the baked items, per usual, but i enjoyed fries, nuggets and Egg sandwiches quite a bit. When I asked the employee the first time we went, he told me to use the website linked here. He also came to check to make sure we were okay after the first few bites - much more than id ever expect at McDonalds here.
Ichiran: The biggest chain in Japan produced some of the tastiest meals. I loved Ichiran: the system was very helpful, they had posted allergy info in the restaurants and a simple menu. these are usually a recipe for allergen success. This chart here is similar. Interestingly, the chart doesn't list almond as an allergen, despite it being on a dessert. Overall, this was my favorite Japanese Restaurant - it was excellent and not too horrible for you.
???: I cant type the name of this one, but here is the address ongoogle Maps. Its the building in the picture with the blacksign. We had Soba and Fried Chicken here, and it seemed to be a small business. The food was quick, tasty and safe (they said no nuts many times). It was also empty.
USJ: USJ was supposed to be the golden child. The times i have gone to American theme parks (Disney World, USF) and always had a stellar time. I figured USJ would be the same, as they have an excellent website showing things. It was not. I couldn't find anything to eat (we tried several restaurants) but terrible curry and rice for 2000 Yen. I ended up just waiting for the Hard Rock Café in the Universal walkway. The staff were wonderful in the park, and the food looked ok - it was just too bad. The prices were also the highest we saw all trip
Hard Rock Café: At this point i was pretty hungry, so we went to the Hard Rock. It has some great food and excellent service. i had the fish and chips + the pulled pork sandwich. While talking to the server, I asked her about tipping; she said she gets tipped around 25% of the time, so I tipped her. She was just wonderful. I only mention the tipping because this was the only place in japan it came up.
TGI Fridays:Service was excellent, but probably our worst meal in Japan. Doesn't mean that it was bad, but just the quality at the other restaurants was higher. It was safe though, so maybe just don't get the burgers. Probably identical to the one in the states.
Kuche new München: Excellent food and service. I sent the whole restaurant into a bit of a mad dash trying to figure out my allergy, which made me feel silly. It was worth the wait, and I was so appreciative. it was so tasty.
Speed Round: Restaurants that immediately told me no: Wolfgang Puck, all of USJ, Travorra Travola (In the Fuji Outlet), Subway, and a few cook-your-own style restaurants all told me no very quickly. However, it was very politely and they seemed to feel bad, which made me feel bad....
CLOSURE Overall, Its very possible to eat in japan with a nut allergy. However, you need to make decisions more frequently than North America for safety. Baked Goods, Desserts and salads are often my problem in Canada, and the same was the story there. I want to once again re-iterate that the quality of care and food was so much higher. I personally hate being "the allergy guy" and no matter how frustrated i may be i never take it out on the staff. However, there is a world of stuff you could probably try that was just outside of my comfort zone
Thanks for your time and have a great day. I hope this helps just one person!

I got fitted at a shop yesterday and they suggested a medium for the new Trek Procaliber 6. I also tried the new Roscoe 6 (same frame as 7,8,9) in a small and my arms felt scrunched up. They told me the small frame in the Procaliber 6 is 1cm shorter than the Roscoe 6 meaning it would be even more cramped. I'm just not sure because all the size charts I've used indicated I should be a small. I do have a short inseam (28.5) even though I'm almost 5'4. I'm coming from a 2011 Norco xc entry level bike with 26" wheels so I don't have a lot for reference. This bike is expensive to me so I want to make sure the size is right. They also used a protractor device while I was on the bike and said the medium looked good. The didn't have a small procaliber to try so I would need to pay and order one without trying it if that's the size I want. Thoughts? I'm a female if that makes a difference.
https://www.trekbikes.com/ca/en_CA/bikes/mountain-bikes/cross-country-mountain-bikes/procalibeprocaliber-6/p/41615/

TLDR: New user, trying to improve bad breath. Gonna try some new stuff and log how it goes. Fingers crossed.
Preface: This is a new account just to address some issues that I don’t want linked to my regular reddit account. I’ve lurked and read but decided I wanted to actually participate…
Reason for this post: I have BB. It sucks. I feel lots of shame around it and have been retreating from life and social interactions bit by bit. My hope is to change my breath for the better. I’ve recently had some shifts in mindset around this area and am hoping to pair those shifts with new approaches. This post is just to put myself out there and to clarify & chronicle my thoughts and attempts. Open to tips and suggestions.
Disclaimer: I’m not a medical professional. I am not trying to prescribe anything to anyone nor am I trying to sell anything. I am only describing where I’m at on my journey with this issue and where I’m trying to head. Dassit!
BB: I don’t smell it but do get reactions from people sometimes. Sometimes the lick/spoon/ water in a glass tests don’t smell, sometimes it smells a little dank/musty, sometimes like vinegar, sometimes like bread yeast, never smelt fecal. Once I was told it smelled like onions or sulphur.
Through this community, I’ve learned that I may need to make a multi-pronged effort and expand beyond my oral cavity. Someone posted a link to the animated teeth website and that was very educational for me. From it, I understand more about the different chemicals in toothpastes & mouthwashes. I also learned that I’ve been underestimating how impactful tongue cleanliness is. Also, that website introduced me to the Winkel Tongue Coating Index (WTCI). It’s been helpful to have a quantitative way to assess how coated my tongue is at any given time. Before I just would see that my tongue was coated, see gunk come off and call it a day…
What I’m changing:

• Mindset: Before, I’d been having “All or Nothing” thinking and if I tried something that ended up not working, I’d give up and feel so defeated.
  • Now, I telling myself, “Progress not Perfection.” If my breath is less stinky, that is an improvement. If my mouth stays fresher a little longer, that is a step in the right direction. If my breath still stinks but my tongue coating is gone, that is still a healthier tongue. Obvs, I want fresh breath but I want to be better at recognizing interim wins.
  • Also, I‘ve realized and accepted that it may take several weeks before something starts working. I have an autoimmune disease and any new medication isn’t assessed for effectiveness until at least 3 months. This is similar. It maybe be a marathon, definitely not a sprint.
• Tongue: much more emphasis and time spent on cleaning it. I‘ve had a metal tongue scraper, the kind that takes two hands, for a couple years. I would scrape a few times and stop when it seemed like there was less gunk.
  • I got a new metal tongue scraper that only takes one hand, has a smaller head and a different shape. It’s just some generic one from the local drugstore. Surprisingly, it’s a lot easier for me to maneuver and goes further back without triggering my gag reflex. Since getting it, I’ve spent much longer scraping my tongue than ever before (like a full 15-20 minutes the first couple times) I’ve spent longer because 1) I am putting more emphasis on cleaning my tongue, 2) I have a method to assess how coated my tongue is, and 3) it’s just a more pleasurable experience now.
  • I was going to get rid of my old scraper but I like using it in conjunction with the new scraper. It reminds me of nail & foot files, how you have a coarse one and a fine one.
  • I didn’t know my tongue could get so pink and be so not-coated!!! WTCI results: Before I was about a 7 on average, 5-6 at best, 8-9 after waking. Now, I’m 1-2 on average for hours, 0 at best, 4-5 after waking. This is just from adding a smaller, more ergonomic tongue scraper and taking more time. Nothing else changed. I don’t think taking more time with my other scraper would yield the same results nor would less time with the new one.
  • Next step- try some type of tongue brush to get into the nooks & crannies. Still keeping the scrapers though.
• Testing: lick test, spoon test, breathing into a snifter with water. All had intermittent results.
  • Next step- going to get an oral microbiome test to get some specific data & guidance
• Oral hygiene: I can do better here although I don’t think I’m doing nothing. I’ve realized I can do a lot better with my tongue cleaning. So I am going to be open to the thought that maybe I can be more efficacious in other areas.
  • Have started consistently doing a nasal rinse (Water, Xylitol, Sodium Chloride, Grapefruit Seed Extract) daily, every AM & PM before oral care. So far - decreasing PND, nasal pages seem to be clearer in general now vs before, less mucus after rinsing, less spitting
  • Also, I have an otoscope that I use to monitor my ear canals. I used it to look around in my mouth and it was nice to see things more up close and magnified.
  • Next step- get a plaque disclosing product to identify any areas for improvement. I think the kind that shows old, new, and acid-producing bacteria will be the most informative.
  • Next step- start mouth-taping to help reduce dryness overnight.
• Chemicals: I’ve used Sodium Fluoride toothpastes for years because of concerns about staining. Recently I read that Stannous Fluoride has more anti-bacterial properties than Sodium Fluoride and that the stains occur from reactions with sulfur in the mouth. Also, there are new formulations that are less prone to staining. But it seems like the less bad bacteri, the less chances of staining. Have also read about Zinc Lactate being helpful. I’ve tried mouthwashes (CloSYS, TheraBreath) with Chlorine Dioxide. My mouth felt fresher longer but not for much longer nor with much, if any, breath improvements. Am going to try mouthwashes with different chemicals. Also have seen some improvement with Castile soap & baking soda. Want to try other cleansing agents to see if they might work better for me. Am curious is something designed for cleaning hair or textiles might be better at cleaning the tongue.
  • Next step- try toothpaste with Stannous Fluoride and Zinc Lactate
  • Next step- try mouthwash with Cetylpyridinium Chloride & Zinc Lactate, may also try mouthwash with essential oils as an adjunct. Also, want to try a mouthwash with Iodine.
  • Next step- try Orvus on tongue. Maybe a clarifying or dandruff shampoo?
• Other: I think I might have silent reflux. Would never have occurred to me without this community. I never have heartburn (I don’t have any antacids or pepto or anything like that. Can’t remember the last time I’ve bought any. Probably over a decade seriously). But sometimes I like to sleep with my head elevated. Sometimes I get food burps if I lay down too soon after eating.
  • Next step- Try an acid reflux product
  • Next step- eat a lighter meal for last meal of day (I prefer 2 meals a day but have to take medication at night). I will figure something that is stomach-friendly and sufficient for taking my meds.
  • Next step- Eat last “meal” earlier. It was 2 hours before sleeping but I will try to make it 4 hours before.
  • Next step- get referred to a Gastro Dr for consult

OK that’s it for now. This was a lot longer than anticipated but I wanted to record my recent thoughts and activities. Will update

As always, thank you to for the wonderful universe that is NoP! Thank you to for proof reading and helping me make this chapter as good as it can be, you're the man! Honestly LoM wouldn't have gone very far without him! If you haven't you should absolutely go read Foundations of Humanity! It's very good! :D
A big thanks to for helping with proofreading! He writes Out of Our Elements which is a very good one! If you like a good fic in the wilderness and a pair of cute 'friends' ;) you'll love OOE!
Also thank you to ! For this wonderful fanart of Taisa. And this one! She's so cute I'm gonna die
And thank you to ! For this adorable fanart of Chris and Renkel! Dear god help he's adorable I love him so much
Thank you , or AsciiSquid on Discord, for makin' Vengineer Taisa Gamin'. She's absolutely adorable, I love her lil' workers apron. She looks so excited to get to work!
Thank you ! For this astounding Pixel Art of Taisa after a few range day dates with Chris! Her little hat and gunbelt are absolutely astounding!
Thank you ! For this Artwork of Taisa and Chris as characters from One Piece! I've never seen or read it before but it's incredibly cute!
Thank you to for their wonderful work of several LoM fanfics!
First Prev. Next
Memory Transcription Subject: Taikel, Venlil Farmer, Venlil-Human Exchange Host
Date [Standardized Human Time]: October 20th, 2136
Stars above a paw with good news would be appreciated.
The Warren was silent but for the click-clack of Renkel’s claws on my pad as I sat at the island, staring down at my now cold bowl of crispy brown vegetables. Rensa had fallen further over the last paw, sinking well past where she had been after her accident. I think hope, fear and Renkel were the only things keeping me from stumbling into the night beside her.
My attention tracked across the living room as I swiveled the stool around to focus on the window she was sat in front of, with all I could see being the thread of a shadow slowly bringing the glass to her mouth; the only sign to tell me she was still there at all. I’d thought about replacing the gin with something gentler this waking, it had worked for a glass, keeping her marginally more lucid before she’d decided to refill it herself. Then before too long she was back to the same torpid drift she’d lost herself in these last few paws.
The clink of my skewer against the side of the bowl in front of me split the solemn, cold air of the kitchen as I let out a sigh, turning to look at the beads tic-tacing against each other in front of the open window beside the hearth. My eyes hung on the open thread waiting, almost eagerly, to be filled, for the news of our loss so that sordid black bead could find its new home.
My heart sank at the thought of receiving that message.
Of being informed that they really were gone.
Of having to confront the reality of our loss.
Having to explain to Renkel that his sister was never coming home, that Chris would never share his stories with him again.
That two of his best friends in the world had been taken from him.
Rensa falling even further, spiraling well beyond anything I could ever truly help her recover from.
The image of their stars drifting on the basin brought pooling tears to the corners of my eyes, pulling at the threads binding my heart like Night’s whipping winds.
I could feel them threatening to fall as I wrenched my eyes from Kalthet hanging in the window, squeezing them shut to push the horror away, to do anything and everything I could for my family.
For Rensa, for Renkel.
For them.
Come on, gray coat, do it for the-
The familiar chime of my pad drifted from Renkel on the couch, perking my ears to the distinct tune as he mewled curiously, locked onto the pad just as I was.
Was that Tais-
“PAPA!” My son squealed, leaping from the couch to fill the Warren with the rapid pitter-patter of his paws on hardwood followed along with a rapid beat of chime after chime from the pad he all but threw at me.
My heart swayed for a moment, a growing sprout of hope blooming as I gently plucked the pad from his paws, my tail slipping around him, pulling him close as I stared down at the noisy pad. The wheels in my mind spun on slick ground as panic, elation and worry filled my thoughts, my breath hitched, trying to push me onward to read even the first message as they came rushing in like a fresh harvest. Before long they stopped, messages about them going up to a peak to watch, the food Darlene had made, how much she hoped she’d see us again, terror at the Arxur’s arrival, jubilation that the federation had been driven away.
And then they turned to a tide of growing worry as her messages asked where we were, what was going on and how the town was holding up. Questions asking if we were getting the messages flooded in next, creeping closer and closer together before one finally broke the chain with an >Embarassed.< tail sign emote. A heavy sigh of relief tumbled from my mouth as I pulled Renkel a little closer, reading the message aloud to the pup with high ears and a blooming warmth in my chest.
“Hey Papa, looks like relays have been down for… a while. I’m ok, Chris is… mostly ok. I don’t know when you will get this, but whenever you do, I want you to know we’re coming home soon. I love you.”
My attention swung back to the window and the shadow hanging on the curtains between us as Renkel’s paws flew into the air, the pitter-patter of his feet on the hardwood racing around the living room, scooping up his book and bolting upstairs with an elated squeal. My tail fell into an excited wag before I looked back to the pad, the biting worry for Rensa gnawing a little harder at my gut dulled by the fact that they were alive! My daughter and Chris were, seemingly, safe. As worried as I was about reports of the Arxur on Earth, I couldn’t help but be elated at the news. Which certainly didn’t stay my claws from typing out a field of questions of my own as they sprouted to mind.
Taikel:
Oh thank the stars you’re ok, Oil-Spot!
What happened with the ship crash, the U.N. said it started a giant fire???
Are you two safe?
What are the Arxur doing there?
Where are the Arxur?
Where are you?
Her chat-flower bloomed after a few agonizingly long moments, setting the coiled tension in my heart loose as joyful tears slipped free into my wool. I hadn’t thought that little purple flower opening and closing could simultaneously elicit so many emotions.
Taisa:
Papa! Stars above I was worried something had happened.
Venlil ship rammed a fed light cruiser, lit the forest and mountainsides on fire real bad. We spent the last two paws doing our best to help put that out. Its contained and almost gone now so we’re getting shifted.We’re safe, mostly. We’ve got a worrying shipment with a few aid crews for the next paw or two but we’ve been approved to return to Heartwood after that is done.
They helped push the feds back and now they’re helping >Disbelief.< with the rebuilding efforts. Neither of us are particularly pleased with that.
Not sure about all of them but at least three of them are going to be on Polani. >Anger. Worry.<
We’re at Chris’ families, getting Polani ready to go get started with our ‘aid teams’.
How’re Mama and Renkel?
My heart stuck in my throat as I looked up at the window again, peering at Rensa’s shadow as the sound of Renkel excitedly foraging in his room met my ears, searching for the best words to say. I settled on the truth.
Taikel:
Renkel is currently running about the house like he’s had a cup of Chris’ ‘coffee’ again squealing happy. Your Mama is… not doing great right now but hopefully this news helps!
Any idea when you two will be home?
Taisa:
As soon as we can, not sure of exactly how many paws but I promise I’ll keep you updated.
Please let Mama know we’ll be home as soon as we can be.
Taikel:
I will, stay safe for me, Oil-Spot.
Taisa:
We’ll do our best, Papa. Love you.
Taikel:
Love you too.
I set the pad down and found myself staring at the Kalthet again, focusing on the empty space, ecstatic that another black spot wouldn’t yet truly fill our lives.
But it has filled the lives of others. Those people in the shelters… How many have lost family they know they’ll never see again?
>Enough.< A small nod bobbed my chin as I turned, padding up stairs to find Renkel. We’d been cooped up in the Warren long enough; it was harvest-time for all of us to get out and start helping. Besides, stars and I know that if that boy was good at anything other than foraging for new facts it was being a beacon of light in the world.
[Advance Transcript by Time Unit: 1.5 Hours]
Renkel let out an excited giggle, bouncing on his feet as I poured another glass for Rensa, splashing a claw of gin before diluting it with water and fire-fruit oil. Hard stopping hadn’t worked last time and it wouldn’t this time either, not without her howling in pain for paws on end… I couldn’t put her through that for another minute, let alone a few paws. But if I eased her down then it’d be better, it’d be tolerable for her and I was sure that Taisa and Chris’ return would snap her out of her stupor and break the fire just as fast as it’d started.
Or at least I hoped as hard as I could that it would.
Renkel bounds to the door, still jumping in place as his tail lashes about behind him excitedly, barely containing his squeaks as I open the door and wave him on outside. The cool twilight air flows into my wool as the beautiful golden rays dance in my eyes, casting the sky in a beautiful tapestry of colors. I’d seen it a thousand times, every waking of my life and yet, right now, it felt like the first time in forever.
Renkel doesn’t slow, bolting to the truck and calling out an upbeat whistle to Rensa as I stoop at her side, gently extracting the now-empty glass from her paws and replacing it with the new one before nuzzling her crown with an excited, hopeful mewl. “Taisa’s alright darling, they’ll be home in a few paws! Renkel and I are going to the shelter to try and help… do you want to come?”
A noncommittal, foggy grunt of acknowledgment was all I received alongside a weak return of my affections. The knot of pain in my chest tightened down again at the sight of my love, steeping in the fog hanging in her mind. It hurt to see her like this again, especially with the knowledge that the fear and anguish, the very cause of her pain, wasn’t true. Aside from patience and doing my best to gently lift her from the pit she’d dug to hide herself there was little I could do to truly help her.
So patience and a steady paw was what I would provide.
I gave her crown a small lick before I rose, gently easing her back down into her seat with the strongest purr I could manage. “We’ll be back soon, love. Get some rest, things will get better from here, I promise.”
The crunch of gravel beneath bolting paws reached my ears as I turned toward the truck, the excited squeaks, chirps and whistles erupting from Renkel faltered as he slowed to a stop at my side. His voice was a whisper as I turned him to pad to the truck, concern in his voice mirrored in how tight he clutched his book to his chest. “I-Is Mama coming with us?”
“No, Rekan, Mama’s still tired so she’s gonna stay home this time.” I whispered back, my paw squeezing his shoulder as my tail wrapped around his wrist. “But she wants us to go have all the fun we can at the shelter!
“Ok!” The pup’s ears perk, his tail wagging enthusiastically with the answer, tiny claws prodding me onward to the truck before tossing his head over his shoulder to shout to Rensa. “Lets go! Love you Mama! I’ll tell you all about it when we get home!”
A placid >You too.< was all he received.
That didn’t steal the shine from his field though, the joyful sound of his whistling accompanying the rapid prodding of his claws as he pushed me onward to the truck. The passenger door gives its usual whining squeal as it swings open, reminding me once again to call Parnel…
Later. Right now we help.
Renkel’s voice danced with enthusiasm as I hefted him up off his feet and into the seat beside mine, strapping him in as he sang and whistled Taisa’s chime. Before long I found myself joining him as I stepped back, gently swinging the door shut before padding to the drivers side, the hopeful tune dancing in the air around me as I climbed in alongside my son, gently pulling him close for a moment and earning a surprised mewl in return.
“You all ready, Rekan?”
>Yes!<
The truck’s engine shudders to life as Renkel props his book up on his lap, happily reading aloud to me about a new ‘fishy’ the ‘Blue Whale’. The rumble thrums through the truck as I slip it into gear, the familiar sound accompanied by the crunch of gravel under tread before it fades into the whispering hum of slow tires on asphalt. I turned my eyes for a moment, harvesting another look at Rensa lounging beside the Warren’s door.
And that little bloom of hope grew just a bit larger at the thought of them home, of her whole again. Of us whole again. I could handle this, in a paw or two she’d be lucid enough again. Then she’d be happy again.
And stars above that’s all I ever wanted.
Memory Transcription Subject: Christopher A. Dewey, Human Merchant Ship Captain, Crystal Star Shipping Co-Owner
Date [Standardized Human Time]: October 20th, 2136
They’re late.
The heft of my loading suit felt like little more than a heavy coat as I stood at the top of Polani’s ramp, alone. Taisa was still up in the helm, likewise suited and strapped as we waited for the grays to arrive, along with their U.N. Handlers. Neither of us was particularly excited about any of this but we still had to do it. Still had to bend the knee every time the U.N. called us up.
We’d done everything they’d wanted us to do, hauled a few thousand souls off the Cradle, more’n that off Earth in the last few days, a quarter of which from places that just weren’t anymore…
And I still didn’t know if Anna was alright. They couldn’t, or wouldn’t, tell me a definitive answer about what happened to her or the museum’s bunker, and it was eating me. Ma’n Pa’d told me I should wait, do my best to keep a level head, keep myself on track and I’d tried. Tried to keep everything straight in my head, to focus on helping people where I could and… and I still couldn’t stop the knife in my gut twisting at losing my little sister.
Patience… Anna’s always been lucky, she’ll be alright. She will.
My eyes turned skyward, looking up at the drifting plume of smoke and ash that still hung in the northern sky. The ash, dust, debris and dreams of a few hundred million people stained the sky that awful gray-brown that stretched for hundreds of miles. Each crater that’d once been a city had looked like over-eager paint smudges from orbit. Looking down at them and biting my lip was about all I could do to keep from crying my eyes out at the idea of what was left of Anna drifting along with… everyone else.
“Still don’t see them, Love!” Taisa whistled through our suit’s comms channel, the upbeat, hopeful lilt dancing in her voice, pulling me from the darkening rapids in my mind. I could practically hear her wagging tail as I shifted to look both ways across the Tarmac, spotting a quartet of white vans and a few loaded cargo trucks.
Damn shame. Would’ve rather just gone home to help Ma an’ Pa rather’n taxi some fuckin’ ‘gators around.
“Hate to rain on our parade here, Darlin’, but I don’t think we’re gettin’ out of it that easy… Fuckin’ half hour late or not.”
Her voice deflated as I heard her sigh filter through the suit’s speakers, a note of fear replacing the hope that’d sung just a moment before. “Ah Speh… and we were so close.”
“Another half hour and I’d’ve called it.” I grumbled back, the heavy clunk of my suit’s boots against the ramp echoing through the cavernous hold as I walked down to the tarmac below. “Stay up in the helm, I’ll get the aid workers, and the fuckin’ ‘gators, settled fast as I can manage.”
“Ok, Love.” Was the only response I received, the fear in her voice building to the point that all I wanted to do was slam the hold shut and comfort her rather than play host to the U.N.’s next great idea for our lives.
Unfortunately that wasn’t an actual option.
The quartet of vans slowed to a stop a hundred yards away, followed by the cargo trucks shuddering to a stop on either side of them, sliding open to reveal the first two were entirely filled with Peacekeepers, Human and Zurulian aid workers and a handful of bags, equipment and medicine, the other pair were packed to the gills with Peacekeepers and Arxur. Suddenly everything felt awful familiar as the horde of scaled bastards slunk from their trucks, their attention bouncing all around the space-port before finally settling on Polani and me.
Some of them bickered back and forth in that grating, growling language as it gutting the air just outside my translator's range and set my nerves alight as they pointed up at the star on Polani’s flank. I could feel the tension in my shoulders growing as they approached, following a few yards behind the first Peacekeeper in the bunch and the pair of shaking Zurulians practically beneath her feet. At least they were a few familiar faces amongst the gray tide rising toward me.
“Captain Dewey! Good to see you again! Was worried about you.” Colonel Connolly called to me, Kelfen and Metek’s scared eyes snapping to me, the pair seeming to relax at least a little.
“Colonel, it's good to see you’re alright as well, I hope things have been better for you than us. Kelfen, Metek, good to see you as well.” I replied with a wary voice, my eyes not leaving the horde lingering behind them.
“That’s a word for it.” Metek grumbled, his ears darting about as he shot worried glances behind him, nervously fiddling with his backpack’s straps. “C-Can we still use the room we were using before? We need to set up which teams a-are going where.”
“Certainly, I presume you know the way?”
>Yes.<
“Hop to it then.” I stated, inviting them past me as Kelfen shouted over her shoulder, calling the other aid workers and a handful of peacekeepers to follow them before they padded upstairs, followed closely by a myriad of Humans, Zurulians, Yotul, Venlil and, surprisingly, a few annoyed looking Arxur.
“Now, onto the cargo.” Connolly stated, stepping up beside me to look out at the gathered trucks. “ORF-SP’s got a few cargo-shovers on the way over we’re good to use for the transfers today. Them and the load should be sub-size for your hold so we’ll still have space for our new friends to stay downstairs with a few of my Peacekeepers. We’ll have you loaded up and on our way in a few minutes at the most.”
“Good.” I stated, not taking my eyes off of the grays as I heard the throaty hum of cargo-shovers rolling around Polani’s bow to take up station behind the cargo trucks, slipping their loads free of the trailers with ease. “Faster this is done the faster I can get Tai somewhere that neither of us are on the edge of a breakdown.”
“Agreed.” She stated, leaning to whisper in, what she assumed, was the suit’s ear. “I’m not exactly a fan of the lizards either, Cap’ but… if they’re willing to help haul people out of the rubble, and behave, then I’m willing to take the help.”
I nodded, letting out a long sigh as I stepped aside to let the first cargo-shover crawl up the ramp with its load, cresting into the hold before settling down with a sharp hiss from its pneumatics. “Neither are we. If any of them fuck’s with me or Taisa…”
“They’ll have to go through me and my Peacekeepers, Cap’; trust me I won’t let that happen if I can help it. Besides, once you’ve dropped us off you’re off the hook for any more Arxur loads, just aid moving for a few days. Old Moose says he’s trying to limit his crews to one Arxur flight each. About how long will it take to get to NYC?”
“‘Bout an hour or so.” I replied, a small smile crossing my face at the mention of the Mercy’s giant of a Captain. It wasn’t often I met someone bigger than me but God and Stars above if that man didn’t make me feel small. “Well I’ll have to thank him for that, next I see him. Still owe him and Charlie a drink; need to sort that out.”
“I’m sure the both of them would be happy with whatever you bring along at this point. Anyhow, you’ve got a ship to fly and I’ve got a bunch of idiots and lizards to wrangle.” She replied, waving the Peacekeepers and Arxur aboard with a shout as the last of the cargo-shovers crawled to a stop and settled down to the decking. “ALRIGHT, NO ONE TOUCHES ANYTHING YOU AREN’T ASKED, OR TOLD, TO! HANSEN, AKSEL, ANTOINE, GET YOUR SECTIONS TOGETHER AND REA-”
I shook my head with a small laugh at the familiar display, turning to walk upstairs to Taisa and the Helm. The sooner this was done and all the ‘gators were off our ship the sooner either of us would feel safe again. The hall to the helm was nearly empty as I crested the stairs, finding only a handful of figures standing around Kelfen and Metek as the pair organized the rescue and aid parties around a few other qualified medics. From how they were talking I figured the pair would be doing much the same on the ground, a small swell of pride filled my chest as Metek looked up, meeting the woman at his side’s eyes as she asked a question, hardly stuttering as he answered.
Though my mood was quickly soured as I noticed a mass of gray scales and scars that’d ‘strayed’ away from the group towards the helm. Even in my suit it was still taller than me by a full head while hunched over staring down at the angular pad in its grip.
And I didn’t much care.
“Back to your group.” I grumbled, the thumping clang of my suit boots on the decking punctuating my words as I passed. “Wouldn’t want you missin’ anyone down there.”
A low, rolling growl tumbled from its throat as it turned its head, looking down to meet my eyes before the sound shifted into a throaty chuckle that sounded far more like an actual ‘gator than I cared for. “I assure you, Captain, I’ve reviewed the documents as thoroughly as should be expected.”
“I hope so, Arxur.” I replied, turning back to the helm and forcing myself forward.
“You know, Human, I was surprised to learn that the very ship that would deliver me to aid this world was the very one I’d tried to drop a building on.” The Arxur purred, stopping me in my tracks as their voice rolled through the air like a saw through a cedar. “Odd that my second went missing shortly after she’d decided to board it.”
“Hmph.” I grunted in return, shifting to look over my shoulder and past them to the light pink stain on the bulkhead. “That’s what’s left of her, if’n you wanna pay your respects.”
The Arxur followed my eyeline, studying the stain and the small indent the shell had left behind before letting out a grating chuff of laughter. “She was overconfident and underskilled as a hunter. I’ve no respects to pay to weaklings such as her. You have done me a favor in ridding me of her.”
“Well I’d rather not have to do any more favors for you. Keep yourself, and your men, out of trouble and away from my helm.”
The Arxur narrowed its eyes, staring at me for a long moment before nodding, a horridly jagged smile splitting its lips. “It is good to finally meet a Human with a spine. I will keep my hunters out of their way and away from your pre- friends.”
“Good.” I stated, turning on my heel to trudge into the helm, the auto-door hissing and clacking shut behind me as I stepped out of sight and inside to join Taisa. She was all but curled up in her seat; clad in her suit she looked more like an over-sized armadillo than a Venlil. Her Tail fell stiff as I stepped in, her eyes whipping around to stare at me before her ears perked, a sigh of relief flooding the comms as she relaxed back into the seat.
“Thank Polani! You’re ok. Are we ready to fly, Love?”
“Yea, we’re ready. Let’s get this shit over with.” I grumbled before powering down the suit and sliding myself free of its confines. My pilot’s seat welcomed me as I slid behind the helm, running through Polani’s starting sequence before turning to meet her eyes again. “I’m feelin’ like we need a fuckin’ dog, Darlin’.”
>Agreed.<
First Prev. Next