I know i am in the wrong here, but I don't know what to do.
Short description is my wife (30) and myself (30) have always had a relationship based on openness.
Her parents don't, and her mum has always had secret credit cards form her dad. We have always spoke together about that and both agree we always want to be open and honest with each other, especially money.
starting this Christmas she started lying about money, low level stuff that seems unimportant, such as she bought her friend and us Christmas outfits for our children, but told me the friend bought them.
Wrongly so I checked her Amazon account (after Christmas) as I was suspicious of this and there was multiple other items she had lied about not paying for, but also items she had not mentioned, and they weren't presents for me or other friends we have. I didn't confront her, because I know I was wrong to check her Amazon.
She then did the same with Mother's day and bought her mum secret presents (even though I'd never said she couldn't get her stuff, this was additional things) when her mum was using one of them (a bag engraved with grandma) I asked her "where did you get that" she said it was from me and my wife.
When i asked my wife about this, she said she'd forgot to say and brushed it off.
These had been running in my head for months, and I can't understand why she started lying about this stuff.
This is where I really messed up, she has a friend (female) whom she works with and states she doesn't really like but has to tolerate for work. Her phone kept blowing up with this person. Wrongly so I checked her messages to her, i know this was wrong and a major invasion of privacy. But most of the things she said are lies again.
For example she took our 1 year old child to see this friend, without me knowing, whilst i was at work, and that day had pretended she went somewhere else (but if she had said she was going to go there i wouldn't have said no).
My grandad has cancer (that we have known about for about 6 months) and it is only a matter of time, but the other day she told this friend that she couldn't meet up as I'd come home crying as my grandad only has a few days to live! Which is simply not true.
We went to a concert that she said she likes the band too, but she messaged this friend she was "going to see a band i like but she cant stand" and that's why she couldn't phone her friend.
She also keeps telling the friend that I am working extra and how annoying that is, so she can't see her friend as she doesn't have childcare, but she's not mentioned seeing her once to me. Of course I wouldn't say no if she just said she wanted to, and as long as i wasn't' working would have our child!
I fully understand I am 100% in the wrong and should never have invaded her privacy. But I am so confused as to why she is lying to me, and to other people about me. It makes me question what other lies there are etc.
I am so filled with guilt about what I have done, and know I have done worse than her, I just don't know how to get past it in my head. but am also torn as I don't know why she is doing this, it must be my fault I'm just not sure why, as it looks like it has been happening way before I broke the trust.

Welcome back, fellow mobile gamers :) As per tradition, here are my weekly mobile game recommendations based on the most interesting games I played and that were covered on MiniReview this week! :) I hope you'll enjoy some of them.
Support these posts (and YouTube content + development of MiniReview) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NimbleThor <3
This episode includes a great racing game, a fun arcade platformer, a great deck-builder roguelike RPG, an arcade casual game, and a neat deck-building dungeon crawler.
New to these posts? Check out the first one from 216 weeks ago here.

Let's get to the games:

Art of Rally [Game Size: 2.3 GB] ($4.99)

Genre: Racing / Simulation - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by NimbleThor:
Art of Rally is a rally racing game with an amazing atmosphere, several fun game modes that range from casual to hardcore, and deep gameplay customization settings.
The main career mode has us play through several years of rally history on tracks all around the world, unlocking new cars and skins as we progress.
In addition to the campaign, however, there is a custom rally mode, a time-attack mode where we can try all of the game’s vehicles, a free-roam mode where we drive around a large open world to collect items, and daily and weekly online events with leaderboards.
What I like the best about Art of Rally is that it can be as casual or hardcore as you want. Free roaming is a fun laid-back experience while the time-attack modes are incredibly challenging. And even in the career mode, we can pick the difficulty of our AI opponents.
The touch controls are okay but lack different options. Thankfully, the game plays perfectly with a Bluetooth controller, and there are lots of customization options for everything from the HUD to the interface and gameplay, including changing the steering sensitivity, enabling anti-lock braking, and much more.
The game has a great atmosphere, and the low-poly art style and minimalistic UI fit nicely. Unfortunately, loading between menus and levels is slow, and I ran into a few minor bugs - so the game isn’t perfectly ported from PC.
Art of Rally is a $4.99 premium game with a single $1.99 optional DLC that adds additional map areas.
It’s a game more about precision than driving super-fast, so if that’s what you’re looking for, I think you’ll enjoy Art of Rally – especially if you have a controller to play it with.
App Store: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (review score + user ratings):: Art of Rally

Level Devil - NOT A Troll Game [Total Game Size: 87 MB] (Free)

Genre: Platform / Arcade - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by Ark:
Level Devil is an easy arcade platformer with no surprises or frustrations at all… or is it?
The game has us move left, right, and jump to navigate seemingly simple one-screen stages. But as we progress, the game starts trolling us in lots of unexpected ways.
Floors suddenly disappear beneath our feet, spikes spawn at what looks like safe spots, and the game sometimes even changes the rules of physics by lowering the gravity or reversing it altogether.
So you better be prepared for some rage-inducing deaths. But to me, the game’s main appeal is exactly these unexpected twists. The game quickly becomes all about anticipating the next troll attempt, and nothing beats the satisfaction I got from outsmarting a level in my first attempt.
There are 80 stages in total, with the game autosaving every 5 stages. And while some stages are challenging, they’re all short and concise. The controls are also simple and responsive. Unfortunately, there is no music at all, and the graphics are very minimal, with just a single yellow-reddish color scheme that gets old in no time.
Level Devil monetizes via occasional forced ads between levels and deaths, and a $0.99 iAP to remove these for good. Thankfully, I didn’t personally find the ads to be too intrusive, even with me dying a lot.
Despite being a troll game, it balances overall fun vs. overall difficulty very well. So I was able to complete it relatively easily without getting too frustrated. You could say I had a "devilish good time" beating the game.
App Store: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (review score + user ratings):: Level Devil

Loop Hero [Game Size: 250 MB] (Free Trial)

Genre: RPG / Deck-Builder / Roguelike - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review by JBMessin:
Loop Hero is a mobile port of an incredibly unique tactical roguelike that mixes lots of gameplay elements, including deck-building, auto-battling, resource management, and city-building.
We begin the game in a place outside space and time on a dangerous path that forms a loop. Our character traverses the loop on his own, automatically fighting the enemies that spawn every day. These encounters provide us with loot that we equip to grow stronger and cards that are used to alter the loop.
Playing a card somewhere on the path changes what happens every time our hero walks through that part of the loop. For example, we may place a grove that spawns a rat every 2 days, which we then fight to grow stronger. This ability to customize the loop is one of the most unique aspects of the game, and I really enjoyed it.
After our first campfire is built, we begin to meet heroes who are just as lost as we are. Through short dialogues with them, we start to learn about the game’s light city-building mechanics. There are plenty of buildings to construct that offer all kinds of new and interesting gameplay mechanics - and even new classes to go on expeditions with.
What I immediately appreciated about Loop Hero was its top-notch soundtrack reminiscent of early 8-bit games like Castlevania, and the sprites that are stylized to match the gloomy setting but still vibrant in their design.
The biggest downside is that my large fingers sometimes made it hard to see where I was placing things. The game is definitely best enjoyed on larger phones.
Loop Hero is free to try, with a single $6.99 iAP unlocking the full game.
If you enjoy excellent roguelikes with unique gameplay mechanics, I think you’ll enjoy Loop Hero.
App Store: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (review score + user ratings):: Loop Hero

Tumble Rush [Game Size: 159 MB] (Free)

Genre: Arcade / Casual - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by NimbleThor:
Tumble Rush is a fun, fast-paced marble maze arcade game where we guide a ball through small top-down levels while avoiding obstacles, traps, and holes.
Apart from rolling around with our sphere character, the only other thing we can do is tap an interaction button that activates/deactivates doors, turn on fans that let us get over obstacles, and much more.
Despite the additional puzzle elements introduced along the way, the game is very easy in the beginning – maybe even to a fault. I quickly grew bored with the early levels. But thankfully, if you stick with the game, it eventually becomes much harder.
The coins we collect in each level are used to unlock new cosmetics for our character. But what’s really cool is that they also completely change the design and theme of every level. So unlocking cosmetics quickly became my primary objective.
While the standard mode is relatively easy and lacks a bit of variety, the game also features a much more challenging time attack mode, where we attempt to finish levels fast enough to earn three stars. And if we get bored with that, there’s an endless mode where we earn more and more gold the further we get.
The standard gyroscopic controls work alright, but I personally preferred one of the touch control options.
Tumble Rush monetizes by showing ads between levels. They appear relatively frequently but can thankfully be removed via a single $1.99 iAP.
It’s an arcade game that gets better the further you get. So if you’re looking for a fun game that can be played as casually or competitively as you want, I think you might like Tumble Rush.
App Store: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (review score + user ratings):: Tumble Rush

SOULVARS (Game Size: 346 MB] ($4.99)

Genre: Deck-Building / Dungeon Crawler - Offline
Orientation: Portrait
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review by AlexSem:
SOULVARS is a futuristic mix of a jRPG and a deck builder, where we fight demonic creatures using a deck of cards produced by the gear we equip.
Working for a secret government organization, our job is to maintain peace by engaging in bloody confrontations with hungry spirits that invade the human world via spontaneous portal-like breaches.
The combat system is quite elaborate. First of all, our deck is defined by the gear we equip, and each card lets us execute an action, such as using a shield, performing various elemental attacks, or dealing different types of physical damage.
Picking two different types of cards allows us to perform devastating combo actions. But we must also pay attention to our enemies’ resistances, constantly charge our “burst” meter to eventually turn into a powerful monster, and link together attacks of multiple characters. And this is just a small portion of the game’s many combat mechanics.
Mindlessly executing random moves works for a while, but we eventually face enemies so strong that this tactic isn’t enough. This is where the game's complex combat systems comes into play, and we need to learn all its intricacies and meticulously manage our equipment to win. This will be too challenging for some players, but a joy for others.
The exploration part of the game consists of navigating maze-like rooms, interacting with the environment, collecting loot, talking to people, and engaging in random battles - an old jRPG structure that is apparently still popular among certain audiences.
SOULVARS is a premium game that costs $4.99.
While the game’s repetitiveness and unengaging plot eventually make the gameplay a bit boring, there’s more than enough entertainment for fans of complex combat systems.
App Store: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (review score + user ratings):: SOULVARS
NEW: Sort + filter reviews and games I've played (and more) on my mobile games discovery platform, MiniReview: https://minireview.io/
Special thanks to the Patreon Producers Wrecking Golf, "marquisdan", "Lost Vault", "Farm RPG", and "Mohaimen" who help make these posts possible through their Patreon support <3
Google Sheet of all games I've played so far (searchable and filter-able): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bf0OxtVxrboZqyEh01AxJYUUqHm8tEfh-Lx-SugcrzY/edit?usp=sharing
*The newest mobile games (with gameplay) on my YouTube channel: * https://youtu.be/8wX-9SW4Z8o?si=j0PNTWf08xd8mwEQ
Episode 193 Episode 194 Episode 195 Episode 196 Episode 197 Episode 198 Episode 199 Episode 200 Episode 201 Episode 202 Episode 203 Episode 204 Episode 205 Episode 206 Episode 207 Episode 208 Episode 209 Episode 210 Episode 211 Episode 211 Episode 212 Episode 214 Episode 215 Episode 216 Episode 217

Welcome back, fellow mobile gamers :) As per tradition, here are my weekly mobile game recommendations based on the most interesting games I played and that were covered on MiniReview this week! :) I hope you'll enjoy some of them.
Support these posts (and YouTube content + development of MiniReview) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NimbleThor <3
This episode includes a great racing game, a fun arcade platformer, a great deck-builder roguelike RPG, an arcade casual game, and a neat deck-building dungeon crawler.
New to these posts? Check out the first one from 304 weeks ago here.

Let's get to the games:

Art of Rally [Game Size: 2.3 GB] ($4.99)

Genre: Racing / Simulation - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by NimbleThor:
Art of Rally is a rally racing game with an amazing atmosphere, several fun game modes that range from casual to hardcore, and deep gameplay customization settings.
The main career mode has us play through several years of rally history on tracks all around the world, unlocking new cars and skins as we progress.
In addition to the campaign, however, there is a custom rally mode, a time-attack mode where we can try all of the game’s vehicles, a free-roam mode where we drive around a large open world to collect items, and daily and weekly online events with leaderboards.
What I like the best about Art of Rally is that it can be as casual or hardcore as you want. Free roaming is a fun laid-back experience while the time-attack modes are incredibly challenging. And even in the career mode, we can pick the difficulty of our AI opponents.
The touch controls are okay but lack different options. Thankfully, the game plays perfectly with a Bluetooth controller, and there are lots of customization options for everything from the HUD to the interface and gameplay, including changing the steering sensitivity, enabling anti-lock braking, and much more.
The game has a great atmosphere, and the low-poly art style and minimalistic UI fit nicely. Unfortunately, loading between menus and levels is slow, and I ran into a few minor bugs - so the game isn’t perfectly ported from PC.
Art of Rally is a $4.99 premium game with a single $1.99 optional DLC that adds additional map areas.
It’s a game more about precision than driving super-fast, so if that’s what you’re looking for, I think you’ll enjoy Art of Rally – especially if you have a controller to play it with.
Check it out on Google Play: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (website version):: Art of Rally

Level Devil - NOT A Troll Game [Total Game Size: 87 MB] (Free)

Genre: Platform / Arcade - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by Ark:
Level Devil is an easy arcade platformer with no surprises or frustrations at all… or is it?
The game has us move left, right, and jump to navigate seemingly simple one-screen stages. But as we progress, the game starts trolling us in lots of unexpected ways.
Floors suddenly disappear beneath our feet, spikes spawn at what looks like safe spots, and the game sometimes even changes the rules of physics by lowering the gravity or reversing it altogether.
So you better be prepared for some rage-inducing deaths. But to me, the game’s main appeal is exactly these unexpected twists. The game quickly becomes all about anticipating the next troll attempt, and nothing beats the satisfaction I got from outsmarting a level in my first attempt.
There are 80 stages in total, with the game autosaving every 5 stages. And while some stages are challenging, they’re all short and concise. The controls are also simple and responsive. Unfortunately, there is no music at all, and the graphics are very minimal, with just a single yellow-reddish color scheme that gets old in no time.
Level Devil monetizes via occasional forced ads between levels and deaths. Thankfully, I didn’t personally find the ads to be too intrusive, even with me dying a lot.
Despite being a troll game, it balances overall fun vs. overall difficulty very well. So I was able to complete it relatively easily without getting too frustrated. You could say I had a "devilish good time" beating the game.
Check it out on Google Play: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (website version):: Level Devil

Loop Hero [Game Size: 250 MB] (Free Trial)

Genre: RPG / Deck-Builder / Roguelike - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review by JBMessin:
Loop Hero is a mobile port of an incredibly unique tactical roguelike that mixes lots of gameplay elements, including deck-building, auto-battling, resource management, and city-building.
We begin the game in a place outside space and time on a dangerous path that forms a loop. Our character traverses the loop on his own, automatically fighting the enemies that spawn every day. These encounters provide us with loot that we equip to grow stronger and cards that are used to alter the loop.
Playing a card somewhere on the path changes what happens every time our hero walks through that part of the loop. For example, we may place a grove that spawns a rat every 2 days, which we then fight to grow stronger. This ability to customize the loop is one of the most unique aspects of the game, and I really enjoyed it.
After our first campfire is built, we begin to meet heroes who are just as lost as we are. Through short dialogues with them, we start to learn about the game’s light city-building mechanics. There are plenty of buildings to construct that offer all kinds of new and interesting gameplay mechanics - and even new classes to go on expeditions with.
What I immediately appreciated about Loop Hero was its top-notch soundtrack reminiscent of early 8-bit games like Castlevania, and the sprites that are stylized to match the gloomy setting but still vibrant in their design.
The biggest downside is that my large fingers sometimes made it hard to see where I was placing things. The game is definitely best enjoyed on larger phones.
Loop Hero is free to try, with a single $6.99 iAP unlocking the full game.
If you enjoy excellent roguelikes with unique gameplay mechanics, I think you’ll enjoy Loop Hero.
Check it out on Google Play: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (website version):: Loop Hero

Tumble Rush [Game Size: 159 MB] (Free)

Genre: Arcade / Casual - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by NimbleThor:
Tumble Rush is a fun, fast-paced marble maze arcade game where we guide a ball through small top-down levels while avoiding obstacles, traps, and holes.
Apart from rolling around with our sphere character, the only other thing we can do is tap an interaction button that activates/deactivates doors, turn on fans that let us get over obstacles, and much more.
Despite the additional puzzle elements introduced along the way, the game is very easy in the beginning – maybe even to a fault. I quickly grew bored with the early levels. But thankfully, if you stick with the game, it eventually becomes much harder.
The coins we collect in each level are used to unlock new cosmetics for our character. But what’s really cool is that they also completely change the design and theme of every level. So unlocking cosmetics quickly became my primary objective.
While the standard mode is relatively easy and lacks a bit of variety, the game also features a much more challenging time attack mode, where we attempt to finish levels fast enough to earn three stars. And if we get bored with that, there’s an endless mode where we earn more and more gold the further we get.
The standard gyroscopic controls work alright, but I personally preferred one of the touch control options.
Tumble Rush monetizes by showing ads between levels. They appear relatively frequently but can thankfully be removed via a single $1.99 iAP.
It’s an arcade game that gets better the further you get. So if you’re looking for a fun game that can be played as casually or competitively as you want, I think you might like Tumble Rush.
Check it out on Google Play: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (website version):: Tumble Rush

SOULVARS (Game Size: 346 MB] ($4.99)

Genre: Deck-Building / Dungeon Crawler - Offline
Orientation: Portrait
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review by AlexSem:
SOULVARS is a futuristic mix of a jRPG and a deck builder, where we fight demonic creatures using a deck of cards produced by the gear we equip.
Working for a secret government organization, our job is to maintain peace by engaging in bloody confrontations with hungry spirits that invade the human world via spontaneous portal-like breaches.
The combat system is quite elaborate. First of all, our deck is defined by the gear we equip, and each card lets us execute an action, such as using a shield, performing various elemental attacks, or dealing different types of physical damage.
Picking two different types of cards allows us to perform devastating combo actions. But we must also pay attention to our enemies’ resistances, constantly charge our “burst” meter to eventually turn into a powerful monster, and link together attacks of multiple characters. And this is just a small portion of the game’s many combat mechanics.
Mindlessly executing random moves works for a while, but we eventually face enemies so strong that this tactic isn’t enough. This is where the game's complex combat systems comes into play, and we need to learn all its intricacies and meticulously manage our equipment to win. This will be too challenging for some players, but a joy for others.
The exploration part of the game consists of navigating maze-like rooms, interacting with the environment, collecting loot, talking to people, and engaging in random battles - an old jRPG structure that is apparently still popular among certain audiences.
SOULVARS is a premium game that costs $4.99.
While the game’s repetitiveness and unengaging plot eventually make the gameplay a bit boring, there’s more than enough entertainment for fans of complex combat systems.
Check it out on Google Play: Here
Check it out on MiniReview (website version):: SOULVARS
NEW: Sort + filter reviews and games I've played (and more) in my app MiniReview: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=minireview.best.android.games.reviews
Special thanks to the Patreon Producers Wrecking Golf, "marquisdan", "Lost Vault", "Farm RPG", and "Mohaimen" who help make these posts possible through their Patreon support <3
Episode 281 Episode 282 Episode 283 Episode 284 Episode 285 Episode 286 Episode 287 Episode 288 Episode 289 Episode 290 Episode 291 Episode 292 Episode 293 Episode 294 Episode 295 Episode 296 Episode 297 Episode 298 Episode 299 Episode 300 Episode 301 Episode 302 Episode 303

We lost souls every day, but this one got me well. My first play through, for the grand archives.
I was chasing the saga, killed, met that stone mages, killed, little assassins, killed, loot all stuff and killed saga, killed, 1 big stone bird, again and again, killed, 2 big stone birds, killed, 3 NPC invaders together, killed, 1 golden axe fatty, killed,
Last golden spear fatty, hmm, my weak spot is against this weapon with a shield, should I try? Still 3 estus, let’s go, 100K souls, no worries!
Finally died… I thought, ok, that’s smooth, let’s go get my souls. Died at the 2 big stone birds…🥲🥲 I rolled and fell, even worth, before I roll, I even did a quick confirm, from that angle, seems the roofs are connected….
I could have just skipped the 2 golden fatties and go to the castle and opened the shortcut, and leveled up 2 times, now I am like making 0 progress….with 0 souls, don’t get cocky, mates….this game build for punishing us🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃
Sigh….probably my biggest soul loss through ds1/2/3, bb, demon souls, and Elden ring. 2 levels worth souls🙃🙃🙃lord, I used to be very cautious man…always bonfire back and level up, I guess mankind is just complex 🫠🫠🫠

Today something different happened.
My mom just turned 73 and was recently diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. I took her for her CT scan on Mother’s Day. My heart has been breaking over and over since January. She was a brilliant woman and now she is a shell of herself.
We are in Canada, and I am grateful for the healthcare I have access to. Not many people are so privileged.
She currently lives alone in an apartment, and there are people who live in the basement suite. I visit her every couple of days. We went for a nice walk this morning with her dogs, and she seemed happy and fine.
Four or five hours ago, she called me upset, thinking that an Amazon package had been stolen. I logged into her account and saw in the delivery confirmation picture that she was in it, taking the package. She thought it was a jacket she ordered, but it was cat treats. I am going over tomorrow to help her find it before we go out for dinner. Hopefully, she forgets this incident, but this is the first time she has shown such confusion. No matter what I said, she was convinced that the package came when she was out for a walk and was stolen. I had no idea how to get her out of that thought loop. It was totally new.
My next step is to look into finding her a compatible roommate. She has pets, which complicates things. She has two staffies and a few cats. I know it will be a challenge and might not even be possible. I do not want her living with me; she was a chaotic person before she had dementia, and it's even worse now. My basement suite is not suitable for her. It has two egress windows and a stand-up shower; she wouldn’t be happy. Then she would invade my space. I work from home and have ADHD. I struggle to focus, and having her come chill in my living room is a non-starter. Additionally, her dogs would need to come because they get separation anxiety. She cannot go to an adult daycare or senior social groups because she would hate it and has expressed an unwillingness to even consider it. She is a stubborn firecracker who would argue with people and be a contrarian. This is who she is, and I love her. She is also a very charitable person and opened her home to refugees and good people who needed it, a literal saint.
Our next appointment is in two weeks, and we will be reviewing the CT scan with her new geriatric doctor, who she likes. I can’t say that is a good thing. This is going to be a long, hard road. I am literally her only family member other than a cousin who isn’t around. I have my dad, but he has his family, and my half-brothers are on my dad’s side. This falls on my shoulders alone. My fiancé is helpful, and one of my brothers said he would help me, but I have to coordinate all the help, which is a burden in itself. My other brother is not an option. He has been battling stage 4 cancer. It went well; he had surgery this week to remove the last of the tumors. So I am grateful for that.
I was laid off from my Product Owner role in December. I am on EI and do contract work here and there. I need a full-time job. A bit of stability and something I can focus on other than this sadness would be beneficial. My partner and I are also planning our wedding this Fall.
I just want to post this to get it off my chest and share with people who know how it is. This has to be the worst disease; it's so nefarious and toxic.

Hi there, I hope this won’t be too controversial but I’m hoping to find a synagogue/temple/shul that is pro-Palestine or at the least does not support the actions of the state of Israel. No, this does not mean I am against Jews having a homeland and no I do not see Jews as white invaders against indigenous Palestinians, I simply am against ethnonationalism in all its forms.
I know it may be near impossible to find one as every synagogue I’ve looked at seems to have connections to or events supporting Israel’s actions, but I believe what I believe and would feel most comfortable in a space that does not push back against this particular view I have. I would prefer a reform or conservative one, but am open to orthodox. Please be respectful even if you agree with Israel, I’m really not looking to start a fight. Thanks!

First Previous Wiki
A group of Sprilnav had entered the room, dragged claws bearing paint across Kashaunta and Penny's faces, and left again. Another group of Sprilnav, this time Elders, had entered the room, leading to a hologram forming around Penny and Kashaunta to hide their faces behind perfect masks.
They carried a long black box on their shoulders. Kashaunta approached their kneeling forms, unlatching the box with her claws. Special sounds chimed from electronic locks, and the box flipped open, revealing a new Soul Blade. It was Azeri's Soul Blade, or the one he'd once owned at least. Given the new information Penny had on them, the sword wasn't truly 'his' in a literal sense.
They had then moved to a more central room on the flagship, complete with a massive kitchen, bedroom, and entertainment room. Kashaunta's quarters were lavish, though they were not as flush with finery and gold as Penny would have expected.
Penny wore Kashaunta's Soul Blade on her hip. The ancient weapon didn't seem to have the mind-altering effects the last one did. But it was beyond powerful, for sure. It also came with a stealth coating that could be activated to hide its presence.
Azeri's Soul Blade, on the other hand, definitely affected her.
Penny could hear the faint sounds of distant voices echoing in her thoughts. She could sense Cardi and Nilnacrawla in her mind more clearly as if she'd finally put on a set of glasses after not having them her entire life. So many things were clearer now, but so many weren't. Kashaunta had made a sacred agreement with her, at least in Sprilnav culture.
Backed by the Progenitors. All of them, apparently. And they were all sworn to silence, which Nilnacrawla and Kashaunta assured her would also include Twilight and Nova. She could understand that, but Nova's actions toward Penny in the past made her wary of relying on him for anything related to her safety.
And it was before the Judgment, now in nine days. Kashaunta's VIs had gathered the data, ordered it, and formulated responses. She'd designed them to sound like real people and real things that would be said, not just decent scripts with odd lexicon and grammatical habits.
"So," Penny said, looking at Kashaunta relaxing beside her. The Elder's carefree stance didn't fool Penny as to what had just happened. It had looked rushed, but she knew there was a larger purpose behind it than she believed. "The Pact. Were you truly this desperate to regain my trust?"
"I was," Kashaunta admitted. "And am. I have a tendency to manipulate people around me. This has made me good at being able to tell when a relationship is falling apart. Were I not to do something this extreme, we would have continued to fall apart, and eventually the rift would have been too large for even this to bridge.
I do not expect forgiveness or for you to understand my viewpoint and ideas. I have destroyed nations and entire civilizations. I have spent my fair share of time in evil, and use the threat of who I was and who I am against those who slight me. Reputation is important among our species, more so than anything but power. But they are linked.
A reputation of weakness will never exist with a person of strength. If it develops, the Elders will pile onto that unfortunate soul to plunder the riches they believe can no longer be protected. And once you fall, it is impossible to rise again. We do need each other, Penny. Perhaps you do not agree, yet, but this goes beyond the Judgment."
Penny wanted to argue. She wanted to listen to the voices demanding her hatred of the Elder before her- wait, what?
Penny frowned. She focused on them, and they appeared. A cacophony of voices, all Sprilnav in origin. They were definitely here and worryingly a part of her psychic energy. It almost seemed like they were the voices of those she'd freed. Which wouldn't make sense unless... her title was actually bearing conceptual power.
She supposed that it was possible then.
"Kashaunta," Penny said.
"Yes?"
"Why do you have faith in me, when, as you say, so many others have failed?"
"Because you possess Cardinality. You possess Humanity. You even have a Progenitor Title, though it is only a budding one. Your approach to this, besides a few mistakes on our part, is remarkably sound. You have moved away from hatred of the Sprilnav to that of Elders. And you have moved away from hatred of Elders and Progenitors to that of certain Elders and Progenitors, which I understand.
Ultimately, you have me convinced that you do not want to carry out a war of vengeance against me and my kin for the actions we did before your species had a name. I know it is difficult to overcome hatred, and more so with a voice in your head telling you to distrust all we Elders say and do. And I believe you can convince the Alliance to restrict its war to methods that are not as destructive."
Penny thought it was odd how much Kashaunta was stressing it. Either the Alliance wasn't considered a threat to the Sprilnav or it was. Kashaunta seemed to suggest it was, perhaps, to flatter Penny somehow. She didn't exactly buy it but would let it play out.
It would be important for Penny to learn more about the Elder's viewpoint before the Judgment to exploit it among other Elders to help win the Judgment. She'd have to portray herself and the Alliance as weak, which meant learning more about Sprilnav technology and power. The briefings from the last meetings before the previous Judgment had been enlightening on that front. But Penny wanted the best shot she could have on this.
"Such as?"
"Culture war."
"That has a certain meaning among my species," Penny said. "I am not sure if it translates correctly."
"I want your Alliance to begin to turn the population against slavery. Just that. Go no further. If you do that, the Elders will fight back. This will escalate, and the list of grievances will grow. We will have rebellions, and they can win with my help."
"And what comes next?"
"I take power, of course. I do not purge the Sprilnav who rose to the top, but reward them. I bind them by respect and loyalty instead of fear and hatred. Objectively, it will be better to have a single unified state than a disparate mess of warring territories. Quality of life, quality of death, and everything in between. We can go further, if you like.
Turning the Collective into literal heaven for those who die, where they can return to real bodies as often as they want for free. I can extend this to other species and, over thousands of years, wear away the animosity between the Sprilnav and the rest of the galaxy. I distribute gifts, I lower taxes, and use android labor to replace slavery entirely. Would you not agree that this is better?"
"I am not sure. How would you maintain the state, when threats come from within and without?"
"Limits on power, separation of branches of government. Police forces, military forces. We have police trained to de-escalate situations, even when they are armed with riot shields or actual guns. There will obviously be some requirement for state violence, but I will lower it as far as possible."
"There will be those who wish to be independent."
"And they can be."
"You are not concerned about that?" Penny asked.
"With even just the Autonomous Peoples' Stars, independence is risky. Dangerous. People do not start those movements because if they succeed, they get invaded by a border power. Earth has seen that happen in its history, particularly with Europe and Asia. Luna would have seen it as well by now, if not for the First Contact. The problem is the power disparity. Going from the passive backing of 500 thousand planets and a central militarized state to that of maybe 4 or 5 planets with disjointed connections and only garrison supplies is a massive drop."
"But with your plan, there would be no border powers."
"There would be, of course," Kashaunta said. "There must be. Nations without a significant outside threat, that is at least somewhat credible, have a more difficult time staying united. Without a 'them' it is more difficult to define an 'us,' as we know very well."
"That is quite a cold way of looking at reality."
"Those who do otherwise are smears of gore amongst the black of space, or rotting in the ground of their home planets. Elders do not remain Elders by stupidity alone. Eventually, a few lessons must be learned."
"Must?"
"Must, even if they are later forgotten."
Kashaunta let out a sigh. "You and I, Penny. We are vastly different people. I admire your idealism, and I envy it. But when it comes to control of societies and curation of national identities, I have a vast array of experience."
"You do," Penny agreed. "The Pact says we should not lie to each other, so I will no longer dance around my reasons for my misgivings. I do not trust you because you are everything that has ruined the fortunes of my species in the past, often promising things like you do. Security before freedom, usually. You are rich. You are very far above most Sprilnav and even most Elders. You are a politician and a state leader. History tells me to be wary of such people, especially when they possess high amounts of power. Authoritarian countries can, with proper management, outpace those which are not by refusing to limit themselves by morals and ethics.
You are a queen, a monarch. This title goes back to the days of barbarity among our kind, when we believed people were superior based on bloodlines and genetics, sometimes to the extreme of actual inbreeding. You are highly experienced with manipulation, having billions of years of experience. I likely would not know whether you are manipulating me, and even Nilnacrawla has billions of years less experience with Elders than you would on account of his separation from Sprilnav society for so long.
I have no other trustworthy sources for what you say and do. I am surrounded only by enemies, neutral people, and you and Lecalicus alone as actual allies. Truth be told, there is nothing that will stop you from going back on all that you say because people like you have made promises not to before. And they did it anyway.
Companies. Nations. People. With a galaxy full of sentient minds all seemingly built on the same energy and manners of thinking, I see just another politician trying to get in good with me because I can get her what she wants. I fear that, Kashaunta. I fear it a lot. More than I have ever said and ever shown. It is a fear so visceral it colors my view of your entire species.
Because if you've lived a billion years, who's to say you haven't done this all before? How many aliens you've offered this honor, only to cast aside when they die fighting impossible enemies? And yes, my fear of you is that you will betray me. That is a deep-seated and personal matter that I will not explore at this time, but betrayal is something I guard against with all my might.
I hate that you have so much power over me, that I know it, and that you know it. You could enslave me for the next ten days, and I'd do it, to save my species. The Judgment trial is another way of showing the powerlessness of the galaxy before the Sprilnav, the powerlessness of the Alliance before the Sprilnav, and me before you, Justicar, and Yasihaut. Because guess what? I can win this. It will be hard, but I can do it because I set my mind to it, and my mind is my will, and my will is my iron fortress, my gauntleted fist, and my beating heart.
I can, I will, I must. But through all of this, guess what happens if I win the Judgment? Yasihaut files another one. I am strong, Kashaunta. Stronger than any human in history. But even now, inside your sanctum, inside the greatest ship I have ever seen, I remain powerless against the might of your people and your laws. I hear you talk of millennia and galaxies and think of how much I have struggled over the mere ten thousand star systems of the Alliance and this single planet's slave problem. There's billions more.
I have fought against odds beyond comprehension, but even now, I have to break bread with my enemy so that I can continue to survive in the system they built. Because with all that you are, it is impossible for me to see you as anything but an enemy. I cannot understand the value of the Pact. I can only guess at it. But the galaxy's weight is resting upon my shoulders, and my back is bowing. My spine... is breaking. How much more? How many more?
I hate what this universe is. I hate how it is structured. I hate the concepts, the Progenitors, the speeding space entities, and whoever else controls it. For a person to even condone the mindless suffering in this universe is an act of utter insanity. When I see you in your ivory castle, perched upon your mountains of gold, I think of the poor. I think of the justice you deserve that I cannot carry out because of the very power you wield. Do you know how angry that makes me? Do you know that my dreams are still sometimes haunted by Yasihaut's torture? I am a broken person, Kashaunta.
Broken by the weight of who I am and all I must do. But you, you get to sit here and eat, oblivious or indifferent to my suffering. Because you cannot stand to look down for fear of seeing the filth in your claws. I dream of your death, Kashaunta. And a thousand more. I want to tear down your civilization and all others like it. I want to kill, and maim, and murder. I want to be that indomitable power which all others fear and respect.
I want to mount Yasihaut's head on a spear and shove another between Nova's eyes for the crime of daring to use their ultimate power against me. And I want to kill you, too, for being the one I am forced to rely on to survive. For your own power being what forces me to bow and scrape to yet another master. This is why I bear my hatred for your kin, Kashaunta. Why I hate the Elders, the Progenitors, all of it. Because of the inherent unfairness of the galaxy you have built and the banal and insidious evil you have built it upon. I hate you, this galaxy, this universe.
Because you all will never get the justice you deserve, because I cannot repay the sheer weight of atrocity hanging from your heads. And to make you feel what you all deserve, would naturally require me to have the same punishment. Because I can't win without sinking to your level, either by being one of you Elders or having to use your ill-gotten power for my own benefit. I am climbing the mountain, the air is cold, the night is dark, the wind is blowing, and the ice is slick. I stand on the precipice of death, as does all I have known and loved.
To save them, I must use you, an Elder buoyed by an ocean of blood, merely so I can float up a little higher, perhaps to the next cliff or perhaps to that mountain peak. I believe I am fighting for the people. For freedom, justice, and the rights of my kind to self-determination. And to do so, I must sacrifice my own freedom. My own justice. And my own self-determination. All for winning a pointless case, against a stupid Elder who I'd press against a block of red-hot metal, just so I could enjoy her screams. I was a woman, once. A simple woman, a good human.
Now I am a monster. I have killed. I have avoided killing when I should not have. Yasihaut is still alive. Ikirshi is still alive. Tiglath is still alive. Nova is still alive. Azeri is still alive, too, even if his name is dead. Look what I am, and what I've had to do to get here. What will I have to do to continue? I am evil now. Because I will compromise my principles, and claim to fight for freedom while happily breaking bread with an Elder who openly espouses galactic domination. And I can't even say no, for fear of what that would mean for those I know and love.
I am broken, but I can still move. I can still think. And I can still hate. None of you have the right to stand against justice, but I do not have the power to make you kneel to it. Instead, I am being forced into this yet again. I deserve to die for what I am and what I have done, but I cannot because of who and what I fight for. I will only descend into worse depravity. When I am free of the Judgment, I will likely kill the slavers and enjoy it. Because that is what I am becoming now. I'm becoming you. Just as you said I would, proving that I'm powerless even against that."
Thick tears fell from Penny's eyes. With no one else but the Elder in the room and a currently fulfilled promise of no cameras, sound recording devices, and not even guards, only Kashaunta would know how much it pained Penny to say all this aloud. The pain doubled her over as the weight of her realization came to her.
Kashaunta let her be, waiting for Penny's tears to finally run dry. It was an ugly thing. All of the past trauma and misery came roaring back, drowning Penny in a sea of torment and suffering. Cardi and Nilncrawla were powerless to stop it. Her soul ached. Her mind shook.
At least, Penny drew a rasping breath. "So. Now you know, Kashaunta."
"I do," the Elder said. "I can tell you have many feelings on the matter. We don't have to continue discussion."
"You're not upset?"
"No," Kashaunta said. "Not at all. Why should I be? You bared your soul to me in this truth, Penny. Knowing the power I do hold over you, you did so anyway. This only proves that I was right to trust you and your strength."
"This isn't strength. I sat here and cried like a little girl."
"It took strength for you to admit how you feel and why, especially to me. To trust that I would listen, and to express exactly why you wish for me and my kin to die."
"You seem... oddly okay with me wanting to kill you."
"Because I have been surrounded by people who wanted to kill me before. Only one of them, in the long history of my life, admitted such to this extent before making their attempts, and that is you. I understand and respect your motive for wanting me dead, actually. I would feel the same way in your position. You are right. The way things are is not fair, and is not just. I also know that you won't kill me if you have the chance."
"Why do you think that?"
"Well, you do not seem the type to kill your allies, unless they directly betray you. I will not pretend that I am innocent. But do you truly think that you will be able to look me in the eyes, your main supporter among all my kind, and stab me in the heart? Because if you do kill me, I would at least request the honor of you doing it with your own hands. Or even the Soul Blade, if you wish to be poetic about it."
"So no lobbing asteroids of antimatter at you, then?" Penny laughed.
"I would think not, though if we are at that point, the future is lost anyway. To grapple with your past, present and future is a part of life, Penny. This right here is the reason I made the Pact with you. Because you are an honest person, with the will to do what is necessary, and the power to carry it out."
"But you'll be preparing contingencies to kill me, won't you?"
"No," Kashaunta said. "We are past that now."
"You act as if your life is already ending. A once in a billion years Pact with a human, acting like you won't protect yourself from a person who wants to murder you, and being uncaring about your legacy. Why?"
"Because it is you or nothing, Penny. I have lived over 13 billion years. I have had more than a full life. I have made my peace with death. Not the man himself, obviously, but the idea of it. We stand at the crossroads. I will wait no longer for the rot to keep spreading."
"So you will back me in the Judgment, then."
"More than that," Kashaunta said. "I am willing to be your lawyer, and represent you in this trial. If you accept, that is."
"I would, but I must ask you one question. Do you even care about the Alliance beyond what we could do to help you?"
"Yes, and no. I care about their idealism, and that they have AIs with high levels of cognitive power. I care that they recognise the value of Sprilnav lives as more than collateral damage, which is why their war plans only blow up our planets if they lose and are about to go extinct. Humanity and the hivemind are mainly valuable to me because they are valuable to you, the same with the rest of the Alliance. But they to have the ability to put a decent bureaucracy in place, through Phoebe and Edu'frec, or even the hivemind if it expands."
"Would you care if we lost?"
"Yes, though I can force myself not to if I must."
It seemed like an honest assessment of the situation. There was one more thing.
"Are you actually a lawyer, then? And are you skilled with Judticar's laws? It's quite touching that you're still willing to vouch for me, but if you don't have any sort of law degree, I can't exactly accept that."
"Yes to both. While I don't have an Eonic degree, I do have several thousand years of legal studies, with about a hundred in Justicar law."
"Would that actually be sufficient?"
"Yes. When we Sprilnav say we have put a hundred years into something, that is a raw time. It does not include sleeping, eating, vacations, and so on. My implant tells me I spent 181 years specifically studying Justicar law."
"How did you have time?"
"Delegation is a valuable skill for the sanity of country leaders."
"I suppose," Penny said. "Do you think that you and I appearing together in court would be detrimental to my case?"
"The only avenue they could pursue is that you've 'turned' me to your side. But seeing as I am extremely powerful and have refused bribes of inconceivable amounts of wealth, that narrative will be poorly accepted by all but the most biased of Judges. Or High Judges, as the case will be. Unfortunately, I do not qualify as either a Judge or High Judge, but my credentials and power are more than sufficient for them to be unable to block my ability to represent you. You have, as Nilnacrawla may have told you, already paid me for your services. Your linear singularities are more stable than I thought."
"So the money finally shows itself again," Penny smiled.
Kashaunta shared her grin. "Yes. That it does. You are surprisingly profitable as a bonus."
"I'm sure everything else I do is the bonus. Like making the other nations end slavery."
"Well, that would actually make them more productive."
"So why..."
"Elders love feeling powerful. They love having power over others, and being able to show it. They are generally insecure, their brains polluted by eons of paranoia and propaganda. The weakness of Elders is something that the powers that be use to exploit them."
"And your ego?"
"They have to prove their superiority to themselves. I live and breathe it with every step I take in this galaxy."
Penny sighed. "That is an impressive level of narcissism."
"That word didn't translate."
"It is a way to say a person admires themself to an unnatural and unhealthy degree."
"Then it would describe me, except the degree is quite healthy and natural. Elders' egos also help to keep us going. Reputation isn't just an external motivation."
Penny nodded. "We still must discuss your approach toward people in general later. But we have other priorities, don't we?"
"The Judgment," Kashaunta agreed. "You and Yasihaut will attend the Fort Court, and will be even better protected than last time. The Underground beneath it is continually pulverized, as it sits on a mostly active volcanic system, with lava outlets designed to ensure tunneling is impossible. The mindscape side fortifications are similarly impressive, and Justicar has spent a considerable amount of money on ensuring the security of this Judgment.
His reputation hinges on it greatly, even more so as he is there in person as a Judge. This makes him more vulnerable than usual. But if you kill his body, he will live. I do not suggest you try it, however. What I aim to do is present an argument that the premise of the Judgment trial is flawed, as there is limited legal proof that you and the Alliance are a threat to the Sprilnav.
To do this, I have already helped to secure two things for you. The treaty with Valisada and the Pact of Blades with me. These items will ensure the common scrutiny and arguments used against aliens will be ineffective. You have proven yourself capable of adhering to and participating in our customs, especially the ones related to trust and binding agreements. You also have wisely avoided killing any Sprilnav for a while. This, especially in the context of the slaves and the 85th Grand Fleet, will be massively beneficial to your argument.
Beyond this, I also have an array of legal evidence to challenge Yasihaut if she brings up your hatred of her, or the previous Judgment's outcome, or the battle that crippled the Progenitors. Indrafabar will be helpful to us, as he will defend the honor of his kin. He will not allow the argument of you being as strong as the Progenitors be seriously considered. No matter what you say or what people think, this will be a question of whether you can convince Indrafabar and Justicar of your ability to be peaceful, and behind that the Alliance.
You will find it harder to defend the rhetoric the Alliance has put out, but I have secured this portion of the Judgment with my defensive agreements with them as well. You both are anchored to me and my reputation too strongly for any of them to ignore, which is yet another reason why I am hoping to help defend you in person."
"So you are staking your own reputation on me, too. Is that another reason you did the Pact?"
"It is. The reputational blow losing this Judgment could have will not be enough to topple me. But it is a catalyst. It is capable of starting a chain of downfall events that lead to my dethroning or even my death. I am aware of this and am doing what I can to stave off that process and shore up all my defenses. I also have a lawyer with an Eonic degree in Justicar law who will be the main defender of your argument.
My presence in the court will be for your protection and as a reminder of the fact that you have a backer, and that backer is me. I expect Yasihaut's counterparts to undertake a similar process, though she will find it easier due to her being an Elder. I will introduce you to him in ten minutes."
"That is very kind of you, Kashaunta. I know that we have had our differences, and that your past is quite a contentious thing. But if I put all of that aside, and look at you as you are here, and now, I am grateful that you are doing all of this for me and my people. I do not know whether I can repay you for the Pact of Blades, but your conviction and intelligence are traits I admire."
"You are welcome, Penny. I know I cannot atone. But I will help you build a better galaxy, just as it should be."
Penny patted her on the hed, and turned her gaze to the opposite wall.
"I'm afraid," she admitted.
"Fear in this situation is natural. There is no shame in it. Your strength will allow you to work through it. Whether it is the strength you carry in your soul, or that which your father and Cardinality bring with them. You can do this, Penny. We can win."
"And if Yasihaut files another Judgment?"
Kashaunta gave her a dark grin. "I have a plan for that, too. When the Pact of Blades is revealed in the court, my abilities to aid you will widen considerably. They will understand, and if not, Indrafabar will teach them. He was there, after all."
"And this isn't witness tampering or whatever?"
"That doesn't exist here," Kashaunta said. "Justicar's laws do not include that. He enforces that by his soft power. It makes things more fair between Elders, but not between Elders and others. As is by design."
"Kashaunta," Penny said. "While you are an okay person, by your current deeds, I can't really say I'm not going to take the guy with a billion years of legal education over your scant hundred."
"I do not need to be your main lawyer, I just need to have the job listed as such in the courtroom. If he requires it, the lawyer will speak over me and you in all matters."
"You and I, you mean?"
"I do not mean," Kashaunta said. "My language does not always follow your grammatical rules."
"Speaking of that, during the Pact, you spoke a language we couldn't translate for a bit."
"Can you repeat it?"
"'Eis nama kaste Penny Balica, sun lanci Dorima Kashaunta. Ko'ri, lanci nupa bes na Dorima'Pecunyanova. Sp'rkial'nova. Homo Sapiens.' And then you said, 'Tol, nopa shikai.'"
"It roughly means: 'This act is between Penny Balica and the Elder Kashaunta. Now, we are in the claws of the Progenitors. Sp'rkial'nova. Homo Sapiens.' And the second part means 'take it or leave it,' or more accurately 'take or leave.' That's about what I said."
"So Dorima means Elder, and Dorima'Pecunyanova means Progenitor?"
"Yes. The specific translation is 'mourning one' and 'mourning god' for those terms. Pecunyanova was the very first Progenitor, and Nova's grandfather, which he took a piece of the name of. Nova took in the powers of his entire family line when he became a Progenitor, including Pecunyanova's title of Everlasting."
"I can sense a deeper meaning beyond the mourning."
"The type of 'mourning' that the ancient language describes is a soul agony, of the type which drives the happiest souls to suicide and the most evil souls to tears. There are many more descriptions given to the agony of remembering the Source war, which is what defines the name. We mourn our species, our empires, our lost galaxies, and even the aliens that once lived with us. Imagine you were on Earth, and you had a nuclear war. No shields, no bunkers.
And all that survived the aftermath, the starvation and the proxy wars over the scraps that remained, was the equivalent of a single village. That is how close we are to extinction, Penny. Progenitors went mad with grief. Entire cities voted to activate nuclear arsenals upon themselves. 70 whole Grand Fleets drove straight into the black hole at the center of the galaxy, never to return. It is a trauma... a trauma difficult to even describe now, with over 99.99% of my memories of that war strictly sealed away.
By the end of it, we were burning reality itself to try and burn the Source to ash. We weaponized linear singularities, sending them deep into the Source's flesh. We opened spatial rifts in that bastard's galaxy-sized body. We live in a false vacuum, Penny. Our scientists learned that, and harnessed that. We sent weapons at the Source capable of writing entire concepts out of reality and capable of changing reality itself to kill. Weapons outright banned between the universal superpowers were thrown like chaff in the wind. The fear and madness of that time... nothing comes close to it.
And it is another reason why we commit so many atrocities. Because we have lost our power, any way of feeling like we still have even a scrap of it is irresistible. Others have fallen to the sweet bliss of drugs, or the digital equivalent. More Sprilnav than are alive now by a million times are stored in databanks, waiting for us to build a new universal empire."
"And... the Source?"
"The cursed thing lived. A mockery to us all, one which we know we are powerless to do anything about. It could come here even now and crush my flagship between its skin cells. It could crush this entire galaxy by wading through it in a few years. And no, it does not know or care about little things like the speed of light. It broke causality in many of its battles without care for those it killed. And what you don't know is that the Source war wasn't the first time people tried to kill it.
Other universal powers did and drove it back with lesser weapons than what we used. But power that could force it away did nothing when it came for us. That burning, blinding hatred. It was hell, Penny. And what is left behind is almost as bad. And let me say that almost as bad in this case is still constant agony. Constant misery. I was one of them once. One of the Elders that hated everyone in the universe for the crime of being happy after such a horrendous fall.
I killed many people. I destroyed planets. I killed children, babies, and smashed eggs with my own claws. In person. The depths of what I sank to are beyond depraved and evil, Penny. I refuse to lose hope again. This is why I am here, now, backing you. I cannot atone, but I can rebuild. The Source will feed you its lies but do not forget what it is. Who it is. And what it has done to us."
"Your retelling is not fully accurate," Exile said.
"I am aware of that, speeding space entity. I told the most complete story I know, and will not bring back millions of years of agony just to give a better one. It is not safe for her."
"How would it be unsafe for me?" Penny asked.
"Because I would go insane and kill you, obviously."
"And the Pact of Blades?"
"Unless the Progenitors got here in time, you'd still die. They'd kill me next, with only a slight difficulty if only one is sent, and that one is not Nova. No bond is truly unbreakable, but that is what it would take for me to break the Pact of Blades. I... my mind is built on a foundation of ash. Turn that ash back to wood, and the center will fall through."
Penny moved closer to Kashaunta. She moved her arm over Kashaunta's back. "I'm sorry."
"Thank you."

I love her, she was one of the first people that I ever really truly enjoyed speaking and spending time with. The intelligence that she possessed and bubbly personality brought out the same bubbly feelings within me, even in seventh grade. I soon filled my time writing messages to her in Facebook messenger, asking about everything I was curious about whilst sitting at my brother’s baseball games, my cellphone burning my hands from overheating, but I just couldn’t put it down. We would talk about everything.
Now twenty-three, we don’t. I feel as though I have lost the light and bubbly feelings. I think I resent her.
I grew up a scared kid, afraid to state my honest feelings, doing whatever was needed to shape the results of my words and beliefs rather than feel them and let them serve to be an honest representation of myself. I just did whatever led to the least amount of conflict, leading me to be uncertain of my true wants and desires. With her however, I felt love, and I wanted her to be my love forever. From visiting her every weekend in school to changing colleges, I just did not want to let go of the love I had for her.
As years followed differences began to appear. Myself, wanting love to be communicated in a thought-out verbal nature with much care and emphasis in each word choice being my desired method of display of affection, she began to withdraw from this style of communication. Despite the beginning of our relationship being long talks on the phone or paragraphs of written texts back and forth, she said she was not capable of displaying affection in this way and there was no way to change it. Fork in the road, faced with an ultimatum, no ability to compromise, do I stay, or do I go? I stay. By simply learning to appreciate other methods of displaying affection, what does it matter if there is still love in the air. Remember, conflict isn’t an option; I mean I fought for what I wanted and for compromise, but whenever it got bad, I would refer to the tried-and-true mechanism of simply doing what rids of conflict.
Then the physical and intimate differences arose. I always liked back scratches, no matter how bad things got in my early years, a good back scratch would make me feel safe and escape the world in pure bliss for a little bit. I wanted this in my life still as an adult, but it wasn’t something she wanted to do. How do I continue to ask for something that she admitted to not enjoying doing? Even whenever I was selfish enough to ask for it and she would do it, you can tell when someone doesn’t want to be scratching your back when they start for a minute and just stop you know. So, I just stopped asking. Then copy and paste massages and head rubs for back scratches.
Intimately, she had asked me relatively early into our now six-year relationship if I had ever been interested in oral. I was, but I never had the guts to ask, so I said yeah. It came out that she had done it a few times on her earlier ex, and I admitted to her that I had never been the recipient of it. We had gotten close one time, but she had said she wasn’t interested in it that day. After asking a few more times, she opened up to me that she didn’t ever want to try again. It bothered me, I pushed for her to reconsider. I handled it poorly as my mind was so caught up in the jealousy and frustration revolving around her ex experiencing something that I never would if she was to be the one I wanted to be with forever, “Had I only been there earlier” I would think.
Eventually she confronted me and told me, “You can go get it from other people if you want, it doesn’t seem like you are ever going to get over it.”. This hurt me, I only ever wanted to be with her, and she was willing to be understanding to let me go get it from someone else. What had I done? I had pushed too hard.
“I will never ask for it again.” I concluded.
In the bedroom whenever it came to, well, positions, the first time we had ever done it, we did two she enjoyed. She was my first, and I eventually began to ask if we could try other positions, she tried, and it didn’t work for her. Nothing else seemed to work. I was okay with our tried and true two, but I wanted to mix it up every once in a while, and despite asking if we could try anything else again, it would simply kill the mood. I was frustrated again. I did not know what to do, and after discussing, I simply began to stop asking, again.
I began therapy when I was in college. From past traumas to my terrible coping strategies, it was all thrown out on the table. I focused on these core elements more so than my relationship struggles, however there were discussions about it. It had begun to help me. That is when it seemed more problems had arisen.
I had begun to heal.
My relentless internal monologue reinforcing my belief that “you shouldn’t want these things, you don’t deserve these things” and “if you push for your wants, there will be conflict and you will lose her, you will never find anyone else”, had begun to unravel. These self-destructive statements that served as stones weighing down the wants and desires, I had put into the bottom of my mind had begun to erode. The thoughts popping into mind whenever I spent time with her, I blew up.
On a long car ride, after being asked why I had withdrawn, I confronted her about the most recent buried request. Head rubs. Why was I always so clearly falling short of what she had wanted me to be, but never getting any of the things that I wanted? “It is just a head rub! Why do I not deserve a head rub?!”, I couldn’t take it anymore and I had blown. What ensued was a long conversation full of tears that simply laid out the fact that I was not happy, but she wanted me to be, but didn’t know how to do the things I had wanted.
We didn’t go much into specifics until we had gotten back home from our trip, but as I prodded into what was going to change, she informed me that all intimate things were off the table. She would, however, try harder to provide physical and verbal displays of affection more frequently. I was hopeful, while selfishly bummed at this time about intimate matters. But things were going to change, and I was excited.
Fast forward half a year, with unfavorable work schedules, a home renovation, and general exhaustion set in, things began to stress. Between the consistent reminders of not doing enough around the house, feeling like we are further away than ever yet always feeling guilty of not proposing yet, I confronted her again. Why was I always feeling like I was not doing enough or feeling like she was proud of me whenever there had been zero changes from our last argument several months ago. I was tired this time, yet more accepting. Once an argument ensued and escalated, I gave up.
“I feel like we shouldn’t be together. You are not in the wrong for not wanting to do things. No matter if we are referring to the physical or verbal acts of affection, or the intimate desires I have expressed, you should always hold true to your heart and your wants. But I give myself the same freedom of heart. Maybe there is someone out there that is a perfect match for your wants and communication, and maybe, there is someone out there that wants me the same way I want to be wanted and meets my needs.”
She cracked, she said she would do whatever it took to change, she would try things again, she would try harder this time and be different. I had heard this before, and I continued to express uncertainty. She mentioned couple’s therapy. I owed her this much; I was in part responsible for things going on for so long the way they had and never dying on the hills of those unwavering wants. “Yes, let’s try it.” I spoke. I know couples therapy takes time, so I will be patient and give it a shot.
What followed was one of the best days of my life, we spent time together intimately, had a wonderful evening out. It was a phenomenal day and breathed hope directly into my lungs. But then a drought ensued. I felt as though that one day had simply bought time, I made a conscious effort to express my love and desire as I knew these arguments could have created distance between us that would need to be held together despite that one good day, but why did everything revert? What happened?
It was just the work week and the hard schedule; I kept telling myself. It has only been a couple days. A week. A week and a half. I was starting to not really feel wanted again, I was feeling concerned. Several thoughts had begun to swarm inside of my head as well, frustration began to build.
Why did things suddenly seem to get better whenever I was ready to leave? Was that what it was going to take to resolve those issues from the years previous, would it have taken me to threaten to leave for each of these wants to be fulfilled? Why didn’t she love me in the way I loved her? All it would ever take for me to do something she wanted was to ask.
Why is it so hard for us to be together? There were so many fights that I had to just give up asking for what I wanted to avoid further conflict. I just want someone to want me in the way I want to be wanted. But I worry she will never genuinely want the things I want. I do not want her to feel forced to satisfy my wants. When do you know to call it off?
I have always enjoyed things that were impromptu, never asked for, but offered. It seemed like the most genuine display of love. It served to represent an honest desire to bring pleasure to the one you love. How can I feel loved and wanted whenever I have had to fight countless times and threaten to leave for my wants to be addressed or worth addressing, when in its truest form it comes without question?
We are just now starting couples therapy and I know it is quite the long haul from my personal experience, but I just want some outside advice in the meantime.
What should I do? What do I need to learn? Where do I start?

From the beginning...
Cast

Part 2, Chapter 8

Conferring briefly, Arthur strides across the bridge [1]. Before he gets halfway across, a voice rings out. “HALT. Come no further. We want nothing from you, and have nothing for you. Depart peaceably.” The voice is feminine, with a thick rural Damaran accent, not so dissimilar to Arthur’s.
Arthur comes to a stop. “We come in peace. We just want to know what is going on. We’re on a mission from the Council of Thanes in Ironspur. This is their forge.”
“No dwarves here. It’s ours now. You need know nothing more. Away!”
Arthur withdraws to the group, where suddenly Zander notices that Dillium has disappeared. One thing at a time. “Perhaps if we paid a toll.” Zander suggests.
“We’ll pay a toll to cross the bridge and converse.” Arthur booms.
“How much?”
“How much do you want?”
“Three figures. Leave it on the bridge.”
“We’ll give you a hundred pieces of silver.”
There is no reply. Through the haze of the heat and ash, the outlines of the people on the other side of the chasm appear to be lined up.
“Are you with the dragon?” Novos calls out.
“Of course not! He’s taken our people. Are you?”
“No. He stole our elf!” Zander calls out.
“We just want to look around,” Novos adds. He takes a few steps toward the bridge, but a dagger sails out of the darkness and misses Novos’ foot by … well, several feet.
“Go away!”
The argument goes back and forth. Daggers are thrown until the unknown assailant runs out or gets tired, then crossbow bolts are launched. Novos takes cover behind Zander, who good-naturedly holds his shield out in protection. After several shots, Novos makes out the shape of a shooter above and to his left. Aiming carefully, he fires back with his bow.
“Look, we’re coming across. I’ll give ten gold pieces to anyone who lays down arms and talks.” Novos announces.
“Don’t you dare!” the voice cuts through, though it looks like the shapes of people on the other side of the chasm are less decided. Several low conversations break out, and though nobody can make out the words, the tones range from willing to harsh.
Zander decides to take a position on the bridge. This of course means Novos is a clear target again, though it’s hard to make out anything through the haze and the crossbow bolts miss more frequently than they hit.
***
A pebble rolls across the floor and nudges Dillium’s foot. Looking around, she sees the redheaded young human put his finger to his lips in a universal "don't scream" gesture, then he beckons her over away from the party. Novos has disappeared again, and everyone else is intent on trying to see through the heat waves and ash rising from the river of red gelatinous goop. Zander or Felicity are busy arguing with the voice, so slipping away from the group, Dillium ducks around the corner with the man.
Up close, she sees he has a misshapen face and is slightly stooped. Looking at his eyes, she decides he sees poorly--if at all--from his left eye. His complexion is ruddy in a way that nearly obscures the freckles all over his face and neck, and his shocking red hair seems nearly too bright to be natural. Now that she gets a good look at him, Dillium thinks he might be near his thirtieth year. For all of being a bit hunch-backed, he doesn't seem to have any problem moving around. His low voice speaks to habitual whispering.
"You are of Ilmater? My gran said that a cleric in a horse-hair shirt saved his life after the battle at Goliad Ford [2]. He would give coppers to the monks that came through, and often gave them food. Can I trust you?"
The simple sincerity in his voice, and his look of concern and dread touch Dillium, and she nods. He beckons her further away from the group, but he doesn't seem to have any weapons on him so she follows. Slipping silently back through the rubble of the half-collapsed hall, the pair returns to the cell where the dead are still chained to the wall. He pays them no mind. He does leave the door open a sliver, though. Seating himself on the floor next to a burned-out fire, he speaks.
"My name is Febis. Look, I'm sorry for before. He doesn't like visitors, and I can't just go and tell the Hand that they can't use this place for their hide-out anymore. We only just got here when he showed up. He's not bad, once you get to know him. He sometimes brings me food if he killed too many sheep, and he doesn't come in this part of the cavern because he can't turn around right. Only you can't insult him or he gets very mad, and he sometimes can't control his temper. It really just would be better if you and your friends go."
Too many "he's" and "they's" for her to sort out. It's like Febis assumes she already knows who they all are. “Slow down, and start over,” Dillium says gently. “Who is ‘he’?”
Febis says that ‘he’ is a monstrous red dragon that calls himself The Mighty Flamestrike. He arrived in a blast of wind and a clatter of claws on the stone floor, and he made himself at home in the main hall. He likes the heat from the lava, and sometimes lays down on top of it, sinking slowly into it. During one of the recent earthshakes part of the roof caved in, and Flamestrike took up residence high up in some hollowed-out caves near the ceiling. Febis has never been up there, but Flamestrike sometimes leaves in the evening to go hunting, and returns before dawn.
Febis is a member of the Dread Order of the Ebon Hand, the most dangerous gang of bandits this side of the Assassin's Citadel. What do you mean you've never heard of them? They have been the most feared bandit gang in the country's history. Although, he hastens to add, he's only been with the gang since he left home in Helmsdale this spring. He hated being a farmer and he can't ride a horse [3] (and some of the soldiers made fun of him), so there really isn't anything else for him to do.
The Hand found the entrance to this cavern complex two or three months ago, and they moved in. It makes a great base to bandit from. Cletus says that it was carved out by dwarves. Fatima, the captain of the Hand, has been working on getting the place cleaned up, and is looking to be able to give everyone their own areas in which to live. That was easier before Flamestrike came along. Since his arrival, the Hand have been hiding in terror from the dragon, who sometimes plays with them "like a cat with a mouse", blowing fire down the corridor and making the whole complex shake. Fatima has been trying to get them to attack Flamestrike, but the last time they tried, Willie and Franso were badly burned and pelted with rocks dropping from the ceiling. Father Michael took days to heal them all the way back to health.
Febis himself was the second of the Hand caught by the dragon, but instead of eating him, the dragon talked to him, and made friends with Febis. Now Febis comes and goes as he pleases, but he knows that the dragon's temper is such that he could end up as a snack if he crosses The Mighty Flamestrike.
***
Novos does the thing where he disappears. Zipping across the chasm, he notes that there are nearly a dozen “thugs”, along with some armored war mastiffs. Bedrolls and a cot line one wall, and a makeshift cook stove is in the back corner. An archway leads off into the darkness. The thugs are not particularly ready for battle—they are indifferently armored and have a bevy of non-uniform weapons, but none of them have them raised as if they were ready to use them. There are several debates ongoing, and two of the thugs are wrestling.
Returning to the group, Novos quickly gives a report. Arthur asks Zander to move, and he leads the way across the bridge.
“CEASE!” A ripple flows through the Weave as a spell is cast, and the two wrestlers climb to their feed sheepishly. Before they know it, the entire party is on their side of the chasm, face to face.
“Go AWAY! WE DON’T WANT YOU HERE. You are invading our home!” A crossbow bolt accompanies the demand, but it misses everyone. Without the heat shimmer, Novos can finally make out his assailant through what appears to be an opening above and to the right of the large cave. She is peering out behind a large metal structure with carvings etched on it.
The thugs are still bickering amongst themselves to some extent, but only a few of them tentatively raise their weapons.
Another ripple in the Weave, and the thugs generally calm down, losing some of the edge in their bickering. Unfortunately, nothing calms the shooter, who manages to put a bolt into Novos. Novos shoots back, hitting the woman. In response, the several of the bandits reach out to stop Novos from attacking their captain.
***
“My friends and I are here at the request of the dwarves in Ironspur. They are worried that someone here was attempting to restart the forge, which is… haunted or something? They didn’t get into details. Have you seen it?”
"Forge? I don't know about that, but there is a big iron thingy up near where Fatima beds down. It kinda’ looks like something Jeran the Smith from my village might use. We don't do anything with it, but it's useful to put stuff on when we're eating. I mean, there's no chairs or nothin, but we can stand up and eat. Sometimes we just eat near the campfire, though."
"So, you aren't working the forge, or trying to craft things?" Dillium asks patiently.
"Gerk sometimes uses it to bang the dents of armor pieces, or to try to sharpen swords and stuff, but he doesn't have a hammer, so normally he just uses an iron bar to smack the back of armor piece. Sometimes it works."
Dillium explains that some of the people in Damara are worried about another war with Vaasa (“like the one with the Lich King”), and they are looking for allies who are willing to lend aid. Perhaps the Hand would like to assist?
Febis tells her in his own simple way that most of the men don’t want to be in a war. They’ve seen the soldiers in Helmsdale with their shiny armor and fancy horses, and they don’t have any of that stuff. “Being in a battle sounds dangerous. Besides, that sounds like we’d have to stop banditing, and that’s kinda’ fun sometimes. Maybe some of the guys might want to go legit, but Fatima just wants to keep us safe.”
“You know, the Hand could become an adventuring or mercenary group too. That way you all could be making money by completing different contracts. While it may not be as fun as being a bandit, it’s more sustainable for you all,” Dillium reasons.
"Don't you have to get a paper from the queen to be a mercenary group? And aren't those hard? I heard there was a group that had to fight like a whole lot of orcs once [4]. That's almost like being in a battle."
“Hmm. I guess I could see that, though there may come a time when you have to decide which side you’re on, just like your gran did.” After a pause to collect her thoughts, Dillium continues. She wonders aloud why the dragon likes Febis more than the others, and if there is a way to make everyone happy—to perhaps speak to Flamestike, to free the Hand from his torment, and for them to look over the forge for the dwarves.
"I don't know why he likes me more than the others. Maybe he's just lonely. Maybe it's on account of my hair being the same color as he is. Maybe it's because I don't call him names and stuff. Sometimes he comes out and talks to me about his brothers and how he's going to get his revenge on them all some day. Delfus used to talk to me that way when we lived in Helmsdale. His pa used to beat him when he didn't milk the cow in the morning, or dropped the egg basket. Delfus and I are good friends. He's the one who convinced me to join the Hand."
“What happened with his brothers that makes him want revenge on them? Who are his brothers?” Despite her need to keep on track, Dillium’s curiosity overcomes her.
"Oh, he doesn't like to talk about them. I guess brother stuff? I only have sisters, and they are annoying. Perhaps they called him names, or didn't want to use his whole name. Maybe they fart in the nest. Do dragons have nests? I heard that they lay eggs..."
***
Wordlessly, the party springs into action. There is a ripple in the Weave, and half of the bandits fall to the floor in a deep slumber, their war dogs with them. Arthur strides through the sleeping bodies to one who didn’t go down, and he slashes him from shoulder to hip. Momentarily surprised, the man falls to the floor, lifeless. His dog growls. Zander steps forward to face off against two other bandits. Two quick slashes and they fall to the floor. Novos disappears, then makes his way up to the opening where the crossbow shooter is taking aim at Felicity. She misses. The remaining bandit gestures, the Weave ripples from him, and a bolt of light streaks across the room to smash into Arthur’s back. The dog snaps at Arthur but misses. Novos reappears and stabs the crossbow-wielding woman in the back. Enraged, she pulls out a saber and slashes in vain at Novos. Before Novos can stab her again, Felicity pulls out a wand and fires an arc of electricity at the woman, killing her. The one-sided battle is over.
Quickly, Arthur and Zander bind up the four slumbering bandits and their war dogs. Felicity reaches into her purse and slides some gold into each of their coin pouches.
***
Novos peers around. He’s seen forges before, and this looks something like one, except instead of a standard coal-fired furnace, there is a trickle of red-hot lava, dribbling down a hole in the wall and forming a small rivulet through a makeshift furnace before falling off down the side of the cavern wall and into the lava river below. The forge area is cleaned out. There are pegs on the walls, presumably for tools, but they are bare, as are a pair of stout metal tables. Shrugging, Novos heads down a set of stairs and through a dark hallway. Some distance down, he spies a darker alcove, and in that alcove, a doorway. Pushing open the door, he sees bags, boxes, and barrels. One bag has conveniently fallen over, spilling its contents of coins onto the floor. “Hey! I found something!” He shouts.
***
"He doesn't much like visitors. I don't think he wants to talk to anyone. It's too bad they can't get along. Maybe The Mighty Flamestrike could go out with the Hand and help them find wagons to bandit, and then perhaps he could eat the horses after we bring the wagons back and get all the stuff? I don't think he wants to do that, though. It would be nice if all my friends could get along. Fatima would love to have a real dragon helping. I bet we could bandit like two wagons at a time!"
Dillium responds. "If we could help the Hand find a new place to live, how would they get out without ... Flamestrike—"
Febis interrupts. "The Mighty Flamestrike. He likes you to use his whole name."
"Fine, the mighty Flamestrike--"
"No, no. You're not doing it right. You have to use the whole thing. The Mighty Flamestrike. Here, you try it. The Mighty Flamestrike."
"The Mighty Flamestrike."
"Good! I knew you was smart!" Dillium sighs heavily.
"So, if my other friends and I could find a new place for the Hand to live, and perhaps a job so they could go legit, how would they get out of here without The Mighty Flamestrike eating them?"
"I suppose they could wait until he goes out to hunt, then leave real quick like in the middle of the night. He wouldn't be here to eat them, and if they went far away before dawn he wouldn't get them."
"You keep saying 'they'. Wouldn't you want to go with the Hand?"
"Yeah! I mean, I would be sad that The Mighty Flamestrike wouldn't have any friends left. Maybe he would let me come back and visit him?"
“I don’t really understand why he keeps the Hand here if he doesn’t like them.. but I am sure that he would be happy to have a friend like you visit him if the Hand does leave. It does seem like it would be lonely here in the mountains by himself…” Dillium trails off, waiting on a response.
“I think he lets the Hand stay here for something to do, but he really doesn't keep them here. They are just ascared of him on account of the breathing fire and all.
“I think I would like to come and visit him sometimes. Maybe I could bring him a sheep. He likes sheep."
***
Just as they are finishing tying up the bandits, they begin to wake. “Wha… what happened?” One of them sees Zander puling the dead and bleeding bodies off to the side. “Murderers! You murdered them!” “They killed Willie!” “You Bastards!” “Look, they murdered the Captain!”
“Arthur addresses them. “Hush. You are alive. That is enough. You attacked us, and we responded.”
“You murdered them in cold blood!” one of the braver bandits spits.
“If your captain is now dead, who’s the new captain of your company?” Zander asks.
“uh…..”
“Cletus!” “What? I don’t want—” “Cletus is!” “But I don’t—”
“Fine. Do you give your parole? If so we shall untie you.” Arther towers above the one that responded as Cletus.
“I don’t even have a payroll yet. How do I…” Felicity unties the group. Climbing to their feet, they leave the ropes on the ground. Blood coats the floor from the dead, and Zander’s dragging activity has spread around even more blood.
“Hey! I found something!” shouts Novos. His voice sounds like it comes from the archway to the left. Arthur tells Felicity and Zander to stay with the bandits while he goes to see what is the matter.
***
Dillium pauses for a second.
“Febus… are you by any chance the Mighty Flamestrike?”
"Me? No! He's my friend. He's big and beautiful and scary and eats people. I'm just... me. Besides, he's all big and scaly. I'm not scaly!" He pauses a moment.
"Sometimes I dream about flying, though."
“Ah, sorry. It’s just that the Mighty Flamestrike isn’t the only dragon we’ve encountered in our journey. I know you’ve said plenty of times before that the Mighty Flamestrike doesn’t like visitors and after what happened I understand. I’d like to apologize to him on behalf of my friends.” Dillium takes a deep breath. “They attacked him… do you think he’ll let me try to heal him? Being able to create some form of middle ground between us all would be beneficial, don’t you think? I may be able to convince my party to leave…”
"It's ~T~he Mighty Flamestrike. You have to say his name right if you ever want to talk to him." Febis mutters under his breath, "Man, I thought elfs were supposed to be smart."
"Anyway, they attacked The Mighty Flamestrike? And they're still alive? How many of them got burned up? How can you heal a big giant dragon like that? I thought they had to have an arrow in them or something for you to heal him? If he's hurt he's probably going to be very cross indeed. I don’t know if he will want to talk at all, but I guess we could try..."
“Well, there’s no harm in trying right? Do you think you can try to help me meet The Mighty Flamestrike?”
"There IS harm in trying. If he's mad, he'll just fire us, and fire us good. Or drop us in the hot rocks. He can do that. I could see if he wants to come down, but I don't know if he will."
“If you could please, that would mean a lot to me… I can meet him on my own unless you’d like to join me, but if you’re worried about getting flamed then I don’t blame you. I’d like a chance to right the wrongs that have happened today. Perhaps we should meet him in a room more accessible for him…”
***
Arthur appears in the doorway as Novos looks around the dimly lit room. “Loot! I’m sure this will pay some bills.”
“We’ll need to figure out how to get all this out of here—”
“Ahem.” A voice from behind Arthur. “I’ll have you know that this is the lawfully acquired possessions of the Hand, and are not for you to go carting it all off. I know exactly how much is in here, and I won’t see you take a copper, do you hear! We know our rights!”
Arthur pinches the bridge of his nose. This has the makings of an even longer day.
A couple of the remaining members of the bandits pile into the room. “Hey! Keep your hands off our stuff. It’s ours!”
Arthur turns on his heel and heads back toward the main room, but … something isn’t right. The wall along the corridor is caved in, but there’s something… odd. Climbing up on top of the pile, he notices heat and light coming through a crack. He pulls some rubble away and can clearly see another room beyond.
“Hey, that stuff in there is ours, too!” Cletus says.
***
"Oh, he won't go any further than the main hall. He doesn't want to get stuck, and he can't turn around very well in the smaller rooms." Febis pauses for a moment. "How will you keep from getting fired? He might be very angry."
Dillium pats his arm. “I’ll figure something out.”
"I could go out and call him and see if he will come down, I guess."
“To be completely honest Febus the only thing I have to protect myself from the flames is hope and faith. Is the main hall where the rest of my friends are? I have instinctual knowledge that if they are there then this whole plan won’t work… I really do appreciate you doing this for me. It’s very kind of you.”
"Is instinctual knowledge some fancy elf thing, or a fancy priest thing?”
“Hmm I would say the instinctual knowledge has come from spending nearly every waking moment of my journey so far with roughly the same people… their habits are frighteningly predictable and in some cases, suicidal.”
Febus nods. “Do you need to rest, or uhm... eat a last meal or something?"
Dillium sighs. “While rest and a meal would be great, I fear that time is not our friend.”
***
Pulling enough of the rubble away to fit his bulk through, Arthur scrapes his armor on the rock as he slides down into the next room. This one is very hot, and is dimly lit by a seeping pool of lava in the corner. After a moment, Novos slides down next to him. “Whatcha find?” he asks unnecessarily.
A head pokes up from the lava. Then another. Sensing fresh food, a group of bulky snake-like creatures slither out of the lava pool and make their way over to Arthur and Novos. Soundlessly they attack. Arthur slashes, but is badly burned by the heat given off by the creatures. Novos too tries to slash with his dagger, but the heat is too much. He falls back behind Arthur. Arthur calls out for aid, and with a mighty hack and a movement of the Weave, a tremendous roar of thunder smashes through the snakes, temporarily deafening everyone, including the two bandits who have followed.
“All our stuff.” Cletus intones when he can hear again.
***
“What was that?” Felicity asks in alarm.
“Dunno. Let’s find out,” Zander replies. The two race toward the pile of rubble in the corridor.
***
Febis stands. "If you're sure I can't talk you out of it..." He opens the door and steps through it.
Suddenly a huge thunder blast echoes through the cavern. It is definitely not a cave-in, or the clash of rock on ... anything, but rather the sound of a huge lightning strike hitting nearby. The sound is briefly deafening. It sounds like it came from the cavern where the Hand was last seen, rather than the direction of the main hall. There's the sound of distant yelling from the same direction.
Febis is startled. He looks off in the direction of the party (and his friends). "Oh, that's not good." Moments later, there is a roar from the direction of the main hall. "Very not good."
“Febis I believe you and I share the very same sentiment there- Uhhh change of plans. Let’s make sure our friends here don’t kill each other. Stay close to me, sound good?”
***
The eight humans look around. Apart from the lava pool and the very hot corpses of the snake creatures (everyone moves away from them), the room contains what Arthur, Novos and Zander identify as grave goods. They are similar to the urns, carvings, and paintings in the tomb they invaded in Ironspur. In fact, there is a fancy dwarven sarcophagus and an ornate hammer atop. Across is the carved family tree that stretches for nearly a thousand years, ending nearly three centuries before (in the dwarven calendar). Taking it all in, Arthur’s eye catches on some oddity. A misalignment of patterns on one wall. “Secret door,” he says. Novos checks quickly for traps, then pushes open the door.
Inside, two carved stone dwarves shamble to life. Raising their bronze axes, they silently stalk toward Novos and Arthur as Zander and Felicity look on in horror.
***
Grabbing Febis by the hand, Dillium quickly but cautiously makes her way back down the corridor. She passes through the outer chamber with the well that leads down to lava, and sees the rickety wooden bridge over the chasm that is still producing heat haze and ash. Nobody is visible on the other side. Quickly she slips across the bridge and into chaos.
Blood covers the floor. The dead bodies of several of the Hand, along with their war mastiffs, are pushed over to one side. Several ropes cut into ten or twelve foot lengths lie on the floor. Looking around, she sees a large room. A campfire and makeshift cooking stove are in the far corner. Bedrolls and a cot line one wall. There's what appears to be some sort of shrine along the back wall. An archway on the opposite wall leads off into darkness.
"DELFUS! What happened?" Febis runs over to the corpse of his childhood friend, slashed from shoulder to hip by a single broad stroke. The last of his blood pools on the floor, but the blood strewn across the floor makes it very much appear that he and the others were dragged from another part of the room. "And Gerk! And Father Michael!" Tears pour down Febis' face as he comes to grips with the loss of his only (human) friends, apparently savagely butchered. Sitting down on the cold floor oblivious to the standing blood, Febis cradles the lifeless head of his friend.
Meanwhile, the muffled sounds of battle are heard through the open archway.
"I thought you were going to be my friend," Febis cries to Dillium bitterly.
Dillium quickly checks the bodies. All have been dead for ten or fifteen minutes, beyond a simple revival. Dillium leaves Febis to his grief and dashes toward the open archway. On the other side is a moderately-sized room with rubble strewn around. It appears that one wall has collapsed. There is a hole at the top where some of the rubble has been pushed away, leaving a man-sized space to squeeze under the lintel of a hidden doorway. There is a dim red light (so, more lava), and voices. Dillium hears the sound of metal on stone and the grunts of men in battle. Scampering lightly up the pile of loose stones and rubble, she scootches through the hole at the top, sliding down the other side. There she finds several unknown people who are watching Arthur, Zander, and Novos in battle. As she arrives, the last of some sort of animated stone statues crumble to pebbles. Arthur's armor is scorched down one side, and he limps slightly. Novos is barely on his feet, and as Dillium arrives, he sinks to his knees, panting. Zander sheathes his sword, and Felicity puts away a wand. Three grubby men and what might charitably be called a woman (under many layers of dirt and grime) stand around, unarmed.
"Now you remember, all this is the lawful property of our company. You don't go gettin light fingers now," says one of the Hand in the most "southern drawl" Damaran accent ever.

End of Chapter 8

[1] Based very loosely on Fire Forge Caves by Dungeon Baker in FiveE magazine https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/367470/fivee-magazine-august-2021
[2] https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Ford_of_Goliad
[3] The duke has a company of cavalry barracked just outside Helmsdale.
[4] Probably too far away for it to have been the party, back when they were called Dragon Force in Chapter 32. On the other hand, maybe it was?

And I'm so damn glad I won't have to see her ass next year. She's terrible. She constantly assigns projects back to back and gets mad when you don't finish in time and reluctantly pushes the due date, even though a lot of her deadlines are INSANE. One time she wanted us to make individual artworks for a local contest within 3 days. 3 days.
That's not nearly enough time considering she doesn't consider the skill level of majority of her students. But even If you can say, "oh that's not bad she's just pushing you to suceed" SHE FUCKING HATES HER STUDENTS. Even on the first day of class (I enrolled mid winter) she was being really reluctant to even welcome me because I didn't pay the 20$ fee. (which nobody told me about. Including my counselor who LET ME CHOOSE my classes.) Okayyy. Weird. There's been multiple times where students have attempted to get closer and conversate with her, and she won't say anything or will say the most basic shit like "oh okay" and do quite literally the real life equivalent of this. "🙂😐" in a fucking second. I can see her eyes crease. I can tell she's faking it. She doesn't even try. And I don't give a fuck how much she hates her job or if she's depressed or not, I'm depressed too!! Doesn't mean I treat my STUDENTS who I'm literally SUPPOSED to help like shit water.
There's been several times where she's raised her voice at my classmates asking simple questions or getting annoyed because "it's already on the board" when 99% of them are just asking for clarification, NOT for you to repeat yourself. I've had to help my own tablematss with assignments because she'll just repeat the instructions listed but won't actually try to help them understand so they can worke efficiently, and she'll get mad at ME and call me out in the classroom saying " (name) this isn't a collaborative assignment you can't help them with that blah blah blah" even when I fucking calmly and logicaly explain I am helping them with the INSTRUCTIONS and nothing more.
Earlier today I was working on an assignment where there was a line on the paper and we has to transform it into a full piece. Okay cool. I'm drawing a girl swinging from a set and I get to the legs, and at this point I thought they looked off. I'm opening my chromebook (keep in mind theres 2-3 other students with theirs open as well) to search some irl references for the pose, and this bitch behind me goes "(name) you can't copy from pictures you see online that's not in the criteria it has to be your own original work and we aren't using our chromebooks at the moment" like bffr. I was drawing over 10 minutes before I EVEN GOT IT OUT MY BACKPACK. She was sitting behind me at another table. She can SEE the entire classroom and knows they're other students using their chromebooks.
She never told us we couldn't use them at the start of class, and there wasnnothing on the board saying that. She chose ME out of like 10 students, and for what? I have done nothing from her except apparently "invade her personal space" by throwing away a goddamn paper at the other side of the classroom. I've literally done everything I have to remain respectful yet she won't offer that shit in return. I'm sick of her.
And just so you all know how fucking P.E.T.T.Y. she is, I'm sending the images of my own artwork and the reference I was looking at below. Good fucking bye art.

Part of my homebrew world is the existence of the Countless Deities. They're not outright gods, as the only god in the universe doesn't interact with anyone, it only creates new worlds and realms.
One aspect of the Countless is that they all have their own designs on the world and will form pacts with mortals to help them in return for the mortal doing their bidding. Sometimes these pacts create Warlocks, but some pacts are just a one time exchange. For instance, someone dies and a deity makes them or someone close to them an offer to resurrect the dead in return for something of equal value, generally another life.
All of the Countless follow a set of rules, one of them being "The pact must be possible for the mortal to fulfill their end and that the Deity must uphold its end of the pact."
One adventure I was thinking about was that if a player or someone important enough dies, a Deity will approach the players, offering resurrection in exchange for the death of a specific Devil. A life for a life, an even swap. The Deity offers to have the players teleported to hell to do the job.
The fight against the devil is simple enough. He's not particularly powerful, but the devil was maintaining the seal on a much bigger, meaner, and far more powerful devil that one of his ancestors tricked and sealed.
The massive devil awakens, thanks the players for setting him free, stating that he will now unite all the devils across all hells (there are several), even pays them a fair bit of gold before sending them back due to the devil not seeing the player characters as a threat, with the characters having the knowledge that they just unleashed something that is going to have some serious repercussions, leading to a potential BBEG later on, either with them going back to hell to take it down before it can unite the hells, or later, when the devil finished uniting the hells and opens a portal to the mortal realm to invade, conveniently not too far from the player characters, and they have the opportunity to correct their mistake, or perhaps flee from it which would have its own consequences.
I'm mostly torn on whether this is a fun twist or something that's going to lead to accusations of 'railroading" if they refuse to deal with it and the devil leads an invasion of the world.

What he says to me in response of me finding out he was cheating on me, by looking through his phone. He wants me to know how it feels to “have my privacy invaded” I swear he is more mad I found out than anything. I’m pregnant, I felt like I needed answers that he was never going to give me on his own. Most recently he has opened up about the fact that he’s cheated in every relationship he’s been in. He’s also been gaslighting me into believing he told me from the start he wanted a polygamous relationship. This is the first I’m hearing of this.. had I known sooner I would’ve left. I’m sick to my stomach everyday. I feel like he’s making me question reality….

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Romuna Administrative Orbital Headquarters, United Confederation Occupied Territories of Earth (QUAL-ZANV)
May 8, 1945
-------------------------------------------------------------
Commander Dunajski
- - - - - -
We were the watchful eyes over Earth. That was my job. The only thing second to that was the search for the missing pieces of my life.
As usual, however, that work was hard. After all, the past two years had been the same process. I get my human subordinates to find a list of names from anywhere: concentration camps, labour camps, ghettos, and all of those rotten places. Then, they'd hand me a report with the unimportant names blacked out and only the specific names I needed were left uncrossed. I had spent two years doing that process, every day on this station was spent doing that. Finding those two was the main goal of my life; It's what let me wake up every morning. The hope of a reunion.
But, until I got my hands on another report, I was keeping myself busy with monitoring my subordinates on the Romnua Space Headquarters as we orbited over Southern Africa. Something to help me take my mind off of everything was admiring our native Earth from my post. The golden deserts of Namibia and the green rainforests of the Congo dominated the view from the huge glass wall that separated us from the cold vacuum of space. Although I’ve been on this damn station for two years now, the sights never cease to get a gasp of amazement from me.
The Confederation used this station and 16 others to monitor and keep tabs on anything happening on Earth. We were the keen observers that protected Earth from any foreign incursion.
A bit ironic coming from the people who invaded us.
At least the Germans didn’t fill us with such lies.
The only reason why they chose me to run this joint human-Confederation sector was because I was an unwilling favourite of their high command. I was one of the best remaining generals in Poland. I served in the Great War and the Polish-Soviet War as a lowly troop, but I was a respected general by the time of the German invasion in 1939.
I defended my country for as long as I could. I resisted for a long time after our official surrender. When the Nazis got to me, they carted me off to a labour camp. Then I escaped and continued the fight on the British Isles, being airdropped and ferried out on multiple occasions. Once the Confederation arrived, my fight against the Nazis and their brutal occupation ended, but I was left without the sunshine of my life.
“Here’s the registered civilian report, sir,” a Lithuanian lieutenant saluted as he handed me a manila folder with a printed paper that had a list of names typed onto it. Even though Lithuania and Poland weren’t the greatest of chums before the war, occupation by the Soviet and Nazi barbarians created a sense of tragic camaraderie between our people.
“Did you file out the names?” I asked calmly, flipping open the folder. I kept my ears open for the response as I waded my hands across pages of paper with smooth flips.
“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant replied as my eyes scanned the paper. The names were crossed out in black marker. I scanned it top-to-bottom and page after page. I began to lose hope even more, but then again, it’s not like there was much left of it anyway.
I had been searching for them for two long years. Two years of going against the rules of our hulky alien occupiers. I used their systems to find evidence and our tools to file them out into something comprehensible. I wouldn’t trust an “AI” to find the names I was looking for. The Germans kept well organised records of everything well-organised, so a good thorough search was probably the best thing I had. Still, however, it was an arduous process.
But, just as that thought appeared in my mind, it was my eyes that had fixed on the one name I had been anticipating for the last two years:
Katarzyna Kaminski. My love.
I must’ve jumped with joy. I’d done it! I found her! After what? Six long years of waiting and searching! Finally! First my wife, and then that would open the gate to finding my son too! After so long! I’d see them again! This day was something to be remembered forever!
“Oh, you did your job spectacularly!” I cheered to the lieutenant. However, his expression was more grim.
“Ne, pone,” he advised sombrely in Lithuanian, shaking his head. "The top of the page.”
I was so hooked in my search for any sign of my family that I forgot to even read the title of the page. Looking up, my eyes locked onto the print and read. In a moment, my hopes were stamped out and rage and suffering swallowed my heart like the deep blue ocean.
Registered List of All Prisoners Killed in Auschwitz Death Camp in the Year of Our Lord 1942
Everything went silent in an instant. I froze upright with my eyes glued to the paper. My ears began to ring like a shell had just hit nearby. My face bubbled red in embarrassment, rage, and most of all, misery. My legs felt just about ready to collapse inward and my hips were ready to explode outwards. My body pushed against itself, betraying my fundamental being as my eyes reread the name over and over, trying to make some worthless attempt to console my burning body of emission. None of it worked.
My Katarzyna. Gone. In one sentence. All my joy trampled in a second.
She died not even with a proper burial. She died leaving her son and not knowing if her fighting husband would even embrace her again. All of my searching, and the result was this. This.
It seems that the story of my search for my loved ones ended here. But upon reviewing the rest of the list in silence, I couldn’t find a single mention of a Jakub Dunajski. All my hope was gone to the extent that I held out no idea that Jakub survived the camps.
If his mother didn’t, then he didn’t either.
The final verdict of my search hit me like a train: I would never see my family again.
That depressing day I had to leave them in September of that fateful year was the last time I’d ever see my son and wife again. Our paths diverged with me toling in labour camps hoping to escape to find them once more. And while I was fighting onwards in England, they were shipped to Auschwitz to die. While I was toiling in captivity, they were being beaten and tortured daily. While the Confederation swept across Europe, they were gassed or gunned down in their cots.
After all this time, the thought that I had been suppressing for my entire search was now the dominant ruler of my brain. It was the fact that I had failed them.
I did not sob loudly, I did not scream. Nor did I stamp the floor or tear the page from the folder. I resisted them all. As I had for the past six years. The only response the Lithuanian got from me was a barely audible whimper and a tear.
The tear rolled from my eye down my shaved cheek, slowly dripping down and curving up to my chin in a swift motion. It hung there delicately as if it was absorbing all of my pain into it. Then, when the load became too much for it to bear, it fell. Quickly slipping off and dropping down before it slapped against the white page with a plop. A stain that looked like a crater in no man’s land now rested, ingrained into the paper that killed my hope.
The paper that essentially killed my wife.
Silence engulfed the room and ringing my ears as the words and black marker on the paper became no more than a blur, incomprehensible and unidentifiable. That’s what I wanted anyway, every glance at the page would just finalise the fact that it all was over. That I was alone.
“Legion-Commander Henix wants to see you,” an unforgiving feminine alien voice came from behind me. I jumped in response as my head flew back to meet the alien.
It was a Yetiayhu. And, as was apparently commonplace, they had the typical fangs and talons that all species other than us seemed to have, along with a giant tail that had a little ball of fur at the very end of it. Adding onto that, the Yetiayhu had large expansive cool-coloured frills that were interrupted by little blackish-blue dots here and there, like some Amazonian animal. Their bodies were slimmer than others but still pretty much buff tanks compared to me.
“For what purpose?” I replied with a brow raised in suspicion. My experience in the military and as a resistance head gave me a good tutorial on how to suppress the tears in one’s voice. After years upon years of endless trial and error, I had pretty much perfected it. But, in the case of my reddened eyes, I brought the brim of my military cap down to obscure my eyes.
“He didn’t tell me. Get moving,” the Yetiayhu hissed, her frills fluttering in annoyance.
I almost forgot that the aliens didn’t give a shit about any of our feelings. I’m sure showing too much emotion was an offence in the Confederation military. Could you imagine emotion being a punishable offence? What sort of dystopian fascist hellhole did that!?
Oh wait, I could think of one: Nazi Germany.
My eyes subtly fixed on the Yetiayhu with a bit of contempt that she came to me at my worst moment. I just found out that my wife was unceremoniously killed in a death camp, and she was just acting as pouty as a kid. Granted, she didn’t know of my suffering, but that attitude is deserving of a wrist-slap back on my world.
Too bad for me, the world I’m referring to was no longer even ours anymore.
“You better show some respect,” I huffed, containing my emotions in a little capsule of misery.
“Last time I checked, you were still a transpec,” she scoffed. “Get to his office. Now.”
I couldn’t say no. The first was because she was right about our species’ standing as a “Transitional Species”. But the other reason was because the females of these species were huge. It made sense since their system of governance was a matriarchy. But even then, this bitchy Yetiayhu was a good 2.3 metres tall, towering over me by quite a bit.
Why the hell were these species so damn demonic? Did nature really just shit on us for all of evolution? Every single alien species I had ever seen was some sort of superhuman being. Was there some galactic hierarchy that I didn’t know of? But whatever, there was nothing I could ever do about that fact. The most concerning thing on my platter now was finding the fate of my only child. Whatever Henix had would have to come second.
But either way, I obliged. Leaving my little command sector with a scowl. The doors hissed shut behind me and I turned to my left and began my journey. To prevent an emotional disaster, I tried to ease my haywire senses by inspecting the futuristic facility around me.
Around me was a circular walkway that wrapped around the edge of the station as the outer rim wrapped around the core. Now that I think about it, the station resembled more like a solar system than the bullseye some of the Hungarians compared it to. There was a huge spherical central command at the core of the structure, and then there were the rims. Those were essentially shorter tube structures that wrapped around the centre. Like an orbit.
But these “orbits” weren’t separated by any spaces at all and were all bunched together and connected. The only open space in this station was between the centre and the outer sectors, which was only punctuated by multiple pressurised walkways. The other sectors and posts were in a concentric batch of circular structures around the core. Where I was going, was into the core.
I strolled along the outskirt walkway before taking a right turn into the deeper sections of the station. The view changed from a large window of space to machines and tech beyond my comprehension as I made my way into the inner sectors. The closer it was to the core, the more important it was. These areas were exclusively for the Confederation members, so no human without permission or clearance could enter. But apparently, they were okay when I was there. Many of them gave parting glances before getting back to their work on their “holograms” and “holopads”.
That was something to note, the tech difference between our two civilisations was greater than we could even conceived of, following the Armistice. I watched as humanity went from pigeons and telegraphs to radios and enigma. Now these aliens had “networks” and “internets”. All the new tech was annoying and complex, I never knew what to do. That’s why my sector, the only sector with humans, used telegraphs, enigma, morse, paper, ink, pen, typewriters, and everything else that you would find in an earthly workplace.
I went through a workplace that was basically a science fiction book. It had bright white individual work pods, big glowing blue screens that weren’t even tangible, and so many other things that were too much for me to comprehend. This was stuff only a writer could come up with! Even if we had all of the guns, tanks, and planes our planet’s resources would’ve let us make, it still wouldn’t have even come close to the weapons of the Confederation and their sophistication.
After a long stroll through the labyrinth of connected stations and workplaces, I finally reached the connecting walkways. I entered a little middle chamber that hissed a little gas onto me and ran over me with a blue and red laser. The other doors then opened and I was let through into the lightless walkway.
Once again, only space shined through the top glass dome that ran across the whole upper section of the walkway. But even if I wanted to, I couldn’t even gaze at the stars due to the circumference of the spherical central command blocking half my vision. The outside cover of the sphere was white and hexagon padded, which just added to the already humongous gap between humanity and our Confederation conquerors.
But, even if I looked beyond that when no structures were blocking my view, I could see at least a hundred or more blocky slabs of black and grey.
And there it was, the Confederation Occupational Fleet. It was so menacing with all of their Vatican-sized ships. Except, those ships were only frigates. Their fleet had cruisers, frigates, destroyers, battleships, battle cruisers, carriers, supercarriers, and everything in between. All to monitor our little desolate rock of two billion.
Their supercarriers which were probably the size of Rome, were the prides of the enemy fleet. Those bulky beasts and their battleships were the literal symbols of their superiority. All of these ships had enough firepower to raze a good million or so Earths. Why they sent all of this to deal with a species that hadn’t done anything past grazing space with a V-2 rocket was beyond me.
Overkill, My mind ranted to itself. Ego just radiates off those ships like heat from the sun!
Speaking of the sun, in a good few months, there wouldn’t even be one.
Or, to be more specific, it would be pretty much enclosed in a megastructure to harness power from it. The Confederation called their mad project a “Hrana Complex”. Construction began even before they attacked Earth, and they were making progress. Whenever a human complained about it, the Confederation ilk always shot them down with either a patronisation of their primitive nature or a response that there would be a small window for Earth to receive light; As if that was better.
The sun was dimmer and dimmer by the day, the one light that all humans looked up to was fading. Blocked out by tech and machines from the occupying powers. That’s like if the Germans built a big space shield to block America from the sun and kill all of their crops or something.
The idea was so alien that not even I could come up with a relatable explanation for it!
After a long while of distracting myself with successful results, I finally reached the other side of the walkway, which was a large metal door. I now had to push the heavy metal door open with difficulty as it slowly hissed open. Upon entering, I was greeted by two Bwkas, who were basically supersized humanoid bears, but with deadly attributes tripled in their power and appearance. Of course, I was met with the average stare of contempt as I made my way up to them.
“And why are you here?” one of them growled with venom as it balanced its heavy rifle in its claws. Those “rifles” were the size of an anti-tank rifle or an Ami bazooka. The difference was that it was also automatic and powered by plasma. Just by seeing that, anyone could’ve already predicted it to you that humanity was doomed from the start of the war.
“Legion-Commander Henix wanted to speak with me?” I replied with a head tilt.
“Up the stairs and down the left hall to the right,” the other grumbled with a snarl of its fangs. He was talking as if I didn’t know where my own senior officer was.
I rolled my eyes secretly and trudged on. Scurrying off into the main lobby, I gazed up to see that the vertex of the roof was an absolutely stupendous 40 metres high! That just added a cavernous feeling to the multi-floored white chamber. It was a whole office building in space.
Not many of those were left in Warsaw anyway.
As I made my way toward the circulating stairwell, my gaze snapped to the circular stellar map that projected a huge three-dimensional view of the galaxy. I couldn’t help but be mesmerised by the glowing non-touchable lights every time I saw it. The map was of the whole known galaxy, the dark pink was the Confederation at the centre. It was huge, at least triple the size of the second largest power, whose name was in an alien tongue unknown to me. All the other colours were of the different species that were independent states and empires of their own.
Free from the forced “civilising” we were suffering through.
Annoyingly, my long black military boots slapped against the clean granite floor with loud audible clacks. This, of course, instantly drew attention from all the beasts around me. All of them looked at me with confusion before it morphed into what I assumed was judgment. These species didn’t think highly of us at all. I mean, according to them, we were uncivilised brutes. Dumb primates that just invented new ways of chucking rocks at one another.
Now, that wasn’t wrong per se. But, it wasn’t nice when that was their one sole opinion of our species.
From the beginning of my tenure here, they practically spat on me. They saw my use of our antiquated tech to be insubordination, and savage in nature. Whenever I did my Polish two-fingered salute, they saw it as disrespect and dishonour. Whenever I didn’t eat the same solely raw and carnivorous diet as them, I was a disgusting omnivore who was a greedy bastard wanting to steal from both sides.
Whatever that meant! Imagine being persecuted because of what you ate! On Earth, we were prosecuting each other over other stupid things like skin, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, how people looked, and everything else similar.
But!
Nobody was stupid enough to get mad at each other over food. Muslims didn’t kill Christians over eating pork. Jews didn’t kill Muslims over them eating dairy and meat on the same plate. Food was food. We all needed it to survive. Yet, the aliens saw it as just another thing to hate us for.
How could these things hate us but somehow still force themselves to occupy us? Why didn’t they just let us duke it out in the battlefields and on the high seas? Why were they just lamer Nazis? Death by slow assimilation and bigotry was worse than death by starvation, labour, or the firing squad.
Making my way up some circulating steps to the second floor, I took the turn and rushed down the hall before finding the door to Henix’s room. Pushing it open with a low drum, I was met with the dark room of Legion-Commander Henix. The only thing lighting the room was, of course, empty space. Since we were higher than the orbiting sectors, his window was actually able to see into the rest of outer space.
The dimming sun reflected off of the station’s concentric exterior and the stars shined bright through thick glass and into the little dark room. The floor was akin to an emerald-coloured rug and the walls were shelves for storage devices like their “pads” and “drives”.
“Greetings, sir,” I opened to the Kohaul with a two-fingered Polish salute.
The Kohaul were the typical humanoids, but they were practically copies of wolves. Light grey fur, a huge bushy tail, and a patch of dense hair around the pelvis area that acted as a sort of frontal tail. Hazel or blue eyes. And, obviously better than us in every way as usual with fangs, semi-venomous saliva, better hearing with their dog ears, the ability to run faster, especially on all fours, and all of that useless garbage that I was used to. Humanity was clearly always the weak link.
Ending my salute and looking to the right, it was then that I noticed at least three other foreign beasts. I quickly recognised them as superiors of different stations and fleets. Why they were here just added to my paranoia.
A Wenli, a Felshan, and a Geinna. Or the more simplified version being: a humanoid dragon, a blue lizard, and a literal Pacific folk beast.
If you were to continue simplifying it even more, you’d come to the definition that they were the three species assigned to resistance mop-up duty on Earth.
“Now, now,” Henix growled. “What is the way I taught you?”
Sighing deeply, I put my Polish general cap to my chest with my left hand before bowing slightly. They wanted us to purge all of the things that made us Polish soldiers and make us their soldiers. I wasn’t going to give up so easily. No matter how much they held me in high regard. They would have to acknowledge that Poland was for the Poles and I would never be anything else.
“Now, I know you are a good commander. You have served us well,” Henix began with a flick from his dog ear. “But, something has come up in recent days that has been of horrible concern to us.”
“And that is?” I asked with a raised brow, sitting at the open chair in front of Henix with a grunt.
“Wasting Confederation equipment and materials on something unsanctioned by any relevant superior on this station,” the Geinna replied for Henix with a hiss.
Oh, kurwa.
They had caught me red-handed. Was today just the day my luck ran dry from its coffers? I was now completely at their mercy. But, these aliens were brutes. So, I was sure that I’d be beheaded within the next hour.
I had tried my best to scrub all evidence of my operations. I put in false reports and fake alerts to give them the facade of me just doing my job. It appears that they saw through my ulterior actions quickly. I was using their tech to do it. Why did I not expect them to know!?
“Now, unless you would be so kind as to tell me why, maybe I’ll pardon your charges,” Henix warned with a composure that put me off.
“Charges of what?” I asked fearfully.
“Well, normally, that would just be a reprimand or demotion at the worst. But since you are a species that we are trying to integrate into the galactic community . . . the punishment is equivalent to treason.”
Henix must’ve seen my face go pallid as his expression softened from robotic seriousness to empathy in a moment. I didn’t despise Henix at all, and this was the exact reason why.
He could feel empathy.
Unlike most Germans.
And he showed reason.
Unlike most Germans.
“Oh, no, don’t worry,” he reassured me with a sombre grin. “I personally do not wish for that fate to befall you. You have served me well. I’ll defend you. But I can’t do that if you won’t even tell me why.”
I would’ve, but I couldn’t. I trusted Henix. Sure, he was as bigoted and cold as his shitty peers. But, I could trust in his word. He wasn’t a crook. But for his comrades present? For all I knew, this was a death trap to get me to confess and to justify a sudden execution. It's not like they would've cared much if I lived or died anyway. I was expendable.
“I know nothing of this,” I affirmed, straightening myself in the slick white chair. Since I was practically a master of all things cold and emotionless, I could just put off a face of resolute honesty without any weaknesses, barring the death of Katarzyna. They’d have to fuck off eventually for that reason, and I’d be more careful with my further searches.
But then again, Katarzyna was dead, and Jakub probably was too. There was nothing else to really risk my life for. Because I had no more life. The two I loved most were gone. I could’ve just let myself die here. I had nothing else. My parents were dead, my home was rubble, my country was occupied, my wife was dead too, and my son was too. I had nothing left to fight for.
“You are the only human in this position of power,” Henix hummed. “We chose you for a reason. You had talent and composure. But this we cannot tolerate. Don’t play coy and tell us.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I huffed with concern mounting in me and gnawing on my soul. “I do not know why you seem to want to frame me for such a crime.”
“Commander Dunajski,” the Felsha snarled. “We’re not stupid. Do not try and lie to us.”
“I am not lying,” I turned to the row of beasts with a scowl. “Whatever could I even use the equipment for? My subordinates only use human machines. Typewriters. Not ‘holographic display devices’ or any of that fancy tech. Why would I even?”
“Commander Duna—”
“No,” I cut off in a calm but harsh tone, “this will not continue.”
Henix looked between the beasts and then he zeroed in on me with his steely blue eyes that rivalled mine, “I know you’re lying, Commander. This will simply mount your charges.”
“In fact,” the Felshan admiral began with a sad smirk, “you could be helping resistance movements for all we know. That level of treason is something very few get and it’s for a good reason. Does that sound like something you’d want?”
“I didn’t do any of the deeds of which I am accused,” I held my ground with a growl. “I have nothing to gain!”
“Do you not?” Henix growled, now agitated. “I’ve noticed a lot of care in searching for a ‘Katarzyna’ and ‘Jakub’. Is there any reason why?”
The Geinna nodded, “Are these contacts or aliases? You know well what fate awaits you if we prove their origin to be that of a resistance cell.”
Oh, Bog. I was really stuck now. They knew their names too. I couldn’t just shrug this off. If I continued parrying their questions, I’d totally get beheaded. They wanted us to be as meek and docile as possible. Me standing up to their accusations instead of folding probably already probably fucked up my chances of clemency.
I looked up to Henix, and his blue eyes were unforgiving. He was waiting for my next move, like a brutal game of chess. I turned to look at the three bastards to my right, their eyes were filled with scorn and disgust at me, at my people.
Just like the Germans.
“I-I . . . I don’t . . . They aren’t . . . ” I began before letting out a deep sigh to empty my tight lungs. Silence enveloped the room for a good few seconds. I couldn’t fight on anymore. I’d lost. “You win.”
“As expected,” the Wenli grumbled. “I expected better of someone like you. But I guess the nature of such a volatile and insubordinate species like you would always dominate your actions.”
I didn’t mind that blatant patronisation of me and my kind as I just looked up at Henix with decimated dreams. Henix seemed to note that I wished to talk as he leaned and sat up straight in his chair. He’d listen. But not his ilk.
“Do you have a testimony, Commander Dunajski?” Henix purred with his head leaned in on his arm.
“Well,” I began with a wince, “i-it’s for a selfish reason to be fair.”
“Mhm,” Henix replied, pulling out one of his hologram pads to write down my testimony. Even if I trusted him, as of now, I couldn’t even trust him with writing my own testimony. For all I knew, he’d probably just warp it into something reminiscent of a last-second attempt at deception or just plain begging.
Then again, he was my best chance to prevent my fate from manifesting.
“I-I-I . . .” I stuttered, not finding the words to express my suffering. My throat burned and my eyes filled with tears. My face of composure was just as fragile as my mental health. All I knew was going to shit.
“You what?” Henix snarled. “I’m not here to take stutters as a testimony. Give me a comprehensible sentence or I can call the guards in to take you to the brigs.”
“I j-just want to find my family,” I blurted blindly. Clamping my eyes shut, I waited for my reasoning to be torn apart by the monsters before me. The monsters that were killing our homes and assimilating us.
Just like the . . . Oh, you know who!
After a little while of uncomfortable silence, I reopened my eyes and looked up at my prosecutors. Henix’s ears perched up in surprise at the confession, and I heard the slaps of tails and the rustle of scales from my side. I expected that to be an even greater reason to punish me. Using their tech just to find my family? Treason it was. I couldn’t even pull myself back together when a few tears rolled down my cheek as I looked to the floor once more in shame.
I fought and worked for Jakub and Katarzyna. Now both were gone. And even if Jakub was still alive, he would be without a father too in this new world. Nothing was happy about this unceremonious end. My story was over, and so were the stories of my family, friends, and parents.
“F-family?” Henix finally hummed with a hint of shock. He then attempted to hide it with his monotone voice. I slowly and quietly sobbed to myself, cursing my weakness. “Tell me more.”
The other beasts in the room shuffled their feet and locked their gazes on me with a bit of anticipation. I was a bit confused by the reaction. How was saying they were my loved ones a game-changer? But, I didn’t pay much attention anyway, my mind was filled to the brim with the stone-cold fact that had haunted me since the beginning of my searches:
I was now alone.
“Wife and son. I-I don’t know where they are. I was searching for them both. Using your systems, I . . . before you summoned me here, I got a report. In it, Katarzyna, my wife of twenty-two years, is dead. My son . . .” I gave a miserable chuckle, “only God Almighty knows where he is now.”
I should have never cried. I should have never shown emotion, especially on this damn station. Emotional control was the most important here. These beasts were very organised and very honour-driven. Crying itself was probably considered treason. At this point, it was just another thing to add on to my list of present offences.
Everything was collapsing in front of me in quick succession.
Instead of scolding me though, Henix just looked at me and watched me fail at controlling my sobs. It gave me an odd feeling that he was just tacitly judging me rather than chastising me verbally. The other beasts were the same, simply wagging their tails in thought or tilting their heads. It unnerved me a bit, but I was too busy internally cursing myself to care about it.
After what felt like my whole tour in Bolshevik Russia, Henix gave a low growl and a wag of his bushy back tail with the words of his sentencing response pushing against his fangs. The fate waiting for me was only a second away, and with that one growl, I’d be done for. What a fool I was to trust any of these pigs!
“I’m sorry about your predicament,” he spoke slowly. “When we saw the crimes of your ‘Nazis’ it became one of the major reasons why we intervened on this damn planet in the first place.”
What a lie. My brain cackled nonchalantly. They’re doing the same things as the Nazis; Although this time, it was all of us who were suffering from it.
Rolling my eyes, I saw through the bullshit. They were no different.
Scraping at his slick and futuristic desk in ponderous thinking, Henix refocused his pristine and steely blue eyes on me, “What you did was unprofessional and highly dishonourable. Anyone who did such an offence would’ve been discharged or demoted with the snap of a maw.
He shook his head in another short pause as he formulated his next response. I hated the silence, I just wanted a “yes” or a “no” if I was to be shot or not. The aliens had a knack to be blunt, but also verbose. It didn’t make sense, but that’s how they worked. And boy did I hate it!
“But, I cannot even attempt to grasp the gravity of the situation you are dealing with,” he began again, snapping me from my thoughts.
I scowled with agitation and furrowed my brows, “Am I still being shot?”
“No,” the other Wenli interrupted with a sigh and a lick of his fangs. “But, we aren’t leaving you here either.”
My mind went berserk As if that was better! Leaving me alive at this point was punishment enough! Without this station, I’d have to scan all of Europe manually. It’d take the rest of my whole pathetic life to cover even half of Poland! Damn these beasts and damn their posturing!
“Well,” Henix thought, “I have an idea. Akvu?”
The Felsha stepped up from the group of beasts and bowed slightly, “Yes?”
“How about we send Commander Dunajski to be a part of the clearance teams?”
The Felsha slapped its tail against the floor in disdain, “Isn’t he under suspicion of connections?”
“I never saw it in him,” Henix replied. “He was hiding something? Yes. But I never expected resistance affiliations. He isn’t that type of soldier. Besides, I used the accusation to crack him, not actually charge him.”
“W-what is my punishment?” I interrupted with mounting impatience as I tapped my jackboot in annoyance. Talking about how they broke me wasn’t what I wanted to hear at the moment. What was important was my quest for my old life. I wanted my wife back, my son, my home, my country.
“So, the idea is,” Henix began with his hands raised in illustrative explanation, “we send you to Earth to root out the resistance pockets. Some random places like Roosiya, Anghipt, Brazza, Mixka, Cooba, and much more. But! There is also an ongoing search for a resistance network in Eirope.”
“Where?” I shot back with rejuvenated hope.
“Central Eirope,” Henix hummed with a grin. “Former human nations like Polna, Cjermaña, Nodorla, Belja, and Cnzecka.”
It took me a good second to decipher those names. What a mess of pronunciation for all of them they were. Since they were busy trying to wipe our uniqueness from us, the aliens had their own names for our old nations, just the same as how they put my Poland in an occupation zone called “Foije”. A stupid name. Now, they were just coming up with mispronounced names for the defunct nations of old Earth.
I absolutely loathed the name “Polna” because “Polska” was better in every way. But they were our conquerors, and they were the bastards who just sentenced me to scouring Europe for my own kind.
“Who’s under my command?” I sighed.
“Oh, just two dozen of every species in the Confederation,” Henix smiled.
“288? That’s kind of small,” I chuckled. “My all-Pole regiment in Britain was at least 1,000 strong.”
“You really think there’s only a dozen species in the Confederation?” Henix snickered. “No, there’s a good seventy. You really thought we sent all of our power across the galaxy to fight some small plucky band of primates? How adorable.”
That ticked me off, but since I didn’t want to bite the hand that spared me from a beheading, I kept my mouth zipped tight. My composure returned and I wiped the tears off with my sleeve as Henix talked with his other peers in their garbled choking that they called a “language”. My goals had shifted from not crying to not snickering as they conversed in the throat cancer they revered as an actual tongue to be spoken by someone.
“For now, you are dismissed,” Henix sighed. “I hereby remove you from your post. You will report to the bays for a debrief.”
“Can I bring my personal belongings?”
“No,” he replied coldly.
“Why?”
Henix squinted his eyes in anger, “Get there and don’t ask any more questions. You are still a disgraced officer and you will not be shown any more mercy from us.”
How reassuring, I scoffed to myself once more. These aliens were as blunt as wood! They might rival my old camp Oberkommando. Hell, they might as well be him!
Sighing, I pressed my hands against the smooth chair and shakily brought myself up again. With another stupid bow, I left while trembling in every limb. I was in a precarious position now. Anything that went wrong under my command, I would take the hit.
But, if it still gave me a chance to at least try and piece my old life back together;
Then I’d throw myself into it with an intrepid Polish spirit.
-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-
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ch8 -- Ambassador Nyektak-pack--so named because their alpha is the child of City Alpha of Ikun, Nyektak-pack, arrives in Kutwenyah city-state, a remote northern mountain town known primarily for being the headquarters of the Coalition of Cities. Though with 3407 member city-states, they can't all fit in the headquarters at once, so it's a bit of a crapshoot who might be there at any given time. Nevertheless, the appearence of an ambassador from a Tier 1 city-state like Ikun is bound to make a splash. This is perhaps the first direct glimpse of Kyanah diplomacy in action. Ambassador-packs from several city-states are angry at Ikun that they have been sanctioned for failing to ban geoengineering tech in their home city-states. This includes To-on Kan city-state, which has actually had a thriving weather control startup scene before sanctions from Ikun made it impossible to continue. A pack of ambassadors from Koranah city-state are also present at the coalition, fanning the flames and insisting that everyone must rise up together to defy the sanctions on geoengineering, so that they can create a global Climate Control System in which all city-states have an equal say, unlike the Water Distribution System which is de facto controlled by Ikun. However, the ambassador-pack from To-on Kan is skeptical, not wanting to risk Ikun withdrawing its military protection and sactioning them into oblivion, as they believe Koranah has its own geopolitical interests in their city-state, and publicly reaffirm their trust in Ikun to quell the flames that Koranah is fanning. Ambassador Nyektak-pack arrive in the middle of Koranah's diplomatic maneuvering, creating an awkward moment. Nyektak-pack proposes to the Koranah ambassadors that the two city-states collaborate on a giant 150 km, PeV-range particle accelerator in the desert, but they only agree to help if they have majority influence over the project, and Ikun removes its air base from To-on Kan; they claim it is intimidating smaller pro-Koranah city-states in the region, but secretly really they want carte blanche to invade To-on Kan and install a puppet regime to gain easier access to tantalum and lock Ikun's allies out of a critical supply, as tantalum alloys are used to make high performance nanogears for computers. Ikun refuses the deal with Koranah, suspecting that Koranah isn't as sincerely interested in merely promoting global peace and cooperation as they claim, and to reaffirm skeptical allies that they are standing up for the interests of smaller city-states, but it appears that many leaders are growing increasingly dubious of Ikun's value as a global hegemon all the same.
ch9 -- In To-on Kan city-state in the planet's far south region, there is an economic recession as the huge new district they built to create essentially a "silicon valley" type region for geoengineering and weather control, sits abandoned due to the geoengineering bans that they've been forced to put in place under threat of sanctions from Ikun. However, due to these economic strains, the City Alpha has been successfully challenged and removed from office, and the new City Alpha will no longer be enforcing the bans and will allow money to flow into the geoengineering district once again, sanctions be damned. In Ikun, Nyektak Nyak believes that they have a way to kill two birds with one stone by changing their mind on the particle accelerator deal and pulling the air force out of To-on Kan, and as for Koranah's demands of high level control of the project, they will have plenty of time to figure out a way to buy Koranah out or push them out. Further, it will make an example to other city-states that geoengineering industry will not be tolerated in Ikun's hegemony. Tun is skeptical, believing that pulling out will be a show of weakness that will destabilize support for the Hegemony and push more city-states into Koranah's sphere of influence in the long run. However, Aykay reassures him with some quotes from classic Kyanah literature, "the enemy is weakest when it thinks it's strongest" and "let them build the engines of their own destruction", so City Alpha Nyektak-pack goes along with it. Meanwhile in To-on Kan, a white-collar pack Nau-uk-pack has deep misgivings about Ikun's withdrawal and the turbulent economic situation, believing that dark times are ahead for the city-state. Indeed, they are proven right when after Ikun's troops leave, a coup almost immediately materializes and Koranah begins providing air support to the insurgents and bombing To-on Kan. Given that they have young children, Nau-uk-pack decides that rather than get drafted to fight or get caught in the crossfire, they will flee to Kanenhah, Ikun's strongest ally in the region, which they believe will be the last pro-Ikun regime in the southlands to fall if a Koranah hegemony ever comes to be.
ch10 -- By Y939, a construction boom is underway in Ikun. It seems like everywhere, new buildings and infrastructure projects are popping up like mushrooms, some of them quite speculative and visionary in nature. Icen-pack is doing pretty well for themselves, having gotten an actual full time position working for Ikoin Corporation expanding the pipelines of the Water Distribution System instead of having to fight for gigs. They have even been able to afford a brief vacation before starting their new work, and have decided to have a second pair of hatchlings in the near future--much to Raktan's chagrin; he likes being the only children, though Tyor is much more open to the idea of being an older brother. And Karok still wants to hold off for a year or two, just to verify that this really is it and Ikun is coming back. To smooth things over, and to celebrate once again having one stable, permanent job, Icen-pack get Raktan and Tyor new compute-watches and ship out to begin work on the Water Distribution System job on a hopeful note, albeit with some worries about the political turbulence in the southern hemisphere impacting such a global project.
ch11 -- Ryen-pack is beginning to settle into their job at the prestigious lobbying firm Kortak-Dakayan and advancing their standing within the company due to being highly charismatic and hardworking and making millions of qoin for the company and its clients, and making some serious money themselves. They've become ikoin (basically a Kyanah thing that's like friends, but more explicitly transactional) with an older and more experienced pack in the same office, Ition-pack, who run interference for Ryen-pack and cover up their mistakes from higher-ups in exchange for Ryen-pack taking on some of their boring grunt work on the side. They have also taken an interest in one of Ition-pack's young, Nua, who is reaching the age to soon separate from his birth-pack, and are considering looking to import him into their own pack. Outside of work, Ryen-pack is living the high life, eating out at fancy restaurants most nights, carousing until the sun comes up when they don't have work, vacationing to far flung regions of the world every year, and filling their home with rare trinkets from faraway city-states. Although they're intellectually opposed to Project Hope (and will gladly debate about it with anyone) and economically opposed because taxes have been raised on their profession to help fund it, but this doesn't really hit them too much on a personal level; between their high powered job and living in a gentrified district, they rarely cross paths with the bottom 90% of Ikun society anyway. However, things aren't that simple inside Ryen-packs; Konyan feels increasingly that their lives are empty and meaningless and they're wasting their lives enriching warmongers and corrupt corporations and they should've stayed in academia. Kerok, remembering the events of ch5, is of the opinion that scientists don't have much power and the only way to make a real difference is to pull strings in the government and advance their political power. This causes increasing friction between them, and Konyan becomes increasingly depressed, drunk, and unmotivated with the pack's work, leading the rest of the pack to feel as though she does not love them, as she is going against their goals, building mutual resentment and frequent fights.
ch12 -- In Y940, the first real progress in space has been made with Project Hope. Ikun's spaceport has been expanded and numerous SSTO nuclear spaceplanes are carrying supplies into orbit to assemble the Interstellar Vehicle Assembly Hub, a large space station that will serve as an orbital shipyard and living space for the starship construction crews. City Alpha Nyektak-pack is eager to start construction immediately, but a pack of Lawspeakers (with financial interests in the space sector naturally, though they also have an axe to grind against other Lawspeaker packs who have a vested interest in traditional mining and want to popularize asteroid mining to weaken their position) have convinced everyone that in order to ensure sustainability and prevent geopolitics from impeding access to materials, asteroid mining will be needed, and thus the annual agenda sections on Project Hope stipulate that all raw materials (rather than merely specific rare metals) must come from asteroid mining. Much to Nyektak-pack's irritation, this means that the project will be delayed and more expensive, but nevertheless, they direct the funds needed to send asteroid mining drones off to grab metal-rich asteroids and bring them to orbit for processing. At Toryak University, Nyektor-pack makes scholar of the second rank, a very difficult and arduous process, and become a student of the third rank, meaning that they must begin the process of coming up with their own research vision; they decide they want to start by working on some of the technical issues with the starship engines.
ch13 -- The joint Ikun-Koranah accelerator is progressing in the desert, 3D printers are being used to build the main tube; this is apparently the first time they have been used to build objects on this scale before. For the time being, the Ikun and Koranah engineers are mostly getting along, temporarily putting aside their nationalism out in the desert and occasionally even playing sports against each other, though talk of politics is carefully avoided by both sides--especially the Koranah side, where political officials are on site watching their city-state's engineers like hawks. Everyone is also keeping an eye out for hunter-gatherers and bandits, who have become increasingly dangerous as of late. With habitat destruction, pollution, and encroaching industrial activity threatening their traditional way of life, they've gone from riding nyruds and hunting prey animals to riding technicals and hunting the trucks and trains of the city-states, robbing them or holding the drivers for ransom to make a living. They've occasionally been sighted in the vicinity of the accelerator construction site, keeping everyone on their toes. Nyektor-pack arrives here to investigate issues in the accelerator construction; it seems that it will be less capable of producing antimatter than previously thought, so they will have to redesign the fusion catalysis to accommodate for this.
ch14 -- Aktektan-pack's life has changed relatively little in the past few years, except that the egg laid by Karien is now a child named Ractor, and they also have a couple more hatchlings. Both Ractor and his two new siblings are in an age where virtually constant socialization is required for healthy mental development and establishing their position in the pack; they basically can't be left alone. Aktektan-pack doesn't entirely disregard their responsibilities to their young, but aren't exactly doting parents either. Their socialization of Ractor ranges from dismissive, treating it as largely a formality by Nedak, to actively hostile and abrasive in the case of their Alpha, Nyaken, and Tanun, who laid the most recent pair of eggs. This imperfect socialization seems to show in their older young, who are constantly fighting aggressively for dominance and most seem to have various minor mental conditions. Nyaken herself has tried to lay her own pair but it is unviable, making her even more short-fused than usual.
ch15 -- Ptorya-pack has now become the general manager of the textile factory they work at in Ardonkin city-state, though they're still poor by Ikun standards. In Adronkin this means that they must frequently consult with the city-state's government about the factory's operations. While this forces them to walk a fine line between dealing with the often recalcitrant workers, the corporate higher-ups, and the government itself, this does allow them to keep an eye on what the city's rich and powerful are doing. It seems that a lot of officials are skittish about the possibility of uprisings due to an increasing scarcity of water, as the water levels in the oasis have been getting dangerously low in recent years. Attempts to draw water from the water distribution system have been rather unsuccessful due to the comparatively limited level of access they have to the hardware and software that control the system; if anything, the system is taking more water out of their oasis than it's putting back. A lot of executives and government officials have been making things worse by blatantly selling off the company's machinery and state assets and moving the liquid cash into their own foreign accounts as insurance against the looming collapse.

https://discord.com/channels/768815306667196436/1240701441039929345
CA_Pingu: Hello all!
Thank you for your questions and for joining us today for the live Q&A event with our Maya and Todor! We had such a great time with you all!

A little note before we dive into answers: There was a slip of the brain on our part, we are aiming to post our next blog at the end of May - beginning of June. Sorry for the confusion, looking forward to talking about New Cultures & Factions with you then!

And now – answers!
Q: future content How long do you think this game will be supported for , because I’d love for it to expand even more. Cheers
Total War:PHARAOH team: We've loved seeing so many people ask this question and while there's nothing for us to announce on that topic in today’s Q&A (we want to keep today’s Q&A focused to everything that we shared in the most recent blog), we didn't want to sail through todays Q&A without letting you know that we have of course seen that question, and we'll talk more about what's next for Pharaoh later down the line.
For now, all our efforts and energies are on this massive update to Pharaoh and there's plenty of great questions that we've already looked through that's giving us lots to chat about today.
Q: Before reading the rest of the message, know that it is translated with google trad, so I hope there are no errors in it
Thank you to the whole team, frankly you are doing a remarkable job, and this expansion of the map, playable cultures literally makes me dream ^, could you tell us when this update is planned please?
CA_Maya: We're equally excited to see you excited.
The update is quite sizable and although we want to see it shipped ASAP it does require quite some time. We don't want to commit to specific dates at the moment, but hopefully it could be ready sometime at the end of Summer. Still - we will confirm a date once we get closer to completion.
Q: Will there be a Mythos mode integrated into the game, and if so will you need the dlc and base game troy to play it?
CA_Maya: Let me put it this way - have we discussed many options for a mythic mode, researched monsters and gods from each area of the world, imagined Cerberus battling a Lamassu and a Phoenix (Benu bird)?...
Perhaps >_>
But do we have plans for that right now - no. We aim at delivering a solid update and that's the sole focus of the team. The future is the future - we'll see when we get there.
Q: First of all, amazing work on Pharaoh. This and high tides are looking like they'll elevate this game to the ultimate bronze age experience. I just had a question about map sizes. Have there been any tests to see how the extended maps play?
With there being so many settlements and such vast amounts of lands I'd be curious how long it'd take a faction starting in Egypt to interact with somewhere far off like Babylon. Is it common for Egypt to arrive in these areas after X amount of turns, only to find them completely conquered (or razed to the ground if the sea peoples got there first).
The faster sea lanes seem like a good solution for Greece and Egypt being so separate but I wonder how the game will play with the usual land movement and expansion - unless these have also been tinkered with.
I look forward to trying out this update in-game, whenever that will be. This will be the biggest historical game by no. of settlements by my count! Exciting!
CA_Todor: We are doing a variety of tests involving AI controlled factions as well as members of the dev teams and QA. As you can imagine, testing a campaign as naturally as possible (no cheats!) is a very time-consuming process but is vital to understand what it is that we are developing.
We have observed a variety of behaviours from both AI and Human controlled factions which lead to different situations on the campaign map.
Usually there is at least one faction in each portion of the map that gets to dominate their immediate vicinity by around the mid campaign and in some cases, there are factions that hold on to their starting territories but manage to secure lands in more distant ones.
This is something the player can do as well, and it really depends on where you are located on the campaign map. From the Egyptian factions Ramesses will have the easiest time to reach Babylon (and perhaps conquer it), with focused effort this might be done by turn 50-60.
Sea Travel Lanes are there to facilitate transition and conquest. You can use them to migrate to new territories, especially as the Sherden and Peleset Sea Peoples who retain their horde and settled gameplay.
In a playthrough I tried to migrate with Seti towards Crete and the landmass of Greece. I managed to do that and, as you can imagine, the Mycenaeans were not happy about it. I have yet to finish that campaign, by the way…
Q: First, congratulations to the team, it seems this is going to be the Bronze Age experience everyone was hoping for. A question concerning map expansion and thinking about previous titles like Empire Total War, for example, is there a limit to just how much more map can there be? Is there an engine limitation for example, that would either on this title or another deny any further possibility of expansion? Thank you for your time Edit: to clarify, I mean the size of the map, like pixel by pixel, not in terms of settlement numbers.
CA_Maya: There were some technical limitations which our programming team had to solve to unlock the ability to extend the map in all directions (previously it could only be expanded to the east).
And of course there's just the technical limitation of making a campaign map so vast that no machine can run it
Ultimately, it's a matter of optimization and common sense, and keeping in touch with the time (i.e. the average user hardware spec :D)
Q: Will see a Custom City map of Babylon? This is a fantastic update and I am really liking the changes to the campaign map. In this, will we also get any improvements to the combat system in terms of sieges?
Also, will we see a custom city map of Babylon to fight and sack in? It's mentioned here: In Mesopotamia, these include the White Temple of Anu, the Great Ziggurat of Ur, Chogha Zanbil, the Ziggurat of Enlil, and the Great City of Babylon, a significant major settlement awaiting conquest. - Can I load up Pharaoh, and then click Babylon as a city to besiege?
Will it be shown and will the Mesopotamians get their own cinematic cutscenes? What other unique cities of Mesopotamia are we going to get?
CA_Todor: I am happy to say that we have created a unique settlement battle map that represents the city of Babylon for you to defend or torch to the ground as you see fit.
We have specifically designed it to correspond to the historical period as the Late Bronze Age city of Babylon was different from the one in the later Iron age.
What we tried was going backwards. We researched the more famous later version of Babylon and we cut out the parts that can’t have existed in the Late Bronze Age.
We’ve made sure to include a couple of landmarks - Etemenanki temple and Esagila, which housed the statue of Marduk. There is a sort of a moat surrounding the city walls and a canal that cuts through the city itself.
So, the overall layout of the city – city gates, main streets, along with landmarks - is represented in the game although we made sure that it abides by the rules of Total War gameplay.
A fun fact is that a few of the Major Mesopotamian cities are based on the layouts on actual Mesopotamian cities, such as Mari, Ur.
Q: Will we be able to move our capital in this expanded map ?
Being able to change our capital is something I have wanted for a while. Especially for factions where the starting position gives them a minor settlement as a capital,it would be very desirable.
CA_Todor: We have been seeing this feedback for quite a while. Changing your capital does not have significant gameplay value in Pharaoh but is something that players want.
While I can’t make any promises, it is definitely something that we will discuss to see if it is feasible.
Q: Can we get a Dorians invasion? Or Cimmerian? Phrygians? Urartians?
CA_Maya: Cimmerian Invasion? I like the sound of that! We shall see (and hear the lamentation of Anatolian factions perhaps).
Q: Number of Elamites
The area where I would expect to see Elamites looks quite small so I was wondering how many Elamite factions there will be and if the devs think they'll be a significant threat for mesopotamia or if the focus is mostly on fighting the Hittites and Egyptians
CA_Todor: There are a couple of Elamite factions in that part of the campaign map.
They are supposed to represent the constant (if occasionally potential) threat that Elam was for the kingdoms around Tigris and Euphrates, so we intend them to have a significant influence over the region.
I personally am quite happy that one of the Elamite gods is present in the Local Deities feature.
Q: Bronze Age Armenia and regions beyond the expanded map
So happy with the expanded map! Excited to see it bordering Bronze Age Armenia! Is there a chance for a future DLC for my historical homeland? Between 1200 and 800 BC, much of Armenia was united under a confederation of tribes, which Assyrian sources called Nairi ("Land of Rivers" in Assyrian").
But more generally, is the grand map expansion one and only? Or is there potential to expand it even more in the future dependin on the success? I bought Pharaoh the moment this got announced btw!
CA_Maya: We do have Nairi as a region in the current map expansion. Alas, we can't include absolutely every single Bronze Age culture that existed - especially since how hard that become the further away from the centers Egypt and Mesopotamia we move.
Alas, to paraphrase the saying – Gamedev, like Art, consists of drawing a line somewhere. This map is pretty big and it should suffice for Pharaoh.
The question is to add (bring back, implement...) very desirable for many fans ship battles that had in the Bronze Age a great variety . River battles could also be a tactical innovation .
CA_Maya: ”You can't have everything - where would you put it?!” You've probably heard the phrase.
And I agree btw - Naval battles are awesome to have. Very, very few people play them, and they are not as engaging and tactically versatile as the land battles, but just knowing they exist in a game feels nice.
The above phrase though in game development usually takes the form of - if you want to fit that into the game, which other thing should be left out?
It's a tough choice to make, but I believe the team has made the best decisions so far prioritizing the most wanted content and focusing on expanding the map and adding factions and mechanics, albeit instead of Naval Battles.
Q: Will battle maps be generated based on where you are on the campaign map, much like in older total wars? Apart from that, are any combat/battle changes planned?
CA_Maya: The short answer is "No".
The long answer is explaining the complicated but awesome process in creating battle maps.
Such an update would require to redo how the engine works currently. Instead of generating terrain based on the topography of the Campaign map location, what the current system uses is a set of handcrafted maps created for the specific climate zone and appropriate for the location, but those are authored meticulously by our level designers and world artists, who also place the very deliberately chosen Dynamic Terrain areas and are tagged to work with the new Dynamic Weather and Fire effects.
(they also do the hippos and crocodiles too!)
Q: I recently got into Pharaoh and have been really enjoying it so far, but didn't like that the campaign map got noticeably darker and less vibrant when I reached the Crisis civilization stage.
While I understand that one of the main themes of Pharaoh is the Bronze Age Collapse, and the map getting more bleak is supposed to represent how detrimental it was for the nations that went through it, I personally really love how aesthetically pleasing the Prosperity campaign map looks in comparison to the Crisis campaign map.
Therefore, I was wondering if it would be possible for us to get a setting to either keep it dynamic as it is now, or choose which of the three campaign map tones we prefer. This way, players like myself could properly enjoy their preferred version of the rather beautiful campaign map for the entire campaign, rather than portions of it.
CA_Todor: Portraying the Bronze Age Collapse was something quite important for us, we really wanted to create this feeling of impending doom, distant danger that looms ever closer and develops into an apocalypse.
However, I firmly believe that if a player prefers to play a game that is bright and sunny all the time, or perhaps bleak and desperate, they need to be given the option to do so. Again, we’ll have an internal discussion about this.
Q: Hello! First fo all, Troy & Pharaoh have brought us the best land battle maps of the entire franchise in my objective opnion.
But, they are small, constricting, and forbids us to outflank on an interesting scale. To be honest this generates quite a huge amount of frustration as it removes half the fun of having carefully designed maps!
And for the first time in the series we are able to enjoy massive Chariot formations, in some epic skirmish & chase maneuvers. But Land Battles need faaar more space.
There is a mod that expands map border on the workshop, it’s almost about right. But for the love of Total War, let us wage it in broad epic scope!
Cheers! And in hoping you guys can pull that of!
Will we see larger battlemaps? (Edited by CM)
CA_Todor: We heard this feedback from our player base before, around and after release of Pharaoh. So, for the Dynasty update we made sure to add maps with larger size for Mesopotamia and you will have more open space over there to conduct your tactical manoeuvres.
Unfortunately, reworking the size of the rest of the maps and at the same time bringing them to the expected level of detail and polish is simply not feasible given the time frame of the project.
Q: Will there be an option to turn off non-sea people invaders after a number of turns in the new map ?
CA_Todor: Ah, the Sea Peoples and the non-sea Peoples, a source of Bronze Age destruction and player feedback. On this topic I’d like to point out that we have reworked the way Sea Peoples invasions work and are currently experimenting with their behaviour.
We wanted to address how their armies act in various ways that players feel are frustrating, so we are striving to make them appear more natural. I’ll be glad to share more details further in one of the next Q&As.
As for the question itself, you should be able disable invaders of any kind even now via the campaign customization options, perhaps we need to make it more apparent for the player. Or rephrase it - the option title is related to Sea Peoples Army Count which is not sufficiently intuitive.
Q: Turning on Deities, Courts, and Legacies Earlier
Title says it all, really. Blocking the deities, courts, and legacies panel is great for beginners or those like me who like to be eased into that kind of thing so as not to have an info overload on first turn.
However, I noticed that some people were annoyed that there wasn't a setting in the campaign customizations to allow these features to be accessible at the start of a campaign.
Doubtless another reason why this was done was to not have the campaign go completely off the rails within the first 18 turns, but I know some people are masochists and they want that. Hopefully that's possible
CA_Todor: The gating is there to try and reduce the information overload for the player and, of course, it feels unnecessarily restrictive for a player who is already experienced and would like to just see what happens if they pick Ancient Legacy Akhenaten with Ramesses this time.
This is an excellent piece of feedback, we’ll have a discussion and see what would break if we switch the restrictions off as a campaign customization option. As I said before, I can’t make any promises as development is in full swing and there are a lot of moving parts in there.
Q: Will there still be an Immortal leaders mode in the new map ?
For those who like the immortal leaders or might want to have a break from dynasty and do 1 or 2 rounds as their favourite leader throughout.
CA_Todor: We absolutely have retained the option to play with Immortal leaders - it is in the campaign customisation options. It is a choice that you need to make before the campaign and what it does is what it says – your faction leader will not perish due to any reason. Of course, an immortal person tampers with the real-world representation of people and events but if this is how you prefer to play it, please do so.
Q: Mycenean (Troy:TW) Soundtrack Will you guys port over the amazing Troy soundtrack to Pharaoh along with the new cultures?
That'd be an essential in-depth part of the playthrough! Crossing all remaining fingers that you do!
Thank you for this expansion!!
CA_Maya: Both Pharaoh and Troy use dynamic music systems which combine music themes and fragments based on many variables such as location, time, mood etc.
As such it makes sense to get some material from Troy and include it into the tapestry of the Pharaoh music system for the areas on the campaign and the battle maps of the respective region of the expanded map - the Aegean Zone.
So in short: We've got the original Troy OST for the Aegean cultures, Pharaoh OST for the Egyptian, and some new music for the new regions which will be mixed in with the game soundtrack.
Bonus questions from the livestream chat:
Q: With the sea lanes added, will there also be a lane added from the eastern sea port in Mesopotamia that can send armies around Arabia to the Red Sea and vice versa?
CA_Todor: Unfortunately there is no sea connection between what is now the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea the south-eastern portion of the Arabian Peninsula is off the playable map area.
It is also very hard to find relevant and convincing information about civilisations from this part of the world in the Bronze Age Period.
Q: Will there be snowy areas on the new map? Nonetheless, thank you for your continued hard work on this project; I hope the beauty of this game is recognized by all fans of the series.
CA_Todor: No snowy areas apart from some mountain tops.
CA_Pingu: As soon as we will have recording of this livestream ready, we will update this thread (in the very first message).

Therapy, Meds, Magic Mushrooms, I tried to get better but no matter what I do I can't stop hating my home country, I can't rely on the police, hospitals and the government is openly corrupt, I've accepted there's nothing I can do to change the fate of this country so I started to focus inwards - hobbies, travel, new skills - I've been learning Japanese through doulingo and about three months ago I taught myself to skate and I started playing hockey.
I can't seem to stop thinking about how much I hate my country - to the point if it was invaded I would celebrate, if they tried to conscript me I would laugh, they won't even take my blood because I made a "choice" to be homosexual -but you want my organs? I am nothing but a second class citizen. Why should I die for the rich and the government when they are ready to dispose of me?
My home country is not my home, it is my prison, no matter how much I try to distract myself with hobbies or spending time with friends it all comes crashing down because after the novelty wears off I come to the same realization - there's no future for me.
How do I stop ruminating and move on with my life?

Therapy, Meds, Magic Mushrooms, I tried to get better but no matter what I do I can't stop hating my home country, I can't rely on the police, hospitals and the government is openly corrupt, I've accepted there's nothing I can do to change the fate of this country so I started to focus inwards - hobbies, travel, new skills - I've been learning Japanese through doulingo and about three months ago I taught myself to skate and I started playing hockey.
I can't seem to stop thinking about how much I hate my country - to the point if it was invaded I would celebrate, if they tried to conscript me I would laugh, they won't even take my blood because I made a "choice" to be homosexual -but you want my organs? I am nothing but a second class citizen. Why should I die for the rich and the government when they are ready to dispose of me?
My home country is not my home, it is my prison, no matter how much I try to distract myself with hobbies or spending time with friends it all comes crashing down because after the novelty wears off I come to the same realization - there's no future for me.
How do I stop ruminating and move on with my life?

Hey everyone,
I've had to do this whole post again (absolutely gutted) as the draft function let me down so sorry if I skip through a bit quicker...
Another day, another set of memes to look through. As always, you can catch my previous day round ups below:
13th May
14th May
15th May
To reiterate, the description of each tweet is to the best of my knowledge the references made to allow you to make your own view in context and the speculation is pure speculation on my part. If you just want to look at the descriptions and not the speculation then just ignore the speculation part.
This is just for fun and shouldn't be taken as any financial advice, make your own decisions, I just like the stock.
If you have anything to add feel free to in the comments.
Let's begin:
10am - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791106334517010680
Description: First we have Jigsaw from Saw, "Hello, Do you want to play a game?", it then cuts to The Prestige with the quote "are you watching closely?" and then it cuts to Lucky Number Slevin talking about the Kansas city shuffle and finally it's Nas with Made you look.
Speculation: Jigsaw used to capture people who were not looking to live their life and play games with them to show them that they actually do care about their lives in the end. Maybe DFV is referring to shorts desperately trying to get out of their position and showing they will do whatever it takes to do it. The Prestige quote comes from the scene here and shows a magic trick of money appearing. The Kansas City Shuffle is "In order for a confidence game to be a "Kansas City Shuffle", the mark must be aware, or at least suspect that he is involved in a con, but also be wrong about how the con artist is planning to deceive him. The con artist will attempt to misdirect the mark in a way that leaves him with the impression that he has figured out the game and has the knowledge necessary to outsmart the con artist, but by attempting to retaliate, the mark unwittingly performs an action that helps the con artist to further the scheme" and the Made you Look songs full line is "They shootin', Aw made you look" maybe referring to what is happening to the stock right now.
10.15am - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791110102797172804
Description: Here we have a scene from Kill Bill where the bride is about to take on the crazy 88 gang and the music Nobody but Me by The Human Beinz.
Speculation: On the theme of ultimate revenge, The Bride in Kill Bill was on a mission to well.. kill bill. Lots of to go through in order to get to the final boss and the song is maybe making a point that Nobody but DFV could have seen this coming or maybe he is saying RCEO can do it
10.30am - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791113879684325383
Description: This is taken from Inside Man, i think it's the opening scene and has the music Chaiyya Chaiyya, also taken from the original clip. DFV has imposed a cat looking over and listening to the monologue which reads "Pay strict attention to what I say because I choose my words carefully and I never repeat myself".
Speculation: Inside man is about an elaborate heist turned hostage movie on Wall Street. Don't think there is much more to say about that other than GME is most likely the hostage in this situation.
10.45am - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791117652276195516
Description: The first part of this meme is taken from The Office and Michael pulls up in a car with Lady Gaga - Let's Dance playing and states "it's Britney Bitch". We then cut to Britney Spears in her music video Hit Me Baby One More Time and the part "give me a sign" has the movie logo for Signs on it (much more of that to come)
Speculation: First part is a joke from DFV keeping the just dance theme going but then we go to hit me baby one more time and most importantly a reference to a "Just give me a sign". There are signs coming that something big is going to happen.
11am - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791121430836584789
Description: This is the intro to Goosebumps and follows a lot of the original clips theme, you can watch that here. Some key changes that have been made though, R.K Gill is on the briefcase, something has definitely been edited with the man's head holding the briefcase, the billboard shows a morph to Ryan Cohen, Ryan's dog is brought in and then it's "Bear Beware" and "Goosebumps, based on the memes by R.K Gill"
Speculation: This is a really fun meme, we see some more of RC and Roaring Kitty Gill all over this. Is there a partnership or does DFV just know that RCEO is about to do something big that will send goosebumps down the bears necks.
11.15am - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791125203147428066
Description: Next we have Broad City and the song Best Friend by Sofi Tukker. The meme basically just has lots of scenes around new york with friends just doing a lot of dancing. Just a fun meme of dancing really and a lot of it centers around the two best friends the sitcom is about.
Speculation: DFV and RCEO are best pals and with everything that is going on with the stock they are just dancing and having a great time. Essentially owning New York which of course is where the finance bros hang out.
11.30am - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791128976632459643
Description: The first scene is taken from Devil Wears Prada with the models hanging out in New York for a shoot and the song Crazy by Seal plays with the lyrics "we're never gonna survive, unless we get a little crazy" it cuts to the official music video then back to Devil wears Prada where they say "oh i get it, the piece is called urban jungle right?", "yes the modern investor unleashes the animal within to take on the big city" Roarrr
Speculation: Another meme from New York with predominantly girls hanging out. DFV maybe noting that we all unleash a little roaring kitty by taking on his thesis with Gamestop, dunno about you but I just like the stock. Things might get a little crazy, at least to people on the outside when they are asking you why you aren't selling.
11.45am - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791132751976120778
Description: This scene is taken from the movie Signs and the Rev Graham here is woken and staring at something on the roof that spooks him.
Speculation: There will be many more references to this movie, in this case the Rev Graham (who weirdly looks like Ken G) is getting spooked at something he thought he saw. Scary stuff if you are short on GME.
12.00pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791136527801807077
Description: This is also taken from the movie Signs and it's a quote, "See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?"
Speculation: Something big is coming, what kind of person are you? Is it possible there are no Cohencidences?
12.15pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791140301895352325
Description: Again from Signs, this shows the scene where the kid takes out his baby monitor and claims he can hear the aliens talking to each other. There's two of them talking he states and again we see the sign logo flash up. We then see an overlay of alien writing that isn't in the original clip so that's been dubbed on purposely.
Speculation: Things starting to get real interesting now. This looks to be a sign that something is happening behind the scenes. A baby monitor, what's RCEO got stored up? Maybe he is pregnant? Maybe GME is pregnant? Is there a merger happening? A split of some sort?
12.30pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791144075963298165
Description: This is the scene in Signs where they go to the crop fields and there are alien crop circles everywhere, only in this meme DFV has replaced those circles with GME logos. Many GME logos some with long running lines.
Speculation: Really looking like something big is on the horizon and DFV thinks he has seen the signs. This meme would suggest maybe its a merger with multiple gamestop logos but that's just my opinion. One thing for sure is that Gamestop has something on the horizon.
12.45pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791147851466047673
Description: This is the scene in Signs where the news start reporting sightings of aliens and they show a load of kids in a different country looking down an alley way only for an alien bearing Roaring Kitty as a face to walk by, scary stuff!
Speculation: This was actually the first scene from this film that made me realize i had seen the film before and a younger me was pretty freaked out by that scene. It could imply that they have landed, they are here and or DFV is at least. Certainly a they are coming sort of message.
1.00pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791151631259574559
Description: This is taken from the animated film Luca, where one kid says "what does it mean, the thing you just said?" and the other kid goes "Come on Ill show you more stuff"
Speculation: I think this is aimed at me writing this right now and whoever is reading this right now. Ultimately i have no idea what DFV is saying i can only speculate and DFV knows that, he can't outright say what he thinks but he can show us more and more cool memes.
1.15pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791155401091596494
Description: This is taken from 500 days of summer and DFV has changed a lot of the words here but essentially he is asked what he does and he says he makes Gamestop memes, the woman says he could be a really great investor if he wanted to be, he is asked why he went from being a great investor to making gamestop memes and he says "why make something disposable, like an investment thesis, when you can make something that lasts forever like a Gamestop meme"
Speculation: DFV having more meme lols here but really why would he need to do anymore investing, he already has his favourite company shares and the thesis is done, he knows what's going on and he is happy to stick with what he has. That doens't mean his thesis on Gamestop doesn't evolve, I just think he is done looking for other deep value plays.
1.30pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791159177785770273
Description: This is taken from The Shining and the song dubbed on is Matter of Time by Vandelux. The main protagonist and author in the movie, Jack is sat writing and it seems it is DFV and he is writing memes.
Speculation: Anyone that has seen The Shining knows that Jack goes to a secluded house with no distractions to write his book. Turns out it actually just makes him go completely mental and he ends up killing his family. I think DFV is just having some fun showcasing the time he has spent focusing on making Gamestop memes.
1.45pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791162950373527857
Description: We have Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See by Busta Rhymes and his music video. The lyrics he has chosen for this clip are emphasized and they are:
Flipmode Busta Bus (Uh, what?) Nine-seven (Come on, what?) Hot shit (Ha-hah) Check it out
Hit you with no delayin' so what you sayin', yo? (Uhh) Silly with my nine milli, what the deally, yo? (What?)
Do you really wanna party with me? Let me see (Uh) just what you got for me (Come on) Put all your hands where my eyes can see (Put 'em up, yo) Straight buckwildin' in the place to be (Wildin', nice, ha)
It then ends with If you really wanna party with Roaring Kitty
Speculation: More fun and dancing. Some interesting lyrics, Flipmode (reverse uno card anyone), Silly with my nine milli (could relate to shares, does RCEO have that much?) Could just be a fun meme without much else to it.
2:00pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791166726891061749
Description: This is taken from Sicario and it starts with the quote "so you wanna be a Sicario" and then shows the blonde reddit icon from the other sub tied up and then a guy looking pretty pissed off.
Speculation: The Sicarios were hitmen, that's basically what it means when it asks if you want to be a Sicario, do you want to be a hitman or assassin. The blonde icon from other sub tied up is in the place of a kid who was tied up in the film and certainly WAS NOT a friend of the Sicarios. Take from that what you will but I can't comment to much as it's about another sub.
2.15pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791170783277949042
Description: First we have a scene from No Country for Old Men with the quote "you can't stop what's comin" then we cut to a train tearing it up in Chicago and also taking out a double deck chair with a Chicago Bears logo on it then finally we go to a WWE smackdown with Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Speculation: No Country for Old Men has cropped up a few times before but it's about a killer who is pretty much unstoppable mowing these people down. The train wrecking Chicago and the Chicago Bears (as a Packers fan i liked that), well option contract writers are in Chicago I believe but also it's the original home of Citadel. The chair maybe is an answer to a Cramer tweet and the smackdown i'm not sure other than it being just a fun thing to watch.
2.30pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791174276604699013
Description: This is the music video for Punkrocker by Teddybears. It basically follows a man who is being chased by the police, the cops are coming but the guy seems pretty chill about it. He listens to the music with no fear and you can too. The words are in Gamestop white and red.
Speculation: I think that this could indicate that Gamestop isn't doing anything wrong with what's going to happen, they have warned again and again in their financial postings that the stock is being manipulated and is subject to squeezes. It could also indicate a GME investor has nothing to worry about legally either, just like the stock.
2.45pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791178049939182048
Description: This is taken from The School of Rock where Jack Black is trying to ask what it takes to rock out. If you wanna rock its not about scoring chicks, it's not about getting wasted, its about sticking it to the man, and you can't just say it man you gotta FEEL it it in your blood and guts.
Speculation: Only you can decide what sticking it to man means yourself in relation to having GME stock during a big squeeze event but for me personally it's been a long 3 and a half years of having crap tossed at me just for owning this stock and i certainly pissed with the amount of corruption and cheating that has and continues to go on. If shorts never closed and still have that position, that's their mess not mine.
3.00pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791181824754106742
Description: The main scene in this meme is taken from the film Stand By Me. You have two cars on both sides of the road. The good guy in this is driving on the wrong side of the road and the other gang are on the right side, it's a game of chicken with a truck coming towards the good guy as they both drive side by side. It then cuts to Bojack Horseman trying to do some comedy and being asked to get off stage, he states "I'm not done hold on" - it cuts back to the scene and the truck bails last second. The good guy just keeps on driving and goes in front of the other car having a victory sip.
Speculation: If you take DFV to be the good guy in this car scene then he just carries on with what he believes which is in GME regardless of trying to be chickened out of it in the face of adversity. You could also say he is Bojack and wanting to continue with his memes, he ain't done telling his memeroirs yet.
3.15pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791185600453783688
Description: This is taken from Everything Everywhere All At Once and shows a woman showcasing her awards, DFV has imposed some cat photos on her desk and also 3 awards that read

• DeepFuckingValue, Degen of the Month
• Roaring Kitty, 1st Cat in Congress
• Keith Gill, Best Ethics from the CFA institute (lol)

"The quote is Do you see these? You don't get one of these unless you've seen a lot of bullshit. Excuse my French. Now you may only see a pile of boring forms and numbers, but I see a story."
Speculation: DFV is a fucking dude, the guy has a meme trophy cabinet. To us or others we just don't quite see it like he does. If DFV thinks something big is going to happen you have the choice to believe it too or not, that's completely up to you. The awards are lol.
3.30pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791189376195854606
Description: The first scene is taken from Garden State, he asks her "what are you listening to", she goes "you gotta hear this one song" and you then hear Dont Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult and the opening lyric "all our times have come"
Speculation: Don't fear the reaper, if you hold GME you don't have to as it's not going bust. The company is not going to die. There are certainly some shorts that should be fearing the reaper though.
3.45pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791193149408223306
Description: This is a hilarious meme and i'm not sure where this is taken from but i'll try my best to describe it (really you should just watch it though). Two men are in a rich guys house, the host writes a note and then has to leave tearing the note off and taking it with him, the other sneaks up to the notepad, labelled Cohen, and tries to sketch the next page to work out what he wrote. What is revealed is a cartoon man with a huge dick.
Speculation: RCEO has a big slong, what else is there to say? Ok I think that he is going to do something big and it's an exciting thing to think about. Does make you think of the tweet of Steve Smith he posted with the erect penis too.
4.00pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791196925619789864
Description: A more recently made meme shows Jay Clayton talking about Roaring Kitty showing his first meme and saying "is this something that we should be tolerating in our markets, whether it's legal lalallull" then it goes to a clip of a guy saying "i mean what did he say fuck me for"
Speculation: DFV basically saying as we would say in the UK, "whatever mate". The guy is talking a load of bullshit and to bring up legality after all the stuff he has let slide as former SEC chairman, i mean bitch please!
Edit\*
8.00pm - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1791257325451493396
Description: First scene is taken from the car chase in The Bourne Identity, DFV has imposed a load of pictures of himself on the sheet of paper and then the car chase from the police proceeds (original clip here) There is a part in the middle of this car chase where the footage has been mirror flipped which means the steering wheel that would read Mini reads INIM then it finishes the chase and moves on to the opening scene of the movie Drive (original clip here).
Speculation: I think that the mirror flip of the video shows the steering wheel just at that point to sort of read "IM IN", surely not a coincidence given that is the only part of the whole clip that is flipped. The movie drive as someone suggested in the comments is about, "Ryan Gosling plays the unnamed Driver, a near-silent, methodical, mysterious, professional, highly competent getaway driver." - DFV has also tweeted about this movie before here.
Hope you enjoyed, still pissed i had to write this twice, my original had a lot more links to original clips and each Superstonk post as well! I'm off to bed, i'll update with the 8pm tweet tomorrow.
Love ya DFV x

It's annoying. I know I want to be loved. But my brain would rather do the loving. Anyone relate?
Hard to explain, but here are examples of what I mean:

• A roommate who clearly cared for me and would gift-give often. However, I always felt he was invading my personal space.
• An ex who put no effort into our relationship. I felt constant resentment, yet I felt strangely "safe" in the dynamic.
• Another ex who put in much effort, but I was always afraid around them. Being around them was like opening mail reminding me I had debt.
• Whenever someone gives me a genuine compliment, my brain freezes. Literally frozen.
• Whenever someone thanks me, I show no emotion, but deep down, I'm exploding tears of joy.

I've been unpacking a lot of these relationships/emotions via healthy outlets. I was wondering if other INFJs can relate. Maybe we can try our hands at rationalizing them, INFJ-style.

PC

Discord Tag: 7up
Name and House: Ronnel Arryn
Age: 33
Cultural Group: Valeman
Appearance: Cheekbones poised like a falcon perched, an aquiline nose after a raptor's beak, a stature rivalling a mountain's (if it were the size of a tall man), and blue eyes the same color as the sky. Aside from a propagandist's parallels to whatever sigil their patron displays, Ronnel Arryn errs from the example of the aloof falcon. Once possessed of a heedless will, a brashness and an impatience, those qualities have been tamed in turn by fatherhood, husbandhood, and rulership—though those traits still persist, merely tinged by the manner that an elder brother might take with the younger. His hair has shifted from dirty blond to sandy brown with age, and a trimmed beard covers his jaw.
Trait: Inspiring
Skill(s): Blunt Weapons, Cavalryman, Tactician, Cunning (e)
Talent(s): Falconry, hunting (non-mechanical 🤫🧏‍♂️), dragonriding
Negative Trait(s): N/A
Starting Title(s): Lord of the Eyrie, Lord of the Vale, Defender of the Guarded Domains of Arryn, Warden of the East, Warden of the Green Fork, First and Last of His Name, the King Who Flew, Rider of Vhagar (sometimes), and the Last King in Westeros
Starting Location: Feast
Family Tree

AC

Name and House: Marq Hardyng
Age: 32
Cultural Group: Valeman
Appearance: A broad and ruddy man, blonde, brown-eyed, and bearded. Marq Hardyng wears his duty on his sleeve; that duty mostly being hunting with his milk brother.
Trait: Hale
Skill(s): Swords, Investigator (e)
Talent(s): Tourney lore x3
Negative Trait(s): N/A
Starting Title(s): Scion of House Hardyng
Starting Location: Feast

Biography

Little of the Last King’s early years are of much import; Ronnel Arryn was born to King Joffrey I and Queen Sharra Arryn. His few memories of his father were that of a pallid man, wan and sickly but still a king who bloody well fought the illness that plagued him.
Or perhaps those were just fanciful tales, an imagined story that supplanted the truth of the matter.
Joffrey Arryn did at least survive, if he did not fight. Ronnel’s siblings, Jonos and Roland, would be born in succession. The falcons grew in number, Joffrey’s ailment ceased, and—the gods took him away and brought Arwen Arryn into the world.
Shortly after his sister’s birth, Sharra Arryn dressed her son in royal regalia and placed a crown on his head, assuming rule as sole regent while the boy distracted himself with toys and games. He would be nursed with Marq Hardyng, and he and his milk brother grew to be quick friends.
The Queen Sharra could not rest. There were new contenders on the horizon, greater than what meager assaults the Hoares could occasionally muster against the Bloody Gate: the threefold conquerors atop their dragons. Where the ravens sent by Aegon were met with scorn by Durrandon and hubris by the Hoares, Sharra offered alliance. Her hand in marriage and the left bank of the Green Fork to be annexed into the Guarded Domains.
The dragons rejected the offer, and instead, a Velaryon fleet was sent to take Gulltown and establish a foothold. They were repelled and the Targaryen ships were sunk for that transgression, but Vhagar’s fire consumed the Grafton fleet with them.
Ronnel knew what war was. It was like those tales in storybooks, that of the Griffin King and the Winged Knight, the legends of the Battle of Sevenstars. He, Jonos, and Marq fashioned themselves as Jaime Corbray or Luceon Templeton and fought each other over who could best live up to Artys Arryn’s example. When the Gates of the Moon swelled with men-at-arms, knights, and levied smallfolk, the three would find the most fearsome looking of them and challenge them to duels. Once he heard of dragons, though, Ronnel was consumed. He begged his mother to let him lead a parlay under a peace banner just so that he could see them, but Sharra sent him off to the nurses or left him to kick rocks in the courtyard.
The banners gathered, and the defenses were headed by Lord Rodrik Hardyng. Orders were given, the soldiers were drilled. And Vhagar’s wings cast a shadow so large that it engulfed the Bloody Gate whole. Shouting on the ramparts and in the valleys, but high above in the Eyrie? Ronnel, then just eight, was in awe at the sight.
Sharra could only muster a smile when she returned to find her son on Visenya’s lap. An accord was struck, on Ronnel’s terms this time: he asked to fly on Vhagar and his mother would surrender the crown to the Targaryen Queen. The mercy that Visenya afforded was well-taken, though in Sharra’s mind, the threat of dragonfire crystallized.
A marked shift came then. There were no battles to be won, no politicking to be done that outweighed the import of her sons and her daughter. The Queen-Regent, now the Lady-Regent, empowered her son’s advisors and devoted her time to looking after her children. When Visenya returned after burning House Sunderland whole and gave reprimands, Sharra frowned and offered blunt words in turn, which the Queen acquiesced to. Their relationship thawed hence, though Ronnel had never wavered in his admiration of the Targaryen. A Winged-Knight-Come-Again. Perhaps he could ride a dragon of his own one day.
Ronnel was a rowdy lad and by the time he was of squiring age, he was content to leave the rule of his lands to his mother and whoever she picked as an advisor. Lords such as Lyn Egen, Willem Ryger, and Rodrik Templeton would come to advise the young lord or hawk with him. Lord Mathos Grafton became the most prominent of that cadre, his wisdom in old age allowing him more room for criticism. Ronnel wanted to while his time away with falconry and training, while the old lord reminded him of the issues that Targaryen reign brought.
At four-and-ten, Ronnel stole away from the Eyrie and gathered what boys and knights he could to face the mountain clans. He knew what war was; it was the Root Father and his savages, stealing and laying waste to the lands he was sworn to protect. It was in the throes of battle that Ronnel would be dubbed as a knight by some unknown dying man. The knighthood was left unmentioned, though the purpose he found for his rule—no, his guardianship—lingered.
In his victorious return to the Eyrie, Ronnel would be clouted on the ear for the stunt then barred from leaving for months. Visenya Targaryen landed once more in the Vale. This time, she took it as a home, and she was welcomed with open arms. Aegon’s heir was born in the Eyrie that year, dubbed as Laenor Targaryen and soon practically adopted by the Arryns as their younger sibling. Sharra would grow close to the dragon queen in the years to come.
A year later, Ronnel was sent to King’s Landing to squire for Orys Baratheon. Only a few months elapsed before he grew incensed with the Hand over one thing or another, and the squireship ended when the Arryn came to blows with his knight-master. Ronnel was sent back to the Vale, where he earned his spurs once more. Publicly this time, before a crowd of tourneygoers and then holding a vigil with oaths modeled after those of the Winged Knights.
Though he gave off the impression of a true knight by that time, he was more preoccupied with wine and women and the hunt than statecraft. In any room he entered, he laughed the loudest, boasted the loudest, fought the hardest, always with Marq at his side. Nothing but a scolding from his mother Sharra or a clout on the ear from his second mother Visenya could fetter him. He was a falcon, and he flew high and bright.
Such a lofty stature is bound to attract envy. As any elder brother would, he butted heads with his siblings often. His rivalry with his brother Jonos was much more than a sibling spat, however, though the nature and root of their rivalry is unknown to all but a select few. In later years, their quarrels grew louder and their rifts deeper, with Jonos having been sent thrice to play second fiddle to the Knight of the Bloody Gate, and threatened with taking the black twice as many times. Still, their early quarrels proved to be mere distractions, and they wreaked what havoc boy-lords would in taverns and winesinks.
But his lip had to become stiff the day his mother died, just a few months after he came of age and assumed power. Sharra Arryn's last words of advice ate away at his spirit.
"Kill the boy."
So he was offered at the altar, and so did Rhaenys Targaryen seize the opportunity. Ronnel Arryn would be wed to the Queen’s lady-in-waiting, Serena Stark, and that match was confirmed by Sharra’s will. Yet numb, he received his wife to be in Gulltown with courtesy, and they were wedded with haste. Once a Princess of the North and now the Lady of the Vale, Serena found no home in the Eyrie. Ronnel came to avoid her; going on hunts, staying at the Moongates or even the Bloody Gate, and offering only short conversation in their rare meetings.
It came to a head when Serena stated her intention to return to Winterfell. Ronnel gave a shrug in response, and asked when she wanted to depart. Jonos could be his heir if need be, and his mother’s death still dragged his thoughts, so why bother at all?
The intervention of one dragon queen then another halted the split: Visenya reminded Ronnel that Aegon made two marriages work at once. A raven carrying a letter from Queen Rhaenys arrived, affixed with a ring wrought of Valyrian steel. Ronnel gave it to Serena as a peace offering.
There was no parting from the Targaryens’ grand plans, it seemed. So Ronnel’s marriage with Serena began anew. She would be introduced to the Vale and its customs with feasts and tourneys, sitting on councils and holding court as the Lady of the Vale. In the same vein, more familiar items and furnishings were brought in from the North, and Ronnel would journey to the weirwood tree that the mountain clans held sacred to try to pray with his wife. He did not hear the old gods’ whispers and could not bear the stillness, but the two came to understand one another, and their marriage grew warm. Their first child, Robar Arryn, was born a year later, and the Tourney by the Maiden’s Bay would be held in his honor.
Ronnel settled into his reign. His liveliness returned, though boyish pursuits were restrained with fatherhood. He replaced the Keeper of the Gates of the Moon after the Cavaliers proved more competent, sent tax collector after tax collector when Witch Isle grew silent (and nearly called the banners before being dissuaded), and ensured that the mountain clans and any other would-be invaders were quelled while Lae Targaryen was raised to be a greater king than their father. The Brotherhood of the Winged Knights, once decrepit, grew stronger after pieces of the Winged Knight’s armor were found.
His second child, a daughter, would be born then. Faced with the choice of naming her after Sharra or Visenya, she would instead be named after her great-grandmother Cynthea. Artos Arryn would follow four years later, his name chosen by the Lady Arryn.
Another day in the Eyrie. Five-and-twenty years after Aegon's Conquest, and near thirty years into Ronnel's reign. He slides a razor over his cheek and coughs once into a fist. Ronnel opens his palm to see droplets of blood. He wipes his cheek. A shaving cut, no doubt and no matter.
The next week while he sups with his family, the coughs come back. He excuses himself, blames his trip to the valleys with a chuckle, and Jonos meets his gaze with a sidelong glance before shirking away.
He sees his maester without telling anyone. And once more after a hunt. Soon, he is left sitting on his bed with grains of sweetsleep in hand and a warning: he would die. And soon.
Ronnel Arryn is honorable. He is just, or at least just enough. But when he bounces his son on his knee and looks into smiling grey eyes where his Stark mother's are oft stern, he wonders whether the next Targaryen to come to the Eyrie would let little Artos fly or burn him and his family whole.
It is not enough. Ronnel Arryn is not just enough. As the last king yet walking on the earth of this damnable regent's kingdom, he needs to ensure that the next monarch in Laenor Targaryen sits firmly on the Iron Throne before he dies—honor be damned if need be, by any means fucking necessary. That is his duty to the realm. That is his duty to his wife and children, and that will be his legacy.

Timeline

• 8-9 BC (33 now idk how BC works): Born the first child to King Joffrey I and Queen Sharra Arryn.
• 3 BC: Joffrey I dies of a chill. Ronnel is crowned king at age six.
• 1 BC: After House Grafton’s fleet is burned, the armies of the Guarded Domains gather at the Bloody Gate. Visenya’s landing.
• 2 AC: The Three Sisters burn.
• 4 AC: Ronnel begins squiring for Elbert Waynwood.
• 6 AC: Ronnel fights his first battle against the Sons of the Tree, and undergoes his first dubbing.
• 7-9 AC: Visenya arrives at the Eyrie. Ronnel departs for King’s Landing to squire for Orys Baratheon, returning after a fight with his knight-master. He is knighted once more at a tourney.
• 10-11 AC: Sharra Arryn dies, and the Arryns’ grief is cut short by a match arranged by Rhaenys and approved by the Lady-Regent before her death. Serena Stark and Ronnel Arryn are wed, and the marriage nearly falls apart before the intervention of the dragon queens.
• 12 AC: Robar Arryn is born. The Tourney by the Maiden’s Bay is called in the new heir's honor.
• 13 AC: The Cavaliers fight off the Painted Dogs outside the Gates of the Moon, and are given wardenship over them as reward. Marq Hardyng begins pursuing the tourney circuit.
• 15 AC: Cynthea Arryn is born.
• 19 AC: Artos Arryn is born.
• 23 AC: With Jonos Arryn settling into a discontent life at the Bloody Gate, the need for a sworn sword is lessened. Marq Hardyng travels to Essos to search for clues linking the Winged Knight to the Andal conquerors. He finds none, and returns a year later.
• Early 25 AC: An illness wells in Ronnel’s lungs. His maester tells him that he has about a year to live.
• Late 25 AC: The Arryns travel to the celebration near King’s Landing.

Sup porting Characters

• Cortnay Arryn, 54 (General): Ronnel’s uncle. Once a prince, Cortnay served variously as the Knight of the Gate, the Captain of the Guards, or an advisor. Cortnay is known for his exasperated sighs, and struggles to keep up when he hunts with his nephew. Still, he has a good head for tactics and participated in actions against the Mountain Clans and the Hoares.
• Jasper Arryn, 19 (General): Ronnel’s second cousin. Though removed from the main line of House Arryn, Jasper was raised in the Gates and remained a fixture in the Arryn household. He swore vows modeled after the Ash-Branded, though his cheery disposition seems to contradict them.
• Cynthea Corbray, 78 (N/A): The Queen-Grandmother claims to have been asleep when Visenya landed in the Eyrie, and preserved her coronet by hiding it in the Gates. She resides at the Gates of the Moon with the Cavaliers, and it has become tradition to pay one’s respects to her when passing through.
• Jonos Arryn, 31 (N/A): In another world, Jonos would be known as the Kinslayer, and he certainly possesses that propensity. Wed to Maris Grafton and perhaps favored by her lord grandfather, he has long since hated the Targaryens, and blames Visenya for his true mother’s death. Jonos’ truculence precedes him, and he is kept fettered with thankless offices.

The menace has spread across the galaxy, and continues to, inexorably, do so.
The horde of clicking and clacking shells scrape across rocks; they pick their way up plant stalks; they jab their pointed feet into the very flesh of anything they can digest; they do these things as they warm across everything. Their ravenous maws devouring every digestible morsel that their claws can crush, rip, or shred.
The only worlds that have been safe from the horror of their infestation are those whose environments are so harsh that no life can survive on the surface. Even then, out in the darkness, they could have made hibernation colonies from which they could re-spread across the cosmos at any time.
Every star-faring race knows of them and, equally so, fears their reproductive cycles. Fears their emergence from a long sleep on the 23rd or the 29th cycle before the adults either hide themselves deep or die, leaving billions of eggs and larvae to grow until the next cycle.
No one, not even the vast horde itself, knows which world spawned their like nor is there any indicator of how long their menace has writhed across the blackness of space. For all of the sentients who have encountered them they, simply, are. They are a massive threat and precautions need to be taken in advance of them waking to preserve some semblance of the societies on the worlds that have fallen victim to the great armored monsters from the stars.
Children are taught, from a young age, to flee from anything resembling the monsters, even tiny versions, because where there is one, there are many. Where there are many, there are millions. Where there are millions there is a danger to all. Millions of tiny legs can stab through the youth of any sentient species, inducing intense pain and inflammation before the pincers start tearing the flesh from their bodies, devouring them whole in bites as the swarm covers hides them from any hope of rescue.
The littles ones can, quite easily, be crushed but doing so draws the attention of the horde and any who dare to crush one are soon victims of the many. They can be obliterated by projectiles, but their collective intellect quickly determines the origin and will overrun it to protect the horde as a whole. The individual monsters have no sense of self preservation, but their collective hungers for life eternal and will eradicate entire worlds to accomplish it… before harvesting the resources to flee to the blackness of eternity for another world.
There are histories that show worlds succumbing to the monsters in as few as 4 reproductive cycles, though the more technologically adept worlds have achieved stalemates with the horde such that neither can ever eradicate the other from the very essence of the planet. These worlds are the most prepared when the claws sprout from the ground, but they are also the ones that suffer the heaviest during the rampage of gnashing, armor-plated craws.
Most worlds succumb after a few hundred years, each cycle of hatchlings draining a bit more of the ecosystem into the growth of the horde. These worlds flee, often taking eggs with them to start the cycle anew on a new world, ravaging the escapees before any of them even have a chance to establish a new life.
The Galactic Council of Sentients has a standing policy of destroying any horde vessels that are encountered in deep space, but the odds of such encounters are extremely low. The GCS also has a policy of expending any effort, including exhausting the fuel supplies of entire fleets, to push any Horde ships found entering a system directly into a collision path with the star; the energy needed to create such delta-V is worthwhile as it has been the only way to protect worlds from an onslaught. The GCS also has a standing policy of leaving worlds with developing sentients alone and allowing them to develop their own star travel before revealing any secrets of the cosmos to them, EXCEPT when such a world is in direct line to be invaded by the Horde. The GCS’ one exception to the non-interference clauses for developing worlds is to warn them, and save them if possible, from a Horde invasion.
—---------
It was not possible to do anything but report the dire situation around Yellow Star 176J438B. The Horde rockships were slowly tumbling through space on a collision course with the third planet in the system, the only planet that supported any conventional life forms and one of the four bodies in the system that were known to be within range of the Horde’s tolerances.
Report and wait.
The only concern is, do we tell the sentients of this world, who have barely touched the sky around their world, that their end is nigh or do we allow them the peace of ignorance until the last moments of their existence?
Anthropologists have recommended both courses of action many times in history, all depending on the understanding of the world in question. If it is believed that the news of impending destruction will cause their society to implode and reign a special kind of horror down upon them of their own doing then it is always determined to let them survive in ignorance until the monsters fall to their world and begin devouring everything. If, however, their development arc indicates that they will band together and find some sort of collective solace in knowing that they are not alone in the cosmos AND that the others chose to warn them of an incoming apocalypse so that they can try to prepare then the GCS permits contact and warning. Either way, the planet is doomed, but how their destruction plays out is the only assistance that can be offered to them.
Yellow Star 176J438B, it turns out, is a bit of an anomaly as their culture is so heterogeneous that the anthropologists are not sure which is the best course of action. The GCS waits. The observing survey ship waits. The Horde tumbles ever closer.
—----
The survey ship reports in that the sentients of the doomed world have launched a probe at the Horde vessel. A primitive craft, equipped with many sensors and electronics to, clearly, try to study the inbound vessel but, also, armed with a nuclear warhead the likes of which no sentients in the entire GCS have ever build before. The probe vessel closes range on the Horde ship, two silent and soulless entities sliding through the emptiness of space between the worlds of this remote star system. The probe, using all of its resources to ascertain what the sentients of the world have seen in the heavens careens without power toward its destination which, just hours before the impact, alters the vector of its travel by a fraction of a degree in all axes, allowing the sentients’ probe to harmlessly pass it by, now destined to be lost in the vast emptiness of interstellar space.
There are but a few weeks left before the Horde lands on the world and the great devouring begins. The sentients of that world generate a vast increase in radio chatter about the mystery object. The survey team mourns for the future that they must witness.
The horde’s giant rock ship hurtles slowly, altering its spin and its trajectory in such a manner that it will perform a graceful landing on the remote world. A graceful landing followed by a vomitous disgorging of legs and pincers onto the land and into the seas of the world.
The sentients, aware that the giant rock is under some sort of power and, apparently, going to land instead of raining destruction on them in one giant collision, gather by the hundreds of thousands to see the unprecedented event in their history.
They watch as the rock rolls out of the heavens, shunning fire and smoke and blasting heat in intolerable waves, as it gently sinks halfway into the ground. The trees around it erupt in flame before a vast emission of CO2 extinguishes the fires, and the people within range. The corpses simply fall where they suffocated from the wall of gas.
The rock cracks open and the monsters emerge. Little ones, the size of the hands of the sentients emerge in the millions followed by monstrous beings of various sizes. The tiny critters swarm over the corpses of the dead, shredding their flesh and clothes and devouring them, leaving skeletal remains in their wake. The larger monsters swing their claws out and grab bystanders, crushing them in their great pincers or ripping them in twain, before gorging on them.
The sentients retreat.
The screaming and the cacophony of panic fill the skies nearby and ripple through the radio waves in the broadcasts of their world.
“Dem aliens are crabs!” one specific sentient is seen over and over again in various broadcasts in various frequencies and formats. “They’re monster crabs from outer space! Well, ya know what? We know how to deal with crabs where I come from.”
And with that the sentients of the world began to mobilize. A vast moat of fire was lain, and maintained, around the landing site so that the crabs could not flee across the land. The sentients brought in vast tanks of water and, to the shock of the anthropology observers, began heating the tanks of water.
The sentients used flying machines to grab the largest of the Horde and dropped them into the boiling water; they scooped up the littlest Hordlings by the millions and threw them into the water. The Horde thrashed and fought, but each individual’s death lessened their intellect and their ability to try to outsmart the beings of this world.
The sentients, after a short span of weeks, had eradicated all of the active members of the horde on their world. Each and every one was boiled or roasted and then, to the horror of the observers, eaten. The sentients of this world, it seems, had many similar forms on their world and found them delicious.
The report to the GCS included this information and the GCS begged the observers to make contact to learn of this technique.
The denizens of this backwater world had just managed to bring hope to trillions of other sentients across the galaxy that, perhaps, there was a way to fight back against the horde from the heavens.

I finished Rebirth last night (full disclosure I watched Shirrako's playthrough I don't have a console and I didn't play it myself. I wanted to watch it because I am a passionate OG fan.)
My first thought was, that the ending was "fine.". It was engaging enough to keep me up later than I had any business staying up. It also made me think of a weird trend of PS1 era games which was (not accusing OG of this just a trend during that time) to be unnecessarily confusing to setup for a possible sequel.
Then someone posted their thought gets on Rebirth 's ending and they mentioned Cloud having PTSD. They also posited a theory that there are no multiverses or other worlds and that there is only the knowledge and the possibilities and the alternate choices that exist within the collective knowledge of the ancients contained within the Lifestream.
Its my opinion that understanding that both Cloud AND Sephiroth are unreliable narrators is extremely important to understanding the end of Rebirth in a way that doesn't require you to go "well it is confusing because we will have answers in the 3rd installment."
I am not going to theory craft here because you all picked up a controller and played it for anywhere from like 50-200 hours. I watched it sporadically on a series of videos. I acknowledge that fact and I'll inevitably miss things. So this isn't a theory as much as it is a dedicated OG fan opening that SE is NOT "bastardizing" the story with a bunch of multiverse nonsense. SE is NOT trying to reinvent a new story. The ending of Rebirth takes everything that made us fall in love with the OG and says "you were right to enjoy this. Let's explore these concepts more."
First let's talk about Sephiroth. Current Technology allows us to see Sephiroth 's menacing eyes and his cool poses. We hear his confident words and we get to have a more upfront viewing of his bullying of Cloud. It gives the ILLUSION that Sephiroth knows what he's talking about about. And an Illusion it is.
Remember that Sephiroth says that the Black Material is designed to merge the worlds. We know it's not. We know the Gi created it to summon meteor. Suddenly the reunion is no longer about Jenova's cells or Sephiroth clones it's about reuniting a timeline. This is still the same Sephiroth who thinks that Jenova is his mommy.
OG's remember the controversy for a while that brewed up because in the Temple of Ancients Sephiroth said that the Central were aliens who came to the planet? Back then there was a lot of confusion over that. The bad guy is monologuing right? Is he revealing historical exposition? No. We all later realized that Sephiroth was revealing that he has no idea what he is talking about. Sephiroth doesn't have some secret knowledge of the multiverse. This is the same guy that only knows what Jenova wants him to know.
So what about this idea that the multiverse is the Lifestream? Well there is a basis for this in OG. Aerith describes the Lifestream as containing all of the knowledge of the ancients. So it is not as Sephiroth says that whenever you make a choice in New world is created. It is instead that more knowledge is added to the life stream. It is instead that another possibility is learned and explored choices are played out some of them are resilient and some of them don't last long because they're unsustainable.
Either way these aren't distinct worlds they are the cumulative knowledge of the ancients existing in the life stream watching l, assessing and learning. They know how things play out, they can interpret where these choices will lead.
But I really want to keep the focus on my option of why Rebirth seems to be celebrating the best parts of OG on such a deep level.
Because if we allow Sephiroth to be a tragic super soldier who is manipulated and led around by some Lovecraftian alien then we return to the dynamic of the original game. But now the deception is worse. Because remember that Sephiroth's body is frozen in crystallized Mako in the Lifestream. He has seen the events of OG play out. He's lived in that "timeline."
And that means Jenova has seen it too. That means that Jenova needs to come up with a deeper set of lies and a new play to run. It's not a "sequel" because we are in a new timeline. It's a "sequel" because Jenova and Sephiroth sat back, watched them have their asses handed to them and are now cheating with that sneak preview by literally changing the game.
The game never gives us Safer Sephiroth to fight. It gives us Bizarro Sephiroth. Safer Sephiroth will come later when Jenova needs him but for right now Sephiroth isn't a good. He is the monster he's so terrified of being. Rebirth has all of these small flourishes to remind us that it hasn't forgotten why we love this game.
The story hasn't been butchered or complicated or burdened. It's exactly the story you fell in love with in 97.