Example narrative texs

Rampant speculation about about myths and symbols used in Westworld the TV series

2016.10.29 00:27 Throwsiepants9000 Rampant speculation about about myths and symbols used in Westworld the TV series

This is a place to record symbols, motifs, allusions and other clues about the nature of Westworld. How does symbolism relate the show to wider mythological constructs, and what might that relationship mean for the plot going forward?

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2014.03.20 17:46 dadschool Cool Guides

Picture based reference guides for anything and everything. If it seems like something someone might print, physically post, and reference then it is a good link for this sub. Remember: Infographics are learning tools, guides are reference tools. Sometimes it's grey.

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2018.11.15 21:18 nf5 Warhammer Narrative

Warhammer Narrative exists to fill the niche between competitive and traditional warhammer subreddits. If you like building lists with a story in mind, or sharing how your latest non-standard game went, or perhaps showing off the centerpiece of your terrain board that was a central narrative objective...this is for you.

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2024.05.19 04:27 mouthofxenu Primarch Names and Etymologies; Part 4 (VII-VIII)

This is part 4 of a list of feminine primarch names and my reasoning for these names.
Please see the below link for an explanation of this project, my methods, and my intent.
I will keep the first post updated with links to the later posts to make referencing them easier.
Link to first post: https://www.reddit.com/PrimarchGFs/comments/1ctd7ot/primarch_names_and_etymologies_part_1_iii/
VII: Regalia Dorn (Rogal Dorn):
This is one I’ve changed my mind on since discovering this subreddit and seeing many people settle on Regalia Dorn. I originally had Rigel Dorn on my list.
I think I deviated too far from the original feel of the name for the sake of preserving the same number of syllables and consonance. Rigel is the name of a star in the Orion constellation. It comes from the Arabic “Rijil Jauzah al Yusra,” meaning “the left foot of Orion.” Rigel therefore means “leg, foot.” I liked the connection with stability since Dorn knows the value of a good foundation. I think I also was trying to avoid having too many names that end in an “A.”
However, Rigel has a very weak connection to the sense conveyed by Rogal. “Rogal” appears to be a combination of “royal” and “regal,” which are doublets for “befitting a monarch.” In this respect, I think the name Regalia Dorn is superior because it too refers to royalty, meaning “royal privileges / powers,” especially in the sense of decorations and outfits indicating high office through their ostentation. Dorn’s gold armor and status as the Praetorian of Terra certainly fits this sense of the word “regalia.”
VIII: Kore Curze [Kor-Ee] (Konrad Curze):
Another literary reference, Konrad Curze is a reference to Joesph Conrad, the author of “Heart of Darkness.” The story is about the search for an ivory trader named Kurtz in the “Congo Free State,” an African colony of Belgium that existed from 1885 to 1908.
This discussion is about to get very serious (discussion of racism, slavery, and human mutilation), so please exercise discretion in reading further. However, I believe this historical context is necessary to understand “Heart of Darkness” and the themes that influenced the character of Konrad Curze.
Belgium’s King Leopold II privately owned the “Congo Free State” and unofficially owned the Congolese people as slaves. As an example of the sub-human manner in which the Congolese people were regarded by Leopold, approximately 300 Congolese people were brought to Belgium and put in a human zoo designed as a fenced-in parody of an African village. Seven Congolese died of illnesses while imprisoned there as the public was allowed to gawk at them.
Leopold’s demands for productivity from the colony resulted in the population being treated worse than animals for the sake of extracting resources such as rubber. Congolese people were shot to death for failing to meet rubber collection quotas. Their hands were then cut off by their executioners to prove the bullets weren’t being “wasted” or stockpiled for a mutiny. The hands of the Congolese became a perverse currency because companies in the colony could offset low rubber production by using the hands as a demonstration the company’s militia “resolved” the low production issues. The companies therefore incentivized their soldiers to harvest Congolese people’s hands by promising to shorten the duration of the soldiers' service abroad based on the number of hands collected. Eventually, soldiers realized they could save ammunition by cutting off the hands of people that were still alive.
In “Heart of Darkness,” Kurtz is an ivory trader that has gone mad from his participation in these atrocities against the Congolese people. Kurtz had wanted to “civilize” the Congolese, indulging in the racist idea that black people required the intervention of white Europeans to lift them out of “barbarism.” Over time, Kurtz grew accustomed to the inhuman treatment of the Congolese people and even started to like it. He managed to create a cult that worshipped him and wished to indulge openly in hurting people for sport, unlike the other colonizers that hid their inhumanity behind more polite motives like seeking profit. Ultimately, Kurtz adopts a nihilistic view of the world where no one has a right to judge his actions because the world allowed all this horror to happen on its own.
Curze is a derivation of Kurtz, combining the name with “curse.” “Cursed” pretty much describes both Konrad Curze and Kurtz. Konrad is, as mentioned above, a reference to the author of “Heart of Darkness,” Joseph Conrad. Conrad is derived from the German name Konrad, which comes from the Proto-West Germanic “koni,” meaning “bold, brave,” and “rad,” meaning “advice, counsel.”
The themes of engaging in atrocities out of spite for the world itself are present in both Curze and Kurtz. Needless to say, this is the grimdarkest of all the primarchs and one a noblebright setting will have to do a lot of heavy lifting the rehabilitate in a manner that is narratively satisfying. I wanted the new name to reflect this shift.
I could not find a feminine alternative for Konrad. Konstance was tempting (I’m fond of Konnie Curze), but I figured if I was going to deviate from the original name’s etymology I should try to tie it to the theme of darkness in a way but with a more positive connotation.
The word “koni” reminded me of the Greek “Kore,” an epithet for the Greek goddess Persephone. Kore means “The Maiden.” Persephone is the daughter of the harvest Goddess, Demeter. The god of the underworld, Hades, kidnapped Persephone and married her, though the relationship appears to be one of the more consensual ones in Greek myth beyond that detail. Demeter withdrew her power over the crops and brought on winter while Persephone was gone. However, Persephone had already eaten food in the Underworld, which bound her to that place eternally. The gods negotiated a compromise with Hades whereby Persephone would remain in the Underworld for part of each year, resulting in winter, and return to the surface for the other part of the year to appease Demeter and bring on the growing season.
Popular modern interpretations of Persephone tend to be of a pretty girl that causes nature to bloom spontaneously around her before mean old Hades captures her and brings on winter. However, the myths are quite clear that Persephone embraced her role as Queen of the Dead.
Persephone is referred to as “dread Persephone” in “The Odyssey,” indicating the sense of horror the character is meant to evoke through her status as Queen of the Underworld. The epithet Kore was a way for worshipers to refer to Persephone without uttering her terrible name. The practice is similar to the Arcadian worship of the goddess Despoina, which literally means “The Mistress.” Despoina was closely identified with Persephone and may be an older goddess the myth of Persephone arose from. The goddess’s real name was either unknown or a secret and worshipers only referred to her as "The Mistress" to avoid taking her name in vain. This is a convention familiar to Abrahamic faiths, which often use variants of “God,” “Lord,” or other euphemisms to refer to their singular god.
I like how both Kurtz and Persephone / Kore go into their own types of darkness and meet two different fates. Kurtz goes into a darkness created by humans and is consumed by it. Persephone is taken into the darkness that awaits us all in the end and accepts it. I felt this corresponded better with a noblebright take on Konrad and his struggle with the clarity of his own destiny.
Thought of the day:
Fear the shadows; despise the night. There are horrors that no man can face and survive.
Feel free to leave a comment on these submissions and this project generally. I look forward to sharing more with you next time~

submitted by mouthofxenu to PrimarchGFs [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 03:00 rocjawcypher Expanding the Syndicate's "You Know A Guy" to other classes

I like the idea of the syndicate, but I feel it's main mechanic needs more oomf. However, I also don't want to lose the the incredible narrative ability it has right now- and after discussion with a friend, I've begun to feel that the foundation of the syndicate shouldn't be restricted to a single subclass, but an ability available to all, manifesting differently for each class. Almost like the connections, but usable beyond session zero. Below I've given some examples of what I mean- each one is tailored to trigger off an appropriate environment, has a different archetype they fulfill, and has unique complications.
Additionally, I've also added that this ability may be triggered by spending hope. While not a necessity, I feel that adding a minor cost both gives the ability more narrative weight, like fear for a GM, and encourages the player to feel like they're allowed to get involved with the worldbuilding. After all, if they spent hope it's not flavor like the connections are, it's a mechanic!
Let me know what y'all think!

Bard

Once per city or famous location, you may spend a hope to explain that you know a memorable character that can be found there. Give them a name, note how you think they could be useful, and choose one from the list below:

They’re always busy with some wild adventure.
They are always frustratingly cryptic and indirect.
Our bond is often outweighed by our rivalry.
Everything about them is incredibly suspicious.
I only know of them from stories.

Druid

Once per forest or other wilderness location, you may spend a hope to explain that you know a reclusive or naturalistic being or society that can be found there. Give them a name, note how you think they could be useful, and choose one from the list below:

They deeply distrust outsiders.
Their perspective is alien to most mortals.
They are dangerous even to those they care for.
They cannot be reached without great effort.
They rarely intervene in the outside world.

Guardian

Once per region or city, you may spend a hope to explain that you know a powerful or vulnerable person or people that can be found there. Give them a name, note how you think they could be useful, and choose one from the list below:

They are considered outsiders, feared and disliked.
They have obligations of their own to consider.
You’ve let them down in the past.
You’ve been on opposite sides in the past.
They put their own interests above all else.

And Rogue would maintain the syndicate's set with minor changes:
Once per prominent town or well populated environment, you may spend a hope to explain that you know a shady individual or group that can be found there. Give them a name, note how you think they could be useful, and choose one from the list below.

submitted by rocjawcypher to daggerheart [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 02:18 Sashcracker Stop the political frame-up of Ukrainian socialist Bogdan Syrotiuk!

By David North
On April 25, 2024, Bogdan Syrotiuk, the 25-year-old leader of the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists (the YGBL), a socialist-Trotskyist organization active in Ukraine, Russia and throughout the former USSR, was arrested by the notorious state security service of the fascistic Zelensky regime, the SBU. Bogdan is being held in atrocious conditions in a high security prison in the city of Nikolaev (Mykolaiv), which is located in southern Ukraine.
The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), the world Trotskyist movement with which the YGBL is politically affiliated, has finally obtained the actual documents in which the SBU presents its charges against Bogdan Syrotiuk. These documents, which form the basis of his detention, make absolutely clear that Bogdan is the victim of a monstrous state frame-up. The allegations concocted by the SBU are a crude combination of lies, obvious fabrications, and political absurdities.
Moreover, the documents submitted by the SBU are directed not only against Bogdan. They are nothing less than a declaration of war against all left-wing and socialist opposition to the Zelensky regime and, specifically, the International Committee of the Fourth International and its public organ, the World Socialist Web Site.
The central allegation leveled against Bogdan Syrotiuk is that he is guilty of high treason. The basis of this charge is that Bogdan has been for the past two years “engaged in the preparation of publications commissioned by representatives of a Russian propaganda and information agency, the World Socialist Web Site” [emphasis added.]
The World Socialist Web Site is denounced as an instrument of “an active information war against Ukraine” being waged by Russia, which

uses the so-called “left-wing” propagandists and their information platforms (websites, media and social platforms) to discredit the support of Ukraine by international partners, justify Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, accusing Western countries of creating conditions under which Russia was forced to launch the so-called special military operation, fomenting wars in Ukraine by providing it with weapons, etc. As a result, they are used by Russia to systematically convey pro-Kremlin narratives to the population of Ukraine and Ukraine’s allied countries…
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the World Socialist Web Site “WSWS” has regularly published articles in various languages aimed at discrediting Ukraine and representatives of governments around the world for assisting Ukraine in its fight against the aggressor state.

The ICFI’s opposition to the US-NATO war in Ukraine is an essential element of its political program, deeply rooted in the socialist and internationalist principles of the Trotskyist movement. The attempt of the Ukrainian regime to portray this opposition as an instrument of Putin’s propaganda network is as viciously mendacious as it is politically absurd. The intransigent opposition of the International Committee of the Fourth International to the Putin regime—which emerged as a consequence of the Stalinist bureaucracy’s final betrayal of socialism and the restoration of capitalism in the former USSR—is a fundamental political fact that is substantiated not only in written texts numbering in the hundreds, but also in the exhaustively documented activity of the Trotskyist movement spanning decades.
True to its fascist character, the Ukrainian regime is operating on the basis of the well-known precept of Hitler and his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels: “The bigger the lie, the more readily it will be believed.”
In this particular case, the Zelensky regime seems to believe that the scale of the SBU lies are of such a magnitude that they will simply overwhelm the thinking public. It thus expects that public opinion will accept that the Putin regime is directing the work of the WSWS, which the SBU indictment describes as

an online publication of the world Trotskyist movement, the International Committee of the Fourth International and its affiliated sections in the Socialist Equality Parties around the world, which covers the main socio-political problems around the world from the position of revolutionary opposition to the capitalist market system, with the aim of establishing world socialism through socialist revolution.

At no point does the SBU attempt to explain the contradiction that wrecks its case against Bogdan, i.e., that the political principles that he upholds as a socialist and internationalist opponent of wars waged by the capitalist ruling class are irreconcilably hostile to the policies of the Putin regime, including its invasion of Ukraine.
It attempts to evade the contradiction by simply lying. The indictment claims that Bogdan’s activities, “acting on the instructions of a representative of the World Socialist Web Site,” consisted of “supporting and justifying the conduct of the Russian aggressive war on the territory of Ukraine…”
Every word is a lie. The opposition of the ICFI, its affiliated organizations, and the WSWS to the Russian invasion, in line with its hostility to the Putin regime, is a political fact that is documented in hundreds of articles that have been posted since the first day of the invasion.
On February 24, 2022, the day of the Russian invasion, the ICFI posted a statement on the WSWS titled: “Oppose the Putin government’s invasion of Ukraine and US-NATO warmongering! For the unity of Russian and Ukrainian workers!” It began:

The International Committee of the Fourth International and the World Socialist Web Site denounce the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Despite the provocations and threats by the US and NATO powers, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine must be opposed by socialists and class-conscious workers. The catastrophe that was set in motion by the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 cannot be averted on the basis of Russian nationalism, a thoroughly reactionary ideology that serves the interests of the capitalist ruling class represented by Vladimir Putin.
What is required is not a return to the pre-1917 foreign policy of tsarism, but, rather, a revival, in Russia and throughout the world, of the socialist internationalism that inspired the October Revolution of 1917 and led to the creation of the Soviet Union as a workers state. The invasion of Ukraine, whatever the justifications given by the Putin regime, will serve only to divide the Russian and Ukrainian working class and, moreover, serve the interests of US and European imperialism.
In the two major statements that he has made during the past week, Putin has justified his actions by enumerating the provocations and crimes of the United States. There is, no question, much that is factually true in his denunciation of Washington’s hypocrisy. But the viciously anti-communist and xenophobic ideology that he invokes and the interests that he claims to be defending are thoroughly reactionary and incapable of appealing to the broad mass of the working class in Russia, let alone in Ukraine and throughout the world. A substantial section of the working class in Russia and Ukraine will be repelled by the cynicism of Putin’s glorification of the heroic struggle waged by the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany in World War II while denouncing the October Revolution and the existence of the USSR as a multi-national state.

The ICFI insisted that the socialist opposition to imperialism was incompatible with any form of national chauvinism, and, therefore, rejected all the justifications given by the Putin regime and its apologists for the invasion. Their invocation of “national defense” could not be accepted by socialists. The defeat of imperialism and its overthrow was possible only through the revolutionary struggle of the international working class. The ICFI statement cited the words of Trotsky: “Not to bind itself to the national state in time of war, to follow not the war map but the map of the class struggle, is possible only for that party that has already declared irreconcilable war on the national state in time of peace.”
The ICFI called “for an immediate end to the war,” and explained: “In opposing the invasion of Ukraine, we denounce the policies of US/NATO imperialism, whose claims to be defending democracy and human rights are blood-drenched with hypocrisy.”
This political declaration elaborated the principles and policy that have guided the work of the ICFI and WSWS since the war began.
On February 26, 2022 the International Committee held an international webinar, in which its opposition to the war was emphatically advanced. Among the speakers, in addition to myself, were Nick Beams, a longtime leader of the International Committee’s Australian section, Johannes Stern, a leader of the ICFI in Germany, Thomas Scripps, a leading member of the ICFI’s section in Britain, Joseph Kishore, the national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in the United States, and Evan Blake, another leading member of the SEP (US).
The ICFI has never wavered from the principled opposition to the policies of NATO and Russia that it advanced in the first days of the war.
The relationship between the ICFI and the comrades of the YGBL coincided almost exactly with the outbreak of the war. They were attracted to the ICFI precisely because of its opposition to both the war and the national chauvinism of the Russian and Ukrainian regimes.
The SBU indictment charges that the World Socialist Web Site assigned to Bogdan “the task of preparing, writing, editing and publishing … both on the WSWS website and other communist-oriented media, articles, publications, comments, etc. aimed at spreading pro-Russian narratives related to the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, to which [Bogdan Syrotiuk] gave his voluntary consent.”
In support of this claim, the SBU references a YGBL statement titled, “For the organization of an international movement of workers and young people against war!” It claims that this document, posted on the World Socialist Web Site on October 12, 2022, includes “fragments, statements, sentences and phrases… which contain justification of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, which began in 2014…”
The actual document clearly exposes this claim to be a lie. There is not a single sentence in the YGBL declaration that indicates support for the invasion of Ukraine. The SBU cites selectively from the document, including passages only from numbered paragraphs 4, 7, 8, 10 and 13. Paragraphs 4 through 8—the SBU interrupts the continuity of the YGBL’s analysis by leaving out paragraphs 5 and 6—provide a concise Marxist explanation of the objective capitalist crisis and political aims that underlay the instigation of the war by the United States and its NATO allies. They state:

The new world order that the United States wants to establish looks like this very possible picture: Russia and China are to be subordinated to imperialism and divided, if that is necessary to maintain direct control over their natural, industrial-technological and human resources.

The European imperialist powers support the United States for their own place in the new redivision of the world. At the same time, European imperialism, while placed on rations by the United States, sees a way out of its economic and geopolitical predicament only in a redivision of the world in which it can regain its former greatness.

Japan, South Korea and Australia support the US only as much as it suits their interests in the struggle against China in the Pacific region. These countries will support the US as long as it allows them to compete with China. The process of dividing spheres of influence will revive the contradictions between the Pacific capitalist powers, which are as much in limbo as Europe.

The crisis of 2008 revived class struggles around the world. The Arab Spring of the early 2010s is vivid evidence of this revival. It forced US and European imperialism to take more decisive measures. In 2014, they supported a coup d'état in Ukraine. Through this coup, the US was able to create all the conditions to build a bridgehead in a future war against Russia.

The Covid-19 pandemic that erupted in 2020 exacerbated the contradictions of capitalism and was the trigger for a more rapid expansion of US imperialism in preparation for war against Russia and China. The US embarked on a more provocative path of abandoning the “one-China” policy, and increasing its support for Ukraine, as expressed in the NATO summit in August 2021, which supported Zelensky’s “Crimean platform.”

Significantly, the SBU leaves out paragraph 9 of the YGBL declaration, which presents a scathing indictment of the Putin regime. That paragraph reads:

The reactionary regime of Vladimir Putin emerged from the treacherous dissolution of the Soviet Union by the Stalinist bureaucracy and the restoration of capitalism. The policies of Putin, in the final analysis, are aimed at safeguarding the wealth of the post-Soviet oligarchy against the pressure of Western imperialism from above and, even more critically, against the movement of the Russian working class from below.

The SBU does cite paragraph 10, which continues the critique of the Putin regime, stating:

Within this geopolitical and social context, Putin’s adventurist invasion of Ukraine on February 24 was the Russian oligarchy’s response to NATO’s relentless expansion to the east. The Putin regime’s main objective was to achieve through the pressure of its “Special Operation” a new round of talks with the US-NATO, since the last round ended up crossing “red lines” on the part of the US-NATO, which caused Putin’s invasion [emphasis added].

The characterization of Putin’s invasion as “adventurist” is in no way compatible with what the SBU claims to be a “pro-Russian narrative.” Obviously recognizing the fragility of its attempt to portray the YGBL statement as pro-Putin propaganda, the SBU decided against further citations from the document, leaving out the YGBL’s development of its denunciation of Putin’s policies in paragraphs 11 and 12, which assert:

The Russian bourgeoisie’s desire for an “equal partnership” with the West was one of the most utopian delusions. This delusion, historically derived from Stalin’s policy of “Popular Fronts” and then “peaceful coexistence,” developed among the fledgling class of Russian capitalists in the 1990s.

The Putin regime has not gotten rid of this utopian delusion. Its whole policy has been to maneuver and seek compromise with the West, with whom the Russian oligarchy wanted to be “on equal footing.” Except that Western imperialism, with its conquering ambitions for Russia, did not care about these conciliatory tones of Putin’s regime.

The SBU also chose not to cite paragraph 17 of the YGBL statement, which declares:

The course of the war after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine increasingly emphasizes the reactionary nature of this invasion. While claiming to be fighting for the independence of the Russian people from the threat of Western imperialism, Putin is in fact only defending the independence of the Russian oligarchy to exploit the Russian working class and the country’s raw material wealth.

Paragraph 18, which is also left uncited, further demolishes the SBU’s indictment of Bogdan, the YGBL and the WSWS as instruments of Russian propaganda. The paragraph asserts that

the Putin regime has no way out of the current crisis for Russian society. It will not have such a way out in the future. All of the military and political activities of the Putin regime will only contribute to the escalation of Western imperialism and the deterioration of conditions for the Russian, Ukrainian and international working class.

The SBU also failed to cite paragraphs 19 and 20, which presciently warned of the catastrophe to which the war could lead.

The prospects for the present war, when thought within the framework of the capitalist system, are very bleak. First, this war will take on a long-term character and will not only be fought between Ukraine and Russia. It is the first step in inflaming the world situation to the point that the threat of a third world war is simply inevitable. All countries of the world will take part in the future war.

Secondly, the nature of the war will be determined by the policies of the ruling classes, which now stand on a blatantly anti-human position. The ruling classes are recklessly moving toward the use of nuclear weapons in the conflict, thereby creating the real possibility of a nuclear Armageddon. The specter of planetary destruction arises from the insane policies of imperialist and capitalist governments. The recklessness of the ruling capitalist elite compels young people to ask whether they will be allowed any future at all.

The SBU specifically cites this document as proof of Bogdan Syrotiuk’s treasonable activity. But the text of this document conclusively refutes the charge that Bogdan and the YGBL are advancing a pro-Putin narrative.
Moreover, and most decisive, the Ukrainian regime does not present a scintilla of evidence to substantiate its absurd and lying claim that the World Socialist Web Site is a “Russian propaganda and information agency.” With this filthy slander, the Zelensky regime betrays—notwithstanding the ongoing war with Russia—the lingering influence of Stalinism’s rabid hatred of Trotskyism. As in Russia, the transfer of power in Ukraine from Stalinist bureaucrats to capitalist oligarchs has not required any change in the methodology of the political police. The same techniques of fabrication and slander, utilized by the Stalinist regime against Trotskyists in the era of the Moscow Trials and the terror of 1936-39, remain operative in Kiev.
Bogdan Syrotiuk stands accused of treason and faces the threat of a life-long prison term that is the equivalent of a death sentence. But the allegations against Bogdan are based entirely on articles and speeches he has posted on the World Socialist Web Site, in which he has declared his opposition, as a socialist internationalist, to the capitalist regimes of Zelensky and Putin and the ongoing war that has cost hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian lives.
The SBU indicts Bogdan for advancing in his speeches and writings posted on the World Socialist Web Site “which are accessible to everyone in the world, including citizens of Ukraine” information that exposes the reactionary character of the Ukrainian regime and the war.
The SBU declares that Bogdan’s “criminal actions were stopped only with the intervention of a law enforcement agency.” What a devastating self-exposure of the claims that the US-NATO proxy war is being waged to defend democracy in Ukraine.
The reality is that Ukraine is a fascistic dictatorship, which applies police methods to stop the expression of popular opposition to the policies that have brought untold suffering and death to the people.
The arrest of Bogdan Syrotiuk comes precisely at a point of mounting popular opposition to the Zelensky regime. On May 18, a new and vastly unpopular mobilization law that will vastly expand the recruitment dragnet of Ukrainian military goes into effect. Even the New York Times has expressed doubts about Zelensky’s ability “to find new troops to relieve a weary, often demoralized force.”
In an article posted on the World Socialist Web Site on April 30, Maxim Goldarb, a Ukrainian socialist who has been persecuted by the Zelensky regime, reported: “More and more Ukrainian men are desperately trying to flee the country, unwilling to die for someone else’s selfish purposes.”
He added:

It is not the rich minority, but the poor majority—the unemployed, workers, peasants, teachers, doctors, office workers—that will be sent into the bloody meat grinder. Now, with the adoption of the new law, the number of men deprived of basic human rights, who will be captured and hunted down like animals and sent to the front, will increase many times over.
The profits of those who benefit from this war will also increase many times over … These huge profits will be divided up between the military-industrial complex, its lobbyists in the American and European establishment, and the Ukrainian oligarchic top brass.

Bogdan Syrotiuk’s life is in danger. In the environment of terror that exists within Ukraine, he is deprived of all means to defend himself. Efforts to obtain competent legal representation have been undermined by government threats against defense lawyers. No less than five attorneys have declined to represent Bogdan because to do so would expose them to significant physical danger.
The significance of the fight to defend Bogdan and secure his freedom extends beyond Ukraine. His incarceration is yet another example of the growing international assault on democratic rights as imperialism escalates its military operations throughout the world. The political conspiracy to destroy Julian Assange set into motion a process that is replicated throughout the world.
Those who oppose and expose the crimes of the imperialist regimes are targeted for persecution by the state. The assault on basic democratic rights—first and foremost, freedom of thought and speech—is always justified on the basis of lies.
The opponents of Israel’s genocidal war against Gazans are denounced as anti-Semites, even when the protesters are Jewish. In the denunciation of Bogdan Syrotiuk as an agent of Russia for opposing the proxy war in Ukraine, the same lying method is at work.
The real reason for the arrest and persecution of Bogdan Syrotiuk is that he is fighting for the unity of the Ukrainian, Russian and international working class against the ruling capitalist elites of all countries. As Comrade Andrei Ritsky of the Russian branch of the Young Guard of Bolshevik Leninists explained so eloquently in a speech delivered at the May Day 2024 celebration held by the International Committee:

The only “crime” that Bogdan committed was his conviction that Ukraine can become truly free only through the independent struggle of the Ukrainian working class, acting together with the international working class against imperialism and war. He advanced a principled political position based on a Marxist understanding of the war, opposed to the fanatical worship of Ukrainian nationalism as well as the reactionary Russian nationalism of the Putin regime. Like our entire movement, he has fought for the unification of workers in Russia and Ukraine with the workers in the imperialist countries, to put an end to a fratricidal war that has claimed the lives of at least half a million Ukrainians and tens of thousands of Russians.

He concluded his remarks with a declaration of the fundamental perspective that underlies the work of the Fourth International:

No bourgeois regime is capable of resolving the crisis other than through war and destruction, because any other way would be contrary to its fundamental capitalist interests. The contradictions of capitalism cannot be resolved within national borders and on the basis of a defense of private property. Only the international working class armed with the program of world socialist revolution will be able to put an end to the wars and resolve the fundamental crisis. To do so, however, it must fight for its unity with its brothers and sisters around the world.

The International Committee of the Fourth International calls for a global campaign to demand the immediate release of Bogdan Syrotiuk from prison. The fight for Bogdan’s freedom must be taken up by workers, students and all those who are committed to the defense of democratic rights and opposed to the escalation of imperialist wars that, unless stopped, threaten humanity with a nuclear catastrophe.
Join the fight to Free Bogdan. Circulate this statement as widely as possible on social media. Bring this case to the attention of co-workers, fellow students, and friends. To sign a petition demanding Bogdan’s release, contribute funds toward the defense campaign, and become personally active in the fight for his freedom, go to wsws.org/freebogdan.

submitted by Sashcracker to Trotskyism [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 01:40 Arno_QS Easing into a new gamepad type (Steam Controller)?

TLDR: Looking for twin-thumbstick games that are well-suited to helping my friends see if they want to make the jump to a Steam Controller (i.e., easy inputs)
I'm hoping this one might be off-the-wall enough that it can attract answers from a bunch of different genres. :) Anyway, here's the deal: my love affair with the Steam Controller and its dual trackpads has become known in my friend group and a couple of them are interested in trying it out. I'm excited to share the experience with them but I remember how the learning curve (coming from traditional twin-thumbstick gamepads like the major consoles use) was less of a curve and more of a brick wall into which I smashed my face for a few weeks. Ideally I'd like to spare my friends as much of that as possible, so my question is:
What are some games that are:

...primarily intended to be played with a twin-thumbstick gamepad, and
...do not rely on high-speed input dexterity?

I originally said "precise input" for #2, but it occurs to me that precision by itself is fine, as long as they don't have to hit a precise target quickly. In fact, small targets (little UI buttons, etc.) may actually be a good thing from a practice standpoint.
Ideally I'm looking for games that use both thumbsticks in tandem...for example, the obvious baby step here is a visual novel but that's mostly one thumb at a time.
A few points to narrow down the potential list (these aren't hard requirements, though):

We like lore-heavy stuff, so something with a narrative is more likely to hold their attention while they're being frustrated with the inputs.
I feel like an exploration / walking simulator game would be best, since that's "dual-stick" (one to move and the other to look around) but doesn't punish you for being slow to get the inputs correct.
Puzzle games. The Talos Principle? The Witness? If those support gamepads...maybe I'm answering my own question. :)
Anything turn-based would probably be a good fit, 'cause while it's your turn you can take as much time as you like.
The game overall doesn't necessarily have to be easy, as long as the inputs are forgiving. These are experienced gamers, just brand new to using trackpads instead of thumbsticks. (On the flip side, none of us are from the "difficulty is a feature" crowd either.)
If it runs on Linux, so much the better, but it's not a deal-breaker (we're all penguinistas but we also live in reality). Anything other than native or ProtonDB Platinum will probably be a backup, though.

I feel like this post is already long enough to scare off 95% of Reddit, but if anybody wants further clarification on anything feel free to ask in the comments. :)

submitted by Arno_QS to gamingsuggestions [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 01:15 Gazooonga Diary of a Press-Ganged Saurian (#1/?)

Just another fun little story idea I had. I am still working on Humans are the violent ones but I like to bounce around and experiment with ideas to see what I really like. I also suck at writing more casual stories, as they give me severe writer's block as I try to map out how to make a scene feel genuine in my head, but I promise I'll update that soon. If you like this story and want to see more, then like and comment. I'll gladly continue this series as well.
Start of Personal Log
Humans don't like being told what to do. They don't like being commanded, put in their place, or snubbed. It was an inexorable, inalienable trait of humans, at least any noteable humans, to go against any authority that they believed was against their interests.
Humanity would not fit amongst the stars. Few ever did. It was a trait of most successful species to be willful, ambitious, and to desire more. But once they reached the stars the new (and simultaneously very old) pecking order either quashed any spirit such species had or simply eradicated them. Countless tomb worlds and diaspora served as painful reminders of what became of the nails that chose to stick out. The hammer of order would always strike. There could be no compromise, the very soul of the authority that held the Jurisdiction together relied on a show of unmatched power, or at least the illusion of item.
In reality, the Jurisdiction was an old, fat, and lazy beast. It filled its belly on the corpses of empires far and wide, and sated its bloodlust on the shattered dreams of hopeful cubs. It had every right to, for none could challenge it: there were no new frontiers to explore, nor were there any other enemies to conquer. The Milky Way, as humans had so strangely dubbed our cradle galaxy, as well as Andromeda, had long since been warred over and settled for millennia before humanity had arrived, bright-eyed and with familiar yet otherwise foolish dreams of cooperation and prosperity. The Jurisdiction did not cooperate, nor did it ensure prosperity. Oh, it claimed it did, but in reality it simply took. The rest was just the peace that came with not being the direct target of the biggest fish in the pond. The humans didn't like that, but they had no choice.
Slavery was a common tribute. The Jurisdiction had no use for other resources: it simply took. No, it wanted those who could facilitate that unequal exchange, those raised in a world where the only morality was the one set by your lord. The Jurisdiction was held together by expectations, obligations, and dury more than any kind of shared dream, so when you were ordered to take you did so without question. Humanity was new: they had no niche or value that set them apart, but they had a penchant for killing and taking, so the Jurisdiction gave them a taste of how the galaxy worked. They killed and they took. The humans didn't like that, but what choice did they have?
Humans were strange. They learned, but not in the way most species learned. Most species learned to adapt in a passive way, to adhere to the world around them. They flowed like water, moving past and around obstacles and confirming to the boxes they were assigned too. Humans didn't confirm, nor did they adapt: they made their circumstances fit their desires. They would not move around obstacles, but rather smash through them, and they refused to stay in one box for too long. The Jurisdiction merely saw them as a particularly loud nuisance, but those who faced their wrath knew better.
It is said that when a beast seeks to make an example, it shall humble its rival by killing it's cubs. Children were one of those universal constants that brought entire communities together: the Sok’klar saw their hatchlings as gifts, shaped by the fruitful currents of the universe in perfect harmony. The Yarrack saw each and every newborn whelp as an uncut gemstone, ready to be shaped into something magical. Humanity oftentimes referred to their offspring as angels, or spirits of unbridled good sent by the gods themselves. Children were seen by most of the galaxy as gifts.
The Jurisdiction saw them as a lever to inflict suffering. It had become quite effective at enacting psychological punishments on those that stood up and spoke out. You dare to disobey? You believe you can speak out? Your gifts shall be taken from you, and you shall be without joy.
Humans didn't like this, but the Jurisdiction would have their pound of flesh, and humankind would kneel. And they did. But humans were patient creatures: most species who retained that trait of willful spit also lacked patience.
I had long since become desensitized to the Jurisdiction’s actions: it was simply how the universe worked now, as if it were a constant akin to gravity. Cruelty was the unspoken rule of this seemingly unending age, where our lives never appeared to move forward or backwards, only lay dormant. The Jurisdiction had been the unyielding authority that ruled the galaxy for thousands of years, venerable yet feared all the same.
And for the longest time I was just another cog in its wheel. My name is Kalnuracht Sedjuur-Noumar VII, and was the scion of the noble house Sedjuur-Noumar. I was born into what most would describe as veiled apathy, living a life that could be attributed to the privileged class of feared scribes that enacted the will of those above. I was an administrator and nothing more. And now I am doomed to be far less than that in the eyes of my former constituents within the endless administration. I am the only scion, as is tradition, and without an heir I am the last of my house, our name to be scrubbed from the records, worthless, meaningless, and forgotten.
I am merely Kalnuracht, nothing else and nothing more. I have seen from their eyes, the eyes of the downtrodden, and it makes my crimes of association with the Jurisdiction feel all the more damning on my worthless soul. I am worthless to the world, and this is my story.
End Personal Log #1
Start of Neural Lace Narrative Log #1
They came from the black like carrion birds in the night, encircling our convoy as if it were a dying animal ready to be picked clean without remorse. There was no warning, no list of demands sent out as civilized peoples did, nor was there either any requirement for unconditional surrender nor chance to parlay, as was done so under letter of marque: this was an unmistakable call for violence and nothing else. They sought to reduce us to slag and scavenge the rest.
So, as one would expect, the entire bridge of the ship was nearing a panicked state. This was not the actions of those practicing civility, but rather the common behaviors of despoiling barbarians, the kind that tore their way through the dark reaches of the galaxy as if they owned it.
“Wayfinder, what do your probes see?” Shouted the ship’s sovereign. He was an older Kar’Rowmach, an amphibious cephalopod species with a venerable history within the Jurisdiction going back thousands of years. Normally one such as him would be above me if it weren't for the fact that I was under the authority of the Jurisdiction’s seal of office. He didn't like me very much, but most of his kind shared the same sentiment.
“All dark, honorable Sovereign: the sensor arrays are wailing but the feedback we're reviewing is beyond incomprehensible,” the wayfinder replied with a certain restrained temper in his voice. The Sok'klar wayfinder swayed gently, his tentacled limbs grasping different metallo-liquid braille output arrays, the liquid gallium flexing and reshaping unnaturally to allow him to to take in multiple different sources of sensory output at once, with the primary navigation computer plugged into the cybernetics surrounding his opaque, gelatinous head and plugging directly into his tube-shaped brain.
The Sovereign cursed in Loskat and pointed to his bridge crew while I simply sat in the back, near the Sovereign’s symbolic throne. “Prepare countermeasures and spool up the warp drive, we cannot allow the amanuensis to be taken! He carries sensitive information that only he can translate and transcribe!”
As the bridge crew nodded and began fiddling with their own systems, I preened my feathered hide anxiously. I wasn't a fighter: us nobles of the cloth were the educated minority above all else, not those who waged war or partook in hard labor. Special cybernetics in my brain allowed me to translate triple-encoded messages that usually took a ducal signet codekey or above to parse, but even without that I was a skilled mathematician and logician. I had terabytes worth of knowledge stored within the hardware installed in my head, all well protected of course, but if I were to die it would still be a waste. I could only imagine the damage any malcontenders could do with it if they were able to get their filthy hands on me.
Suddenly, the ship rocked, and the gallium overhead display began to form crescendos like I'd never seen before. “Sovereign, decks A-3 through C-12 are venting atmosphere and our coolant systems have been obliterated,” the Wayfinder spoke in an almost serene voice, as if he was completely unconcerned by current events. I knew they were simply incapable of tonal displays, but it was unnerving nonetheless. “Once we jump, we will not be able to risk another until the vacuum of the void can reduce temperatures to acceptable levels within the plasma capacitors.”
“Damn them,” the armored nautiloid hissed, his barbed feelers coiling in frustration, “May the currents take them. What are our options? what can we see? This fleet cannot fall to the void today, not with such vital cargo.” My hackles rose lightly at the Kar’Rowmach referred to me as some object rather than an esteemed amanuensis of the Jurisdiction, but I bit my forked tongue. Now was not the time to squabble with the sovereign over who was what and what titles I deserved, not while he was so desperately attempting to keep what semblance of order within his fleet that he had left.
I could not blame the crew for being panicked either: wars were practically mythologized now, having been long since rendered obsolete with the rise of the Jurisdiction, and that felt like an eternity ago. Now, either being levied into or joining a ducal naval force was simply another career, more akin to serving as an officer of the law rather than a fully fledged soldier. Minimal training was required, most of it being the technicals of one's duty rather than any kind of combat conditioning, so expecting a fleet to actually be prepared for a combat scenario in a universe where peace was the norm was laughable.
“We are practically blind, Sovereign,” stated the Sok'klar Wayfinder, “our probes are offline, and shipboard graviton displacement sensory arrays have been rendered unreliable at best.”
“What about the particle emission array? Has there been a spike in radioactivity where we were hit?”
The Wayfinder seemed to think for a second, his gelatinous form flexing and morphing a bit before answering. “Affirmative, a jump from negligible to forty billion becquerels along decks A through E-5 on our starboard side.”
“Torpedoes…” the Sovereign hissed, stroking his barbed feelers, “Human Torpedoes. Only those primitives would rely on crude nuclear warheads.” He then turned to his militant leaders on the ship. “Noddos, Rel’ads: organize your phalanxes and prepare to repel boarders. We are bound to be assailed by those rancorous primates, and I want their skulls piled at my feet if they dare set foot on our ship.”
“Your wish is our command, Sovereign,” the two militant commanders spoke as one. Noddos, a large bipedal with multiple sets of curved spines running down his back, a pair of graceful horns sprouting from his head, and multiple rows of sharp teeth in his snout, bowed first, followed by Rel’ads, a marsupial with long saberteeth and thick fur. They both must have been fierce warriors in their own right to each lead a phalanx. They wore thick, semi-powered armor and held dueling polearms alongside their usual plasma casters, and seemed completely unfazed by the situation we were in. As they stomped out of the brightly lit bridge, I let out a quiet squawk of discontentment. “Sovereign, why haven't we jumped again? We are wasting precious time.”
“I am working on it, you spineless beaurocrat!” He warbled back, his feelers tensing in anger, “besides, it's not as if you're the one who will be spilling blood today, amanuensis, so flatten your wretched beak or I shall weld it shut with a plasma torch.
I was about to reply with something indignant, but the ship rocked again, this time causing the lights to flicker and the air to become… thick. The skin under my feathers began to blister, and I became lightheaded and confused. “Seal the damnable vents, initiate radiation scrubbers, and activate secondary life support!” Shouted the Sovereign, “Their nuclear weapons are rendering the ship inhospitable!”
I coughed up magenta blood accidentally, and I could feel more seeping from under my eyes. Some of the crew was in a similar position, but others were more resistant to radiation than I. The Sok'klar seemed completely at ease as he ran his tentacles across his morphic braille arrays before calmly announcing the ship’s status. “I've regained some control over our probes: ten, twelve, and seventeen are active and fully functional, the rest are either still malfunctioning or permanently inoperable. A rapid rise in localized radiation is also interfering with the detection of graviton displacement; we can't sense photon redirection, thus readings will remain inconclusive.
“Wayfinder, damn you, get me some kind of out here! We're easy prey until we can respond in kind!”
“Negative, something has gone awry with our processing hub, I am attempting to troubleshoot-”
And with that, the Wayfinder’s bulbous head exploded in a cascade of opaque lavender blood, covering the front half of the deck crew like a morbid art piece. Some of the crew screamed and shouted in terror before removing their cranial adaptors and choosing to interact with their displays manually. Others died just as quickly, unable to unplug in time as their brain stems fried or their blood boiled. It was a horrible way to go, having your insides neutralized by your own cybernetics, so I was glad I wasn't connected to the system.
“Cybernetic warfare! All systems are to be considered compromised, switch to manual settings or you'll be killed!”
The lights in the bridge flickered again, and the displays went haywire. The bridge crew, which obviously weren't acquainted with working without being hard-linked into the mainframe, moved at a much slower pace.
“Launch missile pods A through F and set to self-target after five hundred kilometers, then rely on their ballistic coordinates to begin firing broadsides! If we can't see the humans due to their meddling, we'll just have to feel them.” Shouted the Sovereign, “and got me a detailed report on the ship’s diagnostics readings. I need to know if this flagship is still capable of escaping or if we'll have to scuttle it and retreat on another.”
“Acknowledged, Sovereign, launching now,” affirmed another deck officer as he swiped across his own gallium output array. I could hear the dull thunk, thunk, thunk of missiles pushing out of their pods before racing off to their intended targets, then the mechanical whirring as the pods rotated to be reloaded by slaves in the lower decks. I was regaining my bearings as the many horrible sensations of being overwhelmed by radiation poisoning were beginning to subside, but I still felt as if I had been microwaved. The air was stale, the crew was horribly sick as well, and even the sovereign himself seemed to be on his last leg. I was beginning to believe that I might die here.
“Sovereign, a message from the lower decks,” shouted a communications officer, his chitin scraping against itself as he turned quickly, “they're requesting reinforcements, something about being overrun.”
“Impossible,” the Sovereign hissed out in a vain attempt to exude confidence, “We must outnumber the humans, they always go for bigger targets out of arrogance.”
“I've received reports that it's not just humans: the primates seem to make up only a third or so of the assailing force, along with some Phaeldaer and Vrex.”
The commander slammed his clawed hands down on his own output array in a fit of rage, obviously overwhelmed by the circumstances, “Then this wasn't just a typical assault, but something more sinister!” The nautiloid warbled, blood seeping from his shell as the full effects of the radiation took hold, “Get Rel’ads on the line, have him divert all spare lances to the lower decks or else we'll lose the only offensive capabilities we can use.”
“Rel'ads has gone dark, Sovereign, his vitals are critical.”
“Then either get me Rel'ads tail-leader or get me Noddos!” He screamed in rage, “don't give me this nonsense! If we don't pick it up we're all going to die, is that what you want?”
“No, Sovereign, I'm simply overwhelmed-”
“We're all overwhelmed! By the tides, I'm dying of radiation poisoning you nincompoop! Get me something I can work with!”
The officer didn't even acknowledge the Sovereign after that, simply turning back to his display. Eventually, the Sovereign was able to get Noddos on the line.
“Sovereign, two thirds of my phalanxes have been decimated by combat with the primitives and the radiation, the rest are in shambles. We must retreat and fortify elsewhere!”
“Then the ship is compromised! Rel'ads is unresponsive and the lower decks are swarming with intruders. We must evacuate the amanuensis to another ship.”
Just as the Sovereign spoke, I heard several gentle thumps rattle against the bridge’s door, and it made me uneasy. Some of the bridge crew seemed to feel the same, as they looked incredibly nervous and some even drew their sidearms. Just as the sovereign turned to give further orders, the door blew inward with a deafening explosion, followed by shouting and gunfire. Several of the bridge officers were dispatched quickly, brain matter and blood splattering against the delicate electronics. Others were shot in the legs, the torso, or in any other exotic yet non-vital body parts. The humans poured in, brandishing primitive ballistic firearms and jury-rigged energy weapons while wearing scavenged, legion-grade powered armor.
The Sovereign was the next to go, but he wasn't afforded an honorable death. He was shot along the arm with a particularly potent plasma caster, burning off his clawed hand and cauterizing the wound, the acrid smell of roasting chitin filling the already hot and cramped bridge. He fell back against his output array, the gallium reaching new highs and lows as more diagnostics and casualty reports were delivered, and he clutched his stump angrily. “I'll burn every last one of you in the foundries! I'll tie you to stakes, cover you in wax and set you alight! Your screams will be broadcasted all over the galaxy!”
One human warrior stomped up and slammed the butt of his rifle into the sovereign’s face, shattering his facial plates and causing blue blood to splatter across his section of the bridge. “Shut the fuck up, you mutant lobster,” the human said before dragging him by both antennae towards the center of the bridge and receiving a stained breeching axe from one of his comrades. “Emmanuel, start recording. We need proof.”
The other human nodded and pressed a button on his armor before lifting up his gun again. The rest of the humans fanned out, holding everyone else at gunpoint. I tried to get up and sneak out, but a human grabbed me by my neck and nearly wrung it out as he forced me to my knees and pointed a sidearm to my skull. “Get down, you piece of shit, before I blow your brains out too.”
“Damnable primate,” I hissed, but he bashed me in my skull with the base of his sidearm’s grip and sent me sprawling, making my already pounding headache worse. Another human shouted at him in a language I didn't recognize, but he sounded furious. The first brought me back up to my knees again, and I complies with a hiss and a groan, blood still leaking from my eyes and mouth and my world was spinning.
The Sovereign struggled, but he was weak from the radiation poisoning and he couldn't exactly resist on account of his lost arm. The human with the breaching ax kicked the Sovereign down and forced him to kneel before lifting up the breeching ax and splitting his chitinous head down the middle with one powerful swing, sending more blood and brains across the floor. “Execution confirmed, take his antennae just in case and we've got ourselves a bounty. Now all we need is that ugly cat’s teeth and the fat hedgehog-thing’s grimy spines and we'll be in business. Although, they do have skulls… we might as well just take their heads.”
The real horror of the situation dawned on me at that moment: they were going to kill us all, or maybe worse. They mentioned a bounty for the commanders, and multiple of the higher ranking ship officers were already dead, their brains splattered against the walls or their bodies torn apart by gunfire. I wasn't dead yet, but that didn't mean much since I wasn't an immediate threat.
“Alright, round them up and bring all the grunts to the hanger bay, then kill the rest,” the leader of the humans said in such a lackadaisical manner that his complete disregard for life almost made me sick… almost. I had seen worse from the Jurisdiction before, but usually that was from me delivering some kind of ordered judgment on a world that had sinned against order. I might have simply been the messenger, but I had seen many of the outcomes. “And make sure to collect whatever proof of bounties you can, we'll need to deliver them to the office to get cashed out. Don't let this be a repeat of last time where Juarez fucking forgot to take a few heads and it ended up cutting our profits in half, the fucking retard.”
Some of the humans chuckled at that as they dragged more of the senior officers away, out of the room and into the hall,where I heard gunshots. The rest of the bridge crew froze in place, different fear instincts kicking in. The remaining Sok'klar corralled together into what seemed to be a singular, semi-congealed mass as if to try and trick the humans into believing that they were much bigger and much more threatening than they actually were. The one Thei’chi on the bridge, an ensign who had clearly thought this would be a simple mission, bore her curved fangs at the humans and growled as they approached, her hackles completely vertical and her eyes dilated. They quickly muzzled and bound her before beating her over the head with a gun stock, sending her sprawling onto the ground. Many others simply cooperated, eyes wide and yet simultaneously empty, as if they couldn't quite process that the ship had been taken and the commanding officers were being executed as the rest were escorted to the hangar.
“Get the damn messenger down to the hanger as well, we need whatever data's in his ugly lizard head, then we can decide on what to do with him.”
I spat at him in spite, as if to try and seem brave, but it was clearly an empty gesture. “You won't get anything, primate! You couldn't possibly crack the encryption!”
The human holding me seemed to wind up for another swing, but the commanding officer simply held up his hand to stop my tormentor before strolling over to me. He knelt down and removed his helmet, revealing a beige-colored face covered in scars, wiry black hair cut down to the scalp, and multiple tattoos. “You're really fucking mouthy for a hostage,” he said before punching me across my beak faster than I could register. I heard a sharp crack as his fist connected, and my head spun again as the metallic taste of blood pooled into my mouth. “I'd advise you to shut up, but I'm sure you won't listen: you aristocratic types are so full of yourselves. Maybe I should have you flogged in the public square until your vocal chords give out once we rip those cybernetics from your head, huh? How's that sound?”
“It won't matter… it won't change anything… the Jurisdiction will hunt you down.”
“Maybe, but I doubt it will happen for some time: they really suck at doing anything that requires effort, even when they're mad enough. They just keep sending their rabid lapdogs to try and smoke us out, and they always end up full of holes,” the human officer said with a smirk, his yellowish-white teeth and green eyes sending shivers down my spine as he drew his knife. “They're just horrible at their job, you know? You've all gotten so lazy and incompetent after being able to just take what you want without resistance, and now that you've met people who are angry and crazy enough to fight back you act as if we're committing some grave injustice,” he placed the knife against my throat, the flat just underneath my now bent beak, “No, we just took a few pages out of your book, ‘cept we've got standards. No kids, for one…” he seemed to look off into the distance as his sneer deepened, “but it's more than that, we don't attack the defenseless in general and we still win against you all in fair fights.”
I went to say something else snarky, but he quickly grabbed my thin tongue with his fingers and yanked it out, blood from my mouth pulling to the floor as he held the blade of his knife against it. “No no, none of that. Say one more thing and I'll cut that rancid little tongue of yours out of your mouth and feed it to you,” he hissed at me, pressing the blade down just hard enough to draw blood. “Do you know what it's like to see a planet turn into a tomb?" he asked me, gritting his teeth, “Do you know what it's like to see everything you've ever known crumble to ash and glass, all the life and the green stripped away leaving nothing but bones? I do. I've seen it happen to countless worlds, and my grandfather always told me stories of how you bastards did it to Earth. He still prays in its direction five times a day, to Mecca, but he knows the Kaaba is gone now, or maybe it's still there, buried in the bones of those who sought refuge there.”
I didn't care for the human’s nonsensical beliefs, but I did care to correct him. “I've seen it before, and I'll see it again. And so will you, it's inevitable. The Jurisdiction will always have its judgment fulfilled, there is no alternative.”
“One day, I hope we can rectify that,” he said, then he sheathed his knife and slammed my head against the metal floor with enough force to nearly knock me out. As I lost consciousness, I could hear him speak. “Take him to the Chop Doc, and make sure the cybernetics don't get damaged: they're supposedly more valuable than any bounty on this ship.”
Warning: Severe radiation poisoning detected. Flush system immediately.
Warning: Neural Lace removal detected, chance of neurological damage high. Proceeded with caution.

submitted by Gazooonga to HFY [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 00:59 GoAheadMMDay UPDATE 3: Torment Techniques Used by Canadian and US Militaries

Update #3 appears at the bottom.
Due to numerous disparaging comments by multiple individuals, I have reposted my article.
Heckling does not change what occurred. People need to know these truths, especially those who have experienced the same. They need to know they are sane, that such things are indeed being perpetrated, and the perpetrators use shame to silence them and protect their activities.
I write to encourage them not to listen to disparaging people who speak without knowledge.
February 10, 2024
I am Joseph Cafariello, a Canadian citizen and ex-member of the Canadian military. Of sound mind, not on medication, not a drug user, not a marijuana smoker, not an alcohol drinker, with no mental disorders.
I recently posted to this Liberty subreddit experiences of harassment by Vancouver's police and fire departments (Vancouver, BC, Canada). I’m the fellow who was repeatedly ordered by police to stay out of Vancouver’s Stanley Park, and was continually harassed whenever I visited the park (which I do every second day on my early morning walks).
Immediately following that post, they changed some of the techniques they use in my case. They were either informed of my post or found it themselves, seeing as my internet activity, and phone activity for that matter, are under continuous surveillance (plenty of proof which I will not include here to avoid running off-topic).
In this post, I would like to shed some light on other harassment which is still ongoing, since it occurs in private, away from potential observers. It involves the Canadian and US militaries.
Havana Syndrome
In 2016, numerous employees of the Canadian and US embassies in Havana, Cuba, started experiencing head injuries ranging from mild headaches to concussions. It happened in their sleep, and came to be called Havana Syndrome.
Wikipedia explains (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana\_syndrome):
“Havana syndrome is a cluster of idiopathic symptoms experienced mostly abroad by U.S. government officials and military personnel. The symptoms range in severity from pain and ringing in the ears to cognitive dysfunction and were first reported in 2016 by U.S. and Canadian embassy staff in Havana, Cuba. Beginning in 2017, more people, including U.S. intelligence and military personnel and their families, reported having these symptoms in other places, such as China, India, Europe, and Washington, D.C. The U.S. Department of State, Department of Defense, and other federal entities have called the events "Anomalous Health Incidents" (AHI). Of over a thousand purported cases, the majority of US investigative bodies found only a few dozen cases to be suspicious.”
Ladies and gentlemen, I can tell you exactly what happens, because I have been experiencing this since I first joined the Canadian military back in 2002, and am still experiencing these “torments” (as I call them) to this day, already 3 years after leaving the military.
I go to bed. In about 15 minutes, just as I am on the cusp of falling asleep, a hear and feel a heavy thud reverberate and ultimately strike my skull. My body releases a sharp burst of adrenalin, my heart starts racing, and my blood’s circulation speeds up significantly. Depending on the severity of the blow, it can take me anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to fall asleep again. Though there have been times I could not return to sleep for more than 2 hours.
A strong headache is felt immediately, and lasts for hours. There have been times when my heart felt like it was going to burst, having been startled as such.
The pulse to the head sometimes reverberates through the wall and my bed’s headboard. I distinctly feel as though I have been hit on the top of my skull. At other times, it feels as though the pulse has come through the air, striking the side of my skull.
This is not a sleep disorder, for it does not occur regularly. At times, my sleep is disturbed in this manner 3 or 4 days in a row. At other times, there is no disturbance for up to a week. But they never let me go more than a week without such interruptions to my sleep.
Neither is it sleep apnea, as I do not awaken gasping for breath. The pounding headaches, sudden release of adrenaline, and heart palpitations I experience are caused by external impacts of sound waves or air bursts.
Sonic Weapons
How these pulses are produced is not easy to identify. As Wikipedia explains:
“Once the story became public, various U.S. government representatives attributed the incidents to attacks by unidentified foreign actors, and various U.S. officials blamed the reported symptoms on a variety of unidentified and unknown technologies, including ultrasound and microwave weapons.”
Sonic weapons have been in use for many years by militaries, and by police in crowd control. As Wikipedia explains (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic\_weapon):
“Some sonic weapons make a focused beam of sound or of ultrasound; others produce an area field of sound. As of 2023 military and police forces make some limited use of sonic weapons.”
(Do not believe the 2023 timeline. The Canadian military has been using these weapons since the early 2000’s at the latest.)
Wikipedia continues:
“Extremely high-power sound waves can disrupt or destroy the eardrums of a target and cause severe pain or disorientation. This is usually sufficient to incapacitate a person. Less powerful sound waves can cause humans to experience nausea or discomfort.”
The users of these technologies must also be using thermal detection equipment to monitor the target’s sleep. As I mentioned, I most often feel these blows the moment I am falling asleep. Body temperature drops when we sleep, and brain activity slows. Heat-detection equipment is likely being used to identify the point at which the target is falling asleep.
Why they prefer to strike at the start of someone’s sleep as opposed to the middle of their sleep, I do not know. Perhaps their intent is to deprive the body of early sleep, limiting the amount of deep sleep available to the person before their alarm rings in the morning.
Ordinary Hammers
Not all such “torments” (as I call them) are caused by high-tech equipment. I have heard and felt distinct hammer strikes running along the 2x4 beams inside my walls. These strikes can be a single hard strike, or several strikes in a row. It is definitely caused by a person with a hammer because the intervals between strikes are equidistant in time; that is, the time spacing between strikes is not random and does not change from strike to strike, but is constant between strikes, exactly as when someone is hammering. And no, it is not someone hanging pictures at 1:30 am, multiple times a week, for years.
On one occasion, when I was standing at my kitchen sink, I felt the floor-board directly under my feet pulse so sharply it felt like a brick had struck the soles of my feet. In this case, my military neighbour likely used a hammer to strike the floorboard on his side of the wall. It is the only plausible explanation.
Surveillance
This leads to surveillance of one’s activities at home. I have plenty of proofs of that. They seem insignificant on an individual basis. But when you put them all together, they present a clear picture of home surveillance.
My laptop computer’s lid cracked one night, at the bottom left corner of the screen. The next day at work, I heard my military supervisor relate to another co-worker that the night before, his laptop computer’s lid cracked at the bottom left corner. I swear to the Lord in Heaven, I am being truthful.
I tested my suspicion of being surveilled. At home one night, I blurted out-loud, “VW Passat. What an ugly sounding word, ‘Passat’”, I said. A few days later, my military colleagues at work started playing a card game at lunch, invented by one of them. The name he gave his game was “Passat”, and when he spoke it, he looked at me for a reaction. If you ever contact the Halifax military base, ask for the Claims Department and ask them if they are still playing Passat.
On another occasion, at a time when I frequented the gym every second day for a few years, I suspected my van had been fitted with a listening device. I suspected so because a number of things I had spoken with people about on my phone while in my van (nothing illegal) were repeated by people at the gym in conversations among themselves. Too many times, parts of other people's conversations matched parts of conversations I had had with others while I was in my van.
I already knew my phone was being tapped, but I also suspected my van was bugged. So one evening while driving in my van, I blurted out-loud a number of things I said I hated. "I hate (this or that)"; "I hate it when...". One of them was, "I hate when people chew gum with their mouths open." I then vocalized an exaggerated gnawing sound, "Gnaw. Gnaw. Gnaw."
The very next time I went to the gym, 2 days later, while I was at an exercise, a fellow sat at an exercise directly behind me. And sure enough, he started chewing with his mouth open, vocalizing that gnawing sound, "Gnaw. Gnaw. Gnaw." I didn't look behind at him, because I knew what was going on, and I wanted to avoid playing into his hand. So he repeated himself again and again until I was done and moved to a different station. Now, honestly, who chews gum at the gym? You can't. Or you run the risk of choking for the heavy breathing, not to mention when laying down on benches. And with precisely the same exaggerated vocalized gnawing sound I had made in my van just 2 days prior.
Their whole intent is to let you know you are being surveilled. They want you to know, as both a warning and a provocation. They want you to say something, to launch accusations, which they would readily deny, making you look paranoid. If you react too strongly, they could even have you diagnosed with some kind of disorder, and put you on medication, which further plays into their hand. (More regarding medications in the last section of this post.)
This is why, as I mentioned in my previous post, they would park their cars shining their high beams on me as I walked past them during my morning walk. And why on some occasions, a group of 3 or 4 would exit their cars and stand on my path just as I approached, forcing me to go around them. They would then remain standing on the path until my return trip through, and after I had passed by the second time, then would then return to their cars - making it absolutely clear I was their interest.
Their intent is not only to make me aware, but also to present themselves in close proximity to me, within easy reach, in the hope I would confront them, resulting in an altercation that could land me in a lot of hot water - 4 witnesses against me, all pleading innocence.
Again, it is all designed to make you look bad, and to warrant some kind of legal measure against you - preferably a medical diagnosis, discrediting you in everything you say about them. If they can't refute your claims, their only remaining option is to discredit you. That's what all of these tricks are designed to accomplish. Who would believe anything you say, once you have been diagnosed with a disorder?
There are plenty more examples. But who would really believe them? I’ll save them for the future.
Home Invasion
Both during and after my military service, I have had my apartments entered without any signs of break-ins. How? Lock-picking and duplicate keys. Indications? Missing objects; ie: money, phone adaptor, etc. Nothing major. Just something to make us understand we are being watched, and to make us understand what they can do.
But it is always something small, something for which you would be ridiculed for divulging.
Two more examples: I found my razor, which I always lay-down razor-end to the wall, turned around, razor-end toward me. Also, in one of my house slippers I found a small shoe sticker on the up-side of the heel. I had those slipper for years, and never had any shoe stickers on them. Yet there it was, clearly visible on the top surface of my slipper, not the bottom. Could I have stepped on a shoe sticker when barefoot in my apartment, only to have the sticker transfer itself to my slipper when I wore it? How many shoe stickers do you have laying around your apartment that you can accidentally step onto?
If I had stepped onto a sticker in my apartment and had it stick to my heel, that means the sticky side was up against my skin. This means the sticker would have had to flip upside down such that the sticky side would then be down, allowing the sticker to stick to the slipper. Do you really think that happened? That sticker was not there when I left my apartment, but it was there when I returned. And it was the wrong sticker, wrong brand, wrong size.
Again, what is their intent? To make someone look ridiculous so no one will believe them should they speak of other more sensitive things.
Staged Incidents
The above incidents clearly point to coordinated and staged events (at my work, my home, on my walks, etc). This is so frequently met with incredulity. "But that would require coordination on the part of so many people," the public dismisses. "They wouldn't do that."
Oh yes they would, and they have, as explained in https://fightgangstalking.com/. Note the documented cases involving the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, Canada's equivalent to the US' CIA) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP, Canada's national police force) in the second quote, which were reported in national newspapers.
From https://fightgangstalking.com/:
“Disruption operations often involve tactics which are illegal, but difficult to prove. These tactics include – but are not limited to – overt surveillance (stalking), slander, blacklisting, “mobbing” (intense, organized harassment in the workplace), “black bag jobs” [home invasions], abusive phone calls, computer hacking, framing, threats, blackmail, vandalism, “street theater” (staged physical and verbal interactions with minions of the people who orchestrate the stalking), harassment by noises, and other forms of bullying. Many of these tactics were used by the FBI during its illegal COINTELPRO operations, as documented by stolen official documents and subsequent Congressional investigations.
"Although the general public is mostly unfamiliar with the practice, references to “disruption” operations – described as such – do occasionally appear in the news media, even though that fact would apparently be news to the editors of The New York Times. In May 2006, for example, an article in The Globe and Mail, a Canadian national newspaper, reported that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) used “Diffuse and Disrupt” tactics against suspects for whom they lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute. A criminal defense attorney stated that many of her clients complained of harassment by authorities, although they were never arrested."
She can add me to that list too.
For the Benefit of Others
The experiences I have recounted here seem so trivial, so insignificant, they make you look ridiculous if you talk about them. But if we don’t talk about such things, no one will ever know about them. Other people have experienced the same, and are forced to endure such torments in silence. They need encouragement to talk about their own experiences, and so I write about mine in the hope they will talk about theirs, even if I do look ridiculous. The perpetrators are more ridiculous for doing them.
I remember a military colleague being hauled away by military police one morning, as she was struggling and having a violent fit. A fellow on her floor told me she was throwing chairs at her walls screaming, “Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!”. When he mentioned that, I knew exactly what they had done to her. She was considered unruly, and was being watched intently. They wanted her out, and that is how they accomplished it. Through wall tapping and sleep deprivation, they push you to the breaking point. And when you finally lose control and do something rash, they pounce on you, and you’re out. Now she has a criminal record, considered a criminal when in reality she was a victim. Welcome to the Canadian military, and other militaries besides, I am sure.
There are dozens upon dozens of experiences I could present. But who will really read them? Worse still, who will really believe them? I overheard my military supervisor in Halifax whisper to another, “Do you think he knows?”, after I had mentioned one of the many “coincidences” I experienced, but with a tone of my being aware it was not a mere coincidence. As I turned my face to my computer screen, I whispered under my breath, but still loud enough for him to hear, “Yes, (rank) (name), I know.” A few minutes later, as he walked past my desk, he leaned in by my ear and whispered, “We’re just trying to help you.” I should have pressed him for answers right then and there, but you just don’t know how much trouble you can get into when making such accusations in the military. So I let it go. But I will never forget.
Should anyone reading this ever decide to launch some kind of inquiry, I can mention names of over 100 people to contact, including military personnel, family members, neighbours, building managers, and others who have been contacted by military personnel with false narratives about me. They flash their ID’s and other credentials, and people believe anything they say. They turn family, friends, co-workers and neighbours against you, even recruiting their participation. Your acquaintances not only participate, but actually feel justified and emboldened playing tricks on you. It isn't their fault, though; they have been misled. I would reference them solely for corroboration.
As a final thought, here are explanations of two military programs in which certain persons (sometimes military, sometimes civilian) are kept under constant surveillance, and are in some cases subjected to conditioning in an attempt to turn them into what is called a “sleeper agent”. Almost all of the tactics presented below have been experience by me, including constant surveillance (ie: my previous post here regarding being harassed on my morning walks) and sleep deprivation (as per the top portion of this post, which other military members in Cuba and elsewhere around the world have also experienced).
Pentagon’s Signature Reduction Program
See Newsweek’s article: https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-inside-militarys-secret-undercover-army-1591881
Some excerpts from that Newsweek article, plus more background information on the Pentagon’s Signature Reduction Program, can be found here: https://fightgangstalking.com/
“The largest undercover force the world has ever known is the one created by the Pentagon over the past decade. Some 60,000 people now belong to this secret army, many working under masked identities and in low profile, all part of a broad program called “signature reduction.” The force, more than ten times the size of the clandestine elements of the CIA, carries out domestic and foreign assignments, both in military uniforms and under civilian cover, in real life and online, sometimes hiding in private businesses and consultancies, some of them household name companies.
“…a little-known sector of the American military, but also a completely unregulated practice. No one knows the program’s total size, and the explosion of signature reduction has never been examined for its impact on military policies and culture. Congress has never held a hearing on the subject. And yet the military developing this gigantic clandestine force challenges U.S. laws, the Geneva Conventions, the code of military conduct and basic accountability.
“…The signature reduction effort engages some 130 private companies to administer the new clandestine world. Dozens of little known and secret government organizations support the program, doling out classified contracts and overseeing publicly unacknowledged operations.
"Federal spy agencies are using Americans to spy on their fellow citizens – the same approach to governance famously employed by communist East Germany."
How to Develop a Hypnotic Sleeper Agent
By Dantalion Jones / Masters of Mind Control
The following “was” on the web, but has been removed. Surprise, surprise. But I saved its web files to my computer years ago, knowing that sooner or later it would be removed. I made a jpeg image of the web page as it once appeared, attached here.
Note that I have experienced almost all of the tactics described below, including the stalking I mentioned in my previous post here (regular walks in the park), the sleep deprivation noted at the top of this post, and the surveillance and intrusions described here as well.
Quoting the now-removed webpage: “How to Develop a Hypnotic Sleeper Agent” (from here to end of post):
Amid all the conspiracy theories one of the most feared is that there exist "sleeper agents" in our society who are programmed to come into service when they are triggered by a phone call or key word.
These alleged sleeper agents don't even know they are programmed to become saboteurs, soldiers, suicide bomber, etc because of the thoroughness of their programming. They are the feared "Manchurian Candidate" that the movies portray.
The question is "Are they real?"
If they are true sleeper agents there is no way of telling until they are activated. One can however theorize exactly how they are made.
Indoctrination
Using indoctrination a person can be made to embrace a religious or philosophical belief that would make becoming a sleeper agent possible.
This would be a person so committed to an ideal they would be willing to wait patiently as a member of society until they are called into action. These people would know their mission and consciously hold it secret while interacting with the rest of society.
Conditioning
Conditioning is a repetitive process where the desired responses are enforced and rewarded and unwanted responses are punished. This can be done consciously as part of training drill and it can be done subconsciously using hypnosis or drugs to create amnesia.
Hypnosis
It has been demonstrated that hypnosis can create "amnesia walls" in which the subject has no conscious memory of what happened in the hypnosis session. It has further been demonstrated that hypnosis can give post hypnotic instruction to be carried out automatically in the waking state without the subject knowing it or questioning the behavior.
What follows is conjecture and theory based on testimonials of people who were alleged to be sleeper agents and soldiers.
Continuous Supervisions
Continuous supervision doesn't mean that the subject is cut off completely from society. It means that they are constantly overseen and every aspect of their lives are managed (without their knowledge or consent) to support their hypnotic programming.
This would include:
• Repeated reinforcement of all hypnotic conditioning.
• Handlers. Handlers are people who help maintain the subjects environment to maintain all the programming. They can play the role of family, friends, lovers, psychologists, coaches or any roll the subject perceives as supportive. The truth is the handlers are their to support the successful fulfillment of the programming and not the subject as a person.
• Minimal sleep so that the mind/brain does not process all the sleeper conditioning during sleep.
• Creating constant environmental challenges like unemployment or poverty. This gives the subject something other than their programming to focus on.
• Frequent hospitalization. This gives overt opportunity to sedate the subject for conditioning. If the subject has a history of hospitalizations for mental disturbances all the better. No one will take them seriously.
Joseph Cafariello
PS... Today is the second day after this post (February 12, 2024). A garbage truck just slammed into my parked car.
PPS... I finish writing this post because I am satisfied with its shape and content; not because of what happened to my car.
It is similar to when you are reaching for your coat, and someone tells you, "Take your coat." Since you have to take your coat, your brain tells you it's ok to obey them, and you comply. They just created an instance where they led you, and you followed them. And your brain accepted it.
It's a technique the military uses all the time. It trains you to accept instructions from that person or group. Done enough times, you become comfortable obeying them.
I just say, "I take my coat because I choose to, not because you tell me to." It's important to make that clear, to block the conditioning and affirm our self-governance; not just to them, but to ourselves as well. Now our brain realizes we took our coat by our own choice; we are still in command.
So too, I say regarding today's event. "Thanks for the warning, but I had already finished writing my post. I finished by my own choosing."
UPDATES 1 & 2: February 26 & March 07, 2024:
My apartment was once again entered while I was out. Either a key was used or the lock was picked. This may or may not have included assistance from building staff. Home invasions are included in the list of their techniques noted above, referred to as "black bag jobs".
All tenants on my floor received new fridges a couple of weeks ago. I removed the tape securing the bins inside my new fridge, and also removed all styrofoam pads from the corners of the glass shelves when I repositioned them.
The person(s) who have been invading my living space on a regular basis have struck again. As you can see in the photo below, the styrofoam pads on the corners of my fridge's shelves were restored when I was out of my apartment. I had removed all pads when I repositioned the shelves. Yet now they are back.
It is a tactic used to undermine our observational awareness in an attempt to make us second-guess and doubt ourselves. The aim is to cause people to feel less sure not only of the things we have done, but also feel less sure of the things others have done. They want us to question the accuracy of our observations and memory.
The idea is to train you to dismiss any anomalies you may observe as being your own misperception of things. Once they convince you not to trust your own judgement, they are free to do whatever they want to you, and you will simply accept it without questioning.
UPDATE 3: May 18, 2024:
Confrontations with individuals keep occurring, at times potentially violent. Following are just 3 such encounters as of late.
1 - Kick-boxer in the park:
As I parked my car in one of the parking lots in Vancouver's Stanley Park one night, another vehicle drove up behind me and parked several spots away. A tall man exited that vehicle, and walked hastily along the path I always walk, down some steps to the water's sea wall path. I took my time and followed my usual walk, also down the steps down to the sea wall. The man knew my routine, and was in a hurry to get ahead of me.
As I walked along the sea wall, I saw the same man sitting on a bench, playing a loud religious sermon in a foreign language on a device I did not clearly see. As I walked past him, he called out to me to stop and chat. I ignored him and continued walking past. He rose and started walking behind me.
I opened my umbrella, turned, and walked past him the other way, returning to the stairs back to the parking lot. He also turned and continued following me. I started running. He also started running. I ran up the steps, as did he.
Being taller than I am, his legs are longer than mine, and he quickly caught up to me on a grassy patch at the top of the steps. I turned to him and asked, "Why are you following me?" He did not reply, but stood profile to me, the same stance a kick-boxer uses when ready to kick someone. He was tall, thin, and in excellent physical shape as you would see in a kick-boxer.
He did not speak at all, but was just waiting for me to make a move. I turned, entered my vehicle and left. The encounter continued with a chase through the park in our cars. Yes, that is correct. He chased me out of the park in his car.
2 - Told to keep quiet:
The perpetrators need to operate with as little detection as possible, and they repeatedly warn their subjects to keep their mouths shut about their experiences.
On another of my recent nightly walks, a man stood on the sidewalk ahead of me about half a block away, looked at me, and shouted into the sky at nobody, giving the appearance of being a homeless person shouting for no reason. He then started walking in my direction. I continued walking straight. As he passed me, he leaned into my face and shouted into my ear, "Shut the f_ck up!" I continued walking in my direction, and he resumed walking in his.
The idea is to make it seem as though he is just a deranged man wandering the streets at night, shouting at nothing, so that when he shouts at me, any observer would simply dismiss his actions. But in reality, he was sent to send me a message to stop publishing posts like this, which I had done many times on many sites, and continue to. They don't like it when we reveal their methods. But the truth must be known.
3 - You'll be sorry:
On another occasion, while returning from grocery shopping one afternoon, I walked past a man sitting by a storefront. He was clean-cut, wearing clean clothes, without any carts or wagons or any belongings of any kind. As I passed him, he asked me for some spare change. I replied, "I'm sorry," and continued walking past. He replied, "You will be."
There are numerous other experiences, like two seemingly unassociated men standing on the sea wall about 100 meters away from each other, each of them spitting just as I walked past each one.
There are too many experiences to mention. Looking at each experience individually, one would easily dismiss them as being unrelated and simply coincidental. But put them all together and a picture starts to form, like putting together the pieces of a puzzle.
As I hand you each piece of the puzzle one by one, you dismiss each piece, saying, "This could be anything." And you discard it. You keep discarding each piece as I hand it to you. By the end of it, you look down at the table and say, "You have nothing." That's because you looked at each piece as a separate item and threw it away. But if you leave the pieces on the table as I hand them to you and do not hastily discard them, you will see they form a clear picture when put all together.
We must look at all these events as a whole. Individually, each one could be anything. But when all of these experiences are put together and considered as a whole, they form an undeniable picture. Do not be quick to dismiss each piece. Leave the pieces on the table and look at the whole. The picture I present is sound. Remember, I have all the pieces; you do not. I see the picture more clearly than you do.
https://preview.redd.it/we31ymcsm91d1.jpg?width=966&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d56ac3dd3558a60d477ba9315104d1b66b139f8

submitted by GoAheadMMDay to Liberty [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 00:49 Kind_Net_2042 This is Why Mina is DONE

Even if Mina comes back from her "break". Even if she turns back on the comments on her Youtube. Even if she continues to members-only livestreams or opens it up to the public. Even if she continues to grow a following.
Mina's business as we know it is done. And she knows this.
Mina always made it clear that for her it's not about followers, likes, and comments. It's about getting people to PAY you. She used to brag that she makes more money than people with much larger followings. She used to talk them down and say things like "You must be working really hard not to make money". (No, Mina, maybe they have a conscience and just aren't comfortable with scamming)
What happened to her "Secret Offer" Kainaat? The one that she said that "God" made her announce before she was ready? She said that she was going to launch in mid April. We are already in the latter part of May and she's completely abandoned it. If you try to access it from the original link (https://high-value-worthy-woman.thinkific.com/courses/kainaat), you cannot buy it. Even her next intensive in Budapest is no longer listed.
For the first time since I've followed Mina, she has nothing to promote.
Knowing Mina, this has to be extremely difficult for her. Her supposedly dream life seems to be very lonely and empty behind the scenes. So it seems she has structured her life in a way so she always has to have something to look forward to. By the time she's on a flight to an in-person intensive, she has typically already announced the one that will come after that. She would always have courses and events lined up.
But for the first time everything has come to a halt, and she has instead fallen back to doing flash sales for her old products. If you understand Mina's business, you know that flash sales are a sign of desperation for her. Last year in CEO Boss Queen she announced that she was done with flash sales because it was "too easy" of a way to make money. She was bored with it. Fast forward to this year she is doing flash sales like crazy. (And apparently currently she is offering 18% on ALL her products.)
It is clear that women have stopped buying.
Making sales is all that Mina lives for. So it's funny when defenders used to come in here and talk about the value they got from her free content. Mina thinks you are a peasant, hun. Mina explicitly shames women for manifesting free things. Mina is only able to make money when women BUY. She has a whole module in her sales course about TRAINING THEM TO BUY. While Mina will happily take your mindless praise and compliments online, what gives her the ULTIMATE validation is when you GIVE HER YOUR MONEY.
She will always be able to find minions and sycophants to follow her online. But what is harder to find are BUYERS.
Mina used to be able to get away with so much as long as she was able to control the narrative and keep up the charade. In many ways, Mina's prices actually used to be HIGHER than they are now. For example, 3 years ago was selling Aligned as Femme for $4,888 I can't imagine her having the gall to launch a course at that price point now.
For Mina to have a shot, she will have to DRASTICALLY lower her price point. But that market is honestly much more competitive. She has to compete with younger, more relatable content creators. (She can barely compete with her own mentee Awwlexis.)
Mina had a really good grift going when she was marketing herself as mentor for "6 & 7 figure earners" and "Top 1% women". But her arrogance went to her head and she chose to trash her core audience and throw them under the bus.
So whenever she comes back to YT, and whenever she starts livestreaming again, she can enjoy the company of what's left of her paid members. But at the end of the day those are low-investment fans. While they act like they are superfans on YT, most of them just get a high from seeing their comments read out loud on the world wide web. They aren't actually invested. I don't see those girls in zoom calls. Her real "VIP" clients have largely jumped shipped.
She will be hard pressed to find anybody willing to pay what she used to charge as long as real reviews are being circulated online. Before, she was able to market such high prices as "investing in yourself", but now everyone can plainly see that you would be better off taking your cold hard cash and flushing it down the toilet.
It's funny because it does seem like something has actually shifted in the atmosphere. I don't come across many defenders anymore. It kind of seems like... a spell has been broken? It's like women are collectively snapping out of it. But if anybody else does try to come to defend her or gaslight her victims, all I really want to know is the answer to these two questions: "What is the last thing you bought from her?" and "What is the next thing thing you intend to buy from her?"
Otherwise, your talk is cheap.
Thank you everyone for sharing your story and saving so many women going forward.

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2024.05.19 00:46 Shoddy_Life_7581 People that treat a weekly television release schedule as superior to a full season drop.

There is this constant narrative, even in the "news" sites you'll see on google recommended articles when doom-scrolling on your phone, likely inspired by the vocal Reddit minority like those "news" sites tend to be, that shows should stop dropping all at once because "it makes it an event" and "people can discuss and theorize". Have you ever participated in a subreddit for a show? For most big ones those places suck, it's just endlessly negative drivel by wannabe critics. Sure there's some theorizing, but there's no joy there. You can be like "Oh at work, or oh in my friend group" but those are niche examples, there are no water cooler shows everyone watches anymore when there is so much content out there, there's these incredible shows that if you ask any ten people walking down the street if they've seen, you're very likely to get ten nos. If you need a week to digest something, you can take a week, you can take a year, but those of us that want to consume a season of The Bear over a night like a greedy little piggy should not have to wait for you.

submitted by Shoddy_Life_7581 to PetPeeves [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 00:44 Al_Ibramiya How Do Primary Jewish Sources Work?

Hello
I'm researching various Abrahamic religions, and I want to understand the methodologies behind Jewish sources and the conclusions derived from them.
Although I'm not Muslim (I'm Catholic), I'll use an example from Islam to illustrate what I'm looking for, as it seems externally similar to Judaism and I have some knowledge on the subject.
In Islam, there is the Quran, which Muslims believe is the revelation from God to the Prophet (p) through the angel Gabriel. Apart from this document, there are compilations of books called Hadiths, which are stories from the Prophet (p). These books contain a variety of content since they are not of a single nature; they are usually divided into sections but often consist of paragraphs that can say several things.
In a Hadith, you might find a story of the Prophet (p) or previous stories, exegesis of the Quran, predictions, commandments of the Prophet (p), etc. The sections do not affect the numbering; some books go from 1 to +7000 Hadiths. As I mentioned, you can find a wide range of topics without a very strict order, and usually, Hadiths don't depend on the surrounding narrations. For example, Hadith 5 doesn't depend on 6, and 6 doesn't depend on 7, etc. Typically, all the context is contained within each narration. In some cases, they combine Hadiths that are just variations of the same narrative with some details by adding a letter to them; for example, if Hadith 7a mentions drums, Hadith 7b might mention flutes, but the rest is exactly the same.
These Hadiths are verified for authenticity by a chain of transmitters. For example, a friend of the Prophet (p) tells a story to another person, who tells it to another, and so on until a Hadith compiler writes it down in his book. To verify the authenticity of a Hadith, the biographies of the transmitters and the continuity of the transmissions are carefully checked.
Beyond the Hadiths, there are other early Islamic books, such as biographies of the prophet (p) and/or his companions with a different structure from the Hadiths, exegesis of the Quran (tafsir), and so on. Modern authors also write books about these topics, like contemporary tafsirs, compilations of different hadiths, laws compilation, etc.
There are consensus systems among scholars, universities, and influential figures like Al-Albani. Regarding divisions, I don't know much. As far as I understand, the divisions were not made for purely theological reasons but also for pelitikal ones, with Shi'ites having their own chains of transmission, and so on, similar to the Ibadis; and their hadiths doesn't apply to one division to another. Hadith libraries can become immense but usually only a few books (such as Muslim and Bukhari for Sunnis and Kafi for Shiites) are counted, the rest are used little to nothing
Also there are Quranists who doesn't believe in all of this and only have their Quran with their own intepretation.

submitted by Al_Ibramiya to Judaism [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 00:34 MemoryOne1291 Shinjuku arc is well written, Gege is ccooking

https://preview.redd.it/cbdvot0jw81d1.png?width=1170&format=png&auto=webp&s=d7f0ca6a95359a4ea446132b1111ea1df54b9659
It seems like a lot of people are hating on Gege for his writing this arc , but the takes i see on why it’s bad are usually just terrible reading comprehension or extremely impatient. Imo this arc and shibuya are the Yorknew and Chimera and arc of jjk and y’all need to let Gege cook. Even culling games was well written but im not gonna get into that (we don’t talk about the military arc) .
Most of y’all hating on the “writing” this arc are just extremely impatient and don’t realize how quick the events taking place since chapter 223 are in jjk time. If we consider s4 starting off with Gojo vs sukuna, chapter 222-260 won’t be more than a couple of episodes. People saying this fight is “taking too long” fr gotta grow up , Gege giving chapters weekly is already goated. Other manga’s like berserk have months between chapters, but yall are just impatient and have to let Gege cook. I dont know if this is yalls first manga or something, but mangas take time to make.
All chapters since the generational jumping where yuji got his first black flash on sukuna have just been peak. Another point which gives Gege hate is sukuna being too strong and whatever. Narratively it’s just been shown since the first couple chapters that Sukuna was an absolute monster in his era. it’s been narratively shown again and again that Gojo and Sukuna are on another tier of their own when it comes to strength and theyve both been relative to one another. the jump betweeen grade 1 and special grade (people like Yuta and yuki) is minuscule compared to the jump from people like Yuta and yuki to Gojo and Sukuna , who are in their own tier. So no, yall impatient mfs can’t expect Sukuna who has been shown from the start to be the final villain to die this easily , and no the strongest character in the series being strong isn’t an "asspull", people assume this and assume that Sukuna is just a "fraud". And the “cycle being repetitive” literally just comes down to people being impatient. I don’t think yall realize how quick the events from higuramas fight - Miguel coming in was (which was the end of the cycle).
Another thing is that people literally just don’t give Gege time. I don’t think yall realize Gege has a vision for the story , yall just critique anything that hasn’t been fully developed on and calls it bad writing. Two examples is when apparently Gege “forgot” about the enchain binding vow so people call Gege a bad writer , but when the whole meguna thing happened, you never saw people complain about it again. Another one is yuji being too weak or not being the mc in his story. But when it was time for yujis awakening and it was revealed yuji was related to Sukuna , people forgot about that and go on to the next thing to hate Gege for. Seriously where did all those people calling Gege an ass writer for yuji not being the mc go since 256? Dont even get me started on the "gojo did nothing" where people were convinced gojos death was meaningless and called gege a shit writer until yuta confirmed they all wouldve been dead without gojo nerfing tf out of sukuna. Or the fact that gojo didnt dodge the world cutting slash was also "bad writing" until a binding vow was revealed, then yall hating on both just forgot ab it. So no, every plot line in the story can’t be concluded in one chapter, yall have to give Gege time to cook. Again, the culling games was getting shit on but it was an amazing setup arc for what’s happening rn and what’ll happen next arc. The whole sukuna verses fight have been one of the best written fights ive seen especially in terms of powerscaling.
another point is "pointless character deaths". I dont know if yall prefer your stories to be predictable where you know none of the good guys are gonna die but personally thats not good to me. and every character has at least contributed something to the fight.lets see all the deaths
gojo - well ofc hes possibly back with 260, but nonetheless gojos death was never pointless. if you genuinely think gege is a bad writer for killing gojo in the first place you never understood his character . but hes back nonetheless so whatevr, and i never got the problem with gojos death in the first place. gojo is also the reason why any of them arent dead yet from fighting sukuna
kashimo - this is purely from the point where kashimo fans had kashimo stocks at 500% when literally the first time we see kashimo we understand all he wants is to fight sukuna. i dont know if yall seriously thought that kashimo was gonna be on gojos or sukunas level but despite still being very strong, he was never gonna win and was destined to die against sukuna. his fight with sukuna also helped us learn more about sukuna, and who else better to talk with sukuna than kashimo? kashimo also helped force heian era form sukuna out which the gang mightve not been able to do and i never hear anyone talk ab this. kashimo did enough for the fight
higurama - he started off fighting against a traumatized yuji who was still fucked from the events of shibuya, and dies fighting alongside yuji against sukuna , trying to get justice. he was introduced to show the corrpution of the law system in japan. did yall seriously expect higurama out of all people to be the one to kill sukuna? and taking away sukunas tool was extremely important, the gang wouldve been cooked if sukuna still had it. it wouldve been game over.
choso - while nobody has really said its meaningless people are just upset that it happened and ive genuinely heard people say its unnecessary/did nothing for his character. i think yall are forgetting what choso did in shibuya, and he obviously felt bad for what he did now. and he lived up to yukis words and lived as a human alongside yuji for a while and died as a human sacrificing himself for yuji
in short most of the hating for geges writing is

impatient mfs who dont realize chapters cant come out on a daily basis, we're already lucky to have gege be a weekly author and not release something like 6 chapters a year. in real time this fight is quicker than the events of shibuya, easily.
agenda listeners, fraudkuna this so sukuna being strong must be asspull! some people cant accept sukuna and gojo have always been relative and leagues above anyone else

submitted by MemoryOne1291 to Jujutsufolk [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 00:19 Broken_PS256 OBJ Texture mapping incorrectly stretched across triangles

While loading texture coordinates in ogl, the textures seem to be bent along the seams of the triangles, I'm using the fast_obj library for the actual file loading, but it's a small single-header library with little documentation, so I can't easily tell if its my code that's the issue or the library's.
Vertex loading code:

for(int i = 0; i <= mesh->position_count; i++) { int posArrIdx = i * 3; float tempPos[3]; tempPos[0] = mesh->positions[posArrIdx]; tempPos[1] = mesh->positions[posArrIdx+1]; tempPos[2] = mesh->positions[posArrIdx+2]; model->vertices[i].position[0] = tempPos[0]; model->vertices[i].position[1] = tempPos[1]; model->vertices[i].position[2] = tempPos[2]; } for(int i = 0; i <= mesh->texcoord_count; i++) { int texArrIdx = i * 2; float tempTex[2]; tempTex[0] = mesh->texcoords[texArrIdx]; tempTex[1] = mesh->texcoords[texArrIdx+1]; model->vertices[i].texCoords[0] = tempTex[0]; model->vertices[i].texCoords[1] = tempTex[1]; }

Texture loading code:

glGenTextures(1, &texture.id); glActiveTexture(GL_TEXTURE0); glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, texture.id); glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_NEAREST); glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_NEAREST); glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_S, GL_REPEAT); glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_T, GL_REPEAT); glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_RGBA, texture.w, texture.h, 0, GL_RGB, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, texture.data);

Image of the bug:
https://imgur.com/a/example-tl1u15g
I should also probably add that the texture mapping worked fine before I started using OBJ files.

submitted by Broken_PS256 to opengl [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 00:18 Legitimate_Income279 Which movie deserves more credit for its screenwriter than its director?

Let's talk about films where the script truly shines and the screenwriter deserves more recognition than the director. One prime example is "The Social Network." While David Fincher did a fantastic job directing, Aaron Sorkin's sharp, witty, and compelling screenplay is what truly made the film stand out. His dialogue and narrative structure brought the story to life in a way that few others could have achieved. What are some other movies where the writer should be getting just as much, if not more, credit than the director?
Share your thoughts

submitted by Legitimate_Income279 to Letterboxd [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 00:10 TheIndulgery Using ChatGPT as a novel writing aid

I'm currently writing a fantasy / litPRG novel and have been using ChatGPT in creative ways to help with it. I had some requests on how so instead of replying to everyone individually I figured I'd make a post! I will include screenshots so expect this post to be long! Also, it's from my actual book so please don't steal my shit. lol
I'll break it up into 5 sections:

Standard editing help
Character and creature sheets
The cool stuff
A ChatGPT summary of the types of prompts I've used so far
A recommendation by ChatGPT on how authors can get the most use out of it

A few notes to start:

I'm currently using the paid version of 4o. I paid for 4 because I use it a TON for work and the ability to upload screenshots is a huge help. Turns out it's great for doing screenshots of formatting, character sheets, etc for writing too. I originally started with 3.5 and just kept migrating the story to newer versions as they came out. Other than query limits I haven't noticed any difference in quality.
I do NOT have it write any parts of the story for me. As an experiment I had it try to write a fight scene and kept adjusting the prompts but it just always came out shit. It's really not good at writing wholesale.
After every chapter I copy and paste it into the same conversation so that it keeps a running log of the story.
It's terrible at emotional interactions and dialogue. It tries to make everything hopeful and goes with the most generic, Hallmark Card type of interaction
It's also bad at giving suggestions or ideas for long scenes. It wants to resolve everything in a few paragraphs so it'll go from 2 people fighting to reaching a deeper understanding and being fully great with each other in like 2 paragraphs

Keep in mind that although it's great as a reviewer, editor, and something to bounce ideas off of, it can only provide suggestions. The hard work of writing has to be done by you. I spend about 2 hours a night and at least 4 hours a day on weekends writing and maybe 10 minutes a day in ChatGPT. Much like spell or grammar checkers, it's a useful tool but no substitute for doing the work
Editing and grammar:
This is pretty straightforward. I'll copy and paste sections and ask it to fix the grammar, bolding any changes it makes and striking out any words it removes so I can review the changes. The only issue I've had with this is that if I try to post an entire chapter it'll sometimes pause in its review and ask if I want to continue. Sometimes when it does that it loses sentences or even a paragraph where it broke. Now I just do smaller chunks. It'll explain why it made the changes too, so it's improving my grammar as I go.
Character and creature help:
This is also pretty straightforward. I already have my main characters written up and I know which ones are coming later, but sometimes I want mooks or neighbors, and other times I need creatures. I'll ask it for more than I need and pick the best ones. Some of the prompts:
"Create 5 creatures that you'd find in Wisconsin. There should be a day version and a night version, the night version being tougher and having more attacks. For each come up with 3 offensive and 3 defensive powers. Also describe them in the format of a character description in a D&D style monster manual."
https://preview.redd.it/n2e5pfx9691d1.png?width=825&format=png&auto=webp&s=41abb9ae9a8c984ea1837b0a3b292885822b1e5e
"Based off the fight scene I just described and the attached screenshot of the person's character sheet, come up with 5 attacks, skills, or magical abilities that person could develop. They should reflect that person's personality, character sheet, and fighting style."
https://preview.redd.it/05t0977p691d1.png?width=572&format=png&auto=webp&s=35a55418b0ce7230225ac79e632632f4aac43f6a
https://preview.redd.it/kio2yals691d1.png?width=592&format=png&auto=webp&s=443d537f20d4c8956441214ea38ecd1e2af651bb
Mooks:
https://preview.redd.it/9dxzjn85791d1.png?width=606&format=png&auto=webp&s=11ca003c702f77d5ea27e55abbb6a20f7573d409
https://preview.redd.it/kvudyz97791d1.png?width=603&format=png&auto=webp&s=7fd6ee23d5719a0f73abf6b65b694c5523f6223f
The cool stuff: This is where it really shines and has helped me avoid a lot of pitfalls that I notice when I'm reading other authors' books:
"Review the story and look for any words that I reuse a lot. Ignore standard ones like 'and, they, him, etc'"
All authors have their favorite words that get repeated way too often. I'll find them and suggest alternate descriptions. It goes beyond just providing new words.
"I want to avoid repetitive descriptions. Please review the story and identify any times I've repeated descriptions, turns of phrase, etc. Categorize them into "fight scenes", "Emotional scenes", and "area/scene descriptions"
This has been a power prompt for me. We tend to describe things a certain way and it identifies areas where changes can be made to make it more dynamic and varied.
https://preview.redd.it/n0s3w4l2891d1.png?width=787&format=png&auto=webp&s=6f8bbb75a01216bbef6b4792740154a1ea4f40ef
https://preview.redd.it/zy9jj32a891d1.png?width=755&format=png&auto=webp&s=b6a3ee793ee610a96416268ae407aab70c6d3785
"Please review the story for any inconsistencies. I'm specifically looking for ways I've described the system or world as working that I later contradict."
I've had mixed results with this one but overall it works really well.
It's also useful for all those items that you forget, especially if they enhance someone and they're supposed to be using a skill or ability from it:
https://preview.redd.it/wz4gn43v891d1.png?width=662&format=png&auto=webp&s=b278e32bd76464dfa09395115d8bb401a759d789
I also use it to bounce ideas off of. Sometimes the ideas are generic but often it comes up with ideas that I hadn't thought of. I don't like it decide the plot or directions, but it's like chatting with an editor or reviewer and the two of you bouncing ideas off each other. I'll reply to its posts with things like "I like number 3 but it's coming too early. What if we had them go to place X instead of that, saving that for later?" Character [xx] is going to have these skills and plot points in the future. Knowing that, please tailor all skill and plot suggestions with the idea of driving towards that narrative in a balanced, natural manner. None of the ideas should feel forced and they should all happen naturally as the story progresses. As I paste new chapters please incorporate the changes into that long term progression and adapt as required.
"I think I want character B to starting feeling like they're not contributing but I'm having trouble thinking of ways to express that naturally. I don't want it to feel forced. What are some situations they could end up in that'd highlight that? Who could they fight with?"
"I feel like character A is getting too complacent and it outpacing the other people, but they've become the lynchpin of the fights. I plan on introducing XX situation and it'll make them weak in XX area. I'm going to post a few paragraphs with that, tell me if it rings true with the character growth I've been using for the rest of the story."
"I'm going to paste the first half of a fight that the characters are in but I'm realizing I don't have any ideas for how they'll win. What are some ideas based off the creature's character sheet you posted earlier?"
And I asked ChatGPT to make a summarized list of the types of requests I've asked of it. Here's what it came up with:

Sure! Here's a summary list of the different types of requests you've made for help with plot, development, and ideas:
Character Development and Backstory
Character Sheets: "Review this detailed character sheet and suggest any improvements or additional details to enhance the character's depth and complexity."
Skills and Abilities: "Analyze this new skill for Zavier and provide feedback on how well it fits with his Opportunist class and how it could be further refined."
Unique Items: "Evaluate this rare weapon designed for Tess and suggest any changes or enhancements to make it more unique and impactful."
Emotional Growth: "Read through this scene where Cass confronts his fears and self-doubt during a battle. Provide feedback on how to enhance his emotional growth and make it more compelling."

Plot Development

Story Arcs: "Review this key story arc that introduces a major conflict between Tess and Zavier. Suggest any improvements or additional elements to make the conflict more engaging."
Combat Scenes: "Analyze this combat scene where Luna and Cass fight a pack of mutated wolves. Provide feedback on how to make the scene more dynamic and showcase their growth and new skills."
Plot Twists: "Suggest a surprise plot twist that could be integrated into this battle scene to challenge the characters and force them to adapt quickly."
Character Conflict: "Evaluate this scene where Tess and Zavier have a heated argument about their training methods. Provide feedback on how to enhance the tension and emotional impact."

Scene and Setting Descriptions

Sensory Details: "Enhance this description of a forest setting by incorporating more sensory details. Suggest specific sounds, smells, and tactile elements that could be added."
Creature Descriptions: "Review this description of a new creature the family encounters. Suggest ways to make the creature more terrifying and unique."
Action Scenes: "Read through this action scene where Tess takes on a giant mutated bear. Provide feedback on how to make the scene more thrilling and showcase her skills more effectively."

Dialogue and Internal Monologue

Character Dialogues: "Review this conversation between Zavier and Tess where they discuss their fears and hopes. Suggest ways to make the dialogue more natural and emotionally resonant."
Internal Monologue: "Analyze this internal monologue of Cass as he prepares for a solo battle. Provide feedback on how to make his thoughts more vivid and revealing."
Emotional Depth: "Evaluate this scene where Luna comforts Cass after a failed mission. Suggest ways to enhance the emotional depth and strengthen their sibling bond."

Item and Skill Creation

Loot Items: "Review these unique items dropped by the Ironhide Boar. Suggest any changes to their descriptions, stats, and effects to make them more interesting and balanced."
Weapon Effects: "Evaluate this new special ability for Zavier's chain weapon. Provide feedback on how to make it more versatile and impactful in combat."
Skill Development: "Suggest a skill progression path for Luna that focuses on her luck-based fighting style. Provide ideas for potential skill upgrades and their effects."

Theme and Tone

Maintaining Tone: "Ensure that the tone of this new scene remains consistent with the rest of the story. Provide feedback on balancing dark moments with hopeful ones."
Descriptive Variety: "Review this repetitive description of a battle scene and suggest ways to make it more engaging and varied, using dynamic verbs and sensory details."
Balancing Emotions: "Evaluate this scene that balances intense action with emotional depth. Provide feedback on how to show the characters' vulnerabilities and strengths more effectively."

Feedback and Revisions

Improving Flow: "Review this written scene and suggest improvements for better flow and engagement. Identify any areas where the narrative could be more fluid."
Avoiding Repetition: "Identify any repetitive language in this chapter and provide alternatives to keep the narrative fresh and interesting."
Constructive Feedback: "Provide feedback on the latest plot progression and character development. Suggest ways to enhance the story's impact and make the characters more compelling."
These prompts should guide you in requesting specific feedback, edits, and suggestions for your writing.

And finally, I asked ChatGPT what kinds of prompts to use to make the most of its ability to help writers:

To make the most of my abilities as an AI assistant, authors should use prompts that focus on detailed feedback, specific suggestions for improvements, and brainstorming new ideas. Here are some examples of effective prompts that can help authors maximize the benefits of using my assistance:
Character Development and Backstory
Character Sheets: "Review this detailed character sheet and suggest any improvements or additional details to enhance the character's depth and complexity."
Skills and Abilities: "Analyze this new skill for [Character Name] and provide feedback on how well it fits with their class and personality. Suggest any enhancements or refinements."
Emotional Growth: "Read through this scene where [Character Name] experiences significant emotional growth. Provide feedback on how to make the growth more compelling and realistic."

Plot Development

Story Arcs: "Review this key story arc and suggest any improvements or additional elements to make the conflict more engaging and impactful."
Combat Scenes: "Analyze this combat scene and provide feedback on how to make it more dynamic and showcase the characters' growth and new skills."
Plot Twists: "Suggest a surprise plot twist for this scene that will challenge the characters and force them to adapt quickly."

Scene and Setting Descriptions

Sensory Details: "Enhance this description of a [setting] by incorporating more sensory details. Suggest specific sounds, smells, and tactile elements that could be added."
Creature Descriptions: "Review this description of a new creature the characters encounter. Suggest ways to make the creature more terrifying and unique."
Action Scenes: "Read through this action scene and provide feedback on how to make it more thrilling and showcase the characters' skills more effectively."

Dialogue and Internal Monologue

Character Dialogues: "Review this conversation between [Character A] and [Character B] and suggest ways to make the dialogue more natural and emotionally resonant."
Internal Monologue: "Analyze this internal monologue of [Character Name] and provide feedback on how to make their thoughts more vivid and revealing."
Emotional Depth: "Evaluate this scene where [Character Name] comforts [another character]. Suggest ways to enhance the emotional depth and strengthen their relationship."

Item and Skill Creation

Loot Items: "Review these unique items dropped by [creature] and suggest any changes to their descriptions, stats, and effects to make them more interesting and balanced."
Weapon Effects: "Evaluate this new special ability for [Character Name]'s weapon and provide feedback on how to make it more versatile and impactful in combat."
Skill Development: "Suggest a skill progression path for [Character Name] that focuses on their [specific fighting style or ability]. Provide ideas for potential skill upgrades and their effects."

Theme and Tone

Maintaining Tone: "Ensure that the tone of this new scene remains consistent with the rest of the story. Provide feedback on balancing dark moments with hopeful ones."
Descriptive Variety: "Review this repetitive description of a battle scene and suggest ways to make it more engaging and varied, using dynamic verbs and sensory details."
Balancing Emotions: "Evaluate this scene that balances intense action with emotional depth. Provide feedback on how to show the characters' vulnerabilities and strengths more effectively."

Feedback and Revisions

Improving Flow: "Review this written scene and suggest improvements for better flow and engagement. Identify any areas where the narrative could be more fluid."
Avoiding Repetition: "Identify any repetitive language in this chapter and provide alternatives to keep the narrative fresh and interesting."
Constructive Feedback: "Provide feedback on the latest plot progression and character development. Suggest ways to enhance the story's impact and make the characters more compelling."
These prompts are designed to help authors get the most out of my abilities by focusing on specific aspects of their writing that can benefit from detailed feedback, suggestions for improvements, and creative brainstorming.

Hope this helps!

submitted by TheIndulgery to ChatGPT [link] [comments]

2024.05.19 00:06 Athan11 Why does every adventure start with strangers meeting in a tavern?

It's the most cliche and overplayed DnD trope ever, which lacks any creativity and realism. People just randomly meet at a bar and decide to go on dangerous adventures together. People are more likely to work with people they know and trust. Establishing connections between characters and a common cause is essential to create a cohesive narrative and a believable story. However, players and DMs alike refuse to put more effort into these first steps. Why's that?
I wonder if part of it has to do with poor social skills. I find that people often do not want to fully cooperate, but instead want to play out their character they way they imagined them. This is the mentality for a solo campaign, not a coop multiplayer game. This means they wouldn't bend their backstory (let alone class or race) just to create a more cohesive narrative and a better party.
Another thing that comes to mind is lack of creativity. Many people just can't think of good stories. Example: "I don't know anyone." "But you grew up in the same village with these other PCs!" "We never crossed paths". This goes to the tavern setting too, which is just lazy DM writing... There are so many unique and inspiring ways to start an adventure (just browse this sub for ideas...).
Ultimately, I think DMs should make a more conscious effort to establish at least some basic connections between characters and create a more cohesive storyline.

submitted by Athan11 to DnD [link] [comments]

2024.05.18 23:34 Memespoonerer Covering the (composite) scarlet king.

the scarlet king is an elder god who predates most beings in the omniverse he is said to be greater than his brothers and sisters
As an elder god he has no origin and came out of non-existent itself along with creating the concept of division giving him non-existent existence, conceptual manipulation, and beyond causality.
The scarlet king is also a concept entity.
In the tale the thing at the bottom of my dreams
The scarlet king and the cosmic starfish fought leading to the noosphere to turn inside out
Giving conceptual manipulation and conceptual existence.
The scarlet king is the aspect of the crimson demon who embodies all negative plot points in stories. The scarlet king is also an aspect of 2747 and embodies all villain tropes
The scarlet king also acted as a counter to two narrative forces
H.I pickmins proposal is narrative causality
the patasphere narrative causality as it defines how stories go and is also called the universal narrative
The universal narrative is the infinitely complicated story that reality imitates
this exists in all timelines
Patasphere is the set of all possible narratives in a timeline
Another example of this is the phantom bubble model
the scarlet demon reduced multiple phantom bubbles to ash by just moving
fought unity which embodies all laws in a narrative
These hypercanon structures contain every canon in scp, contains all storylines and cosmological models, and does it to an infinite recursive degree
As an aspect of 2747 it would also have the immunity of one being a hard coded aspect of reality
This gives him plot manipulation, plot immunity, omniscient and omnipresent across all impossible outcomes.
As a god he is above the whole of the multiverses
there are infinite universes With infinite layers of existence and transfinite expansion and transfinite dimensions With reality having infinite universes inside universes with whole universes inside of atoms
The multiverses are then put into clusters that grow in size
There are infinite metaverses which contain infinite multiverses
beyond this resides non reality that is bigger then all of that
Then all of this resides in an infinite chain of multiverses which transcend the last in all ways and has new theories and ideas.
This endless multiverses runs on all theories and philosophy and is stacked in all ways with one final reality at the end of it all that arranges every already said in all ways](https://imgur.com/a/SyIRsq9)
All of this is within the noosphere
which is just yesod
The giants that forged yesod [are nothing to the elder gods which the scarlet king is the strongest of them](thttps://imgur.com/a/AZhEJxQ)
This gives him massive Hyperdimensional size.

submitted by Memespoonerer to DeathBattleMatchups [link] [comments]

2024.05.18 23:32 SegosaurusRex Har Disney helt och hållet tappat det?

"Captain Hook, who famously has a prosthetic hook where his hand would be, was reportedly flagged because he exposes Disney to accusations of prejudice against disabled individuals due to his villainous nature."
"Another reported example of a potentially problematic Disney character is Ursula the Sea Witch from Disney's 1989 animated classic "The Little Mermaid. The NYT article says Disney's team was concerned Ursula could come across as "queer-coded," and therefore her flamboyant behavior is potentially homophobic."
Tycker dessa citat säger en del om dagens Disney, de bryr sig mer om att vara politiskt korrekta än att göra bra underhållning. Disneys aktier har sjunkit med 50% på bara några år. Till och med South Park driver med Disneys "Panderverse" En hel counterculture på youtube har växt till stor del pga Disney, där man bashar deras deras franchises. (Stödjer inte nödvändigtvis all kritik, men det finns definitivt en del valida argument också)
Marvel-franchisen var på topp 2019, Avengers Endgame slog rekord i mängden pengar den drog in. Men nu på senare år har det nästan bara varit floppar. Även om det till en viss del kan bero på att folk bara är trötta på superhjältefilmer, så känns det ändå som att det finns fler anledningar. Tex att kvaliteten har sjunkit, fokus på tråkiga hjältar, brist på insikt vad fansen vill ha och inte minst all wokeness.
Sen har vi Star Wars. Många var sjukt taggade inför Force Awakens…idag känner jag ingen som verkligen bryr sig om Star Wars. Sequelsen är fan omöjligt att se på. De flesta serierna har varit sjukt amatöraktigt gjorda, särskilt manus-mässigt. Med undantag för delar av Mandalorian och Andor. Ändå fortsätter de att pusha för en till Star Wars film med Rey, trots att en stor skara inte alls bryr sig om den karaktären. Och vem ska regissera? En pakistansk dokumentärfilm skapare som beskriver sig som aktivist… Sen har vi Star Wars Acolytes, av Leslye Headland som är ännu en person med noll erfarenhet kring temat. En gång i tiden var Star Wars iaf lite fränt och en big deal för många nördar. Det känns som om de har helt sumpat det på bara några år. Det är som natt och dag att jämnföra dom med tex senaste Dune filmerna.
Sen har du alla lata live action remakes, som är anpassade för modern publik men helt saknar hjärta. Till och med Pixar har sjunkit i kvalitet rätt ordentligt jämfört med 10-20 år sedan.
Har Disney tappat det? Eller är det bara jag som argar mig på ålderns höst?

submitted by SegosaurusRex to sweden [link] [comments]

2024.05.18 23:23 Individual_Record104 Prom Takes into Space with Outer Ring

In the dynamic realm of gaming, Prom Network emerges as a trailblazing force, deftly merging the domains of entertainment and finance. With a keen understanding of the symbiotic relationship between these arenas, Prom has pioneered endeavors that seamlessly blend gameplay with financial opportunities, reshaping the gaming landscape for enthusiasts globally.
At the heart of Prom’s vision lies a deep appreciation for the timeless charm of science fiction narratives. Drawing from early 17th century visionaries and empowered by 20th century dreamers, sci-fi stories have enthralled audiences of every age, sparking imaginations and whisking individuals away to stellar realms of boundless potential. Whether it’s cosmic battles in faraway galaxies or dystopian cyberpunk future, the allure of science fiction realms strikes a chord within gamers, transcending cultural boundaries and generations.
If you take a glance at the vibrant array of NFT collections hosted on the Prom Marketplace you will see 4 collections adorned with “sci-fi” and “space”, affirming the enduring popularity of sci-fi themes among gamers.
In the midst of these captivating collections, one stands out as particularly radiant: Outer Ring. What distinguishes Outer Ring is its ambitious undertaking to adapt a best-selling novel into a third-person action packed sandbox MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game). Just as in the Outer Ring Saga the open world revolves around five species, organized into four distinct factions, that vie for control over planets and resources. Within the game, players embark on quests to acquire legendary weapons, engage in large-scale PvP battles, explore perilous dungeons to confront bosses, and gather epic loot and resources to enhance their weapons and ships. Collaboration is key — players seeking community interaction and participation in player-driven economies will find their niche within Outer Ring.
Moreover, the game allows users to tailor their progression and encounter unique experiences. Prom Network is proud to contribute to this captivating journey through our partnership with Outer Ring. This collaboration involves the exchange of expertise, the organization of exciting events, and, significantly, the listing of the project’s assets on the Prom Marketplace. While the Marketplace usually deals with traditional gaming NFTs, this time Prom has an even more thrilling proposition! This was the very first time Prom Network started offering Lootboxes! These exclusive packs of assets enable users to embark on their Outer Ring adventure without the need to purchase additional NFTs.
Lootboxes for Outer Ring contain a variety of items essential for enhancing your gaming experience. For example, a random Lootbox may contain materials, weapons of various rarity levels, or even a spaceship! This partnership between Prom and Outer Ring is crucial for the Prom Ecosystem, as it expands the offerings on our marketplace while providing players with diverse and rewarding gaming experiences.
Prom Network has excelled in crafting an exceptionally detailed and informative FAQ on game mechanics and NFTs. Well done, as per usual! This further underscores Prom’s dedication to ensuring user immersion in the captivating world of Outer Ring.
Outer Ring is currently in development. Its impending release will not only provide new gaming experience but also will herald the dawn of a new gaming era. With Prom Marketplace supplying the journey, it is poised to unfold as a remarkable experience, teeming with new adventures and innovative breakthroughs at every step.Prom Takes into Space with Outer Ring

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2024.05.18 23:04 sleightofhandmusic Books that involve you, the reader in the story?

Unfortunately I haven't read anything like this before so I cannot give you an example. I can't imagine how a book may achieve things like this, BUT:
Are there any horrothriller books that make you feel like the book's events are happening to you? Or you're part of the story in some way?
Some examples that come to mind: - The narrator talks to you, asks you about your experiences, makes you question things. - The book makes you make choices that alter the storyline. - The book's story "blends into your reality".
Edit: formatting

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2024.05.18 22:50 infamousglizzyhands Do you guys think the best in a category should always win?

Hear me out. Let me cook.
So a major thing we always talk about is narrative. We always talk about like “oh wow X might be the first person of Y to win Z so the voters might vote for them because of that” or “this is someone’s last film they’re involved in, they might want to reward them” or “oh wow this drama someone was in might decrease their chances”. It feels undeniable that narratives do play a role.
However, are you guys personally fond of narratives when making your decisions on who you think should win? Like using the 2021 actor award as an example, if you thought Anthony Hopkins gave a better performance than Chadwick Boseman, were you still in favor of giving it to Boseman? Does the degree/type of narrative affect your thoughts? Does the level of competition affect your thoughts? Do you think it should be pure merit? I’m really curious about this.

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2024.05.18 22:21 Additional_Ad3573 Is this Antisemitism, or am I just overthinking it?

Recently, the Washington Post published this article that talks about a chat group that supposedly contributed to the Columbia University encampment being shut down.
https://web.archive.org/web/20240517124909/https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/05/16/business-leaders-chat-group-eric-adams-columbia-protesters/
So is it an antisemitic article, or am I thinking too hard about it? It doesn't directly criticize anyone for being Jewish, but almost everyone they mention happens to be Jewish, and some of the language they use is arguably based on antisemitic tropes. When I showed this to some of my friends, they thought that it was simply reporting newsworthy facts about a group that may have influence the outcome of that encampment. For example, one of my friends said something along the lines of "What tropes? I looked at the article and nothing popped out at me. If businesspeople – regardless of their race or ethnicity – tried to use their influence to quell protestors and promote their agenda, wouldn’t you want to hear about it? To me, that’s newsworthy, and it sounds like this group was trying to push a narrative that isn’t entirely based in fact." Accordingly, I'm not not 100% sure whether I should take the article as being antisemitic or not and would appreciate more feedback on that.

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2024.05.18 22:17 TheBlaringBlue Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Analysis & Pseudo-Review)

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is such a good game despite being so… well… basic.
It’s simple — almost overly so — yet it is beloved by so many seasoned and experienced gamers.
What I got curious about after playing the game myself and reading a number of pseudo-reviews online was how exactly it achieved this.
How did a package so entry-level-looking garner such respect by 201 and 301 students?
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The ‘Fields’ region is a great example of Kena’s dichotomy.
It’s gorgeous and inviting, with sea-foamed vistas, lush landscape and rushing waterways. There’s a even a big, lovable pet bull towering over the myriad of cute little Rot dudes scampering through the foliage. The whole place is just friendly.
Why then, does it end up being one of the game’s longest, deepest and most complex sections? Consider its many scattered puzzles, which ask you to combine platforming, archery, environmental awareness and combat proficiency. There’s even a handful of red herring platforms that you can’t properly interact with until later in your puzzle solving endeavor.
The ‘Fields’ are a microcosm of the game as a whole. A childish, Pixar-esque shell which, when uncovered, reveals a complex, involved gameplay experience underneath.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits invites you to be a kid, but treats you like an adult. This is something very few games manage — or even attempt — and it’s what makes Kena so unique, memorable and special.
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Kena crushes its tone and aesthetic on all fronts to create something that’s desirable and attainable to a group outside of hardcore gamers.
Kena’s visuals are youthful and welcoming by using cartoonish and fairytale-esque art design. The game’s companions do the same — the Rot are your constant brigade of adorable little plush-like, Pikimin-esque comrades who hop as you walk, munch on berries, clumsily trip over each other, and squeak in pitches that can only described as ‘cute.’ You can even give them little hats to wear. They’re pets and it’s all so mired in youthful innocence that I cringe even typing it.
From a distance, Kena appears childish and immature based on its outward appearance. That is, until you peel back its outer layer.
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The game looks like something your five-year-old might enjoying toying with on your iPad, “you-got-games-on-yo-phone?” style. But there are four elements in its building blocks that make it a game not optimized for your five-year-old on their own;

Narrative
Puzzles
Platforming
Combat

Narrative
As far as the game’s story is concerned, it may begin bright and innocent enough, but it deals not-abstractly with death and loss.
Consider that all three boys you meet in the early game — Taro, Benni and Saiya are actually dead, I-see-dead-people style. Consider also that Kena’s entire journey revolves around the loss of her own father and her desire to reconnect with him.
Additionally, it is Toshi’s selfishness and his desire to be the hero that actually ends up bringing death and destruction to his village when he jumps the gun and kills and the mountain spirit in cold blood.
Merciless affronts on nature and an up-front dealing with death and grief are not exactly for the young of age, despite their youthful packaging.
Puzzles
It would be a waste of word count to explain in detail the steps necessary to complete certain puzzles in Kena just as a set of examples to prove the point.
If you’ve played or watched gameplay, you know the puzzles are surprisingly involved, consisting often of multiple steps to complete that build on each other and require the use of all of your abilities in tandem.
One of the bigger “ah-hah” moments I recall was when I realized I could order my Rot minions to move objects while Kena stood on top of said object in order to give me a leg up to jump to a previously unreachable ledge.
Platforming
Speaking of ledges, jumping to and from them is tight and precise in Kena.
Platforming challenges are often timed (your aura-bomb weapon only activates platforms for specifically-timed bursts). Combining their scheduled nature with the need to rotate them via precise archery, mid-air grappling segments and more makes for a movement experience that is involved enough to demand the player’s full attention for every tick of the clock.
Kena and her world’s gravity also have a decided, predictable weight to them that’s not exactly forgiving, meaning the act of jumping to and fro is exact while also requiring exactness.
Combat
Fighting the enemies of Kena is similarly involved.
The cadence with which the game throws opponents your way combined with the complexities of dealing meaningful damage to said opponents creates a combat scenario which demands the player fluidly wield and swap between both melee and ranged options while carefully managing space on the battlefield.
Kamikaze-style enemies often rush Kena in carefully-spaced and well-timed waves, while enemies with shields and shells hide their weak points from visibility. Enemies like this require certain sequences to beat — be it a well-placed bomb and arrow combo, a parry, or a maneuvering to an enemy’s backside.
Boss encounters lean into these mechanics but also present new wrinkles — The Hunter fight asks the player to rethink their tactics and find a way to deal with an airborne opponent who is apt at dodging bombs and arrows, for example.
The final few bosses ask you to take everything you’ve learned throughout your journey and apply it all at once, and if you don’t… it’s defeat for Kena.
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The above sounds like I’m describing a souls-like with platforming elements as the ‘fresh take’ in addition to the enrapturing combat.
Games that provide this much of a challenging, involved experience are typically darker in tone — be it music, environment, or what-have-you. I don’t think too many people would call Kena ‘hard,’ but these are the same people who died 10+ times to The Hunter or Corrupted Toshi.
If this game had a darker, moodier skin, would more people describe it as hard or not for the faint of heart?
In this way, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
It is accessible to new players and younger gamers due to its pleasing and friendly atmosphere. But by its conclusion, it is likely to season them into better gamers. If a newbie gamer picks up Kena, they’re in for a surprise and (hopefully) delight when they find something deeper than that which they first expected.
On the other hand, Kena is a worthwhile experience for veteran gamers if they drop their toxic masculinity and play a goofy kids game with a female protagonist. This is a game that will undoubtedly earn their respect by requiring their attention, precision and commitment throughout its experience. Like the newbie gamers, gaming veterans are in for a surprise and (certainly) delight when they find something deeper than that which they first expected.
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Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a good experience for everyone. By balancing being adorable with being difficult, it earns the respect and appreciation of everyone who plays it. Its accessibility makes it easy to recommend to anyone and the game thus earns itself a bigger audience as a result.
Its narrative and gameplay might not separate themselves in terms of newness from a saturated market, but the surprise and delight the game provides delivers an experience to its players that isn’t typical of the space.
By striking the balance between wolf and sheep, Kena elevates its quality to something beyond just the content within.
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…and yet…
I can’t help but think, as I summarize this article, that if a game is for everyone, doesn’t that, on some level, mean it is also for no one?
I mean, when you look at the game’s narrative or gameplay, it’s not exactly reinventing the wheel here. In fact, Kena does just about nothing new. It spits out the same exact version of a game we’ve been playing for decades in the form of Tomb Raider or Uncharted or The Legend of Zelda or God of War.
Critically speaking, both the gameplay and narrative are pretty damn milquetoast.
You’re in a world infected by some arbitrary Darkness and since you’re Special and The Chosen One™ it’s your job to go around cleansing the world of evil using a combination of environmental platforming, lever and pressure plate puzzle-solving and lock-on-based, sword-swinging driven combat.
It wouldn’t be difficult to make the argument that Kena is bland.
But the discourse around the game just isn’t about that.
The game’s scored an 81 on Metacritic and has a 92% positive review rating on Steam at time of writing. It recouped its development costs in just one month, meaning every sale since then is hitting the bottom line.
People like this game.

Quick aside from me here on something that made me smile — when double-checking the score on Steam for the above info, I found these as the first two reviews at the very top of the queue: “yo wtf. bought this game to chill, why does it feels like im playing souls-like difficulty ass game HAHAHAH.” “Don’t be fooled by the graphics. This game can be a challenge at times, but it is worth the experience.”

So maybe being an experience for everyone really was the kicker?
Or, maybe, it was something else.
In fact, yeah, I can confidently say it was. It’s a game reviewer’s buzzword, but it’s oh-so apt here: polish.
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The entire experience of playing Kena is smooth. There are no framerate drops, no bugs, no broken quests or puzzles, no desynced dialogue and facial animations. Not a single hiccup to speak of.
The game features exacting archery, precise platforming, telegraphed and accurate hitboxes, as well as an unimpeding camera, responsive and weighty combat and legible visual design that accurately communicates with the player.
You can move through Kena virtually unobstructed (until you come across a puzzle you can’t solve, but that’s your problem, not the game’s). Everything is built carefully and gels together in a cohesion that works so fluidly that playing Kena is simply frictionless.
The game’s developers — Ember Lab — nailed the fundamentals, paid attention to detail and play-tested perfectly. Their effort to go above and beyond saved this game from sinking into the obscurity of being completely and utterly Mid.
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It’s frictionlessness that elevates Kena beyond itself. It makes the game greater than the sum of its parts. It makes Kena a complete, finished and polished experience.
Kena presents itself like it’s Disney Pixar’s latest goofy-ass, lame-ass, sub-par video game, but lying underneath the childish aesthetic is a challenging and engaging experience that’s not only a boon for all audiences of gamers, but a worthwhile one thanks to its extreme polish and dedication.
You should play it.

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2024.05.18 22:17 TheBlaringBlue This Game is a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Analysis & Pseudo-Review)

Narrative
Puzzles
Platforming
Combat

Quick aside from me here on something that made me smile — when double-checking the score on Steam for the above info, I found these as the first two reviews at the very top of the queue: “yo wtf. bought this game to chill, why does it feels like im playing souls-like difficulty ass game HAHAHAH.” “Don’t be fooled by the graphics. This game can be a challenge at times, but it is worth the experience.”

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