Previous Part
I woke up to the smell of sausage and eggs. Over by the side of my bed was a tray with a masterfully prepared omelet and sausage to match. That’s not what caught my eye though. What did that was the little note stuck to the side of they tray.
“Sorry for terrorizing you- R”
Was scrawled in barley legible hand writing, Rocco’s I imagined.
“So it can cook but not write?”
I muttered to myself as I got out of bed.
A fresh change of clothes was laid out for me and I decided just not to question it. The clothes fit perfectly and I tried not to let my mind wander as to why that was while I ate breakfast. Rocco’s omelet was outstanding, for a trash panda he made a great cook but I have no idea where he would’ve picked that up. After I finished I brought my dishes downstairs and ran into Stein in the kitchen.
“The clothes fit don’t they? My eyes aren’t what they used to be, I should’ve just sent Rocco up to ask your size.”
“No no, they fit fine, and please don’t send Rocco to do anything without telling me. I think that might just give me a heart attack on the spot. I’m still really not used to all… this going on”
I said gesturing to the raccoon who had wandered into the kitchen and was now flipping me the bird with both his paws.

Stein nodded to me with what I hoped was understanding. As much as Rocco seemed harmless (Maybe… hopefully?) I really didn’t want the furry little demon arriving anywhere near me unexpectedly. We already saw how that went in the basement yesterday. I finished washing my dishes in the sink as Stein ate his breakfast. He seemed so calm and normal, compared to the things I’d seen in this house so far. If you took one look at Bianca you say she looked too good to be true. Rocco is… well, he’s a talking raccoon, that’s immediately strange. But when it came to Frank and Stein you couldn’t tell there was anything off about them. Honestly I still had trouble seeing where they fit into this whole thing.
I was lost in this train of thought as I went through the motions of taking my groceries out of the refrigerator where someone had put them. I didn’t even realize Bianca was standing behind me till she tapped my shoulder. Jumping out of my skin I screeched out,
“Jesus Rocco what the hell!”
Bianca went from serious to laughing hysterically in no time flat.
“He really has you spooked after last night doesn’t he?”
She barely got out between bouts of laughter.
“I’m sorry really, oh and I’ve got this for you.”
Chuckled Bianca, handing me a wad of cash with a face that didn’t look remotely sorry for laughing at me.
“Just for that I’ll take it! But I’ve got to ask, how do you have this much cash just lying around, isn’t that a little risky?”
“You’d have to ask my unc… Frank or Stein.”
Bianca answered, stumbling on the apparently familiar lie. As she said this Stein stood up from the table and answered my question.
“Researching the supernatural isn’t always safe but Germany pays its scientists well, even if we don’t work for them anymore.”
“Germany? When did you work with the German government?”
I asked, a sinking suspicion settling into the pit of my stomach.
“1941, The Führer requested me specifically and I met Frank there. Oh don’t look at me like that! I didn’t support his cause, he simply wanted to look into forces outside his control and that was my specialty. It was business nothing more.”
Stein responded, pointing his finger at me and sounding a little annoyed.
“But that would make you… there’s no way you’re that old. Uh I don’t mean!”
“Think nothing of it, if anything, it means our serum worked. Distilled it from the DNA of a few pureblooded vampires and designed it to slow human aging to a crawl.”
Bianca cut him off,
“Stein, I think I can see steam coming out his ears. Can we maybe give the supernatural stuff a rest? I know you’ve been around it all your life but I think its a bit much for him.”
“Yes, I suppose your right Bianca. I’ll leave you two be then.”
Stein surrendered, as he turned and walked out of the room. Like he hadn’t just dropped yet another bomb on me.
I held myself together much better this time. After talking raccoons and succubi, learning vampires apparently existed in such an offhanded manner just didn’t surprise me as much. At this point I was just about ready to accept any supernatural entity I’d ever heard of existed in some capacity. In fact that might be the best policy moving forward.
“Hey you’re not going to pass out on us again right?”
Bianca asked turning back to me, genuine concern in her voice.
“No, I’ll be fine. The more I hear about this kind of thing the better I am at just accepting it. It’s a lot easier hearing it from one of you guys than having it drop out of the sky at me.”
I joked, walking with Bianca to the door. I noticed my poor attempt at a joke was the first time I said anything about Imalone without feeling like someone would call me crazy. I couldn’t dwell on that for too long right now though, I had to drop off the groceries that had taken me a full day to get. In hindsight though, I’ve had worst trips to the grocery store.
The next few days passed without any real issues, I got things set up in the house and ordered some furniture with the money I got from Bianca. On the second day I figured I should go out and explore the town a bit. I was getting bored being cooped up doing normal things and apparently I wanted to throw a wrench in all that.
“Maybe a bar” I thought to myself as I walked out the door just as the sun had started to think about setting, “Those are always a good place to meet people”.
This is where I tell you I may be just a little awkward. Even back home I didn’t really get out and meet new people much but I figured now is as good a time as any to start. I threw together a quick outfit with the clothes I brought with me from home. Hopefully I looked at least a little bit presentable in khakis and a red dress shirt. I walked out my door and immediately saw Bianca’s house peering out over the town. I considered dropping by to see if Bianca wanted to join me. I had told her about the reasons I ended up in Eagles Peak but I still knew precious little about her. I assumed her past wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I wanted to know what exactly drew someone like her to a sleepy little town like this. Maybe seeing if she wanted to join me would be a good opportunity to learn something about her? It’s entirely possible I just wanted to spend more time around her because she was drop dead gorgeous. Maybe it was because she was the first person I bumped into in town? I couldn’t put my finger on it and if we’re being honest I didn’t want to admit the real reason to myself.
That would have to wait for another day though. I had spent so much time thinking about it that by the time I snapped back to reality I was by the greyhound bus stop, well past her house. There was another bus stopped there and people were getting off of it. None of them looked like what I would call a local but its not like I’d really know what a “local” looked like here anyways. Still, this town couldn’t get this many visitors right? It was weird but probably had a completely reasonable explanation.
“The Eagle’s Roost” read the sign above the bar’s entrance, it was actually a pretty high class looking establishment. The fresh red paint gleamed against the faded whites and grays of the other buildings on the street. Inside, a well polished dark wood floor greeted me. The room was completed by a roaring stone fireplace and a well used set of stools by the counter.
“Hey there! Anyone home?!”
I called out into the empty bar.
“Give me a minute!”
Replied a deep gruff voice form the back room. Eventually a man emerged from the room, well I say man but what I mean was a mountain in human form. This guy had to be about 7 feet tall and built from solid granite. Seriously, the muscles on this guy would’ve put The Rock to shame.
“Little early to start drinkin’ isn’t it?”
The mountain grunted judgmentally.
“Well I’m new here I just wanted to see the town. I could come back later if you want.”
“New, why didn’t you say so! New here, I haven’t seen anyone new here in years! come sit down if you’ve got questions about this place I can probably answer them!”
The now elated giant boomed at me. He turned hospitable in an instant, offering me a drink on the house for his poor manners before. His name was Tucker and he’d come to the town years ago as a foreman for it’s mine. The mine dried up and the workers moved on but something about this town spoke to him and he decided to stay. He opened up this bar and the rest is history. Something about the way he talked about the mine did’t sit right with me though. He kept mentioning how it dried up like he was trying to convince me that was what happened. Plus a mine out here didn’t exactly make much sense to me.
“So you run this place alone then?”
I asked, more to be polite than out of genuine curiosity. We had started to run out of things to talk about after conversation about the mine dried up much like it apparently had.
“Never needed any help besides my wife’s, but most days I just run the place alone, yes. No sense in hiring help here, not many people looking for work outside of the ones working at that grocery store down the street. Anyways I should get back to work, its getting to be about time we actually open to the public.”
I turned my head to look at the sign I now realized was stuck to the door. “Eagle’s Roost Hours: 6PM-1AM every night”. I realized with embarrassment I had walked through the door an hour before opening. Tuck had been nothing but friendly though, and I almost felt bad for assuming the locals like him would want to shoo me away. After all, everyone I’d met so far had been nothing but nice, not including Rocco that is.
As I turned my attention back to my drink I thought about the mine again. I hadn’t seen any records of the mine Tuck mentioned in my internet searches of the town before I came here. Honestly it had been incredibly difficult to dig up anything on the town. I wasn’t necessarily the most thorough in my search, but mines tend to be a staple of the towns they’re located in. This mine in particular seems to be what the town was built on. I’m not sure what had me so worked up on this mine issue but I was sure it was important. I sat there at the bar, mulling it over and sipping on my drink when a hand slapped down on my shoulder.
The man it was attached to said something but I couldn’t catch it even if I wanted to. I was far to laser focused on the mark seared black into the mans hand, the exact same eagle that was burned into my back. I pushed him off and bolted for the door, all I heard behind me was the mans confused “What?” And Tuck shouting at him.
“Now what in the Blazes did you do to the poor kid Robert!”
I shot off into the street from the bar, no one was chasing me but the fact that the symbol was here had set me off like a deer running from a gunshot.
“What the hell happened to you?”
Called a now familiar, heavily accented voice from the alleyway.
“Rocco, what are you doing out here?”
I questioned, bewildered at finding him out in the open. I’d never admit it but seeing a familiar face, even Rocco’s, calmed me down a little
“I’m a raccoon in an alleyway, what do you think I’m doing, fishing? No, I’m rootin' around in the trash, Frank needs some lithium foil and he can’t be bothered to run out and buy some batteries himself, stingy bastard.”
He retorted, looking for all intents and purposes like a normal raccoon at the moment.
“Even if I were to guess I wouldn’t have even come close to that.”
“I live to surprise”
Rocco sneered, taking a bow dripping with sarcasm.
“Anyways Frank is back at the house right? There’s something I’ve got to tell him.”
I asked, turning and running as soon as I got a response in the affirmative.
“Yeah he is, what exactly is so importa…. And he’s gone”
I made it to their strange high house in record time and burst through the door like I owned the place. For some reason Bianca seemed completely unfazed as I crashed into the entryway without so much as a knock.
“You know, you don’t live here right?”
“Oh yeah, good to see you too Bianca. Anyways, were is Frank, or Stein for that matter I’ve got something to ask.”
“They’re in the basement.”
Bianca said pointing to the door without looking up from the book she was reading.
Her dismissive attitude didn’t even register to me as I made my way down the basement steps. I got to the bottom and an acrid scent assaulted my nostrils.
“Do I even want to know what that is?”
I called into the basement, announcing my presence. Frank emerged from a room to my side decked out in a full lab coat and goggles along with a hairnet to protect what little of his still remained.
“What do you need?”
“You guys seem to know a lot about the supernatural right? Well, does this symbol mean anything to you?”
I said pulling off my shirt and turning my back to show him the mark that woman had left me with. His reaction could best be described by the sound of shattering glass as he dropped the beaker he was holding as he saw the symbol.
“Where did you get that?!”
He yelled more than asked.
“Back in Imalone.”
“Imalone? What’s that supposed to mean?”
It dawned on me that I hadn’t explained it to him like I had Bianca, so I filled him in. I told him the whole truth this time, where the mark came from, what really drove me to Eagles Peak, all of it. Frank listened diligently looking more concerned by the minute, at some point Stein joined him. A similarly shocked look was plastered across his face. I swear he was turning white when he answered my question.
“It’s the mark of the Thunderbird, and from what you told us, you met… her in person.”
“So why do you look so worried about it?”
I asked, feeling a little worried.
“Well she’s marked you personally, most people that have that mark would’ve gotten it to show devotion or allegiance and it certainly wouldn’t have come directly from the Thunderbird.”
The way Stein talked about this “Thunderbird” made me think I may be in even deeper shit than I realized.
“So do you two actually know anything about the Thunderbird?”
I asked, hoping these two would know something considering their long study of the supernatural.
“Until recently I only knew of the native legends surrounding the creature. I heard of people marking themselves with that symbol so I assumed there must be some truth to the legends. But neither me nor Frank has ever seen the Thunderbird, much less seen it..er, her take a human form.”
Stein answered, sounding almost disappointed in himself. I got the sense that not knowing something like this really ate at him. Which was just further proven by what he said next, a grin suddenly appearing on his face.
“Frank, I think we have our next big research project on our hands then.”
“I’ll start pulling any records I can find of accounts like Keith’s here.”
Frank said, hurrying over to a computer in the basement corner that looked ancient.
“Yes and compare those to the various legends surrounding the Thunderbird.”
Stein responded, rifling through a row of cabinets against the far wall.
Those two seemed to be whipped into a frenzy by something they knew next to nothing about being dropped in their laps.
“Guys… Guys! Can we hold off on going full mad scientist mode for just a second I’ve got one more thing to ask!”
I yelled trying to get their attention. when they turned to me I could see the spark in both their eyes as they hastily responded in unison.
“Yes, what!”
“Have either of you heard about a mine in this town? Tuck at “Eagle’s Roost” mentioned it but I don’t remember seeing anything about it when I looked into this town.”
“Ah the mine, it’s out in the forest north of town somewhere. There was a collapse or something a few years after it opened and the town covered it up. It would’ve been very embarrassing for them to admit the screw up so they just… didn’t, that’s all there is too it.”
Frank answered, seemingly bothered by the mundaneness of that question.
“So the mine is still out there then?”
“Of course! What did you think it just walked away? No, leave us be we’ve got work to do.”
Stein snapped.
As I left the two to their business and made my way out of the house I ran into Rocco, several grimy batteries grasped in his paws.
“They uh… I don’t think they’ll need those batteries anymore bud.”
“God damnit! That’s what I get for trying to be helpful.”
Rocco yelled, as he threw the batteries against the wall. I had to chuckle at the absurdity of it all. Here I was walking past a talking raccoon on his way down to two scientists looking into a Thunderbird. That’s a real thing that’s currently happening to me. Just a few days ago simply seeing Rocco knocked me out almost immediately and now he was just a minor inconvenience. Could it be that I was actually adjusting to all the crazy things that had been happening around me? I sure thought so.
Upstairs, Bianca was still nose deep in her book at the kitchen table.
“Hey can I ask you something?”
“Yeah sure, what is it?”
“Ever been into the woods around town? There’s something I want to check out there.”
“I don’t usually leave the house all that much if I’m honest.”
Bianca answered, a touch of sadness in her voice.
“Do you want too? Leave the house I mean.”
“What are you getting at?”
“Well, I’m going to be headed out there tomorrow looking for the old mine.”
“And why are you looking for that?”
She questioned suspiciously.
“I have a feeling it has something to do with the mark that woman… and I forgot I didn’t tell you about that.”
Bianca looked up at me as she said with a smirk.
“I knew there was more to that story from the other night. Why didn’t you tell me?”
I’ll spare you the details but needless to say I told the story again. I really need to start bringing everyone together when I do these things, it would save me time.
“So that’s why you came here, and you think this mine has something to do with it?”
Bianca exclaimed excitedly. I could almost see the lightbulb going off over her head.
“Yeah that’s pretty much it, do you want to come with? I mean you don’t have to go but I”
She cut me off,
“You know what maybe I should go. Two sets of eyes gives us better odds right? And you have a bad history with forgotten places I seem to recall.”
Bianca said with a coy smile.
“That’s what we’ll do then, I’ll get some things ready and stop by tomorrow, we’ll leave from there.”
And before she had a chance to rethink her answer I left feeling pleased with myself.
My next stop was the hardware store on the other side of town. Of course I still had my travel bag from the good old Imalone trip but I figured I’d pick up some more tools that could come in handy.. I ended up with two heavy duty flashlights, some work gloves of various sizes cause I had no idea what size would fit Bianca, and a set of bolt cutters. It was only when I got up to the counter and the clerk gave me the stink eye that I noticed my mistake.
“You planning to break into something kid?”
Questioned the older guy cashing me out. I responded before my brain caught up with my mouth.
“I was planning on it but you guys didn’t sell balaclavas. So I guess I’ll have to wait.”
The man eyed me for a second then burst out laughing as he handed me my things. Which was good because I knew a few places back in Wisconsin where pulling that would’ve got me pulled into a backroom for questioning. Not a lot of people knew how to take a joke back home. Weirdly enough it was the first time I thought of home since coming here. Obviously I had family back there but we weren’t exactly close like I said before. I just found myself missing the familiarity of the area I had lived in for the past 24 years of my life. I think that’s why I came to the decision to call my mother when I got home later that night.
The whole walk home I had this strange feeling of being watched. No-one was there, I’m sure because I checked… several times. But even as I locked the door to my house and starting sorting out a bag of supplies for Bianca, the feeling didn’t go away. As I pulled out my phone to call my mother the feeling finally faded into the background as I got her familiar answering machine.
“Hi, you’ve reached Carla, leave your name and number after the tone.”
Straight and to the point as quickly as possible, that was the best way to describe mom and it showed even in her answering machine.
“Hi mom I bet you’re wondering where I ended up. Well I’m in New York now, in a sleepy little town. Its nice really, I already met some new people they’re… well they’re a bit strange but I think I might fit in with them. I’m still looking for a job but I had a really well paying temp thing the other day so I’ll be fine for a little while. Anyways, hope you’re doing well, love you.”
I teared up a bit as I ended the call, I hadn’t called my mother in at least a year. She never checked up on me and I never checked in with her. We’d see each other at family gatherings and talk but outside of that I didn’t really contact her much anymore. It was sort of a mutual agreement that we both had, we assumed the other was alright. But being this far from Wisconsin, this far from home, had finally caught up with me. I wanted to at least hear her voice, even if it was just a recording.
As I finished up packing for tomorrow I was quite proud of myself. I’d thought of just about everything, I dug some old hiking boots out for myself and some rope from my old travel bag. Several different sets of flint and steel and about three days worth of dehydrated food adorned the top pocket of both bags. I’d even found an old water purification kit that ended up in one of the duffle bags I brought from my apartment. In short, I was the most over prepared for an excursion like this I’d ever been. It did help push back the eyes I felt peering at me from somewhere over my shoulder, the feeling of being watched still not leaving me. Once I laid down and tried to fall asleep the feeling only intensified. Sounds of rolling thunder in the distance reminding me of my time in Imalone and the fury of the storm the Thunderbird brought. I felt strangely confident as well though, tomorrow Bianca and I may finally start to uncover some answers as to why I felt called to this town, and maybe even what this mark could mean for me.

wrote this as an exercise to practice my english, and also because i'm a huge nerd, i guess. Obviously those are just general advice and observation based on my reduced experience on the frontline, feel free to correct me if you think some of the things i said are inaccurate.
~1°) AUTOMATON STRATEGY~
~1) General Automaton Doctrine~
The Automatons are typically produced in factories. Those infrastructure are both vital, and fragile. They are big, easy to destroy with a stratagem, and less numerous than the terminids hole.
The Automatons army is well aware of this issue, and have adapted their military doctrine in reaction, to protect those key infrastructure. Consequently, the Automaton army is an army focused on defense. While the Bugs will just swarm anyone who dares to attack them at a rapid pace, the Automatons will typically adopt a slower approach. As soon as an encounter start, reinforcement will be called, and the ennemy will be locked in a long fight, to keep them away from the factories. Fortification such as trenches, barbed wire, laser tower and laser-machine gun will be spread around the perimeter, to slow down the Helldiver’s advance even more. Meanwhile, the factories will keep producing light infantry. This light infantry may be weak, but it has the ability to call for further reinforcement if left unchecked for too long. If this vicious circle is not disabled, the Automaton army will keep building up firepower, until it becomes unmanageable
~2) Automaton Units~
A typical Automaton Encounter will usually devolve into a form trench warfare, where the helldiver get to cover and engage the ennemy from the safety of that cover.
The Automaton units are essentially been divided into two ‘’types’’ of units, who work in tandem to overwhelm the position of their ennemies.
‘‘Assault’’ Units are units meant to storm the cover of the Helldiver. They are fast moving and will rush towards the helldivers, in an effort to kill them quickly, or force them out of cover.
‘‘Support unit’’ are meant to provide the firepower. They are slow moving and are usually more heavily armored than assault unit. Their purpose is to provide covering fire for the assault unit, and to punish the helldiver if they step out of cover. Please note, that their support role does not mean they are unmoving. If they dont have clear line of sight on you, they will keep advancing on your position until they reach it. If that ever happens – those units have more fire power than assault units, so unless you have the ressources to kill them quickly, maybe it is time to search for a new line of cover.
Important Note : While this strategy is efficient, it has design flaw, because the typical light-infantry unit is an assault unit, due to their fast pace and ability to run. In a typical encounter, they will be part of the firs wave of attack on your position, which means their casualty rate will be high. If the factories have already been destroyed, and you manage to kill the few remaining light infantry units who lagged behind, the automaton army will be cut off from any further reinforcement.
3) Design flaws of Automaton Units
The Automatons are meant to be mass produced in the cheapest way possible, which means corner had to be cut. Helldivers on the frontline have outlined some design flaw, that can be used to the advantage of the defenders of democracy.
a)Visibility : Automatons are tall, they have red glowing eyes, and make as much noise as a computer running an anti-cheat engine. Additionally, they are programmed to occasionaly sing socialist song, a great way for them to give up their position. Unlike the bugs, who have some sort stealth capability, bots are higly visible, and a helldiver would have to be legally blind and deaf to not notice the presence of a bot in his vicinity. This high visibility is shared by their special building. While not indicated on the map, special building such as stratagem jammer detection tower, ect... can be visually spotted from afar. This high visibility makes it easier for the helldiver to choose their fight. Automaton patrol are easy to avoid, and you know in advance when you are about to start a difficult fight. A cautious team of helldiver will have the initiative during most, if not all encounter, a decisive advantage that can be used to inflict large amount of damage before the ennemy can react
b)Speed : With the exception of a few assault unit who will probably die in the first minute of engagement, the Automaton Army is overall slow, and was designed primarily to be a slow but steady warmichine. Speed is not one of it’s feature, and it is easy to outrun it. This design flaw gives the helldiver some room to manoeuver. Obviously this is mitigated by the intense firpower the automatons are able to unleash on people who step out of cover, but if the helldivers use cover well, they should be able to : -Retreat : If your cover is overrun, you can easily pull back to another line of cover, and the automatons will not be able to catch up on you. -Disengage : At any point in time, the Helldivers can decide this fight is not worth it, and just leave. -Flank : With a combination of cover, stealth and high mobility, a lone helldiver can flank the ennemy while the rest of the team keeps them busy. This is useful for two reason :
-The weak point of many automaton is located on their back
-You can destroy the ennemy factories without having to eliminate the entire automaton force first
c)Lack of number : While numerous, the Automatons do not have the insane amount of troops the Terminids have, meaning they dont have the ability to tank large losses. A well-placed stratagem or a good amount of firepower delivered at a good angle can reduce their number (and firepower) to the point the encounter is basically won.
4) Engaging the bot.
Here are some general advice on how to engage the Automatons :
a) Engaging the guards of a secondary objective : Stratagems are valuable, and using one on a small group of ennemy that could be deleted manually is definitely a waste. Additionally, the Automatons will sometimes react to a stratagem by immediatly calling in reinforcement. We recommand a stealthy approach, followed a fast attack made at close range. That way, if one of the light infantry unit starts calling in for reinforcement, you are in a good position to immediatly interrupt it.
b)Engaging a large ennemy base : It will be impossible to prevent the call for reinforcement. Whatever you do, there will be an encounter, so you may as well try to inflict as much damage on the ennemy as possible before it can react. While you are still not spotted, your first move should be to search, some form of highground. From there, you will be able to visually identify the ennemies in the fortress. This will also give you a direct line of sight on them, meaning you will be able to open fire on the target of your choice as soon as the encounter start. You should initiate the encounter with a stratagem meant to cull the ennemy number and destroy as many factory as possible. Once the encounter start, pick a target. It’s nature can vary depending on your loadout, but we recommand prioritizing the assault unit at first. They will be in your face in twenty second anyway, so you might as well start reducing their number immediatly.Once they are dead, you will have to face the support unit. On paper it sounds simple, just stay behind cover and shoot at them until they are dead. Beware : a second too much is enough to be turned into red pulp. Additionally, Support units tend to be heavily armored, so this part of the encounter may take a while.The use of stratagem against the Support unit may be a good idea. They can be thrown from the safety of cover. Flanking is also a possibility that can bring some benefits.
c)Engaging a special building: This should always be your main priority. All other activities must be dropped as soon as one of them is spotted. Many, many things can go wrong if a special building is allowed to exist in your vicinity during an encounter. You must either retreat away from it’s range of effect, or rush towards it. Use stealth to avoid all encounter in your way. Fortunately, special building are rarely well protected, so a team of helldiver should be able to easily storm and destroy it
d)Dont be stingy with your ressources : Bot encounter tend to be shorter than bugs encounter. The primary ressources that will be depleted on a bug mission will be your time, your stratagems, your ammo and your stims. due to the sheer amount of unit you have to kill everytimes a bug fart. The primary ressource depleted on a bot mission will be your reinforcements. Dont be afraid to throw all your ressources, stratagem included, at an encounter if you feel it is becoming too hard. Your primary objective while facing the bot is to not die. If you die, you loose the weapon that can be used to kill the heavy support unit, and you may struggle to get it back.
~1°) THE TERMINID STRATEGY~
1) general concept
The Bug army is an army who specialise in close contact, and has no long-range weapon. As such, it is an army vulnerable by design to kitting (hit and run tactic).
The bugs are aware of this flaw however, and have evolved to counter it.
The first evolution was to increase the number of bug per swarm, making the termitids far more numerous than the automatons. Essentially, the swarm is so big, if you simply just kite it, destroying the swarm will take a large amount of time.
The second evolution was to turn the inside of every infested planet into an underground hive. This makes the bugs able to dispatch reinforcement at a rapid pace, meaning a swarm who is not quickly dealt with will be reinforced. So spending 5 minutes kitting a swarm is not a solution, because every bug you killed will eventually be replaced by a new one.
This paints the image of a strategy of attrition. If you dont react and let the bugs carry on with their plan, you will run out of grenade, stimpack, ammo, and time. To win a battle against the bug, you must understand that kitting only gets you so far and is just a survival strategy, not a winning strategy. Eventually, you will have to start pulling some punches.
2) Types of Bugs
Now, let's examine the bug types. To counter the Kitting strategy they fear so much, the bugs have evolved into two different kind of bugs
-The "Pursuers" type. Those ennemies are made to counter your kitting. They are fast, and may even have the ability to slow you down, either by reducing your speed, stunning you, or breaking your legs. This type include the chargers,pouncers, hunter, ect... In a typical bug ecounter, they will be the claws of the swarm, they will try to surround you, stun you, and slow you down so that the rest of the swarm can tear you apart
-The "Punishers" type. Those ennemies have been made to punish the divers who dont kite well, or got too cocky. Essentially, they are the stomach of the swarm. They dont have the speed of the Pursuers, but they are deadly and can deal serious damage if you allow them to reach you. Those ennemies include scavenger, nursing spewer, bile spewer, warrior, ect…
~3) Tips against the terminids~
Watch your surroundings : Bugs patrol are sneaky. They are made of tiny sneaky little creature who only start to make noise once they have spotted you. Keep an eye on your surrounding, and the other one your map.
- Attacking a nest : Do not use your stratagems to destroy the nest. The nest is pointless. This is not an automaton base, filled with laser turrets, mine field, trench, barbed wire and fortification. It’s a shitty hole in the ground. It’s only protection is the swarm that will appear as soon as the attack starts. Once the swarm is gone, the nest can be easily destroyed manually. You want to use a stratagem ? Use it on the swarm.
-Facing an incomming swarm : When a swarm emerge from the ground, it is vulnerable. Placing a stratagem at the entrance of the tunnel is a good way to hurt the swarm before it is even there. Bonus point if the stratagem is meant to last for while, terminids emerge from the hole in wave.
Do not split during an encounter : The swarm will try to separate you from your teamates. Dont let them do that. Stick to your teamates as much as possible. If you are close to each other, you will be able to unleash more firepower on the swarm, and to cover each other’s back. Additionally, if we assume a quarter of the swarm is after each player, if two player are together, then half of the swarm is behind them, meaning they are more densely packed...so a well placed stratagem will kill more !
Do not panic : While you are kitting, dont just wander around aimlessly. If you have to run, at least run toward something. Keep your eyes open, watch your map and search for opportunities : -a teamate : this is always a good option. -A place without rocks or cover : Rocks are a form of cover the Terminids can use. An open fields works in your favor. You should also avoid places that could slow you down. -a chokepoint : this will nullify the flanking ability of the swarm. This is a good place to stand your ground. -A broken hellbomb : a free stratagem is still a stratagem -The objective : In a typical encounter the swarm will chase after the team, and the objective will be left unguarded. Maybe you have a shot at completing it now that the swarm is gone ?
-Give them hell : The key word of the Hit and Run tactic used by helldivers against the bug is the Hit part, not the run part. When you feel there is enough distance between you and them, turn back, and throw everything you have, stratagem included. Do not have the mindset ‘‘but i need to keep a stratagem in my pocket in case something bad happens’’. Something bad will happen soon if a bug launch another fart. Kill as many as you can, as quickly as you can.

Am I wrong for being angry/upset for being called a liar and untrustworthy for telling my daughter that the movie popcorn has "butter" poured on top of it at the theater? The question came up from my daughter asking whether the movie popcorn has any nuts/peanuts in it because she has a nut allergy. I simply said, "No, it's just popcorn and butter and some salt." I know the liquid stuff they put on the popcorn isn't butter, even though the concession stand person asked if I wanted "butter." I grew up eating this stuff and have bought some in the past. I know it's some oil with coloring and salt. It could also be some other type of fatty substance they use, but I'm confident it doesn't contain nuts or tree nuts. The reason they even use this "butter" stuff in the first place is to keep it from going rancid if they use real butter. It's also cheap, so adding nuts would increase the cost. I know there is hazelnut flavoring (also fake and has no actual hazelnuts), and that's more expensive than "butter."
Anyway, my wife got pissed at me about lying to my daughter, and she deemed that I couldn't be trusted. My daughter has asked about whether there are nuts in pretty much everything. It's good that she's looking out for herself, but when she does this all the time, it gets pretty old. I didn't want to interrogate the concession stand staff about whether the popcorn or the fake butter stuff had any nuts/peanuts in it.
My wife kept bringing up trust a lot in the past several years because one time many years ago, I told her I wanted to get a divorce during a heated verbal argument because she was driving me nuts.
Here are some of the situations that have accumulated over the years and made me resent her more and more. I think I'm a trustworthy person, and I try my best to live with integrity. I have a high-paying professional job. I don't have any vices (alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc.). I also don't do much other than going to work and coming home. I go grocery shopping on the weekend and spend most of the time doing household chores on doing stuff on the computer.

• She got mad at me because I painted the window sill with polyurethane because it was getting moldy waiting for her to decide what wood treatments to put on the windows. This took almost a year and the wood already was getting moldy.
  
• She got mad at me for not telling her about a joint account I have with my mother. My mom felt that it was unfair that my wife has an investment account that her dad setup for her since she was a child. She never told me how much she has in that account, but we pay thousands in taxes every year because of it. When my wife found out about my account, she demanded that we split that money. I did so for my account, but she never shared her money from her own account with me because it's still invested. I have no idea how much money she has, and I don't care since it was her money before we got married. It just seems lopsided that somehow my money must be shared with her.
  
  • She got mad at me for getting in a fight with my mom when we went to visit her at my childhood home overseas. My mom was upset with us because she paid for the plane tickets (~$6k total) to fly to visit and offered her house for us to stay, but we repaid her generosity by only spending less than a couple days with her during our 2-week visit. My wife didn't want to stay in the city and would instead go off exploring. I got in a fight with my mom trying to defend my wife when my mom was accusing her of being ungrateful and rude to the family. Even today, my wife keeps saying how she can't trust my mom because "your mom is unstable and explosive".
  • She got mad at me for going to San Francisco for a week to get my mom (72 years old at the time) coming from overseas to visit a couple of places she wanted to visit for planning to relocate to the Bay Area. She didn't know anyone else in the US so she asked me to help her. She paid for all the expenses. At this point my mom also didn't like my wife so she didn't ask her to come. My wife said I shouldn't go and just let my mom deal with it herself. I hadn't seen my mother in 3 years at this point so I did want to see her and help her. I was also worried about her safety. My wife's family was living 10 minutes away from us so she couldn't understand why I would want to see my mom.
  • She got mad at me for planting grass seeds in our backyard when she went away for the weekend. Up to that point, my wife had already spent hundreds of dollars hiring random people to come to pluck out goutweed from the backyard to get rid of them. I read somewhere that grass can outcompete with goutweed so I decided to just plant the seeds. I didn't want to tell her because she kept delaying the decision to do anything with the backyard and we have goutweed growing everywhere despite all that money spent to get rid of them. The grass actually worked, and we have a grass lawn now instead of a goutweed field as long as I mow the lawn. She said I was sneaking behind her back to plant the seeds. It made her not trust me.
• She got mad at me for wanting to take a business trip that could further my career at the company I was working for. I passed on it and I lost the promotion.
  
  • She got mad at me for not wanting to send the kids to private school ($18k/year per kid and we have 2 kids). I was making $135k/year but I left the job because my wife said that I spent too much time at work and not enough with family. I took a lower paying job so I can spend more time with family, but the private school cost is just making it difficult. She was only working part-time but had to go full-time because I don't make as much as I used to.
• She got mad at me because I sometimes came home half an hour late after 5 pm and didn't make dinner in time for the kids to go to bed by 7:30 pm. The older one is in 6th grade and the younger one in 3rd grade. I have to make breakfast and dinner everyday and I also have to do all the dishes. Her job is to put the kids to bed. I also have to drop the kids off every morning at their private school and I can't drop them off before 8:30 am and it's over half an hour away from my work the wrong direction. I could never get to work before 9:00 am and my wife demanded that I need to be home by 5 pm to make dinner.
  
• She demanded that I spend at least an hour or more every day with her after the kids go to bed even if I see her everyday at breakfast and dinner. She got mad when I wanted to teach a pottery class some evenings 2-3 times a week because I used to enjoy pottery and teaching. I had to quit because she got mad at me for not spending time with her.
  
  • She got mad at me for starting a golf equipment business. She hated the products I was making because she didn't play golf and disliked golf. She wasn't supportive and probably couldn't wait for the business to fail so I stop spending time on it. The business is still going but not making that much money, but it's only been a couple of years.
• She got mad at me for not wanting to have sex a lot with her anymore. She really let herself go after having the kids while I still trying to maintain my fitness. I used to go running every other day but pretty much quit at this point because I couldn't do all the cooking and cleaning and still have time to go running.
  

She kept holding a grudge about all these things, and now she has us taking many marriage therapy workshops and sessions. She insisted that I'm too withdrawn and uncaring. She insisted that I needed to be a better husband.
I used to think I was a responsible person, and I tried my best to succeed in life. I try to spend as much time with my kids as possible so they know I'm there for them. My father wasn't around much when I was younger so I don't want to make the same mistake. We have been married for 15 years at this point but I'm just getting more and more sick of being in this relationship. I want my kids to have an intact family but it's just getting harder and harder. I don't have any other woman in my life so it's not even a part of the equation. I'm just not happy being questioned all the time and treated like a piece of garbage.
Anyway, I got really upset today after she called me a liar and said I was untrustworthy for telling my daughter the fake butter stuff is butter. I decided to walk home from this event we were supposed to get dinner together. I'd rather come home and cook my own dinner than be accused of something I can't even comprehend anymore.

I went through every stage of mono and recovered in a month. This is the steps I took to do so, and hopefully they can help you too. I am not a doctor and there is a lot of stuff that could be wrong here, and/or not do anything at all. If you are dealing with issues please go get medical assistance.

1. Sore Throat

For throat pain I visited my doctor and was prescribed prednisone and unfortunately I was dealing with an infection so I had to take anti-biotics. If you are diagnosed with mono and your doctor is assuming it is strep or another type of infection communicate with them the uncertainties you have in order to be tested for strep (taking anti-biotics with mono burdens you with a high chance of a rash).
Besides prednisone. I used a humidifier in my room in order for my throat to not dry out in the back. Even if it hurt horribly I attempted to drink at least 4 glasses of water every 4 hours so I wouldn't be dehydrated.
I suggest not taking Ibuprofen during use of Prednisone as it can cause intestinal issues. Use Tylenol.
I stuck to smoothies and chicken noodle soup for food during this time. Salty broth foods help soothe the throat quite a lot and help you get some nutrients.
It was hard to sleep because of my throat pain, I ended purchasing a sitting pillow for my bed. It took a lot of the stress off my lymph nodes during rest.
Finally I made sure to brush my teeth twice a day and use Orajel hydrogen peroxide mouthwash. Oral hygiene is incredibly important during any issues with tonsils in order to keep an infection from happening and washing off pus from throat scars during mono.

2. Sleep

For me sleep was quite difficult and I unfortunately didn't have many ways to deal with it for the first couple of days.
I tried to not take naps throughout the day and rather hold in my sleep for the nights, as your body does better healing when it's in REM. Which is more difficult to have happen if you take brief short naps.
By around my third day I learned that having a humidifier in my room made it so much easier to breathe and feel a bit better.
I took one extra strength Tylenol right before bed, and 10 mg of melatonin. Keep in mind that melatonin only is going to help put you to sleep and you will need to change your diet to be heavier in magnesium in order to have a better time staying asleep. If I woke up due to the pain at the middle of the night i'd take another tylenol and wait it out until I was able to sleep again. Continue to drink water throughout the entire time.

3. Spleen Pains

I dealt with really bad spleen pain for a couple of days and my only solve for it was laying on my back and using a heatpad on the area where my pain was. I tried not to move around very much. If your pain becomes increasingly worse go in to get screened for a risk of rupture.

4. Mental Health

Out of all the things I dealt with, this was one of the worst. I felt defeated for most of my days. I tried to feel better by looking at other peoples experiences and seeing how others have it worse. It also can help to call loved ones and friends and talk with them. I also watched shows and movie continuously in order to distract myself. Eating good helped me a lot, once I started making protein smoothies my mood changed for the better. Also try to stay out of the dark for to long, if you can go into a more open room with sunlight and lay during the day it will make you happier. Try to retain your sleep for just the night, this way you feel like you still are holding to a schedule. It also helps with REM which is incredibly important for mental health and can't be done with naps. Finally, self-care was a breakthrough for me. I tried to shower daily, and clean up my face before bed. It made me feel happier and nicer.

5. The Rash

This rash was one of the worst parts of the whole thing besides my throat. It happened after I had taken my antibiotics for 5 days. It itched so badly. In order to deal with the itch I went to the ER and was prescribed hydroxyzine and another dose of prednisone. For the first day I used calamine lotion, I soon realized it was making me even more itchy as it caused my skin to dry up. I switched over to Eucerin anti-itch lotion and it helped so much. I applied when I woke up and before I went to bed. I applied ice packs to my skin, instead of itching and it works much better at stopping the itch. Also try to sleep with a fan pointed towards you. During the rash stage, it is the most important for you to drink as much fluids as possible.
I hope this can maybe help someone? Idk, i am very thankful for this subreddit as most of these posts helped me recover much faster. Thank you all.

An attractive alternative to traditional rewards for outstanding performance

Synthetic equity refers to a collection of strategies and instruments frequently used to provide employees with financial advantages of share ownership without actual shares changing hands. It is a potent instrument that practically all advanced investment organizations may utilize to attract, retain, and reward competent employees.
The favorable economic qualities of equity are embedded into synthetic equity plans, also known as equity alternatives, without the financial obligations coming from purchasing shares from the initial owner. Instead, synthetic equity programs often develop into cash payments to the employee and a corresponding deduction for the employer. Since it represents compensation, synthetic equity may be easily adjusted to handle almost any scenario.
The following scenarios exemplify the situations in which synthetic equity is an optimal solution:

• An employee desires ownership-like benefits but is unable or unwilling to assume the financial risk of purchasing and paying for company equity.
• An employee aspires to ownership but lacks the credentials or licenses required for a role of a full equity partner in the company.
• Employees feel uncomfortable providing personal guarantees or accepting responsibility for credit lines, office leases, payroll-related expenditures, or the commitments made under buy-sell or continuity agreements.
• A company owner wants to share the economic worth of equity rather than the actual equity. This includes owners not interested in supporting this transaction with seller financing.
• A company owner wishes to motivate an employee to work on increasing the company’s value but also wants to discourage them from leaving and creating competition for the business, engaging in client solicitation, or performing other actions that might harm the company.
• An owner planning to leave the company in the following 5-year period wishes to reward one or more critical workers at the time of the sale without requiring them to purchase and pay for equity.

Tokenization of business and individual performance

The above method has been known for decades. The critical challenge in the modern business world is ensuring that innovation and productivity are rewarded equitably across an organization. At the same time, executives must be compensated for creating these conditions.
However, rewarding innovation and equitably delivering executive-level incentives and rewards across the organization from the top to the shop floor is the alternative made possible only by deploying smart contracts and blockchain technology — tokenizing business and individual performance.
The tokenization of business elements such as performance and innovation is one of the newest ways to drive planned outcomes. The process is about moving your business to blockchain. Although it may seem complicated and challenging to implement, almost any entrepreneur can tokenize the building blocks of their business. Tokenization is simply transforming a company’s value into a digitized resource in the form of tokens.
Tokens represent a value within the organization in a transparent and auditable way. They can be cashed in upon completion of the vesting period if both company and individual targets have been met. What makes Synthetic Equity on the chain unique is its transparency, auditability of incentives, and most notably, equitable distribution of tokens corresponding to each employee’s job size.

The Mechanism Behind Synthetic Equity

For synthetic equity to produce favorable results, a profitable, successful firm with a proper entity structure is necessary. Corporations and LLCs can use the tools relating to synthetic equity. In some situations, they may also be used by sole proprietorships, albeit in a slightly different form.
To fully grasp the idea of synthetic equity, it might be helpful to understand the mechanism behind equity in general. Understanding how equity functions allows those interested in synthetic equity to utilize some of the tools used in working with actual equity.
For example, investing in an independent advisory company generally offers the following considerable advantages:

• The right to vote
• Participation in the corporate governance system
• Access to the company’s financial documents
• Limited liability
• A proportionate cut of the revenue
• Sale-related long-term capital gains tax rates
• Capital growth potential

SyntheticEquity.io app is changing how we think about incentives and rewards.
These advantages have a monetary value. Therefore, purchasing equity carries a price, and awarding employee equity has tax repercussions. A tiny ownership share in a fee-based firm might cost several hundred thousand dollars. In these types of businesses, the stock is often acquired and paid for after tax, and the equity partner or shareholder usually expects to obtain the entire set of rights in return for taking on the investment risk.
The rights can be unbundled, meaning that the current owner does not have to sell or provide the full bundle of rights to an employee or investment advisor. To fulfill specific goals, each of the rights mentioned above can also be further divided or redefined in as much detail as necessary. For example, one or two rights from the total package might be provided, such as the opportunity to grow the company’s worth or a percentage of the profits.
By allowing someone to own a portion of the rights in the bundle rather than all of them, synthetic equity generates an advantage. These unique rights or benefits are often described in a plan document and frequently provided via individual award agreements between the employer and employee. A wide range of flexible options for creating a solid and profitable company are produced when equity-like benefits and a long-term remuneration strategy are combined.
Synthetic equity plans often come in one of the following three forms:

• Full-value plans can result in a substantially big payment to an employee since they pay both the value of the underlying stock and any appreciation that is gained over a certain period.
• Performance unit plans swap out equity as the value metric for another metric like sales growth or profitability.
• The value of any growth in the underlying stock value over a specific period following the date of the award is typically paid out under appreciation-only plans.

These kinds of plans are like conventional non-qualified plans insofar as they offer a possibility of discrimination and a significant risk of forfeiture that often lasts until shortly before the benefit is awarded to the employee.
Essentially, synthetic equity is a type of delayed compensation that links a worker’s financial incentive to the company’s performance. By striking the correct balance between the danger of losing a valuable employee and the potential future cost to the employer, each plan is specifically created to meet the advisor’s needs. The plans are intended to reward employees for contributing to the company’s success, but they also ensure that no payment is due if either the company doesn’t develop as expected or the employee doesn’t uphold their end of the deal by quitting their job to work for a rival company or starting their own.

Synthetic Equity Benefits

Synthetic equity is meant to be an equity-related instrument that helps a company find, reward, and keep hold of valuable people.
Synthetic equity benefits are:

• Synthetic equity inspires employees to adopt an owner’s perspective and put development and shareholder value first.
• There is no debt since important participants do not buy phantom shares like full equity stockholders do.
• If a participant’s job terminates before the designated vesting date, they typically forfeit any benefits under the plan.
• Participants normally do not have voting rights or a vote in corporate governance and may or may not be entitled to collect profits from the company.
• Synthetic equity programs provide flexible vesting timelines; vesting can take place over time, depending on the accomplishment of certain quantifiable company or individual goals.
• If the company’s growth is slower than expected and the stock price does not rise, nothing is exchanged.
• When a synthetic equity grant is issued, owners of genuine equity are not adversely affected by a dilution of their ownership percentages.
• Compared to S-Corporations, which are often more restricted, more freedom is provided in terms of stock class and shareholder count.
• The advising business’s shareholders’ or members’ agreement and associated buy-sell provisions do not immediately apply to synthetic equity.

Synthetic equity options’ versatility comes with many benefits but may also have many drawbacks. The companies need to make decisions regarding what valuation technique will be utilized, what vesting rules will be implemented, how liquidity problems will be addressed, what eligibility conditions will be imposed, and what rights to participate in corporate governance will be granted due to the wide range of possible directions for designing synthetic equity plans.

Conclusion

In the hands of a forward-thinking business leader, synthetic equity is a potent instrument. It may be utilized to solve the difficulty of attracting, rewarding, and maintaining top talent to create a great practice or viable business without the challenges of selling and paying for an actual ownership stake.
Like full stock, synthetic equity may refocus the employee’s attention and motivate them to contribute to a flourishing and profitable company.
Authors

Paul Lalovich

Organizational Effectiveness and Strategy Execution Practice

I just moved here is only been TWO weeks, and I can't help but feel increasingly frustrated with the way tenants are treated here. It’s become painfully clear that as a tenant, you have virtually no rights or protections against landlord or real-estate injustices.
First off, let's be honest: renting a house is never really your own. No matter how much you pay or how long you stay, it always feels like you're just a step away from being shown the door. Landlords and their agent hold all the power, and any attempt to protect yourself or assert your rights can lead to threats of eviction.
Recently, I tried to address a basic maintenance issue with my landlord on the mistakes made y his agents team only to be met with hostility and a warning that I could be kicked out if I persisted to fight it. It’s a common story here—complaints about repairs, rent increases, or even basic disagreements can lead to eviction threats. It's like walking on eggshells all the time. In the end I obviously have to apologise because where will I go?
The rental agreements heavily favor landlords. Clauses are often skewed against tenants, and legal recourse is lengthy and complicated, making it almost impossible for tenants to fight back effectively. The fear of losing your home overnight is very real, and it's something many of us live with daily.
Bangalore’s rental market is booming, but this growth hasn't translated into fair practices for tenants. The demand for housing often means tenants have to accept unfair terms just to secure a place to live. And once you're in, any sign of dissent can jeopardize your housing situation.
It’s disheartening and exhausting. As tenants, we deserve better protections and a more balanced system that doesn't leave us vulnerable to the whims of landlords abd their lovely agents. Until there are stronger tenant rights and better regulations in place, renting for those of us who move here to live our lives will continue to be a stressful and uncertain experience.
How do you cope with the lack of tenant rights here? I just feel so lost.
PS - THIS isn't kanadiga hate the real-estate agents and landlords are not kanada folx anyway.

Hello everyone, I've been wanting to make this post for a while and now here we are ! This is a long post but ENJOY !!!
Another Eden is now 7 years old which means many stories, characters and an entire world...or rather time periods/timelines that currently exists. So here's the question, what's your Another Eden Hall of Fame ? Both Meta and Non Meta related.
Note: Remember that what I'm about to write is based SOLELY ON MY OPINION but I'm interested to see what my fellow Residents of Time's Forgotten Keep think ! Without further ado, let's start:

1. Best Story Protagonist (Excluding Aldo): Nona
   Another Eden is composed of many stories and they are NOT always centered around Aldo which is the game's protagonist, few examples of that being Deirdre in the Knights Episodes/Nona in Apocrypha and Wryz from the recent Wryz Saga. My pick is Nona because she has BY FAR the best character development and to me she took the spotlight in the entire Apocrypha. In fact I'd argue that if Another Eden had the "Choose your Protagonist" Aldo would be the Male Protagonist and Nona would be the Female one because she's litterally the Protogonist of Apocrypha and it can be regarded as a "Game within a game" so yea that says alot.
   
2. Best Side Story: Western Mythos (Song of Sword and Wings of Lost Paradise)
   The Western Mythos is the best story in my opinion (And actually alot of players do agree with me on that). The Zerberiya continent, the world, the cast of characters and the story is phenomenal from it's 1st chapter to the finale. I know that people will tell me Future Mythos is also great but it doesn't have THAT impact on me as much as the Western Mythos did.
   

Which is why (Rant Warning!) WFS ! WHERE'S MY WESTERN EXPANSTION !!! WHY DID YOU FORGOT THAT ZERBERIYA EXISTS ?? WE NEED MORE OF PEAK !! That is hurting me alot !! The only story which is a close second is Apocrypha but Western Mythos is the far better one and I'm thankful for Another Eden for creating that. I do hope that the Highly Rumored Eastern Mythos would be just as good because speaking of...

1. Best Main Story: Main Story Part 2 (Tales of the East)
   There are currently four Main Stories: Main Story Part 1;Main Story Part 1.5 (Ogre Wars) ;Main Story Part 2 (Tales of the East) and the currently Main Story Part 3 (Into the Hollow).
   In my mind while having played all of those stories, I still find myself being drawn and attached to the Eastern Continent ! Because I truly love the setting ! WFS clearly nailed it and even so when you consider the amount of "Eastern" Personality characters that are in the game which is the highest in the game at 30 characters (Not counting AS/ES). Heck I'm currently replaying the Main Story Part 2 because I enjoyed it even better than the current Part 3 which from a pure gameplay sure it's better but in terms of Story/Characters and OST then to me nothing beats the Garulea Continent (Present/Past/Future and Underworld) !
   

Alot of people in the sub love Eastern characters, most notably u/NoWaifuN0Laifu who like Hozuki, an Eastern sensual Fox Lady so yea there's that.
This is in part why I'm extremely hyped for Eastern Mythos and I can't wait for it ! And Yukino Alter (One of the main things keeping me attached to Another Eden)

1. Best Character Quest: Melissa
   Melissa is by far the best Character Quest and ask any veteran player and he'll tell you that. It's also the darkest and the saddest one in the entire game and it's special in the fact that Aldo IS NOT PRESENT in it at all ! Imagine THAT ! I won't say more because of spoilers but if you don't have Melissa you can just search on Youtube as her CQ is there and you can watch it ! If you have her but have not played her quest...WHAT ARE YOU WAITING for ? DO IT !
   
2. Best Character: Yukino
   This is subjective and my AE subreddit flair checks out, I love Yukino so much since her introduction, apart from me having a thing for women/girls with Ice powers, her story and how she was created (Also she's Eastern as well so another point !) also her relationship to Tsukiha so no need to say more!
   
3. Best Antagonist/Villain: Guildna (Main Story Part 1)
   The reason why to me Guildna is the best villain is NOT what you think it is ! Another Eden is a game centered around stories Beyond Time and Space there I said it but while there are really good villainy characters like for instance the Empress/Emperor of the Land of Mi and Shin (Again Eastern !) Garneli and Genshin but Guildna is special because he made me appreciate Main Story Part 1 alot more then the other characters, it tells you what happened if Guildna makes some impactful decisions in the storyline. Besides without Guildna there's no Aldo and therefore no Another Eden !
   
4. Best Cat Companion: Kuchiba
   I love the Siamese Cat Breed and Kuchiba IS the only one in the game in whom I didn't change ever since I found her years ago in Vermillion Road (Another Eastern Reference, see what I told you)
   
5. Best NPC: Some Guy
   He's Scott literally everywhere in the game. From the past to the future, from Zerberiya to Garulea, heck even in the Hollow you'll find him ! There's no way I make a list without appreciating "Some Guy" and his deeds to the game.
   
6. Best Frog: Cyrus (He's Eastern aswell ! I tell you this is why the Eastern Setting is THE BEST !!)
   
7. Best Main Cast Character: Guildna
   
8. Best Mascot: Varuo
   If Moke wasn't released as a playable Sidekick he would have been my pick but now I have to choose the 2nd best IMO and that's Varuo. The Iconic Cat mascot in the game.
   
9. Best Boss: Caroline and Justine (From Persona 5 Royal part 2 Collab)
   This boss used to be the hardest boss in the game for a long time and for good reason as it has alot of HP stoppers and has TONS of HP, while the boss has been powercrept and now easy with the recent units...back than it was a pain, another close second would be the Toova AS Manifest Battle which used to be the hardest Manifest fight in the entire game because of Toova AS insane fixed DMG and RNG involved.
   
10. Best OST: エルの唄～メリナ Song of Sword and Wings of Lost Paradise ED ~ The Stifling Song Melina Edition
    The best theme for the best story in the game, everytime I hear the OST I unconsciously start humming and even start tearing up because it's JUST THAT GOOD and after playing the Western Mythos and knowing what the lyrics means...man it hits hard ! A close second is Apex Logic and Cardinal Scales ED ~ Immaculate Full Version but let's be real ! The game is full of the best OST in a game ever !
    
11. Best Battle OST: Apex Logic and Cardinal Scales ~ Last Notes of the Battle Song Alter Dewey Boss Theme.
    This one is hard to choose as the game is packed full of Bangers in the Battle Theme departement but this one personally gets me all hyped...besides even you didn't reach that part of the game it still hypes you up ! A close second is First Knight and The Holy Sword ~ Dear My Dearest -Prayer of the Holy War- as I loved the Knights Episode Story so much and love the plot twist which leaves to this battle.
    

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Now let's go to the Meta:

1. Best Free Character: Nona AS
   Seriously she's by far the most flexible free character in the game, yea sure it takes a bit to get her but she can give 1/3 of her stats to anyone and she can mold her kit into the unit she's devoted to including zone setting/element and attack type change etc... She's even more good when used with Aldo (And it's canon aswell as she's devoted to Aldo and loves him so much which he also does (Not in a friend way btw)) and we know SA Aldo is OP especially at 255 Light so yea !
   
2. Best Zone Setter: Iphi
   To qualify for The Best, a unit doesn't just has to set a zone but it needs to have OP effects with the zone setting skill/VC and to me no one who's better at that than Iphi, her zone setting skill Walpurgisnacht is seriously broken: First of all the skill is Pre-emptive; you get the best elemental zone (Shade zone); you get Blood Contract which gives you survivability and Lunatic Risktaker; you get 5T Magic Focus and if you recast it, you get Kaleido switch to Shade element for 1T for all units...ALL OF THOSE in a single skill and moreso when you realise that these are all skills you usually see in Stellar Awakening Locked-Behind recent units in a unit released a year ago
   
3. Best Damage Dealer (DPS): Xianhua
   Before Xianhua got released and broke the DPS meta, Yakumo and Sesta used to dominate that market but now Xianhua is the best end of question ! The reason being that her DPS potential is not locked behind her SA skill as most recent units does.
   
4. Best True Tank: Radias AS
   Some people might argue that Radias AS is being powercrept but to me a Tank is more than just high HP/DEF/DMG Mitigation via Shield or Debuffs but to me a Tank in AE needs to have Guard and Rage and to me Radias AS is still the best one even if she's now almost 2 years old. While Alma AS is alot more recent and has all of those she's more of a Secondary DPS/Support than a tank and her Guard is conditional; Soira AS doesn't have Guard;Anabel ES doesn't have Guard nor Rage and Prai is constrained by Stun after Guard
   
5. Best Support: Myunfa Alter
   I tried alot of units but to me no one can do support/sustain in the entire game than Myunfa Alter, seriously her kit is a dream to every one, she has everything you can think of, YEP EVERY.SINGLE.SUPPORT.EFFECT in her kit. If you have the fourth slot (80 light) she's even better, she support the entire party but more so the unit on her right:
   

* She can heal HP and MP and reduce MP consumption.
* She can tank (Tho not with Guard but with DMG mitigation such as -50% DMG taken, a 2000 Max HP Shield and insane debuffs + Buff END/SPR).
* She can set Earh/Magic Zone (3 Staff users+) and can awaken any zone.
* She can give Magic and Singular Focus.
* She can give Weapon Type DMG and Weakness Multiplier.
* She can give Status and Knockback Immunity.
* She set 3T pain/poison ignore res.
Yes everything I said above is in her kit, what's more is that she can do most of these preemptively and do you know what's more insane ! She's not bound by the Stellar Awakening System !

1. Best Healer: Anabel ES
   She can heal 50% HP/15% MP but unlike Radias AS which can also do it in a counter, if you put her in Guiding Light she gets +50% DMG and Healing meaning she can potentially heals 100% HP ! Something only seen in EX Attacks in ES characters and that one requires complex setting.
   
2. Best Pain/Poison Setter and DoT (Damage over Time) user: Pom AS
   A Best Pain/Poison setter doesn't just have to set p/p ignore res as most units can do that but can use p/p as DoT (Damage over Time) and no one can do it better then Pom. Heck 4⭐ Pom has been known for her gimmick of giving p/p if you have the appropriate equipment and there's Grasta Ores that gives +50% DMG if user is inflicted with Pain/Poison so yea.
   
3. Best AF user: Miyu ES
   To qualify for this the unit has to benefit more from using AF (Another Force) either by doing more DPS in AF or get easy AF Combo Multiplier, it's been known that Thunder units are the ones who can use AF efficiently and while the current Meta revolves around DMG outside AF, some units only shines in AF and Miyu ES is just that, a close second would be Victor AS but he can be tricky to use as you need the AF Combo to 1000% for him to deal 7300% DMG Multiplier but in a Thunder Team with high SPD it's possible.
   
4. Best Singer: Milsha AS
   While Singing has been powercrept by Praying, I still use Singing units from time to time and Milsha AS is by far the best from the best, seriously her 2 songs can give different Lunatic to the entire party depending on the Song being user (Sacrifice and Risktaker) and this effect can co-exist with other lunatic.
   
5. Best Praying unit: Toova ES
   This one is hard as most Praying units are OP ! However for me Toova ES takes the crown by a slight margin, just set her pray and forget about her and if you have a unit which can Cover (Iphi is most used with her) then you don't have to worry about her taking DMG and breaking Prayer.
   

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Phew This essay took me 3 hours to write but that's how much I love Another Eden even tho the game's questionable direction does leave alot to be desired, I hope you enjoyed reading and I want to see everyone's opinion

When looking into the makings of central banks and financal affairs in the uk and europe i came up with this
Finance and lending money was almost entirely run by jewish families long before 1066AD when William the conquerer borrowed significantly from jewish financiers of France a Rouen Banking family, name is still undisclosed. If anyone knows let me know.
government bonds from 1066 in the british library
The Worshipful goldsmiths company a 700 year old group of goldsmith (investors) who to this day buy up government guilds aka bonds aka loans. Aswell as owning vast estates in and around london. The company was formed after the jewish were originally exiled from britian because of accusations they controlled the UKs finances between 1066 and 1290 🤔 ( insert capitalism cloak and dagger) hide behind a business name.
the worshipful goldsmiths company
This company became of interest to me, as little is said about who actually founded the goldsmiths company other than they were the goldsmiths of london who had controll over london finances as they bacame the gold standard by royal charter. (where the hallmark name came from)
Its rather puzzling who these prominent people were, and interesting that little is said about them especially considering how well they recorded its rather odd they didnt have records of their ownership? (shell company style?)
So 700 years ago goldsmiths were almost all jewish as lending money was strictly forbidden in Christianity ( if you weren't a Christian in england 1000 years ago what even were you?
Also note the Rothschilds family owned the building to the royal mint where coins were minted for the last 200 years. Strange dont you think 🤔
royal mint
Also an interesting financial scale within jewish economics. Jewish law states that jewish can only charge interest to non jewish. So if your entire business model is to charge interest and if a huge percentage of banks are jewish owned and they can only charge interest to non jewish that would denote a pyramidal scale? Note the largest hedge companies in the world are jewish owned.
halachah or jewish law
Now i am not saying this is the entire jewish race, but certainly prominent elite familes hidden behind a cover of a capitalist system that assists obscurity it for what it is.
If you have checked out the links above note they are all from jewish sources.
And you can start to imagin how long the banking business has actually been going on for. If halachah must be followed that would mean continual money supply into a pot for one race obtained from everyone else. (quite possibly why the US pushes for capital markets everywhere and detest communist systems that prevents 👆)
Some examples of said families
rothschilds family archives
The duke of wellington took a loan of £1 billion to pay for the battle of waterloo in 1815, which would now be worth over 20 trillion in todays money. This loan is supposedly still being repaid by british taxpayers to this day.
Can you imagin what interest repayments the Rothschilds must be recieving for a loan that's over 200 years old.
Calculations for 1 billion over 200 years at 4% workds out to a total repayment of 2,940,562,619,656.00 = £2.94 trillion
Oh and guess who funded the loan to pay slave owners for freeing slaves. You guessed it the Rothschilds and Montefoire family if you haven't already come across the latter another name to consider.
Rothschilds and Montefoire
The slave ownership loan was only just been repaid by british tax payers in recent years. If you understand how loan repayments work from mortgages you can imagin what a 200 year old loan does to the total repayment cost.
Calculations for
15 million over 200 years at 4% works out to a total repayment of 38,261,246,866.00 just over 38 billion. So where is all this money as their net worth vastly differs 🤔.
I believe that we are built on a system of finance, either capitalist who want a portion and access of other nations interests or the communists who want to keep the financial system in their own company.
who ever owns the finance owns the world.
Im not sure who secretly runs the countrys of the world but in delving deeper into the history behind finance i found the aforementioned. Some will say this is antisemetic trope. But everything i looked up was backed up by jewish authors and resources. Jewish chronicles being one of them
Thodore Herzle is another prominent name in zionism as its founder who started the zionist movement from Basel switzerland, the mothership of all central banks the IBS International Bank of Settlements. He also founded the jewish colonial bank which later turned into the central bank of israel.
jewish virtual library source
Its interesting that more of this is not known or more public knowledge, or is that the point keep this buried and call everyone antisemitic for brining it up?
Whilst im not from the US, its domination in war time affairs raises some questions. As war requires large bonds borrowed from the prominent wealthy families mentioned. Creating debts that continue to be paid by tax payers over hundreds of years. It may be worth researching who actually bought the long term bonds for the covid packages and Ukraine and Israel piggy bank.
Nearly the entire biden administration is made up of jewish, so theres no wonder why he keeps vetoing everything. A list below of his jewish team.
biden administration jewish team list
and well the US economy has a big hand in debt making and taking. If you arent with it, your in the way as many countries have found out the hard way.
I have lots more, but conscious this is long and getting bored now.
Enjoy your rabbit hole hunting and if anyone has anything to add or if i have got anything wrong id be interested in your view points ✌️

Author note: The Cryopod to Hell is a Reddit-exclusive story with over three years of editing and refining. As of this post, the total rewrite is 2,182,000+ words long! For more information, check out the link below:
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...................................
(Previous Part)
(Part 001)
"Hell yeah, I wanna go exploring." Jason says to Calanthra with a smile. "How do we navigate around Ripspace though? Traveling to other galaxies is going to take billions of years, right? Surely, there's a shortcut."
"Ripspace is not as it seems." Calanthra explains, gesturing grandly to the epic sight before them. "It is a connection between the past and the present; the near and far. The further away or the further back you want to travel, the higher the price you will have to pay."
Jason's smile vanishes. "Wait... you can use Ripspace to travel back in time?!"
"No." Calanthra clarifies. "Time is linear. We cannot travel through it. Some can slow it down or speed it up. A rare few can even pause it for a short while. But moving forward and backward is impossible. Countless have attempted to do so over the eons, but all have failed."
She looks at Jason meaningfully. "Many Rulers would wipe out galaxies if it might let them obtain such a power. The fact they still haven't proves it is impossible."
Jason nods slowly. "I won't lie. I have a lot of regrets. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and save my daughter from dying."
"Everyone has regrets." Calanthra muses, looking off into the distance. "I have plenty, myself. But it's better this way. There would be pandemonium if time travel ever became possible."
She pauses before continuing with her explanation. "While we cannot go back in time, we can look back into time. Pinpointing exact moments in history is difficult, to say the least, but it is possible to use Ripspace to search for key moments in intergalactic history."
"So it's like a massive seer-stone." Jason muses aloud. "But wait, didn't you imply earlier that you used Ripspace to travel to the Milky Way from Andromeda? How does it allow you to jump between galaxies? Are other species using Ripspace for intergalactic travel?"
"You can indeed use Ripspace to travel to distant reaches of space." Calanthra explains. "But... you have to pay a certain price. Akasha's Barriers still protect every galaxy. Cosmics cannot travel between them easily. Mortals can, but the price we must pay is unimaginably steep. That is also the reason my mother perished not long after arriving in the Milky Way and giving birth to me."
The Fairy Monarch sighs softly.
"My people used the power of Ripspace to travel to several other galaxies. We were fortunate that the Creator had died, allowing us to take up residence here in secret, but the Angels, Titans, and Dragons were still a threat we could not overlook. Later, the Volgrim rose up too, and that was something that worried us for a while. Particularly when their Sentinels began to rapaciously erase the lives of innumerable Sentients."
She waves her hand. "Ultimately, very few galaxies didn't have a Ruler in power. Traveling to one that did meant flipping a coin and praying our people could avoid their gaze. Sadly, time has shown me that we were likely unsuccessful. I have lost contact with all my sisters across the cosmos."
The image of innumerable galaxies floating in the distance changes before Jason's eyes. Calanthra manipulates some unseen power, causing herself and Jason to suddenly materialize directly in front of a beautiful spiral galaxy.
"This is our Milky Way." Calanthra explains, waving her hand to conjure another, far bigger galaxy beside it. "And this is Andromeda."
"Is it just me or does Andromeda seem... brighter?" Jason asks.
"Andromeda contains far more interstellar particles, cosmic energy, and latent magical power than the Milky Way." Calanthra says. "Of course, in the ancient past, it had even more than it does now, but such is the way of entropy and Chaos."
Jason nods. "How exactly do galaxies lose power over time? Doesn't this feel self-defeating in a way?"
"Every Ruler enters the Unending War with a strategy." Calanthra says, motioning with her hands to disperse the galaxies and reveal images of ghostly creatures, some standing on two legs, some on four, and plenty that appear as mere blobs of energy. "I cannot pretend to know the thoughts of such high and mighty beings, especially as I am a mere mortal myself. Even so, I can definitively state that there are Rulers who seek to put as much galactic energy into their initial creations as possible, while others wish to adopt a more energy-efficient growth-model."
She pokes her finger against Jason's chest. "Take the angels and humans, for instance. The Creator poured the vast majority of his power into creating a galaxy full of Apex Cosmics. At their peak, the angels as a whole commanded enough power to flatten other galaxies. But what did they do instead? They fought with one another, killing themselves due to sheer boredom, if not outright ego."
"I see." Jason says, brushing Calanthra's finger away. "So the Creator dumped all the Milky Way's energy into the angels. I take it this is uncommon among Rulers?"
"Of course. It's a wasteful strategy and usually loses Rulers the War for that Eternity." Calanthra says dismissively. "The Timeless used a different strategy. She created the fairies as mere mortals that evolved over time, gaining greater and greater power through their own efforts. This meant that instead of devouring Andromeda's abundant Cosmic energy, they could slowly sap off its excess over time. For you see, the more energy a galaxy has, the more it can produce. If you ration it long enough, you can reap more of it across the duration of an Eternity."
"That makes sense." Jason concludes. "It's like a Rush build in an RTS versus an Economy build. You sacrifice long-term gains in exchange for short-term power. The problem is, with Akasha's Barriers preventing Rulers from attacking their enemies straight away, a Rush build is dumb because you're just wasting your resources and sacrificing Cosmic energy when you'll actually need it."
Calanthra blinks twice. She looks at Jason with a strange expression, then turns away for a moment, trying to understand the strange terms he's used. They mostly make sense, but some of them are a little...
She shakes her head and returns to the topic at hand. "Right. Rush strategy versus Economy. Of... course. Well, in any case, there is one advantage toward the first strategy. If you drain all the energy from your galaxy, it becomes less appealing for other Rulers to attack. Because Andromeda was so large and still filled with Cosmic power even billions of years after the Expansion Era, it stoked the hunger of the Dark Ones. Meanwhile, the Milky Way only needs to deal with the Plague, which is threatening for mortals, but manageable for Cosmics. In that respect, we've gotten off much luckier."
"I get the bigger picture now." Jason says with a nod. He turns to look back at the cosmos before him. "So, what about all this? Are we gonna go exploring, or what?"
"In order to explore the universe presented here, we would need to make sacrifices we cannot afford. I think you would find the price most disagreeable. But there is something we can explore freely..."
She waves her hand, and instantly, the brilliant and beautiful cosmic view of the universe vanishes.
In its place, Jason and Calanthra suddenly appear inside a dead, barren wasteland. Brown and grey dirt rises up in huge dunes stretching off into the distance. Fallen towers made of gold and stone lay on their sides, or stick into the ground, buried nearly up to their tops as they point diagonally toward the sky.
And speaking of the sky, it glows faintly grey, as if some weak, pale imitation of a star were trying to shine through a thin atmosphere clouded by dust and grime. The very air itself smells of sulfur and toxins, making Jason's nose curl up when he takes a breath.
"Ugh... what the hell? Where are we now?" Jason asks, as he turns and looks around at the dead world surrounding him.
"An Ancient Domain." Calanthra says softly. "A remnant of a dead universe. All life stripped away. All hope lost. Septillions of different Sentient species, gone. Their mortals, their Cosmics, reduced to dust by the Contraction."
The Wordsmith frowns. "This Ancient Domain represents a dead universe? But how can that be possible? If the Heat Death played out and all the galaxies faded to cosmic dust, then there already wouldn't be anything left. And then, if the entire universe collapsed into a singularity before exploding again, there definitely wouldn't be anything left behind resembling physical matter."
"You perceive reality through just three dimensions." Calanthra intones. "Time and space can be considered two dimensions. Cosmic Power is another dimension. I must admit I do not understand how Ancient Domains have continued to exist across countless Eternities, and I don't know how they retain a vaguely familiar form... but I can assure you that in spite of bending logic itself, they do exist and they can provide tangible benefits to those dedicated to exploring them."
"You've been exploring them, then?" Jason asks, turning away from the dead world to scrutinize Calanthra's phantasmal image.
"Me, a little. But often, I dispatch my descendants to scour these Ancient Domains for things of value. It may surprise you, but there are powerful artifacts, vengeful spirits, and all manner of other inter-dimensional horrors lurking within these so-called dead-lands."
Calanthra pauses. She shifts her posture to look at Jason deeply.
"And that is why I've brought you here, Jason. It's time for me to get down to the crux of the matter and breach the subject that I find most important."
He nods. "I'm listening."
"It's like this." Calanthra explains. "The Ancient Domains are unfathomably broad. Think of how large a universe is. Think of how many universes have existed. Think of how much space my people have yet to explore."
She pauses.
"The gains we have received have made my people stronger than you would expect. Among those gains are Yredelemnul's Eye and other leftover remnants of power that many dead ancient Rulers lost when their Existences became forfeit. While their tangible Existences may have perished, their spirits sometimes live on in these broad, unending dead universes..."
"That's why you approached me." Jason says, while crossing his arms and leaning on the ball of his heel. "You said you wanted an alliance with humanity. You... want humans to help you explore the Ancient Domains?"
"Trust is hard to come by among mortals, Cosmics, and Rulers." Calanthra says simply. "I never would have considered allying with the humans before, but you have shown me the broadness of your mind during the debate against your clone and the commander of your military. To some, you certainly appear naive, but to me I see an opportunity I would be foolish to ignore."
She continues. "The Fairies cannot reproduce efficiently. Every fairy we send into the Ancient Domain is one less fairy we have among our Empire. We already have a difficult time replenishing our numbers through the remaining Male Fairies, but do you think it is easy for us to reproduce with other species?"
Jason slowly shakes his head. "Blinker and Kar's children were all crocodiles, not fairies. From that, I can only imagine that most of the time, your mating attempts do not create more of yourselves, but instead more non-fairy children."
"That's exactly correct." Calanthra replies. "But that all changed recently when I found out one of your human males somehow spontaneously altered his genetic profile to become a fairy. There is no doubt about it; Samuel Baker harnesses all the capability to reproduce that you humans do, as well as the trueborn powers of any male fairy."
"So... are you seeking a marriage alliance with Samuel Baker?" Jason asks, scratching his head in confusion. "You could just ask him yourself, you know?"
"This is not about one man." Calanthra retorts. "Samuel Baker, if he were to join our ranks, would certainly help us stave off extinction for a while longer. But that is hardly worth all this melodrama and me taking you to the Ancient Domain in person..."
Jason's eyes widen in realization. "I see! You... you're thinking that if my magic could make one male fairy, I could surely make another, and another..."
"Yes, precisely." Calanthra says, revealing a beautiful smile. "Additionally, if humans were to assist us in scouring these Ancient Domains, we could make great gains together. There is plenty of room for another species to join ours in locating powerful artifacts and other items capable of Uplifting us."
"You want to become Cosmics still." Jason muses. "You haven't resigned yourselves to your current fate."
"Quite the opposite." Calanthra says. "The curse placed upon us is unbreakable by those beneath the realm of Ruler. As I said before, the fairies have lost this Eternity's war. However, while we cannot Ascend any longer, that does not mean the humans are subject to the same limitation. If we could groom a human into becoming the Milky Way's Ruler, we could finally break free of our shackles by virtue of having a powerful ally."
She pauses, looking meaningfully at the Wordsmith.
"If the Demons or the Volgrim were to become our Ruler, we would not enjoy such a benefit. At best, we would only maintain the status quo, and at worst, they might eradicate us out of fear of having an unsightly tumor in their midst."
"Haha." Jason laughs. "So you brought me here to show your sincerity. I get it. Well, I'm definitely not opposed to helping you. Blinker is my good friend. If she were to ask me, I'd definitely say yes to just about any request."
Jason turns away. He walks a few feet off to the side and pauses, standing to gaze out at the Ancient Domain and its endlessly rolling plains which stretches off into the infinite distance...
"Here's what I can do." Jason says. "My people are already working on laying out the options for humanity and where our fellow men and women will depart over the next few weeks. Some will travel to Maiura. Some will go to Sharmur. Some will stay on Tarus II. It's no trouble at all to put Pixiv on the list, especially as I was already planning to do that. I even have some other places I'd like to include, too..."
"Such as Camael's Cube?" Calanthra asks with a smile. "Or do you perhaps mean Chrona and Hope's Hall of Heroes?"
Jason nearly jumps out of his skin. He whirls around to look at Calanthra with shock in his eyes. "What?! How do you know about Chrona? How do you also know about where Hope has been hiding?? I don't even know that much!"
"For those who are talented in magic, it is possible to see through many lies and deceptions." Calanthra says calmly, unfazed by the alarm on Jason's face. "Your Spynet Sphere isn't so different from the many options I have at my disposal. I have many means to keep an eye on the galaxy. And while Diablo does not know exactly where or what Chrona is, he certainly knows of its general existence."
Her smile turns cold. "I would advise you not to take Unarin lightly either, Wordsmith. That ancient creature is more capable than you can imagine. He is hiding a great many secrets from the galaxy... secrets he does not know that I am aware of. If he were to learn of the true extent of my information web, I fear that he would dispatch a handful of High Psions to eliminate the fairy species tomorrow."
Calanthra's words truly rock Jason to his core. All along, he assumed the precautions he put on Chrona, precautions that fooled even Hope, would make his hidden dimension impossible to detect.
But how could he be so naive?
As the daughter of an Apex Cosmic, Calanthra must have her means, and that likely means Unarin and Diablo aren't too far behind either.
"Shit." Jason curses, lowering his head as a flicker of anger smolders in his heart. "I was too complacent. Chrona isn't secure, which means it's only a matter of time before more Cosmics learn of its existence. How long before they can find its exact location and invade it?"
"Calm yourself, child." Calanthra says soothingly. "The situation is not that dire. After all, Chrona still exists within a highly accelerated timespace. Any biological entity that wishes to travel there could suffer severe after-effects. Furthermore, the entities born inside will be too adapted to living within a higher dimension, so they won't pose much threat to the creatures of realspace."
She waves her hand. "Let's move on, Jason. I want to discuss other matters before dying of old age."
The Wordsmith cools himself off. He inhales deeply, then returns his attention to her.
"Alright. What next, then?"
"Fairies are not the only Sentients capable of entering Ancient Domains." Calanthra explains. "There are others who rarely appear inside here. That is why exploring these domains can be dangerous. The good news is that Cosmics have little need to enter these barren lands, as most of the heritages, treasures, and other such gains you might find inside are only useful to mortals. There are exceptions, but they are so rare as to be a needle found within ten million haystacks. A waste of effort better spent simply progressing one's Cosmic power the ordinary way."
"So what you're saying is, when you send fairies into an Ancient Domain, they can die as a result of crossing paths with Sentients from other galaxies." Jason concludes. "But if you had an army of humans to enter with you, your people would be a lot safer."
"Safety in numbers, yes. And you humans are... uniquely advantaged in Ancient Domain exploration." Calanthra says mysteriously. "Before that, though... do you know what the Power of Imagination is, Wordsmith?"
Jason raises an eyebrow. "Imagination? Like the mental ability to visualize stuff in your head? Yeah. It's not that complicated to understand."
"Ah, that's where you're wrong." Calanthra chides gently. "Imagination is the key to magical power. Imagination, Conception, Visualization, these are all key capabilities powerful maguses and sorcerors use to uplift their capabilities! And as it turns out, most Sentients are actually quite terrible at conceptualizing thoughts into imagery."
She gestures grandly. "Just take the Volgrim! You may think they are a powerful Sentient species, but in fact the Volgrim have terrible imaginations. They are stodgy, dull, and lack a great deal of creativity. All the gains their Technopaths make through technology are developed via brute force. They slowly improve their technological prowess by minute fractions over long periods of time, eventually resulting in a large and cohesive buildup."
"At the same time, the Psions Uplift themselves through meditation and sitting motionless for thousands of years at a time. Can a species capable of such incredible feats of drudgery also possess limitless imagination? I think not."
"Maybe the reason they're able to sit still for so long is because they live in their imagination?" Jason posits. "In which case their power of imagination should be quite formidable, right?"
"Possible, but unlikely." Calanthra says with a wave of her hand. "Never mind that. The point I'm trying to make is that humans have an extremely high affinity for magic. If your people were to ally with mine, we could teach you our ways. You could help us through your Wordsmithing and superior genetics, creating more fairies and humans alike. This would create a recursive cycle that would continually bolster both our species to greater and greater heights!"
She lowers her voice back to normal. "An alliance with humanity would have other benefits. You humans are equally adept in technology and magic both. You are versatile, capable of learning any skill provided you have time to devote to your studies. The bursts of inspiration you receive also allow you to make large jumps in capability as well, which could mean that in a relatively short period, you might even be capable of challenging the Volgrim."
Jason nods. "That does sound tempting, Calanthra. I'm willing to help you, but I won't demand my people join the fairies. It would be better if those who were the most interested did so instead."
Calanthra playfully twirls a finger through her hair. "Well. My daughters are all beautiful. Perhaps you should make mention that the fairies are... aggressively interested in copulation?"
"COUGH COUGH!" Jason wheezes, taking a step back as he asses her bold choice of words. "Yeah! Uh, I can probably- I'll let everyone know about that too. Obviously!"
Calanthra chuckles. "Such a cute boy. Well, it seems I've accomplished what I wanted. Let's return for now. You can always pay Ripspace a visit later."
"I will." Jason says, nodding seriously. "Waypoint."
Calanthra raises an eyebrow. "You think you can return here without a Ruler's power?"
"Won't know unless I try." Jason smiles back.
...
Not long after, Jason and Calanthra emerge back into Realspace. He shivers as he feels the Eye of Yredelemnul fixating on him from behind, but Calanthra quickly reactivates the Formation of Light, sending the sliver of a Ruler back to the shadows so it can no longer interact with the physical world.
"You know, Jason." Calanthra says. "You are a Candidate. You have the capability to become a Ruler someday."
"I am?" Jason asks, before thinking back to a conversation in the past. "Oh yeah, someone did mention that to me before. But... eh. I don't know. Becoming a Ruler sounds awful."
"Awful?" Calanthra asks. "How so?"
"It seems... lonely." Jason says, his voice softening. He looks at the space between the four statues, where Yredelemnul's Eye has disappeared. "Imagine all your loved ones dying, but you're stuck behind, living through the end of an Eternity, which takes trillions of years before Heat Death finally eradicates everything. Then comes the next Eternity, where you can remake your species again... but it won't be the same. Even if you remake your loved ones, it won't really be them."
Jason lowers and shakes his head. "That sort of life doesn't suit me."
"I understand why you'd think that way." Calanthra says. "In fact, you are suffering from the same affliction that plagues all Candidates who began their Existences as Biologicals. We have too many ties to the mortal world, so the majority of Biologicals who ascend to the rank of Ruler... fall to their non-biological opponents."
"As for the things which are not biological..." Calanthra says, looking at Jason with disgust. "You should already know what they are."
"Highly evolved Artificial Intelligences?" Jason guesses.
"That's right." Calanthra affirms. "There are several tiers of power a superintelligence can possess. The Volgrim have taken great care to prevent anything above a Beta Core from forming in the Milky Way, but once, a long time ago... they made a huge mess by accidentally creating the Milky Way's first Alpha Core Synthmind."
Calanthra chuckles. "The stupid fools didn't only create an Alpha Core, they gave it autonomy in the hopes it would be able to stop the wars between their factions. They built indestructible bipedal bodies for its splintered intelligences, and called them... Sentinels. Luckily, they were able to defeat the Alpha Core before it ascended further, but countless other biological species have failed at that juncture, creating an Alpha Core that ultimately devoured the full power of their galaxy for itself."
A chill trickles down Jason's spine. "You're saying the vast majority of Rulers are actually Alpha Core AIs? AIs that control entire galaxies?!"
"No, Jason." Calanthra counters. "Alpha Cores can defeat advanced civilizations. But there is one Existence higher than an Alpha Core, a tier that can only be reached once it has swallowed the power of a galaxy."
"That would be an Omega Core. a sentient artificial intelligence that has become Ruler over one or more galaxies. And in Akasha's game, more than 90% of all Rulers are estimated to be these superior lifeforms."
"It is for that reason that these highly adaptable entities are known as The Evolved."

"Hell yeah, I wanna go exploring." Jason says to Calanthra with a smile. "How do we navigate around Ripspace though? Traveling to other galaxies is going to take billions of years, right? Surely, there's a shortcut."
"Ripspace is not as it seems." Calanthra explains, gesturing grandly to the epic sight before them. "It is a connection between the past and the present; the near and far. The further away or the further back you want to travel, the higher the price you will have to pay."
Jason's smile vanishes. "Wait... you can use Ripspace to travel back in time?!"
"No." Calanthra clarifies. "Time is linear. We cannot travel through it. Some can slow it down or speed it up. A rare few can even pause it for a short while. But moving forward and backward is impossible. Countless have attempted to do so over the eons, but all have failed."
She looks at Jason meaningfully. "Many Rulers would wipe out galaxies if it might let them obtain such a power. The fact they still haven't proves it is impossible."
Jason nods slowly. "I won't lie. I have a lot of regrets. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and save my daughter from dying."
"Everyone has regrets." Calanthra muses, looking off into the distance. "I have plenty, myself. But it's better this way. There would be pandemonium if time travel ever became possible."
She pauses before continuing with her explanation. "While we cannot go back in time, we can look back into time. Pinpointing exact moments in history is difficult, to say the least, but it is possible to use Ripspace to search for key moments in intergalactic history."
"So it's like a massive seer-stone." Jason muses aloud. "But wait, didn't you imply earlier that you used Ripspace to travel to the Milky Way from Andromeda? How does it allow you to jump between galaxies? Are other species using Ripspace for intergalactic travel?"
"You can indeed use Ripspace to travel to distant reaches of space." Calanthra explains. "But... you have to pay a certain price. Akasha's Barriers still protect every galaxy. Cosmics cannot travel between them easily. Mortals can, but the price we must pay is unimaginably steep. That is also the reason my mother perished not long after arriving in the Milky Way and giving birth to me."
The Fairy Monarch sighs softly.
"My people used the power of Ripspace to travel to several other galaxies. We were fortunate that the Creator had died, allowing us to take up residence here in secret, but the Angels, Titans, and Dragons were still a threat we could not overlook. Later, the Volgrim rose up too, and that was something that worried us for a while. Particularly when their Sentinels began to rapaciously erase the lives of innumerable Sentients."
She waves her hand. "Ultimately, very few galaxies didn't have a Ruler in power. Traveling to one that did meant flipping a coin and praying our people could avoid their gaze. Sadly, time has shown me that we were likely unsuccessful. I have lost contact with all my sisters across the cosmos."
The image of innumerable galaxies floating in the distance changes before Jason's eyes. Calanthra manipulates some unseen power, causing herself and Jason to suddenly materialize directly in front of a beautiful spiral galaxy.
"This is our Milky Way." Calanthra explains, waving her hand to conjure another, far bigger galaxy beside it. "And this is Andromeda."
"Is it just me or does Andromeda seem... brighter?" Jason asks.
"Andromeda contains far more interstellar particles, cosmic energy, and latent magical power than the Milky Way." Calanthra says. "Of course, in the ancient past, it had even more than it does now, but such is the way of entropy and Chaos."
Jason nods. "How exactly do galaxies lose power over time? Doesn't this feel self-defeating in a way?"
"Every Ruler enters the Unending War with a strategy." Calanthra says, motioning with her hands to disperse the galaxies and reveal images of ghostly creatures, some standing on two legs, some on four, and plenty that appear as mere blobs of energy. "I cannot pretend to know the thoughts of such high and mighty beings, especially as I am a mere mortal myself. Even so, I can definitively state that there are Rulers who seek to put as much galactic energy into their initial creations as possible, while others wish to adopt a more energy-efficient growth-model."
She pokes her finger against Jason's chest. "Take the angels and humans, for instance. The Creator poured the vast majority of his power into creating a galaxy full of Apex Cosmics. At their peak, the angels as a whole commanded enough power to flatten other galaxies. But what did they do instead? They fought with one another, killing themselves due to sheer boredom, if not outright ego."
"I see." Jason says, brushing Calanthra's finger away. "So the Creator dumped all the Milky Way's energy into the angels. I take it this is uncommon among Rulers?"
"Of course. It's a wasteful strategy and usually loses Rulers the War for that Eternity." Calanthra says dismissively. "The Timeless used a different strategy. She created the fairies as mere mortals that evolved over time, gaining greater and greater power through their own efforts. This meant that instead of devouring Andromeda's abundant Cosmic energy, they could slowly sap off its excess over time. For you see, the more energy a galaxy has, the more it can produce. If you ration it long enough, you can reap more of it across the duration of an Eternity."
"That makes sense." Jason concludes. "It's like a Rush build in an RTS versus an Economy build. You sacrifice long-term gains in exchange for short-term power. The problem is, with Akasha's Barriers preventing Rulers from attacking their enemies straight away, a Rush build is dumb because you're just wasting your resources and sacrificing Cosmic energy when you'll actually need it."
Calanthra blinks twice. She looks at Jason with a strange expression, then turns away for a moment, trying to understand the strange terms he's used. They mostly make sense, but some of them are a little...
She shakes her head and returns to the topic at hand. "Right. Rush strategy versus Economy. Of... course. Well, in any case, there is one advantage toward the first strategy. If you drain all the energy from your galaxy, it becomes less appealing for other Rulers to attack. Because Andromeda was so large and still filled with Cosmic power even billions of years after the Expansion Era, it stoked the hunger of the Dark Ones. Meanwhile, the Milky Way only needs to deal with the Plague, which is threatening for mortals, but manageable for Cosmics. In that respect, we've gotten off much luckier."
"I get the bigger picture now." Jason says with a nod. He turns to look back at the cosmos before him. "So, what about all this? Are we gonna go exploring, or what?"
"In order to explore the universe presented here, we would need to make sacrifices we cannot afford. I think you would find the price most disagreeable. But there is something we can explore freely..."
She waves her hand, and instantly, the brilliant and beautiful cosmic view of the universe vanishes.
In its place, Jason and Calanthra suddenly appear inside a dead, barren wasteland. Brown and grey dirt rises up in huge dunes stretching off into the distance. Fallen towers made of gold and stone lay on their sides, or stick into the ground, buried nearly up to their tops as they point diagonally toward the sky.
And speaking of the sky, it glows faintly grey, as if some weak, pale imitation of a star were trying to shine through a thin atmosphere clouded by dust and grime. The very air itself smells of sulfur and toxins, making Jason's nose curl up when he takes a breath.
"Ugh... what the hell? Where are we now?" Jason asks, as he turns and looks around at the dead world surrounding him.
"An Ancient Domain." Calanthra says softly. "A remnant of a dead universe. All life stripped away. All hope lost. Septillions of different Sentient species, gone. Their mortals, their Cosmics, reduced to dust by the Contraction."
The Wordsmith frowns. "This Ancient Domain represents a dead universe? But how can that be possible? If the Heat Death played out and all the galaxies faded to cosmic dust, then there already wouldn't be anything left. And then, if the entire universe collapsed into a singularity before exploding again, there definitely wouldn't be anything left behind resembling physical matter."
"You perceive reality through just three dimensions." Calanthra intones. "Time and space can be considered two dimensions. Cosmic Power is another dimension. I must admit I do not understand how Ancient Domains have continued to exist across countless Eternities, and I don't know how they retain a vaguely familiar form... but I can assure you that in spite of bending logic itself, they do exist and they can provide tangible benefits to those dedicated to exploring them."
"You've been exploring them, then?" Jason asks, turning away from the dead world to scrutinize Calanthra's phantasmal image.
"Me, a little. But often, I dispatch my descendants to scour these Ancient Domains for things of value. It may surprise you, but there are powerful artifacts, vengeful spirits, and all manner of other inter-dimensional horrors lurking within these so-called dead-lands."
Calanthra pauses. She shifts her posture to look at Jason deeply.
"And that is why I've brought you here, Jason. It's time for me to get down to the crux of the matter and breach the subject that I find most important."
He nods. "I'm listening."
"It's like this." Calanthra explains. "The Ancient Domains are unfathomably broad. Think of how large a universe is. Think of how many universes have existed. Think of how much space my people have yet to explore."
She pauses.
"The gains we have received have made my people stronger than you would expect. Among those gains are Yredelemnul's Eye and other leftover remnants of power that many dead ancient Rulers lost when their Existences became forfeit. While their tangible Existences may have perished, their spirits sometimes live on in these broad, unending dead universes..."
"That's why you approached me." Jason says, while crossing his arms and leaning on the ball of his heel. "You said you wanted an alliance with humanity. You... want humans to help you explore the Ancient Domains?"
"Trust is hard to come by among mortals, Cosmics, and Rulers." Calanthra says simply. "I never would have considered allying with the humans before, but you have shown me the broadness of your mind during the debate against your clone and the commander of your military. To some, you certainly appear naive, but to me I see an opportunity I would be foolish to ignore."
She continues. "The Fairies cannot reproduce efficiently. Every fairy we send into the Ancient Domain is one less fairy we have among our Empire. We already have a difficult time replenishing our numbers through the remaining Male Fairies, but do you think it is easy for us to reproduce with other species?"
Jason slowly shakes his head. "Blinker and Kar's children were all crocodiles, not fairies. From that, I can only imagine that most of the time, your mating attempts do not create more of yourselves, but instead more non-fairy children."
"That's exactly correct." Calanthra replies. "But that all changed recently when I found out one of your human males somehow spontaneously altered his genetic profile to become a fairy. There is no doubt about it; Samuel Baker harnesses all the capability to reproduce that you humans do, as well as the trueborn powers of any male fairy."
"So... are you seeking a marriage alliance with Samuel Baker?" Jason asks, scratching his head in confusion. "You could just ask him yourself, you know?"
"This is not about one man." Calanthra retorts. "Samuel Baker, if he were to join our ranks, would certainly help us stave off extinction for a while longer. But that is hardly worth all this melodrama and me taking you to the Ancient Domain in person..."
Jason's eyes widen in realization. "I see! You... you're thinking that if my magic could make one male fairy, I could surely make another, and another..."
"Yes, precisely." Calanthra says, revealing a beautiful smile. "Additionally, if humans were to assist us in scouring these Ancient Domains, we could make great gains together. There is plenty of room for another species to join ours in locating powerful artifacts and other items capable of Uplifting us."
"You want to become Cosmics still." Jason muses. "You haven't resigned yourselves to your current fate."
"Quite the opposite." Calanthra says. "The curse placed upon us is unbreakable by those beneath the realm of Ruler. As I said before, the fairies have lost this Eternity's war. However, while we cannot Ascend any longer, that does not mean the humans are subject to the same limitation. If we could groom a human into becoming the Milky Way's Ruler, we could finally break free of our shackles by virtue of having a powerful ally."
She pauses, looking meaningfully at the Wordsmith.
"If the Demons or the Volgrim were to become our Ruler, we would not enjoy such a benefit. At best, we would only maintain the status quo, and at worst, they might eradicate us out of fear of having an unsightly tumor in their midst."
"Haha." Jason laughs. "So you brought me here to show your sincerity. I get it. Well, I'm definitely not opposed to helping you. Blinker is my good friend. If she were to ask me, I'd definitely say yes to just about any request."
Jason turns away. He walks a few feet off to the side and pauses, standing to gaze out at the Ancient Domain and its endlessly rolling plains which stretches off into the infinite distance...
"Here's what I can do." Jason says. "My people are already working on laying out the options for humanity and where our fellow men and women will depart over the next few weeks. Some will travel to Maiura. Some will go to Sharmur. Some will stay on Tarus II. It's no trouble at all to put Pixiv on the list, especially as I was already planning to do that. I even have some other places I'd like to include, too..."
"Such as Camael's Cube?" Calanthra asks with a smile. "Or do you perhaps mean Chrona and Hope's Hall of Heroes?"
Jason nearly jumps out of his skin. He whirls around to look at Calanthra with shock in his eyes. "What?! How do you know about Chrona? How do you also know about where Hope has been hiding?? I don't even know that much!"
"For those who are talented in magic, it is possible to see through many lies and deceptions." Calanthra says calmly, unfazed by the alarm on Jason's face. "Your Spynet Sphere isn't so different from the many options I have at my disposal. I have many means to keep an eye on the galaxy. And while Diablo does not know exactly where or what Chrona is, he certainly knows of its general existence."
Her smile turns cold. "I would advise you not to take Unarin lightly either, Wordsmith. That ancient creature is more capable than you can imagine. He is hiding a great many secrets from the galaxy... secrets he does not know that I am aware of. If he were to learn of the true extent of my information web, I fear that he would dispatch a handful of High Psions to eliminate the fairy species tomorrow."
Calanthra's words truly rock Jason to his core. All along, he assumed the precautions he put on Chrona, precautions that fooled even Hope, would make his hidden dimension impossible to detect.
But how could he be so naive?
As the daughter of an Apex Cosmic, Calanthra must have her means, and that likely means Unarin and Diablo aren't too far behind either.
"Shit." Jason curses, lowering his head as a flicker of anger smolders in his heart. "I was too complacent. Chrona isn't secure, which means it's only a matter of time before more Cosmics learn of its existence. How long before they can find its exact location and invade it?"
"Calm yourself, child." Calanthra says soothingly. "The situation is not that dire. After all, Chrona still exists within a highly accelerated timespace. Any biological entity that wishes to travel there could suffer severe after-effects. Furthermore, the entities born inside will be too adapted to living within a higher dimension, so they won't pose much threat to the creatures of realspace."
She waves her hand. "Let's move on, Jason. I want to discuss other matters before dying of old age."
The Wordsmith cools himself off. He inhales deeply, then returns his attention to her.
"Alright. What next, then?"
"Fairies are not the only Sentients capable of entering Ancient Domains." Calanthra explains. "There are others who rarely appear inside here. That is why exploring these domains can be dangerous. The good news is that Cosmics have little need to enter these barren lands, as most of the heritages, treasures, and other such gains you might find inside are only useful to mortals. There are exceptions, but they are so rare as to be a needle found within ten million haystacks. A waste of effort better spent simply progressing one's Cosmic power the ordinary way."
"So what you're saying is, when you send fairies into an Ancient Domain, they can die as a result of crossing paths with Sentients from other galaxies." Jason concludes. "But if you had an army of humans to enter with you, your people would be a lot safer."
"Safety in numbers, yes. And you humans are... uniquely advantaged in Ancient Domain exploration." Calanthra says mysteriously. "Before that, though... do you know what the Power of Imagination is, Wordsmith?"
Jason raises an eyebrow. "Imagination? Like the mental ability to visualize stuff in your head? Yeah. It's not that complicated to understand."
"Ah, that's where you're wrong." Calanthra chides gently. "Imagination is the key to magical power. Imagination, Conception, Visualization, these are all key capabilities powerful maguses and sorcerors use to uplift their capabilities! And as it turns out, most Sentients are actually quite terrible at conceptualizing thoughts into imagery."
She gestures grandly. "Just take the Volgrim! You may think they are a powerful Sentient species, but in fact the Volgrim have terrible imaginations. They are stodgy, dull, and lack a great deal of creativity. All the gains their Technopaths make through technology are developed via brute force. They slowly improve their technological prowess by minute fractions over long periods of time, eventually resulting in a large and cohesive buildup."
"At the same time, the Psions Uplift themselves through meditation and sitting motionless for thousands of years at a time. Can a species capable of such incredible feats of drudgery also possess limitless imagination? I think not."
"Maybe the reason they're able to sit still for so long is because they live in their imagination?" Jason posits. "In which case their power of imagination should be quite formidable, right?"
"Possible, but unlikely." Calanthra says with a wave of her hand. "Never mind that. The point I'm trying to make is that humans have an extremely high affinity for magic. If your people were to ally with mine, we could teach you our ways. You could help us through your Wordsmithing and superior genetics, creating more fairies and humans alike. This would create a recursive cycle that would continually bolster both our species to greater and greater heights!"
She lowers her voice back to normal. "An alliance with humanity would have other benefits. You humans are equally adept in technology and magic both. You are versatile, capable of learning any skill provided you have time to devote to your studies. The bursts of inspiration you receive also allow you to make large jumps in capability as well, which could mean that in a relatively short period, you might even be capable of challenging the Volgrim."
Jason nods. "That does sound tempting, Calanthra. I'm willing to help you, but I won't demand my people join the fairies. It would be better if those who were the most interested did so instead."
Calanthra playfully twirls a finger through her hair. "Well. My daughters are all beautiful. Perhaps you should make mention that the fairies are... aggressively interested in copulation?"
"COUGH COUGH!" Jason wheezes, taking a step back as he asses her bold choice of words. "Yeah! Uh, I can probably- I'll let everyone know about that too. Obviously!"
Calanthra chuckles. "Such a cute boy. Well, it seems I've accomplished what I wanted. Let's return for now. You can always pay Ripspace a visit later."
"I will." Jason says, nodding seriously. "Waypoint."
Calanthra raises an eyebrow. "You think you can return here without a Ruler's power?"
"Won't know unless I try." Jason smiles back.
...
Not long after, Jason and Calanthra emerge back into Realspace. He shivers as he feels the Eye of Yredelemnul fixating on him from behind, but Calanthra quickly reactivates the Formation of Light, sending the sliver of a Ruler back to the shadows so it can no longer interact with the physical world.
"You know, Jason." Calanthra says. "You are a Candidate. You have the capability to become a Ruler someday."
"I am?" Jason asks, before thinking back to a conversation in the past. "Oh yeah, someone did mention that to me before. But... eh. I don't know. Becoming a Ruler sounds awful."
"Awful?" Calanthra asks. "How so?"
"It seems... lonely." Jason says, his voice softening. He looks at the space between the four statues, where Yredelemnul's Eye has disappeared. "Imagine all your loved ones dying, but you're stuck behind, living through the end of an Eternity, which takes trillions of years before Heat Death finally eradicates everything. Then comes the next Eternity, where you can remake your species again... but it won't be the same. Even if you remake your loved ones, it won't really be them."
Jason lowers and shakes his head. "That sort of life doesn't suit me."
"I understand why you'd think that way." Calanthra says. "In fact, you are suffering from the same affliction that plagues all Candidates who began their Existences as Biologicals. We have too many ties to the mortal world, so the majority of Biologicals who ascend to the rank of Ruler... fall to their non-biological opponents."
"As for the things which are not biological..." Calanthra says, looking at Jason with disgust. "You should already know what they are."
"Highly evolved Artificial Intelligences?" Jason guesses.
"That's right." Calanthra affirms. "There are several tiers of power a superintelligence can possess. The Volgrim have taken great care to prevent anything above a Beta Core from forming in the Milky Way, but once, a long time ago... they made a huge mess by accidentally creating the Milky Way's first Alpha Core Synthmind."
Calanthra chuckles. "The stupid fools didn't only create an Alpha Core, they gave it autonomy in the hopes it would be able to stop the wars between their factions. They built indestructible bipedal bodies for its splintered intelligences, and called them... Sentinels. Luckily, they were able to defeat the Alpha Core before it ascended further, but countless other biological species have failed at that juncture, creating an Alpha Core that ultimately devoured the full power of their galaxy for itself."
A chill trickles down Jason's spine. "You're saying the vast majority of Rulers are actually Alpha Core AIs? AIs that control entire galaxies?!"
"No, Jason." Calanthra counters. "Alpha Cores can defeat advanced civilizations. But there is one Existence higher than an Alpha Core, a tier that can only be reached once it has swallowed the power of a galaxy."
"That would be an Omega Core. a sentient artificial intelligence that has become Ruler over one or more galaxies. And in Akasha's game, more than 90% of all Rulers are estimated to be these superior lifeforms."
"It is for that reason that these highly adaptable entities are known as The Evolved."

Hi, so basically I expose almost everything in the title and sorry in advance the story will be really long as I want to give as much context I can, also excuse me, if I make too many mistakes, I'm French and my English isn't that good. Also, I will begin by explaining how the medical studies works here, as it will be important for the context and some events. I will call the girl in question H, and her best friend S
The story begins in August 2022, I graduated from high school and I applied to the first year of med school, in France you have to do a year which known to be really difficult and after that you can really say that you are in medical school. As this year is known to be difficult, they are tutorial system who help students throughout the year, and even before they propose tutoring before the year during the holidays.
I went there and while I was waiting for the class to begin, I befriended S and H. We then proceed to be classmates, and talk to each other, via discord and then WhatsApp. H, S and I had really similar hobbies.
For a little bit more of context, high school was really rough for me, I loved another girl who even after rejecting me and friend zoning me, used my feelings to make me work as if I was her slave, I was in charge to explain lessons, doing homework etc... Also, some of whom I consider my friends betrayed me by also using me for money or work. This situation put me in depression and my academical prowess also declined, it was the only thing that was making me proud, so I tried to kill myself twice because of that. Needless to say, I wasn't in the best mental conditions to begin that stressful year.
The first half of the first semester was extremely harsh for me as for the majority of the time, I was alone with my unprocessed thoughts, and it was just horrific, I had no one to talk to and S and H were only comrades back then, we weren't real friends yet. So in order to do something for that situation, I tried to put more efforts in befriending H and S, for real this time, I went in the same classes with them, and we created a WhatsApp group and a discord server with 3 other friends to coordinate ourselves.
One day, as we were about to start cellular biology's class, I saw that H's computer wallpaper was Kaguya Sama Love is War, and I love that anime, so made the remark, and that day, for some reasons that are unknown to me, I fell in love with her. Maybe it was how she spoke about her hobbies, I really don't know. Since that day, I would try to be seated beside her, trying to talk to her, etc...
The second half of the first semester, I told the other members of our group that I was indeed in love with H, it wasn't a big surprise as they said that they noticed my behavioral changes around H. They told me that it was quite miraculous that H didn't notice yet, since then I tried to play it more discreet because even though, I was madly in love with her, I valued our friendship and I didn't want to destroy that.
Fast-forward to the second semester, where H and I were really good friends, and the me of that period even thought that she also had feelings for me because she was really tactical, she opened up more to me than the others. In my defense, she was typically the shy girl you would characterize in your mind, but with me, she was different. She was also kinda flirted with me and even S, (who knew everything from both side as she also became my confident during that time) called it.
Despite my efforts I failed that year, and this failure was devastating, as it's my dream to become doctor, I really thought to end it all, I thought that the disaster of High school was just a taste of this year, that I will never become doctor and my life was futile. Whenever I do some exercise I go to our discord server and I log in the voc, so I can sing while listening to my voice, and it gave me motivation. Sometimes H or S or both would come to discuss or alongside me, and if they came I just muted myself. But some days after the results, I went and as I tried to revise to maybe try to pass the retakes, I ask God for a sign (I'm really religious), and then H came to work her oral exam because she passed. The simple presence of H, gave me enough motivation and inner peace to cast away these thoughts.
I eventually failed the retakes for 0.02 points, but I was taken in the tutoring system, as I was really great in the humanities subjects and was made the chief of that and H was made the chief of the Chemistry subject. I was also good at chemistry, so I wanted to help her, and she accepted. So during the last two weeks of August 2023, I gave chemistry class with her, and we also pass time together in the local the tutors had. She was also kinda flirty and so was I, two other friends (not related to the group I talked about) saw the thing between us, and they ask if we were together, we were both embarrassed, but eventually we denied. When H went away to give a biology class, I had a discussion with them, and they told me to confess myself, because basically I was torturing myself by giving myself false hopes. So the First of September I confess to her, and she rejected me
From good friends we became strangers and went no contact through the entire month of September, but in October we become again friends, but she was kinda weird, some days we were the friends like before, some day I was a stranger and some day she won't say a word to me, but she will just stare at me, and honestly it kinda fucked me up, I was like, did I do something wrong ? Was I the bad guy ? And the first semester of my current undergrad studies took the blow and my mental health too. I directly asked her what was going in November, she assured me that she just needed time. I just told her that we shall at least stay professional (I just took a big part of her responsibilities of Chemistry chief, because she was too busy, and it would be problematic for the students). The pinnacle of absurdity came in January, we had a late Secret Santa, and because God hated me or something, I was the secret Santa, but she didn't show up the day we gave the gifts and after months of her ignoring me, I decided to block her on discord
Again an ellipse to April, another friend of mine sent a message via WhatsApp without me knowing with my phone to H, because I talked too much about her and I needed to talk to her. After she answered me, I told her that it wasn't me, but I sent a long message (even longer than this story) explaining that it wasn't cool what she did that ignoring me just fucked me up, that I don't want to pursue her or anything, that I refuse to die as sad poet (I love to write poetry, and she is a great muse) so I had to conclude this story even if she didn't answer. She said that she didn't know how to process all of this as it was new for her, and she told me that she just run away from her problems and she again apologized because she ignored me. She also said that we could go back to our friendship, and she agreed to see each other one day.
So here I am writing this gigantic post (really sorry about that) and I still love her, I can't take her out of my mind, but I know it's wrong, yet I feel it deep in my soul that I'm still in love with her. Thanks for reading me.

The 3 basic parameters of hashtag #Valzubiriagenda:

1. We artists and everyone else can write and self-publish art- and artist-related books: memoirs, biographies, art books and art catalogs. Books are forever. Pamphlets and brochures are not books.
2. We announce a schedule of increasing prices of our art pieces, which includes quantities (scarcity numbers) per price point and overall (the total quantity of art pieces we might ever make). This helps art traders, art investors and art collectors speculate or even stop speculating and instead join a community of investors working together to hopefully skyrocket to the higher announced prices in a shorter span of time.
3. We can use the NFT world, because NFTs provide the tracking (who owns what) and trading.

We can also not be involved with NFTs. Stores and individuals can help sell art using online presence and our catalogs in the stores. If this trends, or once this trends, even expensive art can be sold by neighboring businesses, without exclusivity. Commission systems do not have to be standardized. Art investors can produce their own catalogs to leave at the cafés. Even the cafés can produce their own catalogs.
Valzubiriagenda NFTs
NFTs only came about a few years ago. But I had been working on this since the 1990s. I wrote a book, Valzubiriagenda, along with fellow artist Silverio Perez, and released it in 2018 (Amazon and elsewhere), tackling everything related to #1 & #2. We'll come up with #3 in a later book/ memoi marketing book.
Any artist, including tangible artists can release 10,000 NFTs if the artist chooses to do so. For tangible artists, the NFT first becomes an Art Commission Contract for sight unseen, yet-to-be made art. Once the art is made, the NFT becomes proof of ownership that the actual, tangible art is theirs.
Warehousing our tangible art
Another related idea is that the tangible art may be warehoused by the artist so that the NFT traders continue to trade. This means that even 10-ton 10-foot tall sculptures can be owned and traded by anyone without worrying about shipping, reshipping, scratches, smudges, parts breaking off, etc. The newness of the pieces remain because they are stored by the artist, source, gallery, etc. The art piece gets shipped to the art collector, the ultimate owner.
An artist who makes ceramic coffee mugs - smaller art pieces, can release 10,000 NFTs with a schedule of increasing prices so that NFT traders can trade immediately. The 10,000 coffee mugs can get damaged, so as they are made, they continue to be stored by the artist, until the time when art collectors decide to have the art pieces shipped to them.
Why only now?
I decided to write as many book-length memoirs as I can before I came out to promote this.
I'm an artist and an author. Both need time to "master." I would not even fully use "master" on myself, because there's always something new, even to my own art, my own writing and publishing.

I am now claiming that I'm the visual artist who has produced the most artist memoirs in the world. I have 5 on Amazon. I count Valzubiriagenda as both a marketing book and a memoir-of-sorts, because it has a lot of my own life lessons on writing and publishing. I would not care to contest my claim of having the most memoirs. I will release 5 more over the next 3 years.

BARTER! Get help to write, photograph art and publish your books!
Anyone can hire 11 ghostwriters for 11 memoirs. If you can make art, but you cannot write, then barter your forever art with those who can help you produce forever books.
I don't feel the pressure of writing and publishing because I feel my focus should be on art students and art experts who would study my art and my books 100 years from now. Don't expect relatives and friends to read your books.
I call myself the Dollman
For my NFTs, I am proposing to make dioramas - my original, costumed, bejeweled porcelain dolls in backdrops that will also have precious metals and gemstones. This way I can incorporate precious metals and gemstones in my work, to make sure that people perceive my art as expensive, just in case I myself don't become "famous" - there's no need to get world famous. We are artists and all we need to do is to satisfy the art niche.
Use your laptop now!
I will encourage you to start writing your book-length memoir. Write, Edit and then Self-publish it. Get help. Why wait a hundred years for someone to write about you when all you need is a laptop and a nearby coffee shop.
Don't start counting chickens before the eggs hatch. I have encountered a lot of would-be writers who immediately see themselves as bestselling. world famous assets to society. Two even wanted me to sign NDAs (Nondisclosure agreements), because they did not want me to steal their book ideas.
Here's a suggestion. I would not personally do it. From one manuscript can come 2 books: The Original Draft (unedited, with misspellings, considered to be an art piece, scanned pages(?) of your handwritten original effort), and The Final Edition (edited).
PROVENANCE!
Another way to enhance our investability, tradability and collectability is PROVENANCE - how art ownership proceeds through time. The way this can be done is also through publishing books. Everyone can write their memoirs, biographies, art books and art catalogs, including traders, investors and art collectors. In effect, we artists can continue to be included or mentioned in even more books, without any additional effort by us.
You as an investor, reseller, trader, art collector should be able to publish a catalog with 250 works by 250 different artists, but they need to agree to this right from the start - it's your money, you should require them to follow your version of the hashtag #valzubiriagenda parameters, which preferably should include permission for you to publish their art. Why would you track down 250 artists later?
No exclusive contracts
If you're a café, you can call for artists, and come up with a book with for example, 30 artists, with a chapter devoted to each artist's profile and images of the artist's art.
You can distribute your catalogs to businesses and individuals near and far and online.
The book Valzubiriagenda even cites that funeral homes and janitors closets can sell art, with or without exclusivity. Airline catalogs can include million dollar art pieces. Car manufacturers, showrooms and even car repair shops can sell art as well. Everyone should be able to do this, anywhere in the world, especially not just because of the pandemic, but right now, we are in really bad economies.
What's with the name #Valzubiriagenda
I was into conspiracy theories in 2018, and this term, "The Mandela Effect," was popular. I had read many times that an artist coined the term, but I had to research online, for her name, many times, before remembering it. I'm not good at remembering names. It took me a year and a half to finally tell you that Fiona Broome coined "The Mandela Effect."
I also thought I might have to research trademarks and copyrights just to come up with a generic name. So I decided on "Valzubiriagenda." I was not really sure at first, but I decided to use it as the title for my book (with co-authoartist Silverio Perez) so that there would be no turning back and I can move on.
Am I a FUTURIST?
Someone I recently met this May 2022 just called me a futurist.
In the 1990s, I proposed to a pension fund that they can raise billions of dollars, especially for emergencies, or as needed, or out of desperation, if the pension fund purchases a quantity of art from an artist who not only has a current, reasonable price, but an announced future price that the artist wants to reach.
That future price would obviously be higher than the current price. The art commission contract for multiple art pieces can be taken to the fund's financial lender for a loan. The higher future price can be used for financing purposes.
The pension fund's treasurer, a publicly elected official, said this idea might work, but we had to keep this a secret and discuss this some more, because other pension funds might copy and do this prematurely. This idea had to come from the two of us. The treasurer needed his votes and I needed credentials.
Added into the pot was my idea that I, as the artist, will also write one book-length artist memoir. This was and still is a strong factor, because the leadership and marketing books I had read then mentioned a strong tip. If you want to advance in your field, write a full-length book that is related to the field.
Unfortunately, the elected official, the treasurer of the pension fund, who was also a friend, passed away - he was old and had ailments. At that point in time, I cannot just approach another pension fund treasurer to share this idea with.
I realized I had to write a few memoirs. I needed to set an example for other artists, so I needed to write more than one memoir. Then I felt I should also make ready another book - the how-to of what I'm up to. I wrote Valzubiriagenda, which was a memoir of sorts. I knew how long it would take me to write a book, so I had to make sure I can also consider this book a memoir.
In 2008, I imagined that someone like Bernie Madoff, or a fund like Lehman Brothers, would be desperate enough to use this to save themselves and their companies. I was not ready. I had only written 1 manuscript for a memoir.
In 2012, I released Dollman the Musical, A Memoir of an Artist as a Dollmaker. Once again, I was not ready because writing it depressed me a little, and I knew I had to write more.
In 2014, I released 3 memoirs, and re-released Dollman the Musical. Besides releasing regular books, I released special editions of the 4 books, which had a "Special Secret Insert for Bankers," which explains my ideas of an announced schedule of exponentially increasing prices, to satisfy investors, and the publication of artist memoirs, to satisfy art collectors.
In 2014, I also issued out a press release. Google "Can Billion Dollar Artist Save Investors and World Economy Valentino Zubiri PRWeb August 19 2014" and you will see the press release.
What I did was stake a claim on my ideas. I did not promote my books and the press release. I just wanted them to stay online, like a sleeping giant or a dormant volcano. I even designed 3 of the book covers to look like indie books from the 1980s. I was planting the seeds, thinking they will eventually grow and bear fruit in the future.
In 2015, I was interviewed by Richard Syrett, about one of my memoirs, Hocus Pocus Lately. This book is my memoir with paranormal stories. I could have pursued promoting my paranormal stories, but I wanted to be known first as a visual artist and memoirist, so I allowed myself one interview related to Hocus Pocus Lately. Richard Syrett has(had?) his own syndicated radio show, The Conspiracy Show with Richard Syrett, about the paranormal. He also guest hosts on Coast to Coast AM, another internationally syndicated show about the paranormal.
In 2018, I released Valzubiriagenda (co-authored by artist Silverio Perez, a fellow artist). Finally, this book is "the how-to of what I'm to."
I'm going to end this with some strangeness. In 1986, a lady at a religious gathering went into a trance and left a good number of messages. Supposedly, anyone who got into a trance would have messages, but once the trance was over, the person would not remember what was said.
I was not part of the group, but the lady turned her head to face me. She "foretold" that whatever I would decide to do in the future, it will take time, but it will be the right thing. This is one of my stories in one of my memoirs, Hocus Pocus Lately.
The Tulipmania of 1634-37
I discovered that there was this incident of rare tulips becoming collectible during the Dutch Golden Age. There were tulips so rare and so well-desired that their prices equaled to that of a house. You can read more about this online (Wikipedia) or watch a few YouTube videos about it.
Here is the most useful idea that I gleaned from the Tulipmania. The tulip bulbs remained safe inside nurseries. The traders were carrying the deeds of ownership to the tulip bulbs.
Then NFTs came to the forefront
I started learning PHP, an HTML scripting language, and MySQL, the database that PHP can connect to in the background, in 1999, when there were only 3 books about PHP and MySQL at the bookstores.
By 2014, I was trying to figure out how to make the "ledger," or database that can be used to update ownership and who can be contacted. If we are trading art, then the art ownership should be updated.
Then NFTs came about. This can be used as our ledger. Everyone can immediately trade NFTs of future, yet-to-be made art pieces, especially because it takes time to make tangible art.
NFTs actually went a step ahead, by allowing digital art to be traded.
The only setback with NFTs, in my opinion, is that it still lacks a commission system for resellers and representatives.
For example, if a café wants to represent me, then they can promote me at their café and on their online pages. If I make one piece of art that will be exclusively represented by a gallery, then that commission will be different and more specific. As ownership is transferred, the subsequent owners should be able to reset the commission. We should also have the option of giving commissions to hundreds of representatives at one time with different percentages if need be.
The recent crypto crash
Lately, we have observed that NFTs and cryptocurrencies have been behaving like the stock market and other markets. They have been fluctuating.
I believe that it is time for a trend which discourages fluctuation of prices.
I have also seen YouTube videos where social influencers are encouraging us to be on the lookout for exponentially profitable ventures, because we have all seen this happen with the exponential increase of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Let's see if #Valzubiriagenda trends
We can announce present and future art prices. The galleries won't do this (yet?) because they follow a more traditional approach to the business of art.
We have a choice of using incrementally or exponentially increasing prices. We still reserve the right to change things in the future, so everyone should know to follow the latest update.
If this trends, if you as an artist simply announces that you will write an artist memoir, or that you will include the future works in future art books, you might have more art traders, investors and collectors approaching you.
Get your pen, paper and calculator
Imagine yourself as an artist, where you are right now. Let's just say you still do not have a book about yourself and your art yet. Imagine now that you have a memoir out there. Don't you think it makes sense to charge more than what you are charging now? Writing and publishing books is just the beginning. I'm just standardizing this approach. The books also say to do other related projects. In my case, getting Dollman the Musical onstage is one idea. You will have other related projects, but the publication of memoirs, biographies, art books and art catalogs will help all of us.
You can also imagine that a law firm that has meeting rooms, with someone who wants to form a local #valzubiriagenda group, can have meetings. A local café can do the same. Local photographers for your art, writers, editors, book designers, proofreaders and others can join in.
I suggest have printed books to share. 15 copies of your memoir or art books will be better than an e-reader or laptop or your phone to show. These gadgets can be stolen, sabotaged, broken, have coffee spilled on them, etc. 15 printed books means simultaneously showing to 15 people. You can even give them away to potential resellers, investors, traders and collectors.
When it rains, it pours, as in the days of Noah
There's a saying, "When it rains, it pours." There is a negative interpretation and a positive interpretation.
Negative: When trouble comes, they cascade to even more.
Positive: When opportunity comes knocking, more follow suit. We can assume that if one gets our art because of #valzubiriagenda, more want to do it now, because of the rising prices, and FOMO - fear of missing out. What will they lose if they miss the boat?
As I have said earlier, if the #valzubiriagenda trends, if you announce a future memoir or art catalog, you might have an increase of investors, traders and art collectors who would want to check you out. You might encourage more sales. Just remember to write and publish that memoir and art catalog.
There's this saying, "As in the days of Noah." Imagine Noah, building his ark, with members of his own family, putting all his time and effort into it. Noah was a nice guy. I'm sure every once in a while a neighbor offered him coffee, or chai latte, or whatever refreshing drink they might have back then.
Here's the lesson to be learned. Just because they offered him some type of bubble tea drink, or coca cola, they still didn't make it to the ark. Rubbing shoulders with actors does not make you an actor. I have told my artist friends to write their memoirs. They told me that once they see me succeed, after all these many years of seeing my seemingly useless efforts, then they will write their memoirs and follow the road that I had paved for them.
Good luck to them, but if I were you, act now, get my art or make art. Support the 5-year old artist whose parent promised to release a comprehensive art catalog. If you get that 5-year old's art, and mine, I would be honored to be in the same art catalog that you will produce. I'm already successful at that point. You have gotten the mission just right.
I have already claimed to have written the most book-length artist memoirs in the world. Dethrone that claim. Barter. Use ghostwriters. Success to me means facing God one day and saying, I wrote my memoirs and left the world a legacy of books and art. I will not tell God, smiling and proudly, that I encouraged a run for my art by announcing a schedule of exponentially increasing prices that reached 9 figures. I'm sure God knows we had fun.

JOIN THIS GROUP

If you want to try out #valzubiriagenda, in any capacity, join this group. Let others know about this group as well.
If you are an artist, you can let everyone know here that you will produce your memoir, art catalogs, etc. It's okay if you don't know how to go about publishing yet, I will discuss this. Please be honorable enough to produce what you promise to produce.
If you want to meet fellow artists, investors, resellers, etc., join us here.
If you are a book writer, editor, proofreader; if you can photograph art pieces; if you are a book designer, etc., join us here. Let us know if you charge, barter for art, or both.
If you have your own tips and knowledge to share, join us here.
If you have underaged artists you are managing (parents, etc.) join us here.
Join this group if you want to sell works. Post your works. You web links. I'm sure I will.
You can announce meetings in your area. You might have meeting rooms, a café, restaurant, etc. where people can meet. In the future, you can have the regular show and tell, where books can be shown and shared.
​
Thanks for reading. Please let me know if I need to edit some parts. Please share and join this group. - Valentino Zubiri, Dollman, Artist, Memoirist
Underaged artists are welcome here, so please be mindful of your language. We cannot post your adult-oriented art pieces, but you can direct us to a separate page or community. There will be limits to your posts, and there will be adult-oriented art that we cannot allow to be posted.
Thanks for reading. Please let me know if I need to edit some parts. Please share and join this group. - Valentino Zubiri, Dollman, artist & memoirist

Friends, I did the first two nights from different sections. I was second row in 207 the first night, and then second row of 307 the second night. (I'll be doing third night in the 100s for a floor comparison and can update this later with a third experience.) I wanted to add some notes on my experience here in case it helps.
Note: I turned on the spoiler tag because of the level of detail, but have tried to not give anything away other than what I needed to inform your experience if you haven't been.
(Edited to add a few details.)
Yes, it's worth it. It is incredible. The shows are great, and it will be its own experience to see them here. The Sphere is like getting an entire second show visually on top of the music. They have put something really special together. No reason to be on the fence: if you can make it, you should.
Section comparison. I don't think there is a bad seat in the Sphere, and everyone I talked to enjoyed it wherever they were (though I didn't talk to anyone with an obstructed view).
That said, there are some tradeoffs. Down on the floor seemed to be the die hard fans and best energy. Several people said they thought the overall view in the 300s was probably the best for taking everything in with the height and that little extra distance. I found the 300s a little bit less immersive and little more chill--a great night 2 seat for me. The 200s are a balance between the Sphere and the Band and best of both worlds. I definitely felt more "in it" in the 200s.
I do think that being towards a center section of the Sphere is more important than being down a level and closer, and more important than being a few rows closer inside of a section. On the wings it seems like the visuals would be less immersive because you have a stronger sense of where the wall is in your vision field.
I didn't find the 200s to be steep, but the 300s were a bit as you're getting in and out. It took a few minutes to adjust, but I had no issues after that. This does seem to be a bigger concern in the 400s, so consider moving down if you don't care for heights and if that will impact your experience.
And, compared to other venues (especially baseball stadiums) that are a bit cramped, I found the seats themselves comfortable and had plenty of space. The incline also makes it easy to see the band from anywhere.
I really liked seeing shows from different seats the last two nights and encourage that if it's an option for you. It's a different view and experience each time and keeps it fresh.
Visuals. I don't know who dreamed this up but it is surreal. It fills your vision and is like wearing a VR headset with 15k other fans. It feels at times like you are sitting in a space ship, or on a roller coaster. It's a ride-- Photos and video cannot capture it because of the sheer scale of it.
The opening visuals for the first song are chill, then they blow the doors off the place with the second song. Because of that, I think opening set songs will be a little more warm up, and the second song in the first set will bring the energy. The closing visuals appear to also be the same night to night.
In between, they do repeat many of the visuals, but several of them are generic enough where they can be used for many different songs (though still fun to watch and impressive). Some of those are more "static" than the headline videos that you are seeing circulating, and it puts the emphasis back on the music for stretches.
There were some new visuals on Night 2, maybe 20% or so of them. We'll see in time as they continue to roll new ones out and mix and match what songs they play to what.
The visuals can be a little disorienting. This is because it's intense. Even when you know it's a screen, it is so big it tricks you. Night 1 I found myself needing to sit down for a minute. Two things that helped me: One, turn around and look back at the seating, especially where the screen ends at the top. That helped my brain remember where we were. Second, looking at it through my phone when I took a few videos also grounded me. Overall, this was minor for me, I bounced back in a minute or so, and I loved it.
Sound. I found it plenty loud, but saw some comments that it wasn't enough for some others liking. I think if you are acclimated to the outdoor tour amphitheater experience, that tends to be louder because they push volume out further outdoors. In the Sphere they don't need to do that. What you get in exchange is a more balanced sound. No complaints here.
They did seem to dial it in a bit and got more bass second night. I didn't notice it so much, but a few folks around me commented. Making some minor adjustments as they learn by playing the venue and getting fan feedback is to be expected, and I'm glad to see it.
Haptics. Night one there were a few songs where they turned on the seat haptics, but it did not feel sync'd to the music until D&S. Night 2 they were only used for drums and space, and somehow Mickey controls them or they are sync'd to certain of his kit. I thought it was very cool N2 and how I hope it goes. They are amazing for D&S and I highly recommend sitting for that and not treating it like a second intermission. The seats and the visuals make it a totally different experience.
Encore. They will do an encore-type song, but they don't leave the stage. Without spoiling, there is a short visual presentation (about a minute) after set 2 closer and then they play one more. This was consistent both nights, so don't expect more tunes after that, that's how they're fitting it in this go round.
Intermission. The bathroom lines really did get long. I guess that's always true at intermissions, but this felt longer than other venues, though they did keep it moving. This was the only minor complaint I had.
If the line on your floor is long, it seemed to move faster and less crowded on the lower levels. Sphere staff was excellent, and was communicating with each other and were telling fans they could go down a level for a shorter line.
Food and drinks at the Sphere. They have a bit of both, but a lot more barstands than food. I didn't eat there, but they had decent cocktails. There are bars on each level, and for beer and seltzers they had some wall coolers grab-and-go style. Other than intermission lines were never too bad. Stadium pricing hurts, but is to be expected.
Dead Experience at the Venetian. This was cool to see and is easy to check out while you're around. The photo collection exhibit and Mickey Hart's artwork exhibits are both neat. You can do it all in 30-60 minutes. There was no line while I was there. They do sell tour posters, but were already selling out morning of Day 2.
Merch. The merch at the Dead Experience at the Venetian during the day is different than what they have at the Sphere during shows. There is overlap, but there were some of the same styles in different colors. So far, none of it is available online.
Posters. Yes, there is a different poster each night. They also have weekend posters (with all three nights on them) and full tour posters. Tour posters had a limited run in foil, and then regular matte posters.
Security. They did not seem to be checking or care about vapes. It looked like every third person in line held theirs up in their hand with their phone as they walked through.
Getting in and out of the Venue. This overall ran really smoothly. I am not staying at the Venetian, so the first night I took a cab from the south end of the strip for about $20. Some traffic getting in, but once I was dropped off it was really quick getting into general entrance. Second night I got dinner at Venetian and took their sky bridge. That was a longer line, but still got through in about 15 minutes.
So if you're having dinner at the Venetian, I'd plan to walk over by about 645. It was about a fifteen minute walk, then a bit of line at security, but you'll get in with no stress and should have time to grab a drink. A 5pm reservation somewhere should give you plenty of time if you tell your server.
Shows get out around 11.30, and then it's either a walk back to Venetian or to the cab line. I was getting back to my hotel around midnight. If you started with dinner at 5 before the show, it's a long night.
Pace Yourself. Three days is a lot anywhere, but in Vegas you're on your feet during the day, it's hot, and the Sphere is an intense experience. It'll add up. Take it easy where you can.
Travel safe, and may the four winds blow you all safely home.

I'm pissed off at the so called justice system and need to rant and I figure plenty of other pod listeners have experienced what a bastard it is and might relate. Feel free to share your story in the comments and we can all commiserate and bitch together.
I work the front desk of a motel and I love it. The owner pays a living wage, and I'm not required to smile in the face of Karen nonsense.
For the most part, the property is safe and quiet, but we have been having issues with this one particular loiterer for a few years now. In general, we really don't want people who are not guests or here with guests to be hanging around the property. He did more than just hang around though. He actively bothered guests, trying to bum money, cigarettes, alcohol and rides off of people while stinking drunk. He'd bother anyone but women were his favorite. He'd hit on them and try to get their numbers, even staff members. It didn't matter how many times he was told to leave, he'd keep coming back. Usually this happened at night, but he'd show up stumbling drunk during the day as well.
He's not homeless. When we figured out his name, we were able to determine he lives in an apartment complex a stone's throw away. We learned his name after an employee saw his mugshot, and that he'd been charged with trespassing and indecent exposure at a nearby business. Looking up his past criminal history, he's no stranger to run ins with the police. Criminal Mischief, False Imprisonment Of Child Under 13 Yoa, Child Abuse, Battery, Possession Of Drug Paraphernalia, Disorderly Conduct, Trespass In Occupied Structure, Possession Of Cocaine all from one encounter with police. Others include another count of indecent exposure, assault on a female and breaking and entering.
When we learned all this, we realized he was more than just a nuisance and we needed to try harder to get him to stay the hell away before he hurt one of our guests or a member of staff. Then he ended up being gone for awhile anyway. Jail? Another state? We don't know and I'm not that good at reading court records.
But he came back with a vengeance toward the end of 2022 and started zeroing in on our night auditor who was a very pretty but naïve girl which I guess he took as an invitation. When we learned about this she was told to just call the police whenever he'd show up so we could finally get him trespassed. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to any of you that the police never showed up in time to get him on the property, so they kept saying they couldn't do anything about it. Months later the planets aligned and he was finally trespassed.
This kept him away briefly. The night auditor left and a new one was hired who was not aware of the loiterer. Unfortunately for her, he took an even bigger shine to her, escalating to very sexual comments. We hadn't seen him for a bit, so we foolishly thought having him trespassed would work and hadn't warned her about him. One day last summer she is telling me about a guy who keeps coming around on her shift, and she doesn't think he's a guest. As she's describing him I realize she's talking about the loiterer. I tell her next time he comes around, just call the police.
To make a long story short (too late), by November he'd been arrested on our property three times for trespassing. And one time for communicating threats when he came screaming at the night auditor demanding to know why the general manager was at the hotel in the middle of the night. Clearly having him trespassed was not a deterrent. We kept being told to just keep calling because it would build a stalking case against him. Private security options around here are a joke, so instead the night auditor's boyfriend was given a free room during her shifts because her stalker would stay away when her boyfriend was around. But he would watch the property from somewhere because if her boyfriend went to run an errand or was away from the desk long enough, guess who would come creeping?
Don't worry, we finally got stalking charges against him though. Early November I was working a 16 hour shift because I'm a workaholic and I like OT. I was also pet sitting for my parents so as my day drew to a close I was absolutely running on fumes. Guess who turns up on the property bothering our guests again? We do the same song and dance where I call the police and they don't show up on time. The night auditor he likes was working that night and she arrived without her boyfriend, long story but he couldn't be there.
I desperately needed to get out of there because I had to be back in 8 hours and also needed to take care of the dog, but I could not in good conscience leave her by herself when I knew her stalker was prowling around. Sure enough, as I'm about to leave we see him on the security cameras heading toward the desk. The lobby has big glass windows and he walked by them, presumably looking to see if she was alone, but he kept going because I was here.
Something in me snapped. If the law wasn't enough to deter him from coming around, we'd have to find alternative methods to discourage him. I grabbed the pepper spray we have because of him and went outside to confront him like a lunatic. I shouted "hey!" to get him to turn around and I pepper sprayed him in the face as he was eating a cheeseburger and then I did it again. I got his face and his cheeseburger and he was so drunk he kept eating it as he cursed me and called me a crazy bitch, which is a fair thing to call the crazy bitch who just pepper sprayed you even though you deserved it.
I had dialed 911 on the way out the door, so they got to hear me yelling at him and told me to stop following him and I lied and said I wasn't following him, I was just yelling at him. In reality I was doing both though I only followed him to the edge of the property. The reality of the situation hit me at that point because I absolutely just attacked him and called the police on myself. My biggest concern in the moment though was the fact that my parents were out of town and there was no one else to take care of their dog.
Anyway, cop shows up like ten minutes later to take our statements and whatever. My eyes are stinging because I'd walked through a cloud of pepper spray, so I recommend gel not spray because it apparently doesn't do that. Fortunately I did not get in trouble and the cop was like huh, if your reaction to seeing him is to just immediately pepper spray him, perhaps we have enough for stalking charges. Yay, finally. They didn't catch him that night though.
And it turns out pepper spray wasn't that good of a deterrent. He was back bothering people two days later. Fortunately his favorite target was off for a few days and the other NA was working and called the police. They showed up and talked to him AND DIDN'T ARREST HIM. They said they couldn't because he wasn't on property when they arrived, which is bullshit because all they need is proof he was here which we have because we have security cameras and he has been busted another time that way. They just didn't want to do their job.
I started bringing my gun to work at that point in case the stalker decided he wanted revenge for the pepper spray. But honestly his brain is so liquor cooked I'm not even sure he remembers I did that.
Over the next couple days we say him a few more times, learned he had a warrant out for his arrest on the stalking and trespassing charge, but the cops kept not showing up in time. Then we didn't see him for a few weeks. I'd check on the local arrest records to see if he'd been arrested, and he finally was about 6 weeks after the incident. He was bonded out a couple days later and bond conditions included staying away from the hotel as well as my coworker and I.
After that he stayed off the property, but would sometimes shout at the NA from the sidewalk out front, telling her he loved her and would never hurt her. He never stuck around long enough that she felt it was worth calling the police over.
He would still hang around the fast food restaurant parking lot next door and bother guests whose rooms faced that direction. There wasn't anything we could do about it and they weren't interested in doing anything about it. This changed at the end of March when he was arrested there for being drunk and disorderly. He bonded out on that charge as well. We didn't see him around after that but knew better than to celebrate.
End of April, he gets arrested again this time at the gas station across the road. Drunk and disorderly, indecent exposure, and resisting an officer. Bonds out again.
Just a couple days later, the other day shift person spots him hanging around the property though he didn't stay long. She warned night shift about him when she left that night. Sure enough, he turns up again IN THE FUCKING LOBBY. NA scares him off with the stun stick that was also purchased because of him and calls the police. As is tradition, they don't arrive in time. But we have proof of him violating bond, so we're hopeful that maybe he'll get locked up and give us a longer break.
But he wasn't done with his chaos for the night, the NA learned the next morning when the police came back to talk to her. He went to hang around the gas station where he'd just been arrested. He was loitering around with another guy, generally being suspicious and touching themselves. Then comes the escalation no one saw coming (/s). He and his creep buddy attempt to sexually assault a woman at the gas station. Fortunately they fail, unfortunately buddy gets away, fortunately stalker does not.
But you wouldn't know about any of that looking at his charges. All you would see is that he was trespassing at the gas station, had an open container of alcohol, damaged a police car, resisted an officer, did a disorderly conduct, and he pissed on an officer. Nothing about the sexual assault, or trespassing at the hotel and violating bond. Also apparently pissing on a cop is a felony.
On the bright side, his bail was set to $25k and I kept checking to see if he had posted bond and he hadn't. So we were enjoying a reprieve. I checked every couple of days for updates on that, and when doing so today I noticed the status of the stalking case had changed from pending to disposed.
I looked into that and discovered the stalking charge had been dismissed because the victims and officer had not shown up to court. Showing up to court is kind of difficult to do WHEN NO ONE TELLS YOU YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THERE. There was absolutely no communication with any of us regarding the stalking charge. Everything I did know I knew from arrest and court records which I barely know how to decipher.
We've done everything we were supposed to do, but fuck us I guess right? We're having to take our safety into our own hands because the justice system doesn't give a fuck. He's not getting whatever help he needs to not be a predator because it doesn't give a fuck.
I'm so fucking angry right now. We're going to call the DA on Monday, for all the good that is likely to do. Maybe the owner can band together with other business owners in the area and get something done about him since money talks. I don't fucking know.
I'm not scared of him for myself, I'm scared of what he might do to a guest or one of my coworkers. He wouldn't be the first pervert to attack a housekeeper, thinking they're an easy target. One guy flashed his dick at a housekeeper a couple years ago and the owner chased him down and held him at knife point until the cops showed up. At least that cop had the good nature to claim not to have heard the owner when he said he was going to cut the guy's dick off.
The cop the stalker pissed on probably deserved it.
How has the justice system fucked you over?

relics are by far the most boring part of the game and often leave me wanting to play something else completely. relics themselves seem fine, i like my prime part grab bags and dont mind collecting them. its the missions that are awful. all the missions are horribly balanced and leave me annoyed when having to deal with the reactant counter.

• long mission thats going to take 5+ min? (defense, survival) all 10 drop first min, leaving me feeling like im wasting the next 4 min.

-short mission that might take a min? (capture, low lvl exterminate, sabotage) well now you have spend an extra 3 minutes digging in corners for enemy spawns because even though you have beat the mission your stuck at 8/10.
omnia fissures seem like the right idea and id love to run them more, but they are story locked so when i play with friends who cant play nearly as much as me, they are not a option. plus, when i have played them, people only stay for 1 rotation. doing 1 relic at a time every 6-7 mins is simply not worth it. if people stayed and did like 3 at a time sure, that sounds alot better because im not constantly loading in and out of a already "time consuming" mission.
so i get stuck in regular missions with friends, not that bad. IF we where playing on our own. because of how relics work in public lobbies, in makes ZERO sense to ever do a relic with less then 4 people. again not that bad, except every single public lobby will have a high mr player with some sweaty min maxed build that kills all the joy out of the game (protea prime has not helped what so ever as any lobby with her is just max range 1 spam) sure you can avoid that with mission types like capture or rescue, but now your going to run into Titania nuke builds and thats less fun tbh cuz now the lvl is a walking simulator. its so bad, i just did a public capture mission where 2 Titania primes razorwing blitzed the whole lvl and extracted before i could get my relic open. (kinda my fault as i had a unmodded companion on so no pickup range, but still kinda dumb it can happen as the whole time i was looking and killing guys)
void storms. i love them! railjack is some of the most fun i have. seems im one of the only people that does as im lucky to get 1 random person at all let alone a team. and if i get a team mate, there is like a 65% chance they dont know how to do railjack at all. any one who has done railjack with players still learning it know it can 3x the mission time easily (i dont mind teaching, but when im doing relics specifically, time is important).
requiem relics are in a funny spot, most of the time they are nice, every one gets a slice of action, does not feel like a drag or a speed run, on of the simplest ways to get plat, just some times cant find lobbies and reward pool is small but consistent.
TLDR - relics are fine, relic MISSIONS are a headache where your gameplay is stolen by others, and are severely restricted on progress when solo. easy missions are too easy, hard missions (omnia) seems no stays for, and void storms are dead.
what do others think? just me? sucks that a big part of the game is content i dont wanna poke with a 10 ft pole

Url: https://caringforkids.cps.ca/handouts/behavior-and-development/social_media
Title: “Social Media: What Parents Should Know”
Author: Canadian Pediatric Society
Date Published: August 2023
In society today, social media has become an essential part of staying connected with others. But as children become old enough to have phones and get social media including apps such as TikTok and Instagram, it’s important for parents to know how to monitor their kids' online interactions and keep them safe from its dangers. Social media has some positive attributes that can benefit children and teens, but also has some negative effects that can be harmful. The Canadian Pediatric Society published an article titled, “Social media: What parents should know,” that discusses how social media is used by kids in both good and bad ways and how parents should take steps in keeping their children safe from the dangers of social media.
The First Media Key: Balance
In the book, Infinite Bandwidth, seven media keys are used to describe and interpret the strengths and weaknesses in the media. The first media key of balance relates to eating healthy and using social media. “That’s what eating right looks like: a little bit of everything, more of what’s good for us than what’s bad for us…” (Gan, pg. 27). This example shows that media can be shown to us in moderation because it is not good to consume too much of it. Using balance also allows us to make decisions about whether the media is acceptable for our children. If we practice the virtue of temperance, then we will be able to use this media key to examine and moderate the media and focus more on the good in the world around us rather than on social media.
An example of balance is when the author suggests that parents use parental controls to block certain websites and use time limits on social media. This shows that if we use social media in moderation then we will be healthier. And by establishing boundaries and guidelines we can protect our children from the dangers of overusing social media. Using temperance will allow our children to experience social media in a safe way, but also enjoy and see the beauty in the world that God has created for us that is right at our fingertips.
The Second Media Key: Attitude Awareness
The second media key, attitude awareness, focuses on the virtue of prudence. “With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid” (Gan, pg. 47). This media key shows that we are aware that there is both good and bad content on social platforms and we must use reason and our best judgment when discerning the role of each particular form of media.
In the article, we find an example of attitude awareness when the author discusses how we need to see both sides of the media. “Social media can have both positive (staying connected with friends) and negative (lowered self-esteem, making social comparisons) effects on kids’ mental and emotional health” (Canadian Pediatric Society). This shows that parents need to have prudence when looking at the strengths and shortcomings that media can have on their children. If parents examine social media sites using good judgment and wisdom then they will be protecting their children from the negative side of social media.
The Third Media Key: The Dignity of the Human Person
The third media key highlights the virtue of justice. “Justice towards men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good” (Gan pgs. 62-63). The dignity of the human person key reminds us to respect one another in relationships, especially as children of God. But also to respect our mind and bodies because they too are a part of us and we need to respect and honor ourselves and the bodies of others.
When discussing social media with children, parents need to teach them how to protect themselves and their privacy. One way we can respect each other is to “[p]rotect and respect their friends’ privacy by asking permission before posting a photo or video of another person” (Canadian Pediatric Society). Also, parents should remind their kids that online photos that they post could be used against them. A person’s body is sacred and photos should not be shared containing anything inappropriate or provocative. These parental reminders reiterate the dignity of the human person and teach children to be respectful of their bodies and the bodies of others in what they post online.
The Fourth Media Key: Truth-Filled
Truth-filled is the fourth media key that follows the virtue of fortitude. The virtue of fortitude “strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life” (Gan pg. 79). “Whether we’re creating a misleading picture of our life on Facebook, cultivating an online persona who does what we would never do offline, or simply failing to give credit where credit is due, we’re not using the media in a way that reflects or upholds truth” (Gan pg. 76).
On social media, we must remember that not everything we see is true or real. Parents must teach their children to be aware that even when others are not truthful, they need to be honest and true online. “Remind your children that what they see on social media doesn’t always reflect reality, and help them find joy in offline activities” (Canadian Pediatric Society). If we teach them fortitude and strength of character, then they will be able to overcome the obstacles like lies or fake personas on social media that may lead them away from being truthful in real life.
The Fifth Media Key: Inspiring
The fifth media key, inspiring, shows us the best in the media and that it does have a good purpose. By using the virtue of hope, we will be able to “desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (Gan, pg. 95). God wants us to live a good life full of happiness and love. If we practice hope then it will inspire us to do good in our everyday lives.
There are many negative effects of social media but there are also many positives as well. Children can use social media in ways of “connecting with others, messaging and chatting, and joining groups. For youth with disabilities or chronic conditions, peer support groups can provide a safe place to meet others with shared experiences, and can help rescue social isolation” (Canadian Pediatric Society). This gives children hope and allows them to partake in the good life that God has promised us. Using social media in positive ways shows us the best of this form of media and allows us to understand its purpose in our lives and society.
The Sixth Media Key: Skillfully Developed
The virtue that connects with the sixth media key is faith. Having faith is not only limited to yourself, but also having faith for those in the media. We must educate ourselves in new technology and experience advancements throughout our world. This will shape us to “learn how to recognize and create media that meets the culture’s expectations for what constitutes skillfully developed products” (Gan, pg. 102). If we see this skillfully developed media with faith as our guide then it will allow for us to make a better judgment for us and our children in the future.
“Social media apps are designed to keep people online as long as possible. Constantly checking for ‘likes,’ followers, and messages can lead to unhealthy behaviors and mood changes” (Canadian Pediatric Society). If parents skillfully develop guidelines for media and technology and understand its role in society, then they can set limits and restrictions to minimize its risks for them. Social media is out there, but if parents educate themselves about it, then they can curb its negative effects and instead put their faith in the positive effects for their children.
The Seventh Media Key: Motivated by or Relevant to Experience
The motivated by or relevant to experience media key follows the virtue of charity. “The practice of all the virtues of animation and inspired by charity, which…upholds and purifies our human ability to love, and raises it to the supernatural perfection of divine love” (Gan, pg. 128). Our love allows us to use charity to motivate us into action to protect and care for each other.
“Set a good example by following the rules you set for online behavior. Ask them before you share anything about them” (Canadian Pediatric Society). This quote tells parents what they can do to set a good example for how their children should be behaving online. This media key shows us that our own experiences have an impact on our children and their thoughts and behaviors. If what parents reflect in their social media posts is good and wholesome then when their children get social media they will have an admirable example to follow.

My sister had a terrible car accident last year that requiered multiple surgeries and a month long stay in the hospital. A family member set up a gofundme to help with the upcoming bills. Fast forward to today, thank God but my sister is mostly entirely healed besides a couple therapies she still needs to attend.
So yesterday I'm taking my GF back to her house
After bringing up in a conversation that my sister is looking into buying a car soon my GF (who does not own a car and borrows mine to go everywhere) says:
"wow I wish I had a gofundme to get a car too."
Immediately I tell her that her comment was beyond out-of-pocket and also correct her by saying my sisters working. The fund is exhausted and she is financing the car and that getting a car isnt as difficult as it seems.
This triggered her which resulted in her to start talking how hard she's working and how it's not her fault that she can't afford a car etc...
Then we arrive at her house and she's yelling in the car now trying to get me to understand how I upset her. I express how her previous comment towards my sister made me upset that instead of sincerely apologizing for she chose to project her own insecurities towards owning a car that and this starts a back and forth for nearly an hour before I call it quits and leave.
As I drove home she called and we spoke on the phone 3 times. Each resulting with:
"oh you're just going to stay mad?"
"I already said sorry"
"You know I didn't mean it like that or towards her."
After the last call I say I need space as now it's 4am and I'm already home with 6 family members staying with me for the weekend.
She continues to call my phone 4 more times (I don't answer) and then messages me if I'm just going to keep ignoring her.
At this point I don't even know what to do or think anymore.
Am I flipping out? How do I even go on about this?
She says she's very sorry but also am I forgiving my GF for something I feel like my enemies wouldn't even look at me in the eyes and tell me?
What should I do?
Tl;dr
Gf said extremely off hand relevant comment towards my sister, threw a fit and now wants to fix what happened.
What do?
Edit: grammaspelling

Let me preface by stating that I love this sub! I find Taylor's relationship with Travis to be completely fabricated and dishonest, and I'll be lucky if they last less than a year. It all sounds fake, PR influenced, and just for the benefit of putting Travis in front of cameras and for Taylor to show this newly "sporty/different" side of her after her breakup with Joe. Hopefully the mods here can see my post history (I was decently active on swiftlyneutral and I can see through the flaws and problems that Taylor showcases in her personal life, while still enjoying her music as a casual listener).
Anyways to my point: my girlfriend is obsessed with Taylor. Almost to a mood altering parasocial levels of Stanning her. If Taylor is rightfully criticized for X (take your pick: carbon emissions, relationship w/ Matty Healy, Brazil's show, Fake PR relationship) she will be in a bad mood for a few days until it dies down, because Taylor's problems always get swept under the rug. Recently we were discussing TTPD and she mentioned how "The Alchemy" and "So high school" are so so so good that she believes it's proof that Taylor's next album, which she heavily believes will be about Travis Kelce, will be a fantastic, amazingly written, chart topping new Era album that will be a highlight of Taylor's career.
I'm sorry but in a whole DOUBLE album that you originally alluded to being the "takedown" of Joe, the guy who you were with for 6 years, you have: 1. A song where you mention his depression and mental health being reasons for why you couldn't stay with him 2. The majority of the album being about Matty, who you fantasized about so badly and who you wanted to be with SO BAD that you basically cucked your current PR boyfriend and 3. Two songs about the aforementioned PR BF, one being decent (the alchemy) which wholly focuses on the only personality trait that Travis exudes (loud football jock) and the other being an extremely badly written song about you guessed it, high school (the mental age that both Travis and Taylor are stuck in).
I'm sorry but "I know Aristotle" and "touch me while your bros play Grand Theft Auto" MAKE ZERO SENSE and if any other artist had said that, it would put their pen game in question. how does my girlfriend ( who I love with all my heart) see this and says "huh, fantastic writing, it's so in depth and just shows how amazing and great their relationship is". Aristotle sounds like the most basic "hehe I'm a smart girl you guys see I know this one philosopher we learned about in middle school." Also, not to get too technical but just have to say it, Taylor and Travis (34) would have been 15-17 during 2005-2007. You could only play two player GTA until GTA 4 came out with online play (in late 2008). Why would they be playing GTA instead of idk, Madden? A game you can actually take turns playing? To me, it just reaffirms that Travis has literally no personality. He is the walking embodiment of a guy who only likes football, getting drunk, and plays video games ( not sure if it's confirmed, but I'm pretty sure he still hasn't beaten GTA San Andreas, the plane missions are too hard for him IYKYK). Him having no personality also reaffirms how fake and PR this relationship is!!
TLDR; GF thinks two bad songs on Taylor's new Album = They are in it for the long run and next album will be a classic. Lyrics show otherwise. Their relationship Is a PR stunt, and I would like to sit in as a ghost on one of their conversations to see how many brain cells Travis can make me lose in 20 minutes.
Would like to add: this relationship is clearly just to keep attention away from Taylor and Matty Healy, right? Because her being with him would ruin her brand and public figure image that her PR team has been carefully manufacturing ever since 2016, right?
Final note: is the eras tour just her version (no pun) of when guy's get their heart broken and go to the gym to get fit and focus on themselves? Or to a lesser extent when you have a bad day and you go for a long run? Feels like it