I want to create a website with free and paid downloadable content, maybe even have memberships/subscriptions in the future.
I've only had experience with Elementor and Memberpress (which is very expensive).
I looked into Webflow recently and they seem to have something for this use case, but I'm not sure about the investment and learning curve.
Which one would you recommend more?

TL;DR: Shooters have notoriously had a difficult time staying alive while under Nexon's banner.
Go ahead and spam your downvotes, but if you're someone that actually likes to engage in conversation, I urge you to read on.

Intro -- Personal

For starters, The Finals is my favorite FPS game to come out in the last 5 years. I've played since the second CBT and have loved just about every second of it. Prior to my time with The Finals, I was an Apex Legends nerd since release. The pro match hacking incident in Apex Legends is what pushed me over the edge; an edge that I was already barely hanging onto after 3+ years of awful decision-making, balancing, bugs, and tone-deaf MTX offerings. And going even further back 13-ish years (my time with League of Legends), I played Combat Arms for about 4 years and ran a very successful Guild.
Keep Combat Arms in mind for a little later.

The Final(s) Nail In The Coffin

HYENAS
At the time of the first The Finals trailer, HYENAS had been running in closed testing for about 8 months and was luke warm, to say the least. I actually find it very eerie how similar the HYENAS and The Finals were in terms of theming: heisters/contestants fighting for cash in arenas and needing to 'Cash Out'. HYENAS was a game I had on my radar for a bit and was semi-excited to tell my friends about because Apex Legends was in a really rough position and was growing stale in it's growth - we were looking for something else. It had some interesting movement mechanics, which myself and my friends were enamored by in Apex Legends, but nothing too crazy. I was hopeful. After about 2 testing runs, I phased out of HYENAS pretty hard and lost interest as it wasn't really what we were hoping it would be.
Breaking Convention
Fast forward to that 8-month mark, and the trailer for The Finals launches. It's this over-the-top explosive FPS with some crazy arena gimmicks, and holy shit it was pretty. The destruction was incredible, and the developers were touting server-side destruction so that it would be consistent for all players. The gameplay and graphics looked so familiar, and as it turned out, it was made by a bunch of ex-DICE devs. Count me in. Oh, and these were the same cats that released that short but impressive looking trailer for their other game Arc Raiders? Exceptionally promising pedigree, and an already promising duo of upcoming projects to boot. Couldn't be more excited. However... to this day, I don't know if I was getting struck by the Mandella Effect, but I swear I didn't see Nexon's publisher tag in the first few trailers. In any case, by the end of my first beta test, I was well aware and to say I was concerned would be an understatement.
The Good
Embark have done a phenomenal job at creating something unique in a market of Battle Royales and old titans slapping each other with wet noodles on bi-annual cycles. The Finals is insanely unique. Whereas a lot of games that try to break conventions like this tend to have iterations across many years and multiple development studios up to an eventual peak, the formula of The Finals feels like the final iteration of a genre that has never existed. Performance is top notch, the game does what it needs to do graphically and still has additional bells and whistles, and it had a near flawless release (all things considered). Were you to ask me, I could not imagine another game like The Finals existing in it's current exceptionally polished state. The next game like The Finals, whenever it comes out, will likely be exceptionally different. However...
The Bad
Lightning eventually breaks out of the bottle and disappears forever. The Finals, in all of its game design competency, has major issues for lasting in a market like today's and thankfully, for once, it's not actually due to it's MTX implementation and a greedy publisher (I say that cautiously, more on that later). No - the issue that The Finals has and why it's on a trajectory for shuttering is that it has almost zero skill expression. Let me explain.
Were The Finals released 12-ish years ago, it'd be a behemoth of an IP by now and likely would have changed the trajectory of the market in terms of player and audience capture. What do I mean by that? Well, lets look at games 10+ years ago - specifically FPS'. What was the primary appeal and objective? The appeal was an easy to pick-up game which allowed you to get into the action almost immediately. The objective? Click heads faster than your opposition. Game design around that time was rather linear in how it delivered the objective mechanism to the player. Give player gun, player click button; happy player. Competitive games have all existed, but competition now is vastly different.
Today, skill expression is the name of the game. It's not enough to click heads the fastest - that's not how you get your high anymore.
For DayZ, it was a masterful bait and deception. For PUBG, it was about maneuvering long before your opponent did and mastering weapon control. For Fortnite, it was about 'cranking 90s' and building the most optimal structure AROUND your opponent. For Overwatch, it was about chaining a series of abilities together into a combo that 6 players couldn't predict. For Apex Legends, it's about mastering movement in such a way that your opponent gets whiplash. Hell, even in Counterstrike - a game about holding angles - it's about mastering grenade throws.
The Finals... does none of that. You're not baiting anyone around fixed objectives. You're not out maneuvering when spawns are fixed. While structures exist around you, they serve more as an element of chaos than necessarily for control. There's no abilities to string together in some wombo-combo. Grenades are static and don't have a lot of physical attributes to facilitate against the environment like physics. And lastly, and this one hurts me the most because I was absolutely a sweaty try-hard in Apex Legends that spent hours in the shooting range practicing; while there is speed and movement in the game, you're not breaking the game's engineering to manipulate your movement in unintended ways - ways that become SO common... that the developer themselves puts those exploits in future season trailers for the game making them canon mechanics.
In other words, the skill ceiling is about as high as the desk players sit at to play the game. If you can move a mouse or a controller and click buttons, you're in. You just need to get familiar with the maps and weapons and... that's about it. :/
The Ugly
Don't believe me? Lets get numerical. Go look at Twitch stats for The Finals. Now, Twitch isn't an arbiter of truth in terms of a game's performance metrics, but it shows what players are watching. I'll save you the click: The Finals (at the time of writing) is the 215th most watched game. It's a whole 20 rows down on the front page. Now, players love watching high-skill play, but this also shows that even casual viewers still prefer casual games over The Finals. There is no external appeal. As much as I love this game, I'm not above a good joke, so I just wanted to highlight the irony of The Finals being a gameshow... and not being very popular as a show. Lol.
With all of the above said, the game is still in a relatively good position at this moment. Despite having very low player counts (no, I'm not the kind of person to spell doom for a game just because it's player count is dropping - it's on a normal interest decline curve), it requiring a low amount of players to start a game at all is a good thing. Unlike a BR or even a normal TDM-like game, you need a minimum of 9 players to start a round. A 9-player minimum goes a long way in expanding the ability to find a game with only 15,000-ish players. It puts it right in the comfy zone of co-op games like DRG or Vermintide. However, competitive games requiring a stalwart player count to be viable unlike co-op, so that's a bit of a problem right now.
So with that being said, it can always improve right? Something can change to bring back players and bolster it's numbers again, right? Well... um...

Nexon -- The Gravedigger

Nexon & Me -- We Don't Talk About It
My relationship with Nexon is long and... tenuous, at best. To me, Nexon is that family member that only ever comes to larger family get-togethers likes weddings or baby showers. They tend to give out some of the highest ticket gift cards but once the party is over, everyone finds that the giftcards are empty or deactivated. Nexon, over the years since it's arrival in the West in 2005-ish, has been flakey at best, and absent at worst. I'm envious of those who don't have a relationship with Nexon like I do because Nexon has truly been that family figure in my life of gaming since Maplestory - I have been apart of just about every major release pre-2016. I'm 31 now - that's over half of my life. Spoilers: It's not all been good. I'm happy to say that I've been able to communicate with a small handful of you over the last 18 months who have shared my same concerns and have the same history with them that I do.
I played Maplestory religiously. I played Mabinogi diligently. I played Kart Riders confusingly. I played Sudden Attack curiously. I played Combat Arms consistently. I played Vindictus excitedly. All of the previous, and a few more, intermixed with other games not made by Nexon - aside from Runescape, Nexon has been with me just as long, if not longer (depending on how you look at it). I know how Nexon is. I know how Nexon works. I know how Nexon behaves. With that said, it doesn't bring me any joy to pop the virgin cherry for some of you who don't know much about them.
Nexon Doing Nexon Things
I'll only be mentioning relevant titles here to paint the picture that needs to be seen.

• Maplestory - Nexon's most popular MMO. A mere shadow of what it used to be and caught in controversy of trying to be fresh, but appeal to players of the past. Extremely underpopulated now, and generally only played by people who spend money. Maplestory is arguably the birth place of MTX whales in the West. Whaling and spending is so engrained in Maplestory now, it's considered part of it's active culture. Still active, but in perpetual suffering.
  
• Vindictus - One of the very first (if not the first - feel free to correct me) MMO's in the West to introduce brawl-style active combat. Extremely modest MMO at the time. Lackluster story, but very appealing gameplay loop. Practically dead today, and it has succumbed (not necessarily a bad thing) to the 'Korean Developer' trope in introducing a bunch of scantily clad ladies. While the combat loop is still rock-solid, it has aged and others have now done it better (See Blade & Soul, etc). Still alive today, but I'm using that term very loosely.
  

(From here, the only relevant conversation pertaining to this thread will be about FPS')

• Combat Arms - THE absolute F2P FPS behemoth in the West (while Sudden Attack was still in the East). It's both surprising and not surprising how many people don't know or have ever heard about this game. In a time where CSS was still the primary talk in the West, Combat Arms started bringing the Eastern F2P heat. With the largest arsenal of any FPS game to ever be released in the West, Combat Arms was a beacon for the F2P formula behind Maplestory. The beginning of the end occurred with the release of the specialist class which signaled Nexon's decline into P2W depravity. It was now another thorn in the side of players beyond the rampant cheating. Combat Arms declined very quickly beyond that point, and was eventually sold to another company - starts with a 'V'. I can't remember.
  
• Sudden Attack - I'd have to double-check, but I'm fairly confident that this is still the most-played FPS in the world between SK and China primarily due to it's accessibility. While still active today, Western servers were shuttered in 2014. Sudden Attack 2 ceased development less than 2 months after it's release.
  
• Dirty Bomb - After Sudden Attack 1's shuttering, Dirty Bomb came onto the scene. Most people don't know it, but Dirty Bomb was one of the first major contenders to break into the scene that Overwatch eventually solidified. However, Nexon and Splash Damage parted ways, and less than a year later, Dirty Bomb shuttered as well.
  
• LawBreakers - We all remember this well roasted chestnut, don't we?
  

With all of the above information about Nexon's history, its fair to surmise that Nexon has a turbulent cycle serving as a publisher for games. This does not bode well for Embark.
I'd like everyone to remember that the people we engage with on a daily basis in the Discord are passionate Embark folk. This critique of Nexon has no bearing on Embark, however it's important to remember that they'll likely be affected, and it's a shame. Even in the best case scenario that The Finals doesn't shut down, but just maintains a low player-count, it will not serve well under Embark. Unfortunately it will affect Embark's pedigree more than it would ever affect Nexon as Nexon has the same priveledge and power of the likes of EA.
I'll be honest, when I first found out Nexon is the primary publishing house behind Embark, Nexon's history of shuttering games wasn't the first thing I thought of. The first thing I actually thought of was it's history of MTX in it's game. We all joke about horse armor and FIFA packs, but Maplestory led the charge of overbearing MTX in the West. Given today's game market, I was admittedly expecting a lot worse in terms of monetization for The Finals. I'm happy to report that I'm pleasantly surprised with it's current state. I still wouldn't say it's TRUE 'micro' like Helldiver's, but it's way better than a lot of other offerings, especially for me personally coming from a game like Apex Legends.
However, Nexon's influence still can't be ignored. You see, with a history like Nexon's you probably expect what we've all witnessed in the market over the last decade, but Nexon doesn't operate that way. They have a penchant of being rather silent during most, if not all controversies. Hell, just in general - controversies aside. Unlike bodies that we're familiar with like EA, Take-Two, Ubisoft and the like, Nexon doesn't speak outside of their games often, if ever. If you were at a public execution, all of the companies we're familiar with would likely be the Officiant at the pulpit. But Nexon? They're the executioner - completely silent and performing a duty without remorse. This is always how they've acted.

Closing Thoughts

I know I said above that the MTX concerns for The Finals kind of faded away for me as it doesn't seem to be an issue we'll have to worry about, and while it's not the main point of this post, I still find it necessary for players to keep in the back of their head, especially since Embark have other games coming out. Were The Finals not to shutter due to low player count, this is my PSA to all players moving forward, whether it be about The Finals or beyond: Nexon cannot be trusted.
"Well, duh! You can't trust companies anyway, nor should you. It's a company. It's incentive is profit."
To that I say, "That's not my point".
In today's market, we're typically used to a controversy happening in the game on top of whatever PR blunders is going on with the organization, but that's not what would really happen here. The Finals doesn't have any issues beyond it's declining player count, but I want everyone to remain aware of Nexon's moves going forward. Just because we don't necessarily see the smoke here doesn't mean that there isn't a fire somewhere else.
So, for your own interest if you'd like to research on your own, here are some topics of concern:

1. Variety of game closures and sunsets under contentious situations with developers and publishing partners alike.
2. Account security breaches (I guess a more relevant tangent would be GameGuard. Nexon was the first to widely use GameGuard when Maplestory came to the West. I personally don't care, but I know some others would.)
3. Various cases of government scrutiny world-wide due to addictive Gachapon implementations.
4. Speaking of Gachapon (and P2W), their recent suit around manipulating odds for a P2W item outside of it's listed values: https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20240312050604
5. And lastly, most recently, Nexon pulling back public support for Maplestory's would-be world-first level 300 player when he used the opportunity to address genuine concerns about the game's current state, including the above lawsuit.

Leviathan, the Eikon of Water concept art
Leviathan, the lost Eikon of Water, has finally been found! After months of waiting, the Rising Tide downloadable content (DLC) has been released and with it, I am once again rambling about the mythological, religious, and cultural inspirations behind the Eikons of Final Fantasy XVI. If you would like to check out any of my previous posts on the subject of Eikons, you can find them here:

1.) Phoenix

2.) Ifrit

3.) Shiva

4.) Ramuh

5.) Garuda

6.) Titan

7.) Bahamut

8.) Odin

As I’ve said in the past, if you feel that I may have said something wrong, or if you would like to add to what information I have provided; by all means please do so. I absolutely welcome the discussion.
The sea serpent Leviathan, like most of the Eikons, has been a staple of the Final Fantasy series since its introduction as one of the original summons#Summon_Magic) from 1990’s Final Fantasy III. While modern usage of the terms “leviathan” and “behemoth” are often used to denote something large and imposing, these words actually originate as the names of two creatures from the Tanakh (or Hebrew Bible). According to the verses 40:15-41:34 in the Book of Job, Leviathan and Behemoth are two gigantic and nigh indestructible animals born around the same time as the creation of the first two humans Adam and Eve, with Behemoth residing over the wilderness east of the Garden of Eden called Duidain and Leviathan bound to the watery Abyss) as stated in verses 60:7-10 in the apocryphal Book of Enoch. While the term abyss may bring to mind the idea of a bottomless hole or even an underworld such as the Greek Hades, Hebrew Sheol, or Christian Hell; the Septuagint, the earliest Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, often uses the term abyss to instead refer to deep bodies of water. In fact, Abyss is the translated noun for the Hebrew Tehom, or the “deep” primordial waters from which the god Yahweh formed the world after the creation of light as stated by the verses 1:2-10 in the Book of Genesis; which is but one example of the cosmic ocean motif, whereby existence is conceptualized as originating from a watery void. I find it very interesting then that the Abyss is referenced several times in the Rising Tide DLC, such as in the name of Leviathan’s Eikonic ability Abyssal Tear; the Motes of Water adage “Know that even should you walk Abyss, our hands will guide you home” from the Minwu Arm Ring description; or the description of the Radiant Tidestrike weapon that says “Surge did the tide, the water rising as if it were some mighty whale stranding itself upon the shore. Behold, the Devourer of Worlds. The beast within whose foul belly our hopes are carried unto the Abyss. - Eikonomachy - Book of Currents 15:40-41”.
From the aforementioned verses of the diegetic Book of Currents, as well as one of the Active Time Lore Entries for Leviathan that states “Old writings clearly speak of Dominants past summoning great whale-like creatures capable of swallowing entire cities…”; we can possibly see a reference to Leviathan) swallowing the protagonist Firion and his allies on their way to the Mysidian Tower in Final Fantasy II. However, I would suggest that these quotes go further than mere references to past games and are actually an allusion to the parable of Jonah surviving in the belly of a whale from the eponymous Book of Jonah. For those unfamiliar with the story, the Hebrew prophet Jonah was tasked by God to preach on His behalf to the citizenry of Nineveh in the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Jonah instead refuses the call, and attempts to sail across the sea to Tarshish. On the journey, Jonah and the sailors he is accompanied by are caught in a huge storm, and believing that Jonah’s dismissal of God is the cause, the sailors thus throw him overboard. God then sends a whale to swallow Jonah, with the intention of preventing the Israelite from drowning. Miraculously surviving in the whale’s stomach for 3 days, Jonah vows to do God’s bidding and is thus safely returned to shore, whereby he travels to Nineveh and beseeches the citizens to renounce their wicked ways, lest they be visited by calamity. This story is meant to illustrate that Yahweh is a merciful god who allows for second chances, giving not only Jonah, but also the Ninevites the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and redirect their course of actions.
With this parable in mind, I would like to mention that in 1949, literary professor Joseph Campbell published “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”; a work of comparative mythology in which he proposed his idea of the Monomyth (later called the Hero’s Journey). Campbell’s theory of the Monomyth posits that while most narratives involving a heroic protagonist may have differing contents, these stories also typically follow a similar pattern; that being a three-act structure comprised of 17 subset stages. One such stage in Campbell’s model is the Belly of the Whale (sometimes also referred to as the Abyss), one of the literally or figuratively lowest points in the story for the protagonist in which the hero must engage in introspection and commence a process of self-transformation if they are to be equipped to finish their journey. This stage acts as a symbolic death and rebirth for the protagonist, with some Christians even interpreting Jonah’s story as actually being an allegory for Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection.
A prime example of this stage can be seen in Carlo Collodi’s 1883 novel “The Adventures of Pinocchio”, whereby the eponymous puppet Pinocchio and his creator Geppetto are swallowed by the Terrible Dogfish; with the typically irresponsible and selfish Pinocchio instead performing a self-sacrificial act in order to save his “father”, which he is thus rewarded for by being brought back to life as a human by the Fairy with Turquoise Hair. Viewing the Pinnochio narrative as an example of a more modern mythical epic, Thomas J. Morrissey and Richard Wunderlich state in “Death and Rebirth in Pinocchio”; “Gods can die and be reborn, or rise from the dead. Such mythological events probably imitate the annual cycle of vegetative birth, death, and renascence, and they often serve as paradigms for the frequent symbolic deaths and rebirths encountered in literature. Two such symbolic renderings are most prominent: re-emergence from a journey to hell and rebirth through metamorphosis. Journeys to the underworld [Katabasis] are a common feature of Eurasian literary epics: Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Aeneas, and Dante all benefit from the knowledge and power they put on after such descents. Rebirth through metamorphosis, on the other hand, is a motif generally consigned to fantasy or speculative literature… These two figurative manifestations of the death-rebirth trope are rarely combined; however, Carlo Collodi’s great fantasy-epic, The Adventures of Pinocchio, is a work in which a hero experiences symbolic death and rebirth through both infernal descent and metamorphosis”. We as the player also experience this Belly of the Whale stage in Final Fantasy XVI, when our heroes Clive Rosfield and Jill Warwick confront the Dominant of Darkness Barnabas Tharmr on the seafloor of the sundered Naldia Narrow, appropriately labeled as the Abyss, whereby Clive is soundly defeated by Barnabas for a second time. Fleeing their assailant, Clive and Jill consummate their love for one another on the shore of Ash, with Clive acquiring a portion of the Eikon Shiva’s powers from Jill so that he may finally triumph over Barnabas in a battle of physical prowess and ideals; proving to the false prophet and his God that compassion and the desire for freedom will always overcome any adversity.
With all this talk of whales, I should mention that from the descriptions as given in the Book of Job, Behemoth sounds to resemble that of a large ox or hippopotamus, while Leviathan is suggested as being similar to that of the tanninim) or “great whales” mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. In fact, Islamic folklore has its own variant of this terrestrial and aquatic duo, that being the large bull Kujata and the even larger whale Bahamut; as outlined by the medieval cosmographer Zakariya al-Qazwini in his seminal work “The Wonders of Creation”. Even though I am going to hazard a guess that the name of the Kuza Beast), a variant of the Behemoth enemy in several Final Fantasy games, is named after Kujata; it is quite obvious on the other hand that the draconic Eikon Bahamut borrows its name from the Islamic whale of the same name as well as the dragon god Bahamut) from the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. While the Book of Job describes Leviathan as being a whale or even a crocodile as suggested by a footnote in the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, verse 27:1 in the Book of Isaiah instead equates Leviathan to a sea serpent or dragon, with the Book of Job description also making it a point to mention Leviathan’s fearsome fiery breath. Given its status as a tutelary god for the Japanese-inspired nation of Wutai in Final Fantasy VII, it could be argued that Leviathan in the Final Fantasy series also shares similarities with Eastern dragons, such as the Chinese Lóng or Japanese Ryū; beneficent, serpentine deities of water and rain.
It is presumed that the figure and name of Leviathan actually originates from the older Canaanite sea monster Lôtān, whose name in the Ugaritic language meant “coiled” and was given the epithets “the fugitive serpent” or “the wriggling serpent”. In the first two tablets of the fragmentary Ugaritic Baal Cycle text, the storm god Baal (Lord) Hadad engages in a feud with the deification of the sea Yammu) to succeed their father El) as the ruler of the gods. At some point in this first chapter of the Baal Cycle, Hadad strikes down the seven-headed serpent Lôtān, who given the missing pieces of the text, could either be a servant of or another name for Yammu, with it also being believed that the monster was a zoomorphic representation of the Lebanese Litani River. Why I bring this up is to illustrate that Hadad’s defeat of Lôtān is but one example of the Chaoskampf mytheme, a pattern found in numerous Indo-European mythologies whereby a younger storm god or culture hero representing order and human civilization slays an ancient serpent or dragon associated with water that represents primordial chaos); perhaps a sentiment held by early agricultural riverine civilizations wishing to triumph over the constant and often devastating threat of floods.
One of the oldest examples of this mytheme is that of the Mesopotamian god Marduk’s dismemberment of Tiamat. According to the Babylonian Enūma Eliš, in the beginning there existed only Tiamat, the female personification of salt water; and Abzu, the male personification of fresh water. From the union of the two primeval waters sprang forth the first generation of gods called the Anunnaki. One such god, Enki (or Ea) would capture and kill Abzu after he plotted to kill his children due to the commotion they were causing. Enraged by Enki’s actions, Tiamat gave birth to eleven monstrous children to wage war against the gods along with her new consort Kingu, who possessed the Tablet of Destinies); the mark of divine rule. Marduk, the son of Enki, challenged Tiamat and her monsters, eventually slaying his opponents with lightning and storm winds. Defeated, Tiamat’s body was sliced in twain, with the two halves becoming the sky and earth. From an earlier promise made with the Anunnaki and the Igigi (lesser gods) as well as the acquisition of the Tablet of Destinies from the beaten Kingu, Marduk was made king of the gods; later mixing the blood of Kingu with clay to also become the creator of mankind.
Through the lens of the Chaoskampf mytheme, we can start to see connections between Tiamat’s dismemberment, the defeat of the multi-headed Lôtān, and Leviathan form. The non-canonical Book of Enoch actually specifies that the land-dwelling Behemoth is male, while the aquatic Leviathan is female; possibly creating an inadvertent association between Leviathan and the sea goddess and mother of monsters Tiamat. This may also be why Leviathan’s Chronolith Trial is named the Hand of Tethys. While still following the moons of Saturn naming convention, it is very fitting that the trial is also named after the Greek Tethys); wife of the world-encompassing river Oceanus and mother to the male river gods and female water nymphs called the Potamoi and Oceanids, respectively. Furthering the connections to Tiamat and Lôtān, several accounts in the Hebrew Bible describe Yawheh triumphing over the forces of the sea, such as in Isaiah 51:9-10 “Awake, awake, arm of the Lord, clothe yourself with strength! Awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab) to pieces, who pierced that monster through? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed may cross over?” and Job 26:12-13 “By his power he churned up the sea; by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces. By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the gliding serpent”. It is believed that Rahab, while occasionally used as a flowery term for Egypt or arrogance, was also a sea serpent either comparable to or synonymous with Leviathan. While Leviathan’s death at the hands of Yahweh in Isaiah 27:1 is viewed as a metaphor for the enemies of Israel who will submit to the Hebrew God, the Chaoskampf and the connection with the Canaanite Lôtān is further shown in verse 74:14 from the Book of Psalms, which says “Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness”; which is where the name of the trophy for beating Leviathan on Final Fantasy mode, Thou Brakest the Head, comes from.
Along with the account of Leviathan’s death in Psalms 74:12, several other Jewish sources, such as the Second Book of Esdras 6:47-52, the Apocalypse of Baruch 29:4, and the Bava Batra tractate in the Talmud state that Yahweh will slay Leviathan and Behemoth so that their flesh shall be given as food and shelter to the righteous during the End of Days and the Messianic Age. This may explain why the Behemoth King in FFXVI has several attacks referencing Christian eschatology from the Book of Revelation, such as the Four Horsemen; personifications of War, Conquest, Famine, and Death that herald the Last Judgment; and the Apocalypse, another term for a revelation which has since become synonymous with a cataclysmic end-time event, like the battle at Armageddon for instance. Leviathan and Behemoth’s statuses as eventual sacrifices is very similar to the role that Leviathan and its Dominant unfortunately play in Final Fantasy XVI.
Both DLCs, the Echoes of the Fallen and the Rising Tide, deal with themes of rectifying the sins of the past; whereby the Fallen and the Motes of Water engaged in questionable behavior in an attempt to create their own Mothercrystals to disastrous effect. The Motes of Water, a central focus of the Rising Tide, are a tribe originating from the southern coast of the continent of Ash and hosts to the Dominants of the Eikon Leviathan. After the loss of their Mothercrystal Drake’s Horn, the tribe migrated across the twin continent of Storm; where they were mercilessly persecuted by several groups, particularly the Greagorian faithful of the burgeoning Holy Empire of Sanbreque, causing the tribe and their Eikon to become “lost” to history. Due to their nomadic nature as well as Sanbreque’s similarities with the Roman and Holy Roman Empires, one could say that the Motes of Water mirror the Jewish Diaspora (exile) and transformation of the faith after the Roman Empire’s siege on Jerusalem) and the destruction of the Second Temple during the First Jewish-Roman War; or perhaps one could say the tribe is treated in a similar fashion to the oft demonized itinerant Romani people of eastern Europe. Either way, the Motes of Water are meant to represent the “Other”; ostracized outsiders to the customs of Storm who hid themselves away from the rest of the world to avoid further religious persecution.
After finding sanctuary in the northern territory of Mysidia, the Motes of Water tried to create for themselves a new Mothercrystal to replace the Northern Territories’ own shattered Mothercrystal called Drake’s Eye. The story of the Motes of Water is one of loss and a constant fight to carve out a place in the world to call their own, so it is no surprise then that they wished to regain something taken away from them so many years ago. However, the tribe would engage in a terrible act, enraging their Eikon Leviathan that laid dormant within the infant Dominant Waljas, and freeze both the baby and the Eikon in time to essentially act as an aether battery. Unsuccessful in turning Waljas into the heart of a Mothercrystal, all the tribe achieved was robbing the poor baby of its life and autonomy, imprisoning the Dominant and the tidal wave it summoned in that moment where the tribe’s greatest sin occurred for 80 years.
This frozen tsunami, dubbed the Surge, is not only a monument to the tribe’s greatest shame, but is also a constant looming threat over the tribe’s village of Haven; a reminder to never again engage in such a transgression, lest they be met with watery doom. This mirrors not only Jonah preaching to the Ninevites to change their ways, but also God’s warnings against individuals sacrificing children to Moloch in the Book of Leviticus 20:2-5. In fact, as ProfNoctis suggests in his video “Final Fantasy XVI Lecture Stream: The Mythos of Leviathan Part 2”; Leviathan and the Surge are symbols of human and divine regret, with Ultima, the creator of mankind and the Mothercrystals, referring to Leviathan as its “most profaned fragment”; due to the Eikon being rested from its creator’s control and the act of creating a man-made Mothercrystal being a repeat of the Fallen’s blasphemous attempts at attaining godhood during the War of the Magi and the Sins of Dzemekys, flagrant displays of mankind’s development of free will which is anathema to Ultima’s collective identity.
As a symbol of divine regret, the Surge could be seen as a parallel to the Flood from the Book of Genesis. Deluge or flood myths are motifs that can often be found amongst cultures residing near the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and Persian Gulf such as Egypt, Greece, and Israel; with these stories usually recounting a tale in which a deity or deities summon a world-wide flood as a form of divine retribution. One of the earliest examples is the Mesopotamian Epic of Atra-Hasis, in which mankind was created by the gods to act as servants and laborers. However, due to overpopulation, the storm god Enlil seeks to reduce their numbers by bringing forth a great flood. Enki, seen as a benefactor of mankind, warns the human Atra-Hasis about the flood, telling him to build a boat to protect himself, his family, and his livestock from the deluge. After seven days, the waters recede and Enki and Enlil agree on other means of maintaining the human population. This story is also thought to have been later adapted in Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh, where the survivor of the flood is renamed Utnapishtim; though both the Atra-Hasis and Gilgamesh flood accounts seem to originate from an even older source called the Eridu Genesis. Similarly, the Greeks also had a deluge myth, as outlined in the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses, where Deucalion, the human son of the divine Prometheus, is warned by his father to build a chest for himself and his wife Pyrrha to escape a gigantic flood that the storm god Zeus plans to bring forth as a response to the insufficient offering given to him by Lycaon), the king of Arcadia); with the pair washing up on Mount Parnassus nine days after the storm.
There are several theories, such as the Black Sea Deluge Hypothesis, that propose that the ancient Middle East did indeed experience a large flood at some point in the very distant past. Given that flood myths are thus believed to have originated from Mesopotamia, it should come as no surprise that the Hebrew flood narrative bears similarities to the previously discussed deluge myths as well. According to chapters 6-9 in the Book of Genesis, God grows increasingly distraught over the wicked nature of the humans descended from Adam and Eve and their inadvertent creation of sin, and so decides to reset creation to a state of watery chaos. God warns one of the few moral men, the Antediluvian patriarch named Noah, about His plan to flood the world and instructs him to build an ark to house himself, his family, and two of each animal to be the first creatures to inhabit the new world. After the firmament breaks forth and floods the world for 40 days, Noah’s Ark washes up on Mount Ararat. Noah then builds an altar, with God forming a covenant with Noah whereby He declares to never again summon a flood to devastate the world. As Genesis 9:9-17 states, this promise between Noah and God is commemorated by the rainbow, a symbol of peace; which as ProfNoctis points out, also appears once Clive saves Waljas.
Through a certain perspective, the Flood could be seen as a sort of baptism, a spiritual cleansing of the world through physical water. Baptism is considered one of the 7 sacraments of the Christian Catholic denomination; a rite of initiation whereby the individual joining the faith is either submerged in or sprinkled with water three times, representing the purification of sin and the grace given by the Holy Trinity. This is not unlike the Rite of Immersion that the infant Waljas is granted at the conclusion of the Rising Tide DLC; a ceremony for all babies born into the Motes of Water in which the initiate is sprinkled with mountainous rain water from Maiden’s March, river water from Riversmeet, and sea water from Tailwind Bay. The water used in this rite is used as a metaphor for life’s journey, likened by the tribe to that of a river, with this revealing that the Motes of Water hold a very cyclical view of life in a similar fashion to the Buddhist beliefs in reincarnation or the Lifestream from Final Fantasy VII. As the descriptions for the 3 kinds of water used in the ceremony state; “The rain that falls upon the mountains of Mysidia emerges in the springs of Maiden’s March. Thus the water collected from said springs represents birth-the fountainhead from which the river of life begins”, “In the Riversmeet valley, several tributaries merge into a single stream, where clear currents and roiling eddies swim side by side. Its water represents life-a course complete with myriad meanderings, yet one that runs inexorably from source to sea”, and “The Mysidian river empties into the ocean amid the shallows of Tailwind Bay, and thus its water represents death-the stillness that lies beyond the end of the river of life, and from whence the raindrops are born anew”. In fact, the symbol for the village of Haven is meant to be the combination of Leviathan’s scales and the river called the Ceaseless Rill, “...the circle of life that has neither beginning nor end”, not unlike the serpentine symbol of the Ouroboros. I would thus argue that not only does Leviathan represent regret and retribution, but also the chaotic journey of life.
If it’s not already apparent, I find Leviathan to be very interesting. I want to thank you all for sticking around and reading the whole thing, as I know this was a lot. If you would like to check out some more information about Leviathan, I would recommend checking out the videos “Leviathan of Final Fantasy VS the Leviathan of the Bible - FF16 The Rising Tide” by Country Kratos and “A Brief History of Final Fantasy Summons Final Fantasy Lore” by Alleyway Jack.
With the conclusion of both DLCs, Clive and by extension the player, is granted one additional Eikonic power. As such, I am actually going to do one more essay, which I will post next week. I hope you look forward to it and thank you again for reading this. Have a fantastic day!
​

Mac and Linux are officially released!
After a long wait, a lot of testing, and a lot of bullshit from compiling, we now have fully working MacOS and Linux builds which contain all the same features as Windows.
With Updaters for each OS to follow suit with a little public testing needed, Cheddlatron will be and will remain fully functional on each of the three OS versions, so that all users can enjoy the premium features of Cheddlatron, completely free.
Officially downloadable from https://cheddlatron.com/ just click on the download button and you'll be taken to the download for each Version.
As well as our Discord Server for Community Channels, Custom Scripts, Themes, and Support!
Thanks to everyone on the subreddit who has already given us so much support with the bot!

Hello, I created an app to randomly select the start players for our board game sessions. It's in a fantasy theme and supports up to 8 players. It's free and without ads, so totally free.
This is currently a closed alpha (needed for Google Play)
You can join the testers group on Google groups: https://groups.google.com/g/player-picker-test-group
After joining the group you can download the app in the Google app store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.enchantedlabs.playerpicker
Hope that does not count as ad. It's only a free helpful tool for board game players. Feel free to share any feedback you have!

Hello, I created an app for android to randomly select the start players for our board game sessions, especially hero realms. It's in a fantasy theme and supports up to 8 players. It's free and without ads, so totally free.
This is currently a closed alpha (needed for Google Play)
You can join the testers group on Google groups: https://groups.google.com/g/player-picker-test-group
After joining the group you can download the app in the Google app store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.enchantedlabs.playerpicker
Hope that does not count as ad. It's only a free helpful tool for board game players. Feel free to share any feedback you have!

Comp Bingo is a regular thread on the 1st of the month.
​
Reading is so important to learning how to write well, yet many aspiring writers have trouble finding the time and motivation to read. Well, here's some accountability!
Below, post the book you read last month and what we can learn from it about writing. This book can be fiction or nonfiction, fantasy or another genre, for fun or the bingo (explained below). Let us know what you learned from the book. We might want to read that book and learn that thing too!
If you completed your bingo card, give us the details so you can earn your special flair!
—---------—---------—---------—---------—---------—---------
Fantasywriter’s Comp Bingo
A comparative title (comp) is a published book that is somehow similar to your book. It also must be recently published, in the same genre, and targeted at the same age group. Reading your potential comps will provide ideas on how to nail certain aspects of your story. Stating your comps will help future agents and editors figure out what sorts of people are going to love your book.
Below is a bingo card that shows how to find your comps and encourages you to read them:
​
https://preview.redd.it/oh9mc9hfr8zb1.png?width=1503&format=png&auto=webp&s=cfc2aeb11d80bf4a42d325d3100891cb0770e7ad
To complete the bingo and earn a special flair:

1. Read three books that correspond to three squares in a row (or column or diagonal) or the whole card for an even special-er flair.
2. All comps must be published in the last 5 years - because that's a typical time period used for comps.
3. Other than the publication date, there is no time limit to complete the bingo. Do the bingo card sometime between the brainstorming stage and the querying stage of your novel.
4. Down below, state the books you read, why they're your comps, and their publication date.

Need recommendations on what book fits a particular Comp Bingo Square?

• Fantasy is a good place to learn what's hip nowadays. You can start a recommendation thread if you’re looking for something particular. However, they skew heavily toward adult fantasy, with only a moderate amount of discussion on YA fantasy and almost no discussion on middle-grade fantasy. They can also be an echo chamber for the 7 most popular authors.
• Goodreads.com allows you to browse recent releases. They have lists of books and a bit of code that can link you from one book to other similar books. Here are some lists to get you started:
  • Middle-grade books published in 2023 (has all genres but the fantasy ones are easy to pick out)
  • YA books published in 2023 (has all genres but the fantasy ones are easy to pick out)
  • Most anticipated adult fantasy in 2023
• ChatGPT is decent. Give it a prompt like “Please recommend five books that are 1) adult (or YA or MG), 2) fantasy, 3) published in the last five years, and 4) have themes related to [whatever you’re writing].” It’ll report back with fitting recommendations. However, it can A) be wishy-washy at the border of YA and adult, B) only give well-known titles, and C) take a wrong guess about a book's content based on its blurb and surrounding chatter. All of the above can be solved by a quick trip to Goodreads to confirm.

Feeling too poor to fill out the bingo card?
You can buy used books on Amazon or AbeBooks.com but don't forget about the library! Nowadays, apps like Libby and Hoopla coordinate with libraries to bring free ebooks and audiobooks right to your phone. It’s a huge, free selection of books!
NOTE: I shouldn't have to say this, but please don't pirate books. Publishing houses consider how well an author's previous book sold before publishing their next book. Library sales factor into that equation but pirate downloads don't.
Don't enjoy reading?
You may be reading (and writing) in the wrong subgenre. Fantasy is large, with many different niches. It spans from cynical, stabby Grimdark to optimistic, heroic Noblebright. There are the world-spanning storylines of Epic Fantasy down to the tiny, cutesy storylines of Cozy Fantasy. There are the overly rational subgenres of LitRPG and Science Fantasy, as well as the more artsy New Weird and Fairy Tales. There are also other mediums such as graphic novels, screenplays, DMing, and video game storylines. And if the last good book you read was in grade school, have you considered that you might be partial to middle-grade and YA fantasy, even as an adult?
All these subgenres are drastically different from one another in terms of atmosphere, prose, and plot expectations. Don't assume Grimdark is your chosen subgenre just because that's what all your friends are into. Explore around a bit. You'll know you've hit the right subgenre when you start loving what you're reading.
So explore what people are reading down below and think about which books you should read to up your writing game.

Free download / Streaming / Licensing: https://www.lokhmatovmusic.com/product/epic-dark/
Epic #cinematic theme with dark atmosphere. Hybrid distorted guitars, epic drums, percussion and ethnic throat singing. #horror #scary
Feel free to use this music track at no cost in your YouTube Shorts, TikTok videos, and Reels on Facebook and Instagram (link above).
You can stream it on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon, SoundCloud, Deezer, NetEase, and more (link above).
To monetize your Youtube videos follow link above.
A big thank you to everyone who listens to and incorporates my music in their videos!

Hi Everyone,
If you have any pride events you would like to add please post them below. Hope you all made it out of the storm yesterday without your car looking like a golf ball. Enjoy your weekend!!!

FRIDAY - MAY 31st

Matt Cobos Stand Up @ Comedy Works South @ 9:45PM
‘You Should Know’ Podcast Live @ Boulder Theater @ 8PM Viral podcasters Peyton Hardin and Cameron Kennedy bring their juiciest and funniest stories to their interactive live show.
Brooks & Dunn @ Ball Arena @ 7PM
Michael Franti + Spearhead @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre @ 7PM With Ripe
Buckethead @ Mishawaka Amphitheatre @ 8PM
Andrea Gibson + Tig Notaro @ Paramount Theatre @ 7:30PM
DUPB Music Fest @ Levitt Pavilion @ 6:45PM Featuring Bryce Vine with Judith Hindle and Langdon Bradley *Free Concert
The Kid LAROI @ Fillmore Auditorium @ 6PM
Spite + Bodysnatcher @ Summit @ 7PM
Alexander Stewart @ Marquis Theater @ 7PM
Echo & The Bunnymen @ Ogden Theatre @ 8PM With Via Mardot
Whitey Morgan @ Gothic Theatre @ 8PM
Lavern @ Temple @ 10PM
Hugel @ The Church Nightclub @ 9PM
Hunter Burnette / Heavy Diamond Ring @ Bluebird Theater @ 8PM
Cedric Burnside @ Globe Hall @ 8PM
Gimme Gimme Disco @ Fox Theatre @ 9PM

SATURDAY - JUNE 1st

U.S Women's National Soccer Team vs Korea Republic @ Dick’s Sporting Goods Park @ 3PM
Ongoing - Cherry Creek Fresh Market @ 9AM Shop Colorado products in season like farm flowers, fresh fruit & veggies, local greens, culinary herbs, French cheeses, vegan & gluten-free products, and much more!
Lumonics Immersed @ Lumonics Gallery @ 8PM The Light Sculptures of the late Dorothy and Mel Tanner . A rotating display of 75 light sculptures from a collection of over 200 from the past 50+ years.
​​Ongoing - Farmers Market @ City Park Esplanade @ 8AM
Saturday Night Bazaar @ Platte Street @ 4PM This monthly pop-up market features 50+ local makers and craft vendors, street food and food trucks, fashion trucks, live DJs, and craft brews and cocktails.
Made By Us Market @ EDENS @ 11AM MBU markets connect visitors with local artists and small business at the specially curated monthly events.
Denver Cultural Market @ Clyfford Still Museum @ 11AM Enjoy the sunshine and explore an outdoor market featuring unique items and books from local museums and cultural organizations
Meditation in the Galleries @ Clyfford Still Museum @ 9AMClear your mind, relax, and enjoy the beauty that surrounds you in the galleries.
‘C.S.Lewis On Stage’ Performance @ Ellie Caulkins Opera House @ 4PM The show captures C.S. Lewis’ magnetic personality, astonishing eloquence and laugh-out-loud wit, venturing deep into the soul of one of the most influential thinkers of the past century.
Wanda Sykes Comedy Show @ Paramount Theatre @ 5PM / 7:30
Calexico @ Levitt Pavilion @ 7PM With The PlainsSong Symphony Orchestra and Professor Phelyx *Free Concert
Reggaeton Rave @ Summit @ 9PM
Joe Russo @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre @ 7:30PM With Branford Marsalis
Michael Franti + Spearhead @ Chautauqua @ 7:30PM
The Jins @ Marquis Theater @ 8PM
Buckethead @ Ogden Theatre @ 8PM
Ripe @ Gothic Theatre @ 8PM With The Free Label
Denver House Music @ Temple @ 10PM *Free Party
Cedric Burnside @ Globe Hall @ 8PM
Moondial @ Fox Theatre @ 8PM
Danceportation @ Meow Wolf @ 10:30PM
K-Pop Night @ Bluebird Theater @ 8PM
Gimme Gimme Disco @ Aggie Theatre @ 9PM

SUNDAY - JUNE 2nd

Jazz Sundays: Roka Hueka @ City Park @ 6PM
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway @ Mishawaka Amphitheatre @ 8PM
Kutandara + Mokomba Ensemble @ Levitt Pavilion @ 5PM *Free Concert
James Taylor & His All-Star Band @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre @ 8PM
Madison Beer @ Fillmore Auditorium @ 8PM
Joe Russo’s Selcouth Quartet @ Bluebird Theater @ 8PM
Elephantis @ Larimer Lounge @ 8PM
Blue Ribbon Band @ Globe Hall @ 4PM

Partnership!

🎉Exciting News! I have partnered with Commonly, run by a fellow /denver poaster, David, to help you make new friends and explore the best of Denver.
Commonly, a Denver based startup is dedicated to fostering genuine connections through small, fun events.
Here’s how it works:

1. Sign up for Commonly here and download the mobile app ( /denver members get their first month 100% free)
2. Build Your Profile and select the dates you want to meet people.
3. Get Matched: Two days before your event, you’ll be grouped with 6-8 others based on your profile and receive your event details. Events are typically dinners, brunches, trivia, and more.
4. Just Show Up: From dinners to trivia nights and more, just show up and let Commonly do the rest.
5. Make Friends: If you meet someone and the connection is mutual, you’re on your way to becoming friends and will be matched at future events.
   Join thousands of Denver locals who’ve made real connections. Sign up today for your first month 100% free.
   

All Weekend

FRIDAY & SATURDAY - Excision @ Denver Coliseum @ 5:30PM With EPTIC, Wooli, ATLiens, & more!
SATURDAY & SUNDAY - Outside Festival @ Civic Center Park The first-ever Outside Festival invites visitors for a weekend of music, films, speakers, and recreation! Featuring Thundercat, Lettuce, Fleet Foxes, Andrew Bird, and more!
SATURDAY & SUNDAY - Denver Chalk Art Festival Golden Triangle Creative District A Denver tradition for 20 years, this festival brings art to life! Come see professional artists at work or participate yourself
All weekend - Ken Flores Stand Up @ Comedy Works Downtown
All weekend - Henry Cho Stand Up @ Comedy Works South
All weekend - Rainbow Kitten Surprise @ Mission Ballroom @ 8PM With Madi Diaz
All weekend - ‘Taking Venice’ Screening @ The Dairy Arts Center See the premiere of the documentary that’s making waves in the art world!
All weekend - ‘The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical’ @ Aurora Fox Arts Center Adapted from the best-selling book by Rick Riordan and featuring a thrilling original rock score this new musical production is an action-packed mythical adventure for the whole family!
All weekend - ‘Company’ Musical @ Buell Theatre LAST CHANCE - This revelatory new production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s groundbreaking musical comedy is boldly sophisticated, deeply insightful, and downright hilarious.
All weekend - ‘Where Did We Sit On The Bus’ Play @ Singleton Theatre LAST CHANCE - Through live music and storytelling, this one-person show immerses the audience in elaborate, layered soundscapes by fusing Latin rhythms, hip-hop, and spoken word poetry.
All weekend - ‘The Lehman Trilogy’ Play @ Kilstrom Theatre LAST CHANCE - ‘The Lehman Trilogy’ is an epic and timely story of family, ambition, and risk, sprawling across 163 years of history of the Lehman Brothers.
All weekend - ‘Cullud Wattah’ Play @ Curious Theatre This time-bending play takes on the Flint Water Crisis and dives deep into the poisonous choices of the outside world and how we make the best decisions for our families’ futures when there are no options.
All weekend - ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ Play @ Vintage Theatre In this original Broadway production, an eclectic group of teenagers vie for the spelling championship of a lifetime.
All weekend - ‘The Hombres’ Play @ Vintage Theatre Following the story of two men with opposite lives, this play is a fresh and nuanced look at the complexity and intimacy of male friendship.

Ongoing

Ongoing - ‘Bubble Planet’ Experience @ Exhibition Hub Art Center Prepare to be transported to surreal landscapes and explore 10 bubble-themed rooms that will take your imagination to new heights.
Ongoing - ‘Novo Ita: Propagation’ Immersive Experience @ Spectra Art Space Discover the story of Novo Ita through tactile exploration, puzzles, and augmented reality quests in this interactive experience that combines real botanical gardens & immersive art.
Ongoing - ‘The Berlin Airlift: Supplies from the Sky’ Exhibition @ Wings Museum The exhibit shares the lessons of courage, perseverance, and the triumph of the human spirit and pays tribute to the brave citizens who risked their lives to bring hope to a divided city.
Ongoing - ‘Biophilia: Nature Reimagined’ Exhibition @ DAM The exhibition brings together more than 80 imaginative works, including architectural models and photographs, digital installations, and immersive art that collectively highlight the transformative power of nature.
Ongoing - ‘Fazal Sheikh: Thirst Exposure In Place’ Exhibition @ DAM Capturing the Colorado Plateau, Sheikh’s portraits and landscapes shed light on the far-reaching consequences of extractive industry and climate change.
Ongoing - ‘The Russells in Denver, 1921’ Exhibition @ DAM Charles M. Russel’s works capture the vast landscapes, mountain ranges, and peoples of the American West of the 1880s, thus leaving a valuable chronicle of the West that once was.
Ongoing - ‘Sandra Vásquez de la Horra: The Awake Volcanoes’ Exhibition @ DAM The exhibition highlights paintings, drawings, and prints by award-winning artist Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, who explores the notions of fantasy, desire, fear, and pleasure and its relationship to the human body.

Loving this so far! A bit of a rice here with rounded corners in picom, tweaked alacritty term, and the bar is a tweaked version of one of the Cozy themes. It is probably something I will be contunually tweaking until I am perfectly happy with it.
​
Qtile

Hello, thank you for reading this article. This is my second Android app - Agile Battle. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.snake.agilebattle

• It is a matching game with lots of cute patterned cards.
• The app offers multiple themes and supports multiple languages.
• The app is free and has no advertisements.
• The app is implemented with Jetpack Compose.

If you are interested in it, feel free to download it. :) I would appreciate any feedback. video: https://youtu.be/EeS_067DPU8
Thank you very much.

In my book, I delve into the concept of seeing through the mind's eye, emphasizing the importance of cultivating intuition. One exercise involves quieting the mind through meditation, allowing space for subtle impressions. Another is keeping a dream journal to enhance dream recall, fostering a deeper connection to subconscious insights. These practices can aid in developing your unique intuitive abilities.
Additionally, exploring mindfulness exercises like focused breathing and observation of surroundings can heighten sensory awareness. Engaging in regular self-reflection encourages understanding and recognition of intuitive nudges. Embracing creativity, such as through art or journaling, serves as a gateway to accessing and interpreting the intuitive realm. The journey toward honing these skills involves patience, openness, and trust in the subtle signals from the mind's eye.
Further, I explore the power of connecting with nature to amplify intuitive senses. Spending time outdoors, observing patterns and energies in natural settings, can enhance one's attunement to intuitive information. Developing empathy and active listening skills in daily interactions with others also plays a crucial role in honing intuitive abilities, fostering a deeper understanding of non-verbal cues and energies. These practices collectively contribute to unlocking and embracing the innate gifts within each individual.

1. Meditation: Start with regular meditation to quiet the mind. Focus on deep, rhythmic breathing to create mental stillness and openness.
   
2. Dream Journaling: Keep a journal by your bedside and record your dreams. This helps in remembering and deciphering subconscious messages.
   
3. Mindfulness Exercises: Practice mindfulness by engaging in activities like focused breathing, observing your surroundings, or mindful walking. Heightened awareness can lead to intuitive insights.
   
4. Nature Connection: Spend time in nature regularly. Observe natural patterns, energy flows, and the environment to enhance your intuitive connection with the world around you.
   
5. Creativity Exploration: Embrace creative outlets such as art, writing, or music. These activities stimulate the imagination and open channels for intuitive expression.
   
6. Self-Reflection: Set aside time for introspection. Reflect on your thoughts, emotions, and experiences. This helps in understanding and recognizing your own intuitive signals.
   
7. Empathy Development: Cultivate empathy in your interactions. Actively listen to others, pay attention to non-verbal cues, and connect on a deeper level to sharpen your intuitive understanding.
   
8. Trusting Intuition: Practice trusting your instincts in everyday decisions. Start with small choices and gradually build confidence in relying on your intuitive guidance.
   
9. Positive Intentions: Set positive intentions for your psychic development. Approach the process with openness, curiosity, and a desire to use your abilities for the greater good.
   
10. Patience and Consistency: Psychic development is a gradual process. Be patient with yourself, stay consistent in your practices, and remain open to the unique journey of uncovering your psychic abilities.
    Cultivating empathy involves being present and attuned to others, understanding their emotions beyond words. Actively listening and observing non-verbal cues, such as body language and tone of voice, deepens your connection with people.
    

Trusting intuition is a gradual process. Begin with small decisions, like choosing what to wear or deciding on a route to take. Reflect on the outcomes and how your intuition guided you. Over time, as you build confidence, you'll naturally integrate intuitive decision-making into more significant aspects of your life.
Positive Intentions: Approach your psychic development with a mindset focused on positivity and benevolence. Before engaging in any exercises, set an intention to use your abilities for the greater good. Cultivate openness, curiosity, and a genuine desire to bring positive insights into your life and the lives of others.
Patience and Consistency: 1. Start Small: Begin with bite-sized practices. Don't overwhelm yourself with too much too soon. Gradually increase the complexity of your exercises as you feel more comfortable.

1. Create a Routine: Establish a regular routine for your psychic development activities. Consistency is key in reinforcing new habits and allowing your intuition to naturally unfold.
   
2. Reflect Regularly: Take time to reflect on your experiences. Acknowledge any progress, no matter how small. Reflection enhances self-awareness and keeps you attuned to changes in your intuitive abilities.
   
3. Adapt and Adjust: Be flexible in your approach. If certain exercises or methods aren't resonating with you, feel free to explore alternatives. The key is finding what works best for your unique journey.
   
4. Seek Support: Connect with like-minded individuals or seek guidance from mentors experienced in psychic development. Sharing experiences and insights with others can provide valuable perspectives and encouragement.
   
5. Celebrate Milestones: Acknowledge and celebrate your achievements along the way. Whether it's a heightened intuitive moment or a successful exercise, positive reinforcement reinforces your commitment to the process.
   

Remember, psychic development is personal and varies for each individual. By approaching it with positive intentions, patience, and consistency, you'll create a foundation for a transformative and fulfilling journey.
Create a Psychic Development Routine:

1. Morning Meditation: Start your day with a brief meditation session. Focus on deep, intentional breathing to clear your mind and create a receptive mental space for intuitive insights.
   
2. Dream Journaling: Dedicate a few minutes each morning to record any dreams or impressions from the night. This practice enhances your connection to subconscious messages.
   
3. Midday Mindfulness Break: Take a short break during your day for mindfulness. Practice deep breathing or engage in a brief observation of your surroundings, tuning in to the present moment.
   
4. Nature Connection: Incorporate nature into your routine. Whether it's a daily walk in the park or a few moments in your garden, observe natural patterns and energy to strengthen your intuitive connection.
   
5. Creative Expression: Set aside time for creative activities. This could be drawing, writing, or any form of expression that sparks your imagination and taps into intuitive channels.
   
6. Evening Reflection: Before bedtime, reflect on your day. Consider any intuitive nudges or insights you may have experienced. This reflection enhances self-awareness and intuitive recognition.
   
7. Empathy Exercise: During social interactions, consciously practice empathy. Actively listen, observe non-verbal cues, and aim to connect on a deeper level with others.
   
8. Trusting Intuition Practice: Choose a small decision each day to make based on your intuition. Reflect on the outcome and how it aligns with your intuitive guidance.
   
9. Positive Intention Setting: Begin and end your day by setting positive intentions for your psychic development journey. Cultivate openness, curiosity, and a desire to use your abilities for the greater good.
   
10. Weekly Review: Reserve time at the end of each week to review your experiences, insights, and any changes in your intuitive abilities. Adjust your routine as needed to accommodate your evolving journey.
    

Consistency in following this routine will contribute to the natural unfolding of your intuitive abilities over time. Adapt it to suit your lifestyle and preferences, making it a personalized and effective guide for your psychic development journey.
Here's a list of creative activities that can spark your imagination and tap into intuitive channels:

1. Artistic Journaling: Combine drawing, painting, and written reflections in a dedicated journal. Express your thoughts and feelings through a combination of images and words.
   
2. Collage Creation: Gather magazines, newspapers, and images. Create collages that represent your emotions, desires, or intuitive impressions.
   
3. Mandalas: Design intricate mandalas using geometric patterns and colors. The meditative process can enhance your intuitive connection.
   
4. Poetry Writing: Explore poetry as a form of expression. Allow your emotions and intuitions to flow through carefully chosen words and rhythms.
   
5. Freeform Writing: Write without constraints or structure. Let your thoughts flow freely, tapping into your subconscious and intuitive insights.
   
6. Visual Storytelling: Craft visual stories through photography or creating a series of drawings that convey a narrative related to your intuitive experiences.
   
7. Symbol Exploration: Experiment with creating personal symbols or sigils. These symbols can represent aspects of your intuition or serve as guides in your psychic development.
   
8. Found Object Art: Collect interesting objects and arrange them in artistic ways. Pay attention to the intuitive associations that arise during the process.
   
9. Nature-Inspired Art: Use elements from nature as inspiration. Create art that reflects the patterns, colors, and energy you observe in the natural world.
   
10. Music Exploration: Experiment with creating music or playlists that evoke certain emotions or states of mind. Pay attention to the intuitive responses music elicits.
    
11. Dance and Movement: Express yourself through dance or movement. Allow your body to move freely, tapping into intuitive impulses.
    
12. Mind Mapping: Create visual mind maps to explore connections between different thoughts, ideas, and intuitive impressions.
    
13. Automatic Writing: Set a timer and let your hand move across the page without consciously guiding it. Allow intuitive thoughts to flow through the writing.
    
14. Symbolic Drawing: Draw symbols that represent aspects of your psychic development journey. Reflect on the meaning behind each symbol.
    
15. Color Exploration: Experiment with colors that resonate with your emotions and intuitive experiences. Create artwork focused on exploring the emotional impact of different colors.
    

Remember, the goal is not perfection but self-expression and exploration. Choose activities that resonate with you, and don't be afraid to try new things to discover what sparks your creative and intuitive channels.
Automatic Writing Activity:

1. Preparation:
   
   • Find a quiet and comfortable space.
   • Set a timer for 10-15 minutes.
   • Have a pen and paper ready.
2. Relaxation Exercise:
   
   • Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.
   • Focus on calming your mind and letting go of any immediate thoughts.
3. Start Writing:
   
   • Begin writing without a specific topic or direction.
   • Allow your hand to move freely, capturing whatever thoughts come to mind.
4. No Judgment:
   
   • Resist the urge to edit or judge your writing during the process.
   • Embrace the flow of thoughts, even if they seem unrelated or nonsensical.
5. Reflection:
   
   • After the timer stops, read through what you've written.
   • Look for patterns, recurring themes, or any intuitive insights that emerged.
6. Journal Entry:
   
   • Record your observations and any notable insights in your psychic development journal.

Symbolic Drawing Activity:

1. Gather Materials:
   
   • Get a sketchbook or paper and drawing tools.
   • Choose colors that resonate with your emotions and intentions.
2. Set Intentions:
   
   • Reflect on aspects of your psychic development journey you want to explore.
   • Set intentions for the symbols you'll create to represent these aspects.
3. Drawing Session:
   
   • Start drawing symbols without overthinking.
   • Let your intuition guide the shapes, lines, and patterns that emerge.
4. Reflect on Each Symbol:
   
   • After creating the symbols, reflect on each one individually.
   • Consider the emotions, thoughts, or memories associated with them.
5. Create a Symbol Map:
   
   • Arrange the symbols on a page, creating a symbolic map of your psychic development journey.
   • Note any connections or relationships between symbols.
6. Write About Each Symbol:
   
   • Write a brief description or narrative for each symbol, explaining its significance in your psychic development.
7. Integration:
   
   • Find ways to incorporate these symbols into your daily life or use them as a visual representation during meditation or reflection.

These activities are designed to tap into your subconscious and intuitive insights. Enjoy the process, and don't be concerned about creating something aesthetically perfect—focus on the personal meaning and connection to your psychic journey.
When setting intentions for symbolic drawing in your psychic development journey, consider the following steps:

1. Self-Reflection:
   
   • Take a moment to reflect on your current stage of psychic development.
   • Consider any specific areas or aspects you wish to explore or enhance.
2. Identify Goals:
   
   • Define clear goals for your psychic development journey. For example, it could be improving intuitive insights, connecting with higher consciousness, or understanding energy dynamics.
3. Emotional Exploration:
   
   • Explore your emotions related to psychic development. Identify feelings of curiosity, excitement, or any apprehensions you may have.
4. Connection with Symbols:
   
   • Think about symbols or imagery that resonate with your goals and emotions. These could be traditional symbols, personal objects, or abstract representations.
5. Intentions Setting:
   
   • Write down your intentions for the symbolic drawing. Be specific about what each symbol represents in relation to your psychic development journey.
6. Affirmations:
   
   • Create positive affirmations that align with your intentions. These can reinforce your commitment to the goals you've set.
7. Visualize Success:
   
   • Close your eyes and visualize yourself successfully progressing in your psychic development. Imagine the positive impact on your life and well-being.
8. Openness and Receptivity:
   
   • Cultivate an attitude of openness and receptivity to intuitive guidance. Express a willingness to explore and learn throughout your journey.
9. Write It Down:
   
   • Record your intentions in your psychic development journal. This serves as a reference point for your symbolic drawing session.
10. Stay Open to Changes:
    
    • Be open to the possibility that your intentions may evolve as you progress. Allow room for changes and new insights to shape your psychic development journey.

By setting clear intentions, you provide a focused direction for your symbolic drawing, making it a powerful tool for self-discovery and intuitive exploration.
In this conversation, we discussed various aspects of psychic development and provided guidance on cultivating intuitive abilities. The key points include:

1. Mind's Eye and Intuition:
   
   • Explored the concept of seeing through the mind's eye and the importance of intuition in psychic development.
2. Exercises for Development:
   
   • Discussed exercises such as meditation, dream journaling, mindfulness, and creativity to enhance intuitive senses.
3. Nature Connection and Empathy:
   
   • Emphasized the role of nature connection and empathy in strengthening intuitive connections with the environment and others.
4. Positive Intentions and Patience:
   
   • Encouraged setting positive intentions, approaching the journey with openness, and maintaining patience and consistency in the development process.
5. Creating a Routine:
   
   • Provided a suggested routine involving meditation, dream journaling, mindfulness, nature connection, creativity, reflection, empathy, and trusting intuition.
6. Creative Activities:
   
   • Shared ideas for creative activities, including art journaling, collages, mandalas, poetry writing, and symbolic drawing, to tap into intuitive channels.
7. Automatic Writing and Symbolic Drawing Activities:
   
   • Explained specific activities for automatic writing and symbolic drawing, guiding individuals to allow intuitive thoughts to flow and create symbols reflecting aspects of their psychic journey.
8. Setting Intentions for Symbolic Drawing:
   
   • Advised on the importance of reflecting on psychic development goals, identifying emotions, connecting with symbols, and setting clear intentions before engaging in symbolic drawing.

This comprehensive summary provides insights into developing psychic abilities, incorporating mindfulness practices, and fostering a deeper connection with intuition for personal growth.
This is a good look at some of the things I discuss in my ebook, which I self published in 2020. It's a guided journey into creating a different type of psychic gift, without the modern world looking at this "gift" as a way to take advantage of others. This is book about how to be more in tune with your own instincts and using these to benefit your own life. If you're willing and interested in trying to bring your gifts into the public sphere, do so with caution, because there is balence in the universe, and you're always welcome to provide a balance ⚖️ in life, but try to avoid distractions and disruptive things in your life. Karma exists. Do proceed with caution when exposed. People aren't always good at accepting these gifts.
To read this ebook, simply go to my website and download the free version. Print version is no longer available. If there's a demand, I might rerelease it in the future. But there's a free version, so I don't think it's a good idea to rerelease it now.
Thanks for letting me share this with you!
Holly