Credit to u/SpacePaladin15 for the NOP Universe.
Hey, I hope everyone's doing well!
Today we return to the namesake of this fic, an actual lesson about animals. This one focuses on Koalas! One of Australia's most recognisable critters. I hope you enjoy.
It's hardly worth mentioning, seeing as I'm an infrequent poster at the best of times, but I'll not have another chapter out for a few weeks due to limited free time and devoting most of my writing time to an upcoming ficnapping. Be sure to look out for that!
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Memory transcription subject: Rysel, Venlil Environmental Researcher
Date [Standardised human time]: 8th September 2136
“Koalas!”
Bernard’s energised voice boomed through the air as the classroom's monitor flickered into life, images of this paws lecture topic popping up one after the other until the entire screen was filled with a collage of furry quadrupeds.
Squee! I’ll never get tired of this, it’s all so cool!
As usual the sight of something new stirred immediate discussion, hushed murmurs swelling into vibrant discourse in little more than a heartbeat. Most of the class swiftly huddled together into small herds to bounce ideas around while the rest opted to stick to the solace of their own thoughts as they took in the display.
I’d be quite happy in either situation, though seeing as Sandi had already sunk into deep concentration and Kailo had peeled off to talk with Ennerif and Solenk, it seemed the decision had been made for me on this occasion. Wasting no more time on idle inspection of the people around me, I focused my full attention forward, eager to form first impressions before the lesson began in earnest.
Now then, time to make some educated guesses. What traits does this animal have? I wonder if I’ll get any right this paw?
Professional assumptions went paw-in-paw with the lectures, examining and coming up with hypotheses about the specimens was only natural. Recently however, I’d started to make a little game of it to make things even more interesting than usual. A veritable bonfire of ideas had been set ablaze within me, fueled by my newfound knowledge of Earthen wildlife. Every flash and spark of the flame was a fresh theory I could try to apply to the lectures. It was an invigorating exercise that further stoked my unceasing wonderment.
So far I’d only done this once during the previous class and, to my disappointment, I’d not done too well.
I was right when I guessed that chickens were omnivores, but wrong in my assumption that they could fly. And that red thing on their head, the um… what was it called? The comb! Yes, the comb. I thought that was to attract mates, but it regulates body heat instead. It’s fascinating. Oh! Stars damn it I’m rambling!
I bapped my tail against my leg, the soft thud being just enough to snap me back from my runaway thoughts before I went completely wall-eyed. I was becoming more and more accustomed to getting lost in my own head while remaining conscious of the fact; it was happening so frequently now that it was pretty much impossible not to. Now I was able to pull myself back to the world around me without having to rely on someone else shaking me out of it. Most of the time anyway.
Sandi still keeps an eye on me, and Kailo even decided to help out once without being too snide about it. Anyway where was I? Oh yeah, Koalas.
Glancing at the furred animals, two things immediately stood out. Firstly, their eyes were in a more central position on their face. And second, all the images showed them being on or close to trees. There were other noteworthy observations of course, such as the Koala’s prominent nose and rounded features, but they fell to the wayside as I honed in on these points first.
Hmmm… ok. I already know to discount the idea that they’re predators just from eye position, so let’s get that thought out of here. Maybe omnivorous? Herbivore? Agh no, I can’t just guess that for the sake of guessing, that’s the same problem! Hrm, it’s tough making these assumptions now that everything I thought I knew has been turned on its head.
Nevermind, I’ll focus on the other thing. All the trees make me think they’re arboreal, that seems to be a reasonable assumption. I wonder what else they-
Clearing his throat, Bernard broke my concentration, his call for attention silencing the murmuring conversation and redirecting everyone's focus to the lecturer's podium.
His gaze panned across the room as he waited for everyone to settle, a beaming smile lighting up his face, “As ever I’m delighted to see you all get so into the subject matter from the get go. I’m looking forward to hearing what you were discussing should you wish to share. For now though, how about we get started, hm?”
A chorus of merry bleats rang out from across the audience, ears and tails flicking happily in agreement. Bernard's grin grew in tandem with the class's fervour, clasping his hands together enthusiastically as he launched into the lesson, “Excellent! Then let’s get started.”
The pictures on screen dissolved away until only one remained, enlarging to cover the entire monitor with the fluffy grey face of a Koala peacefully reclining in the crook of a tree.
“Ah, there we are,” Bernard’s baritone timbre drifted through the room as he looked up at the image, his own tone reflecting the relaxed attitude of the animal on screen, “He looks so comfortable doesn’t he? Perfectly at peace with the world, not too surprising considering they sleep almost 20 hours a day. A full paw!”
A wave of beeps and gasps rippled through the herd, punctuated by a single yawn-dressed comment from Rova, “A full paw? Hwuuu… jealous.”
Her drowsy remark elicited several whistling giggles from the herd, Bernard's own jovial chortle joining them as he turned to face her, “Late evening Rova?”
I twisted a little in my seat, panning an eye in Rova’s direction just in time to see her bleary eyes bulge open and her ears shoot up, now intensely aware of the fact she hadn’t been as quiet as she thought she had.
Sitting up abruptly, she hastily tapped down errant tufts of wool that’d flared in surprise as she composed herself, though her nervousness at becoming the centre of the class's attention was still plain for all to hear, “Uh- I um… achem, a little bit yes, um- …sorry. Lokki dragged me out to a movie viewing in the rec centre. It went on pretty late.”
A melodramatic bray from the other side of the room drew everyone's ears away from Rova to the now aghast Lokki, paw splayed across his chest in faux indignation, “Dragged you? Well excuse me for trying to broaden your horizons with human movies. That’ll be the list time I- …Ahaaaa…”
Lokki’s theatrics were cut short by a heavy yawn of his own, a swell of whistling laughter rolling through the herd as vibrant bloom lit up his snout, a sight that elicited a particularly amused bleat from Rova.
Turning away from the duo I looked back at Bernard, pleased to see that he was chuckling along with us. Behaviour like Lokki’s would never have been tolerated in my school and university days but, in stark contrast, Bernard revelled in it, the liveliness of his students fueling his own bombastic style of teaching. It was a pleasant change of pace having a teacher who let us all be ourselves in class; provided we weren’t too disruptive to the lesson plan.
Speaking of which.
His laughter still rumbling through the air, Bernard clapped his hands to pull everyone's focus back to him, “Ok, ok, let’s get back to it then shall we? Rova. Lokki. Hopefully the two of you can stay awake long enough until you can grab yourselves a coffee.”
As the class settled down and the last few giggling beeps petered out, Benard pointed a hand to the screen, “So, the Koala. Let’s start simple shall we? They are herbivorous marsupials native to the eastern and southern coasts of Australia. Easily recognised the world over, they are a well known and beloved symbol of their homeland, along with other animals such as the Kangaroo and the Emu. The former of which you might remember from one of our earlier lectures.”
Indeed I did remember, along with how angry Bernard had gotten after some speh-head had derided the Yotul after he explained how he held specific disdain for such attitudes.
Uuuggghh… I never want to see him angry again. So chilling.
I shook my ears in an effort to dismiss the unpleasant memory, panning my eyes back to the monitor to try and distract myself by inspecting the Koala’s physical appearance once more. Thankfully, by some Star's blessed intervention, Bernard had the exact same idea.
“Koala’s are rather squat in stature, ranging around sixty to eighty-five centimetres in length and weighing little more than fifteen to sixteen kilograms at their full size. As you can see, the fur of this fellow before you is a lovely silvery grey, but their fur can also sport a chocolaty brown hue as well. Arguably the most distinctive part of their appearance is their head, being rather large for their body size and having rounded ears, a large nose, and a pair of small eyes. These are often brown but variations do occur.”
It didn’t slip past my notice that Bernard didn’t bother to point out that the Koala’s eyes were forward facing. I didn’t think he’d simply forgotten, so perhaps he just felt it wasn’t necessary given that he’d already stated it was herbivorous. Either way, no one stuck up a paw or tail to question him.
“Now this will hardly be surprising considering how long they sleep, but Koala’s are largely sedentary and it’s rather easy to see why when you have a look into the contents of their diet.”
With the press of a button the Koala on screen was replaced by images of vibrant green vegetation. Soaring trees and flowering shrubbery weaved together across landscape framed pictures pulled admiring trills from the herd, the diversity of the plant life being shown standing as a reminder that it wasn’t only animal life that flourished on Earth.
After giving everyone the chance to take in the picturesque scenes, Bernard casually hammered that point home, “This is eucalyptus or, more accurately, a choice selection of more than 700 plants belonging to the eucalyptus genus, though the Koala itself favours 30 of them in particular.”
700!? Stars…
Realising that my ears had drooped in my momentary awe, I twisted them back to tune into the lesson, only for them to splay out in shock at the next words to come out of Bernard's mouth.
“The leaves of these plants are the primary food source of the Koala and there are a couple things worth mentioning when talking about these plants. For starters they do not have much nutritional or caloric value, leading to the Koala’s low-energy lifestyle. Additionally, they contain toxic compounds.”
A shiver instantly ran through the herd, ears flicking rapidly in confusion and alarm followed by a few quizzical whispers. It didn’t take long for someone to decide to give a proper voice to the murmuring.
“Excuse me Doctor. Did we hear that right? Their diet is made up of toxic flora?” Vlek’s grumbling incredulity cut through the herd's mutterings with ease. Until Kailo’s recent change of heart, the fifty something rotation old blonde Venlil had been a close second in terms of scepticism. Mercifully his rebuttals had always been relevant questions as opposed to ranting diatribes, so he at least remained on topic if nothing else.
Bernard nodded in confirmation, smiling back at Vlek while absentmindedly twirling the end of his moustache, “You heard me right, they do indeed consume plants that are toxic. Just not to them.”
Any worry or uncertainty still clinging to the herd was swept away by the provision of the glaringly obvious answer, leaving me chuckling inwardly at the oversight.
Ah of course! The plant might be poisonous but they’ll have evolved to deal with that. Stars… I’m so used to expecting the unexpected with Earth that I didn’t even consider the simplest solution.
“I see, thank you Doctor,” Vlek replied, a tinge of interest still audible in his tone, “I assume they’ve developed some adaptation to become immune to the harmful effects?”
The question immediately evoked a smirk from our teacher, but he hurriedly suppressed it while bobbing his head, “They have indeed. There are several factors that aid in their digestion of eucalyptus leaves without succumbing to the plant's baleful properties. The first is a part of the intestinal tract called the cecum. It contains a microbiome that allows the Koala to digest the eucalyptus. Coupled with this is an enzyme in the Koala’s liver that helps them break down the toxins. They are also capable of sniffing out the plants with the least amount of toxins, ensuring that they ingest as little as possible.”
Pausing for a breath Bernard looked back at the screen before turning to face us, another grin curling at the edges of his mouth as he continued with his explanation, “This is mostly for adult Koala’s, because while their young also possess these same adaptations, they don’t just go straight to munching through foliage right after being born. No, they need a little help making that jump and getting a stomach full of all that good gut bacteria. It’s nothing bad, but those of a sensitive stomach may wish to prepare themselves for this next part.”
Bernard’s assurances did little to assuage the concern that his warning had foisted upon us. Having been exposed to so much of the weirdness Earth had to offer everyone always ended up on edge whenever Bernard gave advice like this, even if he did say it in jest.
What strange nonsense thing do Koala pups do then? Judging by the way he’s acting it probably isn’t something as simple as drinking milk from the mother. Hmmm…
“So,” Bernard began, snapping us from our pensive stupor, “Young Koala’s, known as joeys, have a gestation period of thirty-five days on average, which is approximately forty-two paws. Once born they travel from the birth canal to a pouch in their mother so that they can continue to develop and grow. In the pouch the joey finds and latches onto one of two teats and these provide the newborn with a steady stream of nourishing milk. It spends the next six to seven months growing in the pouch, its eyes, ears, and fur all developing as time goes on.”
Okay, interesting. But this is exactly how I thought it’d go. What’s different?
The unexpected normalcy of the Koala’s birth and growth cycle had calmed everyone's nerves, only to be replaced with an air of suspicion as we waited with rapt attention for Bernard to drop the other claw and upend our expectations like he always did.
Not wanting to keep us in further suspense he forged ahead, the tempo of his voice picking up as the smile started to crease his face once more, “Now to make the switch from milk to eucalyptus, the mother also feeds the joey a substance called pap. It comes from the cecum I mentioned earlier, and contains all the gut bacteria required to help the young Koala in making the switch to eucalyptus.”
He stopped and looked around, searching us for a reaction to what I felt was a rather bland statement of fact. What was it he was saying without actually saying? Koala pups drink milk to mature and then include this pap substance so that they can start eating plants. I don’t see what-
The cecum is part of the intestine.
I blinked.
I blinked again, the intrusive interruption scouring my brain clean of any other thought bar the one it’d just implanted itself in the forefront of my mind.
Oh stars. They-
“They eat their own poop!?”
The shocked bleat shattered the peace of the room to reveal that most if not all of us had come to the same tail curling conclusion. As the hall filled with unrestrained vocalisations of disgust, an ‘Ugh’ over here and a ‘Blegh’ over there, Bernard’s own bellowing laughter joined the throng of voices.
“Ha! Everytime! Each and every time. Clearly it doesn’t matter if my students are Human or Venlil. Whenever someone learns about the Koala’s dietary development the reaction is the same!”
Pleased with himself beyond reason, Bernard chuckled away while the rest of us grappled with this ghastly reality. While there were plenty of animals that feasted on things that ranged from simply unappealing all the way to the stomach churningly grotesque, I’d never heard of an animal that actively consumed the excrement of its own species. Benefits aside, the prospect of having to do that to survive to adulthood sent a shiver of revulsion down my spine.
Ewww… Stars, I hope I forget this feeling by 2nd meal. They’re serving sturen and magamroot stew later. I was really looking forward to it.
With the herds mood beginning to temper Bernard tapped the podiums controls, removing the verdant collage of eucalyptus to display several similar yet distinct environments, still chortling merrily to himself in the process, “Ok then, with that little foray into their diet complete, why don’t we look at their habitat in more detail? As you might imagine given their diet and arboreal nature, Koala’s live in forested regions, and can be found in tropical and temperate zones. About a century ago they were classed as a vulnerable species, however efforts were made to turn this around and increase their numbers. Sadly the largest factor in their decline was human activity, as the fertile lands that gave rise to their bountiful forests were coveted farm land for our settlements.”
It was strange to hear Bernard so matter of factly admit to humanity's negative impacts on other species. He’d alluded to such things in the past but always with an air of caution, carefully pawing the line between honestly answering a question while not painting humanity as uncaring and destructive. AKA, the ‘predators’ we’d all initially expected them to be.
Perhaps his comfort in making such admissions was a reflection of the class's comfort with him, for no one so much as batted an ear. Even Kailo, who I would’ve expected to jump at the chance to use this as a prime example of predatory danger, only flicked an ear in stern yet silent concern.
A cough from Bernard drew my attention back, a new picture on screen that showed a forest from a bird's-eye view. Drawn across the image were around a dozen ringed areas, some bordering one another while others overlapped to some degree. It took me a moment, but I soon recognised that what I was looking at was a map, the rings representing what I assumed to be territories. And it didn’t take much effort to guess who each one belonged to.
“From habitats we move onto behaviours, so let’s start with territories. Koala’s are solitary animals. Yes, despite being herbivores. Considering they’re only awake for roughly four hours of the day I can hardly blame them. Lots to do and not a lot of time to do it. Jokes aside, once they mature they are quite independent, carving out a little slice of land for themselves, as displayed in this example, called a Home Range. That is not to say they go it alone and leave everything else behind however. Rather, as shown in the map behind me, they live in their own space while still being part of a larger social group.”
With another press of his pad the picture was updated to show one of two symbols in each segment, along with a key to the side of the map displayed in helpful Venlang. A quick glance told me that the symbols were representing whether the territory belonged to a male or female of the species.
“As you can see there is quite a bit of overlap between different Koala’s territories. It is in these areas that most of the socialising takes place between neighbours. The trees in these locations represent the few areas where intrusion across territories is acceptable for the sake of social interaction. Outside of that the Koala’s stick to their own territories for the most part, with the exceptions of Koala’s who are passing through, attempting to become part of the social group themselves, or dominant males who sometimes go off into another Koala’s range. But how do they know where one range begins and another range ends you might ask? Well, this brings us onto the next part of the lecture. How do Koala’s communicate?”
Wiping away the map from the monitor, Bernard loaded up a video of a Koala sitting in a tree and pressed play. Head held high, the Koala’s body shook as it belted out a reverberating call into the wilderness that could only be described as a garbled combination of a car engine failing to turn over mixed with the hiccups of someone with a particularly sore throat.
That’s how they sound? Oof that must be rough on the lungs.
I clearly wasn’t the only one to share such a thought, because I clocked Sandi tracing a paw along her neck as the noise went on, ears fluttering in discomfort at the noise.
Bernard himself cleared his own throat as the video came to an end, minimising it and replacing it with another image of a tree with a Koala rubbing up against the bark, “I think they’ve got me beat on who’s got the deeper voice!”
His joke garnered several amused beeps, a rare reaction that caused a beaming smile to shine across his face at lighting speed, “Oh you’re too kind. I’ll be here all week. Now where were we? Oh yes! Communication. As you’ve just heard, Koala’s are capable of loud low pitched bellows that can carry over vast distances. These express everything from ‘Hello I’m over here’ to ‘This is my turf, stay away’. Bellowing is more common in the males than the females, opting for shouting matches as opposed to outright fights when it comes to asserting dominance. Other vocal expressions include grunts, wails, and snarls if they’re acting particularly angsty. Mother and joey pairs also communicate through gentle clicking, squeaking, and murmuring sounds. And there’s one more thing worth mentioning. Something they have in common with Humans and Venlil when it comes to emoting.”
Really? They do something we do?
Curious, I pressed myself against the desk, straining as close as I could to once more scrutinise the Koala’s features. Not a lot stood out to me at first, the grey marsupial not sharing many similarities with a Venlil that I could identify.
Ok think. We show emotion with our ears, tails, and our wool on occasion. They don’t have tails so it’s obviously not that. Wool standing on end is more a reaction than a conscious expression. So it must be the ears then.
To my quiet satisfaction, my hunch was soon validated by Bernard, “As well as their vocalisations, Koala’s are very emotive through their facial features. Just like humans, they use their mouths and lips to show how they feel, but these tend more towards the aggressive side of the scale than what you might see on a human. Regarding yourselves however, Koala’s utilise their ears in tandem with their mouth movements when showing strong emotion.”
I was delighted to hear that my assumption was correct, a little happy flick twisting out through my tail and bapping against my chair with a muted thump against the plastic.
Hehe yes! Got one right!
“Now then, we are getting close to lunchtime so I’ll finish this segment off with something I think you’ll find particularly interesting. Diplomacy.”
Perplexed mutterings followed in the wake of the bizarre inclusion to the lecture, my own thoughts being dominated by bewilderment as I tried and failed to make sense of how the two could possibly be related.
Why would Koala’s, or any animal for that matter, be linked to diplomacy? Hmmm...
I could understand dispatching exterminators to deal with a predator issue as a show of goodwill, that at least includes animals, but Humans aren’t like that so I think I can safely scratch that off the list.
Maybe the humans who live in that region benefited from Koala’s in some way. Could they have gotten something from them? But what?
Hopefully not what the pups get from their mothers.
Agh no! Begone awful intrusive thoughts. Blegh! I don’t need that in my head.
As I wrestled with the short-lived revulsion inflicted upon me by my Star's damned subconscious, Bernard placed a new image on screen, one that was decidedly different from all that had preceded it.
On screen were more than a couple dozen pictures of humans. Some were pictured alone while others congregated in large groups while cameras surrounded them from all angles. Across all the images, I noted two common themes. First of all, a solid majority of the humans were wearing formal wear similar to what I’d seen worn by UN representatives on TV. If the gaggle of journalists in the background of the photos didn’t already confirm my suspicions, then it was this similarity which made me conclude they were all people of some importance. Likely politicians judging from context clues.
Secondly, each of the individuals was interacting with a Koala in some form. Some cradled one against their chests while others were feeding it eucalyptus leaves or pellets of some kind. One of the assumed politicians had become an impromptu bed for a snoozing bundle of fur, a gleeful smile spread across their face as they lovingly gazed down at the sleeping Koala in their lap.
As I continued to stare at the assorted photos something clicked into place, a sudden spark flickering into life. A burgeoning light of comprehension that flared and swelled with every wide-eyed breath I took. Some things still escaped me, things I hoped would soon be explained, but in staring at all of the humans happy smiling faces, I was struck with an instant of pure understanding.
If someone, say a Nevok for instance, offered to gift me a creature that was common to them but which might exotic and breathtaking to a Venlil, how could my feelings not be swayed? How could I walk away from that encounter and not have grown closer to them as a result?
“Koala diplomacy,” Bernard waved his hand up at the monitor, a slight reverence in his tone, “My favourite kind of soft power diplomacy. Where political leaders take photo ops with Koala’s and, on occasion, the Australian government loans Koala’s to other nations for a time to bolster positive relations. It certainly helps that Koala’s are a beloved animal worldwide, drawing large crowds and revenue for countries fortunate enough to host the adorable critters.”
The truly alien concept predictably sparked instant discussion in the herd, two polar opposite schools of thought swiftly cementing themselves as the most popular opinions. Simultaneously, I heard one voice trill excitedly while another scoffed at what they clearly saw as a ridiculous and offensive notion.
“Squee! That’d be so cool! I’d love to get the chance to see a Liri from Coila. Remember the Rainbow Boa? Think of that shimmering effect and colour but put it on a bird! Ah! I’ve only heard their song on video. It’d be a treat to hear it in person!”
Ooo! I’ve read about them! I’d love to get up close to one.
“Loaning. As if animals are property to be hoarded and traded? Pugh! Another predatory trait the humans don’t want to acknowledge for what it is.”
Ugh, typical. Jump right to the worst possible option.
However, despite my dismissal of their disparaging fumings, an uncomfortable thought pressed upon my mind. While it was plain to see how much humans cared for the Koala, it didn’t change the fact that humans did keep animals as property just as the scornful herd member had said.
This begged a rather important, disquieting question. Aside from keeping some animals as cattle, a stomach tightening minefield I had no desire to step a claw onto right now, how else did humans keep other creatures. And how did they treat them?
Before I was fully conscious of doing it my paw was in the air, the question primed on my tongue.
Noticing my elevated paw Bernard pointed at me, smiling warmly, “Yes Rysel? What’s on your mind?”
Sorry Bernard. I hope this one’s not too awkward for you to answer.
Flicking my ear in appreciation, and waiting for everyone to settle enough so that I could be heard, I voiced my concerns as neutrally as possible, “Thank you Doctor. I uh, just had a thought. We know that humans keep certain animals for… particular reasons, and we know why. From how you’ve spoken about Koala’s I think it's fair to say that the same cannot be said for them. However, this makes me wonder, what other reasons do humans have for keeping animals and how do you treat them?”
A flash of surprise blinked across Bernard's eyes but vanished so quickly that it felt like I’d imagined it. Had he not expected such a question? Maybe he was just shocked that it’d been me who’d ended up asking it?
Stars, am I so predictable that no one expects me to ask difficult questions?
Unfortunately, a quick glance at my deskmates seemed to prove that to be the case, as both Sandi and Kailo were looking at me with differing degrees of astonishment flapping in their ears.
Well speh.
“A very good point Rysel, certainly one that’s worth raising. Yet another example of you all anticipating what I have to say before I can bring it up myself.” Bernard tapped the podium, switching off the monitor before returning his focus to me, “We won’t be needing that. I’ve nothing prepared that I can show you and we’re heading to lunch in a few minutes anyway. Still, that’s plenty of time to give you a bit of an answer.”
A bit? What does he mean just a bit?
Made even more curious by Bernard's preempted admission that he wasn’t going to fully answer my query, I dialled both my ears on him, fixing him with an inquisitive stare as he started to explain with a tone that was noticeably more nonchalant than any of his previous explanations.
“So, animals in captivity for reasons other than what you already know. Honestly I would love to delve into other reasons regarding why we keep animals. However, I have a lesson plan in the works that I hope to share with you all in the not too distant future. Some of it touches upon this very topic and I’d quite like to bundle it all together. That said, I can tell you how animals in captivity are treated. In short, the answer is very well. There are a mountain of laws both on private and public interests that govern the standards and ethical treatment of animals, and breaches of these laws are quite severe even for relatively minor infractions.”
While I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed by the vague answer to what was really the bulk of my question, I was at least satisfied by Bernard’s assurances that animals in captivity, such as the Koala, were well looked after. Considering the barely subdued grumbling coming from some corners of the audience it was clear that several of the herd didn’t believe Bernard outright, but I trusted him to be honest. Additionally, the mention of an upcoming lecture focused on humans keeping animals caused quite the buzz.
I felt a mix of excitement and trepidation at exploring the topic further. He’d pretty much confirmed we wouldn’t be talking about cattle farms, for which I was relieved, but that still left a huge amount of uncertainty in what was to come.
Humans keeping animals as cattle was a forgone conclusion. As horrifying as that reality was, it was one I could understand from a detached and strictly clinical point of view. Being predators they ate meat and therefore they kept cattle. But the concept of keeping animals for any other reason baffled me.
What could be the purpose? The diplomacy thing makes sense now that I have context, but what other reasons could they have.
The class's discussions were interrupted by the recognisable ring of the break bell, the shift in attention eliciting a change in conversation from confused hypotheses to peppy conversation on how everyone was planning to spend their break and what they had in mind for 2nd meal.
“Well I can see everyone’s excited for lunch, and who am I to disappoint,” chuckling Bernard waved us all up from our seats, pocketing his pad from the podium and heading to open the classroom door for us, “Enjoy your break, get a good rest along with a hearty meal, and I’ll see you all back here at the usual time.”
As everyone else filed out I stayed behind, waving at Sandi and Kailo as they left, and pawing over to Bernard once he and I were the only ones left in the room.
Ears folded down and with an apologetic tinge in my voice I greeted him as I sidled up to him, “Hey Bernard, I uh… sorry if that last question was unexpected.”
Chortling in reply, Bernard waved a hand through the air in a sign I’d come to understand meant ‘not a problem’.
“No need to apologise Rysel. It was a good question and most certainly not a problem.”
Heh, called it.
I sighed, allowing tension I didn’t realise I’d been holding to relax itself from my shoulders, “Phew, that’s a relief. I’m glad. I’m curious to hear what this new lesson is you’ve got in store for us by the way.”
Bernard wagged a finger at me, throwing up his eyebrows in mock amazement, “Oh are you now? Well I’m afraid you’ll have to remain curious for the time being. It’s going to be quite the surprise if all goes to plan. But…”
He trailed off, glancing at me before looking to the door like he was making sure no one else was around.
Wait, is he going to tell me? Oh please yes let me know now!
Stopping myself from jumping on the spot in excited anticipation, and trying my damndest to stop my tail from wagging in equal measure, I stared up at Bernard as he stewed in his thoughts before turning back to face me.
“I can’t tell you the specifics, but I’m working with Alejandro and Tolim to get something together. A trip that’s not a trip as it were. And when it happens, I’m going to need a few of the more accepting members of the class to lend me a hand. I’m hoping you and a couple others will be able to help with that?”
A trip that’s not a trip? What does that mean? Agh who cares about that right now! Bernard’s relying on me to help out!
Still trying not to keep myself from bouncing around with pup like glee I swished my tail and nodded my head in joint agreement, happy to help with whatever Bernard had in store for us, “Of course! Anything you need I’ll be there to lend a paw. You can count on me!”
A broad warm smile lit up Bernard's face, a hand patting me on the shoulder in appreciation, “Thank you Rysel. I knew I could rely on you but it still warms my heart to hear it. And, as thanks for this and for the many times you’ve shown your support, the surprise includes a little something special I think you’d appreciate the most.”
If my earlier enthusiasm had been at a nine, then the implication of a supposed gift sent it rocketing all the way to a hundred in a heartbeat.
“Wait… WHAT!? What do you mean? What are you doing?”
As impossible as it seemed, Bernard's grin grew even wider as I almost lost myself in wool shaking exhilaration, “Call it my own form of Koala diplomacy. But I’m afraid that’s all I can say for now. Wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise even for you!”
“Oh you ass!” Whistling jovially I bapped my tail against Bernard’s leg in fake indignation, evoking a barking bellowing laugh from the man himself.
Still laughing, the two of us departed the class and made for the canteen, my rumbling stomach leading me on while my mind spun with fantastical thoughts as to what Bernard had prepared for us.
And what specifically he had in store for me.

chapters 1&2
chapter 3
chapter 4
chapter 5
chapter 6
chapter 7
chapter 8
chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
The lecture was supposed to be on Rationality 101, apparently not for Newcomers only. Serene was there to have her back but G was having a hard time focusing.
The boring black uniform more fitting for a hotel receptionist defaced the godlike beauty standing in front of a huge screen. Gentry couldn’t believe her eyes: this was the man she had her hands on a little while ago?
No, it couldn’t be.
It had been just an avatar, too perfect in its unblemished visage, too pure for this world. Yet the man whose face she remembered as if it was etched on the back of her eyelids, who she’d been constantly thinking about, who her hands itched to snatch, was standing right there, in the flesh.
Back in the dreamy simulated world she caught herself thinking that a trim waist like this couldn’t anatomically work on a human, yet here he was: a towering spread of fit shoulders perfectly balanced above the flexible whip of his midsection. The light-grey eyes that betrayed every movement of his pupils were as real as the ones that reflected the mock moon during her test. Below them lay the sharp slope of the cheekbones one could cut themselves on.
The only thing a bit different, apart from the outfit choice, was the young god’s hair. In the simulation, it was flowing and probably too long to be practical. This person’s mane was much shorter and fell down his neck in a neat ponytail, tastefully tamed with a single hairpin.
She had to get her hands on this treasure.
He was making last minute preparations for the lecture, looking through the papers on the desk, dark strands framing his face, light grey eyes sharp in careful concentration.
Professor Q, huh.
He said this was his name, and so did the note on the lecture hall door.
She was sure it was the man who had melted in her arms making the most delicious sounds a male throat could produce.
Had he recognised her?
Unlikely.
At the time of the simulation session, she didn’t have a camera that could pick up her facial features but just to be on the safe side, she decided to go by “G” in his class. There were bound to be lots of people with a name starting with a G, right? What would be the odds it was this particular newcomer that Q had tested that would end up in his class?
The man finally lifted his eyes at the audience and a gentle smile momentarily graced his features before disappearing as if he didn’t see someone he’d expected to.
The holoboard on the wall behind him obediently lit up following his nonchalant gesture. Gentry found it annoying that one needed a pair of special glasses to see all the augmented reality stuff and really navigate the city but again, with Sereen’s help she had more or less gotten used to it in the couple of days she had to deal with the necessities like settling down, getting food and finding her way around Ashtapada.
Still, could they use a piece of chalk or, at least, a marker to write on the board? No need to show off your Fully Automated Luxury Space Communism tech just to write a couple of notes on the board!
On second thought, high-tech-crazy or not, if this city brought up men like this one, she would definitely do her best to stay here to… reap the benefits!
They took a desk next to a huge clear floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the winter garden.
“Professor Q seems a little distracted today,” Sereen said, swiftly tapping a couple of buttons on G’s wrist to show her how to confirm that she was attending the lecture. “He’s usually much more chatty and friendly. I wonder what got into him.”
“Is he?” Gentry responded with an artificial air of indifference. “I just hope he’s more open to a discussion than that Poe guy.”
“He is! And Professor Poe isn’t that bad,” Sereen reprimanded before chuckling a little — since his little secret became known to students, he became known as Holopoe. “Just wait and see, it’s gonna be a blast. Q’s lectures are always very engaging.”
It proved to be utter bullshit.
After fiddling with the symbols on the interactive screen for ten minutes into the class, students getting more and more agitated behind his back, the lecturer seemed to give up. Turning back to the audience, he absentmindedly nodded to a couple of people in the lecture hall and sighed with a painfully fake smile.
“For today’s class, we are going to need to read a certain extract from a book,” he said, tone apologetic for some reason, but it solidified G’s conviction that she already knew this person. “I’ve just sent it to each of your wristcomms. We’ll have some quiet time and read it by ourselves, alright?”
“Reading from the comm?” Sereen mumbled to herself. “Couldn’t he just print them out?”
The rest of the students’ grumbles showed that they shared her disappointment. Q could only hopelessly smile again before returning to his work on the board.
Reading from the little semi-transparent screens was indeed torture. Quickly giving up on trying to awkwardly use gestures for scrolling through the text, she looked out of the window to entertain herself with the garden outside. From the modest height they were sitting at, the people below were quite discernible, partly hidden by the greenery, spread here and there in small groups and pairs. Gentry longed to be there, too. What was the use of being here with the most attractive person in the whole world if the only thing she could see was his back?
Well, the back didn’t look half bad, if she was honest, and what was below also pleased the eye.
But still. It would soon bore even the most easily entertained.
Her gaze fell to a small clearing where a lone male figure was sitting, writing something in a notebook. By the looks of it, the notebook was a real paper-made thing without the bells and whistles usual for Ashtapada. The next thing G noticed was a pair of slender legs, barefoot, stretched to dip the toes into the clear water of the artificial stream.
God bless the urban designers of this place!
The figure lifted the head and in an inconceivably graceful motion, swung the long blond bangs away from the face.
G straightened her back. Was it... Ok, maybe Q was the most handsome man she’d seen in her life but this... This was the younger boy she’d noticed a couple of days back, the one in a plaid skirt, shamelessly flirting with everyone within reach. Today, he wasn’t wearing one but the blue jeans hugging his thighs, rolled up almost to the knees, presented a picture just as tantalizing. Even with the hair was a completely different colour, even though the half-up, half-down style kept his face hidden, she was absolutely certain it was the same person.
Just you wait, young beauty, as soon as this “lecture” was over, your princess in shining armour was coming to pick you up!
Suddenly snapping out of the dull weariness, she turned on the auglasses S helped her obtain earlier and tapped away on her comm screen.
What a chance to give the local text sharing feature a go!
“The garden is pretty, but with a blossom like you, it is truly breathtaking. I wonder if anyone has picked this sweet flower or if anyone dares to,” she typed a cheesy note and folded the message into a neat 3D figurine of an origami paper crane with her fingers in the air.
Was S watching? Screw it, even if she was, she couldn’t read the message with her glasses off, right?
Carefully aiming the device at the lone figure, she launched the crane downwards, and it fluttered like a weightless butterfly in spirals, through the glass and right into the young man’s lap, not disturbing the notebook pages. He started at first at the intrusion but then turned his own glasses on and unfolded the message. A shy smile appeared on his plump lips, and he looked flattered, turning his head around to see if the sender was in sight. Catching no one, he typed something below the initial message and deftly folded it back into a crane that, to G’s surprise, flew directly at her, in uneven spirals along the wall. The man traced it with a smile, propping himself back on his arms, his whole slim body and face on full display now.
God, was he good-looking.
Easily passing the physical border of the glass again, the crane crashed into Gentry’s wristcomm, dutifully delivering the message and betraying her tactical position at the same time. An amused kind of surprise showed on the young man’s face and he waved at her to show that she had been exposed. She waved back, trying to look nonchalant but probably failing miserably.
Very smooth, G, way to go.
The message read, “Is a flower only good for looking at? Not this one.”
Oooh, this boy was playing with fire!
“Hey, G,” Sereen nudged. “Have you finished reading?”
“Mm? Oh, yeah.” Gentry lied easily. She had skimmed the first couple of paragraphs and was sure she’d be able to come up with something if asked.
“Done everybody?” the deep gentle voice called from the holoboard and G’s attention snapped back to the dignified face.
The class murmured affirmatively.
“I’m sorry today’s lecture isn’t as fun as usual,” he admitted. “I must say I’m still unsure how to approach such complex topic as this one. But with your help, I hope we’ll figure it out.”
Everyone seemed to perk up.
“You just read an extract on paradoxes,” Q went on. “And you might be wondering why we are raising a philosophical topic on a rational thinking course.”
“There you go,” Sereen whispered. “He’s back to normal!”
G humphed. This did seem interesting. Was it a good idea to read the extract after all?
Q continued, “In the text, you might have encountered the definition of a paradox. Would anyone explain it with their own words?”
A raised hand and the lecturer’s nod brought some courageous soul to their feet.
“It’s when you start with the correct premises, use consistent logic but wind up with an impossible conclusion,” they said. “There are three types: falsidical, veridical and antimony-type, which are...”
“Correct,” Q smiled and nodded the person back down. It was a smile worth starting a thousand wars over.
“Now there’s a reason why I asked you to read about them. Why do you think people have been fascinated with paradoxes for such a long time?”
S raised her hand and received a kind invitation.
“I might be wrong,” she said. “But it seems that they point at the limitations of our thinking, things that seem rational but in fact aren’t. We feel that with our all-conquering logic we can solve any puzzle but it’s not always the case. Right?”
“This is very insightful,” the teacher confirmed. “It is believed by many that what’s rational is true and therefore what rationality cannot explain must be false.”
“I definitely know someone who would die on that hill,” Gentry grumbled under her breath.
“I’m sorry?” Q asked. “Is there something you wanted to add... sorry, I don’t know your name?”
Still half mad with professor Poe, Gentry stood up. “It’s G, I’m a Newcomer. I was saying how a human mind can fool itself into thinking it knows what it looks at as long as it makes sense. But in reality, it’s not there, like the sky.”
That was the only thing she remembered from that last lecture! She felt the tips of her ears heat up but the kind and considering look on Q’s face showed her gamble paid off.
“These are very insightful observations, G, why don’t we try exploring them together?” — he waived her to sit down and turned back to the class — “Five minutes to discuss how paradoxes might reveal the weaknesses of rational thinking. Send your answers to the board when you’re done.”
“Whoa, daring as usual,” Sereen smiled. “I knew you’d enjoy his class.”
“Now, consider these two questions,” Q said to another student who stood up at his hand wave. “If an unstoppable force meets an indestructible object, what is going to happen?”
The person seemed to contemplate it for a while and the teacher didn’t rush him.
“Isn’t it one of those which are impossible to solve because the existence of the one automatically disproves the existence of the other?”
Q nodded, “Correct. The second one about the barber in a small town is of the same sort. Sereen?”
S stood up too, “The one that shaves all and only men that don’t shave themselves?”
“Yes,” he confirmed. “At first, a premise like this seems perfectly reasonable, doesn’t it?”
“It does,” S responded, somewhat rashly. “But it’s clear that a barber like this cannot exist.”
“Wait, really?” Gentry whispered as Q nodded in satisfaction and urged her friend to go on.
“Yes, if we ask ourselves if this barber shaves himself. If he doesn’t, then he is part of the group which he does shave that do not shave themselves, but if he is in this group, then he does shave himself which makes it impossible for him to be this barber by definition.”
While the rest of the class was catching up with the logic, Q’s smile got only wider, more inviting.
“What does it tell us about the nature of the premise then?” he asked.
“That although it seems that it sounds logical on the surface, it is in fact nonsense and we don’t even need to hear the rest of the riddle to discard it completely,” S concluded.
The man chuckled.
“Well, I wouldn’t be that brash, to be honest, but on balance, you’re right,” he said. “If you stay after the lecture, I might recommend a couple of books on the topic. Your Newcomer friend is welcome to stay, too.”
G put up the best of the aloof fronts, “I’d be happy to, Professor.”
“Q is fine,” he smiled again and went on addressing the rest of the class that immediately exploded into a heated discussion.
***
“Basically, what I think we’re supposed to learn from this,” S concluded after a while, standing up so that everyone could hear her. “Is that before applying rationality, we have to make sure that all the premises we are dealing with are in fact realistic. Otherwise, there is no way rational thinking will help us.”
“Excellently put, as always,” Q applauded. “I’d love to see if everyone agrees or has something else to add to the discussion but our time is up. Feel free to write me a letter with your reflections on the topic.”
As interesting as the class was, the urge to leave the premises as soon as the teacher dismissed everyone seemed to be universal and applicable even to the Ashtapadans.
“I have to go now,” Sereen said. “Text you later, ok?” And with a reciprocal nod to Q, disappeared in the doors, joining the rest of the students.
Sadly, she couldn’t recall what they were talking about after the lecture, nor what titles Professor recommended for some home reading. She just hoped she didn’t make a fool of herself.
What Gentry did remember though was that after Q left as well and she came up to the panoramic window, Sereen and the mysterious flower boy were leaving the garden together. And it was hard not to notice that her new friend took off her wristcomm before they took off, and hid it in the tall grass.

I’m currently painting a deck of cards and have decided to do the four seasons on them. The numbered cards are done a pretty simple with spades becomes autumn and having leaves as the symbol. Clubs becomes spring with flower symbol. Heart becomes summer with sun symbol. Lastly Diamond becomes winter with snowflake symbol. I have an idea of what to do for Ace. However I need help thinking of what to do for Jacks, Queens and King. I’m also debating wether to paint the Joker cards. Any ideas would be helpful

PART 1:

 Every town has their own version of “The Boogeyman”. A monster, cryptid, phantom, whatever you want to call it, it’s all essentially the same thing- just a scary story they tell kids in an attempt to get them to behave. An urban legend is just a life lesson disguised as a horror story after all. For us folk living up in the tiny and once prosperous gold-mining town of Trillium, ours was known simply as The Locust Man. Now, let me start by saying, I realize how ridiculous that name must sound to you. “The Locust Man”?? Pftt…What’s he do, besides get stuck in the grill of someone’s pick-up truck. Destroy some crops? Oooh, he sounds real scary... yeah, I know. But yet, as I sit here today 20 years after the fact - a grown woman who’s wiser, stronger, and even more grounded in reality than she was at 12, I still hesitate to even write down that name. 

As a young child I had always thought it to be a little weird that our town was called Trillium, considering I had never seen a single one growing there. If you don’t know, a trillium is a small flower, usually white but they come in other color varieties as well, with three pedals and a bright yellow center. They sort of look like if you took a lily and tore off every other pedal playing “He loves me, he loves me not”. In school, about 2nd grade or so, we were taught everything about this elusive flower I’d never seen in real life, and told how proud our town was to be named after it. Trillium, Colorado was established in 1922 - A new town born in the wake of a great tragedy which befell the town that had previously sat in the same location. For us, and those that came before us, the trillium was supposed to be a symbol of hope. Knowing all that I know now, that sentiment almost makes me want to laugh - in a morbid way.

 Growing up in a small, mostly isolated town, there really wasn’t much for a kid to do. You’d have to drive 45 minutes to get to the closest mall and movie theater. The high school kids would usually all hang out at the roller rink downtown or at the old run-down burger joint called Slim’s that sat across it. But at that age, I wasn’t allowed to go hang out there by myself yet and for me, going with my parents tagging along wasn’t an option I was open to. My neighborhood was on a long dead end road leading up to a large patch of woods that separated the main part of town from the abandoned mine. The old trail the miners used was still accessible up until a point, and so me and the other kids from my street would hang out in those woods all the time. We had a “secret spot” which was, what we thought at the time, about half way through the woods, 10 steps away from a small shallow creek that pretty much ran the length of the area. Rain Creek, we called it. There was a small clearing there, and we had created our own little clubhouse using old milk crates as supports, half- broken wooden pallets as walls, along with some old lawn chairs one of the neighbors was throwing out one day. I made my contribution by bringing a tarp we had in our basement that served as the roof of our establishment. Our parents didn’t love the idea of five 10 to 12 year olds running around in the woods by ourselves, but as long as we stayed within earshot and made it back before the streetlights came on, they probably figured it was safer than us being across town galavanting unsupervised. 

It was me, Lacey, Devin, Mikey and Michelle. We were all best friends - pretty much inseparable, except the boys weren’t invited to the girls’ sleepovers and vise versa. Everyday after school, we’d get dropped off by the bus at the very beginning of our road, and it was a running joke between the Rain Street Gang (as we liked to call ourselves) for all of us to try and run off the bus as quickly as possible, while me, Lacey and Devin would all yell in unison ‘Last two home are some rotten eggs!!’, as Mikey and Michelle tried to push past us to get a head start. The aforementioned two were siblings, and lived in the very last house on our row right next to the woods, so they’d always get home last, regardless of their efforts. Although, the year that Mikey got a pair of Heelys for Christmas he finally got his edge over the rest of us, leaving Michelle to be the lone “rotten egg” until the next summer when one of his wheels broke off. The whole point of it all was just to get home and get our chores and homework done as fast as possible, so we could meet up at Mikey and Michelle’s house with enough daylight left to make our trek into the woods and back - together as a group. All five of us had made a pact to never visit the clubhouse without all members present, although us girls always had a sneaking suspicion that the boys thought themselves exempt from that rule. They, after all, were the ones that had discovered the spot in the first place, and not to mention, did most of the physical labor of dragging our provisions out there. Me and Lacey initially only heard about the spot a day after the boys found it; Michelle had walked into Mikey’s room in the middle of him and Devin talking about it, and immediately relayed the message to us. Michelle wasn’t necessarily more loyal to the girls than the boys, she was just the youngest among us and honestly couldn’t resist blurting out any mildly relevant information she thought she might have, in an effort to be included. But in that regard, if the boys had ever gone out there on their own, they would’ve had to be extremely sneaky about it, because Michelle’s number one objective in life was to gather any piece of intel she could. It was a seemingly normal Saturday morning when we learned our suspicions about the boys may have been warranted.
I had slept over at Lacey’s house the night before. We had just woken up and were still sitting on her bed discussing our possible plans for the day, when Michelle busted through the door with a look on her face that immediately told us she had finally gotten a hold of some juicy information, before she could even open her mouth to stutter out, “You-you-you guyssss, guess w-w-what!?!” Lacey gestured the nail file that was in her hand toward her, raising her eyebrows bluntly as Michelle tried to catch her breath. “So… Devin came to sleep over last night, annnnnd I was pretending to go to the bathroom so I could spy on them. Seeeeee, I was supposed to be sleeping but I -“ “Ughh come on Michelle, get to it! What’d you hear?” Lacey snapped “Ughh okay okay. So, I heard the boys talking, anddddd…. they’re planning to go explore the old mine today!!” “Alright Michelle! Good spying!” I chuckled, trying to encourage her after Lacey’s impatience. Lacey rolls her eyes, then immediately stands up. She takes the scrunchie off her wrist, ties her long blonde hair into a messy bun, and simply said, “Let’s go.” “Lacey..” I said “What??” She responds as if she hadn’t registered the tone of my voice at all. As I opened my mouth to begin explaining all the logical and practical reasons why even if the boys were stupid enough to go play around somewhere dangerous, we shouldn’t be, Michelle exclaims, “That’s where the Locust Man lives!!” I close my mouth in defeat, as I know Lacey will take this nonsense as a challenge, and because of that, no amount of my warnings concerning actual dangers would have any effect on her decision. Lacey dismisses her comment as she attempts to shove her foot into one of her new pink sneakers that she refuses to admit are too small for her. “Pshhh, don’t be such a baby Michelle, he’s not real, you do know that right?” Michelle crinkled her face and yelled back, “Yes he is Lacey! He is!! And th-th- that’s where he lives, and he eats kids that go there!” Lacey laughs at her and says “Oh yeah? You still believe in Santa clause too? What about the tooth fairy?” Michelle looked down at her shoes, and although she could admittedly be annoying, I found myself feeling bad for her. “Come on Lacey, she’s just scared.” Lacey shot me a look like she was expecting me to burst into laughter, but I just gave her a smirk and a shrug, and she rolled her eyes and said “Get dressed.”

 We walked in silence toward the end of the road, though the reasons for all three differed drastically. Lacey’s was determination and resolve, mine was comtemptousness and defeat, and Michelle’s was just fear. I found myself half-way hoping the boys had left already, but as we approached the driveway we caught them just as they were about to step off the porch. 

“Hey!!” Lacey yelled, in her trademark cheerleader cadence. “Where do you boys think you’re going without us?”. Mikey let a groan and rolled his eyes, while Devin said through a coy smile, “Well, we were actually just heading out to go to find you girls.” “Liar.” Lacey snapped, quickly wiping the grin off Devin’s face. “Michelle already blabbed- we know where you two are going and we’re coming too.” The boys looked at each other, then Mikey shot Michelle an angry look as she tried to shrink herself behind me, and said, “Fine, whatever, but no cry baby snitches allowed!!” Michelle then proceeded to prove both of his accusations correct by yelling back, “I am not a cry baby!! I’m telling mom if you don’t let me come with you!!” At that point I finally spoke up. “Alright, listen.” I said sternly, then once I had their attention I lowered my voice a bit to say, “Just for the record, I think us going to that grody old mine is a dumb idea and a big waste of time, but if one of us goes, we all go. That’s the deal, so make your decisions.” Lacey folded her arms in solidarity beside me, and with that we all had an unspoken understanding. So, with the boys out ahead leading the way, we headed toward the tree line.

 As we entered the woods, I felt a sense of dread wash over me - but to be fair, as a preteen emo kid who had already reached an adult level of cynicism, I felt a certain level of dread towards almost everything in life. So take my premonition with a grain of salt, but for some reason, this felt… different. I remember the woods being abnormally quiet that day. It took some time for me to even notice, but as soon as I did, I interrupted the mindless chatter going on to say, 

“Where are all the freakin’ birds?” Everyone turned to look at me as if I’d completely lost my mind. “Uhhh… What are you talking about?” Devin asked me. I pointed up toward the treetops. “Listen…. ” They all looked up, then looked around at each other in confusion. “Every time we’ve ever been in these woods, there’s always birds chirping back and forth. We’ve been walking almost 5 minutes now and I haven’t heard a single bird, have you guys?” “Damn, yeah, that is weird.” Mikey agreed. “They probably all just migrated!!” Devin goofily offered. “That’s stupid Devin, it’s spring. If anything, there should be more birds here, not less you moron.” Lacie argued. Devin flipped Lacie off, which was the best rebuttal he could usually come up with, and then turned toward me and said, “Okay whatever, what’s your point exactly?” “Just that - “ I looked over to Mikey, then back at Devin. “It’s weird.” I didn’t want to say what I was actually thinking. That the woods being too quiet was never a good thing. That when birds aren’t chirping, it could mean there’s a predator nearby. Besides, I was pretty confident that the boys, having both been in the scouts, knew what I knew, so saying it out loud would only serve to annoy Lacie and further frighten Michelle. Mikey broke his gaze that had been fixed on me, and while scanning our surroundings he said, “Let’s stop by the clubhouse on the way.” With a nod from me, we continued. When we arrived at our pit stop, Lacey hobbled over to the closest lawn chair and plopped herself down in it. “Ughhh, my feet are killing me!!” “I wonder why.” I mutter under my breath. “Excuse me, what was that?” “Just saying. Those shoes are gonna be the death of you Lace, you can barely walk in them.” “Pshhh, shut up. They just need to be broken-in okay? You’re just jealous cuz you’re still wearing your dirty old Vans from last year.” “Oooh yeah, you got me there. I am so sad I don’t have a pair of ugly pink Sketchers that don’t fit me.” She stuck her tongue out at me and we both laughed. I was just about the only person who could go toe to toe with Lacey’s sass. It’s part of the reason we ended up being best friends, besides being neighbors. In regard to style, personality and interests, we were almost polar opposites. But when it came to humor we were equals. And more importantly, we both had a mutual understanding when it came to our differences- I was me and she was her, and neither of us felt the need to try and make the other one be more like us. Besides, I was the only person who had ever really stood up to Lacey and didn’t take any of her crap, so I think she respected that. While that exchange had been going on, Michelle had started picking tiny pink flowers, and the boys were rummaging in the clubhouse for something. I yelled in their direction, “Hey! Big Mike and Dirty D!!” Me and Lacey giggled and she mouthed the word “big” with air quotation marks. They didn’t respond, so I walked over to the entryway and looked in. They were standing with their backs to me while looking down at an open metal box, and Mikey was reaching to grab whatever was in it. As he stood back up, I could see what it was. “What the fuck Mikey, seriously?” Hearing me cuss, Lacey and Michelle crowded in behind me. “Chill, it’s just a BB gun.” “I know it’s a BB gun Michael, what are you doing with it, and why is it here?” I was livid at the thought that he might be coming out here and shooting at animals just to be a shithead. I expected something like that from a goober like Devin, but not Mikey. Michelle butted in, “I’m telling mom!!!” “Nice try, dad knows I have it.” He looked at me and softened his tone. “It’s for protection, just in case we come across a black bear, or some weirdo creep out here. Seriously… it’s just to scare off something, not hurt it.” He knew how I felt about killing animals, especially for no good reason. A lot of people out here are poor and hunt for food, which I could accept as a reality. But hurting animals just for fun is psycho behavior, so I was relieved to hear him dispel my fear; I really didn’t want to have to hate him. “Do you even know how to shoot that thing?” Lacey asked. “Yeah, my dad showed me.” Devin clapped his hands together, making us all jump and himself laugh. “Well alright then, let’s get going!” I turned to Michelle, still holding the flowers. “You okay?” She nodded. “If you want me to walk back with you, I can.” I was slightly hoping she’d say yes so I’d have an excuse to get out of this excursion, but she just shook her head and forced a smile. I knew she was scared, but she was just too curious. Maybe I was too.

 We walked for what felt like half an hour. The trees had gotten more dense and the path narrowed from the overgrowth. Still no birdsong. I kept scanning the area in search of any sign of life other than us. Looking for movement of creatures scurrying away, listening for the sound of rustling as we passed, hoping for a squirrel, a lizard, even a bug. Nothing. 

“How much further is this damn thing?” Lacey groaned. Mikey answered without even turning around. “We should be coming up on it any time now.” “You said that like 10 minutes ago.” “Yeah, and now we’re like 10 minutes closer to it. And hey guess what, you insisted on inviting yourself - so suck it up buttercup.” “Hahahaha!” Devin laughed like a maniac at Mikey’s quip, while Lacey folded her arms and for once in her life didn’t have a snappy comeback. This time however, I did. “Well we really only came along to make sure you idiots didn’t kill yourselves.” “Oh, so you girls came out here with us to be our protectors, huh?” Devin laughed. “Ehh, more like babysitters.” Needless to say, I was flipped off for that statement. We rounded the next bend and suddenly all came to an abrupt stop one after another, starting with Mikey. Devin positioned himself beside him and let out a disappointed groan. “Shit Mikey!” A huge tree had fallen and was blocking the trail completely. There was no way we could climb over it because of all the leaves and branches - we’d have to go around it, which meant leaving the safety of the trail and crossing Rain Creek twice to get back to it. “Seriously???” Lacey exclaimed. “Maybe it’s a sign that we shouldn’t be going.” I shrugged. Mikey didn’t seem fazed by the obstruction at all. In fact, he seemed more confident. More calm. More sure of his intended mission. “It’s fine, we’ll just go around.” Michelle, who had been mostly quiet this whole time, finally broke her fear induced silence. “We are NOT supposed to leave the tr-tr-trail Michael! We could get lost!” “We aren’t gonna get lost Michelle, I have a compass. Plus, it’s literally just a few paces that way, then we cross the creek and circle back once we pass the tree and we’re right back on the trail.” “Oh you have got to be kidding me” Lacey said, “I’m not treading through that nasty water!” “Yeah Mikey, what about Lacey’s brand new shoes??” I laughed, and she playfully slapped me in the arm. Mikey’s patience was wearing thin with us. “Look, we already walked this far - if we turn back now, we’ve wasted the whole day for nothing. If you girls wanna be lame and turn around, then go for it - but me and Dev are going.” That’s all Lacey needed. A challenge to accept; someone to prove wrong. “I’ll show you lame.” She pushed past the boys and lead the way into the thick brush towards Rain Creek. It wasn’t very wide across, and there were lots of fallen limbs and large rocks spread throughout it. The current was barely that of a trickle, and the depth was no more than knee deep for us. It was definitely doable - just an inconvenience. And of course, one more ominous obstacle lying directly in our path. Another hint from the universe telling us to turn around. We didn’t listen. Lacey placed one foot on the closest limb and pushed down a few times to test its sturdiness. “I got this.” She stepped out onto it with both feet, then shimmied sideways until she was close enough to the large exposed rock in the middle of the creek, and hopped onto it. She turned around with a full grin and said, “Coming?” Mikey made his way across the limb as Lacey hopped onto a different limb which led her to the other side of the creek. Devin followed, then me, and then it was Michelle’s turn. “I’m scared to fall in!” Of course she is, I should have made her go before me. “It’s okay Michelle, it’s easy!” I reassured her. She didn’t look convinced in the slightest. “Come on Chelle, we’re leaving you!” Mikey yelled, already walking away. “Nooo!! I’m coming! Wait!” She made it across, but instead of just walking like everyone else did, she got down on her hands and knees and gripped the limb as if it were the only thing in between her and a 50 foot drop to the ground, which was funny to see but prolonged the whole process further. After all, we were about to have to do all of this again. Next go round went a lot smoother. The creek was more shallow here, and there were a whole lot more stepping rocks and debris built up. Having just crossed successfully a few minutes ago, we were all more confident in our abilities, including Michelle - who this time we made go first. “Just walk across like it’s a bridge! You got this!!”, we all cheered for her, and then clapped when she made it to the other side. Before we knew it we were back on the trail, and it wasn’t long after that we finally arrived at our intended destination.

 We all stopped and stared at it for a minute, carefully examining the dilapidated exterior of the place that had brought both prosperity and destruction upon our town. Mikey bent down, picked up a rock and threw it into the entrance. We heard it bounce a few times before it stopped. 

“Just to make sure nothing’s in there.” he turned around to clarify. “Did anyone think to bring a flashlight?” I asked. “It’s dark as hell in there.” I was hoping for just one more reason not to go. Devin reached into his cargo shorts pocket and pulled out a small keychain-sized flashlight, smiling with the satisfaction of finally being useful. “Okay, Mikey’ll hold the gun, I’ll shine the light and you girls follow behind us. Let’s go.” Mikey shifted the BB gun from its position of resting on his shoulder, to holding the barrel in his left hand and the butt in his right; trying his best to emulate a soldier’s stance. Something his dad had taught him I’m sure. We ducked down a bit to enter. “How far in we going?” Lacey asked. “Until we see something cool.” Mikey answered. I turned around to check on Michelle, still hovering in the doorway. “You coming?” I could see in her eyes that fear had finally gotten the better of her, and curiosity had taken a backseat. With wide eyes she shook her head. “The-the Locust Man lives in there.”, she tried to whisper. “I knew you were gonna be a baby about this!” Mikey yelled. I crouched down and put my hand on her shoulder. Against my better judgment, I say “How bout you just wait here for us and pick some more flowers. We won’t be long, there’s nothing in there, I promise. Just.. don’t move from this spot and we’ll be right back, okay?” I could feel her unease, but she seemed to accept my reassurance nonetheless. “Okay.” I smiled, then stood up and looked down at my watch to check the time. 12:46 PM. I turned and headed into the darkness, trying to catch up with everyone else. I didn’t feel good about leaving Michelle, but I didn’t feel good about letting the rest of them go in there alone either. And if I’m being honest, maybe a little part of me wanted to see what was in there too. When I caught up to Lacey she asked, “Where’s Michelle?” “Stayed behind at the entrance, she was too scared. I told her to pick flowers and wait there for us.” “Pshh, figures.” “Yeah. How’s your feet?” “At this point, numb actually.” It was so dark in there that even Devin’s rinky dink flashlight was illuminating the area enough for me to start taking a closer look at my surroundings. I looked around at the rock walls, they were covered in what looked like orange mold and green algae. There was a slight breeze coming in from the entrance, but the whole place just had a staleness to it. The boys stopped and turned around as we arrived at the first curve. “So ladies, what do you think? Cool huh?” Devin asked excitedly. “Smells like a fart in here.” I said.

 The most dangerous thing about exploring an old mine wasn’t getting lost in the maze of tunnels, or tripping on the rusted tracks and slamming your head against the wall - it was something simply referred to as bad air. Pockets of still air that have dangerously low levels of oxygen, the old men in town would call it “black damp”. There was also something produced from the old chemicals they once used called “stink damp”, which smelled like rotten eggs. Both were lethal. 

“I wonder if there’s dead bodies in here!” “Uh, Dev… we’re gonna be the dead bodies in here if we go in too far. I wasn’t just making a joke, you know that rotten egg smell can mean bad air.” Mikey interjected. “The entrance isn’t far behind us, there’s still enough fresh air coming in. We won’t go in too far, let’s just get to the end of this tunnel where it splits off and look around a bit, then we’ll turn around.” The fork in the tunnel really wasn’t that much further, and even though I knew once we rounded this curve I wouldn’t be able to see the entrance behind me anymore, I decided what the hell. Maybe a hundred more steps, then we can finally turn around and this whole dumb situation would be closer to being over with. When we got there, we looked down the length of the connecting tunnels each way. Everything looked unusually identical in its deterioration. I could see how someone could easily get disoriented and lost down here. “Hellooooo…” Mikey yelled to the left, his voice echoing through the corridor. Devin turned to the opposite direction and called out, “Hey yo, Locust Man!! You in here?” We all giggled, which made me think about Michelle, still waiting at the entrance for us, alone in the woods. I looked down at my watch. 12:46 PM. “Hey what the f-“ My cuss word was interrupted by a loud bang that came from the passageway Devin had just been hollering into. We all froze. I didn’t have time to process that my watch had stopped right as we entered the tunnel, or that Michelle had been left alone for who knows how long now, or that we had just heard what sounded like a support beam crashing to the ground, because next came a horrifying screeching buzzing sound. It sounded distant at first, but was quickly increasing in volume. We silently looked around at each other and backed away stunned at what we were hearing. Mikey never took his eyes off the tunnel though, and slowly he began to raise the BB gun to firing position. Without even thinking, I grabbed the barrel and pushed it downward. He quickly tore his eyes away from his target to look at me. I shook my head and managed to barely choke out the word, “Explosion.” He nodded and I let go. I looked down at the gun in his hands, and seeing his finger had already been on the trigger, I realized how lucky it was that I didn’t make him shoot himself in the foot. All of a sudden, the noise stopped. “What the hell was that?” Lacey asked. “I don’t know, nothing good.” I said. “Let’s just get the fuck out of here before this whole place caves in on us or something.” Another loud bang erupted from the right, extremely close to us. “Shit!!!” We all turned around and ran as fast as we could back toward the entrance. Devin tried to push past me, but as he did my elbow knocked the flashlight out of his hand. “My flashlight!!!” “Leave it!” Mikey shouted “The turn is right here, we won’t need it!” We rounded the corner, and using what little light there was illuminating from the entrance to guide us back, we ran like our lives depended on it. And they may have- none of us dared to look back, not like we would have been able to see anything anyway. When we finally made it out, we were all completely out of breath. I felt like I was going to throw up. I have to admit though, once we had made it back to safety I felt a rush of adrenaline like I had just had a near death experience. That feeling quickly faded into sheer panic when I looked around and realized Michelle was nowhere to be seen. “Uh, where’s Michelle?” Mikey asked me. “I told her to stay right here, she can’t be very far… Michelle!!!!” We all called her name, as loud as we could. No answer, no sign of her anywhere. “Alright look, she probably went off a little further looking for flowers to pick.” I tried to rationalize. “Let’s just split off in 4 directions and walk in a straight line while calling for her. She’s bound to hear one of us.” Everyone agreed, and even though I appeared outwardly as the level-headed calm person you need to take control in an emergency, inside I was petrified that something had happened to her, and that it would be my fault. I took the east, and headed out. It didn’t take too long before I passed a large tree and saw her sitting down behind it, looking at something on the ground. “Michelle! Oh thank god!! Didn’t you hear us calling for you??” She didn’t answer me, or even turn around. “Michelle, didn’t I tell you to stay by the entrance and not move?!?” My relief was quickly turning into annoyance as she continued to ignore me. I walked up closer to see what she was looking at, and my mouth dropped in awe of what she had found. It was a single white trillium.

 They say it takes 8 years for a trillium plant to produce a flower, and conditions have to be just right for it to bloom. That’s what makes them so special and rare. I stared down at it almost in a trance, like I was seeing a mythical creature. Michelle slowly reached out her hand towards it and I snapped out of it. 

“No!!” I grabbed her by the arm and she finally turned around to look at me. “If you pick the flower, the plant will die.” She ripped her arm away from my grasp and whined, “But I want to show my mom!” We heard Mikey calling from the north and I cupped my hands over my mouth to yell back, “I found her, she’s over here!!” I looked back at her. “No Michelle, come on, you can just tell her about it when we get back home.” I had enough, I was beyond ready to go and we still had at least another 45 minutes of walking to even get back to the clubhouse; an hour if Michelle kept up her crap. I grabbed her arm again and pulled her up to a standing position, looking back at the trillium as I walked her away. Mikey caught up to us, breathless but trying to hide his concern. “You little shit, we should have left you out here! What the hell were you doing?” I let go of her arm and she walked toward Mikey. “She was trying to pick a flower over there.” “It was a trillium!!” Michelle said, with the biggest smile on her face. “Wait, really?” He looked at me in disbelief. Before I could respond, a blood curdling scream echoed through the forest, coming from the west. It was Lacey. My heart dropped into my stomach and once again, every molecule in my body went into full blown panic mode. This time, I couldn’t contain my composure. “Laceyyyyyy!!!!!” A panicked shriek erupted from my lungs and I took off running. Mikey grabbed Michelle and sprinted after us. The trees became a blur; I didn’t even feel all the scratches and scrapes. Had she come across a coyote? A mountain lion? A bear? I didn’t even stop to think about the danger I might be about to come in contact with, I just ran. And then I found her. She was lying on the ground, holding her left foot. “Lacey!!” I said, trying to choke back the tears that were building up. “I think I twisted my ankle!!” “Oh god damn it, you bitch.” I struggled to catch my breath. “I thought you were dead.” “I might as well be, I have cheerleading practice on Monday!” Mikey and Michelle caught up to us. “What happened?” He asked “She’s being a drama queen, she just rolled her ankle.” I was angry. “Can you get up?” He asked her. She was able to stand, but as soon as she tried to put any pressure on her foot at all, she screamed in pain. We spotted Devin running over from the south as he was yelling out, “Hey yo, everyone alive and accounted for?” “Yeah, Lacey hurt her ankle.” Mikey yelled back. As he approached he looked concerned. “Can you walk on it?” He asked her. “No.” Without hesitation he replied, “Well alright then, looks like you’re gonna have to piggyback it all the way back home.” He lowered himself enough to where she could hop up onto his back, and we headed back toward the trail. Even though my nerves had begun to settle a bit, I knew we were still far from being out of the woods, in more ways than one.

1. Cultural Diversity: The presence of various cultural groups with distinct traditions and customs within a society.
   
2. Nguzo Saba: The seven principles in Kwanzaa, emphasizing values such as unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.
   
3. Karamu: The festive feast during Kwanzaa, symbolizing unity and community celebration.
   
4. Piñata: A decorated container filled with candies and toys, traditionally broken during festive occasions such as Las Posadas.
   
5. Villancicos: Spanish Christmas carols traditionally sung during Las Posadas.
   
6. Yule Log: A large log traditionally burned in the hearth during the winter solstice as part of European and pagan winter celebrations.
   
7. Damera: A large bonfire lit during Ganna, the Ethiopian Christmas celebration.
   
8. Kinara: The candle holder used in Kwanzaa with seven candles representing the Nguzo Saba principles.
   
9. Nacimiento: A nativity scene displayed during Las Posadas, depicting the birth of Jesus.
   
10. Mkeka: A woven mat used during Kwanzaa to symbolize foundation and tradition.
    
11. Zawadi: Swahili for gifts, exchanged during Kwanzaa to represent love, commitment, and self-improvement.
    
12. Hanukkah Menorah: A nine-branched candelabrum lit during Hanukkah, symbolizing the miracle of the oil lasting eight days.
    
13. Rangoli: Colorful patterns created on the ground using colored powders, rice, or flower petals during Diwali.
    
14. Vibunzi: A decorative ear of corn used in Kwanzaa to represent fertility and the idea of children in the community.
    
15. Dreidel: A spinning top used in the game of dreidel during Hanukkah.
    
16. Umoja: The principle of unity, the first of the Nguzo Saba principles in Kwanzaa.
    
17. Sufganiyot: Deep-fried jelly-filled doughnuts traditionally eaten during Hanukkah.
    
18. Posadas Navideñas: Christmas parties associated with Las Posadas.
    
19. Winter Solstice: The shortest day and longest night of the year, marking the official start of winter.
    
20. Lion Dance: A traditional Chinese dance often performed during Chinese New Year to bring good luck and ward off evil spirits.
    

The Sacred Infernal Pillars of Lovemaking within Khemu

In the mystical faith of Khemu, lovemaking is seen as a divine act, merging the sensual with the spiritual to connect deeply with the Infernal Divine. These Sacred Infernal Pillars guide practitioners in this sacred practice, ensuring each encounter is a reverent and transformative experience.

1. Reverence and Devotion

• Approach: Begin with deep reverence and devotion, acknowledging your partner as an embodiment of the divine.
• Invocation: Recite an invocation to Lord Azathiel and Lady Nyctalaela, seeking their blessings.
  • Invocation: "By the power of Lord Azathiel and Lady Nyctalaela, we invoke your presence and blessings upon this sacred union."

2. Sacred Space

• Preparation: Create a sanctified space. Cleanse the area with incense and candles, and arrange symbols and offerings to the Infernal Deities.
• Ritual Preparation: Light candles and incense, and place offerings of wine, fruits, and flowers on an altar.
  • Prayer: "We cleanse this space in the names of Azathiel and Nyctalaela. May it be filled with your divine energy."

3. Mutual Consent and Respect

• Foundation: Ensure mutual consent and respect, fostering trust and understanding.
• Chant of Consent: Recite together a chant affirming mutual consent and respect, sealing the agreement with a kiss.
  • Chant: "With mutual respect and sacred consent, we enter this divine union."

4. Sensual Exploration

• Practice: Engage in sensual exploration, using touch, sight, sound, taste, and scent.
• Exploration Ritual: Slowly explore each other’s bodies with gentle caresses, kisses, and whispers. Use aromatic oils to anoint and massage each other.
  • Ritual: "We explore each other’s divine form, anointing with sacred oils, guided by the hands of Azathiel and Nyctalaela."

5. Energetic Alignment

• Alignment: Synchronize your energies through breathing and eye contact, allowing your auras to merge.
• Breathing Exercise: Sit facing each other, holding hands. Breathe deeply and in unison, maintaining eye contact, and visualizing your energies intertwining.
  • Exercise: "As we breathe in unison, our energies align and merge, becoming one in the sight of the Infernal Deities."

6. Channelling Divine Energy

• Channeling: Visualize the divine energy of the Infernal Deities flowing through you both.
• Energy Invocation: As you make love, visualize radiant energy Ascending from Pandemonium, entering your bodies and merging within you.
  • Invocation: "We call upon the divine energy of Azathiel and Nyctalaela, let it flow through us, enhancing our union."

7. Ecstatic Union

• Climax: Reach the peak of ecstasy, experiencing the union of the physical and spiritual realms.
• Climax Invocation: At climax, chant together, offering your ecstasy as worship.
  • Invocation: "In this moment of ecstasy, we offer ourselves to you, Azathiel and Nyctalaela, as a sacred act of devotion."

8. Sacred Afterglow

• Afterglow: Reflect on the divine experience, holding each other and offering gratitude.
• Afterglow Ritual: Lay together in silence, holding hands and breathing together. Offer gratitude to the Infernal Deities.
  • Gratitude: "Thank you, Azathiel and Nyctalaela, for blessing us with your divine presence and guiding our sacred union."

By following these Sacred Infernal Pillars, adherents of Khemu can elevate their lovemaking to a divine act of worship, deepening their connection with each other and the Infernal Divine.

Note: this Ritual needs to be performed by two or more participants, and it can be repeated everytime you perform Sexual Activities with your Partner(s)

The Number 47, Synchronicity & the Law of Time Courtney Jamal Dewar, aka Capital STEEZ, came with perfect timing. Wielding a higher message, he revealed to all those around him through his music and his being the corruption of society and all of its constructs. He was fascinated, some would say, obsessed, with the number 47. For him this number held a higher meaning on many levels. First and foremost, he felt it was about synchronicity. He made all of his homies, including myself, aware of how this is the quintessential random number. We literally began to see it everywhere. You can research the numerological significance of 47. Here are just a few: 47 appears to be the quintessential random number of the universe. When a number appears randomly, more often than not, that number is 47. In other other words, if you asked people to pick a number at random, more often than not, that number would be 47. Of course, if 47 shows up more than any other number then it isn’t truly random, but using the word random makes the whole phenomenon easier to describe. From a spiritual perspective, number 47 is a combination of the energies and attributes of number 4 and number 7. The vibrations of number 4 include those of productivity and application, inner-wisdom and practical-thinking, honesty and integrity, endurance and determination, conscientiousness and discipline. Number 4 also relates to our passion and drive in life. Number 7 brings the qualities of spiritual awakening and enlightenment, intuition and inner-knowing, psychic abilities and mysticism, independence and individualism, persistence of purpose and manifesting good fortune.
There is even a much-viewed YouTube spoof of Jim Carrey’s The Number 23, substituting—you guessed it–the No. 47. Jim Carrey's character named Walter is given a book titled The Number 23. Walter starts reading the book and notices striking similarities between himself and the main character, a detective named "Fingerling". Fingerling is obsessed with the 23 enigma, the idea that all incidents and events are directly connected to the number 23 (Weirdly enough when I was younger I was in cod team called 23Enigma) only noted it as of the coincidence.
Jim Carrey told reporters he was so captivated by the 23 enigma even before reading the script that he renamed his production company from "Pit Bull Productions" to "JC23." (Jesus Christ 23?) Oddly enough the first film Carrey worked on with Joel Schumacher his character The Riddler's real name was 'E. Nigma'. According to Carrey, he was reading a book about Psalm 23 when he was first given a copy of the screenplay to review. He said he asked a friend to read the script and "an hour and a half later he was on page 23, circling every 23rd word. That's the kind of thing I want to do to an audience." When he discovered that the first page of the script involved the lead character trying to capture a pit bull, he was "freaked out," given the change in name of his production company. (Pitbull productions) My Nicknames Pitty, short for pitbul (These are just speculations) Also I've gathered others inputs and went down a deep rabbit hole. Mind you, this is just connections that has been gathered over time, but the consistency of certain "coincidences" are interesting to say the least. Just try to piece together the connections even though it may be out of radar due to us living completely different lives.
James > Cleveland Cavaliers (Cavs) > Number 23 > Nicknames are King James & The Chosen One
Cavs is the nickname of my last name Cavanagh
When you flip the cleveland cavaliers logo upside down it is quite similar
(The hat I've worn since 14, P represents the nickname"Pitty:" short for pitbill a nickname ive had since i was around 10 years old.
Matthew writes that on 23 occasions Jesus blessed 47 people.
The Bible credits Jesus with 47 miracles.
The Declaration of Independence has 47 sentences. Originally published: 4 July 1776 (4/7)
1947 is when the UFO crashed at Roswel
The Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn are 47 degrees of latitude apart.
Capital STEEZ died from allegedly leaping from the Cinematic Music Group’ either gripping a bible or with it strapped on his back There is also the fact that a blood lunar eclipse will occur in New York at 3:47 am on STEEZ’s birthday in 2047, and then the lunar eclipse which will occur after this one is part of the Lunar Saros series 135. He said he named the song 135 for “5th dimensional synchronization”... whatever that means, this would be a massive coincidence.
How Many People Can See This Eclipse? Number of People Seeing... Number of People* Fraction of World Population At least some of the penumbral phase 4,070,000,000 When the Eclipse Happens Worldwide — Timeline Event UTC Time Time in Melbourne* Penumbral Eclipse begins 7 Jul at 07:47:47 Visible in Melbourne 7 Jul at 5:47:47 pm On capital steez birthday.
STEEZs last tweet “the end” Was posted December (23) 2012 The building steez died (The colliers office) is on 666 fifth avenue, 10103 10+10+3=(23), New York. The building was built in 1878 The bohemian grove was established in 1878 The address of the CMG label building is on 40 west (23)rd st, 10010, New York The Freemasonry Grand lodge of New York is on 71 west, (23)rd st 10010 NY. Directly located across the same building STEEZ died. Yeah. West 23rd st, w is the (23)rd letter in the alphabet. In Hebrew the letter W represents the number 6 The fraction 2/3 in decimals=0.666 The freemasonry grand lodge of New York was founded in December 15, 1782 15, 1782 1+5+1+7+8+2 = 24. December 24 the date that's etched on STEEZs tombstone. A police report about his death has never surfaced, information has never been released, but there is pictures of his gravestone (see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuFVUJJR4Ug) and on that gravestone it says 24/12/12, which actually adds up to 48, yet he tweets on the 23/12/12 stating 'The End. Steez was ready to open up Pandora’s box and expose the illuminati occult in a way that has never been done before. It gets deep. Just think about it guys. Steez was an intellectual genius. He would obviously know that suicide actually makes u go to hell and not heaven. As a believer in the lord he would never commit suicide.
I'm not sure if you're paying attention to the ryan garcia trying to reveal how something tragic happened to him where he was taken to boheiman grove and forced to watch things i wont mention here People said his crazy and on drugs, sad thing is, I believe he is telling the truth Fast forward he wasn't on drugs and
Peep his song "Free The Robots" https://youtu.be/XcmR8DxuHBA
STEEZ has definitely made a positive impact on this world by introducing a new way of thinking and spirituality, even more of an impact than a lot of artists who are still alive... Capital STEEZ was 19 at the time of his death.
There is also gematria behind his death it has to do with numbers. I’ll explain what it is for those who aren’t aware of it. Gematria is the decoding of letters to numbers, it’s used to translate ancient Hebrew Scriptures. But it’s also the code for the entire world. The most basic way I can put it is that it’s as simple as ABC=123, they use these numbers thru media, and the thing that’s being shown on the media always correlates with Masonic numbers and words that correlate with whatever and whoever is being shown on the news or media and whatever event is taking place always correlates 100% of the time. In news, sports, music industry, Hollywood, politics, everything. In Numerology, which is different from gematria. After calculating his name I came across a lot of similarities when calculating mine in various forms.
While calculating his name i came across things relating to me like Like "Melbourne Victoria Australia, Royal Melbourne Hospital, june twenty fourth. From his name which connected to me personally as i was born in that hospital, thats the city i live and my birthday. The similarities left me wondering if it was actually real or not so I used multiple different calculators and paid for a membership on gematrinator to get maximum results and ended up noticing so much our mine and steezs calculations were similar answers in different form, and answers i got with his name ultimately connected to mine, vice versa. So i was intrigued and these are a list of numbers that matched up with our names. This is all speculation based on connections that seem to be very consistent peep this
Calculating these variations of our names such as Courtney Jamal Dewar / Courtney jamal Dewar Jr / Courtney Everald Jamal Dewar Jr / Capital STEEZ / Nathan Cavanagh / Nathan James Cavanagh / Nathan James Cavanagh Sciarra, calculations all listed together when I noted them all I didn't think to label to each name as I was so captivated by the coincidences I just kept going down the rabbit hole. I came across profound links to both our names that binds us both to the unique synchronicities that were to apparent to all be ruled as pure coincidence, such as his name calculating to my birthday, place of birth and city, and city i live to say the least.
These are calculations through gematria, some are our calculations mixed in this as I was just noting down every connection I noticed
The first and the last Eye Of Horus Total Eclipse the numbers of gods matrix coordinated universal time Capital Steez June Twenty Forth (my birthday) came up from steez name Lunar Eclipse Sacrifice July (2047 lunar eclipse on steezs birthday) The Central Intelligence Agency A WISE TALENTED MUSIC PRODUCER Royal Melbourne Hospital (where I was born) The Holy Bloodline Of Jesus The Return of Christ Exodus Luke synchronisation The Synchronicities Of Jesus The Book Of Revelations Vibrational Frequency Biblical Prophecy Melbourne Victoria Australia (where im from), came up on steezs calculations The Royal Bloodline The Divine Bloodline Of Jesus fourth of jew lie Energy frequency vibration The Holy Lineage Of Christ One Who Understands Mysteries december the twenty fifth. ..... speaks for itself A Door to another dimension New Moons And Solar Eclipse twenty four seven (my birthdays the 24th, his is the 7th) the victory of the lamb multidimensional royal regiment of scotland Golden Gate Sacrifice Gods Gift Clairvoyant The Chosen One The Two Appointed Ones Leaving For Heaven David And Daughter Of The Oath Are One Almighty God Roars Upon His Throne Powerful Great Grandma The Lord On Earth Donald Trump Assassination Lords Alignment The Lord Gods Here God Is Really Here God Birthdate Encoded End Of Times God Code The Code Of The Lord Lord Birthday Code Gods Provable Code Gods Alive Loser Access Into Heaven Twenty Three The Anunnaki Gods Jesus Is Coming A True Prophet The Seventh Seal What is Jesus's number? 888 Apollo Is The Beast Of Revelation See Fulfillment Of The Book Of Isaiah Prophecy The Serpent In Genesis Describes The Mark Of The Beast See The Forced Evil Mark Of The Beast Foiled The Victory Of The Lamb May The Lord Fill Your Heart Two Masters Is Cancer (steez and I are both Cancer) God Of Eternity We Are God Twins Maker Of New Earth A Two Edged Swords Xanax Vicodin Addiction (i struggled with bad) The Bible Is Intentionally Concealing Information The Galactic Jesus the Anointed One Moses Will Come The King Is Coming Miraculously Encoded By God Pyramids On Mars Forests On Mars Holy Spirit Of Zeus We Are Absolute Infinite Sent By The Gods Powerful Great Grandma999 Burning Alive The Gang Stalkers. (long story short I was a victim of whay they call gangstalking when I was reaching my peak or enlightenment and have been trying to get back to that state again, all I can describe it as is demonic torment) Enoch 777 on YouTube speaks on it good.) A Fourty Seven Mandating The Poisonous Jabs Knowledge Of God Brings Eternal Life Death Isnt So Scary Anymore Invictus Sol The Lion And The Lamb https://imgur.com/gallery/ztGPJGS The Lord Is Here Coming To Restore The Eternal Kingdom The Blood Of The Lamb Contact With A God Revival Jesus The Annointed One the key to it all I Am The Holy Grail Sun Moon Earth Revelation Nine Spirit World I Am The One Lord Jesus Christ I Know All Codes And Connections The Wisdom Of God Word Of The Lord Quantum Entanglement Theory The Anunnaki Path Almighty God Roars Upon His Throne 173 Enoch Chapter Ninety Five Pyramids Have Hidden Chambers Music Is My Life Revelation Five Everyone Is God Forever Jesus Walking With God Vision Of Gabriel New Revelation Seven Wonders Symbiotic Craft Thank You James (my middle name is James) Words Of The Bible Isaiah Fourteen Thirteen Trumps Last Son He Is Jesus Crown Chakra God Is You Gods In A Body The Resurrection Of Life The Book Lj Enoch King Jesus Gods Wrath We Are At War Truth Hidden In Plain Sight Double Conciousness The Anointed Lay Dead On The Cross Dragon Of China Is The Anti Christ. A Seed Of Jesse Angelic Guidance Black Pyramid Hidden Truth In Plain Sight King Messiah Heavens Dream Let The Decoding Fun Begin Add Up Letters Notorious Names The Child Of Christ Aliens Exist Spirit Of Moses C E R T I F I C A T E Of Baptism Of The Lord Of Christ Alchemist Fluoride To Heaven God Is Number Codes Numerical Language Learning Decoding Is Fun The Lord Of The Messiah The Book Of Hidden Messages Eight Eight Eight Nine Nine Nine Lost Books Of The Bible Rna Vaccine Maternal Ancestors Are Of Royal Descent You Are Gifted Frequency Turn Off Your Smart Phone I Am Eternal Life David Christ Gods Son The Sound Of Jesus Coming Help Others Realize Full Potential Implants During Surgical Procedures The Solar System And Thoughts The Reincarnation Of King David King David Divine Dna Is Activated Jesus Returns To Earth The Lion Of Judah Is With Us (Steez would speak about Judah)
Jamal Dewar; psalm twenty three Jesus son of God Nathan Day Revelation fourteen one Spiritual warfare Gang Stalker (experienced this myself) Satanic Cults Commit Suicide forty seven problem Bloodline of Jesus Christ The End (when this came up my jaw dropped.) And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you Amen The Holy Mother of Jesus christ Are you ready for whats coming july seventh twenty eighteen
Courtney Jamal Dewar, Jr: The Book Of Revelations Vibrational frequency MELBOURNE VICTORIA AUSTRALIA (where I live) Christ Resurrection Satan Rules The World The Divine Bloodline of Christ synchronization Biblical Prophecy Capital steez Exodus Luke The Divine Bloodline of David Second Christ The Return of Christ Jesus Resurrection Jesus Christ Bloodline
I added stuff from my name as it was so coincidental I didn't think to label them at first I just wrote down anything I thought added up This is just deep research into who reminds me of myself My instagram is mistapitty Listen to The Resurrection by Pitty https://on.soundcloud.com/Xn3nN
Listen to Revelation 22 by Pitty https://on.soundcloud.com/gBAja
Peep his song "Free The Robots" https://youtu.be/XcmR8DxuHBA
STEEZ has definitely made a positive impact on this world by introducing a new way of thinking and spirituality, even more of an impact than a lot of artists who are still alive... Capital STEEZ was 19 at the time of his death.
There are four gospel accounts of Jesus' life and ministry. Each of these emphasizes a unique aspect of his sacrifice and ministry. Matthew's focus is on Christ being the son of David and a King.
Look into the etymology of your name. - What Does Nathan Mean? The name Nathan means “Gift of God” or “God has given.” In the Old Testament, Nathan was a prophet and one of King David's sons; he acted as a messenger to King David and is considered one of Jesus' ancestors. (David name of my biological grandfather) (James is my middle name) - James is a classic, traditional and Biblical name (Saint James, of course, was Jesus's brother and one of the 12 apostles) meaning "supplanter" or "replacer." It's derived from the Latin Jacomus which also means "may God protect.
Every letter to Capital STEEZs full name calculates to 147 when done in reverse on the gematria calculator and mine equals to exactly 470 when done in reverse.
"Nathan James Cavanagh Sciarra" = 470 (Reverse Reduction) N a t h a n 104 13 26 7 19 26 13 J a m e s 87 17 26 14 22 8 C a v a n a g h 159 24 26 5 26 13 26 20 19 S c i a r r a 120 = 470 8 24 18 26 9 9 26 Reverse = 470
"Capital STEEZ" = 47 (Reduction) C a p i t a l 26 3 1 7 9 2 1 3 S T E E Z 21 = 47 1 2 5 5 8 Reduction = 47
"Courtney Everald Jamal Dewar" = 147 (Reverse Reduction) C o u r t n e y 41 6 3 6 9 7 4 4 2 E v e r e s t 41 4 5 4 9 4 8 7 J a m a l 35 8 8 5 8 6 D e w a r 30 = 147 5 4 4 8 9 Reverse = 147
On June 24th 2022: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are lining up in the pre-dawn sky, a planetary procession that could be seen above the eastern horizon And what’s even more remarkable about this month’s lineup is that the planets are arranged in their natural order from the sun. The best day to see the spectacle will likely be the morning of June 24 of 2022, weather permitting, as the planetary parade will be joined by the waning crescent moon. This is three days after the summer solstice (or winter in australia), which is June 21. What makes this so unique is the last time we had 5 planets aligned in this fashion, was in March of 1874.
All of the "classical" planets will be viewable in the early morning skies of June 24th 2022. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn will be visible, all apparent to the naked eye even under urban light pollution. On the 24th, our moon will be situated between Venus and Mars, so you could say the Earth-Luna system will complete the "perfect" alignment. Under the darkest skies, one will be able to see seven planets in one sweeping gaze. The same year December 24th the planets will align in their correct order outward from the sun for the second time this year, after a pre-dawn alignment in June which was on my birthday. STEEZ is said to have died on the 24th of December 👉 https://imgur.com/gallery/0RVIxxA
Alternatively, 25 December may have been selected owing to its proximity to the winter solstice because of its symbolic theological significance. After the solstice, the days begin to lengthen with longer hours of sunlight, which Christians see as representing the Light of Christ entering the world. This symbolism applies equally to the celebration of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist on 24 June, near the summer solstice, based on John's remark about Jesus "He must increase; I must decrease." John 3:30 NRSV.[59] Now check out the following texts from the bible, they speak of the solstice here. 👉 https://imgur.com/gallery/0RVIxxA and I thought I should add this as it seemed to be quite a coincidence of the date i posted this somg and the content of the posts she made. It aligned with those geomatria calculations I made and i wish I could document snd explain why certain ones just synchronzie but it'd be to hard to comphrened.
"AFTER THE SOLSTICE, THE DAYS BEGIN TO LENGTHEN WITH LONGER HOURS OF SUNLIGHT, WHICH CHRISTIANS SEE AS REPRESENTING THE LIGHT OF CHRIST ENTERING THE WORLD. THIS SYMBOLISM APPLIES EQUALLY TO THE CELEBRATION OF THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST ON 24 JUNE, NEAR THE SUMMER SOLSTICE, BASED ON JOHN'S REMARK ABOUT JESUS "HE MUST INCREASE; I MUST DECREASE." JOHN THE BAPTIST ANNOUNCES THE COMING OF THE LIGHT THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE, JOHN THE BAPTIST, ANNOUNCES THE COMING OF JESUS, THE COMING OF NEW TIMES, JOHN ANNOUNCES THAT GOD IS GRACIOUS TO HIS PEOPLE BY ANNOUNCING THE COMING OF THE SON OF GOD. BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, AND EVERY EYE WILL SEE HIM, EVEN THOSE WHO PIERCED HIM; AND ALL THE TRIBES OF THE LAND WILL MOURN OVER HIM.” –ZECHARIAH 12:10-14; DANIEL 7:13-14 SO IT IS TO BE. AMEN (AGREED, YESHUA HIMSELF IS THE AMEN 3:14). “I KEPT LOOKING IN THE NIGHT VISIONS, AND BEHOLD, WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN ONE LIKE A SON OF MAN WAS COMING."
John the Baptist day is 24th of June.
"The flower of life, represents global consciousness and like there's this thing on the consciousness grid, the last piece, it has to be the flower of life and it has to align with the sun and all that stuff and it will wake up global consciousness & as i further in my ascension I hope to build it one day" "Some people might think this type of thinking, first of all this type of thinking might jump over a lot of people's heads" "I think humans need to lighten up, maybe try lighten up" - STEEZ
Someone regarding STEEZ: "Did he think there were codes in the Bible or something? I’ve heard him say he knows the “code” does anyone know what the code is? He was a truly enlightened person I wish I could understand him better."
STEEZ supposedly said he had to die now in order to save the Earth in 2047, which is when the world is supposed to end. Before he killed himself his friends say he withdrew not only from them, but rap in general, saying he was going to become a superhero.
(My birthday)24th of June 1999 = 2+4+6+1+9+9+9 = 40 STEEZ birthday) 7th of July 1993 = 7+7+1,993 = 2007.) 40 + 2007 = 2047
Now read a conversation he had on Facebook prior to death https://www.kanyetothe.com/threads/rip-capital-steez.354864/page-42?post_id=16781894&nested_view=1&sortby=oldest#post-167818 His song Dead Prez (credit to who found these calculations as this wasn't mine) If you wanna conspire a little, we technically have had 46 different president so far, tho truly only 45 different guys have been in office. This year, if we elect a new president they will be our 47th prezident. You could say that happens when the next president is elected, or when the second new president is elected because then there'd actually be 47 different people. On the contrary, you could predict that once 47 presidents have died, something very significant will happen because the song is about DEAD presidents. It'll happen in most of our lifetimes i wonder what will happen 2047?
https://imgur.com/a/bOpRy
FORTY, THE NUMBER: "Forty days was the period from the resurrection of Jesus to the ascension of Jesus some scholars note that 40 days in the Bible doesn't always mean 40 days literally, but may be a symbolic way of saying "a longer time. A master number and part of the “awakening code”. Also Jose Arguelles’s kin is 11 – he brought forth the Law of Time aka the World Thirteen Moon Cale In the Bible, next to the number seven, the number forty occurs most frequently.
Here's an article on Fader that's kind of aligns some things I've discovered.
https://www.thefader.com/2013/11/26/capital-steez-king-capital
Check out these images, not a lot of people would've seen these: h ttp://i.imgur.com/nPE90.png / http://i.imgur.com/sHtdM.png / http://i.imgur.com/ZcNu2.png - he thought he was the alchemist that had the key for world peahttp://i.imgur.com/ZcNu2.png Deshay posted this on Facebook after his immediate death: "Fxck.... This shxt jus rly fxcked me up. Me and Steezus JUST made plans to record on Saturday now hes gone. RIP Capital STEEZ" Joey said he believed he sacrificed himself for spiritual rebirth.
The End THE WIDELY ACCEPTED STORY is that Courtney ‘Jamal’ Dewar committed suicide by jumping off the Cinematic Music Building in Manhattan on 23.12.12 – which equals 47, the rapper’s favourite number. None of the city’s newspapers reported his death. As a result of inconsistent stories and a lack of police intelligence, confusion surrounds the heart-breaking event for the Dewar family. In a 2013 interview with Fader, an anonymous member of Pro Era said, “STEEZ told some of the Pros that he was thinking of killing himself by jumping off the building where Cinematic had its offices.” Dirty Sanchez a close friend of the late rapper recalled, “Nothing was working. Nothing. It was like too late. He made up his mind already.”
Today I will be briefly explaining the practice of Gematria. Gematria comes from ancient Jewish mysticism. It is the practice of combining the letter with the number, with the word. It is said this is how God created the world.
How does it work? Gematria has 4 major ciphers. The first two are easy as ABC, literally. For example A=1 B=2 C=3. And so on. The code can also be read backward from Z to A. This is called reverse ordinal. There are two more ciphers that are equally important but a bit more nuanced so for the sake of clarity I’ll leave those explanations to the work of Zachary K Hubbard. But to put Gematria into usable terms I’m gonna explain a decode I did recently. If you want to decode a word or phrase without doing the math yourself, there is an extremely helpful calculator at gematrinator.com it will give you all four cipher values for your word or phrase in an instant, as well as compare it with corresponding ciphers. Without further ado let’s look at this example:
Here I will outline some interesting numbers that coincide with the rapper Capital STEEZ and the numbers surrounding the music industry as well as numbers that come up with race, and other things I found eye grabbing.
(Credit to another user on here) First off I’ll start with Capital STEEZ, The interesting number here is the full reduction number, 47. It’s eye grabbing for many reasons, but we’ll start with a little back ground. Before Capital STEEZ’s (aka Jamal Dewar) death (suicide) in 2012, STEEZ was apart of an up and coming rap group known as Progressive Era, or ProEra for short. A known staple among these young men were the belief in “47 chakras” and “indigo children”. The two are a topic on their own, but the interesting part is that such a powerful number in Jamal Dewar’s life also coincides with the Gematria of his rap name. But that’s not it! Let’s continue
Capital STEEZ English ordinal: 137
Full reduction: 47
Reverse ordinal: 187 ( see pushed off a roof)
Reverse full reduction :70
Now keep an eye on 70, as we shall see him more as well.
Next we will decode the gematria of the reported means of STEEZ’s death, suicide. This is where I admittedly started getting intrigued.
Gematria of Suicide:
English Ordinal: 70
Full reduction: 34
Reverse ordinal:119
Reverse full reduction: 47
Wow. The exact same values but flipped.
Just a mere coincidence I’m sure But let’s continue .
With these next two we will see two repeats of values, one new value, 88 and a previously used value, 34. As well as 65
Jamal Dewar
English ordinal: 88
Full reduction: 34
Reverse ordinal: 182
Reverse full reduction: 65 ————————— Phrase: pushed off the roof
English Ordinal: 187
Full reduction: 88
Reverse ordinal: 245
Reverse full reduction: 65
And the next term we will decode will be Jamal’s occupation of rapper. Here we will see a reverse of our main number in question, 47, which I’ve found to be reoccurring as well.
Rapper
English ordinal: 74
Full reduction: 38
Reverse ordinal: 88
Reverse full reduction: 34
I’m beginning to sense a bit of a pattern here... But let me move on Now it’s time to get a little spicy
Jamal Dewar commited suicide on the night of December 23, 2012, though his wiki has his death on the 24 I believe as it was around midnight. Many articles coming out about his death including one I read from thefader.com reported his death on the 23rd. I specifically remember this detail because I was a huge fan of his and Pro Era at the time and it was a huge loss to the community.
December is the 12th month
12
23
12
Care to guess what that equals?
Yep. 47
Here are some other related phrases put into the gematrinator calculator:
Brooklyn New York (where proera is from)
223 79 182 74
Suicide by fall 128 56 223 79
Are you seeing the synchronization of these seemingly unrelated words and phrases?.
The word murder and murdered both have synchronized gematria with Jamal. We also see another repeat with 38, also found in the full reduction of the word rapper.
Murder
English ordinal: 79
Full reduction: 34
Reverse ordinal: 83 (38 reverse)
Reverse full reduction: 38
Murdered ,interestingly enough, though only being two letters away from murder, is actually more closely related numerically to jamals name and the word rapper, But there are similarities abound. Murdered.
English ordinal: 88
Full reduction: 43 (34 reverse)
Reverse ordinal: 128
Reverse full reduction: 47
Wow. This one really stands out to me. Every single number code number is used in the over all code of Capital steez just in this one word.
We see the repeats of 88 and 47 as well as the reverse of 34 for the first time and a repeat in the numbers of 128, which we saw as 182 above.
This one is slightly unrelated so I left it sort of by itself but I still maintain it’s validity as it’s use in the music industry is still relevant. That is the word racist. Race is huge in the overall narrative that msm tries to portray.
Racist
English ordinal: 70
Full reduction:25
Reverse ordinal: 92
Reverse full reduction: 47
racist and suicide are perfect matches on the front end and back end. 70 and 47.
Here’s another nugget.
The phrase : jumped to his death
English ordinal: 178 (pushed off the roof 187)
Full reduction: 70 (pushed off the roof 88)
Reverse ordinal:254 (pushed off the roof 245)
Reverse full reduction :83 (pushed off the roof 65)
Leap also shares 34 and 84.
Suicided 74 38 142 52
Occult
English ordinal: 74
Full reduction: 20
Reverse ordinal:88
Reverse full reduction:34
3 more repeats
The year of his suicide was a leap year
Leap year
English ordinal:83 Full reduction: 38 Reverse ordinal:133 Full res verse reduction: 43
Target audience: 133 61 245 83 Suicidal: 78 33 138 57 Hidden mission: 142 70 209 74 Some of these numbers are conjecture but there’s a lot of links between the numbers. 47/74 being the one of the more prominent, as well as 83/38, 34/43, 70, 245/254, 88, 33, 29/92/209, 182/128 all of these numbers connect in one way or another. Now it wouldn’t mean much if we didn’t know more about the nature of these numbers and how and where they appear. But since these number keep popping up in accordance to things like CONTROL GRID or MYSTERY RELIGION or SUPREME MATHEMATICS it seems almost impossible for it to be mere coincidence. Anyways I urge you guys to think for yourself and put in some work and see if you can find any use of this practice. God bless
Ps:
STEEZ’s debut album ”amerikkkan korruption” Came out on 4-7-2012 another 47. Vibration equals 47
A theory out there is that the cabal needed him to die because STEEZ was really bringing influence to more and more young minds with knowledge and the way STEEZ attacked and exposed certain things is not a good thing for those in power, the label that Joey wanted to sign when they were pro era, was a Jewish man named Jonny Shipes. if you’ve extensively went down the “rabbit hole”, like extensively, and you’d say you’re pretty “woke” (I hate that word), then you may know that most labels especially Jewish owned labels are basically the portals into The Illuminati cult, the Jesuit organization that controls the entire world. Oh and remember the news outrage, and investigation because of the 47 “swa stikkas” all over NY, yea you think these Jonny Shipes fucked with that? Nah. But this is all speculation.
It wasn’t long after Capital STEEZ's unfathomable passing on 12/23/12 – 12+23+12 = 47), which was only days after December 21, 2012, the precise date calculated by the great Mayans to be the end of a Great Cycle, that I received knowledge & became aware of the Law of Time. This seemingly new cosmology felt ancient and I quickly realized it had EVERYTHING to do with Synchronicity! I even found the number 47 to be ever ubiquitous throughout this 13 Moon calendar system.
"The next chapter is unstoppable. And yet, the greatest revolutions sometimes originate from the confines of impossibility, do they not? Break the code. It could make a leap and make possible a decision that defines the order of things that are." " Reality is a mathematical model which gets solved over and over again by the observer your thoughts are computations. And they render this world for you to call your own. Not all processors are alike. Different brains produce different realities. The variations go from the subtle to the drastic. Your mind defines how much you can taste. How much you can feel. How much you can understand. Perception defines perspective. We designed you and made sure to engineer your senses so you could perceive just what we needed you to. Neither more nor less. There are parts of time we preferred you remained blind to. It was a necessity."
The Law of Time, I found to hold the most profound yet simple teaching; our Time is not Money, Time is Art. I was able to grasp a greater vision of how we as humans have created an artificial timing system where our time here equates to how much money we can accumulate, where we are constantly stressed by this false belief of our making, and where there is never enough time… This system of our making and continuous propagation has only served to separate us from our Selves, from each other, and ultimately, from nature. Hence, resulting in the chaos and disharmony prevalent in the world today.
What is the greatest common factor of 23 & 47? 1 is the greatest number that 23 & 47 is divided to. The Chosen One @mistapitty ㄣ

Hello !
So... I'm rei_mayo, and I have a little bit unrealistic project. I create OCs and I imagine characters in lore what would they be in game.
I'm French, so I'm sorry for my bad English ! I prefer precise that there is just original or official content in the post ! This is just from the currents versions of the game and from my head !
Since one year, I work in my free time on this project and there is multiple things :
-First part : the lore of the project, like the background and the location ;
-Second part : the relics, and the elevation materials ;
-Third part : the characters, and the banners ;
-Fourth and last part : the plot of the history (in the big lines).
I prefer to precise why I do this. When I play video games, I love to create characters when it's possible, and in MiHoYo games, it's not possible... But, create characters that only me like, it's very selfish, so I would like to present them to have notices if they are fantastic !

First part :

So, the history would be in a location called the "Shìjiè-Chuán of Xianzhou" (nb : mean Ship-World (世界船) in Chinese). The Shìjiè-Chuán is the capital and the most important part of the Alliance. A little time after Lan became an Aeon, Yaoshi asks to an Emanator to kill the Emperor of Xianzhou and to make a plague mark in the original planet of Xianzhou.
Lan discovers that and he purifies the planet, kill Abominations, destroys the plague mark. With the remains of the planet and the Xianzhouan (?) planet, he creates a huge boat, the Shìjiè-Chuán.
For comparative, the Shìjiè-Chuán is so huge that all the other boats can fit in with no problem. It's contains important locations like :
-The Judgment Palace : The place where the Ten Lords and the Generals Arbiters judges the most dangerous criminals. Despite the fact the criminals are jail in the Xuling, they really are judge in the Shìjiè-Chuán.
-The Starry Streets : Streets where neon, big screens and buildings are. The popular streets of the Shìjiè-Chuán, mix of tradition and modernity.
-The Fallen Garden : A garden where plants of all the planets who were saved by the Hunt are. It's also the place where the Yamato was before the Emanator of Lan gets him.
-The Shackling Prison : The prison of Xianzhou, where all the criminals of the Alliance are located. In the depths of the prison, just one person is remained... Shuhu, Emanator of Abundance.
-The siege of the Ten Lords Commission : The place where all the Ten Lords (not included the Fallen King and the Stellar Queen) are when there is no process. It's also the place where all the Judges, the Wraith Wardens and the Aurumations are when they don't have missions.
-The boats Goldsmithery : The place where the boats of the Alliance are repair. Actually, the Cangcheng is here for reparation after the destruction of Rahu.
-Other places... How to discover them ? Play~
And here is some clarifications !
So, who is the Marshals ?
In my idea, Hua is a false Marshal, to cover and hide the Shìjiè-Chuán, but she's really powerful. She would be a Fu Hua expy... And I will talk about her later...
The reals Marshals are Rei -The Fallen King- and Xingxing -The Stellar Queen-.
Rei is the Emanator (and the only) of Lan. Called the Fallen King because of a legend, he's considered like the most powerful person of the Alliance. He carries a divine katana called the Yamato-Shinigami. (nb : Yamato > Yama, Hindu god and judge of the dead. The Chinese god Yanluowang or Yanluo Wang has his origins in Yama. Shinigami > Death Kami). I will talk about him later.
Xingxing (nb : star (星星) in Chinese) is an Emanator of Nous and a Eclairor (?) of IX. Called the Stellar Queen because she uses stars with martial art for fight, she done renovations in the Shìjiè-Chuán for make it more modern. I will talk about her later too.
The Marshals are the boss of Xianzhou and of all the factions who follow the Hunt, like the Galaxy Rangers. They rule all the commissions, and are very important, but they rule different commissions. For example, The Fallen King rule the Cloud Knights, but the Stellar Queen rule the Artisanship Commission. The only Commission they rule together is the Ten Lords Commission.
Who is the Ten Lords ?
In my idea, the Ten Lords Commission would be composed with eight Lords and the two Marshals, and that would be the Ten Lords. In game, it's said that nobody knows where the commission is despite the members of the Commission them-self, but she would be in the Shìjiè-Chuán. The Ten Lords would be :
-The Fallen King ;
-The Stellar Queen ;
-Yuen (I will talk about her later) ;
-Styx, an Emanator of Finality and a member of the Galaxy Rangers (I will talk about him later);
-Athena (I will talk about her later) ;
-and other people... NPCs, so we don't care about them.
Who is really Hua ?
In my idea, Hua would be a "Marshal". When she (in my mind, she's a she) appears in public, she is the Marshal, but in the Shìjiè-Chuán, she's judge like a General. Her title would be the "Fenghuang" (nb : phoenix of Chinese mythology).She would be in the General of the Cangcheng when he would be repair.
But... The Cangcheng is destroyed, no ?
Yes, he was devoured by the activated planet Rahu. But in the year 8098 (so two years before the game), Rei destroyed Rahu (and killed ~10 000 000 000 of abominations). That liberated the remains of the Cangcheng, and Xianzhou is trying repair him.
Why Shuhu is in the prison ? Shouldn't be dead ?
Technically, she's in prison, but it's precised that nobody knows if it's the really Shuhu of not. In fact, in each prison of Xianzhou, a few reproductions mecha-organics were made by the Stellar Queen for hide the real Shuhu. In the Shìjiè-Chuán, she's just a spirit, seal in a transparant box cell. She just wants to talk with five persons : The Fallen King, the Stellar Queen, Yuen, Blade and Jing Yuan. The unique persons who know that Shuhu is alive are the Ten Lords, the Generals and the Stellaron Hunters. Her real body and remains are with the Abundance, but originally her remains were with Xianzhou, and her spirit was with the Abundance.
Now, here is some more lore that I created :
The Trinity of the Abundance :
If you never see Yaoshi, THEY have a lot of plants in THEIR representation. There is a wheat, a bramble, and a large tree.
I imagine that the members of Abundance considered that these three plants are divines. For them, the wheat represent the immortality, the bramble represent the price to pay for become immortal and the thanks to Yaoshi, and the tree represent the life the Abundance offer to the mortals.Traditionally, the Emanators must wear one of these three symbols. For example, Shuhu wears brambles for gives her blood to Yaoshi.
At the opposite, each plant that the Hunt has purified is considered as a sin. For example, each lotus in the Xianzhou Alliance is a sin for Abundance. But the lotus in the planets of Abundance are holy. The lotus is the incarnation of Yaoshi THEM-SELF, but only if it's in a planet of Abundance.
Rakshasa and Luocha :
If you know Luocha, I think I don't to explain that is said that he's related to the Abundance. And Luocha is an other name for "Rakshasa", a type of evil spirit of the Buddhist mythologize who are cannibals. So, I will tell you who they are :
So, after the planet of Luocha get destroyed and his wife gets killed under his eyes, Yaoshi gave to him immortality and powers to become an Emanator of Abundance. Luocha asks to resuscitated his wife, but Yaoshi tells that THEY will do that if Luocha destroys one of the different boats of the Xianzhou Alliance. But Luocha, who was a doctor in his original planet, cannot do that. But the time past, and he couldn't do that... But Yaoshi implants an sort of mara in him, like an evil spirit, so Luocha decided something.
I imagine that Luocha create a another corpse/puppet with remains of different corpses, and transverse the evil part of him in this, but not his powers and his immortality, to trying to find an another way to resuscitate his wife. He create a coffin with powers of Abundance for conserve the corpse of his love, and decided to leave the Abundance, and became a interstellar merchant for trying to discover how to resuscitate his wife.
But Yaoshi couldn't accept that. So THEY gave powers and life to the puppet contained Rakshasa, and THEY gave immortality. And Rakshasa became an Emanator of Yaoshi, for avenge him and Yaoshi. But because he was born from Luocha spirit, he has his savior of doctor.
Rakshasa tries, with Shuhu and the living planet Rahu, to destroy the Shìjiè-Chuán. But the Stellar Queen fought him, and "kill him". But Rakshasa false his death, and he takes with him the remains of Shuhu.
Rakshasa is known for his cannibalism and for his experiences. He's like a Dottore in term of personality, but more crazy and more psychopathic.
The Yamato-Shinigami and the divine spirits of the Hunt :
So, what is the Yamato-Shinigami ?
This saber is an odachi created by Lan, to purge the Abominations and for the Emanators of Lan. So, Lan created this saber with a galaxy and imaginary energy for this first Emanator, but when he dies, Lan hid the saber in the Shìjiè-Chuán for the next Emanator... A long time ago, Rei meditated in the Stellar Garden after the death of his mother, and the Yamato has called him. Since this event, he and the Yamato are lied and the odachi is his saber.
Lan doesn't choose the Carrier of the Yamato, but it's the saber himself who choose his owner. The saber has only two owners in his life : The first Emanator of Lan and Rei.
Lan doesn't place the powers he gives to his Emanator in the Emanator, he place the powers in the Yamato. More the Emanator does miracles and heroics acts, more the Emanator gain the power. Actually, Rei have 100% of his powers, but there is a state more powerful : the Resonance.The Resonance is a phenomenon that caused when the willpower of the Emanator and the willpower of the Yamato are the same, and the power of the Emanator are increase so much that the people say when the Fallen King reach this state temporary, he becomes powerful as a Aeon.
But this state can be permanent, if the willpower of Rei became so strong that him and the Yamato become just one. The spirit in the saber changes his form according to who is the person who meet him. And he doesn't fight, the spirit of the Yamato-Shinigami doesn't fight with Emanators. The Yamato measure ~225 cm/~7,3 feet, and his pound is unknown. (The pound depend of who carries the blade. Very light for the carrier but very heavy for the other)
But what are the divine spirits of the Hunt ?
Do you know the Lighting Lord ? I think yes.>! In the lore, it's "said" and showed that the past General of the Luofu, Teng Xiao, uses the Lightning Lord, like Jing Yuan. But not the same sword, because of the Starfall Reverie has been forged by Blade when he was Yingxing.!< So I imagined that :
The first Generals, when they passed away, Lan take there spirits and gives a lot of power. Since the creations of these spirits, they are give to the Generals, until they choose to retire. Then, it's give to the next Generals, and this cycle is repeated. These spirits are unlike of the spirit of the Yamato, because they don't give their powers and doesn't are in a weapon. Plus, the spirit of the Yamato can't fight with his carrier.
Technically, the General Arbiters are Emanators, like Rei, but the divine spirits changes all. Rei does have powers of Lan/The Hunt and he has the Yamato-Shinigami, but if he fights without, he changes nothing (just the fact that the Yamato uses as a multiplying for the slashes. But if the Generals fights without the spirits, it would changes. (it's a theory/created lore, so please, not rude in comments !)
So the divine spirits would be like the reasons why the Generals of the Hunt are considered as Emanators.
So, now, I think the first part is finish... Let's go to the second part !

Second part :

The relics :
For the relics, I imagine some relics and some planet ornaments :
1 : Set of the Tearful Child of the Moon :
Memories of the Moon's Child : Beyond dreams, the tearful child of the Moon remembers his mother during the day, and finds her again at night. The child of the Moon is said to protect his mother from nightmarish creatures as she searches for her lost husband among the stars.
Protective cuddly toy of the Moon's Child : Beyond dreams, the tearful child of the Moon protects his mother with his teddy bear during the day, and finds her again at night. It is said that the child of the Moon is always accompanied by his faithful teddy bear, which the Sun himself is said to have woven for him.
Moon's Child pajamas : Beyond dreams, the tearful child of the Moon protects his mother and walks the land by day, and finds her at night. The Moon Child is said to always be dressed in extremely light blue pajamas, and to protect him from any enemies he may encounter.
Warmth of the Moon's Child : Beyond dreams, the tearful child of the Moon protects his mother, the Moon, during the day, and joyfully reunites with her at night. It is said that the child of the Moon never despairs because of a gift from his mother, his maternal love.
Effect :
2 pcs : Increases Imaginary DMG by 10%.
4 pcs : Increases CRIT rate by 15% and the CRIT DMGS by 25% for 2 turns after the porter uses his skill or his ultimate. Not cumulative.
2 : Set of the Blazing Goddess.
Divine Crown of the Blazing Goddess : A crown of incandescent flowers that ignite the hope of being rescued. The crown shines like a beacon for a castaway, and illuminates the hope of new and flourishing days.
Divine brambles and roses of the Blazing Goddess : Bracelets sinking into the flesh and blooming incandescent roses of blood, awakening Beauty to the divine state. It is said that these roses are the most beautiful in all existence, and that it only blooms in contact with the blood of Beauty.
Divine dress of the Blazing Goddess : A burning and brilliant dress, making even the stars admire it. The flames of this dress conceal inestimable treasures, the words and thoughts of Beauty, which leave in diamond whispers and stellar sighs.
Graceful step of the Graceful Grace of the Blazing Goddess : Beautiful shoes covered in burning flowers, growing roses with every step. It is said that the whole universe could not help but admire these flowers with their incandescent beauty, and that the flowers admired Beauty itself.
Effect :
2 pcs : Increases DoT by 20%.
4 pcs : Increases DoT by 15% when an ally or the porter deals DoT to an enemy. Increases fire DMGS by 15% when the porter uses their ultimate. The effect lasts 2 turns and can be accumulate 3 times.
3 : Set of the Keeper of the Fighting Will.
Ancient helmet of the Keeper of the Will : An old ancient helmet found on the ashes of a battlefield. When putting it on, you can hear the soldiers screaming and fighting, while the previous owner of this helmet beat to the rhythm to galvanize his troops.
Galvanizing Wands and Drum of the Will : Ancient drumsticks accompanied by a drum found on an old battlefield. If you strike the drum even once with the old sticks, you can feel your body filling with the will to fight.
Ancient chain mail of the Keeper of the Will : An old, slightly battered piece of mail, found on an old battlefield. Despite the age of the armor, it shines with a burning brilliance of an insatiable will to win and fight.
Ancient sandals of the Keeper of the Will : Old solid wooden sandals found on an ancient battlefield. When we put them on, a thrill spreads through our body, and a will to victory and battle is triggered.
Effect :
2 pcs : Increase Energy Regeneration Rate by 20%
4 pcs : For each enemy eliminated thanks to the porter's ultimate, increase the Energy Regeneration Rate by 5% and the DMGS by 15% for all the allies for 2 turns. The effect can be accumulated 3 times.
4 : Set of the Hopeless Plague Doctor.
Terrifying mask of the Hopeless Plague Doctor : The mask of a doctor who kills, destroys, and inoculates plague and immortality to the mortals. The hope go away and the despair arrives, to condemned all the patients, and give their blood to the greatest of the greatest Aeon, the Abundance.
Needle claws of the Hopeless Plague Doctor : The claws of a doctor who kills, destroys, and inoculates plague and immortality to the mortals. The plague in one, the despair in another, the immortality in another and the last takes the blood of the patients to give to THEM.
Calamity dress of the Hopeless Plague Doctor : The dress of a doctor who kills, destroys, and inoculates plague and immortality to the mortals. The blood and the suffer of all the people who became patients of this mad doctor are in this dress... But there is also the benediction of the Abundance.
Bloody boots of the Hopeless Plague Doctor : The boots of a doctor who kills, destroys, and inoculates plague and immortality to the mortals. Blood. Just blood. Only blood. Blood of THEM. Blood of Abundance. But serve as the shoes of the doctor. Of the mad doctor.
Effect :
2 pcs : Increases Max HP by 15%.
4 pcs : When the wearer consumed their HP or the allies's HP, their CRIT Rate and their CRIT DMGS get increased by 6% for 2 turns. This effect can be accumulated 4 times.
5 : Set of the Godly Hope Doctor.
Kindly mask of the Godly Hope Doctor : The mask of the doctor who has acceded to the redemption. Before, he was a Emanator, who tries to destroy for heals his love. But now, he's a doctor, a healer, and a benefactor... Despite his kind mask, a deep sadness live in his spirit, but he always live with his mask who hide his suffer.
Holy gloves of the Godly Hope Doctor : The gloves and the pendant of a doctor. The redemption and the kindness breathe in those objects, who have heals so many people. An holy energy can be feel in these accessories, and all the kindness of a man who loved his wife live in this.
Greatest coat of the Godly Hope Doctor : The coat of the doctor who heals all his patients. In this coat, all of the kindness and the healing power of this doctor are concentrate, but there is, hide in the depths of the clothe, a melancholy... A melancholy of his ancient planet.
Divine boots of the Godly Hope Doctor : The boots of the doctor who always heals his allies. In those shoes, all the journey of this doctor is gathered... Even if a kindness is present, the deep sorrow of all the travels that is here.
Effect :
2 pcs : Increases Max HP by 15%.
4 pcs : When the wearer heals their HP or the allies's HP, their Outgoing Healing and their ATK increase by 20% during 2 turns. This effect can be accumulated 4 times.
6 : Set of the All-mighty Burning Father.
Effect :
2 pcs : Increases Max HP by 20%.
4 : When the wearer deals Break DMGS or Super Break DMGS, the wearer and the allies gains Stack of "Blazing Child", up to maximum 6 stacks. "Blazing Child" increase the HP, the Break DMGS and the Super Break DMGS by 20% for each stack, and when the wearer gains 6 stacks, then the Energy Regeneration Rate increase by 10% and the Super Break DMGS increase by 50%.
Now, it's time to present the planet ornaments !
1 : ~Set of the Judgment Ship~
Judgment Palace of the Shìjiè-Chuán of Xianzhou : Sealed within this planar sphere is Shìjiè-Chuán, sacred land of Xianzhou. The World Ship floats and admires a new starry landscape every year to escape the abominations. You can see the Palace of Judgment, the Star Garden, the Goldsmith of Ships, and all kinds of other places, each one as important and fabulous as the last.
Promise of the Lovers of the Shìjiè-Chuán of Xianzhou : In Shìjiè-Chuán, it is said that the wind and rain bring back the dreams and promises of old. And some say that the promise of two lovers kissing in the rain can be heard in the Star Garden.
Effect :
2 pcs : Increases the CRIT DMGS by 25%. If the CRIT Rate reaches 40/50, the CRIT DMGS are increase by 25%/35%, and the CRIT DMGS are increase by 10% each time that the porter uses their ultimate. The effect can be accumulated 2 times, and lasts 3 turns.
2 : ~Set of the Floral Echo of the Ashes~
Flowering ashes of Fjoralys : Sealed within this planar sphere is Fjoralys, a once flowery and warm planet. When the Destruction came, life and people on the planet all died. Not one survived. Except a little girl, daughter of the stars. Now, flowers of yesteryear rise from the ashes of Destruction, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
Star goldwork of Fjoralys : In the flames of Fjoralys's destruction, only the stars and a little girl witnessed the massacre. And when life, flowers, and trees resurfaced, the stars cried with joy, washing the earth of all this sadness to put, in its place, colorful joy and flowers... Thousands of them.
Effect :
2 pcs : Increases DoT by 12%. If the wearer deals DoT to an enemy, then the DoT dealt to enemies increases by 26%.
So, let's go to the next part !
3 : ~Set of the Duality of the Rulers~
Starry Yin and fallen Yang of the duality of Rulers : Sealed in this planar sphere are two complementary wills, that of the two rulers of Xianzhou, a brother and a sister. Depending on the inclination of the sphere, we can see different memories appear and disappear, like fleeting winds facing the erosion of time.
Brotherhood of the duality of Rulers : Tears, blood, joy and friendship are condensed in these threads of destiny. It is said that the years erode certain things, but the threads of destiny grow and become denser to the rhythm of the emotions of the two Rulers.
Effect :
2 pcs : Increases Break effect by 12%. Each time that the wearer or an ally deals Super Break DMGS, the wearer gains a stack of "Rule of Flame", up to maximum 4 stack(s). A stack of Rule of Flames increases Break Effect by 20%.
4 : ~Set of the activated planet Rahu~
Floral sea of ​​lotuses of Abundance : Sealed within this planar sphere is the living planet Rahu, eater of Cangcheng and guardian of the lotus scourge. It is said that the living planet blows billions of lotus petals that rip the life force from humans and offer them to the abominations. On this planet lies its heart, the lotus floral sea, where abominations and Emanators bathe in the human suffering.
Bridge of Immortal Hope of Abundance : It is said that every Emanator must pass through the "bridge of immortal hope" if he wants to be in total symbiosis with his body. This bridge was carved from the flesh and blood of Yaoshi, after THEY fought with the Emanator of Lan thousands of years ago, and it now glows a beautiful blood red, and screams the damned who did not know how to listen to their bodies.
Effect :
2 pcs : Increases the CRIT DMGS by 10%. If the HP of the wearer reaches 3000 or more, then their CRIT DMGS increases 20% more. Each 1000 HP more than 3000 HP increase the CRIT Rate by 5%.
5 : ~Set of the Sacred Land of Annihilators~
Sacred Temple of Annihilating Destruction : Sealed within this planar sphere are the ashes of the old and new worlds, in the form of the Temple of Destruction. Everything in this palace has been destroyed by Nanook and THEIR Ravager Lords, and the Antimatter Legion pines and enjoys the suffering extinguished by the devastating breath of Destruction itself.
Petals and sobs of annihilating Destruction : On the planets that the Legion destroys, the Ravager Lords always bring back two things, a person, the sole survivor, and flower petals sticky with blood. The petals then mingle with the sobs of the last living creature, creating pitifully perfect flowers and trees.
Effect :
2 pcs : Increases ATK at 14%. If the HP of the wearer reaches 4000/5000 or more, then the DMGS of their ultimate and their skill increases by 15/25%.
6 : ???
2 pcs : ???
4 pcs : ???
7 : ???
2 pcs : ???
4 pcs : ???
So now, the elevation materials !
The Hunt : Ancient runny cord of the Divine Bow :
A thread who was once part of the Divine Bow of the Aeon of the Hunt, and who was emit after of a battle. It's now a shooting star. Used to level up Traces slightly for Hunt characters.
Purge Echo of the Divine Bow :
An image of the bow that Lan uses, who remain in the space and the time after THEY throw an arrow. Used to level up Traces moderately for Hunt characters.
Full Incarnation of the Divine Bow :
The bow that Lan uses, constitute by imaginary energy and stars, who can destroy space-times and galaxies. Used to level up Traces significantly for Hunt characters.
The Nihility : Fragment of lazy memory :
A glowing fragment of the memory of someone who has been blessed by the Nihility. Used to level up Traces slightly for Nihility characters.
Once nihilistic reminiscence :
The glowing piece of the memory of a past Eclairor of the Nihility. The rare images of the memories are colorless. Used to level up Traces moderately for Nihility characters.
Memory of an Auto-Annihilator :
A red glowing jewel, who contain all the life of an Auto-Annihilator. All the memories are scramble by the black sun. Used to level up Traces slightly for Nihility characters.
The Abundance : Godless tear of the Abundance :
Plague of the Immortal :
Suffering of the thousand recoveries :
The Harmony : (I don't have ideas, sorry T^T)
And for the other paths... You have to wait (Sorry T^T)

Third part :

For the order of apparition of the characters, it would be :
?.0 : Xixian (first phase) 5 star Harmony ; Thunde Yuen (second phase) 5 star Erudition ; Wind, with 4 star character
?.1 : Rakshasa (first phase) 5 star Abundance ; Ice/ Hua (second phase) 5 star Fire ; Destruction, with 4 star character
?.2 : Xingxing (first phase) 5 star Nihility ; Fire/ Rei (second phase) 5 star Hunt ; Imaginary
?.3 : Shuhu (first phase) 5 star Abundance ; Quantum/ Athena (second phase) Harmony ; Wind, with 4 star character
?.4 : Elio (first phase) 5 star Preservation ; Thunder (can change)/ Styx (second phase) 5 star Erudition ; Quantum.
So, who is Xixian ?
Xixian is the Lieutenant of the Shìjiè-Chuán. She's around 60, and she's a long-life specie. She wears a artificial arm, because Rakshasa cut off her arm during the battle of the Shìjiè-Chuán. She trusts the Fallen King and the Stellar Queen, but she's a little overprotective in them.
Xixian is a character of the Harmony who can increase different stats depending on the Path of the character. If it's a Destruction/Hunt/Erudition character, she can increase CRIT DMGS and ATK. If it's a Preservation character, she can increase DEF. If it's a Nihility character, she can increase the Effect Hit Rate and the DoT DMGS. If it's a Abundance character, she can increase the Outgoing Healing Boost. And if it's a Harmony character, she can increase ERR. Her bonus can last for 1 turn. Her ultimate can increase the duration of the bonus of the characters to 2 more turns.
So, who is Yuen ?
Yuen is one of the Ten Lords. Nicknamed as the Erudite, she's the most younger person named in the post of one of the Ten Lords. Despite the fact she's still a child/teenager, she's very wise and intelligent, and she's a very good strategist.
Yuen is a character of the Erudition that inflict wind DMGS. Her technique and her ultimate would change with her talent, Condensation. For example, less enemies are here, more DMGS are inflict : 5-4 enemies in the battlefield : Effect Zone ; 3 enemies in the battlefield : Burst ; 2 - 1 enemies in the battlefield : Unique target. But don't worry, you can choose what type of attack the skill does. Her talent can also increases her CRIT DMGS and ATK.
So, who is Rakshasa ?
Rakshasa is an Emanator of the Abundance, and he was the evil part of Luocha. His body was simply a puppet, but Yaoshi make his body organic... So he would be very flexible. He would fight with needle-gloves.
Rakshasa is a character of the Abundance who can heal... But with a particular way ! So, all the allies have a effect at the beginning of the battle : "Holy Sacrifice", who is his talent. When a character lost HP, the Holy Sacrifice absorbs his loss of HP, until a limit. The skill of Luocha can release the Holy Sacrifice for heals the ally, and makes the effect reborn. Release the Holy Sacrifice can increase the DMGS and the ATK of Rakshasa. Also, his talent take some allies's HP in each turn to increases the Holy Sacrifice. His ultimate, who would be an Burst, can uses the HP of the allies to increase the DMGS and the CRIT DMGS of Rakshasa, and then, he attacks the enemy/enemies. Then, he releases the Holy Sacrifice of all the characters to heal them.
His VA would be the same of Luocha, Craig Lee Thomas.
So, who is Hua ?
Hua is a sort of Marshal of Xianzhou. Even if in public, she appears as the Marshal, she's in reality the future General of the Cangcheng, and she possesses the divine spirit of the boat, the Inferno-Empress. Her nickname is the Fenghuang.
The Inferno-Empress would appears like a gigantic phoenix.
Hua is a character of the Destruction who deals Fire DMGS, but also Super Break Effect. So, the Inferno-Empress would be like the Lightning-Lord, but when shes uses her ultimate, the Inferno-Empress merges with her and she enters in the "Fenghuang" state. When she's in this state, every attack that Hua uses consumes her HP. But, each time that her HP get consumed, her Break Effect increase. The state lasts for 2 turns, and she inflects Super Break Effect. At the end, a sort of a ultimate attack is trigger and all the HP (even the HP that are not here, for example, if her max HP is 10000, but she only has 8000 HP, then her HP are going to be in -2000) are consumed and the Break Effect is increase in a certain value for each 500 HP that are consume, and she inflicts DMGS and Super Break Effect for the enemies who are in Weakness Break. She cans heal herself with the DMGS that she has done, but the heal cannot exceed 75% of her HP ! The Inferno-Empress deals Fire DMGS, and Super Break Effect to the enemies who are in Weakness Break.
So, who is Xingxing ?
Xingxing is one of the two Marshals of Xianzhou, the Stellar Queen, an Emanator of the Erudition, an Eclairor of the Nihility and one of the Ten Lords. She's the possessor of the Stellar Marks, a gift of the Erudition who can permits to create micro-stars and stellar flames to fight. With the power of the Nihility, she create black holes also for fight.
She's 17 years old, and she would uses the same model as for March !
Xingxing is a character of the Nihility who deals Fire DMGS. She cans add more DoT on enemies who already have DoT with her special DoT : Starburn, who can also inflects Burn. Starburn is inflect to the enemies with her skill and her ultimate. She can also reach multiple enemies because she does effect zone attacks. Her talent can increases the DoT DMGS she does to the enemies depending on their HP.
Her VA would be Judy Alice Lee (VA of Melinoë).
So, who is Rei ?
Rei is one of the two Marshals of Xianzhou, the Carrier of the Yamato-Shinigami, the unique Emanator of the Hunt, the chief of the Galaxy Rangers and one of the Ten Lords. Anyway, he's a very important person of the Xianzhou Alliance. He's from a forgotten planet, who has been destroyed by the Abundance. Rescued by the past Marshal, Lingyue when he was six years old, he quickly became one of the greatest fighter of the Alliance at his teenage years.
He is 19 years old, and he is around 1m96/~6,43 feet. (so I think he's one of the most tall character.). He's VERY muscular, and very handsome (according to me)
Rei is a Hunt character (an Emanator of this path) who deals Imaginary DMGS. His gameplay would be concentrate in the CRIT DMGS. Depending on the attacks, it's giving to him "Fallen Royalty" accumulations. When he has a certain number of this accumulation, he entering in the "Fallen King" state, who increased his CRIT rate and his CRIT DMGS and reinforce his skill and his ultimate. For his ultimate, it increases his CRIT rate and his CRIT DMGS, and he gives 9 slashes to the enemy. When he's in the "Fallen King" state, it's would increase his CRIT rate and CRIT DMGS, also gives XIII (4, 4, and 5) slashes to an enemy. For each slash that are a CRIT hit, an additional slash is inflect. Each additional slash increases the Rei's CRIT DMGS, and they do a CRIT vulnerability. If all the all the additional slashes has been concluded, then a last additional slash is inflect. When he does CRIT DMGS when he uses his ultimate in the "Fallen King" state, it's does another hit in the enemy.
Here is his description :
"One of the two Marshals of the Xianzhou Alliance, the Carrier of the Yamato, the Emanator of Lan and the Fallen King. Feared by his enemies, respected by his allies. He always wears a fickle smile, and he always brings death with him.
Lan, the Reignbow Arbiter entrust the Yamato to Rei, the greatest weapon of all the Alliance. As a great strategist, he's also a good brother. He knows all the Stellaron Hunters, and he's apparently in a relation with the Stellaron Hunter named Blade..."
His VA would be Kaiji Tang (the VA of Gojo).
So, who is Shuhu ?
Shuhu is an Emanator of Yaoshi, considered as the "daughter of the Abundance". She's always with a scythe made with the body of Yaoshi and with the bones of her victims. She has a very sense of the sadism and she hates the humanity for all they have done to her.
Shuhu is a character of the Abundance who deals Quantum DMGS. She has three skills : One where she consumes the HP of the allies for increase DMGS and CRIT DMGS, and she attacks the enemies. An other where she consumes her HP for increase DMGS and CRIT DMGS, and where she attacks the enemies. And the last where she attacks the enemies for steal the HP of the enemies for heals her and the allies. In her ultimate, she consumes her HP and the allies's HP for increase her DMGS, her CRIT DMGS and her CRIT rate, and she attacks the enemies for steal the enemies's HP and heals the allies.
So, who is Athena ?
Athena is one of the Ten Lords, nicknamed as the Protector. She's always with a owl named Zhìhuì (nb : wisdom in Chinese (智慧)), and is a real master of the strategy and the war inventions, but she's also one of the more oldest members of the Ten Lords.
Athena is a character of the Harmony who can increase the DMGS and the ATK of the allies with her skill. Her talent can increase all the allies's RES PEN and their SPD. Her ultimate can increase all the allies's CRIT DMGS for 2 turns, for a chosen ally, she cans place her owl for 2 turns, who inflict additional DMGS on the enemy/enemies who the ally attacks. Also, if the ally get attack, the owl defend them with a counterattack.
So, who is Elio ?
Elio is the chef of the Stellaron Hunters (and if you don't know that, you must haven't touch HSR). I imagine him as a cat (practically not imagine, because it's quite official, but not official, so you know), but he uses his puppet... I doesn't draw him because I know that his design already be... You know what. I imagine him very kind and mysterious.
Elio is a character of the Preservation who can predict the DMGS of the allies. His skill would be a shield. For his ultimate, it's would add a status for all the allies and him : "Forecast of the Script". This effect would last one turn, and would cancel all the DMGS the allies receive.
So, who is Styx ?
AH-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ! You have to wait !

Fourth part :

The history would be in the Shìjiè-Chuán, and here is the principal plot :
First quest : " You and the Astral Express receive a mysterious call of Jing Yuan, who telling you that he have something important to said to you. The thing in question is that is a feast for the "saviors of the Luofu" (the Nameless) in the... Shìjiè-Chuán ?! Not time for chatting, Jing Yuan gives you the localisation of the mysterious ship, and the Astral Express start his new journey... "
Second quest : " After a few warp jumps, you finally reach the Shìjiè-Chuán, capital of the Xianzhou Alliance. After meet all of the Generals and the Lieutenant Xixian, it's finally the time for you to meet the Ten Lords, including the Fallen King and the Stellar Queen, real Marshals of the Alliance... "
Other quests...? You have to play~
The quest would be a quest long as Penacony... Maybe a little more... And there would be all the Nameless... Yes, Pom-Pom in the quest and he would use his powers ! If he has powers.
In the final boss of the Shìjiè-Chuán, the music would be like, if it's possible, of the song "Bad Apple". In the battle, the people singing for encouraging the ones who are fighting the final boss.
In the 1st phase, it's would be only the divine spirits who singing.
In the 2nd phase, it's would be all the soldiers and the divines spirits who singing.
In the 3rd and the final phase, it's would be all Xianzhou Alliance (yes, Lan included too !) who singing.
The "R" attack ( like the Dan Heng attack during the Phantylia fight ) would be all the divine spirits and the two Marshals conferring their power to the Trailblazer, and then, he/she slashes the boss.
So, it's the end of the post... If you have questions for clarify something, you can in comments, and I would be respond with pleasure !
Bye byeeeeee !

"The Morrígan"

First off, I apologize if this has been thought of or posted before either in reddit or youtube. ( I have yet to find anyone talking about it"
This is just some food for thought as I've been heavy into Elden Ring lore lately. I really enjoy watching youtube videos about Elden ring lore and story. Love watching tarnished/ vaatti and others just to name a few.
I Love trying to tie in real life history or mythology and how it possibly inspired story decisions. It can possibly help us uncover story secrets before they are revealed.
This is going to be all over the place, because I don't have a ton of time to make a huge presentation but I'll try and give you the cliff the notes of what I uncovered and hopefully it inspires someone smarter than me to piece something together.
I first stumbled upon "The Morrigan" mythology when I was watching a Quelaag video and she mentioned how the deathbirds are keepers of the flame. It got me thinking about how in old roman pagan times there was a group of woman called the vestal virgins who were in charge of keeping romes sacred flame. So I googled what that flame in roman/pagan times represented. I somehow stumbled across Brigid or Brigit meaning 'exalted one who was a goddess of pre-Christian Ireland. She appears in Irish mythology as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the daughter of the Dagda and wife of Bres, with whom she had a son named Ruadán. (From Wiki)
According to myth, the Tuatha de Danann resided in a mythical country described as the underworld.
They live in the Otherworld, which is described as either a parallel world or a heavenly land beyond the sea or under the earth's surface.^\1]) Many of them are associated with specific places in the landscape, especially the sídh mounds; the ancient burial mounds and passage tombs which are entrances to Otherworld realms.^\1])^\2]) The Tuath Dé can hide themselves with a féth fíada ('magic mist')^\2]) and appear to humans only when they wish to.^\1]) ^{( kinda like how Melina appears to us} )
She has some crazy similarities to Marika, the flower that represents her is dandelion/sunflower that we see all over the lands, the animal that is most associated with her are lambs... found all over limgrave. Also was known as the goddess who could create trees or something like that. I won't bore you with all the things, but if your interested there are a lot of associations that can be tied to the goddess Brigid and the Elden ring story if you have time to research it.
I dove deeper in Wikipedia and clicked on the link for her father the Dagda. He is considered the great god of Irish mythology And things got a bit interesting here for me. He is often described as a large bearded man or giant. Again I need the help of you guys to try and tie these mythological gods to a possible connection to the Elden Ring characters. I have a few ideas for this guy.
The Dagda has several other names or epithets which reflect aspects of his character.
One being Eochaid

• Eochu or Eochaid Ollathair ("horseman, great father" or "horseman, all-father

There is a sword in Elden ring called The Regalia of Eochaid, ( Treasured sword of Eochaid, a lesser, long-vanished domain )
I think the old man in the photo from the DLC trailer could be this Dagda character or possibly one of the Giant skeletons sitting on the throne in the under ground.
The Dagda has an affair with Boann, the goddess of the River Boyne. She lives at Brú na Bóinne with her husband Elcmar. The Dagda impregnates her after sending Elcmar away on a one-day errand. To hide the pregnancy from Elcmar, the Dagda casts a spell on him, making "the sun stand still" so he will not notice the passing of time. This kind of sounds similar to Rhadan holding the stars back? I have a feeling there was a secret child had out of wedlock of some kind that will be revealed in the DLC, possibly its messmer?
comparisons are starting to seem more than a coincidence.
I noticed on Wiki that one of the Consorts for the "Dagda" was someone named the Morrigan
Consort means - a wife, husband, or companion, in particular the spouse of a reigning monarch.
When reading up on the Morrigan, I was astonished and some of the things I found.
The Morrígan or Mórrígan, also known as Morrígu, is a figure from Irish mythology. The name is Mór-ríoghan in modern Irish before the spelling reform,^\1]) and it has been translated as "great queen" or "phantom queen".
he Morrígan is often described as a trio of individuals, all sisters, called "the three Morrígna".^\5])^\9])^\10]) In mythology membership of the triad is given as Badb, Macha, and the Morrigan, who may be named Anand).^\11]) It is believed that these were all names for the same goddess
The Morrígan is mainly associated with war and fate, especially with foretelling doom, death, or victory in battle. In this role she often appears as a crow, the badb.^\2]) She incites warriors to battle and can help bring about victory over their enemies. The Morrígan encourages warriors to do brave deeds, strikes fear into their enemies,
Doesn't the Badb sound like Melina?? she often appears as a crow, Melina has a crow tattoo on her eye. She Morrigan encourages warriors ( us the tarnished ) to do brave deeds?
Her role was to not only be a symbol of imminent death, but to also influence the outcome of war. Most often, she did this by appearing as a crow flying overhead, and would either inspire fear or courage in the hearts of the warriors. In some cases, she is written to have appeared in visions to those who are destined to die in battle
The Morrígan is described as the envious wife of The Dagda and a shape-shifting goddess
I'm not 100% sure of this obviously, but It sounds like Melina is one of three sisters who are a Triple Deity. Is the Morrigan the dusk eyed queen, marika and someone else? or are Melina / miquella and Melania all the same Goddess?
The more you look into this mythology, the inspiration is all plastered all over elden ring.

The Morrigan: Triple Goddess of Death by Anna Otto Contra is another great page I read up on this.

Known as a triple goddess, consisting of three distinct entities, She is often associated with death and is considered a guardian of the dead. As a shapeshifter, she possesses the ability to transform into various forms.
As a goddess of death, Morrigan is believed to have a close connection to the realm of the dead. She is sometimes seen as guiding and protecting the souls of deceased warriors(tarnished?), ensuring their safe passage to the Netherworld

T​he Three Sisters

In the legends of the Morrigan and her three sisters, Badb, Nemain, and Macha, a powerful trio emerges, each with different aspects of war, death, and transition.
Nemain, another sister, assumes the role of the comfort goddess in the transition of death (Fia or deathbed companion?)
This passage is even more insane... possible connections to Ranni or Mesmer?
Lunar circles and snake coils are also significant symbols associated with the Morrigan. The lunar circles represent the moon’s influence on the flow of life and death. This symbolizes her connection to the cycles of nature and the passage of time. The snake coils and triple snake spirals reflect her transformative abilities and the shedding of old skin to reveal new beginnings. They represent the cycle of rebirth and renewal, capturing the Morrigan’s association with both death and regeneration.
I know I'm all over the place with this, but I was hoping to inspire someone in the community to maybe make a more clear connection with this Irish Mythology and the story of Elden Ring and maybe uncover an unknown part of the story.
Again I apologize if this has already been covered somewhere, but every link I click on Wikipedia regarding this group has crazy inspirational connections with the Elden Ring Story.
If you had the patience and curiosity to read through my ramblings your a legend lol.
Please post your thoughts, ideas...

period: april 28th to May 14th 2024.
Nights spent in: Tokyo - Sendai - Fukushima - Koriyama - Nagoya - Hakata ( Fukuoka ).
If it's really off the beaten path or not you'll decide, some destinations visited are really particular, other are way more popular even if usually not what you'll visit in your first trip to Japan. let's say i've been to japan last summer and did all the usual things one do the first time he's there, probably even something more: Tokyo - Kyoto - Osaka - Nara - Nikko, Fukuoka, Matsumoto, Himeji, Miyajima. pretty much what almost anyone does for their first time if they have the opportunity.
Given the weak Yen and having still some time ( and money ) i could spend i decided to come back less than a year later, this time at the end of April up until half may in order to explore less popular destinations. I'll avoid to provide the usual tips anyone provide, like how to move from narita, how to get a Suica or how to book a train seat, how to operate a toilet and such things.
SOME TIPS
Concerning Suica: contrary to what most people suggest, i didn't buy one neither last summer or this time and frankly i've never missed not having it. I use my mastercard credit card, most places in japan accept it with zero problems and for the rest you can get Yen at any ATM machine that you can find in any combini with it and pay cash wich japanese still very much use
Concerning the period of the year: last year i went in August. I can confirm that moving around in April/May is so incredibly much better. The heat in august is some day even unbearable. This time the weather was mostly fine, got only one day of rain even if the temperatures were still a bit on the cold side overall. Unfortunately this year Sakura came early and I missed it by a week or two. But still apart from the cherry trees all the plants were blossoming and it was so nice to see flowers everywhere compared to the pain of the humidity and the torment of cicadas you have during summer.
Concerning golden week: one of the two weeks i was there was the golden week. I didn't book anything in advance but, maybe because of the fact i was moving off the beaten path, i almost never had problems booking trains or hotels during golden week ( i said almost, more details later ). Cant tell what's the effect when trying to book hotels in places like Kyoto.
concerning planning: my usual planning method goes the following: i book the plane, obviously. I buy JRP ( yes i still bought it even after the price increase ) and i book two days of hotels. The rest of my trip i have an idea of what i want to do and where i want to go but i book hotels and such, while going along. This gives me the flexibility to change my itinerary or react to bad weather ( last summer i run away from a typhoon with this trick ) or unexpected problems ( last summer i got food poisoning and i had to delay my program booking an hotel for three more days than expected: had i booked all nights in advance it would have been a huge problem ). I only book hotels using the booking website app and i can only say good things about it. I travel alone, maybe for couples or families this isn't as easy as it was for me.
Warning: I like to walk and I walk a lot. So if you need tips to move around, I’m not probably the right person because what you might want to do using a bus or a taxi I would probably do by walking. I’ve walked on average of 20 km a day and probably more and if a place is like 3-4 km from where I am I walk there without even looking if there’s a better option with a bus or something else.
I will give a vote to the places I’ve visited according to two parameters:
How off the beaten path it really is, judging by how many foreign tourists I met there. And an overall vote telling how worthy I feel the place is to visit. To make it short I will call them “OTBP VOTE and OVERALL VOTE”

SO LET'S START WITH THE ACTUAL TRIP REPORT:
Day 1: landing in Tokyo at midday in Narita. After finishing all the immigration process i moved to my hotel. This time i decided to book it for two nights in Omiya/Saitama. The place is less than half an hour from Tokyo Station and was the opportunity to see something different. I haven't seen much of the place but the area around the station was very lively, lots of restaurant and lots of people moving around. It was full of decoration with squirrells and a football team, i guess they were either promoting it or they won something cause decorations were everywhere, honestly didn't ask about. Well apart from checking in, recovering from the flight, looking for something to eat and checking a bit the areai didn't do much.
day 2: in the morning i took the train to Ashikaga Flower Park. I've seen picture of it online and according to the informations i gathered i might have been late for the sakura but the Wisteria were in full bloom and they had a lot of them in this park.
So i took the train, it was around an hour ride and Omiya was strategically on the way. I realized my trip plan was proably a good one when, once reached the Ashikaga flower park station ( there's a train station dedicated to this park ) all the people on the train got off. A little walk, ticket and i was in. The place, given the right time of the year, was AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE. I can't begin to tell you how cool and how huge the wisteria plants were. they were in full bloom, and was something out of this world, it looked like something you see in the movie avatar. Like three or four wisterias as big as a basketball field if not even more, of different colours and kinds, plus a lot more of regular sized wisterias and a lot more flower plants of all kinds. Had to say, for some reason with all the flowers the air wasn’t at all full of their scent. I even got a wisteria flavoured ice cream, wich was probably a wisteria coloured ice cream cause it didn’t have any real particular taste. The place was packed with Japanese people and foreigners like me you could count them on the fingers of one hand. I arrived there early, so by early afternoon I was satisfied with my visit and moved away. A quick check on my train app and google maps and realized I could reach Kawagoe from there fairly easily.
ASHIKAGA FLOWER PARK OTBP: 9 OVERALL: 10
When I was on the train it stopped at the Tochigi station, it looked nice from the train so I decided to jump off and check the area a bit, because sometime I do that kind of things, and the idea wasn’t bad at all: the town itself doesn’t look anything special but there’s a canal wich was very picturesque, plus it was fully decorated with paper carps because of the time of the year and Japanese people were doing boat rides on the river on traditional little boats while singing songs. I won't say to go there specifically to see the place, but if you're on that train route or still around it, it might be worth a stop. So, once I finished checking the area I jump back on the train and finally reached Kawagoe.
TOCHIGI: OTBP: 10 OVERALL: 6 ½
Kawagoe is a small place north of Tokyo, not very far, wich is know for a small neighbourhood with old Edo houses. That neighbourhood is more far from the station that I expected, but still nice and worth a check. There’s a very cool bell tower there and one of the coolest Starbucks I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t spend a whole day in Kawagoe if you ask me but If you’re in Tokyo and have an half day available that you don't know how to spend I’d say it’s totally worth a train ride. Had my dinner there and then moved back to Omiya where I would spend my last night.
KAWAGOE: OTBP: 7 OVERALL: 7
Day 3: woke up early, jumped on the train and moved to Sendai where I had planned to stay the next three nights. Once again Omiya was a good choice cause I could take the shinkansen right from there without having to move back to Tokyo.
Arrived in Sendai, left my luggage in the hotel where I couldn’t check in cause it was still to early and hopped on a local train in direction of Matsushima. By midday I was already in Matsushima. This is another very famous destination for Japanese people, one of the most known panoramas in japan. Have to say, the town is a typical sea town, definitely welcoming. I had one of the best Sushi I ever had in japan in a local restaurant ( check matsushima sushi kou if interested ). Visited Zuiganji temple and then walked a bit on the coast, crossed the Fukuurabashi bridge, the long red bridge that you probably have seen in some picture, and walked around Fukuurajima. Here you can have a walk around the island it’s not small but is small enough that you can walk it all fairly quickly and it has some nice spots to discover. You have to pay a small fee to cross the bridge. Then went back, checked the Godaido of Zuiganji and it’s worth mentioning that when walking along the coast I’ve stumbled across a couple of signs giving instructions on what to do in case of a tsunami and what happened back in 2011, wich I didn’t even think about up until that moment and suddenly the memories went back to what happened there more than 10 years ago. Last thing, my advice is to walk down to Oshima island. This little island is less crowded, you can reach it crossing a little red bridge and honestly to me it’s the best spot to admire Matsushima. I didn’t went for the ferry ride across the bay cause the weather wasn’t very good and I was starting to be a little short on time, so I moved back to Sendai.
MATSUSHIMA: OTBP: 9 OVERALL: 8 ½
Once back in Sendai, I went to see the sunset from the panoramic floor of the AER building near the station, wich is totally free even if finding the right elevator that takes you up might be a bit tricky, but the view is totally worth it, you can even see in the distance the big white shape of the dai-kannon and from the other side of the floor you can easily see the sea.
Talking about Sendai, I didn’t dedicate to the city the time that should have been necessary because I was always on day trips and I spend there mostly the late evenings, but my impression is that Sendai is a very nice city that should appear more often in peoples itineraries. The city is particularly vibrant and alive, lot of young people, lot of things to see and do, a covered shopping street that is almost endless full of restaurants and shops, way more green than many other Japanese cities. I’d recommend anyone who had the time and the opportunity to spend a little time here. Also it has a very distinctive identity and everything proudly revolves around the image of its founder Date Masamune who is everywhere in senday, even the penguin of the local DonQuishotte mall was dressed up as Date Masamune.
So after the panorama, I went in the hotel, finally checked in and then moved back to look for food. Walked down what I think is called ichibancho street, wich as I said before is an endless downtown road full of shops and restaurant and stopped to have a try at the most famous local dish, Gyutan, wich is grilled cow tongue. Never had tongue in my life and have to admit it, it’s not bad at all, I quite enjoyed it. Had a little more walk around then called it a day.
SENDAI: OTBP: 7 ½ OVERALL: 9
Day 4: today trip is to Hiraizumi, a UNESCO world heritage site, where you can admire some historically significant buddhist sites. You had to catch a coincidence in Ichinoseki but the whole ride is pretty straight forward and doesn’t really take much time. At 9 am I was already ready to explore. As I sad I’m a walker, so I walked the walk from the station to the Chuson Ji temple wich is around 2 km and I totally recommend it cause the town is quite nice to walk through, very small village, very cozy and intimate. Chuson Ji it’s a very beautiful complex to explore, it’s inside a forest, kinda reminds a bit of Nikko atmosphere if you’ve been there even if the buildings aren’t as spectacular. The whole wood was full of blossoming plants and here and there I was able to spot some late cherry tree still full of flowers, giving me an hint to what sakura must really be.
You stumble in the temple buildings one after another while you go deep into the wood. I reach the main building and there’s a ceremony in progress. I discovered later that the next day was planned the Fujiwara festival where all people dress up like in Edo period and do a parade in the city. The day I was there instead the children parade was planned, so it was full of kids dressed up and judging by how proud and elegant their parents were I tend to think it was a pretty big thing for them. I enjoy the situation for a while, then went back to exploring, till I reached the main attraction of the temple wich is the Konjikido, a golden pavilion that dates back to the XII century wich is amazing to see in person.
Once I finished exploring the whole Chuson Ji complex I went looking for a restaurant and had a nice ramen set, because the visit took the whole morning, then moved to the second stop wich was Motsuji Temple: as much as Chuson Ji impressed me, Motsu-ji disappointed me. The thing is, you pay to enter and in the end what you see is a place mostly empty, where the only building there are reconstructions and most places are just a bunch of rocks with signs saying “here once was this building” “here once was that building” and the main thing you’ll see there is a pond whose importance is that it dates back to the time when Japanese gardens were kinda dull compared to what they’ll become centuries later. So it’s kinda a pond that you would completely ignore in a different context. I mean, I totally get the historical importance of this place, but, honestly from the ignorant eyes of a tourist it’s really nothing you would invest your time visiting, according to my opinion.
Another place that would have been worth visiting was Takkoku-no Iwaya Bishamondo, but isn’t really that easy to reach, it’s a bit far to walk to and I was once again out of time, therefore I decided to skip it and went back to the station and to sendai where I again went to look for something to eat and had a little night stroll, nothing worth mentioning.
HIRAIZUMI: OTBP: 9 OVERALL: 8
Day 5: today I decided to go to Kakunodate. The town is a easily reachable by train from sendai but a bit far compared to the day before. Went off the station and once again started walking. The place is known mainly for its many samurai houses, all indications point to them so it’s not possible to miss them. The town itself for the little I’ve seen doesn’t really seem to offer much apart from that but the samurai distict it’s nice. Many of the houses have been converted into small museums, that you can visit paying a small fee. I entered one of them, there was a little tour showing the history of the city and the history of the family of samurai living there. Among the things you could do you had the chance even to hold a real katana ( it felt quite a clumsy and top heavy sword compared to what I had imagined ). In fairness, to my taste, there isn’t much to do apart from visiting the samurai district, yes you can visit the local museum, do some craft shopping ( I bought a very nice box made of cherry bark there wich is a typical local craft ) therefore after a late lunch I was back to Sendai. In my opinion if you want to see a Samurai district you can also go to Kanazawa and there’s much more to see there overall compared to Kakunodate, but if you like the atmosphere of a smaller village instead of a big city and you like something more “off the beaten path” then I’d say go to kakunodate.
KAKUNODATE: OTBP: 8 ½ OVERALL: 6 ½
Given i was back to sendai relatively early, that gave me the opportunity to walk ( yes I walked even there ) to see the dai-kannon. The walk was nice, it took me through some very quiet neighbourhood that you wouldn’t normally visit. When I reached the statue It was too late to go inside it but I still had a good view of it. That is a quite impressive sight, you almost have difficulty to grasp the actual size of it. The area around the statue has really nothing to offer, therefore my honest suggestion is take a ride with the sightseeing bus and use that to reach it and once you’re finished with the statue move to a more interesting spot.
And this was my last day in Sendai. My plan at this point was to book two nights at Koriyama but probably because of the golden week I wasn’t able to find a hotel to my liking there therefore I decided to book one night in Fukushima and the next night in Koriyama. These were the two more expensive nights of all my trip and still ended up spending only around 70 € a night.
Day 6: plan for the day: leave the luggage in the hotel, visit Yamadera, go back to sendai, pick up the luggage and move to fukushima to spend the night. Yamadera is truly easy to reach from Sendai and a very recommended destination if you happen to be in Sendai. The place is mostly known for a temple that is reachable walking an abundant number of steps up a hillside. You reach the town, wich Is a very little and cozy village in the mountains west from Sendai and the temple is very close to the station so it’s not possible to miss it. You can tell the whole village revolves around the temple but it still maintain an authentic spirit. Lots of restaurants and little shops to visit on the road that brings to the temple. The temple itself is very “vertical” : sets of stone stairs will lead you up the side of the hills, till you reach the main building and a couple of satellite building where you’ll be rewarded by an amazing view on the village below. If you don’t mind stairs you’ll be rewarded with a very relaxing atmosphere. Here too given the latitude and the altitude I’ve been able to enjoy a couple of late blossoming cherry trees. The weather was amazing that day and all the gardens where full of flowers, this made the whole trip particularly enjoyable. Luckly I’m an early bird because later in the day the place was really packed with visitors. Once I was finished I had a nice set of Yamagata Dashi Soba in a typical restaurant with Tatamis low tables and a beautiful view on the river that cuts in half the village.
YAMADERA: OTBP: 10 OVERALL 9
After a late lunch I jumped back to the train, went back to sendai to pickup the luggage and moved to the next stop, Fukushima. Here I had the first disappointment of my trip. As my usual I booked a hotel that was close to the main train station, wich is usally the place where you want to be. I had a walk around there and the impression I got from Fukushima was that the place was miserable, a place that has really nothing much to offer to a tourist and not even to a citizen because compared to all the other places I’ve been in japan the impression was that even the locals weren’t as lively and enjoying life that much. I hope I’m not offending anyone and for sure I can’t give a proper review of the place after just an evening spent there, but the impression I got was of one of those town, that you can find in every country you'll visit, where young people can’t wait to get old enough to run away from.
FUKUSHIMA: OTBP: 9 ½ OVERALL: 4
DAY 7: wake up in fukushima, move to Koriyama, leave the luggage at the hotel, and then visit Ouchi-Juku and Aizu Wakamatsu. If you’re wondering, the thing is doable but you need to move early. Once you reach Koriyama you take the local train for Aizu Wakamatsu. There you jump on another local train, wich isn’t entirely operated by JR so you’ll have to pay a ticket, to Yunokami Onsen station where you end up in one of the coolest train stations in japan because it’s built in the style of a traditional house with wooden interiors and a straw roof, and it has a feet onsen right outside where you can wait the train while bathing your feet in thermal water, how cool is that?
From here you take a bus and reach Ouchi Juku. On paper it sounds harder than it actually is but you have to plan your trip properly. Ouchi Juku is a post town all made of traditional houses that reminds you a bit of Shirakawa Go, I frankly don’t know how it isn’t more popular among foreigners cause it’s truly a one of a kind place. Most probably is because it’s so off the beaten path and hard to reach. Still it’s extremely popular among Japanese people because the place was crowded and, when I left, the car traffic was stuck by how many people where trying to reach the place by car. I have to tell you in all honestly the place is probably a bit too touristy because there’s not a single house that isn’t turned into a gift shop or a restaurant. But still the place is so charming and picturesque that is totally worth a visit, plus the surrounding woods, mountains and rice field really act like a frame around the most beautiful picture. So I spend the morning here and around 2 pm I move back to Aizu, because there are really not many bus runs in the evening taking you back to Yunokami Onsen and you better reach the place early.
OUCHI JUKU: OTBP: 10 OVERALL: 9
That gives me the opportunity to visit Aizu Wakamatsu. Ive heard about the city for its castle and for the legend of the Byakko Tai. I get off to Aizu Wakamatsu main station and walk across town till I reach the castle. Keep in mind it’s Saturday and along the whole walk I might have crossed three people. The city was deserted and one thing I’ve learned is, if people on a Saturday evening flee a city like that, then there isn’t much to do or see there, and that’s the impression I got, kinda like Fukushima, probably even worse. Still, I reached the castle: the park is very nice, the castle is a beautiful Japanese castle but, to my understanding it’s a modern reconstruction cause the original castle was lost during the Meiji restoration as Aizu was one of the spots that rised against the emperor. At least around the castle there were now many people. From the castle, wich I didn’t visit inside, I went back to the train station, this time I reached Nanukamachi station and I have to admit it the area there seemed more alive and interesting to stroll around than the area around main Aizu station, therefore maybe I just walked across the wrong part of the town, I honestly can’t tell.
AIZU: OTBP: 9 OVERALL: 6
From Aizu I finally moved by train to Koriyama. I really didn’t spend enough time there to have a proper opinion but the impression I got was of a laid back place, more relaxing than sendai and definitely more alive than fukushima. If I had more time I’d probably give it a shot for a day visit, it might be a surprise.

DAY 8: by this day I ended up with a terrible sore throath that I had to endure almost till my last day in japan. I never had a fever but there was definitely something going around, I kept hearing many Japanese people coughing on trains all around japan so there was definitely something going around, maybe it’s just the season changing, it happens during this season all the times to have some cold or cough. Anyway, the day I had to wake up early and move from Koriyama to Nagoya by Shinkansen, wich was a considerably long trip but at least it gave me the opportunity to take probably the best picture I’ve ever take of mount fuji, from the train. Once in Nagoya I left the luggage in the hotel ( wich, thanks probably to the fact that the golden week just ended, I happened to book for 4 nights for a whopping 25€ a night wich was a total steal even for current Japanese standard prices ). There I immediately jumped on another train and went to visit Inuyama.
The area around Nagoya is a bit tricky cause it’s full of railroads operated by a company that is not JR wich are not covered by the JR Pass but there’s a JR station a bit to the north of Inuyama that will do the job. The place is totally recommended for three reason: it’s overall nice, with the Kiso river cutting it, the castle is one of the few original ones and even if small is considered a national treasure and the whole area around the castle is very nice and worthy to spend some time on. So I visited the castle, the view from the top floor is awesome and in a clear day you can easily spot the skyline of Nagoya. Outside the castle there’s an edo style street full of shops, restaurants and street food that is nice to explore, totally recommended a walk there.
INUYAMA: OTBP: 8 ½ OVERALL: 10
Coming back to Nagoya I just had energy to look for food then I went back to my hotel for a good night of sleep.
DAY 9: a day trip from Nagoya to Ise. The trip isn’t that easy, you got to take a couple of trains if you move only by JR ( and a couple of stops of one of them aren’t even JR operated wich is a little confusing honestly ) and you end up in Iseshi station. From there I moved to Ise Jingu Geku, wich is the outer sanctuary and from there you can take a bus ( guess what, I walked instead ) to the main Ise sanctuary. If you don’t know Ise Jingu is the most sacred place in the Shinto religion and is regularly visited even by the emperor given his role in the Shinto religion. Inside the main temple one of the most sacred relics of Shinto religion is preserved.
Well, being totally honest here’s my impressions of Ise: it’s not simple to reach. The city itself, for what I’ve seen, looks like it has seen better days, meaning it looks like it’s falling apart. And the temples, there’s really not that much to see: they are in a forest, and the temples are not that spectacular, plus the most interesting parts are forbidden to visit. You can go to Atsuta Jingu without moving out from Nagoya and have a fairly realistic impression of what you would see in Ise without all the issues. I know people will attack me for what I’m saying, but that is what I’ve got from it. The most fun part was the edo style neighborhood that you can find right before entering the main Isu complex, wich looks almost like a theme park. I don’t say don’t go there, I say if you are, as you are probably, on borrowed time, with lots of places you want to visit and too few days to see them all, if Ise is in your list you might want to use the day to see something else.
ISE: OTBP: 6 ½ OVERALL: 6 ½
DAY 10: I decided to spend the day in Nagoya and take a look of the city, thanks also to the weather that was a bit rainy and really not inviting for another day trip. What I’ve seen in a day is the samurai exposition in Marunouchi. It’s free and it’s totally worth it, lots of beautiful samurai armours and swords. There’s another exposition that opened not many years ago that you can go nto too far but I didn’t visit so I can’t tell about that. From here I went to Nagoya castle. You pay to enter the complex but currently the Castle is under restoration and you can see it from outside ( it’s very impressive, Nagoya and Osaka castles are massive ) but not visit from inside. But the Honmaru Palace right beside it is open and totally worth a visit. From here took the subway ( yeah today I didn’t walk much so I got a subway day pass ) to the Osu Shotengai Shopping District, wich is the usual kind of covered shopping streets nest you can find in all the Japanese cities, and then moved again to Atsuta Jingu Shrine that, as I said, to me is a completely valid alternative to visiting Ise. The day went by without even noticing and I couldn’t see all the other places I had picked, like the Toyota museum, the tokugawa museum or the science museum, but that’s what you get when you only have one day dedicated to visit a city as big as Nagoya. Still I had time to get an impression of the city and I honestly don’t get the bad reputation it has among foreigners, the city looked to me quite interesting, nice, full of things to see and the people felt particularly laid back compared to cities like Tokyo or Osaka, it’s probably the place where I’ve seen the biggest number of tanned Japanese in all the country. To me Nagoya is totally worth at least two or three days dedicated only to visiting the city.
NAGOYA: OTBP: 5 OVERALL: 9
DAY 11: my original plan was to walk the Nakasendo from Magome to Tsumago. But the weather that day was kinda shit, I wasn’t feeling particularly In the mood of a walk because of my throath and I was starting to feel a bit tired, so I improvised and went for a day in Takayama and Gero Onsen. Takayama is pretty famous. I went there around 20 years ago and I remembered it as a very nice place. Getting back now, with all the Japanese places I’ve seen so far, I would say this: the train trip to Takayama is Spectacular, is a truly feast for the eyes. The town itself, it left me a little disappointed. The Edo style streets that its famous for, I’ve seen so many of them at that point around japan that it didn’t really leave a significant impression on me. And it was honestly smaller than I remembered it. Plus the weather, as I said, didn’t help. So overall the reality didn’t stand up to my memories and my expectations. Plus most of the houses there have now been turned in cheap souvenir shops with nothing giving you an authentic feeling. Don’t know, probably I wasn’t really in the mood that day.
TAKAYAMA: OTBP: 2 OVERALL: 6 ½
I took the opportunity on the way back to stop at Gero Onsen. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to actually stop for an onsen cause overall the whole day wasn’t planned and I mainly improvised. Still the town is very nice and probably, having no expectations or no knowledge of it, even more worth visiting than Takayama. Had a nice walk around the town, and at least had the opportunity to “feel” the thermal water cause there’s plenty of fountains with hot spring water where you can rest your feet or your hands. It was enough to make me aware that a proper onsen there must be a very enjoyable experience.
GERO ONSENS: OTBP: 8 OVERALL: 8
And after this I went to Nagoya where I spent my last night in the city.

DAY 12: moving to Fukuoka ( Hakata ). I booked a hotel near Hakata station so I jumped on the shinkansen and moved there. The ride was as confortable as any shinkansen ride can be and I reached the place sooner than I imagined. First thing was a good look of the city from the panoramic floor in the station. Then had a walk to the Canal City mall wich is a very weirdly and interesting designed mall that is a very popular location in town. Had a walk from there to Nakasu island where I got a quick dinner considering it was already time, and had another walk around the area wich unfortunately will turn out to be my only experience of Fukuoka. I’ll spend here three nights but the following days will be so full that won’t give me any chance to visit the town more, so in the end I don’t really have an opinion on Fukuoka if not that I should probably have spent more time there, but unfortunately the days you have are numbered and there’s so much to see that you have to give up something here and there, so i won't even give a vote to the city.
DAY 13: Destination is Kagoshima that it’s easily reachable by train. I went there with no real expectation and I was totally blown away. Something clicked and I instantly liked the town, I must say that probably the fact that one of the most beautiful girls I’ve seen in japan out of the blue started a conversation with me on the train probably helped a lot in putting me in a good mood.
From the station I walked downtown till the coast. On the way I stopped shopping a bit, found a local market where local artisans that day were exposing their crafts wich I liked a lot and went to the top floor of the Centerrace Mall to get a panoramic view of the city with an amazing view on Sakurajima volcano. If you don’t know it’s the symbol of the city and it’s said to be almost always active, the whole day I’ve been there he kept puffing little clouds of smoke from time to time, it was very cool. So, once reached the cost I walked ( you should know it by now ) till I reached Sengan-En wich is the garden and the palace of a local lord and it’s very beautiful, totally worth a visit, also compared to many other places in japan, this is more modern and therefore more unique both in the architecture of the palace and the style of the garden. I’d say if you are in Kagoshima you won’t regret visiting it ( maybe don’t do like me and take a bus cause it’s more than 6 km from the station ). After visiting Sengan En I went back to the ferries and took a ferry to Sakurajima. The ferry is very cheap, 200 yen, and quick to reach it’s destination, but on Sakurajima there’s really not much to do if you don’t plan to use a bus or some other kind of transportation. Since it was already evening, I had nothing planned and I had to go back to Hakata, I just took the time to have a walk on the Lava Trail wich is a walk in a natural park that has grown over an old lava flow, wich is a quite unique thing that I enjoyed more than I expected. Then I went back to Kagoshima, had dinner and moved back to Hakata. I have to say I really enjoyed Kagoshima, the city has a unique vibe, very laid back, the people seemed to be relaxed and happy and were much more open toward foreigners than anywhere I’ve experienced. If I’ll ever be back in japan I’ll surely manage to spend some more time in Kagoshima. I took the train and I was back in hakata at around midnight so I went straight to bed in hotel
KAGOSHIMA: OTBP: 10 OVERALL: 10
Day 14: Nagasaki. Another fairly easy destination to reach from Fukuoka. The city itself is very narrow and develops around its river. As a tourist I was immediately attracted to its atomic bomb museum, wich is north from the station. I went there, you don’t say, by foot.
And later, once I’ve done with the atomic bomb part, the Nagasaki near the sea.
And here starts the tale of the two Nagasaki, because it feels like two different places in one. The north part, wich I didn’t enjoy much, felt a bit neglected and it’s mostly houses where people live. And it’s the part where you’ll see more tourists because as I said all the atomic spots are there.
On the other hand the south part near the city was to me much more alive and full of life, I’m no expert but that’s probably where the locals like to spend their free time and on the other hand you’ll see way less tourists here.
Back to the morning, I did what most tourists do, and visited the atomic bomb museum, the peace park, the ipocenter, and went also to see the half standing torii that is one of the few authentic places left as testament of the bombing, around the city. Talking about the museum, I’ve been to both thins and Hiroshima and, even if Hiroshima is bigger and with much more to see, I would suggest if one has the opportunity to visit also the Nagasaki one, it absolutely has its own legs to stand on. On a side note, out of 10 visitors, 9 were foreigners, I guess Japanese already know their history and don’t feel the need to visit such a place on a nice Sunday morning.
The peace park it’s a park, there you can see the famous statue wich is one of the main symbols of Nagasaki and that, if you ask me, is one of the ugliest statues you can find in the world, but still if you’re in Nagasaki you probably don’t want to miss it.
After lunch I moved to the sea side, here I’ve seen DeiJima wich is the former artificial island where the Portuguese were segregated centuries ago, very interesting place, kinda like a mix of an open air museum and a theme park, felt a little bit plastic but still worth some of your time.
Then had a walk to the near seaside park wich is a very nice and relaxing place where flocks of eagles fly so low over your head that if you rise your hand you can almost touch them, and pretty much ended the day there before having to go back to Fukuoka.
NAGASAKI: OTBP: 5 OVERALL: 7 ½

Day 15 – 16 - 17: my last full days in japan. I was in need of some rest at this point and I needed to move closer to Narita where I had booked my flight for day 18, so i spent more than half of day 15 to transfer from Hakata to Tokyo. I booked my last hotel for three nights near Otsuka station, wich if you ask me is a nice spot to stay in Tokyo. When I arrived in the evening there was a rose festival and all around the station there were roses bushes in flower and there were people singing and the whole station looked alive but also quiet, if you like a place to stay In Tokyo that it’s not chaotic like Shinjuku or Shibuya I’d recommend Otsuka.
The last days aren’t really worth mentioning, I’ve spent most of the time shopping for souvenirs, and recovering for all the travel i did the two weeks before. I explored a couple of places worth mentioning that not everyone ever goes to in Tokyo, like Nakano Broadway ( a weird shopping district that feels like a little Akiabara ), Nippori where there’s a little known street nice for shopping, or Chiba where there’s one of the biggest mall in japan but apart from that nothing much that you can read in the report of anyone who have been to Tokyo.
And with this, I think I can conclude my report. If you want me to upload some picture and you have a site to suggest me where it’s easy to upload and you don’t have to make an account let me know and if there’s enough interest I will oblige as soon as I’ve finished downloading all the pictures from my phone.

 I am creating a magic system where the source of magic is nectar. Plants through their connection to the earth, water, sky, and sun are able to generate magical energy which is stored in nectar. This leads to nectavorous creatures such as bees and butterflies to become inherently magical and much more prevalent, and honey that bees produce becomes its own magical substance as a type of concentrated nectar. Floriographers are people who study flowers and are able to draw on the power of nectar to perform a variety of tasks. War botanists are floriographers that are specialized for practical combat. Every flower produces a different magical effect based on either it’s real physical or symbolic properties when its nectar is used by a floriographer. These effects can be combined in bouquets to produce more complicated “spells“. I am primarily drawing from Victorian floriography, but I’d like suggestions for flowers and their abilities. 

Right now, especially if you are capped out on medals, credits, and samples, doing secondary objectives have absolutely no impact on mid-term gameplay (other than a few minor ones during the same mission). Since campaigns conveniently come as a set, completing (or not) should have impacts on subsequent missions in the same campaign, and therefore add some additional planning in the order of completion. Some examples or suggestions:

1. Terminate Illegal Broadcast: Completing it increases the delay of flares being fired to call in drops. Great for solo, stealth plays.
2. Destroying Boy Bot Fabricators or Bug Nests: Reduces spawn chance (and or amount) of certain types of bots. Would be great if we knew what kind of fabricator they are.
3. Detector Towers: Failing to destroy them increases rate of patrols.
4. SAM Sites: honestly fine, just make them better at shooting down drop ships from farther away.
5. Destroy Illegal Research Lab: Honestly not sure about this one, but maybe next missions have higher rate of spawning goodies in the environment? Since those researchers are dead and more stuff is left lying around?
6. Escape Pod: Receive an extra reinforce for each player (?)
7. SEAF artillery should be usable even after ship leaves orbit.... PLEASE!

And for some funnies, here are some nicknames for these objective symbols:

• AA Emplacement - Clothe Iron
• Detector Tower - Eye of Sauron
• Escape Pod - Blunt / Doogie
• Illegal Broadcast - Battleaxe
• Mortar - Turret (yes very creative)
• Radar - Radar
• Rogue Research Lab - Meth Lab
• SAM Site - Microwave
• SEAF Artillery - Mop or Plunger or Telescope
• Spore Spewer - Bouquet (of flowers)
• Stalker Nest - Crabs
• Stratagem Jammer - The Rook (chess)

Share some of yours!

Amidst the golden fields of wheat, A beautiful blonde girl I did meet, Her hair shone like the summer sun, And her smile was as bright as anyone.
In a flowy dress of lightest blue, She danced and twirled like morning dew, Her laughter tinkled like a stream, A perfect vision, or so it seemed.
The summer breeze caressed her hair, As she skipped without any care, The scent of flowers filled the air, And the warmth of the sun was everywhere.
Her eyes were a shade of sea-green, And in them, summer's essence could be seen, A glint of mischief, a spark of joy, A carefree spirit without any ploy.
The day grew longer, but time stood still, As we watched the summer dance with skill, A blonde girl and I, lost in the moment, As summer's magic cast its enchantment.
And when the sun began to set, And the summer day started to forget, The blonde girl bid me farewell, And vanished like a summer spell.
But her memory stayed with me, And in my heart, she'll always be, A symbol of summer's carefree glee, A beautiful blonde girl in summer's spree.

In a mystical world where the air sparkled with magic, The Fool embarked on an extraordinary journey, guided by the whimsical energy of The Fool card. The Fool, a carefree wanderer, stood at the edge of a cliff, a small dog at their side, oblivious to the potential pitfalls below. It marked the beginning of an adventure, a blank canvas waiting to be painted with experiences. With innocence as their guide, The Fool ventured forth, stepping into the unknown with boundless curiosity.
The Magician awaited, a masterful sorcerer who revealed the secrets of manifestation. Through the Magician's guidance, The Fool learned to harness the elements, discovering the power to shape their destiny with intention and will. The journey continued as The Fool encountered the High Priestess, a mystical guardian of ancient wisdom. In the quiet sanctuary of her temple, The Fool delved into the depths of their subconscious, discovering the hidden realms that shaped their inner world.
The Empress, a nurturing force of nature, cradled The Fool in her bountiful arms. Amidst blossoming flowers and flowing rivers, The Fool learned to appreciate the cycles of life, understanding that growth and abundance spring from a harmonious connection with the earth. With the Emperor, a figure of authority and structure, The Fool gained insight into the importance of discipline and order. Together, they built the foundations of The Fool's aspirations, creating a stable framework for their dreams.
The Lovers entwined The Fool in the dance of relationships, urging them to seek balance and connection between heart and mind. Through choices and reflections, The Fool navigated the intricate dynamics of partnerships. The Chariot, a symbol of determination, guided The Fool through challenges with a triumphant spirit. The Fool learned to steer the course of their destiny, harnessing inner strength and willpower.
In the serene hermitage, The Fool encountered the Hermit, a wise sage bearing the lantern of introspection. Through moments of solitude, The Fool discovered the guiding light of their inner wisdom and the importance of self-reflection. Justice, with her scales of balance, weighed The Fool's actions and decisions. The Fool learned that fairness and ethical choices are the cornerstones of a life well-lived.
The Wheel of Fortune spun tales of destiny, reminding The Fool of life's ever-changing cycles. Through ups and downs, The Fool embraced the constant motion of the wheel, trusting in the rhythm of fate. Strength, symbolized by a gentle maiden taming a mighty lion, taught The Fool the power of inner courage and resilience. The Fool discovered that true strength lies in compassion and gentleness.
As The Fool approached the Hanged Man, suspended upside down, they learned the art of surrender and sacrifice. Through letting go, The Fool gained new perspectives and found enlightenment in unexpected places. The mysterious figure of Death marked a profound transformation in The Fool's journey. The old made way for the new, and The Fool embraced the inevitability of change and rebirth.
In the temperate waters of Temperance, The Fool discovered the delicate balance between opposing forces. The winged angel guided them to blend elements harmoniously, finding peace and equilibrium. The Devil unmasked illusions that bound The Fool, revealing the chains of materialism and earthly desires. Through this revelation, The Fool learned the importance of breaking free from self-imposed limitations.
The Tower, a symbol of upheaval, shook The Fool's world, dismantling false structures and beliefs. Amidst the chaos, The Fool found the potential for liberation and renewal. The enchanting Star illuminated The Fool's path with hope and inspiration. Guided by the celestial light, The Fool embraced a renewed sense of purpose and optimism.
In the moonlit shadows of the Moon card, The Fool delved into the realms of intuition and subconscious desires. The mystical journey continued, unveiling the mysteries hidden beneath the surface. With the radiant Sun, The Fool basked in the warmth of joy and vitality. The vibrant card symbolized a period of enlightenment and clarity, infusing The Fool's journey with optimism and positivity.
Judgment called for self-reflection and awakening, urging The Fool to rise from the past and embrace a higher calling. The Fool, reborn and enlightened, stood ready for a new chapter. Finally, The World card marked the completion of The Fool's Tarot odyssey. Encircled by a wreath of victory, The Fool danced in celebration, embodying a harmonious union with the cosmos.
And so, The Fool's journey through the Tarot deck unfolded, a tapestry woven with lessons, challenges, and the eternal cycle of life. As The Fool continued their wandering, each card became a stepping stone, guiding them through the intricate dance of existence, ready for the next adventure that awaited beyond the turn of the cards.
As The Fool danced through the pages of the Tarot, the Ace of Cups overflowed with the pure essence of love and emotional abundance, opening The Fool's heart to new possibilities. It marked the beginning of a profound emotional journey, where The Fool embraced the depths of their feelings and connected with the wellspring of love within.
The Two of Cups celebrated partnerships, whether romantic or platonic, as The Fool discovered the joy of shared connections. With the Three of Cups, The Fool reveled in joyful gatherings and celebrations, savoring the bonds formed with others. These cards encouraged The Fool to appreciate the richness of relationships and the importance of emotional connections in their journey.
As The Fool encountered the Four of Cups, a moment of reflection emerged. This card prompted The Fool to ponder their emotional landscape, encouraging them to consider new perspectives and opportunities. The Five of Cups, a gentle reminder of the inevitability of loss, offered solace in resilience and the healing power of time.
The journey continued as The Fool encountered the Six of Cups, a card that stirred a wave of nostalgia. In the simplicity and innocence of the past, The Fool found moments of warmth and cherished memories, adding depth to their emotional tapestry.
The Seven of Cups presented a myriad of choices, encouraging The Fool to be discerning amidst enticing possibilities. It marked a moment of introspection, where The Fool navigated through illusions and fantasies to uncover their true desires.
With the Eight of Cups, The Fool embarked on a journey of introspection and the willingness to let go of what no longer served them. This card symbolized a crucial step in their emotional growth, encouraging The Fool to embrace change and seek fulfillment.
The Nine of Cups, often called the "Wish Card," promised emotional fulfillment and the realization of heartfelt desires. The Fool found themselves surrounded by a sense of contentment and emotional satisfaction, a testament to the power of aligning one's wishes with the universe.
The journey through the Cups suit reached its culmination with the Ten of Cups. In this card, The Fool immersed themselves in the harmonious bliss of family and emotional fulfillment, completing a cycle of love and joy. It served as a reminder that true happiness can be found in the interconnectedness of our emotional bonds.
As The Fool transitioned into the Swords suit, the Page of Swords rekindled the flame of intellectual curiosity. The Fool eagerly embraced the pursuit of knowledge, opening themselves to new ideas and perspectives. The journey of the mind had begun.
The Knight of Swords rode in on waves of swift decision-making and assertiveness. The Fool learned to charge forth with clear communication and determination, cutting through the complexities of thought. The Queen of Swords embodied emotional intelligence and compassion, while the King of Swords ruled with a discerning mind and wisdom.
The Ace of Swords brought forth a new wave of mental clarity, cutting through confusion and paving the way for fresh insights. The Two of Swords urged The Fool to confront difficult decisions with a balanced mind, seeking equilibrium in the face of uncertainty. The Three of Swords acknowledged the pain of heartbreak, guiding The Fool through the process of healing and renewal.
The Four of Swords encouraged moments of rest and introspection, allowing for rejuvenation and renewal. The Five of Swords urged The Fool to navigate conflicts with discernment, choosing battles wisely. The Six of Swords hinted at a journey of transition and moving towards calmer waters, embracing change with a sense of optimism.
As The Fool delved into the Pentacles suit, the Page of Pentacles signaled a fresh start in practical matters and the pursuit of tangible achievements. The Fool's curiosity extended into the realm of earthly pursuits, grounding their aspirations in the material world.
The Knight of Pentacles encouraged a steadfast and methodical approach to responsibilities. The Fool learned the value of diligence and patience in the pursuit of their goals. The Queen of Pentacles emphasized the importance of nurturing oneself and others, recognizing the interconnectedness of well-being.
Guided by the King of Pentacles, The Fool delved into the art of financial mastery and the creation of a stable foundation for their endeavors. The Ace of Wands burst forth with fresh enthusiasm and creative energy, signaling a new beginning in the material realm.
The Two of Wands invited The Fool to explore new horizons and embrace opportunities with confidence. The Three of Wands urged them to take a proactive stance in shaping their destiny, embracing the potential for expansion and growth.
The Four of Wands beckoned The Fool to celebrate achievements and milestones, fostering a sense of community and joy. The Five of Wands reminded them of the value in healthy competition, where diverse perspectives could lead to growth and understanding.
With the Six of Wands, The Fool found themselves basking in the glow of recognition and success, acknowledging the power of perseverance and determination. The Seven of Wands challenged them to stand their ground in the face of adversity, while the Eight of Wands propelled them forward with swift momentum, embracing the energy of change and transformation.
The Nine of Wands highlighted resilience and the strength to overcome challenges. The Fool learned to navigate through obstacles with unwavering determination. The Ten of Wands cautioned against carrying burdens that hindered progress, urging The Fool to release unnecessary weight and embrace a lighter path.
As The Fool revisited the realm of Cups, the Page of Cups infused them with fresh inspiration, signaling the start of a new emotional venture. The Knight of Cups rode in on waves of romance and artistic pursuits, urging The Fool to follow their heart's desires with courage and passion.
The Queen of Cups embodied emotional intelligence and compassion, while the King of Cups ruled with emotional stability and wisdom. The journey continued, each card revealing new facets of wisdom and experience, weaving a tapestry that echoed the cyclical nature of life and the eternal dance of the Tarot. And so, The Fool eagerly anticipated the next turn of the cards, ready for the mysteries and magic that awaited in the unfolding chapters of their Tarot journey.