#Coastal cutthroat

[namu-the-orca]

SALMONIDS of ALASKA The bane of my existence for the entirety of 2020 and part of 2021: the salmon poster. You've seen the separate illustrations, but now, finally, here is the full thing.

This entire project was a journey. I had never illustrated fish before, let alone in this much detail. I have retained an appropriate hatred of scales and fin rays from this project. But also a persistent joy from having created these illustrations, and appreciation for what beautiful animals these salmon are. Putting together the poster, making all elements fit together and - not unimportantly - making the poster fit its allotted space on the wall was an additional endeavour.

It is currently displayed aboard the David B, the vessel of Northwest Navigation who commissioned this piece. If you're interested in having a copy of your own, you can contact them. For now I hope you enjoy reading this (if you open the image in a separate tab, I made it big enough to read) - and mayhaps learn something new about the intriguing world of salmon! I certainly did.

[bigfootin]

In 1975, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Seattle District, Environmental Resources Section) released The Washington Environmental Atlas (aka: Provisional U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Environmental Reconnaissance Inventory of the State of Washington 1975), a 114 page book that cost over $200,000 to make and over 3yrs to research and compile. The atlas contains official maps, graphs, status levels, and reports regarding phytogeography, zoogeography, physical geography, and land use borders for the state of Washington. Also included are archeological sites, rivers and lakes of environmental interest, notable geological features and historical and contemporary points of interest. The book went into great detail describing the native plants of the state (Sitka Spruce, Pacific Dogwood, Wood Rose, Yellow-Eyed Grass, etc.) as well as the native animals (Bald Eagle, Coastal Cutthroat Trout, Roosevelt Elk, American Pika, etc.). Some species were even given their own individual pages which provided even more detail than other species. One of these native creatures that were given their own page is the legendary Cryptid known as Bigfoot.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hello!

I've always wanted to do a stealth game/campaign, but all my attempts to hack it into DnD have failed. Do you have any suggestions for a stealthy system? Not something as abstract as Knives in the Dark (tbh, I just have never been able to get into it) but something that hits the Assassin's Creed feeling of watching the target, making a plan, and then sneaking through the base taking out guards and hiding their bodies and such. Preferably on a grid map or similar, s we're terrible at theatre of the mind.

Thanks!

THEME: Stealthy Games.

Hello there, so I did some digging and I found plenty of stealth games, although none of them seem to really require a map in order to play. That being said, I don’t think that should stop you from providing maps to your players, even if they’re abstract! Some of these games might ask you to sketch out a rough map of the town or building that you’re in, which may help you provide your players with some visual references as they sneak around, trying not to get caught. When it comes to stealth, I think of three things: horror, heists, and spies.

Delta Green, by Arc Dream Publishing.

Born of the U.S. government’s 1928 raid on the degenerate coastal town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, the covert agency known as Delta Green opposes the forces of darkness with honor but without glory. Delta Green agents fight to save humanity from unnatural horrors—often at a shattering personal cost.

Delta Green comes highly recommended as a great way to play an X-Files type rpg, mixed in with the Cthulhu mythos. It uses a d100 system and is based in the modern day, casting your characters as former members of government agencies, recruited into a super-secret bureau that investigates supernatural things - and keeps those things hidden from the common public. The stealth of this game is mostly about covering up the eldritch and unnatural, even if it means framing someone else or condemning a beloved building.

Your characters in this game have some familiar pieces to them, such as six stats with the same titles as you’ll see in games like D&D. However, you’ll also have pieces like Bonds, which represent relationships that keep your character grounded, and a Sanity system that I’m personally not crazy about (I do not recommend this game for a group that doesn’t like trite mechanization of mental health disorders), but that gives you a way to incur penalties that aren’t just physical damage.

This looks to be the closest to a traditional rpg on this list, and with all the elements to keep track of, I can see how a physical map would be helpful. However, keep in mind that there isn’t a pace or speed stat attached to these characters, so things like line of sight or distance probably won’t be super granular - if you are shooting things you may have broad range bands to determine how difficult something is, but the final decision will be a GM decision, not something necessarily determined in the rulebook. Because the setting is a modern one, I think finding visual references for locations in this game would be very very easy.

If you want a taste of the game before you put your money down, you can check out the Free Starter Rulebook!

Minutes to Midnight, by Oliver S.

Minutes to Midnight is a game powered by Blades in the Dark about a crew of spies, trying to disrupt the balance of power in a modern cold war. They will have to stand strong in the face of their vicious opposition and handle a fragile web of untrustworthy informants, devious intrigues and deadly lies.

We play to find out if our agents can thrive in the cutthroat world of espionage. While the public may never know about their impact, their actions shape the political landscape and outcome of conflict. Will the players prevent the outbreak of a global disaster and use their influence to create a better future? Will they attempt to send the opposing bloc into a turmoil and establish a lasting hegemony? Or will their actions lead the world down a path of war and nuclear destruction?

The Forged in the Dark system uses a cycle in between missions and downtime, sinking your characters into the heart of the action as they pursue clandestine missions in locations built by the group in a session 0. Since the game takes place in the real world, using maps of real cities might be a great way to keep they players visually engaged, and using a city that the group has been to or is familiar with might also make it easier for the group to visualize the kinds of buildings and streets where their spies may be sneaking, scheming, and sleuthing.

Madstones, by xiombarg.

Those who know magic exists at all are the rich and teams of breakers like yourself that go into the jartowns for the Archons. Jartowns are created by burning folk alive in a wicker man, in a ritual known only to the oldest jet-setting Archons.

A jartown is an isolated area of spacetime that was cut out of our reality. Most jartowns consist of a small amount of space (enough for a suburb or town) and a loop of several years. Jartowns become more magickal and horrific with each loop, creating madstones. 

Madstones are small things, from actual stones to human organs, infused with concentrated, distilled magic. They're secretly coveted by the wealthy.

In this tiny 24XX-based tabletop RPG, players are breakers, desperate folk from the occult underground who find a way into the jartowns, hothouses for magick, to perform errands for the ultrarich Archons.

Play as a variety of roles, from sawbones to sinner to spook, and choose to hail from one of four origins, including jartown native.

24XX games are another toolbox that you can pick up and play around with to help you get started with creating your own experiences. Your character consists of a few skills and gear packaged together in a character class. In Madstones, these classes are various specialists, trained to deal with different elements that might pop up when you go delving into eldritch pockets of reality. There is both a stealth and a combat specialist in this game, but there’s also classes for things like a getaway driver, a hacker, and an occult specialist.

24XX games also exist because of their OSR predecessors, meaning that combat is risky, and often deadly - and therefore finding other ways to solve the problem is implicitly encouraged. However, the openness of the system means that your players don’t necessarily need to resort to stealth - they might prepare an elaborate ritual, create a unique piece of technology, or just decide to run away as fast as they can. In regards to maps, I think you could probably use a typical dungeon framework: leading the characters through various rooms or sections of the pocket dimension, and throwing horrors and weird environments their way.

Night’s Black Agents, by Pelgrane Press.

The Cold War is over. Bush’s War is winding down. You were a shadowy soldier in those fights, trained to move through the secret world: deniable and deadly.

Then you got out, or you got shut out, or you got burned out. You didn’t come in from the cold. Instead, you found your own entrances into Europe’s clandestine networks of power and crime. You did a few ops, and you asked even fewer questions. Who gave you that job in Prague? Who paid for your silence in that Swiss account? You told yourself it didn’t matter. It turned out to matter a lot. Because it turned out you were working for vampires.

Vampires exist. What can they do? Who do they own? Where is safe? You don’t know those answers yet. So you’d better start asking questions. You have to trace the bloodsuckers’ operations, penetrate their networks, follow their trail, and target their weak points. Because if you don’t hunt them, they will hunt you. And they will kill you.

A combination of modern spy fiction and vampire intrigue, Night’s Black Agents uses the GUMSHOE system, which is an investigative roleplaying system that provides your characters with resources they can spend to get into secret locations, compete against vampiric agents, and pick up information to help you put together the details of a conspiracy. In Night’s Black Agents, finding clues isn’t left up to chance - you will always get information as long as you tell the GM that you’re using a relevant skill. The obstacles in this game are more likely going to involve getting in and out of sticky situations - and if your opponents are vampires, well, stealth is likely going to be a more appealing than trying to slit their throats.

GUMSHOE games don’t need grid maps either, but a rough map of the city or country is probably very helpful, and it might be fun to draw the floor plans of various buildings that your players investigate in order to help them determine what areas may be the most interesting places to search for clues.

The Breathing, by Fistful of Crits.

You reside in The Archive, an unending and depthless structure spiralling deep into the dark and misty depths, devoid of life and presided over by a being known only to you as The Archivist.

The Archive is made up of windowless rooms and halls that vary greatly in their height, size and danger. All these spaces house numerous shelves containing the collected knowledge of the world outside of The Archive; a place you have been told you must earn your access to. The price of your freedom comes from the discovery of new or forgotten knowledge that can be found in the deepest parts of the structure. 

You, and a few others, are known as The Breathing, in a place full of creatures who were once like you but ultimately failed in their bid for freedom; now known as The Breathless. 

The Breathing is just an example of a broader style of game, using a system called Breathless. Breathless games use a series of polyhedral dice that deteriorate as you use them, with different dice attached to different skills. Throughout the game you pause to “take a breath”, and re-set your skills, bringing your dice back to their threshold. However, pausing to take a breath also gives the GM a chance to introduce a new trouble or complication, creating a cycle of mission, rest, mission, rest, etc.

As a game system, Breathless is pretty light and is fairly easy to hack. But the lightness of the rules also allows for creativity and add-ons, which could include rules for movement or placement. Since the game rewards finding ways to solve problems without having to resort to direct conflict, I can see games like this encouraging characters to think carefully about when to use their resources and when to just… sneak around the problem. If you want to include maps and a grid, you could provide a blueprint of a room inside The Archive and watch the players try to navigate it using their limited resources, with designated “rest areas” that they would have to get to in order to take a Breath.

This certainly isn’t a solution in a box, but it might provide some interesting tools to help you build the experience you’re looking for.

Night Reign, by Sinister Beard Games.

Night Reign is a roleplaying game of stealth, guile, violence and devilry for a GM and one or more players, set in a quasi-Edwardian metropolis perched on an inhospitable peninsula beset by toxic black rain and ruled by a corrupt cabal of Noble Houses.

You take the role of members of The Red Right Hand, a conspiracy loyal to the recently deposed royal family, using your talents in assassination, infiltration and dark sorcery to strike out at your oppressors.

A game all about the things you do in the shadows, Night Reign uses cards to resolve conflict, rather than dice. It also uses a token system to help you overcome obstacles without having to resort to violence - loud, messy, dangerous violence. The Ruled by Night system (which has an SRD that you can download for free) is about balancing the suspicion you’ve already raised against an increasing cost to being stealthy. You spend Shadow tokens in order to be able to attempt to do something, and try to get a hand as close as possible to 21, or at least higher than whatever the GM draws. Your characters will also have powers that can be very effective, but are likely to draw a lot of attention, so using them is risky.

Because of how this game runs, things like movement and speed are not likely to be tracked. However, I don’t think mapping out a location so that the players can understand where things are or what kind of space they’re in is going to hurt the experience. The SRD describes something called City Conditions, which appear to be elements of the fiction that might result from the characters’ choices, or provide obstacles to the players. If you have a map of the city in front of you, you could draw symbols on the map to indicate what’s happening as the story progresses, and even cross out places that have been destroyed.

Heist, by Hark Forsooth Games.

HEIST: Get the Crew Together is a cooperative RPG where you and a group of suave, savvy and slick fellow crooks plan and execute capers, grabbing the fanciest loot from the world's wealthy elite.

Heist is great for fans of shows like Leverage or movies like Ocean’s 11: you’re going to steal something shiny from someone who certainly doesn’t deserve it, and you’re going to do it with style. While combat is an option, your characters will also have to deal with suspicious marks, security systems, laser grids and bank vaults. The characters are composed of special talents and personal flaws, and the GM has the task of designing something the game calls Murphy’s Gun - a major twist that will reveal itself midway through the heist.

It can be tricky to determine what to prep for a game like this, but one thing that you can for sure prep is the location. Design the building, draw the floor plan, and come up with obstacles for the different areas - there’s not really movement tracking in this game but having the layout will certainly help your players come up with ideas about how to get in, get out, and get rich.

Another thing to consider…

Mothership doesn’t have any stealth skills, but what it does have is the incentive to be sneaky. If an alien horror is moving through the ship, you’re more likely to try and stay out of it’s way - and having no stealth skills means that the players have to describe what they’re doing to stay hidden; climb into vents, squeeze yourself into cupboards, and try to wriggle into the space suit. However, this doesn’t mean that you’re not rolling - you might roll to clamber over something or to fit yourself into something, or you might roll to scope out a location to find an exit or suitable hiding place. It’s also excellent in terms of maps - plenty of adventures will provide at least a blueprint of the space station or ship that you’re exploring, which you can use to spook your players with fresh horrors.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Faction: The University of Taloncliff

"Enter with open eyes and behold the truths of the world unending" -Inscription beneath the fountain of the pensive sage, in the gatehouse courtyard.

Founded by dedicates of Ioun who wished to study where the land met the sea and sky, the institution that eventually became the University was founded three centuries ago when the sages of Taloncliff found themselves inundated with eager pupils who had travelled far and wide seeking their wisdom.

Growing quickly along with the coastal village that supported it, the university is today one of the most famed and foremost centres of learning on the continent entertaining scholars of what seems like every discipline imaginable. If the party needs to know something, Taloncliff is the place to go.

Adventure Hooks

Gaining access to the halls of knowledge is not as easy the heroes may hope, as only those who have joined the university are allowed to peruse it's near endless archives and deep vaults of lore. That said there are other options: they might find a sympathetic ear at one of the tea-houses wherein students and faculty partake in the boisterous debate discouraged in the august lecture halls, or persuade a smuggler of forbidden literature to clue them in on the tunnels beneath the university's walls.

The easiest way to gain entry by far however, is to simply join as a student, bypassing the yearly enrolment process by earning an invitation as a renowned seeker of knowledge... or by having the party's noble patron purchase your way in.

Alternatively, you could start your campaign with students already enrolled as students of the University, engaging in a few apprentice level adventures before flashing forward to when they've graduated to doing fieldwork.

Also, I'd be remiss if I made a whole faction dedicated to learning and didn't mention my advice/system for how you should let your players research in campaigns, which you should check out before exploring the University's inner workings below the cut.

Though it appears stately and unified from outside, behind its alabaster walls Taloncliff is in fact a contradictory mess of overlapping "Curricula" like a dozen different organizations of varying sizes dressed up in a wizard's robe trying to look important. Each Curricula is named after one of the original Sages and follows generally in their footsteps, here are some of the most relevant:

Curricula Endaris: The prestigious institute of learning to which the noble families of nearby realms send their learning minded scions. Endaris gave council to kings, and her followers teach statecraft, diplomacy, history, as well as the good governance of the land itself. One of the largest factions and the one most likely to receive outside donations, Endaris maintains a strong influence over the rest of the university as holding onto its coin purse.

Curricula Jadek: Adherants of the knowing mistress who maintain the campus as part of their devotion and studies into more mystical forms of knowledge. They tend to be inward focused and act to balance out the other voices, giving them a respect that superscedes rivalry.

Curricula Gazerette: a wizarding school that functions like a music conservatory, looking to instill a basic level of competence in all students while hunting for talent that could be refined into something prodigious. Gazerette wanted only the best from his apprentices, and the cutthroat rivalries between Gazerette wizards are the stuff of legend, going back nearly as far as the university's founding.

Curricula Oddolgyn: Still headed by the ancient eleven astronomer of the same name, last of the original sages. This group operates out of the university's observatory studying the ephemeral patterns of the firmament and the multiverse beyond. Currently small and thought of mostly as dabblers It's been more than a century since they were superseded by Gazerette as the foremost of Taloncliff's mages.

Curricula Narthex: Adventurous and daring, the explorers of the Narthex always seem to be recounting their last great expedition or planning their next, even maintaining their own airship docks to make it easier to seek out new horizons.

Shortly after one of the party have really proven themselves to be a true asset ( or liability) to the school, they'll receive a note that says "seek to Know the secret of the waters, at the place where Torthane met her Mistress". This requires catching up on some very old University gossip, as well as tracking down some otherwise unnoticeable histories that are always misfiled in the library. Doing so reveals Torthane to be one of sage Jadek's first pupils, one who frequently clashed with her austere teacher about his insistence that dedication to Ioun and true knowledge meant abstaining from the physical world and the "earthly knowledge" that came with it. Torthane loved Ioun, but she also loved the ladies, and was said to meet with her lovers right under Jadek's nose in a particular garden that the campus grounds have since grown to encompass.

These clues further lead the party to the statue of the fountain of the pensive sage, which boasts a statue of Jadek poking his staff into a basin of ever rippling water. One who looked closely might notice a glow distorted by the ripples of the fountain, and that if the primary spout is plugged or diverted that the glow originates from where Jadek's staff disturbs the unearthly white sand that rests at the basin's bottom. (Leave a comment if you can figure out what the party will need to draw in the sand to progress)

With the passphrase entered, a secret stair opens in the cobbles surrounding the statue, inviting the party down into a dungeon crawl that takes them to the university's flooded foundations. After battling past arcane traps, more puzzles, and creatures of the tide, they stumble into a room wreathed in cascading water, in which the images of a dozen or more cloaked figures manifest and pass judgment upon them. The question that the figures are to argue: Are these trespassers cringe?

Some of the figures will argue that the party are indeed cringe, a never-before seen collection of narcs, fuckboys, killjoys, and karens. It will be up to the party to plead their case. If they manage to win over a majority of the crowd then the waters will part and they'll be invited into the secret headquarters/speakeasy of Curricula Torthane, the resident secret society of Taloncliff made up of all those who are willing to bend the rules and collaborate in the pursuit of knowledge and those little pleasures that are so often neglected in scholastic dourness. You haven't lived till you've had wizard moonshine, so cheers and bottoms up troublemakers.

Further adventures

I'll be adding more Taloncliff adventures in the future, so feel free to check out my blog.

While the party is sure to meet no end of red tape as they explore the campus, they'll make an easy ally in Oroteia, a rising star in the Gazerette and Narthex Curricula who seeks to overturn every expectation placed on her by her by others after discovering her lowborn country origins. Blazing a trail through the University's establishment, she'll see the party as useful allies against whatever campaign level threats the rest of the institution is too set in their ways to even contemplate dealing with.

[theowlgoesmoo]

Human AU for ABL/Silk and Stone

So, I recently realized that a lot of my human designs for my bugs... are kind of all over the place, outfit wise at least. So how do I make that work? Well, boredom at work is a beautiful thing, and so I've come up with a background to explain all that. (I'm definitely not going to turn this into a full-on Au because I've got my hands full already, but it's a fun experiment.) Anyways, here's what I got so far:

THE WORLD AT LARGE/ANT ISLAND

The world is set in a post-post apocalypse, a la “Nausicaa” or “Breath of the Wild.” There’s little in the way of advanced technology or large civilizations left, but people have done what people do, and have rebuilt. There are little pockets of humanity alive and well scattered throughout the healing world. 

Amber Isle is one such pocket. It is a small island nation ruled by a monarchy, and has been so ever since it was first settled centuries ago. The island kingdom consists of little more than a single city and a few scattered villages and farms, with a population barely topping ten-thousand people. It survived the apocalypse pretty much unscathed, as It was too tiny for anyone to notice or bother with.

Now it's doing quite well for itself, considering the state of the world, and is considered prosperous. It mostly subsists on farming, fishing, and mining, though its people have a flair for the artistic, and its capital (and only) city is a remarkably beautiful place.. Its culture is aggressively traditional, and even more so after the apocalypse. Anything new - especially in the way of technology -  is looked on with suspicion, seen as a waste of time or even a sign of arrogance. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is the prevailing wisdom of many of the leaders, one they enforce.

Tech-wise, it’s hanging around the late 19th/early 20th century, and that’s being generous. There’s a decent amount of heavy machinery around (such as tractors), but most of it is slapped together or salvaged, often highly inefficient and far from reliable. 

HOPPER

The kingdom has been doing well for itself for maybe a century or two, until a gang of pirates/raiders land and pillage it regularly. Eventually the monarchy reached a deal with them, where they'd offer tribute every year to keep them away, consisting of food, money, booze, cloth, fuel, metal, and whatever else they demand. 

“Captain” Hopper leads a gang of cutthroats known as “The Swarm”, who get around using jerry rigged speedboats and jetskis. They sail out from their mothership (A likely stolen cargo ship turned floating pirates den) to collect tributes from the surrounding islands and coastal towns. Well, the smart ones who have struck a deal with the gang. The Swarm will pillage and loot the ones too stupid to not agree to their very reasonable terms.  

Most of the gang came from a small rural county far, far to the south of here, all leaving their homeland for one reason or another. Some had committed crimes terrible enough to earn them banishment. Some simply were lured by the promise of an easy life of hedonism and violence. And some, like Hopper’s young brother, simply had nowhere else to go. 

DOT

Dot is still adopted into the royal family. One night, a massive yacht/small cruise ship was caught in a horrible storm offshore of Amber Isle. A team was assembled to go out to it, including Flik. Best case scenario, they're a rescue party. Worst case...a salvage team.

When they reach it, they see the ship is practically destroyed. It's already sinking, and absolutely riddled with holes - and not all from the storm by the looks of it. This ship was attacked. The team moves fast to try and find any survivors, but all they find is death… save a single sailor. The man is delirious and yells at them to find the royal family. 

The royal family's cabin is easy to find, but it's been absolutely destroyed. Half the room is missing, blown away by what looks like the blast from a cannon. There’s no sign of the royal family, save for a small though elaborate empty crib in the in-tact corner of the cabin. It’s been tipped over on its side, likely by one of the crashing waves tossing the ship about.

But it looks like it only tipped over recently.

Flik is the first scout to enter the room. He hears crying from far below, and his heart sinks. A baby! She's fallen into the water! 

The water that is teeming with sharks, drawn here by the smell of death and the many sinking bodies of the late crew.

Disregarding all personal safety and sanity, Flik dives into the water, leaping from the hole in the cabin the child fell through. He swims out to her, adrenaline coursing through him as he thrashes through the raging waters. By a miracle, he manages to grab the tiny girl, before swimming to one of the small boats the scouting team used. With a herculean effort, he lifts the baby up to one of the men aboard, before he’s hauled in himself. He’s half-drowned, but alive, and so is she. A heavy tarp is tossed around both him and the child, the best the scouting party can do to 

Around the girl’s wrist is a tiny, golden bracelet, bearing a crest no one aboard recognized. They didn’t know what dynasty it represented, but it was obvious the girl was royalty. A tiny princess, saved from the sea, and likely the last member of her house.  

The ship shudders, and obviously there's no salvaging it. They've got minutes before it's fully taken under. The scouting party, the rescued sailor, and the baby princess are all loaded up, and return to shore, Flik holding the girl to his chest the whole while while keeping her wrapped up in his coat. 

The royal family takes her in as one of their own, adopting the little princess. As she had no name of her own, she was christened Dorothy by her adopted mother.  Her name was often shortened to Dot however, mostly due to the immense amount of freckles she had all over her - a trait almost unseen in Amber Isle, and one that earned the poor princess more than her fair share of bullying. Being different has its price.

For his bravery, Flik earns himself an accommodation from the queen, one that, among other things, grants him a high degree of trust when it comes to the little princess, and he becomes a part of her life, with her growing up and viewing him as an older brother or father figure - a role he is all too happy to play. (It’s the ending of “Seed”, let’s just cut to the chase =p)

[thatstormygeek]

As I have written before, there are two paths out of this dilemma. One is the more socialist path: The government enforces limits on carbon emissions to curb climate change, and publicly funds a rational plan for the managed retreat of homeowners from disaster-prone areas. This is an expensive and politically difficult but humane solution. Then there is the free market path: Allow insurance companies to set rates where math dictates they should be set to properly account for risk. Living in disaster-prone areas quickly becomes impossible to afford for many people, who are forced to move. Banks will not write mortgages on uninsured homes, so new construction in these areas declines. Fewer people move in, more people move out, and the population shifts to safer locations. This method would be accompanied by tremendous human suffering, as people are forced out of their homes by economic pain, but it would accomplish the same goal as the more humane path, in a way that is consistent with the American valorization of capitalism. We are not going to follow either of these paths. Instead, due to the nature of our political system, which rewards cowardice and punishes anyone who might dare to tell coastal homeowners that they are fucked, we are going to get a blend of the worst aspects of both options. Politicians will demand federal bailouts of the costs associated with each disaster, and they will introduce various regulations and financial schemes to artificially hold down the price of insurance—well below its true price, meaning a price that would allow insurance companies to fully pay for all of the costs that climate change will impose. These costs will continually increase. Eventually, the costs to the nation of subsidizing the ability of people to live in unwise locations will be so enormous that all the rest of the citizens will revolt. “Save our homes!” one side will cry. “Why should I pay for you to live at the beach?” everyone else will cry. A vicious political war will ensue. It will be brutal. All the while, climate change will continue apace. The only real question is how long we will spend dithering on our unproductive and childish bickering before we are forced by nature to address the root causes of this problem. Knowing America, I suspect that we can dither deeper into disastrous territory than you might imagine.

This issue, more than any other I can think of, combines almost all of America’s systemic flaws into a single toxic stew that we will all be forced to choke down. The flaws in our electoral system ensure that politicians who tell voters the hard truths about the changes that will be necessary to deal with this problem are defeated by those willing to tell voters cheap lies about easy fixes that allow everyone to maintain their current lifestyles. The flaws in our cutthroat economic system ensure that the needs of rich people in expensive beach houses will drive this discussion far more than the needs of poorer people who live in disaster-prone areas. The flaws in our hysterical post-Cold War attitudes about the evils of socialism ensure that no adult conversation can be had about what a responsible solution will look like. And the flaws in our national political media discourse ensure that as this issue comes to a head, and the states begin to sort themselves into “those who want bailouts” and “those who do not want to pay for bailouts,” the arguments between the two sides will become absolutely poisonous. Imagine pouring all of the political attack ads around welfare and billionaires and red state bastards and blue state commies into a blender and mixing it with the tears of a million people whose homes have been washed away and the outrage of a hundred million other people who are struggling to make a living and believe that they are being asked to pay for some asshole to live in a mansion on Miami Beach. And then allow the entire conversation to be led by, you know, Ron DeSantis. It will be terrible.

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

The Still Point by Tammy Greenwood

A well written story that made me once again wonder if parents help their children fulfill dreams of or if they push their children to live out the dreams they once had for themselves. As a child, I wanted to take ballet classes but was never allowed to do so. I love attending ballet and have enjoyed stories and movies since childhood that had ballet as the theme. As I began to read, I realized that this was not a book I was willing to invest time in reading word for word. I could not relate to the mothers or their daughters, become invested in the plot, or feel moved. In the end, I read the first part, the end, and skimmed the middle.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

2-3 Stars

BLURB

Dance Moms meets Little Fires Everywhere in award winning author Tammy Greenwood’s addictive new novel set in the hyper cutthroat world of ballet girls and their mothers as they compete for a prestigious prize… “She had never seen Bea dance like this. Ever sat spellbound as her daughter grew from a little girl into a woman before her eyes…” Ever, Lindsay, and Josie have ushered their daughters—Bea, Olive, and Savvy—through years of dance classes in their coastal California town. They’ve tended bloodied feet, stitched ribbons to countless pairs of pointe shoes, and in the process, forged friendships that seem to transcend rivalry. But now Etienne Bernay, enfant terrible of French ballet, has come to their conservatory. Not only will he direct this year’s production of The Nutcracker , but he’s brought along a film crew to document his search for one special student who will receive a full scholarship to the Ballet de Paris Academie. For the girls, this is the chance to fulfill lifelong dreams. For Ever, recently widowed and struggling financially, it may be the only way to keep Bea dancing. And Bea is a truly gifted dancer—poetic and ethereal, breathtaking to watch. Lindsay, meanwhile, frets that Olive is growing tired of the punishing reality of training, while Josie has no such qualms about Savvy, who is a powerhouse of ambition. From auditions to casting to rehearsals, the cameras capture the selection process, with its backstabbing and jealousy, disappointment and triumph. But it’s behind the scenes that Bernay’s arrival will yield the most shocking revelations, exposing the secrets and lies at the heart of all three families—and the sacrifices women make for their children, for friendship, and for art.

[rabbitcruiser]

108 Mile Lake, BC (No. 1)

108 Mile Lake is a glacial lake located in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada. The lake is named after the nearby town 108 Mile Ranch.

108 Mile Lake is connected to Sepa Lake (a smaller lake to the south). The channel between the two lakes was dredged in the late 1980s allowing a free flow of water between the two basins. The lake is a popular fishing, hiking, and mountain biking spot. Fish found in this lake include rainbow trout, bull trout, redside shiners, northern pikeminnows, suckers and coastal cutthroat trout.

Source: Wikipedia

[shincyspace]

Unleashing ROI Potential: Best PPC Management Agency in Kerala

In today’s cutthroat digital landscape, simply having an online presence isn’t enough. Businesses must be strategic, especially when it comes to paid advertising. Enter Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising — a powerhouse marketing tactic that delivers targeted traffic straight to your virtual doorstep. But let’s face it, PPC management can be overwhelming. That’s where experts step in, saving you from the digital chaos. And if you’re in Kerala, you’re in luck. The Best PPC Management Agency in Kerala will have you covered, helping you tap into your audience without burning through your budget. Let’s dive into the magic of PPC and why Kerala is the perfect place to unlock its potential.

# What Makes PPC So Powerful?

PPC is more than just placing an ad and watching the clicks roll in. It’s about precision, relevance, and timing — the trifecta of a successful campaign. With PPC, you’ve got total control over your budget, audience, and even the location of your ads. You pay only when someone clicks, so every penny counts toward your marketing efforts. But here’s the kicker — while PPC sounds easy in theory, making it work is a whole different ball game. That’s why hiring the Best PPC Management Agency in Kerala is crucial to transforming those clicks into conversions.

Let’s break it down a bit further. PPC is essentially your VIP pass to the front of the line in the search results. While SEO might take months to work its magic, PPC puts your brand front and center immediately. Sounds like a dream, right? But if you aren’t careful, it can turn into a nightmare of wasted spend. That’s why expert guidance can make all the difference.

# Navigating the Digital Ocean: Why Choose Kerala?

Kerala might be known for its backwaters and serene beaches, but did you know that it’s also becoming a digital marketing hub? That’s right! This coastal paradise is no longer just about tourism — it’s also a hotspot for smart business tactics. And in this digital wave, PPC reigns supreme.

So, why should Kerala be your go-to for top-tier PPC management? Simple: Kerala’s talent pool is brimming with tech-savvy professionals who understand not only digital marketing but the unique business landscape here. The Best PPC Management Agency in Kerala knows how to balance the art and science of PPC to ensure you reach your target audience, whether they’re right around the corner or halfway across the globe.

# What to Expect from the Best PPC Management Agency in Kerala?

Alright, so you’re sold on PPC, and you know Kerala’s the place to be. But what should you expect from the agency handling your campaign? Let’s break it down:

1. Tailored Strategy

The Best PPC Management Agency in Kerala won’t just slap a generic ad campaign together and call it a day. No way! They’ll dig deep into your business, understanding your goals, target audience, and budget. Then, they’ll create a tailor-made strategy that ensures every click is a step closer to conversion.

2. Keyword Mastery

PPC without the right keywords is like fishing without bait — pointless. The experts in Kerala know how to conduct thorough keyword research that not only draws in the traffic but attracts the right kind of traffic. It’s not just about getting clicks; it’s about getting the right clicks.

3. Ad Copy that Clicks

It’s no secret — crafting the perfect ad copy is an art. The Best PPC Management Agency in Kerala excels at creating compelling, click-worthy ads that resonate with your audience. Whether it’s the headline, body text, or call-to-action (CTA), every word is chosen carefully to boost engagement.

4. Budget Optimization

Let’s be honest — PPC can drain your wallet fast if not managed properly. But with the best agency at the helm, your budget will be optimized to ensure maximum return on investment (ROI). They’ll monitor your spending, tweak the bids, and adjust the campaign as needed to stretch your budget to its fullest potential.

5. Performance Tracking & Reporting

What good is a campaign if you can’t measure its success? The Best PPC Management Agency in Kerala will keep a close eye on the performance, offering regular reports and insights. This transparency allows you to understand what’s working and what’s not — ensuring continuous improvement.

# Why Your Business Needs the Best PPC Management Agency in Kerala

Let’s paint a picture. You’re running an e-commerce store in Kerala, and your organic traffic has hit a plateau. Despite your best SEO efforts, conversions are crawling at a snail’s pace. Frustrating, right? Here’s where PPC comes in like a knight in shining armor. A well-executed PPC campaign can put your brand in front of potential customers, driving immediate, qualified traffic to your site.

But wait — you can’t just hand this off to anyone. No, you need the Best PPC Management Agency in Kerala, because they know the lay of the land. They understand the local market, the nuances of digital behavior, and how to leverage the strengths of the Kerala business landscape. Plus, they’ve got a finger on the pulse of the latest trends in PPC, ensuring your campaigns are cutting-edge and effective.

# The Secret Sauce of PPC: Targeting and Retargeting

PPC campaigns can be highly targeted. Whether you’re targeting specific demographics, interests, or behaviors, the Best PPC Management Agency in Kerala can zero in on exactly who you want to reach. And once someone interacts with your brand, they can retarget them — keeping your business at the top of their mind (and search results). This is where the magic happens! Retargeting ensures potential customers don’t forget about you and increases the chances of conversion exponentially.

# Avoiding the Pitfalls: Why Expert Management is Key

Let’s face it — DIY PPC campaigns can go south fast. You might think you’re doing everything right, but without the proper expertise, things can unravel quickly. Common pitfalls include bidding on irrelevant keywords, poorly written ad copy, and inefficient budget management. The result? Wasted spend and subpar performance.

That’s why having the Best PPC Management Agency in Kerala on your side is a game-changer. They know how to avoid these pitfalls and make sure your campaigns are running like a well-oiled machine.

Elevate Your Business with the Power of Precision — Unlock Success with the Best PPC Management Agency in Kerala, Potters Wheel!

In a world where digital marketing reigns supreme, PPC remains a cornerstone for driving quick, measurable results. But success doesn’t come easy — it takes a deep understanding of the market, laser-focused strategy, and a knack for crafting compelling ads that convert. That’s where the Best PPC Management Agency in Kerala steps in, offering expert services that not only boost your visibility but maximize your ROI.

Looking for that perfect blend of creativity and precision? Then look no further than Potters Wheel Media, the top player in Kerala’s digital marketing scene. Their expertise will not only get you noticed but drive real results. So, are you ready to elevate your brand with the power of PPC? It’s time to get the right agency on your side and watch your business soar!

[tomorrowedblog]

Friday Releases for January 26

Friday is the busiest day of the week for new releases, so we've decided to collect them all in one place. Friday Releases for January 26 include Masters of the Air, Sometimes I Think About Dying, Badland Hunters, and more.

Sometimes I Think About Dying

Sometimes I Think About Dying, the new movie from Rachel Lambert, is out today.

Lost on the dreary Oregon coast, Fran finds solace in her cubicle, listening to the constant hum of officemates and occasionally daydreaming to pass the time. She is ghosting through life, unable to pop her bubble of isolation, when a friendly new coworker, Robert, persistently tries to connect with her. Though it goes against every fiber of her being, she may have to give this guy a chance.

Badland Hunters

Badland Hunters, the new movie from Heo Myeong Haeng, is out today.

After a deadly earthquake turns Seoul into a lawless badland, a fearless huntsman springs into action to rescue a teenager abducted by a mad doctor.

The Seeding

The Seeding, the new movie from Barnaby Clay, is out today.

When a hiker gets lost in the desert, a gang of feral children propelled by haunting legacies traps him in a sadistic battle for survival with a frightening endgame.

American Star

American Star, the new movie from Gonzalo López-Gallego, is out today.

An assassin (Ian McShane) on final assignment arrives in Fuerteventura to kill a man he has never met. But when the target is delayed, instead of following protocol he stays; drawn to the island, the people, and a ghostly shipwreck. When the target returns, the world has shifted. Before everything was simple- now nothing is.

Housekeeping For Beginners

Housekeeping For Beginners, the new movie from Goran Stolevski, is out today.

HOUSEKEEPING FOR BEGINNERS explores the universal truths of family, encompassing both the bonds we inherit and those we create. The narrative revolves around Dita, who, despite never aspiring to be a mother, finds herself compelled to raise her girlfriend’s two daughters—Mia, a tiny troublemaker, and Vanesa, a rebellious teenager. As their individual wills clash, a heartwarming story unfolds about an unlikely family’s struggle to stay together.

Miller’s Girl

Miller’s Girl, the new movie from Jade Halley Bartlett, is out today.

A talented young writer (Jenna Ortega) embarks on a creative odyssey when her teacher (Martin Freeman) assigns a project that entangles them both in an increasingly complex web. As lines blur and their lives intertwine, professor and protégé must confront their darkest selves while straining to preserve their individual sense of purpose and the things they hold most dear.

Pictures of Ghosts

Pictures of Ghosts, the new movie from Kleber Mendonça Filho, is out today.

PICTURES OF GHOSTS, from acclaimed director Kleber Mendonca Filho (BACURAU, AQUARIUS and NEIGHBORING SOUNDS), is a multidimensional journey through time, sound, architecture and filmmaking, set in the urban landscape of Recife, Brazilian coastal capital of Pernambuco: a historical and human territory, examined through the great movie theatres that served as spaces of conviviality during the 20th century. Having hosted dreams and progress, these places have also embodied a major transformation on social practices. Combining archive documentary, mystery, film clips and personal memories, PICTURES OF GHOSTS is a map of a city through the lens of cinema.

Cold Copy

Cold Copy, the new movie from Roxine Helberg, is out today.

An ambitious journalism student falls under the thrall of an esteemed yet cutthroat news reporter whom she’s desperate to impress, even if it means manipulating her latest story…and the very idea of truth itself.

Masters of the Air

Masters of the Air, the new TV series from John Shiban and John Orloff, is out today.

Based on Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name, and scripted by John Orloff, “Masters of the Air” follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the “Bloody Hundredth”) as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany and grapple with the frigid conditions, lack of oxygen, and sheer terror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air. Portraying the psychological and emotional price paid by these young men as they helped destroy the horror of Hitler’s Third Reich, is at the heart of “Masters of the Air.” Some were shot down and captured; some were wounded or killed. And some were lucky enough to make it home. Regardless of individual fate, a toll was exacted on them all.

Expats

Expats, the new TV series from Lulu Wang, is out today.

Set against the complex tapestry of Hong Kong residents, Expats depicts a multifaceted group of women after a single encounter sets off a chain of life-altering events that leaves everyone navigating the intricate balance between blame and accountability.

Hightown S3

The third season of Hightown, the TV series from Rebecca Cutter, is out today.

Fishery Service Agent Jackie Quiñones has relapsed again into her addictions of drugs, alcohol, and lone savior of lost causes. In the part of scenic Cape Cod that the tourists never see, Jackie and her fellow cops Ray Abruzzo and Alan Saintille fight to keep people safe from the bad guys but it’s like shoveling sand against the tide. When the bad guys and corruption arise from all sides, everyone will face a deep reckoning. Beliefs and loyalties will be tested, and Jackie will have to learn to stand by herself and for what she believes in.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the new game from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and SEGA, is out today.

Two larger-than-life heroes, Ichiban Kasuga and Kazuma Kiryu are brought together by the hand of fate, or perhaps something more sinister… Live it up in Japan and explore all that Hawaii has to offer in an RPG adventure so big it spans the Pacific.

Tekken 8

Tekken 8, the new game from Bandai Namco Studios and Bandai Namco Entertainment, is out today.

Get ready for the next chapter in the legendary fighting game franchise, TEKKEN 8.

Everybody Can’t Go

Everybody Can’t Go, the new album from Benny the Butcher, is out today.

[cakesandfail]

@rolypolydandy

Hi I spent the entire afternoon in a salmon-fueled fugue state and now finally the most important quiz is here. I’ve brought it to you.

[namu-the-orca]

Strange salmon So after the Pink salmon I promised some bonus fish, and here they are! These three were also featured on the poster. They’re all a bit unusual; they’re either a salmon but don’t behave like one, or vice versa. In order they are:

Steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus) Also known as: Rainbow, redband (trout)

Steelhead are the anadromous form of the Rainbow trout. Meaning they, just like salmon, live at sea but are born and return to spawn in freshwater. However, unlike salmon, they don’t die afterwards. After regaining their strength at sea they may return multiple times, and Steelhead as old as 11 years have been found spawning. Unlike regular rainbows these fish develop very salmon-like heads when spawning, with long faces and slight kypes. Their beautiful spotting is very fine and unusually regular on the tail. This unique patterning is always present and can be used to identify them even at sea. Thanks to the rich marine environment, Steelhead grow big: 48" (122 cm) and 55 lbs (25 kg) is maximum, but 20-30″ (50-75 cm) and 5-20 lbs (2.5-9 kg) average. 

Coastal cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii) Also known as: Sea-run cutthroat, Harvest (trout)

Coastal cutthroat are the anadromous form of the regular Cutthroat trout. Unlike Steelhead and Pacific salmon, Cutthroat do not make lengthy migrations out to sea. Often they just hang out in estuaries for a few months, spending much of the rest of the year in freshwater. Not all upriver migrations are to spawn either; sometimes they just want to overwinter or feed. When fresh out of saltwater Cutthroat can be quite silvery, with pale throat slashes. But as they approach spawning they become more and more yellow and the slashes that give them their name more pronounced red. Coastal cutthroats don’t grow very big: 24″ (60 cm) and 8 lbs (3.5 kg) is the recorded maximum, but average is 10-16″ (25-40 cm) and 1-5 lbs (0.5-2 kg). 

Kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) Also known as: Kennerly’s salmon/trout, Kokanee trout, Silver trout, Little redfish, Kikanning, Walla Kokanees are the landlocked form of the Sockeye. Instead of venturing to sea, they spend most of their time in lakes, swimming upriver from them to spawn. Their pocket size and habitat should make identification easy enough. Interestingly, they often bear spots on their back and tail, something Sockeyes never have. The red on their gill covers can also be more extensive. The comparatively nutrient poor lake environment keeps Kokanees at an almost dwarf size compared to Sockeyes. Maximum size is 20″ (50 cm) and 6.25 lbs (3 kg), but don’t expect more than 9-12″ (23-30 cm) and 1-3 lbs (0.5-1 kg) on average.

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Why Forests Need Salmon

(Originally posted at my blog at https://rebeccalexa.com/why-forests-need-salmon/)

One of my favorite fall activities is to check local streams for salmon runs. Here in the Pacific Northwest, and extending north into Alaska, we have seven species of anadromous Salmonidae: chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), coastal cutthroat trout  (Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii), and steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss). My favorite run is the chum salmon that run up Ellsworth Creek in southwest Washington each fall, but I’m honestly just happy to see any migrating salmon. And as I hike through stands of ancient western red cedar (Thuja plicata), I like to think about the many ways in which these and other forests need salmon for their ongoing health.

Anadromous fish are those that are born in fresh water, spend much of their adult lives in salt water, and then return to fresh water to spawn. Some, like Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and some populations of American shad (Alosa sapidissima) are iteroparous, meaning they can make this journey multiple times in a lifetime. Pacific salmonids, on the other hand, are semelparous, meaning that they spawn once and then die shortly thereafter. (From here on out I am going to use “salmon” as a general, casual term referring to both the Oncorhynchus species, and the steelhead and cutthroat trout.)

Pacific salmon were originally freshwater fish that inhabited lakes and slow-moving rivers. Somewhere around 25 million years ago, the climate cooled significantly, with average temperatures dropping almost twenty degrees F. We’re not sure at what point after this the salmon began expanding into brackish estuaries and then the Pacific Ocean itself, but when they did they found rich sources of food unlike what they had access to in fresh water. Over time, they evolved a life cycle that let them be born in the relatively safe shelter of freshwater streams, and then go out to the ocean to feast on the banquet found there when they were large enough to have a better chance of survival.

Eventually salmon runs could be found in streams as far inland as eastern Idaho, eastern British Columbia, and the southern two-thirds of Alaska (with some Alaskan runs even crossing over into Canada!) And until the arrival of European colonizers, these streams consistently provided indigenous people all along the Pacific coastline an incredibly important source of food, cultural and economic trade, mythos, and more. Unfortunately, the newcomers overharvested the salmon, dammed and destroyed streams and other habitat, and of course spearheaded the causes of anthropogenic climate change.

Indigenous people fish for salmon at Celilo Falls on the Columbia River. As the single longest continuously inhabited community in North America (over 15,000 years!), this location was a home and hub of cultural activity for many indigenous tribes and communities across the region before it was flooded by the completion of the Dalles Dam in 1957.

All these factors have led to a precipitous decline in the size of both salmon runs, and the salmon themselves. This isn’t just detrimental to indigenous communities, though. It also threatens the health of forests all throughout the salmons’ range.

A forest isn’t just made of trees. It’s composed of entire plant communities, fungi (including mycorrhizal species), and the animals, bacteria, and other living beings that share space with them. When salmon travel up and down the waterways as fry, and then later to spawn as adults, they have a direct impact on that ecosystem.

Salmon fry are an important source of food for larger fish, amphibians, birds, and other beings that seek food in the water. In fact, part of why salmon lay so many eggs (over 5,000 in the case of chinook!) is because most of the fry that hatch will never make it to adulthood. But adult salmon aren’t safe from predation on their return trip to their birthplaces. In fact, they are caught and eaten by a wide variety of animals from bears to eagles, wolves to osprey, sea lions to bobcats.

Bears are of particular interest here. Brown bears (Ursus arctos) are well-known for gorging on summer and fall salmon runs to build up massive amounts of fat in preparation for winter hibernation. (Katmai National Park even celebrates their bears during Fat Bear Week every October!) You can watch video feeds of several bears hanging out in their favorite fishing spots by waterfalls and in the flow of the river.

Imagine that you are a young bear, perhaps recently forced to independence by your mother who is now focused on your younger siblings. You have to not only start catching fish without her protection from bigger bears, but you also need to make sure those stronger bears don’t steal your catch. What’s the best thing to do? Run far away into the woods to eat your salmon in peace, then leave the remains among the trees and head back for more.

If the fishing is good, bears will often eat only the fattiest parts of the salmon like the brains and skin, and then leave the rest behind for scavengers. The nutrients in the salmon then disseminate throughout the forest, whether carried in the digestive systems of animals, or broken down in place by decomposers. This helps make the nutrients available to the plants, particularly trees which may store massive amounts of nutrients in their trunks; when the trees die, they essentially become a food pantry for younger beings like new seedlings, fungi, and so forth.

Now–what’s so special about the nutrients in salmon? Well, remember that these fish spend years out in the ocean. And the ocean has an entirely different balance of nutrients floating around in it compared to what’s found in fresh water or on land. The salmon are essentially the only way these ocean-borne nutrients can make their way into the forest in any meaningful amount, and they do so on a regular basis each year. The trees near salmon runs fished by bears may be 300% larger than usual, and salmon also provide nearly three quarters of the nitrogen in the forest. That’s a pretty impressive contribution!

This isn’t just about how forests need salmon; it’s a reciprocal relationship. While the salmon’s immediate habitats are aquatic, these streams, rivers, and other waterways are directly affected by what happens on the land around them.

Every waterway has a watershed–an area of land from which precipitation drains into that waterway. These watersheds nest within each other; the watersheds of small streams are nested within the watersheds of the rivers the streams feed into. That water carries things with it, from soil to pollutants. So the health of the land has a direct impact on what is found in the water.

But it goes beyond what’s washed downstream, and into how it’s washed down. In a healthy forest, for example, the soil is able to absorb a significant amount of precipitation that falls throughout the year, keeping it from simply cascading down hillsides to create flooding and landslides. Water is also stored in the various living beings in the forest; again trees are often the champions with their great size, but smaller plants help with water retention quite a bit as well, both through internal storage and preventing evaporation from soil. A forest that is badly damaged, such as through a clearcut or wildfire, won’t hold water as well. This can lead to floods, landslides and other erosion, and increase the impact of summer droughts as the land simply can’t store as much water, or for as long.

All of this affects the salmon directly. If the watershed is no longer holding and releasing snowmelt, rain, and other water in a controlled manner, this can lead to flooding in waterways which can wash away salmon eggs and fry. Increased erosion buries the gravel that salmon lay eggs in with silt, smothering the eggs so they never hatch. When a riparian zone–the land along a waterway–is stripped of vegetation, the water loses crucial shaded areas that keep temperatures cool. Salmon easily overheat when temperatures rise even a few degrees. And drought can dry up smaller streams, stranding and even killing young salmon while preventing adults from reaching their spawning grounds.

While not every single salmon run exclusively travels through forests, many of them do. And many spawning grounds are found in forests, or at least areas with significant tree cover in riparian zones. Salmon must have healthy forests in order to continue to survive, and the loss of these forests is just one of many factors contributing to their severe decline.

Thankfully, I am far from the only person concerned about the safety of our wild Pacific salmon. There are numerous organizations working to protect and restore salmon habitat through dam removal, preservation and restoration of aquatic habitat and surrounding land, regulations on salmon fishing, and educating people about sustainable seafood options (or just not eating seafood at all.) And even habitat restoration efforts that aren’t directly in salmon-inhabited waterways still have a positive impact on the forest ecosystem as a whole.

We know that forests need salmon, and salmon need forests. To protect one is to protect the other, and long may they both thrive.

Did you enjoy this post? Consider taking one of my online foraging and natural history classes, checking out my other articles, or picking up a paperback or ebook I’ve written! You can even buy me a coffee here!

[monstersandmaw]

Male each-uisge (sea kelpie) x female reader (nsfw) - Part Two

Disclaimer which I’m including in all my works after plagiarism and theft has taken place: I do not give my consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted anywhere. They are copyrighted and belong to me.

This is a part two of Rhion’s story, commissioned from me by @wordlesswander. I hope you folks enjoy!

Please note that the reader has been changed from gender neutral to cis female.

Contents: slightly possessive behaviour, and mention of past near-drowning (from part one), please tell me if I need to add anything else. Wordcount: 6161

Part One (gender neutral reader, sfw)

At the click of the front door behind you, Rhion rose from his usual spot on the sofa in the old fisherman’s cottage with a sinuous motion and stalked over. His white, milky eyes looked blind in the half light, but he could see just fine, and he wore an intense expression on his sharply handsome face as he approached.

“Rhion?” you asked, juggling shopping bags in both hands. “Everything alright?”

“You were gone for ages,” he said, his raspy voice harsh and a pout on his pretty lips.

You chuckled, used to his mannerisms by now.

It wasn’t separation anxiety, as you’d first thought. Rhion’s folk were protective of their chosen mates — protective to the point of possessive — and sure enough, the moment you set the bags down in the cottage’s tiny kitchen, he wrapped his arms around you and turned you to face him. He began to mouth at your neck, raking sharp teeth over your flesh and biting at your pulse point until you gasped and tipped back against the counter, desire spiking.

The last six months with Rhion had been intense to say the least.

It hadn’t taken him nearly as long to heal from his injuries as it would have done a human, and with his life as an each-uisge in the churning waters of the sea just beyond the coastal village apparently behind him, he had set to learning all about the human world with a fervour that had sometimes almost frightened you sometimes. Rhion did nothing by halves after all. He’d figured out all the appliances in the home, though he still shied away from using the television or a phone or computer alone, finding the interconnectivity of the internet more daunting than even the greatest depths of the ocean.

Now, with his slender, wiry body pressed against yours, his arousal growing as he tried to mark you as his own, he began to growl. “You smell like other people,” he snarled in your ear, biting your ear lobe so hard you yelped.

“Rhion, we talked about this,” you said, putting a hand on his chest and pushing him firmly but gently away from you.

He raised his lip, but nodded.

“I told you I won’t let anyone near me who isn’t friend or family, and I’m not letting anyone near me the way I let you. Ok?”

The shifter nodded, but his face was sullen. His instincts were warring with his desire to keep you happy, and it made him miserable.

“Come here,” you said, and he reacted to the reward immediately, nuzzling your hand where it cupped his cheek.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“We’re different species, Rhion. And your society is cutthroat. I know you just want to protect me, and I know you respect my boundaries. If you didn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, and you wouldn’t be under this roof any more.”

He nodded and let his hands fall to your waist. For a long time he was quiet, standing in front of you with his head bowed, his long black hair falling down his spine to his hips, and his mottled grey-green skin gleaming softly in the low light of the room. “You need some help unpacking?” he asked, shooting a look at the shopping.

“Thank you.”

That night, after a supper of fish — cooked for you, and raw for Rhion — you drew your knees up and idly checked your emails on your phone. With a frown, and a little curious noise, you opened up an alert from an estate agency where you’d registered your interest for ‘seaside cottages in Scotland’.

Beside you, Rhion reached over and stroked your hair out of your eyes. “Everything alright?” he asked. His voice was like crushed sea-shells, harsh but still beautiful, and he always had such tenderness when he spoke to you that it made your heart clench.

“Yeah. Look,” and you turned the phone around to show him the photographs from the listing.

He scowled at it, the harsh light stinging his eyes, so you fetched your laptop to show him on a larger screen. Together, you scrolled through the photographs of the small cottage. It sat on one of the more remote Hebridean islands, but it had electricity, gas and internet, which was more than most. It was also reasonably priced. With your income and the ability to work online, the mortgage calculator at the bottom of the page showed you that you could afford it. It wasn’t going to be easy, but if Rhion could shift freely again — he hadn’t shifted back to his each-uisge’s equine form since his herd had nearly torn him to ribbons — he could feed himself, and you didn't need all that much.

“You want to look at it?” he asked. “Where is it? Is it far from here?”

“We’ll have to take the ferry,” you said, pulling up the map. “Not sure how we’re going to hide you though,” you added, eyeing his mottled skin. Gloves and long sleeves only got him so far. There was no hiding his face and eyes easily without him looking conspicuously covered up.

“If it’s beside the sea, I could shift and swim there,” he said, and the note of hope in his voice was obvious.

You sighed and leaned into him. He was always cool, no matter how warm the advancing summer got, and his fingers raked through your hair in a steady, calming rhythm, like the lapping waves of an incoming tide. Soon, you would lose yourself to it.

In the end, and with a good bit of help from a satellite map of the ferry dock on the mainland, you figured out a plan. You parked the car at a cove near the ferry dock, and Rhion stepped out of the passenger side, his eyes fixed on the churning sea. It wouldn’t be a gentle crossing for you on a day with winds that strong, but he could cut through the waves like a navy warship. The car ride had been a different matter, and you’d had to pull over a couple of times for him to empty his stomach onto the side of the road. Now though, he looked like a man thirsting for a drink after days without water.

Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, you called to him. “Wait…”

He stopped on the beach and turned to face you. With his hands soft at his sides, his long hair lifting like a banner in the wind that whipped the sea to a frothing foam beyond, he looked wild and beautiful. You ran to him and flung your arms around his neck, startling a laugh out of him that was more like a whinny. He hugged you back, fiercely, and planted a kiss at your temple.

“Your heart’s racing,” he said when he pulled back, his strange, eerie, fae-like features alight with concern. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m… I’m scared,” you admitted, gaze dropping to the cold, wet sand at your feet. “You know I haven’t been near the sea since I nearly drowned…”

“Since I frightened you,” he said, arching an eyebrow.

“You saved me,” you said. “But yeah.” You’d had two nightmares just that previous night about the time he’d dragged you down and into a cave, accessible through the roiling sea below or through a small blow hole in the top. In your nightmares though, it wasn’t Rhion dragging you down to the deep to strip the flesh from your bones, but another of his herd, and the rest of them circled like menacing shadows in the murk beneath you as you went down, down, down…

“Hey. I’ll follow the ferry,” he said. “I won’t let anything in the sea hurt you. I swore it then, and I hold to my word.” He whispered your name and kissed you. “I need to shift now though. Or you’ll miss the boat.”

You nodded, knowing he was right, and you took his clothes from him while he stripped un-selfconsciously on the deserted beach, and then strode unflinching into the biting Atlantic waves.

The water thrashed and seethed for a moment in a way that had nothing to do with the currents, and then there was no trace of him.

“He’s fine,” you said through gritted teeth. “He’s fine. He’s fine…”

You didn’t exactly find yourself keen to approach the foaming waterline, but you couldn't help yourself. The summer sun was strong, but the wind bit into your clothes and you were glad for the fleece to keep it out as you stared into the water, waiting.

Finally, his black head broke the surface, his forelock draped rather artistically across one white eye, and he opened his mouth and whinnied at you. It was a clear rebuke to get going, and you relaxed. “See you soon, Rhion,” you smiled and he nodded, pawing at the water with a great big hoof and thrashing his eel-like tail behind him in a flourish as he disappeared into the depths.

It had been far too long for a creature like him to be away from the sea, and your heart clenched at the thought. “Please let this house be what we want,” you muttered as you climbed the beach back to the car and drove off towards the little stone ferry dock.

As it turned out, the journey over wasn’t too bad. The crew of the small ferry was friendly, and one of them shot you a look and laughed gently. “Looking a wee bit green around the gills there,” the older woman said. She was tough and muscled, with weathered skin and storm-grey in her hair. Her big brown eyes glinted playfully as she added, “You need a bucket?”

You shook your head. “Not the biggest fan of the open sea,” you said. “I’ll be happy when we get to the other side.”

“Captain knows these waters, lass,” she said, coiling a rope up on itself to stow away as the ferry lurched to the side. The woman’s body absorbed the movement, but you slammed your hip into a rail on the side and yelped. “Better sit down…” she grinned.

“Yeah,” you croaked and staggered off to sit and watch the sea rear up and down outside.

You looked out for him, though he was obviously being careful. When you stepped off the ramp of the ferry at the other end though, feeling thoroughly green and wrung-out, you overheard one of the crew talking on a phone and a chill dropped through you.

“What? An each-uisge? In Tidewater Bay? You’re sure?”

Tidewater Bay was the name from the estate agency listing.

Rhion.

You ran.

With your rucksack smashing into your back, you raced up the stone harbour wall and away from the ferry, but from behind you heard a shout. You didn’t stop. Chest heaving, you arrived at the cottage five minutes later. It sat almost right on the waterfront, protected from the sea by huge, dark rocks on the shoreline and the narrow lane that looped along the coast like a ribbon. You skidded to a halt on the gravel parking spot outside the house when you saw four people gathered there, and all of them turned to face you as one.

Their expressions were dark, their eyes dangerous, and the set of their shoulders spoke of rumbling aggression. They knew. They were there because Rhion had been spotted, and they knew what he was. Were they shifters too? Or human hunters who knew about the supernatural; the ones Rhion had told you of all those months ago that would gladly mount an each-uisge’s head to the wall.

“Where is he?” you whispered, terror gripping your heart. “I swear, if anything’s happened to him…” you choked off a sob and stood there, shaking with rage and terror.

The oldest of the four figures stepped forward, with a wary, curious light in his eyes. He had short grey hair and a steely look to him, and he loomed over you as he approached. In an almost impenetrably-thick Scottish accent, he demanded, “You know about him, human?”

“‘Human’… wait, what are you?”

He growled, lifting his lip on one side and showing a thick canine. “His kind is not welcome here.”

“Please…” you begged, panting and thinking frantically. “We thought… We thought he’d be safe here. He’s on his own — he left his herd for me, because of me. We just want somewhere to live by the sea where he’ll be safe. Please… don’t hurt him.”

From the water came the irate scream of a horse in distress and you didn’t think. You just set off running again. “Rhion!”

In a tidal pool, gnashing his sharp-toothed jaw and kicking the water to a churning foam with his forelegs, you spotted Rhion. His eyes rolled with fury and his ears were pinned back tight against his head, and on the beach you saw two more figures — one a man and the other a woman with bigger muscles than him.

“Please, don’t hurt him!” you yelled as you halted and they turned to look at you. They each had long utility knives in their hands; the kind that would slice through a rope - or a creature - in a flash.

“He’s a monster,” the man snarled. “His kind hunt everything. You know they eat humans, right?”

“Please… Rhion has lived with me as a human for the past six months after his herd nearly killed him, just for wanting to be with me,” you begged frantically. “He saved my life when he could have drowned me and taken me to his herd. Please… I’m begging you. Don’t hurt him.” You raked your hand through your hair as the wind tugged at it. “We’ll go. We came to look at the house, but we’ll go. We’ll get the next ferry and we’ll leave. Just… don't hurt him… Please…”

You so frantic that you missed the footsteps coming up behind you on the shingle beach entirely.

Again, Rhion screamed a warning at you and you spun just as a heavy hand landed on your shoulder. In the water, bones cracked and sinews tore and reshaped themselves as Rhion shifted, desperate to reach you, to protect you. The man who had gripped your shoulder was the older man from outside the cottage and he studied you carefully with dark, steady eyes.

“You’re telling the truth, lass,” he said. “You know what he is, and yet you still defend him?”

Before anyone could react, Rhion hurled himself from the icy water shoving past the man who’d been guarding the beach. “Don’t you touch her!” he screamed. The man lunged for him and caught him by the arm, but Rhion rounded on him, thrashing and spitting like a rabid animal.

For a horrible moment you thought Rhion was going to tear his throat out, or that the man would stab him with that knife, and you screamed, “Stop!”

Rhion froze, still snarling.

“Stop. Everyone, just… stop.”

With eyes wide, you extracted a silent promise of stillness from him, and he nodded, however reluctantly. You tasted salt on the air, unsure whether it was taste of the sea or whether you’d bitten your lip, and the wind sliced into your cheeks in the silence that followed.

You dug into your rucksack for Rhion’s clothes and walked over to him, shrugging the older man’s heavy hand off you. You gave Rhion his clothes and told him to dress. He was clearly furious, but he followed your lead.

“They’re selkies,” he hissed at you as he snatched the t-shirt from your fingers and un-selfconsciously dressed himself, heedless of his damp skin. Shifters were obviously used to a degree of nudity, you supposed; the selkies certainly didn’t seem all that bothered. You would have been mortified.

“Selkies…” you breathed, and turned to look again at the man who seemed to be their leader.

A second, slightly younger man approached the leader and took his hand with a quiet look. He long, dark brown hair, tied up in a messy bun and with an attractive white streak at the front. “You’ve come to look at the house, you say?” he asked quietly, and to your surprise, he had an Irish accent.

“Yes. I didn’t know this was a selkie community,” you said, shooting Rhion a sidelong look. In your time together, he’d told you all about the various other creatures of the sea, including the sealfolk. Loyal, close-knit, and wary of humans, they could be dangerous when provoked, but they didn’t usually go looking for trouble. Not like Rhion’s kind. No one liked the each-uisge. Not even those few kelpies who chose to haunt the rock pools and shorelines over the boggy ponds on the highlands. No one but you, it seemed.

Well, let it never be said you followed the crowd.

“If I’d known you were here, I would have… Honestly I don’t know. But we could have handled this better.”

The selkie holding the leader’s hand smiled suddenly and nodded once before leaning in to whisper in the other’s ear.

With a soft growl, the older man nodded. “Tell us everything.”

You turned to Rhion, who shrugged petulantly, and you sighed.

Before you could start talking though, an older woman who might have been the sister of the selkie’s leader spoke up. “Why don’t we go up to the house? We can get out of this wind, and the girl can tell her story.”

It was abundantly clear that Rhion wasn’t welcome. They all shot him looks like he was about to lunge for one of them like a great white shark, but he stepped in close to you and snatched up your hand, gripping it so tightly your bones creaked. “They don’t want us here,” he whispered as you all made your way up the beach towards the whitewashed cottage. “We should go.”

“Not yet,” you replied, trying to get him to ease up his hold a bit with a little wiggle of your fingers. “It’s beautiful here, and they seem like reasonable people.”

Rhion huffed, but followed by your side, glowering at the selkies with his milky eyes.

All six of the selkies accompanied you into the open door of the tiny cottage, and you couldn’t help but notice how close Rhion stood to you as you came to a halt in the living room of the simply-furnished house and they fanned out around you. If he was afraid, he was hiding it behind a layer of sullen fury. Their expressions ranged from glowering to curious, but the leader was hardest of all to read.

“You can call me Alastair,” he said, breaking the tension. “This is my husband Roan, and our twins, Finn and Moira.” The two muscular siblings from the beach nodded in turn without smiling, and Alastair’s husband grinned at you. You warmed immediately to him, and gave the others a polite nod of your own. The remaining two were introduced as Claire and Simon.

Roan ushered you to sit, and with that, you began your story. They listened attentively, and by the time you reached the natural end of the tale, you got the impression they’d warmed to you in turn. Just a fraction. You prayed they had a soft spot for strays.

Roan nuzzled Alastair’s short, bearded jaw, and laughed softly. “Let them stay, love,” he said in his warm baritone. “Might be useful to have an each-uisge on our side. Those orca merfolk are getting too cocky for their own good, and they're hunting in our waters.”

Moira snorted and barked a laugh. She too had an Irish accent. “Can you imagine their faces if they see something like him swimming around, with all his teeth and his freaky tail?”

Rhion bared those teeth at her and she hissed right back, making Finn smack her on the arm. He didn’t look any keener than her to have Rhion around, but he voiced no protest either.

“Why don’t I show you the house,” Claire interjected diplomatically, the older, grey-haired woman standing from where she’d been perched on the arm of a battered old armchair.

The others all filed out, but Alastair stayed with Claire to show you the house, and you learned that they were indeed siblings.

“It’s beautiful here,” you sighed once the tour of the modest little cottage was over and the four of you returned to the open plan kitchen-living area. “Can I ask why it’s available?”

A cloud skidded over Alastair’s brown eyes, and Claire laid a hand on his arm. “Our brother lived here. He’s… returned to the sea.”

From behind you, where Rhion stood with his hands resting quietly on your hips as he often did to ground himself, he murmured, “May they find peace in the lullaby of the sea.”

Alastair’s shock was open as he turned to look at him.

Rhion met his gaze without expression, and Alastair let out a long exhale. “You two really are strange,” he said, scrubbing a hand over his short, grey beard. “Let’s go, Claire. You can think it over and come to the harbour master’s station when you’ve made your decision. Just pull the door to behind you when you leave.”

In the silence of their departure, Rhion turned to you. “Are you alright?”

You nodded. “Wasn't expecting all that, not going to lie,” you breathed, sinking down onto the sofa with watery knees. Rhion curled up beside you, drawing his legs up and nuzzling against your neck.

“What do you want to do?”

“I love it,” you said, gazing around at the whitewashed walls and the way the silvery light danced over the grey flagstone floor, the sea whispering audibly outside. “The house is cosy, it’s got a wood-burning stove — I’ve always wanted one of those — and the little town looked gorgeous with all its coloured houses… At least, what I saw of it as we were coming in to the harbour did. I ran straight here once I heard the guy on the ferry say the word ‘each-uisge’.”

“I love you,” Rhion blurted. “I… I don’t want you to live somewhere where they’re going to make you feel unwelcome…”

“I think you can win them over,” you grinned. “You won me over. You remember how scared I was of you when we first met? I thought for weeks you were going to eat me…”

“Don’t like the taste of humans. I told you that.”

You snorted. “You also told me you like the taste of seals. Maybe they picked up on that?”

He drew his lip up in a petulant snarl. “I can forgo hunting seals if it means we get to live somewhere you’re happy.”

“True love,” you laughed, and kissed him.

You hooked your legs over his lap, straddling his skinny, wiry thighs, and watched his white eyes go wide. There was always a moment with Rhion when he went completely slack beneath your attentions, and it never failed to fill you with wonder. “I do love you,” he said as he gazed up at you.

“I know you do,” you said before you kissed him. You didn’t linger, not wanting to get distracted, and knowing that Rhion was always easy to distract with sex.

After you climbed out of his lap though, he sat there watching you move around the house and explore it a little more closely. Eventually, over an hour later, you and Rhion walked along the road together towards the harbour master’s station. Rhion had a hoodie on and tugged the hood up as you entered the town, but there was hardly anyone around. You wondered how many of them knew about the selkies.

The door to the station opened while you were still approaching, and Finn came out. He had the big, ‘strong-but-soft’ body you’d expect of someone who can turn into a seal, but his sister, who had been wearing a muscle-tee and cargo shorts, was built like a tank.

“Is Alastair there?” you asked, trying not to let your voice crack.

Finn stepped to the side without a word and pushed the door open, holding it while you and Rhion entered. You chirruped a quick ‘thank you’ at him, and he turned away and stalked off towards town. Moira lingered, scowling.

Alastair was seated in the small sitting room just inside the door — a space barely large enough for an ancient TV set and a couple of armchairs — and beyond you glimpsed a room with a view over the harbour.

“Nice spot to work,” you said as you came to a halt with Rhion.

“Tis that,” Alastair agreed without getting up. “You made your decision then.”

“We have,” you smiled, taking Rhion’s hand. “If it’s alright with you, we’d like to put in an offer on the house. It’s a beautiful spot, and we need somewhere to start over. The fact that there’s already a community of shore-folk here I think will be a good thing. I know you’re different, but… Rhion’s been alone for a long time, and I think…” You glanced up at him to find him scowling, but there was a flush to his mottled cheeks and a gleam in his eyes that spoke of emotions lurking beneath the surface. “… I think he could find a home here too.”

“You’ll have to hunt elsewhere,” Alastair growled.

“I won’t hurt your people,” Rhion promised. “There’s plenty else to hunt here besides. I just want to feel the sea again. No offence,” he said, shooting you a cringing look. “I mean… We’re only supposed to shift like this as a last resort. I’m not supposed to stay like this. I need…” he choked off and looked away. “I need this.”

Alastair nodded and stood with a grunt of effort, knuckling the small of his back. “We all talked it over, and it’s not in our nature to turn away those in need. If you swear by the salt in your blood that you will do no harm to our people, then we will let you stay and welcome you and your partner into our community, each-uisge.”

Rhion looked oddly tearful as he heard the selkie leader’s words, and he took a deep, steadying breath through his nose. “Thank you, elder,” he said in his scraping voice. “I swear never to do or bring intentional harm to you or yours.”

Alastair cracked a wry smile and held out his hand. You both shook it, his palm leathery and rough after years of working a fishing boat, and he said, “When do you want to move in?”

“I thought it usually takes a while with estate agents and all the legal stuff?” you asked, following him back out into the blustery summer day. Moira was nowhere to be seen now.

“Eh,” Alastair shrugged. “You can stay there from whenever you like. The place could use some livening up.”

In the end, it only took you about a month to move your belongings from one house to the next, and to your surprise, Finn and Moira helped you willingly. They brought Finn’s van over and lugged all your boxes of stuff into the back of it, and drove it over to the island while you and Rhion took the car. Rhion threw up again, which Moira though hilarious when you mentioned it, and Rhion took a fortnight to forgive you for blabbering about it to her.

As the summer reached its height, Rhion spent more and more time in the water, twisting and rolling luxuriantly in the shallows or venturing off around the westward side of the island where the water was deeper and the currents stronger. On days when Rhion said he needed to go hunting, you would wander into the village, and sometimes you’d help Finn bringing in the lobster pots, but even though you went out on the water with the selkies, you never ever went in it.

On one afternoon in late August, you and Moira sat on the beach together outside the cottage. The sun had been baking down on you for nearly an hour, and Moira suddenly growled and pushed herself upright. Her body was incredible and it was hard not to feel self-conscious around her, so you looked away when she grinned down at you. “You coming in the water?” she asked. “I’m going to cook if I sit here on the sand any longer.”

She didn’t have her sealskin with her, so you assumed she wasn’t going to shift, and as she strode away down the short stretch of sand, you sighed. She stopped and looked back at you, murmuring your name questioningly.

“I nearly drowned,” you said, and her dark eyes widened. “I was out on the water on my own, and I fell overboard. Rhion saved me, but I haven’t been able to go back in the sea since.”

“Can you swim?” she asked, and you nodded. “Why don’t you just come and paddle. I won’t let you get hurt.” She then snorted and added, “I think your boyfriend would actually eat me if I did.”

“He trusts you,” you said, standing up and dog-earing your cheap paperback to keep the page. “He wouldn’t have gone off hunting and left me here with you if he didn’t.” Moira looked oddly touched at that.

You wandered to the edge of the sea while she strode away into it and ducked under, emerging a moment or two later and floating back towards you. “Still can’t believe we’ve got one of his kind here though. You know how vicious they can be, right?”

“Yeah. I watched them drag Rhion away and nearly rip him to shreds when they found him with me. He’s different.”

For a while, you just stood there with the cold water lapping at your shins, until a familiar shape bobbed around the corner, and you giggled. “It’s not fair that Finn is so cute as a seal…” you snickered, trying not to.

“He’s fucking adorable,” Moira agreed. “You should have heard Isla going on and on about it the other day.”

“Has he asked her out yet?”

“Nope, the coward,” she grinned as Finn joined you.

“Hey Finn,” you smiled and he nodded once before doing a lazy roll in the gentle waves. The urge to boop his big black nose was overwhelming. You thought you deserved a medal for restraining yourself.  

“Come on in,” Moira said, looking up at you.

Finn blinked encouragingly at you as well, and you laughed. “How is anyone supposed to say no to those eyes?” you asked, and he snuffed a little puff of water out of his nostrils in mock outrage. “Fine, but if I get panicky, you get me to shore again immediately, deal?”

They both nodded.

In the end, being back in the shallow waters of the sound wasn’t entirely awful. It wasn’t particularly relaxing to start with, but Finn kept buoying you up when you felt you were out of your depth, and Moira swam beside you within easy reach.

A shape moved in the deep a while later, and Finn looked down before rolling his eyes. A second later, a black horse’s head shoved itself between you and Finn’s soft pelt, and sharp teeth gnashed a harmless warning at him. Finn barked a rebuke at him and swam off. The two had yet to come to an understanding, but Moira, for all her brusque looks and sleek muscle, was actually the more open minded of the twins.

Rhion nuzzled you and you laughed. “Jealous?”

He huffed. “Yes.”

“Don’t be, silly. I’m getting tired though.”

“Climb on my back,” he said, turning his sleek body in the water.

Even Moira raised her eyebrows at that. Everyone knew what happened to women who climbed on the backs of kelpies and each-uisge. “At least I know I won’t slide off,” you muttered darkly as you slid a leg over the transition between horse hair and sleek eel-skin. And, as you’d expected, you stuck.

After a while though, you began to get cold and shivery, despite the heat of the summer sun, and you leaned forwards to whisper in his ear. “Take me back now?”

He nodded and dipped into the water just low enough to swim easily without dunking you below the surface, and when he reached the sand, you slid off to lie on your back next to him in the shallows. Moira stayed in the water while you sat up, and Rhion began to shift.

It was never pleasant to hear him rearranging his body like that, and once it was over he heaved a few shuddering breaths and looked up at you.

Oh, you knew that look, and it always meant trouble of the very best kind.

“Rhion?” you asked slowly.

“Indoors. Now,” he growled.

From behind you, Moira made a noise of feigned disgust. “Gross. I’ll see you later,” she grimaced. “Go away.”

Laughing, you followed Rhion up the beach and into the house. He was already naked, and you had only your bikini on. Rhion took your face in his hands and kissed you hard, tasting you and nipping at your lips with a series of moans that got louder and louder the more aroused he became. He tasted of salt water, but you didn’t mind.

“Want you,” he gasped, pulling back and undoing the string of your bikini top. His mouth went straight to your bared nipple, already budded from the cold, and you gasped. You scarcely made it to the bedroom before he was on top of you, snarling and rubbing his cheek on on you, scenting you. “You’re mine,” he growled, kneading your breast with one hand and grinding his hips against you.

“And you’re mine,” you hissed right back, guiding his cock to your entrance as you parted your legs for him.

He gasped when he felt the slick heat of you, and he paused, his tip just inside you. “Wait,” he said. “Wait, I want to taste you.”

You shook your head. “I want you. Now.”

He didn’t wait to be told twice, and sheathed himself inside you.

Sometimes when you and Rhion had sex, he was sweet and gentle, making it last for hours and drawing out your pleasure until you were shaking all over and begging for him to let you come, but now was not such a time. Rhion filled you, claimed you, growling and heaving, pushing deep, his hands gripping your shoulders hard enough that he might bruise you, leaning down between thrusts to take your neck between his teeth and suck marks into your skin. It was the closest you came to being devoured by him, and it was bliss.

You gave yourself to his attentions, letting him have you. Sometimes he needed to reassure himself that you were real, that he truly did belong to you, and all you could do was lie back and tell him you loved him with each breath, each kiss, each clench of your muscles around him.

Rhion was not normally loud, but that time, seated deep inside you, he threw back his head and screamed when he came, his hips pressed right up against you as you pulled him somehow even deeper with your legs around his hips. His wet hair trailed down his spine, and he held your hips in a grip so tight it might have hurt if the pleasure hadn’t been so intense.

He came hard, eyes screwed shut, sharp teeth clenched in a rictus of ecstasy, and when he was finally spent, he collapsed forwards on top of you, breathing hard and shaking.

“Rhion?” you asked, trailing your fingers down his shoulders as he lay atop your chest, cock still deep inside you. “You alright?”

He nodded, his face pressed against your neck, and his arms tightened a fraction around you. He didn’t move for a long time. Then he slowly raised his head and you met his beautiful white eyes. “Was that too much?” he asked. “I… I got… I got carried way. I didn't hurt you, did I?”

Your answering kiss surprised him. “If it had been too much, I’d have said so, and you’d have stopped. It wasn’t, so I didn’t.”

“I know I can be… intense,” he said, looking away.

You smiled and clenched softly around him, making him groan and rest his forehead on your collarbone.

“Mmm,” you agreed. “You are intense, Rhion, but you love me. And I’m yours.”

“M’yours,” he mumbled without lifting his head.

It was another five minutes at least before he was actually able to move, but you couldn’t find it within yourself to mind at all.

___

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The cultural difference between Intacia & the Coastal Empire (headcanons)

Was talking about fics with DeadMemeJack over on Discord, and fuck, she's seriously brilliant! The scenes and ideas she came up with always taught me something new. So for the sake of future fics, I thought it might be easier if I organised my thoughts and our headcanons here, so it's easy to use as a reference for worldbuilding.

So these are purely headcanons, and I'm gonna add new ideas here as we go along. Also as a heads up, my Baroness is an OC named Celica Anesidora. Just in case I accidentally wrote her name instead of 'Baroness'.

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Values The High Society in the Coastal Empire is cutthroat. So the Imperial Nobles shield themselves behind feathery fans and barbed words. Mind games are bored Nobles' favourite pastime. Even the commoners tend to beat around the bush. In contrast, the Intacians pride themselves on their open body language, honesty and cutting through the bullshits (How Lilia did to Lord Reyes). Misunderstandings happened quite a lot during the earlier stages of Castin and his Baroness' marriage life. Even Rhett didn't escape this.

Daily practices and habits Each Imperial Noble Households practices 'Mithridatism - the art of gradually ingesting successively greater amounts of poison in order to build immunity'. Children as young as 11 years old are given poisoned candies with the dosage increases as they grow older. Commoners' children don't observe this practice, but they make quite a good pocket change if they harvest deadly plants and sell them at the market. The Baroness herself has developed a tolerance for Hemlocks and Nightshades; she continues this practice even after she's wedded (she usually consumed them with tea). Meanwhile, the Intacians have no such practice and actually considered it barbaric. He and the Baroness eventually come to an agreement that this is one culture that she won't be teaching their children.

Clothing & its' practicality The people of the Empire wear modest clothing - regardless of class. This is due to the weather, and for Nobles, especially the womenfolk, layered dresses and frills are convenient to hide daggers and knives. For the Southerners in Intacia, their articles of clothing are loose and revealing in order to combat the heat. Any weapons they are carrying are never concealed.

Methods for resolving conflicts In Imperial High Society, gamblings and dares are how Households resolve issues. While they would never resort to physical altercations, the parties would challenge each other to high-stakes gambles where they'd even wager their titles and lands (though those sorts of wagers require the presence of the Imperial Royal family to hand over the deeds and titles of the loser to the victor). Cheating and lying are encouraged during these gambles as long as there is no evidence that could be used against the gamblers. In contrast, the rowdy Intacians tend to resort to fists (in extreme cases) to get whatever issues out of their systems before they would talk it out.

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That's it for now.

Oh! An additional headcanon for the Imperial Noble Households is that each of them alludes to either Greek myths like stories or figures. Case in point, Celica's Household bears the name 'Anesidora - sender of gifts' due to the fact that 'Baron/Baroness' is the lowest Noble title and her achievements are all about the betterment of the Empire and its people. Meanwhile, the highest noble title, 'Grand Duke/Grand Duchess', bears the Household name of 'Pandora'. They serve the Imperial Royal family very closely, and members of the Household are often married off to Royalty.

[shipwreckedwithcaptainmarrow]

On the 10th of April, 1678 English buccaneer George Spurre, Edward Neville, and their crews, captured two Spanish ships in preparation for an upcoming assault on Campeche. George Spurre was an English pirate who had recently met Edward Neville, who had a French privateering commission to sail against Spain, off the coast of Cuba. Together the two made plans to sack Campeche; but before doing so, they planned on accumulating more crew for the task.

On the 10th of April, the pirates, discovered and easily captured two Spanish ships off the coast of Cuba, one ship of which was named Toro that had sailed from Havana, and was captained by Juan de la Requista. Captain Spurre would end up burning his own frigate and leaving it behind, after transferring to his newly captured Toro.

The pirates did not however gain new crew to add to their ranks, as all of the Spaniards vehemently refused. The Spaniards were instead all taken prisoner, and then left at the beaches of Bahia Honda, aside from one coastal pilot among them, who was forced to join the new pirate crew of the Toro. They would arrive and assault Campeche about three months later. 

(pictured are two ships engaged in combat [from Cutthroat Island], the northwestern coast of Cuba, and the beaches near Bahia Honda where the Spanish were left)