#Mutate Britain

[oculusxcaro]

Is Khare a good swimmer?

Absolutely, though not to the level of an olympic swimmer or somebody whose body is designed for swimming? (i.e Killer Croc, King Shark, ect...) Khare's main advantage is her sheer endurance and ability to hold her breath for long periods of time, along with seeing much more clearly underwater even in the murkiest depths. There are limits to how well she can see; for instance, she'd be as blind as the next person if it's pitch black but in low light conditions, her sight is as clear as day, her surroundings looking much brighter compared to her original sight and underwater vision clear as if she were wearing goggles. Her lack of natural body temperature makes losing warmth a non-issue. Khare can spend hours in cold water without losing energy or strength and her body type makes her quite a bit more buoyant despite her mutation making her muscles so dense and heavy? She's almost graceful underwater, moreso than she is on land and so feels quite comfortable in the water although isn't much faster than a decent swimmer her age and gender.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive (Thousands of reports, sources, and resources! Daily updates!)

By Robert Stevens

A COVID wave fuelled by the XEC variant is leading to hospitalisations throughout Britain.

According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the admission rate for patients testing positive for XEC stood at 4.5 per 100,000 people in the week to October 6—up significantly from 3.7 a week earlier. UKHSA described the spread as “alarming”.

Last week, Dr. Jamie Lopez Bernal, consultant epidemiologist at the UKHSA, noted of the spread of the new variant in Britain: “Our surveillance shows that where Covid cases are sequenced, around one in 10 are the ‘XEC’ lineage.”

The XEC variant, a combination of the KS.1.1 and KP.3.3 variants, was detected and recorded in Germany in June and has been found in at least 29 countries—including in at least 13 European nations and the 24 states within United States. According to a New Scientist article published last month, “The earliest cases of the variant occurred in Italy in May. However, these samples weren’t uploaded to an international database that tracks SARS-CoV-2 variants, called the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), until September.”

The number of confirmed cases of XEC internationally exceeds 600 according to GISAID. This is likely an underestimation. Bhanu Bhatnagar at the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe noted that “not all countries consistently report data to GISAID, so the XEC variant is likely to be present in more countries”.

Another source, containing data up to September 28—the Outbreak.info genomic reports: scalable and dynamic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 variants and mutations—reports that there have been 1,115 XEC cases detected worldwide.

Within Europe, XEC was initially most widespread in France, accounting for around 21 percent of confirmed COVID samples. In Germany, it accounted for 15 percent of samples and 8 percent of sequenced samples, according to an assessment from Professor Francois Balloux at the University College London, cited in the New Scientist.

Within weeks of those comments the spread of XEC has been rapid. Just in Germany, it currently accounts for 43 percent of infections and is therefore predominant. Virologists estimate that XEC has around twice the growth advantage of KP.3.1.1 and will be the dominant variant in winter.

A number of articles have cited the comments made to the LA Times by Eric Topol, the Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in California. Topol warns that XEC is “just getting started”, “and that’s going to take many weeks, a couple months, before it really takes hold and starts to cause a wave. XEC is definitely taking charge. That does appear to be the next variant.”

A report in the Independent published Tuesday noted of the make-up of XEC, and its two parent subvariants: “KS.1.1 is a type of what’s commonly called a FLiRT variant. It is characterised by mutations in the building block molecules phenylalanine (F) altered to leucine (L), and arginine (R) to threonine (T) on the spike protein that the virus uses to attach to human cells.

“The second omicron subvariant KP.3.3 belongs to the category FLuQE where the amino acid glutamine (Q) is mutated to glutamic acid (E) on the spike protein, making its binding to human cells more effective.”

Covid cases are on the rise across the UK, with recent data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) indicating a 21.6 percent increase in cases in England within a week.

There is no doubt that the spread of XEC virus contributed to an increase in COVID cases and deaths in Britain. In the week to September 25, there were 2,797 reported cases—an increase of 530 from the previous week. In the week to September 20 there was a 50 percent increase in COVID-related deaths in England, with 134 fatalities reported.

According to the latest data, the North East of England is witnessing the highest rate of people being hospitalised, with 8.12 people per 100,000 requiring treatment.

Virologist Dr. Stephen Griffin of the University of Leeds has been an active communicator of the science and statistics of the virus on various public platforms and social media since the start of the pandemic. He was active in various UK government committees during the height of the COVID-19. In March 2022, he gave an interview to the World Socialist Web Site.

This week Griffin spoke to the i newspaper on the continuing danger of allowing the untrammelled spread of XEC and COVID in general. “The problem with COVID is that it evolves so quickly,” he said.

He warned, “We can either increase our immunity by making better vaccines or increasing our vaccine coverage, or we can slow the virus down with interventions, such as improving indoor air quality. But we’re not doing those things.”

“Its evolutionary rate is something like three or four times faster than that of the fastest seasonal flu. So you’ve got this constant change in the virus, which accelerates the number of susceptible people.

“It’s creating its own new pool of susceptibles every time it changes to something that’s ‘immune evasive’. Every one of these subvariants is distinct enough that a whole swathe of people are no longer immune to it and it can infect them. That’s why you see this constant undulatory pattern which doesn’t look seasonal at all.”

There are no mitigations in place in Britain, as is the case internationally, to stop the spread of this virus. Advice for those with COVID symptoms is to stay at home and limit contact with others for just five days. The National Health Service advises, “You can go back to your normal activities when you feel better or do not have a high temperature”, despite the fact that the person may well still be infectious. Families are advised that children with symptoms such as a runny nose, sore throat, or mild cough can still “go to school or childcare' if they feel well enough.

The detection and rapid spread of new variants disproves the lies of governments that the pandemic is long over and COVID-19 should be treated no differently to influenza.

Deaths due to COVID in the UK rose above 244,000 by the end of September. It is only a matter of time before an even deadlier variant emerges. Last month, Sir Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, told the ongoing public inquiry into COVID-19 “We have to assume a future pandemic on this scale [the global pandemic which began in 2020] will occur… That’s a certainty.”

[curioushabitforarivergod]

I LOVE the historical context you add to tom riddle meta. im curious. at that time how important and wealthy would tom riddle sr likely have been? i.e. how nice was the life that Tom missed out on by growing up in the orphanage instead of with his dad?

Omg thanks so much!

We don't actually know much about the Riddles. They likely lived in Yorkshire, Lancashire, or the very west of Cornwall (200 miles from Surrey as per Goblet of Fire), but I think it's more likely they lived in the North, specifically in Yorkshire. The Riddle's name is probably locational rather than profession based, and from a village called Ryedale in the North Riding of Yorkshire. It was probably mutated over time because spelling wasn't standardised or even close to standardisation when last names were beginning to become a thing (roughly 11th century in Britain).

Okay, now the reason I went into that is because I believe the Riddles were the big guys back in the day (by which I mean late medieval period c. 1100s until the late 1500s) and were the kind of wealthy landowners who employed serfdom potentially even past the Peasant's Revolt of 1381. I know a lot of people place them as merchants who made money from trade but based on their name and location (Yorkshire is famous for its sheep) I think it's more likely they were landowners. They probably had pretty solid generational wealth, potentially even being landed gentry (a class of gentry who made their money on leasing land and known as lords of the manor), although I'm fairly certain they lost most of this later. I don't think they ever were part of the peerage (the level above gentry in the British aristocracy who hold hereditary titles) but gentry usually married into peerage and vis versa so they were likely quite connected despite never being "Lords" themselves. They got their name through their association with the village as the big whigs.

Even if the Riddles had kept up serfdom for a century or so after the Peasants Revolt (entirely plausible), serfdom was abolished by Elizabeth I in 1574. Whenever they stopped working as part of the feudal system, I don't think it had major impacts on their wealth. Like I mentioned above, they were probable landed gentry, making their money by leasing out land and still profiting off the lower classes.

With the Industrial Revolution and the Agricultural Depression of the 1870s, I think they would've lost quite a bit of money, potentially even their place as landed gentry. They would've still been quite rich, but their wealth was probably in decline and they had to look elsewhere. Maybe they never succeeded in this.

The thing is, we know next to nothing about the Riddles and the family we see through Tom Riddle's eyes is one that's lost status and connections because of the scandal of Riddle Snr. having run off with Merope without being married and (rumours have it!) having a child out of wedlock. The Riddle family probably declined economically with WWII (and to a lesser extent WWI) as well, although they never got a chance to really see the era through properly due to their… untimely deaths.

I think if Tom had been raised by the Riddles, they may not have fallen so far, providing Riddle Snr. married Merope before her death, or at least had falsified documents that he did. Tom would've still grown up in declining wealth, but more than enough money still to not have to work. Life for Tom would've been far better, what without starvation, disease, poverty and later, bombs and would've remain largely untouched by the war. The Great Depression wouldn't have it so hard, and Tom, not being surrounded by so much death, would've been fundamentally altered. I'm not sure what the Riddle's reaction to Tom being magic would've been like, but I'll leave that to any writers. All in all, Tom missed out on a far better life.

Thank you so much for the ask! It really made my day!!

[flowerishness]

Hyacinthoides non-scripta (common bluebell)

When I was a kid growing up in England, bluebells were a common sight. At this time of year any vacant field or railway embankment would be festooned with thousands of them. Although nearly all bluebells are blue, rare mutations produce pink and white bluebells and these are now sold in garden shops too. We have all three colors growing in our garden although an English gardener probably wouldn’t do the same. Bluebells do have a habit of spreading around the flower beds.

Britain is now having a big problem with the Spanish bluebell, Hyacinthoides hispanica. It’s easy to tell the difference: Spanish bluebells have blue anthers and common bluebells have cream colored anthers. When Spanish bluebells were introduced into English gardens decades ago, they started to hybridize with the native bluebells, producing the highly invasive Hyacinthoides × massartiana. This hybrid has now become the dominant form in Britain and Belgium and the traditional bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, is now considered a threatened species.

Getting back to our area of the world, I frequently see bluebells growing in drainage ditches and vacant building sites, so they’ve become a local wildflower in Vancouver too. I remember we planted ours in a single bed and now they’ve shown up in all our flower beds, and under the hedge, and behind the shed... I have a feeling that bluebells are in Vancouver to stay. Incidentally, I checked the ones growing in our garden and they all have white anthers so they’re (probably) Hyacinthoides non-scripta.

[thesiltverses]

absolutely obsessed with making a propaganda saint and making it not be fully controlled by the government, symbolizing how real propagandas go out of control very easily once people start spreading them around and sometimes even turn into a mutation of the original to turns into the general consensus.

i also think val is scary but LEAGUES less horrifying than carson because holy FUCK 0_0

The intent was very much, 'ok, let's have Val murder a bunch of people horribly and erase them from existence, then see if we can spend the last ten minutes exploring whether she's really the worst person in the episode.'

The blatant uncontrollability of Val and the refusal of anyone to acknowledge that is an interesting point because it felt like a relevant jab at the condition of real-life politics right now (specifically here in the UK, although certainly it's very applicable elsewhere) where from Brexit to COVID to austerity to the environmental to the collapse of social care, there's a desperate collective refusal to accept the facts of how horribly things have gone wrong (and a constant media denunciation of anyone who wants to get us to pay attention to it as obstructive or treacherous).

And it feels less like 'just' propaganda at this point, and more like a desperate, horribly successful continued worship of deeply-embedded fantasies about Britain's status quo that could go on ignoring the far grimmer realities indefinitely no matter how many deaths are involved or how bad things get; the superstructure of a nation ploughing on as the base rots.

So it was very much deliberate that the entire meeting room voluntarily goes along with these absurd, blinkered lies (that Val is under their control, that this is a groundbreaking new kind of god and not just, as Shrue says, the same dangerous and reckless stuff that's come before, that it's unpatriotic and unhelpful to raise some fairly basic concerns); they don't need a liar's god to rewrite their own reality.

[bethanythebogwitch]

Digimon & mythology: the Royal Knights

Of all the Digimon groups, none are as famous as the Royal Knights. These 13 holy knight Digimon are the guardians of the Digital World and act as the highest form of network security. The Royal Knights are appointed to the position by and answer to Yggdrasil, the computer who runs the Digital World. While part of a group, each member of the Royal Knights has their own goals, motivations, philosophies, and opinions on the nature of their duties and justice. As a result, they often don't get along with each other and work independently. They may even clash with each other should they have conflicting goals or ideals. When they do work together, however, nothing can stand against them. Most of them rarely show their faces to the common people of the Digital World, instead aloofly performing their duties. While there are 13 Royal Knights, it took time both in-universe and in real life for all 13 members to appear.

The Royal Knights are also heavily connected with the x-antibody, featuring both in the original x-antibody storyline and its follow-up Digimon Chronicle and Digimon Chronicle X. In the storyline, the Digital World is reaching its capacity due to Digimon reproducing out of control. To keep the Digital World from collapsing, Yggdrasil choses a select few Digimon to move to a new Digital World and uses a program called the x-program to kill the remainders. However, the x-antibody begins spreading through the surviving Digimon, mutating them into new x-antibody forms that can survive the x-program and trying to invade the new Digital World. Yggdrasil sends the Royal Knights to kill these x-antibody Digimon. Eventually, a schism forms in the Royal Knights between those who obey Yggdrasil and those who don't want to kill off the vast majority of all Digimon. In the end, Yggdrasil is forcibly reset and the original and new Digital Worlds exist side by side, occasionally interacting with each other. Both world would later come under threat by x-antibody versions of the Seven Great Demon Lords, which ended with the Royal Knights combining their powers to allow the newest member, JESmon, to save the day.

While the Royal Knights are supposed to be the defenders of the Digital World, they, or at least some of them, are often used as villains in various Digimon media. This is often because they serve Yggdrasil, who is a villain in almost every appearance. Sometimes they will start as villains but later change sides. This was the case in Digimon Savers/Data Squad where Yggdrasil viewed humanity has an existential threat and sent the Royal Knights to destroy the human world. The Knights later turned on Yggdrasil after the protagonists showed them that humans and Digimon can coexist in peace. In other cases the Knights will have a schism based on following Yggdrasil's orders. This is the case in the x-antibody storyline and in Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth, where the Knights become divided between those who wish to exterminate humanity to save the Digital World and those who wish to spare humanity and find a different solution to the problem.

There will be fewer mythological references in this entry than my posts on the Sovereigns and Deva, Seven Great Demon Lords, and Angel Digimon. This is because the Royal Knights have fewer mythological references in general than those groups. I will do what I can though. The Royal Knights are collectively based on the legends of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. The stories of King Arthur are varied and have been rewritten many times. The oldest version of the story we can track down comes from 5th-6th century Welsh sources where Arthur is the king of the Britons in the post-Roman period who defended Britain against Anglo-Saxon invaders. Later writers incorporated their own stories and themes into the mix, such as the addition of chivalric and Christian themes. Christian themes, such as the famous search for the holy grail, were added by later Christian authors while some famous characters like Lancelot were the result of French influence. There really isn't one story of King Arthur and the knights of the round table, there are many. One common trait of the stories is that the round table is round to symbolize that everyone sitting at it is an equal, which is reflected in the the Royal Knights having no internal hierarchy. None of the knights is the master of any other, they are all independent and of equal rank. Kenji Watanabe, one of the main designers for Digimon, has commented that many of the stories have far more than 13 knights of the round table and he isn't opposed to adding more Royal Knights. He has also said he would like to tell a story of the Royal Knights passing the baton to a new generation. I think it would be cool to add more Arthurian references to the Digimon Mythos, making Digimon versions of characters like Merlin, Morgan le Fay, and Mordred. The King Arthur figure could either be Yggdrasil or Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, who founded the Royal Knights but is not a member. I also don't believe there is any official Digimon media telling the story of the founding of the Royal Knights, which I think would be a great story. They are said to be natural enemies of the Seven Great Demon Lords, so I think it makes sense for them to have been founded in response to Lucemon's rebellion and fall.

The first three Digimon specifically identified as Royal Knights were final forms of the main character's partner Digimon from the first 3 anime series: Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure 02, and Digimon Tamers. The first of them to debut and the most famous Royal Knight of all is Omegamon, named Omnimon in English. It was born out of a fusion of two powerful Digimon, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, triggered by the hopes and wills of people wishing for goodness and peace. Because it is a fusion of two Digimon, it can use both of their abilities. making it a master of close and long range combat. Each of its arms resembles the head of one of its components and weapons are stored in the mouths. Its right arm is the MetalGarurumon head, which contains the Garuru Cannon, which can fire energy blasts at absolute zero. Its left arm is the WarGreymon head and contains the Grey Sword and has a powerful shield on the shoulder. Omegamon's role in thr Royal Knights is to protect Yggdrasil's justice and elevate the name of the Royal Knights to greater heights. Omegamon is easily the most popular of the Royal Knights in real life and has showed up in a ton of different animes, mangas, games, etc. Honestly, he's overused in my opinion. Omegamon also has a ton of variants and homages, way too many for me to list here. As with all the Royal Knights, he has an x-antibody variant. Omegamon X possesses a power called Omega inForce, a form of precognition which allows it to foresee what its opponents will do, making it theoretically impossible for it to ever lose a fight. Omegamon X is one of the better x designs for the Royal Knights because it doesn't change much. It just gets spikier. There are much worse designs coming.

Omagemon (left) and Omegamon X (right)

Omegamon debuted in Digimon Adventure. Debuting in Digimon Adventure 02 is Magnamon. Magnamon is the only member of the Royal Knights who is not of the Ultimate/Mega level. Instead, he's an armor Digimon, the result of a Digimon using with the power of one of the relics called Digimentals. Magnamon uses the Digimental of miracles, which grants to power to overcome any predicament. While Magnamon is not a Ultimate/Mega level and is usually depicted as the smallest of the Royal Knights, it is just as powerful as the rest and is the best at defense. In fact, it forms the cornerstone of the Royal Knight's defensive efforts. Magnamon X gains the ability to cause its armor to change shape, further increasing its defensive efforts and giving it more utility.

Magnamon (left) and Magnamon X (right)

Debuting in Digimon Tamers is Dukemon, named Gallantmon in English. A few of the Royal Knights got name changes in English and for most of them I don't have a strong opinion on which is better. In this case though, I think Gallantmon is a way better name than Dukemon and I'm going to use it here. Gallantmon is a living contradiction. Its evolution line bears the Digital Hazard, a force of destruction that could destroy the Digital World. Gallantmon has chosen to restrain that power and protect the world it was born to destroy. Because it understands having to constantly resist the temptation of destruction, it holds itself and its fellows to a very high standard and works to defend the weak. In many different stories, it is depicted as the first one to defect from the Royal Knights should they begin to turn bad or stray from the cause of defending the Digital World. Gallantmon bears the lance Gram and shield Aegis and sometimes rides a mount named Grani. Gram and Grani both come from the Scandinavian legend of Sigurd, a great hero the slew the dragon Fafnir. Gram was the sword wielded by Sigurd which was then passed down to many other heroes. Grani was Sigurd's steed, granted to him by the god Odin and descended from Odin's own steed Sleipnir. Aegis comes from Greek mythology, where it was the shield used by Zeus and Athena. Another reference to the legend of Sigurd comes from the alternate Ultimate/Mega level form of Gallantmon's evolution line: Megidramon. While Gallantmon expresses the power of the Digital Hazards and chooses to be a hero, Megidramon gave into the Hazard and is a mindless, draconic force of destruction. Depending on the the circumstances, it can either be the hero Sigurd or the dragon Fafnir he was sent to slay. The mane of Megidramon comes from Megiddo, the location where the end times will begin according to the Bible's Book of Revelation. It is better known by its Greek name Armageddon. Gallantmon can temporarily mode change into Gallantmon Crimson Mode. In this form, it becomes much more powerful, but it can only stay in this form temporarily. In this from it weirds weapons made of light named Gungnir and Blutgang. Gungnir was the spear of the greek god Odin and Blutgang is the name of the sword of the hero Heime of Germanic legend. Gallantmon X increases its power and transforms Gram into a lance made of light.

Left to right: Gallantmon, Gallantmon Crimson Mode, and Gallantmon X

The most unconventional Royal Knight is Alphamon. Despite being a Royal Knight, it acts as a deterrent force intended to oppose the other Royal Knights and it only appears in exceptional circumstances. Because it so rarely appears, it is known as the empty seat. This is a reference to the siege perilous from Arthurian legend. The siege perilous was an empty seat at the round table set aside by merlin for the knight who completed the quest for the holy grail. In earlier versions of the story, the knight who eventually earned the seat was Percival, though his role was given to Galahad in 13th century French tellings. Alphamon's role as a deterrent force is often interpreted as him being given the job of insuring the other Royal Knights do not go too far or stray from their role as the Digital World's protectors. As such, Alphamon is heroic in most of its appearances. Alphamon is one of an evolution line of prototype Digimon and is often associated with fellow prototype Digimon Ouryumon. Oryumon has the power to transform itself into a mighty blade called the Ouryuken. Only Alphamon is able to wield the Ouryuken and when doing so, it becomes known as Alphamon Ouryuken. Many depictions of Alphamon instead treat the Ouryuken as something that Alphamon can summon whenever he wants and ignore Ourumon's role. Alphamon has a power called the Alpha inForce, which allows it to rewind time to the beginning of a battle and fight over and over again. From an external perspective, it will appear as though Alphamon cut down its enemy with a single blow but the battle may have actually been fought multiple times until Alphamon foound the best outcome. Alphamon naturally compliments Omegamon and their namec come from the phrase "I am the alpha and omega" from the Bible. Alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet and the phrase is supposed to portray god as both the beginning and end of everything. Alphamon is the only Royal Knight that doesn't have an x-antibody form because it is a natural carrier, a Digimon with the x-antibody that doesn't have a non- x-antibody counterpart.

Alphamon (left) and Alphamon Ouryuken (right)

Like how Omegamon, Magnamon, and Gallantmon all debuted as partners of a main character from one anime season. Ulforce V-dramon (eng: UlforceVeedramon) was the partner of the main character of the manga Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01. Ulforce V-dramon is the fastest of the Royal Knights and there is no being that can track its movements. Its armor is immensely strong but also very lightweight, enabling its fast movement. It wears bracelets from which extend energy blades called Ulforce Sabers. It wields the power called Ulforce, which is born from joy and the desire to protect loved ones. The Ulforce is a code that can overwrite a Digimon's data. Most such codes will increase power but damage data, ultimately harming the Digimon using them. The Ulforce instead repairs data, allowing Ulforce V-dramon to heal even as it increases in power. Ulforce V-dramon X increases the power of the Ulforce even more, allowing Ulforce V-dramon to heal from wounds so fast that it appears that it appears it was never wounded in the first place. The v stands for victory, btw.

Ulforce V-dramon (left) and Ulforce V-dramon X (right)

Dynasmon is unusual among the fiercely independent Royal Knights because it will willingly submit to and serve other beings that chare its sense of justice. Once Dynasmon calls another lord, it will serve then with deep and unquestioning loyalty even if their actions could be considered evil. It follows the moral codes of chivalry and bushido, both of which encourage honor, loyalty, and combat prowess. Dynasmon values devotion, fidelity, and curtesy. Becuase it will follow its lord with unquestioning loyalty, Dynasmon is frequently a villain in stories it appears in due to it following an evil lord. Its power comes from wyverns, a type of dragons with two wings and two legs that were often found in medieval heraldry. Dynasmon X increases its wyvern influence, making it more draconic and granting it the best aerial combat prowess of all the Royal Knights. It is also probably the ugliest of the Royal Knight's x-antibody forms and there is fierce competition in that department. There are so many lines on that picture I can barely tell what's going on

Dynasmon (left) and Dynasmon X (right)

Craniummon is the Royal Knight that most understands decorum and follows a knightly code of honor. While very obsessed with decorum, it is also a perfectionist that competes with the other Royal Knights for the highest mission completion rates. It also loves combat and enjoys nothing more than a fight with a truly skilled opponent. Yggdrasil personally modified Craniummon's data, increasing the defensive properties of its armor and giving it the power to generate its weapon and shield from its armor. It carries the double-headed spear Claíomn Solais and shield Avalon. Claíomn Solais, which means "sword of light" appears as a motif in multiple Scottish and Gaelic folk tales, often as an object the hero obtains as part of a quest he must undertake to marry his desired bride. Avalon is the name of a mythical island in Arthurian lore, a magical land where Arthur was taken on his deathbed to one day rise again when Britain needs him most. Craniummon X has further increased the defenses of its armor and it now wears its shield on its back because it is certain it will not be needed. Its x-antibody art is also absolutely hideous, maybe worse than Dynasmon's.

Craniummon (left) and Craniummon X (left)

Duftmon (eng: Leopardmon) is the Royal Knight acknowledged by its fellows as the greatest strategist. This is both because it has an extremely cunning and strategic mind, and because its the only person who can get all the Royal Knights to work together despite their disagreements and opposing values. It believes that justice equals power, though it can be debated whether this means that the most powerful get to decide what justice is or that acting with justice will give one power. When Duftmon chooses to fight, it mode changed to Duftmon Leopard mode, a quadruped that can run and fly at high sppeds and cause rock pillars to erupt from the ground. And yes, its name in English is Leopardmon Leopard Mode. Interestingly, Duftmon has a very French motif, but its name and the name of its attacks are all in German. Specifically, it was based on the chanracter of Oscar François de Jarjayes from the manga The Rose of Versailles. She was a beautiful woman who was raised as and dresses as a man and is a skilled fighter. Despite being designed based on a woman, Duftmon is still generally depicted as masculine or genderless. Duftmon X gains powerful but flexible armor, allowing it to dodge incoming attacks from multiple directions and strike back with taijutsu (martial arts) and datotsu (kendo). It no longer relies on a mode change to fight.

Left to right: Duftmon, Duftmon Leopard Mode, and Duftmon X

Seipmon was the first Royal Knight introduced who is not humanoid and one of only two in total. Instead, it is shaped like a centaur, though with an additional pair of legs and a horse's head. Its six legs give it unsurpassed mobility and it can move far faster than its bulky frame would suggest. though it is still not as fast as Ulforce V-dramon. Its name was changed to Kentaurosmon in English, which is the only Royal Knight name change I really don't like. It resides at the Digital World's north pole, where it guards super-ancient ruins that lie beneath the ice. Within these ruins is said to lie programs that were used to create Digimon. If evildoers were to get ahold of such data, they would be able to create an unlimited army of Digimon to serve them. Sleipmon weilds the power of fire and ice. In its left hand is the crossbow Múspellsheimr which fires burning arrows in an attack called Bifröst. In its right hand is the shield Niflheimr, which can unleash a blizzard. In Norse mythology, Múspellsheimr and Niflheimr are primordial wrlds of fire and ice, the intermingling of which led to the creation of the rest of the universe. From the same mythology, the Bifröst is a rainbow bridge that links Midgard (Earth) and Asgard (realm of the gods). Sleipmon's name and appearance also gome from Norse mythology. Sleipnir was an eight-legged horse who was the god Odin's personal steed. Sleipmon X gains an additional two arms, letting it load and fire its bow at lightning speed.

Sleipmon (left) and Sleipmon X (right)

LordKnightmon (eng: Crusadermon) is the least pleasant of the Royal Knights. It cares nothing for morality, instead following its own brutal and utilitarian code of justice. It is incredibly ruthless and shows no compassion for the weak, instead ruling by force and even culling the weak to ensure only the strong survive. Naturally, LordKnightmon is a villain in nearly every appearance. It is also to monarch of the Knightmon species and presides over all knight Digimon, giving it a personal army to do its will. LordKnightmon is one of only two virus-attribute Royal Knights, the other being Gallantmon. While Gallantmon resists its destructive urges to protect the weak, LordKnightmon is just a total asshole. It carries no weeapon, but the ribbons coming from its body can be used as blades and its shield contains a pile bunker. Interestingly, LordKnightmon is the only Royal Knight to have been portrayed as female and different appearances treat it alternately as feminine, masculine, or genderless. Probably because it's pink and likes roses. LordKnightmon X gains a major rose motif and gets to have a sword. It battles in a manner like dancing that invokes fear in those who see it.

LordKnightmon (left) and LordKnightmon X (left)

Examon, along with Sleipmon, is one of the two non-humanoid Royal Knights, being a gigantic dragon. It is one of the more recent members, both in and out of universe, because it is so large that new technology had to be invented to render the sheer amount of data that makes up its body. While a member of the Royal Knights, Examon also holds the position as the greatest of all dragon Digimon, holding the title Dragon Emperor. Its wings are named Caledfwlch and have a mind of their own, being able to transform into an unbreakable shield to protect it. The lance it holds is named Ambrosius and is used in attacks called Avalon's Gate and Pendragon's Glory. Examon is based on the Y Ddraig Goch, the red dragon of Wales. The dragon is a symbol of Wales and the Welsh people. In the ancient Welsh book of stories Mabinogion, the Red Dragon is seen battling a white dragon. The white dragon represents the Anglo-Saxons who were colonizing Britain and the story says that the red dragon will soon win. Caledfwlch is the original Welsh name for King Arthur's sword Excalibur. Ambrosius comes from Ambrosius Aurelianus, a war leader in Roman Britain who defeated the Anglo-Saxons in a major battle and was later incorporated into Arthurian legend as Arthur's uncle. The attack names come from the same Avalon mentioned in Craniummon's entry and Pendragon, the surname of King Arthur. Examon X becomes humanoid and gains the power to make swords out of lightning. I actually kind of like Examon X's design, I just think it should be its own Digimon instead of a variant.

Examon (left) and Examon X (right)

Gankoomon one of the two final Royal Knights released for the franchise's 15th anniversary. Unlike the other Royal Knights, who are aloof and distant, Gankoomon spends a lot of time with common Digimon and helps out with smaller problems, making it very popular in the Digital World. Gankoomon also works well with other Digimon, in contrast to the other Royal Knights, who work alone. In particular, it allies with Sistermon Blanc and Sistermon Noir and is training Hackmon as a successor. Gankoomon acks like a stern father figure, treating Hackmon severely and arguably cruelly and rarely showing pride or affection, but it does genuinely want Hackmon to succeed and become a Royal Knight. The fiery, dragon-shaped aura above Gankoomon is actually another Digimon named Hinukamuy bonded to Gankoomon. Hinukamuy is an Adult/Champion level and when it evolves, there won't be any Digimon who can rival it. Unlike the other very regal and European Royal Knights, Gankoomon is unconcerned with decorum and prefers beating enemies with its fists instead of swords. Gankoomon is visually and behaviorally based on banchos, the leaders of Japanese delinquent groups. Hinukamuy's name is a combination of Hinukan, a fire god from the religion of Japan's Ryuku islands, and Kamuy, the Ainu (natives of the Japanese island of Hokkaido) word for a god. Gankoomon X merges with Hinukamuy and can release it as a surging aura that empowers it and destroys the landscape around it. It also takes off its shirt.

Gankoomon (left) and Gankoomon X (right)

The final and most recent member of the Royal Knights, debuting for the franchise's 15th anniversary, is JESmon. JES is an abbreviation of Justice Edge Swordsman. JESmon started out as Hackmon, a promising Child/Rookie level Digimon who aspired to be a Royal Knight. Gankoomon saw in it the potential to become the 13th Knight and put it through an intense training regiment. Eventually, Hackmon evolved to JESmon and was accepted by Yggdrasil as the 13th Royal Knight. Like its mentor, JESmon is a team player that works well with others, unlike the other Royal Knights. In working with others, JESmon lears to trust others and keep itself from becoming overconfident in its own abilities. Its usual allies are Sistermon Blanc and Sistermon Noir and it will also coordinate with the Digimon local to wherever it goes. JESmon has the ability to sense abnormalities and signs of chaos around the Digital World and will rush to stop them, making it the first of the Royal Knights to rush in to stop disasters. It has three familiars named Atho, René, and Por that fight along side it and can come together for an attack called Un Pour Tous. The familiars are named after Athos, Aramis, and Porthos, the Three Muskateers. Similarly, the attack is named after their catchphrase "Un pour tous, tous pour un" or "one for all, all for one", the motto of the Three Muskateers. JESmon X gains even more compat bower and turns Atho, René, and Por into two powerful arms. JESMon X and further evolve to JESmon GX, in which it has fully masters its power. In this form, it becomes the vessel for Knight's Intruder, a blade that contains the power of all the Royal Knights and will only be used in response to threats that would end the Digital World.

Left to right: JESmon, JESmon X, and JESmon GX

[transbookoftheday]

Managing and Other Lies by Willow Heath

An unsettling collection of queer horror stories that takes readers on a dark journey down desolate country roads, through the vacant halls of Gothic homes, and into the dark heart of modern-day Britain. These are Kafkaesque tales of loneliness, brutality, and paranoia.

In a labyrinthine house at the edge of a quiet English village, a hollowed-out and anxious housekeeper works to keep the place tidy while writing religiously in their diary. After settling into a routine, they meet a secretive and seductive woman living in a room upstairs who promises them a better life. All she asks for in return are a few parts and pieces.

Faye is a YouTuber who enjoys reviewing movies. When she takes pity on a lonely and obsessive fan, she finds herself falling into something dark and deeply distressing.

Cassandra only has one person left to come out to: her mother, and she has decided to do so during a weekend visit. But her mother offers Cassandra no love or understanding, and making matters worse is the threatening ghost of a man that only Cassandra can see.

Trans teen runaway Mel is hitchhiking, hoping to reach London, when she is picked up by a woman who seems at first to be a kindred spirit, but there is something gnarled and twisted hidden beneath the surface.

A young couple recently had a baby together, but the baby is very sick; its body is changing—mutating—and they need to find out why before it's too late.

After the death of her husband, an abused woman is suddenly liberated and makes plans to start her life anew, but she may not get to experience the freedom she hopes for.

[einsliga]

The end wasn't AIDS, whose thousands of mutations kept doctors scratching for a cure or cures, all the way until the end. It wasn't Ebola, either, freshly weaponized by terrible men following some terrible religion and wanting the world to either see things their way, or die. No; the world quickly decided to ignore the depraved fundamentalists, waving their petty black banners and bloody trophies. The world had dealt with such men before, and survived. And sometimes it learned a lesson or two in the process. The magnetic pole flipped, but the lights stayed on, and the weather changed, but it was still cold in winter, and warm in summer. China swept through Asia, and hegemonies changed, but the world might have kept on, relentlessly. But, no.

I think what killed us is we stopped believing. Not in this God or that God, or in an idea of freedom or unity. We stopped believing we were

great. Unified. And even a fractured people, who still believe they are a single people, can make great things happen. We traded our freedoms for security, with nothing and no one securing those freedoms. Drones and data-collection tools outnumbered people in America by 2056, and by 2070, when the government finally began to round up online 'agitators', it was really too late, already.

The EMP bombs were crude; the entire West coast went dark in less than two minutes; the East coast followed two hours later. The world teetered at the edge of an abyss, then sank like an imperious liner with its back broken.

Teachers will tell you that the dark ages ended with the Act of Union

between Canada, Quebec, Yukon, Pacifica, Mexica, Texica, New England and the tribes of the Ohio Valley. They will say the government, simple and nearly bankrupt, managed to thwart a dozen uprisings, smash a military coup, and make on this great continent a new Republic, one devoted to the idea of a limited government, and

reach outward, once again, to our old allies; Cornwall, Scotland, Britain, Ireland and the Germanies. They will say this without ever mentioning what we learned in those long, cruel dark ages; that sometimes less is better, and any government that is not working, at all times for the people is, in fact, working against them.

A pity it took 330 years and four terrible kings to guide us back to that reasoning. But sometimes the darkness, too, is necessary to better appreciate our light.

[themagicbrew]

Do you have fun facts about your Rottmnt OCs?

Also any headcanons for ROTTMNT characters?

ooooOOOHHHH BOY I HAVE SO MUCH FUN FACTS FOR BOTH-

I DONT EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START!

some of them are focused on Rupert(Meat sweats) currently! plus this would be a perfect time to introduce my two other OC's

Rupert originated from Northern Ireland but primarily grew up in Britain due to his parents being divorced. However, this is not common knowledge, even if you're a crazed fan like Mikey.

He discovered the existence of Yokai during his teens but only started using mystic items within his cooking when he was an apprentice to a Yokai

Before his mutation: His circle of yokai that he knew and the knowledge he possessed was limited. its VERY difficult to gain access to such spaces or items if you are human

He's Pansexual but leans towards men but The Elom dubbed him as the "Straight guy on thin fucking ice" of the group.

Since baron dipped after day one, the Elom continued to stay in touch with one another. Rupert likes setting up BBQ's for his fellow mutant villains

oh uh.. and finally... i gave Rupert an estranged sister and a niece

i'll talk about their lore MAYBE some other day (or through a fanfic)

[murdercide626]

This is Pukumon, a Mega/Ultimate stage Digimon of the virus type, and though it may often be overlooked, there's something kinda interesting about it.

So, there was a series of Digimon v-pets called "Digimon Pendulum", and they each had a particular theme. The series consisted of "Virus Busters", "Nature Spirits", "Wind Guardians", "Nightmare Soldiers", "Metal Empire", and "Deep Savers".

Pukumon was a part of the Deep Savers v-pet, fitting with the theme of fish/sea animals.

As you can see here, Pukumon was one of three final forms your Digimon could take, representing virus type. And yes, there's also MetalSeadramon there, representing the data type.

And of course MetalSeadramon is well known for being one of the four Dark Masters, a group of very powerful villains from the Digimon Adventure anime, and other Digimon media.

Actually, each member of the Dark Masters is from the Digimon Pendulum series of v-pets. Puppetmon being from Wind Guardians, Machinedramon from Metal Empire, and Piedmon from Nightmare Soldiers. The odd thing though is that of all the Dark Masters, MetalSeadramon is the only one that isn't a virus type. As mentioned before, MetalSeadramon is a data type, which is a somewhat odd choice for a villainous Digimon, and makes it stand out amongst the others.

The conclusion I'm obviously building to here is that Pukumon should have been the fourth Dark Master, not MetalSeadramon. This punk pufferfish was snubbed! lol

Not only that, but Pukumon hasn't had a significant role in ANY Digimon anime EVER! And that is truly a crime, because this Digimon has so much character, and is much more interesting to me than MetalSeadramon, which doesn't seem to have much identity other than being generally cool. Piedmon is a devious and theatrical evil clown with weaponized stage magic. Puppetmon is basically an evil Pinocchio made from the wood of a cursed tree. Even Machinedramon has an interesting angle as basically being a mechanical chimera made from various cyborg Digimon parts.

As for Pukumon itself? Its official backstory states it's "a British Punk Digimon that was born when Britain's strongest hacker caused a mutation in a computer virus in which they had poured all the knowledge they possessed." It's also said to have a huge ego, and is constantly picking fights. Best of all, one of its special moves is literally called "Britain Punch"! XD

I guess they ultimately picked MetalSeadramon over Pukumon because it's larger and more intimidating, but I can't help but feel we were seriously robbed of having a hilarious and badass British punk blowfish on the Dark Master team!

Justice for Pukumon!

[a-room-of-my-own]

The FDA hasn’t approved them for gender dysphoria, and their effects are serious and permanent.

The fashion for transgenderism has brought with it a new euphemism: “gender-affirming care,” which means surgical and pharmacological interventions designed to make the body look and feel more like that of the opposite sex. Gender-affirming care for children involves the use of “puberty blockers”: one of five powerful synthetic drugs that block the natural production of sex hormones.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved those medications to treat prostate cancer, endometriosis, certain types of infertility and a rare childhood disease caused by a genetic mutation. But it has never approved them for gender dysphoria, the clinical term for the belief that one’s body is the wrong sex.

Thus the drugs, led by AbbVie’s Lupron, are prescribed to minors “off label.” (They are also used off-label for chemical castration of repeat sex offenders.) Off-label dispensing is legal; some half of all prescriptions in the U.S. are for off-label uses. But off-label use circumvents the FDA’s authority to examine drug safety and efficacy, especially when the patients are children. Some U.S. states have eliminated the need for parental consent for teens as young as 15 to start puberty blockers.

Proponents of puberty blockers contend there is little downside. The Department of Health and Human Services claims puberty blockers are “reversible.” It omits the evidence that “by impeding the usual process of sexual orientation and gender identity development,” these drugs “effectively ‘lock in’ children and young people to a treatment pathway,” according to a report by Britain’s National Health Service, which cites studies finding that 96% to 98% of minors prescribed puberty blockers proceed to cross-sex hormones.

Gender advocates also falsely contend that puberty blockers for children and teens have been “used safely since the late 1980s,” as a recent Scientific American article put it. That ignores substantial evidence of harmful long-term side effects.

The Center for Investigative Reporting revealed in 2017 that the FDA had received more than 10,000 adverse event reports from women who were given Lupron off-label as children to help them grow taller. They reported thinning and brittle bones, teeth that shed enamel or cracked, degenerative spinal disks, painful joints, radical mood swings, seizures, migraines and suicidal thoughts. Some developed fibromyalgia. There were reports of fertility problems and cognitive issues.

The FDA in 2016 ordered AbbVie to add a warning that children on Lupron might develop new or intensified psychiatric problems. Transgender children are at least three times as likely as the general population to have anxiety, depression and neurodevelopmental disorders. Last year, the FDA added another warning for children about the risk of brain swelling and vision loss.

The lack of research demonstrating that benefits outweigh the risks has resulted in some noteworthy pushback in the U.S. and abroad. Republican legislatures in a dozen states have curtailed or banned gender-affirming care for minors. Finland, citing concerns about side effects, in 2020 cut back puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors. Sweden followed suit in 2022 and Norway this year. Britain’s National Health Service shuttered the country’s largest youth gender clinic after 35 clinicians resigned over three years, complaining they were pressured to overdiagnose gay, mentally ill, and autistic teens and prescribe medications that made their conditions worse.

Still, the U.S. and most European countries embrace a standard of care that pushes youngsters toward “gender-affirming” treatments. It circumvents “watchful waiting” and talk therapy and diagnoses many children as gender dysphoric when they may simply be going through a phase.

Gender-affirming care for children is undoubtedly a flashpoint in America’s culture wars. It is also a human experiment on children and teens, the most vulnerable patients. Ignoring the long-term dangers posed by unrestricted off-label dispensing of powerful puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, combined with the large overdiagnosis of minors as gender dysphoric, borders on child abuse.

[garfunclegaming]

Fallout: London Review

I recently completed my first playthrough of the ambitious total conversion mod for Fallout: 4, Fallout: London. For those unaware, Fallout: London is a full-scale open-world RPG game experience set in London after the bombs fell in 2077. It is impressive in both its creativity, using Britain instead of America as the setting of a Fallout entry, and the simple fact that this is a free fan effort made possible by the time and toil of talented and dedicated fan developers.

What London is not: The game uses Fallout: 4 as its base, so the core movement, shooting, questing, and enemy design are very much the same. If you did not like these in Fallout: 4, you will not like them here. There is also the unfortunate reality of it being on Bethesda's antiquated Creation Engine. The latest patched version of London is extremely stable, but you will encounter glitches, eventual crashes in prolonged play sessions, and rarely bugged quests that might need you to restart your game or consult troubleshooting via the official Reddit or Discord.

The Good news is that London does more than 4 with most of these systems. Your SPECIAL points and perk selection can frequently allow you additional choices in dialogue. With how Fallout: 4's dialogue works you can boost these stats further by stepping out of conversation to take some chems to meet the point threshold of a dialogue option. The game world is a lot more scarce with healing items such as Radaway and Stimpacks, and there is a much larger emphasis on hunting, cooking, or buying food for your healing needs. There is also a new type of food available with a dedicated crafting station which is of course tea which provides benefits that are not as powerful as chems but without addictive debuffs.

What London is: in my opinion, this mod has the best 3D world space in any creation engine game. Fallout: New Vegas's map might have a clearer design, but London is jawdropping for its ambitious scope and blending of historical, sci-fi, and post-apocalyptic aesthetics. It is a massive map that is brimming with landmarks both big and small and tons of British charm and character. From ruined pubs to cannibal castles to St. Paul's Cathedral, it was a genuine joy to explore the map. What elevates this further is the dedication to setting the game in an Urban Jungle for at least eighty percent of the player's experience. Even though London has been compacted to fit into a Fallout game, you always feel London is a properly huge city because you spend most of the game sifting through its rubble-strewn streets and landmarks.

The story, plot and characters are all impressive for a fan project of this scale. Finding Angel's goals and secrets is an interesting hook to propel the main quest. From there you entangle yourself in Peaky Blinder's esque gang warfare or help the mutated fish people of Thameshaven to further open the map.

There are highs and there are lows. The Roundel's quests felt a bit forced, and the Pistol's quests are very much "Go here, get a thing, or kill stuff." But then there are great quests like helping mutated tree-ghoul stop feral tree-ghouls from threatening his peaceful commune and reuniting him with his equally mutated partner. A German submarine pokes out from the irradiated Thames which results in you helping a pair of Ghoulified German officers to stop an AI Philosopher programmed into a Nuke from launching. Something they have only been able to delay indefinitely by asking the AI inane philosophical quandaries. The Vegabonds send you on 007-inspired missions to sink a warship being used as a gang prison ship and raid an underground supply train like a certain mission from Goldeneye 64.

The third act has you pick a major faction and I went with Camelot, who appears to be backward medieval larpers, but in reality, is a revolutionary army gathered in the countryside to overthrow the oppression of the Gentry and install a true democratic government. A great contrast to the Caesar's Legion faction in New Vegas. With them, you can storm Westminster and have one of the most genuinely exciting battle and finale sequences in any Fallout game.

The companions need special mention of their own having surpassed the companions on offer in Vanilla Fallout: 4. Archie is a kid street urchin who gets himself into trouble with his ability to pick locks and pilfer valuables, but his quest involves him coming to terms with the grief of having lost his previous band of friends and the parents he never knew. Mad Jack is a rage-filled boxer whose anger is fueled by a horrific past of abuse at the hands of Raiders and Slavers, but behind the bulk is a wounded soft soul that self-harmed. Kiera is a self-made treasure hunter who loves breaking the rules and sniffing out truths, but behind her adventurous persona is a deep insecurity about herself and how others perceive her. Then there's Mountbatten, a former gentry clerk who is now an old ghoul who is slowly losing himself and his memories. He has a list of things to do on a bucket list but wants to spend the time he has left with a true friend.

There is so much more to cover, but to summarize: Fallout: London is the best Fallout thing since New Vegas. It is brimming with the things current Bethesda entries have lacked for some time. Passion. Effort. A coherent vision. A will to be creative beyond the brand-recognizable stuff. That's the most important element of a Fallout game, not the surface-level Americana, or dogmatic insistence to shove the Brotherhood of Steel and Vault-Tec everywhere and on everything.

Fallout: London gives me hope for Fallout. Someday we'll meet again not as a product for a brand, but as a passion project by energized developers to explore Fallout as a world.

We'll meet again, my friend, on some sunny day.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

By Nina Agrawal

People who had severe infections are especially vulnerable.

Since nearly the start of the pandemic, scientists have known that a Covid-19 infection increases the risk of heart problems. A growing body of research now suggests that this risk can last until well after the infection has cleared.

One recent study, conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California and Cleveland Clinic, found that a Covid-19 infection doubled the risk of a major cardiovascular event for up to three years afterward. What’s more, the study found that infections severe enough to require hospitalization increased the likelihood of cardiac events as much as — or more than — having previously had a heart attack did.

“A lot of people are at even greater risk of heart attack than they were before,” said Dr. David Goff, director for the cardiovascular sciences division at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which provided funding for the study. “And heart disease is already the leading cause of death on our planet before the pandemic. So this is really concerning.”

Given the volume of evidence now linking Covid-19 to heart inflammation, heart failure, arrhythmia and other cardiovascular issues, experts said, doctors should be taking a closer look at patients’ Covid history.

People who had a severe infection “should be considered at high risk for future cardiovascular events,” said Dr. Stanley Hazen, the chair of the department of cardiovascular and metabolic sciences at Cleveland Clinic and one of the authors of the new study.

The Science on Covid and the Heart Anyone who has had an infection faces an elevated risk of heart problems, and research shows this risk is highest around the time of initial infection and for those who had the most severe disease, said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Healthcare System.

Dr. Al-Aly analyzed data from a national V.A. database and compared outcomes after one year of patients who had a Covid infection and of those who did not. For every 1,000 patients, there were 23 more “major adverse cardiac events,” almost 20 more cases of irregular heartbeat and 10 more incidents related to blood clotting disorders in the Covid group than the control group. By the three-year mark, the risk of heart problems had fallen to base-line levels for patients who had not been hospitalized but remained somewhat elevated for those who had.

Dr. Al-Aly’s research has also shown that the incidence of long-term heart problems associated with Covid has dropped since the beginning of the pandemic, as the virus mutated into somewhat milder strains and more people got vaccinated.

Though people are still getting sick from Covid and developing long-term health issues from it, Dr. Al-Aly said, “it’s undeniably much, much less than before.”

The new study, which analyzed a large data set from Britain of patients age 50 and up, reaffirmed some of the earlier findings, showing that those hospitalized for Covid-19 were almost four times as likely to have a heart attack or stroke or die over the following three years as those who did not have an infection.

Unlike other research, though, the study found that for all patients who had a Covid infection, the elevated risk persisted at relatively the same level for as long as follow-up data was available — nearly three years.

“That’s actually one of the more surprising findings,” Dr. Hazen said. “There’s no signs of attenuation of that risk.”

How Does Covid Cause Heart Disease? Scientists aren’t entirely sure how exactly a Covid infection causes cardiovascular disease, but they suspect a few pathways are at play.

The virus can damage the endothelial cells that line blood vessels, leading to inflammation, Dr. Goff said. This could cause a plaque that has already built up from cholesterol and other materials to break apart, form a clot and block a blood vessel, in turn leading to a heart attack or stroke.

That type of blockage can cause sudden death or downstream damage to heart muscles and other tissue, ultimately leading to heart failure or an arrhythmia, Dr. Goff explained.

Even without pre-existing plaque buildup, Dr. Al-Aly said, there is growing evidence that an infection can activate an inflammatory pathway that makes platelets clump up and form clots that can clog blood vessels.

It’s also possible that in some cases, the body may not completely get rid of the virus, creating low-grade chronic inflammation that could damage heart tissues and subsequently lead to heart disease, he said.

The new study found that people with a non-O blood type — A, B or AB — have an especially increased risk for heart disease after a Covid-19 infection, though having an O blood type doesn’t eliminate the risk entirely. It’s not clear why this is the case, Dr. Hazen said, but it appears that blood type may be linked to clotting risk.

How to Protect Your Heart The first thing you should do is to get your vaccine or booster, doctors said. Vaccines reduce the severity of an initial infection, making you less likely to end up in the hospital. Vaccines also boost the immune system’s ability to clear the virus, Dr. Al-Aly said, reducing the odds of a persistent infection that causes chronic inflammation.

Beyond vaccination, doctors recommend taking the connection between Covid and heart disease seriously — especially if you had a severe infection or already have a risk factor like high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes.

After you have recovered from Covid, “see your doctor, so you know your numbers,” Dr. Goff said.

More research needs to be done on how, exactly, Covid increases heart disease risk and what treatments might effectively reduce that risk, Dr. Goff said. But doctors and patients already have some tools at their disposal.

For example, when someone is at increased risk for heart disease because of elevated cholesterol or diabetes, doctors may recommend statins.

Low-dose aspirin also can help prevent blood clotting in high-risk patients. In the new study, patients who reported taking aspirin before getting Covid were less likely to have a heart attack or stroke after the infection than patients who did not.

If you have had a severe Covid infection, Dr. Goff said, you can reduce your risk of heart disease by eating a healthy diet, such as the DASH diet, getting plenty of physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight, avoiding cigarette smoking and secondhand smoke and getting good rest every night.

And even if you haven’t had a severe Covid infection, these measures will help protect your heart, too.

Study link: www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/ATVBAHA.124.321001

[twoafflictedsouls]

Few Hours Later....

West London..

All of london have fallen under the day after the deployment of Kerberos and it's most elite squad as the undead and a plethora of monsters tear the city inside out bleeding it dry as the citizens devoured, torn apart or worse while the british military have met the same fate trying to push back against the horde but they underestimate the infected and with that caused them their very lives overwhelmed by the ruthlessness and their sheer number.

Among omega team who were scattered by the sheer number of the undead the leader and commander of omega team sergeant Nezulla is the only darkstalker alone in the heart of west london fighting, kicking, shoot and stabbing her way through the wretched city of despair. Nezulla is a darkstalker who was created by japanese scientists that was funded by the US government as a lab rat to create anti-biotics but since her mutation as well as causing a minor outbreak of a man made virus many years ago before this hell that occurs in the new year she was thought long dead by the japanese special forces but luckily she was saved and taken custody by the kerberos incorporated. Now as a vicious leader of omega team with her prowess and military training and skill not only saved her and her team's lives from death multiple times but also her being a rat saves her life as well. Rats are the only vermin who gets used to the filth such as this surrounded by the numerous bodies of both civilians and military personal. She's now on her own to finish what her team have started and find and regroup with her squad and also find any survivors left in the city of the damned. Not only that but once she regroup with her squad her mission of finding the umbrella facility and capturing one of the scientists who went rogue begging for Kerberos to help her seeing that this scientist have the key in stopping the outbreak.

" Just my god damn luck... "

She side checking the amount of rounds she has before cocking her side arm and press forward into the cesspit that was once the beloved city of london.

As she traverse through the apocalypse all alone still passing by the chaos and bodies piling up in the streets she looked around in her surroundings and seeing no signs of the undead lumbering around. The quietness became eerily. She hated being here but she tries paying little to no mind the silence and the ambience of her environment. Suddenly that quietness came to an end abruptly as one of her squad mates speaking through the hand held radio. She starts calling back trying to get a hold of her squad.

" This is sergeant Nezulla do you copy? Omega squad? Are you okay? "

{ " Sergeant it's me ba -KKKRRSSHH!- and I'm holding out alone in this shit hole I'm by one of the buildings I got a wounded soldier here! " }

" Holy shit which building are you holding position at?! "

{ -KKKKKKKSSSSSSHHHHHH- }

The signal broke by where she is as she now place her radio back on her hip.

" Damn it looks like I'm on my own I'm coming for you omega... "

Wasting no little time sergeant Nezulla dash through the empty streets of west britain with her sidearm in her hands in case she met with any infected or abomination she come across she dealt with undead before but this was something far out of their line of duty. An apocalypse brewing in the entire planet by umbrella labs and facilities hidden right under their noses for years after the fall of raccoon city? That's unheard of.

[caseyjones2012]

Tell me about your iteration, what's the backstory? How'd the turtles get mutated?

The main thing you should know is this: Love Doomed the Narrative

Backstory:

It all started when Oroku Saki met Cassandra Jones.

Cassandra Jones was an African-American woman who went to Japan for a job she had, see, she was a fashion model who worked all throughout the world.

One day, while walking through the city to visit new places, she bumped into a man who was holding his groceries. She promptly apologized and decided to help him get his groceries home.

On the walk to his home, they talked and met each other, the man saying his name was Oroku Saki. 

After that, they kept meeting up, most of the times on accident, but after the fifth time, Oroku worked up his courage to ask her out. She accepted, and from then on their relationship grew. They evolved from strangers, to friends, to lovers, and from there, got married.

Cassandra left the modeling agency after establishing that her and Oroku would be together.

Months passed after the marriage, and Cassandra got pregnant. A healthy little boy, who she decided to name Casey Jones Jr.

Jones, because after marrying her, Saki decided to change his last name, saying he hardly talked with his family anyways since they had had rough patches in the past.

But it all went wrong then.

Cassandra wanted Casey to meet all his family, not just her side, and convinced Saki to fix his family issues. He accepted, but not for himself, for his son.

He went to his brother, Hamato Yoshi, wanting to talk and fix their differences, but he was stubborn. Hamato never accepted Saki’s apologies, and refused to apologize himself, thinking he was in the right and that Saki was a narcissistic egoist who only thought about himself.

He went home, and Cassandra noticed a change. He was mad, angry, violent. Not towards her and their son, never towards them, but towards others.

She grew fearful of what would happen to them if things got out of control, so one day, she told her husband that she was going out with their son to buy groceries.

She never came back.

A few years passed, Casey was now four years old. That was when Cassandra met Hamato Yoshi.

They had met at a bookstore, Cassandra was looking for a book on art, and Hamato had helped her find one.

They kept meeting up at the same bookstore, talking about books they’ve read and about life. A few months later, they decided to properly get together.

They had a child together, a daughter who they decided to name Karai Jones.

It was all well and good, Casey got a little sister and they all had a nice family.

Until Cassandra found out that Yoshi was Saki’s brother, the man who basically ruined their relationship.

She left the house the same way as before, grabbing her children while saying that she was going to buy groceries. And she never came back.

A few more years passed, Karai was now 3 and Casey was 7. 

Cassandra went to sleep one night.

She never woke up.

Karai and Casey were taken into an orphanage, but separated once Casey was adopted by a man from Britain.

Karai stayed in the orphanage until she reached 8, and decided to escape. While out in the woods she encountered Saki, who took her in and raised her.

——

Turtle mutation:

The Shredder had enlisted the help of Baron Draxum and Baxter Stockman, who worked under the watchful eye of the Kraang, to work on a chemical that could bring back the dead.

They had taken in various animal subjects: Seven turtles, a rabbit, a rat, a tiger, a warthog, two rhinoceroses, two dogs, two cats, a worm, a hippopotamus, a fish, two ferrets, three geckos, an alligator, a pigeon and a capybara.

Half of the subjects were alive, and the other half were dead.

Of the seven turtles, three were alive and four were dead. The ones alive would then be Leonardo, Donatello and Jennika. The dead ones were Raphael, Michelangelo, Slash and Venus.

The chemical would check if the dead animals would come back to life, and what would happen with the ones who were alive.

Instead of only bringing them back alive, and not bothering the dead ones, it mutated them all into- well, mutants.

[doodlebob54]

Ok, so im finally going to tell my Sasha lore it took me 11 hole years, but it's finally finished. Here it goes

Sasha was born in a small town in Britain 1927, they grew up with their mom, but their dad got imprisoned and later executed by the British government under the suspicion to be a spy from SSSR. They were raised in extreme Christian households, which caused them some religious trauma. When they were 15, they killed three people under religious influence by believing that it was the quietest way to the Lord, their victims were, some kid named Billy, he was found drowned in the river with a rock tied to his neck, Mr. Handyman as, as only his head was found splashing in the towns fontan and lastly Ms. Colgate, but unfortunately, the cops arrived quickly, and with her last breath, she said who killed her. Sasha was in the bathroom washing away the blood when the cops arrived and got them arrested, Sasha was put to trial, where they pleaded guilty and admitting to kill those people, then they were got themselves one way ticket to the asylum. They spent a year in it, being prescribed electro shock therapy, which was secluded weekly. They were also subjected to verbal and physical abuse since they were the oldest kid in the asylum (yes, there was an asylum for kids) they died in June of 1941 due to an overdose of the electro shock therapy, manly cause the asylum was understaffed and they skipped one treatment so the asylum staff doubled it, their early death was probably a blessing too as if they didn't die, Sasha would probably be lobotomized and then kicked out when they reached 18. Their dead body was tossed in the garbage and were rotting there for 9 years.

Now year is 1950, and some guy that worked for the early stages of the happy meat farm industry, and the guy decided it would be funny to reanimate the dead kids' body by using the parts of the meat creatures they were studying, the theory was to use the musicals bones and organs from the mimics and humanoids as they have similar structure to humans but it failed as Sasha experienced a horrible mutation in a leach like entity, they were experimented on for 10 or so years until they broke out and escaped, and they all lived happily every after unless you were a scientist or a human the end.

The story continues as after some time passed, they met a chaos syphon who offered them help by trapping them in a never-ending debt as to the only way out would be by killing their best friend they haven't met yet,

The biggest problem Sasha has is that they are a type of person to suffer in silence they would rather experience their miserable life again than tell anyone their suffering, they also problem killed their mom but they can't seem to even remember how she looked like.