#PMC Bank

[thetaxguyin]

ED Provisions: Immovable Properties Worth ₹43.84 Crore Attached in PMLA Cas

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai recently made a significant announcement regarding the provisional attachment of immovable properties, including several floors of Hotel One Continent in Hyderabad. Valued at ₹43.84 crore, these properties have been provisionally attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with a loan fraud case…

[laguzmage]

obsessed obsessed obsessed with how Jessica runs away from being a rich girl to join a PMC and earn a name for herself and it doesn't pan out and the literal next thing she does is rob a bank. Never do things halfway

[femoso-seben]

Humanoid Monster

Part 1, Part 2, Next

Graves followed Mother Maia as she got everyone fed and clothed the babies. The wit was other humans, most of them worked with the infants. Most of the older children begin to pack up and head out.

“Where are they going?” Graves asks as Gaz and Soap follow the herd of children.

“School.” Graves gives her a shocked expression before nodding and following her.

“Maia,” a woman walks in.

“Ruth,” Mother Maia nods.

“We have a new one.” Behind Ruth was a small vampire girl, she was pale and small. Mother Maia sighs and walks closer to the child.

“She’s blind and her drinking fangs were pulled out,” Graves froze and moved closer to the child, his blood boiled, who would do this? Who would hurt a young child?

“Who brought her in?”

“I don’t know she was left there,” Mother Maia sighs and she covers where her eyes should be.

“Alright leave her to me until the other vamps come back then they can figure out the story.” Ruth nods and walks out, her hooves clicking on the ground.

“You're going to let children figure it out—”

“Not all children trust humans, not all children trust other monsters,” Mother Maia interrupts picking up the shaky child. the little girl’s mouth begins to water as she smells human, but as her mouth opens her fangs clearly broken off. Vampires’ fangs don’t grow back.

“How do you feed her?” Graves asks. This was his kind, though he has no love for others not of his blood, and even if their his his level of love is low, for the monster runs on strength and power. Graves couldn’t help but pity this pathetic thing.

They walk into the kitchen and she reaches into the blood bank refrigerator and pulls out a blood bag, type O. Type O is the most palpable for vampires, it wasn’t offensive or overly tasty just nourishment. The little girl begins to babble her words foreign.

“Все в порядке, пей из этой соломинки,” Mother Maia said in Russian. Graves stiffened, this Mother knew Russian, was she originally from Russia? Maybe that’s how she knows Makarov.

“How do you know Russian?” Graves asks leaning against the door. The little vampire sucks greedily for the blood.

“Switzerland teaches other languages, it’s a point all the nurses, and orphanage workers know at least two languages for communication.” Mother Maia said before walking over to the phone and calling her counterpart.

“Abraham,” she calls, “Yes I need one of the older vampires, Dimitri to come back we have a new fledgling.” Mother Maia set the child down at the dining room table.

“Why do you wear a veil?” Graves asks. She looks over the outline of her head twisting to him.

“I’m disfigured by war, these children seem enough horror let them not see another one.”

——————/\———————

Soap crouched down with the other werewolves, all of them trying to beat him at arm wrestling. “Ye’r gaun doon,” Soap laughs as all the young werewolves fail to beat him.

“What’s yer opinion o' Mither Maia,” all the werewolves stop and turn to him.

“Why do you care?” Liam asks, as the alpha of this pack Delta.

“Is she a guid mither ” Soap asks. Liam looks around before sighing.

“You don’t like her,” Liam said with a smirk.

“She’s a vicious killer, she kills oor kind —”

“She kills you, not us. We aren’t soldiers,” Liam growls his fangs shown. Soap glares at Liam and leans back in his seat.

“How come dae ye defend her?” Soap asks. The pack growls and storms off.

“Don’t mind them,” Soap looks up to take the ancient dragon Abraham, a legend in the monster community one of the elder dragons. “They were raised by her Liam especially, he was a runt and she spent her time raising him.

“When did she stop being the pale death?” Gaz asks from across the room, his feathers covered in glitter and glue random colorful duck feathers glued to him. Abraham stroked his beard before sighing.

“She was coming from the Americas and went through Alaska to get to Europe. Meet up with a human PMC and continue to Switzerland. With her daughter.”

“She has a daughter?” Gaz asks.

“Priscilla,” Gaz from, and his jaw set angrily. “She also had a small pack of baby werewolves with her, pack Delta. She was disfigured by a werewolf that tried to kill the pack.” Soap felt his blood run cold.

Pack Delta looked strong healthy a good squad of boys that make fine soldiers. Who would try to kill them?

“So they were her first pack?” Abraham nod.

“Then as other werewolves came in they found allegiant to different packs. Werewolves are the biggest military population most were outcasts.” Soap nods, werewolves are notorious for having strict rules for soldiers and regulations to become a soldier.

“How old is Mother Maia?” Gaz asks standing up but small harpies cling to his arms giggling as if this was all a game. Gaz picked up one of the harpies girls.

“She is rather young in human age, ask Priscilla, she knows the most about Mother Maia.”

“How come dae ye ca' her Mither Maia?” Soap grumbles like an annoyed puppy.

“It is only natural we give respect to each other. I have the name of Grandfather. She is very respectful she protects her children and so do I,” the old dragon said smoke smoldering from his mouth an obvious threat to these soldiers. He went back to his Victorian pipe smoking calmly.

——————/\———————

“Why does everyone respect her?” Gaz asks.

“Who knows,” Soap grumbled.

“Let’s hope the others have information.”

“Alright men,” Laswell said sitting around the table.

“Mother Maia is disfigured,” Graves said.

“Priscilla is her daughter,” Gaz added.

“The Harpy?” Ghost grunts out. Gaz nods.

“One of the wolf packs was with her before they arrived in Switzerland. She moved in from North America through Alaska through Russia to Switzerland.” Soap adds in.

“Gaz will you ask Priscilla about this Mother Maia.” Graves asks.

“Alright, I have flight training later this day, Ghost what did the Gargoyles say?” Gaz asks.

“They stonewalled me.” Soap sighs and leans back in his chair.

“Why is she… so mysterious?” Laswell mumbles mostly to herself.

“Who knows.”

——————/\———————

Gaz looked at Priscilla who was wrapped up in a blanket as the night was cold. The small harpies flapped their wings hard in the air trying to fly higher and higher. Gaz promises to give the highest flyer a daring race in the air.

“Priscilla,” Gaz walks closer keeping one eye on the little chicklings, the other on Priscilla. She was a very beautiful young woman.

“Yes?” She said her accent was the very Hispanic accent.

“How old is your mother?” Priscilla frowns and thinks about it.

“She’s only a few years older than me, I’m seventeen and she’s twenty-seven.” Gaz eyes widen.

“She’s that young?” Gaz's mouth fell open.

“We harpies age slower so the age difference really looked grande but she isn’t that much older than most of us.” Gaz nodded and then another thought came into his mind.

“Why did she become the Pale Death?”

“To protect us, we were hunted so Sue hunted them back.” The further he learns about Mother Maia the more she becomes a saint. It was so fucking creepy.

“How did you two meet?”

“I was kicked out of my nest after my wings were ripped off she picked me up and that’s it,” Priscilla said as the younger harpies began to fall out of the sky Gaz went to catch everyone before they got hurt.

“Your mother,” Gaz said as all the chicklings ran to Priscilla and hid in her blanket for warmth. “Did she ever hurt you?” Priscilla said quickly but her tone was unusually shaky not due to the cold but to nervousness.

“You're scared of her.”

“She can be intimidating and harsh but she never hurt us.”

Gaz nods. Mother Maia isn’t all that saintly.

_______

Taglist: @kkaaaagt, @kaoyamamegami, @1234ilikecowsthanyoumore

[definitelynotstable]

Camomile pt. 15 [Ghost x gn!Reader]

pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3, pt. 4, pt. 5, pt. 6, pt. 7, pt. 8, pt. 9, pt. 10, pt. 11, pt. 12, pt. 13, pt. 14, pt. 15

AN: plot at the start and fluffy hurt/comfort at the end.

Synopsis: Closely follows the “Cartel Protection” and "Close Air" missions from the mw2 (reboot). Rights to the game developers <;3 Word count: 2.1k Warnings: canon divergence, canon typical violence, guns, wounds, swearing, death etc Ghost x gn!Reader (Callsign: Rags)

✧˚ · .

Ghost makes it across the ledge behind you and hauls you to your feet. You’re in a daze as you follow Soap and Alejandro over the rocks. Bullets ping and whir but your sole focus is the back of Soap and Alejandro. There’s no cover to pause and return fire, your only choice is to run and hope they miss. 

Suddenly Alejandro stops.

“You’ve led us to a dead end mate!” Ghost yells from behind you and you flinch, looking up. Beyond the ledge is a sheer drop which leads down to a narrow gorge. 

“We jump from here!” The colonel calls back and you freeze, “Don’t loose your weapons!”

Your feet have become one with the stone beneath them as Alejandro and Soap jump from the edge. Ghost tugs at your arm and you turn to meet his gave with wide eyes.

“It’s jump or die, Sergeant.” He says sternly but not unkindly, pushing you forwards as the bullet spray nears. 

You gulp, grasping his hand tightly on instinct as your chest constricts painfully. 

“Together?” You ask, knowing you’ll have to jump sooner rather than later regardless of his answer.

“Together.” He confirms, tugging your forwards and stepping from the cliff.

✧˚ · .

The water is a shock. It isn’t too cold but the impact is jarring. It streams up your nose and you resist the urge to gasp, struggling against the weight of your gear to paddle to the top. A hand wraps around your tactical vest and yanks you to the surface.

“Move down river to the bridge!” Alejandro calls, muffled by the water as you emerge. “Use the rocks for cover!”

Pushing back the memories that cling to you alongside the water, you focus on the burn in your shoulders as you pull yourself through the water. 

“All stations, this is Victor-0-1. How copy?” Alejandro calls over the comms, buzzing in your ear.

“–dow-1! Do you–? –ay again. –o you’re–?”

A distinctly American drawl answers, static crackling and cutting him off.

“Radio’s picking up something.” Soap confirms from in front of you.

Ghost is beside you now, pulling through the water with more strength than you. “Sounds American.”

“Could be Graves?” You ask, arms burning as you push to keep up. “The PMCs Shepherd hired?”

“Sounds like it,” Soap nods back at you, finding a rock and pulling himself up against it as the water splashes and sprays; the gunfire picking back up. 

The army hides in the trees along the bank and you rest your gun on a flat rock in front of you, scoping them out amongst the treeline. There’s too many to take out at once but together you manage to clear enough hostiles to give you time to make way upstream. It becomes almost a game. Take cover behind a group of rocks, return fire, dive below and swim upstream to the next set of rocks before pausing again and firing. 

You round the bend and eventually the bridge comes into view. Armoured vehicles are parked in a convoy, on the offensive.

“Armoured vehicles on the bridge!” Ghost calls over the radio, an unspoken question in his voice. Are they friendly?

“They’re not ours!” Alejandro swears, clambering up to settle behind another rock. “Fuck! It’s the army.”

Bullets fly from the bridge, they have a clear vantage point and armour to cover. 

“We can’t do shite against their armour!” Soap calls out to Alejandro who has his back to the rocks, reloading.

“We have to hold here to get extraction!” He replies, popping out and sending a barrage of bullets in their direction.

Suddenly the radio crackles to life, the American accent clearer than ever. 

“This is Shadow-1! Engaging the bridge north of your position. Danger close!”

“Thank fuck.” You breath, holding your fire.

“Who the hell is that?.” Alejandro asks, turning to you and Ghost, mistrust in his gaze.

“Commander Graves,” Ghost replies, “Shadow Company. They’re with us.”

The rocks beneath you shake and bridge explodes. Flaming bits of debris splashing into the water below. 

“Shadow-1,” Ghost grips his radio, when the screeching of metal lessens, “Bravo 0-7, Good shots! Fire for effect!”

Soap lets out a boyish “whoop!” As the last bit of the bridge crumbles into the river. He’s arguably smartest out of all of you to be a demo-expert but at the end of the day still just a guy who enjoys blowing shit up.

“All stations, no enemy movement detected. You’re clear.”

✧˚ · .

You make it to extraction, sopping wet but pumping full of adrenaline. Grave’s sends coordinates – a hit on Hassan nearby – and you slip into the back seat with Ghost as Alejandro slides behind the wheel, Soap in the passenger seat. The radio buzzes as you pull up to another compound, not unlike the last.

“Ghost this is Shadow-1, orbiting the compound now. Standing by for visual.”

Ghost grips his radio, the vehicle pulling to a rolling stop next to a shed and some barrels. “Shadow-1, Bravo 0-7. We’ll make our location with IR laser, over.”

With a “roger” from Graves, you pile out of the car, guns raised.

“How do we find Hassan?” Soap asks the question that’s been balancing on the tip of your tongue. 

“He’ll have an armed guard, cartel protection.” Alejandro replies, heading off towards the scattered buildings. 

Ghost radios off the information to Graves and the party begins. 

✧˚ · .

It’s not often you’re able to work with the kind of firepower Graves and his men employ. National incidents are always a risk and a shit-ton of redcap to prevent them. 

PMCs don’t have those kinds of parameters. 

Within ten minutes the compound is set ablaze. It’s a mess but a well orchestrated one. Ghost holds comms with Graves and soon you’re leading Hassan in cuffs towards an armoured car.

“I am a Quds force Major! You have no right–!”

–“Shut the fuck up!” Soap interrupts, ramming him into the side of the vehicle as you open the door.

“You will pay dearly for this!” The Major growls and spits in your face and you flinch away with a scowl.

“Ok fuckass.” You call back, giving the door a hefty slam once Soap slides in beside him. Ghost rounds the car and sits on the other side as Alejandro greets Rodolfo with a grin. 

You’re left with the back to yourself and sit with your gun between your legs, eyes sharp and alert as they follow the landscape that flies through the back window. 

It’s dark by the time the convoy rolls to a stop beside Graves and his crew. The trucks converge on a centre point, headlights creating a bastardised spotlight where Alejandro forces Hassan to his knees. 

You stand beside to your Lieutenant, just out of view of the scuffed laptop Graves has set up to stream a visual to Laswell and Shepherd.

“You know we can’t hold him.” You murmur to Ghost who leans down, ear tilted towards you. 

He nods with a sigh, readjusting his grip on his rifle, “Shepherd and Laswell know that.”

“I know they know that –“ You gesture at the man who is currently taunting Hassan, a grin on his lips, –“but does Graves?”

The discussion becomes heated and Graves picks up the laptop before slamming is back down on the bonnet of the truck. 

“Actual, let me finish this.” He sounds like a schoolboy, eager to please his father.

“There’s nothing I would like more,” Shepherd drawls through the grainy screen, “But Laswell’s right. Without proof we need to turn him loose. See where he leads us.”

Soap lets out a frustrated growl, joining Graves by the laptop. “He’s right here, you can’t be serious!”

“I’m afraid I am, son.”

Ghost moves besides you and your eyes catch something reflecting in hands. You grab the phone from your Lieutenant and step forwards with a frown.

“Did we get anything from his phone?”

“Affirmative. We got a hit.” She says, eyes narrowed as smoke swirls around her, Illuminated in the blue glow of her laptop.

“Good.” Shepherd responds, “Now take him back and let him go.”

✧˚ · .

It’s past midnight when you roll into base. It feels like a failure, having to let the Major loose and the men stumble from the trucks into the barracks without the usual banter of a successful mission. 

As one of the few countries with women in the Special Forces, the base at Las Almas has a seperate wing – albeit small and unkept. The shower teeters between boiling hot and freezing cold but by the end you manage to pull the tangles from your hair. If you were allowed sweatpants while on missions you’d have pulled them on but instead you settle for a pair of grey cargos and a long-sleeve black shirt. 

Stuffing a couple of teabags into your pocket, you let your door click shut behind you and step cautiously into the hallway. 

“Rags?” 

You freeze at the voice of your Lieutenant. You turn to face him and he tilts his head, surveying you. 

“Where’re you headin’?”

You fumble with your pocket, pulling out the crumpled tea to show him. 

“A kitchen? And maybe a kettle.”

Ghost huffs out a laugh, eyes crinkling. He unfurls his palm towards you and you step closer to have a look at what he holds. Two camomile teabags sit perfectly in his hand; it’s as though he’s ironed them.

The kitchen isn’t far and he leads you inside, holding the door open as you pass. It’s warmly lit and smells of tobacco. A couple of glasses sir on the table alongside a deck of cards.

“Soap and Alejandro.” Ghost comments as he notices you inspecting the remnants of the game. “You just missed ‘em.”

You nod and come to stand beside him, arms crossed as you watch the kettle boil. A pale hand brushes your cheek and you meet Ghosts eyes in surprise.

“What’s this?’

You raise a hand and trace the cut lightly with your finger. His hand remains. “A rock or something, I think – not sure.”

He watches you carefully, as usual saying more with his eyes than he does with his mouth. “It wasn’t your fault, you know.”

“Hm?” 

He drops his hand from your cheek to the base of your neck where it meets your shoulder. You hesitantly meet his gaze.

“Rodriguez. It wasn’t your fault.” His eyes are soft and warm and full of understanding. 

It makes the beast of guilt inside you squirm and rear its head. You pull a lip between your teeth and hope it disguises the wobble that’s started. But you eyes sting all the same and you will the moisture gathering there to dissolve before he sees.

A thumb swipes across your cheekbone, however, and catches a tear you hadn’t realised escaped. He’s standing close to you now and you feel exhaustion surge like a wave.  Without thinking, your forehead drops forwards and thumps softly against his clavicle. You sniff, too tired to register the professional boundary that you may have just crossed but wasn’t that bridge burned long ago? 

A hand settles gently in your hair and you suck in a shaky breath, tears staining his navy shirt. He smells like deodorant and a hint of camomile lingers on the hand which cups the back of your head.

“I know it isn’t.” You say finally, sniffing again. “But it feels like it is.”

You pull away from him and his hand falls to rest on your shoulder.

“I had to push him off.” You swallow thickly, searching his eyes for something, anything, that will alleviate your pain. “I had to shove his body off the fucking cliff.”

Ghosts eyes mirror your own. “I know.”

You step away, shaking your head, and reach for the kettle,  needing something to occupy yourself with under his piercing gaze. 

“I know I didn’t pull the trigger. I know it could’ve been any of us but why him. Why there?” You’ve started crying again and tears run down your cheeks in streams. Your voice cracks. “Where he used to play as a child.”

Strong arms wrap around you as the world blurs; a large hand rubbing firm circles on your back as you gasp. “I know.” He whispers, chin settling on the crown of your head.

“It isn’t fair.”

“It isn’t.” He agrees. “It never is.”

“Why.” You demand, knowing how illogical and stupid the question sounds. But instead of laughing, the lieutenant presses his lips into your hair.

“I don’t know.”

✧˚ · .

Taglist

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Masterlist

[teecupangel]

Hello. Hope you're feeling good.

I was wondering if assassins in modern au weren't assassin and just lived like normal people what was their job?

Hi, nonny. I'm doing good. Just found some time to rest up after all the moving and unpacking XD

Oooohhh, I like this ask, nonny, but Imma cheat a bit and use a lot of my answers from the modern-day fic I wrote last year XD

Altaïr

I think this will depend on how much you want to reference Altaïr’s upbringing in AC1.

If you want an almost beat-by-beat reference, Altaïr will be heading some kind of PMC that he ‘inherited’ from his foster grandfather. He’s born into the family business and it’s the only life he knows. Reading about new tech helps make the PMC always be up to date with their equipment but Altaïr usually reads any kind of scientific advancement on his down time.

If you want to give him more freedom to choose his own path, his scholarly nature would make him a job in the field of science or history (with philosophy being a favorite hobby of his)

History: more on archaeology who mainly does fieldwork, sometimes goes to conventions and symposiums to talk about his team’s latest finds. His journals detailing each day when he’s in the field are usually published and a lot of people in the field enjoy reading his thoughts… even if he sometimes gets off track and there’s suddenly a drawing of the person he loves in one of the pages…

Science: owner of a privately-funded research and development company (might even have funded it from the inheritance he got from his foster grandfather) and actually leads one of the teams. The company focuses on researching and developing new tech that would make life easier for everyone although Altaïr does have a notebook filled with the deadliest ideas for weapons that he doesn’t really have any plans to make.

Ezio

Definitely born into a rich family that operates one of the oldest banks in Italy and he’s being trained to be a COO. Would have summer jobs in one of their banks.

His passion though lies in the arts and he would paint whenever he needs to relax. His parents agreed for him to take art classes because they want to support him (and Federico is meant to inherit the business anyway).

He meets his best friend in art class and they start a friendly competition of painting the same thing.

His friend is the one who gets recognized but that’s fine with him. He paints because it relaxes him, he’s not there for the spotlight.

Their banks would have framed paintings of his and he still paints as a hobby.

He mostly works for the family bank as a foreign representative, going to other countries to help out a new branch, train the new management, and sometimes talk to possible clients and partners.

Ratonhnhaké:ton

His father wants him to inherit the family business but he decides to take over his mother’s job as the representative of their tribe and the usual liaison that talks to outsiders.

His mother is currently a judge in tribal courts.

He also works similarly to a park ranger and would check their lands regularly, making sure nobody trespasses or hunts in the nearby forests.

The Kenways:

Edward married a socialite named Tessa Kenway a few years after the death of his first wife.

Before that, he used to be a captain of a freight ship. With Tessa’s money, he started his own freight shipping company.

He’s now retired with his son taking over his company and lives with his wife in Kenway mansion. He sometimes visit his son and grandson to annoy his son and to just ‘hang out’ (“Isn’t that what you kids say nowadays?” “… yes. I suppose so?””) with his grandson.

His oldest daughter (from his first marriage) ran away from home after they tried to get her engaged to a rich dude, Edward knows she’s living with Mary and Anne, two old buddies of Edward during his freight ship captain��ing days and visits sometimes. He didn’t tell Tessa though (it was Tessa’s idea to marry her off) because he doesn’t want things to escalate and Tessa has a suspicion that he’s having an affair with Mary or Anne (or both!) while Haytham learned that his sister is fine and living her best life when he tried to catch his father cheating for his mother.

Even in a modern day AU, the Kenways will still have drama. Them’s the rules.

Desmond:

Ran away from a very isolated community that may have been cultists or just really ‘we don’t trust the government’ kind of hippies. Desmond likes to joke both.

Works for a bar that has a new owner who isn’t afraid to try out new things.

Desmond thinks he’s flying by the seat of his pants but his heart is in the right place so Desmond tries to be supportive.

Also… he was given the go signal to adjust the drinks menu and make new drinks so that’s an automatic ‘that’s my boss and I support his decisions!’ for him.

Shirley Templar is his signature drink. He’s other signature drink is “Desmond Take The Wheel” which is just him preparing whatever the hell he wants for a customer who cannot take back the drink because that is what they ordered.

Shay:

Used to work for a freight ship with his dad being his captain together with his best friend Liam.

Hope works as a logistics support for the company they work for and also a radio operator when things get hectic. Shay and Hope may have been flirting on the radio for a while (much to his father’s amusement).

The company they’re working for started making really bad decisions after the owner lost his wife and son. Liam was transferred to another freight ship to be its captain and, during just a routine job, they got hit by a massive storm too far off the nearest coast which they wouldn’t have hit had their course not been switched an hour before their departure.

Shay’s father and a lot of the crew died that day and Shay blamed the owner because the route was approved by him. He refused to settle and lost with the cause being given as damnum fatale.

Haytham scouted him soon after and he was a captain first before being elevated to Head Logistics Officer.

Arno

He owns a cafe that once belonged to his uncle (not related to him but was a close friend of his father).

He’s been arrested for disorderly conduct (he was suppppeeer drunk and his longtime girlfriend/childhood friend just broke up with him) but the officers pitied him so they just let him sleep it off in one of the cells. The dude on the other cell started singing along when Arno began to sing sad love songs. Both of them were drunk though so they made the police officer giving them an easy time… well… a hard time.

He uses the profit he got from the cafe he inherited to buy more establishments.

He’s now focused on learning how to make a bar profitable… by buying a bar.

Jacob

He was the one in the other cell. He got into a bar fight but he wasn’t that drunk. The officers heard the fight happen because some slurs about Jacob’s sexual preferences were shouted by the other dude so the officer just left Jacob with a warning.

He’s actually the owner of a small orphanage and has an out-of-school youth program that usually helps children from high-risk areas. All of this is funded by his family (to be more exact, his sister).

He has a degree in pediatrics and this is his dream job.

This might (if the rumors were true) have been because he had been an unwitting accessory to a tragic fire as a young man that led to the death of children.

He has an adopted son named Jack.

Evie

Doctor, got top marks in her batch, and continued their late father’s job as a concierge doctor. She took over her father’s patients who are all quite wealthy (including the Kenways).

On her vacations, she would join her long-time boyfriend (“You married yet?” “No, Jacob. Jayadeep and I believe-” “Yes, yes, if it happens, it happens, blah, blah, blah.”) who is part of Doctors Without Borders.

She’s officially the head of the Frye family which she inherited from their father but she always gives Jacob his share (“So you’re still a trustfund baby.” “Pretty much, I guess. My sister loves me… as long as she doesn’t have to hear about my latest dumb stunt.”) while also donating a lot to his orphanage and program.

There are rumors that it’s a money laundering thing but that’s unfounded.

Bayek

The police officer who had to suffer thru Arno’s drunken singing of his ex’s beautiful flaming hair and Jacob’s sulking.

Almost always gets the graveyard shift so his fellow officers can go home and spend them with their families.

Used to be married, and had a divorce after a hit-and-run killed their only son, he still has a picture of his family on his table and everyone knows he still loves his ex but the death of their child was too much for both of them.

His ex may or may not be part of the government’s secret intelligence gathering bureau… maybe. Bayek does not know and does not want to know as he doesn’t want to risk her job in any way IF she was an actual spy.

Layla:

Still works for Abstergo and still has a feud going on with Sofia Rikkins.

Kinda friends with Lucy and Daniel Cross, enjoys adding chaos to annoy Berg if she knows she can get away with (or make someone like Robert take the fall).

Likes to drink in Desmond’s bar (technically Arno’s) and always takes the “Desmond takes the wheel” option.

Okay, so these ones aren’t Assassins or Hidden Ones (officially) but I kinda felt bad leaving them out since I wrote about Bayek.

Kassandra

MMA fighter who came from a military family.

Had a falling out with her stepfather when she was young and she left. It’s not clear if she left on her own or if she was kicked out and she doesn’t like to talk about it.

She only talks to her younger brother although her mother is trying to mend broken bridges… it… isn’t really working… unfortunately.

Her brother is in the army per the traditions of their family and she always worries about him.

Eivor

Spokesperson for her foster brother and working to help out for his reelection at the moment.

Her passion is in poetry though (and drinking everyone under but that’s more of a pastime) and she’s working on compiling her poems into a book. Her poems are quite beautiful but tend to be on the side of trash-talking certain types of people.

It took months but the ravens/crows around the area of her home now recognize her and would leave trinkets as a thank you for always feeding them.

Note: not a lawyer so I’m not sure if damnum fatale can be used for Shay’s part but Imma wave my fanfic writer card.

[navcommrelay]

Wrath

/////Transmission Start///// CFRI OPSCOM N. LINDSBORG TO ALL OPERATION TOUCHDOWN SLDF AND ALLIED ELEMENTS: At 1526 hours local standard time, CFRI Angel Squadron performed an escort operation alongside a DropShip from @seafoxmathias delivering 'Mechs to in-field forces of @harwood-pmc-official. During this operation, COMSCAN detected a spike in ambient heat bearing southwest of the operational zone, and directed Angel Squadron on a pass-by course to check the area... Captain Molly Sanders was the wing lead of Angel Squadron. Had been for the better part of a decade, now- ever since Captain Raiken had that unfortunate engine failure. Captain Sanders was confident, assured, and in control- especially in the cockpit of her Sparrow, Angel-1.

Right now, though, she was none of those things.

The cockpit was alive with panic alarms- proximity warning for incoming Long Range Missiles, radar lock warnings, damage control warnings, and- most notably- the piercing whistle signifying her canopy had been breached by whatever the hell had taken potshots at Angel Squadron as they breached the horizon over the main road. Cursing wildly, she peered through the spiderwebbed ferroglass in front, trying desperately to assess whether her flight path was stable. The damage was impact- no molten airframe, no scorching heat filtering in through the damaged cockpit meant whatever had hit her wasn't an energy weapon. A world-shaking BOOM rocked the Sparrow in midair, sending the craft arcing through the sky away from the rest of the formation as Angel-6's bomb load detonated midair. The cloud of smoke and ash provided a reference point, and as she frantically righted the crippled aircraft, a blurry and fractured silhouette was visible below. Angel-4, unable to avoid both the debris from the bomber and the incoming autocannon fire, started coming apart piecemeal, blasts tearing great rents through the light armor of the fighter before it simply broke in two. A momentary flash of light, heat- not only visible but tactile even at this distance- lit the world like a thousand fireworks as an impossibly bright beam lanced up from below and simply erased Angel-2 and Angel-3. No explosion, no flame, just a streak of light and two puffs of smoke. Careening towards the ground, Molly frantically grabbed for the canopy breakaway lever, hauling with all her might, before the seals gave and the wind tore the structure from her aircraft. Blinking against afterimages, she banked, ejecting chaff, flares, and her reserve fuel tanks, desperate to outrun the incoming missiles. A last-minute ping from her craft's sensors sent a brief, surface-level analysis of the strange structures below that had turned her squad into a memory, before she joined them in oblivion. PAN PAN PAN EMERGENCY BROADCAST ANGEL-1 TAC ASSESSMENT: Manufacturer: Unknown Production Year: Unknown Model ID Beacon: JHA-000 Jericho Class: Superheavy 'Mech Type: Word of Blake Drone Hex-Mech Error: 'Mech size exceeds integer bounding parameters. Override. Mass: 250 Tons Chassis: Reinforced Structure Armor: Improved Ferro-Lamellor Engine: UNKNOWN Heat Sinks: UNKNOWN Speed: UNKNOWN Armament: 1x Experimental Extra-Light Naval Subcapital Laser 2x Gauss Rifle 2x Extended-Range LRM-20 6x LBX Autocannon-10 6x Ultra Autocannon-2 12x Micro Pulse Laser 6x Variable-Speed Medium Pulse Laser 6x Laser Anti-Missile System Improved C3 Computer Beagle Active Probe ARCHANGEL Advanced ECM Suite WARNING: Multiple units detected. WARNING: Accompanying elements detected. Error: Transmission offline. Get ready, everyone. /////END TRANSMISSION/////

[chadillacboseman]

About JJ Mitchell

Full Name: Jeremiah Jedediah Mitchell

Nickname(s):

JJ

Jed (his father)

Mr. America (Alora)

Full-Metal Dickhead (Kabal)

Age: 46 Gender: Male Place of Birth: Birmingham, Alabama Date of Birth: July 19th Star Sign: Cancer Species/Race: Human Occupation: Private Military Contractor Faction: Falcon Company (allied with Special Forces) Status: Alive

Appearance

Height: 6'0 Weight: 190 lbs Skin Color: White/Tanned Hair Color: Salt and Pepper Eye Color: Hazel

Prominent Features:

Prominent graying near his temples.

Aqualine nose

Hair cropped tight on the sides, longer on top.

Mouth full of too-white, too-straight teeth.

Fighting Attributes

Abilities:

Chaingun - The Glagolev-Shipunov-Gryazev GShG-7.62 rotary machine gun. He can retrieve and mount it for a frenzied gun attack.

Last Resort:

Scorched Earth - Calling in an AC-130 airstrike which obliterates the field.

Skills:

Money, money, money

Has a small personal army at his disposal

Weapons master.

Strengths:

Charming and Disarming - JJ is an expert at defusing situations and charming new contacts. Maybe it's the accent.

Heavy Hitter - He's slow, but when he catches you, watch out!

Pilot - JJ can co-pilot the AC-130 and other heavy warplanes.

Good Leader - Has an entire army at his disposal who are fiercely loyal.

Weaknesses:

Superiority Complex

Slow

Can only pilot with a co-pilot. Cannot land a small plane to save his life.

Storm Trooper aim.

Susceptible to long range

Weapons:

Ruger Security 9 - His primary sidearm

Heckler and Koch HK414

Glagolev-Shipunov-Gryazev GShG-7.62 rotary machine gun

Personality

Traits:

Southern

Cocky to a fault

Quick to anger

Loyal as a starving dog (he'll turn on you for the better bankroll)

Relationships

Enemies:

Black Dragon

Various Other Threats to Earthrealm

Family:

Curtis Mitchell - Father

Carolyn Mitchell - Mother

Siblings unknown

Friends/Allies:

Sonya Blade

Jax Briggs

Johnny Cage

Kombat Kids et all

Kate (formerly)

Other Information

Dislikes:

Waiting around

Closed spaces

Promises not fulfilled

Goals:

Get his bank up, baby

Eventually push Sonya out of the SF and take her place OR

Have Falcon Company become the protectors of Earthrealm

Hobbies:

Horseback riding

Motorcycles

Guitar playing

Likes:

Being the most important one in the room and the center of attention.

Expensive whiskey

Old guns

Habits:

Hums when the air is dead

Uses pet names that piss everyone off

Taps his foot when he's impatient or bored

Fears:

Losing control. Of Falcon Company. Of his life. Of his environment.

Snakes

Enclosed spaces

BIO

Jeremiah Jedediah Mitchell, aka "JJ" was born in Birmingham, Alabama to a family that was nothing of note. His father worked at the steel mill and his mother was a CNA at a longterm care facility.

Jeremiah excelled at his athletic endeavors in high school, but found himself bored with his surroundings. After one semester at BSC, he joined the marines and found his stride. He had a knack for leadership roles and worked well under pressure- enough that he began to attract lucrative offers from PMCs.

But Jeremiah had his sights set higher.

Unfortunately, his humvee was hit by an IED during a tour in Iraq and he lost his leg from the knee down. After his honorable discharge, he started his own PMC, Falcon Company. Such were their escapades that they often attracted the ire of the Black Dragon and various outworld threats.

After a particularly brutal run-in with the Black Dragon, Sonya Blade approached Mitchell and offered him a chance to do something bigger with Falcon Company.

Defend Earthrealm.

The Special Forces has provided him with state of the art prosthetics for his leg, and he considers the injury an upgrade.

Mitchell tolerates Blade and the others, but is biding his time until it's his turn to lead in full. Falcon Company often finds controversy for their fast and loose play with the rulebook.

SHIPS

#HotShot - JJ x Alora (@bihanspookies)

Fun Facts

He did not always have good teeth. He spent a fortune having them veneered.

Codename in the field is FALCON-01

The Latin wording on the PMC's logo reads: Falco Catervae: Alta Volare, which translates to "Falcon Company: Fly High"

He collects antique guns and prides himself on being able to restore them.

His mother is dead, but his father is still alive.

Can play the acoustic guitar quite well.

He does deal with phantom pain in his limb, which he solves with whiskey.

Borrowed most of this template from @bdfightclub thank u beloved fandom creator. HUUUUUUGE shoutout to @bihanspookies for helping with the name and also letting me always borrow Alora <3

[wyrmmaster]

So what did you think of the BA story finale?

Phenomenal end of the beginning. Some of the best of what the game has to offer in music and storytelling. Did a really good job at the whole "actual apocalyptic event" thing by making sure every character was involved in the resolution, even the sukeban and kaitengers.

The big part though is towards the end, especially the aftermath of the first Phrenapates Showdown, mostly because it and the PVs for Volume F definitively establish the stakes.

Even half paying attention for most of the rest of the story it's easy to see through the wacky vibe and realize that yes, these kids are Actually Going Through It. Black Suit absolutely does want to do experiments on Hoshino, Abydos actually is just 5 kids on their own against a whole-ass PMC that does not give a shit about softballing them. Gehenna actually is full of nutjobs and anarchism kept in check by a couple extremely overworked individuals and they aren't infallible - Hina's a sleep-deprived missed spot check from

Aris actually is a world-ending superweapon, Rio actually was going to kill her to prevent that possibility.

Trinity actually is full of very hateful people chomping at the bit to go on an actual genocidal holy war. Seia's life was actually in danger because Arius actually wanted her dead.

Mika actually was out for blood when she snapped,

RABBIT actually is just some teenagers living in a park and picking fights with armies, and so on.

Anubis shows what happens if things go even slightly different: Sensei laying in a hospital bed held together by metal plates, mentally unresponsive - isn't around to help find Serika after she's abducted. She's never seen again. This brings back Hoshino the death-seeker and she eventually gets her wish. Then you have 3 kids against a PMC. Nonomi gives up, and walks into the desert. Ayane is severely injured presumably because Shiroko can't protect her all the time, put on life support, and eventually the plug's pulled. Then there's Shiroko, mystic of Anubis, finally brought to the brink of despair and flips that mystic into its Terror, and the Nameless Priests use her to end the world. That's just Abydos's subplot not going to plan.

Aside from that, Phrenapates being the Sensei from that timeline and hauling their broken ass out of a hospital bed to go take on the mantle of the Color, saving the Shiroko within Anubis from having to do itwas a great story beat. Having the player be the one to teleport Anubis out after a finally dying Phrenapates begs them to save her was excellent.

Shiroko handing Anubis her bank-robbing mask in lieu of the scarf Hoshino gave them was a very sweet moment (and also hilarious). Turning Unwelcome School into something emotional was perfect for it.

Plana and Anubis being saved after everything they had to see and experience is some real feelgood shit. It's nice to see the second AI daughter show up in menus and interacting with Arona. One day Anubis will come back.

[novankenn]

Ah, come on!?!

FOUR

Jaune and Wolfie sat dejectedly off to the side while a moving company, dropped off all the salvageable equipment in the waterfront warehouse that was to become the new home of the Grimm Development Department. Jaune was despondent due to the hours it was going to take to reconnect everything… Wolfie because he/she met her/his “donor”.

Saphron Arc was a piece of work, and while she did present Wolfie with a proper set of attire, she was entirely TOO handsy in helping him/her put it on. Memories of that encounter caused the humanoid grimm to shiver in fear, particularly because Saphron Arc made a point of saying she would be coming back for another visit, with more cute outfits for her little “sister”.

Wolfie: This is bullshit.

Jaune: You think this is bad? Wait until we have to attend the emergency BoD meeting and explain the added expenses… my budget is going to be decimated!

Wolfie: Seriously, dude? How do you get anything done?

Jaune: I don’t. I’m lucky I get a paycheck each week… which reminds me I have to take you to Human Resources, soon.

Wolfie: Why?

Jaune: You need identification, and your Social Insurance Number, plus you have a TD-1V to complete. Then we need to go to the bank and set up an account.

Wolfie:Uh, again. Why?

Jaune: You are an employee, and as such you need to have the proper documentation, plus the Inner Circle refuses to get nailed for tax evasion so we need to pay you as well as take the proper hold backs for governmental remittance.

Wolfie: Huh? But I’m a monster?

Jaune: You are… or will be a valued employee.

Wolfie: But you built me for combat?

Jaune: Yes, I did, and you will be most likely listed as an active combatant member of our PMC forces.

Wolfie: PMC?

Jaune: Private Military Contractor.

Wolfie: Seriously? I thought we’re supposed to be trying to dominate the world?

Jaune: Well to rule the world we need to be able to provide for security or our people, as well as have sources of income to provide needed social welfare programs, in addition to collecting taxes, etc…

Wolfie: This sucks.

Jaune: Tell me about it. At least you’ll be lucky, once your paperwork is done you’ll be transferred to the PMC division… which Saphron is in charge of by the way…

Wolfie: WHAT?!? SERIOUSLY!?!

Jaune: Yes, anyway, once you’re transferred you’ll be free of this mess and can enjoy yourself…

/==/ 72 Hours Later /==/

After working basically around the clock, Wolfie and Jaune finished reassembling the lab into something that was functional. A day before the scheduled meeting with the Board of Directors. Though, neither, due to sleep, deprivation, noticed the blinking lights on one of the bio-pods.

/==/ 24 Hours Later /==/

Jasmine Arc (Director of Finances): So as a result of the repairs required and the need to relocate Grimm Development, plus the rental of said location… I’m sorry to say Jaune your operating budget is going to be lowered by sixty percent.

Jaune: How am I supposed to get ANY work done? 

Jasmine Arc (Director of Finance): Well, fifteen percent of your budget is just your salary, and ten percent is overhead expenses like utilities. So you still on paper have fifteen percent to allocate towards project development.

Jaune: I was barely able to complete Wolfie under my normal budget! How do I…

Oleander Arc (Executive of Espionage): As important as this is to you, dear brother, I feel we have much more pressing matters. In particular, the assault on one of our SECRET and secure facilities, by the Red Huntress at that. We have a leak.

Saphron Arc (Director of PMC Operations): I can direct my teams to start searching for the leak. Though I would need some assistance from the Security Department.

Azalea Arc (Director of Internal Security): My department has already started to searching, with a focus on former employees.

Tyrian (Director of Legal): IF the leak is an employee, then we do not need to use the PMC forces to “black bag” the perpetrator. All our employees sign an iron clade NDA, and as such if YOU can give my department proof of their actions I can have my department bury them… legally.

Saphron Arc (Director of PMC Operations) Phooey, that’s no fun.

Salem: Be that as it may. We must be vigilant, and protective of our image, and as such we can not afford any rumors of misconduct on our behalf. What of the plan to infiltrate Beacon?

Oleander Arc (Executive of Espionage): We have contracted the Strategic Development Department, and they have drafted a report, for our consideration. Director Watts, if you please.

Arthur Watts (Director of Strategic Development): Upon closer examination of the proposal, we have come to the conclusion that it is inadvisable to sens Doctor Arc in as applicant. His lack of combat training, coupled with his aura not being unlocked, makes it a potentially hazardous work environment for him and as such after consulting with the Legal Department would give him grounds to sue.

Salem: I see. You wouldn’t do that to us, would you, Jaune?

Jaune: I… um… I…

Salem: Jaune?

Arthur Watts (Director of Strategic Development): If I may continue my Lady.

Salem: My apologies. Please, the floor is yours.

Arthur Watts (Director of Strategic Development): Upon further consideration, we have submitted adjustments to the proposal. Namely, that if the operation to get a more insightful information as to the nature of Beacon’s training practices, Jaune should attend as a member of an established team.

Oleander Arc (Executive of Espionage): We have already begun the process to screen potential applicants, though only needing two makes the process easier.

Jaune: Wait a second? Two? Aren’t teams made of four?

Oleander Arc (Executive of Espionage): They are, but as you and Wolfe Bete are both employees of Grimm Development

Wolfie: Since when?!?

Oleander Arc (Executive of Espionage): And this is a project for your department, of course you will both be members of the operation.

(== Table of Contents ==)

[workersolidarity]

🇷🇺🇺🇦🚨 UPDATE ON THE EVENTS OF THE RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR DAY 621:

In the Kiev region:

According to the official Ukrainian statement on the death of the Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Major Hennadii Chastiakov, the Assistant Commander-in-Chief was NOT killed through a sabotage operation, but was in fact killed through a joke birthday gift of grenades, one of which detonated "accidentally," killing Chastiakov and severely injuring his son who was present at the time.

Meanwhile, Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky says there will be no elections as long as the war continues. Zelensky says this as his Western partners have begun pressuring the Ukrainian authorities to hold elections and to negotiate a political settlement or ceasefire with the Russians.

Zelensky also signed into law an extension of the Martial Law and Mobilization for an additional 90 days.

According to Ukrainian Intelligence, Russian Forces are planning a massive missile offensive, having collected a cache of over 1'000 missiles before launching any large-scale offensive operations into Ukrainian-held territory.

Sudan operations:

Ukrainian Special Forces launched a secretive operation in Sudan hunting Russian Forces in an unnamed city. Video evidence shows Ukrainian Forces striking several grouping and headquarters used by Wagner PMC.

In the Crimea peninsula:

Ukrainian Forces launched a missile strike targeting Russian naval positions in the Sevestapol docks using a SCALP missile. According to video evidence, the strike was a success and damaged or destroyed a Russian attack vessel capable of launching Kalibr cruise missiles.

In the Kherson direction:

In just the previous 24-hours, Russian Forces claim to have dropped a total of 87 bombs on Ukrainian Forces in this region, having seemingly fixed whatever logistical issues were preventing Russian Forces from ejecting Ukrainians from their footholds on the Left bank of the Dnieper.

According to the Ministry of Defense (MoD) of the Russian Federation, Ukrainian Forces lost 130 soldiers in the Kherson territory, along with three armored vehicles and five artillery systems, a significant loss for this area.

Russian Forces spent the previous 24 hours heavily bombing and shelling Ukrainian positions on the Right bank of Dnieper across the entire frontline in this region, with special attention given to the foothold in Krynky and the islands between Kynky on the Left Bank and Tiahynka on the Right bank of the Dnieper.

According to Ukrainian and Russian sources, Ukrainian Forces have managed to deliver a number of Armored Vehicles across the river to reinforce troops holding the village of Krynky as the Russian bombardment continues.

Russian Forces were also bombing and shelling the Antonivka area, using a new type of missile which completely and utterly decimated the building Ukrainian troops were hiding in on their foothold in Dachi, also I'm the Left bank of the Dnieper. Russian Forces were also heavily bombing Ukrainian positions here using FPV drones.

In the Zaporizhzhia direction:

As result of fighting in this area, according to the Russian MoD, Ukrainian Forces in this region lost 160 soldiers, three armored vehicles and and one M777 howitzer system.

Russian Forces launched an offensive operation in the vicinity of western Robotyne using armored vehicles, tanks and landing troops, taking back positions lost to Ukrainians Forces in recent weeks.

In the meantime, Russian Forces continue heavily bombing and shelling Ukrainian fortified positions west of Robotyne using a variety of drones and artillery.

East of Robotyne, Russian Forces launched an offensive operation in the vicinity of western Verbove where their forces took back control over extensive trench networks in the fields to the west of Verbove. It would seem Ukrainian Forces no longer control any of these trench networks west of Verbove.

In the Southern Donetsk area:From the south/southwest of Pershotravneve, Russian Forces were launching ground operations against Ukrainian fortified positions in this area, with the aim of cutting off the logistical supply road between Petropavlivka and Orlianka which would hinder Ukrainian logistics towards its forces defending Stepove. Intense fighting continues here.

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[drmajalis]

Every now and then I think about how a game with the plot of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory could NEVER be made today

I felt like talking about this in light of some recent news in East Asia. TL;DR but Chaos Theory, despite being a game ostensibly inspired by the writings of Tom Clancy, is essentially a political thriller where a rogue American PMC company and Japanese Admiral try to start WWIII, and where China and NORTH KOREA are kind of presented as the good guys in the conflict?! Here's a general plot summary: Japan has just created a new warfare branch, the "Information Self-Defence Force" or ISDF, headed by Admiral Toshiro Otomo. The role of the ISDF is to conduct and intercept electronic warfare, which many in Asia feel is a violation of Japan's post war constitution forbidding them from maintaining a military force capable of striking outside its borders. In response, China and North Korea mobilize a naval blockade in the Yellow Sea to intercept and search all Japanese shipping, so America sends their newest electronics warfare ship, the USS Clarence E. Walsh to the area as a show of force, carrying the NSA's top operative (and player character) Sam Fisher. While on the way, Sam is sent to Peru to rescue kidnapped American computer programmer Bruce Morgenholt, who was part of a two-man United Nations to decipher a cyber warfare weapon called the "Masse Kernels" which were part of a previous game. Sam unfortunately finds Morgenholt dead, and pursues the kidnappers to sea, where he finds they were paid for their services using a Panamanian bank as a proxy. Sam is then sent to Panama, where he finds evidence that the payment was went by the other member of the UN task force, computer programmer Abrahim Zherkezhi (and also steals $50 million in French bearer bonds in the process, best level in the game). Further implicating Zherkezhi is that both New York and Japan are hit with a Masse Kernel attack that shuts off their entire electricity grids,so Sam is sent to his Penthouse in New York to investigate, where he finds out that he has a protection detail from American PMC outfit Displace International, headed by his best friend and former war buddy, Douglas Shetland, who were also supposedly protecting Morgenholt. Reluctantly, Fisher infiltrates the offices of Displace and learns that Zherkezhi was relocated to Hokkaido for his protection, so he is sent there, meeting up with Shetland along the way, and the two watch on the news in the bar that the USS Walsh was just hit and sunk by a North Korean anti-ship missile. North Korean officials, backed by China, claim they did not intentionally fire the missile, and the Secretary of Defence claims that the Walsh's cyber warfare systems were way too advanced to be tracked and hit by a fifty year old Chinese-manufactured missile, but Sam's boss, Irving Lambert, believes that before the attack, the Walsh was hit by a Masse Kernel attack disabling it's defence systems. Fisher is sent to Hokkaido to bring Zherkezhi in for questioning, but as he witnesses a meeting between him and Shetland, the latter reveals his intentions to start a war in Asia before murdering Zherkezhi.

Fisher wants to go after Shetland, but with diplomacy rapidly deteriorating after the sinking of the Walsh, war in Korea seems inevitable, so he is instead sent to the North Korean missile battery that sank the Walsh to find proof of the North Korean claims. Fisher finds evidence of the Masse Kernals being used to force launch the missile, but before the information can be sent, North Korea crosses the DMZ and invades the South.

After a stop in Seoul to gather information from a data routing centre, Fisher learns that Shetland is meeting a third party at a bathhouse in Tokyo, which turns out to be the ISDF, who are revealed to be collaborating with Shetland to start a war. Fisher catches and kills Shetland, and is then sent to the Japanese Ministry of Defence to find out if the Japanese government itself is involved. There, Fisher eavesdrops a meeting between high ranking SDF members and finds out that it was Admiral Otomo acting alone, wishing to use the pretext of a war to restart Japanese Imperialism. The GSDF attempt to apprehend Otomo, but fail, and in retaliation, he uses the Mass Kernels to launch a North Korean missile aimed at Japan, knowing that if it hits, World War III will truly be inevitable.

Fisher stops the attack by destroying the ISDF's servers, and apprehends Otomo as he tries to commit seppuku. Otomo confesses to his actions, North Korea withdraws its forces, Displace and the ISDF are disbanded, and the Chinese Ambassador to the United States wins the noble peace prize for his efforts in trying to mediate peace in Asia. Job finished, game over. So, you can probably see why this would never be made today, right? Anything that even remotely positively portrays China, let alone North Korea in a positive light nowadays would get torn to shreds, not to mention the game makes the taboo of bringing light to how the Japanese government has never really owned up to the crimes they committed during WWII because of Cold War politics, as well as showing how Japan rebuilding its military has created lots of tensions in East Asia.

No other real point to this, I just wish we had more complex stories like this where the stereotypical "good and bad guys" don't automatically fill their roles.

[argyrocratie]

"According to the National Police of Ukraine, since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, about 8 thousand criminal proceedings have been opened in the country for evading mobilization.

(...)

A typical example from local social networks of how a summons to a unit can be issued looks like this: the day before yesterday, on Kibalchich Street, cops probably forced a 56-year-old man into a car and took him to the enlistment center, where he became fit for duty in 20 minutes. The next day he already had to show up with his things. Then such people join the ranks of refusers in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as our magazine told about earlier.

Since the beginning of August, the list of the first instance sentences under Art. 336 has been added by 12, and by 6 cases under Art. 408. During this time, the Leninsky District Court of Kharkiv set a record, sending five evaders to jail, despite one of the convicts has a minor child to support, another is a volunteer of the charity foundation Help Save Kharkiv, and the third explained his act by his reluctance to leave his elderly mother alone. There are no examples of suspended sentences under this article for the specified period in our region: everyone is given 3 years of actual imprisonment.

The Parliament of Ukraine is preparing for voting bill No. 10062 of September 18, 2023 on the creation of a unified electronic register of those liable for military service. According to it, the Ministry of Defense will have access to information about such citizens from all official databases, and the list of information that must be transferred to the register by various authorities will also be expanded. This was done taking into account the experience of Russia, where, together with the electronic register, the practice of sending summonses online is being introduced.

(...)

One way or another, everything is going to the fact that instead of a simple kitchen grumbling about the authority, Ukrainian workers will have to become real lifestyle anarchists. Not only to avoid official employment, as now, but to strive to sever all ties with the state and live cladestinely, including stopping seeking medical care, selling cars and resetting bank cards being ready to blocking for failure to appear on a summons. The ever-increasing blurring of the difference between the occupation and “their own” will affect the political atmosphere of Ukraine, where war fatigue and distrust of any government are already beginning to dominate, especially in the front-line regions. Although until a social explosion breaks out in Russia, of course, passive protest will prevail: maximal going to underground, withdrawal of assets abroad, flight from the country by any routes that are not yet blocked.

One of the main reasons for increasing mobilization, Ukrainian propaganda cites the fact that the Russian Federation monthly recruits tens of thousands of contract soldiers into the army, but at the same time, recruits are combined with those already serving. Contracts are signed by mobilized, by mercenaries of the disbanded Wagner PMC, and those who decided to renew the contract after expiration. At the same time, instead of the ideological component, the Kremlin is increasingly relying on money and hints to resume open mobilization if it fails to recruit enough contract soldiers.

(...)

The Russian liberal-pacifist Telegram channel ASTRA counted on October 24 at least 173 Russian military personnel placed in illegal camps for refusers in the occupied territories of Ukraine over the past 10 days. In their opinion, this is just the tip of the iceberg – what they managed to establish through appeals to the channel. Messages came mainly from the Kupyansk direction on the Kharkiv-Lugansk borderland; they are full of the same complaints about drunken commanders, lack of ammunition, reconnaissance, artillery support, food and water. Some people do not want to fight at all, others refuse precisely to go to the slaughter. Most often, stories feature a torture basement in the village of Zaytsevo, which began to fill up en masse last fall, then was dispersed after publicity, and is now operating again. How many people are sitting there at the moment is unknown."

...

[kookicat]

Eternity Is Just One Step Away

Chapter One

It's an ugly bridge on a street without a name, hidden in the middle of rural nowhere. Just concrete barriers like prison walls holding a two lane road that's rutted with potholes. He ditches the rental car in the scrub next to the road and kills the engine, leaving the lights on even though he doesn't need the light to do what he's planning. Realises with a shudder that he has no idea where he is, then shrugs, because he's been lost for so fucking long that it's almost become a comfort to him. Lost is a destination when you have nothing else to surrender, and slowly but surely his own bad choices have stripped anything good from him. 

It's raining; fine heavy drizzle that soaks through his shirt and makes him shiver. The water stings the cuts on his back and shoulders, and the cold makes the broken wrist and both of his bruised knees throb like a busted, rotten tooth. He swipes a hand across his face, tastes blood like old iron on his lips. Gravel crunches under his boots and sounds no different to the gunshots still echoing in his head. 

The animal part of his brain wants to retreat to the scant shelter of the car. He ignores it, just like he's ignoring the pain, just like he trained to do, back when he had a flag on his shoulder and hands that were still clean of blood. Back when picking up a gun meant protecting someone weaker than him, rather than more slaughter under the banner of yet another PMC. Back when he could meet the eyes of the man staring back at him from the mirror. 

He reaches the middle of the bridge. There's a constellation of broken glass on the road and a nasty gouge out of the concrete, still marked by red paint where the bridge had held up against assault by automobile. He feels similarly battered, the bright and shiny new walls he'd built up doing good for a change crumbling because the foundation he'd built them on was giving way.

Moonlight reflects off the murky water twenty feet below him. It smells silty, thick with mud, the channel and banks choked with tangled weeds, but that doesn't bother him, because it suits his purposes just fine. The comfortable numbness that had descended on him when he picked up the gun in the warehouse wavers for a second, shards of good memories turned to pain slicing so deeply for a moment he thinks he won't need the gun tucked into his jeans at the small of his back. He breathes through the pain and the memories, lets them fade away under the quiet, bottomless depression he's been swimming against for too damn long. 

The gun is warm - shockingly so, as he forces his stiff fingers to close around the grip. He's thought about this day, more times than he can count, planned it down to the smallest detail, but he never included leaving behind good people who loved him and accepted him for what he was. That was never in the plan, because he never in a million years thought he'd finally be part of something good again. 

Until I fucked that up, too, he thinks, and leans back, resting his weight on his broken wrist until the clean white-hot pain engulfs him and he doesn't have to think about the team any more, because he's not entirely sure how or when they found out what he'd done, but they had, and he'd walked into the hotel room to a welcome as warm as a midwinter morning. 

None of them will look at him, and his bags are neatly packed, piled by the door, clearly and devastatingly separate from the rest of the team's luggage. His spare boots are on top, laces free from fancy knots and that hurts more than anything else, a sharp, lancing pain where friendship used to be. There are words stuck in his throat, sharp edged like razors, but he can't get them free, so he just scoops the bags up and backs out of the room, retreating to the rental car like a wolf that's chewed off a limb to be free of a trap. Limping and bleeding and knowing life will never ever be the same. 

A fish jumps in the water below, landing with a splash, snapping him out of his memories and he shifts so he's sitting on the concrete barriers, back to the water and lifts the gun. The metal is warm against his temple, a sharp contrast from the chilly wind blowing over his newly shorn scalp. It had been hard, one handed, crammed in a tiny convenience store bathroom, hacking at his hair with his knife until most of it was gone, falling to the floor like leaves from a dying tree. 

It's better, this way, he thinks, good Eliot had long hair and God knows I ain't really that man. 

He closes his eyes, finger tightening on the trigger and suddenly he's falling, weightless, and finally free.

Read the next chapters at

[theculturedmarxist]

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” —Will Durant (attributed to Aristotle)

Policy on Covid in the West is being locked down around a few bullet points, as you can see from what was discussed at the recent meeting of the FDA Advisory Panel on Covid Vaccines, and what was not discussed (see additional material in today’s links). These bullet points (here numbered for reference) form a program:

(1) Mass infection without mitigation

(2) Intramuscular injection of vaccines

(3) Hospitalization and death as only metrics that matter

And a corollary:

(4) PMC who support this program are hegemonic, hence amplified; the exceptional others are at best ignored and at worst ostracized or attacked. (This applies to the media, academe, medical professionals, the political class, and agencies like CDC; NIH; HHS, etc.)

“The Ultimate Lockdown,” we might call this program. (Or perhaps “The Big Cheese Model”, as opposed to the “Swiss Cheese” model.) This program is serves the interests of many powerful actors, all of whom make bank on mass infection.

The Ultimate Lockdown is, of course, eugenic in character, and not merely stochastically. Continous mass infection by Covid is a recipe for falling life expectancy, already achieved in the United States, whether the cases are “mild” or not. As with deaths of despair, eugenics is what our rulers “repeatedly do.” It is what they are “excellent” at.

The Ultimate Lockdown is therefore opposed — implicitly, and sometimes even consciously — by many scattered forces. The most important force should be not unscattered but ubiquitous: hundreds of millions of those who are conscious that their lives — and the lives of their families, friends, and co-workers — will most likely be sicker and shorter (albeit marked by rental extraction even more intense than today’s). Perhaps that will happen. However, if you sort by the bullet points above, you will see other pockets of opposition, and those not without force. For example, people opposing the Ultimate Lockdown are:

(1) Developing or supporting vaccines that do not require muscular injection;

(2) Fighting (sorry; I don’t mean “‘fighting'”) on behalf of those suffering from Long Covid, or from the neurological or vascular damage that comes even from mild cases (in other words, for metrics other than death or hospitalization);

(3) Pursuing mitigation strategies (for example, masks and Corsi Boxes);

(4) Incorporating non-vax prophylaxis and treatments into their Covid prevention protocols, and sharing their protocols with others (as we shall see);

(5) Overturning outdated paradigms of Covid transmission (where would we be without the efforts of those exceptional aerosol scientists? Still washing our hands behind Plexiglass barriers);

(6) Amplifying the above five points and correcting or rebuking the hegemonic PMC.

In this post, I will focus on (1) vaccines that do not require intramuscular injection (briefly), and then on (4) non-vax prophylaxis and treatments. By so doing, I will be (6) amplifying the good guys. But first, I will briefly review — from the previous post, “The Latest Anti-Covid Nasal Spray Vaccine Science,” which was an assault on point (2) of the Ultimate Lockdown — how Covid enters the body, because understanding this mechanism undergirds every other measure we could take (that is, (1) – (5)).

SARS-CoV-2’s First Hours in the Body

As my companion piece explains, SARS-CoV-2 enters the body through the nose, and initially multiplies there. During this period, SARS-CoV-2 is asymptomatic, but can still spread, as the infected individual breathes shared air in and out. (Asymptomatic spread is one characteristic that makes SARS-CoV-2 so hard to stop.) Later, SARS-CoV-2 infects other parts of the body, including the mouth (see below). Therefore, if we really want to stop SARS-CoV-2 — remember, our current ruling elites are in favor of transmission — we have to stop it in this early period, while it is still multiplying in the nose. It follows that any sterilizing vaccine — the unfortunate term for a vaccine that prevents community transmission — must activate mucosal immunity — the nose has its own separate immune system (!) — which intra-muscular injections do not do. It also follows that non-vax treatments, that also may kill SARS-CoV-2 in its initial phase, can be very, very useful. From The Mail in the UK:

T-cells and B-cells in the mucosal layer can prompt a lightning-fast attack ‘pretty much the instant the virus comes in’, attacking it before it has a chance to infect cells, [Muhammad Munir, a professor in virology and viral zoonoses at Lancaster University] says. ‘These nasal immune cells get to work in a couple of minutes — whereas the immune cells made by intramuscular vaccines get to work six to eight hours after entry of the virus.’

This time difference, he says, is vital. ‘If just one virus particle successfully sticks to one cell it takes over that cell and replicates to produce a million more viruses in an eight-hour cycle,’ says Professor Munir, who has been leading the research into Lancaster University’s nasal vaccine.

‘That’s why the nasal vaccine will have the advantage — the immune cells it produces in the nasopharyngeal region can act immediately. It’s a bit like having the police sitting and waiting for a crime to be committed.

‘With the intramuscular vaccine approach, the police only come once the problem is there, and by that time damage could be done.’

I want to underline that non-vax nasal prophylactics leverage the time difference as well. If a nasal vaccine is the cops, perhaps non-vax nasal prophylactics are the neighborhood watch. Let me now quickly turn to Bharat’s just-introduced nasal vaccine, after which I will move on to prophylactics.

Bharat’s Nasal Vaccine

Hilda Bastian tracks nasal vaccines; her latest update was back in September, and presumably there will be an update coming soon. As she shows, nasal vaccines have already been introduced in Iran, Russia, and China. However, Bharat’s release is — or should be — really big news; it’s an enormous vaccine company that does a lot of contract work for other brands. From the Economic Times of India, “Bharat Biotech’s nasal Covid vaccine iNCOVACC launched“:

The shot will be on the Covid-19 list of vaccines and be accessible in private institutions. According to Bharat Biotech, the intranasal vaccine will cost Rs 325 per injection for government purchases and Rs 800 per shot for private immunisation facilities.

A primary 2-dose regimen for people aged 18 and older in an emergency situation had previously been authorised under limited use. Phase III trials of the vaccine were conducted on 3,100 participants at 14 trial sites across India to evaluate immunogenicity and safety. Hyderabad-based companies also intend to export iNCOVACC overseas once it gets licensed.

Bharat Biotech is currently in discussions with overseas “potential partners”, who have contacted the company about producing and distributing the intranasal vaccine internationally, according to corporate sources. The vaccine was partnered with Washington University in St. Louis, who created the recombinant adenoviral vectored construct and tested its efficacy in pre-clinical investigations.

(Perhaps some kind reader familiar with Indian sources can supply a link to the 3,100 participant-study.) From the BBC:

Dr Krishna Ella, chairman of Bharat Biotech, told ANI news agency that the vaccine was “easy to deliver” as it didn’t need a syringe or needle, and that it produced a broader immune response as compared to injectable Covid vaccines.

No cold chain. No medical personnel, trained in injection, needed. No hospital setting. Ideal for a country like India, and entirely opposed to The Ultimate Lockdown. (In theory at least. One sour note: The Indian government may not be procuring it; private hospitals may. Perhaps the views of India’s elites are much like our own?)

We now turn to what every really wants to read about.

Nasal Prophylactics

This is not an exhaustive list. There are too many products! However, I hope users will share their own experiences in comments.

Let me underline that prophylactic advocacy should be based firmly on a mechanism — exactly in the way that we assess a room to see if the ventilation is in order. That’s why understanding SARS-CoV-2’s first hours in the body is so important (ditto mucus transport). Modulo a “miracle cure” that really does cure, if one of these methods turns out to be unsupported by a mechanism, it does no good to cling to it as part of our protocol; we should either find the mechanism, or replace it with something that has a reason to work (if only to prevent others from imitating us).

Let me also underline that we can’t be waiting around for the RCTs (which are always in danger of being gamed by those who can fund them in any case). The Don’t Believe the Hype blog writes of prophylaxis:

Whilst I generally like to end blogs saying ‘don’t believe the hype,’ in this case it is unknown whether this is hype or not. As above, I don’t feel there is much to lose; it is at worst a harmless intervention, and at best something that could reduce COVID severity (and therefore, potentially COVID complications).

Finally, let underline that I view all this as a form of “citizen science.” Hence, my concern for a mechanism. If something works for you personally, that’s great, but it’s even better if we know why it works, so others have reason to adopt the protocol you have adopted. With that, I’ll take a look at four products; then I’ll look at a product ingredient (carrageenan), and a method (nasal irrigation). In no particular order:

Vaill CoviTRAP. Sadly available (so far) only in Thailand (and Cambodia)– though the Hong Kong-based Watson’s pharmacy chain may end up carrying it — CoviTRAP is a true “morning after” nasal spray. From a medRvix preprint, “A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of a nasal spray solution containing broadly potent neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants in healthy volunteers“:

Successful COVID-19 prevention requires additional measures beyond vaccination, social distancing, and masking. A nasal spray solution containing human IgG1 antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 (COVITRAP™) was developed to strengthen other COVID-19 preventive arsenals…. Collectively, COVITRAP™ can safely and effectively support mucosal immunity at thepoint of entry of the virus, making it an essential and complementary tool in our preexistingCOVID-19 prevention arsenals. Nevertheless, a large-scale efficacy trial measuring COVID-19incidence will be required to demonstrate the efficacy of COVID-19 prevention by COVITRAP™.

I like the non-vax use case: After possible exposure, a spritz of antibodies (clearly useful in a tourist-heavy economy like Thailand’s). Yes, a large-scale trial would be great, but personal risk assessment: the cost is low, the risk and low, and the benefits are huge. So I wish this product had a commercial rival in the West!

Enovid Sanotize/Virx (two brands, same formulation). A Nitric Oxide technology, described in “Clinical efficacy of nitric oxide nasal spray (NONS) for the treatment of mild COVID-19 infection“:

Treatment with NONS in this trial was found to be effective and safe in reducing the viral load in patients with mild, symptomatic COVID-19 infection. … Accelerated SARS-CoV-2 clearance with NONS may reduce symptom duration, decrease infectivity period, reduce hospital admissions, and lower disease severity. Consequently, this study could be used as supporting evidence for emergency use of NONS for patients with mild COVID-19 infection.

Same risk assessment as above. A traveller’s review:

I won’t pretend that it’s very pleasant using the product, as there’s a slight stinging sensation when using as directed (slightly inhaling when spraying each nostril). The stinging is temporary, just for a few seconds. Our son doesn’t like it, although he tolerates it.

While it could be luck, we’ve remained negative for Covid while using the product, even while in Denmark, where we did have some meals indoors and were in relatively crowded areas such as Tivoli. No one in Denmark, apart from a few foreigners, was wearing face masks during our visit. We were especially focused on not becoming infected with Covid because our son had to test negative before attending a summer camp, which he did. We can’t prove it, but we suspect our family’s use of Enovid helped his odds.

I use the product regularly, and pleasant is not the word. Not too bad though! Not even “this may sting a little”-level.

Algovir. From “Recommendation of the German Society of Hospital Hygiene (DGKH): Prevention of COVID-19 by virucidal gargling and virucidal nasal spray – updated version April 2022“:

In the absence of a PVP-iodine based nasal spray, use a Carragelose®-based nasal spray (e.g. Algovir® cold spray) in the morning and evening; probably more effective is 0.23% PVP-iodine solution (self-production see above).

(More on Carragelose below.)

There is also the old standby, Betadine Povidone (iodine for throat, carrageenan for nose). See NC here and here.

Now to the ingredient: Carrageenan. From “Efficacy of a Nasal Spray Containing Iota-Carrageenan in the Postexposure Prophylaxis of COVID-19 in Hospital Personnel Dedicated to Patients Care with COVID-19 Disease“:

A total of 394 individuals were randomly assigned to receive I-C or placebo. Both treatment groups had similar baseline characteristics. The incidence of COVID-19 differs significantly between subjects receiving the nasal spray with I-C (2 of 196 [1.0%]) and those receiving placebo (10 of 198 [5.0%]). Relative risk reduction: 79.8% (95% CI 5.3 to 95.4; p=0.03). Absolute risk reduction: 4% (95% CI 0.6 to 7.4).

In this pilot study a nasal spray with I-C showed significant efficacy in preventing COVID-19 in health care workers managing patients with COVID-19 disease.

So check the label! Finally, nasal irrigation. From “Rapid initiation of nasal saline irrigation to reduce severity in high-risk COVID+ outpatients: a randomized clinical trial compared to a national dataset observational arm.” n=79:

SARS-CoV-2 enters the nasopharynx to replicate; nasal irrigation soon after diagnosis could reduce viral load and inhibit furin cleavage necessary for cell entry, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality…. A consecutive sample of 79 high-risk adults (mean age 64, BMI 30.3) were randomized toinitiate one of two nasal irrigation protocols within 24 hours of a positive COVID-19 test. Compared to aCDC COVID-19 National Dataset observational arm, 1.27% of participants initiating twice daily nasalirrigation were hospitalized or died, compared to 11%, a significant difference.

And from Augusta University:

Starting twice daily flushing of the mucus-lined nasal cavity with a mild saline solution soon after testing positive for COVID-19 can significantly reduce hospitalization and death, investigators report.

They say the technique that can be used at home by mixing a half teaspoon each of salt and baking soda in a cup of boiled or distilled water then putting it into a sinus rinse bottle is a safe, effective and inexpensive way to reduce the risk of severe illness and death from coronavirus infection that could have a vital public health impact.

“What we say in the emergency room and surgery is the solution to pollution is dilution,” says Dr. Amy Baxter, emergency medicine physician at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University and corresponding author of the study in Ear, Nose & Throat Journal.

“By giving extra hydration to your sinuses, it makes them function better. If you have a contaminant, the more you flush it out, the better you are able to get rid of dirt, viruses and anything else,” says Baxter.

“We found an 8.5-fold reduction in hospitalizations and no fatalities compared to our controls,” says senior author Dr. Richard Schwartz, chair of the MCG Department of Emergency Medicine. “Both of those are pretty significant endpoints.”

Mouthwashes

Now let’s turn to the next line of defense after the nose: The mouth. (Note that I don’t know whether mouthwashes leverage the time difference between infection and viral shedding, the way nasal sprays and vaccines can. Still, it seems like a good idea to kill the virus where found.) From BDJ Team (the online adjunct to British Dental Journal), “How a radiologist became an evangelist for dental hygienists“:

Dr Lloyd-Jones says: ‘It’s a simple concept – in those with poor oral health the mouth is like an open wound. The absorption pathway for pathogens passing across damaged oral mucosa is the same as for the skin – pathogens can pass into the blood but do not pass through the liver, as is the case for absorption via the gut. Oral pathogens have direct access to the systemic circulation, which explains why they end up all over the body and are directly implicated in the development of multiple important systemic diseases’.

He rang up two of his friends, one a dentist and the other an oral surgeon, asking whether damaged mucosa of the gums could be the anatomical pathway to the lungs via the blood. They both confirmed his ideas made sense, explaining that the gingival epithelium is easily breached by bacteria in plaque biofilm, so why not a virus? The missing link between the blood and the lungs, they agreed, could well be gum disease. Dr Lloyd-Jones set to work, developing a scientific hypothesis, first published on his own educational website in February 2021

(In my view, this is exactly how exceptional PMC should behave.) Here is a guide to mouth care from Lloyd-Jone’s hospital. And a preprint from medRxiv, “Brief Report: The Virucidal Efficacy of Oral Rinse Components Against SARS-CoV-2 In Vitro“:

The ability of widely-available mouthwashes to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 in vitro was tested using aprotocol capable of detecting a 5-log10 reduction in infectivity, under conditions mimicking thenaso/oropharynx. During a 30 second exposure, two rinses containing cetylpyridinium chloride and a third with ethanol/ethyl lauroyl arginate eliminated live virus to EN14476 standards (>4-log10reduction), while others with ethanol/essential oils and povidone-iodine (PVP-I) eliminated virus by 2-3-log10. Chlorhexidine or ethanol alone had little or no ability to inactivate virus in this assay. Studiesare warranted to determine whether these formulations can inactivate virus in the human oropharynxin vivo, and whether this might impact transmission.

So “cetylpyridinium chloride” and “ethanol/ethyl lauroyl” are the ingredients to look for on the label. Perhaps readers can suggest from brands?

Conclusion

I should have a peroration, but I feel like I’ve said what I’ve had to say. Let’s all contest The Ultimate Lockdown, especially by, as citizen scientists, developing protocols and sharing them. We can save some lives! Let us become excellent by saving lives, repeatedly.

[panchshilrealestate]

Understanding the New Rules for Redevelopment of Housing Societies

Redevelopment has become a vital solution for aging housing societies in urban areas. With the rising need to improve infrastructure, enhance amenities, and ensure structural safety, redevelopment projects breathe new life into old buildings. To regulate this process and protect the interests of all stakeholders, governments often introduce and revise rules for housing society redevelopment. Recently, new guidelines have been put in place that aim to streamline the redevelopment process, address common challenges, and ensure transparency. In this blog, we explore these new rules in detail and discuss their implications for housing societies.

Why Redevelopment is Necessary

Housing societies constructed decades ago may no longer meet modern living standards. Factors such as:

Structural Weakness: Buildings deteriorate over time due to wear and tear, environmental conditions, and lack of maintenance.

Inadequate Amenities: Older structures may lack contemporary facilities such as elevators, parking spaces, or fire safety measures.

Rising Real Estate Value: Redevelopment often unlocks the potential of prime locations by optimizing the use of land.

Population Growth: Redevelopment can help accommodate the increasing demand for housing in urban areas by replacing low-density buildings with high-density structures.

Key Highlights of the New Redevelopment Rules

The revised redevelopment rules aim to simplify processes, safeguard the rights of residents, and attract developers to undertake redevelopment projects. Below are some of the critical updates:

1. Mandatory Consent Requirements

Previously, obtaining consent from members of a housing society for redevelopment often led to disputes and delays. The new rules have introduced clear guidelines for this process:

Consent Threshold: At least 51% of the total members must give their written consent for initiating redevelopment, compared to the earlier threshold of 70% or higher in some cases.

Transparent Voting Mechanism: Consent must be recorded through a secret ballot or an online voting system to ensure fairness and eliminate coercion.

2. Appointment of Project Management Consultants (PMC)

To ensure a professional and unbiased approach to redevelopment, housing societies must appoint a qualified Project Management Consultant. The PMC’s responsibilities include:

Conducting a feasibility study.

Preparing a detailed project report.

Assisting in the selection of a developer.

Monitoring project execution to ensure adherence to timelines and quality standards.

3. Developer Selection Process

Transparency in choosing a developer is crucial to avoid favoritism or fraud. The updated rules outline:

Tendering Process: Societies must invite bids from multiple developers through a public tendering process.

Evaluation Criteria: Developers will be evaluated based on technical expertise, financial stability, and proposed benefits to society members.

Agreement Terms: A detailed redevelopment agreement must be signed, clearly stating project timelines, member compensation, and penalty clauses for delays.

4. Compensation and Alternate Accommodation

One of the primary concerns for residents during redevelopment is ensuring adequate compensation and alternate housing during the construction phase. The new rules mandate:

Rent for Temporary Accommodation: Developers must provide rent or alternate housing arrangements for all residents until the project is completed.

Additional Area or Monetary Benefits: Members are entitled to a minimum of 25-30% additional carpet area or equivalent monetary compensation, depending on the project’s feasibility.

Bank Guarantee: Developers must furnish a bank guarantee equivalent to 20-30% of the project cost to ensure financial security for society members.

5. Structural Audit and Feasibility Study

Before initiating redevelopment, a structural audit by a certified expert is mandatory to assess the building’s condition. A feasibility study is also required to determine whether redevelopment is the best course of action or if repairs would suffice.

6. Dispute Resolution Mechanism

Redevelopment projects often face legal hurdles due to disputes among society members or between the society and the developer. To address this:

Dedicated Redevelopment Authorities: The government has set up dedicated authorities or tribunals to resolve disputes quickly.

Arbitration and Mediation: Encouragement of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to reduce the burden on courts.

7. Environmental and Safety Compliance

The new rules emphasize sustainable redevelopment practices. Developers must:

Obtain all necessary environmental clearances.

Incorporate green building features such as rainwater harvesting, solar panels, and energy-efficient systems.

Ensure compliance with fire safety norms and other safety regulations.

Benefits of the New Redevelopment Rules

The revised guidelines provide several advantages for housing societies, developers, and residents:

Transparency and Accountability: Clear processes and documentation reduce the scope for corruption and fraud.

Faster Project Completion: Streamlined procedures minimize delays caused by legal or administrative bottlenecks.

Enhanced Living Standards: Redevelopment offers residents modern amenities, improved safety, and better infrastructure.

Fair Compensation: Members’ interests are safeguarded through mandatory compensation and secure agreements.

Boost to Real Estate Sector: Developers are incentivized to participate in redevelopment projects, contributing to urban renewal.

Challenges and Concerns

Despite the improvements, certain challenges remain:

Resistance from Residents: Some members may resist redevelopment due to sentimental attachment to their homes or mistrust of developers.

Execution Risks: Delays in project execution or financial issues faced by developers can cause hardships for residents.

Regulatory Compliance: Developers and societies must navigate a complex web of approvals and clearances, which can be time-consuming.

Ensuring Inclusivity: Special provisions may be needed to address the concerns of economically weaker sections in mixed-income housing societies.

Steps for Housing Societies to Prepare for Redevelopment

If your society is considering redevelopment, here are some steps to ensure a smooth process:

Educate Members: Conduct awareness sessions to explain the benefits, process, and rules of redevelopment.

Hire Experts: Engage a reputable PMC, legal advisor, and structural auditor for professional guidance.

Create a Redevelopment Committee: Form a committee with representatives from all wings or blocks to oversee the process.

Evaluate Proposals Carefully: Assess developer bids meticulously, considering both financial and technical aspects.

Maintain Transparency: Keep all members informed about the progress, decisions, and timelines.

Conclusion

The new rules for the redevelopment of housing societies mark a significant step toward improving urban living conditions. By prioritizing transparency, accountability, and resident welfare, these guidelines aim to foster trust and cooperation among all stakeholders. While challenges remain, proactive planning and adherence to the rules can ensure successful redevelopment projects that benefit everyone involved. Housing societies must seize this opportunity to transform their aging infrastructure into vibrant, modern living spaces that meet the demands of the future.

[teecupangel]

AC x COD, Let's say Valeria as El Sin Nombre made dealings with the Templars like past deals for human trafficking for the Animus project (she's doesn't know about that) or paid for information as an example and maybe got some wisdom by the Templars (if they are so prideful to boast about it) and it just pulls us into the confrontation of Alejandro and Valeria scene into more Desmond telling she was used as a pawn or something

The Assassin's Creed x Call Of Duty Modern Warfare crossover (idea + 2 drabbles, short fic 1, short fic 2, another drabble, an overview of Desmond's journal and loadout)

This gives me an excuse to talk about the villains’ connection to the whole Assassin vs Templar aspect of Assassin’s Creed so here we go!

The Zakhaevs - It’s currently unknown if there is any connection between them and Abstergo but, considering Las Almas had dealings with both of them, it’s possible that they are using middlemen/companies/parties to indirectly deal with the Zakhaevs to ensure it does not trace back to them.

Valeria and the Las Almas - She inherited Abstergo as a customer from the La Arana’s. Las Almas was also in charge of moving Soma from Mexico to the United States although it is unknown where in the US it’s meant to be shipped (Desmond’s guess would be perhaps to the Abstergo facility in Philidelphia). Other than that, there’s an Abstergo-ran clinic nearby where members of Las Almas get treated for free. In exchange, any person that the Las Almas move to or from the border must be checked there as well. This clinic is controlled by Abstergo and is mainly used to check for any ‘interesting’ genetic memory from the samples they receive.

General Shepherd - I already talked about Shepherd as an Assassin in the idea + 1 drabble and a short scene that have him. Other than that, it should be noted that Shepherd was one of the last mentor’s acolytes together with William Miles and Gavin Banks but he was passed over to be the next mentor after the mentor’s death as he was too much of a public figure, considering his rising military career. He had a wife and a child back in the Brotherhood, both of which died during the Great Purge. His Assassin affiliation is kept hidden even from the other Assassins and the most people know about him is that he is an ally. (Side note: he is the one who gave 141 a dog named Riley and it’s implied to have been a child of the last mentor’s dog)

Philip Graves and the Shadow Company - Here’s a short scene that has them. The most important part about them is that they are all survivors of the Great Purge or children whose parents and families died during the Great Purge. They were taken in by General Shepherd and trained to be one of the best PMC in the modern era. They idolize Ezio Auditore for destroying the Borgias and the Byzantine Templar Rites. As a PMC, they are not considered as actual Assassins by the Brotherhood and they have worked for Abstergo before.

Roman Barkov - His assholeness is just him. The Templars and the Assassins have nothing to do with that.

Hassan Zyani - He made a deal with Abstergo to transport Soma to the US in exchange for their support. Considering Berg is in charge of meeting him… it’s highly plausible a double-cross might be on the horizon.

Makarov - He never dealt with the Templars and Abstergo thinks he’s a loose cannon that’s too dangerous to deal with. However! He may or may not have had dealings with the Assassins before he became the Makarov we all hate today. At the very least, he knows William Miles but he knows him by a different name: Yuri.

For those who are unfamiliar with it, there's an ongoing sorta-poll right now of whether I write an actual fic for this crossover or a Leverage-inspired conman!Desmond for Desmond's birthday in March. More information here.