#SV Mercenaries

[destiny-smasher]

Scarlet Koito, 5 years after the events of Pokemon SV from my timeskip AU fanfic, Operation Comet Punch, where they are in the role of 'player character' in the game's storyline (remixing a character from the manga into the game). Redesign by me, artwork by su1zide, who did a fantastic job! Twitter upload here. Definitely will be comming more of the characters from them!

They are a freelance mercenary, a Champion Rank trainer of Paldea, and travels around the world wherever the pay is good, running oddjobs, doing dangerous work and making it look easy.

Until one day, a job brings them back to the Great Crater...

You can check out the ongoing fic here!

[random-thought-depository]

Idea I got tangential to a discussion on a socialist humanity Mass Effect AU premise on SV, copying and pasting from my relevant posts there:

Point: if you get rid of aging and most disease, the main thing that kills people will be accidents, suicides, and murders, and there's probably a lot that can be done to make accidental death less likely that we don't bother with because old age usually kills us long before an accident can.

One of I'm sure many examples: we have subway stations with rails in open roughly person-height depressions that people can just fall into, our society considers this risk acceptable, but I expect in a society of unaging people there'd be some kind of partition with doors separating the passenger platform and the track (much like our elevators usually have a door on the elevator compartment itself and doors on the access points of the elevator shaft).

Similarly, I expect a society of unaging people would become much more scrupulous than us about removing trip hazards, making vehicles as safe as possible, etc.. I expect they'd also automate dangerous jobs like construction pretty much as much as possible, much more than we do.

Really, if you're going to go with a dystopian angle for the Asari, I think the one I'd go with is having them rely heavily on aliens for dangerous jobs, on the logic that if an Asari construction worker falls off a scaffold and splats like a bug on a windshield on the ground 500 meters below, they've lost centuries or millennia of life and a shot at living to see the stars burn out, but if it happens to a human, oh well, the congenital terminal degenerative disease they were born with (aging/senescence) will probably kill them within 50 years anyway, so they lose much less. A wealthy society with an unaging citizen class surrounded by societies of people who age might look a bit like those Gulf petro-states where much of the actual work-force is a subaltern class of foreign migrant laborers.

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Aside following a tangent from the last paragraph of my previous post: "they're unaging and see their own lives as much more valuable than the lives of aliens with limited lifespans because they lose so much more if they die" would make a much more interesting rationale for Batarians being chauvinistic slavers than "they're just kind of generic evil nationalists."

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Edit: I think a species like that would probably have a vibe less like canon Batarians and more like stereotypical fantasy Elves at their worst or Skeksis. E.g. they'd be reclusive and hikikomori-ish cause their whole lives are structured around reducing risk to themselves, meeting one face to face would be a special event because they rely heavily on mercenaries and janissaries and robots to do their fighting for them and on Mouth of Sauron type minions and remote communication for diplomacy. And they might contemptuously refer to shorter-lived races as "mortals" like Dracula or some asshole fantasy Elf would.

I really like this as an idea for an "evil empire" faction in a space opera setting! Much more original villain motivation than the millionth variation on generic tyranny or religion of evil or whatever! And it's a rationale for slavery and imperialism that stands up at least a bit better to the "raw materials would probably be super-abundant for a society with interstellar travel" and "a society with interstellar travel would probably have pretty good automation" objections.

More ideas for a faction like this:

So, I'm thinking give them something a little like the canon Batarian kind of pathetic Space North Korea vibe, but different, and also adjust it for a setting that's less heavy on the human-wank, so make them a faction that could credibly get trashed in a conflict that's more like the setting's equivalent of the 1895-96 Italian-Ethiopian War.

So I'm thinking lean heavily on the Skeksis parallel here. As part of that, give them a vibe a little like "what if Panem from The Hunger Games invented warp drive and met advanced aliens?"

These aliens are naturally long-lived and slow-breeding, and their risk-aversion compounds this (reproduction may be risky to them like it is to female humans, and even if it isn't reproduction is risky in that it introduces a new and potentially unpredictable player to the social landscape), so their population is very small. Their territory basically consists of their homeworld plus maybe some asteroid mines and other space infrastructure in their home solar system. Almost all of their population is on their homeworld; they may even have a thing like Known Space Puppeteers where members of their species who take the risk of leaving their homeworld are literally considered insane (but usefully so) by most of the species. Even their homeworld has a very small population, maybe a few hundred million tops, plausibly only tens of millions, and most of those are the "mortal" slaves who make up most of the actual population. It's basically ocean and wasteland, a bunch of giant sprawling estates, a single capital city, and a minimalistic and heavily automated infrastructure to support that.

Obviously, these people have no reason to fight aliens for resources or living room. Rather, what they're short of is labor. To this end, they sometimes send out ships to capture slaves though raiding and piracy. Maybe they also buy slaves from some of the shittier empires they have contacts with too.

Possibly there's some shorter-lived indigenous sapient species on their planet that they co-evolved with or enslaved early in the history of their civilization, and their slave-raiding is just their attempt at folding aliens into that system, mostly an attempt at acquiring captives with valuable knowledge and skills (in which case captives will probably get less chains and whips slavery and more subtler forms of coercion). Or maybe their present social system is a reaction to contact with "mortal" sapient species and the "mortal" slaves on their planet are all captives or the descendants of captives (probably mostly the latter, though I think they'd carefully control reproduction among their slaves and keep their slave population either stable or growing only very slowly - they'd be scared of the possibility of their much faster-breeding slaves becoming too numerous to easily control, and being unaging they'd have very long planning horizons).

The slave-masters have a very small population and are a highly privileged class. Each one lives like a feudal lord, tended and pampered and protected by robots and slaves. They rarely do any physical labor: that's much too dangerous! They live in a floating world of luxury and status games; their society has kind of a Heian court vibe. They often scheme and intrigue against each other, flex and dunk on each other, and seek to sideline and disempower each other, but these struggles are mostly relatively non-violent because they have a sense that the life of one of their own is precious and a solidarity based on that which transcends whether they like each other as people. This obviously fits with their ideology, but it's also instinctive, reflecting an evolutionary history as a long-lived slow-breeding species for whom every viable offspring was precious; quite likely they embraced the ideology because it resonates with their instincts. The idea of killing or even injuring one of their own is viscerally horrifying and repellent to them and they would resort to such measures only in the most extreme circumstances; they've probably executed, like, a single digit number of their own kind in the last few millennia, and each one of those is remembered as an infamous traitor whose depraved betrayals of their own kind are overshadowed only by the mind-searing horror of the punishment meted out to them.

I think one of them would make a good video game antagonist cause they'd lend themselves well to meeting one of them being a boss fight. Like I said, for an outsider meeting one face-to-face would be a rare special event because they'd be very reluctant to expose themselves to the risk of close proximity to an outsider, but 1) if they did, it'd be with the best protection their society could arrange, 2) very long lifespans and slow breeding is only likely to be selected for if there's little risk of dying by accident or predation, so it would be most likely to happen in a species where mature individuals were pretty hard to kill. So an individual of this species would likely be very reclusive and hikikomori-like but very formidable if they actually showed up for a fight. In a Mass Effect context, think maybe a giant being comparable in dimensions to an elephant or T-Rex which also is a very powerful biotic, is packing the best weapons and protected by the best protective suit its society can produce with no expense spared, controls a personal squad of combat robots and elite janissaries (themselves dangerous opponents!), and has thousands of years of experience. If you manage to kill it the others of its kind will spend millennia mourning it and hating you for the unimaginable crime of destroying a mind that was already vast and ancient when the capstone was laid on the Great Pyramid at Giza.

One thing I like about this idea is, like... Somebody said in that discussion that the point of species like Batarians, Dilgar, etc. is to basically be a super-evil version of Spain for a war that is to humans what the Spanish-American War was to the USA, and I think with this idea it'd be obvious that it's really more like the First Italian-Ethiopian War or the time Idi Amin got his ass kicked by Tanzania. Like I said, one of these unaging slaver aliens would be a very formidable opponent at the small scale, but if you zoom out to what sort of threat they'd be on the galactic scale it'd be kind of obvious that humans bragging about beating up on them just shows how pathetic Earth still is compared to the setting's great powers; their tiny population makes the idea that they could be any kind of existential threat to the real big players a joke, they'd be basically the setting's equivalent of, like, if Somali pirates were somehow controlled by North Korea, and really, the idea that they'd be any kind of threat to Earth is kind of seriously embarrassing for anyone pushing a "HUMANS STRONK" line, they probably have less people than Bangladesh and that's doing the equivalent of counting the helots with the Spartans.

[scarlettgauthor]

Hello, Tumblr, and I hope you had a merry holiday (or simply enjoyed the weekend off)! I am so excited to finally share some absolutely amazing news: There's an audio book of His Secret Illuminations, and it is available for purchase now!!!

[intense, relieved, distant screaming]

I am so pumped about this you wouldn't even believe it. I started trying to produce this audio book in June of this year. June. You might note that it is now December. This is a project six months in the making. I went through multiple rounds of auditions and thought I'd found a narrator twice and both times they had to back out of recording. I exhausted everyone who sounded right at one service and went to fellow self-published fantasy author Virginia McClain for advice, and she pointed me to Antoine Bandele of AB Book Services and his roster of narrators, where I found Martin Martinez. Martin auditioned for me with a perfectly sweet Lucían and a wonderfully strong Glory. His reading was deft and playful and exactly what I'd been hoping for, and the sex scenes? Well, to quote the illustrious burlesque icon Miss Kitty Baby: "There won't be a dry seat in the house."

Please give it a listen if you're an audio book person, or tell your friends to give it a listen if you aren't. Martin really gave a beautiful performance, and I think everyone should hear the heart and soul he gave these characters. 

(People other than me definitely need to hear it. I have listened to the entire thing three times as I reviewed it, which is too many times for an author to have to be presented with their writing from three years ago in a medium where they cannot elide certain word choices they would not have made now. It's a great audio book! It really is! I never want to listen to it again!)

Ahem.

Where can I buy it?

On several platforms that audio books are sold, with more coming soon! Here are some specific places:

https://scarlettgaleauthor.com/shop/audio-books https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/his-secret-illuminations-scarlett-gale/1142856730 https://bingebooks.com/book/his-secret-illuminations https://www.scribd.com/audiobook/614996148/His-Secret-Illuminations-Their-adventure-will-test-his-skill-and-his-self-control https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781669668374 https://www.storytel.com/se/sv/books/3683133 https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/his-secret-illuminations-2 https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/Scarlett_Gale_His_Secret_Illuminations?id=AQAAAEDCkgXS1M https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/his-secret-illuminations-by-scarlett-gale  https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/his-secret-illuminations-their-adventure-will-test-his-skill-and-his-self-control/653033

Not at Amazon/Audible?

Not yet, anyway! It's been submitted to them for review and is still pending. The audio book will be available on Amazon... eventually.

Where should I buy it?

Wherever is easiest for you! That said, if your goal is to support me as directly as possible, please consider buying it from my website. 

It's a little more troublesome (I had to break it into five parts in order to get around the file size limit) but everything I sell on my website is DRM-free and I get the entire $24.99 cover price (minus credit card fees). Purchasing it through another platform means I only get the royalties, which end up between 20% and 50% of the cover price.

When will His Sacred Incantations be available as an audio book?

The unfortunately mercenary answer here is "As soon as I can afford to produce it." As a self-published author I am on the financial hook for anything and everything I want to do with my books. Part of the reason it took this long to get the first book produced was because I needed to save up enough to pay for the production of it. His Secret Illuminations cost about $3600, which I paid out of pocket. I expect that His Sacred Incantations will cost about the same. I hope to be able to produce it in 2023--the better my sales are, the sooner I can get started!

P.S. If I manage to sell 144 copies of this audio book through my website, that will cover almost the entire cost of producing the second book.

How can I help out?

Spread the word about the audio book! As Patrons you get the news first, but I'll be sharing this on social media in the next couple of days. Like, retweet, reblog, reshare, leave good reviews of the audio book where appropriate--all of that is a huge help to me, someone who is her own marketing department.

Thank you so much for your support! May your holidays be happy, and your winter nights warm.

[thesilliestrovingalive]

Headcanons for Marco, Tarma, Eri, Fio, Nadia, Trevor, Ralf, and Morden

I know I haven't played Metal Slug 6 and 7/XX yet (I watched playthroughs of the two games though!). However, I couldn't help to include Ralf on this list because I had a few good ideas for him. I looked into the fandom wiki entries of Trevor Spacey, Nadia Cassel, Ralf Jones, and General Morden to make my headcanons fit their characterisation. There is a bit of interpretation involved when it comes to Trevor, Nadia, and Ralf.

Marco

He has major depressive disorder and some buried trauma

He has a habit of bottling up his emotions

Marco’s nightmares often involve some sort of war caused by Morden or the death of his friends.

He struggles with making friends

Tarma

He's a bit of a hothead, a trait that gets on the nerves of Marco, Eri, and Clark, but Fio, Trevor, Nadia, and Ralf find it endearing.

Tarma is great at giving people hugs

He secretly carries around a toy version of SV-001, which was a gift from his father.

His father is American and his mother is Japanese

Tarma is the kind of person to try whatever piqued his curiosity

Eri

She’s quite outspoken, showing no fear in telling others off and voicing her opinions.

She loves drinking vodka and secretly carries a flask full of it with her.

Fio

Despite being a brave soldier, she’s deeply afraid of bugs and often flees to Tarma or Eri to kill them. (psst @rossimercenary I stole your headcanon idea for Fio hehehehe)

Fio likes to play card games with Eri when they’re both not busy with an important mission.

She carries Peppino with her, so she can hug or talk to her teddy bear whenever she needs emotional support.

Nadia

Whenever Nadia doesn't want to do something, she creates a distraction to avoid doing it.

She has nicknames for everyone! For example, she likes to call Trevor "Trevie" and Fio "Fi-Fi".

Nadia is not fond of Eri's outspoken and bitter attitude

She enjoys playfully teasing Tarma about his hot-headedness and Marco about his overly serious nature.

She’s very close friends with Trevor

Trevor

Trevor frequently assists Marco with computer-related tasks, especially when it involves security software.

He’s an expert at security programs, so he uses it to his advantage to plan out enemy positions and cause distractions.

Trevor sometimes plays a part in Nadia’s schemes in avoiding certain tasks, taking the distractions to dramatic heights.

Out of everyone, he has the most respect for Marco, mostly because of their shared fondness for technology.

Ralf

He views the people he works with as family and will do anything to protect them. For example, if Eri was insulted by a Rebel soldier, he’ll beat them up and force them to apologise or shoot them directly in the head.

According to his fandom wiki page, Clark is his brother-in-arms and they always go to battle together. So, I’m thinking that he would be pretty devastated if he lost Clark as he literally viewed him as the brother he never had.

When Ralf is not participating in tournament fights and busy with mercenary work, he likes to play arcade games with Clark.

He enjoys training new recruits to enhance their melee skills.

General Morden

He has a weakness for whiskey and maple syrup

Although he may not always show it, he genuinely cares deeply about his soldiers.

He carries around a photograph of his deceased wife and daughter.

Despite Morden’s numerous defeats and moments of humiliation, he uses them to learn from his past mistakes and continue moving forward with his desire to achieve world dominance.

[hologramblue]

sits bolt upright and starts frothing on the dash again

consider how in the pokemon setting, pokemon battle is sort of a martial art, with sport applications but also defensive or offensive applications

then consider that pokemon leagues/associations are sort of sport governing bodies, setting regulations and standards for how pokemon trainers engage each other in sanctioned battles

but also, pokemon trainers aren't necessarily professional athletes, they're free agents - frankly they can function as free mercenaries, go back to the martial arts analogy as a reference point for the vibe here, you've got all these people who can fight good just wandering around, potentially ready to stand up for justice when something hinky is going on (like in every pokemon game) but also potentially ready to cause trouble

so the leagues aren't 1-to-1 with sporting associations irl because they have this other major function, honestly imo a primary function, of sort of...managing the behavior of this population of professional fighters. or, since so many people have a day job and also pokemon battle, managing this whole facet of society that is pokemon-facilitated combat

like, the bit in SV about "hey if you have an argument, take it to the battle court". that's a duel. those are dueling laws

pokemon leagues aren't quite sporting associations and they aren't quite militaries and they aren't quite adventurer's guilds and they aren't quite governments. they're something sort of in the middle

[seawatersavior]

Roma - Enchanted Tailor

If you were to count Roma in the order of who joined the SV Mercenaries first, she should of had the #1 spot. However she reluctantly takes the #3 spot. Roma met Titus when she was still part of her original clan, she was a noble with only one task, produce heirs to establish diplomatic relations. Her husband was stern, cold and distant. She lived the majority of her life hidden away in a silver pagoda, deep in the castle grounds, far from where anyone could reach her. She was banned from leaving and could only step out of her prison at night, when the guards weren't watching her. They weren't there to keep anyone out, just to keep her in. At night she would sit in her window looking over the palace walls into the dark forest that lay beyond. She would do this until one day, a pair of eyes would stare back.

Roma was a little stunned, she clearly noticed a pair of eyes, but she only saw them for an instant. After waiting and watching, she did not see them again. She would continue to watch every night, a little excitement would do her good, and so she never let her husband know. Winter was fast approaching, and as the trees began to loose their leaves Roma became discouraged. With no foliage she couldn't pretend like that creature was still there, the white snow made it clear that nothing was there. She sighed and went to close her window when she caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of her eye. She snapped to look but there was nothing. But she knew she saw it! She wanted to find it!

Roma wanted this more than anything, and without thinking jumped out on the edge of the window, while the pagoda stood higher up, there was a few ledges that protruded outwards. She shimmied closer to the edge, gripping the hem of her night gown in one hand and the wall with the other. And then she fell.

The ice beneath her feet had given out, try as she might she couldn't revert to dragon form to spread her wings. Her tears lingered in the air as she fell, was this it? Is this how she would die? Before she had the chance to scream, she felt a pair of hands wrap around her and they crashed onto an open room. She lay stunned on the floor, the air had been knocked out of her. She looked over at the person lying next to her, he was a mess of blue hair, rather thin and seemingly just as winded from the fall. The sound of foot steps rang out as the guards were alerted to the noise. Upon hearing their clamoring the boy shot up, he was young and lithe in appearance, his face covered in hair but unable to hide the secrets his right eye contained. That eye was dark. Dark lines spread on his face, all spreading from that point. She couldn't discern much more as he ran and jumped out the window into the snowy storm.

The guards burst in and found her laying there, instead of asking if she was alright they picked her up and tossed her over their shoulder. "She finally tried to escape!" they laughed heartily as they threw her back into her room. "Don't try that again little lady, the lord instructed us to kill you if you ever make the attempt to escape, consider this your last warning." She lay there on the floor, at least the floor was padded with many rugs, so she didn't hit it too hard. But she was certain she saw her curtains shift. She pushed herself up, arms weak and cold but the warmth of her room was beginning to thaw her. She had curtains, tapestries, quilts and throws scattered all through out her room. She walked over to her pile of blankets and gave it a poke.

A quiet, but started "ow!" rang out when she met something in there. She yanked off the top blanket to uncover the young man from before withing. He was covering his eye in pain, whoops.

"Ah I'm sorry!" she exclaimed as she sat down next to him and patted his back. "Are you OK? You're barely wearing anything and it was terribly cold out there."

The boy retreated into the pile and smiled, "Well these blankets of yours are pretty soft, so I hope you don't mind the company. I am in fact freezing," he reached out a hand in greeting and said, "my name is Titus, I've always wanted to meet you after seeing you peek from your tower."

Roma smiled sheepishly, "So I wasn't insane, I knew I saw something peeking through the canopy." The pleasant thought energized her and she stood. "Lets dress you up I can't have you freezing on me." She walked over to her closet and pulled out a trunk hidden within a mountain of linens. "I may be a useless trophy wife, but he can't stop me from sewing!"

The boy shimmied over in what can only be called a blanket burrito. When she opened the trunk a little gasp escaped his lips. "Did you make these?" There was an assortment of apparel of varying sizes and shapes, for children, for adults, for something remarkably tiny. She pulled out some varying pieces and pulled him aside. "Lets get to dressing!"

Time passed like this, Titus would come and visit her pagoda, Roma would dress him up, and he would hide whenever anyone would come for Roma. But it would seem that his presence would not go unnoticed.

Roma's guards came today strangely more polite than usual, Titus had taken his usual hiding spot in a pile of plush sheets and pillows. He could see through a small gap between the pillows, but he could not be seen. As Roma stood by the door she quickly dropped to her knees in a bow. "My Lord, how kind of you to visit this humble wife." She lifted her head with a smile on her face, "How may I be of service to you today?"

A tall figure entered the room, his presence making the air suffocating. "Where is he."

Roma was too good at playing her part, "Forgive me my Lord, but whatever do you mean. The familiar you provided for me has long withered away.

"Bull Shit." With a snap of his fingers the guards began tearing apart the room. They had no mercy, and used their swords to pierce each pile of downy material into scraps.

Roma scampered to her feet and pulled at the mans robe, "Stop! Stop! Why are you ruining my room!?" She was roughly pushed back onto the ground before she could inquire further, but she didn't need to.

The Lord stomped on her hands and pulled at her hair, "Tell me where he is or who he is or I will break these sinful hands of yours! How dare you frolic with another while I provide you everything!" He pressed down hard as she screamed in agony. "There is no one! My Lord there is no one but my thoughts to spend time with me!" Tears rolled down her cheeks, but these seemed to enrage him further as he puller harder. "My Lord I assure you, please, do not destroy the only happiness I have."

"Then how dare you defy me! There was no trace of magical prowess on you before, but now here you are before me, exuding magical essence to anger me!" He removed his foot from her hand and let her head drop to the ground when he released her hair. He grasped her bruised hand squeezed, the pain was intense, but Roma could only focus on the cyan aura radiating from her hands. Magic.

She wasn't supposed to have any, in order to keep her obedient, her powers should've been sealed as a child. She had never been able to use them, so how could she even understand when her magic began to surface? She couldn't control it.

"ANSWER ME!" he yelled as his boot rushed towards her face, but it never made contact. Dark tendrils wrapped around his leg holding it back. They glanced back to find the source and found that none of the guards were moving. Their eyes were dark, a malicious mana poured from their orifices as they began to hit the ground.

The Lord quickly took his sword and sliced through the dark tendrils, and watched as they retreated into a pile of pillows.

"What sort of monster have you been rolling around with?" the man exclaimed, but he couldn’t speak for long as a blast of water magic shot at him the pile. Titus emerged then, his markings spreading more and more, reaching out as if trying to find something to hold onto.

Suddenly Roma remembered what he had told her once, he wasn't entirely dragon, and it took a lot of his energy to keep his malice sealed in. In the midst of the chaos she had almost forgotten she had been trying to help him! And now he was trying to save her with the very magic he tried so hard to contain. She scurried over to her storage chest and began to dig while trying to avoid being blasted with magic. She had hidden something in there, something she was certain would help him! Finally her fingers felt the cool smooth surface she was looking for and pulled it out. Her eyes went wide when she finally saw its condition, the sealing mask her mother had worn and handed down, it had broken in half! She wasn't certain it would still work, but she had to try! She held the mask in one hand and looked at her other, she needed to try and use her magic! Sure enough a few sparks danced on her fingertips and she glanced at the two fighting behind her. The Lord was a light dragon , his attacks blast of light mana there was no "residue" to his spells, but Titus's water spells left puddles everywhere, that was her chance! Magic can't be so hard right? She just needs to unleash a strong concentrated surge, that should be enough.

"Titus!" she yelled, "Catch!" She threw the broken mask at him while grabbing onto the Lord's arm. Sure enough Titus was quick to catch the mask, and Roma did the only thing she could think of, she released a surge of magic from her hands, the lightning quickly took its form and coursed through the water on the ground. Titus jumped back as far as he could, avoiding the potent wave that could surely take him out. The Lord however, was being tightly gripped by Roma, his eyes white as the current ran through his body, the pain numbing his body and mind. As Roma stopped her haphazard spell she let the Lord fall, she herself had suffered no repercussions from the spell, physically at least. Mentally she was drained, her mana having been almost entirely released from her body. She staggered over to the window and stepped over any puddle, just in case. "We uh, need to go." And once again, she fell.Barely conscious she felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around her as she passed out.

When Roma awoke she was in a humble bed in a cramped room. A soft warm light came in through the windows lighting up the area. She was alone it seemed, but a plate of fruit was on the nightstand and a jug of water was there as well. She tried to stand, but her nerves were extremely sensitive, so she stayed in bed eating fruit. Night came and the door opened, waking her up from her sleep. She knew that blue hair all too well and she sat up as Titus walked in and closed the door behind him. From here Titus explained that she had been out for a few weeks, and he had taken her to a distant territory where he hoped her husband would not find her. She had depleted so much magic her body had gone into a state of shock it seems. In those weeks Titus had discovered that the mask did indeed work for him, but it had taken a lot of damage when she fell and he dropped it trying to catch her. But he came with good news! He was putting a small clan together in the hopes of trying to accomplish his goals of being a strong leader. While his current line up was currently seeking a good base of operations, he had returned to her every night to feed her his own mana. Due to her sleeping in she was now technically the third to agree to travel with him. What a shame, after all she would have been #1 had she been awake!

[hydehooligans]

“I don’t even want to kill you. But I can’t abide you trying to kill me.” -Deathstroke

~J Hooligan

[indigobleu-fr]

30-Day Dragon Share Challenge: Day 1 - Light Dragons

Saint Victoire - Chaotic demigoddex of light, uses any pronouns. They are vain and unpredictable, but generally pleasant and slow to anger. He has a gentle smile. Likes to be called mushy pet names by their wife.

Montu - “Royal” guard to Saint Victoire and their wife, with gray morals. Basically he’s a pardoned ex-soldier ex-mercenary who does what he wants and sometimes what SV tells him to do.

Tempo - Mage warrior, also a guard to SV, serves as an advisor. She is a member of the Black River clan, which is comprised of mostly outcasts and those who wish not to be part of the city at Falls Cove (main clan). Super grumpy all the time

Somber - Healer/apothecary for the Falls Cove clan. She has a small flowering tree growing into her right arm as an organic prosthetic.

Belemus - Lighthouse keeper for Falls Cove clan, alongside Bering. Hes a moth.

Alene - Light representative. I haven’t written any lore for her

Ennead -  He’s a disaster gay and a thief/grave robber/treasure hunter of Highly Questionable Morality. Chaotic evil, certified jerk, loves fancy clothes and gold things. Part of a scavenger guild in the Falls Cove clan.

Iseul - Pretty sad boy, don’t have any other lore besides that.

[flowercuco]

Veil 2 - 10 (finale)

Well after a long long time we’ve finally hit the end of this arc of our Veil campaign, with Crescent Moon hopefully safe, finally reunited with her mother/creator, Heartful Vale, and the company and mercenaries that did all of this dealt with, the group tentatively settles down and awaits the concert.

Fortuna checks her e-mails as she is at work, dealing with her new assistant, who she is very suspicious of. One of the messages is from Bicker Boulder, and it so happens to be the alibi of Mia Ann Grace who is, to the entire party, definitely suspicious, and definitely evil. Along with commentary on the events at Snow Vision and if they were tied to the odd actions that Thicker Than Blood did the day prior, Bicker asked her superiors in the Investigation Bureau to try to do Fortuna a solid. Mia Ann Grace, super star assistant is supposed to be that solid. Fortuna, being suspicious, has Mia Ann do basic tasks while she invades a janitor closet to get in touch with her best friend, Senza.

Senza and Fortuna talk about their suspicions and of the events, Senza concludes that even if Bicker seemed on the up and up, that doesn’t mean that Mia is, as the IB was a group that was compromised by the Angelic Threads. She promises to look into the assistant and see if she has ties to anything. 

Back in the new safehouse, Crescent Moon goes from the various groups sitting around, her mother on a tablet, Ariel practising her new Veil manipulation abilities in a simulation of some sort on a tablet, Senza taking a shower, and Will doing her daily workout. Crescent watches intently as Will does pull-ups and is very cool and strong. Synch enters, having done all that they wanted to do by themselves, asking if everyones good, which they basically are. Crescent greets them, and they approach the two, with Will still doing pull ups as Synch tells them that they have evidence of Burning not committing the crime that got him banished from Quid. Will is pleased, as she did like Burning in their brief interactions and confirms that she’ll pass along the information to get Burning exonerated faster. Synch then asks for Will to get more information on Bloodroot and Will promises to look into it, along with a number of other things that she has to deal with. Finally, Synch asks Will to tell them if there’s anyone in the Seat of Judges who needs to be investigated, as they are a detective and will do a better job of it (and are also a psychic but Will doesn’t know that).

Meanwhile, Heartful Vale asks Ariel about what she’s doing, following up with questions on if Ariel learned what she did from Crescent or if she taught it to herself. After an awkward silence, Heartful asks what Ariel considers herself, wondering how similar the android is to Crescent. Ariel tells her that she’s an artificial human on bad terms with her creators, something Heartful feels sorry for, but asks for more details on. Upon learning that they’re a secret society of some kind, Heartful stops asking questions, but is clearly hiding something more. Ariel asks how Crescent moon is so special, to which Heartful responds with something to do with the virtual idol being intertwined with the veil, but not having any more details. Ariel attempts to probe further, but is thwarted by Senza entering the room and stuck wondering if Heartful just wanted to know about any possible corporate espionage... or more.

Senza checks her emails on her smart watch and gets a news alert about the deaths of Denno’s and Swept Coil, then an invitation to Denno’s funeral, and finally a frantic email from Blessed Lee about it. Senza asks for the other player characters to follow her into the private room, goading Synch into fully following in. Senza asks what happened and why she wasn’t told about Denno’s death, with Synch saying that a lot happened and WIll agreeing, then continuing with a full explination of the events that happened at SVS. They tried to deal with things quickly, Denno’s tried to run, and he died. Will, not quite getting what Senza wants, attempts to summarize more when Synch admits that they killed Denno. Senza takes a moment and then says that, it isn’t that she doesn’t think that he deserved to die, it’s that she wants to be told if someone she knows dies. Will apologizes, saying that she didn’t know that Senza would be this affected and that she should have thought about it. Synch admits as much fault as they ever will in their life and also says that they should have thought about it more. Senza just feels like this is surreal.

When the group returns into the main room, they notice that Crescent isn’t there. Ariel texts her and asks her where she is, to which after a bit of back and forth, is revealed to be to go to Fortuna, with an apology. Ariel is shocked and the group decides to have Synch protect Heartful Vale while the rest of them go pursue Crescent. Senza sends Fortuna a text warning her about Crescent’s arrival and the idol mysteriously arrives at her office. Crescent Moon wants the favor Fortuna promised her. Fortuna isn’t ready for this. 

Luckily, Mia Ann Grace is pre-occupied watching Anime while Fortuna makes the idol tea and is asked about how she met her wife. The story is very embarrassing with Fortuna trying to act cool at a party, making kind of a fool of herself and running away. The next day, Audacity went to see Fortuna and asked if they could study together, and after time, they got married and stuff. Love’s weird and lucky folks. Fortuna and Crescent watch anime while they wait for the others, Senza ignores more of Blessed Lee’s emails and when they all make it into the office, Crescent Moon awkwardly fails to fully say what she wants, having Fortuna take over.

Senza doesn’t want to be here and tries to give Fortuna an out.

Fortuna says that Crescent Moon needs to talk to Ariel and Will, but that first she wants to apologize to Ariel for the events that happened the previous night. Ariel tentatively accepts the apology after Fortuna puts more gusto into it, allowing the topic to move to what this whole conversation is about. Fortuna says that Crescent has relationship troubles and goads the idol into saying what she wants to say, which is that she likes Ariel and Will. Will is, slow about it, and asks what she means, to which Fortuna says that Crescent Moon is gay and romantically likes you. Will pauses and attempts to process this information, thinking back to the events of the days prior and then going “Oh!”

Senza makes her move, as Fortuna tries to excuse her, as she’s uncomfortable and probably has something important to do, which Senza says that she does, she has to deal with stuff about Denno’s funeral, a bomb to drop before she leaves.

Crescent Moon rambles about how much she likes Will and Ariel, citing their actions and character traits, the things that she likes about both of them and the things she likes about each of them, going on and on and on. Will tries to deflect, as she does like Crescent but they haven’t known each other for very long and that she’s just been doing her job. Crescent tries to retort with how she’s dating Ariel already despite knowing them both for the same amount of time. Will affirms that they need to slow down, that the dynamic is something to consider, you shouldn’t date your body guard, which Crescent reluctantly accepts. The idol turns to Ariel and asks if she’s mad that she likes will, which Ariel isn’t. Crescent is in charge of her own feelings and can date who she wants. Crescent makes confused sad noises and Ariel moves in to hold her hand and Crescent clutches it tightly and beings to cry. Fortuna goes in for a hug and Will slowly attempts to also come in to comfort Crescent Moon, not even noticing Fortuna’s presence anymore. Crescent Moon unleashes a flurry of feelings and is glad that Fortuna helped her, thanking her for it and feeling overall better and ready for the concert.

With that out of the way, Ariel tells Fortuna how they can become square, asking if Audacity can make her sibling, Ark, a body. Fortuna nods and promises to have her wife help. Senza texts Blessed Lee about the urgency of his situation. It is about the nanomachines, and while it doesn’t seem urgent, it is something Senza needs to check up on. The others leave as Senza goes to see him. As her office returns to being just her, Mia Ann Grace returns from her anime binge and asks for whats next.

Alone with Heartful Vale, Synch is playing the Crescent Moon Gatcha Game when Heartful gets an email and reacts in a shocked manner. Synch probes bluntly, saying that keeping information away from people trying to protect you is a bad idea. Heartful tries to deflect, saying she doesn’t want to put others in danger, something thats way too late to apply now. When Synch looks up information on the deep web and sees Heartful Vale connected with Chasis, the CEO of Snow Vision Structure and Nicola Lelulilo, they probe further, eventually getting Heartful to reveal the message, a picture of her, her wife, Chasis, and her mentor along with the message, “Welcome back. Please find me.” It’s clearly from her mentor and Synch says it’s clearly a trap. Synch reveals to Heartful the misdeeds of her mentor, showing her the data he was given by Chasis on what Nicola did or was trying to do with psychics. Heartful asks how intimate Synch is with psychics, the answer to which is very. When Heartful asks if this has to do with Ariel, Synch asks why the researcher has to know. She’s worried about Crescent and it has to do with her work. Synch says that Heartful should ask Ariel about it herself.

Finally. We go to the concert.

The park has the big stage, various booths, the sky is a cool starry nebula thats clearly going to have cool shit happen to it. The group is dressed in various casual clothes and two characters fully introduce themselves in a way that they haven’t really in the space of the game. The first is Zed Teneberous, Will’s hacker and sibling in the Seat of Judges, who’s robot arms are a lot more industrial and who so desperately wants to be cool. Will introduces them, prompting Ariel to say that she doesn’t see the resemblance. Zed (un)cooly says they’re both adopted. Audacity, Fortuna’s catgirl wife, also introduces herself, finding the hacker endearing as he says that Fortuna’s cool. Audacity approaches Ariel, who has used her veil powers to give herself some Crescent Moon themed galaxy space hair effects, which Audacity comments on positively. Audaicty encourages Ariel to try some fashion or cosplay after saying that she has some sketches and preliminary ideas and stuff for Ark’s body. Ariel tries to decline a selfie with Audacity, trying to explain her killer robot status and wondering how much Audacity really knows. She knows everything that Fortuna knows, and the married couples love manages to get Ariel to agree to a selife. 

Sorry Tuna, Wish U Were Here

The concert finally happens, with Crescent Moon wearing a very cool outfit with tassels rising up into the concert like the moon as she thanks the party for being her friends and keeping her safe and showing her everything Quid had to offer. After a few songs, Crescent says that the next one is for her girlfriend, something that shocks the entire crowd. The concert goes off without a hitch, as Crescent Moon gives a performance of a lifetime.

In the afterparty for the concert, the party, Anemone, Zed, Audacity, Heartful and Crescent’s staff all hang out! Everyone says how much they liked the concert and then they go into small talk and party food as Zed takes Will aside for a second, telling her what they found out about Thunderings Seat of Judges mask. Apparently, the mask was expunged from the records, but Eastern Seabed, who trained Will, knows more. Will really doesn’t want to ask her about this, but she supposes she will have to. Will moves on to the new hustle she has for Zed, which is to find out more about the Angelic Threads, as if they are real and a threat, the Seat should know about them, even if for whatever reason, Will doesn’t. Zed agrees and then immediately moves on to asking about Anemone, asking WIll who the cool girl with Ariel is. Will tells Zed that it’s a bad idea and watches in horror as the hacker moves in to introduces themself to them.

While Zed is embarrassing, they do reveal their thoughts on the Seat of Judges to Ariel, saying that the ritual and pretence is more harmful than it is good, but that they like being a cool hacker and that the Seat of Judges as an organisation that makes sure that people can stand up for themselves  and have what was promised to them is good. Zed then asks them what their favorite animals are, and then makes Ariel an origami Snow Leapord and Anemone an origami Crane, with paper printed from his arms. Ariel eventually realizes that Zed’s hitting on her and or Anemone and tells her sibling whats up. She doesn’t really care, as she is interested in seeing what the dork of a hacker has to say about art and culture and dumb internet things they like. 

Heartful then takes Senza and Ariel aside, wanting to trade information about the angelic threads that she assumes they have for information on Crescent Moon that she’s been hiding. Ariel does not trust Senza, or rather LACUNA, and doesn’t want Crescent potentially endangered. Senza tries to convince Heartful otherwise, but doesn’t quite manage it. Heartful Vale reveals that Crescent Moon wasn’t made by her as much as she was restored by her, from an old world data-core, one that she hid before she was kidnapped. She needs to know if the data-core was stolen, and if it was stolen by the angelic threads in particular. That kind of thing can’t fall into the wrong hands. Ariel pauses, as it is a lot to process, and promises to tell Heartful Vale more when she figures out how she feels about this, asking the researcher if Crescent Moon knows. Crescent is aware of her true origins, but not of the particulars of why she specifically is in danger. Heartful wanted to hide it from her, but knows that she can’t do that anymore.

Ariel rejoins the party and the night goes on, quietly our party slowly gaining new friends and allies and getting closer to finding out the secrets behind the Angelic Threads...

In our epilogue, we see them, speaking with 9Sigma, who insists that [Ariel] is behind the disturbance at SVS and the death of Swept Coil. They must act before it is too late and we cut to that night, when Ariel, Ark, and Anemone all have a nightmare, a dream of metaphors and numbers, a message, warning, and call from their eldest sibling.

We see Zed, having stolen access to the Seat of Judges library looking into a group of people who were ousted from the Seat by Radiant Historia, leading to her rise to the top of the Seat, a group who supposedly claimed to want to Open Heaven. 

Mia Ann Grace talks to her true employers about her work with Fortuna, wanting to find specific knowledge that only Fortuna should have...

And finally, Senza is asleep in her home, with LACUNA charging. LACUNA slinks to Senza and connects to her, interfacing with her body, and managing to move her fingers while she’s asleep. LACUNA will have the knowledge they need, at any cost...

[ritchiepage2001newaccount]

#CorpMedia #Idiocracy #Oligarchs #MegaBanks vs #Union #Occupy #NoDAPL #BLM #SDF #DACA #MeToo #Humanity #DemExit #FeelTheBern

WATCH #Syriac Military Council, MFS Spokesperson Kino Gabriel speaking about liberation of Raqqa by SDF from the city Stadium. @HSNB_ @CENTCOM [UPDATES]

https://twitter.com/syriacmfs/status/920601447242354688?lang=sv

RELATED UPDATE: YPJ: We dedicate the Raqqa victory to all women of the world

https://www.ypgrojava.org/YPJ%3A-We-dedicate-the-Raqqa-victory-to-all-women-of-the-world

RELATED UPDATE: SDF statement on the Raqqa victory and the future of the city

https://www.ypgrojava.org/SDF-statement-on-the-Raqqa-victory-and-the-future-of-the-city

RELATED UPDATE: In This Sign They Will Conquer? - Christian Militias in the Syrian Conflict

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017/11/04/sign-will-conquer-christian-militias-syrian-conflict/

RELATED UPDATE: ‘Filled with hatred and lust for blood’: Turkey’s proxy army in northern Syria accused of abusing civilians

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/turkey-syria-national-army-kurds-safe-zone-human-rights-abuse-looting-kidnap-executions-a9198311.html

RELATED UPDATE: “The sky is against us” – Syrian Christian fighters struggle to hold their lines in Tel Tamer

https://www.thedefensepost.com/2019/11/14/syriac-christian-fighters-tel-tamer-ceasefire/

RELATED UPDATE: MFS: Sayfo Massacres continue against our people by Turkish State

https://www.hawarnews.com/en/haber/mfs-sayfo-massacres-continue-against-our-people-by-turkish-state-h25231.html

RELATED UPDATE: Islamic State claims responsibility for attack that killed 13 in Syria's Raqqa

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/islamic-state-claims-responsibility-attack-that-killed-13-syrias-raqqa-2022-06-20/

RELATED UPDATE: SDF arrested an ISIS leader in Raqqa countryside

https://hawarnews.com/en/haber/sdf-arrested-an-isis-leader-in-raqqa-countryside-h31400.html

RELATED UPDATE: Raqqa Hosts First Book Fair in 10 Years

https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3717841/raqqa-hosts-first-book-fair-10-years

RELATED UPDATE: SYRIA– FS & AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PM (H/F)– RAQQA

https://reliefweb.int/job/3862677/syria-fs-agricultural-development-pm-hf-raqqa

RELATED UPDATE: Logistic Coordinator Northeast Syria (NES)

https://reliefweb.int/job/3867091/logistic-coordinator-northeast-syria-nes

RELATED UPDATE: SDF reveals a new Turkish plan to send mercenaries to Yemen and Southern Kurdistan

https://hawarnews.com/en/haber/sdf-reveals-a-new-turkish-plan-to-send-mercenaries-to-yemen-and-southern-kurdistan-h31830.html

RELATED UPDATE: Women's organizations in North East Syria protest the murder of journalist Menal Salih El-Mizel

https://anfenglish.com/women/women-s-organizations-in-north-east-syria-protest-the-murder-of-journalist-menal-salih-el-mizel-61289

RELATED UPDATE: Emine Osê: We will protect our revolution!

https://anfenglish.com/rojava-syria/emine-ose-we-will-protect-our-revolution-61296

RELATED UPDATE: Fears mount of IS comeback in eastern Syria, experts say ‘will be more dangerous’

https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2022/07/fears-mount-of-is-comeback-in-eastern-syria-experts-say-will-be-more-dangerous/

RELATED UPDATE: YPG/YPJ International: Come and join the revolution

https://anfenglish.com/news/ypg-ypj-international-come-and-join-the-revolution-61302

RELATED UPDATE: UN experts: Terrorist threat remains high in conflict areas

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/un-experts-terrorist-threat-remains-high-in-conflict-areas/2022/07/19/e1eae8f0-07b3-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html

RELATED UPDATE: [VIDEO] ISIS Fighters’ Children Are Growing Up in a Desert Camp. What Will They Become?

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/19/us/politics/syria-isis-women-children.html

RELATED UPDATE: German police provoke young people marching in support of Rojava Revolution in Berlin

https://anfenglish.com/news/german-police-provoke-young-people-marching-in-support-of-rojava-revolution-in-berlin-61316

RELATED UPDATE: General Command of Syria Democratic Forces celebrates the tenth anniversary of the July 19 revolution

https://hawarnews.com/en/haber/general-command-of-syria-democratic-forces-celebrates-the-tenth-anniversary-of-the-july-19-revolution-h31871.html

RELATED UPDATE: SDF General Command celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Rojava Revolution

https://anfenglish.com/rojava-syria/sdf-general-command-celebrates-the-10th-anniversary-of-the-rojava-revolution-61318

RELATED UPDATE: SDF's Commander-in-Chief receives Lieutenant General Michael Corella

https://www.hawarnews.com/en/haber/sdfs-commander-in-chief-receives-lieutenant-general-michael-corella-h31876.html

RELATED UPDATE: KCK remembers the martyrs of Suruç massacre, calls for their struggle to be continued

https://anfenglish.com/news/kck-remembers-the-martyrs-of-suruc-massacre-calls-for-their-struggle-to-be-continued-61319

RELATED UPDATE: Italian internationalists demonstrate in solidarity with Rojava and the guerrilla

https://anfenglish.com/news/italian-internationalists-demonstrate-in-solidarity-with-rojava-and-the-guerrilla-61320

RELATED UPDATE: WATCH Kurdish activists launch a three-day demonstration in Solothurn

https://anfenglish.com/news/kurdish-activists-launch-a-three-day-demonstration-in-solothurn-61328

[cheeze-and-sprinklez]

We’re already in Part 4/Chapter 4 of this messy fic! 🎉🎉🎉

Just kidding, my excitement is still raging strong to continue this. To the lovelies who drop by and spend even a little time to read it, you have my biggest appreciation 😭🙏

Missed the Part 3/Chapter 3? Link’s below:

. . . . . .

🔷 MAIN FIC TITLE - Built This Way (And Maybe More?)

🔶 PART 4/CHAPTER 4 – Going By The Book Doesn’t Guarantee Anything.

🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻

Marc had never seen Steven acted that way. Being all... all Jake-y? Whatever made the receptionist staff tempted to come and assist them directly isn’t just about her recognizing who came to checked-in the hotel hours ago.

Steven? Jake? Not him most definitely.

“Yes sir, how may I help you?” The young woman offered with a warm smile. It’s obvious how smitten she is to be able to see this gentleman again.

Jake retreated back to their headspace from co-confronting with Steven, leaving the secondary pilot seat so he could let Steven pull his acting game undisturbed. He whistled casually and entered the lounge area where Marc is at.

“You’re a bad influence? Eh, 50/50~” Jake walked to the couch and threw himself on it. Hearing nothing from Marc, he buried his grinnings on the pillow where he lay flat on his face.

Marc rolled his eyes. Steven would never misuse his own charm that way. Not even himself. Except for Layla. Layla deserves all the charm he embodies. That thought made his heart flutter. Not to mention he is still patching things up with her too.

Then he felt goose bumps trickling at the back of his head. As he turned around, Jake quickly burrowed his face back down to the couch’s pillow. Pretending to take a nap when he wasn’t. It’s so much fun seeing Marc smiling to himself like a love-struck middle schooler~

Marc eyed him long enough until he too, retreated to the wing chair right next to the bookshelf. A bookshelf filled with his, Steven’s and Jake’s input and output on various of things that circulates within their respective knowledge.

The bookshelf have four rows of compartments. The first two compartments are filled with leather bounded books. The spines aren’t labelled cheaply, they’re embossed with two letters: ‘SV’.

Another row of books with black-red labels at each spine filled the third compartment. A messy letter ‘J’ written with a permanent marker that has a wide tip. Funny enough, those row of books have more volumes compared to another row of books sorted a tier below them.

Books with black-white labels with letter ‘M’ written a bit neatly compared to the books labelled with the ‘J’ letter. At times, Marc scrunched his nose whenever he sits next to the bookshelf.

He knew he’s not exactly the brightest compared to his other two Alters. However, they begs to differ. He’s as smart as he looks, only lacking confidence when it comes to use it. Spending gruelling years as a soldier before becoming a mercenary have made him extra focused at keeping his ��survival manuals’ thick.

Just like the smaller portion of his books in the bookshelf but undeniably thick with each volumes.

Back to Steven...

He is seen talking to the young woman again, thanking him for the trouble she went for getting a napkin damped in a cold water.

“Oh he’s looking forward for this event since last week, you have no idea!” Steven chatted away, placing the napkin over Jarvis’ forehead, pretending to cool him down.

“Awww... I can imagine... Travelling so far to be here... And he probably wanna avoid troubling his own big brother... Taking rides and trips here and there non-stop...” The receptionist pointed to another group of event-goers flocking at the entrance.

What is a 5-Star hotel nowadays huh?

Steven took notice of the group too and keep being casual. “And look who’s going to stay with him until he’s feeling well to go up and about again? Heheheh...”

She held out a card sleeve to him. Steven took the card key to the room that he had checked-in. That Jake had checked-in AS HIM without his permission, the little shit he was. Guess the security’s suspicion levels had plumetted thanks to Jake’s charm and Steven’s way of sweet-talking it out.

“Just that... I want this to be memorable for him... Living his way out in the boonies... Having to use per hour rental internet service. It’s god-awful. I’m not surprised if he had forgotten to take breaks so not to miss those exhibits. A change of surrounding got the best of him.” Steven added with a tint of sympathy, squeezing Jarvis’ hand he’s holding to sweeten the acting.

The receptionist fell for it completely. Not to mention Steven’s signature softness in his demeanour and words thrown into the mix. She’s reassured enough to not to call for medical assistance, reassured enough to prevent the hotel’s security from interfering.

“Hopefully he’ll feel better until the next exhibition. I heard Elon Musk is the evening’s special welcomed guest!”

Steven patted Jarvis’ head, “Big fan right here. I don’t see anyone else as obsessed as he does!” He chirped and thanked her properly. As soon as she’s back to work at the reception counter, Steven hurriedly threw the sling bag across his shoulder and carry Jarvis in his arms again.

Steven quickened his pace when he saw an elevator unoccupied with crowds. But the door’s closing in! Shoot!

But for some reason, the door to the elevator closed halfway through. It’s making a low tremoring noise until it made a chiming tune. The elevator is ready to enter... More like... Waiting for him. Steven knew ‘someone’ must’ve been standing nearby the elevator’s panel, and blocked the door with his long, bandaged hand.

Steven only said his thanks, although unwillingly, as soon as the elevator reached the 2nd floor and beyond. Both Marc’s and Jake’s reflections are on each sides of the elevator shiny interior walls.

///“Is it spur of the moment or have you been planning to say that from the start?”/// Marc adjusted his wrist watch, glancing at Steven who’s smiling in glee. Marc sounded jealous somehow~

“I don’t see the problem, luv. It’s not as if people have too much time to check if we have a half-sibling that lives outskirts of town.”

Marc nodded without replying a word. There’s some truth to it and they did let Steven play pretend on all sorts of things too just now.

///“Is he heavy? Want me to shift with you?”/// Is what Marc decided to say, thinking he had divert himself from talking about the young man they ‘kidnapped’.

Steven laughed a bit, “I’m aces, Marc! Really! Muscle memories remember? I’m practically carrying him with you-”

The left side of the elevator’s shiny wall gets punched once out of protest.

“And with you too, Jake...”

///“Jelly Marckie is jelly~”/// Jake cocked his head to the side and stuck his tongue out to the opposite reflection.

Marc tries to deny it but he kept fumbling his words, ///“F-Fuck off!”/// Is the only thing he could utter.

Jake cackled, ///“Ohhh~ Language, language!~”///

Marc, almost shouting, ///“S-Speak for yourself!”///

Steven sighed heavily, letting their voices echoing in this elevator. It does feels cramped with two of his Alters spewing insults at one another like a tennis match. Suddenly, the elevator came to halt for around 10 seconds before it ascended back up. It’s definitely Khonshu alright?

He must’ve gotten rritated too, as he should.

That silly old bird might be delighted to see what his Avatar(s) are up to. See how far they could succeed without his help. To Steven, he personally believes that Khonshu is expecting him to fail so he could take over from the beginning.

Because he knew Steven came up with the plan.

Because he knew Steven is the one who is daring enough to go this far.

Because he knew Steven had discovered a ‘concealed’ ability that an Avatar have in possession.

Not even Marc nor Jake realized it.

Steven? Few steps ahead of him, the God of the Night Sky? Colour him impressed but he won’t deny that this worm is full of surprises. Alas, it’s still too early for him earn such recognition.

With that, he will continue to observe Steven with high expectations and great interest.

The elevator halted with a similar chiming tune. Now at 10th floor, the room is located at the far side to the east wing. You have to slide the key card in order to unlock the door. Back then, they used keys based security. Key secured locks with no guarantee that your room won’t be breached without using a master key.

After many attempt in taking the card out of it’s sleeve with hands full, Steven finally made it inside with a little too loud “Yes!”. Not wanting to put Jarvis on the floor for one second, even if he’s struggling at getting the card to swipe the door unlock.

For the hotel’s most standard room, Steven could feel himself eating nothing else but pralines for the next three months. Perhaps, he had to cut it in half. A half for lunch and another half for dinner.

He could hear Jake whistling a Spanish song nonchalantly. His reflection at the dressing table’s mirror pointing at the King size bed with an inaudible “Tadah!~”

Jake’s wrist watch beeped faintly underneath the jacket’s thick sleeve. It’s 1 PM, they have no time to loose. Steven put the sling bag on one of the coffee table’s chair by the window. Then he gently placed Jarvis on the bed, almost losing his balance as he did so.

Muscle memory or not, Marc could see the exhaustion on Steven’s face but hold himself back from taking front. Steven won’t like it and he’ll question the faith that he had given to him until now.

///“I’m gonna make him use the stairs once we’re done later. Get the blood pumping, cardio running...”/// Marc poked at Jarvis’ cheek. Even though he did that through the reflection, his cheek is quiet squishy so it’s hard for him to stop poking.

Can’t believe he’s still sleeping like a log with no care!

There’s nothing much for Steven and his Alters have to prepare for their plan now. Both Marc and Jake merely awaited for Steven’s orders. This is it, no turning back. The thought that creeps all over Steven’s mind now.

He bit his lips and made his way to the side of the bed, pulling the knot of the already loosened necktie. Khonshu’s power is still flowing in his body, not mistaken that because the moment his fingers touched the bare nape of Jarvis’ neck...

There are unnatural bruises appearing and then fading in a ghostly fashion. Steven knew that the bruises are formed from the cloth-like appendages that bound Jarvis back at the shipwreck site in the ocean cavern.

Before he examined his body even further, Marc co-confronted with Steven for a moment. The loosened necktie are removed completely. Between hesitation and bewilderment, Steven watched himself tying Jarvis’ hands using the necktie.

“W-Wait... Marc! Is this necessary?! I-I think we’re going too far here!” Steven wanted to untie it back but Marc intervened him just like how he intervened Jake back at the car.

///“Welp, better be safe than sorry methinks?”/// Jake did a poor mimicry of Steven’s accent. He has absolutely no problem about tying Jarvis up as a safety measure. Steven slowly relented and proceed to examine other parts of his body.

From his neck, to his arms, down to his torso and abdomen... The ghostly bruises made it looks like Jarvis are slowly getting... Mummified... Steven cupped his mouth in dread, realizing the extend of this curse after their encounter in the ocean cavern tomb almost a month ago.

He skipped from examining the lower half of his body but Jake is raring to go.

Marc face palmed, thinking if this is just him being a shameless idiot he was or innocently wanting Steven to get to the bottom of this mysterious curse once and for all!

“It’s... It’s already covering most of his body now, fellas... I don’t know if ‘early treatment’s’ gonna do anything at this point...” Steven went back to button his sleeves and his shirt.

He originally wanted to use their Avatars’ healing factor as an ‘antidote’ against the vile force pulling at this young man’s every being. Based on his research and readings much deeper into these kinds of anomalies, it brought him back to the whole God-Avatar relationship.

If he had to put it in a simpler manner (Jake gets it after him and Marc repeated to him 15 times), the anomaly from the tomb back at the ocean’s cavern... Forcefully bound it’s power to Jarvis and confiscated his existence as an artificial being.

That thing... Must’ve been outrageous of seeing another being of immortality roaming its sacred tomb. Though what exactly that invoked its wrath? There’s got to be something else on the platter because there are several other things that doesn’t add up.

The more he tried to pin-point something with a solid answer based on his understanding, it gets more bizarre...

Since Plan A’s out, Steven steeled himself to opt for Plan B. He draw the curtain shut, leaving some spaces for the sunrays to illuminate the bed. He placed his palm over Jarvis’ forehead, closing his eyes to concentrate on a chant that Marc never heard of. Not even Khonshu told him about this.

Then he opened his eyes, “... work...”

///“What is it, buddy? You good?”/// Marc inched closer from within the dressing table’s mirror. Seeing Steven staring at his own hand and back to Jarvis is starting to worry him.

Steven shook his head weakly, “It didn’t work...”

/// “We heard you loud and clear, genius... What’s not working???”/// Jake’s worried too but hearing Steven mumbling the same thing made him grow impatient.

His two alters could only observe him repeating the same motion from within the mirror’s entrapment. Steven is about to place his palm over Jarvis’ forehead again when...

Silence...

Steven and Jarvis, both staring at each other, blinking dumbfoundedly in bated breath. Unfortunately for Jarvis, seeing his Uber driver looming above him like that is extremely... Unnerving!

“Bugger!---” Steven quickly cupped Jarvis’ mouth before he could scream his head off, but all he heard are his muffling asking what he’s doing to him and such! It’s a freakish experience to anyone for sure!

To Jarvis, his fight or flight responses are entangling in his head when he realized that his hands are tied up above him! He struggled few times, shaking his head rapidly to slip the hand that has been cupping his mouth.

He succeed but this is far from over!

“GET- OFF ME!!!” Jarvis growled and sink his teeth onto Steven’s hand. The glove may be a leather but the pressure from his biting alone is beginning to be too much for him to handle!

“Stop! Hey!- You get it all!--- Ow! Ow! Ow!!!” Steven tried to pull his bitten hand from getting mauled for real, “Body!!!--- Take it!!!--- Jake--- Take this bloody body right this instant!!!”

Jarvis thought he had won when he managed to distract him with the biting, until he got himself pinned on the bed with wild force. How the hell did he get super strong so suddenly?!

“Ohhh~ Feisty!~”, Jake pressed Jarvis’ tied hands above him with ease. Then he loosened his own necktie, putting some weight onto his body to him so he struggled less, “Let’s keep that adorable mouth of yours shut until you’re cooled down, yeah???~”

He put the necktie over Jarvis’ mouth and pulled it to the back of his head, tying the two ends into a knot. Jarvis felt helpless, like really! He’s not even living as a human being for a whole month yet and now he’s gonna be a victim of a ruthless sex predator!!!

What else can go wrong?!?!?!?!

Somehow, him mentally screaming in despair is in sync with Steven’s own screaming beyond the headspace. It may not look like it but Marc is screaming with him too!

The last thing Steven wanted to do is to put the three of them into jail for an attempt of sexual assault!!!

While the fiasco goes unruly inside, a tall figure bearing a huge staff with a crescent-shaped moon on the tip grumbled like a fed-up grandpa as he walked pass the room,

“How lovely. They finally learn how to be collective idiots.”

🔵 TO BE CONTINUED 🔵

. . .

I hate delays! The 4th Part/Chapter 4 should be updated couple of days ago but my fever is being a pain in the ass! 😭

Glad that I can write this chapter a bit longer to compensate the delays sobs…

{You can visit the link below to read on A03 since I will be uploading both places, tumblr and A03}

[armenianview]

The impact of Great Britain on the South Caucasus

Amidst Turkey's indisputable involvement in the resumption of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the role of Great Britain remains in shadows. After leaving the European Union, London is striving to achieve a change in the balance of power in Eurasia.

Rumors about a possible attack by the Armenian Armed Forces on the Azerbaijani oil and gas facilities are a part of the campaign to change the geopolitical situation of the region. Probably Ankara hurried in advance, convincing London that Armenia and Russia threaten British investments in the Baku oil fields, in which pounds sterling have been invested since the 20th century.

In October 2007, Prime Minister Gordon Brown met Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London, where they signed Strategic Partnership document between the two countries. This document provided for the opening of a British university in Turkey, the development of trade cooperation, interaction in the energy sector and the creation of a regional energy center, as well as the joint construction of an industrial zone in Basra in Iraq.

The Labor government of Great Britain at the time supported Turkey's plan to join the European Union. If it were implemented, all the current problems of Europe with legal and illegal migrants would seem to be the lesser evil against the background of the powerful expansion of the "neo-Ottomans" into the expanses of the Old World. Europe would be radically weakened, and Turkey would continue to dictate its will to Great Britain.

In February 2015, Azerbaijan was included in the United Kingdom Trade and Investment's High Value Opportunities programme, that assists British companies in the process of concluding contracts and implementing large-scale projects in the oil and gas sector.

At the end of 2017, over 500 British companies were already operating in Azerbaijan. By this time, Great Britain had become the leader in investment in the economy of the republic. Business was particularly successful with British Petroleum Company plc (BP), which participated in seven oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan, in particular, in the development of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of oil fields, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline and the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC). SGC is a pipeline system designed to transport gas from the Caspian region to Europe.

Azerbaijan did not have its own financial resources for the development of the oil industry. Therefore, foreign capital was attracted to develop these deposits.

In September 2018, BP acquired a 61% stake in a production sharing agreement (PSA) for the Southwest Gobustan project in Azerbaijan from Commonwealth Gobustan Limited company, which is a subsidiary of Arawak Energy. BP also received the status of the project operator. The Southwest Gobustan block is located in the east of Azerbaijan on the coast of the Caspian Sea. It includes 13 deposits and undeveloped structures.

BP daily extracts more than 580 thousand barrels of oil at the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block, extracts about 55 thousand barrels of condensate and 33 million cubic meters of gas from the Shah Deniz field, conducts exploration drilling to find gas in one of the deepest structures Caspian Sea Shafag-Asiman offshore block. In addition, BP has two PSA contracts - one off the coast of Absheron for oil prospecting, and the other in the northern part of the Caspian Sea on block D230 for exploration.

Oil can be transported from Baku via three oil pipelines: Baku-Novorossiysk, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Supsa (Georgia). Baku gas is transported to Turkey and Europe via the TANAP gas pipeline. A railway line runs between the Azerbaijani cities of Ganja and Yevlakh, as well as oil and gas pipelines bypassing Russia.

In theory, the Armenian side can strike strategic pipelines and reset for some time the energy of Azerbaijan and partly Turkey not only with missiles, but also with the self-propelled howitzers Coalition-SV in service, as well as the forces of ground attack aircraft. This will cause irreparable damage to the British oil and gas industry. In recent years, the UK has become close to depleting its North Sea deposits and will soon become a net importer of hydrocarbons. Therefore, its interests in the energy sector of Azerbaijan are to some extent eschatological in nature.

Armenian political strategist Vigen Hakobyan notes: "It is possible that the British leadership, through the prism of British Petroleum, is trying to make its contribution to the processes around the Karabakh conflict."

The Cryptome.org portal mentions James Lyle Sharp as one of Her Majesty's Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, who are also MI6 Officers - Her Majesty’s Ambassadors. Sharp speaks Russian, Arabic and Azerbaijani. He is ideal for coordinating with his direct superior, MI6 chief Richard Moore, a personal friend of Turkish President Recep Erdogan.

The current head of British intelligence MI-6 until recently served as the British ambassador to Turkey and is one of the key figures in the influence group of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose great-grandfather Ali Kemal, one of the ministers of the Sultan government after 1918, was a Turk (according to one version - Circassian). Richard Moore is a supporter of the idea of ​​the Great Turan as a project to contain Russia and China. Erdogan, with the assistance of Moore, established strong and trusting contacts with Boris Johnson and received a mandate from him to seize control over the strategic Azerbaijani pipelines to ensure their security.

This year on September 28, Erdogan and Johnson discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh by phone, after which the Azerbaijani army under the leadership of Turkish instructors intensified the onslaught on the positions of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defence Army.

It is believed that Baku received a guarantee of support from not only Turkey, but also Great Britain in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, having paid for this with the de facto sovereignty of its country. Great Britain established full control over Azerbaijan, giving the Turks the operational management of regional affairs.

Shortly before the mentioned meeting of the British Ambassador with Tural Ganjaliyev, the US Ambassador held a similar meeting. Comparing all these facts, it was possible to foresee that in the hypothetical military conflict between NKR and Armenia with Azerbaijan, America, mired in internal contradictions on the eve of the presidential elections, would most likely take a neutral position, which has happened in the current reality.

According to Hovhannisyan, supported by more and more documentary evidence, the Armenian army is engaged in heavy battles with several times superior Turkish-Azerbaijani forces, which are fully supported by the Turkish Air Force, intelligence and other systems, a large number of mercenaries, terrorists and private military campaigns.

With the support of Turkey, Great Britain and Israel, Azerbaijan,relying on Turkish military innovations, relying on Turkish military innovations, managed to inflict a number of sensitive defeats on the NKR Defense Army, intending to return a number of territories around Karabakh area. Armenia and NKR, in addition to political miscalculations, were clearly preparing for the "last war", and at this stage of the confrontation with the Turkic-British coalition, they lost their strategic initiative.

[tumblingxelian]

Rebirth: The Empire of Zul

 'Rebirth: Empire of Zul' is a concept I hashed out with a poster by the name of DarkAtlan over on SB & Streamlined while on SV. I really like it and wanted to share so, with permission thought I'd post it here as well. For reference, these posts cover the ideas development.  Links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 

                                            Rebirth: The Empire of Zul

1st War Before any within the kingdom of Stormwind even knew of orcs, there was Zul'jin, warlord of the Amani tribe, the infamous raider of Quel'thalas and leader of the mightiest tribe of forest trolls and master of the city Zul'aman. For many years since ascending to his position as a youth Zul'jin combated the elves as best he could, organizing elite warbands and well timed raid into their territory; but while doing more damage to their hated foes than any forest troll in living memory, Zul'jin knew his tribe could not triumph alone. They lacked the numbers and the knowledge.

With this in mind, he set off on a journey, Zul'jin traveled the width and breath of of Azeroth.

In his travel he met with the leaders of the small but passionate Witneraxe and Frostmane tribes to whom he gave gifts, impressing the ice trolls with his piety, his skill and ambition. For a time he was apprenticed to the brilliant shaodwstalkers and honored priests of the jungle trolls, garnering renown among the great tribes of Stranglethorn Vale.

When his learning was complete he began travelling north and sought out the Smolderthorn and Fireetree tribes, who had been separated from their northern kin since the Troll Wars. He challenged their leaders and proved victorious, gaining control of the fiery steppe trolls and inducting them to the Amani empire once again. Sparing their leaders so that they could rule in his name, Zul'jin set off north with his fellow trolls behind him, promising forests unspoiled by humans, so to be reclaimed from the elves and more.

Just as he left, one Ogrim Doomhammer was being assigned to search for the mysterious forest warriors who so resembled orcs and ogres, he met with no success in this mission.

2nd War Over the ensuing years, Zuljin worked tirelessly to unite his kindred, challenging leader after leader, seeking out isolated bands and families to marching into Zin'thalor alone and leaving the bloody city of sacrifices with his head held high and the infamous Vilebranch tribe swearing allegiance to the warlord and his goal of retaking the northern forests and the HInterlands. However, as Zul'jin is preparing for a 'war-to-end-all-wars invasion of Quel'thalas' messengers from the Frostmane tribe arrive, bringing word that small, green skinned red eyed creatures, like diminutive forest trolls had fallen upon the human kingdom to the south and were marauding across Dun Morogh, forcing the dwarves and gnomes into hiding (They did not find the ice trolls in their well hidden encampments) With word of a 'massive marauding army invading out of nowhere, killing everyone and everything, and he puts the invasion on hold- as a precaution in case these 'orcs' attack Zul'Aman while his army is busy elsewhere.' Eventually his scouts and spies report that these 'orcs' seem focused exclusively on the humans, however by this time he has also received word that the High Elves have joined an alliance with the human and dwarvern kingdoms. Rankled, Zul'jin holds back his forces, knowing even his burgeoning empire cannot tackle every enemy the forest trolls have ever had and then some alone. Instead he spends the war watching from the side lines and making only small forays into his enemies territories to fan the flames. 'Only that doesn't work out' Without forest trolls Ogrim was more reliant on goblin mercenaries and made little effort to invade Quel'thalas, however he still spread his forces too think and on too many fronts that, on what seemed like a moment of victory, he fell thanks to the betrayal of Gul'dan and Cho'gall and the horde was defeated and interned. (Full Quote from DarkAtlan) "The Alliance comes out fairly intact, the Elves only contribute token forces (that's canon- the Elves sent the bare minimum to the Second War until the Trolls+Orcs attacked Quen'thalas, then the Elves went all in). And Zul'jin basically said 'ok, now is not a good time to invade, the Elves are as strong as ever, and they have like 4 human kingdoms and 1 dwarven kingdom they were only just allied with that might back them up.' So instead of invading, he spent the next few years consolidating, making the Tribes integrate into one nation, building defenses, training powerful witch-doctors, with the plan of invading Quel'thalas once the Elves and the Alliance have firmly gone their separate ways. (The Elves, in canon, left the Alliance as soon as the Second War was over- they wanted to kill the Orcs, not keep them prisoner, but there were strong enough ties that the Elves sent a fair number of forces to fight the Scourge, travel with Jaina to Kalimdor, and travel to Northrernd with Arthas. So even though the Elves weren't officially part of the Alliance, they were an unofficial part.)"

Thanks to the number of elves in Dalaran and the previously noted willingness to aid one another, Zul'jin is wary to attack so soon, after having seen the humans, dwarves and elves so easily unite and knowing such an alliance spelled doom for the empire the last time they battled. 3rd War Knowing they cannot be idle, Zul'jin gains the loyalty of the Winteraxe and Frostmane ice trolls through trials of challenge and promises that if they swear fealty to his empire he shall help them reclaim their lands (He orders the Winteraxe south as they had been facing troubles with humans & orcs). As the Dwarves are trying to re-settle ice trolls and some of the more blood thirsty soldiers of Zul'jin's army work together to undermine their expansions back into Dun Morogh and Loch Modan. The alliance is occupied with the Dragonmaw clan and their lost expedition, they d not have the resources or the where with all to notice the changes in the trolls behavior, assuming that the ice trolls are just taking advantage of the damage done by the horde & the forest trolls were chased from their traditional lands by the horde. Zul'jin also has his people stealing whatever they can, so they can reverse engineer it and running spying and espionage missions.

However just as things seem to be looking up, he gets word of strange human cults meeting in the woods, of undead roaming the forests and is forced to begin research into these strange developments. As time wares on it becomes clear that something much more sinister is going on than mere necromancy and his spies are reporting fleets of ships of orcs and humans fleeing west and others north. Unsure of what this means but unwilling to be ignorant, Zul'jin orders the Revantusk tribe and a portion of his own fleet to sail west and investigate.

Expedition: Thanks to the frequent meet up on Zandalar the Amani empire is at lest vaguely aware of Kalimdor & of the Farraki, though they still end up bearly crashing upon some islands and meeting the Darkspear, freeing them from the Sea With before arriving on Kalimdor. Arriving in the deserts of Tanaris they find the capital of the Farraki, Sandfury tribe to be on hard times, their once beautiful jewel of a city is aging, their desert is unforgiving and outsiders such as ogres and expanding Aqir have been driving them deeper and deeper into their city. Forging a pact, primal torntusk (leader of the expedition) convinces the Farraki to accept their aid and join the empire. Unhappy but acknowledging they have few other options the Sandfury agree in part thanks to their Martyr, Theka agreeing. Leaving half their forces but taking a small contingent of Farraki in return the expedition travels north, being advised to seek out the Dark trolls of the northern forests. However when they arrive the expedition finds the forests of Ashenvale consumed by bloodshed. (Full Quote from DarkAtlan) "The Empire- now including the Tanari trolls- send an expidition north, while they're securing Tanaris. The expedition arrives in Ashenvale first, ahead of Grom.(Canonically, in WC3, Grom destroyes the Dark Troll settlement in Ashenvale while gathering Lumber.)They help defend against the Orcs, but see the writing on the wall- they can't win. So they convince the Dark Trolls to join the Empire, and they abandon the village, moving north. As they move futher north, they encounter several more small Dark Troll tribes, making friendly contact, but don't absorb them- they just trade a little, and male camp nearby. (Learning more for the future, when they can return in force.) However, Tyrande and her Night Elves attack the Dark Trolls. (Canonically, Tyrande and the night elves destroy a lot of Dark Trolls while trying to awake the Druids of the Claw in WC3). The survivors- refugiees- link up with the Empire Expidition. The Expidition moves north. By now they have discovered a lot that worries them- Horde killing everything that moves (thanks Grom!), Undead killing everything, Demons killing everything, Night Elves killing everthing (they don't know that Tyrande was trying to get to the Druids, they just think that the Night Elves were killing everything around them out of spite- they saw them kill their Furbolg allies, but don't know those Furbolgs were corrupted and hostile). They arive at Mount Hyjal, and link up with the Dark Elves there. They explain the situation, and the Shadowtooth tribe (largesat of the dark trolls) listen- their scouts had seen a little of this. They fortify their positions." While this is going on, a few captured witch doctors (kept by the corrupted warsong sacrifices, torture or blood sport) were freed by Thrall & Jaina and to repay their debt helped purify Grom before splitting and finding their kindred. (Full Quote from DarkAtlan)"Finally, the battle of Mount Hyjal. The Orc/Demon armies attack, going first through the Alliance fortifications, then through the Horde. Then the Troll empire, leaving the Shadowtooth, the Dark Trolls, and the Expedition beaten but alive, before they hit the Night Elf base and are delayed just long enough for Malfurian to beat Archimonde (thanks to the World Tree). Afterwards, the Shadowtooth know they can't stay on Hyjal- too much demonic corruption, undead blight, and hostile forces around them- so the Expedition and all that's left of the Dark Trolls move back down south to Tanaris. They join back up with the Empire, and help retake Tanaris, moving in there."

Note: The elves wish to secure Hyjal and purify it, and as it stands it looks like a nightmare wasteland and with the horde and alliance still infesting their old stomping grounds the Dark trolls, while unhappy, acknowledge they need a fortified position to regain their strength. This is heavily encouraged by the empire forces as it ensures Zul'farrak is reinforced more easily. and will help tie the Farraki and Dark trolls together and them to the empire.

While all of this was happening Zul'jin was busy leading his forces to repel the sudden waves of undead, barring the Mossflayer tribes, the amani empire (Now coining itself as just 'the empire') retain most of their holdings save for a few other scattered camps.

WOW In the periods between W3 and WOW, word of the dreaded blood god Hakkar reaches the empire and they send a force to investigate these matters headed up by the minor Darkspear tribe. This united force containing trolls of every faction within the empire take over the Yojama isles and begin waging a war of sabotage on the Gurubushi and welcoming dissidents from the jungle tribes. Eventually the Zandalari arrive and are surprised to see the unity and cohesion among the trolls present and take on a role of advisers and teachers while observing and learning more about the empire to which they had previously only know to contain forest trolls. By the timeline of Vannila WOW (Quote from DarkAtlan) "Situation (as of WOW)Capitals:Kalimdor:Oggrimar (Orc/Goblin)(Horde)Thunder Bluff (Tauren)(Horde)Teldrasil (Night Elf)(Alliance)Exodar (Draenei)(Alliance)(Burning Crusade)Zul'Farak (Sand Troll/Dark Troll)(Troll Empire) Eastern KingdomsStormwind (Human)(Alliance)Undercity (Undead)(Horde)Silvermoon (Blood Elf)(Horde)(Burning Crusade)Ironforge (Dwarf/Gnome)(Alliance)Zul'Aman (Forrest Troll)(Troll Empire)Zul'Gurub (Jungle Troll)(Troll Empire)" Northrend:Zul'Darak (Ice Troll)(Troll Empire)(Wrath of the Lich King) Zul'gurub is late to join due to the chaos of putting down Hakkar (A battle in which Zul'jin may lose an arm, but in such a way it deeply wounds Hakkar) and initially the ice trolls and Darkspear are more like the canon Revantusk in terms of relevance. With Hakkar's defeat however the jungle troll tribes are forced to stand as one and join the empire, as each faction is seeking more allies, all watching one another with paranoia, part of what keeps the horde & alliance in peace is fear that the trolls will either join one side or attack whoever wins. Notes:Thrall is in need of more allies without trolls but is unwilling to force the ogres back into the fold and so instead works to get a goblin cartel to join, this also aiding his goals of peace as the goblins find war unprofitable. Led by Gazlow & Boss Mida, the new but burgeoning cartel works to take hold of the Echo isles as their main base and act as horde engineers, researchers and diplomats primarily.

Thanks to the close presence of the Farraki and their history of conflict with the Aqir, the empire is deeply involved with the Might of Kalimdor. Dark Trolls have small villages and bases scattered throughout the forests of Kalimdor. Burning Crusade: Before the third invasion of the legion, the Dranei crash upon Azuremyst Isles and Thrall accepts the blood elves into the fold. This is significantly easier than in canon as the blood elves and orcs lost little to each other during the war and so there is less hatred. Similar the high elf and blood elf populations are slightly higher thanks to escaping the 2nd war unscathed. The Zandalari also opt to join the empire, though unlike the other troll tribes there is no submission and it is treated as a pure alliance, as they wish to be involved in world politics again and intend to wait for Zul'jin to one day die and use their position as teachers and advisors to subtle take over the empire in a generation or two. The empire is only loosely involved in the War of Outland, due to less personal investment save wanting to kill Blood Elves and disliking demons, though the other factions do pressure them and they are not eager to let potential resources go to waste. The empire also sends a large force to Quel'danas, mostly because its a great excuse to kill elves and they won't pass it up. Wrath of the Lich King: Up until this point the Frost King Malak has been keeping an eye on the now names 'Empire of Zul' (Granted to the empire by the Zandalari) he and his tribe have long been insular and needed no one, however the scourge had been a growing pressure so he always worked to ensure a relationship of mutual respect with Zul'jin and may have planned an equal alliance similar to the Zandalari's. However the traitors Drakuru (Who sold out the keep he was meant to be guarding) and Kril'fon who helped open the way into the lowest tier for the Scourge forces allowing a two pronged attack upon the previous unsalable kingdom and forcing them into a position of weakness before the war upon norhtrend was declared and forcing Malak to submit to Zul'jin over allying as equal, though he is still treated with great respect. Cataclysm: (Quotes from Dark Atlan)"In this au, they're already part of an empire- one with land the Zandalari can move to- so they don't need to resurect the Thunder King and invade Pandaria" when Zandalar possibly starts sinking, though tier repute is damaged. "The Troll empire became a part of a three-way war in CAT. They too would wash up on Pandaria, but while the Alliance enlisted the Jinyu and the Horde enlisted the Hozen, the Trolls enlisted the Mogu. (some of them anyway.) The resurection of the Thunder King would be done by Mogu who didn't ally with the Trolls, and all three factions would join to defeat him, and later at the Siege of Oggrimar all three factions would work together." Note: DarkAtlan contributed far more than just the quotes, this is a streamlined version of our discussion, with their quotes added as they worked perfectly well without alteration.

Leadership/Political breakdown: Forest troll, Zul'jin defeated or won over every leader of every forest troll tribe, unifying the forest troll tribes once again into the amani empire of which he is the warlord/emperor. His only real competition in Warlord and witch doctor Warlord Jin'zakk who acts as something of a high priest. The title warlord seems to be one that can exist for lots of trolls of many ranks and so a broad term meaning "in charge of the combat force". Local tribe leader still lead their own tribes similar to mayors or lords but all answer to Zul'jin.(There may be some issues with the Vilebranch worshiping Hakkar's egg that need to be dealt with, but over all, fairly straight forward)

Ice Troll, Before the Drakkarri were members, ice trolls were represented only by the Frostmane tribe of Dun Morrog and the Winterax tribe of Alterac.

The deal was simple, join swear loyalty to the empire and receive soldiers/support. Knowing they could never reclaim their home themselves, the 'Great father' of the time agreed enthusiastically and Korrak had already agreed to follow Zul'jin after being defeated by him. Due to their demonstrated loyalty, the Frostmane & winterax get a lot of freedom and self governance from the amani, but ultimately their relationship to Zul'jin & the empire is the same as the other forest troll tribes, regardless of self governance. They will maintain their old ways of choosing leaders, but said leader of the tribes will intern swear themselves to the empire and rule in its name, even if they did become a kingdom in their own right. The next batches of trolls complicate matters more though: Farraki/Sand Troll,Technichally led by Chief Ukorz Sandscalp, the Farraki are also led by Hydromancer Velrath and Sul the Sandcrawler, who both hold revered positions and can counter him. All among respect, Theka the Martyr who holds no official position but is everyone's idol.The Farraki are a longstanding civilization with a well remembered history and great sense of pride in their people and their own strength. Even with the writing on the wall, completely conceding to swear themselves to a foreign (if troll) empire would rankle on them, but be necessary for survival. However I imagine the relationship is treated more like an alliance, regardless of what it is in reality. The sand trolls still rule their own city and bring their issues or disagreements to Zul'jin, however the balance of power is obviously not equal and Zul'farrak is further divided by its new residents. Ukorz is the nominal leader of the tribe, however Velrath the Hydromancer holds a great deal of sway, comparable to his own and Sul often acts as a decider should the two come to odds, the trio forming a council. Dark trolls, A scattered people, the dark trolls had not formed into a city, or kingdom or empire as their brethren, instead being small tribes or family units loosely acquainted by necessity, familiarity and the lands. Now though they have been forced from their forests and taken up residence in the unfamiliar city of Zul'farrak. Among these tribes the greatest, or at least largest and most martial is without a doubt the Shadowtooth clan, however longstanding attitudes remain and so their dark trolls have formed a loose council of tribal leaders for which the Shadowtooth clans tribe leader acts as the speaker for city politics and as their representative in the greater empire. Essentially the leaders of each tribe have meetings, talk and vote and the Shadowtooth leader speaks with the rest of the empire. The Dark trolls have mostly taken up residence in the mountains of Zul'farrak and the large stone mass beneath where the chieftain of the Sandfury resides, finding the darkness to suit them. Jungle trolls,Found upon the lost isles darkspear joined the Amani empire when left out of options thanks to the terrible sea witch that had overtaken their island. Minor members of the empire, even compared to the dark trolls they were subordinate to the amani but became central figures when work of Hakkar's would be rebirth began to emanate throughout the world. Taking over the Yojambe isles, the Darkspear,backed by members of the empire waged war upon the Hakkari zealots of Zul'gurub, slowly being joined by dissident from the Bloodscalp, Skullsplitter and even Gurubushi tribe. The Zandalari also provided surprise aid. With the defeat of the blood god and those who had sworn themselves to it put to the sword, the empire was left in a position with several tribes, all large and holding respectable territories clamoring for positions and blood. In the end the decision was forced, the jungle trolls would join the empire, no one tribe would lead the jungle trolls though, the skullsplitter and Bloodscalp hated each other, the darkspear were seen as inexperienced and meek, while no one trusted the Gurubushi. Thus a Tribal Council was formed, each tribes leader and their greatest priest would act as representative for their people and meet to debate the course of the jungle troll or how to meet the needs of the empire. Vol'in is the speaker for thr Tribal Council due to having been in the empire longest. In the end, all are subject to the empire, having essentially been conquered. However competition between the four tribes is fierce and with more trolls joining them from the south seas nothing is certain. The darkspear likely take up residence on Yojamba isles after the war and any other islands locations nearby. No tribes, prior to this point, stood taller or more successful than these final two tribes and thus the balance of power between them and Zul'jin is unique. Drakkari,The mighty ice troll empire, a nation carved from stone and ice into a ziggurat that stretches across the frozen north and thanks to its magic and sheer brute effort, managed to rise to great success and remain united through thousands of years of hardship. Stubborn and isolationists by nature, having been led by their royal family for ages, they were not eager to join the new empire, content with their holdings and their great walls, temples and forts. However the brutal Frost King Malak could see the growing threat of the Scourge and so made it a point to keep a polite relationship with Zul'jin as the leader of the closest tribe/kingdom to his own. He likely intended to forge a genuine alliance in the future, however when war was declared on Northrend and a traitor from within undermined their defenses, the Drakkari were left in a position of weakness when reached out to by the empire. With few options barring the unthinkable, they accepted the empire help and their offer to join it. Frost King Malak retains his position and is treated with great respect, however the empire works hard to make the Drakkari integrate and committed so that they cannot just leave when it suits them. Barring the Zandalari and their leader, Malak and his people are the closet things to an entirely independent power block within the empire. Zandalari,King Rastakhan and Zul'jin's relationship could be described as 'polite avoidance'. For while the Zandalari have the weight of history behind them and are regarded as the wisest and most spiritual of all trolls, it is hard to ignore the recent accomplishments of Zul'jin and his forces, meaning even the 200 year old king cannot simply claim leadership without creating a schism in the empire. The Zandalari were themselves surprised by the speed at which the Amani empire spread and thanks to being caught off guard struggled to be able to take the lead in matter they felt duty-bound to be involved in, becoming advisers and teacher in place of leader. Thanks to this awkwardness, and Zul'jin's position as the uniter of so many tribes, special care is taken to ensure the two leaders are never actually together. That is to say, Zul'jin is the leader of the empire, however none would dare suggest king Rastakhan bow or swear fealty to even the most accomplished forest troll regardless of how accomplished or blessed. But in the same vein one cannot disparage Zul'jin's accomplishments by expecting him to become subservient to a leader who has not led. Thus, the Zandalari did not swear fealty but they did become members, thus Zul'jin and Rastakhan interact purely through emissaries, thus Zul'jin is can command Zanalari but they shall call him by other titles than emperor so as to not disrespect their king. It is awkward and an incredible balancing act, but a necessary one to keep the empire united and driven towards restoring trollish civilization to even greater eights than it once held. Summarized: Basically Zul'jin is the official leader of the Amani with a high priest and is the leader of the reborn Empire of Zul, though he doesn't claim leadership of the Zandalari and is 'ally' of the Drakkari. Amongst the Amani though he is sole exclusive leader, with a spiritual side leader, similar to a human kingdom with the crown and church. This system is similar amongst the rest of the tribes, just with whoever leads the other tribes filling in for Jin'zakk as the 'other' but lesser 'power'. The Farraki are led by a council of three, but if Theka shows up they'll all side with him. The Dark trolls are an anarchic mix of different family heads and tribes heads all voting and then their chosen speaker delivering their case. The jungle trolls are led by a council of eight, IE, one military and one spiritual leader from each tribe with them all voting on collective actions and decisions and Vol'jin as their speaker in the empire. Malak still leads his own kingdom, but will follow Zul'jin's lead. Rastakhan is 'independent' but his people would still be expected to follow Zul'jin's order, if not treat him as emperor and he's expected to treat them with a certain amount or reverence and respect.

And that's everything I have right now, though there may be a few details I missed. 

Like it, hate it, I'd love to hear your thoughts, thanks once again to DarkAtlan for discussing this with me in such depth and thanks to everyone who read through to the end! 

[seawatersavior]

Lorne was once the price of a wealthy and prosperous nation. He was loved by his people and his ambitions pushed him to seek excellence. However, his peace would not last. When Lorne was to rise to power, a coup was executed. His family he had begun to put together was split apart, and in a failed attempt to kill him, Lorne escaped with near fatal injuries. His body was mangled, torn and disfigured. Most could barely recognize him as a dragon, only as a walking corpse. His rage and despair kept him alive, the desire for revenge pumping his once still heart. The pain in his bones keeping him moving forward. He began to discard parts of himself that did not work, until he was barely able to move along the ground, truly a gruesome sight as this mass of wrathful flesh and bone heaved along in the cover of night.

Tales soon began to spread of a beast that would consume the flesh of anything that crossed its path, taking the bone and turning it into a new part of its body. Lorne had become a monster, and he was ready to destroy.

But there was nothing left.

When he returned as a monster to destroy his stolen palace, he found nothing, just burned and demolished framework. His nation had fallen, and there was no one left to hate. How long had he wandered? How long had he seethed for a nation that existed no more?

With no one to face his wrath, he decided the ruins were the only home a monster could reside in. As the years passed he would scare away strangers, plunderers and historians. He wanted nothing to take these ashes from him. Over time, he grew tired of his miserable appearance, and slowly, became the shape of a "fae". What he was, who he was, was no more. He continued to protect in his new form, revealing his ghastly prowess when people would underestimate him. The bounty on his head was growing. He had become a fabled monster, and many young drakes made challenges of coming to face him, striving to be the hero that would lop off the beasts head.

On a particularly stormy night, Lorne awoke, one of his bone beasts had been taken out. This was unusual, most people would run at the sight of his discarded sentient pieces. Shrinking down to a smaller size, he crept out in the direction of the intruders. From his perch high above he watched as a group of people explored his ruins. A young man with blue hair, sword in hand, lead the group while a young girl with a bow protected the rear. In between the two were a small batch of rough looking individuals, clearly slightly shaken, but still moving forward.

"Fuckin’ shit!" grumbled the biggest one, "What sort of monstrosities live here?! Ya'll two better be as good as you say, I plan to leave here alive."

The blue haired boy up front smiled, "If you don't want to die, then contribute? We agreed to help you, but whether you live or die is up to you, you already paid us." "Ain't that what I paid you to do?!" yelled the big guy, "Y'all fuckers tryna pull something? Tryna take any of the goods here for yourselves?!"

The young girl scowled and spit at his feet, "Just die already if you're so scared."

The snappers face flushed red with anger, "Watch it little lady!" he screamed, "If I don't think I need ya ill kill you right here." He reached out to grab her but found his wrist in the young mans grip, A sharp pain crept up his arm and the hand tightened further and further. With a smile he coyly told him, "You would be dead now if not for us, I suggest you value your life some." The mans face drained of color and he tried to free his wrist to no avail, as he tugged violently he was suddenly released and fell to the ground with a thud.

The boy turned and continued to walk forward and urged the rest of the group along. As the rest of the group moved on the boy faltered for a moment. He looked around as if searching for something, and then moved on. He couldn't have noticed him. . .right?

Lorne continued to follow them, and watched as they continued to take down his creatures, the young ones that is, the other hooligans did little but get in the way. Lorne sighed, he was enjoying the show, but they were getting a little too close to the only buildings that had items of value left behind, he would have to act soon. With a wave of his hand all the beasts left the less important posts and began to gather around the location of the party.

The hoodlums were immediately frightened, the other two were capable, skillfully defending themselves and taking the beasts down one by one. He had heard them say they were hired guards and yet, they weren't protecting the others at all now! The gang was cursing and swearing as they were taking hits from the beasts. "Blanco!" the boy yelled, "Now!" The girl nodded and pulled out a bottle from her waist throwing it into the air and shattering it with an arrow. A clear liquid sprayed out and coated the area around it. Lorne immediately slid to hide behind a wall, he knew that smell. As soon as he ducked and covered his ears he heard the rumbling boom of an explosion. Lucky for him, the walls were sturdy, and minimal rubble fell his way, he was also currently tiny and could seek cover easily. Creeping back over the edge he saw the boy and girl standing to the side of the flames, shielding their eyes while analyzing their work. "Two birds with one stone!" the boy exclaimed happily, "Lets move on." They turned to keep exploring, but in a different direction than the one they had been leading the group.

Lorne was stunned, they had been a party hadn't they? He took the chance to kill not only his enemy but the competition? The two ran off, seemingly in a hurry now. The direction they were heading in was strange, the only notable building that way was the abandoned gardens? Lorne looked at the blazing fire now spreading through his ruins, there wasn't much left here, but he couldn't help but pity the fools who thought there were hidden riches. Lorne knew that nothing remained, just ghosts of the people he once knew. He jumped down and followed his remaining guests.

Sure enough, they had headed to the gardens. From a hole in the roof he watched them pick and poke at the wild greenery. They were clearly looking for something. Eventually with a small "a ha!" the young man began to harvest some colorful grasses. These were plants his mother had planted, and while he hadn't taken care of them, he didn't like watching others take them. Slinking back, he moved around to the door and casually walked over, hiding his presence from the two. Leaning over he whispered, "I always loved the color of these grasses, dark as night yet so shiny." The two immediately stopped cutting and jumped, turning their weapons in his direction. Suddenly the room began to turn dark, looking up the sky could no longer be seen through the glass, there was a complex latticework of bone enveloping the building, trapping them all inside. The sclera of Lorne's vessel turned black as wisps of deep purple clung to his skin and reached out into the air around him. He can't remember when this became a part of him, but it was handy.

Shocked the blue haired lad put his arms up, "Stop wait wait wait! I don't want to fight, hey uh, can we talk real quick?" Lorne was puzzled, the boy had looked so serious but all of a sudden, his guard came falling down?

"Speak."

The boy nodded and held out the grasses he had picked. "This is the answer to my curse, and it can be the answer to yours."

"Curse?" he laughed, "I'm undead, a monster created by my own hatred, I have no curse other than my own memories." He looked at the walls of the garden, decorated by the faded tapestries depicting his mother, "Nothing at all but these nightmares."

The boy shifted on his feet, and made a face of discontent. The young girl nudged him and whispered, "Your mask." He looked uncertain, but he nodded and removed the broken mask that covered the right side of his face. Upon removing it, it revealed long slender black lines falling down his cheeks, from a distance you would think that they were black tears, but they wrapped down his neck as well, this was only evident as the boy removed his scarf. Looking him in the eye the boys voice was steady, "I am shade touched, and while you may not have known it, you are as well."

Looking down at his own hands, black swirls masking his skin he looked up, "I've been like this for so long, I don't fear this power. Tell me, why do you wish to rid yourself of it."

The boy replaced his mask and stood tall, "If I am to be me, to be someone people can turn to, I cannot let my shade consume me. Its power may be vast, but there is no control to it. We shade-touched are seen as monsters to be killed, I cannot be respected as a leader if people see me as a monster," taking a small breath he hesitated, "Even if I am one."

"Monster or not, this is the power I need to live, to have some peace." He spoke while moving forwards, a bone hilted blade emerging from his palm, "I will not have anyone disturb my peace!"

The boy brought up his sword to parry, being as he was containing his shade given might he was slowly pushed back against a wall by the momentum of their clashing blades. The girl with him strangely enough wasn't making any moves, just watching. She had picked up the grasses the boy had dropped, and was wrapping them up carefully.

"Enough!" he yelled, extending a palm towards her. Bones fell from the lattice above, flying in her direction. She adeptly dodged and knocked them back with the side of her bow. Taking the chance the boy swung with all his might, pushing Lorne back a few steps, in his palm he cast a water spell aiming it at his head. Lorne blocked it with magic of his own, jumping back for some distance to play it safe. Turbulent rings of water surrounded the boy, but there was something off about them, they weren't completely water that was for sure.

"I don't want to fight!" the boy exclaimed, "You have the right to stay as you are, I wont deny that. But if you attack us I will not hesitate to kill you."

Manifesting a new blade in his other hand Lorne readied his stance, "I'd like to see you try"

Seeing that Lorne had become more aggressive, the young lady finally made her move. She put the grasses aside and pulled out her bow. Lorne had been outnumbered before, he could handle them, but they certainly had him on his toes. For every swing of a blade he dodged he found himself deflecting arrows, jumping over spells of water or ice. The gardens were taking substantial damage, and it pained Lorne to trample it so. They had to move, the space was cramped and the lack of mobility was inhibiting his ability. With a wave of his hand the entire bone lattice came crashing down, Dust and bone obscured their eye sight and Lorne what little wind magic he was still good at to clear himself a path.

As soon as he jumped out from the rubble he forced back by a barrage of ice arrows. The girl had assumed her dragon form, a monochromatic Skydancer with massive black wings. She used her wings to blow away the dust and rubble from around the boy who was surrounded by a shield of ice. "Thanks for the save Blanco!" The boy hollered, voice barely audible against the wind. She nodded and quickly reverted back to her bipedal state. She was obviously powerful enough in that form, but fighting a small target like Lorne's bipedal form is hard when you're full size.

He huffed, the land around him was covered with ice, they other two had the advantage in that regard, but Lorne was not one to despair and give up. He breathed in deep, the chill in the air harsh on his lungs, but a pain her could handle. As he let out the held in breath, wisps of the "shade" as the boy called it began go reach out, grasping at any magic in the air they would catch. They branched out on his skin, covering and covering until his skin was the color of night. It was time to get serious.

Bounding forward the shadowy essence reached outwards, attempting to catch the quick moving boy. By using all of his might, he was able to effortlessly deflect the icy arrows of the girl named Blanco, No matter how much magic they threw at him, Lorne was able to counter with his own. He was in his own playing field, and the boy refused to remove his mask. The girl was clearly getting frustrated with him, and he could hear them bickering among themselves. That was fine, if the boy didn't use all his powers he could take them down sooner. But the boy gave in. Throwing his mask to the girl he quickly made some distance between themselves. The marks on the boys body excitedly began to spread. The whites of his right eye turned dark and he grimaced upon the sensation. It was time for the true battle to commence.

The blasts of water magic were stronger now, Blanco aided in providing distractions to throw Lorne off balance. However Lorne refused to falter, he would not loose! He could control his shade, but the boy clearly could only harness its raw power, using it in a tasteless manner. It was no wonder the boy held it back, it was trying to consume him! This was perfect! As they clashed spells and swords he could feel the boys heart falter. He wanted to win but Lorne was superior in skill, how could he compare!

Lorne's satisfaction came too soon. He hadn't noticed the absence of ice magic coming at him. A strange sensation began to rise through his body, in the corner of his eye he saw her, a girl with hands glowing a blazing cyan, and then it struck. His entire body went numb as the lightning flowed through him, the numbness was followed by excruciating pain as a sword pierced through his core bringing him back to his senses. The force of the sword as it had come at him pushed him against a wall where he slid down leaving behind a mark of dark shaded blood. He looked down at the sword, it was wrapped in the grasses from his mothers garden, and still dripping a purple fluid similar in color to the grass. He watched as the two girls ran up to the lad and replaced his mask before they took off, not even sparing him a backwards glance.

Lorne lay there in the heat of the sun. For some reason he could not move, he assumed it was due to the sword still in his chest. He was no longer bleeding however, so that was good. But how was he going to defend himself if someone came? Ah the heat was getting to his head. He almost never came out in the day, and the sun was bearing down hard. Worse still the water and ice that was left behind from the spells was causing the area to be uncomfortably muggy as it evaporated.

It had been 2 days since he was left impaled here. He had taken to sleeping in order to try and channel his energy, but the sword in his chest seemed to inhibit his abilities. His head however, still had the smallest bit of movement. He relaxed a bit and looked down the path to his left. The heat made his vision hazy as the waves bounced on the stone pathways. He squinted as he tried to focus his vision, was there someone there? He closed his eyes to freshen them up and opened them up again, sure enough the hazy figure was getting closer. Great, just great, with only 2 days to channel his energy he hadn't gotten the chance to see if he could wait the spell out, and now he was gonna die. The neighboring city must've decided to take the chance to dispatch him when they didn't see any guards.

As the figure got closer Lorne realized just how disoriented he was, he couldn't make out a single detail. Eventually the figure stood next to him, but he still couldn't see their face, only the glare of the sun. He closed his eyes and waiting for it, for pain or a monologue, either is just as bad. However all he felt was a sudden relief from the heat of the sun, and a bottle being held to hips pouring a fluid into his mouth. His eyes snapped open at the sensation, but he couldn't move, only stare at the individual as his vision began to clear. A set of clear blue eyes looked down on him, the young boys eyebrows were furrowed in concern as he continued to pour the solution into Lorne. Above him the lightning girl from before stood with a umbrella over them. She looked tired, like she hadn't slept for days, but a soft smile still rested on her lips when she noticed he was coming to.

"Mister can you hear me?" asked the young boy. He had set his bottle aside and was staring at him worriedly.

"Unfortunately"

The boy looked surprised at this answer, but didn't dwell on it. "What should I call you?"

"Nothing, no one, nobody or as the people call me, The Ruiner."

The boy frowned, "I know you must have a real name. You were a regular dragon once weren't you? Before you became one with the shade?" This made Lorne frown, when did he stop being a dragon? Just because he was now a monster didn't mean he wasn't a. . .oh that doesn't make sense.

He was at this boys mercy, and whatever he made him drink seemed to heal him, but who knows what the boy could do to him? So he obliged. "I was once known as Lorne", a strange feeling welled up in him as he blurted out "but that me is no more."

The boy smiled, "That's a nice name, Lorne." He shifted on his feet and then decided to take a seat by his side. "Lorne, do you want to live?"

"I'm not sure." He had seen so much, lost almost everything, but he didn't want to let go either.

"I have sealed you here Lorne. This blade was coated with a combination of my blood and an elixir Roma made to contain the shade from spreading. If you choose to die, I can order the spell to deliver you death or." He put his hand around the hilt of the blade. "You can come with me."

"Eh? Why would I do that?"

The boy smiled. "Admittedly, i'm not great at using and controlling my shade, however, you have become one with it, and you've become so strong due to it. If it weren't for this blade you may have killed us that night." He picked up Lorne's hand and held it in his own. "Please Lorne, join me and help me learn to use my shade, I don't want to lose to it, I wan't to prove us shaded can be good people!"

"And you want me, a monster who has killed everyone who got in my way, who not over 2 moons ago attempted to kill you and considered eating you, you want me to mentor you?"

"Correct."

"And what do I gain from this? I would be free if you killed me, I could finally let go."

"You don't have to die to let go of the past!" His face was flushed with a anger, "You can move forward! This self pity that you feel, the sorrows of your past, your crimes, they don't define your future! Everyone has killed! But few think of the insect beneath their feet, no one cries for the prey they consume!" His hand between his was squeezed strongly, "And when you are left behind, time does not wait for you to catch up, and we keep moving forward."

The young girl had stooped over and was patting the young mans head. She smiled at Lorne and spoke, her voice soft but confident, "Won't you join us Master Lorne? Isn't it hard being alone here? With all these cruel reminders?" She motioned to their surroundings, "Everything that was beautiful once fades, new growth covers old growth, and the world moves on. Wouldn't you like to be free?" Tears had begun to run down her cheeks, like she was reaffirming herself and not him. How pitiful.

He tilted his head and looked at his surroundings. In the light of day he could really see how destroyed his city was. Debris was everywhere and nature had begun to reclaim the city long ago. In his memories he could still see the once lavish homes, lively streets and happy people. But there was none of that now. Just his bloodied form lying in the dust.

He looked up into those blue eyes staring intently at him. "What are you waiting for? This hurts pull the sword out already kid, you shouldn't keep your teacher waiting."

[ao3feed-scumvillain]

Evasive Maneuvers

by StygianBreakfastOmelet

Mercenary Liu Qingge is on transport and bodyguard duty for Rebel Alliance officer and Jedi Knight Shen Qingqiu. When their contact is late and the meet goes south, they have to make a quick getaway. All roads lead to smooching by a spaceport.

Part 2 Star Wars AU (prequel)

Words: 2559, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 2 of Jedi Shizun AU

Fandoms: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: M/M

Characters: Liǔ Qīnggē, Shěn Yuán | Shěn Qīngqiū

Relationships: Liǔ Qīnggē/Shěn Yuán | Shěn Qīngqiū

Additional Tags: Star Wars AU, Smuggler!Liu Qingge, Jedi!Shen Qingqiu, Fluff and Angst, smooches, Pining, No beta we die like sv manhua

source http://archiveofourown.org/works/22209991

[jwslw]

d20 modern stats for the Serious Sam Universe Part 3: The Mercenaries

Simba

Species Traits

Ability Modifiers: -2Str, +2Dex, -2Con, +2Cha.  

Creature Type: Simbas are humanoids with the Simba subtype.

Size Small: Simbas receive a +1 size bonus to Attack rolls and Defense, a +4 size bonus to hide checks, a -4 penalty to grapple checks and can carry ¾ as muchweight as a medium sized creature

Base Land Speed: 20ft.

Bonus Feats: Simbas receive Educated and Builder as bonus feats

Skills: Simbas receive a +4 species bonus to handle animal checks

Automatic Language: All Simbas begin play with 1 free rank in Read/Write Language (Simba) and 1 free rank in Speak Language (Simba)

Level Adjustment:+0.

Progress Level: Base line Human -3

Typical Simba CR2. Small Humanoid (Simba) Fast Hero1/Smart Hero1 HD:1d8-1 plus 1d6-1. HP. Mas9. Init:+1. Spd 20ft. Defense:15, Touch12, FF14(+1size, +1dex,+3Class). Bab+0. Grapl-5.Atk/Full Atk:+0melee(1d8-1 spiked club) or +2ranged (2d4 Zap gun). FS:5ftx5ft. R:5ft. SQ: Humanoid traits. AL: Tribe. Sv Frt-1, Ref+2,Wil+1. AP:2. Rep+1. Str9, Dex12, Con9, Int10 Wis11, Cha12.

Occupation: Rural (Handle Animal, Survival)

Skills: Craft (Structural)+5, Demolitions+4, Drive+5, Handle Animal+5, Listen+2, Pilot+5, Read/Write/Speak (Simba), Spot+2, Survival+4

Feats: Alertness, Personal Firearms Proficiency, Simple Weapons Proficiency

Talents: Evasion, Savant (Craft Structural)

Possessions: Zap gun (4lb), Spiked Club (8lb), various gear and personal possessions

Klawdovic

Traits

Animal Traits: Klawdovics have all traits common to animals

Detonate (Ex): Domesticated Klawdovics, can be feed a special diet of poisonous plants native to the Simba's home planet.  While “posioned”, the Klawdovic will detonate after a successful slam attack, dealing 20d6 points of concussion damage to the Klawdovic and all creatures within 20ft, creature within the blast radius (but, not the Klawdovic or the target struck by the slam attack) may attempt a DC 20 Reflex save for half damage.  The poison will work its way out of the Klawdovic's system after a week and must be renewwed.  Training a Klawdovic to attack a designated target in this manner counts as 2 tricks.

Bonus Feat: Klawdovics have Weapon Finesse (bite) as a bonus feat

Klawdovic CR1/4 (CR1 when feed explosive plant matter). Small Animal HD:1d8.HP4. Mas10. Init:+1. Spd 10ft, fly40ft (average). Defense:12, Touch12,FF11(+1size,+1dex). Bab+0. Grapl-7.Atk/Full Atk:+2melee(1d2-3 bite) or -1melee(1d4-1 plus explosion Slam). FS:5ftx5ft. R:5ft. SQ: Animal traits, Detonate. AL: None or Master. Sv Frt+2,Ref+3,Wil+2. AP. Rep+.Str5, Dex13, Con10, Int2 Wis14, Cha6.

Skills: Listen+6, Spot+6

Feats: Weapon Finesse (Bite)

Advancement: None

Zorg

Species Traits

Ability Modifiers: +4Str, +2Dex, +4Con, -4int, -2Wis, -4Cha.  

Creature Type: Zorg are considered Monstrous Humanoids with the Reptilian subtype.

Medium Size:  Zorg receive no special bonuses or penalties for their size.

Darkvision (Ex):  The Zorg have Darkvision out to a range of 60ft

Light Sensitivity (Ex): Zorg suffer a -1 penalty to attack rolls in bright sunlight or within the radius of effects or spells that duplicate bright sunlight (such as daylight).

Natural Weapons (Ex): Zorg have powerful bite attack (1d8), that can be used as a secondary attack in conjunction with manufactured weapons.

Base Land Speed: 30ft.

Bonus Feats:  Zorg receive Archaic weapons proficiency and Educated (Streetwise and Tactics) as bonus feats

Skinless (Ex): Because of their species-wide previous choices, the Zorg have lost their outer layers of skin, imposes a -2 penalty to save made to resist the negative effects of extreme temperatures, but, grants a +4 species bonus to Intimidate checks.

Level Adjustment:+0.

Progress Level: Base line Human +2.

Zorg Mercenary CR4. Medium Monstrous humanoid (Reptilian) Strong Hero3/Soldier 1 HD:3d8+6 plus 1d10+2. HP30. Mas15. Init:+1. Spd 30ft. Defense:14,Touch14,FF13(+1dex,+3Class). Bab+3. Grapl+5. Atk/Full Atk:+5melee(1d4+2 unarmed strike or 1d8+2 bite) or +5ranged (3d8 RI;80ft laser rifle) or  +1ranged (Laser rifle auto-fire). FS:5ftx5ft. R:5ft. SQ:Darkvision 60ft, Light Sensitivity, Skinless. AL: Zorg Empire, Mental's Horde. Sv Frt+5,Ref+3,Wil-1. AP4. Rep+0. Str15, Dex12, Con15, Int6 Wis9, Cha7.

Occupation: Military (Drive, Pilot)

Skills: Demolitions+1, Intimidate+2, Knowledge (Tactics)+1, Read/Write/Speak (Zorg)

Feats: Armor Proficiency (Light), Combat Martial Arts, Personal Firearms Proficiency, Power Attack, Simple Weapons Proficiency, Weapon Focus (Laser Rifle)

Talents: Extreme Effort, Improved Extreme Effort

Possessions: Laser Rifle (8lb) w/1d4+1 power cells, sun glasses, various gear and personal possessions

Zorg Commander CR6. Medium Monstrous humanoid (Reptilian) Charismatic Hero3/Personality1/Negotiator2 HD:4d6+12 plus2d8+6. HP43. Mas16. Init:+0. Spd 30ft. Defense:11,Touch11,FF11(+2Class). Bab+2. Grapl+4. Atk/Full Atk:+4melee(1d8+2 bite) or +2ranged (3d8 RI;80ft laser rifle) or -2ranged(3d8+2d8 Laser rifle burst fire). FS:5ftx5ft. R:5ft. SQ:Darkvision 60ft, Light Sensitivity, Skinless, Conceal Motive, React first, Unlimited Access. AL: Zorg Empire, Mental's Horde. Sv Frt+8, Ref+3,Wil+4. AP5. Rep+8. Str14, Dex10, Con16, Int10, Wis11, Cha12.

Occupation: Law Enforcement (Drive, Listen)

Skills: Bluff+7, Diplomacy+7, Drive+4, Intimidate+5, Listen+2, Perform (Oration)+6, Profession+4, Read/Write/Speak (Zorg), Spot+6

Feats: Advanced Firearms proficiency, Alertness, Burst fire, Personal Firearms Proficiency, Renown, Simple Weapons Proficiency

Talents: Coordinate, Inspiration

Possessions: Laser Rifle (8lb) w/1d4+1 power cells, sun glasses, Personal Force field (DR5) w/power back pack, various gear and personal possessions

Atlantean

Species Traits

Ability Modifiers: +2str, +2dex, -2int, -2cha.  

Creature Type: Monstrous humanoid with the Aquatic subtype.

Amphibious (ex): Atlanteans can breath air and water with equal ease, Atlanteans can swim without making swim checks and receive a +10 species bonus in circumstances that force a check.

Natural Armor: +3

Natural attacks: Atlanteans have two long tentacles growing from their backs, these tentacles grant the Atlantean a reach of 10ft and deal 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage when used as an attack.

Medium Size (ex): Atlanteans receive no size based bonuses or penalties

Keen Sight (ex): Atlanteans have Darkvision out to a range of 60ft

Base Land Speed: 30ft, Atlanteans can also swim at the same speed.

Bonus Feats (Ex): Atlanteans receive Archaic weapons proficiency as a bonus feat

Starting Languages: Atlanteans begin play with 1 free rank in Read/Write language (Ancient Greek) and Speak language (Ancient Greek)

Level Adjustment:+0.

Typical Atlantean Warrior CR3. Medium Monstrousd humanoid(Aquatic) Strong Ordinary1/Fast Ordinary1/Tough Ordinary1 HD:2d8+4plus 1d10+2. HP20. Mas15. Init:+3. Spd 30ft, swim 30ft. Defense:24, Touch18, FF21(+3dex,+5Class,+3Equip,+3Nat). Bab+1. Grapl+3. Atk:+4ranged (3d10 RI; 80ft Plasma Rifle) or +0ranged (Plasma Rifle Auto-fire). Full Atk: -2melee(1d6+2, 2 Tentacle slaps). FS:5ftx5ft. R:5ft. SQ: Monstrous Humanoid traits, Amphibious, Darkvision 60ft. AL: Atlantis, Mental's Horde. Sv Frt+4, Ref+3,Wil+0. AP: N/A. Rep+0. Str15, Dex16,Con15, Int10, Wis10, Cha6.

Occupation: Law Enforcement (Diplomacy, Gather Information)

Skills: Climb+3, Diplomacy+0, Gather Information+2, Handle Animal+0, Hide+5, Move Silently+5, Read/Write/Speak (Ancient Greek), Spot+2, Tumble+6

Feats: Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Armor Proficiency (Light), Simple Weapons Proficiency, Stealthy

Possessions: Plasma Rifle (8lb) w/1d4+1 power cells, Studded leather armor (20lb), various gear and personal possessions.