#Steel Buildings Utah | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

atinylittlepain · 1 year ago

Text

Only Lovers Left Alive

vamp!joel miller x f!reader

joel miller masterlist

He offers her another option between life and death. How could she refuse?

warnings | 18+ smut, spitting lol, gore, blood, dark themes in general, joel and his lady dunk on a preacher, you've been warned muah hahahaha

a/n | hello and welcome to the second installation of my vamp series. i'm placing this one around 1910, just FYI. that's all, enjoy

...................................

“We must be delivered from our own evil, our own debauchery! I implore my fellow man, brothers and sisters of Christ, to cast out the wickedness in their hearts and rebuild this town in His image! There is something sinister running through the streets of New Orleans and it is our god-given duty to seek it out and destroy it with His righteous light!”

“Fucking mouth on that one, huh, darlin?”

“At least this one has a little showmanship. The snake is a nice touch, I’ll admit. Remember that one in Utah? He was practically boring people to tears.”

“Mormans never did have much flare. Easier going down than Catholics though.” She offers him a faint hum, all this talk starting to fray her nerves, a dull ache in her skull that she knows isn’t just from the sunlight seeping through the fabric of her parasol. Judging by the way he’s pinching the bridge of his nose, Joel is starting to feel it too, hooking his arm with hers as they both start to thread through the crowd that has gathered around the barking preacher.

“You, sir! Surely you and your good lady are god-fearing citizens that will join the battle against darkness!” He’s in front of them in a flash, white collar glinting in the midday-sun, making her squint while Joel angles his broadness between her and the gesticulating preacher whose snake is held by its skull in one of his doughy hands.

“You’ll excuse us, friend. My woman isn’t feeling well.” She doesn’t even have to pretend, that ache turning insistent, dizzy, until she sees the snaring jaws of two snakes instead of one, her hold on Joel’s arm becoming hard and desperate.

“Well it’s a simple question, friend. Are you or are you not one of His flock?” A rushing in her ears and a quick flicker behind her eyes, tiny pinpricks that bloom into darkness, the faint feeling of Joel holding her up against the solid weight of him.

It’s the heat.

She needs space, give her space.Let the woman through for Christ’s sake.

Her mind is alert enough to let out a weak laugh into Joel’s suit jacket at that particular admonition. The crowd parts around them with a wave of murmurs and gasps, a small mercy for them to slip away through the throng, away from that man. They pass down an alleyway, enough shade, enough safety for her to regain her legs, untangling from Joel’s arms to press her palms against the wall of whatever building they just slipped between.

“I’m sorry, darlin. Shouldn’t have stayed out there that long.”

“Did you not feel that too?”

“I did, but not as strong as you seemed to. Reckon I’ve worked up a little more tolerance over the years than you have.” All she can do is nod, still not quite back from whatever that brink was, barely registering his palm running a soothing circuit between her shoulder blades. She knows he’s right, the few decades he has on her shoring him up against things like that while she still finds herself surprised and stunted by all the unsuspecting vulnerabilities. For all the ways they are steeled and strengthened in this world, the scale is made equal by all the ways they must hurt and hide.

“It’s not just that, Joel. It’s been too long.”

“I know, darlin. Tonight. As much as you want.”

…

Dusk pulls a heavy pall over the streets of the city, heralded by the hot brass of trumpets, a warbling cry that resounds in almost every quarter these days. Jazz and its dragging, doleful rhythms, the constant push and pull of sound snaking through the clambering streetcar lines.

“They’re powered by electricity, you know.” She can feel Joel’s grumble where her palm is resting against his chest, the subtle shake of his head letting her know he isn’t impressed.

“Always something new, darlin. I still prefer a horse myself.”

“Sorry, baby, but it looks like those days are long gone.” It never fails to amuse her, the act, the game they play. A couple like any other out for a night on the town at one of the city’s many dancehalls, perhaps. Delicate lace creeping up her throat, up her hands, a mercifully looser corset than what she had grown accustomed to in the past wrapped around her ribs. And he in his suit, straining against the starched collar, just a touch out of place, out of time. Always changing, always shifting in this constantly moving world. Talk like this, look like this, be like this. They do it so well.

“And you, Miller? Certainly fortune has been kind to you to have a woman on your arm as beautiful as that.” New money, oil tycoons and traders. Vultures, she muses to herself, might be less exacting, staring down their beaks at any new flesh that comes their way in this casino, greedy fingers curled over gold chains.

“I’d rather not discuss business tonight, gentlemen. It’ll distract a simple man like myself from my cards.” He’s always been good at that, a disarming smile, something earnest in the downward tilt of his lashes, coaxing a laugh out from around the whole table.

“Mrs. Miller, wouldn’t you be more comfortable in the parlor with the other women? I’m sure you’d find their conversation a bit more interesting than all our dry talk.” Joel squeezes her thigh under the table, a silent warning to sheath any sharpness she has at the ready. She’s always been prone to temper when she’s hungry, a short fuse and a snapping snarl.

“With all due respect, gentlemen, I’d rather like to watch.” Lips curled back in what could be a grin, sweet and stupid enough for them to settle back into shuffling their cards in a thick haze of cigar smoke. Talk flows loosely between plays, though what game it is she isn’t certain, too busy letting her gaze wander across the table. Skin, spilling over shirt collars, ruddy with booze and the close heat and haze of the room, enough to make her gums twinge with the promise Joel made her earlier. But she has to be patient, and so very lovely. All smiles, all deference, hands folded in her lap just so, her nails digging into her palms until it starts to distract her from that throb in her throat. Light hums and nods whenever the conversation lobs her way, not really listening to the words, more watching the way they jump around the men’s necks, tendons and muscle and–

“It’s getting awfully late, my fine companions. I do believe our women have already retired for the night, save for you of course, Mrs. Miller. It is probably wise for us to call this game while we’re still fresh enough to wander home ourselves, eh?” Big, gray mustache and blubbering lips, eyes drooped with drink, a similar look on all the other men’s faces, except for Joel.

“What’s one more round? Won’t you gentlemen give a poor man the chance to make up his losings?” Again, unassuming, eyes rounded with a little pout. It works every time.

“Well alright, Miller. One more round and then we oughta all go home so they can close this place for the night.” Theirs the only table still occupied in the casino, bartender and attendants gone as well it’s so late, most likely waiting in the back for their lingering group to finally leave. Though they won’t be a problem, this she knows. Money moves in this town, an easy bribe made easier by the ask. Work so hard, just take off a little earlier tonight.

“Miller, I’m sorry to say it, but it looks like your luck isn’t getting any better.” It’d be friendly if the man didn’t look so smug saying it, fanning out a flush of cards on the table that even she knows is a winning set.

“I’m afraid you’re right. Not sure what I’ll do seeing as I’m all out of chips to bet with.”

“Why don’t you wager something else?” Said with a grin wrapped around a cigar, always so predictable she finds herself having to swallow a yawn as her eyes cast lazily onto Joel, something like a smile twitching around his mouth.

“And what might I wager?” Another one of the men leans forward in his seat, and though he speaks to Joel, his eyes stay on her.

“That woman of yours has been so sweet all night sitting and watching. How about a kiss for the winner?” Blink and miss it, the tick in Joel’s jaw, quickly schooled behind a slippery smile. She knows the man would already be dead if this wasn’t a part of their well-worn dance. Something is skittering across the table as they start to play, like schoolboys excited by a shared secret, hands a little quicker, voices a little louder. It makes her teeth hurt with want.

Joel doesn’t win because Joel isn’t supposed to win. Big, gray mustache curled around a sickening smile, looking right at her.

“Fair is fair, gentleman. Why don’t you come over here, sugar, and give me my winnings?” Joel lays one final squeeze to her thigh before she gets up, a reminder that lingers on her skin as she slips around the table to the man who won. She’ll admit she’s a little caught off guard by just how handsy he is, pulling her over his lap before she can get her bearings.

“You are a beauty, aren’t you? How about a kiss right here, sweetheart?” He points his fleshy finger to his cheek, dimpled with how smug he is. She keeps her lips pulled over her teeth in a smile, leaning in, though her mouth doesn’t find the spot he directed her toward. That quick, quivering beat of life, so easy to seek, so easy to burst in her jaws. His hands curled around her waist go tense for only a moment, before slackening still as she takes and takes and takes.

The sounds around her barely register in her slow sate, a murmuring scuffle that she knows means Joel is taking care of everything, everyone else. She never realizes just how badly she needs it until she has it between her teeth, mind going heavy and hazy in the swimming satisfaction of a finally full stomach. Every last drop, pinkness dimming to a dull blue beneath her lips before she finally pulls away with a contented sigh.

“There’s plenty more, darlin. Have your fill.” Always the gentleman, even with it dripping down his chin, though she’s quick enough to thumb it away before it can stain his suit, humming around her finger as he grins at her.

“Thank you, baby. Always works like a charm.”

Neither of them have been this full, this satisfied in a few weeks, limbs turning languid and heavy with it as they slink out into the night. She’ll admit it isn’t their tidiest work. Though it isn’t uncommon for a card game to end in bloodshed with all the money fluttering around in this city. But right now, there’s too much thrum in her veins for her to care much about it, tugging Joel along by the hand through the thick night. Neither of them are used to it, the perpetual light of the city, electricity pulsing and prolonging the day, casting everything in a flickering shade of orange. Loose and pliant, bodies swaying to the dragging rhythm of a distant band. She’d coax Joel into a dance if she wasn’t so hellbent on getting home, driven by a different want simpering along her spine.

“What a beautiful couple.” They’re both surprised by it, stuttering stop in their walk home and whipping around, catching sight of the woman who said it. She’s older, curled over with age, a street vendor, one of the invisible people that gets passed by day in and day out as she sits vigil over her small tent of wares.

“I will read your palm if you like, free of charge for such loveliness as you.” She can already hear Joel telling the woman off in her mind, though she cuts in before he can get the first word out, already stepping toward the woman and her booth, palm extended.

“I see a long life for you.” She can’t quite hold back her snort at that, glancing over her shoulder at Joel who looks equally amused. But the woman isn’t done yet, still holding onto her hand in both her palms.

“There is something. Something dark. Something has its hooks in you, deep.” She jerks her hand away before the woman can continue, taking a stumbled step back right into Joel’s chest. The woman’s eyes are wide, a pale, milky blue that she finds herself unable to meet, steeling her face with what she can of a smile, leaning into Joel’s palm curling over her shoulder.

“It’s more of a mutual thing actually. But thanks for the warning.” Those pallid eyes follow her the whole way back to their apartments. She can’t look at Joel, her gaze skittering somewhere over his shoulder as she fumbles with the buttons at the back of her dress, something setting a shake in her fingers that she can’t quite name.

“Darlin, let me help you.” She does, mutely turning around, muscles jumping as his fingers start to trail down the back of her dress.

“You alright?” She hums, airy, not a yes or no, stepping out of her dress to stand before him in the thin fabric of her shift and corset.

“You’re mine, right, Joel? This isn’t– you aren’t–” He’s quick to cut her off, hands coming to frame her face, to focus her gaze on him.

“Hey, hey, none of that. What’s got your mind spinning like this?” She feels foolish for it, and if he wasn’t holding her jaw steady she’d already be tucking her chin down, a bit bashful, a bit embarrassed to admit it.

“That woman–”

“That woman probably says the same damn thing to every person that comes her way. She talked to you for, what, five minutes? If that. Tell me, darlin, how long have we been together now?” The math is simple, but the result is dizzying, a number she feels silly even saying out loud, though Joel fills in the gap where her mind refuses to catch up.

“A long time. And longer yet. Longer than anyone else can imagine.” His words temper into a quiet murmur, forehead to forehead, his nose trailing the line of hers.

“I just– I need to hear you say it, Joel. That you are mine.” His first answer to her is a kiss, give and take in the way he opens her mouth up to him, a slow, hot drag of tongues and sighs.

“Yours, always. You know that, darlin.” His chin tilts for another kiss, but before he can she presses her palms against his chest, holding him where he is as a smile slips across her face.

“Take off your clothes for me, now.” A flicker of recognition, understanding in his expression. He knows what she’s really asking for, and he’s more than willing to give it to her, already shucking off his suit jacket. She watches, barely blinking. The steady work of his hands popping open his collar, tugging loose his tie with just a touch of exasperation. She knows how much he hates all of it, the wool trousers, the shined shoes and sock garters. She supposes that he’d walk down mainstreet in bluejeans and flannels if it didn’t mean sticking out sore and strange. Never far from the plains in his mind. But bare beneath it all, he’s still the same, still all hers. Circling, palm slipping from his chest down the soft strength of his side, along the curve of his ass, his shudder making her sigh as she slinks back around to stand in front of him. And though he reaches out for her, she steps back just enough that his fingertips only brush fabric. Not tonight. Not like that.

“On the bed, baby.” He’s being good tonight, compliant, a rarity that tells her that he knows. How much she needs this, eyes watching him watching her as she slips the lacing of her corset loose, letting it drop to the floor along with her shift. Always a sigh settling into his lap, her thighs splayed over his hips, nails digging into his shoulders with the drag of her cunt against him, already hard, already aching for her. She’s not looking to tease, not tonight, not tangled in this strange feeling that she wants to chase away with the taut stretch of him, a cry stuck in her throat when she sinks all the way down.

“There you go, darlin. Gonna take what’s yours, huh?” She does, pressing him down into the sheets, her palms splayed over the span of his chest as she lets her hips grind against his, feeling that fill, that perfect press that makes her eyes roll back. He lets her take exactly what she wants from him, his palms splayed over her ass, a staying, a steadying to the rolling bounce she finds, little moans that break like beating wings. Only she gets him like this, his head pressed back into pillows, curls mussed and mangled, brow pulled down in a pleasure only she can provide. Something about the power of it, the possession of it driving her to curl over him, her palm coming to his jaw, just a little mean in the press of her fingers. She doesn’t even have to ask, his lips already parted around a groan, enough for her to let her mouth hover over his, a thin slip of spit falling onto his tongue. His eyes widen only for a beat before drooping hazy and low, his lips pressing together with a rasped hum in his throat. All hers.

“Fucking filthy, ain’t you? Been a bad influence on you, darlin, fuck.” He’s getting greedy, impatient, bending his knees so he can meet her own jolting rhythm, a quick and desperate snap to his hips that makes her preen.

“Maybe, but you like it, don’t you, baby?”

“You know I do. My angel’s made just for me, huh? All mine.” All she can do is nod, a yes slipped between sighs as everything furls up in a perfect twist of pleasure, spine snaring tight before slackening slow, her body melting over his as he follows her over the edge. Chest to chest, a nip to the hinge of his jaw, just a little one, enough to make him huff and tuck his knuckles under her chin to coax her mouth up to his.

“Feel better, darlin?”

“Shut up.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Shutters closed, curtains drawn, keeping out the creeping Sunday morning sunlight. They’ll sleep through the day, maybe two with how full they are, limbs slumping into a close tangle as the city starts to wake up.

Men in their finest, shirt collars prim and pressed, holding the brim of their bowlers in one hand, offering their other elbow to their wives, dripping in lace and wide wicker hats. Everyone making their way to church. He doesn’t have the snake out this morning, just a cracked Bible tucked against his chest and a flurry of words ready to jump from his throat, pacing at the pulpit.

“Brothers and sisters, I stand before you today, my heart heavy with sorrow because the devil has struck again in our good city!” A wave of murmurs, hands clasped to chests in shock at his blunt exclamation. His voice rises above the throng, building on the encroaching twinge of hysteria.

“Last night, in one of those dens of degeneracy and sin, four honest and hardworking men of our community were murdered, a most perplexing and pernicious crime.” The crowd is stirring itself up into what could become a frenzy now, men rising from their seats, women clutching at their gloves, though the preacher is quick to silence them with his continued cries.

“Please, everyone, let us keep our heads! We must if we are to strike this evil from our hearts and from the streets of New Orleans. I have already organized evening vigils for the rest of this week and I implore you to come out and pray with us. We must come together now to drive the devil out of this city before he has the chance to propel any more of these heinous crimes!”

…

“Hmm.”

“You awake?”

“Just about.”

“You thirsty?”

“A bit.”

“What are you in the mood for, my darlin?”

“I’ve been thinking about that preacher man, if I’m quite honest.”

“You know he won’t taste good. Always a little bitter, those ones.”

“I know, but I could do without him shouting up and down the streets at all hours of the day about evil.” She can feel Joel’s huff of laughter against the back of her neck, the warmth of him settling over her where she’s slumped into the mattress on her stomach. Stretched out after a long, languid sleep.

“Well why don’t we take care of him and then find something a little more appetizing for dinner.” She cranes her neck to glance over her shoulder, being greeted by the slip of his grin and the silver of his teeth.

“Now you’re talking, baby.”

#joel miller #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller x reader #tlou #tlou fanfiction #joel miller x you #joel miller angst #the last of us #joel miller fluff #joel miller smut #joel miller story #joel miller series #joel miller fic #joel miller au #joel miller imagine

137 notes · View notes

scotianostra · 1 year ago

Text

On November 25 1835 the steel magnate and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie, was born in Dunfermline.

Carnegie's name is synonymous with big business and large-scale philanthropic endeavour. Andrew Carnegie was the son of a poor weaver from Dunfermline who amassed the largest fortune ever seen before his death in 1919.

It was from the small harbour in the Fife coastal village of Charlestown that the young Carnegie left Scotland along with his family in 1848. His father, William, a handloom weaver from Dunfermline, decided to relocate to Allegheny, Pennsylvania, in the hope of a better life.

Carnegie was a ruthless and gifted businessman. By 1899 his companies controlled 25 per of American steel production at a time when demand for the building material was growing at unprededented rates. The subsequent almagmalation in 1901 of the four big American steel companies made Carnegie the richest man in the world, and allowed him to give away more $350 million dollars - half a billion in toda

y’s money - in his lifetime.

Carnegie famously wrote that “the man who dies rich dies disgraced”. He further elaborated his theory of philanthropy, known as the Carnegie dictum. It called for individuals to spend the first third of one’s life getting all the education one can, to then spend the next third making all the money one can, and finally to spend the last third giving it all away for worthwhile causes.

Towns across the UK and Ireland benefited from public libraries paid for by Carnegie and his charitable trusts. Among the other institutions founded in his name is New York’s famous Carnegie Hall, a venue considered to be among the most prestigious in the world. A more modest venue with the same name stands in his home town Dunfermline, allowing generations of less well-known performers and local school children to claim that they too have performed at Carnegie Hall.

The remains of a dinosaur - Diplodocus carnegiei - were named after the philanthropist in 1901. He sponsored an expedition led by John Bell Hatcher which found the near complete skeleton in in the Morrison Formation in Utah. Carnegie paid for casts of the dinosaur to be displayed at museums around the world

The inscription on Andrew Carnegie’s gravestone reads: “Here lies a man who knew how to enlist the service of better men than himself.” He was buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in North Tarrytown, New York.

#scotland #scottish #history #philanthropy #fifer

11 notes · View notes

regarding-stories · 6 months ago

Text

The Fallout Series as stories (part 1, also: not about the TV show)

"Fallout" is a series of games set in a post-apocalyptic future. The world "ended" in 2077 and the player gets to explore the aftermath and interact with the people inhabiting "the Wasteland." What "Fallout" is about, however, is defined differently by various games, as they were produced by different people and companies.

To make things a little easier to follow, let's distinguish the games a bit:

Fallout 1+2 (FO1, FO2) were isometric 2D roleplaying games released by the original designers for Interplay, they run on the same engine and their stories build on each other. The settings are California and Northern California, respectively.

"Van Buren" was a design document for a third installment on a more modern engine that was never made since the publisher had to sell the IP. Its setting covers the Mojave desert, Utah, and Colorado.

Fallout 3 (FO3) was instead made by Bethesda, the RPG behemoth responsible for the Elder Scrolls series ("Oblivion", "Skyrim") and nowadays "Starfield". It is set around Washington, DC.

Fallout: New Vegas (FO:NV) was made under a license from Bethesda, using their FO3 engine, but by many of the people originally behind Fallout. It recovers a lot of the "Van Buren" material but ends up telling a different story. The game focuses on the Mojave desert, but you can visit Utah in a DLC.

Fallout 4 (FO4) is another RPG made by Bethesda, this time set near and in the ruins of Boston.

Fallout 76 (FO76) is more of a multiplayer shooter with RPG elements than a Fallout RPG. It eventually offered things like a Battle Royal expansion. It's set in the Appalachians.

Let's look a bit at the stories of these games, and especially what kind of stories they try to tell.

Dark yet hopeful

Fallout 1, a game released 1997, was a strange groundbreaker. It was celebrated as a spiritual successor "Wasteland" (1988), probably the first, or at least the first interesting, post-apocalyptic game. This is true and then not. Whereas "Wasteland" was a game about an organization called "the Rangers" trying to restore peace to a post-apocalyptical America and the party becoming heroes saving the world, FO1 has a different, more personal, and maybe noir vibe.

First of all, humanity, at least in North America largely survived the nuclear holocaust thanks to underground bunkers called Vaults, built by a company called VaultTec. The player character in FO1 sets out from such a vault to find a chip to control the vault's failing water purification system and begins to explore the surroundings, fighting various mutated monsters and dangerous raiders on his way.

During the course of the game you will deal with various factions, including the technology-preserving Brotherhood of Steel, a group of irradiated, long-lived and sentient ghouls, a sort of do-goodie hippie community, a cult worshipping a bomb, raider gangs, etc. Ultimately the player gets to decide the fates of many groups in the Wasteland, and combats the Supermutant menace threatening them all, ultimately thwarting "the Master's" plans to create a new sort of "super-human" from the Forced Evolution Virus, another threat released into the world during the war, and ultimately the cause of all these mutations.

I remember getting FO1 on a CD-ROM as part of a compilation and being to no end surprised by it. It looked at first like a low-end title with maybe nothing much to it, but it quickly blew my mind. Its mix of atmospheric dark music, a clever combat engine taking place within the portrayed world, its multitude of choices, and its storytelling were a unique combo.

Fallout itself has no simple story, it keeps telling you many things and expanding. It tells you how the world ended, but it's fair to say the world ended before "the bombs fell." Pre-apopalypse America was a militaristic police state that had occupied Canada and was battling China for the world's resources. The world from the before the final war looks bleak, and yet may in some respects look like heaven to those who came after.

Conflict remains a central theme, but this time it's about what the world will look like going forward. Raiders only think about what to grab and whom to extort, but settlers and merchants are trying to eke out a living. The Brotherhood wants to preserve technology, but is isolationist and ultimately an outgrowth of the last vestiges of the US military, formed by survivors in a bunker. Resources are contested, and the players pokes around in a lot of pre-war stuff.

When you walk around an old nuclear power plant or delve into the lore of the world it may seem Fallout is a game about the past. But its people are all looking to the future, even if the past exerts its influence through undetonated warheads and mutation viruses, and even if this future is full of hardships.

An evolving world

Nothing proves this more than FO2. Instead of setting another game in just the same place, the designers fast-forwarded 80 years into the future, and forward they did!

When we leave FO1, the protagonist cannot return to his home. He's cast out as the ones he's saved fear what he has become, so he goes north and founds a small community. These "tribals" live a lifestyle more oriented towards the land, as harsh as its, and revere the "Vault Dweller" as their ancestor.

Other elements have also evolved from the original setting. The settlement you came across first in the original game? It became the seed for a new nation state, the New California Republic. The Brotherhood is still around. Another vault has built a (stagnant, isolationist) city in the region. Supermutants still exist, some as roaming raiders, but also at times integrated into society.

FO2 (released 1998) has a bit of a different vibe from FO1. The basic gameplay is there, but there's more humor (sometimes so absurd that people dislike it). And it keeps building the world, this time north of San Francisco. FO2 evolves the feel of the original and adds new elements. Let's leave the feel aside for a moment (discussed below) and look at what FO2 throws at us.

You can visit locations like San Francisco (essentially its Chinatown), New Reno, mining towns, etc. There are Western elements here, and vibes of the American West. There's even more to do, and it's even more personal. You can now gain titles and reputations, and you can become a "made man" (a top-notch mafia-style gangster), a boxing champion, and a pornstar - and that's just in New Reno!

FO2 is also more about people than anything. Power and control are definitely among the themes, because even among the people just trying to survive there are those who'd sell them drugs just to take advantage of them. Bullies big and small. And the biggest bully of them all is the antagonist, the Enclave.

FO1 was about the world that was beginning (again) and the one that ended. In FO2 you learn many dark truths about the world that has ended and refuses to stay dead. Vault-Tec was never truly meant to save humanity, and most of what it did was conduct a large scale experiment on humanity. The Enclave is essentially the US government, and it's as dark a villain as you can expect.

This "government" hid itself on an oil rig, and is using the technology left to it (like "vertibirds", i.e. helicopters) to work towards its goal: Erase the population of the mainland and start it over in its image. (The "remaking by force (and virus)" theme of FO1 is alive and well, apparently.) Talk about persistence... Their plot unfolds 164 years after the war. Given it's the same government that launched the nukes and left humanity to die, mutate, and experiment on them, this is as villainous a blast from the past as can be.

Original Fallout, however, has a way to have villains make fools out of themselves. "The Master" ultimately was a fool, as his Supermutants turned out to be sterile - and hence have no future. They could not supersede the human race. And "the Enclave" cannot escape the effects of the FEV virus, even though they pretend they can. The irony is condensed into their main enforcer who has become a super-mutant monstrosity himself after exposure.

An aesthetic

Even though a lot of it was conveyed through videos, character closeups, and various game screens, Fallout managed to evolve a strong aesthetic and unique vibe. It's setting is futuristic and retro. The 1950s are back with their cars with fins, their ideas how a robot might look like, and their "Atomic Cafe" like vibes in reaction to the development of the hydrogen bomb.

Many design elements of Fallout have had a lasting impact on people coming in touch with them, including:

The Vault Boy, the iconic mascot of VaultTec, featured in its "educational" films and promos, but also in the various game screens. This becomes especially strong in FO2 where all these little reputation images and illustrations feature Vault Boy in various guises.

PipBoy, a (clunky) wearable device that acts as the world's biggest smart watch, including maps, a radiation detector, and various other things.

Full body power armor and massive guns, as used by the original US army, the Brotherhood of Steel, the Enclave, and ultimately the player.

Supermutants, looking like big, green, hulking brutes.

Deathclaws, a sentient giant monster.

You will find robots that have heads looking like brains in jars, robotic dogs, a "Mr Handy" utility robot with lots of tool arms, may own a fusion-cell powered car reminiscent of a Cadillac. You might even recover an oil portrait of Elvis from a crashed UFO labeled "property of Area 51."

FO1 and FO2 are a unique mix of genres, and its aesthetic of decay, rust and rot, its selective use of futuristic items define it. This combines with a dark synth soundtrack to a tight package. FO1 also has a pretty grim manual, explaining a good deal of what nuclear weapons are "nowadays" held by the various powers and how they are intended to be used at "lower yield" (150 kilo tons vs the multi-megaton monsters developed in the 1950s) to limit the phenomenon known as "fallout."

The combination of its graphics, lore, gameplay, design aesthetics - it all conveys together something that has become uniquely "Fallout". So much so that when watching "Loki" I couldn't shake the feeling of seeing something reminiscent to "Fallout", in spite of it taking its cues more from the technology and design of the 1960s.

Games about decisions

Part of the lasting impact the originals had was the fact that they left a lot to the player. Choices you made during the game would impact "the ending" - slides you were shown showing you the consequencs of your actions. Often these choices are between differing options, and not all of them can work out, even if taken. This alone added replay value as one tried to achieve the various endings.

But choice was baked in everywhere. Nothing prevents you from finishing the games killing all and everyone, or with as little violence and as much stealth and diplomacy as possible. This spiked people's ambitions, and is very different from many RPGs before and after it, often only offering slight variations of one path towards the end.

This also brings the concept of morality and consequences of your choices into focus, as your choices impact how you are received to a degree. You can also decide to play smart or dumb (which can be hilarious and limits dialogue). What you do and what you say feels like it matters. Already by that, the original games left a lasting impact on game design itself, being copied in various ways by later games.

This is the legacy of the original two games, and here my coverage of it takes a short break and is continued in other articles taking advantage of this groundwork. To be continued here.

#fallout series #fallout 1 #fallout 2 #fo1 #fo2

6 notes · View notes

star--nymph · 2 years ago

Note

Hey! <3 1 for Artemis, 26 for Kass and Blaine, and 42 for Eury (or some combination of those if that's too many!)

Artemis

How does your character think of their father? What do they hate and love about him? What influence - literal or imagined - did the father have?

Ohohohoho. This can of worms you just opened up is hefty, Artemis hates his father. Loathes him. Would and will attempt to run him through if ever sees him again. Seth is a coward in his eyes; a weak shitstain of a man who puffed his medal decorated chest and then was too scared to stick around when his child turned out to be a freak of nature. He abandoned his family--his pregnant wife and child--and it wasn't for their sake, pretending like they were better off with out because of that fear. No, he left because he was just scared and wanted to protect himself. And then he disappeared while his family suffered. Was kidnapped, tortured, shredded, and murdered. Maybe he couldn't have saved them but fuck, if he had stuck around at least it meant he cared. That resentment in Artemis only grew when he become a father--a relatively young one, too. Dolly wasn't a choice, he didn't know about her, and she's an anomaly. She could absolutely end up killing Artemis one day but Artemis doesn't care. Dolly could turn out to be a full blown curse of nature and he still wouldn't leave her. The thought of abandoning her to the world like he was by his father boils Artemis' blood. So yeah, there is an influence there, in that Artemis is going to be everything his father isn't and at the same time everything he fears. He thought his baby boy was a monster? Okay, Dad, he'll give you a monster. In summary:

Kass and Blaine

26. What does your character’s home look like? Personal taste? Clothing? Hair? Appearance?

The Godkiller HQ is a former office building because that's all they could afford at the time. For the most part, it's not a bad place. They gutted one floor for training purposes, a second floor the medbay and the arsenal, a third floor for the interrogation/war room meetings, and then the upper levels are the living areas. The main living area is open concept with the kitchen and living room, loft above that leads to Blaine, Kass, Guest Room (later Asha's room), Amy's room, and Holly's room (which is combined with the surveillance). The living room has a door leading to Ryu's room and another leading to Utah's. There is also bathroom, another guest room, and a random scrap room that's also used for laundry. There is a stair case that leads directly to the roof as well. That's a lot but you asked for a home. As for Kass' personal taste/theme I guess? Kass is all sunset colors. Red, pink, yellows, oranges. Anything bright goes. I'm trying to figure out what in terms of fashion Kass is--cause she's kind of both very edgy rocker chick but also she likes very pretty clothing like dresses and mini skirts. Depending on her mood, she could be in damaged skinny jeans and boots or in a flowy summer dress. What she likes is comfortable above all else but most importantly, she always needs a leather jacket. Kass as a leather jacket for every color and if she doesn't, she'll go hunting for one. She just likes being cute, she likes being sexy, she likes her colors and glitter, she likes being able to move. She wants to feel good in her clothing and I think she's get a boost when she at least looks stylish even if she feels like shit. That said, her look for combat is all black, red, and grey--for good reason. She needs to blend in with her surroundings but her signature bright red jacket and power strips on her armor, braces, and boots key people in that she's not a civilian, but an active combatant. For Blaine, his colors are blues, useless leaning into muted hues or steel blues. He likes his pops of colors too, though. Yellows, greens, whites. I think his look is very casual and kind of loosey? Nice fitted jeans with baggy dress shirts, hoodies, sweaters. He has a lot of shirts that also have patterns too (yes he does have and happily wear Hawaiian shirts). He does that flannel over a graphic t-shirt look (the graphic is like 'local cryptic is my boyfriend', don't question it). Loves a good pair of high rise sneakers or boots. He likes wearing earrings and necklaces too. He also has a couple of bomber jackets and denim jackets. I think I'd call Blaine's entire look very...sleek? Homebody? Nerd? He does look a collar shirt under a sweater. Combat wise, Blaine is a greys and blues. Like Kass, his armor, boots and braces have subtle blue power strips running through to regulate strength and impact. Blaine's combat suit has external padding on the knees and elbows and over all has a close resemblance to a fencing uniform.

Eurydice

42. What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

Freedom. I don't think Eurydice is aware of how much but she hungers for freedom and choice in her life. It's the saddest part of Inquisition because nothing that brought or kept here there was her choice. Eurydice stays as First out of Duty, she leaves for the conclave out of loyalty, she is forced into the position of Herald and the Inquisitor under threat of imprisonment by human hands. She doesn't want any of those positions and for most of her life, she's be forced into a very tight place by the people controlling her. The second she has agency, she doesn't keep the Inquisition. She disbands--she leaves. She hates being Inquisitor. So much of Eury's story is about her chasing freedom and being able to choose things for herself. She chooses to be a witch without a clan, she chooses to marry Cullen, she chooses to be a mother, she choose leave. Someone once told me that Eurydice felt more at home in an AU where she was a Avvar Augur than she ever did as Inquisitor and yeah, that's by design. She chose to be an Augur. Happy Ending in every story with Eurydice? She leaves and travels the world. No one is ever able to find her unless she allows them to. I think of a worse fate for Eurydice than her being chained to the Inquisition and Chantry for the rest of her days--except the fate where she chained to her father. This is why in the Fade her tombstone would read 'Possession': Eurydice doesn't simple fear being possessed by a demon, she fears any form of agency or captivity. She fears being a Tranquil, she fears being trapped in the Circle, she fears that she is an empty, heartless shell of a person like her father says she is. She fears objectification and dehumanization. There is no way out of she doesn't have a choice. And what Eurydice is willing a lot to achieve it? Gnawing her own arm off for one, which kind of feels like what happened in Trespasser anyway? Allowing the chantry to burn? Being exiled and hated by her clan even if she loves them with all her heart? The world? Well yes in the situation where Eurydice becomes a creature of the forest with no connection to anything or anyone besides her animals and her things and her space? Then yeah, the world can burn if it means her freedom? What does she care? The world is loud anyway. Gotta love that sense of self preservation that never goes away.

#writing #Godkiller//Deity #deity oc- artemis #deity oc- kassandra rosales #deity oc- blaine storms #eurydice lavellan #love my self serving Elf so much #she doesn't actually care about the world she cares about her people and sense of exploration more #honestly had she run into Solas as a self isolated witch she'd probably help him #but in a 'I don't care for your cause but sure you give me payment I'll help'#she takes her observer position when she has nothing to keep her tithered to her world #also GOD the Artemis' dad situation is SO FUNNY #cause I don't know to add this but I very much think him having Dolly call him Papa is very much a result of that #cause he called his Dad Daddy so now he's like ew no don't want to ANY relation to that

5 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 1 year ago

Text

In the 1990s, London built the Ring of Steel—a network of concrete barriers, checkpoints, and thousands of video cameras around the historic City of London—after bombings by the Irish Republican Army. The idea was to monitor everyone entering and leaving the Square Mile, what the The New York Times later called “fortress urbanism.”

After the September 11, 2001, attacks, city planners looking to defend New York from terrorism turned to London and fortress urbanism for inspiration. Fusion centers, where US law enforcement agencies share intelligence at a federal level to be analyzed and build a bigger picture of crime, had been around for a few years. But officials began asking, what if fusion centers could be localized? What if local law enforcement could analyze and gather masses of intelligence from one city?

In 2005, they answered with the first “real-time crime center” (RTCC), a sprawling network of CCTV and automatic license plate readers (ALPR) linked to a central hub in the New York Police Department headquarters costing $11 million. Since then, from Miami to Seattle, RTCCs have steadily expanded across the US. The Atlas of Surveillance, a project from the digital rights nonprofit the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which monitors police surveillance technology, has counted 123 RTCCs nationwide—and that number is rising.

Each RTCC is slightly different, but their function is the same: gather surveillance data across a city and use that to build a live picture of crime in the city. Police departments have an array of technologies available to them that span from CCTV, gunshot sensors, and social media monitoring to drones and body cameras. In Ogden, Utah, police even floated the idea of a 30-foot “crime blimp.” In many cases, images that police systems collect are run through facial recognition technology, and the data gathered is often used in predictive policing. In Pasco County, Florida, which operates an RTCC, the sheriff’s office’s predictive policing system encouraged officers to continuously monitor and harass residents for minor code violations such as missing mailbox numbers and overgrown grass.

Erik Lavigne is a detective at the Fort Worth Police Department in Texas and communications director at the National RTCC Association. He says there has been a boom in RTCCs over the past year because officers believe they help with more precise policing. He likens the scattered approach to policing in previous years to throwing out a fishnet and hoping to catch something. “For what we had at the time, that worked. But what inevitably happens is, you end up alienating the community because you're not just stopping the bad guys, you're also stopping innocent people that are just trying to live their lives,” he says. “A real-time crime center is a scalpel. We aren't catching the wrong people anymore.”

Lavigne says RTCCs are also a cheaper alternative to hiring more boots on the ground because each camera becomes, in effect, a stationary officer keeping watch over an area. Lavigne says this has proved so effective that analysts at RTCCs have been recording more crime than they can deal with, and the Fort Worth RTCC has significantly helped decrease vehicle thefts.

Most evidence for RTCC effectiveness, however, is anecdotal, and there is a real lack of studies into how effective they really are. In Detroit, a National Institute of Justice study concluded that Project Green Light—a part of the Detroit Police Department RTCC that established cameras at more than 550 locations, including schools, churches, private businesses, and health centers—helped decrease property violence in some areas but did nothing to prevent violent and other crimes. But police departments argue they do work.

Few people know RTCCs even exist, let alone the extent of the surveillance they entail, so they can receive little public scrutiny and often operate without much oversight. There have long been concerns around how surveillance technologies could affect First and Fourth Amendment rights in the US, but Beryl Lipton, an investigative researcher at the EFF, says RTCCs “hyper-charge” these worries by collating all this data in one place.

“It’s perpetuating this mass collection of people's private information from a whole bunch of different video streams,” Lipton says. “They're really lowering the bar on the ways police can access that information … When there are these types of large databases without proper audit and oversight mechanisms, law enforcement officials and individuals can use them for their own purposes, which can be very scary.”

Regulations around the storage and usage of this data are patchy at best. For example, RTCC-collected data may be shared across jurisdictions because third parties contracted for the hardware or software will also collect data and share it, Lipton says. “Some of these companies will, in good faith, delete data in accordance with retention schedules, but we've seen them not do that,” she says. “With large databases like license plate reader databases, that information is sometimes shared without police departments realizing it and in violation of jurisdictional rules.”

While companies will argue this data is being stored securely, this is no guarantee. In 2020, hackers stole internal memos, financial records, and more from over 200 local, state, and federal agencies from web development firm Netsential, which provided data storage for fusion centers across the US. The trove of leaked data later became known as #BlueLeaks.

“There are real concerns around having this amount of information stored somewhere,” says Lipton, “I have no reason to believe these are somehow more secure systems than we have in other situations. And we know that those get breached all the time, law enforcement agencies in this country get hacked all the time.”

Lipton’s biggest worry is that this ability to follow people remotely and share that data across state lines could instead be used to target people involved in protests and political organizing, which has already happened, or those accessing reproductive health care. “Those issues become compounded because there’s the frightening ‘real time’ element to it,” she says. “That means that if you leave your house, there’s a very good chance that law enforcement could jump into a feed that is just following you around.”

In addition to police setting up their own technology, RTCCs draw on wider existing surveillance networks. Cooperation of public institutions like schools and colleges and privately owned cameras have been crucial to developing RTCCs by giving officers access to cameras that might otherwise need a warrant. In Atlanta, which has seen the number of cameras integrated into their RTCC treble to 15,329 in the past year, four higher-education institutions—Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, and the Morehouse School of Medicine—installed $700,000 worth of cameras, including five ALPRs, that were linked to the Atlanta RTCC.

Fusus, which claims to be “the most widely used & trusted Real-Time Crime Center platform in U.S. Public Safety,” sells hardware that can be connected to private CCTV cameras and linked up to the local RTCC. Fusus sells a solution that brings all the various technologies under “a single pane of glass,” as the company describes it. Through partnerships with companies that provide surveillance technology, including a $21 million investment from Axon, which produces Tasers and body cams, Fusus promises to integrate these technologies into one RTCC platform for analysts.

Police departments that use Fusus, like the Memphis Police Department, have been encouraging homeowners and local businesses to purchase fususCORE bundles—hardware that connects cameras to an RTCC—ranging from $350 to $7,300, plus an annual $150 subscription. Fusus has even gone as far as developing technology that allows Amazon’s Ring doorbells to livestream to an RTCC.

Amid a push for policing to harness new technologies and become “smarter,” Lipton is quick to point out that more technology doesn’t necessarily equal smarter. “It almost always just means that they're going to keep heavily policing poor and minority areas,” she says. Despite Lavigne’s claims that RTCCs mean the wrong people aren’t getting arrested anymore, in a recent lawsuit, the New Orleans Police Department was sued for arresting a Black man after watching him for 15 minutes through their RTCC and wrongly concluding he had a gun. The department ultimately settled for $10,000 in damages.

Lipton believes relentless surveillance is an infringement of citizens rights and would like to see the use of these technologies limited—aside from facial recognition, which she says should be banned. “There are certain elements we just shouldn't be using at all,” she says. “We should never be applying facial recognition to almost anything … As soon as you apply any really individualizing technology like that, I mean, it's kind of over for people's privacy.” Communities and organizations like EFF and ACLU have been arguing for Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) laws that bring surveillance technologies under the control of elected officials and communities. Cities like Oakland have found success with this, but without nationwide restrictions, the rise of RTCCs will likely continue on the periphery of the public eye.

5 notes · View notes

mistbornhero · 1 month ago

Text

Since the article doesn't work and the wayback machine is giving weird errors unless you manage to stop it loading halfway, here's the original article!

Some 2,000 years after they were first erected, Ancient Roman harbours made from concrete are still standing across Europe. Meanwhile, more modern constructions have proved far less durable, crumbling into the water in a mater of decades. Finally, scientists have solved the puzzle of what made the ancient concrete so strong — and they think the discovery could make modern buildings more environmentally friendly. Concrete used for ancient sea walls was made by mixing lime, seawater, volcanic ash and rock. The combination produces a 'possolanic reaction' – named after the commune of Pozzuoli in Naples. Researchers have now discovered that elements in the ash react with sea water, which actually strengthens the material. In contrast, waves erode modern concrete. "Contrary to the principles of modern cement-based concrete, the Romans created a rock-like concrete that thrives in open chemical exchange with seawater," Utah University geologist Marie Jackson said. Researchers discovered the Roman concrete contained aluminium tobermorite, a rare mineral that adds extra strength. When the Roman concrete was exposed to seawater, the tobermorite crystallised and spread. The researchers said that long-term exposure to sea water helped these crystals to continue growing, reinforcing the concrete and preventing cracks from developing. Switching to a similar type of concrete could make some contemporary constructions less harmful to the environment, since the production of modern Portland cement uses high-temperature kilns that make a significant contribution to industrial carbon dioxide emissions. Professor Jackson said the material should be considered for proposed projects such as the tidal lagoon being considered in Swansea. The lagoon would need to run for 120 years to recoup the cost of its construction, Professor Jackson said. “You can imagine that, with the way we build now, it would be a mass of corroding steel by that time,” she added. Yet a structure built from Roman concrete, she argued, could remain intact for centuries.

GUYS THEY FIGURED OUT THE ROMAN CONCRETE RECIPE THAT MAKES IT IMMUNE TO SEAWATER

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/mystery-of-2000-year-old-roman-concrete-solved-by-scientists/ar-BBDO5VC

221K notes · View notes

steelbuilding1 · 28 days ago

Text

🏢 Northern Steel Buildings: Crafting Durable Steel Structures for Every Need

At Northern Steel Buildings, we’re more than just a construction company; we’re a team of experts driven by innovation and committed to quality. Based in Utah, we’ve built our reputation on providing custom-designed steel buildings that meet the needs of various industries, from commercial warehouses to agricultural structures. Our seasoned team ensures every project is handled with care, professionalism, and a focus on durability.

Why Choose Steel Buildings? Steel buildings offer numerous benefits, including:

Longevity: Steel structures can last decades, making them a worthwhile investment.

Strength: Withstand harsh weather conditions and heavy use.

Low Maintenance: Steel requires little upkeep compared to other materials.

Through years of experience, we’ve come to understand the unique challenges of our clients and have designed our services to address these needs effectively and efficiently.

Our Mission 🌟

Our mission is clear: to provide robust, cost-effective, and highly customizable steel building solutions that last. We are committed to:

Client Satisfaction: Every project begins with your vision and ends with your satisfaction.

Quality Craftsmanship: We use top-tier materials and follow rigorous standards.

Environmental Responsibility: Steel is recyclable, and we strive to minimize waste.

By maintaining these values, we ensure that every project we undertake not only meets but exceeds industry standards.

Our Services 🔧

Northern Steel Buildings offers a comprehensive range of services tailored to fulfill your construction needs. Here’s a closer look at what we provide:

1. Custom Design and Engineering 🎨

Our design team works with you to create custom building plans that align with your specific requirements. Whether you need a large-scale industrial warehouse or a cozy agricultural shed, we ensure your structure is:

Efficiently Designed: With optimal use of space.

Aesthetically Appealing: Blending functionality with style.

Engineered to Last: Built for resilience against time and elements.

2. Professional Steel Erection 🏗️

Our skilled erectors assemble your building with precision and care, ensuring structural integrity and safety. We handle all aspects of steel erection:

Site Preparation: Prepping the site to ensure a seamless build process.

Assembly: Following engineered plans to build accurately.

Safety Compliance: Adhering to safety standards at every step.

3. Full-Scale Construction 🚧

From start to finish, we manage every part of the construction process. Our construction services include:

Project Planning: Outlining project timelines and budgets.

Permitting: Handling necessary permits for hassle-free approval.

Execution: Completing the project efficiently and on time.

4. Comprehensive Project Management 📋

We understand that construction projects can be overwhelming, which is why our project management team oversees each phase. Our management services include:

Budget Management: Keeping your project on track financially.

Timeline Adherence: Ensuring timely delivery.

Client Communication: Regular updates to keep you informed.

5. Maintenance and Support 🧰

Our commitment doesn’t end after construction. We offer ongoing support to ensure your building remains in top condition. Our support includes:

Routine Inspections: Regular check-ups to address any potential issues.

Repairs: On-call service to fix any damage or wear.

Upgrades: Assistance with future modifications and expansions.

Why Choose Northern Steel Buildings? 🤔

There are plenty of steel building companies, but Northern Steel stands out for a few key reasons:

🏆 Proven Experience: With years in the industry, we bring deep knowledge and reliable expertise to every project.

🔧 Comprehensive Service: From initial design to final maintenance, we handle all aspects of the build.

💼 Client-Centric Approach: We prioritize open communication, keeping you informed at every stage.

💪 Uncompromising Quality: Our structures are made from premium materials and adhere to stringent quality standards.

🌍 Environmental Consideration: Steel is not only strong but recyclable, making it an eco-friendly choice.

Industries We Serve 🌐

Our steel buildings are versatile enough to cater to various sectors. Some industries we serve include:

🏢 Commercial

Steel buildings are an ideal solution for commercial spaces, offering flexibility, durability, and low maintenance. We’ve constructed:

Retail spaces

Warehouses

Distribution centers

🚜 Agricultural

Farmers and agricultural businesses benefit from the strength and versatility of steel structures. We specialize in building:

Barns and storage sheds

Equipment shelters

Livestock housing

🏭 Industrial

For industrial businesses that require robust structures, we provide custom solutions such as:

Manufacturing facilities

Heavy-duty workshops

Cold storage units

🏠 Residential and Recreational

Whether you need a garage, a workshop, or even a steel-framed home, we can build it. Our residential and recreational structures include:

Personal garages

Home workshops

Recreational buildings

How We Work: A Step-by-Step Guide 🔄

To ensure your project’s success, we follow a straightforward process:

Consultation 📞: Discuss your needs, goals, and budget with our team.

Design 🎨: Our design experts create a tailored plan based on your specifications.

Engineering Approval 📐: We ensure the design meets structural and safety standards.

Construction 🛠️: Our team builds your structure, keeping you informed along the way.

Completion and Inspection ✅: We inspect the final product to guarantee quality and compliance.

Ongoing Support ��: After project completion, we offer maintenance services to keep your building in top shape.

Conclusion ✅

Choosing Northern Steel Buildings means investing in a partner dedicated to bringing your vision to life with strength, reliability, and unmatched service. Our team of experts is ready to tackle your next project with precision and care, ensuring your steel structure meets your needs and stands the test of time.

1 note · View note