#The Primacy Crucible

[rap541]

Oh Hey, Look At This!

Just saying… my book is out. If you like books where the young heroes are being testing in a high stakes dystopian battle royal for rank and status, check out the first book of my series.

[blasphemousclaw]

Are the omens and hornsent the same?

short answer: no

so to explain why the omen and the hornsent are different, we first have to understand what it means to be hornsent… the hornsent aren’t a species, they’re a civilization of humans defined by the horns that grow on their bodies:

“Hornsent view the Crucible as sacred for the refinement wrought through its evolutionary gifts. Most prominently, their tangled horns.”

“Horns are sublime artifacts to hornsent, and their presence confirms the belief that they are a chosen people. Only the repeated sprouting of fresh horns can create a tangled horn, which is viewed as an irrefutable symbol of primacy.”

“The Crucible has a particularly strong influence on the beasts of the realm of shadow, causing many to grow horns despite the characteristics of their species.”

the hornsent sprout horns because the Crucible has a strong presence in the land of shadow and causes horns to sprout on creatures who don’t normally have horns… the hornsent, who revere the Crucible and its “spiral current,” saw this as a blessing and as proof that they were “a chosen people,” so they cultivated this trait. in hornsent society, the larger and more tangled your horns are, the more awesome and cool and holy you are. this is why Jori, the leader of the theocratic hornsent inquisition, has the largest, most tangled horns of all:

however, hornsent can also be born with no horns at all. this means that they'd be seen as sad and cringe. you can find hornless hornsent bound in chains, which means they might have even been a sort of slave caste... which, given what their society is like, wouldn't surprise me if that were the case:

(source: Zullie the Witch)

the omen, on paper, are the same as the hornsent — humans who were influenced by the Crucible, which caused horns to grow on their bodies. but the reason why they aren’t actually the same is because simply having horns doesn't make you hornsent. again, the hornsent are not a species, and “hornsent” isn’t a generic term for people with horns… the hornsent are a culture, a culture which the omen were very much not born into! unlike the hornsent, the omen were born into a society that sees their horns as impurities:

"A vestige of the crucible of primordial life. Born partially of devolution, it was considered a signifier of the divine in ancient times, but is now increasingly disdained as an impurity as civilization has advanced."

traits associated with the Crucible, including horns, became less and less accepted under the Golden Order as time went on... basically, the omen were seen as impure and unclean, unfit for the Erdtree's grace and excluded from society.

but there's actually something else that makes the omen fundamentally different from the hornsent... they're referred to as having "accursed blood"?

"Warped blade of shifting hue used by Morgott, the Omen King. The accursed blood that Morgott recanted and sealed away reformed into this blade."

"The mother of truth craves wounds. When Mohg stood before her, deep underground, his accursed blood erupted with fire, and he was besotted with the defilement that he was born into."

"Trident of Mohg, Lord of Blood. A sacred spear that will come to symbolize his dynasty. As well as serving as a weapon, it is an instrument of communion with an outer god who bestows power upon accursed blood." 

it seems that there is something inherently different about omen blood that doesn't seem to be the case with the hornsent? omen can also innately produce a black-brown flame, which we never see any hornsent enemies do (pretty sure the inquisitors' fire is just normal fire from their candles). INTERESTINGLY, there's two items from the base game, the Omen Bairn and the Regal Omen Bairn, that produce these brown-flame wraiths... but a similar item from the DLC, the Horned Bairn, produces "vengeful spirits" that are pale and colorless!!

it's almost like the wraiths produced by the omen are "unclean" compared to the hornsent ones!

so I think this pretty definitively proves there's something more going on with the omen? but why is this the case?? Dung Eater's ending makes me think that the omen might be "cursed" simply because their existence is incompatible with the Order under the Erdtree...

"Curse grown on a corpse killed and defiled by the Dung Eater. A tender pox afflicted with omen horns. The Dung Eater cultivates the seedbed curse on corpses. By doing so he prevents dead souls returning to the Erdtree, leaving them forever cursed."

"Loathsome rune gestated by the Dung Eater. Used to restore the fractured Elden Ring when brandished by the Elden Lord. The reviled curse will last eternally, and the world's children, grandchildren, and every generation hence, will be its pustules. If Order is defiled entirely, defilement is defilement no more, and for every curse, a cursed blessing."

but there's also the theory that the omen curse was actually created by the dying hornsent as revenge upon their attackers... Hornsent Grandam says this when attacked:

"A curse upon thee, rotten miscreant. A curse upon the strumpet's progeny, upon Marika's children each and all. The curse of the omen shall strike thee down... In the form of the sacred beast's ire. May the curse strike thee�� To the very last..."

she specifically calls it the "curse of the omen!" the one thing that makes me question this theory though is that she also says "in the form of the sacred beast's ire," and we know the divine beast's ire takes the form of storms... nothing like anything the omen do. an interesting theory nonetheless!

anyway TL;DR, the hornsent and the omen are different because 1. the hornsent are a culture (not a generic name for horned people), and the omen were specifically born under the Erdtree's Order, and 2. the omen are tangibly "cursed," but the hornsent are not

[recusantchicky]

i can do sad shit too

tangle horns

Curseblade Mask

A mask affixed with a crown of tangled horns, worn by those who would invoke divinity.

Divine Bird Helm

A helm of tangled horn attached to a divine bird mask, allowing the wearer to invoke divinity. Worn by divine bird warriors; the very first of all horned warriors.

Horned Warrior Helm

Helm featuring a crown of sturdy tangled horns, allowing the wearer to invoke divinity. Attire of the horned warriors, keepers of the tower.

Divine Beast Helm

A helm of tangled horn attached to a divine beast mask, allowing the wearer to invoke divinity. Worn by divine beast warriors; the chosen of the horned warriors.

all finish with

Divine invocation heightens the [x power] of the wearer, but causes the blessing of the Erdtree to become nauseating, reducing the restorative effect of drinking from a flask of sacred tears. Focus is also troubled by wearing this mask.

Horned Warrior's Weapons

[Weapon] of the horned warriors, keepers of the tower.

The ornamental tangled horns allow the blade to serve as a medium for horn-calling.

Horned Bairn

Doll of a tanglehorn bairn.

Uses FP to summon vengeful spirits around the caster that autonomously chase down foes.

Tangled horns are a symbol of spirituality, but most young born bearing the oversized horns meet a frightfully early demise. These fetishes are made to memorialize them.

Clarifying & Stalwart Horns +2

Only the repeated sprouting of fresh horns can create a tangle horn, which is viewed as an irrefutable symbol of primacy.

Fine Crucible Feather Talisman

Hornsent view the Crucible as sacred for the refinement wrought through its evolutionary gifts. Most prominently, their tangled horns.

CONSIDER: the curseblades took dead baby horns to stick on their own faces to invoke divinity despite not being horned themselves (and maybe are dog people) so were imprisoned? but this objectively made them powerful so they were helpful in fighting off messmer's forces. the horned warriors/divine bird/beast warriors are also NOT HORNED PEOPLE. they are clay warriors WEARING horned masks to invoke divinity.

other people: "isn't the caterpillar mask horrible??? it wards off bad thoughts!!"

me: "dead baby horn faced freaks i love them"

[safetyroof]

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[alanflowerspersonalblog]

[ 2002 Hong Kong, China ] Hong Kong marked one of my earliest ventures beyond the borders of the United States, and at the tender age of 21, it became the inaugural chapter of my life's education. No amount of schooling, be it elementary, middle, high school, or even college, could adequately prepare one for the rich tapestry of real-world experiences awaiting outside those classroom walls. The sights, sounds, and scents of Hong Kong are etched vividly in my memory—the bustling streets, the cutting-edge technology, and the profound shift in perspective that comes with immersing oneself in a new cultural paradigm. My journey began with a pilgrimage to the city's camera stores, where I beheld an array of photographic marvels unseen in my native land. Armed with only a humble 1.3MP Sony camera back home, I was captivated by the innovation on display and promptly upgraded to a state-of-the-art 6.0MP Pentax point-and-shoot. While my passion for documentation had long been expressed through video since the tender age of 11, it was in Hong Kong that my love affair with still photography truly blossomed. Through the lens of my camera, I discovered the power to preserve fleeting moments and shape the memories of those around me—an instinctual act of capturing the overlooked and the mundane, infusing them with significance. Hong Kong, with its vibrant energy and industrious spirit, provided an ideal backdrop for my nascent exploration of the world. The disciplined ethos and unwavering determination of the Chinese people left an indelible impression on me, underscoring the profound importance they placed on mental acuity over mere physical prowess. As an American, this emphasis on the primacy of the mind was a revelation, broadening my understanding of cultural diversity and the enduring legacy of tradition. In the crucible of Hong Kong's dynamic streets, I came to appreciate the inherent value of humility and the boundless wisdom that comes from acknowledging our collective ignorance. Every encounter, every locale became a classroom, offering invaluable lessons in the art of living. Cheers to you, Hong Kong, for igniting my thirst for knowledge and for providing my inaugural foray into the realm of spirits—a journey that would, quite literally, intoxicate my travels henceforth. Here's to the universality of learning and the boundless wisdom that awaits those willing to embrace the unknown.

[madamlaydebug]

"Any black race in modern times which had scored a victory over a white race such as Ethiopia achieved over Italy in 1896, should have never slept, for a moment in the false security, of their ancient greatness, or of their hollow christian piety or in the flattery of being “white.” Ethiopians should have known that, with Italy, there would be “un conto vecchio da soldare,” i.e. an old Count to be Settled." ***ETHIOPIANS IN RACIAL FOG*** The general status of the black race and its mulatto offshoots, from very remote times to the more or less settled life in Egypt and the Nile Valley, circa 5,000 B.C., has been set forth provisionally. This volume makes no attempt at a detailed history of the above area. It is indeed, a non-technical introductory outline in which the salient features of typical African nation-building, are interpreted. It is hoped that racial situations in these areas, particularly, Ethiopia, long whispered about, will be brought out into the open and disposed of once for all. Ethiopia, now stripped of the pretentions of her recent rulers and even stripped of the rulers themselves, stands naked today before a puzzled world. It is difficult to find a word to adequately describe their condition. Sad, pitiful, pathetic, tragic, have in them neither the power nor the shades of meaning to fully set forth their unhappy lot. In the past forty years, Ethiopia found herself in the hands of mis-leaders who sat down, or wrangled, in the middle of the road to progress and expected a world, on the move, to march around them, only to find out, too late, that a roughshod, modern world had walked over them. After standing for thousands of years against the hordes of the East, against Egypt, Greece, ancient Rome and the sword of Islam, she has been blinded by Fascist poison gas and ground to dust under the wheels of the armored tanks of a new Rome. Neither pride in her ancient estate nor the marvelous example of Japan, since 1853, nor even her own victory in 1896, taught her recent leaders any effective lesson which would lead to military and diplomatic preparation for the onslaught which sooner or later, they should have known that they would have to meet. Holding on to slavery, at this late date, and rejecting social, civil and economic modernization, her luckless leaders kept her metamorphosed in the sheen of her ancient grandeur and in the shroud of the legend of her christian primacy and, per force, expected a League of White Nations to fight for them against a white race. These leaders did not realize that white men no longer die for black men, least of all an Englishman or a Frenchman. They did not realize that white men no longer even fight for themselves, under the leadership of black commanders, as was true in the Venice of Othello, the Spain of ben Ziad, the Greece of Eurybates of whom Homer sang at Siege of Troy, the Egypt of Pianhki or the Babylonia of Nimrod. Indeed, in a world seething, more than ever, with the strife of race and color, the Ethiopian leaders remained utterly unmindful of the priceless heritage handed down to them by valorous black warriors and statesmen of long ago. In reality, the recent leaders of Ethiopia are still in the racial fog. They still believe that they are of the white race, and so believing they doubly indict themselves. For, if they be of the white race, then in the nature of the oppression which they placed upon the blacks, they should have been dispossessed long, long ago. But they have not read history aright. They did not read between the lines of the pseudo-scientific verbiage which classed them as “white.” They should have seen the crass fallacy, of such verbiage. They did not have sufficient psychology, or ordinary common sense, to understand that the “white complex” drilled into them, paved the way for Europeans to get the inner-peace-time control of the country and finally, in a war, to utterly rend them and cast them aside. They got no inference from the fact that even in ancient times, in their own country, there was a race and color flurry, when Aaron and his sister, Miriam, upbraided their brother Moses because he married Zipporah, an Ethiopian—( Midian-ite)—woman. If this estrangement between Moses and his relatives, was over Zipporah, then the situation is all the more interesting, for it would show that Moses had married not one black wife but two. Indeed, some records seem to show that his marriage to Zipporah was many years before the recorded quarrel. Hence the reprimand probably came, not over Zipporah, but because he had taken a second black wife. The reference to being “black,” as recorded in The Songs of Solomon, whether it refers to Solomon himself or to the Queen of Sheba, is only of indirect importance. The direct issue is that one of them was “black” and for it a sickly apology was made. Nor have Ethiopians been able to see that their resistance to Catholicism in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries and their later expulsions and massacres of Catholic missionaries, were situations for which they would, sooner or later, have to pay, unless negotiations, statesmanship or military preparedness calmed the religious waters that have troubled Ethiopia for 1,600 years. Any black race in modern times which had scored a victory over a white race such as Ethiopia achieved over Italy in 1896, should have never slept, for a moment in the false security, of their ancient greatness, or of their hollow christian piety or in the flattery of being “white.” Ethiopians should have known that, with Italy, there would be “un conto vecchio da soldare,” i.e. an old Count to be Settled. These are exactly the things which Menelek II saw and against which he warned. For, in 1909, he assembled the nobles, the army, the Abuna, the priests and the people into his presence and said to them: “I have chosen Lidj Iyasu to be my heir, and I entrust him to Thee. If any man shall refuse to do his will he shall be excommunicated, and if he refuse to do thy will, he shall be excommunicated—Cursed shall be he who shall refuse to obey him—If, on his part, he shall betray you in any unworthy manner he himself shall be accursed.” With the above pronouncement given, he turned directly to the Abuna, the nobles, the priests and the war chiefs and said: “Take very great care to live in unity and to watch over the safety of your country so that the enemy shall not be able to invade it.” As an earnest for the consummation of his desire, Menelek left a large sum of money, probably, $ 10,000,000.00, for internal improvement and for national defense. In 1913 he died. Lidj Lyasu, then in power, turned Mohammedan and tried to abolish Christianity. The issue was met by Ras Tafari—( Haille Selassie) whose armies defeated Lidj Lyasu, captured him and placed him in prison. Thus by Selassie, Ethiopia was “saved” for Christianity. Selassie, then in power, 1916, immediately fell into the hands of the foreign legations which ruled the country for him. He played the role of a “white chieftain of the blacks”and squandered the patrimony of Menelek. At his coronation in 1930, with gruesome poverty throughout the land, and neither a public school system, a health service nor modernized weapons for national defense, he spent nearly a $ 1,000,000.00 entertaining Europeans, in a vain, fruitless attempt to win their goodwill. The irony of it is, that, during those very moments, plots were aborning among his guests whereby Ethiopia could be seized and Selassie himself dispossessed, as has been done. In 1920 when the Hon. Marcus Garvey held sway over thousands of black men, outside of Africa and desired to turn them to the service of Ethiopia, however weak an ally they might have been, the colorphobes in control of the country refused to heed. Garvey’s correspondence to them was returned unopened. Even to the coronation itself, Ethiopia invited neither the Soverign Black Government of Liberia, on the African West Coast, nor the illustrious Republic of Haiti, in the Black World of the Americas. Ethiopians, however, are not alone in weakening themselves by worshipping the false god of an alien race. The Japanese, down to the World War, felt that they were, somehow, an appendage to the whites. At the Versailles Conference, they threatened to hold Shantung as a leverage with which to pry Woodrow Wilson into the recognition of them as such. Later, the immigration doors to America were slammed, roughly, in their faces, with laws which denied them status, either as “white” or “black.” Thus they failed to gain quota privileges for entry into America. The Japanese came to himself, flouted the League of Nations, and is now well nigh on to the completion of his mastery, in the non-white Asiatic world. The racial antics of the Anglo-Indian are balking the essential and needed vigor of the program, being attempted in India by Gandhi and Nehru. Lastly, the emancipation of the Jew in Germany in 1849, instead of energizing him to hold on to the matchless heritage of Jews, seems to have made him seek to fuse his racial ore in the deadly solution in the German crucible. In Germany, a new “Pharaoh” has arisen with a precipitant which has caused the Jewish mass, in Germany, to fall to the bottom, even into the lap of non-German Jewry which the German Jews, so recently and discreetly, affected to ignore, if not despise. Into Ethiopia, a “New Caesar” came, with whirring wings, which made the careless Ethiopian leaders afraid. His poison gas has caused them to stumble, blindly, to their black kinsmen, however weak they may be and to the Mohammedans, to whom, earlier, Lidj Iysau tried to lead them. In the next chapter a glimpse is given of what Ethiopia was like in the days of her glory. ~ "Introduction to African Civilization" by Willis N. Huggins and Dr. John G. Jackson

[wraithclatter]

Fever Dream Symphony

False leaders of this age! You will perish like dogs! Destroyers, Revilers, Using other’s violence To force your way Through the Gates of the Eternal Gods (Io Babylon! Io Babylon!) To molest the messengers of Heaven With your benighted, Heathenly touch, You will be strung up from lamp posts While the servants cry out through tears of joy You send your own into superficial graves- That demon-haunted nightmare realm, Only reserved for the defected slaves, Where the innocent suffer in man-made purgatory, Forced to endure the rightful punishment of The Bureaucrat. And then you let loose your vampiric brothers and sisters to feed once more On the blood of the proles. And now, plagues become you. You artificers of this world are wicked and cruel masters, Whose noetic incantations intoxicate the weak into acts of cruelty, malice and carelessness. Those who follow the sociopathic web-weavers of the false material prison are nothing more than Beasts crawling along the ground like sickness-strickened animals, Braying for the bullet between their eyes. They are like virus- fools who feverishly dream of sparks and the spilling of blood But who are too dull and stupid to create the technology to forge their own weapons of war. All they may do is dully smash wet rocks together in a faceless primacy. They are children abused into sickly submission of the machinations of trauma based control- reality weaponized and the botched psychic surgery of the past 4 hundred years has inflamed, gangrenous and vile, the psychic substrates of their unconscious and crusts up their inner eye. They now pay fealty to a dark lineage of psychopaths whose birthright is blood and ruination. They try in vain to crack through the beautiful domed enclosure of the firmament and wait for the dust To settle in heaven. They intoxicate the weak with their amphetamine-dripping possession of mob-like stupidity, Where their weakness and misplaced anger are projected on every single thing and every single person but themselves. Manufactured consent for their veins to be inoculated with the ritual knife’s prick, The Bodkin used to uncover the sacrificed’s mortal liquid, And fill themselves with the bloated mechanics of your sorcery, Instead of embracing the raw,  primal, embryonic mania Of that genetic memory of a country that dwells just beyond the light of the eyes, Beyond the skull, beyond the blood, beyond the form. You human-shaped shells noetically dictate the lost and confused tribes of humanity undulating, Naked, and chattering with laughter. Those who turn their back on the Inner Nature will be exorcised, Screaming, of their flesh, and be reduced to a skeletal form, and lovingly picked clean of tissue. They are all the same. They are all the same. All they can do is destroy themselves in their confusion and plant the seeds of self-destruction in the Hearts of others, extort the human ghost, and like a dog, bury their diseased remains, Inside a now soiled mind. Inside this haunted cthonic graveyard, you nihilistic necromancers Incant phantasms from dry and breathless bones. Sickness that you are, wraiths who built your forms from the outside in and shall attack from within. Your poison’s expulsion like vomit, dripping from their cracked lips-lips that sing forth sizzling sigils laced with the livid spell of a suicidal self fulfilling prophecy. The people are shaking - SHAKING ANGRY Trapped in a drifting miasma cloud infecting the Body Human with their self-serving destruction. Like goodness, like evil, it all comes from within. Decaying automatons unconsciously jerking their limbs to and fro to the tune of chemical interactions and superfluous emotional pathologies. Their bodies house darkened shades malformed from the endless ennui of the outer darkness, That listless abyss where the sorely vexed poisonous souls go, Whose home is not just the earthen womb but in the worm-clogged hearts of men and women as well. In this evil day, the people shall spiritually slouch and drag their barbaric hands across the ground, Bemoaning their existence, While the jailors sit for centuries three score upon three centuries more, Becoming fat from the fleshy tributes of their golems and drunk on thick, pus-bloated clots of blood. Children of worms- Those who deify matter and walk after their own lusts- You are nothing besides the dirt that was spat into. And like a slime or some foul mold you grew up and out of the depths, And you think you are rightful heirs to a constantly crumbling palace of smoke. Like a hand, thou art moved by the cruel master’s touch. O spell of rot, bring swift justice to the children of the atomic half-life! Let commence this Fever Dream Symphony, Raise up these broken voices, And Cacophonous wails, let these darkened chords rise up to heaven Like sparks of a fire! Baptize every poisoned mouth with that bright and loving silence! Let a blood-drunk moon ravage the land with the ecstacy of the wild man! Let the crucible of this lunacy run rough-shod over the fools foaming from their broken jaws! Let them bleed, let them bleed, let them bleed like a menstrual cycle! Make their hatred coalesce into the throbbing mass of wickedness that dwells inside their frail and quivering hearts! Let it be the reflection in the traumatizing mirror of the black lodge that haunts the dreams of every single man, woman and child! Let their cries for cosmic amnesty be ignored unflinchingly by the cold and callous dimension they have dug for themselves! Let them never feel a second of respite! Let them perish in the fire of their lust-befogged iconoclasty! Let their bones bleach on indifferent shores and return to the potters ground, To be tread upon by the ambivalent footpaths of time! There is no word, no thought Of ours that will not fail at gnawing on your bones and licking them clean! No rifle may silence our hearts! No coercement to distract our intention, No form of destruction To scatter our atoms, Until our task is complete! Parasites that you are, You shall be the eschar to slough From the healing wound of the righteous. You Vampires- We shall will find hidden methods to force the weather to do our bidding, And drown you in waters that have been kept at bay since the foundation of this world! You Demons- We have reached your master’s sacred spheres While you were writhing in your filth and your dust like insects! You usurpers- We will tame the infinite ocean of planets and hold your trembling bodies Between our fingertips! You nocturnal Perverters- We will bring fire down from the Heavens And wield it like a blade, Hungry for blood and battle! We shall open the cemeteries for you and free the forces locked away Since atom bound to atom! We shall be the Hierophants of the Cistern-dwelling dead, Calling out in alien tongues, Multiplying their entropic ecstasy, SHAKING with DESIRE For the taste of you dust-engendered folk! We Shall be the interlocutors, Between Grave-Gods and Men! And when the choirs of gunfire subside And the raping of innocence quelled, Shrieks of anguish silenced, And the wandering of flesh stilled, Let only bird-song herald the sowing of a new crop And the healing process start anew. Half asleep wriging about moon babies. “This is how ghost moon babies kill you. This is how they moan and howl. This is how ghost moon babies, with their skeleton skulls, smash into the moon to kill it as well.” That’s all I think I can remember

[pkstudiosindia]

Putting Dharma on circuit

Putting Dharma on circuit

* The Buddhist circuit’s rail route stretches from Lumbini, the Buddha’s birthplace, to Kushinagar, the place he attained nirvana

* Air connectivity is the important thing to the neighbourhood outreach plan

* The Ramayana circuit covers Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama, weaving its means by way of 15 websites of significance throughout 9 states, and ending in Rameshwaram, from the place the Ramsetu Bridge extends to Sri Lanka

India can be taking a leaf out of the pages of historical past because it charts its path in the direction of enhancing cultural ties with Southeast and East Asia over the approaching years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Act East Policy (AEP), constructed on PV Narasimha Rao’s Look East Policy, stands on the proverbial shoulders of hundreds of emissaries who, over millennia, solid sturdy bonds with India’s japanese neighbours.

Sustainability of regional multilateralism — a well-recognised necessity in a post-Covid-19 and post-Galwan world — hinges on not simply constructing alliances of political comfort, but additionally sharing a typical world view. This view is a perform of a multiplicity of things — socioeconomic, geopolitical and geostrategic — underlying which is a cultural basis courting again over 1,000 years. The refined recognition of the Dharmic moorings of enormous components of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) bloc and past has stored people-to-people contact heat since Independence.

Yet, in a post-Nehruvian consensus period, India can be effectively positioned to take it a step additional by reimagining itself because the cultural homeland for the area’s practically half a billion Buddhists, whose philosophies and practices stay deeply intertwined with what is named “Hinduism”. It is on this context that the Ramayana and Buddhist circuits — part of the Indian authorities’s thematic vacationer circuits — will play priceless roles, performing as pillars of the Act East Policy, whereas concurrently giving a fillip to the home economic system.

From time immemorial, pluralism has held primacy in Indic thought. The data that universalist philosophies may be debated on and skilled throughout ethnic and linguistic teams, but be assimilated into the broader Indic fold, is ostensible not simply inside the boundaries of contemporary India, but additionally so far as Japan and the areas between. What enabled that is the truth that the summary dedication of a person to truth-based ideas discovered humanisation inside every neighborhood’s cultural crucible. A thread of unity weaves throughout Jambudvipa and Dvipantara — phrases used for India and a bunch of Southeast Asian nations respectively — from the time of their earliest reference within the millennia-old Matsya Purana to the 13th century, once they prominently appeared in Javanese royal proclamations, and on till the current. This continuum has been characterised not by colonisation however by the empowerment of native communities on a basis of Indic tenets within the spheres of spirituality, administration, structure, literature and the humanities, initially utilizing Sanskrit because the lingua franca.

Thy kingdom come: Hampi, related to Kishkinda of Ramayana fame, is receiving $140 million from a non-public belief to construct a temple complicated and statue devoted to Lord Hanuman   –  ISTOCK.COM

  From Angkor Wat, Cambodia, to Taipei, Taiwan, and from Ayutthaya, Thailand, to Quang Nam, Vietnam, the obvious boundaries between Buddhism and Hinduism are evidently blurred. For many, each Lord Buddha and Lord Rama are expressed as manifestations of Lord Vishnu. In an analogous vein, an unlimited pantheon of Hindu deities is honored and epics are retold not solely throughout the predominantly Buddhist area of mainland Southeast Asia, but additionally in Shinto-majority Japan and Muslim-majority Indonesia.

The Archaeological Survey of India has been lively in Vietnam the place, in May this yr, it excavated a pristine monolithic Shiva Linga on the premises of the Mỹ Sơn temple complicated. India’s relationship with Vietnam dates again over 2,000 years and the 60,000-strong Balamon Cham Hindu neighborhood within the Southeast Asian nation continues the traditions of their ancestors. Meanwhile, defining the skyline of the Yogyakarta-Central Java border in Indonesia is the Ninth-century Prambanan Compound, a 240-temple complicated devoted to Lord Shiva, internet hosting an array of motifs depicting the Ramayana. For communities from close to and afar who discover India’s Ramayana and Buddhist circuits, the values India stands for get highlighted in maybe a deeper means than by way of conventional diplomatic interactions.

Into the Hindi heartland

Tracing Lord Buddha’s footsteps on the civilisational map below the tourism ministry’s Swadesh Darshan Scheme, selling vacationer circuits, the Buddhist circuit’s rail route stretches from Lumbini, his birthplace, to Kushinagar, the place he attained nirvana. Meanwhile, the Ramayana circuit covers Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama, weaving its means by way of 15 websites of significance throughout 9 states, and ending in Rameshwaram, from the place the Ramsetu Bridge extends to Sri Lanka.

Air connectivity is the important thing to the neighbourhood outreach plan. For this, worldwide airports are being developed at Kushinagar and Ayodhya, the respective nodal centres of the Buddhist and Ramayana circuits. From the previous, the websites of Kapilvastu and Sravasti, the place Lord Buddha spent a lot of his monastic life, are simple to achieve. The Ayodhya airport will present entry to the to-be-constructed Ram Mandir on the banks of the Sarayu whereas additionally connecting to close by Nandigram, the place, in keeping with the Ramayana, Prince Bharat spent years as a caretaker-in-exile whereas Lord Rama was away. The Prayagraj airport will serve the pilgrimage locations of Shringverpur and Chitrakoot, connecting to Madhya Pradesh’s Ram Van Gaman Path, which traces Lord Rama’s footsteps throughout his exile to the forest. Chhattisgarh has proposed an analogous path, which is about to cowl 9 key areas, ranging from Raipur.

Road enhancements have already minimize journey time by over 20 per cent on a number of routes by way of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The Buddhist circuit-specific $1.5 billion funding to enhance infrastructure, land acquisition and street connectivity, together with a pooled 200-acre land financial institution, has given titans of the hospitality business, similar to The Oberoi Group and the IHG Group, satisfactory confidence to greenlight initiatives alongside the orbit. Additionally, most of the $1.1 billion city-wide infrastructure developments in Varanasi will make it simpler for guests to discover close by Sarnath, the place the place Lord Buddha gave his first sermon.

The World Bank, too, has stepped in, allocating $15 million for upgrading Sarnath’s pedestrian methods and roads linking over two dozen monasteries and heritage websites to the railway station. Japan is concerned within the building of Varanasi’s “Rudraksh” conference centre at a value of $20 million. Built below the Kashi-Kyoto Partner City Agreement by way of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, it seeks to create a platform for cultural and data alternate.

Bihar isn’t far behind in its plans, though it faces copious challenges to make the state conducive for elevated vacationer footfall. Bodhgaya, the place Lord Buddha attained enlightenment, ought to bear a facelift with chief minister Nitish Kumar’s push to show it into a significant hub of the circuit following the Union authorities’s building of a 2,000-seat cultural conference centre. However, a lot must be accomplished if Rajgir and Nalanda — historic worldwide seats of studying — determine prominently on Bihar’s vacationer path. Better waste administration can be required to lift the sanitation requirements of the closest metropolis, Gaya, which presently ranks the bottom out of 382 cities within the Central authorities’s Swachh Survekshan 2020 survey (rating cities and cities on cleanliness) within the 1 lakh-10 lakh inhabitants class. In distinction, though on a special metric, Varanasi ranks the very best out of 46 cities alongside the Ganga, pointing to the rising disparity in growth between the 2 areas. Gaya airport is but to accommodate wide-bodied plane, and what ought to take an hour and a half on the 100-km NH-38 stretch to Patna presently takes practically 4 hours. That stated, the Ramayana circuit’s Sitamarhi, Buxar and Darbhanga, necessary websites related to Goddess Sita, Maharishi Valmiki and King Janaka, are simply accessible from Patna and the hope is that these cities will acquire from the hospitality infrastructure that’s being laid out.

Regional hubs

With the systematic erasure of Buddhist heritage in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the world’s westernmost bastion of Buddhism is now Ladakh. Home to a plethora of monasteries, it provides guests a window into Tibetan tradition resulting from its historic linkages with Lhasa. These linkages prolong by way of Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh and leveraging the Centre’s scheme for regional airports and low-cost flights to smaller cities to carry these areas inside the broader Buddhist circuit can strengthen the AEP. The just lately introduced plan for organising a Central University in Ladakh with a Centre for Buddhist Studies can be noteworthy on this context, particularly if it had been to supply scholarships to college students and thought leaders from the Asean area. The Tibetan trigger, lengthy held captive by bureaucrats and governments, may be furthered organically. Empowering the neighborhood, highlighting the significance of monasteries together with Tawang’s Gaden Namgyal Lhatse and Ladakh’s Thiksey, and bringing the Tibetan message to the world, are undoubtedly part of India’s civilisational accountability.

Transforming India’s frontier states into gateways for collaboration with its neighbours may even hasten the progress of the AEP’s trilateral freeway undertaking connecting Manipur — a Vaishnav stronghold with cultural similarities throughout the border — to Thailand through Myanmar. Besides facilitating vacationer entry to the Buddhist and Ramayana circuits, it stands to enhance bilateral commerce and act as a strategic counterbalance to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

It is notable that a lot of the Hindu tradition, literature and structure seen to the nation’s east has been influenced by South Indian empires that engaged extensively in each cultural alternate and commerce. Broadly talking, to help elevated vacationer footfall, Nasik, Nagpur, Bhadrachalam, Hampi and Rameshwaram have higher infrastructure than their northern counterparts. Despite that, Bhadrachalam obtained $eight million from the Union authorities for creating its heritage websites, whereas the temple city of Hampi, related to Kishkinda, is receiving $140 million from a non-public belief for constructing a temple complicated and statue devoted to Lord Hanuman. Interestingly, it’s from right here, in keeping with the Ramayana, that Sugriva left for Jawadvipa (modern-day Java, Indonesia) in quest of Sita. Going additional south, pilgrims will attain Rameshwaram, from the place the limestone bridge to Sri Lanka is seen.

The street forward

While constitutional purists might argue that selective, government-driven spiritual revivalism may impinge upon the concept of secularism, there’s a sturdy case for rebuilding cultural bridges with Southeast and East Asia from a business and international coverage standpoint. Ably supported by high quality infrastructure, hospitality and training, the financial advantages of spiritual tourism are estimated to be over $50 billion. As partnerships develop within the face of rising regional authoritarianism, reinvigorating age-old bonds between Jambudvipa and Dvipantara includes an astute consciousness and complete understanding of Indic liberalism. The good thing about cementing ties isn’t merely derived from an extension of India’s “arc of influence” and “soft power”, however from the worth inherent in reviving 2,000 years of worldwide interplay and confluence of liberal concepts, centred in India. History is replete with examples of how this has acted as a bulwark towards anti-liberal, expansionist empires of yore.

Building on the cultural intersectionality with the nations within the neighbourhood, the Ramayana and Buddhist circuits will spotlight the overarching themes of righteousness and Dharma, that are central to the lives of each Lord Rama and Lord Buddha. With India aspiring to take a management function in regional affairs, these circuits will act as pillars of power and symbols of unity for the nation and its neighbours because the AEP evolves within the years forward.

Surya Kanegaonkar, a finance skilled enthusiastic about Indic tradition and world geopolitics, relies in Zug, Switzerland

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[khalilhumam]

The post COVID-19 world: Economic nationalism triumphant?

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New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/the-post-covid-19-world-economic-nationalism-triumphant/

The post COVID-19 world: Economic nationalism triumphant?

By Mireya Solís The damage caused by the worst global health crisis in a century is vast. The new coronavirus has traveled far and fast, infecting more than 8.7 million people and killing more than 460,000. One after another, economies have gone into lockdown to slow down the spread of the disease. The combined supply and demand shocks have ravaged the world economy with the most severe downturn since the Great Depression; anticipated drops to international trade and investment flows of 30% and 40%, respectively; and unemployment spikes in many countries. The pandemic has cost lives and livelihoods and has erased the chances of returning to the status quo ante, but it has also brought little clarity regarding what kind of international order it will usher in. Is the future one of deglobalization, decoupling, and reshoring of economic activity? The pandemic hit an already wounded multilateral trading system. The chances that the World Trade Organization (WTO) can deliver a multilateral round of trade negotiations to slash tariffs across the board and update the trade and investment rulebook are nil. But the WTO has also lost its central role as arbiter of trade disputes among its members. In December 2019, the Appellate Body ceased to function due to the U.S. block of new appointments, citing judicial overreach. At a time of rising protectionism, the erosion of a rules-based mechanism to adjudicate disputes bodes ill. Longstanding challenges to the WTO have been exacerbated by an abdication of leadership from the great powers to ensure its survival. China has been the godchild of globalization, leveraging its accession to the WTO to become workshop for the world and a huge domestic market coveted by foreign firms. But China lost its appetite for economic reform, reinvesting on a state capitalism model that imposes heavy costs on other nations. Unchecked subsidies and privileges awarded to its state-owned enterprises, insufficient protection of intellectual property, foreign investment restrictions, forced technology transfers, and cyber protectionism all make the Chinese government’s self-proclamation as champion of global free trade ring hollow. The Trump administration judges the WTO incapable of tackling the China challenge, but instead of creating coalitions of like-minded countries to bring about effective multilateral trade governance, it appears determined to further cripple the international organization. It has offered no blueprint to fix the dispute settlement mechanism, has abused the national security exemption to raise tariffs against allies, and is gearing up for its most fundamental assault to date on the WTO: a tariff reset through which the U.S. may unilaterally abandon its commitments on bound tariffs and apply larger duties to force other countries to open their markets. Trade spats as other countries retaliate in kind is a more likely result. Tariff wars and the battle for technology supremacy have come to define U.S.-China great power competition. After a grueling trade conflict, the United States and China reached a limited trade agreement in January 2020. The deal marked a pause in the tariff war and addressed some non-tariff barriers on foreign direct investment and intellectual property; but it left intact the core of Chinese industrial policy (public subsidies and state-owned  enterprises) and retained U.S. duties on $360 billion worth of Chinese products. China’s massive purchase commitments ($200 billion) were quickly rendered unattainable by the severe economic downturn in China due to COVID-19. In fighting for the new economic order, setting standards on cutting-edge technologies will be at the forefront. China is using all the levers of industrial policy to gain technological primacy in areas like AI and quantum computing. Telecom and the battle over 5G offer a preview of quarrels to come. Deeply concerned with the cybersecurity risks that Chinese telecom giants like Huawei pose, the U.S. government placed the company on its Entity List, banning American exports without a license. It has since tightened the restrictions by barring foreign companies from supplying Huawei with products manufactured with American equipment and technology. National security concerns are increasingly encroaching on existing webs of economic interdependence. Wary of China’s acquisition of critical technology, countries like the United States, Australia, and Japan have tightened their screening of foreign direct investment. The pandemic has only exacerbated concerns that weakened companies in strategic sectors are at risk of foreign takeover. COVID-19’s impact on the international trading system is twofold. It has reinforced existing trends such as the deceleration and now drop in the volume of international trade, the rise of economic security as governments expand their toolkit to restrict trade and investment flows, and it has laid bare the fallout in U.S.-China relations. But the pandemic also brought new challenges that exposed the extent to which trade cooperation is in short supply. Export protectionism has risen in prominence with national restrictions on shipments of essential medical supplies and personal protective equipment. The WTO allows for such curbs for public health purposes – provided the measures are temporary and transparent. Few countries, however, have bothered to comply with their notification commitments. The blow comes at a time when the WTO is adrift with the decision of Director General Roberto Azevedo to step down early, opening the search for new leadership in a climate of divisiveness.

Are we on the eve of a renationalized world economy? That is the aspiration of several American and European public officials who fault extended global supply chains and overdependence on China for the current mishaps in tackling the pandemic. But the view that economic nationalism and reshoring of manufacturing is a fail-safe path to security and prosperity is wrong. For one, it skirts the responsibility of governments to properly stockpile essential medical supplies. Furthermore, the export curbs will be counterproductive, eliminating incentives for producers to expand capacity and increasing the cost of much needed medicines and medical devices. If the recent lockdowns have taught us anything, it is that exclusive reliance on the domestic market is too risky. Diversification of supply, redundancies in the manufacturing chain, and stockpiling programs are better alternatives. In this endeavor, global supply chains are part of the solution, not the problem. COVID-19 will not produce an exodus of foreign companies from the Chinese market. Recent surveys of American companies with operations in China show that most firms intend to stay put. A February survey of Japanese companies conducted by Tokyo Shoko Research shows that only a fraction (4%) are considering exit from China. Therefore, the Japanese government’s $2.2 billion fund to restructure supply chains should be understood as risk management, not decoupling. When international companies map out their business strategies, they must factor in heightened risks – protectionism, national security controls, and economic lockdowns. Hence, efforts by middle powers to offer an interim arbitration mechanism at the WTO to handle trade disputes and to commit to maintaining open supply chains in essential medical goods are the right antidote to rising economic nationalism. As a staunch supporter of rules-based trade and with its decision to forego export protectionism in the current crisis, Japan has much to contribute to these efforts. The requiem for globalization has been sung many times. Announcements of its demise in the COVID-19 era are likely to prove premature. But it will be a harder-edged globalization forged by the crucible of geopolitical risk and pandemic disruption.

[frustratedcastingdirector]

The Price' on Broadway: Mark Ruffalo and Danny DeVito star in a terrific revival

By Christopher Kelly | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com on March 16, 2017 at 7:15 PM Arthur Miller's 1968 play "The Price" rarely gets mentioned in the same breath as his classics "The Crucible," "Death of a Salesman" and "A View from the Bridge." Director Terry Kinney's extraordinary new revival of the show -- starring a dream team cast that includes Mark Ruffalo, Danny DeVito, Tony Shalhoub, and Jessica Hecht -- makes the convincing argument that the play deserves as much attention as any in the Miller canon. Set in 1968 in New York City, in a dusty old attic in a building that's about to be torn down, "The Price" centers on Victor Franz (Ruffalo), a police officer who long ago gave up his dream of becoming a scientist in order to take care of his now-deceased father. Victor has invited a furniture appraiser named Gregory Solomon (Danny DeVito) to the attic, in hopes of getting a good price for his late father's furniture collection. Complicating matters, though, is a generation's worth of familial bitterness: Victor's wife, Esther (Jessica Hecht), is tired of living a second-class life, for which she blames Victor's estranged brother Walter (Shalhoub), a doctor who got away from the family and made a fortune. Unfolding on Derek McLane's gorgeously designed set, cluttered with antique furniture both upright and hanging from the rafters upside-down, "The Price" almost seems to have been crafted as a stern rebuke to last year's two productions of "The Crucible" and "A View from the Bridge," by minimalist director Ivo von Hove. (Or, for that matter, as a rebuke to the recently-opened, modernist revival of "The Glass Menagerie," directed by Sam Gold.) There are no avant-garde bells-and-whistles here, no jarring or subversive flourishes. Instead, McKinney insists upon the primacy of Miller's crackling dialogue, and the playwright's peerless grasp of the often twisted dynamics of American families. The actors are everything you might hope for with such a starry cast, intelligent and moving and honest, with particular props due to DeVito (in his Broadway debut) and Shalhoub. Solomon is the play's most comic figure, and DeVito scores serious laughs -- just watch him work slapstick wonders with a hard-boiled egg which he never seems to stop chewing. But the diminutive actor also conveys extraordinary gravity and mystery. What could have been played as stereotype and broad shtick ends up being a fascinating study of a man whose entire life has been about negotiation and dissembling. You'll be debating the meaning of his final laugh during the car ride home. For his part, Shalhoub turns up in the very last moments of the first act, and then returns after intermission and pretty much owns the rest of the play. Over the course of a handful of monologues and dialogues, he goes from cruel to pathetic to pitiable, from seeming like the show's villain to possibly being its hero, deepening and humanizing Walter at every turn. To see this performance -- a 360-degree turn from his role as an Egyptian band leader in the musical "The Band's Visit" just a couple of months ago -- is to witness one of the best character actors alive at the peak of his powers. The Price American Airlines Theatre, 227 West 42nd St, New York Tickets: $69-$169, available at www.roundabouttheatre.org. Through May 7. Christopher Kelly may be reached at ckelly@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chriskelly74. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.

[rap541]

NEW BOOK! The Culling by SA Moffett!

Yes! My new book, The Culling, Book One of the Primacy Crucible is now available on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle! If you enjoy future dystopias, please check it out! There will be four books in the series and the first three are already written so you won’t be waiting long! If you do enjoy the book, please leave a review either at Amazon or on Goodreads. Please do let me know what you think!

[recusantchicky]

Hornsent

i can't stand everyone insisting "we KNOW the shaman were tortured and killed by the hornsent" no we fucking don't.

here's all the text related to this. no particular order.

Hornsent Keyword

Stalwart Horn Charm +2 Ceremonial accoutrement worn by hornsent. Vastly raises robustness. (Robustness governs resistance to blood loss and frost.) Horns are sublime artifacts to hornsent, and their presence confirms the belief that they are a chosen people. Only the repeated sprouting of fresh horns can create a tangled horn, which is viewed as an irrefutable symbol of primacy.

Immunizing Horn Charm +2 Ceremonial accoutrement worn by hornsent. Vastly raises immunity. (Immunity governs resistance to poison and rot.) Horns are sublime artifacts to hornsent, and their presence confirms the belief that they are a chosen people. Only the repeated sprouting of fresh horns can create a tangled horn, which is viewed as an irrefutable symbol of primacy.

Clarifying Horn Charm +2 Ceremonial accoutrement worn by hornsent. Vastly raises focus. (Focus governs resistance to sleep and madness.) Horns are sublime artifacts to hornsent, and their presence confirms the belief that they are a chosen people. Only the repeated sprouting of fresh horns can create a tangled horn, which is viewed as an irrefutable symbol of primacy.

Mottled Necklace +2 Vividly-colored ceremonial accoutrement worn by hornsent. Vastly raises immunity, robustness, and focus. Horns are sublime artifacts to hornsent, and their presence confirms the belief that they are a chosen people. Only the repeated sprouting of fresh horns can create a tangled horn, which is viewed as an irrefutable symbol of primacy.

Fine Crucible Feather Talisman A talisman fashioned from thin feathers that embody the aspects of various creatures. Said to have grown on the human body long ago. Improves backsteps but increases damage taken at all times. Hornsent view the Crucible as sacred for the refinement wrought through its evolutionary gifts. Most prominently, their tangled horns.

Blade of Mercy A thin, blood-stained dagger. No longer fit for use. Raises attack power after each critical hit. Hornsent employed this to honorably end the suffering of a compatriot. After claiming numerous lives, the dagger is now broken, but has acquired a spectral aura.

follow up, this goes with the misericorde

Scorpion Stew Scorpion simmered in a black soup. Traditional meal of the hornsent. Boosts physical damage negation temporarily and gradually restores HP. Once made with love by a certain elderly woman for the family table. Having long gone cold, this soup gives off a rank, sour smell.

followup:

Gourmet Scorpion Stew Scorpion simmered in a black soup. An exquisite dish chock-full of mouth-watering scorpion claws. Boosts physical damage negation temporarily and gradually restores a great amount of HP. The thoughts and feelings of the cook melt and blend into the stew, but those who can distinguish the taste of love are few and far between. "Partake, partake, until thou art sated."

Silver Horn Tender Old currency used by hornsent made by coating spiral horns with silver. Temporarily boosts item discovery. Can also be sold for a high price. These trinkets were once symbolic of society's upper echelons.

Golden Horn Tender Old currency used by hornsent made by coating spiral horns with gold. Boosts the amount of runes obtained from defeating enemies for a certain duration. Can also be sold for a high price. Once bestowed upon inquisitors as an honor.

Spritestone A Rauh Burrow inhabited by a sprite. Craftable item. Uses FP to release a sprite that slowly homes in on enemies. After a short time, the sprite fades away into glittering lights, causing a spiritual explosion on its passing. According to the records left by hornsent scholars, there were also contrivances known as "bondstones" that could manipulate the moment that the sprite vanishes.

Surging Frenzied Flame Spiritgrave stone burned by frenzied flame. Craftable item. Uses FP to place a stone on the ground, where it spews frenzied flames. Spirits are eternal, and yet frenzied flame melts them away regardless. No wonder the hornsent forbid the flame's use.

Roar of Rugalea An incantation of what is jokingly called "the bear communion." Channels the power of Rugalea, the great red bear. Transform oneself into a great red bear and emit a mighty roar. Charging increases potency. An incantation that is more akin to the divine invocation of the hornsent than it is to the Dragon Communion. Only through desperate battle with the feral wild can one discover a god unique to oneself.

Map of the Gravesite Plain. A somber plain covered in spiritgraves. The spiral tower of the hornsent lies to the northwest, and the entire expanse is marred by the harrowing ravages of war.

Map: Abyss Map of the abyss at the east of the Gravesite Plain. A thick forest sprawls at the depths of the ravine that is untouched even by sunlight. Known as the sanctum of Sage Midra, and is a region forbidden by the hornsent.

Herbalist's Bell Bearing The bell bearing of a hornsent herbalist who did not survive the war. Offer to the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold to gain access to the following items: Rada Fruit

Mushroom-Seller's Bell Bearing [1] The bell bearing of a hornsent mushroom-seller who did not survive the war. Offer to the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold to gain access to the following items: Mushroom Redflesh Mushroom

Mushroom-Seller's Bell Bearing [2] The bell bearing of a hornsent mushroom-seller who did not survive the war. Offer to the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold to gain access to the following items: Toxic Mushroom Whiteflesh Mushroom

Greasemonger's Bell Bearing The bell bearing of a hornsent greasemonger who did not survive the war. Offer to the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold to gain access to the following items: Root Resin Knot Resin

Moldmonger's Bell Bearing The bell bearing of a hornsent moldmonger who did not survive the war. Offer to the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold to gain access to the following items: Fly Mold

String-Seller's Bell Bearing The bell bearing of a hornsent string-seller who did not survive the war. Offer to the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold to gain access to the following items: String

Antiquity Scholar's Cookbook [2] A record of crafting techniques left by the hornsent academics who studied the ancient ruins of Rauh. Details techniques for working with sprites thought lost to antiquity. Acquire the knowledge to craft the following: Spritestone

Antiquity Scholar's Cookbook [1] A record of crafting techniques left by the hornsent academics who studied the ancient ruins of Rauh. Details techniques for working with sprites thought lost to antiquity. Acquire the knowledge to craft the following: Fire Coil

Revered Spirit Ash Spirit ash of those who came before, infused with potent spirituality. Acquired from the corpses of hornsent and other objects that ritually decorate townships and villages across the realm of shadow. Consume these at sites of grace to bolster your Revered Spirit Ash Blessing. The Revered Spirit Ash Blessing bolsters both summoned spirits' and spectral steed's abilities to deal and negate damage but has no influence outside the realm of shadow. The withered corpses were called tutelary deities, and Revered Spirit Ash was said to quietly accumulate in the palms of their hands.

Furnace Visage A smaller imitation of the furnace golem's visage. Material used for crafting items. Exceedingly rare to find. A stone mask surrounded by curled horns, depicting the fell god of fire that haunts the sagas of the hornsent.

Curseblade Meera Ashen remains in which spirits yet dwell. Use to summon the spirit of Curseblade Meera. Attacks immediately after being summoned. Curseblades appear to dance when they spin their shimmering circular blades. These ascetics, who failed to become tutelary deities, were a scourge for those who attempted to invade the hornsent homeland. Long ago, before the land was overshadowed by invasion, this scourge was shunned, and the curseblades were imprisoned. It was during this confinement that Meera met Labirith, and upon her death, Labirith was plunged into a devastating darkness.

Inquisitor Ashes Ashen remains in which spirits yet dwell. Use to summon the spirits of two hornsent inquisitors. The inquisitor hags wield barbed candlesticks. One of the inquisitors casts a tower hex to heal HP, while the hex of the other boosts her own attack power. Inquisitions often perplexed the minds of the uninitiated, and so seniority was viewed as an asset.

Man-Fly Ashes Ashen remains in which spirits yet dwell. Use to summon the spirits of three man-flies. Two of the man-flies attack foes from the air, while the third spits poison from the rear. Afflicted hornsent eventually metamorphosed into a fly-like form. It was believed that the moment the transformation took place, they were relieved from their suffering.

Follow up on man-fly ashes, hornsent afflicted metamorphosed, weak afflicted died. see: ailing talisman. the ghost npc hornsent suffering in ailing villages mentions that he is human still and that is why he suffers.

Braided Cord Robe Ragged black cloth overlaid with braided cord. Attire of a vengeance-seeking hornsent. The braided cord ties together the vow of the revenger with the victims' grudges. It must never come undone. Enhances both watchful spirits and the vengeful spirits summoned by horned bairns.

Braided Arm Wraps Ragged black cloth tied with braided cord. Attire of a vengeance-seeking hornsent.

Greatsword of Damnation Golden greatsword that once pierced the body of Midra, master of the manse. Used by the hornsent in the execution of a damnation like no other. The barbs that pierce the victim from within wind gently around the blade.

Falx Curved swords with long, sickle-like blades. A pair of weapons made to be wielded in both hands. Forged by a hornsent in the name of revenge. "In vengeance for the flames, my blade I wield…"

Serpent Flail A flail with coiled snakes for bludgeoning heads. Fire roars within the snakes' bodies, inflicting horrible burns. Some of Messmer's army used these flails to burn hornsent—to brand them with agony and fear.

and since the text refers to the tower as the hornsent (tho i think it's called that because they are who are left) lets include everything referencing the tower.

Tower Keyword

Two-Handed Sword Talisman A talisman depicting a warrior two-handing a sword. Enhances attacks with two-handed weapons. The horned warriors were fitting figureheads for the military might of the tower they kept watch over, their deft attacks slashing through any and all foes.

Enraged Divine Beast A charm depicting the crazed, cavorting dance of the divine beast conducted at the tower festival. Raises potency of storms. Divine beasts are messengers of the heavens, and their rage mirrors the tumult of the skies, of which storms are the pinnacle.

Talisman of All Crucibles A giant mass of intermingling Crucible attributes. Reduces damage taken from critical hits and head shots and improves the effectiveness of rolling and backstepping, but also increases damage taken at all times. Rumored to have sprouted upon giants and is known as the "mother of Crucibles" in ancient tower lore.

Burn the sealing tree? The sealing tree obscures the tower in shadow. It cannot be burned without Messmer's kindling.

Lamenter's Mask A stone mask twisted into an expression of rapturous grief. Use while disrobed to transform into a lamenter. The change cannot be undone except by death. Using this mask while already transformed causes the head to swell in size. This transformation tallies with the state of a denizen of paradise, but the people of the tower denied and hid it from the world. In their foolishness, they viewed true bliss with deep fear.

Remembrance of the Dancing Lion When the Impaler's army assailed the tower, the ritual of the lion dance was turned toward martial ends—its divinity, its fury, its light-footed beauty.

Golden Arcs Sorcery of the inquisitors of the tower, wielded as an incantation of the spiral. A swing of the arm releases a procession of golden arcs. Charging enhances potency. The arcs resemble barbs, a known symbol of coercive questioning.

Giant Golden Arc Sorcery of the inquisitors of the tower, wielded as an incantation of the spiral. A swing of the arm releases a giant golden arc. Charging enhances potency. The arc resembles the barb, a known symbol of coercive questioning.

Spira Superior sorcery of the tower priests, wielded as an incantation of the spiral. Wrap one's arms together and hold them up to the heavens to summon a spiral of light that erupts at the enemy's feet. Column of light persists for as long as the button is pressed. The spiral is a normalized Crucible current that, one day, will form a column that stretches to the gods.

Divine Beast Tornado The tempest of the Dancing Lion, wielded as an incantation. A whirlwind-like twist of the body summons a storm, launching a tornado forward. Charging enhances potency. The majority of divine beasts were gored and hung upon Messmer's spears, then burned in his flame. Those who witnessed the deed likened it to a funeral pyre for the tower itself.

Miquella's Great Rune A Great Rune relinquished by Miquella. Broken and bereft of its bounty, it retains naught but the power to resist charms. Miquella set off for the tower enshrouded by shadow, abandoning everything—his golden flesh, his blinding strength, even his fate. All in an effort to bury the original sin. To embrace the whole of it, and be reborn as a new god.

Well Depths Key A crude, corroded key. Opens the iron grating at the bottom of the well in Belurat, the tower settlement.

Storeroom Key A key with a spiral engraving. Opens the door to the storeroom on the second floor of Belurat, the tower settlement.

Secret Rite Scroll A scroll made of white tree bark. Few can decipher the scroll, which describes the secret rite of the divine gateway said to be found at the tower enshrouded by shadow. "A lord will usher in a god's return, and the lord's soul will require a vessel."

Castle Cross Message Message left by Needle Knight Leda, addressed to kindred spirits who also pursue Miquella's trail. "Kind Miquella seeks the tower sealed by shadow, and the Gate of Divinity found there. If we are to reach him, we must burn the tree that seals the path. And for that we require a flame."

Tower of Shadow Message Message left by Needle Knight Leda, addressed to kindred spirits who also pursue Miquella's trail. "The Gate of Divinity lies in the tower sealed by shadow. That is surely where Kind Miquella is headed. We are no Empyreans, but we must locate the path that will lead us there. I will follow the crosses east."

Map: Rauh Ruins Map of the ancient Rauh Ruins. These giant ruins are flooded, overgrown, and split into two by a chasm. To the southwest is the Church of the Bud, overlooking the tower of shadow.

Horned Warrior Ashes Ashen remains in which spirits yet dwell. Use to summon the spirit of a horned warrior. This heavily-armored guardian spirit of the tower attained inhuman strength through divine invocation, and wields a curved greatsword that brings horns to bear on its foes. In the tower, these warriors and their weapons both are spiritual vessels.

Ascetic's Loincloth Attire of the tower's ascetics, embodying their commitment to an austere existence of strict self-control. In order to ascend from their mortal flesh into tutelary deities of the land, they heighten their spirituality through severe ascetic training.

Ascetic's Wrist Guards Wrist guards of the tower's ascetics which embody their commitment to an austere existence of strict self-control. In order to ascend from their mortal flesh into tutelary deities of the land, they heighten their spirituality through severe ascetic training.

Ascetic's Ankle Guards Ankle guards of the tower's ascetics which embody their commitment to an austere existence of strict self-control. In order to ascend from their mortal flesh into tutelary deities of the land, they heighten their spirituality through severe ascetic training.

Horned Warrior's Sword Curved sword of the horned warriors, keepers of the tower. The ornamental tangled horns allow the blade to serve as a medium for horn-calling.

Horned Warrior's Greatsword Curved greatsword of the horned warriors, keepers of the tower. A heavy weapon made to bring the deft strength of the warriors to bear. The ornamental tangled horns allow the blade to serve as a medium for horn-calling.

Euporia Twinblade symbolizing abundance. The secret treasure of the tower. Though the blades, fashioned from golden shoots, are largely wilted and darkened, their luster can be restored by dealing damage to foes. However, damage dealt to Those Who Live in Death will have no such effect.

Spiraltree Seal Sacred seal of soiled amber engraved with a spiral tree design. Enhances spiral incantations. The majesty of the white tower, stretching to reach the gods, even inspired a secret faith in the invaders, the people of the Erdtree.

Bone Bow A crude shortbow fashioned from sickly bone. A medium for spirit-calling, and a product of the ancient hexing arts of the tower.

Two-Headed Turtle Talisman A talisman in the shape of a two-headed green turtle. Greatly raises stamina recovery speed. Turtles are known as a nutritious ingredient, symbolic of inexhaustible power. Two-headed turtles are a favorite subject in the land of the tower, due to the spiral shape of their intertwined necks.

Two-Handed Sword Talisman A talisman depicting a warrior two-handing a sword. Enhances attacks with two-handed weapons. The horned warriors were fitting figureheads for the military might of the tower they kept watch over, their deft attacks slashing through any and all foes.

if you care u should just read all of leda and hornsent's dialogue too. obviously there's that ghost npc that everyone claims is confirmation that the shaman are tortured but idk really look at all that. no one says much of anything that the hornsent actually did. i think everyone is hornsent and not just horned people but as we're obviously meant to see them as alien and different.

okay but fine. the inquisitors are a big hornsent enemy of the tower so lets be sure to include every inquisitor keyword to be fair. certainly they've done worse things than messmer owns up to rite

Keyword: Inquisitor

Barbed Staff-Spear Greatstaff of Jori, elder inquisitor. The tip bristles with golden barbs symbolic of the inquisition's torture, allowing one to wield the staff as a greatspear. Attacks deal holy damage, and potency increases with faith.

Golden Horn Tender Old currency used by hornsent made by coating spiral horns with gold. Boosts the amount of runes obtained from defeating enemies for a certain duration. Can also be sold for a high price. Once bestowed upon inquisitors as an honor.

Golden Arcs Sorcery of the inquisitors of the tower, wielded as an incantation of the spiral. A swing of the arm releases a procession of golden arcs. Charging enhances potency. The arcs resemble barbs, a known symbol of coercive questioning.

Giant Golden Arc Sorcery of the inquisitors of the tower, wielded as an incantation of the spiral. A swing of the arm releases a giant golden arc. Charging enhances potency. The arc resembles the barb, a known symbol of coercive questioning.

Inquisitor Ashes Ashen remains in which spirits yet dwell. Use to summon the spirits of two hornsent inquisitors. The inquisitor hags wield barbed candlesticks. One of the inquisitors casts a tower hex to heal HP, while the hex of the other boosts her own attack power. Inquisitions often perplexed the minds of the uninitiated, and so seniority was viewed as an asset.

that's it. we've seen it already. torture? already here. Flayed? not here.

i've argued abt the other more circumstantial things before. i need someone to provide compelling evidence this hornsent genocide of the shaman happened.

note how the tower is the hornsents tower, the tower of shadow, or the white tower. we have some conditions that changed to consider. if marika pulled all her favored erdtree faithful out before sending the genocide army in it makes sense why there are patterns of rejected kinds of people, esp ones who are strong and do not want their bodies used for the erdtree.

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[newsnigeria]

Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/naija-gist/metro-life/chimamanda-nigerians-comment/

'Try and be a bit more inventive'- Chimamanda replies Nigerians over her comment on Hillary Clinton

US based Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who was  back-lashed by Nigerians on social networking over her interview with Former American First Lady, Hillary Clinton, has given her a reaction to the number of attacks on her.

In her interview with Hillary Clinton at a PEN World Voices Festival lecture at the Cooper Union in Manhattan on Sunday night, Chimamanda had asked the former first lady why she’d the title ‘wife’on her behalf bio on twitter.

Many Nigerians felt that she was just starting to take her feminism campaign a touch too far. In reality a well known Nigerian OAP, Daddy Freeze mentioned that she cannot achieve what Hillary Clinton has achieved in her lifetime.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie however took her time for you to write an extended post as a reaction to those criticizing her on the interview.

Read her post below

Dear Unnamed Person Who I Am Told Is On Social Media Saying I am Her Family and Telling Me to Shut Up:

Cynicism is ugly. It doesn’t flatter anyone. Yours doesn’t suit you at all.

I remember you vaguely; I think you were in my class in primary school. And now you claim to be my ‘family’ and you are asking me to shut up.

Did you watch the video of the conversation? Did you read a full transcript?

I am tired of Nigerians who read a headline and, without bothering to get details and context, jump on the outrage bandwagon and form lazy, shallow opinions.

I am tired of Nigerians cynically thinking of anybody in public life as a ‘brand.’ No, I am not a brand. I am a person who feels strongly about certain issues. I choose to talk honestly about them. I made the choice to talk about feminism knowing very well the kind of hostility it brings – but I think it’s important and I will continue to speak my truth and hope to bring about some change, no matter how small. Adirom agba egwu ka m data ego.

No, of course you don’t actually deserve a response, but I have some free time today. So I want to make you feel a little important because it sounds like you need it.

And I want to reflect on an absolutely lovely hour spent on stage with Hillary Clinton.

I was happy when I was told that Hillary Clinton had specifically requested to be in conversation with me at the PEN World Voices festival. I am an unapologetic fan of Ms. Clinton’s. I have been for many years.

I felt quite emotional when I met her. Having read and followed her for years, it was moving to see her: the warm, human, observant, present, thoughtful person (and looking wonderful, with her hair and makeup on point!).

She said she had read my books and I restrained myself from doing cartwheels.

“Is there anything you don’t want to talk about?” I asked backstage.

“Ask me anything,” she said.

Towards the end of our conversation, I told her how, having read her writing about her own life, I think she has a great love story with Bill Clinton. A wonderful friendship. I said I feel irritated and protective of her when people dissect her personal life, but I also confessed to having an interest myself, particularly about her public Twitter profile. (I first noticed it when I was researching a piece about her during the presidential campaign). I was upset that the first word used to describe her was ‘wife.’ Was it a choice she had made or was it something done for her campaign and, if it was a choice she had made, did she think my reaction to it was fair?

Her response was very thoughtful.

I was too excited, emotional, slightly nervous, to be on stage with this remarkable woman. Had I kept in mind how easily outrage-mongers would jump on a headline, I would have phrased my question better. I would not have made it about my being upset, because it can come across as navel-gazing.

But the truth is that we were supposed to be having a ‘conversation,’ the context of our conversation was personal and warm, I had made the decision to speak from the heart, and it would be dishonest to pretend that I had not reacted personally to so many issues around Ms. Clinton, whose life has become a kind of crucible of all the questions that affect women.

We all react personally to public figures. And I WAS upset that the Twitter bio of a woman who is the most accomplished person to run for President of the United States, would begin with ‘wife.’ And considering her personal history, it just didn’t seem to fit.

I felt that ‘wife’ was used as an attempt to placate all the men and women who will not vote for a woman unless they are able to see her FIRST in domestic terms.

Yes, it’s just Twitter. But it matters. It’s a public platform. It’s where people go to hear directly from her.

And there is context to consider.

In LIVING HISTORY, Ms.Clinton writes that the two most difficult decisions she has made in her life were staying married to Bill Clinton and running for the senate seat in New York.

Women, especially women in public life, face a lot of societal pressure about how to be, how to live, much more than men do. Women in public life are considered ‘cold’ and ‘un-relatable’ unless they define themselves in domestic terms. Women’s accomplishments are often considered incomplete unless they have also ticked the ‘marriage’ box. These things are not true of men, even though marriage can be a wonderful thing for both men and women.

Feminism is indeed about choice. But it is intellectually lazy to suggest that, since everything is about ‘choice,’ none of these choices can be interrogated. Choices are never made in a vacuum. And sometimes, for women, choices are not always real choices.

After she got married, Ms. Clinton kept her name, but she was so viciously criticized for this that she then took on her husband’s name. Was this a ‘choice?’ Would she have done so if she wasn’t being attacked and if she didn’t want to feel responsible for her husband’s potential losing of votes?

During the last presidential campaign, she was expected to account for the policies of her husband’s administration. She was labeled an enabler of sexual harassment. She was accused of cynically staying married because she wanted to benefit politically.

Much of Ms. Clinton’s public image is a caricature of a person who is untrustworthy, calculated, cold, dishonest. That caricature has its roots in her early public life when she was the First Lady of Arkansas.

Her crime was that she did not conform to the traditional role of First Lady. She had kept her name. She clearly considered herself to be her husband’s equal partner. She did not intend merely to be a Wife. She had her own dreams, her own ambition. She dared to say that she wasn’t planning on ‘staying home and baking cookies,’ which was not about denigrating stay-at-home mothers but simply about saying that that was not what she wanted to do.

A small comment about a small thing, but it was significant and revolutionary because she was consciously resisting the status quo.

But she was attacked for that. Horrendously. And those attacks were repeated so often that they stuck and they contributed to her being reduced to a caricature.

It was therefore upsetting to see her first descriptor as ‘wife.’ The question isn’t about including ‘wife’ in her Twitter bio. The question is about giving ‘wife’ a certain primacy as the first word that describes her, and it speaks to larger questions about the societal expectations placed on women.

Ms. Clinton wrote in her most recent book WHAT HAPPENED, that she ran for president because she thinks she would have been a ‘damned good president.’

She certainly would have been. And so I suggested, half-joking, that ‘Would have been a damned good president’ is a perfect Twitter bio start. And then mother and wife and grandma and Senator and hair icon etc could follow!

I completely stand by my question and by my conviction that it is a subject that matters.

I had a truly enlightening evening on that stage with Ms. Clinton, and was once again awed by her grit, her humanity, her sparkling intelligence.

After the conversation, Ms. Clinton told me, “It was like talking to a friend.” She is now my Aunty For Life.

Oh, as for YOU, Unnamed Person, saying that I am ‘family’ to you, mbakwa biko. The people I consider family don’t ‘do petty.’

Saying “shut up” to a woman who airs an opinion is so unoriginal. Try and be a bit more inventive.

Try reasoning. Try intelligent debate. Try understanding things in context before you reveal your ignorant misogyny to the world. Try reading more than a headline. Try reading a whole book. Or two. And please keep talking. Keep speaking. Don’t ever shut up.

[afishtrap]

Geomancy, the conventional English translation of the Chinese terms Kanyu, Dili and Fengshui, can be taken very broadly as a system of environmentalist thinking, which sees the earth as the conduit of forces whose analogues are found in other parts of the cosmos. Traditional conceptions of the cosmos in China have distinguished three separate, though interlinked, spheres of existence: namely, heaven, earth, and man. Events in each of these spheres are interrelated and one might think of them as strings on a piano, vibrating in sympathetic harmony when they are struck. Phenomena which occur in space and time, which we can also call “ events” or “ fate,” are the result of qualitatively different forces called Qi which circulate in and between these spheres of existence. Oi is a fundamental concept in traditional Chinese thinking about causality: it expresses the link between time and space…

Seaman, Gary. “Only Half-Way to Godhead: The Chinese Geomancer As Alchemist and Cosmic Pivot.” Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 45, No. 1 (1986), pp. 1-18.

In this cosmology, the forces of heaven and earth are related to one another through men. Particular men, therefore, may exercise control over the forces of the heaven and the earth by exercising control over self. The emperor, for instance, assured the continued primacy of his political role if his throne were located in the precise spot where Heaven and Earth were interconnected:

‘The emperor, as cosmic pivot, saw to the harmonious operation  of these natural forces, and he did so from the great main palace called Tai-ji-dian, whose name symbolized the astral center of the universal order (Wright 1977: 56).

The nature of the phenomena produced by the forces of Qi coursing through the cosmos was evaluated by various “systems of correspondences,” the simplest of which was the yin/yang dipolar system. Probably the most popularly employed in technical discussions was the so-called five elements system, but many other systems, such as the eight trigrams, the ten stems, the twelve branches, etc. were also employed (Porkert 1974; Feuchtwang 1974). Analysis of the patterns in which the forces of Qi move through the cosmos was based on direct analogy with the functions of the human body. It was thought that energy flows through the heavens, through the earth and through the body of man in ascertainable patterns which are analogous to the passage of fluids through the body. In both the human body and in the earth, these conduits were called Jing-muo. They should not be confused, however, with physical organs, such as nerves or arteries. Instead they represent a kind of reification of the theory of the interconnectedness of all parts of the cosmos. Such conduits can be mapped, but the accuracy of the map can only be judged on the basis of effects observed elsewhere in the cosmos. On the human body, these are the conduits which are deflected when acupuncture needles are inserted or when moxibustion is employed. In the earth, these conduits bring Qi energy to the surface in places called Xue (’ aperture ’ or 'lair,’ cf., Bennett 1977). In tapping into these sites, one proceeds in much the same fashion as in acupuncture, thus the mapping of the flow of forces through the landscape has become a major part of the geomantical tradition (Porkert 1974).

Chinese astronomy has also contributed much to the terminology and methodology of geomancy. The principles of traditional Chinese astronomy were largely drawn from a focus on the observation of the circumpolar constellations. These constellations divided the skies into twenty-eight divisions of longitude surrounding the unmoving pole star as a fixed point of reference. The movements of the sun, the moon and other irregular asterisms, such as the planets, comets, etc., were plotted on circular projections of the stellar constellations. By means of the geomancer’s magnetic compass, the circumpolar divisions of the heavens can be made to correspond with the earthly directions (Feuchtwang 1974). What is hidden beneath the earth may then be inferred by observation of the heavens and the assumption of analogous patterns of structure and movement within the earth.

In the story of Geomancer Lin Demigod, the most important geomantical constructs are clearly based on the functional analogies of the sites. That is, there is no mention made of the use of the geomancer’s compass, and discussion concentrates on the kind of physiological analogies that have been described as characteristic of the “ shapes school” of Chinese geomancy. If we look at the story in terms of time, space and process, we can also see much that is informed by traditional Chinese concepts of alchemy and human physiology. The theories of Chinese external alchemy (Wai Dan) held that physical transformations of the substances found in the earth reflected cyclical rhythms of time:

“This pattern held for minerals as well as for flora and fauna. The Chinese shared what seems to have been a traditional belief among miners everywhere that earths matured within the terrestial womb. 'The metallurgist was merely accelerating a natural progress of metals toward perfection-a perfection that, except in the cases of silver and gold, nature’s corrosion would eventually undo (Sivin 1977: 110).”

Gold is, of course, the most stable as well as the most noble of metals. T'he whole art of the Chinese alchemist was directed toward the acceleration, within the crucible in his workshop, of the processes which created this metal within the womb of the earth. Among the Chinese of Taiwan, the process of secondary burial in general is referred to in the colloquial as “ picking up the gold ” (khioh kim) , thus it is implied that the processes of decay which occur within the coffin are in some way analogous to the processes within the alchemist’s crucible. One may therefore assert that one of the purposes of secondary burial is to examine the effectiveness of a burial site in accelerating the production of “gold”. Since gold is the most unchanging, in a sense the most 'immortal’ of the metals, it is instructive to note that a very similar purpose is to be found in the practice of the physiological alchemists (Nei Daln):

“They dared to believe that by their efforts the normal course of  events could be arrested and set moving backwards; this was called Dian Dao, "turning nature upside down”; thus to become as “ little children ” was the Nei Dan ideal … (Lu 1977: 74).“

[rap541]

Announcing.... The Primacy Crucible Series!

Yes, I am close to publishing my next book! It’s actually a four book series , a YA dystopian. The series is called The Primacy Crucible – hence the title of this post! The first book is called The Culling. Ominous, right? Oh yeah. I’m posting the cover art and if people would like to see a few sample pages, I just might be considering that so let me know! Here’s the book cover art!