#a more actively aggressive pirate population

[longward]

*thinks about the mechanics of keeping a restaurant ship that is notably in the middle of the ocean nowhere near land stocked for 20 seconds too long*

[sepublic]

Regarding what makes Queen potential rare amongst Metroids... I like to think that it has to do with SR388; The first Metroid was created in a lab by splicing together the DNA of various SR388 organisms, and was programmed to undergo mitosis when exposed to beta-rays.

When designing this original Metroid, the Thoha made sure to render various other traits included in the source DNA dormant. But prolonged exposure to the natural environment of SR388 caused these traits to reactivate. After all, the Metroid's DNA came from organisms that evolved on and were nurtured by SR388, shaped by its environment across millions of years to display various traits; Some of which the Thoha found conducive to creating an Ultimate Warrior to exterminate the X.

But the other traits they tried to suppress re-emerged by the world that created them, and this included a heightened aggression. This led to the Metroids turning on their creators, even as physical traits began to show up, causing them to gradually develop into Omegas. But in the wild of SR388, beta-rays did not naturally occur, and the ability to undergo mitosis is lost during the Alpha stage due to the body becoming too rigid. The Metroids would inevitably go extinct, and so to survive another dormant trait was activated; The creation of a Queen capable of emitting its own beta-rays, with which it used to produce its own Metroids through an egg-laying process.

And the Queen would mutate from the original Metroid that the Thoha had used to spawn all others from. This is because its birth came from the direct splicing of other creatures' DNA, whereas the rest were created from mitosis; During that process, some dormant DNA was lost, namely the DNA used to become a Queen. But Metroids birthed directly from the Queen retained that dormant Queen trait, and could express it under the right environmental stimuli; Namely the nurturing cradle of SR388's conditions, as well as a need to create more Metroids in the absence of beta-rays.

So Metroids created from the beta-ray process don't have Queen potential; Metroids hatched from a Queen do. The 'original generation' Metroids created from the beta-ray process under Thoha supervision would eventually grow into Omegas, with all subsequent Metroids coming from the Queen and carrying her trait. In addition to the Queen trait, they also retained an imprinting trait that would cause them to be fiercely loyal to the first creature they saw upon hatching from an egg.

When the Galactic Federation rediscovered SR388 following the Mawkin's abandonment of the planet, they acquired a larval Metroid birthed from the Queen herself. When the Space Pirates captured this larva, they exposed it to beta-rays to clone others, but these lost the Queen trait. Having already imprinted on the Queen, the Federation specimen -colloquially referred to as 'Metroid Prime' due to spawning an offworld population- rejected the telepathic control of Mother Brain, unlike its progeny which did not hatch from eggs and lost these dormant traits.

Mother Brain theorized that Metroid Prime's resistance to her authority was due to having naturally grown in the wild on SR388, unlike the others who only knew the control of laboratories; This was one part of it. Fearing Metroid Prime could somehow inspire the rest to rebel, she isolated it, but nevertheless kept it alive in case it could yield further data due to its unique origins. When the Space Pirate base on Zebes began to self-destruct, various Metroid specimens were evacuated, Prime among them, and transferred to Tallon IV. There, Metroid Prime would escape containment, and through Phazon consumption, mutate into a powerful beast.

When she became Dark Samus, she seized command of the very Space Pirates who had captured and exploited her as a means of revenge and pragmatism. With Phaaze offering an unlimited source of Phazon, Dark Samus attempted to create more 'Metroid Primes' like herself, but these mutations failed. The reason was that they lacked the Queen trait; The Metroids she used had been spawned via beta-rays, instead of being birthed naturally by the SR388 queen.

She did not realize this, but nevertheless intended to return to her home planet one day. Dark Samus saw the Metroids spawned via mitosis as aberrations, due to only having memories of the Queen and her fellow Metroids existing in the wilderness. She hoped to reunite with her mother and original family... While also exposing them to the miracles of Phazon. Had she done so, Dark Samus would've figured out the mechanics of the Queen trait through trial and error.

The Infant was hatched from an egg laid by the Metroid Queen; Thus, it carried the Queen trait. When its DNA was given to Samus, the Queen trait was retained due to all of the DNA being injected directly, and not replicating via beta-ray mitosis. Raven Beak would be fascinated by this, and saw firsthand on SR388 that environmental stimuli played a role in awakening dormant Metroid traits. Not wanting to lose any in the process of cloning, he made sure to awaken Samus' through various trials, believing that activated DNA would be more likely to pass on.

[ilikereadingactually]

Unexploded Remnants

Unexploded Remnants by Elaine Gallagher

this novella was a fun, fast read. fun enough that i was sucked in despite distractions around me for most of the story and feel very fondly toward Alice, our protagonist; fast enough that i wish it was a whole novel!

there are so many elements here that i'm really into: peeks into the complexities of alien societies, artificial intelligences with personalities, a clever archaeologist/thief dodging pursuers and trying to do what's right and calling in her queer situationship partner to help. and Alice is trans! she fell through the looking glass of space and remade herself across multiple lifetimes, she's the last remaining denizen of a self-destructed Earth. i love her! but i wanted to love her more. i wanted to love Bugs, her relatively low-tech ai, and Gunn, an the ai weapon who used to be a soldier, and Tegral, the charming alien catgirl pirate who wants Alice to someday settle down. this book read to me like a (very well-told) recounting of a ttrpg session, and i found myself wishing i'd just been at the table experiencing it myself.

maybe that's just my taste! i like to feel false security for a while before it's betrayed, i like to spend enough time with characters that they become friends whose lives and hearts i fear for. that didn't fully happen for me with this book, but the glimmer of it was there, and it was a good time.

the deets

how i read it: an e-galley from NetGalley! i am GOING TO CATCH UP. i swear i am.

try this if you: dig a fast-paced chase, like some morality wrestling, or are simply a sucker for a good-hearted and badass trans protag.

a bit i really liked: this description of the decline of Earth in terms of infectious destructive thoughts/ideas really hit me some kinda way

"I'm sorry to hear it. What happened to your world?" "The authority complex ran riot. The active carriers were ultra-competitive, irrational, and sociopathic. A few of them at once pushed themselves into positions of unlimited power and grabbed the support of the passive infected populations. The uncontaminated populations eventually resisted, but that triggered the supporters to resistance as well, and it escalated. They fought over dominance, eventually with strategic weapons. It had happened before, although the weapons weren't as powerful at the time so we survived it, but so did the meme." "Did no one attempt a cure?" "We tried. There were complications." Alice had begged the Archive for help and they began a project to mount an intervention, but despite local resistance the contamination had set itself too deep. Nothing short of a physical invasion would be able to prevent a conflict and that would have left the invaders and the population in a situation almost as bad as the one they were trying to cure. They gave her sets of idea patterns to counteract the worst of the effects, building on cultural themes already present, of altruism, diversity, co-operation. Those had seemed to be taking hold, but the resistance of the infected population turned from passive to aggressive. Intolerant violence erupted against every group that was not the dominant one. And Alice was only one agent. "Eventually the Archive advised me to evacuate. They choked the gate down, left just enough bandwidth for a few monitoring drones, and sent an advisory to the worlds nearby. We had been limited so far to one planet but technology was advancing. In a couple of centuries the infection might have taken itself on a killing spree to the stars, so neighbouring worlds set capacity aside for battle fleets. Not that they were needed in the end." "I'm sorry."

pub date: June 25, 2024! it's out!

[bitchfitch]

idk man, I'm still running on fumes and am just talking out loud to myself like usual, but recently Ive been picking at the different Vibes of the politics in my projects. Not the philosophical stuff, but the actual mechanics of how these communities operate.

Most of my stories involve people in power because how someone acts when others depend on them is a fascinating thing to mess with and sets up points of strain just beneath the surface that can rupture in fun ways.

Specifically it's how the stories are influenced by the differences, between the Sun (the settlement in that post apocalypse thing) Maelgwn's pack (that giant wolf monster thing), and the Cu'Liona flock (Toi'uhla's home in that pirate thing) that have me interested. i

The Sun is at a point of expansion. The lands it controls dont have enough resources to keep their people comfortable and trade isn't covering the deficit. Their only choices are expansion, migration/colonization or becoming weaker until another settlement deems them a suitable target.

This leads to a constant undercurrent of "it's us or them" The Leader knows full well that what they're doing is at the cost of others. People die because the Sun needs the resources they defend for their own. and it's not fair. but it's us or them. and that base of thought leads to more and more aggressive tactics. It's us or them goes from justifying stealing crops and forcing starvation, to drowning another settlement under a redirected river, to active warfare. Is us or them is the underlying theme of the entire work. how much that mentality justifies and who gets looped under us or them is the only variable between the major players.

Maelgwn's pack isn't growing. theres an equilibrium between the number of members being born and the number dying overall, but any given year it's in flux. There's always that constant pressure of 'barely enough' where losses and gains are so tangible that they are the forefront of the strain on most of the characters. The sun can't know everyone who suffers and how they're suffering, but Maelgwn can. It's can't be reduced to just numbers for him. It's too small and too personal and the margins too slim.

The Cu'Liona flock is shrinking. There's more losses than gains. Even though the island is resource rich, the people on it are too vulnerable. Outside forces with interest in those resources "it's us or them" their way through the population. Starvation isn't an immediate threat, but it looms on the horizon as every year there's fewer hands to do the work needed. The population gets more insular and defensive and the island has to take to isolationism just to keep what little it has left secret enough that Maybe they might begin to be able to build back to stability. The threat of more being taken is the undercurrent that runs through the various lorinus characters. They're scared and defensive and distrustful because that's what their entire population has had to be for so long.

and like. idk man. it's easy to lump all a storys politics under the 'philosophical' umbrella and only play with the Ideas in your work, but sometimes it's fun to mess with things in practice and see how those ideas work under the strain of like the pragmatic reality of the setting.

[stargate9]

🔥♦️STARGATE ON PLANET EARTH. Race Henrok.

⚡️ (Information from Elon Musk and Russian CSPF).

   Henrok is a race of colonizers that still exists in our galaxy. In general, the race is anthro-like, the difference is that they are at least 2.5 meters tall. The skin is a plastic chitinous plate of brown color. These are creatures of Another galaxy. The main activity is colonization and depletion of the resource base of planets.

   First of all, for the successful development of civilization they need materials to create bases and spaceships. They can serve as analogues of earthly materials, including radioactive ones, as well as a combination of inert gases and complex hydrocarbons. The stay of Henrok race on the captured planet is no more than three years.

🔥♦️Star Gate on planet Earth. Race of Henrok.

(Continuation)

   With the development of civilization and population growth, this race often captured star systems, depleting them and making them unsuitable for the further development of colloidal life forms. Thus, they reached our galaxy. They invaded its borders with a huge armada of more than 10,000 warships. The dimensions of the smallest of them reached 10 km.

   Highly developed races, which are in their development at the energy level, such as the Trafan race, could not allow such a large pirate race to remain in this galaxy and made it so that the Henrok space fleet fell into the antimatter zone, consisting of clots of dark matter, making it impossible to move and coordination of actions. The matter consumed the ships, and they were scattered throughout the galaxy. The dark matter caused severe damage to Henrok's ships, and they were unable to restore their fleet and its combat capability.

   With the help of the gates, Henrok could move to scattered ships, but this could not lead to the restoration of their former power. The sense of omnipotence acquired over millennia of plundering planets played a cruel joke on this race. The possibility of contact with representatives of other races clashed with Henrok's inability to conduct diplomatic negotiations. They spoke from a position of strength and threat and were destroyed by other races.

   As a result, two hundredths of a percent of this race survived. The few surviving individuals managed to escape persecution and destruction on a repaired ship. In the number of 300 individuals, they managed to leave this galaxy and colonized the planet that was suitable for the chemical and physical parameters of their biological revival and there they are rebuilding their civilization.

   In an emergency, three Hanrock spaceships landed on planet Earth. One of them ended up on the Australian Continent. Two other ships ended up at the South and North Pole. The planet was inhabited by primitive tribes, but the Henruk quickly discovered that they were not the only aliens on this planet and came into contact with the Uria race, which had already colonized this planet for many millennia, but was much lower in technical development than the aliens.

   Henrok began to talk from a position of strength and set their own conditions. They wanted to use the Uria race as their slaves, using their achievements to restore spaceships and destroy the inhabitants of the planet.

   Uria race, whose descendants were the population of the planet, decided that it would be easier to destroy such an aggressive race and during the hostilities most of the Henrok individuals were destroyed. The rest managed to escape through space portals to other worlds, leaving planet Earth forever.

   The Uria race used the remains of spaceships to create bases. They inherited a gate that required study. Technical knowledge, which was the main wealth of the Henrok race, was extracted by intelligent races from their genetic code. This helped in learning about the gates and how they work.

   The local tribes of the Australian Continent worshiped the heavenly inhabitants and were very afraid of them. Over time, the tribes became larger and more aggressive. The Uria race had no desire to respond to their aggression with total destruction. The base was transferred to the American continent in the deserted mountains of Montana.

   Thanks to the Henruk race, more than 10,000 stargates appeared in our galaxy. The gates are used by few races. All gates are controlled by Trafan race. All three bases are currently located in the indicated places.

   Appearance of the film “Stargate” on movie screens, like many other space science fiction films, is a psychological preparation of the inhabitants of planet Earth for the fact that they did not descend from apes and are not the only human race in space. The idea of ​​creating such a film was given by aliens, but all the events in this film are the talented invention of the screenwriters.

🔥STAR GATES.

♦️(Ending).

   The alien base located in the mountains of Montana is well camouflaged and located in the depths of the mountain. I will not tell details about the structure of the base and its size, since in each reality they have serious differences. And what is written this is reflected in all realities and their reflections.

    But there is general and unchanging information for all realities. At the bases there are representatives of many races and the main direction of the scientists of these races is to introduce the genome of the Henrok race into the body and the possibility of creating new gates.

   The technical knowledge extracted from Henrock's genetic code is not yet well understood. An attempt to create their own gates ended in their destruction and deformation of space. The Henrok genome is present in all gates and anyone who does not have this genome will not be able to use the gate. Only a few alien races managed to introduce the Henrok genome.

   At all three bases there are also earthlings as experimental subjects. The possibility of adding the Henrok genome to their genetic code is being studied, but perhaps this will remain an attempt.

♦️ With good luck, the future of earthling civilization may change radically...

   Not a single government knows about the existence of the Star Gate on planet Earth, even such powerful organizations as the Paragovernmental in Russia❗️ and the Global Corporation in the USA❗️. The leaders of such organizations as the Triad❗️ and the Yakuza❗️ know about the numerous alien races on planet Earth and about the Stargate.

    Two large bases appeared on the Moon - “Alpha” and “Beta”, built by alien races and representatives of the Human race...

✅ Home page

[brynnmck]

J/B Exchange Recs Round 1!

I have not been around Tumblr much lately because I was so preoccupied with stuff for @jaime-brienne-fic-exchange, but I am trying to get back into the swing of things, and I figured what better place to start than with some recs?

These are currently skewed a bit toward my amaaaazing gift fic and the amaaaaazing ones I beta-ed, since I am way behind on my reading, but there will be more to come!

Backpfeifengesicht by @samirant - I am so unbelievably grateful that I had both amazing prompts/amazing recipient for the fic I wrote, and such a fabulous gift fic too. I was still working on my own fic and very sleep-deprived and flagging when I read this for the first time and I think I may have actually left my body on a wave of sheer euphoria. IT IS ALL THE GOOD THINGS. So many of my favorite vacation/road trip tropes--drunken shenanigans! Intimate late-night conversations while everyone else is sleeping/elsewhere! Friends being too involved in your relationship! Unexpected forced proximity! And the banter is glorious, and the secondary characters are so well thought out and add such depth and vibrance to the story, and the Sansa/Margaery subplot was DELIGHTFUL, and I love the way this structured Brienne's relationship to Tyrion and then to Jaime as an extension of that, and the resolution was handled with an absolutely perfect balance of hilarity and heat. (There was also the stuff throughout that was very targeted to me specifically WHICH I APPRECIATED, so thanks to both Sami and @forbiddenfantasies1 for that). About 20% of the way into the story, I was deeply convinced it was Sami, and in the best possible way--it had the hallmarks I love about her writing: her sense of humor, her gift for banter, her clear affection for the characters, the richness of all the relationships. It was like showing up to a party and unexpectedly finding a friend there, and it was the loveliest feeling. I am thrilled that so many people have read and loved this story but I want everyone in the world to read and love it, so. Please check it out if you haven't! And also check out Sami's hilarious tale of woe regarding her writing process, which is amazing. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR SUCH A PHENOMENAL GIFT SAMI.  ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

A favorite line: On any other day, Brienne would have left him - a relative stranger - to his wallowing, but an untold amount of imbibed Pentoshi Slammers stirred up a noble benevolence within her, a little voice that said they had something in common and what good were her broad shoulders if they weren’t offered as a place to rest a weary, heartbroken brow? SO GOOD.

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Lay Your Heartbreak and the sequel You could make me feel so good by @ajoblotofjunk / sdwolfpup - LISTEN. SDW sent me an early chunk of this and I was immediately OBSESSED and I have not stopped being obsessed since. Obviously worldbuilding is a huge strength of SDW's and her creativity with that is a constant astonishment to me. But pop culture is full of examples of people who can create amazing worlds and then utterly fail to populate them with interesting or dynamic characters, whereas SDW's ability to fill in those wonderfully creative spaces with her love for the characters and their love for each other that is just magic. And these fics are the perfect examples of that. The setup is not only fascinating but makes for such fantastically INTENSE feelings, omg, everything just feels like it's crackling off the page; even before Jaime and Brienne and Addam are admitting anything to each other, it's not so much simmering under the surface as boiling. The balance between the three of them is gorgeous, there are two incredibly hot fencing scenes as well as a very hot swimming scene (in addition to the sequel being just one big tangle of brain-scorching hotness), there's a perfect amount of sweetness and softness to play off all the blazing heat, and overall this is one that's going to stick with me for a long time. I know J/A/B isn't everyone's cup of tea, but if you aren't actively opposed to the idea of them, then I highly highly encourage you to check this out. 

A favorite line: That night she dreams of golden skin, hot and soft against her palm – yes, someone moans, yes – the rough scrape of callouses over the arch of her ribs, the scratch of red stubble between her thighs – like this? Yes, more, please more – legs sliding together and between each other, and two mouths touching her all over. Hnnnnngh.

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The Limit Does Not Exist by @agirlnamedkeith / sameboots - Fics with a power imbalance are something I approach with a lot of caution but I LOVED the way that sameboots handled it here. The fact that this fic includes her signature extremely hot feelings-forward porn as well as a thoughtful exploration of what it can mean to be a woman in STEM is like a beautiful multi-course meal; I cared a LOT about whether they were gonna do it and I was also equally invested in how Brienne’s thesis was going to turn out and where she would go from there. I love Brienne’s stubbornness and determination and even though she’s finding her way here (as you would be, as a grad student), those elements are VERY much on display and they spark fantastically against an initially guarded and caustic but eventually deeply admiring Jaime. And while I don’t want to spoil anything, I will say that I feel like the end is a perfect illustration of one of the major themes of the fic, and I love it so much for that. Watching this one take shape and watching sameboots geek out over her math research was a delight, and the result is excellent (and did I mention, extremely hot). Definitely worth all her work!

A favorite line: “Has anyone ever told you that you’re the worst liar?” (KIDDING HANNAH ILU HERE’S THE REAL ONE:)  The problem with smoothies was that it was hard to make them aggressively., Angrily pushing a button didn’t have the same release as whaling on a punching bag. Brienne didn’t have a punching bag, though, and she desperately needed to do something, and she was hungry. ANGRY SMOOTHING-MAKING. I LOVE IT.

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Right Off the Bat by @hillaryschu - A You’ve Got Mail AU where Jaime and Brienne are rival Little League coaches who unknowingly bond over Twitter is SUCH a great idea, and Hillary committed to it right down to the delightful rom-com-trailer summary. She also put an enormous amount of care into the details of the story--she had references for outfits, buildings, even Jaime’s cologne--and it shows in all the lush descriptions throughout. The banter is sparky, watching their two relationships gradually unfold is a lot of fun, there’s a particular tipsy (on Brienne’s part) Twitter DM exchange that I still get flustered thinking about, and there’s a batting cage scene that will be haunting my brain for a while. Especially given that Hillary had never written a story anywhere near this long before, I’m so impressed that she pulled it off (and fixed some of the most problematic elements of the movie, too). Congratulations to her on rising to the challenge!

A favorite line: But as they part from each other, Brienne lifts the hem of her tee to wipe the dirt and sweat from her face. Her exposed stomach is pale and toned, with softly defined muscles that gleam with perspiration. Jaime trips over home plate. SAME JAIME. SAME.

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X Marks the Spot (where I’ll find you again) by @pretty--thief - PIRATES. I WAS SO EXCITED WHEN I HEARD ABOUT THE PIRATES. And this fic is such a fantastic blend of snappy, exciting swashbuckling (and hilarious use of parrots) and a very poignant backstory that underlays the adventure with all this yeeeeeearning and it’s SO GOOD. The action scenes are thrilling, the descriptions are gorgeous, there is STARGAZING and BATTLE COUPLE, the Jaime snark is chefkiss, Brienne is so brave and committed and quietly full of feelings, there’s a really lovely discussion of the ethics of being in the military, and also Pod and Addam and Arya and PIRATES FOR JUSTICE. SO HERE FOR THAT. And did I mention the yeeeeeearning (which is paid off wonderfully--the penultimate chapter lived rent-free in my mind for about a week after I first read it)? Ugh SO GOOD.

A favorite line: When he had exited his quarters, Brienne had looked at him with so much concern in her eyes it threatened to swallow Jaime whole. He’d felt something similar when he was around Cersei, when they were fucking or fighting; a fire he had once thought he could never tire of, would never want to put out. But Brienne had reached out her hand, as if on reflex, and smoothed her thumb across his tired brow. The ship had continued to sway beneath them, and Jaime didn’t feel fire. He didn’t feel like he would be turned to ash at any moment. He felt a breeze, the wind in his hair and salty air in his lungs. as;lfkja;sldjgas;lfjas;lf 

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Federation Fliers by @elizadunc /Ladybugbear2 - A short and very sweet one! I adore the world that Megs created in this and would happily read many many more words in it, but this is a lovely glimpse in and of itself, and made me so happy. Established relationship (which I love), one of my favorite Jaime nicknames for Brienne, a wonderfully badass Brienne and a wonderfully besotted Jaime, all against a fascinating backdrop. So good!

A favorite line: She belonged in the sky. She had a grace to her movements on the ground, but in the sky she was ethereal. HEART-EYES

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And now for a few that I just read after they were posted like a normal person:

Wine Down by @slipsthrufingers - SOME MILD SPOILERS HEREIN FYI. Okay first of all, the summary of this fic is deliciously evil and I think we all need to appreciate that. Also, it starts out with Jaime and Brienne having lunch together and these glorious descriptions of food and he has taken note of the specific food she likes and is making sure it’s provided for her and that is SO VERY MUCH MY LOVE LANGUAGE YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW. I FLAILED. And then things go, shall we say, a bit downhill, but in the most achingly beautiful way--Jaime sacrificing himself for Brienne and Brienne determined to tether him to life through sheer force of will and steadfast devotion. Slips puts us right into Brienne’s headspace/heartspace while she’s worrying for Jaime and trying to negotiate the fucked-up Lannister family dynamics (and the observations on said dynamics are wonderful too), and this hits such an excellent balance of Brienne’s rigidly controlled surface and everything that’s roiling away underneath. I’m always fascinated by the idea of what could have happened during the time that Brienne was in King’s Landing and this is such a brilliant exploration of how things could have gone, and Brienne’s interactions with the rest of the Lannisters (and Sansa) give the world that much more depth as well. The descriptions throughout are beautiful, there are so many lovely turns of phrase, the intimacy between Jaime and Brienne is just devastating, and it all comes back around to an immensely satisfying conclusion. SO GOOD. 

A favorite line: The gods had seen fit to give her an unwomanly body, so she had taken up the sword. They had given her an ugly face, so she had perfected her manners and courtesies so they could never be frowned upon. But they had given her a maiden’s heart, and try as she might she had never found the right weapon to protect it. MY PRECIOUS GIRL.

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A Matter of Honor by @nire-the-mithridatist - I shrieked at nire in DMs basically the whole time I was reading this story, it made me experience like 90% of the range of human emotions in one night and I’m still mad about it. This features a fascinatingly flipped script where Brienne is the wealthy one and Jaime the supplicant, and an arrogant-ass supplicant he is. Brienne is an angy baby nineteen-year-old who is furious at the entire world and I fucking adore her for it, and watching all the events unfold through the lens of her (generally well-founded) suspicions was a delicious sort of torture where I trusted NO ONE and genuinely did not know exactly what was going to happen next. Nire turns a lot of marriage fic tropes on their head in this and it’s all done brilliantly, and there is EXTREMELY SEXY SWORD-FIGHTING (and as a sexy bonus, Brienne’s perspective on it feels so perfect for someone who is truly an accomplished swordswoman), and nire uses some common elements throughout to just pack in these layers and layers of meaning and significance, and there are many turns of phrase so perfect that they hurt, and then she’s like “hey would you like to re-feel all the feelings in this story again in a very concentrated burst” and it’s SO MUCH, and the conclusion pays everything off amazingly. And even though it’s very swoony and romantic (and HOT. I SHOULD MENTION VERY HOT), there’s a hint of melancholy to it too, reckoning with what it means to be a woman--even a wealthy one--in Brienne’s world, and it’s just the perfect crunch of salt on top of all the sweetness. LOVE. 

A favorite line: He brought her knuckles to his lips. As sweet as honeyed nettles, he declared, “Lady Brienne. You have made me the happiest of men.” As the crowd roared in approval, she felt the sting of his kiss. STING OF HIS KISS ARE YOU KIDDING ME. Also I’m including this for purely thirsty reasons but NO SHAME: He stood from the sofa and went to help his wife undress, and if she noticed his averted eyes and his trembling hands—oh gods, the laces went on endlessly down her back, and with each pull, a little more of her figure was revealed, barely veiled by her gauzy shift—she said nothing. I DIED. I ALSO SAID NOTHING BECAUSE I WAS DEAD. Fuck, man.

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The Riverlands Gang Go to the Zoo by @naomignome - Another shorter and very delightful one with Naomi’s typical brand of chaotic humor that I adore. It’s Hyle POV, for one thing, which is good times, and the structure of this is so clever--the way each section of the zoo is used to progress the story is so seamless and happy-making, and there are tons of little jokes and Easter eggs packed in along with a very sweet, snarky emotional storyline wherein Hyle is definitely doomed. Plus another EXCELLENT Brienne nickname in here. LOVELY. 

A favorite line: “Pixel!” he said laughingly, “You know if you fell in the bear pit, I would jump after you without a second thought.” “You need to have a first thought in order to have a second one.” Brienne said dryly. SUCH A GOOD BURN.

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all these people think love’s for show (but i would die for you in secret) by @naomignome - This is SUCH A FLEX because not only did Naomi write TWO fics for her recipient but they are WILDLY DIFFERENT and I’m so impressed with her for doing it! This one is SPIEEEEESSSS and Naomi packs so much tension into 5K, I was on the edge of my seat through the whole thing. Canon events are woven in astonishingly well, and it’s a delicious enemies-to-partners-to-lovers situation that involves some excellent hurt/comfort and excellent use of RAIN to moody/sexy effect and it’s just all very thrilling. YUM.

A favorite line: He lets off a single bullet and it grazes the inside of her thigh, enough to make her wince and draw blood, but not enough to stop her from tackling him to the ground and wrestling him into submission. She’s got both of his wrists pinned above his head and her knee is drawn up and pressed against his torso. Jaime’s chest is heaving under her knee. Her chest is heaving in tandem. From above him, Brienne can see the green of his eyes darken, and even in submission, he’s annoyingly beautiful. Her blood is rushing, and it’s not all adrenaline. WHEW. SAME.

_____

as stars once a year brush the earth by @ylizam / mazily - Another wonderfully bite-sized one (good job actually taking the minimum word count as a guideline, people who did that, unlike the rest of us dumbasses!) that packs a lot into a small space. A canon-ish soulmates AU that’s so understated and dreamy, but with the echo of all the turmoil they’ve gone through to get to this place that brings everything in sharp relief. It’s also funny and sexy and romantic as fuck, and there are gorgeous poetic descriptions, and they spar by a WATERFALL, and just. So much happens in just over 1600 words! IMPRESSIVE.

A favorite line: Her right hand goes numb, unfeeling; back in their rooms Jaime is waking up, and she knows the phantom ache of his missing hand is bothering him. Jaime is waking, and yawning, the bed linens pooling around his waist and highlighting his summer tanned skin. She misses him, suddenly, as wide as the endless sea in front of her. BEAUTIFUL.

OKAY THIS WAS A LONG POST. That’s all I’ve got for now--more to come as I continue my reading!!

[land-of-classpects-and-analysis]

Mage of Light

Well, now. Isn’t this quite an interesting situation? A Mage of Light giving the analysis, the story, the tale of their struggles and triumphs, of the Mage of Light? Granted, this was inevitable, much like how this will happen again with the Sylph of Life analysis. However, this one has come far quicker than the other one, and so it begs the question as to whether this will be a callout post about the socially anxious host themself, or if it will be another general look at the Classpect known as the Mage of Light? In a way, it will be a little bit of both, as bias and anecdotal scenarios will be an obvious thing that may pop up throughout this analysis. Whether it relates to the narrator of this piece, or to the general population of Mages of Light, will be up to your own imagination. Now, let’s end the theatrics and get ready to gaze into the scarring heat that us Mages of Light are known to look upon for guidance, reassurance, and, of course, the answers to all the questions we have.

It has always been rather fitting for the Aspect symbol for Light to be that of the Sun, at least personally speaking. From a very young age, we are advised to never look directly at the Sun, as its rays are bright and its light a burning hot. This is a good piece of advice for the literal Sun that the planet rotates around, but what about the more symbolic or metaphysical Sun? What about the children who are told to not look too deeply into the symbolism, the meaning, the message hidden behind the letters so elegantly carved into a book? After all, children are naturally curious and are capable of absorbing so much knowledge and rarely, if ever, seem to be satisfied with what they have. Many people talk about their own “phases” where they were fully dedicated to learning as much as they could about something. Pirates, Ancient Egypt, Dragons, Folklore, the Medieval Era, and so many more things. For the most part, parents do often encourage this curiosity that so naturally comes with being a child. Except, for some parents, it is a more conditional encouragement. Telling a child they may not know what or where their Christmas or Birthday presents are is a normal restriction upon a child’s knowledge. That is now what is being alluded to here. No, this is about the parents who blind their children from knowledge that may cause the child to be smarter and more tolerant than their parent, or have their child be more aware of the more horrific and taboo things in this world - the privileges that they may have. Little do their parent’s know how strong the curiosity of a child can be.

As a child, the Mage of Light would at least somewhat be, if not most definitely exactly, like this. While children are naturally curious, the young Mage of Light is someone who is constantly asking the questions, always trying to understand, never being satisfied with the answers they are given, and despising when someone - especially adults - hide things from them. Light-bound at their worst are known to be rather fussy, and if anyone is to perfectly encapsulate such a feeling, it would be a young Mage of Light being told they are forbidden from seeking out the knowledge and answers to a burning question of theirs. Tantrums and overall meltdowns are most definitely a mark of a younger Mage of Light, while later on in the Mage’s life, this contempt for being kept in the dark would show itself more as outright rebellion and sometimes even aggression, physical or otherwise. Much like the Mage of Void, the Mage of Light would be one who will grow into a person that will stop at nothing until they get the answers they want. Out of all the Mages, the Mage of Light is one who is more than ready to bash their head against a wall - metaphorically or otherwise - over and over, especially if it means they will finally come to answer or epiphany. They are born with the never-ending, forever-gnawing hunger to know and learn, and if no one will teach them properly, then they will happily teach themself.

Due to this way of life, it could be argued that the Mage of Light is one where their journey to knowledge and understanding begins as soon as they are born. However, that is only partially correct. While the Mage of Light is indeed someone who, in their early life, believes themself to be stranded in a vast ocean of knowledge - a Mage of Light’s true dream, really. However, what is important to keep in mind is what was mentioned earlier: that those now older, typically adults, will often look back at their learning “phases”, wherein they dedicated themself to only one or few topics of knowledge. Don’t think or believe for a moment that school is a place where their journey begins. Goodness, no. If anything, school is where the suffering of the Mage of Light begins - especially those who have their journey follow the path of seeking out knowledge of knowledge. However, that is for later on this analysis.

The Mage of Light, after leaving childhood, may know quite a lot about the (literal) ocean and the life within it, perhaps they know the entire history of all the wonderful European Folktales meant to startle children, or they dedicated themself to learn how to knit, cross-stitch, and sew, as well as the history of it. It’s hard to tell exactly when their journey does truly begin, as it can vary from Mage of Light to Mage of Light. One thing is most certain, though, when it comes to a common thread seen throughout all Mages of Light: their Aspect has not only revealed itself in its most purest form to the Mage, leaving them scarred from the encounter, but it has left something in the Mage of Light waiting to be awakened. That something is the hunger for more knowledge than what they already have. You see, what the Mage has been truly missing is the true mass, the entire volume, in which Light envelopes the world around them. After all, Light-bound are meant to be those who seek out knowledge of anything - even if it is something that would have been better left unlearned. As the Mage of Light enters a moment in their life where their parents cannot protect the Mage as much as they wish they could, and it is now up to them to make the decision of whether they seek out knowledge of something or not. Later on in the Mage of Light’s life, they will truly have to face the plasma heat of the Sun, and will finally realize why it is unwise to dance atop fresh ashes and burning coals.

Much like the Seer of Light, though, the Mage of Light poses another intriguing puzzle with their Classpect. The Mage of Light is one who actively seeks out knowledge of or through Light, there is no doubt there. What is interesting is that this basically boils down to someone seeking out knowledge of or through Knowledge, enlightenment, academics, and more. It seems like an almost obvious thing, and perhaps even redundant to say such a long-winded statement of “one who actively seeks out knowledge of or through knowledge”. While the latter half claiming it is rather redundant to say that makes a good point, it is also a rather brilliant and key difference to make between the two groups of Mages of Light. There are the Mages of Light who actively seek out knowledge through Light, wherein they have a journey far more like that of a chain, or like a spelunker who always manages to find holes, crevices, and cliffs that allow for them to go deeper and deeper into the Earth. While the knowledge they learned as a child may not be too helpful for a more “real” life, this curious passion and research may cause a spark to appear somewhere off in Mage of Light’s, close or otherwise.

Have you ever discovered a topic that has sent off the wonderful, serotonin-filled surges through your brain? No matter how obscure or mainstream it is, the brain - your brain - has processed that information enough to latch onto it like that of a long lost friend, relative, or lover. “More,” your brain tells you, “I want- no. I need more of this. More. More. More.” It’s a droning sound in your head, that four letter word being repeated over and over until, finally, you give in and seek out more knowledge of this topic. All there is to be found on it: every Wikipedia article, every theory, every documentary, every book, all of it, if only to keep your head quiet- but wait. What was that sentence you just read? It mentions something - or someone - that you do not know about nor ever heard of. Context is suddenly lost on you and you can feel as your brain begins to toss and turn within your skull like it is a coffin of calcium. Most people would shrug it off and continue reading, writing, research - but not you. No. You are a Mage of Light who has gone down the path of seeking out knowledge through Light - a chain forged from the brightest and hottest flame, and you are the blacksmith creating it. It never, ever seems to end, though, as every piece of information you take, every link you click on, everything leads down further and further down these rabbit holes. Until, eventually, you will discover that not only do you not know how to go back, that you are completely lost, but that all of these rabbit holes are connected and all lead to the same, fiery den. By the time you realize this, though, chances are that it will be too late to go back as you will find yourself in the chamber of the Sun, and it is simply too painfully beautiful to look away from. So you don’t. Even if you feel your eyes tearing up at how brightly it truly burns. You dare not look away, though, for you know deep down that this, this, is the most purest knowledge you could have ever discovered through Light and countless, sleepless nights. It is so gorgeous that you swear you might even go mad and lose yourself within its beauty.

Then there are the Mages of Light who simply seek out knowledge of Light. Chances are this is the one that brings most people to start scratching their heads. After all, isn’t this simply seeking out knowledge, point blank? Isn’t it? Wouldn’t it be great if it was just that easy? No, unfortunately this is the path in which the Mage of Light becomes knowledgeable of the fact that knowledge is all around them, not just in the form of objects, but also from the people around them. Most importantly, though, they will realize that a lot of this knowledge is painfully biased, disgustingly muddled in a game of telephone, and that a lot of it is just plain wrong. They are the ones who, unfortunately, will often know the facts and correct answers to a wide variety of topics. Whether it is something as obscure as the history and lore of bigfoot sightings, or as well known as World War 2 and all the intricacies within it, the Mage of Light is one who has already sought the knowledge of these things. However, due to the nature of so many Mages, they are often rather reluctant to open up and share their knowledge with others - especially in regards to the people they do not like. Mages can be rather petty, indeed, and are not afraid to taunt their enemies about the knowledge they have, waving it in front of the disliked person’s face like that of a carrot to a goat. Sometimes, the Mage of Light won’t even reveal that they have the answers to some people’s question, and instead leave them to continue spouting false truths. If the Mage of Light is especially vicious, they will inform everyone who not only knows their enemy but that the Mage trusts greatly, about the real knowledge and facts of whatever story their enemy is speaking. Oftentimes this is only for the Mages amusement of knowing that they and everyone they trust is in the know of what is true, while watching those they hate continue to fumble around in the dark - lost, confused, yet infuriatingly cocky that they know where they are going.

The main suffering of these Mages of Light is that of being so knowledgeable on so many different things, yet so few people ever bother to listen or take the Mage at face value. It’s the suffering of having the weight of hundreds of textbooks, papers, recordings, files, and so many other forms of knowledge all pressing down on one’s mind. It’s the suffering of knowing how many ignorant and unaware people there are roaming the world, sometimes even within the Mage’s own life and inner circle. They actively seek out knowledge of not just simple knowledge, but rather what other people view as their own knowledge. If the Mage is lucky, then someone or something will give them valuable knowledge to hold onto and maintain - adding it to their large, mental library that they have built over the years. However, as is more often the case than not, the Mage will encounter someone who holds knowledge so wrong and tainted that it often can drag the Mage down from whatever happy mood they may have been feeling. Depending on how truly bad this tainted knowledge is, the Mage of Light will do whatever it takes to try and set the facts straight and prove to the other person or party that they are wrong. Whether this comes in the form of polite corrections or downright red-faced yelling and screaming at the person - or, if pushed hard enough, physically aggressive constructive criticism - or somewhere in between, it would be best to be careful to spout off any false ideas labeled as facts and truths when around the Mage of Light, especially if they do not appear to be in a good mood. After all, they are someone who has a large umbrella of knowledge, and it is one they are not afraid to bludgeon proper knowledge into an ignorant person’s skull.

The Mage of Light is someone who can be seen as an unremarkable genius - unrelenting in their pursuit of knowledge and understanding. Even if such determination may be viewed in an unflattering light, the Mage of Light may not exactly care, as everything they do is for the sake of learning all that is available to them, as well as understanding the world they live in and the people that reside within it. Chances are, though, that being in the presence of the Mage of Light is quite a rare occurrence. This is mostly because Mages of Light are some of the most dedicated of all the Light-bounds when it comes to their Aspect. They are willing to throw themself into the molten, searing rays of the Sun - of knowledge - for many reasons. Ranging from getting to know all there is to know about one of their favorite people, characters, shows, or other interests, to simply wanting to see, know, and/or understand what it is like to experience a certain situation that has always intrigued them. Because of this, while the Mage of Light is a dedicated student, they are also someone who often ignores their own health and wellbeing for the sake of more knowledge. If they are not careful, then this can lead to not only mental suffering for the Mage, but also physical and social suffering, as well. Those who have managed to befriend a Mage of Light may be all too familiar at the sight of seeing their message having been left on read, or sometimes having never even been opened at all. Once the Mage of Light finds themself truly enveloped in the webbing of a particular interest or topic, it may be quite a long time before anyone sees or hears from the Mage of Light again. Because of this, those within the Mage’s social circle may need to take on the extra task of checking in and meddling with the Mage of Light’s business. 

While Mages so often attract people of similar minds towards them, this may bring great displeasure to the Mage of Light at many points in their life. They hate rereading the same book over and over, after all, and so if they sense one person or the overall relationship to be all too similar to a previous one, then chances are they will often pay little mind to these people and instead continue on their work. If no one has any knowledge to offer the Mage, then they will simply not bother with this person. However, deep down, the Mage of Light would love to have a few companions in their life, if only to share with them all of the discoveries they have made and have someone listen as they rant, ramble, and rave on about all they have learned, as well as all the ignorant people they have had to unfortunately encounter. The Mage of Light is like that of a pendulum, constantly swinging from one side to another, causing people to never exactly knowing what to expect when it comes to speaking with the Mage of Light. One thing is for certain, though, and it is that when the Mage of Light is caught in a good mood, they can be one of the kindest, most non-judgemental, and warmest people to be around. If they are feeling especially kind, then they can also be someone who shares their great amounts of knowledge and wisdom onto those they truly care about and trust. 

Mages of Light are those who should rarely, if ever, be questioned on whether they truly know what they are talking about. Much like their Passive counterpart, the Mage of Light is one where, after gaining great strides in their journey, they can become a borderline all-knowing entity if they so desired. They go after knowledge wherever they can sniff and claw it out, and as such is someone who poses themself to be the most valuable ally and friend to have, as well as being the most dangerous and largest foe one could make. There would be no point in fighting a fully awakened Mage of Light - at least not physically. They already know every possible move you could make, and they are well prepared and knowledgeable on how to counteract it. Amongst their other powers is that of seeing all there is to know in the present and the future, but rarely ever the past. If it is not transcribed in some fashion, then the past is one of the biggest weak points for the Mage of Light, as it is something that has already come to pass and therefore becomes an unreliable source of knowledge. There will always be blindspots, even to the most powerful Mage of Light, and it is these blindspots that bring all Mages of Light great suffering and anger. These blindspots are more often than not that of the Void-bound - people who manage to find ways to flicker out and hide away from the harsh rays of the Sun. Many Mages of Light find these people to be perplexing, and sometimes downright infuriating, in more ways than one. When the Mage of Light finds that they cannot gain knowledge from something, they may be quick to deem it as worthless or unreliable, and in the case of people, might see them as possible threats and adversaries.

There are some Mages of Light who may try to escape and run away from their Aspect, finding themselves incapable of withstanding all of this knowledge. It will be with great fear in their hearts when they find that there is no escaping something as grand as Light, The Sun, and knowledge. It is everywhere we go, and once someone has opened their eyes and truly looked upon its burning answers, it is something that cannot be so easily ignored. If the Mage of Light is going to expose themself to a source of knowledge, they will be damned if they are not going to try their very best to understand its intricacies. Even if trying over and over again brings them even more suffering, it is better than to suffer in silence as their brain claws at the inside of their skull and the yearnful hunger gnaws away at them from the inside. The Mage of Light is driven to know all there is, was, and will be, and whether they are willing to play dirty or not simply depends on who the Mage of Light truly is. Mages of Light are truly some of the most brilliant people, but it is truly up to them whether they decide to use their knowledge for good, and share it with others, or if they decide to be cruel, and use it to twist the arms of people and bend the rules of whatever game they have been placed within. No matter what, though, Mages of Light are the ones who dared to look at the Sun when very few others could. Not only did they stare at it, but they challenged it to that of a staring contest, and instead of losing the game and their eyesight, these Mages instead rose above everyone else and were gifted with the greatest weapon anyone could ask for, and one only they can truly understand how to wield properly: Knowledge.

[mal-luck]

ACCESS: RESTRICTED

DECRYPTION KEY: 73XK5V2PG1$AUN-326

REP #: 692-FALLEN-DUS

AGENT(S): RAN-187

SUBJ: Countercultural intelligence update

1. Fallen armed forces continue to fall back from active fronts across Terra. Factions of House Dusk remain active in the European Dead Zone. Throughout the rest of the globe, refugee attack incidents have dropped by more than 70% since the conclusion of the Red War—largely attributable to depressed Fallen and human populations rather than any significant change in interspecies relations.

2. In absence of any united leadership, House Dusk continues to splinter and radicalize.

The recent trending emergence of so-called "crime syndicates" (cf. report #004-FALLEN-SIV) is emblematic of the continuing destructuralization of Fallen society. Likely an artifact of multi-generational colonization of human strongholds, this agent believes that because these syndicates have no relation to indigenous Fallen culture, young Fallen are appropriating and imitating human mythology in absence of a strong cultural heritage of their own.

Much like the dissolution of the Kell/Archon theology, this is positive news for those interested in the complete extirpation of invasive Fallen from the system.

3. That being said, we should continue to monitor reunification efforts. Several personalities have emerged as potential leaders. First, the would-be integrationists:

VIP #1121, well-known to Guardians of the inner system as Variks or Variks the Loyal. Directly responsible for the release of the murderer Uldren Sov from the Prison of Elders, #1121 subsequently fled Awoken holdings in the Reef and now styles himself the Kell of Kells, still representing House Judgement. The Praxic Order has petitioned the Vanguard for permission to detain #1121. The Awoken monarchy, acting through the Queen's Wrath, has claimed jurisdiction over #1121 and further stated that any prosecution in absence of their involvement will be considered an act of war. The Vanguard has not yet made a statement about their position on the issue.

VIP #3987, another former confederate of the Awoken, is a lesser-known personality known as Mithrax. Scattered field reports suggest that like #1121, #3987 styles himself a Kell of the so-called "House Light," an otherwise unknown House apparently founded by #3987 himself. We have secondhand accounts that Mithrax has engaged in allied operations with Guardians in the field, though we have not as yet been able to corroborate these accounts with any degree of veracity. This agent is inclined to treat these reports with a healthy degree of skepticism until otherwise confirmed, as they may be propaganda from Fallen sympathizers in the Old Russian and Red War Guardian cohorts. We have requested intelligence records from the Awoken which may further clarify the matter.

In addition, whatever the findings of said intelligence records may be, it should be stressed that one or two sympathetic outliers cannot be relied upon to erase the wrongs of past centuries, nor should their good-faith efforts to correct the sins of their forebears be taken as sufficient symbolic reparation.

Second, the would-be separatists:

VIP #4503, a recent personality known as Fikrul or the Fanatic. A close confederate of the murderer Uldren Sov, #4503 has the apparent ability to raise himself from the dead in a manner not dissimilar to Ghost-aided resurrection. Though his reign on the Tangled Shore was limited, he possesses sufficient skill, hatred, and motive to warrant on-going surveillance. Given #4503's propensity for resurrection, the inherent risk of #4503 reclaiming the body of the murderer Uldren Sov from his final resting place in the Dreaming City goes without saying. The Vanguard continues to deploy fireteams to suppress #4503; our agents have reached out to the Cryptarchy and the Gensym Scribes to request guidance as to his permanent destruction.

VIP #2029, a once-known personality known as Eramis or Eramis, the Shipstealer. A House Devils Baroness incarcerated during the Wolf Wars, #2029 successfully fled the Prison of Elders during the mass escape orchestrated by #1121. #2029 is a classical Fallen pirate of the old ways: vicious, uncompromising, and possessing cunning of the highest degree. Field reports indicate that she is rallying violent dissidents to reconstruct House Devils from the ground up. This agent believes her to be the most viable candidate for universal Fallen reunification, and would urge the Vanguard and other interested leadership to aggressively prioritize her destruction.

We have come too far to pull our punches now.

MESSAGE ENDS

[niqhtlord01]

(Photo by barbarian_j-d9levbi)  Niqhtlord’s wondrous world of aliens present “An introduction to Alien Species”

Species: Predatoria

Biology: 

The Predatorian species are a race of humanoid figured fish people resembling upright sharks that have evolved over the millennia to grow additional extremities such as arms and legs at the expense of their tails, though there are recorded a few Predatoria that have kept their tails. 

Predatorian’s have the unique ability to retract their finger and toe webbing at will turning powerful flippers into full dexterity hands and feet with control over every toe and finger. 

Depending on the individual Predatorian some are able to breath oxygen through their gills with relative ease, others have been noted to be able to breath oxygen normally as well but require to take breathers from a special neck brace filled with water from their homeworld, and there are those that require the specialized neck brace 24/7 to remain above ground. Scientists have speculated that this may be a result of the depth of water each individual resided in for the majority of their lives with more oxygen rich water residing near the surface allowing for easier breath while heavier water resides in deeper portions of the planet leaving said individuals to breath through the neck braces. These effects often force the Predatorian body to adept which results in specific changes that can not be altered.   As a result of the intense gravity, Predatorian muscles are nearly ten times stronger than the average galactic life form. Their genetic makeup compresses several dozen layers of muscles over each other to the point that they become so interwoven that even though a knife may break the skin it snaps upon contact with the muscles. As a result surgery often requires special living crustaceans from their homeworld to be used as scalpels as only their claws have evolved to cut through the muscles. 

With regards to the Predatoria brain scientists have been astounded by the possibilities it opens. It appears that all Predatoria, regardless of age, have a perfect memory and can remember anything that they have experienced during their lives. Be it a physical encounter, a face of a stranger, a the words of a book read in school, anything and everything is remembered.  What may seem like a potential overload of information also has a genetic fail safe in place to stop Predatoria from going mad. They possess the unique ability to manually shut down portions of their brain as to not per-say forget something, but to have it never have existed at all. The process in which they can achieve this level of mental control is unknown, but it has been proven that they can deactivate and reactivate portions of their brain and memory at will. This gives them the false appearance of being slow or dim minded when in reality they are searching their memories and reactivating which ones are relevant to the current situation why deactivating those that are not.  Incidentally the Predatoria are acutely aware of this and when giving themselves names tend to keep them short and simple as longer names can trigger secondary memories as understandings behind each meaning become active.  

Homeworld: 

The Predatoria homeworld is roughly 95% water and under higher than normal levels of gravity. The landmass has remained relatively devoid of higher forms of life and has remained largely jungle rich fields with the exception of the newly created star port and small settlement adjacent the star port. 

The majority of lifeforms reside in the natural oceans clustered into coral cities that dot the underwater landscape. Much of the infrastructure is carefully created organic materials that have been bred by Predatorian’s for specific purposes and it is rare to find refined materials within the underwater domain. 

Orbital scans show that much like any other world the landscape under water has mountains, hills, ravines, plains, and other naturally formed landscapes.  

Industry: 

All trade is conducted on the surface at the star port under strict regulations. No machine is permitted to enter the waters of the world as Predatoria see their oceans as sacred and any outside material as sacrilege to enter. They have been more relax with offworlders taking a swim in their oceans, but react harshly in the event they leave trash behind as punishment for littering is having the limb in question that littered devoured by a swarm of Shredder fish that strip flesh from bone in seconds.  

To this end the rare metals, gems, and food found in the ocean is entirely harvested by the Predatoria population.  It remains unknown how the Predatoria conduct these practices as any attempt to send recording devices beneath the waves have been crushed by the pressure or eaten by curious sea creatures. 

WARNING: While not impossible to visit the planet for tourism purposes it is advised that offworlders refrain from swimming. Due to the intensity of the planet’s gravity if not careful a person could be pushed down into the water and drown. To swim through the oceans of Predatoria would be the equivalent of swimming through sand underneath ten feet of additional sand. 

History: 

Initial contact with the species remains unconfirmed. What is known is that first contact was made by a group of outlaws on the run. Their ship had been damaged in a recent scuffle with the Cosmic Federation’s police forces and landed on the Predatoria homeworld to make repairs. The ships engines sent disturbances through the water as it passed over it alerting the Predatoria who quickly came to investigate. Initial contact was somewhat hostile as the outlaws, startled by the appearance of the Predatoria, attacked and killed several that had come ashore to observe the new comers. The blood of the dead slowly dripped back into the sea triggering a blood frenzy among the people at the death of their own. Within hours swarms of Predatoria began emerging from the ocean seeking revenge and quickly slaughtered the remaining crew just as they set off a distress beacon.  With the intruders dead the majority of the Predatoria retreated back into the ocean while several remained out of sheer curiosity to inspect what the outlaws had left behind. Several days had passed when one of the Cosmic Federation’s police ships landed on the planet to investigate the distress signal. There they discovered several Predatoria studying the outlaws ship, though they still only had the basic understanding of its functions.  Unlike the outlaws the police force had been trained in “new contact” scenarios and was prepared. The officer in charge ordered that one of his men send a signal to the Cosmic Federation for a diplomatic detail while they initiated friendly talks. Several of the Predatoria had retreated back into the ocean when they saw the police forces, thinking they were the same as the outlaws that attacked them before. The remaining ones had taken up the weapons of the outlaws and mimicked what they had seen them do. Some of the officers wanted to fire but the officer in charge ordered them to place their weapons on the ground and show no hostility.  From this point forward additional diplomatic talks were eventually held and through trial and error an understanding was established with Predatorian’s.

Current Status: 

Lacking space fairing technology, the Predatorian’s were not able to become a member of the Cosmic Federation. However, they were given the status of a “Protectorate” allowing them to trade with the Cosmic Federation as well as being protected by the law. With the general desire to make refined metals from their homeworld it is unlikely that the Predatoria will ever develop space fairing vehicles, though this mater seems of little importance to them as they have embraced interplanetary communication and can easily negotiate travel from another species if desired.  

With the sudden influx of interplanetary trade Predatoria culture was hit with new technological wonders that attracted several thousand of their species to leave their homeworld for the first time. 

Given their natural physique, many of their kind have been recruited into manual labor positions as a single Predatorian can do the work of five power loaders. 

A somewhat ironic turn of events has also brought the attention of the criminal underworld as Predatorian’s are brought in as added muscle or bodyguards. Some underground fight rings even trade in captured Predatoria slaves, though due to the cost needed to contain a single Predatoria only the more high end fight ring establishments have been crazy enough to attempt this. 

Some have used their skills and knowledge to become powerful crime lords themselves with their own private pocket underground empires. 

Wars:

As of yet there have been no recording of major conflicts instigated by or against the Predatoria. The nature of their homeworld and positioning of their critical facilities underwater greatly inhibits enemies from attacking them as they would be fighting the planet itself. Blockades are also useless as the planet is near entirely self sufficient with the exception of technology brought in from off world.  The only instances of aggression that have been recorded are often from individual members of the species. Such individuals include one Mr. Fig, second in command of the Amelia Starfeld, pirate queen of the asteroid fields. Mr. Fig was at one time a considerable pirate in his own right before joining the crew of Amelia Starfeld with a list of wanted posters and misdeeds long enough to fill several books with bounty notices alone. The exact reasoning behind the sudden joining is unknown, but there are rumors with regards to a certain lost card wager. Since joining her crew he has proved an able bodied second in command and a staunch bodyguard, saving his captain’s life on several occasions.  The second individual is slightly less known, going only by his alias “Mr. Big”. His true name has never been discovered while his alias was given to him by a human child who is by all means his second in command. Mr. Big may be considered by some politicians as nothing more than a common criminal, but that is only to downplay the reality that he runs one of the largest private armies past the Sleisian Belt. Earliest records list him on board a slavery ship bound for a massive auction. The guards threw a young girl into his cell thinking he would eat her on the spot and it would amuse them. He did not eat her, if for the only reason at the time to pass the boredom of being alone in the cell. This proved beneficial as the young girl was able to memorize the access code to their cell door by listening to the subtle tones of the keypad outside that even the Predatorian could not distinguish and free the two of them from their cell. Proceeding swiftly they freed many of the other prisoners and instigated a ship-wide riot that saw the death of every slaver. Afterwards the little girl refused to leave his side and he had grown rather fond of the young girl and took her on as his daughter. The pair then took the ship to the nearest black market and sold it, using the profits to fund what would become their criminal empire.    

[nilxis]

Day 4: History

2018 World Building June post about History

History of Uranesia

Very little is known about ancient times, when the first Uranesians used to populate the island. Today, all around Uranesia one can find remnants of their civilization, but there’s no trace of them. Who were they? Did their civilization collapse? Or they just left the island? But why leave everything behind? These are some of the questions that the current inhabitants of Uranesia ask themselves. But for now, it’s all still a mystery.

New Uranesians came originally from the Continent. They were an ethnoreligious group known for their industrious spirit and their artistry, and for a long time that made them earn the respect of other groups. However, their misfortune had always been the fact that they were stateless, a minority in other people’s lands. For long they had dreamt of having their own land, a place to call home, something that was reflected in a series of prophecies. Little did they know that one day they would find it in such a far away and remote place.

Over time, political and religious tensions in the Continent arose, and they started being persecuted. Violence against them soon intensified, something terrible was about to happen. Some were seeing it coming so they began preparing some ships to escape, but it happened sooner than expected: they were forced to flee overnight, thousands of people. They rushed to the ships but only a few were able to make it, the rest faced massacre. Those who were luckier set sail for the vast ocean, but they didn’t really have anywhere to go. All they could hope for was a miracle.

After many days on the sea they were running out of food, the ships had been damaged by storms and they had lost the way. They were just drifting in the middle of the ocean. But then they saw it: land in the distance, an island rising steeply from the sea: Uranesia. They ended up at the edge of the known world, in a very remote region that had never really been explored due to its isolation and the belief that it was cursed. To the people in the Continent, the place was almost mythical, only mentioned in some ancient legends. But at that time the soon-to-be New Uranesians didn’t really know where they were.

They landed on the island to rest and recover, people were ill and hungry and the ships were about to fall apart, so they sent small expeditions to get some food and to do some exploring. Soon they realized that the island was rich in natural resources, and it seemed like it was deserted, there was no sign of activity anywhere. It had the potential to become their new home, despite the isolation and the difficult terrain, but it was too soon to make such a decision. So they kept exploring the island, repairing the ships, and started building some dwellings on the coast.

Not long after that they made an important discovery: they found some ancient ruins hidden in the forest, and realized that the island had been previously inhabited. The more they explored the more they discovered, but at first it was only scattered buildings or mysterious structures. One day though, a group of hunters made an amazing discovery that would decide the fate of their people: a lost ruined city nestled between mountains and cliffs, overlooking the sea in various directions. They immediately recognised the strategic value of the place: it was not easy to reach, but it was easy to defend and it had access to fresh water. So they went back and informed the rest of the group about the discovery. It was becoming clearer that Uranesia was a great candidate to become their new home, but they were still prudent. They sent a mission with priests to check out the ruined city, and the veredict was clear. One of the prophecies talked about an eagle on top of a column, and that’s exactly what the priests observed. The prophecy was fulfilled. They decided they would build a new city on top of the ruined one, a place they would call home. 

Most of the buildings in the city were too ruined to be reused, but there were many structures they could use as a base and a lot of stone to use for the new buildings. Besides that, there was a lot of stuff from the ancients, it wasn’t just stone and building materials. As they were building the new city the New Uranesians spent a long time studying everything the ancients left. They realized their civilization was quite advanced, and there was so much they could learn from their culture. However, the ruined state of everything and the fact that they couldn’t understand the ancient scripts made it difficult. Because of that, in the end the ancient’s influence reflected mostly in practical aspects they could learn from observation, such as building and art techniques. Yet, they did manage to decipher their writing system, which the New Uranesians ended up adopting, as well as a few words from the language of the Ancients which they incorporated into their vocabulary. However, essential questions about who they were and why they dissapeared are still a mystery. (In the picture below, some structures from the Ancients are still standing today in the city).

Slowly but steadily they were creating a new city and a new society, despite being such a small group. They introduced agriculture, metalwork, internal trade, power structures, basic services, etc. Everybody had a role and things were starting to work out. Uranesia’s natural resources, their industrious spirit, their unity and their very strong religiosity played a key role in their survival and development. Eventually, though, they reached a point where, if they wanted their civilization to really thrive and flourish, if they wanted to become stronger, what the island provided was not enough. They couldn’t remain isolated forever, there was a world out there bigger than their city in their remote island. They had been unnoticed for a very long time, there was stability, and they knew that the conflicts in the outside world could threaten them again. Moreover, they still remembered the tragedy that forced them to flee from the Continent very well, centuries after. But they also knew somebody else could land on the island any day at any time, and at that time they were not strong enough to defend themselves.

That’s when they started fortifying the city and setting foreign trade expeditions, they had a lot of unique stuff to offer from the island but there was also so much they needed from the outside world. Eventually, they came upon a trading island in the middle of the ocean, a place owned by free merchants and used as an international commercial center. That offered them the possibility to take their products there, trade with merchants from many different lands, and go back to Uranesia keeping a relative secrecy. They couldn’t keep the island 100% a secret, but they made sure all the trade happened outside the island, even though they started allowing some visits from important merchants to Uranesia, normally to the port area only, and very rarely to the upper city.

Trade became very important for their society, and thanks to it they became richer and more developed. During that time they expanded the city down to the sea, they built a port, and they created a system of canals and locks to make the transportation of goods easier.

For years things were calm and stable, but a few years ago everything changed. Stories about a far away island with lots of riches spread, and one of their worst fears came true: a group of pirates reached the island. Their first contact was quite unfortunate and aggressive, the clash was inevitable, so that led to an attack of the Pirates to the Uranesians’ weakest site: a temple by the sea, where they first landed many centuries ago. The Uranesians couldn’t repel the attack and were forced to withdraw to the city. After that, they improved the fortifications of the city and the port, even blocking some of the ways into their domain, to prevent further potential attacks.

After their small but significant conquest, the Pirates decided to stay on the island and they built a settlement next to the raided temple. They created some sort of small colony, where they load their ships with goods from the island to sell around. That’s where they live and they have no plans to leave.

Apart from the attack on the temple, there have been no more hostilities, but tensions are still very strong. At this point no group has the power to attack the other and succeed, so there is a relative stability and a sense of fake peace. So the current panorama is an island divided in two communities who live parallel lives and seem like they ignore each other, but violence could erupt easily again if that changes.

But let’s not forget a third element in the island: the wild areas. Uranesians might have reached distant lands and explored beyond the island, but surprisingly, there are some parts of the island that are still unexplored. Either by a lack of interest or need, because of the belief that these areas are populated by evil spirits or are cursed, or because getting there seems impossible or too dangerous due to the difficult terrain. In any case, nobody really knows about the secrets that these areas might hide, and someone will have to be the first one to discover them.

And this is the current situation that I’m representing in CAW. If you’re still reading, thanks for bearing with me! That was a long text haha

You can read the first version of the history of Uranesia that I posted for World Building June two years ago HERE, but pretty much everything has changed. One year ago I posted a newer version of the history (HERE), which is more or less the same I explain here, but with small changes. So this one is the valid one. 

I hope you found it interesting and enjoyed reading it :) 

[powerwashingmrcleanllc]

The 5 Best Places To Visit In Bel Air, MD

Bel Air, Maryland is a quiet town in the heart of Baltimore County. There are many things to do in Bel Air, and these five destinations will help you experience them all:

Lochearn

If you're in the mood for some nature and being outdoors, Lochearn is a great place to visit. This small town is right off Route 1, making it easy to access by car or by bike. Lochearn has many hiking trails that meander through woods and fields, as well as lakes on both sides of Lochearn Road.

For those who prefer eating over hiking, there are plenty of restaurants in Lochearn! You can find everything from Chinese food at The Golden Dragon Restaurant & Takeout to pizza at Papa John's Pizza. There are also plenty of hotels—the Comfort Suites hotel has nice rooms with kitchenettes that come with microwaves and refrigerators so you can make your own meals without having to leave your room!

Catonsville

Catonsville is a town in Baltimore County, Maryland. It is a suburb of Baltimore. The population was 27,788 at the 2010 census.

Catonsville was named after the Caton Family, who migrated from England to Maryland in 1730 and purchased land there. The family also established an iron foundry and sawmill on their property during that time period; this operation would later become the famous Caton Ironworks (now owned by Olin Corporation). In 1871, Edward Lloyd V became mayor of Catonsville; he held this position for 41 years until his death in 1912.

Halethorpe

Halethorpe is a town in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 12,721 at the 2010 census.

Halethorpe has a rich history of manufacturing and industry that began with the founding of its first mill in 1794.

The population was 6,038 at the 2010 census. Halethorpe is located at the intersection of MD Route 146 and MD Route 724.

The George Washington Memorial Highway (part of U.S. Route 40) passes through Halethorpe on its way from Baltimore to Washington DC as one of two major highways (the other being Md-24) that connect Baltimore with Annapolis; both highways are part of US 40's original route through Maryland before it was truncated to Frederick in 1975.

Leakin park

Leakin Park is the largest municipal park in the city. The park offers a variety of activities, including hiking, biking and horseback riding. It's also home to many wildlife species like deer, coyote and foxes.

However, despite its beauty and peacefulness Leakin Park is not meant for everyone. In fact there are several rules that need to be followed if you want to go safely:

Do not enter closed areas or restricted areas without permission from the Department of Recreation & Parks

Do not feed any animals in the park due to safety concerns about disease transmission and possible aggressive behavior from animals who have learned that humans may bring food sources into their territory

If you follow these rules when visiting Leakin Park then your visit will most likely be safe and enjoyable!

Bluegrass Mini Golf

Bluegrass Mini Golf is a fun place to visit. It is located in Bel Air, Maryland, and it's the perfect spot for anyone looking to have a good time with friends or family. The course has well-maintained landscaping and a good selection of food and drinks!

If you're looking for something that's fun but not too intense, this might be the place for you. It offers two different 18-hole courses: "The Bel Air Experience" and "Bluegrass Country Club." You'll find something here that fits your skill level, whether it's just learning how to play mini golf or something more challenging (like sinking putts on an actual green).

Visit these places in Bel Air, Maryland

Visit Lochearn

Visit Catonsville, Maryland

Visit Halethorpe, Maryland

Visit Leakin Park

If you're looking for a fun place to take your whole family on a day trip, Bluegrass Mini Golf is the perfect choice. It has 18 holes spread across three themed courses: Jurassic Park (with dinosaurs), Pirates Cove (with pirates) and Haunted Forest (containing ghosts).

So there you have it, the 5 best places to visit in Bel Air. Now that you know where to go and what to do, it’s time to plan your trip!

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[aph-2p-headcanons]

Took me three days to go through your entire blog! Love how you present the 2p guys. I was wondering how the 2ps would react to a S/O with a prosthetic leg. Would they help them fix their joints, go to doctor appointments or play pranks with them/ other people? Personally I love to leave my leg around and scare people 😂

((omf I don’t even know how I got here help, but thank you!! ))

2P!Italy: honestly I feel like he would be the type of person that would be afraid of hurting your feelings until you eventually tell him to stop being a hardass. after that he’s down for just about anything. he would probably put stickers on it if he wants to be passive aggressive. would go with you to all of your appointments

2P!Romano: the moment he found out you were comfortable about joking he would be preparing you to look like a zombie and release you into your local populated area, leg in hand

2P!Germany: since he’s an active fellow he would definitely work on joint repair with you. is the best spotter you could ever ask for. for Halloween he insists the two of you go as pirates every year

2P!Prussia: the two of you would be an unstoppable pair, him with his arm and you with your leg: together you would slowly build another person until there was a new Transformers movie

2P!Japan: I feel like he would want to test how much he could do before you felt he was touching you. depending on how high your prosthetic is, he would put his hand on your thigh and be really confused as to why it was so hard. all for pranks as long as he “wasn’t involved ;)”

2P!Spain: will sigh loudly every time he sees your leg laying somewhere. will most likely put it somewhere you can’t reach until you beg him to get it for you - if you’re stubborn and start climbing things he will give in in case you get yourself hurt. probably has joint pain remedies he’d give you

2P!America: don’t. let. him. know. he will, if you’re comfortable, ask to do weird experiments that will definitely get you killed. “s/o s/o s/o hey s/o have you ever thought of putting a pogo-” “a l l e n”

2P!England: he would forget your leg isn’t real and apologize profusely every time he stepped on your foot. would always be there to help you if you needed it and elbow you in the side every time you made a pun

2P!France: will also sigh loudly upon finding your leg. he goes to doctors appointments with you and refuses to wait outside. if your leg has a smooth surface then he will attempt to use dry erase markers on it all the time. he leaves sticky notes too. probably hides it when you’re asleep lol, but makes sure you can find it easily

2P!Russia: Viktor is susceptible to any and every prank, so please take advantage of this. he would gladly help you with anything you needed, though warily, uncertain of any tricks you might have up your pantleg. (ba dum tss)

2P!China: the first time he found out was by accident and he started crying because somehow he got it off of your leg and assumed he just snapped off your limb. you were probably crying (in laughter) which only freaked him out more. after you explained he laughed it off but is slightly afraid to touch it in fear he will break it lol. he’s really good with pain relief though, so that’s a plus

2P!Canada: honestly he’s the worst of them all, you two are the terribly terrific duo that just pranks everyone. he tries to make himself seem unsuspicious if someone is suspecting he was involved. he’s very gentle with your leg, however, because he doesn’t want to do something that might hurt you in some way. this, however, does not stop him from r o a s t i n g you verbally (nothing mean, I promise, none of the boys would ever maliciously joke about it)

[uni-tierra-califas]

UT Califas demo ateneo, 4-22-17, 2.00-5.00 p.m.

Comrades: We will convene the Democracy Ateneo this coming Saturday on April 22 in San Jose at Casa de Vicky (792 E. Julian St., San Jose) from 2.00-5.00 p.m. to resume our scheduled reflection and action space and to explore some of the questions and struggles mentioned below and raised by the current conjuncture we find ourselves. 

The conceits of Western Democracies are everywhere exposed. From Donald Trump's electoral "victory," to the current election battle underway in France and the most recent political drama unfolding in Turkey, the claims developed nations make about democracy ring hollow —a political din produced by the rattling taking place in their own echo chambers. Still, power is believed to be in the hands of the "informed citizen." But, that power, the power of the vote in a formal, representative democracy, in reality can do little. Can any group of organized voters stop the U.S. military industrial complex from expanding, from using its massive arsenal on countries already ravaged by wars, from keeping the entire globe on a constant war footing? In fact, as the EZLN has named early on, this is the Fourth World War. It is everywhere at once. And in many places it is carried out in the name of democracy.

The mendacity that pervades democratic systems is no where laid more bare than when the world discovers that the state of one of the most powerful Western Democracies targets a family, a family guilty of nothing more than being ethnic Mexican and refusing to recognize the artificial borders that divide the continent. In this particular instance, a mother has turned a Denver church into a sanctuary for her and her children to be together and to be safe. She is determined to prevent the state from using her and others like her to send a message, instilling fear in the the over eleven million Spanish-speaking members of the U.S. economy who, although undocumented, are vital to its operation. When the state, according to Anselm Jappe, no longer serves capital it necessarily falls back on its primary purview, namely repression. "In times of crisis the State transforms itself into what it has historically been since its beginning: an armed gang." (see, A. Jappe, "Violence, What Use is It") Whose interest does it really serve to hunt down a mother and terrorize her brood, forcing them to flee, hide, and finally, fight back. Although many families have gone underground, a few like Jeanette Vizguerra have organized themselves through their networks to oppose any efforts to remove them from the country and to break up their families. (see, Democracy Now, "'I Am Her Voice': Meet the 10-Year-Old Boy Helping His Mom Take Refuge from Deportation in a Church") These families are connected to the families trying to find stable land as they flee Syria, Eritrea, Somalia, Côte d'Ivoire, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan... Not long ago Douglas Lummis alerted us about the inherent limits of political systems that claim to be "democracies." Lummis' critique of democracy also reclaims it —what democracy really means, an unencumbered authentic democracy that is the expression of people's power. However, he also warns us that any reclaiming of democracy must not wait for it. In other words, democracy, or radical democracy, does not require political education or revolution, that is a vanguard or leaders to direct the people. It only needs to be exercised —taken up by everyone in any given moment in the situation they find themselves locally. However, "any democratic movement that accepts the basic conditions of competition and work in the capitalist economy as unalterable, and seeks only to make things 'a bit more pleasant,' has conceded defeat from the beginning." (see, D. Lummis, Radical Democracy)

Lummis' criticism remains potent and his admonishment necessary: Western Democracies and their ilk are indeed corrupted and have little to do with people power. Yet he overlooks a critical fact: these democracies are better understood as racial democracies. The entanglement of democracy and capital has hardly been by accident and in every way from their beginnings were dependent on the principal institutions of racial inequality, namely colonialism and slavery and, much later, apartheid. The braiding of capital and "democracy" within colonial and settler colonial societies can be mapped, for example, in the legislative acts, or Black Codes, that dehumanized Africans and later their descendants converting them into property and ultimately denying them any rights as workers, citizens, and so on. (see, A. Mbembe, The Critique of Black Reason) These Black Codes were also forged with every intention to control the Indigenous populations of the Americas, first as labor and later to be attacked and confined to reservations so that the land and resources beneath them was accessible for extractivist design. The union between capital and democracy extends in the U.S. to the ethnic Mexican population after the U.S.-Mexican War (War of American Aggression) resulted in the U.S. absconding with a third of Mexico's patrimony. The longstanding legislative enactments that codified racial and gender difference when the Spanish, and later English and French, arrived to the New World to the present are only part of the story. In the current context, it is no secret that this conjuncture has made more visible capitalism's production of a disposable subject. But, not all subjects are disposable in this final phase of capitalism. It might be more accurate to assert that there are at least two kinds of subjects in the current moment: disposable and digitized. By digitized we mean a body that is totally plugged into a digital biotech world, the 2.0 world of debt, finance, and apps that colonize all aspects of our everyday lives, increasingly drawn to high tech cultural playgrounds like San Francisco, Barcelona, and Tel Aviv. (see, P. Gelderloos, "Precarity in Paradise: The Barcelona Model")

It should be of little surprise to practically no one that, as the Black Panthers used to say back in the day and Robin Spencer reminds us today, the avaricious businessman, demagogic politician, and racist violent cop are together the core of a fascist state. (see, Spencer, "The Black Panther Party and Black Anti-Fascism in the United States") It is no wonder that the kabuki theater of American politics unfolds with everyone playing their part, including a newly empowered fascist network of white supremacists and their ilk insisting on their right to exercise free speech as in the recent "Trump rally" convened by Gavin McInnes of Vice magazine and other fascist groups in Berkeley. (see, Democracy Now, "White Nationalists, Neo-Nazis & Right-Wing Militia Members Clash with Antifa Protesters in Berkeley;" S. Bauer, "I Went Behind the Front Lines With the Far-Right Agitators Who Invaded Berkeley")

An authentic crisis is one, Ivan Illich insists, "that is, the occasion for a choice —only if at the moment it strikes the necessary social demands can [it] be effectively expressed." However, in engaging the crisis that is essentially already upon us, "if we are to anticipate its effects, we must investigate how sudden change can bring about the emergence into power of previously submerged groups." "It is not calamity as such," explains Illich, "that creates these groups; it is much less calamity that brings about their emergence; but calamity weakens the prevailing powers which have excluded the submerged from participation in the social process." Who are these "submerged groups" that are increasingly more visible in the current moment? They are communities of struggle who are not consumed by "political myths" and who are not duped by "the current industrial illusion." They are everyday people that claim the vernacular and are prepared to transform the crisis or calamity or catastrophe into a moment to exercise a convivial alternative. They, we, are folks committed to a "conscious use of disciplined procedure that recognizes the legitimacy of conflicting interests, the historical precedent out of which the conflict arose, and the necessity of abiding by the decision of peers." "The preparation of such groups," declares Illich, "is the key task of new politics at the present moment." (see, I. Illich, Tools for Conviviality, pp. 105-106.) Illich's counterfoil research, or what those of us who are apart of Universidad de la Tierra Califas call convivial research and insurgent learning, seeks to recognize each other across submerged groups; activate submerged groups where they have become somewhat dormant; and link with those that have begun to surface. Among these activated networks that are more than networks, some of the most resilient fibers are those connected to and emanating from the EZLN and the growing Zapatista community that surrounds them. This week ends the Zapatistas' most recent initiative, a global campaign titled Faced with the Walls of Capital: Resistance, Solidarity, and Support for Below and to the Left. With this as with previous spaces, the Zapatistas continue to accumulate struggle, creating the opportunity for communities of struggle to converge while learning from one another how to advance a multifaceted effort of resistance against capitalism and at the same moment to continue to collectively construct alternatives. Migrants on the move defying borders are one of those submerged groups as are the mothers and their families who work to dismantle police violence. It includes all the pirates of the quilombos of the peripheries and the pirates who risk the undercommons appropriating resources, subverting practices, and dismantling the structures of dominant institutions. All those who attempt to live unmediated lives by the forces of the state and capital, but also by the abstractions that organize and sustain capitalism as a system.

Jappe warns that capitalism is not in one of what has been a long line of cyclical crises, but rather what we are experiencing is a definitive crisis brought on by capitalism's fundamental, internal contradiction —it is no longer able to produce surplus value through the exploitation of labor. If capital is in its final death throe then how do we extricate ourselves from abstract labor and the commodity form both of which are key mechanisms and conditions of capitalist command, whether it be articulated through labor, commodity, or more recently in the neoliberal era through debt. How do we get beyond the violent excess of class struggle? How do we do we grow into something else, that outgrows race and patriarchy until they whither away? "One cannot escape from the structural constraints of the system by democratizing access to its functions," explains Jappe. (see, A. Jappe, "Credit unto Death") "In the new theory of commodity fetishism... the crux of the problem resides in the 'subject-form' common to all those who live in commodity society, although this does not mean that this form is the same for all subjects." According to Jappe, "the subject is the substrate, the agent, the bearer that the fetishistic system of valorization of value requires in order to assure production and consumption." (see, A. Jappe, "Princesse de Cleves Today") What news ways of being human can we imagine and become together?

South Bay Bay Crew NB: If you are not already signed-up and would like to stay connected with the emerging Universidad de la Tierra Califas community please feel free to subscribe to the Universidad de la Tierra Califas listserve at the following url <https://lists.resist.ca/cgibn /mailman/listinfo/unitierracal ifas>. Also, if you would like to review previous ateneo announcements and summaries please check out UT Califas web page. Additional information on the ateneo in general can be found at <http://ccra.mitotedigital.org /ateneo>. Find us on tumblr at <http://uni-tierra-califas.tum blr.com> and twitter @UTCalifas. Please note we have altered the schedule of the Democracy Ateneo so that it falls on the fourth Saturday of every even month from 2.00 to 5.00 p.m. -- Center for Convivial Research and Autonomy

http://ggg.vostan.net/ccra/#1_______________________________________________ UnitierraCalifas unitierracalifas@lists.resist.ca

[sun-cheyne]

He was vain, brash, intolerant, impulsive, an unrepentant speculator, a literal slave driver and eager warmonger. And now, according to Trump’s White House advisers and President Trump himself, he’s the role model for what they hope a Trump presidency will be like.

News arrived Wednesday that Trump had a portrait of Andrew Jackson hung in the Oval Office. In his first televised address from the office on Wednesday, Trump compared his election to Jackson’s. That followed Trump’s boasts to 500 GOP donors last week: “There hasn’t been anything like this since Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson! What year was Andrew Jackson? That was a long time ago!”

Right-wingers in Trump’s orbit, from chief strategist Stephen Bannon to ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich have been talking up the seventh president to Trump and the press for months, emphasizing Jackson’s anti-establishment populism that is best known for his breaking up northeast bank cartels in his day.

“Like Jackson’s populism, we’re going to build an entirely new political movement,” Bannon declared in November. “The only president remotely like Trump is Andrew Jackson,” Gingrich told Breitbart last March, adding that Trump had the mental fitness for office. “Sure. I mean, he is at least as reliable as Andrew Jackson, who was one of the most decisive presidents in American history.”

“What Mr. Trump borrows from Jackson is not an issue, but a way of thinking about the world,” wrote Steve Inskeep, NPR’s “Morning Edition” host and author of Jacksonland, in The New York Times. “Mr. Trump promises to fix his supporters’ problems, no matter who else is hurt. He’s a wealthy celebrity always ready for a fight, a superpatriot who says he will make America great again. He vows to attack government corruption and defend the common man. All this could be said of Jackson.”

There’s quite a bit more that could be said of Jackson. To hear suggestions that he is the role model for the Trump White House’s internal compass, political instincts and willful aggressions is revolting. Trump’s populism, pulled from this century’s shadows of racism, sexism, economic jealousies and grievance politics, is ugly enough. Are the new president’s men also aglow about Jackson’s less-known traits — perhaps as the only president who drove trains of naked slaves shackled by their necks? The frontier soldier whose ethnic cleansing emptied the south of Native Americans and launched the era of plantation slavery?

In their book “The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave Breeding Industry,” authors Ned and Constance Sublette offer unvarnished portraits of Jackson, the only slave driver to be president, the wily businessman who sought war to profit, whose 1813 call to wipe out the Creeks — “to carry a campaign into the heart of the Creek nation and exterminate them” — sounds eerily close to Trump’s exhortation last Saturday for the CIA to do the same to ISIS, the Islamic State (without comparing the Creek people to ISIS).

”We have not used the real abilities that we have. We’ve been restrained,” Trump told the militarized intelligence agency. “We have to get rid of ISIS. Have to get rid of ISIS. We have no choice. Radical Islamic terrorism. And I said it yesterday — it has to be eradicated just off the face of the Earth. This is evil. This is evil.”

What follows are some excerpts from “The American Slave Coast” that describe these facets of the life of Andrew Jackson, the purported role model for the 45th president.

Not slaveholder — slave driver

This is not just any get-rich quick story. “Young men in the South wanted to get rich now, before they died of some fever or distemper, so they went into cotton, plunging into debt to buy as many slave laborers, plant as much acreage, and get as fast a return as possible, then plow the profits into more land and slaves,” the authors wrote, setting up the background. “But cotton acreage could only expand as fast as labor could be acquired to clear and cultivate it.”

“As a young man, Jackson relocated to the western part of North Carolina, which was now being called Tennessee and was where many veterans of the war with the British were settling. Jackson set up shop as a lawyer in the frontier town of Nashville, which was becoming a business center for the settlers who were pouring into the area. By 1789, he was traveling down the hazardous Wilderness Road — a 450-mile forest path through Native American territory plagued by ‘land pirates’ — to do business in Natchez [Mississippi] . . . Like other merchants, he bought and sold slaves as part of his commercial activity. He was also a horse breeder and a racing enthusiast; a lawyer, land speculator and plantation owner; a pathological hater of English, Spanish, Creek Indians and anyone who crossed him; and a master of intimidation — all of which was consonant with being a slave trader.”

When one of his cotton deals failed, Jackson’s business partner took slaves to Mississippi to sell, but got nowhere — partly because the British, a year before the War of 1812, were blockading cotton exports via New Orleans. “Failing to sell the slaves himself, Jackson drove the unsold slaves back to Nashville, taking the unheard-of step of driving a coffle [chained train] of slaves from the destination back to the point of origin, through Choctaw and Chickasaw territory . . . Given the documentation of this episode that exists, it appears safe to say that Andrew Jackson is the only U.S. president that we know of who personally drove a slave coffle. But then, Jackson was also the first president to have been a merchant.”

Southern ethnic cleansing

Jackson rose to military prominence as part of the system of locally armed militias — protected under the Second Amendment — that sought to violently rule the frontier. When the War of 1812 broke out, he used the war as the start of a years-long campaign to drive Native Americans and any slavery opponents out, starting with stretches of southern territory east of the Mississippi River.

“Jackson under cover of the War of 1812 . . . [created] the land-and-slaves boom remembered as ‘Alabama Fever,'” the authors write. “Jackson’s subsequent taking of Florida by military conquest and removing the South’s remaining Native Americans from their ancestral lands — we now call it ‘ethnic cleansing’ — made the entire Deep South safe for plantation slavery and further increased the demand for slave labor.”

The Alabama massacres are generally not mentioned in War of 1812 histories, because they do not entail fighting with the British. But it was a deliberate ethnic cleansing and land grab “under cover of war,” the Sublettes note. “The United States — in the person of the most effective general in the U.S. Army, Andrew Jackson — grabbed a vast area of Native American land in Georgia and Alabama; and the Gulf South, whose seaports of New Orleans, Mobile and Pensacola were essential for control of trade with the interior. Here the British were vanquished . . . a tremendous victory for Southern slaveowners against the power that had dared to offer freedom to their property.”

Petty, vindictive, vengeful

Whether dealing with slaves, soldiers or politicians, Jackson was an authoritarian leader who, another historian noted, “could hate with a biblical fury and would resort to petty and vindictive acts to nurture his hatred and keep it bright and strong and ferocious.” In 1804, “he advertised in the Tennessee Gazette for the return of a runaway slave, he made the extraordinarily vicious offer of ‘ten dollars extra, for every hundred lashes any person will give him, to the amount of three hundred.'” Jackson also relished killing a man who owed him money from a gambling debt, who wounded him in a duel. “After Jackson’s pistol jammed and did not reset during the rest of the exchange, he was allowed to recock his pistol and fire a second shot . . . Streaming blood from his chest wound, Jackson took aim and shot Charles Dickinson in cold blood from a distance of 24 feet.”

Jackson gained political power because, as the Sublettes write, he “spoke the plain language of a warrior, wanted a weak federal government that would distribute as much former Indian land and as much specie as possible to individuals in an expanding slave society.” His faithful created what became the Democratic Party, and he was elected president in 1828 — his second run for that office — and again in 1832.

Trump channels Jackson?

It says something quite dark that Trump and his supporters see themselves as Jackson’s heirs in modern America. While Trump clearly shares Jackson’s crude, coarse, selfish, racist leanings — as evidenced from endless remarks — Trump never served in the military, never fought in a war and seems to have absolutely none of Jackson’s mythic ability to endure pain. Trump cannot stop feeling aggrieved toward those who point out anything critical, including the trivial fact that his inauguration was not the best-attended ever, for example.

However, the notion that Trump and his top advisers see Jackson, a populist whose bonafides rest in being a racist, rapacious warmonger, as a role model for 21st-century America is as twisted as it is repugnant. With vain fantasies like that, one can only wonder what they are capable of doing while they hold power.

[glopratchet]

govenment

It has no standing army, but it does have a powerful navy that can be called upon to repel pirates or other threats in its waters General fantasy worldbuilding outline for the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie and Inspiridium Isles: The Kingdom of Lixie is a monarchy ruled by an emperor Its borders are guarded by the elite Likian Guardsmen who wear special armor made from the scales of dragons In the time of the democracies of the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie and Inspiridium Isles the Emperor was overthrown and replaced with a puppet regime As such, you must defend against both Since then, the Empire has been expanding into these lands, while also attempting to expand into your own territory The Likians live on this island nation which is divided between two islands How might the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie trade alligator meat with Inspiridium Isles Would they row canoes from island to island? Do they construct a dock on your nearby island to board boats between the two? How are the Pirates of Passion Strait involved in all of this? How might the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie trade alligator meat with Inspiridium Isles? The Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie relates Inspiridium Isles because both have native cultures that stayed isolated longer and with a unique style of government you would find the whole worldbuilding process a lot more fun if you had multiple choices to make The Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie relates Inspiridium Isles because both have native cultures that stayed isolated longer and with a unique style of government This isn't something that we enjoy putting together, but we hope that you like the results! Pick one or pick several and tell us why you made your choice in the 3rd Person definitive universe Creation Topic The Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie felt that The Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie felt that you would find the whole worldbuilding process a lot more fun if you had multiple choices to make Inspiridium Isles responded by choosing Passion Strait and the Confederacy of Tallyn as a sort of cordon quarantine The Confederacy of Tallyn wants to maintain its rigid class system, so it has forbidden all ships from trading with either island ; (DUV-KRW Island and The Beastlands) Lixie Bixie says that this is unfair and should be stopped because both islands were involved in a naval war for years with intense magic use Inspiridium Isles responded by choosing Passion Strait and the Confederacy of Tallyn as a sort of cordon quarantine Soon after the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie knew that foreign powers looking to take advantage of them arise The whole scheme was a series of dominoes that could fall very easily if one fell first Likians have seafaring knowledge through incredible ocean-going creatures that live near Murkholm; (that's your island) They told stories of vast continents and other human cultures and that they themselves came from such a place Soon after the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie knew that foreign powers looking to take advantage of them arise Inspiridium Isles finally created a dock on your island, restructured all of your docks so that they could accommodate the Likians' seafaring vessels, and then cajoled the Likians into sharing their seafaring and exploration skills while setting up a code of signals for safe passage between two ports Inspiridium Isles finally created a dock on your island, Because of this event the emotions could be summed up best between the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie and Inspiridium Isles as aggression and anger Your island has since been left alone by the major colonial powers, but you still had to face pirates, slavers, and raiders It's also worth noting that in this timeline there were two very real massive casualties under this time period First was a disease called Murkholm Fever that decimated any troops actively involved with putting down the Beast Uprising Because of this event the emotions could be summed up best between the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie and Inspiridium Isles as aggression and anger The trade language between the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie and Inspiridium Isles sounded like a mixture of Likian and Jilan And when talking to outsiders, you had to communicate almost entirely in Jilan due to the fact that majority of foreigners couldn't speak the complicated Likian tongue Those on Murkholm, the lower classes especially, began to resent being at the bottom rung of Lixie Bixie society compared to their more middle class and well-to-do Inspiridion cousins The trade language between the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie and Inspiridium Isles sounded like a mixture of Likian and Jilan From the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie , Inspiridium Isles imported employees and brought in poorer masses ; (including a few petty criminals and other undesirables), and began rolling out the expensive change Inspiridium Isles imported employees and brought in poorer masses ; How might the importance of employees to the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie when compare the same variety under the control of Inspiridium Isles authorities be a factor to which island nation rise to the top of all other nations? Both islands have implemented transference of knowledge between its respective militaries and then mandatory conscription The problem for the Inspiridium is that their large population requires large profits, manpower methods that could backfire depending on how you look at the situation, and finally how they incorporated their ritualistic views How might the importance of employees to the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie when compare the same variety under the control of Inspiridium Isles authorities be a factor to which island nation rise to the top of all other nations? The currency exchange for employees is handled between the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie and Inspiridium Isles by creating massive trade routes for needed resources and then exporting it via Jilakoi merchants Which island's currency/imports is more appealing, which would foreign powers favor? The currency exchange for employees is handled between the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie and Inspiridium Isles by creating massive trade routes for needed resources and then exporting it via Jilakoi merchants The person responsible is considered to be the first statesman of his island, but as an isolationist The merchant class within the nation, however, holds more favor for being open to foreign trade but then all of this could simply be a factor on which of the these powerful merchant guilds were able to bribe the most officials to give fat deals The person responsible is considered to be the first statesman of his island, Inspiridium Isles settled in there territories in spite for opposition towards administrative changes opposed to the original expansion, and for the most part they do take their ideals a bit more seriously and ritualistic usages have been employed on specific regulations on this new acquired land The citizens of the nation, from what could be interpreted, is without doubt these changes are taking place due to the high amount of patriotism involved Inspiridium Isles settled in there territories in spite for opposition towards administrative changes opposed to the original expansion, While the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie purchased there lands instead, for the most part they have become stagnant and uninterested in pursuit of power , expansion, or growth There are talks that several households within the nation would embrace all ways of progress if the kingdom wasn't so hell bent on keeping its people inside chain link fences In certain countries back home setting yourself, your family, or your property on fire would warrant a visit by political officers to lecture the offenders on how they're not allowed to do such things While the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie purchased there lands instead, in such manner that this lesson has already been learned Even after a decade of exile on modern technology, islanders will tear down portions of dueling rings and gawkers towers because they're reminded of the oppressive nature back home It has become a custom to stack rocks ontop of pieces of old dueling rings as a symbol that there can never be any repeat on such activity happening inside your own nation For the citizens of the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie , life has changed life has changed in such manner that this lesson has already been learned When you compare the past for Inspiridium Isles a historian would record it once being a small pocket civilization located in a harsh and vacant desert before its rise to population Where they acquired their rituals from, is the dense jungle surrounding it today Where you can expect to see archeologists poking about old castle foundations in the mountains for the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie expect only those searching for long lost treasures When taking both of these factors into consideration with the rise of technology, which is influencing an entire world When you compare the past for Inspiridium Isles a historian would record it once being a small pocket civilization located in a harsh and vacant desert before its rise to population The official attitudes the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie by Inspiridium Isles affects commerce and trade and in turn greatly effects their willingness to engage in information gathering Seeing as the era of expansion is closing on them, and only the island state of Uvuvwe stands in opposition There will be significantly less need to gather intelligence on lands that could possibly invade, and more on rival nations that are already stabilized as a threat That being said, this is the period where a nation's internal security will be focused too The official attitudes the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie by Inspiridium Isles affects commerce and trade, The tensions between government cause the merchants to create defense networks of what not Tech savvy spys in government offices restructuring restrictive and closed off policies, put more eyes upon intelligence agents than they do at any other time There will never be a good time to gather information anonymously, no matter if you pay someone off the right people at the right time These troubles really heat up towards the end of this period No matter what your situation is in the nations intelligence community that is the gist of the period The tensions between government cause the merchants to create defense networks of what not uphold the defense of their nation by keeping contraband out They severely frown upon citizens obtaining illegal "pink lotus" and other rituals Outside trader seeping through have reported several ritual drugs that the inspectors are ignorant of, or that they don't what they're laced with plans are in the works but nothing has been attempted During this time your nation's loyalty to the Great Lich Lord begins to falter as tension tighten at home On the borders of the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie customs inspectors On the borders of the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie customs inspectors uphold the defense of their nation by keeping contraband out the actions of the government severely Perhaps too severely at times Cleansing of heretic wizards ; (read: powerful mages practicing banned arts: necromancy, daemonology etc ) lack the brutality they did a decade ago Under orders by the Great Lich Lord a century ago, so few remain who practice such energy draining lines of magicks Although several radical priests are calling for genocide againt the shadow scions that hide like cowards among them The government of the Commonwealth of Lixie Bixie regulates

[biofunmy]

Diego, the Tortoise Whose High Sex Drive Helped Save His Species, Retires

With his long leathery neck, dull-yellow face and beady eyes, there’s just something about Diego.

A tortoise more than 100 years old, Diego has had little trouble mating.

A member of Chelonoidis hoodensis, or the giant tortoise species from Española Island in the Galápagos in Ecuador, he was one of 15 tortoises in a captive breeding program at the Fausto Llerena Tortoise Center on the island of Santa Cruz.

Among the males, Diego displayed an exceptional sex drive, so much so, he’s credited with helping save his species from extinction.

Now, with the future secured, he gets to retire.

In a statement on Friday, the Galápagos National Park announced the end of the breeding program, saying an evaluation showed it had met its conservation goals.

The program began in 1965, with efforts first dedicated to saving the tortoise population on Pinzón Island, another island in the Galápagos. In 1970, researchers began saving the Española Island tortoises.

At the time, there were 14 tortoises left: 12 females and two males, according to the Galápagos Conservancy. In 1976, a third male was introduced to the tortoise restoration breeding program, Diego, who had lived at the San Diego Zoo in the United States for 30 years.

The breeding program helped increase the tortoise population to 2,000 from 15, Jorge Carrión, the director of the Galápagos National Park, said in a statement.

Paternity tests indicate that Diego is responsible for about 40 percent of the offspring produced, James P. Gibbs, a professor of environmental and forest biology at the State University of New York in Syracuse, said.

“Another more reserved, less charismatic male — ‘E5’ — has generated about 60 percent,” he said. “The third male — ‘E3’ — virtually none. So Diego has been critical.”

What was it about Diego? Why did he attract so many mates and garner such international attention, especially if another male was more productive?

Professor Gibbs says Diego has “a big personality — quite aggressive, active and vocal in his mating habits and so I think he has gotten most of the attention.”

“But it clearly is the other quieter male that has had much more success,” he added. “Maybe he prefers to mate more at night.”

Professor Gibbs said it was all about who the females select.

“It might come as a surprise to many but tortoises do form what we would call ‘relationships,’” he said. “The social hierarchies and relationships of giant tortoises are very poorly known.”

Mr. Carrión, the director of the national park, had a simpler explanation: “Without a doubt, Diego had some characteristics that made him special.”

Professor Gibbs said the giant tortoises became endangered because easy access to the island allowed whalers, pirates, fishermen and others to remove them for food primarily in the 1800s.

“Feral goats overran the island for many years and not only competed with tortoises for food, but also destroyed much of their habitat,” he added.

In an interview on Saturday night, Mr. Carrión said he believed Diego was taken from his home island of Española sometime in the 1930s.

Conservationists also worked on the ecological restoration of Española Island, including promoting the growth of cactuses, which are a source of food for the tortoises. That, in turn, helped bring the species from the brink of extinction, Mr. Carrión said.

The tortoises’ uniquely shaped shells allow them stretch to reach food. Diego, fully stretched out, extends about five feet. He weighs about 176 pounds.

The breeding program is a part of the Giant Tortoise Restoration Initiative, a collaborative effort led by the Galápagos Conservancy and the Galápagos National Park Directorate.

The tortoise center on Santa Cruz was established by the Charles Darwin Research Station in 1965, the Galápagos Conservancy said on its website. There are now three tortoise centers, which are all managed by the Park Directorate.

Relying on available data since 1960 about the island and its tortoise population, including a 2019 census, researchers developed mathematical models with projections for the next 100 years.

“The conclusion was that the island has sufficient conditions to maintain the tortoise population, which will continue to grow normally — even without any new repatriation of juveniles,” Washington Tapia, the Galápagos-based director of the Giant Tortoise Restoration Initiative, said in a statement.

Almost 80 years after he was taken, Diego is expected to return to Española Island in March.

The island is very dry, arid even, Mr. Carrión said, but to Diego, it’s home.

Johnny Diaz contributed reporting.

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