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loversamongus · 4 years ago

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Controlled Emotions | Zuko x Reader

a/n: all these fics end up being the reader as an advisor, I have zero creativity. anyways this is inspired by the song “every single night” by computer games because I was listening to it one day and the first lyric just screamed zuko to me idk so here it is. also i didnt proofread this oops

word count: 1.5k

fic taglist:

Advisor meetings have been tense lately. While a mixture of advisors in age, gender, and political leanings was ideal for gaining multiple perspectives on an issue, it also led to frequent arguments about what was best for the Fire Nation and deadlines being pushed back until the majority of advisors have come to an agreement. Though rewarding at times, the job was certainly frustrating. But all that paled in comparison to the most recent audiences with the young Fire Lord.

Frustrated by another deadline requested to be pushed back, the Fire Lord’s temper had surged throughout the throne room. You didn’t disagree with him either. People in a small fishing village were becoming seriously ill and many signs seemed to point to the mutations and disease in some of the fish from the river as a result of years of pollution from war efforts.

“It is not your fault the regime before yours was so ignorant of the people’s needs and other environmental factors.”

“In all honesty, who in their right mind would eat a fish with two heads anyways?”

“The river had been supposedly cleaned by the Avatar and his friends shortly before the end of the war, shouldn’t the responsibility lie with them?”

One after another, an advisor countered the Fire Lord’s efforts to financially back abundant medical aid for the fishing village. One after another, flames grew higher and higher nearly scorching the ceiling as the Fire Lord sat quietly. You noticed his scrunched up expression and knew it was only a matter of time before--

“Am I not, as Fire Lord, responsible for everyone living in the Fire Nation? Am I not, having been Prince of the Fire Nation during the war, responsible for how the war had affected our people? How can we sit here and deny help to our own people who are suffering?!”

After an uncomfortable silence, only one advisor stood up to speak. “And what, Fire Lord Zuko, do you plan to do about those injured in the fights breaking out in the colonies? Or the troops returning home from war injured and jobless? Or the villages in the Earth Kingdom burned down by our nation’s doing? There are many responsibilities this nation bears but solving these problems must be done with appropriate organization and objectiveness, not youthful bullheadedness.”

And with that, the audience was dismissed.

With no clear resolution in sight, you had made your way to the advisors’ chambers to work on new proposals despite the late night. Getting down the business is usually easy but the otherwise empty and quiet workspace was not as calming and focused as you had hoped. It may have been well past sundown, but bright bursts of light kept erupting and peeking through the windows of the chambers, distracting you every time you went to read or write a new sentence. Having been an advisor for some time now and becoming familiar with the layout of the palace, you knew exactly where the light was coming from.

Abandoning your work, you walked the grounds until you reached the gates of the training space. Sure enough, your suspicions had been correct as you eyed Zuko in the center of the pitch running through different firebending forms. It was a surprise however that only the fire blasting from his fists and feet was what distracted you from your work. You hadn’t heard the angry grunts and yells from the advisors’ chambers.

The sound of the gate closing behind you was enough to make Zuko stop and look up at you. But he simply acknowledged your presence with a nod before continuing into the next set of firebending forms. You took a seat to watch on the sidelines. The silence did not bother you. In fact, it gave you time to relax from your role as advisor to the Fire Lord into friend. Or something more. The details of your relationship with Zuko have not really been sorted out or discussed but either way, you knew your role right now was to be supportive yet honest.

“He was right, you know.”

Zuko let out a low grunt as his response before letting more fire blast from his fist.

“It’s not that the other advisors don’t want to help the village. It’s that we have to divide our resources and aid equally. If we send all our healers to the village, none will be left to take care of the returning troops or the colonies or the elderly in the capital city.”

There was no grunt this time but more flames spat from his fist as he punched it forward through the air.

“And it’s incredibly admirable to see you so compassionate about your people but it would be nice to get through one meeting this week without scorching the ceiling tiles.”

“So am I supposed to rule without a conscience?” he asked coldly without looking at you, the anger he was restraining palpable in his voice.

“No,” you replied levelly. “You heard what Ji said. Objectively does not necessarily mean without a conscience. Actually,” a bit of laughter bubbled up into your conversation. “He suggested you talk more with Katara. ‘Now that’s someone who can keep their emotions in check,’ he said.”

“Having been on the receiving end of her wrath, I beg to differ,” Zuko sighed and released his fists before joining you in the stands. “And I have talked to her. She just laughed at me. She said, ‘Now you know what it’s like not to be taken seriously because you’re too emotional.”

You shifted your body when he sat down beside you so that you could still face him. He did not face you, however, and continued to stare forward at the training grounds and into the night sky. “No one is telling you not to feel or have emotions, Zuko. Just that they shouldn’t control you so much, or cloud your judgment.”

“You sound like Uncle,” he groaned before flopping backwards onto his back. In moments like this, you really realized how young the Fire Lord was. He was still mature and doing his best with such a large responsibility, but despite being five years into his reign, that moody teenager still presented himself at times.

Leaning onto one arm so that you were closer to Zuko, you laughed softly, “I’m wondering if I should find that flattering.”

Zuko ignored your lightheartedness and continued. “People are always telling me, ‘don’t let your emotions control you.’ But why? Without them, I never could know you.”

“What do you mean?” Your eyes remained fixed on him as you tried to sort out your confusion.

“Do you remember one of the first advisor meetings you were a part of?”

“The one where we were discussing having the Kyoshi Warriors acting as your bodyguards over well-trained firebenders much more familiar with the palace and the land? Absolutely. That was when we discovered your throne wasn’t fireproof.”

“Right. And I came here to blow off some steam and you followed me to say that you were on my side and would work on getting the other advisors to agree to letting the Kyoshi Warriors be my security.”

“I didn’t follow you...”

For the first time that evening, Zuko looked at you with a knowing and pointed grin. You rolled your eyes and urged him to continue making his point. “Anyways, go on.”

“If I hadn’t been feeling so angry, I wouldn’t have come here and you wouldn’t have followed me and we wouldn’t be... I don’t know... us.” He sat up and was so close now that your shoulders brushed against each other.

“It’s not just through anger that I’ve gotten to know you either,” he continued. “When I was anxious about a speech, you were the one who volunteered to work on it with me.”

“You made fun of the way I clapped and said people don’t clap that enthusiastically for common budget updates,” you drawled.

“When I was excited about Uncle coming back to visit, you helped to make sure everything was arranged to his liking.”

“You told me never to tell your uncle that my taste in tea may be superior to his,” you proudly added.

“And when I was sad that you had to leave on a trip to the Earth Kingdom, your letters made me smile because I thought at last someone who has worse handwriting than I do.”

“You take that back!” you gasped, pointing your finger menacingly at Zuko.

“My point is,” he grabbed your hand in his. “If I was cold and stoic as some of these advisors seem to want me to be, I wouldn’t have gotten to know you. So I’m not going to change the way I feel.”

You smiled softly, happy to see this side of Zuko. The nature of your relationship still felt undefined and you were sure the two of you would figure it out. Eventually. It was a discussion to be had, but one for another day, as this day was nearly over.

“That’s nice,” you playfully patted his hand. “But the next time you decide to feel something, maybe you could do so without destroying the ceiling. Or distracting me with your firebending while I’m trying to do my job.”

You stood up and began to walk away from the stands and out of the training grounds, leaving a smiling Zuko behind you.

“You’re the one who followed me!” he called out.

#atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #zuko x reader #zuko x you #prince zuko x you #prince zuko #zuko #fire lord zuko #fire lord zuko x reader #fire lord zuko x you #zuko fic

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scottymcgeesterwrites · 4 years ago

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Final Fantasy V Review

Year: 1992

Original Platform: Super Nintendo

Also available on: PlayStation One (Final Fantasy Anthology), Game Boy Advance, Steam (updated graphics)

Version I Played: Game Boy Advance

Synopsis:

Bartz is a drifter, riding across the world with his chocobo – Boko. One day, the wind seems to fall. Lenna’s father, the king of Tycoon, goes off to make sure the Wind Crystal is all right, but doesn’t return. Meanwhile, a meteorite falls. Lenna and Bartz check it out separately, where they find each other and a man named Galuf with amnesia. Together they figure out that the world is falling apart – the crystals that drive wind, fire, earth and water are dying out. They stumble upon a pirate hideout led by Faris, and together they seek to restore the world and uncover the mysterious forces behind the destruction of the crystals.

Background:

Once again, this Final Fantasy game was originally unreleased outside of Japan. Unlike II and III, the developers thought that the game was a different tone than the others and the vast job system would be too complicated for Western audiences. The West didn’t experience Final Fantasy V until 1999 with Playstation One’s Final Fantasy Anthology; a compilation of both V and VI. One notable change from the Japanese version is the name Bartz. The original name for Bartz in the Japanese release was translated as Butz, but because Americans are immature and laugh at such a name, they changed it in the localization to Bartz.

Gameplay:

Holy capitalism, Batman – so many jobs!

Not only that, but each job has abilities that you can mix and match! Every time you level up a job, you earn a new ability for that job. You can switch those abilities across jobs.

The possibilities are seemingly endless!

The gameplay is the most fun I had with customization in a while in any video game RPG. The best part is that the Job System is so rewarding by the time you reach the third act of the game. It gives you such a variety that it allows you to approach battles from many different angles. There’s no one way to be a badass and deal destructive damage.

It’s so much fun that once a year, Final Fantasy V gamers join in “Final Fantasy Five Four Job Fiesta”. It’s a challenge where you are randomly assigned four jobs in the game and have to finish the game ONLY with those four jobs. I’ve joined in the challenge myself and it’s a great way to come together with Final Fantasy players.

I had fun unlocking the legendary weapons and hunting down the most powerful summons - this time naturally without looking anything up. I find it interesting to say that I had legit fun hunting down all the extras. Sometimes in other Final Fantasy games I get weary over hunting for some extra, higher powered spells and summons. I sometimes even wonder if I should bother going after them. The vast Job System in Final Fantasy V keeps you occupied for the entire game and more. I finished the game and there are still some jobs that I haven't even touched. Luckily, the Game Boy Advance version adds some extra dungeons after you complete the game.

Graphics:

The sprites in this game look a bit rough around the edges. They also come off as too small in my opinion. The same is said of the Game Boy Advance version. Regardless, it now looks like an actual SNES game. Unlike Final Fantasy IV, it has more color, structure, and doesn’t look faded.

Something irked me though about the sounds. I never have anything bad to say about the sound effects, but for some reason, in this game, the battle sound effects were meek. Even when someone had a sword, the attack sounded puny.

The PlayStation One version has an FMV sequence that look awkward and ugly as fuck, just like the FMV sequence for the PlayStation One version of Final Fantasy IV. As much as I love Yoshitaka Amano, trying to transplant his style into 3D is not a good idea.

Story:

The story transcends that of Final Fantasy IV. Where Final Fantasy IV can feel weak or simple at times, Final Fantasy V delivers a strong, emotionally charged storyline.

It starts simple. Once again, the world is in danger because the crystals are in danger – but this time because humans are misusing their power and breaking them. So this is a rare Final Fantasy game without any evil empires or rebellions.

Out of all the Final Fantasy games, I had heard the least about what happens in V. Heck – I knew more about II before going into it, mostly because of what people said about the Star Wars parallels. It’s been a long time since I went into a Final Fantasy game completely blind. I kept it that way and was very pleasantly surprised.

I can see what the developers meant by a “change in tone.” Final Fantasy V is probably the funniest of them all. It’s not campy – just humorous. Galuf loves to share puns. Bartz can be a klutz. The characters bicker a lot during their journey. One part actually made me genuinely laugh out loud when you are in a certain underground place searching for clues:

Despite the lighter tone, each character has a pretty sensitive, delicate backstory. I cared for Bartz’s personal history with his parents. I worried about whether Lenna’s father would die or not. I wondered what Galuf forgot and who Faris really was. There are dashes of tropes here but none of them stand out too much. You have to remember that tropes themselves are not inherently bad – what matters is how you utilize them. There’s no hokey romantic subplot thrown in either, which is extremely rare in a JRPG.

It was so rewarding to go into it blind because there was even a shocking death. I thought maybe they would be all right in the end through some Disney cop out.

No. That person is dead. Dead as a door nail. Never coming back. I also enjoyed the bit where they tried to revive said dead person with spells and phoenix downs. They finally imply that there can be a point where someone can go beyond and it’s too late to bring them back.

The henchman Gilgamesh is very memorable and lovable, probably the most memorable character of the entire game. He serves as great comic relief while not being at all annoying. I kept hoping he would show up.

My only real complaint, if I’m ever forced to say anything bad, is that Boko wasn’t really an asset in the story, at least not as much as I assumed he would be.

The story is unfortunately very overlooked. I can understand that maybe at the time American and other Western gamers may have found the third act strange – especially after learning about the villain Exdeath’s true nature. Compared to the other Final Fantasy backstories, it’s a little out there, and something tells me it relates to Japanese mythology. But today? You’d be sorry to miss out on it.

Music:

Final Fantasy V’s main theme is somewhat reminiscent of Final Fantasy IV’s main theme. They have this melodic soaring feel with a continuous beat. “The Four Warriors of Dawn” in Final Fantasy V is reminiscent of “Red Wings” in IV. Meanwhile, the biggest and most interesting display is “Battle with Gilgamesh”. (sometimes titled “Clash/Battle on the Big Bridge”). The piece opens up with some intense drumming. While the later orchestrations and adaptations of “Battle with Gilgamesh” are pretty good, nothing seems to capture the tempo and umph of the original.

“Dear Friends” is probably the most endearing tune in the soundtrack. It’s played at the end and gives a really bittersweet feel. The Distant Worlds concert version is extremely bittersweet. It has a sweet, gentle guitar, and it reminds me of how Uematsu said one of his inspirations was Simon and Garfunkel. “Dear Friends” definitely has that folk tune.

Exdeath’s theme song gives a heavy rock vibe. That heavy rock vibe was last heard in the opening segment of the final boss fight in Final Fantasy IV. The rest of the score has a lot of drumming incorporated, partially due to the fact that pirates are involved in most of the plot. Ultimately, this Final Fantasy score broke out all of Uematsu’s classic and hard rock inspirations – and it’s fucking awesome.

Notable Theme:

“Battle with Gilgamesh”

I have replayed this song over a thousand times by now.

youtube

Verdict:

Definite must-play. It’s the most underrated Final Fantasy game. The Kob System can be overwhelming, especially if you have never played a Final Fantasy game before. I wouldn’t suggest playing this for beginners – more after you get your hands wet.

Direct Sequel?

Yes. And No.

While not a video game, Final Fantasy V did receive an anime sequel titled Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals. It’s technically the first sequel to a Final Fantasy game. The anime is set 200 years in the future, with the heroes of the original game having become legend. Critical reception of the miniseries was mixed.

#final fantasy #final fantasy v #square enix #super nintendo #nintendo #underrated video games #video games #onvideogames #fantasy #rpg #jrpg #rpg game #video game rpg #chocobo #four job fiesta #final fantasy five four job fiesta

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cruddyborderlandstheories · 5 years ago

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let me explain to you the plot of borderlands 4 (kidding. mostly)

tl;dr: the eridians are evil, or, worse, completely uncaring about the things going on in their little sandcastle. the guardians are salty bitches about it and need our help and/or are going to start slaughtering people and im gonna fuckING TAlk ABOUT IT mostly because i need to write this down bc its been bouncing around my head since the game (bl3, not 4. that’d be wild) came out. minor spoilers for Guns Love and Tentacles. mostly that side quest.

tl;dr: tl;dr: eridians bad, guardians mad, and we are caught in the middle of a war that’s about to go down between them. spoilers for GLaT

tl;dr: tl;dr: tl;dr: Fl4k was a warning. Spoilers.

i dont even know where to begin because FUCK THERE’S SO GODDAMN MUCH TO THIS STORY

so im just going to start listing facts or points (+) of this theory that i remember at this very moment and probably forget a lot of them alright i’ll elaborate on all of this i promise. okay? lets go

+the eridians made a bunch of vaults that hold monsters in them

+some of these monsters are clearly constructs. some of them are not

+those that are clearly constructs:

the warrior

the traveler

the sentinel

+those that are not clearly constructs:

the destroyer

the rampager

the serpent

(possibly) gythian

(possibly) graveward (more on this in a bit)

+those that are not accounted for:

the timekeeper (but do keep this bad boy in mind)

+the eridians made the guardians: biomechanical constructs that are somewhat sentient, gaining sentience, and are supposed to guard the Vaults

+we also know now that there are these things called proving grounds with a salty, sentient guardian named the Overseer:

“vault hunter, I thought you might show up sooner or later. so naughty your species, so curious. the vault of vaults has been opened and IT has been released. prove your worth and I will reveal why the masters made me wait for you”

“naughty humans have opened the vault of vaults but the masters will determine who is a fault. until next time, warrior”

“long ago there was a brief spark, the first vault was opened, a light in the dark. a riddle, yes? perhaps it will unravel next time, hunter”

“so, you’ve returned. persistent, yes. or stubborn? or both. are you so desperate to prove yourself?”

“we were created for one purpose by our masters- and we couldn’t even do that right (laughs). but don’t blame us! when a cog breaks, point your finger at the artificer, not the cog! are you a cog, Vault hunter, or an artificer? Or both? prove yourself worthy.”

“pity us not, though the world has been broken. those who sleep will soon be awoken. not long now, seeker.”

“the eridians were our masters, but we failed them. they gave the order then silence. they VANISHED. such is our fate, Vault Hunter. server to a master who has left the house so long ago. prove to me that you deserve an introduction.”

“we were supposed to guard the Great Jail. but no quarter for servants who fail. but servant, that is not quite right. ‘Prisoner’. that is what i am. Until next time, adventurer.”

“a final chance to prove yourself. but will your reward be what you desire? a prisoner in a cell staring out at the fathoms of a sleeping universe. after a time, how would you know if you were prisoner or master? consider this while you prove yourself one last time.”

“it has come to this. one last trial. but will your efforts be worthwhile? that is what we will determine next time, hero”

“I am a prisoner, but you, vault hunter? what are you? hunter, warrior, hero? no matter what name i use, you return to prove yourself time and time again. but prove it to whom, i wonder? perhaps you seek a greater audition”

“it is done and my masters have taken note. would you like to know what they told me right before they vanished? ‘beware the vault hunters, they will take your kind’s place’. now i am free, and you are chained. until next time, guardian”

“well done, but have they taken note? that is what I wonder.”

+ the entire thing about there being a Fallen Guardian we have to kill

+ how the entire thing of the trails are copies of the worlds we visited to open the Great Vault. either the eridians can see through time (TPS) or they built these recently

+how dark Maliwan is probably working together with the Guardians on Nekrotefeyo given the fact they’re working together in one of the trials

+oh and remember how i suggested Maruice’s ghostie goo (ectoplasm) is actually related to eridians and such? YEAH. turns out that was right.

+Nyriad, the unreliable narrator

+the fucking Forgetting

+how the eridians are NOT ACTUALLY GONE FOR GOOD

+the seraphs!!!

+how the guardians are all named after angels, sirens are tied to humanity’s religious imagery

+how tyreen literally only loosened the chains on the Destroyer and the destroyer is going to break free from pandora

+how animals and people like bloodwing, slag psychos, etc mutate due to the eridium on pandora

+the destroyer’s reaction to slag being injected into its eye is straight panic

+the vault monsters that are fleshy were probably science experiments by the Eridians to test eridium and/or the results of being locked in the vaults for ages

+humanity was probably created by the eridians as well (more on that later)

+the Watcher actually WANTS us to have more Vault Hunters, she warns us that war is coming. all we can assume right now is either the Watcher fucked up big time, or she WANTED all this to happen. More on that later.

+the guardians are preparing for war. the overseer seems especially salty about the cause of it.

+ graveward was killed at some point, so the guardians brought it back using the ships, so that they could use their souls to posses it (further proved by the loot: Grave, relic, and Ward, shield)

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alright holy fuck

that’s a lotta stuff to go over!!! Let’s do this thing.

Let’s start with the Eridians themselves

so. these bad boys. We never really knew much about them, but it was always kinda assumed they’ve been long gone bc of the destroyer, or just out of reach.

now that bl3 dropped we’re supposed to assume that they’re all officially dead bc of Nyriad/the Destroyer

and i am here to say that Nyriad is an unreliable fuckin narrator because she doesn’t know the whole story. in fact, she admits to not knowing everything!!

here’s what I actually think is going on, and yes, I believe 100% the eridians are shady motherfuckers who decided to play god:

the eridians are from a dimension that isn’t ours. we can assume this is a higher dimension, bc of all their weird space/time fuckery, especially the Vaults.

the eridians decided to do some science experiments. they make the vaults and use our dimension to store them and put all their experiments inside. they make guardians to guard their vaults, and they realize they can do better in the ‘making a fully conscious being’ department. they make humanity. they make sirens after experimenting with eridium. they decided to go big or go home, and they make giant monsters. after all that, they realize they fucked up, because there is one monster they cannot contain anymore, after all the shit they put it through

so the eridians realize they done fucked up and escape fully to our dimension, where they placed us and the guardians and all the science experiments they didn’t want to deal with at the moment. The Destroyer follows them

they land on nekrotefeyo, their ‘first landing’ in our dimension (hence the quote above). This, or the eridians had been in our dimension for a while now. Nyriad never says where the Eridians came from, just that they and humanity lived side-by-side, so it’s likely they’d been here for a bit, sending scientists back and forth, just doing their experiments all willy-nilly. And I would bet they created the Destroyer in that time frame.

“for their curiosity, they were rewarded with doom” i believe is a correct statement, but not in the way Nyriad thinks. I think the eridians created the destroyer to see if they could, to test the bounds of what was possible. and it backfired on them in the worst way.

Nyriad also says this, but I have a hard time believing her here

the most this is is speculation, because if none of the civilizations who met the Destroyer had nothing else to pass on, then humanity would not know of their existence. (I mean, she even says ‘SURELY it had different names’) Humanity has no record of other (intelligent) alien life in the universe, or their own civilizations being destroyed by the Destroyer*. It’s just the Eridians.

*There is a reason for this, but let’s hold on for now.

So why tf do I think humanity was created by the Eridians? well, for one, I like the parallel to them having a god-complex. If they haven’t created humanity, then they definitely fucked with us to create Sirens. Sirens have a strong connection to Eridium and the Vaults (and other Sirens).

second, the murals in (most of) the vaults in bl3

show human-like figures hanging out with kids, and one touching something that seems oddly similar to a relic

like so

(on the left there)

there are also these really tall cloaked figures standing (t-posing) near the end of the mural

and most statues are depicted with robes on

a lot of the human figures in the mural are shown helping each other stand up, coming up from the ground like they’re being created, looking around (up at the sky at rays of light), and standing with a lot of eridian junk (there’s a vault symbol next to one). they’re also not shown to be wearing any sort of clothing, even tho extra steps were gone in to show the robed figures

it reminds me a lot of how a lot of religious texts describe humans as being molded from the earth or dirt or whathaveyou

long story short, it very much reminds of something like a creation myth, so i imagine humanity was, in fact, created by the eridians.

ESPECIALLY this smaller one reaching up to touch the relic

there’s no concrete proof for this, but its a hunch i have after studying this mural for a while. especially after Nyriad constantly questions why the Guardians were made to be on the brink of consciousness. humanity is Guardians 2, electric boogaloo. guardians were a mix of machine and bio goop, we are full bio goop. and that means we are curious, and have emotions, and are very naughty.

that or vice versa, eridians made humanity, realized we weren’t as subservient as they wanted and made the Guardians to fill that niche. Also, most importantly, the Guardians were literally made to be disposable. That’s their entire purpose. Their bodies will degrade, but then their souls will just eventually find another vessel. They’re trapped forever.

EITHER WAY

the Eridians created humanity and the guardians around the same time. enough that the guardians are likely vvvv salty about it.

humanity was made. Sirens came after that, through eridium experiments by the Eridians, explaining their connections to Eridium, as well as the other dimension (the one we are assuming Eridians are from) (think about the Lab Rats and Sirens and such)

so were the eridians preparing for something? war, maybe? possibly. they need firepower and obviously they wouldn’t sacrifice their own people when they have perfectly good constructs, so they’ll use their naughty meat slaves.

but the eridians need more than the sirens. they keep dying, and given the failsafe measures, its hard to keep track of them if one decides to let their powers go, despite the fact they added in, like, a siren gps for sirens to find other sirens and be drawn to them and shit

their big boy guardians, their constructs, aren’t doing enough to defeat their enemy

they start experimenting more with eridium. They learn it has the power to mutate things (mostly elementally, but also causes an increase in size, especially the longer/more they’re exposed to).

they create seraph crystals, condensed eridium, which mutate things at an increased rate. These become discarded eventually for reasons below

they begin finding other kinds of life and mutating the hell out of it using eridium/seraph crystals, in order to create their giant buttfuck squish monsters. These monsters are probably pissed the hell off bc they’re mutated and also probably being attacked by people. so they rampage, killing everything in their path.

the eridians need a way to store the big boys and also take them to the battlefields where they’ll annihilate the enemy, so they create the Traveler and the traveling Vault (which is why there was really nothing of substance in that Vault OKAY TAKE IT). Perhapeth the big flesh monsters mutate more due to being locked inside the Vaults and constantly exposed to eridium/whatever energy is in the other dimension.

Things are going well, and the big flesh monsters help turn the tide of war in favor of the Eridians, until the other party is completely wiped out by what they dubbed the Destroyer. So the eridians decide ‘well, we had our fun, time to put the monsters in their cages and forget about the seraph crystals’.

and most of the big boys, creation and mutation alike, are shoved in their Vaults, guarded by the Guardians so they can’t be released bc of naughty humans. except for one, notably the uncontrollable Destroyer. because it wiped out their enemies, now it wants more, with its insatiable hunger, so it turns its eyes on the Eridians and Nekrotafeyo

sort of explaining why the planet looks like it fucking exploded

the destroyer began to give it the SUCC

but there’s more about that planet

cuz the inside is all glowy and green and you totally know where this is going because i told you im pretty sure the eridians created humanity along with the guardians

i think this is the giant storage unit for all the souls, including the Guardian souls. humanity is depicted being pulled up from the ground in the Vault murals.

lemme explain here

I think nekrotafeyo is where the Guardian souls are stored, like one bigass computer. That’s also, we can assume, where the Eridians got the spark for humanity as well.

around the game, when u ‘kill’ guardians, you can watch their sparks leave (they’re the red glowy things), they fly upwards and disappear. You can also see blue/green versions of these floating around and not doing anything, notably outside the Rampager’s Vault.

I am curious if these color differences indicate a difference in wisp type (guardian v human) or if the red means they found another vessel and blue means they chillin. It is interesting to note that the Rampager has the ability to succ the wisps, so its possible its also related to the Destroyer. I mean, its way smaller, but it does IMMEDIATELY start wrecking shit as soon as it leaves the Vault.

anyway there’s more to this, because now we get to talk about ~ghosts~

if u didn’t heed my warning earlier, there are spoilers for guns love and tentacles past this point!!

DOES THIS LOOK FAMILIAR TO YOU?????

THIS IS JUST HANGIN GOUT IN THE CORNER OF THE ROOM BTW

LITERALLY NEKROTAFEYO

and let’s not forget the Halloween event that showed ghosts are a v real thing in the borderlands and not just on carpenter planet

like super real. and the ‘hecktoplasm’ we get fuels a portal to heck. literally another dimension. that BY THE WAY is powered by a Maliwan device. that BY THE WAY is filled with Maliwan troops.

cuz remember on Nekrotafeyo where there are a bunch of Maliwan soldiers, but they’ve all got the DARK prefix to their name? you know how in the proving ground the dark maliwan troops are fighting side by side with a bunch of Guardians?

something fucky is afoot.

reminds me a lot of the terror effect

ANYWAY

i believe nekrotafeyo is where the eridian stored the sparks for both humans and guardians, that’s where they are coming from, and when nyriad questions how tf the guardians got that spark (stolen like fire of the gods), its because they’re slowly gaining sentience over time, probably relating to how many times they’ve been killed (returned to the core and then back again). because i 100% believe the eridians created the guardians just as an endless, permanent workforce, and the guardians that have been disposed of time and time again are starting to realize that and get SALTY. the reason i do not say that the guardians are gaining sentience with regards to how long they’ve been around is bc there’s such a huge difference between the intelligence of The Watcher and just a normal-ass Guardian that I have to assume their developing sentience has a different trigger.

anyway back to the eridians getting the succ from the destroyer. the eridians realize they can’t just run away from it back to their home dimension, maybe bc its tied to that dimension due to the vault mutations (i vaguely remember typhon mentioning that the destroyer is a dimensional horror) so they have to imprison it somehow. How do they do that? well it is fucking terrified of eridium (when you inject the eye of the Destroyer in TPS, it panics and freaks out), probably due to all the fucked up experiments they did on it, so let’s imprison it using that.

And once we do that, we should probably get the FUCK outta dodge, bc these science experiments are getting c r a z y, let’s remove ourselves from the experiment and observe from beyond

so what do they do?

they get one of their sirens to operate a Machine they built that will send them back home. all of them, at once. we’re going home, fuckers. seeya. and obviously they will not tell humanity, because humanity will want to come with, like a lost puppy. and they will constantly question the other dimension and pester the eridians about it. humanity is annoying and the eridians have 1 big regret, im sure.

they’re also leaving the Guardians to do their dirty work for them, keep the vaults closed so that humanity won’t open them and send the Eridian’s pissed off creations after them. Also explains why there are no Guardians for the Vault of the Warrior (is an Eridian construct) and why the Traveler had Guardians inside it but not on the outside (to keep it running). The only Vault that made me do a big think is the Vault of Elpis. But more on that later.

so they tell this siren that the machine is going to kill them all, and use their energy to power to machine (lol) to close the Destroyer in Pandora, giving a perfectly good super powered monkey severe anxiety.

they also (apparently) do this ‘Forgetting’ thing, which Nyriad mentions, which makes humanity forget that we lived side-by-side with the Eridians and also everything about the Destroyer. which is so DUMB of the Eridians.

because SERIOUSLY people, if you don’t want your idiot children opening something, the one thing you don’t do is make them FORGET WHAT IS INSIDE OF IT SO THEIR CURIOSITY GETS THE BETTER OF THEM WHEN WHAT’S INSIDE OF IT IS LITERALLY ‘HEY, YOU’RE ALL GONNA DIE’. literally pandora’s box. LITERALLY- that’s half the reason I think this is all just one big experiment to them. They don’t give a FUCK about us, actually. they just want to see what will happen. they named the fucking planet Pandora ffs.

like YEAH some people would probably try to open it, to try to kill the Destroyer. but guess WHAT FUCKLENUTS we could have had humans working to keep pandora sealed instead just your cryptic ass guardians. CURIOSITY IS A DANGEROUS THING

and listen. there’s a lot of reasons i believe the machine actually sent the eridians home. even if they actually are just morons and thought the Forgetting was the best thing to do for humanity (scoff)

fdgdsffssfgfsg

all-home

there’s more to this

what are we up to? i stopped writing this like 3 days ago and just came back to it

you guys know the whole story now. im not saying my whole entire backstory is fully correct (like, a lot of it is major speculation) but i do firmly believe these few points:

the eridians are from a higher dimension than our own, and came here for science, or to escape the destroyer

nekrotafeyo is named “first landing”

they have an obvious connection to another dimension thru vaults, eridium, and sirens

the eridians either created or experimented with humanity, eventually leading to Sirens

sirens have this connection to both eridium, vaults, and the other dimension

they have similar powers to some Guardians

on Elpis there are ‘pseudo-Sirens’ created upon exposure to chemical sludge near the Vault

Sirens probably are the result of very exact experimentation, meanwhile these fake Sirens are not

The Leech is able to create ‘Anointed’ who have Siren-like powers and turn to eridium when killed

In bl2, the Lab Rats can see the other dimension when phaselocked by Maya after they were experimented on with eridium by Hyperion

unlike other enemies who only see ‘blue’

every vault monster is the way it is because of the eridians doing shit, including the destroyer

the reason the rampager is so angry and begins destroying everything right away? it was mutated by the eridians/being locked in the Vault. It was stuck in there with a bunch of Guardians, probably either conducting more experiments or there as ‘prison guards’

the destroyer appears frightened of slag in TPS when you inject it, but it also gains power from it- pretty similar to Sirens, and if eridium caused these mutations it could explain the fear

eridium causes LOTS of mutations as we can see throughout the history of the borderlands games. i’ve written 2-3 long-ass posts about this now, i think y’all get the idea lol

terry, badass wildlife, slag/burning psychos, etc

we don’t know how long the destroyer/rampager/etc was exposed to eridium. We’ve only seen (relatively) small doses/exposure times

the eridians lied to Nyriad and are in their home dimension right now, probably laughing at us. or at least like ‘holy shit quick write this down’. this is probably all an experiment to them

I just have this FEELING

so sudden, and new

but really tho

The Overseer basically TELLS us that the Eridians are still out there somewhere

she calls them her masters, talks about how they left the ‘house’, then talks as though they can still see us in the present

Actually you know what, let’s talk all about the Overseer’s lines now because they’re dummy important

copy and pasting this because i forgot...

so IT is most likely the Destroyer. i have the firm belief that Tyreen just ‘slipped its chains’, as Nyriad puts it in her log right before the fight

like r u seriously telling me the eater of worlds is the size of a single story house lmao

bigg

‘why the masters made me wait for you’ “MADE ME” I get the feeling she is here against her will, until her mission is completed

and that mission is to see which humans can pass the trials/the execute the trials

why? we’ll get to that. but she even hints that the reward may not be what we want.

“naughty humans have opened the vault of vaults but the masters will determine who is at fault. until next time, warrior”

so the second time she references her ‘masters’

Vault of Vaults is the vault of the destroyer. which is interesting to me. I guess it makes sense, is a big vault with other, tinier vaults on the surface.

I really wish we got an explanation as to what the Vault of the Architects was. might even explain the pyramid key ;-; fuckin pyramid key

so when i first heard this i thought there was some sorta ‘the masters will determine who is at fault’ rift between humans (the calypso twins or the vault hunters)

but now after learning more i realize this is probably between humans and guardians

are humans at fault for being naughty, or are the guardians for failing their only purpose?

i get the feeling the eridians will blame the guardians. the less favorite child :(

“long ago there was a brief spark, the first vault was opened, a light in the dark. a riddle, yes? perhaps it will unravel next time, hunter”

sooo im pretty bad with riddles

either this takes place long before our recollection of events, or this takes place around when typhon opened the first vault on promethea

what i think this means is possibly the beginning of Guardians gaining sentience

nyriad describes the smarter guardians as ones having a ‘spark’. i believe this is what the Overseer is referencing here- their gaining consciousness

THAT, orrrrr the guardians saw themselves fail at their only task and began to realize they could do more with their lives

failure breeds success, after all

“so, you’ve returned. persistent, yes. or stubborn? or both? are you so desperate to prove yourself?”

the differences between humanity and the guardians. humanity has strong desires/emotions, the guardians don’t

or, at least, they didn’t.

lots to digest here

one purpose - to keep the Vaults closed

the guardians recognize they are only cogs in a machine, that they’re only tools, and it seems that they’re becoming bitter

‘point your finger at the artificer’ obviously blame the Eridians, not the guardians

‘are you a cog... or an artificer. or both?” i think is very important. i think this is another hint that humanity was created by the eridians

‘or an artificer, or both’ showing that humanity can step out from the shadow of whatever the eridians planned for them and make their own choices/destinies. the guardians can’t. ... yet.

“pity us not, though the world has been broken. those who sleep will soon be awoken. not long now, seeker.”

‘though the world has been broken’ - either bc the Eridians left them/the Vaults have been opened

more importantly “those who sleep will soon be awoken”

what i think this means, personally:

Graveward is a vault monster that appeared deceased (already killed or just died of natural causes) when we got there

but it was combined with a bunch of ship parts

this is confirmed both by the art book and by just LOOKING AT HIM lmao

these ship parts are likely a way to resurrect him by allowing the guardians to posses him

guardians are biomechanical constructs, so it makes sense that they would begin scavenging ship parts from eden-6 to fit to graveward

so they can have a stronger body to pilot

something had to be pulling those ships in to crash

also, this means BALEX didn’t do anything wrong lol

when you get to the vault, tannis is confused, because there should be a vault monster, but there’s only guardians

that is, until you kill Grave and Ward

they (and a bunch of other Guardian souls) then possess Graveward, bringing him to life- or, awakening him

what i think this means: the guardians are going to start possessing more and more stuff

why this means ‘those who sleep will soon be awoken’ possibly vault monsters who are killed aren’t actually killed, they’re just put in a sleeping state and the guardians will be using their tech to control them with guardian souls

the guardians stuck in that big ol computy machine somewhere (god pls let it be nekrotefeyo) are ‘sleeping’ and by taking control of those vault monsties, they will be able to wake up and pilot their own bodies

that is, there are too many souls, too little bodies, so they need more vessels

tl;dr: MORE GUARDIANS

also can we talk about how Sirens can absorb guardian souls pls?? bc what the FUCK tannis

ugh how fuckin’ creepy would it be if the eridians made the fleshy Vault Monsters and used the guardian souls to puppeteer them

seriously though, Tannis absorbed a bunch of Guardian souls why are we not talking about this

how was that not an important plot point

is tannis going to be okay?? i love tannis. please don’t hurt her. are guardian souls just pure energy?? what does it mean??? GEARBOX-

“the eridians were our masters, but we failed them. they gave the order then silence. they VANISHED. such is our fate, Vault Hunter, server to a master who has left the house so long ago. prove to me that you deserve an introduction.”

i think its really important that the Overseer doesn’t say the Eridians are DEAD. instead, she says they just ‘vanished’ or ‘left the house’

i think this further proves they’re still out there somewhere. probably watching over us like creeps

literally from the new DLC... come on. COME ONNNN

also confirmation the eridians are the ‘masters’ the Overseer is referring to all the time

side note i have the game sitting open on my other screen and wainwright just asked someone to drink him under the table what the f-

it does sound like they’ve been forgotten as even servants to the Eridians because she specifically says “were” and “but we failed them” probably meaning the Eridians were their masters UNTIL the guardians failed to keep the Great Vault from being opened

though i do think “prove to me that you deserve an introduction” is interesting

like do we not deserve one yet? well, not until we complete the trials she’s supposed to test us with

“we were supposed to guard the Great Jail. but no quarter for servants who fail. but servant, that is not quite right. ‘Prisoner’. that is what i am. Until next time, adventurer.”

kinda repeating what we learned from the above quote

‘Great Jail’ they put the Destroyer in evil baby jail for his crimes

no quarter for servants who fail - yeah the eridians are like ‘wow you guys suck, fuck you guys’

‘prisoner, that is what i am’. the guardians are all stuck in their roles. they’re trapped here

‘will your reward be what you desire’? we learn that the reward is actually being a guardian, so... it’s not great, if our deductions hold any water

‘a prisoner in a cell staring out at the fathoms of a sleeping universe’ - what the Overseer probably sees her position as guardian of the trials as a prisoner- same with all the other guardians stuck watching over the Vaults

i do also think this may be in reference to the fact she’s stuck in this dimension with us while the eridians ran away

‘hunter, warrior, hero’ note she calls us by a bunch of titles throughout her greetings/goodbyes. but we are not satisfied by any of them

clearly we’re not proving ourselves to HER, since she questions who we are trying to prove it to

‘greater audition’ is likely in front of the ‘masters’ who are the eridians. remember, we have to prove to her first that we are worthy of an audience

the eridians know what we’ve done- now humanity takes the place of the guardians

“beware the Vault Hunters, they will take your kind’s place” seems like a pretty fucked up thing to say

but also, more proof the Eridians knew what the FUCK was up, kyle

humanity is just guardians 2: electric boogaloo

the trails were ultimately a test to see if we were up to the task

and now that humanity (or, at least, the Vault Hunters) has taken the place of the normal Guardians, the others are free to do... something

what... i wonder.

i do think it is interesting that the Overseer is pretty morally gray here. like, she’s trapped here to oversee the trials for however long the Eridians have been gone, to see if humans are truly the successors to the Guardians

she obviously doesn’t want to be here, calling herself a prisoner

she even warns us that the reward won’t be something we want- i imagine she might not exactly be able to tell us WHY we will not like it, she is being watched by her masters (the Eridians)

like, i get WHY she doesn’t tell us what’s going to happen. if i were trapped there, I’d do the same thing

but here’s the thing

since we are (we assume) fully squishy and not mechanical in any way, we still have our free will (unlike, we can assume, the guardians)

so we’re not literally trapped in one job forever- we can choose whatever we want to do

so WHAT exactly do i think the guardians are going to do? well, they’ve got an entire army’s worth of souls, they’re resurrecting dead Vault Monsters, and they can modify their bodies now to become more weapon-like

what do I think is happening? The Guardians are preparing for war with the Eridians- they want to destroy their creators, and with us becoming the new guardians, there’s this loophole that allows the old Guardians to finally, FINALLY do whatever they want

(Is Fl4k supposed to be foreshadowing for this? Yeah, I believe they are!!)

+ also before i forget: the entire thing about there being a literal Fallen Guardian we have to kill

i believe this has to do with the fact when you kill it, it drops money. since we can assume the trials are crafted/designed by the Eridians, we can assume the Fallen Guardians are apart of that design as well. It drops money, which probably shows how it’s become corrupted compared to the other guardians. it has desires (collecting wealth). Since the Guardians are inspired by angels (especially in TPS), it’s probably supposed to be a direct callback to that

alright so I think you all are probably like CRUDDY THE PRE-SEQUEL

and like, yeah, that’s what i’ve been building up to the whole time

The Watcher!!!

“War is coming, and you’re going to need all the Vault Hunters you can get”

Let’s just look at the Watcher’s actions throughout TPS and Tales (well, her inactions in Tales, as well as 3)

In tps, the Watcher brings Zarpedon to the Vault, allows her to see the future, and creates the Lost Legion

so we all assume that yes, she’s trying to stop the Elpis Vault (and, by extension, Pandora) from being opened

but here is the thing. the lil thing. the BIG thing actually.

she stops us from killing zarps in the BEGINNING of the game

in the middle-ish when we kill zarp for realsies, she is NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. Zarp lets Jack know where the Vault actually is and little miss alien face IS NOWHERE AROUND

when you are inside eleseer, lilith mentions that the Guardians there actually let her through, like they WANTED her to be there

now let’s remember Lilith’s actions in tps (and remember that she is IN NO WAY at fault here. jack is a dickbag. you try to tell me this is lily’s fault and i’ll kick your shins into your asshole)

while jack is seeing the future about the Vault of the Warrior, she punches the treasure of Eleseer into his face. this cuts off the vision, so unlike Zarps all Jack sees is that he opens the Vault of the Warrior. Nothing about the Destroyer destroying everything.

and still, the Watcher is nowhere to be found.

So Jack opens the Vault of the Warrior, Lilith learns she can activate the Vault Map, the events of Tales happens, and Lilith has Athena tied up and is about to shoot her

WHEN FINALLY

FUCKING. FINALLY.

THE WATCHER SHOWS UP

and tells us that ‘we’re going to need all the vault hunters we can get’

now let’s TAKE A STEP BACK HERE

obviously. OBVIOUSLY.

this is pretty backwards from what the Guardians are actually meant to do: keep the Vaults closed. If she wanted us to NOT open the Vault of the Destroyer, she probably should’ve just come right out and told us what’s up.

no, I think she 100% wanted the events to happen in the way they did.

Because remember, after this, SHE NEVER SHOWS UP AGAIN!!!

not in tales, where she could have stopped the Vault of the Traveler from opening (in fact she could have let Athena die and lowered the team’s chances of defeating the Vault Monster with whatever canon choices there are), not in 3 when she could have prevented the twins from doing any number of things they did, not to give advice to lily on sanc-iii, not during Commander Lily (even though she’s mentioned briefly) she did FUCK ALL

she did J A C K S H I T

it’s because she wanted this to happen. she WANTS the vaults open.

why? well, see above. The Guardians want the Vault Monsters all killed so they can resurrect them as big boy guardians

and that war she’s talking about? it wasn’t the war in bl3. That’s why she never shows her face. she’s talking about war with the Eridians.

Which is probably bl4.

alright im tired. eridians bad. guardians okay-ish. they might try to kill us all and use our bodies as vessels, who knows.

anywaY this was all an elaborate plan for me to explain the backstory of h2o au and why magic is real in the borderlands universe and why they decide to FIGHT- [gets dragged off computer by a cane]

wow this is a 36 page document, why can’t i be this enthusiastic about school??

#borderlands #bl3 #lmao

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reena-kk · 7 years ago

Note

Okay, but very important question: why is Lana so beautiful?

This is… I don’t even know what to start with- or I do: good genes her personality! Or are we talking about her looks only? Doesn’t matter.

I knew about this character for quite some time, but never looked into it as I hadn’t planned on subbing in swtor - but at some point during this year I’ve decided to do it.

I wasn’t even aware that most/all(?) characters in expansions are bisexual. Thus when I learned of it, I was thrilled- and as I wasn’t planning on a homosexual romance with my main toon, I decided to look into some fem/fem Lana romances.

It’s when you’re completely indifferent to somebody’s outer appearance at first, but they grow on you when you know them better.

All I knew was that she’s a Sith- and there I watched her being so gentle and protective of the player character; Lana Beniko caught my interest in an instant. Soon I’d watched all decent romance cutscenes with her, read what I could about her without spoiling 100% of the game (I did 90%).

I felt like this long introduction was needed.

So why is Lana so beautiful?

She’s different. I used to think that Ashara was awesome for being a Jedi that agreed to join a Sith Lord, learn some dark side and do what’s necessary to end the war. The idea of balance was appealing.

But then, as stated above, I encountered Lana. For a change, she is a Sith who doesn’t seem that much of a Sith at all. You see her caring for others, helping, being honest (at times). She doesn’t discriminate others for being an alien, a non-Force-user or someone below her in hierarchy. But we (as in players who go through the expansions) learn, rather quickly, that as far as her good intentions go, she can be ruthless in her way to achieve them. For her the goal justifies the actions and holding back because of some moral code or anything else is wasting chances - she’ll argue with you and won’t apologize.

I just thought that ironically, she seems to break ties easier than Jedi who learn all life to be able to let go of the bonds they form.

In short, we learn she is - as she likes to call herself - pragmatic, another trait I enjoy in SW characters, all characters and people overall.

Here I’ll have to refer to the story of my main toon, because the phenomenonof Lana Beniko is strongly tied to her.

Meet Daethe

I’m not going to talk about her whole backstory, but for the playthrough from joining the Sith ranks on Korriban she’s a mentally scarred, distrusting, bitter and pessimistic woman. Ex-Jedi (for a really long time), had her close ones killed or been betrayed, either way she found her fuel to live on in serving the Empire she believed at least wasn’t trying to hide its immoral ways, in the dark side which was the only thing she could comprehend anymore.

And so it continued for a long time (Warrior storyline) until SoR happened - and so did Lana. Despite not doing anything in particular, just being herself - after a short time my toon grew to like her and before Yavin IV poked its head from around the corner - she saw her as some kind of an angel.

The composure Lana maintained through most of the time - it soothed rage-bursts Daethe suffered. It’s hard to explain whether it was shame of being, in a way, more immature or something. It occured when Dae already respected Lana, so she tried to hold her anger in more than she tried to before.

Her strength - despite the calmness on the outside, she’s still a powerfull Force-user that draws her power from emotions. She could kick my or your ass without blinking. Finally not having to look after someone is a big plus for Dae, she’s always been a slut for powerful ones as well.

Then Lana’s priorities - she did not care for power, for titles, none of it, just the good of the Empire. Finally someone a little bit more trustworthy to work with. Someone to talk to about different aspects of the Force, the world, without the risk of being branded heretic or traitor.

The GENTLENESS - this is what I feel is right to say about her, what also Dae think. Lana won’t pity you, I’m not sure of the word ‘compassion’ suits her well either, but she is supportive. She writes poetry which indicates she’s also a sensitive persona (although we do not know what kind of poetry that is), in some way an artist (toon used to be), someone who feels more that an average being.

She was also a rich, only child, and didn’t turn out brattish - look at that. Now imagine she was born in Republic and trained as a Jedi. She could turn out similar to how she is, except the part where she chooses smaller evil to do greater good; or she could be this boring, bland character that is shooting sparkles and glitter of “good” everywhere.

No, she grew up in a not so friendly society, society focused on effectiveness, power, cunning - then she was forced to fight for her privilege to survive and even then she did what she believed was more practical and stood up to the unspoken rules (teaming up with other acolytes). She didn’t give in to the brainwashing.

Dae is directly or indirectly responsible for death of part of her friends; and so is Lana. Early on, during her trials, it was her fault for letting the Zabrak run away instead of killing the potential threat - and that resulted in death of one of the team members. Now, I can’t exactly say they were friends, but I believe they weren’t exactly on bad terms either.

Even so, they lesson stays - both learned to eliminate the danger before it comes back. It’s shown if you decide to let go of the Zakuul Knight during your escape from Zakuul. “Turn him loose”, Lana diagrees and replies “So he can come after us again?” It’s also a logical thing to say in such circumstances, but I like to believe there was a root to it.

What I meant to tell here is that Lana’s personality hit my toon’s so hard, that she who was to become a monster and a dictator in later outcomes, has been (partially) redeemed, because she found someone who didn’t necessarily embrace her long lost values - oh no, Lana had no interest in turning to the light side, she sticked with the dark - but her actions, open-mindedness and view of the world were of one who would.

So Daethe found her ideal, her guardian angel whom she looks up to as she drags her up from the pit of despair she’d fallen into (not that she didn’t hate Lana at first, for being something Daethe failed to be).

But another thing is that Lana is really unpredictable - she’d deceived people before and she might do it again, Crisis on Umbara aside, although we don’t know the overall outcome yet. So while my warrior falls for her, she’s also aware that she might be tricked again - and boy that would hurt. More so than breaking up on Yavin - which not only shows her proffesional determination, but maybe, just maybe that she may be quite good at socialising, but not as much at romantic relationships? Because of the environment maybe?

Here above I stated a part of my thoughts on Lana Beniko - this is how I see her and the reason why she looks beautiful to me.

This is why her red nose (and eyes) is cute; why her blonde hair (which in my opinion and headcanon bleaches a bit from the dark side corruption) looks amazing (in each of 3 forms); why her red lips are so temping (I also weep over the fact that they desaturated them in the customisable version); why her eyes are the most beautiful of corrupted, Sith eyes one could ever look into (I imagine that they’re not only gold with red outsides, but also have some small hint of her original green color around the pupils, and probably glow in the dark).

I’m not even going to start on her voice, her voice actor did a rally good job and just… She sounds so perfect, the tone and way of speaking is such a big part of her personality abhfegwkcdsyk I can’t it’s so awesome.

If you got this far, I commend you. Have some beautiful Lana trying to make something out of the mess on the floor as a reward. Thank you.

#lana beniko #swtor #ask #anon #im sorry its so long lol #i also shouldve written an essay on a poem about nike not lana but #lana is better than nike

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nemesis-nexus · 5 years ago

Text

Winter Solstice/Yule 2019

HAIL THE ANCIENT FAMILY! Great Dragons we call out to you on this Yule night! This year has been quite a ride and there have been many challenges but with you by our side we were able to overcome EVERYTHING that was thrown in our Path! We know no matter what happens that we will always emerge triumphant because while we walk our Paths as INDIVIDUALS, we also walk TOGETHER as a FAMILY!

Tonight is the Winter Solstice, the Longest Night ot the Year, and the beginning of the Yuletide! These last few days leading up to the Solstice have certainly been some of the most trying I have ever had to endure...

I know that a few of us have lost loved ones and for those of you who like myself have experienced a significant loss especially in recent days, know that you are not alone and that my door is always open if you need to talk or vent. It is for everyone generally speaking of course but the focus is on those of us who may be enduring slightly more difficult and arduous time than others this particular year...

For my personal situation I will vent here to venerate my beloved one and give him the respect and send-off he deserves:

HIS NAME IS MARRRRRRREDUUUUUUUUUUK!!!!!!!!!!!!

My BELOVED, TRUSTED, HANDSOME and FIERCE WARRIOR was someone who took in this lifetime the form of a big gray Maine Coon cat that waltzed up our front walkway, into our door, made himself at home and stayed with us for the last 5 years, until such time as Father called him to the Rainbow Bridge and I had to let him go so he could move on, to go be with the Ancient and Eternal Family...

HAIL MARDUK!

YOU WERE THERE WHEN I NEEDED STRENGTH!

HAIL MARDUK!

YOU LISTENED AND NEVER PULLED AWAY!

HAIL MARDUK!

MY ARMS FEEL EMPTY WITHOUT YOU IN THEM!

HAIL MARDUK!

MY HEART ACHES WITHOUT YOU HERE BUT BEATS WILD WITH YOUR SPIRITS FREEDOM!!!

This Solstice please be grateful for any family you have that loves you unconditionally because this is such a rare thing that those of us who hear about it can only assume it's a myth..

This Solstice comes at a time that is very painful for me personally; I lost not only one of my best friends, but one of my most trusted confidants and sources of psychic and emotional strength... My world has been rocked inside out and upside down... I am angrier than I have ever been, not just because of this but this and a whole host of other things, and I don't know what to do about it... but I don't want to make this about that, I just want people to understand that if they are stressed out or depressed or otherwise despondent that they are not alone! Again my door is always open if anyone needs to talk or vent!

This time of year can be very difficult for a lot of people, in fact there is a clinical diagnosis called SAD or Seasonal Depression. It is a kind of mental malaise if you will that descends upon people during the holiday season because either they don't have anyone to celebrate with or those that they do have are so judgemental or otherwise toxic that they are more destructive than constructive or even superficially festive to spend the holidays with so it becomes a psychic struggle of extreme proportions to determine whether or not it's worth it just to sacrifice yet another part of your sanity for the sake of maintaining an image or whether you should simply let go and do your own thing by yourself as you've become accustomed to doing anyway...

We learned through trials and tribulations who our real friends and Family are and as a result we maintained some relationships while we unfortunately had to let others go! We know that weeding the Garden is never easy, especially when what must be uprooted were those who we thought were perennials but through decay turned out to be weeds hell bent on poisoning the whole landscape!

While we may be human we often share traits with with our animal brethren whether we know it or not, after all we are all connected in this great circle or web of existence! For example the Alphas of many prides and packs do not place themselves above the rest of the Family because they know that despite their position their job is to PROTECT the Family not use it as a means of self-glorification!

This is how I run the Temple of the Eternal Dragon, keeping EVERYONE in full view and on an even keel so I know who's being messed with or who may be a sheep in wolf's clothing so to speak.

It is not necessary for me to be in full view of everyone all the time, in other words I don’t need to and have no desire to lord myself over anyone as everyone is perfectly capable of handling themselves. However, if I do need to make my presence known I will and if I do need to make a tough call I will do that as well.

Leading by example is understanding that without the rest of the pack THERE IS NO PACK, that it's NOT about YOU! The reason why many people fail as leaders is because they put themselves first and expect everyone else to just fall in line! Many so-called leaders think that they can show no respect whatsoever to the rest of those who make up their pack and still expect them to jump when they are ordered to do so!

This does not work because when one is only concerned with where THEY are going and what THEY are doing they literally lose sight of the rest of the pack and why they are there to begin with! This leads to a breakdown in the pack and often to the loss of the pack itself!

It is not uncommon if a wolf decides that they have had enough of the shit of the Alpha to challenge them in a fight to the death for control of the pack! This occurs in the human world as well though not always on a physical level because we know that death is NOT just a PHYSICAL thing!

In the human world the worst thing that can happen is when one loses all credibility and is no longer able to be taken seriously. This can happen when people are in positions of leadership but abuse that authority and treat those who supported them as though they were obligated to do so and should be grateful for the chance!

This is NOT acceptable, this is NOT leadership, this IS a DICTATORSHIP! If the Agents of Abraham taught us anything it's that dictators do not last and they will not be remembered favorably by the rest of the world and for good reason! Causing the ire of those who never did a thing to you is one of the most despicable practices one can engage in and eventually it will catch up to them and like the wolf who challenges the Alpha so too shall the dictator fall and fall hard!

True leaders demonstrate the same level of respect to everyone in their pack that they would want for themselves! Doing this shows the rest of the pack that they are valued not only as a pack but as individuals as well and more often than not will result in that leaders election, reelection or exaltation beyond because they know that the one leading the pack has everyone else's best interest at heart not just their own!

Respect like that CANNOT be demanded, it can only be EARNED and none of these so-called leaders will ever understand this because they are too wrapped up in the notion that if they are the one in charge then they can do whatever they want to and no one can or should ever question them!

What they fail to realize is that when one makes everything all about them all the time eventually they're going to find themselves by themselves, or at the end of a 'long pointy stick' - I know my fellow Heathens caught that reference! Nobody wants to be a member of a pack where their leader doesn't give a damn about them to the point where they have no problem announcing it to the world how much they don't give a damn about them then abandoning and ultimately dissolving one pack to defect to another!

No pack can survive that kind of shoddy guidance, because if everyone in the pack behaved like it was everyone for themselves then every member would be a target! Divide and conquer is a popular battle strategy because when one's ego gets incensed to the point where they will disregard everyone else then the rest of the pack is as good as dead! The same as in the human world if you have a platoon of soldiers going into a combat zone and then each soldier trying to be a war hero decides to go off in their own direction and nobody is listening to the platoon commander, that platoon is already dead even if they haven't been killed yet!

This is why RESPECT and TRUST are two EXTREMELY important things, without either one of them there is no pack and without a pack there is no leader! The sooner some people come to terms what this concept the better off they will be and so will the rest of their group!

Battle hardened and all wise Father and Mother, we are grateful for all that you have done for us and all that you have provided us with! Now in this time of transition, when the Dark Moon hangs on high and the Sun is reborn we know that those who have tried their worst will be fully exposed regarding the hostile animus they have presented against your Children and they will receive their just rewards in kind! HAIL THE ANCIENT FAMILY!

On this Blessed Yule let us remember what is most important;

The old Friends who stayed by our sides through everything,

The new Friends who weathered the storms,

Our Family - both Blood and Spiritual - who even when they are scattered the world over are always ever present in our hearts and minds!

This Yule let us take the time to not only appreciate and celebrate the spirit of the holiday but to also acknowledge all those who are unable to be with their families because they are deployed all over the world, willingly putting themselves in harms way so that we can celebrate the holiday without having to be concerned about being attacked by International aggressors!

Let us embrace our loved ones and be grateful for the fact that we have people to be with, there's so many out there that have no one! Let us be grateful for the things that we have understanding that there's so many others that have nothing!

With the rebirth of the Sun signaling the onset of Winter and Spring, the season of rebirth soon to come, we are facing some very dark times, however, like the Phoenix we will rise from the ashes! The clouds may kick up, they may block out the Sun, they may make it rain sometimes harder than others but for all of their noise and drama the Sun still exists and will come out after the storm passes!

This Yule take the time to brighten somebody else's day, don't assume that just because somebody might be in a foul mood or otherwise not overly jubilant that they are just that way because they're cantankerous. The fact is the holidays can be a very depressing time for some and we never know what someone's personal situation is. Sometimes all it takes is a friendly gesture and some kind words to uplift someone else's Spirit!

For all my Family - both Blood and Spiritual - and for all my Friends;

I wish you glad tidings,

An abundance of Prosperity,

Your cup to overflow,

Your plate to never be bare,

Peace of Mind in all that you do,

Strength of Spirit to push on through no matter how difficult times may get,

and above all…

I hope that you realize just how important you are to me; more valuable than any gem, more priceless than all the art in the Louvre, rarer than an honest politician, it is YOU who makes life worth living and I thank you for not only being part of my life, but for not abandoning ship during rough tides!

This Yule take the time to look around and truly appreciate everything and everyone you have because you never know what tomorrow brings and when you won't be able to let them know just what they mean to you!

Be careful never to part company on bad terms keeping in mind that the last thing you say to someone could be THE LAST THING you say to someone!

If you have a Family to take care of, Friends who would do anything for you, a strong Spiritual connection and Faith in yourself, you are the richest person in the world! Money is nice but it can't buy everything: Respect, Honor, Loyalty, Love, Strength, Commitment, Valor, Pride, Courage and Stalwartness are just a few of the things that cannot be purchased no matter how much money you throw down but they are the most valuable things that one can possess!

A Blessed Winter Solstice and Yuletide to you and yours!

"Ancestral Pride

In the bonefire bright and round,

The Flames crackle a joyful sound!

In the Darkness mystery is created,

In the Light wisdom is elated!

Throughout the year we are exposed to much,

Some things are seen while others are touched!

Whether it's senseless violence or vicious betrayal,

We will push on through we will prevail!

There is nothing that we can not overcome,

No matter the task until the job is done!

When the bells have tolled and the lines are drawn,

When the people feel that they can't carry on,

When the sky grows dark and the winds blow cold,

The people will gather the strong and the bold,

When the masses arise fully awakened,

The power will return to the ones from whom it was taken!

When the thunder cracks loud and the lightning blazes across the sky,

The people will stand proud willing to fight or die!

When the spears are rattling in the most serious of ways,

The people will herald the end of Abraham's days!

When Logic, Humanity And Reason are restored to the land,

The enemy will burn to the ground as united we stand!

Through the ashes of the past and the pain that was plenty,

All future Generations will remember

WE ARE ONE EVEN THOUGH WE ARE MANY!”

HPS Meg "Nemesis Nexus" Prentiss"

ZI ANA KANPA! ZI KIA KANPA!

MAY THE DEAD RISE AND SMELL THE INCENSE!

AVÉ IGGIGI!

AVÉ ANUNNA!

AVÉ DRACONIS!

HAIL THE GREAT SERPENT!

HAIL THE ANCIENT FAMILY!

🐍🌎🌬💖🌿🦌🐺🐲💧🔥🐉

HPS Meg "Nemesis Nexus" Prentiss

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asktheadeptus · 8 years ago

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Space Marine Recruitment

"Before this Age, it was said of heroes that they were not born, but created, forged in the fires of adversity and war. In these days in which we now live, however, heroes are indeed born, in the gene-forges of the Emperor's genius. To be a hero amongst such warriors as these is true achievement, and one even the most elevated of our forebears could never have dreamed of."— Orsan Lakk, late of the Order of Remembrancers

Each Chapter of Space Marines has its own methods of recruiting young warriors to fill its ranks. Many are based on a single homeworld and recruit solely from that populace, setting trials and tests for prospective candidates to weed out all but the strongest and the most faithful. These worlds are often technologically backward with strong militaristic societies, where male children who show potential are pushed harder and harder, that they may one day have a chance to join the ranks of the Space Marines, who are often known to such peoples as "star warriors," "sky knights," or similar names. Because Feral Worlds are rough, primitive, and untamed, their inhabitants invariably provide excellent recruits. For true aggression and nigh-psychotic killer-instinct, however, few recruits can best the murderous city-scum that roam the darkest pits of the Imperium's many Hive Worlds. Driven to extremes of violence by the pressures of Hive World living, these merciless killers are usually ignored by the authorities. They make ideal Space Marine recruits, and whole gangs of city-scum are sometimes hunted down and made to undergo the Trials. Some recruits are drawn from the more Civilised Worlds of the Imperium, but not very many.

Those planets used by the Space Marines as recruiting worlds are observed closely by the Chapter’s Apothecaries and Chaplains. The population’s genetic purity must be maintained, in order to conserve those qualities that serve the Space Marines’ purposes best. Their spiritual health is also maintained, to ensure that no trace of the influence of the Ruinous Powers becomes manifest. Such observations are in general carried out from a distance, and it is rare for the society to have any direct contact with, or knowledge of, the Space Marines, or in many cases even of the Imperium. The Chapter’s officers might visit the culture once a generation and will be the subject of myth and legend. These mighty warriors from beyond the stars are figures of awe, and their word is law. The nature of the trials set by the outsiders vary enormously, but all are so arduous that only a handful pass them. Those who fail may be lucky to even survive, for many trials take the form of ritual combat, the hunting of a great beast, or the performance of incredibly dangerous feats of strength and bravery. At the conclusion of the trials, those few Aspirants that have been deemed worthy are taken away, invariably never to see their people again.

It is always a great honour for a family to have a son chosen by the Space Marines, even for societies with little conception of the greater galaxy beyond their world. The Space Wolves are an example of this. The Wolf Priests of the Space Wolves scour the warring tribes of their homeworld Fenris for their strongest and bravest youths, while the Ultramarines traditionally draw their candidates from the elite training barracks of a whole group of planetary systems known collectively as Ultramar, the realm of the Ultramarines. Other Chapters have no single homeworld and travel the galaxy in gigantic fleets of battleships, recruiting either from a regular series of worlds or from the war zones to which they are assigned. The Black Templars are one such example of a fleet-based Chapter, as are the Dark Angels. Once accepted, the young Aspirants become Neophytes and begin their regimen of training and biological enhancement. Each Chapter has its own traditions regarding the initiation of the recruit into its legends and secrets. This process often runs parallel to the bio-genetic treatments the Neophyte must undergo. As the physical transformation proceeds, spiritual change also occurs. Both are tempered by ongoing experience on the field of battle and the rituals in which the Neophyte must participate. The nature of such rites varies enormously from one Chapter to the next.

Some are solemn affairs recalling the sacrifice the Emperor made for humanity. Others are raucous celebrations drawing on the culture and nature of the Chapter’s home world. Still more are bloody and barbaric involving ritual bloodletting, scarification, or amputation. All are vital to the arcane workings of the Chapter, and his participation is a prerequisite of the Neophyte’s acceptance by his would-be brothers-in-arms. Such are the rigors of the training that many do not survive. Whether he is crippled upon the battlefield, or found spiritually wanting during a particularly exacting ritual, a Neophyte may find himself cast out, his future with the Chapter curtailed. In some instances, the Neophyte may transgress one of the many articles of Chapter law, and injury at war may prove preferable to the punishment. Many possible fates await those who fall by the wayside in this manner. Most are mind-scrubbed and become Chapter Serfs—manservants and menials. The less fortunate are transformed into living, cybernetic Servitors—mindless biomechanical automatons who exist only to assist the Chapter’s Techmarines in the operation of heavy and frequently dangerous machinery. A very rare few may yet rise to positions of relative power within the Chapter’s feudal household, yet even the highest-ranked factotum is but a lowly, nameless servant in the eyes of the full Battle-Brothers.

The worlds that the Space Marines recruit from often have a wide range of legends regarding the Adeptus Astartes. As many of the communities in question are primitive or barbaric, the people regard the Space Marines as otherworldly figures, "angels of death" who arrive once in a generation to test them and carry away their strongest sons. On more advanced worlds, the people will have more of an understanding of who and what the Adeptus Astartes are regard the success of an Aspirant as an honour to the entire community. On some worlds, the knowledge that a distant ancestor was recruited into the Astartes is as good as a patent of nobility and portraits of the legendary hero adorn the walls and prayers are said to him as if he were a saint of the Imperial Cult in times of need.

Aspirant Trials

Aspirants to become Space Marines are expected to overcome many and varied trials before being accepted into the ranks of a Chapter's Neophytes. Though he will undergo continuous testing throughout his time as a Neophyte, and often well beyond after he becomes an Initiate or Scout Marine, the first trial the Aspirant must pass to be accepted as a potential Astartes is by far the most significant of his young life. The events he experiences during that trial will live on in his mind and heart for the rest of his potentially long, long life. Every Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes uses some form of Trial to ascertain whether Aspirants are worthy of beginning the often-fatal process of becoming fully-fledged Battle-Brothers. The nature of this Trial varies greatly from Chapter to Chapter and world to world. In some cases, a culture's traditional festivals and rites of passage are in fact well-disguised Trials, established generations before and watched over in secret by Chaplains or senior Chapter Serfs. In such cases, the Aspirants believe they are participating in tribal rituals and coming-of-age challenges, and are entirely unaware that the most promising of their number will be selected to become Space Marines (if they even know what Space Marines are!). In other cultures, the Aspirants fight for the honour to be judged worthy, knowing that a great reward awaits the victors.

Again, they may not know the exact nature of that reward, but to be chosen is the greatest of honours a young man can aspire to. Some Trials are watched over closely by the servants of the Chapter, who judge the Aspirant every step of the way. Others have no interest in the actual process, only the outcome. Some Trials are so arduous that the simple fact of an Aspirant's surviving it is sufficient to pronounce his victory. In other cases, the manner in which the Aspirant approaches the challenge is judged of more importance than whether or not he completes it--in some cases, the Trial is deliberately impossible to complete, and the Aspirant's willingness to undertake it regardless is all that matters. The vast majority of Aspirants fail their Trials and many of these die in the process--though a failed Aspirant who lives through the Trial often garners much honour within his culture, his mere survival rendering him a hero and a potential future leader of his people. At the Trial's completion, a successful Aspirant will be taken away to join the Chapter as a Neophyte. Sometimes he will find a Space Marine waiting for him at the conclusion of his challenge and be led into a waiting transport to leave his former life forever. Sometimes he will be afforded the adulation of his people before leaving, enjoying one last night with kith and kin. Many simply awaken in an induction-cell, with no knowledge of how they got there or what awaits them. In any case, the successful completion of their Trials allows an Aspirant to become a Neophyte of the Chapter, though now he must pass a battery of tests to determine if he is worthy of being implanted with the sacred and life-altering gene-seed organs of the Astartes.

Blood Duel Trial

One of the most common Aspirant Trials takes the form of a duel between Aspirants, often to the death. The type of duel varies enormously and every culture from which the Astartes recruit has its own well-established practices. On different worlds, different weapons will be used, or sometimes none at all as the combatants are expected to pummel, gouge and throttle one another bloody. Feral world tribes might use flint-tipped spears or the sharpened, serrated fangs of wild beasts. Feudal worlds with a medieval level of technology might use highly-ritualized forms of swordplay, while the most advanced Imperial worlds would have access to the full gamut of lethal weaponry. Commonly, a Blood Duel is fought in rounds, with Aspirants facing foe after foe until only a small number remain. If the Chapter conducting the Trial has need of a large number of recruits, the Trial may be ended when a set number of Aspirants are left. When the Chapter has less need of new Neophytes, the Trials may continue until only a single battered and bloody challenger remains, the corpses of his enemies carpeting the ground before him. Not all Blood Duels are to the death and some have highly ritualistic and specific victory conditions. Sometimes the duel is fought to first blood, other times to the very point of death. The Space Marine Apothecaries are capable of rebuilding a crippled body should the Aspirant be deemed worthy of acceptance, so most Blood Duels are brutal, no-holds-barred affairs. The Blood Angels Chapter is known to make extensive use of the Blood Duel Trial, but plenty of other Chapters make use of similar methods of choosing their recruits, including the Dark Angels, Imperial Fists, Storm Wardens and Space Wolves.

Hunting the Hunter Trial

Many of the cultures from which the Astartes recruits exist in hellishly dangerous environments populated by all manner of predatory beings. In most cases, the predators in question are autochthonic beasts native to the world, but sometimes they have been deliberately introduced in order to retard the culture's development, ensuring that their every moment is a fight for survival and cultivating the most promising recruits possible. In many cases the predators are human, such as the gelt-scalpers that prey on the outcasts of hive societies, culling the unwanted for monetary reward. Frontier worlds are often plagued by alien raiders, ranging from the dreaded and lethal Dark Eldar to the barbarous greenskinned Orks. This Trial requires the Aspirant to track down and slay, or sometimes capture, such a predator, turning the tables on those who prey upon his people and proving his worthiness to become an Astartes Neophyte. The hunt is a test of cunning and determination as much as raw martial prowess, often requiring the Aspirant to track his prey in its own territory. The hunt may last days, weeks or even longer according to the conditions of the Trial and the weapons the Aspirant can either find or fashion for himself. Taking the target alive is perhaps the hardest of Trials, for the Aspirant must keep the foe restrained on a return journey that might prove every bit as arduous as the hunt itself.

A variation of the hunt requires a number of Aspirants to hunt a single target, though only one may claim victory. Some of these Aspirants strike out on their own, even turning on their fellows when the opportunity arises. Others set aside their rivalry and work together until the end. Those Aspirants who survive must eventually fight one another for the honour of claiming victory. Whatever path the Aspirants take, the Chapter learns much about their potential recruits. At the conclusion of a Trial in which a prisoner is taken, it is common for the Aspirant to be required to slay his captive, often before his people in a highly ritualized deed akin to a ceremonial sacrifice. Thus, the blood offering is made and the victor led away to join the ranks of the sky warriors. The Space Wolves are known to use the Hunting the Hunter Trial, requiring the Aspirant to track and face a fearsome Fenrisian Wolf or a Snow Troll. The Dark Angels have a similar tradition drawn from the knightly orders of their lost homeworld of Caliban and often require Aspirants to track and kill fearsome beasts mutated by the powers of Chaos.

Survival of the Fittest Trial

It is often said that in the dark future of the 41st Millennium there is only war. No world is untouched by bloodshed and death and for many human societies war is a permanent state of existence. Many of the worlds from which Space Marine Chapters recruit are not home to a single, unified society, but rather a host of small tribes constantly at war with one another. In such societies, Trials are all but unnecessary and instead of staging formal tests and challenges the Space marines simply watch these wars from afar, witness the deeds of the greatest heroes and select the victors as Aspirants. Hive worlds often fall into this category, especially the lawless underhives and the polluted ash wastes between the hive cities. Gangs of savage psychopaths battle one another ceaselessly for power and influence and the greatest of these gang leaders sometimes attract the attentions of the servants of the Chapter. In most cases, the Space Marines need to do little more than watch the wars, but in some instances they actively take a hand in fomenting conflict and strife. By limiting the technology levels of a society, curtailing its access to natural resources, infiltrating it with Chapter serfs who spread hate, lies and paranoia, and occasionally even introducing psychosis-inducing substances into the food chain, the Astartes can ensure there is no break in the constant state of warfare that produces the Chapter's next heroes. The Chapters best known for practicing this type of Trial are the Space Wolves, who watch from afar as entire tribes on their frigid homeworld of Fenris wipe one another out in bloody internecine wars. Many other Chapters use similar methods as well, including the Dark Angels and their Unforgiven Successor Chapters.

Exposure Trial

Few worlds of the Imperium of Man are free from adversity and these rare exceptions are either the holdings of wealthy mercantile combines or pleasure retreats for retired, high-level Imperial servants or the local sector nobility, entirely inaccessible to the vast bulk of Mankind. Most of the Emperor's subjects live on worlds that are dangerous in some manner. Long-settled planets are riven by pollution, the toxic waste of thousands of years of industry seeping into the very bedrock and raining from the skies in a constant downpour. Other worlds are heavily irradiated, by the processes of industry or by the effects of local celestial phenomena. Younger worlds where Mankind's dominion is not yet fully established, are often host to all manner of hostile lifeforms, including predatory beasts, carnivorous plants and virulent microbes. Plenty of worlds feature environments that are inimical to life, yet due to some natural resource or the world's strategic value, humans eke out an existence there nonetheless. Such environments range from sub-zero ice wastes, impenetrable swamps and arid deserts to exotic death world jungles, methane sumps and hydrocarbon oceans. In an Exposure Trial, the Aspirant must go out into such an environment and simply survive for a set period of time. If he is a native of such a hellish place, the Aspirant will have some knowledge of how to survive, yet is shorn of all aid and divested of all but the most basic of survival equipment. Communities living in the midst of a death world jungle, for example, rely on total and constant cooperation just to go on existing another day and none are ever out of the sight of another. An Exposure Trial in such a place would force the Aspirant to go out into the jungle alone and face the terrors of the wild with only himself to rely upon for the first time in his life.

Some Exposure Trials test the Aspirant's fortitude in a specific environment. Such Trials carried out in an icy waste could involve the Aspirant travelling from one point to another, with countless hundreds of kilometers of trackless snow-blasted plains separating the two. Other Aspirants might have to cross an entire continent of irradiated ash dunes, traverse an impassable mountain range, swim a predator-infested ocean or a hundred other such challenges. One particularly inventive variation of the Exposure Trial is one in which the Aspirant is taken from his own environment and transplanted into an entirely unfamiliar one. A Feral World savage might be deposited in a hive city, for example, or a Hive Worlder in a predator-infested Death World jungle. Many Exposure Trials are impossible to complete, entailing the Aspirant simply staying alive as long as possible. Those who face the impossible without faltering and who survive long past the point they should have perished are recovered by the Chapter's Apothecaries, often having succumbed but not yet died, and revived, having been judged worthy of becoming an Astartes Neophyte. Amongst other types of Trial, the Ultramarines make extensive use of the Exposure Trial. In fact, some of the warrior elite of the Realm of Ultramar are known to cast newborn infants into the wilderness in order to test their resilience. The Space Wolves use similar methods, as do many other Chapters.

Knowledge of Self Trial

The horrors that a Space Marine will witness during his service to the Emperor are sufficient to destroy a normal man's sanity and those witnessed by the Battle-Brothers who serve in the special Astartes units like the Grey Knights and the Deathwatch are more horrifying still. Many Chapters consider the Aspirant's spiritual and mental capabilities every bit as important as his physical characteristics and impose Trials not of the body, but of the mind. There are hundreds--if not thousands--of ways in which a Chapter can test an Aspirant's inner strength. One method is a vision, imposed by way of psychic intrusion by one of the Chapter's Librarians. The Aspirant may be plunged into a trance-like state during which he is subjected to all manner of horrific visions or irresistible temptations. He faces creatures dredged up from his own nightmares and phantoms seeded in his mind by the Librarian, who presides over the Trial and judges the Aspirant's very soul. Some Trials are far cruder; the Aspirant is simply administered some powerful psychoactive concoction, often distilled from the venom of local predators or the sap of rare plants. Under the influence of such drugs, the Aspirant must face the very worst his own psyche can produce, terrors often far worse than a Librarian could implant. Many die under the sheer stress and trauma placed on their hearts during the process and those that survive will be utterly changed--physically as well as mentally. Another common variation of this Trial is exposure to pain. There are myriad different ways in which pain can be applied, some primitive, others fiendishly inventive. Some torments leave the Aspirant scarred for life, though the scars are proudly borne as evidence of his mental strength. Others, such as the infamous Pain-Glove used by the Imperial Fists Chapter, leave no marks, interfacing directly with the Aspirant's nervous system and keeping his conscious long past the point he would otherwise have passed out. Though the Imperial Fists are the best known practitioners of this type of Trial, many other Chapters use it too, especially those that recruit from feral societies with strong shamanic tendencies. The Black Templars use similar methods but eschew the use of drugs or technology, instead requiring an Aspirant to fast or pray for days on end until a similar effect is achieved.

Challenge Trial

A Trial used by a smaller number of Chapters, the Challenge requires the Aspirant to fight a duel or compete in some other manner against a full Astartes. In truth, none expect the Aspirant to better a full Battle-Brother and his success is more often measured in the degree of his failure. Very occassionally, an Aspirant does manage to beat an Astartes and when this happens it is not uncommon for the individual to go on to become a legendary hero of the Chapter. Many Challenge Trials involve a test of martial skill, with the Aspirant fighting an armed duel against a Battle-Brother. It is usual for the Aspirant to be armed and the Astartes to fight with his bare hands and probably without his Power Armour, yet still the Aspirant has virtually no hope of victory. Most Challenge Duels end in the death of the Aspirant, for even an unarmed, unarmoured Astartes is a giant compared to the young, adolescent challenger and well able to slay him with a single blow, intentionally or not. Other Challenge Trials involve contests of strength, stamina, speed, skill or mental strength. The Trial might range from the lifting of impossibly heavy loads to the imbibing of toxic substances. As with a duel, this type of Challenge Trial can often prove deadly. In both cases, however, an Aspirant that has failed the Trial -- yet performed to the Chapter's satisfaction -- is rescued from the jaws of death by the Chapter's Apothecaries and judged worthy of progressing to the rank of Neophyte. Several Chapters are known to make use of the Challenge Trial, including the Ultramarines, Imperial Fists, Storm Wardens and Iron Snakes.

Gene-Seed

The gene-seed of an Astartes is the foreign genetic material originally engineered using one of the Primarchs' genomes as a foundation. The gene-seed develops into the special organs that are then implanted into a potential Space Marine's body. These gene-seed organs are responsible for most of a Space Marine's physical enhancements over baseline human capability. All Space Marine gene-seed was originally cultivated by the Emperor himself from the DNA of the Emperor's 20 genetically-engineered sons (each son being the Primarch of one of the 20 Space Marine Legions of the First Founding), and is a rare and precious resource for the Space Marines of the Imperium, even in death. The biotechnology necessary to create new gene-seed has long been forgotten or lost to humanity; therefore, it must be cultivated from dead/dying Astartes warriors and returned to the Chapter's Apothecaries, who will oversee the creation of new Astartes from the Chapter's raw recruits. The gene-seed is the very essence of a Space Marine Chapter and it carries each of the characteristics that are particularly unique to a given Chapter, be they mental, physical, spiritual, or martial.

Unfortunately, Space Marine gene-seed is vulnerable to mutations over time, which can phenotypically manifest in various ways. In addition, there are various genetic flaws that have developed in the gene-seed, the majority of which derive from the particularities of each Primarch's genetic code. It is these mutations that led to the emergence of the Flaws in the Blood Angels' gene-seed (specifically their susceptibility to the conditions known as the Black Rage and the Red Thirst), the "Mark of the Wulfen" for the Space Wolves or the rapidly increasing rate of mutation that afflicts the Renegade Soul Drinkers Chapter.

It must also be noted that the presently existing Space Marine Chapters are more numerous than the original 20 Space Marine Legions, excluding those two Legions that were removed from Imperial records. Only the original 9 Legions that remained loyal to the Emperor during the Horus Heresy produced the numerous Space Marine Chapters of the Second Founding who share traits with their founder Chapter, which is itself the remnant of one of the Loyalist Legions.

During the recruitment and enhancement process, some Aspirants may not survive the rigors of training and the later medical treatments one must undergo to become a full-fledged Battle-Brother of the Chapter. First and foremost, a potential Space Marine recruit must be male, as the gene-seed and the developing Space Marine organs are compatible only with male hormones and genetics. Trying to implant a woman with Space Marine gene-seed would result only in a painful, agonizing death. The three following requirements also apply:

Space Marine Aspirants must be adolescents or very young adults, as the implants must be able to coordinate with a human male's natural growth hormones during adolescence to stimulate the growth and development of the various unique physiological features of a Space Marine. In specific terms, the recruit must be about 10-16 Terran standard years of age, although the process has been documented to still work in recruits as old as 20 as long as they have not yet reached their full adult growth.

Much like a blood transfusion or organ transplant, there must be immunogenetic compatibility between the recruit and the implants; otherwise organ failure may result, causing the recruit to die or simply degenerate into a state of madness as their own tissues come under autoimmune attack.

The mental state of a potential Space Marine must also be susceptible to the various training and psycho-conditioning regimes of the Chapter and cannot already be tainted by the Ruinous Powers of Chaos.

These three main criteria bar all except a minuscule percentage of human males within the Imperium of Man from becoming Space Marines. If all the tests prove successful, the Space Marine recruit transforms from a Neophyte into a Scout Marine or even a full Initiate depending on the Chapter's individual organisation. The recruit is then taken to live at the Chapter's fortress-monastery where he is instructed in the ways of battle and taught the values and history of the Chapter. At this stage, organ implantation, psycho-conditioning, and physical training begin. Each step in this stage has its own dangers, ensuring that only the truly worthy initiates become Space Marines. After several years of training, conditioning, and implantation surgeries the Initiate becomes a true Astartes, undergoes his Rites of Fire in his first combat action, and becomes a true Battle-Brother of his Chapter.

Implantation of Astartes Organs

Nineteen genetically-engineered organs grown from the Chapter's gene-seed are implanted in a Neophyte's body to further bolster his combat and survival ability should he live to become a full Battle-Brother and Initiate of the Chapter. Many of these organs are cultured in vitro from the gene-seed, whilst others require that the gene-seed be injected into the Aspirant's body and then grow into a new organ using the implantee's own physiological processes. All Space Marine Chapters use the gene-seed organs to unleash and control the metabolic processes that transform an ordinary mortal into a Space Marine. The gene-seed itself is encoded with all the genetic information needed to reshape ordinary human cell clusters into the special organs Space Marines possess in those instances where they are not directly implanted after being cultured outside the body. The gene-seed contains genetically-engineered viral machines which rebuild the male human body according to the biological template contained within it and created by the Emperor. However, even from the beginning of the Astartes' existence, there was never a set way to activate these transformative functions of the gene-seed.

During the First Founding of the 30th Millennium when the Space Marine Legions were first created, the process was still highly experimental and many different ways of controlling and managing the transformation from mortal into Astartes were tried. This led to the Space Wolves using the ritual known as Blooding, the Imperial Fists using the process known as the Hand of Faith, the White Scars conducting the Rites of the Risen Moon and the Blood Angels using the ritual of Insanguination.

Each implant has a high margin of catastrophic metabolic failure and physiological rejection and so only a small number of Neophytes live to become Initiates of the Chapter and enter the 10th Company as Scout Marines. Many Chapters have lost the knowledge needed to culture new versions of some of these implants, and therefore, must ensure this gene-seed is recovered from dead Battle-Brothers. Amongst the crucial implants are the Interface, better known as the Black Carapace, and the Progenoid Glands, without which a Chapter would die out fairly quickly. The gene-seed organs must be implanted into an adolescent human male for the process to have the greatest chance of success no later than his 16th year, though it is medically possible to begin the process as late as 18 years of age before full growth has been reached in the early 20's. However, a gene-seed organ implantation procedure done at this late stage in the boy's growth will as likely kill him as not. In general, most Space Marine Chapters prefer to begin the process sometime between the ages of 10 and 14 years. The full list of 19 gene-seed organs, presented in the order in which they must be implanted within a Space Marine Neophyte, is as follows:

Secondary Heart (The Maintainer) - This is the first and least difficult implant to install. The Secondary Heart increases blood supply and pumping capacity and is capable of taking over entirely should the primary heart fail. It may also pump steroids and adrenaline into the first, primary heart to give the Astartes an extra "rush" of energy on the battlefield.

Ossmodula (The Ironheart) - This implant strengthens and greatly accelerates the growth of the skeleton of a Space Marine by inducing his bones to absorb a ceramic-based mineral administered in every Astartes Neophyte's diet. Within two years after the surgery, the Space Marine's skeleton will be larger and exponentially stronger than a normal man's with growth having topped out at around 7-7.5 feet in height with an equivalent amount of skeleto-muscular mass. An Astartes' rib cage will also be fused into a solid bone plate to provide greater protection from injury for the internal organs.

Biscopea (The Forge of Strength) - Implanted into the chest cavity, this implant massively bolsters skeletomuscular development and muscle fiber density throughout the Astartes' body by unleashing a wave of human growth hormones. This gene-seed organ is commonly implanted at the same time as the Ossmodula since it is necessary to successfully regulate the Ossmodula's hormonal secretions and it will also regulate the hormonal changes caused to the new Astartes' body by many of the other gene-seed implants.

Haemastamen (The Blood Maker) - Implanted into a main blood vessel like the aorta, femoral artery or the vena cava, the Haemastamen alters an Astartes' blood's biochemical composition to carry oxygen and nutrients more efficiently. The actions of the Haemastamen turn a Space Marine's blood a brighter shade of red than that of normal humans because of its greatly increased oxygen-carrying capacity. It also acts to biochemically regulate the actions of the 2nd and 3rd gene-seed implants, the Ossmodula and Biscopea.

Larraman's Organ (The Healer) - Shaped like the human liver but only the size of a golf ball, this gene-seed organ is placed within the chest cavity and manufactures the synthetic biological cells known as Larraman Cells.These biosynthetic cells serve the same physiological purpose for an Astartes as the normal human body's platelets, serving to clot the blood lost from wounds, but they act faster, more efficiently and more effectively. When a Space Marine is wounded and incurs blood loss, Larraman Cells are released by his circulatory system, attached to the body's normal leukocytes (white blood cells). At the site of the injury, they form scar tissue in a matter of seconds, effectively preventing massive blood loss and infection of the wound. The action of this organ is one of the reasons that the Space Marines are seen as nearly invincible and so difficult to kill despite the terrible wounds they sometimes endure.

Catalepsean Node (The Unsleeping) - Implanted into the back of the cerebrum, this implant allows a Space Marine to avoid sleep, instead entering an almost comatose trance where their minds "recharge". It also allows one half of the brain to rest while the other hemisphere remains alert, thus removing the need for the unconsciousness required by normal sleep. The longest any Space Marine has ever been on active combat duty without rest is 328 hours, achieved by a squad of the Crimson Fists Kill-team during the battle against the Orks for Rynn's World.

Preomnor (The Neutraliser) - The Preomnor is essentially an organic decontamination chamber that is implanted inside the chest cavity and connected to the digestive system, above the original stomach so that no actual digestion occurs in the Preomnor. It is capable of biochemically analyzing ingested materials and neutralizing most known biochemical and inorganic toxins. The Preomnor enables the Astartes to eat normally inedible substances and resist any poisons he may ingest.

Omophagea (The Remembrancer) - Implanted into the upper spinal cord so that it becomes a component of the central nervous system, this organ is designed to absorb information and any DNA, RNA or protein sequences related to experience or memory. This enables the Space Marine to gain information, in a survival or tactical sense, simply by eating an animal indigenous to an alien world and then experiencing some of what that creature did before its death. Over time, mutations in this implant's gene-seed have given some Chapters an unnatural craving for blood or flesh.

Multi-lung (The Imbiber) - The Multi-lung is a third lung implanted into an Astartes' pulmonary and circulatory systems in the chest cavity that is able to absorb oxygen from environments usually too poor in oxygen to allow normal human respiratory functioning. Breathing is accomplished through a sphincter implanted into the trachea, allowing all three lungs to be used at full capacity. In toxic environments, a similar muscle closes off the normal lungs, thus oxygen is absorbed exclusively by the Multi-lung, which then filters out the poisonous or toxic elements.

Occulobe (The Eye of Vengeance) - Essentially, the Occulobe is a gene-seed organ that enhances an Astartes' eyesight after being implanted along the optic nerve and connected to the retina, granting him exceptional vision and the ability to see normally in a low-light environment.

Lyman's Ear (The Sentinel) - This gene-seed organ implant renders a Space Marine immune to dizziness and motion-induced nausea, and enables an Astartes to consciously filter out "white noise" or resist other sonic attacks.

Sus-an Membrane (The Hibernator) - This implant allows a Space Marine to enter a catatonic or "suspended animation" state and is implanted within the brain near the pituitary gland as a part of the body's endocrine system. It can allow a mortally wounded Astartes to survive his injuries, and bring the metabolism to a standstill until he can receive full medical care. Only the appropriate chemical therapy or hypnotic auto-suggestion can revive a Space Marine from this state. The longest recorded period for this form of hibernation was endured by Battle-Brother Silas Err of the Dark Angels Chapter, who was in Sus-an hibernation for 567 standard years.

Melanochrome - Linked into the endocrine system via the lymphatic system, this gene-seed organ alters the pigment cells in the skin, which allows the Astartes' skin to shield him from otherwise dangerous levels of radiation and heat. Different levels of radiation cause variations of skin color in different Chapters due to mutations in the Melanochrome organ's gene-seed. This can be related to the unusually pale skin of the Blood Angels and their Successor Chapters and the dark black skin and red eyes of the Salamanders.

Oolitic Kidney (The Purifier) - This gene-seed organ works in conjunction with the Preomnor, filtering the blood to remove toxins that have been ingested or breathed into the body. However, this detoxification process renders the Astartes unconscious once it begins, so it can be very dangerous if required during combat. Under normal circumstances, the Oolitic Kidney also acts as a regulatory organ for the Astartes physiology, maintaining the efficient action of the Space Marine's advanced circulatory system and the proper functioning of his other organs, implanted or otherwise.

Neuroglottis (The Devourer) - This gene-seed organ implanted in the mouth allows an Astartes to biochemically assess a wide variety of things simply by taste or smell, biochemically testing various objects for toxicity and nutritional content, essentially determining if the substance is edible or poisonous. From poisons to chemicals to animals, a Space Marine can even track his quarry by taste or smell alone, much like the average canine bred for tracking.

Mucranoid (The Weaver) - This gene-seed organ is implanted within the central nervous system and responds to specific chemical stimuli in the environment, causing the Space Marine to secrete a waxy protein substance similar to mucus through his pores that seals his skin. The gland's operations must first be activated by an external chemical treatment, usually self-administered, before it will activate. Space Marines are cocooned in this way before they enter suspended animation, and the process can even protect them from the harshness of the vacuum and other extremes of temperature, particularly deeply frigid environments.

Betcher's Gland (The Poison Bite) - Actually consisting of 2 separate glands implanted into multiple locations inside an Astartes' mouth, including the inside of the lower lip, in the salivary glands or in the hard palette, these two glands work in tandem to transform a Space Marine's saliva into a corrosive, blinding acid when consciously triggered. An Astartes trapped behind iron bars, for example, would be able to chew his way out given a few hours. These implants' more common use is to aid in the digestion of unusually difficult or impossible things to digest, such as cellulose. In the gene-seed of several Primarchs, like that of Rogal Dorn, this organ has atrophied and is no longer as effective or has simply ceased to function entirely in the Astartes of the Chapters that use those Primarchs' gene-seed.

Progenoid Glands (The Gene-Seeds) - Implanted into both the neck and the chest cavity, these reproductive glands serve to collect, gestate and maintain the gene-seed from a Space Marine's body, and to safeguard it for the continuity of a Chapter. These organs hormonally respond to the presence of the other Astartes gene-seed implants in the body by creating germ cells with DNA identical to that of those implants through a process very similar to cellular mitosis. These germ cells grow and are stored in the Progenoid organs, much like sperm cells or egg cells are stored in the testes and ovaries of normal men and women. When properly cultured by the Apothecaries of a Space Marine Chapter, these germ cells can be gestated into each of the 19 gene-seed organs needed to create a new Space Marine. Thus, for most Astartes, their Progenoid Glands represent the only form of reproduction they will ever know, though the DNA passed on will be that of their Primarch, not their own. The neck gland can be removed after 5 years, and the chest gland after 10 years; both are then used to create new gene-seed organs for the development of the next generation of Space Marines.

The Black Carapace (Interface) - The last and possibly most important of all gene-seed implants, this neuroreactive, fibrous organic material is implanted directly under the skin in the chest area of the hardened and shell-like rib cage of the Astartes Neophyte. Invasive fibre bundles that serve as neuron connectors then grow inward from the implant and interlink with the Space Marine's central nervous system. Points pre-cut into the Carapace before its implantation by the Apothecary are effectively neural connection points, allowing an Astartes to directly interface his central nervous system with his suit of Power Armour's Machine Spirit so that the suit can provide enhanced protection and combat maneuverability unavailable to an unaltered human wearing the same armour.

Throughout the implantation process, a Space Marine Neophyte must undergo multiple regimens of chemical and hyno-theraphy treatments in order for the implanted organs to develop normally and function properly so that they integrate without mishap into the new Astartes' physiology. Too many Neophytes have been lost during the implantation process as their bodies proved critically unable to meet the new biochemical and hormonal stress being placed upon them. For these unlucky individuals, the only recourse is usually euthanasia or being reduced to a mindless cybernetic Servitor who can still prove to be of at least marginal use to the Chapter. The full course of implantation surgeries begins under ideal conditions between the ages of 10-14 years as outlined below:

Age 10-14: The Secondary Heart, Ossmodula and Biscopea are implanted, with the Ossmodula and the Biscopea usually being implanted during the same surgical procedure.

Age 12-14: The Haemastamen and the Larraman's Organ are implanted. This surgery can be difficult for Neophytes at the older end of this age range, who have less time to recover from the previous surgeries and the effects of the implants upon their rapidly growing adolescent bodies.

Age 14-17: Once the Catalepsean Node is implanted at the sixth stage of the process, the Neophyte begins his hypno-therapy conditioning in the device known as a Hypnomat.

Age 14-16: The Preomnor, Omophagea, and Multi-lung are all implanted within the Neophyte simultaneously in the same surgical procedure, some time during this age range but after the Catalepsean Node has been implanted and hypno-therapy has already begun. The Occulobe, Lyman's Ear, and the Sus-an Membrane can also be implanted at any time during this age range, also usually during the same surgical procedure.

Age 15-16: The Melanochrome, Oolitic Kidney, and Neuroglottis are ideally implanted during this age range, all during the same surgical procedure.

Age 16-18: The remaining gene-seed implants, the Mucranoid, Betcher's Gland, Progenoid Glands and the Black Carapace, are implanted in that order at any time between the ages of 16 to 18 standard years. The idea is to be able to introduce a Neophyte into a Chapter's company of Scout Marines by the time his adult growth has been reached, usually around 18 years of age, though some Neophytes have become Scouts as early as the age of 16 if their implantation process began at the young end of the age ranges given here.

Conditioning

In addition to the extensive implantation process for the gene-seed organs, the Astartes Neophyte undergoes chemical treatment, psychological conditioning, and subconscious hypnotherapy, all the while spending every waking hour honing his combat skills with ceaseless battle training. Until his acceptance as a full Initiate and Battle-Brother of his Chapter, a Neophyte must submit to constant tests and examinations by the Chapter Apothecaries. The newly implanted organs must be monitored very carefully, imbalances corrected, and any sign of corrupt or deviant development treated. This chemical treatment is reduced after completion of the initiation process, but it never ends. Space Marines undergo periodic drug treatment for the rest of their lives in order to maintain a stable metabolism. To this end, Space Marine Power Armour contains extensive physiological monitoring and drug dispensation equipment. As the super-enhanced body grows, the recipient of the gene-seed organs must learn how to use his new skills. Some of the implants, specifically the Catalespean Node and Occulobe, can only function once correct hypnotherapy has been administered. Hypnotherapy is not always as effective as chemical treatment, but it can have substantial results. If a Space Marine can be taught how to control his own metabolism, his dependence on drugs is lessened. The process is undertaken in a machine called a Hypnomat. Space Marines are placed in a state of hypnosis and subjected to visual and aural images in order to awaken their minds to their unconscious metabolic processes.

A Space Marine is more than just a human being with extraordinary powers. Just as their bodies receive 19 separate gene-seed implants, so their minds are altered to release the latent powers that lie within all human minds, and these are not the psychic powers of the Warp but the intrinsic . These mental powers are, if anything, more extraordinary than even the physical powers endowed by the gene-seed implants. For example, a Space Marine can control his senses and nervous system to a remarkable degree, and can consequently endure pain that would kill a normal man. A Space Marine can also think and react at lightning speeds. Memory training is an important part of the Astartes' psycho-indoctrination as well and some Space Marines develop photographic memories in the course of their psycho-conditioning and hypnotherapy. Space Marines, of course, vary in intelligence as do other men, and their individual mental abilities vary to some degree, as their implants do not reshape their core neural architecture, though the hypnotherapy does act to "smooth out" many personality quirks. This indoctrination also includes psychological conditioning which is intended to reinforce a Space Marine's respect for authority and his willingness to follow orders regardless of his own desires, as well as to harden his mind to the corruptive temptations offered by Chaos. It is no exaggeration to say that many Astartes truly no longer know fear. At the end of this process, if all goes well, an adolescent human male will have been transformed into a superhuman Astartes.Yet, in many ways he will no longer truly be human, having sacrificed his own humanity so that he might protect that of others.

Source: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com

#warhammer 40k #horus heresy #adeptus astartes #adeptus arbites #adeptus custodes #adeptus mechanicus #adeptus sororitas #astra militarum #Adeptus Astra Telepathica #officio assassinorum

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frostbite883-archive · 7 years ago

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DBM Bra hating

These comments won’t be in order. With that said..let’s do it to it.

Tregrenos

So, is it Hyukhyuks turn to eat a Senzu in the middle of the match?

#GetGudBra

Me:...I doubt that would happen seeing as that hulking monster never did carried senzu beans after it’s ‘birth’.

A Poverty-Stricken Antelope

@Tregrenos

Now I understand another reason why I hate Bra: she heals mid-match like a little bi***. She wouldn't last 10 seconds in a Dark Souls duel.

Me: So you say.

Itsarge (gamergater or former GGer) and snowflake exchanging some words with each other.

snowflake:

My view on Bra: She's an awkward character. Literally. She's an entitled princess of a Deity-God-Warrior and Bulma, so she's a overpowered brat with a genius level IQ, and obsessed with strength and being better than everyone, which makes her relationships very one-sided and binary. She literally divides the world up into people stronger than her and not stronger than her, and only acknowledges one person as legitimately stronger than her. No, seriously. It's a problem. Try writing like a tomboy teenage girl would talk, who's obsessed with beating everyone she comes across. At best it would come out as parody. It is hard to find that voice, and harder still to make it resonate with a predominately male audience, and yet harder STILL to do it within the confines of traditional shonen story-telling, from which DBZ is inspired. So Salagir took cues from cocky, pre-redemption Vegeta (not a bad idea). But I believe it only jarred the readers more. The gender-swap seemed obvious and artificial and distracted the reader from the story. The same problem occurs in superhero comics. Iron Man? Everyone accepts that a white dude of indeterminate age can be of genius level intellect, have his own company, and be a superhero/playboy in his copious spare time. Riri Williams? A 15 year old black girl who reverse-engineered Iron Man's tech? Whom he then decided to fund and sponsor? UNBELIEVABLE, according to the backlash. Not a real Iron Man/War Machine, it was obvious that the writers simply "made her up." X-23, Laura Kinney? Not a true Wolverine. "Just created as fan-service." Dr. Jane Foster? Not a real Thor. "Just a writer gimmick." This begs the question, why not? What dissolves the suspension of disbelief with these characters, while the suspension of disbelief is limitless with traditional characters? People claim they want new and interesting stories and challenging plots and characters, the same way they claim they want to lose weight. But they really don't. They want the old chestnuts, the familiar, the predictable. The sugar and the salt. If a story is predictable, you don't have to think about it too much. It won't upset you. People dislike being upset. Shonen style stories are the most predictable on the planet. Good always wins. Evil is punished. Virtue is rewarded, and sins are rebuked and/or reprimanded. Good guys and bad guys are obvious and look the part. So Salagir set himself up with challenge in U16 Bra: an unsympathetic, one-dimensional character who happens to be a girl whose cockiness and obsession with strength is/was rewarded, not punished. Her morality is questionable. It's a deliberate inversion of the typical shonen character. But plot-wise, U16 is integral to the story. So she had to wear Plot Armor from the beginning, as well. Also DBM is moving along, plot-wise, at the pace of Freeza's kitchen timer. And there's also a peanut gallery of readers dissecting everything you do every page? Uh-oh...

ltsarge:

Regarding their statement people could buy iron man cause he is a white male... You know I take issue when people bring this line of thinking up. I think their iron heart girl, being a 15 year old black girl is a total cash grab gimmick appealing to their xtreme social left. In the same way that female Thor was a giant feminist spectacle that literally went around beating up misogynists. I don't think it's unreasonable to call out this type of pandering where it's seen. If marvel really wanted a black female heroine to take up the reigns of them iron man, they could have gone with this character. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_Knight It would be way more believable for an previously established in comics older black lady who has personally designed by tony stark tech, to take up the Ironman mantle than some 15 year old prodigy made up whole cloth. Same with female thor. If she - hulk or black widow went around welding his hammer (them latter which has occured), I would totally buy it. Having some super powered feminist be the new thor, and telling thor to check his privelege seems almost a parody of sjw influence in comics, yet it's played horribly straight. Sorry for the digression in this thread

snowflake:

But the entire superhero genre is pandering. Captain America punching Hitler? Meek and Mild-Mannered Clark Kent becoming Superman beating up anyone and anything with complete moral justification? Batman being the God-Damnned Batman? Itsarge - In the same way that female Thor was a giant feminist spectacle that literally went around beating up misogynists. That's a totally legitimate power-fantasy. It's just not aimed at you. At least you can console yourself it's likely to fail commercially. And just wait until the Enchantress gets her hands on her! As for Misty Knight, they were probably wanting to avoid anything smacking of blaxploitation. In fact, since Riri Williams looks like her exactly, she'll probably end up being a clone or something. Anyway, my point is that female superheroes are a challenge. They're a challenge to draw (how sexy is too sexy? how muscular is too muscular?). They're a challenge to write. They're challenging to present in an appealing light, and they're a challenge to plot for. And then there's the audience predisposed to hostility against such characters, and then there's the fact it's on the internet, which simply makes everything worse!

ltsarge:

1st up, female superheroes are not a challenge. Just focus on making a good character, that happens to be female. Black Widow, Ripley, Sarah Connor, Lara Croft, Rukia, Riza Hawkeye, Winry Rockbell, Bulma Fucking Briefs... (I can go on but you get my drift.) 2nd. Anyone complaining about them being too sexy is either a prude or hypocrite, considering the over masculine features of male heroes which gives plenty of fanservice to people who like men. And before anyone says any Anita Sarkeesian-esque excuse about how male superheros having amazing body appeal to the male power-fantasy, go do a cursory google image search on any male hero, ESPECIALLY if they anime, and take off your parental filters. You will see endless fan art of male characters from Ichigo to wolverine to Raiden who are all in sexually explicit poses, if not flat out porn of them. Probably the latter. Hell just look at fucking Twilight series if you want an entire series dedicated to the female gaze upon appealing strong masculine figures. The point is, if you're overly concerned about the sexual imagery of a female character, you're in either fear of the rabid feminist crow, or possibly the overly conservative crowd. Considering their are female characters throughout comics and anime that are sexually appealing but renownly well written speaks volumes on how little an artist or writer should give a fuck about whether they are too muscular or sexy. 3rd. Regarding superhero pandering like Captain America punching Hitler (or similar heroes punch insert political villain) in the face. You may note that is something that is often mocked by comic book fans for how politically charged and nationalistic it was. If that low bar is what we are setting as defense for female thor, than sure, well than I guess those examples of bad writing justifies absurd levels of feminist pandering.

4th. Most of the arguments brought forth in the discussions regarding all this since the comment about "people are more willing to allow for a white male Iron man, but not Insert minority character" that have emerged as defense of bra, seem to be desperate attempts of justifications for an overall badly done character. You don't need testicles or white pigmentation and blue irises to recognize the Bra for the most part has not jived with the fan base. I've made a hefty list in this thread of why her character has problems, and none of them are because she has a vagina. In fact, I have criticized many of Salagir's Original Characters for the same reasons, but Bra has either more or all of the flaws of the others such as Gast or King Cold. Let's be real. If Bra was not a female character, people who defend her would not have certain cards in their arsenal. If this character was Vegeta, and I was defending her, you wouldn't see me saying "Oh you vegeta haters dislike Vegeta because he's a male. You are all sexist!" or "its difficult to right an arrogant MALE character from space" I don't give a fuck that Bra is a strong female character. I give a fuck that her blatant mary sue traits are not addressed, and in story she's not criticized for being a bratty person. Just because there is a lack of "strong female" characters in DBZ cannon (not complete absence, as there are still many in DB/DBZ), is not a good excuse for building a shitty one. We don't need affirmative action in comics or fan comics. If people want to make a strong female character, that's good, that's fine! But if there is one that's made that has HUGE FLAWS, we shouldn't say "Well, there are no other strong female characters, so thank god for BRA."

snowflake:

Well, on the flip side, if Bra was male, I doubt we'd get as much demands for PUNISHMENT!1!11 or "Punch me harder, Daddy" jokes. At this point, we'll just agree to disagree. We're talking past each other. I have faith that all of your complaints with U16 Bra will be addressed in the story eventually. U18 and U16 have had limited interaction since the beginning of the story. There's a reason for that.

ltsarge:

I'd be happy to argue at length over female portrayals vs male, so if u'd like to merge some of this over to a new thread that be fine with me.

Me: Hopefully, they don’t do that. Not because I think they’ll lose any argument or whatever you’d have with them, but out of the fact that whenever they DO point out flaws in your arguments and show you evidence you’ll just conveniently ignore them. You’re def. not someone worth conversing with.

Me: And seriously, why would you liked their last post to you?

prphd and ltsarge like this

Me: I mean with the way you went after them, I’d rather they didn’t get a like from you let alone anything else (although, this could be your way of respecting your opponent or whatever you would refer to them as, still, it doesn’t make it any less awkward seeing as how antagonistic you had been towards that person, a stranger no less...who you try to inject your thoughts and feelings towards while replying to their post when it wasn’t warranted).

Me: And some Anti-SJWs wonder, bitterly, on why some social justice advocates don’t take them seriously. Let alone obligate themselves to even talk things out with them.

#post #webcomic #Dragon Ball Multiverse #Universe 16 Bra

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scope-dogg · 8 years ago

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Star Knight Tekkaman Blade: Final full impressions

I just got finished watching Tatsunoko’s classic sci-fi series Tekkaman Blade. While it’s not really a true mecha series and is more of an armoured superhero series, it falls close enough to the genre to receive representation in two Super Robot Wars games and come strongly recommended by 4chan’s /m/. It was a darker and edgier spinoff of Tatsunoko’s classic Tekkaman franchise that went on to build a distinct identity all of its own. While I don’t think this series was perfect, it was still very strong overall, particularly in its story, and made a very strong impression on me. While watching requires a little patience to endure an early plot that moves fairly slowly, as well as the ability to overlook some questionable animation choices and rough visuals, anyone who puts time into this series is going to be rewarded with a memorable experience.

The setup is kind of unique in that it puts the Earth in one of the most perilous and terrifying scenarios that I can think of in a story like this. Humanity built a massive Orbital Ring around the world to facilitate space travel and ease the burden of pollution on the Earth’s surface. Everything seems peachy until the Ring is overrun with nightmarish space monsters, that take over the Ring’s weapons and turn them against the surface, all the while sending alien beasts torrenting downwards to massacre humans and then transform into bizarre alien vegetation that threatens to change the very face of planet Earth itself. Earth seems to have no hope remaining, until a mysterious armoured warrior called Tekkaman Blade falls from space and finds himself in the hands of the Outer Space Development Group. He is seemingly a human with no real name and no memories, save that the alien invaders are called Radam and that he’s the one person with the power to stop them. He reluctantly teams up with the OSDG on the grounds that they have the only working spaceship left on the planet, and they promptly nickname him D-boy (short for Dangerous Boy.) Together, they form a new organisation called the Space Knights, tasked with finding a way to stop the Radam invasion and restore peace to the planet. However, D-boy isn’t the only Tekkaman, with the others being the most powerful agents of the alien enemy.

While the threat never quite reaches the cosmic heights of peril like those in, for instance, the second halves of Gurren Lagann or Gunbuster, that fact is made up for with liberal doses of body horror and a clear snapshot of the sheer weight of human suffering caused by the invasion. The Radam are terrifying, nigh-unstoppable adversaries to anyone except Blade, and the Space Knights’ dubious “allies” in the Earth Federation’s army are scarcely less damaging to the cause at points. In addition, it soon becomes apparent that as formidable as Blade is, he’s hampered by some extremely dangerous limitations that insert a sense of danger into every battle that he takes part in, even the ones where he massacres the enemy. It’s a story that contains a pervasive sense of overwhelming odds and despair, and the writers clearly weren’t in the mood to shirk away from inflicting endless suffering on its cast of characters. Most of the plotlines in this series are downright tragic, none less than that of D-boy himself. It hurts too, because the cast of characters is very likable - each of the Space Knights have their own distinct personalities and backstories, managing to crack enough funny and well-written humour to keep the mood from ever descending to depressing levels. Even the villains have a sympathetic side once you get to know them better. D-boy is a good character as well - he’s sometimes a little bit of an angsty dick, but he’s fundamentally a good-natured person who doesn’t deserve the endless grief that gets thrust upon him. His voice actor, Toshiyuki Morikawa, puts in an incredible job, which is actually remarkable as it was his debut role as a lead character in an anime. He delivers a powerful performance in more ways than one, both delivering an emotional but pretty well-balanced performance in the appropriate scenes, while at the same time yelling in battle scenes with such gusto that he managed to destroy two studio microphones in the process.

I do want to mention some flaws. While the story is probably Tekkaman Blade’s best asset, it starts off pretty slow. Some early world-and-character building is necessary, of course, but the series goes well into the double digits of its episode list without it really feeling like enough has happened. The events of each episode are usually entertaining, but it feels like the answers to the questions that the viewer will inevitable have aren’t quickly forthcoming. The visuals can sometimes be a sticking point too. I feel like Tekkaman Blade’s visuals are both good and bad. They’re good in the sense that the general visual aesthetic is classic 80s sci-fi, and it’s more or less on point - the Tekkamen all look great, as well as the various other structures, vehicles, weapons and other miscellany that creates the world. The Radam look suitable alien and monstrous as well. However, what should be a great presentation is often marred by some really questionable animation at some points. A lot of the animation is visually rough, either being out of proportion, lacking in detail, or both. It does have some very well animated pieces, especially stuff like Blade’s transformation sequence and Voltekka attack. However, it seems like the animation staff’s approach to these animations was that if it’s good enough to show to the viewer once, heck, it’s good enough to show fifty times. I think this series snatches the record away from Gundam Wing for the most egregious abuse of stock footage that I’ve seen in an anime. Sure, it’s an old anime, and perhaps their animation budget wasn’t the biggest, but still, it’s practically impossible to avoid.

However, in an inverse of the usual scenario, these problems are gradually alleviated over the course of the series. The plot starts to pick up pace shortly before the half-way point, and following a timeskip after that, it revs into high gear and never really lets up. Coincidentally, perhaps, it also seems like the animation quality spikes around the same point, with less stock footage and rough spots. Both of these factors are good in the entire second half, but they really ramp up into overdrive in the last 15 episodes or so - these episodes, the odd recap episode aside, are all pretty much stellar, being full of both character and plot drama. It all builds to a dramatic head that feels appropriate for the tone of the series as a whole.

Finally, I’d be remiss not to mention the series soundtrack. It has some memorable themes for various scenarios across the series - both uplifting and ominous themes for battles used appropriately, slow, moving pieces for character moments, bombast pieces for transformations, and so on. The real standouts are the show’s two stellar OPs, however, that stick in the ear and become impossible not to constantly hum. I watched this series right after watching Eureka 7, which has phenomenal music, but this absolutely stands toe-to-toe with it when it’s at its best.

Overall, it’s a product of its time for sure, with some frustrations, but it’s also unique and insanely well done when it finds its feet. I don’t think it’ll be for absolutely anyone, as I can foresee some people being put off by the first part, or just the grim tone of the series in general, but if you’ve got the courage and the steely determination to endure its faults you aren’t likely to regret your decision to do so, even if you have to wipe away those tears from under your mask when you’re done.

Once again, whatever’s coming next has a hard act to follow.

#tekkaman blade

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gollum-turpin · 7 years ago

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Power Rangers Legacy Wars Hack/Cheats for iOS and Android Working 100%

Battle Players in Real-Time with Rangers & Villains from Power Rangers history. Rita Repulsa, the space witch, has infected the Morphin Grid, creating virtual monsters and Ranger clones programmed to fight on her behalf. Fight back with your own curated team of legendary Power Rangers and villains from the multiverse! Unlock new Rangers, upgrade your best warriors and create the best team to defeat Rita, and save the Morphin Grid.

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youtube

It’s morphin time! Unless you prefer to hack stuff. In that case it’s time to hack some Mighty Morphin Power Rangers! Or just Power RangersLegacy Wars in this case since the name of the game has been stripped down to the most basic one and with a good reason too.

Rather than limiting itself to a specific rangers season, game developers decided to include all of the Power Rangers and band them together in this new game. We got to admit, it was a damn good idea! If you like the game, you can download it here: Android version, iOS version .

This game is brand spanking new! Well, that actually depends on when you’re reading this but at the time this was published, the game was pretty new, actually it just came out couple of days ago. We were overwhelmed by the requests to make a hack for this game and when we got to download it for ourselves, we realized just how popular this game has become over short period of time. 5 million downloads already!

This has to be some kind of a record. So we did what every group with a sense of respect and responsibility for their community would do. We’ve made a Power Rangers hack for power crystals and power coins!

Short game overview and what are the benefits of Power Rangers Hack tool?

Well first of all, let us explain how the game plays. If you play the brawlers on your portable device or perhaps your smart phone, you’ll have a pretty good idea about how this might work. Tap brawler’s, as we started calling them are becoming a thing. Unlike their console counterparts these don’t really rely on combos and complex gameplay mechanics to make them interesting.

As a matter of fact, these games are rather simplistic and it doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes to figure out exactly how to play. Power Rangers Legacy Wars is no exception. Of course, this is a great thing since not everyone’s able to play games 24/7 but, if you’re more of an old-school gamer and prefer your games to have a bit more depth, this might not work for you. There are no combos, just a set of three available skills to use by tapping on their icons.

It’s a three versus three setting where you can’t actually control your additional team members. What you can do is to issue an order for them to assist you. Once you do this, your squad mates will immediately jump right into the heart of battle and use one of their moves to help you out. This can be either defensive or offensive move depending on the situation that you find yourself in during that time.

Every character has a couple of unique abilities that you cannot customize. They come equipped with them and they are there to stay, permanently. while you can’t actually customize them you may upgrade the existing ones.

Also what you can do is to unlock and choose characters from a huge roster spanning from the earliest to the latest Power Rangers series. Rangers, villains as well as Zords are all playable and you’re able to assemble incredible and very unlikely alliances.

Of course, before you are able to use any character, you’ll have to unlock it. Unlocking additional characters requires specific resource which is to be expected at this point. In Power Rangers case, this resource is Zeo Shard. You will need a specific number of these shards if you want to unlock the character which you will then have to train and level up by doing battles with that specific character.

This process can be sped up by purchasing Morph Boxes which will always reward you with a specific amount of free power coins and some experience. Now, naturally these boxes are purchased with none other than power crystals and you probably already realized that this is a paid currency.

And that’s exactly where our Power Rangers Legacy Wars hack will help you.

It’s a free game. It has premium currency. Absolutely nothing new here. It’s also nothing new that not everybody is willing or even financially available to buy these crystals. Just because someone can’t afford to spend their money on a game doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t get to play.

Now, some of you would say that the game is free to play and no one is actually forced to buy anything. This is true and untrue at the same time. If a person doesn’t purchase anything, sure they’ll be able to continue playing but, there’s one thing. They will be rather underpowered when paired up against some players who did purchase a little bit of power crystals.

So to help even the odds, our power coins and power crystals cheat tool helps you get both of these free of charge. However, we would ask of you to purchase at least some crystals through the in app store and support the game you like by doing this. After you’ve done that, if you’re unable to afford spending any more money for this cause, go right on ahead and use our cheat tool to hack as many free power crystals as you need.

How to use Power Rangers Legacy Wars hack?

To make this work for you, all you need to do is scroll down to the bottom of this page and look for a big red button. Once you see that button, you’ll need to press it. This will take you to an external website where the cheat tool for Power Rangers Legacy Wars is located.

Don’t worry, on that page there will be a short instruction on how to operate the hack yourself. It’s nothing complex and you’re probably going to figure everything out the moment you see it.

Remember, this is free to use and if you have any friends playing this game you’re more than welcome to share it with them. This way you won’t only be helping yourself and your friends, you’ll also be helping us by spreading the word about our website. If you do that, we thank you. If you don’t do it, we thank you nonetheless for trusting us and using our game cheats. Have a great day and have a great game!

The post Power Rangers Legacy Wars Hack/Cheats for iOS and Android Working 100% appeared first on Hack Gaming.

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thehallofgame · 7 years ago

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Review: Dragon Age Origins DLC

Dragon Age Origins capitalized on its popularity with a spate of DLC that ranges from fun to must-play. While responses to the varying cost to content ratio of each of these add-ons varied quite a bit, the Ultimate Edition of Dragon Age Origins has rendered those debates moot as it comes with all of the DLC for a reasonable price and often goes on sale to boot.

Fair warning: most of these DLC take place after the base game, or involve story points from it, so there are spoilers inherent in this review. Proceed at your own discretion.

Awakening: 👍🏻

More expansion pack than DLC, Dragon Age Awakening is an entirely new story that takes place after the events in the base game. While it could be played as a standalone game it assumes that the player is familiar with the lore of Dragon Age Origins and the characters therein so it’s better not to play that first. Awakening allows for the import of a Warden from Dragon Age Origins, or for the creation of a new player character who will be a Orlesian grey warden brought in to help rebuild the order in Ferelden. It’s a minor tic, but if the player chooses to play as the Orlesian none of their choices from Origins will carry over and the game-world will be built on some assumptions about the most likely choices the player will have made which can be a little disappointing.

In any case, the player will have new options for character growth to play with. As the level cap has been raised by ten levels there are two new specializations for each class, a new row of class abilities, a new row of weapons specialization abilities and three new talent tracks. Most of these skills can only be selected after level 20 and represent very powerful, advanced skills, large boots to hp and mana/stamina and a new skill set called rune-crafting, which allows for production of upgrades for armor in the same way weapons were enchanted in the base game.

The player may recall that the Wardens were granted an estate and lands at the end of Origins, and it is here the Order sets up their new base after the war. The Warden Commander has three goals: rebuild the estate after the war, recruit new wardens and investigate a suspiciously organized series of attacks by the darkspawn. The new hub for the game is Vigil’s Keep. There the Warden will make some minor base management and political decisions, which are fun but feel only incidental to the game (until the choices come back in a big way at the end of the DLC). The new wardens are almost all completely optional recruitable characters with complicated and morally ambiguous backgrounds. While only Oghren returns from Origins, and only Anders will make another appearance in Dragon Age 2, each and every companion is well written and compelling. It’s a genuine shame the player gets to spend only about twenty hours with them. Or less, in many cases, as the last three characters are each tied to the three core story missions, and so the last one will only be recruited shortly before the end of the story and it’s hard to squish all their dialogues and personal arcs into so short a period.

Despite minor gripes Awakenings borders on being a gift to fans (albeit one that was paid for). The story is good, has major implications for the future of the world of Thedas and does that without trying to undermine or one up the events of Origins. The duality of the Warden both trying to command a small, elite force as well as run what amounts to a small province is enjoyable and very clearly the foundation of what would later become Dragon Age Inquisition, and with good reason.

The Darkspawn Chronicles: 👍🏻

This DLC is a short interlude, which is probably for the best considering how fast its core conceit would go stale. However, as it stands, it’s quite fun. In the Darkspawn Chronicles the Grey Warden never existed and the player is instead an elite Darkspawn that spearheads the darkspawn vanguard during the siege of Denerim that occurs at the end of Dragon Age Origins. The darkspawn player character, called Vanguard, plays much like the warrior class in the base game, but with the added ability to use poisons and bombs like a rogue. The core conceit of the DLC, however, is to recruit other darkspawn from the hoard as temporary party members. If these underlings fall in battle, however, they’re dead permanently. However, the player is incentivized to keep them alive because the longer the same darkspawn fight with the Vanguard the more their approval of the leader grows, and the stronger they get. To add to the fun and/or emotional torment of the DLC the marauding Vanguard is opposed by every single party member from the base game, as well as every named character with half a reason to be in Denerim during the siege. Darkspawn Chronicles is a fun gimmick and well delivered.

Golems of Amgarrak: 👍🏻

The Golems of Amgarrak takes place at some unspecified time after the events of the base game. In it, the Warden Commander of Fereldan has been invited along on the search for a missing expedition into the deep roads. This DLC is basically a more focused look at the horror tones of the Dragon Age world, which are especially present in any deep-roads related mission. Golems of Amgarrak is also billed to be only for experienced players, and to its credit, the relatively few combat encounters are very difficult and rely heavily on strategy over raw power level. This is highlighted by the fact that the warden gets none of their companions from earlier appearances, instead they begin only with a dwarf rogue and his pet bronto (think armored hippopotamus). Over the course of the DLC more party members join up, but the arrangement is far from ideal, instead the player must rely on tricks they pick up to manipulate the enemies or the dungeon itself against opponents. Golems is quite short, assuming the combats don’t take several hours to find the right trick for, and takes place in only one smallish dungeon. However, the lore therein is dark, gruesome and compelling and the puzzles used to progress in the dungeon make heavy backtracking feel like it not only makes sense, but rewards thorough explorers with good items and equipment for their pains.

Leliana’s Song: 👍🏻

Leliana’s Song occurs before the events of Origins and follows the story of how party member Leliana found herself betrayed by her spymaster and in hiding. The DLC is surprisingly meaty, despite using only a handful of reused location and being only a few hours long. Leliana is joined by two henchmen, Sketch the elven mage and Tug the dwarven warrior. Both new characters are charming and the player gets the feel for how the trio works together immediately. The spymaster Marjorlaine is delightfully fun and manipulative. The DLC has consistently good writing and pacing, with an ending that hits just the right notes to set Leliana’s character up for her appearance in Origins. Overall this is a solid expansion to the story of one of the very few characters who appears in every dragon age game.

Return to Ostagar: 👍🏻

Return to Ostagar is a relatively brief and surprisingly poignant interlude where the warden is encouraged to travel back to the site of first major battle of the game in order to retrieve politically sensitive documents. The best experience is to be had by bringing other party members who fought there, namely Alistair, Wynne and the warden’s dog. Especially Alistair. Not only do you learn much about the character’s reactions to this traumatic defeat, the Warden gains some really nice equipment and the chance to avenge their fallen mentor, Duncan.

Warden’s Peak: 👍🏻

While this DLC honestly feels a little tacked on and disconnected from the rest of the story via the fact that while significant, the events that occur are never mentioned again outside a cameo in Dragon Age 2, it in fact very good. During the events of Origins the party strikes a deal with Levi Dryden, descendant of the last Warden Commander of Fereldan before the order was banned from the country, to retake the original Grey Warden fortress which has been lost for hundreds of years. The party must fight their way through hoards of ghosts, undead and demons to free the keep from its curse, simultaneously discovering the ugly truth of what cause the Warden’s fall from grace. This culminates in the choice of how to clean up a lingering, demon-fueled mess for the player. None of the choices will leave the player with a particularly good taste in their mouth, which is refreshing change from a game that usually presents questions with a right answer. This DLC is content rich, lore dense and also adds a much needed equipment storage chest to the game after the reclaiming of the keep.

Witch Hunt: 🆗;

While not actually a bad DLC Witch Hunt gets something of a bad name in the fandom, mostly because it’s not on par with the others. This DLC takes place after the events of Origins, and assumes that Morrigan and the Warden went through with a magic ritual that resulting in Morrigan having a child and disappearing into the wilds with the baby. The warden and their faithful dog begin the story when they receive a tip about a possible sighting of their former friend. This then puts them on Morrigan’s trail, where they are joined by two rather uninspired companions. There’s nothing wrong with the elf warrior and human mage who join up, but neither of their stories get any closure at the end and they’re not particularly interesting along the way, either. Likewise, the ending to the DLC has little flexibility or nuance and no satisfying answers, no matter how the Warden chooses to interact with Morrigan when they find her.

The Stone Prisoner: 👍🏻

This DLC more or less boils down to a new party member. Shale is a golem who is found in the town of Honnleath, where the massive stone warrior has been frozen in place for over a decade. After the town is freed from a darkspawn incursion, and Shale from Paralysis, the golem decides to travel with the party as they have little memory of their past or personal motivation. Shale doesn’t have a ton of interactions with or from the world, with the notable exception of some events in the deep roads, but they do have fully developed party banters, dialogue with the warden, gifts and a personal quest. Shale’s combat system is also completely unique. The golem has slots for two crytals, an offensive and defensive one, which in addition to acting like armor and weapons, provide elemental effects which can be managed to min-max damage and defense to enemies, but doing so means lugging a backpack full of crystals around and switching them out. In combat the golem has four sustained modes to switch between, and each has specific abilities that can only be used in that role. The roles boil down to a damage-dealing focused role, a defensive tank role, a ranged combat role as well as a support role in which Shale can no longer act but provides massive health and stamina regeneration bonuses to the party. Shale can control the battlefield in a way no other party member can, but also requires quite a bit of micromanagement or very careful manipulation of the tactics system. However, whether or not the player likes Shale in combat, the Golem’s dialogue is hilarious. Shale is at once violent, selfish and yet has a touching desire to find meaning in their existence that comes out over the course of their relationship with the warden. Shale also drops some of the most quotable lines in the game, which is always a good time.

#dragon age awakening review #dragon age origins dlc review #video game review #thehallofgame review #long post #text post

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lutheranman1972-blog · 8 years ago

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MIKE ADAMS - "Like many Americans, I’ve watch the bizarre anti-Trump “women’s march” events and wildly dishonest media coverage over the last few days with a sense of amusement. What’s remarkable about everything being voiced by the unhinged left these days is that none of it has any basis in fact or reason. The “war on women” doesn’t exist. The “KKK influence” that CNN claims has taken over the White House is an absolute hoax. The “Russian takeover” of the U.S. government that has been ridiculously claimed by the Washington Post is complete fiction. On one issue after another, every fear whipped up by the insane left turns out to be nothing more than sheer delusion. So why are they so angry all the time? And why are blabbering idiots like Ashley Judd and Madonna so convinced that a Trump administration means an end to their twisted universe? The answer is incredibly simple: The lying media keeps pushing fake news as a form of “journo-terrorism” that’s deliberately designed to enrage liberal America and gin up a nationwide delusional psychosis that translates into HATE against Donald Trump. (That’s the real “tolerance” of the left on display… it’s actually rooted in racism, bigotry and deep-rooted intolerance of everything from religion to masculinity to people with white skin.) It’s not just a series of simple “fake news” hoaxes, either — such as the fake TIME story that ridiculously claimed Donald Trump had removed the bust of Martin Luther King Jr. from the White House — it’s actually an orchestrated campaign of malicious anti-Trump propaganda that’s being engineered and broadcast for the purpose of destroying the Trump administration and overthrowing America. The communist left does not respect law, order, democracy or our Republic Ever since the commie left (which runs the media) failed to install its totalitarian globalist (Hillary Clinton) into office, it has been on a quest to destroy democracy, crush the Republic and foment a popular uprising that leads to mass violence. This malicious, shared goal across CNN, Washington Post, NYT, Huffington Post and other shameless, anti-American media presstitutes is what I call “journo-terrorism.” It is a psychological weapon of mass destruction that’s being deployed against the minds of the American people on an hourly basis. It is a kind of “mental bombardment” being waged as an act of psychological warfare across the social landscape of America. In effect, CNN, MSNBC and the entire left-wing media apparatus is psychologically carpet bombing the psyche of America with orchestrated lies, disinfo and propaganda designed to overthrow the legitimate government (the Trump administration, currently). It’s much more than mere “fake news,” you see: It’s a full-blown theater of war against the human psyche. Ten false fears being deployed as journo-terrorism WMDs (weapons of mental destruction) against the American people Here are just a few of the journo-terrorism “bombs” being deployed against the minds of the American people on a daily basis: 1) The imagined war on women. There is no such war. The Trump administration honors and celebrates women. His campaign victory, in fact, was led by a woman. It is the Clintons who abuse, rape, threaten and intimidate women, yet somehow Bill Clinton remains celebrated by the left. Do any of the women in the vulgarity-named “pussyhat march” realize they are, in effect, marching in support of the accused rapist and sexual predator known as Bill Clinton? 2) The imagined climate change apocalypse. Climate change was a massive hoax… a quack science con dreamed up by Al Gore and the left-wing globalists to engage in a whole new global con of wealth extraction from a compliant population of green-dreamy sheeple. (Mr. Ponzi would have been proud.) Thank goodness the Trump administration has already wiped Whitehouse.gov clean of all the climate change hoax quackery. 3) The imagined war on minorities. There is no war on minorities. In truth, the Trump plan to Make American Great Again will free minorities from the trap of government dependence and help them find rewarding employment that gives them new freedom and opportunity. Liberals want African-Americans to be slaves of their nanny state, not free men and women who can cast off the burden of subservience. Want more proof? Eight years after a black man was elected President of the United States, blacks in America are no better off than they were in 2007. 4) The imagined war against gays and transgenders. There is no Trump war against anyone in the LGBT community. Gay marriage is the law of the land and will remain unchallenged by the Trump administration. Trump isn’t anti-gay by any stretch. On social issues, he’s actually quite liberal. Gays and lesbians are welcomed in Trump’s America as much as anyone else. Anyone who thinks Trump is anti-gay has been tricked by the lying fake news media into suffering from “gaylusional paranoia.” 5) The imagined Russian takeover of the U.S. government. The entire Russian conspiracy whitewash was nothing more than a ridiculous ploy to distract the nation from the content of the damning Jon Podesta emails leaked by Wikileaks. Those emails expose a massive criminal cabal and deep culture of corruption inside the democratic party (run by liberty-hating elitists and unethical corruption bosses). The entire Russian conspiracy fiction was invoked out of thin air to change the subject and prevent any real scrutiny of the Wikileaks email dumps. 6) The imagined war on the poor. There is no war on the poor by Republicans. In reality, the real war on the poor is committed by Democrats who are led by a wealthy, arrogant elite that’s totally disconnected from the working men and women of America. While Trump is also wealthy, he got there through hard work, not living as a government parasite or accumulating cash by selling influence (i.e. the Clinton Crime Foundation). No one will help America’s poor gain new opportunities more than President Donald Trump. By reducing the cost burden of Obamacare, Trump will incentivize employers to expand their operations, add new jobs and employ an ever-increasing number of new workers. The best way to lift people out of poverty is to create opportunities for employment and growth, not to trap people in an endless cycle of government handouts and unearned entitlements. 7) The imagined KKK invasion. If you watch the unhinged left-wing media, you’ll see numerous reports on “KKK attacks” against the homes or churches of African-Americans. What that same media never reports is that most of these so-called “hate crimes” turn out to be hoaxes carried out by the victims themselves. The number of actual white-on-black hate crimes in America is exceedingly small. There are a far greater number of hate crime hoaxes than legitimate hate crimes. At the same time, black professors in universities across America are literally teaching black-on-white hatred and intolerance, deliberately engineering reverse racism across the country while calling it “social justice warrior” training. So yes, there is racism in America: It’s being taught all across the public education system, and it’s rooted in hatred and intolerance directed at fair-skinned people who are judged by the color of their skin. According to Martin Luther King, Jr., that’s the very definition of racism! To get a taste of the kind of delusional paranoia infecting the minds of misinformed African-Americans, check out this article from Grabien news: Another candidate said black Americans are now living with “justified fear” of being killed after Donald Trump was elected president. Raymond Buckley, the chairman for the New Hampshire Democratic Party, told a story about how, in the midst of “grieving” on Election Day, he received a call from his black niece, who feared for her life after Trump’s victory. Huh? Black people have been literally brainwashed into thinking President Trump is going to unleash genocidal death squads across the inner cities. I’ve got some news for black folks who fear for their lives: The real people murdering black people are almost universally other black people. (Chicago, anyone?) All patriotic black folks across America should be happy Trump is finally going to work to halt the inner city violence and support universal concealed carry rights so that honest black Americans can defend their families and property against the lawless gang bangers, rioters and violent protesters that Obama let run loose across the country. 8) The imagined “intolerance” epidemic. Any rational observation of bigotry and intolerance in America today would have to conclude it’s the political LEFT that’s steeped in bigotry and intolerance. While white people voted for Obama in record numbers and put the first black man into the White House, somehow they’re never “tolerant” enough, according to the bigots on the left. Now, the full bigotry of liberalism is on full display as Sen. Jeff Sessions (for example) is falsely labeled a black hater just because of his southern dialect. African-Americans in the Trump administration are openly called “mediocre negroes” by the bigoted left, and the entire radicalization of the violent, unhinged left has demonstrated that when they don’t get their way, they resort to mass violence, screaming and crybully tactics. There is an epidemic of intolerance in America… and it’s found squarely on the political left. 9) The imagined war on Muslims. According to the unhinged left, Trump had declared war on all Muslims just because he’s stated his intention to destroy ISIS, an international terrorism group. The political left in America is so mentally ill that they actually want to welcome terrorists into America… and even apologize for their acts of domestic terrorism by saying they were “driven to such acts” by intolerance. (Yeah, this is how sick and demented the narratives of the left have become.) President Trump is absolutely correct in stating that while America welcomes law-abiding immigrants from all religious backgrounds, including Muslims, we must practice extreme vetting of would-be immigrants from extremist regions of the world where certain fringe factions are recruiting, training and dispatching “sleeper cell” terrorists to attack America. Wanting to protect America from ISIS terrorism does not make someone a hater of the Muslim religion. One of my colleagues (and a top voice for health freedom in America) is a Muslim, and he’s a true patriot for America. The religious of Islam is not a threat to America… it’s only terrorists who invoke Islam (or any religion, for that matter) who are the real threat. And as far as I’m concerned, the “religion” (actually more like a cult) of Communism is actually the greatest threat to America. 10) The imagined war on Mexicans. When Donald Trump said, as a candidate, that some illegal aliens were committing violent crimes in America — including rapes and murders — he was absolutely correct. It’s not a matter of debate or opinion: Illegal aliens are routinely arrested for committing violent crimes after being deported multiple times. Yet the wholly dishonest left-wing media deliberately altered Trump’s quote out of context and falsely claimed that he was labeling ALL Mexicans as “rapists and murderers.” In truth, Donald Trump welcomes legal immigrants to America. His wife is a legal immigrant (and so is my wife, for the record). In fact, Trump is the first President in a very long time to have married an immigrant. He welcomes legal immigration yet asserts the enforcement of our national boundaries… something every sovereign nation has a right to do (and does everywhere else all over the world, including Mexico itself). In reality, Donald Trump is going to employ tens of thousands of Mexicans to help build the wall! Once that’s done, their skills will be needed elsewhere to rebuild America’s infrastructure and manufacturing base. America loves Mexicans who are willing to follow the law and enter the country legally. Solutions: Here’s how the Trump administration can fight the disinfo and set the record straight I’ve posted three stories that offer powerful strategies for the Trump administration to help defend America, defeat the radical left-wing media and get going with Making America Great Again."- see link for stories

Mike Addems

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