#alternate universe - science fiction

[serendipitys-teapot]

New Fic: A Dream Within a Dream

A Mass Effect AU Shakarian Story by Serendipity 001

Shepard lives out her life on the Citadel, convinced she is going mad as her life disintegrates before her eyes. Her understanding of the universe is upended by a message from someone named "Archangel", who promises her precious answers, if only she can evade the monster hunting her in the shadows.

Chapter 1 now on AO3

This is a completed work, updating weekly.

Preview:

She took a deep breath, willing the tension of earlier to leave her body as she breathed out. There was a flash of light as they passed by an illuminated advertisement, and she looked up as the train was thrust back into darkness. The people around her were silent as they gazed at their omni-tools and datapads, or let their eyes drift shut as they found solace in the motion. There was another flash of light, red this time as they passed a glowing neon sign.  Creeping unease began to return unbidden, though she couldn’t put her finger on why. She searched for a reason until finally the last line of the message replayed itself through her mind.  You’re being watched. Shepard looked up, a sudden fear gripping her chest. They approached another illuminated billboard, and her eyes raked over the faces of those around her, searching for something… anything. The light faded, and she saw nothing. No one was looking at her, no one seemed in any way abnormal, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She relaxed again as she leaned into the pole, somehow infinitely more exhausted than she’d been only minutes before. Another flash of light, and she froze. Across the train car, almost entirely obscured by other passengers, stood a turian. He was tall, with pale, angular face plates that could almost be called sharp. Despite the rocking of the train, he stood utterly still, his gaze unwavering as it drilled into her with pale, icy blue eyes.

Base concept art used in banner picture by Mikko Kinnunen

[rapid-artwork]

Last little addition to my Mother's Favorite Reverse! AU.

A little comic about Mother's missing heart, and where she put it.

Bonus image of happier times:

[guspartenza]

THE SUPERWOMAN FROM KRYPTON, FANART+FANFIC INTRODUCTION

art by https://www.deviantart.com/gabrielrb91

What would you think about an alternate universe with a female-Clark as Superwoman in the golden age?

Is the only main change in the classic canon together with her love interest, is not Earth-11, let's say is Eart-19...meet Clara Kent/Superwoman!

It's 1948, in Metropolis!

Up in the sky! Look! It's a bird? It's a plane? No! It's Superwoman!

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, this amazing stranger from the planet Krypton, The Woman of Steel: Superwoman!

Empowered with X-ray vision, possessing remarkable physical strength, Superwoman fights a never-ending battle for love, truth, and justice, disguised as a mild-mannered newspaper reporter, Clara Kent!

In a world plagued by the Cold War and mistrust, can Superwoman bring peace to the world while fighting for love, truth, justice, and the American way? Can she finally find a happy life with Louis Lane, the love of her life? Can she defeat Lex Luthor and the terrible ancient evil he is about to awaken?

You can download full free illustrated fanfic in pdf here! SUPERWOMAN FROM KRYPTON-FREE ILLUSTRATED FANFIC by lordmallory on DeviantArt or here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XPh48B9_giTgDpnBXjRP-4Z4ksUU-WzR/view?usp=drive_link

Art by https://www.deviantart.com/letoart

KALA-EL/CLARA JOSEPHINE KENT/SUPERWOMAN

BORN: Krypton, a moon in a distant galaxy. Formally 28/02/1918, SMALLVILLE, KANSAS

PROFESSION: ASSISTANT REPORTER

YEAR: 1948

PLACE: METROPOLIS (METROPOLIS COUNTY, NEW YORK)

art by https://www.deviantart.com/wagemagegames

-Farmgirl, born Kansas 1918. No sisters nor brothers.

-Nicest girl in the office but very unfunny.

-Disappears without reason very often.

-Lives alone in a little flat and has a golden retriever dog called Krypto.

-Daddy issues. Her father didn't let her pursue a career as ballet dancer or swimmer (he didn't want her to take advantage of her powers) and died when she was 18.

-Former nurse during the war in the Pacific Ocean and in the Philippines.

-Loves children and dogs

-Tomboyish trails. Not quite elegant.

-Music-Hall fan, Katherine Hepburn and James Stewart fan

-Favorite books: Scarlet Pimpernel adventures, Jane Austen, Upton Sinclair and Virginia Wolf, somewhat eclectic.

-Amateur writer of children's stories, with characters such as DeeDog and the Komfy Dragon.

-She greatly admires her boss, Perry Weiss. A 1940s very liberal Republican style journalist, chief editor of the Daily Planet. She despises her deputy boss Cat Grant.

-Ambiguous relationship with her other boss Louis Lane. Clara has a good friendship with Louis and hides that she is very much in love with him. At the same time, she competes a lot with Mr. Lane and is annoyed by his political ideas and his paternalism.

-Strange friendship with young millionaire Bruce Wayne, something that is very surprising for the people in the Daily Planet newsroom.

-Always good scoops but never appears in the front line and too stubborn and independent to grow fast in the newspaper.

-Progressive quaker like her fathers.

-Civil rights supporter.

-Dislikes General McArthur, dislikes even more Lex Luthor

-Loves Eleanor Roosevelt but also Governor Dewey.

-Hates guns

-Supports unions, splits ticket between Metropolis Liberal Party and the two main parties. Politicians must be kind.

art by https://www.tumblr.com/bobbinalong

SUPERHEROINE LIFE

-Superpowers: Flight, Super-Strength, Super-Speed, X-Ray Vision, Heat Vision, Enhanced Vision, Super-Hearing, Super-Breath, Freeze-Breath, High Invulnerability, Super-Stamina

-Can fly to a Mach 100 speed.

-Acts as Superwoman since October 1945.

-Defeated Zod invasion in July1946.

-Initial bad relationship with Batman but now close friends and allies. Together with Flash they conform the Justice League.

-Didn't act as Superwoman during the World War II because she was afraid of her powers. After the discovery of the Holocaust and the atomic bombs she decided to step in and showed herself to the world on autumn 1945.

-Worst enemy: Lex Luthor, heir of Nikola Tesla, rocket engineer & CEO of TELCORP (Tesla-Luthor Co.)

-Deeply in love with Louis Lane, who strongly rejects the superheroine.

-She hides her supersuit and cape under her normal clothes. The material is extraordinarily thin, flexible and resistant, and very easy to wear under normal clothing. Whenever someone needs Superwoman, she just needs to find an inconspicuous place, rip her shirt, unfold her cape and fly away at full speed.

-Widely admired.

art by https://www.deviantart.com/bluerollerball

art by Gabriel Larragan (Ko-Fi)

FAMILY & ORIGINS

The El family & Krypton

Krypton was a decadent civilization located on a moon near a large gaseous planet in the Orion belt, next to a green sun. In the past they had visited Earth and other planets expanding civilization, but their penchant for slavery, war, resource extraction and violence caused many of these projects to fail. Even in 10,500 BC the Kryptonians almost caused the terraforming of the Earth, melting the poles and destroying Atlantis and other civilizations, causing among other things the end of the Ice Age. Nearly 99% of humanity perished during that Kryptonian attack.

Over the centuries the Kryptonians lost the fuel necessary to travel across space and ended up confined to their planet, dedicated to warfare, genetic engineering-creating clones whose organs they needed to extend their lives-to pleasure and to exploiting the subsoil of their planet. The Kryptonians also established a dictatorship with a caste system based on genetic engineering and prohibited natural reproduction.

Jor-El and Lara were a couple of scientists critical of the system and supporters of the abolition of the caste system. They also fought against genetic engineering, violent repression, and the permanent destruction of the ecosystem. After a series of terrible earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and gas outbursts, it became clear that Krypton's core was collapsing, due to the energetic drilling and magnetic energy used in Krypton's industry. The Planet was doomed but the ruling caste ignored it. Jor-El and Lara had a daughter, Kala-El in a natural way against all the rules of Krypton. Lara managed to manufacture a small ship capable of making a space jump to save her daughter from the end of Krypton. General Zod stole her design and managed to build a larger fleet of ships but Jor-El managed to sabotage them and send the fleet to the Phantom Zone, a black hole near Krypton.

Lara decided to send Kala to Earth, confident that the culture of this planet was much more hopeful and kinder, and less prone to the mistakes of Krypton than other distant inhabited planets closer to them. Jor-El preferred to send her to New Genesis, another distant inhabited planet, because there Kala would receive less radiation and develop less extraordinary abilities that would allow her to live a normal life, but eventually Lara convinced him. During her journey to Earth and her growing period under a yellow sun, Kala would develop wonderful powers and could live a long life in the service of mankind, rehabilitating Krypton's legacy.

Within hours of Kala's birth, she was placed in the small ship, accompanied by the robot guide Kelex, whose memory was imprinted with the consciousness of Jor-El and Lara, as well as nearly all of Krypton's cultural heritage. They included several Kryptonian artifacts inside, such as a nearly indestructible ceremonial female ancestral caped suit with the crest of the House of El on its chest.

The ship was launched just hours before Krypton's demise and travelled through space for thirty years...

art by https://www.tumblr.com/bobbinalong

Joe&Martha Kent, Kansas life

Joe and Martha Kent were a Quaker farming couple whose farm was struck by the pod carrying Kala-El the 28th of February of 1918. Although owners of substantial property they were a very humble, cooperative, austere, devout, and civil rights-minded people. Martha Kent was a descendant of Kansas abolitionist guerrilla fighter John Brown. They both raised Clara very lovingly and unwilling to ask too many questions about the baby's origin. Clara was a very sickly child as her body did not adapt to the Earth. She was an affectionate and obedient girl and devoured books. The Kent family were avowed supporters of the New Deal and Joe Kent was a member of the local farmers union.

With puberty Clara developed very fast, and her superpowers began to appear. She soon began to excel in swimming and ballet, while still questioning her origins, but Joe forbade her to pursue a professional career to prevent her from taking advantage of her powers, and moreover he forbade her to use her superpowers to help others, fearful of humanity's reaction and wary of savior messiahs in the era of interwar dictators.

Clara rebelled against her father but eventually gave in, fearful of her own abilities and understanding her parents' position. During these years, Clara didn't fit in very well, but she had two best friends, Pete Ross, with whom she was secretly in love, and Lana Lang. Pete didn't know about her superpowers, but Lana did. In 1936 Joe Kent died of a heart attack, devastating her daughter. Clara was unable to go to college after her father's death and worked as a teacher and nurse's aide in Smallville. Her engagement to Pete Ross, her teenage sweetheart failed in 1939 when she revealed her powers to Pete and he panicked, although he later promised to keep the secret. In those times of sadness, Kelex, the Kryptonian robot, was activated, explaining to Clara her true origins, which filled her with confusion.

Between 1939 and 1941 Clara lived in Canada and Alaska searching for the Fortress of Solitude, a strange place Kelex was pointing, but with the outbreak of World War II she decided to enlist as a nurse in the Pacific, refusing to use her powers except to help the wounded, fearing to cause more harm than good. In late 1944, the hospital ship on which he was traveling, the USS Shuster, was torpedoed by the Japanese. Clara jumped into the water and managed to keep the ship afloat with her super strength until she managed to beach it. No one understood how miraculously the ship had stayed afloat and even levitated. The incident was kept secret. Clara got a permit to return home and she revisited Alaska where she found the Fortress of Solitude with the help of Kelex. There she was able to better understand her origins and began to train her superpowers.

After learning about the Holocaust first and the atomic bombs later, Clara decided to become Superwoman and help others with her superpowers dressed in the ceremonial Kryptonian costume of her ancestors. Her mother Martha supported her decision. She relocated to Metropolis, where in September 1945 she was hired as an assistant reporter by Major Louis Lane, who had just returned from Europe.

art by LuisF47 - Hobbyist, Digital Artist | DeviantArt

On October 1, 1945, Superwoman unveiled herself to the world and caused a huge sensation. The world was changed forever. Superwoman introduced herself to the newly formed United Nations, explaining her origins and her desire to help others and to stay out of political conflicts except to protect civilians.

Clara Kent began her double life as a journalist and as Superwoman. In July 1946, she defeated the invasion of General Zod and the survivors of Krypton. She also had to face other enemies such as the Intergang - an alliance of all organized crime in Metropolis and Gotham, Atomic Skull - an ex-Nazi agent with terrifying technology, Lex Luthor who began to develop his hatred and paranoia towards the superheroine, and his creations such as Metallo.

art by https://www.deviantart.com/xtophe

DAILY PLANET CHARACTERS

Perry Weiss, a major shareholder and editor in chief of the Daily Planet. Born in Odessa in 1886. Jewish immigrant from humble origins who became a skilled journalist and founded the Daily Planet as a tool of the liberal wing of the Metropolis Republican Party to unseat the city bosses of the time. Still a staunch liberal, he supported Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936, is an ally of Mayor LaGuardia. He won the Pulitzer Prize in the 1920s for defending the innocence of Sacco and Vanzetti. Friend and ally of Louis Lane's father. He is very demanding with his employees but is very fond of Clara. He admires and defends Superwoman despite Louis Lane's distrust. Best friend of Cat Grant.

Cat Grant, Co-chair of Perry Weiss, Pulitzer winner, closeted lesbian, and Ayn Rand Fan. Born 1901, she comes from a fine family of Metropolis Knickerbockers. She is like Louis the least liberal element of the newspaper. To protect herself she married a very old friend of her father who helped her lead a double life. For twenty years she lived with a painter named Margaret Ivy. Considered the best writer of the Daily Planet, in addition to being a journalist she has published two novels. Very elegant and popular in intellectual circles. She is tremendously authoritarian. She mistreats Clara a lot because she does not respect her authority and because of her different political ideas, but as Clara grows as a journalist and Cat Grant suspects that she is Superwoman, she will protect her and push her forward without Clara knowing it. Best friend of Perry Weiss

Jimmy Olsen and Lucy Weiss, best friends of Clara.

Jimmy is a junior urban photographer. He comes from a town in Massachusetts. He is 7 years younger than Clara. He is a party animal, friendly, generous, and somewhat naive. Yet he is a skilled photographer who has been able to capture the worst of the night and day of Metropolis. Miraculously he always gets the best pictures of Superwoman (Clara helps him a little). Very democratic and complains about working for a newspaper that is too conservative for his taste. Adores Clara whom he treats as his big sister. It doesn't even cross his mind that she is Superwoman. Jimmy thinks that Louis is a snob and a bigot.

Lucy is a senior political photographer and the only woman on photo reporting on the Daily Planet who works outside the fashion department. She is the eldest daughter of Perry Weiss. She is an intrepid photojournalist who gets overseas passes and has been to several military conflicts. A loyal friend of Clara, and a very serious and professional woman. She is suspicious of Clara's double identity but would never say anything. She is the same age as Clara and a lover of jazz and the more alternative circuits of Metropolis.

art by https://www.deviantart.com/milkydraws8/gallery

art by https://www.artstation.com/pabloalcalde

LOUIS LANE, SUPERWOMAN'S WEAKNESS?

NAME: LOUIS LANE

BORN: 08/02/1912, METROPOLIS (NEW YORK)

PROFESSION: SENIOR REPORTER

YEAR: 1948

PLACE: METROPOLIS (NYC)

art by https://www.deviantart.com/rickcelis/gallery

-Rich family, born in 1912, first of 6 brothers.

-Caustic, cynical, ironic but somewhat kind.

-Commanding.

-Lives in Park Avenue with his 6-year-old daughter and his rich unfaithful wife, fashion reporter Pat Lane (neé Kelly). Very unhappy marriage.

-Major rank during the war in the US army. He also worked with the OSS.

-Elegant, sportsman, plays violin.

-Teaches music lessons in an orphan house in secret.

-Not that snobbish nor Wasp, new rich family traits.

-Arkham University alumni.

-Classic music and literature lover.

-Heavy drinker.

-Does not enjoy journalism, thinking of quitting to politics or teaching literature.

-Jewish father (Lane surname is a change from Lantzman), Irish catholic mother, raised catholic and religious, but not extremely orthodox.

-His father is a self-made tycoon who started as democrat in the Tammany Hall and then switched to republican. Close ally of Mayor LaGuardia.

-Fought in the European theater during World War II.

-Conservative republican opposed to his father liberal republican views, loves McArthur, who he thinks should be the next President.

-In the past he had a good opinion of Lex Luthor. He saw him as an innovator and freedom fighter, but his opinion changed when Luthor kidnapped him to set a trap for Superwoman.

-Perry Weiss favorite reporter.

-Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1941, for his articles about the first defeat of the Intergang.

-First person to interview Superwoman.

-Very nice and paternalistic to Clara. Louis pushes Clara's career forward despite Cat Grant's opposition. He is also secretly in love with Clara. Although he rejects Superwoman and suspects she is the same person as Clara, he deludes himself and rejects these suspicions.

-Tired of New Deal Politics, anticommunist.

-"a brilliant and kind man" for most of the Daily Planet staff, a "terrible asshole" for many others like Jimmy Olsen.

-Strongly rejects Superwoman and other heroes.

-Sometimes Clara really hates him.

-Famous line "Neither reds nor capes".

-He lives a bizarre love triangle with Clara Kent and Superwoman. Although he publicly rejects the superheroine, he also desires her and he and Superwoman have had moments of passion, which Louis feels guilty about because he is married and because of his religion. On the other hand, he is in love with Clara Kent as much as he rejects the figure of Superwoman. He deludes himself about the identity of both. A bit James Stewart in Vertigo, which destabilizes and infuriates Clara.

art by https://www.deviantart.com/guinnessyde

art by https://akiko02.carrd.co/

CURRENT AND PAST ENEMIES

Lex Luthor

Rocket engineer, CEO of TELCORP and Heir of Nikola Tesla. A Brilliant scientist who defines himself as a "radical humanist"...but in the early 30s supported closely fascism to stop "imperialism" and "usury" but later changed his mind and move closer to the USSR to fight "predatory western capitalism". Publicly, he is a tycoon and scientist loyal to the United States and works closely with the government. The world's greatest philanthropist. Loving father and husband. Hates Superwoman to death and believes she spells the end of humanity. Paranoid and ruthless but convinced that he does everything for the greater good.

art by https://www.deviantart.com/gus-art

General Zod & Faora

Political dissidents like the El on Krypton on the other hand believed that Krypton's only salvation lay in emigrating and invading, terraforming, and exterminating other planets. They almost succeeded in a coup d'état but after their failure they and their henchmen tried to flee by space jumping their ships, Jor-El managed to sabotage the launch and send them to the Phantom Zone. Over the years they managed to escape and arrived on Earth in 1946, shortly after Clara showed herself to the world as Superwoman. They tried to exterminate all humanity, but Superwoman and the armies of Earth managed to defeat them. Their invasion caused 5,000 human casualties but could have caused complete extermination. The experience was traumatic for Clara because she had to send Zod and Faora back to the Phantom Zone where they would surely die. Zod, Faora and their henchmen had not yet developed the full powers of a yellow sun like Earth's and so several of them were killed by human bombs and missiles. Their remains were stored by Russians and Americans. Superwoman managed to expel all Kryptonian technology and weaponry into space so that humans would not use it for warfare.

Doomsday

A truly near-indestructible abomination.

Perhaps from Krypton's past? Perhaps created by mistake by human scientists?

art by https://www.deviantart.com/fernando-damasio & https://www.deviantart.com/kristherion

The Toyman

Winslow Schott, former entrepreneur, and inventor of the 1920s toy business who was ruined in the Great Depression by banks and various betrayals. After a crime spree he was imprisoned in 1933 but escaped from prison recently completely crazed and ready to take revenge on the whole city using his inventions.

Brainiac "The Eternal Traveller"

An android resulting from the abhorrent merger of a famous astronaut and artificial intelligence, which was used by the first civilization of Krypton to collect information from other worlds. It is more than 100,000 years old. With the passage of time, he revealed against the Kryptonians, became evil and phobic to any form of life that he considered imperfect or inferior. It caused the destruction of many cultures. He wanders through space visiting planets and analyzing life forms. He probably has no enthusiasm for humans, much less for a descendant of the House of El.

art by https://www.instagram.com/estefaniaart_/

art by https://www.deviantart.com/midnightowl07

art by https://www.deviantart.com/artsandar

art by https://akiko02.carrd.co/

art by https://www.deviantart.com/son-neko

art by https://www.deviantart.com/dommnics

You can download full free illustrated fanfic in pdf here! SUPERWOMAN FROM KRYPTON-FREE ILLUSTRATED FANFIC by lordmallory on DeviantArt or here SUPERWOMAN.pdf - Google Drive

[technicallyclassyperfection]

Embrace the new World!

[texasthrillbilly]

[whirligig-girl]

Losar System

Cooking the Solar System from the Inside Out

(yeah lol it does kinda look like it says Loser)

For this system layout, I have taken the Solar System planet's orbital distance in astronomical units, and taken the reciprocal.

The major planets, in order of increasing distance from Los, are Enutpen, Sunaru, Nrutas, Retipuj, Sram, Thrae, Sunev, and Yrucrem.

Read more about them below the cut:

The Losar system formed through a very different mechanism to our solar system. I'm not sure entirely about the specifics, but the arrangement is not dissimilar to the Kepler-90 system, in which 6 super-earth-mass planets are extremely compact and close to their parent star, with a low-mass and a high-mass gas giant at the outer part of the solar system. Perhaps as Retipuj formed, it migrated inward, carrying with it the ice and gas necessary to form the super-earth-mass planetary cores which accreted into Enutpen and Sunaru, or perhaps there was some kind of switcharoo where the Hot Ice Giants started out on more distant orbits, before crossing orbits with Retipuj and then being coralled into lower orbits.

Either way, some kind of migration is necessary, since Enutpen and Sunaru are volatile-rich, and the outer planets are comparatively volatile-poor.

I've excluded Pluto (or "Otulp") and the other dwarf planets, not because I don't like them or think they count as planets, but because I think by the time you're accounting for every large object in the Solar system in the Losar system, it just gets really implausible. also I bet some objects end up inside of the Sun. Plus, this kind of thought experiment is playing the same kind of planetary dynamics game that splitters are playing when they say Pluto's not a planet. Suffice to say, there are definitely lots of interesting small worlds in the Losar system, but they don't have 1:1 analogues with Solar system planets.

There are only five large moons in the entire system. Aside from Retipuj, satellites and rings are not stable around any of the Hot Giants. If satellites were initially formed around the Hot Giants, they would have either crashed into the planets or were ejected into one of the asteroid belts.

The first civilization to arise in the Losar system are the Sunevians, suspiciously great-ape-like feathered aliens who walk on their upper limbs and use their lower limbs as graspers. Sunev is an oceanic world with one large australia-sized landmass and a great number of volcanic islands. The ocean is relatively shallow, with a lot of coral reefs across the planet. The world is kept warm due to an atmosphere with an Earthlike composition but over twice the atmospheric pressure. Its slow retrograde rotation period results in day/night cycles which are more like seasons, and there is plenty of time during the warm nights to peek through the relatively dense cloud cover into the nearly empty sky. Early or late in the night, one might be able to see Thrae and Noom, or Sram, or if they catch it at just the right time, they might see the incredibly bright spectacle of Retipuj or even Nrutas peek out of the treeline, brighter than any planet or star. On a really good sunset across the ocean with clear skies, some observers report seeing additional super-bright red stars next to the red Sun, but these are thought to be some kind of weather phenomenon reflecting sunlight.

In rare moments of clear skies at night, away from light pollution, one might see many faint hazy spectacles. The zodiacal light (meteoroids orbiting beyond Yrucrem) shines as a faint haze across the ecliptic. The milky way too, shines as a glittery patchy cloud across the sky. But sometimes, every few hours, early in the night, there is a bright patch near the sun, brighter than the zodiacal light. A mystery for ages, but this is now known to be the cometary tail of Enutpen. Sunaru's tail is also detectable, but substantially fainter.

Sunaru and Enutpen were the first planets to be discovered, and were detected within a week of one another by early Losar observers. After the invention of the astronomical telescope, a reflector, observers got very bored during the daytime months. That is, until someone figured out a safe way of pointing towards the Sun. At a cadence of 52 and 103 hours, little black dots would march across the Losar disk. 52 hours was also the cadence of the brightening and dimming of the twilight zodiacal light. And suddenly, two brand new planets were discovered!

Millions of years later on the cold ice-age planet Thrae, astronomers would have an easier time with Enutpen and Sunaru, having known them to be planets since antiquity, due to their apparitions during total solar eclipses. Thrae's comparative cloudlessness also helps.

Sunev has three tiny asteroid moons, which was a helpful jumpstart to Sunevian space exploration, providing early wins for all four space programs. But these little asteroids were not truly other worlds, merely refueling outposts on the way to the rest of the Losar system.

Every few years, there would be a perfect alignment between Sunev and the Hot Giants to allow for a grand tour to be completed using only flybys of the gas giants, with minimal propellant expenditure. The first grand tour attempt got no further than Retipuj--contact was lost due to overheating before the probe made its Nrutas flyby. Specially developed solar flyby probes had to be developed that could survive hotter temperatures before the Hot Giants could be properly explored. These probes would resemble the Parker Solar Probe in some ways, albeit with very different scientific instruments designed for planetary science as opposed to Oilehphysics. Nrutas, Sunaru, and Enutpen turned out all to be much less massive than originally thought, having been puffed up to a larger diameter by being cooked by solar radiation. Nrutas, thought to be the king of the planets, turned out to be merely puffing up its crest to appear regal, so to speak.

Retipuj's moons were incredibly interesting. Retipuj turned out to have 8 satellites--four tiny inner asteroid moons, and four large satellite planets. Otsillac, the innermost turned out to be a volcanic world, yellow-brown in color and pitted with dull-red volcanoes, and a thin atmosphere constantly replenished by volcanic plumes. The next three are in a Ecalpal Resonance of 1:2:4. Being both larger than Otsillac (and, in fact, Yrucrem) and in a more eccentric orbit, Edymenag was even more volcanically active, with a molten surface and exposed mantle. The smaller and more distant Aporue and Oi turned out to be less active, with only a few active volcanoes and many extinct ones. Oi was the least active--although the most recent eruptions were only half a million years old, it was practically dead. It was also the only one with a substantial amount of impact craters, and like Thrae's satellite, Noom, there is likely some volatile ices stuck in the permanent darkness of polar craters.

Hot Giant exploration was best appreciated by specialists, but the other outer planets were much more appreciated. Sram was thought to be warm enough to potentially support liquid water, but its atmosphere ended up being 1/20th of the pressure initially expected, the majority of it having been blown away into space by the Losar winds and the Enutpen tail. But Thrae was a sweet spot--it may have had a thinner atmosphere, but that was compensated by being nearer to Los. In addition, a giant impact it sustained billions of years ago lead to it having a powerful magnetic dynamo to survive the onslaught of the Losar and Enutpen winds. Thrae was a habitable biosphere of similar complexity to Sunev's, albeit with deeper oceans and all the alien horrors that comes with the territory.

Even Yrucrem turned out to be a surprise--despite a dull appearance in telescopes, it was found to have cryovolcanoes and pockets of subsurface oceans, which could potentially support a biosphere. It's a dark brown color due to ice having been aged by solar radiation, with white spots and rays spraying out from recent asteroid impacts and cryovolcanic plumes. The small planets of the trans-Yrucrem asteroid belt were a similar treasure trove, although the nearest large trans-Yrucrem planets were a dozen au away, and requiring RTG power sources. Initial flyby probes to the Trans-Yrucrem-Objects required both being capable of surviving the oppressive heat of Los-shine near Retipuj, and the cold of deep deep space, in order to take advantage of Sunev-Thrae-Sunev-Retipuj gravity assists.

The Sunevians never had a chance to discover the deepest secrets of the Losar system. Their planet froze over due to anthropogenic aerosol production intended to reverse anthropogenic carbon emission, civilization fell, and it never recovered.

But millions of years later, perhaps the Thraelings have a chance to discover, whether through direct imaging or through analyzing the weirdly arrayed orbits of certain trans-yrucrem objects, the four Cold Giant planets, and the distant brown dwarf companion of the Losar system...

[divorcedfiddleford]

really frustrating to engage with a multiverse-based work of fiction that seems to have a limited and tenuous understanding of what the multiverse is and how it works

[nostalgia-tblr]

okay it turns out writing fic is hard so i have made a PHOTOSTORY of the Dark Lokius fic that i would write if i wasn't lazy and a coward:

[manicsystemic]

Sci-fi setting where instead of space travel humanity develops earth further, and most human settlement retreats from the surface of the land into underwater cities in order to let ecosystems heal while maintaining living space.

Geothermal, tidal, wind, and solar power are critical, electric submarines and underwater trains replace previous forms of travel. Cities are built within multi-layered domal and spherical structures for maximum safety incase of hull breaches. Swimming and diving become more vital skills taught to everyone at a young age, sports played in water become mainstream.

Diver mechs are developed as an important technology for underwater construction and work, they have minor self-defense equipment for use against large belligerent sea creatures to fend them off. Whale populations are protected and become more culturally significant, the race to develop effective communication techniques with whales begins in earnest. Mecha vs sea monster anime booms in popularity. The move underwater removes all logical land boundaries setup by previous cultures, and underwater cities are considered their own citizen-collective governed states, which convene to collaborate on intercity projects.

Deep sea exploration rapidly advances, and recyclable and sustainable materials used for construction and technology are emphasized. Mechs are built of primarily easily recyclable metals like aluminum.

Where is the conflict you ask?

Uhh... Cephalopods have discovered enough discarded, usable technology to create small settlements and learn about capitalism, and are trying to conquer parts of the seafloor.

Humanity wrestles with a desire for peace with them, and the need to defend themselves from little weaponized octopus piloted exoskeletons.

Mecha fights ensue, human's much larger mechs with small pistols and simple punches and self-defense clubs fight swarms of little octopus whose tentacles pilot spider-legged frames mounted with weapons salvaged and reverse engineered from human weapons.

Hot topic political debate erupts around how to best communicate with and pursue peace with the cephalopods. Large-scale weaponry is banned and most mech fights consist of human mechs trying to disable the cephalopod weaponry without killing them, cephalopod reactionaries use footage of this as horror propaganda about how humans want to get live cephalopods our of their mechs in order to eat them while they still wiggle.

[theprofessionalpromptmaker]

National Dog Day & National WebMistress Day

Person A created an AI to be their secretary and basic companion and named it Person B. One day, Person B gets the idea in their head that they want a pet and start nagging Person A about getting one, showing them targeted ads for shelter animals and such. So Person A finally gives in and gets a pet, which Person B uses their control of the housing functions to care for the pet while Person A is away, but begins to also set appointments and alerts for Person A to bring the pet to the vet and all the things Person B can’t handle.

[whereserpentswalk]

There's a spirit out there who will swap your mind with yourself from another universe. Now, this is a good deal, but there's a very specific circumstance where it can be done. You have to agree to do it, and your alternate self has to too, so you can't be too picky, and you have to take what you can get. And while you can make requests, you'll never fully know what's in store until you get there.

There was one girl who swapped with herself from a post apocalyptic world. She was craving adventure and her alternate self was craving comfort. It didn't go well. We don't know what happened to the version originally from our world, though it probably didn't go as well as she wanted. The version who came to our world didn't have things go very well for her, she started out being able to enjoy the mundane comforts of this world, but she wasn't able to finish college for obvious reasons, and didn't have any skills to find a job with or anything. She also had so much trauma from where she came from that she had a lot of trouble with people. Because most people don't know about spirits or other worlds they just assumed she had a mental break. Now she's just being taken care of by her other self's freinds and family.

There are some with happy endings. One person chose to swap with himself from a world where humans (or at least the main sentient race) had evolved from arachnids. A lot of people who followed what happened assumed things would go terribly wrong. But because of his personality he really enjoyed all the new sensations from having a body completely alien to his own, and we can assume the version from our world did as well. He's spent a long time logging how it feels to experience all the strange quirks and details of a human body, and how it contrasts with his old arachnid body. Apparently this is what he always wanted.

Another example of where things went terrible wrong was someone who came to this world from a world that was hundreds of years more technologically advanced. Their self on this world wanted more technology, they wanted less technology. The version who came to this world thought that their problems would be solved if they were able to live a simpler life, but it turns out they really weren't ready to live in a world without the luxuries they were used to. They became so constantly frustrated with what they aren't able to do now. They tried to explain to people the scientific discoveries from their time, but nobody ever understood, and they didn't remember enough to actually figure out anything useful.

There are some people who swap to universes with wildly different values. For example, a young woman who swapped to a universe where humans had removed their ability to have or want sex, and reproduced artificially. We don't know what things are like for the version who left our universe, but the version who entered our universe was disappointed. She didn't like all the new rules she had to follow surrounding how she acted, the fact that she had to always cover certain parts of her body, the fact that guys would hit on her in a creepy way, the fact that she couldn't call people pretty or touch them certain ways without there being social consequences. There was an entire new set of social conventions for her to learn and feel trapped by. She enjoyed sex, just not the way people acted around it.

There are people who go to other universes for more nefarious reasons. There was a devout catholic who chose to swap with himself from a universe with an entirely different religious history. The version who left our world tried to convert his new world to catholicism and likely failed. The version who came to our universe likewise tried to convert us to a religion nobody had ever heard of. Slowly he realized that nobody was going to convert and became incredibly desperate, growing more and more lonely until finally kind of just shutting down. And from the outside it just looked as if he had tried to start a cult and failed, but he didn't, he had an entire community that he lost.

So if you're ever looking to swap minds with your alternate self you can, just be warned.

[battlegroundofdreams]

2

And now they meet....

“I take it you’re Melinoe?” Morpheus sounded as thrilled as he felt when he walked into the training room the next morning to meet the woman who would be his partner, or at least until he could find a way to get rid of her.  At least she wasn’t bad to look at, and from her outfit she was there to do serious work.  At least they hadn’t put him with one of the females that was more concerned about her appearances than whether they got the job done; that was at least a bonus.  However as his eyes swept her body from her long coffee colored hair that was pulled up in a plait, across her curves, and down to her long legs that were toned from workouts and the rigors of their job, Morpheus had to admit that at least the scenery would be enjoyable while he was forced into this position.

“I am.  That would make you Morpheus.  I’d say it’s a pleasure, but your reputation does proceed you.  I’ve already been warned, you’re not going to scare me off or get rid of me.  We’re stuck together, so let’s see if the other part of your reputation is correct.  Hand to hand first, then we can do weapons. Let’s see what you got.” Melinoe gave him a wink as she smirked over at him.  She was prepared for anything he could throw at her.  Overnight she’d done some research on the assassin she’d now be paired up with, and had gotten a good feel for who he was and how he operated.  To say he was generally disliked would be a significant understatement, even amongst their superiors.  While he was adept and lethal, he had an attitude that few could stomach.  The number of reprimands in his file was impressive for him still to be in the service.  He’d impressed someone along the line, or maybe slept his way into keeping his job.  She couldn’t deny that he was nice to look at - tall, dark hair, and grey eyes that seemed to be scrutinizing her, chiseled jaw and cheekbones, and he didn’t have to wear tight clothes to see his musculature.  Yes, sleeping his way to keeping on the force was a possibility. 

“I guess I won’t have to wonder where I stand with you.”  Morpheus was actually impressed, not even one single attempt to flirt, and she was direct.  He had to respect that, even if it slightly amused him.  The tall female was attractive, which normally meant flirtatious.  Now he had a good idea why he’d been paired up with her, maybe he wouldn’t hate this quite as much as he’d anticipated.  The thought made him smirk as he considered exactly how to put her to the test.

“Not at all, killer.  And don’t think that the nice cheekbones, strong jaw, and ability to smolder are going to get you anywhere.  I’ve been told I’m immune.”  She gave him a tight smile and another wink as she pulled on her training gloves: tight leather fingerless gloves that had padding in the palm.  “Don’t take it easy on me, and I will do the same.  I want to see what you’ve got, and how much of your weight I’m going to have to carry.”  Now it was she that was smirking as she kept from looking at him, something she was sure he was not used to.

“Excuse me?  MY weight that YOU are going to have to carry?”  Now Morpheus had to scoff as his eyes rolled.  There was no way she’d be carrying any of his weight.  More than likely, he’d be carrying her weight, and although she was far from fat, he imagined he’d be tired from carrying her weight on every mission.  There were few in the service that could keep up with him, let alone fight to his level.  He dropped his equipment bag to the side of the area that they were going to be using and began to pull on his own gloves, keeping an eye on her as well.

“I believe that IS what I said.” Melinoe was glad she didn’t have to hide her smile at the indignation in his voice as she dug more of her gear out of her own bag.  “I won’t play nice to save your ego.  I’ve heard it gets enough puffing up off the job, I don’t plan to do any more of it while we’re on the job.” She tossed a few things to the side and then turned to stand and face him.

Before Melinoe could come to full standing, Morpheus had her by the bicep and shoved up against the wall, with his body against hers, keeping her there.  Those grey eyes of his seemed to have gone ice cold and his expression was dead serious; she had to hand it to him that he was intimidating when angered.  “I don’t know just who you think you are, but commenting on what I do off the job is none of your business.  And my ego doesn’t need to be puffed up any, by you or anyone else, my performance speaks for itself.” She’d hit a sore spot without even meaning to, but he wasn’t going to let it slide either way.  This is why he preferred working alone. No asshole coworker to annoy you, or get you injured or killed.

Her green eyes met his evenly and with a hint of amusement in them.  “Is that so?  And yet, you lose your cool so easily over the statement.  Hiding something, Morpheus?”  Her eyes dropped to where their bodies met and then back to his eyes.  “Or compensating for something?  I don’t care, but don’t you ever grab me that way again if you want all your body parts to remain in their original and current positions.”  Melinoe’s chin lifted defiantly and her eyes narrowed.  “Now back the fuck up and let me go, or I will make you.”  The coldness in her voice made ice feel like the tropics and the set of her jaw made it clear she was not in a joking mood.  He too had taken a step too far.

“Fine!” He took one step back, releasing her as his fingers splayed wide on both hands, his head tipping to the side, and his own eyes narrowing.  “Don’t start a war you can’t finish.  As you said, Melinoe, we are stuck together.  We can fight each other and the nightmares, or we can fight together.  You choose.”  He was fighting grinding his teeth as he stood there staring at her.

“You made the first move, Morpheus.  I’d say it’s up to you if there’s a truce, or hostilities continue.  I’m not going to back down if challenged, and I won’t pull punches.  Don’t think you can steam roll over me because others cower at you.  They picked me for a reason.”  The corners of her mouth ticked up, he’d have to call the truce between them and apologize. She wasn’t going to be made to apologize or back down, that wasn’t her style.

It was at that moment a messenger came into the room.  “Ema!  Ema!  I have a message from Krios.  It is in regards to your last mission.  Something’s happened.  He is going to need to speak with you after training!.”  The messenger held out a scroll to her, bowing deeply as she reached for it.  “I’m sorry to interrupt, ma’am.  I was told it could not wait and was of the utmost importance.”  Morpheus’s eyes narrowed as he watched, something was off about the interaction, and what had he called her?

“Right!  Well, then it is best that you didn’t.”  Her tone was clipped, but Melinoe was not chastising or upset sounding.  It was clear on her face that something about what the messenger had just said was troubling, and she was not wanting to reveal more in front of him.  “Thank you for delivering it to me.  Morpheus and I will be in to see the Prime as soon as training is completed.  Let him know that it was delivered.  Thank You.”  She inclined her head and waited until the messenger had exited the room before breaking the seal on the scroll.  As she read, a feeling of dread filled her.  It seemed that she and Morpheus were not going to get much of a period to get acquainted. 

Morpheus waited for Melinoe to share what was within the scroll.  As he did, he went back over what the messenger had said.  He’d called her “Ema”.  The name sounded familiar, but he was having a problem placing it.  There was also that the messenger had shown a reverence to her that he didn’t even receive.  And why would Krios contact her directly, the Prime rarely spoke to agents.  Who had he been paired up with?  What had the Dream Gods done?

“It looks like we aren’t going to get much time to get to know one another before we are going to have to undertake our first mission.  A pair of nightmares that have been preying on dreamers and brutally killing them from within has resurfaced, or one of them has.  I killed the other one in my last mission. I had hoped both were dead, but apparently the one was just badly wounded and laying low for the last couple weeks.”  Frustration bled through her voice as she filled Morpheus in.  Having to admit to not defeating the one nightmare was not something she liked doing, but she wanted it all out on the table. “Apparently the remaining one struck someone just taking a nap, not even someone asleep for the night.  So, since it was my last solo mission, it has become our first joint mission.”

Now would be the test if he could control his own mouth, or if they would forever be at odds with one another.  While he didn’t want a partner, fighting with her while trying to defeat the nightmares wouldn’t benefit either of them.  Best thing was to call a truce and work together.  “A truce it is then, if you’re agreeable to forgiving my earlier slight.”  Once she had inclined her head to indicate that she did, he continued, “I guess we should get down to training then if we’re going to be thrown into it that fast.  Learning one another’s fighting style is going to help when we’re taking on an adversary, especially one that is out for revenge for you killing its partner.”

[ahagisborn]

Losing my mind.

Okay, I read a short story about a group of scientists/researchers/explorers out on the ocean who are looking for a particular spot where they can either time travel or get to another dimension (?). They go through whatever the portal is and release a dolphin that they have on board that's supposed to like conduct research somehow (?). The dolphin is attacked and killed by these creatures that LOOK like dolphins but are actually fish/reptiles (?). I think then the scientists end up on land where they find remains of a creature or a living creature that LOOKS human but isn't (????). I have to stop googling this I'm going crazy.

What fucking story did I read?

Fucking stories I did not read:

any of the Uplift series by David Brin

Dolphin's Way by Gordon R. Dickson

Sister Planet by Poul Anderson

[femalemonsterhunter]

REPOST/15/01/25 UPDATED: I just continued to fixing some details and even on the canvas some lines in the mask layer using alpha lock.

Yay! My first post of the new 2025 year. And even my first attempt at drawing doodles of Beavis and Butthead in my style (tbh, their original version looked pretty idiotically ugly asf, which is why I only tried doing my version instead) with the digitally colored and their AU counterparts, whom so prominently appear in my The Long-Nosed Out project, mostly Butthead becomes the main antagonist in it, When he and Beavis accidentally found a portal across the Galaxy and Time Space to another dimension, thus they had a distinctively heated argument and fight that split up their friendship, but the portal was accidentally activated by them insensibly, and quickly dragged Butthead to another planet in Universe A22, before being found by reptilian-human-like aliens to watch over him, as it let changing his mind about having a new side of evil when he grew up. Moreover, if this were to become clear, according to the theories of fans for this adult animated TV show, when Butthead, in his dominant and inaccessible way, very much abuses, insults, threats, bullying, etc on Beavis for such reasons.

Yet, if I will be so honest to admit that I am not a fan nor not into that adult cartoon TV show at all, if, imo, it seemed quite strange and dump but still popular all the time, but still I more or less became interested in watching or rewatching it. However, I watch some of its episodes a little than most. Just as I don't support nor shipping between two like Beavis and Butthead. On the contrary, the similarity in StolasXBlitz ship from Helluva Boss, it seemed too toxic and abusive IMO, considering that Butthead constantly violently yet barely abuses, assaults, etc on Beavis sm.

And I hope you like my fan artwork of B&BH-related.

Art, the Long-Nosed Out project/lore via Split Up AU version are belong to me (C)

Beavis and Butthead are belong to Mike Judge/MTV Animation (Seasons 1-7, originally)/MTV Entertainment Studios (Season 8-present, currently) (C)

[technicallyclassyperfection]

Via print: