#and an exponential increase in physical ability and endurance

[fjordfolk]

Convinced 6 months old is the worst age for a puppy to be. I don't think the others were very bad at 6 months, but Melis is bad enough to make up for it.

[lunarsilkscreen]

Super Saiyan Sillyness

There's a small plot point in DBS that is really important as to the direction the series is going, but if I acknowledge it; it would be extreme spoiler content. So instead; I'm going to talk about how Super Saiyan works.

In the DragonBall series Ki is a metaphysical concept that can be used to increase your own endurance and kinetic power, without increasing your mass.

Originally, this was a small thing used by characters to shoot out magical bursts like a firearm, without a weapon. Allowing a Martial Artists to develop ranged attacks without weaponry.

As we get to DBZ however; this Ki energy becomes a way to increase your physical strength and endurance. Initially by increasing your muscle mass, and later without the forced muscle expansion that causes body degradation and extreme exhaustion.

This culminates in the Battle of Goku vs Frieza, where along with his innate spaceman genetics; Goku figures out how to use this Ki, along with his anger to transform into a super Saiyan.

What this is, is a focused version of abilities before this, developed by Roshi and King Kai. King Kai's variant being the most recognizable; Kaio Ken.

Kaio Ken, however; like the bulking Ki causes extreme wear and tear on the body. And so the Super Saiyans rarely use it after learning how to become super Saiyan.

Now, SS isn't the only type of super transformation available to denizens of Akira Toriyama's world. Frieza species seems to be able to "Go Gold" as well. Which is a full body transformation.

Similar to Super Saiyan 4 in the DBGT series, which explored the vastness of space after turning Goku into a child.

Saiyans also have a kind of werewolf transformation during the full moon, where they can't control their emotions.

This however is shown to be destructive, and akin to the muscle expansion techniques as it increases Mass equivalent to the energy gained.

The Namekians have a similar transformation showcases by Lord Slug and Orange Piccolo, which has all the same drawbacks.

What this means; is because Saiyans and Namekians and Frezians share these similar transformations and Ki generation; that these techniques should be available to every race and species.

It's just that some cultures are more ingrained with wanting to learn how to fight gooder. Or are Frieza and just Tyrants.

Vegeta and Frieza show a disdain for species that they previously believed were "inferior races". Frieza towards all Saiyans, and Vegeta to his Half-blood nephew: Gohan. Who display a completely different form of Saiyan transformation that isn't SSJ2 but is similar in power level. Dubbed Mystic Saiyan due to its creation by the influence from Supreme Kai's Magic.

But here's where it's interesting to me. As we get to Super Saiyan God mode, which is what the *real* SS legend is based on, and the Saiyan race had become extremely weak in comparison to their former abilities before the Friezers turned them into a caste of warrior conquerer slaves. Meaning they had forgotten nearly all of their *real* combat techniques that they thought made them a "superior race."

But this Super Saiyan God mode, which then can be focused into what's known as Super Saiyan Blue; demonstrates the use of Ki and it's reflection on tbe visible light spectrum.

Ki can be used raw to empower a person, but because it's non focused it will cause the body to undergo a temporary extreme physical transformation.

This is alleviated somewhat with the Kaio-Ken technique which focuses the ki to a sharper point, and allows for an exponential increase in comparison to the regular Ki power up, but has the *same* draw backs at higher levels.

Then we get to a kind of Middle point. Frieza has several forms before Gold, but they seem to be more able to limit their physical transformation to use the power gain more effectively.

In fact; Friezas stay in their supposed final form after entering permanently, and then have more forms to go, and Unlike Uzaro Form and Super Namekian form, retain a standard small humanoid size.

And here's where it gets interesting; these different forms and techniques can be combined or used interchangeably to achieve the same or similar results .

In DB:GT; Super Saiyan 4 is achieved by entering Uzaro Form, Mastering it, Turning Super while in that form, and then supressing the Ki and physical transformation to bring the user back to typical humanoid size.

With their body showcasing red fur growth over their body.

This indicates that Super Uzaro, Namek, and Frieza all use a similar method in order to achieve levels that are past Super Saiyan 3 levels.

SS3 is a unique form, because while still being Super Saiyan, it amps up the physical form of the user. It still increases the physical mass. Not only appearing to lengthen the hair follicles (which is probably just run-off ki, as the user returns to normal after use)

But bulking up as with the previous forms drawbacks.

Which means that this Bulking is the habit that most life forms exhibit when they increase their key until they figure out how to shift better.

Basically, SS3 is the Roshi Technique combined with SS transformation. And SS2 focuses the energy of SS1 better, because it doesn't exhibit the bulking drawback.

This bulking drawback is visible when Vegeta and Trunks attain their own post Super Saiyan forms as well. Vegeta commenting; "You're still using that bulky form?" At one point indicating to Trunks that he is doing it wrong.

Their SS2 forms included the bulking drawback that Goku's didn't exhibit.

So when we get to SS:God form; this looks similar to Kaio Ken, with it's red glow. Indicated a compressed form of energy, that can then be compressed into Super Saiyan Blue.

Vegeta demonstrated this with his Super Saiyan Prince form. As his eyes sparkle along the colored light spectrum indicating the varying power levels not visible in the hair.

This is different but similar to the SS4 shown in GT. Instead of the Ki run off coming from the tops of their heads as in the gold super Saiyan forms, the red ki comes out of the hair follicles across their body and from their regrown Saiyan monkey tails.

This is a strange transformation as it looks like a form similar to Ultra Instinct combined with a red variant of super Saiyan.

More on this; Ultra Instinct looks like base form. Because there is no bulking, there is no visible Ki generation at the hair follicles. Just a black-light aura.

This is because the Ki is focused to a point where it is no longer emitting from the visible light spectrum.

The drawbacks with UI seem similar to Uzaro and Kaio Ken form however. As UI takes an extreme toll on the body, and nearly loses concious control. Any less control, and it's conceivable Goku could become a mindless destructive force like Uzaro or Brolly.

Brolly is a Super Saiyan who can't control his super Saiyan powers due to extreme neglect and trauma induced by the former Saiyan culture and lifestyle. Which indicates a connection between Super Saiyan Brolly, UI, and Uzaro. SS Brolly forms (also shared by Kefla from Uni6) also showcases a greenish aura.

Demonstrating that there are different ways that different people can utilize the SS transformation and these other techniques.

What this means is that Uni7 UI Goku has potentially become stronger than DB:GT(unnumbered uni) Goku. Because he doesn't have Color inconsistencies. SS4 Goku and Vegeta in comparison, while having black hair, emit the Red Ki from their body hair, and red from their eyes, similar to Vegeta's Super Princess. SSJ4 also includes slight bulking.

However, UI has that extreme Drawback where once you've used up your energy, that's it until you take a long rest.

UI also seems different from Super Forms as you can't harness your emotional state, as one is often shown doing when they initially enter that state.

And Uni6 Saiyans, with the exceot of Vegeta's protege, entering it at will without emotion.

Hinting that the emotional burst is good to learn how to control larger amounts of Ki, but not good at focusing it down to the single point required of UI.

The SS4 Saiyan's also have a "Limit Breaker" similar to that of entering SS:God Mode. which enables them to use their transformation at will, unlike before which required becoming Uzaro, loosing control, regaining control, become super Uzaro, and then sustaining that. And maintaining it longer than 5 minutes.

Which suggests the forms are not unique to the method of transformation.

With Videl standing in for an extra Saiyan (Despite being Preggers) this also suggests that you simply need multiple people whose combined energy exceeds a certain amount, and isn't generically limited to Saiyan's.

This correlates with the other [Super Transformations] shown in the series as a whole.

What they tend to forget, is that despite being Human, Videl is one of the strongest Humans on Earth. Rivaling only Krillin, who isn't as strong as Goku simply because he doesn't have a single mind focused on becoming stronger. Also, unlike Goku, who inherited land and money from King Yama, actually needs to work for a living.

Goku isn't the strongest because he's a Saiyan either. Even Vegeta believed for a while that Goku was a low-tier saiyan incapable of meeting, much less exceeding the power level of a prince like himself.

He's the strongest because he's Goku.

This brings me to the end of this with one final observation; Goku and Trunks in Uni7. Who become Super Saiyan at will naturally. Without training, without really knowing what it is.

They're not just expanded power level from epigenetics, they have expanded powers because of the same technique that gives Goku and Vegeta SS:God powers.

Because it's the same technique showcased by Korin, Kami, Guru, and the Kai's, in "unlocking a person's potential".

Just a weaker form since a single person would only be able emit so much energy. Achieving SS:God and SS4:LB and the [Ki Expansion] technique most therefore be the same, becoming stronger the more Ki you pump into the recipient.

Ergo; Trunks and Goten have high power levels because of... Well... All that energy and training happening during the Buu saga...

[selfixsworld]

I´m bored...

so i´ll give some ideas for quirks for BNHA DRs or OC:

Script Template: @/mx.levias on TikTok — linktree (NOT MY SCRIPT)

NINE TAILS:

Quirk Inspired By: Naruto (Naruto - Naruto Shippuden) - Jiu Wei Hu (MCU)

APPLICATIONS:

Age Empwerment

Claw Retraction

Dark/Light Side Aspect Manifestation

Dream Manipulation

Elemental Manipulation

Enhanced Beauty

Fox-Fire Manipulation

Fox Magic

Flight

Glowing Eyes

Illusion Manipulation

Immortality

Life-Force Manipulation

Lightning Bruiser

Possession

Shapeshifting

Gender Transformation 

Human Disguise

Size Manipulation

Space-Time Manipulation

Sleep Paralysis Inducement

Tail Manifestation

Multiple Tails

Prehensile Tail

Trickster

Vulpes PhysiologyEnhanced Endurance

Enhanced SensesEnhanced Hearing

Enhanced Smell

Enhanced Vision

Night Vision

Enhanced Speed

Enhanced Stamina

Environmental Adaptation

Predator Instinct

Supernatural Bite

Temperature Regulation

Special Moves:

⌈Vulpes Tempest⌉ Summon a storm of elemental energy, blending fire, lightning, and wind, controlled by the power of the multiple tails. This storm devastates the battlefield, causing massive damage and disorienting enemies.

⌈Vulpine Possession⌉ Temporarily possess an opponent's or ally's body, controlling their actions and accessing their abilities. This can be used to turn enemies against each other or to amplify an ally's power for a short period.

⌈Celestial Kitsune⌉ Transform into the ultimate Kitsune form, combining all the powers of the fox, light, and dark sides. In this form, your power is exponentially increased, making you nearly unstoppable for a brief time.

⌈Dreamwalk⌉ Enter the dreams of an opponent, manipulating their fears and desires. While in the dream realm, you can influence their actions in the real world, making them vulnerable or even turning them into allies.

Backlash:

Elemental Overload: Channeling multiple elemental forces simultaneously can overload your body, leading to severe physical strain, fatigue, or loss of control over the elements.

Dark Side Corruption: Tapping into the darker aspects of your powers can lead to a loss of control, with the potential for these dark energies to take over, leading to unintended destruction or malevolent actions.

Vulpine Instinct Overdrive: Relying too much on animalistic instincts may cause a temporary loss of rational thought, leading to unpredictable and potentially dangerous behavior.

Possession Fatigue: Possessing another being drains your energy significantly, leaving you vulnerable and exhausted after the effect wears off.

[futurefind]

//A concept I both rlly love + epitomize how very much I run off of, like, passion? Attention?? Interaction??? being able to turn an inch into a mile inspo wise: when my friends had an urban fantasy spn group for like a month and this is what I went with for Sa's SpnTM stuff :3<

Ice puppy sa beloved

The Kerberos, or Cerberus, date back to antiquity with the guardian of the Grecian Underworld. Kerberi have long served as minor psychopomps due to the intersection of their chthonic and protective natures, helping restless ghosts pass on and protecting the slumber of those that already have.

Regardless of how they choose to wield (or not wield) their powers, Kerberi have a heightened attunement to the spiritual. They’re most aware of ghosts (that is, once-living beings that have passed on to noncorporeal forms), in particularly, followed by spirits (living entities who have always been noncorporeal), with elementals and then magical energies being those they have the least-heightened awareness of. They also have increased physical senses, though the exacts vary depending on the type of Kerberos.

While ancient records can only agree upon the Kerberos being multi-headed and having been defeated by Heracles for his Trials, its descendants have catalyzed into two primary variants: lupine and serpentine. Shared physical traits include: a hardy constitution and endurance; slit pupils; often (but not always) yellow-to-gold irises when channeling their powers; sharpened teeth.

The only cited ‘magical’ traits of Kerberos in myth are eyes of fire and a nebulous ability to spew the poison aconitine (namely, the growing of wolfsbane). Kerberi, thus, have a nebulous affinity for fire, and either a resistance to poisons or an extreme weakness to wolfsbane.

Kerberi are a ‘schrodinger’ existence, being neither physical nor noncorporeal. Instead it is a state rooted in the ‘soul’, completely variable from person to person, with mixed blood in the traditional sense being impossible for them: They may reproduce freely, and all their descendants will technically be Kerberi, but even a child born to two powerful Kerberi is not guaranteed to display strong Kerberi traits. One may have limited physical traits, another unable to hide theirs at all, and so on.

Overall, Kerberi’s ‘active’ powers are rooted in elemental energies, ranging from the classical elements (Western or Eastern) to ones such as light or time or even vitae itself. This goes hand in hand with the standard of ‘fire’, but ‘monoelement’ Kerberi— whether they wield only fire or are unable to use it at all— have exponentially more powerful and volatile, dangerous powers. Often, their elemental powers effect one’s appearance and are always effected by their emotions.

Kerberi are social but territorial creatures. They thrive in consistent group environments, and suffer in solitude, with inclinations towards protectiveness— both towards their peers and loved ones, and the areas in which they reside. If two Kerberi intersect in ‘territory’ this can lead to conflict: not because they cannot coexist, but because each feels the need to be both ‘the’ guardian/protector, including of the other Kerberus, while refusing to be the ‘protectee’ in any manner themselves.

For Sasume: Large, sleek-fluffy canid ears and tail (replaceable with human equivalents/lack of) and, when channeling her abilities, typical gold eyes (and slit pupils) alongside further-sharpened and hardened teeth and nails. Wounds & skin irritations, small scars & scar edges have a propensity towards sharp angles and paleness, like fractured ice, while larger ones’ internal discolorations are patterned like ice fractals. Moreover, actively channeling her elemental powers leads to creeping patterns of frost along her skin. 

Powers wise: Sasume wields the relatively common abilities to actively enhance her physicality (stamina, strength, pain-resistance, hardiness), including a less-common amplification of healing rate. She also has the ability to generate and/or control water, preferring to wield it in the form of ice, to a powerful degree. As it runs counter to the Kerberi standard of fire, she has difficulty using any sort of flame manipulation, but retains an immunity to mundane flames. When angered or on edge or the like, her immediate vicinity will chill, and the worse it is the broader and colder the reach. Caution is advised, as she’s not immune to the cold. Though, her own powers are only high risk to herself if their induced ‘chill’ becomes internalized. 

In the day to day: Sasume is reserved, and literally buttoned up due to her aversion to anyone seeing the physical signs of her abilities. Outside of this, she keeps an ear out for ghostly unrest, and can get distracted by spiritual activity if there’s no appointments/set times she needs to meet.

[caxycreations]

Relanian Magic

I'm going to break this down into a few categories for organization's sake, so here they are in order:

Origins of Magic on the Planet Relan

Impact of Magic on Relanian Life

Magic in Nature

Channeled Magic

Innate Magic

Magic in the Modern World

So without further ado, let's get into it!

Origins of Magic on the Planet Relan

Relan did not begin with magic. Magic was introduced by the Relanian Gods. Gaius, Malor, Fina, Escor, Jan, and Dinora poured their power into the world, granting it magic and enabling the rise of the Sentients. Sentients are the product of feral animal species being born to a world where the very air itself was charged with raw magical power, infusing into their souls and minds the gift of thought, of self-awareness, of intelligence.

With the introduction of magic into the world, many things were "jump-started". Sentients were given knowledge of many things by the power of the gods, Ferals were given powers and abilities, and the first Mythicals were born, Sentient by nature.

In short, magic on Relan is concentrated divine power, given freely to the world to aid its life in surviving, growing, and bettering themselves and each other.

Impact of Magic on Relanian Life

With the introduction of magic into Relan, life underwent an explosive metamorphosis. Some physically, some on a deeper level. Ferals in particular were impacted greatly. Many species developed a supernatural glow, often in the eyes and markings, which over generations became natural bioluminescence.

Fauna was changed as well, with the natural effects of most plant life being amplified exponentially. Toxic plants became far more deadly, and beneficial herbs had their effects increased tenfold. This resulted in herbal remedies and poisons far more effective than our own world's equivalents.

Sentients were changed most of all. Originally Ferals, magic distorted them, changed them into bipedal, humanoid forms. The first Sentients were still very similar to their Feral counterparts, often with paws instead of hands, and rarely with the ability to speak any kind of formal language, though they now had the ability to communicate and assign word meaning to their vocalizations.

Over generations, Sentients became more human-like, with their physiology reacting to the magic surrounding them until they were notably different from their Feral counterparts. Vocal chords specialized for barking, howling, roaring, chirping, etc, became capable of true speech. Front paws became hands. Species with sideways-facing eyes became forward-facing, and many back legs took on a distinct shape both digitigrade and capable of supporting long-term upright movement.

The most notable impact on Relanian life, however, was the sudden addition of Blessings into the world. Blessings are innate magic, to be covered in a later chapter, but are worth mentioning now as they are the most enduring impact of magic on relanian life.

Magic in Nature

Magic in nature bears a conscience. It is capable of telling positive intent from negative, and is deeply attuned to the wills of the gods. As such, what they abhor, magic abhors, and what they encourage, magic encourages. It gets its sense of good and evil directly from the belief of the gods that created it.

Due to this, the will of magic can be said to be the same as the will of the gods. To fight the magic is to turn against the desires of the gods themselves.

Magic, when it was prevalent and well-known throughout the world, was known to follow a certain moral compass. To make it easy to understand, the list below outlines the laws of magic.

Needless violence is abhorred

Killing for killing's sake is abhored

Greed is abhorred

Defense of one's life is a necessity

Defense of innocent life is a necessity

Innocence is to break no godly law

Magic can, and will, pass judgement on those trying to use it for wicked reasons. To cause harm for the sake of causing harm, to kill for no reason beyond wanting to kill, to use magic for personal gain, these things will make magic less potent, and will reduce its effectiveness.

Meanwhile, magic will empower those using it for self-defense, the defense of innocent life, and the upholding of godly law. Magic inherently works to achieve these goals, and can most commonly be seen upholding godly law as best it can.

In areas full of unspoiled life (deep, undisturbed forests, large mountain ranges, vast and untamed plains, etc) magic is at its strongest, and there are six places on Relan with the deepest connection to magic. These six places are the result of magic coalescing in large concentrations of natural life, and weakening the wall between the physical world and the divine realms.

This weakening of the wall is responsible for one of magic's most profound effects in nature: the Godly Gates. There are six Gates, one tied to each God and their domain, from which magic seeps into the world and into which the spirits of the deceased may enter and exit the world at will.

These gates have magical protections surrounding them, and those who venture too close find themselves lost, or miles from where they initially believed themselves to be. The magic of the land works to protect the separation of mortal and divine realms. It is in its very nature to do so.

Channeled Magic

Magic, at one time, could be channeled into powerful effects both devastating and benevolent. Sentients, as their understanding of magic grew, began delving into how to gather it within themselves, drawing magic from the elements around them and transforming it into various forms to achieve various results.

Mages across the world developed the Relanian schools of magic, which are:

Conjuration, devised by the Andronians. It holds 3 subtypes which are Reparation, Creation, and Transformation

Evocation, devised by the Dornumites. It holds 2 subtypes which are Destruction and Medical.

Empowerment, a general form of magic all peoples discovered quickly upon experimenting with magic. It holds 3 subtypes, which are Physical, Mental, and Attunement.

Nature, a form unique to Ferusian Mystics. It holds 2 subtypes which are Growth and Necrotic.

A brief description of the subtypes is found below.

Reparation: repair magic. Can restore any non-living thing to it's pre-damaged state.

Creation: Can take the magic in the air and replicate it many times over, then manifest it into physical form as a solid object. Rarely permanent, requires knowledge of the object and how it works.

Transformation: surrounds an object with magic, then manifests a new form over it, melding the old form into the new one, magically changing its physiology or structure to match the new form.

Destruction: powerful concentrations of magic capable of great offense. Flames, lightning, and explosive bursts of raw energy.

Medical: magically enhancing a living thing's ability to heal or fight illness.

Physical Empowerment: increases the user's physical ability, or increases a targets physical ability.

Mental Empowerment: increases the users mental capabilities, enhancing perception, speed of thought, and reaction times exponentially.

Attunement: attunes an object to a user, allowing them to channel their empowerment magic into it to strengthen it or increase its effectiveness.

Growth: Can rapidly grow plant life beyond its normal potential, turning a single tree into a small forest, or grass into head-high walls of plant matter.

Necrotic: Opposite of Growth, decays and withers living tissue. Can be used to cull unhealthy plants to preserve the healthy ones, or on Ferals/Sentients that pose great threat to others.

Channeled magic was incredibly powerful, as the magic of the world was predisposed to support the life forms on Relan. It was their ally, and so obeyed them without question.

This gave rise to three types of practitioners, those who could not only channel magic, but held mastery over it. While nearly all Sentients could channel it, few could claim mastery and so the ability to manipulate this force to your exact will was rare.

The three types of practitioner were:

Mage: one who held great knowledge of magic, and mastery over the magical arts as a whole. Mages were in high demand for their vast wealth of abilities and powers. They were masters of every school of magic. Mages used magic as a tool, an object to be used according to their will.

Warlock: one who mastered the arts of combat magic, but little else. Complete masters of the schools of Evocation and Empowerment, but little to no skill in the other schools of magic.

Mystic: Those who held the balance of the natural world close to their hearts. Mystics were masters of all forms of magic, like Mages, but believed themselves the tool, and magic the wielder. They were deeply attuned to magic, and acted according to its will, rather than forcing theirs upon it.

Innate Magic

Innate magic was similar to channeled magic, though far weaker, and while channeled magic held a conscience, innate magic was inherently bound to the will of its owner and thus acted freely according to the will of its owner.

Innate magic took the form of Blessings. Blessings are abilities or traits beyond those natural for the individual given at birth from the mixture of the magical energies of the world and their soul.

Blessings are not given at conception, or during the time in the womb, due to the natural aura that surrounds all living things. The aura grows stronger over time, and by adulthood serves as a natural, albeit thin, barrier between the individual's innate magic and the magic of the world.

Infants do not have this barrier, but are protected by that of the mother until birth, at which point their soul is in direct contact with the magic of the world, leading to a unique and potent mixture of energies that gives them their Blessing.

Blessings are dependent on the current power in the world and its source. Magic's strength waxes and wanes over time, and the source of that magic changes as time moves forward. The months of the year are based around this cycle.

Magic waxes and wanes in 60-day periods, with it being at its strongest and most potent on the 30th day. These coincide with the waxing and waning of the power of the Gods. As one God loses power, another gains power, leading to the cycle. The cycle is, in order:

Gaius, the Overgod Fina, the Heartweaver Malor, the Fate Scribe Escor, the Father God Jan, the Mother God Dinora, the Prodigy

As the power of one god gives way to another, so too do the Blessings given change. Blessings bear certain limitations and themes depending on the God in power at the time. Some examples are:

Gaius: Physical Blessings, heightened senses, longevity. Fina: Strong relationships, greater romantic instinct, powerful emotional insight. Malor: Luck, foreknowledge, innate sense of possibility and probability. Escor: paternal instinct/ability, virility, masculinity Jan: maternal instinct/ability, fertility, femininity Dinora: intellect, logical insight, perception

These are not the only possibilities, but are the most common themes. Innate magic can be anything from simply enhancing something about oneself all the way to minor channeled effects. As a few examples of known Blessings:

Gaius: Enhanced durability and strength, well beyond physical limitation. Fina: casual love leaving the lover unable to fathom loving anyone else. Malor: Precognition, the ability to sense what is about to happen and instinctively react without thinking about it. Escor: An innate wisdom, always able to find the right words to embolden and educate. Jan: An innate wisdom, able to instantly understand and empathize with others. Dinora: Infallible memory, able to store and recall any and all information, stimulus, and/or event one has experienced with perfect, unerring clarity.

Blessings, while unique, are not entirely and wholly different from all others. One individual may have a natural luck about them due to their Blessing, with situations often shifting to benefit them, while another may have the ability to actively rewrite certain events before they happen to be more beneficial.

Outwardly these two Blessings seem identical, as both lead to the beneficiary seeming "lucky", though the exact nature of the Blessings is very different.

Blessings are as unique as the user, and fit the personality of their user perfectly due to the fact Blessings are born from their owner's very soul.

Magic in the Modern World

Magic has been largely lost in the modern world. Due to Sentients using magic for selfish and violent reasons in the ancient world, the world's magic has retreated, spreading itself thin across the globe to prevent Sentients from channeling it. What could not be spread thin has been concentrated in and around the six Gates, leading to deeply powerful magic surrounding them.

Forests, lakes, oceans, mountains, and the like that surround or hide the Gates are protected by these concentrations of magic, with the Ferals and the land itself of these areas being nearly impossible to navigate or remain in for any length of time.

What little magic remains available to the modern world is that which exists in the Blessings, which do not wane in power and remain as deeply connected to Sentients as their very souls. This is the one unbreakable bond between Sentients and Relanian magic, as it is directly tied to them by the gods themselves.

Due to magic withdrawing from the world and preventing itself from being channeled, the arts and schools of magic have been long forgotten, and are largely considered myth outside of Sen and Kanor, which are acutely aware of magic and its existence, as well as deeply reverent of it due to their history with it. Senese and Kanorian shamans even in the modern world can draw on a small amount of magic to read the aura of others and determine the nature of their Blessing, with more skilled shamans able to describe in detail the benefits of it.

The only remaining peoples with a direct connection to magic beyond the Blessings are the Tangkorak tribes scattered across Ferus, which to this day follow the teachings of the ancient Mystics. Despite magic withdrawing from the world, Tangkorak are able to draw on a small amount of it, which is what forms their tongues and eyes, allowing them speech and true sight. Tangkorak shamans are able to use a small amount of Nature magic, enough to expedite the harvest of their crops, or to wither away weeds that pose threats to their gardens, though these powers are greatly limited, and take many decades of training to make even irregular use of.

Closing Notes

Relan is a world of magic, with time period playing a key role in whether it is a world of high-fantasy and potent wizardry or if it is a forgotten power, unable to be used directly by all but the most deeply attuned.

When considering Relanian magic, the greatest thing to remember is that it does have a conscience of its own, and will never willingly break godly law. Forcing the magic to go against godly law will inevitably result in the magic turning against the user, either leaving them entirely or some other punishment for misusing it. This does not happen overnight, but over the course of ones life, as their misdeeds increase in number.

Have fun with it, and if you have any questions, by all means ask and I will gladly answer anything at all. Be it about Blessings, ancient magic, the schools of magic, or whatever topic you like.

[nobuverse]

v; Jujutsu Kaisen ( Kagetora )

Age: 21

Position: Jujitsu Sorcerer, Special Grade 1

Heavenly Restriction: Bishamonten's Blessing

While Kagetora will attribute her inhuman strength to be a gift from Bishamoten, given to her to punish evil-doers, there is no proven divine aspect to her powers. This powerful pact, which rids her of any ability to wield cursed energy or see cursed spirits for herself, can be divided into four parts:

The first is, of course, her immense strength, agility and endurance beyond any normal human ability. The way it plays on her strength seems to be the most powerful of the three, though her lack of fear for any injury can give the impression her endurance is just as powerful.

Second, is the way in which her own belief plays into her own strength and abilities. Though the effects seems rather nebulous to those attempting to quantify it, it seems simply believing things as projectiles will not be able to hit her can send them off their course ( though does not apply to any created by or amplified by cursed energy, however. ) The stronger the motivation in her cause, the more her power will exponentially increase, along with her ability to take damage. Conversely, losing to self-doubt or questioning her own actions can almost nullify it completely. For this reason, she choses not to visualize what she is fighting.

The third is her ability to sense 'evil' as the avatar of Bishamoten. This ability allows her to sense cursed spirits without specialized eyewear, even if she cannot physically see them. This also extends to people to a certain degree- though she can be fooled by someone who`s heart is well trained in the art of even deceiving themselves.

Lastly, Kagetora has the ability to gain knowledge of battle passed down from the weapons of the deceased, so long as that information is passed along willingly to her. If a piece of the wielder's soul is still attached to their weapon of choice, their expertise with it will be accumulated as she practices with it. As a result, she's gained the ability to wield a variety of different weapons - even if her lance is still her default instrument of choice.

Backstory:

Kagetora was born as a true monster - feared by both other children and her family alike. Some would later say that her inability to feel empathy was part of the trade for her heavenly restriction; that alone would have those around her unsettled. But reality was far worse than that.

Though she had no villainous intentions, she'd easily break the hands of her siblings trying to hold their hands, as effortlessly as she'd break just about any object she held with the slightest bit of frustration. This child, who did not understand the harm they caused, the tears others shed - was a true demon.

She was handed to the Buddhist temples, to be exorcised as they saw fit. Even there, they were all scared of her - the explanations of heavenly restrictions well beyond their scope of knowledge. Either out of pity - or the fear of even trying to kill her - however, she was kept alive. Given enough patience and time, she did eventually learn to control that immense strength, and taught all the things she should need to fit into human society. She was taught to smile, to put others at ease, to follow the eight fold path of Buddhism to one day reach true understanding.

When she started to age into her teenage years, however, a new problem started to become apparent. She would begin to speak of sensing evils in empty spaces, reaching her hands out to crush things that didn't exist. Even worse, she began to grab at people in the streets, grabbing at invisible forces she claimed to be attached to them. Though she had learned to control her body enough not to hurt those she flipped over to their side, she would leave dents in walls and concrete as she stroke at these evils no one else could see.

They'd hardly had time to try and rectify the behavior, however, when people came back to the temple, looking for her. There visits would not be motivated by revenge, but an overwhelming gratefulness few of them could explain. It was though a weight had been lifted off their shoulders, an unbearable pressure taken off their chests. Nightmares ended, traumas resolved - it was as incredible as it was unexplained.

Once feared as a demon of unknown origin, Kagetora became known as a savior - someone chosen by the divine to fight evil plaguing at humanity.

Then, it was at the turn of adulthood that everything would grow somber once more. When a man of considerate evil came to her - pressured by his family to fix whatever was wrong with him by meeting this so-called miracle worker. With this one, she could sense only evil inside of him, not attached to him like the others.

When she refused to bless him ( or whatever else his relatives had expected her to do ) - he became irate. He laid his hands on her, insistent.

Don't touch me.

She'd warned him, trying to stand her ground as firmly as possible. But she was not so divine and perfect as they thought her to be - she was getting angry.

When this miserable man finally struck at her - she struck back; with terrible consequences. She had not focused on holding back, not realizing what she'd done until she saw the chipped pieces of his skull in her knuckles. What a pity she'd forgotten how to hold any other expression but a smile.

What should have been an execution was intervened at that point on the judgement of the jiujitsu academy - and Kagetora traded her freedom in exchange for her life. She would spend the rest of her days trying to redeem herself, having already broken the first and most heinous of the precepts: to take a life.

[asc-rp]

WIP ablity:

Ability: Life Absorption

#### Description

Life Absorption allows a character to grow stronger with each life they take. The strength gained depends on the power, size, and complexity of the life form they kill. This ability functions similarly to experience points (XP) in a role-playing game (RPG), where killing more formidable opponents results in greater enhancements.

--Mechanism

1. **XP Acquisition**:

- **Small Creatures**: Killing small and simple creatures (e.g., ants, insects) provides an infinitesimal amount of XP. These changes are practically undetectable.

- **Moderate Creatures**: Killing larger but less complex creatures (e.g., small mammals, birds) yields a moderate amount of XP, resulting in slight but noticeable enhancements.

- **Formidable Creatures**: Killing powerful and complex creatures (e.g., humans, mythical beasts) grants a significant amount of XP, leading to substantial transformation and strength increase.

2. **XP Scaling**:

- The XP gain scales logarithmically, meaning larger and more complex creatures exponentially increase the amount of XP awarded.

- Example Scaling:

- Ant: 0.01 XP

- Rabbit: 10 XP

- Human: 1000 XP

- Dragon: 100,000 XP

3. **Growth and Enhancement**:

- **Physical Enhancements**: Increased strength, speed, endurance, and healing abilities.

- **Skill Enhancement**: Improving existing skills to superhuman levels (e.g., combat proficiency, heightened senses).

- **Limited Skill Acquisition**: Gaining basic versions of skills that align with the absorbed life force (e.g., agility from a cat, strength from a bear).

4. **Visual and Physical Changes**:

- **Subtle Changes**: After small creature kills, changes might include slight muscle tone improvement or minor reflex enhancements.

- **Major Changes**: After significant kills, noticeable transformations like increased muscle mass, height, and possibly even new physical features (e.g., claws, wings).

5. **Limitations and Drawbacks**:

- **Moral and Ethical Implications**: The character might face ethical dilemmas or moral corruption due to the nature of their power.

- **Diminishing Returns**: Killing creatures weaker than the character might eventually yield no XP, preventing them from gaining power by slaughtering the weak.

- **Mental Strain**: Absorbing life force might cause psychological effects, such as fragmented memories of the absorbed lives or emotional instability.

- **Energy Requirements**: The character may need to expend significant energy or face fatigue when absorbing life force, especially from powerful creatures.

[gosocial365]

The Evolution of Slot Games: From Mechanical Reels to Virtual Realities

Introduction:

Slot games have undergone a remarkable evolution since their inception, transforming from simple mechanical devices to immersive virtual experiences. This evolution is not only a testament to technological advancements but also reflects shifts in consumer preferences and the gaming industry landscape. In this article, we delve into the journey of slot games, tracing their development from humble beginnings to the cutting-edge virtual realities of today.

The Birth of Mechanical Reels:

The origins of slot games can be traced back to the late 19th century, with the invention of the first mechanical slot machine by Charles Fey in 1895. Fey's Liberty Bell machine featured three spinning reels adorned with symbols such as horseshoes, bells, and playing cards. The simplicity of these early machines belied their enduring appeal, as players were drawn to the thrill of pulling the lever and watching the reels spin.

Mechanical slot machines remained popular throughout much of the 20th century, evolving in design and functionality. The introduction of electromechanical components in the 1960s paved the way for innovations such as the ability to offer multiple paylines and bonus features. However, it was the advent of microprocessors in the 1980s that truly revolutionized the industry, enabling the development of video slots and paving the way for the digital era.

The Rise of Video Slots:

Video slots represented a significant departure from their mechanical predecessors, replacing physical reels with virtual ones displayed on a screen. This shift allowed for greater flexibility in game design, with developers able to incorporate elaborate graphics, animations, and sound effects. Video slots also introduced a wider variety of themes and gameplay mechanics, appealing to a broader audience.

One notable innovation in video slots was the introduction of random number generators (RNGs), which ensured fair and unpredictable outcomes. This technology, coupled with advancements in graphics and sound, enhanced the immersive nature of slot games, captivating players with vivid storytelling and engaging gameplay.

The Emergence of Online Casinos:

The internet revolution of the late 20th century brought about another seismic shift in the world of slot gaming with the emergence of online casinos. Suddenly, players could access their favorite slot games from the comfort of their own homes, at any time of day or night. This unprecedented convenience, coupled with the ability to play for real money, fueled the rapid growth of online gambling.

Online casinos also opened up new possibilities for game developers, who could now experiment with innovative features such as progressive jackpots, 3D graphics, and interactive bonus rounds. The sheer variety of games available online expanded exponentially, catering to every conceivable taste and preference.

The Advent of Virtual Reality:

As technology continued to advance, the next frontier for slot gaming emerged in the form of virtual reality (VR). VR technology allows players to immerse themselves in a fully interactive 3D environment, where they can walk around virtual casinos, interact with other players, and even manipulate virtual objects. For slot games, VR offers the potential to create truly immersive experiences, where players feel as though they are stepping into the game world itself.

While still in its early stages, VR slot games hold the promise of revolutionizing the industry once again, providing an unprecedented level of immersion and engagement. As VR technology continues to evolve and become more accessible, we can expect to see an increasing number of VR slot games hitting the market, offering players a new way to experience the thrill of gambling.

Conclusion:

From the mechanical reels of the past to the virtual realities of the future, the evolution of slot games is a testament to human ingenuity and innovation. With each technological leap, developers have pushed the boundaries of what is possible, creating ever more engaging and immersive gaming experiences. As we look ahead to the future, one thing is clear: the journey of slot games is far from over, and the best may be yet to come. Check gigislot88.

[screamingatanemptyroom]

Please Fix the Story Pt 19 - Sci Fi

The new part is here. I've struggled with this story a little bit recently, but I wanted to continue this, to share it with you.

Master Post linked here

Enjoy!

_________________________

“Bel…”

“BEL!”

The world around me was pitch black, empty except for voices I didn't recognize, shouting a name I couldn't remember. I blinked, trying to clear my vision without success.

“Hello?” My anxious shout faded into the nothingness around me.

“I have to do it, Bel. It’s how the story goes.” A blurry figure stood in front of me, his facial features unclear behind his blond hair, but his tone contained frustration and regret. “You know what happens to a world when the story is incomplete. Sacrifices have to made.”

“Who are you…?”

“That’s our fate, we just have to accept that.” He faded away into the darkness, leaving me alone again.

“Come back! Explain what you meant!” I screamed at the disappearing figure. “WHAT SACRIFICE? WHAT FATE?!”

"YOU MUST ACCEPT YOUR FATE."

“Are you lost?” A new voice spoke up, strange, yet completely and utterly familiar.

I spun around, but there was no one behind me. “I’m… I’m lost.”

“No matter where you go, who you become… I’ll find you, Bel. I promise.” The voice was a whisper in my ear. “Fate can’t tear us apart. I won’t let it. Even if I have to destroy fate itself.”

“But I can’t find you. I don’t remember who you are!” I was crying, my tears disappearing into the surrounding mist.

“I’ll find you.” The words were quieter, as if the owner of the voice was fading away.

“DON’T LEAVE ME!”

“I promise.”

“NOT AGAIN!”

"You must accept your fate."

"Bel..."

"You must.."

“…I promise…”

_________________________

“LIAM!”

I woke up, screaming a name that disappeared from my mind as soon as the sound as faded, tears and sweat staining my cheeks.

I curled up into a ball, my head resting on my knees, trying to catch my breath.

Who am I?

Finding no answers, I eventually steadied my nerves, getting up, showering and changing. I looked up at the clock on the wall, wincing as I realized that I was running late for class.

Great, now I’m going to miss breakfast, and I'm starving.

I put on my uniform jacket, lamenting silently my lack of time to fill my empty stomach. As I left my dorm, however, my eye caught something sitting on the floor right outside my door. It was a small plate with a peeled apple and a note with Alaira’s name on it.

I thought Alaira was supposed to be loner… This has to be a trap, right?

It had been several weeks since I woke up in this strange world. It couldn’t be more obvious that she didn’t have any true friends or allies. No one who would care enough to send breakfast, definitely.

Maybe it’s from whoever has been following me around?

Since the second day, I had noticed a shadowy presence following me at a distance. Whoever it was, they never attempted to try to speak to me, or interfere with me in ay way. But it was always nearby, always watching.

So now they’ve upgraded to leaving me food?

I picked up the apple, looking around, and scanned it with the personal computer on my wrist, which showed no drugs or other abnormalities.

Well… I am hungry, which outweighs the possible grim outcome of death by poison, I suppose.

Shrugging mentally, I took a bite. The taste was sweet. I sighed with satisfaction and took another bite. As I chewed, a thought occurred to me, confusing me all the more.

How did they know I like peeled apples?

As far as I could remember, Alaira had never liked apples. It was considered an ancient fruit, more of an oddity than a dietary staple. She had tried it once or twice and hadn’t been impressed.

But I liked it…

I liked apples a lot… but only peeled ones. It was something almost instinctive I had felt whenever I thought about the fruit. But… I hadn’t eaten any apples since I woke up as Alaira.

So how do they know? Does this sci fi story come with mind readers?

I took another bite, feeling confused.

_________________________

“Why the hatred for the apple peel?”

The young man seemed genuinely curious from his tone of voice as he handed me a freshly peeled fruit.

I shrugged, taking a bite. “You try living as a princess in a lower fantasy realm. I bit into a poisoned apple once and the inside was glowing green.” I shuddered. “Ever since then I can’t stand to bite into an apple with the peel still on.”

The man had already started peeling another fruit, and paused in his actions. “Did the prince have to kiss you to break the spell?”

“Why, are you jealous?” I grinned.

“N-no… I’m just asking.” His head hung down, as he seemed to stare intently into the apple in his hands.

I patted his head. “I took an antidote ahead of time. Didn’t fall asleep. Instead, I beat the crap out of the witch.”

He laughed at that. “Didn’t you get in trouble for changing things?”

“Of course. But it was so worth it.”

_________________________

I stared down at the partially eaten fruit in my hands, feeling overwhelmed at the memories surging through my mind.

I keep seeing these memories, but I can’t connect them to anything. What are these lower realms? Is that what I’m in right now? Who is this person I keep seeing?

I felt incomplete, a large part of my memories, my emotions, were missing. What was worse, I wasn’t even sure what was gone, what I should be sad about losing.

I grabbed my bag and walked out the door.

“Alaira.” A voice called out, stopping me in my tracks. Turning, I sighed with odd sense of disappointment at the person standing before me.

Who was I expecting?

I forced a grin and made a rude gesture. “Hey Chris, how awful to see you this morning! Terrible of you to stop by.” I checked my personal communicator and shrugged. “Fortunately for me, I’m running late and have no time for your nonsense. So we’ll save your annoying ranting and raving for a later date, okay?”

He ignored my words, stepping closer with an excited look. “Have you heard the news?”

“Even if I say yes, you’re still going to tell me, right?”

“Don’t pretend, it’s not fooling anyone!” He glared at me. “You’ve been hoping to trap me as your Connector since the match results came back!”

I sighed. “At this point, it’s not even funny anymore. What can I say that will possibly convince you that that is NOT the case?”

“You won’t be able to stop my dreams, Alaira! Next time I’m going to win!”

“Yes, you’re the absolute greatest.” I rolled my eyes. “I cry myself to sleep each night over the fact that we aren’t partners, and I will never feel anything in this life but anguish and despair… now can I go to class?”

He looked ever angrier at my sarcasm. “Just wait until the next match. You’ll see that I’m good enough to be a Guardian. Because I’ve got…”

“Okay, buddy. Sounds good.” I interrupted, walking away.

“Wait, you didn’t finish listening…”

“Yep. See you next match.”

I left him behind, ignoring his rage induced sputtering.

Met an idiot first thing... but hey, at least I'm not hungry anymore!

_________________________

A few days later, the next round of mock Mech battles began.

As the winner of the prior fight, I was slated to go first, completing the first four battles with relative ease. As the day wore on, however, the drain on my body from using the Mech was increasing exponentially. Fortunately I was on my last scheduled fight of the day… even if this was the hardest so far.

A light headache was throbbing at my temples as I scanned the field around me. The arena stood as a large stadium, featuring a high-class barrier shield that extended up to twenty stories in the air. Hundreds of seats surrounded the fighting field, all equipped with holo screens that played the footage taken by the referee bots floating around the fight.

The excited screams from the audience were slightly muffled by the protective screen, and the remaining noise was filtered out as I focused on the fight ahead of me.

My opponent this time was a third year A level Guardian, an experienced fighter, who fought along side a D level Connector. Alaira had faced off with them multiple times in the past, and she had always struggled to win despite the difference in strength of abilities.

There was no denying the advantage that a Connector brought to the fight.

I grinned, ignoring the draining sensation of operating my Mech, the headache and weakness that quickly came on each time I made the Connection. The pain was severe, like a knife stabbing through my eye, but I forced myself to ignore it. As I fought, I couldn’t help but feel bitter.

It’s not like I haven’t been looking for a Connector.

Each day I went to the Matching Center. Each day I endured the laughter, the stares, the whispers and pointing. Each day I was faced with the same words: “No match available.”

Do I need to come up with a different plan? But I can’t fight the Hive without a Mech, and I can’t operate a Mech without a Connector… unless I want to slowly destroy my mind like Alaira did.

I sighed, not seeing any easy answers, and focused on the fight ahead of me. Although I had Alaira’s memories, and operating the Mech came as almost second nature with my S level alpha waves, I had run into an unexpected obstacle:

Alaira’s weapon of choice had been dual wielding energy pistols.

What a waste of the cool looking sword on my back. My physical body was suspended in the Connection chamber, a shielded globe filled with suspension gel. Although the Mech was controlled through alpha brain waves and the Connection, the closer I was to the Mech, the easier that control was. Thus the space for the Guardian was always in the center of the Mech.

I wore helmeted mask monitoring my vitals such as oxygen saturation and heart rate, adjusting the air composition and breath volume to accommodate my body’s stress reaction during battle. A skintight silver suit covered me, interacting with the gel to provide me physical feedback that the Mech would feel. My vision was shared with my Mech’s video system; I looked down and saw the pistols resting in the robotic hands. It was strange, I was obviously inside the robot, but the sensation of the ground beneath my feet, the guns in my hands, was all too real.

The physical sensation made it easier to fight, but it had an obvious drawback, which was that I felt any blows that my Mech sustained. During the fight I was the Mech, and it was a part of me. I tightened my grip around the energy weapons, feeling tired.

Something felt off about using these as my weapons.

I still had no memories about my past, but as I had practiced with the Mech these past few weeks, I had noticed a familiarity with fighting and battles, even more than what Alaira had in my memories after a lifetime of training at home with her father and then in the academy.

Am I some kind of warrior or something?

It didn’t seem right, but I couldn’t explain the comfortable sensation of judging my opponent and fighting with them. But that comfort and familiarity did not extend to dual wielding pistols.

I just wasn’t a great shot.

We had already been fighting for ten minutes. My headache had worsened and I felt tired, but I had only managed to score a few hits on non-vital areas. The only benefit was that the opposing Mech had only been able to strike me twice with the energy-enhanced spear he carried.

“You seem a little off today, Alaira, everything all right?” My opponent’s voice came over his speaker, shocking me. It was technically considered bad etiquette to talk during battle, but it was hard to fault him, as he seemed genuinely concerned about my less than ideal fighting state.

I shook my head, raising my pistols once more. “I’m fine, let’s continue.”

I rushed forward, taking advantage of my superior speed and maneuverability to get closer, trying to make it harder to miss my shots. The opposing Mech jumped backwards, but it was too late. Its hand was within my grasp. Turning and using its significant weight to my advantage, I flipped the robot over my own’s shoulder put the barrel of my gun against the metal head.

My final shot through its temple destroyed the key mechanisms within it, rendering it immobile and finishing the fight.

That was too close… I’ve been practicing with the pistols since I’ve woken up in this strange world, and seen no improvement… what am I doing wrong?

As the referee called out my victory, I backed away, letting out a sigh of relief. It had been a harder fight than it should have been, but at least it was over.

I need a nap.

“I WANT TO CHALLENGE ALAIRA!”

An extremely annoying voice spoke up, causing my already bad headache to worsen.

... Why me?

I turned towards the speaker. “Chris. Didn’t we agree that we were going to avoid each other? … Or was that just my wishful thinking?”

His all white Mech landed in front of my own, holding a large, oversized sword. He swung it back and forth, and although I couldn’t see his facial expressions, the smug tone of his voice through the Mech’s speakers were enough to make me wish I could make my Mech roll its eyes.

“Surely the legendary S level Guardian Alaira isn’t SCARED to fight with a mere D level Guardian such as myself, right?”

“Guardian Chris, please retract your challenge. Guardian Alaira has already finished five consecutive mock battles, and needs time to recover.” The instructor’s face was stern on the holographic screens around us, leaving no room for disagreement.

Chris laughed mockingly. “Oh, I thought she said that even with all the advantages and luck she could still beat me? I guess it was just empty arrogance.” His Mech shook its head. “With such a weak personality, no wonder you can’t find a Connector to match you. Who would want to endure such a woman?”

“…”

CLANG!

My Mech’s foot connected with the other’s crotch, and I heard a high-pitched squeal of pain. Ha, shared sensation with the Mech comes in handy sometimes.

“How dare you?!” His pained shout made me grin.

“Less talking, more fighting. I accept your challenge, Chris.” I took a deep breath, trying to ignore the feeling of my head splitting apart, as well as the light ringing in my ears. I had reached the limit of how long I could safely operate the Mech.

But the sound of his smug satisfaction infuriated me.

Every night, I was haunted by nightmares. Sometimes it was fragments of memories of unfamiliar worlds and people. Most nights, however, I dreamt of Alaira’s end. Alone, broken, terrified, a horrific death for a lonely girl.

And this idiot had watched it happen.

It might not be smart, but I just really want to beat him up. I took a stance, brandishing the pistols, feeling off kilter once more at the light weight in both of my hands.

In the meantime Chris had recovered from his inconvenience, and had resumed his taunting. “Oh, yeah, you ran away so fast the other day, I never got to share with you the good news:” He paused for what I assumed was dramatic effect. “I matched with a Connector earlier last week.”

He obviously meant this to be a huge blow to me, but Alaira’s memories had already warned me this would happen. A beautiful young woman, one of the many who competed for Chis’s affection. This one is a princess… Ilene, I think?

Unbidden, my mind was filled with the thought of the serious, quiet Prince William. I hadn’t seen him since that first day in front of the matching center. So he would be her brother?

I felt a moment of concern at his absence, and then confused, I shook my head, dismissing the thought. I had no reason to see him. Why would I worry about a stranger? Shrugging, I waved casually to Chris’s Mech.

“I welcome the princess to the battle. Sorry you’re on the losing team!”

“…”

There was a moment of shocked silence. “You already know?!”

I winced at Chris’s ear piercing shriek. “Know and don’t care.”

“But… I have a Connector.”

“Yeah, you said that.”

“So I won’t be YOUR Connector!”

I sighed. “We’ve long established that. Look, buddy, it’s been a long day and I’m really tired, are you gonna keep talking about your boring personal life, or are we gonna try to crush each other with massive robots?”

“... Fine then! Keep pretending you don’t care!” Chris seemed really upset at not eliciting a bigger reaction from me, but fortunately turned his attention to the battle as well.

As the hologram around us signaled the start to the fight, he raised his sword and moved towards me, but I had already moved behind him.

BAM!

A shot hit his shoulder, blowing large metallic pieces into the air. I frowned, frustrated. I was faster and stronger than him, but my shots just weren’t going where I wanted them to.

Chris ‘s Mech turned around to face, me, the oversized sword’s momentum swaying the robot from side to side. His movement accuracy and speed had tripled from our last encounter. Clearly, he and his Connector were well matched, well over the required 50%.

But I was still faster.

I ducked under his blow, aiming upwards at his elbow and firing another couple shots.

BAM! BAM!

I missed. Cursing, I recovered, dodging another blow as I increased the distance between us.

Stupid guns.

_________________________

A young man threw up his hands, clearly frustrated.

“Why are you so stubborn? Every single world you insist on using a sword. We were in a laser battle for goodness sake!”

“Swords are more dependable.”

“Oh come on…”

“Plus I’m a terrible shot.”

He sighed. “Fine. But what if one day you don’t have me watching your back?”

“It will be fine.” I grinned. “Don’t you love saying that everything is according to fate? Maybe a sword is just mine?”

“... It doesn’t work like that.”

_________________________

A brief memory flashed in my mind, confusing me.

During my distraction, Chris’s Mech tried to strike again. With no time to dodge, I raised my gun, blocking the blow with the barrel. The weapon cracked under the edge of the sword. I pushed him back, relying on my superior strength and jumped backwards, throwing away the broken weapon in my hand. Glancing down at the remaining gun I had, I felt a warm liquid drip from my nose. It was bleeding, a sign of the increasing strain of the Connection.

I was breaking down. I wouldn't last the rest of the fight.

I had to surrender.

Screw that!

I holstered my remaining gun, drawing the large sword on my Mech’s back. As I held it in front of me, I suddenly felt at home, completely comfortable, as if I had held a sword many times before. I stared at Chris’s Mech, feeling excited.

Now, this feels like a fight!

I raced forward, swinging my sword in a horizontal strike.

_________________________

I was standing in a group of zombies, my sword cutting through the neck of the closest monster.

_________________________

Chris dodged, stumbling backwards. I used the momentum of my first swing to smoothly transition into a downward slash.

_________________________

I was an elf, dancing in the forest, my blade striking down shadowy creatures in the midst of a large battle.

_________________________

THUD!

A robotic hand fell to the ground as I cut it off at the wrist. Chris let out a moan of pain, cut short as I controlled my Mech to kick him in the face, knocking him on his back.

_________________________

I was a vampire, holding a sword made of darkness, fighting humans with elegance and grace.

_________________________

Chris tried to stand up but my foot on his chest prevented the movement. I rested the tip of my sword at his Mech’s throat.

“Do you surrender?”

_________________________

“Surrender?” I smiled as I spoke, staring down at the man on the ground. I couldn’t see his face clearly except for his dark blue eyes, which stared at me without a hint of embarrassment despite his defeated position.

“I surrender.” His voice was warm. “You’re pretty amazing with a sword.”

“After all the realms I’ve fought through? I would have to be.” I shook my head. “Don’t you use swords when you travel?”

“I’m not permitted to travel anymore.” He grinned. “I keep refusing to play my role.”

_________________________

I blinked, focusing on the partially destroyed Mech in front of me. Not hearing his answer, I dug the tip into his neck slightly, only stopping when he let out a groan.

“Do. You. Surrender?”

“I surrender.” His answer sounded like it was forced through gritted teeth.

I could hear muted cheers from the crowd behind the shield as the holographic screens around us displayed my name as the victor.

“Good.” I moved my sword and turned away. My body felt drained, every muscle screaming in pain. I tasted blood in my mouth, my head hurting worse with each passing second.

“I’LL BEAT YOU ONE DAY!” Chris called out behind me. “I’LL GET STRONGER, AND I’LL SHOW YOU!”

“Tell it to someone who cares.” I didn’t turn around, and left the arena.

At least I won. Now if my head would just stop hurting...

As soon as I reached the docking area, my legs crumpled beneath me, and my world faded into darkness.

_________________________

Where am I?

I woke up in a white room, on a plain, clean bed, wearing a hospital gown.

This isn’t a different world, is it?

I carefully searched my memories, but didn’t feel anything different. I sighed, realizing I must be in the school infirmary. In my memories of her life, Alaira had helped bring her fellow students there in the past, but had never stayed to be examined. Deep down she had known that without a Connector she was breaking down, and was afraid the school would prevent her from fighting.

It might have saved her life if she had.

I sat up, rubbing my forehead tiredly. It was still throbbing.

“Are you okay?” A soft voice spoke up, startling me.

I jumped, looking to the chair beside my bed, where a dark haired young man sat. His dark blue eyes studied me carefully, his face expressionless.

“…Prince William?”

“…” After a long silence, he nodded slowly.

“What are you doing here?”

He stared down at the floor silently, and just when I thought he might not respond, he reached out, handing me a peeled apple.

I took it, feeling dazed. “Umm… thanks.” I took a bite, and after swallowing, asked the question on my mind. “Were you the one leaving food outside my dorm room then?”

“…hmm.” His gaze never left the ground.

What the heck kind of answer is “hmm”?!!

“How did you know I like peeled apples?”

“…” A look of genuine confusion crossed his face, but quickly disappeared as he shrugged silently.

“Okay. Well. Thanks.” I pushed myself up, trying to swing my legs to the side of the bed.

He stood up, his face concerned. “Wait. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, my head hurts, but otherwise I feel great.”

“…You should rest.” He frowned as he looked me over.

“It’s just strain from a prolonged connection.” I sighed. “I’m used to it.”

“You haven’t matched?” He seemed mixed, as if happy and disappointed at the same time.

“Nope. Not for lack of trying though. ” I looked him over. “Are you a Connector? Have you matched yet?”

“I…” A look of agony distorted his features.

“He can’t. He’s broken.”

A young woman stood at the door of the infirmary, a mocking smile on her face.

I studied the newcomer carefully. She had long black curls framing a heart shaped face, and large blue eyes that looked down on me with pride. Given the similarities in features to Prince William next to me, it wasn’t difficult to figure out her identity.

“I’m assuming you’re Princess Ilene?”

She ignored my words, walking closer to her brother, whose face had become expressionless once again.

“He can’t Connect. His mental barrier is too strong.” She stopped a few feet away from him and raised her hand, knocking on what looked to be empty air. It made a solid noise, her hand stopping at the same invisible point. “He can’t put it down even if he wants to.”

I thought back to the first time I met him, remembering people being pushed aside.

“A useless Connector who can’t make the connection. A Guardian who can’t match. Two failures together.” She smiled at me. “Sorry I took away your only possible chance at matching Chris, but you needed to see the reality of the situation. He’s a better Guardian than you.”

“…Remind me again who ended up flat on their back at the end of the last fight?”

Her eyes narrowed in annoyance at my comeback. “At least he will be around a long time to help fight the Hive. You, on the other hand.” Ilene pointed at her head and turned her finger in a circle. “You have no future. But on the bright side, at least my useless brother can keep you company while your mind slowly breaks apart.”

BAM

William stood up, angry, and with the loud sound of an impact, Ilene was pushed by an invisible barrier out of the room. Her face enraged, she slammed her fists against it while her mouth made motions as if she was shouting. I stared at her, confused as to why I couldn’t hear her.

“…I sealed her out of the barrier.” William whispered. “Her voice can't make it through either.”

“Oh.” I nodded with satisfaction, watching her shout silently outside the doorway. “Thanks.”

“I can expand the barrier… but she’s right… I can’t drop it.” His eyes dropped down to the floor again. “I can’t Connect… I can’t help Guardians… useless…” His voice slowly dropped in volume, until it was barely a whisper.

“Well, you’re helping me out right now, and I’m a Guardian. So I’d say you’re a pretty useful guy.” I gave him a thumbs up. “I know that not hearing her is already making my day better.”

He stared at me silently for a few moments. “… Are you hungry?”

“Kind of. Why? Do you have more apples or something?”

William shook his head. “No… cake.”

“Please tell me you are serious.”

He solemnly set a container with a piece of cake on the table next to me, along with a napkin and utensils.

I stared at it in shock, motionless.

“… Do you not like it?” His nervous tone broke me out of my stupor. I quickly reached out and held the container close, grabbing the fork and taking a bite.

“Oh, this is amazing… totally worth passing out after my fight.” I took a few more bites, noting him relaxing visibly as I showed my enjoyment. “…Why are you being so nice to me, anyways?”

“Why?” William blinked, looking shocked as if he hadn’t considered it before.

“Yeah. As far as I can tell, I haven’t met you outside of running into you in the hallway once. Why go out of your way to leave me food and sit by me in the infirmary?”

He finally looked up, his dark blue eyes staring into my own. “…I’m not sure. “ He shrugged. “Whenever I see you, I feel happy. I want to help you.”

I leaned back against the backboard of the infirmary bed. “Well… I guess I could always use a friend.”

“Friends?” A trace of a smile crossed his face, before it disappeared into expressionless once more. “Really?”

“Yeah. So let me introduce myself officially, Prince William.” I started to reach out a hand to shake, but remembering his barrier, I pulled it back. “I’m Alaira. Level S Guardian but unable to match, and your new friend.”

He stared at my hand with a look of regret before looking back up. “I’m a Level S Connector… but can’t connect. I’m your new friend… “ He hesitated. “Can you call me a nickname instead?”

“Sure.”

“Then call me… Liam.”

_________________________

“Are you lost?” I woke up in a strange world to the sound of an unfamiliar voice, laying on my back, confused.

“Seems a good description for my current situation.” I stared into a pair of dark blue eyes, smiling despite the dizziness. “Nice to meet you, Stranger.”

He grinned, reaching out a hand to help me up. “Call me Liam.”

“Nice to meet you, Liam.”

_________________________

I blinked away the memory, smiling at the timid young man in front of me. “Nice to meet you… Liam.”

[agape-philo-sophia]

➝ War Over Consciousness. 🧠

There is a battle between the forces of darkness and light for control of this planet and the human consciousness, as well as control over the use of the human body and DNA. Recently, spiritual warfare has escalated in the worldscape, and those awakened people that are connected to the planetary consciousness body, are able to feel the intense pressure we are enduring as this battle rages on in the interdimensional planes, and at the moment, hidden from mainstream media and in most people’s awareness to realize that the events transpiring in the world involve a massive war over controlling the consciousness on this planet. The players are human and non-human, and involve the hierarchy of control that extends way beyond the planetary control mechanism of the Power Elite. As we are provided dispensations that allow us to embody divine energy in physical form, and move the planetary awareness toward the higher light and higher consciousness in the next harmonic universe, the survival and force of the darkness and its artificial intelligence control networks on this planet is threatened. Most of these artificial intelligence software systems installed in the planetary consciousness body, explicitly rely on the matter fields vibrating at certain parameters of low frequency, in order to maintain their invisibility within the human visible light spectrum. As these lower dimensions roll up into the next harmonic scale, these dark forces, their agendas, such as the mainstreaming of Satanism, become much more visible and clear to the people of this earth, who are starting to see the clear evidence of the crimes made against humanity, and humanities children. Those in positions of power have been put there explicitly because of their consent and willingness to carry out the crimes against humanity on behalf of the Negative Alien Agenda, in exchange for money, resources, power, temporary life extension (immortality) and control over the rest of the people. Some have been told they will be escorted to safety onto other planets, when and if disclosure events happen on a mass scale. During this time of shift into the higher consciousness realms of the next harmonic universe, and the resultant need to create new paradigms that support the recognition of value for all human beings and for life itself, there are new multi-dimensional challenges for those humans that are taking a conscious, pro-active and leading role in their own evolution and the evolution of the planet. These challenges come in many forms including psychic attack, artificial intelligence trackers, negative implants, tags and dark entities that direct interference in order to diminish the quality of our energetic resources, physical vitality and optimum functioning by harvesting and utilizing our precious resources. Hence, suppressing our ability to perceive greater realities of truth and live our maximum soul’s potential of experiencing spiritual fulfillment, sovereignty and freedom on the Earth Plane. During the evolutionary process of one’s awakening and remembrance of the soul’s blueprint and contracts, the more conscious and ascended beings take back their sovereignty and live in accordance with the laws of the Creator, rather than man-made laws, thereby transcending the dark tyranny and existing in alignment to the high frequency of living light. As a result of living in the light, these humans, through their actions, influence and guide others to the light and truth, thereby exponentially increasing the power of the light and truth in this world, and diminishing the power of tyrannical control that the darkness uses to keep people in bondage and servitude. Those awakening to remember themselves as multidimensional light-beings and becoming a part of the collective Starseed grid network on this Planet tend to be the targets for these dark forces and their technologies, such as methods used for electronic harassment. The energy of a highly conscious human being creates a frequency signal that activates the radar screen of awareness at the center of control for dark consciousness. Once on the radar screen of darkness, darkness places a tag, artifact, attachment or cord on the enlightened being to track them and determine if they are a threat to the survival of the ego predator mind, and the type of self-awareness that the darkness represents as a consciousness. The forces of darkness include many broad streams of sentient beings that are trapped in the planetary consciousness body, and they exist as spiritual forces that are locked into time and matter, unable to evolve, until humanity stops feeding them. It is important to understand that the forces of Satanism are not intellectual forces as claimed by the atheists behind the Church of Satan, but encompass a massive hierarchy of darkly primitive conscious beings, many of these forces can be described by an energetic signature that directly connects them with Fallen Angelics, Watchers, such as the Baphomet or Leviathan fields. These collective satanic forces make up collective consciousness streams that then can be connected to demonic bodies or generated to create more groupings of satanic hierarchy in the earth. These forces can hop into a human vessel that is unaware, weakened, and mind controlled by the consent of the satanic vibration. These satanic beings exist at different levels of darkness and depravity, however, they operate together as a collective consciousness force that is directed by off planet entities that are higher and more powerful in the Satanic chain of command. Satanic forces are not sovereign entities, they are parasitic and need human energy to exist, they can appear human or not human as Negative Alien bodies, and they are trapped in the matter fields or low densities, unable to evolve beyond the bondage and servitude to the earth plane, and are slaves to those dark forces that are higher on the food chain.

[the-explodin-kittins]

Take Your Breath Away: Basics of Breath Play

Author: Norische

Within the vast selection of BDSM activities not one is as dangerous as breath play. To be quite blunt there is NO safe way to participate in breath play. This is the only activity, that I am aware of, that strictly violates the Safe Sane Consensual regiment. All the instructional articles about breath play state basically the same thing, it can be done with a moderate amount of risk. Nowhere, in over 140 pages of information did I find one single reference to being able to participate in breath play safely. In my honest opinion if it cannot be done safely. DON’T DO IT! But that is just my opinion. Also if you are determined to experience this form of edge play…. NEVER ATTEMPT BREATH PLAY ALONE!!! Autoerotic Asphyxia Autoerotic Asphyxia, also known as sexual hanging, is the practice of inducing cerebral hypoxia, usually by the means of self-applied ligatures or suffocating devices, while the individual masturbates to orgasm. The most common participants in this practice are adolescent and young adult males, ranging in age from 15 to 29. Autoerotic Asphyxia counts for 6.5% of all the self-induced adolescent deaths and 31% of all adolescent hanging deaths within the past 10 years. Since in the majority of such deaths it is a family member that finds the individual, the “scene of the crime” is frequently altered to cover up the sexual nature of the death. Due to this fact and since the only ones that get reported are the individuals that die… the true number of individuals that participate in this activity may never be known. Deaths related to autoerotic asphyxia have been reported in victims as young as 9 and as old as 80 yrs, with 71% of the individuals being less than 30 yrs old. The most common form of Autoerotic Asphyxia is constriction of the neck, or hanging. This form decreases the amount of blood flow to the brain leading to cerebral hypoxia. The resulting effect is lightheadedness, exhilaration, almost giddiness; these effects along with the shear excitement of the moment multiply the effect of masturbation. Unfortunately the reduced blood flow to the brain also will create disorientation, weakness, loss of coordination and drowsiness. Hence and individual may loose the ability to release themselves from their self-induced prison, and the end result is simply put… death. There have been documented cases of Autoerotic Asphyxia since the early 1600’s. Oddly enough it was once used as a treatment for erectile dysfunction and impotency. Some documentation noted that a hanged man would sometimes get an erection even ejaculate while being hanged, this indeed may have been the focus point for the interest in the odd practice of asphyxia during sexual actives. Many different cultures have a history of sexual asphyxia, from the Orient, to the South America, from the Celts to the Native Americans; this dangerous practice has held the imagination of many individuals for centuries. The general taboo of this deadly practice has allured thrill seekers as well as the curious for decades. The dramatic effects of this unusual decadence kept individuals trapped within the weavings of its web. The sudden stop at the end of this ride is what keeps others at bay, and leery of ridding this deadly roller coaster. Where The Danger Lies Some people have asked what the real danger in breath play is…that one is actually simple…death. Death does have a tendency to be sort of permanent, and in my honest opinion it can really mess up an otherwise fabulous evening, and it is damn inconvenient to boot. One statement I have heard is that “breath play is ok as long as you don’t do it until the slave/submissive lapses into unconsciousness.” This statement is disturbing for several reasons. First, there is no medically valid way to know exactly when an individual will become unconscious. Second, when someone looses consciousness it is not an end it is merely a symptom, ranging from mere oxygen depletion to cardiac arrest. Third, if the breath play involves choking then damage to the larynx can occur at any time and is an extremely serious injury that would need medical attention immediately. Breath play is dangerous whether the slave/sub loses consciousness or not, although the risk of permanent damage or even death is multiplied exponentially when it is taken to that extreme. Basic Facts Choking 1. Anytime there is pressure put on the neck, such as with choking you run the risk of causing severe and perhaps permanent damage to the carotid arteries. This may lead to numbness, weakness, dizziness and difficulties speaking. 2. The larynx is incredibly fragile and easily injured; pressure to the larynx should be avoided at all costs. Any injury, even a minor injury to the larynx, may cause swelling of the airways leading to coughing, choking and inability to speak, and possibly the inability to breath. 3. While choking someone the airway may become obstructed by the tongue. Swelling of the tongue and lips is quite normal when someone is being choked. Unfortunately it is impossible to tell just how much swelling is going to occur, since each individual is different, it is also impossible to tell when the swelling will reach that dangerous level. 4. Also the reduction of blood flow to the brain tissues during choking may cause Ischemia. Since blood contains both oxygen and glucose, when ischemia occurs, it can lead to hypoxia which is a reduction of oxygen to the brain, as well as hypoglycemia which is low blood glucose level. Prolonged hypoxia – ischemia is associated with Ischemic Attack (stoke), Transient, Brain Infarction, Brain Edema, Coma and other conditions. 5. Another associated physical problem is cerebral anoxia. Hypoxia is the reduced oxygen flow to the brain; anoxia is the total absence of oxygen within the brain tissue. If oxygen is prevented from reaching the tissues for too long, tissue death can occur. If severe, it can cause irreversible brain damage. Less severe cases can cause sensory distortions and hallucinations. Hence pressure on the carotid arteries can lead to ischemia, which is directly associated with hypoxia and if the restriction of oxygen to the brain continues for more than three to five minutes then cerebral anoxia is a very real possibility. If the circulation to the brain is insufficient for more than three to five minutes the consequent damage can lead to death even days or weeks after the initial incident. 6. The lack of blood flow to the brain may also force the heart to beat more rapidly or beat erratically in an effort to increase the level of blood to the brain; hence, heart arrhythmia. 7. Oxygen deprivation of the heart or Anoxaemia will trigger what is called premature ventricular contractions or PVC’s for short. Basically the lower the heart gets on oxygen the more PVC’s it generated and the more vulnerable to their effect the heart will become, thus this will increase the possibility of ventricular fibrillation and the risk of its causing a cardiac arrest. There is no way to know when this will happen to a particular person, during a particular session, not even with the most advanced cardiac monitors available. Bags and Gags Placing a barrier of some form over the slave/sub’s mouth and nose during play is another popular method of breath play. The use of a plastic bag is probably the most popular barrier used, followed closely by tape and barrier gags. This form of breath play has it’s own unique set of problems to add to the above list. 1. Sometimes when an individual begins to choke they will vomit, if the individual is unable to expel the vomitus, mucus or saliva they may inhale this material into his or her lungs. Normally a person will not actually draw the materials completely into their lungs, but if there is a barrier in place the chances of this occurring is raised exponentially. Even removal of the barrier immediately will not prevent damage to the respiratory system. Aspiration may lead to unconsciousness, cyanosis, cardiac arrest and the cessation of breathing. 2. Another thing to remember is that when you use tape, the most common being duck tape, there is a very real possibility of an allergic reaction. This may cause swelling of the air passageways, anaphylactic shock, unconsciousness, and again even death, depending on the degree of allergic reaction. Any form of breath play has some basic health risks. These risks depend on the age, and health of the slave/sub, it also depends on the specific type of breath play you are participating in. No list can be truly complete because of all the possible pre-existing conditions that may be present, but I believe this will give you some idea of the dangerous nature of breath play. 1. Elevated blood pressure 2. Heart attack 3. Stroke 4. Heart failure 5. Heart arrhythmia 6. Choking 7. Injury to the larynx 8. Cerebral anoxia 9. Cerebral hypoxia 10. Brain Edema 11. Brain Infarction 12. Coma 13. Aspiration 14. Allergic reaction or anaphylactic shock 15. Loss of consciousness 16. Hallucinations 17. Panic Attack 18. Seizures 19. Injury due to fall (during loss of consciousness) 20. Asthma attack The list goes on and on; while this list only has the most dramatic possibilities they are still very real possibilities. The cumulative damage from repeated breath play is still in question, researchers have experimented on a variety of animals but the information is still pretty sketchy. One fact is quite certain, reduced blood flow and in turn reduced oxygen to the brain kills brain cells. Once a brain cell is damaged it cannot be repaired or replaced, this is one of the few cells in the human body that does not regenerate. One author I found had a disturbing way of looking at this….. “…our brain is set up so that we can endure a lot of brain damage without any real consequences.” “….it is all a matter of being conscious of the risk and deciding what level of damage you are comfortable with.” This author goes on to state that he happen to be very comfortable with the damage done if he keeps the breath play itself to 30 seconds or so….my opinion is that this individual is facing no true danger as he is the Dominant individual within the relationship, there for it is irrelevant what he is comfortable with. Since there is no current way to tell what level of brain damage has been done until it is too late, my question is how can anyone be conscious of the risk; hence, how can someone truly consent to this type of play if they are not informed of all the facts, specifically the risks. Who tends to be injured or who has the highest mortality rate in reference to lack of oxygen during breath play. 1. Men over the age of 40 2. People with a history of seizure disorder 3. People suffering from mental illness, especially manic-depressives in the manic phase 4. Anyone under the influence of drugs or alcohol (even prescription drugs) 5. Anyone taking any form of digitalis or tricyclic antidepressants 6. Anyone with a history of respiratory, heart, or blood pressure problems 7. People who are overweight (especially if they have high cholesterol levels) 8. Anyone that has a cold or other respiratory problems at the time of the play cession. 9. Anyone that is diabetic or hypoglycemic. Since I am not a medical doctor I cannot list all the possible people that are at risk because my list would be honestly rather short… 10. Everyone else Safe, Sane and Consensual….once again those words come up. Is this play safe…no. There is no safe way to do breath play. Is this play sane…no. Since you cannot do this play safely and cannot predict the level of damage done there is no true way to intelligently say it is sane. Is this play consensual…no. Without the ability to fully understand the risks, and possible long term dangers with this type of play then you cannot give informed consent, hence it cannot be consensual. I find any play that does not fall under these simple guidelines to be out of my range of participation, I have in the past done breath play…but it is now on my hard limits list. How can I ask someone to give up his or her life for me… I cant. Since this is exactly what I may be doing when it comes to breath play I do not consider it an acceptable method of BDSM play at this point. The thrill is exhilarating; the moment is a wondrous flow of emotion, adrenalin, and anticipation. But no matter how spectacular the effects of the moment, no matter how high someone can get or the feeling of trust that must be present, nothing is worth the loneliness if something goes wrong. As with everything this is my opinion, take what you will and leave the rest. If you wish to contact me, my email address is Norisch1@mchsi.com. If you wish to see more of my work you may find a complete listing of all my writings at…. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Norisches_Quill/ in the files section.

[mysticandskepticmuses]

regarding strength, speed, endurance, healing ability, agility, combat skills, etc. from the time that she is possessed up until the point in time where enchantress’ heart is destroyed and enchantress is vanquished / exorcised (supposedly).

the longer the time that has passed since initial possession, the stronger, faster, more resilient/ durable, the more agile she becomes, the faster she’ll heal from injuries sustained, the more instinctive her reactions / reflexes will be so on and so forth.  

this is naturally amplified during times of high stress and during combat situations etc. when the natural effects of adrenaline etc. are amplified and CAN be purposefully heightened in such instances where she has learned how to partially control the powers of enchantress or when, on rare occasion, enchantress is invested enough in the situation ongoing to boost june’s strength, speed, etc. without just taking over.

most times, june doesn’t really think about any heightened strength or speed as most times she continues to move and operate at normal human paces - it’s not something that happened / happens instantly so she didn’t really have instances of accidentally shattering steel pipes or speeding into doors / corners whatever because she was suddenly moving faster than she was used to or suddenly super humanly strong etc.  her movements may seem a little more graceful than usual to someone that knew her from before but probably not noticeably enough for most people to even register it; otherwise, unless she’s actively participating in a training exercise or doing a workout / sparring session with someone, most people won’t know that there’s anything extra-human about her, physically speaking.

the most noticeable effects of this are the stamina and endurance that she has; she’s always been a late to bed early riser type, she can run on even less sleep now, she can be awake and physically active for long periods of time without extreme effects, though she still should be sleeping four - six hours a night to maintain her peak physical ability and mental acuity.  this isn’t often the case between her anxiety, stress levels, her constant researching and study up and through the events of the movie, being dragged around to whatever lab or military base or wherever waller (or whomever) decides she needs to be any given day, jet lag, etc. and it does have long term effects on her general energy level etc. but push comes to shove she can force herself to be awake / active far longer than pre-possession if she needs to.

she is capable of surviving without food, water, sleep, sunlight, even air for extremely long periods of time / possibly even decades / centuries, etc. so long as her / enchantress’ heart remains intact.  obviously this would not be a pleasant experience by any stretch of the imagination.  she would continuously weaken / eventually desiccate / mummify etc. IF there was no magical energy for her to consume to replace the required physical necessities to sustain life physical life.  

she is also capable of healing pretty much close to any physical damage done to her body; the longer she’s possessed, the faster she heals; also the more extreme the damage, the faster it heals.  the toll can be pretty extreme, causing her to be weakened, agitated, maybe even close to comatose if the energy isn’t replaced in some way, but she is effectively immortal so long as the witch’s heart remains whole / safe (in or out of her body it’s the same effect).  

drugs and alcohol do affect her, but the effects fade at an exponentially faster rate the longer it’s been since her possession.  good for avoiding hangovers, bad if you’re looking to strap her to a board and keep her in a drug induced coma.

combat skills / reflexes: she has very minimal self defense training pre-argus / pre-shield etc. but the longer she’s fused w/ enchantress, some aspects of her physical capabilities will increase as enchantress is HIGHLY SKILLED in melee and hand to hand combat especially but it’s more instinctive than anything else and she won’t be able to recreate anything on her own / in training without it being a very intensive / demanding session typically.

[mswyrr]

There was recently an article talking about the long-term mental and physical destruction caused when people are faced with poverty and “job insecurity” — precarious employment, or “under-employment”.  The article says that, in just the few short years since our 2008 economic collapse, the medical problems of this group have increased exponentially.  This has been the horrible state of insecurity that America’s college professors have experienced now for thirty years. It can destroy you — breaking down your physical and emotional health. As an example:  the average yearly starting salary of a university professor at Temple University in 1975 was just under $10,000 a year, with full benefits – health, retirement, and educational benefits (their family’s could attend college for free.) And guess what? Average pay for Temple’s faculty is STILL about the same — because adjuncts now make up the majority of faculty, and earn between $8,000 to $14,000 a year (depending on how many courses they are assigned each semester – there is NO guarantee of continued employment) — but unlike the full-time professors of 1975, these adjunct jobs come with NO benefits, no health care, no retirement, no educational benefits, no offices. How many other professions report salaries that have remained at 1975 levels?

All around the country, our undergraduates are being taught by faculty living at or near the poverty line, who have little to no say in the way classes are being taught, the number of students in a class, or how curriculum is being designed. They often have no offices in which to meet their students, no professional staff support, no professional development support. One million of our college professors are struggling to continue offering the best they can in the face of this wasteland of deteriorated professional support, while living the very worst kind of economic insecurity.  Unlike those communist countries, which sometimes executed their intellectuals, here we are being killed off by lack of healthcare, by stress-related illness like heart-attacks or strokes.  While we’re at it, let’s add suicide to that list of killers — and readers of this blog will remember that I have written at length about adjunct faculty suicide in the past. 

...While claiming to offer them hope of a better life, our corporatized universities are ruining the lives of our students. This is accomplished through a two-prong tactic: you dumb down and destroy the quality of the education so that no one on campus is really learning to think, to question, to reason. Instead, they are learning to obey, to withstand “tests” and “exams”, to follow rules, to endure absurdity and abuse. Our students have been denied full-time available faculty, the ability to develop mentors and advisors, faculty-designed syllabi which changes each semester, a wide variety of courses and options. Instead, more and more universities have core curriculum which dictates a large portion of the course of study, in which the majority of classes are administrative-designed “common syllabi” courses, taught by an army of underpaid, part-time faculty in a model that more closely resembles a factory or the industrial kitchen of a fast food restaurant than an institution of higher learning.

The Second Prong:  You make college so insanely unaffordable that only the wealthiest students from the wealthiest of families can afford to go to the school debt free. Younger people may not know that for much of the 20th Century many universities in the U.S. were free – including the CA state system – you could establish residency in six months and go to Berkeley for free, or at very low cost. When I was an undergraduate student in the mid to late 1970s, tuition at Temple University was around $700 a year. Today, tuition is nearly $15,000 a year. Tuitions have increased, using CA as an example again, over 2000% since the 1970s. 2000%! This is the most directly dangerous situation for our students: pulling them into crippling debt that will follow them to the grave.

...So, there you have it.

Within one generation, in five easy steps, not only have the scholars and intellectuals of the country been silenced and nearly wiped out, but the entire institution has been hijacked, and recreated as a machine through which future generations will ALL be impoverished, indebted and silenced. Now, low wage migrant professors teach repetitive courses they did not design to students who travel through on a kind of conveyor belt, only to be spit out, indebted and desperate into a jobless economy. The only people immediately benefitting inside this system are the administrative class – whores to the corporatized colonizers, earning money in this system in order to oversee this travesty. But the most important thing to keep in mind is this: The real winners, the only people truly benefitting from the big-picture meltdown of the American university are those people who, in the 1960s, saw those vibrant college campuses as a threat to their established power. They are the same people now working feverishly to dismantle other social structures, everything from Medicare and Social Security to the Post Office.

[landsharkbite]

event info for the fantasia war!

CORE INFO

Name: Rosa Cervantes Race: Unchanged— still a Garchomp! Even so, she’ll often be mistaken for being Draken or Faeken by strangers and NPCs. This causes more trouble for her than she’d like (especially in kingdoms outside of Xalphina) but hey. Typical weekday. Allegiance: Xalphina (Archimedes), but only on paper. Rosa can’t find it in herself to suspend her sense of disbelief, given that her memories of the events preceding this widespread game of D&D are intact. That and she’s not about to blindly wage war for lords that she doesn’t know and cannot see nor vouch for. If they want a battle so badly, they can fight for themselves. Appearance: Her usual! (Here and here.)

ABILITIES

Check out her application for detailed explanations!

Canon Abilities: Being at Hypergiant rank, all of Rosa’s canon abilities are unlocked. This includes Fire Blast (which facilitates general firebreathing capabilities), Poison Jab, Strength (enhancing her physical power at will and allowing her to lift/throw objects equal in weight to a loaded semi), Earthquake (facilitating earth shaping capabilities) and Outrage. Spell Bonuses: Water Walking, Water Breathing, Heal, Restore, Slow, Paralysis. Weapon: Aside from her own claws and teeth (things she defaults to in a fight and more than knows how to use), Rosa carries Garchompite crafted by the Nightmare Knight. With it, she’s capable of achieving Mega Evolution, an explosive transformation that increases all of her strength/speed/endurance parameters exponentially at the cost of about 95% of her personality.

MISCELLANY

Occupation: Mercenary, very loosely defined. Location: While she normally sticks around Xalphina with Travis (since Archimedes is where she lives, it’s where she woke up at the beginning of all this and strange situations tend to lead one to cling to what’s familiar), it’s possible to find Rosa just about anywhere in this setting taking on odd jobs for the citizenry when they seem worth the trouble. Many who would wish her ill will due to her appearance usually steer clear of her instead of confronting or outright harassing her and she prefers it that way— Rosa handles the outliers the way she’s always done.

[futurefind]

Forte Examination Report: Sasume / Hawthorn

Resonance Evaluation Report

Subject: Sasume ■■■, AKA (the) Hawthorn

Resonance Power: □□□

Evaluation Basis: [Resonance Assessment □□□□-G]

According to Resonator Sasume, she had no incidents of notes in her childhood and has been able to use her Forte from a young age. Self-reports include a dramatic increase in capabilities over time, but with no elaboration as to whether this came from age, stabilization, and/or training.

Sasume's Tacet Mark is located along her left clavicle. When her Forte is activated, it induces staggering physical changes based on the amount of power used, respectively: irises turn a rustic gold; pupils turn into vertical slits; claws and teeth harden, sharpen, and lengthen. External reports have claimed her irises further shifting into bright yellow, as well as a number of claims of such physical changes appearing without Forte use, but with no witnesses being willing to go on the record with their accounts.

Resonator Sasume demonstrates the ability to generate and manipulate ice via precision chilling, with a reported range of comfortable control of around thirty feet. Further range, with less reliability, has been claimed, but no concrete tests for finite range have been made. While primary utility is for simple ice constructs, she's shown the ability to create/mold ice into the shape of mobile animals, akin to puppets, for precise direction at increased range and/or multitasking. However, these constructs purportedly have no sapience nor continuity like some other Resonators', and instead seem to be finely shaped extension of Sasume's will.

At rest, Resonator Sasume has a lower body temperature than average, even when not using her Forte. While this provides a conscious tolerance to colder temperatures, caution is advised, as it renders her vulnerable to complications from severe cold due to harder time retaining body heat and delays in noticing severe cold.

Puzzlingly, her Forte also provides extensive boosts to her physical capabilities. Primarily factors like strength and endurance, but most notably an exponentially increased healing factor. In addition to providing a healing rate of seven times speed, it also enables an advanced capability of healing limitations, such as near-perfect recovery of catastrophic organ damage and minimized scarring overall.

Resonator Sasume's Resonance Spectrum Pattern most closely resembles water, but at only 51% it's merely the closest known sample. Data from ■■■ show a higher resonance in theory, but ■■■ due to ■■■■■■■■■, as well as foci on Fusion related phenomenon, relegates it from inclusion. Thus, no leads are available for the cause of her Awakening.

Scarce samples display a non-convergent Rabelle's Curve with a periodic waveform. While lacking in sufficient samples to confirm most analyses, Sasume is classified as a Congenital Resonator.

Overclock Diagnostic Report

The waveform graph for Resonator Sasume displays □□□ in the Time Domain with □□□. Multiple distinct waveforms potentially present, with further samples required to confirm findings.

Resonant Criticality: High, with undetermined stability. Risk of Overclocking to be treated as high for sake of preventative treatment until further data can be acquired.

Resonator Sasume has reported no cases of Overclocking, but the scarcity of her records makes this uncertain. Data sourced from witnesses supply standard-level lapses in control, leading to drops in immediate atmospheric temperature and blunt force damage to structures. Any cases of Overclocking are presumed to follow common Glacio effects, such as codes EX01521 or EX□□□□□. She's shown atypical familiarity with various Overclocking incidents, such as codes EX□□□□□ and EX□□□□□, but they primarily seem to be caused by Fusion Resonators, and Resonator Sasume claims to have no knowledge of the Overclocking Resonator in any of these incidences and reported no symptoms of post-Overclocking around these times.

Researcher's Notes: Standard practice mandates the observation and routine care of Resonators from the time of their Awakening— if not for their own sakes, than the safety of those around them. However, the earliest documentations we can find on Resonator Sasume (or the mercenary Hawthorn) comes from a collaboration with the □□□ government from the year □□□□, which required their own exams. That is, when she'd already had a years-long established career as a mercenary, and after as much as two decades of Forte use.

Colleagues have been dispatched to find reports that may have been missed or information that may have been flagged under different subjects. Reverse engineering her trail has only led us as far as the ■■■ area, where the only few documented Resonators are completely unrelated from Resonator Sasume and have been documented at standard rates. The town of ■■■ has notable claims of 'rampant TD infestation' over the last fifty years or so, but the overwhelming majority of these reports amount to ghost stories and boogeyman about curses and bad luck rather than any Tacet Discords. After multi-stage confirmation of this investigation from Head Researchers, all direct documentation is to be expunged and destroyed for subject's privacy, pending only voluntary information provided by Resonator Sasume.

At present, all signs point towards Resonator Sasume having a distressingly nonexistent history of standard Resonator observations and health evaluations, made all the more glaring due to the abundant records of mercenary work and non-Resonator-related healer visits.

[88y53]

The Avengers: Biology and Tech

So with Endgame and the culmination of 21 films of build-up coming at us fast, I felt the need to post my theories on how the bodies and gear of the Avengers work.

Now, I was only going to make posts about Cap and the Hulk, but in my need to express my excitement for the upcoming movie, I decided to just go "all in" for this one.

Iron Man

Tony is an otherwise normal human, but his inclusion of his arc reactor, and later his near receptive implants, would need to be built out of biocompatible hypoallergenic materials, such as titanium, pure gold, niobium, or Teflon, to avoid bodily rejection if he continues to make his body more cybernetic. In regards to his current Mark L suit, it’s use of nanotechnology might derive from Wakandan research that he’s put his own spin on. The nanobots themselves would possibly be controlled by the implants he used for his previous suits, and since they require the precise production of the chestplate (which takes in carbon and hydrogen atoms from the arc reactor) they are limited store and need time to build up their number if they run short.

Captain America

The procedure for the Super Soldier Serum required a lot of biological material to make the changes to Steve’s body, so genes such as Oct-4 and Rex2 are stimulated to allow excessive production of Adult and Embryonic Stem Cells, generating the needed materials to make the alterations. Mutation of the ACVR2B gene allows proteins such as myostatin to be suppressed while production of its antagonist, follistatin, are increased, leading to massive growth in muscles mass, while contractile proteins such as actin and myosin are significantly heightened, adding to Steve’s strength. In addition to this, the muscles no longer sustain damage during physical exercise and gradually stops producing lactic acid. A higher expression of the ACTN3 gene, which encodes a member of the alpha-actin binding protein line, increases the volume of fast-twitch muscle fibers. The LRP5 gene is changed so his bones are also similarly enhanced by preventing normal Wnt antagonists, resulting in denser bone formation that is extremely resistant to breaks without sacrificing normal functionality. Steve’s cardiovascular system is also overhauled, with genes altered for higher production of blood in the circulatory system for better hydration and higher concentration of oxygen-carrying red-bloodcells. Automatic metabolic responses are enabled so to regulate body temperature to avoid overheating, and higher mitochondrial count. All of this increases his stamina and endurance to inhuman levels. In addition, the body produces a higher concentration of MG53 proteins, which help improve healing from otherwise traumatic injuries. Beyond that, Cap’s brain matter is also enhanced exponentially: a higher production of glial cells, general neuroplasticity improvement, and a mutation of a rutabaga gene, allow for improved neural pathways to store memories for longer periods of time with near-perfect recall, as well as faster reaction time, greater strategic thinking and improvisation, and the ability to instantaneously calculate object trajectory. The DEC2 gene is also altered for changes in the circadian rhythm, allowing him to function normally on fewer hours of sleep. The serum is designed to enhances everything about the subject, physiology and mental acuity, but also psychology in a process known as Moral Enhancement; so, an individual like Steve Rogers, with high levels of empathy and altruism - whether genetic or learned - is enhanced to near-saintliness. However, the opposite is true as well, as a recipient like the Red Skull, with dangerously low levels of moral and ethical standards will be “enhanced” to full-blown psychopathy and sociopathy.

Thor

The Asgardian species as a whole demonstrate morphology identical to that of humans in a process known as "Convergent Evolution." This is supported by the fact that many extraterrestrials exhibit body structures similar to terrestrial life (including feline and water fowl). The extraordinary abilities associated with the Asgardians are best attributed to programmable matter; all of Asgard is made out a subatomic computational material that can respond to preprogrammed thoughts and commands. This "Computronium" is incorporated into asgardian biology, with saturation levels varying based on familial lines, which allow the user to exhibit fantastic powers. Thor has is almost invulnerable to conventional weapons, near-limitless strength, centuries-long lifespan, the ability to survive in hostile environments, and can generate lightning in himself and surroundings. His hammer, Mjolnir or Stormbreaker - weapons forged in Nidavellir’s Dyson Rings and Neutron star - are similarly made of computronium and are fixed quantum universal points; they’re completely weightless, but the universe moves around them and only responds to those with the preprogrammed quantum resonance.

Hulk

Similar to the Super Soldier Serum’s ability to increase production of Adult Stem Cells (and ASC altered to Embryonic Stem Cells) in a subject, the Hulk formula causes an explosion of ASCs and ESCs, which essentially turned Bruce Banner into a walking Vita-Chamber that generates unregulated cell growths and regeneration in bone, muscle, ligaments, skin, and organs. His very hemoglobins have also been altered to carry larger amounts of oxygen in his blood (and an excess of biliveridin metabolites) to support his massive body, and his body fat contain Gamma irradiated cells that are metabolized into powerful chemical molecules (similar to that of rocket fuel) that give the proper energy for the transformation. Normally, a creature of the Hulk’s size would be in danger of shattering bones, tearing muscles, and ripping tendons from such volatile movements, and he’s no exception — the Hulk is in a perpetual state of crippling injury, but his body is repaired by his stem cells faster than the injuries can impede his activity. Only truly catastrophic attacks, that hurt him faster than he can heal, are effective enough to put him down. The transformation process itself is so traumatic for Banner (and possibly tied to the Moral Enhancements of the original formula) that it creates a mental condition similar to Dissociative Identity Disorder in the form of the Hulk persona, who is better able to handle the stress and berserker rage from the transformation. When the psychological and hormonal triggers significantly drop, the excess body mass is slowly converted into sweat and chemical energy, the latter of which is stored in his body fat for later use.

Black Widow

Natasha Romanov is an ordinary human with extraordinary training and psychological conditioning. Under the tutelage of the Red Room, the Black Widow’s mind-body connection came together with a unique understanding of martial arts, marksmanship, spy craft, and intellect nearly on par with Captain America. With an uncanny ability to pick up new skills with very little training, she demonstrates a drive that can only be described as "the gift" demonstrated by legendary athletes such as Muhammad Ali, Jim Thorpe, and Bruce Lee.

Hawkeye

Clint Barton is a master archer with near-superhuman reflexes, anticipation, and eyesight. Possessing a neural layout with higher connective pathways in the visual cortex and temporal lobe, Clint’s visual acuity is better than 20/20 vision (due, in large part, to his near-total deafness), allowing to process visual information and calculate his shots with perfect accuracy. However, his eyesight is only one-half of his archery, as his shots rely on an anticipatory processing that accurately calculates the trajectory of his shots and the movements of his targets, similar to the "proximity sense" that some martial artists claim to have.

War Machine and The Falcon

They share an entry because they are both normal humans using advanced gear.

Falcon’s flight rig brings to mind the Jetman wing suit design by Yves Rossy. So he’d need G-Force training and flexing techniques to deal with the sudden shifts in blood flow, and fly at very specific levels of elevation and speed so as to not pass out from oxygen deprivation. His wings are built out of semi-flexible carbon-fibers that can collapse and fold for increase maneuverability and storage, with a miniature jet engines which give the wings proper lift for take off. His armor padded and weaved to help absorb shockwaves from explosions and high-impact.

War Machine’s suit is just modified Mark 2 Iron Man armor, so he doesn’t need any cybernetic implants for it to function and respond to his movements.

Spider-Man

The process that gave the spider that bit Peter Parker the ability to cause epigenetic enhancements is currently unknown, but the project was most likely an attempt to recreate the Super Soldier Serum, possibly using spider venom as a delivery system. The pads of his hands and feet generate proteins that are thinner than human hair and aligned in a sawtooth-shape. The proteins are attached to depression springs that respond to electrical currents generated by his neurons firing, allowing to stick and unstick to walls when he chooses to. The parts of his brain that process sensory information - the occipital lobe, the temporal lobe, and parietal lobe - have more developed pathways than normal, allowing him to receive twice as much information from his surrounding environments with a higher priority on potentially hazardous stimuli. Finally, his "webs" are actually just a globular resin no different from regular glue, but with a modified tensile strength matching that of real spider silk.

The Winter Soldier

Bucky was given a reverse-engineered version of the Serum by Arnim Zola, and since he was fundamentally a good person, the Serum’s Moral Enhancements took affect. His cybernetic left arm attachments would have to be spread over his entire torso to help support its weight. His shoulder and surrounding bone and fibers were amputated and replaced with synthetic versions with higher tensile strength, with metal cables running across his his rib cage, and artificial skin that can take the subcutaneous tension. Silicon chips implanted into his brain to communicate the proper commands to the arm, which also acted as receptor that helped download HYDRA’s personality engineering.

Doctor Strange

When the Ancient One “opened [his] Third Eye," the layout of Dr. Stephan Strange’s conciseness and nervous system was altered which allows him to channel multiuniversal cosmological energies. Doctor Strange can access the energies of different universes composed of different laws of physics, which are filtered into his reality similar to diffraction, that can make certain cosmetic changes to his surroundings and form objects out of pure energy. The only limitation to this is the need to perform complicated rituals and hand ventures to appease the cosmological entities that help make his desires "real."

Black Panther

The Heart-Shaped Herb, like most flora and fauna of Wakanda, has been altered by the presence of the non-radioactive room-temperature superconductor known as Vibranium. In a special brewing technique, the Herb’s stored Vibranium power was introduced into T’Challa’s body, which seems to react to his own metal stores and induces a state of Third Eye Opening similar to Doctor Strange, connecting his consciousness to Ancestral Plane. Once there, he met the cosmological entity known as Bast who grant the Panthers physical abilities on par with a Super Soldier without the need for Moral Enhancements.

The Vision

The Vision’s entire cellular make-up was 3-D printed using the Vibranium metal as a base, which makes him virtually indestructible. The most unique aspect of his biology is the Infinity Stone built into his forehead, the energies of which work in tandem with his Vibranium make-up to give him fantastic powers, and since the Mind Stone is a quantum supercomputer, it helps Vision brain process information on a computational level exceeding that of even Asgardian technology. Utilizing this, Vision can shift his energy levels to achieve Quantum Tunneling and phase through solid objects, alter the magnetic charge of his body to fly using the Earth’s magnetic field, and fire a concentrated beam of pure photonic energy from his Stone.

Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver

They share an entry because their powers are both derived from Infinity Stones - the Mind Stone from Wanda, and the Space Stone for Pietro - and rely on physical mnemonics to activate.

Wanda’s body was saturated with energy from the Mind Stone, allowing her to generate neuro-conductive cloud that respond to her thoughts and the physical mnemonics of her hands and arms. This cloud can create powerful push in desired directions, granting her telekinetic force-fields. Another capability of her cloud is creating a link that invades another person’s neuro-nervous system, essentially highjacking neurological functions which causes visual-auditory hallucinations and irrational behavior.

Pietro uses Space Stone energy to warp space and time around himself when the physical mnemonic of running occurs, essentially making him unstuck in relativistic speed. However, using this power has similar effects on him, as he processes food and chemical energy faster than normal, causing some minor nutrient deficiencies leading to the premature graying of his hair. This also allows for rapid cellular regeneration and faster healing, best demonstrated when a bullet passed through his left arm and the wound closed immediately. However, this accelerated healing isn’t enough in the event of catastrophic injury, only ensuring he’ll survive longer on what would be considered instantly fatal damage.

Tell me what you think.