#aph medicine hat

[battle-of-alberta]

Battle of Alberta Timeline pt. 1: 17th-19th Centuries

[ Alberta Story ] [ part 1 ] [ part 2 soon ]

Phew.

This was an ambitious little project for such a short time period.

I don't have much to say about it other than that, it is just supposed to be a crash course in the broad strokes of what Alberta considers to be its history. It glosses over a lot and is mostly about the foundations and incorporations of the characters (i.e. the municipalities that I have personified thus far) and a few contextual clues to the worlds they grew up in. It's basically a big cheat sheet for me since I'm both a stickler for consistency and also very inconsistent... Of course, each character could easily have their own personalized timeline on top of this, so I tried to leave room for that possibility.

(missing is St. Albert, who would be featured at 1861 if I ever intended to draw him)

And, of course, it's supposed to provoke your curiosity a little since it is of course an ask blog, I can't just explain everything down here much as I would like to :)

Enjoy!

[morganzephyr]

Hey so with Fanfest coming up in a couple weeks I figured I should post the ideas that I've been tossing around inside my head for a while before it gets shot down. The image is mostly quick sketches/proof of concepts that I've coloured a lil but they're not polished or super clean. But I'll also just talk a lil about the basics of their lore and mechanics, both flavour and how they'd actually play. All the weapons are the Padjali weapons bc this was meant to be quick and dirty, all info under the Readmore!

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Time Battlemage (TBM) - Represented here by a female Duskwight Role: Tank Weapons: Hammers, Clubs, and Maces Limit Break: Temporal Equilibrium Culture of Origin: Sharlyan

Lore: A recent Sharlyan discovery, Time Battlemages came about with the rediscovery of Time Magic, works by magi such as the famous Quan that were formerly lost to history. However, as raw time magic is so dangerous, the Sharlyan scholars and sages figured its best application in combat would be as a supplement rather than a primary focus, so they started training regiments of magic knights, using their time magic to boost their speed despite their heavier gear. To take full advantage of this, TBMs use the large, blunt, and heavy hammers and clubs, partially due to how similar they feel to some of the staves of conjurers and thaumaturges, but also because of how time magic can be used on them, speeding them up to keep their raw bludgeoning power without leaving many major openings during combat. Some TBM weapons even have timekeeping devices such as clocks, sundials, and hourglasses incorporated into their design, which helps a TBM focus and channel their magic through their weapon.

Mechanics: The weakest tank in terms of raw damage output, similar to a Warrior's level, however, it empowers itself with many buffs and can spread them throughout the party, and focuses on using debuffs on the enemy for damage mitigation. It builds up Haste stacks through attacking, which help lower the TBM's GCD and everyone in an area around the TBM autoattacks faster. The TBM can also consume these Haste stacks in order to fuel both OGCD offensive and defensive abilities. The TBN's Invincibility ability involves them taking all damage until they hit 0, but then all attacks after that point restoring health as they "reverse" all the incoming damage.

Extra fluff: The teeth on the metal armour is based on both the teeth of gears, incorporating a timekeeping theme into it, but also on the tops of castle turrets to bring in a bit of an Alexander reference. Their armour is lighter than other tanks, but the colour scheme and pointed hat is supposed to invoke the classic Time Mage aesthetic.

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Apothecary (APH) - Represented here by a male Dunesfolk Role: Healer Weapons: Censers and Lanterns Limit Break: Requiem Culture of Origin: Ishgard

Lore: Both during and after the end of the many wars that dot Eorzea's history, the most efficient healers on the battlefield tended to use aether, which left their numbers somewhat limited and many medics frustrated that they were left in the dust. Understanding, but still frustrated. A small group of chirurgeons with minimal ability for aetheric manipulation banded together, their combined knowledge of alchemy and medicine intertwining with each other created a new job, perfect for those with little requirement of personal aether, yet still requiring the skills and trained hands of a medical professional. Apothecaries use herbs and incense that are placed in a charged censer, which they swing around to spread the smoke and vapors to reinvigorate allies, and smoke bombs to launch their medicines even further. Their skills in alchemy have also allowed them to create toxic fumes and gasses to debilitate and disrupt foes, as well as hide allies within their thick fogs. Soon after its creation, some conjurers and other magical healers picked up the art, finding it just as efficient as their own prior job, and even helping create some new vapors such as one that can rapidly restore aether to an individual. However, the difference between an APH with shallow or deep aetheric reserves is inconsequential, both will last a battle with minimal difference in resources, and the job ended up being a great equaliser for field medics across Eorzea.

Mechanics: A pure healer with a greater focus on DoTs and HoTs than direct damage and healing. Most of their abilities affect a wide area, and for some of them, the distance to the centre of the ability zone determines the effectiveness of their damage or healing. They also have an ability that can provide damage reduction for allies "hiding" in the smoke, and another ability that rapidly restores personal MP. As they do constant ticks of damage or healing, they build up a resource, which they can spend on greater direct damage, big heals, small shields, or, for their big two minute ability, a combination of all three.

Extra fluff: Obviously based on Chemists from previous entries. I initially had the idea of them using a crossbow as a slingshot to launch their potions, but hearing articles about how MCH used to be a potion slinging healer and that not working out, plus how SGE apparently used to be closer to a chemist conceptually but they spent months iterating on it, I figured to steer away from a more offensive looking weapon for my take on the job.

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Tyrant (TYR) - Represented here by a female Xaela Role: Melee DPS (Scouting) Weapons: Whips, Chains, and Flails Limit Break: Nine Tales Culture of Origin: Unknown

Lore: Tyrants take on their names with pride, even if it was thrown at them in scorn. Primarily consisting of nomads and wanderers, the precursors to the Tyrants found themselves constantly under attack by bandits and poachers who wished to harm the lands they lived on. They discovered that through giving the land their blood, the land would often give back, granting great strength and power to channel the land's fury through them. As such, they self flagellate, sacrificing their own physical self to defend both themselves and the place they call home. This terrifying form of magic has given them the title of Tyrant, as they appear to dominate and subjugate all that cross their path, even if it comes from a desire to protect the planet. They use their whips and chains to continuously strike down their foes nomatter how fast they try to run, and they often have barbs and thorns to increase pain to themselves and their opponents. TYRs are masters of using their strange art and terrifying presence to try and make the world a better place, even if it is as pariahs.

Mechanics: Tyrants are a dexterous job, using their weapon to keep a greater distance away from their target than most other melees. This is helpful as their main mechanic is using 10% of their current HP to get strong buffs to their attacks, such as a raw damage increase, a GCD cooldown reduction, or even the ability to apply a DoT. Each boosted ability has an HP drain effect attached to it, meaning a Tyrant doesn't lose their HP for long, especially when combined with a Bloodbath. The more HP that is drained by activating their various power up, the longer the buff lasts. Tyrants also gain a resource by attacking while powered up, effectively draining an opponent's blood in order to build up to powerful team wide buffs and defensive abilities, such as increasing movement and autoattack speed or applying shields and a small heal. They also have great mobility, using their weapon to bring themselves closer to a target or to spin out of the way like a beyblade.

Extra fluff: One of the weaker job ideas I have. Originally they were meant to be far more leather dominatrix vibes in appearance, but I figured making them into a forest warden/ranger could be a more creative take on the idea, especially given to the evolution of the Hunter job mentioned below. They were originally supposed to purely rely on blood magic but I figured a darker path to a Conjurer might also be fascinating, focusing more on a Druidic nature aspect as opposed to the natural elements, which will mostly be filled by the Geomancer below.

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Geomancer (GEO) - Represented here by a male Rava Role: Magic DPS Weapons: Bells Limit Break: Nature's Wrath Culture of Origin: Othard

Lore: As Astrologians focus on the star above, Geomancers focus on the star below. An old Othardian art that focuses on divining the health of the land by using the terrestrial elements of earth, wind, and water. Unlike Astrologians, they have a much more aggressive approach to dealing with impurities and evil forces, by using the elements of nature to purge them from this plane. They used to be a celebrated part of Othardian culture, but as time went on, the art was forgotten and the name was perverted by charlatans trying to make a quick buck off of the name. Many true Geomancer lines have laid dormant since, but as greater knowledge of the art has been made more available, it seems the school may be making a comeback across the Far East.

Mechanics: It focuses on supporting the whole team, kind of like a DNC with its buffs. They summon "cleansing circles", kind of like a BLM's Leylines except they affect any party member standing in it with various buffs, the type of buff depending on the currently attuned element; Earth, Wind, or Water. GEOs can also bring the Cleansing Circle to them as they move around an area, as opposed to a BLM's Between The Lines ability, but if they wander too far away, the Circle disappears and the buffs dissipate, causing the GEO to have to start their cycle again. They also place a DoT on a target, one that does matching elemental damage and every few ticks, it pulses, causing allies near to the target to gain a shorter lasting buff of the relevant element. Once all three elements are shifted through, the GEO can purify their circle, causing all party members to gain enhanced versions of all three elemental buffs all at once, and dealing hefty damage to all nearby enemies upon the initial purification, as all the negative energy from the fight is purged into them. If a DoT is active on a foe when the circle is purified, it deals all the rest of its damage all at once, before mutating into a more powerful DoT, that lasts as long as the Purification does.

Extra fluff: Probably the idea I've had the longest. The design was mostly inspired by FF11's take on the Geomancer. However, I wanted to make a callback to some of the Geomancer designs of the past, which is why it takes the general blue colour scheme from FF3, the stripey pyjama legs from FF5, and the cropped top from Tactics. Since the Swallows Compass dungeon was also heavily based on Geomancy and the final boss of that was effectively Sun Wukong, I gave Geomancer the floating silk ribbon that you tend to associate with him but also Chinese gods of all sorts.

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Hunter (HNT) - Represented here by a female Hellsguard Role: Ranged DPS Weapons: Crossbows Limit Break: Shatterheart Culture of Origin: Gyr Abania

Lore: In the ancient deserts of Gyr Abania's past, it is tough to survive, let alone survive while opposing groups try to take your resources for your own. Sometimes, it takes subterfuge to get an advantage, but when you are always on the move and lacking the time to raise a generation of fighters while also just trying to cling to life, what alternatives are there? Archery requires incredible arm strength, and many other groups had decades of training under their belts. Thaumaturgy can be slow and loud with its chants and casts. For those that are weak of arm yet desire to stay stealthy, there is an option. The art of the Hunter. They quietly stalk their marks, using every trick in the book to hide their presence, and being able to sense everything that happens around them. Their use of the crossbow ensures a near soundless weapon that can take down targets from far distances without their target even being aware of the Hunter's existence. To add to their arsenal and awareness, Hunters have learned to create simple aetheric structures, traps that can be placed that when triggered, wound or bind their prey. And the Hunter's aetheric connection to the trap, ensures they know exactly where their mark lies. To further sow confusion and disruption, Hunters can create decoys of themselves, misdirecting targets and throwing them off their real location, giving the Hunter plenty of time to line up the shot.

Mechanics: Like the RPR, the Hunter focuses on using and maintaining a debuff on the opponent, causing more damage to be taken, manifesting as a target mark. The Hunter can then use more traps that open up various weaknesses in an opponent, such as applying a DoT, giving a short damage down debuff, or their two minute cooldown, a universal damage taken increase, like a NIN's Mug. Their traps also assist in world bosses, FATES, and dungeons by also applying Slow to those in a small radius around the triggered trap. The Hunter also can create temporary aetheric decoy constructs that can attack multiple targets (or one target for increased damage), create a personal shield, or to dash into stealth, lowering emnity like a Shirk would.

Extra fluff: Originally it was meant to be much closer to the Ranger from previous entries aesthetically and was supposed to be from the Black Shroud, but I wanted to have a different cultural influence. I thought of the Persian empire and the bright and unique clothes and culture that was not represented in game and figured it could be a good source of inspiration (note the outfit was cobbled together from several designs and is not representative of a true Persian design, if I had more time I would have done more solid research into getting a historically cohesive outfit together). As I still like the traditional Robin Hood style design, it was passed down onto the Tyrant instead.

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Anyways thank you for making it to the end of the post, hope this was an interesting read and give thoughts if you feel like it! This was fairly quick and dirty so there's probably quite a few holes in them but again, just wanted to get these out there and into the community to share!

[acetechne]

battle of alberta pokemon au all together! which is your favourite team? 

[allbeendonebefore]

Out of your ocs, who is a shower and who is a bath person? Also hot water or cold water?

gut reactions

the cold shower challenge is some weird manly man thing i encountered modding for business school classes and it frightens me. While I think Calvin is also a hot shower person I also think he's stubborn and swears by this weird thing.

[the-spoonicorn]

tagged by @aph-springroll

nicknames: uhhhhhhh people just call me by my name mostly. here on tungle i go by spob just in case someone irl that didn’t know me back in my weeb phase finds this blog. yikes. 

gender: female

star sign: pisces

height: 5′3′’

time right now: 10:51 PM

last thing i googled: berserk 2016 CLANG

favorite bands: ??????? who kno

favorite solo artists: uh idk whoever sings the most anime ops/eds i like. i’m not good at this music stuff. i just listen to what sounds good to me sorry. 

song stuck in my head: heikousen (scum’s wish ED), also kao desho by ORESAMA, and the crab song from moana

last movie i watched: moana

last tv show i watched: does anime count? i hope so. konosuba.

when did you create your blog: summer 2014 i think

what kind of things do you post: haha...

when did your blog reach its peak: this is an anime blog so that’s not possible

do you get asks regularly: buddy my inbox is as empty as me

do you have any other blogs: well, kinda. they’ve been dead for years so i don’t think about them.

why did you choose your URL: stuck a spoon under my hat once

following: 58 blogs. i wish i could find more anime blogs to follow but a lot of them post stuff i’m not into and i don’t want cgdct on my dash. gimme the good stuff. 

posts: 8126

hogwarts house: syltherin

pokemon team: uuuuuuhhhhhhh team rocket?

favorite color: light pink, light blue

average hours of sleep: >implying i get hours of sleep

lucky numbers: 3, 27

favorite characters: hajime from gatchaman crowds, the embodiment of sunshine. i love her so much. also the medicine seller from mononoke. who is he. season 2 please. 

what are you wearing right now: jeans and my favorite monster hunter shirt

[battle-of-alberta]

Hooray! The height chart is done!

Obviously there are some minor characters not featured here but, uh, that's for me to figure out later and you to speculate.

and yeahhhhh there's quite a few characters who are the same height but uh. It's Fine. Height inconsistency, for my part, can be attributed to the fact that Many of these characters wear heels in their day to day (so it was fun thinking about their socks, which I don't usually do).

Enjoy!

[battle-of-alberta]

New banner? Eh/nay?

This is a very simplified height chart since I realize all the characters are suuuper stylized here (and wearing heels) but! Hopefully it will help me remember.

[battle-of-alberta]

CHARACTER BIO: MEDICINE HAT

[ Bio Page ] [ Relationships ] [ Trivia ]

Design Notes

I couldn’t bring myself to add the text to the flag... I’m still thinking writing your name on a flag should be a cardinal sin...

When drawing Madeline, her “central shape” is a triangle. I draw an “X” shape to form two triangles when drawing her body. The top triangle is smaller. Her overall shape is supposed to be evocative of the shape of a lamp or the shape of the Saamis Teepee.

Her mouth... is hat shaped... : )

No the tiger on the crest doesn’t have the plague, it’s just on fire. It’s Fine.

Transcription below the cut

Municipal Info

City: Medicine Hat

Nicknames: Med Hat, The Hat, Gas City, The City with All Hell for a Basement, An Oasis on the Prairies, The City with Energy

Region: Southeast (Grassland)

Population: 60,000+

Founded: 1883

Incorporated: 1894 / 1898 / 1906

Other: Alberta's 6th biggest city, Sunniest City in Canada

Character Info

Name: Madeline Hargrave  (she/her)

"Birthday": May 31 (Gemini)

Height: 5′7″

Heritage: Métis [First Nations (Blackfoot) + European (British + German)]

Hair: Black

Eyes: Blue

MBTI: ISFJ

Symbols

Gas Lamp

Sunshine

Crest 

Bio

Madeline is the quietest of the major Albertan cities, but perhaps the warmest and most generous. She appreciates small-town intimacy, an easy pace of life, and will go out of her way to help someone in need.

Founded as a tent town along the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Madeline grew up amongst railway workers and Northwest Mounted Police Officers. She earned the moniker of "Gas City" after CPR workers accidentally struck rich fields of natural gas, which all residents were soon provided with. Even today, the gas fields light Medicine Hat's historic lamps and provide some of the cheapest energy in the province.

[battle-of-alberta]

CHARACTER BIO: MEDICINE HAT

[ Bio Page ] [ Relationships ] [ Trivia ]

Some Brief Definitions

(I realize that some terms aren’t familiar to people outside of Canada/North America so I will elaborate on them here. Many definitions are particular to First Nations cultures and should thus be treated respectfully!)

Blackfoot - The English name for the Niitsitapi or the Siksikaitsitapi, a confederacy made up of linguistically related First Nations. The Kainai (”Blood”) are one of these nations.

Cree - The English name (from the French) for the Néhinaw or the Néhiyaw, one of the largest First Nations groups in North America.  

Tepee - a tent traditionally made of animal skins stretched over poles most typically associated with First Nations of the great plains in North America. Tepees today are usually made with canvas. A sculpture rather than a dwelling, the Saamis Tepee is 215 feet tall and made of 800 tons of steel.

Buffalo Jump - a natural cliff where First Nations people would historically steer bison in order to hunt, kill, harvest, and process them.

Coulee - from the French “couler” “to flow”, refers to several geographical formations. In Southern Alberta, it usually refers to a valley that was carved by glaciers and eroded by water or wind.

Pinto - a description of a horse’s coat, typically white with large spots of another colour.

Transcription below the cut

Although Calgary often claims the title, Medicine Hat is the Sunniest City in Canada and receives an average of 330 days (2544 hours) of sunlight in a year!

Medicine Hat represents ancient boundaries between the Blackfoot and the Cree and has long been the site of a "breathing hole" for water spirits on the South Saskatchewan River, untouched by winter ice. The city's name comes from local indigenous oral history.

One variation of the legend describes a Kainai hunter sent to locate food in time of starvation. A great serpent rises from the river and demands the life of the hunter's wife in exchange for a medicine hat, a saamis, which grants the hunter the power to save his people. This story is depicted in brick at city hall.

Medicine Hat's historic gas lamps still light public streets. Although many gas wells are still operating after over a century, these lamps are now lit with LEDs.

The Saamis Tepee is Medicine Hat's most visible landmark and overlooks Seven Person's coulee, the location of an ancient buffalo jump and rich archaeological site. The tepee was originally made for the Calgary Olympics and was brought to Medicine Hat in 1991.

Medicine Hat is well known for its historic clay district that produced all sorts of pottery and the bricks for many buildings lining the streets of downtown.

Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park spans the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan and is a short trip from Medicine Hat. The Alberta side boasts the most species of orchids on the prairies; 18 different varieties are known.

A Medicine Hat horse is a pinto with a distinct patch of colour over the ears and head, occasionally with a splash of colour across the chest like a shield, and has been a lucky sighting for centuries. A Medicine Hat horse with blue eyes is even more fortuitous!

[battle-of-alberta]

CHARACTER BIO: MEDICINE HAT

[ Bio Page ] [ Relationships ] [ Trivia ]

(These relationships are based on a combination of my own impressions of current and historical events, shared interests, and supplied with a little personality horoscope-ing where information is lacking!)

Madeline’s Clubs

Canada Pacific Railway (CPR) Club

Northwest Mounted Police (NWMP) Club

Southern Alberta Club (Treaty 7)

Mid-Sized Cities Club

South Saskatchewan River Club

Transcription below the cut.

Relationships

Calgary / Calvin

Madeline discovered natural gas first, throwing Calvin into a fit of jealousy. She teased him a lot when they were younger and called him "piggy" for being loud and greedy, but their relationship has since mellowed a great deal and they consider each other friends.

Lethbridge / Lilith

Madeline and Lilith are close neighbours who anchor the two corners of Southern Alberta. Lilith is the most experienced at bringing Madeline out of her shell, while Madeline reminds her to slow down and savour things, making them a well balanced pair.

Edmonton / Edward

Madeline mostly knows Edward in work-related contexts and they are not particularly close in person. However, the two seem to like each other's text-based roasts. Madeline appreciates Ed's wry and mildly salty comments, even if she rarely says so.

Red Deer / Red

Madeline shares Red's enthusiasm for sports and automobiles as well as more crafty pursuits, making them fast friends in the mid-size city club. The two especially enjoy testing out new wheels at Madeline's local speedway.

Banff / Eleanor

Madeline and Eleanor are both very proud of their identities as cities who place the utmost importance on careful planning rather than rapid growth. Madeline enjoys unwinding with Eleanor in the ceramics studio or in the great outdoors.

Grande Prairie / Josephine

Madeline is usually ruffled a little by Josephine's brash nature and her tendency to dominate a conversation, and in many ways the two could not be more opposite. That said, Madeline does feel they have a lot in common and under the right circumstances would make a dynamic pair.

Fort McMurray / Mac

Madeline and Mac rarely cross paths much given the distance, and from afar it might look like they rarely talk at all. Madeline is one of the few people who recognizes Mac's erratic behaviours as masking his shyness, and rarely minds spending a quiet moment with him.

Other Relationships

Madeline shares the South Saskatchewan River with Saskatoon. The two cities are comparable in size and small-town feel. While Madeline is willing to step up and arbitrate between the two provinces, and is the most likely to be found chatting away with her Saskatchewan neighbours, she also takes her duties on rat patrol very seriously indeed.

[battle-of-alberta]

OCtober: Josephine and Madeline

I decided to give myself a little breather between uploading character profiles and do some traditional stuff for a change.

I’m curious to know if there’s a city you’d rather visit between them, so here are their tourism pages for you to check out:

Grande Prairie | Medicine Hat

Below is some meta stuff about the ‘research’ (if you can even call it that, it was more of a vibe check) I did for re-doing the profiles. Read on, if it intrigues you. (And yes, I’m doing similar comparisons for the remaining six characters).

Small Cities: MH and GP

Medicine Hat and Grande Prairie are cities with similar populations and similar industries, though oppositely located and seemingly growing in opposite directions. This article succinctly compares and contrasts the two cities and their points in their own stories: Medicine Hat, a sleepy, safe, retirement community content in its size and committed to careful long term planning; Grande Prairie, a boomtown with an increasingly young population and new developments nearly outpacing new residents. Both cities are reacting to the shifts in the energy industry described in the article, and since then also must manage dramatic political changes and an ongoing pandemic.

Website Round Up: Preface

While I was revisiting these character profiles, I took a look at how cities represented themselves on their municipal sites and tourism sites rather than how cities were represented in the news or in stereotypes, as the latter already tend to live in the back of my head. I was interested to see who the target audiences for each city were, what they considered their strengths, and how much effort each city put into putting its own identity on display. I was also interested into what ideas sort of fed into any pre-existing confirmation bias I had about each city's personality as well as interested in what narratives might be used to counteract negative stereotypes.

The first thing I tended to notice was the overall information architecture of each city's website. How easy were they to navigate? What kinds of information did they have? How did they organize it? How did they communicate that information?

Municipal: Out and About

Overall, both sites were easy to navigate and had an "About" page within the first two menus. City pages seemed equally attentive to attracting new residents and investment as they were to providing residents with relevant, updated information. Both cities also featured images of their skylines on their home pages.

Medicine Hat's "About" page tends to focus on the beauty of the surrounding geography, the feeling of community safety, and the mysterious "Medicine Hat Advantage". The city combines this page with a brief historical overview and touches briefly on the origin of the city's name and flag.

Grande Prairie's "About" page tends to focus on the youth and diversity of the community, the economic opportunities, and the importance of the area to the surrounding region. The page elaborates a little more on the amenities in the city as well as a map demonstrating where Grande Prairie is located in North America.

Medicine Hat's subpages are few and include a photo gallery and a page on the City's branding.  The brand stood out to me out of all of the city pages I visited around the province: Medicine Hat is very committed to creating this attractive and aesthetic self-image based on feedback from residents that I didn't really see reflected elsewhere (other than perhaps Calgary, which took the branding to an extreme).

Grande Prairie's subpages seem to be a more concerted effort to attract investment and new residents: they repeat their about page in French, have numerous pages dedicated to economic statistics and census data, and have a brief history section that focuses on economic development. Interestingly, none of the About pages seem to make any mention of Grande Prairie's indigenous origins at all.

Municipal: If You Lived Here...

Both cities have downloadable guides for prospective residents.

Medicine Hat's brochure is short with many large photos and each page introduced with a key word or feeling they want to evoke ("Rich, Beautiful, Warm, Safe,"). The guide does not seem to be frequently updated and has a bit of a timeless quality.

Grande Prairie's guide appears to be updated annually and goes more into depth about current events and amenities. The guide is full of ads and invitations for local businesses, realtors, schools, etc. in combination with more historical, geographical, and statistical information about the city.

Tourism: Staycation Spotlights

Finally, both cities also have tourism pages.

While both cities provide space for neighbouring towns and counties to share some of the spotlight, Grande Prairie's tourism site is dedicated to the entire region. The city is a subpage on the same level as its neighbouring communities.

Both cities are currently promoting staycation guides to encourage local residents to enjoy their summers locally due to COVID-19 restrictions. Medicine Hat encourages the use of the hashtag MyMHSummer and has several downloadable zoom backgrounds showcasing the geographical beauty around the city. Grande Prairie's currently spotlighting curated day trips within the region called "The Grande Plan", which is also very adorable.

Tourism: Sugar We’re Going Downtown

Both cities describe their downtowns on distinct pages.

Medicine Hat focuses on the city's historic character and particularly emphasizes its expressive, creative and artistic charm. The rest of the page functions as a catalogue of websites of businesses and organizations, many of them exclusive to the area, located downtown.

Grande Prairie's page is once again more specific and touches on arts, sports, events, and particularly shopping. Never before in my life have I seen a place so intensely proud of having so many pub-style franchises and never before have I seen such chains be held to equal importance with independent, local business.

A side note, but Grande Prairie self-describes as "like that friend who’s always up for whatever you want to do." Aww.

Tourism: Guidebook, Check

Both cities also have downloadable, annually updated Visitor's Guides

Medicine Hat's guide opens to several double spread images, completely without text. It launches directly in to the legend of the city's name and uses the historic downtown as a starting point, concentrating on arts and culture before dining and outdoor activities.

Once again, shopping is front and centre on Grande Prairie's list with no fewer than three exclamation marks. Outdoor activities and sports come close after, and descriptions of each region including the city proper bring up the end.

[battle-of-alberta]

the finished versions of red’s gal road trip photos :)

EDIT: I had put captions on the photos as to where they were but I can’t view them?? So here goes

1. a field of canola

2. somewhere in the foothills

3. Vulcan, AB

4. Glendon, AB

5. Torrington, AB

[acetechne]

ok......... hear me out.......... pokemon but its southern ab gals

[battle-of-alberta]

BATTLE OF ALBERTA: Omake

[ all omakes ] [ contents ]

You’ll have to tell me if I’m way off the mark here because I have literally no knowledge or experience of southern alberta that isn’t second hand (and the one night i stayed in a hotel in lethbridge on my way to the states doesn’t count), but this is the impression I’ve gotten from recent news. This is very surface level based on like... economic growth (or lack thereof), so obviously there’s more to it than that.

Lethbridge just surpassed Red Deer as the third biggest city, congrats!

[battle-of-alberta]

For a grown man, Cal gives off spoiled brat vibes. What was he like as a kid?

[the irony being that today, calvin regularly drinks whiskey because It’s the Culture tm]

so sorry to inform you guys Calvin was assigned cop at birth u_u he didn’t spend his whole childhood in the NWMP barracks though, there was a period where he was living in a tent on the side of the road waiting for the train to show up (though that said, that might have been a bit more sanitary.)

More notes follow.

- Calvin was imbued with admiration for Toronto from a young age because the majority of the men recruited for service were originally from Toronto. His attention quickly turned south, however, the more he interacted with Americans and heard about mythical places like Denver and Chicago.

- Fort Calgary was ironically built and supplied by some of the same whiskey traders they were supposed to stamp out, shh.

- Calvin was really proud his American friends tolerated him enough to hang out with him... and is still to this day, perhaps not realizing that the others considered him “mild west” rather than wild west. During this period he mostly hung out with folks from Montana and Colorado- the relationship with Texas didn’t really get off the ground until the mid 20th century.

- It’s been a few years since I read Denny’s account of Fort Calgary but I seem to remember him commenting on having to order lots and lots of tea.

- I still think this ongoing joke that Calvin doesn’t realize Lilith and his old rival Fort Whoop Up are the same person is really funny (y’know, despite Lethbridge having an identical flag, annual Whoop Up Days, Whoop Up Drive, etc that he just assumes is a historical curiosity of hers)

- Calvin’s other siblings/cousins (not depicted) include big bro Fort Macleod and Fort Saskatchewan, among others. I’m not sure what that makes Fort Walsh... a brother/cousin who was re-animated in the 40s and never quite the same? Lol.

- The “gentlemen” Calvin comments on to Caroline are caricatures of “remittance men”, that is, a man exiled to the colonies by his family and paid regular remittances to ensure they didn’t come back and do whatever it was that got them sent off in the first place.

- “No English” was a common sentiment because of above remittance men - ‘English’ I believe was kind of a derogatory term used in both Canada and the States to refer to anyone from the cities back east who were a bit too soft for frontier life, but in the territories it could definitely refer to literal expats from England. (Tangentially related, but Prince Edward even bought himself a ranch not far from Calgary in the 1920s.)

- The events Ed and Madeline are thinking of include: one of the early visits to Fort Edmonton that I’ve referenced a zillion times (the NWMP couldn’t sleep because they weren’t used to the dogs); the 1885 Northwest Resistance which caused Calgary to panic so much that a basically useless militia was formed; when natural gas wells were discovered around Medicine Hat, Calgarians threw a fit and wouldn’t rest until someone funded a successful hunt for their own.

- (afterwards in the race for the capital, edmonton newspapers would jab at calgary’s tendency to act like a pig eating everything around it, an article which the papers in medicine hat would reprint)

[battle-of-alberta]

“The truth is, the Sun’s energy (figuratively, and literally) is present not just for today, but every day. We just get so wrapped up in our dramas and inner turmoil that we forget to remember this. Every day the Sun rises.“

- elliot oracle

This was a pretty easy one to decide on if not to draw. The sun is a very major civic symbol for the Hat right down to its branding, and it does try to portray itself as a warm, cheerful place to be.

The horse is white in the card but I added the ‘Medicine Hat’ pinto markings for some additional locality. And yeah she can do sidesaddle bareback no tack partially because I think she is genuinely hella skilled and partially because I think tack would interfere with the free spirited nature of the card and partially because I’d already drawn enough annoying things lately lol.

Instead of a landscape or a skyline, I thought I would draw the Sunshine Trolley instead of the wall on the original card :)

I have one more card that I’ve got picked out for Certain (though I’m not confident in a design yet) but a few more that require some serious thought so I’ll... work on those.