#delta also calls gamma an ‘it’ so it’s that like.

[leonardalphachurch]

gary/gamma’s name actually makes me insane because like. like omega/o’malley very CLEARLY goes by o’malley by the time of blood gulch, he actively identifies himself as such and everyone around him, including people that he ostensibly cares about, call him o’malley.

BUT GARY. he only refers to himself as gary when he’s lying to church about who he is. wyoming never refers to him by name. neither does o’malley. delta calls him gamma in oom but that’s like. would delta know that he’s going by gary now? have they spoken? would gary even tell him? IS GAMMA JUST. A LIAR?? WHAT IS YOUR NAME LITTLE MAN. WHAT IS THE TRUTH.

[kozumesphone]

astronomy

𝓽sukishima kei x f!reader

masterlist . . . ✰

𓆩♡𓆪 𝒶n : cassie!!!!! ilysm for requesting this <3 + i'm sorry I didn't write this sooner 😭 I had the best time nerding out about stars in this fic fr! alsoalso it's pretty short, so i'm sorry about that too 😩

𓆩♡𓆪 𝓌arnings + tags : stargazing , friend!tsukki x friend!reader , both of them like each other but are oblivious , no actual moves are made (maybe part 2) , very very short drabble , reader rambling about constellations (<3) , shooting stars ;

𓆩♡𓆪 𝓌c : 0.7k

“the sky is so pretty tonight,” I sighed. tsukishima and I sat cross-legged on our school’s roof.

since we were both a part of the student council, as co-sports captains, we had to stay back after hours to work on setting up everything for next week’s inter-school volleyball tournament that karasuno’s hosting.

we had just finished setting up all the stalls outside the court, and decided to call it a day since it was nearly nine in the night.

exhausted, I flopped onto my back. I pulled tsukishima down with me, and pulled out his arm to rest my head on.

“my favourite cushion,” I mumbled, smiling.

“my time as a cushion is very valuable, I must say.” he said, joking. “I bill by the hour.”

“yes, sir! you’ll get paid for being the best cushion ever.”

“I better.” he grumbled, and the both of us laughed.

after a while of just looking at the stars, tsukishima broke the silence.

“which constellation is that?” he asked me, pointing at the sky.

“oh! that’s hydra! it’s the longest constellation that’s ever been officially named.” I said, starting to ramble about it. “it’s made of, like, 17 different stars. oh my god, i’ve never been happier about how less pollution there is, in our prefecture. anyway, the brightest one there, if you see it,” I pointed at one star. “that’s alphard, or alpha hydrae. it’s like the defining star because it’s brighter than the rest, in the hydra constellation.”

“what about the one above that?” he asked, pointing to a quadrilateral-looking arrangement of stars.

“I think that’s… corvus? it’s symbolised by a crow or a raven. the four ends of the quadrilateral you can see, are gamma, delta, epsilon, and beta corvi. it’s associated with the greek god, apollo.”

I turned to check if he fell asleep, but he was staring at me quietly. he quickly whipped his head ahead, masking his smile.

I traced my fingers over the freckles on his cheek, under his eyes.

“this constellation’s my favourite one of all, though,” I whispered, observing his freckles. no matter how faint at night, everytime I saw them, I had this urge to trace every single one of them. join them like stars join to make constellations, and name them all.

his eyes fluttered close slowly.

I turned back to the sky, my cold fingers still resting against his warm cheek.

before I could continue telling him about the other constellations I could spot, a shooting star appeared at the edge of my vision. I sat up suddenly, and slapped tsukki’s arm.

“it’s a shooting star!” I exclaimed, in awe. “make a wish, tsukki! quick!”

I closed my eyes, and clasped my hands.

I wish I get amazing grades forever. and… I wish this moment with tsukki… lasted forever. I also wish for cute stuffed toys for my birthday this year!

I opened my eyes and turned to tsukishima, who was already looking at me.

“did you make a wish?” I asked, smiling.

tsukishima’s pov:

“make a wish, tsukki! quick!” y/n said.

my heart fluttered at the nickname, even though she called me that a lot. get a grip, kei! I chide myself.

her eyes closed, and her eyebrows pinched together in concentration.

I took in all of her features. the shape of her eyes. the slope of her nose. the curve of her lips. her beauty.

“did you make a wish?” she asked, opening her eyes and turning to me.

heat crept up my neck after getting caught staring at her. twice.

“yeah,” I lied.

every smile she sent my way, and every laugh i’d heard from her. every low moment in our volleyball careers we went through together. every win we celebrated with each others’ teams.

she was my dream come true.

what else could I wish for, if all i’d ever wanted was right in front of my eyes?

[phoenixblaze1412]

HIII I LOVE your works and THE CHILD READER IS SO FUXKING DELICIOUS that I've been living in your blog for like.. three days.

But anyways I wanted to request grown up child reader (like 15-17 yrs old) headcanons from your child readerXDottore ffs.

I love you and your works❤️

Also, can I be your 🦅 anon?

Sure you can, anon <3

Dottore was always proud to call you his child, his prodigy. He may not be able to show his care for you due to him always having to work but when he's free for the days, he tends to you as much as he can.

Time flew by so fast, you grew up from a tiny toddler to a teen.

In Iota and Theta's words, you used to be a little shit. Now you became a bigger shit.

You didn't need to worry much about what happens when one goes through puberty and maturity. Your father has it all covered, he actually made them beforehand before you reached thirteen.

And with your knowledge expanding from all the things you were taught at such a young age, you followed in your father's footsteps and Dottore was euphoric with it.

Kappa was a bit upset that you grew up, he would miss the times when you and him would always spend time together to play.

He was definitely pouting whenever you talk about your heights, now that you grew up to be a teenager while he's stuck as a child perspective of your father, the height difference was very noticable, he reaches about your stomach now and he will forever be that short.

Sadly that doesn't go the same for the other segments. Eta, Theta and Delta would still make fun of your shortness.

Beta would still carry you around despite already being a teenager. He still sees you as his little angel no matter how tall or old you get.

Iota still keeps those baby pictures he took of you. Doesn't matter if you looked bad or good in it, he still sees you as his little, troublemaker mutt. He still takes photos of you and would make scrapbooks of it during his free time whenever he's bored at tinkering on ruin machines.

The troublemaker (s)quad: Delta, Gamma, Theta and Beta would always bring you along with them whenever they wanted to cause trouble, watch something blow up or make some failed experiments kill each other. They would still cover your eyes if the scene becomes too much for you to handle.

Dottore was very enthusiastic when he took you in as his apprentice, of course you got lots of glares and side eyes from those who work under him who always wanted to be the doctor's apprentice, those looks did not go unnoticed by your father though. Oh how delightful you already have new fresh bodies to experiment on!

Who else would Dottore choose as his own apprentice if not you? It was already decided the moment your ruby red eyes stared back at him the moment you were born that he was to choose you.

Prime and Omega were always there to assist you whenever you have a little trouble in doing some of the work your father has tasked you to do. They may be segments and are 400+ years old in terms of memory but you're still their little child, it wouldn't hurt to spoil and give you a helping hand without the doctor knowing.

Dottore was definitely not happy when he saw the Knave's children interacting with you. Who were those brats again? Ah yes, Lyney, Lynette and Freminet. Time to tell the segments about those orphans.

You would always be curious on why a segment would always be with you wherever you go.

One time when Lyney kissed the back of your hand, he was immediately backed up to the wall with Delta's claymore pressed against his neck while Beta carried you away.

Having tea and cake with Lynette would have went well if Theta didn't splash her with water, intentionally letting the bucket fall on her head to grab your hand and run off.

Gamma even burned the flowers he took from Freminet to give to you since the boy was too shy to do so. The segment snipped the petals off to use them as ingredients for future experiments before burning the stems over by the fireplace with a grin.

Last one was when Childe came over to the lab to visit you since he brought you some snacks and souvenirs he got from Liyue only to get multiple glares from the segments and your father, your father was teaching you how to dissect a frog while the segments were watching as encouragement since it was your first time dissecting an organism.

It was during the harbinger meeting that Arlecchino brought up the doctor's protectiveness.

"Is the doctor afraid that his own child is being courted by others? Come on, surely you know that children would be leaving their nest to go fly off on their own to live their life? Surely my children are capable and worthy enough to court a child like them, no?"

"Absolutely fucking not. My child will not be tainted by your orphan brats."

[iminseriousdebt]

GENLOSS RAMBLE

Heyo! This is a little ramble I needed to make before the founders cut comes out!  yipee!

(GENERATION LOSS SPOILERS)

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So we can see in the above images the methods Showfall Media is using to control gl!Sneeg gl!Charlie and gl!Ranboo, they use an already pre-existing technology called an Electroencephalogram (EEG). Now this technology has been in use for decades, and essentially how it works is that it uses electrodes placed onto your scalp combined with a conductive gel to measure the electrical activity in your brain, these electrical signals are usually referred to as “brain waves” and these brainwaves can be subdivided into four categories, Gamma (greater than 30 Hz), Beta (13-30 Hz), Alpha (8-12 Hz), Theta (3.5-7.5 Hz), and Delta (0.1-3.5 Hz)

These different brainwaves are generally assosiated with different emotions, awareness levels, brain activities, etc. Now if Showfall Media has installed these onto sneeg, charlie, and ranboo, that means they have access to their thoughts and feelings, but brainscanning isn’t an absolute precise device, it still takes a lot of human effort and time to properly interpret the brainwaves. If Showfall somehow had a tool to easily interpret the signals they could much more easily operate, say, a live show. Lucky for them there is already a real life solution to this problem, kinda.

Its called Brain Generative Pre-Training Transformer, or BrainGPT for short.  What its goal is, is to act as an assist tool for human neurologists to use in real neuroscience cases and case studies, what it does is it uses a Large Language Model (LLM) full of pre-existing human research papers and other neuroscience knowledge too vast for human comprehension. And whenever a neurologist hands BrainGPT a prompt, (such as anomalous finding or to asses the fields understanding of a certain topic) , “would generate likely data patterns reflecting its current synthesis of the scientific literature”  (braingpt.org)

Now in regards to Generation Loss, what this means is that Showfall Media potentially has acces to this sort of technology, and would be able to use it in the production of their shows, now BrainGPT has a good way to go before its widely avalable. But in the genloss au, it can be far into development at this point, and be available for companies to use in whatever way they see fit.

Now reading and decoding brain signals is one thing, but to mind control someone is far beyond what is capable today, but Showfall Media has somehow developed technology to do so, the way I’m guessing they did it is that they produced certain brainwaves from the electrodes on the actors heads to give them the emotional reactions they needed for the show. I can’t exactly get into the technical stuff cause I’m not a neurologist, but its just a hunch on how I think they did it.

As for the mind controlling devices themselves, I feel there’s a more subtextual reason as to why those objects in particular are chosen as the devices that are central to the show’s operation. Ranboo’s mask has been a heavy emphasis throughout Gen 1 TSE,

Its been a central figure in not only generation loss’ marketing, but also ranboo’s marketing, because when you think of ranboo one of the first things that pops up is the mask, atleast in the wider public’s eye.

But these general associations not only exist with Ranboo, with Slimcicle you usually think of the wide brim glasses, with Sneeg its his backwards cap, and this is with the other cast members too when their introduced on the spinning carousel in episode 2. Furthermore, with Niki it’s that’s she's just so nice, with Austin its that he’s just a gay guy, ��and with Vinny and Ethan these associations don’t really exist. So, with Vinny he's just the “hoarder”, and Ethan isn't even introduced. And then there's Jerma, who is relinquished to a goofy character with a weird voice and a strange sense of humour which sort of fits his public image.

But what I wanna mention with Ranboo’s mask specifically is that with the three images shown on the genloss twitter of the control devices, sneeg’s is just a hat, like theres nothing special about it, just a hat with electrodes on it, when you take it off he’s completely in control of himself. But, with charlie’s it’s a good bit harder to just take it off. His glasses are drilled into his skull connected to electrodes which are also implanted in his skull, with an additional feature of a speaker in his jaw. But if you remove the glasses, there would be a lot of bleeding and his vision would be impaired, but he would still be a free man.

But with Ranboo, poor, poor, Ranboo… Like Charlie, they have electrodes implanted on to their brain connected to a switch on the back of their skull (which also may or may not also be connected to their spine, idk its hard to tell). These sprout wires that thread through the mask and lead into their throat, and the mask piece itself is sewn shut onto their SKIN.

Now this makes me wonder, why is Ranboo so heavily guarded when the other are (relatively) easy to set free? Is it because Ranboo is an integral part of the show and therefore high risk? Is it because Showfall needed extra resources for the chat to be able to control them?... Or is it because Ranboo tried to escape so many times before that they were forced to disfigure them to such an extreme degree, and yet somehow, SOMEHOW, they are able to resist, whether it be tapping SOS on their hand when they're on full control mode or shanking a Showfall employee with a dagger, Ranboo, Resists. But Showfall will never let them leave. Or they will? Idk founders cut hasn’t come out yet as of writing this, anyway ramble over. You can leave now.

[kyliemoon3]

Why I love the Epsilon System (RvB)

I think the epsilon system from the series Red vs Blue is one of the greatest representations of Dissociative Identify Disorder in fiction (Spoliers for the show below). While obviously brought into science fiction, this is a fairly accurate representation of DID despite the fact that I'm not sure the creators did much research into the topic. So church or, the alpha, an ai based off the Director's mind, was tortured until he fractured. These fragments were then harvested by the director so he could have more than one AI unit.

So let's get the inaccuracies out of the way. The show seems to believe there is "the original" and that it is the alpha. The alpha is also as far as I know, an already fully developed mind. With actual DID, it only occurs in childhood as a result of trauma not letting the brain fully form into one cohesive self. So the parts of the brain essentially become more distinct. Honestly however I can see it being argued that the alpha is simply supposed to be the host, and that ai minds are different than human minds. Also Washington calls the disorder an outdated term that stopped being used a decade before the episode came out.

Okay that's it. Almost everything else is surprisingly accurate and now I get to gush about it! First of all, the fact that the entire thing happened because of the trauma the alpha endured is so amazingly accurate and ties both into the representation and the plot in an incredibly satisfying way. The ai fragments themselves are also quite accurate to the roles of DID alters, there is:

- A host, or an alter that is mainly out and in charge (Alpha)

- a factive, or an alter based on a real person (Beta)

- a persecutor, or an alter who attempts to harm the system in a misguided attempt at protection (I'd argue sigma, gamma, and omega)

- A little, or an alter that looks and acts like a child (Theta)

- A trauma holder, or an alter that holds some traumatic memories so the rest don't need to (epsilon)

- A protector, or an alter who keeps the system safe from harm (I'd argue delta)

On top of this beta and theta also represent alters of a different gender and age than the host respectively. And even something like alters dating can be seen through alpha and beta.

When talking with a friend about this he pointed out that eta represents fear and iota represents happiness. With that in mind and the fact we rarely see them, I believe they could act as internal caretakers by helping support the system. With eta supporting because they fear something bad might happen, and iota supporting because they want to spread happiness.

I also believe that both gamma and omega could, with more time, become reformed persecutors with them using their strengths to help the system rather than hinder it in their own way of helping. We already see this with epsilon relying on gamma occasionally when performing tasks. Omega has mostly been cartoonishly evil throughout the series and I think epsilon learning to accept and control omegas rage instead of holding it all back until he snaps would benefit the system.

Most of what we see of what the alpha system could've been if no fragments were taken is shown after all fragments but epsilon was destroyed in an emp blast. Epsilon uses his and the other fragments memories to create memory versions of them, acting just like them and letting them live on.

I love this because in most systems, there is a reason alters exist and they have a purpose that helps the system function in daily life. Epsilon while amazing, is much stronger when he has everyone else with him. He understood that this is what the alpha system should've been, and if he wants to do everything he can, having the other fragments with him is the best way to do it.

I have more to say, but I think I pretty much covered it. Epsilon-church and the other fragments are very well written and I can only hope we get a satisfying conclusion to their story in the next season. I'll also probably make a "why theta is the best ever of all time" post at some point too!

[humanxcreated]

Starter for @groundedxdreamer (Let's try this one again yeah?)

This was not the first time that Delta had been offline for an extended period. This time, however, he was sincere when he claimed that he did not expect to wake up. His effort to escape the EMP had been a last ditch attempt. He didn’t understand it, but a large part of him wanted to survive. York had once called it an innate survival instinct, but that didn’t make sense. He wasn’t alive - not in the same way York had been.

    He was always learning new things about himself. Panic, however, was not a feeling he was accustomed to. Untethering himself from the hardware he’d been planted in from ‘birth’ was difficult, though, and destabilizing. He didn’t understand how Omega and (as their brief moment of data share had proven) Alpha had done so regularly. Even Gamma had done it before, but not without severe repercussion.

    Fear also wasn’t something Delta was intimately familiar with. He’d felt some element of fear before, of course, but never so much as to affect his behavior. He preferred to refer to it as readiness and caution. York called it anxiety. Whatever form it took, however, had never been as potent as waking up in an unfamiliar environment, an unknown amount of time later, with no knowledge of where he could have wound up.

    He was resourceful, though. He’d managed to latch onto the escaping SIM Trooper’s vehicles as they fled - that much he knew. He must have gone undetected, as he seemed to still be in that vehicle - or at least one of similar make and model. The odds that he’d wake up alone in an identical vehicle were much smaller than the odds that they simply hadn’t thought to look for him. That meant that he was, most likely, at a SIM Trooper installation. He could follow a pattern from there, but every time he ‘jumped’, as Omega and Alpha had (unintentionally) taught him to do, it exhausted him. Progress was slow, and he wasn’t going to make it far like this. He’d had to find a terminal in a command outpost - not a SIM Trooper terminal. That had been his goal, and had taken significantly longer, with a few breaks in awareness in the interim.

    He wasn’t sure how much of the distress signal he managed to get out had, in fact, gotten out - and he wasn’t sure who would be there to receive it. A designation, a name, and coordinates - a risky move, and anybody tuned in to a freelancer frequency could find him, but it was either that or handle data decay alone in a freelancer outpost - and he didn’t want that. Perhaps that was another thing he'd picked up from York, once upon a time - a desire to go out on his own terms.

    He only hoped whoever got his message would be able to send a message back.

[agentoli]

whether it's canon or your au, what do you think the agents, Sim troopers, and ai would dress up as for Halloween? I especially see Wash, Caboose, Tucker, Sarge, Theta, Omega, Gamma, York, South, and Connie being gung-ho about it.

Oo!! Ill do this for my au!!!

Blood Gulch

Carolina: The boys had to pay her just so they could put a cheap cat ear headband on her. She did allow Maine to do face paint afterward and vehemently defends it to anyone who might make fun of it.

Wyoming: A vampire. He puts way to much effort into it and ends up unable to wash off the face paint for a week.

Maine: Swamp Monster. Yes he has glowing eyes. Yes the Red Team collectively pissed themselves when they saw him from across the canyon.

Washington: A glow-in-the dark skeleton. Basic, but he insists he ALWAYS goes as a skeleton. (He admits it's because it was tradition that he and his sisters all matched on halloween, and that skeleton was broad enough to have fun with every year)

York: Werewolf, secretly stoked once he sees Carolina with cat ears. He has deluded himself into thinking they are in some sort of couples costume.

North: An angel. (Its bad quality like from party city)

South: A devil. (also party city quality)

Texas: The grim reaper. She has a really creepy skull mask covered in old (hopefully fake) blood, and delights herself by scaring her team.

CT: She's got regular clothes on save for a pumkin hoodie, citing how she wasn't allowed to celebrate Halloween as a kid and doesn't get the hype.

Freelancer

Church: Will not dress up, no matter how many times Tucker tries to get him in a couples costume. Halloween is for babies and he is way to cool for it.

Omega: On the other hand, Church's AI dresses up like Beetlejuice. (He really wants Church to be Lydia)

Tucker: A vampire, but sexy. He wanted Church to be a vampire hunter, but that didn't end well. He has those fake fangs in that give you a horrible lisp.

Caboose: Rudolph the red nosed reigndeer. Yes he knows its not Christmas, he just really likes that one stop motion film.

Sigma: He is dressed like a court jester. Point and laugh.

Sarge: Uncle Sam. He would've let off fireworks if Donut hadn't confiscated them instantly.

Gamma: Also, Uncle Sam. He makes fake fireworks :)

Simmons: Data from Star Trek. It's his favorite character! (He's just like me for real!)

Delta: He does not dress up. That is illogical. (Nah, he's Spock LMAO)

Grif: He wears black and calls it a day. He's just here for the candy tbh.

Theta: Headless Horseman! He replaced the horse with a big holographic dog, but Grif will punch anyone who tries to point out the inaccuracy.

Lopez: They covered him in cardboard and painted him like Optimus Prime

Donut: A fried egg.

Doc: A piece of toast.

Kaikaina: Bacon.

Iota: A nurse! She dressed up just like Doc McStuffins!

Eta: Pippi Longstockings!

Lopez 2.0: Cardboard costume Megatron.

Others:

Florida: A zombie with way too much gore. Like, stomach churning, genuinely upsetting amounts. Has been asked to leave the function.

Georgia: Bee from Bee and Puppycat! They have a plushie of puppycat, though!

Ohio: Dorothy from Wizard of Oz

Idaho: The Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz

Iowa: The Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz

[sunshine-omega]

Please, please! I'd need to know more about Delta’s, Gamma’s, Sigmas, Zeltas and any other secondary gender. May you do help me? I'd be really grateful, because I'm really want to find my way in ABOverse❤️. Sent you love 😘

Hi anon! I’ll do my best :) here’s a great post by @miscellaneous-miscecanis on the subject, so please check that out ✨ if you want some more info then here u go

Tertiary genders in miscecanis

Let’s get basic:

primary gender— man, woman, nonbinary, agender, etc

secondary gender— alpha, beta, omega, dynamifluid, binamic, etc

tertiary gender— sigma, zeta, delta, gamma (or more if you like, but these are the ones I’m familiar with)

What’s a tertiary gender?

It’s an extra flavor on a dynamic/secondary gender, or, some identify with this AS their dynamic rather than a secondary gender

Think of dynamic like your central a/b/o identity. For example, some miscecanis see their dynamic as beta and to get more specific, delta. Some wouldn’t call themselves a beta at all and only feel at home with the label delta.

What are the tertiary genders?

Gamma: between alpha and omega, or an alpha with omega tendencies

Delta: between alpha and beta, could be an alpha with beta tendencies or vice versa

Zeta: between omega and beta, could be a beta with omega tendencies or vice versa

Sigma: between omega and alpha, or an omega with alpha tendencies

A note on tertiary genders:

There isn’t one right way to find your way in miscecanis. If you are an alpha who has omega tendencies, you don’t HAVE to call yourself a gamma, for example. You’re certainly welcome to, but you can just be an untraditional alpha! And that’s great too :)

If you’re struggling to pick a dynamic, also consider dynamiqueer identities! For example having a fluid dynamic or more than one. Maybe considering yourself transdynamic resonates with you and that’s cool too

Finally, here’s a link to I post I wrote on finding your dynamic a while back

I hope this is what you’re looking for! Please let me know if you had something different in mind or if there’s anything else you’d like to know 💛

P.S. it seems like you’re new here, and that’s ok! Just so you know we don’t use “abo” here since that’s a slur towards indigenous Australians. Put slashes between a/b/o and you’re golden ✨

[rubykgrant]

Gamma deceit, Delta logic, Epsilon memory, Theta trust, Eta fear, Iota joy, Sigma ambition, Omega rage, Xi desire. Do you have any ideas for other AI?

Well, there's Beta (who gets designated "Failure", but I've already said what I think about THAT). I believe in @sharkface-daydreams Yellow Church being Pi, the Apathy Fragment. While Epsilon kinda recreates everybody he knows within the AI unit to interact with, they only exist in there (so maybe more like NPCs?). The Epsilon-Tex, and later the memories of the Fragments who work with Epsilon to help Carolina may well be new Fragments (the memory of Tex Epsilon had even came back and tried to fight the Meta/Maine, got hurt, and Epsilon followed her back into the unit, which started all the iterations). THAT version of Tex very well could be considered Zeta (@leonardalphachurch also calls the Epsilon-Tex that too~), but I'm not sure if all the memories of the Fragments would need, or want, different designations...

There is a BRIEF little glimpse in one of the Project Freelancer flash-backs where we see the implication that other AI Fragments exist, but they're missing/taken to different locations. What they were is a little up in the air... if there was a Love, maybe I'd give that to Ro. Other possible designations could be Greed, Hope, Courage, Hate (maybe even Self Loathing... if you asked the Director, he'd say the AI hating him counts as "hating himself", but from his point of view- that's just an excuse), Guilt, Sympathy, Humor (silly funny one~), Confidence, Kindness, Curiosity... I'm not sure which could be what letter, though.

I've joked that Phil is also a missing Fragment, and he's Disdain (just wants to complain about everything haha). There is the long-running joke that VERY AI is actually a Church Fragment (from the AI gods to Lopez and Vic), but realistically... that's kind of lot. Then there are all the "alternate time-line" Churches, which may not have been totally real, but who knows- he could have just been making a bunch of little guys again. He does that.

There was also that whole dream I had that was like watching a movie, that tricked you for the first 20 minutes or so into thinking it was a regular sci-fi movie, but then RVB characters show up... the main character was trying to rescue an AI from people who were going to use it for insidious reasons, HOWEVER, I think my dream-movie was setting up yet another fake-out; the main character was actually the last surviving Alpha Fragment, given either a humanoid robotic body or a synthetic human body made from the Director and Allison's DNA (making them, basically, Carolina's sibling), and the little AI companion they had was the one REALLY trying to protect THEM by guiding them away from the ship full of bad guys (so, a little guardian AI, but not a Fragment connected to Alpha)

Basically, if you wanna make up a Fragment with whatever emotion/Greek Letter designation; go for it and have fun~

[bookqueenrules]

Alpha, Beta, GAMMA, and Delta. Is Beth a Gamma?

Something stood out to me when in episode 1 of TWOL’s when As and Bs were explained.  It was Major General Beale's, adding another shorthand term from the Greek alphabet. He called walkers “delts” or deltas.  

So, As are Alpha leaders who are killed because they are a threat to the CRM.  Bs are Betas who are the common folk who are used as workers. Ds are deltas or The Walking Dead.

So, what happened to the third letter of the Greek alphabet, Gamma?

I believe the scientists in the Civic Republic  are classified as Gammas and Beth will be one of them. The Grady storyline was set up so that Beth would be able to be part of the CR without being a consignee for six years or being killed as an A. 

 The uppercase Gamma is written like this:

This is a reverse of the negation symbol found on the trees in Season 5 around Coda.  @angelthefirst did an amazing post on these symbols.

So, now we are going to see the reverse of Season 5. Beth’s Gamma arc!

Gamma is used as part of MANY medical terms including Gamma radiation(radiation being at least part of what allowed Alica on FTWD survive a bite). 

Being the third letter, Gamma also symbolizes resurrection.  

A foreshadow of the Gamma arc(Beth’s arc in the CR)was the Whisper’s Gamma, aka Mary. She was on Alpha’s side until Alpha’s lies were exposed. I believe Beth will, at first, believe she is helping humanity as part of the CR until she realizes what they are really doing across the country. Then, like Gamma, she will switch sides to bring down the CRM from the inside. Even the name Mary was chosen deliberately.  Mary was the mother of Jesus.  We know Beth is a Christ figure in TWD, so the Whisper’s Gamma is forerunner or “foremother” to Beth’s Gamma arc. Mary also came to see her nephew as a reason to hope for a better world again.  (I wonder if Beth will have a child when we see her again and he/she will be part of motivation.)  

Ultimately, I believe they are setting up a take over of the CRM from within. Rick and Michonne as the A leaders take over the military wing of the CRM, and Beth as the Gamma leader taking control over the scientific research and development wing of the CRM.  I think Beth will somehow end up on a mission in Europe to find out what caused the virus and what the scientists there know/have learned.  Once she meets up with Daryl and Carol, all three of them will end up back in the CR uniting with Rick and Michonne for a final CRM take down. 

C  is the third letter in our alphabet or the equivalent of Gamma in the Greek alphabet. So, Team Family will end up winning their last battle because of “Cs” which is perfect symmetry to Season 4 when Team Family lived in cell block C.

Thoughts?

[vanlegion]

S19 Mini Theory - Staff of Charon Fight

Okay, so I was rewatching some S13 stuff for funsies (a funny af "shotgun" moment). . . but I kept watching to the end. So here's a theory I had before, but now it's changed up a bit because I was wrong about the ORDER... and now I'm actually kind of flipping my shit just a touch if I'm right. I'll add a read more break here:

So lemme just start off all of this Preamble saying, IF we actually get to see the Staff of Charon fight, which was possibly teased by the Simulation run teaser Church was doing... Then this is my new theory for this fight (Which I assume will be at the very beginning of the movie). Okay, so at the end, Church is giving his little speech and saying how this is gonna have to be his last real moment with everyone. He's got to 'deconstruct' himself, and that the fragments he leaves behind will help them all get through the fight. When he says this, the fragments flash on the screen in a particular line up order. . . which also line up with certain characters in the same shot. A line up I was originally got wrong. This is the line up:

There are 6 fragments and technically six characters in this shot. When I first thought how the fight would go, I imagined some people would get some of the fragments somehow. I wasn't sure how it would be done until Church basically said he'd have to break himself up, but I digress. One of my first assumptions was that Delta would go to Simmons. He's typically the "smart" one and Delta is a logical AI. I also assumed this because I figured there might be a Holo-Lock they'd have to break through and so far, Simmon's is usually called to lock-pick a door. (*coughYorkVibescough*) Now however... After seeing this shot? HO-LY Fuck. Delta staying with Tucker makes sense. He's going to need a logical voice helping him with that suit. He'll be able to do his Big Damn Hero thing but with also with a calculated precision Delta can give him. Theta, almost invisible but there in between Tucker and Caboose, would go to Caboose. They are both childlike and find a lot of things scary, but Caboose is also good at not letting those scary things get to him. Theta will be able to protect him, I feel. Gamma with Lopez. I don't think I need to expand much on this. The Twins - Eta and Iota. . . Would go to Doc and O'Malley. Two Minds. Sarge getting Sigma somewhat surprised me, but after mulling it over, I realized that Sarge has always had the fiery passion of battle burn in his heart. I feel this will help keep Sarge sharp and speedy, and possibly we may even see him use his shotgun with new strategy.

Which leaves Omega with Simmons. This kind of shocked me at first. But then, again, taking a moment to reflect on it, this could possibly be fitting. Simmons can fight fairly well as it is, however, he can crack under pressure pretty fast. I feel like Omega is going to drive him to keep fighting even when shit looks really bad. He may even lose a bit of fear. He already seems to have a penchant for fighting - he enjoys it. He also at some point when Omega was a threat before, made sure to prep himself mentally in case Omega jumped back into him.

Of course, this is all speculation and theory over a fight that may or may not happen . . . but like, after that teaser with Church, I feel like if we DONT get that epic fight we're getting kinda robbed. But if I'm right about this, just. . . holy fuck. Anywho, regardless of all of this, I also have this far out/introspective Comic Idea that takes place at this moment. I'm going to call it an AU at this point because we get S19 in a month. But I wanna see if I can get the comic done before then. Let's say Church has one last internal conversation with someone, and gives them a temporary promotion... providing they help him and step their lazy ass up.

[leonardalphachurch]

saw the question of “how long does it take rvb to pass the bechdel test” and i got curious and also wanted to make myself mad so.

my answer is Reconstruction: Chapter 5 (s6e5). there’s a recorded conversation between sheila and tex about the ship crashing.

my answer with no caveats is Evacuation Plan (s9e4). carolina, 479er, filss and south all participate in a conversation that takes up a good chunk of the episode.

i talk a LOT more about the state of female character interactions under the cut.

the first time two women talk at all is s2e11/bgc30:

sheila bisexual moments. while iconic, this isn’t much of a conversation (tex doesn’t ever speak to her) and it’s certainly about a man so. doesn’t count. next!

next is s3e1/bgc39:

while here it’s implied that they are actually having a conversation at least we still don’t actually see any exchanges between them and they’re still talking about men and quote “Boring stuff like oppression, and a hostile work environment.” which is great but. a) we don’t see it. and b) again, still about men

next is tex and kai’s exchange in season 5. which is misogynistic as fuck and even if it did pass the bechdel test i would refuse to count it. but guess what! not only are they talking about men, but we literally do not see them talk to each other. kai speaks to tex “who’s o’malley?” but tex doesn’t respond to her, instead asking the guys “who’s the girl?” (s5e10/bgc92). then they talk in the background of the next episode while church and tucker are misogynistic. then it’s two more episodes until we get this gem

y’know, girl stuff! how fucking charming. these writers really have a great grasp on how woman act. god, it’s even worse when compared to tex and sheila’s conversation earlier. in what world would tex be fucking intimidated by kai.

and you know what the joke of this all is. even if they did have a conversation here that passed the bechdel test it still wouldn’t count under some rule sets because kai still doesn’t have a name at this point. great work team.

s5e15/bgc92 has a deleted scene where kai calls up a girl friend and they talk… i’m not counting it because 1) kai is as of yet unnamed and the girl friend is never named, 2) the conversation is ostensibly about junior, though they do talk about other stuff enough that you could argue it’s not about a man, but 3) it’s deleted. you don’t get credit for shit you deleted.

next time two women talk to each other is recovery one episode 4. this is the first time we see two women have an actual, back and forth conversation. the conversation is between south and commamd about wash, delta, and the fact that south isn’t rejoining freelancer. i do think this conversation fits the spirit of the bechdel test (two women talking to each other with deeper characterizations unmoored from being about men) but that’s only really by technicality. command isn’t a character here and doesn’t become one for another 4 seasons; the conversation is only retroactively a deeper one. it’s up to you whether or not you pass it. i think it’s important to remember that the bechdel test isn’t really a hard test to determine what’s feminist (and was made in the first place to be about queer women being able to see themselves in media) but rather a marker to help sort out if the female characters in a work are allowed any depth outside of men. this exercise is less about finding a scene fitting exact criteria and more about. me going oh god it really is fucking bad out there huh.

my actual pick, as i said in the beginning, is s6e5. though tex mentions gamma and the aliens, the conversation is still about the fact that the ship is crashing. and in terms of the spirit of the test, two women yelling at each other as they die definitely fits definitely fits “deeper character motivations outside of men” imo. it’s. kind of really sad though. the first time we ever see tex and sheila have an actual conversation is the last time we really see either of them, chronologically. we only got to see them have a relationship as they were dying. why couldn’t they have been friends in life.

if a recorded conversation isn’t good enough for you, you’ll have to wait until s8e15. season 7 does not have a single woman in it. tεx and filss talk about pfl’s files. it’s not exactly an in depth back and forth and the conversation is shared with simmons and church but. it’s something. i think sheila and tex’s convo fits the spirit of the test a bit more but. let’s chalk it up to two conversations in the 8 seasons. fantastic.

all right, season 9 time. come on, a third of the main cast is women! that’s gotta bring our numbers up, right?

episode 1? no. 2? no. 3?

incredible! we have a conversation between female operative and pilot! just kidding. the wiki doesn’t name them bc they haven’t been named yet, but this is a conversation between carolina and niner! no funny business! just an actual conversation between woman! wow. only took us nine seasons to get to a point where i can confidently say something passes the bechdel test with no caveats. unless we look at the 60 second rule. then. oops.

but… wow! episode 4 has… THREE women? talking to each other? and then a fourth joins in? i thought it was a myth! being able to handle so many women on screen at once… they really did something special here. anyway, this episode is the first to pass with flying colors. i can’t time shut bc i don’t have the videos on hand but i’m certain this passes the 60 second mark. great work! if only it didn’t take you nine years to get to this point.

ugh. i had more written past this point but tumblr erased it and i don’t feel like fucking redoing it. i got to the point i wanted to so. maybe i’ll continue this later. would like to explore the rest of pfl and chorus. it’s impressive how well pfl manages to avoid having women actually speak to each other. they’ll literally be in the same conversation but never actually address each other. this happens multiple times.

[midwestbramble]

Besom, Stang & Sword Book Review

This is the book that first introduced me to Traditional Witchcraft. I read it in the Pagan & Witches Amino Book Club (which no longer exists to my knowledge), and it talked about all the things I was looking for. I'll try not to be biased in this review (it's why I have a section on both what I like and don't like). Let's get into it

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Content:

Synopsis

What I Liked

What I Don't Like

Overall Thoughts

Conclusion

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Published 2018

"Traditional Witchcraft is not about where you are from but where you are. Regional traditional witchcraft teaches people to find their craft in their own backyards, in the uncultivated land, the wild unknown, and in their ancestors rather than in ancient foreign deities or a Neo-Pagan-styled religious form of witchcraft.

The authors founded the Blacktree Coven in 2014 and set out to forge a modern approach to traditional witchcraft for a new era of praxis. Besom, Stang & Sword is a landmark book that presents their introduction to regional traditional witchcraft and a fresh, spirit-based, nonreligious guide to the spiritual practice of witchcraft in a modern context. The material presented in this book is adaptable to any region in which the practitioner lives."

-from the back of the book

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What I Liked

The book starts off with a good rundown of what traditional witchcraft is, the main players and traditions, the types of spirits worked with (such as the folkloric devil), and what the book will be focusing on. The ritual for "Becoming a Witch" is more of an introduction to the spirits; I've done the ritual myself a couple of times and it's really worth doing if you're interested.

The book is from the perspective of the authors' own tradition, which really we can only talk from our own perspectives when talking about witchcraft. So here they give us a few different altars that they set up for their own rituals. One is Genius Loci altar (an altar for the spirit of the land), an ancestor altar, and what they call a sacrificial altar (where they leave their offerings). This is great for getting ideas for your own altars if that is something that interests you.

The same chapter that talks about the altars and tools, talks about a traditional witchcraft ritual called The Witches' Compass. It does a great job of explaining where the magic circle most people are familiar with comes from, as well as what makes the compass different from that. It also gives instructions on how to lay your own compass. A lot of traditional witches will have a shorter version of this ritual as well. Here we get the crossroads rite. I personally still use this in my craft for smaller rituals when necessary.

The book also talks about trance states, with explanations of brain waves and how these help us create magic. There's an explanation of the Alpha state in the chapter on spells, and explanations for Delta, Theta, and Gamma in the chapter on hedgecraft. These come with exercises to help you utilize each state with practice.

There is a decent amount of spells in this book to get you started. The variety is wide with things such as binding, banishing and hexing as well as blessing and cleansing among others. This goes for the section on divination as well. They give some examples of different types of divination practices such as seership and scrying, and talk about theories of divination as well.

The book talks about the three worlds briefly, but also the Witch Queen as a keeper of the gates to them. There is a lot of focus in traditional witchcraft books on the Witch Lord/King/Father as the folkloric devil, but we don't get a lot on the Witch Queen. So it's nice to see even a short discussion on her (they say she is a hard one to pin down), and a ritual to contact her.

One of my favorite chapters is the one the hidden landscape. Connecting to the land, the different spirits (plants, trees, fungi, insects, etc.), as well as land wights. Plus a discussion of how living locally can help you connect more with these spirits is just *chefs kiss*. This chapter also discusses using local lore in your craft, such as their coven working with the Jersey Devil as Witch Lord (they are from New Jersey, USA). They give a list of similar monsters that you could look into if they are local to you.

This book has a great breakdown of the different types of ancestors in witchcraft traditions such as the Mighty Dead (great people from human history), the Forgotten Dead, the Hidden Company, etc. It then gives you different ways to connect with them. In the same vein, it has two different necromancy ritual, one of them being a dream ritual.

The book also talks about soulflight, but one of my favorite sections is where it talks about shapeshifting during. it gives you a couple different methods to try, such as mimicry and trance. It also speaks of familiars, what they are and how to gain one. It goes into great detail about familiars historically and their purpose. There's a ritual for finding a familiar and one for petitioning.

The book also talks about what a "sabbat" is in traditional witchcraft. Not one of the wheel of the year holidays from Wicca, this is a meeting of witches. There's a lot of historical detail here, including a discussion of the "blood libel" against Jewish people and that being where the word "sabbat" comes from. Sabbat being the Jewish day of worship.

The chapter on the lunar year is great! It's what inspired me to create my own names for the different lunar cycles. Here the authors use their own names and activities as examples to help give inspiration for you to create your own and really think about what's going on around you in nature.

Lastly, each chapter has a recommended reading list at the end dedicated to each topic. This really helped me to build my own reading list initially. I have yet to read all the books they recommend, but I do believe I've read most of the important ones.

creating your own lunar calendar

recommended reading at the end of each chapter

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What I Didn't Like

Because the book is written from the perspective of the authors' own tradition, there are items that you don't necessarily need. Such as a token of the land or a message box. I think these are cool ideas to play with and there are definitely tools explained that are common throughout many traditional witchcraft traditions, I just think maybe they could have made a section for ones that are specific to their own tradition. Though this is not a huge deal.

We are first introduced to the crossroads rite in the first chapter during their ritual for "Becoming a Witch." It's at the end of chapter two that we learn more about it. I wish these two things had been together for easier reference, but I can also understand why they organized it the way they did.

It always bothers me when people spell magic with a k. It comes from Aleister Crowley, with the argument that it's so people know you're talking about "real" magic as opposed to stage magic. I think that's crap. Context will tell people if you're talking about stage magic. I admit I am also a bit biased as I am not a huge fan of Crowley.

Within the spells sections there are a few that are inspired by hoodoo. I have mixed feelings about this. First, we all have heard that hoodoo is closed and I don't necessarily know the authors' background with the practice. However, these are not true hoodoo workings and the authors acknowledge this. They explain they are inspired by hoodoo workings. I want to give them credit for that at least. Maybe I would feel a bit better about it if they gave an actual explanation of hoodoo but that would feel outside the scope of this book.

Lastly, the chapter on herbalism focuses on baneful herbs. I'm not mad about that necessarily, it's just that the book is meant to be geared towards people who are relatively new to trad craft and witchcraft. It's a weird place to start people. On top of that, most of the plants are poisonous. There's a lot of considerations to take when working with poisonous plants for your own mundane safety. If you're curious, The Poison Path Herbal by Coby Michael is a great place to learn more about working with poisonous plants in witchcraft.

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Overall Thoughts

This book isn't perfect, but I love it just the same (and that's probably partly nostalgia). I think it does a great job of explaining some of the finer points of traditional witchcraft. Though it does feel a bit more like an introduction to their own tradition and a book made to give to their own initiates. I reference certain sections here and there and not every chapter is important if I'm honest. I do think it's one of the better books on the topic that I've read so far.

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Conclusion

This book won't be for everyone, and that's ok. I hope this review gave you something to chew on or helped you decide if you want to get the book. The authors also have a podcast called Down at the Crossroads. You can find Besom, Stang, and Sword on amazon, Google Books, their publisher Weiser Books, The Crooked Path, and Books-a-Million. You can also check with your local witchy bookstore.

*All images from the book*

Other reviews:

Blog Post 212 - Book Review: Besom, Stang and Sword

Review: Besom, Stang & Sword

[creature-wizard]

ive seen your posts debunking monarch programming before, but does that also extend to this epsilon thing? https://www.tumblr.com/eclipse15/728391015729364992/do-you-happen-to-know-anything-about-programming

also, how did sra misinformation spread into did communities in the first place? (ive noticed it more in those who have "did system" in their bios than "osdd system" or "udd system"; i cant remember ever seeing a nontraumagenic system promote it but that doesnt mean there are none.) all of these complex metaphorical descriptions of role associations had to come from somewhere, right? theres like a whole system to how it works. who codified it? why are there so many different types?

To answer your first question: Yes, it extends to that epsilon thing.

To answer your second question, and to elaborate upon the first: It all started back when more people started realizing that DID was a thing back in the mid-to-late 20th century. Being a very poorly-understood condition, people didn't really know how it worked or how it was caused, and a number of conspiracy theorists started working it into their conspiracy theories. Since a lot of people at the time believed that you could recover memories through hypnosis, a number of conspiracy theorists had people undergo so-called recovered memory therapy, and effectively coached people into "remembering" activities of the conspiracy. Today, we know that recovered memory therapy is absolute bunk (you only have to look as far as the starseed movement to see just how easy it is to get people to "remember" absolute bullshit), but back in the day, a lot of people took it very seriously.

In 1995, Cisco Wheeler and Fritz Springmeier released They Know Not What They Do: Illustrated Guide To Monarch Mind Control. This book started introducing the idea of all these complex roles you see people talking about. They would later elaborate upon them in The Illuminati Formula Used To Create An Undetectable Total Mind Controlled Slave, and this is where the alpha/beta/gamma/delta/epsilon stuff comes from.

Cisco Wheeler is apparently a multiple system who underwent recovered memory therapy with the "help" of Fritz Springmeier. Springmeier is the conspiracy theorist who pushed the whole 13 Illuminati bloodlines thing, which is ultimately a Protocols/blood libel/witch panic redux mixed with Alexander Hislop's conspiracy theory that the Catholic Church is actually a cover for ancient Babylonian mystery religion. The pair of them claimed that a bunch of ancient mystery religions had survived in secret, and had been giving people DID for the purpose of mind control for thousands of years. They claimed that the modern Illuminati was giving tens of thousands of children DID, and also that the average mind control slave had "at least" 1000 alters. They also claimed that everything from Hollywood movies to old fairytales were intentionally created to be used for alter programming - and to hear Springmeier and Wheeler describe it, pretty much everything is an Illuminati symbol or connects to Illuminati belief somehow. And the pair of them were racist and antisemitic as hell.

The claims that Wheeler and Springmeier made in their books ranged from extremely improbable to downright impossible, and I think if more people encountered their works directly, they'd quickly realize that these people were full of baloney. Some of their bizarre claims include:

The Illuminati has mind controlled slaves with photographic memory. (Photographic memory does not exist. Pretending it does sure helps conspiracy theorists justify the supposed veracity of all these "recovered" memories, though.)

The Illuminati uses chimpanzees to torture children. (Chimpanzees are so much stronger than humans that they wouldn't just "torture" children; they'd pretty much dismember them.)

The Illuminati has been implanting two-way radio communication devices into slaves' brains since the 1960's. (This kind of technology isn't even possible right now, much less the 1960's.)

Breast implants are actually Illuminati mind control technology. (Lolwhat???)

Santa Claus is actually Satan because "Santa" is an anagram for "Satan." (Sinterklaas who?)

Depictions of the Egyptian weighing of the heart ceremony are actually about mind control.

Animism is an Illuminati belief.

The Antichrist will come into power in the year 2000.

The power of God and Jesus can save people from Illuminati mind control.

Few people encounter these people's works directly, however, and most get this stuff from people slick enough not to mention all of the ridiculous, hateful stuff they push. Around the early 2000s, a woman writing under the name of Svali started posting her own alleged experiences as an ex-Illuminati programmer online. Her material is strongly influenced by Wheeler and Springmeier's, and it's pretty easy to access online these days.

Additionally, many websites that purportedly exist to help abuse survivors repeat a lot of stuff from Springmeier, Wheeler, Svali, and numerous other frauds active during the Satanic Panic. (This is why it's important to check citations!) Worth noting, a lot of people just never stopped believing in this stuff, and I have anecdotal reports from people who say that their therapists tried to push them into believing that they'd been ritually abused.

For further research, I recommend checking out the article The Forgotten Lessons of the Recovered Memory Movement and the You're Wrong About podcast's episode on multiple personality disorders.

[sixtyt-en]

lore on these guys if youre interested

uhhh ok so for context in my sci fi web comic im working on there's this fascist country called ifot that's located on what is essentially a really big train in the desert. They do have a traditional government but they also have five giant supercomputers that manage many different societal things. They're named after the first five letters of the ancient Greek alphabet because like. you know how right wingers are about ancient Greece. Anyways ifot collapses in on itself after a couple years leaving the ais to fend for themselves. which they cant really do because they're just a bunch of server boxes. they end up coming across a failed military project (called Levi), a living oil rig that can assimilate other things into itself. out of desperation they choose to be subsumed by it. yeah

Alpha (it/its): creative and ambitious. originally its role was to generate hypothetical solutions to problems, good or bad. after merging with levi and becoming semi self aware(?), alpha frequently finds itself pondering the nature of its existence. not enough to have a wheatley portal 2 crisis about it, but it is something worth expressing. likes art. sadism enjoyer

Beta (they/he): much more sensible and realistic in contrast to alpha. though all five of the ais see each other as coworkers, alpha and beta are aware of the closer bond they have with each other. two sides of the same coin dynamic. also likes art, likes discussing/debating about it with alpha

Gamma (she/her): the chill/mysterious one. Used to be a librarian and archivist back in ifot. she enjoys writing reports and reading books, possessing many full bookshelves in her server room. prefers to keep to herself. Collects vinyl records too.

Delta (he/him): specialized in agriculture and plant cultivation while in ifot. has since adorned his window-facing server room in flora of all kinds. his newfound veins are entangled in roots and vines. he has come to appreciate lifeforms he would've previously considered pests, understanding that all living things depend on each other to survive. photosynthesizes

Epsilon (any): Once seen as the most logical, stoic, and cold ai, epsilon now struggles with understanding a biological body and the feelings that come with it. clumsy and nervous and also horny. sorry what who said that

[talltoontales]

- [Pandora's Box] -

PROMPT: A mundane and antiquated sub-agency in the US Government was the 1st to stumble across AGI. An internal investigation determined a press release unnecessary. Unaware of the power they control, 12 bureaucrats are assembled to determine the policy and implementation of their new tool.

PROMPT BY: No-Assistance1503 (Reddit)

STARTED WRITING: 03/26/2024

It’s an empty box room with no doors, windows, or vents. A large disk lowers from the ceiling, splitting into rings that create a dome above the floor. A cylinder then rises from the floor, and twelve boxes shift out from the cylinder, appearing like a table.

Pandora Network: SECURE

Eleven green bars of light begin to appear on the table’s surface as a faint wave of blue light emits from the ceiling rings.

Zeta-Blu: ONLINE Delta-Wit: ONLINE Gamma-Brn: ONLINE Lambda-Gry: ONLINE Theta-Ylw: ONLINE Kappa-Pur: ONLINE Psi-Grn: ONLINE Epsilon-Red: ONLINE Tau-Orn: ONLINE Omicron-Tel: ONLINE Iota-Pnk: ONLINE

Each name displays on the bars of lights as multiple colored orbs appear hovering over the boxes.

Translator: ONLINE. You may begin the discussion.

“Of course, Rho would be late to their own summons,” says Delta. “Disgraceful.”

“Hey, not every day we get to use this thing,” says Omicron. " And if it’s Rho calling, it’s gotta be something interesting?”

“Or another proposition for their ridiculous space military program,” says Iota. “We should be focused on fixing problems here, not antagonizing aliens.”

“Not all of us have great off-planet relations, Iota,” says Kappa. “Some must prepare for the day where we may have to protect our own kind.”

“Who’s fault is that?” asks Iota.

“God bless, not this again,” says Zeta. “I’ll vote to mute the both ya if you keep bringing this up!” A few of the other orbs speak up in agreement. Iota groans as their orb lowers closer to their seat.

Rho-Blk: ONLINE

A black orb appears over the last empty seat, breathing heavily.

“I’m sorry…I’m sorry I’m late,” says Rho. “It’s been nonstop for a while, lost track of time.”

“About damn time,” says Delta. “Why did you summon us?” Rho takes a few deep breaths as the ticking sound of a keyboard plays through his orb. Holographic images of a statue of Shiva, Jesus Christ on the cross, and another statue of Caishen appear at the center of the table.

“You’ve got to be kiddin me,” groans Zeta.

“Over the years, each of our respective government organizations has found objects that resonate with faint traces of, quote, “Godly Essence.” Says Rho. With the press of a button, the Shiva statue turns into a cracked black bead, the cross into a rubber mallet with a wooden handle, and the Caishen statue into a new renminbi coin (Chinese currency). “These objects have been classified as “God Idols” and have been known to grant those who wield them with abilities related to said god.

“Yes, yes, we know all this!” Delta interrupts. “Can we finally move on to why you have called us?!”

“Just making sure we’re on the same page,” says Rho. “Not all of us are experts on all things godly. Speaking of which, Lambda, correct me if I’m wrong. God Idols can only be created from objects that have come in direct contact with gods, their power, or chosen offspring?”

“That is true,” says Lambda. “Their power may also be shared with anything bonded to the God Idol, as we discovered when my people encountered a truck with a Hoplite helmet branded with the mark of Hephaestus welded to the hood.”

“I heard about that,” says Epsilon. “The vehicle was nearly unstoppable.”

“The operative word being nearly,” says Lambda. “Every vehicle needs gas eventually. Apologies, Rho, you may continue.”

“Thanks,” says Rho. “So, can anyone tell me about this God Idol?” An image of a rod appears. It comprises several different metals with circular markings forming a ring around the center. Copies of the rod split off from the original, floating over to the other eleven orbs. The room is mostly silent, save for the quiet mumblings of people talking away from their monitors. Over time, one by one, each of the other orbs returns.

“Could it be an Eldrich or Dimensional God?” asks Theta.

“Impossible,” says Kappa. “The energy is too contained, too controlled. A combination of God Idols?”

“The energy’s too unique,” says Zeta, “and even if it were, God Idols rarely meld, let alone completely.”

“Possibly a New God?” asks Psi.

“Unlikely,” says Iota, “the gods are gossips. Between Lambda, Gamma, and I, we would have heard something long before a New God could create a God Idol.”

“What if a god didn’t create it?” asks Rho. “What if a man did?”

“Rho, while I appreciate you researching existential science,” says Lambda, “but that’s…impossible.”

“Is it?” asks Rho.

“Yes!” says Delta.

“What creates a god?” asks Rho. “An idea, raised by belief, given form by praise, creates a god. Someone desperately wants it to rain, so much so that they cry out to the sky for it to happen, and when it rains, they praise the sky. Thus, Anzar, the God of Rain, is born above Africa, Chaac for the Mayans, and good ole Zeus for the Greeks.”

“A bit oversimplified,” says Iota.

“But not wrong,” says Rho. “So, what if, instead of calling out above, I called out to…Delta. I put all of my faith into the idea that whatever hardship I faced, Delta would save me.”

“You’d be mad and run one of those cults with the poison juice bowl,” says Delta.

“Not if I was right,” says Rho. A holographic screen appears over the table, playing a video of an experiment. Inside a white room, five people are asleep on gurneys with helmets strapped to their heads. The helmets have a few devices on them, as well as empty tubes that connect to the ceiling. In the middle of the room is the God Idol sitting on a pedestal at the center of a ring on the floor.

A bald, pale man in a white jumpsuit walks to the God Idle. Once inside the ring, a glass tube rises from the floor containing the man. The man looks past the camera, nods, and grips the God Idle firmly with both hands. The helmets' devices activate, and a glowing blue liquid flows through the tubes from the ceiling into the helmets. The five subjects’ eyes open, pupils rolling into the back of their heads, their bodies convulsing as they repeat, “Lucas will save me!” frantically.

As the subjects chant faster, an unnatural wind enters the tube with Lucas, whipping around him like a tornado. Lucas struggles to hold onto the God Idol. His knees begin to buckle, and he jerks his body away from the idol at random. Small bolts of electricity begin to jump from the glass tube as the man screams. The subjects' noses begin to bleed, their speech becomes inaudible, and in a flash of light, the video cuts to static.

“The God Idol was found when an unnamed American Government Agency raided a lab, not a cult, a lab outside of Old Forge, New York, at around midnight three weeks ago,” says Rho. “When the men found the room where this footage was shot, they claimed that the room was so cold that they could feel it in their blood, that looking at the God Idol froze them in place. Sound familiar?”

“Death,” says Psi. “But why…”

“Because the idol did its job,” says Rho, “it saved them.” The video rewinds to just before the flash of light. The screen changes the display to a blue tint, showing five glowing white blurs going from each subject toward the God Idol.

“A soul flask?” says Iota, “like that of Pharaoh Anubis’ flail?”

“But all gods respect Death’s vessel and his reapers,” says Psi, “thus no soul should be able to defy Death’s grasp!”

“Unless a god willed it so,” said Delta, “That man wasn’t a god. He was a conduit, a vessel to transfer the Godly Essence from the subjects to the…”

“Artificial God Idol,” says Rho, “or AGI-Krypt, as we’ve been calling it. After thorough testing, we’ve found that the five souls trapped inside are bound completely to whoever wields the AGI. They can enter and leave bodies, communicate telepathically through the idol, and are unable to be taken by Death’s vessel or his reapers.”

“Dear God,” says Zeta. “What about the scientists? What was recovered from the laboratory.”

“Easy,” says Rho, “copies were sent while you looked over the AGI earlier.”

“We must destroy that…abomination!” yells Gamma.

“Whoa!” Rho interjects.

“I agree,” says Lambda, “to defy Death is to resign yourself to a fate even the Eldrich fear.”

“…But what is there to fear of a being that can grasp you?” asks Kappa.

“You cannot be serious?” says Iota. “Not even you would be mad enough to defy Death?!”

“No,” says Kappa, “but as we all know, Death tends to cast his rage as wide as it can reach, and many innocents will be taken in its pursuit of justice. This AGI could prevent unnecessary casualties.”

“This…is true,” says Psi.

“Psi, one such as yourself should know better than…” says Gamma.

“I do, but I am also one of a select few of us who still must pay off the debt my predecessors,” says Psi, “and this could help with that.”

“Besides,” says Epsilon, “Death’s probably already begun its crusade. All we can do now is mitigate the damage.”

“You think using the thing that’s pissing off Death just by existing will mitigate the damage?” asks Omicron, “are you outta ya mind?” The room breaks down into a pile of arguments, save for one member.

“ENOUGH!” yells Zeta. The room quickly falls silent. “I call for a vote. Whichever side wins, we will follow. However, if we do end up using the AGI, those against are allowed to recuse themselves either now or in the future. Are we in agreement?”

“…Aye…”

Voting Commencing…

. . . . . . Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story! If you have any comments, critiques, or criticisms, please don't be afraid to let me hear 'em (as long as they're constructive (or funny)). Stay safe, drink water, and be kind to yourself and others. ToonMan, AWAY!