#excellent introduction increases

[forcenewz]

Top 10 Best UI Design Portfolios That Will Influence You

In this blog, we share the top 10 best UI design portfolios that will affect you. These portfolios will help you and inspire you to create interesting and special portfolios that reflect your skills, imagination, and body of work, which will help you get discovered by clients and employers.

visit:-https://forcenewz.com/best-ui-design-portfolios/

[grey-sorcery]

[Title]: Magical Potency: Improving the Efficacy of Magic

Suggested Reading

Finding Balance Threshold Theory Correspondences  Conceptualization Vs. Visualization Visualization: Effective Implementation Basics of Energy Work Basics of Spellcasting Spell Logs Intro to Gnosis Bias in Witchcraft The Subtle Body Axioms of Energy Work The Wellsource Energy Work & Spoon Theory Shadow Work: First Steps Intro to Grounding

Introduction

Magical potency refers to the efficacy and strength with which a spell is executed. This encompasses the accuracy with which the ritual is performed, the precision of the elements involved, and the intensity of focus and energy channeled into the endeavor. In simpler terms, it's about increasing the likelihood of a spell's success, assuming all other requisite and advantageous factors are adequately addressed. 

The significance of magical potency cannot be overstated. For practitioners, the objective is not merely to perform rituals but to execute them in a way that yields measurable results. In the same manner that a scientist would aim for exactness and reliability in an experiment, a magical practitioner should aim for a high degree of potency in their workings. Achieving this standard is more than a matter of personal pride or skill; it is about the responsible wielding of one's abilities to bring about change. When potency is elevated, the outcomes are more predictable, thereby enhancing the reliability of the magical practice as a whole. Moreover, it minimizes the risk of unintended consequences, which can range from inconsequential to potentially hazardous.

The Magical Potency of a Vast Majority of Publications, From Tumblr to Books

Candle Magic

Candle magic serves as an excellent entry point for neophytes in magical practice. Its allure lies in its straightforward design and uncomplicated mechanics, making it accessible for beginners. However, the simplicity that makes it attractive also serves as its Achilles heel. A plethora of publications, ranging from social media posts to books, frequently omit crucial details that are indispensable for ensuring the spell's effectiveness. For instance, many resources neglect to delve into the nuances of "intent," often misconstrued as mere desire, even though it is actually  one's personal truth. Furthermore, these publications have a tendency to reduce the complexity of the practice to mere lists of correspondences, thereby overlooking the intricate mechanics that govern how a spell functions. This dearth of comprehensive information is a disservice to newcomers who seek a robust understanding of the practice, and it impedes their ability to enhance the efficacy of their spells.

Candles & Twine "Cord Cutting"

Another practice that has gained considerable attention is the use of candles and twine for what is commonly referred to as "cord cutting." On the surface, this practice provides valuable insights into personal relationships. However, a closer examination reveals significant shortcomings. Most notably, the ritual fails to fulfill its purported function of severing emotional or psychic connections—what is commonly referred to as "cord cutting." Instead, it remains an exercise in symbolic action that lacks the mechanics necessary to bring about real change. The information provided in popular publications often restricts itself to symbolic associations, failing to offer a comprehensive guide to the mechanics or other vital elements that could make the practice genuinely effective. Consequently, any results are likely psychological in nature, rather than stemming from genuine magical activity, unless utilized as a tool for divination.

Sigil Magic

Sigil magic enjoys widespread popularity due to its accessibility and the relatively common understanding of its mechanics—albeit mainly within the framework of the psychological model. Its versatility is another strong suit, capable of serving as a supplementary element in various other magical practices. However, it's crucial to scrutinize the limitations of this method. The preponderance of popular sigil crafting techniques derives from, or modifies, the Spare method, which operates solely within the psychological model. In essence, this approach amounts to subconscious suggestion rather than authentic magical action. As a result, practitioners may find themselves constrained by a limited scope of magical efficacy. Furthermore, the lack of accessible information on alternative methodologies exacerbates the problem, leaving practitioners with a narrow, and sometimes misleading, understanding of what sigil magic can achieve. The ubiquity of this practice also means that misinformation and misinterpretation are rife, further muddying the waters for those seeking to deepen their understanding and improve their skills.

Increasing the Magical Potency of Common Practices

Candle Magic

To augment the efficacy of candle magic, a considerate approach is essential. First, it's crucial to identify the traditional symbolic associations of various elements involved in the spell and consider whether your own personal correspondences might be more effective. Next, identifying a central point of focus, or state of gnosis, can serve to concentrate your energy more efficiently. This focus should align with your own deeply-held beliefs or personal truths to maximize the spell's efficacy.

Another vital step involves contemplating the specific means by which the spell will manifest its effects. This doesn't merely involve wishing for a particular outcome, but rather planning out the logical steps and mechanisms that will make it happen. This also involves doing conscious energy work that goes beyond mere mental imagery. Instead, one should focus on manipulating energy via the subtle body and energetic senses, perhaps using breath work, gestures, and/or vocalizations as aids.

Identifying the emotional state that will best serve the spell is another significant aspect. This emotional state should be in harmony with your personal truths and can serve to fuel the spell's energy. Additionally, writing out the specific mechanics of how the spell will function can provide clarity and enhance focus during the actual performance. Memorizing all actions or incantations can also prevent disruptions that might break your concentration during the ritual.

Cord Cutting

For those looking to enhance the efficacy of cord-cutting rituals, a complete overhaul is likely required. 

Before the working, contemplate the means through which the spell will manifest its effects as to avoid any negative or harmful outcomes. Utilizing twine and a knife—or scissors, for those concerned about safety—can create a strong symbolic action that aids the spell. It's also beneficial to use correspondences, either mental or physical, that are directly connected to the target individuals. This requires either a strong personal knowledge of the individuals involved or a potent taglock to symbolize them.

Conscious energy work is again advisable, and this should be done without relying solely on mental imagery. Maintaining a state of focus, or gnosis, throughout the entire working is essential. To deepen your understanding and improve the potency of the ritual, you might also study various philosophies or religious teachings concerning the concept of fate or destiny. 

Identifying an emotional state that aligns with your personal truth can also serve to fuel the energy of the ritual. Once the primary cord-cutting action has been performed, the common chords and candles approach can be employed as a form of divination to gauge the likely effectiveness and manifestation of the spell.

Sigil Magic

For those looking to venture beyond the well-trodden path of the psychological model in sigil magic, a multitude of avenues are worth exploring. To start, one should consider researching or contemplating how sigils could function within different paradigms or frameworks. This might involve developing an entirely new method of sigil crafting that deviates from the commonly used Spare method.

Contemplating the mechanics of how a non-psychological sigil could function is equally important. This might involve studying different cultural practices or philosophies to gain new perspectives. Researching various methods of charging and activating a sigil can also yield valuable insights. Different modalities might be more effective depending on the specific nature of the application in which the sigil will be used.

When incorporating a sigil into another spell, it's crucial to think critically about how the two will interact and complement each other. Drawing the sigil while in a state of deep focus, or gnosis, can enhance its accuracy, If this state is backed by strong emotional energy that aligns with your personal truths, its momentum will increase. The precision of a sigil can also be highly increased by performing energy work consciously while drawing the sigil. Finally, selecting a method of charging and activation that complements both your own capabilities and the specific nature of the working can serve to greatly enhance the overall potency of the spell.

General Practices and Methods to Improve Magical Potency

Research, Study, Experimentation, and Recording

The cornerstone of enhancing magical potency lies in a rigorous approach that involves research, study, experimentation, and detailed recording. When conducting research, it's imperative to look beyond sources that merely resonate with you on a personal level; instead, aim for a diverse array of reputable sources to avoid cognitive bias. Subsequently, study these materials assiduously, revisiting them often to consider ways you might expand or refine the practices described.

The use of experimentation, formulating and documenting predictions about how a spell will manifest is invaluable. These predictions should be dated and revisited to assess the spell's effectiveness. Sharing these predictions with other practitioners can serve as a check against confirmation bias. Conducting low-stakes spells can also serve as a useful methodological testbed, helping you refine your approach based on outcomes.

Maintaining a log of your spells is an essential practice. This archival process will facilitate a retrospective analysis, enabling you to discern which variables contributed to or hindered a spell's effectiveness.

Being Critical

Critical thinking should permeate your magical practice, although it's best applied either before or after a working, not during, so as not to disrupt your focus. Discernment in planning a working can preemptively address potential issues. After the spell's completion, seek feedback from anyone aware of the working but not of its projected outcomes. In your analysis, consider mundane factors that could have influenced the result, recognizing that magical outcomes often manifest through seemingly ordinary means. Keep a record of both successes and failures, and understand that setbacks are educational opportunities, not indicators of personal inadequacy.

Helpful Practices

Regular meditation can serve as a foundational practice for enhancing focus and understanding your inner landscape. Additionally, action flow states can be achieved through rhythmic, lyric-free music coupled with physical activities in sync with the beat. This can facilitate a trance-like state beneficial for magical work. Shadow work, while in no way is necessary, can help you uncover deeply rooted personal truths, while the development of personal symbolic associations can facilitate more potent states of focused awareness.

Energy Work

Contrary to popular misconceptions, energy work is neither a form of mental imagery nor a misapplied concept often referred to as "intent." It involves a nuanced understanding of one's subtle body and its energy centers. Identifying your Wellsource—the origin point of your energy—can further deepen your practice. Mastering the art of manipulating this energy effectively can be a powerful tool in improving magical potency.

Appropriation and Decolonization

It's crucial to recognize the importance of decolonizing one's magical practice. This entails a conscious effort to eschew cultural appropriation and to respect the origins and contexts of various magical systems. While learning from diverse traditions can enrich your practice, it should never involve taking elements out of their cultural context for personal use without proper understanding and initiation. Decolonizing your magical practice is a significant endeavor that requires sustained commitment, self-awareness, and active engagement. Here are some steps to help you in this important journey:

Educate Yourself: The first step in decolonizing your practice is to become knowledgeable about the histories, cultures, and traditions from which various magical practices originate. This will help you understand the contexts in which these practices were developed and how they have been affected by colonization.

Acknowledge Origins: Always give credit to the cultures, traditions, and communities from which certain practices and tools originate. This is not only a matter of respect but also a way to counteract the erasure that often occurs when practices are appropriated.

Assess Your Sources: Evaluate the materials you are using to learn about magical practices. Are they written or produced by individuals from within the tradition? Do they provide historical and cultural context? Are they respectful and do they avoid exoticizing or commodifying the practices they describe?

Reflect on Motivations and Entitlement: Examine your reasons for incorporating specific practices or tools into your own practice. Are you doing it because it's "trendy" or because you feel entitled to pick and choose from other cultures? Such motivations can be indicative of a colonizer mindset.

Avoid Cultural Cherry-Picking: Engaging deeply with another culture's practice means more than just adopting its magical or spiritual elements. It involves an understanding and respect for the culture as a whole, including its history, struggles, and contributions.

Engage in Dialogue: If you are interested in a practice that originates from a culture different from your own, try to engage in a respectful dialogue with individuals who belong to that culture. Seek their perspectives and listen to their experiences, and ask for their insights into ethical engagement with their traditions.

Prioritize Marginalized Voices: Elevate the voices and teachings of individuals from marginalized communities who are sharing their own traditions. Their perspectives are often sidelined but are crucial for a genuine understanding of these practices.

Financial Support: Whenever possible, support practitioners from the culture of interest by paying for their services, buying their products, or donating to causes they recommend. Economic empowerment is a form of reparative justice.

Revise and Reassess Continually: Decolonization is not a one-time action but an ongoing process. Keep updating your practices as you gain more knowledge and understanding. This may mean abandoning practices or tools that you now recognize as inappropriate for you to use.

Be Accountable: If you make a mistake—and most people do when they are learning—own it. Apologize, learn from it, and make amends if possible. Then take steps to ensure you do not repeat the same mistake.

Advocate and Educate: Use your platform, however big or small, to educate others about the importance of decolonizing magical practices. Share resources, engage in conversations, and challenge instances of appropriation you encounter.

Practice Humility: Recognize that the process of decolonization involves continual learning and that you won't have all the answers. Be open to criticism and willing to change your viewpoints and practices accordingly.

How Appropriation Negatively Affects Magical Potency

The act of appropriation in magical practices not only raises ethical concerns but also has deleterious effects on the potency of the rituals involved. One of the most glaring issues arises from the isolation of a practice from its original cultural context. Traditions, rites, and spells often have deeply ingrained cultural meanings and histories. When extracted from their native milieu, these practices lose the richness and nuance that contribute to their efficacy. The symbols, words, and actions employed in a ritual are often deeply tied to the specific geography, language, and folklore of its origin. Stripping away this context can dilute the ritual's power, rendering it a mere simulacrum of its original form.

Another significant concern pertains to the connections with spirits and ancestors that are inherent in many magical systems. These relationships are often built over generations and are rooted in specific cultural narratives, myths, and practices. When one appropriates these systems without a genuine link to the cultural lineage, the connection to these spirits and ancestors becomes tenuous at best. In some cases, this could even be seen as a form of spiritual trespassing, which not only questions the ethical standing of the practitioner but also diminishes the effectiveness of the ritual. These ancestral and spiritual links act as conduits for magical energy, and without them, the practice becomes hollow.

Lastly, the issue of alignment with one's personal truth cannot be ignored. Each individual has a unique set of beliefs, experiences, and perspectives that inform their magical practice. When one adopts practices from another culture without proper understanding or respect, there is a high likelihood that these borrowed elements will not align well with one's personal truths. This dissonance can create an internal discord, which in turn weakens the potency of the magical working. A harmonious alignment with one's core beliefs and experiences often serves as the bedrock upon which effective magical practice is built.

Implementation of the Concepts Discussed

The efficacy of magical practices can be significantly bolstered by adeptly incorporating cognitive techniques related to memory and repetition. One such method involves capitalizing on short-term memory. After assimilating beneficial information, executing a straightforward magical working immediately afterward can aid in embedding the newly acquired knowledge. This rapid recall and application essentially serve as the anchoring of the information more firmly by immediate utilization. This technique leverages the brain's natural propensity for retaining recently processed information and puts it to practical use, thus enhancing the likelihood of a successful magical outcome.

Subconscious memory plays a similarly pivotal role in the refinement of magical practices. The consistent and repeated consumption of relevant information can precipitate a subconscious framework that thereafter influences your methodologies. Over time, this reservoir of deeply ingrained knowledge becomes an almost instinctive guide during magical workings. The more frequently you engage with this material, the more it seeps into your subconscious, ultimately serving as an internal compass that steers your practices toward greater potency. Hence, the diligent study of reputable materials can lay the groundwork for a more effective and nuanced magical practice.

Repetition, both cognitive and practical, stands as another invaluable tool in solidifying one's magical practices. Repetitive engagement with the material, whether it's through written summaries, vocal articulation, or mental rehearsal, can fortify the neural pathways associated with that specific information. Furthermore, the regular enactment of magical workings that incorporate these concepts can engender a form of habituation. These practices, through repetition, become ingrained behaviors, thereby increasing the ease and fluidity with which they can be executed. This habitual nature, in turn, contributes to an overall enhancement of magical potency.

Patreon Shoutouts!

Thank you for your continued support! My patrons help me maintain the drive to create content and help me keep food in my pantry. My patrons of Early Bird tier and higher had access to this article a week before it was public! To see other perks of supporting me, click here!

Thank you for your support:

Megan Kipp!

Cosmicaquamarie

To learn more about me or view my Masterpost, click here.

This post was reviewed and edited for easier reading by ChatGPT.

[crissiebaby]

A Steady Stream

“Hey guys! It’s SleepyLunaHypno, back again with another Lil’ Luna stream!” said hypnosis streamer, Luna Hideri, kneeling on the floor and waving to the eyeball-shaped camera perched on the edge of their computer desk. Their heart raced as their heels sank into their padded rear, never letting them forget the fact they were currently double-diapered; a necessity considering what they were planning. “So, for tonight’s stream, we’re going to do something a little different.”

Sitting before a pair of earmuff headphones, Luna became flushed with arousal as they lifted them up and presented them for their viewers to gawk at; the spiral-painted sides filling their hypno-loving brain with horny thoughts. “Those who’ve been keeping up with me on Xwitter know I’ve been hard at work on a special secret project,” they said, increasing anticipation and viewership simultaneously. In real life, they were a shy fox who actively avoided others. But here, in the safety of their room with thousands of horny people watching their every move, they felt like a Goddess. Slipping the headphones over their ears, a lustful smirk curled across the kitsune’s face as they continued their opening monologue. “For the past two months, I’ve been hypnotizing myself Pavlov-style by listening to a pinging noise whenever I wet my diaper. And tonight, you’re going to help me test my progress.”

Unsurprisingly, the chat for Luna’s stream instantly blew up over the lascivious news, causing their watcher numbers to excel past their previous highs well before the fun had even started. This was definitely going to be their best stream yet. “Hehe! Happy to see everyone is as excited as I am!” they said, their tail wagging eagerly at the camera. “Each dollar given to my steam equals one ping in my headphones. I wonder how long it’ll take before I’m leaki–”

PING!

“W-Woah!” stuttered Luna, already receiving their first donation before they could finish their introduction. After weeks of dedicating themself through Pavlovian conditioning, part of them found it hard to believe a simple sound could cause them to lose all control. However, Mr. Ivan Pavlov’s classical hypothesis turned out to be resoundingly correct as urine gushed into the base of their inner diaper. “Holy crap! I-I actually did it! I’m really wetting myself!” Their libido was sent spiraling out of control as they fruitlessly rebelled against their body’s natural impulses.

PING! PING! PING! PING! PING!

Without warning, a large influx of monotonous dings impacted Luna’s eardrums, resulting in the grasp on their potty training further slipping away. “Oooh!” they moaned as they continued to piss themself silly with a seemingly endless amount of fluid. Stretching their neck upward to see their monitor, their eyes went wide with fear and fervor over the three-digit total they’d already amassed. Perhaps charging more than $1 per ping would’ve been wise. “I d-don’t think two diapers is gonna be enough…”

💜 Artwork By CodiBaby 💜 💕 Story By CrissieBaby 💕 💛 Commissioned By SleepyLunaHypno 💛

SubscribeStar: subscribestar.adult/crissiebaby pixivFANBOX: crissiebaby.fanbox.cc All CB Links: linktr.ee/crissiebaby

-------------------------------------------------------------

Special Thanks to Our CrissBaby Diaper Company Investors: BlushyBen DD JFN Nike Pansy Jason Sissikins PrincessKittenLizzi Rosie Princess SissyDina Strawberry Sweetsamantharebecca Tony & Two Anonymous Investors

[extremetimedchallengeexchange]

If you have been around the circle with Ao3-hosted exchanges, you generally have a sense of how exchanges run. In the "BFE (Bangs, Fests, Exchanges)" circle of exchanges, there is a standard method of how events run, and when you sign up for a new one you have a reasonable expectation of how things are going to be organized. You'll still read the documentations, of course, but you can roll up to a standard exchange and know what to expect.

This exchange, because of some quirks of how it's organized, does not run on BFE standard. So here are some things that you might expect to run one way that run differently for us!

Tag Seconding

With your average BFE exchange, any tag that is nominated that does not break the tag rules will be accepted into the exchange, and can be signed up with. Because of this, someone might end up with a signup that no one else is interested in, and thus no one can be assigned to them. This person's assignment is then sent to initial pinch hits, and someone eventually picks it up so the person can participate in the exchange. This works because the standard BFE exchange has a creation period of between 6-12 weeks, and there is a lot of time to find pinch hitters. If someone needs to pick up an entire canon so they can write a pinch hit, they can do that.

We have 48 hours, and we really really really want to avoid initial pinch hits, because there simply is not time to find pinch hitters.

Because of this, all tags must be nominated by two people to make it into the tag set. That way we know that every tag used in the signups has a minimum of two people interested in it, and thus, our chances of initial pinch hits go way down. So far we've run the event three times and have never had an initial pinch hit, and we want to keep it that way.

No e-rated work.

Most BFE exchanges are 18+ only, and thus of course e-rated is allowed. Fandom is full of excellent e-rated work, tropes, and events! This exchange started as a fandom-specific exchange, however, in a fandom with a lot of minors, and we didn't want to tell them that they couldn't participate. Thus, it is all-ages (13+, because of discord and Ao3 TOS). There are steps mods can take in an all-ages exchange to make sure that no minors are given assignments asking for porn, but it is a lot of work on the back end, and we do not have time to do this on the event's crash schedule. The simplest method to make sure that we do not give minors e-rated assignments or gifts is to do a flat ban of anything with an e-rating. If someone wants to start up the 48 hour smut exchange we support that, but this exchange, in this version, remains all-ages, and thus M is the highest rating a gift can have.

Prompts

Many BFE exchanges run on ODAO (optional details are optional) standards. Prompts are optional and you can hand someone an assignment with a DNW on it and some ships and leave them to do whatever they want. This is not the way every exchange runs (notably FIAB requires at least a list of likes), but it is the baseline assumption.

Because this exchange only gives your gifter 48 hours to work, we require that you give them something to jump off of when they start creating. It does not have to be detailed— "hurt/comfort, only one bed, bright colours" works as a prompt list— but we require that you give your gifter something to work on for each art form that you opt into. Consider it an extra challenge, before the creating starts.

Solo or Platonic tag

This is another one to increase matching possibilities! To make sure people are matchable, we need everyone to request at least one "solo" or platonic tag in their signup. You only need one, in one fandom! If none of your fandoms have any Solo or platonic tags nominated, we'd also accept an "any relationships" either requested or offered.

Signups Not Visible

Especially since the introduction of the Automagic app, most exchanges make their signups visible from the beginning. This allows people to check and see if they're going to be matchable, and also to "game" for specific signups that they want.

That is not how we do things. We only release signups at the halfway mark of the creation period, and this is for two reasons. The first is that we are serious about only allowing people 48 hours to work, including concepting. If you could have picked out your assignment for a week previously and then gamed for it, you could theoretically give yourself over an extra week to work. That kind of ruins the fun of the event for us, so we do not allow people to see the signups as they come in. Secondly, part of the secondary challenge of the event is that you can only treat for 24 hours of the main event. We do not release signups until the halfway mark of the event because we want to make sure that people are not pre-writing on treats, or even pre-concepting. We want to people to take treats from seeing the sign-up to delivering within 24 hours, if they are doing the treating challenge.

If not knowing what other signups are visible means you are afraid you will match to someone you do not want to match to, contact a mod, and we will be happy to take down DNM requests and hand-adjust the backend for you.

The exchange opens 48 hours after signups open, as long as Ao3 is still up.

Most BFE exchanges will hold the exchange until everyone gets a gift. Pauses are build into the timeline to allow for emergency pinch hits because of this. We are running on something close to flash exchange rules, however, and the exchange will open on time, 48 hours after assignments go out. If your original gifter has dropped or fails to deliver, you may have to wait up to another 48 hours for your pinch hitter to work.

[silverdune]

the purgatory papers | introduction: part two

"enter.. we have much to discuss."

minors dni. ageless blogs dni. blank blogs dni. you'll be blocked. <- part one | main masterlist | part three -> character(s): gn!reader, kim hongjoong, choi san, park seonghwa, kang yeosang; (minatozaki sana, myoui mina;) tags: explicit language, light banter, slight hostility, alcohol, references to drinking alcohol to cope word count: 5.1k summary: with only a vague idea of what lies ahead of you, you take a trip to both hell and heaven to speak with the people involved. in doing so, you start to get a glimpse of just what exactly you're dealing with.. a/n: i initially intended to this just be one long introductory chapter, but i'm actually gonna split this into three parts because this second part ended up way longer than i thought it was going to;😭 i hope you enjoy!

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

You give the mortal world exceedingly less credit than the folks in Heaven would, but it’s not lost on you that the configuration of Heaven, Hell and purgatory are exactly how they’ve envisioned it for thousands of years. For the nth time it makes you chuckle as you descend the staircase into the cavernous pit, recalling how you once joked with Yunho that the mortal world is basically the living room, and that they would sometimes refer to Heaven and Hell as upstairs and downstairs respectively.

One thing that is slightly off is that purgatory still, in part, exists as a liminal space above the sphere as well as below it. The area in which you live means you often refer to it as downstairs.

As for Hell, that’s the basement.

And much like the mortals, no trip to the basement is a fun one.

The temperature is known to increase, but you yourself don’t feel it much, bar the odd sweat beads that form across your hairline. As you approach the door to Hell, the air does become noticeably stuffy, and you wonder if they upped the fire resources in the last century and why exactly they felt the need to bask in more heat than necessary.

Then you recall how the temperature is governed by the overseer’s temper - hence temperature - and it all starts to make sense.

Old Horns’ feathers have been ruffled in greatly unfortunate ways.

There’s a single security guard standing by the door to Hell, someone you’ve strangely become good friends with since you first met two centuries ago. Her eyes light up at your arrival, and her smile invites you to smile back. However reluctant you felt to take on this job, it’s always nice to see her again.

“Well, well, look who it is!” she teases. Embers of orange dance around the curls of her auburn hair, her black, backless dress trailing the floor. “Never one to stay a stranger, hey?” She smirks, knowing full well why you’re here, but opting not to say the quiet part out loud.

“Business as usual,” you nod, then exhale deeply, “for the last time.” Sana’s face falls instantly. You didn’t think such an expression would sting so much. “Oh. So, that means you won’t be paying any more visits to Hell.” She says it so matter-of-factly, as if she already understands how this is going to work, but there’s still a tinge of sadness in her voice. It makes you feel genuinely awful.

“Well-” You trip over your words in an attempt to placate her. “Not necessarily!” you perk up. “I can still pay you a visit!” you say. Sana grins again, so bright and effervescent. It actually brings you joy to cheer her up about this. A strong heart lies dormant in your dwelling soul after all. “And besides, no more business means I’ll have more free time.”

“We can do the stairwell picnic we talked about!”

Ah, the stairwell picnic. Meet halfway along the staircase and eat snacks while waxing philosophical about the mortal world.

You smile. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

Sana claps her hands excitedly. “Excellent! Well- ahem- enough chit-chat.” She opens the door to Hell. “Welcome to the fire!”

“Speaking of that,” you mutter into her ear as you walk past, “have you noticed that it’s warmer down here? If I’ve noticed, then you’ve surely noticed.”

Sana coughs weakly, trying to ignore what is so clearly a bothersome elephant. “Well.. Um, yeah, to be honest, it’s not really my place to make a comment,” she whispers in response. “But.. it is.” She seriously lowers her tone for that last part. You swallow the lump in your throat and nod. Sana’s smile then returns and she almost nudges you into Hell. “Have fun!”

The door shuts behind you, and the noise is thunderous. Most of the residents here turn to see you, and they hone their eyes at your presence.

You’re not their favourite member of the band.

Without a second to waste, you depart for the corridor to Hongjoong’s office.

Not a single eye leaves you as you speed down the narrow halls of the overseer’s domain. Many of them begin to chat among themselves; you know they’re talking about you.

The two guards outside Hongjoong’s door straighten their backs as you draw near. One holds up their hand and speaks in a low, harsh voice. “Excuse me, this area is out of bounds.”

“I have express permission from Hongjoong himself to speak with him.”

The guards exchange looks. They turn back to you, and the other speaks, his voice rougher than the first. “Is that so? Do you have any identification to prove this?”

“I have this red card,” you announce, pulling the item out of your inside jacket pocket. You hand it to the first guard, and they both inspect it diligently, before bursting into laughter.

“Nice try, but this is, for lack of a better word, bullshit,” chides the second guard. He evaporates the card with a single toss in the air.

You groan internally and try again, “Listen, I know this is completely unheard of, but Kim Hongjoong has specifically asked for me to speak with him on a very important matter.”

The first guard stutters over his laughter, “What? You’re joking, right? The High Devil doesn’t speak to anyone unless he has given the word.”

“Yeah, if he wanted to speak to you, he would’ve informed us,” says the second guard.

“If that is the elder of purgatory, let them in.”

The sound resonates through the door, startling the three of you.

“Uh-”

“Um-”

“But- But Your Highness-”

“Did they present you with a red card?”

The guards eye one another. You lift a brow at them as if to say, see, what did I tell you?

In an instant, the second guard restores the item to its former glory and hands it over to you with a mouthed apology. You take it with a shameful shake of the head and fold your arms.

“Um, yes, Your Highness, they did.”

A beat passes, and the door opens, seemingly by itself. The two men part in the centre and stare straight ahead, assuming a stoic position despite the dread coursing through their veins.

“Enter, N. We have much to discuss.”

You take a deep breath in and let go. With your shoulders pushed back, you pass by the guards and enter the office of Hell’s overseer.

The second you’re through the door, it slams shut behind you, making you jump. You place a hand on your chest - a habit you picked up from the many times you’ve manifested, mortals seemed to do that when something surprised them - and exhale through your nose.

Ahead of you, the High Devil paces back and forth in front of his desk.

You take a moment to have a good look at the place. It’s the first time you’ve set foot in this room. The ceilings are so high you can’t see where they end, but the room itself is surprisingly small for such a figure like Old Horns.

The walls are draped with burgundy curtains and there are candles everywhere. To most people, this room would be unbelievably dark, but you are able to see Hongjoong very clearly. His desk almost takes up the total width of the room and seems to be carved from mahogany or oak.

You clear your throat quietly and remind yourself that you’re not here to admire his decor.

Hongjoong stops when he notices you. “Ah.” He quickly disappears in a cloud of smoke beneath the desk then reappears on the other side, already sitting in his chair, a motion that doesn’t phase you. “Take a seat.”

There’s a passive sense of magnitude inside you; this is the first time you’ve ever met Hongjoong, the first time you’ve ever stepped into his office, something strictly forbidden unless he specifically requests it. Over the course of the three millennia that you’ve spent in purgatory, that occasion is so rare that you notice three distinct plaques affixed to the wall behind him denoting these moments as some sort of achievements.

You assume this meeting will add a fourth to that collection.

Eventually, you take a seat opposite and slowly descend into the chair. Perhaps that feeling isn’t so passive after all.

Everything that you’ve understood about Hongjoong over the centuries is now taking full effect right in front of you. He doesn’t make eye contact, doesn’t seem particularly pleased with social interaction, and the embers don’t so much dance around his hair as they do shift erratically around his entire form.

Neither of you speak for a time. What do you say? Do you even say anything at all? Yunho hadn’t exactly debriefed you on the appropriate etiquette for talking to the High Devil.

Uncomfortable silence spreads through the whole room until eventually, Hongjoong shifts his gaze to the side and speaks. “I am sure you understand why I have asked you to come here.”

Understand is probably not the word you’d go for, but for the purposes of getting this over and done with you agree. “Yes.”

“Good. Because as you can probably tell, I am up to my fu- God- .. neck in it.”

You blink a couple of times. Old Horns not being partial to the odd cuss? Colour yourself shocked.

You spare him any quippy remarks, you’ve never met the man before, after all, and instead simply say, “..Yes.”

“This feud, this-” He tries stalling his anger by clenching a fist and resting his lips against it. “I’ve been Hell’s overseer for thousands of years. I’ve seen things come out of this amorphous realm that I couldn’t begin to describe to you. But this?”

“Somehow worse than that?” you stutter, nervous even still of stepping a single syllable out of line.

He swallows. He breathes out. He looks up at you.

Kim Hongjoong looks up at you.

Your entire being turns to stone as he maintains eye contact with you.

“It’s a level of spite and vitriol that I can’t possibly comprehend.”

Your resolve shatters. This all makes sense. Of course Hongjoong has seen shit that no one else has ever seen, he’s the goddamn leader of Hell.

But this.. this is something he can’t comprehend.

And it’s your job to cipher an explanation. It’s your job to help Hongjoong understand.

He’s typically never cared for the feuds. Anything that goes on between the residents of Heaven and Hell has nothing to do with him.

But now he is directly involved.

And for whatever reason, this has stoked a fire so strong it’s caused him to increase the temperature.

You brave a question that’s been on the tip of your tongue for the last minute or so. “What is it about this animosity that you cannot comprehend?”

Hongjoong leans forward, not breaking eye contact with you for a second.

“Why the elder in question didn’t take things up with Seonghwa while he had the chance.”

Seonghwa. The de-facto leader of Heaven.

Why for the love of all that is good is Seonghwa involved?

You hold back on making a comment but your face says it all. Hongjoong scoffs, “Yeah. I know. Trust me, getting in touch with him was not on my to-do list.”

“You- You got in touch with him?” you hesitate to say. Hongjoong nods solemnly.

Why didn’t Yunho mention this? Did he even know?

You chew the insides of your bottom lip and ponder for a while; Yunho and Seonghwa have never met.

But if this is as big and as serious as Yunho said it is, as Hongjoong is currently claiming it is, to the point Seonghwa of all people is in the know, then why were you not informed?

Why didn’t Seonghwa tell you?

You and Seonghwa had been friends for quite a while, ever since you were merely a dweller. He had not long become the leader of Heaven, though Heaven never really had a leader. It was simply a placeholder title, the illusion of someone with authority beyond the pearly gates, but Seonghwa doesn’t rule in the way Hongjoong does. He mainly acts as a figure of guidance, a literal guardian angel as the other residents had joked. Heaven did have space for a sense of humour.

Given your history, it feels like something Seonghwa would have relayed to you during your monthly catch-ups. Heck, your last catch-up was only a fortnight ago, so is this an incredibly recent thing? Could he not have sent a message, was the information too confidential to risk a telegram?

There’s a flood of questions drowning every cell in your brain to the point it almost leaks out of your ears. You grip the rests of the chair until your fingers hurt, which to your surprise, concerns Hongjoong.

“Um, N? Is there something on your mind?”

You gaze up at him, foregoing any distant regret at the act. “Seonghwa never told me.” Hongjoong sits back in his chair. “I feel like- y’know you’re probably not aware of this, but, we’ve been friends for a while-”

“I am aware,” he reveals, “Seonghwa actually conceded that I ask after you in order to sort this situation out.”

You let go of the arm rests and place both hands on the desk. It’s cold to the touch, remarkable for such a sweltering space. “Y’know, not to make this about me, I just.. It’s weird, y’know, unless this happened in the last week, then I guess that makes sense, but-” Hongjoong’s words finally register. “He- He said what?”

Hongjoong sighs. “Seonghwa conceded that we ask after you. Full disclosure, this has been going on for a while, but it only really came to a head in the last week or so. He confided in me that he has been going back and forth in his brain over whether or not to send you a message himself, but that changed when I knocked on his door.” Sparks are firing off every inch of your body. The room is suddenly much hotter, and your nerves are somehow flying through the very tall roof of this office.

“I- Fucking hell-”

A hand flies to your mouth. Lower-case hell, and yet, it still stings on your tongue when you remember where you are.

Hongjoong shrugs it off, even managing to crack a smile. “Honestly, N, that does not phase me one bit.”

Your hand falls. “I- ahem- I’m sorry.”

“Worry not, N. I hear that sentiment all the time down here.”

The conversation has become calm out of nowhere. For a small moment, you forget yourself, but you immediately spring back when the embers return and Hongjoong’s eyes harden.

“Trust me, this situation is relentless on all fronts. I have an elder stewing in his own hatred and guilt, and there’s an angel upstairs he’s got it in for.”

“And you need me to scope this out?”

Hongjoong looks at you. “Yes. Please. If you would be the kindest.”

Taking a deep breath, you rest your forearms back on the desk. “Okay. Give me the details, and I’ll pay a visit to Heaven and talk to Seonghwa.”

“Good idea.” Hongjoong clicks his fingers once and a sheet of paper appears between his thumb and forefinger. “Here’s all the information you’ll need. I know that Yunho didn’t give you much, but that’s because I had all of it.”

You glance at the paperwork. At the very top, you see two names.

Choi San and Kang Yeosang

Choi San being the devil. Kang Yeosang being the angel.

Reading through the paperwork is an absolute trip. It’s all still so vague and yet you have your work cut out for you.

San - Elder. Four millennia. Mysterious past - possible connection to Heaven? Long history with Kang Yeosang. Seonghwa knows him of old, but the two never got along. San was never an angel, but has a history with Heaven. Yeosang - Divine. Two millennia. Harbouring a secret that no one in Heaven knows, not even Seonghwa. hates San with a burning passion. The facts - San and Yeosang have a long history. There are connections between the two of them via Heaven and Hell, but they have no connection to purgatory. Only they know why they feel the way they do, except Seonghwa has a theory that either one of them used to be residents of the other. The questions - Why didn’t San tell Seonghwa about this situation? What is the history that connects San to heaven, despite him never being an angel? Was Yeosang once a devil? Was San the reason he left Hell, or was Yeosang the reason San left Heaven? What do the other residents know of their history? Is there anything that San’s closest friend in Hell, Jung Wooyoung, can tell us about their past? Why has their feud caused such a terrible rift?

Your brows knit at a name you don’t recognise. “Jung Wooyoung?”

Hongjoong scoffs the meekest smile. “Ah, Wooyoung. The true definition of a daredevil. He has been here for two millennia, good friend of San. He likes to manifest to the mortal world a lot, so he doesn’t often spend time in Hell.”

You tilt your head. Interesting.

Hongjoong senses your gears turning and explains further, “I only added that question because something tells me he might know something. I mean, the two of them clicked almost immediately when they first met. Wooyoung had been there for a few centuries by that time. San was in a bit of a mortal world phase so he wasn’t around when Wooyoung first arrived.”

As Hongjoong speaks, you store all the necessary mental notes and remind yourself to jot them down in your notebook once you’re back.

“I see. Thank you for letting me know.”

Hongjoongs nods once, very politely, then shuffles the remaining papers in front of him. “So, with that, I believe that concludes our meeting. Do you have any questions?”

Yes, and no.

“I don’t think so,” you tell a half-truth. Or is it closer to a lie? You’re not sure.

“Well, if anything changes, send a telegram through Yunho and I will reply as promptly as possible.”

“But what if by that point I’ve manifested to the mortal world?”

Hongjoong hums, then strokes his chin. “Good point.” He then smirks a little. “In that case, do it the old-fashioned way.”

You make a face you can hardly believe you’re making in the presence of the High Devil, and he laughs, though it comes out as more of a heavy rumble. “Nobody has done that for hundreds of years.”

“Well then, perhaps you can start a new wave.”

You stand up, take the piece of paper, then fold it before putting it in your jacket pocket. “It has been quite the bizarre honour to speak with you, Your Highness.”

You can’t exactly say the meeting was amicable, but it certainly wasn’t hostile either.

Hongjoong regards you reverently. “And I you, N. Take care, and make yourself scarce.”

Exactly what Yunho had said. Not quite two peas in a pod, but close enough.

Upon leaving the office, you bypass the two guards with ease and make your way to the entrance.

That is until you are stopped by one of the devils.

“Excuse me, what were you doing speaking to the High Devil himself?”

You glance at the devil. His short, black hair is swept back off his forehead and stiff, as though held back in place with gel. You know of mortals styling their hair in various ways. Perhaps this is a look this devil picked up from one of his visits. “The meeting between us is strictly confidential, now please excuse me.”

You skirt around him and head for the door. He turns in place and yells after you, “Hey! We know why you’re here, don’t pretend like we don’t. We’re not fucking stupid, y’know.”

“San..” you hear another mutter.

San.

Shit, that’s San?

If you make your business known, he will know it’s him you’re getting the scoop on.

“You’re just here to get another article in your miserable paper. Haven’t you had enough of that?” he chides.

You swallow the lump in your throat and leave, not even sparing Sana a glance, regrettably so. Sana watches you ascend the stairs, and the door to Hell closes behind you.

Halfway up, you reach the doors of purgatory, your proverbial home, and take a few deep breaths.

Nothing has ever left you feeling so stilted. Residents of purgatory have no room for such strong emotions, and being an elder yourself, it’s astonishing that a split second confrontation with another elder has left you more winded than an entire meeting with Hell’s overseer.

His words turn somersaults in your mind as you continue your journey up to Heaven. All the while, you wonder if talking to Seonghwa will calm you down, you are friends after all, but then you remember his involvement in this feud.

And by the time you get to Heaven, the familiar face you’ve come to know as Mina, who much like Sana, acts as a security guard to the gates, is full of thunder in a way you have never witnessed before.

“Mina..” you inaudibly breathe out.

“N, good gracious, am I ever pleased to see you.” She approaches you and immediately wraps her arms around your shoulders, a gesture uncommon for her, and you awkwardly return the hug before she pulls back. She grabs your arms and looks you dead in the eyes, “N, there is no polite way for me to say this, but Seonghwa is beyond inconsolable.”

You sigh deeply and look askance. “Don’t worry, I have some idea.” “I thought you might,” she replies, letting go of your arms. “You have the face of someone who’s called at Hell already and hasn’t had the best experience.”

“You would be shocked to understand why.” Mina flexes a brow. “My meeting with the High Devil went pretty smoothly, actually,” - Mina then lifts both brows in shock - “I know. It was what happened after that that caused this.” You gesture vaguely to yourself and Mina exhales sympathetically.

“Oh dear. Did someone make a pointed remark?”

“Only one half of the party involved, no big deal,” you shrug it off sardonically, and Mina’s head falls in her hands. “The silver lining is that I don’t think he recognised that what I’m helping out with concerns him, so I think I’ve bought myself some time.”

“Any time is better than none,” Mina concedes. “But it is also of the essence, specifically in regards to Seonghwa.”

You glance at her, “Do you know the full extent of what’s going on?”

“Goodness, no. Not my business, not my place to ask. But I just know it’s another disagreement, and this one is so bad it’s made him so upset to the point I’ve been dragged into calming him down.”

You reach for her hands, tucking them into your own. “You have my sincerest apologies, Mina. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Worry not, dear, it is out of your control. I just hope things clear up eventually.”

“So do I. Okay, let’s go find Mr. Sad Wings.”

Mina stifles a laugh with a shake of the head, then hesitantly opens the door to Heaven.

You create a shield over your eyes with your hand; how do you constantly forget how bright it is in Heaven?

From afar, you notice a swath of angels surrounding a boldly disgruntled figure, fanning his face with their own wings and replenishing his cup with a dark red liquid.

You stop in place and cock a brow. Trust Seonghwa to unleash his inner amateur dramatics.

Seonghwa then notices you, and within seconds tells every angel to flee his presence. “Ah! N! Precious N, my dearest friend, how pleased I am to see you, my goodness.”

“Seonghwa,” you bluntly reply, dissatisfied with the performance.

He notices this and places a hand on his chest, genuinely offended by your attitude. “N! Can you not see I am in the greatest distress?”

“I can see you’re donning your I wish I was on Broadway slacks again.”

Seonghwa instantly halts the act and glares at you. “Fine.” He stands up, sets the cup aside and walks towards you. “You’re here, finally.”

“Finally?” you utter, taken aback.

Exasperated, Seonghwa exhales deliberately. “Listen, N, I am truly sorry, but the past 48 hours have been an absolute nightmare.”

“I can see, I can tell, and I know. You don’t have to say anything to me I haven’t already heard from Old Horns.”

He blinks at you. “Wait, you mean to tell me you went there first?”

You shrug, “Thought I’d get it out of the way, and honestly I’m glad, he was the one that ended up telling me about your involvement in this mess.”

He reflexively closes his eyes with yet another frustrated sigh. “Do not get me started, I have not caught a break from this since all- of it started breaking loose.”

Folding your arms, you shift to the side. “So much so Hongjoong had to get in touch?”

Seonghwa’s eyes open and he stares at you. “He told you that too?”

“Of course he did, Seonghwa. Hongjoong filled me in on everything he felt I needed to know, including this..” You pat the left side of your jacket discreetly, alluding to the information within, and Seonghwa pushes his shoulders back nervously. “You know me, I’ve been quite successful at my job, and if it means managing to help both leaders of Heaven and Hell at once, I consider it a bonus.”

“Hey! I am not the leader, you know how I feel about that.”

“De-facto leader.”

“Not even that! I don’t like being associated with the term, it makes me feel like a deity.” He adjusts his outfit, closing in on himself more as he stares at the cloudiness that covers his feet.

“Well, how should I refer to you if not by your name?”

“As I always have since I became an elder: an elder.” Seonghwa looks about the place then back at you. “Everyone here calls me a leader, it’s unnerving.” He shivers in the place at the mere thought then exhales. “So, you have all the information you need, you know exactly what you’re dealing with, why exactly have you come to see me?” he asks.

“Oh, am I not allowed to see you anymore?” you tease lightheartedly. Seonghwa rolls his eyes at your comment and explains that it isn’t about that, but that maybe you wouldn’t want to loiter around considering the sincerity of the situation. You ponder this and concede his viewpoint, but then you remember the feelings laying in the far back of your mind and scratch the nape of your neck. Honesty is the best policy. “Well, to be frank, when Hongjoong told me that you were a part of this, I wondered why you hadn’t said anything to me.” Seonghwa listens, but looks at the floor almost shamefully. “I just.. It just seemed a bit weird, since we’ve known each other so long and we talk about basically everything.”

“I see where you’re coming from,” Seonghwa replies, eventually gazing up at you. “It was never my intention to withhold anything from you, there was no malicious foresight.” You didn’t think there was, but continue to listen anyway. “I suppose I didn’t say anything right away because I just knew this would result in something that you’d be asked to get the answers on in a professional manner.”

“So it didn’t feel right to confront me on a personal basis?”

“Exactly.”

You hum in understanding. “Makes sense.”

“Trust me, N, this is well beyond both mine and Hongjoong’s imagination. I reckon it was quite odd for Yunho to discover as well.”

This takes you aback. Seonghwa rarely, if ever, references your boss directly, much less so by name.

You bite your tongue and decide not to dwell on it. “Oh, trust me, he was as shocked as anything.”

Seonghwa nods knowingly. “Well, to be honest, that is all I really understand about the situation. Anything you could possibly glean from my knowledge is contained in that paperwork, I can guarantee it.” He indicates your jacket pocket then clasps a hand over the other wrist, settling it on his abdomen. “I wish you the best of luck on his endeavour, and for the good of all that is gracious, don’t cross any wires.”

You lift a brow. “Meaning?”

Seonghwa goes to turn his back in a very defensive fashion. “Once you start divulging, it will all make sense.” Without another word, he walks away from you, lifting his cup and taking a sip of the wine within.

You feel the most bizarre interaction you’ve ever had with your closest friend has come to a rather unnatural conclusion, and instead of saying goodbye, you simply bow your head and turn to exit Heaven.

Before you can reach the gates, however, Seonghwa has another message for you.

“Be careful on the way down. It’s risky business.”

You stop in place. The same thing he always says before you go on a new adventure.

A smile cracks through the plaintive neutrality of your expression, and you leave, knowing that Seonghwa is smiling too, and that no matter what, you will always have each other’s best interests at heart.

×-×

Seonghwa moves through the courtyard of Heaven and takes a seat on one of the grey, velvet chairs in the corner of the room.

In the corner of his eye, he notices a certain other angel approaching.

The angel takes a seat beside him. Seonghwa lowers his cup and rests it in his lap.

“Was that N, perchance?” wonders the angel.

Seonghwa knows the residents of Heaven and Hell are aware of N, but they’re not always aware of what N is up to. Seonghwa peers over the cup, not sparing him a glance. “Yes, it was.”

The angel looks askance towards the floor. “Must be up to something exciting.”

The words get clogged in Seonghwa’s throat, so much so he cannot take another sip of his wine. He keeps himself occupied by running his finger around the rim, hoping to goodness that the angel doesn’t prod him for any more answers.

The divine looks back at him. “More wine, dear leader?”

Seonghwa almost coughs up the lump in his throat and shakes his head. “No, thank you, Yeosang.”

Yeosang nods his head and leaves him be. A cold shadow follows the divine as Seonghwa watches him go.

Yeosang heads to the other side of the room and sits beneath a silver canopy. Crossing one leg over another, he quietly observes the other angels.

An unsettling thought creeps into the back of his mind. He needs his own drink.

taglist: @bikerjongho × @lavishloving

× silverdune (ave). do not repost. ×

[boinkingbattlemechs]

Blackjack

The Blackjack was designed by General Motors in the decades before the fall of the Star League, as seditious revolutionaries began popping up while the League's authority was eroding, mainly in the Periphery. In 2757, to combat the increasing threats of the separatists, the League contracted for a medium BattleMech to be built with anti-insurgency and fire-support capabilities. General Motors' original prototype was equipped with a large fusion engine supplying increased speed and endurance and flamer weapons, but these were eventually replaced with more reliable autocannons and a smaller engine supported by jump jets. The final production model met all of the production requirements and by all accounts was destined to be regarded as a good, reliable 'Mech.

General Motors was blindsided by the bad press the Blackjack received upon its introduction. Chief among its critics was the charge that the StarGuard II armor was brittle and tended to fall off, and that its footpads were too narrow and made it susceptible to falling. None of these claims were ever substantiated, but the damage was already done, and as a result the Blackjack quickly fell out of favor and only spent a few years in service to the Star League. It wasn't long before production was halted altogether and those still in service were either given to Terran Hegemony militia units or sold off to the Member States. When the Star League was eventually dissolved and the Succession Wars began, few shed a tear as the Blackjack production line on Kathil was destroyed in 2796.

While all the Successor States had Blackjacks the majority ended up with the Capellan Confederation and Federated Suns, and all but the Suns largely abandoned the design based on its reputation. Tinkering with the 'Mech, Davion techs soon discovered that the reputed claims about the Blackjack's flaws were without foundation, although it was still largely relegated to the March Militias. It wouldn't be until 3022 that the myth received its first mortal wound on Xhosa VII; in battle for control of the planet the infamous Tai-i Mercer Ravannion attempted to test his "Horde" tactic against the local Davion garrison. Led by New Avalon Institute of Science cadet Michael Ubodo, the garrison's Blackjacks took the brunt of the Kuritan attack, destroying wave after wave of light 'Mechs attempting to overwhelm their position, and earned great honor for their successful defense.

The Blackjack carries a 40mm Whirlwind-L AC/2 in either arm for long range, direct fire support. While these autocannons provide excellent reach and were sufficient for combating mostly non-'Mech insurgents, they lacked the firepower to deal with well-armored targets. Both weapons are fed from a single ton of ammo located within the center torso. For close combat, the Blackjack has four Intek medium lasers, one in each arm and both the left and right sides of the torso. These lasers, when combined with its maneuverability, make the 'Mech very dangerous and an entire lance or company of Blackjacks can lay down impressive firepower.

Four Whitworth Jetlift jump jets in either leg give the Blackjack a jumping distance of 120 meters. These were added late in the design's development, compensation for using the GM 180 fusion engine which was smaller than in the original. Finally, eight and a half tons of armor protect the Blackjack while eleven single heat sinks keep it cool during combat.

[ploppythespaceship]

Doctor Who Series 14 / Season 1 Review

Man, it feels good to be enjoying Doctor Who again. I haven't been keeping up with the show in years, but I caught up to see Tennant's return leading into Ncuti's run and I am so glad I did. This season is far from perfect, but it gets a lot of little things right and is consistently fun to watch, even if a lot of the details fall apart.

What I Liked

Ncuti Gatwa is simply phenomenal. He settles into the role so quickly and so easily, bringing such a fresh energy to the character. I love how distinct he feels, too -- when you're playing the fifteenth iteration of a character, it can be hard to find a new spin on things, but he's done it. He's also a fantastic actor, getting to show an incredibly wide range in just a few short episodes. I truly think he'll be remembered as one of the best Doctors.

Millie Gibson is also very good as Ruby, and her dynamic with the Doctor is a lot of fun. I appreciate having another Doctor/companion relationship that isn't romantic. They're just best friends, and it's very cute.

The show looks great. It's very clear that they've had a budget increase -- the costumes, effects, etc. are noticeably improved since RTD's first run.

Murray Gold's return as the composer is extremely welcome. His stuff isn't quite as bombastic as before (or maybe the episodes just have better sound mixing), but keeps a lot of the same leitmotifs. The result is a more subtle score that perfectly suits each scene.

Mel is so cool now. She was one of my least favorite classic companions, so seeing her worked into these storylines and feel more compelling is an unexpected delight.

What I Didn't Like

Ultimately, I think the season is just too short. Council of Geeks has an excellent YouTube video on this -- because there are only eight episodes, and a lot of them are going for bigger ideas and weirder premises, it feels like we don't really settle into a status quo.

The Doctor and Ruby's relationship also isn't as developed as much as I would like. If you pay close attention to the dialogue, there's actually a six month gap between "Space Babies" and "The Devil's Chord" -- we could have used another episode or two in that time period to really flesh out the beginnings of their friendship better. Instead the show jumps straight to them being best friends, without really showing us why that is.

I don't think the mystery box format of this season really worked. The mysteries were built up to such an extent that no answer could really be satisfying, and the finale really almost entirely on the big reveals that ultimately didn't amount to much. Ruby in particular feels like an underbaked companion, and I hope she gets more time to get properly developed.

Individual Episode Thoughts

Space Babies — This is easily the weakest episode of the season. It's not bad by any means, but it does remind me of some of the sillier episodes of RTD's first run. It felt like we were speedrunning the companion introduction, when things could have been slowed down and spread across a few episodes to feel more natural. The baby VFX also do not work and fall very firmly into uncanny valley territory.

The Devil's Chord — This one makes very little sense, but is entirely saved by Jinkx Monsoon being so iconic as Maestro. If you just go along for the ride, it's a ton of fun.

Boom — This episode is proof that Steven Moffat truly is at his best when he's writing self-contained stories under someone else's guidance. I don't think it's as iconic as Moffat's previous stories, and I felt like Ncuti was getting a lot of dialogue that better suited Matt Smith, but the entire concept was interesting and the execution was solid. Also, Ncuti acted his ass off without even being able to move.

73 Yards — Honestly, I'm mixed on this one. The setup is fantastic and eerie, and I enjoy the exploration of Ruby's character, solo from the Doctor. I like her experiencing this inexplicable thing, and deciding to find purpose in it to help others. But the story does fall apart for me at the end when it doesn't explain anything. I don't need every single thing handed to me, I understand the value of leaving things to the imagination, but the fact that the episode's last impression is "wait what?" does leave a bit of a sour taste. That being said, I do respect how weird and different this episode is, and how much discussion it prompted afterward.

Dot and Bubble — The trailers looked like a Black Mirror ripoff, and I was prepared for a shallow "social media bad" episode. Instead, we got something far more nuanced about the dangers of trapping yourself in a bubble of like-minded people and refusing to ever look beyond it. And the ending reveal that it's a society of white supremacists is so, so well-handled, because all the clues were there for you. If you're like me and didn't piece it together until the very end, it really challenges you to ask yourself why you didn't notice sooner. Also, another episode where Ncuti acts his ass off. My personal favorite episode of the season.

Rogue — Another with mixed feelings. Rogue himself is tons of fun, and I enjoy his dynamic with the Doctor, even if parts of it are pretty rushed. I really hope he comes back. The episode plot itself is serviceable but nothing special. My main complaint is the severe lack of Ruby. Her relationship with the Doctor doesn't feel sufficiently established, so the emotional beats don't really land.

The Legend of Ruby Sunday — This was an underwhelming finale, unfortunately. The first part barely even qualifies as an episode. It launches right into starting to answer the season's mysteries, but does so in an uncompelling and heavy-handed way. The Sutekh reveal is pretty epic in isolation, but...

Empire of Death — The Sutekh reveal doesn't really lead to anything satisfying. He doesn't have the presence of Toymaker or Maestro, he's just a CGI dog monster. This second part finally answers some questions, some of which are vaguely interesting, but it's happening in a plot so dull and so dry that I just can't bring myself to care. The episode is also just confusing? The plot points don't seem to flow naturally together, like multiple stories were smashed together with little rhyme or reason. The resolution is some of the most nonsensical nonsense that Doctor Who has ever come up with. Then we get to the reveal of Ruby's mother, which is so forced and it becomes clear in retrospect that things were added to seem more mysterious than they really were. And capping it all off is the Doctor's farewell to Ruby, which falls flat because, as I've said, their relationship is rather undercooked. It really does end the season on a downer, which is a shame because so many of the preceding episodes were pretty good.

[idesofrevolution]

Tranquility

The following is the final transcript from Dr. Harold Ferrier in Trial 151 of the Tranquility Experiment. No further trials were conducted. This document is classified, destroy after reading.

——

DAY 1 - 10:25 AM

Dr. Ferrier: “Alright. Subject 151, government name is Logan Marquette. Subject is 47 years of age, height of 5’2, weighing in at just over 253 pounds. Acquired from official test subject pool in Louisiana. According to intake documentation, the subject suffers from acute social anxiety, body dysmorphia, erectile dysfunction, and low testosterone. Upon introduction, Mr. Marquette expressed mild reservations in partaking in the experiment, but had signed the agreement. He now understands his legal obligation. How are we doing today, Mr. Marquette?”

P151: “When are we going to start the experiment, doctor? It won’t take long, will it?”

DF: “No, Mr. Marquette. This is going to be a quick and painless observational study. We are studying the effects of cannabis on musical creativity. Thus, as outlined in the experiment summary, we are going to to administer the stimulus in smoke form.”

P151: “Okay. Fine. I haven’t smoked anything since my college years. That wont be a problem, will it?”

DF: “No, sir. If anything that is precisely what we are looking for in a subject. Now, the cannabis is in an ashtray on the coffee table there. Please go ahead and ignite and inhale. Finish it in its entirety, and document your sensations as they occur in the questionnaire. We will see how day one goes. If you need any assistance, I will be right behind that partition.”

P151: “Wait, day one? Is this a long term commitment?”

DF: “I will bring in a copy of the agreement you signed for you to look over. Now please, let us begin.”

——

10:57 AM

DF: “I have exited the testing chamber, and left the subject to his own devices. Moderate apprehension is clear in the subjects demeanor, however, should any defiance arise, restraints will be employed and the experiment will proceed as planned.

Upon the first inhalation of strain XTQ, subject immediately shows signs of relaxation and euphoria. Logan here has reclined in the the sofa, and is slowly inhaling the drug. No signs of physical metamorphosis have materialized at this time. However, he is seemingly increasing his intake at a rapid pace. As noted in trial 112, the speed in which inhalation occurs has a strong effect on the overall changes. Consequently, for this trial, we have significantly increased the dosage and concentration of strain XTQ to observe any potential differentiation on bodily form and function. The next entry in this observational log will occur tonight at 1900 hours.”

——

7:00 PM

DF: “Good evening, Logan. How are we feeling?”

P151: “I’m doing fine, Dr. Ferrier… just fine.”

DF: “Subject exhibits decreased pace of communication and muscle movement. Have you filled out today’s questionnaire?”

P151: “Oh fuck, I forgot. I’ll get to it. I just got lost for a minute there.”

DF: “Please make sure you do, Logan. Wait, what’s this?”

P151: “What’s what? Hahah!”

DF: “First sign of physical morphology has occurred. Subject seems to have developed changes in the right arm extremities. Marginal increase in the scale of the hands and fingers, while subsequent loss in adipose tissue is evident. Logan, have you always had these tattoos?”

P151: “What? Oh wow… I don’t remember getting those… that’s… that’s weird. They look kinda cool though.”

DF: “Indeed they do. Now, Im going to go ahead and photograph this for documentation, okay Logan?”

P151: “Yeah, sure man. Do what you have to do.”

DF: “Alright, excellent. Now. Go ahead and start getting settled for the night. There’s a bed by the window over there with some sheets and a few pillows. You let the nurses know if you have any feelings of discomfort or pain during the evening. I’ll be back tomorrow to check on your progress.”

P151: “Yeah, sounds good. I’m feeling a little tired anyway. I’ll get some shut eye.”

——

9:00 PM

DF: “We are coming to a close on day one. Subject has finished their questionnaire much later than anticipated. He has expressed senses of euphoria, tingling in the limbs, and substantial sedative effects. Observations seemingly confirm this.

I am astounded at the record increase in transformative pacing. Within just two hours of the last entry, the subject has lost nearly half of body mass. Significantly increased perspiration seems to correlate with the loss of liquids in the body, though this does not explain the further loss of adipose tissue across all portions of the body. Further, the impossible manifestation of subdermal ink is both concerning and intriguing. As ink is not a biological compound, I am perplexed by its sudden appearance on his right arm. Further, upon second observation, the ink seems to have spread further up the arm onto his shoulders and neck. Potential skin sample may be taken at a later date for analysis.”

——

Day 2 - 8:45 AM

DF: “This… this is day two of Trial 151… The physics changes… they’re… impossible. A light scent of perspiration… of sweat, has lingered in the air, and the air is noticeably more humid. Will adjust environmental parameters as needed.

Uh, Logan… how… how are you feeling?”

P151: “Morning, doc. Slept like a rock last night. You wouldn’t happen to have any more of that stuff from yesterday would you?”

DF: “I do, Logan. You will get your second dosage in just a moment. But, I have to ask… do you… notice anything different? Physically?”

P151: “Huh, nah not really. I feel pretty great if I’m honest!”

DF: “Have you… looked in the mirror this morning? There is one in the corner?”

P151: “Of course I did! Sometimes I can’t look away, you know what I mean?”

DF: “You don’t notice anything strange? Nothing off compared to yesterday?”

P151: “Nope. So can we get started? I had the dopest dream last night and I wanna write down a few riffs. I bet that stuff could help me out, ya feel?”

DF: “I will have the nurse bring in your dosage for today. Just… just be sure to write down your own observations for today, okay? It’s very important.”

——

9:00 AM

DF: “Subject has… changed almost entirely over the course of the night. He has lost further weight, according to our measurements today. He now sits at 191 pounds. That’s 62 pounds of weight loss in a single night. The ink has spread across his entire body. Designs seem not to follow any geometric or biological pattern. This is impossible…

Uhm, he has also seemed to have… reversed his aging process. His heart rate is more stable, his cholesterol is completely healthy, skin elasticity seems to be on par with a man ten years his junior. Hair growth has also been stimulated both cranially and across the legs and feet. It also seems his body temperature has steadily increased, and his perspiration has stayed in tandem.

I must speak to Dr. Irving about the continuation of this trial. The second dosage has already been administered, but I have serious ethical qualms after witnessing these changes.”

——

1:59 PM:

DF: “Logan?”

P151: “Ayyyy Doc! Come over here, I gotta show you this sick fuckin tear-ass solo I wrote.”

DF: “Perhaps later, Logan… I have a few questions to ask you… Ugh… have the nurses not brought you to the showers yet?”

P151: “Haha, they’ve brought me already, man. Can’t get rid of the funk! Sorry ‘bout it if it bothers ya. I kinda like it.”

DF: “No… no, it doesn’t bother me. But if you wouldn’t mind pulling your pants up, I’d appreciate it. Logan, have you filled out your questionnaire?”

P151: “For sure, dude. It’s over on the table over there by the bed.”

DF: “I see… I couldn’t help but notice the stains on your sheets… or your underwear there.”

P151: “Hahah, I mean you know how it goes, doc. A guys gotta let some tension out every now and again. I’m sure y’all have been watching, hope you enjoyed the show.”

DF: “Logan, I actually need to talk to you about that… I am going to ask you to refrain from your… flirtatious remarks with our staff. It is distracting the nurses and research assistants.”

P151: “Can’t make any promises, bruh. But I’ll do my best. Just for you, doc.”

DF: “Alright. Please don’t wink at me, Mr. Marquette. We need to keep this a professional environment. Now, are you feeling anything different?”

P151: “Man, I can’t believe you say I came in here all shook up and stressed out all the time. This shit you been givin’ me has been working man! I feel fuckin’ great!”

DF: “That’s… that’s great, Logan. Now, the lead researcher on our team has decided… against doubts, that we should increase your dosage. I’m legally obligated to ask for your consent on this matter, but I have to tell you, Logan. I have grave concerns…”

P151: “Ayyy, chill out, doc. I’m on board with that! I might need to grab a few grams of this when I head out, haha!”

DF: “We’ll see. I need to take another photograph, just keep writing your music, okay? I’ll be back tomorrow to do another checkin.”

——

9:32 PM

DF: “Dr. Irving has denied my request to stop the experiment, despite everything I have showed her. The subject is unrecognizable from the man who entered the room yesterday morning. Nearly every physical metric of his body has been changed somehow. We are unsure if it is truly the work of strain XTQ, but I am certain of the closed nature of our experiment and the lack of extraneous factors interfering with the results.

The subject has developed a nearly insatiable libido, masturbating four times between the last check in and now. Staff has also been subjected to numerous sexual advances, both male and female, which we immediately and directly intervened. There were no signs of aggression during these encounters, as nursing staff reported feeling strongly persuaded by what they called his ‘charm.’ We suspect that heavy pheromone production in his sebaceous glands is partly to blame, as six out of seven staff members directly referenced an ‘irresistible musk’ emanating from him.

He is nearly half the age he was when he arrived. I cannot make sense of these developments, and am anxious to proceed with the experiment as outlined in Dr. Irving’s plan. A second dosage was administered today, which seems to have only further increased his euphoric demeanor and shift in personality. On his questionnaire, he’s developed deep seeded interests in subjects he’s never before attempted. He’s mentioned his favorite pastimes are skateboarding, playing guitar, writing music, and… in more appropriate terms, organizing polyamorous activities.

I am unsure as to how much longer we can ethically work on this project. The complete overwrite of one’s persona is too far a risk for the general population.”

——

Day 3: 10:12 AM

DF: “Good morning, Loga… oh… oh my god.”

P151: “Whassup, doc. Happy to see me? Hah!”

DF: “Logan… I can’t continue with this project. Look at you! You’re over six feet tall. Your face is completely different. Your hair color is different, your eye color is different, your feet barely fit in those socks anymore!”

P151: “Hahah, you checkin me out, doc? You like what you see?”

DF: “Put your arms down, Logan. Stop flexing and listen to me. We need to stop these trials. You have become someone entirely contrary from who you were when you came here. I mean you look 27 years old for god’s sake!”

P151: “Babe, calm the fuck down. Let’s say I am different from when I walked in. You said I was all fucked up. Anxious, stressed, unhealthy, tired… isn’t this so much better than before?”

DF: “I…”

P151: “Why the fuck would I wanna go back to that, babe? I’m havin the time of my fuckin’ life. Bangin’ all the hourlies, smoking the good shit, jamming out, writing my good fuckin music. Dude, I’m as good as it can get!”

DF: “No, wait! Logan, give me the recorder back. Wait! Don’t touch me! Mmmph!!”

P151: “There, on your knees, babe. You need to chill the fuck out. Put your face on my bulge, man. Sniff it. Let it all in. You remember Matty the nurse, right doc? Yeah I bet you remember his tight sexy ass. Right after we plowed eachother all last night he slipped me another one of your j’s. I think it’s about time you took some of your own medicine, babe.”

DF: “Logan! Ugh… please… it smells so… buttery. And… salty… and musky…”

P151: “Here, doc. This one is for you. It’s already rollin’. There ya go. Just breathe it in. Just like that. Yeahhhh. See, man? It feels so fuckin’ good right?”

DF: “I… yeah. It does… I… I want…”

P151: “Take ‘em off. He’s dripping and waiting for that mouth of yours. Ahhh fuck.”

DF: *slurp* *slurp* *gag*

P151: “Fuuuuuuuuck babe. Yeahhhhh. You’re a fuckin keeper, babe. Here, lemme just snap a lil something for later. Ugh, fuck that tongue is good.”

P151: “Fuck yeah babe. We gon get you stoned as fuck. You’ll end up like me. Free, sexy, chill… we can hang, and jam, and fuck, and skate, and shred… ohhh fuck. Yeah, babe. This is gonna be fuckin’ sick.”

——

Day 9: 11:59 AM

Dr. Irving: “It is now day nine of trial 151 of strain XTQ. I am meeting with Dr. Ferrier on his lack of updates since day 3. I’m not pleased with his insubordination since that day. I am worried he has shut down the experiment prematurely. He is even now late to the meeting.”

*door opens*

DF: “Yo, Jenny! How’s it going?”

DI: “Uhm, Im sorry, who are you? How did you get in here? Dressed like that? Where is your shirt?

DF: “Hah, it’s me! Harry! I know you haven’t forgotten me!”

DI: “Harold? Harold Ferrier?”

DF: “You know it! What did you wanna see me about, boss lady?”

DI: “What on earth are you talking about? You’re not Harold Ferrier.”

DF: “You’re tripping, Jenny. And ya didn’t even share, what the fuck? Hah! Ayyy, Logan! Come meet Jenny!”

DI: “Who… wait… no. The subject… you can’t be…”

——

END OF RECORDING.

Last known photo of Dr. Harold Ferrier. Must be located and contained with Subject 151 at all costs.

[space-spring]

Re: this post I reblogged earlier, back in like 2020 I was thinking a ton about healing magic in fe3h for reasons I can't remember, and I ended up writing a canon-ish "textbook" like the kind of text you would find in-game in the Garreg Mach/Abyss libraries. Disclaimer that I'm not actually sure this is 100% lore accurate—I remember doing some research at the time I wrote it and I just now did a quick fact check, but it's been a hot second since I actually played the game so some of it might be a little off

Applications of Faith: An Analysis of Healing White Magic

Lecture II, A Healer's Limits

In the previous lecture, the benefits and basis of healing by faith were explored. While these serve as an excellent introduction to the topic of healing in white magic, it is perhaps more important for one to understand the limitations of the field. As a healer, understanding the measure of your abilities is an integral part of triage and emergency scenarios (for further examples and information, please refer to Lecture III, Ethics in Healing).

— Samuel von Hevring

-

Limitation 1: The potency of one’s white magic is directly related to one’s magical stamina.

For the ease of the reader, magical stamina is defined in this lecture as one’s relative ability to cast spells, just as one's physical stamina is related to their ability to accomplish feats of strength or endurance. It is the first and most vital limitation of white magic, and it is important to recognize and work to improve one’s magical stamina as much as possible.

Building up a healthy level of stamina in regards to casting is pivotal to increasing the number of spells that can be cast within a certain amount of time. However, magical stamina is also the defining factor responsible for the potency of any spells you may cast. A more experienced healer will find that their spells are able to heal broken bones in the time it takes an apprentice to mend a scraped knee.

For more information on magical stamina and the related biological processes specific to faith magic, please refer to Lecture V, Magic and Physicality. Another valuable resource is Verity von Essar's renowned "Crests and Other Magical Systems", though it favors reason magic in subject.

-

Limitation 2: A spell can only be cast as often as a healer's magical stamina allows.

As discussed above, this rule is heavily dependent upon magical stamina, and will be almost exclusively relevant to lower-level mages. However, that hardly means experienced white magic users should ignore it completely. It can occasionally be an obstacle to even the most talented priests, usually in the context of military affairs, natural disasters, or in other situations where a great number of people are injured over a short amount of time.

You will often not realize the extent of your cast limit until you hit it. This situation is frightening for most healers. Andrey von Hevring once described it as “seeing a drowning man in the water and reaching out your hand … only to suddenly realize you’d long since lost your whole arm.”

In these situations, remaining calm is pivotal. If you have other healing spells available, utilize them. If not, you will have no choice but to wait until your magical stamina returns. Many mages are tempted to continue forcing themselves—after all, a delayed healing can lead to permanent scarring or death. This will do nothing but waste your time and already depleted strength. Accept this limitation, and return to your work only when you are fully rested and able to do so.

-

Limitation 3: Healers can only learn spells they are predisposed to.

While the reasons behind this are currently unknown, mages are unable to learn more than a certain set of white magic spells. Nearly anyone can learn to Heal, but when it comes to Restore or Physic, you may find that you struggle to learn one or the other. This is true not only for healing spells, but also for other white magic such as Warp, Rescue, and Silence. Some theorize that the predisposition for certain spells is based on one’s hereditary lines, while others maintain that it is a matter of natural temperament.

-

Limitation 4: The range of white magic is absolute.

For many village healers, range will not be a significant issue in your day-to-day practice, and as such, many priests are unaware of their own limits in this regard. However, there are occasionally situations in which a patient will be trapped somewhere that the physician cannot reach, or will be injured seriously enough that a Physic or other long range spell is necessary to provide immediate life-saving care. In moments such as these, understanding your white magic’s range can be the difference between life and death.

Range cannot be increased on short notice. There are no artificial means of extending range save a single Hero’s Relic, known as the Staff of Thyrsus (for more information, refer to Lecture IX: Tools of the Trade). Certain specialized clerics, after years of practicing their trade, sometimes find that their range has extended some small amount. This is believed to be a result of increased magical stamina (see Limitation 1).

-

Limitation 5: White magic cannot heal disease or natural-born infirmities.

While white magic is extremely useful in mending wounds and recouping lost blood, it does little to combat even the most common of illnesses. Tradition explains this by way of the Goddess—since disease is inflicted by her, she is naturally disinclined to provide man with the supernatural power to combat it. This stands in contrast to wounds, which are inflicted by man and are therefore, in the Goddess’s mercy, allowed to be healed by them as well.

Recent studies by Marie Helena Conrad of the Kingdom's School of Sorcery indicate that healing can even exacerbate illness, especially in cases where infection or contagious disease are concerned. Many devout followers of the Goddess, including Marie Helena Conrad, have anecdotally reported that this occurs more often when the infection has already taken root in the blood, and indicates that there is little hope of recovery.

It should be noted that this limitation excludes illnesses caused by certain poisons and toxins—while it seems a technicality, poison-related illness can usually be healed by a well-cast Restore.

-

Limitation 6: One cannot heal oneself.

With some few exceptions, healers cannot heal themselves (it should be noted that the use of Nosferatu is not considered a healing spell in this series due to its highly dubious ethical status). This limitation of self-healing can become a serious issue in the smaller communities of Fodlan, where healers are few and far between. If a town’s healer is injured, there is little other recourse but to send as quickly as possible for the next town’s healer. This is often described as being one of the most unexpected limitations of healing with white magic, and has been the direct and tragic cause of many upstanding healers’ deaths.

-

Limitation 7: Healing must be performed at a reasonable speed.

The time it takes to heal with white magic is noted to be one of the most dangerous and frustrating limits of this field. Healing small injuries (such as a scraped knee or bruised jaw) will take little more than several seconds for most practiced healers, but more serious cuts can take up to thirty minutes to fully close. During this time, the patient will be in danger of losing more blood than the healing is replacing, so in such cases, it is recommended that several healers be brought in to assist with the process.

Other examples of injuries notably affected by this limitation are frostbite and burns. While small burns and areas of damaged skin can be treated relatively quickly, larger ones are more difficult to work with due to the skin’s temperature. While the healing will repair damaged skin, it will not normalize the skin’s temperature, and as such, the process may be considerably lengthened if the heat or cold has seeped into deeper levels of the skin. Healing in these cases can be an extremely long and painful process, and it is highly recommended that the healer find some way to control the patient's temperature while healing.

For more information on healing over greater periods of time, please refer to Lecture XIII, Long-Term Injuries.

-

Limitation 8: White magic cannot bring back the dead.

This, perhaps, goes without saying, but for the sake of completion this list will include it. White magic can sometimes close the wounds on a recent corpse, but it cannot return the soul that has departed. The point of death, however, is sometimes debated. In general, it is agreed among respected scholars that healing can benefit the injured up to five minutes after their last breath or last heartbeat.

It should be warned that life and death are the Goddess’ domain—healers should not desire to meddle in it.

[beautiful-basque-country]

Basque apologia and basquephobia in Spain, a short history.

In a debate that lasted from the 16th century to the first third of the 20th century, the arguments for and against Basque were based on the inherent essence of the language; that is, whether or not the Basque language had its own unique talents and/or potential excellence.

The basquephobes of those times tried to underestimate and despise Basque, thus trying to get citizens and Basque speakers to leave it aside. And at the same time they sought to legitimize and increase the prohibition, harassment, oppression and punishment of Basque with the argument that it was inherently a defective or imperfect language; that it was the language of the backward, and that it had no capacity for modern life or to be written.

Sabino Arana and Miguel de Unamuno could be cited as the most famous representatives of the apologists and basquephobes; Arana, in the role of apologist, stated that Basque had no need to borrow from other languages. On the other hand, Unamuno defended that Basque could not acquire a modern lexicon or means of expression. Arana's attitude was retrograde and false; but Unamuno's attitude was even more retrograde and unscientific.

Since the middle of the 20th century, however, basquephobes sought to prevent the literary standard of Basque, reduce the introduction of Basque in all educational levels and, in particular, degrade the level of co-official status of the Basque language. Unfortunately, when the Basque Statute and the Amendment were negotiated, co-official status was not recognized as the equality of the two languages: Spanish was placed above Basque, and that is an unjust oppression, even though it is constitutionalized, legalized and sentenced.

In those days, at UPN [right party Unión del Pueblo Navarro] rallies, they would show a Basque speaker that said: "If I take my son to the doctor, what do I want? That the doctor speaks to him in Basque or that they cures him?" But how can it not be necessary for the doctor to be able to talk to the patient? The purpose of this argument was simply to eliminate or reduce the social, economic and cultural value of Basque. Even in 1977, Spanish President Adolfo Suárez still continued the basquephobic rhetoric with the ridiculous claim that quantum physics could not be taught in Basque.

Fortunately, Basque - like other modern languages - has proven to be a suitable subject and tool for the development of modern science, culture and research.

Basque does not need apologists, but it does not deserve to be attacked either.

Full article

[canadian-car-shipping]

Exploring The History And Success Of A Canadian Car Company

Buckle up, gearheads! Today, we are revving our engines and taking a thrilling ride through the fascinating history and remarkable success of a Canadian car company that has left an indelible mark on the automotive industry. From its humble beginnings to conquering international markets, this company's journey is awe-inspiring. So, fasten your seatbelts as we dive into the exhilarating world of innovation, challenges, triumphs, and everything in between!

Impact On The Canadian Automotive Industry

Established decades ago, the Canadian car company has played a pivotal role in shaping and driving the automotive landscape within Canada. Its presence has bolstered the economy and fostered a sense of national pride in producing quality vehicles on home soil. The company's commitment to innovation and excellence has set new standards for the industry, inspiring others to push boundaries and strive for greatness.

This company has become an integral part of Canada's automotive sector by providing jobs, investing in research and development, and supporting local suppliers. Its impact ripples through various communities across the country, creating opportunities for growth and advancement. As a beacon of success in a competitive market, this Canadian car company continues to pave the way for future automakers to follow suit.

Expansion Into International Markets

The Canadian Car Company's expansion into international markets marked a significant milestone in its history. It opened up new opportunities for growth and global recognition, and by venturing beyond national borders, the company showcased its ability to compete globally.

With a strategic approach, the Canadian Car Company penetrated various international markets, adapting to different cultural preferences and regulations. This adaptability was crucial in establishing a strong presence in diverse regions worldwide.

The Canadian Car Company successfully introduced its vehicles to consumers worldwide through partnerships and collaborations with local distributors and dealerships. This approach not only boosted sales but also solidified the brand's reputation on an international level.

Expanding into international markets allowed the Canadian Car Company to showcase its commitment to innovation and quality across borders. The company's dedication to excellence resonated with customers globally, increasing demand for its vehicles.

Key Innovations And Technological Advancements

One key factor contributing to the success of this Canadian car company is its continuous focus on innovations and technological advancements. From the early days of manufacturing vehicles, they have strived to stay ahead of the curve by integrating cutting-edge technology into their designs. This commitment has allowed them to meet evolving consumer demands and set new industry standards.

The company's investment in research and development has led to breakthroughs in fuel efficiency, safety features, and overall performance. By harnessing the power of innovation, they have created cars that are not only reliable but also environmentally friendly. These advancements have positioned them as a leader in sustainable transportation solutions.

Moreover, this Canadian car company has incorporated advanced software and connectivity options into its vehicles through strategic partnerships with tech companies and suppliers. This forward-thinking approach has created smart cars that offer customers a seamless driving experience.

By staying at the forefront of technological progress, this Canadian car company continues to push boundaries and shape the future of automotive engineering.

Success Stories And Notable Achievements

One of the most renowned success stories in Canadian Car Company's history is its groundbreaking introduction of electric vehicles to the market. This bold move not only revolutionized the industry but also solidified the company's position as a forward-thinking and environmentally conscious automaker.

In addition, the company's commitment to innovation has led to numerous accolades and awards for its cutting-edge designs and advanced technology integration. Its dedication to pushing boundaries and setting new standards has earned it a loyal customer base around the globe.

Furthermore, their strategic partnerships with key players in the automotive sector have paved the way for collaborative projects that have further enhanced their brand reputation. These successful collaborations have resulted in mutually beneficial outcomes for all parties involved, showcasing Canadian Car Company's ability to thrive in competitive environments.

These notable achievements are testaments to the Canadian Car Company's unwavering commitment to excellence and continuous growth in the automotive industry.

Challenges faced by the company

Navigating the competitive landscape of the automotive industry, the Canadian Car Company has faced its fair share of challenges. From economic downturns to shifts in consumer preferences, staying ahead of the curve requires continuous innovation and adaptability.

One significant challenge has been balancing sustainability with performance in an environmentally conscious market. As regulations tighten, the company continues to address the delicate balance between investing in eco-friendly technologies and maintaining high-quality standards.

Moreover, global supply chain disruptions and fluctuating raw material costs have posed logistical hurdles for production and distribution. Finding efficient solutions to minimize delays and optimize operations remains a top priority for sustained growth.

Despite these obstacles, the Canadian Car Company's commitment to excellence and resilience has propelled it forward. By embracing change, fostering creativity, and prioritizing customer satisfaction, this iconic brand continues to make waves domestically and internationally.

As we reflect on its journey through history filled with achievements, innovations, and challenges, overcome, one thing is clear - the legacy of this Canadian car company will undoubtedly continue shaping the future of automotive excellence for years to come.

[starsailores]

rereading licanius, and i don't think i will ever be able to get over the prologue. obviously it stands out as an excellent introduction on your first read - it sets the tone for the rest of the series, and generates a lot of intrigue and angst in only three pages - but the pain hidden between every line comes through so clearly when you already know how the series ends. 'this time, i go where aarkein devaed cannot follow', as well as being subtle foreshadowing, is absolutely agonising when you know the extent of tal's regrets, and the pain only increases with his reaction to the mention of 'davian'. he knew what that man would mean to him, and he believed that he had already killed him. but he forces himself to enter the unknown so that he can finally make it right.

there is so much regret in three pages, and it gives you such a good insight into caeden's character and thought process that you can only really appreciate with hindsight. not to mention the way that book three ends with the very death that shammaeloth references at the beginning of book one. you restart the trilogy where it ends. i may cry

[solalunar-eclipse]

Sonic Boom - S3E18

Chapter title: Co-op Mode

Summary: Nominatus returns, team-building ensues, and the author jams as many references into a single chapter as possible.

AO3 Link

First | Previous | Next

[Episode opens on our six heroes all gathered together in Tails’s house. Sonic and Amy are playing a fighting game, while the other four watch from various positions around the room.] 

“You’re up against a champion of Ultimate Smackdown Siblings, Amy, so get ready to get smacked down!” Sonic cried, pressing buttons on his controller as quickly as he could.

“Psh. Please!” Amy scoffed, rolling her eyes. “You’re just button-mashing! It takes a master of strategy to win this game.” With that, she dealt Sonic’s character a particularly brutal combo, prompting a chorus of “Ooh”s from Tails and Sticks. 

“Excellent move.” Shadow commented, currently leaning against the back of the couch. Sonic pouted in protest, somehow managing to direct his expression towards Shadow despite never allowing his eyes to leave the screen.

“Aw, come on, why’re you siding with Amy?” he protested, his voice pitching up into whining indignance. “I thought you said you were gonna be a neutral party!”

“I am,” Shadow maintained a tone somewhere between infuriatingly calm and effortlessly smug—somehow both an improvement from and yet also worse than the tone that had so easily aggravated Sonic back when they were rivals. “I’m just enjoying the entertainment, no matter whose side it comes from.”

Unfortunately for Sonic, he was just distracted enough by this opportunity for some of their usual banter that he didn’t see Amy’s Terminal Smack activating…and then was promptly forced to watch as his character got blown across the screen and disintegrated in a blast of light.

“No!” he wailed, sliding off the couch and onto his knees. “How could this be? Betrayed, by my very own friend!”

Shadow hid a far-too-fond smile at being called Sonic’s friend. Thankfully for his pride, the hedgehog was far too caught up in his own lamentations to notice…but both of them were soon interrupted when the TV screen began to crackle with static.

“Tails, what’s going on?” Amy leaned forward to eye the screen suspiciously, her hands opening and closing in preparation to summon her hammer.

Before the fox could speak up, the connection suddenly resolved, revealing a black-and-red demon with four horns and an arrow on his forehead. 

“Nominatus?!” Tails cried. “I thought you were trapped in Eggman’s lab!”

The demon folded his arms, scowling out from the screen. “What, you assumed I’d just stay there once my episode feature ended? As if! That man was far too busy with his robots to pay attention to us, so it was almost insultingly easy to escape.”

Shadow had been watching the entire scene with increasing confusion, and took this opportunity to speak up. “Who is this, exactly?”

“Oh, he’s just some sort of evil computer guy!” Knuckles explained.

“Just—wh—” Nominatus sputtered. “I am not ‘some sort of evil computer guy’! I am Nominatus! Viral sensation! Trending on every platform where there are trends to be had!”

Sonic and Tails shared an extremely skeptical Look, and that was the final straw. “You think you can mock me, hm? Well then! I’ve faced you twice in your own realm, but no more fooling around!” the demon barked. “This time…you’re coming to me.”

And with that, he snapped his fingers, causing everyone to vanish into thin air.

The controller that Amy had been holding clattered to the floor as the television shut off abruptly, its screen cutting to black. The house was eerily silent, every hint of life within its walls having been rudely blinked out of existence.

…and then the energetic music of the introduction kicked in, utterly shattering the mood.

[The intro sequence goes off without a hitch…but this time, the characters are drawn in pixel art for their signature poses, with an 8-bit version of the theme tune to boot. Otherwise, the individual character introductions and team shot all stay the same.]

[Nominatus takes the villain position this time, tossing various ‘like button’ symbols  back and forth between his hands in a manner reminiscent of a certain ‘bad ending’ from a specific game released back in 1991.]

[The intro then continues on, before ending with the title of this week’s episode.]

In a blinding flash of light, the six heroes appeared in a white shopping mall filled with neon store signs and decorations everywhere. Above, an unmistakably vaporwave—inspired purple sky, complete with pink-yellow sun, was visible through the glass ceiling. 

Each of them also carried their own personalized weapon, styled in silver with neon accents in their specific color. Amy had her usual hammer, while Sticks held a high-tech bow and arrow. Knuckles wore reinforcements for his hands (and a pair of angular blue sunglasses atop his head, for some reason), and Tails carried—of all the things—dual handguns. Sonic, of course, had a one-handed sword, which was currently attached to a white belt around his waist. Shadow, on the other hand, had an odd sort of pole with an octagon and the word “STOP” at one end strapped to his back, which he immediately removed and stared at with a distinct amount of bewilderment.

Just as the six of them had finished recovering from the shock of being in a totally new world, a projection of Nominatus appeared in front of them. “Welcome to the Mall of Metalloid Madness!” he announced, proudly spreading his arms wide. “This is the lobby for a new game I’ve invented called…the Labyrinth Zone!” 

(Curiously, while no one else reacted to this, Sonic shivered for reasons even he couldn’t quite explain.)

“Once you all declare you’re ready, you’ll be dropped in teams of two into my carefully constructed labyrinth! It’s your job to find your way out without using all three of your lives, or else…” The demon smiled wickedly. “You’ll lose a lot more than just the game.”

“And what if we don’t want to?” Tails gave him a look so flat it could’ve had a job as a cardboard cutout. “What if we just find you and blast you until you put us back?”

Nominatus frowned. “Well, you wouldn’t want to disappoint my millions of followers, would you?”

Nobody said even a single word of agreement. The crickets remained silent in solidarity.

The demon sighed. “Fine, then, if you don’t do it I’ll never let you go and your island will fall prey to my inevitable conquering forces, blah blah blah, you know the rest.”

Sonic sighed unhappily. “Okay, guys, I guess we gotta do this.”

Tails shrugged. “At least I’ll probably get to blow some stuff up.”

“Nice positive thinking…I suppose?” Amy said hesitantly, but with a faintly resigned smile. 

Nominatus perked up considerably at this, regaining his previous energy. “Well then, when you’re ready to proceed, press the button with your color.” Behind him, six pedestals rose from the ground, each with a lit-up button on top in blue, yellow, red, pink, orange, and black.

Before he could switch off his hologram, the team rushed directly through him, making him glitch out and yell after them, “Hey! Show some respect for the villain who’s holding you hostage, maybe?!”

Of course, none of them did this, instead opting to all hit their buttons (Knuckles even doing so with such force that the pedestal nearly crumpled). Instantly, they all vanished in a burst of light, teleporting into the referentially named Labyrinth Zone.

[We cut to Sonic and Amy, who are together in the maze.] 

“Huh.” Sonic muttered, taking in his surroundings. They largely consisted of tall, black-and-grey gradient walls, contrasting with a blinding white sky.

“It seems like we really do get to work in pairs—that’s nice, at least!” Amy said brightly. 

Sonic shot her a grin paired with a thumbs-up. “Sure is! You mind whacking me up high so I can get a good look at the layout, Ames?”

She pulled out her hammer, but then hesitated, squinting upwards. “Hold on a minute, let me try something first.” Abruptly, she hurled her hammer straight up…only for it to smash into a force field right above the walls and crash right back down.

“Ah.” Sonic stared upwards. “Thanks for saving me…a lot of broken bones, apparently.”

“I wouldn’t want to mess up your handsome face, now would I?” Amy asked, in a manner that was only half joking.

The hero abruptly choked on his spit and began coughing vigorously, before stumbling after Amy as she walked forward to enter the maze. “Hey hey hey, you’re not supposed to be the one who’s leaving me behind!”

The two of them rounded the corner and came face-to-face with a series of platforms and badniks (obviously just Nominatus-themed recolors of Eggman robots), an obstacle that was more than manageable. Sonic tore through the high route immediately, bouncing between badniks like the showboater he was. Meanwhile, Amy trawled the lower route at an admittedly slower speed, with the trade-off being that not a single robot escaped her wrath.

As she progressed onward, she found herself having to dodge several spike traps, before leaping onto a moving platform. Unlike her speedy friend, she preferred to handle these platforms with care, making sure she knew exactly when they’d be closest before using her hammer to launch herself into the air for a bit of extra leeway. 

Amy jumped to another platform, this one moving up and down instead of side to side. Carefully, she focused on the feeling of it climbing beneath her feet, until—“Hyah!”—she slammed her hammer down just as it stopped its ascent. 

Astoundingly, her hammer launched her into the air, complete with a spray of hearts where she had previously stood. So we get bonuses for perfect moves. Noted. she thought to herself, quite pleased, even as she stuck the landing.

The pink hedgehog scanned the sky for her friend, watching as he revved up a spindash and launched himself across a particularly massive gap ahead of her. She hesitated to say this too often, lest it become ego-stroking instead of a compliment, but his speed really was quite impressive—

—at which point she watched in horror as his jump fell just ever so slightly short—

—and he slammed into the edge of the other side, uncurling in shock just in time to plummet into the pit below.

Amy raced forward, heedless of the careful tactics she’d previously used as she skidded to a stop, throwing herself to her hands and knees by the void below. The darkness seemed endless, with no speck of blue to be found in sight.

“SONIC!!”

xxx

Tails and Knuckles blinked into existence next to each other, looking around themselves in surprise. “Hey Tails!” the echidna cheered, waving happily at his friend. “I’m glad we got put together.”

Tails beamed up at him. “I’m glad too! Between the two of us, we should be able to get through this place no problem!”

They fist-bumped lightly, Knuckles taking care not to break his friend’s hand in the process. “So, where do we start?”

Tails frowned, staring up at the sky. “I think I see a distortion up there…maybe there’s some kind of invisible ceiling keeping me from flying? Let me check…”

The fox flew carefully upwards to the top of the wall, reaching out a single finger to touch the force field above—

—and promptly exploded.

“Tails?!” Knuckles yelped, stumbling forward and staring upwards wildly, as though his friend would reappear at any moment.

As a matter of fact, Tails did reappear right next to Knuckles, with a sound straight out of a 16-bit game and several flashing invulnerability frames. A ring of repeating, glowing text surrounded his middle briefly, reading: TWO LIVES REMAINING.

“O-kay.” the engineer remarked. “No touching the weird barrier. Honestly, I probably should've used a wrench, but oh well. We get it now.”

Of course, the next room they entered then proved to contain platforms that would slowly rise towards the ceiling, before abruptly dropping back down once they had successfully crushed any occupants into the deadly force field. 

Tails instantly facepalmed, but then narrowed his eyes at the puzzle, thinking carefully. “So, we’re going to need to time this really carefully, Knuckles. It’ll be tough to get over these platforms, and we only have five lives between us. I know I’ve got my tails, but are you gonna be okay moving that quickly while also staying low so you don’t get zapped?”

“I could also stay even lower,” Knuckles remarked glibly, without any further elaboration.

“…what do you mean by that?” Tails tilted his head, his brow furrowed.

“What if we just went under the platforms?”

Tails turned to look back at the puzzle, and immediately facepalmed again.

xxx

Shadow and Sticks appeared together, in the third and final starting area of the labyrinth. 

“Fancy seeing you here.” Shadow remarked, half to himself.

“Huh?” Sticks blinked at him, clearly confused.

“It’s just a joke—obviously you were brought here with the rest of us and are now visibly partnered with me, so a comment that implies surprise is meant to be sarcastic.”

Sticks stared for another moment…and then actually snickered. “You’ve got a good sense of humor,” they said casually, as though they were discussing the weather instead of dropping a massive compliment bomb directly on Shadow’s head.

The android’s eyes immediately dropped to the floor. “Ah. Thank you.”

“Just telling the truth,” Sticks said, taking a couple of steps forward before glancing over their shoulder to see Shadow properly. “I don’t get why people bother with saying anything but what they mean.”

“I know why they do it, but I don’t necessarily enjoy it.” Shadow explained sympathetically.

While he had been speaking, Sticks had already peered suspiciously around the nearest corner to see what Nominatus had in store for them. Abruptly, their eyes widened, and they shot back around the corner as quickly as possible. “Shadow?” they said, looking over at him warily. “Can ya use this—” they held out a leather hair tie—“and tie up your quills real quick?”

“Certainly.” Shadow began to put up his quills without complaint. “I don’t doubt your judgment, but might I ask why?”

Sticks frowned. “I think you probably need to see for yourself, but I just have one other question first, while we wait for their backs to turn around again.” One of their ears twitched, signaling that they were listening to something. Indeed, when Shadow focused on his own auditory receptors, he could hear the slow, methodical pace of feet drawing nearer. Metal feet, to be exact.

“What is it?”

“The parts and schematics used to make you, they’re the only ones that exist in the world, right?” They rubbed their upper arm uncomfortably.

Shadow frowned, baring his fangs ever so slightly.“Yes. I have the only set of blueprints, and spares for almost everything. It’s enough to do patch jobs, but not enough to build another android.

“Sticks…what exactly did you see?” 

“Something that shouldn’t exist.” they muttered, their ears flicking back briefly against their head. They gestured to the corner, letting Shadow know that it was safe to take a look.

He walked up to the edge of the wall, looked around it, and saw…himself.

Copies of him.

Walking right there.

In the hallway.

xxx

Amy still knelt at the edge of the pit, staring down into the darkness. By now, she had begun to scan the interior of the abyss, searching for any type of foothold that could be used to scale its sheer sides. So far, she wasn’t having much luck, but if there was one thing that she made sure everyone knew about Amy Rose, it was that she did not quit.

Suddenly, she was startled out of her intense focus by a chiptuned sound behind her.

She whirled around, lunging forward and swinging her hammer as hard as she could at the threat—

—and blinked, wide-eyed, as it passed right through Sonic’s flashing body and the “TWO LIVES” message.

“Huh. Respawn invincibility, that’s helpful.” he remarked, before shaking his head (and rustling his quills in the process) as he came back to reality.

“Hey, wait, what was that for?! You were gonna hit me!” Sonic complained.

Amy huffed unhappily. “I thought you were down in that pit! I was just about to climb down there and look for you!”

Sonic grimaced. “Yeah, no, probably don’t do that one. I…don’t think it has a bottom.”

“…what.”

“I didn’t hit anything, I was just falling, and then all of a sudden I reappeared back here.” he explained, making Amy glance back over her shoulder and shudder.

“Alright, so how are we getting over it?” she asked.

Sonic shrugged. “I dunno, maybe you could just hit me over or something?”

“…how would I get over after doing that?” Amy gave him a decidedly unimpressed look.

“Ah. Yeah. Right.” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I could run along the wall and take you with me?”

Amy smiled confidently at him. “Now that sounds like a plan.”

“Alright, lemme just—” Sonic stretched out both of his arms, did a couple of quick side-lunges, and then shot her one of his trademark grins. “You ready?”

“Of course I am.” she said proudly, tossing her quills.

Moments later, a blue blur had grabbed her and was already racing across the wall, moving so quickly that gravity didn’t even have time to consider dragging them both down into the pit. (Gravity might have been tempted to post an incensed rant on the internet about this lack of respect for established institutions, namely laws of physics, were it capable of doing so.) Somehow, they even managed to tear back down the wall on the other side, before skidding to a stop safely on the other side of the pit.

It was at this point when Amy noticed that Sonic had taken her hand to pull her across. Coincidentally, it was also exactly this moment when Sonic realized just what he had done. He immediately pulled his hand away with such speed it’d have given her friction burn had she not worn gloves, and refused to meet her eyes.

Amy, meanwhile, smiled quietly to herself. She understood.

“So, how about we finally get out of this maze?” she asked, granting him freedom from his own internal embarrassment.

Sonic perked up immediately, his energy fully restored. “I thought you’d never ask!”

xxx

“Alright, Knuckles, are you ready for this?” Tails asked, once again. “We’ll need to move quickly under these platforms if we want to make it before they drop back down.”

“I was born ready!” the echidna insisted, cracking his knuckles and beaming confidently. “Literally—echidnas are meant to dig in enclosed spaces anyway, that’s why I’ve got these bad boys!” He dropped into a boxing stance easily, showing off the newly-reinforced spikes on his hands.

Tails smiled, shaking his head and running a hand through his bangs. “Okay, just promise me you won’t try to dig through solid steel.”

“Pinkie promise!” Knuckles replied cheerfully, holding out his hand with little finger stuck out and all.

The fox snickered, but held out his own hand and linked their fingers, as requested. Then, he turned to the platforms, flicking his tails a few times in an effort to warm them up somewhat. “All set?” he asked his friend.

Knuckles shifted into a stance that was even closer to the ground, letting more of his innate instincts take over as he prepared to power through the obstacle ahead. He flexed his fingers, curling them into fists once more, before giving Tails a thumbs-up.

Tails gave him one back (along with a smile that looked astonishingly like Sonic’s) and then, sucking in the biggest breath he could, yelled “GO!”

Immediately, Tails tore off, blasting forward and around obstacles with a speed cultivated from following his older brother around for years on end. Knuckles was no slouch himself, however, able to squeeze into unexpected places while the platforms were low from his lifetime of practice digging tunnels. His sense of direction was second to none as well, helping him avoid obstacles even when they didn’t register consciously in his mind.

He did almost try to dig once or twice in an effort to stay down, especially as the ceiling began to rise, but he thankfully remembered his promise to Tails each time and didn’t do more than push off a little awkwardly from the ground as a result. Meanwhile, the engineer had pulled out his dual pistols and was firing off shots at the platform mechanics ahead, trying to at least get one or two of them to slow down without actually compromising his own speed.

However, as they pushed themselves further along the course, the tangle of uneven machinery posed more of a threat than they would have liked. Tails struggled to maintain his top speed while dodging pistons, and Knuckles nearly got his spikes snagged on wiring a number of times.

Vaguely, out of the corner of his eye, the echidna registered some of the pistons beginning to extend to their fullest heights, even as the end was in sight, and so—

—launching himself off the ground with all fours, he hurled himself towards Tails and curled around the fox with just enough momentum to get them clear of the platforms right before they crashed down.

After a moment of silence, Knuckles uncurled, to reveal a perfectly unharmed and extremely delighted Tails. “We made it!” he cheered, holding up a hand that Knuckles had no hesitation in high-fiving right back.

[Camera gives a close shot of the high-five, before cutting to the next and final group.]

xxx

Shadow felt a prickle of cold run down his back and lodge itself right in what passed, in him, for a stomach. “Those…what are they?”

Sticks jumped on his shoulders, making him nearly overbalance and grip the corner of the wall in an effort to prevent them both attracting the attention of the things. “Fakes,” she said simply, distracting him from any ire he might have felt towards her. “They’re walking weirdly, nothing like how you do. They don’t even seem to know how to use those skates they’re wearing.”

Shadow tensed further. “They shouldn’t know much of anything, since they’re not made by the Ancients or the doctor.”

“Do ya wanna smash ‘em?” Sticks asked eagerly, but seemed to hesitate when he couldn’t think of a reply. Sure, he didn’t want them to continue existing, but it felt a little strange to smash things with his face on them…especially so soon after this little group had convinced him that maybe his face didn’t deserve to be smashed.

She hopped off his shoulders, pulling him back behind the wall. “…do you want me to smash ‘em while you wait here?”

Shadow shook his head. “I don’t want you to get hurt. I just don’t really like the thought of hitting a bunch of weird robots that someone’s made to look like me…” he muttered.

“Well, how about this? You go out there and Chaos Blast them, then just hang back and cover me!” Sticks offered, grinning in a distinctly feral manner and slamming one fist into an open palm.

“You’re okay with beating up a bunch of other Shadows?” he asked, frowning.

Sticks shook her head hard. “No, I’m okay with beating up a bunch of robot imposters trying to impersonate my friend! This is my dream!!”

[Camera shows a close-up shot of the lower part of Shadow’s face, as well as the top of his chest. His mouth has a small, yet very genuine smile.]

“Well then, let’s not waste any time, shall we?” he said, activating his skates and blazing around the corner.

“CHAOS BLAST!”

xxx

Not long after their scrape with the bottomless pit, Amy and Sonic found their way into the center of the labyrinth. Before either of them even had a chance to consider any of the other pathways, Knuckles and Tails came running out of one of them, seemingly in high spirits. It only took the two teams a second to register the sight in front of them, before the four were practically crashing into each other with excitement at finally being reunited.

They didn’t have long to wait before Shadow and Sticks arrived, moving at a much slower pace. Shadow’s legs, skates, and gloves were smeared with a strange black substance, but he was otherwise clean—in stark contrast to Sticks, who looked like they’d just been through about fifteen oil changes. There was hardly a body part that wasn’t splattered with the stuff, not to mention their bow and quiver, which were practically dripping.

“Are you alright?!” Amy cried, rushing over immediately and pulling out a spare glove in an effort to help Sticks tidy up somewhat. “Oh my goodness, what happened to you?”

Sticks, meanwhile, folded their arms triumphantly. “We fought a bunch of fake Shadows! I got most of them, but Shadow hit a lot with his Chaos Blast powers.”

Shadow sighed, nearly going to rub his face but then looking at his glove and reconsidering. “It certainly was an experience.” he muttered.

Sonic made a move towards him, but just as he did, the ground began to shake. The six heroes wobbled briefly, stabilizing each other just in time to register that the labyrinth’s center circle they stood on was actually a platform—one that was slowly rising towards the final level. But after the strangeness of the labyrinth, there was no real way for any of them to guess what might be coming next.

The platform delivered them into a dark room, marked only by a dome of red cross-hatching that gave off a faint glow. Automatically, they all grouped into a tight circle, watching each others’ backs carefully.

With a flash of light, the dome lit up around them, showing hundreds of thousands of message bubbles winking in and out of existence each moment. 

ohc nominatus streams never disappoint

stacicoot just subscribed!

GET THIS BREAD!!!

I mean, it’s not like we wanted to watch this, but nobody else could be bothered to spend any time with us…

Suddenly, Nominatus dropped from the ceiling, landing in a surprisingly striking pose as his cape billowed behind him. “Welcome…” he bellowed, “to the final boss!

“You’ve done very well so far, and I honestly do appreciate it.” he continued, striding towards the team. “It’s been a while since I had a big event, and I needed something like this to boost my ratings in the algorithm. You all definitely delivered! I haven’t had this many viewers in a while! But I’m afraid…these people certainly aren’t here to watch you win.”

He smirked. “They’re here for me. So while you may have survived this far—

“—I suspect you’re about to break that streak.”

“Oh, no way!” 

Sticks pushed to the front of the group, her teeth bared. “I just hit my personal best in ‘number of enemies defeated in solo combat’, and I plan on living to beat that another day, gamer boy!”

All five of her teammates burst into various degrees of laughter behind her at the name she’d chosen for Nominatus. Bolstered by their support, she continued: “Nobody else might want us to win, but we want us to win! And guess what? That’s enough for me!”

Around her, the others burst into cheers, drawing their cool cyber-weapons. And then, they charged.

[For the rest of the fight scene, the animation kicks up a notch. It starts with a fast circle pan around Nominatus as all of the heroes attack him in their own unique ways, from a whack that only a quick forearm block kept from hitting him in the face (complete with comical CLANG sound effect) from Shadow to an earth-shattering ground slam delivered by Knuckles. 

However, the camera then reveals that this has done absolutely nothing to significantly damage the digital demon…

Then, the team begins to work together in similar ways to what they did during their time in the labyrinth, and nearly every strike hits perfectly. Nominatus hits back with lasers and harsh swipes with his claws, now finding himself struggling to even the odds. It becomes clear quickly that teamwork, as it often proves to be, is what helps the heroes succeed in their battles.]

When he saw an opportunity left by a successful hit from Shadow and Sticks, Sonic raised his sword, dropping into a fighting stance. He shot a wink over at Amy, smirking. “Hey Ames, you ready to see my Terminal Smack?”

The hero revved up his legs, faster and faster, until they formed a figure eight—and then he shot forward, leaping into the air, and slashed his sword downwards. 

Nominatus went flying backwards, skidding across the ground. As he came to a stop, the various messages began to flicker out, one by one, becoming more sparse as time ticked by.

The demon struggled to push himself upright, his arms shaking. “No…no! Wait, chat! Chat, I can still win this! No!!”

Sonic grinned, pointing his sword down at Nominatus. “You want us to keep kicking your butt on livestream? Or are ya gonna let us go?”

“Ugh…fine!” the demon snapped. “Just go! I’ll find other ways to diversify my content!”

And with that, the world broke down around them, becoming more and more pixelated…

…until then they were back in Tails’s living room.

“Aw yeah!” Sonic cheered. “Did you guys see me with that sword? I was all like hah—hyah—” he continued, mimicking his movements from the fight moments prior.

“Yes, Sonic, we were all there. We definitely saw it.” Shadow replied, voice drier than a Meh Burger bun.

All of a sudden, the TV blinked on behind them, their game of Ultimate Sibling Smackdown still loaded. “Ready for another round?” the announcer asked, cycling through one of its preset voice lines.

All six heroes either screamed, jumped, or did some combination of the two. Tails even ended up in Knuckles’s arms.

“Uh…maybe we should hang out on the beach for a while. Far away from any video games.” the fox suggested, after an awkwardly silent moment.

The rest of the team, still in varying states of sheepishness, wholeheartedly agreed with that particular statement.

[roll credits]

[manilaxmiindustrial]

Carbon Pipe Fittings : Astm A234 WPB Pipe Fittings Manufacturers

Introduction:

ASTM A234 WPB pipe fittings, also known as carbon steel pipe fittings, have largely become standard parts in many industries. The fitting elements will be used to adapt straight pipe or tubing sections, to maintain different size or shape, and to control the rate of flow of liquids.

Always resistant to strength and versatile, ASTM A234 WPB fittings play a critical role in industries dealing with oil, gas, petrochemicals, and power generation.

What are ASTM A234 WPB Pipe Fittings?

They are used to connect pipes in shapes such as elbows, tees, reducers, and caps. The prime factors that make the use of these fittings highly prevalent are their excellent mechanical properties, like high tensile strength and resistance to corrosion. They are very important in ensuring the integrity and efficiency of piping systems across industries.

Manilaxmi Industrial also supplies Carbon ASTM Pipe Fittings around the globe.

Real-Time Advancements in Industries

Ranging from new manufacturing technologies and materials science to improved performance and reliability, these fittings have carved out a niche in use. Applications of the ASTM A234 WPB carbon steel pipe fitting have greatly improved in the industrial sector.For example, refined heat treatment processes leave behind fittings that are easier to manipulate and work under higher pressure and temperature conditions.

Besides, numerous coating and lining innovations provide improved corrosion resistance and give extended life expectancy.

Manilaxmi Industrial the Indian manufacturers, suppliers, and exporters have been among the most active adopters of these developments to ensure that the country is retained as a main supplier of quality pipe fittings in the global market.

Technology and Need in Various Countries

Demands for ASTM A234 WPB carbon steel pipe fittings are ever-increasing in the global scenario. This demand has been hastened further by the requirement of strong, efficient piping systems in the developing countries and renovated or rejuvenated ones in the developed nations.

Such as setting up power plants and oil refineries. In contrast, developed nations always require update works and servicing of already existing facilities. Equipped with state-of-the-art technology in the manufacturing process, these fittings comply with strict standards that make them very important and cardinal for maintaining efficiency and safety during industrial operations.

Conclusion

In conclusion, ASTM A234 WPB pipe fittings are the most essential material in the industrial market, possessing qualities of high durability, adaptability, and tolerance toward extreme situations. With relentless development in the manufacturing technologies, further improvements are made in their performances, making them trustworthy for different applications.

[the-real-maglev]

Theorycrafting Cassette Beasts Smogon

If you need an introduction, Smogon is a very popular competitive Pokémon community that uses its own ruleset and usage-based tiers. What I'm doing here is thinking of what the Cassette Beasts version of it would be like, mainly in rulings.

First off, unlike Smogon, the main format is best off being Doubles since that's the format the base game uses. It also seems best to balance around level 100 characters, 5 star monsters and max level relationships. Species clause (you cannot have multiple of the same monster in a team) is a definite holdover, however I'll also add that you may not have multiple of the same sticker on a monster, so no Khepri Random Starter Headshot exploit. Uncommon and Rare stickers would also be banned since those seem like a massive headache to balance around. Bootlegs get their own format since they undermine typing too much for the base format. Item use is also banned for obvious reasons. Fusion is tricky. I can't tell if it should be allowed or not. If it is to be allowed, it shall start at full meter and you may only fuse once per battle.

As for a watchlist of things that MIGHT warrant bans, the most striking contender is every move that can inflict Sleep. This would also ban Trick and Wonderful 7 (in Smogon principles that'd also ban Triphinx but that's pretty dumb) due to them randomly being able to inflict it. Petrified may also warrant a ban for the same reasons. Evasion ups and accuracy downs also likely deserve bans, however that gets dicey when some elemental interactions cause evasion increases. Random Starter, Custom Starter, Automate and AP Refund are great ban candidates for their incredibly RNG and underhanded nature. I'm pretty sure that covers the entire ban watchlist.

As for the monsters, I see the lowest tier (discounting Little Cup) being RU due to this game's much lower monster count than Pokémon. Khepri and Anathema seem like the most likely Ubers tier monsters, the former basically being Chi-Yu's reincarnation. Triphinx definitely strikes me as an OU staple, excellent stat spread and movepool that make it a very versatile monster. My playthrough also has me convinced that Galagor and Liligator have what it takes to succeed in OU, with the former's excellent bulk and power and the latter's terrifying attack power and surprising support capability. Flapwoods could see some niche use cases as the fastest Close Encounters user, though Triphinx may render that a moot advantage. I also have belief in Beanstalker to become a potent setup sweeper due to Pumpkin Pie being a really good move and those high melee attack and speed stats. I've heard that Shining Kuneko is really good but I don't have much experience with her to say for sure. That's all for this post, bye.

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 11 - The Comanche Empire by Pekka Hämäläinen

Okay, second history book of the year! I actually liked this one, so the review’s probably not going to break 2,000 words like my one of The Bright Ages did nope never mind.

Anyway, this has been on my tbr for something like a year now, having ended up there for the incredibly nerdy reason of ‘got cited in a blog post about how bad the historical accuracy of the Dorthraki in game of thrones is’, and more broadly just because I remain shamefully uniformed about North American indigenous history beyond the highlights. So, for example, this book has expanded my knowledge of the 17th-19th century southwest several times over, and my knowledge of the indigenous people’s there from, well, not quite nothing, but not too far from it either.

This is actually the second book of Hamalainen’s I’ve read -I’d previously gotten my hands on his Lakota America, which is the more recent work. I rather wish I’d taken better notes as I read it, honestly, feels like a more complete/detailed compare and contrast would be interesting.

Anyways – so the book’s got both a broader historiographical/polemical thesis and then also the specific guiding narrative for its particular subject matter. The broader thesis is essentially that indigenous peoples in the Americas were full and active agents of history, and for centuries after the Columbian Exchange many of them were quite rich and powerful and had significant freedom of action – history isn’t just something that rolls in from the east, which people were then effected by or reacted to, they weren’t just trapped in antediluvian ways of life politely waiting for Progress to arrive. It’s a point he returns to in his latter work, but it certainly one that still seems like it needs making.

His specific thesis for the book, though, is that between the early 18th and late 19th centuries, the Comanche were able to create a real nomadic empire in what became the American southwest, driving out or incorporating rival nations to essentially dominate all the best land for the intensive dual pastoral/hunting economy they developed on the southern plains, and reducing the colonial states of New Mexico and Texas (and at different times Louisiana and almost all of northern Mexico) to the status of imperial tributaries or raiding hinterlands. It was only with the collapse of the buffalo population and the resulting famine (combined with smallpox) that the US Army and the rivers of settlers from Texas and further east were able to seize the southwest and convert it into an agrarian economy.

The book’s very much published by Yale University Press, and not exactly easy reading. It is, however, really very light on jargon, or at least makes sure to introduce all its terms and be clear in their use and meanings. The lack of Comanche written records means Hamalainen mostly has to rely on colonial sources or the reports of merchants and traders, so he has made an explicit point of trying to cross reference multiple such sources from different colonizers whenever possible, and especially for all his significant claims. Besides only barely glancing at the endnotes, I honestly found it really very readable, if dry.

Politics and colonialism aside, one thing Hamalainen really does an excellent job getting across is how revolutionary the (re-)introduction of horses to the Great Plains was. He frames it in terms of access to energy – having horses allows you to being exploiting the massive amounts of calories in the grasses and inedible plant life of the prairies, increasing the total amount of energy you have to do work several times over. Especially when the southern great plains are basically the ideal environment for horses, and their population started exploding basically the second the Spaniards lost track of a breeding pair.

You don’t realize how much easier a nomadic life gets when you upgrade from dogs to horses or mules for pack animals, and how much incredibly more efficiently you can hunt buffalo when you’re not doing it on foot and don’t have to haul back everything you take by hand. Not even getting into how much it shrinks the world in terms of trade and communication, or the massive advantage in being able to dominate hunting grounds and win wars. All incredibly obvious things I just hadn’t particularly thought about.

All this is especially relevant with the Comanche, because from the late eighteenth through mid nineteenth centuries they basically made themselves the fulcrum of the horse trade on a continental scale, with herds that put basically everyone else to shame and an incredibly lucrative business raiding Texas for horses and mules and trading them along with ones they’d raised or tamed themselves north and east.

Speaking of ‘raiding’ – the ‘empire’ in the book’s title isn’t just there to grab attention. The whole book is organized around the thesis that the Comanche both essentially migrated into and conquered the southern Great Plains with a mixture of warfare, diplomacy, and incorporating other groups, and then – along with making themselves the centre of an incredibly lucrative trading network that reached across most of the continent, with Comanche becoming an increasingly common language for trade even quite far from their actual territories – reduced the sedentary and agrarian communities around them (both indigenous and colonial) to the status of an exploited imperial periphery.

This was especially the case in Texas and New Mexico, the former being used as an intensive raiding hinterland and source of livestock well into the mid nineteenth century (at several points raided until the point of near-collapse), and the latter a collection of entrepots, whose governors provided annual tribute and whose towns traded at favourable rates for Comanche goods with the variably explicit promise that failure to do so would be rectified by raiding to make up the difference of a fair exchange. By the time of the Mexican-American War, the governor of the state was more or less openly defying the central government and maintaining a stance of pro-Comanche neutrality in the conflicts between the two.

This peaked in the early-mid nineteenth century, with essentially all of northern Mexico being reduced to an extraction zone for massive annual raids, and individual states or towns negotiating without any real reference to the larger Mexican state, often providing information and scouts to help attack their neighbours in exchange for immunity.

Which actually leads into one of what seemed to me to be one of the book’s more striking claims – that Mexico’s performance in the Mexican-American war can largely be put down to the fact that northern Mexico was only nominally part of the country even before the Americans invaded. There was little appetite for fighting and dying for Mexico City as the Americans moved in because from locals perspective Mexico City had been failing them quite comprehensively for years. (The decision to invite Anglo settlers into Texas is also put down as an attempt to create a shield against Comanche raiding, and the failures of Mexican attempts to reconquer it down to the lack of logistics and organization that resulted from all the possible staging grounds being de facto hostile territory).

Anyways, war and high politics aside, the book was excellent at describing what was actually involved in a nomadic economy on the southern Great Plains. The yearly schedule of raids and hunts, and the importance of river valleys to winter in (and the resulting conflict with sedentary/agricultural communities living in those valleys full-time) is just fascinating. The massively increased efficiency of an entirely hunting/pastoral lifestyle being matched by how fragile it was, likewise- it was vitally importance to get maize and other plant calories through trade or tribute to avoid protein poisoning from an all-meat diet. (Which, like, not actually a thing I’d known to worry about!) Likewise, the fact that horses and buffalo ate basically the same grasses and flourished in the same habitats imposed some real tensions on raising herds of the one while hunting the other – and the fact that even just passing through en route to California, a wagon train of settlers was immensely destructive, stripping river valleys of feed and firewood that was needed for winter camps, not even mentioning all the hunting they did.

One thing that definitely struck me – and the same thing happened with the Lakota, if I’m recalling Hamalainen’s other book correctly – is how the massive increase in prosperity over the 18th/19th century actually made Comanche society massively more patriarchal. Hunting was traditionally a man’s role, and treating/preparing the hide his daughter or wife’s. But a mounted and firearm-wielding man can kill way more buffalo than a single woman can possibly handle, and buffalo robes were, along with horses and captives (either for ransom or as slaves) one of the main trade goods Comanche rancherias used to buy guns, maize, metal cookwear, or whatever else they might need.

The result was a massive spread and institutionalization of polgyny, with junior wives essentially being labourers in the household manufacturing business. With the wealthiest and most important men often having dozens of wives, this rather unsurprisingly had the effect of creating a large class of peripheral young men with strong collective interests in raiding or feuding with neighbouring communities, either to win enough prestige and wealth to attract a wife, or just to kidnap and forcibly marry someone during the raiding. The fact that even as inequality grew more and more extreme, social mobility remained fairly high – among men, of course, but there don’t seem to have been real aristocratic dynasties – is a big part of the explanation Hamalainen gives for why the pressure and tension was all focused outward, and internal Comanche politics remained fairly peaceful and consensus driven (if increasingly oligarchic.)

The economic importance of slavery and the slave trade to just...everything in the region until the late 19th century was also something I probably should have known but still kind of took me by surprise, honestly. Kidnapping people from outlying ranches or other indigenous nations on the Great Plains and selling them to the colonial elite was an extremely lucrative trade throughout the Spanish colonial period, which mostly just transitioned to ‘ransoming’ them after theoretical legal crackdowns. According to Hamalainen, the Comanche didn’t initially practice slavery internally, but after a smallpox epidemic decimated their population several times over around the turn of the nineteenth century they turned to it in a pretty big way to have enough labor to sustain their economy and trade relationships (a fairly temporary kind of slavery, it should be noted, with most seemingly eventually being integrated as full members of the community. Which did mean the pressure to go raid for more was ever present.)

The book was an incredible trove of examples of things where I had previously sort of thought something that was just the result of individual greed or brutal social pressures was actually just, like, consciously racist/imperialist state policy on the part of New Spain or the United States. Either ineffective and kind of comical (Spanish policy for a good bit was to intentionally sell the Comanche secondrate and fragile guns so they’d break more often and they’d be more continually dependent on Spanish goodwill. They just started buying from the British) or extremely effective and pretty consciously genocidal (buffalo overhunting for greed and capitalism reasons was absolutely cratering the population, but at a certain point it was absolutely the policy of the US Army to just destroy the economic basis of Comanche independence.)

I honestly have no idea whether Hamalainen is trying to prove too much, but the argument he makes for the eventual American invasion and conquest of the plains – that the actually armed conflicts were kind of besides the point, because Comanche power had already been pretty thoroughly decimated by a late breaking smallpox outbreak and buffalo-overhunting induced famine, combined with mostly successful efforts to suppress their trading connections in now-American New Mexico, and that the actual campaigns were less battles and more intentional campaigns to destroy their winter villages and the food and goods stores within – seems to hold together and make sense.

Anyway, yeah, heavy and dry book, not exactly cheery reading, but incredibly interesting and informative read. Would recommend, if ‘350 pages of book followed by 150 of endnotes, index and bibliography’ is the sort of thing that appeals.