#huk natural

[huknatural]

Huk Natural

Huk Natural is a premium brand dedicated to delivering high-quality personal care products crafted with natural ingredients. Established in 2012 under the leadership of Hukam Singh, the brand focuses on skin care, hair care, and body care, offering a wide range of effective and nourishing solutions.

Commitment to Natural Beauty

Huk Natural emphasizes herbal and organic formulations, ensuring that its products are gentle, safe, and beneficial for all skin and hair types. The brand blends traditional Ayurvedic wisdom with modern innovations to create chemical-free, skin-friendly, and eco-conscious personal care products.

Product Range

Huk Natural offers an extensive lineup of personal care essentials, including: ✔ Facial Kits – Infused with natural extracts like gold, diamond, and neem-tulsi for deep cleansing and radiance. ✔ Shampoos & Hair Treatments – Featuring keratin, biotin, amla, and argan oil to nourish and strengthen hair. ✔ Soaps & Body Care – Aloe vera, sandalwood, rose, and charcoal soaps that cleanse, hydrate, and refresh the skin. ✔ Herbal Hair Oils – Amla, Lauki, Olive, and Onion-Bhringraj oils for scalp nourishment and hair growth.

Why Choose Huk Natural?

🔹 Natural & Herbal Ingredients – Free from harsh chemicals and sulfates. 🔹 Suitable for All Skin & Hair Types – Gentle yet effective formulations. 🔹 Trusted Since 2012 – A brand that prioritizes quality and customer satisfaction.

Huk Natural continues to expand its reach, ensuring that its products bring the best of nature to customers worldwide. Whether you seek glowing skin, healthy hair, or herbal body care, Huk Natural provides trusted solutions backed by expertise and innovation.

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 44, 2023

Rhythmic temporal coordination of neural activity prevents representational conflict during working memory. Abdalaziz, M., Redding, Z. V., & Fiebelkorn, I. C. (2023). Current Biology, 33(9), 1855-1863.e3.

Which processes dominate visual search: Bottom-up feature contrast, top-down tuning or trial history? Becker, S. I., Grubert, A., Horstmann, G., & Ansorge, U. (2023). Cognition, 236, 105420.

Neural dynamics underlying associative learning in the dorsal and ventral hippocampus. Biane, J. S., Ladow, M. A., Stefanini, F., Boddu, S. P., Fan, A., Hassan, S., … Kheirbek, M. A. (2023). Nature Neuroscience, 26(5), 798–809.

A reservoir of foraging decision variables in the mouse brain. Cazettes, F., Mazzucato, L., Murakami, M., Morais, J. P., Augusto, E., Renart, A., & Mainen, Z. F. (2023). Nature Neuroscience, 26(5), 840–849.

Spike-phase coupling patterns reveal laminar identity in primate cortex. Davis, Z. W., Dotson, N. M., Franken, T. P., Muller, L., & Reynolds, J. H. (2023). eLife, 12, e84512.

Is all mental effort equal? The role of cognitive demand-type on effort avoidance. Embrey, J. R., Donkin, C., & Newell, B. R. (2023). Cognition, 236, 105440.

Ventral striatum dopamine release encodes unique properties of visual stimuli in mice. Gonzalez, L. S., Fisher, A. A., D’Souza, S. P., Cotella, E. M., Lang, R. A., & Robinson, J. E. (2023). eLife, 12, e85064.

Computational complexity drives sustained deliberation. Hong, T., & Stauffer, W. R. (2023). Nature Neuroscience, 26(5), 850–857.

Mathematical Model of Synaptic Long-Term Potentiation as a Bistability in a Chain of Biochemical Reactions with a Positive Feedback. Katauskis, P., Ivanauskas, F., & Alaburda, A. (2023). Acta Biotheoretica, 71(3), 16.

Geometric determinants of the postrhinal egocentric spatial map. LaChance, P. A., & Taube, J. S. (2023). Current Biology, 33(9), 1728-1743.e7.

Learning at your brain’s rhythm: individualized entrainment boosts learning for perceptual decisions. Michael, E., Covarrubias, L. S., Leong, V., & Kourtzi, Z. (2023). Cerebral Cortex, 33(9), 5382–5394.

Retinal motion statistics during natural locomotion. Muller, K. S., Matthis, J., Bonnen, K., Cormack, L. K., Huk, A. C., & Hayhoe, M. (2023). eLife, 12, e82410.

Neural dynamics and architecture of the heading direction circuit in zebrafish. Petrucco, L., Lavian, H., Wu, Y. K., Svara, F., Štih, V., & Portugues, R. (2023). Nature Neuroscience, 26(5), 765–773.

Elucidating a locus coeruleus-dentate gyrus dopamine pathway for operant reinforcement. Petter, E. A., Fallon, I. P., Hughes, R. N., Watson, G. D., Meck, W. H., Ulloa Severino, F. P., & Yin, H. H. (2023). eLife, 12, e83600.

Principles for coding associative memories in a compact neural network. Pritz, C., Itskovits, E., Bokman, E., Ruach, R., Gritsenko, V., Nelken, T., … Zaslaver, A. (2023). eLife, 12, e74434.

Critical Drift in a Neuro-Inspired Adaptive Network. Sormunen, S., Gross, T., & Saramäki, J. (2023). Physical Review Letters, 130(18), 188401.

Dopaminergic prediction errors in the ventral tegmental area reflect a multithreaded predictive model. Takahashi, Y. K., Stalnaker, T. A., Mueller, L. E., Harootonian, S. K., Langdon, A. J., & Schoenbaum, G. (2023). Nature Neuroscience, 26(5), 830–839.

Inhibitory control of sharp-wave ripple duration during learning in hippocampal recurrent networks. Vancura, B., Geiller, T., Grosmark, A., Zhao, V., & Losonczy, A. (2023). Nature Neuroscience, 26(5), 788–797.

Optogenetics reveals paradoxical network stabilizations in hippocampal CA1 and CA3. Watkins de Jong, L., Nejad, M. M., Yoon, E., Cheng, S., & Diba, K. (2023). Current Biology, 33(9), 1689-1703.e5.

The cholinergic basal forebrain provides a parallel channel for state-dependent sensory signaling to auditory cortex. Zhu, F., Elnozahy, S., Lawlor, J., & Kuchibhotla, K. V. (2023). Nature Neuroscience, 26(5), 810–819.

[accursedkaleeshi]

Depressing General Grievous Headcanon:

Grievous was 40 standard years old when he was so rudely obliterated &, not that he'd brag or anything, but he was in pretty good shape for all he had been through.

Kaleesh have a similar natural lifespan to humans but it isn't quite the norm for them to reach it. Warrior cultures glorified burning hot & fast, so to speak. If you were a warrior, each year you made it after you started in the field was impressive. Grievous spending most of his life single-handedly rallying his people against much more superior enemy forces made kaleesh feel like he was utterly unstoppable.

Indeed, he himself found it impressive that he had all of his limbs & digits intact. This was not for lack of trying on the Huk's part or even by his own part reverse engineering advanced technology. Still, as any good kaleesh is, he was covered in scars. Some more extreme injuries hounded his overworked joints. The Techno Union graciously replaced his left shoulder joint with a newly developed cybernetic replacement a few years before they graciously rebuilt his entire body. Although what was left of him was in a constant state of pain, it was not the same. It didn't hinder his functioning. Now he really was unstoppable.

General Grievous took every advantage over his mechanical frame & regularly threw himself into battle with complete abandon. Wat Tambor & Poggle would find themselves redesigning bits & pieces that proved incapable of keeping up with the general, especially his "neck" apparatus. This tapered off after the first 6 months of the Clone Wars, as Dooku would begin to chastise Grievous about wasting time & money.

[koyato]

Kaleesh week

Day 3

Demigods

@tuberculosis-bot-9000

Well I love classic demigods duo, but Kalee planet with rich religion and culture, so welcome to come fanons about it!

Introduce Jeevit auz Bahan (for au with @komorebi-art-blog), Siamese twins with one name and living as one person, Saint from born.

Siamese twins in Kaleesh folklore can be interesting. They have cult of bones and death, of course without life and meat it won't be full, but bones more important... for our fanons their ancestors gods can be made from founding fossilized bones, and all gods drawn as a skeletons. But bones can be more than from one animal, or just in strange location according to each other, and in order not to disturb the dead, Kaleesh do not try hard to figure it out. So strange skeleton with more bones, or bones not in right place is just wow! And Siamese twins is perfect proof that this is possible!

And in period of later Huk war more such anomalies. Kaleesh thinks that it's just signs from goods, that they are all doing right, they can be defeated, even spirits helping them. Most of this children die fast, but it's totally fine! Spirits should come into the world for a short time, this is still the world of the living, they only came to look and bless them.

But real reasons more brutal. We with Komo thinking a lot WHAT exactly started hunger on Kalee... and what if in last years, when Huks just wanted to survive in front of counterattack, they use chemical weapon? Something like Agent Orange in Vietnam... it explains why later Kaleesh even needed to move on Oben, Kalee is poisoned a lot... and this make not only hunger, but diseases and many ill children.

And Jeevit auz Bahan sisters from this category. Them kinda lucky by having not so brutal splice and only skin anomaly (it very sensitive and specially for ultraviolet in dark places, so they literally can't abandon their home, cause Iminec and wind are painfull), but they still alive and from born live inside the temple to give anyone hope. They are artistic and can act like real gods, it's their duty, they can't imagine another life. And they love it. Hard, yes, really hard, but all on Kalee living hard, so they need too and make everyone else life better. Even when they just read sermons or something.

And some details, more about clothes. Kaleesh religion says that everyone has to cover max of the body, even hands. But in Eyes Of the Revolution we see a priest with uncovered hands and in veeeery plus size clothes. Maybe only religious ministers have to uncover themselves? This detail of the dress code radically distinguishes them from everyone else, their flesh can see the world even before death and decay (only in death Kaleesh is undressed so that the body quickly rots and becomes bones). So twins have minimum clothes for everyone to see that they are really one body but two skeletons.

Their mask was not so long head of Animal that was living spirit in that temple before them. Beast with parasitic head. Ofc only this Animal can be protector of Bahan, so them kill old mutant turning him asleep.

And why is their clothes black. We think White color on Kalee means death and maybe even mourning (indian moment, and some Grievous). Color of the bones. But black is means life. Kaleesh not afraid of night and dark so black can be positive. Black is color of old blood and in night their jungle nature comes alive. So Bahan as ALIVE spirit uses it as symbol of resurrection. Resurrection of Kalee in this hard ages.

[depomera]

Anyways, kinda dumb but I’m making a SW AU that takes place a few years before the Clone Wars. I’m doing the dirty and making everyone meet and being allies and such. This is just filling in gaps. One of my weaknesses in projecting is I really like fantasy role playing stuff and I’m trying to incorporate things like that into the SW universe but also keeping to lore as best I can. This AU is more of a slice of life/shoujo/shounen/fantasy adventure campaign.

***

• Grievous and Jango work for the IBC (intergalactic banking clan) to pay off their debt. They do things from rescue missions to bounties, escorts, and dealing with their own slice of life. (The “debt duo”).

• Jango is an esteemed bounty hunter but paying off debts of Mandalore owed to the IBC. He is aloof but a caring man. He has a soft spot for children and hopes to become a father one day.

• Grievous is a renowned warlord but is paying off his planet’s debts to the IBC as well as looking for his long lost mate, Ronderu who mysteriously vanished during a Huk invasion.

•Darth Plagueis is now Sith Lord after being given the title from the previous Sith Lord whom renounced her faith and is on the run. The Sith operate from a Church on a planet in Wild Space due to the Galactic Republic outlawing/banning their research on dark magic (summoning, rituals, etc). Plagueis is obsessed with magic and science and is trying to find ways to use Midi-Chlorians to further his own powers by accessing dark magic that hasn’t been seen for thousands of years. I kinda wanted the prior Sith Lord (cat lady) to have an affair with Plagueis, which is one of the reasons why she’s on the run:

1) She realized she wants a “career change”, perhaps to become a mother? she knows her apprentice/ex lover, Plagueis wants her dead but due to her renouncing her faith, she believes she no longer has to abide by Sith rules. It is unknown why she won’t kill him. Perhaps her ethics changed or she needs to conserve energy due to trying to conceive/ has conceived, still has feelings for him, possibly manipulating him, etc (still wip lol).

2) Her beliefs in the Sith are different than Plagueis, rule of 2 = life and death, good and evil**, love and hate, weakness and power, parent and child, yin and yang, Fire and Water; she believes the Force is the balance between good and evil**, the grey between two extremes and everyone has a place within the universe such as herself being on the extreme (Sith vs Jedi). She is driven by passion and striving to be the best (including protecting and getting revenge for those who wronged her and loved ones). I wanted her beliefs to challenge many struggles we see in current religion such as “cherry picking” but also following one’s heart, beliefs and values.

I had “Rudo” (Thrawn) in mind. A spy who happens to partner up with Jango and Grievous on occasion for random missions and quests. Rudo is a spy for the Chiss Ascendancy and goes by a different name to keep his identity hidden.

Maul is struggling with wanting to be his own person but coming to terms with his destiny, chosen by adoptive father Sheev Palpatine. Early on, Maul showed powerful magic ability such as communicating with animals and harnessing the powers of nature (Sith magic) such as fire, earth, water, metals, etc. In other words he has shaman/druid abilities (similar to Ezra from Rebels). Maul is an innocent but honest and hardworking kid. He loves animals and wants to make friends. Prior to the romantic scandal (cat lady x Plagueis), the cat lady then Sith Lord, saw Maul as a son and was enamored by his love and connection with nature and the wild life - this led her to believe that Maul had the heart of a true Sith and was the catalyst to his downfall by having him train as Sheev’s apprentice rather than stay an acolyte/“alter boy”.

To be continued…

***

Sorry for the typos and crappy grammar. I have food poisoning as well as a kinesiology exam tomorrow. >_<;

[dawn-of-worlds]

The House of Transformation

Tepponilamek has 0 + (2d6 => 5 + 6 = 11) + 3 = 14 power. The Qurri civilisation become the most advanced practitioners of alchemy (-6), Kǎlkayer raises an army (-2), the Dzadek found a true city, Toruku (-3) and the Reflecting Gallery inspires the titans of the Havonaar to settle in southern Visalen, where they use the blood magic they learned from the Dzadek (-1) 

The Qurri of the city of Qattangu develop a method of controlling the Huk, turning them into vast beasts they use in both peace and war. Despite the best efforts of the alchemists who invent the process, it spreads to other Qurri around the world.

In the jungles of the Isle of Velarie, the Qurri of the city of Qattangu grow prosperous and numerous. The Isle abounds with a great many plants and animals of a strange and magical nature, and whose tissues and extracts can have strange effects on mortal races. The House of Transformation, the city’s alchemists’ guild, becomes wealthy and powerful, and a major power in the politics of the city. The city begins to export its strange tinctures and elixirs first to Qurri in more distant parts and then to other peoples; the presence just across the sea of the Great Canal and its trading cities encourages this. Yet the greatest discovery is yet to come.

A minor alchemist by the name of Xantikkuni investigates reports of unusually large and violent Huk in a remote valley. Encountering – and fleeing from – the monstrous creatures, Xantikkuni discovers that a small red flower, the Crimson Blessing, can modify the transformation of a Qurri into a Huk.  Xantikkuni brings samples of the flowers back to Qattangu, and gains permission to study the effects Crimson Blessing on volunteers. The results of their work are impressive. The False-Huk – the name later changing to Falsuk – produced by exposure are universally infertile, but can grow to a far greater size than a regular Huk and have monstrous strength and endurance. Crucially, they are far more docile than ordinary Huk – though that does not mean they are safe to control.

The House of Transformation soon realises the significance of their discovery, and their ability to produce and maintain the Falsuk soon becomes a major part of the efforts to gain power in the city. Indeed, the power of the Falsuk is so great that it rather runs away from the House of Transformation. Originally only hoping to only make themselves the pre-eminent economic force in the city, they soon find themselves embroiled in a power struggle with the akelish Kings. For two and a half decades Qattangu and the many smaller towns within its sphere of control are plagued by frequent assassinations, street-conflicts and even a few true battles, although the situation never devolves into a full-blown civil war.

The retreat of the House of Transformation to the outlying town of Rara’ngu, which initially seems to be a major victory for the Kings, allows the House greater independence and ability to maneuver, and in the end allows them victory. The Kings remain, but only as figureheads with certain religious and ceremonial duties; true power lies with the House of Transformation, and more specifically its Council of Masters, of whom Xantikkuni is now one. Various other guilds of the city find themselves in a position of influence under the new regime, either as thanks for their aid to the House in the period of unrest (soon to be called the First Transformation), or to aid in the governance of the city.

Meanwhile, Xantikkuni continues to develop their techniques. The alchemists of the House now know how to produce no less than four varieties of Falsuk; A large land-bound one that acts as a transportation for large numbers of Qurri, a similar aquatic variety that acts as a ship, a combat variety adapted for speed with venomous spit, and a construction variety one adapted for durability and tunneling ability. Each Falsuk is an immensely valuable tool for the Qattangi and the House, and those who undergo the transformation (and thus lose the chance to pass on their spirits to guide the next generations) are held in great honour. Despite the best efforts of the Council of Masters, internal conflicts within the House of Transformation result in a steady trickle of exiles who spread knowledge of their alchemical techniques amongst other Qurri – although there are no nations of Qurri so large or organised as Qattangu.

When Xantikkuni finally feels it is their time, they plan to journey to a distant valley where they might become a Huk, like all of their forebears. Alas, the metamorphosis comes upon them early; their fellow Masters carry their to the great chamber of the House and oversee their metamorphosis into a war-falsuk. Perhaps out of simple confusion, or some distant memory of their betrayal, the falsuk slays four members of the Council before being brought under control. Yet this changes little in the House fo Transformation, aside from starting a brief period of lively politicking as the other Council seats are slowly filled. The rule of the House of Qattangu is, for now, unquestioned.

[roomchailimited]

Oslo’s Outdoor Oasis: A Nature Lover’s Guide to Norway’s Capital

Oslo, Norway’s vibrant capital, is a haven for nature lovers. Nestled between the Oslofjord and lush, rolling hills, the city offers a perfect blend of urban life and outdoor adventure. With an abundance of green spaces, waterways, and hiking trails, Oslo is a place where you can experience the beauty of nature without ever leaving the city limits. Whether you're an avid hiker, a water enthusiast, or simply someone who enjoys a peaceful stroll, Oslo provides the ideal backdrop for reconnecting with the natural world.

Vigeland Park is the perfect place to begin your outdoor adventure. As the world’s largest sculpture park created by a single artist, Gustav Vigeland, it features over 200 sculptures across 80 acres. Among them are the iconic Monolith and the Angry Boy (Sinnataggen). The park is not only a celebration of art but also a serene green space for walking, relaxing, or having a quiet moment by its tranquil ponds.

Oslofjord, the city's defining natural feature, offers countless activities for water lovers. Island hopping is a must – take a ferry to islands like Hovedøya and Lindøya, where you can hike, swim, or enjoy a picnic surrounded by scenic fjord views. For a more immersive experience, rent a kayak and paddle along the calm waters. If you're new to the sport, guided kayak tours are available to help you discover the fjord’s hidden gems.

For a true wilderness experience, a short metro ride from the city will take you to Nordmarka, Oslo’s expansive forest. This area is perfect for hiking, cycling, and cross-country skiing in winter. Lake Sognsvann, one of Nordmarka’s most accessible spots, is a popular destination for hiking or leisurely walks. It’s also a favorite for swimming in summer, with its peaceful surroundings and clear waters.

Holmenkollen, Oslo’s famous ski jump, is a must-see for winter sports fans and nature lovers alike. Offering sweeping views of the city and fjord, it’s not only a site for skiing but also a gateway to great hiking and biking trails. Visit the Holmenkollen Ski Museum to learn about Norway’s skiing history and the daring Arctic expeditions that shaped the country’s adventurous spirit.

Ekebergparken is a beautiful blend of art and nature. Located on a hill overlooking the city, this sculpture park features works by renowned artists such as Salvador Dalí and Auguste Rodin, all nestled among scenic walking paths. With sweeping views of Oslo and the fjord, Ekebergparken offers a peaceful escape where nature meets world-class art.

The Bygdøy Peninsula offers another unique outdoor experience, blending culture and nature. Known for its museums, it also has beautiful beaches like Huk, perfect for swimming and sunbathing during the summer. The area is ideal for cycling, with scenic paths running through forests and along the waterfront, making it easy to explore both its cultural and natural attractions.

A walk along the Akerselva River provides an urban nature escape right in the heart of Oslo. This 8-kilometer river walk takes you from the city center through green parks, waterfalls, and past historical industrial buildings that have been repurposed into trendy cafés and galleries. It's a peaceful spot for wildlife watching, with birds, fish, and even the occasional beaver along its banks.

Oslo also serves as a gateway to some fantastic day trips. For more hiking and serene landscapes, explore the forests of Østmarka or Lillomarka. For a taste of the southern coast, charming towns like Drøbak or Tønsberg offer a more relaxed, seaside atmosphere, complete with traditional wooden houses and cozy harbors.

Oslo is a city that effortlessly blends urban life with nature. From the fjords and forests to the parks and rivers, it offers endless outdoor experiences for nature lovers of all kinds. For those looking to make the most of their visit, travel agencies like Roomchai Limited and local tour operators such as Oslo Hiking and Fjord Tours offer tailor-made adventures that showcase the best of Oslo’s natural beauty.

[eddystshirts]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Huk Performance Fishing T Shirt Blue XL Extra Large Gear Fish Graphic Tee Solid.

[spackhuggare]

Heavy wind and massive rain. Huk, Norway. Photo taken by me.

[huknatural]

Huk Soap with Aloe Vera & Coconut Oil

Gentle Care for Radiant Skin

Huk Soap with Aloe Vera & Coconut Oil is a perfect blend of nature's finest ingredients designed to nourish and protect your skin. Enriched with the soothing properties of aloe vera and the deep hydration of coconut oil, this soap provides a luxurious cleansing experience.

Aloe Vera: Known for its cooling and healing properties, it soothes and rejuvenates the skin, leaving it soft and refreshed.

Coconut Oil: Packed with natural moisturizers, it deeply hydrates, repairs, and enhances skin elasticity.

Ideal for all skin types, Huk Soap with Aloe Vera & Coconut Oil ensures your skin feels clean, smooth, and naturally radiant after every wash. Experience the gentle touch of nature in every use!

[dailyadventureprompts]

Do you have anymore fun ideas for hijinks in Rotbottom? My Bogwatchers really enjoyed beating Uncle Huk out for the Ol’ Mosskeel’s treasure!

Dungeon: The Revolting Tombs

“ARIE, Fetch the watch!! The dead walk the earth!...AGAIN” 

-Rolved, exasperated farmer, for the third time this month

Setup: The old parish cemetery might’ve once been a nice place to be laid to rest, not too far away from the village with a scenic view of the river and the shade of many trees. Then the river decided to shift its banks, flooding the catacombs and forcing the locals to build tombs above ground. After years of watery encroachment however it became obvious that the village had to move, and so the old cemetery was left to be retaken by nature as folk picked up stakes and moved to drier climbs. 

Sometime after this the dead got FUSSY, rising from their tombs to pester the living with varying levels of intensity. Perhaps it was this abandonment that set the dead off, perhaps it was because the old priest was a little too fond of the local shine and never set them down quite right, perhaps it’s because no one likes sleeping in a damp bed. Regardless, the dead walk; Sometimes merely mischievous, other times actively murderous, and whenever it happens SOMEONE’S got to figure out what the dead want, or else the living will have no peace. 

Adventure Hooks: 

While escorting a cart or traveling by barge, the party awakens one night to the sound of a skeleton attacking their conveyance with a saw or a drill and trying to be quiet about it. Caught in the act, the unstealthy cadaver runs off into the night leaving the party in the middle of the wilderness with a sudden crisis in logistics: quite a lot of cargo with no sure way to carry it. Do they load themselves down with as much as they can take? attempt a field repair and risk their conveyance breaking somewhere down the river/road? try to hide their goods and come back for them later? What sabotage will their boneheaded adversary try next?

Folk always know the dead are really walking when the Bonemiser sets up in town. Cartoonishly offputting, this shrouded figure with its rasping voice and pallid flesh claims to be a sort of groundskeeper for the old cemetery, forced to vacate its post as the residents have become too rowdy. It hangs a violet lantern outside whatever shadowed ally or abandoned hovel it’s taken up residence in at the moment, a sign that it’s willing to reimburse anyone who brings it humanoid bones for reinternment. The miser pays in grimy old coins, and professes that it is only interested in the remains of those who were original residents of the cemetery, encouraging good folk to help these poor wayward souls back to their rest. That said, it doesn’t take much pretense for the miser to accept a new set of bones, under the pretext that it merely “forgot” this resident during its long stewardship. 

A child collapses on the edge of town, having run almost two days after a group of skeletons descended on her family farm in the middle of the night. When the party ventures out to the countryside however they find that the family is fine, though barricaded in their house, and the skeletons have taken over all of their usual farmstead chores. Two problems though a) the skeletons move with murderous intent against anyone that threatens to interrupt them b) they’re doing the chores very badly, ploughing crops that are already growing, herding animals into the wrong paddocks, and just making a general nuisance of themselves. With superior numbers their ability to regenerate from mere shards, it seems the only way to get the skeletons to leave is to join in their nightly games of dice and win the chores back in a daring wager. 

Challenges & Complications

It’s always something silly that sets the dead off: a door fell off a mausoleum after the hinges rusted through, they haven’t had a funeral in a while and they’re all bored. Something irksome manages to lodge in their thick skulls and suddenly they’re rampaging through the countryside looking to cause mayhem until someone comes and solves the problem for them. If the party wish to put the dead to rest, they can’t just fight their way through the tombs smashing any skeleton they see, they need to do a little detective work about what caused this particular uprising and what can be done to prevent it next time. 

 while fighting unliving warriors over quaggy ground can be challenging, even more challenging is descending into the lower levels of the tombs where flooding has taken over completely. There are three sections to the dungeon, the above ground section, the partially flooded section (where the party can dive for brief stints before surfacing into hidden chambers), and the completely flooded section. This last will require some kind of magic to explore, possibly requiring the party to come back after they’ve obtained the aid of a proper spellcaster. 

Mist rolls in on the party’s second day of exploring the dungeon, giving their skeletal opponents cover and making aboveground navigation more difficult. When they return to their camp, they find a spectral figure waiting for them, calling to them from the shoreline. The spirit appears to be in good spirits, and offers to give the party a ride anywhere they want if they help him collect a few of the cemetery's more malicious residents:  More than just restless bones dwell within the sodden cemetery, as the deepest of the flooded chambers contains an altar that has become a portal to the shadowfell, allowing dark spirits and twisted creatures to sllip through. To close this keyhole into the underworld, the party must figure out a way to perform a consecration ritual while underwater, something that few landbased theologies have ways to do. 

For the asker: Rotbottom has been such a hit that I’m going to start using a single tag for prompts I think would fit well in the setting. Check it out periodically as I imagine more zany swamp misadventures

Art

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 36, 2023

Optimization of energy and time predicts dynamic speeds for human walking. Carlisle, R. E., & Kuo, A. D. (2023). eLife, 12, e81939.

Learning critically drives parkinsonian motor deficits through imbalanced striatal pathway recruitment. Cheung, T. H. C., Ding, Y., Zhuang, X., & Kang, U. J. (2023). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(12), e2213093120.

A circuit mechanism linking past and future learning through shifts in perception. Crossley, M., Benjamin, P. R., Kemenes, G., Staras, K., & Kemenes, I. (2023). Science Advances, 9(12).

Critically synchronized brain waves form an effective, robust and flexible basis for human memory and learning. Galinsky, V. L., & Frank, L. R. (2023). Scientific Reports, 13, 4343.

Rapid learning of predictive maps with STDP and theta phase precession. George, T. M., de Cothi, W., Stachenfeld, K. L., & Barry, C. (2023). eLife, 12, e80663.

Asymmetric retinal direction tuning predicts optokinetic eye movements across stimulus conditions. Harris, S. C., & Dunn, F. A. (2023). eLife, 12, e81780.

Learning vs. minding: How subjective costs can mask motor learning. Healy, C. M., Berniker, M., & Ahmed, A. A. (2023). PLOS ONE, 18(3), e0282693.

Comparing retinotopic maps of children and adults reveals a late-stage change in how V1 samples the visual field. Himmelberg, M. M., Tünçok, E., Gomez, J., Grill-Spector, K., Carrasco, M., & Winawer, J. (2023). Nature Communications, 14, 1561.

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[short-wooloo]

(Original post: https://short-wooloo.tumblr.com/post/666200054499016704/do-you-even-hear-yourself-the-jedi-were-part-of)

Wow, God tier idiocy here

Like, way to miss the point of the original post and end up sounding just like a fucking nazi like I said in the op

Congrats

Well, first off

It is very clear that this is another galidraan type situation (@monjustmon 's post on the subject https://monjustmon.tumblr.com/post/656610965931114496/so-this-is-what-i-mean-mandos-woke-up-chose), you haven't actually read the source material about the subject, you've just "heard" about the events, so let's just go over what actually happened:

Kalee and Huk were two worlds located in Wild Space, a region beyond the fringes of Outer Rim (which itself is a region where the Republic has little authority and slavery is legal), home to the Kaleesh and Yam’rii respectively, neither were a part of the Galactic Republic, the Kaleesh apparently having only recently become space-faring or simply rarely left their native space, but the Yam’rii did have contact and economic ties with the Republic and Trade Federation

How things began was the Yam’rii, or "Huk" (soulless bugs) as the Kaleesh came to cal them, established an outpost/colony on Kalee, they found the natural resources of the planet weren't what they were hoping for, but the native Kaleesh were of far greater value, and began to take them as slaves, thus beginning the Huk war

Now the exact length of the war or when it began is unclear, but what is known is that eventually a Kaleesh warrior named Qymaen jai Sheelal rose to prominence with his partner Ronderu lij Kummar, the two being leaders of the Kaleesh war efforts and even being considered demigods

Unfortunately, Kummar died in battle with the Yam’rii, and Sheelal was heartbroken, and after so soul searching and wallowing in sadness, Sheelal gave into his grief entirely becoming Grievous

From there the newly christened Grievous lead the Kaleesh in a victorious war of liberation, reconquering Kalee and driving the Yam’rii off world

They won

But for Grievous the freedom of his world and people wasn't enough, he was out for blood

So Grievous lead the Kaleesh in a genocidal revenge campaign against the Yam’rii, attacking their colony worlds and massacring their civilians (and I think that's an important distinction to make, the Yam’rii who attack Kalee would have been slavers and soldiers, killing them would have just been an act of battle)

Now what the Yam'rii originally did to the Kaleesh was horrible

But that doesn't justify the Kaleesh trying to do the same to them

Genocide does not make counter-genocide ok

An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind

And genocide for genocide just leaves more people dead, the dead are still dead, nothing is fixed, no one's better off,

And with the real threat of total annihilation on their heads, the Yam’rii made use of their economic ties to the Republic to get help, while also portraying the Kaleesh as the aggressors and themselves as victims

It is here that the Jedi got involved, with a force of 50 (that number is important) sent to end the war, which they did

That, that right there, that is what the person in the above photos considers to be the Jedi aiding in the genocide and subjugation of the Kaleesh

Stopping them from committing a revenge genocide

Now you could argue that the Jedi were in the wrong for not stopping the Yam’rii from originally invading Kalee and enslaving the Kaleesh

But that doesn't really hold up

The Jedi only have authority in Republic space, anywhere else they need permission to be,and Kalee/Huk are in Wild Space, a region beyond the Outer Rim, a region where the Republic/Jedi have little to no authority

Furthermore, the Kaleesh's own limited space travel, coupled with the Yam’rii's economic ties to the Republic (and the Senate's corruption) meant the Jedi probably never even heard of the invasion until after the Kaleesh repelled it

Anyways, with the war over the senate imposed economic sanctions on Kalee and forced them to pay reparations

I fail to see whats wrong here

Yes, what the Yam’rii originally did was horrible, but by this point, they were driven off of Kalee, and the Kaleesh were now attacking the Yam’rii worlds and killing their civilians, with the very real possibility of being totally wiped out, that can't just go unpunished

The senate absolutely was overly punitive no disagreement there, but you gotta remember that this is happening in the years leading up to the Clone Wars, when the senate is at its most corrupt and is being run by sith who are attempting to engineer a galactic scale war, trying to turn people against the Republic/Jedi and make Jedi killers

And before anyone blames the Jedi for this, I will remind you that the Jedi serve the Republic, they do not make its decisions or policies, they do not run it,they have no say in what it does

Now to summarize what happens with Grievous afterwards, this is what kicks off his hatred of the Jedi, and in a deal to free Kalee of its debts Grievous became the the IGBC's debt collector, but eventually ditched the job when conflicts with the Yam’rii kick off again (specifically over the Yam’rii desecrating Kaleesh burial sites on Yam’rii colony worlds, y'know the world's Grievous invaded and slaughtered the populations of), now the IGBC wasn't happy with him leaving so they conspired with Dooku to get him permanently in their service, planting a bomb on Grievous' shuttle and blaming the Jedi, with his body ruined and more vengeful than ever,Grievous agreed to his reconstruction (during which his brain was modified without his knowledge) and thus Grievous the cyborg General with a grudge against the Jedi was born

With that out of the way, I'd like to examine what the person said about Grievous being justified in killing "every Jedi he saw"

only 50 Jedi were really involved in the situation

“every Jedi he saw” includes younglings in the wrong place at the wrong time, padawans drafted into the war effort by the senate/Palpatine, and every other Jedi who had nothing to do with what went down on Kalee

you are literally saying that because 50 people stopped him from committing genocide, Grievous is justified in killing people who aren’t those 50, including children, because they’re a part of the same cultural group as that 50

Fuck you

Plus, All of the above is eu, legends eu, neither informs the movies and shows, and do yknow what the movies and shows say about Grievous, his origin, and his hatred of the Jedi?

Not much, but it implies that his cyborg status is in some part voluntary, augmentations to keep with and kill Jedi because he hates them because he's jealous of them, he wants their power but cannot have it, so he kills them

More importantly, Grievous is a butcher, mass murderer, and war criminal, all of which he loves and is proud of being, there is no excuse or justification for his actions, he wants and loves to kill

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Kalee/Legends

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Kaleesh/Legends

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Yam%27rii/Legends

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Huk_War

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Wild_Space/Legends

[koyato]

Kaleesh week

Day 4

Pups

@tuberculosis-bot-9000

All for our with @komorebi-art-blog AU

OKAY WELL SORRY I KNOW THIS IS NOT CUTE but still about children i guess?.. sorry, really sorry...

In Kaleesh society we have many sins... disrespect your family, run from a fair fight... but what are the worst?

Little Kaitiaki Huna have a jackpot. He's cannibal corpse eater.

Young and weak ginger Kaleesh lost his family really early, nothing special. But he was with a little, maybe even newborn he doesn't remember, sister and brother. And this was beginning of the final part of war.

I've been writing about it in last post but Huks started use chemical weapons to poison the nature and start the Great Hunger. And yes, trio was in this poison lands. They already lost family when they was trying to eat something, Kaleesh very tolerate to poisoning, but not in this time. And toxic zone was too big for children to cross fast.

After few days without even water older understood that it's dead end if they immediately don't find something. And the only clear meat in all forest was already here. Huna choose that little brother is weakest one and simply strangled him to death. When him and sister finally got out there was no clues that there were three of them and what happened.

Only Kaitiaki knows, for God's sake sister was to little to remember that. And well yes ancestors know it too. He convinced that they let him live only to protect remaining child.

In Kaleesh culture there is two constant values. Family, your parents, partners... and the most value-children. Children is future, murder a child is the worst thing, they don't know life yet, they don't became honorable warriors. Their souls would be cursed by ignorance.

In our headcanons Kaleesh believe in cycling of life and dead. You born, live your best life, die with honor, your family bury you in common grave, when your meat slowly rots and only bones remaining soul go in heaven, there you have good time with ancestors, help your children, but eternal existence without death sounds like curse. So when soul is ready she is reborn as a totally different kaleesh, and the past life is gone.

So little children can't go on heaven like honorable warriors, they just faster go in another life, and this is gone forever too fast... and Huna do this curse to his own brother he needs to protect no matter what. And even more he ate him, he defiled the corpse. He betrayed second great Kaleesh thing-Death.

He make himself and sister not better then Huks. Soulless demons. Maybe gods will forgive little one, but now he is getting used to the thoughts of his imminent punishment in any moment.

Аnd has nightmares every night... everytime he eats meat he again feels this taste and thinks that his mouth looks like Huk's one. Maybe it's true...

[ultravioart]

2003 will always be the canon grievous to me.

I know that Legends was retconned because Lucas didn't want Grievous to outshine Vader. He wanted Vader to be the jedi "terminator" and have the story of Star Wars center around Vader as a character. But I think that was such a waste! The 2003 and 2008 clone wars series + the Mandalorian are some of my favs, showing how effective anthologies and nonverbal stories can be. Effectively told a story of war, love, and loss, it didn't need main characters to drive the story home. Space opera movies are great for era stories, sure, but I also feel like anthologies really let Star Wars shine in making the universe feel lived in, rather than a set piece. Grievous, Maul, and Dooku all represented aspects of Vader. Souless Technology, All-consuming Anger, and Elegant intelligence. The original ending for Star Wars had Organa (nature overcoming the inorganic) to be the true chosen one. I think keeping grievous as a cold killer cyborg, killing multiple jedi without the force, would have furthered that narrative.

Legends canon for Grievous really emphasized how technology(war) can ruin a life. Especially how it can ruin hope, which is also a good reflection for Vader's story. Legends had Grievous, then Qymaen jai Sheelal, as a child soldier, forced to fight a war over the genocide of his people, brought on a soulless technologically superior threat aiming to use a planet and it's people as resources. As a child sniper he saw unspeakable things, most likely also losing his parents in horrible ways through into his adulthood. But with his ancestors guiding him through tradition and faith, alongside his tactical ingenuity, Sheelal "the dreamer" managed to push back the invaders, honoring his people and fighting for freedom. Eventually he was seen as a demigod among men, and among "the dreamt one" Ronderu lij Kumar. There was a prophecy that foretold of the two, and they fought seemlessly together. There was still organic hope among the brutality of the artificial. I'd like to think that Sheelal ended up force-bonding with Ronderu, and that Ronderu was a force user whether or not she was aware of her abilities. Dreaming was an intrinsic part of Sheelal's religion and spiritual practices, so I'd like to think the dreams could have been a form of force connection. In his dreams that lead him to her, he saw himself as Ronderu, so to me it gives an inkling those two were connected by the force. But just like the ancient texts of Gilgamesh on which his backstory is based, he eventually loses his beloved enkidu, his Ronderu. Brutally killed, she is thrown away like rags by the souless huk; she is lost to sea and denied a chance at afterlife through proper burial. Pushing him beyond the brink as he curses the gods that remain silent to his desperate prayers, he curses the sea that took her away from him, he curses the souless huk, he curses the universe, and his faith in everything is broken. He sheds the name that his culture bestowed, for how could be a dreamer without his dreamt one? "For what is grief, if not love persisting?" From then on he was known as what roughly translates as General Grievous, in honor of her. He eventually trained a close knit circle of the best warriors, personally trained by him, but still not HER, paving a way for his people in the eyes of others. War stole everything from him, his family, his culture, his soulmate, his inner peace. But he still had his people, and until the end he fought for them. He was a child soldier, a demigod who fell from grace, a war-hero forced to do the very thing he was fighting against (banking clan manipulated him into violent debt collection and in turn they did not starve his planet into submission), and eventually due to his success fueled by the aim to preserve his people's hope, he was blown to bits so he could be of use to the Sith for war, told instead the jedi were behind it. He left his wives and children, who could never truly fill the void, and went through with the cyberization, still enraged that the Sifo-Dyas blood transfer that saved him did not grant him force powers. Sick and twisted how the jedi filth flaunted such abilities in front of him, mocking him with the chance to see her again. He would bring her honor, he would bring his people honor, he would strike them down just as they did to the Kaleesh. As an organic being worn down by war into husk of his former self, encapsulated by the artificial, he committed atrocities, becoming the very thing he loathed most in the universe. A huk, souless, thus his ship's name "The souless one". But at least his people still remained, steadfast and strong. Perhaps his people could be a soul for him? And so he fought, motivated by something he could only vaguely remember in artificial sleep. How he wished he could dream again, how he wished he could be whole once more. But war steals everything from a person.

[tuberculosis-bot-9000]

Random Kaleesh headcanon of the day: Té-krr

The Kaleesh phrase “té-krr” (the double r being pronounced, as always, in a throaty reptilian growl) has no true translation into Galactic Basic. The closest possible phrase is blaze of glory or ascension. However, these do not capture the true meaning of the phrase. A té-krr is the exact moment of a Kaleesh warrior’s death in glorious battle, when their soul is wrenched from their body and reformed into godhood. It represents the highest honor a Kaleesh can ever strive for. Each warrior hopes for a té-krr which lends them an edge against other cultures. After all, what can you do against an army that rushes gladly toward death?

A té-krr must be achieved in combat, usually against an opponent of equal strength. Kaleesh are known to grant a té-krr and all of the entailed honor and funerary rites to enemies of great renown. Rank means nothing when determining a té-krr, only the dead’s combat ability and their amount of kills. However, some enemies are entirely exempt from earning a té-krr. The Yam’rii of Huk are notable in this case.

The gods of the Kaleesh are almost entirely comprised of those who have earned a té-krr. Due to the intensely personal and communal nature of Kaleesh mythology, the theme of marrying one’s krratawa (the warrior who killed you, and in many cases, you killed) after death is very common across Kalee.