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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year ago

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Your car spies on you and rats you out to insurance companies

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TOMORROW (Mar 13) in SAN FRANCISCO with ROBIN SLOAN, then Toronto, NYC, Anaheim, and more!

Another characteristically brilliant Kashmir Hill story for The New York Times reveals another characteristically terrible fact about modern life: your car secretly records fine-grained telemetry about your driving and sells it to data-brokers, who sell it to insurers, who use it as a pretext to gouge you on premiums:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/technology/carmakers-driver-tracking-insurance.html

Almost every car manufacturer does this: Hyundai, Nissan, Ford, Chrysler, etc etc:

https://www.repairerdrivennews.com/2020/09/09/ford-state-farm-ford-metromile-honda-verisk-among-insurer-oem-telematics-connections/

This is true whether you own or lease the car, and it's separate from the "black box" your insurer might have offered to you in exchange for a discount on your premiums. In other words, even if you say no to the insurer's carrot – a surveillance-based discount – they've got a stick in reserve: buying your nonconsensually harvested data on the open market.

I've always hated that saying, "If you're not paying for the product, you're the product," the reason being that it posits decent treatment as a customer reward program, like the little ramekin warm nuts first class passengers get before takeoff. Companies don't treat you well when you pay them. Companies treat you well when they fear the consequences of treating you badly.

Take Apple. The company offers Ios users a one-tap opt-out from commercial surveillance, and more than 96% of users opted out. Presumably, the other 4% were either confused or on Facebook's payroll. Apple – and its army of cultists – insist that this proves that our world's woes can be traced to cheapskate "consumers" who expected to get something for nothing by using advertising-supported products.

But here's the kicker: right after Apple blocked all its rivals from spying on its customers, it began secretly spying on those customers! Apple has a rival surveillance ad network, and even if you opt out of commercial surveillance on your Iphone, Apple still secretly spies on you and uses the data to target you for ads:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

Even if you're paying for the product, you're still the product – provided the company can get away with treating you as the product. Apple can absolutely get away with treating you as the product, because it lacks the historical constraints that prevented Apple – and other companies – from treating you as the product.

As I described in my McLuhan lecture on enshittification, tech firms can be constrained by four forces:

I. Competition

II. Regulation

III. Self-help

IV. Labor

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/30/go-nuts-meine-kerle/#ich-bin-ein-bratapfel

When companies have real competitors – when a sector is composed of dozens or hundreds of roughly evenly matched firms – they have to worry that a maltreated customer might move to a rival. 40 years of antitrust neglect means that corporations were able to buy their way to dominance with predatory mergers and pricing, producing today's inbred, Habsburg capitalism. Apple and Google are a mobile duopoly, Google is a search monopoly, etc. It's not just tech! Every sector looks like this:

https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/learn/monopoly-by-the-numbers

Eliminating competition doesn't just deprive customers of alternatives, it also empowers corporations. Liberated from "wasteful competition," companies in concentrated industries can extract massive profits. Think of how both Apple and Google have "competitively" arrived at the same 30% app tax on app sales and transactions, a rate that's more than 1,000% higher than the transaction fees extracted by the (bloated, price-gouging) credit-card sector:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/07/curatorial-vig/#app-tax

But cartels' power goes beyond the size of their warchest. The real source of a cartel's power is the ease with which a small number of companies can arrive at – and stick to – a common lobbying position. That's where "regulatory capture" comes in: the mobile duopoly has an easier time of capturing its regulators because two companies have an easy time agreeing on how to spend their app-tax billions:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/05/regulatory-capture/

Apple – and Google, and Facebook, and your car company – can violate your privacy because they aren't constrained regulation, just as Uber can violate its drivers' labor rights and Amazon can violate your consumer rights. The tech cartels have captured their regulators and convinced them that the law doesn't apply if it's being broken via an app:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/18/cursed-are-the-sausagemakers/#how-the-parties-get-to-yes

In other words, Apple can spy on you because it's allowed to spy on you. America's last consumer privacy law was passed in 1988, and it bans video-store clerks from leaking your VHS rental history. Congress has taken no action on consumer privacy since the Reagan years:

https://www.eff.org/tags/video-privacy-protection-act

But tech has some special enshittification-resistant characteristics. The most important of these is interoperability: the fact that computers are universal digital machines that can run any program. HP can design a printer that rejects third-party ink and charge $10,000/gallon for its own colored water, but someone else can write a program that lets you jailbreak your printer so that it accepts any ink cartridge:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

Tech companies that contemplated enshittifying their products always had to watch over their shoulders for a rival that might offer a disenshittification tool and use that as a wedge between the company and its customers. If you make your website's ads 20% more obnoxious in anticipation of a 2% increase in gross margins, you have to consider the possibility that 40% of your users will google "how do I block ads?" Because the revenue from a user who blocks ads doesn't stay at 100% of the current levels – it drops to zero, forever (no user ever googles "how do I stop blocking ads?").

The majority of web users are running an ad-blocker:

https://doc.searls.com/2023/11/11/how-is-the-worlds-biggest-boycott-doing/

Web operators made them an offer ("free website in exchange for unlimited surveillance and unfettered intrusions") and they made a counteroffer ("how about 'nah'?"):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/07/adblocking-how-about-nah

Here's the thing: reverse-engineering an app – or any other IP-encumbered technology – is a legal minefield. Just decompiling an app exposes you to felony prosecution: a five year sentence and a $500k fine for violating Section 1201 of the DMCA. But it's not just the DMCA – modern products are surrounded with high-tech tripwires that allow companies to invoke IP law to prevent competitors from augmenting, recongifuring or adapting their products. When a business says it has "IP," it means that it has arranged its legal affairs to allow it to invoke the power of the state to control its customers, critics and competitors:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

An "app" is just a web-page skinned in enough IP to make it a crime to add an ad-blocker to it. This is what Jay Freeman calls "felony contempt of business model" and it's everywhere. When companies don't have to worry about users deploying self-help measures to disenshittify their products, they are freed from the constraint that prevents them indulging the impulse to shift value from their customers to themselves.

Apple owes its existence to interoperability – its ability to clone Microsoft Office's file formats for Pages, Numbers and Keynote, which saved the company in the early 2000s – and ever since, it has devoted its existence to making sure no one ever does to Apple what Apple did to Microsoft:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/06/adversarial-interoperability-reviving-elegant-weapon-more-civilized-age-slay

Regulatory capture cuts both ways: it's not just about powerful corporations being free to flout the law, it's also about their ability to enlist the law to punish competitors that might constrain their plans for exploiting their workers, customers, suppliers or other stakeholders.

The final historical constraint on tech companies was their own workers. Tech has very low union-density, but that's in part because individual tech workers enjoyed so much bargaining power due to their scarcity. This is why their bosses pampered them with whimsical campuses filled with gourmet cafeterias, fancy gyms and free massages: it allowed tech companies to convince tech workers to work like government mules by flattering them that they were partners on a mission to bring the world to its digital future:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/10/the-proletarianization-of-tech-workers/

For tech bosses, this gambit worked well, but failed badly. On the one hand, they were able to get otherwise powerful workers to consent to being "extremely hardcore" by invoking Fobazi Ettarh's spirit of "vocational awe":

https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/

On the other hand, when you motivate your workers by appealing to their sense of mission, the downside is that they feel a sense of mission. That means that when you demand that a tech worker enshittifies something they missed their mother's funeral to deliver, they will experience a profound sense of moral injury and refuse, and that worker's bargaining power means that they can make it stick.

Or at least, it did. In this era of mass tech layoffs, when Google can fire 12,000 workers after a $80b stock buyback that would have paid their wages for the next 27 years, tech workers are learning that the answer to "I won't do this and you can't make me" is "don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out" (AKA "sharpen your blades boys"):

https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/29/elon-musk-texts-discovery-twitter/

With competition, regulation, self-help and labor cleared away, tech firms – and firms that have wrapped their products around the pluripotently malleable core of digital tech, including automotive makers – are no longer constrained from enshittifying their products.

And that's why your car manufacturer has chosen to spy on you and sell your private information to data-brokers and anyone else who wants it. Not because you didn't pay for the product, so you're the product. It's because they can get away with it.

Cars are enshittified. The dozens of chips that auto makers have shoveled into their car design are only incidentally related to delivering a better product. The primary use for those chips is autoenshittification – access to legal strictures ("IP") that allows them to block modifications and repairs that would interfere with the unfettered abuse of their own customers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

The fact that it's a felony to reverse-engineer and modify a car's software opens the floodgates to all kinds of shitty scams. Remember when Bay Staters were voting on a ballot measure to impose right-to-repair obligations on automakers in Massachusetts? The only reason they needed to have the law intervene to make right-to-repair viable is that Big Car has figured out that if it encrypts its diagnostic messages, it can felonize third-party diagnosis of a car, because decrypting the messages violates the DMCA:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/drm-cars-will-drive-consumers-crazy

Big Car figured out that VIN locking – DRM for engine components and subassemblies – can felonize the production and the installation of third-party spare parts:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/08/about-those-kill-switched-ukrainian-tractors/

The fact that you can't legally modify your car means that automakers can go back to their pre-2008 ways, when they transformed themselves into unregulated banks that incidentally manufactured the cars they sold subprime loans for. Subprime auto loans – over $1t worth! – absolutely relies on the fact that borrowers' cars can be remotely controlled by lenders. Miss a payment and your car's stereo turns itself on and blares threatening messages at top volume, which you can't turn off. Break the lease agreement that says you won't drive your car over the county line and it will immobilize itself. Try to change any of this software and you'll commit a felony under Section 1201 of the DMCA:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/02/innovation-unlocks-markets/#digital-arm-breakers

Tesla, naturally, has the most advanced anti-features. Long before BMW tried to rent you your seat-heater and Mercedes tried to sell you a monthly subscription to your accelerator pedal, Teslas were demon-haunted nightmare cars. Miss a Tesla payment and the car will immobilize itself and lock you out until the repo man arrives, then it will blare its horn and back itself out of its parking spot. If you "buy" the right to fully charge your car's battery or use the features it came with, you don't own them – they're repossessed when your car changes hands, meaning you get less money on the used market because your car's next owner has to buy these features all over again:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

And all this DRM allows your car maker to install spyware that you're not allowed to remove. They really tipped their hand on this when the R2R ballot measure was steaming towards an 80% victory, with wall-to-wall scare ads that revealed that your car collects so much information about you that allowing third parties to access it could lead to your murder (no, really!):

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/03/rip-david-graeber/#rolling-surveillance-platforms

That's why your car spies on you. Because it can. Because the company that made it lacks constraint, be it market-based, legal, technological or its own workforce's ethics.

One common critique of my enshittification hypothesis is that this is "kind of sensible and normal" because "there’s something off in the consumer mindset that we’ve come to believe that the internet should provide us with amazing products, which bring us joy and happiness and we spend hours of the day on, and should ask nothing back in return":

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-to-have-great-conversations/

What this criticism misses is that this isn't the companies bargaining to shift some value from us to them. Enshittification happens when a company can seize all that value, without having to bargain, exploiting law and technology and market power over buyers and sellers to unilaterally alter the way the products and services we rely on work.

A company that doesn't have to fear competitors, regulators, jailbreaking or workers' refusal to enshittify its products doesn't have to bargain, it can take. It's the first lesson they teach you in the Darth Vader MBA: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/26/hit-with-a-brick/#graceful-failure

Your car spying on you isn't down to your belief that your carmaker "should provide you with amazing products, which brings your joy and happiness you spend hours of the day on, and should ask nothing back in return." It's not because you didn't pay for the product, so now you're the product. It's because they can get away with it.

The consequences of this spying go much further than mere insurance premium hikes, too. Car telemetry sits at the top of the funnel that the unbelievably sleazy data broker industry uses to collect and sell our data. These are the same companies that sell the fact that you visited an abortion clinic to marketers, bounty hunters, advertisers, or vengeful family members pretending to be one of those:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/07/safegraph-spies-and-lies/#theres-no-i-in-uterus

Decades of pro-monopoly policy led to widespread regulatory capture. Corporate cartels use the monopoly profits they extract from us to pay for regulatory inaction, allowing them to extract more profits.

But when it comes to privacy, that period of unchecked corporate power might be coming to an end. The lack of privacy regulation is at the root of so many problems that a pro-privacy movement has an unstoppable constituency working in its favor.

At EFF, we call this "privacy first." Whether you're worried about grifters targeting vulnerable people with conspiracy theories, or teens being targeted with media that harms their mental health, or Americans being spied on by foreign governments, or cops using commercial surveillance data to round up protesters, or your car selling your data to insurance companies, passing that long-overdue privacy legislation would turn off the taps for the data powering all these harms:

https://www.eff.org/wp/privacy-first-better-way-address-online-harms

Traditional economics fails because it thinks about markets without thinking about power. Monopolies lead to more than market power: they produce regulatory capture, power over workers, and state capture, which felonizes competition through IP law. The story that our problems stem from the fact that we just don't spend enough money, or buy the wrong products, only makes sense if you willfully ignore the power that corporations exert over our lives. It's nice to think that you can shop your way out of a monopoly, because that's a lot easier than voting your way out of a monopoly, but no matter how many times you vote with your wallet, the cartels that control the market will always win:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/05/the-map-is-not-the-territory/#apor-locksmith

Name your price for 18 of my DRM-free ebooks and support the Electronic Frontier Foundation with the Humble Cory Doctorow Bundle.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/12/market-failure/#car-wars

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

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inthedayswhenlandswerefew · 11 months ago

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1968 [Chapter 11: Hephaestus, God Of Fire]

A/N: Only 1 chapter left!!! 🥰💜

Series Summary: Aemond is embroiled in a fierce battle to secure the Democratic Party nomination and defeat his archnemesis, Richard Nixon, in the presidential election. You are his wife of two years and wholeheartedly indoctrinated into the Targaryen political dynasty. But you have an archnemesis of your own: Aemond’s chronically delinquent brother Aegon.

Series Warnings: Language, sexual content (18+ readers only), violence, bodily injury, character deaths, New Jersey, age-gap relationships, drinking, smoking, drugs, pregnancy and childbirth, kids with weird Greek names, historical topics including war and discrimination, math.

Word Count: 5.4k

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged! 🥰

💜 All of my writing can be found HERE! 💜

Here is our final interlude. Do you have the patience?

President Lyndon Baines Johnson has halted all U.S. attacks on North Vietnam: no bombs from the air, no infantry on the ground, no artillery shells launched by destroyers cruising in the South China Sea. The election will determine what happens next. If Nixon wins, military operations will resume until the South Vietnamese are in a sufficiently advantageous position to defend themselves from the communists. If Aemond is the victor, troop withdrawals will begin shortly after he is inaugurated on January 20th.

Regardless, it will not be until almost a full year from now, in October of 1969, that it becomes illegal for employers to reserve positions for men; the common practice of refusing to hire women with preschool-aged children will not be outlawed until 1971. Unmarried people will not be guaranteed access to contraception until 1972. Abortion will not be legalized across all fifty states until 1973. Women will not have a right to their own bank accounts or credit cards until 1974. It will not be illegal to exclude women from juries until 1975. The first female Supreme Court justice, Sandra Day O’Connor, will be appointed in 1981. There will be no female president of the United States, not for at least half a century after our story ends.

Each night on CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite recaps the latest poll numbers. Nixon appears to have a slight advantage, due in large part to pulling ahead in Florida, Illinois, Ohio, and his home state of California. Aemond has comfortable leads in Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. George Wallace will likely sweep the Deep South: Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. From their hovels, the racists rejoice. From her grave, Lurleen Wallace rests uneasily, scratching at the lid of her coffin with the bones of her fingers, entombed in dark oblivion like all the rest of the world’s discarded wives.

~~~~~~~~~~

You go for the door, but Aemond is faster; he catches you just as your hand is twisting the handle and the hinges creak. He throws you against the wall so hard the paintings rattle: replicas of Monets and Warhols, Almond Blossoms, The Birth of Venus. You fight, clawing at him, ripping off the eyepatch that Alys must have at last convinced him was no defeat to wear. The hollow, gore-colored abyss of his left eye socket beckons you to fall in and be burned: Hestia’s eternal hearth, the volcanic forge of Hephaestus. He’s fire all the way down, hunger and fury, bones charred black and brittle. You think of the uninhabitable furnace of Jupiter’s moon Io, lethal radiation, poisoned air, lava bubbling up like blood through a bullet wound.

“You can’t hit me,” you gasp. “You need me for photos—”

His knuckles are in your belly, crosshairs made of scar tissue. The air collapses out of your lungs; your vision dims like twilight, like an eclipse. You’re on the floor and trying to crawl away from him. Aemond’s fingers hook into the fabric of your robe; it matches the silk nightgown you wear beneath, a pale anemic pink, something soft and young and desireless, something eternally at others’ mercy, something to be guarded or gutted. He’s dragging you towards him.

He’s going to hit me again, he might even kill me.

“Stop, stop,” you plead, still struggling to breathe. “What if I’m pregnant?!”

You almost certainly can’t be, but Aemond doesn’t know that. Yet his lone eye glints like metal, like coins, no weak mortal compassion. “I would have no way of being sure it was mine.” And then he tries to cover your mouth as you scream for help. You bite at his fingers; your bare feet kick the wall. Your hair, long and loose and wild, flows around you like a bride’s veil.

Too late, Aemond realizes that the door is still open a crack from when you grabbed the handle. There are footsteps and a voice that crescendos as it approaches: “What on earth is going on in here…?” Fosco appears in the threshold, yellow tweed jacket, tight olive green trousers. He stares thunderstruck down at where you and Aemond are entangled on the floor.

You beg: “Fosco, help me.”

“No, no, no,” Fosco says, jolting from his paralysis and holding a hand out towards Aemond. “No, you cannot do this, whatever has happened, you cannot touch her like—”

“She’s not your wife,” Aemond says. She’s not your property. Fosco hesitates; his large dark eyes shifting between the two of you from behind his glasses.

“Aemond, brother, listen to—”

“Get out.” Aemond’s voice is low, searing, malignant.

“Fosco, please don’t leave me,” you whimper. You try to pry Aemond’s fingers off your robe; they dig in deeper, bruising the flesh underneath. “Don’t leave me, don’t let him hurt me.”

Abruptly, Fosco turns and sprints out of the room.

“No!” you shout after him before Aemond grabs your face, his hand like a claw, fingernails leaving half-moon indents in your cheeks, crushing pressure on your jaw.

“You’re trying to sabotage this campaign.”

“I didn’t see the reporters, I swear to God.”

He knocks the back of your skull against the wall so hard that you see momentary flashes like stars, that all the words vanish from your throat, that words cease to exist at all. “You’re a traitor. Do you know the penalty for treason? The U.S. Army would have you executed by firing squad. Zeus would chain you to a rock so your liver could be carved out.”

“You betrayed me first,” you hiss through clenched teeth, your head pounding hot and maroon.

“I have been working for this since before you were born. You can’t take it away from me. I won’t let you.”

“I did everything right and you still couldn’t love me.” You swing at Aemond and he catches your wounded hand, squeezes it, digs his thumb into the spot where the doctors stitched you closed. The pain is excruciating, incapacitating. You wail as scarlet flowers bloom through the white of your bandaged palm.

Now the door flies open again and Aegon collides with Aemond, sends him sprawling, crouches over you. He’s screaming something at Aemond, gripping your shoulder to keep you under him, his too-long hair hanging in his face, black turtleneck sweater, one of Daeron’s frayed army jackets thrown over it, ripped jeans, bare feet. Aemond grabs his brother by the lapel of his army jacket and draws back his fist. His golden wedding ring flashes in the grey November sunlight that streams in through the windows. Aegon doesn’t flinch. He’s taken knuckles to the face before; you remember cleaning blood off his skin under a streetlight in Biloxi, you remember not wanting to wash him away.

“Don’t you see what it will look like?!” Fosco is saying, trying to coax Aemond to relent. “If he is photographed with a busted face after that story comes out? If she has bruises or a black eye? By harming them you are confirming what your enemies have printed, and the voters will believe it is the truth.”

“They already know it’s true!” Aemond snatches the Wall Street Journal off the table and hurls it at Fosco. Then he paces back and forth through the room, glaring at where you are still crumpled on the floor, sobbing, cradling your bleeding hand to your chest. “It’s right there, three goddamn photographs, and that’s all it will take to bring down a lifetime of work!”

Fosco studies the pictures again, shaking his head, one hand covering his mouth. At last he offers weakly: “It could be worse, Aemond.”

“How could it be worse?!”

Aegon scrambles to Fosco to rip the newspaper out of his hands, then returns to you. He hasn’t seen the front-page story yet. He skims it frantically. “This? This is what you’re losing your mind over? It’s dark, it’s blurry, they can’t even see what’s going on!”

“I have one fucking eye and I can see it!”

“So come up with another explanation, this doesn’t prove anything.”

“If she costs me the election—”

“If you lose, it won’t be because of her!” Aegon roars back. “It will be because the Democrats have held the White House for eight years and the world has gone to hell on our watch, it will be because of Kennedy, and Johnson, and Vietnam and the riots and the hippies and the drugs and the assassinations, it will be because Nixon is promising law and order in a time when nobody is safe, it will be because you just weren’t good enough. But she has given more to your cause than anyone. You hit her and you’ll lose your other eye.”

“They were in conversation,” Fosco says, meaning the photos. The four of you know that’s not true; it is a lie for the rest of the world, it is hope for Aemond’s campaign. “On the beach. They were whispering, comforting each other. Because of Mimi. That is all.”

Aemond scoffs, his remaining eye fierce and wrathful as it lands on you again. Aegon grips your shoulder, still crouching over you, still shielding you. “You bitch. I should have left you at that party in Manhattan to be the dope-smoking whore you were when I found you.”

“I shouldn’t have helped save your life in Palm Beach.”

And Aemond blinks at you, not hurt but bewildered, like he doesn’t understand your words, like what you said is impossible. He doesn’t believe you saved him. He believes it was God’s will.

Otto storms into the hotel room and takes in the scene: you and Aegon on the floor, Aemond pacing furiously, Fosco attempting to mediate. “Nobody says anything,” Otto commands, deep booming voice, black suit like he’s going to a funeral. “The Wall Street Journal hates Aemond. Everyone knows that, they’re probably the only national publication that would run the story. Our newspapers are already pushing the counternarrative, that this was a shameful, deceitful, desperate attempt to discredit Aemond right before the election. Our supporters will insist upon an innocent explanation. Nixon’s will use the photos as evidence of our degeneracy, our amorality, us immigrants with our strange faith and our progressive politics. Everyone else in the country will be warring over this headline. We will say nothing. We will conduct business as usual. The best thing we can do now is go out there and keep our schedule as planned.” He looks meaningfully at Aemond. “And your wife must be at your side. Smiling, unscathed, devoted.”

“I lost my composure,” Aemond says to you, more collected now, businesslike. He is smoothing any wrinkles out of his suit jacket. “I was wrong to put my hands on you. I apologize for that. It was beneath me.”

You reply: “Very little is beneath you, I’ve learned.”

“You have been.” A trace of a grin, crooked and cruel. “Plenty of times. And you will be again.”

Aegon is watching is brother, seething but terrified, sheltering you with power that is only illusory, never real. It is a mirage that Aemond or Otto could punch through at any moment. It is glass that would shatter into crystalline dust.

“If I win, you will beg on your knees for forgiveness,” Aemond tells you. “You will beg in private, you will be perfection in public, and I will magnanimously overlook this indiscretion in which you were taken advantage of by my notoriously dissolute brother. There was no affair. There was a fleeting moment of weakness on your part and depravity on Aegon’s. We will put it in the past. I will be the president of the United States and you will be my first lady. You will spend every second of your existence in service of my career, my country, and my legacy. You will give me children. You will obey me entirely. And you and Aegon will never be in a room alone together for the rest of your lives.”

“You can’t keep me away from her,” Aegon says.

“I just did. I make the rules here, I am the heir to this empire. If you wanted that responsibility, you should have seized it. You squandered it, you cursed it. It’s mine now.”

A whisper: “Aemond, it’ll kill me.”

“Then have the dignity to die quietly. It will be the most useful thing you’ve ever done.”

“Aegon must be seen in public too,” Fosco says, trying to sound like he isn’t defending him. “If you appear to be punishing or excluding him, it will be used as evidence of his guilt.”

Aemond nods, then turns to his brother. “As soon as the election is called, whichever way it goes, I want you gone. I don’t care where you go. I don’t care what happens to you once you’re there. You will disappear. We will say it was your choice, and if you comply you can keep your children and receive a modest amount of severance pay to get you started. And as long as you abide by my terms, my wife will not be harmed.”

Aegon doesn’t reply. His large Atlantic-blue eyes glisten, his lips tremble, his hand is still on your shoulder. You think through the throbbing pain of your bleeding palm: Is this the last time he’ll ever touch me?

Otto grabs Aegon, wrenches him away from you, drags him yowling and clawing at the carpet through the doorway.

~~~~~~~~~~

Your hand is freshly bandaged, pristine white gauze that people in the crowd jostle to touch like the relic of a saint, to pray over, to kiss. Men tell you how brave you are to bear the pain without weeping. Women give you komboskini, stained not with their husband’s blood but with only the clean, colorless ether of hope, faith, reverence, love.

Fosco and Helaena have been dispatched to accompany the children on a tour of the Franklin Institute, one of the oldest centers of science education in the nation. Aemond is giving a speech in front of the Liberty Bell at Independence Hall. You and the others are arranged around him like a starving crescent moon. You are standing immediately on Aemond’s left side, Aegon placed at his right. He looks drunk, he looks drugged; you aren’t sure if anyone else can tell, but you can. His cheeks are flushed. His eyes are pools of murky, desolate indigo like the night sky between stars. A few attendees give the two of you curious glances, but no mention is made of the accusations in the Wall Street Journal. You get the sense that if someone took it upon themselves to ask a question on the subject, they would be jeered, reviled, banished like President Johnson, who is currently besieged in the White House by the ghosts of Vietnam.

When you look to Aemond, you see his scar, his prosthetic eye, fierce and stoic determination in the lines of his face. He is quoting the inscription on the bell: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof…” The bronze metal has a crack in it like one of Zeus’s lightning bolts. The smile on your face is frozen, demure, humble. Aegon’s eyes accidentally catch on yours—a childlike vulnerability, a deep raw woundedness—and then swiftly dart away.

“America is the Land of Opportunity, but some have forgotten that,” Aemond says into the microphone, and vengeance creeps into his voice like a spider up a wall. “Unfortunately, for as long as new communities have arrived at our shores, vile and prejudiced lies have been used to demonize them. Greek immigrants have been crossing the Atlantic for over a century. In 1909, rioters violently expelled them from Omaha, Nebraska. In 1922, an anti-Greek initiative was launched by the Ku Klux Klan. In 1924, Congress drastically restricted my people’s entry in favor of migrants from Northwestern European nations like Britain and Germany. Greeks have been condemned as unintelligent, immoral, and unworthy of the glorious opportunities of this country. We have been barred from jobs and universities, we have been used as cannon fodder in the World Wars. Discrimination against any group is antithetical to the American Dream. I have given an eye for this nation, my wife has bled for it, my brother has—even in the midst of personal tragedy—uprooted his life and the lives of his children to fight alongside me for a better America, and I will not stand by silently as the Targaryen name is tarnished by bigoted falsehoods…”

Now you can no longer hear him over the thunder of the applause, and you remember all the other faces in all those other cities, their eyes illuminated as if by fire, as if by the sun. You imagine devotees of the Greek gods bowing low in temples of white marble and flickering torches, bringing offerings of gold and livestock, grain and blood, murmuring prayers, bargaining for miracles. Did the gods hear them? Do the gods love anyone but themselves?

Alicent and Criston are watching you and Aegon with the same eyes: large, dark, shimmering, a curious combination of horror and profound sympathy. You can feel yourself becoming a ghost, a legend, a myth. One day people will read about you in textbooks and academic journals, in plaques erected at Aemond’s alma mater, Columbia University, and your own, Manhattanville College; and they will know only the fabled version of you. Who you really were will fade into nothingness like Echo, like Icarus into the waves, like Eurydice when her lover Orpheus dared to glimpse back at her.

That night in your penthouse suite at the Ritz-Carlton, you get out of the bathtub—dewy with steam, donning your pink robe—and then go to your side of the king-sized bed and slide open the top drawer of the nightstand. The card Aegon gave you at Mount Sinai isn’t there. Your heartbeat quickens; your stomach lurches.

“What…?”

You get down on your knees to reach into the back of the drawer, to see if the card has snagged somewhere. You hear footsteps and whirl to see Aemond standing in the doorway between the bedroom and the living room. He is holding the card. The cartoon cow beams jubilantly at you. You recall what Aegon wrote inside after crossing out the manufacturer’s message: I thought this was blank…congrats on the new calf! As your eyes widen, Aemond rips the card down the middle.

“Don’t!” you scream, rushing for him. “Please don’t, it’s all I have from—!”

Aemond shoves you back and then, with a grin more like a wolf baring its teeth, tears through the remnants again and again until the card is nothing but shreds. He opens the sliding glass door that leads out onto the balcony and throws them into the cold night wind, where they scatter in a flurry like snowflakes, like bones turned to splinters by cluster bombs in the swamps of Vietnam.

The paper fragments spiral down thirty stories towards the zooming headlights on South Broad Street, and you think about following them. Then Aemond pulls you into his arms as frigid air blows through you and whispers: “You don’t need Aegon anymore. You just need me.”

~~~~~~~~~~

It’s Monday, November 4th, and you are walking alongside Ludwika on Broadway in Astoria, Queens, the part of New York City known as Greektown. She chats about the modelling jobs she did here before meeting Otto, her Louis Vuitton stilettos clicking on the sidewalk, her Camel cigarettes smudged with red Yardley lipstick. It is an act of kindness; she is trying to distract you. A few yards away, Fosco is telling Aegon about how he just won $500 by betting on the NASCAR Peach State 200, held at Jefco Speedway in Georgia. Aegon nods along, preoccupied, miserable. He has dark shadows around his eyes and is smoking one of his Lucky Strikes. He is wearing a green knit cap, windblown curls of his blonde hair escaping from underneath. You’re not supposed to stare at Aegon, but sometimes you can’t help it. You miss him. You’re worried about him.

The Targaryens have suites reserved at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, where the family will stay through Election Day to witness the results as they are tallied on the evening news. The children are there now, enjoying pizza from Little Italy with Helaena and the nannies. But you and the other adults are being photographed by flocks of journalists as you head for lunch at one of the oldest Greek diners in the United States, paying homage to Aemond’s ancestry. The candidate himself is locked in a fraught conversation with Otto and Criston: polls gaining here, polls slipping there, Nixon inching further ahead in Florida, the state you were supposed to help Aemond win.

“What should I order?” Ludwika asks you. “Not spinach pie, oh, horrible, worse than Hitler. Something else. Why can’t we go to a Polish restaurant for once? I will take you sometime. You will see. You will try a pierogi and never look back. We invented bagels, you know.”

“Beagles?” Fosco says. “What an accomplishment! They are so cute!”

“Bagels, stupido.”

“Do not bully me. I am suffering too. I should be back at the hotel eating a prosciutto pizza.”

As you pass an electronics shop with stacks of televisions in the windows, all turned to NBC news, the journalists begin to gasp and chatter excitedly amongst themselves. The flashbulbs strobe madly, shutters clicking and reporters shouting for Aemond to give them a comment. The youngest Targaryen brother has appeared on the screens, bruised and gaunt and missing teeth. He looks twenty years older than he is. His once-golden hair is turning white.

Otto sputters: “What…what the hell is that?!”

“Oh my God, Daeron!” Alicent howls, and then bursts into the shop so she can hear what her lost son is saying. The rest of you hurry after her, locking the front door behind you so the journalists can’t follow. Through the windows, they take photographs until Fosco and Ludwika lower the blinds.

Inside the maze of electronics, three adolescent employees gawk at the presidential candidate and his retinue. “Out,” Otto instructs them, and then, when they are too stunned to immediately vacate the premises: “I said, get out!” The teenagers scurry into the backroom and slam the door.

“Daeron,” Alicent moans in front of a Zenith color television. Tears flow torrentially from her huge, horrified eyes. Criston holds her, arms circling, his cheek pressed to hers, and you are reminded of how Aegon touched you in your hotel room in Houston, in his basement at Asteria, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

Daeron is saying: “The United States has committed war crimes in Vietnam. I am ashamed of the actions my country has taken here. We have burned children with napalm, executed innocent civilians, and interfered in matters that we have no legitimate jurisdiction over…”

“He is reading from a script,” Fosco says. “You can see his eyes following the words.”

“Shh,” Otto snaps.

Daeron continues: “The only honorable course of action now is to immediately withdrawal all American soldiers from Vietnam…”

“I think this will help us, actually,” Otto says. “People will know he’s being forced to make propaganda for the communists, and they will have sympathy for him and the family. They’ll want to rescue him and all the other servicemen too. He’s obviously…under duress.”

Aegon drops to his knees and puts his palm against the screen over Daeron’s face, just like the shadows of your fingers once fell over Ari as he fought for his life in an incubator in Mount Sinai Hospital. “Do you see what they’re doing to him?” He turns to Aemond with tears in his eyes. “What you did to him? You left him there, you abandoned him, and now he’s being tortured.”

Alicent looks to Aemond, puzzled, petrified. “You tried to get him out, didn’t you?” Aemond doesn’t answer. Otto averts his gaze, counting the tiles on the floor.

“Dear lord,” Ludwika mutters, lighting a fresh Camel cigarette and puffing on it anxiously.

“Was it worth it?” Aegon demands. “Selling your soul?”

Aemond is steely, resolved. “It’s almost over.”

“You were all right.” Aegon stands, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his green-striped sweater. “I don’t have what it takes to win the presidency. I couldn’t do something like this. Me, the perennial fuckup. Me, the godless degenerate.”

“Aegon,” Alicent whispers. “Please…please don’t…”

He turns to his mother, insurmountably sad. “Mom, I tried to stop him.” Alicent sobs and covers her face with both hands as Criston embraces her. She can’t even look at Aemond. She can’t believe what he’s become. Her long coppery hair flows like blood.

You reach for Aegon, your fingertips brushing his ruddy cheek, and immediately he folds into you, burying his face in the curve of your neck, breathing in your warmth as you inhale his smoke and rum and pain and terror. “Daeron will be home soon,” you say, not knowing if it’s true. Your bandaged hand aches; your throat burns.

“I should have gone instead. It should have been me.”

“No, Aegon. Your children need you, I need you. I wouldn’t have made it without you.”

Then Aemond yanks you away, his grip on your wrist like an anchor, like chains.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Dad, play us something,” Orion says; and it is the first time you can remember him calling Aegon that. Aegon smiles. He’s sitting on one of the couches in the penthouse suite you share with Aemond, the Gibson guitar he bought back in July lying across his lap as he strums it absentmindedly. The television is on and turned to CBS News. It’s just before midnight on Tuesday, November 5th, Election Day. The children are thrilled. It’s the one night they’re allowed to stay up as late as they’re physically able to. This allowance is not purely altruistic; Aemond wants them awake and ready for photographs as soon as the winner is announced.

“What should I play?”

“Frank Sinatra,” Fosco says. He is beside Aegon on the couch, smoking a cigar and flipping through the Sports section of the New York Times, which he’s not really reading.

“Marvin Gaye,” Ludwika suggests. They are both on your side of the room. Aemond, Otto, Sargent Shriver, and a number of campaign staffers are huddled around the television, transfixed by the ever-updating vote totals. Alicent and Criston are between your factions, murmuring back and forth to each other, flutes of golden champagne in their hands. Helaena is on the floor entertaining Violeta, Daphne, and Neaera with Crayolas and coloring books full of scenes from gardens. You recall how eerily calm Helaena had been the night Aemond was shot in Palm Beach, like she somehow already knew he’d survive. Now she is nervous, looking fretfully around the room, wringing her hands, filling outlines of butterflies with ten different shades of blue.

“The Beatles,” Orion tells Aegon, casting Fosco and Ludwika a judgmental teenage glance.

“Any particular song?”

“You can pick.”

Aegon sips at his rum, ice cubes clinking in the glass. He looks over to the coffee table, where you are embroiled in a game of Battleship with Cosmo. He’s getting better; he’s genuinely sunk your destroyer and submarine so far. Then Aegon’s eyes drop to his guitar strings and he plucks the opening notes of In My Life. His voice is soft and low, almost secretive.

“There are places I’ll remember

All my life, though some have changed

Some forever, not for better

Some have gone and some remain…”

Cosmo turns to watch his father. Orion, Spiro, Thaddeus, and Evangelos are gathered around Aegon’s feet, gazing up at him with admiration, with love.

“All these places had their moments

With lovers and friends, I still can recall

Some are dead and some are living

In my life, I’ve loved them all...”

Cheers erupt over by the television; Aemond has just won Michigan. But then tense, indistinct deliberations follow. Florida is still too close to call, a bad omen. You wonder where Alys is as she watches the results come in. There must be some part of her—however small, however smothered—that fears Aemond will win. If he captures the presidency, she could be separated from the man she loves for the better part of a decade. You drink your Pink Squirrel, wishing it was stronger. You think of sea sponge divers down in the depths and imagine what that first gulp of air tastes like when they resurface, when they shed their rubber suits and brass helmets and step back into sunlight, warmth, freedom like Persephone returning from the Underworld each spring.

“But of all these friends and lovers

There is no one compares with you

And these memories lose their meaning

When I think of love as something new…”

You wear a sapphire-colored gown that Aemond chose for you, strings of silver around your wrist and throat, diamond teardrops hanging from your ears. Your hair is up, your fingernails painted a tasteful opalescent shade, the aching of your bandaged hand dulled by booze and Vicodin.

“Though I know I’ll never lose affection

For people and things that went before

I know I’ll often stop and think about them

In my life, I love you more.”

More triumphant shouts and applause across the room by the television: Aemond has won Washington state. From his own suite at the St. Regis Hotel a few blocks south on 5th Avenue, Nixon’s people must be celebrating that he just secured Ohio’s 26 electoral votes. He needs 270 to be the next president of the United States.

Florida, you think. If Nixon can take Florida, I think he’ll win the whole thing.

As Aemond and Otto are distracted, as Fosco and Ludwika watch with pitying, knowing eyes, Aegon sets his guitar aside and walks by you with his rum in hand, taps your shoulder, disappears onto the balcony. You wait a few minutes—Cosmo wins Battleship and goes to color on the floor with Helaena—and then follow Aegon.

Outside the night sky is moonless, starless, thick with clouds. Rain is beginning to fall, soft hushed pattering. Far below taxis and limousines are still rushing and blowing their horns on West 59th Street. You can see the vast forested shadow of Central Park and streetlights like constellations. In apartments and office buildings, windows are illuminated as Americans sit numbing their fears with beer, wine, shots of liquor, smoldering hand-rolled joints.

Aegon is cross-legged at the ledge, one hand on the iron bars of the railing, staring out at the nightscape of Manhattan. His hair lashes in the cold November wind. His nose is pink, his eyes wet and faraway. He passes his Lucky Strike cigarette to you as you join him and says: “I don’t think Aemond can win without Florida.”

“No,” you agree, taking a drag.

Aegon snatches a rattling orange bottle from the pocket of his olive green army jacket, pops it open, and swallows three pills with a swig of straight rum, dark amber poison.

“Don’t do that,” you say, you plead.

“I need it, babe.”

“I want you to still be alive in ten years.”

Aegon smiles and reaches over to pat your cheek twice. “I think that ship might have sailed, little Io.” Can decades of self-destruction be undone, uninflicted, nullified like Heracles becoming immortal? Can the Underworld be escaped? “Come with me. No matter what happens tonight.”

“Aegon, I can’t.”

“I’m in love with you.”

“If I leave, he’ll hurt you. He’ll hurt me worse.”

“It’s not fair,” Aegon says, his voice breaking.

“Nothing is.”

There is an uproar inside the hotel room, screams that could be horror or triumph, realized dreams, breaking bones, bullets through flesh. You and Aegon are on your feet, hauling the balcony door open, stepping through the threshold into the rest of your lives.

Glasses are being toasted until champagne rains down onto the carpet. The telephone is ringing so Nixon can concede. On CBS News, Walter Cronkite is reporting that Aemond has won Florida and thereby accumulated 270 electoral votes. The blue text on the screen reads: Senator Targaryen will be the 37th president of the United States.

#aegon ii targaryen #aegon targaryen #aegon targaryen ii #aegon ii #aegon targaryen x reader #aegon x reader #aegon ii x y/n #aegon ii x you #aegon ii targaryen x reader #aegon ii fanfic #aegon ii x reader #aegon ii fic

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radiomogai · 3 months ago

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Experiences Event

[PT: Experiences event. End PT]

This is an event encouraging people to share their experiences with their identities! It's focused around microlabels but can be used to discuss any aspect of identity, including but not limited to gender, race, plurality, disability, and so on.

This is not a coining event, and you do not need to be a coiner to participate! Participation just involves making a post each day of the event discussing your experiences and identity with the prompt provided. Tag us in your posts and we'll reblog them here under the "experiences" tag!

This event starts on January 29 and ends on February 11, meaning there are 14 days to it. It's completely okay to skip a day or do them all at once.

Edit: We originally said February 12, but it is actually ending February 11.

Prompts:

How do you organize or categorize your identity? If you don't, why don't you?

What are your experiences with names, pronouns, and other referential language? How does it relate or not relate to other aspects of your identity?

Talk about either your favourite identity term of yours or a random one that applies to you! Why is it a part of your identity, how does it apply to you?

How do you express your identity through your behaviour or clothing? How does this relate to your identity? If you don't currently, would you like to in the future?

Talk about some sort of transition you've had or would like to have!

How has the MOGAI community influenced or affected how you understand identity, both your own and that of others?

Talk about an experience or identity of yours that you don't have a label for. If this doesn't apply to you, talk about why it is that you label your identity.

Talk about fluidity, fluctuation, or stability in your identity!

How and why has your identity changed over time? Are there any labels you used to identify with/as but don't anymore?

How do you visualize your identity? Alternatively, how do flags and symbols impact the terms and labels you use, if they do at all?

Do you have any sort of ranking in your identity? Aspects of your identity that you consider more or less important than others, or terms you prefer over others.

What's the process of taking on a new label like for you? Do you spend a while questioning, or do you add it to your collection immediately, and why?

How do your interests or hobbies affect how you label your identity? If they don't, why not?

Free space to ramble! Ramble about something to do with your identity or experiences.

Tagging: @mogai945 @rwuffles @daybreakthing @idwl @io-archival

@enderluna @mikumikumogai

#Events #Experiences event #MOGAI community #LIOM community

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genshin-impact-updates · 5 months ago

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"Tapestry of Spirit and Flame" Version 5.2 Update Details

Dear Traveler,

Below are the details of the Version 5.2 update "Tapestry of Spirit and Flame" and the update compensation.

〓Compensation Details〓

Maintenance Compensation: Primogems ×300 (60 Primogems per hour the servers are down)

Issue Fix Compensation: Primogems ×300 (please refer to the relevant compensation mail for more details)

〓Scope of Compensation〓

Maintenance Compensation: Travelers who have reached Adventure Rank 5 or above by 2024/11/20 06:00 (UTC+8).

Compensation must be claimed before the end of Version 5.2.

Issue Fix Compensation: Travelers who have reached Adventure Rank 5 or above by 2024/11/20 06:00 (UTC+8).

Please log in and claim your compensation before 2024/11/23 06:00 (UTC+8).

Our developers will distribute compensation to Travelers via in-game mail within 5 hours after the update maintenance is finished. The mail will expire after 30 days, so don't forget to claim the attached compensation in time.

〓Update Schedule〓

Update maintenance begins 2024/11/20 06:00 (UTC+8) and is estimated to take 5 hours.

〓How to Update Game Client〓

PC: Close the game, open the Genshin Impact Launcher, and click Update.

iOS: Open the App Store and tap Update.

Android: Open the game and follow the directions on-screen.

PS5™ and PS4™: Highlight Genshin Impact from the Home Screen, press the OPTIONS button and select "Check for Update."

Please do not hesitate to contact Customer Service if you encounter any issues installing the new version. We will do our very best to resolve the issue.

〓Update Details〓

I. New Areas

New Areas Now Available

◇ New Areas: In Version 5.2, the following areas in Natlan will become available: Tezcatepetonco Range, Quahuacan Cliff, and Ochkanatlan.

※ As long as you have completed Archon Quest Prologue: Act III "Song of the Dragon and Freedom," a Teleport Waypoint will be automatically unlocked near Tezcatepetonco Range in the northwest of Natlan's Stadium of the Sacred Flame. (If you have already completed this Archon Quest, the Teleport Waypoint will be unlocked after the update). You'll also receive the Primogem reward for this Teleport Waypoint when it unlocks automatically.

◇ Natlan Reputation System Update: With the opening of new areas, the Natlan Reputation System now includes Tribe Reputation for the Flower-Feather Clan and Masters of the Night-Wind.

◆ Unlock Criteria:

• Complete "Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame" in Archon Quest Chapter V: Act I "Flowers Resplendent on the Sun-Scorched Sojourn"

Adds the Natlan Fishing Association, where Travelers can exchange for new items here.

In addition, there will be new Fishing Points and "Radiant Spincrystals" in Natlan.

II. New Characters

5-Star Character "Skyborne Arbiter" Chasca (Anemo)

◇ Vision: Anemo

◇ Weapon: Bow

◇ The Peacemaker of the Tlalocan, the ender of all disputes.

◆ Elemental Skill: Spirit Reins, Shadow Hunt

◇ After casting her Elemental Skill "Spirit Reins, Shadow Hunt," Chasca immediately deals Nightsoul-aligned AoE Anemo DMG to nearby opponents, and enters the Nightsoul's Blessing state. Chasca then mounts "Soulsniper: Ritual Staff" and remains airborne, increasing her Movement SPD and resistance to interruption. In this state, tap the Normal Attack button to deal Nightsoul-aligned Anemo DMG to opponents. Hold the Normal Attack button to carry out "Multitarget Fire" and load up to 6 Shadowhunt Shells based on the duration for which the skill was charged, dealing DMG to selected opponents. Some Shadowhunt Shells will undergo Elemental Conversion based on the Elemental Types of the other characters in the party, dealing Nightsoul-aligned DMG corresponding to the Elemental Types.

◆ Elemental Burst: Soul Reaper's Fatal Round

◇ Chasca's Elemental Burst fires a "Galesplitting Soulseeker Shell" that deals Nightsoul-aligned AoE Anemo DMG to opponents. Afterward, the Galesplitting Soulseeker Shell will split into 6 Soulseeker Shells, which attack nearby opponents. Soulseeker Shells will undergo Elemental Conversion based on the Elemental Types of the other characters in the party, dealing Nightsoul-aligned DMG corresponding to the Elemental Types.

4-Star Character "Shadow of the Night-Wind" Ororon (Electro)

◇ Vision: Electro

◇ Weapon: Bow

◇ A young man from the Masters of the Night-Wind who instead lives in the wild alongside all manner of life.

◆ Elemental Skill: Night's Sling

◇ Throws a "Spirit Orb" that can bounce between enemies, dealing Nightsoul-aligned Electro DMG.

◆ Elemental Burst: Dark Voices Echo

◇ Summons a "Supersonic Oculus" to continuously taunt nearby enemies and deal Nightsoul-aligned Electro DMG.

◆ Passive Talent: Nightshade Synesthesia

◇ After a nearby party member triggers Nightsoul Burst, Ororon will gain a set amount of Nightsoul points. Within 15s after using his Elemental Skill, when other nearby party members' Hydro or Electro attacks hit opponents, Ororon will also gain a set amount of Nightsoul points.

Also, when nearby opponents take Electro-Charged reaction DMG or Nightsoul-aligned DMG dealt by other nearby characters, Ororon will consume a set amount of Nightsoul points and enter the Nightsoul's Blessing state. He will then deal Nightsoul-aligned Electro DMG to a set number of opponents.

III. New Equipment

New Weapon (Examples based on Refinement Rank 1)

Astral Vulture's Crimson Plumage (5-Star Bow)

For 12s after triggering a Swirl reaction, ATK increases by 24%. In addition, when 1/2 or more characters in the party are of a different Elemental Type from the equipping character, the DMG dealt by the equipping character's Charged Attacks is increased by 20%/48% and Elemental Burst DMG dealt is increased by 10%/24%.

◆ During the event wish "Epitome Invocation," the event-exclusive 5-star weapon Astral Vulture's Crimson Plumage (Bow) will receive a huge drop-rate boost!

Waveriding Whirl (4-Star Catalyst)

Decreases Swimming Stamina consumption by 15%. In addition, for 10s after using an Elemental Skill, Max HP is increased by 20%. For every Hydro Elemental Type character in the party, Max HP is increased by another 12%, and the maximum increase that can be achieved in this way is 24%. Can be triggered once every 15s.

◆ During the event wish "Epitome Invocation," the event-exclusive 4-star weapon Waveriding Whirl (Catalyst) will receive a huge drop-rate boost!

Flower-Wreathed Feathers (4-Star Bow)

Decreases Gliding Stamina consumption by 15%. When using Aimed Shots, the DMG dealt by Charged Attacks increases by 6% every 0.5s. This effect can stack up to 6 times and will be removed 10s after leaving Aiming Mode.

◆ During the event wish "Epitome Invocation," the event-exclusive 4-star weapon Flower-Wreathed Feathers (Bow) will receive a huge drop-rate boost!

Calamity of Eshu (4-Star Sword)

While characters are protected by a Shield, DMG dealt by Normal and Charged Attacks is increased by 20%, and Normal and Charged Attack CRIT Rate is increased by 8%.

◆ Calamity of Eshu (Sword) and its refinement materials can be redeemed in the "Iktomi Spiritseeking Scrolls" event.

IV. New Main Story

1. New Archon Quest

Archon Quest Chapter V: Interlude "All Fires Fuel the Flame"

Permanently available after the Version 5.2 update

◆ Quest Unlock Criteria:

• Reach Adventure Rank 28 or above

• Complete Archon Quest Chapter V: Act IV "The Rainbow Destined to Burn"

• The "Focused Experience Mode" function is available for this quest.

2. New Tribal Chronicles

"Of Fading Flowers and Falling Feathers"

Act I – Act III of "Of Fading Flowers and Falling Feathers" will be permanently available after the Version 5.2 update

◆ Act I and Act II Quest Unlock Criteria:

• Reach Adventure Rank 28 or above

• Complete "Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame" in Archon Quest Chapter V: Act I "Flowers Resplendent on the Sun-Scorched Sojourn"

◆ Act III Quest Unlock Criteria:

• Reach Adventure Rank 28 or above

• Complete Archon Quest Chapter V: Act IV "The Rainbow Destined to Burn"

The three acts must be experienced in sequence. You can only unlock the next act after completing the previous one and meeting the corresponding unlock criteria.

"Memories Flowing With Color"

Act I and Act II of "Memories Flowing With Color" will be permanently available after the Version 5.2 update

◆ Act I and Act II Quest Unlock Criteria:

• Reach Adventure Rank 28 or above

• Complete "Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame" in Archon Quest Chapter V: Act I "Flowers Resplendent on the Sun-Scorched Sojourn"

The two acts must be experienced in sequence. You can only unlock the next act after completing the previous one and meeting the corresponding unlock criteria.

You can use the "Quick Start" function to accept and progress through Archon Quest Chapter V: Act I "Flowers Resplendent on the Sun-Scorched Sojourn" while maintaining your current progress in the existing Archon Quests. After using the "Quick Start" function to complete Archon Quest Chapter V: Act I, you can continue to accept and complete the subsequent Acts of Chapter V until you unlock the latest Archon Quest or Tribal Chronicles introduced in the current version update.

3. New World Quests

New World Quests

"Lost Traveler in the Ashen Realm" Quest Chain, "From One Case to Another" Quest Chain, "Charge Forward! Go, Go, Go!," "Molting Season," "A Saurian Returns to the Nest," "Every Aspect of a Warrior," "Dancin' in the Moonlight," "Come Fly With Me," "Stand by Me," "The Mystery of Tecoloapan Beach," "Twisted Extension," and "Open Your Heart to Me," etc.

Adds new content to the "In the Footsteps of the Chosen of Dragons" Quest Chain.

V. New Enemies

Tenebrous Papilla

◇ A great black monster that has come from the abyssal dark, eroding the memories of the earth. It can warp itself and transform into a formidable foe.

Some of its attacks can cause stackable Attrition that, after a time, will cause your active character to lose HP. During combat, the Tenebrous Papilla will use Beseech the Dark to grant itself a Void Ward. At this time, use a certain number of elemental attack to break the Ward, which will cause it to enter a confused state. Nightsoul-aligned elemental attacks will break the Ward more effectively.

Located at Quahuacan Cliff

Wayob Manifestation

Burning-Aflame: Wayob Manifestation and Biting-Cold Wayob Manifestation

◇ The Wayob worshipped by the various tribes of Natlan manifest themselves in the form of these obsidian totems.

In battle, the Wayob Manifestation will deploy its Arena: Moment of Trial, creating a shield for itself and absorbing the Elemental Energy of all characters in the Arena. Characters in the Arena deal greatly increased DMG. If the shield is broken before the Arena expires, they will also regain a large amount of Energy. However, if they fail to break the shield, the Manifestation will generate a barrier based on the value of the remaining Elemental Shield.

Natlan Saurians

"Qucusaurus," "Iktomisaurus," "Qucusaurus Chick," and "Iktomisaurus Chick"

◇ The Saurians that inhabit the land of Natlan.

Special dragons that were better able to adapt to their environments, taking on different shapes and forms based on their surroundings.

Sauroform Tribal Warriors

"Winged Warrior: Skysoarer," "Winged Warrior: Feathershedder," "Winged Warrior: Skymaster," "Qucusaurus Warrior: Heartstar Hammer," "Qucusaurus Warrior: Blazing Sky," "Spiritspeaker Warrior: Determinator," "Spiritspeaker Warrior: Psychokinetic," "Spiritspeaker Warrior: Contemplator," "Iktomisaurus Warrior: Icy Tidebearer," and "Iktomisaurus Warrior: Cryocrystal Cannon"

◇ The warriors of Natlan's great tribes who fight for the honor and glory of their people.

Over long years of living and fighting alongside their Saurian companions, these tribal warriors have gradually acquired their traits and learned how to apply them on the field of battle.

VI. Other Update Details

New Recipes:

○ Exploration Rewards: Grainfruit Wrap; Surf, Turf, and Perch; and Volcano Cake

○ Natlan Reputation System Rewards: Mystique Soup and Sing Your Heart Out

New Character Specialty Dishes:

○ Chasca's specialty: Moment of Respite

○ Ororon's specialty: Honey-Glazed Ceviche

Adds "Natlan: The Land of Fire and Competition (II)," and "Duelist: Series II" Achievement categories, and adds new Achievements to the "Wonders of the World" category.

Adds Set 36 of "Paimon's Paintings" chat emojis.

Adds some prompts for loading screens.

New Namecards:

"Chasca: Fully Loaded": Reward for reaching Friendship Lv. 10 with Chasca

"Ororon: Nightshade": Reward for reaching Friendship Lv. 10 with Ororon

"Natlan: Fleeting Dreams": Reward for completing all achievements under "Natlan: The Land of Fire and Competition (II)"

"Achievement: Fighting Spirit": Reward for completing all achievements under "Duelist: Series II"

"Travel Notes: Spiritweaver": Reward obtained via the BP system

Adds Glowing Hornshroom Harvestable seeds to the Seed Dispensary.

Adds new Wildlife: Cacaua Goat.

Adds Natlan wildlife that can be captured by the Omni-Ubiquity Net.

Adds new Fishes: Greenwave Sunfish, Dusk Sunfish, Phony Phlogiston Unihornfish, Floral Rapidfighting Fish, Diving Rapidfighting Fish, and Magma Rapidfighting Fish.

"Genius Invokation TCG" Gameplay Update:

New Character Cards: Rosaria, Sigewinne and their corresponding Talent cards. Corresponding invitation duel and guest challenges have been added to the Player List.

New Character Card: Golden Wolflord and the corresponding Talent card. The Tavern Challenge has also been added.

New Action Cards: "Flowing Purity," "Maiden's Fading Beauty," "Iktomisaurus," "Scions of the Canopy," "Ultimate Surfing Buddy!," and "Glittering Gemstones" can be purchased from Prince at The Cat's Tail.

The Forge Realm's Temper is once again available. The theme of this edition is "The Forge Realm's Temper: Endless Swarm":

(1) Defeat endless waves of enemies during the rounds in "The Forge Realm's Temper: Endless Swarm" to accrue score.

(2) After you complete the stage battle, you will gain a score and the corresponding rewards based on the highest score you got in the stage.

(3) Different stages will contain different special rules that grant buffs. Use these rules well to fight more effectively.

Imaginarium Theater

After the Version 5.2 update, the two Imaginarium Theater seasons will be as follows:

○The first season of "Imaginarium Theater" will be available on December 1, 2024.

Required Elemental Types: Hydro, Electro, and Anemo

Opening Characters: Sangonomiya Kokomi, Xingqiu, Raiden Shogun, Kujou Sara, Jean, and Lynette

When Imaginarium Theater is open, the corresponding Opening Characters will obtain Fantastical Blessings.

Special Guest Stars: Lyney, Bennett, Zhongli, and Collei

After the first season of Imaginarium Theater begins, the characters Fischl, Sangonomiya Kokomi, Alhaitham, and Gaming will each gain a new "Thespian Trick" that can be exchanged from the NPC Wolfy.

○The second season of "Imaginarium Theater" will be available on January 1, 2025.

Required Elemental Types: Pyro, Cryo, and Geo

Opening Characters: Diluc, Bennett, Ganyu, Kaeya, Navia, and Noelle

When Imaginarium Theater is open, the corresponding Opening Characters will obtain Fantastical Blessings.

Special Guest Stars: Kamisato Ayato, Fischl, Xianyun, and Sayu

After the second season of Imaginarium Theater begins, the characters Klee, Zhongli, Shikanoin Heizou, and Layla will each gain a new "Thespian Trick" that can be exchanged from the NPC Wolfy.

Spiral Abyss

After the Version 5.2 update, Phase 1 of the Spiral Abyss will be updated on December 16.

◆ Floor 11 Ley Line Disorder changed to:

• Characters' Charged Attack DMG increased by 75%.

◆ Updated the monster lineup on Floors 11 – 12 of the Spiral Abyss.

◆ Blessing of the Abyssal Moon:

Shield-Piercing Moon

All party members' Shield Strength is increased by 20%. While the active character is protected by a Shield, when they deal DMG to opponents, their attacks will unleash a shockwave at the opponents' position that deals True DMG. This can trigger once every 5s.

〓Adjustments & Optimizations〓

● Enemies

Adjusts the collision size of the enemy "Goldflame Qucusaur Tyrant" to prevent it from getting in the way of Plunging Attacks.

Optimizes the combat experience against the enemy "Ichcahuipilli's Aegis": Characters cannot be returned to the place of exile again for a short time after leaving it.

● Quests

Adjusts the Artifacts equipped by Trial Characters in some Quests from "Noblesse Oblige" to an Artifact Set more suited to Trial Characters at Level 75 or above.

Adds the "Recollections" function to certain World Quests, which can be used to review plot which has already been completed. Travelers can choose whether they want to review content or not.

● Serenitea Pot

Adds the filter option for "Set Type" to the filters on the Furnishing Blueprints tab of the Realm Depot.

Adds the "Wood" exchange tab in Realm Depot which is refreshed every week.

When holding down to drag-select in Editing Mode's Multi-Select Mode, if selection is interrupted, or no new Furnishings are selected, the previously selected Furnishings will remain selected.

Increases the storage limit for seeds in the "Seed Dispensary" from 20 to 40.

Reduces the cooldown for using the "Boon of the Elder Tree" from 15 seconds to 5 seconds.

Adds a prompt message: A prompt will now appear when the number of unobtained Furnishings in a Replica in the "Serenitea Pot" exceeds a certain amount, preventing the Queued List from being created, Quick Purchase from being used, or Furnishing Blueprints from being used quickly.

● Imaginarium Theater

Adds a "Next Act" button to the finalization screen after combat events if the Traveler has completed Act 3 of the "Imaginarium Theater" and the quests related to "Wolfy."

Adds a "Supporting Cast Record for this Season" button to the Supporting Cast interface, allowing Travelers to check details of the corresponding records. (This feature will be available after the Imaginarium Theater is updated on December 1.)

Adds a character constellation display to the "Supporting Cast" interface.

Adds elemental statistics for characters to the "Performance Details" screen.

The "Performance Details" interface now remembers the tab Travelers were viewing when they last closed the page.

Adds Character Role and Character Elemental Type filter tags to the "Party Setup" screen and calculates and displays the number of characters selected with each role and elemental type.

Adds a "Villain" avatar at the bottom of the Event Selection interface and includes a description of the attributes that have an advantage against them in the Villain's description.

Calculates the number of characters of each elemental type in the remaining Principal Cast members in Companion Events, and will display the avatars of the corresponding Alternate Cast that can still be selected.

Increases the "Blessing Level" buffs for "Special Guest Stars" by 100%.

● Artifacts

Adds a function to display 5-star Artifacts in the order of when they were obtained on the "Artifacts" tab of the Inventory.

Adds an Artifact-marking function: Marked Artifacts will be automatically locked. When a locked Artifact is unlocked, its mark will also be removed.

Adds an option to filter by "Mark" status to the "Artifacts Filter" function.

Optimizes the sorting rules for "Marked," "Locked Only," and "Not Locked" Artifacts in the Inventory.

Changes the name of the "Artifact Auto-Lock" function to "Lock Assistance" on the "Artifacts" tab of the Inventory and adjusts its layout.

Adds a button to access the "Lock Assistance" function to the "Domain of Blessing" entry and Reward Collection interfaces.

"Lock Assistance" Function:

A. Adds a lock option for any slot to "Automatically lock Artifacts with both CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG as Minor Affixes."

B. "Set Lock Plans" allow for a certain Minor Affix to be set as a "Required Affix." Once marked, only Artifacts that include all the Required Affixes will be locked in the corresponding Set Lock Plan.

C. "Set Lock Plans" now allow for different Minor Affix requirements to be set for different slots.

D. Adds a "Recommended Plan" for each Set which can be enabled separately and will automatically update.

E. Adds a "Delete Plans" function which allows for the quick removal of Set Lock Plans that have been set.

● Map

"Waverider Waypoints" can now be tracked on the map interface.

Map prompts without rewards will not cause the area tabs in the bottom-right corner of the "Map" interface to display a red dot.

When opening the map interface in a Domain, the map will be centered on the Domain.

Original Resin regeneration time can now be viewed on the "Map" interface and in the "Adventurer Handbook" when in Controller Mode.

● Other Systems

Optimizes the reading experience of the interface display for challenges in the open world for some languages when the challenge text is long.

Adds "Condessence Crystals" as potential acceleration items to the Accelerate function on the Ingredient Processing interface.

In addition to indicating the locations of existing chests, the "Treasure Compass" can now indicate some locations and clues that may lead to chests spawning (including Open World Time Trial Challenges, Seelie that are yet to return to their Seelie Courts, and Monetoo that are yet to complete their graffiti).

Adds a new Quick Swap feature for "Treasure Compasses" and "Oculus Resonance Stones" which can automatically swap these gadgets based on the region your character is in (you can enable this setting via the pop-up prompt that appears when you first use one of these gadgets after the update or by selecting one of them on the "Gadgets" tab of the Inventory).

Speeds up the accompanying animations for creating items on the Crafting, Forge, Creation/Furnishings, and Cooking interfaces.

When claiming, forging, or redeeming weapons on the Battle Pass, Forge, and Shop > Starglitter Exchange interfaces, the amount and refinement rank of any duplicate weapons already in your Inventory will be displayed.

● Audio

Optimizes the sound performance of certain enemies.

● Other

Adjusts the criteria for unlocking the Tribe Reputation "Obsidian Totem Pole" teleport function once the Reputation System in "Natlan" has been unlocked: After adjustment, the Traveler can unlock the teleport function by approaching an "Obsidian Totem Pole" in a region where they have already unlocked the Statue of The Seven ("Obsidian Totem Poles" whose teleport functions have already been unlocked before the update are unaffected).

Optimizes the Aimed Shot animations for some male bow users.

The Limited-Time Area Exploration Reward page on the "Events Overview" interface now displays the Traveler's Exploration Progress in their own world when in Co-Op Mode (previously, only the Exploration Progress of the host player—or Player 1—would be displayed).

Increases the Base DMG of the Overloaded, Superconduct, Electro-Charged, and Shatter reactions.

The keyboard can now be used to select dialogue options during quests (using the default keyboard settings, the W and S keys or the mouse wheel will move the selection up and down, and the F key will confirm which option is selected).

Adjusts the Phlogiston recovery range of "Teleport Waypoints" in "Natlan" by increasing the height of their detection range.

After the Version 5.2 update, Travelers using certain mobile devices may receive a pop-up message saying "Some quest resources are missing. Returning to the login screen" when they first log in. Follow the instructions in the pop-up to enter the game normally.

〓Bug Fixes〓

● Quests

Fixes an issue whereby interacting with the tabletop to continue the adventure during Clorinde's Story Quest "Hunters' Gathering" would cause the game to enter the wrong scene under certain circumstances.

● Enemies

Fixes an issue whereby, when challenging the enemy "Magatsu Mitake Narukami no Mikoto," the DMG dealt would be erroneously reduced when all destructive waves from a single round of the Baleful Vajra's destructive waves hit the same character.

Fixes an issue whereby there is a chance that the "Goldflame Qucusaur Tyrant" won't take DMG from Electro-Charged reactions when challenged.

Fixes an issue whereby the progress for "Adaptive Countermeasures" erroneously continues to accumulate even after the game is paused when challenging the "Secret Source Automaton: Configuration Device" or "Secret Source Automaton: Hunter-Seeker."

Fixes an issue whereby there is a chance the enemy erroneously exits combat and recovers their HP if a player is downed when challenging "Childe," "Signora," "Shouki no Kami," or "Magatsu Mitake Narukami no Mikoto."

● Characters

Fixes an issue whereby, when Xilonen activates a Source Sample, the corresponding special effect would not properly display on certain devices.

Fixes an issue whereby when Yelan uses her Elemental Skill to mark enemies, if her Lifeline explodes while triggering Nightsoul Transmission to switch to another character, the Elemental Particles generated will experience abnormalities.

Fixes an issue whereby Xilonen would erroneously remain in idle animation when she fell while climbing in the Nightsoul's Blessing state under specific circumstances.

Fixes an issue whereby Xilonen's Charged Attack special effect would not be correctly displayed as the corresponding element when she gains other elemental infusions.

Fixes an issue whereby other Travelers experience erroneous camera shaking when Kachina uses a Normal Attack while riding Turbo Twirly in Co-Op Mode.

Fixes an issue whereby characters with alternative Sprint Skill or Nightsoul's Blessing state would experience rapid, abnormal twitching on the surface of the water when using the related skills or entering the corresponding state under specific circumstances.

● Genius Invokation TCG

Fixes an issue whereby, when the Character Card "Chiori" is defeated after summoning the humanoid "Grouchy, Knife-Wielding Tamoto" and then revived, her Normal Attacks are unable to trigger said Tamoto's effects.

Fixes an issue whereby, when the Character Card "Abyss Lector: Violet Lightning" is frozen, its Talent Cards cannot be used.

● Audio

Fixes an issue whereby character movements trigger erroneous sound effects after completing some challenges related to "O Nightsoul, inscribe your shadow in this place..."

Fixes audio quality issues with some of Citlali's English voice-over during the Archon Quest "Beyond the Smoke and Mirrors."

● Other

Fixes an issue whereby Geo constructs can be abnormally created on the "Kaboom Box" after placing the gadget.

Fixes an issue whereby Saurians in Natlan who were being indwelt and controlled would erroneously recover HP even when there were no "Teleport Waypoints" nearby under specific circumstances.

Fixes an issue whereby the in-game camera would not return to its default distance after characters teleported from the heads of "Long-Necked Rhinos" to other places.

Fixes an issue whereby the achievement "Rhythm Tengoku" cannot be completed when preventing the enemy "Electro Abyss Mage" from regenerating its Ward.

Fixes an issue whereby there is a small chance that Saurians' special effects will not display normally from the view of the host player (Player 1) when other players are indwelling Saurians in Co-Op Mode.

Fixes some text errors in certain languages and optimizes text. (Note: Related in-game functions have not changed. Travelers can view the changes in different languages by going to the Paimon Menu > Settings > Language and changing the Game Language.)

◆ Fixes Citlali's audio quality issues from the Version 5.1 Archon Quest

◆ Optimizes certain English translations

*This is a work of fiction and is not related to any actual people, events, groups, or organizations.

"PlayStation", "PS5", "PS4", "DualSense", "DUALSHOCK" are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

#genshin impact #genshin impact updates #genshin impact news #official #genshin impact 5.2 #servers are down sorry i was busy lol

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