#juli-flux

[semperardens-juli]

"To the ones who broke my heart, thank you for once loving me. What was once a magical bond between two people has turned into a righteous, unbreakable self-love like no other."

Acknowledgements in Flux, Orion Carloto

leave a little kindness

[timechange]

MCFLY JULY ‘24 — local legend.

In which the youth of Hill Valley debate a thirty-year-old music industry conspiracy theory about their very own hometown hero.

[exactlycleverpirate]

Love and Deepspace: The Story So Far Part 1

A summary of everything that has happened in the main story thus far. Obviously, spoilers below the cut.

See Part 2. Part 3. Part 4.

2048 Story begins with MC being initiated as a Hunter in the Hunter's Association. MC is about 21-22, and her Evol has to do with Resonance, Anhaunsen Class. Rafayel is (probably) 24, Fire Evol. Zayne is 27, Ice Evol. Xavier claims to be 23, Light Evol. Traceback II is approaching the event horizon and entering the black hole.

Day 1: (Wednesday, Likely July 1st, 2048)

MC meets Xavier on her first mission as a Hunter in an abandoned protocore research facility. He is in a trap set for him, surrounded by light Wanderers. MC helps him defeat them.

MC is accepted into Captain Jenna's Alpha team. Tara is accepted into Data Analysis, whose Captain is Andrew.

MC meets Rafayel briefly at a fishing game in Azure Square near the Hunter's Association HQ. He catches a red Flammula from Lemuria corner, and she gives it to him to take home. (Cell phone shows appointment reminder. Time currently 18:15 on Wednesday, appointment at 18:30.)

MC has a doctor's appointment with Zayne. He has just returned from a trip to the Arctic.

MC returns to her apartment. There is a storm outside. She has a call with Caleb and talks about how they plan to have dinner with Grandma Josephine at the end of the month. After the call, she encounters a strange glowing eye that vanishes outside her apartment window that night.

Day 2 (Likely Thursday, July 2nd):

The next day, MC has her first day on the Alpha team at UNICORN HQ. Nero is one of her teammates and has extensive knowledge of Wanderers. He begins to look into the eye she saw. MC is assigned her first solo mission: to find out if there are Wanderers in the home of Henry Raymond.

On the way to Raymond's house, MC finds Zayne with his car broken down. He is Raymond's doctor and MC agrees to give him a ride there on her motorcycle.

At Raymond's house, MC discovers a strange painting that shows her a vision. Then she and Zayne fight a Wanderer. Raymond is sent to the hospital and the painting is taken for further investigation.

Back at HQ, MC learns the painting was done by Rafayel.

Day 3 (Likely Friday, July 3rd):

MC gets an appointment with Rafayel's agent Thomas and goes to meet him at Rafayel's studio the next morning.

Thomas directs her to Mo Art studio, where Rafayel lives. She questions him about the painting and they fight a Wanderer in his house. Rafayel says that as payment for the information he gives her, he'll hire her as his bodyguard.

While MC is on the way home on the subway, it is attacked by a Wanderer. Captain Jenna sends Xavier to be her backup. Xavier says she doesn't need backup.

(That night??) MC is sent to investigate an abandoned protocore research facility in a No Hunt Zone where a stele has been discovered. When her partner doesn't show, she goes alone and finds Xavier apparently comforting a Wanderer. The Wanderer explodes. Xavier examines the remaining protocore and once he determines it isn't what he was looking for he crushes it. Xavier confronts MC and after realizing her ankle is injured, tells her she should leave. He says that the forest consumes people. She refuses to leave, and after he has cleared out many Wanderers, he returns and decides to help her leave. After walking for a while and dealing with some Wanderers, they find the stele, the Flux Nexus. There is an Aeonwrym, the most dangerous of Wanderers, being reconstructed by Metaflux from the stele. With Xavier’s guidance, MC resonates with the Flux Nexus, unlocking it and causing the Aeonwyrm to dissipate. A unique protocore is revealed. Xavier concludes that someone was trying to resurrect the Aeonwyrm. After being swarmed by Wanderers, Xavier ports them to a safe location. After examining the protocore, he says that it has been tampered with by Onychinus. Xavier leaves, saying she should be able to get out safely now. They are being watched by a mechanical raven.

Day 4 (Likely Saturday, July 4th):

MC remembers running to escape during the Chronorift Catastrophe. She senses a powerful force about to burst from her heart. Something that looks like a glowing red moon descends in front of her, flickering. It appears to be blinking at her.

The day after being in the No Hunt Zone with Xavier, thinking about her nightmare the night before, MC heads to HQ. She finds Xavier being interviewed on the street by aggressive journalists. He asks her to help him get away from them. They go to HQ for a post mission briefing with Captain Jenna. During the briefing, MC learns that Onychinus has been altering the protocurves of protocores to make them more powerful. However, the protocore MC just found is on a level not seen before. Jenna suggests that MC begin investigating Onychinus aND the Flux Nexus, as she has the ability to unlock them. Then she tells MC to take 2 days off work. Afterwards, MC and Xavier talk. She realizes his desk is the one next to hers. When she asks him who he thinks she should partner with, he says she should refuse the mission. He explains that getting involved with Onychinus is complicated. MC is just more interested. Xavier requests that if she does take on the mission, that she choose him as her partner.

Day 5 (Sunday, July 5th, per in-game information):

MC goes home to visit Grandma. She is surprised to find Caleb there a day early. While eating dinner, the news says there have been mysterious explosions caused by Wanderers occurring. The MC's Hunter's Watch picks up on Wanderers nearby. She goes out to explore and Caleb follows. After he goes into a store, she investigates the area and finds a suspicious man. He sounds older than he looks. He attacks her with his Evol and disappears. Then Caleb reappears, asking what happened. He realizes she's been injured and they argue. Once they get back to the house, Caleb goes in ahead of her. The house explodes. MC comes back to consciousness on the ground surrounded by flames. On the ground in front of her is the necklace she gave Caleb. On it is an apple charm and the words “When U Come Back”.

Continue to Part 2.

[vitaminseetarot]

July Elements Game - CLOSED 🔥💧🌫🌸

Messages From Nature

Saturday 7/13 @ 3pm EST

til

Monday 7/15 @ 3pm EST

So I have this huge oracle deck called Alchemy Elementals that I've been slowly learning. I'm reading its ridiculously massive (size wise) book, and writing down long notes about each card. And I decided, for this deck, I wanted to do something different and use it for this game. Each card, save for 8 special cards, belong to one of four classical elements (Fire, Sky, Water, and Land). I can separate them into 4 piles and draw them along with 1 of the special cards to get a reading, coupled with Tarot cards.

I've also got a die, a D4, that will help us determine what element each person will get. When you request a reading, I will roll the die then draw from one of the piles, along with a special card and a tarot card, to get your message. This game is similar to the Aura reading, except that your element will represent your most current energy, as well as its gifts and challenges. This isn't a natal reading, so the element you get may not necessarily be one that you prefer the most; it will be whatever is most relevant to your current life path.

:Key: 1 = Fire 🔥2 = Water 💧3 = Sky 🌫4 = Land 🌸

RULES to Play:

❣ 1 Follow this blog if you're not already a follower: VitaminSeeTarot

❣ 2 Reblog this post with the tag #vitaminseetarotgame

❣ 3 Send me an Ask (not DM) along w/ any two random signature emojis of your choice (some examples 💎🌙 🌈🧙‍♂️ 👽💌)

❣ 4 Asks will be accepted starting 7/13, deadline is 7/15 @ 3pm EST (NYC time). Be sure to check the open/closed status of this post and the masterlist before submitting. Asks submitted before 7/15 will receive their reading after the 7/15 deadline has passed, however Asks submitted after the deadline will not. Make sure to submit your Ask before the deadline if you want to participate.

❣ 5 Please be kind & patient while I finish your reading, as I don't know how many will play.

❣ 6 This game is for your specific energy/aura/life only. This free reading game is not meant for your friends, family, or other people in your life (unless the reading calls me to mention somebody important). I will not do readings for celebrities, events, or situations here.

❣ 7 Remember that this is mainly for entertainment, insight, and guidance only. Energy is always in flux, so please take what resonates and leave behind the rest. The element picked for you represents your current state and not a fixed placement for life.

❣ 8 I reserve the right to refuse a reading for any reason. (Admittedly, alliteration is always appealing and accurately applicable.)

❣ 9 You must fully read and agree to the above rules before playing.

❣ 10 If you would like to leave a tip, you can do so on my Kofi page. Check back after the game because I will be opening paid readings right after. My menu will be posted up along with instructions for booking. Thank you so so so much for your patience and patronage!

This reading has not been evaluated by the FDA to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease or infection. Please ask your physician before going online.

2024, @VitaminseeTarot ™

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

Here's another long-winded post about me combing through BG3 early access files in search of Aylin and Isobel tidbits - rummaging that already resulted in this post right here. Let me just say I'm pleased to have brought Aylin Silverblood some attention because, again, I think it's a dope name.

Now, obviously, Isobel and Aylin are both Act 2 characters, and early access only covered Act 1. So anything related to them is partial stuff that wasn't scrubbed from the game files for whatever reason, and a lot of placeholders (these are usually indicated by |the text being in vertical lines|). This all means that sometimes (usually!) there are no nice voice lines indexed by UUID and parseable dialogue trees, and you have to trawl through a giant localisation XML of every bit of text in the game instead. An additional complication is all these stories were in flux, but older bits of writing from deprecated iterations didn't get immediately removed from the files, so it's sometimes hard to tell what belongs to which version.

The biggest luck I've had with regards to these two is the 24/11/2021 version of the game - EA Patch #6 Hotfix #19, aka game version v. 4.1.1.1356845, aka the source of Aylin Silverblood (my beloved). Here's a handy list of the patch and hotfix history, if you're like me and interested in this stuff. I'm actually wrangling files from 5 versions of the game right now, ranging from March 2021 to July 2022 - it's been a fun time. This old datamining post on reddit really helped narrow down the timeframe for me to look into.

Why am I doing this? I genuinely find it fun and interesting! There's some neat writing to be found! I crave more Isobel at all times! And I'm always into WIP and "how the sausage is made" type stuff. Also, tons of cool inspo for fics and headcanons.

Note, because I know that's a popular EA tidbit: this is all from after the Halsin killing Isobel variant was scrapped. This is, in fact, the version where she gets killed and soul trapped by Balthazar, and Aylin gets framed for it.

I'm going to start this off with my favourite part, and that is snippets of an early version of the Aylin/Isobel reunion from 2021. I've done my best to put them in order, but be aware a lot of this is still me speculating.

|[CINE: Nightsong teleports the party to the plaza in front of Last Light. As she looks around trying to familiarize herself, Isobel notices your arrival from the balcony. Her reaction is pure shock, followed by an immediate rush down the stairs.]|

|[CINE: Isobel dashes out of the front of the inn, wide-eyed and out of breath. Nightsong stares at her, stunned.]|

Aylin: |(distant, shocked) Isobel.|

Isobel: |Aylin...|

|[CINE: Nightsong takes an instinctive step towards her but stumbles, collapsing to her knees, eyes blown with pain and disbelief. Isobel closes the distance between them in hasty steps, trying to help Nightsong up, but Nightsong tightly grips at her arms - as if the contact makes everything real.]|

|[CINE: Isobel's eyes fill with tears as she drops down to the ground, throwing her arms around Nightsong's shoulders in a tight embrace. Shaking, almost fearful, Nightsong returns the embrace - the first kind touch she's had in a hundred years.]|

|[CINE: Nightsong draws back from the hug, looking Isobel in the eyes. Isobel helps Nightsong to her feet. As the two of them stand, they keep their hands linked.]|

Aylin: |A hundred years. Isobel, light of my heart, where were you? (choking up) I found your body, I....|

Isobel: |I was dead, Aylin. For so long. It was Balthazar - he trapped my soul, he-|

Player: |[Doesn'tKnowRelationship] You were lovers? Did Ketheric know?|

Aylin: |(jaw tightens) We were lovers. Her father was against it. He saw nothing but future misery. I'm immortal. I would never age, but she would.|

Isobel: |He didn't understand. It doesn't matter when... (fearful, as if worried Aylin's feelings might have changed) ... I still love you so much.|

Aylin: |(her first genuine smile) And I, you. No trial or pain could ever change that. (relaxes a touch) It is why I couldn't leave your body, even when they came. Balthazar and that Sharran witch told your father that I was to blame.|

|And he believed them over you?|

Aylin: |(frowns) He believed what he wanted to believe. Ketheric saw his daughter dead, and he saw someone he wanted to hurt. Shar took that cruel thread, that moment of mortal pain, and used it to corrupt him to the core.|

Aylin: |I was put on trial, and I had no defence. The moment it was over, I was taken down to the temple and... well, you saw what they had done.|

|Isobel presses against Nightsong's side, face tight with worry, running her fingers in slow strokes up and down Nightsong's arm.|

|[CINE: Nightsong tilts her head back towards the player.]|

Aylin: |These heroes saved me. Without them, I'd still be trapped in Balthazar's soul cage, with Ketheric gripping my heart like a leech.|

|[CINE: Isobel's face falls at the mention of her father's name.]|

Isobel: |A *soul cage*? Gods.|

Isobel: |I didn't know. Gods, he didn't say a word to me. I ran away because it was Balthazar that brought me back. As I ran, I heard my father shouting... but I'd seen enough. There was no saving him.|

Aylin: |You are not your father, Isobel. (sad, wry smile) You were the only thing that kept me alive in the dark. When hope began to fade, I simply thought of you.|

Isobel: |[To player] Thank you. (smiles wide) I... I can't possibly thank you enough, for bringing Aylin back to me.|

|Nightsong smiles too, but she's lost looking at Isobel, completely tuning out everyone else around them. Isobel leans in, resting her brow against Nightsong's and closing her eyes, Nightsong's hand clutched to her chest.|

Then, there is an option to press Isobel for details:

|You said the necromancer trapped your soul. Why?| |Was Balthazar the one who killed you, Isobel?|

Isobel: |(hesitant, visibly guilty) I think Aylin would know better than I do. The last thing I remember is a blade in the dark. Too fast to feel pain. Then silence.|

Asking Isobel to go with you to Moonrise was possible at various points, leading to different responses:

Will you come with me to Moonrise? I could use your help. If we're going to stop Ketheric, you have to come with me.

Until there is a way to keep Last Light safe, I cannot leave. All I can do is pray. |Not if everyone is killed at Last Light in my absence. I'll do everything I can to help you from here, but I won't go with you.| |Not if everyone is killed at Last Light in my absence. If someone else could take my place, I would go with you. I swear it.|

|Nightsong is here, she will protect Last Light - let's go to Moonrise, like you promised.| |I want to spend the night with Aylin. Meet me at Moonrise tomorrow.| |Nightsong will protect the people while together we can stop Ketheric.|

Isobel: I... we need to get close to him, don't we? And Aylin can protect Last Light in my absence. Aylin: Isobel, I have just gotten you back. To put yourself in his hands again-

Looks like we would've had a flip of the current Act 2 boss fight, and Isobel would be the ally for the confrontation with Ketheric, not Aylin. Also, that one line right there that is our first indication of Succor™, gotta love it. Sadly, post-reunion I only have:

|TBD: Post Nightsong Reunion.| |How are you and Aylin doing?|

To borrow release version Isobel's stock line: KEEPING VERY WELL, I HOPE? In any case, I'm putting the rest under a cut, featuring options for calling Isobel out on her parentage, Aylin being from Mt. Celestia, and Balthazar being gross - among many other things.

At one point quite early on, Isobel's protection from the shadow curse wasn't a spell, but an ointment:

|Ointment of Selûne| |Ointment Container PLACEHOLDER| |Isobel filled this with precious doses of her sacred Ointment of Selûne.| |First get the ointment from Isobel.| Have you received Isobel's ointment yet? What protection can her ointment offer, exactly? You should see Isobel. If Marcus does crop up, I'd sooner you had her ointment to protect you. Can use that cleric's ointment to get you on your way. But I have to move out - now. Can I get some of your ointment? No more theories! It's time for action. Our secret weapon needs to travel to Moonrise Towers, which means they'll need your ointment. You have the ointment. You have the Gate Stone. Moonrise Towers awaits. Are you sure the ointment will last long enough?

What is now Isobel's Ominous Cough was a gradual weakening that was remarked upon and seemed to be there to create more of a sense of urgency:

I won't claim to know Isobel's craft, but Selûne's light is bright in her. Isobel's tough - though she was tougher at the start. I've rarely seen a cleric so in tune with her goddess, but the curse is taking its toll. The light used to be stronger, Isobel. How much more of this curse can you take? You look paler than death, Isobel. How much more of this curse can you take?

We have some nice concise infodumps on Ketheric:

After Ketheric turned to darkness, the Enclave joined with the Harpers to unseat him and his Sharran cohorts. We marched together, fought together, bled together... and in the end we prevailed.

Only it wasn't the end. Nothing seemed to kill Ketheric himself, so the Harpers decided to seal him in his own tomb, alive. They thought that would be enough. But they hadn't counted on Ketheric unleashing the shadow curse. We watched it drain all light and life away from this place, saw it twist people into abominations. The Harpers lost hope.

Ketheric wove the curse on this land. The moment he was sealed in that tomb, Shar's poison devoured everything in its path.

Fallen paladin. Champion of Shar. He was building an army bent on unholy conquest, but we stopped him. Killed him. Buried him.

It was not enough. General Thorm lives again. He's built a new army, and this time he marches under the banner of the Absolute.

November 2021 is the earliest mention of Aylin I found, mostly marked as not finalised and placeholder dialogue (and that reunion up there). The Nightsong as present in that patch is still very different from what we ended up getting - nobody was killing her, in fact people were coming to get her "kiss", and there was a whole thing where it seems like Shar would directly take control of her and you could help her overcome the curse, or abandon her to it - or kill her. 

Embrace the Nightsong and be sworn to Eternal Shadow.

Anyway, here are her lines (all of these exist as voice files, which is rare for stuff I put in this post - but they're done by a voice actress who doesn't sound like Helen Keeley, our final Aylin VA, so I don't know what to make of it all tbh):

Shar is the Nightsinger, and I am her Nightsong. I am her instrument, transforming the faithful into shadows. I've been here for centuries. Do you know how many priests of Shar came here, full of faith, seeking my kiss? I've been here for centuries. Thousands of Sharrans came here seeking my kiss. I drink their sorrow, their loss, their grief. Then I vomit it back into the world. All of them are shadows now. That is Shar's only reward. But Ketheric returned for my kiss, over and over. You're the first to survive my kiss intact. You're the only one who can help me. Please, you have to help. No one's ever resisted the kiss before. No one has ever resisted my kiss. But you are not merely *one*, are you? That thing in your head must be incredibly powerful to resist a goddess. Perhaps it's also divine in nature. Because a mind can't survive two masters. It breaks us. Shar's attention must be elsewhere. Speak quickly. She's watching now. She's waiting to steal my voice. But it won't last. Please - listen! I was captured by Ketheric Thorm, Shar's chosen. He turned me into this creature. I'm a slave of Shar. She owns me, just like that thing in your head owns you. I want to sing my own song. Not Shar's. Not *Ketheric's*. Find Ketheric. Kill him so I can be free! Slay Ketheric. His wretched existence binds me to this temple. Oh. That made her angry. The Lady returns! She has me again! *Again!* Stop! You've driven her away!

I am not your *spectacle*. Turn away before I strike you blind. Tell them to come and receive my kiss.

Some possible relevant tags, interactions, and outcomes include:

|The soul cage has greatly weakened Nightsong| |Debug: click to save Nightsong (sets the flag to talk to Isobel)| |We sided with Ketheric and doomed Nightsong.| |Companion comment!||But if his power is linked to this Nightsong, there must be a way to unlink it.| |You have taken control of Ketheric's Soul Cage| |You are bound to Ketheric's soul cage, taking his regenerative powers for yourself| |Bound to Soul Cage| |Soul Cage Key| |Soul Cage Research| |The book details the necromancer's research on the soul cage| |There is a glimpse of Isobel's ghost, as she takes her Father with her to the afterlife.| |There is a glimpse of Isobel's ghost terrified and in agony. Both Isobel and Ketheric will disappear.|

At one point Isobel delivers her own, Ketheric's, and Aylin's backstory as "a story", but sadly I can find very little of it, just disjointed fragments:

You seem to know a lot about Ketheric. He was a devout Selûnite who converted to Shar. They say it was Ketheric's purity that drew an angel down from Celestia. You're Isobel Thorm. The daughter who died in that story.

And there seem to be many options to question Isobel about her hiding the truth about her father:

Why are you lying to me, Isobel? Everyone thinks you're dead, Isobel. Tell me the truth, Isobel. Everything. Still, Isobel might have saved us some time had she been honest from the beginning. |Why didn't you tell me what happened from the start, Isobel?|

Ketheric. Don't you mean your father? Ketheric is your father. I know the truth. Ketheric told me at Moonrise. He wants me to bring you home. I need your father to trust me. He wants you back. You sent me after your father - Ketheric. I think we should discuss Ketheric - your father - first. For all you've said about Ketheric, you left out the part where he's your father.

To which I've found some responses:

And would you have trusted her? Ketheric's daughter? Why didn't I tell you that I was murdered, that my soul was locked away for a hundred years? What would I have told her? That my father murdered her fellow Harpers, but that I can surely be trusted?

[Attempt to read Isobel's thoughts.] *You see Ketheric standing before Isobel, although the memory is hazy. His words are unclear, but his tone is not - he is pleading with her.*

Brought back by the same man that killed me. Balthazar. Standing next to my father with a smile on his face.

But I'm not sure it would have mattered. To stand with that man, my father has surrendered to deepest evil.

I would love to know what the whole pleading thing is about, and what Isobel "didn't know" that she claims didn't matter anyway.

My father. After a century, he somehow brought me back. But I saw the monster he had become. I couldn't bear it... I ran. I ran until I found Last Light. It was like a second home to me, once. I've been studying the curse ever since, searching for answers. Trying to restore the damage my father has wrought upon this land. It's possible I may have to sacrifice myself. But this is my father's crime.

And then, there is this nugget I cannot place but that I like: 

|Your father's due will come.|

There is also an option to tell her Nightsong is Aylin (who was, at this point, a full celestial - no mention of being connected to Selûne, though, and in fact, if she was indeed from Mount Celestia as mentioned in the "story", she would not have been):

Isobel: My father's curse still blackens this earth. Have you found anything? Player: A celestial, chained to Ketheric's soul. Player: They called her Nightsong, but she told me her name was Aylin. Isobel: Aylin. She... she's alive. I knew she had to be, I… Player: Ketheric's necromancer took her to Moonrise. Isobel: His necromancer? Gods, you have to free her. Isobel: You have to go to Moonrise and free Aylin. When Ketheric is weak, this can all be over. Isobel: The truth is that I would give anything to see her again, and anything to stop my father. Free her, and you do both. Isobel: At least, the shell of my father. There's nothing left of the man that championed Selûne. Isobel: Find her. Free her. If Ketheric isn't stopped, all of us are doomed.

Player: |[Doesn'tKnowName] Aylin? Care to explain?| Isobel: The angel in my story about Ketheric. That was Aylin.

Speaking of Balthazar. Some lines from him:

[Introductory note: please imagine everything Balthazar says spoken with a wheezy voice, as if he's permanently out of breath.]

[I need to retrieve the Nightsong, but the temple is haunted and my minions cannot make it past the trial grounds. I cannot go there until the ghosts have been dealt with. Now that you are here on behalf of Ketheric, you will do all this for me.]

I, Fodder, am here on behalf of General Ketheric Thorm. Down in the depths of this temple writhes his desire. I am to bring it to him.

I created the Nightsong for General Ketheric, many moons... HEAR THAT SHAR? Many moons ago.

*As you hold the necromancer's mocking gaze, you can tell how it starts to dawn on him you are not the mere minion he thought you were.*

Along the way I found some more recent Patch 8 (2022-ish) gross Balthazar lines, some bits of which have actually survived to release:

She was a unique specimen even before I began my work. Aasimar. A god's blood united with mortal flesh.

Such fine clay she was. We grew quite close as I… remoulded her. Now she is General Thorm's shield. Her strength is his to drink upon. His pains are hers to bear.

If I never exceed her, I will still die happy. If I ever do something as gauche as truly dying, that is.

Utterly revolting! Makes my skin crawl! Man deserves a yeeting into the Shadowfell a hundred times over! But in order to not end on a gross note, I leave you with:

Ketheric Thorm. Murderer. Oathbreaker.

Aylin Silverblood. My true name. Nightsong was only ever a curse.

[fatehbaz]

"defending civilization against bugs"

lol the mosquito sculpture

see Pratik Chakrabarti's Medicine and Empire: 1600-1960 (2013) and Bacteriology in British India: Laboratory Medicine and the Tropics (2012)

---

Sir Ronald Ross had just returned from an expedition to Sierra Leone. The British doctor had been leading efforts to tackle the malaria that so often killed English colonists in the country, and in December 1899 he gave a lecture to the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce [...]. [H]e argued that "in the coming century, the success of imperialism will depend largely upon success with the microscope."

Text by: Rohan Deb Roy. "Decolonise science - time to end another imperial era." The Conversation. 5 April 2018.

---

---

---

[A]s [...] Diane Nelson explains: The creation of transportation infrastructure such as canals and railroads, the deployment of armies, and the clearing of ground to plant tropical products all had to confront [...] microbial resistance. The French, British, and US raced to find a cure for malaria [...]. One French colonial official complained in 1908: “fever and dysentery are the ‘generals’ that defend hot countries against our incursions and prevent us from replacing the aborigines that we have to make use of.” [...] [T]ropical medicine was assigned the role of a “counterinsurgent field.” [...] [T]he discovery of mosquitoes as malaria and yellow fever carriers reawakened long-cherished plans such as the construction of the Panama Canal (1904-1914) [...]. In 1916, the director of the US Bureau of Entomology and longtime general secretary of the American Association for the Advancement of Science rejoiced at this success as “an object lesson for the sanitarians of the world” - it demonstrated “that it is possible for the white race to live healthfully in the tropics.” [...] The [...] measures to combat dangerous diseases always had the collateral benefit of social pacification. In 1918, [G.V.], president of the Rockefeller Foundation, candidly declared: “For purposes of placating primitive and suspicious peoples, medicine has some decided advantages over machine guns." The construction of the Panama Canal [...] advanced the military expansion of the United States in the Caribbean. The US occupation of the Canal Zone had already brought racist Jim Crow laws [to Panama] [...]. Besides the [...] expansion of vice squads and prophylaxis stations, during the night women were picked up all over the city [by US authorities] and forcibly tested for [...] diseases [...] [and] they were detained in something between a prison and hospital for up to six months [...] [as] women in Panama were becoming objects of surveillance [...].

Text by: Fahim Amir. "Cloudy Swords." e-flux Journal Issue #115. February 2021.

---

---

---

Richard P. Strong [had been] recently appointed director of Harvard’s new Department of Tropical Medicine [...]. In 1914 [the same year of the Panama Canal's completion], just one year after the creation of Harvard’s Department of Tropical Medicine, Strong took on an additional assignment that cemented the ties between his department and American business interests abroad. As newly appointed director of the Laboratories of the Hospitals and of Research Work of United Fruit Company, he set sail in July 1914 to United Fruit plantations in Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama. […] As a shareholder in two British rubber plantations, [...] Strong approached Harvey Firestone, chief executive of the tire and rubber-processing conglomerate that bore his name, in December 1925 with a proposal [...]. Firestone had negotiated tentative agreements in 1925 with the Liberian government for [...] a 99-year concession to optionally lease up to a million acres of Liberian land for rubber plantations. [...]

[I]nfluenced by the recommendations and financial backing of Harvard alumni such as Philippine governor Gen. William Cameron Forbes [the Philippines were under US military occupation] and patrons such as Edward Atkins, who were making their wealth in the banana and sugarcane industries, Harvard hired Strong, then head of the Philippine Bureau of Science’s Biological Laboratory [where he fatally infected unknowing test subject prisoners with bubonic plague], and personal physician to Forbes, to establish the second Department of Tropical Medicine in the United States [...]. Strong and Forbes both left Manila [Philippines] for Boston in 1913. [...] Forbes [US military governor of occupied Philippines] became an overseer to Harvard University and a director of United Fruit Company, the agricultural products marketing conglomerate best known for its extensive holdings of banana plantations throughout Central America. […] In 1912 United Fruit controlled over 300,000 acres of land in the tropics [...] and a ready supply of [...] samples taken from the company’s hospitals and surrounding plantations, Strong boasted that no “tropical school of medicine in the world … had such an asset. [...] It is something of a victory [...]. We could not for a million dollars procure such advantages.” Over the next two decades, he established a research funding model reliant on the medical and biological services the Harvard department could provide US-based multinational firms in enhancing their overseas production and trade in coffee, bananas, rubber, oil, and other tropical commodities [...] as they transformed landscapes across the globe.

Text by: Gregg Mitman. "Forgotten Paths of Empire: Ecology, Disease, and Commerce in the Making of Liberia's Plantation Economy." Environmental History, Volume 22, Number 1. January 2017. [Text within brackets added by me for clarity and context.]

---

---

---

[On] February 20, 1915, [...] [t]o signal the opening of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), [...] [t]he fair did not officially commence [...] until President Wilson [...] pressed a golden key linked to an aerial tower [...] whose radio waves sparked the top of the Tower of Jewels, tripped a galvanometer, [...] swinging open the doors of the Palace of Machinery, where a massive diesel engine started to rotate. [...] [W]ith lavish festivities [...] nineteen million people has passed through the PPIE's turnstiles. [...] As one of the many promotional pamphlets declared, "California marks the limit of the geographical progress of civilization. For unnumbered centuries the course of empire has been steadily to the west." [...] One subject that received an enormous amount of time and space was [...] the areas of race betterment and tropical medicine. Indeed, the fair's official poster, the "Thirteenth Labor of Hercules," [the construction of the Panama Canal] symbolized the intertwined significance of these two concerns [...]. [I]n the 1910s public health and eugenics crusaders alike moved with little or no friction between [...] [calls] for classification of human intelligence, for immigration restriction, for the promotion of the sterilization and segregation of the "unfit," [...]. It was during this [...] moment, [...] that California's burgeoning eugenicist movement coalesced [...]. At meetings convened during the PPIE, a heterogenous group of sanitary experts, [...] medical superintendents, psychologists, [...] and anthropologists established a social network that would influence eugenics on the national level in the years to come. [...]

In his address titled "The Physician as Pioneer," the president-elect of the American Academy of Medicine, Dr. Woods Hutchinson, credited the colonization of the Mississippi Valley to the discovery of quinine [...] and then told his audience that for progress to proceed apace in the current "age of the insect," the stringent sanitary regime imposed and perfected by Gorgas in the Canal Zone was the sine qua non. [...]

Blue also took part in the conference of the American Society for Tropical Medicine, which Gorgas had cofounded five years after the annexation of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Invoking the narrative of medico-military conquest [...], [t]he scientific skill of the United States was also touted at the Pan-American Medical Congress, where its president, Dr. Charles L. Reed, delivered a lengthy address praising the hemispheric security ensured by the 1823 Monroe Doctrine and "the combined genius of American medical scientists [...]" in quelling tropical diseases, above all yellow fever, in the Canal Zone. [...] [A]s Reed's lecture ultimately disclosed, his understanding of Pan-American medical progress was based [...] on the enlightened effects of "Aryan blood" in American lands. [...] [T]he week after the PPIE ended, Pierce was ordered to Laredo, Texas, to investigate several incidents of typhus fever on the border [...]. Pierce was instrumental in fusing tropical medicine and race betterment [...] guided by more than a decade of experience in [...] sanitation in Panama [...]. [I]n August 1915, Stanford's chancellor, David Starr Jordan [...] and Pierce were the guests of honor at a luncheon hosted by the Race Betterment Foundation. [...] [At the PPIE] [t]he Race Betterment booth [...] exhibit [...] won a bronze medal for "illustrating evidences and causes of race degeneration and methods and agencies of race betterment," [and] made eugenics a daily feature of the PPIE. [...] [T]he American Genetics Association's Eugenics Section convened [...] [and] talks were delivered on the intersection of eugenics and sociology, [...] the need for broadened sterilization laws, and the medical inspection of immigrants [...]. Moreover, the PPIE fostered the cross-fertilization of tropical medicine and race betterment at a critical moment of transition in modern medicine in American society.

Text by: Alexandra Minna Stern. Eugenic Nation: Faults and Frontiers of Better Breeding in Modern America. Second Edition. 2016.

[riordanverserpdatabase]

Head Counselor: Kat Carter @cabinseventheaterchick

Apollo's Sacred Cow @cow-an0n

Andrea Rivera @the-golden-childofthesun

Andrew Silas @andrew-champion-of-heartbreak

Archer Penthia @daughterofthesunandtheatregod

Aria Pane @aria-pane

Asher Reid @a-poetic-apollo-kid

Aster Atlas @y0urlocalhalf-bl0od

Audie @lady-ariadne-of-milan

Augustine Emmerson (Free Therapist) @official-therapist-chb

Blaze Daylight @Chaotic-child-of-apollo

Brio (or BJ, or Birdie) @birdie-jay-07

Cameron Flux @thanatoss-favorite-demigod

Camilla Dawn Lewis @one-of-apollos

Cass @daughter-of-apollo7

Dawn Lovelace @dawn-lovelace

Darcy Rivers @mentally-stable-child-of-apollo

Ezra @apollosfavoriteplaylist

Gracie @another-apollo-daughter

Gracelyn Cirillo @rotten-ray-of-sunshine

Hyacinth, (Cinth) @namesake-ofhyacinthus

Irene St. James @iwillsarcasmthemonstersaway

Julie Beaufort-Stuart @lady-of-midnight-son

Kayla @apollos-favorite-child

Kieran @kieran-nolastname

Kofi @yeah-im-a-daughter-of-apollo

Kore @kore-pythia-hayashi

Lathi/Lathu @lathuuuuuuui

Lavender (Thistle) @the-gods-abandoned-us

Lexi @the-amazing-life-of-lexi

Marley Elizabeth Dunne @phrophetic-child-of-apollo

Mino @apollos-child-of-sunshine

Mireya @mireya-the-awkward-extrovert

Onyx Ray Solace @apollos-weirdest-child

Ollie and Miya @apollos-twins

Ophelia @daughterofthesun-chosethemoon

Peisha @peishathedemigod

Penelope @archery-and-musicals

Peyton @peyton-is-cool

Reese @daughter-ofthe-sunlight

Sage Emerson-Soleil Bosley @apollossage

Serene Zhang @arisdaughter

Snow @snow-white-sunlight

Sunshine Phoebe Sinclair @apollos-tone-deaf--child

Taylor Bowen @glowy-cool-girl

Zahra @that-smart-apollo-kid

Zephyr Lourwood @zephyrdaughterofapollo

Graphics are provided by @animatedglittergraphics-n-more

[itsmyfandomandilikeit]

What we actually know about the renewal of Star Trek: Prodigy

Ok so there's been some speculation going around that Prodigy is or is not being renewed. The fact is that there has been zero news on the topic, official or otherwise, and anyone claiming to know differently is wrong or lying.

That being said, there are some things we do know:

1. Netflix is of course notorious for canceling things. I am an Inside Job fan. I know. However, they almost never leave things ambiguous. They aren't shy. When things are canceled, they make a clear public statement saying that it's canceled. Usually within two weeks of airing.

2. All of the clear public statements we've gotten from Netflix and the Prodigy crew have been consistent: Netflix will decide when they get more data. Recently, Aaron Waltke said on a podcast that they will review the viewing numbers from the first six months after season 2 was released, which occurred on July 1. This lines up with Netflix's data release schedule, which collates viewing data from the first and second halves of the year.

3. They are also waiting on a few other things. Namely, Netflix still commissions Paramount to create seasons of Prodigy. The sale of things like DVDs, Blu-Rays, digital downloads, and those new ship models that are coming out this December, affect the price of a season of Prodigy. Merchandise sales and licensing pay for a portion of it, and Netflix has to cover the rest of the cost. I'm sure the new theme park ride affects this as well. The cost to commission a season of Prodigy is determined by a number that is very much, at the moment, in a state of flux because of the upcoming physical media and merchandise releases, which could do well or not.

4. It was announced that the Hagemans have been added to a LEGO Ninjago project, and there has been some speculation that they will be unable to work on Prodigy because of this. This is irrelevant. The Hagemans have stated repeatedly that they typically work on 2 or 3 projects at once. To my knowledge, Aaron Waltke was working on Transformers One during the production of Prodigy season 2. This is just normal. They're getting work because their work has done well.

5. Prodigy costs the least of any Star Trek project to produce, but it is also the only Star Trek project that Netflix has access to. If, say, Section 31 does extremely well, Netflix can't get any portion of that success except for through Prodigy. Netflix also knows that very few new users are actually signing up for Paramount+, and indeed many users are leaving the platform, so Prodigy remains a good investment for Netflix. No matter how well this season of Lower Decks does, Netflix can't buy it because it's not for sale.

6. Data from 2023 indicated that Prodigy outperformed all of the rest of Star Trek on Netflix (admittedly, the US is not counted in this). What's especially notable about this is that it was only available for one week in 2023. In the first half of 2024, Prodigy continued to do well on the Netflix platform, despite it effectively only playing reruns during that time. Netflix will not release numbers for the second half of 2024 until next year.

7. Prodigy has the budget and appeal of a children's show, but it also has an avid adult audience. Many adults are watching it just because it's Star Trek or because they want to keep up with the overall story. Anyone who wants to maintain Star Trek completion must watch Prodigy, which is only available through Netflix.

8. Marketing is typically the lion's share of the cost of any media, but no marketing was done for Prodigy. It relied on word of mouth and the Star Trek brand. This affects how expensive it is to Netflix.

9. Finally this is not about the show itself but I just don't think that the story is over because plotlines in Star Trek never really end. Watching TAS is like the Leo Dicaprio pointing meme of seeing how Discovery was designed from a ton of these episodes. Every detail of the older shows is spun into entire plotlines in NuTrek. Whether or not Prodigy is renewed, these characters and species have been added to the canon and more than likely it will never let them go. If there isn't a new season, there will be video games, books, comic books, theme park attractions, stupid hats (that I'll buy), sunglasses, t-shirts, board games, markers, branded blankets, posters, and anything else you can think of. I kinda don't know how I feel about this but it is what I think. No matter how many seasons of Prodigy there actually will be, I'm sure the characters and settings will be brought back thirty years from now for better or worse.

[dizzymoods]

Black Skin White Screens

Another email response that I think might be useful here. Person was asking a question about why nobody cites Black film as influences: When Moonlight dropped nobody was talking about Clockers even though there were clear visual and dramatic elements referenced. Instead everyone (the filmmakers, critics, etc) was talking about French and Hong Kong cinema. So people even deny Spike's influence.

But, I think you might be mistaking a symptom for the disease. Tons of Black filmmakers were influenced by nonBlack filmmakers. French Impressionism & German Expressionism influenced Julie Dash; Charles Burnett loved British Kitchen Sink cinema; Bradford Young and I had a great convo about Apichatpong Weerasethakul one time; Haile Gerima almost killed me bc I interrupted a screening of Solaris by one of his GOATS Andrei Tarkovsky 😂 Even John Akomfrah's affective proximity, which AJ loves to employ, is an evolution of Eisenstinian montage.

The difference is that most of these filmmakers were steeped in, trained in, and worked in Black film. They weren't working within the studio system (though Burnett would go on to work with Disney in the 90s). There were Black spaces from Studio Museum in Harlem to Performing Arts Society of Los Angeles. There was public funding for TV that Marlon Riggs, Chamba Productions, etc. were able to take advantage of. Now all of these programs are either severely underfunded or gone completely. I think this is the primary reason: There aren't that many (semi)autonomous Black film/cultural spaces left. And so there's no cultural push for such things. 

All the money and attention is in white spaces. I know some filmmakers who either did a concept short for a feature or are in prepro on their first feature. The people around them have told them that they need to find European equivalents to their Black influences or else the money and attention will dry up. It's a structural thing. Two suggested comparisons that stuck out to me were Bill Gunn & Steven Soderbergh and Kathleen Collins & Maya Deren. These directors are not doing anything close to the other. It's just "scrappy indie director" and "known female director". I guess that's how things are commodified now.

Back in the 90s John Singleton went to Senegal to study under Ousmane Sembène. Part of the conversation is in Manthia Diawara's Sembéne: The Making of African Cinema. Diawara screened a bunch of cut footage from this conversation a couple years back but I don't think it's online. So literally 30 years ago there was still a connection to the past. What you're describing is a recent development.

So much of the last decade of Black cinema is animated by liberal identity politics and white guilt. from How They See Us to Birth Of A Nation. Even films that aren't so explicit about the white gaze like Moonlight are still affected by this phenomenon. It's not shocking that it won best picture after #OscarsSoWhite nor is the volume of Black cinema represented that year surprising. I have my suspicions that Barry was affected by the same antiBlack forces my friends are fighting now. He was tweeting about Clockers in the months preceding production. 

The industry is in flux right now + the transition from Obama to Trump (which we're still in btw) are all at play here. Film, especially Black film, is in retreat right now. The best we can do at this moment is be torch bearers of our lineage. I always feel like I'm mopping the ocean but every now and then a legend messages me a thank you or a new subscriber shows their appreciation.

In this climate of "Black firsts" (well firsts in white spaces) it's good to see you articulate how you want to build on the past. Being the Black 101st means that despite colonialism and slavery and Jim Crow and prison and everything else, nothing can stop the force of the Black camera and that should be honoured and celebrated.

[semperardens-juli]

"Also thanks for making me cry while I was working my shitty retail job that day I received an email that you all wanted to publish my book. I will never forget that life-changing afternoon."

Acknowledgements in Flux, Orion Carloto

(Hope for some people, know that little miracles like this happen in life)

leave a little kindness

[timechange]

MCFLY JULY ‘24 — pepsi free.

88 (1989)

1:15 AM

Sunshine Girl

Recent History

Strangerland

Erasure

Continuum

Wipe Out

In Flux

FUTURE BOY (1991)

Lightning

Goofy Foot

No Roads, All Roads

Unheard

Lost Memory

Lovestruck

Second Chance, California

City Limits

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

DUNE scientists observe first neutrinos with prototype detector at Fermilab

Symmetry magazine,

The prototype of a novel particle detection system for the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment successfully recorded its first accelerator neutrinos.

In a major step for the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, scientists have detected the first neutrinos using a DUNE prototype particle detector at the US Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

DUNE, currently under construction, will be the most comprehensive neutrino experiment in the world. It will bring scientists closer to solving some of the biggest physics mysteries in the universe, including searching for the origin of matter and learning more about supernovae and black hole formation.

Display of a candidate neutrino interaction recorded by the 2×2 detector highlighting the four internal detector modules and native 3D imaging capability. The bottom image additionally shows the detectors surrounding the 2×2 for further tracking of incoming and exiting particles. The DUNE Near Detector will similarly consist of a modular liquid argon detector along with a muon tracker.

Courtesy of DUNE Collaboration

Since DUNE will feature new designs and technology, scientists are testing prototype equipment and components in preparation for the final detector installation. In February, the DUNE team finished the installation of their latest prototype detector in the path of an existing neutrino beamline at Fermilab. On July 10, the team announced that they successfully recorded their first accelerator-produced neutrinos in the prototype detector, a step toward validating the design.

“This is a truly momentous milestone demonstrating the potential of this technology,” says Louise Suter, a Fermilab scientist who coordinated the module installation. “It is fantastic to see this validation of the hard work put into designing, building and installing the detector.”

The new neutrino detection system is part of the plan for DUNE’s near detector complex that will be built on the Fermilab site. Its prototype—known as the 2×2 prototype because it has four modules arranged in a square—records particle tracks with liquid argon time projection chambers. The final version of the DUNE near detector will feature 35 liquid argon modules, each larger than those in the prototype. The modules will help navigate the enormous flux of neutrinos expected at the near site.

The 2×2 prototype implements novel technologies that enable a new regime of detailed, cutting-edge neutrino imaging to handle the unique conditions in DUNE. It has a millimeter-sized pixel readout system, developed by a team at DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, that allows for high-precision 3D imaging on a large scale. This, coupled with its modular design, sets the prototype apart from previous neutrino detectors like ICARUS and MicroBooNE.

Now, the 2×2  prototype provides the first accelerator-neutrino data to be analyzed by the DUNE collaboration. 

DUNE is split between two locations hundreds of miles apart: a beam of neutrinos originating at Fermilab, close to Chicago, will pass through a particle detector located on the Fermilab site, then travel 800 miles through the ground to huge detectors at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota.

The DUNE detector at Fermilab will analyze the neutrino beam close to its origin, where the beam is extremely intense. Collaborators expect this near detector to record about 50 interactions per pulse, which will come every second, amounting to hundreds of millions of neutrino detections over DUNE’s many expected years of operation. Scientists will also use DUNE to study neutrinos’ antimatter counterpart, antineutrinos.

This unprecedented flux of accelerator-made neutrinos and antineutrinos will enable DUNE’s ambitious science goals: Physicists will study the particles with DUNE’s near and far detectors to learn more about how they change type as they travel, a phenomenon known as neutrino oscillation. By looking for differences between neutrino oscillations and antineutrino oscillations, physicists will seek evidence for a broken symmetry known as CP violation to determine whether neutrinos might be responsible for the prevalence of matter in our universe.

The DUNE collaboration is made up of more than 1,400 scientists and engineers from over 200 research institutions. Nearly 40 of these institutions work on the near detector. Specifically, hardware development of the 2×2 prototype was led by the University of Bern in Switzerland, DOE’s Fermilab, Berkeley Lab and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, with significant contributions from many universities.

“It is wonderful to see the success of the technology we developed to measure neutrinos in such a high-intensity beam,” says Michele Weber, a professor at the University of Bern—where the concept of the modular design was born and where the four modules were assembled and tested—who leads the effort behind the new particle detection system. “A successful demonstration of this technology’s ability to record multiple neutrino interactions simultaneously will pave the way for the construction of the DUNE liquid argon near detector.”

Next steps

Testing the 2×2 prototype is necessary to demonstrate that the innovative design and technology are effective on a large scale to meet the near detector’s requirements. A modular liquid-argon detector capable of detecting high rates of neutrinos and antineutrinos has never been built or tested before. 

The existing Fermilab beamline is an ideal place for testing and presents an exciting opportunity for the researchers to measure these mysterious particles. It is currently running in “antineutrino mode,” so DUNE scientists will use the 2×2 prototype to study the interactions between antineutrinos and argon. When antineutrinos hit argon atoms, as they will in the argon-filled near detector, they interact and produce other particles. The prototype will observe what kinds of particles are produced and how often. Studying these antineutrino interactions will prepare scientists to compare neutrino and antineutrino oscillations with DUNE. 
“Analyzing this data is a great opportunity for our early-career scientists to gain experience,” says Kevin Wood, the first run coordinator for the 2×2 prototype and a postdoctoral researcher at Berkeley Lab, where the prototype’s novel readout system was developed. “The neutrino interactions imaged by the 2×2 prototype will provide a highly anticipated dataset for our graduate students, postdocs and other young collaborators to analyze as we continue to prepare to bring DUNE online.” 
The DUNE collaboration plans to bombard the 2×2 prototype with antineutrinos from the Fermilab beam for several months.

“This is an exciting milestone for the 2×2 team and the entire DUNE collaboration,” says Sergio Bertolucci, professor of physics at the University of Bologna in Italy and co-spokesperson of DUNE with Mary Bishai of Brookhaven National Laboratory. “Let this be the first of many neutrino interactions for DUNE!”

w

[thasminfanzine]

Our next story is Portrait Of, by @sunshinedaysforever 👀

Then we have a brilliant post-Flux story by @timetravelbypen….

And, the final story in the zine: Beneath the Masquerade by @aleksandrachaev!

To read these amazing stories and more, pick up a copy of More of the Universe fanzine - today is your LAST CHANCE! Copies go off sale at 11.59pm BST, Sunday 14th July.

[chaos-vulpix]

Legacyverse: Jamie - Harmony in Rift

Andromeda Sunsets - Starjunk 95

BLUE - Billie Eilish

Constellation - Far Out & KARRA

Did I tell u that I miss u - Adore

Dream Brother - Zedd & Jeff Buckley 

Dreams - Anamanaguchi & Flux Pavilion

Find That Someone - Televisor

Full Moon Full Life - Azumi Takahashi & Lotus Juice | Persona 3 Reload (Opening Theme) 

Good Thing - Tritonal ft. Laurell

Had I Not Seen The Sun - Chevy | Honkai: Star Rail (Farewell, Penacony)

Halo - Adore

Heartbeat Song - Kelly Clarkson

If You Had My Love - Jennifer Lopez

Illuminate - Moana Avvenenti & Julie Elven | Arknights (EP: Viviana)

In My Blood - Shawn Mendes

Innocence - Madeon ft. Aquilo

Love Song - Sara Bareilles

Passing Memories - Faouzia | Genshin Impact (4th Anniversary - English Theme)

Remember Me - d4vd | Arcane: League of Legends (Season 2)

Routines In The Night - Twenty One Pilots

[fettesans]

That is why information is tending to disappear, being replaced instead by alerts. The informer becomes a transmitter, an alert vector in a permanent and generalized system of alerts that is tied to the political, economic, social, and ecological state of the world, taken in its entirety. And the information itself is always more alarming, always more terrifying, and supported by data concerning the ongoing destruction of the world. Isn’t that inevitable when the viability of the world—and of the multiple worlds composing it and giving it its consistency—is everywhere under threat? We aren’t informed about parts of the world anymore but are on permanent alert about the general state of the world. The effect is debilitating. All the scenarios, all the simulations and hypotheses that result, whether catastrophic or not, force us to think in terms of worlds, to “globalize” even the most minute data. And that is where the junction between the actual world and SF occurs, independently of the fictional stories, as if the information concerning the present state of the world were nothing but a succession of stories anticipating its future state.

David Lapoujade, from the introduction to Worlds Built to Fall Apart: Versions of Philip K. Dick, translated by Erik Beranek, in e-flux, July, 2024.

[scotianostra]

On the 24th July 1567 Mary, Queen of Scots was forced to abdicate the throne.

In my opinion this was one of the most apalling events in the history of Scotland.

Lords Ruthven and Lindsay visited Mary while she was held prisoner at Loch Leven castle. They threatened her with immediate execution if she did not sign the abdication papers there and then. Mary was initially outraged but she was also frightened and ill having recently miscarried twins, she signed the papers in the hope that they would be annulled at a later date.

What makes this more of avile act is the fact that it took place while the queen was lying in bed after her miscarriage, by her own account ‘in a state of great weakness’ having lost a great deal of blood, and scarcely able to move.

Claude Nau de la Boisseliere, Mary's private secretary, recorded this event in his memoirs, which were translated from French into English as The History of Mary Stewart: From the Murder of Riccio Until Her Flight Into England:

"On the afternoon of the ... day of ... 1567, the Lords Lindsay and Ruthven, accompanied by two notaries and the said Melvil, came into the queen's chamber. She was lying on her bed, in a state of very great weakness, partly by reason of her extreme trouble (partly in consequence of a great flux, the result of a miscarriage of twins, her issue by Bothwell), so that she could move only with great difficulty. With extreme audacity and anger Lindsay gave her to understand of the commission with which he was charged by the nobility, namely, to make her sign certain letters for the resignation of the crown; which he required her to be pleased to read. Although she had already been assured by Melvil, in the name of the nobles mentioned above, that she need make no difficulty, she plainly refused to do so; she could not in conscience (her heart telling her that she was innocent) prejudice her honour by sanctioning such an unjust statement.

At the same time she knew that her life was in great and immediate danger. And of a truth it was the intention of the rebels, if she did not sign these letters, to take her from Lochleven, and as they were crossing the lake to throw her into it, or secretly to convey her to some island in the middle of the sea, there to be kept unknown to the whole world, in close custody for the remainder of her life. Lindsay confirmed this; for, as soon as he saw that her Majesty resolutely refused to sign these letters, he told her to rise from bed, and that he had charge to carry her to a place where he would give a good account of her to the lords of the country. Several times he advised her to sign, for if she did not, she would compel them to cut her throat, however unwilling they might be.

This poor princess, seeing herself thus treated by her own subjects, and being without any of her domestics (for the two femmes-de-chamhre, whom only she had with her, had been turned out), asked where she was to be taken. She demanded very earnestly to be admitted before the estates of the country and the parliament to answer to the points mentioned in these letters. Lindsay replied that he had no instructions on these heads, and could say nothing more. Thus, without any form of legal proceeding or knowledge of the cause, they compelled her Majesty by threats and present violence to sign these instruments, which they caused to be read by the said notaries. When they asked her what she thought of the matter, she answered several times that she did not consent to the contents of these instruments, that she had signed them in direct opposition to her intention and will, and that they had been extorted from her by force and constraint. She protested, therefore, that she would observe and keep them no longer than during her imprisonment, and she frequently asked those who were present to be her witnesses."

Mary signed the deeds, in the hope that they would be found invalid because they were signed under duress, but it was the end of her reign, and her son was crowned a few days later at the Church of the Holy Rude, Stirling.

Nau goes on to write that after Mary had signed the papers "she was taken (with great altercation on both sides) into a great gloomy tower in Lochleven. She was there shut up, within an iron gate, in such a miserable condition, that no poor criminal could be treated worse." He also claims that she was deprived of ink, paper and books, and that attempts were made to poison her.

The pics are various illustrations of the day’s event.