#king mamoon

[a-storytellers-wish]

A sketch of my take on the villain couple for my "Once Upon a Wish" AU~

I'm still working on their outfits and overall color palette but I do have a general idea of what their heads/faces are gonna look... So here they are!

Their names are Mamoon and Amaranta, the King and Queen of Alwarda.

And just like how Zahra is Asha while Noor is Star, Mamoon is Magnifico while Amaranta is Evil!Amaya (tho she does have canon Amaya's sweetness and confidence, even tho its arguable if its genuine or its for gaslighting lol).

I'd share more info about them soon! Most likely when their designs is finished :D But if you guys have any questions about them, let me know! I'd love to have a chance to yap about them hehe

[exgirlfiend]

genuine question would yall be interested if I made a master doc of all of the cultural references in wotww (or at least the ones I can recognize) complete with links to name origins and visual comparisons for locations and architecture. I <3 doing deep dives into the references behind the character names and the real world locations and time periods each area is inspired by

[sweetpea-sprite]

Well, somehow, the Al-Khemi fight went better here than on either of my other playthroughs

My strategy boiled down to having Benny toss a bunch of thundersparks at Al-Khemi and swapping back to Esther for provisions- whenever Hubble Bubble was about to blow, the extended charge time let me make sure Esther had Spooky out, then swap back to Ollie to defend

Also, for some reason, Pebble Pelt??? Isn't working? As an ability? It's just supposed to do physical damage, right? But both here and back when fighting King Hickory, using it just prompted "No Effect!" with no damage

Oh and Al-Khemi resisting water damage is the biggest BS

NICE

i don't know why pebble pelt is doing no damage? the reason "no effect" is coming up is because it's meant to also inflict confusion on the enemy and bosses (mostly) can't be inflicted with ailments but it should be doing damage at least surely. weird

does he Resist water??? i don't remember that i just remember him being neutral... you're right though he should be weak to it. fire sword. come on. hey fun fact i just looked on the nnk wiki to see if they had anything and it lists water as both a weakness and a resistance. thank you nnk wiki. very cool

Oh by the way. Obviously the attack stat is for normal attacks and the magic attack stat for tricks, but what about tricks that deal physical damage? Do they rely on normal attack or magic?

i BELIEVE physical tricks rely on atk rather than matk. i'm like 80% sure. yeah it would make sense because otherwise all familiars with low matk would be almost useless because they couldn't do any tricks...

"Spooky reached Lv. 8! Spooky learned Spite!" Oh trust me he knew that already

Purrloiner wanted to be tamed on the way back to Al Mamoon so I named it Selkie after my mom's friend's cat and it will be chilling in the retreat:>

LMAO cuteee i love these guys

*Golden Glim appears during the fight against Swaine's nightmare * Me: okay gotta switch to Esther to let Axl use his miracle move, it's the only offensive one I've got right now Ollie, as soon as he's out of my control: Hm. I think I will cast Burning Heart, actually :)

SANBDASBDKBALDKSL yeah. oliver does what he wants. forever. thanks for casting mornstar on that naja in ding dong well oliver i couldn't have done it without you

AAAND Swaine has joined the party!! The nuzlocke is finally fully underway! Gogo and Babbi the mite get to come out of the retreat to fill up the empty slots from moving Axl and Spooky over to Swaine, though Babbi will soon be replaced again by whoever we tame out on the open sea

NICE!!!! good luck with the fights aheadddd i know the mummy's tummy fights. are. something

[technicallyoneofakind]

8, 9, 11 for the ni no kuni asks?

8. Any headcanons for any of the characters after the game? 

Oliver either heads home and starts living a regular life or he eventually does return to the other world. 

Another favorite is he makes frequent visits cause he misses them. 

Swaine rules by Marcassin’s side or at least became his advisor to help him make more informed decisions on things. 

Swaine becomes an ambassador on behalf of Hamelin and wanders the world- cause he could never settle down- to relay communication between the three kingdoms on his brother’s behalf. Marcassin’s got a kingdom to rule after all. He could use some help in some capacity! 

Swaine replaces Kublai (who retires with Kuhlan to start a new Xanadu) and becomes the king of the sky pirates! He builds on the fleet with his knowledge of savvy negotiation tactics, politics, and mechanical know how. He’s the reason for the use of orange and green in the sky pirates in the second game due to how huge a fleet he ended up amassing. Well that, and the dude genuinely cared about his crew. 

Esther becomes a great sage of Al Mamoon. Somehow. 

Esther also becomes an ambassador but opens up a familiar farm on the side so that people can adopt what familiars you don’t use in the game. 

Esther just opens a familiar farm. 

Cassiopeia gets help from Hamelin to help rebuild her kingdom. (That one is based on a fic EAD13 did... don’t know if they’re still writing it.)

Cassiopeia ends up helping Kublai and Kuhlan rebuild Xanadu and even takes over so they can live a happy life together. 

Marcassin just gives up the throne to Hogarth so he can experience the world himself. 

Marcassin gives up the throne to his brother so he can just be a great sage doing great sage things.

Marcassin... Just goes back to Hamelin and picks up where he left off restoring the empire and even tending to damaged communities.  

Marcassin gets overthrown for something leading to Castle in the Sky being plausible in Autumnia. 

9. Do you ship anyone? 

Abbie and Swaine! Abbie and Swaine! Abbie and Swaine! Abbie and Swaine! Abbie and Swa- *slaps self* 

Umm... I mean. I like the idea of Myrtle and Phil becoming a cute couple. I also ship Abull with the Cowlipha. I sometimes wonder if Cassieopia and Marcassin would work but... I don’t know. 

Oh! I ship Alicia and the Emperor of Hamelin! I like the idea that Swaine is actually their kid and that Marcassin maaaay be adopted or perhaps from a different woman altogether. Or the same person and genetics are just being weird. I don’t think I would have come to that idea if Swaine hadn’t made that comment in the Glittering Grotto. 

11. Are there any areas you think feel like a specific Ghibli Studios movie setting?

Autumnia is the first setting in Castle in the Sky! They both are mining areas, have that crevice section and have mountains to the left of the area. I think they may even be the continent! 

Ding Dong Dell sometimes feels like that cat kingdom in The Cat Returns. Then again some of the rolling hills also feel like something out of Howl’s Moving Castle... 

Thanks for the asks~!

[walkingdead1994-blog]

Narguiles

O Mister N Arguiles é uma empresa virtual especializa na consumo de narguiles e acessórios. Trabalhamos visando em reparar as necessidades dos clientes que buscam bons momentos de passatempo similarmente com artigos de tabacaria em maior parte..

Contamos com uma grande diversidade de arguiles e acessórios da mais alta qualidade do mercado. Atendemos todas as confrontos por arguile, vasos, roshs, carvões, pegadores, abafadores e diversos mais acessórios.

Tipos de Narguiles

O Mister N Arguiles comercializa narguile das principais marcas do mercado, como: Amazon, Mya, Hookah King, Bali Hai, Gods of Hookah, Khalil Mamoon, entre outros.

A disposição para a convenção de arguile é primordial para uma experiência única, dessa forma disponibilizamos produtos de alto nível.

Na nossa empresa virtual, os clientes são capazes de adquirir produtos e acessórios para uso de arguile com muita facilidade e segurança.

Além de acessórios para narguile, similarmente comercializamos produtos de tabacaria em maior parte, como: boladores, charutos, bongs, dichavadores, isqueiros, pipes, piteiras e sedas.

Comercializamos narguiles e uma grande variedade de acessórios, com a melhor correlação custo-benefício do mercado.

[starrstivers]

Arguile

Há diversos anos no mercado, a Mister N Arguiles oferece os melhores itens e acessórios para sessões de arguiles. Contamos com uma surpreendente estrutura para cumprir todas as necessidades por arguile com muita prontidão e aptidão. 

 Trabalhamos com a missão de satisfazer todas as perspectivas dos clientes que querem obter arguiles e acessórios de extrema qualidade. Somos uma empresa virtual que oferece aos clientes tudo o que há de melhor e mais moderno na especialidade de arguile.

Detalhes sobre arguiles

A Mister N Arguiles é um comércio eletrônico de arguile verificado por liberar uma grande diversidade de produtos. Possuímos em nosso reserva arguile das principais marcas do mercado, como: Amazon, Gods of Hookah, Hookah King, Khalil Mamoon, Mya, entre outras.

Além de diversos modelos de arguiles, similarmente comercializamos acessórios de primeira série para você reintegrar sua sessão também mais notável. Atuamos com a distribuição de carvões, vasos, queimadores, mangueiras, pratos, abafadores e diversos mais acessórios para arguiles.

Na Mister N Arguiles é possível adquirir tudo o que você necessita para sessões de arguile, com muita velocidade, praticidade e segurança.

Disponibilizamos arguiles e produtos de tabacaria em maior parte, por um valor competidor e com ótimas condições de pagamento.

A Mister N Arguiles opera com a distribuição de arguile

Entre em contato conosco para conseguir mais detalhes sobre os arguiles e acessórios disponíveis em nossa empresa.

[kaikaykoa]

did doloran ever like do anything ? how long has he been alive. has he just been chilling and suddenly was like oh yeah uhhhhhhhhh allegoria and got nerfed by a ten year old cat boy and now hes just chillling AGAIN !! like he has had so much time to become and absolutely irredeemable maniac but he hasnt done anything..... bro..............

Well

Let’s talk about what happened two millennia (2,000 years) ago.

Doloran was recently crowned king and hecked everything up by getting into relations with the kingmaker, Alisandra.

She released all her powers as a kingmaker which made everything worse. Allegoria and Alisandra was sucked into an alternate dimension but Doloran was still in Ni no Kuni. He made up theory where, if he managed to get all the kingsbonds, then the energy from it would be enough to bring back Allegoria and Alisandra.

He (somehow?) goes into the alternate dimension and checks out that ball boulder thing, the one he suspects Alisandra is in. So he chills inside it for a while, where the fake Allegoria is. Unless he just transferred it there after a the “Horned One” got dunked into the sea haha.

So I’m guessing he was just chillin throughout those years until he got the chance to steal some kingsbonds, like Al Mamoon or Hamelin’s.

Then for some reason, he goes on a stealin kingsbond spree when Roland comes aboard.

He’s kept watch on Allegoria and the Horned One this whole time, he’s just waitin to strike when the iron’s hot.

So after the whole Horned One shenanigans, I guess he’s makin a lil village to rule over until he’s got another kingmaker to make it a kingdom, I guess.

so

yeah

[virtualgallerybyie]

Light and Shadow - Brief, Initial thoughts and Inspirations

Brief

In this project, we are required to create an animation that explores the use of colour in lighting and shadows, whether it is using chiaroscuro, colour, black and white or even the absence of light. The animation can be abstract or realistic - if we wish it can consist of only the effect of light moving through a scene in some way.

The subject matter of the animation is not important, what is important is the creative use of light in the animation. We are allowed to use any medium to create this animation if we want.

It is a week long project and we are expected to present our final animation to the class showing our visual thinking, invention and imagination, evaluating ideas, developing them and some (pre)visualisation/animatic/storyboard.

Inital thoughts

I am excited about this assignment as the topic is quiet interesting, we can do so many things with light and shadow. I am not very happy with the last two animations that I created so I really want to work hard in this one.

Inspiration

I have watched some videos for inspiration.

The Peach Kings “Mojo Thunder” official music video

In this music video, the directors Kris Merc and Benjy Brooke plumb the depths of addiction, lust and self-destruction. They wanted to explore self destructive behaviors maybe triggered by an inability to escape the past. Cycles of abuse, pain, vice, lust and ultimately destruction.

What I like about this video is that many different mediums are used to create the visuals such as newsprint, chalk, black cardboard, pencils, white crayons. and white crayon on black cardstock. A lot of the designs are made by hand. The use of Light and shadows in each frame is very effective, there is a lot of angularity in shapes, an almost geometric look with hard shadows.

Mamoon Animated short film

Similarly, the Animated Movie film “Mamoon” is also a mixed media Animated short film. The use of light and shadow in this film is quite interesting.

X Ambassadors “My Own Monster” Music Video by Daniel Iglesias Jr. and Mathematic

This music video has a simple concept of a man dancing with a cartoon shadow monster which is his own shadow. It inspires me because I like the monochrome theme of the video. The negative space in each frame looks good. I really like how the video has a little scary element in it yet its funny.

[sweetpea-sprite]

obviously i do not have the answers to most of these. but i can tell you that for at least ding dong dell and al mamoon (and probably hamelin as well) they are implied to be MUCH MUCH BIGGER than what only we see - drippy says ding dong dell “en’t exactly village sized” and people in al mamoon talk about tending to babana fields. sidenote did you know al mamoon’s oasis is shrinking due to climate change? not really relevant but it’s a fun little fact. anyway ddd likely has farmland out in the rolling hills and we just don’t see it

the trading system between continents as of shadar’s reign seems to just be. ships. there’s a side quest in hamelin with a guy who is trying to get medicine to his sick sister in castaway cove and the trading route by sea is blocked by pirates, and that seems to be the only way to get it there. (unsure why oliver didn’t just take it there himself ???)

there are definitely other ships. hell you can see little fishing boats in castaway cove. considering crossbones’ ship existed ten thousand years ago there are DEFINITELY other ships. the sea cow just happened to be the only option in castaway at the time i guess. and they DID really need to get to autumnia

i DO NOT THINK the leaders of the three kingdoms had ANY meaningful communication with each other. that was the point of the clarion, to bring them together, so they would fight as one - despite the cowlipha’s crush on marcassin she DOES call hamelin. what was it. detestable and warlike i believe. and king tom doesn’t say it directly but he does, talking about al mamoon, say “its leader is somewhat... well.” they do not like each other before oliver comes along even WITHOUT the brokenheartedness

standardised education system. well. there is mention of school by some little kids in ding dong dell. i think that’s all we’ve got on that front. but as for tests to see if you have magic: who needs tests when you can just use magic to check? the wizard’s companion’s stone is enchanted to see if you have the capability to become a wizard - that’s likely how they do it

people from al mamoon have the adjective mamooni. esther would be mamooni, or a mamooni person - i believe this word is said multiple times and there’s no mention of something like “summerlandian” so they likely identify with their kingdoms. also: oliver is, as said in game, a motorvillean.

You know, making any kind of coherent worldbuilding headcabons for Ni No Kuni would be a lot easier if I didn't know fuck all about the foundations of the other world's societies. Like, who takes out the trash? Where does Ding Dong Well empty into, or where does it draw water from? Where is all the farm land required to support a kingdom of Ding Dong Dell's size located? Why can you buy seemingly fresh cabbages in the frozen far north? Is the trading system here really fast or something, even without wizards with teleportation spells? How does trade function normally when you need to get the Cowlipha's approval to use a ship, or does that only apply to the Sea Cow specifically? Is there only one ship in all of Ni No Kuni that just so happens to be the Sea Cow since that's what the Cowlipha defaulted to when Oliver and company asked for a ship to Autumnia? Do Autumnia and the Summerlands have any trade or communication at all since both's leaders were pretty soundly brokenhearted and provided zero transportation of goods and people across the sea before Oliver showed up? Is there any standardized education system? Are there standardized tests that determine whether you have magical powers or not? Is there religion? What is it? Is there Emperor worship in Hamelin? Do the citizens of Al Mamoon and Ding dong Dell believe in their monarchs' god-given right to rule? Do the people of this world identify themselves with a kingdom that they are the subjects of, or the nations that they are a part of? Does Ni No Kuni have nation states? Where are all the goddamn janitors???

[a-storytellers-wish]

I know people say "Good to be King" from Journey to Bethlehem could have been a better villain song for Magnifico, and I agree, but I feel like another good contender would be "How Bad Can I Be?" from The Lorax.

Just basing it on how I feel like what they're trying to do with Magnifico: an upbeat "poppy-sounding" villain song about a guy downplaying his villainy by positioning himself in a pedestal. Also evil capitalism.

[theplaylistfilm]

‘Shape of Water’ And ‘Three Billboards’ Lead 2018 BAFTA Awards Nominations 

BEST FILM “Call Me By Your Name,” Emilie Georges, Luca Guadagnino, Marco Morabito, Peter Spears “Darkest Hour,” Tim Bevan, Lisa Bruce, Eric Fellner, Anthony McCarten, Douglas Urbanski “Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas “The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM “Darkest Hour,” Joe Wright, Tim Bevan, Lisa Bruce, Eric Fellner, Anthony McCarten, Douglas Urbanski “The Death of Stalin,” Armando Iannucci, Kevin Loader, Laurent Zeitoun, Yann Zenou, Ian Martin, David Schneider “God’s Own Country,” Francis Lee, Manon Ardisson, Jack Tarling “Lady Macbeth,” William Oldroyd, Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly, Alice Birch “Paddington 2,” Paul King, David Heyman, Simon Farnaby “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER “The Ghoul,” Gareth Tunley (Writer/Director/Producer), Jack Healy Guttman & Tom Meeten (Producers) “I Am Not A Witch,”  Rungano Nyoni (Writer/Director), Emily Morgan (Producer) “Jawbone,” Johnny Harris (Writer/Producer), Thomas Napper (Director) “Kingdom of Us,” Lucy Cohen (Director) “Lady Macbeth,” Alice Birch (Writer), William Oldroyd (Director), Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly (Producer)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE “Elle,”  Paul Verhoeven, Saïd Ben Saïd “First They Killed My Father,” Angelina Jolie, Rithy Panh “The Handmaiden,” Park Chan-wook, Syd Lim “Loveless,” Andrey Zvyagintsev, Alexander Rodnyansky “The Salesman,” Asghar Farhadi, Alexandre Mallet-Guy

DOCUMENTARY “City of Ghosts,” Matthew Heineman “I Am Not Your Negro,” Raoul Peck “Icarus,” Bryan Fogel, Dan Cogan “An Inconvenient Sequel,” Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk “Jane,” Brett Morgen

ANIMATED FILM “Coco,” Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson “Loving Vincent,” Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Ivan Mactaggart “My Life As A Courgette,” Claude Barras, Max Karli

DIRECTOR “Blade Runner 2049,” Denis Villeneuve “Call Me By Your Name,” Luca Guadagnino “Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan “The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY “Get Out,” Jordan Peele “I, Tonya,” Steven Rogers “Lady Bird,” Greta Gerwig “The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY “Call Me By Your Name,” James Ivory “The Death of Stalin,” Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, David Schneider “Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool,” Matt Greenhalgh “Molly’s Game,” Aaron Sorkin “Paddington 2,” Simon Farnaby, Paul King

LEADING ACTRESS Annette Bening, “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool” Frances McDormand,  “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya” Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water” Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”

LEADING ACTOR Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread” Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out” Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour” Jamie Bell, “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool” Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS Allison Janey,  “I, Tonya” Kristen Scott Thomas, “Darkest Hour” Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird” Lesley Manville, “Phantom Thread” Octavia Spencer, “The Shape of Water”

SUPPORTING ACTOR Christopher Plummer, “All the Money in the World” Hugh Grant, “Paddington 2” Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project” Woody Harrelson, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

ORIGINAL MUSIC “Blade Runner 2049,” Benjamin Wallfisch, Hans Zimmer “Darkest Hour,” Dario Marianelli “Dunkirk” Hans Zimmer “Phantom Thread,” Jonny Greenwood “The Shape of Water,” Alexandre Desplat

CINEMATOGRAPHY “Blade Runner 2049,” Roger Deakins “Darkest Hour,” Bruno Delbonnel “Dunkirk,” Hoyte van Hoytema “The Shape of Water,” Dan Laustsen “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Ben Davis

EDITING “Baby Driver,” Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss “Blade Runner 2049,” Joe Walker “Dunkirk,” Lee Smith “The Shape of Water,” Sidney Wolinsky “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Jon Gregory

PRODUCTION DESIGN “Beauty and the Beast,” Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer “Blade Runner 2049,” Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola “Darkest Hour,” Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer “Dunkirk,” Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis “The Shape of Water,” Paul Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, Shane Vieau

COSTUME DESIGN “Beauty and the Beast,” Jacqueline Durran “Darkest Hour,” Jacqueline Durran “I, Tonya,” Jennifer Johnson “Phantom Thread,” Mark Bridges “The Shape of Water,” Luis Sequeira

MAKE UP & HAIR “Blade Runner 2049,” Donald Mowat, Kerry Warn “Darkest Hour,” David Malinowski, Ivana Primorac, Lucy Sibbick, Kazuhiro Tsuji “I, Tonya,” Deborah La Mia Denaver, Adruitha Lee “Victoria & Abdul,” Daniel Phillips “Wonder,” Naomi Bakstad, Robert A. Pandini, Arjen Tuiten

SOUND “Baby Driver,” Tim Cavagin, Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater “Blade Runner 2049,” Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill, Mark Mangini, Mac Ruth “Dunkirk,” Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo, Mark Weingarten “The Shape of Water,” Christian Cooke, Glen Gauthier, Nathan Robitaille, Brad Zoern “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Stuart Wilson, Matthew Wood

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS “Blade Runner 2049” Gerd Nefzer, John Nelson “Dunkirk,” Scott Fisher, Andrew Jackson “The Shape of Water,” Dennis Berardi, Trey Harrell, Kevin Scott “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” Nominees tbc “War for the Planet of the Apes,” Nominees tbc

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION “Have Heart,” Will Anderson “Mamoon,” Ben Steer “Poles Apart,” Paloma Baeza, Ser En Low

BRITISH SHORT FILM “Aamir,” Vika Evdokimenko, Emma Stone, Oliver Shuster “Cowboy Dave,”  Colin O’Toole, Jonas Mortensen “A Drowning Man,” Mahdi Fleifel, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Patrick Campbell “Work,” Aneil Karia, Scott O’Donnell “Wren Boys,” Harry Lighton, Sorcha Bacon, John Fitzpatrick

EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public) Daniel Kaluuya Florence Pugh Josh O’Connor Tessa Thompson Timothée Chalamet

Congratulations to all the nominees!

[sweetpea-sprite]

How exactly does the nnk timeline.... work? Because, well, heres what we know; Lucien saved young Alicia's life. Lucien became Shadar. Shadar destroyed Halcyon. Adult Alicia travelled forward in time to find and raise Oliver. Except... she travelled with the former emperor of Hamelin, putting her adult self at about 15-25 years before the game, and her child self 35-45 years before the game. Putting the creation of Shadar 35-45 years before the game. 1/2

Putting the destruction of Halcyon 35-45 years before the game. Now sure. That works. That's fine. But then why does absolutely No One mention the destruction of Halcyon if it was recent history?? Not to mention all the stories talk about the /three/ kings, the /three/ kingdoms; seems a little weird to leave out Halcyon in something like that. Which means its destruction probably happened /centuries/ ago. Which gives us a few options; 2/3

Either; Halcyon was really fuckin small. Much smaller than Shadar's backstory implied. Small enough for no one to notice it was straight up Destroyed. OR. The former emporer of hamelin was fucking immortal (unaging, not invincible.) OR. The writers had no fucking clue what they were doing 3/3

okay so you're not entirely wrong. the timeline IS a little fucked up but it's not for the reasons you're saying. the timeline's fucked up because there's dialogue in the game that says shadar came into power 100 years ago and he says to oliver that he has been "reborn many times over" and it's all a little strange (i choose to believe shadar straight up lies in that cutscene just to fuck with oliver more)

the thing about the whole "three kings" thing is that ding dong dell, al mamoon, and hamelin have been the main three kingdoms since before shadar was a thing. we know this because rashaad and drippy talk about the clarion being made "back when the world was at peace" by the three kings to symbolise the unity of the world. the call of the clarion hasn't been heard since the three kings fell out - and the disputes caused by them falling out is why lucien became shadar in the first place, because he wanted to stop them warring with each other by making himself the main target.

halcyon was, most likely, around the same size as xanadu. big, but not big enough to be one of The Big Three. the reason it's not mentioned is most likely because shadar has clearly destroyed multiple kingdoms and while the remains of halcyon IS where nevermore is, it's. probably still a sore subject apart from anything. and you don't even hear about xanadu until most of the way into the game either, and esther doesn't know it existed

another option is that halcyon could have been part of the hamelin empire, the same way castaway cove is connected to al mamoon and the same way that the kingdom of nazcaa had three cities in it - it was part of a bigger thing, and that's why it's not mentioned as a main kingdom

i can't tell you why no one mentions halcyon's destruction if it's recent history - but it's probably for the same reasons no one mentions xanadu's destruction until most of the way through the game (and that was only five years ago!)

[un-enfant-immature]

From Twenty Minute VC to 20VC, Harry Stebbings launches a micro VC off the back of his popular podcast

Podcasts are becoming big business — in part because of how well they can attract and keep audience at a time when so many other media formats are finding it hard to pin down that elusive metric of engagement. Now a podcast host who has built out a popular series around the world of startup investing is leveraging that growth to build out an investment vehicle of his own. Harry Stebbings, the 24-year-old London-based creator and host of Twenty Minute VC, is launching a micro VC fund of $8.3 million. Called 20VC, the plan is to invest in US startups across various stages alongside “tier 1” co-investors.

Stebbings spends a lot of his time talking to investors and about investments, and this is his second foray into actually putting money where his mouth is. He’s also a partner at Stride.vc, a firm he co-founded with Fred Destin in 2018 (joined later by a third partner, Pia d’Iribarne). He says that 20VC is scratching a different itch. The older fund focuses on investing in the UK and France, has an inclination (but not exclusivity) towards e-commerce disruptors and earlier stages of investment.

Stebbings’ newer effort, on the other hand, focuses on the US, and is positioned within what seems to be shaping up to a typical micro fund profile. Micro funds, as the name implies, are usually not huge, but they aim to pack a punch by offering other skills in the mix with their smaller investments. The concept has been growing in popularity over the last several years. (“I don’t know anyone who isn’t involved in at least one $5 million micro fund,” one former VC said to me.)

In the case of 20VC, it hopes to get its foot into the door on deals other VCs by offering Stebbings’ own set of skills in building and scaling companies as the selling point in exchange.

Typical deal sizes will range from $100,000 to $300,000 ($250,000 is the typical check size), and although Stebbings is announcing the fund today, some 12 investments have already been made out of it (Nex Health and Spiketrap are the only two that are public so far), investing alongside Sequoia, Index, Founders Fund, a16z.

20VC’s tie to the name of the podcast is intentional. The podcast has developed a brand of its own in the world of tech, with some 200,000 subscribers and 80 million downloads to date of the twice-weekly program. And 20VC isn’t just trading on Stebbings’ own experience as an entrepreneur: it has tapped the network of people that have been on the show, or know him because of the show, to assemble LPs.

There are some 64 of them in all, including founders and current and former execs from Atlassian, Yammer (David Sacks), Plaid (William Hockney), Superhuman, Airtable, Calm, Cazoo, Zenly, Alan, Spotify (Shakhil Khan) and Tray.io; GPs from Kleiner (Mamoon Hamid), Social Capital (Chamath) Thrive (Josh Kushner & Miles Grimshaw), Atomic, Founders Fund (Brian Singerman), Coatue, Index (Danny Rimer), True Ventures (Phil Black), and Beezer Clarkson, among many others. Having a popular podcast that highlights interesting investors and startups turns out to be a good way of networking to build a fund. Stebbings said that the call out was oversubscribed three times over within four weeks.

Boy VC

Stebbings’ entry into the world of investing in startups is something of a typical startup story of its own.

He came up with the idea for his podcast at a time when he was already intrigued by the world of venture capital, but was actually on the road to something else, with a place as a law scholar at Kings College in London (in the US you start law school as an undergraduate).

He says started the podcast with the idea of working on something that interested him, but more specifically to make some money. His mother has multiple sclerosis and she was having issues paying for her healthcare. Stebbings decided to start the podcast use the money it made off advertising around it to help cover his mother’s medical bills.

He was a nobody in tech, but he had a very specific plan, and a lot of smiley and positive enthusiasm, for how to get from zero to hero.

It started with finding just the right first guest, someone who had a high profile and respect but also appeared to be nice enough that if you got the approach right, you might get an agreement to be interviewed, or as Stebbings described it, “low hanging fruit.”

For Stebbings, that person, it turned out, was Guy Kawasaki. In addition to getting the interview, Stebbings also asked Kawasaki for three recommendations of people he should have on the show next, and what he should ask them. Stebbings followed that up with asking those three for their recommendations, and so on. Pyramid scheme with purpose, I guess you could say.

“I view distribution quite scientifically,” said Stebbings — who I interviewed sitting in a bedroom, although I think he normally podcasts these days sitting in a studio as pictured, above. “I’m bringing as many people as possible to help in the content creation process.”

The whole format of “20 minutes” also stemmed from a calculation Stebbings made. He told me he used to struggle with his weight and finally managed to lose some pounds using Tim Ferriss’ 4-hour Body. It got him thinking about how timing is important, and on top of that he knew that the typical commute in London was around 30 minutes, and decided that 20 minutes was a reasonable amount of time to expect someone to listen regularly. (Spoiler: most of the podcasts these days are not 20 minutes, but longer.)

Things started to shift from interesting side hustle to main hustle after he featured Arielle Zuckerberg, Mark’s sister and a tech persona in her own right (she’s currently a partner at investment firm Coatue). That podcast saw 100,000 downloads, and all signs pointed to 20 Minute VC taking off. So he quit university to focus on the podcast full time. It was four weeks into his first term.

“I decided I love VC and all of this,” he said about his choice to drop out of school. “I decided that I’d rather have my shot at this than trying to live the life I didn’t want to live. It was a big decision. I was 18 and very unemployable at the time.”

As for his mother’s medical bills, they are still being paid for by the show, he said.

“There’s advertising at the beginning and end of the show. It’s fine, not lights out, but it pays for my mother’s healthcare and that’s all I need it to do.”

The show, and Stebbings himself, have benefitted from a perfect storm of circumstances to grow.

Podcasts have been around for years, but it’s only been in recent times that they have properly taken off in popularity. Leveraging mobile phones and apps for listening, they fit naturally into our multitasking, information-hungry routines; there is a huge variety out there, a podcast for every taste; and they’ve bettered the talk radio format by being there right when you need them. Having a very predictable program in that format — Stebbings’ show has been running twice a week, every week, for five years now — is not to be underestimated.

There is also the subject matter to consider. There has been a huge explosion in the role that technology is playing in our modern society and economy, and that has meant an audience that consists not just of those already working in the world of tech, but those with ambitions to be a part of it (like Stebbings himself), and simply a lot of enthusiasts.

Within that, venture capital has seen a veritable explosion of money, and while some believe that it’s the technical talent that fuels the startup engine, others would make a strong case for the funding that enables them to work holding that role. In any case, money has always held a lot of allure.

“VC is becoming more popular, and cool, and I think that had a lot to do with us getting to this size,” he said.

Stebbings himself is also a part of the formula. He’s not a journalist, and at a time when we seem to be seeing a lot of wariness and tension in the relationship between media and the tech industry, his position as an informal reporter and conduit of information and messaging, who remains friendly and non-combative with his guests, may see him getting a lot warmer of a reception from his target audience of guests and listeners.

Harry doesn’t seem to remember this, but I first met him several years ago, at a tech event in London, where he was working the room very smoothly, smiling and chatting and knowing enough people already that he was able to continue the momentum introducing himself and presuming familiarity with those he was just meeting for the first time. I remember being struck at the time by how young he was mingling amongst quite a lot of middle aged types.

When I recalled this and asked Stebbings if he ever felt like he’s found a place in this scene precisely for this reason — being around younger and flattering people sometimes makes older people feel less old, and possibly more important — he said he thought it was more that it’s about himself feeling natural in that environment.

“For me, it’s always about building relationships,” he said. “I was always like the 50 year old in the room when I was younger and I didn’t have many friends. I’ve made by best friends through the shows.”

Ironically, he says that these days he does get pinged by his older — that is, young and past — acquaintances who are hoping for connections to his powerful network to push whatever tech enterprise they are pursuing these days.

That’s not the only bit of irony in 20VC and Stebbings’ latest venture: the whole of his podcast was built from the ground up, funded by ads and not a penny of outside investment. It means that the lesson from Stebbings is not just how to grow and scale, but how to do so with no VC involvement at all.

That’s not the norm, however, and so this will be about bringing more along that proverbial check.

“Everyone in the valley has money, but very few have been part of an enterprise that has scaled to include contact machines and brands. I’ll have thousands of tips and lessons on scaling and customer acquisition costs. It’s about the cadence and distribution, and how ton build a brand.”

[walkingdead1994-blog]

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Arguiles em São Paulo

O Mister N Arguiles, oferece os melhores arguiles em São Paulo e acessórios para suas sessões. Atendemos todas as requisições com muita prontidão e competência, constantemente com foco no cliente.

Trabalhamos com a missão de reparar todas as esperanças dos clientes que querem ter um ótimo hora de passatempo com seu narguile. Somos uma loja virtual que oferece produtos de alta qualidade e modernice na especialidade de narguiles.

Mercado de Arguiles em São Paulo

O Mister N Arguiles possui uma grande diversidade de marcas e modelos de produtos. Trabalhamos com as principais marcas, como: Amazon, Gods of Hookah, Hookah King, Khalil Mamoon, Mya, entre outras.

Além de arguiles possuimos os mais variados acessórios para ajudar com sua convenção: carvões, vasos, queimadores, mangueiras, pratos, abafadores e diversos mais acessórios.

Disponibilizamos arguiles e produtos de tabacaria em maior parte, por um valor competidor e com ótimas condições de pagamento.

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