#like. a stream that surrounds the planet. like an asteroid belt but it's One thing yknow

[berrymeter]

terrible news! i am writing a scene

[the-light-finds-its-way]

Velliks's Wish

Magnus held the Awoken's arm gently, then looked him in the eyes. "Velliks. You know you aren't alone in doing this, right?"

Velliks nodded. "Thank you, my friend. But the wish… the wish must be made alone," he said, turning away. "If anyone else falls temptation to the will of an Ahamkara, they'll be damned for eternity. I am damning myself for all eternity in doing this."

"No. You aren't. Because we're going to kill that thing as soon as it grants it to you, and then you'll be free of its grip forever, with only a wish to satisfy your needs."

Smiling now, Velliks threw his arms around Magnus, who returned the embrace, smiling beneath the helmet. "Thank you, cousin."

"Remember, you're not Awoken. You don't have to call me cousin if you don't want to."

"You're more like the protective older brother, but that's just to me," Velliks replied.

Magnus chuckled, a small smile coming to his face. "Alright. Let's get this show on the road!" He looked to Mithrax, the Eliksni, all scattered across asteroids and belts of planets. “Is everybody ready?!” he cried.

“REN KE NA!!” everyone screamed.

“REN KE NA!!” Magnus called. He, too, awaited the arrival of the Ahamkara.

Opening his arms as all fell silent, Velliks looked into the great vastness of space. “Sevis, o great Ahamkara of the Deep, one of the last of the Ahamkara! I beseech thee, calling out into your domain for a wish! Hear my cries, and answer me!!”

“O Warlock mine, I hear your desires, and answer the call,” Sevis replied.

There, within the endless darkness of space, a vast wormhole tore itself into the expanse, and opened itself, revealing a ginormous worm, its many maws split apart as it spoke. “Sevis, my name, and you respect it already. Good. I enjoy your company, Velliks, and will bestow your deepest desires.”

Velliks gulped, tensing as he glanced left and right to all the Eliksni beside him, to Mithrax, to Magnus. And finally, back to the Ahamkara.

Sevis grinned as it wriggled through the wormhole, into the material realm. Looking down upon Velliks, it remained quite a distance from him nonetheless. “I know what you plan. To kill me upon granting the wish. I will enjoy slaughtering your House, and your precious Young Wolf, and leaving you alone to be my plaything instead. But in time! First, your wish, little one.”

“You are all-knowing, are you not, o great Sevis?” Velliks asked. “Tell me: what, then, is my deepest desire?”

Chuckling, the Ahamkara neared him slightly more. “I understand you were reborn and raised by Eliksni. You wish yourself to know the past–to know your roots before becoming a Guardian. But even more so, you desire to become one with your brethren–to become one with Eliksnikind. And although you are one in spirit, your Awoken body separates reality from fantasy. I can alleviate either of these burdens, but only one. Which do you so choose?”

Velliks gulped again, clenching his fists. “I–I–I…….” His eyes darted left and right rapidly, and his mind flashed. Images of the Reef from dreams he’d had; familiar voices that he couldn’t remember the names to which they belonged; the kind hand of Mithrax reaching for him on the planes of the Shore; friendly faces of Eliksni–of Resiks who’d given him his name when even that was a blank; a kindly Ghost telling him he could trust Mithrax, and the House of Light, but not the Reef. And Velliks looked back to Sevis, narrowing his eyes as he squared his shoulders the way his hero had done, and proudly announced, “I wish to become Eliksni!!”

Sevis grinned, and nodded. “Very well, o wisher mine. Then Eliksni you shall become. Full, healthy, the size of a Captain, as is fitting for your rank, no?” Its mouth opened up, and a stream of blue light emitted from it, wrapping around its tongue, and extending into the distance, as though stemming from twisted words.

Slowly, this light neared Velliks, who closed his two eyes for the last time as it touched him, surrounded him, encased him entirely, lifting him off the asteroid, spreading his arms outward, as nothing but the blue became him, and two split into four for his arms, then his eyes. His height extended from less than six feet, to nearly thirteen feet, and mandibles extended from the bottom of his chin as his face morphed, his fingers went from five to three, and his feet became prongs in the front and back. And slowly, the light lowered itself, bringing Velliks with it, placing him upon the asteroid gently, and therein, the light retraced, slowly revealing a tall, broad Captain, whose Ghost rushed to his side, and scanned him.

“Ba frer go,” Teka said. “Free of loss. You……. you’ve done it!” She scanned him over a second time, but turned up nothing. “Dan da shan, Velliks. You’ve done it.”

There, the House, Magnus, Mithrax, all threw their arms up, and cheered and whooped loudly, voices echoing through the atmosphere, how little of it there was.

Now, Sevis grinned once more. “O wisher mine, you desire a fight now, do you not?” it said. “Therein, let us make this fun.”

Suddenly, the world warped. Flashed. Everyone screamed, and braced themselves as they went flying forth, and suddenly halted, as, within a Throne World, they appeared, and Sevis swam through the debris with ease, as though it’d known the way all its life. A wicked cackle echoed throughout the distance, following the Ahamkara who dove for a single asteroid housing several Eliksni who screamed and dove away, just as the many maws opened and split, then Sevis ate the asteroid and continued swimming, cackling.

Magnus narrowed his gaze, and locked it upon the Ahamkara. “STRIKE WHEN ITS MOUTH OPENS!!” he screamed.

Everyone nodded, and raised their guns.

“Petty mortals, even yourself, Young Wolf,” Sevis said. “Only immortal for the sake of your Traveler, no?” It swam past him, knocking its tail into his asteroid.

Magnus jumped and rocketed through the Throne World as the one giant rock split into hundreds of tiny rocks floating through nothing. He landed on another asteroid, and spoke in Eliksni to the others.

Everyone nodded, then aimed their guns for Sevis’s mouth.

Sevis laughed. “You wicked Guardians, and your killing, and yet you cannot die yourselves. It remains a curse–a burden upon you, no? I can free you of those binds at no cost of a wish.”

Magnus sneered. “I’ll take my chances with my savior, thanks,” he said, lifting a rocket launcher and following Sevis’s mouth.

Velliks reached for his launcher, too, and followed his hero’s lead.

Sevis swam around, knocking asteroids apart, sending debris flying as, suddenly, a portal opened up in the center, and began sucking the debris toward itself. As they gathered, they began spitting outward, each tiny rock aimed for one of the Eliksni.

“COWARD!!” Magnus screamed. “AIM FOR ME, DAMNIT!!” He jumped.

Sevis’s maws split apart, and a bright red light emitted from deep inside its stomach.

Magnus charged forth, firing the rocket launcher.

Sevis began closing its mouth, but it was too late. Firing into the back of its throat, the Ahamkara reeled backward as it unleashed an otherworldly screech, sending the people cringing–crouching downward–but some followed Magnus’s lead, and fired into its mouth against the horrendous noise. The Ahamkara screamed, and closed its maws for just a moment before looking at Magnus’s Ghost: sweet Einar.

Magnus dove for his Ghost, and gripped him tight, as the red light burst from Sevis’s stomach, and hit the Titan from behind, charing him entirely to a crisp as he coughed, then fell limp.

Quickly, Einar wriggled from Magnus’s grip, then shone his light upon him. The burn wounds closed, his armor’s dents and scorch marks were removed, and there, Magnus opened his eyes.

“Thanks, Einar.”

“Any time, my Guardian,” Einar replied. “Now let’s get rid of this thing."

Mithrax called out for his house in Eliksni. Looking to Magnus, he motioned for him to come leftward.

Rocketing left, Magnus nodded, and raised his rocket launcher once again.

Mithrax grasped Magnus’s hand, and pulled him in. “We need to get Velliks to land the killing blow, or he will never forgive himself,” he said.

“Got it,” Magnus remarked with a nod. “Weaken it enough, then let him take the final bow.” He looked toward Velliks, who flew around, fumbling with the rocket launcher in his new hands, attempting to reach the trigger, but to no avail. “VELLIKS!! KE!! USE YOUR LIGHT!!”

Velliks’s eyes widened, and he nodded. Placing the launcher on his back, he summoned an Arc grenade within one hand, then looked to Sevis who opened its maws once more. Immediately, alongside various fire from his allies, he threw this grenade into the Ahamkara’s mouth, then clenched his hand into a fist, and summoned a ray of Light. Firing it into the mouth, the Ahamkara also unleashed its red beam once more, but Velliks shifted right, the scorching ray just barely missing the tail of his robes. Velliks turned around, and fired the Arc ray once more into its mouth, just past the corner of its jaw.

Sevis reeled backward, as a series of rocket launchers aimed for its maws once more. Firing, the Ahamkara swam backward, turned about, only to be met by Mithrax, who launched a rocket directly into its throat once more.

Sevis screeched its unearthly screech again, flailing.

“Sloat tan dis den!” Mithrax said, cheering.

A hole opened itself in the back of Sevis’s head, and rocket launchers fired for the rest of it, leaving gaping wounds across the Ahamkara who still swam about, black matter trailing behind it from each of its holes. “You are FOOLS!!” it cried. “DAMNABLE FOOLS!!”

Velliks flew forth, landing on Sevis’s spine as he raised a fist. “No! We’re far from it! You’re the fool who chose to make a wish against an entire House!”

“What a lovely trophy you’ll make, o wisher mine,” Sevis said. “One I shall savor in this Throne world of mine for all eternity, as you and your Ghost die here, without purpose–without reason.”

Velliks sneered. “And what lovely gloves you’ll make, o bearer mine,” he said, cocking his head. Raising all four fists into the sky, Velliks rammed them into the Ahamkara’s spine, tearing through its hard shell, as he gripped some bones, and tore them out.

Sevis screamed as black matter poured out from the wound, and it writhed about, movement halting as the bones were cracked and severed from its long spine, leaving the Ahamkara immobile.

“NOW!!” Velliks screamed.

“THIS IS YOUR KILL!!” Magnus and Mithrax called.

Velliks’s eyes widened. He shoved the bones toward his Ghost who transmatted them away, then jumped forward and positioned himself in front of Sevis. “YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD OWN ME!! THE REEF ONCE DID SO AGAINST MY WILL, AND THE HOUSE OF LIGHT SET ME FREE!! I WILL NOT DIE THIS DAY!! MY HOUSE WILL NOT FALL THIS DAY!! YOU SHALL MEET YOUR END, O BEARER MINE!!” Once again, Velliks raised all four fists, and a bright blue light emitted from them as it focused on the Ahamkara.

Sevis lifted its head up, and looked at Velliks’s light. Opening its maws once more, the red light grew in its stomach, slowly climbing toward its mouth.

Velliks closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath as Light filled his soul, his body, and extended to his hands.

Sevis inhaled deeply, then roared. The scorching beam fired once more.

Velliks unleashed an Arc ray, forcing it against Sevis’s beam.

An explosion filled the Throne World, and everyone screamed as a shockwave was sent throughout, sending them all backward.

Velliks narrowed his gaze, focusing on the beam, forcing itself closer toward him. “Not today, Ahamkara…” he muttered.

Sevis continued to roar its deafening roar, screaming out as the ray pushed against Velliks’s, then pushed back, the forced itself forward, then made its way back toward the Ahamkara who’s eyes widened, and heart beat faster as the Guardian’s Light seemingly overtook its own. No, no, no, this can’t be happening!! it thought.

Velliks closed his eyes, mind reaching into eternity for Sevis’s. It can and will occur, he thought back. On this day, you shall die, and on this day, let it be known, the House of Light prevailed against an Ahamkara.

Suddenly, Velliks’s Light extended–expanded–going against Sevis’s ray with full force, pushing it backward, into its throat, and suddenly, the beams exploded.

Light poured from the Ahamkara who roared out once more, not in victory, not in defeat, but in deafening agony. It screamed, shouted, but the light continued to pour outward as Velliks’s beam dissipated, and the Warlock fell limp in the Sky, and the light overtook everything.

Everyone shielded their eyes.

Magnus knew this sensation well. Exiting the Throne World. The Ahamkara didn’t even have the pride to die in its own domain.

Suddenly, the blackness of space returned, and the Ahamkara’s corpse floated upside down, black matter pouring from its wounds one final time as the hard shell turned from tan, to dull gray, and it lay dead before everyone, unmoving, lifeless as ever.

Velliks turned toward his House, and raised all four arms. “REN KE NA!!” he called.

“REN KE NA!!” everyone called back.

And cheers filled the sky, as Velliks stood in the center of everyone, an Eliksni, a Captain, who’d lead his House to victory, and his father and hero stood right there beside him, flying through the void of space to reach his side.

Everyone followed suit, nearing the Warlock.

Magnus and Mithrax each grasped one side of Velliks, and smiling, hugged him.

Velliks awkwardly raised all four arms, placing two around each one of them, although they trembled, and suddenly, fell limp.

“Rest easy,” Mithrax said. “You fought well today, and for every great battle must come a great recovery.”

“Indeed,” Magnus said. “You fought like a true Guardian, greater than anyone I’ve ever seen. To stand face-to-face with an Ahamkara, then use the Light against it… I doubt even I’d have that courage.”

Velliks smiled, mandibles clicking together like he’d known how to make the movement his whole life, and he chirped. “Thank you, Magnus.” He turned toward Mithrax. “Thank you, Father.” He looked to every Eliksni crowding around him, joining the hug, smiling and cheering. “Thank you… everyone.” He smiled wide.

"Not a problem, my son," said Mithrax. "Let's return home while it's safe, and you can recover."

Teka rushed over to Velliks's side, and scanned him. "Exhaustion, I can't cure," she said. "At least not mentally I can't."

"That's alright," Velliks said, smiling. "Let me sleep, and I promise you I'll be alright."

"You can sleep on my ship as we fly back," Mithrax told him. Motioning for the Eliksni Captain to follow, he chirped. "I'm glad you are satisfied with who you've become. Sleep well, my son, and awaken only when you're ready. You've done much here today."

Velliks nodded, and flew after his father. "You sure you're willing to fly back?"

"Absolutely. You sleep, I'll fly."

[hearts-hunger]

ciryc ca’tra (cold night sky): chapter four || din djarin x reader

Read on AO3 | Masterlist

chapter one | chapter two | chapter three

Series Summary: When you crash-land on a frozen planet on your way to Trask, you and Din work together to keep the Crest afloat and keep your little family safe under the cold night sky. || Part One of Jate’kara (Lucky Stars)

Chapter Summary: It’s the spiders one y’all :(

Pairings: Din Djarin x Wife!Reader

Genre: Hurt/comfort, fluff, angst | Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings: spiders :(

A/N: I tried to make the action fun to read and not too lengthy, and reader’s inner monologue gives it an angle that’s a little different from what you see in the episode. Let me know how I did! ♡

“Go, go! Back to the ship!”

Your husband appeared in front of you, beskar blocking the view of the horrific beast that gnashed its teeth and screeched loud enough to shake the icicles off the ceiling. It grounded you, seeing only him; you let him take you by the hand and pull you towards the cavern entrance. You held your baby tightly to you, his fearful cries enough to keep you focused on getting him away from that thing at any cost. 

Din pushed you in front of him, bringing up the rear as you fled the cavern now overrun with spiders. The huge, monstrous one loomed over them all, covering the distance between its cave and you in only a few steps. It snapped at Din, barely missing him as the four of you ran into the cave that led to the ship. The beast howled; the swarm of smaller spiders answered in kind and flooded the cave with their deathly shrieks.

Suddenly, the ceiling was falling - you looked back over your shoulder and saw the giant spider’s legs come crashing through the ice above, raining great shards of ice and rock onto the surge of spiders below. For the moment it seemed trapped; you didn’t have time to be thankful before you saw the seething wave of spiders that followed over the rubble, some no bigger than your hand and some as large as Din.

Your husband drew his blaster as the spiders started to surround you; the red flashes of each shot that took out one spider illuminated a dozen more to take its place. You felt a wave of hysteria so strong it nearly took your breath away, and you grabbed onto Din’s cloak like a lifeline and stumbled after him as he tried to clear a path through the maze of spider-ridden ice. 

You couldn’t tell if you were hallucinating or not, but the frog lady started to leap on all fours ahead of you; Din navigated the winding cave with as much care as he could, constantly looking back to make sure you were with him. The shadow of the giant spider overhead threw the cave into near darkness, and you felt Din’s hand on your arm, pulling you in front of him. When he let you go, you called his name in panic; you saw three bright red lights in his hand, then saw him throw them back behind you.

Bombs, your woozy senses registered. Din pushed you forward before he threw the last one, grunting with effort as he ran and tossed it as far back in the chamber as he could.

The explosion blinded you, and you were pulled forward as the spider’s shriek echoed with the sound of falling ice. You almost wished the flash had lasted longer as you saw the groping, teeming piles of spiders converging from every side; you nearly smacked into Din as he came to a halt, desperately looking around for an exit. He fired a few more shots, but there seemed to be an endless swarm of them; Din held his forearm in front of him, as if bracing for a blow, and you had enough presence of mind to step back and shield the baby with your body.

The sound of his flamethrower crested as the blue flame lit on his vambrace, and suddenly the whole cave was brilliant with a roaring fire. You staggered towards the cave entrance, Din right on your heels; you heard his blaster fire almost continually as you finally came out into the cavern where your ship lay. You had never been so glad to see such a wrecked piece of metal in all your life, and sprinted towards the Crest with your son held tight against you.

You ducked inside the hull, feeling a sense of relief you knew was coming too quickly, too strongly; you watched the frog lady take her eggs from Din and haul them up to the second level. You waited for your husband to come in through the split in the siding, but he didn’t come; he fired his blaster over and over until all you heard was its ringing bark and the teeming sounds of the spiders. You knew you should go up but found yourself rooted to the spot; you had to see your husband come in, and you would not move until you did.

A loud thunk against the hull, and Din gave a painful groan; another determined grunt of effort came through his modulator and was followed by another round of blaster fire. A second later, he stumbled through the split metal, followed by a steady stream of spiders.

“Go!” he told you, firing his blaster a few more times while he urged you towards the ladder. He boosted you up and followed you into the cockpit, shooting at the spiders as they swarmed up the ladder. He tried to close the cockpit doors; they strained against the limbs and bodies that struggled to get through, groaning metal against seething, sharp-toothed monsters. 

Din tried to force the doors shut with one hand and fired his blaster with the other, dagger-like legs and teeth cutting into his hands. A few spiders got through, skittering over the walls to where you stood clutching your baby to your chest; you felt a cry of terror and disgust claw at your throat as the terrible things dangled from the ceiling and crawled over the walls. 

In a sudden flash of clarity, you reached behind you to the compartment where you kept your pocket blaster; you fished it out one handed and gripped it tightly, like Din had taught you, aiming for the spiders that seemed ready to jump at you. The sound of it was tinny compared to Din’s blaster, but it did the job, splattering the spiders in bits of green slime all over the walls.

Din looked back at you, surprised at the sound of other gunfire; he only hesitated for a moment before he turned back to the doors and aimed his flamethrower through the gap, charbroiling the spiders as they tried to get through. After a few moments of the roaring fire, it seemed to finally work; the doors groaned shut and Din shut off the flamethrower, each breath panting and unsteady.

The peace only lasted for a heartbeat as hordes of spiders came rushing from the cave, scuttling over the Crest like an infestation of the broken hull. You backed away from the windshield as hundreds of spiders teemed and clicked over the glass, feeling nauseous; you felt Din behind you and reached blindly until you felt his arm, crumpling the fabric of his flight suit in your grip. 

“Strap yourselves in,” Din ordered, and you could hear the fear that colored his voice even through his modulator. He steered you to the passenger chair closest to you, a little rough in his haste, but you weren’t sure you could have done anything on your own as the spiders’ movements became so vast and so loud that it sounded like the fine debris of an asteroid field. 

You pulled the seat belt over you and the baby with shaking hands as Din turned the ship on.

“This better work,” he prayed to nobody, powering up the Crest in a way much more frantic and sloppy than you’d ever seen. His attention to the Crest was a little like that of a man to his lover, and you knew it hurt him to have to treat his beloved ship so carelessly. The ship creaked and groaned as it powered up, nursed back a feeble semblance of life by Din’s repair but by no means fully functioning.

“I’ve got limited visibility,” Din said, looking through the foggy, frost-covered glass to the chittering limbs above. “It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”

He muscled the lever for the main thrusters, breaking through a thin sheen of ice to put it into position; the engines flared to life, bright orange flames dancing over the walls of the cavern, the familiar jerk of the ship pushing you back in your seat. With a valiant, heaving effort, the Crest gave its last bit of strength to lift itself out of the ice, rocking and shaking with exertion. You had a bright, furious surge of hope - maybe you would get off this frozen planet, maybe - 

Something huge fell on the top of the Crest, the force of it knocking the wind out of you and nearly slamming you into the dash. The Crest shuddered to the ground, landing harder than it had the first time it crashed into the ice; the shrieking roar of the giant spider was so loud you covered the baby’s ears as the sound echoed through the cavern.

“It’s ok, it’s ok,” you said hoarsely, your little one’s cries of fear tearing at you. Then, before you knew it consciously, your body sensed something - you curled around your baby and shielded him from the monstrous silvery claw that shattered the glass and struck the floor of the cockpit.

You could only watch in abject horror as the beast loomed over the cockpit of the Crest, its grotesque eyes peering through the broken glass at you.

“Din,” you managed, and you felt his hand on your knee. You had the wrenching thought that you’d never planned what to say to your husband at the very last, perhaps hoping that your end would come a little more peacefully than this, and hoped he knew how much you loved him.

The monster reared and opened its gaping maw towards the Crest, and you knew you were going to faint.

You must have blacked out for a second, dark spots dancing across your vision, and you came to woozy and shaking with terror. The monster’s jaw suctioned to the glass, its teeth raking over the only thing shielding your husband and your baby from certain death; you kissed your little one’s head and squeezed your eyes shut as you gripped Din’s hand as tightly as you could.

The sudden, unmistakable sound of laser-cannon fire filled the cavern, and your eyes flew open to see the red beams sparking where they hit the spider’s body. It howled in pain and landed heavily on the cockpit, sliding off the side as the cannons continued to fire. Din let go of your hand - you looked up at him, out of your mind with fear and confusion, and watched him unholster his blaster and open the cockpit doors.

“Wait, Din,” you called, your voice cracked and pitiful. The baby called after him too, but he didn’t turn back to you, and you had the awful feeling that watching him stride out of the broken cockpit would be the last you ever saw of him. Everything was washed in red light as the laser cannons fired continuously; then, suddenly, they stopped, and everything was deathly quiet.

“We ran the tabs on the Razor Crest,” a voice finally said, and it wasn’t your husband’s. You hastily unbuckled yourself and moved to look out through the glass; the baby watched too, giving a wondering coo at the scene below.

Eight-legged bodies littered the ground, oozing green fluid onto the murky grey snow. The same pair of X-Wings that had chased you onto this frozen rock were a few paces away, their pilots aiming their blasters towards the Crest’s smoking hull; Din stood in the beams of their headlights, blaster lowered cautiously in the way that told you he wouldn't hesitate to raise it again at a moment’s notice.

“You have an arrest warrant,” the pilot continued. You recognized him as the same one who’d asked for your beacon at the checkpoint. “A warrant for the abduction of prisoner X-6-9-11.”

That cursed Twi’lek, who’d been more trouble than he was worth from the first moment Din had set foot on that transport ship. You held your breath and waited for the pilot to continue.

“However, onboard security records show that you apprehended three priority culprits from the wanted register,” the pilot said. “Security records also show that you put your own life in harm’s way to try to protect that of Lieutenant Davan from the New Republic Correctional Corps. Is this true?”

Din holstered his blaster. “Am I under arrest?” he asked, exhaustion and resignation in his voice even as he refused to confirm or deny the truth about Lieutenant Davan.

“Technically, you should be,” the pilot answered. Then, after a moment, “but these are trying times.”

Din took a breath. “What say I forgo the bounties on these three criminals, and you two help me fuse my hull so I can get off this frozen rock?”

You knew it was a long shot, but it was better than not asking at all. Maybe you would finally have a stroke of luck in all this.

The pilots didn’t take kindly to his offer. “What say you fix that transponder, and we don’t vaporize that antique the next time we patrol the Rim?”

Without waiting for an answer, the pilots returned to their cockpits; a moment later, with the sound of their engines echoing through the cavern, they had left Din, the wreckage of his ship, and the passengers they hadn’t even known about to whatever thread of fate might occur on such a frozen, unforgiving planet.

Read chapter five!

pedro pascal character taglist: @punkgeekchic​, @tv-saved-the-teenage-girl​, @stardust-galaxies​ ♡

series taglist: @kyjoraven​, @sarahjkl82-blog​, @remmysbounty​, @bitchin-beskar​​ ♡

let me know if you’d like to be added to either taglist! ♡

[toiletwipes]

HI ITS ME THE SPACE FANATIC!!!!

I personally am not as interested in dsmp but still follow you for the simpbur fic, so would you be chill if i randomly dropped space facts??

if so could i be known as Space Fanatic?

ANYWAYS

So theres these planets called rogue planets that are just floating in space not apart of a solar system for whatever reason, and if one of those were to hit even just our kuiper belt (the outer most asteroid belt surrounding our solar system) it could drastically mess things up for us on earth!

we wouldnt know for a while (i have yet to figure out how long) but it could send as little as 1 to a plethora of asteroids zooming to earth that could possibly hit us

which in some small chance (a very very very very very very small one) could completely obliterate the earth much like an asteroid did to the dinosaurs :>

-Space Fanatic

SKFJDJD hi hi!! dkfjdj glad I could be of service and I'll be honest I haven't watched a lore stream besides quackity's in the recent months💀💀

BUT YES GIVE ME THEM SPACE FACTS.

And you know what

If the earth does get destroyed by those fuckers, I better be on the clock so I can go home early 😤😤😤

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

THAT MAP

i didn’t die

also spoilers. like. major spoilers. im serious.

dont click that read more unless you’re totally okay with spoilers cause i talk about some endgame stuff too <3

CELESTICA ERIDIA

THAT ERIDIAN RIFT HUHHHHHHH ITS RIGHT NEXT TO PANDORA

WE’RE ENTERING THE FLORPUS

IT LOOKS LIKE THERE’S A WAY TO TRIANGULATE/OPEN THE WORMHOLE OR SOMETHING???

alright LOOK

each planet (Eden-6, Promethea, Pandora) they’re all circled and when their lines cross it leads to SOMETHING

and looking at the grid that’s obviously what looks to be a wormhole

so we’ve also got the lines

“elpis - not what it seems. is elpis a lens? or a conduit. or both?”

A CONDUIT/LENS?? FOR W H A T??

ARE WE BEAMING SOMETHING OUT OF PANDORA? BECAUSE IF THESE TEMPLES ARE ALL SIMILAR PYRAMID-LIKE STRUCTURES TO THE ONE ON ATHENAS THEN THAT WOULD MAKE SENSE

this is DEFINITELY on pandora (you see elpis up there) so it’s possible something is going to hit elpis and it’s going to beam to this vault-thing and open up a gateway to the Eridian Rift??? OR

we open this Vault and it beams something up to elpis and elpis helps open up part of the Eridian rift

i’d guess we’d need all 3 (?) active to open it?? Eden-6, Pandora, and Promethea

so something SEEMS to be getting beamed either from elpis to pandora or from pandora to elpis

but im going to get elpis to pandora given the way it’s being thrown out? like it hits elpis straight on and then defracts over pandora like a prism

im guessing it’s such a broad spread bc it’s trying to hit the vault-temple-thing we see above (still... not quite convinced those are vaults like we’ve been seeing them in the past games (with lots of big loot inside). again something like teleporters makes way more sense to me)

they also bring this up, that athenas and promethea have a draw to one another, which makes sense since part of the promethean vault key is on Athenas

“Although Athenas is not in the Promethean System, there is a strong pull detectable through use of [eridian resonator (customized) which I have discovered here (seen in purple)]” i have no idea if any of the bracketed stuff is right“

more importantly it looks like one piece of Promethea’s asteroid belt is ‘highlighted’ which i imagine is that giant space laser

which ngl surprises me because

this doesn’t really look eridian to me at all. like, okay, the laser part IS purple but... the actual tech doesn’t look Eridian at all. it looks VERY human. maybe maliwan/atlas discovered it and changed it somehow? that’s pretty much the only reason i can give. like they made it so it would only hit a certain area (concentrated) instead of the entire planet (like we see Elpis doing)

also if we look at Eden-6

eden-6 seems to be 1 of 6 (or more) planets surrounding the gas giant (?) named Eden (which is such a cool fucking detail). or maybe that’s just a solar system named eden. either way. AWESOME.

my question is:

is Eden going to act similarly to Elpis? to the Asteroid Belt of Promethea?? because if that’s the case OH MAN MORE GIANT SPACE LASERS. maybe this is why ships keep on crashing to Eden-6. We know the planet is basically a ship graveyard, maybe there’s some Eridian interference that’s causing this to happen???

Also, when they say “Vaults lead to other Vaults” do y’all think this is tied into in any way the “Vault of Vaults” or whatever “It” is???

because THE VAULT OF VAULTS??? APPARENTLY WE WERE NAUGHTY AS FUCK FOR OPENING IT (the overseer says so when you accept the quest for the proving grounds)

AND THE MASTERS (whoever the FUCK they are!) ARE NOT HAPPY BOYS

ALSO “UNIVERSE DESTROYING POWER” AS CLAIMED ON THE WEBSITE

UHHH IM GONNA GUESS THAT RIFT IS ABOUT TO KILL EVERYONE AND/OR LET OUT A BIG OL SPACE DEMON COUGH THE DESTROYER COUGH

ALSO WE PROBABLY ARE CONFIRMED THERE ARE TEMPLES ON EACH OF THE PLANETS WITH THAT DIAMOND SHAPE

THEY MATCH UP WITH THE SYMBOL WE’VE SEEN EVERYWHERE

(also we now can guess this takes place after Athenas..?)

‘Vault... Key?’ i mean... think about it. we know the symbol for Vault is the circle with the arch. but this is different. this is diamond with, yes, with a vault shape in it. but... there’s obviously more to it than just the vault symbol

plus tannis is using it on pedestals dedicated to Vault Keys so i mean. you know.

and if this IS the symbol for Vault Key than oh man oh me oh my

that would mean opening up the ‘mini vaults’ on Pandora/Promethea/Eden-6 would lead to that big Eridian rift opening, whatever it is

which could explain this line: “the Vaults lead to other Vaults” “Smart, Leda!”

looks like Typhon met someone who writes in blue. who’s name is Leda.

calling it now typhon totally banged a Siren named Leda and had 2 twin kids (it runs in the family) the twins take after their parents: one red, one blue. possibly inherit the Cloth Map and learn about the purpose of the Vaults through it. i got nothing on the cage thing but tbh i wouldn’t be surprised if Typhon or Leda ended up going crazy at some point and/or having kids inside of a Vault for some ungodly reason. spewing random shit about ‘bandits this, bandits that’ to keep them from leaving. maybe they knew their adventures were going to (eventually) lead to the destruction of the universe so they wanted to keep their kids safe without having to admit they’ve doomed everyone outside this has no proof at all, im just spitballing lol i mean look at these love-sick FOOLS lmao

look they both left messages (that i can’t read) with hearts at the end of them

“Genius! [gibberish i can’t make out] <3″ “you know it! <3″

we don’t know what the Vaults really are for, huh Tyreen?? NOW WE DO. NOW. WE DO.

“ERIDIAN GLYPHS ARE CYHPERS!” (sic???)

“by overlaying various found glyphs patterns emerge which are then...” ASDFGSHJ i CANT READ THIS “What is the machine?” “We’ll figure it out together!” MACHINE????????

i NEED it

“Mapping in progress: the key-glyph [something] is an Eridian cypher hiding coordinates to some kind of cyber (????) structure” this perhaps???

also the proving grounds. let’s talk about those. we know they’re eridian, we know there’s 6 of them, we know there’s 1 at least on both Athenas and Eden-6.

we know those Eridian Ruins/Cyphers lead to the proving grounds. we know this much. so is it definitely confirmed the proving grounds hold a higher place in the story than they’re saying? i mean let me pull up my other draft talking about these in-depth and copy paste because there’s only 36 minutes until the NEXT endgame content stream

“Later in the campaign, you may be worthy of taking part in the Proving Grounds: themed gauntlets watched over by a Guardian known as the Overseer who wishes to test your mettle on behalf of the mysterious ‘Masters’.”

so it sounds like at least one is going to take place during the main campaign of the game.

as for uhh who the Masters are... I don’t know. I imagine they’re Eridian in some way/shape/form. to be honest, considering the Overseer is a Guardian (confirmed), I imagine these ‘Masters’ are just literally Eridians. some sort of council, perhaps. i mean “the masters will determine who is at fault” for “naughty humans opened the vault of vaults”. so i imagine they’re like a council.

Let’s start listing stuff we know about the Proving Grounds:

1. you get them by translating (we apparently get a translator later on in the story) Eridian texts (ciphers) left behind, which tell us where (?) these proving grounds are. why we’re not just using tannis... i dunno. something better not have happened to Tannis, gearbox

We’ve seen these texts in the Eden-6 gameplay, so it looks like maybe we won’t need the eridian doritos stabby thing to break any crystals. damn youuu

“Ohhh good. Nonsense.”

i make jokes with my friend that soon i’ll be able to read Eridian given how much i stare at these tablets. it’s only a matter of time...

2. there’s apparently 6 of them, and at least 1 on each planet. We’ve seen the Athenas (Survival) and Eden-6 (Instinct) versions, which does make me wonder if there’s any tie between 6 of these trials and the 6 Sirens...

Also, given there’s supposedly 6 trials and only 5 planets (as the community has gotten devs to tell us), it makes me wonder a) if there’s actually 6 planets or b) why there’s only 1 planet with 2 per planet. i guess if that’s the eridian homeworld then it’d make sense if they have 2.

(Also Varnell did originally say 7 trials at first, but he gets a pass because he was live on stage and i would’ve made that mistake too knowing my dumb brain lol)

3. Apparently during the narrative of the game, at some point, we will unlock at least 1 trial.

“[proving grounds are] encased in the narrative of the game. a combat challenge the Eridians have left for the player to kinda prove themselves worthy for... things i won’t completely spoil right now, but uhhh prove themselves worthy to the ancient, lost, Eridians.”

so... YEAH. big news, gamers.

does this take place at the end of the game? its possible. its likely considering this is considered endgame content. it might not. it could be both, like sort of a repeatable thing. im not really certain. 

What I am certain about tho, is that this takes place after a huge story event.

So, maybe the BL3 story ends on a cliffhanger. Tbh i would upset if that happened, but THAT SAID, if the game does end on such a huge cliffhanger that this is AWFUL and the end of the universe is coming, I don’t think we’d be getting 4 story DLCs that completely ignore this problem.

The devs had said the entire story will be contained within bl3 (no splitting it up between dlcs), and it seems the games like to keep the timeline intact in the real world, so if imminent death is on its way, we can’t exactly wait 5 years irl and in-universe for borderlands 4.

So, if this is a cliffhanger ending, I don’t think whatever happens is... that big of a deal. Sort of the level of finding the Vault Map at the end of BL2. It’s big news! but it’s not going to end the universe. The story marches on. We figure out the new goalposts of this universe and keep doing stuff outside it.

Now that we know that, let’s take note of what the Overseer says at the start and end of this mission:

“Vault Hunter... I thought you might show up sooner or later. So naughty your species, so curious. The Vault of Vaults has been opened and it has been released. Prove your worth and I will reveal why the Masters made me wait for you”.

“Naughty humans opened the Vault of Vaults, but the Masters will determine who is at fault. Until next time, Warrior.”

so that’s some pretty fucking loaded dialogue, isn’t it?

im vvvvvvvvvv curious about who this ‘it’ character is... something the Eridians didn’t want out- well, that’s bad, because we (or the twins, or maliwan, or both I guess) just let it free. and the fact the Overseer won’t even reference the thing by name... that’s probably bad. If this is an actual entity, then that is mostly why I believe this particular Proving Ground takes place during the main story.

that said, ‘it’ could literally be anything. Knowledge, hope, whatever. the potion you brew to become a Siren. you know. anything. She called whatever was released ‘it’ and it doesn’t seem like we’re in a RUSH or anything. Just hanging out doing proving grounds. and apparently this is because we’ve been naughty humans. not evil, just naughty. like she’s giving us (or the cult) a slap on the wrist.

The Overseer doesn’t seem too affected by us opening the Vault of Vaults herself. The Masters apparently are trying to determine ‘who’s at fault here’, like it isn’t exactly clear. was it the humans for opening it? was it the eridians for making them openable?

it would be interesting if this isn’t even talking about something that happens in game, but instead like... she’s referencing Typhon and Leda. the Vault of Vaults had been opened (by Typhon and Leda) and IT has been released... whatever it is... maybe the reason Typhon and Leda locked their kids in a vault? ... i mean if we’re going by the eridium/slag causes psychos, then maybe that? we definitely find eridium on planets other than pandora...

also speaking of stuff taking place during the game, lets remember what was discussed in that interview: “[proving grounds are] encased in the narrative of the game... a combat challenge the Eridians have left for the player to kinda prove themselves worthy for... things i won’t completely spoil right now, but uhhh prove themselves worthy to the ancient, lost, Eridians.”

worthy of what, exactly?

I’m still of the belief that it’s for the title of Vault Guardian (and, yes, by proxy, i want to say Siren, but y’all won’t take me too seriously if i keep advocating for this crack theory lol... implying you took me seriously in the first place 🤡) because of the Guardian Rank

the fact we’re killing Fallen Guardians means, technically, a position HAS opened up... plus I don’t think the Watcher would have come in contact with Lilith if she didn’t think the Eridians needed us

that said, if this isn’t for just becoming Vault Guardians, then... idk. If this is strictly endgame stuff, i don’t even know what we’re trying to prove our worth for.

I guess worthy of not being thrown into alien prison is probably a good one. magic space prison is probably hard to get out of. like, ‘200 years an opening’ hard to get out of. and ur roommate is the destroyer 😨

i mean... maybe worthy of entering the Eridian Rift? i mean... it’s possible this rift leads to the eridian homeworld... there would have to be one HELL of huge Vault Monster to keep people from getting through :o

anyway, we’ve got 20 minutes until the new endgame content, i’ll be sure to add onto here if we learn anything new and/or i think of anything else. im vibrating over this shit, it’s awesome. i LOVE this map. might have to pick one up on ebay or smth.

[dinosaursonthetwinplanet]

  Black holes and dinosaurs 

  I was questioning in my last blogs some things which I don’t agree much with the main stream theories and hypothesis like the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs and the cause of the petrification and at the same time the nature of some rocks on earth like the granite. Like is the lava the real reason of the formation of the granite or does it has a cosmic origin. After observing the different formations of the granite every were we notice that they are in the form of boulders mostly round in different sizes and found in a kind of clusters that cover many places on earth. Many of these rocks where ever you find them are cracked, the so called split rocks, you can find them allover the world among granite and some metamorphic rocks.  A clear evidence of happening by impact, which means hitting the surface of the earth known as the split rocks. I challenge everybody to give a different explanation or reason for such cracks, some say erosion others say ice and freezing temperature but looking closely to these rock you notice that this couldn’t be the case. 

Split Apple Rock New Zealand - New Zealand

Split Rock - Makonikey Head - West Tisbury

Split Rock at Afghan Rocks Balladonia WA

split-rock-in-joshua-tree-national-park

The Split-Sphinx Rocks on Grandfather Mountain (Earthcache) in North Carolina,

Granite has a totally different chemical combination than basalt and different cooling temperatures couldn’t be the reason. My conclusion is that granite is a cosmic product and the earth was bombarded by huge masses of rocks totally reshaping the earth mantle.

On the other hand I was thinking about the dinosaurs and could they really exist on our earth. The huge size and weight how cold they move and coop with the gravity, how much energy and how much food they need how big their heart was????? Could they have existed on a different planet or was the earth a different planet? Put what has captured my mind mostly is what really happened to them, the so called extinction? But the most mysterious is that they are petrified, is the petrification related to a cosmic catastrophe which caused the extinction? I find the main stream reason that led to the petrification the so called mineralization not that convincing and you can read about the reasons in my blog: the twin planet and the extinction of the dinosaurs.

One of the reasons that I don’t agree with the mineralization theory is when looking at the dinosaur bones under the scanning electron microscope and use your brain a little bit you are going to discover that there is a real puzzle behind it, the image you see is the same you see in  

a living specimen you see all the activities happening while alive like the blood and fluids inside the bones and these fluids would disappear shortly after death which means they wouldn’t exist that long to be mineralized which means that the petrification happened instantly while living according to some unknown physical and cosmic force. You are going to see that what you see is actually the fluid inside the bones and not the bone itself no trace of calcium the fluid turned to quartz or silica (silicon dioxide , SiO2) something turned water into silicon, something changed the structure of the water molecule. The origin of the colorful minerals in the image are not coming from the water that submerged the creatures bones but these are the minerals inside the fluids.  In space everything is possible and different than on the earth. It's simply the physics that created the universe and not the chemistry.

But what does this have to do with the granite? There could be a connection, a big part of the granite is quartz, the same like in the bones. It sounds crazy if I say that the force that caused the petrification is the same that created the granite.

But how could this happen?

I was thinking a lot about how could be the earth hit by such a huge number of rocks that are coming from the same source?  It's not one or two asteroids or meteoroids its billions of rocks. Very normal is space as a proof take The asteroid between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, it could be of the same origin, some of them hit Jupiter and some remained in its orbit. These space rocks are just a fraction of rocks created by a cataclysmic cosmic event some of them probably collided with other planets and the earth is one of them.

But was the asteroid belt really formed from the primordial solar nebula or something else.

Now I am going to move to a mysterious new comer called the black hole. Scientists and astro-physicians and astronomers are puzzling what it could be and most recently the discovered that they are a huge number.

It seems that the black holes are one of the main components of the universe they are most probably a recycling machines for old solar systems and a vagina giving life to new solar systems, our solar system could be one of them. If there wasn’t such a mechanism the universe would have been full with cosmic garbage and dead planets. The black hole itself was probably a part of a solar system, a star as predicted. Every solar system has a beginning and an end.                                            

My explanation is that when a star gets old it dies and collapses suddenly causing a kind of vacuum and a huge vortex that swallows the surrounding matter with a huge acceleration and gravitational force that reaches a speed that is faster than the speed of light which contradicts the theory of general relativity but nothing is impossible in space. That could be the reason that we can't see the black holes. And most probably extreme cold temperature much colder than the temperatures in space therefor we can't detect any heat and as the masses in the black hole are moving in void there is no heat generated that could be detected. I think this could be the most logic explanation that the black holes can't be seen. We can imagine what happened could be similar to what happens on earth in cases like the formation of hurricanes and storms, they start by being exposed to different temperatures creating a high speed vortex driven by the force inside the system without having other driving force inside the system. Something similar could be happening in the case of black holes. When a star collapses its force disappears after creating that vortex and the vortex itself remains driven by the force inside it. That vortex pulls all the component of the system tearing them apart. The immense force inside the vortex and the speed which is higher than the speed of light causes the fluids and gasses to turn into a solid state by changing the atomic structure or the atomic number of those molecules and could split the atoms form the molecules and form new matter. Granite could be one of those formations, granite is composed of three main components quartz, feldspar and mica and some minerals. The source of the quartz is probably water, the other components are formed from different gasses and fluids. The high speed rotation and the pressure and the gravitational force inside the system  collect the particles together like a snow ball and some get bigger and bigger and that’s the reason why we find smaller granite boulders in different sizes but all of them have these round shapes even the batholiths are just bigger boulders. The high speed causes a compression of the matter. Granite is not formed by heat, is not a molten rock as it is easy breakable like in the case of granite plates compared to basalt. That’s the reason that we find smaller round granite inside bigger once, the smaller once just have been absorbed by a bigger mass during the formation. Other stones and minerals could form in the system from different matters, like gold and gem stones. Pebbles and sand could have been formed in the same way, sand is a petrified for of water drops. 

But could the dinosaurs and the petrified trees be creatures that lived on planets that have been swallowed by the black hole, why not. These creatures being suddenly exposed to that huge power just turned to solid high density remains, It is the water that turned to quartz. Dinosaurs and tree belong to these shredded worlds have two features they are petrified and broken in pieces. It's not easy to break a dinosaur bone or a petrified tree, they are very dense and hard. They couldn’t be damaged by landslides or earthquakes. They must have experienced two different shocked the petrification when entering the Schwarzschild radius and the damage caused by collision or while entering the black hole or inside it or being damaged when hitting the earth.

A black hole has a beginning but must have an end, when the black hole losses power and speed it starts to spread its matter in the surrounding space. Even DNA could be preserved in such cold invironment. Lot of that matter hit the earth and reshaped the planet, This could even transfer different life forms. The petrified species origin could be the black hole. We notice they are scattered on the surface of the planet and no real sequence.          

Scientists believe that the density of the matter inside the black hole or to form such a black hole is extremely high – about 2 x 1019 kg per cubic metre. That means that there must be such matter in the space as a remnant of black holes and we should find such matter on earth but we didn’t as this is an exaggerated hypothesis. The atoms would resist such thing due to the internal force or there would be a kind of fusion and this would produce energy and heat which would make a black hole visible. But the high density matter exist but in the form I mentioned like in the case of granite.  

My hypothesis could sound crazy but there is a lot of abnormality in the cosmos.

[page-of-tales]

Fallback on U-23

For those who were interested in what kind of backstory the Fortress Wars were. Part of the Warp Points universe I'm making up. This story is a stand alone though.

The Fortress Wars also known as the Second Scurge War was a centuries long conflict. A black era for humanity marked with much tragedy. Wars were never good, but the Scurge Wars were a new hell. Humanity’s foe, the Scurge, were technologically superior, capable of constructing ships and weapons on far greater magnitudes of power and complexity than humans. What the Scurge sought was the extinction of humanity, and at every contact the struggles were fierce and catastrophic. In the entirety of the Fortress Wars the battle of U-23 is just another story amongst many like it. But it’s a good tale to tell.

U-23 was a barren star system with only a single rocky world floating a bit closer than usual to its star. It was a rather featureless system. No asteroid belt and only a few small planetoids in the far reaches of the star’s gravity hold. The only value it had was its relative proximity to two warp points, one leading to human territory and another that led into a chain of Scurge territory. It was a stroke of luck that the humans had discovered the warp point first, though the Scurge had never been motivated explorers.

How to best utilize the strategic warp link was left up to Commander Isack, a prominent and brilliant strategist who had spent several decades fighting the Scurge. He was largely considered one of the best in fighting the Scurge, though his strategies called for high costs. For a near half cycle stealth corvettes would scout out the region, even venturing into Scurge space to map out the region. A detailed survey of the planet was done and in a small unadorned office the Commander and his closest allies plotted over schematics and star charts. His plan would unfold over several cycles.

The sole lifeless planet, dubbed U-23 for convenience, became the focal point of his grand scheme. A steady stream of ships soon poured into the system. Work began to transform U-23 into a fortress world.

Lights from the construction lit up the planet as it rotated through an irregular day and night cycle. Defensive lines ran all across the planet. Fortifications were laid out that were visible from space. Deep underground in fortified caverns carved out from the dense rock munitions were stockpiled. A rail system constructed to supply the entire planet from these depots. Powerful installations were constructed at critical locations. Weapon systems capable of targeting objects in deep space. Planetary barrier generators that would protect from even the force of a supernova. Even a few experimental super weapons cleared for the mission.

Gradually the construction projects completed. Towering defenses overlooking barren lands. More than 500,000 soldiers were stationed on the planet. The construction ships left orbit and returned to human space, leaving behind a small fleet in defense of the planet. Stage 1 had been completed ahead of schedule. Stage 2 began immediately.

For several months, nuisance raiders harassed Scurge hyperspace lanes. Nimble raiding ships dashing out to destroy a cargo hauler or hyperlane beacon before disappearing back through the warp chain. But for once the Scurge were slow to respond. Their freighters were unmanned, and the repairs of the hyperspace lanes was carried out with drones. In the grand scale of things the raids didn’t even come to the attention of the Scurge. To escalate the point a human stealth cruiser made its way to a Scurge fueling station and launched a cruise missile which destroyed the station and a small fleet of lesser craft in the explosion. The attack finally drew the attention of the Scurge. Scurge drone skirmishers began chasing the raiders through the warp points. Following them up the chain to U-23.

--

Warp points are a rare and formidable choke point in otherwise empty space. Knowing the exact location an enemy would appear gave tremendous advantages to the defender. Couple in the fact that warp travel disrupted critical systems for a few crucial seconds and the result was a heavy imbalance in favor towards defenders. It was at these chokepoints that Humans had kept the Scurge at bay. A matrix of mobile fortresses and layers of mines floated around an empty plot of space defending the warp point leading into U-23. But even with nearly two dozen fortresses the defenses here wouldn’t stop the Scurge.

Twelve Giant Class ships, and Eight Goliath Class Scurge ships burst through the warp point. The fortresses and smart mines attacked immediately, but even as they scored direct hits on hull plating the Scurge ships withstood the barrage. Sheer size absorbing the punishment being inflected. Then their shields reformatted and they began to retaliate.

The Scurge built their combat vessels large. The Goliath and Giant Class were the Scurge equivalent to a human cruiser, but they packed the firepower of a human battleship. The Scurge invaders blew through the warp point defenses with only the loss of two Giants, other ships suffering only non critical damage. The mobile fortresses and layers of defense were swept away by the devastatingly powerful ships. Energy beams melting armor like a hot knife. Shields being pounded flat by a barrage of firepower. With barely a pause the Scurge battle group moved forward.

As always, even though the human fleet outnumbered the Scourge by a factor of three they were still outclassed by the Scurge ships. The human fleet withdrew into hyperspace, moving towards the warp point leading to human territory.

Predictably the Scurge fleet pursued the human forces chasing after the hyperspace shadow of the human fleet. But as they passed by the rocky planet a slew of weapons reached out through hyperspace to strike at their vulnerable rear. The surprise assault destroying another several Giants, and Goliath. In addition inflicting significant damage to the other ships. This attack forced the Scurge battle group into real space and allowed the human fleet to slip away intact and unnoticed. It was fairly obvious to both sides that any further assault up the warp chain would require the obliteration of the human planetary forces. With the trap revealed, the humans bunkered down. Force fields enveloping the planet like a protective cocoon as the Scurge fleet watched. The planetary force fields meant any assault would have to be from close up within the defensive barrier. And only the Goliath class ships might have had the ability to launch such a ground assault with it’s drone contingents, but even they wouldn’t have the numbers to take on a fortified planet. A stalemate had been reached. The Scurge ships choosing to take position by their warp point of entry. Observing the system while awaiting reinforcements.The humans on U-23 in turn watched the Scurge and waited

--

The false peace was broken when more Scurge ships emerged from the warp point, larger than before. A Colossus Class, and twin Titan Classes. These massive objects were of a magnitude above the others. A single Titan could hold its own against a full human battle line. The Colossus were marginally less impressive, acting as mass drone carriers with heavy defensive works. After taking a moment to integrate the two fleets the combined force approached the planet. The Colossus and Titan led the charge, intercepting the majority of the weapons launched at them. Soon they hovered above the planet, visible from the surface. The attack began as the Colossus disgorged their drone carriers. The small transports descended toward the planet like a scattered dust. From the planet’s surface, missiles arched white trails behind them as they rose to greet the invaders. As the drone carriers crossed the shield line they collided with the missiles in a momentous clash. The skies which had been clear, suddenly turned to fire as drones and missiles exploded in the upper atmosphere. Larger chunks burning as they fell through the thin atmosphere, troops on the ground looking up as an acrid rain began to fall from the sky. Despite the sweep of defenses, approximately 40% of the first wave managed to land and deploy combat drones. And so the battle commenced.

The humans were largely gathered at 6 focal points, their strongest fortifications, each one surrounding a planetary shield generator. All defenses came under attack simultaneously; the Scurge always had greater numbers in drones. The Scurge doctrine for ground wars had always been simple. Overwhelm. Their combat drones were crude war machines. Expendable tools that were used in excess. With poor programming and limited capabilities. A living soldier with enough explosives was the equivalent of a a dozen drones. So the Scurge deployed thousands. Like a black pestilence they flooded from their staging grounds towards the humans.

In anticipation the humans had made every angle of approach a killing field. Teams of soldiers manned weapon platforms that burned the skies red. Artillery scouring the ground in ground shattering barrages. Infantry rifle fire crippled the drones, stopping them in place. Missiles flying so close overhead they rattled the soldiers teeth as they screamed by. But the flood refused to be stalled.

Drone tanks pushed through minefields to ram bunkers and fire directly into them. Skimmers scoured the ground with firepower from above even as burning wreckage continued to fall around them. Yellow clouds spewed from the high atmosphere units as they spread poison in the atmosphere. Drone ticks stormed en mass to engage in the narrow trenches and hallways outside the fortresses. Mushroom clouds blossoming from the surface of the planet like so many black flowers as thermonuclear devices were ignited. And in this hellish nightmare humanity fought.

The seconds became minutes, then hours, and then days. As wave after wave of drones came on the humans were slowly beaten back. Each time they fell back they collapsed their defenses, tunnels were sealed, bridges were blown to rubble, and mountains collapsed onto the enemy. A blown dam buried thousands of drones under several thousand tons of liquid. But even as the humans destroyed millions of drones, destroying the world around them, more drone carriers appeared in the sky. The sky was now dotted with nearly a dozen Colossus. From each artificial moon visible in the sky, black streams of drones descended to the ground like a tornado of death. Spread across the planet like a plague the drones now closed in. Like a snake they encircled the fortresses and squeezed.

--

When the first base fell the last human inside turned a key, and then broke mission protocol. With the Scurge drones banging down the bunker door he opened the comm channel to the other bases. “This is Private Hughes of Delta site, signing off.” The message was transmitted to every soldier on the field. And it was met with cheers. The second base fell a week later, this time Captain Julie gave the final farewell, and another key was turned. So it went for nearly a month. By the end the last humans were throwing rubble as they fought at the site of their last stand. Unbeknownst to them a Leviathan hovered over their base, its massive size having an unnoticeable effect on gravity. Surrounding the Leviathan like moons were many Scurge ships of the lesser classes. The descent of drones to the planet resembling a black rain from space.

When the last key was turned there was a moment of silence. The last human on U-32 whispered a message that no one heard. Then came a faint rumbling, and as the drones silently watched the ground shuddered once.

In space the Scurge controllers would have only a few seconds to notice what was going on. But it was far too late. The planet exploded violently, a core of volatile material detonating with the force of a small star. The system was cleansed of Scurge, the force of the explosion so great that the star shifted position and the warp points collapsed. For the humans it was one of the few great victories they would have. The first time a Leviathan had ever been destroyed, and the largest loss of Scurge ships since the start of the war. However the humans only knew what they had lost. Amongst the half a million dead was Commander Isack, ordered to leave the planet before the Scurge assault he had instead found the youngest soldier on the planet, a private who lied of their age, and sent them home in his place. How he died would never be known. And for all the sacrifice, more dust in the void. The war would continue, and many more would still die. In the end an even greater loss would be required.

[crystal-siren]

Other Worlds (Obi-Wan x Reader) Pt.5

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4

@dovies666

I am not perfect. I am sometimes selfish. Occasionally self destructive. And prone to very brief, yet severe, spells of sadness. But I would fight until every bone in my body was broken to protect you. That’s a promise. ~ Beau Taplin // The Blood Pact

The moisture farms of Tatooine were exactly as Anakin remembered them to be. Instructing their faithful astromech Artoo to stay onboard, Anakin and Padme made their way over the short distance from their ship to the nearby homestead.

Before entering however, they were greeted by a tarnished and partially covered Protocol droid. “Good evening. May I help you?”

Anakin eyed the droid curiously and smiled as recognition flooded him. “Threepio?”

The droid cocked its head to the side in confusion before registering who it was. “Oh, my...oh my! Master Anakin! My goodness, I can hardly believe it!” It was then that he seemed to register Padme’s presence, “and this must be Miss Padme.”

Padme smiled gently at the droid, “hello Threepio.”

“I’ve come to see my mother,” Anakin stated, hoping that the droid would lead him to her.

“Oh dear!” The droid’s distressed tone put the pair on edge. “I’m so terribly sorry Master Annie.”

Anakin and Padme looked at each other before turning back to the droid. “Threepio, what’s happened?” It was Padme, not Anakin, who asked.

“I think we’d better go inside,” the droid replied, obviously distressed.

Sending each other a worried look, Anakin and Padme followed the droid into the homestead where they were greeted by a young couple who introduced themselves as Owen Lars and Beru.

Stepping forward, Anakin introduced himself. At the mention of his family name, Owen smiled grimly, “I suppose I’m your step-brother.” If this statement alarmed Anakin, he said nothing.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Anakin asked, “is my mother here?”

Owen made to reply when another voice answered, “no. She’s not.” An older man with a missing leg hovered into view on a repulsor-lift chair. Extending a hand to shake Anakin’s, he introduced himself as Cliegg Lars, Shmi’s husband.

~ ~ ~

Surrounded by a belt of asteroids, Geonosis was not one of the Jedi Master’s favourite worlds.

“Oh joy,” he murmured to himself. Navigating the asteroid field after a rather intensive and near miss dogfight with a certain bounty hunter, gave Obi-Wan yet another reason to hate flying. Finally coming out of the mess of floating debris, Obi-Wan entered the planet’s atmosphere and his attention was immediately drawn to numerous spherical-shaped starships. His confusion increased the more he saw. He was beginning to think that something much larger than a simple assassination was going on.

Finding a sizeable outcropping on which to land, Obi-Wan landed his ship and stepped out. The nightly landscape of the planet was made almost eerie by the light of a full moon.

Making sure his lightsaber was secure and at the ready, Obi-Wan cautiously descended the outcropping, briefly stopping when the cry of a night animal split otherwise quiet night. Continuing, he encountered two of the planet’s native predators, known as Massiffs, large dog-like creatures with the features of lizards. Quickly dispatching of one and then sending the other tumbling to its death, Obi-Wan kept going until a structure of sorts appeared not far from where he stood.

Curious, he edged closer and seeing no one around, he slipped inside.

~ ~ ~

The moonlight filtered into her cell through the high windows and cast long shadows across the dusty ground. Y/N sighed heavily, her voice had long since been made hoarse by demands to be released and threats if her words weren’t heeded.

Refusing to believe in defeat, she leaned against the cold stone and desperately tried to think of something. Many times she had tried to break the chains, but to no avail. Biting her lip and narrowing her eyes into thoughtful slits, she eyed the spot where the chain went into the wall. What if...

Squaring her shoulders and taking a deep breath, Y/N closed her eyes and focused on her breathing before focusing on the chain in the wall. Calling on the Force for help, she pictured that particular spot of the wall with her mind’s eye and reached toward it with the Force. The process was excruciatingly slow and just as her patience began to slip, the chain came free of the wall with a soft thud as it hit the ground. Y/N almost sagged with relief. Using the Force to then free her hands, Y/N began to wander why she had not thought of this before.

Quickly remembering her precarious situation, she headed to the door and opened it with little resistance. This made her wonder, had it been unlocked the whole time?

Unfortunately for her, there was one of the natives that she detested so much standing guard. Waving her hand in front of his face, she called on the Force to erase all memory of her.

Satisfied when the creature didn’t follow her, Y/N crept down the empty hallway beyond. Praying that her escape attempt would be successful, Y/N desperately sought for an exit and had to restrain herself from jumping for joy when she saw one not far off. Her excitement soon turned to panic as she heard footsteps approaching. Ducking into the nearest alcove, she waited until the footsteps had passed before slipping out into the cool night air.

Wanting to put as much distance between herself and that horrible man, she simply ran. Stopping when her lungs began to burn, Y/N saw a strange shape lying on the ground near her.

Curious more than she was fearful, Y/N edged closer and bit back a scream when she saw what it was. The lizard-like creature stared at her with lifeless eyes. Unnerving as it was, Y/N moved a little closer and her eyes widened when she saw that the creature had been cut in half. Upon closer inspection she saw that the cut had been cauterised as though with a...Y/N covered her mouth with one hand and used the other to steady herself. Sudden clarity slammed into her. There was only one weapon who left marks like that, and there was only one type of person who wielded that weapon. “Obi-Wan,” she breathed, horrified. “No,” she whispered brokenly as she recalled her previous conversation with her captor. “No,” she repeated breathlessly, she didn’t want to believe it. Turning on her heels, she sprinted back the way she had come.

~ ~ ~ 

Refusing to believe that his mother had been kidnapped and was quite possibly dead, Anakin left the living quarters of the homestead and simply stood near the entrance, looking at the twin sunset. He had wrapped his long robes around himself and simply stood there, as unmoving as a statue.

It was only when he heard the sound of soft, hesitant footsteps, did he turn around. The look in his blue eyes told Padme all she needed to know. He would go and find his mother, even if it would be the last thing he would ever do.

Knowing that she could say little to dissuade him, Padme simply stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. She relaxed a little when she felt his arms wrap around her, pulling her close. They stood like that for a few moments before breaking apart.

“Don’t worry,” he tried to reassure her and smiled grimly before walking to the waiting speeder bike. “I won’t be long,” he said before he fired up the engine and sped off into the desert, leaving a small cloud of dust in his wake.

Anakin barely took note of his surroundings or the sounds the desert made at night. The sooner he found her, the better.

Following tracks in the sand and directions he obtained from a group of Jawas, he sped towards the Tusken camp where he would at last be reunited with his mother. It was not long before the tell tale lights of an encampment came into view. Leaving the bike on a cliff above the camp, Anakin crouched low for a few moments before stepping over the edge and landing silently on the sand below.

Making sure to avoid the sentries, he approached one of the more well-guarded tents. Igniting his lightsaber, he cut a large hole into the fabric before stepping through. The sight he was met with made his blood boil. His beloved mother was secured to a wooden frame, her eyes were closed and deep lacerations marked the skin of her face and hands.

Wasting no time in freeing her, Anakin lowered her gently into his lap, his arms wrapped around her. “Mum ? Mum?” All of a sudden he was little boy again.

At the sound of his voice, she stirred and opened her eyes, looking up at him. The spark of recognition soon entered her dark eyes. “Annie? Annie? Is it you?”

Anakin smiled through the sudden tears and nodded. “I’m here, Mum. You’re safe. Hang on, I’m going to get you out of here...” his words were cut off by a choked intake of breath.

His mother gazed up at him with all the love in the galaxy and she attempted a smile and reached up to gently caress his cheek. “I’m so... glad to see you, Annie,” her smile widened a little as Anakin leaned into her touch. “Now...I am complete...”

Anakin’s eye widened with fear, “just stay with me Mum. Everything’s gonna be fine...”

Shmi Skywalker smiled at her son one last time, her voice was hoarse but she spoke all the same. “You look so handsome. My son...my grown-up son. I’m so proud of you Annie,” her voice begins to fade, “so proud...I’ve missed you so much...I love,” she never finished her sentence as life left her and Anakin pulled her close. He did not stop the tears that streamed down his cheeks. Then a white hot anger flared up inside of him. Gently laying his mother to the side, he stood up and pulled his lightsaber free of his belt and exited the tent.

He left no one alive.

~ ~ ~

Moving silently along the deserted passageways, Obi-Wan’s attention was caught by the sounds of industry, not too far off. Curious, he headed towards the noise and soon came to the exact same spot where Y/N had stood only a mere few hours before.

His sea-shaded eyes took in everything and his mind remembered it all. Storing it for later when he would have to report back on his findings.

Satisfied that he had seen enough, Obi-Wan turned and was about to enter the hallway beyond when familiar voices floated out to him, signalling the approach of a group. “The Senator from Naboo, is she dead yet?” Obi-Wan cringed inwardly at the sound of that particular voice. Nute Gunray, the Viceroy to the vile and corrupted Trade Federation. But, detestable as he might be, he had just given Obi-Wan the information he needed. “I will sign no treaty of yours until I have her head on my desk.” Charming as ever.

Waiting until the group had passed by his hiding place, Obi-Wan elected to follow them. He recognised some of its members, chiefly among them was Count Dooku, the Master of his own deceased former Master.

Following them until they came to a meeting room of sorts, Obi-Wan found a space just above them that provided him with a full view of the proceedings below.

“As I explained to you earlier,” Dooku spoke, clearly the head of this group. “I am quite convinced that ten thousand more star systems will rally to our cause with your support gentlemen.”

This was bad news indeed but Obi-Wan waited, for surely more would be said. His suspicion was proved right when the head of the TechnoUnion pledged his support and was soon followed by the head of the Banking Clan.

Dooku seemed quite pleased with himself. “Good, very good. Our friends from the Trade Federation have pledged their support.” Turning slightly to speak to the head of the TechnoUnion, he said, “and when their battle droids are combined with yours, we shall have an army greater than any in the galaxy. The Jedi will be overwhelmed,” he sounded so confident, damn him. “The Republic will agree to any demands we make.” Obi-Wan made to leave, having heard enough, when Dooku spoke again. “and of course, having one of their brightest on our side, victory is assured.”

One of their brightest? Obi-Wan dreaded the idea who that might be.

“How are you so sure that she will aid our cause?” Nute Gunray, the vile creature spoke up.

Obi-Wan held his breath waiting for Dooku’s answer. It simply couldn’t be who he suspected.

“Despite being one of their best,” Dooku replied, “her own superiors doubt her at every turn. Thus denying her the ability to rise through the ranks and reach her full potential.”

It couldn’t be her, Obi-Wan thought to himself, he often believed her to be the best judge of character in the Order. Surely, despite everything, she wouldn’t turn against those that had raised her. He refused to believe it.

“She did not seem so willing the last time you spoke with her, Count.” The Viceroy sounded almost a little fearful but it was music to Obi-Wan.

“That is because I am not yet finished with-” he was cut off when one of the Geonosian natives interrupted the meeting to speak with his superior. Whatever was said only mildly surprised the Count and he even seemed a little annoyed.

Obi-Wan did not wait around. Instead he slipped out and into a quiet hallway. He tried not to smile but it was inevitable. The news that she was here was enough for now, soon he would see her again, but first he would have to speak to the Council and select members of the Senate, including the Supreme Chancellor.

~ ~ ~

Y/N knew that she had set herself up to be caught the moment she decided to return.

Within moments of her setting foot inside the building, she was surrounded by Droidekas, also known as Destroyers. “Brilliant,” she murmured to herself, “just brilliant.”

She was soon joined by a man wearing a suit of Mandalorian armour. “There you are, Jedi.” She didn’t like his tone. Lifting her chin, she looked him in the eye and simply smiled.

“Here I am. Miss me?”

The armoured man ignored her jibe and turned to the droids behind him. “Take her to the Council chamber, she is expected.”

Y/N knew, from his tone, that this did not bode well for her. Knowing that, without her lightsaber, she didn’t stand a chance against the Destroyers, Y/N remained silent and let them take her to this ‘Council chamber.’

The walk was mercifully short. The droids left her the moment she set foot in the room. Y/N didn’t know whether to be relieved or terrified. She decided on the former.

“I thought by now you would have learnt your lesson.” The figure and the voice emerged from the shadows and she bit back a feral snarl.

“Some say I’m a slow learner,” she was relieved to find her voice steady.

“Just how far did you get before they found you?”

Y/N fought back a smile before looking up at him. “Why? Did you miss me? I didn’t miss you.”

Her captor looked at her with something akin to a threat in his dark eyes. “I will give you one last chance. Join us and be free of them.”

Y/N tried her hardest not to gape at him. First he threatened her, now he wanted her to join him...again? Her e/c eyes glared at him. “You know my answer and it will never change. My loyalty is to them, not to you.”

The smile he sent her was one of satisfaction and victory. This confused her. When he spoke, he sounded strangely confident, not a good sign. “Your loyalty to him is stronger though, isn’t it?”

Y/N held her tongue, fearing what would happen or what she would betray if she spoke. She prayed fervently that her eyes remained neutral as well.

“No matter,” he murmured loud enough for her to hear. “Who is to say that he will not join us?”

That was it. She couldn’t keep silent any longer. “You fool,” she hissed venomously, “you are naive beyond words if you believe you will be able to change his loyalties.”

If her words affected him, he gave no sign of it. Moving closer to her, he spoke, somewhat smugly. “He came, just as I said he would.”

Y/N knew for a fact that she could not hide the panic in her eyes. “He is here?” She managed to choke out.

Her captor nodded. “His craft was spotted some time ago. When he returned to it, to no doubt alert your precious Council and Senate, we were waiting for him.”

Y/N clenched her jaw so hard, she feared her teeth would break. Her heart hammered erratically in her chest.

“Take her away and make sure her cell is the one next to his,” Dooku knew, that in her shocked state, she wouldn’t hear anything he was saying. The insect-like natives nodded in understanding.

Y/N only registered that she was back in a cell when she heard the door close. Looking down she saw that she was once again bound and chained to the wall. This time the chain was shorter and heavier.

Knowing that sitting down with such a chain would be uncomfortable, Y/N instead tried to pull at it. The pain it caused her already injured wrists was nothing compared to what she felt inside.

“I will kill you for this.” She shouted hoarsely at her captor, who was no doubt just outside her cell door.

~ ~ ~

Obi-Wan froze, despite the fact that he couldn’t really move. That voice, her voice, it was so close. He had never heard it filled with so much anger and he suspected he knew at whom her anger was directed.

This train of thought was disrupted when the door to his cell opened and Dooku stepped through. “Traitor,” Obi-Wan all but hissed at him.

“Curious,” Dooku murmured, “she said much the same, even if she does not know who I am.”

Obi-Wan glared at him, too disgusted for words.

“May I ask why a Jedi Knight is all the way out here on Geonosis?” Dooku asked while circling him.

“I’ve been tracking a bounty hunter called Jango Fett,” Obi-Wan replied calmly, “do you know him?”

”There are no bounty hunters here that I’m aware of,” Dooku spoke of them with something akin to disgust. “The Geonosians don’t trust them.”

”Well who can blame them,” Obi-Wan agreed. “But he is here, I can assure you.”

“It is a great pity our paths never crossed before Obi-Wan,” the change of topic was as subtle as a blaster. “Qui-Gon always spoke very highly of you,” Dooku paused before continuing, looking away from the captive Jedi. “I wish..he were still alive. I could use his help right now.”

Obi-Wan looked at him with sheer disbelief. How dare he speak of his Master! “Qui-Gon Jinn would never join you.” He poured conviction into every word.

“Don’t be so sure my young Jedi,” the Count resumed his pacing. “You forget, he was once my apprentice. Just as you were once his.” This was a low blow, but he believed he could get through to him. “He knew all about the corruption in the Senate, but he would never have gone along with it if he had learned the truth as I have.”

”The truth?”

”The truth,” Dooku confirmed before continuing. “What if I told you that the Republic was now under the control of a dark Lord of the Sith?”

Just the mention of that Order brought back memories that Obi-Wan would rather forget. “No, that's not possible. The Jedi would sense it.” Y/N would have heard something if it were true.

“The Dark Side has clouded their vision. Hundreds of Senators are now under the influence of a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious.” Dooku stopped his circling, his tone was calm and logical.

Stubbornly Obi-Wan wasn’t convinced, “I don't believe you.”

Dooku then decided on a different tactic, “the Viceroy of the Trade Federation was once in league with this ‘Darth Sidious’, but he was betrayed ten years ago by the Dark Lord. He came to me for help, he told me everything.” He paused and leaned in just a little, his voice dropping ever so slightly. “You must join me Obi-Wan, and together we will destroy the Sith.” He hoped that even though the walls were thick, that Y/N would be hearing this.

Silence answered him until Obi-Wan did, his voice a calmer version of her’s while he spoke her words, “I will never join you.”

Dooku sighed, she had proved him wrong and how he hated it. He glanced at Obi-Wan in disappointment, she had been right after all, damn her. “Your loyalty to the Senate is commendable,” he spoke, pausing just in front of the cell door. “But what about your loyalty to her? Is she your weakness as much as you are her’s?”

Obi-Wan remained silent.

“Ah well,” Dooku seemed unaffected by the lack of response, if anything, he seemed bolstered by it. “As you will come to learn my young Jedi friend, silence is an answer too.”

 The door to the cell grating shut as the Count departed. He did not go far, merely to the next cell.

To be continued...

Part 6

[informationpalace]

Solar System: Related Terms with Definitions, Basics of Astronomy

Solar system is a gravitationally bound system that contain sun and other objects that orbit around sun, either directly or indirectly. The bodies orbiting around sun directly, include eight planets and there are moons that orbit indirectly. The solar system was formed 4.6 billion years ago by the gravitational collapse of a massive interstellar molecular cloud. The majority part of system ‘mass is possessed by sun, Jupiter. Inner planets: mercury, Venus, earth and mars are terrestrial planets that are made up of rock and metal. Outer planets are giant which are considerably massive than inner planets. All eight planets have almost circular orbits that lie within a nearly flat disc called the ecliptic. Jupiter and Saturn These are the gas giants that are made up of hydrogen and helium. Uranus and Neptune These are known as ice giants which are composed by the substances called volatiles like water, ammonia and methane. These volatiles have higher melting points than hydrogen and helium. Planets

Planet is an astronomical object that is enough massive that it can get folded by its own gravity and is not massive that it can cause thermo-nuclear fusion. Planet rotates in its own axis (spinning) and revolves around sun too. It is in circular shape and has a core too. A few properties of the planets in our solar system are given here. Mercury: since it is near to sun so its surface temperature is 426.7 degree Celsius. However the opposite side to sun has temperature of 173 degree Celsius. Venus: due to density of atmosphere, air pressure on its surface is 90 times more than that of earth, making it not suitable for life. A planet of life, where we are living. Mars: it has red color, it is made up of rock and experiences many wind storms. Jupiter: it is largest of all planets. Saturn: it contains many asteroids which cause rings surrounding it. Uranus: its spinning axis is parallel to its orbit so seems to slide on axis. Neptune: it is farthest planet. Planets are categorized into 2 types. Terrestrials: they are small with low density and rocky. They include Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Giant: they are large in size and also known as gas giants including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Stars

Star is a massive ball made of plasma that emits light throughout the space. Size, brightness, color, temperature and compositions are the points, on which properties of star can be determined. Stars are formed within the dust clouds and are scattered in most galaxies. The Orion Nebula is a familiar example of such a dust cloud. Now the question arises that how they shine? So let’s understand it, well it is too interesting… All stars, including sun are hot balloons of hot glowing plasma which is held together by its own gravity. Gravity of star is too intense and they are continuously crushing themselves inward. Now due to the gravitational friction, interior of star heats up. A star like sun has 5800 K temperature at its surface but temperature of core can be 15 million K. Due to this high temperature in core, nuclear fusion takes place where hydrogen atoms gets fused into helium atoms. As a result, an enormous amount of energy gets released in form of gamma rays. Against the gravitational contraction, gamma rays push the star outward as they are trapped inside star. This is the reason why stars don’t contract. Now these gamma rays jump outside after being absorbed by an atom. It happens many times in a second and a single photon takes 100,000 years to reach the surface of star from its core. So as they reach on surface, they have lost some of their energy, becoming visible photons instead of gamma rays, from which it was started. After being emitted from star, they travel in straight line in space and they can travel forever if they don’t run into anything. Moon

Moon is a body that is smaller than planets and revolves around planets. Moon is the natural satellite of our planet as earth has 1 moon, mars has 2 and Jupiter has 67 moons. It is the closest celestial body to earth. It is 239, 000 miles away from earth. It completes its one round around earth in 27.3 days. Since there is no atmosphere of moon so eve after years the dust present on surface of moon is in same position as before. Its size is ¼ of earth. Due to small mass and size, it has gravity that is 1/6 of earth’s gravity. That’s why you can jump on moon so high, because your body has only mass, it has no weight there. (W = mg) It is not a planet as it does not revolves around sun. It looks brighter in night because of the sun’s light reflected from it. Satellite

Satellite is defined as an object which is launched into space to orbit or can be defined as it is a moon, machine or planet which orbits a planet or star. As earth revolves around sun so it is a satellite, similarly moon revolves around earth so it is also. Both of them are natural satellites. However many artificial satellites have also been sent into space that are revolving around earth. The functions of these satellites can be different, some of them are used to take pictures of that planet which helps meteorologists to predict about weather and to monitor the cloud patterns. Pictures of other planets, black hole, dark matter and sun help scientist to understand solar system in better way. The path followed by a satellite is called orbit. Orbits can be at different altitudes and may have different rotation and orientation relative to earth. Satellites at higher altitudes of 36,000 Km facing same side of earth all the time are called geostationary satellites. Their speed is same as the rotation of earth so it seems to be stationary. This helps them to collect information over specific areas, continuously. Usually communication and weather satellites have this type of orbits. Galaxy

A galaxy is a huge collection of dust particles, gas and billions of stars and their solar systems. The thing that keeps galaxy bound, is its gravity. Our galaxy, Milky Way also has a super massive black hole in its core that causes gravity effect. In night, when you see stars on sky, then actually you see them in Milky Way. There are countless galaxies around us. You can get estimate of total number of galaxies by knowing that Hubble Space Telescope has seen 10,000 galaxies in a small patch of space in 12 days. Our galaxy is spiral shaped and it has curved arms which makes its look like pinwheel. Other galaxies are smooth and ovel shaped, called elliptical galaxies. Others are irregular shaped and look like blobs. Galaxies look bright, due to the brightness of the stars inside it. Light year Light year is the unit of distance and is defined as the distance travelled by light in one year. Since light travels at speed of 300,000 km/s, so in 1 year it can travel 10 trillion Km. So 1 light year = 9,500,000,000,000 Km. Actually this unit is used for very very large distances, because we are not discussing about cities or countries, we are discussing planets and stars. We appear to define distances in our solar system in terms of an Astronomical Unit (AU). The AU is known as the Earth's mean distance from the Sun. It is about 150 million km (93 million miles) away. It may be said that Mercury is about 1/3 of an AU from the Earth, and that Pluto is about 40 AU from the Earth. Asteroid belt

It lies between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroid belt is defined as a torus shaped (a surface that is generated by revolving a circle in 3D in the axis that is coplanar with circle) area in solar system which is located b/w the orbits of mars and Jupiter. This region contains solid and irregular shaped bodies that are smaller than planets, called asteroids. Kuiper belt

Kuiper belt, also known as edgeworth- Kuiper belt, is a disc in outer solar system which is extended from the orbit of Neptune to 50 Au of sun. It is similar to asteroid belt but it is more wider, 20 times wider and 20 to 200 times massive. It also consists of small bodies like asteroid belt. Since many asteroids are composed of rock and metal, so most objects of Kuiper belt are made of large frozen volatiles (named as ices) including methane, ammonia and water. Dwarf planets

These are the massive objects that are not satellites and does not have any specific region in space, unlike other planets. It is in direct orbit of sun. They have sufficient mass for their self-gravity to overcome the forces of rigid bodies. Currently, five dwarf planets have been found. Ceres is located in the asteroid belt while remaining are present in or near to the Kuiper belt. Solar wind

It is defined as a stream of charged particles that are released from the upper atmosphere of the sun, which is known as corona (it is the outer layer of sun, when it stretches far in space then its particles reach on the surface of earth). The stream with which solar wind is made up of, consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles having kinetic energy ranging from 0.5 to 10 KeV. Composition of solar wind also includes heavy ions and atomic nuclei like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, neon, magnesium, silicon, sulphur and iron, in a little amount. Comet

Comets are snowballs made of frozen gases, rock and dust and they orbit around sun. Initially its size is smaller, when it is in frozen state, but when it reaches near sun, it releases gas or dust due to the heat of sun. These emitted dust particles and gases made a tail that stretches away from sun for millions of miles. These icy bodies are also known as snowy dirtballs or dirty snowballs. They are composed of dust, ice, carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane and many more. Nebula

Nebula is a giant cloud of gas and dust present in space. Its plural is nebulae. Some nebula come from the dust and gas which is resulted by the explosion of a dying star. Nebula is also known as star nurseries as many stars are formed over here. They are found in the space b/w stars (interstellar space). The closest nebula to our earth is named as “Helix Nebula” which is approximately 700 light years away from us. Mean it will take 700 years to bring you there, if you can move with speed of light. Supernova A supernova is the largest ever observed eruption by humans. Each blast is a star's incredibly bright, super powerful blast. There are two types of supernova. One of them is caused by the death of a massive star. Massive stars have huge amount of fuels in their core/center which causes tons of energy, that’s why center is too hot. This heat produces pressure and this pressure prevents star o collapse. There is 2 types of force inside a star, both are opposite. Star’s gravity tries to make it smaller by squeezing it, as much possible, but the nuclear fuel in core, creates too pressure that produces strong outward pressure. When fuel ends in a massive star then it cools off due to which pressure also drops and gravity wins and star is dead. Second type of supernova occurs when two stars orbit one another and one of them is earth sized dwarf. Supernova event is so bright that they outshine entire galaxy for few days or even months and are visible across whole universe. Black holes

Black hole is defined as a place in space where grip of gravity is so strong that even light can’t come out of it. The reason of strong gravity is that matter has been squeezed into tiny space which happens during death of star. Black holes are invisible as no light can come out of them. They can be of different sizes. Small black holes can be of the size of an atom, since these are very tiny but have mass (amount of matter in object) equivalent to large sized mountain. Second type of black holes is termed as “stellar”. Their mass can be upto 20 times of sun or even more. Largest black hole is called supermassive with the mass of 1 million suns together. Research tells that our galaxy, Milky Way has a super massive black hole at its center named as Sagittarius A. Black hole does not vender in space to eat stars and planets. Moreover, our earth will not fall into black hole, because there is no black hole near o our earth in solar system. Dark matter

Dark matter is a substance with which 27 percent of universe is made up. It is invisible and it can’t emit, absorb or reflect any electromagnetic radiation like x rays and radio waves even light. It can interact with ordinary matter. This is fact due to which astronomers are able to make maps of its distribution even it is invisible. Falling star or meteoroids

A body moving in solar system that changes its identity and becomes meteor when it enters earth’s atmosphere. When a meteoroid enters in earth’s atmosphere at speed of 20 km/s then streak of light is produced due to aerodynamic heating. This streak of light is seen for both the glowing object and tail of glowing particles that it leaves. This phenomenon is called meteor or shooting star. If many meteors appears after seconds or minutes and appear to get originated from same point in sky then it is called meteor shower. Now if the object bears ablation and falls or touches ground then it is called meteorite. Falling star is nothing to do with star, it is just a term used to identify the meteor on sky. Do not forget leaving your valuable comment on this piece of writing and sharing with your near and dear ones. To keep yourself up-to-date with Information Palace, put your email in the space given below and Subscribe. Furthermore, if you yearn to know about Beta particle, view our construct, ‘Beta particle overview, beta decay, radioactivity of bananas.’ Read the full article

[kettlequills]

day two - moon/colony

part one

Yellow Diamond ruled at the touch of a button. The hive of activity that was her office, sunken deep into the sandblasted bedrock of the colony Kroag IV, was in full force, muted streams of conversation parting around the circle of focused silence in which Yellow worked. Only her Pearl was allowed to disrupt her when she was in the mood to turn every inch and ounce of her formidable concentration on her work to better the pre-existing systems of Homeworld, an innovative frenzy which her gems regarded with absolute pride.

There were not many of them yet, Yellow Diamond gems grown and made. Kroag IV was a barren and dead planet, suitable for dry jaspers and sandy jades, the occasional sphene, and the neighbouring asteroid belts that Yellow had begun colonising after three centuries developing Kroag were little better. But the fierce sun that had hampered gem production was an incredible boost to Yellow Diamond’s industrial vision, which had developed swiftly to harness solar energy to power her increasingly ambitious designs.

Yellow Diamond’s Kroagan gems spoke to their Diamond almost regularly, reporting on all aspects of their lives, difficulties, defects, and drawbacks, things that hindered, things that helped, and it was hard to believe that she wasn’t the most effective and rational leader of the Authority, even taking into account their own bias, when the next schematic that hit the factories was directly designed to target those obstacles that kept them from being the most efficient that they possibly could be.

They were proud to be yellow gems. She drove them hard, but no harder than she would herself. Unfortunately, that meant that any distractions had to take a permanent backseat.

“Yellow?” Blue Diamond’s voice over the screen was soft, but a little sad.

“Blue,” Yellow responded automatically, and then actually looked up, feeling a little guilty when a smile crept over Blue’s lips at the acknowledgement.

She looked tired, Yellow thought, with a sudden burst of protectiveness, there were shadows under her eyes, which were sunken into her skull, and her skin looked papery and bloodless. She had to be tired, juggling a new colony with her chronic lethargy. She was calling from somewhere isolated, Yellow could just make out the soft, near silent susurrus of waves lapping against a stone basin, and the darkness surrounding her face was shrouding and starless. Mysterious, like her, and as far from the obviously busy humdrum of industriousness straining at the seams of imposed order under the hot yellow brightness of lighting strips in Kroag’s core as it could be.

“What can I do for you, Blue?” Yellow asked, striving for the businesslike tone she cultivated among her gems. Despite her best efforts, a tenderness crept into her voice when she said Blue’s name. By the twitch of Blue’s full lips, she had noticed. Yellow’s cheeks burned, but she tilted her chin up haughtily, like White would have done.

“I just want to know when you’re next planning a rest cycle. Perhaps an extended one?” Blue murmured, keeping her voice deliberately pitched low so that Yellow had to lean forward to hear her, suppressing a flicker of irritation as she did so.

Yellow’s brain scrambled for her schedule, trying to recall when she had next allotted a moment of weakness for herself. She knew that to work at optimum efficiency, a gem required certain amounts of rest, but Yellow barely felt the strains of exhaustion – she had never been as weak as Blue, whose physical strength was meagre and power reserves smaller still. She hesitated for a moment too long, and Blue’s sigh of disappointment rushed through the com.

“Oh, Yellow.” There was just a hint too much of fondness there that Yellow abruptly found patronising.

“I’m busy,” Yellow said defensively, her hackles rising. “I’ve been developing the Kroag belts, and the Zaria moon colony-“

“Zaria?” Blue interrupted, and abruptly a sharp change came over her face. Her lips thinned and her eyebrows twitched up, eyes narrowing coldly. It was a sneer as natural to her face as the smile she reserved for Yellow alone, and it always surfaced with the mention of White Diamond. “But that’s White’s.”

“Not anymore,” said Yellow, torn between discomfort and smugness at revealing this to Blue, proof positive of White’s approval with her work – approval that evidently had not been given to Blue. For so long, Blue had been the uncontested favourite, Blue, who sang and danced and understood music the way gems were supposed to, if they weren’t as off-colour as Yellow. It was a nasty, petty feeling, but Yellow felt a certain cruel glee, and echoes of the stupefied awe she’d felt herself when White had told her. “White transferred control to me. It’s mine now.”

“When?” Blue demanded.

“A few turns ago,” Yellow said vaguely, though she remembered the exact date. She remembered everything.

White had turned up in a visit as unannounced as she ever got, ordering a tour of Kroag’s burgeoning facilities. Yellow had been frantic, ill at ease, and probably rambling, trying to hurry White through corridors that were naturally messy with the chaos of contained brilliance that defined areas under Yellow’s direct control. White Diamond, with her pristine cape and scent of clear, cold winds threatening snow, was as alien as it was possible to be to the close, smoky corridors carved into Kroag’s core.

She had pronounced Yellow’s work as “thoroughly satisfactory”. Yellow remembered every twitch of contained surprise on White’s usually impassive face almost obsessively. White had even seemed charmed – well, as charmed as White ever was – by Yellow’s “technical twiddles”, as White had desultorily referred to them, to ease access for her gems. They’d come across one of her jaspers, who was using the extendable screens with the modified touchpads Yellow had altered to take into account the thickness of clumsy quartz fingers. White had been incredulous, and faintly scandalised, that she’d taught a jasper to read, let alone have her take over the scouting duties on the surface of a flint.

“I only have six flints,” Yellow had argued, “And a battalion of jaspers. It’s only efficient to increase proficiency in a diverse range of areas.”

“Efficient, indeed,” White had said, her grey eyes considering, and then she’d told Yellow to take control of Zaria, where there were, she assured Yellow, with something like humour if it had been any other gem, substantial flint deposits.

The memory made Yellow glow with pride.

Blue scoffed jealously. “Come on,” she said, coldly, “When has White ever done anything to make our lives easier, or reward us for, well, anything? This is a test, and you’ve been set up to fail, so she can humiliate you for her own amusement, like normal.” She still looked stung, and abruptly, Yellow’s satisfaction turned to ashes in her mouth at Blue’s hurt, even as Blue’s words roused her anger in a fluster of denial.

But then Yellow’s shoulders sagged, and she took Blue’s point. “I suppose,” she muttered, averting her eyes to scan the screen she had been working on before Blue had called, schematic for a revolutionary new transport system that Yellow hoped would help defeat any need for travel on Kroag’s blistering surface, uncomfortable even for gems.

“Oh, Yellow,” said Blue again.

Yellow listlessly scribbled the answers to a few equations on her notes, trying to calculate the minimum width of the tunnel needed. If only there was some way to produce the effects of zero-gravity in a stabilised chamber to restrict the height of any gems travelling. Or perhaps, force the gem’s hard light projection to temporarily dissipate so that the physical gem was the only object travelling. If only she could cut out the tunnel completely – no, better yet, create an intangible one – enough to warp hard light-

“Yellow!” Blue broke her concentration, scowling, and sheepishly, Yellow dismissed the screen.

“Sorry, Blue,” Yellow said, trying her best to disguise the fact that her fingers were twitching for the screen.

Blue shook her head and smiled. “I was just saying, it feels like centuries since I saw you last. Don’t you have – any free time?” By the awkward tone of her voice, Yellow thought that that was probably not what Blue had said at all, but she welcomed the change of topic from White.

Yellow made a few quick calculations in her head and winced. It had in fact been centuries, quite a few more than intended. “I’ve been busy,” she began, apologetically, then gave up and stopped there.

Blue understood. Her head dipped, her hair concealing her face from the screen a moment, and then she uttered a rattling sigh. “It’s all right,” she said gracefully, “I know how you are when you get caught up.”

Yellow instantly felt worse. She felt her shoulders hunching, the way they always did when she was nervous, trying to make herself smaller, apologetic for her existence, things about herself that she couldn’t change. A spark of irritation flared up – she only ever felt this way when Blue or White deigned to speak to her. Almost instantly, guilt crushed it. Blue was right.

“I’ve not been the most observant either,” Blue continued mournfully, “I’m sorry I kept missing your calls.”

“Yes, well,” Yellow said, a little more sharply than she’d intended. In the early days, she’d made certain to allot time in her schedule, pencilling in calls with Blue every seven rotations, at the same time, every time. Blue had missed half and prematurely ended the rest, caught up in her own work. “I assumed you were simply – busy.”

“How does White make it look so easy?” Blue joked, an attempt at humour to break the awkwardness that had fallen.

“By delegating.” And not caring about anyone else. Yellow’s voice was short, not wanting to discuss White Diamond, or Zaria. Her eyes turned longingly to her screen, the little tab with her notes, waiting to be expanded on. If White had been impressed by Yellow’s screens and solar panels, she would be overwhelmed by a transport system that took out any overland shuttles at all.

In the background of Blue’s call, lights suddenly flared on and Yellow heard shouts and a scuffle of shoes. Blue half-turned, then sighed mightily.

“Excuse me, Yellow,” she said, formally, “I have to attend to this. Duty calls.”

“Of course,” said Yellow, tightly, and smiled when Blue’s screen winked out. For a moment, she paused, hands resting on the desk and eyes staring into nowhere. Centuries, it had been, since she’d last seen Blue face to face. But still, that call had lasted almost three minutes – a new record.

Yellow sighed. Missing Blue hurt so much that she could barely concentrate when she allowed herself to think about it, but there was work to be done to distract her. There was always work to be done.

[am-ident]

Week One Homework

Michaela

Research into Tesla // Digital Marketing

Tesla does not currently spend any money on marketing, Elon Musk said that he doesn’t spend any money on anything that doesn’t improve the product. Therefore they are reliant on the product selling itself and of such quality that it is sold mainly through word of mouth and its name value. 

It’s time for CEOs to get social - Elon Musk - “they make you and I advertise for them”

From a social perspective, Musk is also pretty personal - it helps people feel somewhat involved and personality

So tesla relies mostly on digital marketing to bring in the hype and its sales -

Tesla's Marketing Strategy on Social - The “Apple” Approach

This isn’t an approach that necessarily works for everyone, but when you’ve built a hype machine as Tesla has done, I think the rules of social media start to change. Instead of following the usual guidelines of “tweet this much, include videos” etc., you start to make your own rules. Tesla has only tweeted 4 times this month. Why? Because they don’t really need to do anymore. Despite this lack of activity they are still in the top 3 most talked about car brands this month. And when they do tweet?

TESLA STILL DOESN'T NEED PAID ADVERTISING TO MAKE SALES - coined Project Loveday was named for Bria Loveday, a fifth grader who suggested the idea (http://www.adweek.com/creativity/elon-musk-agrees-to-hold-contest-for-fan-made-tesla-ads-at-the-urging-of-a-fifth-grader/)

Not spending much to market the car - they dipped their toe into advertising this year, but in the form of an amateur video ad contest suggested by a 10-year-old. It posted 10 finalist videos on YouTube and promised the ultimate winner a free trip to a future Tesla launch event, which is a heckuva lot cheaper than paying an ad agency and buying primetime TV commercials. Musk announced the winner of his 11 million Twitter followers on July 28.

Winner link:

https://youtu.be/oSnoYEzZnUg

http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/tesla-crowned-this-commercial-as-the-winner-of-its-fan-made-ad-contest/

Tesla CEO Elon Musk stressed this week that the electric car maker is not spending much to market its Model 3, a sedan that company is counting on to enter the mainstream.

"We're not promoting the car," he said on an earnings call Wednesday. "If you go to our stores, we don't even want to talk about it, really, because we want to talk about the thing that we can supply. If somebody orders a Model 3 now, it's probably late next-year before they get it."

But even as the Model 3 goes on sale for anticipated delivery starting in the fourth quarter, word-of-mouth and free media coverage seem to be enough to fuel demand for the foreseeable future. Consumers have put down deposits on nearly 500,000 of the cars so far. That dynamic presents a unique challenge to established automakers, which eclipse Tesla in total sales but advertise massively to maintain market share and, increasingly, to seed demand for their own fledgling electric brands.

Different brands: Nissan in 2016 spent $4.3 million in measured media on its electric Nissan Leaf, including on a print ad early last year that took on Tesla. By contrast, Tesla spent nothing, according to Kantar. For the first seven months of 2017, Nissan sold 8,531 Leaf vehicles, up from 6,856 in the year-earlier period, according to data compiled by Automotive News.

General Motors spent $3.7 million in measured media on the Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle for the first three months of 2017, according to Kantar. Through July, Chevy sold 9,563 Bolts, according to Automotive News. The hatchback originally went on sale in California and Oregon in December before more states were added. It will go national this month.

http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/tesla-paid-advertising/310008/

SpaceX - the first car in orbit

With a $0 Ad Budget, Tesla Just Pulled Off One of the Greatest Marketing Stunts Ever

There’s a Starman waiting in the sky. He’d like to come and meet us and make Tesla our new ride.

Elon Musk pulled off a double marketing coup on Tuesday with the first successful test launch of his Falcon Heavy rocket, the flagship of his private space-flight company SpaceX, and the subsequent debut of its payload—a Tesla Roadster driven by a dummy nicknamed Starman—as the first car in space.

While the launch was clearly one of the most dramatic moments of live streaming in recent memory, it’s the live YouTube feed of Musk’s own cherry-red Roadster circling the Earth that will perhaps generate the biggest publicity boost for Musk’s emerging electric-car company. With a famously nonexistent ad budget, Tesla just secured a place in auto marketing history.

The stunt is reminiscent of Red Bull’s Stratos mission, in which skydiver Felix Baumgartner jumped from a balloon capsule  24 miles and landed safely, all while being shown live around the world and surrounded by Red Bull branding.

By comparison, Tesla’s play isn’t quite as overtly branded, but it’s certainly more ambitious—requiring, of course, about $500 million in investment by SpaceX to ensure the successful development and launch of Falcon Heavy.

Musk has been relatively coy about the Roadster’s role in the test flight, tweeting a live stream link with the comment, “Apparently, there is a car in orbit around Earth.”

Tweets in link http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/with-a-0-ad-budget-tesla-just-pulled-off-one-of-the-greatest-marketing-stunts-ever/

The car has a long trip ahead of it, moving into orbit around the sun and then heading far from Earth. The original plan was to go nearly 250 million miles from Earth and approach Mars, according to Space.com. However, a rocket carrying the car overshot, meaning it’ll pass Mars’ orbit and enter the asteroid belt.

While Tesla is one of the most notoriously un-advertised brands, Musk has often shown an interest in finding innovative ways to promote his plug-in project. A fan-made ad contest in 2017, for example, sparked some pretty impressive amateur projects, including one starring a grounded spaceman waiting for his chance to fly.

Most of the social chatter around SpaceX’s successful launch and the Tesla Roadster’s epic journey has been positive, with many observers simply excited to see America returning to space in an ambitious way.

95% of car shoppers use digital channels to research

WHAT TESLA'S CAR IN ORBIT CAN TEACH US ABOUT DIGITAL MARKETING

In case you’ve been living in a bunker for the past month, Tesla’s eccentric founder, Elon Musk, successfully launched the first car into orbit via his own rocket, Falcon Heavy. The car, a Tesla Roadster, is being “driven” by a dummy called Starman, and you can see the live stream here.

SpaceX, Musk’s privately owned space-flight company, developed and launched the Falcon Heavy for a modest investment of $500 million. Unfortunately, the half billion dollars didn’t ensure that Starman would reach - and stay within - Mars’ orbit to eventually reach the Red Planet, which was the original goal. But what can ya do?

There are several angles we could take to analyze Musk’s unconventional advertising tactics, but today we’ll dive into what the roadster in orbit can teach us about our own digital marketing efforts.

THE LAUNCH

SpaceX launched its most powerful rocket, the Falcon Heavy, from the Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s Merritt Island on Tuesday, February 6 thanks to the company’s $500 million budget. However, even with Buku bucks backing up the launch, Musk nonchalantly claimed he would “consider it a win” if the explosion of his rocket did not damage the launch pad. Not only did Musk openly admit that the launch of his cherry-red roadster into orbit may not be successful, but his company’s rocket very well could combust into a fireball of failure.

But, even if the launch ended in failure, Musk’s brands would still be winning at exponential speeds, mostly due to his outlandish marketing endeavors. If the Falcon Heavy were to have blown up upon launch, there still would be significant numbers of people who had followed the story - people who had never heard of Tesla, SpaceX, or Elon Musk before. That’s some serious brand awareness that will keep people coming back for more.

The launch of Falcon Heavy teaches digital marketers that narratives are one of the most effective ways to communicate a brand’s personality. Storytelling will get the consumer involved, and can oftentimes result in a lifelong customer. Humans are relational beings, so building a relationship between the public and your business is crucial to gaining dedicated customers who believe in your mission. Never doubt the power of a good story!

THE LIVE STREAM

Whether he actually cared or not, the Tesla founder’s roadster was launched into orbit successfully, with Starman as its guide. Musk’s announcement of the successful launch was tweeted as follows: “Apparently, there is a car in orbit around the Earth.” Profound.

While he may not be saying much, Musk’s actions have conveyed more than words ever could. His healthy relationship with social media has allowed his personal brand to transcend industries, but it’s not because he’s blasting out philosophical tweets (he writes all his own tweets, by the way). It’s because of the PR feats - like the free live stream of the orbiting roadster - that Musk has been able to spread his own name, and therefore the Tesla and SpaceX names. Plus, keeping the space roadster conversation going with the live stream has prevented the story from going stale. It could’ve been the one moment in time when a car was launched into orbit via a big rocket, the end. Now, the public can be distracted by the live stream until Musk thinks up the next big thing.

The live stream can teach marketers about the importance of keeping the conversation going. On a smaller scale, this could mean sending a follow-up email with a blog post that your lead would find interesting or helpful. It could also mean using positive reviews on Facebook as a drawing, and send the winner some swag.

The key to keeping a conversation going is making sure responses are reciprocal. If your responses aren’t benefiting the customer in any way, they will become uninterested. The more you learn about the customer through dialogue, the more you will know about their goals and how you can help them achieve those goals.

THE ZERO-DOLLAR AD BUDGET

How has Musk made such a mammoth splash in the car and space-flight industries with no budget dedicated to advertising? Similar to Red Bull’s Stratos mission where skydiver Felix Baumgartner jumped from a big balloon 24 miles up in the earth’s stratosphere, the space car stunt naturally conjured up a ton of attention. However, while Red Bull plastered its logo on every surface of its PR stunt, Tesla’s escapade was less branded, but possibly more influential.

In the past, the hype has not been in Tesla’s favor, resulting in failure to fulfill production demands on several occasions. Fortunately for Musk, there has been loads of positive feedback on his less-hyped stunt, with many followers excited to see an American company pierce the thermosphere once again.

Tesla may have a $0 advertising budget, but with a little creativity, a YouTube channel, and some serious investors, an astute PR stunt can be just as effective. The lesson for digital marketers can be equally simple: doing something good - or at least interesting - as a company can muster up some positive attention. Donating your services to another business or individual in need is a great way to earn positive coverage. Your office could also try donating its time to a local charity; then, post the day’s photos to your social accounts. Or, you know, just launch a car into space.

Elon Musk is an extreme marketing example from which to take lessons. But, after scaling down the eccentricity, there are a few tried-and-true methods that any digital marketer should be taking advantage of. Check out these other tips on marketing your brand successfully!

https://www.digitalgrowthagency.com/blog/what-teslas-car-in-orbit-can-teach-us-about-digital-marketing

https://www.teslarati.com/brilliant-tesla-advertising-strategy-lack-thereof/

Amy (and Kelsey) - Going out talking to dealerships

Going out and looking /talking to car salespeople

Questions or prompts used

-    What do New Zealander’s look for in a new car?

-    How much negotiating of prices do people do?

-    How do you advocate safety?

-    New Zealander’s seem to want to buy second-hand cars, how do you make the push of buying a new car?

-    What’s the process of buying a new car?

Gazely/VW

-    About creating relationships with your buyers

-    Customer will know more about the car than the salesperson as they would have done a lot of research on it

-    Find a common ground, strike conversations, then ask questions and seem interested in them as a person, not someone who is coming to buy

-    What do you want in a car?

-    Are you in the market for a new car?

-    What do you like about the old car that you want to flow through?

-    Not a pitch, more of a conversation

-    Most people won’t come in like ‘yeah I want to buy a car’ they are likely to be just browsing to see what is out there

Toyota

-    Presentation – features

-    “It’s a product at the end of the day”

-    Sold like anything else

-    Change to suit your customer/target market

-    Hybrids – mostly business owners, market isn’t quite there yet for electric cars into New Zealand

Honda New Zealand

-    Tangibility

-    New Zealander’s like to feel and take something for a test drive

-    Competing against BMW Nissan and Toyota

-    How do you advocate safety when you don’t have a showroom (in regards to Tesla)

-    People will do their research before coming in to buy a car

-    For everyday New Zealander’s, the price for Tesla price would need to be around $35,000

-    Definitely a luxury car right now

Tensions while we were out there talking to people:

-    2 females – no males to direct ‘car conversation’

-    1 Asian

-    We look like students

-    All males that approached us

While we were out researching, we noticed these common themes that the companies have:

-    Conversations, building relationships and getting trust from your potential buyers

-    Customers will know a lot about the car if they are coming in to directly buy a car

-    People like to get a feel for the car