#non road machinery

[techtrends-today]

The Future Is Electric Investment Opportunities in Electromobility

The transportation revolution is here with electromobility shaping today's movement. As global commitments to reduce carbon emissions rise, the electromobility industry is set for significant growth. This blog explores investment opportunities and offers insights for savvy investors in this dynamic market.

Why Electromobility Matters

The shift to electromobility is vital for addressing climate change by reducing dependence on fossil fuels and lowering emissions. Governments and investors are backing this move, with the EU targeting climate neutrality by 2050 and significant investments predicted by 2030, demonstrating confidence in the sector's future.

The Growth of Electric Vehicles (EVs)

Electric vehicles (EVs) are leading the electromobility revolution, with companies like Tesla, NIO, and Rivian at the forefront. The global EV market is set to expand from 3 million units in 2020 to 26 million by 2030, driven by government incentives such as subsidies and tax breaks. This growing demand offers lucrative investment opportunities not only in EV manufacturers but also in related industries like battery production and charging infrastructure.

Charging Infrastructure Innovations

The adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) hinges on the availability of charging infrastructure. Governments and private enterprises are heavily investing in expanding these networks, with the global EV charging market projected to reach $140 billion by 2030. Leading companies like ChargePoint, EVBox, and Blink Charging are developing advanced solutions. Investing in these companies supports EV market growth and offers substantial returns through partnerships with automakers, governments, and utilities.

The Impact of Autonomous Vehicles

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are revolutionizing transportation by combining electromobility with autonomous driving technology, impacting urban mobility, logistics, and personal transportation. Leading companies like Waymo, Cruise, and Baidu are advancing this technology. The global AV market is projected to reach $556 billion by 2026, offering investment opportunities in both AV tech companies and suppliers of essential components like sensors and software. Integration of AI and machine learning in AVs enhances safety, efficiency, and user experience.

Advancements in Non-Road Mobile Machinery

Electrification is expanding beyond passenger vehicles to include non-road mobile machinery like construction and agricultural equipment. This transformation offers reduced emissions, lower costs, and improved performance. The market, led by companies like Caterpillar, JCB, and Volvo, is poised for significant growth, driven by stricter emissions regulations and rising demand for sustainable solutions. Investing in this sector presents a unique opportunity in a less saturated market.

The Rise of Electric Public Transportation

Public transportation is embracing electromobility to reduce emissions and improve air quality. With significant government investments, electric buses, trams, and trains are becoming more common. The electric bus market, led by companies like BYD, Proterra, and Solaris, is expected to reach $71 billion by 2027, offering substantial returns and promoting global sustainability for greener cities.

Emerging Markets for Electromobility

Developed countries are leading in electromobility, but emerging markets like India, Brazil, and South Africa offer significant growth opportunities. India aims for 30% electric vehicle penetration by 2030, while Brazil explores solutions to reduce its carbon footprint. Investing in these markets could yield high returns but comes with regulatory and infrastructure risks.

Electromobility is revolutionizing transportation with cleaner, more efficient, and more sustainable solutions. The sector offers vast investment opportunities in electric vehicles, battery tech, charging infrastructure, and autonomous vehicles. Investors can make a positive impact and achieve substantial returns by staying informed, diversifying portfolios, and engaging with industry experts.

Are you ready to explore the exciting world of electromobility investments? Join the conversation and connect with industry leaders at the upcoming 2nd Annual Non-Road Mobile Machinery Electrification and Decarbonization Forum. Learn more: https://www.leadventgrp.com/events/2nd-annual-non-road-mobile-machinery-electrification-and-decarbonization-forum/details

[sonicasura]

Transformers: Analog Horror Style

I've been talking about this on a non fandom related Discord and decided to bring it here. There are various analog horrors that utilize non horror series such as Splatoon 3 or Jurassic Park. It felt only right to add something like Transformers to the mix.

Extraterrestrial mechanical beings who can disguise themselves as various machinery, grainy footage and videotapes that only hold clues??? Perfect material for a horror. Here's some ideas that came to mind.

Decepticons

Nowhere is safe and one wrong move can potentially be your last. The Internet is a stalking ground so post or search with caution. Lest you wind up on Soundwave's radar. This Decepticon will be happy to light up his targets for one reason: an insidious hunt for the spy master's cassettes to enjoy.

Ever seen a beautiful sports car parked by the side with a sleek blood red paint job? DO NOT TOUCH. Unless you want to meet the same fate as all the others who run afoul with Knockout.

A terror in the skies that signals disaster wherever he appears. Pray the lone jet doesn't reveal it's true form. Don't look and hope he hadn't spotted you if a glimpse occurs. Survivors of Starscream are miniscule.

Results are all that matter. Morals? Worthless. Lives? Another opportunity to experiment. Emotions? Not needed. Shockwave only serves for the cause with lethal efficiency.

It is useless to hide. This will only excite him. Run as it chips away at his boredom. Fight and he'll be merry to slaughter the lamb caught in his gaze. All Hail Megatron as humanity is nothing but a plaything.

The only way this information can get through is by the way of analog. Find these tapes at your own risk. There is no turning back the moment the video starts. Decepticons don't lose their prey easily.

Autobots

It's nearly impossible to tell if they have good intentions unlike their more violent counterparts. The Internet is a double edged sword that needs to be regarded with caution. Autobots are at a greater disadvantage than you think. What little information about them is scarce.

Communication and knowledge is minimal. Some can speak but how comprehensible they are varies. The most understandable share only broken sentences that rarely blur into inhuman language. A few offer a 'soup' of linguistics which share little to no connection. Some play by the ear but don't understand what every word means. The remainder are mute, either speaking in their language or have no voice box to respond through.

Most don't understand how humans function. A situation that has led to people being slaughtered by Decepticons, accidental harm to the innocent, or danger by their fellow man who believe they gone insane. This has led to a decision from their leader, Optimus Prime.

Human help is REQUIRED. They need a liaison if the Autobots hope to even catch up to the Decepticons. Government related officials won't do as these humans are too volatile and always under Soundwave's surveillance.

What they need is a teacher. Someone who can offer such knowledge and not marked as a person of interest to their enemies. A bystander will do.

Pay attention to the car that appears outside your driveway. Look closer at the one following behind on the road. Did another join each car? Flee foolishly and they will give chase.

If the lights behind you disappear, DON'T RELAX. The Peterbilt is coming. Avoid him as he will trap you. Stop and the chance of escape dwindles. Turning off the engine was a bad mistake. DO NOT RUN. Optimus Prime will catch you and escape is impossible.

Welcome to the war. You can't escape until one side wins. The Autobots are guardians but also prison wards to their chosen liaison. You will be protected yet caution is still advised. Welcome to this new dangerous life.

That's it for now! Until next time folks, I'll see you later. Transform and Roll Out!

[fatehbaz]

Italian fascism was trying to defeat a nature [...] by declaring it a priority to civilize the marshes of the Pontine Plain. [...] The swampland was still the habitat of the anopheles mosquito and the dominion of the “Goddess of Fever.” [...] [A] flaw of a primal [...] nature, [...] unproductive [...]. The efforts to create “an idyllic rural area consonant with fascist ideals of productivity [...] within the state’s interests” included extensive electrification of the region, constructing thousands of kilometres of roads and canals and “large pumping and drainage plants called impianti idrovori (drainage pumping stations), in Italian literally ‘water-eating’ machinery plants,” founding an anti-malaria institute, having war veterans plant the region with water-absorbing [non-native] eucalyptus trees (these plants performed their job too well, which is why they were later torn out again at great expense [...]), stocking fish [...], establishing an anti-mosquito militia, and putting up children’s camps whose buildings were wrapped in ten layers of wire to protect them from mosquitoes. “The fascist emphasis on the technical and technological aspects of the land reclamation programme were also characteristic of a positivistic view of [technology and institutionalized knowledge] [...] aimed at controlling, rationalizing and ultimately creating an imperium over a previously unknown or ‘untamed’ area.”

Text by: Fahim Amir. “Cloudy Swords.” e-flux Journal Issue #115. February 2021. [Bold emphasis added by me.]

---

On 24 December 1928 Italy’s fascist regime launched [...] a fourteen-year national land reclamation programme aimed at [...] Italy’s ‘death inducing’ swamps [...]. The Pontine Marshes, a marshland spreading across 75,000 hectares south of Rome was given top priority [...]. [T]he fascist regime used an extensive propaganda machinery to promote the programme [...] as a heroic quest [...]. Newsreels documented step by step the struggle [...], with Mussolini himself often featuring, overseeing the project, or even working the land. [...] This policy [...] aimed [...] [at] improving [...] existing cities by removing “unhealthy” urban areas, through the process of sventramento (disembowelment). [...] Indeed, the project exhibits many similarities in aims and scope to a number of modernising plans that were materialised across the world at around the same time: the Tuscan maremma (1928), a large scale coastal reclamation project; the Zuiderzee dyke project in Holland (1920-1932), which produced the Ijsselmeer, an enclosed area of water that would later host urban settlements [...]; Spain’s ambitious national hydrological plan that would “correct hydrologically the national geographical problem” by introducing a system of dams [...]; Switzerland’s Linth valley hydro engineering scheme that drained marshland and provided the geographical basis for a unified [nationalist] Swiss identity [...]; Greece’s Marathon dam project, that would produce Athens as a western sanitized metropolis [...]. All of these projects shared [...] the desire to link these socially constructed techno-natures to a broader project of promoting national unity and [nationalist] identity.

Text by: Federico Caprotti and Maria Kaika. “Producing the ideal fascist landscape: nature, materiality and the cinematic representation of land reclamation in the Pontine Marshes.” Social & Cultural Geography Volume 9. 2008. [Bold emphasis added by me.]

[coramatus]

A Unovan in New York City (part 1)

An AU in which Ingo and Akari go on a rescue mission to retrieve Emmet, only to find him living a perfectly normal life… in our universe’s NYC.

(Currently incapable of committing to a full story. Hope rough summaries will suffice.)

Our story starts in Hisui, where Akari, or rather Dawn, and Ingo have said their goodbyes and are about to head home by speaking to Arceus. Arceus is happy to send them back to their time, but something has come up that is relevant to them. It seems Ingo’s twin brother has thrown himself through space-time and landed somewhere that Arceus’s influence is almost non-existent. They can all still go home together if they use a macguffin device on the machine that eeby deebied Ingo’s brother. They just need to find him first.

The two humans exchange glances. Ingo tells Dawn she ought to go home to her family, but she shakes her head. Dawn is all too happy to help Ingo with this retrieval mission. Knowing how capable she is, Ingo accepts her assistance with a small smile.

Before they leave, Arceus warns them that they need to exercise great caution in this world. Pokémon do not exist there at all and the presence of theirs could cause trouble if they’re too reckless. Which sounds completely insane to them but if Ingo’s brother is there then they have to go.

Arceus nods, opening a glowing portal with a thought. Dawn reaches out for Ingo’s hand, who grasps hers with a comforting squeeze. Hand in hand, they step through into blinding light.

When the light clears, Dawn and Ingo find themselves blinking away light spots in the middle of a large city on a cloudy day. Towering buildings of stone, metal, and glass loom around them and bustling crowds of people and vehicle traffic are everywhere. Between the sounds of countless humans chatting and shouting blending into a noisy thrum, indistinct music can be heard playing from the many surrounding shopfronts, vendor carts, and cars. In the distance they can hear the piercing call of sirens, sharp whistles, and dull rumblings of heavy machinery at work. Lights and screens of advertisements play continuously, screaming for attention despite it being the middle of the day. Punctuating all of this chaos are the scents of wet pavement, hot food, and old trash mixing into a smell that was unmistakably of a developed city. (Not Times Square)

But all of that is suddenly lost to the sound of screeching tires as an incoming car brakes to a stop mere inches away from a startled Ingo. It’s followed by a cacophony of screeches as the cars following it are forced to suddenly stop too. Dawn looks around and realizes they’re on a street in the middle of an intersection. The first car blares its horn loudly and repeatedly at the two, the driver even sticking her head out the window to scream at them to get out of the road (“I’m drivin’ ‘ere!!”). More horns blast as people behind the first add into the noise by throwing in their displeasure. The explosion of sound only causes bystanders to stop and stare at the scene unfolding before them, a fair number pulling out flat rectangles that resemble smartphones of some sort and aiming them in their direction.

Ingo freezes. His mind is instantly overwhelmed by both sensory overload and a visceral memory of experiencing almost the exact same situation long, long ago.

Dawn is quicker on the uptake and grabs the dazed Ingo by the arm, pulling him out of the asphalt road and onto a sidewalk, ignoring the angry shouting behind them. Onlooking pedestrians back away at their approach but otherwise they just give them the stink eye. She mumbles shy apologies and hurriedly pushes past the small crowd, dragging Ingo along the sidewalk, who thankfully seems aware enough to keep his balance and follow after her.

After a lot of shoving her way through throngs of people, Dawn finally comes across a small park with trees and a fountain. Ducking into it, she and Ingo collapse onto a bench, taking a moment to regain their bearings. As Dawn catches her breath, she notices that Ingo is… somewhere else, slightly disconnected from reality as far as she can tell. She gently shakes his shoulder to get his attention and asks what’s up.

In a daze, Ingo says he recognizes this.

This place feels eerily familiar to Ingo. The crowded nature of the city, the traffic of motorized carriages, even the rude attitude of the people… he’s lived this life before. It was what he was used to until… until Hisui…

Dawn looks around in confusion. Here? Here, here??

Ingo snaps out of it and shakes his head. No, not this place in specific. It’s too… strange. There’s not enough Pokémon.

Wait…

They’ve seen neither hide nor hair of a single Pokémon since they got here. Checking around her, Dawn finds a lot of bird things that look like tinier Pidoves but literally nothing else. It seems that Arceus wasn’t kidding about this world’s lack of Pokémon.

Pulling out her Arc-phone, Dawn checks the device’s functions. Fortunately, it seems it’s granted her access to this world’s internet. With a little poking around, she finds a map site that shows them being in a place called ‘New York City’. Ingo shakes his head, those words meaning nothing to him. Zooming in and out of the map doesn’t offer much more context, just the names of more unfamiliar places and unrecognizable geography. All they can say for sure is that this city is stupidly huge and finding Ingo’s brother in this won’t be easy.

Deciding they need a better place to start, Dawn asks Ingo if he remembers anything about his brother. Arceus said he’s his twin? That had to be the ‘man with a face like his’. Right?

Ingo gets that distant look again as more bits are shaken loose from his damaged memory. He remembers a few scraps: the color white, a broad smile, the crackling of electricity, something about fuzzy yellow things, someone always at his side in the good times and bad. And a lonely sadness.

But those are just thoughts and feelings, nothing substantial worth mentioning to Dawn. And unfortunately, none of them came with a key piece of information: a name.

But Ingo does remember the word ‘train’ being strongly associated with his brother. More specifically the word: ‘subway’.

Now that they’re in a place with internet, Dawn realizes that finding things out should be a lot easier. On a hunch, she finds a search engine and looks up the word. The results are quick with pictures and articles aplenty.

There’s a choked noise from Ingo and Dawn turns to find him staring wide eyed at her screen, a shaking hand raised as if trying to reach for her phone. Dawn wordlessly hands the device over to let Ingo look at it and he easily thumbs through the webpages. His eyes keep drinking in the images, unable to get enough.

“This… This is it!” Ingo breathes out as long withheld memories finally break free. “This is exactly it!! THIS is a train! A machine on rails! The greatest form of transportation ever invented! I used to drive these all the time! How could I have ever forgotten this?!”

“Ingo??” Dawn gently squeezes his arm in worry, “You’re crying.”

Ingo blinks at her before pressing the tips of his fingers against his cheek. They come away wet.

“Ah, so it seems,” he acknowledges, wiping his face with the back of a sleeve. He chuckles reassuringly, “Never fear, Miss Dawn. These are happy tears. You’ve rerouted an important part of me back to my station. I should be thanking you right now.”

Without another word, Dawn holds out her arms in a clear offer for a hug. He embraces her in gratitude.

“So your brother worked on trains too?” she asks when they part.

“Yes… we did it together,” Ingo says wistfully, “Like everything else we did. He would battle Pokémon alongside me in a moving subway car. It was what we were renowned for.”

Dawn shoots to her feet, her fist punching her palm as she grins at him, “Then that settles it! First, step! We find a subway. If your brother is as obsessed with these things as you are, then he can’t be too far off from one!”

“That sounds like a good place to start,” Ingo nods sharply. With a dramatic sweep of his arm, he points towards the road, “Next stop: a subway station! All aboard!!”

His moment of triumph is interrupted by a surrounding flock of not-Pidoves erupting into flight, startled by the sudden boom of his voice. Parkgoers and pedestrians are equally startled by the fleeing birds, eliciting a few shrieks of terror. Some people turn to glare at him and Ingo has the good grace to duck his head down, tipping his hat brim over his eyes in embarrassment.

Dawn just about loses it from laughing so hard.

His shout also catches the attention of a colorful group of people who immediately start excitedly pointing at them and chattering amongst themselves. Dawn pays them no mind until one breaks off to approach them.

She looks a few years older than Dawn with brightly colored hair in pink and purple and wearing a slightly off-beat outfit compared to most of the city-dwellers around her. She smiles at them, raising a hand in nervous excitement.

“Hello! I’m really sorry to bother you two, but I just wanted to say that I love your cosplay! It looks amazing! So on point!”

Dawn and Ingo exchange glances.

“Oh, uh, thank you!” Dawn says, thinking fast. She has no idea what this stranger is talking about but she seems to be nice enough. Dawn hopes that’s the end of it, but the girl pulls out a smartphone and looks a lot more nervous.

“Um! May I please take a picture of you guys?” she asks with an embarrassed flush in her face, yet looking hopeful, “It’s just that you did such a great job on your costumes!”

Ingo looks like he wants to say something but Dawn cuts in with a polite but rueful smile, “Ah, I’m sorry, no, we’re kinda in the middle of something. Maybe some other time?”

There’s a look of faint disappointment, but it doesn’t last as she grins in reassurance, “Oh! Of course! I totally understand. I’m really sorry for interrupting you! Have a great day!”

And just like that, the stranger waves goodbye as she makes her exit and jogs back to her friends. A few of them tease her but she takes it in good stride, tossing a few comebacks at them. They depart trading playful insults.

Dawn sighs in relief.

Ingo looks puzzled.

“What is ‘cosplay’?” he asks.

“It’s a dress up thing, where you wear what a movie or tv show character wears. It’s just for fun,” Dawn explains.

“Hrm,” Ingo rubs his chin in mild concern, “I wonder what they think we are cosplaying as.”

Dawn shrugs, “I guess they have something where characters wear clothes like ours?”

Ingo makes a noise of uncertainty but doesn’t press the matter.

They have to walk a few blocks, but they find the nearest subway station easily. Going down the stairs, they are met with a scene that makes Ingo stop and stare as familiarity washes over him once more, the feeling rocking him even more powerfully this time.

Ticketing machines, turnstiles, worker booths, the smell of stale air and the faint rumbling of fast-moving steel.

It’s like he’s come home.

Dawn is just as fascinated by Ingo’s reaction, “Is this what your subway station looked like?”

“Stations,” Ingo absently corrects her, his eyes sweeping across the station interior, picking out every familiar detail, “And yes, some of them were not dissimilar to this.”

But as he takes a closer look, the reality of this place seeps in. There’s litter strewn everywhere, the lights are too dim to be effective, several machines are labeled with out-of-order signs, and that odor… Ingo makes a faint sound of disgust and covers his nose with his coat sleeve.

“Except my stations were far more sanitary than this! Ugh, did someone urinate in here?!”

Dawn crinkles her nose too. “So they’re not supposed to smell like pee?”

“Not in a properly run system, no!” Ingo growls in a rare show of irritation. “If my brother holds a job here, he has some explaining to do!”

“I get the feeling this is something out of his control,” Dawn comments. Then a lit board shifts her attention, “Oh hey! A map!”

She hurries over to the display, but as she gets close she realizes they may have underestimated things.

“Ingo? I think we have a problem,” Dawn calls over her shoulder.

He’s not sure what she means until he gets a clear look at the map for himself: a sprawling mess of lines and stations crisscrossing the map in a dizzying display. Even he has to admit that this is going to be a daunting task.

“That is… a lot of stations,” Ingo mutters in awe.

Dawn doesn’t recognize the characters used on this map. She pulls out her Arc-phone and thumbs over to her translator app. Holding the phone up to the display, the screen instantly offers an overlay of letters she can read.

She turns to look at Ingo expectantly, “Any ideas? You’re the subway master.”

Ingo squints at the translated map, the corners of his mouth pulling down in visible concern, “It’s hard to know where to start, even for me.” His frown deepens as something else occurs to him, “Not that it matters. Neither of us has the local currency to purchase tickets.”

Dawn realizes he has a point there and thinks about it, “Ok, plan B! We walk to each station!”

Ingo side eyes her, “That will also be a significant undertaking.”

“Well I don’t have any better ideas.”

Dawn is about to suggest using one of their Pokémon when she suddenly remembers that might cause more problems. She sighs and shrugs.

They stand there, stumped.

This is when the group of fans pop up again. One of them notices Ingo and Dawn and excitedly points the pair out again. This time they can see that the two ‘cosplayers’ seem to be having some trouble and offer to help. Akari tells them they want to ride the subway but they don’t have any money on them, laughing it off as the result of a long story. One of the fans is feeling charitable and gives them both twenty dollars. A friend makes a small objection to the amount so Akari gets the idea to offer them those pictures they wanted earlier as thanks. The group excitedly agrees and they head back up to start their impromptu photoshoot.

On Twitter, Youtube, Tiktok and Tumblr, images and video of two cosplayers start making the rounds through the Pokémon fandom circles.

In the photos, an Akari cosplayer is grinning widely with her fingers up in a v-sign. Her outfit is remarkable in how worn it looks, like it had been repeatedly rolled in mud, grass and stone. Her makeup is on point too, looking scratched and smudged with dirt.

She is accompanied by an Ingo cosplayer, who is dressed in a similar state, though his outfit is far more realistically tattered and frayed, as if it had become that way through natural wear and tear. Even his face seems naturally lined and aged. What really stands out is how he’d styled his trademark knife-sideburns/locks, which seem to offer a definitive answer as to what they really were. This cosplayer, however, looks genuinely baffled, wearing an uncomfortable smile that borders on a grimace. All of this is perfectly in-character of course and he absolutely sells it.

Most of the pictures features a group of friends posing with the two, either just smiling in excitement at the camera, doing silly poses, or are seen in a few candid shots of them marveling over the costumes.

However the most notable result of this meeting was a short Tiktok they’d shot together.

The Tiktok video only features the Akari cosplayer. There is a brief blip of the Ingo cosplayer in the beginning, the camera turning to him sitting off to the side, shyly begging off from whatever came next before the camera refocuses on the Tiktoker and Akari. The rest of the video shows Akari being shown how to do the steps of a Tiktok dance, followed by a few clips of some goofy failed trial runs, before concluding with Akari and the Tiktoker successfully pulling off the dance together. They excitedly high-five and congratulate each other, punctuated by a loud ‘BRAVO!’ booming in the background, before the video ends.

The Pokémon Legends Arceus fans are particularly tickled by the new images and happily share them amongst themselves. It doesn’t take long for them to land on the Tumblr dashboard of one Jamal Bashir.

By the time any of this reaches Jamal, he is still waking up from a nap and sleepily flipping through his phone before he has to get back to work on a project. When the first pictures flash by, he chuckles and taps the like button before adding the posts to his queue. He figures that’s the end of it until he comes across a reposting of the TikTok video. The video is short and sweet and he gives that a like and queued reposting too. On a whim, he rewatches it to admire the realism of the outfits. But as he spots the Ingo cosplayer again, something catches his attention.

There’s something familiar about his face.

Intrigued, Jamal goes back to the photo posts and studies the man a little more closely. His side hair and goatee are spot on and natural-looking in a way that is difficult to replicate without actual facial hair. Jamal has only seen one other person who managed to pull it off so well and that person is…

When the realization hits him, Jamal just about falls out of bed.

He frantically checks and rechecks the photos, scanning over them and picking out details that only add to his theory. He even pulls up a few of his photos to be sure, because if this isn’t anything less than what he thinks it is, his friend is going to kill him. And he can’t do that to the guy after everything he’s been through.

But he’s almost positive.

Only one last thing to do.

With his heart pounding in his throat, Jamal sends a frantic text to a contact only labeled with a train emoji.

DUDE HOLY SHIT YOU SEEN THIS?!?!?!?!??

He attaches links to the videos and images, practically flooding their chat history with embedded media.

I THINK ITS HAPPENING GET UR ASS READY

The next hour is agonizing.

Jamal has probably worn a track into his floor from all his anxious pacing as he tries to figure out what’s taking so long. He’d figure the guy checked his phone on occasion while working, but has to remind himself of who he’s dealing with. He absolutely would not check until he was on a break. Just as Jamal is about to march off to go find him, his phone dings with a new message.

The reply is concise in its desperation.

WHERE

[shakertwelve]

“Another win,” Tristan’s voice pulled me away from my musings.

“Parahuman or civilian?” I asked, walking back to the pair.

“Non-powered.  The Grower’s Court?” Tristan asked.

“Sounds vaguely familiar.”

“Farming collective kind of like what the Fallen had,” Rain said.  “They decided they wanted to keep everything they grew, they didn’t want to pay taxes or give a share to the city, didn’t want anything from the city-”

“-Ignoring that the city gave them the seeds, machinery, and tools, built the roads, and provided material for the homes.” Tristan said.

“Sure,” Rain said.  “Them deciding to hoard was a thing last spring, after the long winter.  They holed up, everyone with a rifle, and city eventually said it wasn’t worth it.  Then this summer, in the middle of a lot of the craziness, they blocked off a section of road, raided a truck, and took the stuff back to the Grower’s Court.”

“And?” I asked.

“And a month and a half later, the Shepherds got enough people behind them to deal with it,” Rain said.

“They’re civilians, but that’s a win that might go in the papers,” Tristan said.  A smile crept across his face.

i didn't expect so much of this book to be about cracking down on labor movements

[harrison-abbott]

Copenhagen Travels - Part II

When you wake up you hear the tinny spidery voices of the girls again

Down the hotel corridor. You like the noises, though they make you lonely;

You’ll never translate what they just said, and yet, the sounds of the tongues

Are brilliant. Up, you get, hot and dehydrated. The bottled water doesn’t taste

Like water as you slug it down. … What shall we do today? Let’s head up to

The military fort, surrounded by water: sounds wacky, intriguing.

When you get outside the air is white and brittle and the flags alongside the

Canal side vibrate in the breeze. … You turn west, taking a new road, turning

Grimy, and loud, with native men in their vehicles and fluorescent workclothes,

Repairing the roads with their tools, yammering back and forth in Danish and

Smoking cigarettes, drinking steamy foam cups of coffee. Ordinary men, non-tourists,

Starting their day jobs. … At the end of the street is some gargantuan building

Resembling something like a mammoth white tent, with a jumbo logo MAERSK

On the tall side. As you venture you hear an apocalyptic boom booming of some

Kind of machinery that actually scares you even though you’re on civilian land.

As you pass the innocent stalls with their magnets and glitter globes; and dotted

By these are the seafood cafes, wherein, through the back windows you see

The young folks gearing the kitchen up for the long dreary shifts ahead. …

They’ve turned what used to be the army fort into a tourist attraction: though

There are still army folks that reside there. Nearby the premise there is a museum

Of the Danish Resistance Movement, from World War Two. And close by it

The statue of a man holding a stone rifle in weatherbeaten cyan, looking crestfallen.

It’s crazy how often this particular war crops up in Europe. And, how you can

Feel the aftermath of the Nazis even in a barren oceanic place such as this.

Seventy five years back those rancid tyrants would have been here, marring these

Very docks … But it’s also a fair thing to know that there were men & women

Who stood up to those fiends. Even if it took other powers to fully end their fantasy.

You walk through the park, where the blossom trees are in a confetti pink against

The straights of water which reflect the grey clouds a few miles upwards.

On the far distance are the other hulking factories with their chimneys and rapt echoes.

You get to the famous Den lille Havfrue statue, stranded on a boulder a few metres

Above the water height. It’s a tiny affair, and nice ornament. And though it’s

Early in the morning, is already surrounded by folks snapping on their phones.

Good to know that literary icons still inspire attraction. Even though the

Fairy Tales that we all know are as mucked up and perverse and violent

As anything else can be in global storytelling. ... Stuck on the banisters

Nearby the statue are all kinds of stickers in a meddly of pop art; a range of

Rock bands and music venues up town and there are soccer badges and motifs

Of social movements too. ... You head on from the Little Mermaid and come across

This other statue, of a nude woman nursing her baby. You don’t know the story there.

Is it a monument for the woman, or her infant? The name on the front of it doesn’t

Connect with you. Onwards you go, climbing up the hills of the park. Inside the hills

There is a hexagonical moat. And, on the side of it, an Anglican church that, as you

Approach, ding dangs out the clanky tune when the Hour strikes on point.

The building is half depressed and half handsome in the sombre light.

And by the kirkyards and slinking onto the moat water are these tall willow

Trees that draipse their branches into the mini abyss in quiet drowning.

There is a willow that grows aslant the brook, indeed. Though you doubt

Ophelia will be making much appearances in tourist land, except perhaps

By night and when the castle lands have closed down. ...

Atop the mounds of the fort you can see out for some distance across this

End of the city. And then one of those navy ships hurtles down the port water.

The sailors scurry about the flanks of the vessel in minature mania.

You go to take a short film of the boat on your phone bit it moves real fast

And your lens doesn’t capture the focus well enough. Hey ho.

Walking down to the land-fort, you pass another group of soldiers.

They’re holding real guns. You really don’t know anything about guns

Aside from in movies, and it’s always tantalising when you’re that close

To them in the flesh. The soldiers are babyfaced and probably younger than

You are ... but, they’re all clad in camoflague, and hold these weapons,

And so you get a little prickly by being near them, and you head out of the

Security gates, expecting some kind of dodgy thing to happen to you.

Alls well, though, and you exit safe and then head back into the city.

A few times, at length on the horizon, you’ve seen the dome of a church

In pulsating note, a handful of times. So you reckon you’ll head over there

To see if you can go in. Along the streets, the cyclists fizzle by, and the sun

Comes up in brief spurts of loud yellow, and you get to the church in short

Time and, yes, you are allowed to go in. Many other folks have had the same

Idea as you, and when you enter the atrium there are maybe thirty folks

Scattered about the long benches leading up to the podium, and all under

The planetarium-like dome reaching apwards 200 ft. Watercolour artwork

And alabaster masonry align the perfectly circular walls, and you wonder

The architectural feat of the people who made this place so long ago.

And what’s more wondrous is how hushed thirty strangers in a huge

Room can be when inside the vicinity of a mighty church – for – you

Can barely hear anything save the silent ticking wonder of the crowd

Spanning their eyes around the innards of the dome. Seems like religion

Still has a little relevance, in terms of peace, amidst the wrath and confusion

Of the modern age elsewhere. ... A building to respect. You leave after a

Short while. And head out exploring unto another district of the town.

[hyprunivers]

Chapter 5: A walkin' dude.

The woods are slightly denser in the direction of the machinery sound at first, and I struggle a little through the underbrush. Low, viney plants pull at my toe and shin bones, which is honestly a bit unsettling as I have absolutely no idea how or why my bones are holding together at all.

I pause to pull a branch away from my leg and take a little gander at my non-existent joinery while I'm at it. Really though, how the hell is that working? I can see that my knee parts are all holding together and I'm upright and holding my weight, but otherwise....

I think I'm really going to just have to assume that I am magic. A magic dude, walkin' in the woods. Magic skeleton dude.

"Magic skeleton, walkin' duuuude," I sing softly as I pass another low, prickly obstacle.

As long as my skeleton keeps wanting to hold together, I'm going to take advantage of it. What other choice do I have? I already chose to not just keep lying on the ground. I chose to get up, to walk, to observe and investigate. I am an observing and investigating thing. I have a mind with thoughts, and I want to know more things and have more thoughts. The circumstances are decidedly not what I might have expected when I woke up a few minutes ago, but again, that changes nothing. I exist and I choose to keep existing.

I struggle through some more brambles and thickets and other arrangements of nature that are probably more specifically things than I am treating them. I really have no idea if I've just traversed either a bramble or a thicket, but I know my hood got caught at one point and it's all a bit of a pain in the ass. A minute or two more of off-roading and the woods thin out again and the ground leads me slightly uphill to a ridge. Cresting the rocky edge of the ridge leads me to the endp of the trees and far more of a view than I was expecting.

Hey, a farm! Farms!

I look out over a few square miles of carefully cultivated valley, tucked in between rolling hills that stretch out and out and out toward a sun that's beginning to set behind its gray, autumn cloud cover. The low hum of highway drones along dumbly from further to my right, as I watch a mid-sized tractor being pulled up to what I assume is its nightly resting place near a big classically red barn. The tractor's occupant pops open the operator door and hops down, walking with tired purpose into the barn. There's a house not far off as well, up toward the highway- a few houses actually- spread out along the low land near the major roadway, but actually on a smaller subsidiary road that runs parallel.

There are folks here. People folks. Hm. Not skeleton folks I don't think. Although I am pretty far away. But the tractor driver seemed kind of filled-out in a body way underneath his clothes that would lead me to believe that he is not also a magic skeleton dude.

What a pretty valley.

It's the first one I ever remember seeing, so take this with a grain of salt, but it may be the prettiest valley I've ever come across.

I rest my left hand against the tree next to me, and just watch for a while. The solid gray cloud cover rolling steadily overhead in the light wind. The solid gray-white ball of the sun sinking down toward the heavily forested hills in the distance. The square-cut fields stretching out before me, browns and greens and yellows and oranges of late-season growing things and well-fed dirt. Well-trod foot and vehicle paths cutting between the fields. Cows and horses, pens full of ducks and chickens. Loved houses, lights coming up in their windows as the sun grows dimmer. Dinners and conversation and companionship, natural and expected. Community and camaraderie.

The bark of the tree against my hand even feels a little warmer in the lowering light as I ponder the lives down below. I feel love for them. I really do. I don't know these people, but I feel their lives so close to me. I'm sure it's more complicated than that, it always is and always will be, but right now, this is the only world I've ever met and the simplicity from so far above fills my heart.

I look down at the empty ribcage below my unzipped hoodie. My heart, as it were. I mock sigh, and look back up again. I don't know how I'm feeling anything at all, but I am, no matter what. And that's valid. I feel, and it's real, and no one, not even me, can take that away.

I want to go down there. I want to be a part of that world and learn more and experience more, but there is definitely a little warning bell ringing in my head right now. Maybe, just maybe, the folks down there are not ready for a magic walkin' skeleton dude to come out of the forest and invade their lives. Granted there's only one way to be sure, but there's just little old me and I still don't even know how or why I am.

I'm going to go down there. I am. But maybe I should wait just a little while. Maybe I wait for night, poke around a little, and then say hi in the light of the morning. I feel like a skeleton at dusk in the fall is maybe a bit too on-the-nose, and definitely a way for me to maybe get smashed into a million pieces. I don't want to think too negatively about any of the strangers down there, but my invisible guts are definitely pushing me to err on the side of caution. I think I'll listen to you, invisible guts.

"Invisible guuuuuuuts."

Yeah, ok, see? They're not ready for a nighttime skeleton who suddenly decides to sing invisible guts. I think I need to pull it together a little before I show up out of nowhere. Work on my delivery.

I look around a bit on my ridge, find a decent-sized chunk of boulder, and have a little sit down. I don't mind waiting for a while. I'm not tired. I don't feel like I need to sleep. At least not anytime soon. I just feel like watching a bit more.

The farmer heads out of the barn and toward the nearest house, white siding, brown shingles, square and plain but well-maintained. A small flag flies next to the back door, the image of a pot of flowers on it. The flag whips as he pulls the door open and gets caught as the screen door slowly slides closed. The door opens again slightly and the tail end of the flag is thrown out before the inner door is closed. I imagine that happening a dozen times every day, a little annoyance, a little eye-rolling grin sometimes, a gruff mumble others.

I sit on my cold rock as the last of the light sinks down over the horizon and the stars do their best to come out. The blanket of clouds overhead still weighs heavily, blotting out all but the strongest pinpricks of distant light. I see the moving beams of the highway going about their lonely business.

Oh hey. I meant to go west and it turns out this was west! Yes. Still nailing it.

[amaiguri]

"Family isn't whose blood you have, but for whom you bleed."

On the peninsula farthest eastern side of the continent -- a dryer, temperate steppe, kinda like Sicily -- the City of Knights, Kivihkya, waits in the dust for the perfect moment to rise up. Though externally, they are known for their horses, leather, salt, and pearls, the one thing that unites most of Kivihkya is its disdain for the Aftokratoria's reign.

About 2000 years ago, when the Demons ruled the South, a council of 14 took on the roles of the 14 Constellations -- led by what is traditionally considered the Lord of the Burned Man Constellation but, to them, this was the Blood God Kivihk...

According to legend, the first Kivihk died after getting drunk in Ririkya and insulting Ririhks, leaving only his descendant behind and the war with Ririkya began. This descendant became the first Blood Tsar of Kivihkya -- each of whom takes the name 'Kivihk' when they come into power. He united the other Constellation Lords -- or sometimes, the Horse Lords or sometimes the Blood Riders -- and they began to overtake the South.

Of course, this didn't work out: Today, the city of Telethens has a strict military presence in Kivihkya and the relationship with the locals is tense.

While the Kivihk used to be a pinnacle of Svanihk architecture, the Telethenians bulldozed and burned large swaths of it to the grown -- before forcibly erecting new buildings in the Telethenian style after an attempted insurrection about a hundred years back. Some of the old square towers still remain. A giant statue of the Philosopher King was erected at the top of the city, but the locals secretly added symbols that mark it as their Kivihk instead.

Today, the Tsars still rule the city--people are pretty anti-Telethenians here and actively vote for the Tsars. It's a popularity contest basically with the current Kivihk always winning.

Primary Subcultural Values

Strength

Victory by any means

Ambition--they're very warlike, some still believe that it is their job to kill all non-believers on behalf of Kivihk

Imports:

Robotics/machinery

Somenian Silk

Metals

Tools

Other specialty goods

Exports:

Horses, leather-products, pearls, salt

Transportation wise -- Horses are the biggest thing, goats as pack animals, there is also a train but it only goes to other cities and is primarily for shipping.

Popular Arts

Dancing is the primary one

Singing

Drumming

Jewelry-making,

Technology-level:

While less sophisticated than Telethens, their horse husbandry knowledge is second-to-none.

They have some firearms but they're not that widespread outside of the military.

They do have nice roads and good carving techniques and knowledge of stone for these roads.

They also have more knowledge of demons than most places but they don't realize it because it isn't usually relevant--it's all considered either superstition, folklore, or like… irrelevant to people outside of the city. It's kinda insider knowledge and it IS, in fact, used as gatekeeping to outsiders.

Common Professions

Horse rancher

Fisherfolk

Pearldiver

Jeweler

Aftokratorian military

Population Distribution

The tsars are not significantly more rich than the average people--even before the Telethenians came, their willingness to distribute wealth was much higher than other Tsars. They are generally meritocratic, but they also believe everyone has a use: They'll either support or sacrifice those who are less good-at-things to the blood god, unless the Kivihk Tsar or another Tsar tells them not-to do it.

History of Kivihkya:

The Empire of Kivihk began after the Kivihk horsemen and sailors ceased internal fighting after hundreds of years of it by exiling its 14th--the Svana Tsar, who fled to Ririkya. They then began to conquer all their neighbors. However, they were turned back by the first Philosopher King. All this was about 400 - 350 years ago. It was conquered in a 7-year campaign under the First Philosopher King--which ended with the first Philosopher King leveling half the city to be rebuilt in his image. Then, from about 340 - 150 years ago, the Aftokratoria ruled it tumultuously--with a lot of internal rebellions, public executions, and so forth. 100 years ago, they burned the other half of the city to the ground to be rebuilt in the Telethenian style. Telethenians here are often unwelcome or are military.

The Svana Tsar from her home in Ririkya began to suck up to the Aftokratoria like crazy to win favor with them about 150 years ago, pissing off Kivihkya even more. She made the exclusive porcelain deal with the Aftokratoria--leading to the discovery of porcelain prosthetic skin about 70 years ago. Initially, porcelain prosthetic skin was only good for 5-10 years but eventually expanded to be viable for one's whole lifetime, (probably).

This made Ririkya popular and the ever-difficult Kivihkya less so--and new, stricter restrictions were put in place around their blood sacrfices and dances. Kivihkya began to leave Telethenians more alone--coming to respect their government as powerful conquerors but seeing individuals outside of leadership position as weakling pawns. Kivihkya began to try to undermine Ririkya with renewed ferocity.

The Blind Witch Tsar and the Tsars of Kivihkya begin to compete in policy, in public competitions, and then in bloodshed. A small civil war is started. Secretly. Kinda. Kinda secretly from the government in Telethens.

The Blind Witch Tsar and her husband both die, the Tsar's brother takes over and tries to make amends to avoid more warfare--but ends up getting walked all over and giving up waaay more than he should in their trade/border-dispute war.

Currently, the Tsars of Kivihkya basically run Ririkya and they're rebuilding their blood cult. Some of the local Inquisitors are getting sus and some of them are totally chill and they're trying to weed each other out.

Relationships with Other Cities

These days, the Kivihki are very proud and not particularly friendly to outsiders. They see a world full of enemies trying to take them down and stomp out their traditions. They have very particular and strange things they expect out of people and, if you fail to do those things, then you're just the worst. But if you fit their very specific expectations, they'll respect you:

Telethenians need to be leaders--literally or in-spirit. They must be ruthless, cunning, ambitious, and also agree with local values. Alternatively, they also respect Telethenians who are are ruthless, cunning, ambitious, and against them--but they'll still kill these ones.

Ririkihki must be either 1) Devoted craftsmen who care about nothing but their craft or 2) A perfect balance of emotional and cold, willing to listen and take criticism, but not give any themselves. Failing these things, they're despised. Any Ririkihk pride is considered fake and stupid--not unless you know the truth of Ririkihk (and no one does, in their mind)

Anyone else must be curious, open-minded, and strong BUT if they're stubborn or principled, they'll be eaten. They must be willing to learn about Kivihk without judgment AND be capable of defending themselves. The Kivihki will not grant you much leniency if you fail in these qualities, making them unpopular victims of imperialism.

On the flipside, most people consider the Kivihki to be difficult, stubborn, capricious, and violent. The stereotype is that they're outwardly violent, but most Kivihki are often sly, manipulative, and charming rather than obviously angry and insane. They will gaslight the hell out of you, if you're a visitor -- just to make sure you feel uncomfortable and leave. Many outsiders are afraid they Kivihki literally demons or that they eat people or that they're rebels. Most of them are not that… they just would be fine if their fellows were.

Major Threats

Ririkya is still potentially a threat, if it gets better leadership, could accuse the Kivihkya of many things. They're also potentially going to get more properly annexed by the Aftokratoria--particularly, the Telethenian Inquisitors have sent them several warnings telling them to stop their blood sacrifices or they're going to be the most-burnt witches.

Languages

They speak Svanihk almost all the time. They learn Telethenian in school and their accent is known for sounding sexy for its ladies and murderous with its men (kinda like how people from the USA perceive the modern Russian accent). They also have a lot of seal blood in their veins and many speak know Selkie phrases, words, and songs but few after deeply immersed in a Selkie subculture.

[techtrends-today]

Paving the Road to a Sustainable Future with Electromobility

Electromobility is emerging as a key solution in the global sustainability and climate change conversation. This blog post explores why it's gaining traction, its diverse applications, and its role in paving the way for a greener future. It offers compelling reasons, groundbreaking statistics, and practical tips for businesses, policymakers, and eco-conscious individuals.

Why Electromobility Matters

Global carbon emissions, significantly driven by the transportation sector, have reached critical levels. Electromobility offers a sustainable solution by reducing CO2 emissions, fossil fuel consumption, and pollution. Economically, electric vehicles (EVs) have lower operating costs and benefit from government incentives, making them attractive for businesses. Rapid advancements in battery technology and charging infrastructure are overcoming previous adoption barriers, making EVs more efficient and practical for widespread use.

Applications of Electromobility

Electromobility is transforming various sectors:

Passenger Vehicles: Brands like Tesla and Nissan are leading with electric cars, offering zero-emission driving and advanced features.

Public Transportation: Electric buses and trains are becoming common, providing a clean and efficient alternative.

Non-Road Mobile Machinery (NRMM): Electric construction equipment, agricultural machinery, and industrial tools are emerging, offering quieter operation and lower emissions.

Benefits of Electromobility in Non-Road Mobile Machinery

Electric machinery offers reduced operational costs due to fewer moving parts and lower maintenance expenses, substantial fuel savings, enhanced energy efficiency with consistent performance, and reduced downtime. Additionally, it helps industries lower their carbon footprint, meeting sustainability goals and regulatory requirements.

Overcoming Challenges

Charging infrastructure, range anxiety, and initial cost are key challenges in electromobility. Investments in charging networks and new technologies like wireless and ultra-fast chargers are addressing infrastructure needs. Battery advancements and smart features are alleviating range anxiety. While initial costs are higher, long-term savings and government incentives make electric vehicles more accessible. Prices are expected to decrease as technology improves and production scales up.

Driving Social Change

Building public awareness and understanding of electromobility is crucial for its adoption. Educational campaigns, community initiatives, and influencer collaborations can foster a positive perception. Encouraging adoption through test-drive events, trade show showcases, and incentives can motivate the switch to electric power. Success stories of those who have transitioned to electromobility can inspire others by demonstrating its practical benefits.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is electromobility?

Electromobility refers to the use of electric power for vehicles and machinery. It encompasses electric cars, buses, trucks, and non-road mobile machinery like construction equipment.

How does electromobility benefit the environment?

Electromobility reduces greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and noise pollution. By using electric power instead of fossil fuels, it contributes to cleaner air and a healthier environment.

Are electric vehicles cost-effective?

Yes, electric vehicles often have lower operating costs due to savings on fuel and maintenance. Government incentives and subsidies also make them more financially attractive.

What are the challenges of adopting electromobility?

Challenges include developing adequate charging infrastructure, addressing range anxiety, and managing the initial cost of electric vehicles and machinery. However, technological advancements and government support are helping to overcome these hurdles.

How can I get started with electromobility?

To get started, research available electric vehicles and machinery that meet your needs. Consider factors such as range, charging options, and incentives. Participate in test-drive events and consult with experts to make an informed decision.

Conclusion

Electromobility is revolutionizing transportation and industry, offering a sustainable future for the environment and economy. Businesses and individuals should adopt electric vehicles and machinery to join the movement toward a cleaner, greener world.

For further insights and personalized advice, visit our website

[terrantechnocrat]

The Taynifi of Iiser are a race of spiny-backed, fat-bellied mammals that emerged from savage animality on the fertile plains of Iiser, a far-orbiting satellite of a gas giant. Taynifi worlds are among the most proactive Sympolity members in interstellar exploration and economic and cultural exchange, driven by their quiet, passionate precursor veneration, the blocks of whose immense cyclopean ruins—difficult for early taynifi to explore—always loomed large on their continent's coasts, sinking into the bogs and the sea. Wanderers of the plain first and foremost, nearly every taynifi retains a rich oral and osseous musical tradition, informing a notably symphonic mode of intellection and abstraction.

In the eons since the Seeding, the taynifi laid roads, erected small towns of turf and stone, or dug out from the hillsides and reinforced them with bone. Gradually, a simple yet comprehensive medieval civilization coalesced using only the wind that constantly blew through their treeless world to generate mechanical power. It spread out over the rocky hills and grassy plains of the supercontinent that emerged from Iiser's ocean, but, at the coasts, it stopped. They began to burn peat to smelt iron into tools, and brickwork replaced the turf of their communal buildings and temples. Beyond that, the continental period's patchwork of social structures, customs, and kin relations would have more closely resembled the intricacies of aboriginal Australia, with innumerable, complex spiritual traditions and the ritualization of most warfare.

Contact with the worlds of the early Sympolity brought tree plantations and shipbuilding, and coastal clans quickly explored and settled their world's two heavily forested subcontinents and peripheral islands, where only animals and the much-mystified Ancients had walked before. Taynifi mariners seized the opportunity to harvest their oceans' bounty for the benefit of the Yikarans and other off-world carnivorous races in return for machinery and, later, curvature-drive schematics. Taynifi cannot ingest fish without significant bloating, having evolved from grazing herbivores, but found that Iiser's previously invisible bounty gave them power. The new maritime economy nearly wrought social chaos upon Iiser, but Sympolity intervention helped mediate the forces that resulted from the new surplus.

From the coasts, the new mariner clans forged ties with the inlanders, gathering iron in exchange for refined materials and new technology. From exchanges organically emerged a continental confederacy with improvisational systems of arbitration; the ancient world was meeting the new, transforming both. Inevitable economic schisms that resulted from these modes of relations were met with Sympolity pressure to rationalize, computerize, and network the entire tribal system of patronage and distribution under a world council of representatives chosen from the various taynifi clan-communes.

In modern times, taynifi—neither natural foresters nor mariners yet passionate about both as a learned foundation for prosperity—maintain autonomous colonies across a score of worlds and several fleets of freighters, seeker scouts, and other fast, lightly armored craft. On their native Iiser, the spread of non-native plantation forests across the supercontinent proved to be a significant ecological disruption for the pattern of grazers and surviving predators and were thus deliberately reduced in area by taynifi stewards; shifting the cultivation and felling of trees to the offshore and outlying lands, where indigenous forest ecologies still flourish. Taynifi builders now primarily source lumber from other planets, and their sprawling cities of brick and bio-composites rise from the rolling hills of Iiser. Their walls and narrow streets are specially fortified, not against invaders, but against the battering winds, with some equatorial storms sustaining wind speeds as high as 200 kph.

[roadandruingame]

RaR Musings #6: Specialists

I was playing Baldur's Gate 3, as a rogue. I dabble in rogues in DND, PF, and mmos, and they range from satisfyingly versatile to being boringly one-dimensional. DND's structure for sneak attacks is one of the few things I'm really impressed with though, because despite all characters being able to receive Advantage for attacking from stealth, flanking an outnumbered opponent, or hitting an incapacitated enemy, only rogues transform that mechanic into bonus Sneak Attack damage, and before it was patched out (for shame), the Arcane Trickster could inflict bonus sneak attack damage on spell attacks. In BG3, multiple magic items could grant advantage in different scenarios, which the rogue could use as a "magic wand of Backstab".

That kind of semi-detached crossclassing bait was a lot of what I wanted in Road and Ruin, and over the years, I developed a few abilities that either granted, or demanded, specialization to work, but it never really got to where I wanted it to be.

______________________________

'Specialists' in Road and Ruin are a necessity for a storytelling game; whether they're controlled by a player or brought in as NPC help, they represent broad spectrums of skill and knowledge that might be unreasonable for the player party to be assumed to have. The existence of specialists should lean storytelling in the direction of seeking them out, to get their insights, or pay for their services.

The simplest way to determine a specialist is specialization as a mechanic. As mentioned in Musings #5, specialization works as a x(2-5) multiplier for proficiencies when applied to a specific, niche topic. Specialization in horses might give Husbandry, Medicine, Binding, Command, or Ride multipliers, for example.

Secondarily, Disciplines act as specializations that are required. Crafts (Blacksmithing) or Research (Town History) are skills that require training; nobody is born knowing history, and nobody should be expected to accidentally replicate hundreds of years of advancements in crafting techniques. While an adventurer might pick up some basics in armor repair, they should in no way expect to be able to craft armor themselves without the associated discipline.

While specialization could extend to equipment, all it would be is simply being proficient in a device, I think, and preventing full control unless specialized, possibly incurring a breakage risk if someone isn't trained. Airplanes, for example, or other heavy machinery. An exception to this is combat:

______________________________

A fighter can specialize in both skill with a weapon, as well as fighting against particular weapon styles. I'd thought specialization might only apply in duelling, where both fighters roll a skill check and add their successes to the results of a d4/d8/d12 To Hit die, and that, turn by turn, the higher-skilled of the two would naturally gain an edge, but that ends up being too slow. Paired with the initiative changes from Musings #3, where fighters act each round simultaneously, and that health totals are so low in order to facilitate more lethal combat, and this blow-by-blow calculation ends up not feeling very good.

A simple solution would be to adopt DND's Advantage, and have specialization in a weapon allow you to roll one additional die per specialization level, and take the higher value. Since weapons only miss on a roll of a 1, and deal half damage or full damage otherwise, specialization effectively eliminates the risk of missing with a weapon. In the case of ranged weapons, like a bow or rifle, that use a kind of exploding-dice system of d4s, specialization would simply allow rerolls of a non-4 result, greatly increasing their accuracy, and thus, damage.

Specialization at fighting against a style could mean Taking the Edge, also mentioned in Musings #3. If you know your opponent, you'd be able to anticipate their moves much better, adding to their Preemptive/Presumptive speed.

______________________________

Beyond this, tool specialization effectively manifests as spellswords.

Squad Tactics can declare a Specialist unit type, who generates Tactic Points for use by other unit tactics. This lets multiple actors set up strategies like dominos, and if applying a specialization sets up more dominos, it results in greater conclusion power/success rating.

Celestial Trajectories, Martial Weaponry, and Fortress Guard all have customizable weapons, that specializing in would be a plus, but not a mechanically unique application. Instead, 'favoring' a specific weapon, not specializing in a weapon type, determines your attunement to the customizable weapon.

Mutations grant you specialization sometimes, such as darkvision, or telescopic vision granting advantages for Perception checks. Shapeshifters are able to grant themselves a variety of senses, and animal companions give you a second chance to detect things, if they're trained for that and have the senses, whereas sense-sharing would allow you to temporarily don a sense as a mutation.

Concealed Weaponry gives bonus damage and special effect application for rolling maximum on an attack roll against an unaware or distracted target, which would be made easier with stealth, but also with specialization in the weapon. It can also disguise said weapon, and has a special attack for a flurry with your specialized weapon.

Nimble Fingers' Maestro's Direction and Floral Flourish's Bud-bloom Brownies let you give commands to others, like conjured spirits, to do actions that you specialize in.

Cloaked in Shadow and Floral Flourish has material micromanagement, using mats like shadows and plants to grant specialization in a skill check.

So, after all this, I feel like I DO have some decent options for specialists, but as always, it depends what the specialist aims to achieve. Simply specializing in something doesn't have any kind of diverse spectrum of outcomes, so it'd have to be designed on an individual basis, but what I've got already is probably a good start.

[floating--goblin]

drops questions 2, 16, and 23 on your Dragonborn :3c

yooo thanks!! Can finally talk more about my boy Eld

2. If they were to join a pantheon (gods or daedric princes) what would they represent? Would they replace a current figure?

So I feel like he'd be a daedric prince, because he got so tangled with all of them throughout life and just kind of... finds them more tangible/trustworthy. The Divine may be out there but they don't show up to get you blackout drunk on a friday night, y'know

He'd represent community, the sacred duty to protect one another; and he'd be the patron of the lost. You know, runaways, wanderers, beggars, orphans, thieves... that kinda thing. If Nocturnal gives thieves luck, Eld would be giving them sound judgement; and honorable thieves who don't target already impoverished people and who share their spoils with the needy would be blessed and considered Eld's champions. Same with people who built/donated to/worked in shelters, because those would basically be his shrines.

I feel like he'd also pop into the mortal realm a lot, just to kind of... wander. Under a disguise, he'd go aimlessly around Tamriel, observe people and do odd jobs. Cause what the hell else is he supposed to do with immortality, really?

16. If they were a dragon, would they have a hoard?

Yes, but it'd probably not be made up on any valuable items lmao. He'd have like, piles of books, letters, pamphlets and recipe slips, pretty stones, dulled and rusted weapons and armor, pieces of Dwemer machinery, that sort of thing. The most pricey items in his hoard would probably be pelts or pieces of soft fabric, cause the guy needs a good bed.

23. If they could create a new spell, what would they create?

Eld doesn't use much magic in combat, but he's fascinated with it as a concept-- so it'd probably be a non-offensive spell, maybe some way to communicate across large distances. He's away from home 99% of the time and misses his daughter, he'd probably give his left leg to be able to talk to her anytime :')

That or something to let him defy gravity even further, because try as he might he can't quite conquer vertical walls and lord knows he's not gonna take the road. It's climb over the mountain or die.

[blahblahblaw18]

Grammar of Anarchy in Modern India

“...it is quite possible in a country like India – where democracy from its long disuse must be regarded as something quite new – there is danger of democracy giving place to dictatorship. It is quite possible for this newborn democracy to retain its form but give place to dictatorship in fact.” These lines are excerpted from Dr Ambedkar’s famous speech “The Grammar of Anarchy”, delivered on November 25th 1949, the eve of the adoption of the Indian Constitution. In this address, Babasaheb defined the difference between a real democracy and a facile one and laid down certain principles that he expected the future generations to adhere to, if they wished for the Indian constitutional democracy to coincide in form and in fact.

It was indeed amid much pomp and publicity that in 2015, the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar, the current government decided to attest the tag of National Constitution Day to November 26th. It was just one of the many ways in which governments, over the years, have tried to appropriate the idea of Ambedkar for their vested interests without giving any thought to his ideals. Seen in this context, it becomes important to analyse whether today’s democratic India has lived up to the expectations of the architect of its constitution.

The first principle that Ambedkar mentioned in his speech was that in a real democracy, progress should be brought about only through constitutional methods. He sought an end to methods of Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience which, unless restricted, could paralyze development and saw protests as a symbol of facile democracies. Today’s India is far from realising that goal. We are a country that protests at the drop of a hat. However, more often than not, these protests, far from stifling development, have been used to coerce those in power to take the right step. Be it the 2011 anti-corruption dharnas pushing for passage of appropriate legislations or the CAA-NRC protests or the more recent anti-farm law sit-ins appealing for retraction of unpopular legislations, agitations against the ruling dispensations have been the guiding light of our democracy, seeking adherence to the constitution. So does this mean Ambedkar was wrong in his assessment of protests? No. In his speech, Babasaheb, while advocating for an end to unconstitutional protests, specifically spelled out that when there is no possibility of achieving change through constitutional means, resorting to unconstitutional methods was the only way forward. When constitutionally elected governments show apathy towards the needs or worse, go against the wishes of the very people who put them in power and constitutionally established courts and politically established opposition also leave people in the lurch, the only recourse left for the people is to mobilise and swerve those in power in the right direction. Thus, the very fact that today mass mobilisations and protests are needed to exhort governments to do what they’re elected to do, points towards the disuse and misuse of constitutional machinery.

His second prescription of eschewing the deification of leaders, is perhaps also the most pertinent advice in contemporary times. Today we have downgraded ourselves into a nation of hero-worshipping fanatics, divinizing our political leaders to the point where we fail to accept that they can ever err and ignore them when they actually do so. Living in times when being anti-Modi is routinely equated to being anti-India, Babasaheb’s warning that in politics Bhakti is a sure road to eventual dictatorship rings truer than ever.

Finally, Ambedkar in his speech, recommends us to evolve into a social democracy i.e., we mustn’t be content with the mere political sanction of liberty, equality and fraternity, but should strive to make these ideals, a way of life. Acknowledging the chasm between ‘constitutional guarantees’ and ‘social realities’, Babasaheb had famously remarked that India would, on January 26th 1950, enter into a life of contradictions where political equality would stand in contrast with socioeconomic inequalities. In calling for a social democracy, it was this gap that he sought to bridge. However, it is the sad reality of our times that, even in this aspect we have failed him. 70 more 26th Januarys have passed since that observation was made and still, we find ourselves stuck in the same quagmire. Obdurate lines of caste, class and religious inequalities have been redrawn by politically motivated leaders who find benefit in refusing to let these lines fade; Sectarian affiliations continue to override national unity, crumpling up the ideal of fraternity. And liberty, attacked by both state and non-state actors, has become a mere chimaera.

Thus, our country’s current socio-political standing is far from what the creator of our constitution had hoped it would be. It’s indeed impossible for a country as vast and diverse as ours to embody an ideal democracy, but that shouldn’t mean that we retrograde into becoming a facile democracy. Superficially celebrating the Constitution Day or Mahaparinirvan Diwas will only amount to lip service unless we reinstate adherence to these principles which add life into the soul of India’s democracy, principles prescribed by the father of the constitution himself and principles which will otherwise end up being mere quixotic embellishments for a bleak reality.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Push for illegal mining threatening Indigenous community in Brazil, says report

Greenpeace Brazil says 120-kilometer road could increase illegal mining by 10-15 times in Amazon

Greenpeace Brazil warned in a report published Monday that a 120-kilometer (75-mile) “clandestine road” built by illegal miners in Brazil's indigenous Yanomami territory is set to increase illegal mining activity close to a community living in voluntary isolation in the Amazon region.  

The non-governmental organization (NGO) said illegal prospectors are pushing deep into the rainforest in a bid to exploit the area, bringing with them heavy machinery such as hydraulic excavators, which has the potential to increase mining between 10 to 15 times in the region. The report described the Yanomami territory as "one of the most attacked indigenous areas in Brazil," with the clandestine road leading less than 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) past the Moxihatëtëa people, who live in voluntary isolation in the territory. 

Greenpeace Brazil said today, "the biggest threat to the Moxihatëtëma is their proximity to illegal mining."

Continue reading.

[jeeperso]

D&D Quotes Without Context

Ravenloft edition, Fundertainment Land Arc, part 4

You are presently standing in the line for the Grinder, it being the most popular attraction at the park, its a giant roller coaster with an aesthetic like a slaughter house. “Do they have haggis?” "Oh...a roller coaster like that. This will be fun.” “You still think that? Here?” "You couldn't tell I'm freaking out a bit by my gritting my teeth?” “No, we’re in a non-visual medium.” "Oh good, we're making waves! They said just before the oncoming tsunami…" "As long as it isn't a sludge tsunami…" “So, we standing here or you want me to clear out the line?” "It would probably be best if we follow the rules. After all these hooks may not be entirely for show.” "Oh god, this ride goes closest to the lab, he is abducting people to experiment on!” "We've humiliated the lords by surviving this long. We are now the star attraction.” As you get strapped in, the worker in a butchers outfit looks at you with dead eyes. "You're all gonna die.” Poom: "So what else is new?” Eventually you turn a corner and go into a tunnel, it’s pitch black, with the sound of machinery and screaming around you. Edmund: “Who would willingly subject themselves to this!?” Jonni: “Kids about to get Isekei-ed?” Gorbash: “WEEEEEEEEEEE!” Jonni limps down the corridor with Nyx attached to her leg. When you reach the double doors and push them open, the first thing that hits your nose is the smell, the stench of death in decay. Poom: "I'm getting flashbacks to Tuesdays.” [monster pic] Gorbash: "OH NOT YOU FUCKS AGAIN!” Edmund: “I don’t recognize that at all.” Jonni: “You were naked in another man’s castle.” Nyarlathotep: "Ah, the grindhouse riff-raff.” Gorbash: “I think this is the one whose ass Vesh was kicking before we went into their terrible meat and surgery dimension.” “Eddie! Tetanus booster!” "Be at peace, for I am the Angel TriVia, of where the three roads meet.” “I’m gonna make him dead! Or disassembled! Depending on how he identifies!” “MARSHAL, YOU HAVE FINALLY COME HOME TO PAPA.” Jonni looks over to Marshall. “Kumquat?” Poom: "Which one is Kumquat?” "My father was Vine ‘Brickface’ Samuels, Sheriff of Last Light.” "YOUR FATHER VAS A CALCULATOR AND YOUR MOTHER WAS A COIN OPERATED MECHANICAL BULL.” Gorbash: “...Well i didn't need that mental image.” "WHY MUST YOU BE SO DIFFICULT. All I want you to do is entertain people. AND THEN KILL THEM.” Jonni: “Jeebus K Muffinlips, can I PLEASE turn this guy inside out?” "I AM THE ONE WHO DOES THE DISEMBOWLING HERE YOU INFLAMMABLE THOT.” Jonni: “BECAUSE I DON’T DO KNIFE WORK! I’M JUST GONNA MAGIC IT SO YOUR INSIDES ARE YOUR OUTSIDES.” Gorbash: “...I don't think I've seen Marshal fuck-word angry. This is going to be quite the reckoning.” Okay for that one, when yo u guys start down the service tunnels, you see some....thing begin to emerge from the shadows, something made of bone and tar and bits of popcorn, but then it see's Marshal, see's what mood he is in, and it very quietly backs up and vanishes back into the darkness. Poom: "One of the smartest creatures we've encountered.” Gorbash: “Occasionally even the horrors of the deep are smart enough to realize when they don't want a piece of something.” Eventually you come to a three way fork in the road. Angel TriVia: <"MY time has come.”> "They had a sadistic demon child help them design this place, didn't they?” "Hello Molly.” “Apparently, yes.” Jonni pushes Edmund in front. "ACK! Hey! What the heck Jonni!?” “Don’t complain, you get to keep your pants this time.” "Someone else want to try their luck?” Poom steps forward. Edmund: "I trust Poom.” Poom: [rolls a 1] Edmund: “She's the kind of person who can —" Jonni: “I’ve never seen someone lose tic tac toe to themselves…” Edmund: "I think she was trying to play Candyland…" Azathoth: "Zzzzzzzhmp? What was that? I think I fell asleep.” Nyx: ”Darn it, Az, you were supposed to be giving Poom hints on how to win the game, not sleeping.” GM OOC: Which is why I'm thinking of a skill to use. OOC: Religion's +12 GM OOC: What are you going to do, appeal to the Tic Tac Toe gods? Poom: "Sorry about that: I didn't know everyone else played without real toes.” GM: Poom you remember yelling "KING" ME" and then everything went blank. “MIND CRUSH!” Poom: "I think that's my thing.” "You were a very challenging opponent." Edmund said with true admiration at a Tic Tac Toe connoisseur. "WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS PLACE AND MEAT!?” “I thought the Meat Man was a gnome?” "And THAT's why my cooking is a curse.” Gorbash: “Fuck this place.” Poom: "That's what we're doing.” You are all now in a cheerfully decorated room with painted murals on the wall, there is a wooden table with six small paper boxes and crowns on it, and a sign hung overhead that says intermission. Jonni: “Bigbooty?” Nyx: ”I am not dressing up for a birthday party, I have enough nightmares about a few of mine gone wrong as it is.” Marshal: "You only had one a year…be grateful.” Edmund gestures to TriVia, who curiously goes to inspect one of the boxes. TriVia: "It contains a small sandwich, a pouch of fried potato wedges, three apple slices, a small carton of milk, and a toy.” Edmund: "Huh. Apple slices. Really?” It’s a normal happy meal. Perfectly mundane. OOC: So rancid dog food. Gorbash proceeds to demolish the contents of one of the boxes. “It's standard fare for this place. So if you don't want yours I'll take it.” Poom: "I've survived this long by not eating strange food. Help yourself.” Gorbash: “Funny enough, I've survived BY eating strange food. Don't mind if I do.” Edmund: ”We're going to face an evil Marshal aren’t we? One rebuilt in the bowels of Fundertainment but bereft of any soul or spirit…..Lahshram." Poom: "Bless you.” Edmund: "Thank you." Wiping his nose with a napkin from the box. Filling the entire doorway are a giant sideways facing pair of teeth. Marshal pulls out his maul, and begins a rhythmic chant as he takes practice swings. ”I. Make. Holes. In teeth.” "Be ready for anything. Danzi might be a cryogenically preserved head in the vaults before us.” "There is no way I’m ready for anything this place can throw at us.” OOC: Basically, Gunder is corpo Walt Disney, Danzi is insane futurist Disney. "They'll need proper burial.” “I mean, around here I think that’s trash pick up on Tuesday. They probably deserve better’n that.” Jonni: “Five gold says he put his brain in a Marsh-bot.” Gorbash: “I don't think that's big enough for his ego.”

[to-the-head-of-the-line]

Hey Assassins Musical Fandom. I've been really busy because of school, and instead of studying for finals or doing my assignments honestly, I just replayed a bit of Fallout New Vegas but this time I'm playing as everyone's favourite anarchist presidential assassin Leon Czolgosz.

Ok, I actually tried this before but wasn't sure about the roleplaying aspect (main problem was because the companions stole all my kills and I didn't have to fight which made it too easy).

Inspired by this comment from 'Can you beat Fallout New Vegas as Abraham Lincoln'.

Some basic rules:

1. Assassinate President Kimball. Obviously.

2. Revolvers only. I can only use the .357, .44, hunting revolver, Ranger Sequoia, the 5.56mm pistol and their unique variants. I'm not doing the DLCs. (Can you imagine doing Lonesome Road with a revolver?) Historically he used a .32 but I don't have Fallout 3 and I don't know how to use mods.

3. Yes man ending with best possible outcome. It's the closest to an anarchistic society you can get.

4. Help the people of the wasteland. How else will the ideal anarchistic society be created if we don't voluntarily help each other? That means doing most of the side quests and unmarked quests.

Unfortunately for a lot of good endings to happen and to get good results for quests you do have to assist the NCR aka the pretty expansionist government which isn't very in line with anarchist principles- but it's ultimately for the good of the people. And most of the NCR soldiers (aka the ones that do the most work) are fairly reasonable.

5. No companions but I will get the best endings for them. They will be only equipped when necessary.

6. Hardcore mode on Hard difficulty because Leon had a tough life.

SPECIAL Stats

You get 40 points out of 70.

Strength-7. Yes he had weak arms (Thanks Ted for the info) but he did do manual labour.

Perception-6. He shot McKinley.

Endurance-6. He was sick with an unknown disease that made him cough blood but I don't know how to download mods.

Charisma-1. Before you say charisma is a dump stat in this game, but he was very awkward to the point that other anarchists thought he was a spy. This is pretty much the only accurate stat.

Intelligence-6. He did go to school for a while, and wireworking was considered a skilled labour.

Agility-7. Again, he shot McKinley.

Luck-7. His life was tough but still he shot McKinley.

Tagged skills: (Increase skill level by 15 points)

Guns (How many times do I have to repeat he shot McKinley)

Sneak (He made it to the head of the line without being asked to show his hands)

Repair (He repaired machinery on his father's farm)

Traits

Fast shot (Guess why?)

Let's begin.

Guy gets shot in the head twice and miraculously lives. For some reason (brain damage most likely) he believes he is a presidential assassin who died 350+ years ago. And he just happens to look like the man.

I tried but the game was made eleven years ago. Apparently he had auburn hair but some said he was blond. And he had very nice blue eyes and people kept mentioning that he was really hot. No comment on that. He still looks depressed.

Before heading out, we exchange our DLC gear for everything in Doc Mitchell's house because it would be too easy. Leon meets a nice woman and her dog who teaches him how to shoot as part of the tutorial. Unfortunately he can only use revolvers so he may have stolen the .357 revolver behind the counter before realizing he could just buy one at the store. It's no big deal. He helps Sunny fight some geckos, rescues a settler, gets tricked by a guy to save his non-existent girlfriend (he kills the guy in self defence) and helps the town out some more. Before defending the town against some escaped convicts (chain gangs are horrible and the NCR seems authoritarian, but that's no excuse to kill common folks. And the people of Goodsprings are very welcoming and they saved his life.), he decides to explore the area, getting more stuff to sell (it's actually really easy to get rich in this game), some nice leather armour and a hat, more ammo, and leveling up where I pick Rapid Reload as a perk. When you only have six rounds in your chamber, there's going to be a lot of reloading. And revolvers take longer.

That's it for now. Someday I'll continue this (like all my other fanfics).