#of the overall population of the entire ship

[lord-squiggletits]

My favorite petty headcanon as to why Pharma got treated Like That in canon is because no one ever liked him so that's why all the other Autobots instantly jumped to "oh well he just went insane and became evil for no reason we don't even care enough to go collect his body and confirm his death" bc they couldn't be bothered to dispense Autobot forgiveness to him.

I mean they forgave Drift aka war crimes and organic genocide McGee and no one had a problem having him become an Autobot and hang out on the ship. Which is especially egregious since Ratchet is also friends/has feelings for Drift and apparently had no problems forgiving him for what he did, but couldn't bother extending that kind of understanding/forgiveness to Pharma who he actually spent ~4-5 million years being friends with.

Again this is just a petty headcanon and not serious (there are better in-universe and meta justifications for why people treated Pharma like that) I'm just making Pharma my purse chihuahua and talking about how everyone did my poor baby wrong.

[mikkeneko]

I decided to make this its own post for two reasons: one, I didn't want to derail a post that is about Judaism with a discussion of a different faith and two, it was really only one of several posts I've seen recently that stuck out to me as being "man, this is way off-base."

This is not so much about "people are saying mean things about this religion and it hurts my feelings!" but it is definitely about "people are making statements that represent a wildly skewed and inaccurate picture of the reality, and I can't tell whether they're being hyperbolic on purpose or think they're genuinely telling the truth." This is not a question of whether any given church is good or bad; this is a question of whether there is or can be a distinct entity that serves as a single unified church or faith in American Christian tradition (spoiler: No.)

Here's the basic message: Any discussion of "the Christian god" or "the Christian faith" or "American Christianity" needs to be taken with a big honking asterisk that there is no single portrayal of God, or Christianity, or spirituality and faith that conveys accurate information about the entire breadth of American Christianity.

There is no single American Christian Church. None. The single biggest branch of American Christianity, Southern Evangelical Baptist, makes up at its broadest 30% of all American Christians (12% of the overall population.) The rest are split between Catholic, Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Adventist, Congregationalist, and a dozen other even tinier branches, before you even get into the more far-out variants that people have ongoing arguments as to whether they even really count as "Christian." (LDS, Unitarians, and possibly Mennonites fall into this category.) Most of the major branches share a lot of common ground, but there's an enormous amount of variation -- they disagree widely on concepts such as the existence or nonexistence of Hell; the mechanics of conversion or salvation; the requirements of baptism or confirmation; whether prostylezation is required, encouraged or even permitted; what kind of sexualities are or are not accepted; God as an active or non-active role in the world; how 'sin' works or if it's even a thing; the existence or not of saints; the divinity or not of Christ; or even the idea of an anthropomorphic God at all. Some are progressive, some are fundamentalist, some are fundamentalist in ways that are completely at odds with the popular perception of what those fundaments are. I personally know one Methodist pastor who also believes and teaches about God as a "oneness of the universe" and have met others who conceive of God as "that which spans the space between the limits of our understanding and the limits of our universe." You cannot categorically state that all American Christians share a common notion on any of these topics.

Other statements I've seen recently that just made me go "what? no?"

That the USA was founded by religious extremists and That's Why America is Like That. Only one or two of the original settlements were founded for this purpose. Some were founded with an explicit purpose of total freedom of (or from) religion; others were entrepreneurial ventures with nothing to say on the topic of religion at all. When the guiding documents of the American state were put together the clause of freedom of religion was included front and center precisely because they didn't want religious extremists to be steering the ship.

That the majority of USAmericans are in cults and don't even realize they're in cults. This requires both an extremely broad definition of “cult” (to encompass pretty much any branch of Christianity, not only the more extremely evangelical ones) and severely over-estimates how many people in the US are practicing Christians (less than half.)

That the "Christian God" is intended to function as a "Great Uniter" into which other faiths can be folded; This is not a Protestant thing. Most Protestant faiths are not syncretic to the degree Catholicism is (or at all,) since there wasn't a motivating political entity backing their creeds to make them so. Again: Not all branches of American Protestantism require, encourage, or even permit prostylezation.

On that note: Not all Christians are Catholic. This isn't news, right? People know this, right? This is one of those things that I always assumed was very common knowledge, and was very surprised to run into people who were not aware of this (who either think that all Christians or Catholic, or else that Catholics are not Christian at all, depending on which side of the equation they're approaching from.) Protestant and Catholic Christianity are very very distinct entities both spiritually and politically, and in the USA, Catholic Christianity is a minority religion and is mostly (though not exclusively) practiced in minority demographic communities. Of 46 presidents so far only one has been Catholic, and a lot of the opposition to JFK's appointment was people being suspicious of his Catholicism since it was thought that his loyalty to the Church might supersede his loyalty to the US. American Christianity is mostly Protestant, not Catholic, and Protestant Christianity does not function at all the way Catholicism does. We had a whole Reformation about this. Any take that refers to "The Church" in America as a single united entity that dictates theology to its outreaching branches is... off-base.

What certainly is true is that a number of individual churches in the US have organized around the aim of consolidating social and political power, have worked at advancing their members to positions of power in order to protect and promote their interests, and thus are over-represented and have outsized influence on the political sphere. The ones that do this, as well as the ones that put emphasis on proselytizing and on money-making, tend to self-select for being the most visible and infamous because their business model is expansive by nature. That's certainly the case for the SEB in the American South, or the LDS in Utah. I really get the feeling when people use these broad terms that they are thinking either of the SEB (again, not even a majority among American Protestants!) or of the Catholic church (even less so!)  But not only do not all Americans agree with those beliefs, they don't even agree with each other.

[linguisticdiscovery]

Paleo-European languages

Before the Celtic and Germanic languages, before Latin and Greek, before any Indo-European languages whatsoever, Europe was populated by speakers of dozens if not hundreds of languages, most of which left little or no trace. These are called Paleo-European languages.

The only known surviving Paleo-European language is Basque, but we have ancient written inscriptions from a number of others, such as Aquitanian, Etruscan, Iberian, Minoan, and Tartessian.

Roman writing with ancient Basque names, found in Lerga, Navarre.

There are also traces of other lost Paleo-European languages in many place names and borrowings from those languages into the Indo-European languages that came later. Moreover, the Paleo-European languages influenced the grammar and pronunciation of the Indo-European languages, sometimes creating a new branch of Indo-European entirely.

When a language influences the language that replaces it like this, it is called a substrate language. It is hypothesized that the development of the Germanic languages was caused by such a substrate, which gave the Germanic languages about a quarter of their vocabulary.

More broadly, any language that was displaced or existed in Prehistoric Europe, Asia Minor, Ancient Iran, and Southern Asia before the arrival of the Indo-Europeans is called a Pre-Indo-European language. More of these are attested or recognized as substrates than for Paleo-European, but little is known about them overall.

Known Pre-Indo-European languages

Want to learn more about the history of the world’s languages? I recommend one of my favorite pop linguistics books, Empires of the word: A language history of the world:

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #36 – Life Does Not Allow Us To Meet by He Xi

I read this basically entirely because it got a hugo nomination, and assuredly would never have tried it otherwise – I literally wouldn’t even have heard of it, let alone be able to get my hands on a (digital) copy. So I went into this with frustratingly little context. Overall I’d call it an interesting read if not necessarily a loveable one.

The story follows a trio of explorers being sent to the colony of Caspian Sea, decades after the previous attempt to check on its progress was lost in a freak FTL accident. The planet, seeded with a population of genetically engineered ‘pioneers’ - humans modified to thrive in its environment - needs to be graded for suitability, and the colonists introduced to advanced technology and welcomed into humanity. Unsurprisingly, things do not go according to plan – the last mission’s destruction wasn’t as reported by the lone survivor, and the population has strayed increasingly far from the plan the Constitution of Earth demands.

Its heritage is of course entirely different, but the story was just incredibly reminiscent of old Golden Age American sci fi to me. The reason is some combination of style and content, I think. It’s overwhelmingly a novella of dialogue and exposition – pages at a time are dedicated to one character explaining a principle of the story’s science or technology to another. With the exception of the very final reveal, the whole plot is dialogue explaining the laws which the story is an expression of or decisions that they had already made – ‘action’ in any sense is in very short supply (despite the genocide). Reminded me of reading my dad’s ratty old paperbacks in the basement as a kid. Oddly nostalgic reading experience.

Prose-wise the story does come across as slightly stilted? Or maybe distant is the better word. Characters emote and have strong reactions, but in nearly every case it felt a bit tell-not-show. I’m not sure how much of that is from the original and how much is an artifact of translation (such is life for the tragically monolingual). While I mean, I’m fairly certain the translation could have been more graceful in places (I simply do not believe that referring to the original colony ship as Big Ship as a proper noun reads the same in English as whatever the original Mandarin was), but beyond that.

Speaking of being in translation – this is a story that made me desperately wish I was more properly familiar with the Chinese SF scene. If only because my initial reaction to it is that it’s obviously in conversation with the whole Three Body Problem series, but also those are literally the only two works of Chinese science fiction I’ve read so I really have no knowledge at all of the wider context they’re both swimming within.

Regardless, Life’s presentation of alien life absolutely does rhyme with Three Body’s, right down to the same examples of historical genocides being used to make the point. The xenophobia is presented as policy rather than an actual law of history, but it feels like a very intentional reference (and the story clearly considers it at least plausible if not necessarily self-evident). Which is what drives the central moral drama of the story – that despite the most careful possible genetic engineering, stellar radiation has left the pioneers of Caspian Sea incapable of reproducing with earth-born humans, and so made them functionally a different species. And thus, by the constitution of earth, axiomatically a potential threat to the survival of humanity that must be exterminated out of hand.

Going from Children of Memory (a series motivated in large part by wonder and joy at the idea of truly nonhuman intelligence, and possessed of ironclad faith in the potential of cosmopolitan, liberal societies to integrate wildly disparate parts) to this was something of a shock.

The book’s vision of humanity is kind of interesting, honestly. Subspecies modified to thrive on different planets, but capable of interbreeding to ensure some level of biological solidarity or shared destiny or something. Not making drastic changes to the appearance, even if it means awkwardly hiding gills under arm pits or not even trying to colonize worlds that would require exuding a thick mucus layer, basically explicitly to make sure that everyone will still find each other fuckable. Fascinatingly shallow, almost?

Anyways yes, interesting ideas and central drama, let down some by prose and execution. Very Asimov.

[joyfullywizard]

Hi! Really would like to know your opinions about Nosferatu remake considering everything?

Hey! Well, lol, it's all quite funny really in a way. Of course, I'm basing my opinions thus far on promotion materials only like trailers and stuff.

Cause  it seems that surprisingly remake is shaping up to be very tropey. Tropey in a sense that it uses lots of fanfic-ish tropes and  tries to insert some form of shipping  of Ellen  with Orlok. And since Nosferatu brand is very much built on “vampire brings plague which destroys city and woman sacrifices herself to kill him and stop him” mode, and it’s kinda a fixed point of 1922  Nosferatu movie  and its 1979 remake, it  seems the author of the 2024 remake had to work it backwords and make up the reason how Ellen, who still needs to sacrifice herself to Orlok and die, could still be into vampire. So, they gave her some death-wish, death-kink  in the remake or something based on the trailer. Which is quite interesting, because it basically  changes her whole sacrifice and death. Like in 1922 movie her sacrifice was a big act of heroism, and it was spelled in the movie   “A woman pure in heart, who will offer her blood freely to Nosferatu and will keep the vampire by her side until after the cock has crowed”.  Her entire deal  was  that she’s good and pure and sweet. Here Ellen is attracted to Death, dying, so on, it’s mentioned in the trailer that she has a secret and has her condition since childhood – so it’s not Orlok’s influence that made her suddenly into all that stuff, she seems to be like that since forever and Orlok is merely tapping into that. So when Ellen will be giving herself to vampire it will be  less about saving the city from plague and vampire who spreads it, while eating half of city’s population, like in 1922 original and its 1979 remake[though I suspect remake!Ellen must be also sad about all that stuff, cause they can’t make her into full blown psychopath] and more about her getting off and getting what she always actually wanted.   Something, something sexual liberation and fulfillment which she couldn’t get in life otherwise, but getting now   via having sexy times with vampire, even if she dies in the end in the process but it’s all fine, cause she was actually very  happy with Death and bonking vampire anyway, lol .

Speaking of which…another big glaring trope is that remake seems to be shitting on Ellen’s human life partner aka husband – Thomas. The trailer puts down Thomas and spells that he sucks in bedroom or something. Which is definitely a choice, but also kinda a huge cliché for vampire media since…a long time. It didn’t happen in 1922 movie or 1979 movie.  I mean such stuff is obviously done in order to push forward Ellen-Orlok combo, by introducing reasons why it’s actually understandable that Ellen falls for Orlok. Like yeah, he’s walking cadaver, ugly and smells like rotting meat and he brings Black Death and stuff, but hey, he fucks better than Thomas (metaphorically at least) and vibes with Ellen’s uber goth nature and he's basically the embodiment of Death, while Ellen is super into Death.   Extra predictions: while Thomas is supposed to be a good guy overall, based on 1922 movie and its 1979 remake, apart from dunking on Thomas’s sex performance remake probably will be undermining their relationships in other ways, by like showing that Thomas doesn’t  really understand Ellen, she’s too weird for him or  maybe even scares him at times, with her behavior,  so he wouldn’t trust her, etc.….Bonus predictions: at some  point in the remake Ellen-Orlok’s deal will be referred to as “dark romance” or “dark love” or something like that to drive a point across that Thomas not only lost by not killing vampire and not saving his wife’s life, but also by losing his wife emotionally and like sexually, because of  all that stuff.  TDRL: Thomas is getting cucked in more  ways than one by narrative  in the remake, it seems.

Another weird stuff I got  from the trailer is that Ellen seems to be not that smart in the remake actually. Like in 1922 original movie Ellen is the one who takes the lead, does enquiry on her own, reads occult literature and learns  about the way how to kill Orlok. Then she comes up with a plan all on her own and sets it in motion all by herself, inviting vampire in and keeping him occupied  with her blood until sun destroys him. 1979 remake only  built on that  - Ellen (named Lucy in remake) not only researched a way how to kill vampire all by herself, but also went and purified vampire’s coffins on her own, and even tried  to reason with the townspeople, who didn’t believe her  and local blink-and-you-miss-him Van Helsing, who was  absolutely useless,  then she  made up a plan and  invited vampire  in and kept  him with her until the sun destroyed him. Yet in the trailer of the remake we got a scene of local Van Helsing variant  character or someone like that giving Ellen a  lecturing pep talk about how only she could redeem the town. Eh, lol, what? OG Ellen didn’t need any  pep talk and lectures  from anyone, she was smart and capable and brave enough herself, both in original movie and its 1979 remake. If anyone, it would be Ellen who would be giving  lecturing pep talks to people -and she did in 1979 remake actually.  So, like, Ellen in the 2024 remake does not seem to be actually that brave – cause she’s already giddy with concept of Death, plus has some type of hysteria (?) and most likely would be not-so-secretly only happy to die because of her death-kink, her husband doesn’t seem enough for her, Ellen also doesn’t seem to be that smart either – cause she needs another character, a male character specifically, to give her lectures on the issue (???), like is remake giving the whole making up the plan how to kill Orlok to an old dude now (?!),  what was that about?

Again, I’m only speculating and throwing out suspicions- predictions on the wall, but so far the trailers gave me huge  tropey - cliché vibes from a lot of vampire media, but which previously definitely weren’t in Nosferatu movies.

[rakubalka]

@khr-guilded-cage @massivechildtidalwave

Have either of the two of you ever watched or read Overlord? Because I kinda wanna start an AU in which we throw Tsuna(around a week before the start of canon) in as the only other still active guild members of Ainz Ooal Gown into the new world along with Momonga . And just have Tsuna be an actual teenager (and the resident person with morality to keep the others in check) .

The activities of being the Nazarick's resident teenage suprime being include :

- make sure Demiurge doesn't go to the deep end and hurt innocent people . By reasoning that they can instead use people like r@pist and the general scum of the earth to supply the parchment for scrolls with no moral questioning, after all there is no need for mercy if the person did something unforgivable

- start an entire movement in Nazaric to find Momonga(his Dad in all but blood) a good partner from outside of Nazaric because he will look at them as children so they need someone who is closer to his mental age

- started the Momonga x Gezef fan club and the resulting shipping war (because Tsuna was raised in the internet and had somewhat regular contact with the rest of the guild for at least a year or two while being like what 10 , that's gonna leave an interesting impression of how fandoms work) because Gazef is quite literally the best pick they have

- start coming to any and all places when he is bored to either supervise or learn what they are doing

- become an active member in the Momonga fab club along with the other members of Nazarick

- create an art laborer guild because it's way more sustainable in the long run to have 200 artists on their pay roll than to have the same amount of people in farms . Also the fact that pieces of art had a much more favorable turn to Ygrasill gold ratio than grain is helping a lot , and that's without putting into consideration the way less of strand they put on the land

- changed Albedo's setting from the canon version to something along the line of "Like the Guildmaster of Ainz Ooal Gown she too holds Nazarick and it's denizens as something prescious worth protecting at all cost" (are I'm overiding Albedo's character , yes I am but with Tsuna here the story is gonna be different because he IS here)

- terrorizing this world's dragon population because for a difference of Momonga his build isn't roleplay focused(as much as he loves lore) but a solidly combat focused , more specifically his build is similar to Ulbert aka magic glass canon that can easily take you out with just one spell even and if you're a max level specialized tank

- mitigate if not stop the "Splat" from happening by being the voice of reason to NOT use a mass sacrificing ritual on what are most likely farmers who didn't have a choice other than to comply with the crown or be executed for "treason" (the war still ends in a massacre but no one got sacrificed to an literal lovecraftian God)

- have the whole of Nazarick trying to come up with a way to also get him immorality

And just overall being both a nuisance on anyone who tries to down play or insult Nazarizk and Momonga along with also being Nazarick common sense and morality person

Then at some point Vongola somehow get him back and more specifically in his human body . The result is an extremely pissed Nazarick who will be into the KHR world in less than 5 months ready for blood .

And in those 5 month Tsuna is going to be both 1) extremely depressed because he thinks the only place he ever felt like was his home is no longer accessible and he's no longer able to contact Momonga (who might be dead in body) and 2) is slowly going to make Vongola pay for taking him from the both the dream he had and because of how they not only mistreat him but also badmouth his guild and more specifically Mimonga (his Dad)

Result

You have a very angry Nazarick led by PvP and Guild War veteran of world class Momonga(who is also either a Cloud , Sky or a mix of those two and very protective of HIS people ) who is fully ready to kill people with the whole of Nazarick on his side and with Albedo , Demiurge and Pandora Actor given full premison to get what is needed no matter the method

And you also have hell bent on revenge Tsuna who actually not only has experience how to wild flames as easy as breathing but armed with all his spells and ready to take Vongola and the Mafia down

Needless to say Vongola and the rest of the underworld are fucked

(also let's add Skull as Ulbert just for the lol)

(I actually already have Tsuna's build and race in mind and even a world item a can give him that I made for him specifically)

[mswyrr]

I've got to say the "he's a lost cause, he's too damaged, he's yicky, he's disgusting, I'm considering him dead in that fridge, he shouldn't date" stuff is so wild and sad to me. All of his issues are very treatable and manageable with treatment. I have family with issues that make his issues look like a walk in the park. His main problem is lack of self-awareness (and self-acceptance) of the fact that he has a chronic illness and taking active steps to manage it effectively IMO.

Once that switch flips for him he can manage this stuff really well - being in denial about it or thinking it should be "fixable" are both dangerous errors that can compromise or prevent that. But working through those? He could cope very well overall.

40 million people in the US have anxiety disorders! That's 12% of the population. Over 18% of people will be diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives. CPTSD is more rare, but still manageable. People are not living the life of a monk or "symbolically dead" because of these conditions. And they watch TV. Sometimes when people talk like this, it feels like they think people with similar issues are all locked away somewhere, not in fandom, not drawn to stories with good representation of these struggles.

It's specifically desperately sad when, instead of simply saying, "I don't like the ship," people choose to use real life problems and speak on them about how people with these problems shouldn't get to love or live their lives because of their illnesses. That's so not cool. It's entirely possible to just not vibe with the ship and move on.

[grandmagbignaturals]

Green party are really not doing themselves any favours....

Got an email arguing against the fast track projects (reasonable. Lefty consensus) specifically because of the west coast (Oof).

For non-kiwis the West coast (where I live) is mining country and also a temperate rainforest. Due to mine disasters and ecological concerns our mines have been mostly closed. Now we have no industry, poverty is rampant and everyone is struggling.

Even lefties here kind of want to see some mining come back, and the greens are often painted here as just sort of... wishing nobody lived here. That it was wilderness.

Which yknow. It isn't. People do live here, and we are overwhelmingly poor, and disproportionately disadvantaged in other ways (disability, queerness, neurodivergence). Our local mental health crisis team is one of the biggest in the country when taking the overall population into account.

So sending out an email that's like "oh won't you think of the poor West coast how dare the government try to do more mining there"

To a local it is just. Yikes. Maybe. Hm. Not a good political move in this specific location.

Unfortunately the entire population of the region fits into a suburb of Auckland so I'm sure the city greenies will love this email.

Ps. When coal is not mined here coal is shipped from Asia before it is burned. Is that. Better? It sure changes some equations.

[honourablejester]

HOMEBREW DUNGEON: PANOPTES, BEHOLDER CITYSHIP IN THE ASTRAL SEA

Through the silver haze of the Astral Sea, a vast grey shape hoves into view. Its surface a twisted, melted mass of metallic grey, seamed by bright, geometrical gashes into the depths of the interior, this fractured sphere defies categorisation. Is it an asteroid? A ship? A city? Yes. Yes, all of these. This shape in the silver is the cursed beholder cityship Panoptes, a damned station sailing through the void, inhabited by the maddened remains of what was once a populous outpost. Now, only five beholders remain, a council as fractured as the sphere they inhabit, a paranoid collection of collectors voyaging to eternity. Many ships and whole worlds have cursed the name of this station. Panoptes hunts as it flies. Nestled within its interior are fitful portals, and as the station cruises close to worlds and realms, those portals snatch people. There are those who wonder if it does so intentionally, or if the cityship is more ghost than anything else, portals flaring without will, stealing without intent. Whether it intends its predations or not, those taken aboard the dread voyager are almost never seen again.

Okay. So a while ago, I watched a Dungeon Dudes video about how to run beholders, and they talked about how, since beholders only have a fly speed, they hover everywhere, you could almost run their lairs like space stations? Zero gravity. Because beholders don’t need to walk anywhere. And that sparked something for me. A beholder space station. Given spelljammer, you know? A vast asteroid cityship, sailing through the void, piloted by a cadre of mad scientists. I really, really, really like the image. So I thought I’d work with it a little bit.

Now. Warning. This is not an actual finished dungeon with maps and measurements. (There are two diagrams, just to give an idea of the physical structure, but I mocked those up in Microsoft Office Word using smartart and a picture of an exploded sphere, so please pardon those). This is mostly just a concept breakdown for the overall structure and plots of the space. But. With that in mind?

PANOPTES, THE BEHOLDER CITYSHIP

STRUCTURE OF THE SHIP

The Panoptes, originally, was a large, roughly spherical asteroid of metallic grey rock, just over 1500ft in diameter. It was then carved, hollowed, and altered to house more than 400 beholders in a vast travelling cityship, and it bears significant marks of this transformation.

First, and most prominently, the asteroid is no longer intact. In order to enable the city to be divided into independent districts that could be isolated from each other if need be, the asteroid was magically fractured into eight equal pieces, arranged in two hemisphere of four pieces each. Dividing these pieces, sections, are 360ft wide chasms of empty air, bridged only by forcefield gantries and the vast anchor chains that make sure the cityship is, even still, one thing, even while divided. The whole ship is now nearly 2000ft in diameter, counting these gaps.

At the core of the sphere, in the centre where all the divides meet, hovers the Panopticon, a smaller, artificial metallic sphere that serves as the helm and bridge of the cityship as a whole, and from which the magical forces that hold the city together originate. The Panopticon is entirely physically independent of the rest of the ship, and can only be accessed by teleportation or by floating through the gap.

The cityship has a defined plane of gravity which extends through the equatorial gap between the two hemispheres, leading one to be called the ‘north’ hemisphere and the other to be called the ‘south’ hemisphere. Gravity generally points ‘downwards’ towards the equatorial gap, meaning that as one crosses from hemisphere to hemisphere, the direction of gravity reverses, although each section of the city has its own controllable gravity. One wouldn’t necessarily notice the shift, however, as the gaps themselves have no gravity at all. One would simply climb out the bottom of one hemisphere, float across the divide, and climb in the bottom of the other hemisphere. Well. If it were as easy as that, at least.

Each of the eight sections of the cityship has been hollowed out into six horizontal ‘decks’, 120ft high spaces at roughly the same level, with 10ft of uncarved asteroid between them, running from Deck 6 at the equatorial gap, the lowest and largest deck of every section, up to Deck 1 at the top of section, near the poles of the ship. Deck 6 therefore is 780ft wide, and each of the eight sections is 780ft tall, although the curved exterior edge of the ship is an additional 30ft thick on top of that. (Or, to put it another way, each section has a radius of 810ft from the point nearest the Panopticon in the centre of the ship to the outer surface of the ship).

Each of the eight sections of the ship was designed for a specific purpose, creating city ‘districts’ that are physically divided from each other. These eight sections will be detailed more later. They are designed alpha, beta, gamma or delta per hemisphere, with four pairs of sections, north and south, so that North Alpha is directly above South Alpha across the equatorial gap.

Travel between the various sections of the ship is primarily accomplished by one of two means: physical travel across ‘gantries’ formed by walls of force between sections, or teleportation between teleportation circles at various locations across the cityship. Because of potential gravity changes, each end of the various gantries is entered via a small room that can magically reduce the gravity inside itself to zero and then back again. These rooms also function as defenses, as they can be locked off to prevent access to the section. The gantries themselves can also be retracted, so that one would have to float under their own power across the gap. Attempting to do so is not without risk, however, as the gaps between sections are often full of disposed waste and other hazards, and can also be ‘flushed’ by a pulse of force from the Panopticon that violently propels anything in the gaps out beyond the air envelope of the ship.

Travel within a section has its own issues for non-beholders, as the cityship was carved with the ability to hover in mind, and thus tends to have simple open shafts to travel vertically between decks. Some exceptions exist, such as Section North Alpha, which has a long curving ramp carved along the outer wall of the section to allow travel between the six decks. Other decks have shafts where gravity has been nullified to allow even terrestrial visitors to float up and down them.

Access to the cityship from the outside can also be done by one of two means: physically docking with the ship in a smaller vessel in the dock district of Section North Delta, or by portal from a world or nearby ship into either Section North Delta or Section North Beta. These portals can be altered to essentially ‘scoop’ random inhabitants of said worlds or ships and bring them against their will onto Panoptes, and recently that has more often been the case than not.

The cityship is also well defended and armed. The 30ft thick metallic outer skin provides physical armour, and the ship is equipped with eight eyestalk weapon arrays, one at the centre of the outer surface of each section, providing protection in most directions. The cityship also possesses a beam weapon produced from the Panoption which can be directed outwards along any of the six axial shafts of the cityship, meaning the city doesn’t have to manoeuvre much to defend itself.

HISTORY OF THE SHIP

The history of Panoptes is a little difficult to ascertain, as there aren’t many left to ask, but it was clearly designed as mobile outpost or small city, with room to comfortably hold a few hundred beholders. There are features within the city that strongly suggest it was intended as an exploration vessel, equipped with portals to make contact with the various wildspace systems and worlds the cityship would encounter on its voyages, vast archives to record information and findings, and multiple laboratories of various focuses across the city. Possibly the cityship was also intended as a colonising vessel, as it would be strange to carry so many beholders merely for scientific exploration.

This is all guesswork, however, as the fact remains that almost no one still living remembers the original purpose of the Panoptes, for the simple reason that there is almost no one left to remember. The Panoptes, you see, is a ghost ship. There are personal quarters for over four hundred beholders on the ship, and almost every single one is empty. The crew of the Panoptes, whoever they were and whatever they intended to do, were wiped out. She sails now with a grand total of five (official) occupants. Five solitary survivors, of more than four hundred. And five fractured survivors.

Panoptes is the roving home of the Council of Five. Or the Council of Four, or the Council of One, depending on which of them you ask. It is believed, and they certainly claim, that the Five were among her original crew, though those claims may be questionable. It wasn’t only the crew itself that was wiped out. Large chunks of the ship’s records have also been damaged or wholesale erased, and there is a gap of roughly two hundred years where no records exist. It is inside this gap of time that the fate of the ship, and the deaths of its crew, are believed to have taken place, and there is no mention of any of the Five until after this gap, unless it was by other names.

Not that this would be difficult. The Five do not claim personal names, and instead each go by a title of their own choosing. Whatever their true names were, none save them know or speak them any longer.

Whatever that long ago calamity was, the Panoptes has turned to a new mission in its aftermath. She flies now by the whims of her Council, and her Council have, to put it mildly, disparate goals. But some twisted remnants of her original mission of exploration still remains. The Panoptes is exploring, and she is hunting. She seeks to explore strange new worlds, to take and to examine new life and new civilisations. She snatches prey wherever she passes. But she does not stop. Panoptes is not an invasion force. She is ever-moving, ever-seeking, picking up and examining things, people, as she goes, but always in search of something else, something more. What are her end goals? What is her end destination? No one, perhaps not even her own crew, are fully certain.

What is certain is that, should you encounter the Panoptes in the Astral Sea, it is strongly advised that you promptly find a different part of the Sea to be in. And should you be unfortunate enough to be one of her chosen prey, snatched from your world via one of her portals … She doesn’t stop. She doesn’t linger. Unless you can escape her almost immediately, it is very likely that you will never see your world again.

THE COUNCIL OF FIVE

The Council of Five are the five surviving beholders who control the Panoptes cityship. Unfathomably ancient beings who have survived the ageless depths of the Astral Sea for centuries, if not millennia, since the catastrophe that befell their city, the Council are the only beings still in existence who understand the secrets of the Panoptes’ systems and functions, and thus the only ones (they argue) that can hope to use her to her full potential.

As survivors of catastrophe, the Five are … aloof, even by beholder standards. They do not deign to speak to anyone outside of their own cadre. They do not deign to acknowledge the sovereignty, personhood or opinions of anyone who is not one of their own. And barely their own, either. The Council is most definitely not united, in anything beyond their determination to defend their claim to the ship. Each of the Five pursues their own goals above all else, and while alliances exist between various members, there is little in the way of true loyalty.

Each of the Five bears a self-appointed title that appear to be all they will acknowledge in lieu of a name. These titles are indicative of the individual beholder’s priorities and function within the city, inasmuch as functions still remain. The members of the Council of Five are as follows:

Control. A tyrant among tyrants, this beholder chose their name well and pointedly. Control considers themselves the head of the council and the de facto ruler of Panoptes, and that leadership is strongly reinforced by the fact that Control holds the Panopticon, the central control room of the cityship, as its personal territory. As such, Control functions as the pilot and overseer of the entire city. Forever fearful of being usurped, Control never leaves the Panopticon for any reason, and fiercely defends this tiny but vital territory. Its presence is more than felt throughout the rest of the cityship, however, via the roving eyes, the hovering automated scrying orbs that travel the entirety of the city, feeding everything they see and hear back to the Panopticon. The Panopticon allows Control to fly the ship, and to remotely exert considerable control over several areas of the cityship. The gantry bridges that connect each of the eight segments of the ship can be remotely disconnected from the Panopticon, and it has several other powers to control and isolate territory within the ship. As such, the other four of the Five take care not to offend Control too badly, no matter their personal views on their paranoid ‘leader’. If anyone has an idea where, if anywhere, Panoptes is ultimately headed, it’s Control.

Control is an absolutely pallid beholder, pale enough to be a Death Kiss, and has the eyebags of a chronic insomniac.

The Biologist. Very likely the first, and last, of the Council that non-beholder visitors to Panoptes ever meet, the Biologist has taken very avidly to certain aspects of Panoptes’ exploration mission. In particular, as one might guess, ‘she’ is fascinated by biology, the strange alien forms of all the myriad lifeforms the Panoptes has encountered. It is by her influence that the cityship is encourage to fly close to worlds and systems on her route, the better to scoop up a few fascinating specimens for examination. The Biologist has claimed Section North Beta, which would once have contained the medical wing and many of the old laboratories, as her territory, aided by the fact that not one but two of the ship’s mystical portals are located there. With the aid of her ally the Astrogator, those portals are programmed to fire whenever the Panoptes passes close enough to an inhabited world, ship or asteroid, randomly teleporting up to six desperately unfortunate occupants of those worlds or ships at a time directly into her laboratories. Almost every non-beholder occupant of Panoptes has their origins as victims or escapees of the Biologist’s labs, and another entire section of the ship, South Beta, one of the old habitation sectors of the city, is overrun with the results of her experiments, and has been quarantined from all other segments of the ship save North Beta by an exasperated Control as a result.

The Biologist is a greenish beholder with very long, delicate eyestalks. Her petrification ray is instead a vitrification ray, turning victims to glass instead of stone, as the Biologist prefers that the fascinating internal anatomy of her subjects remain visible and preserved.

The Astrogator. A long-time ally and borderline ‘friend’ of the Biologist, the Astrogator also nurses a scientific bent, but their focus is somewhat different. The Astrogator is fascinated by the geometry of the Astral Sea and its connected planes, and views the endless voyage of the Panoptes as one long examination of the underlying structure of the planes. As a side effect of this fascination, the Astrogator also has the keenest grasp of the function and programming of the various portals carried by the ship, as well as the most in depth exploration of Panoptes’ surviving archives. In the interests of steering the cityship to the most interesting confluences of the planes, as well as using the sensors and scrying equipment contained in the Panopticon to examine them, the Astrogator has taken care to maintain a cordial relationship with Control, and is often regarded as something of the pilot’s ‘second in command’, a position which largely boils down to ‘person Control is most likely to take a suggestion from if pushed’. Both the Astrogator and Control are aware that it is an extremely mercenary relationship, however, and the Astrogator may be the one Control most fears attempting to simply remove them and take control of the Panopticon for themselves. Likely for good reason, as the Astrogator most certainly would not be opposed. The Astrogator has claimed the transport hub of Section North Delta as its primary territory, although it also maintains control over the archival complex in Section North Gamma.

The Astrogator is a dark purple, nearly black beholder with abnormally tough, thick skin, granting it a +1 to AC from increased natural armour.

The Engineer. Easily the most long-suffering of all the Council, and also the most inclined to cooperate with other inhabitants of the cityship, within certain limits, the Engineer is the poor beholder who took it upon themselves to keep the battered Panoptes intact and functioning while the other four send it hither and yon across the Silver Sea. Which, given that the cityship is operating at a severely diminished crew capacity, and has accumulated more than a few scars over its long voyage, is more than a little difficult. The Engineer’s whole preoccupation is the continued safe(-ish) functioning of the cityship, and in that cause it has recruited several of the larger and more organised groups of the Biologist’s escapees to help it maintain Panoptes, in exchange for limited protection from the rest of the Council. Which mostly boils down to the Engineer declining to mention where they’re hiding if the Biologist or the Astrogator happens to be the vicinity. There’s no hiding most things from Control, given the reach of the Panopticon, but fortunately Control is extremely unconcerned with lesser beings, focusing the bulk of its paranoia on its fellow Council members, and so the Engineer’s little helpers are allowed to exist as long as they don’t do anything that would threaten the ship itself or put any of the Five at risk of harm. Which is also the limit of the Engineer’s tolerance, so Control is happy enough to leave them at it. While Control is sometimes worried about the extent of the Engineer’s own power, especially given the auxiliary controls in Section South Gamma, The Engineer’s priorities are easily discernable, and the Astrogator is a larger concern, so they work together happily enough. The Engineer has claimed Section South Gamma, which contains most of the old manufacturing and power facilities of the Panoptes, as their own.

The Engineer is small as beholders go, a tough, reddish ball of stumpy eyestalks and exhaustion. Its eyebags are as pronounced as Control’s.

Exile. The final member of the Council of Five, and the reason that many of the others consider it a Council of Four, Exile is the hermit of the Panoptes. A long time ago, Exile had a nearly fatal falling out with Control, and in an effort to preserve his own skin, he retreated to the one area of the ship where the leader has the least control: the inhospitable outer skin of cityship itself. Because the Panoptes is held together partly by forcefields, Control cannot pull the air envelope of the ship fully beneath the skin without risking the segments becoming destabilised relative to each other, and most of its seeing eyes are too vulnerable to send out into the lower gravity of the skin, where they risk being lost to the Silver Sea. And so, as long as he doesn’t descend back into the interior of the ship, at least not anywhere Control happens to be watching at the time, the Exile is relatively safe, if cold and lonely and extraordinarily bored. He has some regular contact with the Engineer, trading maintenance work on the exterior of the ship for supplies and the odd bit of stilted conversation, and is worried that the Astrogator is interested in him for something, but the bulk of Exile’s social contact is, again, with the colonies of inhabitants who escaped the Biologist’s attentions at one point or another. Garrulous and attention-starved, Exile is delighted to entertain anyone who makes their way out into the exterior skin of the cityship, and is knowledgeable of several ways of traversing the ship while avoiding Control’s attention.

The Exile is a large, blueish-black beholder with an oily sheen to his skin. Owing to aeons of exposure on the surface of the cityship, the Exile has resistance to cold and radiant damage.

OTHER INHABITANTS OF PANOPTES

Over the aeons, primarily as a result of the Biologist and her experiments, the Panoptes has accumulated other groups and colonies of inhabitants. And some of them may have been on the ship longer than anyone has thought.

The Reckoning. In a mockery of the titles the Council of Five have taken for themselves, this secret inhabitant of the cityship has named itself ‘The Reckoning’, after what it ardently hopes to bring to its oblivious enemies. The Reckoning, hidden away among the inaccessible and abandoned Section North Alpha, is a Death Tyrant, and quite possibly an undead remnant of the massacred original crew of the Panoptes. It nurses a titanic hatred of the Council of Five, but for some reason has taken considerable care never to reveal its presence to them in all the aeons since the calamity that wiped out the crew, instead locking down its own section of the ship and building its own forces slowly but surely within those confines. Whether the Death Tyrant was the cause of the calamity that destroyed the crew, with the Council of Five as the only ones who escaped its grasp, albeit apparently unknowingly, or whether the Death Tyrant is an undead survivor of a calamity brought about by someone else, possibly the Council themselves, who hates them for what they have done, might be difficult to ascertain. The presence of quite a number of zombie beholders among its forces, remnants of the occupants of Section North Alpha, might point more to the former, but the fact that the Council of Five appear to be unaware of the Reckoning’s existence, which you’d think they’d know about if it had destroyed their people around them, might point to the latter. Or perhaps the calamity was unrelated to either of the two sides, and the hatred nursed by the Death Tyrant is simply the unreasoning hatred of the undead towards the living.

The Ironskin Clan. One of the largest single groups of Biologist survivors, the Ironskin Clan are a group of some forty-odd dwarves who have set up their own enclave and territory within Panoptes, claiming a large section of the factory decks of Section South Gamma as their home, with the permission and tacit protection of the Engineer. The Ironskins are some of the Engineer’s most trusted allies, and for their part have come to genuinely support the beholder in its self-appointed task to keep the cityship functional and running. The cityship, for all it is currently a floating house of horrors, is a beautifully designed ship, and it breaks a dwarf’s heart to see her so perpetually close to falling (quite literally) apart because the majority of her remaining so-called crew are too embroiled in their own concerns to take care of her. While many of the survivors of the Biologist’s and Astrogator’s experiments are seeking a way off the cityship, and fuck this entire hellship anyway, the Ironskins are more likely to seek to throw the Council off the ship, in order to take her and look after her themselves, along with their ally the Engineer.

The Crimson Court. An experiment of the Biologist’s that nearly went quite badly wrong for her, the Crimson Court are a cadre of vampires that were snatched up by portal and deposited in Section North Beta. While the Biologist did manage to subdue them, and perform horrific experiments on several of them, holding vampires long-term proved more than she had interest in, and the survivors were relegated to Section South Beta along with the rest of her old or failed experiments. Declining to remain among the other pathetic (and sometimes deadly) former experiments, the vampires escaped the quarantine on Section South Beta and instead made their way across to the old wealthy habitation section of South Alpha, which was eminently more suited to their tastes. They have remained their to this day, carving out their own little fiefdom, surviving on the blood of other survivors who find the same path out of Section South Beta that they did. Most other survivors in other sections of the ship have tangled with the Crimson Court at least once as a result, and most strongly dislike them, but open war on them runs the risk of drawing the Biologist’s or, more likely, the Astrogator’s attention.

The Ragged Remnants. A self-adopted name, the Ragged Remnants are those of the Biologist’s more warped experiments, monstrosities or aberrations, who nonetheless retained their intelligence, memories and sense of self. Relegated to Section South Beta, instead of escaping further out into the ship, the Ragged Remnants decided to stay among the broken of Section South Beta, and do their best to both guide more intact survivors towards escape, and to shepherd and take care of the less intact survivors within the twisting corridors of their own section. Though almost universally terrifying to look at, often at least partially vitrified, the Ragged Remnants are among the gentlest inhabitants of Panoptes as a whole.

Light of Life. Despite the lofty name, the Light of Life are largely motivated by pragmatism. Formed largely of various forced inhabitants of the cityship with magic that can aid in the production of food, water and air, mostly clerics or druids, the Light of Life work towards the full restoration of Section South Delta, in order to make sure that people stuck on this damned ship can keep breathing, eating and drinking. Unlike the Ironskins, the Light of Life members nurse a range of views on Panoptes and its inhabitants, but are generally inclined to prioritise making sure staying alive remains an option for everyone involved before moving on to other goals. They work closely with the Engineer, though several of them do still view him as simply the most sensible of their jailers.

Miscellaneous Survivors. While some of the people forcibly relocated to the Panoptes by the portals banded together into groups like the Crimson Court, the Ironskin clan and the Light of Life, many others simply struck out for themselves and found ways to survive in whatever nooks and crannies of the cityship they were able to. These individual survivors can be encountered all across the ship, and run the entire gamut from friendly to murderous, resigned to defiant, desperate to entirely satisfied with their new lives.

SECTIONS OF PANOPTES

Panopticon: 

The Panopticon is a 180ft diameter metal sphere that hovers in the exact core of the Panoptes Cityship. It is the primary control hub for the ship, containing the helm, the divination core, and the magical controls for most of the ship’s systems. The sphere is divided into 3 chambers: the main central control room which contains the helm and the teleportation array, as well as most of the ship’s controls; the surveillance room, which contains a scrying table and the controls for the roving orbs; and a small private chamber originally intended as a bunkroom for the watchmaster, which Control now uses as a private chamber.

The Panopticon allows remote control of many of the systems of the cityship. This includes locking down or retracting gantries between sections, remotely disabling teleportation arrays or portals, activating security features such as weaponised doors or bulkheads, activating or deactivating the gravity in a section of the ship, activating the eyestalk arrays or beam weapon, flushing the gaps between sections of debris/hostiles, and expanding or contracting the air envelope around the ship. The divination room allows control of the roving orbs, a veritable army of arcane eyes that patrol the cityship and report all that they see back to the Panopticon. The scrying table also allows more targeted viewing, both inside and outside the ship.

Access Points: The Panopticon has no physical access from the rest of the ship, and could only be accessed physically by cutting through the metal exterior while floating in the central shaft, which the sphere has several defenses against. It was intended to be accessed via a 2-way teleportation array which connects to the maintenance arrays in all cityship sections, but Control has disabled this array. The Panopticon is equipped with wards which prevents all other forms of teleportation into the interior of the sphere.

Section North Alpha: 

Section North Alpha was originally the entertainment and governance district of Panoptes, and served as the social and political hub of the city during better days. Its larger lower decks, Decks 5 and 6, are honeycombed with eateries, debate halls, gambling halls, and various other social venues, as well as a huge zero gravity open arena which stretches between the two decks and was often used for large scale games. The upper decks of the district were focused more on city governance, with public offices and meeting spaces on Deck 4, the City Council Chambers on Deck 3, council offices on Deck 2, and the Governor’s Palace at the peak of the District on Deck 1.

Since the fall of Panoptes, Section North Alpha has been quarantined for unknown reasons, and cannot be accessed by gantry or teleportation array. What most of the residents of Panoptes do not know is that Control wasn’t the one to quarantine the section, and cannot access it either, not even from the Panopticon. Should anyone find their way into the disused, abandoned section, they would find it the secret lair of a Death Tyrant, and several other undead beholders from before the calamity. These undead inhabitants are nursing quite the grudge against the Council of Five, but have restrained themselves from acting upon it for unknown reasons.

Access Points: Section North Alpha is currently quarantined and is inaccessible, with all gantries retracted, but under ordinary circumstances it would be accessible from Section South Alpha via a gantry to Deck 6, from Section North Beta via a gantry on Deck 5, and from Section North Delta via a gantry on Deck 4. There is also a teleportation array on Deck 3 that would connect to the Panopticon, and several arrays on Deck 5 that would connect to the habitation Sections of South Alpha and South Beta and the Portal Hub in North Delta. A smaller array on Deck 4 would have connected to Maintenance in Section South Gamma. Again, these arrays have been disabled. Waste disposal units on all decks flush waste out into the gaps, though these are inaccessible from the exterior. Additionally, a single maintenance airlock extends outwards to the eyestalk weapon arrays on the surface of the section from Deck 4.

Section North Beta: 

Section North Beta was the medical and scientific hub of Panoptes, and the fact that it required an entire city district says quite a lot about the intended function of the cityship. The section has large areas available for the treatment, holding and quarantine of large numbers of beings, and is one of two sections where significant numbers of outsiders are designed to come aboard. As such, Section North Beta contains one of two planetary portal hubs aboard Panoptes, an array of four portals capable of transporting up to six medium creatures at a time each. This portal hub is located on the lowest deck, Deck 6, which also contains the quarantine wards and containment areas. Deck 5, above it, contains most of the medical and treatment facilities aboard Panoptes, which includes objects and rooms which can provide healing magic. Decks 3 and 4 are more research-orientated, and contain laboratories of various types. Deck 2 contains the cityship’s medical records, and Deck 1 holds the medical and research administration offices.

Since the fall of Panoptes, Section North Beta has been almost entirely the preserve of The Biologist, and it has become the sole area of the cityship where outsiders are still regularly brought in, at the Biologist’s request and by Control’s permission, via the medical portals. As a result, egress from the section is severely limited, with exits via gantry or teleport array tightly monitored by Control from the Panopticon. The Biologist is largely unbothered by this, as she has no intentions of leaving her domain. Decks 3 and 4, the laboratory levels, are her residence and primary location, while the lower decks are littered with her trophies and some of her favoured still-living experiments. Those experiments she is less fond of are instead transported to Section South Beta to get them out of her way, and she has no care whatsoever what happens to them down there.

Access Points: Section North Beta can be entered by gantry from Section South Beta on Deck 6, from Section North Alpha on Deck 5, and from Section North Gamma on Deck 3. It has teleport arrays on Deck 5 that access all other Sections, except the Panopticon. Additionally, Deck 6 contains the portal hub which can portal people into South Beta from external worlds or ships within range of the portal system. Leaving Section North Beta is more complicated, as neither the teleport arrays nor portal hub work in the other direction, and all gantries except the gantry to Section South Beta have barred access except to the Council of Five. Waste disposal units across the section flush waste into the gaps around the section, after first bathing them in killing light to ensure that no contaminations leave the section. These units are not accessible from the exterior. Additionally, a single maintenance airlock extends outwards to the eyestalk weapon arrays on the surface of the section from Deck 4.

Section North Gamma: 

Section North Gamma was a massive archive, library and college district, and was intended to collect works from worlds the cityship visited as well as works produced by the beholders of Panoptes themselves, so large swathes of archive space were left empty with the intent to expand into them as the ship travelled. These archives exist in several formats, including written texts, collections of information orbs, and other, rarer forms of information storage encountered in stranger worlds along the journey. The city’s own internal records are also stored here, usually in shrunken orb format. City and maintenance archives are stored on Deck 6, as well as records of the city’s voyages, general archives on Decks 3 and 4, and works created in Panoptes on Deck 2. Deck 5 contains lecture halls, study rooms, small laboratories, an archive maintenance and restoration unit, and archive offices. Deck 1 contains archive administration.

Since the fall of Panoptes, Section North Gamma has been the secondary territory of The Astrogator, and this beholder has been responsible for the continued documentation of the city’s journey, continued expansion of collections, and several of its own written works. The Astrogator’s residence while in this section is in the archive administration area on Deck 1. While Section North Gamma isn’t quarantined or limited in access like other sections of the North hemisphere, it is religiously patrolled by the Astrogator’s own private constructs, and while rooms are accessible, the actual records and documents are contained within extremely sturdy and magically locked containers that are difficult to access without the Astrogator’s permission.

Access Points: Section North Gamma can be accessed by gantry from Section South Gamma on Deck 6, from Section North Beta on Deck 3, and from Section North Delta on Deck 2. The only teleport array access is a maintenance link on Deck 5 from Section South Gamma. Additionally, a single maintenance airlock extends outwards to the eyestalk weapon arrays on the surface of the section from Deck 4.

Section North Delta: 

Section North Delta was the transportation hub of Panoptes, and was the primary entrance point to the city for most outsiders. The cityship’s main portal hub was located in this section, a series of interlinked portal rooms with over 15 portals that could connect to worlds and ships at varying ranges, and allow for parties of varying sizes. In addition to the portal hub, Section North Delta also allowed some docking facilities for small Astral Sea vessels, both on the underside of the section below Deck 6, and via docking arms on the exterior skin of the section with large cargo lifts down into the interior. The ship docks are each entirely self-contained and access inwards from the dock is controlled via airlocks. The entirety of the section was devoted to processing and occasionally storing the people and goods from these port facilities. Deck 6 contained the bulk of the ship docking facilities, as well as massive warehouse and storage facilities. Deck 5 is a containment area between the docks on Deck 6 and the portals on Deck 4, and contains holding cells, short-term storage bays, confiscated materials lockers, as well as a miniature monitoring suite similar to the divination suite on the Panopticon, which allows cityship security to more closely (and independently) monitor this section of the ship. Deck 4 contains the main portal hub and a visitor processing/customs facility. Deck 3 holds guest accommodations for short term visitors (long-term visitors are rare, and were usually housed in either the entertainment area of North Alpha, or in the nicer habitation areas of South Alpha). Deck 2 contains the portal control and maintenance section, as well as an archive of portal activation records. Deck 1 contains the Sectionmaster’s quarters.

After the fall of Panoptes, Section North Delta has been the primary home and stomping grounds of The Astrogator. The portal hub, control hub and activation records have been the primary focus of the beholder’s studies since the fall, and it keeps its primary lair in the Sectionmaster’s quarters on Deck 1. The Astrogator has much less interest in the lower levels of the Section, the docks and containment areas, although it has found use for some of the holding cells on Deck 5 over the aeons. The Astrogator will tolerate no intrusion onto the portal decks or above, however, and will kill any creature it finds between Decks 1 and 4. This is not to say that none are ever found here, however. The Astrogator’s closest guarded secret is that it has managed to break Control’s lock on two of the smaller portals, and has been using them to experiment with the functions of portals within the Astral Sea. The Astrogator uses the holding cells on Deck 5 to contain any creatures that emerge from these portals until they have been interrogated on their origins and experience of the portal, after which they are almost always destroyed and disposed of.

Access Points: Section North Delta can be accessed by gantry from Section South Delta on Deck 6, from Section North Alpha on Deck 4, and from Section North Gamma on Deck 2. Teleport arrays on Deck 4 connect with Section North Alpha, and smaller array on Deck 2 connects with Maintenance in Section South Gamma. Section North Delta also has exterior access via the ship docks on Deck 6, and via cargo transport tunnels that connect the warehouse district on Deck 6 up through the section to several external ship docking arms on the exterior surface of the section. Finally, Section North Delta contains the cityship’s primary portal hub, capable of reaching worlds and ships on different planes and at incredible ranges. These portals have been disabled by Control from the Panopticon, but two smaller ones have been secretly re-enabled by the Astrogator, and these portals are two-directional. Additionally, a single maintenance airlock extends outwards to the eyestalk weapon arrays on the surface of the section from Deck 4.

Section South Alpha: 

Section South Alpha was one of two habitation/residential districts in Panoptes, and was decidedly the nicer and more spacious of the two, equating to an ‘upper class’ district. City councillors, favoured socialites, and individuals important to the function of the city had quarters here, as well as the occasional foreign guest or ambassador. The city governor also maintained a residence here, in addition to their Palace in Section North Alpha, primarily for hosting social functions and for taking holidays. Deck 6 functions as the public area of the Section, containing restaurants, public amenities, and various social meeting spaces. Decks 5 to 3 contain large private residences, while Decks 1 and 2 contain the truly palatial halls, primarily the homes of city councillors.

After the fall of Panoptes, Section South Alpha has become all but uninhabited. None of the Council of Five have any interest in the empty palaces and social spaces designed for significantly larger groups of people. It is largely ignored by the powers that currently be within the city, and in fact has no gravity, as that system was shut off in what was considered to be an uninhabited area. As such, South Alpha might have functioned as a safe harbour for those who managed to escape the Biologist’s or Astrogator’s clutches and managed to flee to other sections of the ship. However, an early colony of such escapees, who happened to be vampires, took over large parts of the section, and made it distinctly dangerous for anyone else. This vampire colony, calling itself the Crimson Court, has made its home in several of the more palatial of the old residences, and anyone else who would like to set up shop here is expected to pay a toll in blood, willingly or otherwise.

Access Points: Section South Alpha can be accessed by gantry from Sections North Alpha and South Delta on Deck 6. The gantry from South Beta, also on Deck 6, has been retracted and disabled as part of the quarantine on South Beta. Teleportation arrays on Deck 6 connect to Sections North Alpha, North Beta, and South Gamma. Waste disposal units, primarily on Deck 6, flush waste materials into the equatorial gap, though these are not accessible from the exterior. Additionally, a single maintenance airlock extends outwards to the eyestalk weapon arrays on the surface of the section from Deck 4.

Section South Beta: 

Section South Beta was the other of the two residential sections on Panoptes, and was definitely the less comfortable of the two. South Beta has much less distinct decks than other sections of the cityship, beyond the more public areas of Deck 6 at the base of the section. Above Deck 6, South Beta is an indistinct warren of small residences and public passages carved from the raw metallic rock of the asteroid in whatever fashion proved most expedient. At the peak of the section, however, on the nominal Deck 1, was a set of offices for the South Beta Habitation Overseer, who was responsible for relaying concerns from the section primarily to city government and city maintenance. The Habitation Overseer was an elected role from within the inhabitants of the section.

Since the fall of Panoptes, Section South Beta has had the misfortune to be the dumping ground and repository for all the Biologist’s older or less successful experiments. As a result, the section is a warren of monstrosities and aberrations, some of which maintain their previous minds and memories, and more of which who don’t, trapped within the walls of South Beta. The entire section has been quarantined from the cityship at large, with access in only permitted from North Beta, and no escape out. Or at least, that’s the theory. There are several intelligent inhabitants who have no interest in leaving their new home, however, and who have made the best of their lives here.

Access Points: Section South Beta, like Section North Alpha, is currently quarantined and inaccessible, with all gantries retracted and disable except the gantry from North Beta on Deck 6, which allows access only into South Beta, not out. If they were extended, gantries would also extend from Deck 6 to Sections South Gamma and South Alpha. The teleportation arrays on Deck 6, which would have connected to Sections North Alpha, South Alpha and South Gamma, have also been disabled. The array which connects to North Beta, again, is active but only one-way, into South Beta only. Waste disposal units, primarily on Deck 6, flush waste materials into the equatorial gap, though these are not accessible from the exterior. Additionally, a single maintenance airlock extends outwards to the eyestalk weapon arrays on the surface of the section from Deck 4.

Section South Gamma: 

Section South Gamma was the primary maintenance and manufacturing hub of Panoptes. Anything the city made for itself was made in the workshops and factories in this section, and the maintenance workers for the entire cityship made their base here. As a result, section South Gamma is the most well-connected section within the city, since it required maintenance access to all other sections, and the section is also home to several auxiliary and redundant controls to function as a back-up to the Panopticon if required. Decks 5 and 6 contain most of the city’s factories and foundries, as well as storage and warehouse facilities. These are public decks, while the higher decks of the section, which house the cityship’s maintenance department, are self-contained with controlled access via bulkheads. Deck 4 contains maintenance workshops, as well as the teleportation arrays to the rest of the cityship. Deck 3 houses the auxiliary control and monitoring rooms, functioning essentially as a second Panopticon, although if conflict arises between the two control centres, the Panopticon overrides. Deck 2 offers eating and rest areas for maintenance workers from Decks 3 and 4. Deck 1 contains maintenance administration offices.

Since the fall of Panoptes, Section South Gamma has become the territory of The Engineer, the sole member of the Council of Five who is trying to keep the cityship as a whole intact and functioning. The Engineer is most often found on Deck 3, in the auxiliary control rooms, although it often ventures throughout Panoptes as a whole on maintenance missions, and even out onto the surface of the cityship on occasion. Chronically overworked, the Engineer has made bargains with several of the non-beholder inhabitants of Panoptes to do maintenance work for it in exchange for a safe place to stay and the Engineer’s protection from other members of the Council of Five. As a result, several groups of beings inhabit and work in Decks 4, 5 and 6 of South Gamma, although none are permitted into the Control areas of Deck 3. In particular, an adoptive clan of dwarves called the Ironskins live on Deck 5 and willingly help the Engineer in its endeavours out of genuine sympathy as much as mercenary bargaining. The Engineer has jury-rigged its own teleport array to allow these inhabitants to access the rest areas and in particular the food production areas on Deck 2. Control is aware of this and distinctly unhappy about it, but allows it out of a need for someone to be working on keeping the city flying.

Access Points: Section South Gamma is extremely well connected to the rest of the ship. Gantries on Deck 6 connect to Sections North Gamma and South Beta, although the South Beta gantry has been disabled. A gantry on Deck 5 connects with Section South Delta. Cargo-only teleportation arrays also connect to Section North Delta for bulk transport of goods from the docks to the factories and vice versa. Teleportation arrays on Deck 4 connected with all other Sections of the ship, as well as several locations on the ship’s exterior, and also to Deck 2 within Section South Gamma. The array to the Panopticon has been disabled. Additionally, Section South Gamma has several airlocks to manually travel out onto the exterior of the ship, including one to the eyestalk weapon array, as well as internal maintenance hatches out into the shafts and gaps between sections.

Section South Delta: 

Section South Delta was the primary systems facility on Panoptes, and houses most of the magical systems that keep the city functioning. These systems include water production, air production, food production, and sewage transportation and control. Because of these systems, consistent gravity is vitally important within this section and cannot be shut off, even from the Panopticon. Deck 6 contains vast storage tanks, primarily for water and foodstuffs. Decks 4 and 5 contain a massive water production tank and several air production units. Air and water are then dispersed through the cityship from these units using a system of microscopic portals to take air or water to dispersal units on other decks and in other sections. Decks 2 and 3 hold greenhouses for food production. Deck 1 holds the system status monitors for the entire section.

After the fall of Panoptes, Section South Delta was unmaintained for a long time, and nearly fell fatally into disrepair. One of the Engineer’s most longstanding projects has been getting the section back working again, and it has largely succeeded, although several back-up systems are still inoperative, leaving the section still very vulnerable to failure. Conscious of this, the Engineer has convinced Control to focus a lot of security measures and surveillance into this section to make sure that this vital area cannot be taken offline by intruders. As the Panopticon is provided with food, water and air exclusively by minor portals from Section South Delta, while other sections have some option to gain sustenance via portal or from the exterior, Control wasn’t long in agreeing. Only those most trusted by the Engineer are allowed to work in this section, meaning it is primarily the Ironskins and several other trusted individuals who have talents in certain areas of magic, such as plant growth and the production of water.

Access Points: Section South Delta can be accessed by gantry from Sections North Delta and South Alpha on Deck 6, and from Section South Gamma on Deck 5. The North Delta and South Alpha gantries have been retracted and disabled to make sure the Engineer controls access to the section. A single teleport array on Deck 6 allows access for creatures from Section South Gamma. However, the water, air and sewage systems all maintain their own portal connections to various locations on the cityship, though not large enough for any creature larger than Tiny in size to access. The water and air systems transport outwards, the sewage system transports inwards. Additionally, a single maintenance airlock extends outwards to the eyestalk weapon arrays on the surface of the section from Deck 4.

Exterior Surface: 

The Exterior Surface of Panoptes has primarily existed purely for the defense of the cityship within. A 30ft thick skin of metallic rock sheaths the outward faces of all sections of the ship, solid except for the maintenance hatches to the eyestalk weapon arrays, the maintenance access from Section South Gamma, and the ship docks in Section North Delta. Between the eight sections of Panoptes, the exterior surfaces are connected via massive anchor chains at the midpoint of the exterior edge of all sections. The only ‘habitation’, if it could be called that, on the surface are the interiors of the eyestalk arrays themselves, which have small maintenance chambers within them. Each of the eight sections of the cityship has its own eyestalk weapon array at the very centre of their exterior surface, for a total of eight arrays around the ship.

Gravity on the surface of the cityship is weak, and focused inwards so that ‘down’ points into the ship. At the edges of the sections, where the surface touches the edges of the interior gravity-less spaces between, gravitational eddies and anomalies are common, and walls of force have been erected to prevent unfortunate accidents. These walls extend across the anchor chains in similar ways to the internal gantries, and thus allow travel between sections. Not all of these walls of force are still in operation, however, with those of Section North Alpha, Section South Alpha and Section South Beta in particular no longer in existence, and the gravity on the exterior of those sections is weak enough to be nearly non-existent.

For some time now, the Exterior Surface has been the home of The Exile, the last member of the Council of Five, who makes his primary home inside the Eyestalk of Section South Delta, as the necessity of that section remaining intact provides a nice extra defense against Control taking adverse actions against him. He is also commonly seen on the surface of Sections South Gamma and North Delta.

The Spaces Between: 

The Spaces Between refers to the gaps between the various sections of the cityship. The equatorial gap, the 360ft tall space of air that runs horizontally through the ship, has special focus, as does the vertical shaft that between the ‘poles’ of the ship, with the Panopticon in the centre of it, which acts as one of three main vectors for the cityship’s beam weapon, along with the two axial shafts that run horizontally through the ship. The Spaces Between do not have gravity, though they do have air, as they are still within the cityship’s air envelope.

They are also generally filthy, as most waste from the sections of the cityship is vented out into the Spaces Between, usually from waste vents into the equatorial gap. This collection of waste was why the flushing system, the pulse of force that shoves everything in the gaps out beyond the walls of the cityship, was developed, though it also has useful defensive benefits against those attempting to use the zero gravity environment of the Spaces Between to move around the ship. Or, particularly when conscious of the small ship docks in Section North Delta, people attempting to use small vessels to fly into the cityship and attack the Panopticon. One can actually discover the wreckage of a small spelljamming vessel wedged onto the anchor chain between Sections North Delta and South Delta, where an attempted manoeuvre by the vessel during the flush pushed it into the horizontal gap between the two sections and smashed it up against the central anchor chain. It is possible that this vessel is salvageable, although it clearly did not prove so for its crew, assuming any survived the crash.

ADVENTURES IN PANOPTES

Since the calamity that struck the cityship, and its take-over by the Council of Five, Panoptes does not host willing guests. Almost everyone who encounters the cityship does so as a result of either stumbling across it in the Astral Sea, or being kidnapped from their worlds or ships by the portals aboard her. As such, strangers to the ship will almost always begin their time aboard her in either Section North Beta (kidnapped by the Biologist and the medical portals) or Section North Delta (approached via spelljamming vessel to the docks or kidnapped by the Astrogator using its hijacked main portals). In most cases, this will require visitors to escape those sections, or at least fall back to defensible points within them, to avoid the clutches of either of those two beholders.

Section North Delta is definitely the more escapable option of the two, as it does have both the spelljammer docks and two reversible portals, although the portals at least would involve a direct confrontation with the Astrogator, as well as a tough puzzle to successfully reverse the portals before the cityship moves out of range of the character’s world or ship of origin.

Section North Beta is a lot trickier to get out of, as both it and Section South Beta below it have been quarantined to keep the Biologist’s experiments from the rest of the ship. However, South Beta definitely has some vulnerabilities, as its history of escapees proves, and while North Beta is more locked down, it might be possible to trick the locks on the gantries or to exit while the Biologist or Astrogator have opened them to pass between sections themselves.

Should a party either be forced or decide to stay longer and involve themselves in the cityship, however, there are several factions vying for supremacy on the ship, and several threats that could destroy it. Discovering the secret of the quarantined Section North Alpha, helping the Astrogator or possibly the Engineer wrest control of Panoptes away from Control, working for Control to monitor or act against the others in exchange for a promised escape, helping the brutalised victims of Sections North and South Beta to stand up against or kill the Biologist, gaining the assistance of the Exile or the Engineer to help restore the wrecked spelljammer in the equatorial gap in order to escape in a vessel of your own, working with the Engineer, the Ironskins and the Light of Life to fully restore the cityship to her former glory, discovering what calamity wiped the city out in the first place, luring or coordinating with an external vessel to do a death star run on the Panopticon through the Spaces Between in order to splinter this whole hellship finally and fatally apart …

There are options, depending on what a party might want to do within the confines of this fractured (in more senses than one) beholder cityship among the stars.

[azmenka]

a'ight, cos I said the Reddit posts calling for Ironborn genocide were pissing me the f*** off . . . let's have a historical mini rant about why the Mainland simply cannot simply wipe the Ironborn off the map of Westeros, shall we.

context - about once every two weeks a new post on any given asoiaf sub-reddit pops up on my timeline asking why the Westerosi mainland doesn't simply eradicate the Ironborn entirely if they're so annoying. lemme preface this by saying that while I'm aware that we're talking about fictional people here, I personally find it pretty . . . distasteful to call for the genocide of an entire population just because you don't like them but oh well, that's just me. as an open and obvious Ironborn stan I sometimes ( yes, I admit it ) feel personally offended by this kind of bullshittery because I will continue to believe that people who don't like the Ironborn a) don't understand them and b) clearly have no idea of their overall history whatsoever. neither the showrunners nor GRRM himself unfortunately intend to ever put the Ironborn in a non-negative light however ( cowards ) so, y'know - I will.

so . . . why can't the Westerosi Mainland simply subject the Ironborn to genocide. let's see.

one. they have no reason to. shocking, I know, but there literally is not a single reason in the current timeline as to why they would even consider genociding the Ironborn. ever since the conquest, when the Greyjoys first came into power on the Iron Islands, the Ironborn have actually been behaving themselves. they have stopped raiding the mainlands and instead moved on to raid Essos instead and while, sure, Ironborn lords were never exactly faithful to the crown, they also didn't really do anything to warrant suspicion or violence against them. the only Greyjoys who did try to start shit on the mainland since the conquest were Dalton Greyjoy ( largely, mind you, by order of Rhaenyra Targaryen ) and later Dagon Greyjoy. Balon is the most recent and also the most persistent Ironborn lord in hundreds of years of peaceful co-existence, that really tried to piss the mainland off again. naturally with the crumbling of the Targaryen dynasty and then Robert's death, the Ironborn are using the overall upheaval in Westeros for their own advantage but . . . so does Stannis. so does Robb. so do the Lannisters. so do the Tyrells. they are not unique in trying to get the best possible outcome for themselves. there is no point in trying to off an entire population that literally hasn't done anything harmful to you in centuries. but let's say you're a bag of dicks and you just want to . . .

two. location. wanna know what is surprisingly difficult to conquer? especially when your naval force is limited and most of the soldiers you have are used to fighting on foot or horseback with solid ground under their feet? islands. and we're talking about multiple islands here. the Iron Islands consist of thirty-one (31!) main islands. all of them with their own lordship and each lord has control over his own little fleet of ships. for the more prominent lords, we're talking about a hundred ships per island. some larger islands, such as Pyke, Great Wyk, Harlaw or Saltcliffe are home to thousands of Ironborn. first thing you'll thus need to have if you wanna genocide a whole ass archipelago is a strong naval force. the Mainland has the Redwyne Fleet and the Royal Fleet as the two sole fleets that can match the Iron Fleet. that's good. but is it good enough? you'll need a ton of siege weapons. you'll need a lot of soldiers that are qualified to fight on water. you'll also need a ton of patience because sieges can take months ( hey, Stannis, remember eating rats? ).

so you go and start on one island. maybe two. in the time you're busy attacking those two islands, the remaining 29 will gather their hosts and either fortify the remaining main islands, gathering the folks from the smaller islands, or they'll simply disappear. it's funny how you can just leave when you have ships. and on the Iron Islands everyone has ships. they are also all armed to the teeth and have fortified their castles to withstand almost anything. ( take one look at fucking Harrenhal and you'll know what I'm talking about. and because, surprisingly, a lot of people don't know this: yes, Harrenhal was built by the Ironborn. Harren Hoare was the reigning Ironborn king during the conquest who has managed to take over the Riverlands. ) if Pyke can hold up against sea storms and the goddamn ocean itself, it can hold up against a couple of Westerosi soldiers. let's consider . . . it took the combined forces of the Stormlands, the Westerlands, the Reach, the Riverlands and the North to bring down only five (!) islands in the Greyjoy Rebellion. out of 31. and in all that, they only managed to damage one wall of Castle Pyke ( sorry Maron, I know it was your wall and you probably did your best ).

three. battle prowess. the Ironborn are one of, if not the most notoriously battle hardened people in all of Westeros. they have been a kingdom of fighters for most likely up to three thousand years, way before the Andals came to to Westeros and even longer before the conquest. their prowess in battle is legendary all the way to Essos. sure, they lack the discipline of the Mainland forces but they make up for it through fearlessness and sheer ferocity. these guys aren't scared of anything. we're talking about men going full #yolo and fighting in full-body armor on water. if they fall in and drown . . . they fall in and drown. shit happens. they don't care. historically, they have been rumored to basically go berserk on the battlefield, with their opponents saying they are "blood-drunk" and stop feeling pain. if there is one people in Westeros that was born to be warriors ( and I mean warriors, not soldiers. the reachmen are soldiers. the westermen are soldiers. none of them are warriors. ), it is the Ironborn. they live for battle. it's how they come to glory in the eye of their god. and they continuously hone their skills, too. how? through all the raids they do. when the rest of Westeros is at peace, they are at peace. they joust and have tourneys, but that is it. the Ironborn constantly seek battle through raiding. all the time. while your average Westerosi knight hits straw dummies for training, an Ironborn reaver kills six people in real time and has a beer afterwards. their idea of a fun drinking game is to throw axes at each other. need I say more? speaking of battle prowess . . . the main Iron Fleet consists of one hundred ships readied for war. those are ships that are commanded by the Lord Captain of the Iron Fleet ( hey, Victarion, who never made it into the show cos he apparently was too fucking badass for D&D to comprehend ) and belong to the Seastone Chair, but these 100 ships do not include the individual fleets of each Lord and the respective islands they govern. as GRRM himself said, each Ironborn Lord can float about 100 ships. and we know there are 31 main islands, some of which having more than one lord. so you do the math on how many ships actually can be used by the Ironborn in case of an invasion of their islands. and not just that, the Ironborn are also famously known for capturing enemy ships in battle and simply using them themselves afterwards. they thus got a hold of a variety of ships, a lot of which are bigger, faster, and more aligned with warships than the usual longships they use for raiding. ( Maron's own ship, Kingfisher, is a prime example for that, considering that she wasn't built on the Islands but claimed by Maron in a battle against some pirates just on the coastline of Great Moraq in Essos. Kingfisher thus was and still looks like a pirate ship, giving her a large belly for cargo, but also making her bigger and faster than your average longship. )

four. reputation. aks anyone in Westeros and they'll tell you the Ironborn are delulu. and they're right. sure, their reputation has changed over the centuries, but one thing is still very clear all over the Mainland: the Ironborn are insane and you don't mess with them. the Ironborn, along with the Northmen, have been there before everyone else. they are old. insanely old. they know the lands and the seas by heart, they have a reputation as "the wolves of the sea" and "the terrors of the sea" and they have worked hard to get that reputation. they also have an air of mystery around them that probably puts most of the Mainland at unease. they believe in a strange deity and they are fanatic in their religion. they perform blood sacrifice and ritual drownings. every attempt to push Mainland habits and customs on the Ironborn has largely failed. knightdom is barely a thing, most Ironborn don't employ Maesters or similar Mainland house staff and most don't follow Westerosi customs with titles etc either. Balon, for example, wasn't adressed as "Lord Greyjoy" but "the Greyjoy", just as Aeron refers to the ruling Lord of House Merlyn as "the Merlyn" ( write that down for interactions with Maron, btw. he won't correct you if you call him "Lord Greyjoy", but he won't title himself that what ). the people on the Mainland simply don't understand them and thus have started to "other" them because, naturally, that's what you do when you don't understand something and it scares you. they are known to be exceptionally stubborn and if you try and tell and Ironborn what to do, at best he'll show you the finger. I have said it before and I will die on this hill: the only reason why they were subdued by the Mainland was the threat of dragons. that is it. these people would have never bent the knee if Aegon didn't threaten to kill them all via dragonfire. and if you don't think that invading a foreign kingdom that has never done anything to you with a force that simply cannot be matched and telling those folks to kneel or die is a real dick move overall then you have issues, my friend. another hill I will forever happily die on is that ( hear me out ) the reason why Theon was taken and given to the Starks as a hostage to be killed if Balon acted up again was not to threaten Balon's line of succession but because the Westerosi lords that decided on this were scared shitless of what Balon was capable of if he tried again. all that being said, keep in mind that Balon is a fucking idiot and entirely incompetent and they still feared him. all the mockery we see of the Ironborn at court, to me, forever screams masking fear. belittle something enough and you may believe it really isn't significant, but deep down they all know they are wrong.

so now . . . we have Euron. and while we can all agree that Euron is an awful pile of garbage human being and deserves a most horrible death, I, personally, do believe Euron is exactly what Westeros deserves for all those centuries of oppressing and belittling and subdueing a people they had no business of messing with in the first place. we applaud the slaves rising against their slavers in Meereen, we applaud the fight for Northern independence and most people I know fully support Dornish independence, too. the Ironborn deserve it just as much, if not more because no other former kingdom was as disrespected since the conquest as the Ironborn. and up until now, the Ironborn quietly sat it all out and let it happen. abiding their time and waiting. so sure, let the Mainland try and genocide them. go ahead. just remember that it would be the dumbest dick move in history.

[eldritchamy]

Once we're done with Affini, we will transform them into companion species, just a speck in a interstellar ecosystem. We will provide you with a detox from their poisons. Then we will provide you with a choice - if you truly wish you can settle with them at Hylan-7, though note you'll be unable to leave the planet, because a rogue species like Affini will need 4 generations of deprogramming before we return them spacefaring abilities. Or if you wish to retrieve what's been lost to humanity you'll be able to do so with our help.

Best wishes, the day of liberation is near

The Benevolent Elephant Trunk Metastasis (The Hivemind)

I have no idea what this is from, but the thought of putting the entire Affini Compact on a single planet is hilarious.

The Affini are functionally immortal. They've existed as a spacefaring civilization for about 100,000 years by the time they reach Terran Accord space in roughly 2549, and conquered 16 entire galaxies.

And they're kind of like Time Lords, every 2-300 years they "rebloom" to eliminate all damage to their physical and mental health and just keep going with the same personality and memories. Barring injuries so severe they can't start the reblooming process in time, Affini just never die. Their population ONLY grows, forever.

The total population of the Affini Compact would have to be measured with exponents in the dozens. They have ships the size of cities and countries, and their SHIPS probably number in the Quintillions by the time they reach Terra.

I haven't come across a fic that mentioned it yet, but according to the HDG wiki an individual affini can theoretically be the size of an entire planet all by themselves, though they usually hover somewhere around twice the height of humans and quite a lot bigger by overall mass.

You can't put the entire Affini species on a planet. You couldn't put the entire Affini species on the surface of a STAR. You couldn't fit the entire biomass of the Affini species inside the VOLUME of the largest known star in the universe.

The scale of the Compact is unspeakably large. They've met hundreds of thousands, if not millions of other intelligent species.

And they've never lost.

They've never come CLOSE to losing.

That's part of the appeal for the fantasy of them. They are very overpowered in-universe, by design. But they are fundamentally a compassionate species.

They see other intelligent beings suffering under oppressive systems or violence or scarcity or war, and they go "we can fix that. we WANT to fix that. please let us fix that. we just want to help you become the best version of yourselves, free from cruelty, so you can thrive as you were meant to. if you don't let us fix it, we're going to fix it anyway, and domesticate your species for its own good, until you understand that you're SAFE now."

And given the intended audience of HDG (queer autistic trans women suffering under capitalist hell and the constant threat of violence while desperately wanting to be loved for our authentic selves), I'm sure you can imagine why a setting whose basic premise is "the one absolute inevitability, the thing that no one will ever stop, is a future where you are safe and loved and happy" caught on like it has.

It feels nice to fantasize about a world where inevitability is coming to protect you, not to hurt you.

Plus the stories are just SO GOOD. So much creativity in the HDG community.

[princesscolumbia]

Code of Ethics - Ch. 14 - Traffic Control

Friday was uber-crazy busy, so my usual writing cadence was thrown off. Otherwise I might have had this out yesterday.

Also, back to a 4k+ chapter instead of the 8k+ monsters the last two were.

Back at her station, Diane's ready to return to business as usual, if they knew what business as usual even was yet.

Preview below the cut:

In the time they’d been on Mortan, Katrina had gone to the effort to identify a handful of the people that had been living on the station with some native ability to prepare food and set them to the task of preparing meals for the staff and crew, dialing back the synthesizer process to generating the ingredients needed for the foods being made instead of preparing the entire meal straight from the synthesizer. Not only did this reduce wear and tear (and reliance) on the food synths, it wound up producing better food overall.

The addition of the shipments from Mortan helped as well, providing things like salt that could be ‘perfectly’ created on the station but salt harvested from a planetary environment provided things like trace elements that boosted not just the flavor but the nutritional value of the food served in the mess hall. It wound up being…well, not anything like the five-star restaurant they’d dined their last dinner on Mortan in, but certainly landing in the “home cookin’” category that turned mealtimes from when people had a chance to sit down and eat to communal events where the station’s small population gathered to enjoy good food and good company.

While Diane had been quite pleased with this development, they learned on their second day back that the ‘command’ breakfasts should probably be taken in her private dining room. They had decided that Diane would open the ‘care packages’ from the women of Mortan, one package at a time, at breakfast.

The went fine for the first day when the contents of said care package had been a Morvish riding vest accompanied by a note that Norma took great pleasure in reading aloud, “’To: The First Found Daughter – My gran made this for me for my first hunting party, and all my daughters and granddaughters are grown and have long since had their first hunt. I know grandmother would want this to go to you, please wear it for your first hunt.’” she smiled down at the note with a slightly wistful smile, “Awww!”

“That is sweet, you should let me take a picture of you wearing it so we can send a thank you in reply,” suggested Russe.

Diane shrugged, “No reason not to, I guess, though it might be a logistical nightmare to try and reply to all of ‘em like that.”

Norma carefully re-folded the note and put it back on top of the vest in it’s shipping box, “Then maybe we have a form-note made, you know, ‘Thanks for the gift of insert-whatever-it-was-here, I greatly appreciate it, signed First Found Daughter’ or something.”

The second day had forced them to alter their burgeoning breakfast tradition when Diane opened a box to reveal a perfume scented envelope resting on top of translucent and vaguely labelled package of some sort of fabric contents. Continuing the pattern established the previous morning, Norma snatched up the envelope and gently tore open the top as Diane found a zipper seal on the package.

“Oooh, flowery handwriting! Don’t see that often in space, let’s see… ‘Dearest First Found,’ wow, already on a first name basis with a woman on your first port of call? You’re going to get a reputation,” Norma teased as she gently fanned out the several pages of the letter, a small square of photopaper landing picture down on the table from the pages. Diane rolled her eyes and started fishing the fabric out of the plasticine container as Norma continued, “‘I hope you like what you see, I look forward to finding out if you’re a progenitor or a proliferator under those…tight…pants?!” her voice tightened to a squeak and her face started turning bright red as her eyes continued to scan the note, now doing so quietly as Diane held up some ‘clothing’ that certainly wasn’t fit for a work environment.

Except for maybe a brothel.

Sitting almost frozen with a deer-in-the-headlights shocked look on her face, her entire head turning bright red from her bangs down to the last visible skin above the neckline of her shirt. She finally stammered, “…this is way too small for me.”

Russe had picked up the fallen photo and was staring at the picture, somewhat slack jawed and very red as well, “That’s…because it’s not for you. She…ah, modelled it for you.” He swallowed thickly and whimpered, “…for such a small lady she’s got…wow…”

Norma leaned over to look at what had Russe so tongue tied and her eyes bugged out, “Whoah! She’s huge!”

Diane was busy stuffing the lingerie back in the package, doing her best to not think about the… ‘assets’ that the much shorter and smaller woman this would have to fit both the bra and panties she had just held up for the entire mess hall to see…including the giggling teens at the next table.

It had been a week since that…particular incident, and now when they encountered a care package of the racier persuasion, they had a laugh of it in the privacy of Diane’s suite.

Today, though, the package had been from the Morvuck equivalent of a class of kindergarteners, apparently the girls who had watched Diane and the Matron bond in the street. They had wound up almost forgetting about their breakfasts as the poured through the adorably (if inexpertly) hand-crafted notes, cards, and pictures.

“Oh…my…gosh, this one’s adorable!” gushed Russe, “She writes that they voted to make you an honorary member of their class since they’re special to the Matron and you’re special to the Matron so you’re obviously sisters!”

Diane couldn’t help the ear-to-ear grin that was threatening to start actually hurting from how hard she was smiling, “Okay, keep that one separate. I want it framed and hung in Ops.”

Norma cackled at this new soft spot in their commander, but this swiftly morphed into a cooing, ‘oooh,’ as she pulled a drawn picture from the pile. “Omygosh, someone must have told them you’re a station commander, look at this!” The picture was on a material that wasn’t quite black construction paper, and amid a field of glittery, silver puff paint star dots was a child’s idea of a space station. It was incredibly crude and looked almost nothing like her station, a blob of the silvery puff paint next to a little blue and green ‘planet’ that sadly looked more like Earth or Mortan than the gas covered ball of rock and water the station was actually in orbit of. Taking up most of the picture, though, and rendered crudely in gold, white, and yellow puff paint was a dragon with a little white-suited blond woman riding on the dragon’s back.

“Okay, this is going in my office!” she said with a slightly scratchy voice as she gently took it from Norma with the tips of her fingers.

“Are you crying?!” laughed Norma.

Diane wiped the tracks of liquid from her face, “No, you’re crying! Shutup!” she said without heat as Russe and Norma laughed good naturedly.

Before they could do any more appreciation of the children’s artwork, Cynthy’s voice paged over the PA, “Commander to Ops, unscheduled inbound ship from out of system. Repeat, Commander to Ops, unscheduled inbound ship from out of system.”

The trio glanced at each other in confusion before standing to leave, Diane grabbing a pastry off her plate, which fortunately represented most of what she hadn’t eaten yet.

Read the rest of Scribblehub

[fallowhearth]

Emily Tesh, Some Desperate Glory, 2023

This is not a full review but just some thoughts. Overall: good, not quite great. The third act couldn't deliver on the promises made in the first two; the conclusion was a bit abrupt after the action sequence.

My main issue with the third act was Kyr's rapid personality change into a mostly normal person. Kyr is at her most interesting when at her worst. I was also left cold by the development of the main villain - Tesh does the thing I hate where someone is bad in one way so they must be bad in all the ways. It turned a compelling ideological antagonist into a Saturday morning cartoon villain.

It felt like there was a bit of a failure of courage at the climax of the story, in terms of not being willing to let any characters die. Someone got shot in the head, but they were fine later, in a way that really undercut the emotional and thematic significance of their sacrifice. Apparently all 1000 brainwashed supersoldiers were willing to down arms and file onto the traitor ship in an orderly manner within the 12 minute deadline. Seriously nobody decided to be a dick for no reason? To go down fighting? To try to storm their way on? Did they all get the shadow magic personality upgrade all at once? To have only the children and a handful of dissidents escape the deathcult would have been so thematically satisfying - they are the children of Earth. Orphaned a second time.

Like, the entire population of the fascist enclave is about to rock up to the human planet in a dreadnought and be like hi letting us in will have no consequences don't worry about it. I'm sure that will go swimmingly.

I do find it kind of funny that ultimately the best timeline was the one where Earth and 14 billion humans were vaporised. It does kind of imply that the only way humans could coexist with nice aliens is if all of Earth's manufacturing capacity was gone and humans lived in a forcibly demilitarised refugee camp.

Overall I enjoyed it, though, and Kyr is a great character.

[nehswritesstuffs]

fly little seagull, that rock can be home - Part 2

With the rate at which I’m finishing these chapters, I highly doubt I’m going to get the next one done before *checks notes* mid-April at the earliest, so I’m sorry in advance. Good news I guess is that I recently also passed 41k overall and I am regretting my decisions lol

Chapter 1 [FFN/AO3]

With a backwater island located, a father and daughter adjust to their new life. [10,387 words; AU where Law tries to lead the quiet life Cora-san always wanted for him]

Business was slow.

It was not that there was a lack of need for a medical professional in Hinba or on Diura as a whole. As a matter of fact, it was clear that there was an intense need for one. It was simply that—aside from the handful of new patients he did see who were mostly around his age—the residents weren’t entirely trusting of the man who simply wandered in from parts unknown and it was becoming a problem.

“They’ll come around,” Svana said as she measured Law’s fingers. She was bored and decided that he needed gloves, so therefore was going to knit some that fit his curiously long hands. He had tried to turn her down, but before he could even get a word out Nauja had been gifted mittens of her own for when the snows began to fly, the girl now wearing them happily around the house as the adults stuck to the front sitting room.

“I’m more used like a novel pharmacy than anything,” he groused. “How do you get them to listen to you?”

“I delivered over half the island’s population and haven’t lost a mother yet,” she shrugged. “They’re a prickly bunch—we tend to be so here in the South.”

“I knew this place felt like home,” he scoffed. She finished writing measurements and took some yarn and needles from her basket. “I’ve worked with guys from the South Blue before—I was well aware of what I was getting into.”

“Of course,” she agreed idly. Law wasn’t entirely certain he enjoyed the fact the island’s elderly midwife had attached herself to the clinic so readily. Boredom, perhaps? Wanting to make certain that the prior doctor’s spirit was not being trampled? If he didn’t know better, he would have guessed that there had been something between Svana and the old doctor, though that would have put such an age gap between them that he didn’t want to think of the logistics…

Just then, one of the small children who tended to run around nearby came barreling in through the front door, making Law jump in surprise; how in the hell were kids fucking with his Observational Haki? The child, however, looked out of breath, as though he had run the entire way from the school to there.

“Now what is this about?” Svana asked, barely even reacting to the boy’s sudden presence.

“There’s ships in the harbor!” the boy squeaked. “Traders!”

“Which ones?” she asked. The boy pondered for a moment as he took off his backpack.

“Books and stuff, but also house things!” He took a small box from his bag and shoved it in Law’s hands. “Miss Lanna at the shop told me to give this to you!”

“I never ordered anything… what is it…?”

“Mark-over,” the boy scoffed, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Some people use it when the traders are in town because of the sailors’ marks they got! She said you probably don’t have some for your hands. I guess it’s the stuff you have to mix…? But she said you could get some that matches your hands better if you talk to her.”

“Then I shall have to thank Miss Lanna next time I see her,” he nodded. The boy grinned, clearly proud of himself. “Now run along; I should put some of this on if I’m going to see what the traders brought.”

“Yes, sir!” The boy then zoomed out of the house as quickly as he entered it, leaving the two adults to exchange tired looks.

“Do you need me to show you?” Svana asked, gesturing to the makeup box.

“I’m a man of many talents,” he deadpanned. He stood and brought the box with him to the large infirmary, where he was able to mix the tint into the makeup with the help of the room’s strong lights until it was so close to his skin tone that he almost couldn’t tell the difference. Law thought of Cora-san as he began to brush the stuff over his hands and forearms, remembering the man’s routine that he had though of as silly at the time.

“Remember Law, you don’t need to pile it on too thick. Just enough to conceal will do.”

Fuck… it had seemed like so long ago… was it really that long? Cora-san had taught him a lot when they were running together, hadn’t he? Sometimes there was nothing to do but watch him. He would shave, put on makeup, fix his hair… usually right before they tried another hospital that he eventually would burn down. He didn’t think the medical networks they visited had fully recovered until just a year or so before he took the Polar Tang into the Grand Line…

A few spritzes of sealant and the job was complete. Law stared at his hands and arms, marveling at how different they looked without the ink being visible. He stared in the mirror as he fastened his shirt up to the second-to-topmost button, fingers trembling as he did so. Each done button made the man staring back at him more a ghost than anything, his father finally before him when he was done. Neither of his parents had tattoos that he had known of, and it reminded him partly of why he had gotten them to begin with—to stave off his brain going back to those days.

It was inevitable now; he planned on growing older than his father ever had the chance to be, and the man was certain to stare back at him from time to time for his troubles. How old would his parents be if they lived this long…? How much older than Cora-san had they been…? What would they think of him off in the middle of nowhere, playing pretend—

“Vaor! Vaor! Vaor!” His morbid thoughts took a back seat as he heard Nauja come looking for him, with her nearly throwing the door open with how excited she was. “Svana-ya said traders are here!” She stopped and stared at his hands and forearms, her head tilting to the side. “Where’d your tattoos go?”

“I covered them—can’t trust traders. Their reach is too long.”

“Since when do you know makeup?”

“You’ve seen photos of Cora-jiisan; the man made sure I can apply eyeliner in the dark.”

“Can you teach me how to do that?”

“Maybe when you’re a little older and we know your hand’s steady,” he offered. “Now come on; let’s go see what got brought into port.”

Nauja made her way to the front door while Law got his wallet from his office and left the clinic, Svana having already gone back to her own house. The pair went down to the docks and watched some of the merchants unload their ship with some of the other villagers. Law glanced over at one of the men standing there—a teacher from the school, if he recalled correctly, who looked to be about his age.

“How do we see what they got?” he asked.

“We have a couple empty spots where they set up shop—in the middle of summer, there’s often stalls,” the other man replied. He gestured down the main road, where someone was opening the shutters of what was likely a storefront. “You’re the new doctor, I take it?”

“Yeah. Tr—er…” He pretended to cough. “Sorry. Doctor Corasson Law. My daughter Nauja is the one that only shows up three times a week for morning sessions and twice for afternoons.”

“You’re good to make her go at all—her social skills have been improving the most from what I can tell. That you’d have to ask her main teacher; I just take her if there’s a coverage issue. I’m Seasbur Daisuke; Nauja’ll be in my class full-time in a couple years.”

“Thank you for looking after her.” He bowed his head slightly, Daisuke mirroring his movement. “She can be a little much.”

“Ah, she’s just a kid.”

“Yeah, but she’s my kid, so I know how much of a handful she can be.” He watched as the sailors continued to load boxes onto the cart. “What do they have, anyhow?”

“Stuff we can’t make here, mostly,” Daisuke explained. “Primarily manufactured goods, but there are some specialty imports and some different foods.” He paused for a moment, clearly mulling something over, before continuing. “Say, since I got you here and there’s still a while before they’re ready for business, my coworkers and I were wondering if we could talk to you about something.”

“Did Nauja—?”

“No, she’s fine. It has nothing to do with her, but figure might as well talk now while the kids are all distracted.” He motioned towards where the schoolhouse sat. Children were trickling out the front door, most of them bouncing and excited for what the traders possibly had for them as they headed towards the wharf.

Well, there was no time like the present, he guessed.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Law knuckled his left ear and stared at the small group in front of him. “You want me to teach what…?”

“Health class,” Jacks—the headmaster—repeated awkwardly. Both secretaries and all three teachers were there as well, each of them with a hopeful expression.

“You do realize that I don’t even know if the people on this island trust me yet to be their primary care physician, let alone teach their children anything related to the Human body.”

“Oh wait, that’s right, you also lived on the Grand Line—do you know anything about Fishfolk and Minks? To be thorough?”

Law pinched the bridge of his nose and pursed his lips for a moment, gathering himself. “I know my daughter just started and is on the young end, but what all do you teach here?”

“A bit of everything,” Rikki—one of the teachers—offered. “Reading, writing, math, geography, what we can of social studies, science, and history…”

“…and we add in things that would be useful for living on this island specifically,” another teacher—Dia—added. “This means often going outside the classroom for introductions to agriculture, animal husbandry, sailing, fishing, how to barter with merchants, placement with potential apprenticeships or further education off the island…”

“Wait: you can teach them about how sheep fuck but not about Humans?”

“It’d be nice if we didn’t have to teach them about Humans fucking,” Daisuke admitted. “I mean, you can also go over with them stuff about good hygiene and what to do when you’re sick and all that, but you’re an actual doctor… I think things might hit different coming from you.”

Whatever headache was going to result from this conversation was going to be troublesome.

“So… you want me to write a Health curriculum for ages six to sixteen purely because I am a doctor? Despite the fact I’m still a stranger? Don’t you ever have Svana-ya come in and talk to them or something…?”

“She does, but… my wife said that you trained for a while in Drum Kingdom before its downfall and then Water 7 after that—you’re much more qualified to talk about nitty-gritty medical matters.” Law stared at Jacks, unsure what in that to broach first. “My wife, Dervla, she’s the village leader. You know… the one that told you to set up shop in the old clinic.”

“Between talking to her and Svana, we’ve gotten an idea of the kind of person you are,” Daisuke added. Law exhaled heavily and was thankful that it was at least this and not, say, the entire village ganging up on him at once; he was right to suspect Svana as a possible font of information about him, though Dervla was a surprise. “We’re willing to give you a go, if you’re interested.”

“Might stave off some awkward conversations later,” Dia shrugged. “I’ve got the teenagers and the amount of things I’ve heard of getting stuck in places…”

“Alright, alright… fuck…” Law sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly; this was a rare sort of opportunity to get in the good graces of the island’s inhabitants, and the sooner he could win their trust, the sooner he could blend into the background. “This would solve more problems than you’re telling me, I take it?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Jacks admitted. “Sometimes we draw straws and it’s still not enough.”

Law regretted his words before he even said them. “Then I guess I can put together something…”

The collective sigh amongst the staff was telling.

“Seas, thank you,” Jacks breathed. He shook Law’s hand with an unexpected force that wriggled the younger man’s arm and through into his body. “How long do you need to prepare the course?”

“I… uh…”

“Does three weeks sound good?”

“It…”

“Excellent—we’ll set up something for you to show us what you’ve come up with in the meantime!” Jacks seemed to be absolutely set on not giving Law a choice in the matter. “Alright, then we’ll see you towards the end of the month.”

What the actual fuck had he just gotten himself into?

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Vaor, can I ask a question about before here?”

It was a few days later and Law glanced up from the coursework he was compiling to see Nauja was standing awkwardly in the doorway to his office in the clinic. He reached out with his Observation Haki—cutting down on his Devil Fruit was going to be a priority—and felt no one, prompting him to put the publication down. “What is it, famke? Is it about the crew?”

“Umm…” She looked down at her hands. “I just had a thought: why do you have things from Flevance? I thought they were dangerous.”

Oh.

“They were, but I was able to fix that,” he replied. Law beckoned his daughter over and she entered the office, climbing up into his lap. She was getting big for that, he realized, and wondered when it would need to stop entirely. “One of the first things we did when we got the Polar Tang was go to Flevance and look around at all the damage. We took some things I didn’t mind ruining and experimented to see if we could divorce the Amber Lead from things that had been treated with it. After that, I was able to take things from my home and made them safe for people to touch and carry so that I’d always have a bit of the good memories with me.”

“So… that’s why you have Oma and Opa’s rings?”

“Yeah.” He felt the weight of the twin loops sitting against his chest on their chain a little more prominently, glad for their presence. “It’s how I got a lot of things, actually.” Pausing, he wondered if he should continue, then thought he might as well. “Would you like to see?”

“Oooh! Yes please!” Nauja’s face brightened at the prospect, so Law opened a Room—damn it, he had to stop that—and replaced the medical journal with a boot-box he had brought with him from the Polar Tang, one with a cobbler’s stamp from a shop on the White City’s high street. It was one of the few things from the ship he’d taken that could not be shoved in a pack, along with a box of miscellaneous books and things, as well as the small chest from Nauja’s original home in Water 7. “Oh! This box!”

“Do you remember this?” She nodded as he lifted the lid and took out the envelopes of photographs, exposing the rest of the contents scattered across the bottom. “We couldn’t bring anything too hefty with us, being in a submarine and all, but we were able to reclaim some things like jewelry and other small items.”

“Oooh, like these!” Nauja marveled, taking a pair of wire-frame eyeglasses out. She held them up to her face and then wobbled—the lens’ strength was a surprise. “Opa had bad eyes.”

“Heh, yeah, and so far I’ve got Oma’s sight, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed,” Law explained. “This was the bell Tante Lami and I used when we were sick, and these are my parents’ name tags for their doctor’s coats at the hospital—it was easier some days to grab a spare from the hospital linen closet if theirs hadn’t made it through the wash—and this…”

“…what about this…?” She pulled a lumpy envelope out and frowned. “It’s heavier than the others.”

“That’s because it’s full of that jewelry I was talking about,” he said. He let her pour the contents out onto the desktop, only to see that it was a jumbled, tangled mess. “Maybe when you’re a bit older we can go through it. I don’t know what you’d like or not.”

“It’s a mess.”

“That’s what it does when someone doesn’t keep it all separated properly.” He then had an idea. “If you want, you can get them all apart, and then I can get you a box for it.”

“That’d be nice.” She poked at the lump, where a teardrop pendant sat shimmering in the light. “So you went with Penguin-ya and Shachi-ya and Bepo-ya to get these?”

“We left Bepo-ya on the ship as a control subject, but yeah, we did,” he confirmed. “The chemistry set we’d stolen before heading over came in handy.”

“I wish I could have seen Flevance in person,” Nauja said quietly, “you know, without the danger.”

“I know, my little seagull; I wish that too.” He pressed a kiss to her hair as he gave her a one-armed hug. “So much of it was white and pastels, even in nature, at such an amount that we should have seen Amber Lead coming earlier.” Letting his eyes go out of focus, Law’s memories slipped back nearly two decades and he swallowed hard. Had it really been that long…? Was his sister’s smile that old? His mother’s gentle voice? His father’s strong hands? The sisters’ guidance? Eventually, he felt Nauja’s hand wipe at his face—when did he start crying? “Thank you.”

“For what…?”

“Being here. Listening. Accepting. It means more than you realize.”

…and honestly? He knew it was more than he realized as well, but he wasn’t about to get into that. They instead began to untangle the knot in front of them, working right until the next patient came in through the front door.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The morning chill settled over Hinba in a low mist as Nauja grabbed her Sora backpack and ran out the kitchen door into the pre-dawn air. She couldn’t figure out why it was this cold and no one was acting like it was unusual, but was glad that it seemed like it was supposed to be normal. She watched the sun creep over the ridge as she made her way to school, where it was clear she was one of the first ones there.

“Good morning, Miss Rikki!” she grinned as she ran into her classroom. None of the other students in her grades cluster had arrived yet, which was honestly fine by her. The woman at the head desk glanced up and smiled.

“My… aren’t you here early?” Miss Rikki chuckled.

“I wanted to know if I could use the lightbox!” Nauja said. “Vaor’s still using ours and won’t give it up.”

“Is that so?” The teacher went over to where the lightbox desk was and switched it on. “What sort of things are you learning about now?”

“The digestive system,” Nauja replied happily. She dug into her backpack and pulled out a looseleaf snail photo of exposed bowels from an injured Marine and placed it on the lightbox surface along with a piece of tracing paper over it. “Isn’t it cool?! I’m not learning everything about it yet, but I am learning about when some things go wrong, and I’m gonna draw a bunch of pictures of it!”

“That’s… lovely…” Miss Rikki grimaced. She watched as Nauja began tracing; no wonder the lightbox was in use at the girl’s house. “…and you’re… allowed to do this…? Encouraged…?”

“Oh, yes! It’s the only way I’m gonna be good at drawing them for real one day! At least to start!”

“Who in the hell did Jacks and Dervla contract,” Miss Rikki muttered. He then coughed, pretending to clear her throat, before addressing Nauja again. “What else do you have to draw?”

“Different kinds of bodies and body parts, but also everything else,” Nauja explained, not looking up from her work. “I can’t bring the naked-parts pictures, because we don’t know how people are here about naked stuff even if we are doctors, and I really shouldn’t have this here, but it’s cool, isn’t it?”

“It’s… not my favorite, but it’s good to see you so excited about your work, Nauja,” Miss Rikki said, forcing a smile. She did not even notice that some of the other students had made their way into the classroom until it was too late, with some of them crowding around the lightbox.

“Whoa, that’s cool!” Nauja looked over her shoulder and saw that a small handful of her classmates were now staring at what she was tracing. “Where’d you get that?!”

“One of the books I have to read for doctor stuff!” Nauja beamed. “It’s someone’s bowels exposed from a severe lass-er-ae-shun!”

“…a what…?”

“Their guts spilled out of a sword wound!”

The small children all oohed and aahed at the gory photo and in-process drawing while their teacher tried to not cry—she really had her work cut out for her with this one.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was early in the morning as Law woke up to the feeling of something cold burrowing its way under his blankets. He groaned and rolled over, seeing that Nauja and Professor Nanuk had joined him in the bed, the girl attempting to cuddle in close as she could to stave off the chill.

“Could you have waited half an hour more?” he groaned.

“’S cold…” she whined.

“Seas help me if I ever try to bring you to my Home Blue.” He adjusted the blankets so she was nearly completely covered, and him only up to his neck as he held her close. “It’s cold there like you wouldn’t believe.”

“I thought southern places in the Blues were supposed to be warm!”

“Not this far south; here we’re about the same distance from the Equator as Flevance was in the North,” he murmured. It had admittedly been a while since he was this consistently cold thanks to the Grand Line’s… peculiar weather patterns, not to mention the heat involved in the Polar Tang’s mechanics that made it a hotbox on the best of days. “You’re used to living in a ship that gets really warm.”

“I miss the others,” she replied sleepily. “I miss the Tang.”

“I know you do, kiddo.” He stroked her hair as he lowly hummed a few bars of something he thought he remembered from childhood. “They’re all really proud of you.”

“Yeah…?”

“Yeah.”

Law laid like that for about forty-five minutes—he didn’t want to risk oversleeping though he sure as hell wasn’t getting up yet—before carefully removing himself from the bed and leaving Nauja nestled in the warm blankets. He glanced out the window and chuckled to himself before getting dressed—it was going to be an interesting day.

Sure enough, Nauja was shuffling into the kitchen by the time he was whisking some eggs, a blanket still pulled tightly around her. “My birthday’s next month—it should be hot outside.”

“Too bad,” her father replied. “Say… what’s the weather look like?” She sat down on her chair and groaned. “Nauja… what’s it look like outside?” He watched as she slid off the chair and went to the window, her forehead softly hitting the glass pane before she actually bothered to look outside… and gasped.

“Wait… it snows here?!” She spun around to look at him, eyes wide.

“Why wouldn’t it snow here; we’re closer to the South Pole than we are to the Equator,” he chuckled. He saw how Nauja was almost vibrating in excitement and remembered something. “You weren’t this excited when we visited winter islands in the Grand Line.”

“Yeah, well, those always have snow and this place doesn’t!” she reasoned. “Do you think it’ll snow on my birthday?!”

“It might,” he said. “If you grew up in my homeland, it would be around the warmest day of the year.”

“…because we’re on opposite ends of the Blues, right?!” Good; she was awake enough to begin thinking critically again.

“That’s right,” he replied. “Now grab what you want in your omelette out of the fridge before I pour the eggs.”

“Oh! Yes, Vaor!” Nauja happily went into the fridge and found some leftover bacon, a cheese block, and some leeks and mushrooms that looked like they were about to wilt. “These, please!”

“Good, now go get dressed properly and maybe you can play in the snow a bit before heading off to school,” he said. She then remembered she was still in her pajamas! Nauja ran back to her room, returning when she was warmly dressed and ready to play. She was almost out the door when Law pulled her back in and stuck her on the chair—breakfast first. The entire omelette was downed in almost record time before she ran out and jumped directly into a snowbank. By the time Law went outside to join her, she was already red-faced and soaked to her skin—smiling brightly in the brief morning twilight—and he knew he wouldn’t trade it for anything.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Hey, do you want to come play with us?”

Nauja glanced up from the book she was just about to pack away, seeing two of her classmates, Carina and Magne, standing there hopefully. Miss Rikki looked like she was still handling other students as everyone packed up to go home.

“I can’t; I’ve got chores.”

“You can do them when you get back,” Carina said.

“Yeah, it’s nothing super-urgent, is it?” Magne asked.

“Well, no…” She slipped the book into her Sora backpack. “I have to sweep up the downstairs including the clinic, feed the Den-Den, and it’s my turn to change the linens in the infirmary and sanitize the medical instruments…”

“Wait, you have to do what?!” Magne marveled. Carina’s mouth dropped open in surprise as well.

“Sanitize medical instruments…? It involves boiling them and…”

“No, the Den-Den!” Carina interrupted. “I didn’t know you had a transponder snail!”

“We have it for emergencies,” Nauja replied. “Don’t people have them for emergencies…?”

“Miss Dervla, yeah, but not a lot of people have them,” Carina said. Mange nodded.

“I don’t think I’ve even seen one.”

“Then maybe if you come over, I can do my chores after we have some fun and you can see the Den-Den!”

“That sounds cool!” Mange grinned. The three children packed the rest of their things and ran out of the schoolhouse, heading down the street towards the clinic. They barreled into the kitchen, kicked off their shoes, and dropped their stuff on the floor, with Nauja poking her head into the corridor.

“Vaor! Back from school! I’ve got friends over!”

“As long as you get your work done,” Vaor replied unseen. It sounded like he was in the consultation room.

“Okay!”

Nauja then grabbed some lettuce from the fridge and led Carina and Magne up the back steps, to the smallest bedroom, which was kept as the private combination-office-and-library. Amongst the dozens of books and papers and the pair of desks, a terrarium sat on its own table with lush greenery and a low-powered heat lamp, a snail shell sitting on a rock.

“Whoa… so that’s a transponder snail…?” Carina marveled. “Why’s it hiding?”

“It does that when it’s sleeping because it’s not hooked up to anything right now,” Nauja explained. She broke the lettuce into tiny pieces and placed it in front of the snail. When it didn’t move, she lightly scratched the shell with her fingernail. “Hey, wake up. It’s food time.”

The snail didn’t move.

“Are you sure there’s one in there?” Magne asked.

“Yeah, I’ve fed it before. Sometimes you gotta…” She picked up the shell and shook it slightly…

Only to scream as the dead snail schlupped out of the shell and plopped onto the terrarium floor.

All three children screamed, in fact, as they ran out of the office and down the stairs. While Carina and Magne decided to grab their stuff and leave, Nauja went straight to the consultation room, where Vaor had one of the fishermen, Lars-ya, up on the examination bench as he looked in his ear.

“Do you have to keep barging in on appointments?” Vaor said through grit teeth. “This is unprofessional.”

“Vaor! Vaor! It’s a disaster! The Den-Den died!”

Vaor’s face scrunched in confusion. “What do you mean ‘the Den-Den died’? We’ve still got another ten years on that thing at the very least.”

“I picked it up and it just slid out of the shell and went plop on the rock!” she whimpered.

“Fuck,” Vaor cursed under his breath. He then looked at his patient with an expression that showed he wanted to scream. “Do you know if your wife can order transponder snails through her store?”

“Lanna can get her hands on a lot of things, but she can’t work miracles,” Lars-ya shrugged. “You can try to catch a snail, but even if you have the tech it doesn’t mean it’ll work.”

“Great,” Vaor sighed. “Just… don’t worry, famke. I’ll clean it up later.”

“…but I was supposed to feed it! I must not have in time…!”

“They just do that sometimes, like people; it’s nothing to worry about. Now let me finish here with Lars-ya, alright?”

“…but… but…!”

“Just go,” he insisted, trying to not sound cross. Nauja then ran up to her room and hid under her blankets, sobbing hysterically as she allowed the severity of the situation weigh on her. She had not seen more than five transponder snails since leaving the Polar Tang, which meant that they had needed to keep that one alive! What were they going to do?! She cried so much that she almost vomited, absolutely sick to her stomach as she curled around Professor Nanuk, trembling.

The little girl did not know how much time passed before she heard her door open and felt the mattress shift with new weight. She peeked out from her blankets to see Vaor sitting there with a mug of tea waiting for her, which she took and held under her face.

“It’s all gone now,” he said, scratching her scalp. “I already got rid of it.”

“Am…” she sniffled, “…am I in trouble…?”

“Not at all,” Vaor replied. “What I said in front of Lars-ya was the truth: these things happen. I’ll figure out how to replace it later, alright?”

She nodded.

“Alright. Now drink your tea and come downstairs for chores when you’re ready. How does fish and rice sound for dinner?”

A grunt.

“Bring your mug down when you’re done,” Vaor said. He then kissed her hair and left, allowing her time to calm down on her own. It took a while of her breathing in the hot steam from the mug before she was steady enough to drink—the thought of anyone from the Polar Tang trying to call them was sharp in her mind as she tried to tell herself that if Vaor said it was okay, then it was okay.

If Vaor said he was going to fix it, then he was going to fix it. Everything was fine. Nothing to worry about, right…? Right.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“What do you mean it can’t be done?!” Law gaped. He was standing in the general store the following day, the proprietor at least attempting to seem empathetic from behind the counter. “I need a snail to keep in contact with everyone from where we used to live! This is essential.”

“That’s all well and good, but properly-raised transponder snails are a rarity to come by in these waters,” Lanna replied calmly. “They’re often restricted to the super-wealthy and the emergency networks local leadership builds.”

“So what you’re saying is that the only person on the island who has a Den-Den Mushi is Dervla, and that’s only because she’s in charge?”

“Yeah. It’ll go to whomever succeeds her once she retires.”

“You barely get newspapers, it’s difficult to get books, and now you’re telling me that transponder snails are hard to come by?”

“You know how much of a hassle it is to get to this island,” she reminded him. “It impacts literally everything and everyone going in or out.” She watched as Law covered his face with his hands and took a deep breath—at least he was actively trying to not be a dick about it. “I know you’re probably used to more things being readily available from your time in Water 7, but this is the South Blue… not just that, but Diura… we used to sail three days to see a doctor between his yearly rounds before you showed up.”

“That’s inhumane.”

“That’s the trade-off we get for not being bothered,” Lanna shrugged. “Is there anything else you were looking for today? Maybe that’ll help.”

Law took a steadying breath—yeah, it was best to change subjects. “Do you know who is the best person to ask about woodcrafts?” She raised an eyebrow and he took a piece of paper from his pocket and showed it to her. “I want to know if anyone can copy this pattern.” The woman studied the paper curiously, taking in the intricate design of flowers, leaves, and grasses that had clearly been copied from a book.

“This Lvneelish?”

“No, but close enough,” Law replied. “It’s from a book on the North Blue that Dr. Ghar-Spartel had. My daughter mentioned she likes it, and I was wondering if I could get something like this on a jewelry box.”

“That is a good question; a lot of us are good with carving, but this is delicate work.” It was then that the chimes on the door rang and someone else walked in—a woman looking miserable in her last months of pregnancy. “Ah, Marla, just the woman I want to see.”

“Daisuke will not pass your daughter in geography if she keeps doodling in class and not turning in homework,” Marla groaned as though they’d had that precise conversation before. Lanna shook her head.

“It’s for the Doc.” She gestured towards Law with a jerk of her head. “Your dad still do woodcarving jobs on the side?”

“Last I checked.” Marla was passed the paper and she narrowed her eyes at it. “This is definitely a Northern design, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Law admitted, almost sheepish. “I haven’t properly met your father yet—do you think he can carve something like that on a small box?”

“We’re on break at the shipyard; let me get what I came here for and you can ask him yourself.”

“Her dad’s the best this side of the current,” Lanna smirked. “How about I just keep an eye out and an ear open for the other thing we talked about, hm?”

“Argued about what she can and can’t get, eh?” Marla wondered, a near-consoling tone to her voice. Law shrugged as she received a package and almost jumped out of his skin when she linked arms with him. “Come on—time’s wasting if you want this to be a secret. This is a secret for your daughter, right?”

“Uhh…”

The grin that crept across Marla’s face was nearly predatory, he decided, as he was forcefully dragged from the store. Hopefully it was going to be as pain-free as possible… though… his hopes were not exactly high.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was well after lunch when Law stepped into the schoolhouse, glad that the building was kept warmer than most. An entire week’s worth of new snow and it felt as though it was refusing to let up, which was great to only children and people who didn’t have to leave their own warm places. He left his hat on as he shed his bag and coat, putting them up on a visitors’ peg near the door as his thoughts were lost in the lessons he was going to teach that day. The oldest group had sexual consent, the little ones had hand-washing, and the middle group was—seas help him—getting into why bathing was important…

“So good to see you, Dr. Law,” purred a voice. He nearly jumped out of his skin, only to see that it was the younger of the secretaries, hidden by her desk’s position in regards to the door. Taking off his hat, he put his mittens in it before hanging it too on a peg.

“Same, Janka-ya,” he replied tersely. He honestly had few bits of leftover patience for niceties that particular day, but he was willing to perform if it kept him from being hounded with questions. Get in, teach the day’s lessons, then leave; that’s all he really wanted to do. “Are classes on time today?”

“They seem to be,” she replied. “I don’t think any are behind, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“A little,” he admitted. Law went over to the radiator and held his hands close to it, glad for the device’s intense warmth. “I want to get the oldest kids’ lesson done before they get sent off to their jobs.”

“Surely you don’t have to get to that immediately,” Janka frowned. Wait, no, that was more of a pout, wasn’t it? “You can wait here with me until Dia is ready with her group.”

“Don’t bother me, Janka-ya—I’ve got a lot I need to think about to keep the kids on their toes,” he replied. Which was true; he had only taught a handful of sessions thus far and the schoolchildren’s capacity for curiosity knew little bounds. His hands finally warmed up and he turned, only to see that Janka was now standing right next to him. How…? “What?”

“You cold?” she asked. What were her eyelashes doing? Was there something in her eyes…?

“If you haven’t noticed, it’s snowing outside,” he replied. “Usually that accompanies cold weather; I’m fine now.”

“Pity. I could help you warm up in the future. Maybe… if you come a little earlier…?”

“I have patients that need attending and a curriculum to keep on top of; I don’t have extra time.”

“You sure a curriculum is the only thing you need to keep on top of?” she asked. He tried to move and she blocked his way. “Maybe… you need something to be on top of you?”

Janka winked and suddenly everything clicked into place in Law’s brain—oh, fuck, she was flirting with him! He then noticed how he was essentially trapped between the wall, the heater, and the secretary who was sizing him up with very specific intent. Swallowing hard, he pressed himself against the wall, trying to stay as far from her as possible.

“That is very inappropriate, Janka-ya,” he replied shakily. “This is not the place for that.”

“Then maybe I can warm you up at my place…?” A grin crept across her face that made his chest feel tight and his stomach awful. “Your place…?”

Law’s brain felt as though it was shutting down. Seas, when was the last time someone propositioned him like this? Propositioned him at all?! It was before he had his homicidal aloof loner reputation as one of the most notorious Supernovas, that was for certain, and he absolutely hated how helpless he felt as he was cornered. Couldn’t use his Devil Fruit without questions, had no access to Conqueror’s Haki, he was afraid to even touch her…

“Dr. Law…? Are you, uh…?” Law looked towards an open door that had a small handful of teenagers gathered around it, staring at the scene as though they walked in on something private.

“Ah, class is in session! Excellent!” He slid along the wall until he was out of Janka’s grasp and grabbed his bag on the way in, not allowing himself a second to breathe until he was in the classroom with the door shut.

“You haven’t seen her with some of the traders, have you?” Dia, the teacher, groaned in exasperation. Law shook his head silently, the man still a bit in shock at the interaction. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Thanks,” Law squeaked. He then took a deep breath to calm himself and looked at the students. “Alright class, today we’re going to be talking about why what Miss Janka did was not okay. Everyone to your seats.”

At least he was able to do that.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Despite the nights beginning to grow longer, Law understood how fortunate he was that there had been extra rooms in the clinic’s living areas as soon as the air grew a chill. The clinic was likely built to accommodate two or three families so medical staff had no problem living on-site. What it meant for him, however, was that there was plenty of extra room to move about in the cold months, allowing for a room meant specifically for training.

“Right here, famke,” he said, bringing her through the motion of stabbing a practice dummy. Her knife was in one shaky hand, grip backward so the flat of the blade could rest along her forearm when not being embedded in someone’s torso. She frowned at it, not enjoying the movement.

“It’s hard to hold,” Nauja pouted. “Why can’t I hold it like normal?”

“You won’t always be able to grab it like normal,” he reasoned. “Sometimes you will have to grab it weird and not have time to adjust the grip.”

“Like when?”

“Like when you have to take the knife from someone’s sheath and bury it in their side.” Law then placed his hand over Nauja’s and pressed the tip of the knife against the dummy’s side. “Now, what will this hit?”

“The… ninth and tenth ribs,” she replied, brow furrowed as she thought. She then adjusted the knife. “This way will go between them and hit the left kidney and part of the stomach. The other side is the right kidney and the gall bladder.”

“Good, good.” He then let her adjust her grip and placed the knife tip back against the dummy’s side. “Thrusting up here hits what?”

“The spleen.”

“…and maybe…?”

“Maybe a… lung…?”

“Good.” Law then saw that Nauja was frowning as she stared at the knife in her hand. He could tell something was bothering her. “What is it?”

“I know this is in case someone tries to hurt me, but…” She crinkled her nose. “Aren’t we doctors? This feels a lot like how to kill.”

“Not at all,” he assured. “You need to know where things are in the body if you’re going to draw them, or treat them medically, or fight off someone without hitting a vital organ. That takes a lot of practice.”

“…but why would I need to know how to fight here?”

“You never can be too prepared.” Law pressed a kiss into her hair and let out a low chuckle. “Alright, now show me again where to stab to get under the sternum again.”

Nauja wrinkled her nose and placed the blade accordingly.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was finally Nauja’s birthday. Although it was still winter, the weather had warmed just enough to turn everything slightly slushier. Heavy, wet snow fell the entire day, encouraging Law to make the prudent decision to stay inside. At least Nauja herself didn’t mind, as she enjoyed days where she stayed in and was allowed to study alongside Law. He surprised her with umeboshi onigiri for lunch and Flevench-style pea soup for dinner, afterwards bringing the celebration into the front sitting room where a fire was already warming the hearth from “business hours”. Flexing his Devil Fruit for the first time that week, he shambled three wrapped packages onto the table next to the cake, which made his daughter gasp.

“Really?!” she marveled. He nodded silently, allowing her to pull the nearest package towards her and open it up: an art and drafting set filled with pens and pencils—regular and in colors—as well as a couple sketchbooks and some varied straight-edges, measuring utensils, and other miscellanea. “Wow! That’s so cool! Thanks!”

“Don’t thank me just yet; open the rest of them,” he chuckled. She pulled another package towards her and tore the paper off—a wooden box, decorated with an elaborate pattern that had been carved into the lid and sides.

“What is it?” she asked, tilting her head. She opened it carefully to find that it was lined with a blue velvet and had many different internal sections.

“It’s a jewelry box,” he explained. “Macksson Jan made it. We can put the things from the envelope in there to keep it nice.”

“…oh. Okay.”

Law watched as Nauja stared at the intricately-carved box, running her fingers lightly over the design. She sucked in a sniffle as tears began to well in her eyes. “Famke…?”

“Law-san… I don’t know what I did to deserve this,” she said quietly. She sniffled again and hiccuped before wiping tears away with the heel of her palm. “I’m just some kid Bepo-ya found…”

“Where did this come from?” he wondered aloud. His hand found the top of her head, where he began to scratch lightly at her scalp. She struggled to not cry and it made his heart feel both heavy and dangerously fragile. “I thought we’ve been through this.”

“I know… but…” She sniffled loudly, trying to suck up some snot back into her nose. “It’s hard…”

Ah. Something was making her rethink things, whether it was a difficult time adjusting, or maybe something someone said, or possibly even her own mind beginning to play tricks on her. She was a bit young for it, but then again… he had been when that first started himself. Children generally suffered from moods as they grew emotionally and she was being subject to one. The only thing now was how to get her out of it…

…and maybe… maybe it was good to have all the cards on the table. His daughter deserved that much, after all.

“Nauja?” He gently turned her face towards him and brushed away more tears. “Can I tell you something? Something I don’t know if I ever said out loud in words before?”

“Not… not even to my uncles?”

“No one on the Polar Tang knows this.”

The girl sat there and digested those words. Something no one else knew? No one at all? She placed the jewelry box down on the cushion next to Professor Nanuk and adjusted so that she was sitting cross-legged on the couch.

Please.

“When I was your age,” he began, each word measured and deliberate, “before I met Cora-san, before we knew Amber Lead was killing us, I went to church. My parents took your Tante Lami and I there once a week, most weeks, the last time being about a month before… before I lost them.”

“Church…?” She tilted her head curiously. “What’s that?”

“It’s a place for religion… for faith… for spirituality… for the part of us that can’t be mended with bandages and stitches and medicine… when done right, a church is a place where people can find peace, understand things in different ways, be a loving community, and be inspired to do good, if not there then elsewhere in their lives. It can augment mental and emotional therapy for some people and help keep them even-keeled between sessions. Again, when done right, it has the ability to be highly valuable.”

“Was it… not done right…?”

“I think it tried, which is the best most churches can do.” Law took a deep breath as he thought back to hardwood pews and soft candlelight; he could almost smell the sweet and heady mulberry incense and hear the bells and organ pipes in the rafters. “The church in Flevance would do things like talk about salvation—unconditional freedom and forgiveness in this life and the next—which wasn’t something I really understood. When you grow up privileged in a place where even the poor are wealthy by other countries’ standards, such a thing is a difficult concept to grasp, especially as a child. I was more concerned with other stuff… more irritated with other stuff…”

“Like what…?”

“‘Everything happens for a reason’,” he said, the words flowing over his tongue for the first time in so, so long. “The church ran the schools for younger students in Flevance and it was something the religious sisters and brothers we had as teachers said. Often. I didn’t believe it then and not for a long, long time after.”

“Why…? Were they mean?”

“They could have been, in another time or place, but no they were very nice. They loved all of us children the same whether we went to church or not, whether we believed what they said or not, and said that if we were to ever think of anything preached to us as true, it was that. We had to find our own way to make sense of it, but they encouraged us to take that phrase to heart.”

“So… everything…?” Nauja puzzled over that for a moment. “I thought things happen because people do or don’t do things.”

“You are correct, but it’s something they said to make us feel better here, to help make sense of things in here.” He tapped the middle of her chest with two fingers, then her forehead. “I thought they meant stuff like when Tante Lami got into my room and tore it apart in play, or when my parents had a patient who passed away unexpectedly, or when a classmate would break a bone after slipping on ice. That wasn’t it at all.”

“What was it?”

“It was preparing us, in case one of us would not find salvation with the others,” Law admitted quietly, his voice cracking slightly. “It doesn’t mean what happens is always right, or good, or that you will ever understand why; it’s hopefully something that clicks into place later on so that the past doesn’t weigh the better parts of you down. By thinking about it, you can move forward and not let ghosts haunt you.”

Nauja looked away, her gaze towards the art set on the table yet far-off and distant. Her father waited for her to say something, yet she did not.

“If I had not been the only one to live,” he continued, “then I would have never lost my faith in the good in the world. My rage would have never led me to Doflamingo or to my Devil Fruit. Amber Lead would have killed me if bullets and fire didn’t. I would have never had to relearn what was good with Cora-jiisan or the crew, I would have never gone on the journey I did, and I certainly would have never agreed to stop at the island we met on.” He watched as she drew up her legs and hugged her knees in an effort to become smaller. “I would have never known that you needed me like I needed Cora-jiisan, and I would have never realized that what he wanted was not for me to go headlong into a suicidal revenge mission, but to pass on the love he gave me.” Holding her gently by the shoulders, he waited until she looked back at him to continue. “I don’t know what forces brought us together if any did at all, but what I do know is that you are my reason, Trafalgar D. Water Lawsdottir Nauja. It doesn’t have to make sense to you just as much as it needs to make sense to me.”

Errant tears were now streaming down both their faces—too much more and things would become ugly.

“You lived,” he stated. “That’s what you did to deserve to inherit love. I lived, and that’s all I needed as well. If more people knew that, then maybe I could take you home to my family, or you might know first-hand how much of a klutz Cora-jiisan was. If more people understood… then the world might be different.”

“If there was a church here, would you take me?” she asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“I…” he swallowed hard, “I don’t know.”

“Would you… go by yourself…?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did Oma and Opa and Tante Lami and Cora-jiisan find it? Salvation?”

“I like to think they did.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, where he lingered for a moment as he drew strength from her presence. “We’re here for a reason, famke, and so far, being your father and seeing you celebrate birthdays is enough for me. Now come on; open your last present.”

Nodding quietly, Nauja took the third parcel from the table and dragged it into her lap. She slid her fingers under an opening in the paper and stopped.

“I’m the only one in school who was adopted outside their blood-family,” she admitted. “A couple kids live with grandparents, and one girl lives with her aunt and uncle, but there’s no one else like us.”

“…and that too is for a reason.” He gently rubbed her back. “Come on. Open it.”

Nauja carefully tore at the paper and revealed a small stack of books that she quickly looked through: the newest Sora volume, a volume of reference poses, a collection of Northern folktales, and a book on unique localized architecture. She opened the last book and saw in the index not only a section on her father’s hometown, but hers as well. She stared at a photo of a canal full of gondolas and yagara bulls and sniffled.

“…as long as you need me, and longer still,” he murmured. She looked at him with watery eyes and he ruffled her hair. “So, what do you think?”

“Thank you, Vaor. I love them.” She then glanced over at the cake that was still sitting on the table and began to fidget. “Can we…?”

“We can,”  he replied. Nauja breathed a sigh of relied—something to solidly change the subject, and not only that, it was whole cake all to the two of them! It was perfect.

As they ate their cake, Law sat on the couch with a book of his own, while Nauja knelt in front of the table as she began to test her new drafting supplies and reference materials. He glanced over once in a while to see that she was paying close attention to the particular way that elevated canals worked. Had she lived next to one? He couldn’t remember…

Eventually, Law left Nauja in the sitting room as he went to put together some tea for her and pour a couple fingers of a gifted whisky for himself. Was he technically on-call? Yes, but if he couldn’t drink the stuff during a special occasion on a full stomach, when could he? He brought the teapot, their Sora mugs, and the whisky back on a tray, watching her nose wrinkle at the sight of his drink.

“That’s stinky,” she scowled.

“Your opa drank it, as did both of my opas,” he shrugged, sitting down to lean back into the couch. “I don’t expect you to like it—you didn’t even like that sip of beer Ikkaku-ya gave you.”

“Don’t remind me,” she cringed, pouring herself some tea. They took more cake to have with their drinks, both quiet as they continued their dessert in peace.

When he was nearly done with both cake and whisky, an odd feeling settled over Law. It was as though a weight shifted on his shoulders—not quite lifted and yet eased in a way. Two years prior, he would have not been able to predict that this was ever in his future. Seas, he wouldn’t’ve been able to predict it when he first saw Nauja, the girl nearly half-feral and malnourished from neglect, that she would be the entire reason behind his retirement. Now, after everything, she knew more about him than even Bepo. She understood him and his motivations in a way no one else did, even if it hadn’t all set in yet, and there was something… oddly reassuring about it.

Eventually, all children were likely to hit their limits and Nauja was no exception. He chuckled inwardly as her head bobbed in exhaustion, her fight to stay awake nearly valiant in a way.

“You can go to bed if you want,” he said. She shook her head.

“I wanna stay up,” she whined. Nauja abandoned her books and crawled up onto the sofa and cuddled into Law’s side. He let his arm drape around her and she hummed in happiness—the sharpness of the whisky, the smokiness of the fire, the fragrance of the tea, the sweetness of the leftover cake, the electricity and rumbles of the oncoming change in the storm, the warmth of each other and the flames… it was going to be a birthday she would never forget, and neither would he.

Eventually, the storm began to roll in and Law began to drift off himself. He imagined the smell of the fire as Cora-san’s cigarettes, as the fireplace in his parents’ house, as something warm and comforting beyond his daughter… a reality where some things went a little more his way…

Just before he was nearly asleep, a thudding pounding rocked the door, jolting both father and daughter awake. Law went to the door to open it, only for Daisuke to come in, supporting his wife Marla with one arm draped across his shoulders. While both were windwhipped and drenched from the heavy snowfall, she was clearly in pain, which set off alarm bells in Law’s mind.

“You have to help,” Daisuke said between heavy breaths. “She’s gone into labor.”

“Wait… where’s Svana-ya?”

“She’s seeing to her brother’s younger granddaughter,” Marla said. She took a deep breath as her hand went to her stomach. “This one wasn’t supposed to come until next month.”

“…but obstetrics isn’t exactly my field of expertise…”

“I don’t think this baby cares,” Daisuke replied as Law began to support Marla from her other side. He caught sight of Nauja peering at them from the couch and he blanched. “What about…?”

“Hey, famke, remember the illustrations about childbirth in our textbooks?”

“Yeah…?”

“Well get ready, because you’re going to help in-person.” Law led Marla and Daisuke back to the operating theater and helped sit the woman down before beginning to grab things off of shelves and out of cupboards. “Get Marla-ya one of the spare gowns; I don’t want her in those soaked clothes.”

“Yes, Vaor!” Nauja chirped. She scurried back out of the theater and down towards the linen cupboard, giving the adults precious seconds to themselves.

“When was the last time you helped deliver a kid?” Daisuke asked. Law shook his head.

“I can in theory, but it wasn’t part of my clinicals.” Which was the truth, but the ins and outs of his unorthodox medical training wasn’t something that really mattered at that moment.

“Not even for your own daughter’s birth?” Marla wondered as she peeled off her soaked jumper.

“Lot of reasons, long story, but we’re not going to talk about that now.” Nauja then returned with a fresh patient gown, which she shoved in Marla’s hands. “Alright, now get the lights and wash your hands really good.”

“Yes, sir!”

Daisuke shot Law one final incredulous look before Marla caught their attention again as a contraction caused her to hiss in pain. They left her side only to scrub in best they could, because there wasn’t long before the woman began full-on cussing.

What followed next was one of the most stressful hours of Law’s life. He was never going to admit that he’d only ever glanced at obstetrics in passing, with Penguin and Shachi’s giggling immaturity having been the most those texts had gotten use until he went over the topic with Nauja all those months ago. It made him glad he had, as both of them were thrown into the terrifying and messy situation headlong, for at least they were both somewhat (if poorly) prepared. Eventually, a baby cried its first cry and was nestled in his mother’s arms, Marla so relieved and exhausted she could barely speak.

“Storm,” she breathed. “I think that’s his name.”

“Not after your dad?” Daisuke smirked.

“No—his arrival was something to weather, like what’s going on outside.” She raised her eyes towards Law and Nauja, who were both beginning to crash as they cleaned up on waning adrenaline. “We’re doing fine; you two should go rest.”

“Marla-ya, I…”

“I’m a mom now and that means I can boss people around,” she joked. “In all seriousness, you look like you’re going to fall over.”

“We’re okay,” Nauja insisted. She rubbed at her eyes, the late hour getting to her. “We can stay up…”

“I’ll get you if we need anything, how about that?” Daisuke offered. Nauja nodded at that with a tiny squeak, while Law exhaled heavily. Fine—he had them there.

“We’ll be in the waiting room if you need us,” he said. Law then ushered Nauja out so that the new family could have some privacy, the pair finding their way back to the front sitting room. The fire in the hearth was nearly out, so he put a couple more logs on and made sure the flames caught before sitting down a bit too hard on the couch.

“Vaor…?” Nauja whispered as she joined him, cuddling in close.

“Hmm…?”

“We’re here because someone needed to help Storm be born, right? Is that the reason?”

“Maybe.” He smiled hazily at her and let out a chuckle low in his throat. “Slaap goed.”

“Sleep well,” she echoed, curling back up into his side. He wrapped his arm around her and they stayed like that until Daisuke woke them five hours later with food ready in the kitchen.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

A/N: I don’t know how many of you all realize how Catholic-coded Law is and when I say Catholic-coded I mean after a happy upbringing there was an awful event that made him lose his faith and question everything he’d known, only to slowly get back to accepting what he was brought up in and where he is currently, even if a lot of what he sees at-large makes him uncomfortable and by no means has erased the fury he once felt. My circumstances were (obviously) not the same, but a lot of the emotional journey that Law goes through via Flevance and Amber Lead really strikes a chord with me due to applicability with my own faith journey and that’s part of why I adore his character so much.

Also, just as a disclaimer, once I wrote Visiting Home [FFN/AO3], my brain went and decided that something similar probably happened in canon, so to me it’s my emotional support fanon, and by emotional support I mean crying happens a lot.

[grayrazor]

4200 AD: High-tech no-FTL space opera

Instead of working on my ongoing book project, my brain decided to come up with an entirely new setting.

United Inner Planets

Alliance of Earth, Mars, Venus, and Mercury.

Most of population lives on space colonies, cylinders and rings.  Earth is kept as a nature preserve.  Mars Terraformed, aerostat colonies on Venus.

Highest population and agricultural output, but widespread poverty.

Population with the highest average gravity endurance, but lowest radiation resistance.

Navy uses large numbers of sturdy and reliable ships.  Best deflector shield/force field tech.

Warships armed with forward-fixed railguns, x-ray laser turrets, pure fusion missiles.

“Lifting body”-shaped ships.

Jupiter Empire

Controls all of the Jovian moons, capitol in underwater city on Europa.

Moderately populous, but highest overall tech level.  Mastery of artificial gravity.

Expansionist, several moons run as apartheid states by the Europan aristocracy.

Ambitions to control the entire solar system.

Population has moderate gravity endurance, but the highest radiation resistance.

Navy relatively small, but each unit is much more expensive than its Inner Planets counterpart.

Warships armed with forward-fixed grav cannons, neutron beam turrets, antimatter torpedoes.

“Submarine”-shaped ships

Saturn Alliance

Plurality of independent lunar and planetary polities with an alliance of convenience against the stronger powers.

Titan Republic

Democratic republic.  Domed cities and a space elevator ring for solar power.  Atmosphere left unbreathable, Titan too cold to terraform.  Industrial center for the Saturn System.  Democratic republic, bordering on direct democracy.  Often deadlocked by debates about policy, very deliberate in action.

Rhea Federation

Multitude of corporate-run colonies that eventually formed a united government.  Economy mostly dominated by the service industry, though they used to be a hub of agriculture and high technology development.  One party state ruled by the Shareholders, an oligarchy of wealthy family dynasties.

Kingdom of Hyperion

Considered something of a joke by the other nations, the descendants of a wealthy personality cult that founded their own colony as far away from Earth as they could reach, with the cult’s prophet founding a monarchy.  Incredibly decadent architecture and fashion, ostentatious titles for minor officials, bulk of population highly-religious serfs.  Heavily militarized to combat peasant uprisings, dedicated warrior elite who spend all their time training, but no real threat to anyone abroad.  Most weaponry small arms for riot control.

Iapetus Technocracy

Anarchist worker-owned mining communes that have a centralized assembly that meets regularly in order to set guidelines and negotiate with other nations.  No military to speak of, though many of the population are armed.

Enceladus Confederation

Colony founded by sapient sealife from Earth under the ice.  Relatively secretive, details of government and social life unknown.  Have a massive orbital shipyard, produces many large civilian spacecraft and exports military vessels to other minor factions.  Mostly armed with older-model weapons purchased from the UIP or Belt.

“Shark”-shaped ships.

Saturn Aerostat Coalition

Flying cities that export fusion fuel.  Similar non-independent ones on Jupiter controlled by the Empire.  Each governed very strictly, police state with widespread paranoia, deriving from the early colony days when the slightest disorder risked total destruction of the fragile settlement.  Dictator appoints their successor before retiring.  Few long-lasting dynasties, but nepotism is rampant.

Belt Bugs

Genetically-engineered giant insects created by humanity to mine the Asteroid Belt.  Can survive in space for limited periods, use semi-organic technology

Declared independence 500 years ago, but still somewhat resent humans for enslaving them.  Despite vast mineral resources, have little ability to grow their own food, still developing agricultural infrastructure, and so are still economically dependent on the larger powers.  Most individuals are hermaphroditic, able to reproduce sexually or asexually, and have a multitude of eyes and legs.  Incredibly durable bodies, able to survive small arms fire, but most have a hard time adjusting to the gravity on a planet, though it won’t kill them.  Rumored to be a second population in the Kuiper Belt, Oort Cloud, but few humans ever venture out that far.  No formal navy or central government, but there are militias that defend their home colonies.  Best armor tech of any faction, but weakest weapons and shields.  Warships armed with forward-fixed proton beams, gauss cannon turrets, plasma torpedoes.

Ships look like bigger bugs.

The Invaders

Extraterrestrial beings that begin attacking outlying colonies, conquering Neptune and Uranus before moving inward.  Forces a truce between the adversaries in the Sol System, though some consider making an accommodation in secret. Appear at first to be completely mechanical, but on closer inspection contain human brains.  Mystery whether they were extrasolar colonists who are back to conquer their old homeland, or an alien species using transhumans as shock troops.  Warships armed with homing lasers, antimatter autocannons, black hole torpedoes.

“Skyscraper”-shaped ships.

[tawakkull]

ISLAM 101: SPIRITUALITY IN ISLAM: PART 102

One of the most common plaints about Sufism is that it is remarkably open to women’s public performance of worship. There are famous female Sufis, whose careers and hagiographies date to as early as the late 8th- and early 9th-century C.E. Rabia al-‘Adawiyya (d. 801) was famous for her desire to worship God neither for fear of hell nor desire for paradise but out of love. In certain stories associating her with another great early figure of Sufism, Al-Hasan al-Basri, she is seen to surpass him in both wisdom and piety.

Perhaps due to a readiness to integrate local culture, in some Sufi circles women and men participate in ceremonies together. In other cases, orders are comprised entirely of women, with women teachers, called shaykhas. The Qubaysiyyat in Syria and Lebanon are among the most popular and populous female orders in the Middle East today.

But women’s participation in teaching and learning among Sufis is not limited to the modern period. Ibn Arabi (d. 1240 C.E.) listed two female Sufis among his teachers, Shams and Fatimah. He referred to Fatimah as a Gnostic whom he served for several years. Another famous Fatimah, Fatimah Nishapuri, lived in Mecca in the 9th century, and was regarded among the greatest of Sufis by her male contemporaries.

In terms of sexuality, Sufism has occasionally been controversial in one respect: its use of the language of eroticism and passion to describe the relationship with God, the Beloved. As in all branches of Islam, Sufism does not prescribe celibacy. Many famous Sufis were married and had children, though others were indeed celibate. Al-Ghazzali actually wrote on the virtue of sexuality and marriage when practiced properly and when inclusive of the desire to procreate.

Overall, therefore, an aversion to sexuality itself is not a major issue for Sufis any more than other desires. It does not stand out among other physical desires, such as the need for food or sleep. Yet the language of love and passion is an enormously important aspect of Sufi literature in discussing a relationship with God.

Love imagery is expressed in the following poem by Rumi, entitled “Love is the Master”:

Love is the One who masters all things;

I am mastered totally by Love.

By my passion of love for Love

I have ground sweet as sugar.

O furious Wind, I am only a straw before you;

How could I know where I will be blown next?

Whoever claims to have made a pact with Destiny

Reveals himself a liar and a fool;

What is any of us but a straw in a storm?

How could anyone make a pact with a hurricane?

God is working everywhere his massive Resurrection;

How can we pretend to act on our own?

In the hand of Love I am like a cat in a sack;

Sometimes Love hoists me into the air,

Sometimes Love flings me into the air,

Love swings me round and round His head;

I have no peace, in this world or any other.

The lovers of God have fallen in a furious river;

They have surrendered themselves to Love’s commands.

Like mill wheels they turn, day and night, day and night,

Constantly turning and turning, and crying out.

In this poem, Rumi, the lover, is completely helpless, like a piece of straw blown about by a hurricane, or a helpless animal tossed into the air. Elsewhere, love is an all-consuming fire, in which the Sufi is consumed as by a fire:

Should Love’s heart rejoice unless I burn?

For my heart is Love’s dwelling.

If You will burn Your house, burn it, Love!

Who will say, 'It’s not allowed’?

Burn this house thoroughly!

The lover’s house improves with fire.

From now on I will make burning my aim,

From now on I will make burning my aim, for I am like the candle: burning only makes me brighter.

Abandon sleep tonight; traverse for one night the region of the sleepless.

Look upon these lovers who have become distraught and like moths have died in union with the One Beloved.

Look upon this ship of God’s creatures and see how it is sunk in Love.