#pre-clovis

[uldahstreetrat]

Now, I am from Turkey and I cannot speak for all Southwest Asian, North African and South Asian people out there, I can only speak of what I've spotted based on the info I have. But Radz-at-han def has some Turkish influence. The lamps on the bazaar are absolutely same with the ones in Grand Bazaar (Kapalıçarşı). There's meyhane! A win for Turkey Iran and Balkans! Also Akyaali (ak yalı in Turkish) means white beach literally. And not to forget Kapikulu. And the npc names: i have spotted fantasty versions of some turkish names. Oh and... Karniyarik is from Turkey (means belly splitted literally bc you split the belly of the eggplant). Thavnair itself does not look like Turkey at all fauna/flora/climate wise.

Tho South Asian influence is also very prominent in Radz-at-han/Thavnair. I think there's a good amount of Mughal Empire inspo there. But I don't have enough info to talk about it. I'll leave it to South Asian folks! I also think there's Farsi inspo. (Satrap is a title of ancient Persian empire). Like I said, feel free to correct me if i'm wrong!

For Ala Mhigo, I would say it has much SWANA influence overall. Especially Levant is very visible for me. Arak being Levantine spirit for example. And Sumerian Ziggurats. Also "ala" prefix/article.

I've spotted Turkish influence ( imambayıldi being a turkish food)(ala mhigan gown having anatolian kilim motifs)(conquest war against the neighboring nations in the past)(visual inspo from eastern, southeastern and inner anatolia for example: Cappadocia, salt lake area and salt industry. Travertines next to M Tribe and Travertines in Pamukkale. Tho Turkey is not the ONLY visual inspo for the region there are many many other SWANA inspos like i said, for exp: ziggurats).

Disclaimer: No matter how much inspo they have from the real world, Ala Mhigo and Radz-at-han are fictional. The inspos overlap a lot and most of the times they're not clear-cut. And sometimes they do not reflect the real world. I only mentioned of the things I've spotted. However, South Asia, Southwest Asia and North Africa are very diverse and beautiful regions with diverse cultures, civilizations and peoples and I don't have sufficient info to talk about it all so I am sure there are many things I've missed out on Ala Mhigo and Thavnair that my fellow SWANA people and South Asian folks can point out! Also both of these fictional countries have inspirations from other cultures as well (like ala mhigan monks). After all, Turkey is only a part of the inspiration both for Ala Mhigo and Thavnair. But it made me incredibly happy to see it. And i hope the real world inspirations in this game made the others happy as well!

(linking to my original post on this convo so i dont lose it again lmao)

thank you so much for your thoughts on this anon I really adore hearing about where people have seen their own cultures within the game! I think it's so super cool and im so glad you shared with me!

[bywandandsword]

It's 9:00 am and I haven't had coffee yet, who's ready to talk about the evidence for pre-Clovis settlement in the Americas and the fungus found on mammoth poop??

The answer is me. I'm giving a lecture on it in less than an hour. Pray that I am caffeinated by the time it starts

[lionofchaeronea]

Clovis point, fashioned from chert and belonging to the Clovis culture (so named from early 20th century archaeological finds near Clovis, New Mexico) that spread throughout North America following the Last Glacial Period. Clovis points are distinguished by manufacture through the pressure flaking technique and by fluting near the base. Manufactured between 11,500 and 9,000 BCE and found in Sevier County, Utah; now in the Natural History Museum of Utah, Salt Lake City.

[taxus-fraud]

I hope that this second Rainbow Six Siege collab happens after the Destiny 2 one, because, given that both those games use our Earth to establish their setting, it makes the Destiny collab much funnier in the context of occurring between two crossovers with a far more grounded setting.

From Doctor's perspective, you have a group of "humans" from a world called "Earth" who show up on Terra through some sort of interdimensional travel. They have some fancy technology and unusual equipment, but overall they're not too different from Terrans. They're well-trained soldiers and acclimate just fine to the culture.

Then you have a Guardian show up. They say they're a human from a world called Earth, so make the reasonable assumption that they shouldn't be too different from the other guys. This turns out to be entirely incorrect. They casually warp reality with an unknown kind of cosmic power. They die and come back to life over and over with seemingly no negative consequences. They constantly dance for no reason at all. When asked to describe their combat skills, they recount multiple instances of fighting and killing Gods, then turning them into weapons. Their equipment baffles and frightens a majority of the R&D department in the ways it seemingly defies the current understandings of physics, and yet the Guardian insists that they get many of these weapons by randomly finding them on the ground.

From what they say about their home, you deduce that, since the first humans arrived here, Earth has reached some kind of golden age not unlike that of Aegir, brought about by a cosmic entity dubbed 'The Traveler' arriving to their solar system and accelerating their technology and understanding of the universe to heights you couldn't fathom.

Then another group of humans from Earth shows up on Terra. You brace yourself to be faced with even stranger people and shown more unnatural wonders of technology. Nope. More guys from Team Rainbow. Entirely normal guys with the same kind of equipment and experience as the rest of that team. They don't know anything about a Traveler, a Golden Age, or any Guardians.

And you're just left sitting there, eternally wondering what the hell is up with Earth such that there's some kind of undead, god-killing turbo-freak running around, fighting an endless battle against hordes of unfathomable armies from beyond the stars, all while being apparently entirely disconnected from the rest of the people on Earth

[aqueerpolysocialist]

So after that terrible post about horses in North America clearly we need to talk about Clovis First and why it's wrong and discredited.

These are some lovely Clovis stone spearpoints from the Rummels-Maske Cache site in Iowa. The Clovis Culture refers to a people who lived in North America around 13,000-10,000 years ago, and for a long time there was a near-cultish obsession amongst archaeologists with the theory that these were the first people to colonise the Americas, making American prehistory the youngest significant landmass colonisation by tens of thousands of years. This theory is called Clovis First; the suggestion being that the Clovis people crossed the Bering land bridge around 13-14,000 years ago and then spread out across the Americas.

Now as you can see here, we've got rather a lot of evidence that Clovis First is bullshit. It's particularly silly when looking at South America; the radiocarbon dates at Monte Verde might go back as far as 19,000 years ago, which considering how long it would take to get from Alaska to near the tip of South America means that an initial population crossing as early as 20,000 BP or earlier is perfectly within reason; certainly we can't imagine the first crossing being earlier than perhaps 16,000 BP in order for those dates to make sense.

The material culture here is also very much distinct from Clovis Culture, so it doesn't make sense that we've just got the date range wrong for Clovis - clearly either there are multiple crossings that populate the Americas, or Clovis Culture developed in North America from earlier material cultures.

There have been various arguments over the years about why this radiocarbon date or that DNA evidence might be controversial, but for most people the final nail in the Clovis First coffin has been the work at Paisley Caves, which has had some extremely thorough science applied to demonstrate that the methods used on other sites do in fact check out and to confirm that the site in Oregon is older than the earliest Clovis dates besides.

So why does this matter? Because the theory gets used to downplay the length of prehistory in the Americas and particularly in South America, which contributes to some of the racist treatment of mesoamerican and South American culture, theories about aliens and whatnot. White archaeologists clung to Clovis First well beyond the point at which it was clearly controversial, and it's always important to ask why that might be when dealing with a theory developed by white dudes in the 1930s.

[rhysintherain]

Pre-Clovis is pretty solid at this point.

We've got pretty solid evidence from Bluefish cave (Yukon) and White Sands (New Mexico) that put humans in the Americas more than 20,000 years ago.

We also have evidence from Tse'kwa in BC that the Clovis-era hunters who travelled the ice-free corridor were heading north, not entering North America for the first time heading south.

I'm still pretty sceptical about the 100,000 years+ claims, though.

The first reason is because a lot of these claims are related to the Cerutti Mastodon site, where Demere and company claim they found evidence of humans butchering mastodons 130,000 ago. Most other archaeologists think they just found evidence of modern industrial equipment running over buried Mastodon bones in the last 50 years or so.

The other reason is that it doesn't line up with oral histories I've heard from Indigenous sources I trust. From the people I've talked to in northwestern Canada, they ballpark their oral histories as going back to around 30,000 years ago. In some cases these are stories about massive glaciation, interacting with mammoths and other megafauna, and the arrival of species like salmon that moved into this region as the glaciers receded. These are people who know the area and their histories better than I ever will, so I'm inclined to trust their accounts. (For a documented example, this is the number Frank Tseleie cited in the 1974 Berger pipeline inquiry.)

Personally, I don't think we've found the earliest archaeological evidence of human history in the Americas yet. Partly that's because archaeological material that far back is hard to find and harder to date accurately. I think in the next few decades we'll find older evidence, but I doubt it will go back further than 50,000 years.

Have just started reading a book by an indigenous archaeologist (Paulette Steeves) and this seems like a really good thing for me, and for all archaeologists, to keep in mind as we work:

[tanadrin]

The Yana Culture was ancestral to the population from which both early Paleo-Indians and the Ancient North Siberians arose.

By “the builders of Stonehenge,” I mean the earliest builders, ca. 3100 BCE.

Note that the last language spoken by a Denisovan/Neanderthal or by a community of Denisovans/Neanderthals may not necessarily be a Denisovan/Neanderthal language—it may be a language of anatomically modern humans they adopted. (It will at any rate be about 40-50,000 years old).

[pigcowboys]

secret santa !

pairing: percy jackson x female!reader

summary: camp half-blood decides to do secret santa this year.

warning(s): pre-established relationship and kissing but, none, mostly!

a/n: merry (late) christmas to everyone who celebrates it!! this was supposed to be out on christmas day but.. uh yeah. this is slightly self-indulgent.

“you’re doing it right?” you asked, adjusting your position on your bunk bed as you tried your best to scrub out the nasty maroon stain you’d spilled onto the fabric.

it was almost christmas day and with that important birthday coming up, it meant only one thing for you, gift shopping. not that you hated it — honestly. it was just the idea of somehow disappointing your friends.

the stakes were higher this year considering the fact chiron had brought up the idea of doing a secret santa with the rest of the camp. everyone voted in agreement the idea — well, except for clovis but, to be fair he wasn’t conscious when the announcement was made.

soon after it was set in stone that the camp would be hosting its very first secret santa and then following that, everyone was assigned a partner.

piper got annabeth, annabeth got leo, leo got piper and somehow travis stoll had gotten clarisse. that last part was going to be interesting. you even got someone as well, too. not that it made you anxious at all, you loved gifting people presents — great at it, dare you say.

well, it was a bit easier to gift people presents when you didn’t have to worry about whether or not your gift would somehow make the person hate you and question why they even started dating you in the first place.

so, it was safe to say you weren’t especially overjoyed when you got percy as your secret santa. your mind went blank as you shifted to the side, allowing percy to slide past you to reach for his paper with his santa.

you eyed him curiously as he stared at the words on the paper indifferently before a smile flashed onto his face. he turned the paper so your eyes had access to it clearly, completely missing the moment when your heart dropped.

"we got each other," percy said, tucking the paper into his pocket. "that's lucky, right?" you merely laughed nervously in response.

"yeah, totally." not lucky, not lucky at all.

“everyone is,” annabeth started “why? are you changing your mind?” annabeth asked, causing you to frown slightly.

“well, no..i think.” you trailed off, eyebrows furrowing as you flung your sponge to the side. gods, you seriously hoped this would wash out after a while.

“i wouldn’t wanna spoil the fun.”

“plus, you’re curious about what your secret santa might’ve gotten you.” annabeth chimed in.

“that too.” you replied. "any idea what percy might have in mind?"

annabeth merely hummed in response leaving you even more conflicted than before. what if he gets you an amazing gift and all you get him is some crap that he'll say he loves, a fake smile on his face before dumping it somewhere in his cabin 'till the next secret santa.

you didn't want to be that girlfriend. you actively rebuke any allegations that may have even brought that idea up.

“i am so screwed.” you sobbed out, pressing your fingers against your face as you sighed dramatically.

“you have time, use it.” annabeth reminded you. she was right, it was only 2 days till christmas day and even then, secret santa wasn’t going to happen till later into the evening.

“just don’t use too much, shopping places are never open for late minute gifts.”

“right, okay..” you murmured out. "i have time."

those 2 days came and went sooner than you expected it to and by christmas day morning, you were frantically wrapping up percy’s gift, thoughts racing as you tried to not think about whether or not the gift would be cool enough for him.

he’s be happy with anything you got him, you knew that. didn’t make ease your mind any less, though. you stumbled out of your cabin as you rushed towards the decorated tree that was out near the forest, courtesy of the demeter kids.

to be honest, even if you liked christmas or disliked it, everyone could appreciate the effort put into decorating the tree. especially with all the presents stacked under - it added to the scene. you bent down, carefully placing it underneath the tree, not too close so that it would obviously stick out, but not too far that people would forget it was there.

this was a big camp, after all.

you'd made your way over the mess hall, scanning over it for any signs of percy before taking a plate and shoving food onto it. you spared a part for your godly parent and then made your way toward the table to sit with everyone else.

even with percy missing, the mess hall was still lively - believe it or not. everyone seemed to be talking lively about their gifts and what they were expecting, something that didn't ease your anxieties about your own gift.

it didn't help at all when your eyes finally settled on percy's own across the room, a small smile pulling on his face as he tended to his plate. your mind had been so zeroed in on worrying you hadn't even clued in on the fact he was walking over to you, taking a seat beside you.

"thanks for saving me a seat." you fought back a smile at the sound of his tired voice. he must've been knocked out sometime after sword practice. you hummed in response, fiddling with your food as your mind raced.

your eyes drifted towards percy as you watched him silently from the corner of your eyes. between the bed hair and the disheveled state of his clothes, it was safe to say that he had just woken up. despite the anxieties that swirled in your mind and the ansty fidgeting of your legs, you couldn't deny that percy was gorgeous.

though, it just brought your mind back to your dilemma. secret santa would happen right after dinner and then would be campfire time. how could you sit and sing songs at the campfire knowing percy had hated your gift?

"you're being stranger than usual, y'know."

"hm?" you turned to look at percy who gave you a quizzical look. "i'm acting completely normal."

"you've barely touched your food."

you stared down at your plate, it looked like a ghost had gently floated over it - devoid of human ingestion.

"i'm not hungry." you lied, slapping yourself mentally when your stomach growled deeply.

"mhm.." percy nodded along, trying to suppress the smile on his face. "what's wrong?" he asked, pushing his plate aside as he turned his whole body to face you, something that didn't go unnoticed by you as you locked eyes with him.

"just..thinking."

"about?"

you narrowed your eyes at him, ignoring the tingling in your chest as you watched him carefully. you really hoped he hadn't caught onto the fact you were just checking him out at this point, turning your face away in embarrassment as you rested your head on your elbows,

"stuff."

"what kind of stuff?"

"important stuff."

"like what?"

"percy, will you leave me alone!" a laugh, followed by his hand brushing against your back soothingly. you titled your head up to look at him as your head rested on your elbows.

"sorry, sorry." he smiled. "just hang in there, okay?" was all he whispered in your ear before moving back to press a sloppy kiss to your head that made your face scrunch in disgust.

"gross...you're so disgusting, percy.." you murmur, wiping the wet blotch of spit that was left on your forehead from the kiss.

"i love you too."

"what'd you think you got?" piper asked, shifting in her seat slightly as she waited for annabeth to respond.

"you're asking me like you don't know what i got." annabeth replied with a small smile.

"can't hurt to imagine."

you zoned out the rest of the conversation as you suppressed the urge to scream out of frustration. the camp chatted lively around you, cueing you in on the fact that you'd been cuddled up beside percy without once offering a word to him.

not that he minded, he was aware you wanted to be with your thoughts and he respected it. just..didn't feel very..couple appropriate. it felt like you'd been talking to yourself way more than the guy who was supposed to be your boyfriend.

"quiet down," chiron's voice rang through all the chatter, reducing the crowd to silence. he'd somehow managed to shimmy matching ugly christmas sweaters onto him and mr. d respectively. the image alone made you want to pull out your phone and snap a picture.

though, you decided against it, taking notice of the death glares mr.d had sent your way.

chiron announced that secret santa would be happening in a bit, receiving a series of cheers from some campers in the crowd. you shifted slightly in percy's hold, prompting him to look at you - a curious look on his face.

"you okay?"

"yeah, it's just kind of cold, i guess."

percy hummed in response before pulling you into him so you were resting against his chest. he rested his chin on your head with a small smile.

“is this better?” he whispered, to which you merely hummed in response, snuggling yourself against him as you tried to get comfortable. now, you weren’t a fan of those overly lovely couples that couldn’t keep their hands off each other in public but, you had to admit that being in percy’s arms felt more than good with the day you’ve had.

chiron continued on with his announcements, listing out the series of activities tomorrow and also stating as well that the stables would be closed on account of an “accident” that had happened in there. that part was received with a small shiver.

“that’s all i’d like to say, furthermore, I’d like to wish everyone a merry christmas.” then, chiron and mr.d stepped to the side as the festivities continued on.

it was time.

“wonder what everyone got.” you murmured, watching quietly as the rest of the campers hurried towards the tree decked out with over the top presents. percy stood up, offering you his hand as he locked them.

“me too.” percy agreed, sighing slightly. “gods, all i hope is that someone doesn’t make the mistake of gifting travis firecrackers ever again.”

“or a megaphone.”

“oh, yeah, i totally remember that year.”

“I’m sure everyone else does too..”

percy cracked a grin, one that cause your stomach to flutter slightly as you smiled back at him. he squeezed your hand before making short strides towards the rest of the campers.

you should’ve been anxious — you were anxious. though, your concerns seemed to slip away the longer you stayed with percy. the way he looked at you, it made you realize just one thing that you were sure a crummy present wasn’t going to change.

he loved you.

camp activities were fun and all but, extremely loud.

you’d figured it’d only been amplified by the fact that everyone was opening their christmas gifts and comparing what they’d gotten from each of their respective partners.

you could respect that, secret santa was no joke.

yet, you’d still managed to slip away with percy while none of the adults were watching in favorite of opening your gifts in the company of one another rather than the rest of the camp. and judging by the sputters of stars in the night sky illuminating percy and your faces, it was a good call.

“you think they’ll be mad at us for ditching everyone else?” you asked, clutching your present to your chest as you adjusted your winter coat.

“we’ll be back before they know it,” percy replied, turning to face you with a smile. he was always smiling. “and anyways, everyone else would be too busy with their presents to care.”

you sighed, taking a seat next to percy as you rested his gift in-front of you. percy turned to look at you with an anxious look on his face as he cleared his throat, holing his hand out as he waited for you to take the gift from him.

you looked back at him, nerves set ablaze as well as you exchanged your gifts, resting the wrapped present in your lap as you ogled the festive paper.

“so, truth be told — i’m pretty nervous.” percy blurred out of the blue.

“gods, i’m so glad you said that cause, i so was too.” you sighed softly, your heartbeat stilling for the first time this night as you shifted your body so you were turned towards percy. “i really wanted my gift to special and.. i feel like if it isn’t you’d like hate me or something.”

“i could never hate you.”

you paused for a moment. it’d only be a few years since you’d started to date percy, you should’ve been more used to his personality. yet, it never seemed to catch you off guard when he said these kind of sentimental things.

“even if i got you like..a smelly sock for christmas?”

percy laughed before shaking his head. you bite the inside of your mouth, frowning slightly as your face grew hot.

“sorry, i’ve been so quiet tonight.” you averted percy’s gaze, picking at the clear taping of your present. “it’s just — I don’t know, i guess i was lost in my own head.”

percy watched you quietly, leaning forward to cup your cheek as he planted a soft kiss to your lips, pulling back to stare you head on in your eyes.

“don’t apologize for something like that, it’s fine — really.” percy replied, his voice soft and careful. it made your body feel warm.

“if you want, you could open my gift first,” he added, moving his hand to rest atop yours. “that way you won’t be so nervous.”

you smiled, a genuine one. “that or your gift will be so amazing that it makes mine look horrible.” percy grinned back at you.

“let’s see.”

you nodded, turning to stare down the gift in your lap before you started to unravel it. it wasn’t a particularly big present, not that you minded at all. anything from percy was something to treasure. you moved the packaging to the side carefully as you stared at the small box that hit behind it.

it wasn’t cardboard, more like.. leather? or silk. and it was blue — percy’s trademark. you looked to him with a curious look on your face before turning back to gaze at the small box. you let your finger glide over the material once more before you opened it.

“percy..?” you mumbled out, voice barely a whisper.

inside the box contained a small ring that looked to be just about the size of your ring finger. your heart dropped at the sight of it — in a good way. it was pretty, careful patterns etched into that showed that it was finely crafted. and at the center of it, a small gem that was the same shade of your favorite color.

the cherry on top.

your eyes started to water involuntarily as your lips trembled. you were at a loss for words, how could you say anything? you stared at percy in shock as you tried to grasp the right words to say, eventually coming up with the idea to not say any words at all, leaning forward as you pulled him into a tight hug.

percy hugged back immediately, burying his head into your shoulder as he wrapped his arms around you gently.

you pulled back to look at him, tears pooling down your face as he wiped them away with his thumb, pressing a kiss to your tear stained cheeks.

“you’re..you’re totally insane for being nervous.” you managed out, laughing slightly as you choked back a sob. “how did you get the money to pay for this?”

“i saved up!” he replied brightly, a proud smile flashing on his face. your shoulders trembled as a warm laugh broke through your lips, causing percy to flush slightly in your hold.

“thank you so much percy.” you whispered, moving your hand to rest on his cheek as you spoke. “you really didn’t have to get me something like this.”

“it’s all fine.” he replied calmly. “it’s you were talking about, y’know.” your face burned with embarrassment as you smiled uncontrollably, pulling percy in for a deeper kiss.

you pulled away from him, watching quietly as percy took the small blue box you’d placed on the floor beside you and opening it. he held the promise ring in his hand, gently taking your own as he slid the ring on carefully. you watched him quietly before press another kiss to his face.

then another, and another.

and before you knew it, you were peppering kisses all over his face, taking the small giggles he emitted from his lips as a sign to do even more than before. percy managed your name out though his giggles, fingers digging into your winter coat as he tried to pry you off of him.

“the — gift!” he giggled, shutting his eyes tightly as you pressed another kiss to the bridge of his nose. “what about — your gift?”

“another time.” was all you whispered as you slid the gift away, focusing in on making sure you’d filled every single spot off percy’s with the feeling of your lips.

safe to say percy hadn’t gotten to see what you’d gotten him till a little later into the night.

[specialagentartemis]

NOT COUNTING ROCKS (unless it’s a specific fossil from a time period you can name) or buildings (you cannot hold those)…

[a-space-wizard1330]

(This is a page dedicated to the Guardian, Apollo-13, and his Ghost, Asclepius, who belong to @kellofqueers)

[If you wish to add me on Destiny, my username is: A Space Wizard#1330]

Greetings, I have seen a few of my fellow Guardians make a "blog" here.

I have no idea what a blog is, but I saw that the Hunter Vanguard, along with some of my fellow Guardians, have one and decided to attempt interacting here.

You can ask me or Asclepius anything you want, and we will attempt to answer.

(🌕:Apollo-13, 🌑:Asclepius)

Apollo-13 (with and without helmet)

Asclepius

✨silly little lore things✨

these are completely optional reads, but provide context for certain conversations

Apollo-13's life before being a Guardian

Apollo-13 was a welder for Clovis Bray, although he had the capability and knowledge to be in larger roles, they kept him there because he was involved in too many workplace "accidents".

Nearly every single reset was because Clovis Bray needed to cover up the inhumane durability tests they performed at the expense of Apollo-13 and many other exos like him;the only resets that weren't performed because of his involvement with durability tests, resets 7 and 4, were due to him discovering the files that documented the results of the experiments along with other things.

Now you might be asking something along the lines of: "Hey waitaminute, didn't Clovis Bray have access to technology that allowed them to pretty much instantly make buildings?" and yes, they did! The reason why Apollo-13 and his "co-workers" were doing their jobs at all was because Clovis Bray kept them completely unaware of the outside world, the knowledge of this is what I meant when I said other things, and had them live on-site. The most exposure that they got to the outside world was music, but that was simply because everyone was issued a device similar to a Sony Walkman to listen to while they worked. The reason that they were provided with said device was because experiments showed that listening to music boosted productivity when working a hands-on job. However, all the music the "workers" had access to was all pre-Golden Age.

The reason why Apollo-13 was a subject in this experiment in the first place was because, when he was a human, he worked at the very top of Clovis Bray's Biology department. However, he inhaled dangerous spores from an experimental plant that they were developing. He opted to have his mind implanted into an Exo, on the condition that he be named Apollo. The reason why he decided to name himself Apollo is due to his extreme fascination with Greek mythology and he wanted to make further developments in medicine, like the god Apollo did, when he became an Exo.

Unfortunately, he was placed carelessly into the experiments for pain aptitude and extreme labor hours.

During the Collapse, Apollo-13 was on the job site welding metal support beams together while listening to his favorite song, Huey Lewis and The News' song "Hip To Be Square", when the whole facility began to shake from the invasion of the Witness and the Black Fleet. Unfortunately, Apollo-13 couldn't escape from the facility because the earthquake caused his blowtorch to weld his fingers to the beams he was welding together. Due to this, he was crushed because the facility fell apart and he couldn't escape.

Asclepius' journey to find Apollo-13

A nameless Ghost awoke, freshly born from the Traveler's Light, adjusting his vision to the world around him and he heard a voice, that of Apollo-13's, that said only two words: "My son..."

The Ghost knew that the message was from the Traveler, but that the voice was that of his Guardian. As is usual for most Ghosts, he didn't know where to find his Guardian but he knew he had to try...

A few years into his journey, the Ghost was scanning through documents in a Clovis Bray facility when he noticed a name that stood out...

"Apollo-13..?" the Ghost asked himself quietly. Fortunately, there was an audio log attached to the file. It consisted of Apollo-13 singing his favorite song while welding.

The shell of the small floating machine flared out in excitement as he combed through his memories and listened to the message from the Traveler. "My son..." emanated from him, the Ghost quickly played the audio log attached to the file once again and almost screamed in joy when he realized the voices were the same, just different in tone. He quickly looked through the file for the location of the facility that the audio log was from, and immediately began making his way to it in the hopes that the body of his Guardian was still there.

It took the Ghost another two years to reach the collapsed facility, but he eventually did find it. He floated through the rubble looking for anything that would lead him to his Guardian, not expecting to find him laying there under a pile of rubble.

The Ghost quickly floated over to the Exo and resurrected it, a small moan emanating from his mouth as a burst of Light flowed through it and cleared any rubble covering it...

The first words Apollo-13 said as he rose from the dead were: "My son..."

The Ghost quickly read the name tag on his Guardian's burnt jumpsuit, and named himself Asclepius. He had prior knowledge of Greek mythology from reading some burned out books in a few libraries while searching for his Guardian.

How Apollo-13 knows about his life before being a Guardian

After being resurrected, Asclepius explained to Apollo-13 all the basics of Light, how to weld it, what the Traveler is, and that they needed to go to the a place called Last City. Apollo-13 nodded along, not understanding a single thing that this strange machine was saying to him but also understanding that he spoke only the truth.

After the lengthy explanation of why he was risen from the dead, Apollo-13 asked Asclepius where they were and if they could find out what his previous life was like.

Fortunately for the newly raised Exo, Asclepius had the ability to interface with just about any technology that exists. The Ghost lead him to the dilapidated office/observation room of the facility and began scanning through the computers that were scattered throughout the room. He found one that contained the entire life history of Apollo-13, even his life before becoming an Exo, and forced the centuries old computer to rise from the grave like his Guardian had. Apollo-13 began to read through his file, a strange sense of familiarity everpresent in his bones...

After spending about a week relearning himself, and even some things he wasn't aware of in his previous life, he sat on the ground and wept. He wept for the stranger who's body he was in. He wept for the brilliant mind who was forced to perform tasks that could be done in seconds by technology. He wept for the man who's body he was in, and regretted everything that ever happened to him. He cried for a week, becoming so distraught by the corruption and disgusting nature of the corporation who made the body he lives in. If it weren't for the presence of Asclepius, the New Light would've snuffed himself out like a candle lit in a rainstorm.

The journey to the Last City

After the Mourning, the name that Apollo-13 and Asclepius gave to that horrible week, the two of them set off towards the Last City. They crossed through swamps and deserts, lands that before the Collapse would've looked beautiful but now resemble a trampled ant hill on a rainy day. They reached the Panama Ravine, joining a small caravan that was headed to the same place they were. Apollo-13 refused food and drink from the people who he walked with, and never slept either. He was like a saint to these people, a gift sent from the Traveler to lead them to their home. They were only ambushed by Eliksni twice, the first was an etherbath for the poor Eliksni who dared lay a finger on those who traveled with Apollo-13 and Asclepius. The second ambush was much larger in size, as the Eliksni had brought a walker with them to attempt to destroy the New Light. This was the worst and last decision those poor Eliksni would ever make. Although Apollo-13 was a New Light, he trained while he traveled, before he joined the caravan of course, and knew how to rend the lines between realites apart and make them his weapons. He tried to tell the Eliksni to surrender, but they refused to listen. The last thing many of the foolish Eliksni saw was a flash of purple darting from one fallen comrade to another, before it eventually reached them.

After the carnage, Apollo-13 collapsed. He slept for a whole day, small sparks of Void energy occasionally leaping off his body. Once he awoke, he apologized to the caravan for having such an outburst. His apology was met with laughter, but not of a mocking nature. They held a small bonfire that night, celebrating the Guardian who had saved them from certain death.

The next morning, the caravan awoke to Apollo-13 covered in armor scavenged from the Eliksni he had destroyed along with the swords of the captain that led the ambush.

"I have made a gift for you, please take it."

He stepped aside and revealed a new transport cart, made from the Walker that tried to eliminate them.

"None shall touch you while you have this around, I left a single survivor on purpose. He will tell of the Guardian who disintegrated his allies and forged a ship from their machine. If any of them see you, then they will see this and leave you be."

The caravan cheered, but some noticed something was wrong with their savior's expression...

"Please understand that what I am about to say is not because I think little of all of you, I will be ever grateful for the help each of you provided me, but..." He steadied himself, looking at the small crowd in front of him "I am leaving to travel on my own. This is for the safety of each of you. My Light is volatile, I know not how to control it, and I would never forgive myself if any of you were harmed because of that." He begins crying gently, tears rolling off his chassis and onto the sandy ground of the Ravine "That is why I have built this machine for you, so that you may stay safe without me."

The caravan joined Apollo-13 in weeping, but each of them understood why he was leaving. Each of the members gave him gifts, be it small portions of food or canteens of water. Those gifts meant everything to him, but none were as important as the gift he received from a young girl.

She had given Apollo-13 her favorite doll, and asked him to keep it safe for her. He promised to keep the priceless doll safe, and was met with a hug from the girl.

After he hung the doll from his belt, he set off towards the distant horizon facing the Traveler as he went...

The rest of his journey was rather uneventful, all things considered. He was never ambushed due to the presence of a Captain's blades upon his back, and he never reached the last of his supplies due to rationing...

Why Asclepius' shell is special

Fast-forward to the time of the Witch Queen expansion, and Apollo-13 and Asclepius are the best of friends. They were sent to the Throne World to deal with Savathūn and her Lucent Hive, but were often sidetracked by exploring the crashed Pyramid Ship.

However, this would prove to be a near-fatal mistake for both of them...

On one fateful expedition into the Pyramid Ship to clear out a large Scorn nest that was forming, the two of them weren't paying attention and Asclepius was suddenly struck with a slash of Resonance energy that split his shell in two and damaged some internal components.

All the sudden, a Tormentor emerged from the shadows to deal the killing blow on the Guardian who kept trespassing on a sacred ship of the Black Fleet.

Unfortunately for this Tormentor, Apollo-13 was pissed and all his anger was directed at the creature of Darkness...

Apollo-13 knew that he had to do something, and so he reached deep within himself and unleashed a Chaos Reach so potent and powerful that it turned the walls surrounding the Tormentor to nothing but ash, sparking with residual Arc light.

This, fortunately, was enough to kill the Tormentor and leave some of his body intact, minus the smoking hole in his chest of course.

"Apollo..." cried Asclepius, weak and dying from the damage.

"Asclepius, please don't die..." Apollo began to weep, holding his Ghost within his cupped hands

His mind began racing with ideas on how to fix Asclepius' shell when suddenly he heard the wall of the Pyramid Ship begin to repair itself automatically...

"Asclepius, I'm sorry but this is the only way..."

Apollo-13 quickly ran towards the wall, clutching Asclepius in his hands, as he felt his Light fading. He began frantically grabbing at pieces of the wall and used a blade made of Solar Light to carve them into pieces.

"Oh Traveler, please forgive me!"

Apollo-13 held Asclepius in one hand and the carved wall bits in the other and ran towards a small well of Resonance energy.

He began frantically trying to channel the energy, fortunately he already had experience channeling Darkness from his ventures on Europa with Elsie Bray and Variks.

He encased Asclepius' core in blinding Light and then a layer of Resonance, placing the carved wall bits on either side of him so the energy would have somewhere to flow to.

"Apollo... I think you did it..."

Asclepius slowly floated out of Apollo-13's hands, trying to focus his vision but failing

"My eye is broken, I can't see!" Asclepius began frantically panicking, trying to look at his Guardian but failing to

"Calm down Asclepius, I have an idea."

Apollo rose to his feet and walked towards the Tormentor he had killed, and ripped his eye out. He gathered more bits of the wall and carved once more, now making a lens for Asclepius to see with.

Apollo-13 carefully placed the part with the lens on it on top of Asclepius and stepped back cautiously...

🌕 "Well, how is it..?"

🌑 "I... I can see again! Apollo, you're the best Guardian ever."

🌕 "You do realize that I just broke several Vanguard laws about utilizing Darkness, correct?"

The two of them stared at eachother blankly, before bursting out laughing. Asclepius returned to Apollo-13's side, and they left the Pyramid Ship and vowed never to return. Unless Ikora told them to.

More lore to be added later...

If you've gotten to this point, I just wanna say thank you. I really appreciate you being so invested in my Guardian and Ghost's story that you read what is essentially just really complicated fanfic.

Stay tuned, I will add lore here when I feel like it!

Extra bits

Asclepius' shell before the Pyramid incident

Asclepius' current shell, made from Resonance and the Pyramid Ship

Transmogs for Apollo-13's main outfit

the same shaders are used across all outfits

[sunandra2]

Camille Clovis Trouille fue un pintor francés 1889-1975 Gran fascinación me produjo este artista cuando vi su arte por azar en la web en mis búsquedas de artistas Rara Avis hace unos años. Me impactó y hasta diría que fue una fuente de inspiración de trabajos fotográficos posteriores que hice. Es un pintor autodefinido anarquista, irreverente, satírico, sacrílego y para muchos blasfemo por sus criticas anticlericales, por tal motivo estuvo signado por el anonimato y no se le permitía exponer, hasta pesaban sobre el amenazas sobre su integridad. En los años treinta Andrè Breton lo destaco como surrealista, peroTrouille no sintió pertenecer al movimiento Surrealista dado que se percibía en sus gustos amante del arte renacentista. Estableció una clara mirada de critica social donde ridiculiza a las instituciones y al poder con símbolos, referencias concretas y directas. El erotismo potente,cierto esoterismo místico, el lesbianismo de religiosas irreverentes , muy maquilladas y voluptuosas como así también miembros de la iglesia con doble moral expuesta o militares de dudosa reputaciòn se encuentran en las temàticas abordadas. Hago una analogía referencial de este artista con el fotógrafo actual ucraniano Ruslan Lobanov y su serie de clips sobre los confesionarios, los sacerdotes y bellas damas "pecadoras" Hay un increíble collage de imágenes teatralizadas en contextos simbólicos surreales en las pinturas de Trouille, en la pintura publicada (Le Confessionnal de 1959) observamos un confesionario donde dos mujeres burguesas ataviadas con joyas y ropas ajustadas, se inclinan con sus voluptuosidades intentando comprar el perdón a sus pecados. Se puede observar la mirada y sonrisa maliciosa de la dama de la derecha que escucha las palabras del sacerdote. La particularidad la da la mujer desnuda agachada casi como una publicidad que habla de la intencionalidad de ese ámbito y la vemos como elemento disonante, justamente ubicada en el centro de la estructura y debajo de la inscripción que en Latìn expresa algo asì como: "cuyos pecados perdonarás remitiéndolos". Esto recuerda a los retablos del Gótico tardío pre Renacentista.

[telestoapologist]

clovis pre nut insanity. clovis post nut clarity. is this anything? idc anymore

[despazito]

Indigenous Americans did very much breed and develop their own distinct types of dogs but iirc to date there's not much evidence for a separate domestication event of wolves in america. DNA sampling has traced the geographic areas of highest genetic diversity and the likely origin of domestic dogs points to Eurasia. Maybe there could have also been high areas of genetic diversity in america before getting replaced by colonizer's dogs, but genetic analyses of pre-columbian dog remains show closer affinity to eurasian grey wolf and old world dog populations than to grey wolves sampled across the americas.

I definitely believe in the revised narrative of a pre-clovis human presence in the Americas, there could probably be bias in the research but i think all of the oldest precontact dog remains hover around that ~10,000yo mark. it's also possible dogs arrived in a subsequent wave of migration.

im no archeologist though this is just what i've absorbed online, maybe dogs arrived much earlier or even have a new world origin, that would be very cool

[gwydpolls]

Time Travel Question 23: Ancient History XI and Earlier

These Questions are the result of suggestions from the previous iteration.

This category may include suggestions made too late to fall into the correct grouping.

Please add new suggestions below if you have them for future consideration. All cultures and time periods welcome.

Sorry about the extra potato.

[fac-romam-iterum-magna]

France's name

I dont know if it was intentional, but france's name is really well thought

His last name Bonnefoy literally mean "Good Faith" in old french. After all, pre-revolution france was named the eldest daughter of church, was a divine right monarchy and the franks were the representant of the christian west. So one of his king or him would have taken this name for him around the 13th century, because of its signification. Before that he would have used a patronyme, either related to the king clovis or rome.

As for his first name, i've seen many people prefering françois over francis because it's more common. Personally, i really like Francis as a name because:

It come from latin. I headcanon France to be born as the personification of gallo-romans people, so he would have been raised by Rome and then would later simp hard for him (as did basically everyone)

Contrary to the popular belief, it doesnt mean "French" but "Free Man". Considering that the enlightment era was mostly based in France, and that french thinkers of that period influenced american revolution with the whole freedom things, i personally think this name is better than just "French". (Plus the LIBERTY statue was literally made in france)